RE: The Fearsome Encounter (GBS3G8) [Round 2: Oh Two Oh]
06-17-2013, 10:45 PM
Redclaw was floating. For a desperate moment he thought himself back in the void, his efforts to re-enter the massive construct in vain. But while that floating had been the emptiness of death, this felt warm and safe. He opened his eyes.
He was in some sort of glass enclosure. The way images from outside of it were warped, it seemed like he must be underwater, but whatever fluid he was in felt like it wasn’t even there, was an extension of himself. There were tubes going into his arm and he was muzzled with a device feeding him air. He thought this should make him furious, but he could only work himself up to mild annoyance. There were things moving around outside the glass, bobbing along below him and pulsing with color. Looking at them, he could hear them speak.
“...no show, and no word from our handler. Something’s going on.”
“Obviously. There’s no way we’d have been able to grab this thing under normal circumstances. If there’s a gap in surveillance, we need to take advantage.”
“Sir, neural activity is on the rise. It’s awake.”
“Life signs are stable?”
“Yes sir.”
“Then empty the tank, and let’s see if we can get any use out of it while we have the chance.”
The tubes withdrew from him with a small squirt of blood twisting away into the water, which then began to drain away as vents opened up beneath him. The things outside kept talking, but their speech became garbled as turbulent water distorted their images. Once the last of it had flowed out and Redclaw settled to the bottom of the tank, the glass walls around him rose up and he had his first clear look at his rescuers and captors.
There were three of them. Redclaw noted their positions and settled on a plan of attack, should it come to that, as he observed them. They floated, buoyed by a central round mass the size of a sheep, covered in bony plates in a dark tan. Vertical lines of matte black ran between the plates, sparking now and then with color. The plates shifted across each other as the central body expanded and contracted, bobbing in place or lazily moving through the air. From their bottom edge, a curtain of hairlike tendrils surrounded three thicker tentacles. Each of these split at the end into three; Redclaw took these to be their fingers as the subservient one was using them to poke at a terminal display.
The one Redclaw had pegged as the pack leader floated up in front of him, settling two of its tentacles on the floor and proffering the last. Rainbow hues flashed down the black stripes on its central body.
“You took a real tumble there, not to mention the damage from smashing through that window. It’s a good thing we found you and patched you up quick as we did.”
Redclaw winced. The speech was doubled up on top of itself, coming from the thing and very slightly later from a small black orb affixed to one of its bony plates. On top of that, even through machine or color, it managed to sound unctuous. Redclaw got to his feet, ignoring the outstretched tentacle, and pointed to the device.
“Translation is not necessary.”
The outstretched tentacle withdrew, reaching up to manipulate the translator as the leader rose back into the air.
“Ah, excellent. It is very rare to meet one who can understand Luvian. I am Ambassador Entaund.”
“I am Redclaw, son of Redtooth, Warchief of the Lakes People. I am in your debt.”
“It was no—”
“It is not a state I asked to be in,” Redclaw continued, stepping off the raised base of the tank and forcing the Ambassador to bob back. Its tentacles drew upwards and the fine tendrils surrounding them bristled. The middle Luvian, whom Redclaw had first heard, came towards them to float besides Entaund.
“Ah,” Entaund said with a pulse of purple, “yet here we are. Tell me, Warchief, were you making war on the Jewel when you smashed a single pane of glass and almost died in the process?”
“I would gladly die if it meant destroying this affront against nature.”
“How fortunate. Perhaps you can repay your debt in a way that is satisfactory to all of us.”
Scant minutes later, Redclaw slipped from the Luvian suite. Despite the grand scale, the situation was as mundane and petty as the day was long. The Luvians were being extorted by the IAU, who ran this ship. Entaund’s delegation were both negotiators and hostages, though the real hostage was Luva itself. They wished the extortion ended, with extreme prejudice. Redclaw was more than happy to assist.
The Jewel, where the Luvians were housed/imprisoned, was a stark contrast to the slums in which Redclaw had first been deposited. It was all open spaces and flowing water, vaulted by swooping arches of white and gold. Like in the Oh Two Oh, all manner of beings were in evidence, but these moved down the wide avenues with a self-possessed leisure, rather than the general tenor being one of scurrying. Redclaw watched them briefly from the elevated walkway the suite exited on to, taking in the layout of the ship. To one side, the warm tones of the Jewel abruptly ended in a crude mating with the gunmetal angularity of the Oh Two Oh. Traffic didn’t flow across the boundary. At this distance, Redclaw could just make out the arrayed IAU soldiers who kept the riff-raff out and the beautiful people in.
Luckily, his quarry was on this side of the cordon. Properly oriented, and with payment in hand, Redclaw set off for an appointment with Mr. Found.
He was in some sort of glass enclosure. The way images from outside of it were warped, it seemed like he must be underwater, but whatever fluid he was in felt like it wasn’t even there, was an extension of himself. There were tubes going into his arm and he was muzzled with a device feeding him air. He thought this should make him furious, but he could only work himself up to mild annoyance. There were things moving around outside the glass, bobbing along below him and pulsing with color. Looking at them, he could hear them speak.
“...no show, and no word from our handler. Something’s going on.”
“Obviously. There’s no way we’d have been able to grab this thing under normal circumstances. If there’s a gap in surveillance, we need to take advantage.”
“Sir, neural activity is on the rise. It’s awake.”
“Life signs are stable?”
“Yes sir.”
“Then empty the tank, and let’s see if we can get any use out of it while we have the chance.”
The tubes withdrew from him with a small squirt of blood twisting away into the water, which then began to drain away as vents opened up beneath him. The things outside kept talking, but their speech became garbled as turbulent water distorted their images. Once the last of it had flowed out and Redclaw settled to the bottom of the tank, the glass walls around him rose up and he had his first clear look at his rescuers and captors.
There were three of them. Redclaw noted their positions and settled on a plan of attack, should it come to that, as he observed them. They floated, buoyed by a central round mass the size of a sheep, covered in bony plates in a dark tan. Vertical lines of matte black ran between the plates, sparking now and then with color. The plates shifted across each other as the central body expanded and contracted, bobbing in place or lazily moving through the air. From their bottom edge, a curtain of hairlike tendrils surrounded three thicker tentacles. Each of these split at the end into three; Redclaw took these to be their fingers as the subservient one was using them to poke at a terminal display.
The one Redclaw had pegged as the pack leader floated up in front of him, settling two of its tentacles on the floor and proffering the last. Rainbow hues flashed down the black stripes on its central body.
“You took a real tumble there, not to mention the damage from smashing through that window. It’s a good thing we found you and patched you up quick as we did.”
Redclaw winced. The speech was doubled up on top of itself, coming from the thing and very slightly later from a small black orb affixed to one of its bony plates. On top of that, even through machine or color, it managed to sound unctuous. Redclaw got to his feet, ignoring the outstretched tentacle, and pointed to the device.
“Translation is not necessary.”
The outstretched tentacle withdrew, reaching up to manipulate the translator as the leader rose back into the air.
“Ah, excellent. It is very rare to meet one who can understand Luvian. I am Ambassador Entaund.”
“I am Redclaw, son of Redtooth, Warchief of the Lakes People. I am in your debt.”
“It was no—”
“It is not a state I asked to be in,” Redclaw continued, stepping off the raised base of the tank and forcing the Ambassador to bob back. Its tentacles drew upwards and the fine tendrils surrounding them bristled. The middle Luvian, whom Redclaw had first heard, came towards them to float besides Entaund.
“Ah,” Entaund said with a pulse of purple, “yet here we are. Tell me, Warchief, were you making war on the Jewel when you smashed a single pane of glass and almost died in the process?”
“I would gladly die if it meant destroying this affront against nature.”
“How fortunate. Perhaps you can repay your debt in a way that is satisfactory to all of us.”
- - -
Scant minutes later, Redclaw slipped from the Luvian suite. Despite the grand scale, the situation was as mundane and petty as the day was long. The Luvians were being extorted by the IAU, who ran this ship. Entaund’s delegation were both negotiators and hostages, though the real hostage was Luva itself. They wished the extortion ended, with extreme prejudice. Redclaw was more than happy to assist.
The Jewel, where the Luvians were housed/imprisoned, was a stark contrast to the slums in which Redclaw had first been deposited. It was all open spaces and flowing water, vaulted by swooping arches of white and gold. Like in the Oh Two Oh, all manner of beings were in evidence, but these moved down the wide avenues with a self-possessed leisure, rather than the general tenor being one of scurrying. Redclaw watched them briefly from the elevated walkway the suite exited on to, taking in the layout of the ship. To one side, the warm tones of the Jewel abruptly ended in a crude mating with the gunmetal angularity of the Oh Two Oh. Traffic didn’t flow across the boundary. At this distance, Redclaw could just make out the arrayed IAU soldiers who kept the riff-raff out and the beautiful people in.
Luckily, his quarry was on this side of the cordon. Properly oriented, and with payment in hand, Redclaw set off for an appointment with Mr. Found.