Blood dribbled slowly down the open gash in the horizontal slash down the man's arm. It pooled at his finger tips, slowing and slowing until it ended in a frozen global that stuck out of his wrists like a red stalagmite. His frozen eyes stared blankly into space, watching the stars wheel and turn in his small single ship. The planet Pluto slowly circled round the edge of his cockpit, and the absolute chill of space pressed inwards into the now powered down space ship.
Then a inviable ray of sheer heat speared into the confined space. A laser, cutting into the side of the hull, slowly created a circle about the size of a obese normal. Then pressure blew the circle outwards into space, and the two space suited figures that where clamped to the side of the ship started to slither through the hole with the practice ease of someone born, bread and raised in space.
The two people, both women, wore tight fitting suites with four levels. The inner insulating layer, the actual flex amour with a massive complexity of gadgets that spread between it and the insulation, and finally the silvered surface that reflected low caliber laser fire. The first woman peered out of her visor, which had lightened now that the minute energy from the sun had stopped bombarding their suits.
The second woman grabbed a gun out of a holster on her hip. She adjusted the nozzle that made up its barrel and aimed it at the breach in the hull. She sprayed a foam composed of insulating material that would keep the chill of space out for now. Her compatriot pulled out a small heater unit. She set it to heat the area with a simple electric engine that would run current through a coil of wires. The entire thing started to glow in the center of the ship, spinning in the microgravity of the interior.
After a few minuets the suites registered that the ships heat levels had approached a acceptable human level. Then the second woman cracked open the secondary O2 tank in the side of the cabin. Air filled the cabin. Then the first woman placed her hands on the side of her finned helmet and depressed two leavers. The helmet snicked open, air rushing out as the air pressure difference between the ship and the suit equalized.
She looked at her compatriot, her breath steamy in the freezing chill of the cabin, which was still barely 2 degree's C. Her compatriot cracked her suit too, and they both breathed air that was who knows how old. They both looked at the corpse strapped in the chair, and sighed ├óÔé¼┼ôSo├óÔé¼┬Ø the first one said ├óÔé¼┼ôYou'll take the computer systems, and I'll gut the engine?├óÔé¼┬Ø she said.
The other nodded, and they both got to work. The first woman pulled out a laser drill and a scanner. The scanner showed the best way to cut to the engine and so she started to cut with her impossibly hot and focused light. There was more light bounce from the air partials now filling the cabin, so the laser bounced back enough to see a deathly white beam.
The second woman looked over the antique controls and sighed ├óÔé¼┼ôBastard didn't hasn't upgraded for years├óÔé¼┬Ø. She took out a laser drill, much like the one her partner used, but it was shaped like a stylized dragon, its tail wrapped round a shaft of stone. Its mouth was open, and a focusing lenses was hidden in the back of its perfectly straight throat. She pulled the trigger and the laser made a soft zap noise, put in for the user's comfort. It, like most lasers was silent.
The bolts keeping the chair in place on the floor exploded as the pulse laser fired a packet of laser light into it. The woman shoved the chair aside, grimacing as the now warm and flowing blood started to float round. ├óÔé¼┼ôCouldn't of chosen a cleaner way to die├óÔé¼┬Ø she muttered as the chair floated to the unoccupied area of the chamber. Her partner grunted, half into the engine guts ├óÔé¼┼ôWhat did you say?├óÔé¼┬Ø she called back. ├óÔé¼┼ôNothing├óÔé¼┬Ø the second woman said, then she started to open up the computer.
A hour passed, both women working in a easy silence of long friends. Then the second woman whooped. ├óÔé¼┼ôWhat is it├óÔé¼┬Ø the first said, looking up from a pile of salvageable parts she had gotten from the ships innards. ├óÔé¼┼ôI got the computer to use our power source├óÔé¼┬Ø her partner said, pushing away from the computer and turning her mag boots back on. They stuck her to the floor with a tinny clump. The computer system light up with an array of flashy holograms, most unnecessary information. The second woman banished them with a wave of her hand.
Soon they where left with two holo displays, the flight path and the general system log. The flight path was a the slight rotation, placed in Pluto's orbit. The Log showed a series of desperate laser messages to the asteroid belt. Then, oddly, a massive file had been put into the computer. But the two women where more interested in the secret stash the computer said was hidden to the left of the computer terminal, hidden from radar or other known kinds of scanning.
The second woman pulled out her laser pistol and fired it into the wall, directly where the computer had told them to look. The first woman pulled out the bundle of hypo guns and a very unusual data slate. ├óÔé¼┼ôOh boy├óÔé¼┬Ø the second woman said as they passed the hypo's between each other. They read the old symbols in Second Generation English and knew they where going to get rich quick, once they hit the outer cometary belt.
The first woman palmed one of the four hypos and grinned ├óÔé¼┼ôThis one is for us├óÔé¼┬Ø she said. Then they pulled out a small bundle of explosives and placed it gently on the floor of the star ships. They turned the dial, setting it to blow in five minuets. Then the second woman pulled out her laser pistol and shot the diamond cockpit window. Then she unlocked her mag boots and kicked off from the floor, fluidly flipping over so her feet collided squarely with the already weakened material. That, added to the internal pressure forcing it outwards and its already weakened state smashed the window outward in two even pieces. The first woman followed and they both drifted away from the ship.
They put on their helmets first, of course.
The ships blossomed, the explosives tearing it apart in a harsh blue glow that cut through space, and the two women used air pistols to maneuver themselves to the surface of Pluto, through its whisper thin atmosphere. They landed softly, their air pistols brushing away the ice slowly. Their boots melted the snow slightly as they walked to their ship. Their ship was a bright silver sphere, with asymmetric weapon pods sticking out of the left side of it, and a slender laser communication array. The surface was covered with pulsing pink and green patterns.
The airlock opened as they approached, and the two most wanted outlaws in the Solar System entered the most feared ship in the cometary belt, and left the coldest planet in known space. Then the ship fired a jet of heat and gas shot out of hidden engine nozzles and the ship was flung away from Pluto and outwards, to the cometary belt.
The two women stood in the air lock, their helmets stuck into two slots recessed into the wall of the chamber, and looked at the cycling lights blink from red to green. The air lock was round, like the rest of the ship, and was created out of harsh metal that gleamed under a soft blue light that shone from lines of blue neon that ran along the bottom of the floor and the top of the celling.
Then the airlock door opened and the first woman stepped out into the disrobing chamber. ├óÔé¼┼ôSo├óÔé¼┬Ø she said, tossing the hypo to the floor under the one Gee of acceleration the ships engine where putting out, ├óÔé¼┼ôWho do you think will buy this shit?├óÔé¼┬Ø she asked. The other woman grinned, looking over her shoulder as she took her suit off piece by piece like medieval amour ├óÔé¼┼ôConstellioni├óÔé¼┬Ø She said, pulling names off the top of her head. ├óÔé¼┼ôNah he wouldn't have enough money to buy it├óÔé¼┬Ø the first woman said, pulling off her gloves and stashing it.
Her skin was pitch black, dark as space. A single pink tattoo ran from the bottom of her wrist and traced a slender line up her arm and onto her shoulder, where it wrapped around and around her body like a snake. It florescent softly under the ships light. She grinned as she flexed her hand, causing the tattoo to glow brighter and dimmer as her muscles changed shape under it. ├óÔé¼┼ôSusan├óÔé¼┬Ø she hazarded. ├óÔé¼┼ôThat could work├óÔé¼┬Ø the second woman said, pulling her shoes off. Her skin, in contrast with the first woman's, was a pure milky white.
├óÔé¼┼ôGood├óÔé¼┬Ø The first woman said, her chest piece unlatching along her back. The tattoo shone, the stylized dragon running from her arm to her back and round again glowing malevolently. The two women got dressed, pulling on soft jumpsuits with harness's for holding generic stuff. Both jump suites mirrored their skin almost exactly, but the first womans tattoo was emulated by a strip of actual light. It shone brightly as they walked down the corridor and up the ladders and stairs separating the three decks of the ship.
Up was away from the engine, and up was the way the two women climbed. The engine cut off as they hit the velocity that was fuel expedient to be at, and then the ship shifted till it could rotate in the right direction to create centrifugal gravity. After ten minuets of oddness, things righted themselves. The two women walked into the main chamber, located at the edge of the ship and tossed them selves into large sacks of water. The first one sighed contentedly ├óÔé¼┼ôNice job Amber, picking up on a five degree difference in heat├óÔé¼┬Ø she said .
Amber tossed the hypo left and right, looking at it thoughtfully ├óÔé¼┼ôdon't mention it├óÔé¼┬Ø she said. ├óÔé¼┼ôAre you going to use it, or just stair at it like a Lander looking at the old Homeworld?├óÔé¼┬Ø the first woman snapped. Amber rolled her eyes and pressed the hypo against her neck and pulled the trigger. The drug flooded her brain, creating a hazy feeling of wellbeing that started to fill her. She tossed the hypo to the other woman ├óÔé¼┼ôKnock yourself out, Elizabeth├óÔé¼┬Ø Amber said, leaning her head back.
The air swam in front of her eyes, and her heart beat a tribal beat in her ears. Elizabeth giggled as she pressed the hypo into her neck too, spraying the drug a little more liberally then Amber. Amber looked at the other woman's pitch black face. It swam in and out of focus, but other wise Amber was unaffected. She felt a vague disappointments over the general feeling of optimism. She stood, finding herself stumbling. She tumbled forward into Elizabeth's lap.
The other woman started to laugh ├óÔé¼┼ôYou fell├óÔé¼┬Ø she said. Amber felt laid her head in Elizabeth's lap and groaned ├óÔé¼┼ôThis stuff packs a punch├óÔé¼┬Ø she muttered as the pleasurable feeling begin to swamp her. Elizabeth snored loudly, already asleep. Amberly rolled over and fainted, face first in the other womans lap.
Ambers head jerked up, all happiness gone as the drug was flushed from her brain. She had waken up to the incentives beeping coming from the computer's speaker system, but found herself unable to remember before injecting the Blood into her veins. She looked at the other woman, who's head lay back and against the water pillow. Amber looked left and right, on her hands and knees. She wiped wetness from her mouth, which might have been drool. But she could not remember what had happened the last several hours. ├óÔé¼┼ôStrong stuff├óÔé¼┬Ø she said, hoping Elizabeth wouldn't remember last night and confirm her doubts to be true. Or false, a small voice in the back of her head snickered. Amber got to the main computer terminal, a large spherical chamber of interlocking computer slates that rotated round a chair.
The plates slowed and stopped, leaving a opening for her to step through. Amber walked into the center of the chamber and sat down. Then the plates started to rotate, faster and faster. Then they light up with thousands of tiny pecks of light and a picture formed. ├óÔé¼┼ôHi├óÔé¼┬Ø the computers persona said, a collection of algorithms that mimicked a real person but was actually quite limited.
├óÔé¼┼ôHello ship├óÔé¼┬Ø Amber said, leaning back and looking at the massive face that was generated by the plates spinning round and round. ├óÔé¼┼ôWhat can i do for you today?├óÔé¼┬Ø Ship asked. ├óÔé¼┼ôI need to see out flight plan...and a chronometer├óÔé¼┬Ø Amber said, massaging her temples ├óÔé¼┼ôAnd some coffee├óÔé¼┬Ø.
├óÔé¼┼ôOhhh...i can supple coffee, but the time is currently 12 Pm EST, date January's 29, 2106├óÔé¼┬Ø Ship said ├óÔé¼┼ôAnd our flight plan├óÔé¼┬Ø it continued, its generic face faded out and was replaced by a picture showing the flight plan ├óÔé¼┼ôWill drop us off at the cometary belt in five hours├óÔé¼┬Ø. Amber grimaced ├óÔé¼┼ôThanks Ship├óÔé¼┬Ø she said, getting up. The plates slowed and stopped, the opining appearing for her to walk through.
Amber walked over to the bundle of drugs and the data slate they had stolen from the derelict and looked at Elizabeth. The other woman was snoring, muttering a odd phrase ever once and a while. Sounded like a nice dream, from what Amber heard. Amber, glad she would be able to work undisturbed, grabbed the odd data slat. Normal data slates had fifteen extra slots for new memory or possessors chunks to be slid onto it. This one had thirty new slots tacked on in ever way shape and form, making it look like a poorly shaped blob of machine rather then a orderly slate.
And ever slot was filled with memory sticks. ├óÔé¼┼ôHuh├óÔé¼┬Ø She muttered. Then she looked at the computer access terminal. She looked at the slate, and made up her mind. She walked over to the access terminal and stepped into the center, sitting down. As the plates spun up and the Ships face returned, she slid the data slate into his secure slot, which was separated from the mainframes by several thousand firewalls they had stolen from ship's computer networks.
It was the safest and most secure way to scan some data without getting another system, and it had never failed them. And yet Amber felt a shiver of fear run down her spine as she slid it into the slot. It clicked into place and the Ships face froze, as suddenly as the computer plates that surrounded the chair. They did not move.
├óÔé¼┼ôOh shit├óÔé¼┬Ø Amber said.
Darkside
Moderator: Moderators
Thats what its called?
Also some vocabulary in my univers whitch contains SOL and Alpha Centari whitch sends laser messeges ever four year back to eath:
cometary belt: once referred to as the Kupiter belt, now is just called the outer rim, or the cometary belt.
Homeworld: Duh
ISC: Inter solar credits
Landers: Earthbounders, groundligngs, flatlander, there are many names for people born, breed and raised on the planets Mars, Homeworld, and Luna, but the most commonly used amongst spacers is Landers. They have a phobia of space, as its just so damn big and the aerodynamics are so jarring to their inbred instincts, most can't adjust.
Launchers: Spacers, asteroid jockeys, crash landers and other names like those are used for men, but mostly women (Men are more likely to stay on Homeworld, as the cosmic rays and general radiation that flies through space tend to sterilize or mutate sperm at a worrying frequency, men are adverse to traveling or living their. However women, mostly young women who are wondering why humanity hasn't engineered the menstrual cycle out of the body all together, go into space and get their eggs removed, packaged on earth and kept until they want children. Most don't.
Normal: A un-engineered, un-augmented and completely unaltered and un-mutated baseline human. Most people are normal.
Arco's: Arcologys, massive city in a building to contained the ridiculous overpopulation of the Earth. One for every major city was constructed. Life in a Arco is cramped, unpleasing and expensive. But when compared to the crushing swell of people living in massive shanty towns that sprawl well into the strip mines and defunct war zone's of the past, it is a much much better choice.
New words will be explained, but these will be helpful to know.
Also some vocabulary in my univers whitch contains SOL and Alpha Centari whitch sends laser messeges ever four year back to eath:
cometary belt: once referred to as the Kupiter belt, now is just called the outer rim, or the cometary belt.
Homeworld: Duh
ISC: Inter solar credits
Landers: Earthbounders, groundligngs, flatlander, there are many names for people born, breed and raised on the planets Mars, Homeworld, and Luna, but the most commonly used amongst spacers is Landers. They have a phobia of space, as its just so damn big and the aerodynamics are so jarring to their inbred instincts, most can't adjust.
Launchers: Spacers, asteroid jockeys, crash landers and other names like those are used for men, but mostly women (Men are more likely to stay on Homeworld, as the cosmic rays and general radiation that flies through space tend to sterilize or mutate sperm at a worrying frequency, men are adverse to traveling or living their. However women, mostly young women who are wondering why humanity hasn't engineered the menstrual cycle out of the body all together, go into space and get their eggs removed, packaged on earth and kept until they want children. Most don't.
Normal: A un-engineered, un-augmented and completely unaltered and un-mutated baseline human. Most people are normal.
Arco's: Arcologys, massive city in a building to contained the ridiculous overpopulation of the Earth. One for every major city was constructed. Life in a Arco is cramped, unpleasing and expensive. But when compared to the crushing swell of people living in massive shanty towns that sprawl well into the strip mines and defunct war zone's of the past, it is a much much better choice.
New words will be explained, but these will be helpful to know.
Peter rolled his pencil round his fingers, looking at his desk. Then his eyes swept up to the very old lady that filled every stereotype. She was wearing jeans and a tee shirt of generations past. Both her eyes looked twenty years younger then the rest of her face, singe of a recent transplant, while wrinkles created a odd caricature out of her face. ├óÔé¼┼ôYou want me to find your cat?├óÔé¼┬Ø he asked for the third time.
├óÔé¼┼ôYes├óÔé¼┬Ø The lady said, nodding for the third time ├óÔé¼┼ôMy cat├óÔé¼┬Ø.
This fact hammered into Peters still none awake brain, he asked the next question required for his job ├óÔé¼┼ôWhat dose it look like?├óÔé¼┬Ø. The lady shrugged ├óÔé¼┼ôA black tabby├óÔé¼┬Ø she said ├óÔé¼┼ôWith four legs and a bushy tail├óÔé¼┬Ø. ├óÔé¼┼ôIs a hyper cat?├óÔé¼┬Ø he asked. The lady shook her head. ├óÔé¼┼ôTalking?├óÔé¼┬Ø. Another shake. ├óÔé¼┼ôEngineered in any way?├óÔé¼┬Ø. Another shake. ├óÔé¼┼ôAugmented?├óÔé¼┬Ø he hazarded, run out of things that could cover any thing that would make the cat stand out amongst the billions of black tabbys on the old Homeworld.
├óÔé¼┼ôNone├óÔé¼┬Ø the lady said. ├óÔé¼┼ôWell...is there ANYTHING that distinctively marks you cat different from the billions of other tabby on the planet?├óÔé¼┬Ø Peter asked out of sheer desperation. ├óÔé¼┼ôHe is trying to take over the world├óÔé¼┬Ø the lady said, getting up and walking out of the office. ├óÔé¼┼ôWait├óÔé¼┬Ø Peter said, desperate enough to pander to the lady's madness, but she snapped back ├óÔé¼┼ôYou don't understand!├óÔé¼┬Ø. The door to his office slid shut with a soft voosh.
Peter massaged his head and thumped it against the soft foam that coated the top of his harsh metal desk. His head hit the activation button on his email answering machine and the hologram of Kelly flickered into view ├óÔé¼┼ôI'm really sorry Peter├óÔé¼┬Ø the woman said ├óÔé¼┼ôBut me and Jon are going to leave. I'm sorry it hasn't work out, but keep tabs on us├óÔé¼┬Ø He, without taking his head off the desk, snapped his hand through the hologram, and it went to the next message. ├óÔé¼┼ôPeter S Thompson?├óÔé¼┬Ø the next message said ├óÔé¼┼ôYou are over a week due with your rent. Eviction activated if fine's not paid within three days├óÔé¼┬Ø
Peter flicked his hand through that and then the machine bleeped ├óÔé¼┼ôEnd of Messages├óÔé¼┬Ø It said and his desk shut down, dimming to its normal unactivated brightness. Peter got up slowly and muttered ├óÔé¼┼ôThey can all go screw themselves├óÔé¼┬Ø. He then walked out of his small closet of a office, and closed the door. He then keyed in the ├óÔé¼┼ôSell├óÔé¼┬Ø button, signifying his desire to sell his hose and office. At least fourteen thousand A.I's at anyone time where looking for a house for their owners, so his wallet chimed after a short few minuets. He keyed the final acceptance program, and got a hansom amount of money. Lots of people wanted to live in the Notre Dame Arco, even if it was expensive and overcrowded.
Peter felt a flicker of sadness that his house for fifteen years could be pawned and sold and dealt with in a few minuets. He never haggled, never saw who would live their. He wasn't even able to leave a sine in the place that he had been their. House's in Notre Dame where to small to be cluttered by tick tacks. He walked down the massive, gracefully hall way of the arco, and begin to whistle. He had several million more ISC then he used to. What to spend it on?
He finally settled on a vacation. He wasn't worried about his future. There had stopped being a future when his wife had divorced him, his best friend had run of with her and his job had run up dry. But it wasn't something to morn over. Life was fleeting, after all. Or so he said to himself. He still felt horribly depressed, just free and horribly depressed. He slipped his hand into his pants pockets and felt the blade he had kept from the shanty towns.
A man rushing at him, antique sword bared. His arm flicking out and his knife drawing across the man's throat. The body crashed to the ground, and Peter turned to face his gang. ├óÔé¼┼ôCome on, lets go!├óÔé¼┬Ø he shouted Peter forced the memory back and took his hand out of his pocket. ├óÔé¼┼ôA vacation would be a nice way to go├óÔé¼┬Ø He murmured.
├óÔé¼┼ôWhere would you like to go?├óÔé¼┬Ø the bright and smiling man behind the counter asked. ├óÔé¼┼ôErr...is the round SOL cruise past Jupiter and through the cometary belt still available?├óÔé¼┬Ø Peter asked, looking at his wallet. Five Million ISC was a heady concept. ├óÔé¼┼ôYes sir├óÔé¼┬Ø the man said ├óÔé¼┼ôIts one million ISC for fourth class, two for third, four for second and five for first class├óÔé¼┬Ø. ├óÔé¼┼ôI'll take first class├óÔé¼┬Ø Peter said, handing his wallet to the man behind the counter. The chaser swept it across the reader and the money drained out of it depressingly fast.
├óÔé¼┼ôThank you, please fly Transteller flights next trip├óÔé¼┬Ø the man behind the counter said, handing him the ticket.
Panic struck Peter as he looked out the window. His mind didn't grasp what he was doing for the entire shuttle flight, witch took place in a vat of blue liquid that prevented his bones from being smashed to powder. Then he was ushered into his room, told what buttons did which by the stunningly gorgeous Launcher hostess. She beamed when he thanked her. ├óÔé¼┼ôDon't worry, we are hear to serve├óÔé¼┬Ø She said, kicking off from the wall and floating away in the micro gravity the ship was under.
Peter watched her float down the hall, wearing a miniskirt and a overly tight shirt that made up the entire crews uniform. He was thinking the miniskirt had been added for the men on the trip, as it did next to nothing to protect modesty in zero gee. He was also thinking about how the vibrations that set in after a woman pushed off in zero gee was incredibly attractive. He shook himself, glad he bought a anti nausea hypo for a measly five ISC.
Then he saw the window.
Then his brain sized up. The epic globe of Homeworld drifting slowly under him cause his entire body to size up. His heart almost stopped, and he stared out the absurdly thin window to the sheer emptiness that looked back at him. He turned himself round as his agoraphobia, from living most of his live under a press of metal and humanity, lessened as he looked away. He then saw the request panel. He looked it over and saw their was the food button, medical help button and finally the last button that was simple green and had a small slot below it.
He pressed it out of sheer curiosity. The slot chucked and a square of plastic clattered out of the slot. He grabbed it and looked at it. It was a condom. Peter was beginning to feel flummoxed.
├óÔé¼┼ôChrissy, you've got a green light├óÔé¼┬Ø Sandy said, pointing at Chrissy's monitor. The blond woman sighed ├óÔé¼┼ôDamn perverts cant be alone for five minuets├óÔé¼┬Ø she said ├óÔé¼┼ôWe're not even accelerating yet├óÔé¼┬Ø. ├óÔé¼┼ôYou gotta do what you gotta do├óÔé¼┬Ø Her friend said, leaning back and putting her feet up in the rest room. ├óÔé¼┼ôcan't they just use their damn hand?├óÔé¼┬Ø she said, pulling her shirt close, for till then it had been far more comfortable and loose. ├óÔé¼┼ôWorking a damn brothel was easer then this shit├óÔé¼┬Ø she muttered. ├óÔé¼┼ôHey i actually worked a brothel├óÔé¼┬Ø her friend said as Chrissy walked out of the room.
Peter was trying how to cancel whatever it was that he had done when the door opened. ├óÔé¼┼ôHello?├óÔé¼┬Ø he asked, cautious to turn the long way round to avoid looking out the window. The woman who had led him to his room was standing, in a far far more sultry pose. Or its closest reapportionment in zero gravity, which was more of a gentle floating, with most of her thighs showed off by a miniskirt that seemed a degree smaller then it had been ten minuets.
├óÔé¼┼ôHello├óÔé¼┬Ø she said, the door sliding shut behind her. ├óÔé¼┼ôYeah...├óÔé¼┬Ø he said, backing up until her bounced against the hard diamond of the window. ├óÔé¼┼ôLet me show you the shower unit...intimately├óÔé¼┬Ø the woman said, her voice dripping with seduction. Peter was feeling rather like acting as if this was normal happenstance in his life, but the woman settled it for him.
She undid the top button on her blouse. Peter found himself staring at her eyes, trying not to look down at her voluptuous chest. ├óÔé¼┼ôCome on...first class only├óÔé¼┬Ø she said, her shirt floating gently away from her. Peter felt guilt run through him as he kissed her. Her hand ran down his back and found the back of his belt. ├óÔé¼┼ôNo├óÔé¼┬Ø he said ├óÔé¼┼ôI pressed the button by accident├óÔé¼┬Ø.
The immense guilt that was ramming through his idiot mind abated as the woman's allure dropped off her like a clothes and the woman turned around. ├óÔé¼┼ôOh, if you press the button by accident, just press it again and we'll know├óÔé¼┬Ø she said, her voice normal and more human then it had been a moment ago. She pushed off from the wall and Peter got a glimpse that made him start hammering himself for saying what he had just said.
She grabbed the shirt and put it on ├óÔé¼┼ôYou know this job really sucks├óÔé¼┬Ø she said. ├óÔé¼┼ôEh?├óÔé¼┬Ø Peter asked, thinking most employees shouldn't say things like that. ├óÔé¼┼ôYeah├óÔé¼┬Ø she said, turning round, her entire body seeming deflated and normal, rather then just a normal human female ├óÔé¼┼ôYou have to pander to a group of rich perverts who grab ass all day and keep their fingers on the green button├óÔé¼┬Ø.
├óÔé¼┼ôI wasn't expecting a brothel ship├óÔé¼┬Ø Peter said, floating around the woman, trying to get to a position more comfortable. ├óÔé¼┼ôThis is normal for first class├óÔé¼┬Ø the woman said, pulling out a ciggy ├óÔé¼┼ôDon't mind if i smoke?├óÔé¼┬Ø she asked ├óÔé¼┼ôNot at all├óÔé¼┬Ø Peter said. The woman grinned, leaning backwards in air and breathing deep into her ciggy, which had a air containment and filtration unit on the front making it look like a flower bud sticking into her mouth.
├óÔé¼┼ôYour actually pretty nice for a first classer├óÔé¼┬Ø she said, looking at Peter. ├óÔé¼┼ôWell i got my money by selling my house├óÔé¼┬Ø Peter said. The woman hissed ├óÔé¼┼ôSelling you house?├óÔé¼┬Ø she asked ├óÔé¼┼ôSounds pretty drastic├óÔé¼┬Ø. ├óÔé¼┼ôWell i don't have much else to live for├óÔé¼┬Ø Peter said. ├óÔé¼┼ôThinking about a passing?├óÔé¼┬Ø the woman asked, her face serious. ├óÔé¼┼ôYeah, why?├óÔé¼┬Ø Peter asked.
The woman slowly settled to the ground as a steadily increasing gravity forced itself down on the room. The ship must bee accelerating. She lay on the bed, her body real and human and touchable, as the constrains of gravity forced itself on them. She reached over and pressed the green button ├óÔé¼┼ôIf you need anything worth living for, Jupiter and the cometary belt are it├óÔé¼┬Ø she said. Peter walked over to her as she started to walk out of the room.
He pressed the green button, realizing that Kelly had left HIM. He looked at the woman who was grinning. ├óÔé¼┼ôI was wondering when you would do that├óÔé¼┬Ø she said, standing. ├óÔé¼┼ôMy name is Chrissy├óÔé¼┬Ø she said ├óÔé¼┼ôPeter├óÔé¼┬Ø he said, and they kissed as the Earth pulled gently away from the window. As their clothes started to fall to the ground, faster and faster as the .4 gee's increased to .6 gee's, then .7 and they where in the shower by the time it was 1.00 gee's.
├óÔé¼┼ôSo├óÔé¼┬Ø she would ask him later, as she dressed to go back to her rounds ├óÔé¼┼ôWhat changed your mind?├óÔé¼┬Ø. He had smiled and said ├óÔé¼┼ôI found something to live for, if only for a little while├óÔé¼┬Ø
├óÔé¼┼ôYes├óÔé¼┬Ø The lady said, nodding for the third time ├óÔé¼┼ôMy cat├óÔé¼┬Ø.
This fact hammered into Peters still none awake brain, he asked the next question required for his job ├óÔé¼┼ôWhat dose it look like?├óÔé¼┬Ø. The lady shrugged ├óÔé¼┼ôA black tabby├óÔé¼┬Ø she said ├óÔé¼┼ôWith four legs and a bushy tail├óÔé¼┬Ø. ├óÔé¼┼ôIs a hyper cat?├óÔé¼┬Ø he asked. The lady shook her head. ├óÔé¼┼ôTalking?├óÔé¼┬Ø. Another shake. ├óÔé¼┼ôEngineered in any way?├óÔé¼┬Ø. Another shake. ├óÔé¼┼ôAugmented?├óÔé¼┬Ø he hazarded, run out of things that could cover any thing that would make the cat stand out amongst the billions of black tabbys on the old Homeworld.
├óÔé¼┼ôNone├óÔé¼┬Ø the lady said. ├óÔé¼┼ôWell...is there ANYTHING that distinctively marks you cat different from the billions of other tabby on the planet?├óÔé¼┬Ø Peter asked out of sheer desperation. ├óÔé¼┼ôHe is trying to take over the world├óÔé¼┬Ø the lady said, getting up and walking out of the office. ├óÔé¼┼ôWait├óÔé¼┬Ø Peter said, desperate enough to pander to the lady's madness, but she snapped back ├óÔé¼┼ôYou don't understand!├óÔé¼┬Ø. The door to his office slid shut with a soft voosh.
Peter massaged his head and thumped it against the soft foam that coated the top of his harsh metal desk. His head hit the activation button on his email answering machine and the hologram of Kelly flickered into view ├óÔé¼┼ôI'm really sorry Peter├óÔé¼┬Ø the woman said ├óÔé¼┼ôBut me and Jon are going to leave. I'm sorry it hasn't work out, but keep tabs on us├óÔé¼┬Ø He, without taking his head off the desk, snapped his hand through the hologram, and it went to the next message. ├óÔé¼┼ôPeter S Thompson?├óÔé¼┬Ø the next message said ├óÔé¼┼ôYou are over a week due with your rent. Eviction activated if fine's not paid within three days├óÔé¼┬Ø
Peter flicked his hand through that and then the machine bleeped ├óÔé¼┼ôEnd of Messages├óÔé¼┬Ø It said and his desk shut down, dimming to its normal unactivated brightness. Peter got up slowly and muttered ├óÔé¼┼ôThey can all go screw themselves├óÔé¼┬Ø. He then walked out of his small closet of a office, and closed the door. He then keyed in the ├óÔé¼┼ôSell├óÔé¼┬Ø button, signifying his desire to sell his hose and office. At least fourteen thousand A.I's at anyone time where looking for a house for their owners, so his wallet chimed after a short few minuets. He keyed the final acceptance program, and got a hansom amount of money. Lots of people wanted to live in the Notre Dame Arco, even if it was expensive and overcrowded.
Peter felt a flicker of sadness that his house for fifteen years could be pawned and sold and dealt with in a few minuets. He never haggled, never saw who would live their. He wasn't even able to leave a sine in the place that he had been their. House's in Notre Dame where to small to be cluttered by tick tacks. He walked down the massive, gracefully hall way of the arco, and begin to whistle. He had several million more ISC then he used to. What to spend it on?
He finally settled on a vacation. He wasn't worried about his future. There had stopped being a future when his wife had divorced him, his best friend had run of with her and his job had run up dry. But it wasn't something to morn over. Life was fleeting, after all. Or so he said to himself. He still felt horribly depressed, just free and horribly depressed. He slipped his hand into his pants pockets and felt the blade he had kept from the shanty towns.
A man rushing at him, antique sword bared. His arm flicking out and his knife drawing across the man's throat. The body crashed to the ground, and Peter turned to face his gang. ├óÔé¼┼ôCome on, lets go!├óÔé¼┬Ø he shouted Peter forced the memory back and took his hand out of his pocket. ├óÔé¼┼ôA vacation would be a nice way to go├óÔé¼┬Ø He murmured.
├óÔé¼┼ôWhere would you like to go?├óÔé¼┬Ø the bright and smiling man behind the counter asked. ├óÔé¼┼ôErr...is the round SOL cruise past Jupiter and through the cometary belt still available?├óÔé¼┬Ø Peter asked, looking at his wallet. Five Million ISC was a heady concept. ├óÔé¼┼ôYes sir├óÔé¼┬Ø the man said ├óÔé¼┼ôIts one million ISC for fourth class, two for third, four for second and five for first class├óÔé¼┬Ø. ├óÔé¼┼ôI'll take first class├óÔé¼┬Ø Peter said, handing his wallet to the man behind the counter. The chaser swept it across the reader and the money drained out of it depressingly fast.
├óÔé¼┼ôThank you, please fly Transteller flights next trip├óÔé¼┬Ø the man behind the counter said, handing him the ticket.
Panic struck Peter as he looked out the window. His mind didn't grasp what he was doing for the entire shuttle flight, witch took place in a vat of blue liquid that prevented his bones from being smashed to powder. Then he was ushered into his room, told what buttons did which by the stunningly gorgeous Launcher hostess. She beamed when he thanked her. ├óÔé¼┼ôDon't worry, we are hear to serve├óÔé¼┬Ø She said, kicking off from the wall and floating away in the micro gravity the ship was under.
Peter watched her float down the hall, wearing a miniskirt and a overly tight shirt that made up the entire crews uniform. He was thinking the miniskirt had been added for the men on the trip, as it did next to nothing to protect modesty in zero gee. He was also thinking about how the vibrations that set in after a woman pushed off in zero gee was incredibly attractive. He shook himself, glad he bought a anti nausea hypo for a measly five ISC.
Then he saw the window.
Then his brain sized up. The epic globe of Homeworld drifting slowly under him cause his entire body to size up. His heart almost stopped, and he stared out the absurdly thin window to the sheer emptiness that looked back at him. He turned himself round as his agoraphobia, from living most of his live under a press of metal and humanity, lessened as he looked away. He then saw the request panel. He looked it over and saw their was the food button, medical help button and finally the last button that was simple green and had a small slot below it.
He pressed it out of sheer curiosity. The slot chucked and a square of plastic clattered out of the slot. He grabbed it and looked at it. It was a condom. Peter was beginning to feel flummoxed.
├óÔé¼┼ôChrissy, you've got a green light├óÔé¼┬Ø Sandy said, pointing at Chrissy's monitor. The blond woman sighed ├óÔé¼┼ôDamn perverts cant be alone for five minuets├óÔé¼┬Ø she said ├óÔé¼┼ôWe're not even accelerating yet├óÔé¼┬Ø. ├óÔé¼┼ôYou gotta do what you gotta do├óÔé¼┬Ø Her friend said, leaning back and putting her feet up in the rest room. ├óÔé¼┼ôcan't they just use their damn hand?├óÔé¼┬Ø she said, pulling her shirt close, for till then it had been far more comfortable and loose. ├óÔé¼┼ôWorking a damn brothel was easer then this shit├óÔé¼┬Ø she muttered. ├óÔé¼┼ôHey i actually worked a brothel├óÔé¼┬Ø her friend said as Chrissy walked out of the room.
Peter was trying how to cancel whatever it was that he had done when the door opened. ├óÔé¼┼ôHello?├óÔé¼┬Ø he asked, cautious to turn the long way round to avoid looking out the window. The woman who had led him to his room was standing, in a far far more sultry pose. Or its closest reapportionment in zero gravity, which was more of a gentle floating, with most of her thighs showed off by a miniskirt that seemed a degree smaller then it had been ten minuets.
├óÔé¼┼ôHello├óÔé¼┬Ø she said, the door sliding shut behind her. ├óÔé¼┼ôYeah...├óÔé¼┬Ø he said, backing up until her bounced against the hard diamond of the window. ├óÔé¼┼ôLet me show you the shower unit...intimately├óÔé¼┬Ø the woman said, her voice dripping with seduction. Peter was feeling rather like acting as if this was normal happenstance in his life, but the woman settled it for him.
She undid the top button on her blouse. Peter found himself staring at her eyes, trying not to look down at her voluptuous chest. ├óÔé¼┼ôCome on...first class only├óÔé¼┬Ø she said, her shirt floating gently away from her. Peter felt guilt run through him as he kissed her. Her hand ran down his back and found the back of his belt. ├óÔé¼┼ôNo├óÔé¼┬Ø he said ├óÔé¼┼ôI pressed the button by accident├óÔé¼┬Ø.
The immense guilt that was ramming through his idiot mind abated as the woman's allure dropped off her like a clothes and the woman turned around. ├óÔé¼┼ôOh, if you press the button by accident, just press it again and we'll know├óÔé¼┬Ø she said, her voice normal and more human then it had been a moment ago. She pushed off from the wall and Peter got a glimpse that made him start hammering himself for saying what he had just said.
She grabbed the shirt and put it on ├óÔé¼┼ôYou know this job really sucks├óÔé¼┬Ø she said. ├óÔé¼┼ôEh?├óÔé¼┬Ø Peter asked, thinking most employees shouldn't say things like that. ├óÔé¼┼ôYeah├óÔé¼┬Ø she said, turning round, her entire body seeming deflated and normal, rather then just a normal human female ├óÔé¼┼ôYou have to pander to a group of rich perverts who grab ass all day and keep their fingers on the green button├óÔé¼┬Ø.
├óÔé¼┼ôI wasn't expecting a brothel ship├óÔé¼┬Ø Peter said, floating around the woman, trying to get to a position more comfortable. ├óÔé¼┼ôThis is normal for first class├óÔé¼┬Ø the woman said, pulling out a ciggy ├óÔé¼┼ôDon't mind if i smoke?├óÔé¼┬Ø she asked ├óÔé¼┼ôNot at all├óÔé¼┬Ø Peter said. The woman grinned, leaning backwards in air and breathing deep into her ciggy, which had a air containment and filtration unit on the front making it look like a flower bud sticking into her mouth.
├óÔé¼┼ôYour actually pretty nice for a first classer├óÔé¼┬Ø she said, looking at Peter. ├óÔé¼┼ôWell i got my money by selling my house├óÔé¼┬Ø Peter said. The woman hissed ├óÔé¼┼ôSelling you house?├óÔé¼┬Ø she asked ├óÔé¼┼ôSounds pretty drastic├óÔé¼┬Ø. ├óÔé¼┼ôWell i don't have much else to live for├óÔé¼┬Ø Peter said. ├óÔé¼┼ôThinking about a passing?├óÔé¼┬Ø the woman asked, her face serious. ├óÔé¼┼ôYeah, why?├óÔé¼┬Ø Peter asked.
The woman slowly settled to the ground as a steadily increasing gravity forced itself down on the room. The ship must bee accelerating. She lay on the bed, her body real and human and touchable, as the constrains of gravity forced itself on them. She reached over and pressed the green button ├óÔé¼┼ôIf you need anything worth living for, Jupiter and the cometary belt are it├óÔé¼┬Ø she said. Peter walked over to her as she started to walk out of the room.
He pressed the green button, realizing that Kelly had left HIM. He looked at the woman who was grinning. ├óÔé¼┼ôI was wondering when you would do that├óÔé¼┬Ø she said, standing. ├óÔé¼┼ôMy name is Chrissy├óÔé¼┬Ø she said ├óÔé¼┼ôPeter├óÔé¼┬Ø he said, and they kissed as the Earth pulled gently away from the window. As their clothes started to fall to the ground, faster and faster as the .4 gee's increased to .6 gee's, then .7 and they where in the shower by the time it was 1.00 gee's.
├óÔé¼┼ôSo├óÔé¼┬Ø she would ask him later, as she dressed to go back to her rounds ├óÔé¼┼ôWhat changed your mind?├óÔé¼┬Ø. He had smiled and said ├óÔé¼┼ôI found something to live for, if only for a little while├óÔé¼┬Ø
Their is the cometary belt, witch is comprised of icy balls that is beyond Pluto. Its rife with criminal activity.
There is the asteroids belt between mars and Jupiter's, and its the home of the wealthy traders and mining syndicates. Mars is the west, Earth is the slums of the Old World, while Luna is the home of rich and wealthy. Mercury is the strip mine of the solar system and the moons of Jupiter and Saturn mine hydrogen out of the atmospheres of the two gas giants, creating the star ship fule required.
EDIT: /shameless plug: If you like Sci-Fi thats well written, cool and awesome, read Alistair Reynolds, an AWSOME Hard Sci-fi writer. Start with Chasm City, my personal favorer and the start of the series, then go to Revelation Space, then Redemption Ark, then finally Absolution Gap and you have one of the best universe created by a word smith.
now that I'm done hyping some books, back to writing my own!
There is the asteroids belt between mars and Jupiter's, and its the home of the wealthy traders and mining syndicates. Mars is the west, Earth is the slums of the Old World, while Luna is the home of rich and wealthy. Mercury is the strip mine of the solar system and the moons of Jupiter and Saturn mine hydrogen out of the atmospheres of the two gas giants, creating the star ship fule required.
EDIT: /shameless plug: If you like Sci-Fi thats well written, cool and awesome, read Alistair Reynolds, an AWSOME Hard Sci-fi writer. Start with Chasm City, my personal favorer and the start of the series, then go to Revelation Space, then Redemption Ark, then finally Absolution Gap and you have one of the best universe created by a word smith.
now that I'm done hyping some books, back to writing my own!
Amberly had been in several horrible accidents. The failed robbery round Triton, the sickening hours she spent, stuck between the cracks in the ice on Europa and the horrible cloying sense of being trapped in a crushing gravity as the ship's engine failed and they started falling, falling into Saturn's crushing embrace. The time she had been shot through the heart and died for three hours.
But Amberly had never broken anything. It had always been the elements, or sheer bad luck. She should of known that a data slate that size and power would over lode even their sophisticated defense's. She started to get up and wake Liz in anyway she could. Then Ships face blinked and started its motion again.
├óÔé¼┼ôThat was a awful lot of data├óÔé¼┬Ø Ships said. ├óÔé¼┼ôReally?├óÔé¼┬Ø Amber asked, sitting down the rest of the way. ├óÔé¼┼ôIt'll take me a few hours to process it all, so you'd better tend your partner. She's upchucking a bit in the hall├óÔé¼┬Ø Ship said. Something flickered in the back of Ambers mind, but she was too busy getting out of her seat. The plates slowed, allowing her to get out of the damn seat.
Liz was throwing up, the floor slopeing automatically to pool it in a area. ├óÔé¼┼ôHey├óÔé¼┬Ø Amber said, kneeling next to her and holding her friends black hair out of her face. ├óÔé¼┼ôUgh├óÔé¼┬Ø Liz said ├óÔé¼┼ôThats some heady stuff...cant even remember last night├óÔé¼┬Ø she said. ├óÔé¼┼ôYeah├óÔé¼┬Ø Amber said, feeling relived and disappointed at the same time ├óÔé¼┼ôI've been going through the data slate we pulled of the ship├óÔé¼┬Ø she said ├óÔé¼┼ôand Ship over there is decoding it. It'll take a few hours├óÔé¼┬Ø.
Liz sat down as the floor opened up and drained the puke away. The chunks where washed away by a light shower that sprayed from the fire prevention nozzles. ├óÔé¼┼ôReminds me├óÔé¼┬Ø Liz said ├óÔé¼┼ôI need a shower├óÔé¼┬Ø She leaned back into Ambers back, a goofy grin plastered over her face ├óÔé¼┼ôWant to join me?├óÔé¼┬Ø she asked. Amber looked at her, wondering for a moment if she was joking ├óÔé¼┼ôWhat do you think?├óÔé¼┬Ø she asked. ├óÔé¼┼ôRight├óÔé¼┬Ø Liz said ├óÔé¼┼ôAmber the prude├óÔé¼┬Ø. She stood up and stalked down the corridor ├óÔé¼┼ôSee you later, Mrs. Prude├óÔé¼┬Ø she called over he shoulder.
Amber sat, wrinkling her nose at the smell emanating from the floor, which had not finished its cleaning procedures. Amber stood and walked up a short latter to the view pod. The ship had switched to its centrifuge mode, unobtrusively, which made it spread outwards on inviable seams, looking like a elongated and stretched egg. The center, witch was still zero gee, had a glass bubble that the two women could use to look out onto the glory of space.
Amber walked up, as centrifuge force meant down was up from the ship was in acceleration mode. The chairs just ├óÔé¼┼ôfell├óÔé¼┬Ø to the right floor when the ship changed types, and as they where just large plastic bags filled with water, little harm was done to them or the floor they fell on. The cometary belt had once been called the Kupiter belt, then its name had changed seven times as different people said different things in different ways over the decades.
The Glitter band, Rust Belt, Jupiter's rings, and now the cometary belt had always been a hot bed of criminal activity. Every time the federals sent out police skiffs, the myriad of ships and comet bases stopped activity and turned off their engine. The super efficient insulation they exported, along with prostitutes, drugs, illegal brain wave modifications and hacking supplies, was used to hid their comet bases at almost freezing temperature. The police skiffs found them selves looking at a deserted string of comets and derelicts.
They usually knew that one in every hundred or so large comets, one would hide a base. And one in every thousand colony ship derelicts was a fake, filled with criminals. But they didn't have enough fuel to look at each of them. So the public heard rumors of criminality in the cometary belt, but not many believed it.
Amber saw the active comets, and knew that their radar would pick up on approaching ships and ID them long before they where in eye contact. And one had to look at the comets at a close range to see the awesome holograms that adored them like moving artwork. Amber grinned as the ads and art and graffiti moved over the comets, capable of turning off and on at the drop of a hat. Or the changing of a bit.
The ship approached and Liz walked out of the luxury shower unit. The entire ship was stalked with goodies, some military level. Others purely hush hush R and D stuff. ├óÔé¼┼ôoy, Amber├óÔé¼┬Ø she said, pulling on her jumpsuit ├óÔé¼┼ôAre we at the cometary belt?├óÔé¼┬Ø. Amber shouted ├óÔé¼┼ôYes├óÔé¼┬Ø down to Liz. Liz climbed up the ladder to the small bubble, her hair still dripping sluggishly, and floated with Amber.
They neared the cometary belt and sighed ├óÔé¼┼ôThat was some good shit├óÔé¼┬Ø Liz said for the third time. Amber murmured a response ├óÔé¼┼ôI know├óÔé¼┬Ø. Then the holograms surrounding the comet went out as suddenly as a candle being blown out. ├óÔé¼┼ôSHIT!├óÔé¼┬Ø shouted Liz, grabbing a handrail and pushing down to the gravity centers of the ship. ├óÔé¼┼ôShip!├óÔé¼┬Ø she shouted as Amber followed her. ├óÔé¼┼ôYes, Liz?├óÔé¼┬Ø the ship asked.
├óÔé¼┼ôTurn everything off and go to shut down mode├óÔé¼┬Ø Liz said as Amber slapped a large button on the back of her jumpsuits. It ballooned, the insulation foam packets being burst and filling the layered clothes, creating a toasty interior. Because the ship was going to get cold...fast. The ship begin to shut down, lights turning off and the centrifugal gravity stopping as minute RCT's fired along the side. Then the elongated egg sharp changed, and the entire thing closed up into acceleration mode.
Then it started to get cold. Very very cold. Amber pulled the jumpsuit over her head, and felt freezing. The insulation on the ship meant that only MOST of the heat needed to be bled off into space, not all. Now the ship should look like a hunk of ice, or a abandoned ship. Amber breathed slowly, knowing that Liz would also be curling up in a foetal position and trying to keep as quiet as possible. She instructed a near by video screen to show the nearest outer camera on the hull of the ship.
IT showed a massive, ungainly cruise ship. Amber breathed a sigh of relive and shouted to Liz ├óÔé¼┼ôIts alright, they don't have any listeners!├óÔé¼┬Ø. Listeners where small lasers you bounced off the sides of a ship to catch vibrations caused by people talking inside. A good one would be able to hear a dime drop on board. ├óÔé¼┼ôWhat is it thats caused the belt to go into lock down?├óÔé¼┬Ø Asked Liz. ├óÔé¼┼ôJust one of those damn Transteller liners├óÔé¼┬Ø Amber said.
Then a massive wall of silver filled the camera screen. ├óÔé¼┼ôOh fuck!├óÔé¼┬Ø whispered Liz. ├óÔé¼┼ôGood to meet you├óÔé¼┬Ø a voice said over the PA. Then the video feed was tapped into and a most bizarre looking man was standing in the camera's view. He wore a blue smock and his head was perfectly smooth, and his eyes hard and silver. His mouth was a seamless mask. It was completely blank, as if the entirety of his mouth completely covered.
His nose was perfectly smooth, as well, but its was at least there! However it was white, as was the rest of his face, and everything about him looked mask like. But it wasn't a mask. ├óÔé¼┼ôGreetings├óÔé¼┬Ø he said, his voice dripping with calm and collectedness. ├óÔé¼┼ôWho...the hell...are you?├óÔé¼┬Ø asked Liz, moving closer to the video screen while Amber stood in the background.
Ship kindly started warming the ship up. ├óÔé¼┼ôI am a Marshall├óÔé¼┬Ø the faceless man said, his eyes flickering close, black jewels covering them ├óÔé¼┼ôAnd you have something i want├óÔé¼┬Ø he said. ├óÔé¼┼ôListen├óÔé¼┬Ø Amber said ├óÔé¼┼ôYou might not know who we are-├óÔé¼┬Ø. The Marshall cut her off ├óÔé¼┼ôI know who you are, but consider yourself off the hook if you hand it over├óÔé¼┬Ø.
Liz cut in ├óÔé¼┼ôHave what?├óÔé¼┬Ø she asked. ├óÔé¼┼ôDon't play with me. I play rougher then you├óÔé¼┬Ø the Marshall said, his voice completely and utterly devoid of emotion. ├óÔé¼┼ôYeah yeah├óÔé¼┬Ø Liz said, throwing her head back arrogantly ├óÔé¼┼ôWe've heard it from a thousand officers, each one a sadistic little twit who thought that the law reached from here to Darkside├óÔé¼┬Ø
├óÔé¼┼ôDon't make me angry├óÔé¼┬Ø the faceless man said, his voice completely devoid of emotion ├óÔé¼┼ôAnd others wont get hurt├óÔé¼┬Ø.
Peter looked across the central ball chamber at Chrissy. She was serving drinks, but after she had emptied her platter of drinks, Chrissy moved over to him. ├óÔé¼┼ôHey├óÔé¼┬Ø She said ├óÔé¼┼ôYou're looking like you want to take a holo pic with your eyes├óÔé¼┬Ø. ├óÔé¼┼ôWell, lets say I'm taking in the breathtaking vistas├óÔé¼┬Ø Peter joked, gesturing to the massive dome that must of cost the rest of the ship and more to create. It was hyperdimond, and was harder then pretty much anything else. Beyond it the Kupiter belt hung, glittering like jewels.
Chrissy heard someone call her name and left with a little wave. Peter grinned as she walked away from him to her friend, Sandy. ├óÔé¼┼ôHe's cute├óÔé¼┬Ø She said to her. Sandy giggled ├óÔé¼┼ôNot every time you actually want to spend time with the patrons├óÔé¼┬Ø she said. ├óÔé¼┼ôNo, not really├óÔé¼┬Ø Chrissy said ├óÔé¼┼ôBut he's just go these eyes├óÔé¼┬Ø she said ├óÔé¼┼ôYou just want to drown in them├óÔé¼┬Ø.
Sandy clucked ├óÔé¼┼ôOh no...he's got his eyes on an Imposter├óÔé¼┬Ø. Chrissy turned ├óÔé¼┼ôbut he's still a lander, and you know how THEY are├óÔé¼┬Ø she said.
Peter stared at the jagged pink tattoos on the strange woman. She walked down the ballroom, naked as can be and moved with a proud walk that cause more then a few heads to turn. Her skin was pitch black, and covered with crisscrossing pink tattoo's that florescent under the light bizarrely. But, when she moved, her muscles causing the tattoos to stretch and flex, creating a mesmerizing, almost hypnotic.
├óÔé¼┼ôOh god├óÔé¼┬Ø he whispered, transfixed. The woman must of heard, as she tossed her hair over her shoulder and looked at him. Then she kept walking. Peter found himself staring at her back, the tattoos not letting his eyes move away. ├óÔé¼┼ôDon't you know to not look at Imposter's!├óÔé¼┬Ø Chrissy snapped, using her hands to make Peter look away.
├óÔé¼┼ôWho was that?├óÔé¼┬Ø he asked ├óÔé¼┼ôSome whore├óÔé¼┬Ø Chrissy said ├óÔé¼┼ôWho thought someone would want her if she painted herself like Elizabeth Montoya├óÔé¼┬Ø. ├óÔé¼┼ôNot...THE Montoya├óÔé¼┬Ø Peter said ├óÔé¼┼ôI thought she was a criminal├óÔé¼┬Ø. ├óÔé¼┼ôShe is├óÔé¼┬Ø Chrissy said ├óÔé¼┼ôbut thats only half of it├óÔé¼┬Ø. ├óÔé¼┼ôWell tell me the rest!├óÔé¼┬Ø Peter asked, looking back at the woman, who was soon lost in the growing crowd.
├óÔé¼┼ôNow the Banshee duo, Elizabeth Montoya and Amberly Wishbourn, are folk legends around Launchers├óÔé¼┬Ø Chrissy said ├óÔé¼┼ôBecause they have this...honer about them. Its hard to explain├óÔé¼┬Ø she looked at the celling ├óÔé¼┼ôYou know how most criminals with track records HALF as long as those two leave enough innocent bodes to make a straight line from Luna to Darkside. Not the Banshee's. They have killed three civilians, and never by accident. They are always wanna be hero's who pulled pistols on the two, when they should of kept their heads downs├óÔé¼┬Ø
├óÔé¼┼ôSo what, they are like honorable thief's?├óÔé¼┬Ø Peter asked ├óÔé¼┼ôExactly!├óÔé¼┬Ø Chrissy said. Peter looked back, but the woman was being led away by a fat, balding man with a sweaty face that seemed permanently red. ├óÔé¼┼ôDo you ever get requests do the whole 'Banshee' gig?├óÔé¼┬Ø Peter asked. ├óÔé¼┼ôNot as much as you might think├óÔé¼┬Ø Chrissy said ├óÔé¼┼ômost people here are Landers and space crimes stay in space├óÔé¼┬Ø. ├óÔé¼┼ôHear to that├óÔé¼┬Ø Peter said, raising his glass of alcohol. Chrissy who had no drink, simply nodded.
├óÔé¼┼ôDo you do the Banshee gig?├óÔé¼┬Ø Peter asked, grinning slyly. ├óÔé¼┼ôDon't...you...dare├óÔé¼┬Ø Chrissy said. ├óÔé¼┼ôWhat the customer wants...├óÔé¼┬Ø Peter said, grinning outright now. ├óÔé¼┼ôYou'll have to be very very very good, and I'll think about it├óÔé¼┬Ø she said ├óÔé¼┼ôAnd only indoors. The Banshee gag is soooo passe├óÔé¼┬Ø she said, walking away. Peter giggled into his drink. This trip was beginning to look like a better idea every week.
He had already had the most fun he had had for years in the past two weeks. He had seen the massive Jupiter, and the rings of Saturn. Now that they where past Pluto, what had long been thought the last planet in the Solar System, he felt better then he had in years. He tried not to think of the three weeks later, when he would kill himself.
He checked his balances. He was completely broke, and if First class didn't mean free room service, he and Chrissy wouldn't have stayed in this odd relationship. But enough of gloomy thoughts he said to himself. Chrissy was walking back, with drinks.
├óÔé¼┼ôAlright├óÔé¼┬Ø Liz said as Amberly gestured frantically to her ├óÔé¼┼ôAlright! We'll hand over the drugs├óÔé¼┬Ø. The Marshall looked down, as if laughing ├óÔé¼┼ôYou really have no idea how important what you have is. Do you?├óÔé¼┬Ø. Liz didn't have much to say to that, so she just stared at the screen, stony faced. The Marshall turned to a subordinate that hovered off to the side of the screen. ├óÔé¼┼ôTarget that cruise liner├óÔé¼┬Ø he said.
Liz sat up straighter. ├óÔé¼┼ôYou wouldn't├óÔé¼┬Ø she said. The Marshall looked at her, cocking an eyebrow. ├óÔé¼┼ôThree├óÔé¼┬Ø he said. ├óÔé¼┼ôFine you can have it!├óÔé¼┬Ø Liz bluffed. ├óÔé¼┼ôWhat?├óÔé¼┬Ø the Marshall asked ├óÔé¼┼ôWhat would you let me have?├óÔé¼┬Ø. His voice sounded like he was sneering, but it was maddeningly hard to read his face. ├óÔé¼┼ôdamn it!├óÔé¼┬Ø Liz exploded, ignoring Amber's gestures and sine language that always council her in any and all diplomatic excursions they where in. Amber wasn't as good at bluffing or talking her way out of situations, but often noticed things that Liz didn't.
├óÔé¼┼ôYou cant fire├óÔé¼┬Ø Liz said softly ├óÔé¼┼ôyour the officer of the law├óÔé¼┬Ø. ├óÔé¼┼ôNo├óÔé¼┬Ø the Marshall said softly├óÔé¼┼ôI don't exist├óÔé¼┬Ø. He turned to his subordinate ├óÔé¼┼ôFire├óÔé¼┬Ø he said.
Liz felt cold size round her heart. She cut the camera and turned on the hull cameras. They pointed it at the cruiser. For a second she hoped that he was bluffing, please let him be bluffing. Then the ship started to peel open. The invisible laser cut through the hull like soft putty, and soon oxygen rushed out into space, igniting under the lasers heat. The ship was slowly falling in half...
But Amberly had never broken anything. It had always been the elements, or sheer bad luck. She should of known that a data slate that size and power would over lode even their sophisticated defense's. She started to get up and wake Liz in anyway she could. Then Ships face blinked and started its motion again.
├óÔé¼┼ôThat was a awful lot of data├óÔé¼┬Ø Ships said. ├óÔé¼┼ôReally?├óÔé¼┬Ø Amber asked, sitting down the rest of the way. ├óÔé¼┼ôIt'll take me a few hours to process it all, so you'd better tend your partner. She's upchucking a bit in the hall├óÔé¼┬Ø Ship said. Something flickered in the back of Ambers mind, but she was too busy getting out of her seat. The plates slowed, allowing her to get out of the damn seat.
Liz was throwing up, the floor slopeing automatically to pool it in a area. ├óÔé¼┼ôHey├óÔé¼┬Ø Amber said, kneeling next to her and holding her friends black hair out of her face. ├óÔé¼┼ôUgh├óÔé¼┬Ø Liz said ├óÔé¼┼ôThats some heady stuff...cant even remember last night├óÔé¼┬Ø she said. ├óÔé¼┼ôYeah├óÔé¼┬Ø Amber said, feeling relived and disappointed at the same time ├óÔé¼┼ôI've been going through the data slate we pulled of the ship├óÔé¼┬Ø she said ├óÔé¼┼ôand Ship over there is decoding it. It'll take a few hours├óÔé¼┬Ø.
Liz sat down as the floor opened up and drained the puke away. The chunks where washed away by a light shower that sprayed from the fire prevention nozzles. ├óÔé¼┼ôReminds me├óÔé¼┬Ø Liz said ├óÔé¼┼ôI need a shower├óÔé¼┬Ø She leaned back into Ambers back, a goofy grin plastered over her face ├óÔé¼┼ôWant to join me?├óÔé¼┬Ø she asked. Amber looked at her, wondering for a moment if she was joking ├óÔé¼┼ôWhat do you think?├óÔé¼┬Ø she asked. ├óÔé¼┼ôRight├óÔé¼┬Ø Liz said ├óÔé¼┼ôAmber the prude├óÔé¼┬Ø. She stood up and stalked down the corridor ├óÔé¼┼ôSee you later, Mrs. Prude├óÔé¼┬Ø she called over he shoulder.
Amber sat, wrinkling her nose at the smell emanating from the floor, which had not finished its cleaning procedures. Amber stood and walked up a short latter to the view pod. The ship had switched to its centrifuge mode, unobtrusively, which made it spread outwards on inviable seams, looking like a elongated and stretched egg. The center, witch was still zero gee, had a glass bubble that the two women could use to look out onto the glory of space.
Amber walked up, as centrifuge force meant down was up from the ship was in acceleration mode. The chairs just ├óÔé¼┼ôfell├óÔé¼┬Ø to the right floor when the ship changed types, and as they where just large plastic bags filled with water, little harm was done to them or the floor they fell on. The cometary belt had once been called the Kupiter belt, then its name had changed seven times as different people said different things in different ways over the decades.
The Glitter band, Rust Belt, Jupiter's rings, and now the cometary belt had always been a hot bed of criminal activity. Every time the federals sent out police skiffs, the myriad of ships and comet bases stopped activity and turned off their engine. The super efficient insulation they exported, along with prostitutes, drugs, illegal brain wave modifications and hacking supplies, was used to hid their comet bases at almost freezing temperature. The police skiffs found them selves looking at a deserted string of comets and derelicts.
They usually knew that one in every hundred or so large comets, one would hide a base. And one in every thousand colony ship derelicts was a fake, filled with criminals. But they didn't have enough fuel to look at each of them. So the public heard rumors of criminality in the cometary belt, but not many believed it.
Amber saw the active comets, and knew that their radar would pick up on approaching ships and ID them long before they where in eye contact. And one had to look at the comets at a close range to see the awesome holograms that adored them like moving artwork. Amber grinned as the ads and art and graffiti moved over the comets, capable of turning off and on at the drop of a hat. Or the changing of a bit.
The ship approached and Liz walked out of the luxury shower unit. The entire ship was stalked with goodies, some military level. Others purely hush hush R and D stuff. ├óÔé¼┼ôoy, Amber├óÔé¼┬Ø she said, pulling on her jumpsuit ├óÔé¼┼ôAre we at the cometary belt?├óÔé¼┬Ø. Amber shouted ├óÔé¼┼ôYes├óÔé¼┬Ø down to Liz. Liz climbed up the ladder to the small bubble, her hair still dripping sluggishly, and floated with Amber.
They neared the cometary belt and sighed ├óÔé¼┼ôThat was some good shit├óÔé¼┬Ø Liz said for the third time. Amber murmured a response ├óÔé¼┼ôI know├óÔé¼┬Ø. Then the holograms surrounding the comet went out as suddenly as a candle being blown out. ├óÔé¼┼ôSHIT!├óÔé¼┬Ø shouted Liz, grabbing a handrail and pushing down to the gravity centers of the ship. ├óÔé¼┼ôShip!├óÔé¼┬Ø she shouted as Amber followed her. ├óÔé¼┼ôYes, Liz?├óÔé¼┬Ø the ship asked.
├óÔé¼┼ôTurn everything off and go to shut down mode├óÔé¼┬Ø Liz said as Amber slapped a large button on the back of her jumpsuits. It ballooned, the insulation foam packets being burst and filling the layered clothes, creating a toasty interior. Because the ship was going to get cold...fast. The ship begin to shut down, lights turning off and the centrifugal gravity stopping as minute RCT's fired along the side. Then the elongated egg sharp changed, and the entire thing closed up into acceleration mode.
Then it started to get cold. Very very cold. Amber pulled the jumpsuit over her head, and felt freezing. The insulation on the ship meant that only MOST of the heat needed to be bled off into space, not all. Now the ship should look like a hunk of ice, or a abandoned ship. Amber breathed slowly, knowing that Liz would also be curling up in a foetal position and trying to keep as quiet as possible. She instructed a near by video screen to show the nearest outer camera on the hull of the ship.
IT showed a massive, ungainly cruise ship. Amber breathed a sigh of relive and shouted to Liz ├óÔé¼┼ôIts alright, they don't have any listeners!├óÔé¼┬Ø. Listeners where small lasers you bounced off the sides of a ship to catch vibrations caused by people talking inside. A good one would be able to hear a dime drop on board. ├óÔé¼┼ôWhat is it thats caused the belt to go into lock down?├óÔé¼┬Ø Asked Liz. ├óÔé¼┼ôJust one of those damn Transteller liners├óÔé¼┬Ø Amber said.
Then a massive wall of silver filled the camera screen. ├óÔé¼┼ôOh fuck!├óÔé¼┬Ø whispered Liz. ├óÔé¼┼ôGood to meet you├óÔé¼┬Ø a voice said over the PA. Then the video feed was tapped into and a most bizarre looking man was standing in the camera's view. He wore a blue smock and his head was perfectly smooth, and his eyes hard and silver. His mouth was a seamless mask. It was completely blank, as if the entirety of his mouth completely covered.
His nose was perfectly smooth, as well, but its was at least there! However it was white, as was the rest of his face, and everything about him looked mask like. But it wasn't a mask. ├óÔé¼┼ôGreetings├óÔé¼┬Ø he said, his voice dripping with calm and collectedness. ├óÔé¼┼ôWho...the hell...are you?├óÔé¼┬Ø asked Liz, moving closer to the video screen while Amber stood in the background.
Ship kindly started warming the ship up. ├óÔé¼┼ôI am a Marshall├óÔé¼┬Ø the faceless man said, his eyes flickering close, black jewels covering them ├óÔé¼┼ôAnd you have something i want├óÔé¼┬Ø he said. ├óÔé¼┼ôListen├óÔé¼┬Ø Amber said ├óÔé¼┼ôYou might not know who we are-├óÔé¼┬Ø. The Marshall cut her off ├óÔé¼┼ôI know who you are, but consider yourself off the hook if you hand it over├óÔé¼┬Ø.
Liz cut in ├óÔé¼┼ôHave what?├óÔé¼┬Ø she asked. ├óÔé¼┼ôDon't play with me. I play rougher then you├óÔé¼┬Ø the Marshall said, his voice completely and utterly devoid of emotion. ├óÔé¼┼ôYeah yeah├óÔé¼┬Ø Liz said, throwing her head back arrogantly ├óÔé¼┼ôWe've heard it from a thousand officers, each one a sadistic little twit who thought that the law reached from here to Darkside├óÔé¼┬Ø
├óÔé¼┼ôDon't make me angry├óÔé¼┬Ø the faceless man said, his voice completely devoid of emotion ├óÔé¼┼ôAnd others wont get hurt├óÔé¼┬Ø.
Peter looked across the central ball chamber at Chrissy. She was serving drinks, but after she had emptied her platter of drinks, Chrissy moved over to him. ├óÔé¼┼ôHey├óÔé¼┬Ø She said ├óÔé¼┼ôYou're looking like you want to take a holo pic with your eyes├óÔé¼┬Ø. ├óÔé¼┼ôWell, lets say I'm taking in the breathtaking vistas├óÔé¼┬Ø Peter joked, gesturing to the massive dome that must of cost the rest of the ship and more to create. It was hyperdimond, and was harder then pretty much anything else. Beyond it the Kupiter belt hung, glittering like jewels.
Chrissy heard someone call her name and left with a little wave. Peter grinned as she walked away from him to her friend, Sandy. ├óÔé¼┼ôHe's cute├óÔé¼┬Ø She said to her. Sandy giggled ├óÔé¼┼ôNot every time you actually want to spend time with the patrons├óÔé¼┬Ø she said. ├óÔé¼┼ôNo, not really├óÔé¼┬Ø Chrissy said ├óÔé¼┼ôBut he's just go these eyes├óÔé¼┬Ø she said ├óÔé¼┼ôYou just want to drown in them├óÔé¼┬Ø.
Sandy clucked ├óÔé¼┼ôOh no...he's got his eyes on an Imposter├óÔé¼┬Ø. Chrissy turned ├óÔé¼┼ôbut he's still a lander, and you know how THEY are├óÔé¼┬Ø she said.
Peter stared at the jagged pink tattoos on the strange woman. She walked down the ballroom, naked as can be and moved with a proud walk that cause more then a few heads to turn. Her skin was pitch black, and covered with crisscrossing pink tattoo's that florescent under the light bizarrely. But, when she moved, her muscles causing the tattoos to stretch and flex, creating a mesmerizing, almost hypnotic.
├óÔé¼┼ôOh god├óÔé¼┬Ø he whispered, transfixed. The woman must of heard, as she tossed her hair over her shoulder and looked at him. Then she kept walking. Peter found himself staring at her back, the tattoos not letting his eyes move away. ├óÔé¼┼ôDon't you know to not look at Imposter's!├óÔé¼┬Ø Chrissy snapped, using her hands to make Peter look away.
├óÔé¼┼ôWho was that?├óÔé¼┬Ø he asked ├óÔé¼┼ôSome whore├óÔé¼┬Ø Chrissy said ├óÔé¼┼ôWho thought someone would want her if she painted herself like Elizabeth Montoya├óÔé¼┬Ø. ├óÔé¼┼ôNot...THE Montoya├óÔé¼┬Ø Peter said ├óÔé¼┼ôI thought she was a criminal├óÔé¼┬Ø. ├óÔé¼┼ôShe is├óÔé¼┬Ø Chrissy said ├óÔé¼┼ôbut thats only half of it├óÔé¼┬Ø. ├óÔé¼┼ôWell tell me the rest!├óÔé¼┬Ø Peter asked, looking back at the woman, who was soon lost in the growing crowd.
├óÔé¼┼ôNow the Banshee duo, Elizabeth Montoya and Amberly Wishbourn, are folk legends around Launchers├óÔé¼┬Ø Chrissy said ├óÔé¼┼ôBecause they have this...honer about them. Its hard to explain├óÔé¼┬Ø she looked at the celling ├óÔé¼┼ôYou know how most criminals with track records HALF as long as those two leave enough innocent bodes to make a straight line from Luna to Darkside. Not the Banshee's. They have killed three civilians, and never by accident. They are always wanna be hero's who pulled pistols on the two, when they should of kept their heads downs├óÔé¼┬Ø
├óÔé¼┼ôSo what, they are like honorable thief's?├óÔé¼┬Ø Peter asked ├óÔé¼┼ôExactly!├óÔé¼┬Ø Chrissy said. Peter looked back, but the woman was being led away by a fat, balding man with a sweaty face that seemed permanently red. ├óÔé¼┼ôDo you ever get requests do the whole 'Banshee' gig?├óÔé¼┬Ø Peter asked. ├óÔé¼┼ôNot as much as you might think├óÔé¼┬Ø Chrissy said ├óÔé¼┼ômost people here are Landers and space crimes stay in space├óÔé¼┬Ø. ├óÔé¼┼ôHear to that├óÔé¼┬Ø Peter said, raising his glass of alcohol. Chrissy who had no drink, simply nodded.
├óÔé¼┼ôDo you do the Banshee gig?├óÔé¼┬Ø Peter asked, grinning slyly. ├óÔé¼┼ôDon't...you...dare├óÔé¼┬Ø Chrissy said. ├óÔé¼┼ôWhat the customer wants...├óÔé¼┬Ø Peter said, grinning outright now. ├óÔé¼┼ôYou'll have to be very very very good, and I'll think about it├óÔé¼┬Ø she said ├óÔé¼┼ôAnd only indoors. The Banshee gag is soooo passe├óÔé¼┬Ø she said, walking away. Peter giggled into his drink. This trip was beginning to look like a better idea every week.
He had already had the most fun he had had for years in the past two weeks. He had seen the massive Jupiter, and the rings of Saturn. Now that they where past Pluto, what had long been thought the last planet in the Solar System, he felt better then he had in years. He tried not to think of the three weeks later, when he would kill himself.
He checked his balances. He was completely broke, and if First class didn't mean free room service, he and Chrissy wouldn't have stayed in this odd relationship. But enough of gloomy thoughts he said to himself. Chrissy was walking back, with drinks.
├óÔé¼┼ôAlright├óÔé¼┬Ø Liz said as Amberly gestured frantically to her ├óÔé¼┼ôAlright! We'll hand over the drugs├óÔé¼┬Ø. The Marshall looked down, as if laughing ├óÔé¼┼ôYou really have no idea how important what you have is. Do you?├óÔé¼┬Ø. Liz didn't have much to say to that, so she just stared at the screen, stony faced. The Marshall turned to a subordinate that hovered off to the side of the screen. ├óÔé¼┼ôTarget that cruise liner├óÔé¼┬Ø he said.
Liz sat up straighter. ├óÔé¼┼ôYou wouldn't├óÔé¼┬Ø she said. The Marshall looked at her, cocking an eyebrow. ├óÔé¼┼ôThree├óÔé¼┬Ø he said. ├óÔé¼┼ôFine you can have it!├óÔé¼┬Ø Liz bluffed. ├óÔé¼┼ôWhat?├óÔé¼┬Ø the Marshall asked ├óÔé¼┼ôWhat would you let me have?├óÔé¼┬Ø. His voice sounded like he was sneering, but it was maddeningly hard to read his face. ├óÔé¼┼ôdamn it!├óÔé¼┬Ø Liz exploded, ignoring Amber's gestures and sine language that always council her in any and all diplomatic excursions they where in. Amber wasn't as good at bluffing or talking her way out of situations, but often noticed things that Liz didn't.
├óÔé¼┼ôYou cant fire├óÔé¼┬Ø Liz said softly ├óÔé¼┼ôyour the officer of the law├óÔé¼┬Ø. ├óÔé¼┼ôNo├óÔé¼┬Ø the Marshall said softly├óÔé¼┼ôI don't exist├óÔé¼┬Ø. He turned to his subordinate ├óÔé¼┼ôFire├óÔé¼┬Ø he said.
Liz felt cold size round her heart. She cut the camera and turned on the hull cameras. They pointed it at the cruiser. For a second she hoped that he was bluffing, please let him be bluffing. Then the ship started to peel open. The invisible laser cut through the hull like soft putty, and soon oxygen rushed out into space, igniting under the lasers heat. The ship was slowly falling in half...
Yay for uber lazers of doom! I am liking this story more and more.
One thing you might consider is adding a little gap between difference scenes. It gets a bit confusing when your on the 'Banshee', and suddenly switch over to the Cruise Liner. Putting a larger gap inbetween scenes makes things alot easier to read.
One thing you might consider is adding a little gap between difference scenes. It gets a bit confusing when your on the 'Banshee', and suddenly switch over to the Cruise Liner. Putting a larger gap inbetween scenes makes things alot easier to read.
-
maverick256
- Posts: 115
- Joined: 21 Sep 2004, 19:41
what...the...hell is BLoD?
Seriously.
├óÔé¼┼ôyou son of a bitch!├óÔé¼┬Ø Liz shouted, slamming her fist down on the side of the console. This had the effect of off balancing her slightly. Amber however switched the nearest viewer near her to look at the cruise liner. She breathed a sigh of relive ├óÔé¼┼ôwait wait wait├óÔé¼┬Ø she said, pointing at the screen. Liz looked at hers.
The cruse liner was basically a giant brick. In the center a massive dome of diamond, set in the center. The dome would face away from the engine, which where on the long edges of brick side. The dome, while the ship was not acceleration would rotate like a massive bauble. The laser had cut down the middle of the left engine spar, then stopped at the connection tube between the bauble and the rest of the ship. Then it went round the bauble until it got to the other tube, and the entire thing started to drift apart. O2 poured out of the engine ship, which wasn't occupied by anyone but the engineering crew.
The massive amount of the people where in the dome, and would live. ├óÔé¼┼ôI knew the damn bastard was bluffing├óÔé¼┬Ø Liz said, relive evident on her face. The Police cruiser wafted away, the harsh blue glare of its engines blinding the camera for a bit. Then it moved past the cruise liner and something dropped out of it. ├óÔé¼┼ôWhat the hell?├óÔé¼┬Ø Amber said, peering at the screen. Then a alarm went off, beeping loudly. They had only heard it once before. ├óÔé¼┼ôno...you don't!├óÔé¼┬Ø Liz said.
Amber, being a little more active, grabbed a phone off the wall and the computer automatically aimed the laser transmitter at the bauble's receiver. The captain of the other ship saying ├óÔé¼┼ôWho the hell are you? Who just attacked us!├óÔé¼┬Ø. ├óÔé¼┼ôThis is Amberly...├óÔé¼┬Ø Amber mentally kicker herself for being really really stupid ├óÔé¼┼ô...Montoya├óÔé¼┬Ø she said finally. The captain snorted ├óÔé¼┼ôYou must hate those two, for sullying both your names├óÔé¼┬Ø.
├óÔé¼┼ôYou have no idea├óÔé¼┬Ø Amber said, rolling her eyes. She was glad this captain sounded experienced. Most would be panicking and screaming and running about. ├óÔé¼┼ôListen to me├óÔé¼┬Ø she said ├óÔé¼┼ôThe ship that attacked you has dropped a nuke near you├óÔé¼┬Ø. ├óÔé¼┼ôCome again?├óÔé¼┬Ø the captain said. ├óÔé¼┼ôAmber!├óÔé¼┬Ø Liz hissed ├óÔé¼┼ôLook!├óÔé¼┬Ø. Amber looked over there. The police skiff had deployed a mirror drone, and it was reflecting and distorting their comm laser. ├óÔé¼┼ôFUCK!├óÔé¼┬Ø Amber shouted, slamming her phone down.
├óÔé¼┼ôShip├óÔé¼┬Ø Liz said, her voice deadly even ├óÔé¼┼ôCan you grab that nuke in one go?├óÔé¼┬Ø. ├óÔé¼┼ôWhat?├óÔé¼┬Ø Ship asked. ├óÔé¼┼ôNuke...grab it in the airlock and then we can fire it off into space!├óÔé¼┬Ø Liz said. ├óÔé¼┼ôI...can try...├óÔé¼┬Ø the Ship said, its voice unsure and quavery. ├óÔé¼┼ôGreat time for the A.I to break down on us!├óÔé¼┬Ø Liz snapped. ├óÔé¼┼ôDon't move├óÔé¼┬Ø the Marshall's voice cut into the P.A system.
├óÔé¼┼ôDon't say anything├óÔé¼┬Ø the Marshall said as Amberly and Liz started to shout something or other. ├óÔé¼┼ôI will not repeat this, and you must listen well├óÔé¼┬Ø Marshall said ├óÔé¼┼ôYou have thirty seconds to eject the data slate into space. We will pick it up. We will deactivate the nuke and knock off enough of your bounty to let you visit Vulcan again├óÔé¼┬Ø. Liz's jaw tightened, her fingers digging into a nearby armrest. ├óÔé¼┼ôOr we will detonate the nuke├óÔé¼┬Ø the Marshall finished.
Amber opened her mouth ├óÔé¼┼ôShip, open the air lock├óÔé¼┬Ø she said. ├óÔé¼┼ôbelay that├óÔé¼┬Ø Liz said, holding up her hand ├óÔé¼┼ôIf he was going to destroy the ship he would of done it the first time├óÔé¼┬Ø she said. ├óÔé¼┼ôYou sure?├óÔé¼┬Ø Amber asked. ├óÔé¼┼ôPositive├óÔé¼┬Ø.
Peter felt the floor lurcher and suddenly, sickeningly, the gravity dropped away. He didn't have anti nausea meds in his blood stream, and so he felt like he was about to throw up. He looked around and the ball room had become a complete disaster area. The crowd, suddenly bereft of gravity, was floating haphazardly around. The Launchers where redly apparent, as their fluid, super human grace in Zero gee.
├óÔé¼┼ôChrissy?├óÔé¼┬Ø Peter asked, looking round for the blond headed waitress. She was moving with a fluidity that matched and surpassed most of the others. ├óÔé¼┼ôWhat the hell is going on round here?├óÔé¼┬Ø. ├óÔé¼┼ôWe've been taking laser fire├óÔé¼┬Ø Chrissy said, then her eyes assumed a glazed look. She stared off into the distance then nodded. Her throat pulsated as she commuted sub-vocally. ├óÔé¼┼ôThe captain says we are to get to the escape pods├óÔé¼┬Ø she said. Peter nodded, remembering the holovid he had seen when he was a child. The Triton Adventure, where a Cruise liner is slowly falling into Jupiter's atmosphere, and the harrowing adventures of the many people trapped on bored.
├óÔé¼┼ôwell, lets go├óÔé¼┬Ø Chrissy said, surprisingly calm. The crowd however was getting louder, and Peter swore he could hear the sounds of a scuffle ├óÔé¼┼ôQuick├óÔé¼┬Ø Chrissy said, pushing off ├óÔé¼┼ôYou don't want to be here as the crowd gets rowdy. Have you seen a riot in zero gee?├óÔé¼┬Ø she asked as Peter followed her, floating across the room to the escape pods, which where hidden everywhere on the damn ship. The ship was meant to come apart if struck violently, so at least ONE of the compartments would survive.
A man passed in front of them, wielding a jagged shard of glass he had gotten from breaking a bottle. He took a swing at Peter, who tried to duck back, but ended up spinning end over end. He felt sick. ├óÔé¼┼ôDamn it!├óÔé¼┬Ø Chrissy said ├óÔé¼┼ôIts started├óÔé¼┬Ø. Blood had been drawn in the crowd, a woman's throat slashed across with a accidental or purposefully shard of glass as cups, sent flying by the movement and jostling of the bubble of people exploded. The red globules of liquid started to float around as the people begin to shove towards the airlocks, word about a unknown ship firing on them.
Chrissy reached the escape pod first, and shoved Peter in it. She lingered outside. ├óÔé¼┼ôCome on!├óÔé¼┬Ø Peter said. ├óÔé¼┼ôListen├óÔé¼┬Ø Chrissy said, leaning in and kissing him on the cheek ├óÔé¼┼ôCrowds like this want off, and the escape pods are going to become carnal houses as many people too many try to shove into it. So you pry that flap├óÔé¼┬Ø she gestured to it ├óÔé¼┼ôup and press the launch button, before the captain allows the atoulauncher. You'll be safe, at least├óÔé¼┬Ø she ducked out. ├óÔé¼┼ôWait!├óÔé¼┬Ø Peter said ├óÔé¼┼ôCome with me├óÔé¼┬Ø. Chrissy shook her head ├óÔé¼┼ôSorry hun, but I've got a job to to├óÔé¼┬Ø she smiled ├óÔé¼┼ôDon't worry, pirates only want the engines and the fuel. Hostages are useless in space this far out...├óÔé¼┬Ø
├óÔé¼┼ôThen why are they panicking?├óÔé¼┬Ø he shouted, half panicking himself. ├óÔé¼┼ôMost people in that crowd are Landers├óÔé¼┬Ø Chrissy said, as if that explained everything. Then the pod's door slammed shut, and straps came out of the wall and strapped Peter to the wall. His pod zipped out of its tube, and he saw, via a camera mounted on the side of the pod, the dome floating serenely.
Then a single light, harsh and blue flared. ├óÔé¼┼ôNO!├óÔé¼┬Ø Peter shouted, straining against the acceleration that pressed him against the back of his chair. The entire Cruise liner slowly split, nuclear fire rippling along its side, until it was pulverized. Shards of it slowly spread out in a almost serene sphere of explaining debris. Peter saw a droplet of something hurtle away from his face, smashed against the wall, pressed there by the acceleration.
It was a tear.
Liz stared at the screen as the ship was destroyed. ├óÔé¼┼ôNo├óÔé¼┬Ø she whispered. ├óÔé¼┼ôShip├óÔé¼┬Ø she said ├óÔé¼┼ôGet me that FUCK on the line├óÔé¼┬Ø. The video of the destroyed cruise ship blinked out, replaced by the faceless Marshall. ├óÔé¼┼ôFine├óÔé¼┬Ø Liz said, her voice empty ├óÔé¼┼ôWe give up. We'll give you the data slate├óÔé¼┬Ø. The Marshall's eyebrows, merely suggested lines on his mask like facelessness, bunched together. ├óÔé¼┼ôI thought you didn't HAVE what i want├óÔé¼┬Ø he said.
├óÔé¼┼ôYou sick bastard├óÔé¼┬Ø Liz said, shutting the video feed off. Amberly hovered behind her, and tentatively placed a hand on her shoulder. Liz felt it and suddenly brightened. ├óÔé¼┼ôEscape pod!├óÔé¼┬Ø she shouted, pointing at the general radar feed that appeared on the monitor, once it was depraved of input. The police cruiser, a almost imperceptible smudge on the screen, due to its incredible stelthing tech, started to move towards the escape pod. ├óÔé¼┼ôOh god├óÔé¼┬Ø Amber said ├óÔé¼┼ôThey are going to kill everyone├óÔé¼┬Ø. Liz snapped her fingers ├óÔé¼┼ôShip...accelerate as hard as possible and get us to that pod FIRST!├óÔé¼┬Ø.
The ship snapped together, forming itself into acceleration mode. It looked most like a baseball now, and its engine nozzles opened. Then it fired hard. Amber was pressed against the wall, which softened to form to her body. Liz, who was sitting in a chair, was pressed into its back with seven brutal Gee's. But as blackout approached around the corner of their eyes, the crushing force ended.
Amberly felt wonder. The ship, as they could tell from the jerks and movements under their feet , was doing some fancy flying. For even a high level A.I this was odd. They heard a loud clunk, and then the brutal Gee forces pressed them into the wall even harder, this time close to ten. But then it was over and the ship was shifting back to coasting mode.
Later, when they watched computer sims showing what had happened they realized something very strange was going on. The ship had hit a hard burn, then, as the police cruiser was between them and the escape pod, and had shot THROUGH the spinning spokes of the police cutter, which looked like a large flywheel. The ship had to make sudden, last minute changes in its flight plan as the police cutter changed course, trying to smash the Banshee apart. Then it plucked the escape pod, none to gently, out of space, into the grabber, which was used to grab things. Obviously enough.
But before that they got to the escape pod.
Peter was floating, tears running away from his eyes in zero gravity. He had not wanted to die, not after the cruise. Not after meting Chrissy. Now he was most surely going to die, sitting in the middle of the cometary belt and probably going to be shot out of the air by some pirate who had done this horrible act.
Then...WHAM! His neck was whipped to the side as his pod was struck from the side by what felt like a ton of bricks. Then WHAM WHAM WHAM! It changed speed and direction several times. IN the end he was throwing up as a steady gee was pressing him downwards, pulling on his straps like someone trapped on a roller coaster. After a few moments a ding sounded and his straps slid away, letting him fall into the small pool of his vomit. He sat there, crying and heaving, and wondering at the injustice at it all.
Then there was a bang on the side of his pod. Then the door opened and he looked up. A woman, porcelain white looked in on him. And next to her, was a completely black woman, her skin crisscrossed with lurid pink tattoo's that flounced lightly in the light blue light coming in from the other ships interior.
├óÔé¼┼ôI guess I'm out of the frying pan├óÔé¼┬Ø the two women raised their guns at regarded him with something approaching suspicion. ├óÔé¼┼ôAnd into the fire├óÔé¼┬Ø he finished, grinning wryly.
The Marshall walked away from his bridge, and would feel angry. If he could. ├óÔé¼┼ôSir?├óÔé¼┬Ø asked his second. ├óÔé¼┼ôPut a new tag line on the Banshee duo's bounty's├óÔé¼┬Ø the Marshall said ├óÔé¼┼ôAnd contact the Ordo Propaganda and tell them we have a new take on how to get the Launchers to do something about the Banshee twins├óÔé¼┬Ø he stopped and turned, facing his seconds ├óÔé¼┼ôHow dose 'Merciless massacrer of Transsteller Cruiser perpetrated by deadly woman criminals├óÔé¼┬Ø he paused, and flexed his left hand, making a sound like clicking and whirring clockwork ├óÔé¼┼ôAmberly Whisbourn and Elizabeth Montoya├óÔé¼┬Ø. He turned round again and resumed he walk. He called over his shoulder ├óÔé¼┼ôSet course for Vulcan├óÔé¼┬Ø.
His second nodded and turned to the navigator. ├óÔé¼┼ôSet course for Vulcan├óÔé¼┬Ø he said. The ship gently turned, its rooms turning in the interior to keep the passengers from noticing. Once it was ready, multiple engines mounted under the flywheel started up, and the ship zipped away at a crushing four gee's.
The men on board, however...seemed not to notice at all...
Seriously.
├óÔé¼┼ôyou son of a bitch!├óÔé¼┬Ø Liz shouted, slamming her fist down on the side of the console. This had the effect of off balancing her slightly. Amber however switched the nearest viewer near her to look at the cruise liner. She breathed a sigh of relive ├óÔé¼┼ôwait wait wait├óÔé¼┬Ø she said, pointing at the screen. Liz looked at hers.
The cruse liner was basically a giant brick. In the center a massive dome of diamond, set in the center. The dome would face away from the engine, which where on the long edges of brick side. The dome, while the ship was not acceleration would rotate like a massive bauble. The laser had cut down the middle of the left engine spar, then stopped at the connection tube between the bauble and the rest of the ship. Then it went round the bauble until it got to the other tube, and the entire thing started to drift apart. O2 poured out of the engine ship, which wasn't occupied by anyone but the engineering crew.
The massive amount of the people where in the dome, and would live. ├óÔé¼┼ôI knew the damn bastard was bluffing├óÔé¼┬Ø Liz said, relive evident on her face. The Police cruiser wafted away, the harsh blue glare of its engines blinding the camera for a bit. Then it moved past the cruise liner and something dropped out of it. ├óÔé¼┼ôWhat the hell?├óÔé¼┬Ø Amber said, peering at the screen. Then a alarm went off, beeping loudly. They had only heard it once before. ├óÔé¼┼ôno...you don't!├óÔé¼┬Ø Liz said.
Amber, being a little more active, grabbed a phone off the wall and the computer automatically aimed the laser transmitter at the bauble's receiver. The captain of the other ship saying ├óÔé¼┼ôWho the hell are you? Who just attacked us!├óÔé¼┬Ø. ├óÔé¼┼ôThis is Amberly...├óÔé¼┬Ø Amber mentally kicker herself for being really really stupid ├óÔé¼┼ô...Montoya├óÔé¼┬Ø she said finally. The captain snorted ├óÔé¼┼ôYou must hate those two, for sullying both your names├óÔé¼┬Ø.
├óÔé¼┼ôYou have no idea├óÔé¼┬Ø Amber said, rolling her eyes. She was glad this captain sounded experienced. Most would be panicking and screaming and running about. ├óÔé¼┼ôListen to me├óÔé¼┬Ø she said ├óÔé¼┼ôThe ship that attacked you has dropped a nuke near you├óÔé¼┬Ø. ├óÔé¼┼ôCome again?├óÔé¼┬Ø the captain said. ├óÔé¼┼ôAmber!├óÔé¼┬Ø Liz hissed ├óÔé¼┼ôLook!├óÔé¼┬Ø. Amber looked over there. The police skiff had deployed a mirror drone, and it was reflecting and distorting their comm laser. ├óÔé¼┼ôFUCK!├óÔé¼┬Ø Amber shouted, slamming her phone down.
├óÔé¼┼ôShip├óÔé¼┬Ø Liz said, her voice deadly even ├óÔé¼┼ôCan you grab that nuke in one go?├óÔé¼┬Ø. ├óÔé¼┼ôWhat?├óÔé¼┬Ø Ship asked. ├óÔé¼┼ôNuke...grab it in the airlock and then we can fire it off into space!├óÔé¼┬Ø Liz said. ├óÔé¼┼ôI...can try...├óÔé¼┬Ø the Ship said, its voice unsure and quavery. ├óÔé¼┼ôGreat time for the A.I to break down on us!├óÔé¼┬Ø Liz snapped. ├óÔé¼┼ôDon't move├óÔé¼┬Ø the Marshall's voice cut into the P.A system.
├óÔé¼┼ôDon't say anything├óÔé¼┬Ø the Marshall said as Amberly and Liz started to shout something or other. ├óÔé¼┼ôI will not repeat this, and you must listen well├óÔé¼┬Ø Marshall said ├óÔé¼┼ôYou have thirty seconds to eject the data slate into space. We will pick it up. We will deactivate the nuke and knock off enough of your bounty to let you visit Vulcan again├óÔé¼┬Ø. Liz's jaw tightened, her fingers digging into a nearby armrest. ├óÔé¼┼ôOr we will detonate the nuke├óÔé¼┬Ø the Marshall finished.
Amber opened her mouth ├óÔé¼┼ôShip, open the air lock├óÔé¼┬Ø she said. ├óÔé¼┼ôbelay that├óÔé¼┬Ø Liz said, holding up her hand ├óÔé¼┼ôIf he was going to destroy the ship he would of done it the first time├óÔé¼┬Ø she said. ├óÔé¼┼ôYou sure?├óÔé¼┬Ø Amber asked. ├óÔé¼┼ôPositive├óÔé¼┬Ø.
Peter felt the floor lurcher and suddenly, sickeningly, the gravity dropped away. He didn't have anti nausea meds in his blood stream, and so he felt like he was about to throw up. He looked around and the ball room had become a complete disaster area. The crowd, suddenly bereft of gravity, was floating haphazardly around. The Launchers where redly apparent, as their fluid, super human grace in Zero gee.
├óÔé¼┼ôChrissy?├óÔé¼┬Ø Peter asked, looking round for the blond headed waitress. She was moving with a fluidity that matched and surpassed most of the others. ├óÔé¼┼ôWhat the hell is going on round here?├óÔé¼┬Ø. ├óÔé¼┼ôWe've been taking laser fire├óÔé¼┬Ø Chrissy said, then her eyes assumed a glazed look. She stared off into the distance then nodded. Her throat pulsated as she commuted sub-vocally. ├óÔé¼┼ôThe captain says we are to get to the escape pods├óÔé¼┬Ø she said. Peter nodded, remembering the holovid he had seen when he was a child. The Triton Adventure, where a Cruise liner is slowly falling into Jupiter's atmosphere, and the harrowing adventures of the many people trapped on bored.
├óÔé¼┼ôwell, lets go├óÔé¼┬Ø Chrissy said, surprisingly calm. The crowd however was getting louder, and Peter swore he could hear the sounds of a scuffle ├óÔé¼┼ôQuick├óÔé¼┬Ø Chrissy said, pushing off ├óÔé¼┼ôYou don't want to be here as the crowd gets rowdy. Have you seen a riot in zero gee?├óÔé¼┬Ø she asked as Peter followed her, floating across the room to the escape pods, which where hidden everywhere on the damn ship. The ship was meant to come apart if struck violently, so at least ONE of the compartments would survive.
A man passed in front of them, wielding a jagged shard of glass he had gotten from breaking a bottle. He took a swing at Peter, who tried to duck back, but ended up spinning end over end. He felt sick. ├óÔé¼┼ôDamn it!├óÔé¼┬Ø Chrissy said ├óÔé¼┼ôIts started├óÔé¼┬Ø. Blood had been drawn in the crowd, a woman's throat slashed across with a accidental or purposefully shard of glass as cups, sent flying by the movement and jostling of the bubble of people exploded. The red globules of liquid started to float around as the people begin to shove towards the airlocks, word about a unknown ship firing on them.
Chrissy reached the escape pod first, and shoved Peter in it. She lingered outside. ├óÔé¼┼ôCome on!├óÔé¼┬Ø Peter said. ├óÔé¼┼ôListen├óÔé¼┬Ø Chrissy said, leaning in and kissing him on the cheek ├óÔé¼┼ôCrowds like this want off, and the escape pods are going to become carnal houses as many people too many try to shove into it. So you pry that flap├óÔé¼┬Ø she gestured to it ├óÔé¼┼ôup and press the launch button, before the captain allows the atoulauncher. You'll be safe, at least├óÔé¼┬Ø she ducked out. ├óÔé¼┼ôWait!├óÔé¼┬Ø Peter said ├óÔé¼┼ôCome with me├óÔé¼┬Ø. Chrissy shook her head ├óÔé¼┼ôSorry hun, but I've got a job to to├óÔé¼┬Ø she smiled ├óÔé¼┼ôDon't worry, pirates only want the engines and the fuel. Hostages are useless in space this far out...├óÔé¼┬Ø
├óÔé¼┼ôThen why are they panicking?├óÔé¼┬Ø he shouted, half panicking himself. ├óÔé¼┼ôMost people in that crowd are Landers├óÔé¼┬Ø Chrissy said, as if that explained everything. Then the pod's door slammed shut, and straps came out of the wall and strapped Peter to the wall. His pod zipped out of its tube, and he saw, via a camera mounted on the side of the pod, the dome floating serenely.
Then a single light, harsh and blue flared. ├óÔé¼┼ôNO!├óÔé¼┬Ø Peter shouted, straining against the acceleration that pressed him against the back of his chair. The entire Cruise liner slowly split, nuclear fire rippling along its side, until it was pulverized. Shards of it slowly spread out in a almost serene sphere of explaining debris. Peter saw a droplet of something hurtle away from his face, smashed against the wall, pressed there by the acceleration.
It was a tear.
Liz stared at the screen as the ship was destroyed. ├óÔé¼┼ôNo├óÔé¼┬Ø she whispered. ├óÔé¼┼ôShip├óÔé¼┬Ø she said ├óÔé¼┼ôGet me that FUCK on the line├óÔé¼┬Ø. The video of the destroyed cruise ship blinked out, replaced by the faceless Marshall. ├óÔé¼┼ôFine├óÔé¼┬Ø Liz said, her voice empty ├óÔé¼┼ôWe give up. We'll give you the data slate├óÔé¼┬Ø. The Marshall's eyebrows, merely suggested lines on his mask like facelessness, bunched together. ├óÔé¼┼ôI thought you didn't HAVE what i want├óÔé¼┬Ø he said.
├óÔé¼┼ôYou sick bastard├óÔé¼┬Ø Liz said, shutting the video feed off. Amberly hovered behind her, and tentatively placed a hand on her shoulder. Liz felt it and suddenly brightened. ├óÔé¼┼ôEscape pod!├óÔé¼┬Ø she shouted, pointing at the general radar feed that appeared on the monitor, once it was depraved of input. The police cruiser, a almost imperceptible smudge on the screen, due to its incredible stelthing tech, started to move towards the escape pod. ├óÔé¼┼ôOh god├óÔé¼┬Ø Amber said ├óÔé¼┼ôThey are going to kill everyone├óÔé¼┬Ø. Liz snapped her fingers ├óÔé¼┼ôShip...accelerate as hard as possible and get us to that pod FIRST!├óÔé¼┬Ø.
The ship snapped together, forming itself into acceleration mode. It looked most like a baseball now, and its engine nozzles opened. Then it fired hard. Amber was pressed against the wall, which softened to form to her body. Liz, who was sitting in a chair, was pressed into its back with seven brutal Gee's. But as blackout approached around the corner of their eyes, the crushing force ended.
Amberly felt wonder. The ship, as they could tell from the jerks and movements under their feet , was doing some fancy flying. For even a high level A.I this was odd. They heard a loud clunk, and then the brutal Gee forces pressed them into the wall even harder, this time close to ten. But then it was over and the ship was shifting back to coasting mode.
Later, when they watched computer sims showing what had happened they realized something very strange was going on. The ship had hit a hard burn, then, as the police cruiser was between them and the escape pod, and had shot THROUGH the spinning spokes of the police cutter, which looked like a large flywheel. The ship had to make sudden, last minute changes in its flight plan as the police cutter changed course, trying to smash the Banshee apart. Then it plucked the escape pod, none to gently, out of space, into the grabber, which was used to grab things. Obviously enough.
But before that they got to the escape pod.
Peter was floating, tears running away from his eyes in zero gravity. He had not wanted to die, not after the cruise. Not after meting Chrissy. Now he was most surely going to die, sitting in the middle of the cometary belt and probably going to be shot out of the air by some pirate who had done this horrible act.
Then...WHAM! His neck was whipped to the side as his pod was struck from the side by what felt like a ton of bricks. Then WHAM WHAM WHAM! It changed speed and direction several times. IN the end he was throwing up as a steady gee was pressing him downwards, pulling on his straps like someone trapped on a roller coaster. After a few moments a ding sounded and his straps slid away, letting him fall into the small pool of his vomit. He sat there, crying and heaving, and wondering at the injustice at it all.
Then there was a bang on the side of his pod. Then the door opened and he looked up. A woman, porcelain white looked in on him. And next to her, was a completely black woman, her skin crisscrossed with lurid pink tattoo's that flounced lightly in the light blue light coming in from the other ships interior.
├óÔé¼┼ôI guess I'm out of the frying pan├óÔé¼┬Ø the two women raised their guns at regarded him with something approaching suspicion. ├óÔé¼┼ôAnd into the fire├óÔé¼┬Ø he finished, grinning wryly.
The Marshall walked away from his bridge, and would feel angry. If he could. ├óÔé¼┼ôSir?├óÔé¼┬Ø asked his second. ├óÔé¼┼ôPut a new tag line on the Banshee duo's bounty's├óÔé¼┬Ø the Marshall said ├óÔé¼┼ôAnd contact the Ordo Propaganda and tell them we have a new take on how to get the Launchers to do something about the Banshee twins├óÔé¼┬Ø he stopped and turned, facing his seconds ├óÔé¼┼ôHow dose 'Merciless massacrer of Transsteller Cruiser perpetrated by deadly woman criminals├óÔé¼┬Ø he paused, and flexed his left hand, making a sound like clicking and whirring clockwork ├óÔé¼┼ôAmberly Whisbourn and Elizabeth Montoya├óÔé¼┬Ø. He turned round again and resumed he walk. He called over his shoulder ├óÔé¼┼ôSet course for Vulcan├óÔé¼┬Ø.
His second nodded and turned to the navigator. ├óÔé¼┼ôSet course for Vulcan├óÔé¼┬Ø he said. The ship gently turned, its rooms turning in the interior to keep the passengers from noticing. Once it was ready, multiple engines mounted under the flywheel started up, and the ship zipped away at a crushing four gee's.
The men on board, however...seemed not to notice at all...
-
maverick256
- Posts: 115
- Joined: 21 Sep 2004, 19:41
Peter was shoved down the smooth hallways, and looked carefully at this ship he found himself in. he was at first completely confused, but later he divined this about the ship. It had three levels. Outer, middle and Pivot. The Outer level was where the two women lived in, and it rotated at 1 Gee exactly. It had a air lock, two fusion engines packed on the outside, facing away from the pivot point and some weapon pods sticking in odd angles.
The outer hallway, on the edge of the cone that the Outer level was made up of, circled the central room, which had the ladder that went up to the other side of the ship. The chairs, large blobs of water encased in soft plastic, where designed to 'fall' from the floor to celling when the ship switched to acceleration mode. Right now the ship was in drift mode, where it rotated on the pivot. Ever outer level of the ship was slightly less on the Gee scale, and once you reached the Pivot it was completely zero Gee.
When in acceleration mode, the extended conic ship snapped together into a roughly spherical shape. Then it would activate one of the engines that stuck out of either side, and the floor would become the celling. So half the ship would flip round to be upside down, while the other half would already be fine. If possible, the two women used the left engine. That side, being recently retrofitted, had the only shower board. Peter found his head hurting. But first he was shoved into the small prison cell placed right next to the air lock.
It looked rather like a disrobing chamber. Peter sat down, rubbed his head and made a mental picture of the ship.
Engine :Outer Level----Inner level----Pivot----Inner level----Outer level: Engine
Peter looked round and found that it was a disrobing chamber he found himself stuck in. He opened one of the two lockers and found a space suit. And some under wear. He closed the locker, sat down, and looked at the wall. He felt in his pocket. Then remembered they had taken his knife.
├óÔé¼┼ôSo├óÔé¼┬Ø Liz said, looking at one of the four monitors in the pivot chamber. The man they had hauled out of space was walking in circles, looking around his impromptu prison. ├óÔé¼┼ôI think we should tell him what the hell is going on├óÔé¼┬Ø Amber said. ├óÔé¼┼ôYeah, that'll go down well├óÔé¼┬Ø Liz said, pushing away from the wall and clapping her hands ├óÔé¼┼ôWe are the most feared women in the soler system, hop on for the ride!├óÔé¼┬Ø.
├óÔé¼┼ôWell he's probably already recognized you, at least├óÔé¼┬Ø Amber said ├óÔé¼┼ôIts not like you blend in with a crowd├óÔé¼┬Ø. Liz looked at her tattoo's protectively ├óÔé¼┼ôWe could tell him we are two imposters├óÔé¼┬Ø she said finally. ├óÔé¼┼ôYeah, he'll believe that├óÔé¼┬Ø Amber said. ├óÔé¼┼ôWell, he can stay there for a bit├óÔé¼┬Ø Liz said ├óÔé¼┼ôWhere to, first├óÔé¼┬Ø.
├óÔé¼┼ôWell what better place to lay low then Leviathan?├óÔé¼┬Ø Amber said. Liz nodded ├óÔé¼┼ôShip├óÔé¼┬Ø she said ├óÔé¼┼ôBring up some sim's on what happened the last few hours, and set course for Leviathan├óÔé¼┬Ø. ├óÔé¼┼ôYeah...sure├óÔé¼┬Ø Ship said. ├óÔé¼┼ôWe need to get that A.I looked at├óÔé¼┬Ø Liz said, turning to the video displayer. The simulation appeared and they found what the ship had done was audacious, sudden and inspired. And not standard fare for an A.I.
While they did so the extended beads of their ship slowly collapsed into acceleration mode and maneuvered with small RCT's on the hull till it pointed towards Leviathan. Peter felt the transition, floating off the floor. He kept himself close to the ground as a sudden acceleration jammed him into the ground again. He looked round, feeling annoyed that they, whoever they where, where not telling him what the hell was going on.
The ship sped through the cometary belt. Tiny pockets of life where etched in the comets, hobo's and vagrants and criminals stuck in the ice and rocks. But one thing, in orbit around Persephone, the tenth planet in the solar system, was obviously of human origin. Leviathan, once named the Ark by the neo-christen colonists that where fleeing the system. IT had failed, its fusion reactors breeching and killing everyone on board. All five million of them.
Now a new form of people found their way on the ship. Each one was wanted for something, many of them for many somethings. There where illegal cybernetic experimenters, brain alteration experts. Hyperanimals that wanted true freedom, brainswappers and even a few vampires lived in the massive hallways and gored out star ship. The police had tried to take the Leviathan once.
The gun's, stolen and manufactured over five decades, that adorned the ship looked like random scars, scanner arrays and other innocuous elements of a star ship. Then the police cutters and cruisers where ripped to shredded. Now a sullen peace ruled between the two society's. And now, Amberly and Liz looked out of the pivot dome at the glory of the massive, ten mile long edifice. Holograms and moving artwork adorned the side, making it look like a massive mural. Ships darting in and out of the larger holes in the side of the ship looked like firefly's, with long trailing tails of light shining behind them.
It was exquisitely beautiful. Amber smiled as they entered the main docking port, a huge gash rent in the side of the ship by the small battle between the police. It was the single hit landed by the enemy, a tac nuke. The 'Banshee' drifted into the ships hull, then was in the antechamber. This was surrounded by massive window, with airlocks studded allover it. And inside the window...
The city of Leviathan was massive, winding and brightly lit. Like every human city, it had a beauty that could take your breath away. But unlike most human city's it looked like it was all about to crash down on your head, the skyscrapers winding and twisting, free of gravity. People, wearing bright suites of cloth, drifted between the skyways.
The ship closed into acceleration mode, as it was smaller and easier to dock with, and the sight was cut off as the pivot was covered by the inner layer. The ship docked, and Amber donned her most impressive clothes. Liz, however, walked into the disrobing room to talk to their prisoner.
Peters head snapped up, sending him spinning in the zero gravity he found himself sleeping in. The door had opened. The woman with the pink tattoos and ink black skin walked in, a ornately carved and exquisitely deadly laser pistol strapped to her hip like the six shooter of a ancient cowboy. In his gut, Peter knew that this was the real Elizabeth Montoya.
For one thing, there was something definitely real about the tattoo's that wound round her body. The imposers had gotten the gist of it right, close enough to cause the mesmerizing effect he experienced, but the real Elizabeth was burn-image-in-the-back-of-your-retina striking. She floated gently into the room and smiled, her teeth flashing white on the black of her face. ├óÔé¼┼ôHello├óÔé¼┬Ø she said ├óÔé¼┼ôEnjoying your stint on the Banshee?├óÔé¼┬Ø
Peter stabilized his gentle spin with a touch of his hand, almost all of the nausea he had experienced when he had first gone into space, and stretched a crick in his neck. ├óÔé¼┼ôNice of you to finally stop by├óÔé¼┬Ø he said ├óÔé¼┼ôWhere are we?├óÔé¼┬Ø. Elizabeth's smile faded ├óÔé¼┼ôWe are in the Leviathan, and before i tell you what that is...are you a open minded person?├óÔé¼┬Ø she asked.
Peter blanched at this seeming non-sequiter. ├óÔé¼┼ôUh├óÔé¼┬Ø he said ├óÔé¼┼ôI think i am├óÔé¼┬Ø. ├óÔé¼┼ôRight├óÔé¼┬Ø Elizabeth said ├óÔé¼┼ôwell Leviathan will test that├óÔé¼┬Ø.
Peter wafted through the halls as Elizabeth chatted about the history of the massive space ark they where visiting. He was surprised the history books he had read had only made a passing mention of the brief (very brief) neo-Christ church. ├óÔé¼┼ôSo├óÔé¼┬Ø Elizabeth said ├óÔé¼┼ôfollow me and Amber, and you'll survive until we can get you stashed away somewhere safe├óÔé¼┬Ø
Peter felt a flash of anger ├óÔé¼┼ôHey wait!├óÔé¼┬Ø he said ├óÔé¼┼ôI'm involved with this as much as you! I was on the ship, you know├óÔé¼┬Ø. ├óÔé¼┼ôThe ship wasn't important├óÔé¼┬Ø Elizabeth said ├óÔé¼┼ôIts what we stole that was important├óÔé¼┬Ø. ├óÔé¼┼ôWhat did you steal this time?├óÔé¼┬Ø Peter said. ├óÔé¼┼ôWe don't know├óÔé¼┬Ø Elizabeth said as they reached the air lock on the opposite side of the ship. ├óÔé¼┼ôWhy aren't we leaving from the other side?├óÔé¼┬Ø Peter asked.
├óÔé¼┼ôThis air lock go's to the Tourist Center├óÔé¼┬Ø Elizabeth said, turning to look at Peter ├óÔé¼┼ôAnd we want to break you into the city a piece at a time├óÔé¼┬Ø. Peter opened his mouth, but Amber had arrived. She was wearing what looked like stylized plate mail. ├óÔé¼┼ôWhat the?├óÔé¼┬Ø Peter asked. Amber's faceplate tuned to face him, with a old style cross viewing port. The entire effect was intimidating.
├óÔé¼┼ôLeviathan can get pretty rough├óÔé¼┬Ø Elizabeth said ├óÔé¼┼ôAnd the man we are going to be dealing with can be a little eccentric├óÔé¼┬Ø. ├óÔé¼┼ôWho are we dealing with? What for?├óÔé¼┬Ø Peter asked. ├óÔé¼┼ôListen├óÔé¼┬Ø Amber said, her voice piped through speakers that where a few decades out of date, making her voice tinny and computerized ├óÔé¼┼ôMarco will challenge the people who enter his lair. It wont kill them...usually├óÔé¼┬Ø.
They wafted through the air lock and into the Tourist Center. It looked like a rather large cauldron, with a domed roof and a window in the floor that showed the starfield that drifted at a glacial pace that Leviathan rotated at. ├óÔé¼┼ôHello, can i help you?├óÔé¼┬Ø the woman at the desk, which looked like a old bubble chair with about ten different screens attached to the sides of the chair, where the receptionist could move and reposition them easily.
├óÔé¼┼ôYeah, we need a road map├óÔé¼┬Ø Elizabeth said. Peter expected the receptionist to say something about Amberly's massive almost obscenely excessive suite of power amour. But the receptionist barreled on, handing Elizabeth a contact lenser ├óÔé¼┼ôEnjoy your stay at Leviathan. ├óÔé¼┼ôThanks├óÔé¼┬Ø Elizabeth said, pushing off of the floor to the celling. ├óÔé¼┼ôShouldest we pay?├óÔé¼┬Ø Peter asked. ├óÔé¼┼ôThey deduct everything from our credit banks in the Banshee├óÔé¼┬Ø Elizabeth said, as the celling irised open.
Peter gaped. The first thing he thought was of a massive crushing wall of metal and ice ready to fall, crashing down on his head. He felt like he was standing at the bottom of a impossibly slow moving avalanche. The city of Leviathan was build along the hollowed out walls, with skyscrapers that literally touched the other side of the massive cylinder.
But most of them glittered as thousands of lights where lit, and thousands more turned off as the people living in the rooms went to sleep. People drifted to and fro between the buildings, unencumbered by zero gravity, and graceful flying machines, shaped like sailing ships of the bygone past drifted through the air, their engine hidden in the woodwork.
The entire thing was so incredible that Peter just stood stalk still, the minute air currents in the room carrying his limbs this way and that, like a over persistent child pulling on his fathers arm. Then Amberly cleared her throat, a odd sound as it went through the old speakers, and Peter kicked gently off of the floor.
Immideatly panic flowed through him, threatening to overcome his rational mind. His mind screamed at him that he was falling, that the city was below him and that he was falling! Peter closed his eyes, and then opened them, this time looking at the floor he drifted away from. As he left the cauldron of the Tourist center, he grabbed the lip of the exit.
This caused him to pivot on his arm and gently drift to a halt, clinging to the door for support. ├óÔé¼┼ôDo you want to lose your fingers?├óÔé¼┬Ø Asked Elizabeth. Peter jerked his fingers away as the imposing figure of Amberly went through the door, and the thing shut so quickly he would of lost his fingers to it.
├óÔé¼┼ôNow, put this on├óÔé¼┬Ø Elizabeth said, tossing him the contact lens. Peter fumbled it into his eye, glad it was a self lubricating kind. He put it into his eye and found it to be too thick. ├óÔé¼┼ôNo idiot!├óÔé¼┬Ø Elizabeth said, her temper getting the better of them. She pushed off, and came near him. Her arm leaped out, as nimble as a chimpanzee, and grabbed the too large contact from his eye. Then she slid the two contacts apart, and handed both of the now much thinner contacts to him. Peter thanked her, and slipped them in.
After a few moments it was as if he was looking through amber, and the entire world was over laid in bronze. Then the contacts lit up with optical information, ranging from the number of citizens in the cirty, a helpful mini map in the right hand corner and a ticker tape bullion at the bottom. Right now the words ├óÔé¼┼ôMicro meteorite punctures the Highs. Fifteen RNDs occurred. No INDs reported├óÔé¼┬Ø
├óÔé¼┼ôWell, lets go├óÔé¼┬Ø Elizabeth said, and she kicked off the side of the cauldron with enough force to send her flying. Then Amberly did likewise, catching up and surpassing her friend quickly, her push aided by the power amours exoskeleton. Then Peter kicked off, and slowly moved away. Then the three of them, two aided by learned knowledges, the other helped by a nifty NAV point system, went the mansion of Marco.
The outer hallway, on the edge of the cone that the Outer level was made up of, circled the central room, which had the ladder that went up to the other side of the ship. The chairs, large blobs of water encased in soft plastic, where designed to 'fall' from the floor to celling when the ship switched to acceleration mode. Right now the ship was in drift mode, where it rotated on the pivot. Ever outer level of the ship was slightly less on the Gee scale, and once you reached the Pivot it was completely zero Gee.
When in acceleration mode, the extended conic ship snapped together into a roughly spherical shape. Then it would activate one of the engines that stuck out of either side, and the floor would become the celling. So half the ship would flip round to be upside down, while the other half would already be fine. If possible, the two women used the left engine. That side, being recently retrofitted, had the only shower board. Peter found his head hurting. But first he was shoved into the small prison cell placed right next to the air lock.
It looked rather like a disrobing chamber. Peter sat down, rubbed his head and made a mental picture of the ship.
Engine :Outer Level----Inner level----Pivot----Inner level----Outer level: Engine
Peter looked round and found that it was a disrobing chamber he found himself stuck in. He opened one of the two lockers and found a space suit. And some under wear. He closed the locker, sat down, and looked at the wall. He felt in his pocket. Then remembered they had taken his knife.
├óÔé¼┼ôSo├óÔé¼┬Ø Liz said, looking at one of the four monitors in the pivot chamber. The man they had hauled out of space was walking in circles, looking around his impromptu prison. ├óÔé¼┼ôI think we should tell him what the hell is going on├óÔé¼┬Ø Amber said. ├óÔé¼┼ôYeah, that'll go down well├óÔé¼┬Ø Liz said, pushing away from the wall and clapping her hands ├óÔé¼┼ôWe are the most feared women in the soler system, hop on for the ride!├óÔé¼┬Ø.
├óÔé¼┼ôWell he's probably already recognized you, at least├óÔé¼┬Ø Amber said ├óÔé¼┼ôIts not like you blend in with a crowd├óÔé¼┬Ø. Liz looked at her tattoo's protectively ├óÔé¼┼ôWe could tell him we are two imposters├óÔé¼┬Ø she said finally. ├óÔé¼┼ôYeah, he'll believe that├óÔé¼┬Ø Amber said. ├óÔé¼┼ôWell, he can stay there for a bit├óÔé¼┬Ø Liz said ├óÔé¼┼ôWhere to, first├óÔé¼┬Ø.
├óÔé¼┼ôWell what better place to lay low then Leviathan?├óÔé¼┬Ø Amber said. Liz nodded ├óÔé¼┼ôShip├óÔé¼┬Ø she said ├óÔé¼┼ôBring up some sim's on what happened the last few hours, and set course for Leviathan├óÔé¼┬Ø. ├óÔé¼┼ôYeah...sure├óÔé¼┬Ø Ship said. ├óÔé¼┼ôWe need to get that A.I looked at├óÔé¼┬Ø Liz said, turning to the video displayer. The simulation appeared and they found what the ship had done was audacious, sudden and inspired. And not standard fare for an A.I.
While they did so the extended beads of their ship slowly collapsed into acceleration mode and maneuvered with small RCT's on the hull till it pointed towards Leviathan. Peter felt the transition, floating off the floor. He kept himself close to the ground as a sudden acceleration jammed him into the ground again. He looked round, feeling annoyed that they, whoever they where, where not telling him what the hell was going on.
The ship sped through the cometary belt. Tiny pockets of life where etched in the comets, hobo's and vagrants and criminals stuck in the ice and rocks. But one thing, in orbit around Persephone, the tenth planet in the solar system, was obviously of human origin. Leviathan, once named the Ark by the neo-christen colonists that where fleeing the system. IT had failed, its fusion reactors breeching and killing everyone on board. All five million of them.
Now a new form of people found their way on the ship. Each one was wanted for something, many of them for many somethings. There where illegal cybernetic experimenters, brain alteration experts. Hyperanimals that wanted true freedom, brainswappers and even a few vampires lived in the massive hallways and gored out star ship. The police had tried to take the Leviathan once.
The gun's, stolen and manufactured over five decades, that adorned the ship looked like random scars, scanner arrays and other innocuous elements of a star ship. Then the police cutters and cruisers where ripped to shredded. Now a sullen peace ruled between the two society's. And now, Amberly and Liz looked out of the pivot dome at the glory of the massive, ten mile long edifice. Holograms and moving artwork adorned the side, making it look like a massive mural. Ships darting in and out of the larger holes in the side of the ship looked like firefly's, with long trailing tails of light shining behind them.
It was exquisitely beautiful. Amber smiled as they entered the main docking port, a huge gash rent in the side of the ship by the small battle between the police. It was the single hit landed by the enemy, a tac nuke. The 'Banshee' drifted into the ships hull, then was in the antechamber. This was surrounded by massive window, with airlocks studded allover it. And inside the window...
The city of Leviathan was massive, winding and brightly lit. Like every human city, it had a beauty that could take your breath away. But unlike most human city's it looked like it was all about to crash down on your head, the skyscrapers winding and twisting, free of gravity. People, wearing bright suites of cloth, drifted between the skyways.
The ship closed into acceleration mode, as it was smaller and easier to dock with, and the sight was cut off as the pivot was covered by the inner layer. The ship docked, and Amber donned her most impressive clothes. Liz, however, walked into the disrobing room to talk to their prisoner.
Peters head snapped up, sending him spinning in the zero gravity he found himself sleeping in. The door had opened. The woman with the pink tattoos and ink black skin walked in, a ornately carved and exquisitely deadly laser pistol strapped to her hip like the six shooter of a ancient cowboy. In his gut, Peter knew that this was the real Elizabeth Montoya.
For one thing, there was something definitely real about the tattoo's that wound round her body. The imposers had gotten the gist of it right, close enough to cause the mesmerizing effect he experienced, but the real Elizabeth was burn-image-in-the-back-of-your-retina striking. She floated gently into the room and smiled, her teeth flashing white on the black of her face. ├óÔé¼┼ôHello├óÔé¼┬Ø she said ├óÔé¼┼ôEnjoying your stint on the Banshee?├óÔé¼┬Ø
Peter stabilized his gentle spin with a touch of his hand, almost all of the nausea he had experienced when he had first gone into space, and stretched a crick in his neck. ├óÔé¼┼ôNice of you to finally stop by├óÔé¼┬Ø he said ├óÔé¼┼ôWhere are we?├óÔé¼┬Ø. Elizabeth's smile faded ├óÔé¼┼ôWe are in the Leviathan, and before i tell you what that is...are you a open minded person?├óÔé¼┬Ø she asked.
Peter blanched at this seeming non-sequiter. ├óÔé¼┼ôUh├óÔé¼┬Ø he said ├óÔé¼┼ôI think i am├óÔé¼┬Ø. ├óÔé¼┼ôRight├óÔé¼┬Ø Elizabeth said ├óÔé¼┼ôwell Leviathan will test that├óÔé¼┬Ø.
Peter wafted through the halls as Elizabeth chatted about the history of the massive space ark they where visiting. He was surprised the history books he had read had only made a passing mention of the brief (very brief) neo-Christ church. ├óÔé¼┼ôSo├óÔé¼┬Ø Elizabeth said ├óÔé¼┼ôfollow me and Amber, and you'll survive until we can get you stashed away somewhere safe├óÔé¼┬Ø
Peter felt a flash of anger ├óÔé¼┼ôHey wait!├óÔé¼┬Ø he said ├óÔé¼┼ôI'm involved with this as much as you! I was on the ship, you know├óÔé¼┬Ø. ├óÔé¼┼ôThe ship wasn't important├óÔé¼┬Ø Elizabeth said ├óÔé¼┼ôIts what we stole that was important├óÔé¼┬Ø. ├óÔé¼┼ôWhat did you steal this time?├óÔé¼┬Ø Peter said. ├óÔé¼┼ôWe don't know├óÔé¼┬Ø Elizabeth said as they reached the air lock on the opposite side of the ship. ├óÔé¼┼ôWhy aren't we leaving from the other side?├óÔé¼┬Ø Peter asked.
├óÔé¼┼ôThis air lock go's to the Tourist Center├óÔé¼┬Ø Elizabeth said, turning to look at Peter ├óÔé¼┼ôAnd we want to break you into the city a piece at a time├óÔé¼┬Ø. Peter opened his mouth, but Amber had arrived. She was wearing what looked like stylized plate mail. ├óÔé¼┼ôWhat the?├óÔé¼┬Ø Peter asked. Amber's faceplate tuned to face him, with a old style cross viewing port. The entire effect was intimidating.
├óÔé¼┼ôLeviathan can get pretty rough├óÔé¼┬Ø Elizabeth said ├óÔé¼┼ôAnd the man we are going to be dealing with can be a little eccentric├óÔé¼┬Ø. ├óÔé¼┼ôWho are we dealing with? What for?├óÔé¼┬Ø Peter asked. ├óÔé¼┼ôListen├óÔé¼┬Ø Amber said, her voice piped through speakers that where a few decades out of date, making her voice tinny and computerized ├óÔé¼┼ôMarco will challenge the people who enter his lair. It wont kill them...usually├óÔé¼┬Ø.
They wafted through the air lock and into the Tourist Center. It looked like a rather large cauldron, with a domed roof and a window in the floor that showed the starfield that drifted at a glacial pace that Leviathan rotated at. ├óÔé¼┼ôHello, can i help you?├óÔé¼┬Ø the woman at the desk, which looked like a old bubble chair with about ten different screens attached to the sides of the chair, where the receptionist could move and reposition them easily.
├óÔé¼┼ôYeah, we need a road map├óÔé¼┬Ø Elizabeth said. Peter expected the receptionist to say something about Amberly's massive almost obscenely excessive suite of power amour. But the receptionist barreled on, handing Elizabeth a contact lenser ├óÔé¼┼ôEnjoy your stay at Leviathan. ├óÔé¼┼ôThanks├óÔé¼┬Ø Elizabeth said, pushing off of the floor to the celling. ├óÔé¼┼ôShouldest we pay?├óÔé¼┬Ø Peter asked. ├óÔé¼┼ôThey deduct everything from our credit banks in the Banshee├óÔé¼┬Ø Elizabeth said, as the celling irised open.
Peter gaped. The first thing he thought was of a massive crushing wall of metal and ice ready to fall, crashing down on his head. He felt like he was standing at the bottom of a impossibly slow moving avalanche. The city of Leviathan was build along the hollowed out walls, with skyscrapers that literally touched the other side of the massive cylinder.
But most of them glittered as thousands of lights where lit, and thousands more turned off as the people living in the rooms went to sleep. People drifted to and fro between the buildings, unencumbered by zero gravity, and graceful flying machines, shaped like sailing ships of the bygone past drifted through the air, their engine hidden in the woodwork.
The entire thing was so incredible that Peter just stood stalk still, the minute air currents in the room carrying his limbs this way and that, like a over persistent child pulling on his fathers arm. Then Amberly cleared her throat, a odd sound as it went through the old speakers, and Peter kicked gently off of the floor.
Immideatly panic flowed through him, threatening to overcome his rational mind. His mind screamed at him that he was falling, that the city was below him and that he was falling! Peter closed his eyes, and then opened them, this time looking at the floor he drifted away from. As he left the cauldron of the Tourist center, he grabbed the lip of the exit.
This caused him to pivot on his arm and gently drift to a halt, clinging to the door for support. ├óÔé¼┼ôDo you want to lose your fingers?├óÔé¼┬Ø Asked Elizabeth. Peter jerked his fingers away as the imposing figure of Amberly went through the door, and the thing shut so quickly he would of lost his fingers to it.
├óÔé¼┼ôNow, put this on├óÔé¼┬Ø Elizabeth said, tossing him the contact lens. Peter fumbled it into his eye, glad it was a self lubricating kind. He put it into his eye and found it to be too thick. ├óÔé¼┼ôNo idiot!├óÔé¼┬Ø Elizabeth said, her temper getting the better of them. She pushed off, and came near him. Her arm leaped out, as nimble as a chimpanzee, and grabbed the too large contact from his eye. Then she slid the two contacts apart, and handed both of the now much thinner contacts to him. Peter thanked her, and slipped them in.
After a few moments it was as if he was looking through amber, and the entire world was over laid in bronze. Then the contacts lit up with optical information, ranging from the number of citizens in the cirty, a helpful mini map in the right hand corner and a ticker tape bullion at the bottom. Right now the words ├óÔé¼┼ôMicro meteorite punctures the Highs. Fifteen RNDs occurred. No INDs reported├óÔé¼┬Ø
├óÔé¼┼ôWell, lets go├óÔé¼┬Ø Elizabeth said, and she kicked off the side of the cauldron with enough force to send her flying. Then Amberly did likewise, catching up and surpassing her friend quickly, her push aided by the power amours exoskeleton. Then Peter kicked off, and slowly moved away. Then the three of them, two aided by learned knowledges, the other helped by a nifty NAV point system, went the mansion of Marco.