Zippy Zip-A-Long

[Maharg67]

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-6-

THE ADVENTURES OF TIMESAGE COSMOS AND COMPANY

WELCOME TO IMPERIAL GREATER LONDON #5

 

Thnakfully the CosmosTARDIS now looked, on the outside, like a big blue police telephone box of the kind currently being put into place around London. It even had a small boxed telephone on the outside for anybody to use and a heavily locked box with some items for police constables to use. Cosmos was in his plumber's outfit again and was strolling around the TARDIS looking up at the sky which was full of turbulant grey clouds. He shook his head, sniffed the air and looked mildly troubled. It was the wrong kind of weather for London even in Winter and this was Summer. He stopped as he heard some gun shots in the distance along the laneway like strip of overgrown ground he had walked along earlier.

 

Then a trio of police officers in blue uniforms came rushing into view. They saw Cosmos, saw the police box, and seemed both surprised by pleased. The TimeSage smiled at the three men who were typical British Imperial Constables except that they had on odd flakjackets of metallic metallic armour and army like helmets of the same. One carried a big powerful bolt-action rifle, a Short Magazine Lee Enfield, while the other two were clutching Webley revolver-pistols. They were sweaty, dirty, frightened and angry.

 

The TARDIS could behave like a normal police telephone box. When the first constable opened up the box to the telephone, he seemed surprised. He ignored Cosmos and turned to his comrades. "Damned telephone is here and working. Amazing!" He tapped a button and then spoke. "Operator! Operator, can you get me Police HQ at... What do you mean lines have been sabotaged and others are for emergency use only. I am a police constable on special duties. Yes, yes, badge ID 787-LKI-2321, Constable Sergeant Joseph Smith. We have a situation here. About fifty blooded berserkers have gone raiding. You are putting me through to any Police HQ you can reach. Yes, I am happy to wait if it don't take too long."

 

A Constable Private turned to Cosmos. "A plumber out here, now, in this mess! You have either a lot of nerve or you are damned foolish."

 

"Bob Cosmos at your service. Jack of all trades. Plumbing is only one of my various specialities." TimeSage Bob smiled. "I have means of self defence on me but... well they are not strictly..."

 

The police constable shrugged. "Don't worry about it. If you have a gun, then you use it to defend yourself and your loved ones. Even so you should not be out here by yourself. What with the blood berserkers, the things coming up from beneath and... well those other ones." He shrugged hoplessly. "At least my family has been sent out of London."

 

Cosmos flashed a psychic paper booklet. The three constables all looked at it and whistled softly. It showed them that he was Her Majesty's Special Investigator Bob Cosmos with special authority over police, military police and other general services. He also had a license to kill for he was Her Majesty's Agent 0067 or HMA-0067. He put the booklet away and spoke. "Now, can you tell me just what has been going on. Of course I have been briefed but I want your information."

 

The constables all looked surprised that he should bother to consult them and then they began to inform him of what they knew.

 

-CONTINUED-

Edited August 15, 2010 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

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-7-

THE ADVENTURES OF TIMESAGE COSMOS AND COMPANY

RETURN OF THE DINOSAURS #1

 

Dinosaurs, the description that the constables gave was of dinosaurs but with some interesting and deadly changes.

 

Fast moving, agile raptors that fired spinedarts from two tubes on their heads, long retractable claws and great fangs. When retracted, the claws allowed these dazraptors to manipulate basic odd weapons that fired off blasts of fiery energy and then recharged. These had the same sort of general effect as shotguns and were only effective at relatively close range, again like shotguns.

 

But there were other monsters also. Great long snake like things that slithered damned fast and could slip through surprisingly small spaces. These had venomous fangs and, like the dazraptors, these dazserpents had each two spinedarters on their heads.

 

The third type flew and so far these winged, two legged spinedart spitting beasties, with terrible claws and fangs, had only been encountered on a few occasions.

 

British Imperial Redcoats, in dull dark red combat fatigues and light, strong body armour of flexisteel, had managed to drive out the monsters from large sections of the Tubeways and other areas. A savage battle had been fought to defend Buckingham Palace. Greencoats, common soldiers unlike the Redcoats, had come to reinforce their comrades and for once had been welcomed and not snubbed by the elite troopers. For the Redcoats had taken a heavy battering. Their bolt-action rifles were powerful and bayonets were deadly but they needed faster firing close order weapons. Shotguns had been issued to combat units but there were not enough of them despite British Armaments Factories increasing production of them. Mechanical machineguns, or crankerguns, had blasted away many an enemy monster but again there were not enough of them thanks to the former reluctance of the British Army to make changes to more modern weapons.

 

Cosmos knew he did not have the right equipment on him. After hypnotising the constables into believing they had only met a plumber and chased him off home, he went back into the TARDIS and he changed gear but also made other preperations.

 

-CONTINUED-

Edited August 15, 2010 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

COSMIC OPERA

CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE

 

Scully and Muldar crept down the pathway and crouched where they could see in the distance a large army on the move but it was not daedric. It was made up of magical creatures of other kinds be they goblins, trolls, sprites, centaurs, true magefolk humans, some dragons and others. There were many goblins and gremlins, their winged cousins. There were plenty of magical weapons, sets of armour and other devices. Then they noted normal humans amongst them in different kinds of magical armour than the rest of the large army. Oddly enough these were musketeers and pikemen and dragoons on horses. Trolls pulled big wagons full of spare equipment and supplies as did big draft-horses. There were also siege engines like catipults, rams and wheeled-turtles along with others, including elaborate magical contraptions. Yet there were also muzzle loaded bronze cannons and mortars of varied sizes.

 

There new companion was around the place doing her own scouting. She was much better at it than they were and yet the pair realised that they had gained skills somehow, had even gained experience of doing such things. It was most odd. But then they were surrounded by pixies, hovering with fast moving wings, and either small deadly looking bows or short javelins. They went to put up their hands but a pixie spoke.

 

"Do not fear. Your companion informed us that you are allies from another world but that you have much to learn. Strange gods have given you exotic magic in the form of devices and embedded spells but you have yet to learn fully how to utilise these. You will learn much on this world such as that werewolves, vampires and such on your world first came from this world when they fled from the daedric invaders."

 

Scully sighed. "The magical folk on this world have united to attack the evil daedric goddess. It is a great army, most impressive."

 

"False goddess. All daedric deities are ultimately false." The pixie responded with some apparent anger. "Under the living-goddesses and living-gods we are united. The Nine Divines are gone from this world, swept away somehow by a terrible curse of some kind. The daedra have destroyed their cathedrals and lesser temples and built garish, ugly daedric temples in their place devoted to the one daedric goddess. There are three armies. This one is going to lay siege to Kvatch. The Free Alliance struck when the fool daedric goddess sent a large part of her forces to fight unknown forces on other worlds and in the Realm of Oblivion itself."

 

A small green snake slithered through the lightly waving grass.

 

The three of them set out to go to where the marching army would be setting up its siege camps.

 

TO BE CONTINUED

Edited July 13, 2010 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

COSMIC OPERA

CHAPTER SIXTY

 

In the ancient Ayleid city of Yushinavel, the Eternal Champion found a most heavily secured and hidden door and having gained access through it, she went deep into the layers hidden beneath the city. Catacombs of preserved Ayleid dead bodies, chambers of preserved archives and devices, and then beyond that. There she found the Living Catacomb of living Ayleids, a hundred thousand plus of them, in suspended animation capsules. She went with people that she could trust to do as she wished and was glad for they did not choose to attack the defenceless Wild Elves. So she woke them up, starting with the leaders.

 

The Eternal Champion made it clear to the Ayleids that the world was changed, that they needed to become a positive part of the Cyrodilin Empire or perish. That meant at first giving up some of their technological and other secrets to the Empire, to the True Empress and to fight the False Empress. The Ayleid leaders had no desire to be part of a human led empire but they decided to join because Mehrunes Dagon had betrayed them long ago. It had been the daedric god who had convinced the Ayleids to try to use the second instrumentality and had promised to rescue them if something went bad. Something had gone bad and Mehrunes Dagon had not even answered any prayer messages from his own priests. The Ayleid Leadership had decided on a special plan and so before the second instrumentality was triggered, the Living Catacombs had been created and filled.

 

The Ayleids were not pleased to know that they were the last of their kind except some fragments of population, small minorities, in the Sunset Isles and other regions of Tamriel. Many existed in hiding in hidden underground Ayleid cities and towns but life was precarious for them as there were always those seeking to find them for their secrets, for their treasures. The joke was that these cities and towns had mostly been poor secondary settlements in Ayleid terms and the majority had little of value to steal.

 

The Eternal Champion knew there would be many difficult negotiations to come but if everything went well the Ayleids would become part of a new and stronger Cyrodilin Empire that one day might just become a fairer, more democratic Tamriellin Empire. Humans would find it difficult to cooperate with former slave masters and Ayleids with former slaves but such was too often the way with history.

 

Reluctantly, the Ayleid Leaders began to show her the secrets of the city and were surprised that she knew many of them already.

 

TO BE CONTINUED

Edited July 13, 2010 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

COSMIC OPERA

CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE

 

Spiritums reproduced and spread across the devastated but rejuvenating European Continent. Nature blossmoned and went out of control. Temperate forests spread and in many places jungles arose. Humanity found itself unable to return to the continent. The strange little man-woman could do nothing for them, not this time. Instead she-he knew that humanity was lost to that world, that world lost to humanity. Nature was going to rebel across the world and would overthrow the works of humanity from the farms and mines to the towns and cities. Every road, railways, fence, buildings and any other structure would be no more. Only a few native peoples who went back to simplier ways of life and such as the magical wilderness folk would be accepted. An exception might be modern people willing to go tribal.

 

It was not expected and it was a rude surprise even to the strange little woman-man.

 

She-he began to spread the word to humanity across the world and, as expected, at first they were unwilling to believe it or unwilling to accept it and in that she-he could hardly blame them; their world was going to be taken from them and they would need to find somewhere else to live.

 

Problem was the more advanced version of Earth was already too crowded and Tamriel could not support so many newcomers. The transdimensional region was slowly but steadily expanding but was not yet ready for so manyn people to live there.

 

The strange little man-woman began to look for answers.

 

TO BE CONTINUED

Edited July 13, 2010 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

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[Maharg67]

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-8-

HE ADVENTURES OF TIMESAGE COSMOS AND COMPANY

RETURN OF THE DINOSAURS #2

 

Cosmos went now in a shiftersuit that could alter his appearance to some degrees and in the darkness, wrapped in black, he snuck through the suburb that the TARDIS had appeared in. The abandoned houses in the area indicated panic of some kind but now those houses had poor squatters in them. He came upon some dead bodies of battered men looted of much, even some clothes and their boots. There was a palpable feeling of violence in the area.

 

When he heard the gun shots, both shotgun blasts and pistol shots, he shimmered and took upon the appearance of a young working man. Then he darted along a laneway holding a large, powerful Webley revolver-pistol or at least it looked like one. Then he was coming at a run to where some police constables and armband wearing volunteers were shooting at berserker men and women who clearly had taken the horror drug. There were more men than women, their faces twisted in rage, who raced unheeding of danger at the volunteers and constables.

 

With some regret, Cosmos aimed his revolver-pistol and fired. There was nothing he could do for these humans with out exposing his true nature to the wrong people and even then he would have to take them back to the TARDIS for long term treatment. A woman fell and behind her, a man, as the same bullet killed both. Again he fired and again two berserkers fell. Cosmos did the same trick three more times. Then the super-drugged victims were all dead, were sprawled over the ground of the laneway.

 

A volunteer, a tall grey bearded man with the ways of a military veteran, frowned at TimeSage Cosmos. "That was incredibly good shooting. What sort of bullets were you using?"

 

Cosmos smiled at the man. "Professor Cosmos is my name and I invented those bullets when the crisis began. They have better accuracy, range and hitting power than standard bullets. I am a graduate of the University of Life."

 

The man gave a mild grin. "Brigadier Benjamin Stuart speaking. They have taken me out of retirement to help them deal with this madness that has taken the mother city. Dinosaurs, they call them dinosaurs, but what dig dug up dinosaurs that can use guns?"

 

Cosmos nodded. "Sounds like you know something of what is happening. I only arrived recently in London. I work for the government. Very hush hush. Still, the government and I do not always see eye to eye. Soldiers, guns and body-armour might not be a final solution to this problem."

 

The Brigader shrugged. "Empress Victoria disagrees and so does Military High Command and the intelligence chappies. Yet boffins are being brought in from all over to study the problem, that is the enemy. Biologists, zoologists, archeologists and anything else that might help. They are even getting the advice of a few of those speculative fiction chappies. You know, science fiction. HG Wells is one and Vernes another along with that woman who wrote about monsters arising from the dead, Shelley. There are specialists who will want to examine these bodies. We would appreciate your assistance, Professor Cosmos."

 

He nodded with a smile. "You have it, Brigadier."

 

-CONTINUED-

Edited August 15, 2010 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

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-9-

THE ADVENTURES OF TIMESAGE COSMOS AND COMPANY

RETURN OF THE DINOSAURS #3

 

Professor Cosmos, Brigadier Stuart and the others went along a series of streets and laneways until they came to a major street and there a large fortified area. Refugees were moving into the fortified area and being sent away as quickly as possible in steam-trams, electric-buses and other vehicles including horse drawn wagons and carts. There were Greencoats there behind sandbag walls with gattling-guns and many rifles. The fortifications were reinforced as much as possible with stone, concrete and metal. A big steam-crawler, a warmachine, stood ready with its big cannon-turret and other weapons.

 

The Sisterhood of Nightingale was there, nurses and also women doctors, it being one of the few ways that women doctors could practice in the British Empire. Indeed Empress Victoria herself had pushed for the training of women doctors to serve with the order as she did not approve of male doctors living too closely on an every day basis with women nurses. Tents had been set up but many houses and other buildings had been taken over and these were being used.

 

It seemed a good sign that the government was dealing well with the situation but the Brigader admitted privately to the TimeLord that it was an illusion. The dinosaur beasties had taken over a good deal of London and the blood beserkers were rife in others. More military forces were coming into the capital city but not enough to change the situation for there had to remain military forces in other areas. Also the war in South Africa was proving to be a growing problem for the empire, especially as enemies of the empire were providing the rebels with equipment and supplies.

 

"Conscription!" Brigadier Stuart frowned. "We have conscription taking place now and many new soldiers are being trained while many women are doing men's work so they can fight. Most strange this situation but I suppose it makes sense. Problem is that many of the factories we had making military weapons and other gear are closed down as they are in areas controlled by those damned reptile beasties. We have to take back those damned factories. As it is we are buying guns, bullets and body-armour from those Americans at rather a high price. Unlike such as the Australians and New Zealanders, those damned Americans have no loyalty left over from being colonists."

 

The TimeLord nodded with a sympathetic smile. "The Americans may change their attitude if the threat begins to spread across the world."

 

Brigadier Stuart nodded. "One hopes so and hopes they will not be too slow about it. One can not help think that such a sudden, major attack on our capital city was hardly coincidental. Nor do I consider that these beasties we have so far dealt with to be the final threat to be coming up to us. No, there was planning in this and perhaps, also, treachery. Well, how to find such people? Are they some kind of crazy ecologists? That Professor Greening often speaks out about how mankind is slowly destroying the world. Perhaps we should look to him for answers."

 

Professor Cosmos sighed. "Careful, Brigadier, we don't want to make innocent scapegoats for people's fears."

 

The military man nodded. "Yes, yes, must be fair about it. Anyway I would like to talk to him about what is going on. He happens to be a very brilliant scientist in many fields, including dinosaurs, and perhaps he can help us. Trouble is that he has vanished. The government tried to find him and failed."

 

The TimeSage smiled. "Perhaps I can help there. I have some wonderful experimental devices I have been quite eager to test and this would be a good opportunity. Do you know where he lives?"

 

Brigadier nodded. "As soon as I can get a vehicle, we will head straight there."

 

-CONTINUED-

Edited August 15, 2010 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

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-10-

THE ADVENTURES OF TIMESAGE COSMOS AND COMPANY

RETURN OF THE DINOSAURS #4

 

They found no vehicle free of use. All motor vehicles were under demand to be used by the military, who had too few such machines, and the emergency services. When Tinacos popped up in Lady's Motoring Gear, she drove the yellow experimental car Bessy. The story was that Bessy, a vintage machine with two sets of seats along with a boot at the back, was a project being done by Professor Cosmos and his three daughters. Tinacos had made her top and lacy undershirt somewhat revealing of her fulsome bossom but this was typical of fashions at the time despite the Empress Victoria's apparent displeasure.

 

Brigadier Stuart was in the back, Professor Cosmos in the front passenger seat and Tinacos drove the machine with excellent skill. They all had guns and 'Bessy' was, like the TARDIS, far more than she appeared to be. They went through Central London that was now a protected zone with bustling crowds including many refugees from other parts of the great city. They went past formations of men training with wooden sticks because of the shortage of guns, past empty lots turned into very small farms and crowded buildings with clothes hanging out of windows that clearly had not been designed to house refugees.

 

It was getting darker by the time they reached the edge of the safe zone of Central London. It was only one block to get to Professor Greening's eccentric gothic house of his London residence. Yet as Bessy hummed along quietly the three in the machine began to sense trouble. Three threats came darting across the street at them, three raptor creatures or dazraptors, fired off elongated boxy weapons that sent out blasts of energy. The energy blasts hit an invisible curtain of force that shimmered as the energy bolts exploded harmlessly against it. A turret popped out of Bessy's hood and an odd horn shaped weapon was turned and fired at the dinosaurs. At once all three creatures collapsed to the road surface, twitching horribly, and then lay still.

 

Brigadier Stuart was far from being a fool and as Professor Cosmos loaded dazraptors, and their guns, into the boot he noted that it took more into it than it should have done. Each creature, with its gun, was loaded in and then the boot was closed. When opened, a moment later, the boot would be empty. The brigader said nothing but did not try to hide his astonishment. Instead he kept quietly observing. He especially liked to observe Tinacos who flirted lightly with him, clearly causing the old gentleman to be very pleased. Brigadier Stuart would have been astonished at the time to know that the 'young' woman was a great deal older than him, she being young by TimeLord standards.

 

They parked Bessy close to the heavy, heavily locked, gates of the driveway going into the front gardens of the impressive haunted mansion like building with its gables, balconies, gargoyles, bay-windows and other such features. Tinacos staid with the car, despite the manly protests of the British Officer, and Professor Cosmos took five seconds to make the heavy padlock to the gates spring open with his sonic-rod. Carefully they relocked the gate behind themselves and began to move along the drive way towards the big two storey building that spoke of a good deal of wealth, especially it being in that part of London where land was worth a great deal of Imperial Currency.

 

-CONTINUED-

Edited August 15, 2010 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

COSMIC OPERA

CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO

 

The Free Imperial Forces had been unable to get across the bridges to the Imperial Island that were now blocked by strange force fields of magical energies but also thick quickly made rock barriers, temporary walls. Boat building had begun in boatyards hastily constructed amongst the siege encampments but the production of longboats had been slowed by a series of sabotage attacks by traitors and by the general shortage of resources thanks to recent troubles in Cyrodiil. So the actual attack had not begun.

 

Long range cannon and rocket fire, including a couple of modern missiles, had proven what the Eternal Champion had warned off, that the great walls of the Imperial City were amazingly strong and resistant to damage thanks to their ancient nature and the great amount of protective magic sunk into them over thousands of years. Yes, black marks appeared as shells and rockets exploded but then even they faded away. Shells and rockets that went over or just above the walls, simply exploded in mid-air. As for offensive magic hurled at the city, that either simply vanished away or bounced back towards the instigators of the spells.

 

The armies of fast shambling zombies came storming up out of the ground to the west and east, outside of the ring of military forces surrounding and laying siege to the Imperial City of the Cyrodilin Empire (not the Imperial City of the Dagon Empire where Scully and Muldar were active) and attacked from the rear. But the High Command had been as prepared for such trickery as they could have been and the siege forces had both rear fortifications and many sentries. The zombies ran into a barrage of magical energy bolts, arrows that often were magical, crossbow bolts also often magical, bullets, rocket-grenades and other projectiles. But the main reason for the zombie attacks succeeded for they drew forces away from the front.

 

Then the things came out of the waters, surging up the shoreline towards the siege forces. Aquatic lesser daedra like gilled hairless dremora like aquamora, shambling wet zombies, strange slug creatures with spider-daedra like upper bodies and heads but thick, glistening limbs and magically animated glistening clay dregolems. When the Oblivion Gates appeared down on the shoreline close to the waters, they were on the small side but through them rushed hordes of lesser daedra of many kinds, the majority being such as scamps, scards and dremora.

 

The battle was soon raging around the whole Imperial Ring River. It was savage and many died in the magical onslaughts, the barrages of projectiles, the flamer jets of fire and the close order combat of claws, fangs, blades and other weapons.

 

The Eternal Champion led a force of mighty magical knights, many of them Blades, and yet even as they drove back part of the enemy she had the troubling sense that this was but the start of a whole new set of problems for Tamriel of that world.

 

TO BE CONTINUED

Edited July 13, 2010 by Maharg67