Walkers of Worlds

[Maharg67]

3 of 3 (051)

 

THE TRUTH, THE WHOLE TRUTH AND NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH?

 

Leslie was with some of the excaps examining some symbols in a cut rock alcove when the greater truth began to come out about the 'FreeUnion', the zetan invasion and the Nuclaven along with other factors such as the yetans.

 

Yes, the zetans had invaded but so had the zetan like votans. The reason was that the so called FreeUnion was a fabrication, a lie, a triology of terrible oppressive regimes based in Pangermany, Russia and Monglia. They had the support of the zetans. They had given birth to the Nuclaven by trying to betray the zetans by breaking an agreement on using burrowed zetan technologies.

 

Opposing them were the more democratic, freer peoples of the NationsLeague and the allies of the NationsLeague, the votans. From them rose the Orde of the Atom, the great institution of atomic power that hoped to win the war against the FreeUnion and their zetan allies.

 

The FreeUnion and its darker creation, the Nuclaven, had fled to the ArkDomain when given the chance to but then had split to start fighting each other. The FreeUnion was slowly and steadily fragmenting as its leaders grew increasingly hostile to each other, they being GenjuKhan, Hizzler and Stalintsky. It seemed there might be a three way civil war and the only thing holding it back so far was fear of the Nuclaven and the enslaving technologies of the mindcaps.

 

For obvious reasons the people in the caves with Leslie wanted to stay away from both the not so free FreeUnion and the Nuclaven both. Yet there was also another reason. Something had changed in them because of both the enslavement by the mindcaps and by the process that freed them. The people shared a second mentality now and they wanted to secure what they saw as a wonderfully promising new future if they could expand their numbers and influence.

 

REVEALING YET MORE TRUTHS

 

Leslie carefully used a special brush to clear a symbol as she swept away a layer of fine dust. So far the languages used were religious ones used by the daedra and yet this set of writing, in the alcove, was different. Such alcoves were hidden messages left for chosen people in the future to read. This one spoke of a prophesy that the orthodox daedric priests and priestesses would not accept amongst the dremora. The prophetic message spoke of the coming of the FreeUnion and the NuClaven to the Naturall Realms of Oblivionaedra. Yet the message also mentioned the FreeAlliance and the Enclaven along with others.

 

Doctor Anne Peron was going through the motions of assisting Leslie in her work but it was clear that the others had sent her to do something else. Leslie and she were alone in the alcove. Leslie was examing another line of odd picture-words when the archeologist finally got the nerve to speak.

 

"We will call ourselves the FreeUnity of the Unity."

 

"Nice name, as far as it goes." Leslie completed scanning the line. "So the LeagueNations remained on the home world along with a big colony of freed yetans and another of votans."

 

Anne nodded. "As I have said before. Why do you keep asking me to answer questions you know the answers to?"

 

Leslie sighed. "Because I have doubts that the answers are true or at least not so straight forwardly true. Yes, this is a prophetic prediction and I think it even indicates my coming to the ArkDomain though it does not name me in any way. Most fascinating."

 

Anne shrugged. "Some of the LeagueNations people and their allies may have come here but where... who knows?"

 

Leslie stood up. "The FreeAlliance?"

 

The archeologist again relented. "Stories came from the far west that there has been a big influx of peoples much like those of the FreeUnion and that they call themselves the FreeAlliance. We people have gained the habit of being cautious in how much information we give away to others."

 

Leslie stood and turned to the other woman. "None of you were innocent before the Nuclaven enslaved your minds. All of you were willing puppet monsters of the real FreeUnion that is known as the Triumium. You were sent out here to discover ancient secrets, to find long hidden secrets so as to try to help the Triumium develop new weapon technologies to fight their enemies with, including the common peoples of the FreeUnion itself. The fragmentation of the FreeUnion is only partly due to the division of the three dictators but is also due to the rise of a large and powerful reformation alliance through out the FreeUnion."

 

The archeologist paused before nodding. "We need you to stay with us so as to guide us to... a more enlightened form of concsiousness. Some wanted to try to force you to stay but the rest of us knew we could not do this and also seek enlightenment but also that you are beyond us in that fashion."

 

Leslie smiled. "I have an answer though it might surprise you by its nature. Now either help me or leave me to my work."

 

The doctor began to assist Leslie by going out to seek other hidden message alcoves, each stone alcove designed to both hide the writings and leave them less exposed to the elements.

Edited December 22, 2010 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

QUESTIONABLE HISTORIES OF THE ARKDOMAIN, THE REALMS OF OBLIVION, OBLIVIONAEDRA

ITS ALL THE SAME PLACE

 

From Johnnie's Earth people had already gone to the ArkDomain. From Eddie's Earth they were going. Leslie was in the ArkDomain and it was the very same domain to which two lots of FreeAlliance peoples had come or were coming to and other folks had come to being of the falsely named FreeUnion. All these people had generally vintage World War Two technologies with variations, some of them quite noted.

 

The folks who had fled from Johnnie's Earth had taken with them early forms of powered exoskeletal units, early non-turbine helicopters and jet aircraft. The folks going from Eddie's Earth were taking genetically engineered animalmen and related technologies that Eddie had yet to learn of yet. The folks who had come from that other Earth bought with them liftergas aerocraft ranging from fairly small aerocars right up to huge aeroships. In this and in other ways the first two Earths were much more like each other than was the third one.

 

The first and second Earth had been invaded by the tripocs, the so called Aquatic Martians, from Mars while the third Earth had suffered from a double invasion with the two invading forces fighting each other, with the support of Earth allies, their enemies on the Earth.

 

Of the First Earth the Great Exodus had taken place over two hundred years earlier.

 

Of the Second Earth the Great Exodus was still taking place.

 

Of the Third Earth the Great Exodus had taken place just over twenty years earlier.

[Maharg67]

35 of 1 (052)

 

JOHNNIE CONTIUES TOWARDS TEKVAULT0087

 

Johnnie regretted leaving the ghouls of the Order of the Enlightening Path because of the hard and yet compassionate work they were doing but they assurred him it was okay and thanks him for the healing work that he had done and the many useful items that he had given them. Using the knowledge they had given him and other data, along with what he learned on the way, he continued with fairly good speed. He gained access through armoured doors in metal barriers cutting off some cave tunnels and was glad to leave behind the horrors of old, secret mutagenic experiments.

 

For a time he went through a metallic reinforced cave tunnel where grew huge patches of softly glowing glowshooms, a kind of elongated thin translucent mushroom like plant that was dangerous to harvest but which gave many benefits with processing. There were varied symbols on the metallic walls but all were of the various TekCorps and other agencies linked to what seemed to be a series of huge projects that had been going on in the Lamplight Caverns, or at least in a large part of it.

 

He slipped through a great cavern dotted with massive constructor, excavator and other such robots on tracks. They loomed over him as he darted amongst them, around them, and avoided clumps of long dead workers in work power armour, in armour hazmat suits and in other working gear. Like metallic, super plastic and armaglass monsters they loomed over him often with enclosed cabins, balconies, rampways, stairways and other structures people could use to go up to observe or direct them to some extent.

 

From there it was more armoured barriers and armoured doors. Then he was in more naturalistic areas of the Lamplight Caverns, was feeling better for being so and was moving quicker and more efficiently through the caves.

 

WOZFOLK OF WOZZLEDARIA (WOZZLES AND WEZZLES)

 

He swam through a tunnel half flood with slowly flowing clear, cool water beneath glowcrystal growths. The tunnel river was partly full of earthy floor and there grew clumps of waterweed and swam both fish and other aquatic life forms of smaller size. Then he sat drying on a bank of the tunnel river where another cave tunnel, a big dry one, met it. As he sat, Johnnie at a foodbar, drank some water from the river tunnel and drew energy from the sunlight coming from the glowcrystal.

 

Johnnie now had strong indications of Eddie's and Leslie's experiences through the special link between them.

 

Johnnie put some foodbars and watertubes on the stone floor of the tunnel along with some survival-knives in sheaves and then some other gifts. He put them carefully to one side as if for no real reason at all but as he did so he began to sing chant a soft flowing sound that went up and down in pitch but not by much. Yet it was subtle and clever, along with hauntingly clever. The short furry humanoids came out into the open, the wozzles from the landside with some amphibious wezzles slipping up out of the water. They were naked except for webbings of pouch and device dotted belts and, for the wozzles, a kind of cap that had holes for their large ears. While some held collections of short spears that they could throw or stab with or even use like quarterstaffs, there were also some bladed weapons and even some guns.

 

Johnnie had sensed the amphibious wezzles following him fast and sleekly under water but they had offered no threat at all.

 

Johnnie indicated his small heap of gifts. "I am Johnnie and I wish to deal fairly and openly with the wozzles and wezzles of the Lamplight Caverns."

 

A female wozzle, a matriarch, came forward and examined the goods with a careful eye as if trying to find fault in the gifts but Johnnie could sense in her excitement for they were good gifts and highly prized. "Johnnie, we are the wozfolk of Wozzledaria. These are good offerings, I admit, but what would you want in turn? We deal in no dark trade such as slaves or fell drugs or forbidden things of other kinds."

 

Johnnie nodded. "Of course not; you are the wise and wondrous wozfolk!"

 

The matriarch smiled with few teeth showing and nodded humbly. "Oh yes, we are wise and wondrous beyond doubt but buttering us up will not mean we will go against our ways."

 

Johnnie nodded again. "Of course not. Knowledge of how to get to TekVault0087 is what I want."

 

The matriarch shook her head solemly. "We will give you knowledge and take you part of the way, as we are going in that direction anyway, but you go to a very dark and terrible place. To get there you need to pass too close to other dark and terrible places but I see in your eyes very much dark experience. I also see in your eyes things I do not want to see. Now, let us have a closer look at the lovely goodies that you have for us."

 

He smiled and watched as the wozzles and wezzles as they carefully inspected and sorted out their new prizes.

Edited December 22, 2010 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

36 of 1 (053)

 

TRAVELLING WITH WOZFOLK

 

The wozfolk were happy enough to go with Johnnie. He told them about the Little Lamplighters, OrbisTransZia, the Super87s and much else. The wozzles knew that there were TekVault0087 supermutants but had feared them all, had avoided them, but now they would try to form an alliance with the Super87s. In turn they informed him that Wozzledaria was based at the edge of a LifeVault, a specialised VaultTekVault designed specifically to support a colonial taskforce to help recolonise the surface. The vaultfolk of LifeVaultA0100 had never tried to leave the vault to return to the surface because of the continous dark after effects of Doomsday but also because two of their three vault exit routes had been destroyed on Doomsday and the other was of dubvious security. The LifeVaulters had tried to adjust to long term life underground and had colonised glowcaverns close to the vault in order to farm them and to gain other resources from them. Somehow the wozfolk had become part of what became known as the LifeVault CoAgreement.

 

Also as part of the CoAgreement were mushroom-people or shoomera, another colony of the people that Johnnie had already met, some odd assort supermutants, some ghouls, some former tribals and a few others dwelling in three glowcavern settlements known as Lamplightville, Lamplightburg and Lamplightburb that showed the amazing imagination of those who had named them. The wozfolk did not tell Johnnie everything about the CoAgreement Colony and they were deliberately holding something back, but he sensed nothing darkly deceptive.

 

They made good time and had to kill only a few small but determined monsters. Then they were ready to part ways in a big glowcavern chamber with water pouring out of a tunnel opening high on one wall that exploded into a large lake below. One of the walls was carved rock buildings and balconies, semicolumns and elaborate figures of varied kinds. These were Clansfolk temples and they were not abandoned but only lightly populated. Warrior priests and warrior priestesses stood visibly on sentry duty in body-armour and holding various kinds of guns.

 

Johnnie knew somehow he would not be welcome to the temples.

 

The wozfolk leader snorted with annoyance. "Many Clansfok good but too many are silly and some are bad. Look at them all so snotty and thinking they are so up with the spirits. They are fools. They can do nothing to us because Clansfolk have a treaty with the CoAgreers but... but it would be best if you would hurry on to leave while we can watch... witness your going in safety."

 

Johnnie sighed. "I am a Walker of Worlds and I have experienced much and I have learned to sense hidden things of darkness but also of the Light. Even amongst the people up there in the temples are those who are good and who have doubt in the words, thoughts and actions of those who are not so good. I will go now. Can you please find a way to get the CoAgreers to assist those of the Order of the Enlightening Path and the poor victims of mutagenic horror?"

 

After a pause the wozzle matriarch bowed. "I, ShazziTazzi of the TaroonicTamar of the CoAgreement, I do promise to do the best I can to do as you ask."

 

Johnnie smiled. "I thank you. I will see you again, I know it."

 

Then he turned and was soon gone as the wozfolk watched him go and so did some dark, cold eyes through a powerful pair of binoculars; the user of the binoculars was a dark robed figure in a dark chamber in the Clansfolk temples. Johnnie knew he was there, had sensed him.

 

JOHNNIE THROUGH THE TESTING MAZE OF DEATH (THE REAL MURDER PASS)

 

The real Murder Pass was only part but a large part of the area that had become known as 'Murder Pass'. The real Murder Pass was a savage testing maze of metal and altered cave tunnels, chambers and other areas dotted with turrets, booby-traps, robots and other threats.

 

Johnnie went through what looked like a typical vault wheel-door, one of those heavy armoured monsters that were the main entrances to VaultTekVaults. Except normally in VaultTekVaults there were two of them in a row, airlock style, in case of exterior harsh conditions. This time he was at once dodging and running, diving and rolling as a series of rail-turrets shot along small monorails as they tried to shoot him with pulselasers and pulseblasters. He ran across the skeletal remains of adventurers who had long ago tried to scavenge in what they took to be a vault and as he shot past a trophy-stand, he grabbed up a smal copper metallic globe.

 

The Testing Maze of Death handed out rewards to those who made it through and one could find escape routes or so went the theory.

 

He blew away a rail-turret, knowing that soon enough it woud be replaced and everything returned to full working condition. Then he was splashing quickly through a metallic hallway half full of water, not accidentaly so but deliberately so, to get past vents spitting small jets of toxic burning gas. Soon he realised the trick and swam through the rest of the tunnel as the water protected one from the gas.

 

From there it was hard going through a series of cave, part cave and artificial tunnels as he was chased by swarms of laser pulsebeam firing eyebots, had to deal with fast running clawspiders with their hard biting venomous threats and avoided booby-traps of various kinds. When he could, he tricked the eyebots into lasering the radspiders and once, when avoiding clawspider webbing, he tricked two eyebots to crash into it and to get stuck there.

 

It turned out that the clawspiders were genned monsters created and bred in specia places in parts of the maze. How did he know this and other facts about the maze? Because he had helped to design it back when he was one of the Beautiful Ones of that world. Beautiful One? The name for the false immortals had come to seem a mockery to him of morality, of reason, of justice, of fairness and respect.

 

He got out through an emergency exit with two copper, a silver and a goden sphere. Then he was in a big metallic chamber and he had expected it to be empty except for such as the prize-dispensers, food/drink-dispensers, at least one NukaCoa vending-machine, body-care cubicles and such like. The chamber was like that but it was far from empty for there were over a dozen very tough people there being a mixture of ghouls, human norms, roughskins and others. Some were sleeping, some were relaxing, some were in SVR-capsulechairs (super virtual reality) and others seemed to be studying or watching 3DTV. They did not seem overly surprised to see him until he revealed that he had won what he had won.

 

Then he was lauded as something of a hero though some looked upon him with greed and-or jealousy.

Edited December 22, 2010 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

QUESTIONABLE HISTORIES OF CENTRALIA

FACTIONS OF THE LAMPLIGHT CAVERNS OF CENTRALIA

 

TESTING MAZE OF DEATH, THE DEATH MAZEFOLK

 

After gaining knowledge that rewards and even a living of sorts could be gained by surviving the Testing Maze of Death, a fair sized group gathered to take advantage of the fact. Living a dangerous, and often short lived lives, the Death Maze Gladiators and their followers were soon forming communities just inside and just outside of the maze proper. Those who survived the maze could come back with all sorts of general loot but most desired were the prize balls that when used with the prize-dispensers gained people some wondrous gifts. While many staid just long enough to gain and leave or to die in the maze, many others ended up staying and retiring into the growing settlements. The people became known as the Death Mazefolk generally though they preffered their own name of Gamefolk.

 

COAGREEMENT PEOPLES (COAGREERS)

 

Wozzledaria has already been described.

 

The people of LifeVaultA0100 being standard norms of vaultfolk.

 

Shoomera, or mushroom-peope, who also have other colonies in the Lamplight Caverns.

 

Supermutants, animalmen, roughskins, ghouls and other folk.

 

Others?

 

THE LAMPLIGHT CAVERNS ARE GREAT IN SIZE AND MORE FACTIONS WILL BE ADDED IN FUTURE NOTES

[Maharg67]

14 of 2 (054)

 

EDDIE AT HOME

 

Eddie walked with his mother and the happy, tail wagging black dog along a gently winding path. The gardens were the same in some ways and changed in others but he knew, uncomfortably, that the biggest changes were in himself. He woud rub the *censored*'s head and she would lick his hand at times. He noted that some of the nicest flowerbeds were still intact. He had always loved the gardens of that small semirural estate.

 

Eddie spoke. "The Aquatic Martians will have no respect for this place."

 

The Clanswoman nodded. "It is more likely to become property of the Enclaven or so my sources tell me. The Enclaven is doing most of the land warfare. Did you come here just to speak of such matters?"

 

He turned his head to look at his mother and at features both known and unknown to him. "The tripocs have unleashed new weapons onto the lands such as low flying liftertripods and hybrid tripohumans. It seems they did not trust the Enclaven fully or were always planning to betray the betrayers of humanity. The situation is in flux and the patterns going across time lines and alternates to cause a transdimensional disturbance that causes ripples across the Multiverse. It is good to be home. Perhaps I can help to rescue this place. I have more resources these days and I would choose to redeem myself as much as I can with the family."

 

She frowned softly at him. "What would you offer the famiy that you helped to dishonour so much?"

 

At that he shrugged. "Emergency Issue Dollars or Pounds. Fancy Enclaven devices like stimpaks. I could throw myself into a big bonfire but it would do no good. I can no longer die, at least not permanently, for I am a Walker of Worlds. Trying to trap me does not help. I have a kind of death emergency exit system from such situations. Would one call it involuntary suicide?"

 

Pearlisa, his mother, stopped moving and looked at him hard. "So you got what you wanted?"

 

Eddie shook his head. "No, not what I wanted. What I wanted was endless good times, wonderful heroic adventures, lots of pleasure, lots of fanatically devoted followers and such like. No, I did not want this, far from it. Yes, it could be done. At least I hope so. I could send this estate and all in it to a safe place. I serve the Light now so I would have to be given permission and support to do so. One never realy knows with the Light. I see children. I suppose many of them are orphans."

 

She nodded. "Orphans, yes, and the unwanted of other kinds. You have been away roughly for three and a half years or at least that amount of time has passed here."

 

Eddie sighed. "I have been away... there is no way to put it in such terms. As a Walker of Worlds I am between life and death, outside of time and so forth. Yet at this moment, in this shapeform, I feel quite human and I perceive the world much as any human would. Fascinating." He slipped off his backpack and started to take out items from it. Stimpaks, toys, a toy bone for Jassy who politely put it to one side before giving him another lick, cans of food, mealpacks and yet more.

 

Somebody came with a bag and began to fill it with items. Another person was soon waiting with an empty bag.

 

Eddie was puzzled but then he smiled. "Of course, Unity! The secret behind the Clansfolk, is UnityMind and UnityMentality of UnityMind that we quins were never quite part of but was that our fault? The Light has shown us many things, many of which I rather have not seen, but one was that we were the results of an experiment. Yes, we amazing super genius quins who promised so much for the Clansfolk in general and for the Thirteenth Great Clan in particular, the one that was long ago the Imperial Clan before it was wisely crushed."

 

Pearlisa shook her head just a little. "Welcome home, Eddie. You were the sharpest of the sharp five but now there is something changed in you. Perhaps there is hope for you."

 

"Also for you." He smiled at her. "The backpack needs recharging." He stopped giving out items. "It is best to give short bursts of things. I must communicate with the others as much as I can. Oh, some Field Marshals and a famous scientist will be visiting over the next few days. They will come quietly and will not expect to be fussed over. Indeed they will come with gifts for this wonderful little community. Now, about our possessions."

 

His mother snorted. "Follow me if that is what concerns you."

 

Eddie shook his head. "No mother, not our general possessions that we had for our normal lives, our secret possessions that just may be of great interest to you. I am going to do some healing of Jassy though she is in good health and fitness for her age as a big dog. Where are the others? The Specials? I hope that..."

 

Which was when an angry but happy neobaby smacked into his shin and grappled it. Ongry cried out as he did so. Then Eddie was picking him up and was kissing and cuddling him in a way that he had rarely done in the past. Ongry seemed as surprised as he was happy, which was very.

Edited December 22, 2010 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

15 of 2 (055)

 

EDDIE SORTS MEMORIES AND ITEMS OF HIS PAST LIFE

 

The quins had shared a set of rooms in their own area. These rooms were a kind of an apartment in their own right. Each of them had a bedroom, a bathroom, a toiletroom, a small storeroom, a smallish commonroom and a studio-workshop or art-studio or library-study or labratory-workshop or dojo gym. These last chambers the quins had all used. The quins also shared a bigger commonroom between them.

 

After the quins had been declared officially as young criminal masterminds, the Civil Police had searched the apartment but had found nothing, had removed nothing thanks to the power of the Estate Families. Later a more specialised and highly skilled taskforce of international specialists of high renoun had done another search. They had found evidence that the quins were involved in white collar crime but that it was all aimed at stealing from international organised crime syndicates such as the Mafia, the Triads and others including the ShadowClan, the Clansfolk own organised crime network. The quins had vanished by then.

 

Though the quins had been stealing from international organised crime, most Clansfolk still felt that they had sullied the honour of their people.

 

Now Eddie made his way through his own bedroom and gave away some clothes, footwear and other items to the needs of the refugees in the estate. He did the same from his bathroom, storeroom, toiletroom but he would do not such thing in the private rooms of the others or those shared rooms. He opened up the secret cavities that officially had not been found and it was no surprise to him that the small arsenal of guns, the gold ingots, the silver ingots, the fine vintage wines, some genuine rare artworks, rare collectors' items, had all vanished.

 

In the commonroom, the bigger one that the quins had shared, Eddie stood at a window overlooking the front yards and he studied some chicken coops that people were working on. "So, you got what we meant you to get."

 

Pearlisa nodded. "The goods were divided up between the Estates and the government. The artworks went to a museum-gallery as did the collectors' items. We figured, at least some of us did, that you had put those items there to be taken but we coud not find your real treatures. You hid them very well."

 

He nodded. "I would like to get my hands dirty, to do some work around the estate. Those chicken coops could use some painting. How is Adelai?"

 

Pearlisa gave him an odd look and then she frowned softly. "Happily married to a young man who treats her much better than you ever did. You could allow us to use these rooms..."

 

Eddie shook his head. "No, and that is for your good as much as for ours. There are dangerous things hidden here, some right out in the open, things that need to be treated with care even by myself. We were cunning, brilliant fools back then. We thought we could handle anything. Bobbie was the wisest of us and sometimes held us back but too often we swept her-him along with us. I have not met with Bobbie or even communicated with her-him for thousands of years in local terms. We five have become estranged from each other, have drifted apart a very long time ago. We do not have permanent companions any more except for the Light and... of those I will speak of some other time. We no longer 'feel' as we once did. We seek natural life followed by natural death. I am in human shapeform now, am experiencing existance basically as a human, but most of the time we are in the shapeforms of much more exotic entities. As for Adelai, well I will do what I can to gift her some reasonable compensation for my actions and to otherwise say sorry."

 

Again his mother gave him an odd look. Then she nodded as if answering her own inner questions. "Thank you, that would be good. She married Phil!"

 

Eddie smiled. "Good choice. Young Phil always loved her and was always going to care for her. Now, please leave while I do some special things. When you return I will have some special items to assist the estate with."

 

It was his right to ask her to leave, in a sense. She could have opposed his decision but frowned softly and then departed. At once Eddie went through the rooms and, finding a range of special items, at once sent most of them to OrbisTransZia for safe keeping. The other items he arranged on display in the large common room for his mother to inspect and then he sat meditating. As he meditated he also gathered power to himself for he sensed approaching difficulties and even a threat.

 

They came racing into the room, fast but a little clumsy, holding standard issue military revolver-pistols. They were estate workers with crude face masks but they attacked like middle level assassins as they looked around the big commonroom past the array of thirteen exotic items covered in special made coverings. Eddie dropped down from the ceiling, floating swiftly down to land behind them, and his hands flew out to strike each of them, almost lazily, between their shoulder blades.

 

Pearlisa came with estate people with guns and in body-armour. She soon identified the semiconscious men as casual workers who gained short term contracts to help support them and their families. Such people came and went on a fairly regular basis and she had to admit that estate security could be tighter than it was but that everybody was overworked and resources were stretched thin. Taking the hint, Eddie passed to his mother some golden finger-ingots and some EIPs, Emergency Issue Pounds, in the form of a few silver coins.

 

It was evident that who had ever sent the assassins had not expected them to succeed but had sent them as a message to Eddie indicating that he was not welcome and that his past crimes had not been forgotten. As for who could have sent the assassins, the list of possibilities was quite long.

Edited December 22, 2010 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

QUESTIONABLE HISTORIES OF CENTRALIA

VARIED MYSTERIES OF THE LAMPLIGHT CAVERNS OF CENTRALIA

 

1904: HJ PATT'S VISIT TO THE DEADLANDS OF OBLIVIONAEDRA

 

In 1904 HJ Patt underwent his second great exotic adventure when he and his small but well resourced expeditionary party stumbled, partly lost, into a great chamber where a great burning disk of flaming energies, yellow and red, turned out to be a so called Oblivion Gate. There were lesser daedra there being scards with basic weapons and armour, fireball throwing scamps, dremora with more sophitisticated armour and weapons (magical) and clannfears like small, savage two legged horned dinosaurs. Yet they did not attack HJ Patt or his party, instead pulling back to show they would not do do so. The leader in the group, a dremora of higher caste and ranking, came forth and he invited HJ Patt and his people to go through the Oblivion Gate and to tour part of the Realm of Oblivion, to look around part of the Deadlands of Mehrunes Dagon.

 

Three hours after he and his companions had entered through the Oblivion Gate, only HJ Patt returned. Bloody and slighty wounded, with torn clothing and no weapons but a revolver pistol with one bullet, he expected to be killed by the lesser daedra waiting outside the Oblivion Gate. To his surprise he found that they were dead and that there were many Clanswarriors there along with robed matriarchs, priestesses, mages and others. The last thing that HJ Patt remembered was a large Clansfolk force storming through the Oblivion Gate, well armed and armoured, empowered in other ways, looking angry and determined for some reason. Then heaers were sending him into peaceful oblivion of deep sleep.

 

He awoke at a diplomatic outpost of the British Empire along with two other survivors of the expedition and the bodies of the others plus the surviving gear. His memories of Obivionaedra were at best misty and fragmented. Though he returned to the same chamber he found the Oblivion Gate was gone and that there was in its place a large Clansfolk cairn of big stones that had exotic and disturbing emblems carved into them of what seemed to be powerful wards.

 

1904: GRAVITY GOES MAD

 

During 1904 there were over a dozen reported cases in the Eastern Dampen Area of gravity turning lighter, heavier or vanishing altogether. People would find it harder or easier to move or would be stuck flat on the ground or would find themselves floating through the air. The changes took place gradually from normal gravity to abnormal gravity levels and back again so nobody was seriously hurt. Torchwood and the Order of Truth Seekers investigated this situation, along with other agencies. The results of the investigation were highly classified but one journalist did discover that a mysterious figure called the 'Doctor' was involved. It was the same journalist who wrote a story speaking of the possible existence of a large secret base inside the Lamplight Caverns that investigated and otherwise tried to deal with the paranormal. Shortly after that she vanished."

 

1905: JUMPING JACK FLASH #2

 

In the second noted visits of the infamous black clad, amazingly fast and agile figure, Jumping Jack Flash was less aggressive. Instead he would dart through groups to steal food, trinkets and anything else that he could of small carriable size. He was shot at close range by a powerful revolver pistol but the effect did not even slow him down and he showed neither a wound or any bleeding.

[Maharg67]

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CONTINUING WORK AMONGST THE UNITY

 

After Leslie herself had departed alone back into the bleak icy cold landscape, LeslieLee staid with the newly arisen Unityfolk and assisted them as well as continuing the research into the caverns there.

 

LeslieLee was examining yet another alcove of writing when she sensed a disturbance. Taking up a 9mm submachinegun, she went to the alcove opening and looked towards where there had been a group of five Unityfolk working on repairing some equipment using items she had supplied to them from her backpack. Actually it was not really from her backpack but she wanted to keep this truth to herself, at least for the moment.

 

The five humans were sprawled out on their backs and were semiconscious, having been stunned by some kind of psychic attack. Perched amongst them was a strange figure, a black clad pale white figure and at once she knew it was Jumping Jack Flash or at least one of the aspects of JJF. The figure wore this time a black outfit that reflected late British Victorian tastes and he flipped his bowler hat to her, his pale eyes beaming and his fanged mouth grinning at her.

 

JJF was another Walker of Worlds.

 

He hissed his words as he spoke in a variation of Ancient Greek. "Unity is so tasty I could just eat them up, eat them up with chutney sauce and a side order of hot potato chips."

 

"That is a psychic-spiritual feast that would choke you and that you would be forced to vomit up, and you know it." LeslieLee stepped into the open and dropped the gun for it would be useless against this one. Instead she would use more deadly but subtle weapons if she had to do so. "I am LeslieLee."

 

The other wrinkled his nose in evident disgust. "A mere extension then. I wanted to chat with Leslie herself but I suppose you will have to do. These caves, they belong to the very edge of the Holylight Caverns of these, the Havenaedra phase-layers or lesser domain of Oblvionaedra. There is a link between these caverns and the Lamplight Caverns of some Alternate Earths. Through this way came those mere mortals of the FreeUnion and the Nuclaven. Disgusting creatures, those mortals."

 

LeslieLee nodded. "And the FreeAlliance?"

 

Jumping Jack Flash gave a sudden start, as if he had been slapped, and then he grinned. "Why they are even now coming into Havenaedra through a distant part of these Holylight Caverns that reach thousands of kilometres cubic across this region of Oblivionaedra. You died as a Beautiful One and became something else."

 

LeslieLee stepped closer to JJF. "At the one and the same time we became Beautiful Ones and yet also Walkers of Worlds of a kind. We were unique amongst the Beautiful Ones and came to lead them as the Thirteen Grand Geniuses."

 

JJF suddenly leapt high into the air and floated down like a leaf settling gently back to the stone floor of the big chamber. "You quins should have staid away. Powerful forces don't want you interfering in their plans. Not that they are friends of each other but that definately does not make them your friends. The secret of Centralia is woven in the secret of Oblivionaedra is woven in the secret of Centralia. The daedra, bless their death and destruction, are linked to the OdOnes as are the ElderGods and the Eighty-One Divines. NukaCola burns your guts but gives one a nice buzzy buzz. A stich in time-space saves 99.999% until the end of eternity. Dib dib dib, dob dob dob; always be prepared. You were in the Ranger Scouts once."

 

LeslieLee nodded. The RangerScouts were a paramilitary version of the Boy-Girl Scouts movement of the British Empire. The quins had done quite well in the RangerScouts until they started to go through puberty and the madness began as did the sudden spurt in ability and in special powers. It ended with a crisis that their family had difficulties covering up and making compensations for.

 

She spoke. "Each version of Centralia is linked across time and the alternates with every other version of Centralia in a way that is unique."

 

The dark clad figure nodded slowly with a rediculously extreme look of surprise on his face. "So, not so stupid after all." Then he giggled. "Good luck with your investigations here and these Unity humans. Both are very problematic."

 

The he leapt into the air and vanished in mid leap. Almost at once the Unityfolk started to sit up and to grab for their weapons but it was too late and JJF was beyond them anyway. LeslieLee walked over to the others to make sure they were okay and ended up doing some minor healing to be sure.

 

LESLIE ACROSS ICE, SNOW AND ROCK

 

Leslie made good time across the landscape of ice, snow and rock by a careful pacing run. She ran and ran. At one time, in the distance, she noted the grey waters of the ocean beyond white sheets of ice and jutting tips of icebergs. A wrecked ship jutted up out of the ocean, its foredeck and forward gun turrets clearly visible. It was some kind of smaller warship, a WW2 vintage destroyer or frigate from the FreeUnion world.

 

She turned to avoid icetrees, great ice crystal formations sprouting up high into the air with a false appearance of being fragile. Each trunk became three branches and each of them became three smaller branches and so on until each branch finally ended in a softly glowing crystallic globe.

 

It grew slowly darker and then staid dusk for a long time. She noted big penguins in huge groups and seals also in large numbers. There was also a biig structure looming out of the ice, a thing of metallic stone, that turned out to be a huge cube of very solid appearance. Leslie sensed that it was indeed very solid. Thought part of it was buried, she somehow knew it was exactly one kilometre high and one kilometre wide and one kilometre thick. It was vast and as she turned to start towards it, Leslie noted a large settlement of some kind was established at its base.

 

The aeroboat came patrolling through the air in a big loop and then the almost sleek looking saucer was landing close to her and soldiers were leaping out even as she put her hands into the air and surrendered. Very soon she confirmed that there were no puppetcaps amongst these nervous soldiers who carefully checked her head with some kind of crude device. Yet as she climbed into the odd flying machine she had a surprise of her own. Special Agents Scully and Mulder were there of the X-Files Archival and Investiigations Agency (XFAIA) from the FreeAlliance. The FreeAlliance and New FreeUnion had met each other, at least elements of them had done so. There were Brotherhood of Steel people at the site along with Torchwood people also from the FreeAlliance. From the New FreeUnion was something called the Fringe Division of the LeagueNations Special Investigations Agency.

 

They were investigating the huge metallic stone cube because it had on its sides, in tiny small words in the language called Esperanto, the names of all the many millions of people who had vanished from the Alternate Earth that Johnnie was on but before that, right back during the Great Exodus of that world. Those people had managed to get to the 'ArkDomain' it seemed but there was no sign of them except the names on this very big and very heavy perfectly measured cube of what looked like metallic copperish stone.

 

Dana Scully, beautiful and intense, turned to Leslie as they sat beside each other in the aeroboat. "So we met the FreeUnion people who had found the names on that great monolith and we soon worked out that those on the lists were not of our people. A stranger showed up, a tall man in long robes and a floppy hate with this long colourful scarf. He spoke with the Torchwood people and then with us of the XFAIA. We learned that the people listed there, easily over a hundred million individuals, came from a third Alternate Earth that like my own had been invaded by Martians but which had suffered something called Doomsday. The 'Doctor' told us to wait for somebody to appear, somebody special who would be a Walker of World, one who can not die just like Captain Jack Harkness."

 

Leslie shook her head. "We and Jack share the general classification of Walkers of Worlds but we are also quite different in many ways from each other."

 

Scully frowned softly. "I love these aerocraft. They are graceful and yet they are powerful. You are the same but, in your own way, far more deadly."

 

Leslie was not sure what to say.

Edited December 22, 2010 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

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AT THE SITE OF THE GREAT EXODUS CUBE

 

Leslie walked with the quite unselfconsciously handsome Mulder and the beautiful Scully across the big tarmac of aeroboats, aerobarges and small aeroships. Liftergas was always an uncommon substance back on the home world and though more common there, had yet to be harvested. Yes, liftergas came from the crystal-tree globes at the final end of every branch. It was difficult to harvest, fairly difficult to process and so there were many more prop driven aeroplanes and helicopters than aerocraft.

 

The base was of the New FreeUnion, which was looking to dissolve itself into the FreeAlliance so as to leave the old tainted name of 'FreeUnion' well behind, and the FreeAlliance. Though the two Alternate Earths they had come from had some important differences, along with many minor differences, they also had much in common. The area was rocky and they had found a cave system that seemed far too regular to be totally natural. It was lit and warmed as was the Lamplight Caverns. The general opinion was that it was part of the vast Glowlight Caverns through which the peoples had come to be on-in that strange realm of realms. So while there were a few structures on the surface and some dug partly into the rock, the majority of the base was down inside the caves beneath. Even a few aircraft were down there in caverns turned into hangers.

 

Though the great cube structure was considered to be of great importance, the main reason it was chosen was that it was a big obvious navigational landmark, that the weather always seemed to be calmer around it, that dangerous creatures avoided it and that the top of the great cube was a precarious but useful observation position. Fighter jets used the top of the cube as a base as did scout jets and various other flying machines.

 

Leslie could sense a subtle but important start to Unity amongst these humans and others who were there. Some had it in them stronger than the general population and both Scully and Mulder were of this nature.

 

Scully was speaking even as they kept walking. "Frostfall Cove is of vital importance in strategic and logistics terms. If the enemy takes it they will take from us many important resources that we have found in the great bay, so big as to contain the Frostfall Sea. There is intense fighting going on in the sea, air and on-in the land at Frostfall Bay. We were losing to the capheads but now that the FreeAlliance is arriving, the enemy is falling back, especially as the FreeAlliance has brought some important new technologies with them. That is new to my people. EMPguns that knock out the mindcaps enslaving people and give us a chance to recover those poor slaves. Power armour. Heat-beamer weapons back engineered from Martian heat-ray weapons. The EMPguns play havoc with zetan energy armour and the heat-beamers burn through the same energy armour. Yet neither Mulder or I welcome you here because of the war. We need your assistance to understand the meaning of the Great Exodus Cube, the names on it and what happened to all those who escaped from an Alternate Earth."

 

Mulder spoke then. He seemed a little nervous of Leslie. "Down in the caves where a cube wall fronts a cavern there are not names on the wall but what seem to be fragments of a story. The so called chosen people came to this world about two hundred years ago and were accepted then taken to something called For Ever Paradise or at least that is the way it seems to translate."

 

A platoon of soldiers marched past in formation. There were many different uniforms and varied bits of equipment in that place which was a problem for the military there but their enemies had much the same problem.

 

Leslie shook her head. "EverParadiseOurs. Do you know of super virtual reality?"

 

Mulder nodded. "We have heard of it from the Brotherhood of Steel. They have many technological marvels like true power armour, robots, pulselasers and... super virtual reality. But they could only bring limited amounts of resources with them from their own world and they brought with themselves allies, many being resources needy refugees. Our scientists, engineers, techs and other specialists are trying hard to learn the new technologies and the knowledge behind them but... it has been hard."

 

The Brotherhood of Steel? Yes, they who had come from yet another Alternate Earth but that one had suffered three Doomsdays. It only made sense that the Brotherhood of Steel of that world had not come alone but had come with others from their world, many being refugees. Just what had happened to that other world, that fourth Alternate Earth? The Brotherhood of Steel were not sure. They had fled, along with others who had gone with them, through teleport gates provided by unknown forces and had gone to Centralia of their Alternate Earth, then through the hidden gateways in their version of the Lamplight Caverns to other Lamplight Caverns to assist the peoples of the Alternate Earth that Eddie was on. Now they were part of the FreeAlliance and were coming through to the so called 'ArkDomain', what ever and where ever that was supposed to be. They found themselves in Havenaedra, the very naturalistic and Earth like zone of Oblivionaedra, along with the peoples from two other Alternate Earths.

 

Leslie wondered just how Eddie was going on that other world and also Johnnie on the Alternate Earth that he was on. She sensed that Joannie and Bobbie would soon be showing up but just where?

 

She heard some big-band music being played from a recored-player where some American GIs and British Imperial Redcoats were relaxing on wooden chairs. They were drinking bottles of beer and one was reading a black-white girlie pin-up magazine. The sound of the music kind of reminded her of a very familiar big-band song but this one was not quite the same. The lyrics were a little more risque than those from the FreeAlliance home world normally were and so was the girlie pin-up magazine.

 

Then she saw a trio of vaguely zetan like votans making their way, in silvery energy-armour suits, through the encampment. The New FreeUnion people barely gave them a glance but any FreeAlliance folk there were noticeable more nervous. Her feelings of the votans were mixed. They were much better a people than the zetans but then again the zetans tended to be evil so just how much was that saying? The votans were always seeking to help others while helping themselves even more so. It was something that was intrinsic to their nature. So how come the votans had gone to war with zetans over the survival of people on the Third Alternate Earth of the FreeUnion and just how many of them had come to the 'ArkDomain' and why?

 

Edited December 22, 2010 by Maharg67