8FOLD: Mighty Medley # 16, April 2015, "The Last Story" (2/2)

[Andrew Perron]

On 4/4/2015 2:57 PM, Tom Russell wrote:

<snip>
> It calls, like most spells do, for drops of the mancer's blood.

Echoes, heck yeah.

>  What is the fate of
> one country compared to the threat that dread Venus poses to the
> world, and all that lies beyond?
>     But this one country is her country, home to her ancestors, source
> of her magic, a sacred place. Jennifer cannot expect the laowai to
> understand. She herself did not understand, at first.

I know that one.

> Knockout Mouse isn't quite sure which is cooler: the fact that Julie
> Ann Justice is lifting her forty thousand feet into the air, or the
> fact that she's going to punch a bird slightly larger than Texas in
> the face.

AMAZING. :D :D :D

>     When Bethany was fourteen, she had a ginormous crush on Julie Ann
> Justice, the first teenaged superheroine to first-app after that
> business with the High Roller in the eighties. A completely platonic
> crush, and she completely got over it by the time she was sixteen,
> though now that Julie Ann's arms are wrapped tightly about her waist,
> she's not so sure about that; squee.

:D :D :D :D :D <3

>     She needs to hit it just hard enough to launch it into outer space.
> Not a permanent solution, but the only reasonable one at the moment.

I AGREE :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

>     Not too hard, not too soft, but just right: there is a satisfying
> CRACK that likely punctures her eardrums, and the great shadowy beast
> rapidly becomes a little dot disappearing beyond the clouds.

mmmmmmmm <3

>     "Back with us, I see," says Julie Ann. Bethany can feel her breath
> splashing against her nose. "You blacked out for a hot second there.
> Air pressure. I have an aura that will protect the both of us, so I'll
> just have to hold you close until you stabilize."
>     Bethany has no problem with that.

augh. ~<3

>     In response Project Magnum had been set in motion. It was a
> contingency plan devised for emergencies such as this, and involved
> getting telepaths to provide a substitute communications network - a
> "psychic internet".

Awesome.

> The devil was in the details of course, since even
> under the best of circumstances the implementation of Project Magnum
> wouldn't have involved any known criminals,

Even more awesome. :D

> Such as, the Gorgon was a *hypnotic* computer virus. It
> may have engineered a way to muck up the encryption of
> telecommunication devices so that the problem lay in the devices - but
> what if it hadn't? What if the devices were working fine, but it was
> the people who couldn't make head nor tails of what they were
> perceiving?

A painfully good point.

> And it was
> because he was doing oversight rather than focusing his attention
> tightly on one task that he stumbled across the alien psi network.

Niiiiiiice.

>     Derek recognizes the voice. =( You don't need to shout, Deidre. )=
>     =( I'M NOT SHOUTING. THIS IS MY NORMAL THINKING VOICE. )=

Heeheehee

>     It's not a perfect storm of world-enders all casually going off at
> the same time. It's not ten different things. It's one attack on
> multiple fronts, coordinated by the alien psi network. Which means,
> but then, what if, of course!
>     Derek doesn't even need to spell it out or think it through (he's
> rubbish with details, anyway). Just the mere flash and mad flurry of
> an idea is enough to pass along to a hundred other minds.

HELL YEAH WONDERFUL. <3 <3 <3 Good psychicdescription in here. (Also, 
sometimes I forget how much of this the readers knew going in, and how much 
you've told me in behind-the-scenes emails. @.@)

>     =( Good, good. While you finish up in China, my fleet will
> neutralize minor nations such as the United States. Laser bombardment
> of major population centers will commence in forty minutes. )=

DUN DUN DUNNNN.

>     Talking to Brian is a different story, and their friendship-- born,
> begrudgingly, from a winking rivalry when they were both active
> speakers-- has become deeper and warmer since both men retired from
> public life.

Ahhhhhh, that makes sense.

>     "More like working with," says Whaley. "Gorgon doesn't hate all
> life, just humans."

Interesting.

>     "FEVER, Blackfin, Venusmancers," says Whaley. "Nihilists." That is,
> any of them are insane and venal enough to want to end the human race.

Hmmmm, but who even are FEVER

>     Suddenly, the claw shakes, its atoms scattering apart, along with
> the rest of the robot. But Brian's still on the other side of the
> room. Whaley sees a shape standing behind the robot, or rather several
> shapes, shimmering and bouncing against each other into another shape
> that's vaguely human, and vaguely familiar. It disappears in a blink
> of an eye, like it had never been there. But it was, at it saved his
> life, and it looked like... "...Kate...?"

AWESOME. I was hoping for that. <3

>     Brian finishes the last of the robots by the time Whaley announces
> that the computer's ready. The Gorgon isn't really one being, or even
> a hive-mind. It's a virus that evolves every time it replicates
> itself, creating a hundred different variations every time. Inferior
> variations are deleted; superior variations update the older ones.
> Whaley has, for the sixteenth time, isolated a susceptible version of
> the Gorgon, cutting it off from the others before they can update or
> delete it. If it evolves in isolation, wonderful things might happen.
>     "Sweet sixteen," says Whaley. He presses the button, and sends the
> artificial intelligence called Kid Enthusiastic once more unto the
> breach.

Oooooh, interesting. This gives that a different context too. o.o

>     It is a sort of civil war, pitting ten thousand brothers against
> ten thousand more, each one a mirror to its opposite number, a perfect
> reflection, and yet also a perfect opposite: the Gorgon and the
> Medusa, death and life, hate and compassion, animus and anima.
>     It is a battle for the soul of a machine.

Eeeeeeeeeeee. <3

> Docrates the Mighty Supragato and his brother and sister are partaking
> of some really excellent sushi, minus everything but the fish, near
> Tokyo, at a sushi establishment, a place of the highest quality, an
> estimable eatery they have frequented for a very long time, which may
> not really have been that long, but Time not being a concept of their
> understanding, except for "it's time to eat", a "very long time" shall
> suffice, since it was definitely before Tuesday.

Narrative voices <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

> "Oh mighty Docrates, the Mighty
> Supragato," says the radio, "you must help us! Terrible giant beasts
> have descended upon our great city, and ravage it as we speak. Tokyo,
> yet again, is ablaze and squashed by kaiju! Four immense monsters
> frolic amongst the ruins of our city! You must save us!" (In Japanese,
> of course.) But fear not, for the Mightiest Being In The Universe
> understands all languages fluently. Although, if you listened to it
> and spoke Japanese, it actually sounded more like "Tokyo attacked by
> giant monsters. Evacuate the area," being repeated.

Heeheeheehee ^.^

>Instead, he flies to the nearest kaiju, The Even Uglier. He
> sticks his left front claws into the back of The Even Uglier and lifts
> him and the other three kaiju-- still locked in a fighting, biting,
> bellowing ball-- off the ground.

Oh my goodness. ^.^

> It is Oh My
> God That's Really Ugly who first notices they are no longer on the
> ground and nearly opens his mouth in sheer terror. He had never told
> anyone that he was afraid of heights. He clings to The Bad's tail with
> teeth and claws. He pees-- a little.

*cackles*

> ----------------------------------------------------
> -----------------THE LAST DARKHORSE-----------------

DUN DUN DUNNNN.

> The alien psi network has to be vast, numbering in the thousands. But
> how can so many aliens hide on Earth? Once the restoration of
> traditional communications frees them up to do some digging, Project
> Magnum discovers that the alien consciousnesses are being transmitted
> into thousands of comatose human bodies: victims of the FEVER
> pathogen. The disease makes the brains compatible for this purpose.
> But they're being met half-way; the aliens are being "translated" into
> something that the modified human brains can use.

Ooooooh. o.o Fascinating.

> Project Magnum already knows that the alien psi network
> is powering the teleportation. From there, it's a hop-and-a-skip to
> the realization that Gregory Dingham is the transmitter.

...huh. O.o Doubly fascinating.

> (Remember, he can't use
> his powers to kill, not directly.) (But then what happened to Kate,
> and Three-Nine...?)

Ahhhhhh, that makes sense.

>     But that proves to be both too fast, and not fast enough. Too fast,
> in that it does create enough noise, causing him to turn around; too
> slow, in that he has enough time to say, "SLEEP."
>     But she doesn't stay down for long. Her sleep cycle is modulated to
> the second by her watch, and after the prescribed twenty seconds,
> she's back on her feet.

Nice!

> "You
> didn't take anything from me," she says. "Your powers don't let you do
> anything that's going to kill somebody directly. Without my speed, I'd
> die."

...perfect. <3

>     He calls for a dozen messengers, one to be sent for each Legion,
> and he gives each of them the same two words. Two words that every
> queen-son and every wing-brother knows. The name of a sacred place,
> and a desperate victory that was won without jump-belts, without
> Neitheans, without the Pulse, without any weapons of any kind, and
> against impossible odds. No longer a thing of history, but a thing of
> legend: "Gorik's Hill."
>     The word goes out, and soon, their shouts fill the air: Gorik's
> Hill!, Gorik's Hill!, Gorik!, the Hill!, and then, Rurik's Hill!, and
> he's not sure how he feels about that, but he'll take it, and he
> reflects that yes, perhaps he chose the right words, after all.

Innnnnnnteresting. Good choice, to show us the legendary heroism of the bad 
guys. <3

> It
> was very expensive to bring the Dingham kicking and screaming back
> into existence.

...hmmmmmm!

>     First splashpage: Galadriel drops down through the upper atmosphere
> feet first, her eyes and fists glowing with nimbuses of power. The
> Elder God that she encountered previously is there, reaching up with
> its tentacles, wanting to grab and rend her.

HELL YEAH. :D

>     It was about eight kilometres across, making it slightly smaller
> than the Chicxulub impactor that helped take out the dinosaurs.
> However it hit with more than twice the force of its famous
> predecessor. Not only had Galadriel tweaked its location and direction
> with telekinesis and teleport gates to make sure it arrived at just
> the moment she wanted, she had also upped its speed. It made a hell of
> a mess of the hellish planet, and the fleet of ships in its orbit.

AMAZING. :D :D :D

>     Galadriel had returned to orbit to watch the resulting carnage and
> stand guard against any surviving Elder Gods slipping off planet. If
> they did, well... she wouldn't have time to play around with asteroid
> impacts. She'd simply have to get tough with them.

gdfgdfh. <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

>     Derek frowns. "It just doesn't feel like we won."
>     "It never does," says Becky. "Not with FEVER. And now that they're
> in league with the Pulse..."
>     "Then I guess we'll need some aliens of our own."
>
>
>       TO BE CONTINUED IN...
>             ...DAYLIGHTERS # 1!

YEAH!

>     But it was the Neithean plan that failed. The Eighth Hive was never
> part of that plan, not really; if everything else had gone as it
> should have, there never would have been a need to subdue and occupy
> China. The conquest of China, would only be necessary if the Neitheans
> came up short. Rurik and his wing-brothers are Plan B.
>     And that plan is right on schedule.
>
>
>       TO BE CONTINUED IN...
>             ...EIGHTH HIVE # 1!

YEAH!!!

>     "You should have brought my father back," she continues, not
> unkindly. "He would have solved the problem, he always did, and he
> wouldn't have thrown a bloody meteor at it! She hurt them, killed some
> of them, but the rest of them are wide awake now, and the Lullaby has
> been smashed to pieces.
>     "Venus is awake, and now there's no way to put them back to bed."
>
>
>       TO BE CONTINUED IN...
>        ...THE SECRET CIRCLE # 1!

YEAH!!!!!

> For reasons that are still mysterious, the great beasts lost all
> interest in fighting each other when the meteor slammed into Venus.

Ooooh.

>    Maki suddenly becomes aware that she's been talking to herself,
> whispering softly, "I'm sorry" and, "I didn't mean to". Sorry for
> what? Didn't mean to what? And where are you going? "I'm going home,"
> she says, just before she walks into the ocean.

Ahhhh <3

>     When she opens them again, the turtle is there, its face the size
> of a house. Gently Maki's body drapes like a cloth on the turtle's
> nose, and he bears her up to the surface.
>
>
>       TO BE CONTINUED IN...
>             ...KAIJU KORPS # 1!

YEAH!!!!!!!

>     "Then I need your help," says Melody. "I need you to remember
> everything you can about those two seconds, and I need you to remember
> everything you don't. Because if she's still alive, then I'm going to
> find her, and I'm going to bring her back.
>     "Even if it's the last thing I do."
>
>       TO BE CONTINUED IN...
>               ...DARKHORSE # 1!

:D

(who's going to be writing these, holy crap)

Andrew "NO .SIG MAN" "Juan" Perron, I am up too late