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[Crane]

find the secret of Viendenbourg...
It lies high in the Tanraga mountains...
Go to it, and find out what happened there. Return to here, and meet with me. If you give us the information we need, we will restore your father's mind...

[Atrophied]

{{OK- not on-topic (i.e. not part of the story), but isn't this story set on Earth? She can't go to Viendenbourg/Tanraga, they're in PXC}}

[neuromancer]

{{Off topic message - my alternative thing to crane's post}}

"you have to do something for me first".

Do I look like a simple errand girl to you?? Georgine thought.

But is that really my dad? Surely it can't be?? Where has he been all this time??

Maybe I'm still in the VR simulation....or maybe this is all a big crazy dream!!

Ellen, as if somehow reading Georgina's mind, simply uttered

"This is not a game, Georgina. This is really your Dad, but not as you remember him. Your memories are all an intricate fabrication to hide the truth from you. I do not yet know why they are keeping information from you, or even who you really are, but what I do know is that you are in danger."

"From who?" Asked Georgina.

"CRS. Consumer Recreation Services. Well, at least that's one of their names..."

[Mikeyj]

"and what do you mean 'not as I know him'?"

"he has been...modified"

"Modified"

"Yes, he is now a human Rubik's cube, you have until the sand in this hourglass" Ellen flicked a catch on the briefcase, revealing a purple satin-lined innard, replete with chunky hourglass, "reaches the upper chamber".

Flipping the case deftly she concluded " which is now the lower chamber.

Flummoxed by the double confusion of sharing half her genetic make up with a lump of multi-coloured plastic, and Ellen's unnecessary exposition Georgina wearily...

[POTUS]

. . . Flipped open her internet ready phone and went straight to Google. She pecked away at the tiny keyboard until she had typed "rubik cube solve." She pressed the "Enter" key and waited for the hit list. Scrolling through them she noticed some rather quirky websites . . .

[Scott]

...when she realized they were *all* quirky websites. Even google seemed to be a little off.

Ellen smiled dryly and pointed out "No, that won't do."

Georgina typed frantically away, but even her own webmail Groupware system seemed to be .. different somehow. All of the names had been obfuscated, and the locations were all very far flung.

Ellen seemed to take delight in saying "You're being re-routed."

Rerouted? To what? A parallel internet? What a needlessly complicated thing to build!

Georgina did notice one thing however. Every site she visited brandished ...

[Commo]

the same eery header, "this is not a game," followed by a timer counting down the hours she had left. It read 23:59. She turned to question ellen only to find herself alone in the sqaure, with no trace of the woman, or the man she said was her father. Lost for ideas georgiana sat down cross legged and thought.

[Crane]

[OOC: Errr... We still don't know what she has to do, assuming everyone decided my post wasn't acceptable. She doesn't know what the women wants her to do...]

[number9dream]

She was convinced the days strangeness had to be related to what had happened years ago in the country farmhouse she had grown up in. This was something Georgina had been avoiding thinking about all these years, as the nightmares gradually receded and she had felt herself returning to some kind of 'normality'.

She thought back to that fateful day....She had been a young innocent milkmaid on her father's farm, a normal farm just like any other, with the exception of the mysterious shed at the bottom of the dairy field in which her father spent many long hours working alone. On this particular day she was milking a cow and she could swear she heard a voice saying, over and over, something that sounded like 'bloody clever cows'. She looked around but there was no one there, the shed was empty except for a small sheep.

[chippy]

This same, small sheep grew up to become the prize ram of the farm and was named Robbie, saved from the slaughter due to its genetic makeup. At this farm, and at the same time as Georgina puzzled what was going on, lived and worked Seth.

They both knew each other as children, Seth used to pull her hair, offer her frogs, and Georgina used to make him do silly dances in front of the chickens. Seth had forgotten, they both had forgotten about those times. Ever since that time.

Seth was finishing off from mending some fences, with some determination - this time of year, the lambs would be getting ready to jump, and venture away from their mothers. The Cows, well, they never had cows any more, but the shed was still there, gathering cobwebs, unused for years, but still sturdy. After the fencework, Seth, tall, muscular, dark haired, walked back to the farmhouse for some cucumber sandwiches... he had to go close by the shed today, where he heard the "baa!" of a sheep coming from within the shed, and it didnt sound happy. It was Robbie, that sheep that Georgina was obsessed about. He brushed the cobwebs away from the door, stepped over some dented milk churns and entered the shed...

[GasparLewis]

...only to find Georgina after so many years.

"Who're you, lady?" he asked gruffly, unaware of his long-lost childhood companion. As far as he knew at that point, some random woman was harassing his farm's prize livestock.
"Oh I'm just... Seth? Is... that you?"
"Wait, wait, wait... Georgina?!"
"Oh my god, it's been so long! What are you doing here?"
"I work here as a farmhand. But, then again, I have to ask you the same question."

Being jolted back into the days' excruciating events, Georgina froze. The gravity of her situation had left her in this surreal and wholly unexpected reunion. Slowly, the days' event came back to her, and she became frightened once more.

"Is something wrong, Georgie?"
"No, no, it's just... well... if I were to tell you my family was in danger..."
"Danger? What kind? What can I do?"
"It's... well... let me start from the beginning."

Event by event, she filled Seth in on the violent shift her life had taken in so short a time. With every node in the timeline, Seth could only sit in awe and disbelief, occasionally only giving input by questioning whether such mad things could ever happen. But, Georgina went on, and Seth listened intently until he was brought fully up to speed.

"So," began Seth, "what you're saying is...

[Snowball]

...Georgina wathched the beads of sweat trickling down his toned shoulder blades as he sunk his perfect white teeth into the cucumber sandwich.

He recalled seeing her earlier sitting on the worn fence, her legs swinging idly back and forth, and her floaty summer skirt rippling upwards with the gentle breeze.

He noticed that she was watching him intently and he turned to look at her unabashed, his eyes drinking in the image of her, long flowing hair, modest cleavage and those teasing glimpses of her supple thighs.

She knew what he wanted, The look in his eyes reflecting her own. He held her gaze just long enough for her to make her mind up. Within seconds she was enveloped in his arms. The next hour becoming a blur of passion, the heady musty smell of old hay and the feel of his body against hers too much to recall in detail.

Lying satisfied in each others arms, they jumped with surprise as the door flung open. The shadowy figure crying out with alarm and disbelieving anger. The words spilling from Georginas Fathers lips were too much to bear.....Seth was his son....and her brother.....

[Commo]

Georgina didnt know whether to laugh or cry, it seemed impossible. a racous laughter made her turn. Her father, was rolling on the ground in tears, gulping in breaths between laughs. "Had you going there for a second didnt i?," he managed to get out, before his laughter was cut short in a gasp, his body laying deadly still, in stark contrast to his outburst seconds before.

[silhouette]

She stood still, hardly breathing herself. Her mind was screaming at her to go and help him-but her body held her in place, rigid with fear. Her eyes were glued to the site as her father started twitching and convulsing on the floor...

[Escapist]

"Did you really think if you ran away to your little farm that the problem would just go away?" enquired a snide voice from behind Georgie.

She whipped around to see Susan standing in the barn doorway.

"Susan! What-"

"QUIET!" she bellowed "You will do what we say. We have absolute control over your life". She clicked her fingers and instantly Georgie's father stopped convulsing.

"You have 21 hours"...