[Story] Beta Search the Ligature of Stigma [part 1]
tempus fugit
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(genetic, binary, or otherwise) the characters are made of, is now
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receiving a lobotomy within ninety (90) minutes.
Place: A house in Iowa.
Time: Late December, 2009
Rich G. (AKA Secret Agent 00G) picked up the mail and flopped down
on his couch to open it. One plain envelope proved to contain a
welcome surprise... 'Your entry has been selected to take part in
the long-awaited Starcraft II Beta. Under our updated non-
disclosure pact, you will be required to travel to our secret
testing grounds and live on-site for several weeks or longer. No
communication with the outside world will be allowed. Housing,
food, and all other necessities will be provided. If this is
acceptable to you, log on and activate your ticket.
-encl. 1 SCII Beta ticket'
Jumping off the couch and tossing his muffins aside with a whoop,
Rich G. ran off to the computer to activate the ticket. Oh, and
maybe arrange to be gone for a few weeks as well.
Place: Secret Testing Grounds
He'd had to bribe a few Homeland Security people with free veggie
porn, and disappear some idiot who was trying to set the plane on
fire... just another typical business trip for Agent 00G. The
coded directions were a bit tough to follow, but a man with
strange hair was kind enough to help. Rich didn't think that
anyone else would question the man about him, the old guy looked
unstable, with his constant mutterings about angels, demons, and
"dat Vinci" guy.
The building at the end didn't seem all that large or important,
and to the casual eye, the two guards by the door would seem to
just be a couple slackers slouching against a wall. However, to
the trained eye, the important parts of the building would be deep
underground, and the guards highly trained men only pretending to
be oblivious.
One of the men gave a deceptively casual look at his SCII Beta
ticket and waved him inside, where a nervous looking man in a white
lab coat immediately grabbed him and hustled Rich towards an
unmarked door. "You're late! Leave your cell phone, luggage, and
any valubles in the box - you'll be able to pick them up after the
Beta, when you're done go through the door marked 'decontamination'
and wait for your briefing. Room assignments will be done later,
MOVE IT!" The cute cat-eared receptionist waved as Rich was shoved
through the door.
Rich stumbled into the room, plain white with two long benches.
Along both long sides of the room were rows of numbered boxes.
Quickly, he located one of the few boxes with a key in the lock,
stuffed in his belongings, locked it, and exited the room. The
door clicked shut behind him, leaving Rich in a small cubicle of a
room, featureless save for a blinking red light above the far door
with a small 'locked' sign visible above the handle. The door
behind had no handle and didn't budge when pushed, so Rich shrugged
and pulled the lockbox key's lanyard over his head. A sudden
bright flash left him blinking.
The blinking light no longer flashed, the door ahead was slightly
ajar, and the sign now read 'open'. A chill breeze blew in from
the opening. Taking the obvious invitation, Rich pushed open the
door and stepped out onto the roughly paved ground outside.
Location: Beta Terra CCA
With a squeal of tortured metal, the door behind Rich swung open
wider, then crashed to the ground. Whirling, Rich saw that he'd
exited what was probably once a large metal domelike building. It
looked as if some sort of acid had melted one side until most of
the roof collapsed. A sign above the door read 'White Command
Center Alpha'. Distant sounds of gunfire and explosions had Rich
whirling around... the sky seemed to be evenly lit for twilight
conditions where it wasn't lit by flashes of weapons fire in the
distance. None of the stars looked familiar.
Rich looked around more closely. Nearby were other wrecked
buildings, craters, and scorch marks. Although there were distant
signs of movement, nothing nearby seemed to be alive. Rich
shivered. The only promising sign nearby was a pole marked
'Waypoint Alpha'. Underneath, an arrowed sign pointed north to
'Command Center Beta, 5 KM'.
Location: Earth, Secret Testing Grounds
"Think the Goddess will be happy with this batch?""Dunno. More
food for us, anyways." The two guards stood up, looked around,
and entered the building. An alert observer, had there been one,
might have noticed the changelings shifting to forms not native to
Earth as they vanished inside.
Location: Beta Terra WA-CCB
The path seemed to have been pretty well compacted by heavy
traffic. Still faintly visible were the markings of heavy treads,
and giant mecha footprints. That was a good thing, Rich reflected,
as the chill winds revealed another important fact: other than the
strange metal lanyard and lockbox key, he was naked. The flash or
whatever had done it had also left him hairless. 'It's a good
thing my sister got me into running for exercise,' Rich thought.
'It's a better thing that nothing is after me.' Of course, that is
when a squadron of purple tentacled snakelike monsters came into
view over a hill, hissed, and started in his direction.
Location: Beta Terra CCB
Panting, Rich ran along the path into a gap between hills. The
Zerg hydralisks weren't fast enough to keep up with his streamlined
form, but they were also tirelessly persistent. Revealed within
were more ruined buildings, but also one mostly intact large
cube... a Barracks. There was also the low form of a bunker, and
something that looked like a larger version of a tank in siege
mode. The turret rotated to face him but didn't fire as Rich ran
on.
It suddenly jerked upwards, and there was a deafening crash as it
fired, the shell detonating in the midst of the hydralisks. Shots
also came from the bunker, quickly followed by return needle fire
from the Zerg. Rich dove for the Barracks entrance just as the
tank exploded. He scrambled up the ramp into quietly humming air
conditioning. The sounds of battle outside quickly muted into
nothing as Rich followed yellow floor arrows deeper inside the
building. A door irised open into a large, cavernous room.
Near the center was a welcome sight, an upright pair of white metal
pants. Rich quickly climbed in. "I... like... pants!" Rich
enthused, just before metallic claws shot out of the walls and
grabbed his arms. They pulled his arms up and out, as lasers shot
out, scanning his body. More claws quickly fitted him for armored
sleeves, a back and chest plate, and a large, open, armored helmet
dropped over his head. A final arm stuffed a lit cigar in his
mouth before they all retracted back into the walls.
"Plumbing... too tight!" Rich squeaked, as the floor dropped away,
leaving him outside again. He thought a faint voice said, "Whoa,
never heard that message before," as he straightened. Nobody was
in sight though, so it must have been an aural hallucination. The
bunker was on fire, and abruptly exploded, leaving an empty crater.
A blinking light caught his attention, and Rich looked down at it.
His helmet dropped closed, and holographic images appeared. In
one corner, a minimap showed a shrinking number of white dots being
enveloped by purple dots. Near the center of the map, a lone white
square lay near the central green dot. Radio speakers burst into
life, "Aaahhh! They got Ken, those bastards!" "You idiots, I'm
just cloaked!" "Damnit Bob! Shoot them, not me!" "Nikita, quit
taking stims and jumping your Reaper in circles and give us some
support!"
ald
SBPP! ;-)
--
ald
reply via email to ald_007_1999 at yahoo dot com
tempus fugit
It's actually finished, I just can't post it because:
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So far chopping the story into smaller pieces worked... part 1 being
slightly over half of it...
If it was just a post size problem though, part 2 would be bigger than
what I finally got to post.