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Post by Lady Christianna on Oct 18, 2015 18:58:53 GMT
The guard at the front gate to Fortress Kshaa hailed Lady Christianna sitting in her command chair in the War Room, "There's a Mr. Marcel Lestrange and a Ms. Lenna Marr at the front gate to see you Commander. Should I send them in?"
Lady like the sound of the title "Commander" and smiled, then looked at Kaj sitting next to her, remembering the big bio-man's former relationship with Lena, and asked, "Okay if I have them sent up?"
Kaj 's face remained impassive so she couldn't tell how he really felt, but he nodded his assent, so Lady told the guard, "Send them right up," but added after a moment's thought, "But under double-guard escort and ask them to leave their weapons in the garage."
Lady wondered why the deadly duo would choose now of all times to come to visit, and had a foreboding feeling about it; however, with Kaj at her side, she felt perfectly safe and that whatever nefarious plans the two might have, those at Fortress Kshaa could handle it.
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Post by Marcel Lestrange on Oct 18, 2015 19:22:59 GMT
Marcel grabbed Lena's hand into his when they entered to the War Room. That was a subconscious move, but Marcel had to feel that Lena was with him. That they are partners now and in the future. Some time ago he would have been laughing if someone told him that he fells in love, but things were different now. He was truly, madly, deeply in love with Lena Marr and wanted to be with her. Lena brought out his most hidden feelings, Marcel hid even from himself during his earlier life and career. She just opened the door and let the them out. Now it was THEIR life. THEIR path to success, not only his. And this was THEIR mission. "Bon Jour, Lady Christianna," he greeted politely. "You probably wonder about the reason of our unexpected visit. It is about business as usual. We might have something for you but we are not sure are you going to like it or not, so we need a guarantee that everything we say will be not used against us. Can you provide us with that guarantee in advance?" .png) |
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Post by Chase Lonehart on Oct 19, 2015 4:58:22 GMT
As they carried him by, someone was watching. She stayed in the shadows, watching as they moved Lonehart towards the NeedWant, her staying out of the range of their EGO units. She radioed in.
“Sit-rep?” The Man asked.
“They’ve found him,” she responded. “Taking him to the brothel. I assume they’re going to secure him there.”
“Weapons?”
“I managed to sneak into their armory. They have somewhat of a cache, mostly Von Bach Industries weapons, but we can handle it.”
“Good. We’ll give them a moment to catch their breathes, and deliver a message in the morning.”
—————————————
Volo and Atticus stood back as Iris and Amanda proceeded to strap Chase Lonehart to the mattress. If anyone had told her years ago that she would be doing this to Chase, she would have thought it was some sort of joke, or at least an inappropriate one. But she knew it was for his own good. She had used a pair of fuzzy handcuffs that he belonged to Treasure Doll to handcuff his hand to one of the straps going across him. Irisa had finished tying his feet, making a boa knot to make sure that he's remained secured. He stirred slightly, which caused Irisa and Amanda to freeze for a moment. Volo snapped his fingers to catch their attention, began to wave them to finish up. Amanda pulled the straps snugged, yet tight enough to not hurt him and locked the straps so they couldn't be pulled free.
“Why don’t you secure him at the Lawkeeper office?” Atticus asked.
“The last time we had someone who went suicidal on us, he threw himself against the walls and bars of the cell,” Irisa piped up.
“We may want to consider having Samir dope him up,” Amanda chimed in. “Or at least have him doped up whenever you go to leave.”
“We’ll see what Belle says,” Atticus responded.
Amanda and Irisa had finished, beginning to double check to make sure they didn’t leave anything else in the room. They exited out, with Volo switching the light off and closing the door behind him. Volo and Atticus stood off to the side, discussing something in relation to Chase. Amanda and Irisa hung back for a moment.
“Are you okay?” Irisa asked.
“Yeah,” Amanda replied. “I can’t believe I did that. I mean, I know it’s necessary, but still… I just hope that he can be helped.”
———————
He slowly came around, unknowing of how much time had passed. The room was mainly dark, the moonlight coming through a window far above him. Chase asked himself if everything had happened was some sort of dream, and if he was still in the desert, having to find some sort of building to ride out some storm like he had done before. But even as it focused, it didn’t hear the sound of a storm. It did hear sounds of moaning, of pleasure being given and received. And the civil brain realized it wasn’t a dream. It was that moment, it realized the straps holding him down, which panicked the animal side. It began to thrash about, trying to pull itself free. It struggled between the straps and sheets, but it couldn’t free itself. It considered on trying to gnaw off his arm, but saw the straps going across his chest, deducing the pointlessness of that action. All it wanted was to get loose and get free.
It was then the door opened, that caught his attention. He was temporarily blinded by the light outside of the door, before the door closed again. There it was, a pale figure highlight by the light of the moon. It took his eyes a moment to readjust, and the animal panicked when the image was clear, turning away from the door in fright.
I’m dead, the civil brain thought. I’m dead. This is Hell. She’s my accuser. Here to read my sins to me. Forever.
The footsteps came closer to him, the animal wanting nothing more than to leave. The mattress shifted slightly. It said something to him, but he was too frightened to press it. She was dead, he knew she was. He felt her body go lifeless in his arms There wasn’t any way that she could be there. The civil brain came to the conclusion that he wasn’t dead, but that what he was seeing was a figment of his fractured mind, nothing but a hallucination from a brain so damaged, it had finally gone off its own rail.
Damaged, dead… same thing, the civil brain concluded.
He felt the bed shift again, him seeing the light reflected on the wall. Chase carefully turned to look to find himself alone.
Bad dream. A nightmare.
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Post by Belle Starr on Oct 19, 2015 9:37:19 GMT
Belle Starr watched Iri approach the physically restrained Chase as Iri tried to soothe him with words, but obviously to no avail. Belle frowned as she saw the way Chase looked at Iri; not with the love or recognition Belle hoped to see, but with a look that to her seemed almost like fear, and not human fear, but the fear of a trapped animal. She remembered the look in her pet squibbet's eyes when she first caged him, before she had made friends with "Shakespeare" and trained him to run loose in her apartment without running away. It too had the fervent twisting of it's head, the darting of the eyes looking first one way then another, searching for some avenue, any avenue, of escape. Belle thought Chase had that same look in his eyes as Shakespeare had before he became "civilized", and she prayed that it wouldn't take Chase as long to have his trust earned as it had Shakespeare.
Belle turned to Atticus Batman, concern written all over her pretty freckled face as she whispered, "I think we need to stay here tonight - it's not safe to transport Chase until he calms down and I don't want him to escape again! I have arranged with Amanda to rent the whole brothel, with all the innocents relocated to stay with friends for the duration of our stay at VBI expense and Candace has the plane locked down with VBI's state of the art electronic security and with robot sentry guns around it's perimeter! Dr. Orion and Eren Nidel have set up shop in the next room, so they can monitor Chase from there! However..." Belle wasn't sure she should tell him or not - the nagging feeling in the back of her head that something was amiss, but she had learned the hard way that it was dangerous to ignore her instincts, so she confessed. "I got this sinking felling that something is wrong, that the other shoe is about to fall! I don't know about y'all, but I don't think I'll be getting much sleep tonight - or much sleep at all until we leave Defiance!"
*****
Lady Christianna frowned, furrowing her chalk white brow from her command chair in the War Room at Fortress Ksahaa as she looked a Marcel ad Lena holding hands in front of her. It wasn't the fact that they were holding hands, as she knew of their relationship, although it bothered her only in that it may bother the huge bio-man sitting next to her, so she placed a small alabaster hand on top of his huge purple one, giving it a quick reassuring touch that was meant to say, I feel your pain too, but hang in there big guy," then quickly removed it before it could be misinterpreted by anyone in the room. What bothered Lady was that Marcel wanted another type of reassurance: He wanted her guarantee that what he was about to tell her would not be held against them in any way, and she wondered why he felt the need for such reassurance. Lady hoped that it was just another elaborate plot by the "deadly duo" to do some sort of mischief again, but the growing chill creeping up her spine told her it probably wasn't.
"Ummm... sure?" Answered Lady, her enigmatic smile hiding her growing feelings that something was amiss, and her fervent wish that her husband, Atticus Batman, was here with her at this moment in time.
*****
Erika Widowmaker watched Cael, her son and new Chancelor to the Votan Collective, walk unafraid in the streets of the poorer section of the capital city. She had been watching the rooftops for the telltale glint of a sniper's scope and using her EGO's radar to look for any hostile entities in the cheering crowd, but found nothing in both cases; however she kept her vigilance up. The poorer people loved him she surmised for the throngs of admirers seemed to want no more than to shake his hand or touch his cuff, and the smiling Chancellor Cael seemed more than happy to let them. Assassins had tried three times to eliminate him since his inauguration, and although his security was the best that she could construct, it was always Cael himself that not only detected them but also killed them, in as effective and efficient a way as any trained security operative that she had ever known as the one-time and now once-again Director of Internal Security for the Votan Collective.
Unlike the Votan Collective security detail that she had assigned Cael, who just thought him incredibly talented, Erika knew it wasn't him that was responsible for the assassins' demise, but the other personality that co-inhabited his brain unbeknownst to even Cael himself: Kabule, the master assassin, based on the a former personality of the infamous Atticus Batman! That was the real reason Erika stayed so close to Cael, for she feared that if that personality became dominant, it could spell disaster not only for the Votan Collective, but for her friends and family in the Bay Area.
*****
Sandy Bell didn't return in control of her body as she had planned, but instead was her EGO implant's psyche, with her EGO psyche now running the show in her brain, and she didn't like it one bit! She had been an EGO psyche before, for Lady Christianna at one time, so it was second nature to run that operation again, running the diagnostics for Esthete, the AI that ran Red Deer in Canada, and the one responsible for bringing her our of her month long catatonia, but not in the way she had planned. She figured she would wake up in her bed with Volodja near by, then they would begin the hugging and kissing that would lead to an even more pleasurable reunion, but certainly not this, so she railed to the only one who had to listen: Mike "Sarge" Murphy, her erstwhile EGO psyche that currently occupied her brain and body.
"I'm telling you Sarge, this is so fucking unfair! Volodja must be having fits of despair by now, and I' not even nearby to help him! Knowing him, he's probably blaming himself, even though there is no damn way this is his fault! Why me, Sarge, why do these things keep happening to me?!?!"
"You think you have it bad Sandy?" Sarge answered good naturedly through the telepathic link they shared, a lopsided grin on his face as he tried to lighten her mood, "How do you ladies pee when you are in a hurry? I'm used to going to the men's room, whipping little Sarge out, and being done with it! You ladies have to go through all these undressing rituals just to get to the point where you can get around to doing your business! God made a poor design choice there, I tell you!"
Sandy couldn't help but mentally giggle at his observation.
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Post by Atticus Batman on Oct 19, 2015 11:21:49 GMT
Belle turned to me, concern written all over her pretty freckled face as she whispered, "I think we need to stay here tonight - it's not safe to transport Chase until he calms down and I don't want him to escape again! I have arranged with Amanda to rent the whole brothel, with all the innocents relocated to stay with friends for the duration of our stay at VBI expense and Candace has the plane locked down with VBI's state of the art electronic security and with robot sentry guns around it's perimeter! Dr. Orion and Eren Nidel have set up shop in the next room, so they can monitor Chase from there! However..." Belle wasn't sure she should tell me or not - the nagging feeling in the back of her head that something was amiss, but she had learned the hard way that it was dangerous to ignore her instincts, so she confessed. "I got this sinking felling that something is wrong, that the other shoe is about to fall! I don't know about y'all, but I don't think I'll be getting much sleep tonight - or much sleep at all until we leave Defiance!"
I nodded and whispered back. "Welcome to my world Belle. Even with Lady lovingly cuddled into me, I have a hard time getting any sleep, as there is always something bad about to happen. I hate the idea of staying here when I know Lady needs me, but I suppose you are right.
However the piece of me in Lady's locket is having a conniption. You see it is organic cloth created from my essence. So it is connected to me, by a Grid hive-mind of sorts, and therefore sentient by the STRICT definition of that word. Anyway, a while back, I sensed that it was calm and that it perceived that Lady was relaxed and happier than she had been during the last month, which is good. However now...now it is sensing a different fear from her, and it is also afraid of something as well. I may have a connection with it, and Lady to an extent, but all I can sense from it is feelings and emotion. It can not communicate to me in a way that I can fully understand and translate yet, like Kakusi does, for it is only a part of me and not an individual being like Kakusi is.
Knowing what it senses, I hate the idea of staying, but know it is probably the right thing to do for the time being, even though I am still not used to doing the right thing for others, or for the sake of doing the right thing for that matter. However I also know that I will not be getting any sleep, so it is good that my body can be energized by electrolytes and electricity if needed, even if the latter can cause a lot of temporary pain to my fully organic half. I just hope that whatever the issue is with Lady, that Kaj, Lebeau and the others can handle it.
As for Defiance, I notified all of you by EGO shortly after our arrival, that I sensed somebody was watching us closely. I still sense it, and I do NOT mean watching out of fear or curiosity like all the residents we have seen, but for some more sinister reason. I know most of you usually just right these feelings of mine off as my innate paranoia. However think about these three things:
- Sometimes paranoia's just having all the facts.
- Just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get me.
- When it comes to paranoia: You only have to be right once, to make it all worthwhile.
Anyways, even though I hate it and am sure Volodja does as well, we will stay the night, if it really is the best idea. I just hope I can get time to contact Lady tonight and that all turns out to be fine with her and that, in her case, I really am just being paranoid for no reason, for once in my life."
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Post by Kaj Oenfer on Oct 19, 2015 12:27:30 GMT
The guard at the front gate to Fortress Kshaa hailed Lady Christianna sitting in her command chair in the War Room, "There's a Mr. Marcel Lestrange and a Ms. Lenna Marr at the front gate to see you Commander. Should I send them in?"
Lady like the sound of the title "Commander" and smiled, then looked at Kaj sitting next to her, remembering the big bio-man's former relationship with Lena, and asked, "Okay if I have them sent up?"
Kaj 's face remained impassive so she couldn't tell how he really felt, but he nodded his assent, so Lady told the guard, "Send them right up," but added after a moment's thought, "But under double-guard escort and ask them to leave their weapons in the garage."
Lady wondered why the deadly duo would choose now of all times to come to visit, and had a foreboding feeling about it; however, with Kaj at her side, she felt perfectly safe and that whatever nefarious plans the two might have, those at Fortress Kshaa could handle it.
Kaj felt uneasy about this as this would be the first time he had seen Lena since she left. Afterall he was always elsewhere when Lena and Marcel showed up. However he felt it best to look impassive not only for his sake but for Lady's and everyone else's as well, as Lady had seemed to have chosen him as both her confidant and her second in Command while her husband was away. Not to mention he had promised Atticus that both he and the swamp rat, Lebeau (without clearing it with Lebeau first, and not knowing Lebeau had made the exact same promise without clearing it with him first), would keep Lady and the twins safe and help her in every way that she needs and wants, provided it is not something that will get them killed by her over-protective husband of course.
Lady Christianna frowned, furrowing her chalk white brow from her command chair in the War Room at Fortress Ksahaa as she looked a Marcel ad Lena holding hands in front of her. It wasn't the fact that they were holding hands, as she knew of their relationship, although it bothered her only in that it may bother the huge bio-man sitting next to her, so she placed a small alabaster hand on top of his huge purple one, giving it a quick reassuring touch that was meant to say, I feel your pain too, but hang in there big guy," then quickly removed it before it could be misinterpreted by anyone in the room. What bothered Lady was that Marcel wanted another type of reassurance: He wanted her guarantee that what he was about to tell her would not be held against them in any way, and she wondered why he felt the need for such reassurance. Lady hoped that it was just another elaborate plot by the "deadly duo" to do some sort of mischief again, but the growing chill creeping up her spine told her it probably wasn't.
Although Kaj remained impassive, he did internally appreciate Lady's small hand patting gesture. He also nodded to Lena in acknowledgement, and smiled slightly as he said, "I am glad to see you well, Lena."
Kaj wasn't sure about Marcel's request as the guy was a snake and couldn't be trusted fully. However seconds later, Lady answered Marcel. "Ummm... sure?" Answered Lady, her enigmatic smile hiding her growing feelings that something was amiss, and her fervent wish that her husband, Atticus Batman, was here with her at this moment in time.
Kaj just sat there looking as impassive and imposing as a statue, waiting for Marcel to get on with whatever he was there to propose.
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Post by Marcel Lestrange on Oct 19, 2015 14:02:25 GMT
"Mon chéri," begin Marcel Lestrange. "I see a question in your eyes. And that question is - what do we want from you? My answer is really simple. We want nothing. But we heard that certain circles want to see some punishment upon you, Lady Christianna. They are unsatisfied with your trial and the verdict. They think that your present punishment is way too easy. Nothing cruel and nothing unusual as it should have been.
We are not exactly charity workers but sometimes devil is not as black as he is painted. At least for now, because we have agreement of neutrality with your team of good doers. That is why we also are here today. To state that Lena and I are staying neutral in this conflict of interests."
Marcel sent an EGO message to Lena: "My love. We stay neutral for now, because I want to make those good doers a bit nervous with our warning. At moment we have an offer from one side but I want to see good doers counter offer too before we decide anything about this matter. Highest bidder gets our attention. And this place has been too quiet recently, so I am curious about what these ants will do after we put a stick into their nest. As less they know for now, the better. We came to warn them from unknown danger and that should clear he shadow of doubt from us if we decide to strike. We are labelled as messengers, not the striking team. That kind of "alibi" should give us some freedom of action. If anyone gets suspicious then we can always say that we came to show some good will of ours. We do not even have to lie, because at moment we provided them with a truth but "forgot" to mention our part in it. And...I love you so much, Lena. You are worth more gold than you weight."
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Post by Volodja Uljanov on Oct 19, 2015 18:38:59 GMT
"What do you think, Volodja?" asked Sophie, his EGO psyche. "I know that I could peek into your thoughts but I prefer not to."
"Nothing too original, Sophie dear. I miss Sandy terribly and I was wishing that I could like to be in Red Deer with her, to hold her, to embrace her and tell that I love her. And to help Sandy to regain her body once more."
"I know what you mean, Volodja. I want to be there too."
"I wasn't aware that you care about her so much. Or about Red Deer. Or is there any other reason, like one certain Sarge? He is quite handsome and has his charm."
"Maybe there is, Volodja, but I am nor sure that I am ready to discuss about it yet."
"You know that you can talk with me whenever you are ready. After all these years together we can talk about everything."
"I can feel your anxiety. And it's not only because of Sandy, I believe." Sophie changed the topic. At moment she wasn't ready to talk about Sarge yet. Maybe she could have a girl to girl talk with Dinara, although she wasn't interested about men, but not right now. Maybe they can have that chat when everything returns to normal. And she had another reason to change the subject - Volodja. At moment he was quite beaten after receiving bad news from Wolfram. At moment he could do nothing, but if his mind joins his heart on a trip to Canada, then Volodja becomes a target instead of being a fighter. And when he is dead ot injured then he can't help anybody any more.
"I do have a gut feeling," said Volodja. "It seems to be one of these nights when we don't get any sleep."
Years in service taught him to trust his gut feeling. In certain occasions it saved his life, like when they were supposed to spend a night in barn, but Volodja felt really uncomfortable, so their squad moved outside and in the morning that barn was wiped away from the face of Earth by enemy bombardment.
Or that case when driver slowed down their courier vehicle to examine the road sign, but he was ordered to speed up instead because something felt wrong. When they looked into the rear mirrors, they could see a group of enemy soldiers who set up an ambush there. On their way back they discovered several bullet pierced car wrecks in the ditch. Everyone who drove in them were killed. Only they survived because of speeding up. And then it was a...Enough of that! Too many memories can be harmful one's health.
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Post by Vo Kshaa on Oct 19, 2015 21:13:30 GMT
When the group entered Need/Want, Vo stayed a little behind, playing the rear guard. He asked Shirra to scan the building fr any possible escape routes Chase could use in case he broke loose again, and also mark possible ways to intercept him before he could go too far. Once the building layout was fully mapped out by his EGO, he joined Belle and Atticus as he heard the end of their conversation.
"People, I think you are going the doom and gloom route too far. I mean, two days ago we didn't even know if Chase was alive. Now he is with us, albeit not in the best mental state, but there's still hope that his civil personality will return to us. I know for sure because I've been through it myself."
As Belle and Atticus turned to him with surprise clearly seen on Belle's face while Atticus's face was still hidden behind his mask, Vo continued.
"Yeah, I didn't tell the details of that part of my life even to you Belle, as I didn't want you to get upset over that and feel sorry for me. I thought that part was a past that was long gone, but as it may help on our matter at hand, here it is. I was a 9 year old kid when the convoy I was transported in as a prisoner was hit by a terraforming blast. I managed to escape into the jungle and spent at least two months ther, struggling for survival. I know for sure it was two months at least because I've definitely seen the moon cycling through its phases two times. I had to completely give in to my animal instincts to survive in the wilderness. I have very vague memories of what was happening to me that time. I just remember I was searching for any people of my kind if they survived the terraforming, or at least for humans. When I finally found a human camp, I actually completely forgot why I was searching for it, I was only following the goal I set for myself when my civil consciousness was still acvtive. It was a miracle they didn't kill me or scare me away as it was a military squad and the war was not officially over yet. As I see it from now, they probably were lost in the jungle as well and found my survival instincts useful for their own survival. As you may see, I have regained my civil consciousness completely, but it took some time to get it back. Unfortunately, I don't remember what exactly made my consciousness to return as the memories of that period are vague too, I only remember some episodes. For example, I remember the excitement when I finally understood what they expected me to do when they were talking to me. They expected me to talk back, and I was excited the second time when I realized I actually can talk and it wasn't as difficult and tiresome as I felt it could be before I started talking. What I do remember as well is why I kept going with the squad and was not trying to run off. It wasn't food they were giving to me as I've gained enough skills to get food myself in the jungle. First of all, I felt safer with them. And second, I felt they were safer with me. That's probably strange for you to hear, but it was important for me to have someone I could care for even in that animal state I was in at that time."
Vo sighed, feeling that his story was too long for the moment and went far away from what he was trying to say, so he added,
"What I was trying to say is that there's still hope for Chase. I know, Irathinents differ from Humans when it comes to their relationship with the nature and their survival instincts, but that doesn't mean our human friend cannot return back to us like I did long ago."
Vo suddenly smiled as a sudden thought came to his mind.
"On a brighter note," he said, "If we're going to spend the night here guarding Chase, then I'm going to get you some dinner. I'm going to make sure all the food is safe. You know, better safe than sorry. Besides, we can work in shifts so that someone is always at Chase's bed to guard him and others could have a snack and have some rest safely."
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Post by Wolfram von Eschen on Oct 20, 2015 7:23:01 GMT
Wolfram von Eschen was busy being eaten by doubt. Maybe he should have not been too verfluchte direkt (damn direct) about informing Volodja about Sandy, but he had to do it, because otherwise Volodja would have been experienced unpleasant surprise when he returns and rushes to kiss Sandy only to receive a punch to his face for kissing a man in woman's body. But Voldoja didn't replied to Wolfram after receiving his message. Maybe something happened to him? Maybe his message made Volodja to act irrational? Maybe... Thinking about that possibility made Wolfram to thank his luck that his guilty conscious didn't joined the feast yet, because conscious don't just simply eat your soul, but devours it and then spits out remains. Wolfram experienced it in his earlier life, so he knew the exact feeling, and he was sure that Volodja struggled constantly with his hypertrophied conscious as well and his fight wasn't over by far. His friend Volodja had a classical case of the guilt complex. He was always blaming himself if something went wrong. To avoid allowing his conscious being the dinner guest along with his doubts, Wolfram sent a warning to the rest of the team, so they could watch Volodja and keep him away from trouble, because only treatment Volodja used to keep his conscious quiet, was trying to to set right what once went wrong and that usually meant risking his life. That last trope was suspiciously familiar to Wolfram. It reminded him...a Quantum leap, taking place in present time. And that concept was based on the archetype of eternal wanderer, although Volodja finally found the place to return from his travels - their Hobbiton in Paradise Territory, as it seemed to Wolfram. And Wolfram wanted to keep things that way.  |
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Post by Atticus Batman on Oct 20, 2015 10:39:18 GMT
After Vo spoke his mind, I said, "Vo I get it. Believe me there is plenty of my past that I don't know. I have no memory of who I was before Omec Colony, except one little snippet of an Irathiant girl singing to a younger boy. All I see of the boy are his hands and feet and, and such, from my point of view. I always assumed that it was a bit of wishful thinking from an abandoned child's mind, until I found out that Erika is my sister. I sang that song to her and she did confirm that she would hold her baby brother and sing that exact Irathiant lullaby to him.
Then there is growing up in Omec Colony. I very clearly remember my first week in that hell. However I quickly retreated into my mind and created Kabule. So as I have said before, I know very little of what happened when Kabule was in control. As we got older I was sometimes able to see snippets of what he was up to but that was all.
It was the same for him after the Pale Wars, when I regained control of my body. He only saw snippets. There have also been times when Sazri Kakusi has taken control and again usually Kabule and I have no memory of that or only snippets. It wasn't until that explosion at the Zenna Array when I helped Belle stop the Volge invasion of the Bay, that the 3 of our personalities were able to be conscious at the same time and communicate via a hive-mind. As the main consciousness of that hive-mind, I can know share my memories with them and allow them to see what is going on around me, if I so choose.
However I also do not have memory of what happened any of the times I gave into my savage side. Like back on the moon for instance. I remember heading towards that ark wreckage, but nothing else until I heard Lady's name and felt a BRAVE FOOL SLAP ME. Of course I am glad that he did and that I managed to refrain from ripping his arm off and beating him with it because Lady needed my help and I wouldn't have that Fool as a best friend, otherwise. I only know some of what happened during that time, because after we got back to Earth, I accessed the cockpit cams in my space mech, and watched them. However that is from the camera's view. I do not and probably never will know what was going through my mind after I surrendered to my instinctual and savage nature.
Anyway that does not change the fact that I know we are being watched and that something horrible is going on with Lady. As for food and rest, I do not plan to sleep tonight and can go awhile without it, as long as I have access to the nutrients that my unique physiology requires. However I will not turn down a snack if you really want to go find something, but I am staying right here at guard all night. Of course I will not turn down company if any of you want to take turns helping me guard, either."
Just then my hailer started playing the old Earth song "They're Coming to Take Me Away, by: Napoleon XIV". So I said, "Just give me a minute. I need to take this call." I then stepped away and answered my Hailer.
In my usual gruff and jarring voice, I answered and said "What's wrong now Wolfram?"
"----------Wolfram responds----------"
"Of course something is wrong, or you wouldn't have called me. After all you never call me with good news. Most people don't, even less so since I took Command. Not that it happened often before that either. Although I can't say that I blame them for that. So what is wrong with Sandy? Or is there a different problem altogether, that I should be made aware of?"
"----------Wolfram responds----------"
"Really? Sandy's EGO has taken control of her body with her as his EGO? That is interesting. So does Volodja know?"
"----------Wolfram responds----------"
"He does? Well that would explain why he is even more silent and lost in his own thoughts than he was earlier today. So I suppose that this means that you want us to keep an eye on him, more than usual, right?"
"----------Wolfram responds----------"
"Alright. I will notify Belle and Vo via EGO so they know. Goodnight and good luck Wolfram."
"----------Wolfram responds----------"
After I hung up, I rejoined the others near the door to Chase's current room, and I notified Belle and Vo via EGO of my conversation with Doctor Wolfram Von Eschen.
"Belle, Vo, as usual things have gotten more hectic for us. It appears there were unforeseen issues with Sandy. She and her EGO have returned to consciousness. However in reversed roles. You see, Sandy is once again an EGO psyche and her EGO psyche, sergeant Mike Murphy is the one in control of her body. Wolfram notified Volodja earlier and never got a response. I guess we know why Volodja hasn't responded to our paranoid discussions. So Doctor Von Eschen wants us to keep an eye on Volodja. Then give him a call if things with Volodja look worse than usual."
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Post by Wolfram von Eschen on Oct 20, 2015 12:11:00 GMT
After several calling attempts Wolfram finally managed to get connected with somebody from their team in Defiance. Deciding from the gruff and jarring voice it was Atticus Batman who asked right away:"What's wrong now Wolfram?"
"Oh it's you, Atticus. Finally I managed to break through the lines of communication. But why do you assume that something is wrong?"
"----------More of Atticus' raspy voice---------"
"Your first guess is correct one. It's about Fräulein Sandy Bell. Herr Esthete managed to bring her back to consciousness, but something went terribly wrong and she switched placed with her EGO psyche."
"----------More of Atticus' raspy voice---------"
"Interesting, you say. It's disastrous, I might add. And I informed Volodja as a first thing, because it was better do it now than let him face that situation later. It would have been awkward moment for both of them."
"----------More of Atticus' raspy voice---------"
"Aber natürlich, I do! After a month Volodja spent taking care of her and after his effortless attempts to bring her back himself Esthete does the trick, but instead of having Sandy Volodja gets a chance to meet Sarge! It might break him, Atticus, so you better keep him under your gaze all the time."
"----------More of Atticus' raspy voice---------"
"Good night to you and instead of luck, I think I will need a schnapps or two."
Wolfram ended the call, put the hailer back to it's place and thought about having that drink, but not alone. He needed some really good company, but where can he find it? His only acquittance in Red Deer was Arnim Mueller-Stah, one legged jovial mannered war veteran and writer, who swerved under command of Volodja Uljanov. They had quite interesting conversation last time, so perhaps they can continue it. Maybe the old boy hasn't left town yet, manages to find a hour or two and comes over. It was worth a try, so Wolfram started to tap his number right away.
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Post by Belle Starr on Oct 20, 2015 12:22:24 GMT
As soon as Atticus informed Belle Starr of what had happened to Sandy, Belle bit her lower lip and narrowed her big blue diamond eyes as she pondered what to do. On the one hand, she felt she was probably Volodja's least favorite team mate after the horrendous way she felt she handled the love triangle between herself, Volodja, and Vo, choosing Vo in the end. On the other hand, she still considered Volodja a dear friend, and her motto had always been "Friends are friends forever!" She would never leave a friend in the lurch if she had anything to do with it, so in the end her decision was a simple one for her. Belle walked over to where Volodja stood alone with his thoughts, hugging Volodja tightly and whispering in his ear, "Sandy will be okay! I'm no expert, but we have some great ones with our team back home! That and the women on my side of the family are a persistent lot, as y'all well know, so Sandy will make her way back to her body! She has before, and we've come a long way from when she had to just leave my body! We just need to go back over our previous crises with EGO psyches and figure out what we did right before! We've played this game of musical chairs before, and it all worked out alright!" Belle reluctantly broke her embrace, hoping that her action and words helped her friend, then went back to her post, still with a feeling of foreboding, although now not sure whether it was from the situation with Chase or now from the one with Sandy.  |
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Post by Lady Christianna on Oct 20, 2015 14:06:17 GMT
"Mon chéri," begin Marcel Lestrange. "I see a question in your eyes. And that question is - what do we want from you? My answer is really simple. We want nothing. But we heard that certain circles want to see some punishment upon you, Lady Christianna. They are unsatisfied with your trial and the verdict. They think that your present punishment is way too easy. Nothing cruel and nothing unusual as it should have been.
We are not exactly charity workers but sometimes devil is not as black as he is painted. At least for now, because we have agreement of neutrality with your team of good doers. That is why we also are here today. To state that Lena and I are staying neutral in this conflict of interests."
Marcel sent an EGO message to Lena: "My love. We stay neutral for now, because I want to make those good doers a bit nervous with our warning. At moment we have an offer from one side but I want to see good doers counter offer too before we decide anything about this matter. Highest bidder gets our attention. And this place has been too quiet recently, so I am curious about what these ants will do after we put a stick into their nest. As less they know for now, the better. We came to warn them from unknown danger and that should clear he shadow of doubt from us if we decide to strike. We are labelled as messengers, not the striking team. That kind of "alibi" should give us some freedom of action. If anyone gets suspicious then we can always say that we came to show some good will of ours. We do not even have to lie, because at moment we provided them with a truth but "forgot" to mention our part in it. And...I love you so much, Lena. You are worth more gold than you weight."
Lady's big pink eyes grew bigger, and her enigmatic smile disappeared upon hearing Marcel's words, but reappeared after a moment. She was at a quandary. She had just decided that life might be worth continuing, that her punishment was essentially over and that justice may have been done, when Fate had decided that maybe that wasn't the fact. Lady decided that whatever was going to happen was going to happen. Chase may kill her for what she had done. Her Castithan brethren may decide to complete the cleansing ritual. She might die of old age in her bed, with Atticus by her side and a mess of grandchildren. "Whatever will be, will be," thought Lady to herself. If the teenager had been well read in the philosophies, she might have recognized that she had become quite stoical in her thinking, but she wasn't, so she didn't know that these thoughts had been thought before by others long ago.
Lady looked from her command chair in the War Room at Marcel and Lena, still smiling mysteriously and replying calmly, "Thank you for this information. Please do nothing, say nothing. Whatever will be, will be. Feel free to use the facilities at Fortress Kshaa before you leave, but stay out of restricted areas. Have a nice day."
Lady stood up straight, turning to the huge bio-man sitting next to her, ordering, "Kaj, you have the helm. Going to spend some time with my kids while I can. Back in two hours."
With only a nod to the deadly duo, Lady left the room to the bunker she called home, leaving all wondering what it all meant as she left.
"That was a weird response, even for a Castithan," Thought Lena Marr through her EGO to Marcel as she watched with unblinking sky blue eyes Lady leave the room, adding, "What now Boss-lover? I know where she is going, and I can take her out and earn that sweet scrip if you want. Hell, it might even be a jekking blessing for her if I do it quick, which I will because... I kind of feel sorry for her."
Lena still hadn't quite found the best pet name for her true love, but she was working on it. She didn't even think about the fact that she had expressed feelings of sorrow, something she never had before, and that her love for Marcel might be changing her in ways she didn't even notice.
Lena turned to Kaj and with a wicked smile said, "I'm glad to see me well too! Sorry I didn't acknowledge what you said earlier, but we thought we had important information for your Boss-Lady and needed to warn her right away. I guess not, based on her response! What's she got, some kind of death wish?"
Lena thought to herself that if that was indeed the fact, she could easily make Lady's death look like a suicide.
"Hell," Thought Lena to herself, "If push comes to shove her off a cliff, I could probably talk her into killing herself!"
That idea was quickly followed by another, and Lena's grin grew even more wicked as she said, "Excuse me boys! Got to got to the Ladies' room to powder my nose! But that can never be done by a Lady alone!"
Then Lena quickly followed Lady Christianna out of the War Room, saying as she exited, "Hey Lady, got a second!"
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Post by Volodja Uljanov on Oct 20, 2015 17:27:28 GMT
After Belle returned to her post Volodja kept staring into the darkness outside. He really wished to share Belle's enthusiasm, but he learned in a hard way that only few things were certain in this world. Even death and taxes weren't certain any more, because people learned to evade both. But having even a weak hope was still better than having nothing, and hope kept him vanishing into the darkness. But his feelings fir Sandy Bell were true and if they remember what measures and methods they used, then they are able to find the solution.
Few more hours until the dawn. Whoever was outside, they didn't made any attempt to break into the NeedWant for now and that gave Volodja some time to remind every single operation they performed with EGO psyches since he joined the team. At least those actions, they performed with the help of technology, because Volodja wasn't able to visit other peoples minds and had to rely on help of experts and their gadgets, although he was able to provide experts with ideas.
He thought about that energy transfusion they performed when Lena Marr shot Sandy. And the dream machine incident, when Caprice exiled almost all sentient EGO psyches and enclosed them inside the dream machine. And after that they used the dream machine to transport personalities from one mind to other when Sandy regained her body. That idea seemed to be promising. But they had to separate Sarge from Sandy's body and that seemed to be a complicated task.
Volodja himself learned to switch places with Sophie after intensive meditation seance, but he wasn't sure how good was Sarge in meditating. Easiest way to perform the transfusion of consciousnesses would be making Sarge to switch places with Sandy temporarily, like he and Sophie did when hacking themselves into the Red Deer computer system, and after that they could pull him into the dream machine, thus giving Sandy a chance to reunite her mind with her body. And then they could place Sarge back into EGO implant. Maybe it was possible if they combine dream machine with Esthete's technological equipment. That was a job for experts...
Sudden noise cancelled his thoughts. Someone seemed to be sneaking closer to the house but who it was and with what intentions?
______________________
"Lena-darling," said Marcel through their EGO link: "Remember that we are neutral at moment. While you are with her, try to find out why she is acting that strange. It might be useful and profitable information for us. I do believe that Lady Christianna is more valuable alive, because whole world seems to be hunting her. And I do not like people who are after her because how they treat you, my love. I could ever...I can not order you, but I do hope that I can at least ask you to avoid acting prematurely, my love. I am not sure how the rest of ladies react if I enter to their sacred ground, so I better stay outside. At least for awhile, because I can not stay away from you too long, Lena."
Marcel sighed. He was cold and calculative businessman, but when Lena was involved, his usually icy heart melted right away. He did not want to command her, so he only asked her to do something. Maybe she does not respect him because of that but Marcel could not act otherwise. Lena was his soft spot. She was his love and inspiration and although the world was Marcel's oyster waiting for being swallowed, Lena was a rare natural pearl which Marcel found inside that oyster and Marcel wanted to treasure her. By the way - if some smart ass would appear to tell Marcel a difference between edible oysters (Ostreidae family) and their distinct cousins, pear oysters (Pteriidae family), then Marcel would punch him for lecturing. Marcel usually hated lectures...except when Volodja Uljanov was doing the job but that was a different story.
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