War of Realities (Redone and Improved)

[Maharg67]

Thank you, Gormonk and Fifo.

 

t was my pleasure to make the change, Fifoo, and it only took a short time. For me writing on forum is as much about learning to write on forum as anything else and I found your feedback to be constructive. Perhaps the less fancy I make my presentation, the better.

 

Gormonk, soon more of the Gormonk Research, Development and Manufacturing Corporation vehicles will be used in this story. Next to appear is the Centipede.

 

http://i592.photobucket.com/albums/tt9/Dragonpen61/Forum%20Additives/1827327-1.jpg

 

30^th

UNCLE LEO AND FAWKES

TRAPPED IN LIFEVAULT-0087

 

PART 1

 

The two super-mutants could hear the trouble echo through the metallic hallways. The shouting roars of super-mutants of the kind called stupid-mutants, the shouts of human security guards trying to command them to stop. Then there was the sounds of guns firing as the surprised, out numbered security guards tried to survive a sudden, brutal onslaught of super-mutants attacking them. The control-caps had failed when failure was supposed to be impossible with stupid-mutants. Smart-mutants like Fawkes and Uncle Leo, no they were immune to control-caps; this was why they were locked up in large special cells to be tested with computer consoles.

 

The screams and shooting ended as the last security guard was killed and as Fawkes turned off the 3Daudio recording of what had happened many years ago. He was sitting on a huge chair designed for his massemoth body. Massemoth bigger than biggemoths who were bigger than the human sized mutantors. The bigger a super-mutant was the more likely they were of being stupid-mutants. Mutantors were all smart-mutants but only by super-mutant standards. Fawkes and Uncle Leo were special as were some others.

 

Uncle Leo was even much bigger than himself, was a mighty behemoth who sat cross legged on the metallic floor.

 

Fawkes spoke. “How can we get out of here when nobody comes here anymore except a couple of stupid-mutants every so often? They check on us, make sure we our feeding, water and air-regulating devices are functioning, along with that horrible toilet and that sonic shower, then they go away. That is except the Specials but they can hardly free us.”

 

Uncle Leo smiled at Fawkes. “Patience! The DarkZiazin that came here to LifeVault-0087 and took control of most of the super-mutants is no longer in this part of the vault. Now I am able to reach out with my mind and try to find assistance. The DarkZiazin failed to conquer the whole of LifeVault-0087. It was built in two main sections, or semivaults, and five subvault extensions. There might even be a satellite vault, a demivault. One semivault remains under the control of the humans with their robots, androids and, yes, those poor animanoids who serve them. They have also control of the demivault and three subvaults. The other semivault and two subvaults are controlled by the super-mutants, by Field Marshal RageDo.”

 

RageDo was a very smart smart-mutant, cunning and canny, who had willing joined the fell cause of the DarkZiazin in order to gain power, pleasures and conquest. Before captured and transmutagened, he had been a rogue Warlord with his own army of tribal marauders and military deserters from the EagleEnclave. RageDo was once a fine EagleEnclave Marshal who had been forced to flee because of his various personality disorders. But he would not dare defy the DarkZiazin as he had done the EagleEnclave High Command.

 

Uncle Leo spoke again. “I sense the one is approaching us. The time for our freedom is getting closer. Then we will have much to do. We need to prepare the others.”

 

Fawkes sighed and shook his head. The others had special abilities but were not exactly an army. Indeed they would need protecting.

 

PART 2

 

The lights flickered briefly. This had been happening more and more recently as if a sudden power demand was being made on the power grid of the LifeVault. Uncle Leo looked up at the fluropanels as if concerned about something. Then he spoke with a frown in his voice. “Cloning, the fools are cloning the super-mutants. They are using one unstable technology with another.”

 

Fawkes sighed and then he smiled as the sound of many small, heavy footsteps could be heard. Then quite large baby like super-mutants, or duper-mutants, came rushing through a small cleverly hidden doorway into the chamber. Eleven of them, one was pulled by another in a small wagon for his legs did not work properly though Uncle Leo had been slowly, carefully healing them.

 

But this time the duper-mutants seemed disturbed by something and they clambered to the massemoth and behemoth as if for protective as much for fun and being fussed over. Then LittleBig, the leader of sorts, was handing to Fawkes a note and Fawkes opened it to read a quickly scrawled message from BabBo the sensible-mutant who was one of the sensible-mutants working as clerks, cleaners or caretakers for Field Marshal RageDo. They were surprisingly good at being clerks, cleaners or caretakers and happy to be so. Amazingly enough they never got close to being bored. There were thirty sensible-mutants being ten allocated to each work role.

 

BabBo complained that samples of his blood and flesh had been taken from him in a very ‘not nice fashion’ that was most ‘adverse to a properly orderly existence’. The super-mutants who had taken the samples, they being mutantors, had demanded that all duper-mutants be found and passed over to them.”

 

Fawkes sighed and then read the message out aloud.

 

Uncle Leo scowled. “They would use the duper-mutants as expendable experimental subjects.”

 

Fawkes frowned hard. “They will not have the duper-mutants.” He picked up one and blew into his belly-button causing DimpleBo to chortle in a super-mutant fashion. Then he put the relatively small one down again. “Nappies need changing. Food and drink need to be consumed. Naps need to be taken.”

 

Uncle Leo smiled. “You make a good mother, Fawkes.”

 

Fawkes snorted but then began fussing over the duper-mutants again who loved every moment of it, even the more grizzly ones.

 

But then so did Uncle Leo.

 

PART 3

 

A couple of hours after the duper-mutants had arrived and were all down for nap time, to their surprise, Field-Marshal RageDo came to the chamber. He paced along with much evident agitation, even anger, followed by his loyal bodyguards and aides. They were all massemoths, the big hulking super-mutants of the size that had fought the Orders of Steel in California, in the Mid-West and other parts of the former USA. They had body-armour and guns though the aides also had clipboards and even briefcases that looked most odd in their hands. They emanated menace. All were a good deal smarter than the average dumb massemoth or behemoth.

 

RageDo came into the chamber and studied Uncle Leo and Fawkes, the duper-mutants now being hidden away, and then he grinned. "I did not give the order for the duper-mutants to be taken. I have informed the superclone that they all escaped as did the two of you. I will take you to another cell and you will stay there for now. I did this because Professor James Patriot Jackson has proven to be painful to deal with though he has only been here for about eight hours. I also did this because he is smarter than me in many ways and is manipulative. I want you to assist me in making sure that he does not trick me. You will be my counter balance against this superclone of the DarkZiazin."

 

Fawkes said nothing. He knew he would say something stupid because he disliked RageDo so much. Uncle Leo smiled patiently at the tall, hulking massemoth who was small compared to Uncle Leo's own behemoth shape. "Very well, we will assist you. What does this Professor James Patriot Jackson want from you?"

 

"To experiment on my soldiers." RageDo shook his head in wonder. "Seems that we here in LifeVault-0087 are not the main force of super-mutants or the main supply of us monsters. There is another bunker, or vault, or what ever that is the main source. The damned superclone refuses to say more. Yet there is much of value in this vault complex for the the superclone to claim for his master, President James Patriot Jackson himself."

 

Uncle Leo nodded. "The DarkZiazin in his many facets. You will need to constantly inform me of what he is up to if I am to help you properly against him. The new cell will need functional computer terminals, tap-sinks and other facilities."

 

The Field-Marshal scowled with obvious reluctance and suspicion but it was clear to him that what Uncle Leo was saying made sense. RageDo nodded. "I will do as you say. I will be leaving messages with the sensible-mutants. They will bring you those messages. It is best that I am not seen to make too many journeys to a part of the vault that is supposed to be not only abandoned but sealed up. I will go now."

 

In a very short time the commander, his aides and bodyguards were gone as abruptly as they had come.

 

PART 4

 

Uncle Leo frowned. "It appears that RageDo fears the superclone that the DarkZiazin sent here but more he fears the unspoken reasons for that arrival. RageDo knows that his position as commander of the super-mutants is tenous and that it could be taken from him as easily as it was given. My fear is that he might strike out against the Professor James Patriot Jackson and start some kind of war in this vault or that he will flee with as many loyal super-mutants as will go with him and form a new threat against the Wastelanders in the DC Wastelands."

 

Fawkes nodded. "There must be forces out there, enemies of super-mutants, who would strike heavily against this place if they could."

 

Grumpy, tired duper-mutants started coming out of hiding to resume napping with Fawkes or Uncle Leo. The massemoth and behemoth assisted the small ones into various pouches and big pockets with special removable linings in case of accidents. At least one duper-mutant needed some gentle soothing and back rubbing back to sleep or some potty time or a drink of water.

 

After the small ones had napped, Fawkes and Uncle Leo carefully packed up what they could from the cell, carefully hiding some items as much as they could such as jury-rigged weapons and escape devices. They were more than ready to go when some of RageDo's followers came to take them and the duper-mutants to a new place far deeper into the vault, a place that neither Uncle Leo or Fawkes had even known about.

 

TO BE CONTINUED

Edited July 14, 2010 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

31^st

3DOG AT GALAXY NEWS RADIO IN THE GLOBAL NETWORK TOWER

STRANGE REPORTS

 

PART 1

 

3Dog was not really his name, of course, but that was how he was known even before he came to be at the big GNN Tower roughly in the middle of President James Patriot Jackson’s version of Washington DC. Radiotown was at the base of the big tower with a torn up courtyard being walled off and farmed as best as possible. The walling off was fairly easy for the courtyard already had big strong walls with tops that were fairly easily turned into battlements.

 

3Dog stood at a big slightly cracked armaglass window, polarised nicely to conceal him from crazy ganger snipers or other threats. He was wearing his typical gear, his glasses, his scarf and Wastelander gear with out armour though he did have a big Magnum spinpistol holstered at one side.

 

He spoke to 2Kitty, his companion and Assistant DC. “How many ghouls lurking out there, how many zhouls going crazy, how many radroaches scuttling along, how many those horriblely huge radspiders spinning those toxic webs? How many slaves, how many people being murdered, how many battles raging, how many raiders burning settlements? At least now the Orders of Steel have come to our assistance, at least for now. We need them but I suspect that they also need us for some reason. Hordra Raiders? I do not think that the invasion is that simple, that there is something behind it all that is hidden by the madness of the invasion itself.”

 

In the distance he some giant radscorpions were fighting each other over territorial rights. There was the muffled sound of an unstable atomic motor exploding. Pigeons flew through the air, a species that had survived even Doomsday though with many new mutatated variants.

 

In the distance great neogothic statues rose in dirty majesty, yet another crazy example of the Mad US President's influences. They were of naked women wearing togas that covered not much at all. There would be chambers inside such huge statues and for a moment he wondered what might be inside them. There was a good chance that they had been sealed up since Doomsday or even before that.

 

PART 2

 

2Kitty was quiet where he was noisy, modest where he was egotistic, introverted where he was extroverted and they got on very well. She also wore glasses as he did and was quietly examining a report sent in by all of GNR’s three roving investigative reporters. “Got some odd tip offs here, some disturbing stories even by Capital Wastelands standards.”

 

Capital Wastelands was another name for the DC Wastelands.

 

“That would not be easy!” 3Dog picked up a powerful set of scanner enhanced binoculars, or scanoculars, and followed a fast moving dot in the sky. “Some kind of fast flying scoutplane up there, most likely a stealth model. Haven’t seen anything like it before in the DC Wastelands though I did spot them a few times way over in the West and maybe in the Mid West. Could be the Orders of Steel who just moved into the DC Citadel. Could also be DomniCommonwealth, most likely DomniInstitute of the DomniCommonwealth. I can not think of any others who would have such technologies but that does not mean there aren’t any, of course. First report?”

 

2Kitty snorted softly. “Scavengers, hunters, gatherers, traders, people just passing through, have strange noises, tremors, smells in the Grand National Mall area. Ghoulers were spotted leaving underground in a hurry from a utility hatchway. They seemed panicky, they were making those weird zhoul sounds of great fear.”

 

Ghoulers were crazed ghouls that existed somewhere between ‘normal’ ghouls and almost mindless zhouls. Ghoulers used armour and weapons at a basically efficient level, were dangerously cunning and went often berserk in battle. They were less common than zhouls in the Washington DC but more common than the ghouls who dwelt in the huge fortress like Smithsonian Museum of Religious and Spiritual History, the SMRSH. President James Patriot Jackson had heavily sponsored the Smithsonian Museums in the Grand National Mall and the great Smithsonian Archival Complex beneath the Grand National Mall. It was an irony that the ghouls had found a haven in one of them. Generally ghouls, ghoulers and zhouls did not attack each other. The place was often called GhoulHaven for short.

 

She went on. “A group of ghouls from GhoulHaven where scavenging in the Grand National Mall Subway Network when they came across a whole lot of dead gangers. The gangers had been looted of much stuff but surprising things were left behind. Signs were that the gangers had probably killed at least some of what attacked them but the bodies of the dead enemies had been taken away. Many of the ganger bodies were partly cannibalised. The gangers were the Mall Masters and now they, one of the most brutally efficient and powerful gangs in Washington DC are all dead. That is over three hundred heavily armed and experienced fighters along with battle dogs and guard dogs.”

 

Then she turned her swivel office-chair, picked up a small portable status-box and put it on the table she had been sitting at. “Take a look at this.”

 

3Dog turned and did so, stepping away from the window. The status box was opened and she took out a hand and arm cut off but capped in plastic now where it had been torn off in some kind of explosion. But it was too big, too distorted, to be human. Upon seeing it, he cursed softly but then spoke.

 

“Super-mutants! Damned super-mutants. I witnessed those monsters in battle. I even fought them a few times. I was part of a big force fighting super-mutants in California, along time ago, along with others such as NCR Rangers and Brothers of Steel in that hulky bulky power armour of theirs.”

 

2Kitty sighed, expecting an evasive answer as usual. “When was that?”

 

“At least a hundred years ago.” 3Dog shrugged. “I am quite old. NCR is the New California Republic, if you didn’t know.”

 

2Kitty nodded. “So you are immortal.”

 

At that he shrugged and grinned mildly. “It has worked so far. Any other strange reports?”

 

2Kitty nodded as she scratched her bare chest. “I have heard of both the super-mutants and the New California Republic but not much in detail. Refugees coming eastward from troubles in the Mid West are bringing stories of such things all the time. They bring many stories like swarms of giant bees in Nevada, giant EagleEnclave aeroships seen flying over Northern Montana, close to the old US Canadian Border, great low floating clouds of that Doomsday Mist, zetan aliens spotted in Virginia, giant humans like not so ugly super-mutants, armies of soldiers like those of the USA before Doomsday but from all sorts of historical periods.”

 

“It sounds like a typical Post-Doomsday day but something is wrong. I can sniff it in the air.” He turned and looked at a big old comfortable dog sleeping in a big over stuffed dog bed. “And Brutus hasn’t farted.”

 

Brutus stirred and dug himself further in as if to ignore any suggestion that he had indeed farted. Then he did let off a horrible smelly blast of flatulence.

 

2Kitty turned on the ventilation fan that was above Brutus. “If we could only attach a pipe to Brutus, I am sure we could power up a small generator somehow.”

 

Brutus made a noise of protest and went back to sleep. Both of the humans smiled but they were both concerned about the reports and others coming in.

 

PART 3

 

Later 3Dog went into the study-library, a big room with bookcases overflowing with publications and some tables with chairs, and he went to the Situation Wall which had four maps of the DC Wastelands, the former USA and other areas. He took various small flags and put them onto maps, changed some and attached small written notes to the areas outside and between maps. The eastern coast was riddled with many flags and had many notes linked to it.

 

There were patterns to what was happening, he could sense it, but he lacked enough information to make a truly full or truthful picture. It did not help his peace of mind that one of the focus points of many strange incidents was the very massive fortified tower that he was standing in that very moment. He decided both the GNR Station and Radiotown needed increased security and defences; the problem was finding the resources to do just that.

 

Then there was what lay down there at the base of the tower buried a few levels below the surface. He could never quite manage to forget what was down there.

 

TO BE CONTINUED

Edited July 14, 2010 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

32^nd

DC WATCHER ARRIVES ON TERRA (THE EARTH)

PALMSIO UNDERGOING CHANGE

 

PART 1

 

She stepped out of the TDO and found herself in Earth Normal Gravity, ENG, for the first time in a very long time. She sighed and stretched her arms, enjoying the sunshine in the grassy clearing where the TDO had been moved to for greater security and safety. Modular structures were already in place including a dormitory, kitchens, solar power arrays and other facilities. A small domed biotech research space was completed where local plants would be grown under isolated conditions for special research purposes. As much as possible the new settlement was blended with local greenery and other natural features to hide it from outsiders.

 

Others were there already from Spacestation Freedom including Self Defence Force troopers in energy armour carrying phaser rifles or xdartlers, a kind of compact weapon that could shoot hundreds of deadly xdarts of explosive tips or venom tips or other kinds. Scientists were there also and others come to study the people and other facets of the island. There were already joint patrols, sentries and other defence-security arrangements in place around the fair sized island. Other efforts had been carried out on the island. Already MarsFed medics had been seeing to various Islander illnesses and other medical problems. One very young woman had gained a bionic arm linked into her nervous system and was practising using it. She was at the edge of the clearing doing small jobs under the supervision of her mother and father.

 

Away Captain Ryker was busy carrying a modular section as he helped construct a medical structure. He was doing this with the help of an efficient but ugly looking power exoskeleton that his body was wrapped in including gloves and boots. He was doing an hour of volunteer work before returning to his duties as the Away Captain. Why, because of the small number of those on the island who were properly trained and experienced enough to use such as the exosuits.

 

The Unity had returned to the home world having been reborn out in space. She was Unity and Unity was her but she was also an individual. Unity had gone wrong in the past and had helped create Doomsday as much as did the three Mad Presidents and other factors. But she did not want to dwell on the negatives of the past but on the hopes of the future. Nor did she want any friction with the Mars Federation where, for unknown reasons, the Unity did not seem to have risen with any noticeable real strength.

 

PART 2

 

Ryker walked over to her, and stood before her, taller and broader than her. He would have easily been so even with out his energy armour. “President James Patriot Jackson himself used to come for secret holidays to this island. The settlement here is what remains of his autorobotic island get-away. The settlers are mostly survivors of those who used to live here and serve his needs, including a large harem of quasilegal wives and concubines. Unity should have memories of this place, should it not?”

 

“Is that supposed to impress me?” She smiled up at Ryker though she was fairly tall. “To remind me that the Unity stupidly allied itself with President James Patriot Jackson when both the World President and the NeoSoviet President tried to hunt down and destroy the Unity?”

 

He gave a grin like a big, over grown naïve boy but he was not and she was not fooled. Ryker was dangerously canny and highly intelligent as space-raiders, the Venus Confeds and others had painfully learned. He nodded. “We all make mistakes. Once I came thirty seconds near to being executed for treason. Yes, we all make mistakes. No, I simply enjoy the idea of visiting such a historical place. When I write my memoirs I will put in a good sized segment about it; I am already taking notes. I suggest that you get settled in. The Palmsions are having to sort a few matters out including the sudden appearance of a whole lot of settlers all the way from Nevada. Somebody called GreyMaharg sent them instantly through some kind of gateway. He must have some amazingly advanced technologies to use.”

 

The DC Watcher winced. “GreyMaharg is one of the Ancients, one of the so called living gods who once dominated this whole universe and more. They dwelt here during the Age of the Dinosaurs in large numbers by their terms. I think that meant a few thousand of them. Nobody really knows except the Ancients and they are not saying. Ancients don’t use technologies as we know them. What they use is so advanced it is more like magic to our way of thinking. I must return to Spacestation Freedom fairly soon. The sooner we have our first meeting, the better, for there is much of importance to discuss.”

 

He sighed. “Wastelanders either don’t know about the Unity or they fear it, are wary of it and remember it as an ally of President James Patriot Jackson. Only few seem to know that the Unity turned against the Mad American President at the last moment and helped to kill him.”

 

The woman nodded. “We expect such reactions and who can blame people for them? Not I. Very well I will settle down. My people will assist in making this Mars Federation colony of yours hoping that one day it will become more than that. Neither of our people have a great many resources to spare on this operation so we will do the best with what we have.”

 

So they both set to work.

 

PART 3

 

When the drilling machine sensors detected an unusual layer of substance ahead of its moving drill-head, the machine halted and gave off alarms. The cyberlinked operator was also running other machines building underground infrastructure for the new settlement but took only a couple of seconds to switch her attention to the new situation. She sent down a probe-drill, much smaller and quicker than the bigger drill device, and alerted the Island HQ AI-supercomputer network-system of what was going on.

 

They found just one relatively small section of a huge bunkerplex and even this was very large. It was lightly damaged, deactivated except for basic security, maintenance and other network-systems and was abandoned except for robots in bays. All of the robots were of the RobCo Tron Series be they protectrons, securatrons, worktrons or others. It soon became evident that there were far too many robots to run just that place for that place was a combination of storage, maintenance and other service-support for Tron Series robots in the huge bunkerplex.

 

MarsFed robots were more advanced than the Tron Series but due to the dark times the Spacers and Marsmen went through, a dark age of slipping technologies, they were not advanced as they would have been if they had been developing uninterrupted for 200 years since Doomsday. Spacers had gone on to develop unique technologies and though they had robots, they preferred to use other kinds of devices controlled directly by human mentalities. It was a typical Unity bias.

 

A deliberately collapsed tunnel with mixed in special obstacles, stopped the approach to another bunker in one direction. In another there was a surprise waiting. A great big quasinatural cavern lit and warmed by suncrystal, a gen-engineered substance of alien origin altered to fit human needs. The big suncavern had an overgrown garden and farm crops long gone wild. Robots were scattered amongst the greenery where they had halted abruptly on Doomsday. Beyond were cave tunnels, a maze of them going both down and outwards.

 

There was much more to find, they were all sure of it, but none were ready for the huge surprises that would come to them.

 

TO BE CONTINUED

Edited July 14, 2010 by Maharg67

[Keanumoreira]

Nah, I don't care how he presents it, big or small, although small is wanted, just as long as the story is good, which of course it is, I mean it's Maharg67, of course its good.

[Maharg67]

33^rd

YOUNG THIRTEEN

SEVEN STORIES

 

OF THE YOUNG THIRTEEN, THE LONE ONE

 

Another aspect of the Wastelands Wanderer, not Charlie Jane alias Calamity Jane, but Lara Cleave the Vault Hunter. Or at least that was her open personality and role in life. She was a Vault Hunter, one who specialised in tracking down VaultTek vaults and other long lost underground installations, finding out their conditions and reporting them for a price. Loot of many kinds was also an incentive. She wore typical good quality range Wastelander outdoor gear including fleximetallic armour and carried some very nifty weapons and other equipment. With her came five just as tough companions, including two androids.

 

They headed across the countryside by unusual means, on compact hoverbikes that hummed quietly through the air about a metre above the ground, that could easily travel over water or mud as they could hard ground. They had found them in a rubble hidden, fortified storehouse of rich people's toys and expensive sporting technologies before giving it over to the use of the Sisterhood of Compassion and Brotherhood of Protection. The zipped along in defensive formation, following a broken, twisted smart-materials highway that was still trying to repair itself. They passed a tilted tower shaped like a rocketship being a functional advertising object for the Atomica Charge Corporations that used atomic generator stations to charge up electric vehicles, for a price of course. They had been a small TekCorp, just a daughter-corporation of limited power, wealth and influence. Ahead rose a mountain, Lamplight Mountain, and beyond it a smaller one.

 

They were seeking to get into LifeVault-0087 but there were problems in doing so. The LifeVault main entrances were all blocked off except for one where there was a very dangerous combination of small but intense radiation and weirding zone. Too make matters worse it was covered in a weirdly disturbing fog of dull corpse light and swirling purple-blackness. Corpse light fog was macabre stuff, as the name indicated, found in some weirding zones.

 

Around them stretched typical DC Wastelands but things were becoming odder as they came closer to not one but two weirding zones.

 

OF THE YOUNG THIRTEEN, THE TWINS IN THE PATRIOT REPUBLIC

 

Word came even to the fairly isolated plantations of the north eastern part of the island that Patriot Guards were being sent secretly to invade the DC Mainland as part of the Hordra Raider invasion. So it was not much of a secret once a secret rebel supporter got hold of the truth and started spreading the news. The pitiful official opposition party did nothing but make vague threats about possibly giving a strong protest the the Patriot Republican President himself.

 

Ivan and Boris began training with other young men and women as rebel fighters against the republic. They secretly used their powers to duplicate boxes of weapons, tools, ammo and other useful items before passing over the results to the local secret militia of the United Freedom Army. Boris and Ivan soon turned out to be deadly efficient as guirilla fighters, as infiltrators and even as assassins. They were willing to do what many others could not stomach but carefully so as to do as little killing as possible. They also decided that for every life they took, they would save at least three lives, that they would become better healers as well as killers.

 

OF THE YOUNG THIRTEEN, THE TWINS IN LIFEVAULT-0101

 

The Cycleways were big corridors and rampways given over to multiple forms of pedal-vehicles and also basic electric vehicles that were far less common. In the vault with its level floors and big gentle sloping rampways, pedal transports made a great deal of sense. The helped keep people fit and healthy, did not use electricity and yet helped keep LifeVault-0101 going. Cycleways had proven so effective that the woman who had come up with the idea, one Rose Tyler, had a statue and a small garden domechamber dedicated to her.

 

But Rose Tyler had angered the Elite and one day, she vanished as so many had done before and after her. Why they had angered the Elite, only a few of the Elite knew and they would not speak of it.

 

The twins were earning private creds by delivering goods they had made, trading with others and doing some courier work. They were after special items that were carefully buried beneath a whole list of items so as to better disguise their importance.

 

Aaron honked his horn by squeezing its plastic bulb. A cyclist good naturedly grinned at him and then cut him off. A quadcycle moved next to them with a family of five and some groceries on board. A pedicab shot past with a driver and two co-drivers pedalling madly while the two passengers took it easy.

 

Closer to one wall some teens shot along on skateboards that like skateshoes, had become common amongst certain age groups. The twins had each a pair of skateshoes and a skateboard but now was not the time to use them.

 

OF THE YOUNG THIRTEEN, THE TWINS IN RAVEN ROCk

 

The twins took their neobaby with them when they broke into a fairly isolated area of the sprawling EagleEnclave base. They did so for it was then easier to coax the many neobabies out of their holding cells, to get the doctor and two nurses to help and then, with various robots, to flee with them. Carrybots carried lots of stolen equipment and supplies including datafiles. They went down further into the depths and there the twins did something that surprised them as much as the others. They sent the rescued group to OrbisSanctuary. One moment they were in the same big, bare, metallic chamber and then they were gone.

 

Even as the twins, and their neobaby companion, got safely back into bed, alarms were clanging and ringing through out the base. Raven Rock Command was very angry but more so were the scientists who had been about to start a series of savage experiments on the small ones. The husband of one of the nurses was distraught until the twins quietly convinced him of the truth and sent him to OrbisSanctuary, as promised to the nurse, his wife.

 

On the day following the day after the night of the crime, there came to Raven Rock a big convoy of small and medium sized aeroflyers and vertibirds bringing many EagleEnclave soldiers, scientists, techs, specialists and others, including camp-followers. It was supposed to be a secret but it soon got around that the EagleEnclave was going to join a powerful alliance of other forces to invade and occupy the DC Wastelands, including the DC Islands. They would then carry out a massive purge of all those deemed unfit to exist. It was planned genocide amongst other terrible crimes. The Reformist Faction in the EagleEnclave was being methodically destroyed except those who had managed to flee to hidden bunkers and other sites.

 

The twins were deeply concerned.

 

OF THE YOUNG THIRTEEN, TWINS IN MEGATON

 

PART 1

 

Tamlie and Tumnie were most welcomed by the brothers and sisters, Harringtons of course, along with cousins, aunties, an uncle and other relations and honourary relations. There were also some close friends. They were welcomed as folks who had been there many years and it was all true, the memories being real, for time had been reformed. Time had once been twisted falsely by the DarkZiazin and now it was as it should have been.

 

In the big commonroom of the great big, mostly underground Harrington House, Tumnie was fussed over by some girls, the pudgy muscular figure being told he was wonderous by the simple trick of existing as himself. Tamlie was quietly reading a precious Predoomsday book, one that had actually been published during the couple of months of World War Four. Tomkie just sat and quietly observed his sister and the neobaby, just basking in the normality of it all. Then Cutiebird landed on his shoulder and gave his ear a gentle peck of affection

 

PART 2

 

Megaton was experiencing a few surprises of late.

 

The sudden discovery by most Megatonfolk of Tomkie’s twin sister, Tamlie, and a neobaby named Tumnie, who had been concealed in the Harrington home for years, was one of them.

 

Another was the discovery, after some digging downwards to make a new chamber, of a buried entrance to a Subway Station named Megaton. Even now small, well armed groups were starting to explore and map the entrance area as they dealt with radroaches, radrats and other such threats. The implications for Megaton were most exciting as it now had new living space and other resources to exploit.

 

The not so pleasant discoveries were that the Megaton Mayor had managed to steal more monies than was generally assumed and had gambled a large chunk of it away at Colin Moriarty’s saloon known, amazingly enough, as the Moriarty Saloon. Colin Moriarty was refusing to pay any of it back and was becoming amazingly unpopular even as the mayor found himself in one of the sheriff’s cells and behind bars. But much of the lost wealth could not be accounted for.

 

PART 3

 

Then there were these horrors from another universe, a universe very different from the home universe, that was an opposite mirror of life and death. The creatures had transformed to survive in that world and thus the undeathobs born. The undeathobs were directly dangerous in their feeding attacks but they were more so in the chance of them causing outbreaks of the undeath plague and the rise of zombies and other undead monstrosities. Yet undeathobs were not the real threat, just an indicator or forerunner of a real threat that might come.

 

Other things would be drawn to devour the undead and the Eaters’O’Evil would come in great numbers; neither option was wanted.

 

The outbreak seemed to be quelled as the undeathobs were burned away by flamers and flame-grenades. No other undeathobs had been found all through out the Jagged Crater that Megaton was in the centre of. The small settlement where the undeathobs had emerged, was destroyed and the area was put off limits for new settlements. Patrols would in future seek signs of undeath in that and other places through out the Jagged Crater.

 

OF THE YOUNG THIRTEEN, THE TWINS IN TRANQUILLITY TOWN

 

The twins found a cheat program hidden inside the super virtual reality super-program, one name for it, that was Tranquillity Town. They began to manifest new Non Player Characters, NPCs, such as soldiers, medics, police officers and many others. These had powers of their own and, best of all, were not directly controllable by the PlayMaster, alias Professor Braun. These NPCs began to fight for the safety and happiness of the tortured victims of Tranquillity Town. The twins added other NPCs in the form of androids, robots and animals.

 

Doctor Braun, angry and fearful, struck out and wiped out the NPCs but he also damaged his own programming and Tranquillity Town became less stable. Doctor Braun had been set up by the twins who then began to take advantage of the new instability, as did others.

 

OF THE YOUNG THIRTEEN, THE TWINS IN CANTERBURY COMMONS

 

Apart from doing work around the Sisterhood of Compassion, Brotherhood of Protection outpost, the twins looked around the bustling town, listened to the mayor give a speach in a local square, bought some goodies and sold some carved wooden figurines of excellent quality that they had made. They met the folk at Porter's Cafe, including a boy called Derek Pacion who loved any comic books he could get his hands on such as Grognak the Barbarian, Captain Cosmos or even the Vaultboy Adventures. They fixed the plumbing, a computer terminal and electricals in the shop in exchange for inforrmation and a free meal plus coffee.

 

It was at this time that they learned that there was a secret supply of valuable quality Predoomsday goods coming into Canterbury Commons through a man called Midnight Mack. They learned this by hacking the computer.

 

TO BE CONTINUED

Edited July 14, 2010 by Maharg67

[Keanumoreira]

Anytime.

[Maharg67]

34^th

MILIPEDE ON THE MARCH

THREAT TO THE ANCIENT SEAL

 

PART 1

 

Doctor Doomwise was surprised when the Dark0ne himself delivered the damaged monster machine known as the Centipede. The DarkZiazin did not speak of where or how he had obtained it but Doomwise knew it had not be stolen from Gormonk. Yet it was every bit a Gormonk design with his particular touch of shape and design.

 

Twenty-four great wheels looked small on the monster with its huge energy projector balanced above and the many side-weapons, forward weapons and others. It was clumsy looking but it was not really a warmachine as one fighting agile on a battle field but a great siege engine. Doctor Doomwise was given total access to the machine's surviving databanks and discovered that, amazingly enough, the Milipede was one of three models designed and built before Doomsday and World War Four. President James Patriot Jackson himself had commissioned the machines but the reasons for this was not in the databanks. The three Milipedes had all been delivered by Professor Gormonk to meaningless destinations, not their final destinations.

 

Why had Gormonk done what he had done? As an exchange for a thousand political prisoners held by the US President. The agreement was kept, the prisoners were delivered alive and well, fully fit and healthy. They went on to join the rebellion against President James Patriot Jackson. Too late did the rebels realise that not all the political prisoners were who or what they were supposed to be but where genned shapeshifters. They helped to defeat the alternative US Government based in Los Angeles.

 

Doctor Doomwise strode along raised walkways as he supervised the repair and upgrade work being done on the great machine. The original machine was built in a great hurry and needed to be fixed. Also it had hidden sabotage in it; clearly Gormonk had meant the Milipedes to break down, hopefully at a vital moment. The power armoured figure was surrounded by bodyguards in power armour, some aides and mistresses in silky skimpy outfits. He had taken on board bodyguards when he found out that Marshal Sadobutcher was trying to get him assassinated and then added the rest of the entourage to impress the DarkZiazin.

 

The Milipede was only needed to be successful enough to take one long energy blast at the ancient seal. After that, well Doctor Doomwise might just see if he could improve it greatly, removing some of the smaller weapons, adding more sensors and so on. He examined work being done with his special helmet lens and was pleased that all of the clones, androids and robots appeared to be working very efficiently.

 

PART 2

 

When the attack came, Doctor Doomwise was most pleased that he had so many bodyguards, that he wore power armour and that his mistresses were not what they seemed. Yet as the things emerged from the rock of the seal, as the sparkling shimmering globes grew more solid to become smooth, translucent and dull silver he was fearful and though he unholstered his very own special powerful pistol and aimed it with lightening speed, he feared the worst. He aimed and fired at the very quick zipping, zigzagging spheres. One exploded and then another, fragmenting into tiny silver spheres with blinding flashes, but those tiny spheres began to quickly grow. Pulselasers flashed, plasmaguns pulsed, autoguns roared, missiles streaked through the air. Some of the sphere vapourised totally but many broke into smaller spheres that began to grow.

 

But it was the three mistresses, growing in size, transforming into monstrous dark shapes of black and blood red, wings spreading, that hurled back the silver globes. These DarkMaidens hurled amazing bolts of energy with impressive speed and accuracy to blast attacking sphere after sphere out of existence. It became evident that the spheres were trying to destroy the Milipede, were not interested in any other targets.

 

Then the last of the strange spheres were destroyed.

 

Doctor Doom laughed with relief though he suspected strongly the attack was only the first, was more of a test of defences than a real attack. He turned towards the mistresses who were once more in the shapeforms of young women who would do much that he bidded them to but not anything. Yes, they pleasured him in various ways but not in a way that might make them pregnant for they were in truth the mistresses of the DarkZiazin himself.

 

PART 3

 

Doomwise did not know what Maharg67 was, the great machine thing behind the disk shape of rock that held the actual, invisible seal. No, more than invisible but somehow phantomic and sunken into the amazingly hard rock. Not that trying to go around the seal would work. The metallic stone was just as hard. Indeed explorations and charting had so far indicated that the disk shaped seal was in the side of a vast, perfect sphere of metallic stone buried deep into the ground.

 

Doomwise had begun to investigate other possible seals, other locations of similiar mystery. He learned of stories speaking of glimpses of metallic stone caves, artificially regular, with strange alcoves with different objects in them. The alcoves were of many shapes and sizes but always cubed and the objects were of an amazing variety. Sometimes there was glowing mist but of various kinds. Sometimes the glowing mist seemed dangerous but sometimes good or even, at times, just neutral.

 

He set aside a big, powerful AI-supercomputer and mass fed data into it, then set it to finding out patterns, building prioritised lists of reports of incidents and so forth. Something told him it would be unwise for him to let the DarkZiazin or the DarkMaidens know about any of this. Only his most trusted followers did know what he was doing and he carefully built a psychic barrier against the DarkZiazin, a barrier both subtle and buried inside other thinking.

 

When Doctor Doomwise began to study the items carefully chosen by the AI-supercomputer, he was at first just interested but soon enough he was growing increasingly concerned. The reports indicated that the very fabric of reality was fracturing and holes were opening between that and other realms. The increasing appearance of the Eaters'O'Evil indicated strongly that was the case.

 

He did more research while keeping up the work done on the Milipede.

 

TO BE CONTINUED

http://i592.photobucket.com/albums/tt9/Dragonpen61/Forum%20Additives/LDDScreenShot12-1.png

MILEPEDE

MY THANKS TO GORMONK, EXTRODINARY LEGO MODEL MAKER

PLEASE CHECK OUT GORMONK'S OTHER LEGO CREATIONS IN DRUID'S GARDEN

IN 'LEGO DIGITAL DESIGNER CREATIONS'

Edited July 14, 2010 by Maharg67

[Keanumoreira]

Impressive, give him my thanks. :thumbsup:

[Maharg67]

I will do so, Keanumoreira!

 

35^th

INVADER’S RETREAT

A VICTORY TOO COSTLY

 

PART 1

 

It happened quite suddenly!

 

The raiders began withdrawing for though they had gained ground, they had done so at very heavy cost to life, equipment and supplies. Even with five brigades of Patriot Guard infantry assisting, they had found themselves weakened and unable to hold the ground that they had taken.

 

They had killed many Wastelanders but even these supposed nobodies had put up a very tough fight for they were survivors of tough conditions. Also the locals knew the areas better and began to wage guerrilla war, hit and run raids, ambushes and booby-traps being favourites. They had to deal with mutated monsters, rogue robots, hellish conditions, weirding zones and elite forces such as the Ironsides and the Brotherhood of Steel.

 

PART 2

 

Marshal Ironsides used a pair of scanoculars to watch the enemy move off into the distance.

 

Stolen boats, barges and even a couple of ships joined the flotilla of raider vessels to go across the waters to the three Hordra Islands. The loose convoys moved fairly quickly and tried to care for all raiders but even so some boats, sabotaged by Wastelanders, sank and the raiders drowned or were taken by sea predators. The crazy mixture of vessels moved below air-convoys of aeroflyers, aeroboats, a small number of aeroships and some airships. There were even some old fashioned type helicopters in use. It was an impressive sight and a dark one.

 

Like others he figured they would be back but at least the DC Wastelanders of the DC Mainland had a chance to prepare for a second onslaught. The arrival of the Orders of Steel with their aerocraft, aircraft, power-armour, armoured vehicles and robots, had been the savour of the locals. The Ironside Mercenaries, as good as they were, could not have gone on holding off that horde. Yet there had also been the hiring of hundreds of experienced, well equipped mercenaries by the same GreyMaharg who hired the Ironside Mercenaries. The marshal had learned the identity of his employer.

 

The coastline of DC Delaware was going to be fortified so that the raiders, if they returned and the marshal figured they would, would have a far less easy time of it.

 

The Marshal, in his hoverchair, yawned and stretched. The Ironsides were badly due for rest and recreation, for a big refit, for new recruits and he hoped that he would at least get one day to R and R. Around him the dometown was being transformed into a settlement. Refugees had flooded there to escape the raiders and were now settling down. There were even plans to fix and reinforce the dome though the marshal considered this to be a little ambitious. Still, Megaton had raised great walls and RivetCity had done much with its jetties and ships, while Arefu had turned two thirds of a broken highway bridge into a prosperous settlement.

 

Perhaps something good had come of the fighting after all? He hoped so.

 

PART 3

 

The good news of the retreat of the raiders spread quickly through the DC Wastelands. 3Dog the DJ helped spread the good word through GNR. Settlements under siege were free. Others ceased to be in so much fear. People began to make plans to return to old settlements and to start rebuilding. There would be the missing to be searched for. There would be many to be cared for. Many refugees had settled down in other places and would not return. One big task was simply to find out just what had happened and what the situation was now, what needed to be done.

 

PART 4

 

The DarkZiazin crouched cloaked in many ways on a rocky outcrop and watched raiders streaming towards the coast in columns of vehicles and on foot. Most were on foot. Along the wide dirt road they were fleeing were abandoned vehicles and other equipment. This was a barely ordered withdrawl that was barely more than a panicky retreat. Overhead a aeroflyer flew on its way to the Hordra Islands packed with raiders and loot. Many of the raiders were wounded and dead raiders were lying abandoned by the road. Yet the wounded were cared for, were carried along. Raider dogs ran with the raiders being more excited than fearful as they picked up all the emotions from their masters.

 

The DarkZiazin grinned madness and then laughed softly. The things had been brought to the island by dozens of special teams. The things had been of many types and they had been unleashed into the special tubes that went deep into the ground, that had been prepared a long time ago. The DarkZiazin cared nothing for these raiders, these so called Hordra raiders. In truth they were not really Hordra at all but savages fooled into thinking they were more important than they were. Their Lord Hordra was the true Lord Hordra and was on his way to prepare the real Hordra for the great multiple invasion of the DC Wastelands.

 

The DarkZiazin suddenly grimaced and then spat vile liquid onto the rock that sizzled, burning a black hole into the hard material before it ceased. He was coming undone, the pain was growing worse and his addiction to vamping life energies was growing stronger; it was becoming a craving and he was becoming an addict. He needed to not just speed up the plan but to find some form of cure for his troubles.

 

He cursed and spat again.

 

PART 5

 

But not all of the DarkZiazin's things had gone into the tubes. A dead team of specialists disguised as normal raiders were scattered across the rocky ground. The box had been dropped, had sprung open as it was not supposed to do, the metallic black-grey zislitherers had attacked the five false raiders, dozens of them moving with surprising speed, and had killed them. Four slitherers had died, shot to bits or stomped by well trained men, but then the corpses were drained of blood and had much flesh devoured.

 

Into remaining flesh the zislitherers had drilled eggs and from the eggs began springing larvae. The larvae came out as small winged zislitherers in shapeform and flew slowly and awkwardly in all directions in small swarms. They sought food. They sought places to cacoon themselves and to transform into zislitherer adults. The adult zislitherers moved off together in one swarm, seeking more victims.

 

But they did not get far. Big, but not giant, ants swarmed over them, killing and devouring them. The zislitherer adults fought hard, lashing out and killing the big, human hand sized insects, but then the ants were winning. The dead zislitherer adults were dragged off into the ant nest and devoured.

 

TO BE CONTINUED

Edited July 14, 2010 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

36^th

YOUNG THIRTEEN

EIGHT STORIES

 

OF THE YOUNG THIRTEEN, ONE ASPECT OF THE LONE ONE

 

Lara Cleave stood quietly watching in amusement as Alice, a young looking women in a young Victorian Lady's dress of white going down to just below her knees, raced past them as she loudly proclaimed that she was looking for a 'white rabbit'. Then she vanished into the weirding zone, simply shimmering and was gone into mid air.

 

Her companions observed quietly and the robots had their special programming to protect them. Many rogue robots in the DC Wastelands had gone into this state because of the influence of weirding zones.

 

They had gone around the edges of the larger weirding zone but had run into a small weirding zone pocket previously uncharted, a third one, of odd intensity and very exotic nature. So far they had met Alice of Wonderland, had glimpsed mighty Danial Boon in the distance with his musket rifle and axe, had been observed at a distance by the caped crusader of Captain DC of the DC Comics Corporation and had talked briefly with a cheeky, witty cartoonish rabbit that had stuck his head out of a instant appearing hole but only for a short time. After Bugs Bunny went down the hole, it vanished as instantly as it had appeared in the first place.

 

They kept moving through the pocket weirding zone and would make sure it went onto charts of travellers going through those lands.

 

OF THE YOUNG THIRTEEN, ANOTHER ASPECT OF THE LONE ONE

 

Charlie Jane, alias Calamity Jane, found the journals of young James Patriot Jackson, the real one that is and not the living god criminal who replaced him, in a simple wooden set of drawers in that amazing big bunker chamber. They were compact volume, protectively bound and of fairly good quality. She carried the stack of journals to a reading desk, laid it out and began to examine them in the order they had been created. There were neatly glued in titles, captions, notes and whole segments of writing along with pictures, maps, diagrams and even his own clever drawn parodies of various people, friendly or not so friendly. Yet there were also amazingly accurate sketches done as landscapes, portraits and just action scenes.

 

The real James Patriot Jackson was born in 1951AD in the city of New York to the Jackson Family. The family was fairly wealthy and influential, was moderate conservative and very patriotic. The family elders supported the American involvement in the Vietnam War and were not pleased with the movements against the war. Yet they were also against racism and supported, to some extent, the civil rights moments. The family ran a series of large, but far from giant, corporations with practical wisdom and a streak of canniness that did them well. They supported a series of moderate Republican politicians and would be politicians, both Congressmen and Senators.

 

James Patriot Jackson went to the Vietnam War as an officer in Military Intelligence. He was soon becoming unpopular as he tended to be outwardly honest about what he thought and he had little regard how the US Military Intelligence was running things in Vietnam. Perhaps because he annoyed his commanders, he was sent deep into dangerous territory as a field agent. There he did surprisingly well, became toughened and hardened, and his parody drawings of various officers and corrupt local officials became infamous.

 

Then he vanished, a long with an elite, well experienced force of American soldiers and an Australian SAS soldier. No real official investigation was made despite the anger and influence of his family along with the families of the others who had vanished plus others trying to discover the truth.

 

The last section of the last volume, it was about a third blank, showed the amazing and frightening experience of James and his comrades first encountering zetan aliens in exotic energy armour and with their rayguns. The zetans seemed to be searching for something in their antigrav-belts and with their dronebots with drone-cannons or smaller, faster firing drone-guns. In two firefights they drove the zetans and dronebots off, losing two comrades in the process. Yet it was not the zetans that they feared.

 

Something dark and dreadful was stalking them, something that destroyed a large zetan group that they found in the jungles.

 

The journal ended there. There was no indication how it had been found and ended up in that chamber but then again this was true of all of the journals of the real James Patriot Jackson.

 

OF THE YOUNG THIRTEEN, THE TWINS IN LIFEVAULT-101

 

Their father informed them that he was hoping to restart Project Purity at the huge secret underground complex where Justine, the sister of the adopted twins, had been born. The complex was an Predoomsday project bunkerplex being used by a Special Waters Improvement Taskforce, what ever that was. It involved people from both government agencies and TekCorps. To the frustration of the twins, their father did not say much about his background or Project Purity.

 

He told them he had been born and grown up in another LifeVault but not which one or where it was.

 

He told them he was much older than he looked but not how much older. He did look a fairly young man and quite handsome.

 

He told them that Catherine, his former wife and the mother of Justine, was born in the so called HolyVault of the Ormons which was just another LifeVault. Catherine had died giving birth to Justine. Yet there was something about the way he said the last that puzzled the twins.

 

He told them that Project Purity had failed and had been abandoned, but not why.

 

He told them he had come to LifeVault-101 to find a safe and good place for Justine to grow up in and that he had found the wandering twins, with their companions, and had taken them with him with out hesitation, quickly adopting them as their father. The animal companions had not been allowed into the vault and one night they simply vanished, along with others. They were to appear in the special dreams of twins and neobaby.

 

They were left with many unanswered questions.

 

OF THE YOUNG THIRTEEN, THE TWINS IN RAVEN ROCK

 

The newcomer EagleEnclavers brought with them enhanced technologies of those already in use at Raven Rock but also some new technologies. New improved plasma weapons, improved eyebots with greater range plus stronger artificial intelligence, new Teslar power armour to be used by a few elite troopers, gentically engineered cyberlinked dogs being trackers, guards plus attackers, new fighter-vertibirds designed to destroy other vertibirds or slower type aircraft, Hellfire armour with special pulseflamer weapons, new enbots being a range of multiple purpose floating globe robots and other things that the twins knew existed but only as vague ideas.

 

The parents of the twins were under suspicion by the Raven Rock Command Council. Their duties were restricted and they had to constantly report to security. They were tightly confined not just to the base but to certain sections of the base. There were a fair few people suffering under such hard conditions but others got even worse while some were not punsihed at all.

 

The twins first heard of 'US President Eden' being in Raven Rock but had seen no individual that would fit the description of a man who seemed quite artificial to them and somehow not fully convincing.

 

OF THE YOUNG THIRTEEN, THE TWINS IN MEGATON

 

The defences and security of Megaton were being upgraded even as more people arrived to dwell there or in smaller, improved settlements elsewhere inside the big Jagged Crater. The number of Observers high on the Jagged Crater wall was quadrupled, their equipment was improved, their wages also and some old timers became semi-retired as trainers of new Observers whil others just retired.

 

Sheriff Lucas Simms got more deputies, some administrative staff, a caretaker, a cleaner and even an archivist with the new archives chamber along with some other resources. Deputy Weld was joined by two other protectrons at the outer fron power-gate.

 

Thanks to the mindeye visionings of Tomkie, hidden underground chambers were found, damaged but usable or repairable. In them were some useful resources and some skeletal remains that were carefully buried. Chambers led to hallways and-or other chambers but the ways ended in rubble, in collapsed spaces. Still the new chambers were going to be found useful some way.

 

It was at this time that real friction began between the Church of Atom people and others in the town for various reasons. At this time it was not very serious.

 

OF THE YOUNG THIRTEEN, TWINS IN TRANQUILLITY TOWN

 

Braun, alias the PlayMaster, struck out at the victims trapped in Tranquillity Town in a scattered, wild manner that was very different from his typical well planned nastiness. He was striking out in blind rage at those who had tricked him into damaging his own super program. Chinese soldiers attacked Tranquillity Lane and killed everybody there, three times in a row. A giant rogue robot, a copy of Liberty Prime, marched across suburbs unleashed pulselaser cannon vollies and many missiles at innocent targets. Seriel murderers rampaged in gangs. Much of the new nastiness was more mundane like plagues of sores, tooth aches, milk going sour, cars breaking down, people suddenly going naked in public, the release of real looking sex 3Dvids of all the VIPs in town, dogs digging up flower beds, a huge increase in taxes, a sudden big drop in wages and much more like it.

 

Braun was losing control of himself and of Tranquillity Town. The twins, along with others, helped the process along by further hacking attacks against Braun and other attempts to help victims like the creation of super dentists, super accountants, wealthy benefactors, friendly dog tamers, a heavy rust that brought the Liberty Prime to a halt, super detectives including profilers, GI soldiers to fight the Chinese and much else.

 

OF THE YOUNG THIRTEEN, TWINS IN CANTERBURY COMMONS

 

PART 1

 

MaryJo and AshlyJo darted along the laneway in an outer, less populated part of Canterbury Commons where buildings had been converted into warehouses, trade depots and offices. They were following a tall, broad shouldered man called Midnight Mack before he seemed to do all his business in the city about midnight. He was in a dark hooded coat, dark trousers, black boots and he carried a big dufflebag in either black gloved hand. His face, when they glimpsed it, was mostly hidden by big dark glasses that did not seem to impede his movement in the dimly lit laneway at all. His small area of exposed skin was albino pale.

 

There was a dark, nasty feel about the man, something unnatural.

 

Every night he came from 'somewhere' with two dufflebags full of goodies except for special nights when he came with robots bringing more stuff or just bigger items. He came with the basic list of valuable useful items in the DC Wastelands like stimpaks, standard weapons, compasses, radaway and other such but less often he brought Predoomsday books, baseball gear, paintings and other such stuff. Not only did he serve the Canterbury Commons Trade Corporation but also the desires of various wealthier collectors of Predoomsday art, books and other items. On odd occasions he even sold robots and other machines that were big but not too big for his own robots to carry. Commercial greed, and the fact that a few investigators had vanished, led to people not asking questions.

 

They turned a corner, having lost sight of him for a moment, and looked down an empty laneway but they were neither frightened or fooled. They leapt to either side with amazing speed and agility as some powerful bullets flew through the air where they had just been. They each pulled out a powerful pistol, hers a pulselaser and his a semiautomatic. They noted a slight shimmering in the air and they fired at it.

 

They examined the dead figure and they watched as the body shimmered and vanished. They carefully buried the clothes and other gear but looted the body of useful stuff and possible clues. They took the dufflebags full of loot, all of which was quite normal.

 

PART 2

 

They gave over the loot taken from the dead 'Midnight Mack' to the Sisters of Compassion and sat at a table, in lamp light, studying the clues with three Sisters Compassionate and a Brother Protector.

 

Sister Compassionate Trela was there. She picked gently, careful picked up a bone emblem, carved and with a blood red emblem somehow burned and marked into both sides of the disk. "DarkCultist membership emblem of extremely high rank. Midnight Mack was most likely a superclone of the DarkZiazin who was selling a constant stream of valuable goods, some far more expensive than others as collectors' pieces, and then taking his earned EIDs and compact, valuable tradegoods with him back to where he came from. Yet I strongly suspect he was coming to and coming from this settlement for more than that reason. Perhaps he was passing on orders one way along with information and passing back feedback, other information. Perhaps he secretly brought in more than the items he were better known about and secretly taking away other items. There are always different levels of secrecy."

 

The Brother Protector was one Lieutenant Vickersay and he was a grim faced fighter with some scars on his red-brown face to prove it. "You have dealt a blow to the DarkZiazin and his schemes, or so I suspect. I imagine it took a good deal of effort and cunning to set up the trading scheme that Midnight Mack was running in this place."

 

AshlyJo sighed. "We have not given you the bad news. There is more than one Midnight Mack out there and they are all linked so the others will know what has happened. At the moment of the death of the Midnight Mack that we shot, we gained this psychic impression. I suppose you could call it the Midnight Mack Clone Gang."

 

The Sisters Compassionate and Brother Protectors did not seem to consider this joke to be very funny.

 

TO BE CONTINUED

Edited July 14, 2010 by Maharg67