<img src="images/icons/icon1.png" alt="Post" /> Re: The Fatal Conflict (GBS2G7) (Round 3: The Infinite Playground!)
09-20-2011, 03:43 AM
Originally posted on MSPA by Dragon Fogel.
Zach blinked.
It was only a few seconds ago that he had been on an enormous playground. He was rather surprised to find himself inside an extravagant lounge, filled with people - most of them dressed in formal wear, but there were some oddities, such as the astronaut, the caveman, the medieval knight, and the man with a moose's head. In fact, a closer inspection revealed that a number of them weren't human, though the majority were.
And one of them looked remarkably - no, exactly - like Luron Timerius. And he was heading straight for Zach, with a smile on his face.
"Oh, you've come to join us. Good, maybe you can help us out."
It took about a minute for Zach to collect himself enough to come up with the most obvious explanation for why he was in an unfamiliar place with such a variety of beings and a swordsman who was, as far as he knew, dead.
"Is... is this the afterlife?" he asked.
Luron shook his head. "No. That was my first question, too. Actually, I should take you to the man who explained it to me; I couldn't follow most of it, so it's probably better if you talk to him."
Luron guided a bewildered Zach across the room, to where a one-armed man in a labcoat was playing a piano. The man stopped playing and stood up; Zach noticed that the pianist's arm didn't seem to be amputated, but rather that it simply wasn't there.
"Hello!" he said, shaking Zach's hand. "I'm Dr. Jonathan Stassen. You must be the Zach fellow that Luron told me about. I suppose you're wondering where you are."
"Well... yes. I touched this little box, and it glowed, the next thing I knew, I was in here."
"Ah, of course! Well, the simple explanation is that you're inside the box. It's a complicated story, and a shameful one, but if we're going to fix my mistakes, I suppose you'll need to know it."
Zach simply blinked for a while.
"Wait, what's this about fixing mistakes? I haven't agreed to anything..."
The scientist sighed.
"You'll understand once I've explained it. I won't pretend your job will be easy, but I think you might be the only one who can do it."
"No pressure, though?" Zach replied sarcastically. The scientist laughed in response.
"I suppose I'm getting ahead of myself. I'll just tell the story."
***
Every civilization, once it becomes sufficiently advanced, has to deal with a basic problem: power sources.
Stassen's research team had been working on the problem for years, when they finally had a breakthrough. Their new battery produced far more power than they had expected; they estimated that ten of them could operate an entire city.
There was just one problem: they weren't actually sure where the power was coming from.
The "battery" was, in all honesty, little more than a case; it had been made from especially rare and durable metals to protect the circuitry. They had installed a simple test circuit to ensure it wouldn't interfere with the operation of the final product, only to discover it was already generating large amounts of power.
They had made a confidential report to that effect to the company's director, explaining that they didn't want to release the project until they had studied the phenomenon and understood it better.
Three weeks later, a freak accident resulted in the destruction of the entire lab. This "accident" entailed an explosion, a fire, and three men with machine-guns just in case there were any survivors.
It was then that Stassen's team discovered the power source they had inadvertently tapped into: the spirits of the dead.
***
"Now, hang on," Zach interjected. "You're telling me that you created a battery that runs on the souls of the dead, by accident, and we're inside it?"
"You may have noticed that I don't have an arm any more. I also don't have a research team. They were swallowed up by a beam of light shortly after." He pointed to a badly burned man in a military uniform standing behind the bar. "According to Private Miller there, it was a test for an experimental weapon, which I'm guessing was powered by the gizmo. It didn't work out very well; he was the one firing it."
Zach winced. "Did they try again?"
"That's the strange part. There weren't that many of us when the research team arrived. After Private Miller's demonstration, though, the place became flooded. Couldn't even move, there were so many of us here. And strange ones, too." He pointed at what looked like a giant walking cactus.
"But then... for about ten years, it stopped. Slowly, we shaped our surroundings; originally, it was a drab grey bunker. I'm not sure exactly what happened, but now, we're a bustling metropolis. This lounge is just one room, there's an entire city out there."
Stassen gestured out a window; Zach looked out and saw several tall buildings. What caught his attention most, however, was the skyline.
"The sky still looks like we're inside a bunker."
"I know. I wondered if we were shrinking, perhaps due to them finding some other way of using the battery. But nobody new showed up for ten years, so I couldn't get any real information from the outside world... until Luron appeared."
"That was when we were in the robots' city," Zach said.
"So I've been told. My theory is that the thing somehow drew in much more power than they expected, and they hid it in a city of robots because it wouldn't get any new souls in that time. But it's just a theory."
"So where do I come in? How do I 'help' you?"
"Simply put, Zach, we want to move on to the next world. I somehow doubt we will if this battery converts us to energy, though admittedly I'm no expert on the subject."
"But what can I do about that?"
"Look, Zach, I don't understand the Spirit Drive very well. But we never saw it glow, not the way Luron described it. There's got to be something unusual about you in regards to it, or maybe it's just the fact that you're already a ghost."
"But I'm in here now!"
"Yes. And I think you may be the only one in here who can get back out. I could be wrong, but there's no harm in testing it, right?"
Zach shrugged.
"All right, just tell me what you're thinking."
Zach blinked.
It was only a few seconds ago that he had been on an enormous playground. He was rather surprised to find himself inside an extravagant lounge, filled with people - most of them dressed in formal wear, but there were some oddities, such as the astronaut, the caveman, the medieval knight, and the man with a moose's head. In fact, a closer inspection revealed that a number of them weren't human, though the majority were.
And one of them looked remarkably - no, exactly - like Luron Timerius. And he was heading straight for Zach, with a smile on his face.
"Oh, you've come to join us. Good, maybe you can help us out."
It took about a minute for Zach to collect himself enough to come up with the most obvious explanation for why he was in an unfamiliar place with such a variety of beings and a swordsman who was, as far as he knew, dead.
"Is... is this the afterlife?" he asked.
Luron shook his head. "No. That was my first question, too. Actually, I should take you to the man who explained it to me; I couldn't follow most of it, so it's probably better if you talk to him."
Luron guided a bewildered Zach across the room, to where a one-armed man in a labcoat was playing a piano. The man stopped playing and stood up; Zach noticed that the pianist's arm didn't seem to be amputated, but rather that it simply wasn't there.
"Hello!" he said, shaking Zach's hand. "I'm Dr. Jonathan Stassen. You must be the Zach fellow that Luron told me about. I suppose you're wondering where you are."
"Well... yes. I touched this little box, and it glowed, the next thing I knew, I was in here."
"Ah, of course! Well, the simple explanation is that you're inside the box. It's a complicated story, and a shameful one, but if we're going to fix my mistakes, I suppose you'll need to know it."
Zach simply blinked for a while.
"Wait, what's this about fixing mistakes? I haven't agreed to anything..."
The scientist sighed.
"You'll understand once I've explained it. I won't pretend your job will be easy, but I think you might be the only one who can do it."
"No pressure, though?" Zach replied sarcastically. The scientist laughed in response.
"I suppose I'm getting ahead of myself. I'll just tell the story."
***
Every civilization, once it becomes sufficiently advanced, has to deal with a basic problem: power sources.
Stassen's research team had been working on the problem for years, when they finally had a breakthrough. Their new battery produced far more power than they had expected; they estimated that ten of them could operate an entire city.
There was just one problem: they weren't actually sure where the power was coming from.
The "battery" was, in all honesty, little more than a case; it had been made from especially rare and durable metals to protect the circuitry. They had installed a simple test circuit to ensure it wouldn't interfere with the operation of the final product, only to discover it was already generating large amounts of power.
They had made a confidential report to that effect to the company's director, explaining that they didn't want to release the project until they had studied the phenomenon and understood it better.
Three weeks later, a freak accident resulted in the destruction of the entire lab. This "accident" entailed an explosion, a fire, and three men with machine-guns just in case there were any survivors.
It was then that Stassen's team discovered the power source they had inadvertently tapped into: the spirits of the dead.
***
"Now, hang on," Zach interjected. "You're telling me that you created a battery that runs on the souls of the dead, by accident, and we're inside it?"
"You may have noticed that I don't have an arm any more. I also don't have a research team. They were swallowed up by a beam of light shortly after." He pointed to a badly burned man in a military uniform standing behind the bar. "According to Private Miller there, it was a test for an experimental weapon, which I'm guessing was powered by the gizmo. It didn't work out very well; he was the one firing it."
Zach winced. "Did they try again?"
"That's the strange part. There weren't that many of us when the research team arrived. After Private Miller's demonstration, though, the place became flooded. Couldn't even move, there were so many of us here. And strange ones, too." He pointed at what looked like a giant walking cactus.
"But then... for about ten years, it stopped. Slowly, we shaped our surroundings; originally, it was a drab grey bunker. I'm not sure exactly what happened, but now, we're a bustling metropolis. This lounge is just one room, there's an entire city out there."
Stassen gestured out a window; Zach looked out and saw several tall buildings. What caught his attention most, however, was the skyline.
"The sky still looks like we're inside a bunker."
"I know. I wondered if we were shrinking, perhaps due to them finding some other way of using the battery. But nobody new showed up for ten years, so I couldn't get any real information from the outside world... until Luron appeared."
"That was when we were in the robots' city," Zach said.
"So I've been told. My theory is that the thing somehow drew in much more power than they expected, and they hid it in a city of robots because it wouldn't get any new souls in that time. But it's just a theory."
"So where do I come in? How do I 'help' you?"
"Simply put, Zach, we want to move on to the next world. I somehow doubt we will if this battery converts us to energy, though admittedly I'm no expert on the subject."
"But what can I do about that?"
"Look, Zach, I don't understand the Spirit Drive very well. But we never saw it glow, not the way Luron described it. There's got to be something unusual about you in regards to it, or maybe it's just the fact that you're already a ghost."
"But I'm in here now!"
"Yes. And I think you may be the only one in here who can get back out. I could be wrong, but there's no harm in testing it, right?"
Zach shrugged.
"All right, just tell me what you're thinking."
There's no reason for this | Or this | Death is inevitable | You can't challenge fate | The smallest change | I'm overwhelmed
I'm serious | It makes perfect sense | Easy as ABC! | I can't even explain it | Cleaning up someone else's mess
I suck | I rule | I've got it made | Really, I'm serious | This bugs me | It's all lies | I want to believe | Beauty is a curse
I'm serious | It makes perfect sense | Easy as ABC! | I can't even explain it | Cleaning up someone else's mess
I suck | I rule | I've got it made | Really, I'm serious | This bugs me | It's all lies | I want to believe | Beauty is a curse