[UA] The Metal Eaters (was Steampunk)

[Royal Minister of Stuff]

--- Greg Stolze <holycrow at mindspring.com> wrote:

(snip bit about a clockwork gadget that duplicates
itself)
> 
> Toss one of those in the unexamined back of a junk
> yard and you've got a
> Sleeper nightmare of apocalyptic proportions.  The
> geometric progression
> makes it monstrous if you don't nip it in the bud.
> 
> It depends, of course, on how long it takes the
> gadget to duplicate.  If
> it's eight hours, that's a lot less menacing.  It's
> still an item with
> tremendous potential for harm though.

You bet your butt it is.  If you catch it within 24
hours, you might be able to contain the situation
(assuming you can find the three other "lonely
lunchboxes.")  However, since these things reproduce
at a geometric rate, if this thing sat in the junkyard
for more than a day or two, you'd have upwards of a
hundred of those things running around (32 after 48
hours and 256 after 3 days.)  The junkyard personel
might notice something weird after the second day, but
the constant skittering movement by the end of day
three is time for an unnatural check.  Also, if these
things move around and have any kind of range at all,
they'd get out of the junkyard (assuming it's less
than an acre in size) in about 36 hours and begin
hassling the rest of the neighborhood.  After all,
there's nothing that prevents them from finding random
parts.)

eek.

  Imagine some
> zany mechanomancer lets
> one loose out int eh desert by some abandoned
> military base.  By the time
> the PCs roll through  a couple years later, the
> boxes are eating one
> another, just waiting for fresh meat(al)...
> 


=====
-- Rp Bowman, Royal Minister of Stuff
The Electronic Nation of Yokeltania:
http://www.geocities.com/yokeltania/

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