《Twenty Minutes Into The Future (DROPPED)》3.7
Advertisement
“One gets better results with honeyed words than a vinegar voice.” - quote attributed to Hannah Lazo, World-Premier 2037-2041
The bamboo swayed in the wind. Martin’s words faded away.
Berenice, as she was called, shook her head.
“That’s your plan?”
Saying it out loud had revealed to Martin a few flaws, but surely it couldn’t be that bad?
“You don’t have a plan. You have at best a distraction. If you go around the mountain to divert the forces guarding the opening - and we don’t whether there is one - I will be alone.”
“Which would allow you to sneak inside!”
“The drone senses would-“
“-be focused at me, which would buy you time needed to get the Chassis. Being alone is the whole point!”
Their eyes locked. Martin realised that she was taller than he.
“I still think the advantage gained by a distraction is less than that provided by actual numbers.”
Martin sighed. There was no winning with someone so stubborn. “Let’s compromise and get closer, then we decide?”
Berenice nodded.
They trailed through the thicket of bamboo, pausing as an ancillary wing of Host detached from the smoking pillar that rose from the remnants of the mountain.
Searching for something to say, Martin picked the subject closest in time.
“Why’d you do it?” He had to ask about Renaldo. Above, a bird screeched.
She glanced back. “Do what?”
“Renaldo. Everyone else just stared. But you…”
They came out of the thickets and halted before their new vista; a waterlogged meadow. The oval terminated before a ridge, where stands of pine stood sentinel.
Berenice stared at the wetland. “Do you remember what Sviratham said? About Renaldo’s courage?”
Martin dipped a branch in the shallow fluids surrounding them. He wouldn’t put it past the makers of the habitat to pour acid or something similar in a wetland that was supposed to be filled with water. The branch, luckily, was unharmed.
Advertisement
“Something about his mouth?”
“The other part,” Berenice curtly said, shielding her brow from errant mosquitoes.
“A fire.”
“A fire,” she repeated.
“Do you know where Sviratham sent Renaldo?”
The way Berenice stood, the lack of warmth in her voice-
-and Martin remembered the look on Renaldo’s face - that of fear, the smell of sulphur.
“Somewhere with fire. And smoke.”
“A volcano,” she corrected,”where Renaldo re-experienced one of the worst events of his life.” The conversation stopped. A rabbit made a sound, and dandelions danced in a twirl next the wetland. Martin considered a teacher that would make a student suffer, merely to make a point. If it would make them better Proxies…but he wondered whether if it only served to make them harder Proxies.
Berenice pointed. “There.”
Martin’s eyes followed one dainty finger. At first he saw a shimmering surface, a reflected twilight sky. Then, just breaking the surface, were circles. Ten of them. Through the water Martin made out their lengths. Poles.
They crossed the surface of the lake, Martin entertaining the thought that this wasn’t too bad. If one discounted the mountain, which was closer now. They made landfall on a sand beach, and began climbing the right side of the ridge.
He wondered; could one rent an habitat?
The hot wind blew a sliver of ash over the ridge and straight into Martin’s eyes and Berenice cried out. “Quiet!”
He bit down on his tongue. Slow breaths.
SHRR.
He swallowed. Berenice, who was first, had heard it before him. She peered over the ridge, instantly withdrawing her head.
“What is it it?”
“A mechaloid. Big one,” she mouthed.
“Do we go with the surprise or…”
“That thing is as big as a car. You run away from it and it will kill you midstride.”
Advertisement
“So, we go around it then?”
“Around, and-“
“Come and get me ugly!”
Both Martin and Berenice stopped. That had been neither of them. As one, they looked above the ridge. They crawled up to the edge, and what they saw had them speechless.
The mechaloid, a member of the Host made in the likeness of a man with indistinct, mannequin features was staring at a young woman.
She was wearing shorts and a sports-bra, using her red t-shirt to taunt the Host. Martin was pretty sure it was as confused as they were.
“Well, come on big boy! Or is it big girl?”
The woman moved, sprinting through the pine forest, up and down the ridges. The mechaloid tilted its head - muscles bunching up - and traversed a distance of two tram-lengths in a single jump.
“Still think you could have run away?”
Advertisement
Trails of Ascension
At the top of countless universes that constitute the Great Cosmos, stands the Divine Realm also known as the "Peak of all worlds" where the Gods reigned supreme and all ascension stopped. But the Path is endless, and upon the discovery that there were actually higher realms in the path of ascension, a revolutionary army of ascenders and warriors of many dimensions rose up to overthrow the reign of the so-called Gods. The resulting Cataclysm shattered the Heavens and the death of the majority of powerhouses threw the Cosmos into chaos, but it also granted freedom to all.Upon the destruction of the chains that oppressed them and now that the seal upon the countless worlds has been broken, how will the new ascenders face these challenges and how will their paths intercross each other? This is the story of how new powers rise into existence, heroes and overlords ascend to the higher realms and the new order of the eras is formed, now that the regents of the laws and elements of the multiverse are gone, new paths are created and a future of infinite possibilities opens!
8 149The 15th Story: Chariots Of Troubles
Donald Silva stopped being a child at fifteen. Being a child meant he could do what he wanted without being responsible for whatever consequences. That goes away when you're responsible for the crippling of your mother. His life continually went downhill from that point but just when all hope seemed lost he find an opportunity for redemption. The question is, can he redeem himself?
8 274Mlp X Reader (Shorts)
Welcome to my book of my little pony x reader shorts!As the title says they are rather short stories!But I want you to find them enjoyable ^w^
8 155The Famed Expert
A family famed for producing some of the finest Warriors and Magus in the continent created an Abomination.Josh, shunned by his family his entire life because of his weak prowess to both Warrior and Magic.Until one day he suddenly gained unimaginable power.
8 158Freaky Friday (BonexScourge)
Scourge has always been small.Bone has always been big.What happens if they new exactly how it feels to be the other person?SCOURGE AND BONE SADLY DO NOT BELONG TO ME! They belong to Erin Hunter.
8 60The Captin Of The Football Team
8 105