Necros-Vacuia
11-06-2004, 09:08
Location: Eleison City, Capital of Necros-Vacuia, 2121 GMT
The Dominion of Necros-Vacuia is not a place one looks to for a nice record on civil rights or freedoms. It was founded on principles which were questionable at best, and is acknowledged worldwide as a psychotic dictatorship.
But this morning, something new was about to happen. Something that was horrible enough, amoral enough, that the first Lord Praetor, Avan Nakki, would have likely condemned it as an act of blasphemy.
This was a project that was unknown throughout the all-pervasive government of the island nation, except to a select few. And they were gathered here, in a large, cold scientific lab under the heart of Eleison City.
There were four of them, a mix of government officials and scientists.
Havarran Dzerrin stroked his long, sharply pointed beard as he looked at the device before him impassively, considering.
Professor Yvrim Hojjo waited anxiously, glancing around him every few seconds as he did.
His assistant, one Julian Reves, placed a calming hand on his mentor's shoulder, looking anxiously on at the fourth figure, who stood in front of the others, gazing up at the thing he had commissioned Hojjo to create.
This man remained cloaked in shadow, standing before the great machine with more amusement than reverence. Finally, he spoke.
"I'm impressed, my good Yvrim. Very impressed indeed. I didn't think you could mange it," the soft voice came.
Hojjo bowed low in gratitude. "I have always tried to complete your wishes to the best of my abilities, Lord Praetor."
The figure turned and stepped into the light, revealing the trim, pale figure of the nation's leader, Thraakan Naal, a small, slight grin across his face.
"And in that you have done well," the Praetor said. "The Oblivion Project is complete, then?"
"Yes, Praetor...."
"Then you won't mind if we test it," spoke Dzerrin. The Executor's gravelly voice had a more menacing ring as he said this, and the others could hear him crack his knuckles.
"Oh, not at all, Executor Dzerrin!" The Professor pulled a handkerchief out to wipe his increasingly sweaty brow. "I assure you, it has been tested many times, but--"
"Successes occur in private while failures occur in view," snapped the Executor, glaring at the little man before him in contempt. He'd been against this from the start, and couldn't see why the Lord Praetor would believe such ridiculous claims as this man made. The sooner he was gotten rid of, the better.
"Peace, Executor," spoke Naal, and Dzerrin flinched slightly, detecting the subtle note of displeasure in his lord's voice. "The professor has put considerable work into this; I'm sure he wouldn't waste our time with an untested device."
"Oh, Lord Praetor, it's quite all right; I would *love* to demonstrate for you!" gushed Hojjo, eager to please his leader. "Julian? Fetch the subject."
The nervous young man responded with a nod, and left swiftly...when he returned; he was pushing before him a cadaver.
The man was rather unremarkable, apart of course from the fact that he was dead....he could have been any Necros-Vacuian, dead from any number of unremarkable things. People died all the time here, and the government was often responsible; but people had learned long ago that asking questions was a good way to join the dead ones.
"Put him in," Hojjo ordered, a small measure of his usual authority returning as he took his place at the control panel. Julian did so, setting the subject on what looked like one of a series of many hanging frameworks, which closed around the dead man like claws. Julian shuddered and stepped back.
The hermetic doors of the edifice into which the dead man had been place closed again with a final loud sound. The professor took up a small microphone.
"Mortis Sequence, final test. Initiating reactant injections."
The professor's voice blurred with the tapping of buttons, adjusting of dials, and flipping of switches. The room came to life as he did this. Lights all over the machine flashed to existence, blazing in the dark. A dull, rumbling hum began to emanate.
Julian's stomach lurched as he watched, knowing each part of the machine's sequence by heart. And hating every last bit. He hadn't thought it would be like this. No, not at all...
When he'd agreed to assist his mentor on this secret project, he had been proud to finally be involved, finally be helping his Lord Praetor and his nation in some vital, irreplacable way. He'd thought of himself as a patriot, proudly serving his nation.
He hadn't seen this machine then. He hadn't known what it did.
Now things were different...
He'd made up his mind. It had to be done....not just for him, not just for Necros-Vacuia's people; but for the world, so that such an abomination as this could never again be duplicated. So that *someone* would stop what was going on, before it was too late...
The hermetic doors opened...
---------------------------------
The next day, an announcement went out by open communication to the people of Necros-Vacuia.
It was as follows....
<=--MESSAGE
M_VARIETY: OPEN COMMUNICATION
FROM: Havarran Dzerrin, Executor, Necros-Vacuia Commissariat of National Security
MESSAGE BODY
Effective tomorrow, by executive order of the Lord Praetor, no citizen of the Dominion will dispose of their deceased in the normal manner (e.g., burial, cremation, et al.).
Instead, those citizens with deceased will transport them to the center of their city, where vehicles will be waiting. These vehicles will be marked with the insignia of the National Security Commissariat; they will have workers with them, standing by. The workers will take your deceased and load them inside the vehicle.
These deceased are being used to help further our national security. Failure to comply will result in arrest on charges of crimes against the State.
Police agencies; if the deceased are not heavily dismembered, please join the other citizens in disposing of your deceased with the NSC vehicles.
Further details on this matter shall be delivered as the NSC sees fit.
Thank you for your cooperation.
Long live the Lord Praetor!
--Havarran Dzerrin, Executor, National Security Commissariat
END MESSAGE BODY
Please do not send replies to this message. This is a public announcement. Replies to this message will result in arrest of disturbance of the peace.
END MESSAGE=-->
------------------------------------
And at a terminal he wasn't supposed to have, in his small, single-bedroom apartment, Julian crafted a message of his own.
<=--MESSAGE
M_VARIETY: OPEN COMMUNICATION
FROM: Julian Reves
MESSAGE BODY
To any and all who read this, from whatever nation you may be:
I need your help. I am a fugitive from justice simply for writing to you now; if I am caught, I face torture and certain death as a traitor.
I am not a traitor. But I have information that involves the worst kind of crimes against humanity. Crimes so heinous that I would turn my back on my Motherland, Necros-Vacuia, to tell you of them.
This information is highly sensitive and classified. In return for it, I must have asylum and safe transport to your country; if possible, a guarantee that I will not be extradited to my homeland would be very useful.
My life is in your hands, nations of the world. You have a chance to stop something horrible. I beg of you to help me.
--Julian Reves
END MESSAGE BODY
Please send replies to this message directly to the sender.
END MESSAGE=-->
The Dominion of Necros-Vacuia is not a place one looks to for a nice record on civil rights or freedoms. It was founded on principles which were questionable at best, and is acknowledged worldwide as a psychotic dictatorship.
But this morning, something new was about to happen. Something that was horrible enough, amoral enough, that the first Lord Praetor, Avan Nakki, would have likely condemned it as an act of blasphemy.
This was a project that was unknown throughout the all-pervasive government of the island nation, except to a select few. And they were gathered here, in a large, cold scientific lab under the heart of Eleison City.
There were four of them, a mix of government officials and scientists.
Havarran Dzerrin stroked his long, sharply pointed beard as he looked at the device before him impassively, considering.
Professor Yvrim Hojjo waited anxiously, glancing around him every few seconds as he did.
His assistant, one Julian Reves, placed a calming hand on his mentor's shoulder, looking anxiously on at the fourth figure, who stood in front of the others, gazing up at the thing he had commissioned Hojjo to create.
This man remained cloaked in shadow, standing before the great machine with more amusement than reverence. Finally, he spoke.
"I'm impressed, my good Yvrim. Very impressed indeed. I didn't think you could mange it," the soft voice came.
Hojjo bowed low in gratitude. "I have always tried to complete your wishes to the best of my abilities, Lord Praetor."
The figure turned and stepped into the light, revealing the trim, pale figure of the nation's leader, Thraakan Naal, a small, slight grin across his face.
"And in that you have done well," the Praetor said. "The Oblivion Project is complete, then?"
"Yes, Praetor...."
"Then you won't mind if we test it," spoke Dzerrin. The Executor's gravelly voice had a more menacing ring as he said this, and the others could hear him crack his knuckles.
"Oh, not at all, Executor Dzerrin!" The Professor pulled a handkerchief out to wipe his increasingly sweaty brow. "I assure you, it has been tested many times, but--"
"Successes occur in private while failures occur in view," snapped the Executor, glaring at the little man before him in contempt. He'd been against this from the start, and couldn't see why the Lord Praetor would believe such ridiculous claims as this man made. The sooner he was gotten rid of, the better.
"Peace, Executor," spoke Naal, and Dzerrin flinched slightly, detecting the subtle note of displeasure in his lord's voice. "The professor has put considerable work into this; I'm sure he wouldn't waste our time with an untested device."
"Oh, Lord Praetor, it's quite all right; I would *love* to demonstrate for you!" gushed Hojjo, eager to please his leader. "Julian? Fetch the subject."
The nervous young man responded with a nod, and left swiftly...when he returned; he was pushing before him a cadaver.
The man was rather unremarkable, apart of course from the fact that he was dead....he could have been any Necros-Vacuian, dead from any number of unremarkable things. People died all the time here, and the government was often responsible; but people had learned long ago that asking questions was a good way to join the dead ones.
"Put him in," Hojjo ordered, a small measure of his usual authority returning as he took his place at the control panel. Julian did so, setting the subject on what looked like one of a series of many hanging frameworks, which closed around the dead man like claws. Julian shuddered and stepped back.
The hermetic doors of the edifice into which the dead man had been place closed again with a final loud sound. The professor took up a small microphone.
"Mortis Sequence, final test. Initiating reactant injections."
The professor's voice blurred with the tapping of buttons, adjusting of dials, and flipping of switches. The room came to life as he did this. Lights all over the machine flashed to existence, blazing in the dark. A dull, rumbling hum began to emanate.
Julian's stomach lurched as he watched, knowing each part of the machine's sequence by heart. And hating every last bit. He hadn't thought it would be like this. No, not at all...
When he'd agreed to assist his mentor on this secret project, he had been proud to finally be involved, finally be helping his Lord Praetor and his nation in some vital, irreplacable way. He'd thought of himself as a patriot, proudly serving his nation.
He hadn't seen this machine then. He hadn't known what it did.
Now things were different...
He'd made up his mind. It had to be done....not just for him, not just for Necros-Vacuia's people; but for the world, so that such an abomination as this could never again be duplicated. So that *someone* would stop what was going on, before it was too late...
The hermetic doors opened...
---------------------------------
The next day, an announcement went out by open communication to the people of Necros-Vacuia.
It was as follows....
<=--MESSAGE
M_VARIETY: OPEN COMMUNICATION
FROM: Havarran Dzerrin, Executor, Necros-Vacuia Commissariat of National Security
MESSAGE BODY
Effective tomorrow, by executive order of the Lord Praetor, no citizen of the Dominion will dispose of their deceased in the normal manner (e.g., burial, cremation, et al.).
Instead, those citizens with deceased will transport them to the center of their city, where vehicles will be waiting. These vehicles will be marked with the insignia of the National Security Commissariat; they will have workers with them, standing by. The workers will take your deceased and load them inside the vehicle.
These deceased are being used to help further our national security. Failure to comply will result in arrest on charges of crimes against the State.
Police agencies; if the deceased are not heavily dismembered, please join the other citizens in disposing of your deceased with the NSC vehicles.
Further details on this matter shall be delivered as the NSC sees fit.
Thank you for your cooperation.
Long live the Lord Praetor!
--Havarran Dzerrin, Executor, National Security Commissariat
END MESSAGE BODY
Please do not send replies to this message. This is a public announcement. Replies to this message will result in arrest of disturbance of the peace.
END MESSAGE=-->
------------------------------------
And at a terminal he wasn't supposed to have, in his small, single-bedroom apartment, Julian crafted a message of his own.
<=--MESSAGE
M_VARIETY: OPEN COMMUNICATION
FROM: Julian Reves
MESSAGE BODY
To any and all who read this, from whatever nation you may be:
I need your help. I am a fugitive from justice simply for writing to you now; if I am caught, I face torture and certain death as a traitor.
I am not a traitor. But I have information that involves the worst kind of crimes against humanity. Crimes so heinous that I would turn my back on my Motherland, Necros-Vacuia, to tell you of them.
This information is highly sensitive and classified. In return for it, I must have asylum and safe transport to your country; if possible, a guarantee that I will not be extradited to my homeland would be very useful.
My life is in your hands, nations of the world. You have a chance to stop something horrible. I beg of you to help me.
--Julian Reves
END MESSAGE BODY
Please send replies to this message directly to the sender.
END MESSAGE=-->