TEXT: Singapore Sling is an adventure for the Transhu-
  man Space setting in the year 2100. It is a suitable intro-
  ductory adventure for players new to the setting, and is
  also easy to insert into established campaigns that fit the
  general themes of investigation, political intrigue, indus-
  trial espionage, or memetic warfare. This adventure
  requires access to the GURPS Basic Set, Third Edition,
  GURPS Compendium I, the Transhuman Space core
  book, and Fifth Wave. Fifth Wave is necessary because
  the adventure uses NPCs, a major location, and some
  organizations detailed in that book.
  ADVENTURE STYLE AND
  SUITABLE CHARACTERS
  As written, Singapore Sling is more focused on role-
  playing than action-oriented skill resolution. The players
  will need to piece together the plot as they investigate,
  deciding which leads to follow up and with whom they
  should talk next. With the latter half of the adventure set
  in Singapore, a state with a very strict weapon control pol-
  icy, gung-ho weapon-toting adventurers may feel some-
  what out of place. Martial artists will be much more at
  home, but combat skills will not necessarily be needed.
  e23.sjgames.com
  Stock #82-0060
  Version 1.0 May 19, 2004
  STEVE JACKSON GAMES
  ®
  AN e23 ADVENTURE 
  FOR TRANSHUMAN SPACE
  ® FROM
  STEVE JACKSON GAMES
  FOR 3 TO 6 PLAYERS
  GURPS,  Warehouse 23, and the all-seeing pyramid are registered trademarks of  Steve
  Jackson Games Incorporated. Pyramid, Singapore Sling, and the names of all products
  published by Steve Jackson Games Incorporated are registered trademarks or trademarks of
  Steve Jackson Games Incorporated, or used under license. Some art copyright © www.cli-
  part.com. All rights reserved. Singapore Sling is copyright © 2004 by Steve Jackson
  Games Incorporated. 
  The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this material via the Internet or via any
  other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal, and punishable by law. Please
  purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage the
  electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.
  By David Morgan-Mar
  Edited by Alain Dawson
  Illustrated by Christopher Shy
  SINGAPORE SLING
  
  If the group prefers fast action and combat to inves-
  tigation and roleplaying, Singapore Sling can be con-
  verted by increasing the pace of the story, reducing the
  research scenes to rapid GM-delivered information – or
  making some of them physical infiltration and espionage
  rather than web research – and throwing in a few extra
  combat encounters. A couple of such encounters are
  described in the boxes Saving Sera Panelli (p. 9) and
  Casing Cathay Media (p. 10).
  On the other hand, the heroes may attempt to
  achieve their goals mostly by web research and comput-
  er hacking. The GM should review the computer access
  and intrusion rules on pp. FW124-130 if he anticipates
  the players taking this route.
  Character Types
  The adventure suits a group with skill sets ranging
  from News Hound (p. TS112) and Public Eye (p.
  FW113) to Investigator (p. TS112) and Troubleshooter
  (p. FW114). Note that many news hounds and public
  eyes work at these jobs part time, so such freelancers
  may have additional skills and responsibilities associat-
  ed with their “day jobs.” Argus Society members (p.
  FW84) would be particularly appropriate, and the GM
  can specify this as a campaign background if desired.
  Because of the wide disparity in point values pos-
  sible in Transhuman Space campaigns, it is not possi-
  ble to specify a narrow range suitable for PCs in
  this adventure. Characters ranging from 100 to
  400 points can find enough challenges to keep
  them occupied. The GM should set point values
  for character creation based on the guidelines on p.
  TS110. Characters in the 100-200 point range should
  be humans or genetic upgrade humans. From 200-400
  points the best characters are transhumans with racial
  or model templates accounting for 50-75% of the
  points. A good alternative is allowing players to
  choose a race or model template for free and then
  adding 100 points with up to -45 points in additional
  disadvantages and quirks. Digital intelligences in
  bioshells or cybershells are also appropriate for the
  adventure. The GM should prohibit access to expen-
  sive and ultra-capable shells such as bush robots or
  RATS – most of which are beyond the suggested 400-
  point limit anyway.
  If a player is willing to experiment with some of the
  more intriguing aspects of posthuman roleplaying, he
  might consider playing a completely digital persona,
  such as a digital intelligence loaded into a VII and car-
  ried within another character’s skull. Such a “person”
  will have opportunities to interact in virtual spaces and
  take part in much of the roleplaying. For the latter half of
  the adventure, where more physical action is required, he
  may either continue to research or take action in the dig-
  ital realm, or he could download into a rented cybershell
  and join the other characters in performing physical
  tasks.
  Useful skills for characters include Area Knowl-
  edge (South-East Asia), Computer Hacking, Diploma-
  cy, Disguise, Economics, Electronics Operation
  (Security Systems), Fast Talk, Forgery, History, Intelli-
  gence Analysis, Judo, Karate, Lockpicking, Memetics,
  Psychology, Research, Stealth, Streetwise, and martial
  arts skills.
  The adventure is written assuming the PCs have AI
  allies who routinely assist them in filtering through the
  mass of media and communications that they are sub-
  ject to every day. Such AIs are not necessary – investi-
  gators could do all the hard work themselves – but they
  should be encouraged to get into the spirit of Fifth Wave
  roleplaying.
  Introducing New Players to
  Transhuman Space
  The Transhuman Space setting is broad and com-
  plex, and can be overwhelming for new players. Singa-
  pore Sling is designed to be a relatively gentle
  introduction to the new ideas of this world. The follow-
  ing suggestions may help the players to assimilate some
  of the unfamiliar concepts as they play through the
  adventure.
  SINGAPORE SLING
  2
  ABOUT TRANSHUMAN
  SPACE
  The Transhuman Space series presents a
  unique hard-science and high-biotech universe
  for roleplaying. Set in the Solar System in the
  year 2100, it is a setting rich in adventure, mys-
  tery, and ideological conflict. The core book is
  Transhuman Space (TS), which presents an
  overview of the setting. Other books available
  include Fifth Wave (FW) (focusing on Earth), In
  the Well (ITW) (Mars and the inner system), and
  Under Pressure (UP) (aquatic environments).
  ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  David Morgan-Mar lives in Sydney, Aus-
  tralia. He is co-author of Transhuman Space:
  Under Pressure and has contributed to several
  GURPS books. He is also responsible for the
  strangely popular Irregular Webcomic!
  
  The best place to begin the sequence of events
  with new players is in a location the players know
  and are comfortable with. Their home town or a nearby
  big city are ideal.
  A good setup for novice players in this adventure is
  to have their characters be part of a small local group of
  Argus Society members. The GM can explain that their
  characters are essentially freelance reporters, who
  uncover suspicious activities and report their findings on
  the web. They have made a bit of a name for themselves
  and currently live on or supplement their income from
  their subscription news site.
  The adventure opens with the protagonists being
  invited to a virtual reality meeting. This is a good place
  to emphasize that Transhuman Space is not a cyber-
  punk setting with physically dangerous netrunning. The
  virtual meeting place may be more immersive, but it is
  no less safe than using an Internet chat room. The meet-
  ing with Catherine Cho is a good opportunity to let the
  players get into character.
  As the heroes investigate and uncover leads, they
  will learn about some of the new technology and social
  ideas of the setting. In the context of informing her con-
  tacts, Catherine Cho’s words can explain to the players
  that nanotechnology is a mature technology and has mil-
  itary applications, describing in some detail what those
  applications are and the horrors they could cause. Refer-
  ence to a repeat of the Pacific War tells the players some
  of the history of the setting and sets up the idea of the
  TSA as an “enemy alliance.”
  Subsequent events provide more opportunities to
  familiarize the players with the setting. The cyberdog
  attack helps introduce them to Fifth Wave technology,
  such as biomimetic robots and controlling AIs. Later,
  revealing that Sera Panelli is an emergent artificial intel-
  ligence, and showing them the problems that causes, will
  familiarize the players with the concepts and social
  implications of AIs. The GM should make use of such
  opportunities to reveal setting information within the
  flow of the adventure.
  SETTING AND ADVENTURE
  BACKGROUND
  Singapore is a vibrant Fifth Wave city and home to
  some of the highest technology available on Earth. In
  particular, it is well known for its nanotechnology indus-
  try. Singapore is also an avowedly neutral funnel state
  between the Transpacific Socialist Alliance and capital-
  ist nations, forming one of the few legitimate contacts
  between the TSA and the rest of the world. As such, it is
  a hotbed of political intrigue and a potential flashpoint
  for global conflict.
  More information on Singapore is available
  on pp. FW104-111, and the GM should read that
  material to familiarize himself with the city before run-
  ning this adventure. A tourist map of present-day Singa-
  pore would be a useful accessory if the GM is planning
  to use the geography of the city to enhance the sense of
  location, but it is not necessary.
  The action, however, does not begin in Singapore.
  The initial contact that begins the adventure can occur
  anywhere on Earth, wherever the heroes happen to be. In
  an ongoing campaign it is possible that they live in dif-
  ferent physical locations, and only meet virtually. This is
  fine – the opening act of the adventure takes place most-
  ly in virtual spaces on the net.
  The GM should also be familiar with the Transpa-
  cific Socialist Alliance (pp. TS83, FW71) and the over-
  all geopolitics of the south Asian region in the setting. In
  particular, the descriptions of India (p. FW70), Indonesia
  (p. FW72), and Malaysia (p. FW72) will be helpful.
  THE MALAYSIAN
  PLOT
  In order to run Singapore Sling successfully, it is
  vital that the GM understands the factions and motiva-
  tions that are driving events. As the adventure begins, the
  PCs will be unaware of the true forces at work. Discov-
  ering who has dragged the heroes into these events and
  why they are occurring are the main investigative routes
  of the adventure.
  When the story opens, the General Convention on
  Asian Economic Development is to be held in a month’s
  time in Singapore. This is really a high-level diplomatic
  contact between the TSA bloc and its enemies, under the
  thin guise of a regional economic summit. Official dele-
  gates from Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan,
  Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, the United States, Vietnam,
  and several lesser countries will be attending. The public
  meetings will be closely watched, but any politically
  savvy person (which should include at least one of the
  protagonists) will suspect that back-room negotiations
  and potential espionage will be more important.
  Malaysia, in particular, has concocted a scheme to
  use the convention to its own ends. Memeticists from the
  Malaysian Federal Investigation Team (FIT) – the coun-
  try’s secret service – have been manipulating two influ-
  ential Singaporean business leaders into believing the
  other one is involved with supplying weapons nanotech-
  nology to the TSA, particularly Indonesia. This is part of
  a larger plan to throw suspicion on Indonesia’s
  motives within the TSA and to divert it away from
  SINGAPORE SLING
  3
  
  Malaysia’s own ambitions, as well as weaken the
  stabilizing influence of Singapore in the South-East
  Asian region.
  The Singaporeans involved are Lim Chiang Lai (p.
  FW107) and Catherine Cho (p. FW111). Mr. Lim is a
  dedicated Singaporean nationalist who owns and oper-
  ates Cathay Media, one of the largest media corporations
  in the world. His intelligence gathering powers are
  immense and, arrogantly, he believes them to be some-
  what more reliable than they are. His primary motivation
  throughout the adventure is to thwart what he believes
  are the plans of Indonesia and the TSA to stockpile
  nanoweapons in preparation for an apocalyptic war
  against the capitalist world. Thanks to the FIT, he sus-
  pects Cho is intimately involved with this plan, but is
  waiting for evidence before using his substantial media
  powers to ruin her laudable public profile.
  Catherine Cho is a top nanotechnology researcher
  with a passion for promoting the peaceful uses of nan-
  otech and its ability to neutralize hostile applications of
  the same technology. Her company – Cho Nanoconcepts
  – is known to have recently been in negotiation with the
  Singapore Ministry of Defense. She is a well-known
  public speaker who advocates capitalist industry, and is
  one of the last people anyone would suspect of having
  sympathies for the TSA. Cho’s goal throughout the
  adventure is to uncover evidence of illegal arms deals
  between a rival nanotech corporation – Infinitesimal
  Systems – and the Indonesian government. Once she has
  proof of her suspicions (suspicions planted by the FIT),
  she will be ruthless in rooting out the people behind the
  scheme and exposing them so the proper authorities can
  punish them.
  The FIT memetics team has planned to make Cho
  suspect Mr. Lim in a roundabout way. They are setting
  up the situation so that Mr. Lim will think Cho’s inno-
  cent attempts to thwart Infinitesimal Systems are a sign
  that she is taking out her rivals, making her own (hostile)
  nanotechnology unstoppable. They know Mr. Lim will
  act against what he thinks Cho is doing, and in so doing
  implicate himself. Getting Cho to suspect Infinitesimal
  Systems is a set-up one step removed from their primary
  plot, with its own secondary goals.
  While this is going on, Malaysian delegates at the
  convention are under orders to make friendly overtures
  to Shanti Prabhu, India’s Minister of Commerce and
  Industry, who leads a growing faction in the ruling Indi-
  an National Alliance (INA) with increasingly nanoso-
  cialist leanings. Malaysia’s memetics analysts feel she
  could be coaxed into leading a coup against the Prime
  Minister, given the right enticements of power and a suit-
  able opportunity. Malaysia’s Minister of International
  Trade and Industry, Anwar Mohammad, has been
  instructed to meet with Prabhu privately and offer
  her Malaysia’s full support in pulling off the coup,
  including covert operatives if necessary. Anwar will
  more or less invite a Prabhu-led India into the TSA, with
  the understated goal of pushing Indonesia out of the TSA
  leadership role. India’s own intelligence should, by the
  time of the convention, reveal some of the manipulated
  events involving Cho, Mr. Lim, Infinitesimal Systems,
  and Indonesia. These will indicate to Prabhu that
  Indonesia cannot be trusted to remain the primary power
  in the TSA, thus encouraging her to accept Anwar’s
  offer. If any reports of Infinitesimal Systems dealing
  with Indonesia have been made public, this will only
  serve to make Anwar’s case more convincing.
  It is up to the heroes to piece all of this together and
  pinpoint the Malaysian influence before the forces of
  Cho, Mr. Lim, and the Indonesian government come into
  direct conflict and cause a major incident at the econom-
  ic convention, either diplomatic or violent. More impor-
  tantly, they must thwart Malaysia’s plan to support a
  coup in India, which will lead to a serious destabilization
  of global politics. Convincing either Cho or Mr. Lim, let
  alone both, that they have been deceived will be a diffi-
  cult task, but it will be easy compared to preventing
  Prabhu from accepting Anwar’s offer. Malaysian securi-
  ty will be on the lookout for the PCs, and things could
  get ugly if they need to get some hard evidence or try to
  approach either Anwar or Prabhu. Several options for
  final showdowns are provided, depending on the style of
  the players and the way the plot has developed during
  the adventure.
  THE CONTACT
  While engaging in typical day-to-day activities, the
  heroes are contacted by Catherine Cho (p. FW111), indi-
  vidually, but at about the same time. The contacts come
  in via their VI implants or glasses, filtered through their
  AIs as a potentially interesting communication. Cho
  invites all of them to join her for a meeting in a virtuali-
  ty node in a few hours. She gives them the network
  address and advises them that the information she has
  could lead to one of the biggest scoops of their careers,
  and that they should not speak to anyone else about it
  before talking to her.
  There are no physical risks associated with attending
  a virtual meeting, so there shouldn’t be any reluctance to
  meet with Cho in this way. The node she has chosen is
  run by Microphage, a VR software firm noted for strict
  encryption and privacy standards, which is based in the
  Republic of Alberta and British Columbia. A little inves-
  tigation (+2 to Research rolls) will reveal this informa-
  tion and reassure the researchers that the company is
  SINGAPORE SLING
  4
  
  well known and trusted. If they wish to find the
  physical location of the VR node’s network address,
  that is more difficult (-2 to Research). It is in Japan, but
  that is significant only to the extent that it is not in Singa-
  pore – where it would be more difficult to avoid attention
  from monitoring by the intrusive government.
  Investigators with any familiarity with current nan-
  otechnology research and development, or with South-
  East Asian politics, will know of Catherine Cho. Simply
  asking their AIs for information on her will reveal that
  she is highly intelligent, respected, runs her own nan-
  otech company (Cho Nanoconcepts), and frequently
  speaks publicly in support of capitalist principles. More
  extensive research (requiring a Research roll), may indi-
  cate one or more of the following at the GM’s discretion:
  ● The Singaporean Ministry of Defense has
  approached Cho on what is widely assumed to be a
  “hunter-seeker” nanobot defense contract. (True.)
  ● The TSA is interested in speaking to Cho, to see
  if they can acquire new nanotechnology. (True, but they
  have next to no chance of even getting a meeting.)
  ● Despite being attractive, wealthy, and respectable,
  Cho has no known romantic involvements more recent
  than a brief fling with a fellow engineering student in her
  first year at university. (True for involvement with
  males. What is not known is that Cho ended that rela-
  tionship when she discovered she was more attracted to
  women. Cho’s homosexuality remains a secret she
  guards closely. While no big deal in most of the system,
  this would still be a scandal in ultra-conservative Singa-
  pore.)
  ● Cho Nanoconcepts was one of the fastest start-up
  companies to post significant profits on the Singapore
  Stock Exchange in recent decades. It has done well since
  the stock went public four years ago. (True.)
  ● Cho Nanoconcepts is about to announce the con-
  struction of a new plant in Japan, which will put pressure
  on existing nanotechnology firms operating there,
  including the leading Japanese company, Infinitesimal
  Systems. (Rumormongering among industry commenta-
  tors.)
  ● Cho often speaks in support of pan-sapient rights,
  which has caused some raised eyebrows and government
  consternation in conservative Singapore. (True, although
  the government tolerates her for other reasons.)
  ● The Singapore government thinks Cho is too
  well-known and popular to be allowed to support pan-
  sapient rights so vocally, and is planning a memetic cam-
  paign to bring her down at the same time as it enters into
  defense contracts with Cho Nanoconcepts, with the goal
  of nationalizing the company. (Paranoid conspiracy the-
  ory, though it is presented in several places as real.)
  MEETING CATHERINE CHO
  The Microphage virtuality node requires access
  keys that Cho has given to each of her contacts. The vir-
  tual environment is a standard conference room (p.
  FW43) in a nondescript “generic East Asian” style. Cho
  arrives precisely at the arranged time, and will expect the
  others to be there. If they are late, she will assign an LAI
  to monitor the node for up to an hour, calling her if they
  arrive. After that time, she will close the room – if this
  happens, there is no way to trace it or Cho. If the inves-
  tigators attempt to contact Cho on their own, her AIs will
  act ignorant of any communication attempt and will
  refuse to allow them to talk to her. Cho will contact them
  the next day and arrange a second meeting, but that will
  be the last chance.
  Cho’s avatar looks very much like her (which will
  be obvious to anyone who has searched for a photo), an
  attractive 32-year-old genefixed female with brown hair
  and eyes. Anyone with Fashion Sense or who succeeds
  on a Memetics roll will notice she is attired in clothes
  that were fashionable last year.
  Cho asks the meeting attendees if they are familiar
  with the General Convention on Asian Economic Devel-
  opment conference to be held in Singapore in a month’s
  time. She indicates this week-long conference will be a
  cover for covert backroom meetings between U.S., TSA,
  PRA, Chinese, and Indian diplomats, and it has the
  potential to turn explosive. General political savvy (suc-
  cessful rolls against appropriate Area Knowledge, Eco-
  nomics, History, Politics), or a Research roll by any of
  the investigators, will confirm that the unreported dis-
  cussions are likely to be at least as important as the pub-
  lic ones, and the chance to get near some of the delegates
  will be valuable for newshounds.
  Cho is looking for dirt on one of her business com-
  petitors, Infinitesimal Systems, a global nanotechnol-
  ogy firm based in Japan. If the investigators can
  SINGAPORE SLING
  5
  WHAT IF THE PCS ASK . . . ?
  “Why are you telling us this? Don’t you
  have contacts of your own?”
  Cho answers that, yes, of course she does.
  She has been monitoring useful investigative
  resources around the globe, and feels that the
  present company is worthy of being part of her
  contact network. This is a simple errand
  designed to help both parties and hopefully
  forge a closer association.
  
  uncover something she can use to her advantage,
  she will provide passes to the conference and round
  trip travel tickets as thanks, and she hints at future
  rewards. If the heroes insist on monetary compensation
  up front, Cho will not begrudge them, but will drive a
  hard bargain (she has Merchant-15). Cho will not say
  what she suspects Infinitesimal Systems is up to, for fear
  of prejudicing the investigation. She gives a private net-
  work address where the heroes can contact her once they
  have any suitable information or leads. She will answer
  any other relevant questions as best she can, but is not
  here to socialize and will call the meeting to an end once
  she feels the business at hand is completed.
  Any follow-up investigation into Microphage to
  determine where Cho was located or when she contact-
  ed the company to arrange the meeting room will run
  into dead ends; Microphage is scrupulous about client
  security and privacy.
  GATHERING EVIDENCE
  There are several avenues available to begin the
  investigation of Infinitesimal Systems. The simplest is to
  get AI assistants working on scouring the web for any-
  thing unusual connected to the company. This will turn
  up some of the following clues, at the GM’s discretion:
  ● A data haven message board service contains a
  message relayed from the Free Net (see p. FW31) just a
  day ago (see box, above right). This is the primary clue
  and should be revealed if the investigators do any web
  research at all. If they ask, InSanctum, a small company
  based in Australia, operates the data haven in question.
  ● A public report on an investigation by the Japan-
  ese Environment Ministry into dumping of low-level
  toxic wastes into Osaka Bay, released three months ago.
  Infinitesimal Systems is one of the named suspects for
  the pollution caused six months earlier, but the report
  clears the company of any wrongdoing. It does not, how-
  ever, find a culprit for the case.
  ● Infinitesimal Systems’ stock prices had a sudden
  jump in value six weeks ago, gaining nearly 20% almost
  overnight. The first movement was noticed on the Tokyo
  Stock Exchange.
  ● A web list of the “Top 1,000 Companies Using
  Questionable Memetics in Public Relations” compiled
  by Simeon Price, a well-known public eye, names Infin-
  itesimal Systems at position 632.
  ● A Singapore police report on organized crime
  indicates that some Triad enforcers have been caught
  using nanoassemblers smuggled into secure premises to
  produce, and later dispose of, simple weapons like
  knives. Infinitesimal Systems is named as one of
  several companies trading in Singapore known to pro-
  duce such nanoassembler designs.
  ● Infinitesimal Systems is one of only three non-
  TSA nanotechnology companies with an office in TSA
  territory, in the city of Johore Baharu, Malaysia, right
  next to Singapore (see p. FW109).
  ● Infinitesimal Systems has been contracted by the
  Japanese and Korean governments to develop and sup-
  ply purely defensive nanotechnology designed to neu-
  tralize potential hostile nanoweapon attacks. There are
  no indications that either nation intends using
  nanoweapons for offensive purposes.
  CYBERDOG ATTACK
  Some time after the research begins, the heroes will
  be the subject of what might at first appear to be a ran-
  dom attack by a pair of vicious dogs. The GM should try
  to time the attack to occur when the investigators are
  outdoors, after dark, perhaps walking through a neigh-
  borhood or park. If they are not in the same physical
  location, the largest possible group will be attacked.
  They will walk past a nondescript man who is walk-
  ing a pair of large dogs. When he has passed them,
  SINGAPORE SLING
  6
  THE FREE NET MESSAGE
  Subject: Infinitesimal Systems black nano
  research
  Date: January 7, 2100. 14:23:19 GMT.
  This is so wild it just has to be true. I know
  a guy who works for Infinitesimal Systems in
  their plant in Seoul and he says he saw a memo
  passed down to the R&D section that said they
  were go for “Project Streak.” He didn’t get a
  long look at it, but took a vidcap with his VII
  and got the hell out of there before anyone
  noticed him. I’ve seen the image and you can
  make out bits like “development of cannibal
  nanoassemblers for the contract,” “applications
  to include remote delivery to hardened targets
  for neutralization,” and – get this – “evaluation
  by the military!” He only showed it to me once,
  though, then said he was going to delete it
  because he didn’t want to be found with the evi-
  dence, and I didn’t cap it myself. He’s clammed
  up now and won’t talk about it, but people
  should know what sort of things these guys are
  up to. This sort of military nano could make the
  Pacific War look like a kiddie’s sandbox if
  everyone starts developing it.
  – InVidulator
  
  he releases the dogs – making it look like an acci-
  dent if he is being watched. The dogs attack and will
  fight viciously, relenting only if beaten off. By the time
  the dogs attack, the man is already gone. (If someone
  insists on chasing him while letting his compatriots be
  attacked, the mystery man could be caught. If he is, the
  NAI running the generic cyberdoll model will erase
  itself without putting up a fight, leaving no clue.)
  The dogs are really cheap Gemini Volksrobotics
  cyberdogs (p. FW121), run by NAIs. They will bite and
  cause minor injuries, but are designed mostly to snarl
  and scare. Fright checks may be appropriate for some or
  all of the victims. Their programmed goal is to get one
  painful bite on each victim, then be beaten into submis-
  sion. As soon as the fight is over, and the winners are
  catching their breaths, one of the cyberdogs will speak,
  perhaps shocking anyone who hadn’t realized by now
  that they aren’t real dogs: “Your only warning. Leave
  Infinitesimal Systems alone.” (This can be a “dying
  speech” if the cyberdogs are actually defeated in combat
  and disabled.) Then the NAIs will erase themselves and
  the dog bodies will lie there, empty shells.
  The cyberdog attack is designed to make the victims
  believe they are on to something with their investigation
  of Infinitesimal Systems. It has not been planned by
  Infinitesimal Systems, but by Malaysian FIT agents
  working to make the heroes think that the company is on
  to them and is trying to dissuade them. The warning is
  verbal so that it can only be heard once, and is unlikely
  to be recorded and used as evidence.
  There are no clues to be gained from the cyberdogs
  themselves. They are a common model and were bought
  by an anonymous customer from a local cyberpet store
  the day before the attack. If the victims inform the
  police, they take the cyberdogs away for analysis, but
  don’t offer any real hope.
  THE INFORMANT
  In the days after the dog attack, the investigators’
  AIs alert them to a contact from a woman who wishes to
  talk to them about their “unfortunate accident.” The GM
  should time this event to fit in with the pace of the inves-
  tigation so far – if things are moving slowly, use it to step
  up the action; if the players are enjoying following up
  other leads, let them continue for a while.
  The contact calls herself Sera Panelli, and she wish-
  es to meet in a virtual gaming environment on a secure
  data haven run by Lockout Games, a small corporation
  well known for protecting its customers’anonymity. Her
  avatar in UltraKwest XV – a multiplayer online role-
  playing game supported by several companies sharing
  common virtual spaces – has built a virtual tower that
  forms a safe meeting place. The investigators will
  need to subscribe to UltraKwest (if they don’t already
  have accounts in the game) and follow Sera’s directions
  to her stronghold to reach the meeting. This only takes a
  few minutes of real time. (The GM might be tempted to
  insert a virtual encounter with some fantasy creature
  within the game, which requires combat or parleying
  skills to negotiate, with a poor result indicating addition-
  al fees payable to Lockout. This will be too far outside
  the flow of the investigation for many players, but can be
  done if they would enjoy it.)
  Sera’s avatar in the data fortress is in the form of a
  powerful witch. She give the impression, however, of
  being rather immature, naive, and scared – this character-
  ization is important so the GM should make sure it comes
  across strongly. She begins by telling the attendees that
  she is aware of Infinitesimal Systems targeting them for
  “memetic re-education” concerning their investigations
  into the company. She says she works for the company’s
  public relations department and was recently moved to a
  more active role in promoting its image and keeping it
  clean. This includes responsibilities such as dissuading
  anyone from examining Infinitesimal Systems’ activities
  too closely. She knows of the cyberdog attack, although
  she did not have a hand in organizing it herself.
  Sera is now afraid for her own safety, since she has
  seen the sort of tactics her company is using against peo-
  ple who would expose its dirty secrets. She hopes that
  the investigators will use her information to break a story
  on the company and shut them down.
  The investigators will probably have many questions
  to ask of Sera. At appropriate points, she will mention a
  few other things she is scared about. One thing Sera will
  definitely mention is that she is afraid Infinitesimal Sys-
  tems is making nanobots for military applications – this
  will come up naturally if she is asked anything about
  military nanotechnology. She has overheard lab
  SINGAPORE SLING
  7
  GEMINI VOLKSROBOTICS
  CYBERDOGS
  This is for a cyberdog loaded with an NAI-
  5. It does the listed damage either biting or rak-
  ing with its claws. Cyberdogs are described
  with a character template on p. FW121. For the
  purposes of the combat, however, their impor-
  tant statistics are as follows:
  ST: 10
  Move/Dodge: 12/6 Size: 1
  DX: 12
  PD/DR: 0/2
  Weight: 35 lbs.
  IQ: 9
  Damage: 1d-2 cut
  HT: 12/8 Reach: C
  
  workers talking about contracts for nanoassemblers
  with various governments: Korea, Japan, the Philip-
  pines, and Indonesia. She is a pacifist and does not want
  to be involved with any sort of offensive uses of technol-
  ogy. If the investigators do not pick up the fact that
  Indonesia is a TSA nation and that Infinitesimal Systems
  dealing with its government would be a huge scandal, the
  GM should drop hints until they do – news-savvy char-
  acters in the setting would certainly realize this. Sera
  seems unaware that Indonesia is a country with which
  Infinitesimal Systems should not be doing business.
  Sera will talk about some of her other concerns that
  might interest the heroes. The GM should choose as
  many items from this list as he feels will provide neces-
  sary clues without making things too easy:
  ● She knows that the CEO of Infinitesimal Systems,
  Mr. Park Wei Jong, is traveling to Singapore in a week or
  two to attend some sort of conference and talk to ministers
  from a few different countries. Sera is afraid this is part of
  the company’s plan to enter into contracts to manufacture
  military nanoassemblers. (Mr. Park is indeed attending the
  General Convention on Asian Economic Development to
  talk to government representatives from Singapore and the
  Philippines, but about non-military nanotechnology appli-
  cations, and is not planning to meet any TSA officials.)
  ● She is afraid that if her owners discover how
  smart she has become, they will delete her. This indicates
  to the perhaps surprised heroes that Sera is a digital intel-
  ligence, and not a physical person. Alittle questioning on
  this should establish that Sera has recently “awakened”
  as an emergent intelligence, based initially on an LAI
  used by Infinitesimal Systems to organize operations in
  its memetics department. This is a real concern, as an
  emergent intelligence is generally considered dangerous
  by the people who originally programmed the AI. (See p.
  TS108 for more on emergent intelligences.)
  ● Sera says she is afraid that her UltraKwest
  subscription might be discovered. AIs at Infinitesi-
  mal Systems are allowed web access for research, but are
  discouraged from setting up virtual presences and inter-
  acting with people outside the company, even inside
  gaming environments. She says she may have to close
  her account at some point. In terms of the Malaysian
  plan, this is to plant the idea in her contacts’ heads that
  they may not be able to contact Sera again.
  ● She thinks someone in the memetics department
  may be making insider-trading deals on Infinitesimal
  Systems stock. She gives the name of Ken Nakamura as
  suspect, saying that she noticed him looking at some
  contracts and production schedules he shouldn’t have,
  shortly before the share prices jumped a few weeks back.
  Since then Ken has been flashing expensive new con-
  sumer hardware at work.
  At the end of the meeting, Sera will tell the others
  that if they wish to speak to her again they can enter her
  stronghold in the UltraKwest world and leave a written
  message for her. She gives one of them a key, which rep-
  resents a cryptographic identification string in the real
  world, allowing access to the tower.
  The GM should note that if the investigators begin
  to suspect that Sera Panelli is a bit too naive and con-
  trived, this is all right. She is indeed not genuine – she is
  of course another part of the Malaysian plot to lead the
  heroes astray. However, the GM should do his best to
  play Panelli as genuine, and only let suspicions be raised
  by the insight of the investigators.
  THE SHUTDOWN
  As the investigators continue to chase leads about
  Infinitesimal Systems and Indonesia, they will find their
  sources of information suddenly drying up. The heroes
  may have saved a copy of the Free Net message from
  InVidulator (p. 6), but any attempt to access the data
  haven to which it was posted receives only a “Site
  unreachable” error message. Further investigation will
  reveal that InSanctum, the company that operated the
  haven, has gone out of business. The name of the busi-
  ness owner, Peter O’Keefe, is listed, and the investiga-
  tors may contact him if they desire. O’Keefe says he was
  running the business from a computer in his apartment,
  but a few days ago all of his clients started pulling out
  and closing their accounts. He suspects some sort of
  memetic attack by a rival, since he has found messages
  on the net claiming InSanctum’s security had been
  breached and it was not a reliable data haven, but has no
  idea why he has been targeted in particular. O’Keefe is
  quite vocal, denying that InSanctum was insecure, and
  complains that he will have to get some other job
  now.
  SINGAPORE SLING
  8
  WHAT IF THE PCS ASK . . . ?
  “You’re an AI? Why don’t you transfer
  yourself to our computer/somewhere safe?”
  Sera replies that she needs a high-band-
  width data pipe to transfer herself, and that
  Infinitesimal Systems naturally monitors all
  such channels out of the company’s systems. If
  she were caught transferring they would shut
  the pipe down very quickly and only an unus-
  able fraction of her code would make it out,
  alerting her superiors and leaving her trapped
  on the system and vulnerable.
  
  If the investigators look for any of the cus-
  tomers who pulled their accounts from InSanctum,
  they can find one or two who will say they received
  media stories pointing them to the reports of unreliabili-
  ty. Those reports came through individually customized
  news delivery channels supplied by Cathay Media, a
  large, well-known global media company based in Sin-
  gapore.
  Perhaps more disturbingly, Lockout Games has also
  suffered a sudden reversal of fortunes, being taken over
  in a hostile stock acquisition and then shut down, with all
  staff laid off. A large gaming company, Dijitsu, conduct-
  ed the takeover. A quick search will reveal Dijitsu is a
  subsidiary of Cathay Media. This shutdown means there
  is no record of Sera Panelli’s UltraKwest account, and
  her digital stronghold has been deleted. If the investiga-
  tors try to reach Sera’s tower through another UltraK-
  west server, they find nothing but a virtual representation
  of an empty field. They have no way of contacting Pan-
  elli, unless they decide on a risky frontal approach
  through the offices of Infinitesimal Systems. (See the
  box Saving Sera Panelli, right.)
  If the investigators first contact Cho as soon as they
  learn of a possible link between Infinitesimal Systems
  and the Indonesian government, all of the events in this
  section should be played after speaking to her, as they
  delve back in to the investigation. They can occur either
  as the heroes prepare to leave for Singapore, en route, or
  after they have arrived but before the General Conven-
  tion on Asian Economic Development begins.
  REPORTING TO CATHERINE CHO
  Eventually the investigators will decide they have
  enough leads to give to Catherine Cho, even if they have
  no hard evidence. If they try to contact her too early (i.e.
  before the cyberdog attack and the meeting with Sera
  Panelli), her AI assistant will merely tell the callers that
  she is uncontactable at the moment, but they may leave
  a message. Whether or not they do is largely irrelevant,
  though it may give pause to paranoid callers.
  Once the plot had progressed far enough to make
  the investigators aware that there is some sort of link
  between Infinitesimal Systems and the Indonesian mili-
  tary, they will be able to reach Cho, or she will return
  their call if they left a message with her AI. She will
  again arrange a meeting in her virtual conference room
  hosted by Microphage.
  Cho will be visibly disturbed by the report of Infin-
  itesimal Systems dealing with Indonesia and potentially
  working on offensive military nanotechnology. If she is
  told about the cyberdog attack and suspicious closures of
  data havens that housed the leads the investigators
  were working on, she becomes even more con-
  SINGAPORE SLING
  9
  SAVING SERA PANELLI
  The investigators may decide that finding
  and rescuing Sera Panelli is an important goal.
  This gives scope for expanding the basic plot of
  the adventure by adding a physical infiltration
  scene, and is a good way to allow action-orient-
  ed players to get their blood pumping.
  The most obvious way to begin is to try to
  gain access to an Infinitesimal Systems plant,
  with the hope of finding a computer system that
  will allow access to and download of Sera Pan-
  elli, without triggering security alerts that she is
  being transmitted over an external data pipe.
  The site in question can be determined to be in
  Tokyo if the heroes research the headquarters of
  the company’s memetics department (or the
  employee name Ken Nakamura). They
  may also realize that this is irrele-
  vant since they only need access
  to an internal computer; if not,
  they can travel to Tokyo.
  Breaking in will require some
  creative intrusion techniques,
  ranging from disguise to crawl-
  ing through ducts. Biometric
  infiltration tools such as those on p.
  FW126 may be useful. The building
  will have moderate security, and any guards will
  be armed comparably to the infiltrators. They
  may have to deal with sentinel nanobots or laser
  detection systems, before accessing the comput-
  er systems and trying to find which of the resi-
  dent AIs uses the pseudonym Sera Panelli. The
  main problem is that Panelli does not really
  exist! Although this will be something of a dis-
  appointment, it is an important clue in realizing
  that the entire sequence of leads to Infinitesimal
  Systems has been a set-up.
  In the virtual realm, hacking into Infinitesi-
  mal Systems’ computers will be difficult (see
  the computer intrusion rules on p. FW128). The
  investigators can try to entice her to contact
  them by sending invitations via the web; how-
  ever, since she doesn’t exist, they will get no
  response. If the heroes persist in either of these
  approaches, AIs (or humans, depending on the
  details of the invitations) really working for
  Infinitesimal Systems might notice and will
  most likely alert the company’s security depart-
  ment, leading to other complications.
  
  cerned. Cho will speculate that if Infinitesimal
  Systems has already established links with Indone-
  sia, then it’s likely it is working with several powerful
  TSA
  states, including Vietnam, Malaysia, and
  Bangladesh. (It is important that these countries be
  specifically mentioned here, as a clue that the heroes
  should not restrict their investigation to Indonesian
  links.)
  If her freelancers reveal any suspicions of Cathay
  Media, Cho will look grim indeed. She will suggest that
  taking on such a powerful group through web investiga-
  tion is likely to lead only to dead ends, since they control
  so much of what is and isn’t reported, as the investiga-
  tors have seen already. Their best bet would be to tackle
  the issue on the ground, in Singapore. Since they will
  want to be in the City of Gardens for the General Con-
  vention anyway, they can kill two birds with one stone.
  Throughout this encounter, the GM should be aware
  that the adventure will work better if the protagonists
  trust Cho at this point. They may have been a bit cautious
  at the first meeting, but by now there should be an
  atmosphere of trust between them, fostered by the feel-
  ing that they are on to something big and must work
  together to uncover it without risking their own safety.
  TRAVEL TO
  SINGAPORE
  The trip to Singapore can be inserted at any con-
  venient point in the story, once the investigators have
  reason to want to go there. If they have given Catherine
  Cho some substantial leads, she will arrange tickets on a
  commercial transonic jet. If they have not yet reported
  anything substantial, or wish to take another mode of
  transport, they may make their own arrangements.
  Security on any commercial long-distance transport
  is tight enough that no form of weapon will be allowed
  on board in the passenger’s care. Any attempt to smug-
  gle weapons on board will be detected by port security
  and dealt with severely – hopefully nobody will try!
  Weapon laws in Singapore are very strict, meaning visi-
  tors can carry nothing more dangerous than a shock
  glove (p. TS155), so any lethal or ranged weapon in a
  traveler’s luggage will attract extremely unwelcome
  attention from customs officers. The goal here is not to
  arrest the protagonists, so the GM should make sure they
  are aware that importing weapons into Singapore will be
  illegal.
  On board a commercial vehicle, observant passen-
  gers (roll against Vision-4) will notice two of their
  fellow travelers apparently keeping an eye on
  them. These men are casually dressed, of South-
  East Asian appearance, in good physical condition,
  and are indeed following the investigators. They have
  smuggled on board nanoassemblers that will produce
  electrolaser pistols; they have Combat Reflexes and the
  skill Beam Weapons (Electrolaser)-15. If not detected
  and confronted sooner, these two men will walk close to
  the heroes as they leave the vehicle, discreetly indicate
  their weapons, and instruct them to accompany them
  through the port. The travelers can either comply quietly
  or cause a potentially dangerous scene. If they go quiet-
  ly, they are loaded into a limousine and driven away
  through the streets of Singapore. Two men in the limou-
  sine brandish weapons that look much more lethal than
  the electrolasers – they are 4mm PDWs (p. TS155-156),
  aimed with the skill Guns (Light Automatic)-16.
  If attention is drawn to the men and their weapons
  before reaching the car, there will be a brief fight as port
  security cybershells tackle and arrest anyone involved.
  This includes the investigators, who will be detained and
  questioned at some length by a police detective named
  Karim (a Malay Singaporean). There is no real chance
  they will be able to escape from the security cybershells,
  who are armed to deal with any possible disturbances
  (use the statistics for the Singapore police guards at the
  convention, given on p. 14, if necessary). As they are
  clearly the victims in this case, however, they will (even-
  tually) be released.
  SINGAPORE SLING
  10
  CASING CATHAY MEDIA
  The investigators may decide that having a
  close look inside the Cathay Media offices is a
  good idea. If so, this is an ideal opportunity to
  inject an action sequence into the plot, and set
  up the meeting with Lim Chiang Lai without
  having to kidnap them. The company occupies
  the top half of a tall skyscraper in downtown
  Singapore, not far from the site of the econom-
  ic convention. The heroes will need to be cre-
  ative, either bluffing their way in openly,
  fooling security, or sneaking in undetected.
  They should be allowed to reach some informa-
  tion of whatever sort they are looking for,
  before security systems detect them and they
  are caught. Once captured, they can be escorted
  to Mr. Lim in Bedok Arcology One, probably
  by a private VTOL commuter aircraft from roof
  to roof.
  
  If the travelers have not been escorted away
  by the two armed men, they can check into a hotel
  and settle into the bustle of the city. They can explore the
  exotic location and interact with a few local personalities
  if the GM and players enjoy this sort of roleplaying.
  Soon after arriving, however, they will be met on a street
  by a group of men similar to those who tried to “escort”
  them off the plane. They brandish lethal-looking
  weapons (4mm PDWs) and quickly bustle the heroes
  into a limousine that pulls up beside them.
  MEETING MR. LIM
  However the investigators end up being escorted
  across town, they will be in a smart limousine in the
  company of at least two burly men armed with automat-
  ic weapons. The thugs tell them to keep quiet, and that
  they have been invited to a “meeting.” They keep their
  weapons ready and it is obvious that attempting to
  escape would be suicidal. These men are actually under
  instructions to bring the heroes to a friendly meeting
  and not to harm them under any circumstances, but
  they will not give that away.
  The car’s AI takes the passengers to Bedok
  Arcology One (p. FW106) for a meeting with Lim
  Chiang Lai (p. FW107). Mr. Lim is an imposing
  presence, sitting behind a heavy antique mahogany
  desk, in a richly appointed room decorated with stun-
  ning works of art, in front of a panoramic window show-
  ing a splendid view of Singapore spread out below and
  to the west of his penthouse – if the GM can time this
  meeting to occur at sunset and incorporate that image
  into the description, all the better. If the investigators
  show any inclination to violence, it is clear that armed
  guards are only a fraction of a second away.
  Mr. Lim invites the investigators to sit down and
  offers them drinks in flawless, unaccented English (or
  whatever other language is appropriate for his guests).
  He instructs a beautiful young Chinese woman to fulfill
  their requests, calling her Mai Ling. Mai Ling serves
  them demurely, then retires to a corner of the room, sit-
  ting attentively – she is actually a cyberdoll bodyguard
  running an SAI and will always be present whenever the
  heroes see Mr. Lim. Mr. Lim thanks his guests for their
  presence and apologizes for the method of bringing them
  here. Then he introduces himself and explains that he
  owns Cathay Media.
  Mr. Lim is aware of much of the investigation, and
  the clues that his guests have been following. He tells
  them directly that Catherine Cho is a Transpacific
  Socialist Alliance sympathizer and that she has been
  using them to uncover false truths and spread memes
  implicating Infinitesimal Systems of collusion with
  the Indonesian government, a charge of which the
  SINGAPORE SLING
  11
  WHAT IF THE PCS ASK . . . ?
  “Isn’t there any way we can escape these
  goons?”
  If the GM feels that forcing an abduction
  on the protagonists is too rigidly plotted and that
  the players may not enjoy it, or if their charac-
  ters refuse to go quietly and come up with an
  ingenious method to escape, then by all means
  do not press the issue. The essential meeting
  with Mr. Lim can be set up more pleasantly,
  although it will lose some of its drama.
  A sudden abduction might still work if the
  heroes are not given time to react and make the
  situation more complicated than it should be. If
  they are walking along a street, perhaps a door
  can open and strong cybershells grab them and
  haul them inside, where Mr. Lim is waiting.
  This can still provide some excite-
  ment and suspense if the players
  believe they are in some danger.
  Some players, however, may
  still balk at being shanghaied
  like this – the GM should
  decide what approach his play-
  ers would enjoy.
  A suitable alternative may
  arise through the actions of the inves-
  tigators themselves. They will probably be
  interested in finding out something about
  Cathay Media, and if they take a frontal
  approach and request to speak to anyone in the
  organization, they will be given an appointment
  to talk to “a senior PR executive.” When they
  arrive at the office in downtown Singapore, they
  will be ushered to a ducted-fan VTOL aircraft
  that flies them to the roof of Bedok Arcology
  One. Use the statistics for the Dumont com-
  muter transport on p. FW132 if necessary,
  although the model used will be more sleek,
  expensive, and well-appointed. Alternatively,
  see the box Casing Cathay Media, p. 10.
  If the investigators need prompting, Mr.
  Lim could simply send them a cryptic note
  requesting a meeting. He will send a limousine
  to pick them up. The note should not indicate
  anything other than the invitation, to keep the
  invitees thinking. If they enter the limousine
  freely, the escorts won’t need to display their
  weaponry unless their passengers have second
  thoughts.
  
  company is wholly innocent. He is not yet sure
  why Cho is plotting the downfall of IS, but believes
  it is because it is on the verge of developing a new type
  of nanobot swarm capable of defending against the sort
  of black nanoweapons used by the TSA in the Pacific
  War.
  Mr. Lim is suspicious of Cho’s public image
  – her vocal support of capitalism is just a bit too
  adamant in his eyes, enough to raise doubts concerning
  her veracity. He knows she is capable of developing
  nanoweapons that would far outclass anything the TSA
  used in 2084. To Mr. Lim, it seems as though Cho is
  working against Infinitesimal Systems in order to clear
  the way so that her own weapons will be unstoppable.
  Mr. Lim admits that he used Cathay Media to shut
  down the data havens that held fabricated evidence
  against Infinitesimal Systems. He is committed to peace
  and fears the worst should the company’s defensive nan-
  otechnology research be disrupted. He notes that neither
  InVidulator nor “the alleged EI you met” can be traced
  to any real person. He is not familiar with the name
  “Sera Panelli,” but does know that his guests were con-
  tacted by an LAI computer systems operator working for
  Catherine Cho, who pretended to be an emergent intelli-
  gence working for Infinitesimal
  Systems. Mr. Lim points out that
  true emergent intelligences are
  extremely rare, and usually the
  product of unstable code or virus
  infection – not the sort of thing
  you would expect to occur in a
  company as large and secure as
  Infinitesimal Systems. (Mr.
  Lim’s “knowledge” of the LAI
  working for Cho is another
  piece of Malaysian misdirec-
  tion, delivered to him through a
  corrupted research channel.)
  Mr. Lim suggests that his
  guests turn their investigation
  around and start looking at
  Catherine Cho and what she is
  up to. To help them, he can use
  Cathay Media’s resources to
  spread subtle rumors of internal
  strife at Infinitesimal Systems –
  rumors carefully designed to
  indicate to Cho that the investi-
  gators seem to be uncovering
  some painful truths about the
  company, but which will in fact
  be relatively harmless. They can
  then approach Cho with “evidence” of their work, claim-
  ing her trust, and hopefully gain access to more inside
  details of what she is planning. Mr. Lim suggests that
  whatever she is up to might reach a critical phase at the
  General Convention on Asian Economic Development,
  where she has the chance to meet with TSA delegates
  face to face, and that his guests must attend.
  SINGAPORE SLING
  12
  WHAT IF THE PCS ASK . . . ?
  “Can you show us any proof of these alle-
  gations?”
  If the heroes want to see some proof of Mr.
  Lim’s assertions about Infinitesimal Systems,
  he can show them copies of contracts between
  the company and the Japanese and Korean Min-
  istries of Defense, which outline those coun-
  tries’ commitments to developing nanoweapon
  defenses through Infinitesimal Systems. “Why
  would a company with such lucrative defense
  contracts risk dealing with the enemy?” Mr.
  Lim asks. He will not disclose where he got the
  contracts, though, merely saying that he has
  numerous connections in very high places.
  Needless to say, if these contracts are investi-
  gated, any questions are likely to be met with
  stony silence and possibly a visit from the
  Japanese or Korean security services.
  Another question Mr. Lim could ask the
  investigators is, “Why did Catherine Cho ask
  you to do this work? She has resources of her
  own. Obviously she wants someone not associ-
  ated with her to break these false stories.”
  The actual answer is that Cho was telling
  the truth when she hired the investigators. She
  has resources but she likes to expand her talent
  pool and thought they would be good new
  recruits. She thought the job she gave them was
  relatively trivial, not something that would blow
  up into a major plot.
  “What about all those people who lost jobs
  because of the data havens you shut down?”
  Mr. Lim describes this as regrettable, cer-
  tainly, but it is a small drop in a much larger
  pond. He has instructed his staff to subtly help
  find jobs for any of the affected people who
  seem to be having difficulties doing so on their
  own. When it comes down to it, however, he is
  trying to prevent a war, and he will seem slight-
  ly annoyed that his guests are questioning that –
  he will not become hostile or defensive about it
  though.
  
  MEETING CATHERINE CHO
  Depending on how the heroes take the information
  imparted by Mr. Lim, they may wish to arrange a physi-
  cal meeting with Catherine Cho before the economic
  convention. As long as they don’t confront Cho with any
  accusations, she will agree to meet them in the offices of
  her labs in Jurong, the industrial region west of Singa-
  pore’s city center. The distance can be covered by rapid
  transit subway, taxi, or any other reasonable method.
  Cho will meet her visitors in a spartan office that
  contrasts dramatically with Lim Chiang Lai’s luxurious
  apartment. She resembles her virtual avatar, right down
  to the outdated clothes she wears. Her reactions in this
  meeting will depend heavily on what her guests say.
  If the investigators hedge their report and don’t
  mention Mr. Lim or his accusations, the meeting will go
  pleasantly. Cho will be pleased at any progress and says
  that she will arrange for them to be listed as press atten-
  dees for the General Convention on Asian Economic
  Development. This means she needs their biometric ID
  data so the convention security staff can identify them;
  she will take retina scans, thumbprints, and short voice
  recordings. Cho also tells them that Park Wei Jong, CEO
  of Infinitesimal Systems, has just arrived in Singapore
  from Seoul, if they do not indicate that they are already
  aware of this.
  Cho will give the investigators some advanced nan-
  otechnology that they can use to eavesdrop on conversa-
  tions and meetings at the convention. This includes five
  canisters of separately programmable surveillance
  dust (p. TS154) with newly developed stealth capa-
  bilities that enable the nanobots to avoid detection
  by bughunter microbots (p. TS169) until the
  bughunters are close enough to fall prey to the dust’s
  devourer function (p. TS170). This is an experimental
  prototype, and not publicly available yet. It should be
  able to defeat even the best commercial sentry and
  bughunter microbot swarms. Cho can also supply any
  reasonable number of standard nanobugs, electronic
  lockpicks, and an infrared laser listening device (p.
  TS154).
  If the investigators tell Cho about their meeting with
  Mr. Lim, she will be shocked and surprised. If they relate
  his story of Cho being in league with the TSA in a way
  that implies they don’t believe it, she will outraged at Mr.
  Lim and angrily state that he must be an important link
  in the chain connecting Infinitesimal Systems with the
  TSA, and that he is trying to intimidate her guests into
  dropping their investigation. As long as the heroes play
  along and agree with Cho, she will still get them equip-
  ment and entry into the economic convention.
  On the other hand, if the visitors accuse Cho of
  working with the TSAshe will be outraged at them. They
  may be able to salvage the situation if they talk quickly
  and convince Cho it was some sort of joke or test, but
  this will take a lot of hard work. Cho is more likely to
  throw them out of her lab and never speak to them again.
  If this happens, the investigators will not have the bene-
  fit of Cho’s advanced nanobot surveillance gear at the
  economic convention. Mr. Lim will easily be able to sup-
  ply media clearance for them if they request it, however.
  THE CONVENTION
  The General Convention on Asian Economic
  Development is being held at the Singapore Orchid
  Hotel near the city center, on the southern bank of the
  Singapore River. The hotel is a new building, but deco-
  rated in a retro-colonial style. Guests unfamiliar with its
  (relatively short) history may assume the building is 150
  or more years older than it really is. Research into the
  hotel will of course reveal that the building is only 14
  years old and so probably contains integrated modern
  security systems to ensure privacy, such as shielded
  computer hardware, nanobug emissions detectors, and
  active-mode sonic vibration dampers to foil laser listen-
  ing devices. Indeed, the hotel does contain such systems
  and will defeat standard espionage equipment, but not
  Catherine Cho’s prototype advanced surveillance dust.
  Security is tight, because a number of important
  officials from several nations will be attending. Security
  personnel are mostly Singapore police cyberdolls
  operated by LAIs (see box, right), backed up by a
  SINGAPORE SLING
  13
  OPTION: KEEPING MR.
  LIM SECRET
  Lim Chiang Lai’s profile on p. FW107
  implies that he may be even more secretive than
  presented here. If the GM prefers to keep an air
  of mystery about him, Mr. Lim can remain a
  shadowy figure in the background, and the
  heroes might meet with one of his deputies. In
  such a case, simply replace Mr. Lim with an
  elderly male deputy named Xie Chen Sheng
  (Mr. Xie), but otherwise run the encounters the
  same as described.
  This approach could be useful if the GM is
  planning to run future adventures involving Mr.
  Lim’s vast media empire, where revealing his
  existence is the big “payoff.”
  
  couple of police RATS (p. TS124). They are alert
  and competent, and will attempt to neutralize any
  troublemakers with minimal force, but
  will escalate as far as necessary if the
  situation warrants it. Note that their
  first priority is keeping the dele-
  gates safe – capturing offenders
  comes second.
  Round 
  table 
  meetings
  between all the delegates take
  place on five consecutive days in
  the hotel’s grand ballroom on the
  ground floor, which is magnificently
  appointed with rich carpet and furnishings, silk tapestries
  decorating the walls, the flags of all attending nations
  behind the large conference table, and a huge and some-
  what gaudy crystal chandelier suspended from the 30-
  foot-high ceiling. Authorized press may sit and observe
  the proceedings, but not speak. There is a press confer-
  ence in the same room each evening, in which junior
  members of each delegation release official statements
  and take questions, including from media broadcasting
  live.
  More interesting and important will be the back-
  room meetings that take place out of the public eye, usu-
  ally in the evenings after official engagements are over
  for the day. These will involve not only the national del-
  egates, but also various corporations who represent sig-
  nificant trade interests or wish to open distribution
  channels in new markets. In particular, the executive
  officers of several large Asian and global companies are
  known to be in town for the event, including Park Wei
  Jong, CEO of Infinitesimal Systems.
  SINGAPORE SLING
  14
  CONVENTION DELEGATES
  Present for the General Convention on
  Asian Economic Development are:
  Barry Jefferies, Minister of Trade, Aus-
  tralia.
  Yoon Xiumei, Minister of Trade, China.
  Shanti Prabhu, Minister of Commerce and
  Industry, India.
  Dr Laksamana Sukirno, Minister of Trade
  and Industry, Indonesia.
  Kenichiro Yoshida, Vice Minister of Trade
  and Industry, Japan.
  Lee Yong Hien, Minister of State for Trade,
  Korea.
  Anwar Mohammad, Minister of Interna-
  tional Trade and Industry, Malaysia.
  Zhou Chee Wah, Minister of Trade and
  Industry, Singapore.
  Mongkut Sathirathai, Minister of Com-
  merce, Thailand.
  Joelle Roberts, Trade Representative, Unit-
  ed States.
  Quy-Anh Nghiem, Minister of Trade, Viet-
  nam.
  There are also delegates from Bangladesh,
  Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, East Timor, Laos,
  Maldives, Maluku Selantan, Mongolia, Pak-
  istan, Philippines, Sarawak and Sabah, and Sri
  Lanka, as well as subordinate and security staff
  for each minister. Many of the security staff are
  bioshells (for TSAdelegates) or cybershells (for
  others).
  POLICE CYBERDOLL
  300 POINTS
  Security staff at the economic convention is
  made up of Singapore police cyberdolls (p.
  TS122) with the following attributes and skills.
  They have variable appearances, and are armed
  with police armguns (p. TS155) loaded with
  15mm tangler rounds. They carry three extra
  15mm four-shot magazines – one each of tan-
  gler, tear gas, and HEMP smart warheads. If
  necessary, they can also call in two heavily
  armed police RATS (p. TS124) who lurk in
  service closets.
  ST 14 [0]; DX 12 [20]; IQ 10 [0]; HT 12/15 [0].
  Speed 6.00; Move 6.
  Dodge 6; Parry 10.
  Features: Complexity 7 small computer [0].
  Advantages: Cyberdoll [170]; LAI-07 [50];
  Legal Enforcement Powers [10].
  Disadvantages: Duty (12 or less) [-10].
  Skills: Area Knowledge (Singapore)-11 [2];
  Armory (Rifles and Handguns)-10 [2];
  Beam Weapons (Electrolaser)-15 [4];
  Brawling-13 [2]; Computer Operation-13
  [0]*; Guns (Missile)-15 [4]; Guns (Pis-
  tol)-15 [4]; Judo-14 [16]; Karate-14 [16];
  Knife-13 [2].
  * Cost included in the AI template.
  Languages:
  Cantonese 
  (native)-10 
  [0];
  English-10 
  [2]; 
  Indonesian-10 
  [2];
  Malay-10 [2]; Mandarin-10 [2].
  
  UNCOVERING THE TRUTH
  Since most of the convention guests are staying at
  the Orchid Hotel, most of the private meetings will take
  place in various suites upstairs from the ballroom. Find-
  ing out where delegates are staying will be the first chal-
  lenge. Any reasonable approach should succeed, from
  simply tailing someone discreetly, to looking through
  windows from neighboring buildings, to fast-talking or
  bribing hotel staff, to stealing glimpses at guest lists. The
  GM should assess appropriate roleplaying opportunities
  and/or skill checks for whatever approach the heroes
  take, without making it too difficult. However, if they are
  unsubtle about it, they will attract some pointed ques-
  tions from convention security.
  Some delegates are not staying at the hotel. In par-
  ticular, Shanti Prabhu from India is staying at the Indian
  Embassy, two miles north of the Orchid Hotel. Her meet-
  ings with the Malaysian Minister of International Trade
  and Industry, Anwar Mohammad, are taking place at the
  embassy, ironically because they both feel it is more
  secure than the Orchid Hotel. In fact, the Indian embassy
  is an old building without the modern anti-surveillance
  measures of the Orchid Hotel, and it is relatively easy to
  snoop on conversations there with standard nanobugs or
  laser listening devices.
  At first, however, the investigators might be most
  interested in eavesdropping on meetings involving Dr
  Laksamana Sukirno of Indonesia and Park Wei Jong of
  Infinitesimal Systems. Catherine Cho’s surveillance dust
  can be set to feed images and audio directly to the inves-
  tigators’ VIIs, providing live coverage of whatever it is
  observing. A clever use of the dust would be to sprinkle
  it on a subject’s clothing, so it tracks him wherever he
  goes. This will not work with normal surveillance dust
  on buzzwear clothing (p. TS146), since the nanobrushes
  will clean it off, but Cho’s advanced dust is smart
  enough to find safe bonding sites.
  Surveillance Results
  Spying on specific targets will reveal important
  information to the investigators:
  Park Wei Jong, CEO Infinitesimal Systems: Surveil-
  lance of Mr. Park will reveal he is meeting with Singa-
  pore’s Minister of Trade and Industry, Zhou Chee Wah,
  in Government House north of the river. The conversa-
  tion runs along the lines of contracts to supply industrial
  nanotechnology to Singapore-based businesses. Mr.
  Zhou asks Park if perhaps he should also be talking to
  the Minister of Defense, Sandeep Manju. Park admits
  that Infinitesimal Systems has defense contracts with
  Korea and Japan, but their products are purely defen-
  sive and have no offensive capabilities, and he
  believes Cho Nanoconcepts has everything Singa-
  pore needs in that category, but would agree to meet
  Manju some other time. Also important is the fact that
  Park at no time meets or communicates with any of the
  Indonesian or other TSA delegates.
  Dr Laksamana Sukirno, Indonesia: Since Dr. Lak-
  samana is not aware of any sort of negotiation with Infin-
  itesimal Systems, his conversations with other delegates
  and his own staff will be full of boring economic con-
  siderations and negotiations. If the investigators still
  need some hints to point them at the machinations of the
  Malaysian delegate, Dr. Laksamana can express some
  feelings that the Malaysians are up to something when
  reporting to fellow ministers back in Indonesia, and
  order his staff to keep an eye on Mr. Anwar.
  Anwar Mohammad, Malaysia: Mr. Anwar is aware
  of the espionage being undertaken by FIT around the
  convention. He is also somewhat arrogant and supreme-
  ly overconfident. Almost any surveillance of Anwar will
  reveal him discussing a plan to oust Indonesia from the
  TSA leadership and giving directions to FIT operatives
  concerning the heroes themselves! Although these peo-
  ple may be aware of some of the investiga-
  tors’ activities, they will not yet be
  aware that they are being spied on
  themselves (unless the heroes
  have made it obvious).
  Shanti Prabhu, India: As
  long as the investigators moni-
  tor either Mr. Anwar or Mrs.
  Prabhu, they will obtain cover-
  age of their meetings in the Indian
  Embassy. The GM can time the cru-
  cial meeting freely, either to move the plot along or draw
  out suspense, depending on how well the heroes are
  piecing things together. This meeting reveals the key
  point of Malaysia’s plan to topple Indonesia’s leadership
  of the TSA, as Anwar makes overtures suggesting Prab-
  hu mount a coup to take over the Indian government,
  with the help of Malaysian forces if necessary. India can
  then join the alliance in a dominant role.
  Prabhu will at first be sceptical, prompting Anwar to
  reveal that, even now, Indonesia is making plans with
  Infinitesimal Systems to receive radical new
  nanoweapons technology that will propel them further
  ahead of the rest of the TSA. This could put Indonesia
  into a position where it might threaten India, as Indone-
  sia sees India as a future rival in the nanosocialist bloc.
  Anwar will not admit that Malaysia has merely been
  manipulating events to look this way, as this defeats
  much of his argument. Prabhu has heard rumors of this
  Indonesian deal from her own government, and may
  indicate this to Anwar.
  SINGAPORE SLING
  15
  
  Watching the Watchers
  While the investigators are doing all this, they are
  being watched themselves by Malaysian FIT agents (see
  box, right). These are infiltration cyberdolls operated by
  LAIs. The LAIs are not as creative in dealing with
  unusual situations as a human or SAI, but the Malaysian
  government does not entirely trust ghosts or SAIs to
  operate such impressive hardware in the field. They do
  not expect the investigators to stumble on to their plot,
  but are alert for the possibility. If the heroes are staying
  in the Singapore Orchid Hotel, they are
  safe from any form of surveillance that
  the FIT has available while in their
  rooms. Of course, anyone can eaves-
  drop on their conversations in public
  areas. If they decide it is safer to stay
  somewhere else, the FIT agents may be
  able to monitor their activities more
  closely. The GM should decide based
  on the plot development so far whether
  it would provide a useful impetus to
  have the FIT learn what the investigators
  know (without allowing this to ruin their work).
  WHAT DOES THE FIT WANT?
  In order of importance, the goals of the FIT agents
  are:
  ● Ensure nothing interferes with Anwar Moham-
  mad’s overtures to Shanti Prabhu to encourage the coup,
  which would see India join the TSA and oust Indonesia
  as its leader.
  ● Discredit Catherine Cho, by manipulating Lim
  Chiang Lai into believing she is in league with Indone-
  sia, until he publicizes it through Cathay Media.
  ● Encourage the defamation of Indonesia and dam-
  aging the military defense plans of Korea, Japan, and
  other non-TSA nations by promoting false clues to the
  investigators, implicating Indonesia and Infinitesimal
  Systems.
  ● Once the convention is over, apprehend the inves-
  tigators and remove them to Malaysia. Failing that, elim-
  inate them, preferably in a method that implicates
  Indonesian forces.
  ● Discrediting Cathay Media is not part of their
  instructions. If they see any obvious opportunities for it,
  however, they will report to their superiors, who will
  advise the agents to go ahead and do so, as they see
  Cathay as a powerful capitalist propaganda tool. This
  goes partially against their own plan to use Cathay to
  discredit Cho, but the prospect of damaging Cathay will
  blind them to that fault.
  SINGAPORE SLING
  16
  FIT AGENT
  550 POINTS
  The Malaysian Federal Investigation Team
  agents that appear in this adventure all have
  identical attributes and skills. They are LAIs in
  knockoff cyberdolls modelled on Nanodynam-
  ics’ Deep Indigo infiltration androids (p.
  TS122). They have handsome but off-the-shelf
  physical features, and are easily overlooked by
  most people. They are typically armed with
  electrolasers, police armguns, or 10mm pistols,
  which can be concealed in their flesh pockets.
  For more serious work they have access to a
  variety of heavier weaponry through the FIT.
  Their legal enforcement powers apply only in
  Malaysia. Apparent age 32; 6’2’’; 180 lbs. Vari-
  able hair and eye color.
  ST 15 [0]; DX 13 [10]; IQ 11 [0]; HT 12/20 [0].
  Speed 8.25; Move 8.
  Dodge 9; Parry 10.
  Features: Complexity 8 compact microframe
  [0].
  Advantages: Cyberdoll (Infiltration Android)
  [340]; LAI-08 [60]; Legal Enforcement
  Powers [10]; Patron (Malaysian govern-
  ment; expensive equipment, 9 or less) [40].
  Disadvantages: Extremely Hazardous Duty
  [-20].
  Skills: Area Knowledge (Malaysia)-12 [2]; Area
  Knowledge (South-East Asia)-12 [2];
  Armoury 
  (Beam 
  Handguns)-12 
  [4];
  Armoury (Rifles and Handguns)-12 [4];
  Beam Weapons (Electrolaser)-16 [4];
  Brawling-14 [2]; Climbing-13 [1]; Comput-
  er Operation-13 [0]*; Electronics Operation
  (Security Systems)-14 [8]; Escape-11 [1];
  Fast-Draw-14 
  [1]; 
  Guns 
  (Light
  Automatic)-16 [4]; Guns (Missile)-16 [4];
  Guns (Pistol)-16 [4]; Holdout-12 [4]; Intel-
  ligence Analysis-12 [6]; Interrogation-11
  [2]; Intimidation-11 [8]; Judo-14 [8];
  Karate-13 [4]; Knife-14 [2]; Knife Throw-
  ing-13 [1]; Lockpicking-10 [1]; Mechanic
  (Fuel Cell/Electric Motor)-12 [4]; Piloting
  (VTOL)-13 [1]; Savoir-Faire-12 [8];
  Stealth-14 [4]; Tactics-10 [2]; Tracking-11
  [2].
  * Cost included in the AI template.
  Languages: Cantonese-11 [2]; English-11 [2];
  Indonesian-11 [2]; Japanese-11 [2]; Malay
  (native)-11 [0]; Mandarin-11 [2]; Thai-11
  [2].
  
  THE SHOWDOWN
  Once the investigators are aware that the situation is
  not as it initially seemed, and that the Malaysian forces
  are stirring up trouble, several things could happen
  depending on what the investigators do.
  If they take their findings to Catherine Cho, she will
  be astounded and express the need to take some quick
  action to prevent Prabhu from accepting Malaysia’s pro-
  posal. She will still need convincing that Infinitesimal
  Systems is not somehow involved, since the leads that
  prompted her investigation were persuasive. Getting
  Cho to believe that Cathay Media is innocent is even
  harder, as she finds the shutting down of InSanctum and
  Lockout Games to be damning evidence. A good expla-
  nation of the double-pronged misdirection and the
  memetic capabilities of the Malaysian FIT might be
  enough, or the heroes may suggest a meeting with Lim
  Chiang Lai. Even if she remains suspicious, Cho agrees
  that the India issue is more urgent. She will ask her
  guests what they think should be done. If they come up
  with any reasonable plan, she will do anything in her
  considerable power to help. If they
  are not sure what can be done,
  Cho will decide that discredit-
  ing Malaysia in some way
  will be a good start, either
  privately to Prabhu, or pub-
  licly.
  If the heroes instead
  contact Lim Chiang Lai, he
  will not talk to them except face
  to face, claiming it may be too danger-
  ous otherwise. On this trip to Bedok Arcology One the
  FIT agents tailing the heroes will deduce that something
  is going wrong with their plan. Depending on the mode
  of travel and time of day, they may attempt to intercept
  the travelers and detain them for eventual removal to
  Malaysia. (Note that Malaysia is accessible by road,
  boat, or air from Singapore in only a few minutes.) The
  heroes will need to be resourceful to avoid capture,
  though the GM should allow any reasonable plan a
  chance of success. If they do manage to reach Mr. Lim,
  he will be willing to believe that Cho has been manipu-
  lated and sees more clearly than her that the entire oper-
  ation was probably a Malaysian plot from the beginning.
  Mr. Lim will be amenable to a meeting with Cho, if the
  investigators can convince her to see him. Like Cho, Mr.
  Lim will help the heroes to prevent Prabhu from decid-
  ing to mount a coup and join the TSA. Unlike Cho, how-
  ever, he has the resources of Cathay Media at his
  disposal. Simply breaking the story in the mainstream
  media will naturally outrage Indonesia and put
  SINGAPORE SLING
  17
  SHANTI PRABHU
  130 POINTS
  Female human, born 2047. Age 52; 5’4’’;
  130 lbs. Brown skin, greying black hair, dark
  brown eyes.
  Shanti Prabhu is the current Minister of
  Commerce and Industry for India. She is a mem-
  ber of the ruling Indian National Alliance (INA),
  a conservative party mostly aligned against the
  increasing nanosocialist movement in India. She
  has achieved this position more out of sheer
  determination, natural charisma, and lust for per-
  sonal glory than any seriously held political con-
  viction. At the moment, she foresees that the INA
  will lose the next general election in three years,
  and that a nanosocialist party will rise to power.
  She is thus positioning herself for a switch of
  allegiance when the opportunity presents itself,
  and has gathered a cadre of personal supporters
  within the INA to back her. Prabhu is supremely
  confident in her abilities and if a chance to seize
  more power for herself presents itself, she is like-
  ly to take it with firm and decisive action.
  ST 9 [-10]; DX 9 [-10]; IQ 13 [30]; HT 11 [10].
  Speed 5.00; Move 5.
  Dodge 5.
  Advantages: Ally Group (Nanosocialist sympa-
  thizers; medium group, 100 points, 9 or less)
  [30]; Charisma +4 [20]; Genefixed Human
  [0]; Status 6 [25]; Very Wealthy [30].
  Disadvantages: Disciplines of Faith (Hindu)
  [-5]; Fanaticism (Self) [-15]; Megalomania
  [-10]; Secret (Leader of nanosocialist bloc
  within Indian National Alliance) [-20].
  Quirks: Chooses political philosophy based on
  perceived self-opportunity; Decisive; Proud.
  [-3]
  Skills: Accounting-13 [4]; Acting-12 [1];
  Administration-14 [4]; Detect Lies-12 [2];
  Diplomacy-16 [8]*; Economics-16 [10];
  Fast-Talk-14 [2]*; History-12 [2]; Law-12
  [2]; Leadership-18 [2]**; Mathematics-11
  [1]; Memetics-11 [2]; Merchant-13 [1]*;
  Politics-16 [6]*; Psychology-13 [2]*;
  Research-11 [1/2]; Savoir-Faire-16 [2].
  * Includes +1 from Memetics.
  ** Includes +4 from Charisma and +1 from
  Memetics.
  Languages: English-12 [1]; Hindi (native)-13
  [0]; Indonesian-11 [1/2].
  
  Malaysia squarely on the defensive. However, it
  may also destabilize the TSA – and India – enough
  to cause widespread violence, which Mr. Lim would
  deplore. Convincing him to run the story will take a good
  deal of persuasion.
  Perhaps the most obvious approach to discouraging
  Prabhu from trusting Malaysia is to see her and provide
  her with evidence of the entire Malaysian plot. Getting
  an appointment to see her will be the difficult part, both
  because she is naturally busy with the convention and
  because the FIT agents will be alert for any contact with
  Prabhu and won’t let the investigators talk to her or any
  of her staff if they can help it. If they do manage to talk
  to Prabhu and provide some evidence of the Malaysian
  plan, this will naturally make her suspect Malaysia’s
  motives, abort any coup attempt, and set back any
  prospect of India joining the TSA by several years, even
  if nanosocialists oust the Indian National Alliance peace-
  fully at the next election.
  Another option, more devious but potentially better,
  is to fabricate evidence that Prabhu is planning to take up
  Malaysia’s invitation with a little more gusto than
  Malaysia would hope, and oust Malaysia from a position
  of challenging Indonesia, leaving India and Indonesia
  alone at the top of the alliance hierarchy. If such a plot
  could be presented even half convincingly to Anwar
  Mohammad, he would immediately pull the plug on
  negotiations with Prabhu, accusing her of grabbing for
  power, and generally chilling relations between India
  and the TSA. This outcome would make the likelihood
  of India joining the TSAin the near future remote at best.
  Of course, once again, the FIT agents will do everything
  they can to prevent the investigators from talking to
  Anwar.
  A third option is if the investigators post details of
  the Malaysian plot directly to web news sites, either
  before or after meeting Catherine Cho or Lim Chiang
  Lai. If they do this, the FIT agents will be alerted very
  quickly (possibly within minutes, if the heroes post to
  their own or high-profile sites) and will storm their loca-
  tion in an attempt to neutralize them and use their
  web access channels to remove the information.
  This could be accomplished by stealing VIGs or
  other computer hardware while it is being used and
  maintaining an authenticated data entry session, or by
  capture, intimidation, and interrogation for access keys.
  Depending on the details posted, and how long they
  remain accessible, the news could spread like wildfire,
  and achieve much the same mixed results as if Mr. Lim
  had broken the story via Cathay Media.
  At some stage, it is likely that FIT agents will come
  into direct conflict with
  the investigators. Once
  this occurs, the FIT
  agents’ goal will be to
  incapacitate and capture
  them, to prevent any fur-
  ther meddling in the
  plot. The investigators
  will probably try to fight
  back. There will be one
  FIT agent present for
  each investigator. Combat
  in a public place will naturally attract attention, especial-
  ly if it is in the Singapore Orchid Hotel, where conven-
  tion security staff will arrive within 3d+10 seconds of any
  disturbance. The Singapore police cybershells who per-
  form security duties will use electrolasers first to inca-
  pacitate, upgrading to 15mm tangler or tear gas warheads
  (p. TS158-159) if necessary. They will outnumber other
  combatants by two to one, with reinforcements including
  the hidden RATS arriving rapidly, and will attempt to
  take everyone prisoner and ask questions later. Else-
  where, Singapore police will arrive in 4d×10 seconds.
  Unless they have somehow
  obtained access to weapons
  illegal in Singapore, the
  heroes will be heavily
  outclassed. The GM
  should allow creative
  tactics to have a good
  chance of success, without
  tipping things too much in
  their favor. If they somehow
  defeat or evade the FIT agents, they will have police and
  more FIT agents on their tails and a limited amount of
  time to reach, talk to, and convince whomever they are
  trying to inform of the plot. This is a good place for a
  chase scene, which should be tailored for whatever mode
  of transport the heroes are using, from foot to air vehicle.
  An appropriately dramatic climax to the adventure
  can occur if the heroes have to fight their way past secu-
  rity personnel to get a few desperate words with a gov-
  ernment official, which will cause him to put various
  pieces together and put an end to the Malaysian plot.
  SINGAPORE SLING
  18
  
  AFTERMATH
  It is quite likely that the investigators will end up in
  the custody of the Singapore police. If they have played
  their cards right and informed the right people about
  events, they will have the support of one or more of
  Catherine Cho, Lim Chiang Lai, and possibly even
  Shanti Prabhu in explaining their actions and helping to
  get them free. Prabhu has the most obvious sway, but
  Mr. Lim has many connections behind the scenes and
  can probably arrange for their actual release more quick-
  ly. Cho is a powerful speaker in their favor, but does not
  hold as much practical value in this situation.
  If the heroes have not broken any laws, they will
  eventually be freed, as it will become apparent quickly
  that they were victims of the attack by the FIT agents.
  This will raise other questions though: Why were
  Malaysian FIT cybershells attacking them? Why were
  they trailing them? Were FIT agents, or the investigators,
  up to something? Is anyone at the convention threat-
  ened?
  If Catherine Cho is still on good terms with the pris-
  oners, she will come to speak to them a few hours after
  their arrest. If they have not yet informed her of the
  Malaysian plot, they can tell her now, which will set the
  wheels in motion for getting them free, but may not be
  fast enough to prevent Prabhu from taking up Malaysia’s
  offer, depending on their actions before arrest. This
  could be played as a desperate race against time to con-
  tact Prabhu while dealing with unsympathetic police and
  administrative red tape.
  Mr. Lim will not leave his arcology apartment, but
  will send Mai Ling to “assist” the police in their dealings
  with the prisoners. Once with the captives, she will say
  that they may speak to her as if she were Mr. Lim. If they
  need convincing, Mai Ling will speak briefly with Mr.
  Lim’s voice, as he uses her as a direct communication
  link and explains that she is a cyberdoll, and he can hear
  everything they say. Once the prisoners accept this, the
  voice will revert to Mai Ling’s. She assures them that
  Mr. Lim will get them released as soon as he can. If they
  tell her about the Malaysian plot for the first time, Mr.
  Lim’s reaction will be more severe than if
  they had told him before getting
  entangled with the FIT. He is
  more likely to simply break
  the story in Cathay Media,
  unless there is still time for
  the heroes to concoct and
  execute another method of
  foiling Malaysia’s plan.
  If the heroes do not end up in the hands of the
  Singapore police, they may instead have been cap-
  tured by FIT agents and carried
  across the border into Malaysia.
  This is the worst way that this
  scenario can end, in terms of
  the heroes achieving their
  goals – although it is possi-
  ble that they could prevent
  Shanti Prabhu from agreeing
  to Malaysia’s plan and still end
  up in Malaysian custody. If the
  captives managed to inform Catherine Cho or Lim Chi-
  ang Lai of the potential Indian coup, they will work as
  best they can to prevent it, but will probably be too late
  to influence Prabhu’s immediate agreement with Anwar
  Mohammad. Cho will have difficulties stopping the plot
  once that happens, unless she simply goes public about
  the entire scheme. Mr. Lim has more avenues for inter-
  vention, with a full exposé in Cathay Media the last
  option. The GM should decide how these events will
  play out, possibly using it to set up further adventures.
  Escaping Malaysian custody will be tricky. If the
  Malaysian plot has been exposed to Cho, Mr. Lim, or
  anyone else, then eventually diplomatic pressure to
  release the prisoners can be exerted by Singapore, possi-
  bly Indonesia, and potentially PRA nations like Japan,
  Korea, and Australia. Assuming it fits the GM’s cam-
  paign plans, the captives can be released some time later.
  If the plot hasn’t already been exposed, the heroes are
  clearly too dangerous to Malaysia’s interests to be
  allowed free. If Cho or Mr. Lim are on their sides and
  somehow aware of where they have disappeared to, they
  may try to secure their release, but it will be difficult. If
  nobody outside Malaysia knows what has happened to
  them, they will have to orchestrate their own escape or
  look forward to a lifetime in a Malaysian prison . . .
  On the other hand, if the heroes manage to prevent
  Prabhu from accepting Malaysia’s invitation to over-
  throw her government and join the TSA without getting
  themselves captured or arrested, they should feel justifi-
  ably pleased with themselves!
  IMMEDIATE CONSEQUENCES
  If the heroes do not manage to pull off some sort of
  active intervention in the negotiations between Anwar
  Mohammad and Shanti Prabhu, the opportunity will
  have passed and Prabhu will soon make moves to oust
  her Prime Minister and join the TSA. This is probably
  the worst possible outcome for the adventure.
  If either (or both) Catherine Cho and Lim Chiang
  Lai remain convinced that the other is dealing with
  the TSA, the consequences could be severe. Mr.
  SINGAPORE SLING
  19
  
  Lim runs a major media network, so can ruin
  Cho’s reputation easily. He has the resources to
  uncover Cho’s homosexuality secret if he has cause to
  investigate her, and will not hesitate to reveal it. Cho is
  an outspoken capitalist and advocate of peaceful uses of
  nanotech – if she is discredited, both these causes will
  suffer. If Cho reveals Lim’s
  suspected activities, he will
  act ruthlessly to defend his
  reputation and interests, feel-
  ing it to be for the sake of
  humanity. Cho could also
  potentially ruin Infinitesimal
  System’s reputation enough
  that it loses its defense con-
  tracts with Japan and Korea.
  The only winner will be the
  TSA.
  If the investigators have
  left either of these contacts in
  such a state, they may think to
  visit them and wrap the
  adventure up properly by let-
  ting them know what was
  really happening. If they neg-
  lect to do this, the GM should make sure the conse-
  quences are played out over the next sessions of the
  campaign.
  Ideally, Indonesia should remain unaware of the
  Malaysian plot, because revealing it would seriously
  destabilize the TSA, potentially to the point of war. The
  heroes may, however, feel that such a destabilization
  may be the trigger needed to break the TSA and
  reduce its global influence, so they may try to do it.
  The consequences of this can reverberate through many
  future adventures.
  If the heroes end up in a Malaysian prison, the GM
  should either have the players create characters for a new
  campaign or decide on a way in which they can reason-
  ably regain their freedom. An option is a rescue by
  friends or family, who could begin by investigating to
  find out where their comrades have gone. This could
  either be played out, or simply used as the story behind
  an eventual release.
  FURTHER ADVENTURES
  If the heroes have played their cards right, they
  could end up under the patronage of Lim Chiang Lai,
  Catherine Cho, or even both, which would lead to further
  investigative and troubleshooting jobs.
  The adventure lays the groundwork for further
  intrigue in Singapore, dealing with TSA plots either at
  the memetic, diplomatic, or covert action level.
  Malaysia’s ambitions to oust Indonesia as the leader of
  the TSA will not have been blunted, and there will be
  further schemes to be uncovered and thwarted.
  An important loose end is that Indonesia is still get-
  ting the latest military nanotechnology designs from
  somewhere, which keeps Catherine Cho worried. There
  is plenty of scope for investigation to find out where the
  pipeline is, and for action to expose it or close it down.
  Infinitesimal Systems is innocent, but there are several
  other nanotechnology companies either based in or with
  major offices in Singapore, and thus relatively easy
  access to the TSA.
  SINGAPORE SLING
  20
  CHARACTER POINT
  AWARDS
  The GM may use the following as a guide-
  line for determining character points awarded to
  players for the adventure.
  Preventing Shanti Prabhu from accepting
  Anwar’s invitation to overthrow the Indian gov-
  ernment and join the TSA: 5 points each.
  Not getting arrested: 1 point.
  Revealing Malaysia’s plot to Indonesia: -1
  point.
  Being captured by FIT agents: -2 points.
  Leaving Catherine Cho or Lim Chiang Lai
  suspicious of the other: -1 point.
  Good roleplaying: 1-3 points at GM’s dis-
  cretion.
  
  If the plot has been partly or wholly revealed
  to the public, there will be political consequences
  for Malaysia and increased tension in the region, espe-
  cially from the might of Indonesia. Even those who
  would like to see the downfall of the TSA are not keen
  for a replay of hostilities so soon after the Pacific War.
  With new advances in technology, nobody is sure exact-
  ly how dangerous a conflict would be or how swiftly it
  might get out of hand and threaten the rest of the world.
  Keeping an eye on activity and a lid on any potential out-
  breaks could occupy a group of heroes for some time.
  Another danger is Shanti Prabhu, a highly volatile
  loose cannon in Indian politics. She will undoubtedly
  come up with other schemes to promote her own per-
  sonal glory agenda. Prabhu has kept her more crazed
  goals secret up to now, but once they are revealed there
  are many agencies that would like to see her stopped
  before she causes civil chaos in the world’s most popu-
  lous nation. She is a popular member of the government,
  with dedicated followers both in the halls of power and
  on the streets of Delhi,
  Mumbai, and Kolkata.
  Something that may
  come to the attention of clever
  geneticists is the fact that
  Shanti Prabhu is one of the
  last generation of genefixed
  humans before the mental sta-
  bility trait was perfected in 2050.
  Over the past few years, several mem-
  bers of this generation around the world have been
  exhibiting aberrant behavior similar to Prabhu’s megalo-
  mania. Several people of this age are now in positions of
  considerable power; will they begin to show signs of
  mental instability too? What can be done? The first thing
  that will be needed is a group of intrepid investigators to
  find out if there really is something wrong with the 2047
  genefix, what problems it may cause, who has been cov-
  ering it up for over half a century, and why
  SINGAPORE SLING
  21
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SOURCE: textdata/thevault/GURPS Classic/SETTING/Transhuman Space/Transhuman Space (Gurps 3e)/GURPS (3rd ed.)-Transhuman Space-Singapore Sling.pdf