SW10/HCC/REPOST: April 2011 #2: The Satanists with the Silver Skull Machine

[Andrew Perron]

On Sun, 1 May 2011 03:07:15 +0000 (UTC), Scott Eiler wrote:

> But somehow the Victorians had defenses!  Their clothes were charred and flaking 
> off, but the men weren't dead!  Their scientist said, "Oh, good, my anti-mystic 
> countermeasures worked."

Hah!  I like this guy.

> Their leader said, "What you call evil we are *proud* to call moral.  I am Auge 
> von Shaitan.  The Eye of Satan."

Now *there*'s a motto/battlecry.

> I said, "I do."  The others said, "I do."  Only Terri was silent.  I asked, "Terri?"
> 
> "I'm sorry!  Those were real people we met!  I can't vote to destroy them!"

Woo!

> Wyatt said, "Um... Okay.  No Make It Never Was.   Can we give them their world 
> back at least, without us vs. the Satanists?"
> 
> "Oh, yes!"
> 
> "Everyone?  *Our* world comes back.  We go back there.  So do our stupid 
> Satanists.  Victorians stay on theirs.  And I put them away from us so our 
> villains can't go there again.  But neither can we."

I always did love Put The New Universe In Its Own Self-Sustaining Bubble
(as seen in Amalgam and 1604).

> "Please pardon me.  And allow me to introduce myself.  I am Doctor Joseph 
> Biggby-Fisher of the Imperial Academy of Metascience..."

I love that name!

> "... Right.  You may understand, Her Majesty's Gouvernment is undertaking 
> radical measures against radical climate change.

Interesting it'd still be there in this world.

> "Oh, my.  I suppose that *wouldn't* be proper.  But could you, perhaps, 
> marginally shift the odds of our quest toward our favor?"
> 
> I got it.  "Oh!  You want our *blessing*!"

Innnnnnnnnnteresting. 

> "People could use me to put the Earth back on its old orbit.  The U.S. 
> Government probably *will* do that if I give them the chance.  But you've seen 
> the power here.  My question to you is:  Do we mess with things now?"
> 
> I said, "Seems to me, it's all just the same problems, different year.  We can 
> move the Earth around, but we can't fix man."

...by the way, this hasn't changed, but: I dunno.  This kind of thing
always seems like a cop-out to me, or at least cowardly.  Sure, you don't
want to try to solve all of people's problems for them, and sure, there's a
slippery slope... but I think I'd, y'know, *try* to put in a patch for the
upcoming armageddon.

> We all walked to the Legion hall.  On the way, I talked with Wyatt.  "You were 
> responding to prayers.  Do you think you were *God* back there?"
> 
> "I hope and believe something above me had veto power.  But for all practical 
> purposes, I *was* God - but only as long as I had you with me.  You must have 
> been worshipers...  I'm surely glad *that's* over."
> 
> "Me too."

This is a great mini-scene here.  Honestly, when you get up to this level,
the only thing that matters are the emotions, so it's good to express what
an experience like this really means.

> *  Make It Never Was.  Wyatt Ferguson knows what it means to sentence an 
> alternate world to oblivion.  He once time-traveled and did that against Earth 
> 2022.  (http://www.eilertech.com/stories/neverwas.htm)  Ironically, a very 
> similar Earth 2022 is now looming large in the future.  So Wyatt knows the 
> limitations of "Make It Never Was".  On the rare occasions he comes across that 
> power, he can easily be convinced to use it sparingly.

Interesting...

> This story was heavily revised after review on Rec.Arts.Comics.Collective 
> (RACC).  Thank you especially, Andrew Perron.  Putting in more Victorians *did* 
> only enhance the story in the end.  But don't expect them to return...

No problem! ^-^ I really hope Dr. Biggby-Fisher does make another
appearance, one way or another... 

Andrew "NO .SIG MAN" "Juan" Perron, who apparently thinks every friggin'
thing is interesting.