Friday, December 21, 2007

Rescue Gone Awry (a change of cast)

Some paradigms shifts are subtle, like Steelhead transforming from the Wierd Wild West into Gaslamp Fantasy. But when the city of Hostel was catapulted overnight from the 19th century into the 21st, there was chaos.

Buildings erupted from the ground. Circuitry ripped asunder the cobblestone streets like the roots of alien weeds. Lycans that normally knew know fear raced in terror through the maze of streets that writhed like serpents shedding scales of rock for polymer. Vampires fell out of their ejected coffins as graveyards spat out their tenants, stone memorials tossing about like massive dice on giant's casino table. Feral cats yowled in terror as millenia of evolution occured in the course of an hour, growing them into full-sized, very irate nekos. Humans wandered about dazed from the shock of Reality melding metal and microprocessors to flesh.

Qlippothic appeared in the mist of this chaos in an explosion of lightning, her brass and gears shining in a realm where her definition was changing from innvative to obselete in the tick of melting timepiece.

"Nova! Nova Sakigake!"

She grabbed her artificial companion's hand.

"You are not safe here! You will be safe at the Bloodwing Foundation!"

Qli initiated the dimensional escape just as a tidalwave of circuitry inundated them both. They held each other's wrists tightly as they catapulted through the void of Absolute Elsewhere. Their features and attachments changed to orbs and floated around them.

"Our construct integrities are compromised!" Qli shouted, her voice distorted in the Paradox around them. "Redoubling Probability Shield Strength!"

The gynoids were pulled closer together by their strengthened bubble of gravity. Unidentifiable components still floated away in a trail behind them through the chronosphere. Brass, steel, chrome and silicon intermingled like melting wax.

"Temporal beacon located", the two voices said as one. "Critical loss of matter: fifty-six percent. We will not survive the transisiton back to reality!"

Qlippothic's voice spoke after an unmeasurable silence. "Reconfiguration will occur automatically, expect amalgamation into a single construct. It is our only chance."

"The only other option is total annihlation...proceed with amalgamation."

There was a flash of galvanic energy, and a familiar figure of brass stood in the den of the Bloodwing Foundation. Coal-red eyes scanned the envoronment.

"Qlippothic?" She asked in a voice more British than the American dialect she was taught. "Unable to locate...Location confirmed. Zero metres from present location...ERROR! ERROR! Qlippothic? Do you read? Qlippothic???"

4 comments:

Fuzzball Ortega said...

Hrmmmmm.....interesting. Mind you, space time continuum being changed now due to this rescue, no telling what changes, good or disastrous, will come of it, but still, interesting

Baron K. Wulfenbach said...

So - Hostel has changed so drastically. It would be interesting to visit again, if I had assurance of what protections to bring with me.

Fraulein Nova, you might remember me - if I can be of any assistance recovering our good Fire Captain, I stand ready. Her absence puts both Steelhead and Caledon at hazard, even in theory.

Yrs.,

Klaus Wulfenbach, Baron

Nova Sakigake said...

It is quite disorienting on me also. One day I'm a self-sufficient, clockworked homunculous, the next I had microprocessors and circuits.

On the other hand there were some very realistic improvements with the form so I shall likely enjoy exploring those.

Can someone tell me what to do with a navel? Its the most useless storage device I've ever seen!

What do you put in there?

Baron K. Wulfenbach said...

Fraulein Nova,

Most people would put fingertips or cotton buds, although... ja, we need not discuss that. Consider it more of a decoration than storage.