Rise in Revolution (Chapter Forty-Two)
Jul. 24th, 2016 03:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tanadin posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
saladloveChapter list: https://tanadin.dreamwidth.org/650.html
World map: http://tanadin.deviantart.com/art/Kaldri
Chapter Forty-Two
Unbound Limitations
Edge of the city, Sector ASQ. April 1, 2272. Time instance 842N.
“Remember, we’re sneaking through A4,” Nine reminded the gathered revolutionaries. “Do not attack, damage, or destroy anything. The sector has some one thousand units and a single nine thousand, and I’d rather not have to tango with the nine thousand. It’s down further south than we’ll be traveling so presumably we can avoid it. Any questions?”
Geluu raised a hand. “If anyone angers the nine thousand unit, can I feed them to it?”
“A nine thousand unit wouldn’t be particularly interested in human flesh,” Seven began, “due both to the type of energy they use and-”
“Seven, we don’t have time for this,” Tanadin hissed. Seven had the grace to look a little sheepish.
“Right. Sorry.”
Nine rolled his eyes. “Anyway, the only fights we should get in are if one thousand units attack us. Got it?”
“Got it,” echoed the crowd around them.
“Good! Let’s move out. Stick together and don’t cause trouble. It’ll take us several days to get to TZI so remember where you’re supposed to be and keep your eyes peeled for danger.”
Geluu stayed put as they set out with Nine and Seven in the lead, watching carefully for the now-familiar trenchcoat in the crowd of non-cyborgs. He was quietly glad that Shawn’s was a different color than the trenchcoats the cyborgs wore, or he’d never find him. Eventually he located what might be Shawn and jumped down from the platform, making his way through the moving crowd.
He put a hand on Shawn’s shoulder and raised an eyebrow when he jumped and whipped around, sighing in relief when he saw who it was. “Geluu.”
“Jumpy?”
“A bit, yeah.”
“Why? We won’t be in A4 until tomorrow. And even once we get there, nothing in an automated sector can really mess with us.”
“Well, I’m…” Shawn shrugged. “I’m just anxious.”
“Awww, you’re not scared of the sazrons, are you?” Fan asked as she sauntered over, grinning mischievously.
“Who isn’t worried about the sazrons?!”
“What the hell is a sazron?” Tac demanded.
“Sazrons are large, vaguely humanoid reptiles that live in northern Skerek and eastern Vos-tar. They’re about seven feet tall, very fast and strong, and almost impossible to kill,” Geluu explained. “They’re very rare and very dangerous. They usually attack on sight and I think even a cyborg would hesitate to engage one in battle. Their scales are as hard as metal and their claws can tear through steel. Their bites are known to paralyze and even kill.”
Tac stared at him with new terror in her eyes.
“I doubt they’d attack a group this big, though. They’re aggressive, not stupid, and with about three thousand cyborgs I’m pretty sure we could take out one or two sazron. They don’t travel in packs- only in pairs. If you see more than two sazron, chances are that the others are young and can’t look after themselves yet. They stay with their mother until the next breeding season, at which point they’re on their own. Once they’re two, they’re considered adults and the cycle begins anew. So, really, nothing to worry about.”
“Claws can tear through steel,” Shawn mumbled. “Magical paralyzing and venomous bites.”
“Hey, the venom isn’t magical. There’s a known antivenom. They’re what kept humans off of eastern Vos-tar for hundreds of years until they developed weaponry that could take out a sazron without too much difficulty.”
“Shawn’s scared of a lizard,” Fan declared.
“You’d be scared of a lizard too if you ever saw a picture of one!” Shawn snapped. “You should ask Kyir to show you the photo he has. It’s fucking terrifying.”
“I don’t know if I want to,” Tac mumbled.
Geluu made a shooing motion at Fan. “Leave us alone, demon hunter. I’m here to talk to Shawn about magic.”
“I like magic.”
“You can be target practice, then,” Geluu told her cheerfully. Fan’s eyes widened and she quickly vanished into the crowd.
“You’ve met her before?” Shawn guessed.
Geluu snorted. “No, but I’ve heard stories. I was serious about the magic, though. You struggled with using as little energy as possible for your spells yesterday evening.”
Shawn looked away.
“It’s nothing to be ashamed of. Everyone has the problem at some point- normally nonmagical races more so than those of us born with a magical core. You’re doing very well, especially considering that you only developed this power, what, four months ago?”
“Less than that.”
“And never really used them much until I taught you?”
“Nope. I didn’t know how.”
“I’m impressed. It’ll take some work to get you to meet your potential, but it can be done. The others...most of them don’t have the same level of what they can do, and I don’t know why you’re different. Maybe it’s a result of Geek’s magic to keep you alive. Well, alive is a strong word, but you know what I mean.”
“I don’t have a lot of magical energy to begin with. How am I supposed to use less than I am? I can’t control how much it takes. I just tap into it and off it goes.”
“You have to learn to tap into it only slightly. Pull just enough energy out. Don’t let it flow as much as it wants to- restrain it. It uses far more energy than it needs to and it just takes practice. Every new spell takes some practice to use the minimal amount of energy, but similar spells are similar in method and once you’ve got it down it’s easier after that.”
“How do I do that?”
Geluu grinned at him. “That’s what I’m here to teach.”
~~~
It was long after dark when they reached the fence that divided ASQ and A4. Tanadin insisted that they stop to make camp for the night before crossing into A4. Once morning dawned, they packed up and got moving once more, once again with the instruction to not touch anything.
It was eerily quiet and empty in the sector. They passed through plains dotted with trees and small forests along the mountains. Huge metal somethings could be seen in the distance, rising above the ground and sinking deep into it. They didn’t see any cyborgs, not even the one thousands that Nine had mentioned. Occasionally an animal could be spotted, but they mostly avoided the massive revolutionary force. Despite its size, the group was remarkably quiet as they walked, aware that they were attempting to sneak around the western edge of A4 instead of waltzing in and destroying everything in their path.
Emma walked with Clash and Scott at the edge of the group, looking curiously at the massive mechanical thing that they were passing. They had been walking for several hours and it had come into sight awhile ago, and Emma still wasn’t sure what it was. She brought it up to Scott and he shrugged.
“It’s probably a mining rig or something,” Clash mumbled. “Xela was talking about walking past some of these.”
“I’m surprised we haven’t seen any cyborgs,” Emma said quietly, looking around. “You’d think they’d be guarding it if it’s at all important.”
Scott shrugged. “From what? There’s nothing around but us.” He broke off from the group to go stand near the massive device, looking it over and putting his hand on one of its supports.
“I don’t think you should do that,” Clash warned. “Seven said-”
“Oh, come on. I’m not going to hurt it. It’s pretty much indestructible and it’s huge.” Scott pushed at the support to illustrate his point, forgetting a particularly crucial fact about vampires.
The metal groaned and bent and the entire rig shook, destabilized. A red light flashed and Emma’s eyes widened.
“Scott, you stupid fuck!”
“Oh. Woops.” Scott walked quickly back to the group. “If anyone asks, I didn’t touch it, alright? I didn’t do anyth-”
“WHO SET OFF THE ALARM?” Seven roared from the front of the group.
Emma and several other people surrounding them pointed at Scott. Seven’s robotic eye zeroed in on them quickly and he charged towards them, pointing at the rig as he approached.
“You idiot! You’d damaged it and triggered an alarm that’s calling the sector’s nine thousand unit here right now!”
“Oh. Woops,” Scott repeated. “Let’s just walk faster.”
“We’re not exactly inconspicuous!” Emma hissed. “It’ll find us easily.”
“Smooth,” a human remarked. “You’ve now signed our death warrant.”
Seven growled in frustration. “You. Go tell Nine. Now.” He pointed at Scott. “We need to set up a more defensive perimeter. I don’t know where the control center is right now so the nine thousand unit could be anywhere- it could get here at anytime.” He narrowed his eyes at Scott when he didn’t immediately react. “Move!”
Scott rolled his eyes and almost lazily made his way towards the front of the group, Clash not far behind. Seven immediately leapt into action, calling for all combat-ready cyborgs and spellcasters to form a defensive perimeter while the less combative members of the revolution move back to avoid getting hurt. Emma reluctantly moved away from her friends as they readied themselves for battle, crossing her arms moodily.
It wasn’t fair. She wanted to help, not just sit around all the time waving a sword and yelling as other people did all the work and died because they didn’t have enough people fighting out there. There was nothing she could do and the helplessness was probably the most infuriating thing about the entire revolution. What’s the point of being a rebel if you can’t even fight anything? All I do is watch people get hurt and die. Emma shivered at the thought. And I can’t do anything about it.
As she moved to stand between Fan and Hawk, she was reminded that she also hated waiting for a battle. Her heart raced and her limbs shivered with anxiety as her muscles tensed. She drummed her fingers and tapped her feet and felt as fidgety as Tanadin on one of her good days. She wondered how much the fire elemental was twitching now, but she pushed the thought from her mind. She had more important things to worry about, like when the nine thousand unit was going to show up.
Fortunately, she didn’t have to wait very long.
With the sound of an energy weapon firing, the nine thousand unit swooped down and unleashed hell on the intruders that dared to damage what it had been charged to protect.
no subject
Date: 2016-07-24 08:39 pm (UTC)“A nine thousand unit wouldn’t be particularly interested in human flesh,” Seven began, “due both to the type of energy they use and-”
lol, I wonder Tana if we were to ever get Seven and Lupus to talk about something which one would out pedantic the other XD
“I don’t think you should do that,” Clash warned. “Seven said-”
“Oh, come on. I’m not going to hurt it. It’s pretty much indestructible and it’s huge.” Scott pushed at the support to illustrate his point, forgetting a particularly crucial fact about vampires.
The metal groaned and bent and the entire rig shook, destabilized. A red light flashed and Emma’s eyes widened.
“Scott, you stupid fuck!”
“Oh. Woops.” Scott walked quickly back to the group. “If anyone asks, I didn’t touch it, alright? I didn’t do anyth-”
“WHO SET OFF THE ALARM?” Seven roared from the front of the group.
Emma and several other people surrounding them pointed at Scott.
Scott you really need to learn your strenth before it gets us all killed, but we might not have time for that now. Thanks a lot XP
no subject
Date: 2016-07-25 04:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-07-26 04:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-07-26 10:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-07-25 02:17 pm (UTC)