Post by [bass]-The Black Knight on Nov 23, 2008 10:35:12 GMT 10
Tales of the Black Knight – From One World to the Next
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Battleship Groznyi, at a hidden location in Bretonian Space July 30, 808AS 8:06am
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The Black Knight approached the location carefully. He flew an anonymous Drom through some little known jump holes, backtracking in several cases and moving on. He was grateful that Grisha hadn't decided to lay a minefield in the area, preferring stealth tactics to fear tactics.
The days following the revelation of DracO's origins had been remarkably without rancor. The fact that DracO survived the destruction of the home system because they were "unpopular" in the coalition made them heroes all the more, and seemed to imbue on them a sense of destiny. That didn't change the fact that they had spent the last few weeks out of the public eye, sequestered on their cloaked battleship. Why they should pick this time to withdraw from a society they had won over by gun and by virtue was beyond him.
And now this urgent message from Grisha to meet him there...alone yet...
The big ship suddenly appeared in front of him, as the cloak was removed. "Dock quickly" he was told over the com system. He followed the directive as well as he could in a Drom.
As he stepped out into the bay, he was greeted by Praxis. "Is anything up?" The Black Knight asked. "Yes and no...more no than yes...you know Grish." The Black Knight thought he did.
As he made his way through the ship to the Captain's ready room, he was again amazed at how much more stark it was over here than on the "Bretonian" Groznyi. Everything was clean to be sure. But it was kept as if they were expecting a surprise inspection. Nothing was out of place. <i>Serving in the Coalition couldn't have been easy. I suppose even now they feel duty bound when they're here. It's a wonder they didn't abandon this ship to the wastes when they got here.</i> Still...even that answer didn't feel right.
He walked into the ready room, and Grisha looked up from his desk. It was immediately obvious that he wasn't getting an ample amount of sleep. The Black Knight took off his helmet and addressed his old friend. "Grisha, what the heck is going on?" The Black Knight asked. "Nothing--maybe that's the problem,." Girsha answered. "Everything is going swimmingly well...but I've got this overwhelming feeling a shoe is about to drop."
"You've been under tremendous pressure for as long as I've known you," the Black Knight started. "and it's not that long ago you barely escaped with your lives. Never mind the source of the threat that almost killed you..." Grisha nodded. The pain of Princess' betrayal had been dulled by time, but it was still there. "Now your systems are secure, there's barely any conflict, and you're popular among the people. You've won." Grisha shook his head. "Victory in this game is temporary. The fight is the only thing that survives...and I'm not sure I'm up for it anymore. None of us are. That's why I called you here." The Black Knight smiled. "You're retiring?"
Grisha laughed. "Yes. All of DracO. We're tired, TBK. We've known <i>nothing</i> but war. Now it's our option to stay in or get out, and we're getting out." The Black Knight extended his hand. "Congratulations! Retirement is not something people often reach in this business. You won't mind if I throw you all a very large party or two...or ten." Grisha's smile faded. "Not at all, but there's something I want to talk about first. The disappearances in the GMG..." The Black Knight nodded, and his smile vanished. "I contacted Orillion just yesterday. I thought perhaps his people were taking out victims of Nomad infestations. According to his info, the missing people <i>are</i> infested according to his spies--for what that's worth--but they appear to be dropping out of society of their own accord. They've noticed an increase in traffic to the upper unknown jump hole--out only."
"What does he think it means?" Grisha asked.
"He's not sure...some are hopeful that we've won."
"I'm not buying it."
"Me neither. Is that the other shoe you're worried about?"
"Possibly...it's just a gut feeling, but my intuition has only failed me once, and I blinded myself to that."
The Black Knight nodded in understanding. "We were all blinded to that. But your intuition pulled you out intact." TBK didn't want to dwell on the betrayal again.
"So what is DracO's plan?"
Grisha sighed. "Retire. We're cleaning up the ship, and we're going to sink it in Hyperspace. We can call it back if we need it. The engines really are a marvel on this thing. The history of DracO is recorded in the ship's log. If we never need it again, it will make a fine story for some alien race to piece together our society." He locked eyes with TBK. "I'd like to say we'll be here if you need us..." TBK held up a hand. "But right now you don't know if you can promise that. You can't give what you don't have, my friend. A lifetime of war takes it's toll. You deserve to have something of an normal life. Who knows perhaps I'll..."
He was interrupted by a communicator chime. "Grisha! I have an Anubis decloaking off the starboard bow! Tag reads...[Order]-Orillion...he's requesting emergency docking permissions!
Grisha looked at TBK. "I have no idea how he could have followed me. I certainly didn't tell him where you were."
Grisha nodded. "Don't worry TBK...It's just the sound of a shoe slipping off a sock. Praxis! Decloak and let him aboard."
Docking Bay, Battleship Groznyi, July 30, 808AS 8:22am
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They met Orillion in the docking bay. The first words out of his mouth were, "Are we cloaked again?" "Yes," Grisha replied. "How did you find us?" "It wasn't easy. It took twenty agents to track your armored friend here. We kept ahead of him by taking every possible route <i>before</i> he did."
"That's a lot of effort when you can just ask to see us," the Black Knight responded, a touch of anger in his voice.
"Not at all. This is the only place safe to talk." He held up a small disk. "A message--from the Dragon Reborn."
Captain's Ready Room, Battleship Groznyi, July 30, 808AS 8:32am
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"I'm going to cut to the chase guys," the hologram spoke. The men in Grisha's ready room were tense with anticipation. "They're getting better at reading the hieroglyphics out here, and there are some horror stories in these ruins. One relates to a weapon even more feared than the supernova gun that destroyed Earth and it's sun. It translates to 'the Displacement wave.' I can't even imagine the energy required for this, but it is believed that this weapon eventually destroyed the race that created the nomads."
Everyone shifted uneasily in their seats, as TDR continued. "We activated an ancient artifact that was older than anything we'd seen before. It projected a 3-d hologram of the weapon in use."
The view of TDR suddenly changed to the view of a nomad battleship. A simple globule of energy was released from the side of the battleship. It suddenly popped like a soap bubble, and a thin wave of energy extended out from it. The camera view--if you could call it that--followed the wave as it expanded and accelerated. TDR's voice began to speak again. By now it is traveling faster than the speed of light. We think the primary portion of the wave is actually in hyperspace, and this is just energy bleeding out from the wave. The next scene is disturbing but you must watch."
The wave came upon a planet. The camera went ahead and zoomed into an alien city there. It was inhabited by small blue, apparently peaceful aliens. Whether this was the race that created the nomads was unclear. What happened next was also unclear.
The wave passed, and everyone disappeared.
The buildings, vehicles, plant and animal life, everything remained. But the intelligent life vanished.
"The video goes on to explain after a fashion what happened." The video zoomed back to the planetary view from space, and a grid pattern formed, extending out into space in every direction from the equator. That view zoomed out further...and an identical planet appeared, with another grid pattern, and another, and then thousands...and then it zoomed in on distant different but identical planet. And there was one, lonely alien--wandering confused, on a planet with life but no city. It zoomed out and in again, to a blue creature in another city--full of green aliens. They grabbed him and dragged the poor pitiful creature away. In another scene, the city was similar and populated by the same creatures, but the details were slightly different and the creature obviously confused.
On last planet, showed another creature choking to death on a distant barren planet, unable to breath.
"It took us a while to interpret these images, and what came after. As near as we can tell, this wave destabilizes any intelligent life form, and scatters it to a random parallel universe. I know your objections: our physics says that other probability paths are unrealized, and the wave functions aren't closed. This wave appears to <i>bring those other probability waves into reality, and exiles the people there.</i>"
None of the men spoke. If ever there was a fate worse than death it was this: Total isolation for all of humanity; cruelty beyond destruction.
"There is hope. There are artifacts that if kept in close proximity to a person, will channel the wave, and bring <i>all</i> the bearers of this artifact to a <i>single</i> reality where the waveform is similar to the one in which the person originated. You might not know anyone there, but it should look relatively familiar. And you'll bring with you anyone who also has a similar artifact. The writings say they are the most common artifacts found--long misunderstood, because only the wave can activate them. It may be that the alien race survived this final attack--but in another universe."
"And now for the bad news,"
"This wasn't the bad news?" TBK asked rhetorically.
"Once we understood the nature of the wave, we used the telescopes from the <i>Isis</i> to look for a similar wave. there's one headed straight for Sirius. We estimate it will arrive on the First of December, 808AD. You've got to try to get as many of these artifacts to as many people as you can--and make sure you're on a planet on that day. It would really suck to reappear in deep space--your ship won't come with you."
The Dragon reborn held up an artifact. "There is another wave headed for us. My friends, if this is goodbye, then I thank you for all you've done for me, and for your friendship. God be with you. With any luck, I'll contact you after the wave hits...though I'm not sure if I'll be able to send, or if you'll be able to receive then. Things will change radically. But there is hope. Godspeed."
There was silence for a moment. And then TBK asked: "Big enough shoe for you, Grish?"
Archeological Dig, Planet Pygar, Omicron Theta system, August 20, 808AS, 11:57AM
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A small jet of air sprayed away the sands of Planet Pygar. The hand of a space suit clutched the nozzle, as the occupant of that suit continued looking for another treasure. A glint of blue caught her eye, and she, focused the jet of air to a certain place. Soon an artifact was revealed. A flat disk, its edges had been pitted and worn by time. But in the center, the blue crystal was still dazzling. As one stared into it, a limitless number of geometric shapes appeared to dance as the light bounced this way and that through the facets of the crystal. That it was a single crystal and not a composite was the subject of one of her most famous papers--and one of the most controversial. Why this particular type of artifact should be so numerous, she had no idea.
She estimated that 97% of the artifacts found were of this simple, flat disk, which was so beautiful that they were all the rage for use in jewelry for men and women everywhere. The artifact she held in her hand was so common, that every man woman and child in Sirius could fill their pockets with them if they were ever evenly distributed. Of course the laws prevented that in all four houses.
After her experience in Alaska, President Jacobi maintained the strict laws initially proposed by lawmakers possessed by the Nomads. Her attitude toward the Nomads was one of xenophobic fear. And after her experiences in the Alaska system, who could blame her?
But the scientist looked at this differently. Why would a race mass produce such an intricate crystal, mount it in an elegant setting, and then scatter it throughout the planets and dust clouds of certain star systems? Was it a mode of communication? Were they tracers of some sort? Or were they monuments to prove that whatever life forms found them were not the first to develop technology?
She heard a dull roar behind her, and through the fogged glass of her protective canopy, she could see the outline of a spaceship landing--a fighter of all things. The hatchway opened, and one of her assistants entered; a blast of wind and sand followed him. "Dr Sinclair, there's someone here to see you." "Your mastery of the obvious is as good as always, John. Could you have waited a little while longer to tell me? What if this is a hostile visit?" "But Doctor, it's..." He didn't have to finish, as the hatchway opened again, and a figured in a black suit of armor entered the enclosure.
Archeological Dig, Planet Pygar, Omicron Theta system, August 20, 808AS, 12:35PM
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Back in the safety of the research base, Dr. Sinclair watched the video with interest. She'd worked with The Dragon Reborn for a short time, as the two attempted to use his power to activate artifacts. They had very little success, and more pressing matters eventually called him away. The two did get along well, and she trusted him.
"Fascinating--we almost certainly know now what happened. They were literally erased from our reality. And now we know why all these artifacts are scattered about Sirius."
"That knowledge is fascinating, but I need your help to make it useful," the Black Knight replied.
"What do you need from me? You understand the what the artifact does as well as I."
"Yes, but that information coming from me won't mean anything--[bass] is rumored to trade in artifacts. If I tell everyone they've got to have one or die, they'll expect an ulterior motive--even if I'm giving them away."
"Are you going to give them away?"
"Doctor, whatever credits I have are going to do me precious little good on 12/1."
She shook her head. "My word alone won't carry enough weight. If you could find Doctor Quintane..."
"He's missing?"
"Quintane has become more and more difficult to deal with over the years. I'd call him paranoid but you're not paranoid if everyone really is after you."
"Great. There must be some way to get in touch with him."
"Currently he has a pilot on retainer to fly him from place to place and protect his hide. It's boring work but the order is paying a tremendous amount of money for it."
"Who's the pilot?"
"Man by the name of Edison Trent. Know him?"
"We've met a few times."
"Find Trent, you'll find Quintane."
LSF Headquarters, Planet Manhattan, New York System, August 22, 808AS, 11:59am
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Procene landed his Eagle on the nearest Pad to LSF Headquarters. There was no point in walking further than he had to.
He was famous enough now that the heads he turned were reactions to his celebrity, not his mutations. Still, it wouldn't pay to gather too much attention on this mission.
Invisible to the world, he snuck into the lobby. The weapon scanners were large enough for several people to pass, but today there wasn't much traffic. He waited until someone was walking through the scanner, and ran though. As the alarm sounded, several officers took one of the accountants into a back room to be searched.
A minute later he was at the stairwell, leaping from landing to landing. Climbing one hundred and seven floors would exhaust most people, but he was just getting warmed up.
He exited the stairwell, and moved down the hallway. Detection now wouldn't be all that damaging, since the personnel on this floor would keep things quiet. But he had a reputation to protect.
The Bioaccess scanner operated in a similar fashion to the weapons scanner, except the doorway would only open for a registered biosignatre. Over time, his ability as a chameleon had developed to the point that he was invisible on all frequencies. So he need only lean against the door, and wait for someone with legitimate access to appear.
In a short time, the door was opened--from within.
"Come on Procene, I've been expecting you." The woman had scarcely aged in the last five years, but her intelligence acumen had grown by leaps and bounds. Procene decloaked an hung his head. "Ok, how did you catch me?" Jun'ko Zhane-Trent chuckled. "The stairwell doors don't open by themselves generally, and our accountants don't generally carry a pair of plasma cutlasses on their way out to lunch."
"I take it you've released the accountant?"
"No...he likes to harass people about their expense reports."
"Gotcha."
"To be fair, you did an excellent job getting in here, and if Orillion hadn't told me you were coming, then you would have probably surprised me."
"Ratted out by the O-man. Great."
"You have the video?"
"Right here."
She watched it dispassionately. The shock of the contents had been broken to her before. She merely wanted to see for herself.
"Alright. I'll make sure Edison delivers Quintane, but I'll need a copy of this video, or Quintane won't go along."
"That's your copy."
The door opened suddenly, and two armed guards burst through the door.
"Actually, it's our copy," one said, as he leveled his rifle.
In the blink of an eye both guards were cut in two by Procenes cutlasses.
From the corpses, it was obvious that they were not human.
"Nomads! But we purged the LSF! There are scanners everywhere..."
"I would get those checked, if it mattered. May I offer you my services as bodyguard? My rates are free until 12/1."
Space over Planet Manhattan, New York System, August 22, 808AS, 12:15pm
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The empty space over Manhattan came as a surprise to Juni. "The last time this happened I was greeted by capital ships. " "Then perhaps your purge was effective after all." "With any luck we will have a quiet ride to Houston."
"What's at Houston? That's not where we'll find Quintane."
"No, but it is where we'll find a pair of Type 21 Anubis'--with cloaking devices."
"I understand." She said, as they exited the trade lane outside fort Bush. As she glanced at the trade lane to Pittsburg, she wondered, <i>is it worth the bother? Can't hurt, unless they catch us between here and Houston.</i>
Still, the sight of the Sabre in formation with her Defender was more than enough to calm her nerves. <i>Edison and I did this with a lot less firepower.</I>
Planet Pittsburgh, New York System, August 22, 808AS, 1:32pm
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Juni stepped out of her freshly borrowed Anubis, and made her way to the bar entrance. "You're here, right?" "Shh." was all she heard, but it was enough.
As they walked into the bar, her husband moved to greet her. "Hey, what's going on. This is the middle of your shift." "I need to see Quintane."
"Bah, he's locked himself up in some disused storage room in the basement. The janitor complained but a periodic application of credits did wonders for that."
Suddenly Procene materialized beside her. "We need to see Quintane." Trent didn't even flinch. "Hey, Pro. What do you know?"
"He knows that we've got until December before everything changes and we need to see Quintane."
Planet Pittsburgh, New York System, August 22, 808AS, 1:45pm
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A knock at the door produced the usual "Go away." so Procene very patiently kicked the door in.
The blaster in the old man's hand would have fired if Procene weren't so recognizable. "Procene. What does [bass] want of...Juni? What's going on?"
Again the tale was told and the video was played. "Of course!!! It all makes sense now!! The facets of that artifact must be lenses of a type...focusing the energy to a certain frequency...pardon me...there is no time to lose. Can you get me to Cambridge? That's the only place that such an announcement would have the necessary credence."
Planet Pittsburgh, New York System, August 30, 808AS, 9:05am
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From a podium at the University of Cambridge, Quintaine played the video, and verified it's contents. At the back of the room, The Black Knight put his arm around Corrina, as she stared at the artifact that hung from her neck.
"Where do you want to be when the wave hits?" He asked.
"With you."
"You know what I mean."
She thought for a moment.
"Manhattan. In our favorite park on Manhattan, sitting under that tree we always sit by."
"Done deal."
"Not yet; we still have to gather more artifacts, and get them distributed. Everyone will need one."
"We've delivered tons of these trinkets to the order. Orillion thinks we have enough for everyone."
"And if not..."
"I checked his numbers. Kami and Mr. Bonkers coordinated the distribution of the artifacts to every known planet and outpost. Took a lot of ships and the rook is just about worn out, but that's what I call good timing. We won't have to overhaul it again."
"And what about the day to day living that might do us in? What if nobody believes us? What if..."
"What if I kiss you and we deal with what is instead of what if?"
She smiled and obliged him.
Planet New Tokyo, New Tokyo System, September 18, 808AS. 7:32pm
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Kevin Crawford, known throughout the Sirius Systems as Mr. Bonkers, strolled into his teachers office. There was no need for his multicolored battle armor here. A simple white shirt and slacks was more than adequate.
"You wanted to see me master?" Master Wen Lin turned to look at his student. "Kevin! I'm so glad you're here. Have a seat."
Kevin sat down. He had spend a great deal of the last two years since joining [bass] at the helm of a Dromedary. But he always made a point to Stop Frequently at New Tokyo. He always stopped at the Dojo--just as he always stopped to see his parents and girlfriend Jenelle--Wen's daughter.
He had been especially busy as of late, running artifacts to all sorts of locations, in anticipation of "The Wave" as it was now known.
"Yes Kevin...this wave...is it real?"
Kevin was taken aback. "Of course it's real. The Dragon Reborn's word was good enough for us, but we obtained the testimony of Doctors Quintain and Sinclair to lend credence to it."
Wen nodded. "There's no ulterior motive to this--it's not just a gimmick to relax the rules on the sale of artifacts."
Kevin shook his head no. "I wish it was. No one knows what awaits us. The artifacts won't keep us here--they'll only keep us together."
"And what will you do if I and my family refuse to wear them on the appointed day?"
Kevin thought for a moment. "Probably shoot you all with stun beams and dress you with the artifacts myself."
Wen took this in.
"And failing that. Let us say we hid from you, and none of us were wearing the artifact?"
Kevin paused a little longer this time. "I would cast my own artifact away, and pray that I ended up in the same universe with Jennelle."
Wen nodded--and smiled. Should he explain that this had not been a test of bass's character, but that of a potential son-in-law? He reached inside his shirt, and extracted a cloth pouch on a chain. Kevin did not have to ask what it was. "That's what I figured, but as a very wise man once said, "Trust, then Verify."
Battleship Groznyi, at a hidden location in Bretonian Space, November 25th, 808AS 4:01pm
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Grisha looked out over an empty bridge, trying to identify his feelings.
Everything that DracO had brought with them, everything that they had built together, was now stored on this ship.
All of it would be left behind.
The rest of DracO was on a [bass] Dromedary, waiting for him to leave the ship with them. This grand old boat would be the time capsule not just of DracO's exploits, but of humanities accomplishments. Digital copies of the major libraries of all four houses had been copied into the ship's memory banks. Hard copies of those files had been burned into special crystals, and stored in a nitrogen atmosphere crypt in the big ships hold. Grisha idly tried to remember what the crystals were made of--it didn't matter. That was stored somewhere too.
In a few minutes, this ship would sink into hyperspace. In a few more weeks, the last remnants of humanity would be scattered from this universe. Over the millennia, the empty cities would crumble, and mankind’s achievements would rot.
Or would the nomads swoop in and take up house? Would they incorporate the human culture into their own, or eradicate what was left? They must want to get rid of man for a reason.
None of it would ever matter to him. He was leaving everything behind. He thought he would feel differently. He thought he would cling to the pictures and videos, to the objects he had collected over his life that told his story.
Suddenly, the objects were meaningless. The people waiting for him were going to come with him--whether the coin sized artifact that hung on a chain around his neck worked or not worked or not, he sensed. One way or another, everything trivial was going to be left behind, and only the important would remain.
<i>It is death in a sense...in every sense of the definition except that of a final ending. And who says there is one anyway? How will I know that the artifact worked? What if we're all just together in a wonderful place...</i>
There was too much to consider. The possibilities were truly endless.
He set the computer to sink the ship into hyperspace on a signal from the Dromedary, when they had left. It would then power down except for the sensors and a few computers and wait for that signal again. It was a simple signal, used since antiquity to signal distress. Jono had engraved the signal in the hull of the ship in as many ways as he could think, in different symbols and patterns, and finally, into letters that might never be recognized again--S.O.S.
Upon receiving that signal--Jono tried to think of every way an alien species might try, from ultraviolet pulses of light to knocking on the cargo bay door--the ship would energize itself and rise out of hyperspace. If the power started to fail, then it would rise then, rather then be caught in hyperspace forever. Grisha asked Jono how long the power systems would last. He smiled as he remembered the response. "On low power, sadly not too long in the grand scheme of things--only 40,000 millennia or so."
Grisha smiled as he walked off the bridge to join the others. In a few days They would spend Thanksgiving on Manhattan with their friends from [bass]. By Christmas the will have gone to another world together.
Liberty Park, Planet Manhattan, November 30th, 808AS 11:57pm
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It was an unseasonably warm night. The Black Knight and Corrina leaned against their tree. Rambler lay on his back staring at the stars, wondering if they would look different in just a few minutes.
Iikami stood on the hill behind them, and wondered if his star crossed comrades from the Bretonian Special Forces had gotten the message--for some strange reason most of Sirius took it as a joke. There had been a very strong disinformation campaign--probably organized by members of the press under nomad influence--claiming that it was all a political maneuver, and that [bass] would be humiliated on the first of the month. Others were offering arguments indicating different kinds of artifacts than the one bass was giving away were required for survival. And of course these were fantastically expensive. The rest of bass had been scattered across the quadrant, on different planets--in case only a percentage of the planets turned out to be habitable--and most simply wanted to be close to home for the event.
Grisha and the remnants of DracO were across the way on another hill, facing an uncertain future the way they always did--laughing. In the next world they had agreed to abandon the clan name DracO and join bass. But for now they were enjoying some final moments to themselves.
On Hamburg, Phill brooded in his headquarters--technically bass territory, but The Black Knight made it clear after they won the battle that he had no interest in making FU move. It had all been very much a game for The Black Knight since the announcement came. Perhaps it always had been, Phill mused.
On New London, the Death Knights gathered for a final meal in this world. They were relaxed and merry--for once there was no reason to be vigilant and plan. That would start tomorrow, if there was a tomorrow.
Sirius, December 1st, 808AS 12:00am
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Every planet was suddenly empty.
Every building echoed with silence.
Every base was abandoned.
Every ship went adrift.
And a park was empty.
Another Sirius, December 1st, 808AS 12:00am
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The Back Knight opened his eyes. Turning immediately to his right he found Corrina, just as her eyes opened. He squeezed her close.
"It was as if I turned to ice for just a second..." she said.
"Yes..." he agreed. He tried to stand, but was dizzy."
"Wow...' Rambler called out. "Was there a party I forgot I attended?"
The Black Knight looked across the way. DracO--now all members of bass, were laying at various angles on the ground.
"Oh my head..." Iikami called.
Corrina smiled; her eyes wide. "We made it.” And that was all that mattered.
An unnamed field, Planet Manhattan, December 1st, 808AS 12:14am.
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In the distance, the building constructed from the remnants of <i>The Liberty</i> still stood. But it began to become clear that the area around them wasn't as built up as it used to be. "I remember reading that the expansion into the Forrest that was completed about 200 years ago was controversial. Perhaps here the conservationists won," Rambler theorized. "Well that buys us some time," Corrina said. "Time for what?" Iikami asked. "If all these artifacts worked, then many thousands of people just appeared out of nowhere. It might cause something of a stir. I think we should slip in to the city as quietly as possible and find out how this society is taking that sudden influx."
"And by we," the Black Knight added. "I think that should mean Cor and I. A happy couple walking about shouldn't gather too much attention."
"So we'll just hang out by the tree?" Rambler asked.
"If I can, I'll find a terminal and hack into the rep database. Then we'll have identities," She said. "I've done it a lot--it might not be the same here, but it's worth a shot. If I can wrangle a ship from us, we can take off and I can work in peace for a while--set everyone up."
"If they have ships here," Grisha added. "It sounds like a good plan," but be careful.
Planet Manhattan, New York System, December 1st, 808AS 5:13am
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The sun was just coming up as the entered the outskirts of the city. It was a pleasant walk, and the relief of having survived the Wave together suppressed any anxiety about what lay ahead.
"There should be a job center on this side of the city. The terminals in there should have access to the hypernet and to the job databases," Corrina said.
Sure enough that side of the city was identical to the one in their world. Thanks to the hour it was empty. The two took seats at a terminal, and Corrina went to work. "Good--the language is the same." "There's something I hadn't considered," the Black Knight said. "What if everything is the same but we don't speak the language."
"Well, we can at least read the language. Don't assume anything yet."
She accessed a little known lane hacker page that masqueraded as an information page on gardening. She didn't have to look for long to realize the system here was nearly identical to the one she was used to. The adjustment wasn't a problem. Soon enough she was into the main personnel database.
"Set yours up first. We'll need you with computer access as soon as possible," The Black Knight said.
"I've got he basics in for me. I can use the video camera on the unit to register my picture." She centered herself on the image and smiled. "I'll set myself up with a standard LSF rep to begin with. I can enhance the ID with more data once we get a ship. I can do everything on the ship that I can do here."
She pulled a card out of her pocked, and jumped. Normally it had her picture, identification and rep.
Now it was blank.
"Let's see if the technology is compatible." She slipped her card into the reader, and wrote the appropriate code to it.
When she pulled it out, she saw her smiling face and her name.
"Now we'll do you," she said, and TBK offered his blank ID. "Let me see...oohh bad news."
"What's that?"
"They've already got a Black Knight here."
"Do I need a handle immediately?"
"I'll leave it blank for now..." She took his picture and continued typing. "Ok. We both exist. I put about 25k of credits in each, not a round number though."
"That's all?"
"You want to attract a lot of attention?"
"Not particularly."
"It will be enough to get a Star Flea and leave us some operating capital. Right now I've got us listed as not having an address, but I would suggest we register the ship as our home ASAP."
Outside they heard a commotion. They could see an pair of LSF officers--or the equivalent here--leading a group of people away. "I'm telling you! We're not from this world! That's why our ID's don't work..."
"We're not in a position to help," she reminded him. "We're not even armed..."
"Don't worry; I'm acutely aware of our position. Let's get to the ship dealer. That will give us a base of operations."
The couple walked out into the street, where more people were being rounded up, and taken out of buildings. One of the officers glanced in their direction, so The Black Knight flagged him down. "I don't mean to bother you sir, but what's going on? I've never seen anything like this?"
He shrugged. "Neither have I. We're getting literally thousands of calls for breaking and entering; I can't go into the details because these are open cases..."
TBK held up a hand "I understand, so sorry for bothering you. Good luck!"
The officer never stopped to check their Ids.