ADVENTURES IN TIME, SPACE AND TRANSDIMENSIONALITY

[Maharg67]

CITY OF CYBORGS

HUBTOWN FEELINGS

 

Hubtowners were surprised when the big old structure of the teleport gateway station began to operate. The stall owners who had confidently had their stall there for a few years, despite the Town Council’s protests, were now shocked as people, robots and things started to come through their stall. The old man and woman complained loudly but since they were breaking the Rules of Free Access, nobody listened to them. Soon the stall was pushed gently and firmly to one side as the various Cyborgia, UnityForce Troopers, gangers and others came through it.

 

The gateway was an archway on a flat disk platform with a big wide rampway at the front. It was quite large. It was in a great big chamber that the Hubtowners had turned into a local market place simply because people assumed that the great big structure in the centre would never function again.

 

What most Hubtowners did not know was that the old man and woman were UnityAgents and under the cover of their stall they had preactivated the teleport gateway station. UnityMind had then fully activated it from a distance when the moment was right to do so.

 

By the time that Graharg came through and the teleport way deactivated behind himself with a sparkling shimmer, news of the event was rapidly spreading through out the underground settlement. The settlement was based in what was a big subway hub station with many intersecting tunnel lines and many platforms plus other facilities. These included a barracks, workshops, computer centres, robotic centres, a large cafeteria and much else inherited from the past which had been adapted and expanded, added to, to make the current Hubtown.

 

Hubtown was pleased to know about the new open truce with Cyborgia. Now Hubtown could openly manufacture items, do maintenance and make repairs for Cyborgia for a working profit. Only a working profit for Hubtowners were fully aware that they needed Cyborgia to survive.

 

Hubtowners were mostly standard humans with minorities of animal-humans, the tame ghoulified and a few others. There even True Blue Ocker Mutants and UnityNeo citizens. Hubtown population was just over a million folks, officially, and perhaps twice that unofficially.

 

Hubtown had been a semiautonomous member of the Free Union of Peoples but now it was in the process of becoming a full member of the FUP. A referendum had been won by a landslide majority swing after the old leadership had been exposed as making dark secret agreements with the PUP, the People’s Union of Peoples. The leadership had wanted to sell out most Hubtowners so they could gain more power, wealth and influence. Most of them were now serving time as convicts and others were executed.

 

It was better to be a firm part of the FUP than it was to be vulnerable to the various enemies now either getting stronger or emerging as new threats. FUP soldiers had skirmished more and more with PUP mercenaries in the three dimensional buffer zone that separated the FUP from the PUP. To their angry and fearful surprise they had found that the PUP forces had upgraded a whole lot with new weaponry, body-armour and other equipment including robotics and vehicles. Whispers indicated that the PUP was also gaining other types of equipment and supplies. But nobody seemed to know who was supplying the PUP with this new material wealth.

 

Hubtown was deep in Cyborgia Territories but also much closer to the PUP than any other major FUP settlement. It was also in the area where Enclavers, Tekkers and other intruding forces were becoming more active. Hubtowners were feeling less safe with each passing day.

 

Edited May 4, 2011 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

CITY OF CYBORGS

AMAZING DISCOVERIES

 

Massive and softly rumbling, the great constructor robot slowly moved along the great tunnel and as it did so a battle raged over its surfaces. Necrotica creatures fought Earthnet robots and cyborgs, that is cyberbots, cyberdroids and robomen, battled necronoids, necroborgs and necroglobes. The fighting was ruthless and with out mercy. The great constructor robot moved as if unaware of this except that its own gun-turrets were shooting only at the undeathly forces.

 

The symbols of RoboTek and Earthnet were clearly shown on the massive armoured hull of the mighty robot as it moved on great rolling tracks. Inside control cabins were other cyborgs that looked humans wearing RoboTek jumpsuits, unlike the metallic robomen. These were Infiltrators and Terminators, the Terminators being more for combat.

 

What was Earthnet doing in Melbourne, in Triplecity? The thirteen had data enough to know that Earthnet had been built into the super city projects. Officially the Earthnet participation had been small as in some surface tower structures but unofficially there had been whispers of much Earthnet activity very deep down in the artificial labyrinth of the city.

 

The thirteen concealed themselves in the opening of a side tunnel, using special abilities to throw up a psionic screen. As it was the two fighting forces seemed too involved to notice anybody anyway. Then the machine was rumbling past, was sending soft vibrations even through the massive structures around them.

 

One of the women, Gralena, spoke softly but the others heard clearly enough. “Earthnet was involved in the construction of the Triplecity, it must be so. Earthnet had access to the resources sent from the moon by Skynet’s Moonnet. Those huge one way glider-shuttles and drop-capsules landing in the deep South Pacific, much of that must have ended up here in the Triplecity. Aquanet could have transported the resources in its huge atomic freighter submarines. Most people were living in controlled isolation then inside the cities where they learned only what the government wanted them to learn through glossy 3Dpix news-magazines, 3DTV and holographic news bulletins.”

 

Yes, the New World Order, the Scattered War, the World Government, the TekCorporations, the Enclaven of the government inside the government and, yes, the yet to be fully activated Skynet with its subnetworks of Earthnet, Moonnet and Aquanet. In the face of such forces, most humans were either submissive citizens, exiled to the troubled regions or were serving those powerful forces as puppets.

 

The Scattered War was made up of many wars going on around the world, such as the Australian Civil War, and Unity was involved in every one of them, somehow. But so were old fashioned humans who simply did not want to be part of the New World Order. In theory they should have lost easily but somehow they managed to do a good deal of damage to the NWO and the WG before Skynet was activated and Doomsday struck.

 

Part of the reason was that one of the most powerful individuals in the world, World President James Patriot Jackson, had been secretly supporting those who were supposedly his worst enemies. When this was discovered by the Patriot Party and the World Government, he was dealt with harshly and forced to play the part of World President while having no real power. Thus it was that he pressed the button that activated Skynet. Or so went one version of the history.

 

The constructor robot moved off into the distance and then stopped, slowing to a halt because of its great mass. There was a humming noise then and part of the tunnel floor began to go downwards, taking the massive constructor robot with it and also the fighting entities. When they were out of sight, a great plate slid into place and not only was the elevator sealed, it was once more hidden.

 

The massive forces at work in the depths of Triplecity were amazing, frightening and bizarre.

 

But was Skynet and its subnets really the power behind the construction of Deepcity or were there other forces at play?

Edited May 4, 2011 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

BACKGROUND

CITY OF CYBORGS?

 

The name can refer to either the whole of Triplecity or just to Melbourne. The name came from the rise and development of cyborg related manufacturing, research and development facilities in Melbourne during the Golden Age. There was also the heavy use of cybernetics at many levels right through out the Golden Age, including the end phase of the Golden Age that included the Ragged Decline, the Scattered War, the Red Plague and other influential events.

 

Cybernetics went from the most basic implants of cheap mass scale production and use be they sensory boosters, muscle amplifiers, feature alterations or many others, right up to the most elite of technologies. This was also true of other technologies, of course, but in Triplecity cybernetics was a strong focus of interest.

 

The most famous cyborgs were the most controversial and though much shown by mass media, the least understood. From workers and soldiers to fire-fighters and many other specialists, cyborgs became important to many aspects of world civilization. Not just cyborg humans but cyborg animals were used and, strangely enough, even cyborg plants in some cases.

 

Yet there were also, from early on, urban myths of such as cyborg monsters, zombieborgs, supposedly made up partly of reanimated corpses, of bizarre alien cyborgs being part alien and strange human clone cyborgs. All of these were supposed to exist deep in the city where great swarms of them endlessly carried out strange and terrible duties for a great and terrible long term purpose.

 

These urban myths reflected the general fear of the deeper depths of the Undercity that not even the toughest of elites wanted to approach. Why? Because those few who had come back had reported terrible conditions designed to wreak death and destruction upon anybody foolish enough to go down there. Robotic death mazes, swarms of cybernetic killers, deadly smart-traps, mutated giant rats and much more was said to be down there to confront any trespasser.

 

Those in the know, knew that though these things existed, that the real dangers were beyond in the Deepcity itself and it was something that they called the CyborgGods.

 

Most people didn’t or wouldn’t have believed any of this apparent nonsense.

Edited May 4, 2011 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

CITY OF CYBORGS

SANCTUARYCLAVE, GRAMARG AWAKENING

 

SanctuaryClave existed somewhere but the location was kept secret even from those who existed in it, or at least most of them. It was a vast chamber, six thousand, four hundred kilometres wide and half that high at the centre, as a dome. The floor was a mixture of artificial and quasinatural landscape being a high table-top mountain island in a central fresh water sea surround by land stretching to the highlands of the Rimzone. From the greater warmth of the Centre, the climate gradually changed until the greater cold of the Rimzone.

 

People dwelt in Hopeville that was both on and inside the big central mountain island. UnityFree mingled with Cyborgia and norms, with big hairy neands, with nocturnal nocturns, with amphibious gillmans and aquatic mermans, along with such as winged angelons. Furry friendly wozzles were there along with squat tough gnomes, elegant pointy eared elves and even stockier dwarves. Dragonfolk of many kinds dwelt on and in the island, amongst them true dragons, of course, but also demidragons, semidragons, subdragons and dragonmans plus others.

 

There were also others, some of whom did not often show themselves outside of their own protectorates.

 

The great open air space of the dome was not wasted. Up there floated the SkyArchipelago of SkyLands and smaller SkyIslands. People dwelt there as they did in settlements from the shores of the fresh water sea right out to the Rimzone and even in the sea, the lakes and the rivers.

 

Over twenty-one million ‘people’ dwelt in SanctuaryClave but not all were humans and the humans were of a variety of species and subspecies.

 

Gramarg awoke even as her restorative-rejuvenation capsule opened and two young dryads in green leaf garbs of little modesty, came to attend her needs. The green haired, green skinned nearly all female species were amazing healers, amongst other talents, and helped to tend the RR-capsules. They looked like young women of slightly angular appearance and oddly round eyes of dark green.

 

Graharg was still at Hubtown. The newly generated AlphaThirteen were trying to find out information, to follow traces, in the Undercity of Melbourne, of the Triplecity. Gramarg knew at once that the plan to fool the Shadowthing had failed but in a way she and those like her had always expected that the ‘official’ goal would not be reached. The real goal was simply to see what happened, to create useful reactions and to gather information.

 

Around her the chamber was wooden, naturally enough, because it was part of a huge towering towertree. It was over a hundred metres high and thirty metres thick at the main trunk. There were secondary trucks, branches, link-branches, and great flowers that opened in sequence all year round.

 

There were other RR-capsules holding those of her kind and those of her kind could be seen in a translucent fashion. They were of different shapeforms, were different lifeforms or at least so it seemed.

 

Gramarg walked out into a semi-enclosed balcony and lay on a wooden massage table to allow the dryads to expertly massage her naked body back into full activity. Even as she lay there a parrot landed on a balcony rail and studied her with evident curiosity, rainbow coloured head tilted to one side.

 

She sighed and spoke. “Report!”

 

The Cyborgia parrot unit then spoke in an authentic parrot sounding voice. “The Hopeville politician, Gaigamarie, has made his move to get a position on both the SanctuaryClave Primary and Secondary Elective Regulation Councils though according to the SanctuaryClave Constitution such a move is unconstitutional.”

 

“CyborgiaMind, Gaigamarie must be forced to select only the SanctuaryClave Secondary Elective Regulation Council.” Gramarg had hoped she would be spared such issues for even a short while after climbing out of the RR-capsule but it was not to be. “We need to find out who is boosting Gaigamarie’s resources and ambitions. It is clear that Gaigamarie is only a puppet and perhaps a decoy of which there have been far too many lately.”

 

At least she could enjoy the massaging hands of the two dryads.

Edited May 4, 2011 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

CITY OF CYBORGS

HUBTOWN DOINGS

 

Graharg was not pleased for somebody had tried to betray him.

 

Graharg had long ago created a base in the centre of Hubtown for one major reason. The base had been the foundation of Hubtown in the first place as people had come to the growing settlement to take advantage of the resources he was offering. Then they were adding their own, were building up Hubtown around HubtownBase in a three dimensional fashion. Graharg mostly kept out of Hubtown affairs and Hubtown kept out of his and away from HubtownBase.

 

HubtownBase was populated by cyborgs, clones, androids, robots, roboremotes and reliable followers of various species. The followers mingled, at times, with Hubtowners but the others kept to the HubtownBase.

 

At the core of HubtownBase was a special AI-supercomputer network-system that carried out work in a secluded core of the base that only roboremotes were active in.

 

Graharg sat in a chamber that was partly semiluxurious office, partly computer control chamber, partly bedroom and partly library-study. The 3Dwallscreen was showing three different windows over a ‘desktop’. Datasymbols were shown in patterns on one and words on another. The computerised voice that spoke from a hidden set of speakers was an accurate rendition of a mature woman’s voice.

 

“Technician Adrian Smiles has been caught twice attempting to infiltrate the HubtownBase Core Databanks. Both times we actively blocked him in such a way as to convince him that passive security barriers had done so.”

 

Graharg had a 3Dphoto of the technician brought up onto the 3Dwallscreen. There were over thirty thousand people working and-or living in HubtownBase including the retired and children. Adrian Smiles was a demighoul, a ghoulified human with only a few slight overt signs of ghoulification. He was fairly attractive, quite intelligent but was not a good worker, was an even worse team worker and was prone to a wide range of bad behaviour from petty theft to sexual harassment.

 

Recently he had been sighted meeting with a Mr Smith, a strange man in a slightly dirty business suit, with a normality to him that was, somehow, subtly disturbing as if there was something wrong but one could not quite identify what it was. Smiles and Smith had met in an establishment officially known as the Fine Wine Club and known commonly as the Swine Club. It was a rather disreputable place situated in Hubtown’s own slum quarter of Hubdown that catered for clients with cheap ‘bathtub wine’, cheap prostitutes, strip shows and small bet gaming tables that were surprisingly honest.

 

Mr Smith had only come to Hubtown a month ago and yet already the Town Sheriff’s Office, the FUPPF (Free Union of Peoples Police Force) and Graharg’s own people had become to see him as a ‘person of interest’.

 

Graharg was more concerned though for he had met Mr Smith over two hundred years ago and had killed him, disposing of his body totally by cutting it into portions and furnace burning it. There are been other stories of ‘Mr Smith’ over the centuries since Doomsday and often they spoke of Mr Smith being in different places on the world at the same time; according to the stories he was difficult to keep a track of, was difficult even to take a recording of and difficult to kill but he had been killed at least a dozen times. Despite this the mystery of what or who or Mr Smith was still remained as strong as ever.

 

Where ever and when ever Mr Smith appeared, there was always big trouble and Mr Smith was always trying to cause trouble or was causing trouble. Mr Smith had a way of influencing people, especially the dark minded and weak willed. Adrian Smiles fitted the bill nicely.

 

Graharg made contact with Gramarg in SanctuaryClave. By the time he did so, Gramarg had gone to SanctuaryHub at the very core of SanctuaryClave.

 

Edited May 4, 2011 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

CITY OF CYBORGS

ALPHATHIRTEEN

 

AlphaThirteen acted out the role of trove-hunters, that is hunters of prize resources be they special technologies to large stockpiles of basic resources or even such as artefacts or heirlooms. Trove-hunters were far better equipped than mere scavengers and more flexible than salvagers but they took greater risks.

 

They encountered a large convoy of FUP soldier guarded refugees that had abandoned three smaller FUP settlements that had been too isolated to protect properly. They had been replaced by small military-civil outposts manned by military and civilian conscripts.

 

The convoy hummed past in small to medium electric vehicles of many kinds, many of them pulling trailers or even caravans. It was a hodgepodge of technologies and had some interesting oddities like robotic horses, or robohorses, all of which pulled wagons or carts along with having riders and pannier lockers. Yet there were also strong, muscular city-ponies long bred and conditioned to living in the depths of the super cities.

 

The settlers hated having to leave settlements that they had spent so much time and energy establishing but the FUP had registered their claims so that if in future they wished to return, they could do so with FUP support.

 

AlphaThirteen humans had only a quick talk with the FUPDF officer in charge of the convoy. She was tired and tense but willing enough to give them some vital clues that she, herself, did not understand the importance of. The Shadowthing had been witnessed by a scavenger, at a safe distance, communicating with a man who was most likely Mr Smith, or at least one of the Mr Smiths. This was in a place called the Great Metal Cavern of Ice Pools because it was a great metal cavern of a chamber that was full of artificial pools topped with ice. Like much else in the Triplecity if it had a purpose than the purpose was quite obscure.

 

The Shadowthing had looked like a cloud of thin black smoke with a dark patch at its centre that was a vague, ever changing shapeform that was never quite clearly one thing or another. It was disturbing to look at for most.

 

Wisely enough, the scavenger had fled as quietly and as quickly as possible. The scavenger’s name was Arisa Jones and she was last reported to be at the military-civil outpost of Goth’s Comfort that itself had been a small settlement.

 

AlphaThirteen set out for Goth’s Comfort as soon as the convoy was moving into the distance and after they had given over stimpaks, nutripaks and some other items to the convoy commander.

 

Edited May 4, 2011 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

BACKGROUND

ZONES OF TRIPLECITY

 

Most peoples of the Triplecity lived in the region between the old cities of Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra. This was because this great area was less built up, had more fertile landscape and more available water. It also had networks of bunkers and even some liberated VaultTekVaults that were more safely isolated than were the underground settled zones in the more built up areas. It even had its own subway network.

 

This more heavily settled region was known as the Auzilands and was the home base of the Auziland Commonwealth and Territories, being the actual Commonwealth. The Commonwealth used the surrounding more built up areas as a buffer zone against even more dangerous areas or so ran the theory.

 

The ACT had also Territories that were parts of Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra that were closest to the actual Commonwealth.

 

In general there were Green Zones that were the safest and most life supporting right through Yellow, Amber and then Red Zones. Red Zones were the least safest and supporting of life.

 

Yet there were Zone Subclassifications such as Green-Red which would mean that the zone was safest against many threats but was bad in supporting life or Red-Green that meant that the zone was dangerous against many threats but had a strong life supporting ecology.

 

All zone classifications were relative to PostDoomsday expectations.

Edited May 4, 2011 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

CITY OF CYBORGS

GRAMARG IN SANCTUARYHUB

 

Agents were reporting a series of conspiracies that had been hatched or were being hatched through out the more heavily inhabited parts of SanctuaryClave. Various security, intelligence and police agencies had so far dealt easily enough with most of them but a minority were proving to be more difficult to come to terms with.

 

There had been consistent, though scattered reports, of the involvement of a Mr Smith who wore different clothes than the Mr Smith that was of Alternate Earth # 0123456789 but who was the same. Gramarg could sense it so and looking at a slightly blurry 3Dphoto of him, that should not have been blurry, she knew that part of the puzzle of what was happening, was falling into place. Except nobody had ever learned of the true nature of the Mr Smiths or what forces and purpose they served, if any.

 

How had Mr Smith got into SanctuaryClave when it was supposed to be totally secure against such intrusions?

 

Military Police Troopers, in assault power armour, were climbing aboard vertibird troopbirds and vertibird gunbirds were preparing to escort the troopships. With the MP Troopers went robots and androids. Both types of vertibird were heavily armoured but the gunbirds had no troops and many more weapons. She was looking at the scene on a huge 3Dwallscreen in the Central Control Coordination Chamber, big and impressive with much hitech including roboremotes, robots and androids. Cyberlinked humans sat in special cyberlink chairs as they operated in super virtual reality of carefully regulated cyberscape.

 

Mr Smith was linked to a foolish uprising taking place on a settled island where the settlers had been provoked into hating their neighbours and wanting far more than was their fair right to have. The problem was that Mr Smiths had provoked more than five such uprisings in recent months and the SanctuaryClavedom of the government was not equipped to deal with that much trouble. It was generating new paramilitary and military forces to deal with the growing crisis but did not want to be seen as a martial force.

 

Other, more subtle responses were at work such as special trained diplomatic teams going out to troubled communities. So many were at work now that a whole new Ministry had been created with Departments, Committees and Agencies. Clavedom never created bloated public service and everybody actually worked effectively and were there for a good reason.

 

She reached out and touched a button, then spoke. “The odd trooper with the dark red metallic backpack, have him taken down quickly and quietly. The backpack is a bomb and he is a suicide bomber.”

 

The odd trooper out, in older style power armour, was not a trooper at all. Real troopers grabbed him and deactivated the crude bomb before it could be detonated, it being five mininukes at its core. The young man involved was suffering from mental illness and he was treated with firm gentleness. It turned out that he had been spoken to by a powerful stranger but it was a beautiful young woman named Ms Smith who had seduced him in a most odd fashion. She had induced a normal young woman to do her actual seductive work for her.

 

Gramarg decided that BetaThirteen needed to be created so as to help deal with this situation.

 

Then the first data came through from the young man and it’s implications were stunning. Somehow he had managed to pick the thoughts of Ms Smith who was actually a manifestation of Mr Smithdom, the huge network of Mr Smiths that were all actually one entity. Those thoughts were dark, insane beyond the suffering of the young man himself and very disturbing.

 

It had been assumed that ‘Mr Smith’ had infiltrated SanctuaryClave as a refugee. Refugees did not know the real location of the clave. Now it turned out that the dark, twisted entity knew the real location of SanctuaryClave and had infiltrated it by other means. The secret location of SanctuaryClave had been its best defence but now it seemed that it was gone.

Edited May 4, 2011 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

CITY OF CYBORGS

GRAHARG FIGHTS MR SMITH IN HUBTOWN

 

Graharg entered the chamber through the window, armaglass exploding in all directions, and landed on the wooden floor close to the dead body of a Sheriff’s Deputy. Mr Smith whirled with amazing speed where he had been drinking the blood of another dead man being the would be traitor, Adrian Smiles.

 

Graharg, in his adapted light power armour, slammed into Mr Smith and sent him hurling through the air. Mr Smith landed heavily against a thin but strong steel wall and it buckled under his impact.

 

Even as he landed against the wall, the false man creature had turned and had fired his large semiautomatic pistol. Except that it boomed with more power than any normal such pistol would have and shot a projectile that was no mere bullet.

 

Graharg avoided the projectile that flew past him and exploded to blow apart a small table in the room dotted with small gaming tables, dead people, dying people and, mostly, stunned people. It was one of the two big rooms of the Fine Wine Club, the Swine Club, where one of the Sheriffs of Hubtown had decided to arrest Mr Smith. This was despite the High Sheriff of Hubtown sending out strongly worded orders for none of his people to go near Mr Smith.

 

The tall, broad shouldered Sheriff was stuck to a wall by three black metallic spikes and he was dead.

 

Graharg had gone to the rescue as soon as he had learned of Sheriff Pack’s stupidity but it was too late but it was too late for three dead men and two dying ones.

 

He smashed the pistol from the hand of Mr Smith and it flew across the room only to explode in mid air for it had not been a normal gun at all. Then he slipped out the glowing golden-white bladed shortsword and thrust it into the man who was not a man.

 

Mr Smith glowed red yellow, flamed and imploded even as he screamed in agony and hatred, an inhuman sound that filled up the whole room.

 

Then Mr Smith was gone, including his clothes and other gear.

 

The black spikes, holding the dead Sheriff to the wall, vanished and the corpse collapsed to the floor.

 

Gramarg had sent word that Mr Smithdom was a manifestation, or dark avatar, of the Shadowthing that in turn was a projection of World President Sebastian Sauron. World President Sebastian Sauron being the alternate version of World President James Patriot Jackson who Graharg had once been.

 

Graharg would not have to cut up and burn the body of Mr Smith this time. Instead he focused on saving the dying and trying to bring back the dead with the assistance of the Light. This time none of the dead returned to existence but he saved the dying.

 

The concerning news was that the SanctuaryClave could now be in danger of invasion.

 

Edited May 4, 2011 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

CITY OF CYBORGS

ALPHATHIRTEEN SEEKING A SCAVENGER

 

AlphaThirteen reached the outpost of Goth’s Comfort where it found a great wide chamber stretching into the distance. It was dotted with great false-brass tree shaped columns complete with trunks, branches, flowers and leaves. Some of the trees even had the shapes of animals, such as possums and birds, on them.

 

The vast, relatively low chamber was all false brass forest with false brass rocky outcrops, flat areas, channels running with water, areas of soil supporting real plants, bridges over the channels, towers and other structures.

 

Like much else of the Triplecity, its purpose was a mystery as was the identity of those who had planned it and had it made. Robotica had done the actual construction.

 

The group moved beneath sunlamp-domes glowing bright on the ceiling above that was quite high. Birds flew in small vapours of dots way above them. Insects chattered. AlphaThirteen moved with great speed and agility.

 

Goth’s Comfort took advantage of two false brass towers to live and work in while being surrounded by useful fertile areas and big channels flowing fast with cool, clean water. Soldiers were there but also civil workers of various kinds. Such outposts were important for the Free Peoples Union so that it could keep an eye of what was going on in certain areas and also keep trade and refugee routes open.

 

Conscripts in fleximetallic body-armour, including helmets and shinguards, stood guard with 5.5mm autorifles, pulselaser carbines (PS-carbines) or rocklet-autoguns (rocket-bullet). There were three roboremote gun-turrets but even more turrets manned directly by troopers. The defence-safety boundary could be manned also by civil workers with militia training or by anybody else who just happened to be available.

 

The thirteen were welcome with some wariness at first but they gave over some stimpaks, mealpacks and other valuable items that helped to change their reception. They sought at once to meet the scavenger named Arisa Jones who was sitting in her inflatable modular dometent at the edge of the outpost proper. That is well inside the defence safety barrier.

 

The slimly muscular woman looked up at them from where she sat on a slim rectangle of an inflated survival inflatable mattress made of kevlar. She wore typical survivalist gear though with some noted fashion taste as in earrings and the particular camouflage patterns.

 

Openly she was a blonde haired white woman with a light faded scar running down her right cheek but AlphaThirteen knew she was much more than that. She looked up at them and spoke in Esperanto. “You sense that I am different! I am Sheva of OmniResistance and I am from AltEarth #0123456780. OmniResistance has sent me to warn you that World President Sebastian Sauron of our world is planning to send a large invasion force to this Alternate Earth.”

 

Gralena of the AlphaThirteen responded. “We have met the slider clones that you sent to this Alternate Earth.”

 

Sheva gave them a puzzled look. “Slider clones? Why would we of OmniResistance send you slider clones? You are mistaken or have been misled.”

 

AlphaThirteen at once sent an empathic-telepathic warning to Graharg and to Gramarg but the warning was too late. The eight slider clones had vanished from the underground city of Alpha-Three but not before committing three terrible crimes.

 

After them went, in relentless chase, Cyborgia and UnityFree elite forces.

Edited May 4, 2011 by Maharg67