[Story] Beta Search the Ligature of Sigma
tempus fugit
Under the terms of the Universal Health Care Plan, the information
(genetic, binary, or otherwise) the characters are made of, is now
the property of UberOmnisnert Health & Research. Any actions
performed by them, under the Derivative Works ruling, are also
considered to be the property of UberOmnisnert H & R. You (the
reader) also agree to become property of UberOmnisnert H & R, this
agreement being binding upon looking at any part of this document.
You (the reader) may immediately refuse to be bound by the terms
of this agreement by gouging out your optical receptors and
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!"
A message appeared: Your mission, find Ald. A blue dot began to
flash far to the left. A lone purple zergling appeared, but rather
than charging in to attack, it sat down and began to mutate. Rich
pointed his rifle at it and began to frantically hose it with gauss
slugs. The zergling's body seemed to expand as if it were
inflating, under its skin glowed a greenish fluid. It started to
roll forward, then burst in a shower of acid under Rich's fire.
By this time all the other purple dots had also vanished, as well
as most of the white ones. They seemed to be retreating
northwards, save for two rapidly heading Rich's way. A few neutral
gray blips appeared in the valley, and looking up through his
helmet canopy, Rich saw several ovine-like aliens fleeing the white
dot.
Moments later, a large flying armored suit appeared over the hills
and arced over to land nearby. The Holo display tagged it as a
Nomad unit. Doug's familiar voice crackled over the radio, "Hey
Rich, I see they got you too. Sorry I can't help with your
mission, I have to defend the base." Although he seemed to look
longingly after the fleeing sheep, Nomad'Doug started assembling
an automated defense turret. "Better hurry before Purple's troops
come back."
The other dot proved to be a Medic in sexy white armor bearing a
large shield and a glowing rod. "Sexist designers as usual,"
Silverraven's sultry voice reassured Rich for a moment, "you might
almost be amazed at what I had to do to convince them to add the
modifications I wanted to see." With a flick of her wrist, the
glowing end of the rod lengthened into a long whip. "Start
running, and repeat after me, 'Where there's a whip' *Crack*
'there's a way!'"
A sharp jab to the buttocks and Rich made a tremendous leap as the
suit administered its cocktail of tailored combat stimulants.
Normally toxic, the damage from the drugs and lash of the
electrowhip were both quickly soothed by the healing rod's effects.
"I don't wanna go to war today!," Rich wailed, wulfishly. "Why
can't we take a dropship?"
Somehow easily keeping up in her suit's armored high heels,
Silverraven answered, "There aren't any in this version, weren't
you paying attention during the briefing? We need a Ghost for
drop pods or there's a medevac if we had time to build it. The
Zerg hit us before we could get a Starport up."
They continued running, barely taking the time to sightsee.
Strange trees blocked line of sight to some areas, and deep canyons
seemed to open onto another world impossibly far below. A strange
watchtower reconfigured itself as they passed, revealing several
mutalisks coming their way. They were still far enough that Rich
figured they could make it... until just short of the goal, a large
pile of rocks blocked the way.
Rich's helmet display flashed, DESTRUCTIBLE ROCKS 2000/2000.
Quickly, he brought up his rifle and started blasting away at the
rocks. The counter began to drop rapidly, 1600... 1200... 800...
400... Then the mutalisk squadron arrived. Since they were too
fast to evade, Rich was forced to switch targets as glaive wurms
started bouncing around.
His stim-fueled rage quickly brought one down, and Silverraven's
healing allowed him to shrug off the glaive wurm's bites. Another
mutalisk burst, and he turned on the last, only to hear
Silverraven's dying scream behind him, "Save us, Rich! You're our
only... hope..." The ricochets of the glaive wurms had savaged her
and also further damaged the rocks.
Frantically, Rich pulled the trigger as fast as he could, bursting
the final mutalisk just as his armor began to fail. Quickly he
turned back to the rock pile, already sensing a fresh wave of Zerg
on the way. His helmet display flashed red: ERROR - health too
low for stimpack. A large ultralisk appeared at the edge of his
sensor range, still moving ponderously. The rocks collapsed at
last, and Rich staggered away.
The blue dot resolved into a massive Protoss base. A quadruped
walker stepped over, blocking the ultralisk, its massive shields
flaring as it shrugged off the monster's hits. A squadron of
Zealots warped into view and charged into battle, quickly slicing
the beast into mincemeat.
The quad (his helmet printed PROTOSS IMMORTAL) turned to face him.
+Hail Rich+, it said, +I am Ald. Follow me. The Terrans are
losing this scenario, but the hidden masters have another use for
you.+ It moved deeper into the base, Rich obediently following
behind. +Our observers have detected a field of high-yield
minerals, but I am needed here to coordinate the defense of this
base. Use the cheatcode 'Boby Feet Smell' to transplant your
wrecked marine body into this Stalker shell. It will allow you to
blink short distances. You will lead a robotic assault force to
claim the expansion for our allied forces.+
"That doesn't make much sense, why me?" Asked Rich.
+We are short of experienced commanders. Besides, you are
expendable,+ answered Ald.
Shortly thereafter, Rich set off followed by a mixed force of
Colossus, Warp Rays, and a Phase Prism. Taking a roundabout path,
they managed to evade any Zerg forces on the way. Several infested
Terrans popped up, but were easily dispatched. Rich muttered,
"Sorry, Dave, I can't allow you to stop me."
The Phase Prism set up a psionic matrix, allowing probes to warp
in and start setting up a Nexus.
Suddenly the Warp Rays and a Colossus began firing, destroying the
Phase Prism and probes. "What?" Confused, Rich looked on as his
forces tore each other apart. The observer quickly found the
cause, burrowed infestors mind-controlling. Suddenly, Rich found
his own mind being invaded.
"Welcome, Rich... you are the chosen one." The infestor, Rob's,
maniacal laughter rang inside Rich's helpless mind. "As you know,
Zerg have been able to infest Terrans even back in the original
game. Although useful, it has been somewhat... lacking. You,
however, have been delivered to us to complete the experiment.
You see, the Protoss were created as the masters of the Mind, and
the Zerg as the masters of the Body. Every previous attempt to
meld them failed... until now."
"With the new, unexpected, element of the Terrans added in, we were
able to infest you. Now, we've found a way to meld Terrans into
the Protoss. With your help, soon we will be able to create Zerg
infested Protoss-Terran hybrids... not merely mind controlled
Protoss puppets like before, but servants strong enough to
manipulate their own body structure at will! Just think of it,
perfect camoflauge and ultimate weapon together!"
Rich tried to fight off the parasite and escape, but more parasites
arrived faster than he could shake them off. The ground beneath
his Stalker erupted as a Nidus Worm's head emerged. As it
swallowed him, his last sight was of the blue base and few
remaining white dots vanishing under an unstoppable tide of purple...
Place: A House in Iowa
Time: Early 2010
Rich abruptly startled into wakefulness. "When did I fall asleep
on the couch with my mail?" He sat up and ripped open the letter.
'Dear participant, we thank you for participating in the SCII Beta.
Your input is greatly appreciated. To aid you in complying with
the non-disclosure agreement, we have temporarily wiped your recent
memories. Your memory should return just after the official
launch of SC II. As your thank you gift, you have selected:
Official SC II logo emerald green high heels.'
"Huh, guess that explains that. It better come out soon, I feel
like I'm forgetting something important." Rich absently extruded
a tentacle to scratch the top of his head.
ald
<melbr...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>Disclaimer:
>Under the terms of the Universal Health Care Plan, the information
>(genetic, binary, or otherwise) the characters are made of, is now
>the property of UberOmnisnert Health & Research. Any actions
>performed by them, under the Derivative Works ruling, are also
>considered to be the property of UberOmnisnert H & R. You (the
>reader) also agree to become property of UberOmnisnert H & R, this
>agreement being binding upon looking at any part of this document.
>You (the reader) may immediately refuse to be bound by the terms
>of this agreement by gouging out your optical receptors and
>receiving a lobotomy within ninety (90) minutes.
<snippety-do-dah>
>"Huh, guess that explains that. It better come out soon, I feel
>like I'm forgetting something important." Rich absently extruded
>a tentacle to scratch the top of his head.
SBPP! ;-) How did you finally get the whole story to post?
--
ald
reply via email to ald_007_1999 at yahoo dot com
tempus fugit
>
> SBPP! ;-) How did you finally get the whole story to post?
>
> --
> ald
> reply via email to ald_007_1999 at yahoo dot com
The old ways are best.
Failed in netscape, internet explorer, and chrome... so I finally dug
out my old copy of outlook express and that worked.