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Somewhere within the Beyond, on an asteroid far out in the interplanetary void, a light-year distant from the commonly traveled worlds of the crossroads, a dim red bulb began to blink, on and off in urgent rhythmic tempo.
For a long time, nothing else happened. Its wan light shone upon a ruined command-center , illuminated in shadowed shades of dying crimson when it cycled on, and utterly consumed by blackness when it was off: walls lined with scorched and crumpled banks of reel-to-reel processing equipment and shattered cathode-ray-tube display screens enclosed a circular space containing islands of blocky consoles fitted with switches, dials and oscilloscopes but no recognizable keyboards. Mysterious and seemingly purposeless tesla-coils and antennae were mounted sporadically throughout the room. Mummified figures dressed in sleek silver-and-black uniforms lay slumped in bucket seats, splayed over burnt-out work-stations and face-down upon the seamless chrome floor.
Everything was covered in a thin layer of brown dust, and save for the blinking light the scene could have been mistaken for a photograph in its utter stillness.
When, after some hours, the little bulb failed to elicit a response, other, ancient systems began to awaken. If there had been any air in the room, the buzz and click of computer-controlled switches and relays trying and failing to find a path through a ruined power-grid would have been near-constant.
Eventually, a single reel of digitally-encoded tape began to spin, whirring lopsidedly on the face of a half-crumpled databank. It looked like an obsolete magnetic storage medium, but it was not; Very little about this room was as simple as it appeared.
A screen flickered to life, its dull green glow highlighting the contours of a desiccated skull pressed against it, wax-paper skin and dehydrated muscle pulled taught against eyeless alien bone.
Text flickered across the screen, emerald on black.
……..
>No Response To URGENT alert for : 300 : hours. Autodiagnostic engaged.
>Running….
>Autodiagnostic complete
>Life Support: Total Failure
>Drive Systems: Total Failure
>Hull Integrity: Total Failure
>Power Systems: Total Failure
>Weapon Systems: Total Failure
>Long-Range Scanners: OK
>Close-Range Scanners: Critical
>Primary Data Storage: Total Failure
>Data Backup: OK
>Backup Power: Critical
>Diagnosis: This vessel has been destroyed.
> Parsing data backup….
>running….
>running….
>running….
>Primary mission: Preserve the Empire of X – Failure.
>Secondary Mission: Contain Monster Zero at all costs – Qualified Success.
>Query: Define secondary mission success parameters
>Running…..
>Query Return:
>- X-Date 1227: Monster Zero is trapped within self-contained multiverse anomaly designated ‘Crossroads’.
>- X-Date 1229: Monster Zero has been struck down and imprisoned following confrontation with local powers and the last remaining forces of the Empire of X.
>-X-Date 1888 (Current minus 600 cycles): Monster Zero remains dormant; Astral power-well detected on long-range scanners.
>End Query Return.
>Query: Define ongoing URGENT alert.
>Query Return:
>-Secondary Alert: multiple massive biological entities detected on Opealon.
>-Primary Alert: Exponential spike in astral power-well aperture stability detected on long-range scanners.
>-------------The b!ndings are failin9.
>-----------=*….>>>>#___--Monster Zer0 is aw@ke.
……
The screen flickered. The data-reel spun down, and shuddered to a stop. The red bulb continued to pulse, on and off, a warning that would never be heard.
Slowly, haltingly, more text began to appear on the failing display.
……
Q u e r y: D e f i n e C u r r e n t U s e r
Running…..
Running…..
Runing…..
Runig…
Rung..
Run.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. I am the Controller of Planet X………………………………………...
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….Is there anybody out there?.................................................................................................
………………………………………………………………………………………….
Query Return:
>- Unknown
For a long time, nothing else happened. Its wan light shone upon a ruined command-center , illuminated in shadowed shades of dying crimson when it cycled on, and utterly consumed by blackness when it was off: walls lined with scorched and crumpled banks of reel-to-reel processing equipment and shattered cathode-ray-tube display screens enclosed a circular space containing islands of blocky consoles fitted with switches, dials and oscilloscopes but no recognizable keyboards. Mysterious and seemingly purposeless tesla-coils and antennae were mounted sporadically throughout the room. Mummified figures dressed in sleek silver-and-black uniforms lay slumped in bucket seats, splayed over burnt-out work-stations and face-down upon the seamless chrome floor.
Everything was covered in a thin layer of brown dust, and save for the blinking light the scene could have been mistaken for a photograph in its utter stillness.
When, after some hours, the little bulb failed to elicit a response, other, ancient systems began to awaken. If there had been any air in the room, the buzz and click of computer-controlled switches and relays trying and failing to find a path through a ruined power-grid would have been near-constant.
Eventually, a single reel of digitally-encoded tape began to spin, whirring lopsidedly on the face of a half-crumpled databank. It looked like an obsolete magnetic storage medium, but it was not; Very little about this room was as simple as it appeared.
A screen flickered to life, its dull green glow highlighting the contours of a desiccated skull pressed against it, wax-paper skin and dehydrated muscle pulled taught against eyeless alien bone.
Text flickered across the screen, emerald on black.
……..
>No Response To URGENT alert for : 300 : hours. Autodiagnostic engaged.
>Running….
>Autodiagnostic complete
>Life Support: Total Failure
>Drive Systems: Total Failure
>Hull Integrity: Total Failure
>Power Systems: Total Failure
>Weapon Systems: Total Failure
>Long-Range Scanners: OK
>Close-Range Scanners: Critical
>Primary Data Storage: Total Failure
>Data Backup: OK
>Backup Power: Critical
>Diagnosis: This vessel has been destroyed.
> Parsing data backup….
>running….
>running….
>running….
>Primary mission: Preserve the Empire of X – Failure.
>Secondary Mission: Contain Monster Zero at all costs – Qualified Success.
>Query: Define secondary mission success parameters
>Running…..
>Query Return:
>- X-Date 1227: Monster Zero is trapped within self-contained multiverse anomaly designated ‘Crossroads’.
>- X-Date 1229: Monster Zero has been struck down and imprisoned following confrontation with local powers and the last remaining forces of the Empire of X.
>-X-Date 1888 (Current minus 600 cycles): Monster Zero remains dormant; Astral power-well detected on long-range scanners.
>End Query Return.
>Query: Define ongoing URGENT alert.
>Query Return:
>-Secondary Alert: multiple massive biological entities detected on Opealon.
>-Primary Alert: Exponential spike in astral power-well aperture stability detected on long-range scanners.
>-------------The b!ndings are failin9.
>-----------=*….>>>>#___--Monster Zer0 is aw@ke.
……
The screen flickered. The data-reel spun down, and shuddered to a stop. The red bulb continued to pulse, on and off, a warning that would never be heard.
Slowly, haltingly, more text began to appear on the failing display.
……
Q u e r y: D e f i n e C u r r e n t U s e r
Running…..
Running…..
Runing…..
Runig…
Rung..
Run.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. I am the Controller of Planet X………………………………………...
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….Is there anybody out there?.................................................................................................
………………………………………………………………………………………….
Query Return:
>- Unknown
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