Found and Lost

Found and Lost, by Jason Hardy, is a BattleTech mystery short story serving as introduction to the Jihad Conspiracies sourcebook. It is written as a narration directed at a new employee in a hospital.

No exact time or place are mentioned, but the narration is implied to be set at a hospital in Free Worlds League space, approximately in 3070 and referring to an incident that happened "two years ago", around the onset of the Jihad.

Plot summary

The "Ogima room" is a legendary room in the hospital where one Dr. Rascombe met a very unusual patient registered by the name of Ogima two years ago. Ogima was very upset, manacled to the gurney despite extremely heavy tranquilizer dosage and yelling unintelligible words all the time until he was temporarily tranquilized by yet another very powerful drug. His physical reactions and condition were highly unusual, and the uneasy Dr. Rascombe was unable to find out who had admitted the man, or why. Startled when the heavily drugged patient awoke and sat up straight after merely a minute, he questioned him and was shocked to learn (among the very few sensible things Ogima says) that he claimed to be from Jardine, and on the run. Three men in black suits suddenly appeared and took Ogima away on his gurney, ignoring Dr. Rascombe's protests and subtely threatening him when he asked them if they knew where the patient claimed to come from. Returning to the room, Dr. Rascombe found that no traces remained and even the case file in his noteputer had been wiped.

A month later, Dr. Rascombe suddenly found Ogima sitting beside him on a park bench some distance from the hospital. Ogima apologizes for involving him and cryptically claims Rascombe would not want to known, in fact Ogima himself does not want to know but he does know. Ogima then leaves, stating that "from here, it all gets worse".

Throughout the story it is mentioned that Dr. Rascombe never saw Ogima again and that while he is still technically working at the hospital, he has not been well and is not around much anymore.

Featured Characters

• Ogima
• Dr. Rascombe
• Burton

Notes

• The artwork going with the story depicts a clipboard attached to the bed with the headline reading "OGAMI" (instead of Ogima).

References

• Jihad Conspiracies: Interstellar Players 2