An Ode to Activision

[MidKnight Lament]

I loooove the way my character's turning out

- MKL
[This message has been edited by MidKnight Lament (edited April 06, 2000).]

[Locutus]

quote: Originally posted by Slingshot on 04-05-2000 12:07 PM She turned to Locutus and said "I certainly hope your colleage here is as flirtatious as he is handsome!"

Is that Silica sucking up to me or you, Slingshot? I'm not exactly what you'd call handsome (to the contrary ). Or is plastic surgery part of the training program for Apolyton Agents?

Anyway, I can't wait for the next installment. Gimme more!
[This message has been edited by Locutus (edited April 10, 2000).]

[Slingshot]

I figured that since this whole story is a ficticous spin on a meager assemblage of fact, why not make everybody look good?

But let's be more tounge-in-cheek serious. (I mean that!) Rumour has it that all Apolyton agents go through rigorous training. It is so rigourous, in fact, that everyone looks like a soldier off the movie "Predator(TM)."

Further, Apolyton agents are screened through intense combat and covert op simulations, not unlike those you would see in movies like Mission Impossible(TM), MIB(TM), and every movie with a bomb that has to be defused. But that's not all! The final test for every agent is a rigorous IQ test. It has to do with quantum physics and the postulate reality of alternate universes. (See the post MarkG has 4.70635559131134352373290426387772 more posts that DanQ) in the Apolyton section for more information!)
[This message has been edited by Slingshot (edited April 10, 2000).]

[Slingshot]

Eis awoke in a cold sweat. "I can't believe I fell asleep!" he thought. How long had it been since he last heard the footsteps fading off in the distance? The young agent had meant to wait about 10 minutes, to make sure the coast was clear.

The room was unnaturally dark. Shadows seemed to appear and fade in the blackness. He strained his ears for some hint of movement. Nothing. Then Eis remembered Midknight loosening the straps around his wrists. They had been pinned behind his back for so long that he couldn't feel them. The sensation was unsettling. He felt like he was a fish that had been removed from water, beaten and shrink-wrapped in one fell swoop. The more he tried to move his heavy, unfeeling arms, the worse he felt.

Eis stopped trying. He now wished that his arm still hurt from Midknight's subdermal implant - anything to let him know that they were still there. He tried to wriggle his legs, but they were still strapped tightly to the stretcher. "Holy cow!" he thought " I can't even feel my toes!"
With that, Eis no longer cared about making noise. He struggled fiercely, like an animal caught in a trap. The stretcher started to move, although in what way he couldn't tell. Encouraged by the movement, Eis kept struggling. Suddenly his stomach hit his throat, and with a loud crash the agent fell sideways on the floor. The impact jarred his senses, and his rubber arms moved out from behind his back.

The poor agent took a rest from struggling. Now every part of him hurt, and for once that made him feel better. Slowly his arms began to fill with warm, oxygenated blood and he could move his fingers. In his left hand he felt a rectangular piece of plastic.

Moments later, Eis performed a sideways sit-up, and moved his hands towards the straps binding his feet. It took several minutes to find the latches in the dark, and figure out how to undo them. When he finally broke free from the stretcher, Eis lay back down on the cold, tiled floor. He felt like a truck had ran over him, but knowing he still had two arms and two legs made him feel like it was the greatest day in his life.

The agent crawled along the floor until he felt a wall. Using it wall for support, Eis tried to stand. The hardest part was the fact it was so dark, and he fought hard to keep balance. Slowly he groped along the wall, looking for a doorframe or light switch, the card still clutched tightly in his left hand. Finally, Eis came upon a switch that glowed dimly near a corner of the room. The fact that he hadn't seen its glow until now bothered him. He shook his head "I must have been drugged. It's probably taking a while for the effect to wear off." That thought reassured him, although there was something about the air that was stifling, as though he were in a disease-stricken camp somewhere in the jungle. Something smelled like the sap of a rotten palm tree.

Elated by the sense of progress, Eis' nerves calmed. He wondered if it was smart to flip the switch. The bad thing was the fact he felt so blind. Either the room was sound absorbent or he was deaf, because his ears refused to pick up anything except his own breathing. Eis looked around and still saw nothing. He was worried about groping along the wall and tripping over a table full of scalpels, or something worse. After a few long moments, Eis closed his eyes and flipped the switch.

[Slingshot]

It was a warm Californian night. The sun had set hours before, and the city was alive with lights. In a dark corner on the ground level of a car park sat a gray van. A door opened and out stepped Locutus. He was dressed in a dark jacket and wore a black ball cap. Over his shoulder was a modest-looking back pack. Loc looked like one of the many students that frequented this area.

He turned around to close the door. Nordicus and Pintello peered up from glowing terminal screens. Pintello removed his headset mic and said "Good luck, Sneak."

Locutus gave his friends the thumbs up and closed the door. He walked across the street, down a sidewalk and blended in with the rest of the city.

Minutes later, Locutus turned down a dark alleyway. The agent stood against a tall, abandoned brick building. About two meter above him was a broken window.

Loc reached into his pack and pulled out a Walkman. He donned some headphones and switched the tuner to 100.3. On the bottom of the Walkman was a second tuner. This he set to 92.5. On his collar was a mic, which he plugged into the DC-in port. "All set, commander," he said.

Pintello heard the transmission in the van. "Good to hear you again, Sneak! I was worried you wouldn't figure out the wiring."

Loc snorted. "It's obvious you did this yourself. I'm ready."

Ignoring the poke, Pintello continued. "Sounds good, Sneak. Your first job is to get into that window above. Then I'll direct you to the underground passage."

Locutus looked at his point of entry. It was about 3.5 meters from the ground, a not-so-scant 12 feet in old-style units. The Sneak tightened his Walkman, gritted his teeth, and climbed up the old brick face.

[Locutus]

quote: Originally posted by Slingshot on 04-12-2000 12:23 PM For those Alberta natives, I gave two clues as to which major city I live in. The clues are two posts back!

Well, I'm not a native (hell, I'm not even from the same continent as you are), but I'll try anyway because I love this kind of thing.
I'm wearing a black baseball cap in the story and the only Albertan baseball-team I could find with black caps (or at least it appeared to be black, the only photo's I could find were of relatively poor quality) are the Edmonton Trappers. The radio frequenty 100.3 is that of Bear Edmonton Radio. I couldn't find the other frequenty but I bet it's of Power 92 (the link to the website was broken so I couldn't check), apparently another Edmonton local radio station.
So my conclusion, you're from Edmonton. Am I right?

What you can't do with a simple search-engine (It was quite a challenge to find out I must say, I encountered a lot of broken links. Is that normal in Canada? )

Locutus

[Slingshot]

Well done, Locutus!

(Now I know why Pintello calls you the Sneak!)

I figured Noricus would be the fellow who got it.

Actually, Alberta is supposed to have the best internet and IT infrastructure in the country! Alberta produces enormous amounts of natural gas, oil, forest products, coal, etc. The taxes from oil alone put billions of dollars into the coffers of the provincial government, and they are trying very hard to diversify the economy.

I had better not say too much more, or my Canadian brothers from the other provinces will get mad... People from British Columbia (the province west of us and north of Washington) get most upset about Albertans talking about the land of milk and honey.

[Slingshot]

Light streamed around him like a thunderbolt. Eis felt twice as blind now as he did in the darkness. He knew now that if anything was near and if it wanted to kill him, the agent was a sitting duck. For what it was worth, Eis lurched about and ducked his head, fighting to open one eye.

Slowly, he began to see images in a small, padded room. It had a sink on the other side, and in the middle was a mess of a stretcher that had been ripped to pieces during Eis' stuggle for freedom. Next to him were two other stretchers. Each had a body on them. The first was completely covered by a white sheet. The second was covered from the chest down.

Eis was shocked. "skorpion!" He hobbled over to his comrade, who had been stirred by the bright light.

"skorpion! Its me, Eis. Can you hear me?"

skorpion's head moved back and forth. Then his eyes opened with a look of terror. "I'm stuck!"

"Don't worry, I'll get you out." With that he released the straps that secured skorpion to the stretcher. "It'll take a few minutes to recover. I'm going to look around some more.

There was not much more to the room, aside from a closed door near the switch. Eis made his way over to the door, finding a keycard lock just below the doorknob. He looked at the card in his hand, fit it into the lock and heard a click. Turning the doorknob, Eis carefully opened the door and peered through. He was at the end of a long hallway.

Encouraged, Eis opened the door completely and peered out. There was no one to be found, just a long hallway that was occasionally illuminated by fluorescent lights. The smell of rotten palm sap was just as strong here.

The young agent looked back and saw skorpion sitting up on the stretcher. Eis decided to venture down the hall. He took about six steps when suddenly a door opened out of nowhere in front of him. Out stepped a surprised-looking janitor, holding a mop in one hand and pulling a wheeled bucket behind him. In an instant Eis slammed the newly opened door and turned back toward the room from which he came.

Things happened quickly. As he entered, Eis saw skorpion crumpled on the floor. Bewildered, he looked around to see the third table devoid of body and white sheet. He heard something move to his left, and as he turned, Eis felt a rigid hand close over his skull. On the other end of the hand was a silvery arm, which was owned by a burly Actigator. Eis swung hard at the monster, his fist slamming into its chin. There was a geasy pop and the Actigator's jaw ripped away from the depraved face. Eis' opponent returned the blow by kicking the agent's legs out from under him. Instead of falling, Eis was left hanging by the Actigator's grip on his head. The pain was horrible, and he felt consciousness slipping away.

Suddently, there was a crash in the hallway. The janitor flew into the room, wielding his mop. With a yell, the man rammed the handle through the Actigator's neck and delivered a heavy blow to its back. There was another pop, and the creature folded backwards like a rotten stick. Eis fell to the floor as the janitor pulled out a plasma pistol. Two shots later, the Actigator lay motionless on the floor. The owner of the pistol returned it to a holster and picked up a communicator. "HQ, this is the head mop-pusher."

"What the heck's going on up there, Sieve? You tryin' to start a war?"

Sieve Manicotti surveyed the carnage. "I found the Apolytons, but they're in pretty rough shape. Send some paramedics on the double."

[Slingshot]

I guess they should be called "Actimedics."

Sorry, I'll try harder next time.

For those Alberta natives, I gave two clues as to which major city I live in. The clues are two posts back!

Yesterday, I found out about a nasty, recurring weather pattern the Americans call the Alberta Clipper. But we don't call it that. The bad weather comes from The Siberian High, and good weather tends to come from the Idaho low.

So you can see how fondly we think of our neighbours to the south.
[This message has been edited by Slingshot (edited April 12, 2000).]

[Locutus]

quote: Originally posted by Slingshot on 04-12-2000 05:10 PM Well done, Locutus! (Now I know why Pintello calls you the Sneak!) I figured Noricus would be the fellow who got it.

Thanx. Yeah, that is indeed a suitable nickname for me (for more reasons than just this).
No, I didn't really count on Nordicus. He has the strangest habit of dissappearing suddenly for a few days or weeks and then reappaering again. He's been gone for several weeks already (so he could come back any moment and be amazed by this fantastic story ), and this time even I don't know why (usually we keep in touch through email but not since I went offline myself a while back).

quote: Originally posted by Slingshot on 04-12-2000 05:10 PM Actually, Alberta is supposed to have the best internet and IT infrastructure in the country! Alberta produces enormous amounts of natural gas, oil, forest products, coal, etc. The taxes from oil alone put billions of dollars into the coffers of the provincial government, and they are trying very hard to diversify the economy. I had better not say too much more, or my Canadian brothers from the other provinces will get mad... People from British Columbia (the province west of us and north of Washington) get most upset about Albertans talking about the land of milk and honey.

LOL, yes I know what you mean. I have the same enthousiasm about the part of the Netherlands where I come from (it's called Twente)
But I think the problems I had yesterday were just a server that was down or something, most links that were broken yesterday worked fine today.

Locutus

[Slingshot]

Well, as the leader of Apolyton's Western Canada chapter, Nordicus has a rigorous schedule of travel and international espionage, I'm sure.

What, with DanQ slaving away with the network, I'll bet that Nordicus has had to take over the entire North American diplomacy front. With help like Pintello, its a wonder that poor Nordicus has any time to help out!

(Actually, I was hoping that some creative soul could help out with the chicken vs. Apolytoner space time theorem. sammyboy7's genius has fallen into maniacal laughter, and its time we saw some new creativity there.)

[Pintello]

Hey, I resent that last statement! The reason I let Nordicus do all the work is because he needs the practice. After all, part of being the commander is making sure the agents around me get all the training they need.

Pintello

[Slingshot]

Skorpion59 was in a land of chocolate rabbits and houses made of gingerbread. He danced atop the cloud-like streets, where drinks ran freely from fountains and a fresh plate of nachos was on every corner. Everywhere he looked, there was something good to eat.

"I'm in heaven!" he shouted aloud. "This is heaven and I'm sooooo hungry!"

With a swoop of the hand, he grabbed a nacho from the open hand of a beautiful marble statue. Skorpion59 took a delicious bite and swallowed.

That's when he began to choke. The agent awoke in a panic. His vision blurred, cotton-clouds were replaced by fluorescent lights. He saw the silhouette of Eisduetres next to him, with two hands clasped tightly around his neck.

Eis was livid. He had all sorts of bruises on his face, and three large bumps on his head from the last run in with an Actigator. "First you get me to come along on this mission." cried Eis. " 'Live the adventure!' you say. Then you push me off the building and into hell. I've been beaten, then drugged, and then beaten to a pulp. What have you got to say for yourself?"

"Urgle - aaaack!" came skorpion's best reply.

From the other side of the room lunged Sieve. "That's the only answer you get if you kill him!" With that the actigrammer broke up the two quarreling Apolytoners. "You see, it's hostility like that that scares us programmers from contributing to the Forums."

Eis returned to a state of calm. "I'm sorry," he replied "this has been a rotten few days. Heck, I don't even know how many days it's been! Actually, it's that Midknight Lament I'd like to get my hands on. He was nice enough to help me escape, but what's he doing here, anyways? And what's with the shot in the arm?"

Sieve watched as skorpion's face reverted from purple to a more natural tone and smiled. "Actually, you both should thank MidKnight. He's been an excellent double Agent - and has risked an awful lot for the cause."

Eis gave Sieve a hard look. "Midknight is a double agent.* You mean for the Apolyton cause?"

"That and more. You see, we're about to stage a mutiny. Any day now, we'll try to overthrow the Actigators. Midknight has been instrumental in getting us the information and resources we need to launch our offensive."

Eis' expression softened. "What about the shot in the arm? Can I at least get him back for that?"

Sieve looked serious. "Actually, that shot in the arm probably saved your life. He implanted an immunity chip so you would survive the bio-security system."

Skorpion, who had recovered his voice shot up a hand. "Um, excuse me, but we were never told about a bio-security system."

"Nobody was. Midknight found out about a month ago. He was trying to tell Apolyton, but was having trouble getting a secure message out. The bio-security system is that rotten sap smell. It's actually an airbourne carrier of four mutated viruses. The pathogens cannot mutate when they infect a host, so the required antibodies are not hard to produce. The fact that each pathogen can work with the others makes them difficult to thwart. The trick to full immunity is in the way each viral DNA has been recoded. It reacts to variations in carrier gas chemistry. To make it more aggressive, they add some of chemical 'A'. To make it more dormant, they add some of chemical 'B.' They can even make the pathogen attack certain forms of life, like mammal or reptile, vertebrate or invertebrate, carbonaceous or -"

"silicaceous," finished Eis. "That's pretty tricky!"

"Exactly," replied Sieve. "We have been working on a version of the carrier that would circumvent the natural immunity of an Actigator. We think we've got the recipe down, but it will be another day before we have enough to infiltrate Activision."

Sieve paused for a moment. Then he said "Actually, Midknight did us another favour."

"What's that?"

"By saving both your lives, he gave us two extra pairs of hands for the mutiny."

The thought of revenge made Eis happy again. "And I hope you have some weapons for us…"

For you guys, nothing but the best. How does proprietary NATO hardware sound?"

Eis cracked his knuckles. "To me it sounds like payback time!"

* Enter, the denouement!
[This message has been edited by Slingshot (edited April 17, 2000).]

[Slingshot]

How true indeed, Pintello!

More of the story to come in a day or two.

[MidKnight Lament]

coooooooooooooool let's get some!

- MKL