* * *
"Why is it always giant... humanoid... robots???"
- Ben `Gryphon' Hutchins, "Undocumented Features 1"
Ed looked up at the 10 meter tall, 50 ton BattleMech lying prone on the
deck of the Calypso's cargo hold. A marvel of 31st century technology in its
native reality, where it served as the ultimate war machine.
A mirthless grin crossed his lips, failing to reach the cold rage in his
eyes. "Ready or not, Quincy... here I come."
Popping the hatch, he stepped inside the cockpit that filled the head of
the anthropomorphic machine. Since the battlemech was lying on it's back,
everything was on its side. That didn't bother him. Strapping himself in the
pilot's seat, he began the start-up procedure.
Once the fusion engine had ignited, he slipped on the neuro-helmet and
put the battle computer on-line. He didn't bother with the medical monitors
nor the cooling vest. He didn't need either one, and he wasn't trying to
hide his differences from fellow mercs any longer.
He punched a button on the command console, and began the identification
sequence. A computer-generated voice sounded through the neuro-helmet's
speakers. "CLN-7X Chameleon 450376YM2232 online. Proceed with voiceprint
identification."
"I am Edward Anthony Becerra."
"Voiceprint pattern match obtained. Working... Please give the password.
Warning: If an incorrect password is entered, intrusion countermeasures will
be taken. You have one opportunity."
His next words rang with unconscious irony. "Killing a man is never easy,
and never should be."
The computer responded with, "And who taught you this?"
"Kai Allard-Liao."
"Welcome aboard, Lieutenant Becerra. Note: There have been two authorized
modifications to this machine since it has last been used. The three small
torso-mounted lasers have been replaced with small pulse lasers and linked
with the anti-missile system. The large laser mounted on the right arm has
been replaced with an extended-range particle projection cannon."
As he listened to the machine make its report, his eyes drifted to the
coaming overhead, and the symbol painted there, an iron gauntlet
superimposed on a stylized, flaming sun. The symbol of the Federated
Commonwealth. Below it was stencilled a quote. "It's time to earn your
princely pay as a Mechwarrior." - Natasha Kerensky. *I wonder.. do they even
remember me?* Then he shook the memories from his mind. Old habit seized
hold of him, and he slid into the startup checklist without conscious
thought.
/ Fusion plant .. switched on. Power to operational parameters. Go. /
/ Gyros .. running .. up to speed. /
/ Engine .. ready. /
/ Battlecomputer, targeting system and Heads-up display. Go. /
/ Commo system .. working. /
/ Tactical. On. /
/ Weapon systems ... /
/ Particle Projection Cannon - Weapon on safe, power connection green,
power nominal. On-line. /
/ Lasers - On safe, power connections green, power nominal. On line. /
/ Chainguns - On safe, ammo loaded, full ammo cassette. On line. /
/ Control systems and neuro-helmet feedback .. nominal. /
/ Checklist complete. Mech is battle-ready. /
Staring at the green boards in front of him, he emerged from his trance
and finally spoke up. "Minerva, prepare to beam me to whatever open plaza is
closest to Genom tower."
He twitched slightly as he felt the transporter effect take hold. A brief
moment later, the Chameleon was standing in the middle of a large square,
with a crowd of terrified bystanders running away from him.
The HUD in his neuro-helmet stabilized, and suddenly popped up a map
display. Less than two kilometers from Genom tower, he noted. Aside from the
plaza surrounding the tower itself, the map didn't seem to have anything
closer. A few taps on the Optisight-12 battle computer, and a cursor traced
a bright red line from the target to his current location. He nodded,
satisfied.
"You attacked me in my own home, old man. Now I'm coming for you in
yours."
As he looked over the plaza, an ironic smile darted across his face. If
he was going into battle with Genom, he was going to do it _right_. He
reached over to an auxiliary console, and touched a hidden switch. The front
panel swung open to reveal a strictly non-regulation CD player tucked away
among the circuitry. A moment later, music filled the cockpit. As he turned
back to the controls, trumpets and drums played in the background. "Ride of
the Fire Mares" echoed in his ears. *Theme music,* he thought. *Every good
battle should have some.*
The 'Mech began to slowly walk down the street, all sensors extended. Ed
wanted Quincy's head, but some tiny remnant of common decency kept him from
deliberately harming any civilians. He carefully stepped around and over the
automobiles and trucks, taking care to avoid damaging the street any more
than he could, given the immense weight of the war machine.
As he headed towards the tower, a threat display began bleeping quietly
at him. Something with military potential was on the other side of the
corner he was approaching, but the battle computer didn't recognize the
configuration.
*Stupid of me,* he thought. *All the threat profiles are set up for
weapons and vehicles from its native reality. Should have updated the
database, dammit.*
He cautiously rounded the corner, and was confronted by a hastily erected
barricade manned by members of the ADPolice. He zoomed the sensors, and
grimaced. "Figures."
"Halt and dismount from your mecha, in the name of the law," announced an
officer at the front of the barricade.
"I'm afraid I can't do that, Officer Bochinski. In fact, I'd appreciate
it if you and your men would kindly remove yourselves from my path. I have a
bone to pick with Genom, and while I don't want to hurt any cops, I don't
intend to let the ADPolice interfere with me."
Bochinski looked startled, and peered at the mirrored canopy. Despite the
distortion caused by the loudspeakers, the voice sounded familiar. "It's
you, isn't it. The person from the bar. The mystery vigilante."
"Got it the first try, Officer. And thank you for not using that
_annoying_ nickname."
From the rear of the barricade came a smart-alecky voice. "What annoying
nickname? Goldeneyes?"
An exasperated sigh came from the mech's speakers. "I supposed I should
have expected that one..." The machine turned back to face Bochinski again.
"Now, if you'd kindly step aside...?"
Bochinski shook his head. "I can't allow you to go any further. Please
dismount your mecha, and surrender yourself. Otherwise, we will be forced to
open fire." The other officers behind the barricade leveled a variety of
anti-boomer weapons at the 'mech.
An arm swung up and rubbed back and forth under the cockpit, giving the
humanoid 'Mech the eerie appearance of a man pondering a difficult problem.
"I aim to get Quincy, Bochinski, and get him I will. But I understand duty.
If you must, then you must. Nothing personal, I know. So, to make it simple,
go ahead and open fire. I won't hold it against you."
Bochinski gawked at him, but when the 'mech took a step forward, he gave
the order to fire.
When the smoke cleared, the ADPolice received a rude shock. Aside from a
few scorch marks and some slight dimples where grenades and rockets had
struck, no damage had been done to the machine.
"Ten tons of armor, Officer," said Ed from the cockpit. "And every ounce
of it a rhenium-tungsten-tantalum alloy that makes vanadium steel look like
cheap tin foil. You can keep trying, if you like, but it will take more than
the ADP has to stop this machine."
The Chameleon took another step forward, and a pair of pulse lasers
lashed out, burning away the wheels and engines on the vehicles used in the
blockade. "That's simply to keep you from following me. I really don't want
to hurt _anyone_, aside from Quincy. And if you want to try to keep people
safe, call ahead and have them evacuate Genom tower. Now. But leave Quincy
there." Then it carefully stepped over the barricade, and continued on.
As it left the roadblock behind, Bochinski watched it head towards Genom
tower. He threw up his hands. "You know.. I think Quincy just might have bit
off more than he expected to. This isn't going to be pretty." Then he
grabbed a mike and called it in.
* * *
At 65 kilometers per hour, it didn't take very long to reach the tower.
Most of the delay came from trying to avoid hundreds of panicked motorists.
Vengeance or not, rush hour traffic in Mega-Tokyo remained the snarled-up
nightmare it had always been. Even a 10 meter tall war machine had trouble
picking its way around the cars jam-packed in the streets.
Entering the plaza around Genom, he noticed the array of combat model
boomers lined up before the tower. *Looks like Quincy wants to do this the
hard way. Fine with me.*
A group of twenty BU-88 missile boomers opened fire simultaneously. The
smoke of their launch obscured the front of the tower. Ed turned control of
the torso-mounted pulse lasers over to the battle computer, under an
anti-missile program. Then he started in swinging.
BU-12's and a swarm of C-55's used the cover of the missile smoke to try
and rush him. One managed to leap up upon the left leg of the Chameleon, and
clawed it's way up to the cockpit. Swinging wildly, it tried to smash in the
canopy. Unfortunately for the C-55, it was neither glass nor polycarbonate.
A large metal hand rose and mashed the boomer against the thick Aluminum
Oxy-Nitrate that formed the Mech's canopy.
*Personal note,* thought an irreverent corner of his mind. *Install
windshield wipers.*
As he crushed, lasered, and otherwise destroyed the attacking boomers, he
began to grow suspicious. This was all too easy. Far too easy. It had to be
a distraction. So when the threat board signaled an aerial assault, he
actually felt relieved. The trap had been sprung. Until he got a close-up of
what was about to attack.
It wasn't hard to mistake them, even though he'd never actually seen them
before. Oh, there were the infrequent pictures of them he'd seen on the news
at night, and sometimes in the newspapers. And there was Bert Van Vliet's
description of the cursed things from his `Bubblegum Zone' stories. Even the
anime tapes he'd watched all those years ago. But that wasn't quite the same
as seeing them in person. The black and white coloration of their external
armor, along with the clawed extremities, was all the ID he needed.
Dobermans. Twelve of them.
*Judas Priest! Where the FUCK did Genom get _those_?!* Then he banished
the thought from his mind, and opened fire with the particle cannon on the
'Mech's right arm.
He got three of them with the first shot. The particle projection cannon,
an anti-mech weapon which had been designed to vaporize nearly a ton of
armor with a single shot, went through the Dobermans like a bullet through
jello. The remaining boomers, seeing the ease with which the PPC had reduced
their companions to slag, broke formation and attacked him from every
direction. They were moving too fast for him to hit again with the arm
mounted anti-battlemech weapons, and the pulse lasers in the torso were too
low powered to do much damage with a single shot.
"Damn! Fast little S.O.B.'s." He stopped for a moment, and the boomers
took the opportunity to charge him. Things started to get serious at that
point. Their claws, sharp as they were, couldn't do much more than gouge the
rhenium armor plate. But if they took it into their minds to go after the
canopy.. the ALON was tough, but it couldn't stand up very long against such
a concerted attack.
"No wonder the USSD uses them," he muttered. "The little buggers make
C-55's look like Robbie the Robot, combat-wise. They move faster than a
cheetah on crack! I can't kill what I can't _hit_!"
He slaved the twin 30mm chainguns to the battlecomputer, and quietly
thanked Minerva for filling the ammo bins with depleted uranium rounds.
Between those, and the pulse lasers, he got another two. The seven Dobermans
left closed with him, clinging to the 'mech and trying to dig their way
inside with their claws. Several frantic minutes of slapping later, he was
left with several small dents in his armor, and half a dozen crushed
boomers. A six-inch gash in his canopy attested to just how close one of
them had come to getting inside the cockpit.
The final one attempted a suicide dive straight at the head of the
Chameleon. It ran into the massed fire of four lasers, two chainguns, and
one particle projection cannon. It didn't just blow apart, it simply
_vanished_ in a fireball.
Then Ed turned and stepped the 'Mech over the wrecked boomers littering
the plaza, and across to the tower. Scanning it indicated a section that was
mostly structural steel, and he tapped on that gently, like a man knocking
on a door. The building rang like a bell.
"Yoo-Hoo! Can Quincy come out and play?!" He hammered a little harder.
"I'm in a hurry!"
"Quincy isn't here at the moment. Did you want to leave a message?" came
a voice from around his feet. Ed closed his eyes painfully. *Please. Not
now. A joke _that_ bad can come from only one person. And _him_ I REALLY
don't need at the moment.*
He shook his head, then opened his eyes and looked down. It wasn't the
day for his prayer to be answered. Standing there below were four motoroid
encased hardsuits of familiar design, along with a fifth hardsuit of a type
and design he'd never seen before, but recognized instantly.
The entire plaza echoed to his next statement.
"Goddess, I _HATE_ my life. I _really_ do."
Twister was thinking along much the same lines. It was different, but he
recognized the style of the mech from a computer simulation game he had
loved centuries ago, not to mention a few symbols on the mech itself.
*Battletech, definitely Battletech,* he groaned mentally. *Another anime fan
who had gained power in his travels then. Great. Well, it's nice to have
company, I suppose, but how the hell did he GET it here?!? If we can only
persuade him to get OUT of the thing...*
The mech turned slightly, facing the five armored figures. "Look. All I
want is Quincy and to remove Genom from the face of the earth. Can't you
just go away and let me have him? We'd _all_ be better off, and that's the
truth! Please?"
The white Saber stepped forward. "That's impossible, and I think you know
that as well as we do. While destroying Genom is a commendable idea, the
collateral damage that would result would cause irreparable harm to the
lives of millions of innocent people."
Ed shouted into the mike so loudly, it squawked, overloaded for a moment.
"I DON'T CARE!! CAN'T ANY OF YOU SEE THAT?" Then less violently, he
continued. "This is the second time that something of Genom's has stolen my
life. No more. It ends here." He killed the loudspeakers. {Minerva? The
Sabers have a private, encrypted com-link. Find it, break it, and put me
through to them. Now.}
A few seconds later, a display lit up on the comm console. {It's done,
boss. Maybe you can talk your way out of this?} She sounded hopeful.
{Only if I get to leave with Quincy.}
The hope in her voice died quickly. {Inshallah, boss. Inshallah,} she
replied in dull tones.
{I stopped believing in gods the day Largo attacked me in Utopia
Planetia, girl.}
He switched over to the comm console and tried the channel. "Am I correct
in thinking I'm addressing the Knight Sabers? As well as the Crystal Knight?
I certainly hope so, as I don't particularly care to blast the rest of this
conversation all over Mega-Tokyo, for the world to hear."
A slightly shocked Sylia answered him. "You are... but _how_ did you
access this channel? It should be impossible." The Crystal Knight glanced at
her, but did not comment.
"There is very little that's impossible for me, Sylia. And right now, I
WANT QUINCY. I'm going to get him. No matter _who_ stands in my way. Nothing
is going to stop me. Not the ADPolice, not you and your Sabers, and not
Twister."
There was a hiss of indrawn breath over the speakers, and a male voice
replied, "Twister? Who might that be?"
"No games, Darren. I know what you are, and where you're from. And I
won't let you stop me either."
*Where the HELL did he get that info?!?* Twister thought incredulously as
Nene looked at his still form worriedly. He had never told the Sabers his
original name, nor anyone else here in Mega-Tokyo. More than ever he wanted
to talk to this guy.
Right about then, things got worse. Much worse.
At the base of the tower, a small contingent of bodyguards emerged,
surrounding a single man. One of the guards lifted a portable loudspeaker.
"I'm glad to see you here," said Quincy. "I was afraid you might not have
received the message. Are you willing to discuss arrangements to transfer
your data on teleportation technology to the Genom corporation?"
"When hell freezes over, you waste of skin! petaQ jay' Ha'DlbaH!"
"A pity," Quincy sighed melodramatically. He nodded to the Sabers. "Take
care of this problem for me, won't you? I'll speak with him again after
you've disarmed him. Be assured, you'll be well paid." He turned to leave,
and the left arm of the mech snapped up.
"Not this time, monster!!" Paired lasers fired, striking Quincy in the
back. The results surprised neither the Crystal Knight, nor the Knight
Sabers. Lying on the ground, smoking and damaged, stripped of the organic
skin that had camouflaged it, was an android. "Nooooooooo!"
"You didn't ..#SKRRT#.. expect me to be ..#BZZZT#.. that foolish, did
you, boy? #ZAKK# Perhaps my offer of ..#BRZZ#.. employment was ..#ZZZT#..
premature. You are rather.. imma..#SPZAK#.. immature, emotionally. We'll
meet again. After you have ..#BRZZT# outgrown these ridiculous ideas of
justice and fair play." Then the android exploded.
"DAMN YOU, QUINCY!!" This time he lashed out with the heavy weapons,
vaporizing the metal carcass, and the boomer bodyguards along with it.
"That's the way you want it, FINE! I'm going to yank your company out of
Japan like a rotten tooth!"
"We can't allow you to do that. Don't force us to stop you," responded
Sylia.
"Don't even try, Sylia. I won't hurt you, but I'm not about to surrender,
either." The Chameleon turned away from her and fired the PPC repeatedly at
the top of the tower, its man-made lightning blowing away large chunks of
the building. "No one owns me. Do you hear me, Quincy? Damn you, DO YOU HEAR
ME?! NO ONE OWNS ME! NO ONE!"
The Knight Sabers opened fire at him, then. Autocannons, railguns,
lasers, and a barrage of the Crystal Knight's C-spheres struck him
simultaneously. He staggered for a moment, the sheer firepower surprising
him.
The surprise was returned when the five noticed that aside from some
minor cosmetic damage, the Mech's armor was holding up astonishingly well.
He caught himself with an arm against the tower, and looked down. "Dammit,
Sylia, WHY? Genom owes me. They owe _you_, they owe Twister! Hell, they owe
nearly everyone! This is payback! This is justice! They _deserve_ it!"
"Revenge is a fool's game," the psionist muttered. "The price is too
high, and the return too small." *I don't know what he used for armor on
that thing,* thought Twister, *but it can't stand up to a diamond blade with
a mono-molecular edge!* He launched himself from the ground, heading for the
arm holding the particle cannon. The blade did cut through the thick armor,
but reluctantly. *What in the world is this stuff made of?! It's thicker
than my blade is long.* Then a large arm swatted at him and he was forced to
dodge.
Down below, the Sabers were directing their fire at the legs of the mech,
in the hope that if they could drop it, they would gain the upper hand. They
poured on the fire, trying to cripple the machine. A foot swept them aside,
knocking them across the plaza, and slamming them painfully into a nearby
building.
"I asked you to _stop_, dammit! I don't want to hurt you!"
"Then surrender. We can't let you do this." There was a pause. "And how
did you discover who we are? Have we met before?"
A tired and extremely frustrated laugh answered her. "Fair is fair I
suppose, Saber Prime. You still owe me an additional 15,000 yen shipping and
handling for that copy of Ptolemy's _Life of Alexander the Great_, Sylia.
Unfortunately, the copy of Aeschlylus's _The Myrmidons_ that you ordered was
destroyed when that bastard Quincy TORCHED MY SHOP!!"
"Mister Edwards?"
"Just Edward, actually. Anthony Edwards was a pseudonym." There was a
moment of silence at the other end. "You don't seem very surprised, Sylia.
Did I give myself away, somehow?" He laughed sourly. "I suppose I should
have expected it, given your natural genius. How long have you known?"
"I didn't. I had my suspicions, however. Your reaction to my use of the
traditional phrase that ended a batchall was a major clue. As was the
identification card in your apartment."
"My friend _told_ me keeping that in my apartment was a mistake. It
seems she was right. But I couldn't bring myself to leave it behind. It was
one of the very few mementoes of my past that I truly cherish." The giant
'mech braced itself. "I'm not going to leave without Quincy, Sylia. Let's
end this."
Twister looked at the Sabers, and all five nodded. The battle was
rejoined.
* * *
Up in low earth orbit, Minerva was going quietly crazy, trying to scan
the battlefield that Genom Plaza had become. Between Twister's psychic
powers, and Ed's unnatural and unintentional bending of the laws of
probability, things were happening in the plaza that had to be seen to be
believed. Quantum physicists would have cheerfully murdered their own
families in return for a chance to observe them. Reality fluxed with every
micro-second, and nothing was quite what it was supposed to be. She watched
in awe as a stray bolt from Sylia's lasers struck a vending machine inside
the tower. The machine proceeded to dump it's contents and the spare change
it carried onto the floor. To her amazement, every single coin landed
heads-up and the soft drink cans spilling from it lined up neatly in rows,
stacked according to flavor. Even _she_ didn't want to think about the odds
of that happening naturally, even with her built-in floating point hardware.
Finally, in an act of sheer frustration, she simply ceased all analysis,
and dumped the sensor inputs to recorders for later examination. Not that
she felt that it would do any good. It just made her feel better, making the
attempt.
* * *
"I've had a bad hair day. A bad shop-been-blown-up day. A bad
brother-been-murdered-and-my-father-thinks-I'm-scum day. So...
could you please get to the point?"
- Jack Knight
Sylia looked around at the plaza as she dodged another laser beam. Walls
were pockmarked with with pits and laser burns from ricochets and missed
shots. Broken power lines showered brilliant sparks everywhere. *He may be
making a deliberate attempt to avoid harming us, but the incidental damage
is increasing with every second! This battle must come to an end _NOW_.* She
looked up to where Twister was avoiding a flailing mechanical arm.
"Crystal Knight! We have to bring this to a halt. If this battle goes on
much longer, the city is going to suffer."
The ebon helmet nodded. "I think I have a way, but it's going to be
messy."
"We no longer have a choice."
"Agreed." Twister moved back to get a clear view of the battle. Then he
gathered together as much Mindfire as he thought would be safe, and hurled
it at the battlemech. He didn't want to kill Ed, but he was determined to
bring the 'Mech to a halt. Striking dead center, the Mindfire chewed away at
the armor, burrowing deeply into the center torso.
Twister's next move was no surprise to the Knight Sabers. "Cue protector
dragon! Charcoal, AWAKEN!" At this, a small mushroom-shaped puff of smoke
appeared in the air some distance behind Twister. It dissipated quickly,
leaving behind a small dragon-like creature, which made a bee-line for its
owner.
The 'Mech's confused battlecomputer bleeped at Ed, signifying another
potential enemy. He risked a brief glance at the viewscreen, and paled at
what he saw. _Oh, SHIT! Charcoal! Great, just what I need._
Charcoal moved incredibly fast for such a small creature, landing on the
Crystal Knight's armored shoulder. "Charcoal, take that DOWN!" Charcoal's
tail twitched slightly, and it chirped cheerfully. _Boomers,_ it thought as
it took off. _Yummy._
It headed straight towards the 'Mech's cockpit. Ed knew _exactly_ what
Charcoal could do, and it didn't disappoint him. As it flew towards him, it
began to grow.
And GROW.
And _GROW_. Until it was at least forty feet long, and about the same
wingspan. Ed watched, fascinated, as it rapidly gained speed and altitude,
heading straight for his 'Mech.
The firedrake stooped like a hawk and hit the 'Mech dead center, wings
folded and moving unnaturally fast, tearing through the weak spot in its
armor created by Twister's Mindfire. The force of impact knocked the machine
to its knees as Char emerged through the other side of the mecha, leaving
behind a large, ragged hole. The dragon banked, mouth full of high-tech
scrap which he struggled to chew. Even enchanted teeth were having trouble
getting through the abnormally tough metal.
"_THAT_ should stop it," said Twister, smirking at the damage. The smirk
quickly disappeared, however.
Everyone froze as a synthetic voice began to loudly announce, "WARNING!
WARNING! FUSION REACTOR INTEGRITY COMPROMISED. FUSION CONTAINMENT AT 35% OF
NOMINAL AND DROPPING. MAGNETIC FUSION CONTAINMENT FAILURE IMMINENT. EVACUATE
AREA IMMEDIATELY. REPEAT, EVACUATE AREA IMMEDIATELY."
Inside the Chameleon, Ed swore as sirens howled and swept his eyes across
the status panel. Charcoal, knowingly or not, had taken out most of the
engine shielding when he'd rammed the 'Mech. *NO! It's gonna blow, and there
isn't a damn thing I can do to stop it!*
{Boss! Punch out! Punch Out!}
{Not now, baby.. I'm busy. Talk to you later.} He shunted her frantic
pleas to the back of his mind as he desperately tried to dump the reactor
core. *Shit. Isn't gonna work. Damn dragon of Twister's couldn't have done
more damage if it tried. Core ejection system's off-line big time.*
"WARNING. WARNING. REACTOR BREACH IN 120 SECONDS."
*Fuck. Fuel controls are out and deuterium's dumping straight into the
reaction, non-stop. Damper plates are jammed. Jump jets are dead, too. I
just can't get a break! Gotta try..*
"WARNING. WARNING. REACTOR BREACH IN 90 SECONDS."
{Boss!!} Minerva wailed.
*Can't let this happen. Not again. No more innocent blood on my hands.*
"WARNING. WARNING. REACTOR BREACH IN 60 SECONDS."
{Can't leave this one, baby..} he muttered over the link. {Not this time.
Too many good people would fry. If I screw the pooch on this one, love, take
care of yourself. Promise me.}
{Nooooo! Punch out! Please!}
{Too late, baby. Promise me!}
She sobbed. {I.. promise.}
"WARNING. WARNING. REACTOR BREACH IN 30 SECONDS."
*I did it once before by accident.. Can I do it again by design? Guess
I'm gonna find out.*
He shut down the link, cutting Minerva off abruptly. *Don't want you to
suffer, baby. Here goes nothing..*
"WARNING. WARNING. REACTOR BREACH IN 10 SECONDS."
"This is probably going to leave a mark..."
"WARNING. WARNING. REACTOR BREACH IN 5 SECONDS."
"4...."
"3..."
"2.."
*I love you, Ailuro..*
"1."
There was a bright light...
* * *
Three minutes earlier...
"WARNING! WARNING! FUSION REACTOR INTEGRITY COMPROMISED. FUSION
CONTAINMENT AT 35% OF NOMINAL AND DROPPING. MAGNETIC FUSION CONTAINMENT
FAILURE IMMINENT. EVACUATE AREA IMMEDIATELY. REPEAT, EVACUATE AREA
IMMEDIATELY."
The Sabers and the Crystal Knight froze at the horrid words blaring from
the external speakers on the war machine facing them, and Priss flashed back
to another day, when she'd been faced with the price of Sylvie's life as the
cost of saving Mega-Tokyo from a 0.5 megaton neutron bomb.
"FUCK! What can we do now?!"
"WARNING. WARNING. REACTOR BREACH IN 120 SECONDS."
"It's not a bomb, this time.." said Sylia quietly. "Unless he can
stabilize his engine shielding, it will explode. There is nothing further we
can do."
"WARNING. WARNING. REACTOR BREACH IN 90 SECONDS."
Twister's voice interrupted. "But there might be something Darlene can
do, Saber Prime." He vanished in a dark cloud that enveloped him, and brief
seconds later, his place was taken by Darlene. She began to chant under her
breath, using an old shield spell for lack of anything else, and a lambent
purple circle sprang up from the ground to enclose the damaged battlemech.
"You'd better bail.." she ground out as she poured energy into the shield.
"I don't.. know if.. I can.. hold this.."
"WARNING. WARNING. REACTOR BREACH IN 60 SECONDS."
"Why?" asked Linna calmly. "How far could we possibly get?"
The circle began to extend itself upward, slowly forming inward curving
walls. A dome began to take shape. *Too slow! Too slow!* was Darlene's
agonized thought. *I have to close it!* But even then she wondered if the
spell would be able to hold the explosion.
"WARNING. WARNING. REACTOR BREACH IN 30 SECONDS."
She stopped listening to the countdown and poured all the energy she had
into closing the dome of purple light. She gave it everything she had. In
the end, to her vast surprise, she was almost successful.
* * *
"And with the power of conviction/There is no sacrifice."
- Pat Benetar, _Invincible_
The universe was bright light and bitter pain.
*Where am I? WHY am I?*
-You are where you were once before.-
*I know you, don't I.*
-That you do, grandson.-
*Coyote?*
-I'm pleased that you remember me.-
*Hmmm. I thought I couldn't die. But if I'm here.. is this hell? And if
it is.. why's it so bloody bright? The pain fits, but I always had hell
figured for a dark and foreboding kind of place, you know? And you are the
_last_ being I'd expect to meet there.*
-Come now, boy. Think. This isn't hell, grandson. If you are speaking
with me now, then obviously you didn't die, did you? You tried to do
something, and you took a step beyond. Quite a _few_ steps beyond, actually.
The trick, youngster, is that we are trying to overcome our limitations in
order, patiently, gradually. We don't tackle the bare-handed extinguishing
of runaway fusion reactors until a little later in the program.-
*Oh.*
-What you did manage to do was to change your level of consciousness
rather abruptly. Now it's your choice. You've come a very long way in a very
short time, and this time you did it by deliberate choice. You can stay here
and learn on this level -- which is quite a bit higher than the one you
left, by the way -- or you can go back and return to your previous course.-
*That would mean leaving my friends, wouldn't it? And more important,
leaving the people of Mega-Tokyo to suffer from my shameful behavior.*
-Yes, it would.-
*If I return, would I be able to stop the reactor from devastating the
city?*
-THAT would depend on how much courage and strength of will you bring to
the task, grandson.-
*Ayuh. Figures. In the final analysis, it isn't even a choice. Will we
meet again, Coyote?*
-We will. And ... -
*And what?*
-You do an old trickster proud, boy. Very proud indeed.-
*I didn't do it for _you_, old one. I do what I must. And I do what I
_am_. Sometime again... grandfather.*
-Good. Now, remember what we were saying about one's body being nothing
more than thought itself...?-
* * *
The Knight Sabers could see the armor around the reactor mounted in the
Battlemech's chest melting away like ice on a hot summer sidewalk, as
Darlene's shielding spell rose above it. But before that shield had a chance
to close, the reactor failed.
The 'mech vaporized as a ball of brilliant, white-hot plasma swept out
from the magnetic fields that had held it constrained seconds ago. There was
no time for action, no time for thought. The five people and one dragon left
in the plaza stood their ground as the fireball expanded.
Then it stopped.
"What the _HELL_?!" goggled Priss. She couldn't believe what she was
seeing. A glowing ball of seething nuclear hellfire, hovering in mid-air,
that had stopped just short of the shimmering purple spell Darlene had cast.
A voice she could barely recognize as Linna's croaked, "I hope I'm insane,
because if I'm actually seeing what I _think_ I'm seeing, the world has gone
mad."
Sylia spoke up then. "None of us are mad. We're witnessing something to
which the rules of nature as we know them simply do not apply. I'd suggest
that you finish closing your spell, Darlene, and then.. then we wait." The
red-head nodded, silently agreeing with her.
"How.. how can you take this so calmly, Sylia?" got out Nene.
"There's no other way to take it, Nene. If that explosion hadn't suddenly
stopped in mid-air, we'd all be dead by now. With the possible exception of
Darlene, there is very little any of us can do to affect the outcome of
this. So we wait."
"For how long?"
The white armor didn't move. "For as long as need be, Priss. For as long
as it takes."
Belatedly, Darlene finished the shield at that point.
* * *
Nearly fifteen minutes has passed, and the tension was palpable. Then
Nene pointed something out. "Sylia? It's getting smaller!"
"Are you certain?"
"I am now. It's shrank by nearly ten centimeters in the past ten minutes.
And it's speeding up, as well. If it keeps up.. it should be visible to the
naked eyes in seconds... There!"
All eyes turned towards the fireball. Even through filters, it was
difficult to look at directly, but Nene was right. It _was_ beginning to
diminish appreciably. The rate of shrinkage was increasing.
Suddenly, it collapsed inward, and dwindled to less than two meters
across. Darlene cautiously began to move her spell walls closer to it, and
cast a second spell to cool the molten pavement this action revealed. She
was sweating not from the heat, but from the effort of the first spell since
she had poured a lot of her energy into that spell. Then the globe dropped
to the ground, burning a second, smaller crater in the naked rock the
initial blast had bared.
The brilliant light began to fade, and a human figure could be seen in
the center of the sphere. The area inside cooled further, and Darlene
cautiously began to lower her spell shields. She blinked, and looked closer.
"I don't believe it. He's still alive. He should have been toast in there.
For that matter, he should have been ash and gone. Just what the hell is
going on here? I knew he was tough, but this..."
A groan answered her from the crater. "Oooooooo... goddess, what a
hangover. I haven't felt like this since that drinking contest in Hamburg
thirty years ago." The figure, still glowing, tried to struggle to its feet.
It stumbled and fell several times before it was able to remain upright.
"What happened? I.." He looked at them. "Oh, shit. I remember. The reactor
blew." He looked around. "It.. it didn't blow?"
"It blew," said Sylia quietly. "But then it stopped in mid-explosion. Did
you do that?"
"I.. I don't know. Maybe, I think." He looked at the others. "Fucked up
again, didn't I."
*Understatement of the year,* Darlene thought, a little pissed off. At
least she had the excuse of being insane when trying to destroy the Tower.
This 'Edward' guy did not, much less stomping about Mega-Tokyo with a
potential nuclear bomb. She also did not like the fact that she had started
the reaction with Char. Unlike Twister, Darlene had an extreme aversion to
taking a life after a crisis a long time ago, and she would have been
partially responsible if the reactor had killed anyone. It sent cold shivers
down her spine.
Priss strode forward. "Yeah, you fucked up, all right. And now you're
going to pay for it." Her railgun was aimed at his head. "You aren't
intangible now, buddy, and you aren't hiding inside a bookstore."
Ed wasn't paying any attention to Priss, which merely enraged her
further. He stared at the fading glow surrounding his hands. "I did it," he
whispered in an awed tone. "I did it. I held it in. All of it."
An infuriated Priss was visibly shaking with anger as Ed ignored her.
Before anyone realized what she was doing, she fired a spike at the ground
in front of Ed.
He looked down at it, then switched his gaze to Sylia. "Why?"
They all knew what he was asking. Sylia looked at him levelly. "If
defending my enemies is the cost of protecting the innocent, then so be
it."
"Something I should have remembered before I even stepped into the
cockpit.." he whispered. He looked around at the damage, and clenched his
fists. "I was in the wrong, but it doesn't end here. For me, it can never
end. Sometime again, Knight Sabers."
Priss opened fire, but she was too late. His form shimmered, then faded
away to nothing. The railgun bolts simply struck the building that had been
behind him. She dropped to her knees, pounding the pavement with armored
fists in her frustration. "That's TWICE, dammit! There _isn't_ going to be a
third!!"
Darlene frowned. She recognized the tell-tale signs of a transporter
since the universe she had just come from had been a Star Trek one. This guy
was chock full of surprises.
Nene sounded the alert. "Sylia, we've got ADPolice moving in rapidly, and
Army units are also headed this way. We'd better leave while we still can."
Sylia looked over to Darlene, who nodded. A dark cloud surrounded her and
the Crystal Knight stepped out of it. Silently, all five armored figures
vanished, leaving behind an empty plaza littered with boomer wreckage.
* * *
"She's alive! Alive!"
- The Bride of Frankenstein
Ed grimaced right after he re-materialized on the transporter pad,
smoking clothes and all. "That.. could've gone better," he muttered under
his breath while heading towards the living area of the ship. After his
impetuousness (it sounded better than sheer bloody-minded, mule-headed
stubbornness) he hoped the interference that prevented them from rotating
out of this universe had dissipated enough to leave.
Minerva heard him and also knew what had happened on the planet serenely
rotating below them, even through the clashing interference of some
downright WEIRD forces she was still trying to give parameters to. "That
could definitely be labelled as an understatement, boss," she commented
worriedly, more concerned with his mental state than with the events below.
The suddenly-weary Ed sighed as he rubbed his face. All he wanted to do
now was collapse into a nice comfortable chair and relax; he'd clean the
soot off later. The door to his cabin whooshed open and he stomped into the
room.
"Well, it's about time," a merry, amused voice...chimed?...unexpectedly.
Ed's head shot up as his body stiffened, ready for some form of assault,
but the being casually relaxing in his chair with an ease that looked
disgustingly natural was a total surprise. Long, flowing purple hair,
gracefully pointed ears on an elegantly angular and beautiful face, and
violet clothing with a strange-looking upper torso armor all conspired to
give Ed the uninvited guest's name. Darlene's older elven form, Valanna! She
was flashing an enigmatic smile his way as she steeped her fingers over her
previously crossed legs.
{Minerva!}
His ship's ACI seemed flustered when she replied. {She just appeared,
boss! I can't tell if it was because she was hiding herself or she just
arrived!}
Ed noted Minerva sounded nervous, and she had a right to be since
Valanna's powers could very well tear her apart from the inside out. But why
weren't her eyes glowing? The elf's lips twitched upwards.
"Oh, I've been waiting a while, Minerva; sorry to upset you." Her smile
deepened at Ed's start; she'd heard! "And there is no need to be upset."
"No?" Ed replied warily. "Since when did you change your mind?"
"Mmm.... About a thousand years ago."
His mind went blank for a moment. "Hanh?"
She cocked her head coyly. "I may not like time travel much, but as I'm
immune to paradox it has its uses at times."
{Boss, is it just me or is this getting too strange for words?}
{Unfortunately, it's just not you, pretty lady.} Ed replied as he stared
at the amused elf. He rubbed his temples with his fingertips, trying
desperately to prevent the headache he could feel coming on. Time travel. He
repressed a tingle of anger at the thought of yet another possible conflict.
"So," he finally said out loud since she could hear him either way, "you're
an... older version of Twister?"
"Very good," Valanna complemented, clapping her hands mockingly with a
twinkle in her eyes. Despite the sarcastic gesture it didn't anger Ed the
way it should've. It seemed... oddly right for her. "Much, much older,
actually," she added, placing her hands down on her legs as she looked
directly at him, "and much, much stronger."
*Oh shit...* Ed didn't care to wonder how much that meant, but it was a
good bet it wouldn't be wise to piss this elf off, mostly for Minerva's sake
and the ship's. "So why ARE you here?" he asked her cautiously.
"To aid you by offering a few choices," she stated and started ticking
them off with her long, slender fingers. "One, do not accept my help; two,
shorten your journey in a more useful way; or three, go straight home. Which
do you want?"
He blinked, then swallowed as the elf watched him. "Wh-what?" he
stammered. Was she telling the truth? COULD she send him home??
{Boss...} There was nervousness in Minerva's voice, but Ed ignored her as
he stepped towards the curious Valanna.
"CAN you send me home?" he demanded.
"Oh, yes," the purple-eyed elf agreed, "I can send you home..." she
paused significantly, "if you so desire."
"And why shouldn't I?" he asked, suddenly suspicious as her reply had
been layered with something he felt was labelled 'Road Hazard Ahead'. In
huge flashing day-glow letters. Ten meters tall. He was surprised when the
elf smoothly rose from her seat and walked over to face him directly. There
was something about her that she had to a lesser degree in her 'present'
self that gave him an uneasy feeling, yet faintly exciting. It was like
wanting to whoop for joy and throw up at the same time.
"You know you have enemies, Legion," she said plainly, losing her smile.
"Do I have to tell you what might happen if you went home, totally
unprepared for what they may throw at you?" Valanna nodded sympathetically
as Ed's face fell. "I see I don't."
His fists tightened in helpless rage at his sides; he could guess only
too well and he wanted to howl in fury. There was an opportunity to go home,
NOW, and yet he knew that he couldn't. It was so frustrating! Maddening!
{I think she's right, b'wana,} Minerva added reluctantly.
{I KNOW that!} Ed snarled through the link. He was so focused with his
internal torment that the kiss from Valanna came as a complete surprise. His
eyes widened as he felt a tingling sensation pass through him from scalp to
toes.
Whaaaa???
{HEY!!!} Minerva protested heatedly as the smiling elf broke off the kiss
and drew back from the confused Ed. Wasn't Twister's female self afraid of
that sort of contact with the opposite sex?
"I thought... you didn't like that?"
Valanna twirled with a little laugh. "Things change. I AM change.
Besides, you needed it," she said with certainly. The elf shook her head.
"You can't dwell on what you can't do, Legion, or you won't do anything.
What you DO need to do is LEARN," she told him firmly. "Find out what you
can do as you journey so you can defend yourself and your home when you DO
return."
"So... what did you mean when you listed choice number two?"
"Let's shift first; the interference is gone. Minerva?"
{I'm not taking any orders from an... an off-color Tolkien reject!}
Ed sighed; his ACI was still peeved from the kiss and Valanna's smirk
told him she knew it as well. {Minerva...}
{Oh, all right,} she grumbled. {Shifting.} There was a pause, then she
reported, {We've arrived at a dead world.}
Valanna didn't waste time. "What I would do is this; you would no longer
shift purely by random but each world you come to will hold a key or lesson
you must learn in order to control your powers. It will cut down your travel
time by going blind by at least half what you would originally have taken,
even if you do visit each world." She fixed him with her purple eyes. "It is
the best course for you, but it is all up to you to decide."
Ed grimaced. "Is it a choice?"
"Yes."
{B'wana?} Minerva asked quietly after he had remained silent for a few
minutes. He heaved a sigh.
{Not much of a choice, baby. Hobson's choice, in fact.} "I can't take the
chance of leading them to my home and leave it undefended." Ed looked at the
waiting elf. "I accept."
Valanna nodded and smiled. From out of nowhere she pulled out an ornate,
multi-colored staff about five feet long and glowing with power. Then she
unexpectedly slammed it, to Ed's alarm, into the floor.
{GAH! BOSS!!} Minerva shrieked in panic.
The whole ship shuddered from the magic-charged impact and when the light
around the pole dimmed he saw a good foot of the staff was merged with the
floor, leaving the rest of the object to stand in the middle of the room.
The elf smiled at the rattled Ed. "It is done. The next rotation will
begin your training and your shorter path home."
{A twisted path no doubt...} the ACI muttered.
Hesitantly, not sure to be grateful just yet, Ed extended his hand.
"I'm... sorry our first meeting wasn't what I had hoped," he apologized,
"and I'm glad our second was more friendly."
{A little TOO friendly...}
{Minerva!} he chided. {What on earth's bugging you?! You've never acted
this way before when I've flirted!}
His ACI was silent for a moment before reluctantly answering him. {She's
more like you than the others, I suppose. Unique, powerful, odder than last
year's leftovers...}
{I get the message, pretty lady.}
"Don't worry, Minerva," Valanna assured the ACI as she playfully waved Ed
to sit in his chair, which he did to his relief. "I've done what I came to
do and I'll be going now."
"Thank you, Valanna," Ed told her with rising spirits.
"It was not a problem," she assured him, then snapped her fingers as if
she had just remembered something. "Oh, yes! I almost forgot my second
surprise!"
Ed blinked at her, confused. "Forgot what?"
/* Weird Science, Oingo Boingo */
Valanna winked playfully, eyes flashing purple light, and the next thing
Ed knew there was something soft, warm, pink, shapely, female, nude, and
very, very surprised to be sitting on his lap. What's more, to his startled
disbelief, Ed recognized whom it was.
"MINERVA?!?!?"
The familiar face of his ACI was indeed on the confused and terrified
human female, who seemed to be in understandable shock. "Boss!!" she cried
in her panic, realizing that the impossible had just occurred. "What...?!?!"
Minerva gaped down at her naked human body before recovering enough of her
wits to cover herself with her hands and arms, blushing furiously.
Ed was in a state of shock. {Minerva??}
{Boss!!} came the surprising and terrified response from his link. {I'm
HUMAN! But I'm still HERE! I'm in...} Astonishingly, the Minerva on his lap
spoke out to finish the sentence, "... TWO places at the SAME time!"
They stared wordlessly at each other for a moment. Then Valanna, who had
silently walked up to them, gently twisted Minerva's head towards herself
and kissed her deeply for a few seconds before pulling away.
"Ha... haba.... Wha.... This..." Minerva was totally rocked to her core
by what was happening, with Ed not much better off.
"Magic is the spice of life, is it not?" Valanna laughed, a merry,
faintly wild sound that had both staring at her. "She can survive as either!
Have fun, kids!!!" She quickly vanished with a swirl of her cape, the
gleeful laughter remaining in the air seconds after she left.
Leaving a speechless Ed with a naked woman, who was also his ship's
guiding computer intelligence, on his lap. Minerva shifted on his legs,
unused to and uncomfortable in a human body purely hers.
"So... what NOW, b'wana?" she finally asked him.
"Uhhhh...."
She sighed. "That's what I thought."
Barry Cadwgan ( BCADWGAN@FL.NET.AU )
"The end does not justify the means.
The end is the sum of the means,
as the road travelled determines the destination."
Valijon Starbringer (Hellflower Trilogy, Eluki bes Shahar)