Synthetic Substrate, Session 1: NuHarvest Substrate Farm 14

Scene setup

Countdown event Timer: D6

Countdown check

(D6): (5) => No event

Scene check

(D8): (5) => Challenging. Requires one or more skill rolls to proceed. E.G.: The witness is reluctant to answer your questions, or their answers are evasive; the crime scene is a mess, and requires a careful and lengthy search; finding the data you seek can be done remotely, but requires a TECH roll

Playing the scene

Traveling beyond downtown is always a meditative experience. The city and every human artifact slowly fall away, leaving room for the devastated landscape. It always makes me reflect on the place of human beings in the order of things. I don’t like where that takes me.

NuHarvest Substrate Farm 14 finally appears a few clicks ahead. I park my spinner in plain view. No reason to be secretive here.

The farm is huge. I expected some kind of greenhouse complex, but that’s not what I find. Most of the structure is low, brutalist concrete buildings.

I head for the administrative offices and flash my badge at the first clerk I meet, asking to speak with Pentecost. He doesn’t object. My visit was probably expected.

Pentecost is young and handsome. I was expecting some nerdy specimen, but that’s not what I get. He looks at everyone around him with open disdain, as if being here were beneath him, a waste of his time. I dislike him instantly.

I flash my badge.

Locke: “Locke, RDU. I need to ask you a few questions.”

He looks at my coat with disgust.

Pentecost: “Let’s make this quick. I’m a busy man.”

L: “Of course. First of all, mind explaining what you do here?”

He scoffs.

P: “What, ‘protein farm’ is too hard to understand? Fine, I’ll explain. Basically, we grow mushrooms. I’m the manager. Growing anything in the soil out here is next to impossible, so we try to be smart about it. Mushrooms are far less demanding than regular crops in terms of light, water, temperature and substrate.”

L: “Substrate?”

He lights a cigarette and takes his time exhaling before he speaks. Busy man, my ass.

P: “The stuff mushrooms grow on. The equivalent of soil for crops. It’s the core of our business.”

L: “How so?”

P: “We grow genetically engineered mushrooms with a higher protein content. That kind of mushroom is harder to grow. It needs a very specific substrate, and a complex one. Some of the components are quite rare.”

L: “Rare as in ‘valuable’?”

P: “Exactly. Of course, the costly stuff is present in extremely low concentrations, or the whole thing wouldn’t be viable.”

L: “What kind of valuable component are we talking about?”

P: “Wood, mostly. REAL wood. Mushrooms love the stuff.”

Fate Question. Q: Was wood storage destroyed in the sabotage?
A: (D10): (8) => yes

P: “And as you know, wood and fire don’t get along. Most of our stock was destroyed in the explosion.”

Insight skill check. (D12 + D12): (3 + 9) => 1 success

L: “The reports say the power generators were blown up. Is that right?”

P: “It is.”

L: “So you store wood next to the generators? Isn’t that a bit risky, for the most valuable thing you’ve got?”

That hits a nerve. For an instant his face becomes a mask of rage. Plain incompetence, or is he hiding something?

P: “We have extremely strict security procedures, and we follow them to the letter. You’re free to check. This was sabotage. If you’re looking for someone to blame, look elsewhere.”

L: “I will. Check, that is.”

I let that hang for a moment.

L: “You’re a Wallace subsidiary, right?”

P: “Right. Every patented engineered strain we grow was designed by Niander Wallace himself. So was the substrate.”

L: “How much freedom do you have out here? Does Wallace keep you on a short leash? Will there be consequences for losing the wood?”

Manipulation opposed roll
Pentecost skill: (D8): (5) => C/C
Locke manipulation roll: (D12 + D10): (10 + 4) => 2 successes
Pentecost insight roll: (D8 + D8): (1 + 6) => 1 success
Locke wins

P: “As I said, this was sabotage. There’s no blame to assign, and Wallace is perfectly aware of that.”

They aren’t. I can see it plainly in his frightened eyes. There WILL be consequences. Still, a warehouse full of wood, however valuable, is small change to a company like Wallace. Not the kind of thing that calls for a brass like Wozniak to step in. Something else is going on here.

L: “Tell me exactly what happened yesterday. Every detail matters.”

Fate question
Q: Was Pentecost at the factory when the generator blew?
A: (D10): (4) => No

P: “I wouldn’t know. I was in the city for a business meeting when it happened. All I know is that some woman walked into the farm with a POLICE ID, and then the generator blew. Talk to my assistant, Cass, for the details.”

He spits out the name like poison.

L: “One last question. What did you do before you worked here?”

He hesitates.

P: “I was a… science presenter.”

L: “Care to elaborate?”

He exhales, irritated by the question.

P: “I’m a mycologist. I explained mushrooms to people who were interested, all right?”

I smile.

L: “And what kind of mushrooms were people most interested in? On what kind of media?”

P: “Hallucinogenic mushrooms are LEGAL, Mr. Locke. So is talking about them. The whole business is very lucrative for Wallace Corp. And I gave poor people a cheap way to make their lives a little better. There’s no shame in that.”

L: “Do you grow hallucinogenic mushrooms here too?”

Manipulation opposed roll
Locke manipulation roll: (D12 + D10): (3 + 9) => 1 success
Pentecost insight roll: (D8 + D8): (8 + 6) => 2 successes
Pentecost wins

P: “That’s completely irrelevant to the incident. Ask Wallace Corp if you want an answer.”

Interesting.

I don’t think I’ll get much more out of him. Holden was right: he’s just a frontman, and the real work is done by others. I leave and go looking for Cass Beck.

---

Scene bookkeeping

Leads

1- Possible Replicant Rebellion involvement
2- Wallace has interest in the case
3- Libby Kamarr involvement in the case
4- A storage of wood was destroyed in the explosion
5- The farm might also be producing hallucinogenic mushrooms