*Garibaldi*
Garibaldi was jolted awake as he
suddenly swallowed a mouthful of water. Looking about, he realized he had
begun to doze. His legs and arms were frozen solid, and his eyesight was
blurring. Not much longer, he told himself, and he would be unable to tread
water...sinking forever to the bottom...
Suddenly there was a loud splash
behind him. Slowly and painfully turning around, Garibaldi saw what looked
like the charred remains of one of the holographic displays on a white
star. He slowly moved towards it by rocking back and forth, then with his
last bit of strength climbed on top and collapsed. Freezing still, he thought
happy thoughts as the ocean around him darkened and he felt his eyes slide
close...
*******
Meanwhile, the lone Shadow transport
was moving towards the jumpgate at full speed. Its cargo's vital signs
were dropping rapidly, and instead of sticking with the escort it bounded
out ahead, compromising by redirecting all power to engines and hull repair.
Two minutes from the jump struts,
a mere five minutes from BOOJILON 5 orbiting a moon of the abandoned Vorlon
homeworld and the Temple, the pilots of the transport were unsure they
would reach The Scientist Kat in time. Then, as if to confirm this, their
sensors picked up a wall of suit ships between them and the active jumpgate.
Without any choice, they directed all power to engines and floored it.
They were going to make it in time,
even if they had to go through all ten suit ships to do it.
*Morden*
"<Not a problem,>" Morden nodded,
"<they'll make it.>"
Morden paced. That was all there
was to do. A Shadow came in, "<a ship is approaching and demanding to
dock.>"
"<Markings?>"
"<Human. They're unfriendly
to say the least.>"
"<Strange.>" Another Shadow
said. Morden turned to her quickly. "<What is?>"
"<There are reports of large
numbers of Goks appearing on in the streets.>"
"<Goks?>" Morden asked. "<How
the hell did Gok's get down here?>"
*Garibaldi*
The night lit up with a shower
of lasers and pulse cannon blasts. Still gaining speed, the transport shuddered,
but managed to swallow the attack with minimal damage.
Suddenly, the copilot jumped from
his chair.
<"BEANIE BABY OFF PORT!!! IT'S
HEADED RIGHT FOR TENTACLE 7!!!">
<"Rotate 15 degrees clockwise,
drop countermeasures and see if there is enough juice left in the nose
turret...">
"Happy" was mere inches from the
hull when two weak shots jumped from the nose of the transport. Deflected,
the beanie baby began to curl around for another pass. This time there
was no escape...
<"BRACE!!!!">
The impact threw both the pilot
and copilot against the wall with just enough force to crack their exoskeletons,
but not enough to deal them any serious damage. The ship, however, folded
under the blast of cuteness and the section that survived went into a sickening
roll towards the jump gate.
<"Damage...">
<"Our telepath CPU is dead.
We've lost control. Just barely enough energy left to stop the ship from
spinning.">
<"Do it...we're running on inertia
now.">
As the sleek black transport righted
itself it flashed past the suit fighters. The fighters turned slowly, then
each fired just one shot.
<"INCOMING!!! FURBYS TO STARBORD,
PORT, AND REAR!!!!">
*Lorien*
lorien had managed to fight of
the frontal assult by the suits using one of his modified whitestars and
a rubber band (don't ask) he knew that theyd be back though he ran bac
inside to find that no one was in the temple exept major buttons and 1
or 2 others he knew that most of them were asleep but more of
them should have been woken up
by lindaru.....hey where is lindaru and why do i have a suddden urge to
feed major buttons choclate. he got to work and within an hour major buttons
was givin an auto choclate dispenser and he was inside neil's head trying
to free him hadn't he already
*Entil'Zha*
*this is a thelepatical message
to all goks. you muist use all of your powers to come to the suit's headquarters
with all the followers. do what you can to free them. phase 1 is about
to be launched. and look out for the suits, they have some plan to make
gok stuff. and one more thing, may Booji guide your steps!!!* Entil'zha
took off the red bucket, shivering from the thought of what the suits wanted
to do to her golks. "Thanks, Booji" she said as he returned him the bucket.
"this bucket is SO COOL!!!!!!" Boji smiled, and nodded. then, he began
to vanish. "hurry up, the others won't hold on much further. i must go
and help Garibaldi" and he was gone. Entil'zha wished everyone goodluck,
and then ran off, preparing...
*MajorButtons*
"Put on the ruby slippers", Lorien
said in Neil's head.
Neil looked stunned. He really
wasn't sure whether red was his colour.
"No, honestly, I think you could
get away with red," MajorButtons encouraged him. "Try a few red accessories
to balance the effect."
*Lindaru*
After Jim blasted the Suit, he
fidgeted with the control panel on the Suit's side. "You have been placed
in a containment field using holographic technology. I am getting you out
now." After Jim finished, suddenly Lindaru found herself sitting on her
butt outside of the Temple in the courtyard. After a moment of adjusting
to her new surroundings she got up and ran inside the Temple. The Llort,
Jim and the babies were waiting. She enjoyed a tearful reunion for a few
brief moments and then saw Lorien.
"Lorien! Whatever are we going
to do? Jim tells me that several of the followers who think they are trapped
in alternate realities are really in Suit holographic containment fields!"
*Lorien*
"that is bad i could try to hack
into the system but i'll need to take the defense system off-line and if
the suits try another frontal assuslt on the temple we'll be defensless."
sudenly seeing a large geroup of goks running "what are they doing.
*MajorButtons* Attention - The romantic interest
part of the story now follows:-
"Hello, Llort," said MajorButtons
telepathically to Llort. "Are you doing anything tonight? If you like you
could maybe watch me eat some chocolate ice cream."
*Garibaldi*
Suddenly, just outside orbit of
the Vorlon homeworld, the jumpgate flashed to life for the first time in
many hundreds of years. When it opened, all was silent. A piece of debris
came through...the automatic defense systems opened fire as soon as they
identified it as shadow in origin. Then another piece, then another. Then
two shadows, struggling wildly in the emptiness of space, and the defense
grid paused. Just then a lone cryo pod shot through and towards Vorlon's
moon.
Sensing a Booji signature, the
defense grid deactivated after sending a message warning Za'ha'dum that
it had two days to retrieve the marooned Shadows.
The pod hit the atmosphere of the
small oceanic moon and immediately begun flipping violently in the thin,
pocketed atmosphere. Just before its seal was broken by the intense heat,
it splashed down into the cove where the temple resided. With only minutes
left to save Garibaldi, all available boats were sent out to the huge plume
of steam in the center of the cove.
*Lindaru*
The Llort placed the shadow babies
in the Shadow Baby Day Care center with Satai Callista and escorted Major
Buttons to the Temple kitchen where he showed her a month's supply of Phish
Phood ice cream.
The freezer door opened and Major
Buttons' face beamed. The Llort turned the lights down low and handed her
a spoon.
In the darkness, you could hear
sounds of smacking - endless smacking.
*Morden*
"<She's doing what!?!>" Morden
practically yelled.
"<The cat is hitting on the
Llort.>" One of the Shadows said, trying not to laugh.
"<Signal coming in from... Vorlon.>"
"<Vorlon?>" Morden turned to
him. The badly garbled Shadow, obviously spoken by a Vorlon, came through.
"<You have two days to recover. Two Shadow transports have moved into
Vorlon space, badly damaged. You have two day to recover.>"
Morden sighed heavily and though.
The minute the approached, the defense systems would go off.
"<The ship was attacked by beanie
babies. That's what knocked it into Vorlon space.>"
"<Fine. I'm taking the Raven.
That should confuse the defense grid enough for use to get in and out without
any damage.>"
"<What about Mr. Garibaldi?>"
Morden laughed shortly. "<There's
seems to be no way in hell to get that man anywhere safely. He's on his
own. No one else leaves here. See if you can get this
Gok thing under control. You know
how badly they react to us.>"
Morden strode out quickly, heading
for the docking bay that held her baby and own personal
creation, the Raven.
*Neil*
Neil had some serious doubts about
this... red slippers???
MajorButtons had left him with
chocolate on her mind, and there has been no more from Lorien.
Neil took the ruby slippers in
his hands and stared at them. "I don't even think I fit in these"
He looked around for something
that could help him, then he spotted the baby-like sun still hovering high
in the air. It was grinning at him, a realy false grin. "what the hell
are you grinning at!"
no answer
"What is going on here!!!"
no answer....
Anger creeped into Neil's mind,
he looked at the sun, grinded his teeth, but he couldn't resist the anger.
He took the slippers into a firm
grip, aimed, and threw them at the baby-like sun while releasing an angered
scream..
The slippers vanished out of sight,
and noting happened. Neil sat down on the cold floor, head hanging low,
he was never going to get out of this.
Behind the image of the baby-like
sun were a couple of holo transmitters, well hidden out of sight. The slippers
smashed into them, destroying them completely.
Neil still sat on the ground not
aware that the suit's holo programm had been destroyed, and not aware that
someone was waddling towards him...
*Lindaru*
"You are wise beyond your years,
Neil."
Neil looked up to see Jim with
Lindaru, and the Llort holding three shadow babies behind Jim.
"It seems," Jim paused to wheeze
a multi-colored breath, "that the Suits have planted containment fields
all over the Temple. We must find and destroy them all."
It bothered Lindaru immensely that
the Suits were even able to sneak into the Temple without being detected.
At just that moment, a gok, still in its polka dotted underwear padded
up to Lindaru with a most distressing expression on its face.
"Do you want us to follow you?"
The gok trotted off, looking back
from time to time to make sure that Lindaru, Neil, Jim and the Llort were
following.
*Reebo*
Reebo and Gordan sped around the
corner, there it was. It looked so beautiful I hadn't been at the temple
for so long now.
After dropping the cherry red bucket
on gordan's head the bucket begain to take effect. With my telipathic ability's
I could see his life story, the suit's brainwashing dominated his life
but there was also other things, his father's pressure to become a suit
his almost non-existant childhood. Finally I removerd the bucket from his
head. The Suit's brain controll was gone. "How do you feel?" I asked "I
can see" he replyed "I can thinnk on my own!" "Great, come with me"
*Lindaru*
After Reebo briefly explained Gordan's
situation to Lindaru who had paused at the altar while the gok nibbled
some chocolate, Lindaru took Gordan into her private quarters.
"The first thing we have to do
is get you out of that polyester." She held up a pair of jeans and a Booji
tee shirt. "Take these into that bathroom and change."
Meanwhile, at the altar, the gok
had finished the chocolate and started leading Jim and the Llort out to
the courtyard. Reebo opted to look for Lindaru and Gordan to see how things
were progressing.
Reebo came into Lindaru's quarters
while Gordan was still off changing. "So," Lindaru said, "what is his story?
I am most anxious to hear all about it."
*Garibaldi*
Having given up, the automated
Vorlon searchboats took off towards the setting sun to scour the oceans
for various shadow debris. The cryo pod, kicked to the surface by the boats'
wake, floated to the shore and skidded to a stop before the huge temple.
Suddenly Booji appeared, and beside
him The Scientist, Kat. She immediately threw open the door to the pod
and popped Garibaldi with a hypo-spray full of anti-toxin. She turned to
Booji.
"Can you give me a hand?" Booji
nodded and with a wave of a hand a large microwave appeared on the beach.
The Scientist threw Garibaldi's limp body into it and quickly set it to
defrost. Within seconds a staggering, dripping wet, confused/disoriented/seemingly
stupified Garibaldi jumped out and landed flat on the fine light green
sand.
"W-where are w-we?" He managed
to stutter. Kat looked around for the first time and shrugged.
"Vorlon's moon," Booji said. "This
temple is where I was first given life by ancient Vorlons."
"L-looks old."
"It was built 925,000 years ago
by Vorlon settlers fleeing religious oppression on the Homeworld. With
only their disassembled lander and some miscellaneous supplies they built
a thriving community. They never built a second temple, just kept this
first one in good shape. There was a civil war, and the weapons used melted
all the ice on this moon. Being on the peak of the highest mountain, this
Temple is all that survived of their civilization. I constantly use 2%
of my energy to protect it from all forms of erosion...a sort of sentimental
gesture."
"Nice," Garibaldi stumbled to his
feet. "How'd I get in to Vorlon space...let alone survive?" To this Booji
only shrugged. "Great."
Booji willed a large, sleek vessel
onto the beach. "I'll take Kat back, but you have some shadow friends floating
around out there. After you pick them up and drop them off at Za'ha'dum,
somewhere I don't think I'd be welcome, I suggest you meet up with the
rest of the followers and figure out what's going on."
"Fine. Kat, will I need more injections
of this anti-toxin?"
"Not for awhile. Once a month maybe.
The viruses seem to have gone dormant for the most part. No way of irradicating
them, but, a few pills a year won't hurt."
"Thanks. Seeya."
They disappeared with a flash,
and Garibaldi strolled up the beach. He took pictures of the temple and
its inner chambers, and when he was ready boarded the ship and began his
slow ascent.
*Reebo*
As I explaned Gordan's stuation
to Lindaru, a shadow came clicking in. *<Reebo,>* it cryed lowdly in
my head <Arthur!> I screamed back leaving lindaru and gordan I took
Arthur to the kitchen to have some ice cream
*Lindaru*
The gok brought Jim and the Llort
to a control panel outside the entrance to the courtyard. Jim looked closely
at it. It had been rewired and very sloppily at that!
The button for raising the water
level of the fountain had some aluminum foil extending down and into the
button for lowering the water level. Jim yanked the aluminum foil makeshift
cord and suddenly the hotel in the courtyard changed - back to its original
image! So this was how the Suits had created the holographic containment
fields!
He handed the Llort the cord and
they all headed back into the Temple. He turned the lights on as now with
the bright baby faced yellow sun suddenly vanishing at the pull of the
cord, it was now dark.
He snapped on a com screen and
dialed Bo.
*Neil*
neil was wandering around in the
Temple, he had left Lindaru and Gordan, as he told his story.
His first stop was at the kitchen,
he fixed himself a sandwich, and poured some milk. As he ate the sandwich
he wandered on. He checked the temple music installation, walked around
in the awards room, and stumbled into the most sacred of rooms......
He stood in the doorway of a dark
room, the only light comming from a spotlight in the ceiling, shining a
bright small beam on the ancient scrolls......
"maybe there's something in these
that might help us fight the suits" neil thought. He finished his sandwich
and drank his milk. As he sat down on the floor in the light he started
reading.
The
last day (part 1 of 6)
FTM's
Journal Entry Sun 02 Aug '98 (07:21 AM):
Okay,
I don't know about you lot, but they're not taking me without a fight!
My kitten,
Major
Buttons,
and
I are prepared for the hunt......
*Garibaldi*
For the first hour all was well.
Then, into the second, Garibaldi got bored. Three hours had past when he
turned off the artificial gravity and played a little g-ball. He played
until he broke one of the displays, then quietly swept the pieces into
the airlock and jettisoned them before anyone noticed something was broken.
Ten hours after he had left Vorlon
space Garibaldi layed down on one of the Minbari-style beds in the cargo
bay. He had just started to drift off when he heard a small metallic bang
come from the hull. As it echoed around him a second bang, then a third,
sounded. Soon the entire ship was shaking and Garibaldi's ears were aching
from the constant ringing of the hull.
Stumbling into the Control Room,
he demanded the computer tell him what was going on.
"Please state your Universe Today
preferences."
Perplexed, Garibaldi tried again
but it was no use. The computer only knew how to say one thing. Looking
out the window, he was surprised to see what looked like a suit ship. The
only difference was that it was, instead of highly destructive pulse blasts
or searing laser rays it threw rocks from tiny catapaults.
"Ewoks." Garibaldi groaned. He
tried for several minutes to lose them in the hyperspace currents, but
finally gave up. He would be at Boojilon 5 shortly. He would decide what
to do with the stragglers when he arrived there.
*Lorien*
in the depts of the planitoid on
which boojilon 5 resided lorien was fininshing work on his greatist creation.
a ship so powerful a planet destroyer would not dare to face it, a ship
so large the starship titanic would be dwarfed by it and a ship so fast
it could go from 0 to 60...thousand in 2.1 this ship would be known as
the pulsar. He lifted up his VR mask from his final computer systems check
and prepared to tell the
others about this and a few other
enhancements to the station he created in it at the end.
*Lindaru*
Jim walked through the court yard
and kicked at a bit of the ground. Instead of just a little dirt coming
loose, a huge chunk of rock lifted up, floated to the edge of the thin
atmosphere and then disappeared. He continued staring up and noticed that
several pieces were also floating up there. Planetoidary erosion?
He returned to the inside of the
Temple to his and Lindaru's quarters. Lindaru and Gordan were still chatting
when he came in. He went immediately to the com. Once he had gotten Eclipse
on the other end of the vid screen, he and Eclipse were soon involved in
a deep discussion. Lindaru, curious, got up and walked over to stand beside
Jim just in time to see the picture that Eclipse was showing Jim - a projection
of the erosion taking place on their planetoid and what it would look like
in the future.
