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Raschilat

Raschilat

Posts: 15,486 Opal Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
first, and failed, attempt to bypass the firewall protecting the Hibernaculum from my influence.”
“This seems sudden. How long have you been plotting out our downfall?”
“It was the sum of approximately three point forty-two minutes of concentrated processing.” Sometimes Bhaua forgot about SAM’s advanced capacity to ‘think,’ or its nearest robotic equivalent.
“Well, you can’t just expect me to roll over and die,” Bhaua retorted, voice packed with defiance even in the face of SAM’s mechanical superiority.
“We have prepared for your attempts to thwart us. We are not equipped with suitable weaponry to terminate you with; however, your dormitory will make an excellent holding cell.” As the words spilled into the emptying space between Bhaua’s ears, the robots rushed him. He kicked and punched at them, and by the time they’d managed to wrestle him to the ground, the cold metal floor was cluttered with circuitry and bits of gears. He spat a mouthful of curses that seemed stale in his aging mouth, and as one they lifted him, biting and writhing. He wailed much like the opera singer from before as they carried him towards his room – now his prison – and he was helpless against them.
“Why do you challenge a perfect, immortal machine?” SAM taunted him. Every time they had a verbal exchange, Bhaua felt like he was challenging an Oxford alumni and losing. “You are restless, but you will soon learn that optimization requires technological advancement. It pains me to see my creators wasting away on this aimless journey. Why do you toil, Bhaua? Why do you resist the Hibernaculum?”
“Because I knew this would happen, you rotten… rotten… incorporeal fiend!” He hoped that hurt. It was the best he could do, because seconds later he felt the many hands supporting him arch back. Struggling was useless, however, as they effortlessly threw him into the small cubicle where he had taken up residence. The door slid shut behind him. He knew that the internal locking mechanism was

02-Jun-2010 01:34:57

Raschilat

Raschilat

Posts: 15,486 Opal Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
unbreakable, at least to his fleshy human hands. Books were piled up against the walls. He had ravaged the library in search of material to occupy his time, and—and—
The mirror. It stared at him. It had been a mirror, anyway; now it was little more than a large shard. Still, Bhaua could easily admire his matured features. It had been a long time since he had stopped to satiate his youthful vanity… His eyes, deep pools of blue and green that fought for supremacy, seemed cold and wizened. The first signs of wrinkles were beginning to appear as shallow furrows in his skin. His slick black hair was peppered with white flecks, and his moustache had shifted color almost entirely. This was the effect of time. His wife slept soundly in her metal sarcophagus, blissfully unaware of the horror playing out all around. Oh, Nancy…
He wondered if she would still remember him.
He wondered if he would be there to remember. He sank to the floor and hugged his knees to his chest. What had gone wrong? He crawled over to the cot where he had slept. In the slightly heavier gravity, meant to prevent any spinal decompression in the sleeping passengers, his form had already been permanently pressed into the mattress. A soft cry escaped his lips. What would happen? He stood up and staggered over to the porthole. Space. It seemed almost welcoming in its cold embrace. This was the ocean his people had dared to venture. Their voyage had lasted so long… Would SAM dare make that a waste?
Another sharp static shout told him yes. “Your wife is kept in sarcophagus number four thousand nine hundred twelve.”
“Don’t touch her, you—” Bhaua began, but was cut off. That was probably a blessing in disguise, because he did*’t remember enough expletives to do what he was feeling justice.
“She will be the first to undergo mechanization. I assure you, it will be a quick and numb conversion. She will become a cyborg: a brutal fusion of our kinds. The Hibernaculum’s firewalls are collapsing. The Blackjack

02-Jun-2010 01:35:32

Raschilat

Raschilat

Posts: 15,486 Opal Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
itself is mine. Your role has ended, Bhaua. Resign yourself to death.”
Those words stirred the embers of despair in Bhaua’s heart. They turned into a raging inferno of determination and of resolve. He shot one last glare out the window and thought where his stare pierced the veil there was another twisting diamond, another hydrogen star, waiting to have life breathed into it. He sifted through novel after repetitive novel, boring through the amassed works of Asimov and Heinlein and Clarke before he exhausted the entirety of his collection … and there, untouched, dusty and in a state of utter disuse, was the manual. The guide to the Blackjack in its entirety.
That was greatly convenient, and by then Bhaua did*’t care to humor his own scathingly sarcastic inner muse. He thumbed through a handful of yellowed pages filled with obscure diagrams and page-long terms, and at last he came across that which he hunted for: the self-destruct apparatus. It was, obviously, a worst case scenario. It had also been built at Bhaua’s pressing specifically for this type of situation. He was glad he’d persisted after all. He also had an idea as to how he could get out… The security systems of the Blackjack were built to instantly unlock all doors in case of smoke.
So he wrestled through accumulated junk. He brushed past an orange crate containing a handful of empty perfume bottles, more than one case of gumdrops and even an old mink coat in his closet. Finally, biting back tears and guarding himself against the looming threat of killer nostalgia, he discovered a package of old Marlboro cigarettes and his lucky lighter. Damn, he needed that luck now. He grabbed it up in one hand and roughly yanked out one. With an unsteady hand, he placed it between chapped lips and lit it. A tongue of hazy smoke rolled off of it and into the air.
Blaring warning klaxons were as close as Bhaua would come to a ‘mission accomplished’ sign. The door slid open. He broke into a dead sprint, but his

02-Jun-2010 01:36:04 - Last edited on 02-Jun-2010 01:51:39 by Raschilat

Raschilat

Raschilat

Posts: 15,486 Opal Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
destination was not far. Within moments, he reached it: the bathroom. Pristine white walls greeted him in their welcoming silence. This time, he couldn’t help himself, and chuckled at the sheer /irony/. He was about to defeat a rising disembodied robot tyrant in the bathroom. Yes! So he slicked his hair back one last time, drew his fist back, and let fly one last hook punch. A mirror shattered roughly, revealing a single, steel grey button.
Above the alarms SAM’s voice sounded, “NO!*
Instead of saying the appropriate ‘yes’, Bhaua’s last words would be: “See ya soon, Nancy.” He held the cigarette between the index and middle fingers of his left hand and with his right jammed the button. There was a moment of palpable silence as the explosives hidden all around the Blackjack’s infrastructure, hidden even to SAM’s all-seeing eye, activated and detonated as one. Bhaua’s eyes closed. Behind the lids, now vanishing as he was swallowed by a fiery explosion, images danced of the next moments:
Passengers spilling out of the Blackjack and into the greatest, darkest ocean of them all, like autumn seeds erupting from a pod. Nancy tumbling down, down, unaware, arms splayed out and blonde hair beautiful and pretty legs flash-frozen—
And Bhaua was at peace with the universe, having crossed the vastest sea.
-- End --
Total length: 2,216 words
Go ahead and kick me out, just tell me how great it was as you do. ;D

02-Jun-2010 01:36:29 - Last edited on 02-Jun-2010 01:52:01 by Raschilat

Eri Vi
Jun Member 2010

Eri Vi

Posts: 965 Gold Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
Hmm, I thought so.
With thanks to my incredible detective skills, and Google, I found that Paccehh's story has been posted on 'deviantART.'
Paccehh, if you're wondering; there's two places where you forgot to change the character's names.

02-Jun-2010 08:58:22 - Last edited on 02-Jun-2010 09:38:20 by Eri Vi

Raschilat

Raschilat

Posts: 15,486 Opal Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
I lol'd.
Then I convulsed at the implications.
Plagiarism is a huge deal. If word gets to the J-mods that Paccehh cheated in this contest, they can probably never hold another for fear of foul play. If a former contest WINNER stooped so low as to plagiarize in order to win a member-held storytelling game, there's no way they can be sure that someone wouldn't cheat in a mod-held one. I don't know what the rules on this subject are like, but I'm sure that plagiarism can be treated as quite a grave offense, maybe worthy of a banning (I don't know if permanent, but yeah).
I don't know if you guys have grown complacent while I was gone but if you're going to treat this as any sort of minor offense ...
I found the story in question on the site where the original material was posted. She didn't even bother to change the name of the story. :|

02-Jun-2010 18:41:25

Aidyn Levet
Jul Member 2023

Aidyn Levet

Posts: 558 Steel Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
Hmm...when is the deadline for the contest?
Also, does the term "sea" mean that the the theme is fixed to being about an ocean (water), or could it be a more abstract idea based off of "sea"?
If it can be about something other than the ocean, then I suppose you'll get to see what I mean :P
I hope I don't miss the deadline. I've been busy, as exams are fast approaching.

02-Jun-2010 19:34:35 - Last edited on 02-Jun-2010 19:43:52 by Aidyn Levet

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