Operation Rusalka -- Briefing

Unending BE - episode 27651

  As she said so, Jim ran to the rusty steel doors and banged on them twice. Another
nerd -- Sharon had to admit that even nerds are somewhat physically tougher in a 
world-at-war like this, as the stranger opened his half of the door in much less time
than Jim.
  The two then carried Sharon and the tub outside. The room she was in before was 
really a big box of concrete inside the larger warehouse. In a corner a massive steam
engine was providing power to the installation, and the "box" itself was surrounded
on three sides by machinery about which the only thing Sharon could recognize were
three interconnected Tesla coils, each a good three meters tall. The rest of the
warehouse was occupied by about two dozens of people, all between 12 and 25 years of
age, working on various things. Some had casts on an arm or a leg. A girl, who was 
missing a leg from the knee down, was trying to fix a crude motorized artificial limb.
  "What happened in here?"
  "Decades of war, that's what. Oh, here's Antoine, he'll explain it all to you." the
other nerd carrying her said.
  "I've got to jump, hon. Must make up something with your parents, you know. I'll be
back as soon as possible." Jim said, and went back into the node box.

  Sharon was brought to the only free corner and left alone with Antoine. Despite the
name his English had, if anything, a slight hint of German accent. He was sweaty and
and dirty and looked like he hadn't slept for days.
  "So, you're the 'M' of the situation, right?" Sharon asked trying to keep a cheerful
tone.
  "Yes. Look, I'd be delighted to explain things in depth or to take a good photograph
of you -- er, disregard that -- but we found the truck and so time is critical. We will
drop you near Emden, in Eastern Frisia. The best route for the Leviathan is from wherever it
is now to the Elb channel which leads straight to Hamburg, where it will emit its EMP
pulse. Last we heard from our contact, honor to his memory, was two days ago and we
expect the Leviathan to be well on its way. You must enter into the submarine and, if you
find proof of 'unreal' technology, destroy or disable it. Expect a lot of surface activity
since that's near the border."
  "Wait a minute, this is all? What if they just don't notice me or decide to ignore me?"
  "Oh, yeah. I forgot about that. The Russians have very little uranium and plutonium to
power the Leviathan, and it needs a full charge to use its weapon. There is a small island
called Helgolad which seems to hold radioactive material. The Leviathan will have to surface
to get the fuel, so that is your best opportunity. Your tits are really big and I'm sure that
you as a mermaid have the charms to -- er, disregard the former -- to get some attention from
them."
  "It sounds a very messy plan."
  "I'm afraid it is, that's the way we work here. We don't have any licit way to alert the 
European Union of the danger, and believe me we did try. A fast truck will take you across
the border and drop you. Two of us will be following with a jump-capable minisub as soon as
the damn thing decides to start working -- er..."
  "Yeah, I'll disregard that."
  "Thank you. As soon as we can get it to the drop point. They will provide a diversion if
possible. Now, the tests we've done with the memory of this tub's water..."
  "Memory of water? I thought that was a scientific hoax!"
  "In your world it probably is. I don't have time to explain it all to ignoramuses -- er,
disregard that -- to newcomers, but it appears that you are more than a sum of a dolphin
and a girl. You can stay underwater for the better part of a day and you don't need much
sleep. Then it appears that if you do a convincing attempt at singing, people will be
emotionally responding to whatever you sing. If you do a good job with rhyme and rythm,
that is. But I'm not sure. May we test this before I give you the equipment?"
  "O-kay, techie boy...
        

(oh shit now what do I say...)

"

  "Well, it appears that your transformation was engineered by somebody as far as 
we know, surely one of the Seven Factions of uchronic travelers. Perhaps the 
Humanist Alliance was trying to lend us a hand. To be honest, we were considering
that option -- turning someone into a merman -- but we didn't have the skills or
the resources to do it. And I'd really love to get a tit job from you, since
despite the war and everything I haven't get laid even once in my whole life.
Wait. What did I just say?"



*On to the equipment section

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ConradVolkov

Mon Jun 14 13:59:58 1999