Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn From: arsmith@lamar.ColoState.EDU (Alan Smith) Subject: [Colony] The Thing. Message-ID: Date: Tue, 19 Oct 1993 23:54:20 GMT ADMIN: Here goes nothin'. Timewise, this takes place at about 2:00 A.M. on the night of the LightHouse party. Those wishing to follow up to this and help out with casualties please send email. It must be remembered that the thing could not think, percieve, or move of it's own volition in the slightest. If it could have, doubtless it would have elected to stay with all the other things like it in the Great Big Thing that shattered not long ago. If it could think, it probably would have thought back to those eons when it was relatively happy surrounded by its own kind. Or, maybe not. We can't know. Eventually, during it's long journey, it was touched by minds. These minds were not disembodied per se, but were reaching themselves from the place they were to the thing, manipulating part of it, and then withdrawing. If the thing could have thought, it would have hated. Specifically, it would have hated with an irrational, undeniable, unquenchable passion certain water/ carbon/nitrogen constructs that floated over the large water mass on the Great Big Thing that either the thing was hurtling towards or was hurtling towards it. Eventually, the thing began to heat up. It was rubbing fantastically against the air around the Great Big Thing and heated up with the rubbing, eventually getting to a bright white glow with little pieces of it flaking off. It was only after this that the thing actually found the things it would have hated if it could, and used the changes that the minds had made to it to turn slightly until it would hit the constructs and destroy them. "What the hell's goin' on?" Silvenfrin Lintesul asked, angered at being pulled out of bed. "There's a BIG curse the detectors picked up." Angtol Veduilin, who didn't look to pleased with being up in the middle of the night either, replied. "As Chairman, I'm requesting your help." "I'm not a citizen." Silvenfrin replied, "It's not my job." "Sil, you agreed to help with the weather-spell, this is exactly the same. All I want you to do is help out, not take a job." Sil debated for a while with herself. "Okay, but this is the last time, where is it?" Angtol pointed up in the sky, and Sil went into a trance. The thing was touched by another mind and was changed again, it suddenly couldn't find the constructs anymore. It wouldn't have known what to make of that even if it could have made something of it. The thing used the last of it's ability to move itself to follow a feeling coming from a construct of many things on the edge of the great water mass. This feeling was supposed to find the changes that had been made to things like the thing, but not to bring them in. However, it did provide an easier path to follow, and the feeling wasn't moving like the constructs were. "What the hells goin' on!" Dalla said, angered at being pulled out of bed. "Meteor!" Kaleb replied, hastily getting spell components together, "it's targeted on the guild building! Ol' Urco's got everybody who can cast a cantrip reinforcing the screens and buffers." This got Dalla's attention. Her, Kaleb, and the other two mages in the room, Ebert and Kilte, were all kinteticists, if anyone could turn away a large fast rock, they could. "Whatarewegonnado?" Dalla asked, hastening to help out with the components. "We have one minute to decide." Ebert said, who was keeping track of the meteor. "Impulse?" Kilte suggested. "Takes too long." Kaleb replied, "That thing's moving awful fast." "Barrier then." Dalla replied. "Use the screens Uro set up." "It'll shatter and kill everybody in a two block radius." Kaleb shot that idea down too. "Bat." Kilte said, "it's the only way." "Damn, that'll take a lot of power...but we'll go with it, where are we going to bat it?" Kaleb. "Out to sea." Kilte. "Too far." Dalla, "we need somewhere uninhabited, try the Shunned center, the buildings will contain the explosion somewhat." Nobody could think of an objection to that, or, if they could, they didn't voice it. The four of them linked to each other psychically and when the thing got to the right point, an enourmous 'club' made out of psychic energy swatted at the thing, and it changed direction, arcing high over the city of generica. Great mother was near alien as a being could be, but even she objected to having large glowing rocks thrown at her. With an offhand thought, she swatted the thing out of the sky, onto the city that had swatted at her. If the thing could have thought, it's last one would have been how rapidly that building that the fence lived in was approaching. The building that the fence lived in must have been on unusually hard rock, because when it reached the ground floor, the thing shattered in all directions, tiny shards of itself ripping through the walls of the house, the adjoining houses, the homes across the street... The impact point was at the corner of two streets, and all the buildings along the four blocks were riddled and mostly flattened by the shards and later air compression wave. Shards were also channeled down the streets, maiming and killing anyone who dared to be outside at that time of night. The rest of the city saw a great flashing thing arc through the sky, bounce off the guild building, and drop into Low City, where there was a tremendous explosion. Most of the people cowered in terror, although a few dashed to the scene of the explosion, either to care for the wounded or to prey upon their vulnerability.