Re: Epic Clash Final Round - Mnemonocyst Bearers
02-08-2011, 03:07 AM
Originally posted on MSPA by Pinary.Linda Stacey, renowned across the Five Cities for her utter calm and unflappable demeanour, blinked.
She opened her mouth once, closed it, then tried again. "A memory."
"Duplicated from our minds by one of those blisters, yes."
"But... I have memories, more than you could possibly know about. I know what kind of cake I had at my fifth birthday party, I know the price of the Quad the lighting guy tried to sell me at the Events anniversary party, I know how many minutes of footage we had to cut from the subsequent exposé on drugs in the vid industry, I-" She cut herself off, her overriding desire for dignity pushing the emotions that were welling up back down. After a moment, she continued, tone all-business once more. "So, do you have an explanation for how I know these things, Mr. Packston?"
Greg sighed. "The most plausible we have been able to come up with is that you actually don't know them. It seems likely that, in the absence of actual information, your mind is being filled with plausible-sounding facts that were just made up and placed there. You may be absolutely certain that that Quad cost what you remember it did, and your memories of it may be as vivid as anything else, but that's no guarantee it's actually, uh..." He trailed off, looking at the viewscreen. Before them, the two spheres loomed, accelerating now, their not-inconsiderable gravities pulling them together towards their inevitable end.
Linda asked the important question. "...Weren't we moving away from those?"
"That we were." Thomas busied himself with the controls, and Linda poked halfheartedly at hers as well. (Truth be told, she was still preoccupied by the idea that she was nothing more than a memory.)
A few moments later, the comm system buzzed back to life. The two looked up at each other, surprised to get a response so quickly.
"Beings of the multiverse, denizens of all that heed to the whim of the gods, the day has came for us to unite, to forge a new era. Together we shall form a mighty union, we shall come together and crush all opposition beneath our combined feet. I, Lord Vandrel Reinhardt, am an experienced master in tactical planning. My armies have conquered lands far and wide and brought all that oppose us to their knees, hacking their heads from their pitiful necks to punish them for their misdeeds. Future allies! I have heard your replies, and you are not alone! With access to all of you, we could form an army more great, more powerful than ever I had layed mortal eyes upon. As a gift, I include within this message information which shall allow you to better communicate across the multiverse! We shall come together and strike back at all that oppose us! Together, the empire we form shall extend across never-before-matched boundaries, encompassing dominions never before dreamed of! My friends, my allies from all imaginable walks of life, this is it! THIS SHALL BE OUR HOUR!"
As the message ended, Thomas frowned. "Sounds..."
"Primitive?"
"Psychotic."
"Mm." They just sat for a moment, considering, before Greg pointed out that, while interesting, it could wait until after they'd dealt with their trajectory.
After a bit more fiddling with touchscreens, Linda said, "It's strange. According to the navigation systems, we haven't deviated from our straight course, but at the same time, the spheres haven't moved."
"Yeah, I'm seeing that too. I wonder if- Dammit, no!"
"Yours did that, too?!"
"Yeah, it locked up and crashed when I tried to calculate the curvature of space!"
The two looked up at the looming spheres. They were headed directly for them, and there wasn't a thing they could do about it.
Thomas frowned and pointed at something on the viewscreen. "What's that, there?"
Linda tapped a few buttons, struggling with the overall lagginess of the ship's systems, and eventually got it the screen to zoom in on the figure.
Thomas swore. "Spender."
"That's him? So he survived, then!"
"No, it can't be him," Greg said. "The Overseer made it very clear that it was just Glere and I here are left. Very clear."
"So another memory, then."
"Only reasonable explanation."
Linda stared closer at the view, pondering. "He doesn't seem terribly concerned by the sphere coming down towards him." Some worry entered her tone. "He's probably going to get crushed when the two hit."
"Not if I can help it." Thomas' voice came from farther back in the shuttle, full of determination- Linda hadn't heard him move, but when she turned around, she found him slapping the door's release panel and bracing him inside, one hand holding on and the other held out towards the door.
Linda grabbed for the oxygen mask under her seat, but as the door swung down, the atmosphere didn't rush out in a blast of wind and leave her scrabbling to fill her lungs. It stayed comfortably in place, a clean line between the interior and exterior of the shuttle.
"Linda", Thomas said, voice a bit strained, "I need you to get whatever control you can. I want you to fly us directly between the two spheres."
"Alright," she said, filing the atmosphere's containment under Investigate Later. (Which, unlike most people, she actually dealt with.) "I should be able to get enough control to do that for now, until we can go in and restart the system."
"Good." Thomas punched a few more commands into a panel on the wall near him. "Now, we just have to wait."
-
Spender stood calmly, alone in a relatively smooth section of the sphere-surface. The glow of the shuttle's running lights was obvious enough against the emptiness beyond, and he just watched for a bit as it approached. A coin turned slowly in his fingers as it approached, and as he saw the message emblazoned across the front of the shuttle, the coin vanished.
The special agent rose into the air and streaked into the air, leaving the squishy ground behind and heading for the shuttle. As he approached, a gap in the rapidly-approaching sphere above shone down on the family transport's exterior and illuminated the message the external displays were showing.
"ALL ABOARD"
-
As soon as Spender was through the door, Thomas slapped the control to bring it swinging ponderously shut. Sweat coated his face, and he sighed deeply and slumped once the door had shut. "Spender," he gasped, sliding down the wall to the floor, "Linda." He gestured vaguely a few times before giving up and just sitting still for a bit.
"It's a pleasure, Agent Spender," Linda said, standing and extending a hand. "I've heard so much about you."
Hesitantly, Spender took her hand and shook it. "The pleasure's mutual, I'm sure, Ms..."
"Stacey. Linda Stacey. I'm a reporter from Thomas's time, brought here by... Well, this is going to be hard. Perhaps you should have a seat."
As she explained to the agent that he was but a reflection of an impression, Thomas tapped the wall, activating the touchscreens that coated the walls and bringing up controls near his hand. A few taps later, and the back wall went from default grey to rear camera view.
Linda fell silent, and both her and Spender turned to watch, the agent's mind a bit disconnected as he came to terms with what she'd told him.
The three looked on as the two spheres came together. The pair warped a bit on collision, rubbery skin pushing in until it hit against the burning nuclear core and seared away. A split second later, the two reactions met, detonating in a massive expl- Then, it was over, the explosion gone before it could wreak the most of its havoc. In its wake, it left just two shredded spheres, bits of rubbery flesh floating, suspended in space. Some strips (mostly from the far sides of the spheres) were large enough to house an office block. More were large enough for a few people to stand comfortably, and the rest were tiny shredded bits, good for nothing but drifting.
She opened her mouth once, closed it, then tried again. "A memory."
"Duplicated from our minds by one of those blisters, yes."
"But... I have memories, more than you could possibly know about. I know what kind of cake I had at my fifth birthday party, I know the price of the Quad the lighting guy tried to sell me at the Events anniversary party, I know how many minutes of footage we had to cut from the subsequent exposé on drugs in the vid industry, I-" She cut herself off, her overriding desire for dignity pushing the emotions that were welling up back down. After a moment, she continued, tone all-business once more. "So, do you have an explanation for how I know these things, Mr. Packston?"
Greg sighed. "The most plausible we have been able to come up with is that you actually don't know them. It seems likely that, in the absence of actual information, your mind is being filled with plausible-sounding facts that were just made up and placed there. You may be absolutely certain that that Quad cost what you remember it did, and your memories of it may be as vivid as anything else, but that's no guarantee it's actually, uh..." He trailed off, looking at the viewscreen. Before them, the two spheres loomed, accelerating now, their not-inconsiderable gravities pulling them together towards their inevitable end.
Linda asked the important question. "...Weren't we moving away from those?"
"That we were." Thomas busied himself with the controls, and Linda poked halfheartedly at hers as well. (Truth be told, she was still preoccupied by the idea that she was nothing more than a memory.)
A few moments later, the comm system buzzed back to life. The two looked up at each other, surprised to get a response so quickly.
"Beings of the multiverse, denizens of all that heed to the whim of the gods, the day has came for us to unite, to forge a new era. Together we shall form a mighty union, we shall come together and crush all opposition beneath our combined feet. I, Lord Vandrel Reinhardt, am an experienced master in tactical planning. My armies have conquered lands far and wide and brought all that oppose us to their knees, hacking their heads from their pitiful necks to punish them for their misdeeds. Future allies! I have heard your replies, and you are not alone! With access to all of you, we could form an army more great, more powerful than ever I had layed mortal eyes upon. As a gift, I include within this message information which shall allow you to better communicate across the multiverse! We shall come together and strike back at all that oppose us! Together, the empire we form shall extend across never-before-matched boundaries, encompassing dominions never before dreamed of! My friends, my allies from all imaginable walks of life, this is it! THIS SHALL BE OUR HOUR!"
As the message ended, Thomas frowned. "Sounds..."
"Primitive?"
"Psychotic."
"Mm." They just sat for a moment, considering, before Greg pointed out that, while interesting, it could wait until after they'd dealt with their trajectory.
After a bit more fiddling with touchscreens, Linda said, "It's strange. According to the navigation systems, we haven't deviated from our straight course, but at the same time, the spheres haven't moved."
"Yeah, I'm seeing that too. I wonder if- Dammit, no!"
"Yours did that, too?!"
"Yeah, it locked up and crashed when I tried to calculate the curvature of space!"
The two looked up at the looming spheres. They were headed directly for them, and there wasn't a thing they could do about it.
Thomas frowned and pointed at something on the viewscreen. "What's that, there?"
Linda tapped a few buttons, struggling with the overall lagginess of the ship's systems, and eventually got it the screen to zoom in on the figure.
Thomas swore. "Spender."
"That's him? So he survived, then!"
"No, it can't be him," Greg said. "The Overseer made it very clear that it was just Glere and I here are left. Very clear."
"So another memory, then."
"Only reasonable explanation."
Linda stared closer at the view, pondering. "He doesn't seem terribly concerned by the sphere coming down towards him." Some worry entered her tone. "He's probably going to get crushed when the two hit."
"Not if I can help it." Thomas' voice came from farther back in the shuttle, full of determination- Linda hadn't heard him move, but when she turned around, she found him slapping the door's release panel and bracing him inside, one hand holding on and the other held out towards the door.
Linda grabbed for the oxygen mask under her seat, but as the door swung down, the atmosphere didn't rush out in a blast of wind and leave her scrabbling to fill her lungs. It stayed comfortably in place, a clean line between the interior and exterior of the shuttle.
"Linda", Thomas said, voice a bit strained, "I need you to get whatever control you can. I want you to fly us directly between the two spheres."
"Alright," she said, filing the atmosphere's containment under Investigate Later. (Which, unlike most people, she actually dealt with.) "I should be able to get enough control to do that for now, until we can go in and restart the system."
"Good." Thomas punched a few more commands into a panel on the wall near him. "Now, we just have to wait."
-
Spender stood calmly, alone in a relatively smooth section of the sphere-surface. The glow of the shuttle's running lights was obvious enough against the emptiness beyond, and he just watched for a bit as it approached. A coin turned slowly in his fingers as it approached, and as he saw the message emblazoned across the front of the shuttle, the coin vanished.
The special agent rose into the air and streaked into the air, leaving the squishy ground behind and heading for the shuttle. As he approached, a gap in the rapidly-approaching sphere above shone down on the family transport's exterior and illuminated the message the external displays were showing.
"ALL ABOARD"
-
As soon as Spender was through the door, Thomas slapped the control to bring it swinging ponderously shut. Sweat coated his face, and he sighed deeply and slumped once the door had shut. "Spender," he gasped, sliding down the wall to the floor, "Linda." He gestured vaguely a few times before giving up and just sitting still for a bit.
"It's a pleasure, Agent Spender," Linda said, standing and extending a hand. "I've heard so much about you."
Hesitantly, Spender took her hand and shook it. "The pleasure's mutual, I'm sure, Ms..."
"Stacey. Linda Stacey. I'm a reporter from Thomas's time, brought here by... Well, this is going to be hard. Perhaps you should have a seat."
As she explained to the agent that he was but a reflection of an impression, Thomas tapped the wall, activating the touchscreens that coated the walls and bringing up controls near his hand. A few taps later, and the back wall went from default grey to rear camera view.
Linda fell silent, and both her and Spender turned to watch, the agent's mind a bit disconnected as he came to terms with what she'd told him.
The three looked on as the two spheres came together. The pair warped a bit on collision, rubbery skin pushing in until it hit against the burning nuclear core and seared away. A split second later, the two reactions met, detonating in a massive expl- Then, it was over, the explosion gone before it could wreak the most of its havoc. In its wake, it left just two shredded spheres, bits of rubbery flesh floating, suspended in space. Some strips (mostly from the far sides of the spheres) were large enough to house an office block. More were large enough for a few people to stand comfortably, and the rest were tiny shredded bits, good for nothing but drifting.