Feasibility Study (part 18)
Mr Zoat
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21st November 2012
11:55 GMT -5
"Sir? Who's 'Todd'?"
And yes, I'm through. In the sense that I've made a hole to the other side. It's extremely awkward to reach and I've got more work to do opening it up. Arms apart and try to crumble a cone.. I can.. push out…
"Slabside, the containment wing. After the dominators captured it at the end of the war, they took… Took everyone. Obsidian. One time, he… He put the sun out for a few hours with Eclipso. Normally… Normally we'd execute someone like that, but he… He wasn't in his right mind. Psychologists said he was improving."
"Does he have any weaknesses?"
"Bright light. And his control isn't all that good. He might not be doing this deliberately. Or-."
He coughs and it sounds painful. I remember Alan sounding like that, back when his ring was dead.
I brace myself, deactivate my gauntlets and shove the armoured wall in front of me. Mechanical muscles I just copied and pasted from a data file work as well as specified, making the remaining points of attachments fracture and snap.
"External. I have a hole."
"Yeah, but I can't see anything. Can you?"
A.. bit. I can't see movement, but until I can move around a little sonic isn't going to give me much. Back to work. Gauntlets activate and armour evaporates.
"No one's shot me yet. The hole should be big enough to fly through in a minute."
"You can fly?"
"Not well, but yes."
"We might need you to rush the Commander outside the zone of darkness. Could you-?"
"Not worth it. Didn't bring my lantern. Can't recharge. Prioritise Todd."
"Sir. You heard him, Orange Lantern."
"Okay." I awkwardly walk backwards. "You should be able to climb through now."
"Shouldn't you go first?"
"This is the highest security area in the facility. Reinforcements will be coming here, but the high caste generally don't let their guards inside their chambers." I awkwardly turn around. "You might-"
There's a quiet clunk from the direction of one of the room's doors, and Interceptor's heat signature shows her ducking into cover.
"-get-. Go!""
I shift over into a position to provide better cover as the first shots hit me. No heavy weapons-. Yet, and dominator augmented vision systems aren't quite as effective as what I've built into my armour. Shields are doing alright-.
Interceptor listens out for a moment, then rush-crawls across the floor to Commander Scott. Fire from the dominators slackens off, and I give myself a second to imagine how easy this would be with access to actual combat armour or my subspace arsenal. But why aren't they shooting?
If they can't see me, then-. They're shooting sound. Quick test as Interceptor levers Commander Scott into a fireman's carry. I awkwardly crouch, grab a dominator torso and then toss it to the side.
It lands with a damp thud, then flashes of heat flicker towards it. So they're effectively blind. For a moment I wonder about flying Interceptor and Commander Scott to the ceiling and seeing if the marines will open the way to their masters for us, but she's already going through the hole and I don't think the risk is worth it. Okay, grab a leg and throw-.
Motion sensor wobbles as the dominators throw something. I don't think their regular grenades would do much to my armour, not while I'm behind-.
Ah!
Sonic grenades, meant to shock and confuse. Wait, compare-. They dialled them down. That was nothing like their highest possible output. It blinds me for a moment because I'm using sonics to scan my environment, but-. They might have done the same. Just set their helmet's autosensors to track the returns and share them between the squad's computers to form a complete picture. The correct response would be to move, except that I'm providing cover for my colleagues.
I throw the legs anyway, but this time no one shoots.
Okay, they're not going to have an unlimited supply of sonic grenades, and dominators aren't usually exactly in love with the local high caste. They can only get so many snapshots, and the sonic image is going to show my armour and not much else.
I could get out of the armour, because they won't know whether it was piloted or not.
I swiftly dismiss the idea.
I-.
"Through!"
And that's my cue.
"Internal. Flight."
I spin in the air, turning face down and perpendicular to the floor. As I twist, I grab another body and throw it a little to my left. My flight doesn't make noise, but if they-.
A bright flash of heat, and the fortification to my left fractures.
"External. Aaaagh!"
And then I fly towards the breach in the fortified doorway, arms… I can't do a full Superman pose in this armour; my shoulders aren't that flexible. But as close as I can manage. My armour's computer alerts me to the face that the dominators are continuing to shoot the spot where they 'hit' me as-. Ugh, as I hit the upper part of the tunnel I crumbled, bounce off slightly and get funnelled towards the exit-hole. Did-.
Yes, yes, they heard that. They don't manage to hit me; the angle between the hole, their door and the various fortifications doesn't really allow it unless they advance, and if I could shoot them then advancing would be a foolish thing to do indeed.
Ugh. And with this armour having no head I can't really look up. I can rotate my sensor display, but that-.
Am I… Stuck? Ugh, crumbler gauntlets on, extend arms to the sides, increase flight system power output-. And there we go and stop, rotate, and stand on the floor.
"Interceptor?"
"Ready to move."
"Okay, so two possibilities. Either the high caste have legged it and are sailing away in their escape pods, or they've broken out their experimental weapons and are about to attack us."
"The Heywood Corps has fought off probing attacks, but they're holding out. The Titans are hunkering down by the front entrance. And the Commander isn't doing too great. What kind-. No, I get it."
I check my sonics.
"Looks like the best route is this way. Given the situation, I'm going to move at a jog."
I step-.
AAAAGH!
11:55 GMT -5
"Sir? Who's 'Todd'?"
And yes, I'm through. In the sense that I've made a hole to the other side. It's extremely awkward to reach and I've got more work to do opening it up. Arms apart and try to crumble a cone.. I can.. push out…
"Slabside, the containment wing. After the dominators captured it at the end of the war, they took… Took everyone. Obsidian. One time, he… He put the sun out for a few hours with Eclipso. Normally… Normally we'd execute someone like that, but he… He wasn't in his right mind. Psychologists said he was improving."
"Does he have any weaknesses?"
"Bright light. And his control isn't all that good. He might not be doing this deliberately. Or-."
He coughs and it sounds painful. I remember Alan sounding like that, back when his ring was dead.
I brace myself, deactivate my gauntlets and shove the armoured wall in front of me. Mechanical muscles I just copied and pasted from a data file work as well as specified, making the remaining points of attachments fracture and snap.
"External. I have a hole."
"Yeah, but I can't see anything. Can you?"
A.. bit. I can't see movement, but until I can move around a little sonic isn't going to give me much. Back to work. Gauntlets activate and armour evaporates.
"No one's shot me yet. The hole should be big enough to fly through in a minute."
"You can fly?"
"Not well, but yes."
"We might need you to rush the Commander outside the zone of darkness. Could you-?"
"Not worth it. Didn't bring my lantern. Can't recharge. Prioritise Todd."
"Sir. You heard him, Orange Lantern."
"Okay." I awkwardly walk backwards. "You should be able to climb through now."
"Shouldn't you go first?"
"This is the highest security area in the facility. Reinforcements will be coming here, but the high caste generally don't let their guards inside their chambers." I awkwardly turn around. "You might-"
There's a quiet clunk from the direction of one of the room's doors, and Interceptor's heat signature shows her ducking into cover.
"-get-. Go!""
I shift over into a position to provide better cover as the first shots hit me. No heavy weapons-. Yet, and dominator augmented vision systems aren't quite as effective as what I've built into my armour. Shields are doing alright-.
Interceptor listens out for a moment, then rush-crawls across the floor to Commander Scott. Fire from the dominators slackens off, and I give myself a second to imagine how easy this would be with access to actual combat armour or my subspace arsenal. But why aren't they shooting?
If they can't see me, then-. They're shooting sound. Quick test as Interceptor levers Commander Scott into a fireman's carry. I awkwardly crouch, grab a dominator torso and then toss it to the side.
It lands with a damp thud, then flashes of heat flicker towards it. So they're effectively blind. For a moment I wonder about flying Interceptor and Commander Scott to the ceiling and seeing if the marines will open the way to their masters for us, but she's already going through the hole and I don't think the risk is worth it. Okay, grab a leg and throw-.
Motion sensor wobbles as the dominators throw something. I don't think their regular grenades would do much to my armour, not while I'm behind-.
Ah!
Sonic grenades, meant to shock and confuse. Wait, compare-. They dialled them down. That was nothing like their highest possible output. It blinds me for a moment because I'm using sonics to scan my environment, but-. They might have done the same. Just set their helmet's autosensors to track the returns and share them between the squad's computers to form a complete picture. The correct response would be to move, except that I'm providing cover for my colleagues.
I throw the legs anyway, but this time no one shoots.
Okay, they're not going to have an unlimited supply of sonic grenades, and dominators aren't usually exactly in love with the local high caste. They can only get so many snapshots, and the sonic image is going to show my armour and not much else.
I could get out of the armour, because they won't know whether it was piloted or not.
I swiftly dismiss the idea.
I-.
"Through!"
And that's my cue.
"Internal. Flight."
I spin in the air, turning face down and perpendicular to the floor. As I twist, I grab another body and throw it a little to my left. My flight doesn't make noise, but if they-.
A bright flash of heat, and the fortification to my left fractures.
"External. Aaaagh!"
And then I fly towards the breach in the fortified doorway, arms… I can't do a full Superman pose in this armour; my shoulders aren't that flexible. But as close as I can manage. My armour's computer alerts me to the face that the dominators are continuing to shoot the spot where they 'hit' me as-. Ugh, as I hit the upper part of the tunnel I crumbled, bounce off slightly and get funnelled towards the exit-hole. Did-.
Yes, yes, they heard that. They don't manage to hit me; the angle between the hole, their door and the various fortifications doesn't really allow it unless they advance, and if I could shoot them then advancing would be a foolish thing to do indeed.
Ugh. And with this armour having no head I can't really look up. I can rotate my sensor display, but that-.
Am I… Stuck? Ugh, crumbler gauntlets on, extend arms to the sides, increase flight system power output-. And there we go and stop, rotate, and stand on the floor.
"Interceptor?"
"Ready to move."
"Okay, so two possibilities. Either the high caste have legged it and are sailing away in their escape pods, or they've broken out their experimental weapons and are about to attack us."
"The Heywood Corps has fought off probing attacks, but they're holding out. The Titans are hunkering down by the front entrance. And the Commander isn't doing too great. What kind-. No, I get it."
I check my sonics.
"Looks like the best route is this way. Given the situation, I'm going to move at a jog."
I step-.
AAAAGH!
Last edited:
Inside the big cheeses' quarters, or outside?
