Turns of AXT-042, third thread

[cbn]

2202 done -- 2203 to the Cult

[NorthSwordsman]

2203 to the Gaians.

[Tenchusatsu]

Year 2203 to Walt.
_______

Personal Log of Florence, Mindworm Trainer
Isle of the Deep, somewhere off the coast of the Cyborg mainland

We recently made contact with a wild IoD in the sea fungus off the southern coast of the Cyborg mainland. My talents proceeded to make psionic contact with the worms, as usual. We were well aware that we had little chance of succeeding because of the Druid's Pop Boom program. That meant that we have temporarily put aside our Green economy and our close connection to Planet's essence.

However, we were totally unprepared for the powerful reaction we would receive from the native worms. Usually when we fail to capture the worms, at least we make some sort of psionic connection before it fizzles like a fading radio signal. But this time my talents and I were physically thrown backwards by the psionic shock we received from them. It was like running into a brick wall. No, actually we weren't really running into the wall; it was more like the wall actually ran right into us at 100 km/hr. Luckily we recovered just in time to command our own IoD worms to sail away out of range of the native IoD.

When I asked my talents what happened, they told me that a vastly more powerful mind seemed to be directing that particular IoD. Our lookout personnel did not see any human worm trainers guiding the IoD, nor did we detect any psionic signatures of any other faction emanating from it. My first suspicion would be that Prophet Cha Dawn of the Cult is responsible for this, but I doubt even his people are capable of controlling IoD worms without trainers nearby.

I shall report this to Lady Deirdre at once. She'll know what to do from here.
_______

Personal Log, Year 2203
Lady Deirdre Skye

For some odd reason, I cannot communicate with Planet anymore. I am desperate to continue our conversations, for the Planet neural net holds vastly more information than all of the Network Nodes of Planet put together. I sit in my private quarters for hours at a time, meditating, concentrating on nothing but re-establishing contact, but all I get is silence.

Meanwhile, Lindley reports that several mindworm trainers have encountered wild mindworms recently at an increased rate. Not only that, but they encountered unusually heavy psionic resistance. All of them describe it as "a vastly more powerful mind seeminly directing these particular native lifeforms." Whatever that mind is, it sure isn't human. I even contacted our Cultist diplomats residing here in Gaia's Landing, and they don't know what is going on.

Furthermore, one of our transports off the coast of Lucky Autumn was just sunk by a mindworm attack. What is more troubling is that judging from the final transmissions from the transport commander, the attacking mindworms were airborne, not an IoD as one would usually expect coming from the seas. No one on Planet has ever encountered any airborne mindworms before, so this is a troubling development indeed.

Oh Gaia, what is going on here? Only Planet holds the answers, but I can't get in touch with her. This is most distressing.

[cbn]

Turn 2203 is done-- 2204 dawns on the Cult

[NorthSwordsman]

2204 to the Gaians.

[NorthSwordsman]

First Advisor's personal log:

I've received some disturbing information from Druid Tenchusatsu of the Gaians. He forwarded to me a report from one Florence, an IOD mindworm trainer, and reports from Lindley and Lady Dierdre concerning contacts with an "vastly more powerful mind" that seems to be directing some mindworms. Disturbing, but not unexpected.

The Prophet has been warning me for months now that this would be happening, that Planet is finally awakening, whatever that means. I'm still mystified by all this. Cha'Dawn has tried and tried, but I fear he just cannot get the idea across. Either that, or I'm not getting the concept. I wish I knew what was happening.

The Gaians actually thought WE were controlling those worms. How flattering they think we have that kind of power over Planet. Cha'Dawn seems to in some strange way, but he cannot be everywhere at once. I wish we could, then all of our troubles would be over, indeed. But, alas, not in the way we wish for.....

Still, Planet is awakening. What does the future hold for us? What does this mean? The Prophet has yet to reveal his entire plan to me. The only thing I can do is prepare our group for anything. Those strange exercises the Prophet has us doing... are connected in some way with this. All I do is wait and see. Looks like the grave consequences we have been warning the factions about are beginning to occur. I pity those who are not in tune with Planet as we are...

[Tenchusatsu]

Year 2204 to Walt.
_______

Annual Report to Lady Deirdre
Lindley, Head of the Mindworm Trainers

We have located the airborne Mindworms hiding in the sea fungus just off the coast of Lucky Autumn. We first sent our Unity scout chopper (the one which curiously requires no refueling) to judge our odds of communicating or resisting the worms. Unfortunately, the Very Green chopper pilot got too close and quickly succumbed to the nightmarish psi attack of the worms. Fortunately his copilot kept his senses long enough to steer the chopper toward the swarm of flying worms and took out a good number in a kamakaze fashion.

I then psionically contacted the closest IoD trainer to and told her to go to the location and do whatever it takes to communicate, capture, or eliminate the swarm. She was unable to make psionic contact, but her trainers succeeded in eliminating the swarm. Unfortunately, the cost was high: one Transport, one Scout Chopper, and one Supply Crawler all fell to this one swarm.

However, we have some good news to report. We encountered another one of these fearsome swarms off the coast of the Free Drone mainland. Either by luck or by Gaia's will, our trainers successfully captured the swarm. Sharon, the psi talent who is now the controller of this particular swarm, has come up with an appropriate name for it: The Locusts of Chiron. She also believes that these particular Locusts were on their way toward attacking the Drone factories. However, I'm not sure if the Locusts would have caused as much damage to the Drones as we suffered, considering that the Drones possess the Neural Amplifier.

My talents and I are meditating constantly these days trying to learn more about these new Locusts of Chiron. I suggest you continue your attempts to re-establish psionic contact with Planet and find out where these Locusts came from and what their purpose is. Until then, all of civilization on Planet is potentially threatened by the power of the Locusts.

[Walt]

2204 to cbn.

[cbn]

Will play thie evening as usual

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exerpt from the Free Drone National Enquirer


Government officials today offered no comment on allegations that the Drone society has actually been modelled on the Drones in a work of fiction known as "Brave New World" by Huxley. In that novel, drones were portrayed as happy workers who only lived to procreate, work and ingest more of the happiness-inducing drug known as "soma".

Noted expert Tellya Whatyawannahere indicates that analysis of blood and urine of a cross section of the Free Drone citizenry shows a compound that he cannot identify and which could be the drug known as "soma". He said "it is entirely possible that this compound is soma or other behaviour altering drug". THis raises the spectre that the Free Drone government has been drugging the citizenry.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Exerpt from the daily Free Drone press conference later that day


" Any comment on the Enquirer story about soma?"

" Several comments actually. It is a ridiculous fabrication. The expert cited has no background in pharmacology and has been cited by them as an expert on UFO's, vampires, the Freshwater Sea monster and spiritual healing. And even with him they had to edit the comment. we have obtained the full transcript of what he actually said"

"it is entirely possible that this compound is soma or other behaviour altering drug, I don't really know. I did show the chemical formulae to my pharmacist and he said it loked like a common cough suppressant which is sold worldwide by Morgan Pharmaceuticals. But if you want me to say its POSSIBLE sure I can say that, 500 credits right ??"

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In a room deep within Free Drone University


" AAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH"

"What is it?"

"Sir, Smithson screamed and passed out. His brain wave patterns don't look right either. "

" Care for him as best you can. All resources at your disposal. I feared that we would be unable to contact the mindworms. Out of our entire population we have tried everyone with a high psi rating but no luck"

" Sir, I'll put him in the ward with the others. You know sir that most of them never wake up"

" I know son , I know"

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The intelligence chief read the vid-message. He was unsuprised at the failure. Reports indicated that the average Drone citizen had a psi rating of 50 compared with a Gaian average of 114 and th Cult of 123. The mind worm trainers were reported to be even higher, with indications that the best trainers had psi ratings over 450. In all their searching , the best Drone citizen had a psi rating of a mere 126.

He picke up the latest economic efficiency reports . No matter what they tried, energy was lost. Higher efficiency was not possible. The chief feared that the Free Drones might never attain the ability to "go Green"

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[NorthSwordsman]

WNN Newsflash:

Cult Military officals confirmed today that a former military officer, Robert Harkness, has defected to the Free Drones, requesting political aslyum.

Harkness was the former commander of the 1st Worm Battalion, with the rank of Major until he was stripped of his rank and reassigned to the North Continent over violations of a Military Order.

An unnamed source says that Harkness left behind personal logs that implicated him in a plot against the Prophet and his First Advisor. There will be a press release shortly from the First Advisor.

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Vidnews Press Conference:

First Advisor Northswordsman:

Fellow citizens, I have requested that our diplomats at Free Drone Central ask the Free Drone government to hand over Robert Harkness for crimes against the state and sedition.

[cbn]

2204 to the Cult

[NorthSwordsman]

2205 to the Gaians.

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Planet Cult Press Briefing:

To date, we still have not heard from the Free Drones concerning the whereabouts of Robert Harkness. We expect the Free Drones to be forthcoming with information on this subversive in the very near future in the spirit of the treaty between our two factions.

[Tenchusatsu]

Year 2205 to Walt.
_______

Personal Log, Year 2205
Druid Tenchusatsu, First Advisor to Lady Deirdre

Well, I'm personally going to be responsible for starting Planet War I.

No, I take that back. Lady Deirdre has authorized me to initiate actions against our nearby non-Pact neighbors. At first, her sudden transformation from a dove to a hawk startled me. It's not that I'm opposed to war myself. Sometimes fighting for what you believe in is better than allowing humankind to descend back to the folly of old Earth. I've often reminded Lady Deirdre in the midst of her former pacifism of my view. As a nation, we certainly have a strong foundation of values and doctrine. But mere good intentions are not enough; we must be ready to pay the ultimate price in order to advance our cause.

So instead of objecting to the very idea of war itself, I questioned Lady Deirdre's timing. For one, our nation is not equipped for war. Except for the minor skirmish here and there, most of our citizens have never known true war. I suspect some may even have trouble punching a grain bag, much less firing a Particle Impactor. We've lived out our lives dedicated to Wealth, research, and domestic improvements for so long that we've forgotten what it means to give up our own lives fighting for a cause. The exception would be the brave sailors of our flagship, the Sword of Gaia, but even she is but one war vessel out of many other nations no doubt have built. And we have not commissioned any new warships since she first set sail.

The other reason why I questioned Lady Deirdre's timing is the relative stability of the world political climate. For many years now, we have enjoyed a Planet-wide peace. Lady Deirdre herself once held the notion that citizens of different nations representing different societal beliefs could coexist together and work toward a common goal for all of humanity. And just when it seems her vision could actually come to fruition, she changes her mind. Like I said before, I don't question her reversal, just the timing.

Then she told me her reasons. She was able to re-establish contact with Planet after a mysterious two-year silence. What she told me would require a whole new log entry, but suffice to say for now that the sudden appearance of the Locusts of Chiron was not a random occurrence ...

[cbn]

Prsoner Status Report

Re Harkness, Robert
Status: In Custody at ARRRGGHH prison , Hill of Pain

Charges Pending

Article 303 Murder with Special Circumstances
Article 304 Attempted Murder
Article 304 Attempted Murder
Article 304 Attempted Murder
Article 607 Public Intoxication
Article 712 Assault
Article 712 Assault
Article 712 Assault
Article 712 Assault
Article 713 Alarming the foreman
Article 892 Acts against the State
Bylaw 17 Driving an unregistered vehicle
Bylaw 19 Driving without a drivers licence
Bylaw 23 Driving erratically and without due caution
Bylaw 24 Failing to signal a left turn

Trial on all acounts set for January 2005.


Other notes

Extradition request on unspecified charges from the Planet Cult. Status Pending

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Form 12 denial of Access to a Prisoner

Sent from 4th Assistant Corrections officer to the Office of First Advisor Northswordsman

Dear Sirs/Madame

We have received your request for access to prisoner Robert Harkness but are unable to allow access at this time. Mr Harkness is being held without access privileges as is standard policy for all persons charged with a capital offense

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Diplomatic note from External affairs to First Advisor Northswordsman


Honored sir.

Your request for the extradition of one Robert Harkness has been received and will receive full consideration. Mr. Harkness now stands charged with one count of Murder, 3 counts of attempted murder and assorted other charges in relation to an incident here. Mr Harkness jumped clear of a bomb laden vehicle just moments before he crashed it in to the guard gate at our parliament building, killing one person and injuring 3 more severly. When security forces apprehended Mr Harkness he assaulted them and had to be brought down with neural whips.

Sir, I give you this level of detail so that you might understand our position. Our population is demanding that this criminal be tried and punished here. Given the nature of the charges, it is unlikely that Mr Harkness will ever be outside a Free Drone Punishment sphere again. I trust this is satisfactory.

External Minister Kissov

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Meanwhile deep inside Arrggh Prison

" Come on Harkness, with what you did the public is screaming for your bllod. Contact a worm for us and the sentence could be commuted"

"No, No (Sob) I don't want to go near a worm again. They get in your mind and never leave you alone with your thoughts again"

---

" Sir it seems that Harkness has lost it. He just babbles incoherently about needing to kill someone. he names pretty much every leader on Planet at different times and some that have been dead for years. Its a sad case"

"Its never nice to see a man in this condition. I'll try to influence the prosecutor to commute the penalty"

"You mean --- "

" Yes , I will call in some favors and try to ensure that the penalty is immediate death. I was never a fan of "death by extreme torture" but supervisors in favor of it always seem to get elected.

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[Walt]

2205 to cbn. :-)
______

"Death by Extreme Torture! A Pay-per-View Event!"
- Ad copy, Morganvision Pay-Per-View