| From: | "Mark L. Neidengard" <mneideng@****.CALTECH.EDU> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | What the heck? |
| Date: | Sun, 26 Apr 1998 13:58:24 -0700 |
round of Redmond riots. I understand a bit of supernatural weirdness is par
for the course these days, but _this_ is ridiculous:
+++++include trideo
The _Sea_Wolf_ had its Wolf Blitzen. Rome had its Nero. And TNN has Michael
Novacek, yelling happily into his microphone as two monstrous Ares "Black
Widow" Urban Combat Platforms a block behind him down the street fire periodic
bursts from their bristling armaments at something down a cross street and
out of sight. Visible amidst the gangles of multisegemented leg, antenna, and
weapon barrel is the distinctive Lone Star emblem. "THAT'S RIGHT FOLKS! IT'S
OUTRIGHT WAR BETWEEN THE AUTHORITIES AND THE PEOPLE OF THIS EMBATTLED SLUM!!
THE RACIALLY MOTIVATED VIOLENCE AND SLAUGHTER, WHICH PEAKED LAST NIGHT, ARE
NOT YET FINISHED!!" Still firing periodically, the UCP's begin to advance
slowly, drawing out of sight around the corner of what might once have been
a convenience store. The noise of their armaments begins to abate, allowing
Michael to lower his tone toward something approaching civilized.
"ALL the ingredients are here, folks! We have unofficial confirmation of
at least _five_ different mercenary companies involved with the hostilities,
both for and against the Children of Thunda. We are still trying to reach
the humanitarian island of Haven for comment, but the mass of the wounded that
they are tending to and the lingering threat of assault on the premesis has
prevented them from lowering some sort of mystical defenses as of _yet_!
The unrest in the streets has not yet calmed, and law enforcement and
humanitarian units are coming from as far away as the East Coast to try to
handle the terrible tragedy played out here."
"_Furthermore_," and here that gleam comes into his eye, "the government
has
already sent out an open probe about the sorcery deployed here, culminating in
the demolition of the McCormick Building in the Downtown area, reported to be
a base of operations for the Children of Thunda! We _don't_ yet know what
led up to it or who's responsible, but this is what our news drones caught
earlier this morning:"
The footage switches to an aerial shot of the Downtown area. Below, masses
of people can be seen surging through the streets toward the civic center,
lights of various fires, and perhaps other things, lending scant illumination
to the chaos. Suddenly, a shaft of white light springs from the roof of a
nearby building, extending up into the heavens. An inset zooms in on the
origin of the light, revealing a black humanoid shape at the center, holding
some sort of staff vertically above its head at the center of the light. One
by one, five other shafts erupt from other buildings, forming a rough circle
centered around what a floating caption labels as the McCormick Building.
After several seconds, additional shafts of light flash out horizontally to
connect the six columns of light into a giant six-pointed star. The light
changes color from white to blue, and a giant circle of light forms around the
entire tableau, turning it into a hexagram. In the inset, the figure begins
a complicated set of manouvers with the staff, and then plants it firmly into
the roof of the building. The verticlal columns of light begin tilting towards
each other, forming a vertex that rapidly lowers into the plane of the
hexagram. The lights become all red, and the entire set of lines makes a
sickening ninety-degree rotation, and then vanishes. The McCormick building
is then replaced by a horrendous ball of fire.
+++++end include
If anyone can shed some light on what the _hell_ is going on over in Washington
area I'd be _greatly_ appreciative....
]<<<<<
-- Azrael <9:02:58 / 04-26-59>
