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Post by JesterJoker on Aug 21, 2007 0:57:45 GMT -5
Vespasian whirled the whip across the air as though it was an extension of his own arm. With each swing, he flung flecks of jelly from the flesh of the creature toward the darkest corners of the platform. The mirrors beneath his feet showed reflections of them and he tried not to look at them.
His talent only went so far, because he drew a gash across his wrist which joined his own blood with that of the jelly on the floor. The creature only needed that second to leap forward and swing its arms to grab him and absorb Vespasian or devour him or something at least as disturbing.
Vespasian stepped backward, found his footing abruptly gone and fell onto the floor which Illunova had leapt onto with such unnerving grace. The lights chose to turn on right then. The creature pulled back and the top fourth of its body turned back and forth to find the source.
Vespasian drew some sweat off his face and squinted up at it. Other sounds, most of them wet and squishy, poured from the entrance from which the other one had arrived. Vespasian switched the whip to his healthy hand and peered around the bridge. "Hey, Illi, see if you can zap these things."
His blood continued to fall and he muttered something about his bloody wrists.
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Post by TravelerOfTheWays on Aug 29, 2007 21:44:36 GMT -5
Despite the intent concentration with which Illunova was attending the console, she blinked and frowned for a moment. She had heard the gunman fall to the deck as well as the advance of the creatures, but only when he addressed her as "Illi" did she turn her head. She supposed he was free to call her what he would, but the girlish nickname irritated her.
Whatever he called her, he was certainly justified in asking for some assistance. The only weapon remaining on Illunova's person was her firewand, but she feared it was clogged with the planet's filth. She would only have time to attempt to fire it; any repairs would take away time she needed to figure out the ship.
With a minute shrug, she braced herself against the console and flicked a switch. A weak spout of flame burst from the weapon's nozzle, but it was better than nothing. She would have to either approach the creatures more closely, or...
As she watched the battle and fired as best as she could, she reached behind herself and jabbed at the console, hoping the brighter light signified an increase in power. The deck almost leaped underfoot, and Illunova only kept her feet by clutching the console. The quake slowed but did not stop the army, and she resumed firing her weapon.
"If you carried a flask of alcohol on your person," she called over the disturbingly wet sounds of advancing corpse, "I can make this fire much more effectively."
As she spoke, Illunova noticed that the deck felt different underfoot, almost buoyant. She didn't dare press another button on the console until she could devote her full attention to it, but she hoped she might get the ship moving as soon as she could.
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Post by JesterJoker on Sept 11, 2007 2:07:43 GMT -5
Vespasian retreated from the front to stand closer to Nova and patted the pockets of his pants on the way. Between his bleeding hand and the scratches and corpse fragments on his clothes, he was getting jittery and his hands were quivering.
When the ground lurched, he darted a glance upward around the area, half expecting to see the Illustrious land on top of the mobile corpses. They just kept coming, Vespasian thought, starting to feel weary of the battle. There were just so many...
Then he felt a vague, stale breeze from their earlier tunnel, and the corpses hovered into the air. They scrabbled to keep themselves on the ground, but the tunnel was slowly dragging them out, as it had once brought them in.
Vespasian shook his head, surprised. He waved the flask of alcohol back and forth underneath Nova's nose. "I think this means we're getting into space. Maybe. You did something right, anyway." Even with the corpses seemingly distracted for the moment, he kept eyeing them.
He wouldn't believe they were finished, even temporarily, which was the most likely of the possible outcomes, until they unequivocally were.
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Post by TravelerOfTheWays on Sept 18, 2007 22:30:51 GMT -5
Illunova immediately noticed her companion's trembles, and she made a snap decision she might not ordinarily make. Considering that something was causing the zombies to evacuate the ship, she reasoned it couldn't hurt.
"Before I use that alcohol," she said in a fractionally warmer tone of voice, "you might as well take a mouthful for yourself."
She almost grinned watching him; she could tell from several inches away how strong the alcohol was. When he finished, she took the flask.
"Watch," she instructed. She readied the firewand and with her other hand, closed and shook the flask, then fired the weapon as soon as she opened it again. The initially weak burst of flame gained a prodigious boost from the alcohol fumes and shot forward a good meter or so.
"It's obviously dangerous," she explained, feeling a bit stupid for stating the obvious, "but I don't see much choice."
Trusting her companion to handle the weapon as best he could, she turned back to the console. Something had gone right. Different buttons and patches were lighting up now, some steady and some in strobe patterns. The strobe patterns were probably more urgent, so she stroked one of the patches.
This time the ship fairly bounced up, and the wind tunnel became a cyclone. She didn't think she needed to tell the gunman to hold on to something.
"We need to close the hatch!" she cried over the tumult.
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