III.301 well, that's depressing. User: ECSTASY Date: 1-Jun 09:28 PM 802042113
III.302 Hey, it's not like that's the END end... :) >>The lyre of Orpheus ===================== The Orphan tugs at DRAKEHART's arm. "Must go...CADO and VISION in trouble ...aliens coming..." Drakehart stares blankly at the woman slumped on the floor of the CPU chamber, behind the energy barrier. "He's got her...somehow he's--" "Drakehart...must go now--" With a growl, he turns and shoves the old man in the chest, sending him crashing into a metal storage cabinet. The door comes open, spilling headsets and other junk around the Orphan as he slumps to the floor. "LET HER OUT!" Drakehart screams. "Stop...the...jamming," Osiris' monotone insists. "Or I will...do... this." From the bank of machine cabinets, a white electric arc leaps out into DELIRIUM's body. She twitches and moans under its lash. Drakehart screams and throws himself against the forcefield. There is a flash, and he falls back to the floor. The faint blare of background noises stops--Drakehart's jamming is no longer operative. Osiris' androgynous hologram materializes in front of Delirium, and speaks in a smooth voice. "Now, the mission for which I employed you: where is Emit Flesti? You have secrets from me, and I believe that is one of them." "F*** off," Drake mutters, trying to crawl away. "Very well. We'll do this the hard way. You have a Nanotel 7286 wetwired interface, I believe? The technique is experimental, but I should be able to pull the surface data right out of your head. It's just a question of power... and I can use as much power as necessary." The hologram smiles. Almost instantly Drakehart begins shivering, as the energy from Osiris' mind-probe spills into his motor nerves. The spasms grow more and more intense; now he is drooling and making choking noises. A sneer grows on the hologram's face. "Don't try to hold out on me...I've almost got it. Emit Flesti is nearby--very nearby, isn't it? Heheheheh...unbelievable! Right here in the Pit?" A high-pitched tone blasts through the room; the hologram freezes, as if a PAUSE button has been pushed. Drakehart, released from mental invasion, winces at the sound; turning, he sees the Orphan staring intently at the hologram and wearing one of the headsets from the storage cabinet. _A Quantum-7 BrainLink ...he's jacking in himself! He must be making the sound..._ A second pure tone, several steps below the first, joins it; the interference between the two waves creates a steady pulse. A third tone complicates things further. Over this, the Orphan layers a crystalline arpeggio, sweeping up and down the scale every few seconds; then a background wash of deep chords, repeating a sequence in four minor keys. The hologram is still frozen, but the red lights on the CPU cabinets are reacting oddly to the saturating music: first a few, then more, begin to flicker in time with the different sounds, absorbing the multiple rhythms. Drakehart gets an impression of watching the display of a giant graphic equalizer. The Orphan continues to increase the song's complexity, adding one, two, three melodic lines that fugue with each other like Bach and Pink Floyd in a blender. A booming bassline makes the room shake. The CPU lights now are almost totally infected with the Orphan's harmonies. Osiris' stilled hologram flickers at the edges, beginning to lose resolution. The Orphan closes his eyes for a moment, and when he opens them, he takes off the helmet. But the music continues. "A musical virus--input through the audio receptors," Drakehart says. "Beautiful..." The old man helps him to his feet, and steers him to the door. Once they're in the hall, the closed door blocks most of the sound. Drakehart shakes his head and blinks. He feels as if the music cast almost as much of a spell over him as it did the AI. "Some kind of deep neural resonance? I...I had no idea you knew how to do that kind of..." But the Orphan is already heading up the corridor. Drake hurries after. "Hey, wait, wait. What about Delirium!?" The old man looks him in the eye. "Hologram." "Are you sure of that?" "Must believe me. No time to turn back. Music will overwrite Osiris soon. Now...must go activate Emit Flesti before aliens get it...Cado and Vision in trouble..." User: Spiritus In Machina Date: 1-Jun 09:53 PM 802043637
III.303 >>Games of chance ================= The door at the back of the X -Ray room opens a crack, and DRAKEHART peers out. "Swarming with aliens!" he hisses, eyeing the giraffe-like creatures. "They're ugly mothers, too. But they haven't cleared the druggies out of this room yet--we should be able to move without being noticed." He and the Orphan crawl out, closing the door quietly behind, and mingle with the inhabitants of the X-Ray room. Some of them are stumbling around, dazed by the bright floodlights the aliens have turned on, while others are still sprawled on the couches and the floor, mumbling confusedly. A few aliens circulate among them, but fail to notice the two new arrivals. Nearing the front of the room, they can see CADO kneeling next to VISION at the edge of the central casino pit. The Orphan points urgently. "I know," Drake says, "but we should work on getting Emit Flesti running first. Those two can take care of themselves for now. Say...I have no idea _how_ to get Emit Flesti running..." He looks at the Orphan. "Cado said you had a link with the past--that you're split across the timelines. Is anything coming through to you from...the other side?" The Orphan nods slowly. "Emit Flesti takes many forms...but always like a wheel. Must be turned...in proper sequence." "Like the combination on a safe dial? I mean, the old analog kind?" "Yes. And...Orphan knows the numbers, can see them from...other half." Drakehart looks around. None of the aliens is near the roulette table, or paying the casino area much attention. "I say we just stroll over and start entering the combo. Hide in plain sight." The old man nods, and they stand and walk down the casino steps. Reaching the table, they stand with their backs to the front of the building, where most of the aliens are. "Okay...what's my first lucky number?" asks Drakehart. The old man's translucent eyelids flutter. "Trying...to see..." He licks his lips. "High Priestess is first..." "What? That's not a number." "Fi...fifty-ninth card..." The Orphan looks over at Drakehart. The eye contact is unnerving. "Clockwise...count of fifty-nine." "Well...if you say so." He begins to spin, keeping a silent count. The Orphan seems to have returned to his light trance. "Second...card..." he whispers. "Are we playing roulette or poker here?" Drakehart mutters to himself. Some numbers later, they are deep into the routine, when a tall, spotted alien trots down the pit steps in an odd gait. "What are you doing here? Have you been checked yet?" Drakehart looks up. "Wh...checked? Umm...checked. Yeah, well, we wouldn't be here if we hadn't been checked, right?" "Have you been given an ID stamp?" comes the harsh, filtered voice. The alien looms closer. But a groan from Drake's right sends its head bobbing sideways on its sinuous neck. Drakehart looks too, and sees that the groans are coming from VISION. "He's hurt badly! And I don't know how to use this regeneration thingy!" says CADO urgently, kneeling by the wounded Vision. The alien lopes off toward the boxer and the bouncer. Cado flashes a tiny wink at Drakehart, who nods and quirks the corner of his mouth. "Whew. Good save. Now, Orphan--where were we?" "Page of Swords...thirty-nine..." "Coming right up. Round and round it goes, where it stops, nobody knows..." User: Vagabond with the spinning head... Date: 6-Jun 09:43 PM 802475038
III.304 Hey, I didn't burn up, cause I ran away to the Crusades with my son and Sir Walter. :) So does this mean that "I alone live to tell the tale...."? It could be that my descendants thrive over the centuries to keep tales of the VVC alive.... heh... User: Dark Lady: and her descendants numbered as the sands on the shore... Date: 14-Jun 07:04 PM 803156707
III.305 Between you and Walter, I'm not surprised. ;) User: CADO...*duck* Date: 15-Jun 11:57 AM 803217473
III.306 Actually, I didn't think it was physically possible to get anything between her and Walter..... 8) User: VENKMAN Date: 16-Jun 12:15 PM 803304917
III.307 Seven Keys ========== As the alien patiently but quickly shows CADO the proper way to manipulate the regneration tool, DRAKEHART and The Orphan continue to spin the combination on the roulette wheel that will activate Emit Flesti. Drakehart can't help but notice that fragments of The Orphan's tune that infected Osiris float through his head. With a small mental effort, his wetware extensions supress any possibility of infection. Fortunately, the organic nature of much of the equipment make it much less susceptible to mneme infection. However, he notices that certain modules and routines are running that he didn't activate. It seems the nano technology in his head, derived from illegal Alien tech info, is weaving subtle and complex changes into his heads neural structure. Most of his memories have been repaired (subtle loss still exists in some places), and a lot of the brain damage his host had suffered is fixed. My host, Drakehart thinks to himself. He'd almost forgotten that this was not his real body, that his consciousness and memories (mostly locked for some unknown reason) had settled into the body of some 'ject being used to try out new technology. What the hell happens when I get back? "How're you feeling?" Cado asks VISION, who's breathing has relaxed some as the invisible nano-threads from the Alien regenerator repair ceullar damage steadily. Vision nods his head slightly, to indicate he's doing better than he may outwardly look. The Alien that showed Cado the way to use the regenerator pays only partial attention, as it turns one eye towards the backs of Drakehart and Then Orphan. It pools a small but familiar-looking instrument from its tool belt, and Cado's eyes widen. It's a strong-force detector. Meanwhile, several solar systems worth of super-heated plasma in a complex quantum state, surrounded by a vast magnetic shell is going to smash into the socket formed by Earth's altered Sun. In less than several hours. "Seventh card..." The Orphan says, eyes fluttering slightly as he pulls the information from his other self. Drakehart reaches for the wheel again, and an explosion rips through the casino of The Pit, shattering bones and shredding flesh, sending a pulmeting shockwave throughout the building. User: Volume EARTH is 99.9% full. Please delete anyone you can. Date: 17-Jun 05:11 AM 803366420
III.308 *blink* DRAKEHART curses. "What the FUCK?" he hisses, looking around wildly. The Orphan's eyes open, his body shaking slightly. ~Do not be alarmed,~ an amplified Alien voice (which is impossible to ignore) proclaims. ~You may experience temporary states of infidelity. This is a normal occurance for intelligences shortly to enter into total phase.~ "Uh, yeah." Drakehart says, not to loudly. It's obvious that the... experience of everyone being killed in a sudden explosion was false. But he has no idea what caused it. Apparently, the Aliens do. "You ok?" he asks The Orphan. The old man is muttering slightly to himself, concentrating. "Seventh card... Seventh card..." * * * * No one ever said integrating a Universe is easy. That didn't stop the Aliens from trying. User: Acceleration Date: 17-Jun 05:24 AM 803366703
III.309 >>Double or nothing =================== "Shit...I think I know what they're doing," DRAKEHART mutters. "Just keep giving me the numbers, old timer. What's next?" The Orphan is whispering numbers at a fast pace now. Drakehart has seen the alien with the strong-force detector, but doesn't want to stop now. "All we can do is go as fast as possible," he says, watching the black and white bands of the roulette wheel flicker by. Then he has an idea. Pulling open a retinal-projection window, he links his optical output through a video processing program and into a simple calculator. Now the spinning wheel is tracked automatically by his built-in equipment, a number in the corner of his vision counting off the units as they flash by. He stops the wheel at the last number the Orphan specified, and gives it a shove in the other direction. A little more programming, and the motor nerves of his arm are set to trip when the counter reaches the set number. It works perfectly. "Ok, next?" he hisses. "The Wheel...of Fortune...sixty-seven..." He flicks the wheel at blinding speed, and stops it only seconds later. The Orphan continues reading off numbers, a slight smile on his face. Then the smile evaporates. "Drake...aliens looking...looking for Emit Flesti..." Drakehart glances around. Now over a dozen aliens are prowling the bar with strong-force scanners. "Shit...how close are we?" "Seventy-eight...in the deck. Only...a few more now..." As the Orphan speaks, Drake spins without thinking. Spin, flickflickflickflick, jolt--stop; reverse, flickflickflick, jolt---stop; spin, flickflickflickflickflickblurrrr, jolt--stop; reverse....from where he is standing, he can see CADO and VISION some yards off. The alien that was attending to them has wandered off, and Cado has finished using the regenerator on Vision. The boxer still lies groaning on the floor, but Drakehart can see the truth: wounds are healed, muscles untwisted, bones reset. Vision is good as new--he's just faking for the aliens' benefit. Drakehart flashes a thumbs-up to Cado, who returns it. "How close?" he asks the Orphan. "Two more...Tower...seventy-three..." "Oo, high one." He catches the wheel, spins it back: flickflickflick flickblurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrJOLT. "And finally?" "The World...seventy-eight." SPINNNnnnnflickflickflickflickflickHUMMMMMMM MMMMMMMM-- "Whoa." Both men step back. The wheel's white sections are beginning to glow faintly. Slowly the wheel starts to rise on its axis, till the small silver female figurine at its center is level with Drakehart's eyes. "Is this supposed to happen?" "Yes...now must program." "Program?" "To save ourselves--and the others, the lost ones. All must be taken back to our proper time and place..." The Orphan reaches toward the levitating disk, nimbly touching one of the glowing sections as it spins by. It makes a chiming tone. He touches another, and another--different tones. Now a continuous quiet skirling is audible from all around. At first Drake thinks it's part of Emit Flesti's operation. Then he glances around, and sees several dozen sets of alien eyes, all aimed in his direction. User: Traveler Date: 18-Jun 06:54 PM 803501654
III.310 >>Gestern-Heute-MORGEN ====================== "Um, I guess we've turned it on, huh? And I guess it's giving off strong force something fierce." The aliens begin to converge. "CADO, VISION?" he says, louder. "All aboard...we're starting the bus!" The Orphan continues to program the hovering wheel. Now its sections are blinking in a rainbow of colors. The chimes come faster as his hands dart around it. "If this thing is gonna get us outta here," Vision shouts, running over, "now would be the time!" The aliens have clearly realized where their signals are coming from, and are drawing weapons. "Must finish program," the Orphan says. "Almost..." "What program?" Cado asks. "Emit Flesti must open two gateways..." "Just one'll be fine, thanks!" Vision snaps. "No...one for us...then it must be sent back...to the others, centuries past. They must open a gateway too..." "We're surround by aliens, and this planet--this whole solar system--is about to be turned into a, a circuit of some kind in a galaxy-sized computer!" DRAKEHART says. "That's what that plasma cloud hurtling toward the sun is--the activation signal! They're turning us on and tuning us in, so I think it's time we dropped out!" The giraffe-like aliens have formed a cordon around the casino, and approach the steps silently. "Won't be complete...without our friends..." The Orphan makes one last adjustment. With a sucking noise, two dark whirlpools in space open, to the east and west of the roulette table. "Our gateways..." "Which do we take?" yells Cado over the building inrush of wind. The Orphan considers. "That one!" He points toward the front of the building. "Let's vacate, then," says Drakehart, heading for the vortex. Half a dozen glaring beams of energy suddenly erupt from alien blasters, shattering Emit Flesti into a spinning cloud of fragments. Cado, Vision, Drake and the Orphan hit the floor, as the cluster of roulette-wheel shards continues to orbit overheard. "It's not destroyed?" Cado wonders. "Emit Flesti takes many forms," the Orphan says, "but never destroyed. Just a change of shape." "Let's dash for it then!" says Drakehart. "It's been nice knowin' ya, guys. Hope to see you on the other side!" He leaps to his feet and runs toward the vortex. Several blaster beams lash out, and Cado can see them scorch Drakehart's back. The man stumbles forward, plummeting into the vortex and out of sight. "Think he made it?" "I don't know, but if we stay here talking, we're fried!" says Vision. He jumps up and sprints toward the vortex, flashing the aliens the finger, then dives into the dark hole just ahead of their guns. "Didn't know he was throwing in with us," says Cado to the Orphan. "Guess he's got nothing to live for in this time. Ok, old man, you next! I'll give you cover!" Cado stands up with arms raised. "We surrender!" The Orphan runs for the vortex as fast as he's able, and dives in while the aliens are distracted by Cado. "Just kidding!" The ex-bouncer turns and runs, dodging energy beams. A ribbon of light cuts close to his scalp, and he smells singed hair. Reflexively he twists sideways, just as he is falling into the dark well. He sees the cloud of Emit Flesti fragments sailing in the opposite direction, into the other vortex. Then one of the aliens, perhaps a leader, screams in what must be rage. Cado finds himself swimming in place, just inside the vortex, waiting to see if Emit Flesti makes it into the other gateway completely. The giraffe-thing raises a huge grey implement, like a half-melted bazooka, and what look like shotgun blasts of pure light pepper out of it at a machine-gun rate. Some of the light-pellets hit other aliens, felling them, but the fragments of Emit Flesti actually seem to dodge the pellets...and as they fall into the black whirlwind, they appear to be turning into playing cards of some sort... All but one. The alien fires another round, and hits the last fragment as it sails toward the vortex: the silver figurine from the top of the wheel. It is not destroyed, but it is deflected, toward the vortex that Cado is in. He feels tidal forces tugging him down into the darkness, but swims frantically against them. The alien with the blaster has put down his weapon, and is loping down the steps, heading for the tumbling figurine. With a huge kick, Cado launches himself half out of the vortex and grabs the silver statuette. He sees the vortexes are getting closer together now-- he need only stretch forward to reach into the other one. Craning, he holds the last piece of Emit Flesti out, till the maw of the other vortex sucks it away from him. He sees the little goddess tumble away, and barely has time to make out the words written around the pedestal she stands on--"Gestern-Heute- MORGEN"--before a flash of light transforms her into a card. The alien grabs Cado's outstretched arm with a fierce, animal cry. He is being tugged out of his own vortex! Then other hands grab his feet--he looks back and sees Vision and Drakehart, "treading space" exhaustedly, and holding on to him. With a wrench that seems to dislocate his shoulder, they pull him from the aliens' clutch. And then all are falling down a well of forever darkness... User: Traveler: The Way Back Version Date: 19-Jun 02:27 PM 803572057
III.311 \ \ \ | / / / __\___________\____________\____________|____________/___________/__________/__ \ \ \ | / / / ______\__________\___________\__________|__________/__________/_________/______ \ \ \ | / / / __________\_________\__________\________|________/_________/________/__________ \ \ \ | / / / "...tumbling through a thousand centuries you don't know where you'll land it's so dark in mythology..." --George Harrison ____________/__________/________/_______|______\________\_________\____________ / / / | \ \ \ ________/___________/_________/_________|________\_________\__________\________ / / / | \ \ \ ____/____________/__________/___________|__________\__________\___________\____ / / / | \ \ \ / / / | \ \ \ User: t r a v e l e r Date: 20-Jun 02:04 PM 803657161

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THE VVC CHRONICLES, PART IV: THE ROAD GOES EVER ON

In which various people take various journeys, culminating in a Grand Farewell Tour of MBBS by the entire Cafe, while an old enemy emerges from the shadows of a new conspiracy...