Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn From: bshsiung@quip.eecs.umich.edu (Bernard Hsiung) Subject: [MI] Nescie meets Mar Message-ID: <1992Nov29.201134.11813@zip.eecs.umich.edu> Date: Sun, 29 Nov 1992 20:11:34 GMT Nescie placed the piece of the unidentified black substance into an isolation container for his own protection, using a pair of tweezers, and then put the container under the scope. It was most peculiar--the scope wouldn't even acknowledge that something was there, even though he could plainly see that it absorbed light and that it could be moved by physical manipulations. It was almost as if it was transparent to magic or as if it was actively feeding the scope and his magical analysis spells false information. He shook his head; either conclusion was absurd. The material was totally inert chemically and alchemically, and seemingly indestructible. He tuned the chamber to gradually apply more heat than existed at the heart of a sun, then chilled it down to near absolute zero. He subjected it to the pressures inside a neutron star. As expected, Negative Material plane energies washed over the fragment harmlessly, but to Nescie's surprise, it showed the same indifference to energy from the Positive Material plane, even when he increased the rate of flow from the trickle with which he started the testing to a flood. He returned the chamber to its default environment, and added a rat, to examine the substance's effects on living beings. The chip quivered slightly as it touched the rat, then appeared to attach itself to it. Nescie was a little surprised when his spell tracking the rat's vital signs failed. He was somewhat concerned when the spells to move it around for a better view dissipated also. He was starting to feel worried when a probing wave of energy originating from the chip washed over his body. But he was definitely shocked when the chamber opened by itself and the fragment levitated out and attached itself into his hand. He felt an intense searing pain where it touched him--it was burrowing into his body. He gritted his teeth and tried an anti-intrusion spell, and then a spell reinforcing his Trueform. The pain intensified as he felt it move through his wrist and up his lower arm. Hands shaking uncontrollably, he snatched up a scalpel, tore his sleeve off, and stabbed wildly into his arm. Blood spattered the room and his robes, but the wounds closed unnaturally. He struck it several times, but the accursed thing continued its slow progress into his upper arm. With the last of his concentration, Nescie invoked an enchantment to temporarily convert the scalpel into a vorpal blade. Gasping a terrified prayer to whatever gods might be listening, he severed his arm at the shoulder. It wouldn't come off, sealing immediately after the passage of the razor-sharp knife. He tried again. Again. The thing entered his chest. He found himself writhing on the floor, a horrible screaming ringing in his ears. It was his own voice, but he couldn't stop screaming, couldn't stop it, couldn't stop... He coughed up blood, curling up into a fetal ball. It was tearing through a lung, maybe through his heart, then creeping up his neck. The bliss of unconsciousness swallowed him as it touched his brain. * * * Nescie awoke, feeling stiff from lying too long in the same position. What had happened? He vaguely remembered... no, that wasn't it. Standing unsteadily, he noticed the dried blood all over the room. He suddenly leaned over and threw up. That felt better. He summoned a glass of water to rinse his mouth, then cast a spell to bind to bind a cleaning daemon to tidy up the mess. He did his robes himself with a few lazy gestures. He felt somehow ... different. His personal defenses were still in place, though a little rusty. He ought to see to that sometime. NO. IMMEDIATELY. His mind almost wondered why HE WAS REINFORCING HIS WARDS AND SETTING UP SOME EXCEEDINGLY DANGEROUS SPELLS but didn't quite. He had no enemies that he could recall. Glancing in the mirror, for an instant, he had the irrational feeling that SOMEONE ELSE WAS LOOKING BACK AT HIM WITH HIS EYES, but it went away almost immediately. He shivered. His magical diagnostic spell didn't find any hidden charms, geases, or other thought-modifying magic, and his physical scan registered the same as it did in his last examination. Initializing the scope with his old biopsychrecords and using it to check himself also revealed no irregularities. Nescie stood there in the middle of the room, puzzled. What had happened to that chip that he was testing, he wondered absentmindedly as HE ERASED THE RAT FROM THE CONTAINER. Ah, yes, he recalled, surveying his sparkling-clean laboratory. It had been accidentally destroyed when it ignited a violent reaction with the Positive Material plane energies. Fortunately, the explosion had been completely confined to the isolation container. It was a real shame--that thing had possessed some fascinating properties. Now he'd never find out what it was. -- Comments, compliments, and complaints can be conveyed to: Bernie Hsiung (bshsiung@eecs.umich.edu)