War of Realities (Redone and Improved)

[Maharg67]

64^th

LARA CLEAVE - KNIGHT CAPTAIN GALLOWS

LITTLE LAMPLIGHT WARM WELCOME

 

PART 1

 

With the wombles, Knight Captain Gallows and Lara Cleave, along with their people, at last came to the main entrance of the Lamplight Caverns. The two secondary entrances they had come upon had been impossible to use; one was collapsed and the other dived into a cavern mostly full of water. Now they moved through an area dotted with long abandoned tourist cabins, a caravan park, tourist shops and other such facilities. The Lamplight Caverns had been a big tourist attraction for those in the elites who were on the registered free list or those wealthy enough to afford the expensive entry fees. The caverns were quasinatural and the name came from biocrystals that gave off a warm oil-lamp like light. The lampcrystals studded the walls and ceiling. They lit up rows of statues in alcoves, both carved out of the rock of the walls. There were carved stairways, rampways, platforms, canals along which flowed clear water, amazing murals, statues away from the walls and much else.

 

The newcomers noted the skulls and blood red wooden constructed warn-off structure close to the main entrance into the Lamplight Caverns. They smiled at the children's paintings on the walls, just inside the entrance, that were meant to scare them off. Then they were in a fair sized cave chamber confronting a crudely but sturdily made wall of stone with a heavy metal gate close to the middle and a smaller door to one side of it.

 

That was when a young teenager, heavily built but not fat, popped up enough to show his head with a Predoomsday kevlar US Army helmet and thick goggled plus a what seemed to be an altered US Army light armoured combat fatigues set, or a LACF. At the shirt of one for not all of the teenager could be seen. He frowned hard at them from a grimy face and spoke. "I am Mayor MacMcready and you are tresspassing. Turn around and go back if you want to stay safe."

 

But then Lara Cleave smiled very warmly into MacCready's eyes. "Oh, you really don't want to send us away just like that, you very handsome young man. A fine leader like yourself would most likely want to know what valuables we wish to offer in exchange for allowing us to go through to the Murder Maze and then through there to LifeVault-0087."

 

Five minutes later they were on the other side of the armoured gate. MacCready was thrusting his chest out as he spoke mainly to Lara Cleave. "So, what have you got to offer us Little Lamplighters?"

 

Some Clearminds were busy doing some repairs on part of the metal wall with much enthusiasm and some skill. Luckily they were being assisted by a big globe of a MrHandy robot lifted by fanjets into the air who quietly guided them to do the right thing. A larger number of Fogminds were aimlessly drifting around or were sitting or lying on mattresses placed against walls. A young Clearmind teenager, a female, was passing out bowls of steamed mossy substance with small steamed mushrooms and what looked like bits of steamed radroach meat. Another, a male, was passing out the same sort of clay bowls filled with drinking water. The Fogminds ate and drank with out any real other responses.

 

Lara pointed to a Fogmind. "We are going to try to wake at least some of them up and make it easier for you Clearminds." She dropped her hand. "Repairs, upgrades, knowledge, training and other things that you might want or need."

 

The short mayor shrugged. "Sounds good. We have a big chamber for BigUn visitors that is close to Little Lamplight itself. No traders have come for a long time to trade equipment and supplies for our special mosses, wallshooms and other stuff that grows in the Lamplight Caverns. Why have no traders come?"

 

Knight Captain Gallows spoke. "There is much to tell you, I suspect. The Orders of Steel have come, there was a big invastion that failed and much else has happened." He gave MacCready a mild grin. He he towered over the young teenager. "I suggest you take us to the BigUns' cave. What do you call it?"

 

MacCready shrugged. "We call it the BigUns' Cave." Then he turned and smiled at the wombles. "Always good to see wombles. You lot must be okay if wombles are happy to be with you."

 

For that a wombled went over to the mayor and hugged him, only to be hugged back. Then Lara hugged MacCready and he seemed a little dazed after that.

 

PART 2

 

The BigUn's Cave was quite large but fairly disorderly. The last trader had come over a year ago and since then the Little Lamplighters had dumped stuff into part of the cave and had taken some useful items away. Mayor MacCready and Assistant Mayor Lulu Lu, a fiery oriental teen, got most of the useful items returned. While the wombles generally staid with the newcomers, there was no restrictions on their coming or going into Little Lamplight itself.

 

Lara Cleave, Knight Captain Gallows and Mayor MacCready sat at a big table with Lucy Doc, the doctor amongst the Little Lamplighters. It was a meeting of sorts and the mayor of Little Lamplight looked a little bored but he was alert anyway. Lucy smiled warmly but was also alert.

 

Lara Cleave smiled. "We want to help you as much as we can. Both of us have special abilities and skilled followers."

 

Lucy Doc responded. "The Unity is rising but the Fogminds find it hard to tune to the Unity and some are having a hard time of it. We have tried everything that we can think of, even medicines made from mosses, wallshooms and ukworms."

 

A big, strong German Shepherd dog wandered in, looked around and then came over to curl up close to the table. A big ginger cat leapt up onto the table, curled up and promptly went to sleep.

 

Lara Cleave reached out and scratched the cat, who woke up and began to thrum with pleasure. "Bring me samples of everything you have growing in the Lamplight Caverns. We will see if we can work out something together."

 

Lucy Doc sighed. "Better that you come to the old Lamplight Caverns Administration Complex. We call it Little Lamplight Homebase now. I have my rooms there and my laboratory, which isn't much."

 

Gallows frowned softly. "What other specific places do you have in your settlement?"

 

The mayor hmphed. "So you can invade us."

 

Lucy Doc sighed again. "Oh, MacCready, look at them. If they wanted to they could just come straight in. What would we do?"

 

MacCready went to say something but seemingly changed his mind, paused and then spoke. "Old staff residence complex where a few of us Clearminds live; we call it the House. There is the Lamplight Caverns Service Support Complex. We call that the LampComplex for reasons I never learned. Big tourist shop and diner with ablutions block we call the LampShop. Oh, yes, two other ablutions blocks. Oh, the Great Chamber with great big pillars, catwalks, platforms and such like. Many of us live there, that is us Clearminds. Fogminds live all over. There is Splunkers, our big dining cavern that has other stuff going on there as well. There is the... place we don't talk about and I am not going to."

 

Lucy Doc shook her head at the mayor. "Well, since you were silly enough to mention it, I may as well say there is a horrible grey and black metal place that we all stay away from, that we call the Bad Place. There is something about it that feels wrong somehow. Oh, we do go near there when the special bells ring. We go to the metal chute room where useful things, other things and sometimes babies appear. There are a few other places like the computer tower, the crazy globe place, the Bubbling Mud Cavern, the Slotomatic and the Sad Place."

 

MacCready snorted. "Looks like you lot are going to come right in anyway cause we need you. Strange things are happening lately and not just because of the 'Unity' thing that Lucy talks about. Nooo, something is disturbing the Fogminds, something is frightening the little kids and giving them bad dreams. Oh, we heard sounds of fighting coming from the Murder Maze and lots of crazy BigUglies going crazy. They seem to be fighting each other. We have never known that to happen before."

 

Knight Captain Gallows nodded. "Apart from some power struggles and odd reports that were never substantiated, the Orders of Steel have known of no major incidents in which super-mutants fight other super-mutants."

 

PART 3

 

So they did a tour of the settlement, a sprawling series of used cave tunnels and chambers, including some big caverns. They went through the HomeBase and they did some quick repairs. They did the same with the largely unused LampComplex and managed to get a couple of robots running. They visited the House where some more repairs were done. The Big Cavern was of much interest. They went to Splunkers and ate some surprisingly tasteful food but did not ask what the ingredients were, at least not then. Eclair was the 'chef'.

 

They met Joseph the teacher, Braz the fixer-upper, Biwwy the hyperactive almost loner, Bumble the little kid, Tash the girl who cared for the dogs, Tulip the cave things farmer, Knick Knack who ran part of the LampShop as a shop for the Clearminds, Knock Knock the Security Sheriff, Socks Sock the Security Deputy, Princess the annoying Security Guard, Sammy the know it all scholar, Zip the NukaCola Kid and many others. Those were the Clearminds. There were at least three times as many Fogminds.

 

Lara Cleave removed the speach impediment from Biwwy who at once went around speaking clearly and declaring that from then on his name was Barry, as it was supposed to be. In truth he was not as isolated as might have been assumed. Lucy Doc, Penny, Joseph and even Mayor MaCready often let him stay with them at times and the dogs liked him as did Bumbles, who liked everybody.

 

There were some odd inconsistancies and puzzles about the Lamplight Caverns and Little Lamplight.

 

The computer tower was a hulking four legged tower with two levels of armoured chambers with much computer hardware and other machinery inside. None of the Little Lamplighters had managed to get the complex activated and both Lara and Gallows were soon to be glad of this when they found what was in ther and what it could lead to.

 

It was after they left here that they were introduced to a Little Lamplight secret. Neobabies, a whole bunch of small, pudgy muscular baby like figures, had come down the baby chute in the ChuteChamber. They were only allowed in the LittleBig Cavern to keep them safe. They were all Clearminds but some were clearer minded than others.

 

The GlobePlace was a great cavern chamber where some kind of experiment had been run. Huge translucent metallic crystal globes were placed in great big steel cradle-tripods being nine of them in a three by three square pattern. There were great big disk shaped platforms of control, supervision and other roles. There were rows of robots, some of them of quite exotic design. The whole was sealed inside a metallic translucent dome of some experimental exotic material.

 

The Bubbling Mud Cavern was where most of the mosses, the fungus, the wallshooms, the ukworms and other 'cave things' were cultivated. Chickens were kept in a big old series of coops up away from the mud and they lay eggs for the Lamplighters. The secret of the bubbling mud was revealed for into it was dumped dead things like radroaches, molerats and other creatures. Into it also went dead Fogminds for sometimes they died for no known reason and in death they became horribly useful for special mosses thrived where the dead were dumped. The Clearminds that worked in that cavern had to be tough and they were.

 

The Slotomatic was a big vending-machine that refilled mysteriously by itself. It gave out supplies of soapbars, foodbars, tubes of ointment, tubes of spicy sauce, chocobars, sugar cubes, tubes of toothpaste and many other small items. Only it gave them in a trickle. Now and then came a nice surprise like a can of baked beans, a small toy, a pocket-knife, a yoyo, a packet of bubblegum and so forth. The very honest and tough Jack and Jacky sorted the stuff, stored it in boxes and made sure none of it was stolen.

 

So the newcomers learned about the Thuggies, the crazy wild violent kids who were outcasts and forced to live outside of Little Lamplight. Sometimes or or two would come to be tended by Lucy Doc while other Little Lamplighters stood guard. Clearly they did not like talking about it but both Lucy Doc and Mayor MacCready hinted strongly that a few Thuggies had been killed by the Little Lamplighters for reasons of self defence and, one, for the brutal murder of a Fogmind child.

 

The Sad Place was where the Crazyminds could be found and a few of the older ones were adults. They ranted, raved, ran around or just sat in the corners staring at the walls unless they were sleeping all curled up tight. Robots and two androids tended them, to the surprise of the newcomers.

 

As for the black and grey metallic place, it was a great big ugly building of heavy metal in a cavern chamber. It had no visible exits or entrances. There were only some tight gridwork covered vent shafts with many very small holes; either air was sucked hungrily into them or jetted out. The air that came out smelled horrific, unnatural and disturbing somehow.

 

Priorities had to be chosen and vital decisions had to be made but it was clear that the Lamplight Caverns needed to be further studied, explored and understood.

 

TO BE CONTINUED

 

 

 

 

Edited July 14, 2010 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

65^th

GEORGE LINCOLN'S STRANGE DISCOVERY

CITY OF WOMEN

 

PART 1

 

Catching a proximity activated navagition beam, the submarine was drawn downwards to a very big, lightly hidden metal door that slid open quietly. Then the submarine was floating down into the huge chamber. The big circular floor was an elevator with a dozen different submarines already cradled there but even so most of the great metal disk was empty. George Lincoln's vessel clicked into a special cradle that adjusted for it and then the great disk floor was going fairly quickly downwards. The speed increased steadily until the disk was dropping very fast. It was an amazing feat of engineering. Then it was slowing steadily until it stopped with only the slightest of bumps.

 

Data streamed to the submarine and its onboard AI-supercomputer network-system piloted the boat through the water to a newly appeared airlock style door, a disk shaped door that irised open. It was but one of many spaced evenly around the circular wall. The airlock opened not to air but to more water. They were in a very large underground lake in a suncavern lit and warmed by suncrystal, a form of biocrystal. The vessel swam through clear, warm water where great colourful coral reefs florished and then came up to the surface. There was a great city ahead of them on what looked to be a large subtropical island. Flivvers, small flying-cars, darted through the air along with helicopters and a few vertibirds. Holographic projections formed advertisements in the air and so did big billboards. People could be seen as tiny figures on the shoreline. Small pleasure boats were active on the waters along with small pleasure submarines in the waters.

 

High, rising from the centre of the city, was a great statue-tower of President James Patriot Jackson.

 

As the newcomer submarine moved steadily towards shore, and oddity could be seen. All the people were women or were girls apart from odd exceptions. All were cute, were beautiful, with largish warm eyes. All were 'slimly voluptous' as adults or even approaching closer to adulthood. George Lincoln found it disturbing though he could appreciate just how attractive, even sexually attractive, the women were. There were police, security and even soldiers but somehow they managed to be in tight power armour or unpowered body-armour accentuating sexuality. Normal outfits were all risque for women, cute for girls, and transending between girls and women. The odd exceptions were men identical in appearance to the young President James Patriot Jackson, the youngest man to ever become a US President. They wore different gear but all carried small, black stun-whips. Many wore body-armour or power-armour.

 

There were many smaller, but still large, statues of women, most of them of normal women, some of majestic figures, some of more surrealistic form. Some though were pornographic, were explicit of acts that caused George Lincoln and his people to be great surprised. The acts were violent, pornographic or both. The only male figure shown was that of a young President James Patriot Jackson and he was often with women figures and often central in the pornographic or violent scenarios.

 

George Lincoln was able to sense that the PJPJs were clones of various levels except for a few PJP-androids. Discrete sensor sweeps and sensorscanning discovered many hidden network-systems including powerful defence and security ones. It also became clear that many women, even girls, were clones or even androids.

 

The submarine parked into a big specialised jetty, long and relatively thin, into a special bay. The strangest thing was that nobody seemed to notice or to care. Then they got into a local data network of network-systems and learned that submarines sometimes came to the island on AI-pilot and were either empty of people or full of dead ones. No live people had come to the strange, hidden city for a very long time.

 

PART 2

 

A woman buzzed up to the submarine on an electric scooter. She wore a skimpy minidress outfit that could truthfully be called risque. Then she was sticking a large official looking sticker to the hull of the submarine declaring it to be off limits to anybody except those sent officially to check it and do what was needed. When a side-hatch popped open and George Lincoln stepped out, the young woman screamed, in a cute fashion, and then raced over to him while somehow losing certain items. Unclad, she hugged him and began kissing him all over his face, she had to stand on tip toes to do so. Then, scooping up her gear, she pulled him into the submarine while the rest of the crew hid away, and she sort of ravaged him.

 

Later, clothed again in her gear that barely clothed her, she met the others and she chatted away. The problem was trying to get past her amazing flow of nonsense and stuff that was unexplained, that relied on background information unknown to the newcomers.

 

Later, when young Hasli-0987a was sitting comfortably on George's lap and was quieter, a tough youthful woman named Melonie Lincoln, smiled at her from another chair in the same room where all furniture was fused tightly to the metallic floor but could vanish into special storage compartments. She was George's grand-daughter but was a grandmother in her own right despite her appearance. She spoke then. "So the women of the island have little knowledge except for that which is in the Grand Datafile of Truth as created by the one and only man, James Patriot Jackson who will come one day to seduce all women and to breed inside you wondrous new children?"

 

"Not all of us are Orthodox in beliefs. Some, like me, doubt there is just one man. Others are not just Orthodox but are fanatical, are the Wives of Patriot." Then she giggled and kissed George yet again before she spoke again. "You and the other men here have proven to me that the Great Datafile of Truth is bloated with lies and half truths. We have the JPJ-clones and the JPJ-androids but they taunt us, they are rude and they whip us. Sometimes we seduce the clones but that is dangerous to do and if the crime is discovered, the punishment is death or worse. Oh, the city is large but the basis of it is a great vault being LifeVault-JPJ. Some radicals and rebels managed to access forbidden data lost in the great network of network-systems. Somebody had tried to delete totally the data but fragments escaped them. The data said there were other men, other people, other vaults, other places, other living spaces and the surface world. Not all have believed it. Some have rejected it, feared the data."

 

"Worse than death?" George Lincoln spoke while wishing that Hasli-0987a would not wiggle around so much but he did not complain. "How so?"

 

She shuddered. "We are given over to the thing that dwells in the Grand JPJ Statue at the very centre of the city. None go there but the Chosen Ones and the Chosen Followers. Chosen Ones, well they are young, beautiful virgins and they vanish. The others serve that thing in many ways. Horrible stories slip out of that place. Yuck, he is so ugly. He has pale skin and wears a disgusting hooded robe, has 'really bad' BO and 'really bad' bad breath. He also does horrible things."

 

George nodded. "We will try to help the people of the city to become free."

 

Hasli-0987a nodded. "Make things better, you know, important things like increased shopping credit, toyboy androids, a better range of fashions and, yes, freedom and that sort of thing."

 

Melonie sighed. "We are after a very special android marked as a PJP-android instead of a JPJ-android but which looks like a JPJ-android."

 

The young local citizen gave a small jump of shock. "The PJP-android is one of the Prime Enemies of Patriotville. He attacks the Great Program and tries to undermine the Great Program Conditiong of all women be they clones or non-clones. I am a clone, hence the number on my name. Those non-clone women can be such snobby b******. The other Prime Enemies, that I know of, are the True Lesbian Sisterhood, the Free Radical Feminists and, yes, those silly women who want to be men. Most likely there are some I have not heard of. I am only a mere Class-C Public Servant, multitasked to do such vital jobs as sticking stickers on submarines that come into the harbour. I could introduce you to more important women but as soon as any of you, especially you adorable men, stepped out of the submarine onto the jetty, well all sorts of nasty things would happen."

 

George nodded. "Well, its time to do some trickery."

 

PART 3

 

As a woman, George became Georgina Lincoln and she was now young and cutely georgous looking. The same was true for two other women from the submarine and all were dressed as was Hasli-0987. The three newcomers had official looking shoulderbags that Hasli-0987 assurred them was a kind used by workers liker her all the time. Except these had some special tricks to them and hidden in them.

 

Georgina had no trouble 'being' a woman for the Guardian Thirteen were ancient and had lived as many, varied lifeforms. Hasli-0987 was not so happy with the change. She wanted George, not Georgina, and kept pouting as she pointed out that though, officially, certain acitivities were not allowed between women, they often took place anyway. The city used to be stricter but the Promised Master failed to appear at the appointed time and since then discipline had been slipping.

 

Nobody, including the body-armoured police, gave them a second look. Guards in power armour were more intent on keeping watch on the waters of the harbour or the skies. Which was when Hasli-0987 spoke of the outside threat to the City of Women. Ghouls had been attacking the city, savage ghouls known as ghoulers, in armed speedboats or gliderjets designed for pleasure but altered for armed raids. The mostly male ghouls were after loot but also after women that they tried to kidnap for unknown reasons.

 

It was not hard to guess it might be for pleasure, procreation and forced labour. Ghouls, including ghoulers, had low fertility rates and of the relatively few children born, many were stillborn or deformed so much that they died soon after birth or were crippled or were zhouls. The chance of stillbirths and other malformations decreased greatly if the mother was not a ghoul and the child was far more likely not to look like a ghoul, to be a semighoul or even a demighoul.

 

Most of the raids failed badly but the ghoulers kept trying. So far only three women had been taken alive.

 

They caught a shoreline monotrain that glided along a raised monorail like a sligtly shiny metallic yellow worm. It was fairly crowded. There was a fair amount of chatting going on and it was soon apparent that the main topic was that a Grand Amusement Games was soon to be announced. The women seemed disturbed and yet excited in other ways.

 

Hasli-0987 frowned softly. "The only one entertained by those games are the monstrous thing that is in the Great Patriot Statue. Madness, badness and horrible things go on during the games but women can win big prizes like a free lease contract for a toyboy android for a year in one's own apartment or a year long 50% discount to shop goods. Except clones like me are not allowed though I do not know why. We can watch and we can gamble but I gave that up years ago since I have terrible luck and a lousy system."

 

Georgina nodded. "Now you can stop pretending to be a clone and take us to who or what you truly serve."

 

Hasli-0987 sighed. "Oh, you, I am a clone but a special type of clone pretending to be a basic clone. I serve the Patriotville Security Intelligence Agency, the PSIA, but luckily for you I am a double agent. I serve the PJP-Android. Now, we must go from here to a place called the Lusty Delicious Apartment Towers where I live. Officially I live in a single bedroom apartment but actually I have access to four of them being all together. I have no idea how long we will need to wait for my big honey huggy to appear on the scene but it is always worth the wait. Or at least for me it is. He wines and dines me, makes love to me and he always has a lovely surprise or two."

 

They got off the monoline two stops later and headed down into the Patriotville Subway Network.

 

TO BE CONTINUED

Edited July 14, 2010 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

66^th

DARK FIEND FRUSTRATIONS

WHERE, WHAT, WHEN AND WHY?

 

MUTANTLORD FRUSTRATIONS

 

The Mutantlord, tall and angular for a super-mutant, was amongst others of his kind. Leadermanes they were called but the others so far had only served the Mutantlord in the Mutant Citadel. It was the same huge underground fortress that Knight Captain Gallows had glimpsed part of jutting, exposed, out of a cliff face. He was aware that they were wary of him because he was feeling damned frustrated. He had led a large army out of the fortress, through a Weirding Zone along a safe road and then had to turn back just as he was ready to make his first real strike against the stupid DC Wastelanders.

 

Amazingly, suddenly, with out explanation, the DC Defence Security Boundary had become fully repaired, filled in, active and deadly. The EagleEnclave forces were held back except for those trapped in Raven Rock and both had been destroyed by President Eden. President Eden was a stupid computer, as far as the Mutantlord was convinced, and could have done a good deal to assist the Cause rather than blowing part of itself up along with so many valuable resources. As it was it had caused more EagleEnclavers to go AWOL and many of these joined the new FreeEnclave of anti-EagleEnclave forces.

 

There were other forces training in what was a relatively tiny part of an amazingly ancient transdimensional prison. The escaped forces from the fallen Patriot Republic and the Patriot Warriors were sharing the same big base but were in their own sections because they did not trust or like each other. There was the AntAgonizer with her growing madness of giant-ant armies and the thing controlling the clawbeasts in Old Olney.

 

But there seemed to be problems. The Hordra Lord and his followers had been slaughtered by Doomdemons. He had failed to go to LifeVault-0100 and LifeVault-0101 where he was to have triggered the True Hordra monsters into action. The super-mutant force in LifeVault-087 had not been easily defeated as they were supposed to be in a big military exercise by the Mutantlord and his forces. Then there were the other supposed dark forces that were supposed to have arisen. Where were they?

 

The Mutantlord paced back and forth in his big office with its impressive natural wooden desk, an expensive Predoomsday antique, and a big bank of 3Dviewscreens. There was a large stack of intelligence briefings and field-agent reports on his desk next to the genuine 1970s antique larva-lamp. The briefings were frustrating in that they told him only what he knew, though with added details, and the reports were odd or incomplete or both.

 

In the defeat of LifeVault-0087 had been involved a new force of enemy super-mutants of strange kinds. Some seemed to have secondary sexual features and perhaps even the natural ability to reproduce. The idea of this was most disturbing.

 

He sighed, sat down into his comfy ergonomic armchair, a nice 2078 robotic antique, and let it massage him. He was determined to get beyond the problems that faced him and to reach the DarkZiazin himself who seemed unreachable at the moment.

 

GREATCLAW FRUSTRATIONS

 

The GreatClaw was most enraged, surprised and alarmed when all of the deathclaws and many handclaws suddenly departed from Old Orney, at least the part he controlled, to vanish into the depths of the underground ways of part of Old Olney and beyond. He sent other handclaws and types of clawbeasts to find them, hunt them down, but they failed for what seemed to be unlikely reasons. Clearly the hunting parties had no desire to find the escapees but he suspected it was more likely fear and not treachery that was the motivation. Still, he could be wrong for something subtle and odd was happening amongst all of the clawbeasts, including his kind.

 

The GreatClaw sat on his great throne, a massive human the size of a deathclaw and with some deathclaw features such as the appearance of his skin and his hairless state. Not a handclaw himself but a monstrous manclaw. Not all manclaws were of his size. Like the super-mutants there was only a minority of giants amongst them. Also like the super-mutant behemoths, the giant manclaws tended to be stupid.

 

He had three young, adorable female-adult manclaws attending his personal needs. They were curled up sleeping on big, flat cushions close to his mighty throne, they being on the big disk shaped platform that the throne stood on. Sexual desire was not constant amongst manclaws, or any of the clawbeasts, but was not strictly seasonal either.

 

His rage was trickling away as he realized that he could not stay angry at any of his people.

 

He could be angry at the scientists hidden in their laboratory bunker. They were doing terrible things to clawbeasts, or at least they had been until he had taken all the experimental subjects off them and stopped them getting any more.

 

The GreatClaw feared that the DarkZiazin would punish him for his interference in the experiments but he would not change his mind. If he had to, he would kill the damned scientists even if their bunker was heavily fortified with many security robots and guards.

 

Then came a message that surprised and pleased him greatly. The deathclaws and their handclaw handlers had returned upon learning that there was no fear of deathclaw cubs being taken away to be experimented on. They vowed renewed stronger loyalty to the GreatClaw and spoke of other clawbeasts that had come with them such as packs of smaller deathclaw like killclaws, murderclaws and even cuteclaws.

 

Cuteclaws? There was always a black sheep in the family!

 

THREE LORDS OF MAYBE POSSIBLE TERROR

 

The three of them had found Hamilton's Hideaway and then the actual hideout hidden inside the big maze of the official one. They were the Terrible Lords of Squirrels, Molerats and Dogs. Except, they had to admit, they were not very good at being terrible. Their names were SquirrelTyrant, MoleratLord and Canineus. The first and last were female. The middle was male. They had combined forces to, officially make a stronger force to strike at the enemies of the DarkZiazin but in truth they just wanted the added comfort and security of hiding together from a frightening world.

 

They sat on-in beanbags and watched an old 3DTV set-up showing a MIckey Moose cartoon.

 

SquirrelTyrant scratched the head of a not so terrified squirrel snoozing on her lap and the squirrelly looking young woman sighed. "The DarkZiazin does not seem too concerned about our apparent lack of progress forming an army."

 

MoleratLord grinned a little, picked something green out of his teeth with a fingernail, and then nodded. He was bigger than his fellow lords of not so successful evil. "Well, yes, he does fall down laughing when he sees our troops in action but he says that he is laughing as he imagines the fiendish way in which we will drive back the last of the enemies when all the major fighting is over. Really, we have nothing to worry about except for pigeons. I heard pigeons are horrible monsters. Have to fear pigeons."

 

Canineus knew the truth but had long learned that while she wasn't the smartest cookie in the cookie jar, that the other two were almost as dumb as a brick; in other words they would not heed the truth and would be foolishly hurt if they were convinced of the truth. The DarkZiazin found the combined dog, squirrel and molerat army to be damned funny. Why he showed mercy this one time, she did not know, but something told her that he would continue to do so. The DarkZiazin was very complicated an entity to understand and she knew she would never begin to do so.

 

The three puppies in her lap stirred and made noises in their sleep.

 

Maybe they would try to get the 'troops' together for another military exercise but she had no doubt that it would fall to pieces soon after it began as it always did. She sighed and decided that she would not try yet again to convince the Moleratlord that pigeons were harmless small birds and not monsters but instead she would go and get some snacks from the pantry-room. The DarkZiazin was normally good in sending them supplies but recently none had arrived and so there was rationing. She was starting to think of ways to find food from other sources as the animals them did sometimes.

 

TO BE CONTINUED

Edited July 14, 2010 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

67^th

LUCKY EDDIE, SEARF AND JAGAF STRIKING OUT

DEALING WITH JACK'O'MAN, REGULATORS AND SLAVERS

 

PART 1

 

SEARF super-soldiers darted across the landscape, pausing to briefly rest under cover, being impressively fast and agile. The broken landscape itself gave them plenty of cover. A super-soldier darted right over a sleepy mutated bear, a yao-guai, but the creature sat up quickly and could not find what had moved over him. Smartly enough, he did not try to hunt what ever it was. A super-soldier activated a hidden landmine but by the time it exploded, she was well out of range.

 

Then they were halting at a well concealed advantage point where they could see the slavers that scouting stealth robots had spotted, that is the slavers and their prisoners including five disarmed and partly naked Regulators. The slaver man grinning at the captives was no less than the infamous slimethug Eulogy Jones, a black man who dressed normally fancy but was now dressed in body-armour and tough, reliable outdoor gear. He was grinning from ear to ear. The Regulators were forced down on their knees with their arms shackled behind their backs.

 

Then he spoke. "Ironic, most ironic. Regulators stop chasing slavers and suddenly we capture the most dangerous Regulator of all, Jack'O'Man."

 

Jack'O'Man had been pleased when the Regulators had started to hunt for new, more exotic and dangerous threats like Eaters'O'Evil and the things they created but while doing so they had fallen into a slaver trap. The big, craggy muscular man could still not take it in how that had happened. It should not have happened. Two of the finest Regulator Scouts had been sent out, ones who knew the area well, but they had vanished. Then he and his other comrades had fallen into a sleepwalk like state that had led them straight into the rather crude ambush.

 

Jack'O'Man scowled. "It wasn't you who caught us, Eulogy Jones, not you or your scum followers. Something did something to our minds and that thing is still out there. It made two of our best scouts vanish. Must be uncomfortable for you, Eulogy, with all those newcomers flooding into Paradise Falls. Lots of wealthy, powerful, smart, cunning evil folks who would not take your orders, never in a million years. Is that why you are out here, so close to Slavertown? I heard you were forced to leave Paradise Falls because of the new Leadership of the DC Syndicates now based there. They found out you were cheating them big time. Nobody minds reasonable cheating, fool, but you got greedy and they gave you some shock treatments to teach you a lesson. They took your gold, your coins, your personal slaves, most of your property."

 

Eulogy went to kick Jack'O'Man but something stopped him in the nature of a slighty shiny silvery sliverblade sticking out of his chest. The slaver chief looked down at the thing protruding from his body with an expression of surprise and then he toppled over backwards to hit the ground. Even as it did, the other slavers were also falling, quite dead or stunned. Amongst them stood super-soldiers in tight fitting stealth power armour, each holding a tricarbine or a brace of sliverblades.

 

Realising somebody had removed his shackles with amazing speed, the big man slowly stood up and could not but help groan at the bruises that the slavers had inflicted on him. Then he spoke. "Thanks for the rescue but killing Eulogy means he went to his death with many big, dark secrets."

 

A SEARF woman stepped forward in one fluid motion and she spoke smoothly, emotionlessly. "Eulogy Jones knew nothing of any real importance. He was a figurehead hired to look impressive but he cheated, as you know. We found some slavers and we had a nice long talk with them. They were happy to tell us much. The slavers told us about your capture. We came at once. We are sorry that we were late but it was over a hundred Ks away and we had to run. It took us over an hour to get here thanks to the rough terrain."

 

Jack'O'Man grinned, winced, but kept on grinning. "Over a hundred Ks away, huh? How come SEARF are active in the DC once more after so many years?"

 

The SEARF commander replied. "Lucky Eddie has returned. SEARF and JAGAF are fully and openly active through out Northern America again. I will not reveal more than that. Lucky Eddie himself wishes to speak with you. He is very close to here. We are but cadets. More experienced soldiers are watching over us. Lucky Eddie loves us. We will assist you. Oh, yes, Lucky Eddie and the others are in Slavertown which has fallen to SEARF and JAGAF forces."

 

Cadets? The Regulators looked around at the dead and couple of stunned slavers with astonishment.

 

PART 2

 

Slavertown had existed for almost as long as Paradise Falls but it used to be a fine settlement full of hard working, reasonably good-bad folk. Plague, treachery, slaver invasion and other troubles had led it to being a dark, ugly place much feared by most DC Wastelanders. Now it was fallen. Dead slavers and slaver hired mercenaries were scattered through out the settlement. Partly burned buildings looked ready to collapse. SEARF super-soldiers moved in stealth power armour while JAGAF super-soldiers acted in heavier assault power armour. Strange, powerful creatures were sleeping or on sentry duty, each naturally well armoured and armed with deadly exotic weapons. There were floating globe shaped multiple function and specialised robots.

 

Some slavers were in cages, looking understandably fearful and shocked. The conquest of Slavertown had taken just around fifteen minutes from start to finish despite the settlements many defences and large number of well body-armoured and armed mercenaries. Freed slaves looked just as shocked but pleased, relieved though some were finding the sudden change hard to take. Fast Eddie himself was moving amongst the ex-slaves, was tending to him with his special healing abilities or just talking. There was something about him that calmed people, that gave them hope.

 

Jack'O'Man and the other Regulators lay or sat on bunks while they were tended by medically or first aid trained ex-slaves including a doctor and a nurse. Fast Eddy walked into the chamber and he stood in a stealth power armour suit while holding his helmet. He was not greatly tall but there was something about him, about his way of movement or even of being still, that emanated power. He studied Jack'O'Man and then gave a mild grin. "So you are the infamous Jack'O'Man. I have heard you are very dangerous."

 

Jack'O'Man snorted. "So says Lucky Eddie, alias Bloody Eddie, one of the most infamous individuals in the whole recorded history of humanity. You killed President James Patriot Jackson."

 

But EddieJo shook his head. "Yes and no. Somehow he slipped away to the side. Somehow he became the DarkZiazin. We need the help of the Regulators. Yes, we are super-soldiers but we have only a few thousand units in number and that includes androids and robots. Some of the SEARF and JAGAF out there are androids."

 

The Regulator looked around at his people and was satisfied they would all recover, though some would take longer than others. Then he looked back. "What of the monsters?"

 

"If you wish to be soundly thrashed, please go ahead and call our beloved morphic comrades by such a term." He sighed as a sphere of many blending earthy colours came drifting into the chamber. "Meet a morphican, a shapeshifting comrade."

 

The morphocan shimmered and became a big floppy, happy go lucky hound dog that bound over to lick a woman Regulator on her face. She gently pushed him back a little but then hugged the big hairy head to herself.

 

Lucky Eddie smiled. "We have other comrades but for now we will keep them mysterious in nature. We need you Regulators, your allies, your knowledge. SEARF have been gone to Jovan space and back or hidden away in deep bunkers, many in special capsules. JAGAF are the same. Except SEARF and JAGAF have carried out operations in some parts of the USGA since Doomsday. I will not speak of them at this time. You must sleep. When you awake, we will be ready to travel to the DC Citadel. One of me will come with you; please don't ask."

 

The big Regulator shrugged and, exhausted, lay down. Soon he was sleeping soundly as were the other Regulators. One dog loving woman Regulator was hugging the big floppy dog who lay next to her on the same bunk.

 

TO BE CONTINUED

Edited July 14, 2010 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

68^th

FOCUS ON MEGATON

GATHERING OF THE YOUNG THIRTEEN

 

PART 1

 

Tomkie and Tamlie went with Tumnie the neobaby to the big, hidden chamber that they found off-side from the Megaton Subway Station. It was an exotic hitech chamber with twelve special chairs facing inwards and a very chair in the centre. Between each of the outer chairs was a special smaller chairs big enough for a neobaby except for one space where somebody could enter the circle. The twins somehow knew what they had to do. They found the right chairs and sat in them after placing Tumnie in the chair between them. They made themselves comfortable and then the AI-supercomputer network-system in the chamber cyberlinked the three of them.

 

This had been planned a long time ago but not by President James Patriot Jackson or the greater darkness behind him. Nor was it the work of the Guardian Thirteen though they suspected the existence of the plan, the program, and the special chamber that was linked to something far bigger, more powerful and exotic hidden beneath it.

 

People had kept coming to Megaton and were still coming. The FreeEnclavers from Raven Rock were joined by others. Refugees that had been let through the DC Defence Security Barrier, they had also come, along with settlers tired of dwelling in smaller, more vulnerable settlements. There were others also, some of them of surprisingly nature. A big minority of chimpnoids, gorillanoids, orangunoids and other primatenoids were settling in nicely.

 

The Ironside Mercenaries were now fully active in the subway area. Their garrison, outpost sentries and patrols were greatly appreciated by all. Marshal Ironsides was, himself, not far away from the special exotic chamber.

 

Cyberlinking was deep but then the three merged deeper with each other and the Orbistrita as created by the Orbis itself. The three reached out, becoming four, becoming then one, and activated very special networks of network-systems in a specific, carefully planned way. The plan was very old. The trap had been set a very long time ago. The nature of the trap was most bizarre but so was the entity that it had to capture.

 

The LifeVault TeleGateways revealed themselves and became active but they remained locked for the moment. Then other TeleGateways opened linking the vaults to the DC Citadel, to the false and true Pentagons, to the Lamplight Caverns and to other places. For now these also remained locked.

 

There were great big buildings, heavily fortified, that had remained in good condition but with no doors and windows. They were dotted across the DC Wastelands and, more thinly so, the rest of North America including Mexico and Canada. It was assumed by Wastelanders and others, after Doomsday, that they contained hitech machinery long ago deactivated. Any attempts to get in failed even by groups with fairly hitech equipment. But now millions of tiny holes opened in these buildings and out jetted thousand of self-replicating amazingly tiney nanobots, less tiny microbots and just visible macrobots. They jetted out in all directions and soon they were at work.

 

PART 2

 

Citizena, Citizenori and Citizenbabe came next, their pre-Enclave names being Jasmine, Jade and Pebble. They found their seats and they were soon cyberlinked and then deeper than cyberlinked. They linked with Tomkie, Tamlie and the neobaby Tumnie. The greater linkage became stronger. The Obistrita began to whirl faster, to glow, to thrum, to shimmer as its power grew. It reached out and it began to infiltrate and take over network-systems through out the DC and then beyond the DC. It did so carefully, subtly, secretly. As yet they did not try to infiltrate stronger, more dangerous places.

 

Multiple deeply hidden mole-missile bases opened silo doors and mole-missiles burrowed up through the ground and the exploded off through the air, rising until they left the atmosphere. Then these deadly smart-missiles went after Skynet. The Solsystem Federation had left lower orbit, taking the remains of Spacestation Freedom with them. The SFSS Enterprise had gone with the tugs drawing the spacestation wheels and other surviving parts through space. In low orbit all around the world a space war broke out as Skynet fought hard to defend itself. In some places it won as flashes of explosions and pulsebeams could be seen from the nighttime earth below, but in other places Skynet lost and vital parts of it were destroyed. Then came special macrobots swarming up through the atmosphere and then through space to infiltrate the weakened Skynet.

 

The six of them remained in deep-linkage.

 

Professor Brown walked into the chamber and he found a seat in the outer section. He examined the console there and a small 3Dscreen before his fingers began to fly madly over a keyboard. Very soon datasymbols were flowing across the screen. But then, suddenly, the screen went blank except for a security symbol indicating he had been firmly locked out.

 

With a sigh of frustration, he turned his chair and quietly examined the six figures in their special chairs, cyberlinked and, he sensed, more than just cyberlinked. How had the Guardian Thirteen failed to find this chamber and the massive Orbistrita hidden beneath it? Was the same true for GreyMaharg and the other living gods and goddesses? What of the DarkZiazin and the entity behind him? The Guardian Thirteen did not like surprises of this kind, who did? Yet the Guardian Thirteen were experienced enough not to over react, not to jump to conclusions. They needed to take careful steps and they needed to gain new information.

 

The Prime Guardian already knew, of course, as did the others of the Guardian Thirteen including the arisen and arising Lesser Guardians. He stood off and went to tell the parents, the families, of the six in the special chairs, of what had happened to them.

 

PART 3

 

Winona and Chaske along with little Nizhoni, came through formerly hidden teleport-gateways from VertualVault-0112, along with others from there, to arrive in a previously secret chamber in the Megaton Subway Station that they opened up. While Megatonfolk and Vaultfolk from VertualVault-0112 met each other and began to introduce each other, to form plans to use the teleport-gates between the two distance places, the twins went to the special chamber with their neobaby. They were ensconced in special chairs by the time anybody caught up with them.

 

Doctor Church checked the nine figures in their chairs and was satisfied they were okay though he also had to admit the situation was way beyond his training, experience and knowledge.

 

Mayor Elaine Harrington was not so pleased but somehow she found she knew that not only were they safe but soon enough, in their own special way, they would return. Then she turned and walked back to her duties, to negotiating with the Vaultfolk of that amazing VirtualVault with its complex and horrific history of virtual reality entrapment and torture.

 

The FreeEnclavers were astonished by what they saw but they dared not enter the chamber and they soon departed.

 

Three pairs of twins and three neobabies kept interlinking with each other and the Orbistrita, the key to the deep secrets of Orbis, the Seals and what was really buried deep inside the Earth behind those Thirteen Seals of Eternity Confinement.

 

 

TO BE CONTINUED

Edited July 14, 2010 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

69^th

A CONFUSED DARKZIAZIN

A SUDDEN CHANGE

 

The DarkZiazin sat on top of a statue that was large enough, with its missing head, for him and his clone followers to sit on. Normally he would let them be uncomfortable on the big broken statue of President James Patriot Jackson but now, despite his desire to be mean, he was sheltering them with a subtle flickering force dome. Not only that but he had given them tasty sodadrinks and munch, crunchy foodbars. The followers kept looking carefully at him, while pretending not to, as if wondering when he would suddenly strike at them and they were growing more astonished that he was not doing so.

 

From where he sat he could see much of the city stretching around himself. Radroaches scuttled around the base of the statue eating up the generous big lumps of food he had thrown them. Normally they would flee from being anywhere near him but not this time.

 

The strange and yet familiar female voice spoke to him in the back of his mind. "When did it all go wrong? When did you first go insane? Why did you create the Orbis?"

 

Evil he was and normally he gloated that he was so but right at that moment he felt strangely uncomfortable with the concept. A horrible sense of doubt, of regret, of sadness had come to him and he burst into tears. Feeling like a fool, he cried and then he stopped. A semiclone handed him a slightly grotty handkerchief that shimmered and became clean. The DarkZiazin blew his nose into it noisely and wiped his eyes. Then he passed it back but it became again brand new clean and now folded up neatly.

 

The robes of himself and his followers changed suddenly, with a shimmer, to grey. Now he was the GreyZiazin and he turned to his followers. "Now we do no more evil but we are not saints or anything like that. We just go around doing normal things. Well, I still have to work those things out. There are still DarkZiazins out there that we must avoid. They would destroy us. From now on you get weekly allowances of coins, food and other stuff including some extras for past work. Come on dudes, were going on holiday for the next couple of days. We are going to dance, drink good drinks, eat fine foods and have us a sweet good time."

 

Soon the newly created GreyZiazin was wandering over the broken landscape past wrecks of cars and toppled statues, stepping around a rusted out robot and past some gangers who knew better than to attack this one. Then the GreyZiazin turned back to the gangers with a big grin.

 

Soon the GreyZiazin, the GreyFollowers and the gangers were having a real good party with fine drink and food, good music and even a disco ball, all provided by the DarkZiazin.

 

TO BE CONTINUED

Edited July 14, 2010 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

70th

NOT SO HOLY HOLYVAULT

DARK SECRETS IN THE DEEP SUBVAULT

 

"The DarkZiazin continues to do what is needed to be done and yet the insane fool does not even realize that he is doing so." The grey skinned, black robed old man sat in his black, metallic throne and he gripped in one withered looking but amazingly strong hand a metallic wooden staff. "He creates chaos, death and destruction. He distracts our enemies from the true danger that lies in their ranks and hidden beneath them. Like President James Patriot Jackson, he was born to be used by us. So quit your damned weakness of conviction and pass me a sweet."

 

The old woman figure, in her flowery pink robe, scowled at him and handed him a colourfully wrapped lolly. They were in a big, dimly lit chamber where red flames burned inside slightly rusty steel bowls with out visible fuel to burn. These fires unleashed no spoke. She was clearly not happy but she rarely was. "We look old and ugly. We need fresh victims to feed upon and soon. We are Emperor and Empress but what of? We hide away from even the scum of the HolyVault except for a few devoted followers."

 

He looked around at the rather medieval appearing furniture, fittings and decorations of the chamber. There was far more to them than appearance suggested. There was a big four poster bed in one corner but it was thick with dust for neither had cared to use it for a very long time. In truth the chamber was not really inside the HolyVault at all. It was but one of many chambers of a TARDIS of the TimeLords, TARDIS standing for Time and Relative Dimensions in Space. "This place needs a good dusting. I wonder if I could get the environmental regulation systems running again fully. Back when our people were TimeLords, back before Rassilon exiled us all to the Twilighting, it worked just fine all of the time. Even the sweets tasted better back then or are my taste buds malfunctioning again?"

 

She looked at him with disgust, turned and walked over to a very large and very evil looking nine headed and nine armed figure of Lord Greyteshuo of the Great Undeath. Lord Greyteshuo was but one of the Lords and Ladies of Undeath who were wanting very badly to break through to the Living Multiverse to feast upon the life energies of trillions of lifeforms. The Empress had long become to suspect that the Lords and Ladies of Undeath, despite their mighty intelligence, were rather stupid in some ways. She had come to conclude that an invasion of undeath into the Living Multiverse would create great death and destrcution, along with much chaos, but that in the end it would be the Undeath that would suffer the most. Why? Because there were far greater forces out there, greater than Life, Death, Unlife and Undeath, the four Balancing States of the Multiverse, who would not be pleased at all. There was also Karma and Karma was brutal in its justice.

 

The living gods and goddesses were active in the DC, which was bad enough, but there was something else out there as well, something that she could feel in her bones.

 

Anyway the DarkZiazin was starting to wake up, was starting to transform away from the 'dark' but her fool husband refused to even admit to the idea. Him and his damned sweets!

 

She made her way over to a big bronze bathtub and in a short while was soaking happily enough in warm, soapy bubbly water. Her fool followers actually thought she bathed in the fresh blood of virgins, an idea that she found to be most unpleasant to contemplate. Being a vampire was truly annoying at times. Then she sneezed loudly and decided that perhaps something had to be done about all that damned dust.

 

TO BE CONTINUED

Edited July 14, 2010 by Maharg67

[Fifoo]

It's incredible how fast you are adding new chapters in your story! I wish you good luck for your future writing career my friend, and I really enjoyed your writing style, hoping you will sit on the Nexus mushrooms often times for sharing some more good stories again. :happy:

[Maharg67]

71^st

GHOULAMOTH LED EXPEDITION

IN THE MIST OF THE NEOSOVIET WEIRDING ZONE

 

Sandra and Tabatha of the Union of Columbia Special Infiltration Service, the UCSIS, followed the great, ugly but friendly and very smart ghoulamoth through the mist of the Weirding Zone, the ring shaped one on the NeoSoviet island amongst the DC Islands. Time was twisted here and for them only hours had passed while outside much longer had passed. They made their way past slowly moving, softly mumbling giant turtles of dark green and brown colours that were constantly speaking of fine mathamatical, physics and other highly refined scientific theories with each other. Their turtle shells were splashed with large, amazingly advanced scientific equations. They were doing so in an ancient form of language so advanced as to be way beyond mortal concepts of what a language was. They felt the slippery, greasy mud beneath their boots and noted the land was twisting downwards in an unnatural fashion hard to comprehend let alone to explain.

 

The ghoulamoth spoke loudly and with a soft growl to his voice. "My name is Sajacombo. I can not remember my true name. I was a man and then a ghoul but then Professor Frankenfane turned me into a ghoulamoth using one of his own special variants of FEV injections and mutagenic gel vats. I would like very much to do one of his experiments on him and have him scream for hours until he can no longer scream. Still, then I would be no better than he is. The giant turtles, believe it or not, are more than they seem; they hold back the undeath monster that is ahead of us in the mist, that is at the bottom of this downward slope that feels like it is twisting sideways and upwards even as we go down it."

 

Tabatha sighed. "I examined one of the equations and I got a headache."

 

Sajocombo nodded his head. "Yes, it is dangerous to try to do so. I did so for too long and had a migraine for three days until one of the giant turtles came and sang to me. The song was something I could never begin to describe and the headache went away. Perhaps it was more than just a headache and the giant turtle saved my life."

 

They began to enter a thicker mist that smelled somehow unnatural in a subtle but deeply disturbing fashion. There were no more giant turtles here but there was something bot normal but strange there. Hundreds of robots, protectrons and other kinds of trons, but also eyebots and other types, were standing in a ragged line facing the thing ahead of them on that distorted slope. The robots were normal enough looking, were active, and they were all reciting, in their metallic voices, some kind of endless equation of some kind. It was disturbing to listen to but in a very different way from that other, subtle, unnatural disturbing influence.

 

Then they saw him, the strange little man, now wearing power armour that looked something akin to medieval knight's armour. He sat upon a mighty dragon and he was not alone. There were many other great, powerful knights on dragons and other dragons with out riders. There were medieaval armoured figures on foot or on other kinds of great beasts and there were other kinds of great armoured beasts with out riders. All of them emanated a strong feel, a sense of great power. Yet it was not brutal, blunt power but more precise, more refined and carefully used.

 

Beyond the thick mist before them could be seen great, ugly tentacles rising high into the air. The tentacles were dead, more than dead, were visibly regenerating even as they also rotted away in a fashion most disgusting and disturbing. The two women were visibly nauseated but the ghoulamoth seemed more fascinated than anything else. His experiences had more than prepared him for the perception of the massive undead monster. There were over a hundred tentacles of different sizes, all of them huge but some as big as skyscrapers. Some of them could have reached up into lower orbit if they were not trapped inside a Weirding Zone.

 

The voice of the strange little man came to the three of them. "I will open a special doorway but I can only open it and do so securely, for a very short time. Go through it and you will find your self in the capital city on the Northern Patriot Island. There will be some important people waiting for you there. Give them the grey satchel. You will find that surprising changes have taken place while you have been in this Weirding Zone. Please hurry! The giant turtles say it is important and they being far wiser, smarter, more ancient and powerful than we living god-goddesses, I tend to believe them."

 

The grey satchel sparkle shimmered into existance in mid air but Tabatha easily grabbed it.

 

Sandra shook her head in wonder. "These Weirding Zones make 'Alice in Wonderland' look normal in comparison."

 

The gateway sparkle shimmered into existence and the three of them stepped through it and onto another DC Island a goodly distance away.

 

TO BE CONTINUED

Edited July 14, 2010 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

72^nd

OTHERS OF THE YOUNG THIRTEEN

TRYING TO GET TO MEGATON SUBWAY STATION

 

IN LIFEVAULT-0101

 

Understandably the people of LifeVault-0101 were not happy knowing that buried inside themselves were triggers that could turn them into monsters. Vaultgov was forced to hold big open forums, many meetings and to do various forms of medical testing. That the twins, the neobaby, their sister and father had no such threats buried in them, brought unwelcome attention to their lives by many people around them. The CSMO, or cyborg-super-mutant overseer, exposed a series of hidden chambers to the Vaultfolk that were full of resources, some of them of quite surprising nature. There were specialised medical chambers full of rejuve-regen capsules. There were autorobotic depots full of equipment and supplies plus armouries of the same nature. Some of the armouries had assault power-armour, battle power-armour and even stealth power-armour along with larger, heavier mecha power-armour with bigger tool or weapon capacity. Most importantly of all were the databanks that were exposed and the other vault also with all of its equipment, supplies and data.

 

The High Overseer gave into neccesity and an envoy group made its way up a dangerous series of cave tunnels, shafts and chambers into the Jagged Crater. From there they made contact with the peoples of Megaton and with various powerful factions. Megaton was now joined into the United District of Columbia, the UDC, and it seemed likely that LifeVault-0101 would go the same way. The envoy group returned but was more than doubled in size with people from the Orders of Steel, other Orders, the UDC and even other interest groups. Doctors, nurses, medics and scientists made up a big part of the group.

 

Aaron and Aarie found themselves forbidden from leaving LifeVault-0101, which meant that Aappie was also trapped there, of course. They felt the urgent need to go to the special chamber offside from the Megaton Subway Station and the pressure was growing. To make matters worse, their father vanished from the vault along with a small group of his colloguies and some others he obviously recruited for their skills such as a couple of vault soldiers and a robotic tech. They took some robots with them. Suspicion suddenly fell upon everybody linked with the missing folk and this included the twins. They were placed under home arrest, that is they were locked into their apartment.

 

But they could not lock in Aaphant and he made his way to meet with the Special Overseer, also known as the CSMO. But, impossibly, the CSMO was missing, complete with his large chaair contraption. Aaphant soon found the hidden mechanisms that had allowed the Special Overseer to escape from the special chamber.

 

Aaphant was still in the chamber when the High Overseer entered the room along with two security guards. They were holding 10mm autopistols with silencers and they radiated dark purpose. The three of them looked shocked and angry when they found the Special Overseer was missing. The High Overseer and the other two men seemed changed somehow. Their body language was stiffer and their eyes were colder, almost emotionless. Clearly they had gone through some kind of negative transformation.

 

High Overseer Alphonse Almodovar scowled. "We must terminate those who endanger the vital transformation of the vault and its population for the One True Cause. That includes the children of Professor James Ashworth who can project themselves in phantomic form as Aaphant. Terminations will be carried out in the Grey Arena."

 

Grey Arena?

 

Aaphant vanished and the twins, grabbing up Aapie and anything else they could take with them of value, were soon escaping from their apartment.

 

IN THE REMAINS OF THE PATRIOT REPUBLIC

 

Boris, Ivan and neobaby Afanasy, a little chubby muscular boy sitting in a pouch at Boris' chest, were observing aeroships landing close to Patriot City in a big clearing where they were unloading soldiers, workers, equipment and supplies. The UDC Government in turn was taking much needed surplus plantation and farm produce from the great island to other parts of the UDC Territories that needed them. The ISH, the Independent Survivalist Holdfasts, had crumbled and now the survivors had joined the UDC. The UDC was swallowing up the majority of the DC Islands and though they did not like it, the DomniCommonwealth was in no position to stop it from happening.

 

Prisoners were being sent to a prison island. These were those who had done the dirty work for the Patriot Republic or those who gave the evil orders. The twins did not feel sorry for them though they knew a few of them would be executed or would spend the rest of their natural lives doing hard labour on the chosen island.

 

They had to get to the Megaton Subway Station but how? They would be returning to their island home, they knew it, and they hoped not to be away for too long.

 

They considered matters and decided that they would need to do something that seemed rather drastic. But it was then that Boris and Ivan were struck abruptly and slightly painfully with small darts. The two looked to each other in surprise and then they both blacked out.

 

ARRIVING AT RIVETCITY FROM CANTERBURY COMMONS

 

The small aeroship arrived from Canterbury Commons but not alone. It came with three aeroboats, two aeroflyers and four airships. Air-convoys had become larger and more frequent but no less important as both the Unity and the UDC had risen. MaryJo, BabyJo and AshlyJo were with their companions on an observation deck of the aeroship as it came into land on the big aircraft carrier that was part of the small fleet of ships that made up RivetCity. RivetCity was partly the ships and was partly the jetties between them but also some wharf area.

 

The Mozi were arising in larger numbers but so were the AntiUnity Dazi. So far the Dazi, that were altered normal humans as were the Mozi, had not had much of an impact but the Greater Unity was sensing their presence and was becoming tense. The Mozi were just as concerned about the Greater Unity overreacting to the Dazi than they were about the Dazi themselves.

 

The twins had the driving urge now to get to Megaton Subway Station and to the special chamber there where many of the Young Thirteen were already seated and infused into the special system there, deeper than cyberlinked. From Megaton, from Raven Rock and from VirtualVault-0112 they had gone to that place and now they were together infiltrating, with neobaby binding assistance, networks of network-systems through out the DC.

 

The aeroship came down to land with a gentle thump on the aircraft carrier deck. At once ground crew rushed to secure it even as the liftergas-pods were deactivated. Then they saw, through the observation deck armaglass long wide windows, the long rows of sheet covered stretched out on part of the flight deck. There were fifty-eight bodies, all adult sized. Mozi’Kelly came to the twins with a look of concern and then he told them, quietly, that the Unity had killed these Dazi who had attempted to sabotage the water, power and ventilation network-systems on the big ocean-liner that made up part of RivetCity. The Mozi had not been part of the massacre and nor were the Mozi fully convinced it had been justified or that all the victims had actually been Dazi. RivetCity was in shock, the UDC Government was investigating and the UnityWay organisation killers had escaped.

 

UnityWay was an extreme ProUnity organisation that saw murder, even mass murder, as just another tool that did not even need any real justification to use. To the Mozi they were just as bad a threat as were the AntiUnity forces, including the Dazi, who were focusing on Paradise Falls. Mozi'Kelly stood viewing the dead bodies with a soft frown of anger and concern on his face. The twins reflected his expression as did the Sisters of Compassion next to them.

 

AshlyJo then spoke. "If the Unity is allowed to go out of control, if a great war breaks out between AntiUnity and the Unity, then this may end up being the greatest threat not just to the DC Wastelands but to all humanity everywhere and perhaps even to other peoples."

 

MaryJo then spoke. "Could the DarkZiazin have planned this or, worse, be just another puppet manipulated by a more insidious and powerful force? We must get to Megaton."

 

Nobody answered as they all kept quietly observing the bodies except for BabyJo who was busy snoozing against MaryJo's chest.

 

TO BE CONTINUED

Edited July 14, 2010 by Maharg67