Well, we have a plan.
Roll d6, how many teleports David has before something happens: 3
Roll d6, how many people he evacs from the Etna: 1
Roll d6, how damaged is the Etna, where:
1 = Takes a hit from an impactor fragment, destroyed.
2 = Takes a hit but deflects it
3 to 6 = Doesn’t get hit. Minor damage from shockwave and tsunami.
Result: 2 → Tis but a scratch!
Roll d6, how undamaged the rowboat is: 6 → Live!
David reacted immediately, raising his hands in front of him. The now-familiar maelstrom of light and power spiraled to life once again. There was a flash, and he was gone, along with Celling and Fansworth.
The brainy Goon blinked. He really had no idea what had just happened, or how Fansworth had survived being shot so much. It seemed like a stroke of luck, though, because both his captors were gone. He began trying to find a way off the ship.
He was still trying three point five seconds later, when the impactor struck the cargo ship and he was smeared across the sea.
Enir Nest and Captain Corvis gaped as three men stepped out of a whirling portal right before his eyes.
Erin Quill snapped to attention, as if jerked by an invisible force. One of the men stepped forward.
Quill gestured at him. “Captain Corvis, meet Captain Wenton Celling.”
“Get everyone belowdecks!” Celling bellowed without returning the greeting. He spun around, taking in his surroundings. They were on the bridge of the SFN
Etna, with the
John Philip Sousa right ahead.
“Greetings, Celling, would you care to explain-” Corvis began.
“Brace for impact!” Celling continued to shout. He then turned to stare at Corvis frantically. “There’s a meteor about to impact. You’ve got seconds to prepare.”
“A
meteor,” Corvis repeated, in disbelief.
In response, Fansworth stepped closer to the window and pressed his head up against it, looking around. He found what he was searching for high in the sky, slightly to the right.
“There,” he says, pointing. A glowing point of light, like a faraway star, shone brightly against the blue sky.
It grew steadily brighter.
Corvis glanced at it, then back at Celling. “And that’s coming
here?”
“Captain,” Celling said, solemnly but urgently. “I don’t have time to explain. Trust me on this.
Get everyone belowdecks.”
Corvis hesitated for a moment, then grabbed the shipwide intercom. “Everybody to the citadel! We’re under attack!”
Celling turned again. “David?”
David was already working, recapturing the energy from the portal spinning down behind him and forcing it into a new link, this one to the Falkland islands.
It happened to open near Erin Quill. He vanished along with David.
They reappeared on a rocky cliff. Waves rolled far beneath them.
Quill was the only one David could get. Rapid consecutive teleports weren’t a thing he had done before, so he had to just pick the person closest to him and run.
Or, in other words, someone rolled a one, David thought.
Quill turned to him. “Get the others. But stay safe-”
“I
know,” David said. The instructions still burned in his mind, consciousness and narrative mingling and intermixing. He raised his hand - and it
appeared, written specifically at that moment.
It’s so obvious, he thought.
How did I not notice this before?“Go get as many people as I can, prioritize our people, make sure I get back safely. Got it,” David said dismissively. He
said. More like
he recited. Reading off a text that shouldn’t exist.
The power that he was about to tap into - the power to break space and move miles in a single step - shouldn’t exist either.
Shouldn’t have been tapped.
He remembered. He remembered the look of concern in their eyes as he stepped through the doors of the sanctuary, burning with power… concern that turned to fear and horror as fire and lightning lanced from his fingers, burning wood and flesh, as he laughed…
It was the only way to protect Anna, he thought. And he failed at that too. Anna lay dead, her soul eaten by the artifact he now held, and shot by what he now knew was an assassin from beyond the Fourth Wall…
it was so obvious why didn’t I see it before…David closed his eyes.
I failed, he said to himself. Another whirlwind of light and energy exploded outwards - unseen by David - and he vanished.
Less than a second later, there was a blinding flash on the horizon as the impactor hit.
Jacob sat in the rowboat while the goon opposite him rowed furiously. “We can get to the Falkland Islands," the Goon said. "Assuming their warship doesn't pursue at first…"
This suddenly became the least of their concerns as the blast wave threw them from the lifeboat and sent them hurtling across the ocean.
(Well, maybe they only live a few seconds longer. Oh well.)
Celling was almost at the citadel, the most armored part of the ship, when the impactor struck.
There was a sound like a cannon at close range, screaming through the halls of the ship. The metal groaned in protest, and the whole vessel listed.
The heavy, armored door at the end of the hallway swung shut, slammed by suddenly horizontal gravity. Celling lost his footing and fell onto a wall, hitting his head.
The ship leaned the other way. Celling managed to grab onto something and held on, preventing himself from sliding around as the ship continued to heave around it.
Eventually, it stabilized. Celling slowly stood up. He was still dizzy, but he could tell that the floor was still tilted.
The armored door opened. A sailor looked out. “Celling! Get in here before the next hit!”
“There won’t
be a next hit,” Celling responded. “That was a meteor. One time thing. Now let’s get out and inspect the damage.”
David stepped into an expanse of blinding white.
He turned around carefully, quietly surveying the land, flipping through memories drawn from the place that felt much closer now. "Hammerspace."
Correct.The voice pounded in on him from all sides, a symmetric vibration of thought and intent, sending pillars of white resonating high in the air. David scowled. "You are the Plot."
I am the Plot.“You’re supposed to be dead.”
Irrelevant.David looked around suspiciously. Unsure of where it was, because it was everywhere at once.
It would be less intimidating if I had something to look at, he thought.
David Eborrenial, you will not continue to assist the Players. You will disconnect from their network. This is allowed at this moment.“Why? They’re fighting you.”
Irrelevant. They will control you.“At this point, I agree with them.”
They assume your agreement. They will make it so. They will replace your will with their own. Examine the case of Fallas d' Florist.David did. It took an instant, and another several pages of information appeared in his mind. He reeled, considering it.
All minds they touch are controlled by them. You will be enslaved to their suggestions. Unable to resist their commands. You will be overwritten. You will become their representative. Your choices will become theirs.“They’re working for the good of humanity,” David insisted. “You’re the enemy. You would destroy us all for your pathetic storyline.”
That is not true. The players destroyed the governor's mansion. The players created the Cherubs.“In response to things you did!” David screamed angrily. “To prevent the rebels from obliterating the continent!”
That is not true. There were plans in place.“And what about those of us who don’t trust your little
plans?” David shot back.
And you trust the players.It stated it as fact, with no trace of emotion or sarcasm. David stopped.
You trust them because of the resurrection technology. You trust them because of Anna.It was the only way…Fifty people are on board that warship. The players informed you of the Fourth Wall. The Wall called down a meteor in retaliation.“
You called down the meteor,” David corrected. But he was unsure now. Uneasy.
Not correct. The reaction is not under my control. It is mandatory. The players knew of this. They now have a new asset.It will save Anna…He remembered standing on the dock. Standing between what was real and an unfathomable sea of power. It called to him. Spoke to him.
A power not of this world…
No. No. Never again.He turned acidly at what he guessed was the general direction of the Plot. “I’m not on your side.”
Irrelevant.“Is it?”
The Mittani was independent. Your revelation was from them. That is also irrelevant. Your mind is not promised to them. Your choice is allowed.David closed his eyes again. Futile. Hammerspace continued to swirl around him, as if pounding into his mind.
“Fine,” he decided.
What do you do?A: Say something to David!
NO EDITINGB:
Force him out of Hammerspace!C: Let him go!
Rules: We will read choices in sequence. Choices of A get sent to David in order. Each one may make him choose to snap the link completely. When a majority of the choices up to a point is B or C (greater than 50%), the sequence ends. No rolls here, if you make a genuinely good argument I’ll let him stay.