This will probably lead nowhere, but I used to play on Blood Harvest with someone who used the Slash Berzerker handle. We must have mowed down tens of thousands of undead between us.
Chatsworth Osborne Jr. says:
Are you still in touch with Slash?
Corporal Carrot says:
Chatty! Haven’t seen you here in a long time!
Chatsworth Osborne Jr. says:
I’ve been overwhelmed by mundane existence in the last few months. But I noticed a new adventure has started, and I’m trying to catch up.
Hanseatic says:
The guy I played online with probably has nothing to do with our current game. He was using that handle at least a couple years before anybody even thought of this game.
Chatsworth Osborne Jr. says:
Still, if it’s the only lead we’ve got… Can you message him?
Hanseatic says:
Not until I get home from work and load Blood Harvest. And then I’d have to hope he’ll log on.
ReVerb says:
You’re playing this ARG at work! That’s the spirit!
Chatsworth Osborne Jr. says:
Anyone else out there have an account with Flashpoint Gamez? You could message him.
Hippolyte says:
My husband has one. But what questions do I ask?
Chatsworth Osborne Jr. says:
Ask him where he is and who he is and what he does for a living. The answers might be misleading, but even misdirection tells us something.
Hanseatic says:
I’m in Gdynia, and I played using the mirror site in Bucharest, so my guess is that Slash was somewhere in Eastern Europe.
Alaydin says:
Hi everybody, I know that guy. He’s not a character in the game; he’s a friend of mine here in Turkey.
Hippolyte says:
I’ve been worried about the players in Turkey I met during the Stunrunner game. Are you all right, Alaydin?
Alaydin says:
Well, I’m on strike. My business closed down. There’s a lot of military here in Adana so there’s nothing much else that can be done.
Hippolyte says:
Take care of yourself, Alaydin. Our thoughts and prayers are with you.
Alaydin says:
Thank you!
Corporal Carrot says:
Your posts are coming through a little funny.
Alaydin says:
Turkish keyboard.
Corporal Carrot says:
Oh right.
Chatsworth Osborne Jr. says:
Alaydin, I’d like to ask you about your friend Slash. Does he play ARGs?
Alaydin says:
He played Stunrunner, but he wasn’t on the bus with us. I think he really prefers first-person shooters.
Chatsworth Osborne Jr. says:
If he played Stunrunner, then Great Big Idea might have co-opted him for this game in some way. This might be an attempt to keep the Turkish audience they captured for Stunrunner. Has Slash ever been an actor or worked in video?
Alaydin says:
He’s a computer engineer. He has never been in show business.
Chatsworth Osborne Jr. says:
Can you possibly give us his name? And a way to get ahold of him?
Alaydin says:
I do not want to give away his name without permission.
Chatsworth Osborne Jr. says:
Can you give us email, then?
Alaydin says:
This really is not the same Slash Berzerker. Hes out of the country anyway.
Chatsworth Osborne Jr. says:
Where is he?
Alaydin says:
I think Uzbekistan.
Hanseatic says:
This is beginning to sound suspicious. Maybe he’s been sent out of the country for a reason, like to make it hard for us to locate him.
ReVerb says:
He may be hacking Harry’s accounts from Uzbekistan.
Alaydin says:
Not same guy!
Chatsworth Osborne Jr. says:
Easiest way to prove that is to contact him. He’s the only lead we’ve got.
Alaydin says:
I think you’re crazy, but ok. N.Uruisamoglu@HasekiNetwork.co.tu.
Chatsworth Osborne Jr. says:
Thanks!
“Nicely done, there, Chatsworth,” Dagmar said.
“Sometimes you just have to nag them,” Lincoln said, still bent over his keyboard. The Our Reality Network live feed glimmered in his Elvis glasses.
“I’ve got Haseki Network’s English-language home page,” Richard said. “Offices in Turkey, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Azerbaijan, and Kyrgyzstan. Mission statement: ‘To provide wireless access where users in the past did not have access to high speed, high performance, networked communications. To provide long range point-to-point and point-to-multipoint wireless connections. To provide a high level of support to our networks and users.’ ”
“Slogan,” Helmuth said, reading over Richard’s shoulder, “ ‘Now Your Community is the Whole World.’ ”
“When these guys are done,” Richard said, “everyone in the ’Stans will be able to receive hot take-out pizza within twenty minutes.”
Helmuth frowned.
“I don’t see the connection between Haseki and the High Zap,” he said. “These guys are a wireless company, not a bunch of spook hackers.”
Lloyd clicked from screen to screen.
“The Turkish pages aren’t quite identical to the English pages,” he said. “There’s a news page in Turkish that mentions that Haseki has completed on schedule a Turkish-inspired, Turkish-engineered secure communications network for the military.”
“Bingo,” said Richard.
“Still not proven,” Helmuth said.
“Slash’s name is Nimet Uruisamoglu,” Lloyd read from the company Web page. “He’s listed as Vice President, Chief Programmer, Director of Operations (Uzbekistan). A recent promotion, apparently.”
Helmuth laughed. “He doesn’t get credit for being Chief Zombie Killer?”
“His talent for slaughtering the undead,” Richard said, “remains unrecognized.”
Dagmar, meanwhile, had called up an email program and had typed in Uruisamoglu’s email address. She paused as she contemplated the subject line.
“He’s about to get hundreds of insane emails from players all over the world,” she said. “How can I make sure that mine is the email he’s going to open?”
“Offer him money in the subject line,” Lincoln suggested. He was still watching the Seagram’s mystery unfold on the live feed.
“If I do that,” Dagmar said, “he’ll think it’s spam.”
“Tell him you want to hire him for a job,” Richard suggested. “Mention Alaydin. Mention stuff from the Haseki Web page.”
“Let me write the message in Turkish,” Ismet said.
“Oh.” Dagmar waved a hand. “Silly of me not to think of that.”
They considered the content, then had Ismet draft an email offering a chance for Uruisamoglu to take a well-paid but mysterious contract in Western Europe, and to call Dagmar on her handheld.
“Send several of them,” Dagmar said, “with somewhat different content. Just in case he skips over the first few.”
“I will,” Ismet said. “But let’s hope he’s not on strike.”
Lincoln turned away from the live feed and turned to Dagmar.
“The Group Mind found Slash Berzerker in about twenty minutes,” he said. “How long did you expect it would take?”
“A couple hours,” Dagmar said. “We got a little bit lucky.”
“Even though I’m a part of it,” Lincoln said, “I’m always surprised how quickly these missions are completed.”
Dagmar smiled. “Things happen fast when you’ve got tens of thousands of little worker bees to do the job for you.”