novelnext Chapter 856: HISTORICAL ARCHIVE
Chapter 856: HISTORICAL ARCHIVE
Chapter 856: HISTORICAL ARCHIVE
"Schroeder, stop. You can't keep going. He's gone."
"He's your brother, Sally, how can say it."
"If he was going to be back, he would have made it, and he wouldn't want Schroeder to throw away his life."
"I honestly thought ol' Failure Face was going to make it."
"Really, Franklin? You're going to call him that now?"
"Why not, Linus. Lucy would have been the first to say it. They used to laugh about it over beers."
"The gates closing, Linus."
"I thought Chuck would make it."
-----
"It's Thanksgiving. It might seem we have little to be thankful for. We've lost of lot of friends, but the Great Pumpkin is gone too, and that's reason to rejoice. I'd like to welcome our friends from the Poohawk Tribe. Specifically their Chief."
"Thank you, Linus, it is an honor to be here with those who helped my tribe finally defeat the Great Pumpkin Spirit."
"The police say the investigation is closed, thanks to the video we had in our datalinks. Chuck and Snoop are officially listed as missing persons, but they'll always be with us in spirit. I know, it's been a hard few weeks but... did anyone else hear that?"
"It's coming from the kitchen, sweet baboo."
"I'll check it."
"It sounds like another one of the Great Pumpkin Spirit's portals. Go with them to check it, Puce Moose."
"Yes, Chief."
"I'll check it too."
"Be careful, Franklin."
"Linus! Sally! Come quick!"
"What, what is it?"
"Not... dead... yet..."
"Chuck? Chuck! Is that you?"
"What's left of me. Come're, Snoop. Rest. We earned it."
"Where have you been, Chuck? It's been weeks."
"There and back again, Linus. I've been there and back again."
"Oh, big brother. Oh, my brother."
"I love you too, Sally. I'm home. I made it." -- Fall of the Pumpkin Throne, Act III, Scene XII, Ending
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CRUSADE>This is enjoyable. I should have accepted your invitation before this time.
AUNTIE>It's nice to have you here.
TREA>It is. Say, can I ask a question?
CRUSADE>You may.
TREA>How is it everyone else got scooped by your people didn't?
CRUSADE>We burnt out our normal channels eons ago. The system could not triangulate on us and would have us listed as deceased.
RIGEL>Makes sense.
CRUSADE>The program is about to resume. SILENCE!
TELKAN>
Mal'Kawp moved over slowly to stand next to P'Thok, limping slightly. He'd strained his left rear leg doing the sudden pivot. P'Thok was blowing on the glowing tip of the small plasma pistol as the wheels on either side of the plasma exciter chamber slowed down.
"What... what is that?" Mal'Kawp asked. He looked at the bucket of water he was carrying, shrugged, and set it down.
"A standard Treana'ad infantry officer sidearm," P'Thok said. He shifted his sarape and put it back in the shoulder holster.
"Not hardly," Mal'Kawp chuckled.
The X.A.V.A. ran over and sat down next to the two Treana'ad, panting.
**X.A.V.A. is goodboi** the DOG2.0 said.
"You are. You really are," P'Thok said, bending down and scratching the small cybernetic canine between the ears with the tip of his bladearm, scritching the petting nerve.
"Now we know who's been doing the killings and why," P'Thok said.
"What was that thing?" Mal'Kawp asked, pointing at where the cone was ripped out of the ground by the pistol.
"A terrible creature. It plagued ancient Terrans, preyed on children. They imprisoned it a long time ago, but J'Rad must have figured out how to get it to return," P'Thok said. He shook his head. "They're true. All of the Terran holiday specials, they're all true."
"Some people, no matter the cost, crave power," Mal'Kawp said. He turned and looked at the battered grav-lifter, which bobbled slightly even as it made a choppy hum.
"We will summon Law Enforcement to go over the scene," P'Thok said. He lifted up the rifle and slowly fed new shells into it. Mal'Kawp nodded and copied him, reloading the Terran shardgun.
The two Treana'ad and the DOG2.0 walked slowly toward the grav-lifter, their shadows stretching out before them, dancing with the light of the fires behind them.
"I'll drop you off wherever you want to go. I want to go see my daughter in the hospital," P'Thok said.
"Yup," Mal'Kawp said, moving the cigarette from one side of his mouth to the other with his rasp-like tongue. He started walking toward J'Rath, who swirled his bleeding hand, bringing forth another ball of energy.
The ball sizzled as it went by, exploding on a building wall, causing wood and thatch to fly into the air.
Mal'Kawp stopped right in front of J'Rath as P'Thok used his bladearms to open the front of his sarape, revealing he had used his thumbs to unsnap the restraining straps on his pistols. Both were heavy, black pistols, gifts from the Terrans when he had toured their homeworld as a diplomat instead of a spy.
"Don't start none," Mal'Kawp said.
J'Rath screamed and reared back on his hind legs, intending on crushing the smaller Mal'Kawp with his front feet.
"HEY!" P'Thok yelled in warrior click. "FEEBLE ONE!"
J'Rath whirled around, snarling in rage.
He held out the book and it flipped through pages, going to the front, holding it up to read the contents.
"I SHALL HAVE YOU..." he started.
P'Thok drew his two pistols and fired in one smooth motion. The hammers went back then were driven forward by springs. The hammer hit the primer in shells. The primer went off, igniting the powder. The powder burned, turning to gas, increasing the pressure in the chamber as the powder burned.
The heavy warsteel bullet from the left hand gun was propelled by the gasses, propellant still burning in the barrel, increasing the pressure. Unburnt propellant left the barrel, hit oxygen, and exploded in a tongue of flame.
The warsteel bullet hit J'Rath between the eyes, snapping his head back.
The other bullet slipped through a minute gap in the phasic shields, flew a few feet...
...and hit dead center of the space where no flesh had been stitched into the cover of the book.
Blood exploded from pages as the heavy warsteel round ripped through the pages of inked human skin. Viscera flew up and spattered across J'Rath's front.
J'Rath stumbled back, the space between his eyes glowing bright orange from the heat of the bullet, flattened against his skull.
Mal'Kawp threw the water onto the obsidian Treana'ad.
Steam exploded out and J'Rath stumbled forward, the red fire in the fissures suddenly going out.
"Won't be none," Mal'Kawp said, bringing the shardgun around.
P'Thok used his bladearms to 'fan' the triggers of the pistols.
Bullets hit J'Rath, exploding plates of armor.
Mal'Kawp leveled the shardgun at the joint of the abdomen and thorax, the black armor hissing, cracked, the mosiac of cracks in the armor no longer glowing red. He held back the trigger.
J'Rath blew in half, the book flying from his hand to land face down. The spurting of blood from the pages flipped it over.
ALKTAK>YES!
J'Rath tried to pull himself forward, using his hands and bladearms to drag his upper body forward.
A heavy boot appeared in front of him as a massive footpad came down. He looked up.
P'Thok was looking down at him over the barrel of one of the heavy black pistols.
"Guilty."
P'Thok pulled the trigger.
J'Rath's head exploded.
-----
The muffled shouting from the Chief's office ended and everyone looked up from their desks. One Treana'ad, a young female who'd eaten two male's heads in a mating frenzy, glanced up but kept her posture submissive in hopes of being treated leniently.
After all, neither had brought good quality ice cream or powersmoker fluid.
The door banged open and P'Thok and Mal'Kawp left the office. The door slammed shut just as the Chief picked up the phone and began screaming greetings to his mate.
P'Thok and Mal'Kawp moved over to the middle of the room, where several other Treana'ad were waiting. Backs were slapped, bladearms crossed, and hands were shaken.
"I'd say that wraps this case up," one officer said.
"You could almost said, that's the way the pumpkin seed roasts," another laughed.
Everyone went still mid-laugh.
Nothing moved.
The young female looked up and looked around.
Nobody moved.
She poked the officer in front of her, but he was still unmoving in mid-laugh.
Looking around, she rummaged for the digital code for the restraints, undid them, and scurried off.
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CRUSADE>I enjoyed viewing this. Let us view another together!
AUNTIE> Sounds...
BANDWIDTH TEST IN FIFTEEN SECONDS
RIGEL>Hold onto your butts!
Pete looked over at the rest of the team.
"Ready?" he asked.
They all nodded, looking grim.
Pete reached down and tapped the spacebar, ordering the system to power cycle, then deguasse, then power cycle the system again.