Shattered Planes Archives (Seasons 4 & 5)
Saeculum Galaxy => Xap => Topic started by: UnStellar on August 29, 2010, 07:28:01 PM
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With that much adrenaline going through his system, William's magical energy had been amplified enough that teleportation (which was normal out of his magical bounds) was possible. With no real destination in mind, it had landed him a very familiar place.
His bed. Tepper and Nova suddenly appeared in his and Syra's lavish bedroom, in a four poster bed. Nova was on top of Tepper, having just tackled, and he managed to roll off before passing out.
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Tepper gets up, "Nova!!! You could have gotten your self killed!!!!!!". Tepper just then realized that Nova was out. "Shit! Rage. where in god's name are we?", The AI pops up and answers, "Nova's house on Xap.". Tepper sighs,"Nova Get up". Tepper Grabs him and throws some cold water on his face.
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He sputtered slowly, and barely woke up. "Tepper... I can't... Normally teleport... Out of energy... Need to... rest..." He passed out again. Tepper needed to realize that Paxans, when they expel their magical energy, need to sleep before they can function normally. By waking him up, he was making it worse.
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Tepper sighs and puts Nova back down. "I guess we play the waiting game Rage...", A few hours pass as Tepper does a few tasks such as Cleaning his gun, playing chess with rage, and Paceing....
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It was a very long wait, but eventually, William roused. He still seemed tired, and arose slightly. "Water..." He said, drowsily and dryly.
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Tepper rushes over with a glass of water..."You alright bud?"
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He took the glass and drank it greedily, swallowing the whole in little time. He set it down and gasped for breath, before replying. "Yeah. I'll be fine. I'm not blessed with much magic like my wife. Normally I can't teleport. When I can, the furthest I made it was halfway around Xap, and I blacked out and was bedridden for a few days. The fact that I could make it across galaxies is... Pretty amazing. How long's it been since I was out?"
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"6 hours...ive been sober for 1 of them...", He smiles and helps him up. "Glad you're alright though. You should have left when i told you."
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He laughs, "I did. In a manner of speaking. I didn't see he was wearing a bomb until it was too late. Usually when someone gets hit with that many volts they're too stunned to move. He must have been a special case."
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Tepper sighs once more,"You know you could have been killed out there. ". He looks down at his Eagle Pin and back up at William.
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"Oh, shit. I just realized I've been out for six hours. None of my staff knows where I am, and that Star Schmuck's probably went up in smoke." Suddenly, his face brightens and he begins chuckling, before breaking out in full-on laughter. "How much of a dive do you think Star Schmuck's stocks are gonna take?" He continues to laugh.
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"I shit-ton...we own them. Man today sucks.", Tepper lays back in his chair
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Nova stopped laughing. "I'll be right back okay? I'll give you a tour in a second." He walks out of the room, activating his wrist mounted Nova Phone. He sighs. Missed calls, texts, and holo-calls. Nearly a hundred of them! He pushed past the notifications and called Ms. Green for a video message. She picked up promptly, her mascara smeared and her face timid, which wasn't like her.
"Sylvia? Have you been-"
"Thank God. You're okay. What the hell happened?"
"I'll explain later. It was close. I teleported home from Aralia."
Sylvia's eyes widened.
"What? But, you can't-"
"I know. Not normally. You'd be surprised what can happen when your life is on the line. Don't talk. I need you to do this for me."
She nodded her head.
"Go to the bathroom and fix your makeup. Tell the company I'm okay and we're continuing business as usual. Get a message to Syra, tell her everything's fine. Get Mr. Jared to my house ASAP, but tell him to keep his patrols outside. I'm staying here with Mr. Tepper. I'm going on vacation for a while. You got all that?"
She wiped away her last tears and nodded, her strength returning.
"Good. Stay strong and hold down the fort. When I get back, you're going on vacation. Good bye."
"Good bye, Mr. Nova."
He clicked the end button on his phone, and walked back into the room.
"Tepper, you're taking a vacation. It's obvious you need some time off. Stay out here where it's peaceful and nobodies accusing you of being unethical."
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"I guess you're right...Rage you're relieved for now. Recall back to Aralia they probably need you there.", The AI pops back up. "Yes sir". The AI goes back to Aralia and out of Tepper's mind."Its odd having an AI somtimes.".
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"I can only imagine. Do you want the grand tour? It's an exact replica of Nova Mansion from Pax. This is all my father's design."
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"Sure, Of course",
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"Alright, follow me!" He lead him outside of the room, to a balcony overlooking a great, pillar hall. The pillars were great, bold marble statues, and the great hall lead to a mighty wooden door. There was a curving stairway to either side of the balcony, and the great hall had a light feel to it. It was currently empty, but was meant as a versatile room for any purpose, hence it's size. "This is the great hall. I think the statue pillars were a fantastic touch, don't you?"
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"Excellant architectural design...", Tepper looks around the room in facination
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William smiled, a sense of pride. "Dad spent a lot on it. He was so proud of Nova Corp. Here, let me show you the right wing."
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Tepper follows Nova to the next part of the building. "How many stories is it?"
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"Two. The upper floor is just me and Syra's room, bathroom, and study. Dad was very into privacy." As they walked to the right wing, Nova opened a door, smiling slightly. "He was also a very creative architect. There's a couple of rooms in here you might find interesting." He opened the door wide and walked in. The first room of the right wing was a beautiful, blue, domes room with an enormous piano and some chairs. "This room was for Mom. She was a pretty good pianist."
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"Very beautiful Nova...",
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(I was going to use this as a way of setting the look of the entire mansion, but I can tell it's boring you. We'll cut to the chase.)
After Nova had shown him the entire mansion, they settled into a small covered porch behind it, drinks in hand.
"I plan on getting you out and introducing you, in more detail to Xap. You know you could move Grunder here, Tepper. It would be a lot easier than deings with the Aralangs, and the Warrior Humans won't dare set foot here. South would have them removed."
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"Move to Xap?", Tepper says in great suprise. "I know the Aralangs are...lets say difficult to deal with but they've treated us well. Although im not much for thier Close-Minded way of thinking...They've been good to us. They house the 250+ Million Employees working on the planet as well as protecting us from harm. I'd really have to think about it and run it by the Executives.
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"I'm definitely not going to force you to make that big of a move. But the Aralangs sounded like they were ready to kick you out. If they ever do, make Xap your home. We don't have many PMC's around here. Hell, we could even have some sort of a merger going on."
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"Yeah...thats what Hanson and Farino told me... I just dont understand them sometimes. When we moved Grunder From Nord, Belka to Sudentor, Aralia we made a special agreement with the Aralangs. They understood that we had a PMC Division when they signed the contract but they go around and try to impose thier morals upon us. This is buisness and we are like 85% of thier Economy on Aralia. just gest to me sometimes...", He leans back and takes a swig from his drink.
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"It's hard to believe the Aralangs got as far as they have, behaving the way they have."
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"Technology Nova...Technology. They are one of the 3 most powerful Technological Empires. They knew how to balance Magic...", Tepper Holds a fire Ball in his left hand, "And Technology", in the other he holds Rage's AI Chip. "They were smart about it."
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Nova nodded slowly. "That's been one of Mr. South's biggest concerns."
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"Hm?", Tepper asks. He disperses the fire ball and puts the chip back into its slot.
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"Ever since the UP was formed, technology has been booming. President South doesn't want us to forget our magic."
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" yeah...i can understand not forgetting your roots...", He takes another drink and sighs.
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William's Nova Phone went off. He checked it, finding it was his secretary.
"Sorry Mark. I gotta get this." He opened the call.
"I'm busy Sylvia. What is it?"
"It's important. We've got a Protocol Elliot request." Nova's eyes widened.
"By who?"
"Mike, the manager of the shop." William cringed.
"Have you got a report?"
"Forwarded to you. I want your approval." William sighed, not wanting to read a report right now, so he made a decision.
"I trust Mike. And I trust you. Enact it."
She nodded, and the call closed.
William turned to Tepper. "Sorry about that."
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Tepper's Implant starts to display screens in his vision about the progress on Aralia. He blinks a few times and they all disappear. "Who was thatr?"
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"Sylvia. Something happened, Protocol Elliot has been enacted as a precaution."
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"Oh....She still mad?", Tepper asks while looking through the screens displayed by his implant...
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He laughs, "She hasn't talked about it for a while."
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He laughs as well..."Nova....Ever wondered about getting an AI?"
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He shook his head immediately. "No. Never. We use AI sparingly here. Most of the time, things are best controlled by Paxans, not computers."
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"No, I mean an AI implant. They come quite handy in combat situations or times of increased stress or strain. Like back inside of the Cafe, how i disarmed the guy so quick...Rage was doing half of that.", He thinks back to when Rage was created...The most Technologicaly advanced piece of equiptment ever made. He then looks back at Nova.
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"I don't know. The idea kind of scares me."
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"I know the thought of having an AI implanted inside of you is...odd. Them sharing the same thoughts as you, but the benifits outwieght the risks..."
(1000th post...FTW!!!!!)
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"What happens when it's no longer under your control?"
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"The AIs are never really "Under our Control"....They have thier own free will. Rage can come and go as he pleases but chooses to stay with me. Now they donot have any control what so ever over your body or mind but can send certain signals to your brain telling it to do something along the lines of, Increase adenaline or something. Which can always be countered by your own free-will."
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"I just don't like it, Mark."
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"Understandable....", He finishes off his drink as his Comm piece goes off..."There seems to be a large structure covering the City of Sudentor Aralia....We have been getting unconfirmed reports that Grunder Industries Limited has enacted some sort of responce towards the Terrorist Bombing earlier this week...". "COmmand...Change Comms to 7 SC-8.8"
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"What's going on?" He asks worriedly, setting his glass down and sitting up.
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"...Citizens are in wide-spread panic as darkness envelopes the city!! We are getting no responce from SCPD or Grunder at this time...", Tepper sighs, "God isnt there anything else on the News? Command...Change to 7 SC-8.2....Sorry the media is all over this thing"
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"Do you need to go?"
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"No...Ill let Kelly take care of this.."
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The portal appeared, and William and Tepper could easily see it.
William jumped up, dropping is glass.
"Fuck! Another portal! I don't even know where Syra is! She could be off planet!" He turned to Tepper.
"Mark! Get off here fast, Xap's being pulled into another dimension! Go to Aralia, if you find Syra, make sure she's okay!"
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Tepper also sees it. "Nova....Damnit!", Though Mark didnt want to leave his friend he knew that he needed to get the hell out of Dodge...Tepper Teleports away towards the Capital of Aralia....