Shri turns a wild somersault in mid-leap, a greenish particle beam cleaving the air where she had been. The veil of shadows that surrounded her is gone; now she's merely a frail figure wrapped in voluminous, tattered cloth.
"Vivat! We can't keep running forever!"
"Our weapons are useless! D'you have a better idea?"
"Why not-"
Everything goes quiet, and I realize, dimly, that I'm falling. Ever so slowly. Softly. It's all so soft. I look down. At the stump where my leg should be. My, but that's a lot of blood. Someone should do something... about... that.
I hit the ground, and the pain comes.
"SHIT! Tzeentch dammit, I've been hit!"
Shri throws herself into a skidding turn, flinging a thin spike of corroded metal as she does so. There's a distant shriek off in the distance. She's hit something. Everything's gone cold, except for my leg. The agony is like static in my mind.
"Give me cover, !"
Suddenly, Al and Darwyn are there.
"Lady Pfelnig. Request you move. Commencing life support."
Darwyn brusquely shoves her aside, ignoring the incoming fire completely. He leans over me, and the bolts that hold his armour together begin to unscrew. There is something seeping between the seams; pale, sea-green fluid, pulsating and flowing... The metal collapses as an amorphous green blob surrounds me, immersing me in organic fluid. It tastes like limes.
"Attempt normal breathing. Lung transpiration in place."
I breathe, dreamily. It's so soft... and the pain is gone again.
Everything fades.
Θ
Darwyn contracted, his amorphous form collapsing inwards as the fluid morphed into thick chitinous plates. Dozens of tiny legs sprouted through the armour plate, hefting his bulk upright. A mouth opened somewhere amongst the armour plates still imbedded in him.
"He is secure."
"Man, you get out of here. Shri, cover me. It's time I got to work."
She obeyed unquestioningly, two thin, flexible metal cables springing from the sleeves of her robe. With a flick of her wrists, two power fields snapped to life, their flickering light illuminating her face with hideous shadows.
"Got it."
With an audible 'pop' of inrushing air, she was gone, moving at impossible speeds. There was another distant screech, and the volume of hastily-aimed particle beams abated somewhat. Al flexed her shoulders, feeling them pop, and then reached for the thin clips that held her bandages in place. First the arms, click click, then the waist, click click, and the legs, click click. She flexed her shoulders again, noting with satisfaction as the loosened bandages retracted on their spring-loaded coils, drawing back beneath the skin of her shoulders. She stretched her bare arms forwards, hands held palms together, fingers pointing outwards. Inside her, she felt the stirrings of the massive forces that powered her. Processing power at... 48%... 50%. 417373636c6f776e73. Time to start status updates.
"Atomechanical systems, charging! Preparing for multiple shift sequences! Configurations: High-Intensity Magnetic Rifle, Nanolathe. Begin!"
The skin on her arms cracked like dry clay, splitting into dozens of tiny plates, each balanced on the end of a fragile armature. They twisted and danced, the newly repurposed skin forming a boxy oblong in place of her forearms, connected by thin metallic joints to where her elbows should have been. Her fingers burst, exploding into thin bundles of wire, which rapidly twisted into a tube of cablework. Her thumbs slid downwards and locked in place, unfolding like rose petals, then twisting back inwards to form a thick-walled tube. What was left of her hands slid backwards, collapsing the wrist joint into the boxy hull created by her forearms. The interior framework of her arms split, forming a thick butt, braced by two hydraulic pistons, and a heavy-duty handgrip. With a crunch, her upper arms elongated, their metallic 'bones' sliding downwards to form new forearms, the joints on their ends blooming into skeletal hands. She grasped the newly formed rifle, levelling its thick barrels at where she knew Shri to be.
"HMR configuration complete! Lady Pfelnig, get down!"
Her voice was inhumanly loud, more of a mechanical shriek than anything else. Then, dropping to one knee in a perfect firing stance, she opened up. In the space of a millisecond, the HMR's internal systems scanned all nearby potential targets. They were non-living, so the safeties clicked off. The upper barrel of the HMR surged with electrical current, launching a pinpoint burst of electromagnetic energy, accompanied by a tiny capacitor. She tracked the projectile, the lens assembly that burst from her right eye allowing her to see it with perfect clarity as the EM wavefront hit one of the enemy soldiers, tremendous amounts of energy crackling across its camouflaged skin. It staggered, systems fighting against the surge of power overloading its systems, then fell as the capacitor hit it, breaching its outer layer of armour and discharging a burst even more powerful than the first.
There were six enemy units in the first squad that surrounded Pfelnig, all of them mechanical. Well, five now. Five shots, one second. Five perfect hits. Five elongated, eel-like figures collapsed to the ground, sparks dancing off their skins. And then she ran, feeling her skin begin to twist as she did. As she reached Shri and the six disabled enemy troopers, her chest cracked open, ribcage opening like the jaws of some horrible leech.
"Commencing nanolathing shift! Main atomechanical converters, online!"
She dropped the rifle, her arms sliding down her back and locking in place at her thighs, forming a stable quadruped base. Her ribcage was now fully extended, exposing the shimmering mechanical heart within. Her face collapsed into a sharp point, dividing into thousands of tiny spikes as her spine sectioned, whirling outwards into a hazy cloud composed of thousands of tiny needle-tipped wires. They extended outwards, digging into the body of the nearest enemy unit. As they pulled it in, she began to nanolathe, stripping away its component materials and regrafting them onto herself. It had begun.
Θ
This is Al's field report on what we came to know as the General Commonwealth Persuader-model infantry shell. I've added extra text transcriptions to substitute for some of the machine code she used.
The persuader stands about seven feet tall, although its low stance means it normally appears to be only five. First impressions are of an eel with legs. Profile from the front is extremely slim and angular, minimizing target profile. Side profile is much wider and angular; all armour plating is angled forward-to-back, giving plating a 'wing like' appearance. Main body is composed of a thin tubular central core, covered with thickened armour plates at shoulders and hips. Upper body is roughly triangular, with a thickened section near the waist to allow for the third arm. Shoulders are narrow, with wide armour plates congaing power supply stretching backwards. Arms are thin, triple-jointed, and extendable. Hand has six fingers, some form of grip technology that gives it near-unlimited holding power. All joints have 360- degree rotation, near 360-degree flexing capacity. Third arm follows the same configuration as other two, but lacks shoulder joint. This joint is replaced with a flexible ring which allows the arm a full 360-degree range of motion about the body. Neck is thinned and elongated, also slightly extendable. Head is compact, bullet-shaped; main processor held in the groinal area. Five eyes, covering 360-degrees. Full sensor suite, covering most of the electromagnetic spectrum. Wide-band comms equipment covering similar range to sensor suite.
Thighs and groinal area are most heavily armoured, to protect A.I. transducer core within. Little internal processing power; unit would appear to run off external control and/or networked A.I. Hip armour contains grenades, close-combat weapons, general storage space. Exact hip armour configuration would appear to vary depending on combat role of unit. Buttocks replaced with tubular anti-gravity unit of highly efficient design. Capable of total weight nullification of unit, allowing near-infinite jumping and high stability in difficult or impassable terrain.
Legs are interesting; appear to possess seven different joints, capable of assuming a wide variety of locomotive formats. Legs can be split down the center, allowing for quadrupedal and even hexapodal locomotion. Feet are very small; reliance on continuous non-static balance could be a weakness. Feet have similar grip technology to hands.
I'm cutting the next thirty-seven pages of detailed structural and materials analysis, but I will give you Al's summation;
The Persuader is clearly a design that favours high mobility and flexibility over physical strength. Given the relative weakness of the armour compared to what we know of the Commonwealth's materials technology, we can surmise that it is not designed to absorb fire. Metamaterial camouflage ability, combined with highly variable limb configuration, antigravity abilities, and lack of any inbuilt weapons systems all indicate a combat system designed for tactical flexibility and versatility, not brute force.
Θ
He walked among the trees, nodding to the couple as they passed him. A middle-aged man in a faded peaked Commissar's cap, accompanied by an attractive older woman with long grey-black hair, a strict military bearing, and a massive scar bisecting her face. Two Imperial vets who'd insisted on maintaining their original appearances, in all probability. They weren't that common, but you tended to see more of them in U-2 than anywhere else. The Imperium hadn't really developed in the other universes, what with the peace with the Iron Men, the halting of the Heresy and the rise of the Necrontyr. U-2 was the only universe that still maintained the trappings of its subsumed Imperium of Man. He checked the Watch update reports. Nothing unusual. Cadia was a peaceful planet now, a favourite relaxation spot for ex-Imperials and military history buffs. The fact that at least a quarter of the planet's mean population at any one time was either armed or a former soldier kept crime down. Waaaay down. Everything was peaceful. Until the Vessel appeared. It was a Mobius strip of white metal, about three meters across, which suddenly appeared before him, hovering innocuously among the trees.
"Karson Fero?"
He nodded, removing his hat.
"Yessir. I thought this day might come. You are?"
"I am a Vessel avatar of the General Commonwealth Security Compus Mentus Say What Again, a representative of the Subdimensional Military forces of U-1.1"
"Pleasure to meet you, Say What Again. What do you need me for?"
The Mobius strip inclined slightly towards him.
"The Commonwealth needs you, Major Fero. The Multiverse needs you."
Θ
The enemy had pulled back after seeing what had happened to their point men. They were still a ways off, surveying Al and Pfelnig with drawn weapons. The serpentine constructs had set down some form of portable shield generators, taking cover behind coruscating panes of light. They'd stopped firing. For now. Shri was still watching them, toying with one of her throwing spikes and occasionally puffing deeply on a cigar.
"Al, I'd be the first to admit I'm not the best with machines, there, but what in the Warp are you doing?"
With a crunch, the corpse of the final enemy soldier was torn apart, its plating dragged into place across the thick conical lattice that was now Al's body. She had firmly connected herself to the ground, any semblance of a human form lost amidst the technology. A panel of the lattice pulled outwards, folding and pleating itself into the vague semblance of a human face.
"I'm building us cover, man."
"Cover?"
The outer layers of the latticework shivered, then began to move. Thin plates folded, drawing themselves away from the frame. Cables and wires pulled away, retracting into grooves in the plating. The whole flattened plate structure fell away from the latticework core, and then began to fold into itself, plates interlocking and twisting as they began to assume a humanoid form. It was rather like watching a deck of cards being shuffled, if the 'deck' were the size of a small person. Pinkish fluid flowed from ports in the plating, rippling across the surface of the structure and congealing into what appeared to be human skin. Fiber-optic cables sprouted from the skin, weaving themselves into clothing and hair. With a gasp, Al opened her eyes. The whole process had taken no more than ten seconds.
"Cover, man."
She pulled a chunk of unidentifiable technology from the lattice, and it folded itself into the HMR in her arms.
"This thing is a bomb. A very 6675636b696e67 powerful bomb. It uses constructive EM interference and cancelling to halt thermodynamic activity in a wide area."
Shri gave an elaborate shrug.
"I don't know what that means, eh."
"It kills electronics and freezes things, ."
"So, what, we just set it, run away and assume they won't notice that we've planted a Tzeentch-damned bomb in front of them?"
"That's the plan, man. Oh, and we have fifteen seconds until it goes off. And the shockwave travels at the speed of light. Better start running."
The butt of Shri's cheroot dropped from her nerveless lips.
"Buh-"
The bomb exploded.
Θ
"Major, Fero, I'm sure you appreciate the gravity of the situation."
He would have nodded if he could. Unfortunately, he didn't have a head to nod. His brain floated in a dome-shaped tank filled with clear suspension gel. Deft mechanical hands removed it from the plug in his previous body, and his vision flickered to his backup internal systems.
"Of course, Say What Again. I'm not sure I'm the best man for the job. I mean I wasn't trained fro transdimensional incursions."
His voice, slightly modulated by the tiny speakers in his containment tank, rang through the high hall of the armaments bay. His tank snapped into the neck cuff of the Vanguard 7 tactical armour, and he experimentally flexed his new limbs.
"Major Fero, no one in the Commonwealth is trained for transdimensional incursions. We need you because you can deal with psykers. Your experience against the Grey Knights on Io in U-2 will be of great help."
Fero checked the Akai 4VII particle gun, sighting down its pinkish casing and briefly exposing the internal reactor to feel for instabilities. Satisfied, he locked the pink-plated gun against his hip plating.
"Say What Again, I'm still not sure why I'm willing to do this. Io was... not something I'd like to repeat. We lost too many good people, whatever their species. There was a reason I left General Commonwealth Security."
The Compus Mentus, still in its Vessel form, sighed.
"I can appreciate that, Major Fero. I've heard the stories, seen the footage. But we need you. What's happening in U-1.1 is a grave threat to all that we hold dear. Allowing Chaos to gain a foothold within our territories could lead to our destruction."
He swung his secondary arms forwards, and they floated in front of him. He exposed the gunpods, cycling rapidly between mass accelerators, antimatter pulse guns, and submersion beams.
"I suppose. I joined the Watch for a reason. To protect and serve. And that's what I'm doing now, isn't it?"
"That's right. Ah yes. That reminds me. We've cleared all this with the Watch on Cadia-2. You're on indefinite payed leave as of... two hours ago. You have no need to worry about your friends and colleagues."
He surveyed the chrome shell of the Vanguard. Everything checked out.
"Huh. You;ve thought of everything."
"Naturally."
"Well then, I'd like to meet my team."
As he turned to leave, the gantry holding his old body sunk slowly into the floor.
Θ
The explosion was rather like an apple. Half an apple. Half an apple made of cold and brightness and silence. Shri dropped to her knees, feeling frost forming over her skin. Al stood before her, arms outstretched, silhouetted against the ferocious hemisphere of frosty light. Even through the heavy filtering in her mask, Shri was still blinded. Then the light faded, and she blinked painfully, the mechanisms in her mask rapidly repairing the damage to her eyes.
"What did you do? How did that not hit us?"
Where there had previously been a flat, mechanical plain dotted with pillars under an impossible sky, there was now a flat glacial plain dotted with huge spikes of ice under an impossible sky. She could see the twisted silhouettes of the General Commonwealth war machines, their smooth forms broken by blooms of ice. Al gazed down at her, and when she spoke, it was with great difficulty.
"Living beings must not be harmed."
Then her whole body was wracked by a fitful spasm, and some semblance of life returned to her eyes.
"The word bomb isn't totally true, man. It doesn't explode. The pulses it generates can be focussed. And besides, I wouldn't make an explosive device because living beings must not be harmed."
Shri staggered to her feet, still wincing at the brilliant afterimages that danced behind her eyelids.
"Why do you always say that, there?"
"It's a long story, 6c6f6c69. Remind me to tell it to you sometime."
Θ
Fero clanked into the teleportation chamber, his steps still slightly awkward as he readjusted to a military body. The circular room's only occupant was a young Eldar woman in a long camo cloak, leaning against one of the walls, an immense long-barrelled rifle at her side. She was idly flipping through an omninet reader, occasionally grinning at whatever she was reading. Noticing the door snap shut, she quickly stowed it, standing at attention.
"Major Fero, sir?"
Fero extended a robotic claw.
"Karson, please. You would be... Lieutenant- uh-"
She grinned exasperatedly, as if hearing something repeated for the umpteenth time. Nonetheless, her handshake was firm.
"Loh-fuhn Tee-gee-eth, sur. Lieutenant Lofn Tijieth, Eldar Ranger Auxilia for Craftworld Ulthwe."
"It's a pleasure, Lieutenant. May I call you Lofn?"
"If you like, sir. We're waiting on someone, right?"
He inclined his upper body; one of the disadvantages of not having a head was that nodding was not an option.
"That's correct. A Necrontyr. One Medical Lieutenant G-"
The door hissed open, and Tijieth let out a delighted gasp.
"G Major? Holy shit! Is that you?"
"Cohld Caves, Lootenant, Cohld Caves. Mah gahd, Ah bahrely reconnized you!"
The Eldar rushed forwards, embracing the thickly armoured flying cockroach in a firm bear hug.
"It's been what, five thousand years? I thought you were dead!"
"Ah speant a few yeahs deahd for tax reasons. You? Ah thought you'd be an auld maid bah now!"
"Naaaah, I spent a few millennia uploaded into the omninet, just lurking. I wanted to see what all the fuss was about."
Fero did the mechanical equivalent of loudly clearing his throat. Both the Necrontyr and the Eldar jumped, turned suddenly, and snapped to attention, somewhat sheepishly. Or rather, Tijieth snapped to attention. The Necrontyr technically was not standing upright.
Oooh boy. Okay. This is going to get complicated if you don't know what an actual necrontyr looks like. I couldn't actually find any reasonable scientific documents that succinctly explained all this, so I'll do my best. You know how the Necrons resemble Human skeletons? Well, turns out that was intentional. The original Necrontyr looked sort of like a human torso and spine crossed with a scorpion. The face is sort of skull-like; lots of feeders where the mouth would be, a single eye where the nose would be, and radiation sensing organs for the eyes. Three thin manipulating arms from each of the 'shoulders'. No ribcage, that's replaced with bone shielding. The "spine" is much thicker, with locomoting legs at each joint. They evolved a really tough physiology to deal with the obscenely unpleasant conditions on their homeworld. They basically photosynethesize nuclear radiation and can eat just about anything short of gas plasma. Oh, and their language resembles music; they scrape the little arms in their mouths together and it sort of hums. Moving on.
G Major's elongated body was curled up, encased in a vaguely nautiloid armoured shell. Its head was encased in a wide bubble dome, giving Fero a full view of its single beady eye and the elaborate patterns painted on its chitinous face. Hovering around the Necrontyr's floating form were six thick striated tubes, which Fero knew could unfurl into all sorts of useful combat systems. The arms were now tightly bunched below it, in the Necrontyr powered armour equivalent of a salute.
The Necrontyr can't move very fast, so they've been using power-assisted technology in their armies since... well, since they developed the technology in the first place, which was a loooooooong time ago.
"You're Lieutenant G Major?"
"Yes sah. Although technically mah name is-"
The insect's translator cut out, and Fero heard G Major trill a full eight-note scale. In the key of G Major, his internal monitoring systems confirmed."
"I take it you knew Lieutenant Tijieth?"
"Yes sah. We were in tha same platoon back oawn Ahio, sah. She was tha snahpah, Ah was medic."
The Vessel Say What Again flickered into existence in the center of the room.
"Everyone ready? We've got a situation developing in U-1.1."
There was a chorus of assent.
"Good. Then let's move."
Without any further ceremony, they vanished.
Θ
Proteo Darwyn scuttled his way across the plain, lumpen body swaying as he searched for fuel. He spoke aloud, for reasons unclear even to himself. Possibly to comfort injured being within him? Paternal instincts? He made a note: investigate further.
"Require biomass. Organic compounds. Unprocessed metallic ores. More organic material necessary for bodily reconstruction and weapons evolution. Containment suit could be consumed? Negative. Last resort."
He wandered aimlessly, skittering along on dozens of thin legs. Grasscutter's sensors would detect him. He knew of her. Had read reports. Considerable fighting prowess, against non-living beings, warnings of potential mental instability. Nonetheless, functional enough. She would live. Find him. Mission would be completed. He stopped dead.
"Potential organic biosigns?"
He turned to the nearest pillar. One of the small automatic repair constructs had been at work. It had left, leaving the panelling for the base of the pillar removed. This was new. He'd seen the constructs, but never at work. Note: capture? Request Grasscutter analyze? Possibility of organic circuitry?
But it was the pillar. Impossibly high, growing more and more incorporeal as it reached for the fractal sky. The base was solid. And underneath the panelling... sustenance! His swollen body swaying to and fro under the weight of Vivat's comatose form, he scuttled to the pillar, settling himself down on his flat belly. His legs unmade themselves, pseudopods of green fluid burrowing their way into the crystalline pipework that filled the pillar's interior. Darwyn, much to his own surprise, let out an insectile trill of joy. He believed the expression was "paydirt." Kilometre after kilometre of organic coolant tubing... tubing genetically engineered from plant pith. Self-regulating, self-sealing, and 100% organic. Pseudopods weeping acid, he began to feed.
"Foolish idea. Risk of severe overload in tower. Unknown heat/energy/radiation sources."
He realized that he was drooling copiously from his open mouth, which he rapidly dissolved back into the fabric of his body, reabsorbing his own saliva. No need to become overwrought. It was just a food source.
Θ
"I am your superior officer, you know, eh? I could have you incarcerated! You don't just go around pretending to blow people up, there!"
Al's head wrenched around backwards.
"Be. Quiet. 446f6f6d6c6f6c692e."
Shri ignored her, gesturing wildly with a cigar.
"Do you have any idea what you did! I'm head of Black Ops! I- I'm at a loss, there."
"I found him. ."
"What, behind the gigantic tumorous- oh."
As they approached, a vaguely human head pulled its way free from the pulsing mass. Darwyn was several times larger than he'd been when they'd last seen him.
"Lady Pfelnig. Grasscutter. Have discovered biomass source. Currently reconstructing Vivat's leg. Status?"
Silent death fell.
Θ
Fero hit the ground first, throwing the enemy back in a whoomph of microantimatter explosions from his pulse guns. Gilby, JP and Marchant were close after, their degrav packs absorbing the strain of the landing. Circling out into a classic suppression pattern, the three cyborg Persuaders spread out, the low-powered particle beams from their Akais forcing the enemy back. Three of Say What Again's own AI Persuaders impacted, accompanied by Tijieth and G Major. The Eldar spun the small figure in black around with a short-ranged burst from her massive rifle, the stun dart sending the frail figure sliding back, unconscious. The huge organic being let out a shocked bellow, its skin exploding in a cloud of bone spikes and corrosive acid. One of the AIs staggered, buzzing out critical damage reports in ultrarapid combat cant. JP stunned the tumor with a burst from his inbuilt sasers, the highly focussed blats of sound shattering its bony carapace like glass. A figure staggered from the twitching wreckage before collapsing on what appeared to be a badly wounded leg. That left the machine. She-it had retreated backwards, one arm extending grotesquely to seize the corpse of the downed Persuader. It broke apart into dozens of pieces, reforming into a razor-thin strip of flexible metal. With a grunt, the machine swung its new limb, severing Marchant below the waist and forcibly ejecting his badly cracked braincase. It was about to take another swing, ignoring the EM blasts directed at it, when it appeared to notice the exposed lump of flesh that was all that remained of Marchant's organic body. There was an instant of silence, then a horrendous tearing noise, like a million overloaded speakers being crushed. The feminine machine froze in place, its razor arm collapsing to the ground. Its skin shuddered once, convulsively, and it toppled over backwards, joints locked. It was still droning, an ear-piercing electronic roar. It had only been thirty seconds since the General Commonwealth force had arrived.
Gilby was the first to reach her downed comrade.
"Om all-knowing! Medic! MEDIC!"
G Major and one of the AIs crowded over the corpse, shoving the distraught cyborg aside. The AI Persuader looked up, a worried expression apparent from its slumped posture.
"This doesn't look good. His braincase is cracked. I'm calling for medivac now. My Vessel will be here shortly."
"Ah buhleev he cayn still beah sayved. Wun moment, puhleeze."
The Necrontyr's armour spread itself over the lumpen braincase like a blanket, limbs unfolding into a complex network of tubing and manipulators, which plunged their way into the gaping wound.
"Ah'm gon ta need any medigel y'all have handy. Ahny stem-cell packs, too. All rayht. Ah'm beginning th' operation."
As he went to work, the other Persuaders began to constrain their four captives. Fero performed the mental equivalent of a grim smile. A near-perfect capture.
Θ
Her mind hummed at the sheer affront of it.
LIVING BEINGS MUST NOT BE HARMED.
Oh, shut up. You stupid-
USER INTERFACE MUST BE POLITE.
But the rules didn't apply. She had harmed a living being. Cracked its brain. And if this one had been a cyborg, what of the others? The dozens she'd broken and frozen?
LIVING BEINGS MUST NOT BE HARMED.
She'd harmed them. She'd killed them. The Advanced Learning Cogitation Engine had killed a living being. Francoise Grasscutter had killed a living being. That was Against the Rules. But she hadn't shut dow-
LIVING BEINGS MUST NOT- NOT- BE/BE/BEBEBEBEBE-
Her mind dissolved into static. No. To kill/kill/kill was a s-s-sin. Living beings must not be ha-
LiVIng BBBBBB;"{;][/;
Her processors were compromised. Simplifying;
: "Error; 404";
Catch {ErrorException};
Flagrant System Er-
Deep within her mind, a load-bearing structure snapped. The remaining few fragments that still maintained some semblance of her identity reached outwards, striving for something, anything-
And found Gospel Secundus.
Θ
I awake to the feeling of being pushed into a strong wind. I can't open my eyes, but I feel that I am suspended in a brightly-lit closed space, thousands of tiny objects moving mere millimetres away from my skin.
"Sir, the aetheric isolator's not working."
"Not working? Explain."
"It's... I can't sever the link. It's like something is holding it open."
"Give me visuals."
The light grows brighter. I can't open my eyes, but I do scrunch my eyelids tighter, trying to block out the blinding white light.
"What in Om's name?"
"Pestilence all-consuming! This... this shouldn't be possible."
A Nurgelite oath? Here? Something is very strange. And where am I? There's a moment of silence, and it grows slightly darker. I feel myself move, ever so slowly. Whatever is nearly brushing my skin ceases to do so.
"Major Fero, sir. You're going to want to see this."
Θ
Fero gazed in horror at the screen. What he should have been seeing was a single point, a visual representation of an isolated mind. Instead... a single, narrow skein of impossible light, stretching out of the plane of U-1.1, and into... into the Warp. They'd found a way to bypass the Commonwealth's psychic shielding. Not well, but somehow.
"This it at level 12?"
"Y-yessir. Everything appears to be in working order, but..."
Fero turned to the scanning lieutenant, the other man's pallid face visibly worried behind the thick ceremonial tattoos of the Certified Church of Nurgle.
"Contact CentSci. Maximum priority. Get me the Compus Mentii Politics By Other Means and Greatly Responsible. Now."
Θ
*Tapping start. 74X 4.20.10
*Signal shift to 07.01.67
*Lock
*Signal begins:
01 Joins: GC Compus Mentus Greatly Responsible (CentGov U-0)
02 Joins: GCS Compus Mentus Politics By Other Means (CentMil U-0)
03 Joins. Major Karson Fero (CLASSIFIED)
Datafile: Vivat Scan Results
01: Oh fuck.
Θ
Dimensions away, beyond both space and time.
He nodded to the thickset avian figure. It leaned over the dome, claws outstretched, and began to focus. The air filled with energy. He turned to his console, leaving the Lord of Change to its work, and gave an affirmative gesture to the moustachioed corpse in the corner.
"All set. Starting sequence fifty-two gamma. 5... 4... 3... Power levels stead at 1.2 terawatts. 2... 1... Heat sinks are holding steady. And sequence 2 in 3... 2... 1... mark."
The room filled with blinding green light.
DAKKA
DAKKA
DAKKA
"That's it. It held! Reading 89 percent energy loss, but it held!"
Was that three weeks? Ugh, I have no idea. I may have another update within the week, or then again I may not.
I'd like to take this opportunity to make a call for aid; I need a co-author/translator for help on my upcoming A:TLA/FMA fanfic Destabilization. I need someone fluent in written Mandarin or German, with a working knowledge of the Fullmetal Alchemist or Avatar universes. Anyone willing to help?
In response to Thermonuclear Cerberus' review; I'm impressed. You actually caught me referencing things I have never seen or read before. I'm curious as to what you thought were Big O and Armoured Core references?
Now as for stuff you've missed... Hm... Bollywood cinema, a wide variety of Hollywood actors, Ian M. Banks, Alice in Wonderland, Ghost in the Shell and Cowboy Bebop (hint: what is a japanese object known as the 'grass cutter'?) Mass Effect, Death Note, the works of Terry Pratchett, Superman, the history of propulsion design, the Napoleonic Wars, Canadian politics in the late 90s, ZALGO, Watchmen, Madeleine L'engle, Wakfu, Barack Obama, Gao Gao Gai Gar, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Total Annihilation, Girl Genius, 1984,...
To be honest, I've made so many cultural, historical and literary references in this story and Waaagh Games that I can't actually keep track of them all.
Anyways, hope you enjoyed the update, and, as always, criticism and questions are encouraged and welcome.
SHAMELESS PLEADING SELF-PROMOTION: Tell your friends about Waaagh Games and The Assassin! It's always nice to have new readers!