1. ATTACHMENT: Third Eye Interview: Operative Carol Ann Ripley, Human SCL 6A, Talent Scout; Operative Cloud, Ebon SCL 6A, Talent Scout [Publication Suspended]

Ripley
Yeah, we've been very successful recently. And of course, success for us is success for SLA. Can't have enough fresh talent!
TE
Tell us about some of your recent finds and what you look for in a recruit.
Ripley
Sure. One recruit of ours from fairly recent times stands out: Copper. He's an Ebon. He's already passed all the exams and is in his second week at Meny. He's one to watch. I guess he pretty well typifies what we look for in a recruit.
Downtown is full of pretty faces. All you have to do is wipe away some of the dirt to see `em. So you need to have more than good looks or a good attitude to get noticed. Good looks and good attitude won't cut it for you as an op, so it's not what we look for, although it's part of it. [Ripley hesitates.]
Cloud
What Ripley's saying is that there must also be some inner drive. Attitude is all part of the image. It's a survival thing Downtown. You've got to be able to project attitude to ward off the predators. But drive comes from deeper down. It's a refusal to yield to what others might find overwhelming. That's what we look for in a recruit.
TE
And this `Copper' had that?
Ripley
(She leans forward) Oh, he had it alright. I wouldn't be here if he didn't. Last month we're Downtown near Heartland, trying to keep a low profile, but still, you know, with an eye out for a new face or new name. Station Analysis calls with a Red. Has to go to us, we're the only ops down there. Or at least the only ones willing to respond that day. Anyhow, there's a fading distress beacon from a SHIVER patrol on sleeper. We've gotta find it and lend aid and assistance. Station gives us some coordinates, and they appear to be right under us. We looked at our equipment and it showed `em, alright. About twenty levels down. Now, unless you're on one hell of a Yellow or Green, you just don't go down that low. It's stupid. Still, we had the Red and didn't have much choice. So I call a few people from there in the market and they put me in touch with this guy. `Raggedy-Man,' he called himself. Looked like he was dressed in patchwork. About the only intact clothing he had was an old-style top hat. You know, the kind they wear in the Gothalia vids. We go to meet him in this old garbage dump nearby, and he's surrounded by, like, a dozen kids. And standing next to him is this human kid, older than the others, maybe sixteen, and on the other side of him these two Ebons, maybe sixteen and thirteen. That was Copper and his sister Lithia. They stood out. They had that `something' about `em.
Cloud
A gravity. A stillness. An intensity that the others lacked.
Ripley
Yeah. The little kid actually spooked me. Weird. Cloud says sometimes Ebon kids get that way when they grow up without a family. Anyway, the boy, Copper, he had this intensity, like Cloud says. Like when we started talking he was watching the words leave our mouths, or something. We told the Raggedy Man what we were after and the human kid leaned over to him and whispered something. The Raggedy Man smiles and turns to us, tells us his "children" found a Carrien nest right about where we think the SHIVERS are. Says he can give us a guide. So, we do some fancy bartering and a few minutes later we're headed out. We're in armor, toting hardware, and leading us are the older human kid and the Ebon boy, Copper. Well, sure enough, they know a way down. Wasn't the way I would have picked, but it was pretty quick. Takes us an hour to go down twenty levels. Some of it we did on cable and winch, although the two kids didn't bother. `Course, they weren't wearing a hundred pounds of armor, either. Suddenly, they stop us and make like we're supposed to be totally quiet. Now I don't hear a thing, and Cloud doesn't either, although he says there were bad vibes all around. The two kids split up and kinda vanish into the dark. The lighting was long gone where we were. After about five minutes the two come back and tell us to come with `em, quietly. They take us to a level-drop. That's part of where a quake or some other disaster has sheared the level insulates, so there's a shear drop to the next level. Anyway, right down below us is the SHIVER APC. As we stretch our necks over the edge we hear this rhythmic banging, and because we got us some pretty cool goggles, we can see about a dozen Carrien banging away at the sides of the APC, which is hanging half way over the level drop below us. Looks like it's been pushed there by the Carrien. Well, make a long story short, we opened up a can of whupp-ass on the Carrien. I mean, they were big, but we had 12.7mm HESH, know what I mean? We lowered ourselves down to the APC and set about trying to pry the doors open. They'd been smashed in by the monsters. So, I'm going at the door with a crowbar when the manway in the walk I'm standing on shoots, hell, it had to be ten feet into the air, and the grandfather of all Carrien jumps out. This mother is, like, fourteen feet tall if he's an inch. Fast, too. Nailed me with a claw before I knew what was going on. Two more come out of the manway, and then there's this flash. Cloud saved my ass.
Cloud
Art appreciation. (he grins)
Ripley
(she blushes) Um, yeah, well, I'm happy it's still in one piece. Anyway, I'm alive, but the Ebon kid's in bad shape. Got crushed by the manway cover, looks like. I go over to him, bend over him to check him out, what does he do? Before I know what's goin' on he grabs my Blitzer and has it pointed. I'm totally sure I'm gonna die and at the same time goin' "What the fuck?" `cause the kid's been cool `til now. There's this roar as the Blitzer goes off, and behind me, the big Carrien, who's apparently just gotten to his feet again, goes down for the count. Kid saved my life. Had three crushed ribs, and an arm and a leg broken and still had the wits to move when moving counted. Cloud was able to heal him, and well, we didn't wanna let him go after that. We kept him with us after we let the SHIVERs out of their box. Made him the offer on the way back up. Must'a liked what we had to say, `cause he took us up on the offer and now he's at Meny. He ought to do alright.

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