| From: | mneideng@****.caltech.edu (Mark L. Neidengard) |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Redmond riots! |
| Date: | Fri, 15 Dec 1995 19:26:29 -0800 |
_pronto_.
My team and I be now without sev'ral million in equipment, see. Blown clear
to hell and gone. And our troubles be _nothin'_ compared to the rest o'
Redmond. In case some of y'all don' follow current events much, lemme give
you a taste of the news:
+++++insert Turner.riots.clip
"This is Chelsea Wong, reporting for Turner Networks with a special news
bulletin. Chaos reigns tonight in the Seattle metropolitan area as
a firestorm rages in the city of Redmond. Flames are towering over seventy
meters into the sky as the homes of tens of thousands of working class
citizens are being razed to the ground. To make matters worse, a large
portion of the residents of Redmond have turned out onto the street in what
Lone Star officials are calling one of the worst riots since the Awakening.
Hundreds or even thousands of people are presumed dead, and many thousands
more are injured. Utilities and humanitarian assistance are crippled or
out of commission throughout the area. Reporting live on the scene is
Michael Novacek. Michael?"
The video switches from the pleasant Turner newsdesk to a portacam, stationed
inside some sort of helicopter. Michael gives the camera a pale smile from
beneath his immaculate hairdo, and his eyes are wide as he shouts into a
headset microphone. "Good evening Chelsea! We've been having a _very_
exciting time up here. A heavily armed Lone Star helicopter nearly shot us
down not two minutes ago before recognizing our media status! Their pilot was
clearly concerned about the chaos raging below us, and probably didn't want us
to accidently get in the way of the effort to bring it under control. As you
can see," and here the view switches to a different camera mounted in the belly
of the helicopter, "a substantial portion of Redmond is ablaze! From our
perspective, it looks like maybe a hundred square blocks or more." The camera
shows a hellish scene below. Enormous gouts of red and yellow flames are
burning in most of the visible buildings, thick black smoke mixing with the
darkness of night to make the shot look like something out of a movie. As the
camera moves along with the helicopter, there seems to be some sort of seething
mass on the streets, indistinct under the smoke. Here and there come flashes
of colored lights, of the sort used on law enforcement vehicles.
"The first priority of the rescue workers has been to extinguish the fires,"
Michael's voice says on the audio. "Aerial drops have been difficult
because of the hot winds stirred up by a fire this large; land-based efforts
have been hampered by the rioting going on. It's a truly horrendous
situation." "Michael, can you tell us what started all this?" Chelsea
asks.
"Well, that's what a lot of people would like to know at this point! Lone Star
is keeping a very tight reign on information in this crisis, saying they need
to restore order before any investigation has a chance of success. We _do_
know that Lone Star is calling in support units from as far away as Los Angeles
to help quell the rioting, and has also accepted aid from several corporations
with interests in the area. As it happens, we have received reports from
other sources about the start of the riots, but confirming their accuracy may
take some time. One thing we can confirm, however, is _this_."
The camera view pans around to the other side of the helicopter to show a
different view of the ground. "This" is several block-long stretch of street
that looks like the scene of a nuclear holocaust. All the buildings on both
sides of the street and several lots deep are completely destroyed, still-
smouldering foundations sliding into a giant sinkhole in the middle of the
street. Pieces of charred concrete and twisted metal lie at odd intervals
among the wreckage, some embedded in what is left of the street or in nearby
buildings. All the surrounding structures have their windows blown out and
adjacent walls at least partially crushed in: the signs of some enormous series
of explosions. Most of those buildings are still ablaze, one beginning to
collapse right in front of the camera. As the helicopter nears the far edge of
the zone, the first parts of bodies, charred nearly beyond recognition, begin
to show up in as a spotlight comes on. For some reason, the riots are mostly
avoiding this part of town, a handful of people in gang colors sprinting away
from the spotlight being the only living beings evident in the area.
"_This_," shouts Michael after a moment, "is what some sources claim is the
epicenter of the riots. As you can see, some sort of immensely destructive
force was displayed here, utterly demolishing the residences and businesses
for blocks around! While the officials are still keeping silent about the
nature of this devastation, the rumors on the street talk about legions of
demons, about the Antichrist himself showing up to start the Apocalypse!
Everything from an attack by aliens to some sort of action by the Native
American Nations to the wrath of God Almighty is being blamed by people who
claimed to witness the event." Michael is now yelling with relish into his
microphone, almost loud enough to drown out the noise of the rotor blades.
"Our special magical correspondents can confirm that some sort of massive
sorcery was involved here, but are unable to guess exactly what could be
responsible. Whatever it was, it was apparently in an _extremely_ bad mood!"
The video switches back to the interior camera, showing Michael with a near
maniacal grin on his face.
"Michael, are there any indications that this force is likely to strike again,
in Redmond or elsewhere?" Chelsea asks, a slight tremor in her voice.
"Nobody knows!" Michael shouts in glee. "Whatever caused this must be some
force far beyond our control, and it might just come and go whenever it feels
like it! We might _well_ wonder whether this is the beginning of the end of
the world! The emergency coalition set up to handle this event had no
comment for us when we posed _that_very_question_, saying that there were no
prior indications that any of this would happen. I guess we'll just have to
pray to our respective gods that it doesn't happen again. Not a very
cheery prospect, is it?" Michael concludes in high drama, his grin seeming a
mile wide as the video switches back to the Turner studio. Chelsea, looking
as close to ill as any top-tier anchorperson could, makes a concerted attempt
to face the camera. "This is obviously a great disaster," she manages to say,
"and we will keep you informed, with up-to-the-second updates as they become
available. For Turner Networks, this is Chelsea Wong, reporting."
+++++end sequence
]<<<<<
-- V-12 <19:24:10 / 12-15-56>
