Re: The Vivacious Deadlock: S3G6: Round One: Genreshift
09-05-2011, 10:15 PM
Originally posted on MSPA by Akumu.
“Are you Matic's people?” Melissa shouted, trying to make herself heard over the wind.
“I am only a visitor to this world, as is he,” PH-373 shouted back, earning a baleful glance from Klendel. She continued at a steady pace towards the stronghold, never slackening her grip on Melissa's hand.
Melissa pursed her lips and chided herself for getting caught up in the local affairs. She was only supposed to be getting a ground-level view of the mounting conflict to report back to Contact, but here she was in the thick of things yet again. That hyperspatial nexus had just been too damned interesting to let slip by. Curiosity would certainly be the death of her, someday.
Zipping along beside them, her escort drone spoke up. “How are you planning on getting inside that fortress, then?” Its aura field shifted to striped yellow and blue, amusement and feelings of superiority, though luckily only Mel could read its 'body language.'
“I've got eyes all over the city; that and improvisation can get you more than you might expect. Speaking of,”
PH-373 changed direction suddenly, leading the group into an alley and stopping in the shadows. Moments later the street they had been on was filled with charging metallic destriers with technoknights astride, laser lances leveled.
“There's enough chaos around the perimeter of the fortress right now,” the android said after the gang had passed, “that a small group such as ours should be able to find a crack to slip through. Klendel, why don't you see what you can do to encourage that chaos?” The piscene humanoid flashed a disturbingly toothy grin, and vanished away through the twisting alleys.
“The west gate is the least under attack right now. We'll head there, and trust in Klendel to draw attention away from it.”
They made their way through the city streets, keeping their distance from the fortress which was lit up like a star gone nova. The wind was picking up, howling through the canyons between neon monoliths they were walking, drowning the distant sounds of battle and making any further conversation impossible. After some minutes they were around to the opposite side of the fortress, looking upon the western gate.
The massive portal stood like a tombstone, silhouetted against the floodlights of Castle Matic. A handful of robots were arrayed in front of it, but otherwise it was undefended. It seemed that all the Scientiflic forces were busy at the other gates, as PH-373 had planned. The drone maneuvered to be right between the other two's heads and shouted, “Given the level of technology here, are we all in agreement that those are almost certainly determinstic machines, and not true Intelligences?” When there were nods all around, its aura fields flashed red with pleasure, and it deployed the knife missiles.
The two slivers of material, each of the size of a thumb, popped loose from the drone's spherical chassis where they had been riding along like remora. They streaked off through the rain, spreading out to the width of the gate. They were gone from view almost immediately, boosting to supersonic with little sonic booms bursting apart the falling sheets of water. In the distance, the robot guards tumbled to the ground in pieces.
“Monofilament net stretched between them,” the drone explained, “Goes through just about anything like a hot knife through butter. Knife missiles loved it, bless them. If they'd had speakers they'd have been screaming 'wheeeeee!' the whole 0.294 seconds it took to impact the gate. Where they are now working on... yes, they've hacked the defense grid. Let's go!”
“Don't you think you're having a bit too much fun?” Mel asked, but the drone was already making a bee-line for the gate. She and PH-373 set off at a run after it. She glanced nervously at the plasma turrets lining the outer walls, but they sat impassive, taking no notice of the oncoming intruders. As they picked their way through the debris field of what used to be defense robots, the huge door clanked with disengaging mechanical interlocks, hissed with pneumatics relaxing, and began to rumble open. Inside was a passageway angled downwards into a basement level of the complex, the walls white with scattered blinking lights. They headed in.
Out of the wind, PH-373 wheeled on the drone, whose knife missiles were clicking back into place on its underbelly. “Why did you destroy those robots? How am I supposed to negotiate with Matic if he's furious about us blowing up his toys?!”
The drone bobbed around to reorient its main sensors towards her, impassive as only something with no face can be. “Negotiate? Is that why we're here? Maybe you should share with the whole class next time, honey. You could also throw in how you would plan to negotiate from a position of being a finely dispersed mist of ions after walking into the firing field of a dozen plasma cannons.”
The android narrowed its eye and stared silently at the drone for a moment, before turning away. Harmon had moved a few paces ahead of them to the bottom of the entry ramp and had unslung her AM rifle. She was staring intently down the gleaming white hallway, and jerked in surprise when PH-373 moved down and placed a hand on her shoulder.
“What is it?”
“I heard something from further in, some sort of chirping. It seemed to be coming from multiple directions, but the echoes in here make it impossible to tell.”
“We should keep moving,” the drone advised, “Someone will probably be along any second to investigate the gate opening.”
They started forwards, but before they were ten paces out the sound of pounding footsteps froze them in their tracks. Mel held her weapon at the ready, taking some comfort from the drone's presence beside her. PH-373 hung back, and was most likely not going to be any help. There were no nearby side ways to duck into, just a long corridor until halls started branching off some ways ahead. Out of one of those halls came a lone researcher, running at full speed with his lab coat fluttering out behind him. He caromed off the opposite wall, tried to change direction, but a greenish-brown blur slammed into him and knocked him onto the ground. The creature that had been chasing him was some fusion of dinosauria and pterosauria, with an upright stance on powerful hind legs and huge wings folded at its side. With a small hop it was on top of the researcher, pinning him to the ground. He began to cry out, but the creature darted its triangular head forward, birdlike, and ripped out his throat. Mel was still raising her rifle to site on the raptordactyl, but it was already over. The raptordactyl glanced warily down the hall at the interlopers, then began dragging its kill back down the hallway from which it came.
“Do you think,” Mel said, face white, “that those things hunt in packs?”
“Are you Matic's people?” Melissa shouted, trying to make herself heard over the wind.
“I am only a visitor to this world, as is he,” PH-373 shouted back, earning a baleful glance from Klendel. She continued at a steady pace towards the stronghold, never slackening her grip on Melissa's hand.
Melissa pursed her lips and chided herself for getting caught up in the local affairs. She was only supposed to be getting a ground-level view of the mounting conflict to report back to Contact, but here she was in the thick of things yet again. That hyperspatial nexus had just been too damned interesting to let slip by. Curiosity would certainly be the death of her, someday.
Zipping along beside them, her escort drone spoke up. “How are you planning on getting inside that fortress, then?” Its aura field shifted to striped yellow and blue, amusement and feelings of superiority, though luckily only Mel could read its 'body language.'
“I've got eyes all over the city; that and improvisation can get you more than you might expect. Speaking of,”
PH-373 changed direction suddenly, leading the group into an alley and stopping in the shadows. Moments later the street they had been on was filled with charging metallic destriers with technoknights astride, laser lances leveled.
“There's enough chaos around the perimeter of the fortress right now,” the android said after the gang had passed, “that a small group such as ours should be able to find a crack to slip through. Klendel, why don't you see what you can do to encourage that chaos?” The piscene humanoid flashed a disturbingly toothy grin, and vanished away through the twisting alleys.
“The west gate is the least under attack right now. We'll head there, and trust in Klendel to draw attention away from it.”
They made their way through the city streets, keeping their distance from the fortress which was lit up like a star gone nova. The wind was picking up, howling through the canyons between neon monoliths they were walking, drowning the distant sounds of battle and making any further conversation impossible. After some minutes they were around to the opposite side of the fortress, looking upon the western gate.
The massive portal stood like a tombstone, silhouetted against the floodlights of Castle Matic. A handful of robots were arrayed in front of it, but otherwise it was undefended. It seemed that all the Scientiflic forces were busy at the other gates, as PH-373 had planned. The drone maneuvered to be right between the other two's heads and shouted, “Given the level of technology here, are we all in agreement that those are almost certainly determinstic machines, and not true Intelligences?” When there were nods all around, its aura fields flashed red with pleasure, and it deployed the knife missiles.
The two slivers of material, each of the size of a thumb, popped loose from the drone's spherical chassis where they had been riding along like remora. They streaked off through the rain, spreading out to the width of the gate. They were gone from view almost immediately, boosting to supersonic with little sonic booms bursting apart the falling sheets of water. In the distance, the robot guards tumbled to the ground in pieces.
“Monofilament net stretched between them,” the drone explained, “Goes through just about anything like a hot knife through butter. Knife missiles loved it, bless them. If they'd had speakers they'd have been screaming 'wheeeeee!' the whole 0.294 seconds it took to impact the gate. Where they are now working on... yes, they've hacked the defense grid. Let's go!”
“Don't you think you're having a bit too much fun?” Mel asked, but the drone was already making a bee-line for the gate. She and PH-373 set off at a run after it. She glanced nervously at the plasma turrets lining the outer walls, but they sat impassive, taking no notice of the oncoming intruders. As they picked their way through the debris field of what used to be defense robots, the huge door clanked with disengaging mechanical interlocks, hissed with pneumatics relaxing, and began to rumble open. Inside was a passageway angled downwards into a basement level of the complex, the walls white with scattered blinking lights. They headed in.
Out of the wind, PH-373 wheeled on the drone, whose knife missiles were clicking back into place on its underbelly. “Why did you destroy those robots? How am I supposed to negotiate with Matic if he's furious about us blowing up his toys?!”
The drone bobbed around to reorient its main sensors towards her, impassive as only something with no face can be. “Negotiate? Is that why we're here? Maybe you should share with the whole class next time, honey. You could also throw in how you would plan to negotiate from a position of being a finely dispersed mist of ions after walking into the firing field of a dozen plasma cannons.”
The android narrowed its eye and stared silently at the drone for a moment, before turning away. Harmon had moved a few paces ahead of them to the bottom of the entry ramp and had unslung her AM rifle. She was staring intently down the gleaming white hallway, and jerked in surprise when PH-373 moved down and placed a hand on her shoulder.
“What is it?”
“I heard something from further in, some sort of chirping. It seemed to be coming from multiple directions, but the echoes in here make it impossible to tell.”
“We should keep moving,” the drone advised, “Someone will probably be along any second to investigate the gate opening.”
They started forwards, but before they were ten paces out the sound of pounding footsteps froze them in their tracks. Mel held her weapon at the ready, taking some comfort from the drone's presence beside her. PH-373 hung back, and was most likely not going to be any help. There were no nearby side ways to duck into, just a long corridor until halls started branching off some ways ahead. Out of one of those halls came a lone researcher, running at full speed with his lab coat fluttering out behind him. He caromed off the opposite wall, tried to change direction, but a greenish-brown blur slammed into him and knocked him onto the ground. The creature that had been chasing him was some fusion of dinosauria and pterosauria, with an upright stance on powerful hind legs and huge wings folded at its side. With a small hop it was on top of the researcher, pinning him to the ground. He began to cry out, but the creature darted its triangular head forward, birdlike, and ripped out his throat. Mel was still raising her rifle to site on the raptordactyl, but it was already over. The raptordactyl glanced warily down the hall at the interlopers, then began dragging its kill back down the hallway from which it came.
“Do you think,” Mel said, face white, “that those things hunt in packs?”