Two Steps Forward - One Step Back

[Maharg67]

0068: Of the OmniObserver and the Observed

 

The OmniObserver watched the TwistedGod busy on a long desolate AlternateEarth that the Great Sphere had absorbed and then abandoned. Busy? The TwistedGod built great, crazy structures and either abandoned them or destroyed them. Then it would move on, a swirling grey fog of undeath barely concealing a huge grotesque humanoid. A few living things struggled to exist on that world. Those that survived hid from the TwistedGod, fled from it or were simply too tough, too basic for it to hurt too badly in its passing. What was it doing? The TwistedGod did not seem to know but it was hard to know with the TwistedGod. At a safe distance from the TwistedGod, some TwistedDemigods were busy constructing great, bizarre machines and structures with seemingly more purpose to their efforts. With them were TwistedLords, TwistedSublords and TwistedOnes, all working together in bursts of almost frantic activity interwoven with depressed stillness. Grey mist drifted around them, sometimes becoming small bits of heavier fog.

 

Elemental Infiltrators moved quick and fast, healing life, salvaging what they could of life, slowly and steadily transferring the last bits of living ecosystems from that world to a new, healthier world. They would leave no living thing behind, if they could help it. They were not alone but had subtle, powerful protection in the form of nine ElementalGods. Why bother to save the remnants of life on that stricken world while risking the crazed wrath of the TwistedGod? Because life was there to be saved! Many AlternateEarths, devastated by the Great Sphere, were Terraformed but that could not happen to this world as long as the TwistedGod was there. Humanity of that AlternateEarth was either hidden inside Luna, the moon of that world, or had fled into deep space in sleeperships. They had sent only one attack against the TwistedGod and so disturbing, so savagely brutal, were the results to the attack force that it was never even considered again as a viable option.

 

But the TwistedGod was not just active there, on that AlternateEarth.

[Maharg67]

0069: Of SamWaSam and Others

 

SamWaSam did examine the strange room, did find that the autodispensers along the wall provided a good, steady flow of food, drink and other useful items. Some of it was clearly oriented to young childhood but not all. There were solid-state multiguns that fired pulses of different kinds of energy, including those clearly designed to strike down the undead. While many items were fairly basic in design and make, some were very advanced and sophisticated. He could not get the colored doors to open, did not try any force or trickery, and was not surprised. It was a very powerful, sophisticated entity that had created the chamber that was far more than it seemed. The false RonStopBal had tried both force and trickery to open the doors; he had failed badly, had been lightly zapped for his troubles. SamWaSam picked the story up through psychic impressions.

 

He set out to find the real RonStopBal and TelPoTae, suspecting they would be kept fairly close to help sustain the illusion of their false counter parts through a psychic link of some kind. They would also be kept as possible hostages or so he hoped. He found the two real HarmonyGuardians in status-capsules but they were damaged, badly needed healing. So he took them into the SWS-TransCube and soon they were being healed under the care of SWS-Clones. Then he set out at once back to the strange chamber. When he got to where the odd chamber had been, he found only a normal utility chamber with standard utility utilities, network-systems, and some bits of equipment in a locker. In an amazing way, the chamber had shifted in a transition of reality type way in a fashion beyond even Tammy and himself to do.

 

Something was left for him! It was a very small teddy-bear! He picked it up, holding it gently but firmly, and 'sensed' exotic energies flowing through it. Which was when the voice spoke in his mind.

 

=- {Intervention has never been our favored way and intervention has always to be carefully measured but we need you now as much as you need us. The Living Goddess Baby is trapped in the Great Sphere, was playing errant on an AlternateEarth when she, and hers, became absorbed into the Great Sphere. Living Timespace Gods, we are, sought to breach the Great Sphere but found, to our shock, that it is beyond us for it does not run smoothly with Multiversal Timespace Laws. We did what we could and she has some extra protection now but you can provide even more and perhaps find a way for her to escape or to allow us to enter this place.}

 

SamWaSam considered the surprising story, found no reason to doubt the truthfulness of it, 'sensed' no deceit. He considered possibilities and then replied.

 

SamWaSam {Could you make contact with Tommy-Tammy Tomkins?}

 

=- {Yes! What information do you wish to pass to them?}

 

SamWaSam {I will put the information into a compressed empathic-telepathic form, a summary of my experiences in HarmonyCity and what knowledge, what questions, that I have gained. Something dark and powerful is hunting for the Living Goddess Baby.}

 

=- {As we suspected! If the Living Goddess Baby comes to harm, we will break the Great Sphere no matter that doing so destroys a great many lifeforms.}

 

SamWaSam felt a surge of deep trepidation. The Living Goodhood of Timespace was quite capable of doing as warned. It would be an action of desperate rage that would kill billions of lifeforms.

 

SamWaSam {As of now I am seeking the Living Goddess Baby, and her companions, to assist her and them. I would have done so anyway.}

 

=- {We know this to be true! That is why we drew you to that part of the HarmonyUndercity as we did. Give us the empathic-telepathic message to send onwards to Tammy-Tommy Tomkins. The less we communicate with each other, the better, for many reasons, but we will communicate on a regular basis. Contact us only if you must do so.}

 

SamWaSam was used to the natural arrogance of such Living Gods-Goddesses and did not bother to take offense. The empathic-telepathic message was sent onwards. Slipping the very special teddy-bear into a pouch, he set out at once, this time following a 'sense' of being drawn in a particular direction. Too soon he was moving through an increasingly grim Undercity Zone. The muties had abandoned it but some creatures still dwelt there such as powerful mutated monsters. There were growths of strange, glowing, tingling mosses that half filled some tunnels and chambers, where it could get into and which had what the mutated glowmoss wanted.

 

He was wading, knee deep, along a partly flooded tunnel where mutated rats swarmed around him, neither fearing him or having any desire to attack him. The rats would not have feared him, or attacked him, normally but now they were rushing away from something. They were tough survivalists, the creatures, and yet he could easily 'sense' the panic in them. They were racing towards what ever safer area they could find. Then came the muffled noises of gunfire, of weapons that he noted as regularly used by the HarmonyTroopers and HarmonyRangers. Even as he got closer to them, he 'sensed' that a large force of them, along with robots and androids, were fighting swarms of controlled zombies, intelligent zombers in strange power armor and with powerful guns and other undead creatures. Somehow it did not surprise him that friendly zombies, and damphirs, were fighting alongside the humans, robots and androids. A HarmonySublord was also there, in super power armor, along with eighteen HarmonyOnes in power armor.

 

Then he was in the big chamber where the battle was raging. He ran across the big chamber that was one great dome with a floor of many cubish shaped levels, rampways, control banks, walkways and much else. Great, heavy chains hung from a gridwork of metal beams running vertical and diagonal high above the floor. It was, apparently, some kind of odd industrial site but one could never quite tell with HarmonyUndercity.

 

SamWaSam came into the side of the attackers, the swarms of undead, and noted the UndeathOne closer to him in its bizarre, disturbing power armor. In his gloved right hand appeared, with a sparkling shimmer, a long-sword with a blade of glowing translucent energies. He thrust the phase-longsword into the side of the UndeathOne, it screamed briefly in agony and then it was gone, its soul being freed. The power armor collapsed to the floor even as the body burned away as the undead tended to do upon true death.

 

SamWaSam whirled in time to deflect the phase-longsword blade of another UndeathOne. The two fought hard and well, blades flying through the air, flashes of energy taking place as the energy blades struck each other. A superzombie was surging at him, a massive shambling motion, and so were five zombers, in power armor, with battlerifles. The zombers dared not fire lest they strike the UndeathOne. Then the second UndeathOne was dead, the body burning away as the power armor collapsed to the floor. SamWaSam turned, dropping back, and aimed the phase-longsword at the charging zombers. From it spat a pencil thin beam of energies that he swept across the three attackers. At once they fell in half, their bodies burning away, their power armor hitting the floor. He cut the legs off the superzombie and it collapsed even as it burned away to leave behind a trace of strange white ash that in turn evaporated away.

 

SamWaSam hated killing anything but at least when one killed the undead, their souls were free to reenter the natural cycles of life and death.

 

The fighting went on as SamWaSam made his way towards where the HarmonyCity forces were staging a defensive action against a much larger attacking force. They had taken the high ground but did not have much actual shelter thanks to the layout, the design, of the great domechamber. The HarmonySublord, in charge, was well experienced and skilled as a commander but there was only so much that he and his forces could do.

 

SamWaSam slipped a power gloved handful of small silvery metallic globes out of a pouch and lightly chucked them across an area around himself. As each globe hit the floor, there was a sparkling shimmer and a power armored fighter would appear. Each was quite powerful, fast, agile and deadly with phase energy weapons and other devices. The SWS-Clones went at once into action, some with phase-longswords and deflector-shields in hand, others with big battlerifles blazing away with projectiles and energy pulsebeams. There were only a dozen but, like SamWaSam, they struck the enemy in the flank.

Edited July 13, 2012 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

0070: Of SamWaSam and Others

 

The hidden intelligence behind the undead attack, withdrew its surviving forces as they were shot at by the defenders. None of the slower moving superzombies made it out of the big domechamber and many of the shambling zombies were dropped but the zombers fled quick, not caring what happened to the other undead.

 

SamWaSam, and his 'SamTroopers', did what they could for the wounded, including the friendly zombies and damphirs. SamWaSam used his 'healing abilities' carefully and also a powerful artifact that helped regenerate rejuvenate the wounded. The device had to be used with great care, at lowest settings, because it was not meant to be used with mortals or even with such as damphirs or the undead. The HarmonySublord was wary at first, staying back, 'sensing' SamWaSam's power and having some strong idea of who he was. The small military force consisted of patrols and outpost garrisons that had collected together after facing major undead attacks. They had gathered together and were on their way to a major outpost when they had been forced to take a stand in that big domechamber.

 

At last the HarmonySublord, a woman, approached SamWaSam and spoke to him directly. "The HarmonyLords have come to suspect an EternalLord was amongst us in HarmonyCity. When the HarmonyGuardians recruited a young man of amazing abilities, we suspected it was him but then you came along and they were not sure if it was him or you."

 

SamWaSam spoke in surprise. "Who was the other?"

 

"DareDanDo." The HarmonySublord slipped off her helmet. She was old by mortal standards but young by FactionLord ones. "I am SihiSihiLo. I used to be a clone, a HarmonyLordite, one of many that the HarmonyLords have generated as one of many desperate measures to stave off a coming disaster; they have slowed things down but no more than that. Officially HarmonyCity is divided into the Overcity, the Midcity and the Undercity. There are the hidden areas in the Overcity that is where the semihumans and subhumans do much of their work. Do you know why we have so many semihumans and subhumans in HarmonyCity?"

 

SamWaSam nodded. "Something is having a bad effect on fertility of humanity."

 

The HarmonySublord shook her head. "There is no natural fertility with humanity of HarmonyCity and has been none for over a local century. A Special Reproductive Replacement and Support Program was instigated with mixed success creating new humans but also semihumans, subhumans and, worse, abhumans that are also known as muties. About 30% of births are human, 30% are semihumans, 20% are subhumans, 15% are abhumans and the rest, that last 5%, we will not speak of but merciful death is given them in gentle ceremonial form. Yet there has taken place something most strange and surprising: another Sphere Inner World has appeared, much like the one housing HarmonyCity and it seems to hold up to two billion humans. They are in a big semiwilderness zone of partial city and partial nature. We do not know where they came from but suspect most strongly it was from an AlternativeEarth invaded by the Great Sphere, that the Great Sphere caused it but also the GlowingFog, the glowing white mists. The HarmonyPurity Faction wish to kidnap humans from the influences of the GlowingMist before the humans are distorted. No other of the HarmonyLord Factions support this. In theory I should say Subfactions but in truth there has not been one actual HarmonyLord Faction in a long while. I serve no particular Faction but the General Faction Network."

 

SamWaSam looked around at the big domechamber. "Are there other inner world spaces that are not generally known about?"

 

The HarmonySublord looked troubled. "Not anything I would lightly talk about but something tells me that you should know what little I do. The HarmonyLords call them DisharmonyCity, DarkCity and GlimmerCity but there may well be others, transdimensional reflections of HarmonyCity not meant to exist but which exist anyway as much in HarmonyCity, especially in HarmonyUndercity does, like this big chamber. Officially it should not exist! Look at it, it makes no real functional sense though superficially it seems to. I have never been to DisharmonyCity, a real twisted version of HarmonyCity, much of which is very difficult to survive in due to the harshness of the environment itself. DarkCity is, well it is dark with shadows within shadows. Even the HarmonyLords only go there in large, well armored and armed groups with plenty of back up. Not even the DisharmonyLords go willingly to DarkCity. GlimmerCity is something that the HarmonyLords are not totally sure of but which they are greatly fearful of. They fear the green glowing fogs are coming from there."

 

SamWaSam shook his head, a little. "Then why no glimmering green monsters."

 

The HarmonySublord looked puzzled. "What are glimmering green monsters?"

 

SamWaSam responded. "I will tell you later but first let me introduce you to my TransCube."

 

The wounded went into the TransCube along with some to look after them, damaged androids and robots. The remaining force became smaller and more streamlined but with some extra equipment and supplies from the TransCube. The SWS-TransCube was become more activated, was 'waking' up, was expanding and in some ways, to meet new needs. Androids, clones, roboremotes and robots were being brought out of status or being generated. Alpha SWS-Clones were in charge along with the TransCube quasimentality. SamWaSam did not go into the TransCube for a good reason that he would not speak of to the puzzled HarmonySublord.

 

SamWaSam went and examined one of the big control consoles of the strange chamber and then he laughed softly in surprise. SihiSihiLo showed her puzzlement. SamWaSam explained. "This chamber can create large devices of many kinds, if provided with enough energy. The very large energy banks are about half full. Have the force move to this area, onto this bigger platform area. Make sure everybody, everything, is here."

 

It was done with fast efficiency. Many were puzzled by what was happening. SamWaSam ran the controls that he, as a False Eternal, found easy to interact with. There was a great sparkling shimmer and five compact hovercraft appeared, lightly armored and armed but being fast and nimble, being known as hoverflyers. The energy banks were down to about 40% from about 50% but SamWaSam chose not to use the great device again in fear of attracting the wrong kind of attention. One big energy signal in the great network, of network-systems, might be explained away but more than that? The group was soon loaded into the hoverflyers and the machines were soon moving through the tunnels, held up by antigravs and propelled by electric-jets.

[Maharg67]

0071: Of SamWaSam and Others

 

SamWaSam sat in the first hoverflyer, with the HarmonySublord, and went over matters in his mind. Yes, he had been born into HarmonyCity as SamWaSam! Yet he had a much older name and that was.... Sammy Tomkins, younger brother to Tammy-Tommy Tomkins, who were closer as one than most knew or even guessed. He wanted a chance to catch up with himself, to come deeper to terms with his much older nature. The hoverflyer swept along as the HarmonySublord used her abilities to scan ahead, in a careful manner. SihiSihiLo had informed him that the HarmonyLord Faction had been heavily damaged by centuries of dealing with increasingly hard challenges, of increasingly greater number. HarmonyLordite clones, very sophisticated androids, advanced robotics, enhanced humans and much else had become increasingly relied upon. Hence had arisen the HarmonyGuardians and the HarmonyGuards who supported them. There were also the HarmonyKeepers who were a newish network-organisation assisting to keep HarmonyCity running. There were also the HarmonyWardens and others that she was more reluctant to speak of.

 

They were still heading for the large fortified outpost. Now and then they passed swarms or groups of mutated creatures, all of them fleeing from the area; often creatures moved in mutual protection that would normally be attacking each other, so great was their fear. The monsters were going the opposite way from the column of hoverflyers. SamWaSam was getting a 'very bad feeling' about what lay ahead of them.

 

SihiSihiLo spoke to him, she was sitting close to one side of him. "You could use your Alpha TransCube to achieve much for us."

 

SamWaSam sighed. "All of the ancient artifacts of power, as you should know, are way beyond their warranty void date. At one time we False Eternals each had not a TransCube but a big TransCubeship made up of many TransCubes. Tammy-Tommy Tomkins shared one. The TransCubes failed one by one, went into deep sleep as quasiliving entities, were shrunken and stored away in other TransCubes. At this time not even all False Eternals have TransCubes and there is only one, small, TransCubeship that is operational and that is in the 13of13, of which I will not speak of just now. That is why not all FactionLords have TransCubes, even Beta or Gamma Class. The Alpha, Beta and Gamma Class note the actual working condition of TransCubes for they started out as the same. All Delta Class TransCubes are in deep sleep and that is over 86% of all TransCubes ever made. We False Eternals know how to make TransCubes but we lack the resources to make them or even to repair them properly. My TransCube is Alpha verging on becoming a Beta."

 

SihiSihiLo sighed right back. "I was just being hopeful. The same is true of all of the ancient power artifacts of the HarmonyLords. The damphirs, and zomans, are getting extremely agitated. Something ahead is very much undead and very powerful."

 

SamWaSam nodded. "An UndeathLord, along with three UndethSublords, many UndethOnes, along with a great horde of zombies, zombers, superzombies, vampires, subvampires, semivampires, along with other things that I can not quite identify. We need to go there because they are trying to trap something that I was planning to tell you about." So he told her about the trapped Living Goddess Baby and that which went with the account.

 

SihiSihiLo frowned at him. "Really, you should have told me the truth earlier."

 

He gave a mild grin. "Really, then you should have told me you are of Unity. How many HarmonyLords are now of Unity or going that way?"

 

SihiSihiLo arched her eyebrows at him. "All of the HarmonyLife Faction, parts of some of the HarmonyBalance Faction and a couple of minor factions. We are starting the process of linking more fully with mortal Unity, with the HarmonyGuardians and HarmonyGuards that we chose because they were Unity or, like you, of special nature."

 

SamWaSam nodded. "I am Sammy Tompkins, younger brother to Tammy-Tommy Tomkins. You may have heard of me though I doubt it considering the isolating nature of the Great Sphere."

 

"I spoke of DareDanDo earlier." She frowned. "One of great promises but relatively few achievements, it seems. He promised much as then vanished. What he did do, that was useful, was give us much information about what had been happening outside of the Great Sphere for thousands of years. We had to edit his accounts, which rather over emphasized his importance in the scheme of things, and which were very contradictory in nature."

 

SamWaSam laughed softly and yet there was a tinge of anger to it. "DareDanDo might just be one infamous super selfish cunning stupid Sebastian Tomkins, first cousin to myself and Tammy-Tommy Tomkins. Somehow he got into the Great Sphere but, knowing him, it could well have been out of foolishness as of cleverness. He tried to steal a TARDIS of the TimeLords, a Time, Alternates and Relative Dimensions Intrinsic to Space. They stuck him in a Time Prison but somehow he escaped but with out his TransCube, which went into deep sleep. The TimeLords gave over the TransCube to the Eternal Empress."

 

"DareDanDo informed us that he and the Eternal Empress are secret lovers and that she adores him, that he is really the father of all of her many children." SihiSihiLo sighed. "It was about then that we began to realize fully just what we were dealing with. We had started having doubts the first time any of us spoke to him directly when he declared himself to be the Eternal Champion of All That Is Good and Wise. He spoke of thirteen great worlds, each of thirteen great worlds, interwoven in an amazing fashion, known as the 13of13. He said they would not have been created with out his genius and that more than once he had saved them. Does he believe his own fantasies?"

 

"Yes and no!" SamWaSam responded. "He wants very much to believe them but can not quite do so. The Eternal Empress laughed gently, and patted him on the head, when DareDanDo tried to seduce her. Only because he actually does good, now and then, has he not been hunted down by various forces; that and the fact that much else has been going on in the MultipleEarth of quarantined AlternateEarths."

 

The HarmonySublord frowned. "DareDanDo spoke a little of such matters and of other matters he seemed reluctant to disclose. Shortly after that he vanished."

 

SihiSihiLo suddenly focused back on being commander. SamWaSam had been sweeping the area with his own 'special senses'. There was a great battle being waged ahead of them, a far bigger one than they had just been part of, and with far more exotic foes fighting each other. At the core of the raging conflict was a Living Goddess Baby who was extremely unhappy and expressing it with much aggression at her enemies.

Edited July 13, 2012 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

http://i592.photobucket.com/albums/tt9/Dragonpen61/Forum%20Additives/0202_166-1.jpg

 

The HarmonySublord shook her head. "There is no natural fertility with humanity of HarmonyCity and has been none for over a local century. A Special Reproductive Replacement and Support Program was instigated with mixed success creating new humans but also semihumans, subhumans and, worse, abhumans that are also known as muties. About 30% of births are human, 30% are semihumans, 20% are subhumans, 15% are abhumans and the rest, that last 5%, we will not speak of but merciful death is given them in gentle ceremonial form. Yet there has taken place something most strange and surprising: another Sphere Inner World has appeared, much like the one housing HarmonyCity and it seems to hold up to two billion humans. They are in a big semiwilderness zone of partial city and partial nature. We do not know where they came from but suspect most strongly it was from an AlternativeEarth invaded by the Great Sphere, that the Great Sphere caused it but also the GlowingFog, the glowing white mists. The HarmonyPurity Faction wish to kidnap humans from the influences of the GlowingMist before the humans are distorted. No other of the HarmonyLord Factions support this. In theory I should say Subfactions but in truth there has not been one actual HarmonyLord Faction in a long while. I serve no particular Faction but the General Faction Network."

Edited July 11, 2012 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

0072: Of SamWaSam and Others

 

A floating rainbow sphere of rippling, shimmering, sparkling energies was hurling beams and pulses of energy across the huge chamber. As they struck zombies, superzombies or different kinds of vampiric monsters, the creatures transformed and changed sides. The Living Goddess Baby was turning her lesser enemies into her followers, making them into unlifen entities instead of undead ones. Now in many rainbow colored shapeforms, the unlifen struck out against other monsters and converted them. Yet the small one, as powerful as she was, was starting to slow down in her effects, was becoming tired.

 

While this was going on the large force of HarmonyTroopers, HarmonyRangers and other types of HarmonySoldiers, were blasting away with what ever firepower they had to keep back forward ranks of the far larger undead army. They welcomed the transformed rainbow unlifen to join their ranks. Damphirs, also unlifen in nature, struck out at the enemies. Friendly zombats, and zomans, were now unlifenfolk now.

 

SamWaSam struck the enemy with his SamTroopers, slamming into the side of the enemy and smashing through the ranks to quickly reach UndeathOnes. A semivampire burned away as his phase-longsword swept through it and then he cut off the helmeted head of an UndeathOne. It burned away, the empty power armor falling down. With a scream of rage, an UndeathSublord charged towards him, smashing through ranks of lesser undead, killing many of them with out care. In power gloved fists he clutched a great energy weapon of a phase-staff that was two metres long. As he got closer to SamWaSam, he suddenly hurled the phase-staff at the False Eternal with amazing speed, power and skill. SamWaSam was hurled backwards and yet grabbed the hurled phase-staff, whirled with it and hurled it back at the UndeathSublord. The phase-staff struck the former owner with incredible power, causing a break burst of energies, drove into the armored chest of the undead beast and killed it.

 

SamWaSam was injured and slowed but not greatly. He kept on the move again and the enemy ranks gave before him except for the almost mindless zombies that were controlled by a very alien, undead, intelligence. A SamTrooper fell, died and vanished away with a sparkling shimmer, including armor and weapons. Other SamTroopers kept on fighting with amazing skill, power and courage. SamWaSam struck with his deflector-shield, bashing it or striking with its edge, as much as he used the phase-sword to strike at enemies in different ways. He was leading a strike at the UndeathLord controlling the swarms of zombies.

 

Then it happened! A great sweep of golden white energies flashing out from where the Living Goddess Baby was floating. The baby was shown, for a second, a metre high chubby muscular female baby in a rainbow colored padded jumpsuit, armored and dotted with pictures of cute adorable creatures. Then the BigSmallOne vanished with a sparkling shimmer. Two large, powerful Living Demigod Warriors came forward, massive humanoids in heavy energy armor, but they were not needed. They had already fought hard but now the undead were all gone and in their place were many living and unlifen entities. Some, like the UndeathLord, had burned away but most had been transformed. Unlifenfolk, many of them damphirs of different kinds, and living beings, many of them humans, were understandably confused but they were at peace. The battle had been won but most had not only survived but were better off.

 

SamWaSam knew it was time. He brought forth his TransCube and opened it up. In moments the many were going into it as the TransCube expanded in size, doubling and then doubling up again. The big door became bigger to open up to allow everybody in including hoverflyers and armored-armed wheeled amphibious vehicles that the HarmonyArmy Forces had with them. The BigSmallOne slipped into the TransCube and, as SamWaSam expected she would do, tried to automatically take it over. She failed to take the whole thing but a special section became hers, as SamWaSam had programmed the SWS-TransCube to do.

 

SamWaSam stood outside of the TransCube, alone except for SihiSihiLo, studying the great big domechamber with its strange statues, huge and exotic, of six armed humanoids with each set of arms being distinctively different from the others. There were women, neuters and men being more neuters than women and more men than women. SamWaSam stared in wonder for the statues were of the mysterious AncientLords who had existed amazingly far back in the history of the Multiverse. What were statues of the AncientLords doing in the Great Sphere, especially in a chamber that he 'sensed' was much much older than the Great Sphere was, in general?

 

SamWaSam spoke. "The Living Goddess Baby came here for a good reason. Something drew here here to this chamber of the AncientLords. Question is, what is such a transdimensional chamber doing here? Are there others like it in HarmonyCity?"

 

SihiSihiLo looked amazed. "Not that I know of but that, in itself, does not mean a great deal. I am just a FactionSublord of the Outer Circle. FactionLordite Clones have become FactionSublords but we rarely go beyond the Middle Circle and most of us remain out in the Outer Circle of the Three Ranking Circles of the HarmonySublords. This metallic stone domechamber would be in the top of a TransGlobe."

 

"One of many such domechambers." SamWaSam looked around at the great chamber stretching far off into the distance. It was fairly bare, of metallic stone, with a great disk shaped floor and a the statues along with eight, evenly spaced, great doors full of shimmering energies, they being shimmerdoors. "Such TransGlobes were bigger inside than out but had also many alternate dimensions." A look of surprise came to his face. "What if the Great Sphere is a vast TransGlobe but one with some special extra qualities to it? The AncientLords vanished a vastly long time ago, at the end of the last Greater Multiversal Cycle. All things but come to an end, even that which is endless in nature. There have been stories of ancient power-artifacts, even artifact-entities, surviving from the last Greater Multiversal Cycle into the current Greater Multiversal Cycle. As far as I know, no FactionLords ever came across one until..."

 

SihiSihiLo looked, with obvious curiosity, at SamWaSam who was clearly going through a big moment of realization.

 

Then SamWaSam spoke. "The basis of the creation of the Great Sphere was lost, along with many of the memories, much of the knowledge, of our Home AlternateEarth. Nobody could explain how this came to be but most have considered it a side effect of becoming False Eternals and FactionLords, from the transformation of ourselves from mortals to a type of Eternals and a kind of immortals. What if... what if it was deliberately done?" He yawned and then changed subjects. "There is much to do."

 

SihiSihiLo nodded. "Then we need to go into the TransCube!"

 

The TransCube vanished with a sparkling shimmer and SihiSihiLo looked startled. She frowned at SamWaSam. "Just what is going on?"

 

"You are Unity but you do not want to be Unity. You so badly do not want to be of Unity that you are willing to betray Unity." SamWaSam looked around at the statues. "I secretly communicated with the Living Demigods serving the BigSmallOne, using a very deep level of empathic-telepathy that is most tricky to do for us False Eternals. I warned them of your treacherous nature but they already knew of it and planned to kill you if you went into the TransCube. In order to save you, to awaken you from your destructive, self destructive, fears I made sure you remained here with me. The SWS-TransCube is going somewhere safer, much safer, than here. You can stay here or come with me. I am leaving now. I have a MiniTransCube full of equipment and supplies along with some special items."

 

SamWaSam headed away and SihiSihiLo followed. Now both carried large power suit backpacks on their backpacks and carried other items including powerful battlerifles. They wore no identifying markings on their power armor. SihiSihiLo was clearly unable to work out why SamWaSam had decided to save her from the Living Demigods or why now he was trying to save her from her deep AntiUnity feelings. This was not what the voice, deep in her mind, had told her what would happen.

Edited July 13, 2012 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

0073: Of the Eternal Empress and Others

 

The Eternal Empress sat in stillness inside her Eternal Throne, inside a crystal bubble filled with softly glowing mist of blue greens. She was naked but the mist collected around her enough to cover her from the chest down with fair modesty. She was youthful, beautiful, slimly voluptuous, slimly muscular and of lightest blue green skin and dark blue green hair, along with deep blue green eyes. Half awake, half asleep, she gazed at the great domechamber around herself. The Eternal Emperor was some distance away, on-in his own Eternal Throne, was sleeping, was dreaming of quiet ecstasy.

 

She smiled to herself and then, noting that the great Eternal Throne Chamber was empty of all but the most faithful, the fanatical followers, she communicated with another.

 

Empress {I am waking now and seeking, in eagerness, to know what is taking place with the Great Plan.}

 

The voice came deep in her mind, warm and a little condescending in nature.

 

Voice {Your curiosity is strong and good in many ways but do not let it carry you too far. You have done your part, are doing your part, will do your part and that is enough. You need to make sure that the False Eternals and the FactionLords do not learn the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. There has been a mild troubling event. The False Eternal, named Sammy Tompkins, has emerged in the Great Sphere, in HarmonyCity, being reborn there as one SamWaSam. This is the second False Eternal to appear unexpectedly in the Great Sphere, in HarmonyCity, the other being Sebastian Tompkins though he bore the rather primitively comical name of DareDanDo. I assumed you had control of this False Eternal, along with most others and most FactionLords, there in the 13of13.}

 

The Eternal Empress showed real surprise.

 

Empress {Such was the case when I began this last rejuvenating sleep, necessary to keep myself alive and at full working efficiency in the longer term. I programmed the Eternal Throne for one subcycle of rejuvenative sleep. Yes, I see what has happened. My Eternal Throne has been tampered with. A supposed impossibility but it has taken place. Some entity, or entities, reprogrammed the Eternal Throne for two subcycles of rejuvenating sleep. It explains why I felt so good but, now, I am just feeling puzzled and angry. I will begin an investigation at once into the cause of the sabotage and the escape of Sebastian Tompkins from the 13of13. As for Sammy Tompkins, I have had no real control over him or Tammy-Tommy Tomkins for many centuries. The 13of13 is slowly breaking down, along with many of its networks of network-systems. You have promised assistance.}

 

Voice {We helped you create the 13of13 in the first place. Do not push our great generosity too far! Still, you have made a good point! We will see what we can do to give the 13of13 a rejuvenation regeneration process and other resources. Go and carry out your investigations and report to us of your success! Hope that you are successful! We are becoming concerned about the Eternal Emperor and his increasing inefficiency. Perhaps it is time to replace him. He could be shunted gently, firmly, to one side and put into some created position.}

 

Empress {I find it easy to manipulate him but, yes, he is getting far too inefficient and unreliable. The major challenge is to find anybody capable of doing a better job. Most False Eternals spend most of our time in rejuvenation sleep or in ultra false reality or running the reality game circuits of the Eternal Imperial Court, the Eternal Imperial Cities or the Eternal Imperial Estates. Most of the brightest, and best skilled, are either in status confinement or exiled to the Eternal Imperial Wildzone or are out there beyond my control. Many of those out there are rogues or even rebels or exiles that we do not ever want back in the 13of13.}

 

Voice {We must break contact with you! We will communicate with you soon enough. Attempt communications only if the need is very urgent. Do your best!}

 

Then the voice was gone. She was surprised for never before had the communicating voice broken off so abruptly and never had she picked up a hint of what she had just done; that is she had picked up a sense of shock and even fear. This was not something that she considered possible of the amazingly powerful entities that she was dealing with. Her world had been badly shaken up. For the first time she began to question many of the deep assumptions that she had made when making the agreement and since then. For the moment she had to focus mainly on the investigations that she had to carry out, the seeking of a new possible Eternal Emperor and yet she would do other, very careful investigating also.

Edited July 16, 2012 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

0074: Of the OmniObserver and the Observed

 

Green glowing fogs vanished from all five of the AlternateEarths that they had been invading. The OmniObserver knew that this was a temporary state of affairs while the UndeathLords focused all of their efforts inside the Great Sphere where they seemed to be focused in HarmonyUndercity. Why did they focus their forces there? Because they had confronted far more difficult conditions than they had expected. The HarmonyCity humans had greater resistance to the Z-Plague than was expected. The HarmonyLords, and other peoples, of HarmonyCity were turning out to be much tougher than was predicted they would be. There were many challenges, obstacles, threats to be found inside the Great Sphere than had been anticipated. In other words, the UndeathLords' campaign in the Great Sphere had ground to a halt with many more lesser undead being destroyed than was planned for. More of them had been destroyed by local environmental conditions, local mutated creatures and other threats other than the official enemy of the HarmonyLords and Unity.

 

Then the Lesser Goddess Baby had come, seemingly, out of nowhere to destroy many of the undead including an UndeathLord, UndeathSublords and UndeathOnes but also to convert many undead into unlifenfolk of different kinds. That is unlifenfolk that had at once turned upon other undead to convert or kill them. The UndeathLords were highly disturbed by this as they were also of reports of the white glowing mist and the elemental beings that came from it that were a great threat to the undead. The 'Voice' had promised them more resources but so far no such resources had been forthcoming. The 'Voice' itself seemed less arrogant, less sure of itself and tended to communicate less.

 

A great conflict was about to be waged inside HarmonyUndercity.

 

The TimeLords, the professor and his clone-daughter, continued to assist the people of London, and the GuardianLords based there, of the AlternateEarth of the very late 19^th Century. The junkyard continued to be a local base of operations, along with the TARDIS itself. Professor Chronos began to seek samples of Martian technologies and even of Martian organic substances from the tripocs themselves.

 

Marshal Nelson, on the 1950s AlternateEarth, was taking advantage of the vanishing of the undeath threat. He sent out a small aircraft to fly to Robertville. Even as this was done, a report came that the devastated remains of Bethena had been left abandoned by the sudden vanishing of all of the undead there, including the treacherous Field-Marshal Alan Alderson. Marshal Nelson was assuming more threats would appear. Something, he was not sure what, told him that this was but a breathing space, a chance to fix things up and to try to get ready for the next big challenge or challenges. Perhaps it was Unity that told him so, that is the great secondary mentality of UnityMind that was slowly emerging within Unity.

 

Tommy Tomkins continued with his special project, now with the special resources as provided by the LittleFatFamily. The AltSliders, one of them being a dangerous imposter, were still in false reality status capsules, were still going through the process of believing they were really alive. That was unless one of them, at least, had begun to 'sense' the falsehood of their existence. The ANZAC androids continued to help guard the Robertville Compound and to help guard Robertville as a settlement. The vanishing of the undead, except for some strays, was a most welcome development.

 

Alan Pale, and many others, was now protected by the strange new force of Grand Guardians, as they called themselves. When Alan Pale brought forth his TransCube, proving himself to be a False Eternal even to himself, somehow the Marshal was not surprised and neither were many others, including the family of the child. For they had adopted him after he had been found wandering alone, as a small toddler, in the streets of the city of Sydney, Australia. The AP-TransCube became the base of operations for the Grand Guardians and the home of many. Alan Pale promised to do what he could for Marshal Nelson and his army, along with Cobber Paddy and its people.

 

The AlternateEarth of the 1980s was given a reprieve as the UndeathLords, and other undead, left there. The great battle being waged in the Australian Outback, was won when the enemy retreated. The TripleLords did not declare victory but they were satisfied that they had fought the battle well and had destroyed many of the enemy, salvaging many zomans, zombats and damphirs to their cause.

 

Tammy Tomkins continued to seek information to help prepare her for an expedition to go down to where the coordinates were; that is those that Ava111Ava's actions had led to the discovery of.

 

The AlternateEarth of the 2030s, with the Great Sphere, was also taking advantage of the vanishing of the major threat, was mopping up, was trying to be ready if the same bizarre threat came again. With their more advanced medical knowledge and biological sciences, they began to try to create vaccines and antidotes to the to the Z-Plague. Thankfully, for that AlternateEarth, the undeath attacks had only just began to build up when they vanished. The UtopianLords and UnityLords assisted the world as much as they could.

 

The LittleFatFamily continued to rejuvenate, to recover, inside the TransWardrobe.

 

The AlternateEarth of the 2030s, without the Great Sphere, was also able to take a breather with the vanishing of the main undeath threat. The big threat there, now, was the treacherous alliance between President Walter Bishop, his forces, and the DystopianLords who had come across from the other AlternateEarth of the 2030s, that is the one with the Great Sphere.

 

SamWaSam, and SihiSihiLo, kept moving through HarmonyUndercity as he seemed draw towards something.

 

The Eternal Empress continued her investigations, both those for the 'Voice' and those for herself that she knew were quite dangerous.

Edited July 13, 2012 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

0075: Of Others

 

The Union of America was weakened by the invasion by the DystopianLords that had ended in their disappearance and the theft of many valuable resources from Washington DC, including captive people. Good news was that green glimmering fogs had ceased to appear through out North America and also much of the world. Most of the dangerous undead had gone with them. The Z-Plague, facing many immune humans, and those with greater resistance, was less successful around the world. Even in Australia the glimmering green fogs seemed to have vanished. What was going on? Nobody seemed to know but the few remaining aggressive undead were being hunted down, as much as they could be, and the friendly zombies, the damphirs, had gained the protection of the Union of America Federal Government.

 

"The whole human world needs time to recover but what for if in, perhaps, a century or maybe two centuries, our whole world is engulfed and then absorbed by the Great Sphere?" Peter Bishop spoke with a tone of concern. "We need to find a way to get the people of Earth, this Earth, to safety."

 

He was looking at one side of the TransWardrobe where drawers were being opened, one at a time, and useful items were being brought out to leave each empty in turn. It took time and energy to fill each drawer and while that was taking place, no drawer could opened. The good thing was that four sets, each of nine big drawers, were active and in turn would open to give access to useful items. Mostly they were excellent quality, lightly upgraded, copies of human items of that world from power tools to automatic weapons to special lasers to computer modules to medicines and much else. As yet the small cupboards did not open but they were functioning somehow and only one set of mirrored doors opened to give access only to the same 'outer chamber' as some of them had been to before. The small cubechamber had a good rejuvenative regenerative effect on people, both on those with shorter term ailments and those with longer term medical conditions, including those who had been born with them. An older man, suffering from dementia, started recovering mentally as well as physically. A woman with bad burns, even the scars were soon fading from her body. The biggest problem was the smallness of the space and it had two triple bunks crammed into it now. Scully visited the people there, at times, but mostly it was an army medic and a community nurse who watched over the sick.

 

Scully frowned at him. "My AlternateEarth may not face the Great Sphere but the GlimmeringFog may return and there is the Dark Pact of the DystopianLords and an insane US President. The problem is that my Home AlternateEarth has a problem of over population and could not truly sustain taking billions of refugees from this world though I hope we would not abandon you to your deaths."

 

Peter frowned. "Not just this AlternateEarth faces grave danger but also two others, the one of the 1980s and the one of the 1950s. It is fascinating how their histories came to differ from our own. A world where World War Two did not take place and a world in which world geography is quite different in many ways, where there was an Australian Civil War in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Each of those worlds has at least two billion humans. This one, about four billions after half the population vanished. So at least eight billion people have to be saved and what of other life, the flora and fauna, the exotics like the damphirs and friendly zombies. I doubt your home world could take that many people along with the eight billion plus people it has already."

 

Scully frowned. "Over a hundred million of our people, not to mention other lifeforms, are suspended in amberite. Mulder, and I, came very close to being two of them. Slowly people are being freed up from the amberite but it is a slow, difficult process and the freed often face difficult psychological problems and life decisions. Wives and husbands find they have been divorced, others find their loved ones have died and... you can see the problems. The only good thing was that the 'Greys', the little grey men, stopped being active on our world. It was as if the transdimensional problems, between the two AlternateEarths, frightened them off."

 

Peter snorted. "The X-Files people on my adopted AlternateEarth dealt with a big conspiracy dealing with 'little grey men' and 'grey flying-saucers. It was about a secret government inside the governments and transnational corporations of the world."

 

Scully looked surprised. "On my AlternateEarth, the one you were born on, we investigated only one conspiracy that was between the Umbrella Corporation and the Greys. MassDynamic, the other big corporation we investigated, was an enemy of the Umbrella Corporation. They were constantly at war with each other, including the use of elite mercenaries, infiltrators and even roboremote drones. You, Peter Bishop, were in the highly classified datafiles of both MassDynamic and the Umbrella Corporation. There does not seem to be any 'Umbrella Corporation' on your adopted AlternateEarth."

 

They both looked at each other as if wondering where they were both going in their conversation.

 

Mulder walked in and spoke as he did so. "You two just exchanging notes or have you come to some kind of realization?"

 

Scully turned to her husband. "Just that the conspiracy with the Greys turned out differently on our AlternateEarth than it did on this one, with the other Scully and Mulder. The Greys we dealt with were of the undead, a special kind of undead. They were linked with something called the grey glimmering mist. They filled their flying-saucers with it. The Greys were also known as Greynari but made up of the greytaro, greytoro, greytero, greyturo and greyturi, all of them monstrous. Only the greytaro have big heads with slanted black eyes, small weak bodies but their dreaded mind powers make for their physical weakness. We need to talk to the Mulder and Scully of this AlternateEarth."

 

Peter shrugged. "They vanished years ago. Why this intense interest in such matters?"

 

"To find out if the 'Greys', that this world's Scully and Mulder dealt with, are the same as those we dealt with." Scully frowned softly. "Something tells me that this is important to know. Perhaps we should go to Washington DC and see if any data survived there that might help lead us to where this world's Scully and Mulder are."

 

Paul, the son of Scully and Mulder, walked in and smiled at his parents. "A military civil expedition is coming here from New England in some hitech airships as imported from our Home AlternateEarth. They will be approaching from the north-north-west in order to avoid some bad weather. They should be getting here in about five hours."

 

At that moment Olivia Dunham walked in and with her was a second Olivia Dunham. The second Olivia Dunham was the one from the AlternateEarth of the 2030s with no Great Sphere. She aimed a large, powerful handgun at Scully. As she did so she spoke. "The Fox Mulder and Dana Scully of our world, along with their son, David, are in amberite in an area of Washington DC. They are on the list to be brought out but so are many others. So, who are you?"

Edited July 4, 2012 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

0076: Of Others

 

Mulder shrugged. "We come from an AlternateEarth that was invaded by the Greys, the Greynari. Their saucerships came out of the sky to drop landing-capsules that opened up to release thousands of Greynari monsters and captured transformed human soldiers in power armor. They dropped in North Africa, South America and Australia. Then came the Silvernari, who assisted us by fighting the Greynari directly, and the LifeProclomation by providing us with duplicated enhanced equipment and resources, based on improved versions of our own technologies including power armor, medical treatments and even our own antigrav saucercraft. Then the Greynari, on our world, vanished away leaving behind their puppet human soldiers. The Greynari saucers fled away. Our world was left devastated and mystified. It was the Silvernari, the little silver men, who informed us of the truth. The Greynari forces had been seeking ancient sites hidden in North Africa, South America and Australia where there were gates that could open gateways to other AlternateEarths. We come from the United Soviet States of America, the USSA. My name is actually Frank Mulder and this is Diana Scully. We both recolored our hair to make ourselves look more like Dana Scully and Fox Mulder. I like the name 'Fox'; it is much better than 'Frank'!"

 

Diana Scully, formerly known as Dana Scully, smiled. "I prefer my own name. We were on the run from the CSIA, the secret police of the USSA who are infamous for their brutality. We were trying to get across the Iron Wall that runs between the USSA and Canada. That was when the saucerships came out of the sky, raiding and dropping off raiding forces in many places apart from their main invasion bridgeheads. There were large Communist and Capitalist armies there, ready to attack, and the fools almost assumed it was the start of World War Four. But then they were forced to unite against a common enemy as they did against the Kraken back in World War Three and the Pangermanic Empire back in World War Two. This was our third alien invasion after the Martians, the First World War, and the Kraken. In many ways this did become the Fourth World War but it did not go as expected."

 

Olivia Dunham, from the world with the Great Sphere, responded. "Why did you not tell us the truth?"

 

"Bad habits formed strongly from many years of being on the run from one of the most brutal nations that has ever existed." Frank Mulder shook his head a little. "We are still coming to terms with being on this other AlternateEarth. We found an ancient hidden complex as created by some group called the True Illuminati. They had abandoned the facility a very long ago but left some strange machines behind and some gate-mechanisms. One was an AlternateGate that brought us to this world. Strange to be in a world where there is no USSA but a Capitalist type USA. On our AlternateEarth the Russian League is one of the Capitalist super-powers along with the British Commonwealth of Nations, the Japanese Imperium and the European Union. The Soviets and Alliance Forces fought the Greynari invaders hard. In the disorder we were able to avoid any CSIA agents hunting us; I think they all fled in fear from the little grey men and their forces."

 

Diana Scully frowned. "We have information that could be of much use to you. In return we need some where safe, or reasonably safe, to stay while we make further plans."

 

Peter Bishop frowned back. "We would give you that, any way. No more falsehoods, please, and tell us what you are not telling us now. I was born on one AlternateEarth and grew up on another. Because of a series of transdimensional problems, I gained special abilities. I know you went to at least one other AlternateEarth on your way here."

 

Suddenly Diana, Frank and Paul all cried out in pain, clutching their heads, and fell towards the floor. They were dying right in front of the others but before they hit the floor, they vanished with a sparkling shimmer. The LittleFatFamily had saved them.

 

Peter Bishop frowned. "Paul spoke of a military-civil expedition coming here in advanced airships from New England. I doubt he was telling the truth about their origin but I suspect there is a dangerous force coming here."

 

The Other Olivia Dunham frowned. "I suspect that they come from my AlternateEarth. President Walter Bishop is not really President Walter Bishop and has not been so for at least five years. We suspected the truth, myself and the others of the new Fringe Network, but only truly confirmed it when we found the dead body, preserved in a status capsule, deep inside the Liberty Statue Island Fortress. The false president is something called a TruthLord, what ever that is."

 

Olivia Dunham responded. "There is much to tell you; much of it that we have only learned recently and are still trying to digest fully."

 

The settlement went to full red alert status. Paul may have been truthful or false but the expedition may have been planned to arrive earlier than announced or have some other nasty surprises to it. Yet it was soon realized that the settlement was in no real condition to defend against any large, well armored-armed force. A fair few folks went off to other settlements in the area, taking with them what they could in some vehicles, for that was their home region, others went into the Outer Chambers of the TransWardrobe. Now there were thirteen of them being one big, three medium and nine small, in relative terms, cubechambers. Equipment, supplies, much else including vehicles, were taken in either through the special doors or teleported into the biggest cubechamber, which was very large.

 

Frank, Diana and Paul were in special healing capsules in a medium sized cubechamber. Those with them, a fake John Doggett and Monica Reyes, were in capsules alongside them. Oddly enough they were using their real names from that other AlternateEarth. An solar elemental human came to the others and informed them that Frank, Diana, Paul, John and Monica, along with some others, had arrived at a devastated AlternateEarth only to be captured by dreaded TwistedOnes serving the TwistedGod. They were taken to a TwistedDemigod who did terrible things to them and turned them into puppet spies.

 

The two Olivias, Peter, Kate the supersoldier, along with some others, headed out back into the strange lands of what had once been Maryland, USA. They did so in four small, lightly armored-armed all terrain vehicles provided by the TransWardrobe. They were almost exact, being lightly improved, copies of vehicles of that world. They headed out even as the TransWardrobe vanished with a sparkling shimmer. They were hiding in a thick grove of trees, near the ruins of a petrol station (gas station) when overhead came flying, low, four big advanced airships and five deadly BlackMantis attack-trooper gravity-copters. They bore the emblem of the DystopianLords.

 

The group headed out as quickly as they could, moving towards New England and Boston.

Edited July 5, 2012 by Maharg67