Godforsaken Future - updated 10/31/2015

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Re: Godforsaken Future

Post by guest »

moe wrote:I love it. Simply love it. Haven´t read such a gripping story since Armageddon & Pantheocide.

thank you very much, I take that as a great compliment, I originally joined because of the salvation war stories

much appreciated.
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LadyTevar
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Re: Godforsaken Future

Post by LadyTevar »

I finally had the time to read this. Let me add to the round of OMG BRAVO that's been passed around.
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Me: Nope, that's why I have you around to tell me.
Nitram: You -are- beautiful. Anyone tries to tell you otherwise kill them.

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Re: Godforsaken Future

Post by K. A. Pital »

Aleksie is not a Russian name, Alexey or Aleksei is. Next, Russians adopting Pushtun words - not exactly completely unlikely, but all the pronounciation would be garbled and made into a Russian version of that.

Those are preliminary notes - I don't have more time to read the story to the end right now.
Zaune wrote:Not sure they have the option of deploying nukes yet, given the number of Afghan civilians in the area, but how about chemical weapons? Sarin or VX are probably specific to terrestrial life, but blister agents ought to be pretty universal.
The USSR had a vast array of Novichok agents, they were already developed by that time, and some were quite potent. Nerve agents like VX should be able to act on alien biology if evolution followed any more or less similar path to Earth.
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Re: Godforsaken Future

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Stas Bush wrote:Aleksie is not a Russian name, Alexey or Aleksei is. Next, Russians adopting Pushtun words - not exactly completely unlikely, but all the pronounciation would be garbled and made into a Russian version of that.

Those are preliminary notes - I don't have more time to read the story to the end right now.
Zaune wrote:Not sure they have the option of deploying nukes yet, given the number of Afghan civilians in the area, but how about chemical weapons? Sarin or VX are probably specific to terrestrial life, but blister agents ought to be pretty universal.
The USSR had a vast array of Novichok agents, they were already developed by that time, and some were quite potent. Nerve agents like VX should be able to act on alien biology if evolution followed any more or less similar path to Earth.
First off, you're gonna nitpick based on the fact that I put the 'i' before the 'e' in a supporting character's name? c'mon man. I mean I had someone nitpick on the lack of depiction of heavy artillery usage in the opening episodes, but such a minor spelling error, really?

About the name of the aliens, if you wanna get really technical it's not actually pashto, it's persian, but good luck finding a pashto translator online though, plus I had a hard enough time finding the proper grammatical format for that name. Also, the wider usage of the "proper" pashto spelling/pronunciation actually comes from the news media reporting its usage to refer to the aliens, not the Russians. Finally, I'm not even sure of the correct pronunciation, I only know the spelling which is not exactly right since it isn't in farsi anyway, I figured for the purposes of writing this the spelling I got would work out.
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Re: Godforsaken Future

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anyway, the updates resume, we haven't quite caught up with the "present" yet, I"m on episode 12 back on the other forum, but I'm back to revising and cleaning up the updates. Here is the next one.

One caveat, this one is a bit more intense than previous ones.

Episode 8

“Things are going to get a lot worse before they get worse.”
-Lily Tomlin



-2:43 PM, June 1, 1986, Encino, California, United States





Sitting on the couch, Nathan stared at the door, waiting for Dr. Levin to walk in, he wasn't looking forward to this, and had procrastinated for weeks, but he knew that he had to talk to someone about this. After a few minutes, the door opened and in stepped his psychiatrist, the older woman walked over to her desk and sat down.

“Hello Nathan, how's Carla?” she said with a sigh.

“She's good, she's been promoted at work, she's head of cardiac medicine now” he answered.

She reached into her desk and pulled out a notebook “that's good to hear, send her my best. Anyway down to business, so you've been having nightmares again?” she asked as she opened the notebook.

Nathan nodded “yeah, they're more intense this time, it's been especially challenging to go lucid in them” he explained.

“Okay” Dr. Levin acknowledged as she made a note “tell me about them” she inquired.

Nathan leaned back in the couch “they are incredibly violent, I've seen things in them that I'd never thought I would have imagined, I've done things in them that I'd never thought I'd imagined.”


“What is it that you're doing in your dreams?”

“Um… well, the thing is, as violent as they are, that's not what has been bothering me so much.”

“Oh? What is then?”

“You know those things in Afghanistan that the Russians have been fighting? Well, I've been seeing them, I've seen them kill, and mutilate, and massacre so many people in my dreams, it's horrible, I...” he trailed off.

Dr. Levin looked up from her notes “it's perfectly normal for people to feel anxiety with such incredible things happening in the world today, and for that to manifest in your dreams is not unheard of-” Nathan cut her off .

He opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out, then “it has nothing to do with my anxiety, it's something different” he said warily.

Dr. Levin raised an eyebrow “what makes you so sure?” she asked.

Nathan sighed “the thing is doctor, I started having these dreams almost a month and a half ago” he looked her square in the eye “I started seeing these things in my dreams almost three weeks before they started showing up in the news. How am I supposed to be having dreams about something before I'm even supposed to know they exist?”




-7:28 PM, June 3, 1986, 5 kilometers south of Gerdayz, Afghanistan




Dimitriy was running as fast as he could, his heart pounding in his chest, he could hear the sounds of screams behind him as he sprinted as fast as he could to get away. He didn't care about the men suffering back there, he didn't care about his duty as a soldier in the Soviet Army, and he didn't care if he got sent to prison when he got back to Russia.

All he cared about was that he wasn't going to ever fight against these monsters ever again, he'd rather be shot. He would wish to never see them again, but he knew that he always would. Every time he closed his eyes, every time he went to sleep, they would be there, eviscerating and mutilating everyone around him.

Everything had been going so well the past couple days. After securing the city the day before almost all resistance by the tāziyāne had almost completely evaporated, almost as if they had given up the fight. So the army pushed south toward the source of the infestation, intent on wiping it out for certain. Some had started to wonder if maybe the monsters had finally lost too many of their number to put up an effective resistance.

Advancing all the way to the edge of that strange meaty looking growth, hope had started to come back, even if only so slightly. It had seemed so easy too, not a single monster in sight, no sign of those horrible flying insects, none of those fire breathing monstrosities, no massive swarms of murderous creatures. They should have known better.

The first sign of trouble was the sound of weapons fire off in the distance, and before anyone had time to even wonder what the cause was, the ground started to open up. It was almost as if the earth itself had turned against them, massive razor sharp spiked tentacles shot out of the ground in some places, impaling some men, or wrapping around others and disemboweling them. In other places, it looked as if giant mouths had opened up and started swallowing men whole. Large patches of this fine... grass or maybe hair of some kind sprouted up and grabbed some, wrapping around their legs and puncturing into their uniforms and flesh, it ripped and tore the skin and muscle right off their bones, their screams continuing even as their faces were reduced to bloody skulls and their eyeballs were literally shredded in their own sockets.

Even tanks weren't immune to to it, as some were penetrated by these massive spikes which shot straight up out of the ground with incredible force. He didn't know what happened inside those vehicles when they fell victim to the spikes, all he saw was that the few who made it out of them were missing limbs, or had their stomachs ripped open, spilling out their entrails.

Some were merely ensnared by massive groups of those same spiked tentacles which had killed some men, but these were so dense and massive that they managed to hold even the massive armored war machines in place. Eventually finding a way inside of them, the screams of their crews could be heard clearly, even at a distance. No one made it out of those.

Then there were the worms. Where some of the giant mouths opening out of the ground merely swallowed men whole, others contained these huge worm-like creatures with giant orifices at the ends, the insides of witch were lined with literally hundreds of razor sharp teeth. The men who fell victim to these haunted Dimitriy more than any other thing he saw this day.

Those poor bastards had their limbs literally swallowed by these abominations which slowly devoured more and more of each until they had swallowed all except the torso. The men who had their heads devoured were the lucky ones, they suffocated within a couple minutes, the others however were a different matter altogether. Dimitriy didn't need to see the massive amounts of blood or hear the screaming to know that those men’s arms and legs were being completely shredded in a slow and excruciating process.

The survivors weren't lucky enough to escape unharmed either. Immediately after the first monstrosities emerged from the earth, Dimitriy could hear the sounds of massive numbers of warriors in the distance. Knowing what was coming many opted to fight, resigning themselves to death, but some like Dimitriy ran. He immediately dropped his rifle, and ran as fast as he could, he didn't care about anything else but getting away from this hell made real. How he had managed to avoid a gruesome fate like so many, Dimitriy did not know. All he did know was that he had never been so terrified in his whole life.


A strange noise from behind him caused Dimitriy to look back for a second. Unfortunately that caused him to miss whatever it was that made him to trip and fall. He tumbled down the hill he was on and finally came to a rest at the bottom with considerably more bruises and scrapes than he had before.

Without waiting, he immediately started to get back up, placing his hands on the ground where he felt some thick grass- no! The 'grass' beneath him moved gently for a second, almost like a massage. He tensed and then tried to jump up, but the pain of a thousand red hot nails puncturing his skin caused him to cry out. His screaming only lasted for about another five or six minutes before the contents of his skull was shredded by the tendrils.



-2:17 AM, June 4, 1986, Arlington Ridge, Virginia, United States




The phone rang once, and Roger was drawn out of his slumber. It rang a second time and he was starting to become less disoriented, and by the third ring he was merely groggy. He grabbed the receiver and put it to his ear “hello?” he inquired groggily.

“Roger, it’s Mike Hamilton”

“Mike? Did they send you back to Washington already?”

“I’m still in Islamabad Roger, turn on CNN.”

Roger sat bolt upright in his bed, his grogginess vanishing in a heartbeat. A quick glance over at Judy revealed that she had barely stirred, years of calls in the middle of the night from Langley had allowed her to get used to such things. Fumbling about on the night stand he grabbed the TV remote and hit the power button, then flipped to CNN. Peter Arnett was standing in front of the skyline of Kabul wearing a camouflaged parka.

“...been reporting, information has been sketchy, but it appears that the Red Army has suffered some kind of massive loss somewhere outside of Gardeys. Now, we've not been able to reach the commander of the 40th Army which has been conducting offensive operations in the area, but we have learned from some sources that...”

Roger's heart skipped a beat “what happened?” he asked.

Mike exchanged a few hushed words with someone on the other end, then “well, we don't have much more information than the news does at this point, but from what we can tell, the 40th has just gotten its ass completely kicked. Details are pretty vague right now, and the Soviets themselves probably haven't got any detailed casualty reports, but it looks like a total rout, maybe something like ten thousand-” the connection cut out.

“What was that Mike? Ten thousand casualties?”

“No, ten thousand survivors.”

“Christ.”

“Yeah, that about sums it up.”

Roger swung his legs around and was now sitting on the edge of his bed, Judy stirred a bit more and groaned something in her sleep but still did not wake “well, I guess the Russians don't have much else left to do” Roger said with a twinge of resignation in his voice.

A few more hushed words on the other end “I was wondering how long they were going to wait before dropping the big one” replied Mike.

Roger scratched the stubble on his chin “yeah, Gorbachev has been a lot more cautious than I originally thought, I guess if Brezhnev or Ligachev had been running the show they would have gone nuclear weeks ago” Roger stood up.

“I guess I'll be seeing you real soon then huh?” inquired Mike.

Roger turned off the TV “yeah, this is going to be a real fucking mess to clean up, we'll probably be seeing a lot of each other in the next couple months. Anyway I've gotta go, I'm probably going to be getting a call from Langley in a minute, I'll talk to you later” he said just before hanging up the phone.



-Transcript from the recorded log of Dr. Pavel Reznikov, Moscow State University, Dept. of Biology



This is Doctor Pavel Reznikov, Department of Biology, Moscow State University, recording number seven, dated June the fourth, of the year nineteen hundred and eighty six in regard to GRU provided specimen number twelve, retrieved from Paktia Province in Southern Afghanistan on or about the date of May Thirtieth.

The specimen has been designated ‘fire bug’ by witness accounts. Coming to an overall length of approximately eleven meters, a height of more than six meters, and a mass of more than forty seven tonnes, this is the largest specimen collected to date. Unfortunately this has necessitated moving my work to a warehouse in Western Moscow, although this was not unexpected as Red army reports had indicated that there were species of tāziyāne reaching this size which my lab at the university is unable to accommodate

It appears that the term ‘bug’ that is used to designate this species is a result of its resemblance to a large arthropod, a beetle particularly, especially due to its exceptionally large and bulbous abdomen, however the specimen has eight legs rather than six, which would technically make it an arachnid. The term ‘fire’ would seem to be a reference to its reported ability to literally breathe fire.

Initial observations indicate that like previous specimens that have been retrieved, this one also possess a thick protective exoskeleton made of similar fibers and secreted resin. However, as noted previously, the other species had a percentage of steel content within the skeletal fibers, this particular species appears to have a much higher concentration of steel in its exoskeletal shell which is evident in its metallic appearance.

Chemical analysis of the outer shell will have to be conducted in order to determine the exact composition and confirm this observation. Also of note is the incredibly thick nature of the exoskeleton which seems to get as thick as sixty centimeters in some places.

The overall physical features of the specimen include a body that has been divided into a total of five separate segments. This includes the previously noted bulbous abdomen, as well as a head which comes to an approximate diameter of two meters and possesses the sense organs that have been observed on all previous species. However, absent are the mandibles that have been also observed on previously studied species, although there does appear to be an orifice which seems to serve the purpose of ‘breathing fire’ which has been reported by witness accounts.

The cause of death appears to be two large wounds in the creature’s abdominal segments, which were caused by two 115 mm armor piercing tank rounds. It would seem that this particular specimen has been fortunately less damaged than expected, judging from Red Army reports that many of this species can take as many as four or five direct hits from armor piercing cannon fire before expiring.

Dissection of the specimen proved exceptionally difficult due to the extremely thick and durable nature of this species’ exoskeleton, and the procedure took a total of four days, requiring the use of industrial grade high carbon saw blades and drill bits.

The internal structure of the specimen proved to have considerable similarities to other tāziyāne species, and includes the standard redundant endoskeleton, ultra dense muscle fiber, and notable lack of complex internal organs. This particular species appears to actually have three ‘batteries’ located within its primary body segments rather than the standard one. It is unclear if this is for redundancy or simple necessity.

The ‘heart’ as was noted in the previous recording has been discovered to actually be not just a pumping organ, but also a factory for the ‘blood’ which it pumps throughout the body which acts as both the primary component in the secreted resin that permeates the outer shell and as a medium for the tāziyāne equivalent of cells. The nerve center is again located within the most well protected part of the body, and is not much more complex than that of a standard warrior.

Notable differences from previous species include a layer of ultra dense muscle tissue directly underneath the carapace of the specimen which seems to act as both a means of movement as well as extra protection. There is also an added organ system in this species which at first appeared to be a digestive system which seemed to include what resembled an esophagus that ran from the facial orifice to the abdomen, as well as two additional orifices on the under side of the the body.

The abdomen itself also included some kind of large chambers which would seem to constitute some form of digestion tract. However, examination of the two different fluids within the abdominal cavities indicated that they were two separate components of a binary liquid which when properly mixed became highly flammable and burned at nearly three thousand degrees Celsius when ignited.

Further experimentation with these fluids has been suspended temporarily as they have proven to be incredibly dangerous to handle after being mixed. It is unknown what the mechanism is for the production of these substances.

Currently observed evidence would lend credence to the witness accounts that this species possesses the ability to ‘breathe fire’ however, it is unknown how exactly it is able to launch literal ‘fireballs’ in a ballistic fashion, further testing will be required to determine this. Pursuant to my decision to designate these species with proper Latin classifications, I have chosen the name atrox incendia as the designation for this particular species.



-10:42 PM, June 6, 1986, somewhere over western Afghanistan



Six Tu-95 bombers flew through the night air, each carrying a deadly cargo toward its destination. The people who had planned this mission made the decision to launch at night under cover of darkness, although all information to date indicated that the tāziyāne had no problem locating aircraft no matter how dark out it had gotten. Never the less, it was decided that the cover of darkness couldn't hurt, so the decision had been made, and the time had been chosen.

Surrounding the bombers were one hundred twenty MiG-29 fighter aircraft, a disproportionately large number of escorts for just six bombers, but again the people in charge had wanted to take every possible precaution. The pilot of each aircraft nervously kept an eye on his radar scope, looking for the slightest indication of an unknown contact. They had heard the stories of other pilots, and some of them had flown missions over Afghanistan before, and they knew about the massive swarms of creatures which could overwhelm pilots who had not been careful and gotten too close.

After reaching the designated position, each bomber opened their bellies and six aerodynamic metal cylinders with fins on their sides dropped out. The six Kh-22 cruise missiles fell toward the earth, each one with a single, albeit redundant objective.

The objective in question only needed one missile, however the mission planners again had no intention of taking any risks. After a few seconds, the engines on each missile ignited and accelerated toward their targets. All one hundred twenty six aircraft executed a sharp turn and returned to base, their mission was over, everything was now in the hands of machines.

Each missile had been altered so as to meet the criteria of this unique mission. As such, rather than leveling off at 12,000 meters or climbing up to 27,000 meters like initially designed, they all quickly dove to a shallow altitude of two hundred meters off of the ground and hugged the terrain in order to make detection and interception more difficult. Each missile however, maintained a high speed of Mach 3 in spite of the low altitude.

Despite all of the precautions taken, the missiles had still been detected, and within a few minutes of the missiles launching, a massive swarm of creatures of all size had leapt into the air. They threw themselves at the six intruders, attempting to swat them out of the sky. One missile was hit by three acid bugs, their corrosive cargo eating their way through the missile casing. Within seconds it fell apart and crashed. Two others collided with fireflies, causing them to explode in midair. Two were also hit by the acid carrying suicide attackers, and they too fell to pieces.

The last one however managed to avoid being destroyed, at five hundred meters from its destination, the missile climbed slightly. Seconds later it reached its target destination. Over the next half second a lot happened. The instrumentation aboard the missile’s warhead registered that the missile had reached its target, at the speed of light a signal was sent to the small electronic brain of the weapon which in turn sent another signal to the detonators surrounding the plutonium primary core of the weapon.

The subsequent sequence of events resulted in an uncontrolled fission reaction which released enough energy and radiation that it compressed hydrogen nuclei with enough pressure to cause them to fuse into helium atoms, releasing incredible amounts of energy. A ball of plasma expanded outward from the location of the warhead, but then something unexpected happened.



-6:52 PM, June 6, 1986, Priego, Province of Cuenca, Spain



“That will be eighty five pesetas” the cashier behind the counter looked up at Juan-Carlos from the cash register expectantly. Reaching into his pocket, Juan-Carlos pulled out his wallet and pulled out a few bills and handed them to the young man. “Thank you sir” said the cashier as he returned a few coins and bills as change.

Juan-Carlos placed the change in his pocket, grabbed his bottle of milk off of the counter, and walked out of the grocery store. He walked down the sidewalk quickly, rounding a corner and then crossing the street. A few minutes later he reached his house and turned up the walkway. Once at the front door, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his keys, selected the one for the front door, and then inserted it into the lock.

Suddenly a bright light illuminated the sky and lit up the front of his house so brightly that it looked almost white. Juan-Carlos' first reaction was to look up at the source of the light. He did not have enough time to even see the artificial sun that had dawned overhead before he was turned into ash and his house had been blown away by the over pressure.



-11:23 PM, June 6, 1986, US embassy, Islamabad, Pakistan



“What the hell is going on?!” Roger burst into the embassy communications room. Mike was standing in front of a bank of television screens displaying news footage from about a dozen different media outlets.

Mike looked up from one of the news broadcasts at Roger “we've just got word that what looks like a nuclear weapon has detonated over Spain just outside of Madrid” he explained.

Roger stopped for a second, he wasn't expecting something like that “what? How?” he asked.

Mike appeared thoughtful “we're not sure, Reagan's been on the hotline with Gorbachev for the last twenty minutes trying to straighten this out.”

Roger looked at the TV's, some of the news footage was of the devastation in Spain, others showed various talking heads who were speculating on the disaster “do we know how big it was?” inquired Roger.

Mike shook his head for a second then looked at Roger “initial seismic data suggests that it was somewhere in the range of about two hundred kilotons, the death toll hasn't been nailed down, but early estimates place it somewhere around a quarter million. It's a goddamn mess over there” Mike sighed and rubbed his eyes.

“Was it the Russians?” Roger had no idea what to think at this point, too many curve balls had been thrown out for his own comfort.

“They're saying that they don't know anything about it, but no one in Washington is quite ready to believe them fully just yet. Some folks back at Langley are suggesting that it might be the Iranians or Hamas, but we're not sure where they could have gotten the bomb from. Initial data suggests that it was an airburst, but DSP didn't pick anything up so we're pretty sure that it wasn't a missile.”

“Hmm” Roger was contemplative “what is the media running with?” he asked.

Mike looked up slightly “oh, everything from space aliens to a communist plot, but that's not what's worrying me” he said.

Mike put his hands on his hips and gave Roger a nervous look “what's that?” asked Roger.

Mike turned to face Roger, looking him right in the eye, his expression was dead serious “you remember that nuclear strike the Russians were planning in Afghanistan? It was supposed to go down tonight, about forty minutes ago, just about the same time Spain got hit.”



-11:43 PM, June 9, 1986, L401 highway, The Black Forest, Federal Republic of Germany




“Why do we have to listen to this shit anyway?” complained Dieter, they had listened to Night Rocker five times since leaving Nancy.

“Because I’m the boss, that’s why!” responded Franz. Dieter reached for the cassette player, but Franz swatted his hand away “if you touch it, I’m going to put you in the back with the oranges. David Hasselhoff is a great musician, he’ll be a rock and roll legend within ten years, you just watch.”

Dieter made a mocking expression on his face “David Hasselhoff will be a legend in ten years” he retorted in a childish derogatory voice and rolled his eyes, but he accepted the situation and returned his gaze out the window “how much time did you say this shortcut was going to save us?” he inquired.

Franz glanced at the dashboard clock “enough, considering that mess on the A-8 that we heard about over the radio. It shouldn’t take us too much- shit!“ something darted across the front of the truck causing Franz to slam on the brakes. It didn’t do much good as whatever it was made a loud banging noise when it slammed into the Mercedes’ grill.

They both looked at each other, shocked “What the hell was that?!” exclaimed Dieter.

“How the hell should I know?” responded Franz in an irritated voice. Whatever it was had been thrown a good six or seven meters out in front of the truck after it had been hit and lay in the road in front of them, illuminated by the trucks headlights. From there it didn’t look like any sort of animal Dieter had ever seen before. Franz grabbed a torch, and both men stepped out of the truck and walked over to the downed animal which seemed to still be moving.

“Jesus Franz, we must have been doing 80 when we hit that thing, and it’s still moving, what the hell could it be?”

Franz turned on the torch and noticed what looked like blood splattered on the asphalt between them and the animal. As they got closer to one of the blood splatters, Dieter noticed that it looked awfully dark, it didn’t even look red in the slightest “do you think that thing damaged one of the oil lines when we hit it?” he asked.

Franz shook his head “no” he replied as he shone the torch on the front of the Volvo “if that were the case it wouldn’t be splattered all over the front of the grill like that” he continued. Finally they came to the downed animal which looked like it was trying to get up, it looked hideous, like some kind of monster or demon with giant claws in stead of hands.

It also looked like it was missing a leg “Dieter, did you spot any extra limbs lying on the ground? Maybe it lost a leg when we hit it” inquired Franz.

Dieter merely responded by shaking his head “What the hell? What is that thing?” he repeated, Franz said nothing, but he was shining the torch on Dieter, a look of sheer terror on his face.

“What-“ Dieter never got a chance to complete his question. The last thing he saw was his blood spraying across Franz’ chest.




-2:15 PM, June 12, 1986, J & D Family Foods, Littlefork, Minnesota, United States



“Daddy, can we get some ice cream today?” Billy stared intently at the ice cream in the freezer with his nose pressed up against the door, his breath fogging up the glass.

Jason shook his head “mommy said no junk food today, sorry Billy” answered Jason.

Billy turned around and looked at him with a pleading expression on his face “but ice cream isn't junk food. It's ice cream” he said.

Jason gave Billy a stern look “I said no” Billy stamped his foot and moved on.


Ten minutes later Jason and his son were in line at the checkout, a pile of groceries on the counter as the cashier scanned each one, Billy was standing in front of the cart, playing with a GI Joe action figure. “Hi Jenny, how are things going at school this year?” he asked idly.

The girl didn’t take her attention away from her task “oh, it's good Mr. Draper, Mrs. Stimson finally had her baby, it's a boy” she replied as she scanned a box of corn flakes.

“That's good, I heard-” Jason was interrupted by the sound of police sirens outside.

Looking over toward the windows in the front of the store, he could clearly see three police cars speeding by at a disconcertingly high speed. Jenny had a troubled look on her face “jeez, I wonder what that's about” she said.

Billy looked up from his toy at his father “do you think it's a bank robbery daddy? Or maybe those aliens President Reagan was talking about?” he asked.

Jason made a dismissive look toward the windows “I don't know, I don't think any aliens would come all the way from Mars or wherever just to visit little old Littlefork. It's probably not a bank robbery either, the Deerwood First National is the other dire-” Jason was interrupted again by the sound of several loud pops.


A couple seconds later Bob Nilsson came running in through the front door, blood was coming out of a gash in his forehead and blood covered much of his face, his appearance had caused a large commotion to erupt throughout the front of the store.

“Lock the door!” he screamed, a terrified look on his face.

“What's going on Bob?” asked the store manager, Chris Lundegaar. Bob didn't say anything as he turned around and closed the door, then he turned the lock “what the heck are you doing!?” said Chris.

Bob shook his head quickly “something... out there! They killed John Foreston and his wife!” he exclaimed frantically.

Jason looked over at Billy “Billy, I've changed my mind, go pick out a flavor of ice cream” he said.

His son looked at him with a skeptical expression “what flavor?” he asked.

Jason tried to keep his voice calm “you pick, whatever you want” Billy still stood there with that skeptical look persisting on his face “I'm serious, go.” Billy hesitantly walked back toward the freezer section.


Jason turned to Jenny “do you have a first aid kit here?” he asked.

“Uh huh” she said and ran over to the office, she returned a minute later with a white box that had a red cross on it, handing it to Jason.

He pushed his way through the crowd which had congregated around Bob “what are you saying Bob, someone killed Mr. and Mrs. Foreston?” asked someone else.

Bob shook his head “I don't know, something... horrible. They came out of the woods outside of Lofgren Park” more pops could be heard, this time Jason recognized some of them as the sounds of shotguns being fired, then he heard what sounded like some kind of inhuman screaming, another commotion erupted.

Jason opened the box, pulled out some gauze, and started wiping the blood off of Bob's forehead “what are you talking about, what did they look like?” he asked

Bob took a deep breath and swallowed hard “I dunno, they were big and black, I think maybe they were those things from Afghanistan we keep hearing about on the news” the commotion got louder.

Someone made an alarmed noise and everyone looked over to see a police officer run up to the front of the store. It was James Jackson, he was the newest officer at the police station and barely 21, he had his gun drawn and looked terrified. He ran right up to the door and tried to open it frantically, then he started banging on the glass “open up! OPEN UP!” he pleaded.

Chris walked over to the door in order to unlock it, Bob lunged at him with his bandages still only partially wrapped around his head “NO! It's too dangerous out there! We have to keep that door locked!” he grabbed Chris' arm.

The manager stared at Bob with a look of anger and confusion “what the hell are you doing, he-” James stopped banging on the door and looked over to his left, gaping at something Jason couldn't see “oh God!!! Please let me in!!!” he screamed, he raised his gun and fired six times.

He dropped the magazine out of his pistol and started to reload it, then some kind of large… animal... something big and black bolted into view. James didn't get the chance to finish reloading, the creature charged him and sliced open his belly, he screamed in excruciating pain. The creature then started dismembering the poor police officer, his screaming stopping less than a minute later.


Everyone stood there in absolute silence, not moving an inch, they were too shocked to do anything else. Then the silence broke “oh God!” someone exclaimed, then others started yelling and screaming. The creature turned and faced the store, it let out a horrible inhuman scream, then it charged at the glass door. It shattered under the force of the impact of the charging monstrosity sending shards flying, Jason winced as his face was cut by one. Without thinking he immediately turned around and headed towards the back “Billy!” he shouted over the screams of everyone else in the grocery store.

He hopped over one counter and bolted toward the freezer aisle “dad?” Billy was standing there with a gallon of Breyers mint chocolate chip clutched in his arm.

Jason heard more screams again coming from the front, this time they sounded different, more like that poor police man outside the store, full of pain, not fear. Jason didn't have to look back to know what was happening. Without breaking stride, he scooped up Billy who dropped the ice cream on the floor. “Dad, what-” Jason clutched his son's face to his chest as he ran toward the stock room.

He burst through the doors with a handful of other people. Looking around the room, he spotted the door to the loading dock and immediately he headed towards it. Two others had gotten the same idea and were already pressing the button to open the door.

All of a sudden Jason heard a loud racket as something rammed against the door causing it to bend inwards, he froze. He could hear the sounds of more people dying back in the store, he didn't know what to do. Frantically he searched the room, looking for something, anything, anywhere to go at all.

He spotted the door to the walk-in refrigerator and ran over to it, he pulled it open and walked in. He saw a bunch of cases of frozen chicken and placed Billy behind one of them, the boy had started crying by now, tears streaming down his cheeks “now whatever happens Billy, I want you to be absolutely quiet” he said as he started stacking more boxes on top of others.

Billy looked at him with a pleading look on his face “I”m serious, not a single noise. I want you to promise me that you won't come out and you wont make any noise” Billy looked like he was about to argue, Jason looked him in the eye intently “promise me” he said. Billy nodded, more tears streamed down his face “I love you Billy” Jason finished stacking boxes “I love you too dad” said Billy who choked back a sob.


Jason turned around and left the walk-in, several other people were hiding in various corners of the room, and the partially opened loading dock door was giving way under the onslaught of whatever it was that was outside. Apparently the monsters hadn't made it back here yet. Jason grabbed a crowbar off the floor and stood near the double doors leading to the front of the store, waiting for what he knew was about to happen.


After a minute or two, the double doors shuddered and then were rent from their hinges as a massive creature about the size of a horse with yellow spots on its carapace burst through them. He lunged at it with his crowbar, but it threw its own weight back into him like a football player taking a tackle, throwing him across the room and into the wall. A sharp pain shot through his shoulder and half a second later another through his head. Then his vision dimmed and he passed out.


When he came to a minute later there was blood all over the floor and walls and bloody red bits of something splattered on the ceiling above him. He got up and felt an intense sharp pain in his left shoulder, he tried to move his arm and found that he couldn't, looking at it he saw that there was blood running down to his hands where it dripped off his fingers. He felt around with his other arm and noticed something jagged poking out from his shoulder. After a second he realized that his collar bone had broken and was poking through the skin. That finally knocked the last of the grogginess out of his head oh god Billy! he turned and looked in the direction of the walk-in.


The door to the walk-in had been ripped off its hinges, the inside had blood splattered all over, and on the floor in front... a severed arm lay there, too small to belong to an adult. Jason couldn't speak, he couldn't even breathe, he started to sob. He didn't have the will to do much when a warrior came up to him and decapitated him, he almost welcomed it in fact.
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Re: Godforsaken Future

Post by Teebs »

I'm really enjoying your story, so please do keep it coming!
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Re: Godforsaken Future

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So the things harnessed the power of a nuclear explosion to transport across the globe? Damn man, your not gining them ANY breaks are you?
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Re: Godforsaken Future

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spartasman wrote:So the things harnessed the power of a nuclear explosion to transport across the globe? Damn man, your not gining them ANY breaks are you?
it aint called "Godforsaken Future" for nothing :) , and things are only going to be getting worse.
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Re: Godforsaken Future

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Well shit man, I like the story, but if it's just a "hahaha puny humans are impotent in the face of adversity die die die diediediedie", then I don't see any reason on reading any farther.
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Re: Godforsaken Future

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spartasman wrote:Well shit man, I like the story, but if it's just a "hahaha puny humans are impotent in the face of adversity die die die diediediedie", then I don't see any reason on reading any farther.

Don't count the human race out yet, the situation is dire, and the bozorgs are quite the threat, but the same could be said about the Germans in Russia in the early days of 1942. There is one thing the Human race has excelled at throughout its history, and that is finding new and improved ways of killing things, none of which have been explored yet. Hell, they haven't even started re chambering their weapons to fire bigger bullets yet. Things are going to suck, but they are far from hopeless.

Also, the conflict is not quite as straightforward as it may seem, or at least not yet :wink:

There was an announcement I made over at the other forum before starting this story, and that was it was going to last some time into the 21st century. There wouldn't be much purpose in having the story last that long if the humans could overwhelm the bozorgs in a couple years. the war is going to be long, bloody, and nasty.
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Re: Godforsaken Future

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guest wrote:First off, you're gonna nitpick based on the fact that I put the 'i' before the 'e' in a supporting character's name? c'mon man. I mean I had someone nitpick on the lack of depiction of heavy artillery usage in the opening episodes, but such a minor spelling error, really?
I am not nitpicking - I'm trying to help. Wrong Russian names are the problem of too many English stories, and they make Russian readers write them off simply because the writer didn't take his time to research the correct spelling. While we're on the subject of names and surnames, Turgenev is an unlikely surname, nowadays rare.
guest wrote:About the name of the aliens, if you wanna get really technical it's not actually pashto, it's persian, but good luck finding a pashto translator online though, plus I had a hard enough time finding the proper grammatical format for that name. Also, the wider usage of the "proper" pashto spelling/pronunciation actually comes from the news media reporting its usage to refer to the aliens, not the Russians. Finally, I'm not even sure of the correct pronunciation, I only know the spelling which is not exactly right since it isn't in farsi anyway, I figured for the purposes of writing this the spelling I got would work out.
I understand. I think the problem is that Slavonic language news would quickly turn the name into something more tolerable for the language. I presume you know that in Slavonic languages the peculiarities of foreign language get thrown out of the window during adoption. To make an example, if there was a name of whatever-new-thing with English "th" in it, like in "the"... Let's say, "Therion" and that name was to be adopted into Russian, the "th" would turn into a "t" or "z" straightaway depending on the circumstances, and from thereon the name would be "Zerion" or "Terion", but nobody would care to preserve the original sound. I doubt anybody would even be able to prounounce it properly with a "th", or care to do so. This is why conservation of the original markup of a foreign language is impossible when used by Russians (unless we're talking about French at a time when Russian nobility actively used it in proper form, mixing with Russian).

I'm not saying this is some sort of super-flaw, anyway. Just making notes which could help to make it more believable when being read the first time.
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Re: Godforsaken Future

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Stas Bush wrote: I am not nitpicking - I'm trying to help. Wrong Russian names are the problem of too many English stories, and they make Russian readers write them off simply because the writer didn't take his time to research the correct spelling. While we're on the subject of names and surnames, Turgenev is an unlikely surname, nowadays rare.
Fair enough, the source I used had that spelling, and I am not going too crazy to ensure 100% accuracy, this is a web fic I'm writing here, not a published work. Is the spelling I used correct for someone who is georgian or lithuanian or maybe czec? Cuz he doesn't have to be russian to be in the red army, I also never established his ethnicity, so it wouldn't technically be a retcon.

Also I don't quite remember what character had the name Turgenev, but I think he was killed off pretty quickly yes? In which case, don't worry bout him, he wasn't important anyway 8)

I understand. I think the problem is that Slavonic language news would quickly turn the name into something more tolerable for the language. I presume you know that in Slavonic languages the peculiarities of foreign language get thrown out of the window during adoption. To make an example, if there was a name of whatever-new-thing with English "th" in it, like in "the"... Let's say, "Therion" and that name was to be adopted into Russian, the "th" would turn into a "t" or "z" straightaway depending on the circumstances, and from thereon the name would be "Zerion" or "Terion", but nobody would care to preserve the original sound. I doubt anybody would even be able to prounounce it properly with a "th", or care to do so. This is why conservation of the original markup of a foreign language is impossible when used by Russians (unless we're talking about French at a time when Russian nobility actively used it in proper form, mixing with Russian).

I'm not saying this is some sort of super-flaw, anyway. Just making notes which could help to make it more believable when being read the first time.
well, without knowing exactly how the words are supposed to be pronounced in the original tongue(I only know the spelling), I would prefer to avoid trying to actually write out an improperly pronounced version. Without knowing what vowels or letters to put emphasis on or how the accent marks are supposed to sound it's hard to phonetically spell an accented or "russianized" version of it. The closest I was going with was having it chopped up to have only the first or second word used. Besides, like I said, it was technically persian rather than Pashto, and while pashto is an offshoot of persian, it is not the same, so accuracy is already something that has taken a hit. I'm working within my limited means.

However, if you know any decent pashto speakers who know how to say "great scourge" in pashto, I may consider making the change.

I was actually more worried that I made some major errors with the usage of military tactics or some kind of equipment error.
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Re: Godforsaken Future

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Alexie could've been a Finn, one of the descendants of communist Finns who escaped to Russia following the White Terror in Finland. This is pretty realistic if you ask me.

Turgenevs were a noble family line, and as far as I know, it is a rare surname. However, descendants of Turgenev lived in the late USSR; I know at least one, there may have been more. So let's throw this nitpick into the rubbish bin.

As for original spelling, don't worry. Russianization usually garbles words, and that's it. I'll look into equipment once I have a bit more time on hands.
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Re: Godforsaken Future

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Stas Bush wrote:Alexie could've been a Finn, one of the descendants of communist Finns who escaped to Russia following the White Terror in Finland. This is pretty realistic if you ask me.

Well, pretty much, I was going for having not all Soviet soldiers being purely ethnic Russians. As I didn't want to fall into the common western(american) misperception of "all soviet citizens are Russians" which in my opinion is probably worse than name misspelling. As such I was kinda hoping to throw a couple non russian names in there (I think I had a couple minor characters with non Russian names thrown in during a couple updates). So in this case let's call this a "happy accident" as I achieved my own goal without realizing it.
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Re: Godforsaken Future

Post by LT.Hit-Man303 »

Damn this is getting good, BTW Merry Christmas
I'd like to see how you explane how the creatures where able to avoid being nuked.
Oh man this is going to get good :twisted:
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Re: Godforsaken Future

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LT.Hit-Man303 wrote:Damn this is getting good, BTW Merry Christmas
I'd like to see how you explane how the creatures where able to avoid being nuked.
Oh man this is going to get good :twisted:

well, I believe that I put in an explanation of it into episode 11 or 12, forgot which, but actually the means by which they were able to do it has bigger implications than just the ability to prevent massive nukage.
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Re: Godforsaken Future

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Episode 9:







“Once we have a war there is only one thing to do. It must be won. For defeat brings worse things than any that can ever happen in war.”

-Ernest Hemingway








-7:46 AM, June 13, 1986, Dulles International Airport, Washington, D.C., United States





Roger tightened the grip on his bags as he stepped off of the escalator. While the group of arriving passengers moved to the right, he broke away from the large mass of people, he had flown enough to know better than to check his baggage; it was carry on only for him.

Approaching the reception area, he noticed a rather well built man in a suit holding a sign that read “Jourgensen” He paused for a second, although it would not be the first time there had been a car waiting for him at the airport, the conspicuous bulge in the man’s jacket indicated that he was being greeted by an armed man; ex-military, judging by his haircut, which was indeed a first.

“I’m Roger Jourgensen” he said as he walked up to the man.

The man gave Roger a cursory examination “very good sir, if you’ll come with me please” he responded in an almost robotic fashion. He reached out an arm “I’ll be glad to take those bags for you” he offered, to which Roger gladly handed him his luggage “thanks” he said in response, and they were off.

Moments later they were outside at the pickup zone, the oppressive humidity felt like a lead vest, DC in the summer was not the most pleasant place to be, even this early in the morning. He was led to a parked black Ford Crown Victoria where he was ushered toward the rear passenger door while his bags were put in the trunk.

To his surprise there was someone already sitting in the back seat of the car shit, either I’m about to be fired for something seriously fucked up, or I’m about to get a major promotion. Not without some trepidation he got in the car when he realized just who it was that was waiting for him “I trust your flight was pleasant Mr. Jourgensen” said Admiral Poindexter.

The door closed behind Roger “It was uneventful admiral” he replied as the car started up and pulled away “I must admit that I was rather surprised, I’ve never been picked up from the airport by the national security adviser.”

The admiral gave a slight chuckle “well, this isn’t your standard welcoming party, we’ve got some important things to discuss” he said with a warm tone. Roger raised an eyebrow “this doesn’t have anything to do with my last report on little our mess in Afghanistan, does it?” he asked.

Admiral Poindexter gave an affirmative nod “you would be correct, as unpleasant as it sounded, it definitely got the attention of a lot of people. The fact that you referred to the tāziyāne-ye bozorg as ‘the single greatest threat faced by any nation on the face of the planet’ and that you said so two days before Spain got nuked has really kicked over some rocks on the hill. Hell, there are still quite a few folks who are still pissed that you convinced the president to go public in order to help out the Russians. You would not want to be a fly on the wall when Ollie and I were discussing the last time you were in the situation room.”

Roger started to get a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach this doesn’t sound good “am I to understand that I’m being reassigned for political reasons?” he asked tentatively. He figured that if he were going to be getting shit-canned, he might as well get some direct answers, polite sensitivities be damned.

The admiral gave Roger a mildly reassuring look “relax Roger, you’re not in trouble, although you are being reassigned” it was Roger’s turn to look surprised “while you have been drawing the ire of quite a few folks here in DC, you have also gotten a few very powerful supporters which just happens to include the President, Vice President, and myself. Meanwhile, a lot of the folks who you have managed to piss off have… moderated their views after Spain. Transporting a nuclear explosion halfway around the world is enough to scare anybody.”

Roger was nonplussed “so if I’m not in trouble, what exactly is this new post that I’m being sent to?” he inquired uncertainly.

The admiral grabbed a briefcase off of the floor and placed it on his lap “not only was your report quite alarming, it also happens to be the first time anyone has compiled all that we currently know about these things in one place. Even among your detractors there are those who are quite aware that we need someone who is looking at all of the different aspects of this threat and can paint a decent picture of just what it is we are dealing with here.”

The admiral opened the briefcase and pulled out a rather thick folder which he handed to Roger, he continued “as such, a new department is being opened at the Company. What you have there is a collection of dossiers of possible candidates for this new department. Mind you, it’s not going to be anything major, only about a half dozen to a dozen folks at most. More or less, you’ll be running a think tank whose job it is to advise the President and the NSC on the best course of action as far as this new threat is concerned, you’ll-“

Roger interrupted him “hold on a sec, you want me to run this thing? I’m not even close to qualified for this; I’ve mostly been greasing the wheels between the Afghans and the Pakistani’s for shipments of arms and heroin. What the hell do I know about alien invasions?” he asked.

The admiral had a very serious expression on his face “nobody is Roger; we’re all flying blind here. This is all unexplored territory, and no one has more experience, or knows more about these things than you do” he explained.

Roger thumbed through the documents in front of him, skimming each one lightly “I really think you’re making a mistake, I’m really out of my depth here.”

The admiral drummed his fingers on the top of his briefcase “Roger, this is coming from the president himself, whether or not you think you are ready, you’re stuck with this job, for better or worse, unless you’re looking for a career change, that is” he said with a humorless smile.

Closing the file folder in front of him, Roger looked out the window “well, how much resistance am I going to be getting from above? Like you said, a lot of people are not happy with me right now; it’s not that I’m complaining, mind you, I’d just like to know just what kind of mess I’m getting into” he said with uncertainty in his voice.

Admiral Poindexter nodded as if silently confirming something at the back of his mind “I wouldn’t worry too much, most of the opposition are still fighting a war that ended the second those things showed up in Afghanistan. No matter what happens with this, the global situation has been permanently changed, if folks like Ollie can’t figure it out for themselves, then they are going to be left out in the cold. Of course you’re still going to have to be careful about whose toes you step on, but you’ve got enough protection that you’ll be able to do your job effectively.”

Roger looked the General in the eye for the first time, he sighed in resignation “so, when do I start?”




-8:32 AM, June 14, 1986, Tonopah Police Department, Tonopah, Nevada, United States





Carl Edward Sagan was awakened by the sound of his cell door opening, after a few seconds he opened his eyes and sat up. A police officer stood in the doorway staring at him “your bail’s been paid, you're free to go” said the stone faced officer.

Carl raised an eyebrow, he thought that Ann wasn't due to get into town until later that day to bail him out. Without a word, he got out of the bed and walked through the cell door. The officer led him down the hallway and out to the reception area where a man in a suit was standing with an unreadable expression on his face.

“I trust that the Tonopah Police Department has provided adequate sleeping accommodations” said the man.

Carl tried his best to keep his expression unchanged “you don't look much like my wife” he replied as he walked over to the property desk where an extremely bored police officer sat. Carl gave his name and he was promptly given a manila envelope, the contents of which he poured out onto the desk.

Reclaiming his possessions, he signed the papers before him “I've been told that I have a strong feminine side, but I guess that it doesn’t show very well” said the mystery man with a hint of sarcasm.

Carl approached him “I suppose that I have you to thank for my freedom, I feel that I must apologize, but I don't recall having made your acquaintance before” he said flatly.

The man extended his hand “Roger Jourgensen at your service Mr. Sagan” he said warmly.

Carl took the proffered hand and shook it firmly“pleased to make your acquaintance Mr. Jourgensen, it's been a while since I've worked for the government, but I wasn't aware that the Central Intelligence Agency was in the habit of bailing anti war protesters out of jail” he said with a wry grin.

Roger walked Carl over to the front door of the police station and opened it for him “was I that obvious?” he asked.

Carl eyed the spook narrowly “no, however I've done enough work for the defense department to recognize a spook when I see one” he said. The two of them walked out to the sidewalk in front of the station, a car was waiting for them “so what does the United States Government want with me?” asked Carl.

Roger gestured toward the waiting car “right now, just to give you a ride back to your hotel, and listen to what I have to say” he explained, Carl considered for a moment, then complied.

Upon entering the vehicle it proceeded to pull away promptly “I'm guessing that this is related to the events of the past two months, although I'm not sure why you would expect me to come back all of a sudden, I believe that my views have been made quite clear, and the present administration doesn't seem all too interested in the kind of advice I would give. You might as well save your breath, the answer is no Mr. Jourgensen” he said flatly.

Roger scrutinized him for a second “you are correct, I am here to see if you'll consider resuming your employment with the United States Government. However there is no need to recount the way in which your employment with the Air Force ended, I've read your dossier thoroughly, and I'm well aware of your views on current government policy” he elaborated.

Carl gave a look of dismissal “good, then there won't be much need for further discussion, I hope you enjoy your flight back to Washington” said Carl in a sarcastic tone.

Roger shook his head “I'm assembling a team of advisers and experts, the primary purpose of which would be to attempt to determine the nature of the extra terrestrial threat in Afghanistan” he explained, undeterred.

“And how to kill them” added Carl.

Roger nodded “I’m not going to bullshit you, figuring out how to fight them is of considerable importance, although it's not like they've given us much of a choice, unless you've forgotten, a lot of innocent people have been killed by these-”

Carl interrupted again “I wasn't trying to argue, I was merely stating the obvious, you don't take me for being quite that naïve do you?” he said with a laugh.

Roger continued his explanation “very well, as I was saying, I have been assembling a number of experts to help determine the exact nature of these aliens and the best response to the threat that they represent, keep in mind that you won't be figuring out how to beat the Russians, or how to calculate nuclear strategy, these things represent a threat to the entire human race. Although this is not as pleasant a business as making documentaries or writing books, it is important, and may prove to be far more crucial to saving the human race than all of the anti-nuclear activism in the whole world.”

Carl looked at the CIA agent suspiciously “you make a compelling argument Mr. Jourgensen, I'm not entirely convinced however” he responded. Roger looked as if he was about to argue, but Carl put up a hand “I'm not saying no outright, but I will think it over” the car came to a halt outside of the hotel. Carl looked out the window “well, this is my hotel, thanks for the ride” he said.

Roger reached into his pocket and got out a business card which he offered to Carl “I can be reached at this number at any time” Carl took the card and exited the car.




-2:07 PM, June 14, 1986, Lambda Complex, Blackbird Research Facility, Nevada, United States




Charlie Post walked down the corridor at a quick pace. Following the bright red line on the wall, he took a left at the T-intersection, after a couple more twists and turns, he came to a door on his left marked 'INSTRUMENTATION LABORATORY' which he opened and entered.

Standing at the other end of the room next to a bank of computer monitors and holding a long sheaf of paper in his hands was a somewhat haggard looking man in a lab coat “Bob, what's this all about? Why did you call me down here? We're going to be firing up the teleportation equipment in about two hours” demanded Charlie.

Bob looked up from his papers at Charlie “oh, hi there Charlie, I'm glad you could make it” he said absently.

Charlie was still waiting for a response to his question “and you called me down here why?” he asked again, annoyed.

Bob didn't say anything for a second, then “oh, yes, right, I think I've found something very interesting. Do you remember that major spike we got back on the seventh?” he started explaining.

Charlie thought for half a second, then “uh yeah, I remember we got three simultaneous blips from all over the world. I thought that we had chalked that up to echoes from the event in Spain, but-” Charlie was unable to finish.

Bob interjected “that's right, and I had thought so too, but I was looking at the data feed from the arrowhead network and I think that what we are actually seeing is at least one, maybe more exit portals” he explained.

Charlie was silent “wait, what?” he asked after a second “I thought that they looked too faint to be real portals” he countered.

Bob shook his head slightly “yes, when you compare them to Afghanistan, they do look too faint, but remember that noise we have been getting on the surrounding wavelengths that has been increasing ever since. It's kind of like having a conversation in a crowded room, while you and your friend may be talking loud enough to be heard in more quiet circumstances, with all of the background noise in the crowded room it becomes that much harder to hear him. So our problem is that we were having a hard time 'hearing' those blips so to speak.”

Charlie furrowed his brow “but even so, that doesn't explain lack of intensity, we compensated for the added noise and it still didn't account for the reduction” he said.

“Yes, but we didn't account for the adjustments we made to the instrumentation as a result of the problems we had after Afghanistan."

Bob sat down in his chair “even so, the reduced sensitivity of the arrowhead network wasn't that great, the intensity of the blip out of Afghanistan was almost a whole order of magnitude greater than what we saw on the seventh” said Charlie.

Bob gave him a knowing look “yes, but there is something not a lot of people know about the process of teleportation. Did you know that when they first started conducting experiments in the late 40's and early 50's they didn't use exit beacons? The energy requirements for teleporting something through a one way portal is considerably higher than one with both an entrance and exit beacon. Needless to say, the emissions of the exit portal are considerably higher as well.”

Charlie furrowed his brow even further “have you verified this at all?” he asked.

Bob tilted his head back with a knowing look on his face “I thought you'd never ask” he replied confidently, gesturing toward the banks of computer monitors in frond of his desk. “If you'll look here” he said as he pointed to one particular monitor “you'll see the numbers from one of the experiments in '51, note these three data sets. Now look at the numbers from the seventh” he indicated a different monitor.

Understanding dawned on Charlie “are you saying that all three blips are genuine?” he asked.

Bob pursed his lips “I can't say for certain, although I'd bet next months salary that the one in Western Europe is.”




-3:12 PM, June 14, 1986, Lambda Complex, Blackbird Research Facility, Nevada, United States





Roger checked his watch as the tram came to a halt “Lambda Complex, teleportation labs and computational facilities” said a recorded voice. He got up out of his seat and walked over to the door which promptly opened. Stepping out onto the tram station platform, he made a quick survey of his surroundings.

The tram station was simple and not too big, with drab grey and blue paint on the concrete walls and ceiling. Facing Roger was a large blast door guarded by an armed soldier in a desert BDU who stood at attention. The words LAMBDA COMPLEX were painted on the wall above the door in black paint. Roger walked across the platform and approached the blast door, the tram pulling away behind him.

Roger was stopped by the soldier “halt, I’ll need to inspect your credentials sir” he instructed. Roger reached for the visitor badge on his jacket and pulled it forward slightly to give the guard a better view. After a second of inspection, the soldier took a step to his left and turned around “that’s fine sir, just a moment” he said as he entered a code into the small keypad on the wall behind him. Large electrical motors whined as the door slid open.

Roger passed through the impressive doorway and entered a large reception room with a few chairs and benches along the walls. Another soldier sat behind a desk in front of a large emblem painted on the wall that consisted of the lambda symbol over a black circle with the words OBSIDIAN WINDOW LAMBDA COMPLEX around the outline.

Roger walked up to the desk and the soldier behind it who looked attentively at him “can I help you sir?” he asked.

“Yes, I’m Roger Jourgensen, I have an appointment at three thirty for an inspection of the Lambda Complex” answered Roger.

The soldier scanned a clipboard on the desk in front of him “yes Mr. Jourgensen, I see your appointment here. I’ll page Dr. Frohman, he should be up momentarily. Feel free to take a seat while you wait” he said before returning his attentions to the computer screen in front of him.

Roger sat down at one of the benches along the wall. A few minutes later a middle aged man in glasses and a lab coat entered from one of the adjoining corridors “hello Mr. Jourgensen, I’m Dr. Gordon Frohman, the administrator of Lambda Complex” he extended a hand as he approached Roger.

Roger stood and accepted the proffered hand “hello Dr. Frohman, if you don’t mind, I’d like to get this inspection going as quickly as possible, I’m due back in Washington this evening, so I don’t have a lot of time” he said

Frohman nodded “very well Mr. Jourgensen, I’ll do my best to keep this short.”

Dr. Frohman led Roger out of the lobby and down a series of corridors. The doctor explained things that Roger had already familiarized himself with. It was a basic history of the US government’s teleportation research, starting with PROJECT RAINBOW back in 1943. Then he explained how the research branched out to include two main programs, one operated out of here at Blackbird in Nevada dubbed OBSIDIAN WINDOW, and another located up in Maine called QUIVER.

The tour took Roger through god knew how many nondescript concrete hallways, and he was shown all kinds of complex and expensive equipment that he felt that he would need a PHD in theoretical physics in order to understand the full purpose of. All that he had managed to glean from the materials he had been given to study and the good doctor’s explanations was that what they did here was move things from point A to point B instantaneously, and that was done by opening some kind of portals to different dimensions.

The mechanics of that were quite far above anything Roger understood, but he understood it to be through manipulation of the electromagnetic spectrum in some way. Anything more detailed than that was Greek to him, and he wasn’t even sure if he had quite gotten that right.

They took an elevator down to a level so deep in the earth that the trip must have taken close to ten minutes, although Roger’s boredom may have made it seem longer than it actually was. After exiting the elevator Dr. Frohman continued his presentation “this level houses the primary teleportation laboratories in Lambda Complex, we have a total of eight teleportation chambers. The process of teleportation generally entails opening two portals, one ‘entrance’ and one ‘exit’. As such we have four chambers for each end of a teleport transit. Additionally there is a single large scale chamber which is used for conducting long range teleports to our secondary facility in Utah.”

They walked down an additional set of corridors; on the left they passed a series of windows which allowed a view of a large chamber lined with what must have been thousands of pipes, wires, and a large network of catwalks. At the center of the room on the floor was what looked like a cylindrical platform of some kind surrounded by a large array of complex looking machines. Dr. Frohman gestured toward the chamber beyond the windows “in there is teleportation chamber three, that pedestal-like structure in the middle is the entrance portal beacon” he explained.

Roger raised an eyebrow “beacon? What are you signaling?” he asked.

Frohman considered for a second; probably considering the simplest way to explain things, then “um, the term beacon is a bit of a misnomer, although it does send off a signal, its primary focus is to anchor one end of the teleportation portal” Roger realized that they had stopped walking, he resumed his pace.

Dr. Frohman continued his explanation “simply put, as of right now, teleportation science lacks considerable precision, without a beacon at either end of the portal, one or both ends of the teleport would wind up at a random location within a certain radius of wherever you want it to be. In other words, if you opened a an entrance portal here and wanted to teleport to Manhattan, without a beacon at your destination you could wind up either somewhere in the Atlantic ocean, or fifty thousand feet in the air above the city” Roger nodded in acknowledgement, pretty sure that he understood the explanation..

They came to a set of large blast doors guarded by an additional soldier, over which was a sign that read TELEPORT CONTROL ROOM 04 in large block letters. The soldier acknowledged the two of them and entered a code into the keypad on the wall behind him. They entered into a dimly lit room which had computer monitors and control panels on every inch of wall.

About a half dozen men in lab coats sat at computers or were examining various dials and indicators around the room, they seemed too engrossed in what they were doing to pay any attention to the new arrivals “this is the control room for teleport chamber four” explained Dr. Frohman, motioning Roger toward the large rather thick looking observation windows at the front of the room.

Beyond the windows was a chamber that looked very similar to the one they had passed on their way in, except on the pedestal at the center sat some kind of device that looked like it was meant to be flown to mars at the tip of a rocket. It bristled with a large number of what looked like antennae, stood on six spindly legs, and a good portion of it was covered in gold colored foil “we’re about to begin a teleportation experiment, the device down there is a standard instrumentation package: full electromagnetic spectrum readings, gravitational, and time distortion measurements” elaborated the administrator.

After a few minutes an alarm sounded and several flashing lights could be seen going off in the chamber. Chatter in the room picked up as the other men began pushing buttons and taking notes. Roger heard some chirping over the intercom, then “ATTENTION, TELEPORTATION EQUIPMENT POWERING UP, COMMENCING IN THIRTY SECONDS” squawked the loud speakers. Roger could hear a loud humming accompanied by a vibration in the floor beneath his feet.

Dr. Frohman handed Roger a pair of goggles “a portal opening can be quite bright, you should put these on, also be prepared for some disorienting effects” he explained. Roger took the goggles and cooperatively placed them on his head. The humming increased in volume as time passed, then the loud speakers squawked again “DIMENSIONAL INCURSION EVENT IMMINENT, COMMENCING IN TEN, NINE, EIGHT-“ the humming was loud enough that it almost drowned out the sirens and made it hard to hear the countdown as it was about to conclude “-THREE, TWO, ONE. INITIATING INCURSION NOW.”

All of a sudden, the entire chamber and the control room were bathed in a bluish white light while the humming and in fact all noise ceased entirely and the room was filled with an unnatural silence. Roger could feel his ears popping, a strong sense of dizziness, as well as tiny electric shocks on the tips of his fingers and toes. A half second later sound returned and the brightness dissipated enough for Roger to get a glimpse into the test chamber and see what looked like a bright ball of light at its center where the probe had once been, that must be the portal he thought.

Shortly afterward the portal flashed brightly and then disappeared, leaving nothing where a very complicated piece of machinery had sat less than a minute before “looks like another successful test” said the doctor confidently as the humming sound died down.

Roger nodded toward the chamber “quite impressive doctor, where did it go?” he asked as he peeled the goggles off of his face.

Dr. Frohman cast a glance toward the door “just to the other side of the complex” he explained calmly. Roger handed him the goggles as he was led back out of the room. Before reaching the door however, it opened and in walked two other men in lab coats.

The first one spoke “Dr. Frohman, we need to talk” he said assertively.

Dr. Frohman seemed a bit annoyed “not now Charles, I’m taking Mr. Jourgensen here on an inspection of the facility, he’s a representative from the Central Intelligence Agency, perhaps-“ he was interrupted by the second man

“This is important, we must speak with you and Mr. Jourgensen immediately.”

Dr. Frohman still seemed quite agitated “Mr. Jourgensen, these are doctors Post and Griggs, they are senior researchers here at Lambda Complex” he said indicating each man with an impatient nod. Roger shook hands with each man “like I said, we have an inspection to conclude, and not much time” said Frohman as he made his way toward the door.

Dr. Griggs blocked his way “Dr. Frohman, we think that those ‘anomalies’ from the seventh weren’t anomalies at all, but additional portals” he said assertively.

Dr. Frohman sighed “we’ve been over this Bob, they were too faint, and our equipment has been giving us fits ever since the incident over Spain” Dr. Frohman placed extra emphasis on Dr. Griggs name, and it wasn’t in a flattering way.

He tried to push past the two scientists but Dr. Post interjected “I thought the same thing, but I got a good look at the data, and I think that Bob has a point, if you-“ he wasn’t allowed to finish

“We’ve got enough problems without checking out every sing-“

Roger interrupted Dr. Frohman this time “portals? Do you mean like what brought the tāziyāne through to Afghanistan?” he asked.

The other three men were looking at him now, Dr. Griggs spoke up first “yes, we now believe that the primary source of these alien creatures was a portal like the one you saw in the test chamber there. As we were trying to explain to Dr. Frohman here, we have information that indicates that as many as three other portals have opened elsewhere. We weren’t so sure at first, but after accounting for the increased background noise we’ve been getting lately, the latest adjustments we’ve made to our instruments, and the difference between a portal that has an exit beacon, and one that doesn’t, I’m confident that we have additional incursion events.”

Dr. Frohman’s expression changed suddenly from one of irritation to one of surprise “wait, what do you mean about the absence of an exit beacon?” he asked “well-“ Dr. Post’s response was far too complex for Roger to get a handle on, the same could be said for whatever the other two men said as well.

After about a minute or two of discussion laden with techno babble Roger interrupted “can someone please explain this to me in English?” he asked.

Dr. Post spoke up first “well, as you probably know we have a network of satellites in orbit that have multiple purposes. Chief amongst those are the ability to help us with accurate teleportation, data gathering on our various experiments, as well as the added benefit of being able to detect other incursions… portals, in case the Russians start a program on their own. It was this network that allowed us to detect an incursion over south Asia, and other events have led us to believe that this incursion was related to those alien creatures in Afghanistan.”

“Anyway, ever since then we’ve been getting some interference that has made carrying out our experiments difficult, especially after the incident in Spain. On the seventh we detected three events over different parts of the world, at first we attributed them to instrumentation anomalies, but after going over the numbers, we think that they were actually exit portals.”

Roger was silent for a moment, he started to get a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach, to which he was getting far too accustomed lately “ok, so you’re telling me that there are quite possibly more infestations of these aliens elsewhere, and they’ve been here for a week undetected? Just where did these portals open?” he asked.

Dr. Griggs looked a little sheepish “um, well, the resolution of the arrowhead network leaves something to be desired, we can only determine the location of an incursion to within a two hundred kilometer radius, so it’s hard to nail down an exact loca-“

Roger was losing his patience “where?” it was a command as much as it was a question.

“We’ve picked up incursions over Western Europe, near the Canadian border, and South America.”
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The Vortex Empire
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Re: Godforsaken Future

Post by The Vortex Empire »

Well, that complicates things. I foresee South America being completely overrun. It's pretty poorly equipped to deal with these things.
LT.Hit-Man303
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Re: Godforsaken Future

Post by LT.Hit-Man303 »

Well now this is starting to get good.
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Re: Godforsaken Future

Post by guest »

almost forgot, here is a map of the infestation in Afghanistan:


Image

red represents the area covered by the bozorg overgrowth, pink represents land area that is overrun but not yet overgrown.

I'll post up maps of Germany, South America, and Minnesota later, right now the situation hasn't solidified enough to get clearly defined regions designated in those areas.
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Re: Godforsaken Future

Post by guest »

This was originally one episode that was so long that I broke it into two parts, here is part one, expect part two some time tomorrow.


Episode 10






"In the absence of orders, go find something and kill it."
- Field Marshal Erwin Rommel








Part I





-8:32 AM, June 15, 1986, Baden-Württemberg Landespolizei Headquarters, Pforzheim, Federal Republic of Germany



We are out of our depth thought Erster Polizeihauptkommissar Karl Jodl as he looked up at the map on the wall and the countless dozens of red push pins planted all over it. Each push pin represented a reported death or missing person. He sipped his coffee as he observed an officer get off the phone and walk over to the map to put another pin in.

“It’s like a damn war” said Polizeikommissar Stein matter of factually as he sat down at his desk nearby.

“That it is.”

Stein wrinkled his forehead while he scrutinized the map as well “how many is it now? A hundred, a hundred fifty?” he asked.

Karl put his coffee down on the desk he was leaning against “I’ve lost count, it’s probably more than that, since I set down here, they’ve put four more pins up on the board” he said. Turning around, he grabbed up a file folder and his cup of coffee, he then walked over to Stein.

“You know, it’s ironic.”

Karl looked at Stein quizzically “how is that?” he asked.

“Well, when I was a child I always thought that the Black Forest sounded like a scary place, I’d always imagined people would venture into there and never return again” explained Stein.

“Erster Polizeihauptkommissar Jodl” a young officer walked into the room, both men looked over at her.

“What is it?”

“There is a man from the army here to see you, I believe that he's a general.”

“The army? But we haven’t even called them” Karl was somewhat confused, he thought that their problem was pretty bad, but to bring the army in on this seemed a bit excessive.

The young officer started to explain something else but she was interrupted as a man in an army uniform entered the room flanked by a half dozen other uniformed men “I’m looking for Erster Polizeihauptkommissar Jodl’ he said.

Karl approached the soldiers “that would be me, what is the meaning of this?” he asked. He could tell from the insignia on the mans uniform that he was a general.

“I’m Lieutenant General Wolfgang Attenberg, I’m here to take command of this situation” replied the general.

Karl was nonplussed “this… situation? I’m not quite sure I understand, and under what authority?” he asked, perplexed.

The general glanced around the room for a second “I understand that you have been suffering a rash of disappearances lately, we have reason to believe that they are related to an infestation of bozorgs. I have been ordered to take command and stop its spread. While you will have direct command of your men in the field, overall command rests with me” the General handed Karl a very official looking piece of paper with government letterhead on it. Karl paid it little attention.

“Bozorgs? You mean those things from Afghanistan? They’re here? How?” he had about a million questions to ask, but the general didn’t seem all that interested in answering them.

General Attenberg returned his attention to Karl “we’re going to need to set up a command post here to run operations, with your assistance please” he said.

“I still don’t understand what’s going on here, I demand that you give me an explanation” Karl kept the anger out of his voice, but he didn’t think it made him sound any less irate.

Attenberg looked at Karl for a moment “unfortunately, I don’t have much more information than you do at the moment. All that I know is that word came down from Bonn that they had credible evidence that a bozorg infestation has appeared somewhere along the French border, your rash of disappearances puts the Black Forest at the top of the list of likely candidates.”

“Shit.”

“That sounds about right.”

“Um… what do you need from us?” Karl asked, his anger replaced with a feeling of uncertainty and apprehension. The news out of Afghanistan made it sound like hell on earth over there, and now they were here, in Germany.

“Like I said, we are going to need to set up a command post here to run operations from. Beyond that, our primary objective right now is to evacuate the region.”

“You want to evacuate the whole forest?”

“Well at first.”

Karl simply looked back at him for a moment in stunned silence, Attenberg continued “if Afghanistan is any indicator, the situation here is expected to get very ugly very quickly. There is going to be a lot of firepower going into that forest, and we want to minimize civilian casualties as much as possible..”








To all law enforcement personnel in North Dakota, Minnesota, and Wisconsin: be on the look out for suspicious sightings or disappearances. Things to be aware of include sightings of strange animals, geographically concentrated numbers of missing persons or unexplained deaths, reports or complaints of strange noises, or any kind of unexplained animal attacks. Should any of the aforementioned be encountered, please report it to the nearest FBI field office IMMEDIATELY. This is considered a matter of national security and should be given top priority.
-National Crime Information Center BOLO issued June 15, 1986


-2:23 PM, June 16, 1986, Labrea Municipal Airport, Labrea, Amazonas, Brazil


“They want us to do what?” said Pedro, he was skeptical to say the least.

Luis merely looked at him calmly as he hung up the phone “it’s money Pedro, what do you care what they are paying us to do? Tax dollars are as good as any others” he said.

Pedro shook his head “I’m not arguing that, but you’re telling me that this man from the federal police is offering us ten thousand real to fly around Amazonas and look for… something strange, and that’s it He doesn’t want us to transport something, or pick someone up, or even drop confetti on his daughter’s wedding. Just fly around and look at things? If this is how the government is spending money these days, maybe I’ll vote for the Democrats next time.”

Luis grabbed his hat off of his desk “whatever your political leanings are, I’ve already accepted the job, and the gentleman was adamant that we get started as soon as possible, so lets get Fatima fueled up, I want to be off the ground within an hour” he put his hat on and headed for the door.

**

Three and a half hours later, Pedro and Luis had overflown much of Amazonas and hadn’t seen much anything but jungle, mountains, and more jungle. Luis' eyes were feeling dry and he was thirsty and hungry “well Luis, I guess we now know what trees look like, and it’s a good thing too because I was worried that I was starting to forget” said Pedro sarcastically.

Luis rolled his eyes at his copilot “shut up, ten thousand real is well worth the trouble; besides, I was planning on making you sweep the hangar today, and wouldn’t that have been-“ he wasn’t able to finish his sentence.

“Wait a minute, what the hell is that?” Pedro interrupted, pointing down toward a patch of trees up ahead. Although he could not see exactly what, something down there was moving, and it was big enough to cause the mammoth trees down there to sway back and forth. After a minute or so, whatever it was reached an area that was slightly less forested.

Although Luis could see the thing, he did not know just what it was, it looked like some massive blob of some kind, covered in some kind of bumpy and veiny reddish… stuff. It looked about the size of a small apartment building. Luis was so distracted by what he saw down there that he almost didn’t notice the little flicker of movement in his peripheral vision “what was that?” he asked.

Pedro turned to look at him “how the hell should I know? All I know is that it’s big and ugly” he replied.

Luis shook his head “no, not that thing down there, I saw something out of the corner of my eye” he said as he took a gander out of the port side window. Pedro merely shrugged and returned to looking at the weird thing down in the trees. Luis banked to starboard in order to stay over the strange creature and get a better look at it “maybe my eyes jus-“ he was interrupted by a loud noise, almost like the sound of a hundred sledge hammers slamming into the fuselage of the plane. The windscreen was shattered and several holes had been blown in it as well as the floor of the cockpit. Luis’ ears were ringing too which combined with the sound of air rushing through the cockpit and the already loud engine only made it harder to concentrate.

After a second he realized that his ears weren’t ringing, but rather that he was hearing Pedro screaming over the intercom. A quick look over at his copilot revealed that there were two large spikes protruding from his stomach and a third one through his leg, blood was gushing out of the wounds and pooling on the floor “Pedro! Christ!” he exclaimed, the only response he got was more screaming.

“MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY” he railed off over the radio “this is PR-327 out of Labrea, my current location is… latitude: -7 west, longitude: -64 south, my aircraft has sustained major damage and my copilot has suffered severe injury, I’m-“ the plane suddenly dropped what felt like fifty or a hundred feet and lurched to port as his view darkened, an instant later he realized that something was… crawling over the top of the aircraft. He could see several strange tentacles, or limbs, or something wrap around the wings and side of the plane. Then he saw its hideous head pass in front of the windscreen, it blocked almost his whole field of view and it looked like some hideous demonic insect imagined by a madman. Somehow he could tell that it was looking right back at him.

He went back to making the distress call “MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY, this is PR-327, I am under attack from some kind of… thing, I am in need of immediate assis-“ the aircraft bucked violently and went into a steep dive, then he heard the tortured sound of metal bending violently followed by the starboard side wing ripping off. The whole aircraft lurched again, only this time downward as if something was pushing on it, and then the creature was gone.

By now the ground was a lot closer than it was before. He tried to get off the distress call again “I’m going down, my location is-“ he was cut off when the plane slammed into a tree at over one hundred fifty miles an hour and Luis’ life ended abruptly as a large tree branch penetrated through the windscreen and impaled him through the chest. Unfortunately no one would ever hear his distress calls as the plane’s radio transmitter had been damaged by the attack.





-6:23 PM June 16, 1986, Voyageur National Forest, Minnesota, United States




Bob reached into his pack and pulled out a bag of trail mix, opening it up he poured himself a handful which he quickly gobbled down “how much further til we reach the camp site?” complained Jo.

Bob swallowed “like I told you the last fifteen times, we’ll get there by nightfall, it’s only about a mile or two further” he explained, an annoyed tone in his voice.

Jo shook her head “god, I wish we would jus-“ the loud rumbling of a jet engine overhead drowned out the rest of her sentence. That was really starting to grate on Bob’s nerves, jets had been flying low overhead all day. They had come out to the park to do some hiking and get some peace and quite, if he had wanted to listen to the deafening noise of jet engines all day, he could have just gone down to St. Paul International back in Minneapolis.

“What?!”

“I said! God I wish we could just get there already, we’ve been hiking all day, and my feet are killing me” Jo replied as quiet returned.

Bob finished off another mouthful of trail mix “the whole point of this trip was to go hiking, that means all day, what else did you expect?” he said as he looked back at her.

Jo returned his gaze “well yeah, but I want to have enough energy at the end of the day for.. other things” she replied with a devilish grin on her face.

Bob smiled back “oh, don’t worry, we’ll have plenty of energy for that” he winked at her. He finished off the last of the trail mix and chased that with a gulp from his canteen.

After about an hour they had reached a clearing “here we go” said Bob. There were three tents already set up in a small grouping on the other end of the clearing, probably from other hikers “looks like someone else beat us here” muttered Bob as they approached the center of the camp ground.

Jo pondered for a moment “I wonder where everyone is?” she inquired “hello! Is anyone there?!” she called out, no response came, and there was no sign of movement in any of the tents.

Bob furrowed his brow “probably off fishing or something. C'mon, let's get this set up before nightfall” he said as he kneeled on the ground and opened up his pack. Jo pitched in and in a few minutes they had their tent set up.

Bob started putting their sleeping bags down when Jo spoke up “Bob, I think I see someone coming” she said.

Bob crawled out of the tent “well, lets see who our neighbors are” he said with a sigh. Looking in the direction that Jo indicated, Bob could see what looked like someone moving through the woods, his pace was uneven though, almost like a stagger or a limp “hey! Are you okay?” he shouted to the visitor.

As the stranger got closer, Bob could see that it was a man, and he most definitely was limping. As he cleared the tree line and came into the light, Bob could see that he had blood all over his face and clothes, the man collapsed a few steps later.

“Oh my god!” Jo brought her hand up to her mouth. Bob ran over to him, kneeled down on the ground and rolled the man over. He was bleeding from a large cut in his forehead and his shirt and pants were also covered in blood, Jo arrived a few seconds later carrying the first aid kit.

His chest heaved in and out quickly, he was clearly out of breath “what happened to you?” Jo asked him as she got out a wad of gauze and pressed it to his bleeding forehead, he merely groaned and panted heavily. Jo lifted the man's shirt, revealing a large grizzly gash in his stomach that gushed blood “Jesus, who the hell did this to you?” she asked, not masking the alarm in her voice “here hold this” she directed Bob, indicating the gauze she was holding on the man's forehead, Bob complied.

Jo got out another wad of gauze and applied it to the mans stomach wound “we need to get him to a hospital” she said.

Bob nodded “yeah I agree, but it's almost a full day's hike back to the highway, and I don't think he has that long” he said.

Jo looked around “um...” she reached into the first aid kit with her free hand “I think there is a visitors center right on Black Bay, it shouldn't be too far from here.”

After another fifteen minutes or so, Bob and Jo managed to get the mans wounds wrapped up with some bandages and load him onto a makeshift litter made from some tree branches and one of their sleeping bags, he still wasn't saying anything, he just moaned in pain occasionally. It wasn't until they had started on their way towards the visitors center when Jo realized the time “shit! I just realized how late it is, what the hell are we gonna do when it's completely dark?” she said.

Bob looked up at the increasingly dark sky “we'll just have to use the compass and our flashlights and pray that we don't get lost” he looked at her and made a nervous smile, Voyageurs National park was a huge piece of territory. If they got lost out here, it wouldn't just be the mystery man here who was in danger of dying, the park could swallow the unwary hiker or camper alive, it had happened before.

Moving at almost a running pace, the two of them shared the load of the litter together, Bob was sure that it was a rough ride for their passenger every time they went over a bump or a hole, but it was better to be uncomfortable than to bleed to death. In another hour or so it was almost completely dark, the only illumination of their path being done by the beams of their flashlights.

“What was that?” Jo asked nervously as she came to a halt, she took her flashlight and shone it around them into the surrounding trees.

“What was what?”

“It sounded like someone screaming.”

Bob took his flashlight and looked around as well “I didn't hear anything, come on, we're wasting time” he gripped the litter and they started to move again, but then he heard the sound of a distant bang that sounded ominously like a gunshot to Bob, shortly after he could hear something else. It wasn't something he could identify, maybe the sound of a wild animal, but not the kind he had ever heard before, it sounded like it came from the direction of the camp ground. They both looked at each other, an unspoken message conveyed between them I don't wanna know what that was. They continued on, faster than before.

Time crawled as they made their way to the visitors center, it felt as though it was taking hours, although a quick glance at his watch revealed that it had been no more than one. They heard more sounds off in the distance, a combination of more strange noises and what sounded like human screams, and even at this distance it was clear that they were filled with sheer terror.

After what seemed like an eternity, they could make out a lit up area ahead “I think this is it” Jo said, relief in her voice.

Moments later they came out from the trees and faced the visitors center, it looked like a complex of one story buildings which resembled log cabins. Floodlights illuminated the ground and trees surrounding the center. As they got closer, something felt off to Bob, but he couldn't figure on just what.

Jo however did seem to figure it out “why is it dark?” she asked, fear creeping into her voice. She was right, while the floodlights were bright and lit up the surrounding area quite well, all of the windows were dark, there were no lights coming from inside the visitors center God I hope it's not closed he thought.

They came around to the front “what the hell?!” Jo exclaimed as she looked at the parking lot, sitting in the middle of which was an overturned pickup truck, a motionless body laying next to it on the ground amid what looked suspiciously like a large puddle of blood.

Bob turned his attention back towards the visitor's center “no time for that now, there has to be a phone inside, we'll call for help” he said.

They approached the front door which was partially open and partially off the hinges, when they got close enough Bob could see that there was another body laying in the doorway. Bob pulled the limp carcass that felt as though it had been dead for at least a few hours. Then they carried their passenger into what looked like a small lobby where they laid him down on the floor.

There was a blood splatter on the wall opposite from the front door, papers strewn about all over the floor, and there was a desk in the middle of the floor which had been overturned, meanwhile broken glass crunched under their feet. Bob ran over to the wreckage of the front desk and searched through the mess, he was getting increasingly frantic when he felt his leg hit something hard and heard the 'ting' of the ringer bell followed by the faint sound of a dial tone. Feeling around for another second or two produced an old rotary phone followed quickly by the handset.

Bob moved the handset up to his ear then pressed down on the receiver and released it. The silence which greeted him from the ear piece seemed to last hours, but when the line clicked and produced a dial tone again, he almost jumped for joy. Without thinking he dialed zero and listened to it ring. On the second ring the line connected “operator” said a woman on the other end, the nonchalantness of her voice seemed so strange to Bob under the circumstances that she could have been speaking Latin and it would have sounded no less peculiar.

“Hello? Hello... yes! I'm calling to, to report an emergency, can you connect me to the police?” Bob knew that he sounded frantic and probably a little off kilter, but he didn't care.

“Where are you calling from sir?” the operator asked.

Bob paused for only about a half a second “yes, I'm currently at the, the ah... the Ash River Visitors center in Voyageur National Park, right by Black Bay, I need the police or... or someone” Bob was practically screaming at the woman please hurry he thought.

There was a slight pause on the other end “alright sir, just a moment, I'll connect you to the police” the line clicked and about a second later it was ringing again.

After two agonizingly long rings, someone picked up on the other end “Koochiching County Sheriffs department. Is this an emergency?” said a man with a slight Minnesotan accent.

“Yes, we've got an emergency here, we're here at the visitors center here on Black Bay in Voyageur Park, and someone has been attacking and killing people. We picked up this guy, and he's been hurt real bad, and we think we heard some gunshots out in the woods too, and-” Bob was interrupted by the man on the other end.

“Calm down sir, you said that you're at the visitors center on Black Bay, is that the Ash River Visitors Center?” he asked.

Bob nodded as if the man on the other end could see him “uh huh, yeah, and there's blood and everything looks like hell and-” the police man interrupted again.

“Okay, you said that someone is killing people out there, did you or the man you found out there see who it was?”

“No... well I don't know, he hasn't talked since we picked him up, he's lost a lot of blood and we carried him out of there to the visitors center. We didn't see who did it either, but the guy looked terrified and we've seen other bodies around, and the visitors center... it-it's like hell out here, there are bodies all over, and blood and somebody ripped the place apart” sweat was pouring down Bob's face, he wiped his eyes with his forearm.

Bob heard what sounded like someone talking silently on the other end. The deputy remained calm, it was actually almost infuriating “alright sir, try to stay calm and we'll send someone else out there, but can you tell me sir, have you seen or heard any strange looking animals? or anything else strange or out of place?”

Bob was silent for a moment how did he know to ask that? he thought “um... well, uh we heard some strange noises earlier, on the way here. I don't know what they were, but they didn't sound like any kind of animal that I'd ever heard before” he said.

There was more quiet conversation on the other end of the line, then “do you have access to a vehicle that you can use to get away from there?” asked the police officer.

“No, there's a car in the parking lot, but it was flipped over somehow.”

“Alright sir, I'm gonna need you to stay put while someone is dispatched to assist you, can you tell me your na-”

“Are you kidding me?!” Bob exclaimed “didn't you hear when I told you that there were dead bodies all over the place? Whoever killed these people is out there somewhere and could come back at any moment, there has got to be some place we can go that's safer than this” he did not withhold his frustration or his fear from his voice, surely this man couldn't be serious.

The police man maintained his calm, even after being yelled at “I'm sorry sir, but you said yourself that you don't have a way to drive out of there, and the only other way out is to walk for several hours through the woods in the dark, and if you're right about the killer coming back, you're even more at risk out in the open. I promise you, there is someone on their way to help you as we speak, you're just going to have to be patient. I can understand you being scared sir, but right now there is nothing else we can do. Can you tell me your name?”

“Bob Witworth, and I'm with my wife, Jo.”

“Alright sir, I'm deputy Carson, are you or your wife injured?”

“No, we're alright, just scared out of our minds”

Jo was still over with the man, checking his bandages “are they coming?” she asked, an intense look of fear in her eyes. Bob nodded in response, she looked down at the man on the floor “even with these bandages, he's lost a lot of blood, I don't know if he's gonna make it long enough for them to get here, they better hurry” she sighed.

Waiting for another half hour or so, Bob was still talking to deputy Carson, Jo had gone looking around the building for another first aid kit. Then Bob heard a rustling from the hallway as she scurried back into the main lobby “did you hear that?” she whispered.

Bob looked back at her quizzically, his heart sank “no, what'd it sound like?” he asked. Carson was asking Bob what he was talking about, but before he could answer, Bob heard a noise outside, it sounded like a groan or a grunt but very strange “I think there is someone here, maybe the killer” Bob whispered.

Then they heard a dragging noise coming from outside by the parking lot, Bob and Jo crept over to the window next to the door and looked out. There in the parking lot by the overturned pickup truck, Bob could make out a strange shape in the floodlights. It was black and looked like it came straight out of a nightmare. The creature or whatever it was, had started to grasp at the dead body out by the truck, lifting it up with long hideous looking limbs “oh shit” whispered Jo as she brought her hand up to her mouth “what is that thing?”

“Sir, what do you see? Is someone else there?” the deputy inquired.

Bob was terrified, he had to force himself to even talk “I... I don't know, there is some kind of animal outside, it's picking up one of the bodies. I don't know but I think it's what killed everyone. God it's-” the creature stopped what it was doing. Had it heard them?

The officer was still talking on the other end. Bob hung up the phone, afraid that any noise, no matter how quiet would alert the terrifying creature. It seemed to work, as the monstrosity started about its morbid work once again, piling the dead body on it's 'back' it then turned and headed back the way it had come. Then the phone rang.

Bob's heart skipped fifteen beats as he looked in horror at the creature freeze in its tracks, drop the body and turn around. It made some kind of unnatural howling noise and charged at the building. Bob and Jo backed away from the window and ran for the hallway.

Just as the got through the doorway out of the room, Jo stopped “shit! We forgot him!” she exclaimed and headed back for the lobby. Just as she re entered the room, the creature crashed through what was left of the front door. Without thinking, Bob grabbed Jo and pulled her back out again, apparently whatever it was, the creature was just as interested in the badly injured man and lunged at him rather than chase them down.

Not wasting the time they had, they ran through the hallway and into the room at the other end, Bob prayed that they could get out that way. The door was still ajar, so they ran right through it and found themselves in some kind of storage room, there were boxes on shelves all along the walls. There wasn't a door, but there was a window. Meanwhile they could hear whatever it was heading their way. Bob thought quickly and grabbed the nearest blunt object he could find. It was a can of paint, and he threw it through the window which shattered. “Go now!” he yelled and Jo didn't wait another second before knocking out the rest of the glass with a broom stick she had picked up and then climbed through the now empty window, Bob followed quickly after.

After coming out of the window, he fell onto a gravel covered surface. Without taking time to even brush himself off, he got up with Jo's help. They sprinted out to the parking lot and then toward the exit and the dirt road beyond.

They followed the road out past the range of the floodlights of the visitor's center and didn't slow down one bit. Bob's chest was pounding like a drum and yet neither he nor Jo stopped as they heard additional roars coming from the the woods beyond.

After god knows how long, they rounded a curve in the road and Jo tripped over something unseen and tumbled for a few yards. Bob slowed his pace and came to a halt next to her as she lay on the ground. He grabbed her by the arm and dragged her to her feet as much as he helped her “come on we've got to-” Bob stopped as he heard something in the distance. For a second he couldn't identify what it was, but it was getting louder ever so slightly. After a few seconds of listening he realized that it was an engine “someone's coming” he said looking at Jo.

Without any further hesitation they started on their way again. Bob could also hear more of the creatures, their howling growing louder by the minute. He didn't know how close they were, but he knew that they were getting closer. His first instinct was to run as fast as possible, but both he and Jo knew that they would only be asking to trip over some other unseen obstacle. Turning his attention toward the woods to his left and right briefly, he couldn't make out much, but he was almost sure that he could see something moving amongst the trees, he hoped that it was just his mind playing tricks on him and just kept going.

The engine noise grew louder as the moved on, and soon they could make out a light off in the distance further down the road, it flickered slightly as its source bounced up and down on the obviously uneven road surface. Another howl could be heard, this time much much closer than before, almost as loud as back in the parking lot of the visitor's center. They picked up their pace, tripping hazard be damned.

Then they tripped over something again, both of them. Bob fell flat on his face, his nose burned with an excruciating pain, and his upper lip soon felt a warm wetness on it. He didn't know for sure but he was willing to bet that his nose was broken. He stumbled to his feet and helped Jo back up again too, he could see the car approaching now, its headlights visible down the road. It was so close, maybe they weren't going to die after all. Just as they were about to start running again, Bob froze, something was on the road right behind them, he could hear it running around on the loose gravel.

Mentally cursing his own stupidity he shook himself out of his panic and immediately started sprinting down the road right behind Jo who had managed to keep her wits about her. The creature behind them let out a roar. Bob knew what was coming next, he saw the massive claws on the other creature at the visitor's center, he knew what those were for and he knew that they wouldn't be able to outrun it.

Suddenly he felt a sharp pain in his ankle and he was tumbling back down to the ground. He put out his hand to break his fall and was greeted by a loud pop and what felt like a baseball bat smashing into his wrist. He tried to get back up, but when he put weight on his right arm he got an excruciating pain, he must have broken his wrist on the way down. He thought that he could hear Jo screaming in the background but it was drowned out by the sound of his heart beating. It was so loud in his ears, but it sounded odd, rather than a thumping, it sounded more like a popping. He rolled over in time for something warm and thick to splatter on his face, and then he saw one of those monstrosities right in front of him, practically on top of him. It was brightly illuminated and it was staggering about, and then it collapsed onto the ground.

Finally he realized that it wasn't his heartbeat that he was hearing, it was gunfire. He turned around to see a group of men in military uniforms holding weapons, smoke rising from their barrels. Jo ran out and put her arms around him, she was practically crying, but he could sense the relief she was exuding. Three of the soldiers approached and helped him up “Mr. Witmore?” said one of the soldiers. Bob was too shocked, he could only nod “I'm Lieutenant Bronsent, Minnesota National Guard, we've been looking for you.”
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LadyTevar
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Re: Godforsaken Future

Post by LadyTevar »

Now that is edge-of-seat, omg-they're-dead, YES!-THEY-LIVE action. Fantastic!!!
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Nitram: You -are- beautiful. Anyone tries to tell you otherwise kill them.

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Re: Godforsaken Future

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Part II



-5:23 AM June 18, 1986, Norristown State Mental Hospital, Norristown, Pennsylvania, United States



She ran down the street amidst a panicked mob, chaos had reigned ever since news had spread that the city walls had been breached. She turned town one corner and headed up a stairway, the sounds of weapons discharging in the distance revealed that the city guards had not been completely wiped out yet.

Heading up to the third level platform she crossed over the vehicle pathway as it was jammed with pack bearers as their drivers streamed to escape the doomed city. A distant rumbling could be heard in the distance. Glancing upward She could see vertical contrails illuminated against the setting second sun Siilkar, apparently the first orbiters had already lifted off in hopes of escaping to the orbital habitats; possibly the only untouched place for The People to flee to.

The rings of Hodesh in the sky beyond actually made the scene look quite picturesque, if not for the knowledge that the city would soon be overrun by The Creeping Dread, She would have stopped to appreciate such a view. She could only hope for there to be at least one orbiter left to board when She finally managed to retrieve the young ones and get them to the space port.

A sound of commotion down the pathway indicated that perhaps She had less time than previously thought. People screaming combined with the unnatural howls of those monsters and sent a chill down through Her entire being. Casting a glance down the pathway, She saw a horde of the monsters charging in her direction.

She turned and ran as fast as She could, maybe if She hurried She could make it to their shelter to the young ones while the monsters were still distracted with killing other prey. The rumbling in the distance changed in pitch prompting Her to look up again, apparently some of those flying monsters had managed to catch up to some of the orbiters which were now falling from the sky now. One of them exploded in midair, bathing the city in bright orange light temporarily.

She had not been paying attention, and as a result tripped over something, causing her to fall onto the stone blocks, harming all three of Her arms. The howling was louder now, they were getting closer. She rolled over and saw one of the monsters approaching, it had clearly spotted her and had sped up to a gallop by now.

Hope for the young ones had left he, the city had clearly fallen and she would die very soon. Chances were that all hope for The People was lost too, She had heard rumors that the Creeping Dread had somehow managed to destroy some of the orbital habitats, although she wasn’t sure how, it didn’t matter as she would not live to see if any trace of The People would survive.

She didn’t bother to even raise Her hands in defense as the monster pounced on her and eviscerated her violently.





***



Nora awoke from her nightmare to the rumble of the air conditioning vent in the top of her room. A thick ray, a thick beam, a thickraybeam of dense bright light entered the room from the small square window in the door. The light was the source of the knowledge, it was the source of power, she could use it to remember the messages she needed to remember. Yes, she would remember well.

They were telling her something, something important. Yes… yes, something very very very very veeeerrrrryy important. Usually she was just told of the dying stories of poor murder or rape victims, those souls who no longer had happy energy to send to her, they used to be the primary speakers, and she the primary listener, but this was something far more significant. Oh yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes, the messages no longer just came to her in her sleep anymore, it was during the day too. A bigger message was being spelled out, she just knew, knew for sure, knew for sure.

Nora got up from the bed and reached over to the notepad on the table next to her bed. Walking over to the spot on the floor where the light from the doorway cast a bright white square on the linoleum tile, she placed the notebook on the floor in the light and started to scribble her thinkings in it. It was most important that she do this, lest the thoughts not be remembered. She had so many thoughts now, important ones, they must be remembered, for so much rested on them.

After about a minute or so of committing her thoughts, the square was suddenly blocked, no longer casting the knowledge on the floor, what was she to do? She had to commit these thoughts to memory or else much would be lost.

Annoyed, she looked up to the door to see two men standing at the doorway. One was Doctor Soren, the other man Nora didn’t recognize, but he was middle aged and smoking. He was someone important, she could tell, he was a Bossman, a Head Honcho. She could feel it coming out of him, could feel his influence and power.

Dr. Soren was explaining something to the Bossman, but Nora couldn’t hear what it was. The Bossman merely nodded and took a drag from his cigarette, his intently watched her, she could feel his eyes on her, they were very receptive eyes, they saw much, she knew, for sure, for sure.

They would come to talk to her about the thoughts, about the important message she was piecing together. She could tell, could tell a lot. The Bossman might be able to do something about it, could do what was needed to be done, yes, yes yes yes yes yeeeeeessssssss. She would tell him what she knew and she would give him the thoughts, it would be good, he would do something, something important to fix the things.







-Transcript from the recorded logs of Dr. Pavel Reznikov, Moscow State University, Dept. of Biology





This is Doctor Reznikov, Department of Biology, Moscow State University; recording number seventeen, dated June the Twentieth, of the year nineteen hundred and eighty six, regarding GRU provided specimen number twenty. Designated “dragonfly” and retrieved from Southern Afghanistan on or about the date of June the Eighth.

This is the first specimen of the “dragonfly” variety, and as such is of utmost interest. Specimen measures approximately ten meters in length, has a wingspan of approximately fifteen meters, and has a mass of approximately seven point three tonnes. Latin designation for this variety shall be known as proxilus pennae.

The overall appearance of the proxilus is very similar to that of a terrestrial dragonfly, with a large and bulbous abdomen that tapers to a long yet narrow tail which constitutes the majority of length of the body. It has two sets of wings, one very large pair which seems to act as the primary source of lift, meanwhile the other smaller pair of wings is tucked up underneath and slightly behind the larger pair. The purpose of these seems somewhat of a mystery, however early consultation with both an entomologist and aerospace engineer seems to indicate that the smaller pair of wings acts for stabilizing purposes.

As with previous tāziyāne varieties, the proxilus pennae posses a large outer shell covering most of the main body structure and a portion of the wings. The wings have their leading edges as well as what appear to be structurally supportive bones that run throughout the wings themselves covered in similar exoskeletal protection. The remainder of the wings surface area is covered with a thick and tough outer membrane which appears to become very rigid when stressed properly, but otherwise is quite flexible. The overall tensile strength of the membrane seems to be somewhere around that of high tensile carbon fibers.

While there are strong bundles of ultra dense muscle fibers at the bases of each wing, all indications are that the wings are held more or less in a fixed position rather than flap around. Expert observations as well as first hand accounts of personnel in the field seems to indicate that proxilus seems to be able to make rapid adjustments to its wing positioning and shaping in quick succession in order to avoid stalling or inversion.

The lengthy tail which comes to an approximate length of six meters is lined with an array of eight small fins which are of a similar configuration to the much larger wings. Each one has a combination of both malleable outer membrane and exoskeletal protection, just like the wings that are attached to the abdomen. Early observations indicates that the purpose of these fins appears to be maneuvering and stabilization assistance. Again, the presence of strong and dense muscle fiber around the base of each fin is evidence of the same intended purpose of quick adjustments much like the larger wings.


The abdomen and tail both seem to be covered by the same kind of exoskeletal covering which protects the other tāziyāne varieties. However, proxilus has a carapace which is thinner than that of atrox incendia, most likely for the purpose of reducing weight. Also while proxilus seems to have an endoskeleton much like other tāziyāne, the bones are also of a less dense nature, again for the seeming purpose of reducing weight in the interest of facilitating flight.


The most prominent feature of the abdominal section appears to be four large orifices located facing the front and back with two on the front and two on the back. Connecting each front facing orifice to its rear counterpart is a broad air passage which is lined with a series of diaphragm like structures.


The central abdominal cavity seems to have two large bladders which are each filled with a binary incendiary chemical compound much like that of the atrox incendia, however this chemical appears to have a lower burning temperature and has a thinner consistency. Connected to the air passages with a series of small tubes, the abdominal bladders seem to pump the stuff directly into the air passages where the chemicals combine and combust.

It would appear that proxilus relies upon some kind of organic jet propulsion where the diaphragms along the walls of the air passages seem to vibrate in such a fashion as to pull air from front to back at a high velocity. Then the chemical bladders begin pumping the binary chemical components into the air passages where they combust, increasing the temperature of the air as it passes through.

This combined with the advanced configuration of the wings and fins would seem to demonstrate how the proxilus pennae is able to achieve the impressive aerobatic feats reported by military personnel in the field. It would also appear that the vibration of the diaphragms is what produces the “buzzing” sound that is reported emanating from proxilus while in flight.

Also protruding from the abdomen is a set of eight three segmented legs which seem to serve primarily for the purposes of landing and taking off as their length does not appear to be well disposed for walking or crawling. However, the presence of many rows of sharp claw-like protrusions from the sides of each leg as well as first hand witness accounts seems to indicate that the legs also serve for combat purposes as a means of grabbing onto enemies, in this case, military aircraft.


Again, the internal organ systems of this variety appears fairly simplistic with the design behind its physiology being of a very single minded nature. There is no respiratory, or digestive system whatsoever, and in fact this particular variety seems to have no auditory organs either, however its eyes appear to be far more sensitive than any other variety encountered to date. There is also some kind of highly unique structure located within the “head” of the proxilus which my aerospace expert tells me bears a strong resemblance to some kind of radio transmitter and receiver combination. He seems to think that perhaps this is some form of rudimentary radar system. Although further testing is needed.


Finally, the offensive capability of this particular variety which seems to entail some form of “spike launcher” as reported by first hand witness accounts was not able to be studied on this specimen as that part of the abdominal section was too heavily damaged for examination. I have been informed that there are three more specimens in better condition on their way to Moscow right now, and I will have more of a chance of examining this ability in the future.


Special note: I have been hearing reports of some kind of “invisible” tāziyāne variety which appears to resist many known forms of detection. Must emphasize to the GRU that retrieval of a specimen of this variety is of top priority.






-10:06 AM June 21, 1986, Moscow Kremlin, Moscow, USSR







Gafur Chandra followed the rest of the minister's entourage into the large conference room. Once inside, he looked around and saw that at the center was a long table and at it three other groups already sat. He could clearly make out the Pakistanis; headed by Sahabzada Yaqub Ali Khan, Wu Xueqian for the Chinese, and Ali Akbar Velayatil for the Iranians. No surprises there, the mess in Afghanistan had everybody scared, and all the powers in the region were interested. Even the Iranians were there, they might have wanted to act defiant in the face of 'the left hand of Satan' but they could hardly resist being offered a chair at the table.


Led to their spot, the Indian group took their seats. Minister Punjala leaned back “that was a good judgment Chandra, you were right about the Iranians, I'm glad that I brought you in stead of Ragnan, he seriously thought that the Iranians would turn down the Soviets’ offer” he whispered.


Gafur felt a twinge of pride, when he had first heard that he was to be Punjala's R&AW attache, he was a bit wary. He didn't have much seniority, and he had even less field experience, but he was the only one with so much knowledge on the various dealings going on with regard to the situation in Afghanistan. At first it had seemed like almost a punishment as many in the Wing had thought for sure that it was mostly just an American ruse to screw over the Pakistanis, but over time it turned out to be possibly the biggest show in town.


Gafur leaned forward “just watch; like I said before, the Iranians are probably going to largely stay out of the whole situation unless they are given something in return, they know the Russians are scared, and they know this is a rare opportunity to get something out of them, but don't be surprised if they decide to forgo all logic and tell everyone else off, especially the Russians.” he whispered back, Shankar nodded in agreement and understanding.


The doors to the conference room opened again, and in walked Mikhail Gorbachev who was followed by an entourage of his own. They sat down at the head of the table, the Soviet Leader spoke, their Russian translator Singh repeated it in Hindi, it was a standard greeting and he thanked them all for coming.


Each nation's foreign minister had come with a group of translators, so that they could directly translate what each minister was saying. Punjala had brought one for Chinese, one for Persian, and one for Russian. Gorbachev continued in his diplomatic tone, he was explaining the reason for the meeting, saying how the common threat in Afghanistan was something that they all needed to unite together to fight against for the good of all.


Gafur found that last statement quite ironic, considering the notable lack of any representative from Afghanistan. He supposed that Afghanistan wasn't considered an important enough party to be brought into the talks here, it was only their nation where this war was being fought. Of course this was hardly the greatest snub in the history of international politics.


Xueqian spoke next, it was something to the effect that the Chinese were highly concerned about the security of the region. However it was regrettable that the Soviets had failed to inform them of the dire situation in Afghanistan until things had deteriorated so badly. Gafur supposed that just about every other nation represented here could have made a similar statement. Although the Chinese seemed perfectly happy to thumb their nose at the Russians first.


Gorbachev apologized, and explained that sometimes distrust and paranoia can get the better of people. It was a pretty standard face saving line, so far nothing too profound from anyone.


“I would tend to agree with the Chinese representative on this issue. In spite of the major regional threat that these alien creatures represent, and the clear role that we all will be playing in this situation as it develops, one has but to lament the time it took for the Soviet Union to inform us of the situation” Shankar said. Although they had been told before hand that cooperation with the Russians in order to handle this threat was their primary objective when coming to this meeting, it didn't mean that a bit of posturing could not be had at the Russians' expense beforehand.


Kahn rapped his fist on the table gently to give his words emphasis “It should be stated that the Pakistani government was the first to lend assistance to our Afghani brothers against these beasts and that we are fully committed to the security of the region against any common threat to us all, in spite of any Soviet shortsightedness.” He was clearly trying to position Pakistan as a dominant party on the scene by advertising their central role in the ongoing conflict.


Finally Veleyatil spoke, his voice had a mix of caution and contempt, that didn't sound so good. Apparently the Iranians felt that the entire situation was due to Soviet arrogance, and that if they want everyone else to clean up their mess, they are going to have to learn how to deal with other nations properly.


The conversation was diverted into a contest of verbal dominance for the next twenty minutes or so, then it seemed that they had all gotten their fill(except for maybe Veleyatil anyway). Gorbachev brought up the issue of cooperation first. He believed that some form of intelligence sharing on the tāziyāne was in order as well as logistical cooperation.


“My government is prepared to lend logistical aid, although that would be contingent upon the cooperativeness of Pakistan, and the Indian government too believes that intelligence sharing would be advisable. It would be wise to know where each others’ troops are placed before we start dropping bombs.” Shankar eyed his Pakistani counterpart from across the table, Kahn returned the gaze with a more reserved expression.


Kahn cleared his throat to speak “I believe that we may be able to work out an agreement of some kind in order to allow the Indian government the ability to transport goods and supplies across our territory to aid in the struggle. I think however that we need to seriously discuss the possibility of full military cooperation, rather than act as mere co belligerents” he said.


A grumbling erupted among the various different diplomats at the table, Gafur hadn't expected him to be quite so forward. Veleyatil spoke first, he more or less claimed that the Russians were merely trying to get the others to do all the dying for them, and made several veiled allusions to the fact that perhaps the situation in Afghanistan was merely a hoax perpetuated by the governments in Washington and Moscow.


More grumbling ensued “I am shocked at such an accusation, Pakistani soldiers have been dying over these past few months, along with Russians and Afghani's. To make such allegations is a grave insult to their sacrifices” Kahn was glaring across the table at the Iranian.


Shankar was about to speak but was interrupted by Xueqian. He said that the time for bickering over political differences could be put off until later, however there is a threat that they all face and utmost effort should be put into stopping it. Kahn and Gorbachev both nodded in agreement, Shankar also indicated that he was also favorable to moving the discussion onto something more constructive. That seemed to have shut up Veleyatil, he was however still not happy as he sat in his chair brooding.


“Very well, perhaps it is time to start discussing something more concrete” said Shankar “perhaps the issue of contributing troops to the struggle from each nation here is in order afterall.”








-3:38 PM June 23, 1986, two kilometers south of Bräunlingen, Federal Republic of Germany





The ground vibrated beneath Unteroffizier Lukas Fromm and he felt as though he was being punched in the chest as their FH-70 howitzer launched yet another artillery round into the air. Quickly he and the rest of the gun crew sprung into action, Lukas opened the breech, ejecting the spent shell casing from the weapon, he could feel the heat radiating out from the back of the massive cannon as well as off of the shell casing as it exited the breech. Gefreiter Sigurd brought over a fresh round and inserted it into the weapon, promptly Lukas closed the breach. The entire operation had taken a couple seconds and had been refined to a smooth and well organized choreography. Stabsunteroffizier Einmann raised his hand in a signaling motion and dropped it. The weapon fired again, the ground shook and his chest again felt like someone had punched him.


“Alright, that's enough, pack it up and lets get this shit out of here!” bellowed Einmann as they all hopped up and frantically went about packing up the large field artillery piece. This too had become well drilled into them by now. The entire routine had been continuously repeated over and over again during the past five days shortly after III Korps had arrived here in Baden-Württemberg.


Their trip here had come on very short notice. In fact, about half of the battalion had to be called back from leave it was so unexpected. After they had arrived, almost nothing happened for two days, they had been told that civilians were being evacuated from the Black Forest to prevent any collateral damage. And after about the first day and a half, they had started hearing a non stop parade of military aircraft overhead as they flew over the forest to bomb it.


It was kind of surreal really, that they were bombing their own country. Of course the army had spent the past three decades training to do just that, but that was against The East, and while even he still viewed The East as his own country, this was something different altogether. He'd gone on vacation here as a kid, and now he was launching artillery shells into it. Alien infestation or no, he had a hard time reconciling the idea.


After two days of nearly nonstop air strikes on the forest, the planes stopped flying in. It hadn't surprised him at all, he had heard that the Russians had lost a lot of aircraft in Afghanistan to these things, and it didn't look like NATO had had much more luck either. Then they started getting orders to bombard the region as much as possible, and so the five day long ordeal of shelling the Black Forest had begun. It was quite something to behold, much like the air campaign, it continued at all times, even in the middle of the night, Lukas had heard the continuous thump thump of artillery going off somewhere.


Things were anything but easy though, after the first day, they had started getting what looked an awful lot like counter battery fire. Damn accurate counter battery fire too, whatever these things were or wherever they were from, the term 'bracketed' didn't seem to mean much to them, for their shells to be off the mark any later than their second shot was unheard of. He'd heard stories of other artillery units that had gotten a little too comfortable and hung around too long and they did not live to do it again. Personally Lukas had seen at least a couple burned and smashed MLRS or artillery pieces sitting in craters where a working artillery unit had once been. And so, after every three or four shots, they would pack up their howitzer and move on to another location, lest they tempt fate. Lukas found himself envying the men who crewed the self propelled guns as they finished packing up their own weapon and hitching it to the tractor.


As they piled onto the tractor and rode off, Lukas contemplated what it was that they were doing there. He had certainly expected that there would be tons of fighting going on, it was a war, and that's what happened in war. However, aside from the massive artillery duels and attempted air strikes, there seemed to be no sign of fighting.

Stranger still was the fact that so far he had not heard a single rumor of any plans to launch any kind of offensive. All they had done was establish a fortified perimeter around the forest and then bomb the hell out of it. He had seen plenty of infantry, plenty of tanks, and helicopters flew overhead all the time, but it all seemed as if they were all just waiting for something. At first many had thought they were waiting for the Americans and British to arrive before launching an attack, but that was not the case here, he had seen plenty of soldiers from both countries over the past couple days.


He sure wished he knew just what it was that they were waiting for, and that they would get on with it already. The tension was starting to get to him.






-5:16 PM June 26, 1986, Encino, California, United States






“Mmm” Carla swallowed her california roll “I looove me some good sushi” she said wish a grin on her face. She put down her chopsticks and picked up her glass, raised it to her lips and gulped down some water. “I saw Billie Hadley the other day. We haven't spoken in a while.” she said.


Nathan swallowed his own sushi “uh... you mean the guy who repainted your Buick last year?” he responded with a blank stare on his face.


Carla's grin transformed into a slight smirk “Billie Hadley is a woman Nat, she worked with me when we lived in Simi Valley, she was at your birthday party last year, we babysat for her for something like six months a while back.” Carla's annoyance was fairly evident in her tone and expression.


“Um...”


Carla sighed “She's the one who popped out of her bathing suit when we went down to Santa Monica last year, remember?”




“Oooooohhhhhh, Billie, yeah I remember her” Nathan said as understanding dawned on him, a slight twinkle in his eye “yeah, she's got two kids, James and Julie, what's old Billie up to these days anyway?”


Carla rolled her eyes “for the love of God Nat, I swear sometimes you wouldn't remember my name if I didn't have boobs.”


“Well boobs do make everything better.”


Carla made a motion as if to reach across the table to slap Nathan, her expression was one of both shock and amusement Nathan in turn cringed in mock fear “alright, alright, I'm sorry, but seriously, what's new with Billie?” he asked.


Carla made another sigh, but her expression calmed back down a bit and now she just seemed mildly amused “well, apparently her sister Hope died last month” she explained.


“Oh, no. What a shame, how is she taking it?”


Carla took another sip of water “She's doing alright, but apparently her sister was loaded, she left Billie something like fifty thousand dollars in her will. When I talked to her she had apparently just gotten back from Arizona where she had finished taking care of all the formalities.” Carla munched down on another roll.


“How'd she die?”


“Skin cancer, apparently. She'd been fighting it for over a year, so I heard.”


“Damn shame, do you want to go visit her some time, maybe pay our respects?”


“Maybe, she seems like she's doing okay, but either way I think we should visit sometime soon, we haven't seen each other for quite some time.” Carla finished her last california roll.


“Okay, but not any time in the next two weeks” said Nathan, Carla raised an eyebrow as she chewed “apparently some asshole over at Warner Brothers fucked up the footage from our shoot in Mojave, now we've gotta go re shoot the whole damn thing all over again” Nathan explained.


Carla frowned deeply “two weeks?” she almost whined it “when were you planning on telling me about this?” a bit of agitation crept into her voice.


“Sorry hun, I guess I'm telling you right now. It's not like I'm looking forward to going back there myself, it's fucking hot out there” he finished his last roll and took a drink of water. He was about to flag down their waiter but he appeared before that was necessary.


“I've been told to let you know that your bill has been covered” explained the waiter.


Nathan eyed him with a curious look on his face “oh? By whom?” he asked warily.


“By the gentleman over there” replied the waiter, indicating a man in a suit sitting at the sushi bar who waved to them. “He also asked me to tell you that anything else you order is also covered, would you like to order anything else sir?” he inquired.


“No thank you” answered Nathan who did not take his gaze off of the man at the bar. The waiter promptly left.


“Friend of yours?” asked Nathan “perhaps a secret admirer of some sort?”


Carla shook her head “not that I know of, maybe he's a secret admirer of yours” she answered. Apparently the strange man took their confused staring as an invitation, because he got up and walked toward them.


As he approached their table, the mystery man eyed them confidently, he seemed to know something that they didn't “is this seat taken?” he asked.


Both Carla and Nathan raised their eyebrows “I'm sorry, and you would be?” asked Carla in not the most polite tone.


Not waiting for a response to his own question the gentleman sat himself down at the unoccupied chair “My name is Roger, and don't worry, you haven't met me before, so I won't be offended that you can't remember who I am” he said as he sat back in his seat nonchalantly, almost as if there was nothing odd about the situation whatsoever.


Nathan was about to speak, but Carla beat him to it “we enjoy a free meal as much as anyone else, but we'd both like a bit of an explanation as to just who you are and what is going on here.”


Roger or whatever his name was reached onto the table and picked up an almond cookie “why certainly Ms. Beneti, I think both you and Mr. Moore are quite entitled to an explanation” he said in a cordial tone.


Both Carla and Nathan looked at each other then back at Roger “who the hell are you?” they asked in unison.


Roger took a bite of the cookie then swallowed it “at present, I'm an employee of the federal government, and I'm here on their behalf to make an offer to you Mr. Moore.”






-4:18 PM July 2, 1986, Balakovo, Saratov Oblast, Russia





Ania winced in pain as she cradled her bruised arm, it had taken quite a hit when she fell, so much so that it hurt slightly more than her right cheek “get up you worthlesssss wasste of spassse!” screamed Father as he stood over her. He was drunk again, and this time it didn't look like he was going to be passing out any time soon.


She climbed back up to her feet slowly, Father's expression was angry as ever, his eyes like ugly little holes bored into the front of his face. He smacked her in the face, this time she didn't fall down “now geddd down there and clean that messsss uuuup!” she could feel that warm moist feeling start to run down her cheeks, it was all too familiar. She did her best not to cry, she hated doing that in front of him, the sight of tears seemed to only aggravate him even more.


He turned and walked back to his chair where he sat down and continued eating, Ania proceeded to pick up the spilled crackers off of the floor. At least this time it had only been crackers in stead of soup or milk, like the last time, she was lucky that her nose had healed strait in stead of crooked like Nikolai's had, of course he had probably had his broken at least a half dozen times, it had only been Ania's first.


All the same she wished Nikolai was back, ever since he had gotten called away for service Father had been especially cruel. And now that she had turned thirteen, he was starting to look at her in a way that made her feel uncomfortable. She wanted to get away, leave this place, at least for a little while, she'd have to think of an excuse. Come to think of it, she hadn't been down to the post office yet today. Old Mr. Orolov had said that he would promise to hold any letters addressed to her from Nikolai, he knew that Father would just throw them away.


Soon she had all the crackers cleaned up and put out a fresh set of them on the table “I need to go get some more crackers at the market, and we also are almost out of bread, I should go now before it starts to get dark” she tried to sound as humble and meek as possible.


Father munched down on a pelmeni “sure go on, might as well do something of use today” he said, spitting pieces of food on the table in front of him. He reached into his pocket and grabbed out a wad of greasy rubles and peeled off a couple bills which he handed to her.


Ania took the money and headed for the front door. She exited their tenement and closed the door behind her. Being out of there was like escaping from a prison, it always felt good to be away from Father and that horrid place. She didn't have any good memories of it, Mother had died long before they moved there, and Nikolai had been called away only about a few months after they had arrived.


Ania took the stairs in stead of the elevator, only one of the shafts worked, and it usually took forever to get to the ground floor. She took the steps two at a time and within a short while she exited the stairwell and was walking out the front entrance.


The weather was a bit dreary today, the sky was overcast, and it was a bit chilly for July, but that was okay, she felt like today would be different, this time there would be a letter from Nikolai. The bus stop was pretty packed, it always was around this time of day. It didn't take long before the next bus to the market arrived, she boarded it along with a whole throng of other commuters.


The bus ride was uneventful, no room for sitting, and she was packed uncomfortably close with all the people who were standing. About ten minutes later, she had gotten off and was standing in the front door of the post office. There wasn't anyone else waiting ahead of her, so she walked right up to the counter. Mr. Orolov was sitting behind it, he recognized her almost the second she walked in the door “why hello Ania, it's so good to see you today. Here to see if Nikolai has sent you any letters?” he didn't bother asking her 'how are things at home?' he no doubt noticed the bruising on her face.


Ania nodded as she got to the counter, she looked up at him expectantly “did he send anything today?” she could feel her heart pounding a mile a minute as she waited for the silver haired man's answer.


“Why yes, yes he did.” replied Mr. Orolov as he leaned down behind the counter and reached for something. The scar on his right cheek became more pronounced as he squinted. Mr. Orolov said he got it in the Great Patriotic War, he said that it usually scared other kids, she just thought that it made him look kind of sad. After about a minute of fumbling around back there he placed a small wrinkled envelope on the counter. Her heart practically shot out of her chest she was so excited “this one looks like the entire German army marched over it before it got here” Mr. Orolov said with a chuckle.


Tentatively she reached for it across the counter, almost as if it was going to disappear the second she grabbed it. The instant her fingers touched it she gripped it and yanked it back as quickly as she could, she stared at the writing on the front, it was in his handwriting, she had a hard time making it out, but it was definitley his “oh, and something else for you too” said the old man, he reached in his pocket and produced a couple small candies wrapped in wax paper which he placed on the counter too “this is from Mrs. Orolov, she told me to tell you hello.”


Ania reached for the candies “thanks so much Mr. Orolov, and say thanks to your wife too!” she practically screamed it at him in her excitement.


He made another warm smile at her “not a problem my dear, now you be good and stay safe now okay?” he said to her as she headed for the door.


“No problem Mr. Orolov, you have a nice evening, and say hi back to Mrs. Orolov” she yelled as she exited the building.


She ran the whole way back to the bus stop, and when she got there she found the nearest bench and sat down where there was enough light to read. She opened one of the candies and popped it into her mouth, it was sweet with a slightly fruity taste, it was wonderful.


Briefly she examined the envelope again, like Mr. Orolov had said, it was really beat up looking, with a couple stains on it as well as some tearing on the corners. Turning it over she saw tape over it where the censor had resealed the envelope after reading it. Normally she would have been annoyed at that, but not this time, she was too excited. Ever so gently she peeled the tape back and opened the envelope. Inside there was an equally beat up looking piece of paper, she pulled it out and unfolded it. It was handwritten and in pencil, but it was still a letter from Nikolai. She began to read:




Dear Ania,


I'm hoping that this letter finds you in good health and spirits, I don't know how long it will take to reach you from where I am, but I'll send it anyway. A lot has happened since we last spoke, and I'm sorry it's been so long since my last letter, but as you may have guessed, things have been a bit more difficult to say the least. I have a lot to tell you, but I'm not sure what the censor's will omit, I'll try and tell you what I can though.


We're fighting in a small town called ____________________________, like much of Afghanistan was, it's a real heap, but we've been fighting for it like it was made out of solid gold. The bugs are probably as ________________________________________________, but over the last few days things here have been quiet, which is great, we've caught up on rest and gotten a decent meal for a change.


You wouldn't believe it, but I've been promoted! I'm a sergeant now, and I've been put in charge of about a dozen other men, it's incredible, to think that someone would put me of all people in charge of anything more important that tying my own boots! They haven't told me exactly, but I think it's because __________________________________________________ ___________. I guess it's not been a total disaster as no one has died in close to a week.


It's strange really, even though I've been leading them for weeks already, it hasn't sunk in that I'm now responsible for these men and their lives and until the day that I was given this promotion. I suppose that until then I was too busy keeping myself and them alive to really contemplate anything more complex. It's really a heavy thing to think about, after all of the things that I've faced out here, nothing scares me more than the possibility that I'll make the wrong decision and get someone killed. I try not to let it get to me, but it is probably one of the hardest parts of being out here.


We've got a real variety here too, I've got a few Russians, Afghani soldiers, some Pakistanis, and even a pair of Mujahideen fighters too! I never thought that I would be depending on one of them for my life and now I am, I guess that means we finally won that war, we just have to win a totally different one now.


How are things with you now? How have your classes been? Have you met any boys? I hope father hasn't been too harsh on you since I've left, and I hope that he hasn't been drinking too much, that's when he's his worst.


I don't know when I'll be able to send you another letter, or when I'll be able to come home again, like I said before, things are pretty crazy out here.


Your Loving Brother,
Nikolai



She read it three more times before putting it back in the envelope. She was so happy that she was halfway home on the bus before she realized that she had forgotten to go to the market. She would have to go back and it would make her really late. Father would probably beat her for it if he hadn't drunken himself into unconsciousness again, but she didn't care. Today had turned out to be a good day after all.





-Excerpt from the journal of Dr. Willard Maye, PhD. Archeology, Princeton University





It's been a tiring but exciting July 4th here on the bottom of the world. I arrived here yesterday ahead of the rest of the expedition in order to begin making preparations and to get a look at the site. I spent much of this morning outside and I have to say that it's damn cold down here.


Judith was happy to see me, and we did a lot of catching up while we waited for some of the kinks in the equipment to get worked out. I'm glad to be working with her, she's a hell of a scientist and a great friend, it's a shame that we haven't kept in touch these past few years. I met Dr. Atwood today also, he seems like a fairly competent fellow, although he's even more unhappy than I am at how we've been railroaded by the government into this situation, not that I can blame him.


Initial results have been incredible, they performed some scans of the terrain in the vicinity of where the tablets were picked up with ground penetrating radar about a week ago, and when they showed me the images, I was impressed to say the least. From what we can tell there is a whole city under there!


While my initial assessment of the tablets and the language on them led me to conclude that they were the product of some group that had descended from Mesoamerican civilization, a look at the city itself shows some really odd planning. Unlike other Mesoamerican cities which seem to follow a geometric pattern or grid of some kind, this city appears to have nothing like that. The proportions and arrangement is completely uneven, almost non-euclidean in nature. We may have a completely new civilization on our hands here!


Of course this is all very preliminary, and we won't know for sure until we actually start excavating the area and get a good look at it, but this is quite possibly the biggest find in modern archeology
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The Vortex Empire
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Re: Godforsaken Future

Post by The Vortex Empire »

Really says something about this story that I was expecting another alien attack during every scene. I wonder what this city has to do with the bozorgs?
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Re: Godforsaken Future

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The Vortex Empire wrote:Really says something about this story that I was expecting another alien attack during every scene. I wonder what this city has to do with the bozorgs?

Well, I've actually been dropping hints about it for quite some time, most of them have been pretty damned subtle, however the last part of that update featured a not so subtle one. I won't point it out to you but I imagine that if you don't spot it, someone else probably will. I'm also going to continue dropping hints. The one thing I will tell you is that the city in Antarctica actually has virtually no connection to the bozorg invasion, aside from the US government's desire to learn advanced scientific knowledge from it to help with the war.


anyway, onto episode 11, I wish to apologize in advance, some of you may find the first part a bit schmaltzy.
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