OT: Hell is For Heroes.

[dogscoff]

Yay! The thick plottens!
Thanks for the new sig, btw.

--
"I can melt things with my mind."

[Lord_Shleepy]

narf poit chez BOOM said:
Don't parady to much. Sly humour is much better than in-your-face for parady, otherwise it tends to become a rant session - At least, based on the fanfiction I've read.

This is true of fiction in general, in my experience. I've read a lot of famous parodies (and other social commentaries) and they all started to suck after about 100 pages or so (became too whiny and caustic). Humor lightens it up a lot but it is still a genre that is best kept short. This is, of course, only my own measely opinion.

[Lord_Shleepy]

Hmm....I just realized I left something out...

Excellent story AZ! I love the cliffhanger endings. Still not quite sure where that waking up dead thing came from tho.
Is there going to be an explanation for that? And those "what the hell is that" ships?

[AgentZero]

All will be revealed in time. Some of it in the next installment.

[Baron Munchausen]

Lord_Shleepy said:
Hmm....I just realized I left something out...

Excellent story AZ! I love the cliffhanger endings. Still not quite sure where that waking up dead thing came from tho.
Is there going to be an explanation for that? And those "what the hell is that" ships?

Well, the immediate reason for that was given. Both of the 'main' characters are endowed (infested?) with nanobots. This makes them somewhat like the advanced 'Terminator' models that can repair themselves after almost any damage or injury.

Just where the nanobots came from hasn't been said yet, but it's entirely possible that said nanobots are a hold-over from the second dynasty and one or both of these characters are in fact thousands of years old. Theoretically, the aging process could be 'healed' just like any other sort of damage. This brings an interesting twist to the earlier issue of whether 'Alice' should be named 'Alice' -- she could very well have had many, many names over the millenia. And as long as she doesn't stand too close to any detonating nuclear weapons or otherwise get exposed to some instantaneous vaporization she could live many thousands more years and have many more names.

[AgentZero]

A short little installment coz Puke was bugging me.

O'Shea pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed, trying to ignore the look he was getting from Saraea. The two were sitting in the cramped confines of the engineering section, which wasn't the most pleasant location on the ship. In fact, it was a front runner for the lofty title of Most Unpleasant Place On The Ship. The main drive engine emitted a jarring vibration that set one's teeth on edge, as did the circulation fans for the life-support system. It was also hot, and humid, both also results of the life support system. Such an environment did however have the upshot of making it a very good place for a private conversation. The noise made it difficult to be overheard, and the sheer repellent nature of the engineering section made sure that no one came wandering idly by.

“So?” Saraea ask impatiently.
“So?” O'Shea echoed with a shrug. “I don't know,” he added after an uncomfortable pause. “Maybe. She's more stable than the others.”
“That's not saying much,” Saraea pointed out.
“True, but we haven't any real idea as to how stable she was to begin with.”
Saraea exhaled heavily. “That's an understatement. And the other?”
O'Shea barked out a short laugh. “Telepathy? Telekinesis? Hardly.”
“Damn,” muttered the tall woman. “Termination?”
“Hard to say,” O'Shea said with a shrug. “She seems stable enough. We'll have to keep an eye on her, of course, but drastic action shouldn't be necessary if she continues on as she has.”
“That's a relief.”
“You've developed a real emotional attachment to her, haven't you?”
It was Saraea's turn to shrug. “It was easy, at first. The unstable ones. They were clearly a threat, to themselves an everything around them. They were beyond help. But this one, she's got a clear understanding of right and wrong, and thus far has shown responsible use of her abilities-”
“Doctor Gwenllyn might disagree,” O'Shea interrupted with a wry grin.
Saraea smiled despite herself. “Seeing that pompous *** get slapped around made my year, I admit it,” she said. “But still... The girl is a sweetheart. The thought of putting her down distresses me greatly.”
“Me too,” O'Shea admitted. “The others, they were so far gone they didn't even realize what was happening, right up until the end. But this one, she knows what's going on, and if we try, she'll fight back. And I really don't know if even the two of us could handle her if she did.”
“That's a fact,” O'Shea agreed. “Not to mention-”
“I know,” Saraea said, rubbing her forehead. “Do you think he could be reasoned with?”
O'Shea laughed merrily. “Before the fact, not a chance. After the fact, if she hasn't already killed us, he definitely will. And it won't be quick.”
“Let's just hope it doesn't come to that,” Saraea said after a moments silence.
“By the Nine Divine Whores he sure did complicate things, didn't he?”
“I told you we should have brought him in. Think how simple this could have been!”
“The time wasn't right, you know that. Not that it matters now anyway.”
“You're right,” Saraea admitted. “He would have never gone for it back then and we would have had to terminate him.”
“A proposition much easier back then than it is now.”
“Speaking of which, what are we going to do about that?”
“Nothing,” O'Shea said firmly. “We say nothing, do nothing, sure as hell tell no one, and keep a bloody close eye on him in the meantime.”
“Sounds like a plan for the immediate future in general,” Saraea said agreeably. “Any discussion as to whether or not we've found the Original will have to wait until we've collected more information. Now what do you say we get out of here, I'm absolutely bucketing sweat.”
“Yeah,” said O'Shea, mopping his forehead. “Let's.”
They passed quietly through the ship's common room, managing to not disturb a sleeping Fiona, and almost made it to their respective quarters undetected. But just as they were passing Kagan and Alice's quarters, the door slid open, and the two wandered out, both bathed in sweat. Kagan gave Saraea and O'Shea a cursory nod as he headed towards the bridge. Alice, however, paused and looked slowly from O'Shea's sweaty face to Saraea's, then gave them both a big, knowing grin and scampered down the corridor after Kagan.

[Puke]

let this be a lesson to everyone that bugging AZ produces more story.

[AgentZero]

And since nobody bugged me, here's a bigger installment. Go figure that!


Kagan had almost passed through the common room before a niggling thought made him stop and turn around. He walked slowly across the room to stand beside Fiona and gave her a hard look.

“You're floating,” he noted.
“Yup,” she agreed happily.
“This is new.”
“Yup.”
“How new?”
“Pretty new.”
“I see...”
“Well it goes to figure, doesn't it?” Fiona asked, an emphatic shrug sending her into a slow backspin. “If I can manipulate things around me, it goes to figure that I can manipulate myself as well, right?”
“No need to be manipulating yourself, I'm sure there's plenty who'd be willing to do it for you,” Kagan quipped. “And remind me,” he added, picking himself up off the floor. “Not to mock the nice telekinetic lady.”

Alice strolled into the room, looked from Fiona to Kagan and then to the path of destruction in between them. “You mocked the nice telekinetic lady, didn't you?” she asked.

“Oh, come on!” Kagan protested. “She left herself wide open to that one.”
“I did, at that,” Fiona admitted. “But regardless, I stand by my telekinetic shockwave, and all that it stands for.”
“Getting us back to the whole issue of the floating,” Kagan said, settling down on the couch.

“Pretty neat, isn't it?” Alice asked, snuggling up beside him.
“You knew about this?” asked Kagan.
“Yup.”
“And you didn't tell me, why?”
“Um, well I tried, but I couldn't figure out how to work it into the conversation. 'Oh Gods! Oh Gods! Fiona can fly! Oh Gods!'? See, it just doesn't flow.”
“Point taken,” Kagan admitted, flushing slightly. “Still, you could have told me before-”
“You didn't exactly give me the opportunity, what with the grabbing, throwing and-”
“Ok!” Kagan exclaimed. “But afterwards would have been good too.”
“I was about to,” Alice told him. “But then you remembered that there was no one on the bridge and went running off, so- say, who's on the bridge now?”
Kagan exclaimed something unmentionable, leaped off the couch and raced down the corridor towards the bridge. Alice stared after him with a bemused expression before turning to Fiona, only to find her rolling about in the air in laughter.

“Does my man's forgetfulness amuse you?” Alice inquired.
“Very much so,” Fiona chortled, settling down on a couch to halt her multi-axial spinning. “But not nearly as much as how flustered he gets when you mention fornication in any form.”
“It's rather adorable,” Alice agreed. “Though rather silly, given that you can just- you know.”
“Replay the events in my mind?” Fiona asked delicately. “I do admit being able to simulate the event as either participant has given me a rather unique insight into a great many things.”
“Such as?” Alice inquired, her eyes alight with curiosity.
“You, my dear, are a little tiger.”
“A sexy tiger,” Alice corrected with a wicked grin.
“Of course,” Fiona agreed patronizingly.
“So,” said Alice, bounding happily along to the next topic. “Are we going to go harass my lover some more, or do you have a better way of killing the next few hours?”
“I am quite amused as is,” Fiona informed her as O'Shea floated into the room.
“I don't mean to alarm you ladies, but there appears to be a problem with the gravity on this ship,” he said, pivoting slowly to face them. After managing to get himself turned around, he looked from Alice to Fiona and back, and they looked back at him with serene expressions.

“Oh,” he said after a moments consternation. “It must just be me. Awful peculiar this. Well,” he said with a sigh as he approached the corridor leading to the bridge. “I'll keep you appraised of any new developments.”
A few moments later, they heard him call out, “Hey chief, I'm floating!”
“Not you too!” came Kagan's pained reply.
“What do you mean, 'too'?” was the rather worried response.
There was a thud, loud cursing, followed by muffled cursing, followed by a comparative silence into which Fiona tittered merrily.
Alice looked at her for a long time before asking, “You are the evil twin, aren't you?”

“Coming up on transit point,” Kagan announced some hours later. The five of them were strewn about the bridge, having assembled at Kagan's earlier announcement that they were close to making transit. “Four... Three... Two... Hold on to your lunches... Transit!” There was a jarring thump, more jarring that usual, and several of those assembled made noises indicating that they were indeed putting considerable effort into keeping their lunches on the inside.

“The second part of the co-ordinates is just a heading,” Kagan advised them. “I've put us on that heading and set best speed, so now all there is to do is sit back and enjoy the show.

Kagan switched on the external cameras, and they beheld the reason for their unpleasantly rough transit. They had jumped right into the middle of a dense nebula, and the space around them was thick with swirling gas. They watched the main viewer in silence for a long time, lost in their individual thoughts as they gazed upon the hypnotic display in front of them.

Kagan, while curious about what would be found at their ultimate destination, felt confident that given the capabilities of his ship and crew, they shouldn't have any trouble dealing with whatever they found. On the other hand, he was concerned about Fiona and what seemed to be her growing powers. She was already a contender for the most powerful being he had ever encountered, and the gods only knew how much more powerful she would get. He knew that rescuing her from that derelict space station had been the right thing to do, yet part of his mind refused to let go of the idea that it might have been a mistake.

Saraea's mind strayed to the strange man who had brought the news that Kagan and Alice were alive. Recent events hadn't given her much time to ponder the matter, yet the more she thought about it, the stranger it seemed. He was oddly familiar to her, but his face slipped and slithered about in her mind, refusing to be pinned down to a recognizable name. He had known a lot, much more than tried to let on, she could tell that much. He'd known about her destruction of The Council, mere minutes after it had taken place when she knew well that she hadn't left any survivors. And of course he had managed to not only find out that Kagan and Alice were alive, but where they were as well, two fact that had managed to elude her. And he'd known other things, things about her that no one else could possibly know. Things she hadn't even known herself until he'd voiced them. And despite the great distances she had traveled since that meeting, and the sheer enormity of the galaxy as a whole, she couldn't shake the feeling that she'd be seeing him again one day.

O'Shea's thoughts concerned Saraea, Fiona and Alice, and are not suitable to be mentioned here or anywhere else.

Out of all of them, only Fiona was fixated on what they would discover as they continued along the course that had been set from them. She wondered how it came to be that she had half the co-ordinates imprinted in her mind, and how Alice came to have the other half. Part of her couldn't help thinking that maybe the two numbers weren't related, that there were a great number of copies of her out there somewhere, each with their own individual number, and only by combining them in some mysterious pattern would they come up with the proper sets of co-ordinates. But mostly, her mind was filled with a kind of childish excitement about the adventure they had embarked upon.

Alice knew exactly what they'd find, and where they'd find it, and the thought of it both thrilled and terrified her.

[Lord_Shleepy]

I guess it is time to bother AgentZero again... :-)

[AgentZero]

The five of them were seated quite comfortably on the bridge, when suddenly and for no good reason, a big truck came crashing in and reduced O'Shea, Saraea and Fiona to greasy spots on the deck. Kagan was mashed shortly thereafter by the truck truck that followed, while Alice met a similar fate moments later at the hands (or is that tires?) of a truck truck truck.