Mark Rand

Re: IST San Angelo version 2.0 "Fellow citizens of the world, I'm standing in the gateroom of Stargate Command," the President said. "In a moment, the camera will pan to the right and you'll see the Stargate. It's a device for transporting people and items throughout the universe in just moments." He talked the history of the project, the threat from the Goa'uld system lords and the current threat, Anubis. He also spoke of the Earth's allies, the Nox, the Tolan, the Tok'ra, and the Asgard. Promotions were announced. Major General George Hammond, the base commander, was promoted to Lieutenant General and made head of Homeworld Security. Dr. Elizabeth Weir would become the base commander until the threat from Anubis was ended. After that, Brigadier General Jack O'Neill would assume leadership of Stargate Command. Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Carter would head SG-1.Dr. Janet Frasier, the base's chief medical officer was promoted from major to lieutenant colonel and, due to almost dieing from a staff blast, given a purple heart. Lieutenant Diana Thompson, the SGC's head nurse, was promoted to captain.

Re: Another Secret Service Question. The decision is made to tell Holly the truth and let her decide weither or not the public knows the that her father is the President. The President and First Lady are surprised to learn that their daughter is a circus performer and even more surprised to learn that she trains and presents the big cats and handles a ring of liberty horses. The Masons also told a funny story about Susan Reese, who plays the euphonium in the band and is legally blind. (She has a field of vision of only 14 degrees.) According to the story, Susan, while taking a break, was petting her guide dog, a reddish golden retrever named Sugar when someone told her that she shouldn't do that because it could distract the dog. Susan's brother, John, who plays the helicon, or helical tuba, explained that the dog was Susan's Susan then replied, "She's not my dog. I'm her person." After more stories, Mr. Mason agreed to go to the circus, tell Holly the truth and wait for her decision.

Re: Another Secret Service Question. The discovery that Holly wasn't born to Mrs. Mason occurred when Mrs. Mason took ill and Holly's blood was needed for a transfusion. The problem is that Holly's blood is O positive and both her parents have AB negative blood. The Mason family's doctor talked to the administrator of the hospital where Holly was born. He checked the records and discovered that there was only one other birth that night that had such a problem, a stillborn female child with AB negative blood born to parents with O positive blood. The stillborn girl's father is now the President of the United States. He and his wife, a respected eye surgeon with her own practice, fearing that the secret might get out, asked the Secret Service what they could do to protect their daughter. This reminds me, I should post a thread dealing with the First Lady's Secret Service detail.

Re: IST San Angelo version 2.0 "Somebody doesn't like Slick," Doctor Arcane commented. "True," April said. "When he arrived home, he found that his apartment had been vandalized. His furnature and a large painting of him had been slashed and all his booze bottles, now empty, were on the floor by the fireplace, where a fire had been burning. Two days later, he and his thugs vanished." "I got into the city planning office computer files," Elaine said. "One of the buildings in the city's Old Town neighborhood was a funeral parlor with three crematories Slick and his friends could have been cremated." "Did you find anything of interest in the police records?" Keiko asked, knowing that Elaine and her team sometimes had to hack into computers to find information the heroes needed. "No," Elaine replied. "He may not have filed a police report," Tom suggested. "True," April said, reaching for the remote. "The speach is starting." "Ladies and gentlemen," the announcer said. "From the United States Air Force's Cheyenne Mountain Complex, the President of the United States."

Re: IST San Angelo version 2.0 "I'm glad the city council decided not to make the Strip District a zero zone," Tom said as he, the heroes, and a few others gathered in the rec room, where the broadcast was being shone on the room's two 52-inch HD plasma-screen TVs. "California doesn't need a second Basin City." "Never heard of it," Dr. Arcane said. "It's a city on the coast filled with polititions and police that are either corrupt of inept, or both," April said. "The town's prostitutes rule the Old Town neighborhood, where they live and work." "I'm surprised the mob let's them rule the area," Guardian said from where he sat, without his armor on. "The ladies, reputedly, warned a well-connected pimp, known only as Slick, to get out of town or else. He and his thugs, Moose and Riocky, were found locked in the trunk of his car after being bound and gagged with duct tape. The car's paint had been scratched, its seats slashed, its airbags shreaded, and all five of its tires flat." There was laughter in the room. "After he got new tires on the car, Slick started it up, and scunk scent came out of the air conditioning vents. Moments later, the car's muffler and catalitic converter exploded." to be continued.

Re: IST San Angelo version 2.0 "I know that I have full diplomatic immunity," Sir John said as he and Kuntala talked in his office. "Do the heroes have any?" "Yes," she replied. "They have a small degree. They're permitted to perform any acts short of murder and the violation of civil rights. Didn't they tell you this?" "Must've slipped my mind," he replied as they exited. "Carol, are you joining us?" "No," she replied, before reaching down to pet Ginger. "I'll listen to it on the radio while I catch up on my paperwork." "Understood," Sir John said as he and Kuntala left.

Re: Another Secret Service Question. Good point. I thought they might have agents working undercover, in case someone else discovers the records, and let's the cat out of the bag. Oh, our lady lion trainer is Holly Mason Reese. Matt Reese is her husband.

Re: IST San Angelo version 2.0 At noon, Sir John announced that the President would be addressing the world at 1 pm on an issue of world security and that monitors would be set up in the sixth floor conference room, the fifth floor rec room and dining hall, and the fourth floor press auditorium and administrative conference room.

The President and his wife thought that one of their daughters was stillborn. After he became President, a family friend showed him some records. The daughter he thought was stillborn was born alive and switched with another baby. This new daughter has been training the big cats and handling a ring of horses at the Ross Brothers Circus for five years and has been married to the bandleader, a trumpet player, for the past three years. The President isn't going to tell the public about this and, as far as the President knows, his newly-discovered daughter doesn't know the truth. Does she get Secret Service protection?

Re: IST San Angelo version 2.0 The city government has decided not to declare The Strip District a zero-zone," Kuntala said over breakfast the next day. "Thanks for the information," Keiko said. "You're welcome," Kuntala said as an embassy nurse joined them and April. "Is it true that you found a bunch of old-style white uniforms?" she asked. "Yes, along with colored uniforms," Keiko replied. "Some of the colored ones are still in use." "I see," the nurse said. "I'll stick with scrubs. They're more practical." "They had one advantage," Keiko said. "You could tell what a person in a hospital did by their uniform." "You can tell by the ID badge what we do," the nurse said. "How many people read them?" Keiko asked. "I'm not going to wear one," the nurse said. "There's no style to them and a cap will get caught on the IV rigging." "Nobody said you had to," Keiko said. "They're there in case anyone wants to." "I'll try one on," April said. "Of course, I'll also try on an old-style stewardess's uniform and other clothing, too. I just might use some wigs and a makeup kit to change my looks." "Why?" the nurse asked. "Like Keiko, I'm a ninja," April replied. "We use disguises." "Oh."

Re: Is San Angelo's Strip District anything like Sin City's Oldtown district? An idea just came to me. Basin City, aka Sin City, aka The Town Without Pity, is a corrupt city within the area IST San Angelo protects. Now, all I have to do is create it and figure out where in Northern California it goes.

Re: IST San Angelo version 2.0 "Any plans for tonigh, Keiko?" Tom asked. "If not, we could work out together." "No thanks," she replied. "April and I are are heading to San Angelo Raceway tonight." "Ah," he said. "Stock car racing is a wonderful sport." "Yeah, but from our seat, we don't see much," Keiko replied. "Where do you two sit?" Tom asked. "Track level," April replied as she joined them. "I drive the pace car. Keiko crews for me." "Oh," Tom said as Kuntala came in. "This is interesting," the embassy's legal attache said. "A car ran a red light at excessive speed this morning. Suddenly, all four tires blew and the engine died. A police car came up as the driver began running. His pants fell down, tripping him. When the police opened the car trunk, they found over one million dollars in drugs." "Any idea what happened?" Keiko asked. "Someone heard a person mumbling something about a curse ahnd things going wrong." "What caused it?" Tom asked. "Murphy's law caught up with him," Keiko replied. "Yeah," April added.

Re: Is San Angelo's Strip District anything like Sin City's Oldtown district?

Re: Is San Angelo's Strip District anything like Sin City's Oldtown district?

I'd like to use Sin City's Oldtown District as the basis for San Angelo's Strip District. How much of a problem is this, if it all?

Re: IST San Angelo version 2.0 In case you're wondering about it, the IST San Angelo version 3.0 I mentioned a couple of posts ago is an idea running through my brain. It would be the information from version 2.0 presented as an average superhero gets it. It would consist of information from newspapers, news magazines, Metahuman Monthly, television programs, city guides and the briefing pack people get when they arrive at a new embassy.

Re: A Secret Service Question Another idea crossed my mind. How much protection would Holly get if she was switched, at birth, for another woman's stillborn child and until after he's President, Jack Ryan, her father, doesn't know she's alive? (By the time Jack and Cathy find out, Holly's married and training the big cats at a circus.)

Re: IST San Angelo version 2.0 "I hope you're right," Kuntala said. "What kind of legal system do you think they'll come up with?" "I'm not sure," Keiko replied. "I guess ithe legal code will be one that they can easily enforce. Sincethey're not bound by any laws here, everyone might go around armed." "Which means that most serious crimes will be punished, on the spot, by death," Kuntala said. "Yeah," April said. "What about traffic violations?" "They're caused be people who are either in a hurry or don't care," Keiko said. "Maybe, they'll force the violater to spend a certain amount of time handcuffed to a utility pole or a street light." "Someone who litters could be forced to pick up all the trash on the neighborhood streets and sidewalks," April said. "Since all the posters that arre put up on trees, poles and other are considered litter, too, they may have to remove all of them, too."

Re: IST San Angelo version 2.0 Eight hours later, Tom and Keiko finished and returned to IST San Angelo. Kuntala met them as they entered. "What's wrong?" Tom asked, noting the look on her face. "Both houses of Congress overrode President Ryan's veto of the zero-zone bill," she replied. "Vice-President Kinsey said that it would be a boon for everyone." "It'll be a boon only for the rich," April said as she joined them. "I suspect that cities having financial problems will cut off either low-income neighborhoods in favor of the rich or high crime neighborhoods, like the Strip District, hoping they'll kill themselves off." "That's my fear, too," Kuntala admitted. "Maybe San Angelo's prostitutes will decide to hold a community meeting to discuss the problem and created a legal system for the neighborhood," Keiko said. "No doubt, they'll make sure everyone knows about the meeting and that, weither you come or not, you must obey the laws they've come up with."

Re: IST San Angelo version 2.0 As they were about to start, the staffer doing the cremations handed Keiko a paper bag. "Here's the jewelry and stuff that was in the pockets of the ones being cremated," he said. "Can you take the maid in the back once I get her keys?" Keiko asked. "Sure. You want me to take the bodies with the luggage carts, too?" "Please," Keiko replied. "No problem. After we unload them, I'll use one cart to transport the bodies." Once the staffer was gone, Tom said, we won't have enough space for thr clothes we recover. "I know," Keiko said. "Any ideas?" "We use half the rooms on each floor as storage," Tom replied. "Also, we leave rooms three and four down here as they were." "Yeah," Keiko said. "The storage rooms should always on the same side of the hall. We can put the luggage the stewardesses in the lobby were carrying in the rooms here, too." "Good plan," Tom said.

Re: IST San Angelo version 2.0 We now rejoin to Keiko and Tom in the gateway world. While an embassy staffer that knew how to cremate bodies started doing so, they went to the hotel linen room and found racks of spare uniforms. By repositioning some of the racks in conference room two, they were able to fit them in. They then started emptying conference rooms three and four. "I saw a maid in one of the rooms down here," Keiko said. "I'll grab her keys and a baggage cart and use it to move the books and makeup kits into one of the rooms. We can set the wigs on a clear table and move the shelves into the rooms." "I see. Once the shelves are in the room, we can put the wigs in them." "Right, Tom. I'll grab some bookends from the church and we can put the books on the top of the dressers and the kits inside. We can put the makeup products where we have room." "We can also put the tights, leotards, top hats, formal canes and other stuff from conference room four in the dressers of the other rooms and use the baggage racks to hold some of the other clothing we've found." "Right. Did you see the white-uniformed maniquin in the room with the uniforms? Keiko asked. "I saw it," Tom replid. "Why?" "We can put the cape from the nurse in the church on it. Since she wasn't wearing it when we found her body, it would be considered outerwear." "Good point,' Tom said. "Let's get started."

Re: IST San Angelo version 2.0 I forgot to mention removing sentinels, gargoyles, Jack and Ta'ra, and a female FBI agent that can become a courag.

Re: IST San Angelo version 2.0 Here's a list of what, if I did a version three of the IST universe, I'd throw out of it. The battle between the Amazons and the Romans and the museum at that site. The French prostitute killer. The Knights of Pendragon. The true story of King Arthur. The President's daughter being a circus performer. The Tipsy Q National Wildlife Refuge. Perfection Valley. A Las Vegas criminologist being able to become a tiger. The Highwayman project. Blue Thunder. The Foundationfor Law and Government. The Nelson Institute of Marine Research and its special research subs. The Queen of Swords. The public knowing about vampire slayers. The FBI looking for a high-tech assault helicopter. Susan Stafford being a possible reason for women still wearing gloves. Boing'sEnterprise space shuttle. The Vulture.

Re: IST San Angelo version 2.0 Continuing on with the thoughts from the previous post, although the heroes will have access, through the internet and the IST database, to the information I've been giving out, not everyone will be aware of all of it.

Re: IST San Angelo version 2.0 Let's see. The Double Eagle Detective Agency crew, from the TV series Outlaws, spent about a year in our era before returning to theirs. Glen Garthe Gregory, played by Lawrence Luckinbill in the 1972-1973 TV series The Delphi Bureau, has long since retired and the bureau obsorbed by some agency or other. Actually, a lot of this is to make the world feel a bit more real. The heroes may not know about all of this stuff, but it, and more, is in the computer.