The World at War: Chapter 3
"Sir, I've lost all contact with Lunar Orbiters 3-9," said a tall,
well-endowed redhead from behind the console. She looked over to Bill
Gates and asked,"What should we do, sir?"
Bill Gates glanced to the young technician."Have outer sensors
registered any unusual energy patterns?" he asked. On his right-hand
touch pad, he began keying in the codes for the bases defensive
particle cannons. You can never be too prepared.
After a moment, the technician said,"No, sir, nothing out of the
ordinary." She paused."I've just rerouted visual control to my panel."
She manipulated a grounded track ball and the screen in front of her
began rapidly skimming through images. When she found the one she
desired, she used her other hand, this one encased within a sensor
lined glove, to interact with a hologram projected to her left.
The screen zoomed in from a blurry image to that of the lunar
landscape. Several miles above the surface, an enormous asteroid
floated, inevitably approaching the moon."Bring it in closer," Bill
ordered. The resolution again sharpened and trees could be seen
imbedded within the mountain. Trees?!
Bill took personal control of the satellite drone and manuveured it in
closer. Seen from the right angle, the asteroid looked very much like
a mountain that had been torn from the Earth. Floating around the
newborn asteroid were several decaying humans, all of whom were moving
around. The fact that they were obviously dead, yet still flailing
around helplessly was more than enough to disturb the genius. There
were also a number of...things, things that were big and didn't have
much trouble moving through space. They used floating debris to jump
around the asteroid. None of the creatures seemed effected by the
hazards of space.
"Sensors are indicating wildly fluctuating bio-readings, sir,"
announced the technician, a slight waver in her voice. To herself,
she feared that they were being invaded by aliens.
Bill nodded, seeing the source of those bio-readings. What exactly
was going on? This couldn't have come from Earth recently, not with
the planet's current problem, but those things couldn't have been
exposed to the vacuum of space for long, no matter how ghoulish they
were. A secret government space facility? If so, it wasn't American
in origin.
"What is the status of the H.V.E. pilots?" Bill asked. The first
half-dozen gundams were complete and all testing of their combat
abilities and weaponry had been performed without a hitch. Several
pilots were already trained to the peak of human performance. The
only obstacle to a reclaimation of Earth was the production of the
dimensional flux generators that B.A.S.C. had developed to negate the
unusual energy that had encompassed Earth.
The flux generators were based on a Japanese design for a costly
energy containment system, but when properly modified and attuned to a
specific alloy, the flux created electrical energy that could be used
within Earth's disruption field. It took three of the satellite-based
generators to keep a Gundam fully powered(the generators themselves
could not function unless in a total vaccum and were too bulky to
equip the Gundams with them) no matter its location, but currently
only seven of the generators were finished.
Once eighteen of the devices were completed, enough to power the first
Gundam squad, Bill planned to launch them to Earth to begin setting up
recievers that would allow the flux transmission to power Earthbound
facilities. For now, though, the Gundams would work fine in space,
their fusion reactors fully operational.
Another pause."Ready to go, sir. Hyato, suffering a mild concussion,
wishes to remain grounded."
Bill nodded and said,"Very well. I want Vulcan Beam modules and Smart
Rocket racks equipped on each H.V.E." Using a sub-vocal command, Bill
brough up an inventory of weapons stored within his armory."High yield
atomics also, three a piece. Inform them that B.A.S.C. will give them
the coordinates of the detonation areas once current extraterrestrial
threat is eliminated."
****
Squad leader Mamoru Chiba hurriedly slipped into his G-suit, donning
his helmet and pressurizing it to round out his newest costume.
Trapped in America during the Gates Uprising, Mamoru had adapted,
going over to the side that would obviously come out victorious in
hopes of surviving to one day see his beloved Usagi again. He'd
volunteered to take a place on the Lunar Base as a way to get into the
Wizard of Gates' good graces, but found himself trapped on the moon
after the world went dark.
He'd nearly broke down, then, when he thought of his love, his
precious Usagi fighting for survival in the chaotic mess that existed
far below him. Chosen by B.A.S.C. to become a pilot for the robotic
armor developed by the Wizard, Tusedo Mask poured himself into the
effort of learning to pilot the remarkable machines. If he became
good enough, he would be able to save Usagi, eventually. She would
survive, she had to. They were destined to be together.
"Yo, Chiba, you ready, man?" asked his second in command.
From behind the silvered safety shield of his helmet, Mamoru nodded.
They proceeded to the H.V.E. bay and waited while the automated
systems armed and outfitted their vehicles. As the robotic drones
floated around the bay, their gravity not augmented by the complexes
graviton emitters, they attached some of the more potent weapons to
the H.V.E.s. Mamoru noticed the black and yellow cylinders indicating
nuclear payloads on some of the items. What could they possibly be
doing with something so dangerous that he and his men had barely been
trained to handle.
****
Meanwhile, on Earth.
Genma had enjoyed himself greatly over the last month. Sure, Nodoka
had been practically insatiable, but even she had her limits. With
the Tendo sisters, he had to worry more about 'his' limits. With
their constant hunger for sex, he got very little sleep and had lost
nearly fifty pounds. For a giant, fat panda, his figure was starting
to look amazingly trim. Little-Genma had seen better days, but that
new lubricant Kasumi had started making from those crushed herbs was
working wonders for all the heat rash and friction burns.
Right now, though, Genma wasn't all that happy. Where the girls had
gotten heavy gauge chain from, he didn't know, and he didn't really
think that iron shackles were all that common nowadays either, but
they had, and now he was bound on his back, spread eagled against a
tree. He looked imploringly to Kasumi, his eyes shining with unshed
tears.
Kasumi smiled at her panda and said,"P-chan, you'll feel much better
when we get all this fur off of you. You won't be so hot all the time
and the girls and I are getting a little annoyed with all the panda
hair that keeps getting stuck in our teeth." Kasumi didn't want to
upset her plaything any further by telling him that Akane had
complained that her whips and other assorted implements went unfelt by
P-chan because of his fur. Sigh, the things she did for family.
With a last whimper, Genma shut his eyes as Kasumi began to trim away
his luscious fur coat. His last glimpse for several hours being
Akane, standing behind her sister with a mug of soap and a straight
razor. Three different whips rested, coiled, within her hip holder.
****
"What are you doing?" I asked Ryu. I'd had to change course midflight
to catch up with the cyborg as he had deviated from his path. I'd
found him near the crashed remains of a helicopter. This must have
been his ride that'd went down when Saffron used the tech dampener.
Ryu ripped a twisted armor plate from the chopper's frame and breathed
a sigh of satisfaction."It's still here," he said. Like there was
much chance of whatever 'it' was just up and disappearing if it was
held behind an inch thick piece of steel.
I waited patiently, perusing the wreckage of Ryu's chopper. It'd been
small and completely black, coated with some kind of non-reflective
material."So?" I finally asked.
Ryu'd just finished strapping an advanced looking metallic case/box to
his back. It looked like it was designed to rest there and was
probably something else more advanced than your modern every day super
computer.
"Weapons upgrade and armor modules," replied my student, the
cybernetic, martial artist, sorcerer. Damn, what a mouthful.
I was beginning to be reminded of a cartoon I'd once seen down in hell
that was being used to torture some child rapist or something. I
believe it was called Inspector Gadget. Ugh, almost as bad as Barney.
"Well, if you've gotten all your toys, do you mind if we get a move
on?" I asked exasperatedly. It was getting about time to bring out
Demon for a few hours. Ryu always got quite and respectful for a few
days after getting sight of my monstrous pokemon. Nah, I should save
that up for later. He could build an immunity up to the effect,
afterall.
Our liesurely pace brought us back within the embattled territories
already claimed by the Alliance and we soon met the first Alliance
force I'd seen since the one where I'd killed that Elder. This one
was much smaller, numbering barely over fifty, but none of the
warriors were anything less than battle tested veterans and they had
the skill to prove it. Unfortunately, for them, not us, Ryu and I
aren't your run of the mill ass kickers.
I contented myself with blasting the Amazons around the muddy meadow,
never empowering my spells to the level that they would become fatal.
The rest I left for Ryu. I hadn't seen him in actual combat with his
full abilities active and now was as good a time to learn as any.
Needlessly, for these opponents didn't really require such force, Ryu
activated that upgrade pack he always wore. The result was an
animeish looking knight with floating orbs full of power orbitting
him. He didn't play around with his foes, and with little more than a
oversized chi/plasma bolt, he incinerated the Musk and Phoenix People
who were trying to kill him. So much for seeing any full abilities.
"We're starting to wander," I announced after the 'fight'."I need to
get to Russia to meet that guy the Alliance contracted. The sooner
the better." Right now the best I could hope for was a roundabout cure
for Ami involving a century without her, but the sooner I got that
poison de-souled, the sooner I got my Ami back.
"Hey, I'm just following you around," Ryu pointed out. As his grasp
of magic and control over his chi improved, Ryu was becoming ever more
formidable and I also saw him as a more reliable companion, someone to
watch my back if the need ever arose. With all his gadgets, we made
up the most powerful force of destruction on this or any other planet
that I knew of.
I nodded, wordlessly levitating a few hundred feet into the sky,
joined shortly by a Ryu who no longer needed his body's enhancements
to fly.
****
Hmmm, provided that Ryu had the equipment for the job, he and Makoto
would make a good couple. Yes, their powers would combine nicely with
a very high probability of producing a Talented offspring. What am I
thinking? Well, it involves the future, the very, very distant
future.
Anyway, on to more important matters. My vision enhanced both by
naturally sharpened senses and a couple quick cantrips, I scouted out
the abandoned military base deep within the Siberian Steppes. That
there was a military base here wasn't much of a suprise, that this was
the place the Alliance party had been heading to pick up a large
shipment of enchanted items was. I could feel the misty haze that was
the omnipresent force of magic throughout the world thickening in the
air above the collection of buildings and the unused airstrip.
I keyed my senses to strictly mystical and almost took an involuntary
step back. Talk about tight! This place had so many layered wards
weaved around and through it that for me to enter without permission,
I'd practically have to tear it into little pieces. The outer fence
served as a template for a series of interlocking force shields, very
much like those I kept in place reflexively. Those alone would keep
out anything short of an Elder, a Phoenix Sorcerer, or a Musk noble.
From that point on back, the protections became increasingly powerful
and complex, right up till the end where a demon summoning was held in
stasis, to be activated by a powerful intruder. Oooo, it was a nasty
one, too. Now would be the time to say,'Screw it,' and pack up if I
didn't also feel that the sorcerer who cast the enchantments was, in
way of strength, little above middling. That wasn't really too
obvious unless one knew to look for steadily stepped up power levels
indicative of slow buildups in energy.
Still, this sorcerer was more than Talented in the traditional sense.
He had to be sub-Talented too, an Artificer definitely. I have many
sub-Talents, mainly my ability to learn new magic and my unusual
strength itself being a sub-Talent. I'm even something of an
Artificer myself, if a poor one. If I were lucky, I would soon be
meeting a true master Artificer, someone who I could truly treat as an
absolute equal.
****
Ryu had to be left behind. I wasn't sure what effects the almost
unreal level of enchantments would have on his makeshift power source.
It was just as well, really. The last thing I needed was for the guy
to let his technology fetish run away with him and try to take
something that belonged to someone who could with a mental snap of his
fingers, turn loose a potential Demon Lord on the poor fool(it takes
the death of a Demon Lord and about ten thousand years of fighting for
a new Demon Lord to come to power).
The fence didn't even attempt to stop me, so heavily programmed that
it knew its eforts would be futile. I passed through, over, or under
about thirty more varying wards before they began putting up
resistance. Instead of bulling my way through, which would have been
unpolite and explosive, I opened gaps in the wards where I could and
teleported past the ones that would have raised undue alarm. Finally,
within four meters of the disguised summoning ring, I stopped, waiting
for the arrival of my host. By now, he'd almost certainly felt my
presence.
"Welcome," said an illusion as it appeared before me. It was about an
inch shorter than me, wearing wire-rimmed glasses with small lenses,
and the face presented by the illusion was weathered, yet not old.
"Hey," I answered, not one for formal bullshit. The illusion was
good, better than I could pull off, better, I suspected, than any
human I'd ever met before could pull off. It felt solid, partially
anyway. Damn, it is solid!
"Can I help you?" the more than illusory illusion asked. It sounded
pretty casual, even though I'd just about barged on through the front
door.
Might as well get to the point."Sure. I ran into an Alliance force, I
assume you know what that means, and then I killed them all. I got
some info from one of the Elders about their mission. I decided to
come see what was so special about a sorcerer out in the middle of
nowhere that I'd never heard of."
The illusion nodded and replied,"The Jusendo Alliance placed a rather
sizable order several months ago, just before the collapse of
technology. And now that you've seen me, or at least this portion of
me?" Portion? Where was it that I'd heard that reference before? Ah,
yes, astral projection. That was a psychic skill, not something at
all suited to magic, yet here it was, an astral projection combined
with magic. Cool.
I shrugged."I still have some of the stuff they were going to pay you
with, along with a collection of items you may be interested in that
I've picked up over the last few months. Maybe you have something
that I'm interested in." This was a golden opportunity. I'd be a fool
and a true Saotome to turn it down."And I'd like to ask you a few
questions about Talent."
Nodding, the illusion waved its arm and directly in my path a small
circle appeared. Carved into the concrete, I recognized it as a
teleportation gate. I readied my own version of the spell and a few
quick spells encase this was a trap. Stepping into the circle, I felt
momentarily disoriented, then the world went dark.
****
The sensation passed and light returned moments later. I was standing
in a large subterranean cavern that had been carved from the bedrock.
Electric lights, lights that still worked, hung from the ceiling by
the dozen, creating a star-like effect.
Standing where the illusion had been, was the real thing. He didn't
feel any different aurally, and his emotions were now accessible. He
didn't harbor any ill will towards me for disrupting his arrangement
with the Alliance. That's good.
He extended his hand and introduced himself,"Hong Zhoung."
I took his hand and replied,"Ranma Saotome." My name caused a quick
raising of Hong's eyebrows. Hmm, he'd heard of me. I wonder if that
is a good or bad thing.
I followed the older man over to comfortable sofa where drinks and
snacks had been set on a dark wooded coffee table."Before we do
business, what would you like to ask me of Talent? I can see that you
don't need instruction, and your own Talent is fully developed."
I spent the next few minutes filling Hong in on what had happened in
the Amazon village and Ami's injury. I finished by telling him of
Xochial's advice."And since you're the only other sorcerer I've run
accross with more than passing knowledge in the Art, I thought you may
be able to help."
"To strip the Talent from a soul with no corporeal form, that would be
quite an undertaking." I must have looked ready to burst into song and
dance, because the sorcerer said,"An undertaking yes, not one that I
would even know how to begin, though. As you may have already
noticed, my actual power is nothing special. I've spent most of my
life honing my material skills, and therefore know less than I would
like in the other areas of magic."
"Oh," I responded, dejectedly."Well, on to business I guess." I helped
myself to some cookies and a coke before following Hong.
"My archives are quite extensive, though, and may hold the answers you
seek," Hong commented as we passed into a large vault. The foot thick
steel door swung open easily and I could feel the lowering of immense
protective wards.
"Archives?" That word always makes me jumpy. Whenever I ran across it
I tended to learn something new. I don't think anyone other than my
demon friends had ever actually invited me into their archives before.
"I've spent nearly a century collecting arcane knowledge. I can't
really use most of it so I just don't bother to learn it," the man
shrugged. Hong placed his hand on a metal plate embedded within the
wall and I felt a brief surge of energy. All the walls in the room
disappearred and I got the the distinct feeling that I was in heaven.
****
Author's Notes: Yes, another chapter! MWAHAHAHAHA!!! Sleep is
overrated, if you didn't already know it. This chapter is the first
to introduce a character not of my own creation. Hong Zhoung is the
brainchild of Ginnezmusha(daronlemoon@hotmail.com) and will probably
be around for the next few chapters. Ginne, if you read this, I'm
gonna give Hong a few psi-abilities, if you don't mind. Next chapter,
Ranma's goes shopping. Oh yeah, if anyone hasn't read it yet, go
check out the lemon version of CIGAW CH 6. The lemon was written by
Cory D. Rose, another contributor to my works, and is definitely worth
reading. As always, I can be found at dark_phoneix@hotmail.com
Later!
