LERISTORY
Episode Four -- "Shell Game(TM)"
.rezpulse: nothing. no breathing. Zarquon. ok, ok, she's lost for sure if you don't do something, he thinks. the last resort; said you always would, shithead.
rez gives her a hit with the StimStik.
nothing. not a goddamn thing.
"shit." try the backdoor, try anything he thinks. logging in, now, barely looking at the collapsed Loerlei behind him, scanning scanning for any sign of life. what the fuq is going on?
>TRYING TO ESTABLISH LINK.x/global.contact.search/................//.....//...// .....//.........././....../....../.........../....../......../././.../../...../. ../././/../...../././//./.././///.............././....././././....././././..... .././././/./..............././.........../........././.././..//./././...../././. ./.././/./.....././././.......././../././..././././.........../.....././......./ /././/...../../.././..... {{ ------> > CONNECT TO: PORT x335.faraday@thru.nix :: MagPi on. REZ: mag, that u? lot of nosie on the line / wherer is nearest recon? MAG: rez what the fuck are you gdoing in the Catacombs(tm).. ciuty's burning no way to send in what the fucks oing on? REZ: don't know why gallows going up i noticed and duckjed in hwere have another with me. need a recon. no nam-er, no time. who's out? MAG: hold -- MAG: ok, rez? REZ: yeah go MAG: sorry the grids are fuqd noi ideas why gallows? REZ: none: WHOS DOWN IN IT!? MAG: ok shit reports comign in now hold -- REZ: FUCK you mag its getting hot MAG: sorry iknow look -- its the ETs we got info --shti hold-- MAG: is the .tag alive? he or she? REZ: she. she's gone but we've doen shit before / tyhis one's importabt she flashed throuygh. "help." MAG: repeat for indentity REZ: "help." she got the messg MAG: ok yes. she's not. shit no no HOLD fuq it REZ: ..... MAG: yes hey yoni's in the catacombs she's closing in you're under the Camps(TM) right? hey we got a fix on y/y/y// --- rez SUB.MANUAL DISCONNECT /o/o/our posityto MAG: fuq. fuq fuqw fuq. --- mag PROTOCOL DISCONNECT
"General Moore?" the call comes through.
"yeah, go."
"Sir, we have what may well be the last of the Inter.Lopers in the sub-Camp(TM) zone. The Gallows(TM) is gone. Repeat, the Gallows(TM) is gone. Opeation FireStorm is entering Phase II. We're bringing the two Ntr.Lprs to the complex. Shall I have them in when they get here?"
"no, wait. Hold the line. -- Yes. Mrs. James -- Yes, I'm sorry, I do understand your questions and -- yes, I know we've been fine in the past -- yes, I do remember our bargain. I'm afraid there's just not enough info on the situation for me to make a statement right now. I assure you it is Top Priority(TM) and that when we have something you and yours will be the first to know. But right now we simply have no clues. No, none on the message either. Well, yes, we are trying to localise it... I'm really sorry, Veronica, I've got some important business here... yes, well, obviously we'd have to understand the problem ourselves before we can worry about press releases. I'm sorry. I really must go. Yes. Bye. /CLK!/
"Fucking cunt. /CLK!/ Ok, yes, bring them in when they arrive; i wanna screen them before we do the implant."
"Fucking prick," Veronica mumbled to herself. she wasn't cut out for the kind of second stage work she was contemplating. she couldn't do footwork...
who cares when the whole fucking world is falling in?
she puts on her EnviroSuit(TM) and heads out, HoloCorder(TM) in tow.
yoni peeps through the crach in the wall just as the Dark Figures(TM) hoist what must be Rez and the unknown .tag up through the hole. quick as a cat, of course, she can follow anybody.
5 minutes later she's weaving her way up above the narrow streets on the various metal structures adorning the tenement walls. these guys are weird! why do they keep stopping and checking those little fucking blinkers? what are they checking for? the surroundings are ready for collapse; these guys better get some-where soon or--
and then there's a blinding argent flash, and a silence, and the Dark Figures(TM) and their quarry are gone.
"SHIT!"
MagPi is not amused.
"FUQ, Yoni, you LOST em!"
"Look, mag. they just disappeared! what the hell could I do?
"What'd they look like? were they glowers?"
"No, and that's what's weird. they weren't; they were just... just sort of Dark Figures(TM). i don't think they were Yndr'thians after all. I really do think the Yndr'thians have only come to us. Us. We can't organise a FUQing thing, mag! why do they want US?"
"I don't know, but they do. I have to talk to them in a minute, another damn Delegation(TM)... but so who were the Dark Figures(TM)?"
Yoni paused.
"I really do think they were .GOV ..."
MagPi considered. "Everything's just a mess, Yoni."
Yoni considered. "Yep. Guess it is, Mag."
zzZZZZT! /CLK!/ "Yes?"
"...er, Major Moore...?"
"Are they in?"
"...well, that's just it, sir... er... well, I'm sorrry, sir, but... we lost them."
"You LOST -- what, PRECISELY, do you mean, you lost them?"
"...well, I mean, we used the Port-O-Matic(TM) that the Yndr'thians gave us, and.. well, our men showed up out of the flux, and the Inter.Loper agents didn't. They were just... gone."
"Well, what the fuck happened?!"
"I don't -- hold, sir, here's the .tech ..."
The .tech takes the com...
"Yes, sir? Well, I think we've isolated the problem. The ah -- Our recon agents, that is, well, they were wearing their Person-O-Trax(TM) ... but they forgot to pin transfer Trax to the suspects, sir. I think they just... disintegrated."
There was a long, very preganant pause on the line.
"I see. Well, we'll need a couple more to carry out the infiltration phase of Operation FireStorm(TM). See what we can get. AND FIND OUT WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON AROUND HERE!! I WANT ANSWERS!!"
"Yes sir. Right away sir."
far far away, in an inky blackness of a space, a glowing figure gnew precisely what was going on. well, around here, anyway. that was enough for now. yes, that much would do nicely...
Previous episode:
Next episode:
Return to: