It would seem that I can't stay away from trouble for any long period of time. *chuckles* I returned to the city of New Babbage one more to find it only slightly changed from how it had been when I last left, but one of the changes was not for the better, unfortunately. The Steamweaver company, led by one Mr. Steamweaver, of course, in a twisted vision of 'progress' had built a building known as the Atheum, containing a large machine, the purpose of which was to read the information on a large quantity of books and convert and input it into punch card format. While this on its own was rather harmless, the primary method of fueling this machine was to burn the books after it was done reading them.
Naturally, this raised moral objections in several Babbagers, led by Ms. Bookworm Hienrichs, decided to take action. With diplomatic avenues for attempting to convince Mr. Steamweaver to shut down, or at least alter, the Atheum having been exhausted, Ms Hienrichs decided to organize a more direct approach. A group of citizens (accompanied by myself) kept watch outside the building while one of her associates proceeded to sabotage the machine. During the operation, I helped Ms. Hienrichs rescue some of the more rarer tomes by replacing them with more common books, and then rearranging the orderly shelves enough that it would take them some time to discover the...removal, if they did at all.
Unfortunately, it seemed that despite the sabotage, Mr. Steamweaver would not give up so easily...
Since it seemed he was determined to keep the Atheum running, it followed that we may have to try again. However, I am not sure how far any planning went or if more peaceful methods were employed, because the next I heard, Steamweaver had issued a challenge! If Ms. Hienrichs could managed to raise L$10,000 for the local charity before the end of the weekend (the challenge was issued on a Friday I believe), he would not only suspend Atheum operations, but would MATCH the amount raised out of his own pockets!
Now I believe he thought that she would be unable to meet this challenge...he was VERY wrong I am pleased to say...
Throwing an impromptu street party outside the building in question, our little group, as well as many others, not only matched the amount specified, but, as of the final report, more than TRIPLED it. Needless to say, Mr. Steamweaver was probably not very happy about this, considering he would be forced to match the amount, and shutdown the Atheum, hopefully once and for all.
