Convergence

Spoiler Warning: This scenario is taken from the Delta Green rule book. If you are a Delta Green player you may wish to ask your Keeper if they intend to run any scenarios in that book before reading this write-up, as pertinent scenario information will be revealed.

Thursday, March 18, 2004, 1:17 p.m. CST

Merle's Shut Eye, Groversville, Tennesee

The wail of approaching sirens caught the agents' attention. Agent MICHAEL quickly conferred with the group and then he called Sheriff Dan Oakley's office. The receptionist told him that the sheriff was on a call. MICHAEL demanded that he be put through to him, as it was urgent. The receptionist patched the telephone call over to the radio in the sheriff's patrol car. Oakley answered, stating that he was heading out on a 9-1-1 call. MICHAEL surprised Oakley by saying that he knew, and that he was the reason for the call.

MICHAEL explained that he discharged his firearm at some... thing. He said he would explain everything to the sheriff once the sheriff arrived. He persuaded the sheriff, in the meantime, to have his deputies clear off the crew from Phenomen-X, a trashy, syndicated paranormal TV show. Oakley sounded less than angry but more than annoyed. Even still, Oakley agreed to have his deputies handle the television crew. The sound of approaching sirens cut off abruptly.

The leader of cell M turned to the other agents and told them that they didn't have much time. MICHAEL started the process of uploading the files on Scott Adams' computer to his FBI e-mail address. MORGAN grabbed the video camera and still camera and quickly captured images of the thing in the bathtub. MAYA peeked out the window, keeping watch.

The Phenomen-X crew was shooting footage of the motel, with particular emphasis on their motel room. MAYA flipped them the bird. Just then, the sheriff's deputies showed up and started shifting the TV people out of the parking lot. Oakley approached the motel room door.

Oakley banged on the door. MAYA yelled out, "Who's there?"

MICHAEL approached the door, and told the sheriff that they'd just be a second, stalling for time while MORGAN carefully took samples of the water in the bathtub and the computer continued sending the e-mail. Oakley banged again, and MICHAEL opened the door.

The sheriff stepped into the room. "Give him booties," cried MORGAN from the bathtub.

Oakley wrinkled his nose. "Whewwwww-eeee, what's that stench?" he drawled.

MICHAEL motioned him to the bathroom. Oakley caught a glimpse of the corpse and the strange thing sharing the bathtub. He began to turn some interesting shades of green. "That mass of tissue was alive," explained MICHAEL.

"What the hell is it?"

MICHAEL said that they didn't know, but that they thought that it killed Adams.

MICHAEL said that he had to discharge his firearm in defense against the thing, which resulted in the thing's death. MICHAEL said that they were going to continue investigating the tissue mass, as they believed it was connected to their case.

Oakley looked at MICHAEL, incredulously. "What does that thing have to do with a guy strung out on drugs?"

MORGAN piped up with an outlandish theory that the thing was a slug that had somehow been mutated by drugs. Both MICHAEL and Oakley stared at MORGAN, unconvinced.

"To be honest, Sheriff," said MICHAEL, "we're not sure what this is."

He continued by saying that the FBI was going to figure out what the thing was, and help the town determine how it was connected to the Billy Ray Spivey case. "What do you want to do about this?" he asked, deftly placing the responsibility on the sheriff. MORGAN jumped in, saying that perhaps they needed to call in the CDC.

The sheriff backed down. "I don't think that's necessary."

MORGAN continued with talk of involvement by the CDC. He suggested that the entire town may have to be quarantined. Oakley protested, vehemently. MICHAEL demanded full disclosure, but the sheriff continued to reiterate that there was nothing weird happening in Groversville. While the Delta Green agents didn't believe him, all three of them got the feeling that the sheriff himself believed it. Oakley wanted to keep everything "in the town"; he didn't want outsiders showing up.

MAYA was determined to show the sheriff the bright light of reason. This resulted in a heated argument with Oakley over the weird goings-on in his town. The sheriff became defensive, continuing with his line that there wasn't anything strange happening, and suggesting that maybe they should leave Groversville and let the local law enforcement officers investigate the Spivey case. Apparently denial was a river that ran through Tennessee as well as Egypt.

MORGAN tried to soothe things over. MAYA walked back to the window in disgust. Agent MORGAN wanted to call in the local medical examiner, but the nearest medical examiner was down the road in Cookeville. Also, Oakley continued to hesitate, wanting to keep things quiet. MORGAN finally convinced a reluctant Oakley that he could do the autopsy, alone, using a mobile CDC lab. MORGAN would have the CDC drive the truck from Nashville with a second driver following behind in a car. They would leave the truck near Groversville, and the follow-on driver would take the truck driver back to Nashville.

The deputies pushed the Phenomen-X crew back to their van. MAYA watched as the van left the parking lot. She caught a glimpse of a camera lens as the van drove away. Apparently they were still filming. Other people were taking notice of the going's on at the Shut-Eye Motel. People in other rooms were peering out, and local residents had gathered on the street. MAYA backed up, closing the curtain.

MORGAN pulled out his cell phone and made arrangements for a CDC mobile lab. MICHAEL helped smooth Oakley's ruffled feathers by asking the sheriff to come up with a credible cover story. The sheriff, in turn, told MICHAEL not to worry about it, that he would handle it. Oakley insisted that MICHAEL keep him appraised of everything that was going on. MICHAEL replied that informing the local police was a top priority.

The agents and Oakley left the motel room. One of the deputies sealed the room with sheets of Visqueen and barracaded it with a couple of strips of yellow "Crime Scene" tape. Oakley and two of his deputies left. The third deputy sat in his car, guarding Scott Adams' motel room. The Delta Green agents retired to their own motel room.

MAYA picked up Adams' computer and looked through it for anything interesting. She found two files: one was an audio file, the other was a text file. She played the audio file. It was just noise, though it didn't sound random. MAYA pulled up an audio program that Adams had on his computer. It hit her that perhaps the file had been reversed, that Adams or someone else had taken a regular audio file and saved it so that it played backwards. MAYA flipped the file around and played it.

There was background noise, but clearly audible over top of it was a metallic voice with stilted diction. The voice said, "...dealing with. [Garbled] has been a long time and we have many things to do and you are not sure what you are doing. Stop now. Stop now." The agents played it several times to make out what it said. Their best guess was that someone, or something, had sent Adams a warning. [Editor's note: two sound files are available on the Delta Green web site, representing the backward message and the corrected message. Note that "messagea" is the proper file and "messageb" is the backwards file. There's also a map of Groversville's downtown area.]

The text file was titled "Sze,t" and appeared to be the ravings of a madman. MAYA read it and dismissed it as irrelevant to the investigation at hand. The other agents read it and agreed.

While MICHAEL and MAYA listened once more to the audio file, MORGAN read over a printed copy of the file they found on Adams' computer before the thing attacked. "J.A. - P. three weeks=six months. Refuses Rx, got a room for her at the Shut-Eye." MORGAN thought about this when it hit him. "'P'? Pregnant? Three weeks equals six months?" He got the others' attention. "...a room for her at the Shut-Eye." They looked at each other for a second and then rushed out the door.

At the manager's booth MICHAEL asked if Adams had rented a room for anyone else. The manager said no, but that he had rented a second room starting a week ago in order to store some equipment. MICHAEL tried to convince the manager that he had the authority to see in that room, and this time he was successful. She escorted them to room #10. She opened the door. Inside, hiding on the other side of the bed, was a young woman who was very pregnant. The agents got the manager to leave. MAYA went over to the woman and calmed her down.

The woman — girl, really — was Jane Allen. About a month ago she found out that she was pregnant by her boyfriend. Her boyfriend was Billy Ray Spivey. She disappeared a couple of days later for about an 8 hour period for which she was unable to fully account. After her disappearance, her pregnancy accelerated at a stunning rate, advancing almost two months per week. Scared and with her boyfriend having gone on a rampage, Jane ran away from home leaving a note for her parents so they wouldn't worry. She caught up to Adams, who was in town asking questions. He moved her into the motel and fed her while he continued investigating.

She hadn't eaten since Adams died a couple of days previously, and she was famished. MICHAEL offered to get all of them some food. He asked Jane if she wanted a burger, and she nodded vigorously. "Do you want fries with that?" he asked.

MAYA said, "I bet as an FBI agent you never thought you'd be asking that."

When he got back, Jane wolfed down two burger and fry combos. MICHAEL bought them from the RR Diner, but fortunately it was a better meal than their previous meal from that place.

There was a knock at the door. The motel manager had returned with a FedEx delivery driver. The package from ALPHONSE had arrived. The motel manager looked into the room with nosey interest. MORGAN asked her to keep things quiet as MICHAEL signed for the package. As the woman and the FedEx guy left, MICHAEL took the package into the room and opened it. Inside were six gallons of clear liquid and a spray bottle. The note with the package said that the liquid was leucopararosaniline. If sprayed in the presence of the strange tissue, the liquid turned purple.

MORGAN quickly sprayed himself. Purple spots appeared all over his skin. The same was true of the other two agents. He sprayed the water in the faucet, and it turned bright purple. MORGAN asked for privacy and gave Jane a physical examination. The liquid showed fine surgery lines covered over with the strange tissue. She'd had surgery, but the scars were imperceptible to human eyes. MICHAEL took the bottle and sprayed it into the air. Fine spots of purple hung in front of him for a moment. He and MORGAN went to see the motel manager. They told her that this liquid would detect the presence of a disease that might be affecting the town. They sprayed her, and she had the same purple spots. She appeared worried, but MORGAN lied, saying that purple was normal and that it would turn red if she was infected. They left the relieved woman and returned to the room. Whatever the tissue was made of, the same thing or something similar had contaminated the water supply. It was in the air in small doses, and apparently everyone in town was infected.

MICHAEL called ALPHONSE and told him what they discovered. He told ALPHONSE, "We need to seal off this place."

A panicky MAYA replied, "What are we supposed to do, string tape between trees? It's airborne!"

ALPHONSE told them that the final decision on what to do was up to them, as they were the agents "on the ground". MICHAEL had MORGAN contact the driver heading there with the CDC mobile lab and tell him to get into a hazmat suit before he got into town. Too late they realized that the FedEx driver was probably not from Groversville. If the strange tissue was contagious, it had already extended beyond the bounds of Groversville. The agents figured that their best bet was to find a local solution and hope that everything ended there.

They went over to Jane and asked her about the names in one of Adams' file: Allen, Barn, Thomas, Jacobs, Cartwright, and Anderson. They were all town aldermen, and Allen was her father. She hadn't seen him in ages as he worked late most nights.

MORGAN and MAYA decided to head to the town hall. While they were gone, MICHAEL told Jane to keep the door shut and not open it except for them. He climbed into Adams' rental car and watched Jane's and Adams' rooms as well as the remaining sheriff's deputy.

MORGAN and MAYA got in to see one of the aldermen. They were ushered into a room where they were soon met by alderman John Cartwright. Cartwright greeted them warmly. The agents told him a story about something infecting the town. They wanted to call in the CDC. The alderman was concerned about that. He didn't want outsiders taking over his town. The agents grew suspicious. They tried to quell his worries. MORGAN pulled out the bottle of liquid and asked the alderman if they minded spraying him. MORGAN repeated the lie that a purple colour was normal and red indicated the presence of a disease. The alderman was very reluctant to be sprayed. MORGAN insisted. The alderman stuck out his hand. MORGAN sprayed it. It came out bright purple. The two Delta Green agents smiled. MAYA picked up her phone and called MICHAEL.

The hand became a pseudopod and the alderman struck out at MORGAN. A shocked MORGAN dodged out of the way. MAYA pulled out her gun and fired at the alderman/thing. Like the thing in the bathroom, the bullets didn't have any noticeable effect. The shots gave MORGAN a chance to pull out a bottle of acid. He splashed the alderman/thing with the liquid, and it thrashed in obvious pain.

MAYA yelled into the phone. "Help, help!" she cried. "He's one of them!"

In one desperate move, MORGAN threw the entire bottle at the thing. It broke, and the acid poured over it. It collapsed in a steaming, twitching heap.

MORGAN and MAYA ran from the town hall. They could hear approaching sirens as they got to the car. MAYA was still on the phone with MICHAEL. She told him that they were on their way, and by the sounds of it the sheriff was right behind them. MICHAEL said he'd be waiting. MORGAN received a call from the CDC driver: the truck had arrived at their rendezvous point.

MICHAEL got out of the car. The deputy climbed out of the squad car. MICHAEL approached him, to explain, as best he could, what was happening. The deputy put his hand on his service revolver.

"Halt! Put your hands on the vehicle!" yelled the deputy.

MICHAEL continued to approach, speaking in a calm voice, telling the deputy that there was some kind of mistake. The deputy repeated his demand, and pulled out his service revolver. MICHAEL lept at the deputy. The deputy got a shot off, but not before MICHAEL tackled him. The bullet hit the brick of the motel. MICHAEL used his martial arts skills to stun the deputy. He got on top of the deputy and restrained him with his own handcuffs. MICHAEL ran to Jane's room and pulled her out.

Just then, MAYA pulled up in MORGAN's car. MICHAEL pushed Jane Allen into the car. MICHAEL and MORGAN manhandled the deputy into the car, and piled in. MAYA peeled out of the parking lot just as Sheriff Oakley pulled in. MAYA drove quickly through the town, trying desperately to lose the sheriff. Nothing she did could stop the sirens from shadowing them. As she drove out into the country it became obvious that the sheriff was able to follow them even when he couldn't see them. They all suspected that he was somehow tracking Jane or the deputy.

MORGAN called the CDC mobile lab. He told him there was a change of plan. He told the driver to remain at the wheel in his hazmat suit. They were showing up with two infected, and potentially delirious, people. He was to keep them in the sealed section of the lab and drive them back to the CDC in Nashville. He was not to stop for anything, including local police. The nervous driver said he'd be ready.

MAYA pulled up to the lab. MAYA helped Jane into the lab while MORGAN and MICHAEL threw in the deputy. They got back in the car. In the rearview mirror MAYA could see the lab heading back toward the interstate. MAYA stopped the car and waited for the sheriff. A few seconds later Oakley's car appeared. MAYA took off, with the sheriff following. She pushed the limits of her driving. It paid off. She managed to turn onto a road parallel to the one the sheriff was on, and then she turned onto a side road. The sheriff's siren faded into the distance. MORGAN contacted the CDC driver. The lab managed to get onto the interstate without incident. The deputies tried to catch up to it, but they broke off the chase once the lab approached Cookeville.

The agents pulled off the road and thought about what to do next. There was some sort of connection between the UFOs, the disappearances and the tissue infestation. The only thing they could think of to do was to wait and watch the skies.

Thursday, March 18, 2004, 11:41 p.m. CST

Outside Groversville, Tennessee

Near midnight, the agents saw a glow in the sky. A silver UFO lifted from behind the hills off to the east and headed low over the hills, westward. MAYA began to follow, but the UFO lifted up into the sky and was soon out of sight. The agents decided that since they couldn't follow the craft, they would try to find out where it came from. They headed east.

Just over the hills, in the valley, was a small farm. The farm looked completely deserted. It was, however, directly on the UFO's flight path. The agents figured that they'd better check it out. They pulled off the road and slowly pulled up toward the farm. Everything was still. The farm consisted of a small house and a barn. They slipped into the unlocked farmhouse. It looked like it had been deserted for some time. They turned their attention to the barn.

MORGAN detected the faint sound of machinery. They slipped up to the barn and tried to open the door. It wouldn't budge on the first try, and the agents didn't force the issue. They looked around. The faint sound seemed to be eminating from the barn, wafting up from the roof. There was a window and a winch on a beam near the roof for hauling hay up to the barn loft. MICHAEL quietly threw a line up to the beam. They conferred and MORGAN volunteered to climb. After a couple of false starts, he reached the roof. He looked in.

The barn was full of equipment. Strange metal machines whined and sparked with inhuman activity. Several metal operating tables sat in the middle of the barn. Off to the side stood a half dozen Grays, the strange, pale aliens with large black eyes. They didn't move. Six other creatures did move about, tending equipment and affixing metal teardrops to the barn walls with something that looked like resin. The creatures were even more unearthly than the Grays. They looked vaguely insectoid, with a pink thorax and abdomen. Most of them had six limbs, but a couple had more. Out of the top of the their thorax extended a set of large, leathery looking wings. A greenish mass of very short tentacles served the function of a head. MORGAN had never seen anything like it. For a moment he just sat there, stunned.

He grabbed the videocamera and quietly began filming. He then motioned for MICHAEL to join him. MICHAEL climbed up the rope, while MAYA sat in the car, ready to take off at a moment's notice. MORGAN whispered to him and showed him the images on the video camera. MICHAEL was almost as shocked as MORGAN. He refused to look directly down into the barn. The agents climbed down. They slipped away from the barn and into the car with MAYA. They told her what they saw. She refused to look at the videotape. MICHAEL called ALPHONSE.

A very sleepy sounding old man answered the phone. ALPHONSE seemed annoyed at being awakened, but his annoyance left him when he heard MICHAEL's report. MICHAEL asked for explosives. ALPHONSE said he'd see what he could do and hung up. Thirty minutes later, ALPHONSE phoned back. A truck was heading out to Groversville filled with explosives. MICHAEL thanked ALPHONSE and hung up.

Friday, March 19, 2004, 3:05 a.m. CST

Undisclosed Farm, Groversville, Tennessee

A delivery truck and a car pulled up to the same spot where the mobile lab had parked. Someone slipped unseen from the truck and jumped into the car. The driver waved, and the car headed back to the interstate. MICHAEL opened the back of the truck. The vehicle was full of TNT. A sealed container in the cab included timed detonators. MICHAEL jumped into the car and drove back to the farm, with MAYA following.

They stood off a hundred yards from the barn. MICHAEL rigged the truck so that it would drive straight toward the structure. He prepared a timed detonator and set it in the back of the truck. He gunned the engine and sent the truck straight at the barn. The agents ran for cover.

Instead of crashing into it, the truck's front end crumpled and the vehicle bounced off the barn wall. The agents looked at each other. There was the sudden, low frequency crump of a loud explosion. The agents instinctively looked away. When they looked back, most of the barn was levelled. All that remained standing was a single corner, and that didn't stand for long. They could briefly see that the inside of the barn had been reinforced with a strange form of resin. MAYA caught sight of some movement in the rubble, and then all was still.

As the agents looked over the barn, several black helicopters descended around them. The black-clad troops inside the aircraft aimed automatic weapons at them. One helicopter landed and several men in hazmat suits ran from it to the barn. They doused the barn in a liquid and set it on fire. From the helicopter in front of them, a single middle-aged man approached. He was armed, but he was the only person with a gun for a square mile that wasn't aiming it at one of the Delta Green agents. He smiled. Three gold teeth glinted in the light of the burning barn.

The man looked at the barn and then at the agents. "Why, I declare, you folks look a little green around the gills to me. Why don't you just run along and we'll pretend this téte-a-téte never happened?"

The agents slipped off to their car as the barn burned behind them. By the time they got into MORGAN's vehicle, the silent helicopters lifted off into the night. MORGAN looked off at a retreating chopper. "He has a sort of majestic air about him."

[Editor's Note: this is the third time M Cell has seen the man with the gold teeth. They saw him once from a distance, and once close up.]

MORGAN sprayed the fluid they received by FedEx on his skin. There was still some purple showing, but it was fading away. He contacted the CDC. The deputy seemed fine, if bewildered. So far Jane Allen was okay, but the baby had miscarried.

The agents drove back to the town. Everything seemed sleepy and quiet. They pulled up to the town hall. MAYA picked the lock on the front door, and the agents slipped upstairs to the alderman's office. They slid into the main room, expecting anything. What they saw was a mass of the strange tissue lying dead in the middle of the floor. Within the mass were the mutated and mutilated bodies of several men, each merged with the tissue. The agents had found out what had happened to the aldermen, and why they never went home.