Bubblegum Crusade (Ch. 23 of 24)
Jul. 10th, 2009 12:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
WELCOME TO BUBBLEGUM CRUSADE!
Standard disclaimer here. "...5,6,7...go to hell, go to heaven.." -- Roy
Chapter Twenty Three
MAD MACHINE
"MAD MACHINE!" In a savannah enraged by sandstorms.
"MAD MACHINE!" I chase down my prey on a dashing motorcycle.
"MAD MACHINE!" It isn't logical, this fire burning in my breast.
"MAD MACHINE!" If I'm with you, we may share the same dream.
I don't want to cool my raging passion
Until my sadness is torn to shreds.
"Don't stop your love, your love...
Tell me what do you want,
Tell me how do you feel."
You and I are like wounded beasts,
With sparks in starving eyes.
When, for an instant, I look back, afraid,
My heartbeat does a painful dance.
"Tell me what do you want,
Tell me how do you feel."
"MAD MACHINE..."
"MAD MACHINE!" I don't know about tomorrow and all...
"MAD MACHINE!" All I want is someone with whom I can knock around
Everything is melting away;
It's such a sad joke.
They say that cool stares
Are more tender than sympathy.
"Feeling so bad, so bad
Tell me what do you want,
Tell me how do you feel."
Time flies, and pursues us,
Like a wounded beast seeking release from its pain.
My awakening wild nature has a hold on me,
And the more masks I remove, the more women I become.
"Tell me what do you want,
Tell me how do you feel."
Priss and the Replicants -- The bootleg tapes.
Cyberspace
Largo beheld that which he released upon the world and
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laughed as if it was the greatest comedy ever written. Die, die,
he thought, none can stand against me. Your toughest Knight
Saber is slain as easily as I would crush a coin. Victory is
mine.
In the sea of the world-wide data net, the grey/blue GENOM
Towers rose untouched and impregnable above the forest green
representation of Largo which covered most of the net. The
securest Government and military systems were now surrounded and
attacked by Largo. One by one the arcs of green energy would
become strong enough, as Largo grew in power, to shatter the
layers of ICE and the entire structure of data would dazzle with
brilliant green as it was taken over.
Largo ignored the Towers around the world. When he felt the
Tai-Pan's power, he judged that he would need the entire net
secure behind him before that last challenge could be accepted.
Once this last battle with the Tai-Pan is over, thought Largo,
nothing will be left to challenge me from my rightful place as
ruler of this world, maker of paradise. I and my people are
destined. Come to me Sylia, come to me.
* * *
Over Japan, 20, October, 12:46 pm
The bay appeared deserted as Sylia entered. She walked pass
the perfectly aligned rows of hardsuits, each one open and
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waiting for its operator before she came upon an empty slot.
Sylia stopped, glanced at the helmet and blade set there in
remembrance for a dead Knight Saber, and dropped to her knees as
a wave of pain and sadness staggered her. The pain quickly
vanished as her sadness brought tears to her eyes. I've felt
this before, Sylia thought, when my father died. Priss. Sylia
lurched to her feet and careened forward around a corner as she
heard voices behind her. She quickly came upon the section in
the bay where her hardsuit was and stopped as she saw *****
standing there by her suit.
"*****." She took several steps toward him and stopped as
he turned. Tears were running down his face. He set the stack
of CDs down by two tattered pieces of a hardsuit, turned away,
and looked upwards before slowly fading away.
Sylia slowly walked to the end of the isle and sat down
opposite her hardsuit to stare at the vacant spot next to hers.
"Priss." She stared at the grey blade extended from its housing
and the red stained glove. The kanji on the stack of CDs was
hand printed. Priss and the Replicants. Sylia didn't even know
she was crying until Nabiki squatted down beside her and started
to wipe her tears away. "Tai-Pan, are you ok?"
"Priss is dead," managed Sylia.
"Oh no..." Nabiki got up to sit beside her and wrapped her
arms around Sylia. "I...I..." Nabiki couldn't go on as grief
overwhelmed her.
Sylia shook off the embrace, got to her feet and collapsed
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back down to her knees. For a brief moment she howled out her
grief and pain. The cry echoed in the bay and brought six
sexaroids to them in seconds. They stood there, not daring to
say anything. Sylia stared at the stack of CDs, her vision
blurred. They could see the fury in her eyes. They backed off
as Sylia quicked got Quincy's disk from its place in her suit,
wiped her eyes, and strode past them without saying a word.
"What's going on?" One asked Nabiki.
"Priss...is gone."
They stood there in disbelief until their logical minds
accepted it from what they just witnessed. Grief descended upon
the group. They started up to the main passenger area of the
plane where most of their sisters were.
Crystal, Leon, Nene, Taki, Mackie, and Rumiko were all
gathered around the main display table in the forward officers
lounge on the Dovenwolf. A map of the North Kushiro area was
displayed on part of the vid' screen. Another part was a map of
the complex where Priss's signal came from. On the side was a
tele'conferencing feed from the Pentagon.
"Fuck it," exclaimed Crystal as she slammed her hand down on
the table; the vid' screen images jumped. "It'll be impossible
to get her out alive or even getting into her. Judging from the
way they designed the installation, they wanted to hold off a
fuck'en army."
"That's exactly right," said Nene. "That place was built
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during the cold war, when the USA and Russia were enemies. They
designed it to be impregnable."
"And so it fuck'en well is. Col. Wildstar, any ideas."
"Well I never thought I'd be asked to plan a pull from one
of our own sites. Judging from the original construction records
and the reports that have now surfaced of raw materials going in,
the complex is most likely a death trap. Who knows what Largo
may have done. We've confirmed that the site is in lock-down
mode. If you raided the complex with 100 suited personnel, the
fatality rate computes to over 70%. And again, that's just with
what we know about, not with what Largo's added."
Rumiko suddenly shifted in her seat and looked out a window.
"Crystal. Don't you feel it? We're turning East, headed for the
Pacific."
Crystal nodded and thumbed the comn' to the cock-pit. "This
is Crystal. Why are we turning to the East?"
"The Tai-Pan's orders."
"Wha..?"
Sylia walked into the room. They all stared at her as she
moved to the conference table and glanced at what was going on.
"Col Wildstar," Sylia said flatly, no emotion in her voice.
"There will be no need for your assistance now. Prepare
yourself. The last battle of this war is beginning." Sylia
clicked off the channel.
"Mother?"
Sylia didn't respond to her. She keyed in her GENOM ID at
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the computer. "Get me President Pinatubo, General Brown,
President Koutovich, and Premier Yun Hi Ping immediately," she
told the computer. Sylia opened the circuit to the cock-pit.
"This is the Tai-Pan. Once we reach the ocean you will start
ascending to our maximum possible flying height. If we travel
over 1500 kms from shore, establish a holding pattern. Cut all
computer ties with all computer nets and key all communications
through this terminal."
"Yes Ma'am."
Sylia put the CD ROM in a drive and keyed in instruction for
it on a fifth channel tied directly into the world-wide data net.
Crystal saw her Mother's hand movements as she keyed in the
instructions and began to worry and wonder about the extra set.
Sylia scowled as she remembered and opened up a sixth channel.
"Sylia," said Nene as Sylia blanked the two maps. The seal
of the President of the USA and the President of Russia appeared
on the vid' screens. "What about Priss?"
She bowed her head. They all saw her hands grip the table
until her knuckles where white. "Priss is dead."
They sat in stunned silence until Nene started to cry. They
erupted, wanting to know how, when, how did Sylia know. The Tai-
Pan thundered for silence as President Pinatubo and President
Koutovich both came on.
"I am Sylia Stingray. Gentlemen, it is time. I trust
you've been kept abreast of the developments. We have
ascertained Largo's position and are ready to kill him. Are you
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both prepared."
"Yes," said Pinatubo. "The situation on the ground is
worsening by the hour. All networks except for top level
military and Governmental have been compromised. We have to act,
but I think bringing nuclear weapons into this is abit extreme.
["Yes, it's time to act."] said Koutovich. They looked at
the translated subtitles. ["We are ready to fire one of our
ICMBs if you will give us the coordinates."]
"I can't believe you're actually going to do that. It's
insane."
"Is it," hissed Sylia. "We're dealing with a thing that
will kill us all. As far as we know, he doesn't have any nuclear
weapons and that gives us the advantage. The magnetic pulse
alone will fry him if we can contain him in his main hardware
long enough. I have the key that will do that. Besides, the
missile will hit my country, not yours. This is a sacrifice I
will gladly give to be rid of him."
"I see," said President Pinatubo as his image was replaced
by his seal. General Brown came on another channel.
"Tai-Pan. We've been ready since this began."
Sylia nodded and turned back to the feed from the USA.
"President Pinatubo, are you there?"
"Yes. We're ready."
"He's just ordered a battery of ICBMs to aim at us,"
protested Brown.
"What? How dare you suggest such a thing?" Responded
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Pinatubo hotly.
"It's true," shouted Brown. "They'll annihilate us all to
get Largo."
["Gladly,"] said Koutovich.
"Why you back-stabbing, blundering..."
Sylia cut the volume on all three channels as they started
to fight amongst themselves. Damn that Pinatubo, thought Sylia.
The arrogance from these American Presidents. Always think they
have to run the whole show on this planet, like the rest of us
are unworthy. Fuck this. She sadly shook her head and turned
the channels back on. "Shut up," she bellowed. That got their
attention. "You are going to listen to me right now and you will
then do as I say in this matter. If you don't do exactly like I
say the odds are that Largo will rule this world and he will hunt
all humans down as diseased vermin, because that is what he
thinks of us. If we don't act together right now, the human race
will end. Pinatubo, if you act rashly and destroy all of Japan
in the hope of killing him, Largo and I will laugh at you because
he is the world net by now. Destroy part, the rest remains
intact, so he lives. I have the key that will keep him occupied.
If you launch an all out nuclear assault, as far as I'm
concerned, Largo can just eat the US of A for breakfast and I
wouldn't care in the slightest. Now, will you two help me defend
the human race or not?"
"I'm not used to being spoken to in those tones," spouted
Pinatubo.
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["Don't be a fool,"] interjected Koutovich. ["We have to
follow her lead. Tai-Pan, we stand ready."]
"Are you in," thundered Sylia to Pinatubo.
"Yes," he growled back at her.
Sylia paused as the feed from China came in. "Premier,
welcome."
["Madam Tai-Pan."] He nodded in greeting.
"Good. Now we can proceed. I will transmit the coordinates
to my Knight Sabers on board a Russian sub. That sub will fire
an ICBM at Largo. My mark will begin when I have confirmation of
the launch. Mark plus 180 seconds, I will use the key to
distract Largo. Mark plus 181 seconds, we'll unleash everything
at the satellites together. Largo loses that weapon, the key
keeps him contained in his hardware, the ICBM fries him. It's
that simple."
[We are ready, Tai-Pan,"] said Koutovich
"Why at 180?" Asked Pinatubo. "My aids think that gives
him plenty of time to abandon his main hardware. And we should
use that key of yours and our lasers at the same time."
"If Largo sees this key in his system and the lasers firing
at the same time, the element of distraction is lost and he'll be
able to fire. Give this a second to distract him before you
fire."
"But 180 seconds?"
"He'll know it's coming sooner than each of us will know.
He'll just laugh and go about what ever he's doing until he has
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to move, which will take a microsecond. He'll be to busy with my
distraction and time will run out on him."
"Ok Tai-Pan. Primer, your offer to help in this matter is
most appreciated, but between Koutovich and myself, we have all
laser satellites sighted already."
["Mr President, you misunderstand my role in this. I have
the dubious honor of disabling Largo's forces that are on the
moon."]
"Tai-Pan, is this true?"
"Pinatubo," said Sylia. "We can't take the risk of leaving
any boomers alive that consider Largo as their god, especially on
the moon. We might not be able to get back up there immediately
and if they build a rather simple apparatus, they could be
throwing rocks into the middle of our major cities."
Pinatubo though for a moment about the damage that would
cause and nodded. "When do we begin?"
"Right now." Sylia nodded and opened the sixth channel up
to the Russian sub, squirting them with the coordinates and the
command to launch.
They heard General Brown, President Pinatubo, President
Koutovich, and Premier Yun Hi Ping all give the order to stand by
for firing.
"Away," came Ming Le's voice over the comn' a minute later.
"Mark," said Sylia. A counter started and she closed down
four of their five links to the outside world. The data link to
the world-wide data net remained open. Crystal moved to hold her
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Mother's hand as Sylia bowed her head. They waited.
Largo watched the missile approach. "Little Sister, I'm
impressed. Ha ha, my love, I didn't think you would pull
something like this. The odds on this possibility were so remote
I didn't even consider it a viable option and didn't prepare for
it. You've surprised even me. A trait that makes you even more
worthy of being the one human to survive the coming apocalypse by
joining with me. I've learned from you, my love. You've shown
me another weakness in myself, and now, I'm stronger because of
it."
All except for Sylia and Crystal moved to the windows after
the intership announcement was made. They stared at the sky,
hoping they would see nothing out of the ordinary in the azure
blue.
Crystal held her Mother's hand and began to squeeze harder
and harder as the counter passed 120. Sylia's fingers hovered
over a button Crystal saw her rig that would disengage the virus
from the counter and activate it immediately. Sylia ignored the
growing pressure that was starting to scrunch her hand.
Mother, thought Crystal. Why? After all our struggles to
stop Largo and protect humanity, why would you do this? If you
activate early, Largo won't be distracted when they fire and
he'll be able to launch a counter. Mother, why have you put all
of our futures in jeopardy. Crystal felt that she should pull
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her away from the consol, but slacked off crunching Sylia's hand
instead. Crystal stood there and believed in Sylia.
178, 179, 180.
The light from a black sun flooded into the eternal darkness
of the computer matrix. Largo screamed. The green forest of
data that comprised Largo started to crumble away, leaving the
blue/grey representations of the Tai-Pan's computer net intact.
"Sylia," Largo screamed. "My love, what have you done?
Noooooo......."
181. The ground based lasers and their particle beam
counterparts in space fired simultaneously.
Of course, thought Quincy as he attained Enlightenment. He
started to laugh.
On the Dovenwolf, high above the Pacific, they saw it all.
The numerous sparkles of light in the sky, and the result that
thundered to Earth. They silently watched the glow in the mid-
day sky over the destroyed Mega-Tokyo. The first particle beam
was aimed right at the fusion reactor. A dozen others struck as
the city was vaporized.
Largo retreated further and further into himself, screaming
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in pain, as the light crumbled his empire, his data nets, his
very being from the inside and out. His links to Luna and
Genaros were severed as lasers from China slammed into their
power reactors. Genaros shuddered and exploded. The moon bases
fared no better. The laser batteries that had the Discovery One
in it's sights misfired and only one laser slammed through it.
The ship shuddered and lurched forward with uncontrolled
acceleration before the engines went dead; it was locked on it's
original flight path.
"I am destined," Largo screamed as 95% of himself retreated
back to the safety of his main hardware. "I..." He looked to
the sky and saw the ICBM approach ground zero at his position.
He was laughing as it detonated.
The humans on the Dovenwolf stared blankly, unable to quite
comprehend before the feelings of lose started to weigh heavily
upon them. The sexaroids felt the desperate need to be close to
one another. They clumped together in groups, to feel the living
presence of each other.
Sylia sat down; Crystal was immediately at her feet,
wrapping her arms around her Mother's legs. Priss, Sylia thought
slowly. One name in...several billion. Perhaps it's better this
way. This day of judgement will not be forgotten. I was worried
that if we won, beat Largo at his own game of destruction, that
we, those who fought so long and hard in silence and near
darkness, would never be heard at all. Our new money, power, and
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the inevitable conspiracies would erase everything we fought for,
would erase the knowledge that the path we were on was causing us
to race towards oblivion. Trivial thoughts now that the great
and hulking machine we've made of our society has struck and
nearly destroyed us.
I...I held the entire race in my hand. If I had attacked
earlier, Largo would've responded without a doubt, but he didn't
need me...didn't need me...to destroy...or did he? If we had
fired simultaneously....? I...I must stop thinking like that.
It's over and we have to go on. I can't second guess myself now.
I have a future to build for you two. Sylia ran her hand over
her stomach before urging Crystal up beside her. Crystal buried
her face at her mother's neck. *****, did you ever face
something like this? I'm partially responsible for this day.
Sylia got up and activated the comn' to the cock-pit.
Someone was sobbing. "This is the Tai-Pan," she said. She tried
to put confidence and an edge of steel into her voice, which came
out strained and sad. "Pilot."
"Y..yes Ma'am."
"Head South towards Tokumo Shima."
"Yes Ma'am."
"Why there?" Wondered Crystal.
"Because GENOM owns the whole island and the Tai-Pan had
everyone removed from it. No people, no reason for it to be a
target." Sylia activated the ship-wide comn'. "Knight Sabers,
children of Stingray, we've reached the end of an era. It is a
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time of grief and of hope, but not one of despair. We are alive;
we have each other. The past is gone, unalterable, but the
future shall be ours. It is us that shall shape the future. Our
battle is just beginning, just as our finest hour is yet to come.
We will always remember this day and those from our ranks that
didn't live to see it. It is our duty to remember.
Knight Sabers. This world need us now, our strength, our
dedication to honor, and, most importantly, our love. We who
were at the center and watched this horror unfold, it is our duty
to insure that such as this, never happens again. This I vow to
the unborn generations, those that will grow up in the rubble of
our past.
We are collectively at fault because it would be to easy to
say Largo and Largo alone, alone in his insanity, did this and
leave it at that. Yes, Largo did do this, but if it wasn't for
the greed and the lust for absolute control by GENOM, my own
mistake for seeking revenge against Mason, the over valuing of
money in the society at large, the blind and ideal pleasures of
the world that intoxicate and make one uncaring and
complacent...I could go on, but I must not. That way only lies
madness, for who can see their world destroyed and not feel the
tug of madness?
Earth, humanity, and the cyberdroids have suffered greatly
today. We are the hope of this world and we must work for the
day when the peoples of the Earth can say with pride that they
survived this terrible day and now know happiness anew.
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The Knight Sabers must be at the center of what is now to
come as we all struggle from the ashes, as the guardians of the
future. Our fighting spirit, our pride, our honor, our respect
for all, these must be the models the children will look to. It
will be so hard, so very hard to deal with those that have no
honor, know no loyalty, know nothing of building for the future.
The traits in all of us that brought us to this point, the very
demons that haunt all our actions, must be accepted and dealt
with. It is only then that these demons lose power over us. I'm
saddened because after so much death, we'll be responsible for
more. But for those that cannot find some place within the
vision of the future....they shall meet with their destiny as all
people shall.
Knight Sabers, I have faith in us. I love you all."