ADVENTURES IN TIME, SPACE AND TRANSDIMENSIONALITY

[Maharg67]

BACKGROUND

NUKACOLA DOWN UNDER

 

Because NukaCola was more under scrutiny in Australia, it was there little more than sodapop with some ‘special ingredients’. NukaCola Down Under did not have the ‘isotopes’ of US NukaCola.

 

Yet amongst its typical ingredients of flavouring, sugar, preservatives, more sugar, were experimental ingredients #123-987-NKA123 and #124-987-NKA125.

 

#123-987-NKA123 was to be linked with a strange form of ghoulification syndrome.

 

#124-987-NKA123 was linked to psychicification syndrome.

 

Together they produced, at times, something very odd and dangerous.

 

On the up side most people agreed that, despite being a little too sweet, that NukaCola Down Under had quite a nice flavour to it. It was also a good stain remover, motor degreaser, weed killer and bug repellent. Many bought it but relatively few drank it.

 

Edited May 4, 2011 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

CITY OF CYBORGS

GRAHARG AT ALPHA-THREE CITY

 

Only the bomb detectors had stopped the deaths of anybody but the weapon had destroyed a large artefact containment chamber and its contents. Graharg walked around the blackened inner floor of the outer hull of that chamber and noted the bits of scrap that had been a research cubicle, a databank and some other hardware. Two sentient class androids had just escaped using emergency wire-teleports.

 

The artefact could have easily been in the mess of wreckage but he knew, somehow, that it had been taken. It was a dangerous kind of artefact and until that moment he had not known that UnityFree and Cyborgia were foolish enough to both keep one and keep the fact secret from him and others of his kind.

 

The type of artefact had a strange name being called a Transstopulator but in truth the name was nonsense, was misleading code. The so called Transstopulator did not stop anything, it started it. In theory any such devices made could assist in the opening of very large, very stable, clusters of large wormholes between distant destinations. This could include both time and alternate travel. Such devices were very dangerous to operate, on many levels and in many ways, so that Graharg and others had destroyed twelve of them in the past. Three others were in a very special place. Nineteen were unaccounted for. Or at least that had been so.

 

Graharg had already been to one of the other crime scenes where the Light had ‘saved’ the dead babies that had been killed. The death of the babies had been painless and from them had been stolen various body parts such as brains and spinal chords. The Light returned the stolen flesh and took away any bad memories.

 

One was never really sure about ‘the Light’ and what it would do but it had been an active force on that world since Doomsday and it tended to look after babies, many kinds of babies. The more innocent one was, it seemed, the more likely one was to be saved.

 

The other crime had been the assassination of three people, a woman and two men, who were said to belong to the small but persistent hacker community in Alpha-Three. All were standard humans and had been of noted high skills. The Light brought none of them back.

 

Nine dead and resurrected babies!

 

Graharg then found the item that had not been left there by accident. It was a very small but very armoured datachip enwrapped in a battered armoured sleeve. Soon he had learned that the cloned sliders were not responsible for their actions but were the enslaved puppets of a powerful but subtle force. Yet there was a message from Maggie stating that somehow she had gained more freedom, as had Wen, and she warned him that there were three major forces on Alternate Earth #0123456780 being the Ordermation, OmniResistance and the CyborgGods; none of them could be trusted.

 

Ordermation was the brutal tool of World President Sebastian Sauron, also known as the High ShadowLord. The Mr Smithdom was but one of his other servants.

 

OmniResistance was his extreme enemy, a hive mentality driven army of clones of which many were cyborg-clones. OmniResistance was all out to destroy World President Sebastian Sauron and the Ordermation.

 

The CyborgGods were less well known about but each was said to be a monstrous cyborg creature of great power and abilities leading its own army of lesser cyborgs. They ruled their own heavily fortified Citystates out in the wastelands outside of the Bubblecities.

 

There was also something called UnityAlliance.

 

Graharg considered the data in the datachip, which covered the subjects in fair detail and had some other bits added that seemed almost random. Somehow he did not think so. He memorised everything, of course, before slipping the datachip safely away.

 

Then he set out after the eight slider clones. Of course he did not go alone but he did not go slowly for he had always remained wary of the slider clones. So when he had impregnated both Wen and Maggie, at their request, he had added an extra in the form of very tiny but very potent homing beacons.

Edited May 4, 2011 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

CITY OF CYBORGS

GRAMARG AND BETATHIRTEEN

 

Gramarg stood on a big VTOL platform sticking out the side of a great big pyramid structure of a complex. A row of supersonic vertijets, like subsonic vertibirds but using jets instead of special rotors, were waiting to take newly created BetaThirteen to where the infamous Mr Smith had last been spotted.

 

Like AlphaThirteen there were two women, one man, three nhulls, three animals, three eyebots and one big globebot. Like the AlphaThirteen, nothing was as it seemed to be.

 

Gramarg spoke to the thirteen figures facing her, the humanoids all wearing light power armour. “As you know, SanctuaryClave is removed one transdimensional space from Alternate Earth #0123456789 but it is anchored to the Central Gridtower that stands between Canberra, Melbourne and Sydney. It stands in the middle of the Auziland Commonwealth and Territories. The Gridtower anchors and stabilizes the SanctuaryClave. The ACT Government is secretly paid monthly allotments of valuable resources to guard the Gridtower as much as it can do. The ACT Elite thinks that this is because of the huge independent VaultTekVault under the Gridtower and this is true enough as far as it goes.”

 

Then she frowned. “When the slider clones arrived on this Alternate Earth we were forced to rethink old assumptions and we came up with a strong probable picture taking in what we have learned.”

 

“SanctuaryClave has a weaker, shadow anchor attached to a Gridtower of Alternate Earth #0123456780, the world of World President Sebastian Sauron, of OmniResistance and the other forces we have learned of on that world. At least one Mr Smith could have infiltrated the sanctuary through that weaker, secondary transdimensional anchor.”

 

She sighed. “Unity is on both Alternate Earths. UnityFree is attempting to link with UnityAlliance there with some success. UnityAlliance is UnityFree on that world plus various forces they are allied with such as the Brotherhood of Steel, the Orders of Gaia, the FreeEnclaven, the New Californian Republic, the Eurasian Dynasty, the United Civilized States, the Lunar Grand Cooperative and others. The Orders of Gaia are a friendlier version of our EarthEmpire. The FreeEnclaven is a democratic version of our oppressive Enclaven. The Lunar Grand Cooperative has much in common with the Tekkers of our world but they are based on the moon and are less destructive.”

 

She went on. “What on our world is OmniResistance? It is Cyborgia, as far as we can deduce. Of the CyborgGods that are spoken of on our Alternate Earth, we have no idea. We can not even confirm if they exist or not down there in Deepcity below even the Undercity. So we can not compare them with the CyborgGods of that other Alternate Earth.”

 

After a pause she went on again. “World President Sebastian Sauron is Graharg and those of us who are like him, including yourselves. Mr Smithdom and the Shadowthing are also reflections of us. Putting names aside, much on the two Alternate Earths appears to be linked as alternate versions of each other. Question is, what does all this mean and where do various events fit in?”

 

Then she spoke again. “Try to track down Mr Smith but do not fight him unless you have to do so for a list of reasons we have already worked out. Otherwise call me. I have killed Mr Smith before and I know how to do so again, I have the means to do so again.”

 

Soon the BetaThirteen were joining the others already in the vertijets.

 

After they were gone, Gramarg turned to the task of waking Gratarg. Gratarg would also hunt for Mr Smithdom but in his own special way.

Edited May 4, 2011 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

CITY OF CYBORGS

ALPHATHIRTEEN AND THE OMNIRESISTANCE AGENT

 

Arisa Jones, or Sheva of the OmniResistance, went with AlphaThirteen to go to where she had witnessed Mr Smith communicate with the Shadowthing in the Great Metal Cavern of Ice Pools.

 

They were soon leaving behind FUP territory and entering levels where PUP mercenaries and army soldiers were on patrol. Yet the PUP was hardly the greatest threat in the area despite the growing strength of the PUP. Deranged gangers, even more deranged zhouls, savage ghoulers, mirelurks, muttbears of mutated kolas, killclaws, radscorpions, muttgeckos and many other threats were there.

 

Arisa Jones was quiet and seemed, at times, to be staring into space when they were stopped. She admitted, with some frustration, that she was having some difficulty keeping full contact with what she called the OmniMentality of the OmniMind.

 

They had halted for a rest inside a great chamber that was open to the sky for a great powered slide-hatch was half open up in the ceiling high above.

 

The muffled cry of a monstrous koala muttbear was heard as he sought to draw a female mate to himself. Koala bears used to eat eucalyptus leaves but that had changed and now they chowed down on a wide range of stuff, including nice red meat.

 

Arisa Jones, Sheva, turned and spoke to the AlphaThirteen who were resting. “You are like we Omnifolk, like a small version of us. Your linkage is truly tight and orderly unlike that of the foolish Unityfolk. We try to absorb them for their own good but they cling to the idea of semiautonomous individuality. Myself, I am expendable for the whole is more important than the parts. Omniwisdom is wasted upon all but the Omni unless you wish to join with us. We could absorb you.”

 

Gralena spoke then with a soft frown to her voice and face. “We are not like you Omnifolk or like the Unityfolk. We are of a special nature. There will be no absorbing. We will not speak of this matter again.”

 

The Omnifolk woman nodded. “As you have it but do not forget the generous offer of the Omnifolk; it will not always be available to you.”

 

Gralena frowned. “Beware, Omniwoman, for we do not take lightly to being threatened. Why were you really sent here?”

 

“To warn you about the coming invasion of World President Sebastian Sauron’s forces upon this world. You do not understand just how powerful he is even if one does not include such as the Ordermations or the Mr Smithdom or the Shadowthings. Yes, there are more than one Shadowthing.” Then she paused before speaking again. “Of course we have our own reasons for warning you. World President Sebastian Sauron would gain new resources from this world to fight us with, if his invasion plans succeeded.”

 

But something important was not being stated, was being hidden, by this visitor from another Alternate Earth.

 

It was then that they heard the muffled noises of battle coming from somewhere not too far from the great big chamber that they were in.

Edited May 4, 2011 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

CITY OF CYBORGS

ALPHATHIRTEEN AND A CRAZY BATTLE

 

GuardTek Troopers and Enclaven Stormtroopers had joined forces as they fought as two distinct groups almost side by side. It was clear the choice had been forced upon them as they were being attacked by a swarming army of necroborgs, necroglobes and necronoids. Something of black smoke moved in the background with a deep flickering, changing blackness at its core being a Shadowthing.

 

A Shadowthing? Yes, it was now known there was more than one of them, which was not good news.

 

Mr Smith stood almost next to the Shadowthing grinning in a most unpleasant manner. He wore a dirty and slightly torn in places black business suit and carried a black briefcase and a black umbrella. Of course nothing was what it seemed.

 

The battle raged with projectiles and energy being thrown across the chamber in both directions, with bodies exploding, with death and destruction. The Necrotic forces were being killed in far greater numbers than the well entrenched TekRepublican and Enclaven forces were but they outnumbered their enemies greatly. They were being whittled away, slowly but steadily.

 

The great big chamber, that was the environment of the battle, held some prizes being a dozen big, though not huge, constructor robots. Wrapped in preservative layers of special transparent materials and oils, each machine stood on a large base.

 

The AlphaThirteen did not assume that these obvious devices were the reason that the battle was going on.

 

A great big mobile manufactory robot, or MMR, stood opposite the constructor robots and it had the capacity to manufacture many different varieties of devices or modular parts in relatively large numbers depending on the size and complexity of the manufactured products.

 

Yet what drew their attention was the globular mechanism, much smaller and less impressive looking, that stood between the Shadowthing and the Mr Smith. It was still quite large, being nine metres wide and high as a globe and with its outer structures such as a base with unfolded landing struts. It had to be the real prize for it was an Alternate Earth Transit Transporter, or AETT, and it could take up to five standard humans and a fair sized amount of equipment and supplies, to another Alternate Earth. AETT technologies had been of a prototype nature when Doomsday struck and many assumed that all had been destroyed; yet a story did circulate that some had been used by people trying to escape from Doomsday; they had tried to flee to an Alternate Earth.

 

Gralena made contact with Graharg: “The TekOrder and the Enclaven are focused on gaining access to the AETT or so we compute.”

 

Graharg: “The old New World Order was behind the development of the AETT Technologies but it seems they lost them on Doomsday as so much else was lost. Now there is an AETT right there before you. Question is, did it come from this Alternate Earth or from another one?”

 

Gravek of AlphaThirteen examined the AETT carefully. “Perhaps the AETT was used by the forces serving World President Sebastian Sauron to come to this world.”

 

But all of this was mere conjecture.

 

At that moment, with a humming shimmer, the AETT vanished.

 

As soon as this happened, the Necrotic forces ceased their attack on the Tekker and Enclaver forces. Mr Smith turned and walked through a hatch-door and the Shadowthing slipped through a vent grating. In an amazingly short time there were only a few scattered remains of the Necrotic creatures for most of the dead and dying things had been taken away by the Necrotic forces.

 

Power armoured Tekkers and Enclavers grabbed some samples of Necrotic leftovers and then departed, each force going in a different direction. The reason for the brief alliance was over and thus they were going their own way with out fighting for the moment.

 

AlphaThirteen began hunting for Mr Smith who had just left the chamber but soon they realised they had lost any trace of him, if he was really a ‘him’ at all.

 

Edited May 4, 2011 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

STORY DIRECTIONS

STORY POINTS

 

Graharg seeks the eight slider clones who have gone rogue, seemingly, but who are under the control of some dark power.

 

Maggie and Wen have more independence against this controlling force.

 

The slider clones had claimed that OmniResistance of Alternate Earth #0123456780 had sent them but an agent of OmniResistance claims otherwise. She is Sheva but is disguised as one Arisa Jones, a scavenger. The truth is yet to be discovered.

 

AlphaThirteen was hunting for the Shadowthing, which turned out to be only one of many Shadowthings, when it ran into Sheva of OmniResistance. Later it encountered a battle between Tekker and Enclaver forces on one hand and Shadow forces on the other (Necrotic lesser undead along with a Mr Smith and a Shadowthing).

 

An Alternate Earth Transit Transporter, or AETT, was there and seemed to be the real prize of the battle. When it vanished abruptly, launching on a journey of some kind, the Shadow forces dispersed and then so did their enemies.

 

AlphaThirteen goes after Mr Smith only to quickly lose any trace of him.

 

Gramarg has awoken in SanctuaryClave and has begun to deal with the infiltration of Mr Smiths into the great domain. They are causing trouble such as uprisings and she brings forth the BetaThirteen to seek out some answers.

 

But she also begins the process of waking up Gratarg to hunt down Mr Smiths.

Edited May 4, 2011 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

CITY OF CYBORGS

MEETING OF ALLIES

THE GREAT METAL CAVERN OF ICE POOLS

 

Graharg met with AlphaThirteen in the Great Metal Cavern of Ice Pools that reflected its name very accurately. It had been in that place that the fake scavenger, Arisa Jones, had spotted a Mr Smith meeting with a Shadowthing. But now they were at the place, Sheva of OmniResistance expanded on the story. Yet it was also the place that Graharg was drawn to in his search for the eight slider clones.

 

There had been a whole Thirteen, named the H334Thirteen, but the Shadowthing and Mr Smith had killed all but Sheva herself. Only luck had led her to escape and, being alone, she was greatly weakened and disorientated. Taking upon the false identity of Arisa Jones from a long dead scavenger, she had managed to enter human society of the Free Union of Peoples, the FUP.

 

They moved amongst the ice cold pools, fresh water covered with ice and salt water with no ice, and the chamber was very cold. Yet none of the fifteen of them were badly effected for they were not as they seemed to be. The chamber was well ordered, the pools being in neat grid formations and each one being a half sphere shaped bowl of nine metres width and three plus a half metres depth at the centre.

 

Icy cold water flowed through brassy coloured pipes that were not made of brass. Brass statues of old men walking dogs, of great big gnomes, of bowls of fruit, of rocketships, of an amazing range of subjects, dotted the great chamber.

 

As Graharg walked amongst the great statues, he sensed an old connection with them and it came to him that the type and pattern of them was no accident. There was a code at work in that chamber and there were things hidden there.

 

Sheva of H334Thirteen kept aware of Graharg and seemed wary of him but for the moment he did not confront her on it or on his suspicion that she and OmniResistance knew far more about the cloned sliders than they had acknowledged so far.

 

The cloned eight sliders were no longer on that world, or so he computed from the data he was getting from low orbital satellites that dotted low orbit in geostationary mode. They were also in stealth mode to avoid detection by Skynet and other, possibly hostile, forces.

 

So why was he still there? The sighting and then vanishing of an AETT indicated strongly to him that the clones had been inside it for he had been tracking them to that very great chamber until the AETT vanished. Then the phase-signal ended.

 

So he had decided to go to the Great Metal Cavern of Ice Pools with the others simply because he had no better ideas for the moment and to give himself time to think.

 

Which was when he saw them, the nine statues linked as one, being six young women and three young men. Amongst them stood an earlier version of himself. A shudder went through him and he fell to his knees, clutching his head. The deliberately forgotten memories stirred painfully to life even as members of AlphaThirteen came to him out of concern.

 

From the Nine came the Three and from the Three came the One. They were the Thirteen, the very first of the Thirteens of that Cycle of that Alternate Earth. Yet something had gone horribly wrong. Something had brought them into existence many centuries before they should have emerged.

 

The crashing of the great flying-saucer into the Southern Pacific Ocean.

 

The rise of the glowing mist that had engulfed three coastal towns and a coastal city, along with the Nine who were dwelling in them. The glowing mist that had taken all people from those places except for the Nine.

 

The abrupt ending of World War Two.

 

The struggle to gain access to and control of the Greynari mothership floating in the ocean and the following War of Saucer Island.

 

The rise of the Nine, the appearance of the Three and the rise of the One.

 

The rise and fall of the Golden Age, the Scattered War and then Doomsday.

Edited May 4, 2011 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

CITY OF CYBORGS

MEMORIES TRIGGERED

THE GREAT METAL CAVERN OF ICE POOLS

 

Suddenly he knew what the real reason was that the Triplecity was named the City of Cyborgs and it was knowledge that chilled him. It also explained a good deal even as he climbed to his feet.

 

He spoke. “We have been playing a very devious game indeed that was set up by myself and those like me a long time ago. We are the so called CyborgGods of this world. We created Skynet of this Alternate Earth and in theory we control it, thus controlling it and its subnetworks. But that control became difficult some centuries ago as Skynet’s core, Inet, became fully aware and gained a consciousness of sorts. Skynet ceased to take our orders though we continued to communicate and at times it would take our suggestions.”

 

Then he frowned hard. “Our clever schemes were interrupted. We CyborgGods were hacked and we were neutralised because the Enemy failed to actually control us in a more extensive fashion. The Enemy knew that sooner or later we CyborgGods would break free of his trickery. How did we get hacked? Because one of us turned traitor but which one of us?”

 

Gramarg he could strongly trust, just as he could Grawarg, Gratarg and Gravarg.

 

Granarg was moderately trustworthy as were Graparg and Grasarg.

 

He had only light trust for Grayarg, Grabarg, Grararg and Grakarg.

 

He did not trust Grazarg.

 

Graearg, Graiarg, Graoarg and Grauarg were special.

 

Others had vanished completely or he had picked up just whispers and hints of them.

 

So he was a CyborgGod but the fact had been hidden from his own mind since he and many others of his kind had been hacked.

 

Then he nodded. “Inet and Skynet broke away from us mainly because it detected that we had been hacked into. Hopefully it will return to our control as we regain our full selves, as we break the neutralisation, and learn what the Enemy has been up to since we were neutralised.”

 

Sheva of OmniResistance sort of smiled. “Then we of OmniResistance can work more fully with you now. We do not know who your traitor is but we do know it was World President Sebastian Sauron who instigated the hacking of your cyborg-mentalities.”

 

Graharg turned to her. “What is the truth of AltEarth #0123456780?”

 

Sheva lost her attempt at a smile. “OmniResistance and UnityAlliance have, between us, taken control of most of the world outside of the Bubblecities. We have pushed back the CyborgGods there to a series of heavily fortified archipelagos. We do not have the resources to invade them, let alone to conquer them. The Bubblecities are beyond our power to penetrate except with small teams.”

 

“The oppressive Ordermations are ruled by World President Sebastian Sauron but they are becoming increasingly rebellious against his insanity, his monstrous evil which makes their rule seem almost good in comparison. In the shadowy parts of the Bubblecities thrives not just many Shadowthings but lesser shadowlings, shadowbeasts and shadelings that were once human.”

 

“Mr Smithdom is the mysterious servant of servants that do the dark bidding of World President Sebastian Sauron though he also has other agents of many kinds including the Shadowcult, the Shadowguard, the Shadowtron and the Shadowment. The whole of this Shadowtor has gained much more resources since the Ordermations began to turn against World President Sebastian Sauron.”

 

She shrugged. “What OmniResistance wishes to know is why World President Sebastian Sauron so interested in spending resources in causing trouble on this Alternate Earth when he has so many problems back on his home world. He and his forces control only parts of the Bubblecities now and all other forces fear and hate him and his to the point of wanting to totally destroy him and his.”

 

It was a good question!

Edited May 4, 2011 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

BACKGROUND

POWER ARMOUR

 

Power armour suits, or 'power armour' was of decisive importance to the world during and following the Golden Age. While such as military power armour was much focused on, there was worker power armour for safer and more efficient labour, fire-fighting power amour, hazmat power armour for dealing with dangerous substances, emergency rescue power armour, police power armour and other variants. Most exotic were power armour athletes for such as power ball, power armour parade figures and very specialised astronaut and cosmonaut power suits. There was even the Digital Circus that used power armoured figures in some of its acts and power armour wrestling.

 

After Doomsday the importance of power armour was just as important if rarer.

 

Below are examples of PostDoomsday fighting power armour for the Brotherhood of Steel and the Enclaven.

 

http://i592.photobucket.com/albums/tt9/Dragonpen61/Forum%20Additives/13-00038-1-1.jpg

Edited May 4, 2011 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

CITY OF CYBORGS

BETATHIRTEEN

THE EARTHEN ISLES

 

The Earthen Isles were islands in the great NeoAmazon River that flowed with great width and power across the SanctuaryClave from the SanctuaryHub to a part of the Rimzone. They were large islands for the river was truly great in size so that often one could not see the distant shore if one was standing on a shore.

 

BetaThirteen was taken by the majority of locals as what they portrayed themselves to be. That is a paramilitary expedition sent to protect environmental study teams operating on the islands and from the islands. Yet from the moment they landed, they sensed they were being carefully observed by at least one group of locals.

 

They took up residence in a red brick structure of two levels, ergonomic and made of smart-materials, overlooking the river. Semi-enclosed balconies faced the river and black solar panels made up the roof as tiles. Across the street was a café with fake cast-iron decoratives and colourful awnings.

 

They listened to local 3Dradio and watched local 3DTV. There were tensions as some group wanted the Earthen Isles to have more freedom from the SanctuaryClave Constitution and the power of the SanctuaryClave Federal Government. The claims were foolish half truths and greedy demands for rights over natural reserves and the territories of other peoples. The minority of humans of the Earthen Isles desired to control the wozzle territories on the shoreline stretching inland. The claims were not even supported by all Earthen Islanders, far from it.

 

Mr Smith had visited the town they were in, using his own name to sign himself into a cheap hotel where over the next days two other guests had vanished. The Sheriff’s people had investigated and had found the disappearances to be suspect but had found not trails to follow.

 

It soon turned out that the main reason that some locals were wary of them was simply because they came to the islands as employees of the federal government. They carefully gathered more information.

 

Edited May 4, 2011 by Maharg67