Re: Inexorable Altercation [Round III - Vorlon Complex]
11-17-2011, 12:18 AM
Originally posted on MSPA by Dragon Fogel.
"I WOULD STILL LIKE TO TALK," Voitrach formed. Gias wasn't looking in his direction, but a quick shake convinced Loran to speak up on the gravitational anomaly's behalf.
"Gias!" Loran shouted. "We want to talk."
Gias held Atrum by the throat. He paused for a moment, and considered it.
Then he threw the villain down to the ground and turned towards Voitrach. Felix felt strange; whatever Gias had done, it had severely impacted his Black Matter body. He could barely move, and changing form was completely out of the question; what kind of power did this Balancer hold?
"Fine," Gias said, clearly annoyed. "I'll deal with this fool in a moment. But this had better be worth my time."
Voitrach's letters changed.
"ARE YOU AWARE THAT APATHY HAS DISAPPEARED?"
Gias seemed suprised.
"Really? How odd. I would have expected the others to contact me if she had."
"THEN YOU ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE. I KNEW IT. THIS MAN IS A LIAR."
Voitrach tossed Loran aside.
"YOU MAY PROCEED AS YOU WISH, GIAS. I HAVE NO QUARREL WITH YOU."
"Wait!" Loran shouted. "Why do you trust his word?"
"I HAVE NO REASON TO TRUST YOURS. AND HIS SURPRISE APPEARS GENUINE ENOUGH."
Throughout the conversation, Felix slowly lifted himself up, despite the intense pain. He still had the pendant. Perhaps he could force Gias to touch it...
But as he approached the Balancer, he soon found himself lifted up into the air.
"I DO NOT TRUST YOU EITHER, ATRUM."
***
The Vorlon technology known as a Teaching Stone could impart knowledge far more rapidly than normal learning.
It could impart it even more rapidly if you didn't care about retaining knowledge you already had.
Quostus desperately focused on retaining one single, solitary piece of information: that he had to use the Memory Converter to destroy Gias. All other knowledge, save that which would hasten the act, was expendable.
As a result, when the stone finished, Quostus knew enough about the Memory Converter to complete it. And he had nothing else save a purpose.
He worked towards that purpose with all the speed he could muster.
He no longer knew why it was important, who he was, anything of his civilization or the Queen he had once loved.
He only knew that Gias, whoever that was, had to die. And this was the only way to do it.
As he ran past Annaliese and Will on his way through the complex, he did not even acknowledge them.
***
"Are you seeking to gain my favor, Voitrach?" Gias asked, clearly annoyed. "Because ultimately, the fate of these two, and that of Apathy, are irrelevant. All that matters is what is in the Book."
"TWIGHT'S RAMBLING'S ASIDE, I DO HAVE SOME MATTERS I WAS CURIOUS ABOUT. I HAD HOPED YOU MIGHT BE WILLING TO ANSWER SOME QUESTIONS."
"Hmm. That may be something I can humor you on. Very well, ask me your questions. But I make no promises as to whether I will answer them."
From just outside the doorway, Parset watched what was happening with a sense of confusion. With no idea where he was, the gnome had opted to follow the only beings he had encountered, and he had no idea what, precisely was going on; it didn't help that he couldn't see Voitrach's writing from his vantage point.
And then a bug stepped on him. He lifted himself up, and the next thing he knew, two others had run up behind him. He whistled in surprise.
Then he saw the even more shocked looks on the newcomers' faces, and turned around to see what was going on.
The most important piece of information that Quostus had retained about the Memory Converter was its effective range.
The answer was "140 attens", or in more colliquial terms, "slightly more than the distance between Voitrach and Gias".
On the other hand, the most important piece of information that Quostus had lost was how to fire the Memory Converter safely.
As Voitrach was engulfed by the beam, he started to disintegrate. That gave Loran enough freedom to move - and as he saw the device in the Vorlon's tiny limbs begin to spark with electricity, he decided that "the hell out of here" was the best direction to move in. Unfortunately, he didn't get very far, colliding with Annaliese and Will on his way out.
Felix, unfortunately, was still bound by whatever Gias had done. When the Memory Converter exploded and the room filled with its strange energy, he was all but helpless.
A moment later, the room was filled with nothing but memories.
***
Voitrach had been a being of gravity. The stones that made up his body were now mere data, but he still persisted.
But the Memory Converter had made what remained of him unstable.
Similarly, the strange properties of the Black Matter made it... not resistant, per se, but it made the resultant memories different.
They were affected by Voitrach's gravity, and drifted towards what remained of him.
As the four apparent survivors of the Inexorable Altercation wandered into the room, confused by what they had witnessed, the remnants of Voitrach, Felix Atrum, and Sollipor Quostos coalesced into... something.
It was a strange, dark color, and slowly it took on a vaguely-humanoid shape.
Two thick, but featureless, spots emerged on its surface. They seemed to be eyes. They turned to the others, displaying a sense of curiosity as it tried to determine what it was seeing.
And then Gias' lingering memories flooded the minds of all present, including the newcomer.
"I WOULD STILL LIKE TO TALK," Voitrach formed. Gias wasn't looking in his direction, but a quick shake convinced Loran to speak up on the gravitational anomaly's behalf.
"Gias!" Loran shouted. "We want to talk."
Gias held Atrum by the throat. He paused for a moment, and considered it.
Then he threw the villain down to the ground and turned towards Voitrach. Felix felt strange; whatever Gias had done, it had severely impacted his Black Matter body. He could barely move, and changing form was completely out of the question; what kind of power did this Balancer hold?
"Fine," Gias said, clearly annoyed. "I'll deal with this fool in a moment. But this had better be worth my time."
Voitrach's letters changed.
"ARE YOU AWARE THAT APATHY HAS DISAPPEARED?"
Gias seemed suprised.
"Really? How odd. I would have expected the others to contact me if she had."
"THEN YOU ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE. I KNEW IT. THIS MAN IS A LIAR."
Voitrach tossed Loran aside.
"YOU MAY PROCEED AS YOU WISH, GIAS. I HAVE NO QUARREL WITH YOU."
"Wait!" Loran shouted. "Why do you trust his word?"
"I HAVE NO REASON TO TRUST YOURS. AND HIS SURPRISE APPEARS GENUINE ENOUGH."
Throughout the conversation, Felix slowly lifted himself up, despite the intense pain. He still had the pendant. Perhaps he could force Gias to touch it...
But as he approached the Balancer, he soon found himself lifted up into the air.
"I DO NOT TRUST YOU EITHER, ATRUM."
***
The Vorlon technology known as a Teaching Stone could impart knowledge far more rapidly than normal learning.
It could impart it even more rapidly if you didn't care about retaining knowledge you already had.
Quostus desperately focused on retaining one single, solitary piece of information: that he had to use the Memory Converter to destroy Gias. All other knowledge, save that which would hasten the act, was expendable.
As a result, when the stone finished, Quostus knew enough about the Memory Converter to complete it. And he had nothing else save a purpose.
He worked towards that purpose with all the speed he could muster.
He no longer knew why it was important, who he was, anything of his civilization or the Queen he had once loved.
He only knew that Gias, whoever that was, had to die. And this was the only way to do it.
As he ran past Annaliese and Will on his way through the complex, he did not even acknowledge them.
***
"Are you seeking to gain my favor, Voitrach?" Gias asked, clearly annoyed. "Because ultimately, the fate of these two, and that of Apathy, are irrelevant. All that matters is what is in the Book."
"TWIGHT'S RAMBLING'S ASIDE, I DO HAVE SOME MATTERS I WAS CURIOUS ABOUT. I HAD HOPED YOU MIGHT BE WILLING TO ANSWER SOME QUESTIONS."
"Hmm. That may be something I can humor you on. Very well, ask me your questions. But I make no promises as to whether I will answer them."
From just outside the doorway, Parset watched what was happening with a sense of confusion. With no idea where he was, the gnome had opted to follow the only beings he had encountered, and he had no idea what, precisely was going on; it didn't help that he couldn't see Voitrach's writing from his vantage point.
And then a bug stepped on him. He lifted himself up, and the next thing he knew, two others had run up behind him. He whistled in surprise.
Then he saw the even more shocked looks on the newcomers' faces, and turned around to see what was going on.
The most important piece of information that Quostus had retained about the Memory Converter was its effective range.
The answer was "140 attens", or in more colliquial terms, "slightly more than the distance between Voitrach and Gias".
On the other hand, the most important piece of information that Quostus had lost was how to fire the Memory Converter safely.
As Voitrach was engulfed by the beam, he started to disintegrate. That gave Loran enough freedom to move - and as he saw the device in the Vorlon's tiny limbs begin to spark with electricity, he decided that "the hell out of here" was the best direction to move in. Unfortunately, he didn't get very far, colliding with Annaliese and Will on his way out.
Felix, unfortunately, was still bound by whatever Gias had done. When the Memory Converter exploded and the room filled with its strange energy, he was all but helpless.
A moment later, the room was filled with nothing but memories.
***
Voitrach had been a being of gravity. The stones that made up his body were now mere data, but he still persisted.
But the Memory Converter had made what remained of him unstable.
Similarly, the strange properties of the Black Matter made it... not resistant, per se, but it made the resultant memories different.
They were affected by Voitrach's gravity, and drifted towards what remained of him.
As the four apparent survivors of the Inexorable Altercation wandered into the room, confused by what they had witnessed, the remnants of Voitrach, Felix Atrum, and Sollipor Quostos coalesced into... something.
It was a strange, dark color, and slowly it took on a vaguely-humanoid shape.
Two thick, but featureless, spots emerged on its surface. They seemed to be eyes. They turned to the others, displaying a sense of curiosity as it tried to determine what it was seeing.
And then Gias' lingering memories flooded the minds of all present, including the newcomer.
There's no reason for this | Or this | Death is inevitable | You can't challenge fate | The smallest change | I'm overwhelmed
I'm serious | It makes perfect sense | Easy as ABC! | I can't even explain it | Cleaning up someone else's mess
I suck | I rule | I've got it made | Really, I'm serious | This bugs me | It's all lies | I want to believe | Beauty is a curse
I'm serious | It makes perfect sense | Easy as ABC! | I can't even explain it | Cleaning up someone else's mess
I suck | I rule | I've got it made | Really, I'm serious | This bugs me | It's all lies | I want to believe | Beauty is a curse