~ two

~ part two ~

In what appears a normal city, Timepiece follows a car through the traffic along an overpass, stopping to hop curb to walk (annoyed walkers) overlooking its pass beneath and ahead to its destination.

She wears a motorcycle helmet piece fitted around the components of her cranial enhancements to appear nearly normal, the motorcycle not helping that as it extends a leg to stabilize, slamming it into the concrete.  

 

She ignores.

Timepiece - Clicking through views until a parasitic biosphere is seen overlaying our own, "And there it is."  The beast buried deep underground.

__

Lucretia - Seeing what she sees projected from her pool in the tree, "I'm porting in backup."

Timepiece - "Unnecessary."

Lucretia - "That's a hell of a first target.  You were supposed to be doing recon.  If I see you squirm an inch I'm sending the Dirge."

Timepiece - "The Dirge is loud."

Lucretia - "Non optional and playtime is over.  Get it done or get out of the way.  Do you see what's at the core ?"

Timepiece - Searching through until a single form is seen amid the mass, "I do."

Lucretia - "We've been looking for that one for a very long time.  ...  But ... I believe in you.  I'm learning to do that.  And now this is me telling both of us that this is what you trained for.  Just get it done."

Timepiece - "What I was made for."

________

Walking into the hall, Tartari surrounding the tables in examination where not feasting.  Charon's walks to the seat, the center of two others, carved stone as like the wooden ones from Kashikoi, a long table before them lengthwise, long gunblade leaning against his chair.

Charon - Sitting, a moment.  "I hear a thing of Sanctuary.  Myself ... I'm very old and have loved many lives.  I'm like you.  I do not seek more of them.  But when our home was destroyed, become these passing stones, there were children here who had known no life at all."

...

Aedera - "How do you know what we consider ?"

Charon - "We know."  He leans back.  A sigh with a hand on his upright gunblade.  "You have my respect, but we do not claim secrets in this place, librarian."

He pulls his other arm down as to pull down a roof, and she's in the library again (in 'The Scribe'), the children screaming all around her, the explosions, she cries out for help only as she did.

Charon - Walking through, "This was your greatest moment.  An honorable end to life.  A thing so many seek, a tale told in secret halls.  Like this.  And yet here you are broken by it still, even after death.  Why."

Aedera - Struggling to hold up the shelf, "There were so many.  These were the only few to survive ... I knew them all ..."  Crying, she smiles at one, she smiles back, then pulled away from sight before the collapse.

Gone.  

The Tartari are gathered watching with the curiosity to observe a known event, un before seen, almost then surprised in the after silence by their own Charon's sudden words.

Charon - Sitting back down, "We do not allow demons here, librarian.  Shed yourself and return to us, if it's true and final death you seek.  We have it aplenty.  Or kinship if you can one day be satisfied with the one you were granted.  But unlike you and I, our children like yours once did, seek life."

... hard breathing ...

She ignites her hands into blades of fire, her unseen armor glistening over at their formation.  One sweeping the table in half underneath, the other for a strike from the spin to a thrust.  He swings the gun-blade grinning and blocks under hard to throw back, before spinning it through to take a shot.

 

Spotted with the grip adjustment, a table half kicked up to block.  She bounds from behind its throw and off the pillar, into another strike through his return roaring fire.

________

Lucretia watches Timepiece prepare through her pool, Glitch watches her, her facade disappearing, not dislike for any of it but dissatisfaction with all of it, her place in it.  She smiles at Lucretia's back, then turns away as the theater screen appears to glitch like a brief technical difficulty before she's gone.

('MKLVFKWR' by Public Enemy)

 

Timepiece closes her wrist-comp and adjusts the main dial of her pocket-watch (on a thin cable to her gear, yet from her vest pocket) as time begins to slow.

 

The colors around going pale while the faux gas cap on the motorcycle displays the same as her watch.  Time freezes for the streets below and around as the alien biosphere settles into view, while an occasional pedestrian seems unfrozen but changed to true form, aware with concern of what's happening.

 

One shot through with a gunwick blade exploding the beast from the form, leaving the human frozen in time as the rest. 

She re-jacks the new blade while the motorcycle rears on its forelegs with a mechanical roar and crackle before sweeping a leg across the overpass guardrail, shattering it.  

 

It launches itself with the legs as a boost before rockets stabilize from the pass to the road below tire skidding, chain-gunning from its forelegs and a third from the rear mount, aimed behind for finals in the pass.

 

All things that can fire anything immediately do.

~ On Tartarus Aedera's right blade swipes hard across Charon's blocking gunblade, footing held to stone by armor.  Followed fast by a spin to left then right again, continuously propelled forward as Charon steps back blocking each to allow the next. 

A gunwick blade explodes in the heart of a beast unknown, dissipating it from view as the chainguns spin spending their ammo.  Shells fall away from timelessness into time unseen while she weaves the frozen traffic.  Ahead the fliers start to spiral around the center as the world begins to shake.

~ Charon spins his gunblade under Aedera's attack with a load to shoot, breaking her defense to throw her back again, he takes a shot.  She uses his push to back-flip over it, the armor crackling tendrils into the walls around into a guided crouch landing, blade tips down.  She pushes from them hard for another volley forth.

(during the first music interlude)

The Hecate walk through the Gargarean Rose to inspect with Lady Styx, she give a peculiar eye to the navigator then a smile as they carry on.  They open bedroom drawers delicately holding up underwear to an annoyed death rattle sound.

 

One displays a shiny ribbed dildo which may look vaguely like a hiltless sword handle of some kind to Styx, she rolls her eyes and turns away.  It drops it back down and slams the drawer.

(when the main music returns)

The chain guns continue spending ammo, the beasts fall around, ahead the greater one roars from the ground height just above the surrounding architecture.  She leans forward into the bike as it closes around her before igniting to flames.  

~ Aedera's spins against Charon's stalwart blocks before another shot taken.  A fast flip forward over it, blades poised over as mantis, he stretches back his arms exposing his chest for a roar.

The motorcycle's legs and rockets work unison to throw itself burning through the beast's heart, flamethrowers forward.

~ Through Charon's blast of fire, her armor shining with it she slashes down hard before landing, forcing his halt to swing up the gunblade to block.  The strike nearly puts it to the ground with her blades crossed over it as the armors tendrils track into the floor, pulling the stance and hold firm.

 

The watch on the gas cap springs back into time as Timepiece skids landing to face its fall, the motorcycle opening back up to her upright seating.  Its forelegs sprawl as the beast falls away from time into timelessness, as all the shells from the run drop at once.

A brief quake as the beast fades, the biosphere screaming away, then silence.  

 

Timepiece checks her watch and zooms to the car she was tracking amid the brief but not quite a panic to the single quake (it's California), then turns to ride mingle the traffic.

____

The sight of the armor fades with the fire's last glow, Tartari gathered in a circle to watch in silence.

Charon - "This is ... your technology."

Aedera - "Designed for this."  

Charon - A smile, "It has potential.  Welcome to my hall.  Properly."

Aedera - Her arms extinguish as she rises and pulls her ledger from her satchel, bookmarked by the quill.  Preparing to write, "How many ?"

He straightens, a look.

...

Aedera - "Children.  How many of your children seek to be reincarnate on Earth ?"

____

Lucretia - On comm as the target car's driver notes with concern Timepiece slowing on the motorcycle to side with it, "It's done.  Now on to the prey."

Timepiece turns grinning to the driver, vision blinks though.

________

As she exits the hall, on way to the ship, Lady Styx charges fast from ahead, steps disturbing jittered through time with incredible speed, while her own motion in time slows.  She ignites blades as Styx dives trough her and into a roll before stance.  The armor ices and heats, too long to recover between.  Aedera stands near frozen.

Lady Styx - Their backs to each other, over her shoulder, "He's got a soft touch.  Just to remind you where you are."  

 

To the hall.

Aedera stands a moment, icy breath.  She closes her eyes shaking with a tear ... reaches into her satchel for a drink.  A moment, eyes closed a last shiver, last wisp of cold exhaled.  

 

To the ship.

('Ring Ring Ring' Party Line Mix by De La Soul)

 

The engineer walks through the hall, the small crew here and there swapping shifts and following into their bunks.

_________

____

This is the scene where we get to know the crew as the contents of all their drawers and closets have been dumped out on the floor.  I usually leave space in a work for when I meet the cast, their characters and nature inspired by their interactions on set as we go with room for improvisation.

A 10 member crew.  Seven on bridge, the Navigator, Gunner, their two each assistants plus the Pilot, three in engineering, Engineer et two.  The assistant chatter is a constant meeting between each other regarding all status synthesized and reported back to the head.

Only one pilot to simplify the role as captain, the prime navigator would be next, prime gunner after that, prime engineer, each being replaced by their second while the thirds are probably required for some kind of security issue because all those people just died for that to happen.

The formation's based on the Tree of Life, the pilot is the Fool.

____

________

Shift turns are taken while they put their quarters back together again.

The engineer reaches the singularity core.  A bright sphere much like a star, flares lashing out in tendrils inside its minimal containment as the greater of them filter to surrounding bricks which maintain the field in return.

The engineer to the monitor, taking readings of the surrounding regions, flipping scan modes for the various fluctuations until a wave is spotted.  Order whispered to the assistant to the left, the assistant into the comm.

~ Drawers are repacked ...

The Nav assist receives on bridge and reports it to the Navigator.  Chair's empty, he nods the order while the secondary comm on the side reports the Tartari request.

~ Stashes re-stashed and drawers slammed shut.

The engineer powers down the core to a cooled sun.

Outside the ship above and below, the solar sails deploy.

Aedera walks the halls into her quarters, the mess.  She kicks a path through to the desk, pulls the bottle and sits with it.  

Twirling a shot glass on the desk at an angle under her finger pensively but not regretfully ... then flicks the bottom with a pinkie to an upright flip, thumb-pops the cork on a chain and pours.  

A knock at the door before it opens, the Navigator with a smile.  

...

She takes the shot.  The lights outside the ship dim low, the sail only reflecting, engines power down, disappeared from view but the blotted stars (song ends with the guitar that starts at 4:20).