From: Clive@cj4386.demon.co.uk (Clive May)
Subject: Re: A story we can all create
Date: Sun, 03 Mar 02 22:35:38 GMT


The nerve centre of Shanneril's control of Avis City was another portion of
the tower, two segments to the left of the council chamber.  The room was
shaped more like a fat D, rather than a curve-based triangle.  The top half
of the wall, facing the curving window, was a huge monitor screen.  It was
divided into twenty or so smaller areas.  Some showed various views, both
inside and outside the tower.  Some of the screens were blank.

Below the screen, glowed a bank of control stations.  Most were alive with
lights.  The seats before each were occupied by monitor techs.  Standing
behind them, a small knot of Shanneril's chief commanders were engaged in a
lively discussion of the events playing themselves out on the screens.
Shanneril, in smoke smutted robes, was alternating between the discussion,
and snapping out orders to the techs for relay to the field commanders.
Siharal stood off to one side, taking no part in the frantic activity.  There
was an air of aggressive unease about him.

Kali, lounging in Shanneril's command chair under the window, which she had
naturally appropriated, was considering Avis's chief men, clustered about
their Queen-Priestess.  Kali was studying Siharal with particular interest.
He was no longer a potential obstacle.  His star was well and truly eclipsed
by today's little debacle.  The Inner Sanctums of the Shining City defiled by
the beast men!  Slaughter and sacrilege brought to the very heart of the
City!  There would have to be a scapegoat; and Siharal fitted the frame.
Later on, after a little time for resentment to fester, he would make a
useful tool in her assumption of control.

Kali nodded in satisfaction.  Her insertion into the City had gone remarkably
well, considering the unexpected interference of the Renegade.  It was time
to report in.  Taking a palm sized com unit from a pocket, she opened a
channel.

"Kali reporting.  Phase One is now completed successfully.  There was a minor
hitch.  The Renegade was on the artifact.  He caused some difficulties; but
his interventions may have made Phase Two easier.  I will initiate Phase Two
immediately.  When I am in sole control of the artifact, and have made what
repairs can be made to the control and guidance mechanisms, I will make a
further report.  Advise: prepare Phase Three of the Avis Operation, and stand
by to initiate on receipt of my next report.  Kali out."

Kali closed the connection, and sat a long moment in thought, not as
confident as she had endeavoured to sound in her report.  Cain's jibes had
driven a hot spike of self-doubt into her mind.  Of course, that was what the
bastard had intended; but that did not invalidate his statements.  She knew,
had known, from the moment he'd said she was dead, and that he'd killed her
himself, that there was something dreadfully wrong with her understanding of
the world.  The blaster was another proof; and the bastard was right: time
could not lie to a Regulator.  The trouble was, she could not square that
truth with what she felt to be true.

Instinctively shying away from the gruesome suspicions that haunted her
troubled mind, she rose and moved to the group at the console.  Studying the
screens a moment, she observed loudly: "You've lost them!"

Shanneril glanced sharply at her.  "Temporarily," she admitted.  "But it is
only a matter of time before we pick them up again.  They cannot escape.  We
have the rim exits secured, and the birds will not fly for the bestial
savages."

"The Renegade is resourceful," Kali pointed out, unnecessarily.  "If there is
another way off the City, Cain will find it!"

"Perhaps?" Shanneril allowed; "but even if he can, we're over the North Rim
Pipes.  Between us above, and the groundhogs below, there's nowhere left for
the Renegade to flee to.  We'll crush him, and his beast men, between us!"

"The North Rimmers?" Kali raised a surprised eyebrow.  "They are your
allies?" The Regulator had a sinking feeling this was another of her blind
spots.  As far as she understood local politics, the Groundhogs of the North
Rim Pipes, and the Skyborn, were bitter foes.

"Allies!" Shanneril cried in outrage.  A deathly silence fell among her
entourage.  Shanneril's ugly passion was mirrored in all their faces.  "Those
verminous rebels!  They are no allies of Avis!" Shanneril retorted hotly,
breaking into the taunt silence.  "My Great, Great, Great Grandmother turned
them off of Avis after their betrayal; and their absurd little rebellion
failed.  They desired to grub around in the dirt like the common herd!  So
she had them exiled forever to the ground, never to pollute the Shining City
with their presence, ever again!  If it had been my decision, I would have
sent the treacherous vermin down to their beloved dirt - without the benefit
of birds to carry them!"

While Kali was digesting Shanneril's savage outburst, a com clicked on.

"Squad commander Nellis reporting, Sector four one zero.  Targets sighted!
They are on Level seven Sector four zero eight, heading down to level six."

"Pursue and destroy!" Shanneril snapped.  "And get some techs down there to
repair the scanners - we lost survellience on those levels ten minutes ago."

"Closing in now," came the excited reply, through sharp static.  The pounding
of many booted feet echoed through the speakers, for long seconds.  Then came
the distinctive roar of a Servii musket.  The thudding footfalls broke into a
stuttering confusion.  Orders were shouted.  Blaster fire crackled, sounding
distorted through the hand com.  "We have them cornered in the sanitation
works," Nellis reported at last.  "They are trapped!"

"Destroy them!  Nellis!  Only their utter extermination can expunge this
blastphemy!  Destroy them!"


------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----

There was a terrific impact.  All the air was driven from Babydoll's body.
She rolled away, and came to her knees, marvelling that she was still alive.
A couple of yards off, Rahaaz was being hauled to his feet by Cain and a
Servii raider.

"Smeg!" Babydoll choked.  "The Big bastard broke my fall?  That's another one
I owe!"

Blaster fire lashed down from above.  Babydoll rolled into the cover of a
doorway, and came to her feet.  "This way!" she yelled.  "Down here!"

She counted them as they plunged past into the hallway.  They'd lost two more
of the big lunks.  Still, it was the way they'd have wanted to go, smiting
the ancient enemy in the heartland of his stronghold - a honoured and
glorious end!

There was no difficulty finding the way; they just followed the trail of
devastation, and dead bodies.  Going quickly, the raiders moved through the
halls, down ramps and stairways, heading for the sewage treatment works at
the base of the construct.

Babydoll, bringing up the rear, recalled a piece of Serviianb philosophy
Rahaaz had once imparted: "A wise man inquires not of the warrior his prowess
in arms - but counts the bodies he leaves in his wake!" With the chance to
count them for herself, Babydoll could find no fault with the ancient wisdom.
Hurdling yet another pile of corpses, she sprinted after the raiders.

At the foot of another broad ramp, a set of great metal valves loomed in the
gloom.  They stood slightly ajar.  Several Servii were waiting for them in
the shadows.  Her group of raiders piled through the opening, and turned to
help the advance guard close the doors.  While they were forcing the valves
shut, the Skyborn found them.

A musket boomed; Pounding feet clattered into silence; and the dark was
suddenly lit with livid blue flashes, as blaster fire slashed down the ramp
from the intersection.  Had the Skyborn charged in the Serviian manner,
things would have gotten extremely hairy.  Instead, they contented themselves
with staying behind cover, and sending volleys of fire towards the doors.  It
gave the Servii a much needed breathing space, to get the valves closed, and
ruin the locking mechanism.

The vast hangar like space beyond the door was crammed with pipes, tanks and
banks of control machinery, all dimly lit by light panels high up in the
vaulted roof.  The air was thudding with the sound of powerful pumps,
undershot with the whine of machinery, and the rushing sound of liquid being
forced along pipes at high pressure.  A thick stench of human excrement
cloyed the air.

"The sewage plant," Cain identified.  "Nice move, Babe!"

"I remembered what you said about them swanning around up in the air,
crapping on everyone below."


"Didn't quite mean it like that," Cain said, grinning

"No?"

"No.  The fertility of the High Desert of the Sacred Land is very fragile.
It's the City up here 'crapping on everyone' which keeps the land alive and
productive.  It'll turn into a real wasteland in a couple of seasons if
anyone ever repairs the guidance and control systems."

"Is that likely?"

Cain scowled.  "All too likely with Kali in charge up here.  She'll have no
trouble fixing the mess I made of the systems."

"what?  You mean you wrecked this place?  Why?"

A massive concussion shook the doors.  Babydoll turned a worried look upon
the metal slabs.  She laid a hand on the steel.  An electrical charge was
singing in the warm metal.  "What was that?"

"Energy cannon, most like," Cain surmised.  "And discharged at point blank
range, by the sound!  Those doors won't take a lot of that kind of
punishment."

"How long will it hold?" Babydoll asked.

Cain shrugged.  Not long?"

The door rang with another thunderous impact.  Cain glanced back over his
shoulder at the vibrating plates.  "No sense in pushing our luck, Babe!
Let's go!"

They ran over to join the rest of the party, who had the cover off a huge
funnel-shaped hole in the centre of the floor.  Most of Bella's party were
already clustered at the lip, clutching saddles, their hands wound into the
straps.  They were awaiting the order to go.

Babydoll grabbed up a saddle, and then noticed Bella, motionless, at the very
lip.  The small woman was peering fixedly into the hole, her face pale.

Babydoll laid a hand on her shoulder.  "Bel?  You ok?"

Bella started, and glanced up.  "I don't want to go out there...Not in the
daylight...I..."

Another thunderous concussion slammed against the doors.  Tiny gobbets of hot
metal sprayed from the plates, sizzling when they hit the damp floor.

"You can't stay here!" Babydoll told her emphatically.

"I could hide...Join you later...After sunset?..."

Babydoll glanced around at the tangles of pipework, header tanks and the
great bulks of the processing engines.  "This room's gonna be crawling with
troopers in a moment.  It's too risky."

As though to underscore the wisdom of her words, another thunderous
concussion reverberated around the chamber.  The doors bulged and began to
glow red.  The air was suddenly hot, an the reek of sewage was shot through
with a metallic stink.

"You can't stay here, Bel!" Babydoll stated.

"I know, Pig," Bella admitted.  "But it's day out there!"

Babydoll placed both hands on the smaller woman's shoulders.  She turned
Bella to face her.  "I know, Bel.  But you'll be fine, We'll jump together.
I won't let anything hurt you, I promise." She started fussing with the
lapels of Cain's trenchcoat, pulling the folds of cloth up over Bella's head,
tucking it around her, hiding her vulnerable skin from the savagery of the
sun.

Finally satisfied with the result, she picked up a saddle and held it out to
the swaddled up woman.  "Here!  grab a hold of this and hang onto me.  I
won't let anything happen to you."

Bella slid her arms through the straps and put her arms about Babydoll's
waist.

"Hold on tight, Bel," Babydoll urged.  She grinned reassuringly down at the
pair of dark eyes, staring up at her from the folds of cloth.  Then she
tugged the cloth closed and put her arms about Bella's shoulders, hugging her
in close.  She waited for Cain's order.  They had to jump together or they'd
be spread over miles of desert, making it easy for the Skyborn to pick them
off, one by one.  Another ringing impact echoed through the fetid chamber.
The great valves, near molten from the energy blasts, bulged inwards.

"Wait until you're well clear of the city, before powering up the saddles!"
Cain was explaining.  "But for jeel's sake, don't leave it too long!  They
work on a negative mass compensation bias, the bigger you are the more lift
they give, up to a certain level.  Critical mass for neutral buoyancy is
around five times our mass...So whatever - we're gonna hit hard.  Leave it
too late, and you'll be digging your own grave...literally!"

Another mighty boom shook the chamber.  What remained of the valves, flew
apart.  Beyond, a troop in heavy assault armour crouching beside the cannon,
sprang forward, blasters ready.

"GO!" Cain yelled, and flung himself into the chute.

The Servii began piling in after him.  Babydoll lifted Bella, and let herself
fall over the edge.  Clinging together, the two women slid down the surface,
slick with the last purge of sewage.  A jam of struggling bodies had formed
at the narrow outlet in the bottom.  A couple of Skyborn appeared above.
Dragging out her machine pistol, Babydoll sent a wild spray of bullets in
their general direction.  The Temple Guards ducked back out of sight.  That
wouldn't hold them off for long.

Babydoll glanced at the jam around the outlet.  The blockage of bodies was
clearing.  She re-holstered the pistol and slithered over the edge, taking
Bella with her.  Slimy walls rushed past in a blur.  A heartbeat later, they
tumbled into empty air, right into the full blast of the PNPG field, buoying
up the city.

Both Babydoll and Bella gasped, writhing in pain, as a shock of tingling
irritation ran all over their skin.  The painful pressure on their nerves
lasted only seconds.  The unpleasant sensation lessoned quickly as the
corroded base of the artifact rose away above them.

They fell out of the shadow into hot sunlight.  Babydoll felt Bella cringe in
her arms.  She gave the woman a reassuring squeeze.  "You OK Bel?" she yelled
against the wuthering of the wind.

Bella's swaddled head nodded, her arms tightening about Babydoll.

"Good girl!  "We'll have to land separately...Be ready to let go when I give
the word!"

Bella nodded again.

Air howled around them, as they plummeted towards the desert, spread out a
mile below.  Some strange geological formations in the vastness of the desert
caught Babydoll's attention.

Using skills picked up in parachute assault training, she manouvered herself
towards Cain.  Grabbing his arm for attention, she pointed to the ground, and
shouted against the rush of wind: "What are those?"

Spread in irregular groups across the flat desert, were what looked like the
open ends of pipes, sticking some hundreds of feet above the low growing
scrub.  The smallest looked about a half mile across and the largest, in the
centre of a cluster of a dozen or so, looked to have a diameter of more than
three miles.  It was toward this geological formation of red rock that the
loose string of Servii were plunging.  In its center, was a lake of
shimmering water.  The rest of the bowl was a verdant green with young crops.

"The North Rim Pipes", Cain shouted back.  "If we can't keep clear of those
Pipes, were in real trouble."

"Why?"

Cain pointed to the flocks of birds, emerging from caves in the red rock
walls; each had a rider.  "North Rimmers," he shouted back.  "And I'm in
about as good an odour with them as with old Shanneril.  They're no friends
of Rahaaz and his kind either - Look's like a reception committee's on the
way to meet us - things could get a little warm!"

Babydoll began a rapid count of the birds wheeling up towards them, assessing
the chances.  A moment later, she was distracted by the crack of an energy
beam from above.  One of Rahaaz's raiders was suddenly ripped apart as the
beam exploded the power pack of his saddle.  Trailing an oily smoke, the
pieces of body spun away from each other.  Babydoll glanced up, to see a
dozen or so Temple Riders swooping down upon them.

"Smeg!" she swore.  They were too fast of the mark by far.  It had always
been a risk that they would be caught defenceless in mid-air; but it was a
risk they'd had to run.

More energy bolts sizzled amongst them, though none hit a target.  Cain began
Yelling: "Use the saddle power...Make yourselves a harder target." So saying,
he wrenched the power dial to full, and appeared to bob up in the air as he
decelerated suddenly.  The Servii caught on quickly.  Seconds later, the sky
was full of Servii raiders, bobbing up and down like corks.  Though a fury of
blaster fire lashed down from above, no more were hit.

The scatter of bobbing raiders plunged through the company of wheeling North
Rim birds, heading for the violently green country inside the largest pipe.
Somewhere overhead, there was a brisk exchange of fire.  The whip-crack of
bolts from the Skyborn were answered by the duller reports of black powder
weapons wielded by the North Rimmers.  The plunging raiding party had no time
to take this in, as the ground was coming up very fast.

"Time to abandon ship, Fangs!" Babydoll shouted.  Bella nodded, released her
frantic grip around Babydoll, and pushed herself free.  She began to fumble
with the power dial hampered by her wrapped hands.  Babydoll twisted the dial
to max, groaned at the wrenching decelleration, and watched in horror as
Bella continued to plunge ground-wards unchecked.

"BELLA!" she screamed.  "BELLA!"

Below her, Bella finally got the dial turned.  She began a crippling
deceleration; but too late...far too late.  The next instant, Bella was
swallowed up by the leafy canopy of a small fruit tree.

Seconds later, Babydoll lit awkwardly on the sloping top of a haystack.  Her
feet went out from under.  In a rush of straw, she slid off the stack,
landing on her bottom in a rain of dislodged stukes.

She was badly winded, and her heart was pounding like a trip hammer; but
Otherwise, she felt fine.  Her first thought was for Bella.  As she was
pushing herself up, an agonised screaming split the air like a blade of ice.

"Bella!" she cried and ran to where the vampire woman lay beneath the smashed
tree.  She was writhing among the broken branches, brought down by her fall,
half out of Cain's trenchcoat.  Large patches of her pallid skin were exposed
to the sunlight.  Huge blisters were bubbling the skin.  The Agonised
screaming, pierced Babydoll to the heart.  In one fluid motion, she was on
her knees beside Bella, pulling the coat closed.

"Easy, Fangs!" she soothed.  "Easy."

"Oh jeels!  It hurts!" Bella ground out between clenched teeth.  "It hurts!
Oh Jeel!  It hurts!"

Babydoll slid a hand under the coat, and gripped Bellla's hand.  "Hang in
there, Fangs," she cried urgently.  "We'll get you under cover, soon as we
can."

Bella's fingers tightened on hers.  She had stopped screaming, but continued
to make whimpering sounds between clenched teeth.  "Pig!  OH CRUCK, Pig!
It...It hurts worse than Old Harry!"

"Hang in there, Bell...Cain!  For cruck sake...Cain We need you here!"

The big Time Lord was coming at a stumbling run, favouring his right leg.
Beyond, Rahaaz was marshalling his forces.  Further off, hundreds of North
Rimmers in dowdy homespun garments were closing in.  They clutched hoes,
spades picks and other tools with grim determination.  More Rimmers were
dropping down on birds to settle in the fields all around.  These were
readying swords and pistols.

"Is she hurt?" Cain asked coming to stand over the two women.

"She's been in the sun...You know what that can do to her?"

Cain grimaced.  He stooped and swept up the slight woman, carrying her into
the shade of the haystack.  Setting her down gently, he said: "There's
nothing we can do for her right now!  She'll be fine when the sun's down.
She'll be able to heal herself.  Stay with her!" With that he turned, and
limped away to where Rahaaz was waiting with his little group of Servii
raiders.

Babydoll knelt beside the stricken vampire.  "Is there anything I can do to
help, Bel?"

"Some blood...I must have some blood;" Bella croaked.  "Can you get me some
blood?"

"I don't know...How much?"

"Not much - just a few mouthfuls...please!"

Babydoll's heart answered without the permission of her head.  "Would mine be
any good?"

"Yeah...But Cain's would be better."

Babydoll glanced across at the big Time Lord.  He was going out to meet the
North Rimmers, with ostentatiously empty hands held wide.  Rahaaz was at his
back.  "He's busy, Bel.  Would you like some of mine?"

The swaddled head nodded weakly.  "I'll try not to hurt you...too much!"

Swallowing back bile, as the contents of her stomach crawled up her throat,
Babydoll pushed up her right sleeve.  She carefully lifted the coverings, and
slid her naked arm under the coat.  Moist lips kissed the skin of her arm.
She shuddered.

Bella's fingers, intertwined with her own under the blanket, gave a
reassuring squeeze.  "It wont hurt." She breathed.  "I promise I'll do
nothing to hurt you."

"Just do it!  Damn it!" Babydoll snapped, more sharply than intended.

"Ok!  Ok!" Bella breathed.

Something sharp pricked Babydoll's skin.  She winced and swallowed back more
bile.  There came a powerful suckling sensation.  A wave of nausea swept over
her.  She wanted to snatch her arm away, but did not, mastering her disgust,
doing it for Bella.

Then the horror was over.

Bella squeezed her fingers again.  She said: "Thank you, Pig...I know how
much that cost you...And I'm truly grateful!"

To cover her sudden embarrassment, Babydoll rose abruptly.  Compulsively
checking her pistol, she went to stand with Cain.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----

Clouds of fat, black blood flies swirled in the air, drawn to the top of the
pyramid by the stench of death.  They sheened, green and blue, in the level
rays of the sun, as they settled to the altar.  In buzzing hordes, the flies
swarmed over the stained stone, hungrily sucking up the congealing blood.

The doctor lifted his gaze from the gruesome sight,and stared up into the
blind eyes of the monster, seated across the altar.  He was trembling with
impotent rage,at the evil he knew had been done here.

It had been a titanic struggle,with the cloying greyness in his mind,to force
a neural pathway to his eyes, so that he could see the world.  A lesser hero
might have wished that he'd not struggled so hard, when he'd witnessed the
scope of the horror which had greeted his return of vision.  Now, he was
struggling vainly to free his limbs; and when he could move again, he would
grind the perpetrator to sand...with his bare hands!

At his side, stood the man he knew as Prak, who looked very much the worse
for wear.  He was being held upright by a three-eyed Ape, whose fur glowed a
bright golden hue in the level light.  Soolisa was in an even worse state.

The slender woman was standing to the left of the throne, her right arm
dangling uselessly.  Her face was quite expressionless.  The green glow in
her eyes,stood out starkly against the deathly paleness of her skin.

"...Serendipity," The Lord was booming.  "After all the time, and energy, I
have expended to lure an Overworlder into reach!  Cozenning the Renegade into
an invasion of my Domains...Guiding his actions, through my
intermediaries...Clearing his path of obstacles...Smoothing the way most
assiduously...And exercising patience...Most of all, exercising patience,
though my heart burned for revenge!..And, and an overworlder is delivered
into my grasp...By the merest chance...Serendipity!  Most assuredly!"

"Quite, old chap!" muttered the Doctor, dismissing the Lord's passionate
musings absently.  He wasn't listening.  His concern was for the maimed girl.
The cruel sight touched his hearts deeply.  "Release me!" he commanded.  "You
must let me help the poor creature!"

"To what purpose?' inquired the Lord.

"She will die!  If her arm is not seen to right now."

"What is that to me?  She has served her purpose.  My deliverance from these
damnable bonds, set about me, is at hand.  What else can matter?"

"The girl's life!"

"I have no further use of it," declared the Lord.

"Besides, maimed unto death, as she is, there remains but one service she
might usefully perform for me - a little demonstration!  Yes.  A little
demonstration, I think, to illustrate my plight."

The Lord relaxed his hold on the girl's mind.  As the green glow faded from
her eyes, a shiver rippled through her slender frame.  Then Soolisa dropped,
like a pole-axed ox, to the stained stones.  A piercing scream of agony tore
itself from her throat.  For long seconds, Soolisa writhed in insupportable
agony upon the bloody stones, screaming, screaming, screaming.  At last,
overwhelmed by the agony, she passed into the blessed oblivion of
unconsciousness.

A fanatical fury possessed Prak.  Sweat stood out on his face, as he
struggled against the mental bonds of the Lord.  His eyes bulged from his
head with the effort, his spare frame trembling, but to no avail; he could
not go to the aid of his soul mate.  From his lofty throne, the Lord regarded
Prak's torment with sublime indifference.

"Prepare the sacrifice," he commanded.

Two of the Priests gathered up the limp form of Soolisa.  Carelessly, they
flung the limp body over the altar.  A knife was raised on high, glinting in
the level light.  Prak's voice broke free.  He screamed.  A forlorn
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" went forth from his throat, and was borne away over the
ruined city, by the breeze.  Prak squeezed horrified eyes shut, as the knife
slashed down across the taunt skin of Soolisa's throat.  A red gout of blood
fountaind into the air.  It fell back, and ran away down a gutter, cut in the
stone, leading to the foot rest of the throne.  In a red tide, the warm blood
filled the concave rest, swirling around the three-toed stone feet.  For a
moment the feet were submerged in the scarlet liquid, then the level fell
rapidly as the blood was absorbed into the stone feet.  Starting at the
ankles, a metamorphosis began.  A line of change rose quickly up the calves,
leaving in its wake a fleshly tone to the stone.  The Lord let out a great
relieved sigh.  Muscles in the calves flexed, and his toes wriggled in the
shallow pool of blood still remaining in the depression.  The tide of
returning life rose quickly to his knees; but as it started up the stony
thighs, it began to falter.  Moments later, it had stopped, and within a few
more seconds, the stony texture of the Lord's flesh had begun reasserting
itself.

The Lord groaned in agony, as his legs once more stiffened into stone
pillars.  At length, he spoke: "As you will note, Doctor, the treatment is
not permanent.  The blood of mortals is too thin.  It brings me but momentary
release from the cruel spell...But the blood of an Overworlder?  Now that is
a thing of a different quality altogether.  Your blood, Doctor, holds power
a-plenty to break the spell set upon me in the long, long ago....Prepare him
for the sacrifice!"

The Doctor could do nothing.  Still gripped by the mental bonds of the Lord,
he was seized, and flung across the altar, which still shone damply with
Soolisa's blood.