PROVISIONS

The military gives you the following:

6 elite marines

Water for Z1's ship.
A living life support system good for a minimum of 12 man-months.

12 65mm rocket pistols (144 mini-rockets, 288 grenade charges)
6 19mm dinosaur nitro-rifles (300 rounds each solid, AP, hollow-point)
6 12mm buffalo rifles (300 rounds each solid, AP, hollow-point)

36 black powder mines (160 lbs. each)
24 florescent grenades (causes fluorescence in explosive radius)
24 psi-screamer grenades
60 blue goo grenades (corrosion in explosive radius)
24 catalyst grenades (should work in vacuum)
48 smoke grenades
24 nitro grenades
60 black powder grenades
(all grenades are 60mm)

12 military knives
12 bayonets
12 insulate body suits (properly sized)

12 living breath filters
1 living toxin extractor
12 lengths 100' 1-ton spider silk rope & climbing gear
6 first aid kits (don't count on the drugs or potions working)
1 large medical kit (same caveat)

20 lbs. psiberactive fiber
2 lightning crystals
6 holo-projective crystals

"Black Box" (2cf, self-powered distortion jammer)

Portable Shrine (10' rad normal sanctity, permits initiates to use rituals without penalty)

12 man-months of food
mini-galley
1 ream of paper
60 fountain pens
1 gallon ink

6 decks of cards
1 mah-jongg set
2 sets repi sticks

(various other small items and personal possessions.)

Anything else you need or want?

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When the Nye is installing the life support system in Z1's ship, it is
very curious about the power outlets. On learning the ship uses light
for power, it gets very excited and runs a number of tests. While it
can't be sure, it may be possible to develop a life support system that
runs off of ship's power, and won't eventually die like your current
system. 

Z1 says that the possibility could be worth exploring in the future.

The controls on the "black box" are quite simple: a button, a slide, and
a numerical readout. The button turns it on, the slide controls the
radius of distortion, and the readout, well, you can't read it. The
distortion affects the entire electromagnetic spectrum you can test (and
is slightly "nauseating" for Z1 to pass through), but you have no idea
how effective it will be from the outside. (Unless you can suggest some
particular tests.) Z1 thinks he finds a power coupling, but isn't sure
about hooking it up to the ship's system. 

Z1 will probe the box itself with sensors. He will do a detailed scan
with ships sensor array from close. Z1 experiments on letting small
amounts of power flow through the power couplings.

After a great deal of analysis you decide that what you thought was the
power coupling is actually a communication coupling. The box is actually
recharged through a cycling magnetic field. You think you can build a
transformer to recharge the box, but it will take some time and, without
some ideas of specifications, you could risk burning it out. In order to
interface with the communications someone is going to have to experiment
and write a whole new program.

IIRC, for a neural net brain the computer programming defaults to IQ,
still, it is not a very good chance. Of course there is no computer
programmer when one is needed..

IQ, -x for the tech level difference. (I won't say how much but even
TL/9 will put you down to skill 4.)

Z1 decides to take the unknown odds for the box functioning long enough,
rather than risk burning it out. If his mother could be resurrected, she
might know what to do with the programming stuff.

Probably . . .