The Cassette Tape
A kid runs up to you in the market and holds out a battered cassette tape. "Found this in the old drainage tunnel. Nobody wants it - they say it's cursed. But it's got writing on it. You want it?"
The label is handwritten in faded ink: "FIELD NOTES - DR. K - SITE 7 - DO NOT COPY."
Escolhas
- 1
Take the tape. "Cursed" is just a word people use for things they don't understand.
sem requisitoSucessoYou pocket the tape. Later, you find someone with a working player. The audio is degraded - mostly static with fragments of a woman's voice describing soil samples and electromagnetic readings. Nothing earthshaking, but someone at the Institute might pay for field data from an unknown research site.
FalhaYou take the tape and pocket it. That night, your pack falls off your bunk and the tape cracks on the floor. The magnetic ribbon spills out in a tangle. Whatever was on it is gone.
- 2
Give the kid a cap for the tape. Finders should be rewarded.
sem requisitoSucessoThe kid grins and runs off with the cap. You pocket the tape. Even if it's worthless, you just taught a kid that honest commerce beats throwing things away.
Falha - 3
Site 7 - that designation follows a specific pre-war research protocol. You know what it means.
SucessoSite designations with single-digit numbers were reserved for classified government research installations. "DR. K" and "FIELD NOTES" suggest this is primary source data - not a copy, not a summary. Pre-war research tapes in original condition are extremely rare. You take the tape carefully, wrapping it in cloth to prevent further degradation.
FalhaYou're confident about the designation system, but when you examine the tape closely, the label is newer than the casing - someone re-labeled an old tape, probably to make it seem more valuable. The kid is already gone with your interest and the tape is likely just someone's personal audio diary.
UUID