Re: The Great Belligerency [Round 2: New Shambhala]
06-10-2011, 01:32 AM
Originally posted on MSPA by SleepingOrange.
She shouldn't have been able to hear him. Then again, she shouldn't have been able to grow ivy from nothing on bare, sterilized metal or create monsters that could eat half a squad in one bite if given the chance. Epsilon leader shouldn't have been surprised when he saw her head turn slowly towards him, empty eyes narrowing and scowl forming. He really shouldn't have been, but he was. He was similarly surprised when the woman screamed and thrashing plantlike tendrils burst out of her skin, lunging towards him and his squad.
The vinelike appendages tore out or punched through panels of wall, stairs, and intervening engine machinery, hell-bent on tearing the bothersome soldiers limb from limb. Even those tendrils that weren't aimed towards Epsilon squad flailed around, tearing through the delicate machinery nearby. Most of the surviving squad broke ranks at the sight of the oncoming green onslaught, reasoning that whoever this "terrorist" was, there was nothing they could do. Those that stayed, through choice or just being too terrified to flee, fired and hacked at the bloodthirsty tendrils, and for a time they largely held their own, being only very slowly pushed back.
And then the vines stopped. They didn't retreat or part to allow passage; they simply froze in midair as though time had stopped. The confused soldiers fired a few more shots, took a few more swings, but even as bullets and energy blades cut through the still plant matter, they failed to react.
Had they been able to see past the screen of tangled vines, they would have seen that Ur herself was as stock-still as the leafy tentacles that surrounded her; electricity arced around her from damaged machines, warning lights flashed, and sirens began to sound, but the goddess stared, eyes wide and mouth agape at a point a few feet in front of her.
One of her vine had punched into the housing of one particular machine; a plaque that she couldn't read in her current state declared it to be "Main Engine 4D sublevel A". An engineer would have known that meant this particular engine was simply the one that produced the most thrust in this particular system, but that there were dozens more like it spread across the entirety of New Shambhala, and a dozen or so backups that would take up the slack if other engines failed.
Of course, Ur knew none of this, and wasn't even capable of understanding it in any real sense. However, as that one vine had touched Main Engine 4D sublevel A, knowledge of a sort flowed into her fractured pseudomind. Green lines traced their way through an imagined image of the flying city, tangling in a complex web that held the kilotons of metal and men aloft. All that could be called awareness within the shard of divinity screamed that if the lines were broken, the city would fall.
Tendrils slowly retracted from whence they had come, all vanishing but the one that connected Ur to the engine. Epsilon squad took a few hesitant steps forward, weapons raised, and the woman in front of them slowly raised her own hands, standing serenely and peacefully in the center of the carnage. One of the remaining squad-members hesitantly choked out "Are... Are you surrendering?"
Ur turned her palms upwards and raised her hands higher. A pair of fleshy masses grew from the floor in front of the men, quickly forming into twisted gorilla-like monstrisities covered in open lesions and weeping sores; the goddess pointed at them, and the air between her hands and her new minions rippled. There was a sound like an exhalation or sigh, and the gorrillathings' eyes opened. They advanced on Epsilon squad, who opened fire; their spongy, bloated flesh let the bullets pass through with little more than a spurt of blood and pus, and the gorillas continued forward.
One of the monsters grabbed Epsilon leader by his throat, lifting him until his visor was level with its blotchy eyes, and began screaming. "WHY HAVE YOU ABANDONED US, MOTHER?!" It swung the man's body wide, bowling over half the reamaining soldiers. "WE GAVE YOU NOTHING BUT LOVE AND DEVOTION, AND FOR OUR LOVE WE DIED!" It raised the by-now-shrieking leader above its head, then snapped his spine over a bended knee. "AND STILL DEATH WAS TOO GOOD FOR US IN YOUR EYES SO WE LIVE ON!"
The other creature pounced on one of the downed men and began raining blows, all the while hoarsely whispering. "Oh, Goddess," wham "we beseech you," wham "to bless our harvest on this day," thud "and to keep our loved ones in health," crack "We beseech your endless mercy," snap "to help us do thy work," squelch "and to help us remember always," splat "the sanctity of life."
The air filled with the screams of monster and man, mingling with the sounds of combat and death, and Ur turned back to the engine. She hovered slowly closer to the humming machine, hand outstretched to caress its surface; when she drew level with it, single vine looping behind her, she inhaled slowly and began pressing into the engine itself. She faded at the edges as she disappeared seamlessly into the machine, and in moments she had vanished completely.
It was hard to say anywhere on New Shambhala was peaceful, but those places that had come closest to it were engine rooms. No combat had been dragged there, little racial tension filtered into the noisy rooms, and Reinhart's apartheid hadn't been able to extend this far yet; the engines were simply too important to allow social upheaval or street warfare harm.
That near-tranquility was shattered in an instant. Engineers across the city all shared similar last sights; maintenance workers all met the same grisly demise; even automated systems found their routines cut short in the same way. With piercing shrieks and writhing plant life, ghostly apparitions of furious women appeared simultaneously in every engine room and backup engine across New Shambhala, clawlike hands tearing through the machinery and those unfortunate enough to be near it.
The city lurched.
She shouldn't have been able to hear him. Then again, she shouldn't have been able to grow ivy from nothing on bare, sterilized metal or create monsters that could eat half a squad in one bite if given the chance. Epsilon leader shouldn't have been surprised when he saw her head turn slowly towards him, empty eyes narrowing and scowl forming. He really shouldn't have been, but he was. He was similarly surprised when the woman screamed and thrashing plantlike tendrils burst out of her skin, lunging towards him and his squad.
The vinelike appendages tore out or punched through panels of wall, stairs, and intervening engine machinery, hell-bent on tearing the bothersome soldiers limb from limb. Even those tendrils that weren't aimed towards Epsilon squad flailed around, tearing through the delicate machinery nearby. Most of the surviving squad broke ranks at the sight of the oncoming green onslaught, reasoning that whoever this "terrorist" was, there was nothing they could do. Those that stayed, through choice or just being too terrified to flee, fired and hacked at the bloodthirsty tendrils, and for a time they largely held their own, being only very slowly pushed back.
And then the vines stopped. They didn't retreat or part to allow passage; they simply froze in midair as though time had stopped. The confused soldiers fired a few more shots, took a few more swings, but even as bullets and energy blades cut through the still plant matter, they failed to react.
Had they been able to see past the screen of tangled vines, they would have seen that Ur herself was as stock-still as the leafy tentacles that surrounded her; electricity arced around her from damaged machines, warning lights flashed, and sirens began to sound, but the goddess stared, eyes wide and mouth agape at a point a few feet in front of her.
One of her vine had punched into the housing of one particular machine; a plaque that she couldn't read in her current state declared it to be "Main Engine 4D sublevel A". An engineer would have known that meant this particular engine was simply the one that produced the most thrust in this particular system, but that there were dozens more like it spread across the entirety of New Shambhala, and a dozen or so backups that would take up the slack if other engines failed.
Of course, Ur knew none of this, and wasn't even capable of understanding it in any real sense. However, as that one vine had touched Main Engine 4D sublevel A, knowledge of a sort flowed into her fractured pseudomind. Green lines traced their way through an imagined image of the flying city, tangling in a complex web that held the kilotons of metal and men aloft. All that could be called awareness within the shard of divinity screamed that if the lines were broken, the city would fall.
Tendrils slowly retracted from whence they had come, all vanishing but the one that connected Ur to the engine. Epsilon squad took a few hesitant steps forward, weapons raised, and the woman in front of them slowly raised her own hands, standing serenely and peacefully in the center of the carnage. One of the remaining squad-members hesitantly choked out "Are... Are you surrendering?"
Ur turned her palms upwards and raised her hands higher. A pair of fleshy masses grew from the floor in front of the men, quickly forming into twisted gorilla-like monstrisities covered in open lesions and weeping sores; the goddess pointed at them, and the air between her hands and her new minions rippled. There was a sound like an exhalation or sigh, and the gorrillathings' eyes opened. They advanced on Epsilon squad, who opened fire; their spongy, bloated flesh let the bullets pass through with little more than a spurt of blood and pus, and the gorillas continued forward.
One of the monsters grabbed Epsilon leader by his throat, lifting him until his visor was level with its blotchy eyes, and began screaming. "WHY HAVE YOU ABANDONED US, MOTHER?!" It swung the man's body wide, bowling over half the reamaining soldiers. "WE GAVE YOU NOTHING BUT LOVE AND DEVOTION, AND FOR OUR LOVE WE DIED!" It raised the by-now-shrieking leader above its head, then snapped his spine over a bended knee. "AND STILL DEATH WAS TOO GOOD FOR US IN YOUR EYES SO WE LIVE ON!"
The other creature pounced on one of the downed men and began raining blows, all the while hoarsely whispering. "Oh, Goddess," wham "we beseech you," wham "to bless our harvest on this day," thud "and to keep our loved ones in health," crack "We beseech your endless mercy," snap "to help us do thy work," squelch "and to help us remember always," splat "the sanctity of life."
The air filled with the screams of monster and man, mingling with the sounds of combat and death, and Ur turned back to the engine. She hovered slowly closer to the humming machine, hand outstretched to caress its surface; when she drew level with it, single vine looping behind her, she inhaled slowly and began pressing into the engine itself. She faded at the edges as she disappeared seamlessly into the machine, and in moments she had vanished completely.
It was hard to say anywhere on New Shambhala was peaceful, but those places that had come closest to it were engine rooms. No combat had been dragged there, little racial tension filtered into the noisy rooms, and Reinhart's apartheid hadn't been able to extend this far yet; the engines were simply too important to allow social upheaval or street warfare harm.
That near-tranquility was shattered in an instant. Engineers across the city all shared similar last sights; maintenance workers all met the same grisly demise; even automated systems found their routines cut short in the same way. With piercing shrieks and writhing plant life, ghostly apparitions of furious women appeared simultaneously in every engine room and backup engine across New Shambhala, clawlike hands tearing through the machinery and those unfortunate enough to be near it.
The city lurched.