LERISTORY
Episode Ten -- "Interference"
Anon of IbidGeneral Moore smiles a gruesome smile as the newly incarnated massmind before it writhes on the floor.
"It never occurred to you, did it," the General says, "that I might have been prepared for this eventuality, that I might have known you'd come." He calmly reaches for a glass of whisky to calm his flesh while the machines in his brain continue the torture.
He sighs and sits in his chair, puts his feet up, enjoying this moment more than he knows he should. So many problems in this world, and so little time to solve them all. Luckily, soon enough, time shall no longer be a concern.
"The Yndr'thians have been playing this planet like a pinball machine ever since they got here," he announces. He knows the massmind is listening; the massmind now finds it has no choice. "When they realized that even their tremendously advanced weaponry and technology couldn't penetrate the surface of the Dome (TM), they quickly began offering gifts, scientific information, machines, you name it. The only problem was...they were secretly supporting the Inter.Lopers as well. They were secretly outfitting the resistance with weapons ten times as powerful as ours.
"Why couldn't the Inter.Lopers succeed, you ask? It seems that, for one reason or another, their intelligence could never get its act together..."
Magpi and Yoni lead the charge on the weakened Dome (TM). Somewhere inside, according to Their Fearless Leader, something has gone wrong, the shields surrounding the Dome (TM) have faltered and won't be on line again for another twelve hours. Their intelligence has provided them with just the right location to crack the very Dome (TM) itself and hail fury upon the elite.
Their Yndr'thian particle beams slice through the Dome (TM) as if it were made of paper, and their makeshift army charges through the breach. The stakes have suddenly been raised a thousand fold...
...the government's plot to destroy the Inter.Lopers has turned itself on its own progenitors. The denizens of the Dome (TM) have long supported the government's position regarding the Perimeter, the Gallows, the Camps...but what they have never heard is that the government has poisoned those poor outsiders. A plague has been released among the Inter.Lopers, who lack the medical equipment and facilities to devise an antidote.
And now, that plague has arrived inside the Dome (TM), the supposedly impenetrable Dome (TM) that should have protected humanity's noblest against whatever forces came to bear against it.
Magpi and Yoni are as grim as they ever have been. The plague will leave them both dead within the day, and most of their army as well, and soon, most of the planet will be dead, all of the planet will be dead...it is a horrible gamble...and only person can guarantee them access to the antidote, the person who authorized the release of the plague in the first place...
General Moore...
"The Yndr'thians were fools," Moore growls. "Naive, ignorant fools. Hard to believe we run across a race capable of interdimensionary travel, and yet....something as paltry as a nanovirus will soon bring about their destruction.
"You yourself," he says, referring to the groupmind as a singular entity, "are infected with that nanovirus. I know that that part of you that used to be Peter Rezabek was on board the Yndr'thian ship when it was hit with the nanovirus, and now that nanovirus has incorporated itself into your brain, and now, this groupbrain as well. And I control that nanovirus. I control the next step in human evolution.
"I control Gaia's awakening..."
The citizens of the Dome (TM) stream into the streets, amazed, and are slaughtered where they stand. The Inter.Lopers are too desperate now. The government's forces soon appear to greet them, and the citizens of the Dome (TM) are amazed, for the party line is that the government has long ago abandoned weapons entirely. And the Inter.Lopers slaughter this army as well, for this army is woefully inadequate, the government never expect this, and the vast bulk of its forces are outside. And while the government moves to exterminate all of humanity outside the Dome (TM), burning the Gallows, exterminating the Camps, and moving against the Perimeter itself, the Inter.Lopers now reverse the situation, ignoring the irony, and wreak havoc on the inside.
Magpi's information tells them that in only a few moments, they'll be in sight of General Moore's compound...
"I lured you here, just as I lured them here," Moore says. "Even now, Mr. Rezabek, your compatriots among the Inter.Lopers are on their way here. And I brought them here. I have been Your Fearless Leader all along. I have been that mysterious voice on the other end of a voice link that you never thought to question. Yes, you never bothered to ask me my name, and now it's much too late...."
Magpi orders her forces to bring their arms to bear against the outside of General Moore's citadel. Before the onslaught can being, however, an ominous rumbling fills the air. The Inter.Lopers and the surviving citizens stare in the sky, suddenly filled with more terror than any of them have ever known.
The Dome (TM) is collapsing...
"And now, my final gambit is in progress. In one fell swoop, I have brought this planet to the brink of its full awareness. The Gaian overmind will rise, and I will control it, it will embody my personality. The plague that I have released will destroy the physical bodies of the human race, and the nanovirus that I have released will ensure the human race's psychic survival.
"And once I become that overmind, once I control the psychic energy of all of humanity, the Yndr'thians will soon follow suit, and with their interdimensionary technology, I will soon envelop the universe.
"There's a kind of aesthetic beauty in the way I have so skillfully manipulated the situation, wouldn't you agree? Perhaps my play to become God was no more than the universe's largest performance art piece..."
and inside the massmind, Lorelei is laughing....
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