Ma-tek
13-09-2004, 21:38
Tek University Campus, Tek, The Free Commonwealth of Ma-tek; 4th March, 1971 c.e./4 Súlimë, -33 b.d.
THE GATHERING STOOD AT THE BRINK of violence, upon a string of such lack of strength that a tweak or a tug in either direction would spill out into blood on the streets.
Or, it would, if Commander Terth D'thgar of the Commonwealth Assault Force allowed his troops to open fire with lethal arms. He had no intention of doing any such thing, however. He had very specific orders regarding the new weapons: the new arms were to be used, and the old lethal weapons - machine guns, mostly - were to be kept in reserve.
For now, however, he let the demonstration continue. They had not yet broken the law, but it was only a matter of time before the agitators amongst the crowd caused them to do so. Gathering like this was not illegal... yet.
It had been, just a few years ago; this incident was set to reactivate that law. It was a perfect plan.
"We must fight with our words against the oppression that the Commonwealth brings down upon us," the youth on the stage was urging, his reddened face passionate as his high-pitched young voice, "or we will never truly be free. Capitalism, violence against those who speak out - these are our bonds! We must break free!"
He had the crowd in the palm of his hand, so his words did not need to be so elegant now; he had been speaking for nearly forty-five minutes, unwittingly doing the job of the agitators: he had fired up the crowd to the point where violence would have been not far from inevitable, were this a normal situation.
It was not.
Rumblings of discontent swept through the crowd, thousands of eyes sweeping around to glare at the ever-present CAF officers - several hundred of them lined the edge of the park area. The University had its own park, a massive green space with wiring running below the soil to provide power to the speaking area, which was dead centre. It had originally been built to provide an open forum, a symbol of the newfound freedoms of the Commonwealth - but those freedoms had been nothing but a front.
Which was exactly as it ought to be, considered the Commander. The People didn't know what they want; only the Leader could provide what the People wanted, for only the Leader understood and loved the People.
Which was exactly what that giant billboard over there said, interestingly enough, but the Commander didn't even notice. What he did notice was the flash in the crowd; someone was...
There! The first glint of violence. A weapon had been drawn, a sword - blood would soon follow.
Still he did not intervene; the crowd moved nervously as a scream rang out - someone had been killed, injured, it didn't matter. One life never did.
Violence always had a tendency to erupt in a single moment; nobody could quite know why, but in a crowd full of empathically projecting Nenyan youths who had not yet quite learned to control their abilities, it was even more rapid to set it. Screams, shouts, angry voices quickly overrode the speaker.
Still the CAF did not a thing.
Only when the crowd suddenly fell silent to the cry of, "They set this up!" did the Commander move his hand to his belt to grip the hilt of the most dastardly weapon ever designed by Iluvauromen hands. Thousands of hate-filled eyes turned to the Assault Force troops.... the crowd began to move forwards, driven towards their new goal, as carefully implanted by the agitators: ripping the CAF troops to pieces.
It would take only a moment-
"This gathering is now illegal. You are ordered to disperse via the exit points, where you will surrender all weapons to the CAF stewards. If you do not oblige this order, then I will be forced to disperse this gathering forthwith. All statutory rights will, as a result, be dissolved for the duration of the violence. You have been warned."
Disappointingly, some of the crowd shrunk back - fortunately, not enough. The crowd surged forwards-
And several hundred hands drew weapons as one, in complete unison. The swish of weapons leaving holsters was a single, gushing sound. It was impressive, and Terth was proud of his men; he had trained them well. His own weapon was brought up as well, and, he was sure, at the same time as he depressed the small, rubbery-feeling contact, the other men were, as well.
The crowd screamed as one, a sound of utter agony as every man, woman, and youth fell to the ground clutching at their bodies. None of them knew where to grab; the pain was exquisite, enough to completely immerse a person in pain; there was nowhere that did not hurt, Terth knew. He had been present at the tests of the new weapon, the weapon they called a nerve-whip.
He smiled with satisfaction as his men moved through the crowd, making arrests. Whenever someone moved, they were shot again, mercilessly. As the weapons were non-lethal, there were no laws governing their use yet; a perfect loophole in the law that allowed him to act with impunity in the Name of the Leader.
And, above all else... he enjoyed watching the Nenyan dogs suffer.
* * *
Suri screamed, her world collapsed into a single pinpoint of pain. She was nothing but the pain, and there was nothing in the world but white hot agony that spiked through her head, her legs, her arms... her skin was burning, her internal organs seemingly exploding in her chest, the agony lasting an eternity...
...and ceasing suddenly. She blinked back to full consciousness, letting loose a sob, trying to ignore the wetness of her clothes; her bladder had evacuated quite thoroughly, and she was too terrified - and her muscles too cramped - to do much but whimper. She felt like she had gone ten rounds with a large planet - a severely pissed off large planet, at that.
She blinked more; even her eyelids hurt, her eyes felt dry, her heart was thudding in her chest... how long had she been in pain for?
Not that long, as it turned out. She felt the bumps of the vehicle moving down a street, although she had no idea which one. There were a number of other people near her, each in a small enclosure in the back of this... truck? lorry?
And it stank. The smell of fear hung in the air, cloying, oppressive. She sobbed again, and curled up into a tight little ball, hugging herself as she did...
THE GATHERING STOOD AT THE BRINK of violence, upon a string of such lack of strength that a tweak or a tug in either direction would spill out into blood on the streets.
Or, it would, if Commander Terth D'thgar of the Commonwealth Assault Force allowed his troops to open fire with lethal arms. He had no intention of doing any such thing, however. He had very specific orders regarding the new weapons: the new arms were to be used, and the old lethal weapons - machine guns, mostly - were to be kept in reserve.
For now, however, he let the demonstration continue. They had not yet broken the law, but it was only a matter of time before the agitators amongst the crowd caused them to do so. Gathering like this was not illegal... yet.
It had been, just a few years ago; this incident was set to reactivate that law. It was a perfect plan.
"We must fight with our words against the oppression that the Commonwealth brings down upon us," the youth on the stage was urging, his reddened face passionate as his high-pitched young voice, "or we will never truly be free. Capitalism, violence against those who speak out - these are our bonds! We must break free!"
He had the crowd in the palm of his hand, so his words did not need to be so elegant now; he had been speaking for nearly forty-five minutes, unwittingly doing the job of the agitators: he had fired up the crowd to the point where violence would have been not far from inevitable, were this a normal situation.
It was not.
Rumblings of discontent swept through the crowd, thousands of eyes sweeping around to glare at the ever-present CAF officers - several hundred of them lined the edge of the park area. The University had its own park, a massive green space with wiring running below the soil to provide power to the speaking area, which was dead centre. It had originally been built to provide an open forum, a symbol of the newfound freedoms of the Commonwealth - but those freedoms had been nothing but a front.
Which was exactly as it ought to be, considered the Commander. The People didn't know what they want; only the Leader could provide what the People wanted, for only the Leader understood and loved the People.
Which was exactly what that giant billboard over there said, interestingly enough, but the Commander didn't even notice. What he did notice was the flash in the crowd; someone was...
There! The first glint of violence. A weapon had been drawn, a sword - blood would soon follow.
Still he did not intervene; the crowd moved nervously as a scream rang out - someone had been killed, injured, it didn't matter. One life never did.
Violence always had a tendency to erupt in a single moment; nobody could quite know why, but in a crowd full of empathically projecting Nenyan youths who had not yet quite learned to control their abilities, it was even more rapid to set it. Screams, shouts, angry voices quickly overrode the speaker.
Still the CAF did not a thing.
Only when the crowd suddenly fell silent to the cry of, "They set this up!" did the Commander move his hand to his belt to grip the hilt of the most dastardly weapon ever designed by Iluvauromen hands. Thousands of hate-filled eyes turned to the Assault Force troops.... the crowd began to move forwards, driven towards their new goal, as carefully implanted by the agitators: ripping the CAF troops to pieces.
It would take only a moment-
"This gathering is now illegal. You are ordered to disperse via the exit points, where you will surrender all weapons to the CAF stewards. If you do not oblige this order, then I will be forced to disperse this gathering forthwith. All statutory rights will, as a result, be dissolved for the duration of the violence. You have been warned."
Disappointingly, some of the crowd shrunk back - fortunately, not enough. The crowd surged forwards-
And several hundred hands drew weapons as one, in complete unison. The swish of weapons leaving holsters was a single, gushing sound. It was impressive, and Terth was proud of his men; he had trained them well. His own weapon was brought up as well, and, he was sure, at the same time as he depressed the small, rubbery-feeling contact, the other men were, as well.
The crowd screamed as one, a sound of utter agony as every man, woman, and youth fell to the ground clutching at their bodies. None of them knew where to grab; the pain was exquisite, enough to completely immerse a person in pain; there was nowhere that did not hurt, Terth knew. He had been present at the tests of the new weapon, the weapon they called a nerve-whip.
He smiled with satisfaction as his men moved through the crowd, making arrests. Whenever someone moved, they were shot again, mercilessly. As the weapons were non-lethal, there were no laws governing their use yet; a perfect loophole in the law that allowed him to act with impunity in the Name of the Leader.
And, above all else... he enjoyed watching the Nenyan dogs suffer.
* * *
Suri screamed, her world collapsed into a single pinpoint of pain. She was nothing but the pain, and there was nothing in the world but white hot agony that spiked through her head, her legs, her arms... her skin was burning, her internal organs seemingly exploding in her chest, the agony lasting an eternity...
...and ceasing suddenly. She blinked back to full consciousness, letting loose a sob, trying to ignore the wetness of her clothes; her bladder had evacuated quite thoroughly, and she was too terrified - and her muscles too cramped - to do much but whimper. She felt like she had gone ten rounds with a large planet - a severely pissed off large planet, at that.
She blinked more; even her eyelids hurt, her eyes felt dry, her heart was thudding in her chest... how long had she been in pain for?
Not that long, as it turned out. She felt the bumps of the vehicle moving down a street, although she had no idea which one. There were a number of other people near her, each in a small enclosure in the back of this... truck? lorry?
And it stank. The smell of fear hung in the air, cloying, oppressive. She sobbed again, and curled up into a tight little ball, hugging herself as she did...