This is a sample from The IHA Project. Please visit my profile for more information and how you (yes, YOU) can get involved. And read the other stories that I have published. Infomation about IHA and The IHA Project is scattered across all the stories I have published, so read the editors notes on them all.
This is the third mission undertaken by Vigilo.
Plot: The rivalry between the Bio-Enhancement companies of Crispen-Fenshaw and Ellocrome has reached its melting point. This is basically war. Ellocrome is currently under investigation by the IAA for claims of unauthorized Interdimensional Trade. One Patrick Fenshaw said he had information and evidence that could assist the investigation. He met with a IAA representative in a meeting that never happened in a place that never existed (not a metaphor, it was a temporary construct that only existed for 2 hours). During the meeting he agreed to provide the information but at a cost. He wanted the blueprints for the breakthrough eyes that Ellocrome had developed for the military (a prelude will eventually be written incorporating this)
They arranged to meet at the lake.
He waited until 0200 before heading out in the dingy.
She swam towards him.
Concealed beneath the waves.
He dipped his hand into the deep.
She clasped it with her own.
He pulled her into the boat.
She rested, catching her breath.
"How did it go" he asked.
"I managed to capture everything save the east gate" she replied. "There were cameras with thermal vision and cloaked Skrall on patrol. Tell the van team they need to send the 343 in for a multilayered scan". [1]
"I'll do that. Did you get to the waste pipes?" he asked.
"Yes, I did. They're much better" she replied, handing him a camera. "Photos 12-15 are pipe 1, 16-19 are pipe 2, 20-23 are pipe 3, and 24-28 is the spillway. I detected three cloaked cameras plus one concealed turret in each pipe. Those are the yellow and red circles. The spillway had 4 cameras and 6 turrets".
A short pause while they studied the images.
"I'm going back to Southport" she said. [2]
"Make sure you get some sleep" he said.
"You too" she replied, stepping out into the water. "Drive safe"
She dived into the depths and vanished.
He put the camera in his pocket and rowed back to shore.
He put the boat away and walked to his car.
He drove back to an apartment and slept.
For most people, half past 11 is a rather late time to rise. However most people would not have worked for 22 hours. It was someone who had that woke up, showered, and sat down to a bowl of cornflakes on the 11th of November. It was this same man who took an early afternoon siesta before making himself a coffee and setting off for the highway in a white Saab 9-3 convertible. After travelling for some time he reached a particular city. It was of moderate size and importance, a central business district ringed by medium-density housing that fanned out into green suburbs. Population of near one million. He drove to one of the more upmarket sections of this city before stopping outside a large white house. The time was 1847.
He stepped out of the car and walked to the front door.
He knocked.
She ran down the stairs and threw her arms around him.
"Allen! It's so good finally to see you again!" she exclaimed.
"You too Emily, you too" he replied.
"Sooooo. Where we going?" she questioned.
"To a special place"
"Which is?"
"Ah, that is a surprise," he
"Ooohh. Mr Romeo"
"Does that make you Juliet"
She giggled. "Maybe it does. Come on, lets get going"
Allen helped Emily get in the passenger seat before they drove off. [3]
The first stop was at a garden cafe for dinner. Allen ordered for the two of them and they made small talk until 1922 when they left the cafe and drove to the mall. [4]
"So what happened with your cousins" Allen asked
They arrived at 1947 and walked briskly to the resident Movie theatre for a film beginning at 20:00. Allen bought the tickets, popcorn, and drinks before heading into the Cinema numbered #4.
Watching him through a monitor, a tall redheaded boy analysed his movements.
"He is very good at this isn't he" he muttered to himself.
"He's simply making sure her intellect is clouded by her emotions so he can suppress disbelief along with caution and ask questions that otherwise she would hesitate to answer" commented his pasty skinned partner.
"Thank you for the highly unnecessary information. How long does the movie run for?".
"The Return Of Ben Hur has a running time of 266 minutes or 4.26 hours." Replied the pale Irishman
"Who's shift has the extra 26 minutes?" inquired the Welsh redhead.
"Minerva's."
"Ah. Try not to get distracted this time."
"When have I been beforehand?"
"When you were budgeting for the Jefferson heist and wrote a 371 page novella for her."
"Negi, I have already told you and Isaiah, and Alex, and Evangeline, and every other member of Vigilo for that matter, that I finished calculating our expenses beforeI started writing. The reason Mosses ran out of bullets was that more attention was given to him then first predicted, forcing him to use a greater amount of his supply at that stage in the plan. I did not miscalculate the price of ammunition for a suppressed FN P90. Given what faced him I think he was quite deserving of the badge he received"
"Yeah, that takedown of the helicopter was very impressive. And everyone thinks he copied it off John Maclane"
"I know! Die Hard 4.0 wasn't released until 2 months after the event. Even so, it could not have been the only the movie to have used that idea"
"Mmm, I agree"
There was a pause.
"How do names affect their holders" asked the redhead. "For example, your name, Aritmus. Did your parents want you to grow into your name? Take on its' attributes. Did they speak it over you? Was it the other way around in that they unintentionally choose the type of person you would become by giving you the name Artimus? The attributes of which you would develop."
"Is there a difference? Will I ever know?" replied the Irishman. "They chose a unisex name. Does that have any implications? Does that mean they didn't care if I was born male or female? Granted it is my fathers' name, I am Artimus Fowl the II. But all this does is shift thought to my fathers' parents. Did they care if he was born male or female? Did they want an uncommon name that would cause most people to think twice about their son? Did they know it was a unisex name, maybe this was general knowledge back then? Maybe they wanted my father to be female? Perhaps they were trying to craft him into a cunning deceiver with a name foes would underestimate. The list goes on. I must admit that this is not a topic I have devoted much thought to and as such do not have much of an opinion regarding the matter. However, I would be confident in saying that it would have crossed my mind same as it would have crossed the mind of any awakened fictional character upon coming to grips with their true nature as created fictional objects living in universes existing not inside the mind of a reader but one formed from the visualizations of that reader.
"I agree with you there. I personally have held to my in-universe explanation of being named after my father, Nagi. I have since learned that this would generally be regarded as an unusual name for a Welshman and sounds more like a Japanese name. However, looking at the facts this is to be expected. My author is Japanese. He was born in Japan. He currently lives in Japan. He publishes his work in Japan to be bought by a mostly Japanese audience. My author and his most of audiences' frame of reference is one of a Japanese perspective so it makes sense that I would have a Japanese sounding name."
Negi paused briefly.
"It's these sort of questions that make me think about the origin of life as a whole. We are created beings, products of intelligent design you could say. There is no denying this fact. We were not the product of random chance. It makes think though, what about our creators? Were they the products of random chance? Or were they designed by some creator being?"
"Personally, I don't have an opinion. You could call me an Agnostic if it helps"
"Really?" said a slightly puzzled Negi "I would have thought an intellectual like you would have had much stronger views"
"A person's stance on the origin of life doesn't need to affect their work. Mathematicians or physicists don't need to worry about where they came from. It doesn't matter to a chemical engineer whether or not they are an ascended ape. Those sorts of fields can operate quite fine without following any particular ideology on origins. I know, I have met several and a lot of them weren't following any faith or belief system. I myself have come across data that could sway me both ways on the origins issue. Naturalistic Evolution has far too many flawed concepts and missing parts for me to truly believe, it goes against the law of Entropy for goodness sake. But the alternative, the notion of an omniscient creator god?" [5]
Once again, a pause
"Did you eat diner?" asked Artimus.
"Umm" Negi thought for a second. "I had a muesli bar before I left."
"There is some Rogan Josh in the fridge if you want it" said Artimus.
"Rogan Josh?" Negi queried.
"It is a Indian beef stew" replied Artimus. "Quite full-bodied with a deep, flavoursome spice. Very mild though, no burning curry".
"Sounds good."
"It is in the container with the green lid"
"Ok"
The hours passed and the people watching Allen and Emily changed. They were watching as they left the theatre. They saw them walk out of the Cinema. They saw them get Allen's white Saab and drive in the direction of a scenic lookout point on top of a prominent mountain. Allen brought the top down and he and Emily watched the sun go down and the world go dark. Then the winds picked up, so Allen put the roof up again. They sat their for some time However Allen and Emily's moment was disturbed by a gloved hand breaking through the window and jabbing a needle into Allen's neck. Emily screamed as he slumped to the floor. She bolted out the passenger door into the night only to be caught by a crushing tackle that winded her. There was the feeling of a needle tearing flesh then she blacked out. [6]
Hello from the Author. This is a notification stating that (due to much confusion) no further works set in the IHAverse shall be worked on until the pilot story, MI6ED, is published. Until then I shall bring Training For Two up to three chapters and then suspend work on all of my current stories. In case you couldn't figure it out all of them dumped you into a world that only I know about. I published them as a publicity stunt but ran into personal problems along the way. Now that these problems are starting to be sorted out I can get back to writing for the IHAverse. To tell you the truth I need to take some time off as honestly, I really had very little idea of what I was writing. I've only just now (23/11/10) got a clear idea of how everything fits together.
Time for some authors notes
[1] This is referring to the eyebots from Halo. In the IHAverse these are referred to as "343's" (a referance to the Halo character 343 Guiltyspark, who is one). In the IHAverse they are a common model for robots to be built on.
[2] Made up name. A better one would be appreciated. Think far northern Atlantic ocean town. Doesn't snow in the area but still gets very cold.
[3] I am looking for help with expanding this. PM me or visit if you would like to help out.
[4] See above
[5] Just wanted to do something different. Got the idea of Artimus being Agnostic from book number seven (can't remember the name). Sentence doesn't conclude very well in my opinion.
[6] The idea of The IHA Project is to write stories collaboratively. With every story included in the same canon. So there will be plenty of opportunities for you to send in work for publication in IHA. If you want to get more involved and start editing and adding to other peoples stories, or publishing your own, go to the home of IHA and The IHA Project (thelink is on my profile).
Due to the nature of The IHA Project, stories may undergo major changes without notice. If you don't like it, tell me why. Suggest changes don't just rant. Tell me FYI I have actually written the beginning of Chapter 2, but since Chapter 1 is starting to be expanded (hopefully with the help of you guys) I'll hold off until Chapter 1 is fleshed out more.