Into the Loliverse ( Pilot - Conclusion )
by Aunt Molly
Thanks to those who had read this. I know its not an erotic story.
( It was twenty minutes before the gate opens)
***
Cyan came back on the
speaker, "I see, well , there is a problem. We cannot get you back to
Habitat Four without releasing you. And we cannot release you because
you are a threat to the other residents."
"I'll kill her."
"Then you will have no
bargaining chip."
"I can break one bone
every minute you don't release me. I think I'll start with her
right hand."
Eliza's heart was
racing. "Whoa, Whoa - I'm human!".
"You're a species
traitor. That makes you *worse* than them. And the fact that they will
bargain with me for your life means you are important. How many humans
have you helped them 'resolve' ?", his voice had a cold bite too it.
He was no longer raging. His gaze was determined. The road ahead was
clear to him now. He was acting , not *reacting*. He shouted up to the
ceiling , "WELL ?"
Cyan's
voice caught his attention, "We are clearing the hallway now. One of
the hoppers will be accessible to you by your spex. The propellant
will be refilled and the battery charged. You may fly it where you
wish. On the condition you allow the hostage to go. Otherwise the
hopper will not be permitted to leave this habitat."
He seemed to consider this , "Fine No tricks - or she starts screaming
."
Several minutes passed. The door in the direction of the docking
bay opened. True to their word, the corridor was clear. Eliza wasn't
sure where the refugees were put, but she didn't see anyone.
Cyan's voice could be heard on the speaker, " Your spex will paint a green
arrow , leading you to your hopper. Once you release the prisoner we
will open the door. "
"No - once you open the door I will release the prisoner."
"Of course."
They made their way to the hatch with his promised hopper.
The big man climbed the ladder . The hatch opened - and the
whole habitat shook violently.
****
"WHAT THE SHRAG
IS GOING ON! THE DOCKING BAY DOORS ARE CLOSING ! I'M GOING TO KILL
HER!"
Cyan could be heard over the speaker again, "The habitat is under
attack - it is not safe for you to leave. And its not safe for us to
have the docking bay open."
"THAT'S SHRAGGING CONVENIENT!"
Eliza could not possibly see how being under attack was
convenient. The big man was grabbing her arm so tightly is was
starting to bruise. The jack over Eliza's left ear was normally hidden
by her hair, but as she was being shaken, the large man happened to
see it.
He grabbed her hair and pulled it
back.
"YOU'RE A XOMBIE!", the angry man started to shake her,
"I'LLKILLYOUI'LLKILLYOUI'LLKILLYOU!"
"No ! Please its not like that ! When I was born part of my brain
didn't mature properly, it had to be replaced by a computer. I have a
case that acts as my long term memory. The jack allows me to connect
to it. It also lets me enter the delfscape. I know what's going on - the delfs are being
infected by a virus. We are all in danger - all of us ! Humans and
transgenics."
"LIES!
LIES! LIES!", The habitat endured a particularly violent shake and
Eliza was able to break free, she ran down the corridor, the Lolis ( who
presumably were watching ) had opened the inner door making the path
clear for Eliza. What Eliza wanted to know was - why the heck didn't
they charge in and save her
?
Then she
remembered - in a hostage situation , the hostage taker is more likely
to kill the hostage during an attempted rescue - he has nothing left
to lose.
The large man ,
fueled by his nearly limitless rage gave chase. As Eliza ran down the
hall, the barriers fell again. This time Eliza was on the outside and
the large man was trapped by himself. He shouted and banged against
the walls
Then Eliza heard a sound
something like *chub, chub, chub* and the large man's breathing became
labored , the pounding less frequent , and then he fell to the floor.
And there was silence.
*pshhhh-hish* ,
something was released into the space..
Several resolvers came out from a nearby lift. The little girl
humanoids had what looked to be large shackles and a trolley.
The barriers were lifted and the shackles and cuffs placed on
the large , now unconscious, man.
With some effort and assistance from Eliza ( and the fact that gravity
was greatly reduced in this part of the habitat ) , he was loaded onto
the trolley
The habitat shook again.
One of the resolvers, the one with green hair she'd seen earlier,
examined Eliza's arm, " We'll get y'all to the infirmary later.. But
Cyan wants t'know - what you said to this big guy here.
Is it true ? Can you enter delfspace?"
"If I can get the case that holds my backup memory I can show you."
Eliza nodded. A pair of resolvers took the big man , who was starting
to regain consciousness, back to the lift. They seemed very
calm. It seemed comical , the little girls and their wagon , carting a
two meter tall man into the lift.
"We need to get yah to the computer center right away."
***
They took a separate lift and
boarded the small car-like tram. Eliza was a little shorter than
average for a woman, but she still was a giant compared to the big
eyed humanoids . Yet despite their resemblance to children, they
were oddly calm and professional about the whole thing.
Sirens and lights blared
on the tram , but even louder sirens called out through the habitat's
residential sections.
- All Residents
of Habitat -6 we will be commencing an emergency launch as soon as
possible , Please make way to your residence or an emergency shelter.
Make sure to secure your family before you belongings. This is
not a drill. All residents...-
Eliza heard ,
"What emergency launch ?"
The
girloid
brushed some green hair out of her face, "Quick version Honey - this
habitat is a spaceship."
" How ?
Why ? But you'd need immense power to move something this big. ."
"Six fusion generators, And several thousand metric tons of CO2
propellant. And one delf in the pilot seat. But in order to
protect the habitat from all the crazy delfs runnin' around out there we need ta' take you to the
computer room. If w'all survive this huge cluster-shrag
I'll tell y'all the whole long story."
They zipped though the food production area of the habitat and into
the machine shop. As they drove through the corridors Eliza saw one
meter tall robots made up from cunits ( the cunit based drones were a fairly common
design ) with three legs. The tripod robots didn't seem to be moving
for some reason.
From there to an open area with three quantum computers.
A black haired Loli in a rust colored uniform had a thin fiber-optic
cable attached to the middle column.
Eliza jumped off the tram, and the black haired Loli didn't even
bother introducing herself. She just handed the cable to Eliza , and
Eliza inserted it into the jack behind her ear.
"Where should I go ? Where should I take the habitat?"
"Someplace safe - we're too big to get through the inter-planetary
gates, but we probably have enough food ,water, and oxygen to
get us to Earth the long way Assuming the virus doesn't spread
there ahead of us."
Which taking into account it moved at the speed of light was all too
likely.
Eliza closed her eyes and opened her mind. She saw a locked door. The
Black haired Loli had a tool in her hand , one half a knife, the other
a key. She used the key to open the door.
***
A diaspora had
formed, ships fleeing to the interplanetary gates. Smaller versions of
the Alpha Centauri gate Human piloted warships
attempted to cover the retreat of the civilians as delf controlled ships
rammed into the fleeing human ships like missiles.
The gate to Earth orbited around Ganymede , the most populous of Jupiter's
moons. And it was the most popular destination of the Jovian diaspora. Dozens
of ships , large and small, fleeing to the mother planet, and
hopefully to safety.
Finding they could not defeat the warships with force - they used
subterfuge. Using a more primitive form of digital life disguised as a
message from its fellows. ZThe trojan horse was an old trick - so old the
crew of the warship did not expect it. Soon the warship was
infected.
The other human piloted vassals had not realized it until too
late. Black and angled like a shark, it flew a safe distance away and
launched a sunlance. The other ships, the civilians, and
the Earth gate itself was consumed in a white hot firestorm.
The trajectory was taking the warship towards Io, where a
large number of humans still resisted and even had managed to kill a
delf. They have
dared to protect some of the humans , and now they plan to escape Her
wrath. The voice of the One Who Is To Come has declared Io's Habitat 6 to be
the greatest enemy of life in the universe.
***
Eliza was Habitat Six, she was the myriad sensors , she felt the six
fusion generators , she could feel unmanned cargo haulers ramming into
her , one after the other , trying to push her out of orbit. She
felt the white hot fire of the fusion reactors , flowing in a ring of
powerful magnets Co2 was released into the center of that ring
and the plasma heated it and Eliza released the superheated gas
creating tremendous thrust..
At first the habitat barely seemed to move , unable to break its bulk
away from Io's
gravity , but then , slowly but surely overcoming inertia , the
habitat started to move away from its nest and out into space.
She was all too aware that for over two thousand Loli's gravity had
just turned sideways - no longer , furniture turned to its side and
slide along the floor. Dishes broke , glasses shattered and residents
found themselves tossed about like dolls. Those that had made it to
the shelters were in belted seats
The refugees had few belongings with them , but were too large for the
shelters. Injuries would surely result - but Eliza could do nothing
for them. If she slowed or hesitated she feared she would only
put them in graver danger.
Eliza
was able to pick up radio and microwave transmissions, humans, and
even some uninfected delfs still struggled. She hoped so.
She could not pray for them. How could she? She had been a goddess ,
she wielded near-divine power right now , and still she was severely
limited in what she could accomplish.
A Ganymedean
warship was moving quickly towards them. But their were no people on
board, no living ones anyway. Eliza was able to see its inside
was as cold and empty as space. The Delfs needed no heat or oxygen , just
power.
Even if
the hull somehow survived a strike from a sunlance, Habitat
Six would become a giant oven and everyone on board would be roasted
alive.
She
remembered the vision she had while in delfspace,
the infected delfs felt certain they had to stop humans
from entering interstellar space. But they must not destroy the
gate itself. Which was odd because that would be the most efficient
way to stop the humans from entering interstellar space..
She checked the time , the gate would open in a matter of
minutes. The warship would not risk harming the gate. It would
need to get closer to use its standard weapons.
The Alpha-Centauri gate the only gate big enough
to handle something the size of Hab-6. The gate that all infected delfs were to protect
above everything else. Eliza turned the habitat towards it , making
use of Io's
gravity to help turn the massive ship.
This was going to be about timing - too fast and she would fly
straight through the gate and into Jupiter itself. Too slow and the
warship would catch up and tear Hab-6 to pieces. Eliza guessed it would
use a mass driver. Or microwaves to heat the ship. Eliza could think
of way too many ways that ship could bring their death.
Thirty seconds.
Seconds ticked by so slowly. And the warship closed so quickly. Why
did it have such a sleek predatory lines? There was no fluid it had to
move through. But war was as much about psychology as technology.
twenty seconds.
Eliza was going too fast - she'd crash into the gate before it opened.
There were thousand reasons why the gate on the other end could have
failed. There were a thousand reasons why the signal could have been
slowed even by fractions of a second.
It just came to her mind the gate on the other end was probably
orbiting another body, which was orbiting a star , the distance could
have changed by several astronomical units. Even light itself can be
slowed - by glass , by water , by an atmosphere.
Ten
seconds. The hull temperature rising. The warship has begun bombarding
Hab-6 with
microwaves. Strong enough to roast the inhabitants - but weak enough
so as not to harm the gate.
5 seconds, The habitat shook, she felt a hit from an iridium
tipped bullet launched by the warship's mass driver. A huge chunk of
the hull had been knocked away
2 seconds, the gate wasn't open, they were so dead.
1 second.
Then a great black hole appeared in the center of the gate. The gate's
sensors attempted to enlarge the wormhole to accommodate hab-6. It was
going to be a tight squeeze. The larger the wormhole the more power it
drew. The habitat was pushing the gate to its limit.
One moment Jupiter and the huge spider-web-like gate filled her
vision, then, stars everywhere They made it. But Eliza's
relief was short lived The warship coming through the gate.
They'd made it only to be -
Then the gate failed. the warship had been cut in half , the
computer core separated from the fusion reactors by 4.35 light
years.
Eliza shut off the engines. All over the habitat reports were coming
in of injuries, as sudden increases in acceleration and change in
direction flung residents about like rag dolls. There had been
no fatalities. Eliza was so thankful, but she was not sure who to be
thankful to.
She saw the bright yellow sun of Alpha Centauri A - like
a big sister of Earth's sun , and Eliza saw the planet the gate
orbited. Slightly larger than Earth with three moons, There was a
purple sea. .She gently nudged the habitat into a gentle orbit before
reutrning
to the "real" world.
.
***
Most lolis were cute,
Mayor Snow was *adorable*, her platinum blond locks with long natural
curls. And instead of the ballerina outfit she liked pantsuits. She
thought it made her look more professional.
The habitat had gotten cold , then it was attacked, then
moved unexpectedly then got wicked hot, then they found themselves in
another solar system. There were grumps all over the place. Oh and
Nana was *gone* .Needless to say , the lolis wanted some
answers.
And so mayor Snow made a
public announcement in the habitat garden, hundreds of Lolis showed up in
person, and the rest were watching through spex.
Deputy mayor Forest
and Mayor Snow's personal assistant, Jade, stood to either side
of the Mayor. Her Honor had no security detail, since no one had
actually wanted to harm her. And up until now she had mostly
been a figurehead.
Well Nana was gone ,
and all the lolis looked very angry. But she knew she
could lead them , she knew she had it in her to be a real mayor. Yes ,
finally her leadership skills would shine
"Sooo- yer' probably wonderin' what in
holy b'jesus
is goin' on
around here don'tcha ? With all the shakin' and crashin' and
emergency vehicles runnin' around. Well , funny story. Well
actually not 'ha-ha' funny. Funny as in 'peculiar' and so - "
Deputy Mayor Forest whispered in Mayor Snow The white-haired Loli
surrendered the floor to her dark green haired colleague. Forest was
somewhat plain for her race, and unusually tall. But her voice rang
out clear and confident.
"We don't know everything that happened, but we do know this. A delf infected with a
knew, extremely dangerous, virus had managed to take control of the
habitat's environmental systems, but with heroic effort of our own
Nana and our mechanics , we were able to take back control of the
ship.
These infected delfs had reeked havoc on the larger system ,
and we took on refugees. You can see them among you in the crowd.
Failing to destroy us from the inside, the hostile delfs attacked us on
the outside. They rammed cargo haulers into the side of the habitat ,
trying to knock us out of orbit and into our host moon..
Having no choice, Nana fired the main engines and launched us out into
space. She judged Alpha Centauri gate as our only means of escape
.Sadly, the entire affair brought great strain not only to the
ship's physical systems, but to Nana's matrix of programs. A short
time after coaxing Hab-6 into a gentle orbit, several of
Nan's programs crashed, and our mentor, our leader from the very first
days of our freedom passed away. .
While we no longer have her to guide us We have her in our hearts and
our memories. I want you to make the new residents feel welcome , I am
sure they will become a valuable addition to our community."
****
Sable stood towards the back. It was a lie. And it was
the truth. Nana did everything she could to protect them. That
monstrous doppelganger she saw on the spexnet was not
Nana. Still she could not shake the feelings of guilt she felt ,
even though her daughter had forgiven her.
Emerald and Ashley had their arms around one another.
Todd clung to Eliza . The latter having finally
recovered her case in time to download the memories she had gained.
"So where are we going to sleep?"
Ashley nuzzled her wife gently, "They are going to set
up temporary housing in some of the empty storage rooms since they
have high ceilings."
Sable stretched, "Buut - I guess since
you saved all our butts from certain destruction, I could let you and
the boy stay in my apartment. I still have Ashley's old bed. It'll be
pretty cramped for you, but I'm sure we can work something out."
Eliza looked over to Emerald , " You
said you would tell me the whole story if we got out of this
alive."
"I reckon ah' did. So come back to my place , and
we can show ya."
***
"Ma'am - some humans made it through the gate."
"How many is 'some' ?"
He paused before saying it aloud, "
The former Loli plantation. They call it Io Habitat -6 now. It had a population of
over two thousand. Plus a few human refugees."
"Did we have time to get the virus through the gate?"
"We don't know."
She was annoyed, but it was not fatal to her
plans. "Any pockets of resistance left?"
"Io is secure, so is Callisto. There
is a little resistance left on Ganymede The Europans are
particularly stubborn. "
"Have the delfs finish up - I want us to be the only
humans anywhere near Jupiter. "
"Yes Ma'am."