The Professor's Vessel

The Professor's Vessel

Slight Summary 3:

The professor stared at the displays, and at the data that Sally had sent him.  After all of those years with Maxton1EA-349-H, it would seem that the cyborg would have to be defeated and destroyed.  Two others were on their way to do just that.  While staring at the data, he thought back at others in his employ, without which he wouldn't have known of the damage that could be perpetrated by the cyborg Maxton1EA-349-H, until after the disaster would have occurred.

The professor had many assistants in his employ.  Few of them could be trusted with special assignments, and of those, only two were truly trustworthy with anything and everything.  One was Sally, who was one of the professor's laboratory assistants.  The other was Gil, who was the mechanic and pilot of the professor's vessel.

Sally was misunderstood.  That is what her brother said on his sister's graduation day.  She graduated second to the last in her class, and wasn't expected to do much with her studies.  Being forgetful and a natural daydreamer, many of her classmates would joke as to what type of dog catcher's outfit she would wear as a career.

Poor Sally knew what they would say, and her instructors were often in on the cruel jokes.  Often, the professor would notice her weeping in the gardens that lined the southern edge of the campus.  It was there where he first took notice of her, and it was then when the professor realized that he had discovered a valuable, and potential part of his team.  Sally may not have been a stellar student, but she did have great potential.

On graduation day, the professor was given the opportunity to speak, as he did on every graduation day for the previous seventeen years.  On that day, he would choose one graduate that would be given the opportunity to work in his laboratories.  It was a prestigious moment for the graduate with the highest scores, and with the most potential.  It was a shining moment for the student who would stand and walk up onto the stage to shake the professor's hand and accept the internship amidst flashing cameras and video recording. 

On that day, he stunned the crowd by offering the position to Sally Wri, the daydreamer.  Working in the professor's robotics laboratories was a dream job for any student new to the working world.  The sight of Sally jumping up, un-snagging her gown from her chair, and hobbling her four-foot three and ninety-nine pound frame up onto the stage to accept the offer, brought open jaws and looks of disbelief across the small sea of assembled faces in the university theater.  Envy and anger could be seen hovering over the heads of many graduates and some instructors as well, but the professor had made his decision, and none would dare to question it.  

Needless to say, that moment ended all jokes and snickers from the graduate's class and instructors, and Sally had been working for the professor ever since.  She was not the head of the laboratory, that position was Clara's, but of all of the laboratory assistants, Sally was the one that the professor's truly trusted.

Gil was a mechanic.  It seemed that he was born to be a mechanic.  At an early age, he showed an interest in it, and his father, being a mechanic and pilot himself, proudly encouraged him.

Gil had been a stellar student, and he excelled at everything to do with repairing, modifying, and building machines.  When he first modified an aging plane and broke the sound barrier with it, most were in awe.  When he built his first vessel that could reach the ocean floor, he received accolades.  It was when he built the Sovereign, which would become the team's vessel, that the professor was personally impressed, for he knew that Gil's potential was just unfolding.

Gil was a master mechanic, and when the professor himself offered him a position, Gil jumped at it.  He became part of the team, and the only other trustworthy member at that time.

It was Gil and Sally who discovered that Maxton1EA-349-H had been contaminated, and that it now had a sub-mission, which was to retrieve the child, and to destroy the cyborg that protected her.  Unfortunately, the subtle signs of the contamination were discovered after the cyborg had been dispatched on it's assignment.

Maxton1EA-349-H had left for the intercept, and other cyborgs were on their way as well.  

The professor, accompanied by Sally Wri, and her little friend, Fitz-00-DJE-27, a very small catlike robot, strode quickly to the awaiting vessel.  "Ready to move, professor!" Gil's familiar voice boomed over the arid landscape that housed the professor's hidden laboratories; a place of wild dust storms and bleached bones.

The newly forming team were soon on their way to join the cyborgs James88032-N and Victor-4L-383B1K in confronting the eldest and most dangerous of cyborgs.

From a far distance, a figure sat in his chair and watched.  He watched through the eyes of the contaminated cyborg.

Maxton1EA-349-H

Maxton1EA-349-H

Slight Summary 2:

Maxton1EA-349-H was an original.  It was the second of seven successful experiments in living tissue/robotics, and it was also one of the first stable cyborgs which had seen action for over seventeen years.  It had saved the professor's life on two occasions, and had always returned from every assignment, as difficult as they may have been.  Maxton1EA-349-H could always be counted on to succeed; it was the last of it's generation.

When the second and third cyborg issues were released, Diana8U5-329-J and James88032-N being of that third generation, Maxton1EA-349-H was scheduled to be removed from action, disassembled, and it's organic components destroyed.  But Maxton1EA-349-H proved to be more than a mere part machine.  It proved itself to be the most resourceful, durable, and successful cyborg of any generation.

Maxton1EA-349-H did outlast the entire second issue, of which there were thirty two, as well as it's own generation of twelve, and several of the third generation.  It was not a surprise that the professor fought hard to keep Maxton1EA-349-H active.  It was a valued agent, and it had proven itself many times before.

But something had happened to the cyborg during it's last assignment.

Along with the cyborg Heracles00-4DU-3B9, which did not survive the mission, Maxton1EA-349-H was assigned to infiltrate and destroy one of the criminal company's robotic processing factories.  It was hidden on an island, and was nearing completion.  Once completed, it would have provided many dangerous compounds and robots that would be used against innocent people.

Accompanied by several armored assistants, the cyborgs accomplished the mission by destroying the factory, and all of it's incomplete robots.  Unfortunately, an unknown substance was released, destroying the biological portion of the cyborg Heracles00-4DU-3B9, and all but one of the assistants.  The final surviving assistant managed to stagger as far as the seaside beach, where he sent his report to the professor before expiring.

Of Maxton1EA-349-H, the damaged cyborg returned to base.

Physical repairs completed, bio-scans did not detect and unusual activity from the cyborg.  Although, an unusual signature had been detected by one of the laboratory assistants, who was later found expired in one of the base corridors before he could report.

Now, Maxton1EA-349-H had been sent on it's way to intercept the cyborg Diana8U5-329-J.  The third issue cyborg was carrying the child who harbored the final fifth genetic portion needed by the criminals to complete the biological control virus.  Diana8U5-329-J was also malfunctioning.

Unbeknownst to the others, Maxton1EA-349-H was no longer under the professor's control.  It had been compromised, and reassigned by the criminal company to destroy Diana8U5-329-J, and take the child.  Unbeknownst to Maxton1EA-349-H, James88032-N and Victor-4L-383B1K were also on their way… to destroy Maxton1EA-349-H.

Diana8U5-329-J

This is the first excerpt of a story that I am working on.  I suppose that it is not really an excerpt, but a slight summary of the story.  It is a story of science fiction.  It is another of those long-incomplete stories that have been gathering dust.  These days, I am still working on several stories at the same time.

Diana8U5-329-J

Slight Summary 1:

After the commotion that passed, security in the building had been increased.  The agent remained hidden for several days, and as silent as silence.  When Diana8U5-329-J had judged that it was time, the agent crept along the quiet corridors, and found the locked rooms.  Diana8U5-329-J used the materials that the professor had provided, and broke open the cell doors.

Behind them, lay the child that had been kidnapped by the criminals company; they intended to use her to complete their biological control virus.  She was the child that was missing.  The other four had already been 'consumed' in order to progress the first four stages.  The girl, the fifth and last component of the process, had been born with the genetic material that would complete and activate the virus.  Her father, the scientist that lamented having had assisted in the development of the virus, had to be destroyed.

No outsider could be allowed to live.

The evil corporation had eliminated him before he and the professor's assistants could escape the hidden mountain laboratories.  They eliminated him, and took the girl.  A surviving assistant managed to collect information, and notified the professor before he expired.  They could not be allowed to activate their virus.

With that, the professor decided to send three of his cyborgs to thwart the criminal company's intent.  He sent James88032-N to destroy the company's supply shipments, he sent Victor-4L-383B1K on a mission to a destroy a top manufacturing factory, and he sent Diana8U5-329-J on the mission to retrieve the girl from the company's laboratories.

Everything was going along as planned, until Diana8U5-329-J began malfunctioning in a way that the professor had hoped would not happen for some time.  The cyborg Diana8U5-329-J was beginning to process unprovided data.  As Diana8U5-329-J broke free from the building's security robots with the girl on her back, and as a result of damage received from the security robots, the cyborg began processing memories.

Images began to flood the cyborg's mostly mechanical brain.  They were images from a life near a beach, and they were faces from a forgotten past.

The force shield that Diana8U5-329-J had formed around the girl was fading, not from the damage, but from confusion.  For the first time since the cyborg's activation, it felt confusion.

The professor monitored Diana8U5-329-J, and it's 'confusion'.  If Diana8U5-329-J were to be compromised, then the cyborg would have to be destroyed, and the girl would have to be retrieved by another.

The professor sent a fourth cyborg to intercept Diana8U5-329-J, and if necessary, to destroy the cyborg.  He sent Maxton1EA-349-H.  Unfortunately, Maxton1EA-349-H had been contaminated, and the only assistant that knew it had perished before Maxton1EA-349-H had returned from it's last mission.

Edge of the Floating Cities

Ages after humans left the surface, the planet had finally healed itself.  The earth had finally reclaimed what it was before humanity, and had washed away it's many wounds.  The buildings were gone, the roads, monuments, and all other human markers that recorded a history of a destructive species no longer existed.

Many left the surface to escape massive pollution that was allowed and protected to corrode the planet.  They left to escape extreme hatred and uncontrolled violence that had plagued their kind since their beginnings.  They left to escape corporate greed and religious intolerance.

Aboard the massive multi-cities, humanity had become a species that chose to exist within their own technology.  Not all chose this, but those who did, survived to become new humans.  Those that remained on the surface, lived out their lives, but in time, become extinct.

Generations were born and passed their legacies to their descendants aboard the floating multi-cities.  Generations would work and contribute to the floating multi-cities; improving their technologies, perfecting their self sufficiency, and forgetting their own histories.  They were the great technological accomplishments that became the home of the new humans, and of the new human's many forms.

Over time, some of the multi-cities left the planet altogether.  They chose to orbit other planets in the solar system, and afterward, some of them chose to leave for the deep of space.  They would never return.

It had been several hundreds of thousands of years since anyone had set foot on the surface of the planet.  In all of that time, humans became different species; they were inadvertently modified by their own technologies and environments.  They were no longer joined to the planet.  Were one of them to return to the surface, that one would certainly perish quickly, as the new humans had no tolerance to the microscopic bacteria or other violent micro species that existed on the surface of the planet.

It was true that billions of souls would never even seen the light of the sun, the feel of a breeze, or the sight of a mountain or forest from under the shade of a tree.  Of the very few that lived near the surface of the floating cities, even fewer wondered about their ancestral home.  Even fewer than that cared or imagined life outside of their sterile world.  New humanity had become long-lived and sterile.  They had become a species intertwined with their mechanical inheritance.

Some had become more cybernetic than others.  Some had remained completely organic, but their features had adapted to their environments.  Some new humans were taller, thinner and weaker, as they embraced the sciences and knowledge.  Others who had left for other places in the solar system would adapt in different ways.  One floating city became the home of new humans that had become no more than humanoid memories in mechanical bodies.

There were many hundreds of thousands of these floating multi-cities, and over time, they would continue to advance and multiply and venture outward.  They were worlds of their own, and in time, only a fraction of them would float above the green and blue planet that had been the place of their birth.

One day, one of the cities would fail and it would fall to the earth.  There it would rest, until the planet would break it down and reclaim it's elements, and the other multi-cities would continue.

How long would the others remain before leaving the green and blue planet forever? What would become of the new humans?

Only the ages would tell.

The Lost Stair

Happy times! I developed this image on an old Dell that is no longer around.  This complex image crashed that computer several times before the PC finally completed the render.  When that Dell PC finally kicked it, I thought that it took this image with it.

I did lose the original work file, but somehow a copy of the final image wound up on a backup DVD.  Remember everyone, back up all of your work.  O.k. then, here's a little Flash Fiction that I just thought up for the image...

The Lost Stair

I listen to the old soldiers some times.  In fact, several of us hay bailers like to sit and listen to their old war stories.  It is interesting when they come along from the small road towns where they live.  They come into our town to sit under the shade trees and talk about their exploits.

Most of the time, they reminisce about old battles and the defeat of past dictators and their armies.  I have to say, that at times we sit there and drink in their words.

An old soldier in particular, fought in the struggle against the white banners; those were the ones that tried to take this very town for themselves, as well as several others.  They came from across the mountains.  As a young man, the old soldier saw much struggle, and he was there in the most dangerous of battles.

One particular story that he would tell, was the one about how the general of the white banners dabbled in forbidden things.

The old soldier himself did not learn the story for himself as an eyewitness, but he learned it from others who had been assigned to the task in the raiding of the enemy general's mountain fortress, and one in particular who lived to tell the tale to his comrades.  That raider learned it from a captured enemy guard who had no issue in telling it, as he himself was glad that the mountain fortress had been conquered, and it's master, defeated.

As the story goes, and this was told by the raider who learned it from the captured guard, the general of the white banners was planning an assault against our combined forces.  The war was waning, and badly for the white banners.

One night, as the general and his high confidants and advisors planned their last assault, an argument broke out amongst them.  Some sided with the argument that their final push was far too weak, and that it would be best to retreat and gather their strength.  Others sided with the general, and thought that retreating would spur our forces to follow them into the mountains and utterly defeat the failing white banners.

Soon after the argument began, it ended.  Those that did not follow the general, stormed out of the room.  Those that supported him, were thrown out.  The general and his most trusted men remained, and with the few candles that had not gone out; our forces had successfully shut the power from the area.

The captured guard said that he watched as the men stormed out of the room and disappeared down the stairs at the end of the hallway.  He watched as the supporting advisors also left the room, and disappeared through a door at the opposite end of the hallway.

Hours passed, and the guard said that as he was beginning to doze off, he heard steps coming up the stairs at the far end of the hallway.  He said that a figure dressed in black, came up the stairs, turned, and walked to the general's door.  He watched as the figure opened the door, and entered; he closed the door behind him.

Well, the guard said that something dark must have happened in that room, for in a few minutes, the general came out.  He locked the door behind him, and turned to leave.  As he did, he glanced over at the guard, and said: "Victory will be our destiny."  With that, the general walked to the end of the hallway, and down the stairs, shouting: "It is our destiny to win! We will win because we are the white banners!"

The guard said that he never saw the figure dressed in black leave the room, or ever since.  It did not matter, as the confidence that the general received, made him give the order to join all of his remaining forces, and attack.  Needless to say, the general and the white banners were soundly defeated.  They were utterly and completely destroyed.

The general himself, limped back, bloodied and broken.  He and his surviving advisors managed to make it back to the mountain stronghold.  It did not take long for our forces to reach the unprotected stronghold, and burn it to the ground.  The general and his few surviving men perished in the chaos.  The ruins of the stronghold remain to this day.

Whatever the figure dressed in black told the general to spur him forward, none will ever know.  Undoubtedly, the figure saw the general's desperation, and saw the opportunity do deceive him into an agreement, and with no intention in helping him in any type of victory.  The figure told the general that he would return to his fortress after the last great battle was fought, but the figure neglected to tell him that he would return in defeat, battered and broken, and that he would be destroyed in his own fortress.

It is said by the scant few that dare to travel through the mountains at night, that they can hear the general and his doomed advisors still trapped in their crumbled fortress, where they remain forever.

The Poor Victim

Where is everybody?

They told us to stay on the far side of the lake.  They told us all to leave before dark.  They told us not to go into the woods, and they certainly told us not to go through the glade, but none of us knew why.  They told us that the little abandoned house in the glade was not to be disturbed.  Sometimes, I just don't understand people.  When I saw that all of you left me, I was disappointed.

Hah! some brave friends that I have.

The last that I saw of you, was Lana's hair as you all ran through the bushes.  Well, I suppose that I'm the brave one.  Yea! Let's get that straight!  I'm the brave one, and I'm the only one that actually went into the little house!

I looked around, and like they told us, the house was abandoned.  There was nothing in that house but a chair and that strange glowing rock on it.  Remember that little glowing rock that they told us about? Yea, it was there, and now it was mine!

After I left the house, I went after you.  Soon after that, I saw you; Toby and Lana, I saw you both.  I saw you too, Jeremy! You're all chickens! That's right, chickens! bok! bok!

I saw you as you looked back at me, and then you all turned and ran off as fast as you could.  It's not as if I had cooties or anything.

Hey! I took the rock from the house, but after I ran after you, I tripped and lost it.  I ran after you, and here I am, back at the clearing! Hey! Come back!

Monsters? What monsters? I'm telling you, there really isn't anything in these little woods that can hurt you! You know that, right?

Hey, come back!

Dust Bowl Era

Somewhere during the dust bowl era, which was caused by decades of extensive farming and severe drought, an event like the one in this scene tool place.  I am not saying that this particular image was taken during those years, but a poor animal wandering beside a track, and with an abandoned house behind it must have taken place quite often.  It must have been a very harsh time.