Ring of Rings Science Fantasy Epic Extraordinaire

[Maharg67]

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LOTS OF NOTES TO BE ADDED AND EDITED

 

HOME REALM A TO Z

 

ABOMINATION:

ANDROID:

ANTIGRAVITY:

ANTIGRAVITY BOOSTER:

AUTOROBOTIC:

BIGFOUR: SolarPro, TransGen, ParaTech, CyberDyne.

BIOTECH:

CLAWVIRE:

CLONE:

COFFEE:

COFFU:

CRAWLER-TRACTOR:

CYBERMAN:

CYBORG:

DAMPHIM: Basic version of unlifen of mixed threat status; roughly equal to undead zombies and ghouls.

DAMPHIR: Human, humanoid, version of unlifen and of mixed threat status.

DAMPHIRE: Very powerful form of unlifen human, humanoid; roughly equal to undead vampires.

DALEK:

EXOSKEL: Unarmored semi-enclosed or 'open' power exoskeleton suit used often by workers.

FOODBAR: Extremely common form of foodstuff in form of sealed oblong of processed stuff.

GENETIC ENGINEERING:

GOAT:

HEXAGON, THE: CyberDyne research and development base; secret and hidden underground.

HORNLIZARD:

HORSE:

LASER:

LUNAR COLONIAL AUTHORITY:

LUNAR COLONIAL GOVERNMENT:

MARTIAN COLONIAL POLICE:

MARTIAN COLONIAL RANGERS:

MARTIAN COLONIES:

MARTIAN LABYRINTH:

PREDATOR:

POWER ARMOR:

POWER SUIT:

RABBIT:

RED PLAGUE:

ROBOREMOTE:

ROBOT:

SUPER VIRTUAL REALITY:

SVR CAPSULE:

SVR CAPSULECHAIR:

UNDEAD, UNDEATH:

UNLIFE, UNLIFEN:

WITCHBLADE:

XFILES:

ZERODRIVE:

Edited November 23, 2012 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

CHAPTER 0001: GRANDTHIRTEEN; STRANGE MEETING ON A DIRT HIGHWAY

1.1

 

They were being followed!

 

Strong, reliable dometents made up much of the great, barely organized settlement. The GrandThirteen made their way along dirt roads lined with flourishing greenery of small trees and large bushes. All grew fruit and were carefully safeguarded and cultivated by locals. The walking triplets, in their hooded robes and with their backpacks, had no intention of stealing fruit but some locals watched them carefully anyway. Food was still a problem in the Lunar Underworld Colonies though the situation was improving and nobody actually starved.

 

They passed a big, solid-state electronic signboard that both advertised CocaCola and gave latest Transways import figures. Ninety-eight humans had come through successfully of one hundred that had entered the Transways on Earth. Two had not done so and what had happened to them was a mystery yet to be solved. It could have been far worse: sometimes only one, of a hundred, got through.

 

Over two hundred animals had come through and all had gotten through. It seemed that only humans were 'taken'.

 

The Stone Market Complex was ahead of them, at the edge of the great suncavernland that looked like a great big geographical basin with high walls all around and a cloud filled sky. This was an illusion. The clouds never shifted. They were special and filtered sunlight coming from the suncrystal covering the very high ceiling.

 

In the distance a helium airship seemed to drift almost lazily across the sky, portholes glowing in the slowly approaching semidarkness of evening. It sported a big Solar Progressive Corporation logo on both sides, one being visible. SolarPro was one of the BigFour, the Interplanetary Corporations that had become very dominant for human society. Airships functioned well in the Lunar Labyrinth. The big subsonic jet-airliners of Terra did not do so well except in the largest of the suncavernlands.

 

Apart from Essie, Eddie and Ellie, the triplets, there were three curious animals and a robot moving on all terrain wheels. The amphibious dolphinlizard was lying curled up, sleeping, in a handcart pulled by the robot while the eaglehawk was perched on top of the robot. The robot was disguised as a basic roboremote unit. Then there were three cyborgs, young adults in appearance also. The last three were neobabies, chubby muscular baby figures each of which was in a pouch at the front of Eddie, Essie or Ellie. That was the GrandThirteen.

 

They were escapees from the Hexagon, a huge underground research and development complex run by the infamous CyberDyne Corporation. The other BigFour shared as much infamy being the Umbrella Corporation (UmbCorp) SolarPro and TransGen. Legally the GrandThirteen belonged to CyberDyne unless they could make it across the border, across the so called neutral zone, across another border into the territories where such ownership was banned as slavery.

 

They paused at a roadside stall to buy bottles of sodapop, square handpies and coffee for some of them. It was cheap coffee, of only fair quality taste, but it was all they could expect to get in such a place. Many things were still rationed and coffee was one of them. They had their well forged ration-booklets stamped and then they set out again.

 

They were still being followed but by at least two different parties. CyberDyne did not control that area and would not dare to strike openly. It would fear to draw the attention of others of the BigFour or other powerful enemies or even certain government agencies. Rebels were active in the area.

 

A hybrid-electric Rolls Royce drove past them, adjusted to move on dirt roads, electric motors humming away. There was also the safety beep beep to make sure people heard the vehicle coming. Then it was gone past, its armored body blending well with its polarized armored windows. Yet even as it passed, the GrandThirteen 'sensed' that they had been carefully observed from within the vehicle, even the robot that was not really a robot in the traditional sense of the term.

Edited November 24, 2012 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

1.2

 

Ahead of them the Rolls Royce halted, out stepped a young woman in a jumpsuit outfit holding a briefcase and with a shoulderbag. She wore knee length practical, but sexy, boots. She was beautiful, almost too beautiful, which indicated she could be genned or an android or even a cyborg of some kind. Her body was 'slimly voluptuous' like that of genetically engineered and bio-engineered supermodels.

 

She came to them and stopped, so they all stopped. She smiled very warmly. Then she spoke in a smooth voice. “MrZero would like you to have his regards and his assistance. Here are gifts and a proposal regarding your future. MrZero can safeguard you from the CyberDyne Corporation or others who would exploit you. As for this moment, MrZero has made sure that the elite bounty-hunters, that were not too far behind you, have been dealt with. No, not harmed, but stunned and stored to one side for a few hours. MrZero does not kill, or have anybody killed, unless he has to do so. Please take the briefcase. I will, hopefully, be in contact with you again. My name is Rhonda Rhodes and, yes, I am an android, a very sophisticated one of the simulicant class.”

 

Essie stepped forward, flicked back the hood of her robe, and smiled but the smile did not reach her eyes. “We will have a look at this offer and we will take the gifts. I am sure you have provided us with some form of communications with MrZero, or yourself, or could communicate with us otherwise.”

 

Rhonda Rhodes smiled. “That is correct on both counts. I must return to the vehicle. The longer that the Rolls Royce, and I, remain here the more likely we will be detected despite all of the precautions we have taken.”

 

She turned and returned to the impressive vehicle that had no form of personal identification except for the number plates that could easily be misleading. Then the machine sped away.

 

Strangely enough it was not unusual for richies to drive around such areas in expensive cars looking to hire locals to do certain kinds of tasks. So the incident would not be greatly surprising to any local observers though word would get around. It was a puzzle to what precautions had been taken by MrZero and his people.

 

A group of Hells Angels passed on super-electric Harley Davidson motorbikes. Original Harley Davidson motorbikes were not only too expensive to run, they were banned. Some of the bikies scowled, or grinned, at the GrandThirteen but only out of habit. Then they were gone off into the distance.

 

A horse drawn wagon went the other way, complete with car wheels and electric lights. While machines were in shortage, horses had the advantage of breeding other horses. The wagon had rifle armed guards because it was two thirds full of valuable farm produce. A 3Dradio channel blared music from its radio network-system, playing a local farmer folk song.

 

They had an appointment to meet Scully and Mulder, XFiles Agency Agents, at the Stone Markets Complex. Scully, and Mulder, wanted to know more about the truth of the GrandThirteen but were also trying to help them. It surprised the GrandThirteen, except the animals, when people actually wanted to assist them. Sometimes they did it because they hated the BigFour, sometimes because they were fighting for some kind of 'cause' but sometimes they were genuine in their desire to help. Scully and Mulder belonged to all three categories.

 

They got onto a paved highway, leaving the dirt highway behind, but the paved road was in worse condition that had been the dirt road. They moved along a flagstone sidewalk that also needed repair work done on it, past rows of prefabricated 'temporary' houses that had been used for decades, that were much patched up or even transformed.

Edited November 24, 2012 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

1.3

 

A siren played, warning people that it was getting darker and though no trouble was expected, it was best to play it smart, play it safe. The Red Plague had more than killed about 20% of the population, it had transformed another 20% or so. Unfortunately not all of the transformed were 'friendly' and, also unfortunately, they had bred.

 

No exotic threat came, at least not there and then.

 

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Edited November 24, 2012 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

CHAPTER 0002: GRANDTHIRTEEN; MEETING AT THE STONE MARKET COMPLEX

2.1

 

The cafe was a laser cut out alcove lined with concrete and fitted, furnished and decorated as if it was in Paris, France, on the Earth. That was years ago and the appearance, that had always seemed fake and kitsch, had faded into tackiness. Still the cafe served good coffee at reasonable prices along with French style croissants and tarts.

 

A big 3Dwallscreen, of moderate quality, showed a baseball game. Sports was popular through out the colonies being of many kinds imported from Terra along with some new ones. The Moontropolis Tigers were taking on the NewWashington Giants. Back on the home world the people were too busy surviving too care much about playing national, or international, sports and often watched games from the Space Colonies.

 

Gambling was big business in the Known Lunar Labyrinth, as it had always been back on the Earth, and yet it was not visible in the cafe. Some Mafia mobsters, in new style bizsuits, sat in a corner by themselves. Young women in 'French' outfits, that were fairly skimpy, served customers while expertly avoiding groping hands and pinching fingers. Most folks were just working class locals or farming folk; none looked even remotely 'French'.

 

Eddie took a sip of coffee, as if concerned by its heat. As a genetically engineered supersoldier such was of no real concern at all. The robot was parked at the edge of the cafe, along with the handcart and the three big hybrid animals. The neobabies sat in their pouches, eating some food or sipping milk. The cyborgs were eating, drinking, as were the three supersoldiers.

 

Essie took a bite of honey covered croissant and then drank it down with a gulp of coffee. She was aware, as some of the others were, that Scully and Mulder were running late. The pair had warned that this might happen because they had to basically sneak into the area where the XFiles Agency was not overly popular with some important factions.

 

Essie spoke. “The briefcase looks like an ordinary expensive job with some security extras such as armored layers, excellent electronic and manual locks. Yet I get the 'feeling' that there is far more to it than that.”

 

Beck, the only female one of the cyborg triplets, took a sip of chilled CocaCola from a glass. Then she spoke. “None of our attempts to sensorscan the briefcase got anywhere, indicating it is very special. I would say that is ultratech, just like we are or were. Perhaps we have been superseded since we escaped from CyberDyne. They seem focused on building that Skynet for the home world. I am not sure how that is supposedly going to help the people of the Earth.”

 

Yes, CyberDyne was building Skynet for the United Nations World Government. Theory was they would defend the home world from threats such as meteors but also be able to assist against the Red Plague threat spreading across Terra.

 

They were just repeating old conversations and they knew it.

 

The Red Plague was a mystery wrapped in a puzzle. Skynet was much more than anybody was admitting to, at least officially. Perhaps Scully and Mulder might have gained some more answers.

 

Then Scully and Mulder, in new style bizsuits, sat down with stylish briefcases and made themselves comfortable. Scully, who was beautiful, smiled at the others. “So, moving up in the world. Have your own briefcase now! Looks more posh than ours, certainly more expensive and, by small clues, more than it looks to be. MrZero sent us a message and informed us of your meeting with Rhonda Rhodes.”

Edited November 24, 2012 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

2.2

 

Mulder then spoke. “We have worked with MrZero a couple of times before, including back before we were forced to leave the Earth through the Transways and lost two friends, who were 'taken'. 70, out of 100, got through that time. I heard we made somebody quite rich on the Transways gambling circuits. Damned people will gamble on almost anything.”

 

Yes, colonists gambled on how many people, from one to 100, would get through the Transways. Like roulette, one could bet in different ways such as on single numbers, on groups of ten, odds or evens and others. It was something many hated, especially those who had lost loved ones, but it persisted anyway and made organized crime richer.

 

Eddie nodded. “So, where do we look at what is inside the briefcase?”

 

Scully sighed. “After we have something to eat and drink. We were being stalked by some CyberDyne nasties when MrZero's people diverted them. The message, we got, said the same was done for you. How are the sweet lovelies?”

 

Eggi waved his chubby, muscular arms, threatening to splatter somebody with soft boiled egg from his small spoon until Ellie saved the day. “Eggi is good. Scully bring prezzies for special babies?”

 

Ellie sighed. “Cheeky Eggi! Cheeky boy for asking for prezzies!”

 

Eggi smiled up at his one of his 'mummies'. “Got prezzies for mummies and daddies also, probably!” Eggi clearly considered his mummies and daddies would be happier about Eggi getting prezzies if they also got some.

 

Scully smiled. “We have some prezzies for all of you but we will give them later, in a nicer place at a local hotel. For now some food.”

 

More food, and drink, was brought to the table. They paid for food and drink to be delivered to some tables with poorer families at them. As they sat, eating and drinking, a news bulletin interrupted the baseball game being broadcast. A couple of men, at a table next to the one where the group sat, started to jeer but quickly shut up when many others glared at them.

 

The bulletin showed a fortified outpost settlement being attacked, in semidarkness, by things racing through the air and over the ground. Things that had once been human or whose ancestors used to be human. Tracer fire arced through the air and xolaser pulsebeams spat out to execute the monsters that were more vulnerable to such than humans were. Unlifen was what they called themselves, a reflective opposite of life as undeath was opposite of death. There were explosions on the ground and in the air as mines exploded, rockets struck targets along with missiles and cannon shells. The noise was almost overwhelming. CraggyCrossing was in danger!

 

One of the men, who had complained before, scowled heavily and stood up with a flushed red face. He opened his mouth to complain and then he dropped unconscious to the floor. Almost none saw that Ellie had struck him down, so fast had she moved.

 

The fortified outpost settlement was beyond the common border but it had been considered very safe and unlikely to be attacked because of extensive military operations in the area. Or so it had been stated officially, had been shown on the various officially sanctioned government, quasigovernment and private broadcast channels. Unofficial whispers, rebel broadcasts, had stated otherwise. Corruption, inefficiency and sheer stupidity had caused the military campaign to first falter and then to start to fail. Darker rumors spoke of treachery, about a bizarre cult that worshiped the state of unlife as somehow more 'natural' than life, as 'true life'.

Edited November 24, 2012 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

2.3

 

The bulletin ended, the baseball game went back on.

 

Scully frowned. “There are a whole lot of XFiles on, or linked, to the TrueLife Church. That is its official name but it is also known as the TrueLife Movement or, more honestly, the TrueLife Cult. They call themselves the TrueLife Church for taxation purposes and to try to gain some kind of official recognition that would make them harder to be investigated by the government. They sell the false promise of immortality that is a cursed existence both unnatural and, in the end, torturous. Mulder, and I, met a woman who had been 'prolonged' of life with an expensive process known as 'endless death suspension'; she begged us to kill her or give her the means to kill herself; we did the latter and she found peace.”

 

Scully continued. “The BigFour have managed to steal many secrets, including dark secrets, from each other over the years. Research data, from all of the BigFour, went into creating the 'endless death suspension process' also known as the TrueLife Process. In the same way you GrandThirteen are the results of data gained from projects run by the BigFour and other factions. Which is why all of the BigFour are now hunting for you along with the United Nations World Government Special Research and Development Agency, the UNWGSRDA. Most folks call it the SRDA for short. In their own way, the SRDA is worse than the BigFour. Despite its name, the SRDA is a quasigovernment agency and not a government one; that is it is part government and part privately owned.”

 

Which is when the screaming howling began. Only those with enhanced senses of hearing could pick it up but that meant all of the GrandThirteen and some animals in the area.

 

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Edited November 24, 2012 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

CHAPTER 0003: GRANDTHIRTEEN; AFTER AN ACCIDENTAL DEATH

 

Ellie, Eddie and Essie came into the area at a smooth paced run, having left the neobabies with the cyborgs, animals and robot.

 

The cyborgs were Beck, Brand and Brad. The robot was TechHenry. The neobabies were Eggi, Uggi and Ebbi. The animals were Hiwing, Pussydog and Flipper.

 

The area of the incident was a hub chamber, a meeting place between big shopping arcade tunnels, walkway tunnels and one roadway tunnel for small, to moderate, sized vehicles. There were quite a few people there but the place was far from crowded. Big, cheap solid-state fluroflats lit the area quite well and cheap 2Dscreens showed elementary advertisements and shop goods menus.

 

The youthful man, rejuvenated from coming through the Transways, had died because of a stupid accident. A hybrid-electric car's brakes had failed, the vehicle had slammed into the man, the man had died and then the dead man had stood up. The zombie had attacked people with terrible strength but normal speed and some clumsiness.

 

The three came to a halt as a Citizen shot the zombie in the head with a regular calibre revolver pistol. The zombie collapsed, dead, to the floor. Then the Citizen shot the zombie in the head, just to be sure. Clearly he had seen at least one zombie 3Dmovie or had up on modern mythologies of zombies or both.

 

There was something odd about the Citizen and then it clicked. He looked much like Eddie, had features in common with Essie and Ellie. He was a cloned supersoldier, just as they were, but they 'sensed' no danger from him. He slipped away the pistol into a hidden shoulder holster, beneath his kevlar jacket, and wandered over to the three.

 

He gave a mild grin at the surprised clone triplets. “We have been looking for you. When you escaped from CyberDyne you were nice enough to leave the place in chaos. While a lot of security were chasing you, the Hexagon was less secure. A whole lot of us took the opportunity and escaped. Since then we learned that somebody called MrZero helped all of us gain our freedom, as dangerous as that freedom is. He gave us some very interesting information that you might find both interesting and frightening; we did!”

 

Around them people were getting back to their normal routines. Moontropolis had seen a few troubles and people had been forced to get used to very dramatic events, some of them quite horrific. The Red Plague had caused much suffering in the supercity. Zombies might be new but citizens had witnesses people turning into monsters before, even if they were not dead when they did so.

 

A normal electric ambulance came, rather quickly by Moontropolis standards. The zombie body was bustled away illegally, before the police could investigate the crime scene. Then the ambulance was gone. It was clear that the ambulance, and paramedics, were very good frauds. When the Civil Police Constables arrived they found all the evidence gone and then came the real ambulance with the real paramedics being also angry.

 

The clone triplets returned to the group, at the cafe, but with Andy coming with them. Andy was as wary as they were and for the same general reasons. He was also being hunted by the BigFour, and the SRDA, along with others. The reasons were the same. The escapees were valuable, carried secrets inside them, were a prize of sorts to the various factions that was as much about pride as anything else. It was frustrating to be hunted constantly by dangerous elite units when one only wanted to be left alone to lead a reasonable life of pleasure, challenge and freedom.

[Maharg67]

The group left the cafe and went along a big public walkway tunnel. Nobody paid undue attention to them because many people moved in such groups for safety, companionship and other reasons. Only very small electric vehicles were allowed there, along with pedal-vehicles, and they had to remain in their own special lanes. The traffic was moderate and steady flowing in both directions. The big tunnel was recently painted with wall murals being some kind of government, and corporation, sponsored attempt to liven up the environment, to make it seem friendlier. Of course it was also about PR but the efforts were surprisingly successful.

 

Andy spoke. “We call ourselves the FreeNet. We know the name is used by others but we prefer it that way as it makes it easier to hide our real purpose. We are a mixture of supersoldiers, cyborgs, neofolk, exotic hybrids and even some more extreme exotics. Some of the Hexagon staff came with us for they came to emphasize with us. We have made contact with some rebel, dissident and would be rebel factions. We do not trust to most of them but we did gain valuable information.”

 

Life in Moontropolis was a strange contradiction; while most folks managed to exist quietly, there were constant struggles going on between government, corporations, organized crime, cults and other factions. These struggles were, on the surface, fairly straight forward but digging deeper soon led to the discovery that this was far from true. A couple of odd themes kept popping up in all of the semiofficial stories and unofficial whispers; there were some very hidden puppet masters behind the activities of the many factions and they were involved in a secret war against each other.

 

Mulder, and Scully, had picked up on many of the same stories. They had not been able to confirm, or deny, the general concept of puppet masters or a secret war. If both were hidden truths than they were very well hidden indeed. The big trouble was not having too little information but having far too much information, including misinformation as falsehoods and part truths.

 

They did not end up going to a hotel to examine the briefcase, and its contents, but to a local Red Plague Memorial Park.

[Maharg67]

CHAPTER 0004: GRANDTHIRTEEN; AT A RED PLAGUE MEMORIAL PARK

 

The big domechamber park was oddly peaceful. It was an amazingly ancient place, had long existed when humans were but primitive prehumans, or so scientists had worked out. The scientists could get any real accurate data on just how old the Lunar Labyrinth was.

 

The group sat on blankets on the green genetically engineered lawn that staid neat, and short, all by itself. Three big human made statues were of citizens suffering nobly during the plague. It had been a place designed, and built, by government contracted corporate people. It had not been done by the people, for the people or with the people; so it was left abandoned or used for local community picnics or even small sporting events. The group had the place to themselves except a welfare worker in cheap coveralls, a caretaker, who was busy sleeping curled up beside a small prefabricated work shed.

 

Glowcrystal grew across the ceiling being enough to give good light, but not too much light or warmth, to those using the domechamber. Ants crawled, in trails, through the grass and grasshoppers hopped through it, naturally enough.

 

The mood of the group was generally good, but cautious of danger. The strange briefcase was lain on a blanket but no attempt had yet been made to open it.

 

Scully, Mulder, were in need of rest. It had been a long, and tricky, journey from NewLondon. The Lunar Labyrinth Colonies were better connected than they had been for years but there were still problems with communications and transportation. They had taken a long range subway train, had flown in a subsonic jet-airliners along one of the big, not so common, air-tunnels but mostly they had traveled by long range road coach. They went in a Greyhound coach and it had been part of a guarded convoy for security and safety reasons. Living in the Known Lunar Labyrinth was like living in a wild frontier land, at least for many areas, but living on the home world was often worse than that.

 

Eddie looked around and then opened the briefcase up. Inside was a padded base inset for thirteen rings of exotic metallic crystal material that was translucent appearing, that looked like the same substance that many of the ancient, alien structures were made of in the Lunar Labyrinth. When the Transways artifacts had appeared on Terra, the home world, sections of them were made of the same material. They were the Transways Gates, often known as Waygates. When the Waygates were active, the energy zones that appeared were called Waygateways.

 

Scully shook her head in wonder. “RingOfRings! A much whispered about type of ancient, alien, artifact but portable unlike the ones normally known about. There are at least fifteen XFiles on the subject of the RingOfRings but the information is often vague, contradictory and leads to more questions than real answers.”

 

The short, plump man of a caretaker was no longer sleeping next to the work shed but was sitting on a blanket that had appeared with him along with another blanket with five big wicker picnic baskets full of goodies to eat and drink along with cutlery and other useful items. There was something very peaceful and reassuring about him that radiated across the whole group.

 

He smiled warmly and spoke with a warm smile in his voice. “MrZero is far from evil but he does play dangerous games with himself and others, which is true to his nature. MrZero wishes to help humanity, and new peoples that have arisen, to survive. Also, of course, the other life. The ancient alien artifacts, as you humans call them, should not have been in the moon of Luna to be found by humanity. They should not have been semiactive, as they are. Semiactive is more dangerous, with such things, than inactive or active.”