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Post by tachyon on Sept 20, 2007 4:57:57 GMT -5
"Well technically" began Gordon, his tone suggesting the beggining of another one of his little ramblings, "the Russian Federation ceased to be way back in 2134, when they annexed most o' the fomer Warsaw Pact nations. Since then it's been known as the Sino-Eurasian Confederacy...but, yeah, it's still Russia, just bigger...Well, technically, Vozrozhdeniya is in Kazakhstan but that's part o' the S.E.C.
"Weather wise? Well you'd be 'ard pressed to find a more bizzare climate on Earth. Vozrozhdeniya used to be an island in the middle of the Aral Sea, but when that dried up in the 21st century the whole area became a massive salt desert. The sun bakes the land at plus 50oC temps all year round, but the wind comes straight down from the mountains at almost -20oC, an' near 60 mile an' hour! So you'd be freezin' an' boilin' at the same time, while the wind blasts ya' with salty air what burns ya' lungs."
"While I'm sure we're all gratefull for all that info," interupts Kei, "what I'd like to know is what's the place just to the east of it with a symbol that looks suspiciously like a missile, with what looks like a big range indicator going around it?"
"Ah, that'd be Baikonur Cosmodrome, Planet Earth's largest, busiest, and also oldest spaceport. No' as flashy as JFK Starport or New Heathrow, but more cargo get's shifted out o' there in one week than does in a month in the other places. You know Yuri Gagarin himself took off from there-"
"I don't know or care who that is, I just want to know why there is a large yellow-tinted striped circle over where we want to go."
"Oh. That'd be the No-Fly-Zone...forgot to mention that didn't I?"
Kei slapped herself on the head and swore in Khrohaltic.
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Post by Ash on Sept 20, 2007 15:09:12 GMT -5
"Great Gordon.How can you even forget something?You´re an A.I...", Ash mutters,taking a closer look at the map.
"And how big is this "No-Fly-Zone"?I know that I´ll regret to ask...", he asks,shaking his head.
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Post by tachyon on Sept 21, 2007 5:25:59 GMT -5
"A.I.," mutters Kei, "the intelligence may be artificial, but the stupidity is real."
She joined Ash in peering at the map.
"Looks like it's big enough, at least a few hundred kilometers in diameter...what's the altitude restrictions in there Gordy?"
Gordon's face frowned as he scoured his memory banks for the answer. "From 1500ft right the way up to the edge o' space I'm afraid. It's there to keep the descending spacecraft safe from mid-air collisions, see," the two cone-like projections radiating from Baikonur flash green, "they all come in from the north an' take off heading south, so area's east an' west have to be kept clear. Anything goin' in there is either escorted out by interceptors or shot down by ground-based weapons. Standard practice really."
"Ok...so how do we get around it?"
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Post by Machaeus on Sept 22, 2007 19:56:59 GMT -5
"We rest outside of it and port in in the morning," Machaeus says, laying down again.
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Post by Ash on Sept 23, 2007 15:43:46 GMT -5
Ash turns around to Machaeus,only to see that he has laid down again. "If you have regenerated enough...Mana...by then.Sure. Xacio cant be to far ahead of us. A few hours maybe.He has to find the Wardroid and get him on his ship. That´ll probably take some time.And if he is no longer in the facility we´ll most likely find him outside.Besides that,I´m sure we could all need some rest.", he says,using the solvent he got from Kei. ---------------------------------------------------------- "Good.Now for the M.C.W´s.First,one for each target.Then both for one target." A second later,two disks fly through the room,adjusting themselves by the use of three small thrusters on each of the them. The disks send out small beams,which cut through the targets without any problems.The two targets,apparently armors from the EDF,go down in big explosions. In no time the relative small disks continue to fly through the room,before all the thrusters are activated at the same time,to hold the disks on the spot. Again they fire,this time on the same target. A few moments later,the ground is covered in pieces of metal and steel. "Excellent.Now call them back.Enough for today." The only person in the room,who is completely covered in a bulky armor,looks up to the small viewing window and nods. Both disks,connected to the armor by small cables,return and disappear halfway in the armors backpack. *** A man in uniform enters the little observation room and takes place behind a man who sits in front of some monitors. "Oh.Its over already?Too bad.I really wanted to see those things in action." The person in front of the monitors jumps up and salutes,obviously nervous. "Excuse me Sir.I didn't know th..." "Nah.Its okay.Is this the combat data?" "Yes sir." "Hmhm.Impressive.What about armor 4 and 5?" "They're not here yet,sir." "What?!?Where are they?" "Still in Europe.They should arrive in two days." "I see.The mass produced armors?" "We have currently fifty units.Another fifty are almost finished." "Please send one to engineering and inform me once its there." "Yes sir." "Oh.Before I forget.Please tell Doctor Helena that I want to talk to her." "Yes sir..." ---------------------------------------------------------- |
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Post by tachyon on Sept 24, 2007 6:54:53 GMT -5
((Oh, interesting...  )) SOL, APPROXIMATELY 50 THOUSAND KILOMETERS FROM EARTH Across the untwinkling backdrop of stars a ripple spread, like a stone thrown into a pond. The distortion intensified until a bright flash of light from the centre spat forth the battered hull of a KPS-R2200 light shuttle. It's crew peeled themselves off the walls they had been hurled into by the sudden exit into realspace. Sitting in the pilot's chair, a young Khrohali woman rubbed the end of her snout, which had collided with the control column. "And that," said Kei, "is why nobody uses LDS much anymore..." Her attention was suddenly caught by this star system's 3 rd planet -the only inhabitable one- which was directly ahead of them. It's spherical shape could easily be seen from this distance, and with the sun behind them and slightly to the left a crescent shadow was gradually being drawn over the planet's surface from east to west. To Keiralena Latienfa, who had not seen another world in her entire life, the sight was beyond words. "Is that Earth?" she finally managed. Gordon, the somewhat-iffy navigational AI, nodded his head on-screen. "Yup. That's her. Good ol' Terra." Kei was still lost in the sight, a smile had crept across her lips and would not go away. "It's so blue..." |
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Post by Ash on Sept 24, 2007 15:41:08 GMT -5
"Most of the earth is covered with water.", Ash says,looking at the blue planet.
"I'm not quite sure how many percent by now.Global warming and stuff...But if you think thats
impressive..." ,he continues, "wait till you see a sunrise.Or the moon from down there."
For a moment he just stares out of the window,before he looks at Gordon's face on the monitor.
"Great work.I almost sound like you Gordon."
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Post by tachyon on Sept 26, 2007 6:38:36 GMT -5
"What?" Kei says in disbelief, "All that's water? Like real life oceans?"
She had heard of oceans, she had heard that they could cover the surfaces of entire worlds, but to see just how big they really were, and to a being to whom the largest body of water she'd ever seen was a full sink, this was mind-blowing.
The Earth was growing steadily bigger in front of them. Though not a busy place in terms of spacecraft, a few points of light could be seen moving towards or away from the surface as other ships arrived and departed.
"Righty-ho," piped up Gordon, "I've charted us a course that'll take us over the Indian Ocean an' up from the south. If we stay under 1500ft then we won't trip the radar...umm, but I can't fly it meself. An' before you all go whinging that I could fly it ok before, well that was just simple stuff, an' in space too. Y'can't hit much in space. Fact o' the matter is that most of me CPU is busy handling the navigational side o' things, I need a pilot to do the real fancy flyin' stuff."
"Then I'll do it." said Kei, "That is -was- my job anyway. I'm fully licenced, hell I hold a civil ranking of Warrant Officer. Besides, if we get into any trouble I'm sure Machy will pull some funky temporal sh*t to get us out."
She did up the safety harness, taking another moment to look out on the blue world ahead of them.
"Is that really all water?"
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Post by Machaeus on Sept 26, 2007 12:37:35 GMT -5
"Most of it, yeah. See the green and brown spots? That's land," Urufu says with a grin. "It is a really wonderful sight, isn't it? Especially after spending time on a space station. I can't imagine how you'd feel, seeing as you seem to have spent your whole life on one of those things. I'da probably gone stir-crazy."
Machaeus snores lightly in response. He's still asleep (the trip only took two hours, and he needs at least 8 hours rest).
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Post by tachyon on Sept 27, 2007 3:16:16 GMT -5
"Y'get used to living in space." says Kei, rolling the shuttle over so that Earth was 'below' them, "I can't even remeber what Khrohal was like...jeez, has it really been that long?"
Peering round, she frowns at the sleeping form of Machaeus. She then whistles to Urufu.
"Hey, Rufi, catch."
Kei tosses a small container to Urufu. It contains purple pills.
"We can't have him out of action. Give him one of those; just one, I don't know what the effects on humans are."
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Post by Machaeus on Sept 27, 2007 12:07:51 GMT -5
"They aren't speed, are they?" he jokes, shoving one down the warlock's throat.
He coughs and chokes for a second, then swallows. "What the - ?!" he scowls.
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Post by tachyon on Sept 27, 2007 14:46:43 GMT -5
"Nope, they're an extract from some plant on some planet somewhere. All I know is that they replenish the body's supply of nutrients and make the brain more alert, so it gives you the equivilent of a few hours sleep and a small meal. Tends to work on most mamals pretty well. When you work in a place with a 36-hour day you need them." says Kei.
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Post by Machaeus on Sept 29, 2007 18:25:10 GMT -5
"Thirty-six hours in a day?!" Urufu squawks. "That's not right. I mean, there's only 24 hours a day, right? Or is that Earth only?"
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Post by tachyon on Sept 29, 2007 19:38:24 GMT -5
Kei raises a finger.
"That's another thing about you humans that annoys other beings; you presume your way to be normal. Earth, though very pretty, is not the universal status quo for timekeeping, or for temperature or atmosphere or anything. It's just as screwed up as the rest of the galaxy."
The shuttle began to shudder a little. Some of the lights on the control console went red. Kei hit a few switches, and the warning lights turned yellow. It suddenly seemed slightly warmer inside the ship.
"We're begining our descent, gonna be rough for a minute or two." she said.
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Post by Ash on Sept 30, 2007 6:02:58 GMT -5
"Not again.", Ash mumbles as he walks back to where he sat a few minutes ago.
"For us a 24-hour day is the most normal thing...I bet we could discuss whats normal
and whats not till the end of time."
Suddenly his HUD begins to flicker.Then it turns completely white.
I'm so excited Mr. Ash...Do you think we will meet soon?, a female voice asks.
This is the place where you lived.This is the place where you die., a male voice shouts.
You're a monster.Nothing more. Again,it was the males voice.
The white light disappears and everything appears on the HUD again.
No incoming communication.No signs for a malfunction.
Its over.Whatever it was.
And even though it lasted only for a few seconds,Ash starts to breathe heavily.
He looks at the others,not sure if they heard it too.But apparently they didn't.
Since they left earth he felt strange.At first he thought he would become ill.
But this had to mean something else.
"W...Whats happening?Are we entering the atmosphere?"
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))