(warning: more prelude stuff. You may skip this.)
"You told me the truth. I'll call this a successful test." Sharon giggled. "But
wait -- why should Russian sailors know English?"
"True. Then on to the special secret gear you asked for. This is the first thing
a newcomer in most Factions is given."
Antoine produced an older-than-possible tin can with Latin, Greek and Sanskryt
writings on them from his backpack, and opened it. Sharon leaned up to look inside,
to see it full of some green jelly containing a sort of tiny, brightly coloured
fish.
"Let me guess, that's a Babel fish!"
"Babel leech, actually. With this, you'll be able to speak perfecly every language
you ever came into contact with on more than a few occurrencies, and you'll be able
to understand the general meaning of everything you hear in a particular reality
from the first sentences you hear. Pretty handy. Now, it'll hurt a little, so perhaps
it's better if I put it on you." Antoine concluded with his face already mere
centimeters before Sharon's cleavage.
"I thought that it went through you ear?"
"The bellybutton, actually."
"All right, give it to me. I'm officially signing in with this, right?"
"Yes" Antoine said as he gave her the can, with some regret. "The First Eight decreed
that every Faction give one to its followers, and five out of seven do as soon as the
newcomers are found."
"First Eight, but seven Factions. And who are the Factions?"
"It's a long story. You'll be officially initiated after the mission... your ride will
be here in two hours tops."
"All right..." Said so, Sharon took the animal out of its jelly container and applied
it to her navel. For two long seconds her world went red with pain as the critter opened
her umbilical cord and slid right in. Acting on instinct, she leaped from the tub and
attacked Antoine. They landed on the hard concrete floor. Antoine badly hit his head against
it, but he didn't seem to mind much since he maneuvered to have it land jsut between Sharon's
tits.
The two remained in that position just long enough to let the other 18 males in the room turn
towards them and laugh like crazy. Three of them jumped (no alt-warping this time, although
they couldn't have moved much faster if such was the case) to Sharon's aid and got her back
in the tub before she asked them to stop copping feels.
"Pulcherrimas mammarias habes, puella." one of them said.
"Thanks. I suppose you've taken a nice tour of those already." she replied sarcastically in
flawless Latin. Wow! And that having only taken a semester of it!
"Thanks for the test, Matteo." Antoine, still looking embarrassed, said trying to put himself
together.
Now even the five girls who were still working on stuff joined the circle that formed around
the bathtub. Sharon noticed that the one with the missing leg had almost completed her work and
managed to limp there on her own. Two nerds -- Sharon let out a sad smile seeing the bulletproof
pocket protectors they sported -- brought a worn buffet carriage next to her bathtub. It was filled
with weird stuff. She could recognize a weapon, a cross-species like her, since it was made of a
crossbow and two BB guns; other things she could see were a sort of very primitive radio, a
bulletproof vest that looked like a prop from a Flash Gordon rerun, and a WW1 German helmet with
all sort of algae and seaweed on it.
"The Groundwave AM Radio is the only radio that can be used near the Leviathan, but you have to
hold it firmly on the ground -- well, you got it. We will send a mini-sub with jump capability to
make a diversion if the damn thing decides to work -- er, disregard that -- when it is operational,
that is. You may use that to communicate with them. This here is a nailbow, you reload it by turning
this lever here, then can shoot twice before reloading. You have 120 nails in all,
the weapon is pretty effective underwater but has a very narrow range."
"I sort of expected a trident."
"It's cooling as we speak, it takes a while."
"All right. Why does this stuff look so odd and ancient?"
"Well, you're supposed to be from a lost civilization. You know Latin, so exploit
that... make something up. Sorry if the vest looks so ugly but --"
"It's OK, really. Don't worry. But, is this all? No necklace with a gas bomb
hidden inside the pearls, or something?"
"I'm afraid no, but--"
A loud thud coming from the node box interrupted them. Most of the guys standing there
went to see what was coming. They came back with some heavy tools, a diesel engine, and
a cartload of stuff which would be classified under 'Other' even in Area 51.
"Well, we do have something. This looks like a broken lava lamp -- Kurt, take it here
please! -- and well, it IS a broken lava lamps, but in this dimension lava lamps, with
a slight modification, become excellent plasma bombs. Just turn it on and it will boil
everything around it for a good six meters."
"That's what I will use to destroy the sub?"
"Exactly. You may place it near the reactor or just next to a floodgate. The Leviathan
will sink if more than one sector is flooded."
"I suppose this is all... what about Jim?"
"He volunteered for manning the minisub."
Sharon didn't say anything. It was really sweet of him -- to think of it, he would be in
more danger than she was, after all. Mermaids don't get sent to Siberia as Union spies
do if they're lucky. Well, maybe not, since the sub was "jump-capable"... she wondered if
Jim would actually risk his life for her. To think of it, she still didn't know wether he
was behind her trasformation or not! She decided to ask him as soon as possible -- in rhyme,
of course.
Just then, the complex of CB radios scattered around a large antenna broking through the
warehouse's roof came to life.
- *"Open up, guys, we got the truck! Mrs. 'Rusalka,' there's a pool and a decent meal ready."
The truck enters and Sharon is on her way...
- "Open up, capitalist pigs! It's the KGB!" "Quick! Everyone in the node!"
- *"Open up, UNA losers! It's the Men in Gray!" "Oh shit. Battle stations!"
Go back - Go to the parent episode.
ConradVolkov
Mon Jun 14 15:15:01 1999
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