On the surface, the world looks very much like the one outside your bedroom window.The same people are walking the same dirty streets, the same animals rummage through the same garbage,

and the same mindless drivel is shown on the same television stations.

Sometimes that world just doesn’t seem right.You wake up in the morning and get the feeling that something isn’t as it shuld be.

Why do certain figures appear out of nowhere and become famous overnight?Why do the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer?

What is the government really paying for when it shells out 75 bucks for a screwdriver?Why is it the more questions you ask the less answers you get?

Why is it any answer always leads to another question?

Sometimes you cannot see what defines your world.This is the nature of conspiracies.This is the nature of Conspiracy X.

Conspiracy X takes place in a world of dark secrets and hidden agendas where the only certainty is nothingis what it seems. The president might not be human, and the sign carrying paranoid on the street corner rant-

ing about CIA mind control satellites may very well be right.

In other words, a world just like yours, if you could see beyond the lies.

..PRAY IT ’S ONLY A GAME.

www.edenstudios.netConspiracy X™, artwork, text, icons, characters andpersonalities are copyright ©2006 George Vasilakos

Unisystem™, copyright ©2006 C.J. CarellaPublished under exclusive license.

All Rights Reserved.Produced and published by Eden Studios, Inc.

Conspiracy X™, artwork, text, icons, characters andpersonalities are copyright ©2006 George Vasilakos

Unisystem™, copyright ©2006 C.J. CarellaPublished under exclusive license.

All Rights Reserved.Produced and published by Eden Studios, Inc.

EDN

5600$35.00 (US) EDN5600

ISBN 1-891153-53-6

$35.00 (US) EDN5600

ISBN 1-891153-53-6

www.edenstudios.net

GAME SYSTEM

On the surface, the world looks very much like the one outside your bedroom window.The same people are walking the same dirty streets, the same animals rummage through the same garbage,

and the same mindless drivel is shown on the same television stations.

Sometimes that world just doesn’t seem right.You wake up in the morning and get the feeling that something isn’t as it shuld be.

Why do certain figures appear out of nowhere and become famous overnight?Why do the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer?

What is the government really paying for when it shells out 75 bucks for a screwdriver?Why is it the more questions you ask the less answers you get?

Why is it any answer always leads to another question?

Sometimes you cannot see what defines your world.This is the nature of conspiracies.This is the nature of Conspiracy X.

Conspiracy X takes place in a world of dark secrets and hidden agendas where the only certainty is nothingis what it seems. The president might not be human, and the sign carrying paranoid on the street corner rant-

ing about CIA mind control satellites may very well be right.

In other words, a world just like yours, if you could see beyond the lies.

..PRAY IT ’S ONLY A GAME.

Sam

ple

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Conspiracy X – Second Edition (Unisystem Edition)

Producers: M. Alexander Jurkat, George Vasilakos

Line Developer: David F. Chapman

Director: George Vasilakos

Writing and Conversion: David F. Chapman

Additional Writing and Development: Evin Ager, M. Alexander Jurkat, Ben Monroe

Unisystem Game Design: C. J. Carella

Original Concepts and Writing: Rick Ernst, Shirley Madewell, and Chris Pallace

Additional Original Concepts and Writing: C. William Borrall, Rick Dakan, Jack Emmert, M. Alexander Jurkat, Susanne Johnson, Mike Lewis, Jim Parks, Justin Schmid, John Snead, Bernard C. Trombley, Willie Williams

Editors: M. Alexander Jurkat, Janice M. Sellers

Layout and Graphics: George Vasilakos

Cover Art: C. Brent Ferguson

Interior Art: Steve Bryant, Jason Felix, C. Brent Ferguson, Heather McKinney, Scott Neely, Michael Osadciw, Chris Pallace, Paul Phillips, JeffReitz, Christopher Shy, Robert Taylor, George Vasilakos

Proofers: David F. Chapman, M. Alexander Jurkat

Playtesting: Steve Barker, Caroline Bain, Wayne Bridge, Tracy Bridine, James Brown, Eirik Bull-Hansen, Brian Carbin, Todd Cash, Matt Catron, Debbie Chapman,Troy Couch, Leila Cuttle, Ed Davies, Pete Davies, Daniel R. Davis, Thomas Ekholm, Steven Forscutt, Fred Furtado, Ronsley Gardner, Ashley Harper, Alan Harrison,Ian Houlihan, Nick Howlett, Derek Johnson, Ryan Keyte, Allan Lindsley, Becky Martin, Richard Martin, Robert McCuaig, Anthony McIntosh, Derek Meserve, LuizG.O. Messias, Mike Milligan, Scotty Nelson, Jye Nicholson, Ols Jonas Petter Olsson, Anthony Perkins, Anthony Phraner, John Polack, Kevin Powe, Brett Purcivall,Aaron Robertson, John Rotker, Ali Samiian, Chris Slee, Kathi Slee, Heath Smith, Mick Smith, Rich Spainhour, Holly Spann, Clint Stoelting, Derek Stoelting, Will Sweet,Rod Thompson, Wagner Utiel, Grant Vandervalk, Scott Vandervalk, Mike Wallace, Alexander White, Paul Williams, Philip Wright, Robert Young

Dedicated to Denis Chapman (1922–2003)

Special Thanks: Rich Spainhour (Military Advisor), Derek Stoelting (Prelim Checking Extraordinaire) and to all the fans.

Eden Studios • 6 Dogwood Lane • Loudonville • NY• 12211

Cover art, text, art, icons, personalities, characters, Conspiracy X™, copyright © 2006 George Vasilakos

Unisystem™ copyright © 2006 C.J. Carella.

Published under exclusive license. All rights reserved.

Produced and published by Eden Studios, Inc. under exclusive license.

No part of this book may be reproduced without written permission from the publisher, except for review purposes. Any similarity to characters, situations,institutions, corporations, etc. (without satirical intent) is strictly fictional or coincidental. This book uses settings, characters, and themes of a supernaturalnature. All elements, mystical and supernatural, are fictional and intended for entertainment purposes.

Reader discretion is advised.

Comments and questions can be directed via the Internet at www.edenstudios.net, via e-mail at eden@edenstudios.net, or via letter with a self-addressedstamped envelope.

First Printing, January 2006

Stock EDN5600 ISBN 1-891153-53-6

Printed in the Canada (or so we are told)

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TABLE OFCONTENTSCHAPTER ONE •

INDOCTRINATION 20CHAPTER TWO •

PERSONNEL 26

CHAPTER THREE •OPS CENTER 112

CHAPTER FOUR •TRADECRAFT 152

CHAPTER FIVE • PARANORMAL 186 CHAPTER SIX •

CLASSIFIED 208APPENDICES 246

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As always,it started with a

phone call . . .

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VALLEN“Good evening Richard, it’s Joan. AuntMartha is ill and requests your presence.”The second I heard her voice my heartjumped. I tried to speak, but my throat wassuddenly too dry. For an interminablemoment, I thought my skin was going to crawloff me. I forced back the rising panic. I couldhandle this. I’d handled it before.

“I’ll leave immediately. Joan . . . is it serious?”“When Aunt Martha is ill, it’s always seri-ous.” The tone of her voice never changed.Every time I spoke with her she sounded coldand withdrawn, as if what she’d done withher life had turned her to ice, made her forgetthat she’s human. Hell, for all I know, she maynot be human.

The drive to Baxter Research andDevelopment Center lasted only 45 minutes. Islowed at every yellow light and came to acomplete stop at every stop sign. Still, Iarrived far too quickly. I dreaded the meeting.It had been almost a year since I had beencalled upon. I had hoped they had forgottenme after my last mission. I mean, three agentsdead, one of them a close friend. You wouldthink they wouldn’t want my kind of help.I wished I could be satisfied with my posi-tion in life—Dr. Richard Vallen, Director ofOperations at the Atlanta CDC and HeadResearch Fellow at Baxter R&D Labs. Despiteall I’d accomplished, I had another “job.” Whowould have thought that little Richie fromSaratoga would be saving the world, fightingaliens and bad guys, and making sure all theyoung girls and boys in the world can be safe-ly tucked in at night? Not me. Nor any othersane man.

After five security checks and one verythrilling retina scan, I entered the safety of mylab. Before I turned on the light, I stood in thedarkness and took a deep breath to prepare formy meeting with the ice queen. My inhale wasstifled by the smell of menthol cigarettes andexpensive perfume. No time to get settled—she was already here.“Hello, Richard, you made good time.”

Joan clicked on the bathroom light. Thesmoke swirled around her. She stood in thedoorway, back lighting revealing only her sil-houette. She seemed like some kind of unholyangel. Funny, that’s exactly how I see her evenwithout the smoke and lighting. My throatwent dry again. Not for the first time I won-dered how she bypassed all the securityaround the place.“Well, I tried to get here as fast as I could . . . I didn’t think you would . . . well, I mean,after last time . . . you just hadn’t required myservices in a while.”

She moved behind my desk, forcing me totake the visitor’s chair. “Honestly, there wassome reservation about calling you at all. Youdid manage to wipe out your entire cell the lasttime. Let’s see, was it three or four casualties?”I bet she smiled as she ripped open my emo-tional scars.“It was three, and Pete was a good friend ofmine. Took me a year to realize that it wasn’tmy fault. You never told us what we were upagainst. You never prepared us—we all knewthe risks, and that we were researching extra-terrestrials, but you didn’t tell us the NationalDefense Directorate was involved. It didn’tmatter that we could handle the aliens . . . itwas the human puppets with automaticweapons who took us down!”

My voice rose as I spoke but it was mostly tokeep me from vomiting. Everything that hadever pissed me off about this insane organiza-tion was forcing its way to the surface. I want-ed to fly across the room and throttle thiswoman who had brought so much anguish tomy life.“Finished with your little tirade, Richard?We have no more time for your whining aboutthe Black Book. They are always a concern . . .on any mission. Regardless of what happenedto your last team, we need another cell devel-oped in the area. Your position in the CDCmakes you the appropriate focal point for theteam. You have the connections your groupneeds to be successful. Choose at least twoother scientists. We assembled the remainderof your team.

“As you can see, we have upgraded ourHERMES links since your last mission.” She

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