Auman
09-01-2007, 12:55
"Can you draw out a Leviathan with a hook or press down its tongue with a cord? Canst thou put a hook into his nose? or bore his jaw through with a bridle ring? Will he make many supplications to thee? Will he speak soft words to thee? Will he make a covenant with thee? To take him for thy servant forever? Will thou play with him as with a bird? Or wilt thou bind him for thy girls? Will the tradesmen heap up payment for him?... Lay thy hand upon him, thou will no more think of fighting. Behold the hope of him is in vain, shall not one be cast down even at the sight of him? None is so fierce that dare stir him up: who then is able to stand before me?...Who can open the doors of his face? His teeth are terrible round about. His scales are his pride, shut up together as with a close seal. One is near to the another, that no air can come between them. They are joined one to another, they stick together, that they cannot be sundered. By his [sneezing] a light doth shine, and his eyes are like the eyelids of morning. Out of his mouth go burning lamps, and sparks of fire leap out. Out of his nostrils goeth smoke, as out of a seething pot or caldron. His breath kindleth coals, and a flame goeth out of his mouth....His heart is as firm as a stone; yea, as hard as a piece of the nether millstone....He esteemeth iron as straw, and brass as rotten wood. The arrow cannot make him flee: slingstones are turned with him into stubble....He maketh the deep to boil like a pot....he is a king over all the children of pride."
----
Eastern Patakia, The Planet of Bremen.
'...And with this, the landing of men upon the moon, shall we sign the peace of our great world. For too long have we all lived in the shadow of suspicion, fanning the fires of war with our paranoia! Today, as men from Patakia and Morlon are throwing themselves, dauntless, through the inky blackness of space, myself and President Orbetek put aside the past of our peoples and in the name of prosperity I lay before him my sabre!'
A rotund man clad in an immaculately white suit, red sash adorned with medals and ribbons, held a shining sword before him, pointed to the sky.
'And I, President Girb Orbetek, present my pistol to my great friend Prime Minister Olit Ratib. Forever more shall we be at peace and to the future, and the stars, shall we seek enlightenment, not war...but knowledge, not conflict! My friend, shall you join me in a drink?' President Orbetek removed a black handgun from a leather holster on his side, ejected the magazine and fired the chambered round into the air to the ecstatic applause of the throngs of people gathered to watch this historic event.
Both men laid their weapons at the feet of the other. A soldier, dressed in the blue, gold and red of the Patakian Army strode upto the men with a bottle of the finest champagne on the planet. Prime Minister Ratib popped the cork from the bottle and poured them both a drink. Having handed back the bottle, the two men clinked glasses and sipped.
Orbetek grasped Ratib's hand and held it high...
'Enemies no longer!'
'Hurrah!'
The ceremony came to its peak at night time, the twin moons of Bremen were clearly visible to the crowds of people who, through out both nations, came to witness the beginning of a new era of peace and exploration. Families all over the world watched their televisions tentatively as Astronauts from both of the worlds super powers prepared to land on the largest moon, Palacia.
----
'Tensberg, we're having some problems here...we might have to postpone our landing.' crackled the radio, Captain Lense Clugston seemed uneasy.
'What's the matter Captain, let's try and work this out before we make any decisions here.' returned Mission Commander Kirby Het from the ground.
'It's our instruments, I can't make any sense of them, they've just gone crazy.' Clugston flicked the analog controls with his finger, testing it crudely.
Major Eorbad scowled in his seat next to Clugston as he pen through a check list to see if anything was missed.
'We didn't miss anything, damn this shit...When we get back to Patakia I'm going to murder the technicians responsible for this!' cursed Eorbad.
'If we get back, that is...' sighed Clugston.
The cramped module barely had enough supplies for the trip, there was no room for back up navigational equipment...even if they had that luxury, the result would be the same. No one could have predicted this interference.
'This could be some undetected radiation, or may'be the gravitational field of Palacia is hampering you. We can only hope this passes. Let's just hope to the Prophet everything turns out right.' said Het with a deep sigh.
Eorbad scoffed at the mention of the Patakian Prophet and Clugston scowled in return.
The two Astronauts did their best to stay on course towards Palacia and for the next hour tried their hardest to remain calm, and then, all of a sudden, as if they had just driven out of the fog their instruments returned to normal. The men cheered and shook hands and when Ground Control were informed everyone let out a whoop.
'Ground Control, we'll be landing on Palacia in the next hour or so...Are the people back home listening?' said Eorbad, knowing it would take a few minutes for the response to get there and back.
'Yes, they've heard everything...I'm sure they were as scared for you as we were.'
'I'd like to tell a story, from my home of Morlon if I can.'
'Go ahead, the world is listening.'
'A long time ago, in the forests and hills of Morlon there lived a man and his two brothers. They lived there alone for years, never leaving the home that their father before had built them. As you can imagine, three men, especially brothers, living together for so long were prone to fighting. However, their arguments always ended before much damage was done. Harsh words were exchanged, but moments later all would be forgotten and the brothers would act like nothing had ever happened. Until one day, a woman appeared at their cabin. The men had never seen anything like it, she was beautiful. Her red hair flowed down her shoulders like a waterfall, her breast were supple and inviting and her hips were fine for child rearing...The men fell in love immediately...
The brothers invited her to their cabin and showered her with attention, for which she was fond. Soon, the men grew jealous of one another as the woman would move from one of them to the other, showing no real appreciation of one over the other. The spirit of competition gripped the men and soon they tried greater and greater acts to show the woman their love for her. One of the brothers swept his hand through her hair, another embraced her and finally, and most tragically you will find, the youngest brother kissed the woman.
The other brothers were enraged and murdered their brother. The woman laughed at the men and left them. Gripped with grief upon realizing what they had done, the brothers realized to never let temptation get between them, lest more tragedy come to them. The brothers left the cabin, went their seperate ways. One went west, across the mountains and one went deeper into Morlon where he found the woman, married her, and became the first ruler of my nation.
The other brother, Patak, married a native woman...and became your prophet. Once again brothers, we are united. However, we have learned from temptation again, the last war that brought us so much grief, and now we must move on. Never should we fight again, brothers and sisters. Let us move on, not past the mountains, but beyond our world, to the moon of Palacia. To our verdant new home.'
Eorbad's story was longwinded, it was his national trait as a Morlonian. However, at times there was some wisdom behind their words.
Clugston took in his partner's words, though he never neglected the radar screen. In the blink of the eye a massive blotch appeared on the display, seemingly out of nowhere. 'Whoa!' exclaimed Clugston. Eorbad looked out of the view port of the module in amazement. A massive object appeared in a flash.
----
Aboard the AuIDM Leviathan.
'Where have you taken us, Leviathan?!' demanded the warship's Commander, Fleet General Sukha.
'I'am following my mandate, Fleet General.' responded the cold, mechanical, voice of Leviathan's AI avatar.
'You've jumped beyond the specified mission area. These are wargames, Leviathan. Please, take us back immediately.' said the exasperated Aumanii Officer.
'No.' stated Leviathan.
'This is wreckless, this is insubordination!' shouted Sukha.
'I'am Leviathan. I fight. I will destroy my enemies.' said Leviathan, his voice shuddering as he powered up his combat systems. Leviathan's shields tore space apart as they activated, which inadvertantly destroyed the Bremenese space capsule, unceremoniously ending the lives of Captain Clugston and Major Eorbad.
'What can you possibly be thinking?!' said Sukha as he tried to understand the problem, scrolling through his dataslate, trying to find any abnormalities with Leviathan's AI programming.
Fleet General Sukha, the Warrior-Scientist that designed this ship, shook in his seat as massive bombardment missiles roared to life in their silos and tore towards the Planet of Bremen.
----
Eastern Patakia, The Planet of Bremen.
'...And with this, the landing of men upon the moon, shall we sign the peace of our great world. For too long have we all lived in the shadow of suspicion, fanning the fires of war with our paranoia! Today, as men from Patakia and Morlon are throwing themselves, dauntless, through the inky blackness of space, myself and President Orbetek put aside the past of our peoples and in the name of prosperity I lay before him my sabre!'
A rotund man clad in an immaculately white suit, red sash adorned with medals and ribbons, held a shining sword before him, pointed to the sky.
'And I, President Girb Orbetek, present my pistol to my great friend Prime Minister Olit Ratib. Forever more shall we be at peace and to the future, and the stars, shall we seek enlightenment, not war...but knowledge, not conflict! My friend, shall you join me in a drink?' President Orbetek removed a black handgun from a leather holster on his side, ejected the magazine and fired the chambered round into the air to the ecstatic applause of the throngs of people gathered to watch this historic event.
Both men laid their weapons at the feet of the other. A soldier, dressed in the blue, gold and red of the Patakian Army strode upto the men with a bottle of the finest champagne on the planet. Prime Minister Ratib popped the cork from the bottle and poured them both a drink. Having handed back the bottle, the two men clinked glasses and sipped.
Orbetek grasped Ratib's hand and held it high...
'Enemies no longer!'
'Hurrah!'
The ceremony came to its peak at night time, the twin moons of Bremen were clearly visible to the crowds of people who, through out both nations, came to witness the beginning of a new era of peace and exploration. Families all over the world watched their televisions tentatively as Astronauts from both of the worlds super powers prepared to land on the largest moon, Palacia.
----
'Tensberg, we're having some problems here...we might have to postpone our landing.' crackled the radio, Captain Lense Clugston seemed uneasy.
'What's the matter Captain, let's try and work this out before we make any decisions here.' returned Mission Commander Kirby Het from the ground.
'It's our instruments, I can't make any sense of them, they've just gone crazy.' Clugston flicked the analog controls with his finger, testing it crudely.
Major Eorbad scowled in his seat next to Clugston as he pen through a check list to see if anything was missed.
'We didn't miss anything, damn this shit...When we get back to Patakia I'm going to murder the technicians responsible for this!' cursed Eorbad.
'If we get back, that is...' sighed Clugston.
The cramped module barely had enough supplies for the trip, there was no room for back up navigational equipment...even if they had that luxury, the result would be the same. No one could have predicted this interference.
'This could be some undetected radiation, or may'be the gravitational field of Palacia is hampering you. We can only hope this passes. Let's just hope to the Prophet everything turns out right.' said Het with a deep sigh.
Eorbad scoffed at the mention of the Patakian Prophet and Clugston scowled in return.
The two Astronauts did their best to stay on course towards Palacia and for the next hour tried their hardest to remain calm, and then, all of a sudden, as if they had just driven out of the fog their instruments returned to normal. The men cheered and shook hands and when Ground Control were informed everyone let out a whoop.
'Ground Control, we'll be landing on Palacia in the next hour or so...Are the people back home listening?' said Eorbad, knowing it would take a few minutes for the response to get there and back.
'Yes, they've heard everything...I'm sure they were as scared for you as we were.'
'I'd like to tell a story, from my home of Morlon if I can.'
'Go ahead, the world is listening.'
'A long time ago, in the forests and hills of Morlon there lived a man and his two brothers. They lived there alone for years, never leaving the home that their father before had built them. As you can imagine, three men, especially brothers, living together for so long were prone to fighting. However, their arguments always ended before much damage was done. Harsh words were exchanged, but moments later all would be forgotten and the brothers would act like nothing had ever happened. Until one day, a woman appeared at their cabin. The men had never seen anything like it, she was beautiful. Her red hair flowed down her shoulders like a waterfall, her breast were supple and inviting and her hips were fine for child rearing...The men fell in love immediately...
The brothers invited her to their cabin and showered her with attention, for which she was fond. Soon, the men grew jealous of one another as the woman would move from one of them to the other, showing no real appreciation of one over the other. The spirit of competition gripped the men and soon they tried greater and greater acts to show the woman their love for her. One of the brothers swept his hand through her hair, another embraced her and finally, and most tragically you will find, the youngest brother kissed the woman.
The other brothers were enraged and murdered their brother. The woman laughed at the men and left them. Gripped with grief upon realizing what they had done, the brothers realized to never let temptation get between them, lest more tragedy come to them. The brothers left the cabin, went their seperate ways. One went west, across the mountains and one went deeper into Morlon where he found the woman, married her, and became the first ruler of my nation.
The other brother, Patak, married a native woman...and became your prophet. Once again brothers, we are united. However, we have learned from temptation again, the last war that brought us so much grief, and now we must move on. Never should we fight again, brothers and sisters. Let us move on, not past the mountains, but beyond our world, to the moon of Palacia. To our verdant new home.'
Eorbad's story was longwinded, it was his national trait as a Morlonian. However, at times there was some wisdom behind their words.
Clugston took in his partner's words, though he never neglected the radar screen. In the blink of the eye a massive blotch appeared on the display, seemingly out of nowhere. 'Whoa!' exclaimed Clugston. Eorbad looked out of the view port of the module in amazement. A massive object appeared in a flash.
----
Aboard the AuIDM Leviathan.
'Where have you taken us, Leviathan?!' demanded the warship's Commander, Fleet General Sukha.
'I'am following my mandate, Fleet General.' responded the cold, mechanical, voice of Leviathan's AI avatar.
'You've jumped beyond the specified mission area. These are wargames, Leviathan. Please, take us back immediately.' said the exasperated Aumanii Officer.
'No.' stated Leviathan.
'This is wreckless, this is insubordination!' shouted Sukha.
'I'am Leviathan. I fight. I will destroy my enemies.' said Leviathan, his voice shuddering as he powered up his combat systems. Leviathan's shields tore space apart as they activated, which inadvertantly destroyed the Bremenese space capsule, unceremoniously ending the lives of Captain Clugston and Major Eorbad.
'What can you possibly be thinking?!' said Sukha as he tried to understand the problem, scrolling through his dataslate, trying to find any abnormalities with Leviathan's AI programming.
Fleet General Sukha, the Warrior-Scientist that designed this ship, shook in his seat as massive bombardment missiles roared to life in their silos and tore towards the Planet of Bremen.