Re: The Fatal Conflict! (GBS2G7) (Round 2: Robo City!)
02-04-2011, 11:45 PM
Originally posted on MSPA by Pinary.
The elevator hit the second floor a few moments later, the doors sliding open to reveal looming, metal forms. Scott, assuming the obvious, vanished immediately. Kaja, assuming the same, lobbed the potion he'd been preparing into the room beyond.
A few seconds later, it registered with the doctor that none of the metal people in the room were attempting to kill him. In fact, further investigation revealed that they had no internal organs to speak of and were simply outer shells in storage, each presumably awaiting the opportunity to become part of a fully-functional robot at some point in the future.
Sighing, the doctor began wandering among the stored casings, brewing another potion as he went.
The doors closed with a soft ding behind him.
-
Sunlight streaked in through the skylights above, glinting off of the sweeping glass and metal that seemed to highlight the city and making the whole atrium shine. It was a wondrous display of modernism, and were it not for the circumstances, Scott might've found it downright marvellous.
For the moment, though, he was finding it a bit hard to enjoy the architectural splendour around him. Seeing a gun pointed at his head didn't tend to put him in an aesthetical mood, regardless of whether it was the current him or just a future iteration.
The man with the gun was mostly obscured by the hostage Scott, but from what the newly-arrived Scott could see, he seemed quite ordinary- perhaps a mite paler than most, but otherwise unremarkable. His all-black suit had plainly been through a fair bit, wrinkled and dusty as it was, but something about it made it fit all the better that way.
"Mr. Williams," he said, "I think you'll want to listen to what I have to say."
"Well, uh, I hardly have much choice, do I?"
"Don't ask me," the man said, smirk audible from behind his hostage's head, "you can't trust me. Ask your compatriot here, I'm sure he'll be glad to clear things up."
Scott considered for a moment. This person had a point; Scott had memorized a number of self-confirmation systems that collectively formed a fairly robust call-and-response set, designed for a situation pretty much exactly like this.
"B19489788," he asked, opting for one of his higher-level systems, Palt-11.
"92391406-dot-47383419," his future self replied. He chained together 'null response' with 'positive,' a combination indicating that, while he wasn't answering any particular questions, the situation itself was overall a positive and beneficial one.
Scott was, understandably, a bit incredulous. He wasn't exactly sure how a situation that lead to a gun to his head could be considered "beneficial."
"45255992," the future Scott added, using a response from the more-casual-than-secure Palt-2 system. "No, really," he was saying. "I know how you're feeling and wish to reinforce my previous statement."
Reluctantly, Scott had to accept his future self's urgings. The situation they were in, somehow, was good for them.
"Alright," he said, addressing his future self's captor, "what's so important you had to hold a gun to my head just to get me to listen?"
"Oh, this?" The man took the gun away from his hostage's head and released his grip on him. The future Scott took a few steps away, looking nervously up at the skylight and around at the atrium in general.
The man continued, unfazed by his ex-hostage's apparent fears. "That was just a way to get you to listen." He idly tossed the pistol into a nearby decorative plant. "Had to get your attention somehow, and you were already right here."
"You couldn't just ask me to talk, like a normal person? You had to hold a gun to my head?!" Scott, try as he might to keep his cool amid a battle to the death, wasn't terribly comforted by his future self's nervousness.
He was even less comforted when the skylight shattered and half a dozen matte-black spheres came crashing into the atrium, demolishing much of the picturesque architecture. Immediately, he jumped under the nearest cover- a table, as it happened.
He was hardly under it a moment when the rain of glass shards started to land, and once the eerie tinkling of bits of glass slowed to nothing, an even-more-eerie silence filled the atrium.
Once the slow, heavy shifting of concrete and metal began, Scott decided he much preferred the silence. The light, quick footsteps he could live with; they brought the feet- and, a moment later, the madly-grinning face- of his future captor into view.
"Well, come on, then!" He was plainly excited about the whole thing, which had Scott more than a bit disturbed. At the look on his face, the other man rolled his eyes. "They're specially-designed human-hunters," he said, apparently finding the whole thing exciting rather than terrifying. "We've got about thirty seconds until the first one digs itself out of its drop shell and starts after us, so unless you want to witness their efficiency first-hand, get out here and get moving!"
Scott did so. He was out from under the table and moving down the hallway his apparent companion was indicating before ten seconds had passed, and by the time the first of the androids had dug itself out, the two men had a twenty-second head start. Not much, considering the artificial being's significant advantages, but something.
In truth, even a few minutes' head start wouldn't help. The hunter knew that its speed was much higher than that of the organics, and a minute or so of labour to rally its comrades would increase efficiency overall and cause no significant delays in the execution of its orders.
-
Thundering down a hallway with the last few minutes flashing through his head, something occurred to Scott.
"Why," he demanded, "did you want to talk to me so much?! You nearly got me killed back there, and you still never told me what was so important! Who even are you, coming in here and holding me hostage?!"
"Oh, me?" The other man looked giddy as he ran down a corridor in a city out to kill him. "I used to be in a similar situation to the one you're in now! You know, mysterious entity captures you and pits you together, that whole thing? Difference is, I didn't stick around! Me and another guy made our escape early on, and I dropped right in the lap of someone who offered me a job. Here I am, and here we are!"
"That's all well and good," Scott shouted back, "but it's still not you telling me what was it that was so urgent!"
"Oh, that'll have to wait! We're about out of time here, but don't worry- I've explained it all to you in the atrium!"
"Out of time, what-" A door at the far end of the hall smashed open, bringing all six hunters tearing down towards them.
As it happens, the pair of humans they were targeting reached the far end of the hall, solid double doors a potential barrier. It was only likely to hold the killing machines for a second or two, though.
Nonetheless, one target shoved the other through and started to close them, shouting its intent to "hold them off."
The doors closed between the two, and the target on the near side turned and held up a small device, its face an expression of glee.
The six hunters were marked in the system as "offline – inoperable" a moment later.
-
Scott appeared, breathless, in the same hall he'd just been running down, after being shoved through the doors just before they buckled from the force of an explosion on the far side. The hall, though, was perfectly fine- no charred walls, smoldering carpet, or bits of demolished robot.
It didn't take much thought for him to realize which way he'd jumped.
He started off towards the end from which he'd started almost immediately, moving at a fast walk. He wanted an explanation from this guy one way or another, and the atrium was apparently the place to get it from him.
And there he was, waiting for Scott casual as anything, leaning on a table and looking at something on a small, handheld device. "Ah," he said, "you're here! Excellent, let's get started!"
"Finally!" Scott stormed towards him with a mind to grab him by the lapels and slam him against the wall until he got his answers. "Now, tell me what it is that's so urgent!"
The anonymous man raised his hands in a gesture of peace and placation. "Whoa, calm it down a notch. We've got about four minutes, and we've got plenty go get through."
"So start. Talking." Scott fairly seethed at the man, restraining himself from violence in the interests of getting what he was after.
"Well, the short version is this: You need to destroy this city. It should be fairly obvious to you as to why- after a war like your people suffered, you know the dangers of these machines well as anyone."
Scott, while accepting of the man's reasons, was a bit incredulous. "The whole city? And how exactly do you propose I do that?"
The other man gestured with the device in his hand. "Got a thorough plan right here! Now, you won't need most of it, as this literally covers all eventualities, but at least page through it." He handed it over to Scott, who started examining it. "That doubles as a communications device, so if you need to get ahold of me, that's your means."
Scott poked at the device, and while he didn't recognize the model, he found it simple enough. Step 1 was apparently "deactivate the central coordination servers," but there were no instructions as to where they were or how to deal with them.
"Once the city's thoroughly destroyed, I'll be on my way- I've got more work to be done, and while this an important part of my boss's goals, it's hardly the only one."
"Just who is your boss, by the way?", Scott asked, not looking up from fiddling with the device.
"That's not important right now. The important bit is just that you do this with me."
Scott wanted to tell him that he'd just seen him die just a few minutes prior, but he couldn't bring himself to do it.
"Now, put that away," the other man said, taking a step forward. Scott complied. "It's time to get to work." He gestured to something over Scott's shoulder.
Scott followed his gaze, but as soon as he did, the man made his move, grabbing for the gun tucked in the back of Scott's waistband with one hand and wrapping the other around his throat. "Really, you know how this works out. May as well cooperate, no?"
Scott sighed. In all the chaos, he'd forgotten about the gun he'd stolen from the drug dealer. Oh well, no matter. The mystery man had a point, and when it came down to it, cooperation really was the best option.
It was only a heartbeat or two later that Scott appeared before the two.
"Mr. Williams," his captor said. "I think you'll want to listen to what I have to say."
-
As the last of the metal men fell to the floor, a calm silence came over the room. The barbarian and the gladiatrix paused for a moment, searching for any remaining machines that would attack them.
With a bright flash and an electrical-sounding crack, Scott appeared between them, and a split-second later, there was a javelin millimeters from his throat. Predictably, he stumbled backwards, then turned to run.
Kargrek just rolled his eyes as the thin man ran headlong into him, bounced off, and fell to the floor.
The elevator hit the second floor a few moments later, the doors sliding open to reveal looming, metal forms. Scott, assuming the obvious, vanished immediately. Kaja, assuming the same, lobbed the potion he'd been preparing into the room beyond.
A few seconds later, it registered with the doctor that none of the metal people in the room were attempting to kill him. In fact, further investigation revealed that they had no internal organs to speak of and were simply outer shells in storage, each presumably awaiting the opportunity to become part of a fully-functional robot at some point in the future.
Sighing, the doctor began wandering among the stored casings, brewing another potion as he went.
The doors closed with a soft ding behind him.
-
Sunlight streaked in through the skylights above, glinting off of the sweeping glass and metal that seemed to highlight the city and making the whole atrium shine. It was a wondrous display of modernism, and were it not for the circumstances, Scott might've found it downright marvellous.
For the moment, though, he was finding it a bit hard to enjoy the architectural splendour around him. Seeing a gun pointed at his head didn't tend to put him in an aesthetical mood, regardless of whether it was the current him or just a future iteration.
The man with the gun was mostly obscured by the hostage Scott, but from what the newly-arrived Scott could see, he seemed quite ordinary- perhaps a mite paler than most, but otherwise unremarkable. His all-black suit had plainly been through a fair bit, wrinkled and dusty as it was, but something about it made it fit all the better that way.
"Mr. Williams," he said, "I think you'll want to listen to what I have to say."
"Well, uh, I hardly have much choice, do I?"
"Don't ask me," the man said, smirk audible from behind his hostage's head, "you can't trust me. Ask your compatriot here, I'm sure he'll be glad to clear things up."
Scott considered for a moment. This person had a point; Scott had memorized a number of self-confirmation systems that collectively formed a fairly robust call-and-response set, designed for a situation pretty much exactly like this.
"B19489788," he asked, opting for one of his higher-level systems, Palt-11.
"92391406-dot-47383419," his future self replied. He chained together 'null response' with 'positive,' a combination indicating that, while he wasn't answering any particular questions, the situation itself was overall a positive and beneficial one.
Scott was, understandably, a bit incredulous. He wasn't exactly sure how a situation that lead to a gun to his head could be considered "beneficial."
"45255992," the future Scott added, using a response from the more-casual-than-secure Palt-2 system. "No, really," he was saying. "I know how you're feeling and wish to reinforce my previous statement."
Reluctantly, Scott had to accept his future self's urgings. The situation they were in, somehow, was good for them.
"Alright," he said, addressing his future self's captor, "what's so important you had to hold a gun to my head just to get me to listen?"
"Oh, this?" The man took the gun away from his hostage's head and released his grip on him. The future Scott took a few steps away, looking nervously up at the skylight and around at the atrium in general.
The man continued, unfazed by his ex-hostage's apparent fears. "That was just a way to get you to listen." He idly tossed the pistol into a nearby decorative plant. "Had to get your attention somehow, and you were already right here."
"You couldn't just ask me to talk, like a normal person? You had to hold a gun to my head?!" Scott, try as he might to keep his cool amid a battle to the death, wasn't terribly comforted by his future self's nervousness.
He was even less comforted when the skylight shattered and half a dozen matte-black spheres came crashing into the atrium, demolishing much of the picturesque architecture. Immediately, he jumped under the nearest cover- a table, as it happened.
He was hardly under it a moment when the rain of glass shards started to land, and once the eerie tinkling of bits of glass slowed to nothing, an even-more-eerie silence filled the atrium.
Once the slow, heavy shifting of concrete and metal began, Scott decided he much preferred the silence. The light, quick footsteps he could live with; they brought the feet- and, a moment later, the madly-grinning face- of his future captor into view.
"Well, come on, then!" He was plainly excited about the whole thing, which had Scott more than a bit disturbed. At the look on his face, the other man rolled his eyes. "They're specially-designed human-hunters," he said, apparently finding the whole thing exciting rather than terrifying. "We've got about thirty seconds until the first one digs itself out of its drop shell and starts after us, so unless you want to witness their efficiency first-hand, get out here and get moving!"
Scott did so. He was out from under the table and moving down the hallway his apparent companion was indicating before ten seconds had passed, and by the time the first of the androids had dug itself out, the two men had a twenty-second head start. Not much, considering the artificial being's significant advantages, but something.
In truth, even a few minutes' head start wouldn't help. The hunter knew that its speed was much higher than that of the organics, and a minute or so of labour to rally its comrades would increase efficiency overall and cause no significant delays in the execution of its orders.
-
Thundering down a hallway with the last few minutes flashing through his head, something occurred to Scott.
"Why," he demanded, "did you want to talk to me so much?! You nearly got me killed back there, and you still never told me what was so important! Who even are you, coming in here and holding me hostage?!"
"Oh, me?" The other man looked giddy as he ran down a corridor in a city out to kill him. "I used to be in a similar situation to the one you're in now! You know, mysterious entity captures you and pits you together, that whole thing? Difference is, I didn't stick around! Me and another guy made our escape early on, and I dropped right in the lap of someone who offered me a job. Here I am, and here we are!"
"That's all well and good," Scott shouted back, "but it's still not you telling me what was it that was so urgent!"
"Oh, that'll have to wait! We're about out of time here, but don't worry- I've explained it all to you in the atrium!"
"Out of time, what-" A door at the far end of the hall smashed open, bringing all six hunters tearing down towards them.
As it happens, the pair of humans they were targeting reached the far end of the hall, solid double doors a potential barrier. It was only likely to hold the killing machines for a second or two, though.
Nonetheless, one target shoved the other through and started to close them, shouting its intent to "hold them off."
The doors closed between the two, and the target on the near side turned and held up a small device, its face an expression of glee.
The six hunters were marked in the system as "offline – inoperable" a moment later.
-
Scott appeared, breathless, in the same hall he'd just been running down, after being shoved through the doors just before they buckled from the force of an explosion on the far side. The hall, though, was perfectly fine- no charred walls, smoldering carpet, or bits of demolished robot.
It didn't take much thought for him to realize which way he'd jumped.
He started off towards the end from which he'd started almost immediately, moving at a fast walk. He wanted an explanation from this guy one way or another, and the atrium was apparently the place to get it from him.
And there he was, waiting for Scott casual as anything, leaning on a table and looking at something on a small, handheld device. "Ah," he said, "you're here! Excellent, let's get started!"
"Finally!" Scott stormed towards him with a mind to grab him by the lapels and slam him against the wall until he got his answers. "Now, tell me what it is that's so urgent!"
The anonymous man raised his hands in a gesture of peace and placation. "Whoa, calm it down a notch. We've got about four minutes, and we've got plenty go get through."
"So start. Talking." Scott fairly seethed at the man, restraining himself from violence in the interests of getting what he was after.
"Well, the short version is this: You need to destroy this city. It should be fairly obvious to you as to why- after a war like your people suffered, you know the dangers of these machines well as anyone."
Scott, while accepting of the man's reasons, was a bit incredulous. "The whole city? And how exactly do you propose I do that?"
The other man gestured with the device in his hand. "Got a thorough plan right here! Now, you won't need most of it, as this literally covers all eventualities, but at least page through it." He handed it over to Scott, who started examining it. "That doubles as a communications device, so if you need to get ahold of me, that's your means."
Scott poked at the device, and while he didn't recognize the model, he found it simple enough. Step 1 was apparently "deactivate the central coordination servers," but there were no instructions as to where they were or how to deal with them.
"Once the city's thoroughly destroyed, I'll be on my way- I've got more work to be done, and while this an important part of my boss's goals, it's hardly the only one."
"Just who is your boss, by the way?", Scott asked, not looking up from fiddling with the device.
"That's not important right now. The important bit is just that you do this with me."
Scott wanted to tell him that he'd just seen him die just a few minutes prior, but he couldn't bring himself to do it.
"Now, put that away," the other man said, taking a step forward. Scott complied. "It's time to get to work." He gestured to something over Scott's shoulder.
Scott followed his gaze, but as soon as he did, the man made his move, grabbing for the gun tucked in the back of Scott's waistband with one hand and wrapping the other around his throat. "Really, you know how this works out. May as well cooperate, no?"
Scott sighed. In all the chaos, he'd forgotten about the gun he'd stolen from the drug dealer. Oh well, no matter. The mystery man had a point, and when it came down to it, cooperation really was the best option.
It was only a heartbeat or two later that Scott appeared before the two.
"Mr. Williams," his captor said. "I think you'll want to listen to what I have to say."
-
As the last of the metal men fell to the floor, a calm silence came over the room. The barbarian and the gladiatrix paused for a moment, searching for any remaining machines that would attack them.
With a bright flash and an electrical-sounding crack, Scott appeared between them, and a split-second later, there was a javelin millimeters from his throat. Predictably, he stumbled backwards, then turned to run.
Kargrek just rolled his eyes as the thin man ran headlong into him, bounced off, and fell to the floor.
Spoiler
![[Image: Palt.png]](https://www.pinary.com/Host/MSPA/Palt.png)