Freelance Traveller

Lunar Lore

byJeffrey Schwartz with Jeff Zeitlin

This article originally appeared in the September/October 2024 issue.

Editor’s note: The author supplied a map for this adventure, taken from previously published material. For that reason, the map was unusable. Instead, textual descriptions of the rooms and arrangements of the alien base are provided, and referees may either draw their own maps from the descriptions, or refer the map from Adventure 3: Twilight’s Peak, p.37

This adventure is suitable for a party of 4-8 characters. It should be set on a frontier world with limited population.

Players’ Information

Sir Lastel’s Approach

Sir Lastel Tawny, Baronet, is the world’s ranking noble, and approaches the party (perhaps through an intermediary on his Seneschal’s staff) with a proposition:

The world’s satellite has never been properly explored; only one orbital survey is known to have been conducted. That survey found a “sea of glass” covering about a quarter of the satellite’s surface, and showing signs of nuclear bombing and fission beam weapon attack; the surveying prospector reported some sort of emission near the center that caused him to “turn tail and run”. The file doesn’t show that the emission was itself dangerous; nevertheless, in an interview, the prospector was adamant about not returning; he had ‘a bad feeling’ about it.

Sir Lastel would very much like to get better information on the “sea of glass” and whatever it was that the prospector detected. He believes that the only way is for a group like the player-characters to pay that part of the satellite a visit, and find out as much as they can about it. He’ll pay a sizeable sum in cash upon completion; if the player-characters are merchants with their own ship, he’ll also lodge a preferential treatment note with the Starport, which will get them a small (1D+4%) discount on fuel, berthing, and maintenance/repairs for as long as the note remains on file.

If the player-characters do not have their own ship, or are unwilling to use it, Sir Lastel will provide a modular cutter with a module fitted out as they feel appropriate for a scientific exploration expedition, with provisions for up to two weeks. If they are willing to use their own ship, he will outfit the areas of the ship that they designate for the scientific expedition, and provision them for three weeks (instead of two).

Approaching the Satellite

Lifting from the Starport will be uneventful. However, part-way through the trip to the satellite, the player-characters will feel uneasy, but will, in proportion to their uneasiness, feel determined to see Sir Lastel’s mission through. While nothing actually does go wrong, some of the players will be “convinced” that something is about to fail aboard the ship/cutter, even if they’ve checked it thoroughly before lifting.

Searching the Sea of Glass

The information available to the player-characters isn’t enough to locate the anomalous signal (or determine what is generating it) directly; they will have to find it through their own efforts. As the ‘glassed’ area covers roughly a quarter of the satellite’s surface, the effort can be significant. If they keep at it, they will find what appears to be ruins of some sort of installation, located in the exact center of a 2km circle that hasn’t been glassed.

The Ruins

As the player-characters explore the ruins, they’ll find much unidentifiable detritus, but nothing that looks particularly interesting. In one building, if they move some piled debris, they’ll find a tunnel leading downward.

The Underground

The tunnel has a steep slope; the player-characters will be able to control their descent, but will not be able to get back up, the slope is too steep to climb.

Throughout the installation, the characters will find the walls to be a strange metal that is slick to the touch and visually appears to pulse with light. If they stare at an area of the walls for too long, it will appear to be writhing or twisting. Each room and each corridor is lit by a glowing tube at the ceiling extending the length of the room or the corridor; the light is harsh with a subtle flicker that makes the seeming writhing of the walls worse.

The individual rooms are described in the Referee’s section.

Returning to the Surface

When the players return to the first room, if they can open the door to the sloped ramp, they will find that the ramp has become an easily-climbable stairway which will let them out at the top in the ruins where they originally started. It is up to the player-characters how to proceed from here.

Referee’s information

If your campaign does not normally use psi or sanity as characteristics, ask the players for one or two rolls of 2D, without telling them what the rolls are for. Record both for each player-character; the higher of the two is the character’s current Sanity; the other is their potential PSI strength.

Sir Lastel’s Approach

No amount is specified in the players’ information; you as referee should decide what the appropriate amount is – if they’re merchants with their own ship, it should be enough to cover their next ship mortgage payment plus reasonable operating costs for a two-week (one jump) trip. If they’re not, adjust the amount to provide what you feel is an appropriate reward. Sir Lastel will leave the Note on file with the Starport indefinitely, unless the player-characters do something to annoy or offend him, either this trip or a future trip. It will apply only to the current set of players and the current ship.

Approaching the Satellite

The effects described should begin happening as soon as the ship’s/cutter’s course is clearly to the satellite rather than to an off-planet facility other than the satellite or to the jump point.

The players should first feel uneasy in order of their rolled PSI characteristics, highest PSI first. However, the characters with the lowest Sanity characteristics should feel the most uneasy – and most determined to see the mission through. They will also be the ones that are “convinced” that something is about to go wrong with the ship/cutter.

Searching the Sea of Glass

It is up to the player-characters to decide how to go about looking for the source of the signal reported by the prospector. If they attempt simple flyovers (3D minutes each), they will only detect the signal – but not be able to determine the location – on a DIFFICULT (Recon, INT) success. If, instead, they start a planned search pattern (quartering, spiral in, etc.) – it doesn’t matter what the pattern is, only that they go about it systematically – they will find the signal and be able to locate the source (2D hours of searching).

The Ruins

There are no Ancient artifacts to be found on the surface in the ruins; there are signs that the area may have been picked over already. The tunnel entrance looks to have been deliberately covered, but not recently.

The Underground

This is an intact facility. The map from Adventure 3: Twilight’s Peak can be used; this installation matches the map on page 37, rooms N through Z. The players will enter the facility through the tunnel from above, which will deposit them in Room N. Read the text in italics to the players; the normal text is information for the referee only. All “exits” appear to be closed doors that will open at a touch; “doors” will only open when touched if all of the player-characters are mentally calm (not hostile, fearful, or feeling other strong emotions).
“Dante” is the brain in the Brain Room (Room Z).

Vestibule: (This is room N on the map from Twilight’s Peak).

You enter a featureless cubical room. As you step away from the wall, a door closes behind you; other than the exits on the opposite wall and on the wall to your left, there’s nothing to see here.

The door back to the surface will not open until the player-characters have interacted with “Dante” in the Brain Room (room Z on the map).

Circular Room: (Room O on the map)

You step into a large circular chamber that seems to hum with an otherworldly energy. A cantilever bridge spans the room, overlooking the floor below. As you approach the center of the bridge, you notice six ovoidal structures on the floor. They’re made of a milky-white translucent plastic, and dark shapes move within. You feel a sense of dread as you realize that these structures are holding something dangerous and sinister.

You hear a faint whispering that seems to be coming from within the ovoids. It’s a sinister, otherworldly language that sends shivers down your spine. You realize that you’re in grave danger, and any sudden movement could trigger the release of these deadly creatures.

The ovoids contain TL19 organic warbots. They’re released if a player-character is actively trying to damage the maze. Minor things like scratching the walls to try to sample the material are ignored, but if the players get too rambunctious then they’ll be terminated. If “Dante” decides it would be useful to terrorize the players, then a warbot would be released.

Warbot: Armor 25 vs all types. 100 hits to incapacitate, 100 more to kill. Armed with a built in energy weapon (Range 4, Pen 4 Burn 10) and claws (Range 1, damage 4)

Rectangular Room: (Room P on the map)

You step into a bare and featureless room, the kind of place that gives you the feeling that something is not quite right. The only thing that catches your attention is the array of dish-shaped surfaces on the far wall. They seem to pulse with a dark energy that sends shivers down your spine.

Suddenly, you hear a faint whispering that seems to be coming from within the walls. It’s a haunting, otherworldly language that you can’t quite understand. You realize that you’re not alone in this room, and the thought sends a chill down your spine.

If the players play with the dish shaped surfaces: Waving a hand in front of one causes a circular section of floor (diameter: about 3 meters) to rise to a height of 1D×25 centimeters. The top of the platform changes as the pillar rises, turning more organic in color and texture. Touching the top shows the platform to be soft and comfortable – you realize it’s a seat. 

As more seats are deployed, you get the idea this is a meeting room, or mess hall. Or…that this room was used for some kind of dark ritual, and the thought is almost too much to bear, especially since it’s hard to tell if the wide flat platform in the middle is a sacrificial altar, or a dining table…or both.

As you try to leave the room, you realize that the sliding doors at the far ends are arranged to interact with each other. One door will not open until the other is closed, and blocking one open will prevent the other from opening. You feel trapped, with no escape from this sinister place. You can hear the whispering growing louder, and you know that you have to find a way out before it’s too late.

Columns Room: (This is room Q on the map)

You enter a large open room through a massive portal that seems to be made of some kind of dark, pulsing metal. The room is massive, with a ceiling that stretches up to thirty meters high. You can feel a sense of dread creeping up your spine as you realize that there are no doors in this room – the portal you entered through is the only way in or out.

The room is filled with several columns that are capped with circular platforms, each one at least ten meters off the floor. The platforms seem to be resting places for something sinister, and you can’t shake the feeling that you’re being watched from above.

You can hear a faint whispering that seems to be coming from within the room. It’s a sinister, otherworldly language that sends shivers down your spine. You realize that you’re not alone in this room, and that there’s something lurking just beyond your vision.

As you look up, you notice that the circular platforms above seem to be moving – ever so slightly – as if something is perched on top of them. You can’t see what it is, but you know that it’s watching you with a hunger that sends chills down your spine.

You try to back away slowly, but you realize that the portal you entered through is now closed. You’re trapped in this room with no escape, and you know that you have to fight for your life if you want to survive.

Other than the door interlocks (leading into the Rectangular Room), there’s nothing holding the door closed. There’s also nothing up there except some faint holography and some subsonic projectors.

Irregular Room: (This is room R on the map)

You step into a large room that seems to be a labyrinth of corridors, doors, and rooms. The irregular layout of the room is disorienting, and you can feel a sense of unease creeping up your spine. The floor is clean and clear of any equipment or furniture, but in the center of the room, you see something that makes your blood run cold.

There, in the center of the room, is a single five-fingered glove. It’s marked with the Imperial Scout Service insignia, apparently lost by a member of the shipwrecked task force some centuries ago. The glove seems to be pulsing with a dark energy, as if it’s alive and waiting for its owner to return.

As you approach the glove, you realize that it’s not just a lost item – it’s something far more sinister. You can hear a faint whispering that seems to be coming from within the glove, a haunting, otherworldly language that sends shivers down your spine.

The walls behind you shift in a sliding manner - the maze here is changing every few minutes and the path behind you has changed. You realize that you’re trapped in this room with the demonic glove. You can feel its malevolent energy pulsing through the air, and you know that you’re in grave danger.

You try to back away slowly, but the glove seems to be calling out to you, beckoning you closer. You can feel your mind slipping away as you stare into its dark, pulsing depths. You realize that you’re not alone in this room, and that the glove is just the beginning of the horrors that await you.

You have to find a way out before it’s too late.

There’s no maze. There’s no walls. There’s very good holoprojectors, more subsonics, and well-designed lighting. Pushing through a wall will reveal it’s a hologram, the person will go right through, but focussed infrasound in the area of the ‘wall’ will give the person a deep thrum inside their body. Imagine the sensation that’s in your chest when next to a speaker that’s playing really loud, but deeper in your gut, and there’s no audible sound. Just that gut wrenching sensation that something has crawled inside you.

Chairs: (this is room S on the Map)

You step into a dimly lit room that seems to be pulsing with a malevolent energy. In the center of the room is a globe full of pulsing organic material – it’s a sickening sight that makes your stomach churn. You can hear a faint whispering that seems to be coming from within the globe, a haunting, otherworldly language that sends shivers down your spine.

Overlooking the globe are several chairs (oddly enough, one for each of you), each one with a control panel or box with several dished depressions. You can’t shake the feeling that these chairs are meant for something sinister, and you can see the faint outlines of something moving in the shadows behind them.

As you approach the chairs, you notice a large panel of controls and meters behind them. The controls seem to be similar to those found in other areas of the base, but there’s a sinister twist to them. You can feel the malevolent energy pulsing through the controls, and you know that this room is not meant for the faint of heart.

You try to back away slowly, but you hear a sudden creaking sound that seems to be coming from the globe. You freeze in terror as the organic material begins to pulse even faster, and you can feel the whispering growing louder.

There is a sickening metal-on-metal grinding sound and a huge vault door - like the one you came through to enter this base - slams down behind you, locking you into the room.

Suddenly, the shadows behind the chairs seem to come alive, and you can see the outlines of something dark and sinister moving in the darkness. You realize that you’re not alone in this room, and that the beings behind the chairs are something far more sinister than you ever could have imagined.

You have to find a way out before it’s too late, but the door seems to be locked tight. You’re trapped in this room with the pulsing globe and the shadowy beings behind the chairs, and you know that your only hope is to fight for your life against the darkness that surrounds you.

The map shows no door - and there isn’t one. The door is an illusion like the maze walls in the Irregular Room.

The ‘ghosts’ are holograms and sonics, backed by broadcast-power driven electrical discharges when they attack. The power level is adjusted to do 1 point of damage after armor, regardless of the protections worn, and the main point of using the electricity is to leave visible burn marks on vacc suits or armor.

Hitting a “ghost” with a ranged weapon causes the projectile or beam to go on through with no effect. Melee weapons “kill” them on a single hit, causing the ghost to fall to the ground with a horrific scream and turn into a glowing mass of horror and evil, which reforms as two “ghosts” a minute later.

Anyone who decides to sit in one of the chairs is ignored by the “ghosts”, and any “ghosts” who were attacking them at the moment they sit down disappear in a flash of beautiful, pure, white light.

Power Room: (This is room T on the map)

You step into a small room that seems to be pulsing with a strange, otherworldly energy. In the center of the room is a vertical shaft that leads down at least two hundred meters. You can feel a sense of dread creeping up your spine as you realize that the bottom of the shaft is bathed in a strong white glow that pulses regularly.

Leading up the shaft, over the lip, and into a wall connection are two heavy conduits, each one about 300mm in diameter. They seem to be pulsing with the same sinister energy that fills the room, and you can’t shake the feeling that they’re somehow connected to the strange power source at the bottom of the shaft.

Near the door, you notice some wall controls that seem to be connected to the conduits and the power source. You can’t resist the urge to tamper with them, but as you do, you hear a faint whispering that seems to be coming from within the walls. It’s a haunting, otherworldly language that sends shivers down your spine.

As in the Irregular Room, it’s all “well-designed” lighting and subsonics. If they play with the controls, the lights and sounds will change, always to a ‘more creepy’ feel, but will slowly return to normal. There will be no apparent effect on the power source or the conduits.

Environment Center: (This is room U on the map)

You step into a room that seems to be pulsing with a strange, otherworldly energy. In the center of the room is a complex of air circulation and purification machinery, each one pulsing with a sinister glow. You can hear a faint whispering that seems to be coming from within the machinery, a haunting, otherworldly language that sends shivers down your spine.

As you move deeper into the room, you realize that there’s a slight underpressure, and the air from other locations is being forced into this room. You can feel the air around you growing thin and stale, and you realize that you’re in a place where the very air can kill you.

You try to back away slowly, but the machinery seems to be calling out to you, beckoning you closer. You can hear the sound of whirring gears and hissing steam, and you know that something sinister is lurking just beyond your vision.

The ventilation shaft in the center of the floor seems to be calling out to you, beckoning you closer. You can feel the air around you growing thinner and colder, and you realize that the very machinery that’s meant to keep you alive is now your enemy as a siren song your ears don’t hear by your heart does lures you closer to the edge of the shaft. Deep in your soul, you know that just stepping off the edge and letting your body fall would make the demons whispering to you stop when you hit the vents visible 100 meters down.

You try to fight against the pull of the machinery, but it’s so very strong and seductive. You can feel your mind slipping away as you’re drawn closer and closer to the ventilation shaft, and you know that you’re in grave danger. You have to find a way to escape this room before the demonic machinery consumes you entirely.

Require a 2D roll vs the character’s Sanity from each player. If it fails (greater than the character’s Sanity), the character will continue to walk slowly toward the center of the open shaft. Characters who succeed ‘break the hold’ that the room has on them, and avoid the effects. They can prevent the other characters from falling into the shaft.

Small-Compartment Room: (this is room V on the map)

You step into a room that seems to be pulsing with a strange, otherworldly energy. In the center of the room, you see that it is honey-combed with many small compartments, each one large enough to hold a single person. You can feel a sense of unease creeping up your spine as you realize that these compartments are meant for something far more sinister than just sleeping accommodations.

As you move closer to the compartments, you notice that their interiors appear empty, but you can’t shake the feeling that something is lurking just beyond your vision. You reach out to touch the surface of one of the compartments, and you realize that it’s resilient, almost like it’s made of some kind of alien flesh.

A further sensation also becomes apparent – within each compartment, gravity is zero. You can feel a sense of disorientation creeping up your spine as you realize that these compartments are not meant for human use.

Suddenly, the ventilation grating in the room begins to rattle and shake, and you realize that you’re not alone in this room. You can hear a faint whispering that seems to be coming from within the compartments, a haunting, otherworldly language that sends shivers down your spine.

This is the area put aside for “lab rats” to rest and sleep. Climbing into one of the cabinets leads to a near immediate 3D vs END check. Failure leads to an hour of physically restful sleep (so restful as to be 8 hours of normal rest) … and a 3D vs SAN check. Failure means the victim has horrible nightmares about a disembodied demonic intelligence holding it down on an exam table with TK while whispering in a sickly soft voice, “Calm down and sit still. It will all be over soon. One way or the other.”

Success has a dream of being a lab rat, with the assurance that so long as you’re well behaved, calm, and don’t bite the researcher you won’t be vivisected.

Large-Compartment Room: (This is room W on the map)

The description of the Small-Compartmented Room applies here, except that the compartments are larger. If a character has slept in the Small-Compartmented Room, they do not need to make the END or SAN checks here; otherwise, apply the same checks as for the Small-Compartmented Room.

Green Room: (This is room X on the map)

You step into a large room that seems to be pulsing with a strange, otherworldly energy. The walls are metallic green, and you can see strange symbols etched into the surface. You can hear a faint whispering that seems to be coming from within the walls, a haunting, otherworldly language that sends shivers down your spine.

Dominating the floor is a circular dais, about a half-meter above floor level, with many cushions and pillows scattered about on it. You can see a faint green glow emanating from the cushions, and you realize from their shape and layout that while they’re probably comfortable, they’re not made for the human form.

One entire wall appears to be missing, and it opens out onto a cavern. You can see the strange, otherworldly landscape beyond, pulsing with an eerie, green light. Moving closer, you realize that there is a wall there, but it’s transparent, exceptionally so, forming a large picture window. You can feel the malevolent energy of the cavern pulsing through the window, calling out to you, beckoning you closer.

The wall isn’t actually transparent; it’s a well-designed ‘screen’ for a hologram.

On the other wall is a grillework of vertical bars preventing entry into a hallway. You can see something moving beyond the bars, something that seems to be calling out to you. You reach out to touch the bars, and they bend easily with hand pressure. You realize that they’re not meant to keep people out – they’re meant to keep something in.

As you step into the hallway beyond the bars, you realize that you’re in grave danger. The walls seem to be pulsing with the same green energy as the cushions on the dais, and you can hear the faint whispering growing louder. You try to back away slowly, but the bars seem to be closing in on you, trapping you in the hallway.

You realize that this room is not meant for the faint of heart, and that the transparent wall and the strange, otherworldly energy are somehow connected to the sinister force that’s lurking just beyond your vision. You have to find a way out before it’s too late, or risk being trapped in this otherworldly place forever.

Long Corridor: (This is area Y on the map)

You step into a corridor that seems to be pulsing with a strange, otherworldly energy. The walls are covered with dish-shaped plaques and glowing registers or meters, all of extremely sophisticated design. You can see strange symbols etched into the surface of the plaques. You can hear a faint humming coming from the registers and meters, and you know that something sinister is lurking just beyond your vision.

Playing with the dials and controls only has an effect ⅙ of the time. The effect is to change lighting or air flow in different areas, and always for the most creepy end result (an eerie whistling wind, for example). As in the Power Room, the settings will slowly return to the way the characters found them.

Brain Room: (This is room Z on the map)

You step into a room that seems to be pulsing with a strange, otherworldly energy. In the center of the room, you see a 2-meter half-sphere set on the floor. As you move closer, you realize that it’s actually a full sphere set into the floor, making it a 4-meter sphere. You can see strange symbols etched into the surface of the sphere, and you can hear a faint whispering that seems to be coming from within.

Closer examination shows that the sphere is transparent, revealing a mass of brain tissue and electronics inside. You realize with a sickening feeling that this device is a “jinn bottle” in archeological parlance: a machine that keeps a brain gene-engineered for psionic ability alive and functional. You can see the brain tissue pulsing with a sickly green glow, and you can feel the malevolent energy emanating from it.

Touching the sphere gives the sensation of the thing having incredible weight. You can feel the malevolent energy pulsing through the air, and you realize that this thing is alive, awake, and very much aware of you. You try to back away slowly, but the sphere seems to be calling out to you, beckoning you closer.

As you move closer, you can feel the malevolent energy growing stronger. You can hear the faint whispering growing louder, and you realize that the brain tissue inside the sphere is somehow connected to the sinister force that’s lurking just beyond your vision.

The players feel no compulsions here; at most, they might have a feeling of expectation and waiting, below the ‘malevolence’. If any of the characters touch the sphere, all of the characters will experience what is described in “Dante’s Détente”, the next section.

Dante’s Detente

You see visions of cogs and gears, clicking and spinning, engaged in endless calculations. Gold chains bind bundles of glowing wires. Aquamarine spheres float in waiting, joined by shimmering lines of light, the pathway of yet-unformed synapses. The myriad symbols combine into a codex, complicated and swirling and ever changing but keeping an overall pattern that’s just out of reach of fully perceiving.

The vision zooms out a bit, showing shadowy aliens in strange robes working on the images above, and as the point of view shifts slightly you realize what the aliens, in their geometric formations around the altar are doing is taking the cogs and wheels and glowing items out of the head of the person strapped to the stone altar, squishing them around and playing with them, then stuffing them back into the open skull of the screaming person, their arms chained down.

The angle of the camera shifts just a little, and you see the face of the person who’s screaming … and realize it’s your own.

When that happens, you feel something shift inside you - and the terror fades and you’re no longer afraid. No longer weirded out. It’s just a vision, and nothing about it is scary.

The realization that your mind has been altered in some way comes to you - and that the machine wants more people to modify. More people to change. It wants your family, friends, and everyone you know brought to it.

Because it is hungry.

The vision stops.

The players are unmolested from here on out. They can return to the Vestibule and open the exit door. They do, however, have a strong compulsion that what they came here for has been given to them, and it’s time to leave.

Returning to the Surface

Once back in the ruins, the player-characters should find themselves unable to leave the Sea of Glass – it won’t appear to be deliberate, just a series of coincidental obstacles (e.g., equipment failure, odd signals that they feel must be investigated, etc.) that keep them in the area long enough…

Each night, they will relive the exploration of the underground facility – or at least, the “worst” parts – in the form of a nightmare. When they wake up, have each player-character roll 2D vs. their Sanity; the roll fails if it is greater than Sanity.

On each success, the player-character has had no benefit of a night’s rest from sleeping, and appropriate fatigue penalties should be imposed on all actions for the day.

When the player-character fails the roll, they wake with a moment of clarity, and feel fully rested. They feel “different” in some undefined way and the following night, there will be no nightmare (and no need to roll vs. Sanity the next morning). After the second time this happens, the player-character experiences no further nightmares.

When all of the player-characters have experienced the second moment of clarity, they will be able to leave the Sea of Glass; there will be no evidence of any of the odd things that kept them there.

The player-character now has a developed, but untrained psionic ability, at the level rolled at the beginning of the adventure. It is up to the referee how to handle revealing this to the player-characters and getting the ability trained.

Notes to the Referee

Many facilities within the base appear to be missing, such as sanitary facilities, computer links, and repair shops or maintenance arrangements. All are normally concealed within the walls and floors of the structure and are called upon when needed. The gold sections on the wall indicate the locations of food dispensers and sanitary facilities.

Bathrooms: Every room has a sanitary disposal facility. Looking closely at the walls will show apparently random patches of gold. Patches in the rough shape of a four-lobed clover mark sanitary facilities (no two patches are exactly the same, but all have the same rough shape). Touching such a patch three times in rapid succession will cause a section of floor to glow dull orange; this section disposes of anything placed on it with a slow, pulsed rhythm. Stepping on such a patch will slowly disintegrate the bottom of a shoe or boot, and will ultimately begin destroying the sole of a foot.

The orange patch is turned off with three rapid touches on the gold patch.

This mechanism is a phased teleportation device; it teleports any matter on the patch (to a height of one millimeter) away with each pulse. Additional matter then settles down into position for the next teleport.

Food: Gold patches in roughly circular shape mark food dispensers and appear only in rooms R, V, W, and X. Touching a circular gold patch three times in rapid succession causes a wall section to open, revealing a holographic display of three types of food— generally a meat dish, a vegetable dish, and a beverage. Reaching into the display and grasping one of the choices causes a heavy vibration within the hologram and the choice materializes in the hand.

This facility involves teleportation of the selected dish into the location shown by the hologram. If it is not grasped, it will fall to the floor; if the individual is not careful or is inattentive, a portion of the dish will coincide with the hand and force safety interlocks to function- the dish will not appear, and the hand will receive a sharp sting. The sting is painful but causes no real injury.

Computer: Computer links are not immediately obvious because they worked directly with the base personnel. Each individual was tracked at all times by a psionic link to the computer that provided information and calculations on the spot.

 

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