Rick found that there is no water in the escape pod so he started wandering in the nearby passages. He heard a silent quarrel from the escape pod area but he just ignored it.
He found several rooms with various tools, some of those still had blood on them, Rick rather didn't imagine what are they used for and went on. In the next room he found several sealed containers with floating human bodies without any signs of life in some sort of a liquid. The containers were connected with lot's of wires to a computer in the middle of the room. It looked active, with lot's of diodes blinking.
He continued to another room which was looking like a library. Lots of data-discs lined up in several shelves. He looked at few of them but the titles weren't interesting. He was already leaving but then he stopped, went back to the second shelf on the right and took out the datadisc which hooked his attention. The title said: "Project Nexus-7, chief scientist Dr. Tyrell." Rick had no idea why he took it he just felt some kind of deja vu. He hid it in his jacket and directed to another room.
This one was looking like an empty dining-hall. It seemed like no one had ever been using it. Rick finally found what he was looking for - a canister with a "water" sign on it. He then heard Pop's shouting at him to return immediately so he took the canister, hoping there really is water inside, and ran back into the escape pod and said: "So where are the others?"
"Somebody call me?" Down from the hallway, walking briskly towards the group, was Dark Star followed closely by Jay. In his hands was cradeled one of the Juggernauts guns, said Juggernauts' arm not yet detatched. The still bleeding stump looked ripped off instead of cut, and was leaving a nice trail of blood behind the duo. Jay was careful not to step into the messy line.
"Don't worry about Mal right now. He's gone off and taken a trip with his Fnordites. Crystal Oni managed to tell me that before he was forced to withdraw his attempts. The security encoding for this place is quite impressive. Would take days of concentrated effort for CO to get in. Or so he says, anyway." Dark Star shrugged and hopped into the pod.
"So what are we all waiting for? We're all here, and this place is about to become quite a bit flatter. I suggest we get moving. Unless, of course, you have a desire to find out what life in the near-2D world is like."
This is the real true story of rock and roll; it was not about anything more then, how to live your life, as a gangster, in sartorial splendor, and turning the world into a place where normality would never return again...- Malcolm McLaren
"Julius old chap, mind leaving the arm outside."
The blood pool was moving perilously closer to Darkstar's feet.
"While I understand the revenge thing after what they did to yours, carrying trophies in here is not going to
improve our living conditions any. Here, borrow my knife." ...
While the Phantom removed the offending object, and tossed it away on top of one of the already dead
juggernauts, Jay turned to the rest of the party.
"Whats the dilemma with the rest of you ... Someone die ?"
He was looking at a sea of long faces, and silence in the pod. He spoke again.
Oh don't tell me, with all the intelligence in this craft, no one knows how to fly the bloody thing."
Everyone stared stonily back at him.
"Tell me I'm jesting please."
Turning to Darkstar.
"When I mentioned earlier this may be a case of out of the frying pan and into the fire, I was having a laugh."
No one moved to the control panel.
"Someone find a green button with go on it, and give it a push ... Like now would be a good time."
No one moved.
"Errr, Houston we have a problem." ...
Some say he is a proud member of: "The most paranoid group of people in the Community."
Jessica stood near the control panel of the shuttle pod with a bemused and somewhat pitying look on her face. She was even annoyed that Fiona had not been more assertive in the dwindling seconds left to react.
She took in the faces of these rich, renown, powerful people of the Sector; and wondered if perhaps the Doctors plans for the species werent so bad after all.
She raised a slim but grubby finger into the air dramatically, then pointed it at a rather nodescript looking yellow button. Can you say Dringlichkeitsprodukteinf?hrung?
I believe that translates loosely to Emergency Launch. You have ten seconds to batten down and strap in. DeSicev! Check all systems immediately upon launch. We have a long ride in store, folks. Get comfortable!
With one last glance around the cabin, Jessica strapped herself into the pilots chair and rammed the yellow button home.
-----------------------
Shamus had called in, still two minutes north of the O-50 hole. He would arrive at the port after the impact, which now seemed to be at least partly inevitable. For a brief few seconds, a shadow could be seen traveling across the northern hemisphere of Gran Canaria. The shadow of Bora Bora was huge, perhaps a tenth the diameter of the planet it occluded. Bora Bora would pass scant degrees from Lanzarote Station, on the way to its ultimate destination 30K to the south.
-----------------------
The three Fnordette craft were just minutes south of the Gran Canaria docking ring, the garbage pod with two faint life signs aboard still in tow.
Dis suddenly spoke to Mal. *Boss! We have another contact leaving the Ska Ralla. Too far to pick up life signs. It appears to be under control, but is accelerating rapidly towards the western nebula! Thud! If they had just left at the same time we might know at least how many were on board!*
Those are all resourceful folk, Dis. The men folk will have done their best to locate Fiona and Jessica. And if anything, I fear for Artifice and his golems with Dark Star still in the game. Rick, Jay and Pops will have a few Aces left to play as well, if I know them atall, atall.
Lets just get the poor souls in that garbage pod attended to, whoever they are. Then we must make sure the Veranda is secure, and prep the Fishin Fool for launch. I dont think we have to worry where our able cohorts are being taken, so much as we need to worry just who might be coming this direction to meet them, and us!
Alan Kell looked out the forward viewscreen of the LoganKell and considered his options. From where he had landed near the crater that surrounded his hangar, the damage looked catastrophic.
However, scans showed the structure of the rock to be sound. It was in fact better than sound. The heat of the beam weapon had melted the surface where it had passed around the defensive shield. There was a relatively smooth reinforcing shell of rock covering the entire surface of the pillar, covering all the cracks and imperfections.
He boosted engine power and deftly guided the Large Train across the crater and into the hangar.
Damage inside didn't look to bad at a glance. However, the doors to the room that housed the shield generators at the back of the hangar had warped and buckled from the heat.
A check of logs on a nearby terminal showed that temperatures inside the hangar had reached a toasty 94C. XM would be happy for weeks repairing the damage.
No-one had answered his messages at Veranda Incognita and the YTC wasn't responding to hails either.
He sighed and decided to start taking notes on damage for the insurance claim.
"It's all a matter of perspective." Shamus mused to himself as his Armored Transport began its automatic orbital insertion for docking. He had been observing the path of Bora Bora very closely. The distance out to Planet Fuerteventura was relatively short as in-system distances go. It took less than a minute for planet Bora Bora to cross the gap between the two "native" planets. As the planet passed its temporary icy "brother", the contrast with its own ruddy orange seemed quite striking.
It took only seconds more for the planet to close the 40 kilometers to where the Ska Ralla lay waiting further to the south, no longer able to recharge its massive laser for another shot. The fatal moment proved to be a huge anticlimax. Shamus saw a sharp spike in detected radiation from the transport's sensors. There was absolutely no visible sign of the impact, as it occurred on the other side of the planet. For a brief second both Shamus and the sensors saw a narrow but intensely bright "penumbra" surrounding the planet like a halo... the last of Dr. Artifice's, and Goddess knew who else's, atoms becoming part of the interstellar winds.
-----------------------
Shamus landed on Gran Canaria just moments after Dis and the girls had gently lowered their tractored pod onto the tarmac. The emergency droids and techs had finally managed to open the hatch, and were obviously aghast at what they beheld inside. One tech turned aside to wretch. The androids began feeling through the mass of bodies and limbs, their "sensor" fingers searching for any sign of life.
As Shamus departed the belly of the A/T and ran towards the pod, he saw a renewed activity as both techs and androids focused their attentions. In seconds, a male figure was being pulled from the carnage, bloody gibbets of flesh hanging from his clothing. He appeared to be on the verge of absolute madness; but also kept wrestling back towards the cargo pod, yelling a name.
Shamus reached the man then. "Sir! Please! My name is Shamus. I'm a friend to Malaclypse and the ELF! Have you seen them? Who are you? Were you on the Ska Ralla??"
At the mention of the ELF, the man seemed to visibly shrink! "They tried to kill us! The F-unit Discordia blew up our ship! And then we were tractored aboard a huge ship! They were experimenting on humans. My God, he cut into Mioki! She's in the pod! Save her!"
Shamus' suspicions were confirmed. This was Beau Coup, a former Epopt of the ELF. Rumor had it that Dis had been seeking revenge for her "sister" Merci, who had been Beau's F-unit until they had gone their separate ways. He and his fiance Mioki had indeed been attacked by Dis, but then Dr. A had stepped in..
The techs had located the man's fiance, and were extracting her gently from the grisley interior of the pod. However, the androids were not applying any resuscitation measures, nor checking any further for life signs. They merely laid her on a hover-gurney, and began to help Beau towards a similar conveyence. Beau continued to rave and scream as he was gently secured and taken away.
-----------------------
Shamus walked slowly up the slight rise to the Veranda's outer gate. He noticed that the external laser defences did not activate as he approached. He peered into the retinal scanner just as a precaution, but received no recognition of his action. Shaking his head in wonder, after a day of wonders, he walked through the outer gate, and started up the path to the Veranda proper.
Shamus was just picturing a tall Sapphire and tonic, one of the house specialties, when several slim, cylindrical turrets popped up to a meter in height on either side of the path. One of the turrets paid particular attention to Shamus.
Shamus went tetanic with shock. As the shock wore off a bit, he looked down at the newly acquired, perfectly cauterized, 10cm hole through the center of his chest.
"Yet you can be killed crossing the bloody road." he mused one last time, as he crumpled dead to the ground.
Glock sat way above Gran Canaria. The stream of updated information flowed from Crystal Oni to the Vulcan.
He had watched the fast moving planet pass the ship on its way to the target, everything else was now out of
his hands.
The droid crew had removed the weapon, putting it back into storage once more. The battlerazor sat in its spot.
Darkstar had been in worse scrapes before, he was sure this was nothing to be alarmed at.
The Omega 50 jumphole was fairly close by, time to wake those complacent BAF guard out of their reverie in
Poole, before moving into New London to leave a Phantom calling card for the SF.
Time to get things back to normal around Sirius ...
Some say he is a proud member of: "The most paranoid group of people in the Community."
Alan Kell sighed and shook his head, then started reviewing the massive task ahead. His little Island was cut off from the rest of the area by a yawning chasm. The water level was still hundreds of metres below but rising day by day.
The plans to make the most of the situation were well underway. The automated construction machinery was already at work on the outer edge of the huge crater, shovelling thousands of tonnes of rock into the hole, creating a slope down to where the water level would be.
The tricky part would be in correctly balancing the ecosystem required for his new lake. Most of what was required was already there in the surrounding rivers and lakes and would take little effort to reproduce.
The new underwater observation deck was being worked on by XM-2333, who seemed to enjoy the challenge. XM was making design plans for a transparent underwater access bridge across to the valley where the stream flowed into the crater and doing an expert job, designing it to withstand anything short of the kind of blast that created the crater.
The big questions were, how was he going to find freshwater dolphins, and was there enough room for them? He reviewed his findings so far. Planet Curacao looked like his best lead, a tipoff from a friendly Kusari pilot. There was little else to go on.
For now, the rickety looking bridge spanning the chasm would have to do for access to the surrounding area. He walked out onto the bridge, looking down through the slats.
"Think I'll keep this." he said to himself, enjoying the thought of salesmen trying to make their way across it.
Checking the plans for the stairwells under the hangar and in the valley giving access to the underwater bridge, he smiled at last. "Looks like it might just work out."
Looking towards Veranda Incognita, he wondered what was going on. XM had come back with scorch marks on it's armour plating after going to check.
A grim, fatalistic silence had fallen over the occupants of the escape shuttle. The only person who really seemed interested in the crafts functioning and course was Jessica Iliera. She gave the impression that things were going just as planned. Pops Waverly, pretending to drowse in the rear of the compartment, was watching the teenager closely, and wondering just whose plans they might be.
Jay and Julius were amusing themselves with the take-down and cleaning of the rather gory weapons they had liberated from the dead Juggernauts. At least some of the escapees were in their element.
Pops had tried to raise Mal or the Fnordettes on his wrist comm, to no avail. The virus Dr. A had loosed on Sirius still held the upper hand.
Fiona was fitfully sleeping in a semi-reclined navigators chair next to Pops. His heart went out to the young woman once again. Her wound had stopped oozing. Pops had taken an embarrassed moment to look at the rough suture job Dr. A had done on the entry wound. It would suffice until better facilities were available to tend to it.
However, it was obvious that the trauma of the last days events had again overcome the Ambassador. Her beautiful face seemed strained and pinched, even in repose.
Rick Deckard seemed a million miles away. His scavenging had provided them with water and other essentials. Pops was sure that Ricks thoughts were with his friend Fnordie, and perhaps even with Fnordies suspected assailant, the rogue Fnordette Kitty. On occasion, Rick would cock his head to one side, as if listening to something the others could not hear. Eventually, he rose and walked over to Pops. Pops acknowledged Rick with a small wink, and a raised eyebrow. Yes, Rick? he said quietly.
Mr. Waverly, there is something you should know, which may prove helpful to our situation. I have been getting fuzzy messages, just bits and pieces really, from Fnordie. They have grown stronger recently, so I assume his condition is improving, and his abilities are returning. Perhaps they have even been enhanced by the trauma of his recent attack.
Very interesting, Rick. said Pops quietly. Lets keep this to ourselves for the moment. Especially from the ladies. We have almost no Aces hidden up our sleeves at this point. Perhaps Fnordie will be just the one we need down the road. And call me Pops, or Reggie if you like. Formalities seem a bit trite under the present conditions, eh?
The shuttle craft sped onward, slowly edging towards a sizeable percentage of light speed, and leaving the Sirius Sector in its wake.
The shuttle was silent. Everyone had fallen asleep, including Julius and Pops. Even Jessica had dozed off in her seat. It was eerie, being in a shuttle approaching light speed, but the occupants of the craft did not mind. Indeed, they did not know at all.
Fiona stirred from her slumber, her eyes blinking hurriedly in dim LED light. She staggered to her feet, and walked over to the controls. Her Rheinlandic wasn't as good as her aunt's, but...
"Huh." That was all she said as she looked at the panel. As they gained velocity, they were moving towards their predetermined destination. It was huge... even from this distance it was able to be sensed by the fine tools on board the ship. She knew what it was, and she knew there would be some annoying questions that would be asked, but she was too weary and heart sore to care. She would be perfectly content on smacking whomever asked the first one.
"May I ask what the Ambassador is doing?" chimed a little voice. Fiona hand had already struck out, and she drew it back, nursing it. She had just hit the shell of the floating robot, deSicev, and had received an unfavorable shock from its shielding. "May I remind the Ambassador that this model's shielding is superior to most planets?" Fiona sighed, and then began to slap deSicev again, but decided against it. The pain in her fingers was already enough to deal with.
"Yes, you miserable sphere of English accent and manners, you most certainly can ask both things. Or remind. Whatever. I am trying to figure out how to reprogram the course, and I already know that I can't touch you. That stupid shield of yours is hypersensitive..."
"May I remind the Ambassador that course was programmed by Doctor Artificer, and that tampering with it would undoubtedly cause the system to inject a large quantity of nerve agent into the hull of the shuttle craft, debilitating all passengers therein?"
Fiona stared at the little sphere. "How do you...what did you...deSicev, did you hack into the shuttle's computer?"
The ballbot looked around, the cybernetic features of its LED face looking sheepishly. "Of course not! But may I remind the Ambassador that..." Fiona stood up, and kicked the ball. She collapsed again, now rocking back and forth, nursing her foot. Even in the shoe she wore, the electric shock had given her immense pain. "If you use the the sentence 'May I remind the Ambassador' again, I'll bring you to the Factory on Honshu, activate the Van Allen electromagnet, and erase that fragile memory core of yours! Do I make myself clear?!"
"That's the old girl I love... good to hear your tenacity is back, darlin'," an old voice said. Turning in her chair, Fiona faced Reggie, who was already walking. Julius, Rick and Jay were waking up, too. Fiona blushed.
"I didn't mean to wake you all up... it's just, well, this damned ball keeps getting on my nerves." She looked at deSicev. She began to laugh. "Decisive... deSicev... heh. Well, Artifice *must* have had a sense of humour when he made you... I wonder what correlation between you and your namesake could be?"
"I can answer that!" the only other female said. "He is named deSicev because he will play an integral part in destroying the Ska Jaktar... I mean, this object we're heading for."
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