Mission Fragment 1.3.66.21

The Troubleshooter team, while engaged in a mission of particular danger and excitement, draw the attentions of a High Programmer. At particularly awkward moments amidst the action / investigation / mayhem / explosive decompression / heart-rending emotional exchange the team encounter INFRARED Clearance cannon-fodder / RED Clearance administrative personnel / communication rockets / DiploBots / annoying advermercial PDA scumware downloads / experimental mind-altering message delivery pharmaceuticals. The missives to the team ask probing questions of a single member of the team, most commonly communicated through other members (“There a mandatory download here from Gly-Karq Crunchy-Moist Bars. Gary-O – the download wants to know if it’s safe? Is it safe? Is it SAFE?! Oh, and whether I want to download the Gly-Karq toolbar.”).

The encounters / questions pass from member to member, complicating actual incidents within the proper mission. Then, two-thirds of the way through, one of the Troubleshooters (probably the one who already has a weight of suspicions and malice aimed in his/her direction) receives a direct command from The Computer to go directly to Hygiene Cubicle SVZ-4451 for an important mission update. The High Programmer makes a direct and brazen request of the Troubleshooter to drop the current mission and report directly to his sub-node. The ULTRAVIOLET Clearance citizen has watched the Troubleshooter’s performance closely and believes he (or she) would make an ideal new member of his Program Group. The rendezvous at the sub-node will provide important debriefing, re-equipping and assignment to a new team / mission / sector / Security Clearance / Service Group / sub-arm of a Non-Administrative Regulatory Function.

While in communication with the High Programmer, the rest of the team get sent to a location directly adjacent to the Hygiene Cubicle (assuming they didn’t just follow the Troubleshooter anyway) where Control believe a specific threat may manifest at any moment. As they search, the team come under fire from hidden assailants – and mid-firefight, the Troubleshooter with the offer emerges from the cubicle. The team might well wonder whether he’s turned to the other side / been brainwashed / undergone techno-psychological reprogramming / been replaced with a doppelgänger / gone rogue on illegal meds / shown his true colours for the first time and come out as a supporter of a glorious Communist revolution. The Programmer will deny all knowledge of the communication if contacted and all evidence of the conversation will be scrabbled / erased / destroyed / disintegrated / replaced with re-runs of Teela-O‘s 1000 Finest Moments / near undetectably altered to make it look like the Troubleshooter was trying to blackmail the High Programmer on some trumped up charge of lese majesty.