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[Reign on your Parade]

BEYOND beyond quality!

I loved the person playing dwarf fortress.

[AlanL]

Thank you  

Although, that specific idea was just a thought until Armok got me thinking about it more  :p

[ December 23, 2007: Message edited by: AlanL ]

[Wooty]

Paragraphs! PARAGRAPHS!

*Begins blinking rapidly and goes cross-eyed*

Aside from that, Beyond Quality!

[AlanL]

Thanks  :p

And yes... I probably should start splitting these up more.

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Blitukus stayed close to his human copassenger. The train silently slid into the station, slowing, and finally stopping. The train seemed to descend slightly, coming to rest with a clank. There was a dull hiss, and the doors slid open. Blitukus noticed shielded coils beneath the train, designed to loosely fit around the track. A large number of people exited the train, headed for the airport. The recent arrivals began to board afterwards. Blitukus boarded with the human and sat next to her again. When everybody had seated themselves, the doors shut with another dull hiss. There was then an electric hum, a moment later, riding on a sheet of magnetism, the train seemed to levitate slightly off of the track. It then accelerated, proceeding smoothly and silently to a very rapid cruising speed. Blitukus spoke the copassenger, "I see there's no toll for this." She replied, "In Metropolis, people get taxed left and right... but the government gets awarded left and right for being the most effective in spending tax revenue. There are many free services that really work, and if unemployment ever gets too high, the government can cite large civic buildings to be built as long as there's a justifiable demand. Metropolis is one of the most productive cities around, unemployment and homelessness are negligible, and 'Made in Metropolis' is in and of itself a stamp of approval in most places." Blitukus asked, "What about the side effects of such industry?" She replied, "These guys have been champions of clean and efficient power and industry ever since the hydroelectric dam was built. They know how to keep it down." Blitukus thought about this, then looked around.

He looked out the window as the train approached the city. After a few minutes, sliding over the rails among the desert terrain, the train entered the fringes of the city, and began to slow. Blitukus looked around. The citys smaller buildings were made of standard materials, but the larger buildings held themselves up with titanium frames, as strong as steel but far lighter, allowing them to tower to even greater heights. The buildings seemed to contain various potted plants suspended on their exterior, the occasional vine hanging down. Somehow, these plants grew even in this harsh environment, perhaps due to what they were fed and watered with. These plants were all windows that could be opened on a regular basis. The windows of the buildings were another subject of curiosity... windows in the cool shade were an absorbent black, while windows exposed to the scorching sun were a reflective white, holding the temperature of the building stable without needing external power. It seemed this was due to the very material the windows were made of, rather than a device. The train pulled into a station, and stopped, lowering itself onto the track again. The doors opened, and people began departing into the city. Blitukus kept following her, out of the train and down to a road. Vehicles passed by in quite a volume, but, unlike the buzzing and smog producing vehicles of the city he left, these ones accelerated silently, leaving no visible byproduct. Blitukus sniffed the air... he had avoided doing so in the previous city since the air smelt of chemicals and soot, but here, this smell was trace if present at all. Blitukus spoke, "It is truly beautiful..." He stood for a moment, looking up at the tall building before him with admiration, the suns rays making their final bounce to him off of the frame and windows of the building. It was everything he drempt Metropolis would be, and then some. She replied, "Yep... uh, why are you following me around?" Blitukus replied, "I came here seeking something, and I feel a scientific facility, such as a university, might be a good place to start." She replied, "Ok, I like chatting with you anyway." They proceeded to a nearby intersection, waited for traffic to shift, and crossed, waiting at another train station, this one adjacent to a track consisting of a single rail, passing through the city, held up above the ground by steel supports, beautiful supports that both seemed to be true art and structurally sound at the same time.

As they waited in a crowd, consisting mostly of the new arrivals, for the train to arrive, a small, hardly noticeable tremor occurred. Most people didn't notice the tremor, but Blitukus looked down... he saw small bits of material slightly shift by his feet. Blitukus felt a sort of lackluster feeling in his soul... it felt as if something once ambient was vanishing entirely from the astral plane. Blitukus looked around.... everything was OK. He sighed, and set his feelings aside once more. A short train, riding the single rail, slid in, and stopped. Blitukus boarded, sitting next to the human again. She spoke, "You know... you'll think I'm crazy for saying this, but... something about you just doesn't seem to belong at this time, like you're displaced kind of." Blitukus snickered, "I probably give that impression to a lot of people." When the train was essentially full, the doors closed, and it began to move. It ascended upwards, the rail carrying it up among the taller buildings. Some of these buildings seemed connected to one another by bridges high above the ground, creating a walkway network within blocks. The train made stops at stations that seemed to be part of these sky rise buildings, held above the ground by titanium supports, passengers loading and unloading directly from the building. Blitukus noted, much of the common city was contained in general-purpose skyrises, reducing the amount of land needed for a population. There were small buildings, but there were less than usual of them. Eventually, the train cleared away from the buildings enough for the very heart of the city to be visible. At the very center of the city was very, very tall buildings, their titanium frame reflecting intensely under the sun, much of their surface covered in windows, black windows from where Blitukus was viewing from. The buildings were segments of a single hollow cylinder at the very heart of the city. At the center of the cylinder was an open area, seemingly a garden full of shrubs and trees, walkways providing a path through to a small, paved circle in the very middle. The circle seemed to be engraved with something, but Blitukus was far too distant to tell what. Each building had an aluminum 'antenna' on top, which angled inward, connecting with those of the other buildings, circular bands of aluminum connecting the antennae a third of the way up and two thirds the way up, forming the framework of a cone in the sky. At the very pinnacle was a soft blue glow from a light that shone down, a beacon in the middle of the city. Blitukus gazed into this eagerly. Several flying machines seemed to be traveling about. Nearby, a flying machine, sleek and painted a dark grey, ascended straight up, its turbine engines pointed downward. Birds flew around the flying machine unafraid, calmly staying out if its way, as if they respected rather than feared it. It gained altitude, then its engine nacelles tilted forward and sped up, causing it to accelerate forward. Blitukus smiled... it reminded him of his own flying machine and his experience with rotating nacelles, but these flying machines did it effortlessly. As it traveled, Blitukus noticed something else... the engine nacelles on that flying machine vectored independently of one another, and were machine controlled to allow for responsive maneuvering at low speed through precision-controlled thrust. They had taken the idea he had pioneered and advanced it a few epochs into the future... literally. Blitukus grinned as he watched it fly away. The train kept moving, passing through the city, eventually moving downwards. Blitukus looked over at his human copassenger... she was looking at her handheld again. She was looking at a page titled, "Midnight tremors sweep the world", describing the advance of the tremors, from one city to the next as each time-zone rang out midnight. As this happened, aftershocks could be felt throughout the entire planet. What Blitukus felt must've been one of those aftershocks. It mentioned seismologists being baffled, but curious regarding the new phenomena. It quoted, "It shows us how we don't know everything about our precious world yet, and perhaps, how we have yet to rediscover things we had once known." Blitukus asked, "Do you have any predictions as to what has been causing this?" She replied, "Not a clue!" Blitukus sighed through his nose... something was happening. Whether it was good, bad, or neither, had yet to be determined. Eventually, the train descended, and stopped at a station at ground level.

She spoke, "This is our stop." Blitukus turned, and checked his sphere of direction, keeping it out of sight of everyone else. He cought a glimpse of a pointer to his destination... it pointed not to the university, but down the tracks. Then he remembered... the sphere of direction had originally painted the location in a large dwarven city... yet now it indicated a destination here, in Metropolis, and even though Metropolis was right next to a cliff face, what he had seen of the dwarven city was not around. Perhaps he had emerged to the right place at the wrong time? Either way, that component was bound to be somewhere... perhaps, just down the tracks. Blitukus replied, "No, I think I might want to start my search at a later stop." She replied, "Ok, see ya." Blitukus spoke, "Goodbye..." He then stood, and smiled, offering her a handshake. She accepted with a smile, then left the trail. Blitukus sat alone, and wondered... would she ever realize she just shook hands with her hero? Whether she was aware of it or not, it had still happened. Blitukus sat back, and looked out. He smiled as he looked at the university. The front most building was a college of optics... the entire building seemed organically shaped, covered in shining titanium panels, grey windows near the back. The building was roughly shaped like a U, the interior especially polished. It seemed the inside of this U collected the suns rays, bouncing it among the panels, eventually bouncing it into partly to a specially crafted crystal at the front of the building. There, the light was broken down into its components, painting a bright rainbow on the ground nearby. Several dark lines were visible in this rainbow, and near these dark lines, chemical symbols were drawn on the ground. The majority of the suns rays weren't reflected into the crystal, rather black containers. Steam slowly rose from these containers, condensing in glass coils into a metal container on the ground. Near this building was a tall observatory, at that time shut down, shielding itself from the bright sun. All around, it appeared the university had a deep admiration of the sun. One building, near the rear, was circular with black windows all around it, a detailed diagram of the anatomy of the sun engraved in front of it, focusing on the debated regions of the core. Behind the building were several crates of materials, one marked He3... Blitukus wondered, what was He3 anyway? Inside the building, through the windows, a blue glow made visible a large, donut-shaped device, various non-metal tubes running around it, the device encircled by isolated coils, a slight fog from extreme cooling drifting down from it. It seemed connected to the local power grid with a much heavier connection than the other buildings. Near the front of the campus, another building, cylindrical in nature, was present. It had a small square structure placed on its roof, much like a smokestack, only without an opening at the top. Suddenly, a panel on the side of the top of the stack slid down, revealing a complex, wire-crossed device of some kind. It glew blue, then its glow shifted to red, an immensely cold nitrogen vapor being expelled, immediately dispersing into the air. The panel then slid back up. Two students holding a large cylindrical container walked outside. They set the container down and removed the lid. Within was a white, square solid suspended in a clear liquid. The liquid consumed the suns rays with quite an appetite, and began to turn blue, the solid grey. They seemed to be expecting this. Suddenly, the change shifted, and the liquid turned green, the solid blue. They seemed surprised with this, and began discussing among themselves as they capped the container and brought it back inside.

The train departed for the next stop, beginning to accelerate away. Blitukus smiled... he felt that he himself would be proud to live in such a city. Soon, the university became hidden behind other buildings. Blitukus kept checking the sphere of direction as the train went along, careful to conserve his mana as much as possible. He left the train at a stop when he found the destination was nearby. He saw several industrial buildings around, conventional train tracks running down the middle. There was a train present, and it was a conventional train, relatively crude seeming compared to the buildings around it. Blitukus checked his sphere of direction one more time, it pointed to... the other train? Perhaps the component... was ON the train? Blitukus began walking toward the other train. It was stopped and likely would stay that way for a while. Still... if that train left with him searching on it, he would have to wait until later to explore Metropolis. Blitukus felt to take in as much as he could in the mean time. The industrial buildings around were large, but didn't seem to pollute that much. The processes they used had been scientifically refined for efficiency in all ways, including reduction of waste. As he walked, he noticed some of the buildings and their functions. One, likely a smelter due to the various ores near it, was a fairly square building, the side facing the road having a window showing the area within. There seemed to be multiple cauldrons made of a dark material, surrounded by dark coils. The lights inside turned red, the coils heating up until they glew a bright yellow, the cauldrons slowly heating up to a bright red glow. A precise mixture of metal was worked with. Meanwhile, the coils on the other side dimmed. A wall of steam rose from the back of the building for a moment. Next he saw a manufacturing facility of some kind... several people were working around and within it. He looked through the dark windows. The windows blocked most of the view, except for bright blue glows that would be piercing otherwise, sparks showering down. These blue glows illuminated the internal area of the facility. Blitukus noticed a large machine, taking in multiple metal sheets, pressing them into shape with immense pressure, sliding these off onto a moving belt, then new sheets being loaded in, forming a repeatable cycle. Meanwhile, machine driven arms took up the metal pieces and held them in precise position, another arm moving in and joining the metal, sending out a blue glow and a shower of sparks. It seemed this facility produced large frameworks of some kind... many of them, all identical. Blitukus laughed... yet again, an idea he had pioneered, evolved by multiple epochs. He had imagined production en masse being carried out on larger and larger scales by bigger and more effective machines... but these calculated and automated systems were a step beyond what even he had imagined. There was also a chance it could be traced back through the eons to his own devices... even the thought of this made him feel deeply honored. He smiled back, but continued... He noticed the train was starting to move, his objective with it. Blitukus realized, his chance to gain a component, a vital tool needed to save his mothers soul, might be just about gone. He sped up to a run, climbing up to the station then up to a walkway above the train. He really wished he could stay and explore this wondrous city... but other priorities were far more important to him.

Unfortunately, it appeared the train was far too large for him to attempt to stop... he had to reach his objective, for if he lost it now... he might not get it back in time. Blitukus looked around, and realizing there was no other option, jumped onto the top of the train. He landed on top of a steel cargo container, and slid along the metal until his speed matched that of the train. He looked forward... the train was being pulled along by a large engine that let out a deep buzzing sound, a thin exhaust visible above it. The train seemed to consist of nothing but these red-painted cargo containers. Blitukus emptied his mana checking the sphere of direction one last time... he was on car 15, his objective inside of car 8. Blitukus slowly made his way forward, crouched as low as he could in order to reduce wind resistance. The train passed through the city, headed out... people seeing Blitukus there seemed surprised to see him. As Blitukus made his way forward, slowly moving from the top of one container to another, the train kept accelerating, passing towards the edge of the city. It was headed northward. When Blitukus reached the proper car, the train had already left the city and was traveling northwards through the desert. Blitukus climbed down a ladder, stepped onto the short ledge in front of the cargo container, then opened the door on the large, red container. He walked inside, and found it full of metal crates. Perhaps it was within one of these crates? The crates were latched shut, but not locked. Apparently, they had been designed with a complicated and tough lock... but somebody had forgotten to lock them. Blitukus began searching through them. They contained fine, valuable electronics... likely the reason for the would-be-secure locks... but nothing even remotely close to cat make. He kept searching through crates, one after the other. It wasn't his original intent to steal anything but he would do what he had to in order to complete his quest. He could make much greater use of the component than anyone else here. He searched, and searched, and found quite valuable items, but nothing of cat make. Then, it occurred to him. Back at the airport before he had left Rametaru, when he saw the destination lay in the southwest continents... it was too distant to tell Metropolis apart from a location just north of Metropolis. Perhaps the sphere had guided him to simply the next leg of his journey, and the component lay northward? Blitukus put everything back as it was beforehand, and shut the crates. He sat on a crate near the rear of the cargo container, and leaned back against the metal wall. At least he had gained proper transportation, if it really did lay to the north.

[Wooty]

First! I don't even know what to put. I just wanted to be first.

Edit: Now that I actually read the story...
Dwarven city that isn't there and weird earthquakes in the ground? This could get interesting. As always... Beyond Quality!

[ December 24, 2007: Message edited by: Wooty ]

[AlanL]

Thanks  

I'm always glad to see a variety of people posting.

[Reign on your Parade]

BEYOND BEYOND QUALITY! and, unfortunately, I will probably not be posting all of tomorrow, tomorrow night, or PRESENT DAY!

[Wooty]

Yeah, it's getting to be like Nist Akath - random people you've never seen before posting once or twice on page 19 and never seeing them again. The only really regular posters are you, armok, and parade.

[AlanL]

I'm glad to have gotten such positive responses in the first place.  

When I first started, I didn't know what responses I would get. I'm glad when people reply, even if it is only once or twice.

[Armok]

BEYOND Beyond BEYOND Quality!  

Turns out I got a wireless modem that works over the mobile phone network (or something along those lines) for Christmas, so thats how I can post now, however due to getting it late in the evening I don't have very much time to write, so this will have to be short. (yes, in my country we get the gifts late Christmas eve rather than Christmas day)

////////////////////////////////////////////

quote: That's not true. It's not always POLITICAL propoganda. And it's actually got all sorts of different types of music that fit it. Well, actually, I just prefer any music that can't be summarized by "I wish you were my girl/boyfriend," "I have an awesome girl/boyfriend," or "they used to be my girl/boyfriend." It's pretty limited.

Your right, sometimes its religious or social propaganda  :p , and you are ABSOLUTELY right in that the so called "love music" is the worst, it makes me want to puke.
/////////////////////////////////////////////

[AlanL]

Thanks  :p

Glad to see you again Armok, but be careful with that. I'm pretty sure using your phone for internet access is a bad idea unless it's only a little bit, since it racks up big charges. Then again, that might only be with some plans.

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Blitukus sat for a while... the train kept going north, leaving Metropolis behind, slowly fading back toward the horizon. Blitukus eventually got tired of just sitting, and began searching through the crates again. He pulled out an electronic device, similar to the handheld, and sat on a nearby crate, testing out which buttons did what. None of the buttons seemed to do anything... he found the power button, and nothing happened when he pressed it. He turned it over, and eventually found a small compartment in the back. He opened it, and found the compartment was designed to accept 4 small energy cells of some kind, and there were no energy cells present. At least that explained why it wasn't turning on. He replaced the cover, put it back, and shut the crate. Blitukus walked over to a latter on the inside of the cargo container, and climbed it, opening a small hatch on the roof. He stuck his head out, then ducked back down as the train entered a tunnel. Blitukus found these tunnels offered a bit of room between the top of the train and the roof of the tunnel, but not much. When the train emerged, Blitukus noticed the electrical lines strung over long distances along the track, carrying power from one city to another. Blitukus was on his way to another city... perhaps it would be the dwarven city? This thought troubled him... Dwarves took pride in their artifacts, meaning high security and a general unwillingness to donate to his cause. If the artifact was locked up somewhere in the depths of a dwarven stronghold, he had basically no chance of getting it... he would have to go back home, and try again. He stood on the ladder, watching the terrain go by. There was no establishment in sight, just flat, open desert. This was obviously going to take a while... Blitukus climbed back down, shut the hatch, and sat on a crate, laying back against another crate. He let himself sink deep into thought. He thought about the situation, and about what he saw, analyzing every detail of it. He did this for a long time, then just simply daydreamed. That continued for a long time as well. Hours slowly passed by. Eventually, he felt as if he were about to fall asleep, even though he wasn't that tired. He noticed a slight buzzing outside. The buzzing got louder, and louder. He opened his eyes fully, and sat up. CLANG! RUSSL! The sound of footsteps could be heard. "You got the thing?" "Right here..." "..." "What the- SH*T!" "You dumb-f*ck... turn that sh*t off and put it away!" Footsteps could be heard around the cargo container, and then eventually on the container. "You loaded up?" "I got 20 and 5, we ain't gunna need this sh*t for this though." "Keep it out just in case." The buzzing drew away. "Where the hell does he think he's going?" "Take a piss? I dunno!" "He better get the f*ck back here by the time we get out..." Blitukus stepped toward the back of the back of the cargo crate, away from the sounds, ready to see just what was causing it should they try to enter. "You sure that guy left the crates unlocked?" "I paid him enough, he should've." "Good, hmmnh..." The sound of someone tampering with the hatch could be heard. "Hey, someones already opened this!" "Just get in there and let's move." The hatch opened, and 3 goblins began to descend down... this was not what Blitukus had expected. They all carried various tools, and likely were seeking to 'reclaim' many of the crates of fine electronics. One of them carried a small, black crossbow, a crossbow that seemed to have two opposing bows linked to eachother via complex mechanisms, the bolt loaded in it colored red. The flywheel and electrical motors seemed to indicate it was also an automatic crossbow. Blitukus snuck back towards the door. He wanted nothing to do with this.

As he exited, the moving door attracted the attention of one of the goblins. The goblin spoke, "Hey what the- CLAIMJUMPER!" Blitukus quickly exited, shutting the door behind himself. A bolt suddenly smashed into the steel door, becoming fragmented and leaving a dent in the door. There was nothing Blitukus could do to defend himself from these ranged attacks... he was out of mana and lacked a weapon. Blitukus climbed the ladder to the top of the train, and began making his way back to the rear, away from the goblins. As he passed the hatch, the hatch opened again, a goblin ascending. Blitukus grabbed the goblin by the shirt, pulled the goblin up, then threw the goblin over the side of the train. The goblin bounced off of the ground, leaving a trail of dust as it moved away into the distance. Blitukus kept making his way back. The goblin crossbowman stood up on the ladder, poking its head out of the hatch and holding the crossbow out to the side. The goblin aimed at Blitukus, but couldn't seem to get a good aim as the train moved and shifted. Blitukus moved as quickly as he could along the tops of the carts, hoping they would lose interest in him. Despite having gone out of feasible range, the crossbowman opened fire, letting bolt after bolt loose, each one missing horribly as the wind blew them off course on top of everything else. A bolt landed on the metal behind him, fragmenting and scattering. Blitukus noticed these bolts seemed to be designed to fragment on impact... doubtlessly causing immense tearing and shredding should they hit a soft target, although reducing their effectiveness towards hard targets. Blitukus noticed he would soon be unable to flee further. The train was approaching a tunnel, and he was on top. He grunted, and attempted to speed up even more. The crossbowman stopped to reload, meanwhile the other remaining goblin was climbing up alongside. As the other goblin climbed up, the crossbowman yelled, "Get lost!" The other goblin then ignored the crossbowman, stepping up to the top of the train. Blitukus turned around for a moment to catch his breath. The goblin ran across the top of the cars, a dagger drawn, leaping from one car to the next. The goblin was skilled with running atop moving trains, much more than Blitukus was. Blitukus had little chance to get away, and with that tunnel approaching, they would both be forced beneath the top of the train, and Blitukus would have no chance of escape then... Blitukus backed off still. Then, Blitukus remembered, there was that small space... he had one chance to escape. He laid belly down on the top of the train. He couldn't move, but the goblin would have to do the same thing when the tunnel came, and the goblin also wouldn't be able to move. The crossbowman looked back at the approaching tunnel, then looked forward, yelling, "YOU DUMB SACK OF SH*T GET BACK HERE!" The goblin running towards Blitukus stopped 2 cars down, pointed at Blitukus, and laughed at the kobold who seemed to be frozen in fear, down on the metal 'floor'... but Blitukus found his fear melting away. It seemed the goblin had made a fatal mistake... having never looked behind himself. Blitukus laughed. The goblin seemed surprised, "Huh?" Blitukus waved, and whistled with a grin, looking behind the goblin. The goblin turned around, and let out a scream of pure panic. The train entered the tunnel. THUD! THUMP! When it emerged a minute later, Blitukus was alone on top of the train, a piece of paper pressed onto his face by the wind. Blitukus peeled the paper off, folded it, and pocketed it. Blitukus then stood to a crouching position, unsure of what to do next. The crossbowman yelled, "GAH you USELESS BUM! Now I gotta do EVERYTHING myself..." The goblin crossbowman then climbed up from the hatch, and ran toward Blitukus. The goblin spoke, "I'm gunna take YOU out execution style!" The goblin approached. Blitukus moved to the back of the train, finding nothing but an empty cargo container resting on a flatbed. Blitukus looked around... there must be some kind of way out! He would not allow his quest to end in such a way. He looked at the goblin, looked around quickly, looked up, then looked down. Upon looking down, he saw the solution. The cars were joined together by a pin, and since this was the last car, the frictional forces holding the pin in place would be lessened. Blitukus hopped down, and looked at the pin. Time was short, very short. Blitukus looked around, then opened the door, looking in the cargo container. He found the container was empty except for a steel sheet and a small empty metal box. Blitukus immediately put the pieces together in his head. He took the steel sheet, and wedged it under the pin. Then, using all his strength, he grunted, and bent the steel, forming a simple means of leverage. He then lifted up the small but heavy metal box, grunting as he lugged it up with him to the top of the cargo container. The goblin crossbowman was right there, just about to cross over. The crossbowman grunted in anger, and began to aim. Blitukus jumped up, off of the front of the cargo container, holding the crate below himself. He and the crate both landed on the steel 'lever', leveraging the pin upwards. It was nearly pulled out, but not quite. Blitukus quickly grabbed the pin, wrestled it free, and discarded it. The goblin jumped downwards to meet Blitukus. Blitukus darted around the corner of the container. The goblin yelled, "Get back here you piece of sh*t!" The goblin gave chase as Blitukus moved as fast as he safely could around the edge of the container. Meanwhile, the entire car began to part from the rest of the train. Blitukus saw the widening gap forming as he ran back toward the rest of the train. He sprinted, and leapt across the gap, barely making it to the other side, and leaving the goblin crossbowman on the now-independent car. The goblin yelled in fury, then took aim. Blitukus scrambled up the ladder, and then dove down to the top of the train. Several bolts whizzed by. Blitukus grunted loudly as a bolt struck the metal near him, a few of the fragments traveling into his leg. Blitukus turned around, and pulled the fragments out. They were few, and had lost much of their energy in the impact with the metal. They didn't cause much real damage. Blitukus tossed the fragments away, the wound bleeding a bit. He sat up, and sat on the edge of the train, watching the car the goblin was on falling back from the train at an ever increasing rate, now out of range. The goblin yelled out several forms of profanity as it moved back towards the horizon. Blitukus grinned and waved. He then began making his way forward again, towards the car he had came from.

Meanwhile...

The goblin crossbowman searched around the edge of the now engineless car, and found a manual brake. The goblin engaged it, and the car began to screech to a stop. The train was crossing an intersection of track and road, a vehicle waiting patiently for the train to pass. The train passed, then a few minutes later, just as the gates lifted to road traffic again, a single car slowly made its way down the tracks, slowing to a stop right on the intersection, blocking the path of the vehicle on the road. The human in the vehicle spoke, "Hey, what the f*ck?!" The goblin then hopped down from the stopped rail car, walking across the desert. The goblin stopped, and turned to face the humans vehicle, the goblins eyes full of rage. The human ducked. The goblin held out his crossbow, and then opened fire, unloading the entire clip into the vehicle. The vehicle was just about brand new beforehand... and afterwards, it had 5 broken windows, 2 flat tires, and had otherwise become a veritable pincushion. The goblin then proceeded to walk away, walking along the road. The human sat back up, then observed the damage to his vehicle, "MotherF*CKER!"

Blitukus climbed back down into the car with the familiar crates around. He then began to tend to his leg. That buzzing sound was heard again. It must be a goblin in a vehicle, the driver that got them onto the moving train. Blitukus was no longer defenseless though... not quite. He had an idea of what to do. He opened a crate, and took up as many electronic devices as he could carry. It was a shame he would have to use them in such a primitive way... He carried them up the hatch, setting them down as he looked over the side. A goblin in a small land vehicle was near the train, surprised to see a kobold on top of the train, rather than his three 'friends'. Blitukus pointed back behind the train, "Your accomplice has been left behind... Leave."  The goblin seemed surprised about this, and upon trying to draw his crossbow, found it was jammed. Blitukus took up an electronic device, and flung it down at the vehicle. The spinning device hit the panel of the vehicle, breaking an instrument. The goblin grunted. Blitukus then flung another one, the device splitting open as it impacted the goblins head. Blitukus chucked another, leaving a bit of a dent in the metal of the vehicle, then chucked another, hitting the goblin in the head again. The goblin, seeing there was nothing he could do, began to move away. The goblin yelled, "You're gunna be feedin' the worms, kobold!" The goblin then turned his vehicle around, headed back in the opposite direction. Blitukus took the rest of the devices back down, placing them back, and shutting the crate. He found it rather ironic that he drove that goblin off with the very items the goblin had intended to steal... Blitukus sat down, and slowly let out a breath, calming himself once more. He laid back, and took out that paper, reading it. The paper had a depiction of a crystal near the bottom. It seemed to almost be a letter. It read,

"I say we work together on this one, my people and yours.

We're going to steal the Gem of Perfection from the museum in Endlesslabors. I don't care how many times it's been tried before, this time it'll work since we'll be compromising the museums security beforehand. We've got all the details covered. I've got people ready to take down the power to the museum, people ready to cause trouble to distract the guards, and my best and most skilled thieves ready to get you out. They managed to 'reclaim' a VTOL Medium from the Metropolis airport. They had fun repainting it, and have added a hoist to get you out. As you will see with the included blueprints, there is a skylight the dwarves have installed so that the human tourists won't have problems seeing the exhibits.

All we need for you to do is to supply a team to infiltrate the museum when the power is off, swipe the gem, and get to the skylight.

We know the train you're planning on 'investigating' will be arriving at Endlesslabors at about the same time as when we will be ready anyway. We hope you consider our offer... after all, we do offer generous shares to our friends, and large gems of ancient and, according to myth, extraterrestrial origin, will fetch quite a price on the market.

We are prepared to do this without your help, should you be too cowardly to accept this offer. We understand... after all, we all know what dwarves do to the goblin thieves they catch."

Blitukus then realized exactly why he had been directed to these locations. He would've otherwise never have stumbled upon this opportunity, and would've never have been able to get this component. They were prepared to steal this artifact without anyone else's help. Blitukus smiled. He could simply hide away, let the goblins do all of the work, then at the last moment before they leave, snatch the component away from them. Then again... he remembered what the copassenger had once said about Endlesslabors... "That place, is bad for your health..." Blitukus looked through the paper, finding small, simple blueprints, and an overview of Endlesslabors. It was the dwarven city that was originally indicated, trade depots and all. Blitukus looked through it again, then put the paper away. He took in a deep breath, then let it out through his nose. He wasn't a skilled thief at all, and he could possibly face resistance from both the goblins and the dwarves. Hopefully the goblins and dwarves would be keeping eachother busy enough for him to take the artifact. Even though the odds were against him, it was something he would have to do. He lay back, and tried to force his fears aside. It would work... somehow. Another long while passed. Eventually, the train began to slow. Blitukus climbed up to the hatch, and looked out. He was approaching the mountain fort of Endlesslabors, an area devoid of much plant life despite the green areas surrounding it. A haze of smog seemed to shroud the mountain, and several streams of smoke poured into the air from stacks that protruded from the mountainside. Nearby, a large, many-wheeled vehicle carrying a large cargo container was stopped at a trade depot, many crates of goods available to the traders, the rear of the cargo container open. This establishment was NOT at peace with nature though. A vengeful elephant stormed the depot, causing the humans and dwarves to scatter, leaving the crates there for the elephant to promptly bust open, scattering various goods all over the place. Blitukus found himself amused with this, and snickered.

As a friend of mine had once said, 'Same sh*t, different day.'

Blitukus looked back forward. The train was approaching a tunnel into the city. Off to the side of the city was a large, cylindrical steel facility, two smokestacks rising from the center. Apparently a magma vent had been capped there by a facility that generated power from the heat... and promptly augmented this by burning the fumes from the magma in an engine, dark exhaust trailing into the air. The polluted air stung at his eyes as he approached. He shielded his eyes, and ducked down back into the cargo container, shutting the hatch above him. He realized... there was a real chance he would fail here. It was a chance he still had to take. At least, if he did fail, he wouldn't have long to regret it.

[Wooty]

First post! Again! ... of course, when Armok and Parade get active again I probably won't be getting these.

Blitikus travelling around through time with absolutely no weapon? Although airport security would have beaten him to death and burned his cold dead body as jet fuel if they had so much as saw a razor blade in his pocket.

Seriously, how the hell is someone going to overpower a pilot, copilot, one or two flight attendants, and possibly other passengers... With a rusty pair of scissors?

[ December 25, 2007: Message edited by: Wooty ]

[AlanL]

He walked into this expecting it to be peaceful. Plus, he doesn't like messing with weapons unless he has to. Those two reasons are the big ones why he doesn't bring weapons with.

[Reign on your Parade]

You know what it needs in the immediate future? A car chase. You did the train scene, so you need the car chase.

[Armok]

Beyond*1000000 Quality! x9999999999  

Were have Reign gone, one can wonder?

One thing I have wondered is how that sphere of direction works, and speaking of that the crystal of accuracy in Blitukus clock, it's one thing it can locate a specific object and mark it on a map, but to realize that those goblins would be there and all the consequences would while theoretically possible need the device to be sentient, and either very smart or able to predict the future, also how a crystal normally used to stabilize arrows can read the current time in the right units is also strange.
I'm not claiming these are flaws or errors, I would just want some explanation on how this work as I seem to have understood some detail wrong about the magic system.

Also I have noticed for a while you have managed to capture the degeneration of the language in an almost to good way.

Enough complaints, there is no point to inventing flaws in something flawless like this.
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quote: Glad to see you again Armok, but be careful with that. I'm pretty sure using your phone for internet access is a bad idea unless it's only a little bit, since it racks up big charges. Then again, that might only be with some plans.

"modem" was probably the wrong word. It's basically just a USB devise that doesn't look at all like a mobile phone bot it works on the same network so I have a connection wherever a mobile phone would work, it has a monthly fee and part of the gift was having it payed for a full year.
So no trouble on that part.

(Why do I have this feeling I have yet to get a single sentence grammatically correct in this post?)

 

quote: First post! Again! ... of course, when Armok and Parade get active again I probably won't be getting these.

Bet you are you are you quick little ba****d, and when I get you I will...
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EDIT: Reign posted while I was typing, so just ignore that first question.

A car chase? ... I don't know.

[ December 25, 2007: Message edited by: Armok ]