It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time

[Maharg67]

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It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time 35.1[47]

First Steps in Response

Torchwood London was busy as reports came in of a ghostly subway train racing along more modern tunnels, through modern trains and stations. The ghost subway train had been destroyed in the 1860s by fire and nearly all of its passengers had perished. Subways had been new then and inexperience had combined with stupidity to create the disaster. Only massive outside pressure had seen real justice done.

Captain John Harkness, the man who could not die, examined the barely controlled chaos with a half smile. Around him bustled uniformed Torchwood people and those in business suits or jumpsuits. The gleaming modernity, and other features, of the place was very unlike the smaller Torchwood establishment in Cardiff, Wales. Wales was one of the six States of the United Kingdom being Wales, England, Scotland, Ireland, Cornia and the White Islands.

Harkness had a mixed reputation and while many welcomed him, a few wished he was not there to remind them that he was firmly part of 'their fine institution'.

Malisa Trono cared only that people worked well with Torchwood's agenda and got results, which Jack did. Anyway he had been with Torchwood since the 1890s which made him very valuable with knowledge and experience; it was said that he had secrets, in his mind, that could shake the Known Ordered World except for the Havenlands. Havenlanders were wary of him, of his deathless 'nature', but he had met the Empress twice and had tried to seduce her every time; once he had succeeded but only because she chose to have a child inherit his abilities, if possible; the child was immortal but not deathless.

Malisa, a sharp looking woman like some successful big corporate CEO, came up to him. She was Black African but considered herself to be an International Citizen. She was part-megahuman with some weak metahuman abilities. "Jack, we want you, and your team, to go to Ayers Rock City. You will be given double your normal resources allocations and funding. Your team will be expanded to include five extra specialists, of your choice, and five of my choice. You can choose a team to run Torchwood Wales in a caretaker role but make it only a small one as Torchwood is having troubles with the new 'populist' prime minister."

The newly elected UK Prime Minister, Harold Saxon, was a very charming man who was amazingly good at manipulating the mass media press and crowds at rallies. Yet he was also one of those demanding changes that many found to be suspicious and to be supporting causes that were even more troublesome. Saxon wanted what would be no less than an invasion of Luna. He played on people's fears that Luna was the military high ground though no known attack had ever taken place before on Terra except for the scattered comet-projectiles, most of which had fallen into the oceans and had been destroyed. He acted as if Luna belonged to the Terrans as a matter of natural right and he spoke of a 'grand conspiracy' that included factions like Torchwood though he had not dared to openly name them because of their security statuses.

Jack frowned. "There is something 'wrong' with that man. Take it from me, who is often taken as unnatural, that he is not what he seems. Prime Minister Harold Saxon is more dangerous than just any overly ambitious, populist, politician willing to do anything to gain more power, wealth and influence. For one thing not all of his actions have been one the kind that would gain such."

Malisa nodded. "Torchwood has worked out already but thank you for the warning. The same goes not just for him but those that surround him, none of which are part of the traditional political establishment of the UK or internationally either. He is both brilliant and cunning, never making a slip that his growing number of enemies can take advantage of. He has no less than 10 special bodyguards and many security tricks. He is one reason that we want you to go to Ayers Rock City for that is where Harold Saxon has gone, with out any real explanation, and with great suddenness. You leave as soon as possible."

Edited October 20, 2014 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

:pirate: :ohmy: :geek: :yes: :no:

Edited October 4, 2014 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

:geek: :ohmy: :sad: :mad: :confused:

Edited October 4, 2014 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

:sad: :pirate: :cool: :devil: :down:

Edited October 3, 2014 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

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It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time 36.1[48]
Timelords in Conflict

Harold Saxon, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, rogue Timelord and one of a handful of Timelords surviving from the TimeWar between the Timelords and the Timemasters, a large faction of rogue Timelords. Harold Saxon was the 'Master' who had led the Timemasters until ousted from power by an oligarchy once the faction realized that the Master was quite insane.

Harold was sitting comfortably in his armchair, watching his beautiful but quite mad wife. He had sent her mad after she had been seduced by him, after he had taken over her considerable inheritance of great wealth along with her influential family surname. Humans always amused the Master and yet he was wary of them for good reason. True he had sent his wife insane but sometimes he caught her looking at him with ice cold sanity that gave him a small amount of discomfort. Trouble was he had to keep her alive so that she could hang onto his arm at public occasions and be part of his false persona.

The small private jet-aircraft shuddered in turbulence. World climate, weather and related conditions seemed to be slowly-steadily getting worse. This would have pleased the Master more if it had not been getting in the way of him dominating a world that could smoothly provide him with enough resources to build a stellar empire. He had sort of given up on Terra, there being too much evil competition, but was considering Luna as a possible alternative.

Harold Saxon smiled at his wife, in a special way, and she began to take off her clothes. Those in the cabin looked away, knowing better than to intervene and not really caring anyway what happened to Lucy Saxon anyway. Lucy was in almost robotic mode and would have been totally impervious to the act that the Master dared to call 'love making'.

But alarms began to sound and the Master grimaced and signaled Lucy to put her clothes back on, that she had removed. She did so and adjusted them. The business jet was more than it appeared to be, thanks to the use of stolen Terran hitech and some devices created by the Master himself. Yet he suspected that what ever was 'out there' might be a threat beyond the capacities of his altered jet to deal with.

The dragon shot through the air, amazingly powerful and graceful, a quasi-elemental entity that looked more physically solid than it actually was. One clue to the real nature of such entities was there oddly feint shadows. Dragons flew not because of their wings, which assisted, but because of their true quasi-elemental nature.

The dragon had no interest in the small jet plane, that it outsized considerably. Saxon had dealt with the quasi-elemental entities a few times, more than once having to flee for his life and once being so damaged as to need a regeneration. He was relieved that the dragon was flying away from the jet even as it made for a part of the Ayers Rock City Airport reserved for smaller planes.

The renegade Timelord wondered why the dragon was there, what had drawn it, and why he 'sensed' that it was agitated by something so that it hunted for it. Then he remembered that dragons were created to fight the Great Undeath and he was not so pleased, not at all, because he hated the undead as did Timelords in general.

Edited October 20, 2014 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

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It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time 37.1[49]

First Steps in Response

The temple building had turned out to be a crazy maze of chambers, hallways and other spaces. Much of it was bare, and unused, but followers had dwelt in some areas in a rather primitive, barely hygienic fashion. Dead followers, and there were a few of them, had been dumped down a shaft to rot away there. Unlucky forensics people had been lowered down there, luckily in lightly armored hazmat suits, and with SWAT bodyguards. The good thing was that they found, and were able to rescue, two dying people. The bad was that they found another and could only ease that one's death.

Scully, and Mulder, went down there in AH-suits, as they were sometimes called. The need for tightening, and armoring, of hazmat suits had come with increasingly dangerous exotic incidents involving toxic environments. HA-suits were also a nice added safeguard against other threats being very bullet, bash and slash resistant. They were also a lot less cumbersome than older style hazmat suits and had extras like head-lamps and special bracelet-computers.

The XFiles Agents were sickened by what they found but had learned, by painful experience, to deal with it. They also searched for information amongst the dead and dying but found nothing of real use. That is until they found a dying woman who had a hidden small journal. That was one they had strong hope of saving the life of and Scully helped work on her as a doctor, in a modular emergency ward at the place that was well equipped. She was too badly off to try to get her to the nearest hospital even by helicopter.

Mulder examined the journal, broke its code easily enough, and realized that the woman was some kind of freelance investigator. She had gone under the name of Anne Bridge but he doubted that was her real name. Nor was there any indication of who had hired her or what she had been seeking. What was clear was that she had been very clever in her observations but had suffered a series of abuses ending in her dying body being thrown into the shaft. Only her landing on rotting bodies had helped save her. Or had there been more to it than that.

One Professor Frankenstein had visited the temple a couple of times and had tested followers, had dissected a couple of murdered ones each time (a young man and woman), and had brought vials of Necrodol. Most deliveries, of the stuff, had been made by a woman named Shirl Wagner, a woman who was sparkly and warm except for her ice cold eyes. That had been a good description for the so called Special Followers at the temple, who had fled just before Mulder and Scully got there indicating that somebody had alerted them; this had troubling implications. Others had visited but mostly they had not been named but one had that was most disturbing. It was the wealthy, powerful, and influential Karl Spector of the Spector Five Corporations and the Spector Welfare Hospitals; there were five such hospitals, internationally, and one was in Ayers Rock City.

Edited October 20, 2014 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

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It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time 38.1[50]

First Steps in Response

The Azorines took them to the sacred site and the visitors were shocked. They had expected some kind of Azorine ancestral site or even more Azorine wall paintings of exotic events but not that.

Preserved in strange blue ice like material was a blue-green flying-saucer quite unlike those of the Graynari. The gray saucers were somehow always disturbing, bleak and intrusive as if they did not quite belong in natural existence. That flying-saucer was very much bigger and had large fanjets, and other features, it was intended for atmospheric flight at least part of the time. In English, Mandarin, Spanish and Esperanto were written the words PanEarth Aerospacelines. It was big, bigger than a Graynari saucerboat but smaller than a Graynari saucership. There were no indications of weapons but the hull was seemingly very strong in nature.

The next chamber showed something both more familiar and yet stranger. It was a motorcar that was much like one of the same type in the Known Ordered World but the words were a little different and there were noticeable other differences. The Azorines had already worked out that it was a petrol driven motorcar much like a hybrid-electric version of the same; General Motors Holden was on it instead of Auzimotors Holden that was on the hybrid-electric machine. Auzimotors was a daughter-corporation to the quasigovernmental Australian New Zealand Corporation.

Mulder frowned. "The car looks to be built in the 1970s of another Alternate Earth or so it seems but how did it get here?"

The Azorine guide, a tough young woman in brown cargo trousers and blue Tshirt, along with boots, shook her head. "You two have seen nothing yet. Come here and see something more personal."

There were many alcoves in a big wall and inside each, inside the blue ice like substance, were items. The DVD cover could clearly be seen and on it was a picture of Mulder and Scully, with some minor differences in appearance. It was television season one of the popular science fiction show named the 'XFiles'.

Scully shook her head in wonder. "Ourselves as fictional characters, amazing. I hope that not too much is revealed about our personal lives. Have you ever been able to free any items as has been done up in the Lunar Overworld?"

The Azorine guide went to pretend that she knew nothing of such things but then shrugged. "It takes a special kind of entity to activate, to open, the first one in a sequence of them. Then anybody can do so. What do you know of we Azorines that you could know that we know that?"

Mulder answered. "Two ancient Azorine maps were found in a collectors shop in SanFransico, the USA, five years ago. They show an interesting view of the Earth as if from the Moon. The views are most accurate but the well preserved parchments are centuries old."

The Azorine, who was more than a local guide, nodded. "There is an ancient Waygate inside Ayers Rock, what we call Uluru. Sometimes it works and we can send small groups to Luna but most of the time it dos not. Last time it was active it was about fifty-eight years ago. At least far as I know! I have only been there once and that was as a child. The Azorine Elders restrict access to many places; you should not be here, now."

Edited October 20, 2014 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time 38.2[52]

First Steps in Response

Scully nodded. "So why are we here."

Yaraha sighed. "Our Elders have become corrupted, have fallen under dark influences, except two that were murdered by the others. We, my faction, questioned one of them before he unfortunately died. They have become linked to the Cult Conspiracy fools and to UmbTek. We suspect that they have been trying to activate the Waygate."

Scully spoke. "Did any groups come from Luna to here?"

Yaraha shook her head. "They tried once but the gravity is too heavy for them here. The gravity, in the Lunar Labyrinth, gets heavier the deeper one goes. The gravity of the Lunar Underworld is heavier than it is here on Terra but not greatly so. But the gravity, of the Lunar Overworld, is much lighter than it is here. Azorines have met, and traded with, the Lunatyr people. We traded mostly in stories and knowledge. The Waygates made sure no sickness was carried from world to world. All those who went through were rejuvenated."

Mulder frowned. "Your faction?"

Yaraha smiled at him. "For now I will give you the name of the 'Concerno'. We have allies who are also concerned about what is happening. You know one of them. He is here now."

Graham Maharg stood there, almost as if he had always been there. He seemed to be a little tired. He indicated an alcove with an odd looking rifle like device in it. "Tri-elemental rifle, or TER! Fires elemental energy pulsebeams of life, phase or solar modes. Such will be good equipment for the future fighting to come against the threats that are rising." He looked around. "A can of Diet CocaCola, a poster of the Beatles band, a coffee table book full of photographs of the Apollo Eleven mission that landed on a different version of Luna, a large household emergency medikit, a .22LR calibre target-pistol, a mechanical pinball table, a National Geographic magazine, a bust of the famous Beethoven, a 100,000 piece jigsaw of the Eiffel Tower in another version of Paris, a Japanese Honda motorbike, a fancy Swiss Army Knife with 20 useful devices, the famous MonaLisa painting that is an alternate version to the one of here that is naked, a Heavy Browning Machinegun identical to those of our world and much else. All of this is a duplicated reflection of this world before the Timespace Event triggered the Timespace Transformation that changed so very much and which continues to do so in a more subtle fashion."

 

Mulder nodded. "For now all of this should remain secret to most. It must be a site of investigation, of research, and not just a chance to gain a whole lot of free resources."

 

Graham Maharg shook his head. "There is a very special price to pay for using such a place as a supply of supposedly free gifts. That is the more items that are taken, the more influence that the ancient power-artifacts will gain on localized reality. The AraAncients never used such power-artifacts in such ways, except when given no other choice, and they created such artifacts. When the AraAncients fought the Impossible War they tried to destroy, or just deactivate, all of their power-artifacts. Unfortunately they failed to do so before they vanished, which was shortly after they destroyed almost all of their primary enemies. That was well over a trillion years ago, by mortal terms."

 

A trillion years ago! A thousand billion years ago! A million million years ago! Too damned long ago!

Edited October 20, 2014 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time 38.3[52]

First Steps in Response

 

Mulder spoke. "So we try to stop people from taking too much from here?"

 

Graham Maharg shook his head. "No, quite the opposite. We try to have these, and other items, distributed as much as possible. We need the AraAncient power-artifacts to be more strongly, and profoundly, linked with humanity. Why? Because of reasons that I can not yet give you. I will tell you that there will come a time, in the not too distant future, when humanity will need to seek a special sanctuary and you will not be the only ones. I will instigate the freeing up of these alcoves and take some items with me. Please leave and come back in one hour for you must not know what I take lest somebody try too hard to gain the knowledge from you, doing you terrible harm in the process."

 

So the three departed, leaving the mysterious Graham Maharg alone in those chambers. When they went back, exactly one hour later, he was gone and almost all of the alcove items could be accessed, taken and be replaced. The exceptions were a small chamber of very exotic appearing devices that, for an unknown reason, Graham Maharg had not freed up.

Edited October 20, 2014 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

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It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time 39.1[53]

First Steps in Response

Zelenites came charging at the outpost, in waves of death, the insectoids being armored-armed strange with biomechanical devices. They bizarre looking creatures were mostly humanoids but there were four, six and eight legged things. The more legs, the bigger they were. The humanoids' weapons shot spinedarts, jetted flame and spat acid toxic jelly but so did the bigger creatures. There were flying things also, most being about the size of the tall, loping, humanoids but others being smaller or later than that.

Rockets fired, guns blazed, missiles were launched, mines exploded, as Terran and Lunatyr defended themselves in the growing Terran settlement of Moontown. The attack had only failed to be a surprise because of Lunatyr warnings and the audio-visual transmissions gained from a remote before it was destroyed.

 

Zelenites were rogue selenites adapted to life in the Lunar Overworld. They had been 'adapted-evolved' by the same mysterious forces that had changed the Lunatyr humans. Selenites and zelenites fought each other, if they ever met when selenites expeditions came up into the Lunar Overworld, which was not often.

 

Sashagal, a Lunatyr of the Wayomatyr, fired a burst of three bullets with her elongated autorifle and then spoke. "Zelenites are willing to serve as mercenaries to others which is very unlike the selenites who would find such actions most puzzling. These new weapons are serving our people well but that we have them may not have pleased other factions so much. This attack may be a hard warning for both your people and mine."

 

Amanda, and Armstrong, stood with her and used their own more compact autorifles.

 

More equipment-supplies were being teleported in along with a very few metahumans to fight with their special abilities. They hurled elemental energy projectiles seemingly from their hands but this was an illusion. Autocannons kept firing off bursts.

 

A MoonEagle rose into the air, outfitted as a gunship, and began to blaze away with its autocannons. From the gracefully ugly machine shot volleys of pod-rockets and less missiles.

 

Armstrong frowned. "We need to bring this foolishness to an end. We can not afford to give certain people, back on Terra, an excuse to try to invade the Lunar Overworld."

 

Sashagal nodded. "You have many soldiers on your world, many war-machines, but it would be difficult for you to get them here."

 

The first missiles came down from orbit and exploded amongst the zelenites with terrible force. More and more of them struck until there were no attackers except for those who escaped quickly down below ground. In a very short time many of the insectoids had perished and the attack was over.

 

Sashagal frowned. "Yes, I see, your people would be a threat but only one that would drive a powerful reaction from very dangerous forces that reside deep down inside Mother Moon."

 

Amanda sighed. "We no more want to see such a thing happen than you do. Terran humans are factionalized just as Lunatyr are."

Edited October 20, 2014 by Maharg67