Re: The Vivacious Deadlock: S3G6: Round One: Genreshift
09-07-2011, 01:08 PM
Originally posted on MSPA by Ixcalibur.
PH-373 was annoyed, but hardly surprised, that by the time she had got to her new choice for hideout it was in chaos. It was frustrating but clearly that was the way things were going to be today. Doctor Harmon frowned as the dinosaur dragged away the corpse.
"We should leave." she said, matter of factly. "This location is too hazardous for any in depth analysis of the nexus." PH-373 couldn't help but agree with this assessment of the situation, but she was getting impatient. From what she knew of the city no nearby structures would have the resources necessary to complete the upgrades to her communication node.
"This will be sufficient." she said. "We just need to find a place where we can barricade ourselves in." At PH-373's insistence Doctor Harmon and her drone led the way down the corridor. As they passed one of the intersecting corridors a group of raptordactyls at the far end eyed them suspiciously but did not make a move. The first room they came across was a brightly lit laboratory. Once inside PH-373 blocked the door with one of the tables, carelessly spilling a selection of chemicals as she did so. It was a crude barrier, but it seemed stable enough.
"Let's see this nexus." Doctor Harmon said carefully clearing a space on one of the tables.
"First things first." PH-373 replied. "I am in need of an upgrade which I believe you will be able to provide." She thoughtlessly swept the rest of table clear and sat down upon the edge of it. "It is quite simple. I already have a communications node which works perfectly fine at a short range, but over longer distances it is imprecise. It sends out a blanket message available to all frequencies and does not allow real time communication. Essentially all it needs is tuning, but I was not programmed with an understanding of robotics and am incapable of performing such an operation myself."
Doctor Harmon listened attentively and after a moment she replied. "Okay, that shouldn't be a problem." PH-373 slipped off her backpack and hoisted herself onto the table while Harmon had a technical conversation with her drone. This was no more than simple maintenance, something her drone could do while she got a better look at this interdimensional nexus; the entire reason she was working with this machine in the first place. She grabbed PH-373's backpack and began rifling through it. Inside there was more handheld radios than she felt anybody had any right to require, energy cells, a tool-kit, a knife, some rope, batteries and bottles of oil, a towel (?) and right down at the bottom of the backpack was what Harmon had been looking for; the dimensional nexus itself.
From the moment she saw it she knew the heavy black tome was what she had been looking for. It might have been her imagination but it seemed to almost buzz with energy.
PH-373 had been taking a moment to check up on her opponents. Whatever frustration she felt at the fact that both Nalzaki and Cascala were in the same building was pushed to one side when she saw Melissa with the Tome in her hands. She immediately sat upright, startling Harmon’s drone, and strode over to Harmon. She was staring at the tome, her face expressionless, her eyes glazed over and distant.
“Put that back.” PH-373 demanded. “There will be time for examining the interdimensional nexus later.” Doctor Harmon suddenly whirled around, shoved PH-373 out of the way and silently hoisted her drone onto the table in front of her. She reached into the android’s backpack and pulled from it her tool-kit.
“Hey what are you doing?” The drone asked nervously, backing away. Harmon did not respond as she plucked tools from the toolbox. As she rounded on the drone, with that vacant look in her eyes, weapons slid out from its sides, though it seemed hesitant to use them. “Don’t.” it said meekly, as Harmon grasped it and slammed it into the wall. The faint aura that indicated the drone’s awareness flickered and died, Melissa, not wasting any time, immediately began vigorously deconstructing the drone.
PH-373 watched in stunned silence, had she had eyebrows to raise she would have done so. She wasn’t exactly sure what was going on here but was more than certain that Harmon was not going to deal with her communication node. She opted to leave her to it, picking up the tome to put it back into her backpack.
Immediately Melissa had spun around and grasped onto the Tome, hooking her fingers tight around its heavy bindings. Her mouth was now curled into a determined scowl. For a moment the pair struggled over the Tome, tearing at its smooth black cover, then the doctor let go and PH-373 plummeted backwards, hitting the floor with a loud crash. The tome slid across the floor and Harmon reached down for it, just about grasping hold of it before a blow to the back of the head caused her to collapse. Ivan lowered the spanner that he was holding and helped PH-373 to her feet.
--------
Ivan had followed the trail, with not a second thought about Lord Horrrorshow. It had led him through the corridors of Matic’s stronghold to a barricaded laboratory. There weren’t any signs of the raptordactyls, not that Ivan knew to be looking out for them. He’d tried the door but had no luck. He drew his carbon fibre pen and drew a symbol on the wall of the windowless laboratory. He wouldn’t have considered exposing himself like this normally, but his curiosity for the source of the geomantic energy pressed him onwards.
It took no longer than a minute to inscribe the symbol and once complete there was no explosion, no immediately discernible effect. Someone else would have taken the time to press his hand against it, to slowly push into it and slowly emerge on the other side. However that showy kind of stuff was not Ivan’s thing. He slipped through the wall as though it were not a thing and quickly assessed the situation.
Ivan was quick to recognise Phere, or Ph-373, and Doctor Harmon despite their physical changes. However that said his attention was drawn to the Tome itself, it glittered sparkling white with geomantic energies. He quickly considered how he already had an alliance of sorts with the Empress/android, regardless of how little she seemed to value it. She would be the easiest of the pair to align himself with, and so he sought to quickly demonstrate his ‘loyalty’. To that end he snatched up the nearest heavy thing he could find, a spanner.
--------
With Doctor Harmon unconscious, her drone broken and Ivan incapable of fixing her communication node, PH-373 was forced to request assistance from Doctor Matic. She contacted him via one of her still functioning radios and requested assistance. Matic had been dismissive and quick to terminate the call claiming that he had other problems to deal with until PH-373 told him that she had the Tome.
“Prove it.” Matic had demanded, prompting PH-373 to quickly remove the Scifi bookmark and replace it with Detective Fiction.
The dame took a long drag on her cigarette as she strode back to the phone, her high heels click-clacking on the wooden floor. Her deep purple dress swept aside, exposing her shapely limbs and making the young detective loosen his collar.
“Believe me now Otto?” Phere asked, her voice smooth as silk, but sour as lemons. Matic was in the security room looking out across a bank of flickering monitors. To his dismay his goons had fallen back, and the feuding families were now making their way through his casino proper.
“You got me, doll.” Otto replied. “I’m calling off my men. Bring the Tome to my office and we’ll talk.” He angrily slammed the phone back onto the hook.
While Phere chewed the fat with the unscrupulous mogul Ivan was eyeing up the Tome. Not long ago Phere had come to his office with an offer he’d been unable to refuse. Get her safely to Matic and this priceless Tome would be all his. He was starting to think that Phere was the kind of dame who didn’t keep her promises, and that he should just take it and be done with her drama.
“We’re going to meet the owner.” Phere said, putting the phone down. “Think you handle hauling the chick up to Matic’s office?”
“It’s not really the best use of my skills…” Detective Norst pointed out irritably. “If you don’t mind my asking what do we even need her for?”
“She’s interesting.” Phere replied, leaning in close to the young detective. “I’d be ever so grateful if you’d help me out…” There was an awkward silence and then Phere slinked away to slide away the desk that was barricading the door. Grumbling under his breath Ivan awkwardly hoisted the forensics expert over his shoulder. Phere gathered up her bags and they set off for Matic’s office.
PH-373 was annoyed, but hardly surprised, that by the time she had got to her new choice for hideout it was in chaos. It was frustrating but clearly that was the way things were going to be today. Doctor Harmon frowned as the dinosaur dragged away the corpse.
"We should leave." she said, matter of factly. "This location is too hazardous for any in depth analysis of the nexus." PH-373 couldn't help but agree with this assessment of the situation, but she was getting impatient. From what she knew of the city no nearby structures would have the resources necessary to complete the upgrades to her communication node.
"This will be sufficient." she said. "We just need to find a place where we can barricade ourselves in." At PH-373's insistence Doctor Harmon and her drone led the way down the corridor. As they passed one of the intersecting corridors a group of raptordactyls at the far end eyed them suspiciously but did not make a move. The first room they came across was a brightly lit laboratory. Once inside PH-373 blocked the door with one of the tables, carelessly spilling a selection of chemicals as she did so. It was a crude barrier, but it seemed stable enough.
"Let's see this nexus." Doctor Harmon said carefully clearing a space on one of the tables.
"First things first." PH-373 replied. "I am in need of an upgrade which I believe you will be able to provide." She thoughtlessly swept the rest of table clear and sat down upon the edge of it. "It is quite simple. I already have a communications node which works perfectly fine at a short range, but over longer distances it is imprecise. It sends out a blanket message available to all frequencies and does not allow real time communication. Essentially all it needs is tuning, but I was not programmed with an understanding of robotics and am incapable of performing such an operation myself."
Doctor Harmon listened attentively and after a moment she replied. "Okay, that shouldn't be a problem." PH-373 slipped off her backpack and hoisted herself onto the table while Harmon had a technical conversation with her drone. This was no more than simple maintenance, something her drone could do while she got a better look at this interdimensional nexus; the entire reason she was working with this machine in the first place. She grabbed PH-373's backpack and began rifling through it. Inside there was more handheld radios than she felt anybody had any right to require, energy cells, a tool-kit, a knife, some rope, batteries and bottles of oil, a towel (?) and right down at the bottom of the backpack was what Harmon had been looking for; the dimensional nexus itself.
From the moment she saw it she knew the heavy black tome was what she had been looking for. It might have been her imagination but it seemed to almost buzz with energy.
PH-373 had been taking a moment to check up on her opponents. Whatever frustration she felt at the fact that both Nalzaki and Cascala were in the same building was pushed to one side when she saw Melissa with the Tome in her hands. She immediately sat upright, startling Harmon’s drone, and strode over to Harmon. She was staring at the tome, her face expressionless, her eyes glazed over and distant.
“Put that back.” PH-373 demanded. “There will be time for examining the interdimensional nexus later.” Doctor Harmon suddenly whirled around, shoved PH-373 out of the way and silently hoisted her drone onto the table in front of her. She reached into the android’s backpack and pulled from it her tool-kit.
“Hey what are you doing?” The drone asked nervously, backing away. Harmon did not respond as she plucked tools from the toolbox. As she rounded on the drone, with that vacant look in her eyes, weapons slid out from its sides, though it seemed hesitant to use them. “Don’t.” it said meekly, as Harmon grasped it and slammed it into the wall. The faint aura that indicated the drone’s awareness flickered and died, Melissa, not wasting any time, immediately began vigorously deconstructing the drone.
PH-373 watched in stunned silence, had she had eyebrows to raise she would have done so. She wasn’t exactly sure what was going on here but was more than certain that Harmon was not going to deal with her communication node. She opted to leave her to it, picking up the tome to put it back into her backpack.
Immediately Melissa had spun around and grasped onto the Tome, hooking her fingers tight around its heavy bindings. Her mouth was now curled into a determined scowl. For a moment the pair struggled over the Tome, tearing at its smooth black cover, then the doctor let go and PH-373 plummeted backwards, hitting the floor with a loud crash. The tome slid across the floor and Harmon reached down for it, just about grasping hold of it before a blow to the back of the head caused her to collapse. Ivan lowered the spanner that he was holding and helped PH-373 to her feet.
--------
Ivan had followed the trail, with not a second thought about Lord Horrrorshow. It had led him through the corridors of Matic’s stronghold to a barricaded laboratory. There weren’t any signs of the raptordactyls, not that Ivan knew to be looking out for them. He’d tried the door but had no luck. He drew his carbon fibre pen and drew a symbol on the wall of the windowless laboratory. He wouldn’t have considered exposing himself like this normally, but his curiosity for the source of the geomantic energy pressed him onwards.
It took no longer than a minute to inscribe the symbol and once complete there was no explosion, no immediately discernible effect. Someone else would have taken the time to press his hand against it, to slowly push into it and slowly emerge on the other side. However that showy kind of stuff was not Ivan’s thing. He slipped through the wall as though it were not a thing and quickly assessed the situation.
Ivan was quick to recognise Phere, or Ph-373, and Doctor Harmon despite their physical changes. However that said his attention was drawn to the Tome itself, it glittered sparkling white with geomantic energies. He quickly considered how he already had an alliance of sorts with the Empress/android, regardless of how little she seemed to value it. She would be the easiest of the pair to align himself with, and so he sought to quickly demonstrate his ‘loyalty’. To that end he snatched up the nearest heavy thing he could find, a spanner.
--------
With Doctor Harmon unconscious, her drone broken and Ivan incapable of fixing her communication node, PH-373 was forced to request assistance from Doctor Matic. She contacted him via one of her still functioning radios and requested assistance. Matic had been dismissive and quick to terminate the call claiming that he had other problems to deal with until PH-373 told him that she had the Tome.
“Prove it.” Matic had demanded, prompting PH-373 to quickly remove the Scifi bookmark and replace it with Detective Fiction.
The dame took a long drag on her cigarette as she strode back to the phone, her high heels click-clacking on the wooden floor. Her deep purple dress swept aside, exposing her shapely limbs and making the young detective loosen his collar.
“Believe me now Otto?” Phere asked, her voice smooth as silk, but sour as lemons. Matic was in the security room looking out across a bank of flickering monitors. To his dismay his goons had fallen back, and the feuding families were now making their way through his casino proper.
“You got me, doll.” Otto replied. “I’m calling off my men. Bring the Tome to my office and we’ll talk.” He angrily slammed the phone back onto the hook.
While Phere chewed the fat with the unscrupulous mogul Ivan was eyeing up the Tome. Not long ago Phere had come to his office with an offer he’d been unable to refuse. Get her safely to Matic and this priceless Tome would be all his. He was starting to think that Phere was the kind of dame who didn’t keep her promises, and that he should just take it and be done with her drama.
“We’re going to meet the owner.” Phere said, putting the phone down. “Think you handle hauling the chick up to Matic’s office?”
“It’s not really the best use of my skills…” Detective Norst pointed out irritably. “If you don’t mind my asking what do we even need her for?”
“She’s interesting.” Phere replied, leaning in close to the young detective. “I’d be ever so grateful if you’d help me out…” There was an awkward silence and then Phere slinked away to slide away the desk that was barricading the door. Grumbling under his breath Ivan awkwardly hoisted the forensics expert over his shoulder. Phere gathered up her bags and they set off for Matic’s office.
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Hang 'Em High | The Only Hope For Me Is You | Zero Percent | Early Sunsets Over Monroeville | DESTROYA | Demolition Lovers | To The End
Surrender The Night | Disenchanted | The Ghost Of You | Party Poison | Vampires Will Never Hurt You | The Jetset Life Is Gonna Kill You