An Ode to Activision

[MidKnight Lament]

Even if you can't say much, or haven't got time to write more than a line or two, it's great for us to know that you're still reading posts and hanging around. With relatively frequent posts you'll have tonnes of people in this forum before you know it. Thanks.

- MKL

[Slingshot]

Hi guys.

Actually, I have been writing. Things are going a lot more slowly because work is so busy . I am also training for a Triathlon (end of this month) and so there's not much time to be thinking about the story.

I wasn't planning to release the next episode until Friday, but since you two were nice enough to post....

[Slingshot]

Eis and the Ogre had taken a more direct route. They were dressed as Actigator agents and wore rigid-looking masks. The job was simple. The Goblin was now off-duty, and should be fast asleep. They were to storm into his quarters and become assassins. Eis didn't like that next part, for a couple of reasons. First of all, there was no honour in killing a man in his sleep. Second, this was a real person. In a way, that was strange as well. To be honest, Eis loved beating on Actigators. They were nothing but sophisticated robots. This guy was mostly machine, yet he still presumed there was a human heart beating red blood.

"Mr. Ogre?"

"Yes?"

"Why are we going to kill an unarmed man? Why not do it in a more noble fashion?"

"Two reasons, mainly. First off, he's a heartless killer. Second, this is the only way we have a chance at winning."

Eis frowned. "Oh come on. Goblins are smaller than Ogres. Why give such a small title to somebody so bad?"

"You'll see. The Goblin fights like a cat in water. This is the only way."

For the rest of the trip, the Ogre refused to speak. He held a face of grim determination. It was almost as if the whole job bothered him as well, and that he didn't want to talk about it.

The two imposters rounded a corner. There were other Actigators in this hallway. They walked to the end and stopped at a closed door. The Ogre pulled a transparent card from his pocket and waved it over the door panel and leaned close to it. "It's a nice day for rain. Forget what your master wants for ten minutes."

"Ten minutes," responded a voice from the panel. The door opened.

They carefully walked into the dark room. Mr. Ogre pulled out a gun and set a silencer. Suddenly the Actigrammer stopped dead in his tracks, and Eis walked straight into him. "What the-"

The Ogre crouched and sprung out the door, taking Eis with him. The Actigrammer was still backpedaling when an explosion ripped through the doorway, singeing both of its recent occupants. Without hesitation, they jumped up and ran as fast as their feet would carry them down the hall. Another, bigger blast rocked the section of hallway behind them. Eis looked back, smoke pouring out the ravaged door way and filling the hall behind them as alarms rang. He turned forward again and stumbled. About 10 meters ahead was the biggest, ugliest, armoured hulk of a demon he had ever seen. The figure towered, even at this distance. Mr. Ogre readied a grenade launcher and said "Eis, meet the Goblin…"

[Slingshot]

Before finishing the sentence, Mr. Ogre launched a grenade. It whistled a kamikaze-style screech as it bounced down the hallway. "Quick, fall back through the fire!" he shouted as the grenade detonated.

"What do you mean?" asked skorpion as they jumped past the burning doorway down the hall. "Don't you think you got him?"

"Not a chance. If anything we've sealed our fate. The Goblin loves to play cat and mouse! We need to find a better place to fight. These hallways are death traps."

The Ogre was running fast, and it took everything Eis had to keep up. Suddenly there was a hollow swooshing sound and the panic-stricken duo skidded through a door to their right, which opened to a concrete stairway. As soon as they entered, the swoosh became a red torrent through the smoke, and a small rocket peeled through. It impacted a wall nearby and erupted into a shrapnel-loaded shockwave. The force blew the door off its hinges, and skorpion was thrown down the stairwell with a crash.

The Actigrammer had already climbed a flight of stairs, and ran back down to where his buddy lay. "I'm all right. My head hurts, but I'm all right!" shouted skorp. "This guy likes to play hardball!"

"I told you so," replied the Ogre. "You look like a bloody mess. Anything broken?"

"No, I'm just sore."

"Good, follow me!" Mr. Ogre planted a proximity mine under a handrail. He made a 'shhh' sound and bolted up the stairs again, Eis following closely behind. They traveled four flights up, when Mr. Ogre stopped.

"We wait here. Beyond that door is an Actigrammer programming pool. When the Goblin comes, try to do some damage and then run into the next room. The Goblin will have to stop firing blindly, because he can't disrupt Activision's production."

Seconds later, there was another explosion. Eis guessed from Mr. Ogre's reaction that this was the proximity mine. The agent readied an assault rifle in one arm, and pulled out a frag grenade.

Eis stood tense as ever. Sweat poured from his bruised eyebrow, stinging the cuts on his cheek. He could hear the mayhem of their excursions below. Smoke was filling the stairway now, clouding the view downwards. "This is crazy, he thought. The Ogre must have done some damage with that grenade. The rocket was probably just a blind shot - the final retaliation of someone mortally wounded. "Yeah, that's it, he thought." There was still no sign of movement in the stair well. "Heck, if the proximity mine went off, that probably finished him."

Then he heard a clink. The Ogre fired off a volley of bullets down the stairway. He nodded at Eis, who pulled the pin out with his teeth. Slowly he stretched out his arm. Just as he released the grenade, the concrete staircase lurched sideways and downwards. Rebar screeched as it was pulled from the foundation like a mangled stalk of celery. The motion caused Eis' grenade to bounce off some steps, instead of down the stair well.

Eyes wide open, Eis turned as fast as he could. He looked behind him and saw the Ogre standing in the door, which was now two meters above. Eis leapt towards the door just as the grenade exploded. A piece of shrapnel whistled past his ear, and another flew through his left thigh. Eis shouted in pain as the Ogre caught his hand and pull the agent to safety.

[Slingshot]

Mr. Ogre half-carried, half dragged Eis through a new corridor. "We don't need these anymore," he said as he removed the rigid Actigator mask. Then he took a fast look at the wounded leg. The metal had ripped a nasty cut straight across. "Well, it looks as though most of your leg is still intact. I don't see your femur, and it doesn't seem as though anything became imbedded." Eis' Actigator uniform was beginning to grow a membrane around the wound, gradually the bleeding stopped.

Once again, the Apolytoner had that grim look. "I can manage. The leg isn't broken."

Mr. Ogre continued on, "don't worry a bit. I'm going to take you to an Actigrammer friend of mine. He'll transport you to the medics and they'll patch you up. Better than new! Heck, once they were able to re-attach an Actigrammer's head from his body during an - 'incident.'"

Eis was leaning against the Ogre, hopping on his good leg to keep up. "What about the Goblin?"

"It's an all out war, now. When he catches up to us, we'll have to set some kind of ambush. We're going to need to find reinforcements - fast! By that time you'll be back in business and we can continue."

Just then they arrived at a doorway. Mr. Ogre opened it and they walked into a gigantic room. It had permanent scaffolds everywhere. In fact, it looked like an indoor Cape Canaveral launch pad - without the space shuttle. An Actigrammer ran towards them. He looked at Mr. Ogre and shouted "Sir!"

"Harvey!" replied the Ogre. "Good to see you. Get our friend patched up at the medic lab - on the double. I'm going to find Boomer and the gang. We'll meet here in 10 minutes!"

Mr. Ogre rushed off. Harvey looked at Eis, who was a great deal taller than he. "Whoa! You're missing half of that leg, at least! I'll bet that hurt!" Everything Harvey said seemed to be emphatic - like it meant more if he shouted all the time.

Harvey continued as he lead Eis across the large room. To their right was a tangle of scaffolding that held a massive, round platform. It was maybe a story above their heads, and measured about 100m in diameter. "What's that?" Asked Eis. Talking made the pain more bearable.

"Oh that? It's a Top Secret project! If I were in PR, I'd say you don't need to know… But since you're a friend of the Ogre, I'll tell you! Whadaya think of that!?"

Eis grimaced. He didn't think Harvey had wanted an answer, so he didn't say anything. Harvey continued… "It's a gravity lens. Very cool, let me tell you! And that's not all we have here! No way! But anyways, it looks like you're in a lot of pain! Ever been in pain like that before?! Actually, I haven't but lots of my Actigrammer friends have! I'll bet you heard about the decapitated fellah, but another guy that works here? Ya know what happened to him? You see, he loves to snowboard... yep! And he was saying that it hurts a lot when you crash, because your feet stay on the board and something like your head takes all the impact!"

Harvey's voice was driving Eis crazy. He got the feeling that little Actigrammer had absorbed one-too-many head impacts in his day.

"That's right!" continued Harvey. "So this snowboarder says the most painful way to crash is when you land on your butt! But that's not all! You see, sometimes the butt cheek that's on the down-hill side keeps sliding, while the butt cheek on the up-hill side gets some good traction! Boarders up in Canada call it the butt-cheek pull! Uh huh! They say it'll rip ya in half! Now that's what I call pain!"

"Okay, that's it!" cried Eis. He hobbled a step backwards, next to the wall of scaffolding. "Why don't you just tell me where the medics are, and I'll just go-"

Eis couldn't tell what happened first. Was it the screeching sound, or was it the fact that Harvey had been reduced to a couple of scorched limbs? His mind raced as he looked for the source of the holocaust before him. Then suddenly his brain yelled "maybe think about this later… get out!"

Eis jumped with his good leg onto the bars of the scaffold. He used his hands to climb to the top of the big disk. His leg didn't hurt any more - he was too scared to think about that. Below was another screech sound, and the ground he had vacated was now a crater. Up he climbed until he reached the big white platform. It looked a lot like a suspended launch pad. Nearby was a small panel set into the floor. It was slightly inclined, and read Gravity lens. 'Accel = ___ g's. Enter value or turn dial.' The agent panicked. There was nothing else here but some pieces of steel. No weapons, and nowhere to hide.

Suddenly he heard a sound. Then he saw an mammoth paw grab the edge from below. Eis froze as the Goblin leaped from the edge onto the platform. The Goblin looked scratched up, but certainly not hurt. The creature made an ugly grin - the kind that evil things make when they know they're about to get away with something even more evil. It took a few steps forward and pulled out a curved knife.

Eis rose on his one good leg. He grabbed a piece of pipe in acceptance of the challenge. The Goblin moved forward, and lunged.

In a flash, Eis fell back down and cranked the dial on the panel. It read Accel=50g's. Below him there was a ferocious whirr, and behind him Eis heard a big splat. The agent found himself about halfway in the field. He could move his arms freely but his legs now weighed about two tones each. Eis couldn't even drag them out. He looked back and saw a crumpled hulk of armour that was the Goblin. The floor was awash with red blood as it sped along the surface of platform.

Eis then looked at his own legs. He could easily see his bones as all of the flesh got pressed to the floor. The sight scared him so bad he cranked the dial back to zero. With a painful bound, his pancake-like legs became round again. It was just like watching a cartoon.

From the far side of the platform, and elevator door opened. Out raced some medics, followed by Mr. Ogre. "Good job!" he shouted. "We saw what happened to Harvey and followed the trail of carnage. You got the Goblin! Mission accomplished!"

[This message has been edited by Slingshot (edited May 15, 2000).]

[St Swithin]

BTW, MrOgre in reality frequently uses the words and terms "rats", "ew", "dammit, initialize", and "gnu god, the open source deity". Joe, didja hear that? Ha ha ha ha ha.

[Grier]

Great story Slingshot, you have me enthralled and pissed that I didnt get here earlier.

[Slingshot]

Clunk. Clunk. Skorpion59 was getting tired. He and Steve Mariotti had dropped off Pintello and Locutus a few minutes ago. Pintello's light show had knocked out all power in the area, which meant that the only way up was to climb.

The two had started up an elevator shaft. Then they made a detour through some ducting. Now they were suspended by magnets on their hands and knees, crawling along large water pipes. "Almost there," said Steve. "We'll try another way back - hopefully by then the security sensors will be defunct."

Skorp laughed. "Check it out now - defunct's your brother! Er, where are we going to find MidKnight?"

"About four meters ahead," replied Steve. "I'll drop a line to the suspended ceiling and we can take a look at what's in the room." He fastened an Apolyton-like proximity sensor on the end of a strong cable, and lowered it until the silver box rested on a ceiling panel. Then he donned a pair of dark glasses and stared in silence for a few seconds. "Hmmmm. One person. Looks like MidKnight. Funny there's no guard around."

"How about the other side of the door?" asked skorpion.

"Can't tell that from here," replied Steve. We'll have to check when we get down there. It would be nice to leave through the hallway." The Actigrammer fastened the other end of the cable to a sturdy pipe. Then he slid down to the panel. He let go with one hand and carefully lifted the tile, stealing a quick glance through the ceiling.

Skorpion59 waited until he saw the 'thumbs up.' Then he slid down as Steve jumped to the floor below. The two found Midknight, seated in the corner of the room. He looked like he just woke up.

"Goodness, you're a fright," said skorp.

"Good to see you, too!" replied MidKnight. "I've got a nasty bump on the head, but other than that, the Actigators have been very gentle." He laughed. "I suppose you've experienced the same!"

"Actually," replied skorpion, some of the worst treatment I've received came from Eis. He's gotten bashed up a few times - never forgiven me for bringing him here. Now they're going to take care of the Goblin."

MidKnight grinned. "So then you two got the easy job. I suppose you're wondering why there are no guards around."

"Uh-huh. Rumor has it that you took out ten Actigators before they caught you."

"Actually, it was nine. The last one jumped behind a desk, and then Silica bopped me on the knogen before I finished the job."

Skorpion59 chuckled. "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. You're lucky she let you live!"

"Lucky?" asked MidKnight. "Maybe not so lucky. There are no guards around because the Actigrammers are rallying for the offensive. My guess is that the way back to Activision command will be difficult. Silica told her agents not to hurt me on the way down. I think they're waiting for me to return so they can kill me on the way up."

"That's where we come in," interrupted Steve. "The Actigator forces shouldn't be a problem in a few hours, but before that time we need to take out Silica, before she sees what's happening and tries to escape." Mr. Mariotti drew three pairs of silvered sunglasses and handed a pair to each of his comrades.

MidKnight examined the handle. "These are good ones! Are they new?"

"Yes," replied Steve. "This model also comes with a pair of gloves. You should be able to analyze anything electronic with these. The left arm is equipped with a charge of Thorium. Gamma particles are funneled through the front, and a sensor on the right arm picks up the reflections. You'll be able to see through a meter of steel, or three meters of silicate-based material."

"Like the rock within concrete?" asked skorpion.

"Exactly," said Steve. "The lenses are a transparent mix of transistors and Charged-Couple Devices. A CPU tracks what your eyes see, and then it tries to resolve it for you."

"What about the gloves?" asked MidKnight.

"They serve two roles. The first is for marking. They're covered with traces of barium powder - anything you touch will have glowing marks. The second function is for remote circuit modification. You've got two hands, and each glove can transmit electrons. Try everything on and see!"

Skorpion59 put on the gloves, donned the new pair of Armani's and his world was transformed. The plain-looking room suddenly became highlighted with multicolored grids. He looked up and saw the florescent lights, digitized and mapped with radiative distributions. Paths of yellow-green 'electrons' flew along copper wires that were buried on the other side of the ceiling. He traced their paths to a main panel. From there he saw the pale outline of wires that didn't carry a current. Far above that was the water pipe. He could see eddies and turbulence of the water within.

Then skorpion looked at his comrades. They were shadowy outlines of men with an orange, liquid outline surrounding calcium-rich skeletons. Their hands glowed brightly from the barium metal, as did their glasses when they looked straight at him. "You two look like jelly fish, I swear!"

"You don't look so different yourself," replied Steve. In fact, you look like a peacock with your butt in front of that heat register."

Skorpion59 turned around and saw what Steve was talking about. Blue air swirled upwards next to red heater pipes at it absorbed the heat. The current then rose as a yellow plume towards the ceiling like steam. He turned back and said "Enough gawking, I'm convinced! Let's get going already!"

Steve distributed weapons and supplies from the rest of his pack. "It's time to reclaim Activision."

[Slingshot]

So St Swithin: what kinds of things does Steve like to say? I was thinking about "shucks darn" or "zut alors!"

Maybe you know of some better ones...

[St Swithin]

Steve says things like "mongolian butt rotunda" (which is also our Quake clan name) and "hairy sweaty man boobs", and occasionally uses the word "bonus" as a verb, as in "I'll bonus you a fiver".

[Slingshot]

Three dark figures stole along a quiet hallway. Periodically the leader would stop, and they would all hop over the invisible beam of a IR motion detector. Other times they would walk along and suddenly break into a limbo. Finally, the three made it to an elevator shaft, and they stopped for a rest.

"This panel will need 'fixing.' Why don't you do the honours, MidKnight."
"Sure, but why not just try that 'It's a nice day for rain' thing?"

"That won't work here. We need to bypass systems without activating them."

"Then what do you want me to do?"

"We'll be scaling the shaft without help from the elevator. Just keep it from hitting us on the way up."

"Roger, mate!" With that MidKnight opened the panel and examined the circuits. "Wow…With these glasses, I think even a moron could do miracles!"

"Why do you think we developed them? Not every programmer is as talented as the guys on the CTP team."

"I suppose morons are cheaper, too. We have our own 'mix' of talent. One fellow apparently jumped down a flight of escalators while playing the new dino game."

Steve looked stunned. "Civers playing with dinos! My goodness, what's this world coming to?"

MidKnight chuckled. "Civers are starved for attention these days. We're so desperate for a new title that some are willing to try anything - even real-time strategy."

"All right, that's enough from you two," blurted skorp. "You're depressing me already!"

"Don't worry, you're saved. I'll be opening this door … now." MidKnight took his hands from the panel and pried the elevator doors apart.

Skorpion59 peered inside and gave a whistle. The shaft extended hundreds of floors up and down.

"Holy cow! I thought we were already at the center of the Earth down here, what's below?"

"Material for another story, maybe," answered Steve. "I'll tell you the tale if we get out of this one."

Even MidKnight looked doubtful. "So I suppose you think we're going to climb a kilometer upwards under our own steam? We won't have anything left for fighting."

Steve grinned. "Ne'er would I be such a knave as that. We've developed a technology for focusing gravity, and the best part about it are these babies!" Steve pulled out three odd-looking bars from his pack. Each looked something like an obsidian tire iron. "This is about four generations of development from the Yttrium-Barium-Copper-Oxide superconductor. It's good up to 400 Kelvins, and it's wrapped around something even more special. The conductor holds about half a Coulomb of charge and spins it inward. Hold it with both hands and twist the one end to shift the 'focus.' These are actually designed to bend gravity around, so you'll float upwards like a helium balloon. We'll adjust to neutral buoyancy first, and then walk through the doors."

The three adjusted their instruments and 'walked' into the middle of the empty shaft. Steve looked happy. "Good stuff, men! Now turn the handle left and up we go!"

It took a while for Skorp to get used to the antigravity. He kicked his feet and swung wildly, keeping a death-grip on the floating bar. "Are you sure this is safe?" he shouted.

Steve grinned as they rose upwards. "You look like you're doing the mongolian butt rotunda! But if you were to fall, before you died, you might just find out where we got all of this technology in the first place!"

[skorpion59]

Slingshot,

Glad to see your still doing your story telling since it can be quite addictive. And.. getting those key words in there.

Hey markos, how about creating us an animated Gif showing what the 'Mongolian Butt Rotunda' looks like. J/K, I know your swamped.

[Nordicus]

Great stuff, Slingshot.

[Slingshot]

Near the top floor of the Activision building, an Actigator guard stood rigidly at attention beside an elevator door. Through the other side of that door came a beam of white light. At first it was aimed at the ceiling, but then swayed from side to side, as though it was searching for something. The beam widened and diffused through the room, then it focused into a blue line that cut downwards along the Actigator's back. The guard fell into two halves like a piece of raw meat.

Seconds later, two other beams shot out from behind the door. These cast small speckles of light, looking a bit like snow on an old television screen. Nothing else moved in the room, although occasionally one of the beams would stop and focus on a panel in the ceiling or wall. Then they vanished.

More time passed. Finally, the doors were pried open and out stepped two Apolyton agents, followed by an Actigrammer.

Steve patted skorpion59 on the back. "Good show with the Actigator! You're sure getting the hang of those glasses."

"Like you said, Steve, they're from Activision… If only SLIC was this easy!"
"If indeed!" laughed Steve. "Well you boys know where the sensor panels are. Let's trip them up and be on our way."

The three split up and found a circuit access panel in the lobby. The objective was to rewire the security system so that it couldn't tell the difference between active scanning and a self-diagnostic command. Then the team was to remove the active scanning loop entirely.

Skorpion59 removed the panel door and looked at his circuit. It was a series of I/O boards with a single processor. That processor was linked to a node connection that looked like it went to another floor.

"Wow this is easy!" remarked skorpion59. He placed his left glove over the circuit board and took a closer look at the system. The CPU in his glasses continued to test circuit paths through inductance sensors on the glove. About a minute passed before it isolated the nodes that needed reconfiguring. Then a 'Analysis complete. Rewire?' prompt lit up on the left lens. It looked like the words were 10cm high, and about 1m away from him.

"Rewire? Yes, go ahead! Umm - Steve? How do I rewire the circuit?"

Steve looked up from his own panel across the room. "Actually, the glove is rewiring the circuit for you. Can you feel your glove getting warm?"

"Yes. Why's that?"

"The palm of your glove is made up of layers of conducting foil. The paths are being cut out right now. Keep that glove still until it says so."

Soon after, he saw 'Wiring complete. Reanalyze?'

Skorp smiled. "Sure. I mean yes. Reanalyze."

The words were replaced by a picture of a magnifying glass. A few more seconds went by, and then he saw 'Analysis complete. Rewire?'

Skorpion59 shook his head. He removed the glove and scanned the circuit with the glasses. The glasses stuck coloured symbols over things he saw, identifying what was what. He could see pieces of foil that had been deposited over the circuit board, but still it all looked wrong. "Hey Steve!" he shouted.

"What's wrong? Didn't it work?"

"You tell me. Things seemed okay until the circuit was fixed. Now I don't know what we've got. It's weird - like the original circuit has changed or something… Activision isn't owned by Microsoft®, is it?"

Steve finished his work and walked over to skorpion59. "Ha ha. That's a low blow if I ever heard one. Let me see what you've got."

The Actigrammer took a long look through his glasses. Well, I see the problem. These three terminals should be grounded here."

But they were grounded. Last time I looked that point was a ground point.

"You sure it wasn't a closed gate? It's an easy mistake. Let's just rewire and see." Steve put his own glove over the circuit board and waited. After a while he said "Yes, reanalyze." Then there was a "Hmmmm."

MidKnight had finished his work and was looking over the Actigrammer's shoulder. "You forgot about this ground connection here… and here. This one's wrong as well. It should be before the resistor."

"Another easy mistake, I guess. Looks like we both screwed up!" said Steve.

MidKnight saw the tension growing. "Don't worry, we'll get it this time. Heh heh, did either of you notice that the CPU here looks like a happy face?

Skorp looked back at the panel. "Well, more like a happy skull. See? Look here. That part's flat. Here looks like a jaw, and this - hold on. Where did the eyes go?"

The three exchanged glances. "Where's the CPU?" asked Steve. "It was right here!"

Skorp gave a weak laugh and took off his glasses. "So much for good hardware. I just saw Pac Man float by with these stupid things!"

But his buddies weren't listening. They kept staring into thin air - jaws open.

Afraid of missing something, Skorpion59 hurriedly put his glasses back on. The circuit had become a rainbow of patterns, swirling in on itself like a kaleidoscope.

"Wow!" he exclaimed. The Skorpion was thinking about another smart remark when the swirls turned into a very real-looking skull - a skull with a voice.

The first sounds were fuzzy, like sand falling on a drum. Then it turned deeper, like the sand had turned into water and finally a beautiful, womanly voice.

"You should have died hereafter. Tomorrow, tomorrow and tomorrow creeps in this petty pace from day to day. But this night you will die. The Actigrammers have committed their final atrocity against the Activision Elite. There is nothing you can do to stop me!"

MidKnight recognized that voice. "Silica!" he shouted.

The voice continued. Activision is not what it used to be. Your ancient vigor is gone, and it is time you become extinguished. My Actigators are in every way superior. Your attempts to dismantle the new regime will fail. You have become too sterile and uniform in thought. I can read you like a book."

Silica's face reverted to the skull. "Fools! The first rule of survival is diversity!"

With that the skull cracked and fell apart. Behind it was a number. 20, then 19, then 18 …"

[This message has been edited by Slingshot (edited June 03, 2000).]

[Nordicus]

Slingshot, Locutus:
Damn, I just caught that bit about the radio stations here in Edmonchuck (I've only listened to Duh Bear for almost 8 years!). Our resident Borg is not only sneaky but astute as well:

quote: No, I didn't really count on Nordicus. He has the strangest habit of dissappearing suddenly for a few days or weeks and then reappaering again. He's been gone for several weeks already (so he could come back any moment and be amazed by this fantastic story ), and this time even I don't know why (usually we keep in touch through email but not since I went offline myself a while back).

Yes, and I've been having computer problems of late--my email has been whacked for about a week now

quote: I had better not say too much more, or my Canadian brothers from the other provinces will get mad... People from British Columbia (the province west of us and north of Washington) get most upset about Albertans talking about the land of milk and honey.

Quite true, Slingshot. A little rivalry is okay, though, IMO--as long as one doesn't start making fun of the way they drive over there


Later, people!

[Slingshot]

MidKnight looked at Steve. "So is it a bluff, or is she forcing our move?"

Steve was livid. "Darn glasses!" He tore them off and took a quick scan around the room. There was only one way out - the elevator shaft from where entered in the first place.

"15…14…13," warned Skorpion59. "Let's get out of here!"

"Don't go near that elevator!" barked Steve. He was running around like a cat on fire. "Find another way out. FAST!"

MidKnight grabbed a table and found a blackened window. He heaved the object through the glass. Wind streamed in and the agent faced the night sky, high above city streets. He grabbed his gravity stick and jumped. Skorpion59 hesitated for another second and then followed suit, wondering if Steve was behind him.

MidKnight swung in the air, twisted the gravity stick and started to descend. The height was dizzying, and Skorpion59 struggled to hold on. A wind caught the pair and pushed them sideways. Skorpion was having trouble changing his elevation in the dark, and helplessly watched MidKnight descend away from him.

Suddenly an explosion ripped out from the broken window. It shot flaming debris in a plume that looked like dragons' breath. The shockwave beat out a large section of wall, narrowly missing Skorpion59 as he struggled to hang on. Before he knew it, the detonation reversed direction as air returned to the vacuum it had created while leaving. This time the agent got caught in the swirl and he was pulled back inside the building, a piece of human debris in a hellish maelstrom.

There was fire and smoke everywhere. Skorpion59 had let go of the gravity stick during the 'flight' back inside. He crawled around piles of burning junk, looking for solace in the terrible heat.

Suddenly he felt a pair of hands grab his shoulders. The hands pulled Skorpion59 across the room and through a freshly made hole in a concrete wall. There he was dropped, and as he turned around the agent heard Steve's voice.

"Hey buddy, were did you and MidKnight rush off to?"

Skorpion59 was stunned. "We high-tailed it out of the building. I got caught by the back draft and was pulled in again. How the heck did you survive that explosion?"

"Where's MidKnight now?" asked Steve.

"He knew how to work the gravity stick better than I. MidKnight's probably on the ground now."

"Good for MidKnight. He can update Actigrammer HQ on the situation. Let's move fast. I want to find out if Silica has given us the slip or not. Then we'll get out of here."

Steve was looking at a sensor in his left hand. "This one's better at scanning than the glasses. It won't be fooled so easy, either." The pair raced along some corridors and then arrived at a door. They each pulled out a pistol and kicked the door in, police-style.

It was empty, save for a table with a burned out computer. "This is where Silica should have been. This is not good."

The smoke was getting very thick now. The two had to crawl on hands and knees back to the elevator shaft. The shaft itself was where the explosion had originated. "Silica had expected us to run from the bomb. Good thing we weren't thinking about running!"

"Maybe you weren't. I was halfway in the door when MidKnight told me to follow him!"

Just then they reached the room with the elevator shaft. It had completely collapsed - the upper floor resting on the shaft superstructure. "Looks like we're trapped," said Steve. "The gravity stick is only good for one person, and I don't suppose yours is anywhere to be found."

[Locutus]

Thanks, Nordicus! So that explains why it's been so quite from your side

Slingshot, whatever happened to Nordicus, Pintello and me? Not to mention yourself. Oh well, guess we'll just have to wait until the sequel

Anyway, the story is still as good as ever, where *do* you get the inspiration for keeping it good for so long?

Locutus

[Nordicus]

Locutus:

Hi, man. Yes, I guess we just have to be patient as he outlines further plot intrigue.
I'd like to know what the hell happened to me also!--Even in the story

Oh, I just set up a new email account--the old one is gone, as are any messages that might have been there Oh well. **** happens. Waiting for it to be activated, so if you have a peek at this before I can send ya a message, send me that last message again, please--the new address is nordikus@home.com. They killed my C! You bastards!

[Slingshot]

Paul and Nordicus flew along the city streets in an Apolyton stealth copter. Paul was an expert pilot, and he made smooth turns around buildings much faster than Nordicus cared for.

"Man, you're scaring the heck out of me!" shouted Nordicus.

"Aw, c'mon boss! Back in the good 'ol days, this sort of flying was expected!"

"The good 'ol days! Sounds like you've been listening to too many of MarkG's war stories. These days are exciting enough, let me tell you."

Paul decided to change the subject. "So no Pintello at the rendezvous point. Are you worried?"

"I'm more worried about Locutus and whatever is wrong with him. Pintello's a tactical genius - even though at times he leaps before knowing what he's getting into."

Paul smiled. "You're right about Pintello, I'm sure he's doing more for Activision on the inside than out here. Where should we go to now?"

"The top of the Activision building. Let's start there and work our way down. Maybe we'll see something useful. If not, I'm scrubbing this mission and we'll contact DanQ for some advice."

"No problem, boss!" shouted Paul, giving Nordicus a salute. With that he pulled the copter into a spin, did an aerial loop and shot straight upwards.

Nordicus turned purple as he hung on to the seat. "AAAgh. Copter - doesn't - fly - this way!"

Paul laughed. "Maybe not an ordinary copter, but that's why I joined Apolyton. These stealth copters are the best in the world!"

Seconds later, Paul flipped the flying machine right side up, about 50m above the top of Activision. He could have performed the maneuver with the grace of a swan, but such grace wouldn't have produced a blood-curdling roar from Nordicus.

"How would you like it if I threw up all over you, Paul!?"

Paul was laughing too hard to feel bad. "Sorry! It's just that these copters have so much power. Plus they probably need some abuse - you know, to make sure they're good and broken in!"

"I'll break you in!" shouted Nordicus. Normally he would have been proud of such skill - if only flying didn't make him so queasy!

Paul flipped some switches. "Going into stealth mode."

The change in noise level was amazing. It sounded as though the helicopter engine had shut down and the rotors had disappeared. Then Paul slowly brought the machine downwards.

Nordicus had recovered and began watching the surveillance equipment. "Looks empty," he remarked.

"Roger that," replied Paul. He maintained a slow, steady descent.

Suddenly there was a beeping from Nord's panel. "Look over there! About 4 stories down."

Paul tilted the copter so they could get a better view. "It looks like a big desk went through one of the windows!"

"Sure did! Well c'mon now. Let's investigate!"

Paul modified the pitch of the rotors, and the copter plunged downwards. They fell so quickly that even he felt his stomach in his throat. The agent was just about to slow the descent when he saw two forms fly out of the building.

There was a huge explosion. The shockwave pushed the silent copter backwards, almost straight into another building. Paul saw sparks fly where his rotors cut into the windows.

"Hang on!" shouted Paul. He quickly adjusted their pitch, and resumed the freefall. Above him was a fireworks display, and then a huge, dark mass fell. It was a part of the building wall, and it was directly above them.

Paul thought fast. He cut nearly all lift to the rotors and tried to keep the wall from hitting them. Paul worked like a mad man to push the copter's nose straight downward. He hit the power return switch - and nothing happened.

"Holy crap! The systems are down. Reset!" Paul's hand slammed the reset button. Everything went dark, and then buttons began to glow. The copter continued to fall. Paul knew that they were getting close to the ground.

"C'mon, reset already! Son of a gun! You piece of junk, reset!"

The copter was loosing stability. It took everything Paul had to keep the nose down and stop the machine from spinning out of control. Finally, the engine power light glowed, and the engine roared to life. Paul jammed the rotor pitch lever to full, and the copter moved sideways - out from under the falling wall.

Nordicus recovered his voice. "The ground, darn it! The ground will still kill us!"

But Paul had already thought of that. He waited until the engine redlined, and then he pulled the copter into a savage arc away from the ground. Below him he could see the streetlights and cars racing along. The copter ploughed through the air, knocking over some traffic signs. Cars now swerved out of the way as drivers saw the copter swoop in front of them like an angry bird of prey. Just behind them, the big chunk of wall crashed onto the middle of the street, crushing cars and turning the bustling street into a disaster zone.

Finally the machine steadied, and Paul wasted no time at such a low elevation. He quickly climbed away from the carnage below and followed a path upwards along the Activision building.

Paul let out a rough breath of air. "Well that - cough - that was - cough. Yeah." He took some time to recover. "I'd say the copter's broken in enough now. Heh heh."

A bit of euphoria took over. Nordicus and Paul felt giddy from the experience. "Holy smokes! We need an 'impending explosion' sensor installed," cried Nordicus.

"Yeah, and maybe some extra sets of underwear. I could use a new pair right about now!"

The two burst out laughing. It was great to be alive.

Paul brought the copter to the blown-out level. Nordicus turned on a search light as Paul tried switching to stealth mode again.

"Hey, isn't that Skorpion59?" shouted Nordicus.

"I think so. But who's that with him?"

"That's Steve! Steve Marriotti! Quick, steady this copter and I'll get the rescue rope. Prepare to take on some new passengers!"

[Slingshot]

MidKnight had descended about 100m and slowed to neutral buoyancy. In front of him was the dark outline of a small access hatch. He looked down as saw a busy street, packed with nightlife about ten stories below. The agent kicked his legs and moved towards the building. Then he turned off the gravity stick and grabbed hold of a handle beside the hatch.

Stuffing the stick in a pocket, MidKnight used his free hand to punch an access code on a dimly lit panel. There was a click, and the hatch cracked open. The agent pulled, expecting it to swing out freely but the rusty hinges had seized and the door opened only half way.

MidKnight grabbed the side handle with both hands - all this hanging was tiring. He began to think about his problem when he heard the explosion. The whole building shook and the agent was rattled so hard he nearly fell. Blood oozed from a cut to his forehead and something made his ears roar. MidKnight looked beside him and saw a dark helicopter whiz by. It scared him so badly that he lost his grip on the handle. He swung his arms wildly about in the darkness, searching madly for a hold in the wall, his feet pushing against brick and then nothing.

MidKnight went frantic. His left hand finally caught hold of a sharp ledge outcropping. The edge dug into his palm something terrible, but it slowed his descent enough to catch the corner with his right hand. He looked up and saw a terrible shadow. It was the section of wall that had been knocked loose from the explosion. Not wasting any time, he took the good hand from the ledge and felt for a hold underneath. There was a seam between two large blocks of stone. He wedged a foot and two hands within the seam and cringed, hoping the ledge above would provide some cover.

The dark mass of fire and bricks smashed into the access hatch above him. It ripped the hatch door off with a loud clang. Part of the wall crumbled into a flurry of rock chips and big chunks of concrete that hammered the ledge above him. MidKnight closed his eyes and felt a swoosh of air as the wall rushed past. Both his hands hurt and he held on so tight he fingers started to go numb. He waited until he heard a sickening thud on the pavement below.

The agent fought hard to catch his breath. There were so many other sounds he heard all around him. Between the rush of air in and out of his lungs he heard cars piling into one another and horns blowing. MidKnight felt his grip loosen again, and he swung one hand up onto the ledge. It was covered in dust and pieces of rock. He quickly cleared a hold for his hand and dug his fingers into a newly formed crack. Then he swung the other hand up and found another good spot. As quickly as he dared, MidKnight clambered up onto the ledge and rested. He looked up and saw the access hole - now free from its door - about 2m above. It was a relatively easy climb inside.

[Slingshot]

Locutus stirred. His vision focused in and out around the outline of a vulture. At least he thought that's what it was. "You're an ugly vulture," he said with a groggy voice.

"You'd make an ugly vulture yourself," replied Pintello. "But I'm assuming this is your bad humour showing through. "

"True enough," replied Locutus. "Man my head hurts!"

"Small price to pay. You almost died. These Actigrammer medics can work wonders, you know! Anyways, Mr. Ogre and the gang are just about to begin the major offensive. MidKnight and Eis are here too. They're about to join the resistance movement to locate Silica. I'll be over there. When you're ready, join us and we'll see what you can do to help.

Locutus groaned and let his head fall back on the stretcher. He figured it would be a while before he felt like running around and getting shot at.

In the far corner Mr. Ogre was conferring with MidKnight and Eis. "If Silica is gone, we could have a lot more trouble than we ever bargained for. I was really hoping we could taker her out of the picture early on. So what do you make of her soliloquy?"

MidKnight was thoughtful. "Silica stole it from Shakespeare. The words are from MacBeth, a man whose fatal flaw was over-ambition. He's just lost his wife, the lady MacBeth and laments her death. Silica didn't finish, though. She stopped just before the words 'And all our yesterdays have lighted fools the way to dusty death' and then 'Out! Out brief candle, life is but a walking shadow' - and on and on. She really thinks the Actigrammers are doomed to walk into oblivion, and I think she's saying the mould was set a long time ago."

Mr. Ogre grinned. "That's quite a commentary. You must be a poet! But regardless, we need to strike now. The major offensives have already begun, and I think we're having some success in knocking out the Actigator communications." He looked over at a colleague who was working at a control panel. "Hey Cadet Joe! Are you ready with the carrier?"

"Sir yes sir!" came the reply. "On your command."

Mr. Ogre cracked his knuckles. "Son of a gun - it's time. Do it!"

Cadet Joe pressed a big red button on his display. "Project Fumigator is a go. The carrier has been released. Ten minutes to building saturation. Anything else?"

"No. Just monitor the kill rate. I'm especially curious about their new command center." Mr. Ogre turned to Eis. "We think we've found their new HQ. Judging from what MidKnight has told us, I don't think they'll be running any operations from the top of the building."

"So what would you like us to do now?" asked Eis?

"Two things. First we hit 'em where it counts and then we clean up. In fact, I was hoping you would help by leading a demolition team to the new HQ. Your second task would be to confirm the effects of the carrier."

"Sounds good!" exclaimed Eis, but don't you think it'll be a little risky? I mean any living Actigator is going to shoot us on sight!"

"You're right. Of course you'll have some good weapons, but we've also got some special armour for you, too." Mr. Ogre handed him a belt that looked like it was made from steel cable. "We've got three of these - one for each member of your team."

"Looks like my mid-section is protected all right. But what about the rest of me?"

"Well first you've got to turn it on!" Mr. Ogre reached for Eis' waist and punched him in the gut.

Eis instinctively moved backwards. The belt shimmered and became translucent.

Mr. Ogre then leapt in the air and gave the Apolyton agent a swift kick in the jaw. His foot slowed from lighting fast to a snails crawl, but Eis still felt the blow. It was like being hit with a nice soft pillow, although the force still knocked him off his feet.

The same thing happened when he fell. Eis felt like he had landed on a pile of hay. Mr. Ogre grabbed a pistol and squeezed a few rounds, point-blank at Eis' chest. Eis watched in horror as the bullets slowed to a crawl. The funny part was that he still felt the bullets push him against the floor.

Eis brushed the bullets off his chest and stood up. "Okay, this is weird! What gives?"

"That belt is a diffuser. It will diffuse all sorts of energy, taking concentrations of force or EM radiation and convert it into a flat wave-front. That's why you still feel the push - it's just that the push doesn't end up going through you."

"So it works with energy weapons as well?"

"Yes, but it changes the beam focus into a wave of heat energy. Remember the dangers. You can take an assault round straight in the chest and live, but it'll probably knock you off your feet. You can get lasered in the back and live, but you could get burned. Don't stand in any one spot too long."

Eis folded his arms and grinned. "Okay, this could be fun! Let me select my team members now." He looked over at the sleeping Locutus. "Hey Loc, are you in or are you out?"

Loc groaned and sat up. "Yeah, yeah. I'm in - but only if Pintello comes along too."

"Sounds good to me! Why should Loc have all of the fun?"

Eis looked at Mr. Ogre. "All set. We'll follow your directions and clean house. See you in a few hours!"

[Paul]

Wow, this is still a great story. But you may have slightly overestimated my piloting skills.

[Slingshot]

Thanks guys.

I'll be away for a week in Vancouver Island.

You probably won't hear from me for a while.

Hopefully by then our real-life Actigrammer heros will surface and there will be some more good news on Apolyton!

[Nordicus]

Slingshot:
Who told you I was afraid of heights?
Looking forward to your return and the continuation of this engrossing story!
--Ah...the Island...ancient stands of fir and hemlock, red cedar and jungles of dogwood and carpets of ferns. I am wrought with envy Have fun, mandinka!

[Slingshot]

Steve Mariotti stood alone, his hulking shadow faint against a pile of rubble. It had been about 12 hours since Eis, Pintello and Locutus had left to take out the new command center.

The Actigrammer was on his own mission. He knew that Silica would not be there. She was far too savvy to be caught like a mouse in a bombarded room. Steve knew what he had to do. He donned a huge set of gauntlets and broke a hole in a dead elevator shaft.

Steve crawled inside and stuck a palm to the shaft wall. It held fast, and he fastened the other a little higher. For the next 20 minute he scaled an impressive height, his teeth clenched during the whole climb. Finally he stopped and punched another hole in the wall. On the other side was a secret room - a space without doors or windows. In the center sat an ornate computer and some equipment.

After a few more punches the hole was large enough for Steve to enter. He casually walked toward the machine, took off one of the gauntlets and placed his hand over a dull-leadish mat.

"You may have fooled the Actigrammers, Silica. But you haven't fooled me. This time it's personal." Steve smacked his hand down on the mat and disappeared.

[Paul]

Hi Slingshot, welcome back.

[Slingshot]

Pintello crouched behind a burning pile of rubble. His ears rang with pain as he fought shell shock. The plan had been simple: take a direct route to the Actigator HQ and storm the area.

Pintello, Eis and Locutus had figured that any route would be heavily guarded, and all agreed that the most direct route would at the very least be easier to get to. Locutus didn't want to be sneaking around in some air vent - he figured it was better to die from bullets that were aimed at you than to die from some random explosion on the other side of a wall.

That made sense, Pintello thought. As they made their way towards Actigator HQ, the fighting between Actigrammers and Actigators only intensified. In fact, Pintello now had a veritable army of conscripts the party had taken along the way. He was glad of that now. The group had just come across a handful of well-entrenched Actigators… Mean Actigators with a lot of firepower.

The smoky air was thick with the smell of tree-sap, although it was different now. He could also smell a heavy - burnt plastic odour. He knew that it meant the modified carrier was present here. The perplexing part was the fact that most of the Actigator casualties seemed to be from weapons fire, and not carrier-gas poisioning.

Suddenly there was a huge explosion to his left. Pintello's head spun towards the fury of steel to see jagged chunks of shrapnel slow to a halt in front of him. At the same time, he felt himself slide across the room. "Dang it!" he thought. The worst part about these explosions was the sound. He couldn't seem to hear very well any more.

"That's it!" screamed Eis. He leapt up from behind a now obliterated piece of cover and threw a savage-looking grenade at the bunkered Actigators. His dance of fury was returned with a hail of bullets, which stopped Eis cold in his tracks. But Eis' grenade sailed true to the opposite wall. The Apolytoner fell flat on the ground as it detonated. Pintello turned his back to a wall of silent fire and waited for the ground to stop shaking.

Pintello ducked his head, and saw Eis fly past, his mouth open in a Charlie Brown 'AAAAAHGH.' The sight was almost funny - Big Eis blowing around like a feather in the wind. The Apolytoner looked back to see what was left of their assailants. His jaw droped and Pintello had to rub his eyes.

There was nothing left - of the Actigators, the floor, the walls. Nothing.

"Holy crap!" exclaimed Pintello. He turned to the human heap that was Eis. "What kind of grenade was that!?"

Eis said something in reply, but Pintello only saw a pair of lips move.

"I - I can't hear very well. What kind of weapon was that?"

Eis didn't speak again. Instead he just pointed at his backpack, grinned and gave Pintello two thumbs up.

Locutus stepped forward. "Bloody good job, I think! Of course, there's nothing left of the hallway now. So which way do we go?"

Eis took a few bold steps to the end of the floor. He saw a monsterous cavern of caved in floors above and below. "The Actigator HQ is about 100m ahead and then 300m downstairs. I say we climb down here and look for an exit. The quicker we leave, the better!"

Locutus motioned for the other Actigrammer troops to follow, and the three Apolytoners began to make their way down the rubble.

"So you've been holding out on us, eh Eis?"

Eis looked at Locutus with another grin. "Sort of. Steve gave me lots of great weaponry. That one I hoped to save for later. It was marked 'outdoor use only.'"

"Ha! I wonder why! It's a good thing that this place is built so solid. You would have thought an explosion like that should bring the whole building down." Locutus' face changed. Poor Pintello, I think he caught that last explosion point-blank. Hopefully his hearing returns."

"Hopefully," replied Eis. "With any luck we'll be at the HQ in a few minutes. But I'm worried that the modified carrier gas isn't working the way it should."

Locutus nodded. "I agree. Is seems that these Actigators are tougher than anyone thought. I do think it's doing something to them." The agent looked at his com-watch. "The Actigrammer HQ says they've killed almost 500 000 so far. That's pretty good for any product!"

"Sure, but it isn't getting them all. In fact, the modified carrier looks like its giving the rest a headache!"

Locutus looked at his watch again. He pressed some buttons and said "I'm updating our progress… The Actigrammers say they're working on a modification to the originial recipie. It's going through QA and should be out shortly."

"QA! Where have I heard that before? Well here's hoping that it works, or I think we'll be hopelessly outnumbered at the Alamo!"

"Hopelessly outnumbered. Remember the Alamo!" repeated Locutus.

[Pintello]

Hi Slingshot,

Good to see you back. How was your vacation? I was wondering what happened to me, now I know. I am looking forward to future developments.

Pintello

[Nordicus]

*bump*

[Aeon Of Time]

Just *great*, Slingshot! I just came back here to check out on any news about civ:ctp II and got happily carried away by your posts...

Did you know that your story here is about 45 pages long? I've copied the whole thing in a textfile (if you want it, just mail me). Astounding! I'm (im)patiently waiting for more!!