Dum Dum Da Dum

Present:

• Anastasia "Stasi" Tepes. Zhodani Soldier from Querion – Shane
• Pi Crust. Solomani Pilot from 728-907 – Darryl
• "Riley" Patrick O'Reilly. Sword-Worlder Pilot from Winston - Richard
• Anton Tositova. Solomani Gunner from Entrope - Ian
• Sang "Spanner" Hoang. Sword-Worlder Mechanic from Winston – Jeff
• MARMALADING Hoff Ende. Sword-Worlder Scientist from Winston - Kevin
• MARMALADING Belle Ende. Sword-Worlder Medic from Winston - Steven
• Itzy Ende. Sword-Worlder Soldier from Winston - Chris
• Gnostic Hands. Solomani Scientist from Entrope – Jamie
• NPC: Scurry. Drone Gunner from Winston

by Darryl

The group is in the 'H' building, in a city of the Ancients on a planet seeking to kill them right down to the cellular level. They are surrounded by creatures called slishers, a huge 14 legged spider-like creature looms over the building, the group have machine guns, sunglasses and are on a mission. A mission to return home. 

"Well if I am going down, I'll make sure this machine gun is empty first" exclaims Stasi.

"Yeah me too" replies Itzy.

"Anton is somewhere out there and I hope he has the same attitude," says Stasi.

And as the plans of hope met the gurgling whirlpool of reality to finally disappear down the drain of despondency the group stood feeling that there was no way out. A minor plan came to fruition. Spanner  fired up one of Emerse's drones to fly it high up to the ceiling of the large room the group was in, hoping to find some way that they could exit the building and evade the slishers and then to retreat out of the city and hopefully survive another day. 

Suddenly a massive crashing sound and a large spider leg was sticking through the blockaded door, the door hanging off it's hinges and the detritus stacked in front to blockade the group, scattered throughout the room. 

The speaker rigged up to Emerse's Tamagotchi suddenly began to speak.

"How many coordinates do you have?"

"Um just about one, it is taking us some time." replied Spanner via the communicator.

"Oh yes now we have one"  he then quickly responded as he realized that the creature was not going to hang about much longer.

"Give it us."

"What do we get?"

"Your lives."

"We want to go home. We go home then you get it."

"Agreement."

Stalling for time Spanner says "We need to test it, is that OK?"

"Proceed."

The group was indeed trying to stall, the plan formed as the door crashed in, send a message through the portal to tell the others on the other side to stop firing as we are trying to come through. The portal needed to be opened and a message sent through before any attempt to send the group through.  Spanner continued the negotiation with the spider. 

"We need pods in order to go through."

"They are coming."

 The group grabs a piece of inert organic mushroom material that they know can pass through the portal and Gnostic and Riley discuss and scrawl a message upon it:

Dear Cauthon Institute,

This is the x-boat delivery team (that arrived on the ship the Lost Crown). We will be coming through this portal in two round pods <hastily scrawled picture>.

After those two pods come through destroy all else that comes through.

Send a tactical nuke back through the portal.

You do not have much time.

portal

With the message complete, the coordinates begin to be put into the desk of 128 mushroom shaped switches. Most of the group make sure they are well out of the way of the portal and what may come through it when it opens. Just before the final switches are pressed the group notices behind them a large spider eye staring at them through the large hole in the building where the door used to be. The portal begins to shiver and Stasi quickly throws the message through and dives into cover. 

The sound of heavy machine guns can be heard and bullets begin raining through the portal. 

Gnostic reaches around and quickly flips off the portal and the shimmering disappears.

The little speaker pipes up "comb my hair, comb my hair now!" and then more from the speaker, "What was that attack?"

The group works out that the Tamagotchi spoke the first utterance and the spider the second.

"Human defense" replied Spanner.

"Will they shoot you?"

"Yes"

"How long for two-legs to forget?"

"Two hours."

"We wait."

The group then discusses whether they should move to the other building where ramps and the like are, so as they have more control but as the discussion continues the group begins to understand that events are over-taking  them and it will be as the spider wants things.

Once again the spider speaks "Do you have angry weapons?"

"No"

"Do you have more coordinates?"

"No"

No further communication for some minutes and the tension and stress  begins to rise. The Tamagotchi begins speaking louder and more incessantly, "Comb my hair, I am sad, comb my hair." 

Finally one of the group relents and strokes the screen of the Tamagotchi. 

"No wonder Emerse was so up tight." could be heard.

"Where's Anton, he better hurry up or he is going to miss the bus" says  Riley. 

Anton decides to return

Anton is outside, hidden and watching the slishers and large spider. He realizes that the group is still inside and alive but he is in some pain as the mushroom like growth in his groin moves shudders and slowly grows. 

"Mmm time to find a way in and join up with the others I think, I can't do much else out here" he thinks to himself. Sneaking carefully through the newly strewn rubble. 

He finds a small entrance into the building and rejoins the group. 

Itzy hears a sound, turns and sees Anton walking across the room to join the group. His hearing makes him shake his head from time to time, some high pitched background keening sound that he never noticed before, something is happening, he knows he can somehow hear more.

After about 90 minutes, slishers begin to move into the room. They are not acting aggressively but move between the group and the entrance. A large pounding sound and the building shakes slightly, something is coming, the other spider.  

Freshly laid pod

A tentacle, fat as Anton's waist, glistening like wet leather, slowly begins snaking it's way through the large hole where the door used to be. After moving about a third of a way into the room, as the group slowly backs away, it stops. 

For a short while nothing happens and then the tentacle moves and shivers and a large wet round pod plops out onto the floor, slick with mucus. Then another and another. In all six pods lie now in the room glistening with alien ooze. As the pods begin to dry, little spikes can be seen forming on the outside.

"I reckon these are the way home," says Riley wryly.

Two hours have now passed the pods are looking dry and some slishers unscrew the covers on three of the pods.

"Enter" says the spider.

"Umm we only need two thanks" replies Spanner.

"Enter"

"Well guys we don't have much option I think" says Spanner.

"Yeah it's time to do it boys, jump in and I'll set the co-ords." says Riley  "Leave room for me in the first pod."

So the group enters the three pods.  

1. Belle, Stasi, Gnostic, Pi Crust, and room for Riley in the first pod.  
2. Anton, Spanner, Hoff and Itzy clamber into the second.
3. Ben Gunn and his harem of Zhodani girls jump into the third. 

Riley puts in the last of the coordinates, then returns to the first pod and the slishers screw the plugs in place.

Unseen to the group the portal shimmers and opens. Nothing much can be seen of the other side, an empty looking room. The slishers meander around pushing, rolling and shoving the pods towards the portal. The slishers bump and weave, the pods rolling not only forward but sometimes round and round, mixing and rearranging the order they were laid out originally. The first pod is pushed through and then a second. 

Suddenly all hell breaks out and bullets fly through the portal as the final four pods roll forward and through the portal. The shooting stops and the shimmering portal remains.

On the Cauthon Institute side of the portal, groups of soldiers begin their work. A squad behind cover train their weapons upon the portal. Another squad dash forward and one by one follow the same tactic, two men unscrew a pod, a third man pulls a ring and throws in a box of grenades and the pod plug is quickly screwed back into place. A dull thud is heard and onto the next pod. This is done to all the pods except for the first two. the final action being taken within the Cauthon Institute is a group of military engineers rapidly building the foundations and framework that within twenty-four hours will be a large concrete barrier over the portal.

Itzy awakes

A buzzing sound slowly can be heard as Itzy begins to experience. "I think I may be alive" he thinks to himself, I can hear sound. time passes and slowly his consciousness rises. He opens his eyes and knows he is safe. He lies in a hospital bed, his body totally swathed in bandages, multiple IV lines and wires with the humming and beeping of machines playing loudly around him. 

A nurse enters the room and smiles at him. 

"Finally awake I see."

"Yeah but feel like a box of bricks and nails."

"Yes you should, you were very badly injured. But it looks like you are going to make a complete recovery, other than the long term effects."

"Uh what you mean?"

"Well, there seems to be some change at a genetic level, the doctors are trying to understand right now, no prognosis of course, this is very alien."

"Oh."

"Same thing for your compatriot, Anton is his name I think."

"And the others?"

"All who were with you are alive, all badly injured of course, grenades do terrible damage."

"So Spanner and Hoff are ok. What about the others?"

"That funny man Ben and his ladies are doing fine, but he does not seem human what with all those growths on him. They did not get injured at all, they were in the first pod through."

"And the others?"

"Sorry to say they did not make it [no marmalade immunity for Belle in this case]. They were in the fourth pod and for some reason the soldiers decided to put an extra load of grenades in that pod. And Dr Gilbert's experimental hexafluoro-something acid."

Itzy lay back, the pain in his body now nothing to what he felt emotionally. Half the group wiped out in a single moment. As he drifted off to a healing sleep, questions floating around in his mind. What now? Where to now? When will the attack come? Who is going to fly the ship? Who is going to comb the Tamagotchi's hair? And what will become of the remainder of us? 

Itzy's dreams haunt his fitful sleep.