Rose eventually woke up and crawled out of bed. She was still tired but when she looked at her bedside clock and saw that it was already eleven. She yawned and began putting on her clothes. Finally she managed to stumble into the living room still yawning. “Oh Lynn, Emiray, I see you are both already up. Did you have a good nights sleep, where you able to find something to eat this morning.”
Emiray looked up from a book that she had taken from one of the shelves around the room. Rose had a surprisingly large collection of history and culture books, probably a result of being a Phantom Thief. A Phantom Thief needed to know what was valuable to select correct targets, “Yes, everything was fine. Also, your shirt is on backward.”
Rose looked down at her shirt and realized that Emiray was right. “I’ll change it later, first I need to get something to eat. I’m starving.” Rose moved into the kitchen and past Lynn who was sitting on one of the stools starting off into space. “What is wrong with you Lynn, you seem about of it. Did you not get enough sleep.”
Lynn turned surprised before responding, “Oh, Rose, good morning. No I had enough sleep, I got to bed before both of you after all. I was just thinking that is all. I was just thinking about that a stronger teleport then me would be able to do that I can’t.”
“Huh, Aren’t you the strongest teleporter? Someone capable of doing things that is stronger then you? Would that really be teleportation at that point?” Asked Rose as she open up the fridge an looked inside. Eggs sounded good, Rose usually liked eggs. She pulled them out and began making herself some breakfast. “Did either of you want some eggs?”
Lynn was looking at Rose as Emiray mumbled an affirmative from across the room. “What do you mean they wouldn’t be a teleporter?” Asked Lynn.
“What, are you taking me seriously?” Rose tried pondering the question to find a real answer while she continued cooking the eggs. “I suppose, Well, since you are the strongest teleporter then you must know everything about teleportation. If there was a teleporter that was capable of doing something that you couldn’t then that person wouldn’t really be a teleporter. I mean, I can’t think of anything a teleporter could do that you aren’t capable of doing. The University District says it is impossible but wouldn’t somebody like that be a multi-powered person. Then they would be a Teleporter and still be able to do things that you aren’t capable of doing.”
Lynn sighed, she had hoped that Rose would be able to see something in the problem that Lynn couldn’t but she guessed that wasn’t going to happen. “So your saying that to get more powerful I would need to become a multitalent.” She laughed softly, “You are right about something, multitalent is impossible…” She paused for a moment considering. Sure, multitalents were supposed to be impossible but hadn’t she already done something that was impossible. Even if it was a strange possibility she would need to file it away for future study.
“Don’t give it too much though.” Said Rose. “I’m hardly an expert on theses things. I’m only really good at stealing things. The way to be a better thief is not luck or quicker reflexes. It isn’t the ability to pick locks or outrun police officers. If a thief only has those skills then they would get caught eventually. The skill a good thief needs to have to do heist after heist is to be able to plan. They need to know what could go wrong and how to deal with it if it does. So when you can’t pick the lock or outrun the police officers you are still able to pull it off.”
Rose pushed some of the finished eggs off onto a plate and handed it to Lynn, “I suspect that the same can work for you. Even if there is somebody more powerful then you then if is still possible to pull off a win. You just have to know what you plan to do when you finally meet them.”
Lynn hurumphed as she took the plate, “Both of you just seem so full of advice today.”
“If you didn’t want to head it then don’t ask for it. I’ll give you that advice for free.” Laughed Rose as she took two more plates into the living room and handed one to Emiray. “Eat while you can. Peaceful things never last for long and you want to keep your strength up for when the bad stuff happens.”
It wasn’t very long after that that Rose’s watch began to beep. She looked down at it and smiled softly. She clapped her hands together and said, “Alright everyone. It is time to get ready. We will be heading out soon.”
Lynn furrowed her brow before saying, “It is only around noon. There is still another eleven hours to until your given time of theft. Didn’t you say that was when it was going to happen. While it might take a while to arrive there if we went the normal route, I will be able to get us there in half an hour without hurrying.”
“NO, SHE MEANS THAT THEY ARE ON TO US.” Said R08. It had been keeping out of the way for a while and Lynn had almost forgotten about it.
“What do you mean they are on to us?” Asked Lynn.
Emiray was looking at Rose’s watch, “She means that since the letter was delivered to the University District they have come looking for us. They know we are with the Phantom Thief Rose so it was only a matter of time before they found us.”
“But isn’t this a secret hideout? How would they know this is where she lives?” Said Lynn.
“No honest Entertainment District citizen would even think of coming and looking for me here.” Said Rose, “However, these are probably University Security who are blatantly ignoring tradition. Sadly I’ve lived here long enough that it probably didn’t take them too long to discover this location.”
Lynn went over it, “I see. An Entertainment District secret won’t hold water when you are threatening to steal from the University District. The Entertainment District can’t also legally stop them because you are tenically a wanted criminal here.”
“Grab the bags we will need. We need to get out of here quickly to avoid being caught. Lynn, I believe I can trust in you to make sure we can make our get away.” Said Rose.
“No problem. Once all our stuff is here it won’t take me but a minute to get far away from these people. However I could go deal with them now if you want me to. I handful of University Security shouldn’t be a problem.” Said Lynn.
“Ah, but they almost certainly have a high level Esper with them. It would be crazy to go against you without some sort of plan do deal with you. Since they know you are here with me they have a plan. We just need our plan to be better. That is why we need everything prepared before they get here. Emiray, Rob, have you gotten what we need?”
Emiray and R08 were both bringing large bags in from the secret workshop. Rose nodded and said to Lynn, “Good, take these, Rob, and Emiray three blocks north. I’ll meet you there in three hours.” Rose pulled out a flashdrive and tossed it to Lynn, “If I’m not there then then use these plans. It will be more difficult with one less person but you should be able to accomplish it without me.”
“Wait, what are you doing then? I could just take you with me. Why are you staying behind.”
“Didn’t I tell you Lynn? The most important thing about being a Phantom Thief is the plan.” Rose tapped her head with a finger. “The plan is all in here and ready to begin. Once you leave and I go out there the steps will be in motion to bring us to the Euclidian Key. You have to trust me on this one, I don’t have time to explain.”
Lynn glared at Rose. Then why hadn’t she explained earlier when they did have time. Was that part of the plan too? “Alright, I’ll wait three hours but you had better be there.” Then without waiting for everyone to get close to her she just open up the spacial tunnels and move all of them except for Rose outside of the building. Sixteen quick teleports later she was certain what nobody would be able to know where they had gone from the building.
“What is that woman thinking? If there is a plan here then I don’t know what is it.”
“Neither do I, but that is probably part of the plan. Right now we just have to trust Rose and follow her instructions.” Said Emiray, “So right now we need to find a place to hide for the next three hours while we wait for Rose to come join us.”
Three Hours Later
Emiray, Lynn, and R08 were waiting at the corner three blocks north of Rose’s apartment. “She isn’t head yet. We can not continue to wait for her any longer. We only have 8 hours to take the Euclidian Key back.” Lynn said as she held up the flash-drive that Rose had given her before they parted.
“Rose packed her laptop among the gear we were supposed to bring with us. We can use that to access the drive.” Said Emiray as she pulled out the laptop. It was a small laptop, most suitable for traveling. Lynn nodded and took the laptop from her, turning it on and inserted in flash drive.
The drive contained a large list of files. Maps, security guard routes and many other things. Lynn pulled up the plan and began reading through it. “This is strange.”
“How so?” Asked Emiray as she looked over Lynn’s shoulder to read the file with her.
“These plans only refer to me, you, and R08. Rose isn’t anywhere in them. It is like she never actually planned to do the job herself. I bet she is just leaving all the real work to us so that she can get more sleep.” Grumbled Lynn.
“Why would she go through the trouble of making such detailed instructions if she knew that she wasn’t going to be able to join us. No, that actually makes more sense, if she knew she wasn’t going to be able to join us then she would have to create more detailed instructions so that we would be able to accurately follow them.”
Lynn scowled as she scrolled through the instructions. ‘Well, I guess we should start at the beginning then. Since it recommends that we relocate to the University District we should do that. If we keep waiting around here then some more of the University Security might fine us and that would be annoying and would delay us.”
Then why began their journey back to the University District. Lynn took the trip slower then she had on the way to the Entertainment District to kept I easy on Emiray. She also kept the very high in the sky so that if anyone was looking up then they wouldn’t be able to notice the three of them.
She finally landed on the edge of the University District, far enough away from the Ark Tunnel Reactor that there couldn’t possible be any guards watching for them here. She checked her watch again when they stopped. Only 7 hours left, reading through the instructions and the trip over here too longer then she had expected.
Looking over the instructions she saw that they were still on time for the timetable that Rose had devised.
Friday, February 11, 2011
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Organization Fractal [Trappings and Stunts Part 1]
I've been playing Starblazer Adventures recently and a post over on the FATE blog got me thinking about how the different Fractals interact with each other.
In particular I wanted to be able to describe the different organizations in the game in a manner which provides rules for their interaction with characters. I'll try to provide updates as I add Trappings and Stunts.
Many organizations have armed forces. The skill level roughly represents size and quality. Organizations with more than one military arm (such as land or space forces) select this skill more than once to indicate the relative strength of each. This is my first draft at providing Trappings and Stunts to the Organization skills which explain both how they deal with other Organizations and how they deal with Characters.
[T] Armed Forces
When Characters deal with the organization, the default minion quality is your Arms. You can generally muster 10 minions per rank of arms in any region you Control, Sway, or Influence. Mustering more then that requires troop redeployment. [DESIGN - How many minions a organization should be able to bring against Characters is just a guesstimate.]
[T] Warfare
As a combat skill, Arms is rolled to make attacks and maneuvers against other Organizations when you are using skilled soldiers to get the job done. This deals physical stress to the organization.
[T] Military Defense
Arms may be rolled as a defense against Arms attack of the same or similar type.
[S] Special Forces
You have several groups of elite forces within this branch of your armed forces. Once per session you may either: Gain +2 to any one Arms roll, as if you had spend a Fate point to invoke an Aspect or gain +1 to minion Quality for one scene.
[S] Large Armies
You have large amount of soldiers. You can take an extra minor physical consequence which represents your extra forces. Also your Armed Forces are considered two ranks higher for the purposes of how many minions you can bring to bear.
A measure of how advanced the organization is in relation to another. A higher technology represents no just access to advance technology but how widespread it is in the organization.
[T] Research Facilities
The organization controls Labs and Workshops capable of creating and repairing technology. The organization can provide Characters with access to Labs and Workshops with a quality equal to their Technology. [DESIGN - Maybe just Workshops and put Labs somewhere else]
[S] Cutting Edge Workshops
The organization has highly advanced Labs and Workshops, granting a +1 bonus to the quality of both facilities. For even more advanced workshops, consider either the Capitol Ship or Stronghold stunts.
In particular I wanted to be able to describe the different organizations in the game in a manner which provides rules for their interaction with characters. I'll try to provide updates as I add Trappings and Stunts.
Arms (Type)
Many organizations have armed forces. The skill level roughly represents size and quality. Organizations with more than one military arm (such as land or space forces) select this skill more than once to indicate the relative strength of each. This is my first draft at providing Trappings and Stunts to the Organization skills which explain both how they deal with other Organizations and how they deal with Characters.
[T] Armed Forces
When Characters deal with the organization, the default minion quality is your Arms. You can generally muster 10 minions per rank of arms in any region you Control, Sway, or Influence. Mustering more then that requires troop redeployment. [DESIGN - How many minions a organization should be able to bring against Characters is just a guesstimate.]
[T] Warfare
As a combat skill, Arms is rolled to make attacks and maneuvers against other Organizations when you are using skilled soldiers to get the job done. This deals physical stress to the organization.
[T] Military Defense
Arms may be rolled as a defense against Arms attack of the same or similar type.
[S] Special Forces
You have several groups of elite forces within this branch of your armed forces. Once per session you may either: Gain +2 to any one Arms roll, as if you had spend a Fate point to invoke an Aspect or gain +1 to minion Quality for one scene.
[S] Large Armies
You have large amount of soldiers. You can take an extra minor physical consequence which represents your extra forces. Also your Armed Forces are considered two ranks higher for the purposes of how many minions you can bring to bear.
Technology
A measure of how advanced the organization is in relation to another. A higher technology represents no just access to advance technology but how widespread it is in the organization.
[T] Research Facilities
The organization controls Labs and Workshops capable of creating and repairing technology. The organization can provide Characters with access to Labs and Workshops with a quality equal to their Technology. [DESIGN - Maybe just Workshops and put Labs somewhere else]
[S] Cutting Edge Workshops
The organization has highly advanced Labs and Workshops, granting a +1 bonus to the quality of both facilities. For even more advanced workshops, consider either the Capitol Ship or Stronghold stunts.
Friday, January 21, 2011
NaNoWriMo 2010, Part Fifteen
Lynn woke to find herself lying on the couch in Rose’s living room. She still remembered the dream about her past. It had been a turning point in her life. The new discovery the she had uncovered was quickly incorporated into the standard teleporter training plan. Once it was explained to a teleporter that was a least level 3 they would be able to use the trick themselves.
However the thing that had really changed for Lynn that night had been something else. She quickly grew stronger from that day, quickly becoming level 5 and exceeding all of her friends. It had only been a couple of years since then, she had been acclaimed as one of the fastest growing Espers. The fact that she had so quickly became a level 8 however isolated her.
Most of the new discovers she had made on her way to her current strength had been shared with the University however some of them hadn’t been replicated by other Espers. She had tried to explain her corrective teleports which allowed for extremely accurate long distance teleports but nobody had been able to replicate her achievements.
Rapid predetermined teleportation was likewise another trick she had been unable to teach. That had been disappointing because those two tricks combined was what allowed her to teleport faster and farther then any other teleporter before her and were a major factor in her rise to level-8-hood.
However that was the past, something that had happened a few years ago. Now however she felt the same sort of feeling that she had then. The spacial tunnel opened and she was in the air. There were a couple of extra almost imperceptible flickers and she was high in the sky above the Entertainment District.
This high in the sky the stars were easily visible and very bright. The light from the city below her barely hide their luster. She reached out toward the stars like she had once done years ago. This feeling, the feeling of uncertainty. It felt like an old friend that she hadn’t seen in a while had come back to visit her. How long had it been since she had felt like this, a year, two years? It felt like a lifetime.
Yet, hanging in the sky, using the momentum of occasional teleports to keep her from falling, she felt that nostalgic feeling once more. The desire to be more powerful, to reach beyond what she already had, to not be content with the moon but to desire the stars. She had been unable to recognize it year ago but now she clearly felt it, that barrier that her mind had erected in front of her. The mental block that prevented her from becoming more powerful.
The wall was a hard a stone, comprised of her uncertainty of whether getting through this wall was possible and the fear of what she would be able to accomplish if she did get through it. Until just a minute ago she hadn’t recognized that the wall even existed. Now it was there, looming on her mental horizon. However now she desired to get past it, to exceed her own strength, to be strong enough to protect the entire Academy District from the Euclidian Key. No, to be strong enough to protect Mü from whatever might happen in the future.
The desire was just the smallest crack in the wall of her fear and uncertainty but it would be enough. She decided to bring down the wall, reach beyond the moon and toward the stars. It might take time to tear down the wall but tear it down she would, stone by stone unless every block of it was gone.
Then she started to fall. She had released her corrective teleports that had been keeping her airborne and now she was in free-fall. She closed her eyes and felt the wind streaming by her and waited as the ground got closer to her. She had wanted to be able to fly and she guess that this was good enough.
When Lynn stepped in from the balcony she found Emiray moving around the in kitchen. Lynn glanced at the clock. It was still a while until dawn. Even at the altitude she had been at it had still been dark. “Aren’t you still supposed to be asleep?” Asked Lynn. Lynn had gone to be early to she had gotten enough sleep but Emiray had probably been up hours after Lynn had gone to bed.
“Oh, sleep, I’ve got plently. I’ve had a good four hours and that is enough for me to keep working all day.” Said Emiray as she managed to fish out a bowl and spoon from somewhere.
“Four hours? What sort of robot are you? Can you really function with that little sleep?” Just the thought of getting that little sleep made Lynn sleepy. She did find it amusing however that her death defying stunt through the air just now hadn’t even pushed away the last remnants of tiredness. Humans could get used to the strangest things.
“Four hours is about how much rest Rob needs to recover its energy cells so I guess I must have adjusted to that schedule. Now it seems quite normal to only be getting four hours of sleep. It is actually harder to sleep longer, I’m too used to getting up and going to work in the Belly to break the habit today.” Lynn shrugged as she searched though the cupboards for something to put in her bowl.
“Rose said she was a bad morning person and the we should help ourselves to breakfast when we got up. She said she would join us later but probably not before ten.” Emiray managed to fix a box of cereal and stared at it quizzically as if she wasn’t quiet certain if that was what you really ate for breakfast. She was more used to jerky and other long lasting meals with the occasionally hot meal created by a lucky animal trap.
“Emiray, have you ever had a mental block? Like maybe you wanted to get better at Engineering but you found it difficult to until something special happened to you?”
Emiray poured some of the cereal into the bowl and then began to eat it without milk. “I suppose, although it wasn’t quite what you describe. Engineering has a lot to do with study and practice but both of those eventually come down to motivation. If an engineer is motivated to get better then they will, it is as simple as that. Now there was once a time when I didn’t want to keep being an Engineer. My uncle taught me everything he knew about being an engineer but when he died,”
Emiray paused with a look of pain on her face, “When he did I wanted to stop being an engineer. I wanted to escape from it all, to run away and never look back. Eventually I managed to realize that if I did then then my Uncle would truly be gone. That everything that he taught me, all those precious moments together with me, would all be wasted. It was that thought that eventually rekindled my passion for engineering and got me learning again.”
“I’m not certain if that is a mental block like you mentioned but it did keep me from learning more engineering.” Said Emiray. She stuck another spoonful of dry cereal into her mouth before continuing, “I don’t know why you people like this stuff. It isn’t really that great.”
Lynn laughed, “Well, most people eat cereal with milk.” Emiray glared at Lynn with a ‘Why didn’t you tell me that earlier?’ look. Lynn continue to distract Emiray way from that annoyance. “I suppose you can call that a block. It is close enough I guess. Yours was more situation then mine but I guess the final effect is the same.”
“Is there a reason that you are thinking about this now?” Asked Emiray as she open the fridge door and pulled out the half gallen bottle of milk inside.
“It’s just,” Lynn hesitated, “If the Euclidian Key really does get activated using the Ark Tunnel Reactor then I don’t know if I will be able to stop it. I’ve grown so used to being strong enough to handle anything that I feel uncertain at the prospect of unknowing. Now that I want to get stronger I realize that I don’t know how to get stronger. It is a strange mental block I suppose.”
Emiray pondered those thoughts as she took her first bite of milked up cereal. “After I came back to engineering after my uncle died I was given my own post in the Belly. That meant I was alone, except for Rob, and I had to deal the the problems that I found down there by myself. I said that getting better at engineering requires study and practice but there are some things that you can’t study or practice for. Sometimes an engineer is given a problem that they don’t know a solution for. What do you think they do in that situation.” Emiray waggled her spoon at Lynn in question.
“Ask one of the most experienced Engineers what they should do?” Asked Lynn.
Emiray shook her head, “No, while that might work for a regular engineer, a master engineer can’t do that because they have nobody to go to for advice.” Emiray raised her spoon before continuing. “When you find a problem for which you don’t know the solution, the correct answer is to create the solution.”
Lynn looked confused at the younger woman, “And how does that help be get stronger. How can I just create the method for getting stronger.” However she did understand what Lynn was getting at, she had invented dozens of techniques that improved the usefulness of teleportation. However those didn’t effect a users raw power, how much energy an Esper was able to use. That was something that seemed to grow naturally as an Esper trained until it reached a certain point.
“No, not how to get stronger,” Said Emiray, “What it means to be stronger. Instead of wondering how to become stronger, instead think about what you would want to be able to do if you were stronger.”
Lynn thought back to her dream and the memories that came with it. “I see, I already had the solution in my hands but confused it for something else. I knew what it meant to be a stronger teleporter, to do what none had done before. It was once I had accomplished that that I became what I am now. Now that I am the strongest teleporter I need to decide what it means to be a stronger teleporter. It can’t just be speed or distance, those come with being a stronger teleporter they aren’t what make a stronger teleporter.”
Emiray nodded in approval, like a teacher regarding a student that did well. Lynn found that fairly annoying considering she was older then Emiray. Emiray said, “Since you have found the right question, you just need to find the right answer.” Emiray shoved the last spoon full of cereal into her mouth and the set the bowl down of the table, “Now I’m going to make sure that everything is in working order, it is always a good idea to double check things before everything gets dicy.”
When Emiray left Lynn sat down on the couch and looked blanking at the vacant television. Even if she knew the right question she didn’t know if she could find an answer. Over the last couple of years she had burned through her ideas about what a teleporter should be able to do. Now that she could accomplish all of those she didn’t know what a stronger teleporter would be able to do that Lynn wasn’t already capable of doing.
It was a conundrum alright and Lynn didn’t even have a the faintest clue about how to solve it, she just knew that she wanted to solve it.
However the thing that had really changed for Lynn that night had been something else. She quickly grew stronger from that day, quickly becoming level 5 and exceeding all of her friends. It had only been a couple of years since then, she had been acclaimed as one of the fastest growing Espers. The fact that she had so quickly became a level 8 however isolated her.
Most of the new discovers she had made on her way to her current strength had been shared with the University however some of them hadn’t been replicated by other Espers. She had tried to explain her corrective teleports which allowed for extremely accurate long distance teleports but nobody had been able to replicate her achievements.
Rapid predetermined teleportation was likewise another trick she had been unable to teach. That had been disappointing because those two tricks combined was what allowed her to teleport faster and farther then any other teleporter before her and were a major factor in her rise to level-8-hood.
However that was the past, something that had happened a few years ago. Now however she felt the same sort of feeling that she had then. The spacial tunnel opened and she was in the air. There were a couple of extra almost imperceptible flickers and she was high in the sky above the Entertainment District.
This high in the sky the stars were easily visible and very bright. The light from the city below her barely hide their luster. She reached out toward the stars like she had once done years ago. This feeling, the feeling of uncertainty. It felt like an old friend that she hadn’t seen in a while had come back to visit her. How long had it been since she had felt like this, a year, two years? It felt like a lifetime.
Yet, hanging in the sky, using the momentum of occasional teleports to keep her from falling, she felt that nostalgic feeling once more. The desire to be more powerful, to reach beyond what she already had, to not be content with the moon but to desire the stars. She had been unable to recognize it year ago but now she clearly felt it, that barrier that her mind had erected in front of her. The mental block that prevented her from becoming more powerful.
The wall was a hard a stone, comprised of her uncertainty of whether getting through this wall was possible and the fear of what she would be able to accomplish if she did get through it. Until just a minute ago she hadn’t recognized that the wall even existed. Now it was there, looming on her mental horizon. However now she desired to get past it, to exceed her own strength, to be strong enough to protect the entire Academy District from the Euclidian Key. No, to be strong enough to protect Mü from whatever might happen in the future.
The desire was just the smallest crack in the wall of her fear and uncertainty but it would be enough. She decided to bring down the wall, reach beyond the moon and toward the stars. It might take time to tear down the wall but tear it down she would, stone by stone unless every block of it was gone.
Then she started to fall. She had released her corrective teleports that had been keeping her airborne and now she was in free-fall. She closed her eyes and felt the wind streaming by her and waited as the ground got closer to her. She had wanted to be able to fly and she guess that this was good enough.
When Lynn stepped in from the balcony she found Emiray moving around the in kitchen. Lynn glanced at the clock. It was still a while until dawn. Even at the altitude she had been at it had still been dark. “Aren’t you still supposed to be asleep?” Asked Lynn. Lynn had gone to be early to she had gotten enough sleep but Emiray had probably been up hours after Lynn had gone to bed.
“Oh, sleep, I’ve got plently. I’ve had a good four hours and that is enough for me to keep working all day.” Said Emiray as she managed to fish out a bowl and spoon from somewhere.
“Four hours? What sort of robot are you? Can you really function with that little sleep?” Just the thought of getting that little sleep made Lynn sleepy. She did find it amusing however that her death defying stunt through the air just now hadn’t even pushed away the last remnants of tiredness. Humans could get used to the strangest things.
“Four hours is about how much rest Rob needs to recover its energy cells so I guess I must have adjusted to that schedule. Now it seems quite normal to only be getting four hours of sleep. It is actually harder to sleep longer, I’m too used to getting up and going to work in the Belly to break the habit today.” Lynn shrugged as she searched though the cupboards for something to put in her bowl.
“Rose said she was a bad morning person and the we should help ourselves to breakfast when we got up. She said she would join us later but probably not before ten.” Emiray managed to fix a box of cereal and stared at it quizzically as if she wasn’t quiet certain if that was what you really ate for breakfast. She was more used to jerky and other long lasting meals with the occasionally hot meal created by a lucky animal trap.
“Emiray, have you ever had a mental block? Like maybe you wanted to get better at Engineering but you found it difficult to until something special happened to you?”
Emiray poured some of the cereal into the bowl and then began to eat it without milk. “I suppose, although it wasn’t quite what you describe. Engineering has a lot to do with study and practice but both of those eventually come down to motivation. If an engineer is motivated to get better then they will, it is as simple as that. Now there was once a time when I didn’t want to keep being an Engineer. My uncle taught me everything he knew about being an engineer but when he died,”
Emiray paused with a look of pain on her face, “When he did I wanted to stop being an engineer. I wanted to escape from it all, to run away and never look back. Eventually I managed to realize that if I did then then my Uncle would truly be gone. That everything that he taught me, all those precious moments together with me, would all be wasted. It was that thought that eventually rekindled my passion for engineering and got me learning again.”
“I’m not certain if that is a mental block like you mentioned but it did keep me from learning more engineering.” Said Emiray. She stuck another spoonful of dry cereal into her mouth before continuing, “I don’t know why you people like this stuff. It isn’t really that great.”
Lynn laughed, “Well, most people eat cereal with milk.” Emiray glared at Lynn with a ‘Why didn’t you tell me that earlier?’ look. Lynn continue to distract Emiray way from that annoyance. “I suppose you can call that a block. It is close enough I guess. Yours was more situation then mine but I guess the final effect is the same.”
“Is there a reason that you are thinking about this now?” Asked Emiray as she open the fridge door and pulled out the half gallen bottle of milk inside.
“It’s just,” Lynn hesitated, “If the Euclidian Key really does get activated using the Ark Tunnel Reactor then I don’t know if I will be able to stop it. I’ve grown so used to being strong enough to handle anything that I feel uncertain at the prospect of unknowing. Now that I want to get stronger I realize that I don’t know how to get stronger. It is a strange mental block I suppose.”
Emiray pondered those thoughts as she took her first bite of milked up cereal. “After I came back to engineering after my uncle died I was given my own post in the Belly. That meant I was alone, except for Rob, and I had to deal the the problems that I found down there by myself. I said that getting better at engineering requires study and practice but there are some things that you can’t study or practice for. Sometimes an engineer is given a problem that they don’t know a solution for. What do you think they do in that situation.” Emiray waggled her spoon at Lynn in question.
“Ask one of the most experienced Engineers what they should do?” Asked Lynn.
Emiray shook her head, “No, while that might work for a regular engineer, a master engineer can’t do that because they have nobody to go to for advice.” Emiray raised her spoon before continuing. “When you find a problem for which you don’t know the solution, the correct answer is to create the solution.”
Lynn looked confused at the younger woman, “And how does that help be get stronger. How can I just create the method for getting stronger.” However she did understand what Lynn was getting at, she had invented dozens of techniques that improved the usefulness of teleportation. However those didn’t effect a users raw power, how much energy an Esper was able to use. That was something that seemed to grow naturally as an Esper trained until it reached a certain point.
“No, not how to get stronger,” Said Emiray, “What it means to be stronger. Instead of wondering how to become stronger, instead think about what you would want to be able to do if you were stronger.”
Lynn thought back to her dream and the memories that came with it. “I see, I already had the solution in my hands but confused it for something else. I knew what it meant to be a stronger teleporter, to do what none had done before. It was once I had accomplished that that I became what I am now. Now that I am the strongest teleporter I need to decide what it means to be a stronger teleporter. It can’t just be speed or distance, those come with being a stronger teleporter they aren’t what make a stronger teleporter.”
Emiray nodded in approval, like a teacher regarding a student that did well. Lynn found that fairly annoying considering she was older then Emiray. Emiray said, “Since you have found the right question, you just need to find the right answer.” Emiray shoved the last spoon full of cereal into her mouth and the set the bowl down of the table, “Now I’m going to make sure that everything is in working order, it is always a good idea to double check things before everything gets dicy.”
When Emiray left Lynn sat down on the couch and looked blanking at the vacant television. Even if she knew the right question she didn’t know if she could find an answer. Over the last couple of years she had burned through her ideas about what a teleporter should be able to do. Now that she could accomplish all of those she didn’t know what a stronger teleporter would be able to do that Lynn wasn’t already capable of doing.
It was a conundrum alright and Lynn didn’t even have a the faintest clue about how to solve it, she just knew that she wanted to solve it.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
NaNoWriMo 2010, Part Fourteen
Yeah, I know it has taken me forever to finally get around to posting these again. I managed to finish my 50,000 words for NaNoWriMo and now I'm going to start posting them again.
The Past
“Again.” The voice through the speaker system blared down at Lynn. She closed her eyes again and concentrated. She shifted the ball in her hands toward the slot for it a few hundred meters away. There was a blare as the sensors recorded that she was off by several inches again.
“That is enough Lynn. Please report to the results room.” She sighed and opened her eyes again. The Esper level test was going badly for her. She had hoped to have gotten better but it seemed that it hadn’t happened.
When she arrived the the results room she receives the paper with her results on it. Like it had three months ago the paper said that she was a level four Esper. Three months and her results hadn’t improved at all. It had been nearly a year since her power had increased at all. It had been nearly a year since she had started her special training. Maybe is was about time that she gave up on that and continued with her real training again.
She sighed and slipped the piece of paper into her pocket. With the end of year Esper tests over it was time for her to enjoy her new years eve. She didn’t really have any plans, most of her friends were going to go celebrate their increased scores however Lynn didn’t really feel like doing it. One of them had managed to reach level 5 this time, Lynn was happy for her but it also made Lynn feel inadequate.
Lynn had managed to reach level 4 before her friend and now she had been passed by, in fact most of them were beginning to get better then her. She wondered the streets of the University District trying to decide what to do. Nothing however stuck her interest and she ended up reaching her apartment. She unlocked her door and slipped inside. She could have probably teleported inside, she was capable of short personal teleportations but it seemed like too much of a pain.
She sat down on her couch and flipped on the TV. It was talking about the new year and what the different news casters were planning for their new years resolutions. She remembered the resolution that she had made last year and felt regret at not having accomplished it. She stared at the remote that she had set down on the coffee table.
She closed her eyes and mentally reached toward remote willing it into her hand. When she opened her eyes the remote was still on the table. Of course it was still on the table. No teleporter had managed a reverse teleporation, the ability to move an object at a distance to the teleporter. She had told herself last year that she would be the first one to do it, that she would spend all year trying to accomplish it.
It had been a year since then. A year of trying and failing to do the impossible. She hadn’t initially thought that it would be impossible, she had thought that if she just put in the time and effort to try it then she would be able to do it but life wasn’t that easy.
She had tried everything she could think of. She had thought that she would be able to bring things back through the spacial tunnel that was created when she moved an object somewhere else but that proved to be a faulty assumption, the spacial tunnel collapsed after the object finished moving through it and the attempts just ended up making things explode. While some people might think that would be useful it was hardly what she had been attempting.
Reversing the tunnel didn’t seem to work. Whatever it was that she did to create it in the first place was enough beyond her that she had no idea how one would reverse it. So in the end months of wasted effort was spent trying to accomplish something that dozens of Espers before her must have already tried and failed to do.
Now she had a year of failure to show for her stupid new years resolution. If she had practiced the standard way then maybe she would have been a level 5 too now. She looked at the TV again. There were only a few minutes left to go until midnight. It looks like she really did fail last year’s resolution. It was probably better just to give up.
She wondered what she should make for this year’s resolution. Maybe she should aim for becoming a level 5 Esper, that seemed like an reasonable goal. Most people’s powers peak out at around there so she should be able to accomplish that too.
She stood up and moved toward her balcony, opening the door and stepping outside. It was cold but not to much so. Mu was almost always a reasonable temperature. The concentrated for a minute and then opened up a spacial tunnel to move herself onto the roof. Once it was completed she panted, it was always more tiring then she expected.
She laid back on roof and stared up at the stars. She had always loved looking up at the stars when she had been a child. She father had been an astronomer and had told her all about the stars. The brightness from the city all around her made the stars dim and difficult to see but she could still make out many of the constellations.
She didn’t mind being a teleporter but she had really wanted to be able to fly. If you had asked her what Esper power she wanted it would have been telekinesis. Powerful Espers with telekinesis were capable of lifting themselves in the air and flying.
She reached out her hand toward the sky as if trying to grasp at the stars. What was it that she really wanted. Why was it that she was trying so hard at this stupid resolution. She wasn’t really sure herself. The stars seemed so far away, so very far away. How far would she need to reach to catch them.
She heard the tolling of a bell somewhere off in the distance. It was almost midnight, it must be the countdown before the new year. It would be easy to just give up on her resolution and pick up a new one, one that she knew she could accomplish. But what then, won’t that just be the same as giving up. Was it wrong to give up on an impossible task. Lynn just didn’t know.
The bell tolled for the seventh time. She felt like she was running out of time to decide what to do. A silly idea really, the changing of the year didn’t really mean anything. The bell tolled the eight time. How high could she reach, she wanted to know that. It was part of the reason she had volunteered to be an Esper in the first place. If she gave up know would she ever be able to reach the stars.
The bell rang the twelfth time and Lynn sat up. She should probably get back to the apartment. She looked up once more at the stars. She wasn’t ready to give up now. It didn’t matter if it took another year or ten, she wasn’t going to give up on making her resolution. Espers were supposed to do the impossible, however was her plan any different.
She stood at the edge of the roof and looked down at her balcony. It took her a moment to focus and open the tunnel to it and she stepped through. Stepped through? She stood on the balcony and walked through it in her mind. Somehow the process seemed different then it had a couple of minutes ago. She stepped through the mental steps she had used to teleport herself. They seemed clearer to her then they had previously.
There was something different about how she teleported herself and how she teleported objects. She closed her eyes to remove the visual distractions. Then she opened up a tunnel in preparation of teleporting herself. However she just stood there keeping the tunnel open. Then she reached out, felt herself being pulled in by the tunnel. The remote on the table, she felt it, like she was touching it with her fingers. It was like she was letting her senses, her awareness, get sucked through the spacial tunnel. She could feel the remote like she was holding it in her hand, then in a random stab in the dark she open up another tunnel, this open leading back to herself. She funneled her awareness through the new tunnel and then, she was holding it.
The remote was in her hands.
The Past
“Again.” The voice through the speaker system blared down at Lynn. She closed her eyes again and concentrated. She shifted the ball in her hands toward the slot for it a few hundred meters away. There was a blare as the sensors recorded that she was off by several inches again.
“That is enough Lynn. Please report to the results room.” She sighed and opened her eyes again. The Esper level test was going badly for her. She had hoped to have gotten better but it seemed that it hadn’t happened.
When she arrived the the results room she receives the paper with her results on it. Like it had three months ago the paper said that she was a level four Esper. Three months and her results hadn’t improved at all. It had been nearly a year since her power had increased at all. It had been nearly a year since she had started her special training. Maybe is was about time that she gave up on that and continued with her real training again.
She sighed and slipped the piece of paper into her pocket. With the end of year Esper tests over it was time for her to enjoy her new years eve. She didn’t really have any plans, most of her friends were going to go celebrate their increased scores however Lynn didn’t really feel like doing it. One of them had managed to reach level 5 this time, Lynn was happy for her but it also made Lynn feel inadequate.
Lynn had managed to reach level 4 before her friend and now she had been passed by, in fact most of them were beginning to get better then her. She wondered the streets of the University District trying to decide what to do. Nothing however stuck her interest and she ended up reaching her apartment. She unlocked her door and slipped inside. She could have probably teleported inside, she was capable of short personal teleportations but it seemed like too much of a pain.
She sat down on her couch and flipped on the TV. It was talking about the new year and what the different news casters were planning for their new years resolutions. She remembered the resolution that she had made last year and felt regret at not having accomplished it. She stared at the remote that she had set down on the coffee table.
She closed her eyes and mentally reached toward remote willing it into her hand. When she opened her eyes the remote was still on the table. Of course it was still on the table. No teleporter had managed a reverse teleporation, the ability to move an object at a distance to the teleporter. She had told herself last year that she would be the first one to do it, that she would spend all year trying to accomplish it.
It had been a year since then. A year of trying and failing to do the impossible. She hadn’t initially thought that it would be impossible, she had thought that if she just put in the time and effort to try it then she would be able to do it but life wasn’t that easy.
She had tried everything she could think of. She had thought that she would be able to bring things back through the spacial tunnel that was created when she moved an object somewhere else but that proved to be a faulty assumption, the spacial tunnel collapsed after the object finished moving through it and the attempts just ended up making things explode. While some people might think that would be useful it was hardly what she had been attempting.
Reversing the tunnel didn’t seem to work. Whatever it was that she did to create it in the first place was enough beyond her that she had no idea how one would reverse it. So in the end months of wasted effort was spent trying to accomplish something that dozens of Espers before her must have already tried and failed to do.
Now she had a year of failure to show for her stupid new years resolution. If she had practiced the standard way then maybe she would have been a level 5 too now. She looked at the TV again. There were only a few minutes left to go until midnight. It looks like she really did fail last year’s resolution. It was probably better just to give up.
She wondered what she should make for this year’s resolution. Maybe she should aim for becoming a level 5 Esper, that seemed like an reasonable goal. Most people’s powers peak out at around there so she should be able to accomplish that too.
She stood up and moved toward her balcony, opening the door and stepping outside. It was cold but not to much so. Mu was almost always a reasonable temperature. The concentrated for a minute and then opened up a spacial tunnel to move herself onto the roof. Once it was completed she panted, it was always more tiring then she expected.
She laid back on roof and stared up at the stars. She had always loved looking up at the stars when she had been a child. She father had been an astronomer and had told her all about the stars. The brightness from the city all around her made the stars dim and difficult to see but she could still make out many of the constellations.
She didn’t mind being a teleporter but she had really wanted to be able to fly. If you had asked her what Esper power she wanted it would have been telekinesis. Powerful Espers with telekinesis were capable of lifting themselves in the air and flying.
She reached out her hand toward the sky as if trying to grasp at the stars. What was it that she really wanted. Why was it that she was trying so hard at this stupid resolution. She wasn’t really sure herself. The stars seemed so far away, so very far away. How far would she need to reach to catch them.
She heard the tolling of a bell somewhere off in the distance. It was almost midnight, it must be the countdown before the new year. It would be easy to just give up on her resolution and pick up a new one, one that she knew she could accomplish. But what then, won’t that just be the same as giving up. Was it wrong to give up on an impossible task. Lynn just didn’t know.
The bell tolled for the seventh time. She felt like she was running out of time to decide what to do. A silly idea really, the changing of the year didn’t really mean anything. The bell tolled the eight time. How high could she reach, she wanted to know that. It was part of the reason she had volunteered to be an Esper in the first place. If she gave up know would she ever be able to reach the stars.
The bell rang the twelfth time and Lynn sat up. She should probably get back to the apartment. She looked up once more at the stars. She wasn’t ready to give up now. It didn’t matter if it took another year or ten, she wasn’t going to give up on making her resolution. Espers were supposed to do the impossible, however was her plan any different.
She stood at the edge of the roof and looked down at her balcony. It took her a moment to focus and open the tunnel to it and she stepped through. Stepped through? She stood on the balcony and walked through it in her mind. Somehow the process seemed different then it had a couple of minutes ago. She stepped through the mental steps she had used to teleport herself. They seemed clearer to her then they had previously.
There was something different about how she teleported herself and how she teleported objects. She closed her eyes to remove the visual distractions. Then she opened up a tunnel in preparation of teleporting herself. However she just stood there keeping the tunnel open. Then she reached out, felt herself being pulled in by the tunnel. The remote on the table, she felt it, like she was touching it with her fingers. It was like she was letting her senses, her awareness, get sucked through the spacial tunnel. She could feel the remote like she was holding it in her hand, then in a random stab in the dark she open up another tunnel, this open leading back to herself. She funneled her awareness through the new tunnel and then, she was holding it.
The remote was in her hands.
Friday, November 12, 2010
NaNoWriMo 2010, Part Eight
After the moment of recovery was over Emiray said, “I see, I guess that would be why the Euclidian Key would not be useful for you. I tank would hardly have need of a pistol. Since it appears that I believe you now, I guess I will tell you what I know about what happened. It all started down in the Belly when I found the corpse of a man…”
Emiray told the story about what happened to her to the best of her ability. She explained the discovery of the body in detail and of her meeting with Professor Gray. She tried skimming over the story about the Black Crocodile but Lynn questioned her about it and she told the whole story from beginning to end. It ended with her unfortunate showdown with Professor Gray.
“I think I wounded it but I doubt it was anything serious. He probably thinks I am dead, my wounds are still really bad but it was thanks to Rob that I escaped. Rob must have pretended to be dead after it got shot so that it could help me when it was needed. The doctors told me that it brought me here and I guess I owe Rob my life.”
Lynn nodded, “That is what I heard too. That is one impressive robot though. I heard that it managed to remove the bullet from your wound by itself, not a small task. I wonder where it learned to do something like that.”
R08 turned its head and looked over any Lynn and Emiray. “PRECISE DELICATE MOVEMENT IS IMPORTANT. I HAVE BEEN TRAINED TO REMOVE BROKEN PIECES FROM EXTREMELY DELICATE EQUIPMENT. THAT WAS JUST AN APPLICATION OF MY TRAIN.” The robot paused for a moment, “HOWEVER, ONE OF MY PREVIOUS MASTERS USED TO TAKE A LIKING TO ANIMALS WHICH BECAME LOST IN THE BELLY AND HE TENDED MANY OF THIER WOUNDS. MY OBSERVATION OF THOSE TREATMENTS MAY HAVE HELPED.”
“I never knew that about you Rob. What happened to that man?”
“HE WAS OLD AND RETIRED. HE THOUGHT IT WOULD BE A WASTE TO HAVE ME RETIRE WITH HIM SO HE PUT ME IN THE CARE OF YOUR UNCLE. WHEN YOUR UNCLE DIED I THEN WAS PASSED ONTO YOU.” Explained the robot.
Lynn stood up and looked back and forth between the robot and the Emiray. “Well, I’m glad that you managed to survive that attack but you don’t need to worry about it any longer. Just get better and return to your home, I’ll deal with Professor Gray and make sure he doesn’t do anything bad with the Euclidian Key. Now that I have a name and description I should be able to track him down. Also thanks for telling me about the Ark Tunnel Generator, since it has enough power to supercharge the Euclidian Key, Gray is sure to try and take control of it and when he does that then I will be able to stop him.”
Emiray nodded, “Is it alright if I asked you a question?”
“Sure, you answered all of my questions after all. It seems only fair that I answer some of yours too after all.”
“That man that I found, who was he?”
“The body that you found sounded like Professor Harold. He was the scientist that I helped design the Euclidian Key. He was a great researcher. Given what I know he must have activated the Euclidian Key to escape. Either he stress of the teleportation must have killed him or he must have been trapped and died of dehydration.”
Emiray was silent for a few seconds before asking something once again, “Was he a father?” Her voice was quiet, like she didn’t want to know the answer but had to know.
Lynn paused before saying, “Harold, yes, I believe he had a son. Although I head that they have been estranged for many years now. Since I don’t know where he is I don’t know if he even knows about his father’s death.”
“I see. Thank you.” Emiray grew quiet and laid back down on the bed. Lynn waited to see if there were any more questions. Where she finally decided there were probably weren’t any more coming she said.
“I will be going now. I’ll come back to check on you once I have found and dealt with Gray. Try not to get shot again.” Emiray didn’t respond, she just laid there looking up and the roof of the room.
Lynn was just about to left, to be on the roof visible from the window when the door to the room burst in. The first thoughts that came to Lynn’s head was that these four men were armed, the second was that they were wearing University Security uniforms. It was when she connected those to thoughts that she noticed the third thing. These men, they were aiming the guns at her, her and Emiray. No, they couldn’t have possibly know Lynn was there, they were aiming the guns at Emiray.
That is when Lynn’s thoughts stopped and she began to move. It only took her less then a second to move Emiray from on top of the bud to underneath it. Lynn hadn’t had time to replace Emiray’s previous position with air so there was a sudden snap as air closed into the vacuum.
With that accomplished Lynn moved herself into a better position behind the men, this time with enough concentration to move to prevent the vacuum snap by moving the air that was where she was going to be into the place that she was previously.
The sudden lack of targets distracted the men just long enough for Lynn to remove all of their guns from them. She caught of glimpse of the guns through the window before they fell to the ground a floor below.
With the men unarmed it was an easy task to move the four men several inches down. Trapping their legs inside the floor. She pondered briefly what to do with the parts of the floor that had been where the men were now before finally moving it outside the building just like the guns.
Lynn finally took it a breath. It hadn’t been more then ten seconds since the door had been pushed open and the men had entered. Finally her brain was beginning to catch up with what had happened. Why had University Security been here and why where they attacking Emiray. Were they even attacking her, Lynn had acting so fast that she wasn’t even sure about that. Maybe they had seen here in the room through a security camera and came to Emiray’s rescue and Lynn had just attacked them.
No use pondering that now, best to just ask them directly. “Um, I hope I didn’t do anything wrong but why did you just attack us?”
One of the men, the leader if Lynn guess correctly, began to turn his head to look at her but she relocated herself to be in front of them again. “Lynn Tear, I should have know you would be here. You and the Engineer Emiray are arresting under article 7, section 34 for the theft of the Euclidian Key and the murder of Professor Harold.”
Lynn’s jaw hung there limply. This guard couldn’t be serious, she began to laugh at the absurdity before stopping. Could he be serious? “What? Why? How? That’s impossible? I helped Professor Harold make the Euclidian Key, what reason would I have to steal it from him, and murder him? What possible reason could have have for doing that.”
The officer struggled with his legs, trying to break free of the floor. “Humph, why would I know a criminal thinks.” The man spat at the floor in front of Lynn. It might have hit her but she move it out of the way. “However there is security footage of you breaking into Professor Harold’s laboratory where the Key was kept.”
“But he died far beneath the University District, how do you…” Lynn was about to ask how the man would explain that when it came to her, she could quite easily be able to do that. “Then why are you blaming Emiray. How could she be involved in this.” Lynn felt like she was grasping at straws, trying to explain why they weren’t responsible.
She was getting a sinking suspision that these men were actually University Security and if that was true it would be very bad if she did anything to them. She hadn’t hurt them in her initial attack so she should probably get away with nothing more then a scolding, if she could get this theft and murder charge cleared up.
“Harold was murdered in the Belly and then there was an attempted murder of the Professor who went to discover the truth about the body and you claim that she had nothing to do with it. What sort of a fool do you take me for.”
That is when everything snapped into place for Lynn, she glanced over at Emiray and asked, “I see, I think I understand now. You told me that Gray couldn’t let anyone who knew about what he did to live right?”
Emiray was already on her feet and had managed to secure some sort of long knife but was now holding it casually. “Yes, I said that didn’t I. If they claim that I attacked Gray then that must be what this is about.”
There was a single moment of hesitation where Lynn wondered if Emiray really did try to attack Gray but then it vanished. If that was true then there would have been no reason for Lynn to be accused of theft and murder. The only reason that she could think of for that would be to isolate the two main people who had any real knowledge about the Euclidian Key.
“Very well, I think we will be leaving here then.” Said Lynn. She glanced between Emiray and the robot R08 and the Lynn moved the three of them somewhere else.
Emiray told the story about what happened to her to the best of her ability. She explained the discovery of the body in detail and of her meeting with Professor Gray. She tried skimming over the story about the Black Crocodile but Lynn questioned her about it and she told the whole story from beginning to end. It ended with her unfortunate showdown with Professor Gray.
“I think I wounded it but I doubt it was anything serious. He probably thinks I am dead, my wounds are still really bad but it was thanks to Rob that I escaped. Rob must have pretended to be dead after it got shot so that it could help me when it was needed. The doctors told me that it brought me here and I guess I owe Rob my life.”
Lynn nodded, “That is what I heard too. That is one impressive robot though. I heard that it managed to remove the bullet from your wound by itself, not a small task. I wonder where it learned to do something like that.”
R08 turned its head and looked over any Lynn and Emiray. “PRECISE DELICATE MOVEMENT IS IMPORTANT. I HAVE BEEN TRAINED TO REMOVE BROKEN PIECES FROM EXTREMELY DELICATE EQUIPMENT. THAT WAS JUST AN APPLICATION OF MY TRAIN.” The robot paused for a moment, “HOWEVER, ONE OF MY PREVIOUS MASTERS USED TO TAKE A LIKING TO ANIMALS WHICH BECAME LOST IN THE BELLY AND HE TENDED MANY OF THIER WOUNDS. MY OBSERVATION OF THOSE TREATMENTS MAY HAVE HELPED.”
“I never knew that about you Rob. What happened to that man?”
“HE WAS OLD AND RETIRED. HE THOUGHT IT WOULD BE A WASTE TO HAVE ME RETIRE WITH HIM SO HE PUT ME IN THE CARE OF YOUR UNCLE. WHEN YOUR UNCLE DIED I THEN WAS PASSED ONTO YOU.” Explained the robot.
Lynn stood up and looked back and forth between the robot and the Emiray. “Well, I’m glad that you managed to survive that attack but you don’t need to worry about it any longer. Just get better and return to your home, I’ll deal with Professor Gray and make sure he doesn’t do anything bad with the Euclidian Key. Now that I have a name and description I should be able to track him down. Also thanks for telling me about the Ark Tunnel Generator, since it has enough power to supercharge the Euclidian Key, Gray is sure to try and take control of it and when he does that then I will be able to stop him.”
Emiray nodded, “Is it alright if I asked you a question?”
“Sure, you answered all of my questions after all. It seems only fair that I answer some of yours too after all.”
“That man that I found, who was he?”
“The body that you found sounded like Professor Harold. He was the scientist that I helped design the Euclidian Key. He was a great researcher. Given what I know he must have activated the Euclidian Key to escape. Either he stress of the teleportation must have killed him or he must have been trapped and died of dehydration.”
Emiray was silent for a few seconds before asking something once again, “Was he a father?” Her voice was quiet, like she didn’t want to know the answer but had to know.
Lynn paused before saying, “Harold, yes, I believe he had a son. Although I head that they have been estranged for many years now. Since I don’t know where he is I don’t know if he even knows about his father’s death.”
“I see. Thank you.” Emiray grew quiet and laid back down on the bed. Lynn waited to see if there were any more questions. Where she finally decided there were probably weren’t any more coming she said.
“I will be going now. I’ll come back to check on you once I have found and dealt with Gray. Try not to get shot again.” Emiray didn’t respond, she just laid there looking up and the roof of the room.
Lynn was just about to left, to be on the roof visible from the window when the door to the room burst in. The first thoughts that came to Lynn’s head was that these four men were armed, the second was that they were wearing University Security uniforms. It was when she connected those to thoughts that she noticed the third thing. These men, they were aiming the guns at her, her and Emiray. No, they couldn’t have possibly know Lynn was there, they were aiming the guns at Emiray.
That is when Lynn’s thoughts stopped and she began to move. It only took her less then a second to move Emiray from on top of the bud to underneath it. Lynn hadn’t had time to replace Emiray’s previous position with air so there was a sudden snap as air closed into the vacuum.
With that accomplished Lynn moved herself into a better position behind the men, this time with enough concentration to move to prevent the vacuum snap by moving the air that was where she was going to be into the place that she was previously.
The sudden lack of targets distracted the men just long enough for Lynn to remove all of their guns from them. She caught of glimpse of the guns through the window before they fell to the ground a floor below.
With the men unarmed it was an easy task to move the four men several inches down. Trapping their legs inside the floor. She pondered briefly what to do with the parts of the floor that had been where the men were now before finally moving it outside the building just like the guns.
Lynn finally took it a breath. It hadn’t been more then ten seconds since the door had been pushed open and the men had entered. Finally her brain was beginning to catch up with what had happened. Why had University Security been here and why where they attacking Emiray. Were they even attacking her, Lynn had acting so fast that she wasn’t even sure about that. Maybe they had seen here in the room through a security camera and came to Emiray’s rescue and Lynn had just attacked them.
No use pondering that now, best to just ask them directly. “Um, I hope I didn’t do anything wrong but why did you just attack us?”
One of the men, the leader if Lynn guess correctly, began to turn his head to look at her but she relocated herself to be in front of them again. “Lynn Tear, I should have know you would be here. You and the Engineer Emiray are arresting under article 7, section 34 for the theft of the Euclidian Key and the murder of Professor Harold.”
Lynn’s jaw hung there limply. This guard couldn’t be serious, she began to laugh at the absurdity before stopping. Could he be serious? “What? Why? How? That’s impossible? I helped Professor Harold make the Euclidian Key, what reason would I have to steal it from him, and murder him? What possible reason could have have for doing that.”
The officer struggled with his legs, trying to break free of the floor. “Humph, why would I know a criminal thinks.” The man spat at the floor in front of Lynn. It might have hit her but she move it out of the way. “However there is security footage of you breaking into Professor Harold’s laboratory where the Key was kept.”
“But he died far beneath the University District, how do you…” Lynn was about to ask how the man would explain that when it came to her, she could quite easily be able to do that. “Then why are you blaming Emiray. How could she be involved in this.” Lynn felt like she was grasping at straws, trying to explain why they weren’t responsible.
She was getting a sinking suspision that these men were actually University Security and if that was true it would be very bad if she did anything to them. She hadn’t hurt them in her initial attack so she should probably get away with nothing more then a scolding, if she could get this theft and murder charge cleared up.
“Harold was murdered in the Belly and then there was an attempted murder of the Professor who went to discover the truth about the body and you claim that she had nothing to do with it. What sort of a fool do you take me for.”
That is when everything snapped into place for Lynn, she glanced over at Emiray and asked, “I see, I think I understand now. You told me that Gray couldn’t let anyone who knew about what he did to live right?”
Emiray was already on her feet and had managed to secure some sort of long knife but was now holding it casually. “Yes, I said that didn’t I. If they claim that I attacked Gray then that must be what this is about.”
There was a single moment of hesitation where Lynn wondered if Emiray really did try to attack Gray but then it vanished. If that was true then there would have been no reason for Lynn to be accused of theft and murder. The only reason that she could think of for that would be to isolate the two main people who had any real knowledge about the Euclidian Key.
“Very well, I think we will be leaving here then.” Said Lynn. She glanced between Emiray and the robot R08 and the Lynn moved the three of them somewhere else.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
NaNoWriMo 2010, Part Seven
“Ok, that is unusual but can you get to the point.” Responded Lynn grumpily. It was more then unusual for a Belly Engineer to be attacked. Custom dictated that you she treat them like your own family since they were the people who kept the city afloat. Even criminals treated them with respect, Lynn didn’t know who would want to attack one.
“Well, they asked her what happened to her. She is still in bad condition but some of the things she say was interesting. She told the hospital workers that she was attacked and that they took the Euclidian Key from her.”
Lynn dropped the phone as she heard what he was saying. The phone almost hit the ground and broke but just before it hit the ground it was instantly back in her hands again.
“Wait, this Engineer said that? What hospital is she being kept at?” Asked Lynn in a rush. She had already left the building she was currently on and was halfway down the block when she got the response.
“She is at Queen General Hospital in the intensive care unit. Apparently she had taken a wound to the chest that was severe. My friend said she the bullet had already been removed and the wound wrapped before she had even been brought there. She claimed that her robot did the operation and while that is hard to believe all the other options are event harder to believe.”
There was a crackle of static and Ivan took his phone away from his head in disgust. The phone had been disconnected and the call dropped. That only happened when Lynn teleported large distances quickly, she must be going directly to the hospital as fast as possible. Ivan stuck his phone back in his pocket, there was no point in calling her again for a while. He would give it a while, enough time for Lynn to talk with this Engineer and figure out what was happening.
June 10th
Academy District, Queen General Hospital
“I’m sorry miss but we can’t let you see her. She is in stable condition but her wounds are still bad and she needs to recover.” Said the doctor, Lynn tried to argue but the doctor shook his head, “Even if you are a powerful Esper, I can’t let you in until she has recovered. I’ve done the best I can and our healing esper will not be able to see to her until tomorrow. You will just have to wait until then to see her.”
Lynn ground her teeth in frustration. If this Engineer really did know where the Euclidian Key was then Lynn needed to speak with her before it was to late to do anything about it. That meant that Lynn really didn’t have time to waste talking with a fool doctor that wouldn’t let her see the Engineer.
“May I at least speak with the robot that was accompanying her here?” Said Lynn with the best modesty that she could muster. Speaking with the robot wouldn’t be optimal but it would hopefully be enough.
“No, that robot is her property and while she is unconscious I can’t let you access it. These are University rules and you should already know them.” Said the doctor. Lynn knew that but she was hoping that the doctor would let the rule slide. She was generally annoyed by people who always followed the exact letter of the law, they always kept tripping her up.
“Fine, I’ll come back tomorrow and see her then. What room will she be in when I come back?” Asked Lynn slyly. She tried to kept all of her intents out of her voice. She had no intention of following the doctor’s orders but it would be inconvenient if the doctor found out about that.
Lynn listen to the doctor’s response and then began to leave the building, making sure to take a short look at the map of the building to get sense of the room’s location. Then after she had left the building and heading a few blocks away she stopped. It only took her a moment to center her own location can calculate the necessary distance, she had been doing it for years and was not the most skilled person at doing it.
The world shifted and the was in a hospital room. A girl, younger then Lynn, was laying on the bed only a few feet away from her. Next to the bed, sitting on a chair was a strange robot. It was carrying an odd collection of bags hung around it and it had a neat circular hole in the center of its blank mask face.
Surprisingly the girl was awake and scrambling at her sheets trying to get free and away from Lynn who had just appeared in front of her. The girl was clutching at he waist like she was expecting something to be there.
Lynn raised and opened her hands to show there there was nothing to be afraid of. That wasn’t strictly true, Lynn could probably put the girl several hundred feet into the air before anyone realized what had happened but the girl probably didn’t know that. “Please calm down, I’m not here to hurt you. I just wanted to ask you some questions about what happened to you.”
The girl stopped moving and just stared at Lynn. It would have been unnerving if the girl didn’t have an expression of pain plastered on her face. “What is it that you want to know?” Asked the girl.
“You were attacked by somebody and the doctors remember you mentioning something called the Euclidian Key. I want to know who it was that attacked you and what they are doing with the Key.”
“What, are you going to try and kill me too.” Responded the girl bitterly. “That man attacked me because he wanted this Euclidian Key and he couldn’t have me tell anyone that he had taken it. I don’t even know that the Euclidian Key is so if you are going to kill me just get it over with already.”
“I’m not here to kill you.” Said Lynn in the calmest voice she could muster, it also hide her exasperation. “I’m trying to recover the Key to prevent anyone from using it. If somebody is willing to kill for it then I need to get it out of that person’s hands as quickly as possible.”
“Any why should I believe that you can’t trying to get it for yourself. If I was attacked to take it then surely it must be important. Wouldn’t you want it just as much as my attacker.”
Lynn couldn’t contain her laugher. “I don’t want it for myself because out of everyone in the world, the Euclidian Key is nothing more then a large piece of metal.” Lynn held out her hand to stop the girl from trying to speak. “I’m an Esper and the Euclidian Key was designed using the insights that were discovered when Harold was studying my power. There is nothing that I could do with the Key that I couldn’t do without it and many things I can do that even someone with the Euclidian Key would be unable to do. I would need a power source capable of powering half of Mü for it to be anything more then metal for me.”
“Any what is you already had an Ark Tunnel Generator” Responded the girl.
“A what?” Said Lynn, feeling a bit of confusion for the first time since she entered the room.
“An Ark Tunnel Generator, something capable of powering half of Mü.” Said the girl coldly.
Lynn stared at the girl with a blank uncomprehending look on her face. “That exists?” She said in amazement.
“Yes, don’t you know what powers your own District. It was heralded at the greatest discovery of the decade and it revolutionize power. I thought it was common knowledge.”
Lynn’s jaw hung open for a second but it snaped closed as she began to thing. “Well, I suppose that if I had the Key and a power source that big I could, I don’t know, um, rip most of the Academy District into pieces, travel to the moon, maybe tear open a hole into another dimension? It is hard to say, there are probably more things you could to with it, though you would probably need my experience to do more then attempt to rip the city apart. I hardly have a need for more power then I already have so I haven’t really put much though into what I would be able to accomplish with it.” She nodded, satisfied with her own explanation. “Though I suppose if anybody but me tried to channel that much power through the Euclidian Key then they are more likely to just rip themselves into a billion pieces then anything else.”
“So, if somebody knew about this then they would be expecting to die if they tried to activate it at full power.” The girl seemed to be in a calm state again. The girl crawled back into the bed and pulled up the sheets again. “Very well. I believe you. I’ll tell you what you want to know.”
“Great.” Said Lynn happily, although she was concerned about the possibility that the girl had brought up. She had been planning to directly stop the Key if it ever got activated on a large scale but if there really was a energy source strong enough to power the entire District and somebody got ahold of it then she didn’t know if she would be able to stop the Key. “First I would like to know your name.”
“I am Emiray, Major Engineer of the Third Quadrant.” Said Emiray and Lynn whistled. She didn’t know much about the Belly Engineers but she knew that Major was a title only given to show their dedication to the city. As far as Lynn knew there were only a handful of them.
“And I am Lynn, Level 8 Teleporter.” Now the return was true. Emiray was showing signs of surprise. While the number of Major Engineers alive was probably in the dozen, the number of Level 8 Espers that have ever existed was less then that.
“Well, they asked her what happened to her. She is still in bad condition but some of the things she say was interesting. She told the hospital workers that she was attacked and that they took the Euclidian Key from her.”
Lynn dropped the phone as she heard what he was saying. The phone almost hit the ground and broke but just before it hit the ground it was instantly back in her hands again.
“Wait, this Engineer said that? What hospital is she being kept at?” Asked Lynn in a rush. She had already left the building she was currently on and was halfway down the block when she got the response.
“She is at Queen General Hospital in the intensive care unit. Apparently she had taken a wound to the chest that was severe. My friend said she the bullet had already been removed and the wound wrapped before she had even been brought there. She claimed that her robot did the operation and while that is hard to believe all the other options are event harder to believe.”
There was a crackle of static and Ivan took his phone away from his head in disgust. The phone had been disconnected and the call dropped. That only happened when Lynn teleported large distances quickly, she must be going directly to the hospital as fast as possible. Ivan stuck his phone back in his pocket, there was no point in calling her again for a while. He would give it a while, enough time for Lynn to talk with this Engineer and figure out what was happening.
June 10th
Academy District, Queen General Hospital
“I’m sorry miss but we can’t let you see her. She is in stable condition but her wounds are still bad and she needs to recover.” Said the doctor, Lynn tried to argue but the doctor shook his head, “Even if you are a powerful Esper, I can’t let you in until she has recovered. I’ve done the best I can and our healing esper will not be able to see to her until tomorrow. You will just have to wait until then to see her.”
Lynn ground her teeth in frustration. If this Engineer really did know where the Euclidian Key was then Lynn needed to speak with her before it was to late to do anything about it. That meant that Lynn really didn’t have time to waste talking with a fool doctor that wouldn’t let her see the Engineer.
“May I at least speak with the robot that was accompanying her here?” Said Lynn with the best modesty that she could muster. Speaking with the robot wouldn’t be optimal but it would hopefully be enough.
“No, that robot is her property and while she is unconscious I can’t let you access it. These are University rules and you should already know them.” Said the doctor. Lynn knew that but she was hoping that the doctor would let the rule slide. She was generally annoyed by people who always followed the exact letter of the law, they always kept tripping her up.
“Fine, I’ll come back tomorrow and see her then. What room will she be in when I come back?” Asked Lynn slyly. She tried to kept all of her intents out of her voice. She had no intention of following the doctor’s orders but it would be inconvenient if the doctor found out about that.
Lynn listen to the doctor’s response and then began to leave the building, making sure to take a short look at the map of the building to get sense of the room’s location. Then after she had left the building and heading a few blocks away she stopped. It only took her a moment to center her own location can calculate the necessary distance, she had been doing it for years and was not the most skilled person at doing it.
The world shifted and the was in a hospital room. A girl, younger then Lynn, was laying on the bed only a few feet away from her. Next to the bed, sitting on a chair was a strange robot. It was carrying an odd collection of bags hung around it and it had a neat circular hole in the center of its blank mask face.
Surprisingly the girl was awake and scrambling at her sheets trying to get free and away from Lynn who had just appeared in front of her. The girl was clutching at he waist like she was expecting something to be there.
Lynn raised and opened her hands to show there there was nothing to be afraid of. That wasn’t strictly true, Lynn could probably put the girl several hundred feet into the air before anyone realized what had happened but the girl probably didn’t know that. “Please calm down, I’m not here to hurt you. I just wanted to ask you some questions about what happened to you.”
The girl stopped moving and just stared at Lynn. It would have been unnerving if the girl didn’t have an expression of pain plastered on her face. “What is it that you want to know?” Asked the girl.
“You were attacked by somebody and the doctors remember you mentioning something called the Euclidian Key. I want to know who it was that attacked you and what they are doing with the Key.”
“What, are you going to try and kill me too.” Responded the girl bitterly. “That man attacked me because he wanted this Euclidian Key and he couldn’t have me tell anyone that he had taken it. I don’t even know that the Euclidian Key is so if you are going to kill me just get it over with already.”
“I’m not here to kill you.” Said Lynn in the calmest voice she could muster, it also hide her exasperation. “I’m trying to recover the Key to prevent anyone from using it. If somebody is willing to kill for it then I need to get it out of that person’s hands as quickly as possible.”
“Any why should I believe that you can’t trying to get it for yourself. If I was attacked to take it then surely it must be important. Wouldn’t you want it just as much as my attacker.”
Lynn couldn’t contain her laugher. “I don’t want it for myself because out of everyone in the world, the Euclidian Key is nothing more then a large piece of metal.” Lynn held out her hand to stop the girl from trying to speak. “I’m an Esper and the Euclidian Key was designed using the insights that were discovered when Harold was studying my power. There is nothing that I could do with the Key that I couldn’t do without it and many things I can do that even someone with the Euclidian Key would be unable to do. I would need a power source capable of powering half of Mü for it to be anything more then metal for me.”
“Any what is you already had an Ark Tunnel Generator” Responded the girl.
“A what?” Said Lynn, feeling a bit of confusion for the first time since she entered the room.
“An Ark Tunnel Generator, something capable of powering half of Mü.” Said the girl coldly.
Lynn stared at the girl with a blank uncomprehending look on her face. “That exists?” She said in amazement.
“Yes, don’t you know what powers your own District. It was heralded at the greatest discovery of the decade and it revolutionize power. I thought it was common knowledge.”
Lynn’s jaw hung open for a second but it snaped closed as she began to thing. “Well, I suppose that if I had the Key and a power source that big I could, I don’t know, um, rip most of the Academy District into pieces, travel to the moon, maybe tear open a hole into another dimension? It is hard to say, there are probably more things you could to with it, though you would probably need my experience to do more then attempt to rip the city apart. I hardly have a need for more power then I already have so I haven’t really put much though into what I would be able to accomplish with it.” She nodded, satisfied with her own explanation. “Though I suppose if anybody but me tried to channel that much power through the Euclidian Key then they are more likely to just rip themselves into a billion pieces then anything else.”
“So, if somebody knew about this then they would be expecting to die if they tried to activate it at full power.” The girl seemed to be in a calm state again. The girl crawled back into the bed and pulled up the sheets again. “Very well. I believe you. I’ll tell you what you want to know.”
“Great.” Said Lynn happily, although she was concerned about the possibility that the girl had brought up. She had been planning to directly stop the Key if it ever got activated on a large scale but if there really was a energy source strong enough to power the entire District and somebody got ahold of it then she didn’t know if she would be able to stop the Key. “First I would like to know your name.”
“I am Emiray, Major Engineer of the Third Quadrant.” Said Emiray and Lynn whistled. She didn’t know much about the Belly Engineers but she knew that Major was a title only given to show their dedication to the city. As far as Lynn knew there were only a handful of them.
“And I am Lynn, Level 8 Teleporter.” Now the return was true. Emiray was showing signs of surprise. While the number of Major Engineers alive was probably in the dozen, the number of Level 8 Espers that have ever existed was less then that.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
NaNoWriMo 2010, Part Six
I also finished the first half of part seven. That and part eight should be up late tonight or tomorrow
“No,” Said Emiray who couldn’t see Gray’s growing frown. “I’ll need to give the report to them myself. I’ve come all this way after all and the head engineer would be upset if I passed my duty off to somebody else. I can’t let something little like this stop me or I would be a disgrace to the engineers.”
“I’m sorry.” Said Gray, there was almost a forlorn sound in his voice. “I didn’t want it to come to this but now I don’t have any other choice.” Emiray looked over her shoulder in confusion and she tensed as she saw what he was holding.
Gray had the gun pointed straight at Emiray. The small weapon didn’t pack very much firepower but against Emiray’s body it could easily kill her if she was hit by it. “What are you doing Professor Gray.” Said Emiray, her voice beginning to tighten as she stared at the muzzle of the gun. If she jumped him then she might be able to stop him from firing. If she could get close to him then she would be able to hurt him before he would be able to kill her, but getting close was the problem.
“I’m afraid that I need to get the Euclidian Key from you and since you insist on taking it to the authorities I’m going to have to take it from you.” There was still a measure of uncertainty in Gray’s voice which kept Emiray talking.
“The Euclidian Key?” Asked Emiray quietly. She was trying to keep him talking and maybe he would be put the gun down and let here leave. “I don’t know what you are talking about, but if it is anyone of the person’s possessions then I will give you all of them if you want.”
“That is no longer good enough. I can’t have anyone find out what has happened which means that I can’t just let you go. If you tell the authorities then I may not have enough time to do what I need with it and I can’t let that happen.” Responded Gray with a tinge of annoyance in his voice.
“Then what are we doing? If you need to get rid of me then why are we standing her talking with each other. You could just shoot me and be done with it. There must be a reason that we are talking.”
“Yes,” Said Gray, “We are standing here and talking because it is giving me time to think of a solution to my problem that doesn’t involve killing you. It is rather tricky because any method I could think of restraining you enough to prevent you from escaping would eventually kill you.”
“I see. How about you leave me locked up some place and then come back to release me after you have done what you need to do with this Euclidian Key. Then you could escape and nobody would be able to follow you.” Suggested Emiray in her meekest voice possible. She was trying to guess her chances of getting the gun from him before he shot and the best she could get was to the chance of messing up his aim enough to only get a life threatening injury instead of a fatal one.
“I thought of that one but the problem is that there is a high probability that I am going to die by the time that the plan if over and even if I tried leaving a message then it might be discovered before it is too late and I can’t risk that.” There doesn’t seem to be any good solution.” He continued to wait and point the gun at her.
She stood there frozen waiting for him to decide her fate when she saw R08 out of the corner of her eye. “No Rob, wait, don’t!” However it was too late. R08 with a clanking gate was rushing at Gray. R08 would walk just fine but with everything that it was carrying it was difficult for it to run without creating a lot of noise.
Gray noticed and moved his gun slightly to the side and pulled the trigger. There was a loud bang R08 collapsed with a hole through its placid mask of a face. Oil began to well and the hole and R08 began to slump to the ground. Even as she felt the pain at what could be called death to her friend she needed to move.
One step after another she counted as she sped toward Gray. One second, two. She reached down and grabbed the hilt of her knife as she got closer to Gray. Three seconds. Gray’s gun was beginning to point at her again. Four seconds. She was almost there but she had run out time. She jerked wildly to one side and there was a second controlled explosion. The pain bloomed in her shoulder and she struggled to take the last step that she needed.
She thrusted the knife forward but her aim was slightly off. She barely grazed Gray’s arm before Gray knocked her hand way with his gun and and pressed the gun to her chest. Emiray held her breath for that one last second.
Professor Gray lower his hand and dropped the gun. He didn’t need it any more and it sickened him to keep holding it. He could see the blood seeming out of the body at his feet. He hadn’t wanted to kill her but since it was what happened he had to deal with it. Gray turned his eyes over to the corpse, if it could be called that, of the robot. Gray doubted that Emiray would be carry the Euclidian Key, it has probably been kept on the robot just like most of her other stuff.
A couple of minutes later her had found the bundle and after unwrapping it her pulled out the long and slender key like object. Gray slipped the Euclidian Key into his coat and then turn away from the girl and the robot. As he moved away and began making his way through the building and out into the University District he began muttering to himself. “For the greater good.” He didn’t know if he believed it anymore.
Emiray was cold when she opened her eyes again. The pain was enormous and she could do no more then twitch her fingers. She had been shot once in the arm and a second time in the right side of her chest. The fact that the wounds hadn’t yet killed her was somewhat encouraging although she didn’t know how much that was worth. It was getting difficult to breath and she didn’t know how much blood she had lost, it must have been a lot.
She couldn’t seem Gray and didn’t know how long she had been unconscious for but he must have been long gone by now. Not this is mattered. She would probably die here alone. It wasn’t quite a locked room in the middle of nowhere but It felt the same. She looked over toward where R08 was, at least she wasn’t dying alone. However R08 wasn’t where it had fallen.
She opened her eyes wide and rolled her head, the only part of her that still seemed to work correctly. She searched for R08 desperately, Gray would have any reason to take R08, would he. Then she saw it. R08’s eyes were glowing softly and it was sitting not far from her and opening up one of the bags it had strung about it. A long set of tweezers were in its hand. The hole in the middle of R08 face was still there but it didn’t seem to inconvenience it.
“HOLD STILL, THIS WILL BE PAINFUL. THE BULLET NEEDS TO BE REMOVED.” The warbling that usually annoyed her so much was now comforting. “YOUR WOUNDS ARE VERY BAD BUT I WILL DO WHAT I CAN. TRY NOT TO DIE.” Emiray almost laughed but it was extremely painful to attempt even that so she gave up.
R08 drew closer to her and pressed the tool against her chest. Then her world was consumed again with pain and she collapsed into blissful consciousness again.
June 10th
Academy District, Top of a Building
It has been a colossal waste of time. The Euclidian Key had been stolen and she hadn’t been able to find out anything about the theft. Lynn had even tracked down the Phantom Thief Rose in the Entrainment District in hopes that she would know something about the theft but it was useless, nobody knew anything about it and Lynn was simply stuck with a missing Professor and Key and absolutely no clues to go on. It was disheartening and Ivan kept pestering her to give up on the search and return to her studies.
Lynn had even devoted hours to just reaching out and feeling for any of the spacial disturbances that could have been the result of using the Euclidian Key but that too had been a deadend. Her cell phone rang and she pulled it out of her pocket and saw that is was Ivan calling her. Since she hadn’t found it by now she realized that she should probably go along more with Ivan, her studies and research were important and she couldn’t just ignore them.
Flipping the phone open she answered, “Yes Ivan, I’ll be there in a moment.” She was about to close the phone when Ivan yelled through it.
“Wait. I found something.” Lynn paused and put the phone back to her head.
“I’m listening.”
Ivan continued, “You mentioned the Euclidian Key to me briefly when I asked you what you were looking for, and I finally found something. One of my friends working at a hospital just called me to ask my opinion on something and I learned something interesting. Apparently there was a Belly Engineer that was shot not far below the city and her robot carried her to the hospital.”
“No,” Said Emiray who couldn’t see Gray’s growing frown. “I’ll need to give the report to them myself. I’ve come all this way after all and the head engineer would be upset if I passed my duty off to somebody else. I can’t let something little like this stop me or I would be a disgrace to the engineers.”
“I’m sorry.” Said Gray, there was almost a forlorn sound in his voice. “I didn’t want it to come to this but now I don’t have any other choice.” Emiray looked over her shoulder in confusion and she tensed as she saw what he was holding.
Gray had the gun pointed straight at Emiray. The small weapon didn’t pack very much firepower but against Emiray’s body it could easily kill her if she was hit by it. “What are you doing Professor Gray.” Said Emiray, her voice beginning to tighten as she stared at the muzzle of the gun. If she jumped him then she might be able to stop him from firing. If she could get close to him then she would be able to hurt him before he would be able to kill her, but getting close was the problem.
“I’m afraid that I need to get the Euclidian Key from you and since you insist on taking it to the authorities I’m going to have to take it from you.” There was still a measure of uncertainty in Gray’s voice which kept Emiray talking.
“The Euclidian Key?” Asked Emiray quietly. She was trying to keep him talking and maybe he would be put the gun down and let here leave. “I don’t know what you are talking about, but if it is anyone of the person’s possessions then I will give you all of them if you want.”
“That is no longer good enough. I can’t have anyone find out what has happened which means that I can’t just let you go. If you tell the authorities then I may not have enough time to do what I need with it and I can’t let that happen.” Responded Gray with a tinge of annoyance in his voice.
“Then what are we doing? If you need to get rid of me then why are we standing her talking with each other. You could just shoot me and be done with it. There must be a reason that we are talking.”
“Yes,” Said Gray, “We are standing here and talking because it is giving me time to think of a solution to my problem that doesn’t involve killing you. It is rather tricky because any method I could think of restraining you enough to prevent you from escaping would eventually kill you.”
“I see. How about you leave me locked up some place and then come back to release me after you have done what you need to do with this Euclidian Key. Then you could escape and nobody would be able to follow you.” Suggested Emiray in her meekest voice possible. She was trying to guess her chances of getting the gun from him before he shot and the best she could get was to the chance of messing up his aim enough to only get a life threatening injury instead of a fatal one.
“I thought of that one but the problem is that there is a high probability that I am going to die by the time that the plan if over and even if I tried leaving a message then it might be discovered before it is too late and I can’t risk that.” There doesn’t seem to be any good solution.” He continued to wait and point the gun at her.
She stood there frozen waiting for him to decide her fate when she saw R08 out of the corner of her eye. “No Rob, wait, don’t!” However it was too late. R08 with a clanking gate was rushing at Gray. R08 would walk just fine but with everything that it was carrying it was difficult for it to run without creating a lot of noise.
Gray noticed and moved his gun slightly to the side and pulled the trigger. There was a loud bang R08 collapsed with a hole through its placid mask of a face. Oil began to well and the hole and R08 began to slump to the ground. Even as she felt the pain at what could be called death to her friend she needed to move.
One step after another she counted as she sped toward Gray. One second, two. She reached down and grabbed the hilt of her knife as she got closer to Gray. Three seconds. Gray’s gun was beginning to point at her again. Four seconds. She was almost there but she had run out time. She jerked wildly to one side and there was a second controlled explosion. The pain bloomed in her shoulder and she struggled to take the last step that she needed.
She thrusted the knife forward but her aim was slightly off. She barely grazed Gray’s arm before Gray knocked her hand way with his gun and and pressed the gun to her chest. Emiray held her breath for that one last second.
Professor Gray lower his hand and dropped the gun. He didn’t need it any more and it sickened him to keep holding it. He could see the blood seeming out of the body at his feet. He hadn’t wanted to kill her but since it was what happened he had to deal with it. Gray turned his eyes over to the corpse, if it could be called that, of the robot. Gray doubted that Emiray would be carry the Euclidian Key, it has probably been kept on the robot just like most of her other stuff.
A couple of minutes later her had found the bundle and after unwrapping it her pulled out the long and slender key like object. Gray slipped the Euclidian Key into his coat and then turn away from the girl and the robot. As he moved away and began making his way through the building and out into the University District he began muttering to himself. “For the greater good.” He didn’t know if he believed it anymore.
Emiray was cold when she opened her eyes again. The pain was enormous and she could do no more then twitch her fingers. She had been shot once in the arm and a second time in the right side of her chest. The fact that the wounds hadn’t yet killed her was somewhat encouraging although she didn’t know how much that was worth. It was getting difficult to breath and she didn’t know how much blood she had lost, it must have been a lot.
She couldn’t seem Gray and didn’t know how long she had been unconscious for but he must have been long gone by now. Not this is mattered. She would probably die here alone. It wasn’t quite a locked room in the middle of nowhere but It felt the same. She looked over toward where R08 was, at least she wasn’t dying alone. However R08 wasn’t where it had fallen.
She opened her eyes wide and rolled her head, the only part of her that still seemed to work correctly. She searched for R08 desperately, Gray would have any reason to take R08, would he. Then she saw it. R08’s eyes were glowing softly and it was sitting not far from her and opening up one of the bags it had strung about it. A long set of tweezers were in its hand. The hole in the middle of R08 face was still there but it didn’t seem to inconvenience it.
“HOLD STILL, THIS WILL BE PAINFUL. THE BULLET NEEDS TO BE REMOVED.” The warbling that usually annoyed her so much was now comforting. “YOUR WOUNDS ARE VERY BAD BUT I WILL DO WHAT I CAN. TRY NOT TO DIE.” Emiray almost laughed but it was extremely painful to attempt even that so she gave up.
R08 drew closer to her and pressed the tool against her chest. Then her world was consumed again with pain and she collapsed into blissful consciousness again.
June 10th
Academy District, Top of a Building
It has been a colossal waste of time. The Euclidian Key had been stolen and she hadn’t been able to find out anything about the theft. Lynn had even tracked down the Phantom Thief Rose in the Entrainment District in hopes that she would know something about the theft but it was useless, nobody knew anything about it and Lynn was simply stuck with a missing Professor and Key and absolutely no clues to go on. It was disheartening and Ivan kept pestering her to give up on the search and return to her studies.
Lynn had even devoted hours to just reaching out and feeling for any of the spacial disturbances that could have been the result of using the Euclidian Key but that too had been a deadend. Her cell phone rang and she pulled it out of her pocket and saw that is was Ivan calling her. Since she hadn’t found it by now she realized that she should probably go along more with Ivan, her studies and research were important and she couldn’t just ignore them.
Flipping the phone open she answered, “Yes Ivan, I’ll be there in a moment.” She was about to close the phone when Ivan yelled through it.
“Wait. I found something.” Lynn paused and put the phone back to her head.
“I’m listening.”
Ivan continued, “You mentioned the Euclidian Key to me briefly when I asked you what you were looking for, and I finally found something. One of my friends working at a hospital just called me to ask my opinion on something and I learned something interesting. Apparently there was a Belly Engineer that was shot not far below the city and her robot carried her to the hospital.”
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)