Fallout Blues : Fallout Series Discussion

» Sun Dec 05, 2010 8:58 pm

Maharg67 used to be Dragonpen61
1
ARCHAVO
TEKVAULT-101 CONFINEMENT BLUES
:fallout:

Blue jumpsuits for men, pink for women, black for security, white for social security, gold for overseers, silver for directors, coordinators and advisers while copper was for the supervisors, foremen and watchers. Outcasts wore red and criminals wore vertical striped grey and brown jumpsuits. Androids wore orange jumpsuits. Nulls wore grey jumpsuits as did beastfolk, the chimpnoids and gorillanoids. Chunky humanoid robodroids, halfway between androids and robots, had the fake appearance of wearing grey jumpsuits.

Organised on the surface and barely organised in reality, life in TekVault-101 was cramped, arid and basic for most. The Elite lived a mundane life style by Prewar Elite standards but they were much better off than were the Servitors who were much more better off than Commoners. Elitors, they called them, those of the Vault-Elite. The main habitation sectors of the vault were known as the Vault-Elite, Vault-Midway and Vault-Commons they were called.

One million people were in the great sprawling TekVault-101 of modular structures linked by the Vaultway tunnels for hover, wheeled and rail traffic. One million people starting to spill out into gen-engineered caverns lit and warmed by glowcrystal or suncrystal that supported life in bigger seminatural caverns. Fringers, the Outcasts and their descendents, struggled to grow exotic crops in the caverns while fighting off mutated threats and gen-engineered monsters left over from the Doom-War (World War Four).

A young man named Archavo was born in TekVault-101 and was of a Servitor Family half way between the Elitors above and the Commoners below. He was of above average grades and other achievements. He largely kept to himself except for a small bunch of carefully selected friends who were mostly those others would not bother having as friends. He had two hard working parents who were careful not to be too noticed by either the government or the rebels. He played sports, rode a bicycle through the vault cycleways as many did and did a good deal in super virtual reality.

But he had his secrets.

Yes, there were rebels but they were generally weak, divided and constantly being hunted by the Political Police, the Security Police and the dreaded Department of Security Intelligence, or DSI.

He also had some challenges and three problems.

2:gun:

oo:
ARCHAVO
RUNNING AND GUNNING IN THE XMAZE

Archavo dived, wary and a little frightened, to one side in his mazegame power armour. As Player #3 of the Maze Ranger Team, he was running a silver ball through the 3Dmaze towards a Maze Devils' goal-hoop. Even as he dropped into the side tunnel, a laser beam zapped through the air where he had been. This tunnel was rubbery and slimy but less so than the hallway he had been running along. Xmaze gaming zones changed constantly through out any given game in a supposedly random fashion but the Maze Master tended to favour the Elitist teams. Archavo did not care. He never had. It was just one more challenge. The young, tough man shot along the new tunnel, shot around a corner low, rolled and hurled the silver ball. It went clean through an enemy goal-hoop.

Chimes rang as the Maze Rangers won thirty-three points. The HUD on his helmet visor confirmed it. The Maze Rangers had won the first game of the three games to be played between the Maze Rangers and the Maze Devils. It was an upset win. Nobody had expected Servitor Class, players from the middle ranks of society, to win against Elitors. Much of it was due to his high playing skill and much was also due to the over confidence of the opposing team who had assumed automatic victory for themselves.

An urgent message came up on his HUD that briefly enraged him. The Maze Master had decided the last scored points were in error and should go to the other team instead. He incited electronic faulting. This was not only falsehood but blatant attempted cheating to favour the Maze Devils over the Maze. But in a moment another message came from the Game Umpire, stating that the Maze Master did not have the authority to make such a decision. The message was negated. The thirty-three points would go to the Maze Rangers along with a bonus three points awarded to the team as compensation for the Maze Master's breaking of game code and regulations.

Archavo waited to be brought out of super virtual reality and back to normal awareness in his allocated capsulechair. Nothing happened. The Maze Master was not bringing him out, as he should have done, which was another breaking of game code and regulations. Sensing approaching danger, he turned and sprinted further along the tunnel, ducking under the goal-hoop that came vertical out from one wall, and darting around a corner. He slipped down a slope even as he pulled out his pulsepistol. Of course one could not kill another player in super virtual reality unless the Shock Trauma Safeties, STSs, were removed but that was hardly likely to happen. Surely even the Maze Master was not that stupid.

Then alarms rang and lights blinking warning red on his HUD even as the Maze Master switched off the STSs. The Master Maze has set him up and somebody was out to kill him. Was it simply because he had dared to lead his Servitor Class player filled team to victory? No, he suspected there was more to it than that. The leader of the opposing team was one Phil Philkins of the Elitor Philkins Family. Philkins had lost a Maze Solo Run trophy to Archavo and had been threatening the younger man ever since with a brutal death. Phil Philkins was a murderous lout dressed up in fancy Elitor gear and, if he needed to show it, good social manners.

Archavo was afraid for that was smart, especially because the enemy were well trained and experienced, especially thanks to their Elitor life style which allowed them access to greater personal resources.

Then he grinned for he saw an opportunity to finally do away with a threat in a legal self defence manner.

The first thug, a woman, came around a corner before him, diving low to shoot him with her pulsepistol while causing him to miss. He leapt upwards, her pulsebullet shooting below him, and shot her in the helmeted head. She at once vanished with a muffled scream of pain and an odd shimmering. But she had been a decoy so he followed his move, smoothly, with a whirling motion. Clearly the Maze Master was giving away his position to the enemy. Archavo struck the wall as he twisted, with his formerly opposite facing shoulder, aimed and shot the second thug into oblivion. Again there was a muffled scream of agony as Phil Philkins was struck down.

Moments later he was, himself, vanishing smoothly and with no pain.

3:glare:
ARCHAVO
AFTER THE GAME

Part 1

The young man was helped out of his capsulechair back in the well lit, well ventilated but dull metallic environment of a SVR Gaming Chamber. Comrade players were there already, having been knocked out of the game earlier on. They were showering in private cubicles or sitting in civil jumpsuits waiting for him to appear. Coach Stella Andrel, of the Maze Rangers, looked worried as she stood waiting for his awakening, standing close to his capsulechair. The other players showed a mixture of emotions. The players sat on long bench-seats against two walls and some were sipping cupcans of coffee or snacking on foodbars. Through a big open doorway came the muffled noises of other teams being active in other chambers. A cleanerbot hummed passed the open doorway, sweep-vacuuming as it went. It was just like the typical ending of a game except that normally the other players would be rushing forward to congratulate him and Sandy, a female player, would be quick to offer him a special favour. This time they kept distant from him with expressions of anger and guilt they could not conceal from him.

Archavo stood in his SVR-suit and began to unplug himself from the now deactivated SVR-circuit. He slipped his helmet off and gave the coach a grin. "Not too bad, then?"

The older, mature but youthful and attractive looking Stella sighed. "Good playing but we were not supposed to win the game, remember? Servitor Class players do not win against Elite Class players. It is more than pride that is hurt here. Some important citizens staked good money on the game and lost a small fortune. Still, I am glad you played well. If we can keep you safe until the second game and then lose, we should be able to assure your future safety." Then she gave a mild grin. "Normally Servitors are forced to put bets on our teams knowing that we will be pressured to lose against the Elitors. Today we made a bundle of winning vaultcredit, a big bundle, instead of losing a big bundle. You pleased a lot of people today of your own class. Now, you get a shower and then change into basic blues."

Yes, it came fully to him now that he had created a difficult situation between the Elitors and the Servitors but also for himself. The damned Elitors always cheated by pressuring Servitor based teams to lose and would not even consider playing against teams made up of Commoner players. Now the Elitors had lost face and the Servitors had gained a victory that would put Elitor pressure on them. Tensions between the Elite and the Services had already been high thanks to Elite decisions to cut back on resources to the Services and to the Commons so they could make their lives even more luxurious and secure. Or so it seemed to non-Elitors in the vault. It was not just the non-Elitor humans who were becoming upset but the so called beastfolk of chimpnoids and gorillanoids. Even the androids (vaultdroids) were expressing concerns about the growing troubles caused by Elitor greed.

Would the Servitor leaders assist Archavo to survive or would they just let him be taken by Elitor wolves?

Oddly enough the coach led him to a body-cubicle that was not normally used. It was a cramped chamber, sealed off to recycle steam, with a shower booth (combined water and wet-sonic), a biochemical toilet and other facilities. As soon as the coach closed the door, though, a secret door opened as a sliding wall panel and a security guard in a black jumpsuit was drawing him away. So they were not going to throw him to the wolves, or so it seemed. He followed the young woman along relatively narrow utility tunnels, unlike the much wider public hallways and tunnels, until they came into a larger utility chamber. Then she pointed him to a chair with a table next to it that had some foodbars, a cupcan of white-sweet coffee and a neatly folded up brand new outfit. Except that it was green-grey survival stuff with black outdoor boots and webbing. He noted a 10mm xdart-pistol that was loaded up with a magazine of 100 xdarts and a back-up fixed magazine of 20 xdarts. It could also take a special top attaching helix magazine with 1,400 xdarts in it. Then there was a big survival-longknife and a shorter but still large survival-knife, both in scabbards. His pipboy was there but also a gunboy, a weapon and survival device pipboy like contraption to be worn on the other wrist. There were other items like a stunclub, a handcomp, a handcom, three pouch multitools, a canteen of water, stunflash hand-grenades and other handy items in pouches.

There was no point in asking the security guard what was going to happen. She would say nothing.

Part 2

Then the Security Chief came in being a Servitor Officer serving the Elite Security Overseer, Directors, Advisers and others who often did little work for a good deal of vaultcredit as salary, allowances and bonuses. The allowances and bonuses were truly angering to middle and lower class Vaultfolk as they more than doubled what any Elitor earned though both the allowances and bonuses were insulting nonsense.

The hard eyed Sarah Hanlin drew over a chair and sat down in front of him. She dropped a compact survival backpack next to him with some items attached to it, along with some body-armour, then she grinned. "We want you to live so we will fake your death. You will go and do a mission for us outside of the vault proper. We are impressed with your skills which makes you one of the best fighters to appear in the vault since Doomsday that ended the Last Great War. When we can, we will bring you back into the vault to start your life again, new."

Why did he sense something disturbing about this woman? She was not telling him the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Was she deliberately sending him to his death?

She passed to him a datachip, compact and normal appearing. "Input these instructions and the assisting data that goes with them. I know it is sudden but the mission should not be too hard for you to carry out. You need to get changed now. Quick, both of us women have seen plenty of men naked."

Archavo did change but was aware that both women admired his youthful slimly muscular body with barely concealed pleasure. So much for professionalism. When he was completed and thankful for his SVR training and experience stimulation-simulations (stimsims), he adjusted his gear. This included flexikevlar smart-helmet, vest with groin-guard, sleeves and shinguards. He also had a tripulser, a carbine sized weapon with three types of pulseguns that could fire disintegration, stun and electromagnetic pulses. The weapon could fire light, medium or heavy pulse-bullets or bigger pulse-shells but the bigger the pulse-projectile, the greater the energy drainage.

Such gear was expensive and there were some shortages so they would hardly give him such gear just to lose it needlessly. Or so he hoped.

Then the security guard was leading him through utility tunnels, darting through utility tunnels, reporting to security robots like eyebots lifted by fanjets and securatrons or protectrons on their chunky legs. Security vaultdroids were to be found in such places but the pair did not run into any of them; Archavo doubted this was coincidental since the androids were harder to trick than were the robots. It was clear that those people behind him did not want him to be noted leaving the vault. The way was mainly through harsh, hard metallic spaces lit not too brightly by solid-state fluropanels with consistant background noises of machinery humming, pipes gurgling and other such sounds. Sometimes roaches rustled through the places or mice darted quickly into view and out of it again. Once a mouser-cat, tough and wiry, showed up and then shot off again. Such cats were allowed to survive only because they ate mice and other small vermin; or so went the official line for in truth the vault lacked enough resources to truly deal with the cats. On top of that many folk had grown fond of the felines and actually fed them, kept them safe and even pampered them in other ways.

Then they came to a public hallway and to a light flow of foot traffic being mainly humans in mostly basic blue and basic pink jumpsuits.

TO BE CONTINUED

» Mon Dec 06, 2010 9:24 am

good as is...but i dont know much about fallout..
still pretty good :tops:

» Sun Dec 05, 2010 9:43 pm

Thanks fallout_fan_boy!

4:disguise:
ARCHAVO: CYCLING THE HALLWAYS

Pedal driven vehicles had turned out to be a boon for vault life. They ran smoothly through the flat levels or up-down the rampways of the vault. They did not use valuable energy from the vault's three main sources of power. They were fairly simple to make, maintain and use. The Vault Government did not see them as a threat and kept license fees and registration fees down to a minimum. Indeed many government employees now used officially owned and run pedal vehicles including the Department of Public Transit, the DepPT. So they caught a public transit quadcycle while Archavo hid his identity with the polarised visor of his helmet and the rest of his survival outfit. Everybody on the vehicle pedalled but it was not a hard push considering all those pedalling and the relative lightness of both quadcycle and those on it.

Nobody took much notice and he wondered why until a boy child grinned at him and spoke.

"Are you going to play in the Survival Game?" The boy was most eager in his blue jumpsuit that was a little too tight for him and repaired at least once. "I am betting on Angry Anderson."

Archavo knew about sports, including the Survival Games played not in SVR but in a big old slowly crumbling arena with a big maze, some earthworks and other obstacles. He had played the game twice but generally preferred SVR environments even if even they were cramped because the government did not want to remind people that the outside was much bigger and more open than the increasingly crowded vault. He knew the survival-athletes quite well, both solo and team players. He responded in a muffled manner. "Sorry I can't show you my face, kid, but I am a new surprise player and the media wants to keep me under wraps." He sighed. "I can give you this." He pulled out a single packet of ration wafer biscuits and handed it to the boy. "Eat them. Share them with your mum here."

He could sense they were both a little hungry.

The boy grinned and opened the packet. His mother smiled awkwardly at Archavo but took some of the compressed nutritional wafer biscuits, or CNWBs, and ate some. Then the boy ate some. The mother suddenly handed some wafer biscuits to a stranger, a young man, who looked surprised and then grateful. Then he was handing out another packet of CNWBs. Even the driver got some, eating with one hand while steering the half-wheel with his other. It was a surprise but not a great one. Those with extra, Servitors or Commoners or even some Elitors, gave away stuff sometimes in public as an old custom known as 'karmic gifting'. The security guard ate some biscuits and at first seemed annoyed with him but Archavo sensed her mood change to one of curiosity, even puzzlement.

They got off at a bank of three big public transit elevators, one of which was out of service causing some extra delays and crowding of the working elevators. But then the security guard seemed to change her mind and she led him off in another direction towards the entrance of a utility corridor. Even as she did, he sensed that they were being closely watched through the eyecams that were inside one-way armaglass domes so nobody could see where they were aiming.

The security guard paused and faced him. Then she removed her helmet to reveal an attractive face and short cut red-brown hair. She studied him with beautiful brown eyes and then she spoke in a cool, almost emotionless voice. "Security Chief Sarah Halin wants you dead. You have caused complications in a situation that is already tricky. There is growing tension between the Servitors and the Elitors that is threatening to break out into a civil war. On top of that a newly risen rebel network is representing the Commoners and now it is feared that a three way war might rip apart TekVault-101. Yet the damned Elitors refuse to give way to any reform moves at all. I am an assassin but from this moment I am resigning my position, which is not supposedly possible. I am going to take to to a woman who will be able to assist you to survive but then I must leave you. Follow me if you want to live."

Sensing only truth in her words, he followed her.

5 :bolt:

ARCHAVO: RUNNING THE UTILITY CORRIDORS

The two of them moved at first through typical utility corridors, dull, almost bare except for even spaced hatches, doors, workstation alcoves and other such features. But then the fake security guard was leading him down through a hatchway into darker, dirtier spaces where cables, pipes, gratings and such like were not so neat. Roaches scuttled in the dimly lit confines. Spiders sat at the middle of spider webs. A rat scuttled away from the pair. The assassin led him through a series of corridors, down ladder-tubes, through chambers filled or half filled with quietly humming machinery. He soon realised that they were on the run, that she had deliberately chosen to move through the Tweens, the more practical but not so neat area of the vault where many of the actual hardware keeping TekVault-101 running was to be found. There was still security surveillance there but much less than in other areas despite the Department of Security's desire to change this.

A blast of fetid air struck him as they made their way along a corridor where the floor was grating and down below first level treated sewerage was flowing on its way to its second stage of treatment. He knew quite accurately where they were. It was one of his special abilities that he liked to keep to himself. They were leaving the Central Zone where the games were held, along with a great deal of many other activities, both SVR and real. They were down in the lower levels, down where the recycling took place, where there were many important service-support network-systems.

They were moving quickly along the same corridor with the grid floor when he halted her. "I sense danger. Don't look at me that way. How do you think I became such a good game athlete at my age?"

At that she nodded her head briskly. "I believe you. I have viewed your datados (data dossier) and clearly you have a very high psychic potential. Sooner or later the Elite would have either recruited you, locked you into the dreaded PRDH or have had you killed if your life had not changed so much today. They still may do so."

PRDH was the Psychic Research and Development Hospital, supposedly a complex set up by the Elite to help the psychically gifted. Instead the PRDH had a dreadful reputation for brutality, horrible experimentation and the supposed accidental death of many of its 'patients'.

He frowned. "I need to rescue some people, to take them somewhere safe. No, I am not stupid. I have been planning a possible escape for a very long time. I have my own special resources. Perhaps now you can start following me. We need to get to a wireport cubicle, even one that is deactivated or semiactive."

She shrugged. "Okay but you are going to have to do something for me soon that should be agreeable with you unless your datados is wrong about your sixual orientation. You are heterosixual?"

Archavo nodded. "Yes, despite the Elite's not so subtle push for more people two go the other way to slow down the birth of so many Commoner children. That is what they are doing. I worked it out as I have worked out so many thing that other people seem so blind to. Why are you looking at me like that? I have a girlfriend."

She snorted. "Who is cheating on you with an Elitor young man who is bribing her with small expensive gifts, SRV entertainments and some expensive antisocial drugs."

"Yes, I know it." He shrugged. "Thought I knew her better than I did. Former girlfriend then. Haven't seen her in months. About time I accepted the truth. Either that or I shoot her for turning out to be such a s***. I suggest we get going. I hear a soft humming noise like a very quiet eyebot moving through the air and it is getting louder."

The assassin cursed softly. "Deathbot! Most likely more than one. Sarah Halin sent them after both of us. At least that is what I would have done if I were her. Go on then, if you are going to lead. Lead on, McDuff."

Deathbots were more deadlier assassin versions of eyebots. The Department of Security officially had no such equipment, let alone use it, but at least half of the security services and devices officially did not exist.

So he turned and began to lead her. The first thing he did was to head back the way they had come from and she was soon following him.

6 :toughninja:

ARCHAVO: INTO THE RIMZONE WITH DEATHBOTS A PLENTY #1

The two of them skirted through the Tweens, sometimes crawling underneath or above machinery, sometimes moving in an annoying crouch through ventilation shafts where air flowed against or with them and the sounds of rotors could be heard throbbing through out. Any radroaches they met scuttled past, avoiding her but coming quite close to him with out any apparent concern. As they passed him, the radroaches would make some odd noises and he would do the same. The assassin stared in amazement and more so when he matter of factly informed her they were exchanging greetings, radroach fashion.

For a while they seemingly escaped from the deathbots but then again he sensed them. They dropped down into a large metallic chamber with chains hanging in corners and a fair sized gantry with a crane hook hanging from it on a thick chain. Here they set an ambush, waiting for the deathbots to come. When the first globe floated into the chamber it shifted to its left, the following one going straight and the third going to its right, the three of them spanning out to be less grouped as targets and to cover more of the chamber. They used 3Dcams, sensors and scanners. Each had a xdartler, a weapon that could fire volleys of deadly xdarts, a pulselasergun and could shoot various types of 20mmCS grenade-shells. Each also had an EMP-gun to knock out robots, turrets or other machinery. They worked together intrinisically networked with the same network-system. Despite their fairly small size, deathbots were greatly feared for good reason by many people in the vault. The only good thing was that there were relatively few of them.

The two of them raised their guns and fired as one, each having tagged a different target. Both deathbots exploded nicely with a flash and a bang. The third deathbot unleashed a shrapnel flash grenade-shell towards the centre of where the two humans were firing from, hoping to knock out both with out doing any real harm to the infrastructure. The two humans dived low behind metallic barriers. Archavo found himself watching a swarm of tiny silvery macrobots busily repairing part of a pipe. A damaged macrobot was whirling in circles. He focused on it and seconds later it was fully repaired and was back to work with the others.

They again rose to fire, the assassin almost being hit by a volley of xdarts that exploded off a metallic wall and Archavo smashed the machine with his tripulser weapon, firing a single moderate power pulse-shell so that it exploded dramatically. Problem was that deathbots had a kind of deadman alert switch. As soon as they stopped giving out signals from a given set of coordinates, other deathbots would start moving towards those coordinates. So Archavo was soon leading them on the run again but this time his took some passengers as some of the macrobots had decided to join him. They rode inside a pouch with some shards of metal that they quietly and efficiently reshaped for Archavo who macrobots, microbots and nanobots had some sense of.

Sarah Halin seemed to want him dead badly if she would use so many deathbots to get him.

Then they found a wireport cubicle, semiactive, and a little damaged. Archavo placed his hand on the machine hull, the macrobots shot out of his pouch and were soon busy slipping into special macrobot entrances into the machine to start repairing it. The assassin kept guard while he activated the diagnostics 3Dscreen, a small screen used by caretakers and repair techs, and checked the wire teleporter's functionality status. Then, seconds later, it was working fully again. The macrobots returned to the pouch and, with some obvious reluctance, the assassin stepped into the cubicle with him. There was a sparkling shimmer and then they were vanished.

A couple of minutes later a trio of deathbots drifted into the same chamber where the wireport cubicle stood but they were unable to operate such devices. Indeed, even if they could, they could not track where the two humans had teleported to, travelling across TekVault-101 in just three seconds.

TO BE CONTINUED

» Mon Dec 06, 2010 12:59 am

7 :flamethrower:

ARCHAVO: INTO THE RIMZONE WITH DEATHBOTS A PLENTY #2

They both came sparkling into solid existence again in a wireport cubicle in a wireport hub-chamber long abandoned with the general break down of the vault's wire-teleportation network-system. Both were a little dizzy and had slight heachaches that passed fairly quickly. A light coat of dust lay over most of the chamber but there was a cleared path of humanoid and robotic tracks leading from one wireport cubicle to a door of the chamber. This was no surprise as for special reasons some wireport cubicles of all nine types had been kept functioning. Mostly non living substances were sent through. Easiest sent were non living, non organic substances. Electronics could suffer damage if they were not protected from EMP like damage.

Why had the new wonder technology of wire-teleportation been closed down in the vault? Because strange events began to occur. Of those events only few knew the truth and others had to depend upon many circulating whispers. The whispers spoke of vanishing people, of strangers appearing, of people becoming distorted and so on. Some of the stories were truly gruesome.

Archavo had come to suspect that the truth was a combination of factors including ones not whispered about and excluding some often whispered about.

The security guard dressed assassin frowned at him. "How did you do that?"

He shrugged. "I do not know. All I know is that I have odd influences on creatures, on computers, on robots, on network-systems. Still, I have much learning behind what I do. I have a good understanding of biology, electronics, physics, mathamatics and much else. I have been told I am too smart to be a Servitor born and bred. If we run into any more deathbots, I want to try a trick on them other than us destroying them. If it works it will make our future survival much more likely. What do you know of TekVault-101?"

She shrugged. "Now is not the time for playing twenty questions?"

Archavo spotted something and he crouched to examine a small splash of what looked like blood on the metallic floor. "Blood!" He gently touched it. "Not quite human. No chimpnoid or gorillanoid. Odd. A subtle but important difference between this blood and normal blood types. Traces of some kind of FEV, Forced Evolutionary Virus." He sniffed the spot of substance on the tip of his finger. "Yes, perhaps cloned. A null but not a null."

Nulls were humans born to O'Ryan's Curse of being sixless, bigger plus stronger than standard and slower thinking. This was a generalisation but only few nulls were different from it. O'Ryan was the professor who had created the serum to cure the Red Splash illness striking down many Vault Dwellers in the 2150s and 2160s. The vaccines had stopped the Red Splash but then the nulls had begun to be born. Nulls did not mingle in large numbers in main parts of the vault or with mainstream folks. They worked mainly down in the lowest levels doing tough, often dangerous work in exchange for low pay and basic conditions.

He stood up and gave the woman a thoughtful look. "I suggest strongly that we go quickly from here. There are more deathbots coming but not through the main door there. We must hurry."

Then they were through the sliding power-doors and running quickly, lightly along a metallic utility corridor. Even as they did the sound of deathbots moving through the air, behind them, came to both of them. They turned a corner at an intersection of corridors even as a volley of xdarts shot past them to explode in mid air at the end of their programmed range. The pair reached another power-door, it opened, and then they were plunging into the Rimzone. The chamber they entered was dimly lit by emergency fluropanels, was full of lightly horrible smelling dank air and had some humans huddled in a corner. They wore raggedy colourful clothes, were grubby and were playing a game of dice'n'cards.

A gnarled old man threw some dice onto a worn grey blanket and grinned. "Three up and one down. Jack of Hearts is the next claim. I got a winning play so far, girls."

The two young women squatted in dark dull pink jumpsuits that had seen much better days. One threw back her dirty blonde hair with its colourful hair band. She went to say something but then turned and saw the two newcomers. She cursed harshly and then she spoke. "We got unwelcome company, grandpa. Maybe we should shoot them."

The gnarled old man turned and looked at the newcomers and then he grinned. "Hush, Shella, that man is Archavo, one of the best gladiators and athletes to ever grace our wonderful vault. He comes to the Rimzone bringing generous loads of karmic gifting sometimes. That security guard ain't no security guard. She stands like a real pro killer, one of them special ops agents or maybe an assassin. If you wan't to die, then try using your home made rubbish zipgun on them."

The assassin frowned in obvious annoyance at her real nature being so easily detected by the old man.

Archavo grinned. "Grandpa Moses, deathbots are chasing us. We need you to guide us to safety and quick. The girls, well they should come also."

The old man cursed and then started packing up with amazing speed and efficiency as did the young women, who were both older than Archavo. Grandpa Moses was soon leading the others through a tricky course of corridors, ladder-tubes and even a rampway. The conditions got worse in some places and then better but they were never very good by human standards. But they did not fully lose the deathbots.

8 :gun:

ARCHAVO: INTO THE RIMZONE WITH DEATHBOTS A PLENTY #3

Archavo and Justine, the assassin had finally revealed her real first name, fired at the deathbots entering the chamber. They were both surprised by the sheer number of these machines hunting for Archavo when there were not meant to be but a few dozen deathbots available in TekVault-101. The old man and two other young women, Rimzoners, crouched down behind machinery for safety. They lacked the firepower, skill or experience to be of much assistance. The five of them had become cornered in that chamber by the deathbots when the assassination robots had suddenly come at them from two opposite directions. Archavo had come to fear that the deathbots were keeping them pinned while a far more deadly force came to the scene to finish the job of murder.

He aimed and fired his tripulser, having plugged it into a local power-point with a thin flexible power-cord. The weapon was now powered from the power grid of the vault and the batteries were being recharged as this happened. He struck a deathbot with an electromagnetic pulse-bullet and it started to wobble, to go out of control, its weapons ceasing to fire. Then Justine blew it to bits with her own gun, a 10mmCS autopistol. Yet it seemed that the flow of deathbots was almost endless except for now there was a pause in their attacks.

Justine cursed. "Those were my last 10mmCS rounds except for one full mag of 60 shots."

He reached out. "Give me your last full mag. Please, hurry. Trust me!"

Reluctantly she did so, passing them to him, and he put the magazine on a flat metal surface, touched it lightly and there was a sparkling shimmer. He passed her back four full full magazines. She gave him a look of surprise but then shrugged as if she had experienced this sort of thing before. Perhaps she had done so. Odd things did happen in the vault. The assassin looked more pleased as she reloaded her gun and slipped the other three full magazines away.

It was not long before the deathbots came from two directions, some smashing through a vent shaft, but something surprising began to happen. The two lots of deathbots began fighting each other while one lot, those coming through the doorway, were firing both at the two humans and their robotic enemies. Realising somebody had sent deathbots to save them against other deathbots, the athlete and the assassin fired upon those robots that were the threat. The air became filled with energy beams and projectiles issuing death and destruction. Robots exploded again and again, often falling to crash against machinery or the floor. The assassin was hurled back against a wall, wounded despite her armour, and yet she kept firing with deadly accuracy.

Then the enemy deathbots were destroyed and only one 'friendly' deathbot remained. A voice issued from it, a disguised voice unknown to them both. "Security Chief Sarah Halin continues to send out secret orders for both of you to be tracked down and killed. The safest way to escape from this chamber is through the vent shaft that this deathbot came from. Follow the deathbot."

They followed the deathbot into the vent shaft and were soon crawling along it as fast as they could go. Though moderately wounded, the assassin moved efficiently and quickly after a stimpak jab and some other medical attention as applied by Archavo. Of course the gnarled old man and two other women went with them.

» Sun Dec 05, 2010 11:55 pm

9 :banghead:

ARCHAVO: MINDEYE VISIONING
THE SECURITY CHIEF AND THE SHADOWY ONE

Archavo had a mindeye vision that like a dream was experienced longer in visioning time than in real time.

A nervous Security Cheif Sarah Halin was alone in her fairly large, fairly impressive but also efficiently set out office. It was well known that she was one of those who truly kept the security system of TekVault-101 functioning as smoothly as possible. So far her record was good, was spotless and she had not disturbed the balance of power or annoyed anybody of greater power in any real manner. This had changed the moment she had sent a large number of deathbots, more than should have existed in the vault, after Archavo. She had also set him up with a false security guard, an assassin, who should have killed him but who was now helping him to survive. Archavo was not dead. Her real superiors would not be pleased.

For Sarah Halin was not even born in the vault. She had been placed briefly in a status-pod, had been awoken under fabricated identification data as a normal sleeper citizen, and had infiltrated the vault easily. No, she was a secret agent of the Enclaven, the government that ruled the various Enclaves dotting the world including the North American Enclave based in Alaska. This was known as the EagleEnclave and the actual Enclave (Enclaveplex) was a vast underground network of network-systems, bunkerplexes, disguised surface bases and huge robo-automatic mechanisms. Yet the Enclaven served another, a dark other, that concerned even a cloned enhanced human like Sarah Halin. An aspect, an avatar, of that other was in the chamber with her.

Archavo's mindeye could not see him or hear him clearly. His shapeform was a blurred shadowy figure and his voice was muffled and twisted, being heard only with some difficulty.

He spoke. "You have failed to carry out the given orders but this will not be held against you. Another intervened whose powers are a challenge to my own and whose nature or identity I have failed to discover. Your position as Security Cheif no longer has relevance. You are to take what ever resources you can get hold of, including special ones put aside for such a need, and terminate Archavo. You will also terminate the traitor assassin, the enclone who betrayed both you and the Great Cause. EagleEnclave operations in TekVault-101 are to end with its planned destruction to conceal for ever its true purpose. You are proudly expendable but you will try to survive to return valuable data and certain properties to the EagleEnclave Alaskan Enclaveplex. You are inferior to the true citizens to come but your loyal selfishlessness will be remembered for ever."

Then the other vanished with out any drama. In truth Sarah Halin herself only witnessed the figure as shadowy and heard it as muffled and hazy. She stared angrily at where it had vanished, took out a bottle from a small well concealed metal drawer, drank part of the good quality vat wine and then reaching in, pressed a red button on a jury-rigged metal box. Even as she betrayed the Enclaven and the DarkOne who ruled it, she pulled out a compact assassin pistol and shot herself dead. This was far better than being either caught by her own people or Vault Security. Anyway the DarkOne had lied, it so often did, for as an enclone she had a short lifespan, far shorter than had been told her, and was already experiencing the early agonies of a typical unpleasant enclone death. She wanted badly that no more enclones be created, expendable and manipulated, to die at most three years after vat-birth and painfully accelerated growth to advlthood.

Vault security found the open metal drawer and in it a whole lot of data in the form of datachips, datadisks and hard plastipaper print-outs. The Enclaven's infiltration ring, the Vaultfolk traitors who had helped them and the plan to destroy the vault by interfering witht he fusion reactor, were all soon put a halt to. Much was learned about the Enclaven and a good deal of that was chilling.

TO BE CONTINUED
10 :celebrate:

ARCHAVO: IN THE RIMZONE MARKET OF WONDROUS BARGAINS #1

Archavo's head ached slightly as it did after he had one of his amazingly vivid seer visions. He did not question the visioning. Experience had taught him never to do so in a painful manner. Even as he, the assassin, the old man and the other two young women entered the Rimzoner markets, he wondered in amazement at the actions of Sarah Halin, vat grown clone servant of the dreaded Enclaves. The Vault-101 security apparatus would soon be sneakily carrying out a wide spread operation to crush the infiltration ring and its plans, to hunt down and punish the traitors. Strange smells confronted his nose as they passed a merchant selling varieties of mushrooms, mosses and other such substances grown in damp, dimly lit chambers with floors partly covered with a special earth mixture. On the other side was a junk seller. With his helmet removed he nodded greetings to both and the two quickly lost their wariness and welcomed him with friendly nods.

On second thought he stopped and turning to the junk stall he pointed to a damaged and overly worn compact backpack. "How about a deal?"

The middle aged woman, who wore a crazy home made jumpsuit of sorts, nodded briskly. "I keep one of three, two of four or five or three of six."

He shook his head. "I need as many backpacks as I can get but you can always have one backpack plus a fully autographed picture of today's game in which the Elite team was beaten."

The woman looked gob smacked and then she laughed. After a moment she managed to speak again. "You have a deal. Damn it, a victory against those Elite scum who exiled me to the Rimzone just because I mildly criticized Elite priviliges with vault taxation arrangements."

The backpack was put before him, he did his amazing trick that was as much a mystery to himself as it was to others, and then there four brand new, fully repaired backpacks in front of him. The woman took one and then handed him a partly used sketchbook and a fair quality pencil. Archavo took it and his hand began to fly over the paper, the pencil working, with amazing speed and accuracy. Somehow he managed to draw himself as another might who was an amazing good artist. After a minute it was a finely done, very accurate drawing of him running along a maze corridor with a ball in hand, him of course wearing maze power armour. The clear visor showed his face and the autograph was written in fancy clear lettering across the bottom.

The merchant stared at the autographed drawing with sheer happiness. Then she looked at Archavo and nodded, the agreement having been well completed.

Archavo gave one of his three backpacks to the assassin and another to the gnarled old man, who grinned in gratitude but he had done plenty for Archavo in the past, even risking his life to help Archavo once in an important matter, and so it was well earned. With a slight shrug the assassin slipped her new backpack on, knowing it would come in handy for spare equipment and supplies.

He turned to the other stall and nodded. "The usual!"

The man had a scar down the right side of his face and weak looking eyes behind makeshift glasses. "You do me some healing and you can have a whole lot more than the usual, Archavo. My eyes are doing me heck."

The gnarled old man sighed. "We aren't supposed to use the name out loud but practically everybody knows you in the Rimzone. Go ahead and do his eyes. The old fool is one of the best damp-dim farmers we have but his eye sight is becoming problematic even with the best glasses we could make for him."

Archavo nodded. "Agreed. I need one sample of the blue serum to have here and two to take away along with a pink serum."

The man looked puzzled. "A pink serum for stregthening a woman's fertility?"

Archavo nodded. "For a woman who is less fertile than she assumes but who wants badly to become pregnant."

Justine, the assassin, gave him an odd look and then winced but she said nothing about the serum. Instead she indicated various mosses and other items. "I suggest we take a variety of goods for healing, nutritional and other purposes." She dropped some creds on the merchant's stall table. "I know you can use these."

The merchant grinned. "100 credits, fine, being 80 for me and 20 for the market. You get your chosen goods, I sense you are too smart to try to cheat me, and I will prepare the serums."

Business was done, serums were prepared and Archavo lay his hands on the merchant's head. There was a soft shimmering and the man's eyes became noticeably sharper and clearer but he looked sleepy. Justine had picked a range of grown items, some of them of seemingly odd choice, then she was done after the merchant quickly made sure she was not cheating him. He shook his head, sighed and gave her some more items because he did not want to cheat her. He had the sharp pride that surprisingly many Rimzoners had.

Archavo drank down a yellow serum from a strangely stained plastic mug and grimaced, grimaced some more and drank the same mug full of cool pristine water. After another mug of water, he grimaced no longer. Then he ate some mushrooms, some slimy green moss and drank both down with more water. Neither the glistening mushrooms or slimy moss caused him to even slightly grimace, proving just how horrible the yellow serum tasted.

With the old merchant resting now, as he had to do as part of the healing process, the four of them departed. The other merchant kept smiling and laughing lightly as she inspected her autographed picture.

» Mon Dec 06, 2010 12:15 am

11 :icecream:

ARCHAVO: IN THE RIMZONE MARKET OF WONDROUS BARGAINS #2

Archavo sipped black coffee from a large mug as he sat at a cafe table with Justine the assassin, Granpa Moses and the two young women who had come with the old man. The cafe was up on a metal platform that once had been part of a big old workshop chamber now long abandoned and stripped of many valuable resources by the Vaultfolk. Stalls covered much of the metallic floor and platforms sported cafes, diners, clubs and those higher up, the Market Council in its various offices, the Council Guards and others with some local authority. Archavo had described his visioning to the others, that is the suicide of Security Chief Sarah Halin, the presence of the shadowy figure, the understanding of some of Sarah Halin's thoughts, the existence of the enclones (Enclaven Clones), the infiltration of the vault and the plan to destroy it by detonating the fusion reactor-generator.

He was still trying to come to terms with the visioning himself.

Justine shrugged. "Enclones could be any where around us, could be anybody. How could we detect them?"

Archavo took another long sip of coffee and then spoke. "I can sense them and most likely others can as well. The strange blood that was in that other chamber, that was not quite human, could easily have been enclone blood but I will not assume so." He looked around as a waitress came to the table, a harried looking middle aged woman in longpants, a buttonshirt, a big apron and slim boots. She placed a tray with five bowls of stew, ten square plain breadbiscuits, a plate of sliced roasted meatworm and a jug of cool pristine water. She smiled as he handed her a big tip and then she bustled off.

"Why does the shadowy one so badly want you dead, Archavo?" Grandpa Moses asked. "Got to figure that this one is more than just some angry Elitor fool out to prove something. I know little of this Enclaven, the Enclaves, but what I have heard is pretty much all bad."

"Well, the infiltrators have just been dealt a big blow by one of their own." Justine responded coolly. "It will interesting to see what the Enclaven does next. What is more important is what we are going to do next."

Archavo had no real answers for the moment. He studied the big coloured streamers hanging from the ceiling, girders, the undersides of platforms and he found the bright colours to be an interesting contrast to the general greyness of the very large chamber. Bards played music, acrobats did tricks as did jugglers and mimes. Sometimes Bards sang. Local prosttutes, called tentgirls, stood outside their pink, rose or red coloured tents indicating variations of service or were inside giving those services to customers. Customers flowed along laneways between stalls and other services. Most were on foot but some rode pedal vehicles of various kinds. There were also big delivery tricycles being ridden around by eager to get there workers. Market Guards in basic body-armour and with mostly basic weapons, patrolled the markets or stood on sentry duty in pairs. An interesting array of smells came to Archavo who had an enhanced sense of smell. The same was true of sounds and even more so for psychic impressions.

He frowned heavily. "There are at least three enclones out there but in the crowds I am having difficulty in focusing in on them. So much wild thinking and lack of psychic discipline."

Grandpa Moses shook his head. "Even if they know you are here, they can do nothing here in the markets, not with so many here who would do much to protect Archavo."

There was truth to that but Archavo was concerned anyway and he kept alert in case of trouble.

12 :gun:
ARCHAVO: IN THE RIMZONE MARKET OF WONDROUS BARGAINS #3

The attack on the markets began at a large secondary entrance. Deathbots and enclones in assault power armour came moving in quick and deadly with elite training and skills. At first it seemed they would have an easy time of it as they killed or pushed back Market Guards at the entrance. But then the markets struck back hard for the people knew that the markets were vital for their survival, be they those who worked at the markets or those who visited them. Union Guards had rehearsed the defence with volunteers and these forces went into action with surprisingly few glitches. The enclones and deathbots met a furious barrage of bullets, shotgun shells and pulselaser beams. They were forced to retreat and then they were gone except for a few enclone corpses and destroyed or damaged deathbots. There were no wounded enclones for they all killed themselves rather than be captured.

Knowing that he was the reason for the attack, and wanting the locals to be safe, Archavo was soon leaving with his people. As they reached a small, largely unknown entrance to the markets, people came to him with spare equipment and supplies. He was most pleased. To his surprise Grandpa Moses insisted on going with him. The gnarled old man knew of a place that he guessed strongly that Archavo would be very interested in but only he, Grandpa Moses, knew how to get there. Archavo sensed something odd, then, but said nothing.

So Grandpa Moses and the two young women, now all with backpacks and better guns, went with Archavo and Justine through a long series of metallic, dank, dimly lit corridors with big gurgling pipes and vent-shafts full of rushing air. Big fans slowly spun inside safety cages. Macrobots, microbots and nanobots were very busy maintaining the place but only the macrobots could be seen and not always except by Archavo himself.

TO BE CONTINUED

» Sun Dec 05, 2010 11:23 pm

13 :shifty:

TO A SECRET PLACE MOST DIFFERENT

Grandpa Moses led them deeper as they went down a spiral rampway that plunged into the lowest levels of Vault-101. Then they were splashing through knee deep stagnant water in the so called bilge level, through wide dark corridors with their forehead-lamps throwing out wide, bright beams. Radroaches swam away through the rubbish littered water as did big radroaches. Normal black rats darted along narrow ledges. Water dripped from gurgling pipes. Sometimes they went past skeletal remains of animals and, once, the skeletal remains of a human in a rotting blue jumpsuit. Archavo sensed psychic residues and knew it to be an escaped criminal killed by a mutated snake, bitten with a venomous bite and then devoured by radroaches and radrats.

Then they came to the wall of the vault, that is the inner wall of the great hull. But punched into the wall, a wall that should have been smooth, was an illegal door clearly built not by VaultTek. At the door crouched two figures in vault power armour with guns. At first they did not look pleased that Grandpa Moses had brought two strangers with him to that place but then they were happily greeting Archavo. They were much more wary of Justine. Archavo drew a picture for each of them and signed it. Then they let the group of five through.

A corridor took them to another jury-rigged armoured door and then the only one not staring in astonisment was Grandpa Moses himself. For stretching out before them was a great warmly and fairly brightly lit cavern of earthy fertile ground that was lit and warmed by glowcrystal growing like flat tentacles across the ceiling high overhead. In the distance lay a settlement of a mixture of prefab and home built houses, workshops, warehouses and other structures. Walls surrounded the settlement and solar power panel arrays jutted up from it. There were people tending herds of sheep and relatively small shorthorn cattle. Others tended crops of giant mushrooms, odd fungusi plants, vegetables and other produce. Many had guns but a few did not. Some had powerful crossbows or compound bows.

Grandpa Moses beamed at Archavo. "A secret place with out crowding, with fresh air and water, with out the oppression of the Vaultgov. Who could ask for more? You are welcome, Archavo, and your friend can come with us but she will be less welcome, I can tell you that much. She walks, looks and seems like elite death. Perhaps she should stay here."

Justine frowned softly but said nothing.

Archavo stretched and breathed a deep breath. The air was sweeter, fresher than anything he remembered breathing. Yes, he wanted to check out this new place, to see if the promise of it's appearance was met by its actual nature. "I would not go there with out Justine. She goes with me as my comrade."

Justine gave him an odd look and then nodded agreement.

Grandpa Moses just shrugged and then the five of them set out towards the distant settlement.

14 :thumbsup:

THE WONDERS OF CAVERN FARM MAGIC #1

The five of them set out walking across the amazing cavern chamber towards the settlement. They followed a dirt path that clearly had some use made of it in the past. Small insects, no sign of giant mutated ones, flourished in the green, slightly slimy mossgrass or other growths spread over the ground. A light wind was blowing, in truth a cave system draft, bringing with it a strong hint of moisture. Archavo sensed a river, a powerful flowing body of water filled with life. He had a desire to go there at once and to have a swim but he put this aside for later. For now he focused on trying to understand the subtle oddness that he was picking up in the people around himself except for Justine. It was familiar to him, somehow, and yet its identity eluded him.

Then they came to a graveyard with over a dozen small but elegantly carved and cut headstones. All had bunches of flowers, often exotic looking, placed in front of them. Grandpa Moses halted and, then, so did the others. The gnarled old man spoke. "Getting used to being here, learning to survive, was difficult and it took its toll amongst us. We remember them as the pioneering heroes that they were. We remember their names, their personalities, their spirit. Even now they are amongst us, supporting us. Please, there is much we need to do before you return to the vault, Archavo."

Archavo frowned. "Justine is here also. Please refer to both of us."

Grandpa Moses looked surprised. "Do you not know what she is! She is a..."

"A kind of enclone!" Archavo shrugged. "Justine is an enclone who wishes no longer to serve the Enclaven. She wants my assistance to fix her of her enclone limitations and to help her become pregnant."

Justine looked astonished but then she nodded. "No wonder that the shadowy one wants you dead so badly. I can feel the approach of the end of my short enclone lifespan. Please, soon, you must assist me if I am to live out a reasonably normal length of life."

The young woman named Shella, scowled, and then spoke. "Let her die! The enclones kill with out mercy."

Archavo turned to the young woman, who was a couple of years older than himself, and he frowned. "Please do not be so quick to judge. Enclones are not given free will to choose what they become. They are grown in special vat-capsules, are program-conditioned heavily to kill and other wise set up for that task. They never get a chance to decide. Now Justine wants to do that no longer. She has rebelled. I say that she deserves her chance for greater freedom and a more productive life. What do you say, Justine?"

Justine smiled and nodded. "I will do what I can to redeem myself. I find this graveyard to be most poignant."

Archavo nodded. "It would be more so if it was real. There are no bodies, no coffins beneath the headstones or the ground."

The gnarled old man scowled at Archavo. "Yes, sometimes you see too much. Too survive we ate their flesh as they stated, before their deaths, that they wanted us to do. Those were hard times and hard choices had to be made."

Archavo nodded. "Hard decisions that led you to doing things that other people might too easily condemn. I do not do so. I understand your plight. Now, please have some understanding for Archavo and her plight. I suggest we keep going to the settlement."

Justine gave Archavo an odd smile. Grandpa Moses shook his head in wonder. Shella just frowned but now she seemed less certain of herself. Then the five of them set out again along the dirth path and to the settlement.

» Mon Dec 06, 2010 3:05 am

15 :foodndrink:
THE WONDERS OF CAVERN FARM MAGIC #2

Archavo and Justine were made welcome to a hut that seemed to be set aside for visitors. They sat on woven mats of some long grey grass and drank coffee, ate bowls of stew and listened to gentle folk melodies played by a man with a guitar. To both of them this was all rather new and strange but far from disturbing. Grandpa Moses and the two young women had gone off somewhere but Archavo sensed that they were still in the settlement. He was also starting to sense other factors behind the communal, down to earth appearance of the settlement that was real enough but not the whole story. Hidden beneath the settlement was a large bunker of some kind but it seemed shielded against psychic probes somehow.

Grandpa Moses and his people were of a unified secondary mentality. It came to him suddenly, with a rush, and he knew then that he was somehow linked to them as were Justine and the other enclones. They had a mind shield raced against him that was far from perfect but it stopped him knowing more for the moment. He had other questions to answer such as who or what had sent the friendly deathbots to protect him against the nasty deathbots? Why was the shadowy figure, the one who had been briefly in the office of Sarah Halin's office, so keen to have him killed and what exactly was it?

The meal went on and they were served with more coffee and some sweet-spice cakes by a teenage boy. The teenager seemed a little nervous of Archavo but was soon charmed.

Archavo spoke to the teenager. "What is your name? Do your people do all these wonderful craft works?"

"My name is Taffna." The other had dusky white skin and brown hair. He looked around at the wall tapestries, the wooden chairs and pottery in sets of shelves. "There are many settlements of our people." Then he gave a small jump and started to leave. "I must go and do my duties."

Archavo nodded. "Your people, your unified mentality, and myself are linked as your people are linked to the enclones. Peace be with you. Bring to me a box of damaged items to be repaired and multiplied or a sick person to be healed. I wish to assist, to prove myself."

Taffna bowed and looked apologetic. "I am with you but I must go now. My people are debating if we should trust you or not. There is some discord between the five factions. Again I have said too much." He turned and fled.

Archavo sighed and took a gulp of hot coffee.

16 :shakehead:
THE WONDERS OF CAVERN FARM MAGIC #3
Archavo renewed duplicated a box of damaged items and ended up with two brand new boxes full of useful items of the same quality. He took a few from one box, giving some to Justine but keeping most for himself, but left all of one box load of items, most of the other boxed items and the two lidboxes for the settlement.

The settlers made a mistake. As he worked his 'magic' on a damaged datadisk, he absorbed its 100 GBs of data into his mind and knew then a few secrets of these folk. The cemetary was empty because the people had been killed for questioning the leadership of the Greening'Lord. A spiked steel fist inside a flower child, greenie glove, the Greening'Lord promised democracy, love of the environment, a new green golden age of alternative super technologies, but so far he had delivered mostly hardship, oppression and his own growing lavish lifestyle. He had once been genuine and had a strong grip on the minds and unified secondary mind of these people but the grip was slipping as the rebellion began to quietly and progressively grow.

He was in a Loyalist settlement full of people who refused to see the truth about the Greening'Lord.

There were a few dossiers of individuals and groups in TekVault-101 and one of those was a surprisingly big datafile on himself. The Greening'Lord and his Greening'Council considered Archavo to be a threat though they did not explain why in the notes attached to the main part of his dossier datafile. The notes cross referenced to a datafile about the Greening'Guard, the paramilitary force of the Greening'Council but also, less clearly, to something called the Greening'Cutters. It was clear that the latter term did not refer to a kind of gardening tool.

Word came that neither he or Justine had any danger in returning to TekVault-101. Officially and unofficially, there was no threat against them that anybody could find. The suicidal death Sarah Halin and the results of her exposure of the Enclaven infiltration ring, had meant they were no longer a real issue. Enclones and traitors had mostly escaped but five high ranking traitors were even then being put on show trial, their executions being very much taken as a given by most folks. Vaultgov had suffered and the Elite could not take advantage of the situation as three of the traitors had turned out to be Elitors. It was puzzling that they would revolt when in theory they had nothing to gain by such acts of betrayal against the Vaultfolk.

Archavo planned to return to the vault, taking Justine with him, but he also wanted to know more about the Greening'Lord and his Greening'Order, his Greening'Plan.

» Mon Dec 06, 2010 8:44 am

17 :violin:
ARCHAVO: MINDEYE VISIONING
A HYPNO THERAPY SESSION

The mindeye visioning this time was just as vivid bur was more horrifying.

Inside the Elite Zone of TekVault-101 a group of young advlts were sitting around on beanbags in a large chamber. They wore simple white pyjamas. They were staring forwards towards a strangely beautiful holographic projection floating in the middle of the inward facing circle. Specialist roboremotes of different shapes and sizes attended them. Androids were there as beautiful young men and women all in white jumpsuits but there were also guards discretely in the background in security power armour and with heavy stun weapons plus back-up caseless slimshot projectile guns being recoil suppressed 10mmCS pistols and carbines.

A woman stood in the background in a white labcoat, older but younger looking thanks to rejuve treatments, and was carefully taking notes into a clipboard computer. Either side of her was a medical security guard, an MSG, and there was an assistant, a handsome youthful man who was also a good deal older than he looked.

He spoke with concern in his voice. "Professor Gentle, The hypnocentric treatments have had some success with most of the patients, a great deal of success with some and no success at all with some but with a few the results appear to be the opposite of what was intended."

The woman nodded. "All of those in this chamber have such aggressive counter results. Note the body language carefully."

It was true for the ten figures were starting to show small jerking motions and scowling expression, flushed skin and obvious heavier breathing. And then a young woman leapt up with amazing abruptness, turned and rushing with screaming rage at the nearest android. The android ducked and the insanely enraged woman fell over the synthetic human. The android produced a heavy hand-stunner from a pouch and pressed it against the patient's skin, bolting her with 50,000 volts of electricity. The patient cried out and writhed on the floor.

But the other patients were now leaping upwards, screaming and raging, attacking robots that they could not really damage, or androids who backed off quickly and with much agility. MSGs were moving forward with heavy stunguns raised, ready to use. Then, as they got clear shots, they began to fire off special stundarts and stun pulse-bullets of energy. The patients moved with incredible speed and aggression. One lifted up an android and hurled the synthetic human through the air. Another threw a small robot at a security guard. They became stunned, were knocked to the floor writhing in agony, only to get up again quickly to resume attacking.

The doctor looked angry, sad and frustrated. She made a particular signal. The guards switched to more destructive weapons, to 10mmCS pistols and SMGs. With out hesitation they began to shoot the patients, bullets ripping through their bodies, the patients screaming in pain but also in blind rage. Amazingly enough, a patient got close to a guard before he was shot down, bullets ripping through his pyjamas and flesh. The barrage kept going, more quietly than older type guns and bullets would have done, shredding all of the patients.

When the last patient fell dead to the floor, only then did the firing cease.

Doctor Gentle shook her head just a little. "End of therapy session is noted at..."

18 :gun:
DEALING WITH GREENING'LORD MADNESS

Archavo awoke to the muffled sounds of gunfire coming through the walls. He rolled to his feet, slipped on body-armour and other gear and rushed to the building's nearest door. Justine was crouching there, warily, peering out with weapon ready to use. Out in the settlement Unity humans were firing guns at something big and dangerous. In some ways like humans, these things were twisted gnarled humanoids with bark like skin and plant like hair. They charged with odd jerky loping motions, too damned fast as each loping motion took them a goodly distance. They showed only in the light of lamps and burning torches for it was now quite dark in the great cavern.

Not all of the Unityfolk were fighting the monsters. Some were fighting those who were fighting the strange attackers but the Unity fought each other reluctantly and with no real damage done.

Archavo raced out into the settlement's main open area and Justine was very quick to follow. They fired their weapons with great accuracy and monsters were struck, were hurt. The waves of strange creatures hesitated in their attack, hesitated again, turned and fled back the way they had come into the darkness now cloaking the big cavern chamber. The weird plant humanoids were soon vanishing into the lightless depths.

It was a victory of sorts. Nobody had been killed though some had been wounded. None of the monsters had been more than moderately damaged. Unityfolk were no longer fighting, were sometimes glaring at each other and-or arguing with much energy but no more than that.

Archavo stood looking around and wondered how he would deal with the strange situation. It was no surprise to him when, not long after that, he was informed that the terrible plant humanoids were known as Greening'Death and were supposedly created by the Greening'Lord himself. Even if the story was not true, and a few Unityfolk doubted it, the Greening'Lord did control the Greening'Death tightly and could use their senses to hear, see, smell and otherwise sense what was going on.

TO BE CONTINUED

» Mon Dec 06, 2010 5:23 am

19

TO THE CAVES OF THE FARTING FROGS

Archavo and Justine headed away from the settlement very soon after the attack by the Greening'Death. They did so because the settlers were uncomfortable with them being there but a young man led them. He was a hunter and scavenger who knew the caverns very well and who knew some secrets also that he was willing to share. The lifeforms of the caverns, the strange crystal that lit and warmed them, were genetically engineered creations of the TekVault-101 Elite. More specifically they were the creation of what had been known as the Illuminated Seven, seven supposed super geniuses of genetic engineering, biology, physics and other scientific fields. They were now known as the Illuminated Thirteen because while five had died of various causes, more had joined the revered ranks.

The Illuminated Thirteen had sponsored the Greening'Lord and his Greening'Plan. The Vault-101 Elite had provided him with many valuable resources. In return the Greening'Lord had gone insane and had turned against both the Illuminated Thirteen and the Vault-101 Elite. None of the Unity knew what was going to happen next but it was generally thought that the TekVault-101 Elite would strike at the insane fool who had betrayed them.

The three of them trudged up a great shallow slope over muddy, clay earth that was quite slippery. They were going towards a higher end of the big cavern containing the settlement that was now a fairly great distance behind them.

They came upon a cluster of large deactivated robotic machines of various kinds but all with similarities as if built by the same corporation with many parts in common. They were protected by force bubble projectors keeping them in good repair and safer from theives or other threats. Each was very big and was on great tracks. The three of them were forced to go around the hulking machines even as Archavo studied them carefully.

He spoke to their guide. "Do you know what these robots were used for?"

The young man shook his head and flicked back his pony-tails which looked rather odd but which he was rather proud of. "They were here a long time before we Unityfolk came along. Some think they have something to do with the shaping of these caverns. Perhaps they had something to do with seeding the caverns with genetically engineered life. You will meet some soon of a most annoying kind, the Farting Frogs. They make horrible noises and give out horrible smells but they are not really farting.

Justine sighed. Archavo grinned with amusemant. The young man pulled a nose contraption out of a pouch and passed it to Justine the assassin. "We are going to need one of these each to get through this."

They each got one of the clever nose double-plugs.

20 :facepalm:
THROUGH THE CAVES OF FARTING FROGS #1
Archavo soon enough realised the truth of the 'farting frogs'. They were not doing so. The smell was not from the frogs but from the bubbling muddy pools that filled much of the caverns they moved through. They moved along a path and over a series of basic but well made wooden bridges that got them over the treacherous, hot bubbling pools. The frogs were making horrible noises, true, but for territorial and mating reasons. Seems they had no particular mating season because there were no seasons as such in the caverns. At times they saw heaps of rubbish at the far edge of the caverns, long left by unknown people but most likely by those who had built TekVault-101 or Vaultfolk from TekVault-101 doing some kind of project. The wastage was obvious and Archavo was not impressed.

Their guide seemed nervous at the idea of taking a closer look at the mounds of stuff. He at last confessed more truth of the Caves of the Farting Frogs. "We call them metallica-ants. They are giant-ants that meld, alter bits of metal for various basic purposes. They do so using curious substances that they extrude from the tails of special castes amongst them. They armour the soldier ants and guard ants. There are specialised artisan ants and fighter ants with pincers that are evolved to manipulate basic tools or weapons. The Unity only knows relatively little about these amazing creatures. We have a kind of a treaty with them and sometimes we trade with them; we give them meat, dairy products, vegetables, moss and such like. They give us in return their curious chemicals in small but very useful amounts. The Greening'Lord wishes to control them by capturing them all but the idea is a foolish one and impractical, undoable and will lead to needless violence along with many useless deaths on both sides."

Other things dwelt amongst the pools and wet grassy, dark earthy areas such as turtles, beetles, spiders, grasshoppers and much else of the kind. They spotted some radraoches but they seemed generally smaller than the ones that plagued the vault at times. Great big meatworms slithered into and out of the pools and earth.

The guide spoke again. "Greening'Death will not come here. Something about the chemicals let loose by the pools keeps them away. Greening'Cutters, the assassins, they will come this way but they are not comfortable here for they do not know the territory well. Also they have too many enemies in the area. We are at the edge of the CFFs and deeper in one can meet most strange creatures, some of which were human once. While most are harmless, many are mostly harmless and some are far from harmless. The Unity actually trades with some of them. Oh, yes, we know the truth of the so called 'farting frogs'; that is just a tale we like to tell outsiders."

Archavo just gave a mild grin in response and Justine paced along with him as she kept fully alert for danger.

» Mon Dec 06, 2010 7:07 am

21 :turtle:
THROUGH THE CAVES OF FARTING FROGS #2

Archavo was the first to sense that they were being pursued by a threat. The three of them hurried their pace as fast as they could but this did not change the sense of growing threat that Archavo and the guide both had. When in the distance, behind them, appeared a lightly armoured semi-covered hoversled low flying towards them, Randro the guide identified them as Greening'Cutter assassins. He had finally given over his name, though only his first name, and now seemed more relaxed with Archavo and Justine though less so with Justine. Justine, the enclone, did not seem much to care how Randro or the Unity felt about her but Archavo sensed it was not so simple with her. As for then and there, they focused on moving faster.

But then Randro, seemingly on impulse, was leading them off the main path and along a much less obvious one that wound away from the bridges and deeper into areas of wider, deeper bubbling pools. After a while they were deep amongst high growths of thick, spiky plants that would not allow a hoversled to move through the area. They were also hidden from the assassins who did not bother to try to follow. To do so would have been to be lost amongst the worsening conditions of the caves.

They came upon a dry island area with small, stunted trees and they sat there, resting, listening to the frogs and other wildlife. Some grey brownish squirrels were hiding in one of the trees, sleeping inside hollow areas, comfortable with piles of gathered nuts and other food. Overhead a bird of prey of some kind circled and a small cloud floated above it in the suncavern.

They drank coffee from self-heating cupcans, ate foodbars and drank pristine water from canteens. They had just finished, were taking care of other needs, when suddenly all of the wildlife fell silent. Some new threat had arisen to face them.

TO BE CONTINUED

22 :flamethrower:
THROUGH THE CAVES OF FARTING FROGS #3
Justine identified part of the threat at once but was shocked to see them there so close to Vault-101. Super-mutants came lurching through the bubbling pools with no apparent concern or harm done to them. The ugly tall brutes wore odd body-armour and carried an odd variety of weapons; there were flamers, 5.5mm miniguns, 5.5mm light machineguns, 10.5mm heavy autorifles and rocket-grenade launchers. Justine pointed out that these were massemoths, regular super-mutants, the term standing for 'super sized mutants'. Behemoths were huge but, thankfully, there were none there. Unfortunately there were zentaurs, distorted slithery creatures with four tentacles to the front and distorted human like faces. Two tentacles blasted with high voltage electricity or just lash out like barb tipped whips. The other two were not used normally as weapons, they being used to manipulate things. Zentuars never used weapons. The other figures moved in black power armour with odd spikes on the shoulders and helmets. Like the super-mutants and zentaurs, these power armour soldiers bore a red black symbol on armour plating, the zentaurs having each a crude kind of briastplate. The symbol was a blood red skull and crossed blades inside a black disk edged by a red rim. All of the armoured soldiers carried tririfles, each with a 5.5mm autogun, a pulselaser gun and a 30mm grenade-shell launcher.

To the surprise of Justine and Archavo, Randro laughed in an unpleasant manner as the three watched the approaching threat from behind bushes. "They do not know these caves well, are too arrogantly stupid for their own good. Even we of the Unityfolk who have come here often, even we are very careful. Even the local wildlife is careful. By the look of them, they must have come into the caves somewhere close to here but how and where, I have no idea. The slithery, ugly things you call zentaurs, look how they are being more careful. They make odd hooting sounds that I suspect are warning unheeded by the big lunky massemoths and those armoured idiots."

Archavo nodded but he kept his weapons handy anyway. "What would threaten such monsters?"

The answer came not from the Unity man but when a super-mutant, brutish and stupid, cried out as it crashed down into the muddy ground. Then came a horrible combination of raging anger and then screaming agony. The sounds ended suddenly and Archavo sensed that the hulking super-mutant massemoth was dead.

Which was when the thick tentacles, covered with scaled armour, came ripping up out of the earthy ground to strike at a power armoured figure. The soldiers turned and fired volleys of 5.5mm bullets or pulsebeams at the tentacles and then super-mutants turned upon the tentacles with jets of flame, with volleys of 5.5mm or 10.5mm bullets though not rocket-grenades for the tentacles were too close for that. The super-mutants with the RGLs, rocket-grenade launchers, dropped them and struck at the tentacles with great long machettes or shortswords strangely like those once used by the Ancient Romans so very long ago. The zentarus struck out, lashing out with the tentacles that unleashed high voltage electricity but their attacks just bounced off the enemy. The flames and pulselasers burned and cut, the bullets exploded and pulped, the tentacles. Something screamed underneath them and the ground heaved, throwing both a massemoth and a power armoured soldier into pools of bubbling substances. Then a super-mutant was svcked underground and was soon dead.

Realising that this was a good chance to escape, the three humans fled from away from the island and the new threat. The sounds of the fighting followed them for a long time and then there was only silence but Archavo sensed, as his psyker powers seemed to be slowly but steadily expanding, that there was still an active threat behind them. Super-mutants, zentaurs and the power armoured others had survived.

As Archavo was to explain to a surprised Justine, the figures in the power armour were like the super-mutants but not so big. Indeed they were more like tall, broad humans of average tallness. Would they be called moderate mutants? He doubted it somehow for the name lacked that certain quality of menace necessary for monsters to be successfully monstrous

» Mon Dec 06, 2010 2:53 am

23 :spotted owl:
THROUGH THE CAVES OF FARTING FROGS #4
They moved now on a path less well known even by the Unity's best scouts, hunters and others who went deeper into the bizarre and strangely named Caves of Farting Frogs. The three of them kept to harder ground, went carefully around bubbling pools and got closer to the heaps of junk. The heaps of metal stuff seemed even more so now that they got closer for it seemed that much of it was shaped into useful structures by the metallica-ants. Amazing towerss, bridges, ramps, balconies, blocks and even crude domes were crowded heavily together but there were amazingly intricate webworks of metal wires strung between some taller, thinner towers.

Big hornlizards moved lazily but powerful but always, thankfully, at a distance. Great big dragonflies flew past them and ignored them.

When they met the first metallica-ants, black and terrible looking with a skullish like head, it was only a relatively small scout. Randro went to communicate with it, knowing something of the odd trade language used with such creatures, but the metallica-ant went and stopped in front of Archavo. To his own surprise, Archavo found himself communicating with the giant ant on both a physical and a subtle form of psychic level. How he knew how to do this, he simply did not know but it was not the first time that he was so surprised.

There was no easy way to translate the communications into spoken words but the scout indicated that the three humans should follow her, only the drones were male, to the nearest outcrop where a princess ant would 'speak' with them. These giant-ants had a surprisingly evolved and strong unity mentality focused far more on the group and far less on the individual than the human Unity was. They only wanted to make their own territories strong and had no interest in conquering others but they were smart enough to know that sooner or later they might easily end up fighting other powerful forces. Then there was a new complication. Some force had been attacking their scouts, there foraging and hunting groups and was trying to get at their special resources.

How did they know that Archavo was coming and could help? Their special ones, the ones neither male or female, had dreamed strongly that he would come though they had been waiting for some time for this to happen. Archavo was curious to meet one of the special ones but the scout would not discuss such matters. He was to meet the princess, a special child of the queen herself, and that was that.

24 :nuke:
METALLICA-ANTS' TROPHIES

Archavo, Justine and Randro just stood and stared at the sleek looking finned smart-nuke, a roboremote nuclear bomb that could guide itself towards its target while firing off smaller anti-missile missiles, or AMMs. Archavo was glad that it was largely deactivated and all of its nine safeties were on. Still it was impressive and disturbing to be so close to a super nuclear weapon that could easily wipe out the whole DC area and everything that lived on it. Next to this trophy of the metallica-ants were others each held carefully in oddly intricate display structures. There was a US Marines infantry power armour suit, or IPAST, complete with skeleton inside. There was a protectron robot, an awkward looking humanoid robot, some guns of various sorts, a biofuel powered motorbike of 2065 make and other items.

Archavo saw the lightly armoured hazmat suit and the skull behind the big clear visor. Then he noted the identity of a famous Elitor scientist from TekVault-101. Professor Barris Jackson, a cousin of President Jack Patriot Jackson himself, mad President of the USGA.

The USGA was the United States of Greater America that controlled all of North America along with most of Central America and parts of South America. Barris Jackson was a brilliant geneticist, a great biotechnologist and a power hungry, arrogant, perverted monster. It was written that he was one of the twisted super-geniuses created by the highly controversial Super Brain Project, as the mass media came to call it back in the decades just before World War Four that ended in Doomsday. The USGA President himself was another as were Braun, Hathcove, Valen and a fair few others. These men and women were said to have not only superhuman intelligence and creativity but also psychic abilities of various kinds. They created the infamous TekCorporations, or TekCorps, such as USTek, WestTek, NukoTek, RobCo, Dizzoo, VaultTek and others. They created the new three tier government system that created an elitist autocratic nightmare for most folks.

What was the dead remains of such a man doing with the giant metallica-ants? He reached out and touched the visor and got a surprising psychic impression. Yes, this was Barris Jackson but only one of him. This was a very sophisticated clone. It was not the original monster.

He wondered why the metallica-ants were showing him and his companions these trophies. The scout had departed but there were two guards, even bigger and stronger than the typical soldier, but they had offered nothing like threatening behaviour. He looked around to see more trophies on walls including preserved bodies of radroaches and other creatures in odd transparent bubbles of some kind. He sensed that they were not dead but somehow suspended in life. How had the metallica-ants done this?

» Mon Dec 06, 2010 6:52 am

25 :shocking:
METALLACA-ANT PRINCESS DESIRES

The metallica-ant princess was large, powerful, regal and yet she was wingless. This latter meant she would, in metallica-ant terms, never be able to become queen but would continue to rule a smaller territory outside of the queen's main territory. It also meant that she would have to obey the queen. Yet Archavo sensed a streak of rebellion in the princess, that she had no desire to serve the queen or anybody else. This one was not fully integrated into the unified mentality of the metallica-ants. Archavo wondered why the metallica-ants had not destroyed her as a rogue or, worse, an abomination.

The princess made herself comfortable on a raised platform with carefully placed cushions. Then she, to the surprise of the humans, spoke in a slightly hard to understand human language known as Esperanto. "One welcomes you though one wonders why you have come here. One wonders if the queen has had you brought here. One is not pleased by this fracture of royal protocol but one is curious. Where do you come from? One of you is Unity, I sense that much. You, the female, you are odd, perhaps a clone of some kind. But you other, you smell of TekVault-101 but there is indeed something special about you. What do you think of my trophies?"

Archavo spoke with caution. "Fine but one of them is too dangerous to keep." He pointed to the super-nuclear smart-bomb. "That needs to be destroyed for the safety of us all. It is a bomb that could wipe out all of the surface civilizations or bring great devastation to this underground area. Thankfully it is mostly deactivated and heavily secured." He turned and looked to the other items in the exhibition. "I am impressed. You have gathered a fine collection of human designed objects."

The princess clacked her pincers in annoyance. "I am convinced that it was some kind of giant ant civilization that was behind the creation of such wonderful devices. Humans are so stupid and weak. How could you start to achieve such wonders? No, there must have been something more vital than you. I calculate it was an earlier version of we metallica-ants who was behind these wonders."

Archavo frowned. "That is wishful thinking on your behalf. I sense you do not believe it yourself. In truth it was a set of super geniuses, super smart humans, who designed many of these amazing inventions. World War Two ended with the uneasy stalemate of the International Cessation. The Nazis had their new super-weapons but so did the Free Alliance and the Soviets. That was in 1946. The Super Genius Thirteen developed many wonders for the Free Alliance but secretly, treacherously, did the same for the Nazis and the Soviets. The exotic Zaztec Empire arose in South America.

In 1961 World War Three took place but ended abruptly when nuclear bombers and missiles were all destroyed in mid-air by the intervention of the Centro aliens but why, I do not know. The Centro took many poor people away with them, the willing ones, who were mostly hungry refugees and oppressed minorities. They also took samples of wildlife, artworks, intellectual works and much else. They gave over thirteen amazing gifts for all humanity.

Despite all of this, in 2001 World War Four began and ended after three months of fighting in Doomsday. Not much of a historical rendition but there were no giant ants involved in it, at least not that I know of and I have quite a good idea of what happened back then."

To his surprise the princess spoke and then departed quickly. "I was in the middle of important work when you appeared, that I must return to for now. Also I need to think on what you have said. You will remain here and in the next chambers which are designed for human accommodation. I sometimes deal with human visitors who sell me artefacts or historical information."

Then she was gone and Archavo had the bad feeling that the princess was up to no good. Also he could sense some kind of dark presence in the area that reminded him of the shadowy figure in the office of the Security Chief who had committed suicide. She had been an infiltrator of the Enclaven and she had been an Enclave Clone, or enclone.

26 :evil:

ARCHAVO: MINDEYE VISIONING
THE METALLICA-ANT PRINCESS AND THE SHADOWY ONE

Mindeye visioning this time showed the metallica-ant princess on a comfortable platform facing a shadowy hooded robed figure, an entity mostly hidden in shadow just as the princess was in a pool of dim light. The chamber was largely hidden in darkness but above was a dome with a disk shaped light that shone the dim light down over the princess. Metallic wind-chimes sang lightly from the shadows, having a meaning special to the metallica-ants. There was an odd metallic fleshy smell about the chamber.

The metallica-ant was agitated and was speaking. "You told me that giant ants were prominant before Doomsday, that they developed the great technologies, but you lied to me. I suspected so before and now I know that we can not trust you. The newcomer smell-tastes of truth but you smell-taste of falsehood."

The shadowy figure hissed anger. "I lied to you, yes, but that is not important. I wanted you to be confident, to be strong enough to rise against the queen."

The princess clicked her pincers in anger and then spoke. "My mother, the queen, has my total loyalty. While many advised her to have me terminated because of my differences, she saw my worth and I have proven my worth to the nest. There is no deal between us. You will depart now."

The shadowy figure hissed deeper anger. "Stupid bloated insect! I will step on you as one of my greatness steps on any inferior lifeform." The figure raised his black gloved hand into the dim light and it seemed he was about to attack.

But then two guard ants came rushing into view, each carefully holding what looked like a weapon. Then the machineguns spat volleys of bullets that exploded into the shadowy one, flashing silvery metal that caused the shadowy figure to scream in agonised rage and then to vanish.

The mindeye vision ended.

» Mon Dec 06, 2010 8:04 am

27 :nope:
METALLICA-ANT PRINCESS ANGER

Archavo was examining the transparent bubbles, each a perfect sphere, with suspended living animals and even some humans in them, when the princess ant returned. He turned to the metallica-ant even as she settled onto her cushioned platform and spoke. "It was wise for you to not ally yourself with the shadowed one."

The metallica-ant shifted herself a little to make herself more comfortable for it seemed she had some physical handicaps about her. "It does not surprise me that you have somehow spied upon my meeting with the shadow one but it does not please me that you have done so."

Archavo responded. "What force, what presence, that allows me these mindeye visionings seems carefully guided by a code of conduct. The shadow one was trying to have me killed, continues to want me killed. I see enough only to be alerted to danger around me and to carry out goals that are not yet clear to me. What do you know of this shadow one?"

The metallica-ant clicked with annoyance and then responded. "From the first I sensed falsehood in him, as did our queen, my mother. I suspect that anything he told us was false. He wanted us to kill you if you came into our territories and he advised us to activate the great bomb you see there."

"The super-nuclear smart-bomb?" Archavo turned to it. "There would be nothing left of your people or the Unity, unless you have other colonies elsewhere. The damage done would be incredible. I suspect that even TekVault-101, which is designed to resist nuclear detonations, would be badly damaged if not destroyed totally. The shadow one was advising you towards total self destruction."

The metallica-ant paused before speaking again. "You believe that your actions are guided by a powerful unseen force."

Archavo nodded. "I am starting to think so, to feel so, to sense that this is the case. I would like to make the super-nuke harmless while keeping it as a fine quality trophy for you to display."

The princess again paused before speaking. "Very good. You will have to unlock its securities first so I hope you will not be foolish enough to detonate it. There is work for me to do and I also need to make contact with the queen. She will be most interested in these recent developments."

Then she departed as Archavo watched her go.

28 :shifty:
QUICK, CAREFUL AND SPECIAL ACTS

Archavo turned to Justine and Randro. "It is as I suspected. The metallica-ant princess is no more to be trusted than is the shadow one. I must act now by doing something I have not done for a few years. When I was much younger I learned that I could make things vanish to some mysterious place of storage. Being young I carefully chose valuable items such as... well nice shiny stones, old teddibots (robotic teddy-bears), worn boy dolls and much more like that. Now I need to send there the super nuclear smart-bomb and as soon as possible. This weapon is much more intricate and much larger than anything I have made vanish before."

He sighed. "I wish I knew more about my strange abilities but they don't come with a manual."

Then he walked over to the powerful, sleek looking super weapon and touched it. At once it vanished with a sparkling shimmer as Archavo stared in obvious shock at what was happening. Then he turned around to find that every other display item had vanished, including the transparent bubbles with lifeforms inside.

Justine smiled. "I think you may have been just a tad too successful. I suggest we get out of here before the metallica-ant queen returns. What of the two metallica-ant guards?"

Archavo turned to them. "Already dead! They have been put there to convince anybody that the princess had the backing of the queen because they have regal markings unlike the guard ants who attacked the shadow one. I suspect that she may be rogue from the nest and not truly a princess at all. This one is cunning and thinks laterally outside of the limits of normal giant ants but she over estimates her ability to manipulate and fool others. She killed the shadow one but not in any final fashion. I doubt that such a powerful being would be so easily dealt with."

No trophies, two dead giant ant guards, no display cases and exposed on the floor was an armoured hatch. Justine went to it, checked it and then she opened it with only slight difficulty. She dropped out of sight.

Randro frowned. "I have linked briefly with the Unity and informed them of what has happened, including the visioning of yours. The Unity has turned totally against the Greening'Lord and his devoted followers who have been isolated from the Unitymind. There is fighting going on but the Greening'Lord is secure inside fortifications with a small army of robots. It is feared the deadly assassins, the Greening'Cutters, have been sent to kill you. I mean all of them. The Unity does not know why the Greening'Lord has done this. It could be a cunning plan or insanity or both."

Then he dropped out of sight.

Archavo went to the dead giant ants and made them vanish as he followed a strong impulse though he was not sure why he did so. Then he followed the others. He closed the hatch behind them before jumping from the ladder down to the metallic floor of the prefabricated tunnel section.

» Mon Dec 06, 2010 3:55 am

29 :thumbsup:
TRAVELLING THE PREFAB TUNNEL TO SOMEWHERE UNKNOWN #1

The three of them set out along the prefabricated tunnel, moving quickly but not running as they paced themselves carefully. The dimly lit tunnel had radiata biocrystals embedded in a mudclay goo substance that kept it stuck to the walls and ceiling in a random, scattered manner. These did not look like the work of metallica-ants. This suspicion was soon strengthened by the finding of fairly fresh tracks left by some kind of humanoid creatures of a kind known to Randro.

He smiled. "Oonkeys, like big stretched monkeys with very long clever tails. They are friendly except for an occasional rogue male that can be cured, if captured safely, with the proper treatments. There are oonkey colonies living at the edges of Unity settlements. They are not as smart as humans but they can use and maintain basic tools and weapons. They are very good with bows and arrows. They climb supurbly. They make excellent scouts. Slowly they seem to be merging both into their own Unity and with us, the Human Unity. This is something that has taken us greatly by surprise. If would be a typical wild oonkey trick to use wild growing radiate biocrystals and sticky mudclay to light up a tunnel like this."

Then they came upon dried oonkey blood and Randro was no longer pleased but angry. They became even more alert after that.

When they came upon the dying scout metallica-ant, the very one that had led them to the 'princess', they were surprised. Archavo crouched beside the giant quasi-insect, for it had a skeleton along with an exoskeleton along with other changes to allow it to be that big, and noted a strange open wound in the back of its head. Then he began to healing process and there was a shimmering around the creature. Then it was okay but was exhausted. They waited quietly while she slept.

Archavo spoke. "There was some kind of parasitic creature inside the scout that allowed the rogue princess to control it so it would bring us to her. She likes to play nasty games, that one, and I am starting to suspect that the metallica-ant princess is not what she seems. Anyway the parasitic creature was rejected by the scout ant and it tore itself away but the scout gained a mortal wound in the process. I learned this through the healing process. The scout has linked back with the true metallica-ants and now I know that this metallica-ant princess is no such thing. She is related biologically to them but is most likely the result of some kind of genetic engineering done using metallica-ant and other genetic materials along with some kind of FEV. This is all very fascinating but dangerous and complicated. The scout, once it is able to, will try to lead us to the nearest real outpost of the true metallica-ants. The metallica-ants may be able to assist us to get back to TekVault-101 and also help the fight against the Greening'Lord."

Randro suddenly shuddered, his eyes rolled back and he collapsed semiconscious to the ground. Archavo at once went to him but could do nothing for something bad had happened to the whole Human Unity and Randro was not able to be seperated by it, at least he did not know how to do so safely.

30 :shrug:
TRAVELLING THE PREFAB TUNNEL TO SOMEWHERE UNKNOWN #2

When the metallica-ant scout was ready, they set out with Archavo carrying the semiconscious Randro with surprising ease. The scout was eager to be back with more of its own kind and disturbed by what had happened, understandably enough. It also did not like the presence of oonkey blood. It turned out that the metallica-ants had adopted colonies of the oonkeys and that the nimble climbing primates worked for them in various ways in return for protection and other service support. Giant ants could not climb the way that normal ants could for they were quasi-insects instead of just insects. When they came upon the dead oonkey, clearly ripped apart by the pincers of a giant ant, the scout became quite agitated for a moment as it experienced non-human emotions. Then it carefully picked up the dead creature with apparent ease and carried it along with it.

The tunnel twisted slightly as it went, the clever prefabricated material bending with forces pressed against it. Large cockroaches scuttled along the floor, away from the newcomers. They went past small heaps of shiny stones and carefully cleaned bottles, cans and other such objects. It was the sort of thing oonkeys did for they would take such goodies to the Unity or to the metallica-ants in exchange for things they liked or just keep them out of fascination. Then they came upon another dead oonkey but this one had a sword in one hand, its steel blade half covered in substance of giant ant that was not totally like that of the metallica-ants. These local oonkeys had been attacked but they had fought back, this one impacting at least some damage.

Archavo and Justine examined the area, as did the scout, after Randro was carefully placed to one side. It turned out that a strange soldier ant had been killed by the fast moving and very agile oonkey who had plunged her sword into the head of the quasi-insect. The soldier ants of the false princess were, like her, not metallica-ants at all but could change their colouration and other features to a limited extent to look like such. They could do other tricks that made them dangerous but the three only gained hints at what these might be.

The scout came to some sort of decision, or at least its nest-mind did, and she left the two dead oonkeys together next to a carefully arranged mound of collected items. Then they set out again for the three of them had begun to sense increasing danger. Something, or more than one something, was tracking them along the tunnel and though the threat was probably in the form of giant ants, they did not assume that this was the case.

TO BE CONTINUED

» Mon Dec 06, 2010 12:07 am

31:hubbahubba:
TRAVELLING THE PREFAB TUNNEL TO SOMEWHERE UNKNOWN #3

Their progress was slowed when they reached a point where the tunnel was crushed downwards and they had to crawl even as Archavo pulled Randro behind himself and Justine pushed him. The metallica-ant had less trouble with this for of course she fitted through by her normal way of moving. They came back into a normal section of tunnel only for them all to start picking up the sound of fast scuttling giant ants coming from behind. Archavo picked up Randro and they began to run. The tunnel turned sharply to the right and then to the left. Justine brought out a gun and prepared to use it. The scout snapped her pincers nervously.

They came to the abrupt end of the tunnel where it was crushed down too low for even the scout to fit through but there was hope. A gap had opened to the left and through this was coming sunlight (suncrystal light) and the smell of flora and fauna of the kind found in the Caves of Farting Frogs. Justine crouched and prepared to shoot while Archavo and the scout attempted to make the gap big enough for them to fit through.

Even as the metallica-ant scout wriggled successfully through the gap, good luck came as Randro came to and sat up into a crouch, drawing out his autopistol. He was a little groggy but he grinned and then spoke. "The Greening'Lord unleashed a savage, treacherous psychic attack on the Unitymind but many of us remained active. I was deemed expendable as the focus of psychic defence went to our soldiers attacking the Greening'Lord and his fortress. The Greening'Lord not only failed in his psychic attack but the psychic backlash has injured him. He has fled along with the last of his true followers and his dreaded Greening'Cutter assassins. During his escape he was assisted by a swarm of strange giant ants and some of those damned super-mutants."

Archavo cursed softly and the gap became wide enough to let them all through. Even as Archavo, the last to go through the gap, did so the first of the strange looking soldier ants came racing into view along the tunnel. They were quite big, fast, with powerful pincers and some kind of armouring and weaponry indicating they were cyborg-ants. They were a new threat, it seemed, in a world that had too many deadly threats all ready.

32 :lightbulb:
BACK TO THE CAVES OF FARTING FROGS #1

The four of them came out into the open and they were fronting a big wide open area of suncavern with a steep rise of rocky ground behind them topped with a series of haphazard looking metallica-ant structures. Ahead was lightly swampy but less so than areas that they had been through the before. In the distance a group of metallica-ant scouts was looking around with obvious purpose and two of the five were holding weapons in their pincers.

The scout shot ahead towards her own kind and soon was mingling with them, was communicating at some giant-antsy level. She soon came darting back and informed them that the true metallica-ant queen was sending out scouts to try to find the fake princess who had been causing trouble for the metallica-ants. There were groups of soldiers also ready to back up the scouts and male drones were flying around the place seeking sightings of the enemy.

The cyborg-ants did not follow through the gap in the tunnel. Archavo sensed that they had turned back, had gone back the way they had come, but he doubted that the threat of such creatures was gone, far from it.

Now the four of them set out to meet the queen of the metallica-ants in the big central structure of metallic shapes merging into one another with many underground spaces beneath it all fortified and sealed with metal and hardened clay. As they moved at a good hiking pace, in the distance moved a small pack of molerats and above them glided a hawk seeking some prey to devour.

» Mon Dec 06, 2010 10:45 am

33 :cookie:
BACK TO THE CAVES OF FARTING FROGS #2

Before the four could get even half way to the queen's residence, cyborg-ants spilled out of the tunnel they had left behind, dozens of them. Though quick they were slower than the metallica-ant scouts that fled before them, wisely enough as they had no chance in a fight and their deaths would gain no advantage to their nest, but then they turned to come to Archavo and his group. Archavo and his companions, including the one scout, ran quickly across the lightly muddy ground and past some small pools of bubbling marshy water.

But even as they seemed to be getting ahead of the large force of cyborg-ants, another threat emerged from their right being super-mutants including the zymutants, the shorter, slimmer mutants wearing power armour. There were two huge behemoths and many massemoths also, zentaurs and yet also new threats. zyblins, winged creatures something liked zentaurs but less powerful. They were fast and agile flying though, lashing out with barbed shock-tentacles. Thankfully there were no so many of these zeblins.

And if this was not bad enough, a third force of enemies showed up coming from yet another direction. Greening'Death monsters swarming over the land and with them fast moving Greening'Cutter assassins in assault power armour.

Randro spoke even as they kept moving. "They may be converging to attack the queen of the metallica-ants."

Archavo responded. "Sounds egotistic of me but no, they are trying to kill me though I do not know why apart from my strange abilities which I have never found a reasonable explanation for. Make things vanish to some storage place but it is hard to bring them back. Repair things, heal life, replicate renew things. Sense things and people, life, thoughts, feelings. Have visionings of events. The shadow one is behind this but I have no idea who or what he is. New emerging powers. I can teleport myself and a limited amount of other to a place I have been before but what good would that do us? Anyway I do not wish to abandon our allies, the metallica-ants."

The scout ant, the one they had rescued, communicated then. Archavo sounded amazed as he spoke. "I was in the metallica-ant city once before when I was a baby. The giant-ants can smell my distinct scent. My father, my real father that is, brought me there and with him was a soldier of some kind of a paramilitary force known as the Brotherhood of Steel. Star Paladin Cross was her name and my father was named James Ashworth. We can teleport. Do as I say."

All but one of the scout giant-ants fled underground into a maze of secondary tunnels designed for scouts, couriers, foragers and other such smaller metallica-ants to use. But Archavo gathered the befriended scout, Randro, Justine and their gear very close to himself. They touched lightly and then he focused his mind. Powers did not come free. They fed upon his energies and, specifically, on something he was starting to call psyker energies. The greater the power, the greater the task, the greater the drainage of energies.

They all shimmered and vanished.

34:cryvaultboy:
IN THE CITY OF THE METALLICA-ANTS #1

Archavo lay on a thin mattress made of some dry mossy material with a strange bu comfortable way about it. The teleporting had drained him badly of psyker energies and he had actually falled down upon appearing in a huge underground city courtyard chamber. Metallica-ant guards had raced to attack them but the scout, a little groggy as she was, stopped them in time. The others, including the giant-ant, had to rest and then the scout had scurried off but had promised to return later. Food and drink had been brought by servitors, in this case oonkeys, being oonkey style stuff of sliced, coals roasted meatworm meat, steamed mushrooms and some odd tangy steamed tubors along with clay bowls of a light milky substance actually milked from giant grub creatures called breegles.

The oonkeys had an odd response to Archavo. They crouched and studied him as if awed by what they saw. In turn each monkey like creature gently touched Archavo as if touching something sacred, then the four oonkeys departed quickly.

Archavo had dreamed of the visiting oonkeys and was disappointed they were gone when he awoke. He ate some of the food and drank some of the milk substance. Then he looked around the visitors' chamber he had been brought to that was large but much smaller than the courtyard chamber had been. His headache slipped away even as he studied the others. Then he spoke to Justine. "My datados, I suppose it speaks of my biological father."

Justine shook her head. "Only that you were abandoned as an infant and that you were adopted by Anne and Bent Cashingworth. When you reached the age of sixteen you went to live with your grandmother, Lisa Cashingworth. You have always been a high achiever both intellectually and creatively as well as in sports. You seemed always intent on learning skills of survival usefulness. For such a famous player, a gladiator, your datados is very low of megabytes."

He turned to see that Randro was setting out their equipment and supplies. The Unity man looked up and frowned softly at Archavo. "We need to get to Vault-101 to warn the Overseers of what is happening here. Vaultgov can not afford to let such powerful antagonistic forces exist so close to the vault."

Archavo went to respond but then, abruptly, he had a very disturbing visioning.

» Mon Dec 06, 2010 8:10 am

35 :toughninja:
ARCHAVO: MINDEYE VISIONING
BLOODBATH IN VAULT-101

The distorted Elitor humans came rushing, roaring and firing xdart-guns, autoguns and tripulsers but most had no guns at all. They threw things, bit with extended fang like teeth and slashed with claws. They had rushed into the cycleway and people were coming to a crashing halt. Bicycles were overturning. People were spilling to the floor. Babies were crying. Others were screaming in fear. A couple of police constables fired off their tripulsers at the monsters, killing two before both officers were themselves gunned down. The attackers began to kill people, be they men, women or children.

Robots turned against the attackers, sensing somehow an important difference between them and the victims. A carrierbot with out weapons shoved itself against a young, distorted woman and smashed her hard against a wall, trapping her.

Sirens screamed, security turrets dropped out of ceiling cavities, and began shooting stun-pulses at the attackers but this only slowed them down so programming allowed them to start shooting away with more lethal force.

A man had his head sliced off, blood jetting into the air.

A robodroid swung one of its big bulky arms and killed an attacker, hurling him through the air, and then was blasted by caseless bullets into stillness.

People were running, were huddling, were screaming. Some took out semilegal or even illegal weapons and began trying to defend themselves. The attackers were surprisingly fast, agile and powerful but they were outnumbered. Even as an innocent woman was sliced, the distorted attacker was shot with a snubjak shotgun, quite illegal but deadly at closer range, and died.

Blood covered the floor.

Then the attackers stopped, turned and rushed away as quickly as they had come. There seemed to have been no logical reason for the attack. Nothing but death had been gained by the attackers for though they had killed eight Commoners, there were four dead Elitors sprawled now on the floor.

The visioning ended.

36 :snoring:
IN THE CITY OF THE METALLICA-ANTS #2

Archavo awoke from the visioning and looked around to note that the large metallic chamber, as created by metallica-ants and thus not to human appearance, was dotted with human objects as if the giant-ants had not been sure of what human visitors might need or want and had just dumped a whole lot of maybe useful stuff there. After the visioning he had slept, had experienced some odd dreams both vividly real and vividly surreal.

Justine was examining a World War Two vintage Thompson submachinegun, a kind of gun often known as a tommy-gun. She had a pile of box magazines for the weapon, each full of .45 calibre bullets. The rise of the super-weapons had seen the end of World War Two and a new age of technological break thoughs but tommy-guns continued to be popular through out the United States of Greater America. Gangsters, police officers, survivalists, paramilitary radicals, rebels and many others used them. When the new improved .45 calibre bullets appeared, they and the Colt .45 semiautomatic pistols became even more popular along with some other weapons using the same calibre of bullets. The Nazi regime had survived the war only to fragment and be overthrown after it. The European Unionate arose in its place even as old European colonial empires collapsed. The Soviets thrived. The world became divided largely between three new super-powers and their puppet allies.

Archavo wondered why seeing the submachinegun had reminded him of that period of Predoomsday history and why he had the impression of having used that type of gun before.

Randro was consuming a bowl of gruel with a patient look of somebody who wished he had something better tasting to eat but knew it would not happen.

Archavo sat up, reached into a pocket and lightly threw a small satchel of powder to the Unity man. "Sprinkle this onto the meatworm and ruber mash. It should improve the flavour while adding to its nutritional quality."

Randro stirred the nutriflavour powder in with a mild grin. "It has been a long time since I saw any of this stuff. You had some kind of troubling dream. You thrashed around lightly and spoke in a language that sounded quite... well, it sounded bizarre but beautiful."

Justine turned around and then the enclone spoke. "Language of the Birds! Many ancient societies like the Aztecs, the Zurons and others have mentioned such an amazing language with both carved stone symbols and oral history accounts. The Smithsonian Museum Network in Washington DC had a whole department set up just to try to find out more about it. I suppose some of their hard-secured databanks may have survived. You had a visioning! Both Randro and I sensed this. What was it about?"

Archavo described the violent attack, the massacre of unarmed people, the deaths of some of the distorted Elitors and then their sudden departure.

A black cockroach scurried over a jukebox half full of black singles, small records. It had pictures on the front of it of famous 1950s rock and pop stars such as Elvis Pressin, Buddy Holiday and the Beach Girls. The songs were most likely about love, young women, surfing, young women, dancing, young women and gangs. In the 1950s the USGA began to spread its influence more strongly down into Central and South America. Cuba was annexed and then Mexico followed by Colombia. The US Federal Government, the USFG, was heavy into censureship and some subjects were safer to sing about than others. The Soviets and the Euros were also big time into censureship.

"The visioning you had of that strange Elitor therapy session, it must be linked somehow." Justine smiled with satisfaction as she held up the tommy-gun and looked through its sights. Then she lowered it. "Vault-101 is under threat from these distorted, crazy Elitors but the Elitors themselves seem to be trying to solve the problem; or at least some of them do. I wonder if the strange problem with the Elitors has anything to do with the shadowy figure that met both the Security Chief and the fake metallica-ant princess."

Archavo shrugged. "I sensed some link during the visioning but I really do not know what it would be. I do know I must get back to Vault-101 and to those I have promised to protect."

» Mon Dec 06, 2010 6:29 am

37:cryvaultboy:
IN THE CITY OF THE METALLICA-ANTS #3

When the metallica-ant scout entered, the one that Archavo had healed, at a great hurry the three humans knew something was wrong. The scout did an odd thing, darted over to where an old couch was propped against a wall and rolled it over with some difficulty. A basic metal hatch was revealed. Then it communicated with Archavo briefly before rushing back the way it had come in.

Archavo was grave as he spoke to the other two. "The metallica-ant queen is said to be dead. The whole nest has gone crazy. Three princesses have arisen to contest the queen's throne. None of them wish to have us in the city and one wants us dead. The scout informed us that the third princess seems to be allied to the false princess of the caster-ants, as the metallica-ants call them. With such forces behind her, the third metallica-ant princess hopes to destroy the competition and become the next queen. The metallica-ant brain-ants, healer-ants and other special castes support the first princess. The second seems to have little support and will most likely be killed or will willingly subjugate herself to another princess, being dewinged in the process."

Neither Justine or Randro bothered to ask any questions. The three gathered up their gear, including some scavenged from the chamber by Justine, and then they were going down through yet another hatch. This one led to a surprise destination for they found themselves not in a metallic lined space or a prefabbed tunnel but in an earthy tunnel reinforced with clever heavy wooden structures that themselves were reinforced with metal.

Oonkeys of both genders and many ages were racing along the cave tunnel. Clearly they wanted no part in any metallica-ant civil war and who could blame them. They carried babies and infants, pulled clever made handcarts and herded creatures of various kinds. They streamed around Archavo and others, many made quick bowing motions to Archavo. Archavo picked up a child and moved after the flow. Then Justine and Randro did the same. The oonkey children accepted the assistance quietly.

The oonkeys flowed on towards what seemed to be a safer place to be.

38 :bolt:
IN THE CITY OF THE METALLICA-ANTS #4

The flow of oonkeys ended in a big chamber as they flowed past metallica-ant soldiers and bigger guards, some of the soldiers being armed with odd guns, and the scout was waiting to meet the three humans. She danced with excitement and rushed to meet them. Archavo hugged her head and gave her a kiss. This was odd but somehow it fitted. The scout giant-ant had been transformed by the healing process.

She spoke now, though with a little difficulty. "The old queen was not killed. The first princess went against tradition by saving her from the assassins, shaper-ants disguised as metallica-ants that were all killed, but the old queen will never rule again. Shapers are a kind of caster-ant and most dangerous but we are learning how to deal with them. The old queen will live in comfort hidden away from most and will advise the new queen. The new queen states I have turned strange but that my strangeness is useful to the nest. I am more independent, smarter and have new tricks. I am to assist you and to help the metallica-ants form an alliance with the Human Unity and with Vault-101. I am the first of the agent-ants of the metallica-ants."

The oonkeys were settling in around the big chamber. Extended matriarcal families were setting up living quarters, warriors were coming forth with weapons, other activities were beginning to serve both oonkey and metallica-ant needs. Archavo learned that the oonkeys made a big series of items for the metallica-ants that were made by clever oonkey hands that had fully opposable thumbs just as human hands did.

The newly named agent-ant spoke again. "The second princess came to the first and willingly became subjugated. Her few followers came with her. She brought important information. The third princess is not happy with her new allies of the caster-ants. The caster-ant queen is insane, arrogant and is demanding. The third princess is pulling slowly away from the new, one sided alliance. It is likely fighting will break out soon between her forces and those of the enemy giant-ants. The third princess plans now to subjegate herself to the new queen. To make sure she does not plan treachery, that this is not a game, the new queen wants you, Archavo, to go to the third princess."

Archavo was thoughtful. "I need to return to Vault-101. A great danger threatens the people there."

The agent-ant jittered with agitation and then spoke. "I will go to the new queen and speak of this. I will soon return." She departed in a rush.

» Mon Dec 06, 2010 11:21 am

39 :bowdown:
IN THE CITY OF THE METALLICA-ANTS #5

When the old queen came to the chamber, the metallica-ants showed respect and the oonkeys knelt and bowed briefly. The old queen settled onto a cushioned platform, surrounded by attendants, aides and bodyguards, to look upon the three humans and the agent-agent. Then she spoke with a little difficulty. "We will not only assist you to return to Vault-101 after you have helped us but we will send a military force of metallica-ants with you. It is in the long term interest of the metallica-ants to have a treaty with the people of Vault-101. We have new information from the third princess. She has obtained strange company in the way of humans from the surface who come from a settlement called Megaton. We would like you to check out these humans also."

Archavo nodded. "I have my own reasons for wanting to talk to people from the surface. What do you know of this 'Megaton'?"

"Almost nothing except that it is based around a big crater with a partly exposed super-missile silo bunkerplex at the bottom." The old queen ant, majestic and very large, paused before speaking on. "What are these 'super-missiles'? They sound dangerous."

Archavo frowned. "They are dangerous. If any of the super-missiles survived World War Four and Doomsday, then they must be dealt with. The warheads need to be destroyed. Sounds most fascinating, a settlement built around a crater."

The queen spoke again. "Largely with parts of big aeroplanes and other materials from an airbase. Again, I do not know what that is."

So Archavo began to explain a few human concepts and ways to the old queen metallica-ant who listened quietly and attentively except for a few questions that she asked. She turned out to be quite brilliant and very eager to learn as much as possible.

40 :twirl:
SEEKING THE THIRD PRINCESS #1

Archavo, Justine, Randro, the agent-ant and some metallica-ants scouts and soldiers, made good time at first through the metallica-ant city. They avoided the insanely pitched battles between metallica-ants and caster-ants with opponents fighting each other with beserker rage and no mercy given or expected. Hundreds of soldiers and bigger metallica-ant guards were clashing with caster-ant common soldiers and specials. The specials were far fewer in number, which was good for the defenders. There were cyborg-ants, flyer-ants, big hulk-ants and some others. An unexpected gift to the metallica-ants was that the cyborg-ants sometimes went crazy and attacked not just their enemies but their comrades.

They were forced to slow as it became more difficult to avoid the fighting. Hundreds of oonkey warriors had joined in the defence of the city to shower deadly volleys of arrows upon the enemy. The arrows did much damage against the heavy packed ranks of the caster-ants.

Archavo examined a dead caster-ant soldier and with a shock he knew it had been cloned. Most of the caster-ants had been cloned. It seemed so incredible and yet it was no less incredible than other wonders he had already encountered like the amazing suncaverns with their solar biocrystal supporting life and the amazing variety of mutated life that he had so far observed. Of course there was Justine, herself an enclone, and all the other enclones of the Americn EagleEnclave of the world wide Enclaven.

They came to a great cavern scattered with the dead and dying of both sides. Archavo then was drawn to do something that he had not done before that was to prove to himself that he was indeed quite different from other humans and that his origins must have been quite exotic. He would crouch at the side of a dying giant-ant and touch it. With a sparkling shimmer the giant-ant would come to life and be transformed. No longer either metallica or caster, these renewed giant-ants now served Archavo but also a new cause.

Archavo was soon followed by a small army of the new giant-ants that did not even have a name yet which were all golden-yellow in colour. The cyborgs were still so but their hardware was improved and madness was no longer a problem with them. In a real sense it was not Archavo that had done any of this but what he came to think of as the Light though he was not sure where the idea came from. Vault education had not given him any such concepts.

And yet Archavo was starting to realise the truth behind many of his odd powers and that was a very special kind of 'nanobots'.

» Mon Dec 06, 2010 3:33 am

41 :disguise:
SEEKING THE THIRD PRINCESS #2

The very special nanobots having done their job again, Archavo and his people had their own force of golden yellow giant-ants. This did not concern the agent-ant but the other metallica-ants became a little agitated at the presence of the new giant-ants. At least until they had a chance to communicate with one another. As the group moved past the actual warzone and into enemy territory, the agitation ceased.

Enemy territory was just a portion of the metallica-ant city and beneath it, that had been conquered but conquest but was not as yet certain. The caster-ant forces were stretched. And yet they had new allies appearing. Archavo and his comrades sensed the super-mutants before seeing them. The hulking humanoid figures and power armoured ones, along with the zentaurs, stood guard over a way to the third princess. Archavo reluctantly gave the command for attack and was one of the first to do so, rushing forward and firing his xdart-pistol with explosive tipped xdarts blasting into super-mutant armoured flesh or power-armour. The metallica-ants attacked as did the 'goldenlight' ants. They swarmed over the enemy.

Archavo struck a super-mutant massemoth and though the enemy was much bigger, he was hurled back, crying out both rage and surprise. Archavo often took his enemies by surprise by his amazing physical power and Archavo, himself, was no less surprised by what he could do. The enemy, massemoths and the power armoured troopers, unleashed volleys of fire power as miniguns and autoguns blazed, but the metallica-ants and goldenlight-ants also had weapons. They fired projectiles and pulselaser pulsebeams. Randro staid back and Justine protected the agitated agent-ant, stroking the giant-ant's head to calm her. Surprisingly, a bond was forming between Justine the enclone and the agent-ant of the metallica-ants.

Archavo looked around at the dead and dying enemy. Then again he walked amongst them to the dying but not all chose to be healed and transformed and they died peacefully. Still he found himself with five goldenlight massemoths and three other mutants in power armour along with five changed zentaurs. What was happening? He was not sure but though it was strange, it felt right. All the zentaurs had changed as if they were a special case but that idea had yet to be proven.

They set out again, Archavo briefly mentioning to Justine, Randro and the agent-ant the existence of the very special nanobots. They were all fascinated and interested, the agent-ant being far more intelligent and perceptive than the old scout-ant had been.

42 :hehe:
SEEKING THE THIRD PRINCESS #3

When they found dead caster-ants and metallica-ants locked together in battle, along with other dead and pools of giant-ant goo like blood, Archavo quickly worked out that the third princess was now at war with the caster-ants. This was confirmed when he revived and transformed more dying giant-ants, creating more goldenlight but this time some staid as metallica-ants though none of the caster-ants chose to stay as such. Caster-ants were all in constant pain, were all driven mad by a presence in their minds of something alien, sharp and evil. The caster-ants wanted freedom but could not, it seemed, gain it for themselves. At this point Archavo started to form a new plan in his mind of how to deal with the caster-ants with, hopefully, less death and destruction than had already been happening.

When Archavo found a dead surface man, a typical Wastelander in basic, enduring clothes and other gear including body-armour, he noted the odd patchwork colorization of the skin, a mixture of brown and dusky eurowhite, the roughness of the skin and other signs of mutation. Wastelander humans, it seemed, were changed from the humans that dwelt in the vaults but that was hardly a surprise. Vaultfolk were genetically engineered, enhanced, from old time humans but it seemed these Wastelanders were enhanced by wild mutation and the survival of the fittest.

He crouched in a big, desolate tunnel full of dim light and lit by wild growing biocrystals. The floor was a maze of slimy pools of rancid water, dead things and slimy fungus that grew in softly glowing clumps. In the distance were heaped loose piles of metal drums full of horribly toxic stuff, some of them cracked and spilling their contents. Archavo touched the dead man and something very strange happened.

With a sparkling shimmer, the young mutant man sat up and stared around himself in shock. Then he turned to Archavo and frowned softly. "Do you mind, I was just about to walk into the Light to meet my dead family when you intervened."

Archavo shook his head. "Was the Light and your decision and you know it. You are not only fully fit and healthy now but your physical, mental and spiritual-psychic side is enhanced. Well, that is how I sense things to be. What that means for you, that you will have to work out. Come with me unless you want to stay in this place."

The young man looked at Archavo with a frown. "You are not a Wastelander. You are what we call a smoothskin like those from the Order of Steel, like those Vaultfolk, like those damned Domnifolk and especially like those evil Enclavers. All uppity about your so called genetic purity and genetic engineering. Makes me want to puke."

Archavo sighed. "You can keep complaining as we get moving. There are things to do. We must find the third princess."

The man shook his head. "Name is Stasho Hyde, half-brother to Jericho and other dudes of the settlement of Megaton. We were a rough lot, bandits, but we got sick of it especially because we were not as bad as those damned slavers, gangers, pirates and, worst of all, the raiders from outside DC." He stood up. "I feel odd but good. As for the third princess of the metallica-ants, if you want to save her with this weird army of yours, you had better hurry. She has monsters attacking her and her followers including some of my people. You always resurrect people?"

He frowned. "Was the Light that did it and, no, that was the first time. Surprised me as much as it did you. Come on, let's get out of here."

So they did so.

» Mon Dec 06, 2010 5:34 am

43 :banghead:
STASHO HYDE’S STORY, MEGATON EXPEDITION #1

The Wastelander informed Archavo of a strange but true story as they went. Megaton drew water up from a deep cavern lake, a very big one, through Predoomsday pipes. The pipes were put in to serve the missile silo base that now centred Megaton the settlement. The advanced quad missile silo, with four huge missiles designed to hit targets as far as the Moon, had needed water but the pipes and the water pump plant was too large just to serve that. What ever else the water supply had served had vanished when the crater was formed in the middle of Megaton.

But recently odd things had started to come up with the strongly pumped water. Walter, the overseer caretaker of the water plant, complained that while the filters kept the things from getting into the Megaton water supply, that they were nasty, toxic and very weird. The only good thing was that they did not often come up the pipes.

Still, the Megaton Town Council was most concerned. They financed a group of volunteers led by two sheriff deputies and a Megaton Civilguard. The Civilguards were a fairly small but well armed, armoured, trained and experienced militia that was also known as the Megaton Civilguardia. The deputy in charge was Mark Simms, younger brother to Sheriff Lucas Simms who both belonged to one of the Fourteen Founding Families of Megaton. The Sheriffs had always been Simms as had many of the deputies.

Stasho Hyde had joined the expedition because of a mixture of curiosity, boredom and being broke. He also owed some coins to that damned cunning snake, Colin Moriarty, who owned the Girls’N’Games Saloon.

They had made their way down the rampway well, a curious structure of shallow sloping metallic rampways going down the sides of a square shaped shaft plunging into the ground. There were stage platforms, big safety fences and the structures were sound and safe.

Other expeditions had gone down to the Fresh Lake Caverns before but not for over three years. They had halted at a big metallic platform, long abandoned, where the pipes entered the water of a huge lake stretching in all directions. Fish swam in the lake and also bigger things. They had gone no further.

The last expedition had found mirelurks on the metallic platform and had been forced to shoot and kill some of them before the drove the lot off. The radiation loving, amphibious monsters had come from somewhere but where?

The new expedition found no mirelurks but it did find small clumps of the creatures that had infiltrated the pipes up to Megaton. These were part floating, part swimming, along on a strong current from a particular direction. Most of the small critters were not going up the pipes but were moving onwards on the current.

The expedition apparently had no further it could go with out a boat so two of the members returned to Megaton to see if one could be gotten. The others waited, including Stasho, wondering at such madness. Mark Simms assured them that the cause was not so hopeless. He hinted that there might be something in the amazingly big stash of Moira Brown’s underground warehouse chamber. Somehow lots of amazing junk, semijunk and one day useful stuff had ended up there.

What came down with the two old expeditionary and four new expeditionary members were three very tough, sleek kevlar inflatorafts with electric outboard motors with propellers.

Professor Tom Brown himself came to the cavern lake. He was very smart and though he seemed a bit too removed and fuzzy minded, he was actually very alert. The four also brought more equipment including some bigger guns, some lamps and more supplies.

Then the expedition had set out to follow the water current, to find its destination, and to try to put a halt to the creatures being caught up in the pumps taking the small beasties up to the settlement.

44 :mohawk:
STASHO HYDE’S STORY, MEGATON EXPEDITION #2

The boats made good time and were able to recharge from solar panels and the suncrystal sunshine thanks to the biocrystals growing across the ceiling. They had to avoid big green islands of mutated lily-pads and water weed where many creatures thrived from frogs to what looked like amphibious versions of prairie-dogs.

Once they hurled in grenades to drive off a big direshark that seemed just too interested in the kevlar inflatorafts. The concussion did the trick and they dragged up stunned fish from the surface of the water to later eat.

Then they came to the other side of the big lake cavern and to a great muddy earth area rising up before them to the rocky wall. It was covered with mutated green plant life, small stunted trees with glistening leaves and some big, strange creatures. These latter were hulking mutated seals, or so it seemed, with upper bodies raised upright and each had two arms ending in exotic shaped but useful hands. These creatures were divided into a fewer, larger males and far more numerous, smaller females. The males were fighting over territory and females, smashing at each other or biting at each other or trying to use crude clubs against each other.

The small creatures were coming from that direction but were not off these seallars, as Professor Brown confidently named them. It seemed he had a book that mentioned them as being the result of a TekCorp experiment to create a new breed of genetically engineered amphibious workers. No, the seallars had their own pups and did not like at all the intruders which they attacked and killed when they could, eating them with lusty bites.

There were many of the small creatures coming down the great muddy, plant and seallar infested hill sides. There were enough of them and they were quick and agile enough, that most of them got past the seallars and were able to enter the water. They rushed into the waters and swam like crazy.

Three men and women staid with the boats, tied together now, to protect them, while the rest of the expedition made its way up a muddy slope to the cave tunnels from which the small critters were coming from.

The going was tough up the slope. The ground and plants were treacherous. The aggressive seallars had to be at first driven off with shotguns fired harmlessly into the air but then Professor Brown did one of his zany tricks and somehow he communicated with the seallars and convinced them that the humans meant no harm. After that they were let through.

Then they were at the tunnels that were metallic prefabricated tubes plunging into the ground at a gentle slope upwards. Each was three metres wide and high so they would have no problem moving along them. A small stream trickled down each of clear, cool water. A couple wanted the party to split up into the different tunnels but both Deputy Simms and Professor Brown made sure the group staid together for better protection; the others were soon to appreciate this move.

The tunnel went for a long time with out change of direction but the further they got, the louder came some odd and disturbing noises from the direction they were going in. Weapons were prepared, body-armour was checked as were stimpaks and other medical supplies.

When they carefully came out of the other end of the tunnel, they found themselves at the edges of a raging battle. Seallar advlts were armed with metal pipes and other crude clubs, were biting and smashing at those things attacking their crudely fortified positions. They had put logs and boulders together in surprisingly well designed structures. Since the enemy were coming up a fairly sharp slope to attack the seallars, the amphibious mammals were also hurling rocks and sharp, hard plant pods.

» Mon Dec 06, 2010 2:41 pm

45 :swear:
STASHO HYDE’S STORY, MEGATON EXPEDITION #3

Amphibious caster-ants, a kind of giant-ant, were attacking the seallars as they came up out of the waters of the lake. From the same lake came the stream of small creatures moving up slope this time and into the tunnels, still three of them, that went to the other lake cavern. The caster-ants seemed to be following the movement of small creatures, were hunting them even as others were attacking the aquatic mammals.

There was no real choice. Professor did his trick again and they made peace with the seallars. Then the newcomer humans began shooting at the aggressive giant-ants, blasting them away. The seallars soon were acting as allies and as the caster-ants shot deadly glistening biometallic spinedarts, a man fell and a big male seallar stood protectively in front of him. Seallar blubber and thick skin was making it hard for even the spinedarts to do damage. The venom was somehow not doing what it was designed to do.

Stasho Hyde was not sure how it happened but suddenly part of a slope gave away. Somehow, he suspected, the giant-ants had undermined part of the ground or was it just bad luck? Anyway he and three other Wastelanders found themselves rolling helplessly down hill and splashing into the water. They were surrounded then by savagely fighting giant-ants and the powerful seal people.

Then came blackness for Stasho.

He woke up to find that he was a prisoner of the giant-ants, unable to move and on top of a swimming caster-ant. There were other prisoners including two unhappy female advlt seallars and the other three humans, being a woman and two men. Deputy Simms was lucky enough not to be with them but Professor Brown was captive; typically he seemed more excited than fearful.

Stasho Hyde, half-brother to Jericho of Megaton, blacked out again and when he came to he was in a big pit with the other human prisoners. He never saw the advlt-female seallars again and suspected the worst fate of death and devouring had fallen upon them.

The humans were in the pit for a few days and had to do with eating some slightly rancid tasting mushrooms, as big as a Wastelander man’s hand, thrown down to them. They drank the cleanest water they could find. Thankfully, as Wastelanders, they were damned tough when it came to living off the land.

Then, one day, abruptly they were being dragged up out of the pit and marched off through a series of big tunnels dug and reinforced by the weird and varied caster-ants. Soldiers took them this time and they saw many workers doing different tasks along with specials and specialist castes.

Perhaps they were seen as being too slow for they were put on the back of big, fast moving transport-ants and then the group was moving quicker. Then they were in a strange metallic chamber with many odd human trophies, including a big lethal looking bomb, and creatures in strange transparent bubbles. It was the same chamber that Archavo, Randro and Justine had been in or so Archavo sensed. The fake metallica-ant princess was there and she told the same set of lies to the Megaton folks as she had told to Archavo and his companions.

The fake princess studied the humans, talked with them for a while and spoke of her grand plans. Mostly she talked with Professor Brown and was, it seemed, agitated when he questioned her way of thinking.

Then she abruptly dismissed them and they were taken away but this time they ended up with the metallica-ant, the third princess, and something odd happened.

They were released from their bonds and told they could move around and communicate with metallica-ants, that there would be a guide to help them and make sure they had reasonable food, water and other needs met. Professor Brown staid with the third princess to talk with her while the other three humans went with their giant-ant guide.

Shortly after that the alliance between the third princess and the caster-ants finally collapsed, it was never very stable, and a large force of caster-ants attacked the metallica-ant colony of the third princess.

46 :goodjob:
SEEKING THE THIRD PRINCESS #4

Stasho Hyde ceased telling his story by informing he could not remember how he had finished up being dead in the tunnel with its leaking drums of toxic liquids. They were making good time through a smaller, higher tunnel that had no toxic spills and which was much cleaner. It was also darker as there were no radiata crystals there to light the way.

Stasho spoke as he, Archavo, Randro, Justine, the agent-ant and the goldenlighters followed them along with the metallica-ants who staid as their own kind. “Caster-ants are weird. Different caste kinds often start fights with each other. There are some exotic caste kinds that do not seem to have any practical reason for existing and some are kept alive though they are in agony. The cyborg-ants are brutal and will attack other kinds of caster-ant if given any excuse to do so. Basic soldier, worker and servitor caste ants are fairly stupid.”

He paused before speaking again, as if reluctant to do so. “I was rushed through the caster-ant to meet the fake princess and back again. I am a good observer, one has to be to survive out in the Wastelands, and some things I saw were most disturbing.”

Archavo nodded. “Some force is experimenting with the caster-ants and does not care how much pain, how much death and destruction, is caused by such research and development programs. Please describe what you can remember for this is important.”

Stasho frowned. “I saw mostly the basic soldier, worker and servitor ants along with those transport-ants, hulk-ants and a few of the cyborg-ants. There were also dark stalking fighter ants, ants that stored liquids in big semisolid sacks on their backs, stilt legged ants that were most odd, ants that flew, ants that specialised in swimming and some ants that sprayed a kind of muddy substance to build structures with. There was a kind of ant with horns that blew odd notes of music. There was an ant that had a kind of glowing biocrystal on its back. There was a kind of ant that… well the others were not so clear but there were horrible malformed ones that were shoved into odd corners and left there in pain but kept alive.”

He shook his head in wonder. “Then there were the upright.. no part upright ants that were like centaurs in that they had four legs and two arms with the front part being vertical. The two forward legs seemed to have become arms. A glimpse was enough. They held weapons except for one and that carried what looked to be a human baby all wrapped up in blood stained cloth. I sensed that it was sleeping peacefully. I never considered myself to be psychic or anything but there was something very odd and disturbing about that baby girl. In some way it was even more disturbing than the caster-ants.”

Archavo was not sure what to say for he was taken by surprise. A baby girl and one more disturbing than a genetically engineered caster-ant? Perhaps the third princess of the metallica-ants would have some answers.”

» Mon Dec 06, 2010 3:17 am

47 :gun:
SEEKING THE THIRD PRINCESS #5

Archavo aimed and fired his xdart-pistol even as he ran across the rocky outcropped floor of the huge cavern chamber. He dropped behind a formation of small boulders even as bullets buzzed overhead. Justine crawled up to crouch beside him and she was frowning even as she aimed her tripulser.

A large force of caster-ants and super-mutants was well emplaced in fortifications between them and the third princess plus her people. On the far side of that great amazing cavern, dotted with huge abandoned machines on raised metal platforms, metallica-ants could be glimpsed. She had even glimpsed Professor Brown’s face as he had peered over a low metallic wall once only to be pulled back under cover by a metallica-ant.

The enemy were very well emplaced with some big weapons, some of them being special kinds of caster-ant. Super-mutants had a 40mm autogun in a crude half-covered turret. They and the caster-ants seemed to have an uneasy alliance for each was in a different part of the fortifications and they noticeably did not mix with each other.

He studied the metallic catwalks going high overhead and a great big crane jutting out from one wall. The place had been abandoned but some effort had been made to seal up the machinery, to preserve them; had the people meant to return? Their identity was clear with a VaultTek corporation symbol showing on a big metallic plate on one wall along with that of the United States of Greater America Ministry of Construction, Department of Special Projects. President Jack Patriot Jackson had adopted British style Ministries as the backbone of his public service, each huge Ministry having Departments serving it. Each had an abbreviation, the Ministry of Construction being known as MiniConstruct. The Department of Special Projects would be known as the MC-DSP.

Then he smiled for the defenders had made a big mistake. The crane reached out over them and underneath it was hanging a huge bit of machinery. He wondered how the super-mutants and caster-ants could miss such an obvious danger.

Then it came to him that the super-mutants were generally dumb, even the zymutants in the power-armour, and the caster-ants seemed oddly narrow in their thinking. How he got this impression, he was not sure, but he did not question it, so strong was it.

He made some signals to a goldenlighter super-mutant who nodded, aimed his missile-launcher up at the chain holding the great lump of machinery, and fired it. A moment later there was an explosion and down it came, crashing right into the centre of the defensive fortifications.

The results were dramatic, violent and amazing. The surviving caster-ants all went crazy and began attacking each other and the super-mutants. The fighting was savage as the weirdness kept going. Then Archavo was rushing to the scene of battle not to join in but to reclaim some of the dying for his own growing army.

48 :lol:

SEEKING THE THIRD PRINCESS #6

Something was going very wrong with the caster-ants. Their tight organization was breaking down. Ants were attacking ants. Vital tasks were being neglected. Many caster-ants were also vanishing, were leaving suddenly to go to somewhere unknown and they seemed to be the most successful of their kind. The false metallica-ant princess was going increasingly illogical and chaotic in her behaviour.

Goldenlighter giant-ants, that had been caster-ants, informed Archavo of this. They claimed that the exotic baby girl known as the AntDominator, was taking over all those caster-ants she sensed were worthy and was drawing them away from the princess giant-ant who was being abandoned to die. Other caster-ants were being left behind to deal with the metallica-ants and the great threat that was Archavo himself as a kind of expendable rear guard action. Yes, the AntDominator saw him as a threat, even feared him, as did the strange antaurs, the four legged and two armed giant-ant like creatures.

Archavo was painfully aware of his lack of knowledge of what really was going on but at least the caster-ant threat was going away for now. There was only the mopping up to be done or so it seemed.

Archavo watched as newly made goldenlight super-mutants gathering up loot from the fortifications along with goldenlight giant-ants, former caster-ants. The super-mutants included zentaurs, a few zyblins and both zymutants and massemoths but also one much bigger, hulking behemoth.

The goldenlighter force was getting to be quite big and he was wondering just what he would do with it.

» Mon Dec 06, 2010 2:11 am

49 :brokencomputer:
WITH THE THIRD PRINCESS #1

Archavo was met by a metallica-ant princess who was wary of his power and was agitated that he had converted dying metallica-ants into goldenlight-ants. He stood in a big throne chamber facing the princess on her big disk shaped and cushioned platform as around him stretched many impressive displays of human technologies, each on its own platform, and also metallica-ant achievements.

Next to him was a softly frowning Professor Brown, a man who like Archavo himself, was far more than he seemed to be.

Archavo spoke in English. “It was the Light that chose them and they themselves who also did so. At least half the metallica-ants did not transform in the end. They still serve you but are enhanced in physical, mental and other ways. The Light! I am not sure of what it truly entails, this word, this name, but in this case it is partly in the form of very special nanobots. Now also microbots and macrobots, I think. They do as bid by the Light and the Light works through them. The goldenlighters are no threat to the metallica-ants unless you plan something foolish. You know of the shadowy figure that is linked to the creation of the caster-ants, the Greening’Death and perhaps also the super-mutants, that threatens both of our peoples. You need strong allies. The Goldenlight will be that for your people.”

The princess calmed a little. “This Light resurrected a man called Stasho Hyde from the human settlement of Megaton, is that what you would agree has happened?”

“Surprised me!” Archavo looked around at a big, powerful motorbike on a disk shaped, raised platform. “Surprised me as much as it did anybody else. I had the impulse and I touched the body. Then he was up and about. You have some amazing items here. What is this place?”

“My throneroom and my museum of hope.” The princess responded a little sharply but her agitation was almost gone. “The queens, either the serving queen or the queen mother, will not be pleased by these goldenlighters but on the other hand we metallica-ants are pragmatic; we have to be. New ways have come to us with the pressure to survive. In the past only the queen has lain eggs but now both queens and all dewinged princesses will be called on to do so. No, we will not build an empire in these parts. We intend to move to a more isolated area where we can build such an empire while leaving an outpost here for diplomatic, military and trade reasons.”

50

bliviongate:
WITH THE THIRD PRINCESS #2

The conversation changed direction.

Archavo nodded. “How long have your people been sending secret scavenger teams up to the surface?”

The third princess responded. “Yes, like the professor here, you are with the extra sensory perception, the mindeye, and you also are sharply observant. We send up only a few teams and are most careful that Wastelanders do not detect them. They stay away from the settlement of Megaton made from parts of big metal flying-machines. There are the roughskins, the ghouls, the zhouls, enemy giant-ants, giant-scorpions, giant-spiders and other threats up there. We gain what loot that we can and bring it down here. We learn what we can and adapt what we can to our uses. We wish to build motor-vehicles suited to our bodies, our way of doing things and our needs but also weapons, power-armour and perhaps one day, even such as computers and robots. Our last two teams that were sent up there have failed to return but, thanks to the current crisis, we have had no chance to seek the truth of their fate.”

Roughskins like Stasho from Megaton?

He noted robots, bits of machinery, a whole electric motorised tricar with its odd rounded off triangular shape, a bicycle, some clothes displayed on odd racks, a couple of vaguely life like mannequins, canned food, hardback books, a stack of holotapes and much more. Such as robots and holotapes had belonged to the elite areas of the USGA, the United States of Greater America, while the majority of people dwelt in poorer, less technologically rich areas. Tricars, books, mannequins and such were common across the USGA that stretched all the way from north Alaska to the Panama Canol. Mexico, Canada and other areas were so called Protectorates but they had been conquered.

There was much that the metallica-ants had not gained. The only robots they had were a postaltron, a mail delivery robot and three teddibots, small robotic teddy-bears of a kind mass produced by President JPJ and given free to many American children.

He spoke. “I need to return to TekVault-101.”

The third princess spoke. “I can give you a map. It will give you a way to go to the surface and a way, close to the ruins of the city of Springvale, where you can find a way down to TekVault-101. My people found what appears to be an entrance.”

He nodded. “Show me that information that you have and I will set to work designing a metallica-ant useful and user friendly motor-vehicle based on the sort of technologies you have here in this chamber. It will not be fancy but it will be able to carry out a series of tasks.”

Suddenly, at that moment, he turned to see a group of metallica-ants fleeing towards him with the agent-agent leading them. They were being chased by a larger group of metallica-ants being larger, more powerful guards than the retreating soldiers. All of those soldiers were ones saved by the Light, brought back to more than normal full health and fitness, and now they were under peril.

He turned to the third princess and nodded. “Lies, so many lies. What are you really? Stop controlling the mind of the third princess. Your hold is slipping, we both know it.”

Then the princess collapsed downwards and lay still as a steam of black Smokey energy poured up out of her body and became the translucent shadowy figure of a man. Or at least it looked like a man. He smiled and spoke in a muffled, distorted and hate sharpened voice in the language called Esperanto. “My name is President Jack Patriot Jackson and one day I will kill you for what you have done to me.”

Then the shadowy figure shimmered and vanished.

The third princess slept but was badly injured. The metallica-ants stopped what they had been doing and were apparently more than a little confused. Archavo went to help the princess with the aid of the Light.