Down To Basics (New)

[Maharg67]

00-01(0001)

DOWN TO BASICS: GREATER STORY

CAPSULE FROM SPACE

 

So how did it start?

 

There was this thing that fell from space, that exploded into the ground, that left a small crater and a small dull, dark silver capsule half buried at the bottom of the crater.

 

There were these teenagers, a group of athletic geeks who liked to go bush walking as well as bicycle riding and computer gaming. These teenagers came with backpacks, in good outdoors casual gear, hiking boots and such like.

 

Each of them also had an expensive satellite linked Ipad3D4 so they could play games.

 

But they were not happy.

 

Some thugs were following them, local semirural bad boys with some bad girls tagging along. Clearly the thugs were poor and wanted to beat up the better off geeks, or worse. Certainly they would rob them.

 

To make matters worse it was raining with increasing heaviness when it should have been a clear sky type of day. The world climate was getting all messed up, as were weather patterns around the world, and those hills were no exception. The world was in trouble. The elites were starting to retreat into fortified enclaves. This was going to be the last hike in the hills for the athletic geeks.

 

But there was something else out there other than thugs, something that was making Elsie, Ellen and Elisha nervous. Brad was his usual over confident self and he derided their fears. Jack quietly supported the triplets. Brad's twin brother, Ben, quietly went along with Brad. The other three, Jenny, Harold and Nova, were quietly supportive of the triplets. As for the three dogs and the parrot, they just went on being themselves.

 

Yes, three dogs being Alsatians and a big colourful parrot that sat on Jack's shoulder.

 

The triplets led them away from shelter, causing Brad to curse softly though all of them had weather proofed stuff. The thugs figured that the geeks would head for shelter at the local caves so went that way.

 

What with the world economic crisis and growing famine, plague and environmental disasters, the Rangers in the park had been sent to do other duties. The park was abandoned now by most folks. There were some homeless, some thugs, and sometimes new style paramilitary troopers patrolling the area along with rebels. Government, even there in Australia, was getting increasingly autocratic and militaristic. Federal Security Troopers were well trained thugs in body-armor and with automatic weapons, electric stunsticks and other nasty gizmos.

 

The triplets led them straight to the crater. Brad rushed to touch the strange capsule, ignoring the cautionary warnings of the others and the way that the dogs were so wary of it. Trying to impress the triplets, he had some stupid fantasy about having all three of them as girlfriends at the same time, he reached out...

 

With a bright sparkling, shimmering flash of energies everything changed in the immediate area and that change began to spread out from the crater in a slowly expanding sphere of influence.

[Maharg67]

NOTES: TO BE EXPANDED AND EDITED

 

THIRTEEN TEENAGE ATHLETIC GEEKS AND ANIMALS

 

GEEKS

 

JACK

 

ELLEN

ELISHA

ELSIE

 

BRAD

BEN

 

NOVA

 

JENNY

 

HAROLD

 

DOGS

 

ROVER

HERO

SNUFFLES

 

PARROT

 

COCKIEDOC

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Maharg67]

01-01(0002)

DOWN TO BASICS: I AM JACK! AM I JACK?

WELCOME TO CYRODIIL

 

Slowly, only slowly did I come out of my automatic survival activity in which I did what I had to do in that strange cavern with its glowing crystal stuff growing over the ceiling high above. Sometimes I went up a short tunnel to a smaller chamber half open to a ledge and a great landscape of forest clad hills stretching into the distance.

 

Only slowly did I realize that I was a very well drawn, rather artistic cartoon character, in high quality 3D, in a game realm of a game that we geeks played quite often. It was the game of Tamriel3D as based on the older Elder Scrolls Games being an big internet based gaming world both single player and multiple player moded. There were thousands of mods available along with DLCs (down loadable content) and some other editing tricks.

 

Yet this was more than just the game realm. Somehow it was more 'real', was richer in detail, had more 'stuff' added to it that was unknown in the original.

 

Weirdly enough I had all the gear that I had when I was hiking in the hills with the other geeks except now it was quasimagical in quality. That is it was something between the magical and the scientific technological.

 

In my clothes and boots, I sat with my possessions neatly arrayed out before me on some flat rock ground. There was the Ipad3D4, there was a survival satellite telephone, there was the 9mmP semiautomatic pistol that I had taken from my father's collection, there was three spare mags of bullets for the pistol, five survival foodbars, a thermos mostly full of warm coffee with some milk, a tube of coffee-condensed milk, two packets of survival gum that dissolved in the mouth, a small medikit, a survival lamp-torch, a spare Tshirt, slim bathers, a towel, spare socks, spare jocks, two single terabyte datajaks, a small survival knife in a sheaf, a big survival knife in a sheaf, a Swiss Army Knife, a paperback science fantasy novel, a pocket magnetic chess set, a set of keys, a wallet stuffed thick with items, a coin-purse stuffed with coins, a 2D3D digital camera able to take video or single shots, some fluff, an old university student magazine I was rereading and some other items.

 

There was the new black ring on each middle finger of each hand, the black bracelet on each wrist and the black headband, each with the an elegantly but simple golden emblem.

 

None of it made any real sense, of course!

 

Other items being things I was not sure I had packed for the quickly planned hiking expedition. A compact pair of night-vision capable binoculars, a leather packet of different kinds of game dice with exotic symbols, another packet of small metallic game figures, a silver neck chain dotted with small, intricate silver items of an impressive variety, what looked like a solid state silver revolver pistol of exotic make, some bags of odd looking herbs and some silvery old fashioned looking devices; the last were a knife, a longknife, a shortsword, a longsword, a boxbow that was like a crossbow, a bladeshield, five slim throwing knives and a single exotic metallic glove for my right hand. There was also a roll of toilet paper, a poop scooper and some special poop bags.

 

What next?

 

I had survived so far by sleeping in an oddly regular shaped rocky alcove complete with what looked like its own bed alcove. I had slept there, had used other small alcoves, in the alcove, to store items. Bushes had provided fruit. A fast flowing, cool, clear stream had provided water. Washing in the stream was refreshing. Mostly I had slept and slept.

 

Now what?

Edited February 5, 2012 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

00-02(0003)

DOWN TO BASICS: GREATER STORY

SCULLY AND MULDER WAITING

 

The Super Jumbojet landed on the big tarmac, a carbon fiber monster holding over 1,000 passengers, including over 400 soldiers. The machine slowed with the help of 'retrojets' even as the citydome started to seal up again. It was newly manufactured and yet many of its parts were rejuvenated from older machines.

 

Scully and Mulder examined the big machine from where they sat drinking coffu, a nutritional coffee substitute that was surprisingly tasty and coffee like. It even had a stimulating effect but was less harmful than real coffee. That it was fairly cheap and plentiful was also good because coffee was rare, very expensive and becoming more so.

 

Came the Great Transformation rippling outwards from the western side of the continent of Australia, came the changes and then came the LifeProclamation entities. The LPEs did not like being called 'aliens' but many did so anyway. Unfortunately one of the nine LifeProclamation peoples looked like little green men (and women) and another people could well fit the description of 'bug eyed monster'.

 

Scully and Mulder were rejuvenated by the Great Transformation, were youthful if not young. They wore government issued civil fatigues manufactured from new LifeProclamation designed and built autorobotic factories. Such factories were based inside the Lunar Labyrinth of enclosed atmosphere, Earth like gravity and other human life supporting factors.

 

Even with the limited assistance that the LPEs could give, the world was still in trouble along with the life on-in it for the Great Transformation had proven to be both good and bad in its effects; those effects were still spreading, evolving.

 

A waitress, in a minidress and small, frilly apron, hurried past. Truth was minidresses and miniskirts were back in fashion mainly so that clothing material could be saved, could be better rationed out. Same was true for men wearing shorts, the lack of pleats, display buttons and so forth. Then she realized she had missed the right table and brought two mugs of hot coffu, brown being mildly sweet, some general issued foodcakes, basic green hydroponics salad, a small apple and basic bread-butter pudding. The days of a big and fancy menu to choose from was gone from nearly all people and even the elites had to take the basics at time. The LifeProclamation made sure all were fed as much as possible, that food was as little wasted as possible and that new sources of food were being gained.

 

Mulder slid an international $2-coin into her tip-pouch, tips were no longer left at tables because too many had been stolen, gaining a smile. With ration-vouchers being used for many basic needs, and the high value of the new currencies, the tip was a good one. The waitress was actually young, a not so common thing thanks to over two decades of the growing human infertility problem. Healthy children were being born again in large numbers but certain age groups were relatively small on a world wide basis.

 

Scully spoke. “I heard Arkship Four is to launch into space in four days with three million status-sleepers, status held livestock and zoological ark species.”

 

With antigravity boosters and new fusion rockets, the first three Arkships had landed on the Lunar Surface. They would start returning to gather more people, animals and other life, other resources, from the home world. Smaller, but still huge, Arkboats had traveled to the Martian Moons of Deimos and Phobos to establish orbital colonies there except for one that had become a high orbital colony at the L5 coordinates.

 

Mulder nodded. “Heard the same. A kraken attacked a freighter in the West Pacific Ocean but thankfully it was part of a convoy and the escort ships drove it above before the target ship could be sunk. I wonder how many more mythologies are going to become real,”

Edited February 5, 2012 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

00-03(0004)

DOWN TO BASICS: GREATER STORY

MEETING THE SMOKINGMAN

 

It was not a question either could answer. Another question they could not answer was whether the SmokingMan would show up to meet with them. The Great Conspiracy had collapsed internally being broken up by factional fighting, corruption and stupidity. It had also been afflicted by a LifeProclamation led investigation. While many individuals had ended up in status-cells or as cybernetically controlled convicts, others had escaped to be troublesome in the future. The SmokingMan had gained amnesty by providing highly valuable information to the investigators; he had mostly done this because powerful factions, inside the conspiracy, had decided that he must die.

 

Suddenly he was there, very youthful and healthy looking, smoking a new type healthy neotobacco cigarette. Neotobacco was easier to grow than tobacco, was less harmful and less addictive. The cigarettes, cigars and chewing-tabs also had no harmful additives. The stuff was not only cheaper, it came in a wide variety of flavors.

 

The SmokingMan, who had tried to have Scully and Mulder killed more than once, frowned softly at the pair. “I must admit I never saw this coming, never. Okay I will work as a consultant to the new XFiles Agency.”

 

Mulder shook his head, a little. Neither he or Scully would have guessed that the SmokingMan would one day work with them. “We are now the XFiles Division of the United Nations Special Investigations Agency like the Fringe Division. The XFD works 'cold cases' that for various reasons have become of interest again. The Fringe people focus on newer cases. There are Fringe agents here in Washington DC.”

 

Washington DC, or what remained of it, was now a Bubblecity. Outside of the huge bubble enclosed area were abandoned zones of crumbling cityscape. Out there scavengers, gangers, bandits, fanatics and other struggled to survive while official salvage teams worked at reclaiming as many resources as possible. The rejuvenating effects of the Great Transformation meant those resources were now worth a great deal more.

 

The SmokingMan knew that 'Fringe' would not have been brought up for no good reason. “Yes, I know I was followed. They were good but not the best that I have met. At least I could say that about the Fringe Operatives. The others that followed me, I could not even identify them or even spot them; all I had was a vague but persistent feeling of the kind that experience has taught me to trust.”

 

The SmokingMan gave them a cynical smile not softened by his rejuvenation. His eyes were hard and old though also youthful with health.

 

Scully and Mulder gave him a puzzled look. Fringe Operatives Olivia Dunham and Peter Bishop were in the city, along with five others they did not know the names of, and they were all good at what they did, especially since rejuvenation. Yet the SmokingMan had detected them easily enough though not the 'others' that he spoke of. Who could these others be?

 

Scully spoke. “We have found the focus of the Great Transformation.”

 

“Western Australia, close to the city of Perth of the Commonwealth of Australia. Except with all the changes, what do we know of what has really gone on?” The SmokingMan frowned and then finished his cigarette, putting the filter-butt into a recycling bin. “Enjoy these neotobacco cigarettes much better than those altered tobacco ones I used to smoke. Soon another Super Jumbojet is leaving, part of an air convoy thanks to increasing dragon attacks. We three will all be on that flight so I hope you brought luggage as I asked you to do. I suppose you brought some special items with you or I hope so.”

 

Scully nodded. “We have our luggage close at hand in a airport hotel room we used last night.”

 

The SmokingMan grinned mildly. “Aaahhh, yes, you two are a couple now. This is a development that completely failed to take me by surprise. It only surprised me that it did not happen sooner than it did. I have two associates coming with us. Their names are Sam and Dean Winchester and they are what you might call Slayers, that were once called 'hunters'.”

 

Edited February 5, 2012 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

00-04(0005)

DOWN TO BASICS: GREATER STORY

WITH SAM AND DEAN

 

Slayers, like the famous Buffy, went after dangerous entities suddenly arisen in the world be they vampires or doppelgangers or zombie or the demonic. The brothers, Sam and Dean, had a hard reputation and each had exotic abilities thanks to their many strange experiences. The XFiles people had heard of them often enough but had never worked with them.

 

Scully and Mulder met Dean and Sam at the departure lounge where security guards moved in body-armor and carried automatic weapons. There were special UV-devices to detect and harm the undead along with some other special security devices. Dean and Sam were also youthful but not young, had also been rejuvenated. They were not altogether happy about the assignment for they had been happily retired but the slowly fragmenting United States Federal Government had put pressure on them to go on the mission. Their families, and friends, would get places in one of the Arkship flights to the Earth's Moon. The two brothers would later get to join their families in the Lunar Labyrinth.

 

Dean gave Scully an appreciative grin and Sam sighed. Scully gave Dean a neutral smile and Mulder, used to such responses to Scully, just smiled mildly.

 

Dean spoke. “Something followed us into the terminal, something nasty, but something else came with them, following them. Sometimes one can see a slightest flicker out of the corner of one's eyes.”

 

Mulder frowned. “Supersoldiers in stealth power armor suits. The US Senate was holding an investigation into their secret development until most of the Congress was destroyed by that swarm of zombie.”

 

The zombies had come up out of the ground in the many hundreds. Along with the fast shambling 'normal' zombies had been bigger, slower but more powerful hulks and also zombie animals such as dogs. Normal security had fought with much courage but neither they or such as armored doors and remote-guns had done more than slow the monsters down. zombies were lesser undead humans and animals that fed on flesh and blood. By the time three SWAT Teams had arrived to deal with the trouble, along with a platoon of National Guardsmen, the zombies were gone and there were only a relatively few lucky survivors left 'on the Hill'.

 

Since then a combined forces strikeforce had tracked down the big zombie nest deep below 'the Hill' and had destroyed them. They had taken the zombies by surprise and had suffered surprisingly few casualties. What the soldiers did not know, what the XFiles people had learned, was that they had been given special secret assistance by supersoldiers. Most of the zombies had actually been destroyed by the supersoldiers but the bodies had been hidden away so the regular soldiers would not find them.

 

The SmokingMan had admitted that he knew a good deal about the supersoldiers. They were developed using human-alien hybrid technologies. The supersoldiers had been taken over by the LifeProclamation and had been rejuvenated, improved and now they served the LPEs.

 

The scream of terror and agony came to them from the direction of a shopping arcade. All four of them drew out guns, along with badges to show to the security guards, and then they joined the security guards racing to deal with what was going on. The sounds of gunfire echoed along the arcade past armored glass display windows of shop fronts showing many goods, many being fake because the real ones were needed for sale.

Edited February 5, 2012 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

00-05(0006)

DOWN TO BASICS: GREATER STORY

SHADOWLINGS AND SUPERSOLDIERS

 

The shadowy thing was there now, kind of visible, standing next to a CocaCola vending machine and over the prone, bleeding body of a woman in brown utility fatigues. Ironically the vending machine did not sell CocaCola but the new nutritional substitute called NutriCola. It was surprisingly taste, had some stimulation to it and came in many flavors.

 

Bullets struck the thing as a brave Civil Police Officer shot at it with a 9mm semiautomatic pistol. The thing screamed in pain and rage, then struck out with a shadowy whip like tentacle that telescoped out to strike the uniformed woman. She flew backwards and struck a wall, hard, but thanks to her new type body-armor, including her helmet, she was mainly stunned. There was a heavy burn mark in her superkevlar vest.

 

Dean and Same fired powerful 10mm caliber semiautomatic pistols with special rounds that were known as 'general slayer bullets'. The shadowling shuddered, screamed in rage and agony, then vaporized as it perished.

 

Two more shadowlings slipped out through an open doorway but this time it was something else that struck. There was a slight flicker of motion and both shadowlings were destroyed. For a couple of seconds a supersoldier, enwrapped in stealth power armor from head to toe, stood there. The tight armor showed that she was a young woman holding an active lasersword with its UV beamblade. Then she was gone in another flicker of motion.

 

Scully and Mulder had not fired their less power semiautomatic pistols and now lowered them, just as the Slayers lowered their guns. None of them wanted to accidentally shoot at one of the supersoldiers, to make them angry.

 

There was another brief flicker of motion and then Scully spoke. “They are gone; so young and yet so brutally experienced. They mean us no harm; indeed they are here to protect us. The shadowlings were here to attack us, to do us harm. I do not know how I know this. Something, somebody, made brief contact with my mind.”

 

There were three dead people in an office, their bodies drained of blood and some liquified flesh along with life energies. The appearance of the corpses was unnatural and horrific. Scully, a trained forensics doctor with new knowledge and skills, thanks to the LifeProclamation, examined the bodies. She used a hand-sensorscanner unit that helped a good deal. The data gained was grim and she was sickened despite her long history in dealing with gruesome deaths.

 

She spoke with some American Federal Police Officers, giving orders for the corpses to be placed in special body-bags for quarantine purposes and to be sent to the local offices of the UNSIA. The Federal Police were a relatively new American institution designed to allow the FBI and other, older federal agencies to be able to concentrate on other duties. The FBI was increasingly focused on new, more exotic troubles and the CIA was taking over all security intelligence duties once carried out by both it and the FBI. The Department of Homeland Security was being given its own special set of duties to carry out, goals to meet.

 

The four of them boarded a Super Jumbojet via a long telescoping tube flexing out to meet the big winged machine with its very fuel efficient design and antigravity boosters. New remote controlled, aerodynamic gun-turrets had been added along with clever designed missile launcher positions. It was a QUANTAS aircraft of the Australian National Airline that had been nationalized by the Australian Commonwealth Government, which had formerly owned it anyway.

 

Thanks to new security safety rules, the passengers had more room to stretch, for their feet, because this made it easier to escape to safety. They were soon seated in a row of four chairs and Scully had the window seat with Mulder being right next to her.

 

About half an hour later, the delay being because the whole air-convoy had to lift off and then fly off in formation from holding patterns, they were on their way to Australia.

[Maharg67]

NOTES: TO BE EXPANDED AND EDITED

[Maharg67]

01-02(0007)

DOWN TO BASICS: I AM JACK! AM I JACK?

SURVIVING AND SURVEILLANCE

 

In my high quality 3Dcartoon existence, I hunted some rabbits and got what I could from the bodies including skins. I gathered some tubers and caught some fish in a small river just outside of the cavern. I enclosed the alcove of my home in a camouflaged palisade type barrier for security.

 

Across from the the mountain which I was in, over the forest clad hills, was a big tabletop mountain covered by a huge, ancient temple-fortress. It was massive and hulking yet had a certain elegant beauty about it that was at odds with its general shape and purpose. This was Cloud Ruler Temple as built by the last of the ancient Tamriellan Emperors. The Tamriellan Empire had long collapsed and the Cyrodilin Empire had risen in its place to control the great region known as Cyrodiil. To the north, across the other side of the great range of mountains, was the region known as Skyrim of the people called the Nords. Like Cyrodiil itself, Skyrim had once been an Imperial Province of the Tamriellan Empire.

 

There were also some Ayleid ruins of those ancient Mer people, exotically alien and weirdly beautiful. Most of the surface part of the Ayleid city were destroyed but the underground levels would be mostly intact.

 

There were scattered thorpes, hamlets, villages and towns amongst the hilly forestlands, mostly following the banks of a river or a dirt secondary highway. In this area were mostly Cyrodilin humans, Commoners and not Imperials. Bruma, the fortified Lesser Imperial City, could be seen in the far distance much larger than Cloud Ruler Temple but far younger. The city was on the banks of the great river flowing southwards from the mountains that got even greater the further south it went as other rivers flowed into it.

 

There were wildfolk in the area also be they subhumans, demihumans or semihumans. There were short furry wozfolk. There were such beings as trolls, goblins, ogres, imps, centaurs and others. It was said their were secret populations of Ayleids hidden in the mountains, vast and wild where whole cities could easily be concealed.

 

My knowledge came from playing the game, from creating game mods, from doing research into the game data but also from the voice that had begun to speak deep in my mind.

 

As I crouched at the big semi-open cavern that looked out over the hills, I was careful to keep myself concealed as possible. It was important not to assume that nothing out there could see me especially as that was a realm of magic and other exotic powers. With a careful use of my binoculars I did yet another sweep of the valley.

 

When I saws the dragon flying steadily, majestically through the sky very high above, I was very impressed. It was hard to identify from that distance but it looked to be royal or even imperial in nature. Either of these meant that something very important was happening.

 

Then the dragon was curving in its flight to head down towards Cloud Ruler Temple even as colored smoke signals rose from the fortress to make it welcome. Yes, something very important was taking place and I wondered what it was.

 

The voice spoke deep in my mind being vaguely human, warmly female, strong and supportive.

 

-=You are witnessing, from a good distance, a very decisive meeting taking place or so I compute. There was a small figure riding on the back of the dragon. Rarely will anybody be allowed that privilege let alone on the back of a royal or imperial dragon.

 

I crouched even more though I was sure that the dragon had not even looked towards me. I took no account of the figure on the back of the mighty winged creature.

[Maharg67]

01-03(0008)

DOWN TO BASICS: I AM JACK! AM I JACK?

SURVIVING AND EXPLORATION

 

I could multiduplicate things of basic nature though my abilities had limitations of quantity and frequency of use. Also I could only do this with original items and not duplications. So I kept by original foodbars sealed and multiduplicated them to supplement my diet. The ability seemed more wonderful than it was since it drained valuable psionic energies that then had to be regained.

 

The semiautomatic pistol was altered now. Its bullets could remain much the same in impact or become elemental of fire, ice, shock, life or intensified light. This only happened when I used the gun while wearing the exotic metallic glove. When I wore the glove bullets regenerated inside the magazine inside the gun but this took nine seconds for each bullet, a long time during a fight.

 

The special glove gave me other abilities or enhanced them. I was slowly learning these abilities, was slowly learning about other altered devices and new devices that I had gained.

 

The exotic weapons of knife, longknife, shortsword, longsword and bladeshield, were devices I assumed that I would have great difficulty using but it was to prove otherwise. I was soon utilizing them with great, easy skill, speed and agility. All of these had a choice of elemental abilities when I wore the special glove even if an item was used with the other hand.

 

The boxbow, a repeater-crossbow with a fixed box magazine, was surprisingly compact and light. It fired bowdarts, the lever being pulled back to draw back the string and to bring another bowdart into the breech. I had killed the rabbits with this weapon and had salvaged the bowdarts as good as new. The bowdarts could be endowed with elemental power just as the pistol bullets could be but only while using the glove.

 

Then there were the other items like the strange solid-state silvery metallic revolver like pistol that I learned was called a multiple-pistol.

 

The silvery neck-chain went around my neck, with all the small silver objects on it.

 

I was taking time in understanding how the items from the home world, non game based and non cartoonish, were to be utilized in this cartoonish game based realm, along with items that were seemingly from this place.

 

The IPad3D4 was useful as a computer, though of course there was no internet that it could connect with, but it could also now operate as a quasimagical device.

 

Expecting trouble, I was glad to find other exits from the glowcavern, cavern with glowcrystal, so that it was not a trap for me. One tunnel was bigger, more even, and easier to find. It led through a series of smaller glowcaverns and to a place where goblins had camped a long time ago. There were some skeletal remains, some rubbish, a large fire bowl in the stone floor, goblin cave wall paintings and some burned black useless soulstones. From the first I detested soulstones, had even done so when playing the game where I modded and cheated to give myself alternatives to using them.

 

I left that place as undisturbed as possible in case anybody or anything else came along that could be dangerous. That is I did not want to leave any traces, any clues, that could be used to find me.

 

Moving further along the tunnel led me to a great big glowcavern, mostly barren, that was largely a great big underground lake. It plunged down into the depths, from what I could see. There was a slowly decaying wooden jetty on the lake shore and signs that it was goblin made and had once been used by those same folks. There I found two crude copper coins, a goblin tooth and a couple of basic goblin arrowheads made of bronze. I took them with me as a start of my collection.

Edited February 6, 2012 by Maharg67