DatePosted:08.14.1998
Date:12.19.2195
Time:Midday
For the past two days, the Pure have been loading their
personal possessions on the train, along with their information and technology
that has been saved from before the fALL. Aran and the Technomancers
are preparing to leave, and deal with a new problem: Doc has disappeared.
Clearing A Path
"Aran...Aran...." The voice seemed to pop a bubble of blessed
solitude. The thoughtful world of daydreaming was melted away
by color, sound, and voice. The nearest being Ta-Kyn. Aran
turned, folding his wings back into his body.
"Yes." Aran began walking towards the young technomancer.
"What is it?"
"The wirewitches gave a full report, you were right. They're all
modified. Every one."
"Hmmm."
"Ummm...Aran?" Ta-Kyn held up a small device. The small
cube looked like an older interface unit for something.
"What?"
"This is something you should have." He tossed it to Aran.
"This train is rigged for remote control. However, not from the inside,
apparently a Technomancer can link into it. That's the interface
unit, if I understand."
"You're telling me that this thing HAS to be piloted by a Technomancer."
"Well," Ta-Kyn coughed politely. "Apparently only you, it requires
essence for control."
Aran's visor slid over his eyes and he scanned the crowd.
"When I find John Salan, I'll kill 'im."
* * *
"Betcha can't catch me!" The young boy laughed.
"Yes I CAN!" The defiant brother screamed. "I'm Ar-in, the
metal warrior! I'll catch you!"
Kreep strode through the crowd with a gait that never slowed.
The crowd parted around him like he was carrying the worst news they'd
ever heard. Part of it was because of his expression. That
alone would have caused some people to faint. But he had experienced
one of his 'episodes' after he an Aran had talked last. That had changed
him more than just attitude this time. It happened in the night.
The same dream, a boy, himself probably...
The night was cold, Kevin huddled against the wall to keep warm.
He had given his sister the blanket, though his mother had draped it over
both her kids. He always did this, keep silent, pretending to sleep.
Then he would sneak away, creeping towards the night stand, and put whatever
change he had scraped together with his mothers collection, and return
to put the blanket over her. He was tough, he was gonna grow up and
be just like Ichi, the Technomancer. He'd make enough fellinum to
get them a house somewhere. His sister wouldn't be hungry, and his
mother wouldn't cry in the night. Kevin would make sure they were
ok.
The door opened as a face of pure terror slid inside the walls and
towards the bed. Kevin froze, telling himself he was dreaming.
The face took his mothers body like a limp rag and tossed it aside.
It picked up his sister and held her aloft, as she screamed. Tiny
rivulets of skin rose on her arm and shot through her body. Her screams
were brief, even less than his mothers. Her hair turned to gleaming
strands, falling out to leave a single, swaying strand. Her eyes
glossed over, and all his nightmares came to life. The evil people
who stole children who didn't obey their mommas.
"WIRWICH!" Kevin screamed. The face turned placidly to look
at him.
"We have no need of a warlock. Kill him."
His sister turned to him, her arm a blade.
"No..don't, sis..."
"I'm not your sister." The same voice drove like nails into
his skull. "My name is--"
Kreep's eyes opened as he realized the crowd was backing even farther
away from him. With shock he began pulling himself together.
Blades retraced into his skin, smoothing slightly. Some of the damage
was too far, he hadn't caught himself in time. His finger nails were
already two inches long, razor sharp barbs. And his hair was almost
molecular-thin wires of steel and triadium. As he threw his head
up, his hair whipped through the air, creating humming and whistling sounds.
In the distance, a man was being thrown through the crowd.
* * *
Aran's force wall flew from his hands, picking John Salan up again and
hurling him further away. Leaning, with an expression born
of both annoyance and boredom, Aran waited for the soldier to charge him
again before throwing another translucent wave of blue energy towards him.
Kreep emerged from the crowd, his ever changing body shifting slightly
as he walked. His hair seemed longer.
"Morning," Aran greeted.
"Morning." Kreep's reply. "Bad news I assume?"
"Just for me." Aran sighed, throwing a thin bar of blue light
at the fighter, tripping him to the ground. "I've got to pilot the
train."
"That's why he brought you? To pilot the train."
"Only way it could be done." Aran sighed and threw another wave
of energy. The fighter struggled to stand but was tossed through
the air on the crest of a wave.
"So what's this for?"
"Every time I use this blasted stuff, It feels like I'm getting hurt.
I'm about to pilot this train for a few weeks. I just want him to
know what it's going to do to me."
"And?"
"If he had intended to use me just for this, then dump me..."
Aran hurled a arc of blue light from his hands. John Salan was picked
up and placed onto the roof of the train. "...I want him to understand
what will happen to him."
"Anything I can do?"
"Yeah, we know for sure the PYLE is among the Pure. Start 'discretely'
looking for him. When you get a suspicion, talk to Ta-Kyn.
That's all I can tell you for now, but know we've got a plan."
"Ok. You done with him?"
"Yeah." Aran flared his wings and lifted into the air.
"I've got a train to run."
"Good. I need to talk to him."
"All right, we leave tomorrow dawn."
* * *
Dawn:12.20.2195
"Your kidding me, right?" Aran slammed his fist onto the top of
the train. The reappearance of Doc had been a relief until he started
talking. The enigmatic old Technomancer had revealed he wanted to
scout out the trail, and found it was blocked up a few miles.
"I think I can help," Ta-Kyn beamed. "The defenses on the
train are wired to the link module. You can channel your energy through
amplifiers and use it to clear a path."
"Ta-Kyn, you amaze me." Aran toyed with the linking box
for one last time. "When this is over, I want those amplifiers."
"Got it, already creating schematics."
"Ta-Kyn?"
"Yeah."
"You're not creating schematics for anything...got it?"
Ta-Kyn flushed, a considerable task for a technomancer, and nodded.
He promptly jumped down the chute into the train below.
"You better go too, Doc. Make sure the kids are calm. This could
be bumpy."
"Ok, Aran."
Aran slid the linking box into his arm and felt the train underneath
him meld into his consciousness. Cogs, gears, and micro-fiber relays
became like parts of his body, flexing like gigantic muscles. The
train lifted into the air a good forty feet, reaching it's maximum hovering
ceiling. Aran flooded the Essence energy he knew so little about
through the linkwires running to the train. Below, rows of Ionic-Pulse
batteries erupted with blue-gold light. A thin, flat, ray of
energy dissolved a building and evaporated the rubble below.
"You know. I could get to like this," Aran muttered. |