Oh, man. I've got Splat's approval.
And you have to prove to Havoc that Quest for the Orb
can be as good as this? Are you implying that you think my story is better?
That's preposterous.
But now that you've caught up, I can continue.
I'm also revising Dante's Oddysee, so that it fits in with my newer visions of the story. I recently read back and noticed several inconsistencies, so I'm revising the first parts of Dante's Oddysee. I'll tell ya'll when it is complete. I don't know if I'll simply edit the original posts, or only send out copies to those who ask for them.
Anyways, anyways, anyways ...
Chapter 67
The ball car chugged to a stop at the loading point in the main hub. I emerged into the hub and quickly scoped the area.
Nothing out of the ordinary. Apparently, news of zulag one hadn’t reached anywhere else in the factory yet. Good. So far, so good. Great, even.
I had to think this out. Okay … the only reason I had cleared out zulag one first was because that’s where I had been sent. But now that I was given free range of the factory, what would be the smartest place to go?
The slig barracks. If I was to go through the factory and rescue mudokons, I would need to clear out the slig population. That way there wouldn’t be any sligs overwhelming me later.
Great. Let’s go.
Had to find a ball car that could take me to zulag seven. So, now able to read the markings above each car, I took a look around. The car nearest me was labeled with an “X.” That likely meant it would go anywhere.
I hobbled over to the ball car and pressed my face against the touch screen that opened the door to the car and tiptoed in.
A screen dropped down and flicked on. A smiling Vykker face appeared on it. “Hello! Where do you want to go today?”
I wouldn’t need the icons this time. I spoke very clearly. “Zulag seven.”
The Vykker image nodded. “Yessir! Zulag seven! Right away!”
The ride was short, and let off in a much smaller hub. It was a semicircular chamber about twenty feet wide and ten feet across. Five doors lined the curved wall across from me. One had a glukkon-activated voice lock installed in the side.
They were the slig suites.
So I’m a glukkon. Let’s activate the voice lock. I walked over to the machine. “Hey!”
The machine barked back. “Hey! What?”
“Do it!”
“Bleh!”
The door threw itself open with a loud
clang! I walked on in.
It was a huge arena with high ceilings and stadium-style lighting. There were several patches of blackened, cracking, charred-looking floor here and there, as though bombs had gone off there. And high up along the wall was a balcony that I could clearly see dozens of sligs marching around on. Some took occasional shots at the dummies. Others were strapping into flying harnesses, likely going to do more target practice.
But the first thing I’d noticed wasn’t the size of the room, or the lights, or the floor. It was the mudokon shaped dummies stuck at odd places across the floor, standing like scarecrows. Many were riddled with bullet holes, several were missing limbs. A few weren’t really dummies anymore; just bits of fabric and shreds of stuffing.
This is where the sligs train. Naturally. But it would be best to clear this place first. Considering the sheer number of armed sligs in the arena, taking them all out first would be smartest.
But how? I was currently a glukkon. A mudokon out of place would be questioned and shot. A scrab wasn’t fast enough to shred all the sligs up there, even if the catwalk was narrow.
If only I had had the shrykull … I could
[VISION]
a mudokon whistled a greeting to a small group of mudokons. they all went with him to the packaging department.
with ten mudokons in the area, he began chanting. soon enough, a bird portal formed in the space in front of him, and the mudokons happily leapt through.
the power of ten liberated mudokons was enough to grant yet another shrykull morph. the power surged through me, and i was reassured of my coming victory.
[/VISION]
Oh, duh. I had one already.
Well, let her rip. I had to find a safe place to turn back to normal, so I wouldn’t get shot for turning from glukkon to mudokon in clear view.
But before I could…
“Hey!”
A glukkon! I almost panicked, but got a hold of myself in time. I was a glukkon, too, after all.
I turned. “Hey!”
“Who’re you?”
“My name’s Avid. I’m … uh, I’m new.”
The other glukkon gave me a scrutinizing look. He looked pretty young, and his presence here meant he was obviously Bung’s successor. “So… are you looking for something?”
I grasped the first thought I had. “I’m working my way up, and wanna see some slig training.”
The young glukkon seemed to consider. Then he chuckled. I couldn’t help but join him.
“Okay. Come with me.”
And to anyone who wants to cheat, try fooing around with the image URL.
If you do find something out, don't be stupid and post it here for all to see.