Post by EmperorMyric on Mar 22, 2021 16:23:10 GMT
Lost Star: Neutral Space
Boy stared at the broken creature in his hands. All he had done was pick it up and it just stopped moving. He reached down and pulled one of its hands off to see if that could get it moving again. Nothing. A quick shake to try and rouse it and the things body hit the ground, leaving only the pulpy mess that was once its head in Boy’s fist.
“Boy! Stop playing with that thing and help me up!”
Dropping the mess, Boy walked back around the desk to see Daddy lying on his back, still in his seat. The giant guard reached down and picked the old man up. But Daddy was very old and very frail, so Boy had to be extra careful when helping Daddy around.
Once back on his feet, Winston shuffled around the desk and began yelling at the three corpses “HA! That’s what ya get for trying to shoot ME! hack Honestly, youth these days couldn’t even kill an old man like me. Pathetic! Pathe… HACK Oh, that was too much excitement. Nearly soiled my drawers. Nope. Wait. Yeah they’re soiled. So glad I started wearing diapers. HA!”
He spun and smacked Boy in the thigh with his cane. “How long are you going to just stand there bleeding? This carpet’s impossible to find nowadays and yer ruining it!”
Boy look down and realized that his left forearm was bleeding. Holding it up to look at it he saw three holes where those things had shot him. Turning his arm around he saw the exit wounds were massive and had blown out a large chunk of his muscle. As Daddy turned and began shouting into a phone, Boy walked over to the corpses, choosing the one that he had ripped in half. Kneeling down he scooped out the gore from what was left of its chest he began to stuff his wounds with it. The site bubbled and hissed as everything was broken down and used by his body to heal. He offered a silent thanks to Daddy for gifting him this wonderful body. A thunk to his head caught his attention.
“Ya know boyo. I do believe that you have ah, what’re those things called ah, spills? Spikes? No you’ve always had those. AH HAH! The splits!”
A voice from the office doorway, “Shields. He has shields.”
“Ah yes, those too. I think I installed them like ah, three weeks ago? Or maybe it was ah, three years ago. I don’t know, I can’t keep track of all this stuff.”
Ella stepped into the office and took Winston’s arm in hers and began leading him out of the room. Boy followed close behind. She started her report saying, “We have a problem Pops. Things are royally…”
“Language young lady! I’ll not abide any ah, potty mouths in my employ.”
“My apologies. Things couldn’t get much worse at the moment. All communication is down. Infrastructure is falling apart as we speak and riots and looters are running rampant throughout the asteroid.”
Winston began waving his cane around, causing him to teeter as he walked and forcing Ella to help keep him standing. “HA! Looting you say? Why, I haven’t been in a good looting mob since I was ah, let’s see here now… Actually I’ve never been in a looting mob before come to think of it. Hey Erra, let’s go. I’ve never looted before and it sounds like fun.”
“As fun as that may be we have a really big problem on our hands. Someone has managed to infiltrate the Genesis Pit. They’re killing our men.”
“What? Absurd. No one could just infiltrate this place. At least no one would. Er, except for the ah, whats-er-names and the ah, other people. BAH! Why do these people feel the need to make their names so complicated? Simple is better. Easier to remember. Keeps good flow in sentences.”
Ella nudged him gently to get his attention, and reminded him, “Sir, the intruders.”
“You keep mentioning intruders but I haven’t seen any yet. Where are they? What do they look like?”
“Well, three stormed your office and were promptly killed by Boy. Isn’t that right Boy?”
The guard was pulling at one of the spikes on his forearm and looked up when he heard his name called. He simply shrugged at the question and went back to studying his arm. He tugged a little too hard and ended up ripping the spike off. As blood began to well up, Boy looked around nervously, searching for a place to hide his mistake so that Daddy and Ella wouldn’t be angry with him.
“Those are the intruders? Those sorry lumps of flesh should be dropping dead with just some mean glares from our boys. Not you Boy. Different boys.”
Ella was about to speak when three more individuals wearing the same armor as those from before stormed around the corner. They barely got their guns raised before Boy decapitated two of them, crushing their heads between his feet and the opposite wall as his jump carried him across the empty space. The third he just slapped across the face, but the intruder immediately fell to the ground and began screaming while clutching his head. The man’s helmet began to swell and blood poured out of a small hole near an eye lens as the screaming became more garbled. An audible pop and the screaming stopped. The man’s body appeared to deflate, keeping most of its form thanks to the gear and armor he had worn. Boy nudged it with his foot and it sloshed.
Ella continued, “They caught us by surprise. We simply were not ready for an attack like this.”
“Sounds like we’re going to need to start recruiting again. Bah. I hate recruiting. It’s always so much work. Oh, I certainly hope Opssid is okay. He’d be hard to replace.”
Ella nudged him again, and reminded him, “Sir, the intruders.”
“Right! Right! The intruders! Let’s say we head down to the arena and set everything loose. Should give us time to ah, regain the initiative. Probably a good idea to lock the place down. Hate for our product to run away on us.”
“Good news sir. We’re already locked down.”
“HA! That’s why I like you Elmo. Always ah, thinking with yer head.”
Another group of intruders, this time numbering eight charged out of various rooms along the hallway. Boy had killed the first three before they could do anything. The fourth died from a kick to the crotch which tore through his pelvis and into his torso. With his foot stuck in the man’s intestines, the fifth charged Boy with a sword that emitted a sharp hum. The last three aimed at the guard and began shouting something at the charging woman. When she got close enough Boy grabbed the blade and completely overpowered her, breaking both of her hands as he thrust the sword handle through her ballistic vest, pulverizing her chest. The last three fired, their weapons consisting of two stolen Union plasma rifles and a combat shotgun from a third rate manufacturer. Boy charged, catching the plasma in his outstretched hands he forced it back into the barrels, causing the two rifles to explode. The two collapse to their knees, screaming at the stumps that use to end in hands. The shrapnel and shotgun pellets twirled around Boy as his shield caught them. He looked down at the final intruder, who dropped their gun and threw their hands up in surrender. Boy cocked his head to the side and then mimicked her, punching the ceiling in the process. At the same time the debris and pellets fell to the floor. She was staring up at the massive brute, scared and unsure what to do when Boy brought his hands down, ripping her arms off at the shoulders and fracturing her spine. She immediately collapse and began wailing and writhing in pain, replacing the screams of the other two who were starting to pass out from blood loss.
Winston stepped over her, with a little help, and continued on. They didn’t run into anymore intruders on their way to the arena. What they found at the arena however, set Winston’s blood to boiling. His product, his hard work was being stolen. His bioweapons’ cages and containers were being loaded up onto heavy haulers and were being prepped for transport. Bodies of Thy Flesh Consumed were scattered around the arena floor, left where they died.
“Oh would you look at that.” Winston turned and shuffled over to the closest bleacher and sat down. “Ah, Alma come sit here by me. You’re gonna love this show. Actually, can we get the cameras recording? I wanna remember this for a long time. Plus we can use it for advertising! Ha! Now ah, Boy, listen closely. I want you to go down there and kill all of those people okay?”
Without a second glance, Boy twisted on the spot and leapt off the balcony.
“He’s such a good boy. Ah, Omo, please remind me to give him a reward when he is done.”
“Sure thing boss.”
<<<>>>
The intruders were panicking. Nothing seemed to be able to even hit Boy and he was killing so many of them. Every time they tried to escape Boy would cut them off, killing several of them with a potent chemical cocktail that delivered intense pain and a drawn out death. Others collapsed, their flesh swelling and some horrible monster ripping itself free to attack the rest of the pirates, adding to the soup of fear and chaos swirling on the arena floor.
Other members of TFC had begun filtering into the arena’s viewing area. It was a popular place and many thought it as good as any to regroup. They didn’t engage the enemy, instead taking to the bleachers to witness Boy deliver his massacre. Many began cheering at particularly skilled kills or brutal deaths and started taunting those trapped in the arena.
Their jeering was temporarily interrupted when pirate reinforcements in heavy power armor charged into the viewing area and leapt down to the killing floor below, their fall slowed by jetpacks. Ten sported heavy ranged weaponry while the other ten where equipped with powerful melee gear. Boy twisted on the spot, the action splitting his current victim in two which he chucked at two of the newcomers before charging them. Heavy machineguns opened fire, their bullets stopping only an inch from his skin. It was all they had time to do as he was quickly in melee range. A massive blow to one of the pirate’s chest lifted her off the ground and left the plate warped from the impact. But she was still alive. Boy ducked a hammer swing to his chest and countered with a kick to the attacker’s chin. Again the armor buckled but the wearer survived. He twisted to avoid a sword thrust and was forced to catch the blade of the first one he attacked. Before he could do anything else the mass of attackers was engulfed in flames as someone turned a flamethrower on them all. The pirates’ armor was proof against the fire and they anticipated that Boy’s light armor and exposed flesh wouldn’t be nearly as impervious.
An armored figure fell out of the flames, landing with a heavy thud and his head facing the wrong way round. Boy stepped out of the black smoke, the flames refusing to touch him. Something exploded in his face and he staggered back, swatting at the smoke. He saw a heavy projectile heading for him, and he reached out to stop. The grenade exploded, blasting his arm back. His hand was split open and he was missing most of several fingers. He tried to side step another grenade but its proximity sensors caused it to detonate right next to his head. He rolled, letting the force of the blast carry him rather than try to fight it. Two grenades to the head and Boy’s ears were starting to ring and vision in one of his eyes was turning red. He shook his head trying to clear it and heard something rattle in his helmet. He took off running, the grenade launcher was joined by another as well as the various machine guns and particle cannons the pirates had brought with them. They had clearly resolved to try and keep Boy at a distance.
Winston was shouting down into the pit, “Dirty cheats! Get in there and fight like men! cough Filthy mongrels!”
Everyone was shouting, either jeering down into the arena or placing bets on how long it would take Boy to kill them all.
“Hey Pops,” Ella was calmly reading a data tablet. Reports from around the facility were being sent to her to keep her updated. “I thought you had integrated ranged weapons into Boy’s body like seven years ago.”
“Ah, uh did I now? Well I’m sure that he’ll figure it out.”
Boy ducked behind one of the heavy lifters the pirates had brought to carry out the bioweapons. It and the heavy container it was carrying offered Boy some temporary cover. He looked down at his busted hand and pulled what looked like a thread from the wound. The thing squirmed in his fingers before whipping around and biting his hand. He was watching it burrow into his flesh when several grenades skittered into view. The combined blast sent him scampering out from behind his cover and into a hail of bullets. He extended his wounded hand trying to ward off the attack when his forearm began to swell. Orifices opened on the front of the swelling, each having hundreds of glowing nodes that spiraled deeper into his flesh. He instinctively closed what was left of his hand into a fist, firing dozens of vibrant orange beams into the chest of one of the heavy armor suits. The woman collapsed with a massive hole in her chest and the others scattered, seeking cover. Boy was on the closest immediately, sweeping their feet out from under them. They had no time to recover as he drove a hooked bone blade from his uninjured arm into the armor’s neck seal. Ripping it free brought a great deal of gore with it and if any of the pirates were able to spare the attention needed they’d notice the flesh being absorbed into the blade.
The blade slid back into his arm before it too swelled to match the other.
<<<>>>
The other seventeen armored pirates were killed in short order, leaving only a few stragglers in the arena. As Boy finished cleaning up, Ella took the time to inform Winston of the situation in the rest of the complex. “Well, the reports rolling in show that we’ve mostly repelled the invaders. Just a few pockets of resistance near the armory. Thankfully they didn’t actually make it there. Whoever they are they clearly weren’t expecting this much resistance from us.”
“Of course not! But of course you realize that THIS means war! We need to find out ah, who they were and who was stupid enough to send them here. Then we put the screws to ‘em! Ha!”
The Rett woman was hesitant to mention the next part, fearing how the old man would take it, “Only problem with that is that around 67% of our people are dead.”
“Ah, say what now?”
“We’re half dead. We are in no position to wage war on anybody at the moment.”
Winston rested his chin on his cane as he sat contemplating what to do. “Hm. Yes, that is quite the predicament we find ourselves under. BOY! Get up here!”
The bodyguard leapt at the arena wall, only to slide down it. Leaping at it again he dug bone blades from his arms and feet into the wall. He looked down in surprise at the blades extending from his feet which he started to study intensely. Winston yelling at him to hurry up caused Boy to start scaling the wall again. He cleared the last dozen feet with a leap and landed just in front of Winston. He waited patiently to see what Daddy wanted him to do.
“Help me stand up.”
Getting Daddy on his feet, Boy started to follow as Winston began shuffling to the VIP section of the viewing balcony. Reaching the control panel for the area, Winston hit it a few times before the thing popped open revealing a second control panel underneath it. Humming to himself the old man punched a code into a number pad and pulled a lever. The front of a stone column swung open, revealing yet another control panel. Shuffling over there he picked up a microphone and tapping it a few times to test if it was working, spoke to the entire facility. “Ah what was that code again? Gimme a minute.”
Hanging up, Winston dug out a small black book from his pocket and started flipping through it while still humming.
“Ah Ha! That’s what it was.” Grabbing the microphone again he announced, “Code Five.” and pulled one of the many levers.
Everyone across the base stopped what they were doing and hurriedly pulled out a small metallic cylinders. Popping off the end they promptly injected themselves before securing the casing to their chest. A purple fog was being pumped through the Genesis Pit’s atmospheric systems and was already flooding the complex. Bodies of the dead began to twitch and convulse as their flesh was consumed to create monsters. Sometimes they would just stand up, flesh fused to the armor and weapons they had used in life. Others were little more than beasts, crawling across the floor and snapping at anything that moved.
“There! Now we aren’t understaffed! That should hold us over until we can refill our numbers.”
As the fog swept over her, Ella commented “I sure hope the base is sealed tight. If this stuff got out through some pirate hole and into Lost Star we’d be facing some serious fallout.”
“Huh. Hadn’t even thought of that.”
Boy stared at the broken creature in his hands. All he had done was pick it up and it just stopped moving. He reached down and pulled one of its hands off to see if that could get it moving again. Nothing. A quick shake to try and rouse it and the things body hit the ground, leaving only the pulpy mess that was once its head in Boy’s fist.
“Boy! Stop playing with that thing and help me up!”
Dropping the mess, Boy walked back around the desk to see Daddy lying on his back, still in his seat. The giant guard reached down and picked the old man up. But Daddy was very old and very frail, so Boy had to be extra careful when helping Daddy around.
Once back on his feet, Winston shuffled around the desk and began yelling at the three corpses “HA! That’s what ya get for trying to shoot ME! hack Honestly, youth these days couldn’t even kill an old man like me. Pathetic! Pathe… HACK Oh, that was too much excitement. Nearly soiled my drawers. Nope. Wait. Yeah they’re soiled. So glad I started wearing diapers. HA!”
He spun and smacked Boy in the thigh with his cane. “How long are you going to just stand there bleeding? This carpet’s impossible to find nowadays and yer ruining it!”
Boy look down and realized that his left forearm was bleeding. Holding it up to look at it he saw three holes where those things had shot him. Turning his arm around he saw the exit wounds were massive and had blown out a large chunk of his muscle. As Daddy turned and began shouting into a phone, Boy walked over to the corpses, choosing the one that he had ripped in half. Kneeling down he scooped out the gore from what was left of its chest he began to stuff his wounds with it. The site bubbled and hissed as everything was broken down and used by his body to heal. He offered a silent thanks to Daddy for gifting him this wonderful body. A thunk to his head caught his attention.
“Ya know boyo. I do believe that you have ah, what’re those things called ah, spills? Spikes? No you’ve always had those. AH HAH! The splits!”
A voice from the office doorway, “Shields. He has shields.”
“Ah yes, those too. I think I installed them like ah, three weeks ago? Or maybe it was ah, three years ago. I don’t know, I can’t keep track of all this stuff.”
Ella stepped into the office and took Winston’s arm in hers and began leading him out of the room. Boy followed close behind. She started her report saying, “We have a problem Pops. Things are royally…”
“Language young lady! I’ll not abide any ah, potty mouths in my employ.”
“My apologies. Things couldn’t get much worse at the moment. All communication is down. Infrastructure is falling apart as we speak and riots and looters are running rampant throughout the asteroid.”
Winston began waving his cane around, causing him to teeter as he walked and forcing Ella to help keep him standing. “HA! Looting you say? Why, I haven’t been in a good looting mob since I was ah, let’s see here now… Actually I’ve never been in a looting mob before come to think of it. Hey Erra, let’s go. I’ve never looted before and it sounds like fun.”
“As fun as that may be we have a really big problem on our hands. Someone has managed to infiltrate the Genesis Pit. They’re killing our men.”
“What? Absurd. No one could just infiltrate this place. At least no one would. Er, except for the ah, whats-er-names and the ah, other people. BAH! Why do these people feel the need to make their names so complicated? Simple is better. Easier to remember. Keeps good flow in sentences.”
Ella nudged him gently to get his attention, and reminded him, “Sir, the intruders.”
“You keep mentioning intruders but I haven’t seen any yet. Where are they? What do they look like?”
“Well, three stormed your office and were promptly killed by Boy. Isn’t that right Boy?”
The guard was pulling at one of the spikes on his forearm and looked up when he heard his name called. He simply shrugged at the question and went back to studying his arm. He tugged a little too hard and ended up ripping the spike off. As blood began to well up, Boy looked around nervously, searching for a place to hide his mistake so that Daddy and Ella wouldn’t be angry with him.
“Those are the intruders? Those sorry lumps of flesh should be dropping dead with just some mean glares from our boys. Not you Boy. Different boys.”
Ella was about to speak when three more individuals wearing the same armor as those from before stormed around the corner. They barely got their guns raised before Boy decapitated two of them, crushing their heads between his feet and the opposite wall as his jump carried him across the empty space. The third he just slapped across the face, but the intruder immediately fell to the ground and began screaming while clutching his head. The man’s helmet began to swell and blood poured out of a small hole near an eye lens as the screaming became more garbled. An audible pop and the screaming stopped. The man’s body appeared to deflate, keeping most of its form thanks to the gear and armor he had worn. Boy nudged it with his foot and it sloshed.
Ella continued, “They caught us by surprise. We simply were not ready for an attack like this.”
“Sounds like we’re going to need to start recruiting again. Bah. I hate recruiting. It’s always so much work. Oh, I certainly hope Opssid is okay. He’d be hard to replace.”
Ella nudged him again, and reminded him, “Sir, the intruders.”
“Right! Right! The intruders! Let’s say we head down to the arena and set everything loose. Should give us time to ah, regain the initiative. Probably a good idea to lock the place down. Hate for our product to run away on us.”
“Good news sir. We’re already locked down.”
“HA! That’s why I like you Elmo. Always ah, thinking with yer head.”
Another group of intruders, this time numbering eight charged out of various rooms along the hallway. Boy had killed the first three before they could do anything. The fourth died from a kick to the crotch which tore through his pelvis and into his torso. With his foot stuck in the man’s intestines, the fifth charged Boy with a sword that emitted a sharp hum. The last three aimed at the guard and began shouting something at the charging woman. When she got close enough Boy grabbed the blade and completely overpowered her, breaking both of her hands as he thrust the sword handle through her ballistic vest, pulverizing her chest. The last three fired, their weapons consisting of two stolen Union plasma rifles and a combat shotgun from a third rate manufacturer. Boy charged, catching the plasma in his outstretched hands he forced it back into the barrels, causing the two rifles to explode. The two collapse to their knees, screaming at the stumps that use to end in hands. The shrapnel and shotgun pellets twirled around Boy as his shield caught them. He looked down at the final intruder, who dropped their gun and threw their hands up in surrender. Boy cocked his head to the side and then mimicked her, punching the ceiling in the process. At the same time the debris and pellets fell to the floor. She was staring up at the massive brute, scared and unsure what to do when Boy brought his hands down, ripping her arms off at the shoulders and fracturing her spine. She immediately collapse and began wailing and writhing in pain, replacing the screams of the other two who were starting to pass out from blood loss.
Winston stepped over her, with a little help, and continued on. They didn’t run into anymore intruders on their way to the arena. What they found at the arena however, set Winston’s blood to boiling. His product, his hard work was being stolen. His bioweapons’ cages and containers were being loaded up onto heavy haulers and were being prepped for transport. Bodies of Thy Flesh Consumed were scattered around the arena floor, left where they died.
“Oh would you look at that.” Winston turned and shuffled over to the closest bleacher and sat down. “Ah, Alma come sit here by me. You’re gonna love this show. Actually, can we get the cameras recording? I wanna remember this for a long time. Plus we can use it for advertising! Ha! Now ah, Boy, listen closely. I want you to go down there and kill all of those people okay?”
Without a second glance, Boy twisted on the spot and leapt off the balcony.
“He’s such a good boy. Ah, Omo, please remind me to give him a reward when he is done.”
“Sure thing boss.”
<<<>>>
The intruders were panicking. Nothing seemed to be able to even hit Boy and he was killing so many of them. Every time they tried to escape Boy would cut them off, killing several of them with a potent chemical cocktail that delivered intense pain and a drawn out death. Others collapsed, their flesh swelling and some horrible monster ripping itself free to attack the rest of the pirates, adding to the soup of fear and chaos swirling on the arena floor.
Other members of TFC had begun filtering into the arena’s viewing area. It was a popular place and many thought it as good as any to regroup. They didn’t engage the enemy, instead taking to the bleachers to witness Boy deliver his massacre. Many began cheering at particularly skilled kills or brutal deaths and started taunting those trapped in the arena.
Their jeering was temporarily interrupted when pirate reinforcements in heavy power armor charged into the viewing area and leapt down to the killing floor below, their fall slowed by jetpacks. Ten sported heavy ranged weaponry while the other ten where equipped with powerful melee gear. Boy twisted on the spot, the action splitting his current victim in two which he chucked at two of the newcomers before charging them. Heavy machineguns opened fire, their bullets stopping only an inch from his skin. It was all they had time to do as he was quickly in melee range. A massive blow to one of the pirate’s chest lifted her off the ground and left the plate warped from the impact. But she was still alive. Boy ducked a hammer swing to his chest and countered with a kick to the attacker’s chin. Again the armor buckled but the wearer survived. He twisted to avoid a sword thrust and was forced to catch the blade of the first one he attacked. Before he could do anything else the mass of attackers was engulfed in flames as someone turned a flamethrower on them all. The pirates’ armor was proof against the fire and they anticipated that Boy’s light armor and exposed flesh wouldn’t be nearly as impervious.
An armored figure fell out of the flames, landing with a heavy thud and his head facing the wrong way round. Boy stepped out of the black smoke, the flames refusing to touch him. Something exploded in his face and he staggered back, swatting at the smoke. He saw a heavy projectile heading for him, and he reached out to stop. The grenade exploded, blasting his arm back. His hand was split open and he was missing most of several fingers. He tried to side step another grenade but its proximity sensors caused it to detonate right next to his head. He rolled, letting the force of the blast carry him rather than try to fight it. Two grenades to the head and Boy’s ears were starting to ring and vision in one of his eyes was turning red. He shook his head trying to clear it and heard something rattle in his helmet. He took off running, the grenade launcher was joined by another as well as the various machine guns and particle cannons the pirates had brought with them. They had clearly resolved to try and keep Boy at a distance.
Winston was shouting down into the pit, “Dirty cheats! Get in there and fight like men! cough Filthy mongrels!”
Everyone was shouting, either jeering down into the arena or placing bets on how long it would take Boy to kill them all.
“Hey Pops,” Ella was calmly reading a data tablet. Reports from around the facility were being sent to her to keep her updated. “I thought you had integrated ranged weapons into Boy’s body like seven years ago.”
“Ah, uh did I now? Well I’m sure that he’ll figure it out.”
Boy ducked behind one of the heavy lifters the pirates had brought to carry out the bioweapons. It and the heavy container it was carrying offered Boy some temporary cover. He looked down at his busted hand and pulled what looked like a thread from the wound. The thing squirmed in his fingers before whipping around and biting his hand. He was watching it burrow into his flesh when several grenades skittered into view. The combined blast sent him scampering out from behind his cover and into a hail of bullets. He extended his wounded hand trying to ward off the attack when his forearm began to swell. Orifices opened on the front of the swelling, each having hundreds of glowing nodes that spiraled deeper into his flesh. He instinctively closed what was left of his hand into a fist, firing dozens of vibrant orange beams into the chest of one of the heavy armor suits. The woman collapsed with a massive hole in her chest and the others scattered, seeking cover. Boy was on the closest immediately, sweeping their feet out from under them. They had no time to recover as he drove a hooked bone blade from his uninjured arm into the armor’s neck seal. Ripping it free brought a great deal of gore with it and if any of the pirates were able to spare the attention needed they’d notice the flesh being absorbed into the blade.
The blade slid back into his arm before it too swelled to match the other.
<<<>>>
The other seventeen armored pirates were killed in short order, leaving only a few stragglers in the arena. As Boy finished cleaning up, Ella took the time to inform Winston of the situation in the rest of the complex. “Well, the reports rolling in show that we’ve mostly repelled the invaders. Just a few pockets of resistance near the armory. Thankfully they didn’t actually make it there. Whoever they are they clearly weren’t expecting this much resistance from us.”
“Of course not! But of course you realize that THIS means war! We need to find out ah, who they were and who was stupid enough to send them here. Then we put the screws to ‘em! Ha!”
The Rett woman was hesitant to mention the next part, fearing how the old man would take it, “Only problem with that is that around 67% of our people are dead.”
“Ah, say what now?”
“We’re half dead. We are in no position to wage war on anybody at the moment.”
Winston rested his chin on his cane as he sat contemplating what to do. “Hm. Yes, that is quite the predicament we find ourselves under. BOY! Get up here!”
The bodyguard leapt at the arena wall, only to slide down it. Leaping at it again he dug bone blades from his arms and feet into the wall. He looked down in surprise at the blades extending from his feet which he started to study intensely. Winston yelling at him to hurry up caused Boy to start scaling the wall again. He cleared the last dozen feet with a leap and landed just in front of Winston. He waited patiently to see what Daddy wanted him to do.
“Help me stand up.”
Getting Daddy on his feet, Boy started to follow as Winston began shuffling to the VIP section of the viewing balcony. Reaching the control panel for the area, Winston hit it a few times before the thing popped open revealing a second control panel underneath it. Humming to himself the old man punched a code into a number pad and pulled a lever. The front of a stone column swung open, revealing yet another control panel. Shuffling over there he picked up a microphone and tapping it a few times to test if it was working, spoke to the entire facility. “Ah what was that code again? Gimme a minute.”
Hanging up, Winston dug out a small black book from his pocket and started flipping through it while still humming.
“Ah Ha! That’s what it was.” Grabbing the microphone again he announced, “Code Five.” and pulled one of the many levers.
Everyone across the base stopped what they were doing and hurriedly pulled out a small metallic cylinders. Popping off the end they promptly injected themselves before securing the casing to their chest. A purple fog was being pumped through the Genesis Pit’s atmospheric systems and was already flooding the complex. Bodies of the dead began to twitch and convulse as their flesh was consumed to create monsters. Sometimes they would just stand up, flesh fused to the armor and weapons they had used in life. Others were little more than beasts, crawling across the floor and snapping at anything that moved.
“There! Now we aren’t understaffed! That should hold us over until we can refill our numbers.”
As the fog swept over her, Ella commented “I sure hope the base is sealed tight. If this stuff got out through some pirate hole and into Lost Star we’d be facing some serious fallout.”
“Huh. Hadn’t even thought of that.”