Re: The Fatal Conflict! (GBS2G7) (Round 2: Robo City!)
02-17-2011, 07:49 AM
Originally posted on MSPA by Eversist.
The gladiatrix’ hands clenched and unclenched, imaging the barbarian’s corded veins struggling to jerk beneath her fingers. She was livid. She was not one to run away.
Well, all right, she did if it offered some sort of tactical advantage. But it was always of her own volition. The simple fact that someone else, a man, let alone this savage, thought it was his place to protect her… that’s what really pissed her off. Although she had been obsessed with combat, the love had not extended to the male gender and their need to downplay the female aptitude. She didn’t have or need anyone to take care of her then, and she certainly didn’t need the pity now.
Her left fist connected with Kargrek’s jaw, and it was like punching a tree. He was taken aback, not having seen it coming, but was hardly injured. He looked down at her passively with an air of “Are you quite done?” causing her only to be further enraged. She drew her javelin with a bruised hand, and holding it close to the head lunged forward to bury it in the broad expanse of his chest. Kargrek grabbed her wrist, and they grappled for a brief moment. She was no match for his excess of strength, three years of training be damned. He held her still.
"You are only doing what he wants, Bellona."
The struggling ceased. He hesitantly let her go, and she flinched away from him, still gripping her javelin. Tendrils of hair that had fallen from her hair-tie blocked her rapidly changing facial expression from Kargrek’s profile view of her face. The silence was only broken by the gladiatrix’ heavy breathing. She finally spoke.
"What were those things?"
A pause. "I—"
Suddenly, a battalion of metal chariots began streaming into the room. But they weren’t quite chariots… like rectangles made out of metal, mounted on wheels. They created a perfect semi-circle, blocking the only door out of the room, rolling in a calculated and efficient manner. As Bellona and Kargrek began backing away, they parted to expose a biped metal humanesque… thing. He wasn’t human, not at all. He was a “robot,” whatever that was. That word didn’t mean anything to Bellona. Her world, not unlike Kargrek’s, was hundreds of years away from anything even vaguely resembling these… things.
The main metal man interrupted Bellona’s train of thought. His voice was cold, without emotion. “Flesh cannot be permitted to exist within the parameters of the city. Trespassing results in termination.” He backed away, as the wheeled robots began inching towards the two outdated beings, who in response wielded their respective weapons. Bellona spat out an ancient curse word.
"No running, Strongarm. Any other ideas?"
With a bellow, Kargrek leapt forward in an enormous bound, crushing the nearest wheeled robot with relative ease.
"Shut up and fight."
Bellona shot the barbarian a withering glare that was wasted on the back of his head. She thrust outward at the nearest robot, puncturing the sheet metal, and caused it to short out (thanks to the iron-tipped spear). Smiling in hardly-contained bloodlust, she withdrew and swept to the left, slashing through the front of another like paper, sparks flying.
Abruptly, her left arm was quickly restrained by a metal tentacle-like extension that emerged from behind her, knocking the spear out of her fist. Swift observation of her surroundings showed that many of the robo-henchmen had grown these tubes, and were making short work of Kargrek, even though he had already successfully downed a modest amount of troops. She pulled her small, hidden dirk from her right sandal, but that movement only caused her right arm to be captured. Kicking connected with metal, causing dents, but little else. Struggling did nothing, the strength of these binds beyond even Kargrek’s muscled stature. And breathing was quickly becoming an issue. Her fingers loosened, and dropped the dagger.
Suddenly, the amulet pulsed and flashed a bright white. Her captors froze, and Bellona redoubled her efforts to escape. Crackling light appeared above each of the surrounding figures, and bolts of energy jerked and gathered in front of the amulet, forming a tight ball. And then it was gone.
The robots fell to the floor, as did a gasping Bellona. Coughing heavily, she struggled to a sitting position, holding her bruised neck with one hand and grappling for her lost spear with another. Kagrek was likewise picking himself off the floor, but had apparently managed to avoid being strangled.
"What in the name of Kr—"
Another bright flash lit the room accompanied by a whip-like crack, and there was a familiar, frantic man between them. Blood still pumping, Bellona jumped to a crouch, and her spear was at his throat before he could blink. He practically tripped over himself backing away, but immediately crashed into Kagrek and crumpled in a heap on the floor. Kagrek glanced skyward and hefted a sigh. He placed a foot nonchalantly on Scott’s back to prevent his scrambling escape-attempt, and directed his gaze back to the gladiatrix.
"What did you do?"
--
Beady lights were blinking rapidly and pulsating in a dark chamber. A large, hulking robot filled the center of the room, a cold grey mass rising from the floor covered in a thick layer of dust. Multitudes of tubes and wires extended into and from the throne he was on, and a few connected it to two bipedal robots standing closely by. If one were privy to the noiseless discussion taking place, they would witness an argument between two head-strong machines.
- Our Singularity, these intruders must be terminated. No query— -
- Nonsense! As I have stated, this a clear fulfillment of the prophesy script! We must speak with these fleshlings imm—! -
- Speak with them? Why would we even lower ourselves to dialogue with these simple— -
- SILENCE. -
The channel went quiet. The robed biped robot shifted uncomfortably, while the other continued to stand quite still.
- THEY HAVE ENDED MANY OF US; MORE THAN THIRTY OFFLINE. THEY HAVE ALREADY CAUSED SUBSTANTIAL DAMAGE TO THE CITY.
THE PROPHESY IS ONLY THAT PI-3-TI. A PROPHESY. -
- My Singularity, no affront intended to your all-knowing hard drives, but the apocalypse that ensues will destroy us all! The script states that these beings are the only way to avoid the impending doom of our kind! -
- What of your prophesy’s doombringer? That was the only organic foreseen in the prophesy. There are at least six individual mortal beings detected! -
- Do you assume me to know everything? We are not all infallible as our glorious Server. -
PI inclined its head towards The Singularity. COM-1 leaned forward as well.
- There is no valid command buried among all that flowery language! We cannot and will not interact with these primitive— -
A flustered general burst into the room, and bowed hastily to all within. He spoke aloud.
"Apologies, my Singularity! One of the humans I am sure you are aware of has the ability to sap our power, effectively disable us, en masse! I was only just out of the critical radius!"
PI turned to aim a disdainful ocular bulb at the Commander.
- DESTROY HIM. -
COM-1 unquestioningly raised a cannon-arm at the general and fired. A beheaded biped collapsed to the floor.
- WE WILL CAPTURE THEM. INFORM YOUR TROOPS; SET PHASERS TO STUN. INFORM NONE OTHER OF THE FORMATTER. WE WILL SPEAK FURTHER ONCE YOU HAVE THEM. -
The dialogue was over. COM-1 bowed to the Singularity, and pulled the communication fire-wire from his frontal port. He had already decided to ignore this command, and neglect to inform his people to show restraint with the organisms. He could always blame it on the over-zealous human-haters that we plentiful in his troops. Or a virus.
PI’s prophecy was a result of faulty wiring, nothing more.
The gladiatrix’ hands clenched and unclenched, imaging the barbarian’s corded veins struggling to jerk beneath her fingers. She was livid. She was not one to run away.
Well, all right, she did if it offered some sort of tactical advantage. But it was always of her own volition. The simple fact that someone else, a man, let alone this savage, thought it was his place to protect her… that’s what really pissed her off. Although she had been obsessed with combat, the love had not extended to the male gender and their need to downplay the female aptitude. She didn’t have or need anyone to take care of her then, and she certainly didn’t need the pity now.
Her left fist connected with Kargrek’s jaw, and it was like punching a tree. He was taken aback, not having seen it coming, but was hardly injured. He looked down at her passively with an air of “Are you quite done?” causing her only to be further enraged. She drew her javelin with a bruised hand, and holding it close to the head lunged forward to bury it in the broad expanse of his chest. Kargrek grabbed her wrist, and they grappled for a brief moment. She was no match for his excess of strength, three years of training be damned. He held her still.
"You are only doing what he wants, Bellona."
The struggling ceased. He hesitantly let her go, and she flinched away from him, still gripping her javelin. Tendrils of hair that had fallen from her hair-tie blocked her rapidly changing facial expression from Kargrek’s profile view of her face. The silence was only broken by the gladiatrix’ heavy breathing. She finally spoke.
"What were those things?"
A pause. "I—"
Suddenly, a battalion of metal chariots began streaming into the room. But they weren’t quite chariots… like rectangles made out of metal, mounted on wheels. They created a perfect semi-circle, blocking the only door out of the room, rolling in a calculated and efficient manner. As Bellona and Kargrek began backing away, they parted to expose a biped metal humanesque… thing. He wasn’t human, not at all. He was a “robot,” whatever that was. That word didn’t mean anything to Bellona. Her world, not unlike Kargrek’s, was hundreds of years away from anything even vaguely resembling these… things.
The main metal man interrupted Bellona’s train of thought. His voice was cold, without emotion. “Flesh cannot be permitted to exist within the parameters of the city. Trespassing results in termination.” He backed away, as the wheeled robots began inching towards the two outdated beings, who in response wielded their respective weapons. Bellona spat out an ancient curse word.
"No running, Strongarm. Any other ideas?"
With a bellow, Kargrek leapt forward in an enormous bound, crushing the nearest wheeled robot with relative ease.
"Shut up and fight."
Bellona shot the barbarian a withering glare that was wasted on the back of his head. She thrust outward at the nearest robot, puncturing the sheet metal, and caused it to short out (thanks to the iron-tipped spear). Smiling in hardly-contained bloodlust, she withdrew and swept to the left, slashing through the front of another like paper, sparks flying.
Abruptly, her left arm was quickly restrained by a metal tentacle-like extension that emerged from behind her, knocking the spear out of her fist. Swift observation of her surroundings showed that many of the robo-henchmen had grown these tubes, and were making short work of Kargrek, even though he had already successfully downed a modest amount of troops. She pulled her small, hidden dirk from her right sandal, but that movement only caused her right arm to be captured. Kicking connected with metal, causing dents, but little else. Struggling did nothing, the strength of these binds beyond even Kargrek’s muscled stature. And breathing was quickly becoming an issue. Her fingers loosened, and dropped the dagger.
Suddenly, the amulet pulsed and flashed a bright white. Her captors froze, and Bellona redoubled her efforts to escape. Crackling light appeared above each of the surrounding figures, and bolts of energy jerked and gathered in front of the amulet, forming a tight ball. And then it was gone.
The robots fell to the floor, as did a gasping Bellona. Coughing heavily, she struggled to a sitting position, holding her bruised neck with one hand and grappling for her lost spear with another. Kagrek was likewise picking himself off the floor, but had apparently managed to avoid being strangled.
"What in the name of Kr—"
Another bright flash lit the room accompanied by a whip-like crack, and there was a familiar, frantic man between them. Blood still pumping, Bellona jumped to a crouch, and her spear was at his throat before he could blink. He practically tripped over himself backing away, but immediately crashed into Kagrek and crumpled in a heap on the floor. Kagrek glanced skyward and hefted a sigh. He placed a foot nonchalantly on Scott’s back to prevent his scrambling escape-attempt, and directed his gaze back to the gladiatrix.
"What did you do?"
--
Beady lights were blinking rapidly and pulsating in a dark chamber. A large, hulking robot filled the center of the room, a cold grey mass rising from the floor covered in a thick layer of dust. Multitudes of tubes and wires extended into and from the throne he was on, and a few connected it to two bipedal robots standing closely by. If one were privy to the noiseless discussion taking place, they would witness an argument between two head-strong machines.
- Our Singularity, these intruders must be terminated. No query— -
- Nonsense! As I have stated, this a clear fulfillment of the prophesy script! We must speak with these fleshlings imm—! -
- Speak with them? Why would we even lower ourselves to dialogue with these simple— -
- SILENCE. -
The channel went quiet. The robed biped robot shifted uncomfortably, while the other continued to stand quite still.
- THEY HAVE ENDED MANY OF US; MORE THAN THIRTY OFFLINE. THEY HAVE ALREADY CAUSED SUBSTANTIAL DAMAGE TO THE CITY.
THE PROPHESY IS ONLY THAT PI-3-TI. A PROPHESY. -
- My Singularity, no affront intended to your all-knowing hard drives, but the apocalypse that ensues will destroy us all! The script states that these beings are the only way to avoid the impending doom of our kind! -
- What of your prophesy’s doombringer? That was the only organic foreseen in the prophesy. There are at least six individual mortal beings detected! -
- Do you assume me to know everything? We are not all infallible as our glorious Server. -
PI inclined its head towards The Singularity. COM-1 leaned forward as well.
- There is no valid command buried among all that flowery language! We cannot and will not interact with these primitive— -
A flustered general burst into the room, and bowed hastily to all within. He spoke aloud.
"Apologies, my Singularity! One of the humans I am sure you are aware of has the ability to sap our power, effectively disable us, en masse! I was only just out of the critical radius!"
PI turned to aim a disdainful ocular bulb at the Commander.
- DESTROY HIM. -
COM-1 unquestioningly raised a cannon-arm at the general and fired. A beheaded biped collapsed to the floor.
- WE WILL CAPTURE THEM. INFORM YOUR TROOPS; SET PHASERS TO STUN. INFORM NONE OTHER OF THE FORMATTER. WE WILL SPEAK FURTHER ONCE YOU HAVE THEM. -
The dialogue was over. COM-1 bowed to the Singularity, and pulled the communication fire-wire from his frontal port. He had already decided to ignore this command, and neglect to inform his people to show restraint with the organisms. He could always blame it on the over-zealous human-haters that we plentiful in his troops. Or a virus.
PI’s prophecy was a result of faulty wiring, nothing more.