Date: Mon, 13 Sep 1999 22:09:12 -0400

So, we come to the close of Act I.

After your quick hops from 777 to 701 to 501 and your debrief by Davenport,
you are physically exhausted.  At Davenport's urging, you spend a couple of
days in the underwater retreat.  Davenport himself leaves the day that you
initially met with him, but on the night of the first day, he sends you a
recorded message...

"Okay guys, I know that I'm not being forthcoming with you, but that's my
prerogative.  I'll tell you the following, though - yes, I am the Jonathan
Davenport that was in the picture with Emperor Petresun.  But I swore of my
allegiances to that man long ago, and my punishment was exile to this
quantum - though I don't really view it as exile.  I set up the Company in
order to prevent conspiracies from taking over this world, and so far we've
been pretty successful.  I don't intend to just show up in front of the
Emperor and give away where I am and what I've been doing.

To answer some of your questions:
Q: What was the "Fire"?
A: The Fire was the first coming of Prometheus - an AI developed by Petresun
that turned against humanity and then attempted to enslave it.  It
devastated the world - more than 90% of humanity died in the war and the
environmental holocaust that followed it.

Q: What did I do in the "Fire"?
A: I was part of the rebel underground that helped to defeat Prometheus.
Petresun's rebels were based out of Kiev, Weather's were based out of the
Middle East and I headed the rebels out of the Americas, from the Mojave
Desert.

Q: What happened to the 801 world?
A: Prometheus came back.  While Petresun and Weathers tried to decide who
would rule the world, Prometheus rebuilt its powerbase on the Moon.  Sixty
years after the first fire, Prometheus landed and finished off humanity on
801.

Q:  What is the Nexus?
A: The nexus was my creation - part of the reason that we were able to
defeat Prometheus in the first Fire was that my rebels discovered a cache of
technology beneath the ruins of an Inca temple in Peru.  The technology
enabled us to build weaponry that put humanity back on par with Prometheus.
It also enabled us to create an anomaly in the Quanta - essentially a
"bubble"   When the second Fire sealed the fate of humanity, I showed
Petresun and Weathers the Nexus, and the decision was made to move the
survivors to the Nexus. 

Q: What are the "access" codes?
A: Using the new technology, we are able to force people jumping into a
quanta to jump to a certain location.  The Nexus contains one of a pair of
artifacts that forces people to enter a code in order to enter it - those
that do not are sent directly to a holding tank.  In the Nexus, that tank is
filled with obsidian - which you would materialize in. The other artifact is
here on 501.  Apparently, your cell phones are programmed with a valid code.
Which means that some very unsavory people could be here.

Q: Who are the "Masters?"
A: Once the 801 survivors had set up in the Nexus, Petresun was obsessed
with retaking 801 from Prometheus.  In order to do that, we needed raw
materials and food, since the Nexus itself is totally devoid of any
resources.  The only way for us to do that was to jump to other world and
use them for resources.  Since jumping to any world in the 800s would
require us to jump through 801, we decided to try for the 700s.  Our first
jump was to 701, where we met the "Masters" - they are an alien race that
had come to Earth and enslaved humanity.  In one of the worst judgments
ever, Petresun made a pact with the Masters - in return for advanced
technology and the raw materials necessary to wage a war, Petresun would
turn over the living beings of the world to the Masters.  In essence, he had
found another Prometheus and made it his allies.

Q: What happened to Weathers?
A: Just before I revealed the Nexus to Petresun and Weathers, Weathers had
twin suns born to him by Petresun's sister.  Petresun took the twins hostage
and forced Weathers to pledge his obedience in return for their lives.  He
then forced Weathers to remain behind and fight a scorched earth campaign in
order to cover the traces of the survivor's exodus to the Nexus.  While he
raised Caanon as his son, I raised Harrabec as mine.

Q: Why was I exiled?
A: To be simple, I was a scapegoat.  Petresun realized that the pact he had
formed with the Masters was not a "good idea".  He and I formulated a plan
to foment a rebellion in order to remove the Masters from power in the
various worlds that we had turned over to them and eventually, in 701
itself.  We would stage a fake rebellion on 601 and then use that excuse to
move men and material to 701 to stage a takeback of 601.  Those troops would
then stage a coup on 701 and we would remove the Masters from power.
Unfortunately, all did not go as planned.  I was offered up as a scapegoat
to the Masters - Petersun exiled me back to 801.  However, I managed to make
my way to 501.  Only Harrabec Weathers knows that I am not on 801 - and now
you tell me that he thinks I am on 501.

Q: Who is the Centrum?
A: During the 601 coup attempt, the Centrum appeared to put down what they
believed to be a rebellion on the planet.  They represented an entity more
powerful, and in my opinion more evil than the Masters.  Not only did they
manage to stop the rebellion, they managed to mind control an entire
division of Knights, turning them into fanatical followers of the Masters.
The rest of the Knights consider the IETF and me to be traitors to this day.


Q: Who are you?
A:  Petresun was obsessed with the creation of a master race.  He thought
that if he combined the Master's DNA with man's DNA, then he would create an
incredibly powerful race under his control.  As I was exiled, I managed to
destroy all of the research (or at least I thought), but I could not take it
upon myself to destroy the hundred or so late stage clones he had created,
so I took them with me to 501.  Twenty-seven years ago, I allowed those
clones to reach full stage and then used my field agents to replace
still-born babies around the United States with the these clones.  Some of
them managed to excel enough to warrant other agents to target them as
potential recruits in the Company.  By far, the majority of them lead
normal, unassuming lives.  

Q: What now?
A: For now, we wait.  I want you to take the conveyors (i.e. the cell
phones) to Science's headquarters in the Gulf.  There, Science will try to
understand the working of the conveyors, and then we'll try and have Tech
create a few.  The rudimentary ones that we have are based on technology
that are almost a century old now.  To that end, when you feel rested enough
(which I hope will be only a couple of days more, at the most), you can take
a ship to Lima, Peru.  Since you'll be going through customs, you'll need to
travel very light - handguns and very, very portable and inconspicuous
equipment only.  The rest of your gear will travel through multiple
shipments.  When you reach Lima, check in with the local Universal
Underwriters office, and they will provide you with tickets on commercial
air transport to Miami, where your gear will be waiting for you.  From
there, take cars to New Orleans, and then check in there with the local UU
office for transport to the Science facility.  I'll meet you there a couple
of days after you arrive."