Maharg67's Den (shorter works, short stories, poetry, etc.)

[Maharg67]

DC Torchwood
One 35.2[53]

After Gwen got the robobaby to reveal herself, the robobabies began to reveal more information. The clusterbots had fled from an area they though safe-secure when it was invaded by Alma and her bizarre spirit creatures. The clusterbots took with them many ZAX robots along with general equipment-supplies and some special items. Even as they left, Juno had launched an attack on the same area using not just robots, androids and cybermen but also what he called synthetic-psychic units. Yes, Juno had communicated with the clusterbots and had attacked Alma mainly to protect them for he had a soft spot for them.

Another robobaby, a male one, shivered. "Those ghosty things, that serve Alma, are very scary!"

Pointman, who was crouched to be more at level with the robobaby, responded. "We have all had to deal with those scary ghost things and they scare us also. The FTroopers like you robobabies very much, we all do!"

A female robobaby let out a sound of pleasure as an FTrooper blew into her belly-button with an awkward position that showed that FTroopers were very flexible and agile.

Pointman nodded. "The four FTroopers with us will remain with you to be your companions, your friends."

Gwen spoke. "I will remain here also as will Toshiko, a wonderful computer genius, and Quintin who is a very tough bodyguard who will now be your bodyguard, that is the bodyguard of all your robocluster. He will give you good advise about making sure you are safe and secure like putting out scouts and sentries. We came straight in here."

The robobaby leader spoke. "We knew you were coming for ZAX warned us and Graham Maharg told us you would be coming. Graham Maharg is now our daddy because he adopted us. He is sending others to be with us, to help us, to be our friends. You are welcome to be our friends." Then she gave a gurbling laugh of delight.

So it was done and Captain Jack Harkness accessed the datachip. When he had done so he was frowning softly with concern. So it was that Tavess (android) and Jane (bodyguard) also remained with the robocluster or clusterbots. This was not just for the robobabies but because there had arisen another need to create an outpost there and to help bring ZAXJB111 back to full strength. A fairly big taskteam was already on its way to that place bringing basic equipment-supplies, more supplies than equipment, along with special items. Special items included special robobaby friendly snacks, toys and other things including holotapes.

Edited June 10, 2014 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

From now on if I edit words or sentences I will color the changes to show that they have been altered!

Edited June 10, 2014 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

DC Torchwood
One 36.1[54]

Enclaven Stealthtroopers had infiltrated Juno Base in at least three large platoons. Graham Maharg, alias the Mysterious Stranger, had destroyed one of them and had learned much. The clones of the Enclaven had been created at the same secret base, code named Claimbus444, than had a recent batch of Clonetroopers sent to serve Alma under the direct command of Paxton.

Graham Maharg had gained the surprising idea that Claimbus444 was not controlled by the Enclaven or Alma but had sold them the clones, along with related equipment and supplies, as any independent commercial enterprise would do. Where they linked with the PreDoomsday Corporation that had created the first Clonetroopers in the city of Fairport? That was the Amachan Technologies Corporation that had also carried out the Alma Project which led to the births of Pointman, Paxton and Alma's other earlier born children. Could it the ATC who ran Claimbus444?

The ATC had been one of the few corporations large, powerful, wealthy and influential enough to take on the TekCorps but had proven to be just as greedy, ruthless and destructive. So it was conceivable, logical, that they may have survived in some form in at least one big underground complex.

Captain Jack Harkness, Gwen, Owen, Ianto and Pointman started moving now only as five. The idea was that they would try to move with greater speed and stealth, relying on this to protect them. They were soon moving through areas that were oddly designed, that were oddly twisted, in a way that all five found disturbing. Owen, in his strange state of existence, picked up impressions of some of Alma's specters having been there. Gwen picked up impressions of recent psychic conflicts.

They came upon the twisted wreckage of over a dozen of Juno's robots along with destroyed cybermen. There were other robots and even daleks in dalek machines. Clearly the NineGlorious had been combating Juno but for what and what was causing the very fabric of reality, in that sector of the base, to distort so that it was obvious to the group? What were Alma, Juno and the NineGlorious fighting over? Were the Enclaven Stealthtroopers infiltrating Juno Base for the same reason?

Edited June 29, 2014 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

DC Torchwood
One 36.2[55]

The man came stumbling towards them, bloody and broken, marks on him showing he had been the host of a Puppetine creature. He stumbled to a halt, in his rotting science labcoat, and studied the newcomers with a bleak expression on his face. "Alma removed the monster off me, freeing me mind-body-spirit, and sent me here with a message. Alma has detected something that frightens her more than Juno does or the NineGlorious or even the Enclaven. Alma speaks of her own 'father-mother', a creature of hybrid human-alien nature, a thing of part Graynari genetics. She speaks of creatures that she calls the Graynari, or the 'grays' or graynoids. The zetans are supposed to be graynoid-human hybrids though the humans are not of our kind but are close cousins from an alternate universe. They, the Graynari, have come here to Juno Base for unknown reasons.

The man collapsed and Owen began to attend him as any medical doctor would.

Jack was scowling. "I begin to understand why Graham Maharg has been so concerned about what is happening here in Juno Base. Never before have I 'sensed' him being so deeply concerned. The Graynari are linked with the Desolation Invasion, known also as the Great Undeath, and the Narcarastaaa Event that helped lead to both. The vast, super powerful, Narcarastaaa starship was an experimental vessel of the Tritanari of Goldnari, Silvernari and Coppernari. It was supposed to create a new, more efficient, form of travel between galaxies and even universes. Instead the Narcarastaaa vanished totally for over twenty thousand multiversal adjusted years. When it returned it was a twisted, bizarre version of its old self and was the war zone between Tritanari, the twisted Graynari and others. The Graynari departed from the great vessel which was quarantined by the Tritanari, the Shadow Proclamation and the TimeLords along with the Centroso."

He went on talking. "The zetans sometimes serve the Graynari though not out of choice for the Graynari are treacherous, sociopathic and quite erratic. Numerous zetans have died serving the Graynari as have zetamans (zetan-human hybrids) and abominamans (zetan-human-other hybrids also called 'abominations'). It is said that it is safer to fight the Graynari than it is to serve them. Only the Graytari are said to be worse."

[Maharg67]

DC Torchwood
One 36.3[56]

 

They took the scientist with them, a man that they knew very little about, and kept moving through an increasingly distorted realm. They found themselves following a long corridor that was normal except that they were walking on the ceiling and the floor had become the ceiling. They literally walked over fluroflat lights in the real ceiling, now floor. They came upon basic robots that had smashed to the 'floor' and realised that the change must have been brutally quick; this was a good sign to be very cautious.

 

Then they walked straight into a vast chamber that was clearly impossible but which existed anyway.

Edited June 10, 2014 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

DC Torchwood

One 37.1[57]

 

The impossible chamber stretched in all directions, gravity pulling towards opposite floors or causing things to float out in mid air such as a small cluster of bits of furniture. It was hard for the eyes to define what was going on and the brain tended to soon get a headache.

 

Jack shook his head. "This should not be happening! This is a distortion of local timespace reality that is most likely the result of some kind of powerful psychic-spiritual event. Perhaps there was a terrible battle. Perhaps there was some kind of transdimensional infiltration from a forbidden realm."

 

Then he saw it, floating out in one of the zero gravity spaces, being a blue police box as from early 20^th Century England. At once he looked very surprised and wondered if it was actually the Doctor's TARDIS, that is a Timelord machine instead of being just a normal police telephone box.

 

What was the TARDIS doing there, if it was the Doctor's TARDIS?

 

The five could try to get closer to the machine but how would they do so safely in such a bizarre place?

 

They began to try but soon found they were driven back to the entrance area by the unleashed turmoil of forces in that place. There was nothing they could do but find another way into the chamber. So they backed up and began attempting to find one.

Edited June 30, 2014 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

Not This Earth
One 1.1[1]

When Airforce One exploded it killed many people on board but the US President was not one of them; one of his poor, unfortunate, fakes was ended. The ironic reason was that President Roosevelt was in a top secret meeting discussing a strongly probable plan to assassinate him. It was the very plan that ended up in the destruction of Air Force One.

None were surprised at the trembles that went through world politics, international society and the world economy. Share prices tumbled and sharemarkets showed other signs of trouble. The US Federal Government declared a state of emergency. There began a global talk fest of supposed experts, spokespeople, politicians, journalists, talkshow hosts and far too many others. That most of them had nothing, of real value, to add did not stop them in the slightest.

Eddie watched the second hand 3DTV in his apartment lounge area, sitting comfortably in a big old armchair. He had done some exercises, some running in a local park across the street from his home, and had done some art work on his latest graphic novel. While far from rich, he made a fairly good living with the publishing of his graphic novels through a smaller, more specialised, publisher. There were those who were critical of his nudity, sex and violence but most saw that it was limited to the needs of the stories and was never gratuitous. Now though his thoughts were focused more intently on what was going on before him.

 

The old type telephone rang, not being a 3Dphone with a small 3Dscreen. He reluctantly answered it, fearing that it would be a certain kind of activation code; it was! It was the call of a man trying to sell him on supposedly cheap holiday deals but the code was in the first couple of sentences spoke. Eddie hung up on the man, after carefully speaking the right set of words in response that would sound like those reasonably spoken by a tired, mildly annoyed, person.

 

Eddie showered, dressed, equipped himself as his normal citizen but also with some other items that most people would be shocked to see him have. He slipped on his compact backpack and made sure the cats, dogs, other animals and plants were okay. He even checked the big ant-farm. After that it was a matter of securing the small mansion and making sure secret areas were still secure. Only after a quick chat with the gardener did he leave.

 

[Maharg67]

Not This Earth

One 2.1[2]

 

On New Years Day, of 2003AD, Air Force One was destroyed. It was on that same Wednesday that Eddie became activated and that three super assassins landed at Perth International Airport. Perth, capital city of the Australian Commonwealth, was where Eddie lived in the small urban mansion estate that he had inherited from his dead parents; or so went part of his official cover story. As the three young adults began to hunt for Eddie, in order to kill him, Eddie headed to where he would pick up instructions for his mission.

 

There was a fine drizzle taking place, of unseasonal rain, as Eddie strode along a footpath towards the nearest public transit bus-stop that would allow him to go towards the Central Business District. Conditions were grayish thanks to thick cloud cover overhead. In the distance were flashes of lightening and distance muffled sounds of thunder.

 

The traffic had begun to hit afternoon peak hour with more privately owned cars showing than normal. Most folks did not own cars and many did not know how to drive them; the after effects of the Australian New Zealand Civil War had seen to that. Police cars, transit buses, transit trams, smaller trucks, utes, vans, scooters and small motorbikes were fairly common along such secondary highways. Police cars tended to be blue and white Civil Police patrollers. Now, and then, an Australian or American military vehicle would go pass. Less common were British military vehicles.

 

Had the attempt on the US President's life been linked to the activities of the Australian Free Republican Army, the AFRA or Afra? They had run guerrilla campaigns against what they saw as the corrupt Australian Commonwealth Government, and occupying enemy forces, since the end of the Australian Civil War. It was not good enough for them that the new Australian New Zealand Republic had arisen to control part of Australia and all of New Zealand. Of course to some they were terrorists and to others they were freedom fighters while most Australians focused on day to day survival.

 

Pixie-Dizney was bringing out a new animated 3Dmovie in the Australian Commonwealth. It was The Adventures of Captain Kangeroo, Part Two, and it was about the brave hero fighting poorly disguised members of the AFRA. The propaganda was both obvious and very biased. Few local citizens would see it but mostly because the tickets tended to be too expensive in tight economic conditions.

[Maharg67]

Not This Earth
One 2.2[3]

 

Eddie walked right past the bus-stop, reacting to a 'sense' that something was not quite right. He slipped his hands into the pockets of his light synthetic leather jacket. As he did he noted a black Security Police van moving slowly, in his direction, along the outer lane normally used by buses and taxicabs. He doubted that the black uniformed scum were after him in particular but he did not want to take the chance in encountering them. His fabricated identity was well embedded into Australian Commonwealth and international identification networks but the less it was tested the better.

 

Old apartment blocks ran along both sides of the secondary highway along with some older small mansions and duplex houses. There were mostly cheap rental apartments for welfare recipients and public employment program workers. The footpaths needed repairs as did other features such as the bus-stops but the secondary highway was in fairly good condition.

 

The black van slowed and stopped just in front of walking Eddie. The Security Police inside were playing nasty games with him, were trying to 'psych him out' but he just frowned in distaste. Suddenly it sped away as if drawn away by an emergency. In the distance there was the flash of an explosion and the muffled sound of the same; in that direction lay a combined forces military base. Surely there had been deaths and perhaps Afra was involved; recently Afra had declared that a number of explosions had killed people but it had not been responsible because it always gave enough warning for people to escape; the AFRA went after property, not people. Were they lying or was some faction trying to discredit them at the cost of lives lost and people being wounded?

 

With the black van gone, he halted at the next bus-stop that could be used to get him closer to the central city area.

Edited June 30, 2014 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

Not this Earth
One 3.1[4]

It always puzzled Eddie how much the greater mass of people did not want to know about the deeper, darker, truths of the world that they lived in. Surely if the majority of people knew about such things they might just gather together and do something about it. Or was that just wishful thinking?

Eddie got off a public transit bus at the Midland Bus-Train Station and switched over to a sleek looking electric commuter train. Soon it was humming smoothly along even as he sat quietly and studied his smartphone screen. A texted message was a coded warning that three young, dangerous, exotic assassins had arrived in Perth and were out to kill him. It was not exactly the most thrilling of news but it was far from the first time he had gained such a warning.

It was most like that the assassins were genetically engineered natural born killers, as he was. The trick was to find out just what faction, or subfaction, had sent them. Information was everything in the secret world that he was active in. He also wondered if the attempt to terminate him was somehow linked to the failed attempt to kill the US President. He could not see how it would be but he had been involved with the Americans before in covert operations. His activation could also be linked with the destruction of Air Force One.

He would be surprised if the three hunter-killers did not know where he lived. He also wondered how many hunter-seekers were out there, trying to find him in a less aggressive manner so as to mark him for the hunter-killers.

He got off at the next station and went into a public toilets, for men, and to the end booth to his left. It was firmly locked and marked 'not working' but his master key opened it easily enough. Inside was a fake toilet and a foul smell producing machine that stopped people from trying to use the toilet. From the fake cistern he gained a case of special gear that he placed in his compact backpack. Then he went down through a hatch that meant pushing the fake toilet to one side. Of course the fake toilet went back into place.

There were far more tunnels beneath the great city than most people knew. Soon he was dropping down into the Perth Sewer Tunnel System that had been constructed in the second half of the 19^nth Century. He landed on a raised walkway to one side of the tunnel and was soon heading for where he would pick up the mission instructions.