From the outer gas planets the end of the earth was a plaintive flash that momentarily rivaled the sun’s glare before fading from view. At mars the Earth’s demise threw a brief shadow across the rust red noon day landscape. The planet had disappeared in the relative blink of an eye. It had given rise to a species that had overrun, for better or worse, the solar system, and, god willing, would venture to the stars and galaxies and screw them up too. In the end its passing would matter little to only the most romantic souls, but its passing would not be noticed beyond the orbit of Jupiter. All of human history, the first humans to crawl from an African Gorge, Plato, Rome, The Great Wall,, Napoleon and Yakov Smirnoff erased for all time, but for the memories of ancestors reaching out across the universe.
Everyone aboard that little ship would remember, as they barreled through space. Even at a tenth the speed of light it took the better part of two days to reach the subterranean colony on Europa in the Jupiter system. The broad red and white bands of clouds sweeping across the giant gas planet were magnificent to behold after so much empty space. Jazz doubted the Corporation would be looking for them. It didn’t seem likely that anyone could have survived Earth’s end. Jazz couldn’t quite believe it either, and was quite certain they had been the only ones to escape.
He looked over at Kate. She was in a tangled heap of limbs with Buzz and the boy. They were sacked out cold against the lockers. Skullboy was sort of weaving, his head tilted back and mouth agape. Jazz felt sorry for the kid. He had lost his dad to the rebels. The wheel had taken a direct hit as Earth broke apart. It smashed through the wheel like a stone through a spider’s web.
They swung around the planet, racing above the swirling cloud tops. Jazz was uncomfortable exposing the ship to the planet’s incredible magnetic field for too long. The radiation meter on the console was nearly off the dial. The ship was pretty well protected for interplanetary space and could withstand short spikes in radiation, but itstruggled around behemoths like Jupiter and Saturn. The ship shuddered and groaned at its closest approach to the planet, and Jazz feared the engines might stall. He sighed with relief when icy yellow Europa came into view.
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Angry Jasper: Fifty-two
The pressure was unbearable now. Skull boy collapsed screaming, his cries lost to the grinding pressure and the violent shuddering of the planetoid and the strain of the engines. Kate was crawling, fighting with every ounce of strength to pull herself into the locker. Behind her, Jazz managed to shove the boy into locker. It sealed instantly as he slammed the door shut. fighting for air, and feeling as though his body might turn itself inside out, Jazz saw the door close and seal behind Kate as well.
The wounded ship bucked and kicked hard away from the dissolving chuck of rock and Ocean. Jazz screamed in pain. Clamping his hands tight over his ears in a vain attempt to keep his eardrums from bursting. He closed his eyes shot, but felt sure his eyes would explode from their sockets.
Jazz fumbled with the handle of the nearest locker. The pain was excruciating. His fingers felt as if they were swelling outward. Warm blood ran from his nails. Jazz fought one last time, knowing that this was likely his last chance. With all his might he hauled himself into the locker and pulled it closed. He fought for breath even as the door pressurized with a squealing hiss. With that fresh oxygen flooded into his lungs. He gave a long low groan, and would have cussed if he had the strength. Somewhere in the back of his mind he hoped Buzz could wrestle the ship away from the planetoid. His body could have cared less at that moment as he passed out cold.
Maury watched helplessly from his chamber at the center of the wheel as part of the smashed weapon, a piece roughly the size of an old Naval destroyer hurtled straight for him. There was no hope of escape, and Maury knew his fate was sealed. He hung his fat ugly head and moaned.
“Mother f…”
He and his chambers were vaporized by the impact. The wheel structure sort of collapsed around it, sort of like ball thrown into a net. This net didn’t hold, though. It buckled and snapped and ripped itself to pieces, spilling thousands of souls into space, like the Assessor and his wife, Marge. They instantly freeze-dried in the near absolute cold of space, then evaporated into dust. Madame had just dropped her slacks in the toilet when the calamity flung her out into space, bare-assed for all the Universe to see.
One small chunk of Earth fell steadily towards the sun. Somehow a part of Crawford remained intact. Just west of the train tracks and crossroads was a small ranch. Long abandoned, world leaders had once been summoned there to confer with a President whose name no one could recall any longer. If only folks could have seen that his own brand of politics set the stage not only for the rebellion, but for the rise of the Corporation as well. Indeed, it set in motion the long chain of events that doomed the planet and eventually led to its final destruction.
Crawford fell steadily towards the sun, the little ranch and the graffiti covered gravestone beneath the old cedar bough protected on the dark side of the chunk of earth. The stone was a study in kitsch, with big marble pillars. In the center of the gravestone was a larger than life picture of the long passed president. He was smirking, as though filled with contempt for damn near everyone. Like the Sphinx, his nose had been shot away by vandals.
There was a small shack by a creek not far from the gravesite. It was empty now. The bleached bones of the last of the president’s ancestors were scattered on the floor where he had died alone and in shame. A bible was open on the table next to a pair of spectacles and a dusty tin cup.
It evaporated as cinders and then as constituent atomic particles stripped of character and distinction. Curiously the shack was the last to be consumed. The words on the page of the book seemed fitting, and somehow prophetic:
“And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given onto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death; and with beasts of the earth…”
The wounded ship bucked and kicked hard away from the dissolving chuck of rock and Ocean. Jazz screamed in pain. Clamping his hands tight over his ears in a vain attempt to keep his eardrums from bursting. He closed his eyes shot, but felt sure his eyes would explode from their sockets.
Jazz fumbled with the handle of the nearest locker. The pain was excruciating. His fingers felt as if they were swelling outward. Warm blood ran from his nails. Jazz fought one last time, knowing that this was likely his last chance. With all his might he hauled himself into the locker and pulled it closed. He fought for breath even as the door pressurized with a squealing hiss. With that fresh oxygen flooded into his lungs. He gave a long low groan, and would have cussed if he had the strength. Somewhere in the back of his mind he hoped Buzz could wrestle the ship away from the planetoid. His body could have cared less at that moment as he passed out cold.
Maury watched helplessly from his chamber at the center of the wheel as part of the smashed weapon, a piece roughly the size of an old Naval destroyer hurtled straight for him. There was no hope of escape, and Maury knew his fate was sealed. He hung his fat ugly head and moaned.
“Mother f…”
He and his chambers were vaporized by the impact. The wheel structure sort of collapsed around it, sort of like ball thrown into a net. This net didn’t hold, though. It buckled and snapped and ripped itself to pieces, spilling thousands of souls into space, like the Assessor and his wife, Marge. They instantly freeze-dried in the near absolute cold of space, then evaporated into dust. Madame had just dropped her slacks in the toilet when the calamity flung her out into space, bare-assed for all the Universe to see.
One small chunk of Earth fell steadily towards the sun. Somehow a part of Crawford remained intact. Just west of the train tracks and crossroads was a small ranch. Long abandoned, world leaders had once been summoned there to confer with a President whose name no one could recall any longer. If only folks could have seen that his own brand of politics set the stage not only for the rebellion, but for the rise of the Corporation as well. Indeed, it set in motion the long chain of events that doomed the planet and eventually led to its final destruction.
Crawford fell steadily towards the sun, the little ranch and the graffiti covered gravestone beneath the old cedar bough protected on the dark side of the chunk of earth. The stone was a study in kitsch, with big marble pillars. In the center of the gravestone was a larger than life picture of the long passed president. He was smirking, as though filled with contempt for damn near everyone. Like the Sphinx, his nose had been shot away by vandals.
There was a small shack by a creek not far from the gravesite. It was empty now. The bleached bones of the last of the president’s ancestors were scattered on the floor where he had died alone and in shame. A bible was open on the table next to a pair of spectacles and a dusty tin cup.
It evaporated as cinders and then as constituent atomic particles stripped of character and distinction. Curiously the shack was the last to be consumed. The words on the page of the book seemed fitting, and somehow prophetic:
“And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given onto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death; and with beasts of the earth…”
Angry Jasper: Fifty-one
Kate just couldn’t hold on any longer. Only by the grace of god had she managed to keep from being thrown to her end when the boulder struck. She couldn’t see Jazz and figured he either didn’t make it and had high-tailed it off the planet while he still could. She didn’t blame him, and actually felt a certain relief that one of them would survive.
Skull boy was slipping away. She might have been able to hold on and save herself by letting go of the kid, but it just wasn’t something she could do. She looked at Buzz. There was this sort of spiraling terror in his electric blue eyes.
“I’m gonna miss you, partner,” she said solemnly.
“You too, kiddo,” said Buzz. With that her fingers slipped from the beam, and with the boy fell helplessly. Buzz watched until she disappeared from view, swallowed in a billowing cloud of dust.
Jazz had steered the ship under them, hiding beneath the dust cloud. He thought it would be funny and could only imagine the look on their faces when they landed on top of the ship. He felt the double thump as they hit the fuselage and almost pissed himself laughing.
Kate and Skull boy landed on their feet, surprised to be standing on the hull of the ship. Kate knew in an instant Jazz’ signature sort of schoolboy humor and cherished the thought of getting even somehow. She pulled the boy over to the canopy and could see Jazz shoving crap out of the way in the cluttered cockpit, making room for the others. Buzz dropped onto the hull a moment later, his mechanical eyes blinking hard at disbelief. He looked up at Kate.
“I have never been so happy to see that gruff bastard in I don’t know how long,” said the robot of Jazz.
“You and me both,” Kate replied.
Jazz opened the cockpit. The planet was coming apart rapidly now. One by one everyone scrambled into the ship. It was a tight fit, but somehow they all managed to cram inside. Buzz was already at the controls, the ship racing skyward. he hoped the ship would pressurize in time before the humans lost consciousness or worse. It was a moment in which he could feel their fragileness.
Buzz gunned the engines, pushing them to the limit. Below them the planet tore itself to pieces. Great jets of pulverized rock and flame shot into space, chasing, and even blasting past the ship. The planet was still more or less a sphere, but of a hundred monstrous pieces smashing and grinding against one another.
“Come on, baby,” Jazz said as he pushed Buzz out of the seat and slid in behind the controls, as though he could coax another few hundred miles an hour out of the ship. Suddenly, free of the atmosphere the ship lurched hard. At better than twelve hundred miles per second, the fastest he had ever gone this close to a planet, it would still take the better part of five minutes to reach the moon. He doubted it would be enough to save them.
. The planet’s core exploded, signaling the ultimate demise of the planet. Realizing there was no chance to outrun the titanic chunks of earth rushing towards him jazz turned the ship hard. He figured one of two things would happen. Either they smashed like a bug on a windshield or they would make some sort of landing, however hard, that might protect them from the worst of the shock and debris. Instead they plunged into what remained of Pacific Ocean still clinging to a chunk of earth.
The ship plowed through six thousand feet of ocean at blinding speed. They hit the floor with a teeth noshing bang, in what should have been catastrophic. The horrendous sloshing of the ocean, as the jagged planetoid shuddered, dulled the impact enough that it was at least for the moment, survivable.
They had barely come to a stop when seals suddenly began popping all over the ship. Kate, Buzz, jazz and Skull boy could do little more than watch in horror as icy cold sea water seeped in through a dozen hidden ruptures.
“Now we’re gonna drown?” Kate bitched.
But Jazz wasn’t out of fight yet. He hadn’t survived this long to just lay down and die. He had one last card left to play, and if that didn’t cut it, well then maybe then he’d call it quits.
“The storage lockers,” he pointed to a half dozen pressurized containers at the back of the ship. The water was at their knees already It would be tight, but there was just enough room in each to hold a person. He turned to Buzz. “Can you fly us out of here, tin man?”
Buzz rolled his eyes. He was just about to answer when they broke through the surface and out into space again. Without an atmosphere the ocean was quickly boiling away. Air rushed through the busted seals out into space. With it the pressure dropped quickly. Jazz popped open the first locker and was already fighting to fill his lungs. In minute or so each of them would lose consciousness. Death would follow quickly.
“Quick, no time to lose!.” Jazz was already shoving Kate and the boy to the lockers. The ship groaned terribly. Buzz pushed the engines to the limits, using the planetoid to shield them from the biggest chunks of debris. Behind hime the others stumbled towards the lockers, gasping for any air.
Skull boy was slipping away. She might have been able to hold on and save herself by letting go of the kid, but it just wasn’t something she could do. She looked at Buzz. There was this sort of spiraling terror in his electric blue eyes.
“I’m gonna miss you, partner,” she said solemnly.
“You too, kiddo,” said Buzz. With that her fingers slipped from the beam, and with the boy fell helplessly. Buzz watched until she disappeared from view, swallowed in a billowing cloud of dust.
Jazz had steered the ship under them, hiding beneath the dust cloud. He thought it would be funny and could only imagine the look on their faces when they landed on top of the ship. He felt the double thump as they hit the fuselage and almost pissed himself laughing.
Kate and Skull boy landed on their feet, surprised to be standing on the hull of the ship. Kate knew in an instant Jazz’ signature sort of schoolboy humor and cherished the thought of getting even somehow. She pulled the boy over to the canopy and could see Jazz shoving crap out of the way in the cluttered cockpit, making room for the others. Buzz dropped onto the hull a moment later, his mechanical eyes blinking hard at disbelief. He looked up at Kate.
“I have never been so happy to see that gruff bastard in I don’t know how long,” said the robot of Jazz.
“You and me both,” Kate replied.
Jazz opened the cockpit. The planet was coming apart rapidly now. One by one everyone scrambled into the ship. It was a tight fit, but somehow they all managed to cram inside. Buzz was already at the controls, the ship racing skyward. he hoped the ship would pressurize in time before the humans lost consciousness or worse. It was a moment in which he could feel their fragileness.
Buzz gunned the engines, pushing them to the limit. Below them the planet tore itself to pieces. Great jets of pulverized rock and flame shot into space, chasing, and even blasting past the ship. The planet was still more or less a sphere, but of a hundred monstrous pieces smashing and grinding against one another.
“Come on, baby,” Jazz said as he pushed Buzz out of the seat and slid in behind the controls, as though he could coax another few hundred miles an hour out of the ship. Suddenly, free of the atmosphere the ship lurched hard. At better than twelve hundred miles per second, the fastest he had ever gone this close to a planet, it would still take the better part of five minutes to reach the moon. He doubted it would be enough to save them.
. The planet’s core exploded, signaling the ultimate demise of the planet. Realizing there was no chance to outrun the titanic chunks of earth rushing towards him jazz turned the ship hard. He figured one of two things would happen. Either they smashed like a bug on a windshield or they would make some sort of landing, however hard, that might protect them from the worst of the shock and debris. Instead they plunged into what remained of Pacific Ocean still clinging to a chunk of earth.
The ship plowed through six thousand feet of ocean at blinding speed. They hit the floor with a teeth noshing bang, in what should have been catastrophic. The horrendous sloshing of the ocean, as the jagged planetoid shuddered, dulled the impact enough that it was at least for the moment, survivable.
They had barely come to a stop when seals suddenly began popping all over the ship. Kate, Buzz, jazz and Skull boy could do little more than watch in horror as icy cold sea water seeped in through a dozen hidden ruptures.
“Now we’re gonna drown?” Kate bitched.
But Jazz wasn’t out of fight yet. He hadn’t survived this long to just lay down and die. He had one last card left to play, and if that didn’t cut it, well then maybe then he’d call it quits.
“The storage lockers,” he pointed to a half dozen pressurized containers at the back of the ship. The water was at their knees already It would be tight, but there was just enough room in each to hold a person. He turned to Buzz. “Can you fly us out of here, tin man?”
Buzz rolled his eyes. He was just about to answer when they broke through the surface and out into space again. Without an atmosphere the ocean was quickly boiling away. Air rushed through the busted seals out into space. With it the pressure dropped quickly. Jazz popped open the first locker and was already fighting to fill his lungs. In minute or so each of them would lose consciousness. Death would follow quickly.
“Quick, no time to lose!.” Jazz was already shoving Kate and the boy to the lockers. The ship groaned terribly. Buzz pushed the engines to the limits, using the planetoid to shield them from the biggest chunks of debris. Behind hime the others stumbled towards the lockers, gasping for any air.
Friday, May 28, 2010
Angry Jasper: Fifty
Someone else might have said it was because he loved her that Jazz refused to give up. Might have been because, in this whole crazy universe, the stars and planets and billions of years of history had conspired to bring Kate and Jazz to this moment. It was as if to confirm that they were meant to be with one another. That they were destined not to perish on that doomed planet, and that the power of love could overcome any obstacle. Truth was, he was looking at her rack, and the thought of never seeing those cha-chas again was too much to bear.
Katy looked over, her face painted with terror. It wasn’t a look Jazz recalled ever seeing there. It said that she was nearly out of hope. She strained to hold on. Skull boy was a burden she just couldn’t bear any longer.
“Stop looking at my boobs,” she snapped. “This might be a good time to come up with a plan!”
The ship skidded along the riverbed, bouncing and banging off various obstacles. Boulders and debris crashed all around. Any one of them could easily smash the ship, or the bridge for that matter. Even if they didn’t it was apparent the ship would tumble past out of reach. Jazz looked wildly around. He was running out of time in more ways than he could count.
A large beam angled away over the river. It was flat on one side and if he could swing his body enough there was a better than even chance he could reach it. On the down side, there wasn’t a whole lot to hold onto, and if he missed, well, best not to think of the negatives.
Jazz swung back and forth for a little extra momentum. He let go and for a moment was airborne. It didn’t last long. Jazz landed hard, catching the beam in the gut and knocking the breath out of him. Hauling him self up Jazz half jogged, half skidded along the beam. He’d only gone a couple of yards before one of those boulders crashed into the bridge flipping him into the air.
At that moment the ship appeared directly beneath him. Jazz yelled and knew he’d hit hard. He slammed onto the rear of the craft and nearly bounced free. At the last instant he held tight to one of the stabilizers. He was getting too damn old for this crap, he thought, scrambling over the fuselage to the cockpit. He climbed in and pressed the ignition and nothing happened.
“You son of a …!” he hit the button again and this time the engines roared to life, and not a moment too soon.
Katy looked over, her face painted with terror. It wasn’t a look Jazz recalled ever seeing there. It said that she was nearly out of hope. She strained to hold on. Skull boy was a burden she just couldn’t bear any longer.
“Stop looking at my boobs,” she snapped. “This might be a good time to come up with a plan!”
The ship skidded along the riverbed, bouncing and banging off various obstacles. Boulders and debris crashed all around. Any one of them could easily smash the ship, or the bridge for that matter. Even if they didn’t it was apparent the ship would tumble past out of reach. Jazz looked wildly around. He was running out of time in more ways than he could count.
A large beam angled away over the river. It was flat on one side and if he could swing his body enough there was a better than even chance he could reach it. On the down side, there wasn’t a whole lot to hold onto, and if he missed, well, best not to think of the negatives.
Jazz swung back and forth for a little extra momentum. He let go and for a moment was airborne. It didn’t last long. Jazz landed hard, catching the beam in the gut and knocking the breath out of him. Hauling him self up Jazz half jogged, half skidded along the beam. He’d only gone a couple of yards before one of those boulders crashed into the bridge flipping him into the air.
At that moment the ship appeared directly beneath him. Jazz yelled and knew he’d hit hard. He slammed onto the rear of the craft and nearly bounced free. At the last instant he held tight to one of the stabilizers. He was getting too damn old for this crap, he thought, scrambling over the fuselage to the cockpit. He climbed in and pressed the ignition and nothing happened.
“You son of a …!” he hit the button again and this time the engines roared to life, and not a moment too soon.
Angry Jasper: Forty-nine
They ran along old Michigan Avenue, slowed by Buzz who lagged behind on those stubby little legs. Scrambling over heaping mounds of debris and dodging falling stone Jazz was of a mind to leave the robot behind, but Kate wouldn't hear of it. When Jazz reminded her Buzz was an obsolete bucket of bolts and moldy wires she froze in her tracks and refused to budge. Jazz kicked at a stone and threw up his arms in frustration.
“Remind me again why I risked my ass to rescue you from your fiancé, the monster?”
“You tell me, Jazz.”
He knew what she was asking. “Not on your life!”
Plasma bolts blasted the broken cityscape, drawing nearer. Jazz ignored them, favor instant vaporization to the hell Kate was attempting to put him through.
“Say it, Jazz, or we all fry on this godforsaken street.”
“Oh, do me a favor, lord!”
A bolt of searing hot plasma whipped high overhead, cracking like a deafening whip. Kate stood her ground, refusing to flinch or move a muscle. But it wasn't the imminent threat of death that got him, but the murderously cold stare that broke him.
“I friggin love you, all right,” he said, literally going down on one knee (Because he knew she wouldn't accept any less.).
Kate cocked her head and gave a satisfied smile. “Now was that so hard?”
She'd barely finished the words when a fissure opened up beneath her feet. That satisfied smile turned to shook as the earth disappeared beneath her feet.. Jazz was already diving towards her, catching Katy, quite by accident, with both hands around the throat.
She held tight to his wrists, straining to breathe beneath his grip. Far below, where the ground dissolved and fell away the rebel lair opened up disgorging bodies and everything else into the widening abyss. Jazz ignored it, digging his toes into the dirt to keep from being dragged over the edge with Kate. At the last moment Skullboy and Buzz fell upon his legs and dragged him back from the chasm. Jazz strained and shouted and pulled Kate up. She pulled free of his grip and rubbed her neck.
“I think you actually enjoyed that,” she coughed.
Jazz stood and helped her stand. Tumbling into hell with my hands around your neck? It's been a fantasy of mine for years!”
the battled the shattering planet all the way down the avenue until at last they came to the dry river bed. Jazz spotted the ship, where it was half buried in the bank. It was dented in a few places and covered with dirt and debris, but thankfully none the worse for wear. The ship had been through some tough scrapes, a lot tougher than crashing into that bank. But things were about to get a lot tougher. Jazz was less worried about the ship than he was about his own ass, and the others too.
They had just reached the twisted wreckage of the Michigan Avenue Bridge when the ground suddenly pitched sharply skyward. Whole buildings dislodged from the earth and slid or tumbled towards the dry lake bed, now hundreds of feet below. The four of them clung desperately to a bridge support. It was all they could do to hold on.
Reaching the ship seemed all but impossible now. The rain of debris from above grew and grew until it all seemed utterly hopeless. Jazz could feel those precious final minutes pounding away in his chest. It was all he could do just hold on and keep from being pummeled and smashed like a grape as the city and the planet disintegrated around them.
The beam of energy was weakening now, but the damage to the planet was irreversible. The crust had shattered like an egg, and the planet might have survived if that was as far as things went. But the beam sliced a hole deep into the mantle until the molten core poured into the breach. It threw the planet out of balance, like a loaded pair of dice. The entire planet shuddered violently, but this time it wasn’t resistance to the beam but a death throe.
When the earth pitched upwards it had dislodged the ship from the riverbed. Jazz watched as it began to slide down the steep bank towards the bridge. Clear to the other side of the river, it was too damn far away for all of them to reach together. At the pace of their progress Jazz didn’t see much chance in reaching it before it slid away forever. What really got him was that the thing didn’t simply tumble away where it was gone forever. Instead it sort of teased him, bumping, catching and skidding along the slope of the bank.
“Ain’t gonna make it,” he told himself. He looked over at Katy. She had a hold of the kid and it was all she could do to hang on. Next to her, clinging tight to a support, the pudgy little robot was all but useless.
“Remind me again why I risked my ass to rescue you from your fiancé, the monster?”
“You tell me, Jazz.”
He knew what she was asking. “Not on your life!”
Plasma bolts blasted the broken cityscape, drawing nearer. Jazz ignored them, favor instant vaporization to the hell Kate was attempting to put him through.
“Say it, Jazz, or we all fry on this godforsaken street.”
“Oh, do me a favor, lord!”
A bolt of searing hot plasma whipped high overhead, cracking like a deafening whip. Kate stood her ground, refusing to flinch or move a muscle. But it wasn't the imminent threat of death that got him, but the murderously cold stare that broke him.
“I friggin love you, all right,” he said, literally going down on one knee (Because he knew she wouldn't accept any less.).
Kate cocked her head and gave a satisfied smile. “Now was that so hard?”
She'd barely finished the words when a fissure opened up beneath her feet. That satisfied smile turned to shook as the earth disappeared beneath her feet.. Jazz was already diving towards her, catching Katy, quite by accident, with both hands around the throat.
She held tight to his wrists, straining to breathe beneath his grip. Far below, where the ground dissolved and fell away the rebel lair opened up disgorging bodies and everything else into the widening abyss. Jazz ignored it, digging his toes into the dirt to keep from being dragged over the edge with Kate. At the last moment Skullboy and Buzz fell upon his legs and dragged him back from the chasm. Jazz strained and shouted and pulled Kate up. She pulled free of his grip and rubbed her neck.
“I think you actually enjoyed that,” she coughed.
Jazz stood and helped her stand. Tumbling into hell with my hands around your neck? It's been a fantasy of mine for years!”
the battled the shattering planet all the way down the avenue until at last they came to the dry river bed. Jazz spotted the ship, where it was half buried in the bank. It was dented in a few places and covered with dirt and debris, but thankfully none the worse for wear. The ship had been through some tough scrapes, a lot tougher than crashing into that bank. But things were about to get a lot tougher. Jazz was less worried about the ship than he was about his own ass, and the others too.
They had just reached the twisted wreckage of the Michigan Avenue Bridge when the ground suddenly pitched sharply skyward. Whole buildings dislodged from the earth and slid or tumbled towards the dry lake bed, now hundreds of feet below. The four of them clung desperately to a bridge support. It was all they could do to hold on.
Reaching the ship seemed all but impossible now. The rain of debris from above grew and grew until it all seemed utterly hopeless. Jazz could feel those precious final minutes pounding away in his chest. It was all he could do just hold on and keep from being pummeled and smashed like a grape as the city and the planet disintegrated around them.
The beam of energy was weakening now, but the damage to the planet was irreversible. The crust had shattered like an egg, and the planet might have survived if that was as far as things went. But the beam sliced a hole deep into the mantle until the molten core poured into the breach. It threw the planet out of balance, like a loaded pair of dice. The entire planet shuddered violently, but this time it wasn’t resistance to the beam but a death throe.
When the earth pitched upwards it had dislodged the ship from the riverbed. Jazz watched as it began to slide down the steep bank towards the bridge. Clear to the other side of the river, it was too damn far away for all of them to reach together. At the pace of their progress Jazz didn’t see much chance in reaching it before it slid away forever. What really got him was that the thing didn’t simply tumble away where it was gone forever. Instead it sort of teased him, bumping, catching and skidding along the slope of the bank.
“Ain’t gonna make it,” he told himself. He looked over at Katy. She had a hold of the kid and it was all she could do to hang on. Next to her, clinging tight to a support, the pudgy little robot was all but useless.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Angry Jasper: Forty-eight
Maury’s spy charged into the open before the others could react. Jazz groaned and climbed to his feet, and started after him but Skull boy, with all his might, knocked him hard to the ground again. Jazz turned and had half a mind to slug the kid, just for good measure. The hell with it, he thought and reeled back to clobber the kid. By now Maury’s spy was half way down the street by now. Jazz doubted he could catch the guy, even if he ten years younger, a time he was in the best shape of his life.
“You let him get away, you little brat.”
“No, look!” Skull boy pointed as a huge plasma bolt cleaved through the street. The spy saw it too, an instant before he disappeared forever, incinerated in the blink of an eye. Hell, there wasn’t even a puff of smoke. Just like that even the myriad atomic particles comprising his body ceased to exist.
“Kid, I don’t know if I should thank you or smack you!”
“Thank you works fine,” said the boy.
Buzz, meantime, had been observing the spectacle and found a certain haphazard pattern to the plasma bolts. They came in pulses, waxing and waning with gaps in between. He made a quick calculation. It was precise or perfect by any stretch, but the littlest robot figured it was the only chance remaining.
“I think we’ve got a few minutes here, if we can reach the ship by then.”
“We’ll see,” Jazz dusted himself off. “No time to lose.”
Jazz went first, moving carefully from the relative safety of the underground into the wide boulevard. Once the street had been dubbed the Magnificent Mile, but there wasn’t anything magnificent about the place now. Stumbling into the open he looked askance at the blinding beam. It left Jazz dazed and rubbing the image burned momentarily into his retina. More that that, the radiant heat from the thing was almost unbearable. It singed at his hair and flesh, and was growing quickly in intensity. Here and there dry brush had begun to smoke.
The sound was just as terrible. A continuous thundering roar was followed by a horrible ripping sound that grew louder and nearer. Together they shook the street so that it was almost impossible for Jazz to keep his feet. Walls collapsed all along the ruined boulevard. He didn’t have much hope that this would turn out good, but he kept his mouth shut and waved for the others to follow.
.
He caught Katy just as she emerged. He tried to throw a hand across her face and keep her from looking at the beam. They struggled a moment before she grabbed his hair with both hands and gave him a violent shake.
“What the hell are you doing?” she shouted above the din.
“The beam, don’t look at it!” he cried.
She batted his hand away, and had half a mind to smack him.
“I’m not stupid,” she shouted above the din. “What kind of idiot would look at the beam?”
Jazz chafed at the remark. “Didn’t want you to look at it?”
“God, no!”
“Not even a little?”
Kate frowned and shook her head. “You looked at it, didn’t you?”
“So what if I did?”
“That’s cause you’re stupid.”
“Maybe we could discuss this later,” said Buzz.
An ear-shattering roar eclipsed the thundering beam as a deep crack tore apart the earth’s crust just to the west. The ground whipped like a snake throwing Jazz, Katy and the others hard to the ground. Steam, dust and spouts of red hot magma unleashed spit a thousand feet into the air. Boulders and stones, from deep inside the planet rained down, some as big as houses.
“What the hell is that?” said Jazz.
“The planet, it’s breaking up,” Buzz announced. “By my calculations we have ten minutes to get off the planet. No more.”
“It’ll take that long to get to my ship.”
“We’d better haul ass then,” said Kate. To the east a new crack opened. Magma flowed into the dry Lake Michigan basin.
“What’s the verdict, Skull boy? Are we going to make it?”
“Depends how fast you can move, old man.”
Jazz raised a hand, but held back at the last minute. “God, I hate this kid.”
“You let him get away, you little brat.”
“No, look!” Skull boy pointed as a huge plasma bolt cleaved through the street. The spy saw it too, an instant before he disappeared forever, incinerated in the blink of an eye. Hell, there wasn’t even a puff of smoke. Just like that even the myriad atomic particles comprising his body ceased to exist.
“Kid, I don’t know if I should thank you or smack you!”
“Thank you works fine,” said the boy.
Buzz, meantime, had been observing the spectacle and found a certain haphazard pattern to the plasma bolts. They came in pulses, waxing and waning with gaps in between. He made a quick calculation. It was precise or perfect by any stretch, but the littlest robot figured it was the only chance remaining.
“I think we’ve got a few minutes here, if we can reach the ship by then.”
“We’ll see,” Jazz dusted himself off. “No time to lose.”
Jazz went first, moving carefully from the relative safety of the underground into the wide boulevard. Once the street had been dubbed the Magnificent Mile, but there wasn’t anything magnificent about the place now. Stumbling into the open he looked askance at the blinding beam. It left Jazz dazed and rubbing the image burned momentarily into his retina. More that that, the radiant heat from the thing was almost unbearable. It singed at his hair and flesh, and was growing quickly in intensity. Here and there dry brush had begun to smoke.
The sound was just as terrible. A continuous thundering roar was followed by a horrible ripping sound that grew louder and nearer. Together they shook the street so that it was almost impossible for Jazz to keep his feet. Walls collapsed all along the ruined boulevard. He didn’t have much hope that this would turn out good, but he kept his mouth shut and waved for the others to follow.
.
He caught Katy just as she emerged. He tried to throw a hand across her face and keep her from looking at the beam. They struggled a moment before she grabbed his hair with both hands and gave him a violent shake.
“What the hell are you doing?” she shouted above the din.
“The beam, don’t look at it!” he cried.
She batted his hand away, and had half a mind to smack him.
“I’m not stupid,” she shouted above the din. “What kind of idiot would look at the beam?”
Jazz chafed at the remark. “Didn’t want you to look at it?”
“God, no!”
“Not even a little?”
Kate frowned and shook her head. “You looked at it, didn’t you?”
“So what if I did?”
“That’s cause you’re stupid.”
“Maybe we could discuss this later,” said Buzz.
An ear-shattering roar eclipsed the thundering beam as a deep crack tore apart the earth’s crust just to the west. The ground whipped like a snake throwing Jazz, Katy and the others hard to the ground. Steam, dust and spouts of red hot magma unleashed spit a thousand feet into the air. Boulders and stones, from deep inside the planet rained down, some as big as houses.
“What the hell is that?” said Jazz.
“The planet, it’s breaking up,” Buzz announced. “By my calculations we have ten minutes to get off the planet. No more.”
“It’ll take that long to get to my ship.”
“We’d better haul ass then,” said Kate. To the east a new crack opened. Magma flowed into the dry Lake Michigan basin.
“What’s the verdict, Skull boy? Are we going to make it?”
“Depends how fast you can move, old man.”
Jazz raised a hand, but held back at the last minute. “God, I hate this kid.”
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Angry Jasper: Forty-seven
FINAL CHAPTER
The Worst Day Ever
If the world sucked before it was about to stop sucking, in the worst possible way! Three hundred miles up a powerful nuclear device detonated behind Maury’s weapon. The bright white flash of the explosion seemed at first to swallow the entire weapon. It was an illusion, as powerful magnetic fields contained the blast. Instantly a tightly focused beam of white hot energy drove deep into the beleaguered planet a hundred miles south of Chicago.
Accuracy wasn’t necessarily a concern with Maury. As the beam liquefied hundreds of feet of earth and rock terrible cracks ripped across the land in every direction. The earth shuddered and trembled as though resisting the onslaught. Fantastic and unprecedented, bolts of white hot plasma energy stabbed at the earth, incinerating anything they touched. They whipped across the land like tornadoes, ten times hotter than the surface of the sun.
Jazz, Maury’s spy and the others reached the surface as the beam slammed into the crust. Jasper stood at the door, stunned into silence at the awesome power of the weapon. He could see those tendrils of energy tearing at the world, and new it was near suicide to try and reach the ship. That is if it was still there. For the moment the others were safe inside the passageway. He would have to try and make it to the ship alone. If he didn’t make it, or it wasn’t there then it really didn’t matter. They’d all be dead anyway.
“Okay, this is the plan,” Jazz told the others. “It’s too dangerous for all of us to go out there. I’ll make a break for the ship. If it’s there I’ll come back for everyone.”
“What if it isn’t still there?” asked Skull boy
“Grow some wings and jam a rocket up your ass, cuz that’ll the only way off this planet, kid!”
“I’m going too,” said Maury’s spy.
“The hell you are,” Jazz shoved him back from the door. Maury’s guy was stronger though and pinned Jazz hard against the wall.
“Think I’m about to see you go out that door and take off without the rest of us?”
“Would I, am I the sort of guy who would do something that low?”
Everyone nodded in agreement. Jazz watched with horror. Even Kate was in on it against him.
“He’s got a point,” she said.
“Et tu, Katy?” said Jazz. “Et tu?”
“To hell with you all,” the spy shoved jazz to the ground. And started through the door. “I’ll find that ship myself!”
The Worst Day Ever
If the world sucked before it was about to stop sucking, in the worst possible way! Three hundred miles up a powerful nuclear device detonated behind Maury’s weapon. The bright white flash of the explosion seemed at first to swallow the entire weapon. It was an illusion, as powerful magnetic fields contained the blast. Instantly a tightly focused beam of white hot energy drove deep into the beleaguered planet a hundred miles south of Chicago.
Accuracy wasn’t necessarily a concern with Maury. As the beam liquefied hundreds of feet of earth and rock terrible cracks ripped across the land in every direction. The earth shuddered and trembled as though resisting the onslaught. Fantastic and unprecedented, bolts of white hot plasma energy stabbed at the earth, incinerating anything they touched. They whipped across the land like tornadoes, ten times hotter than the surface of the sun.
Jazz, Maury’s spy and the others reached the surface as the beam slammed into the crust. Jasper stood at the door, stunned into silence at the awesome power of the weapon. He could see those tendrils of energy tearing at the world, and new it was near suicide to try and reach the ship. That is if it was still there. For the moment the others were safe inside the passageway. He would have to try and make it to the ship alone. If he didn’t make it, or it wasn’t there then it really didn’t matter. They’d all be dead anyway.
“Okay, this is the plan,” Jazz told the others. “It’s too dangerous for all of us to go out there. I’ll make a break for the ship. If it’s there I’ll come back for everyone.”
“What if it isn’t still there?” asked Skull boy
“Grow some wings and jam a rocket up your ass, cuz that’ll the only way off this planet, kid!”
“I’m going too,” said Maury’s spy.
“The hell you are,” Jazz shoved him back from the door. Maury’s guy was stronger though and pinned Jazz hard against the wall.
“Think I’m about to see you go out that door and take off without the rest of us?”
“Would I, am I the sort of guy who would do something that low?”
Everyone nodded in agreement. Jazz watched with horror. Even Kate was in on it against him.
“He’s got a point,” she said.
“Et tu, Katy?” said Jazz. “Et tu?”
“To hell with you all,” the spy shoved jazz to the ground. And started through the door. “I’ll find that ship myself!”
Angry Jasper: Forty-six
“You’re the bounty hunter.” Said Thomas.
“Call me a jealous boyfriend.”
“Why didn’t you let him kill me?”
‘Thought about it, but my fight ain’t with you-for now.” Jazz pushed past Thomas, who quickly disappeared in the chaos. Jazz should have dropped him when he had the chance. He would come to regret that oversight, but that was to be a fight for another day.
The conspirators were now fighting a running battle with Thomas’ guards. The fight turned into a bloodbath as dozens were cut down in the wicked cross fire. Several of the guards turned on Jazz as he reached Kate’s side. He blasted them all before turning her over.
“Jazz?” she said, surprised.
“No time to talk, we have to get out of here.”
Maury’s man appeared at that moment. He felled two gunman with clean shots off the hips, like some gunslinger of old. Jazz blinked with surprise. The men had come up so quickly that in the confusion Jazz hadn’t noticed them.
“Thanks,” he said, lifting Kate into his arms.
“A deal’s a deal,” he shouted above the din.
At the center of the hall, amid the death and wild confusion several conspirators managed to surround Thomas. As they raised their weapons he transformed into something ghastly and unspeakably monstrous. Thomas’ eyes swelled and long spider-like legs appeared. The conspirators reeled back, momentarily taken aback by this sudden hideous revelation. Just as they raised their weapons Thomas’ razor-sharp legs sliced them to pieces in the blink of an eye.
Jazz nearly tripped over Buzz. Holding Kate as he was he didn’t see the robot until it was nearly too late. He hated that damn machine. More than once Jazz had to restrain himself from kicking it right in that smart mechanical mouth. Jazz stopped quickly enough, but Buzz kept going, obviously disoriented and overwhelmed by the madness all around. He ran head long (no pun intended) right into Jazz’ family jewels. Hard enough that Jazz nearly dropped Katy on the damned thing.
“Careful with those!” jazz winced. “They’re near and dear to my heart!”
“Closer to your brain,” said Kate. “Put me down. I can walk.”
“Katy!” came a terrifying cry from the far end of the chamber. It was Thomas, caught in some grotesque transition between human and creature. As his mouth opened wide, calling for Kate in an almost agonizing sort of way, strange black things slithered out. He started for them, those deadly spider legs clacking and clamoring across the floor, skewering or tearing to pieces anyone who got in the way. Jazz urged the others on and prepared himself for what he knew was certain death. His little ARP would do little more than piss the creature off. Only a blistering fusillade from the rallying conspirators drove Thomas back and chased him from the cathedral.
They were running out of time now. The Government man grabbed Jazz by the collar an dragged him towards the nearest escape, behind Kate and Buzz and Skullboy. “We have to get off the planet!”
Maury’s spy led the way, guiding them through the impossibly complex and disorienting maze of tunnels and passages. Jazz prayed the guy knew where he was going. Behind them something large charged through the passage. It shook the walls and made a sickening grinding sound as it forced its way through the narrowing tunnel. Jazz turned and came almost face to face with one of Thomas’ minions. It struck at him with those murderous legs, missing Jazz by inches. The thing cried in frustration, all by wedged into the tunnel. Indignant and not the least bit impressed with his first close encounter of any kind, jazz grabbed his crotch, spit and dispatched E.T. with two well placed mercury rounds.
“Call me a jealous boyfriend.”
“Why didn’t you let him kill me?”
‘Thought about it, but my fight ain’t with you-for now.” Jazz pushed past Thomas, who quickly disappeared in the chaos. Jazz should have dropped him when he had the chance. He would come to regret that oversight, but that was to be a fight for another day.
The conspirators were now fighting a running battle with Thomas’ guards. The fight turned into a bloodbath as dozens were cut down in the wicked cross fire. Several of the guards turned on Jazz as he reached Kate’s side. He blasted them all before turning her over.
“Jazz?” she said, surprised.
“No time to talk, we have to get out of here.”
Maury’s man appeared at that moment. He felled two gunman with clean shots off the hips, like some gunslinger of old. Jazz blinked with surprise. The men had come up so quickly that in the confusion Jazz hadn’t noticed them.
“Thanks,” he said, lifting Kate into his arms.
“A deal’s a deal,” he shouted above the din.
At the center of the hall, amid the death and wild confusion several conspirators managed to surround Thomas. As they raised their weapons he transformed into something ghastly and unspeakably monstrous. Thomas’ eyes swelled and long spider-like legs appeared. The conspirators reeled back, momentarily taken aback by this sudden hideous revelation. Just as they raised their weapons Thomas’ razor-sharp legs sliced them to pieces in the blink of an eye.
Jazz nearly tripped over Buzz. Holding Kate as he was he didn’t see the robot until it was nearly too late. He hated that damn machine. More than once Jazz had to restrain himself from kicking it right in that smart mechanical mouth. Jazz stopped quickly enough, but Buzz kept going, obviously disoriented and overwhelmed by the madness all around. He ran head long (no pun intended) right into Jazz’ family jewels. Hard enough that Jazz nearly dropped Katy on the damned thing.
“Careful with those!” jazz winced. “They’re near and dear to my heart!”
“Closer to your brain,” said Kate. “Put me down. I can walk.”
“Katy!” came a terrifying cry from the far end of the chamber. It was Thomas, caught in some grotesque transition between human and creature. As his mouth opened wide, calling for Kate in an almost agonizing sort of way, strange black things slithered out. He started for them, those deadly spider legs clacking and clamoring across the floor, skewering or tearing to pieces anyone who got in the way. Jazz urged the others on and prepared himself for what he knew was certain death. His little ARP would do little more than piss the creature off. Only a blistering fusillade from the rallying conspirators drove Thomas back and chased him from the cathedral.
They were running out of time now. The Government man grabbed Jazz by the collar an dragged him towards the nearest escape, behind Kate and Buzz and Skullboy. “We have to get off the planet!”
Maury’s spy led the way, guiding them through the impossibly complex and disorienting maze of tunnels and passages. Jazz prayed the guy knew where he was going. Behind them something large charged through the passage. It shook the walls and made a sickening grinding sound as it forced its way through the narrowing tunnel. Jazz turned and came almost face to face with one of Thomas’ minions. It struck at him with those murderous legs, missing Jazz by inches. The thing cried in frustration, all by wedged into the tunnel. Indignant and not the least bit impressed with his first close encounter of any kind, jazz grabbed his crotch, spit and dispatched E.T. with two well placed mercury rounds.
Angry Jasper: Forty-five
Jazz and Skull boy reached the hall just as the tide of emotion was reaching its frenzied peak. He spotted several of the coup leaders. The rest, no doubt were scattered through the chamber. Once the coup began Kate would be caught in a deadly crossfire. Nearby Maury’s man had been caught in the surge and was fighting his way through the crowd. Jazz recognized him as the man he’d seen slipping from the ship during the battle on the surface. As he brushed past Jazz wondered why he seemed in such hurry to leave.
“Wait here,” Jazz told the boy. Jazz shoved his way through the bodies straining for a glimpse of their leader, as if it might rescue them from hopelessness, as if his words and the air breathed from Thomas’ lungs would restore them to life again. Jazz caught the guy at the edge of the crowd and dropped him with a well place shot to the kidney.
“Where the hell are you going?” Jazz took the guy in a headlock.
“I hate crowds,” Maury’s man groaned through gritted teeth. He was still fighting for breath.
“And I hate smart asses, so you better come clean.” Jazz twisted the guy’s neck a little farther until the bloke gave up.
“All right, all right,” he said through gritted teeth and blinding agony. “Maury’s gonna hit this place hard. Everything, the whole damn place will be toast, and everyone in it.”
“You led him right to this place,” Jazz had half a mind to snap the guys neck.
“Yes, I admit it. But they’ve abandoned me, and if you can get me off this planet I’ll see that you are handsomely rewarded.”
Jazz remembered the beating his ship had taken. It had been through worse. If he could get to it there was a better than fair chance of getting off this charcoal brisket of a planet.
“Know the way to the surface?”
“I do.”
“If you want out of here then you’re gonna have to do something for me.”
“Anything!”
Jazz let him go and pointed to Kate among the ocean of frantic admirers. “She comes with.
“You’re insane! That would be suicide,” the guy scoffed.
“Non-negotiable.”
“Let me up!” the guy exclaimed. Jazz reluctantly released Maury’s spy. They stood facing one another a moment. “You swear you have a ship.”
“Help me get the Space Whore and I can get us off the planet.” Skullboy appeared from the crowd. He drew up close to Jazz. The spy grimaced and looked to Jazz as if to ask what exactly that was. Jazz only shrugged.
“We’ll need some help if we’re getting her out of this madness.” Around them the crowd surged and roared with feverish excitement.
“What did you have in mind?”
The Spy drew two ARP-21s from beneath his cloak and reluctantly shoved one into Jazz’ hand. Quickly Jazz explained about the coup and pointed out two of the nearest conspirators. He had barely finished when several shots from somewhere cut down one of Thomas’ men, right beside Kate. An instant later gunfire resounded throughout the hall, joined quickly by screams nd the predicatble tsunami of the panicked.
An ARP round clipped Kate’s shoulder and slammed her sideways into Thomas. Losing his footing Thomas spilled into the crowd which was now fighting a desperate battle for escape. He came up face to face with one of the conspirators, staring down the barrel of his weapon.
“Et tu, you load of hybrid dung?” what else was there to say? Suddenly the man’s eyes went wide, a fraction of an instant before he pulled the trigger. The man’s eyes rolled back and he toppled forward into Thomas’ arms. There were two fist size holes in his back. Thomas looked up into Jazz’ eyes. He knew instantly.
“Wait here,” Jazz told the boy. Jazz shoved his way through the bodies straining for a glimpse of their leader, as if it might rescue them from hopelessness, as if his words and the air breathed from Thomas’ lungs would restore them to life again. Jazz caught the guy at the edge of the crowd and dropped him with a well place shot to the kidney.
“Where the hell are you going?” Jazz took the guy in a headlock.
“I hate crowds,” Maury’s man groaned through gritted teeth. He was still fighting for breath.
“And I hate smart asses, so you better come clean.” Jazz twisted the guy’s neck a little farther until the bloke gave up.
“All right, all right,” he said through gritted teeth and blinding agony. “Maury’s gonna hit this place hard. Everything, the whole damn place will be toast, and everyone in it.”
“You led him right to this place,” Jazz had half a mind to snap the guys neck.
“Yes, I admit it. But they’ve abandoned me, and if you can get me off this planet I’ll see that you are handsomely rewarded.”
Jazz remembered the beating his ship had taken. It had been through worse. If he could get to it there was a better than fair chance of getting off this charcoal brisket of a planet.
“Know the way to the surface?”
“I do.”
“If you want out of here then you’re gonna have to do something for me.”
“Anything!”
Jazz let him go and pointed to Kate among the ocean of frantic admirers. “She comes with.
“You’re insane! That would be suicide,” the guy scoffed.
“Non-negotiable.”
“Let me up!” the guy exclaimed. Jazz reluctantly released Maury’s spy. They stood facing one another a moment. “You swear you have a ship.”
“Help me get the Space Whore and I can get us off the planet.” Skullboy appeared from the crowd. He drew up close to Jazz. The spy grimaced and looked to Jazz as if to ask what exactly that was. Jazz only shrugged.
“We’ll need some help if we’re getting her out of this madness.” Around them the crowd surged and roared with feverish excitement.
“What did you have in mind?”
The Spy drew two ARP-21s from beneath his cloak and reluctantly shoved one into Jazz’ hand. Quickly Jazz explained about the coup and pointed out two of the nearest conspirators. He had barely finished when several shots from somewhere cut down one of Thomas’ men, right beside Kate. An instant later gunfire resounded throughout the hall, joined quickly by screams nd the predicatble tsunami of the panicked.
An ARP round clipped Kate’s shoulder and slammed her sideways into Thomas. Losing his footing Thomas spilled into the crowd which was now fighting a desperate battle for escape. He came up face to face with one of the conspirators, staring down the barrel of his weapon.
“Et tu, you load of hybrid dung?” what else was there to say? Suddenly the man’s eyes went wide, a fraction of an instant before he pulled the trigger. The man’s eyes rolled back and he toppled forward into Thomas’ arms. There were two fist size holes in his back. Thomas looked up into Jazz’ eyes. He knew instantly.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Angry Jasper: Forty-four
Thomas stood before the gathered masses like some sort of perverse messiah. Like a corrupted Caesar he gazed over them. They would be the vanguard for the conquest of the solar system, the unsuspecting cannon fodder that would clear the way for his alien hordes. And though many of them would be only too eager to follow him from planet to planet until the Corporation was annihilated, they had no idea that their existence was just as negotiable. Thomas raised his arms and spoke. He knew the one weapon certain to seduce them into doing his bidding. His voice thundered through the cavern.
“The Lord gives us, not because he loves us. He shows us the way of hate to protect and guides us through dark days. We are his seed, spewed out onto the cold dead Earth that it may soak in and bring forth his armies, and dry clear. He is disgusted with us and cruel to us, as any good father must be if his children are to grow strong. God has a filthy mind. How else could he conceive of all this? He is a god of love, fear him or die!”
It was a mixed reaction to be sure. There were pockets of thunderous applause, and others who thought there was something not quite right about the whole thing. Of those, most just went along quietly.
Thomas continued. “You are all witness to history. This is a new day for the rebellion and the beginning of the end of the Corporation. Soon they will not be safe on any planet, nor any moon in the solar system!”
Now most of the crowd was with him. The conspirators, scattered throughout could only wonder what that would mean for the coup. They could only hope that they could be swayed by evidence that Thomas was not who he claimed, though just who he was they did not have the foggiest idea. There was no stopping now, though, even if the crowd turned and tore them all limb from limb. The plan had begun, they would have to act together or die alone. Their fates were sealed.
“By all that is holy,” Thomas’ voice cracked, “we gather in this inauspicious chamber to celebrate this marriage, the final ascension towards victory! Every great society must have a face to rally behind. Once the Earth rallied under the banner of my great ancestor, Yakov!”
The crowd was roaring now, surging towards Thomas and Kate. The conspirators were pulled along with the enthralled mass. It was all but certain the act they were about to commit would end in brutal reprisal , bloody sacrifices to Thomas’ oratory orgy.
“Rome had Caesar,” Thomas roared above the crowd. “And behind every great man is a great woman who will rule beside me, who will bear the next generation of my lineage. You may not know her name now, but she has served the rebellion, bravely working among the Corporation’s highest echelons. And now Katy-did will stand beside me for the final great battle! Humble servants, cockroaches, who will feed on the carcass of the Corporation, maggots of change, I give you Katy-did!”
He took her hand and pulled her to the edge of the alter beside him. Below her a churning mass of dejected humanity, rose in a frenzy at Thomas' thrown scraps of hope. Grown men wept and climbed upon the backs of others for a chance to touch his feet, or hers. Kate looked at Thomas with alarm. This wasn’t the rebellion she knew. They weren’t soul-numbed fools that could be manipulated and exploited for a single man. They were once a proud, individualistic lot, who found common cause in their common good. Now they were orgasmic slaves to a personality. Thomas was entranced, swelling at the sight and power before him...and not in a good way.
“The Lord gives us, not because he loves us. He shows us the way of hate to protect and guides us through dark days. We are his seed, spewed out onto the cold dead Earth that it may soak in and bring forth his armies, and dry clear. He is disgusted with us and cruel to us, as any good father must be if his children are to grow strong. God has a filthy mind. How else could he conceive of all this? He is a god of love, fear him or die!”
It was a mixed reaction to be sure. There were pockets of thunderous applause, and others who thought there was something not quite right about the whole thing. Of those, most just went along quietly.
Thomas continued. “You are all witness to history. This is a new day for the rebellion and the beginning of the end of the Corporation. Soon they will not be safe on any planet, nor any moon in the solar system!”
Now most of the crowd was with him. The conspirators, scattered throughout could only wonder what that would mean for the coup. They could only hope that they could be swayed by evidence that Thomas was not who he claimed, though just who he was they did not have the foggiest idea. There was no stopping now, though, even if the crowd turned and tore them all limb from limb. The plan had begun, they would have to act together or die alone. Their fates were sealed.
“By all that is holy,” Thomas’ voice cracked, “we gather in this inauspicious chamber to celebrate this marriage, the final ascension towards victory! Every great society must have a face to rally behind. Once the Earth rallied under the banner of my great ancestor, Yakov!”
The crowd was roaring now, surging towards Thomas and Kate. The conspirators were pulled along with the enthralled mass. It was all but certain the act they were about to commit would end in brutal reprisal , bloody sacrifices to Thomas’ oratory orgy.
“Rome had Caesar,” Thomas roared above the crowd. “And behind every great man is a great woman who will rule beside me, who will bear the next generation of my lineage. You may not know her name now, but she has served the rebellion, bravely working among the Corporation’s highest echelons. And now Katy-did will stand beside me for the final great battle! Humble servants, cockroaches, who will feed on the carcass of the Corporation, maggots of change, I give you Katy-did!”
He took her hand and pulled her to the edge of the alter beside him. Below her a churning mass of dejected humanity, rose in a frenzy at Thomas' thrown scraps of hope. Grown men wept and climbed upon the backs of others for a chance to touch his feet, or hers. Kate looked at Thomas with alarm. This wasn’t the rebellion she knew. They weren’t soul-numbed fools that could be manipulated and exploited for a single man. They were once a proud, individualistic lot, who found common cause in their common good. Now they were orgasmic slaves to a personality. Thomas was entranced, swelling at the sight and power before him...and not in a good way.
Monday, May 24, 2010
Angry jasper: Forty-Three
The great hall was like something from a vagabond romantic’s dream. It was packed almost to overflowing. The guests and onlookers, a motley mix of refugees, fighters and assorted scum gathered to either side of the long aisle. There were an explosive assortment of expressions, scowls, cold or hungry stares and stoicism. Security was tight, but in a pandemonium they would be easily trampled or swept aside by the sheer number of people.
Katy stood in the shadows of a passageway looking down at the scene. Thomas was late, taking care of something or other. She was nervous. Katy had never been this nervous before, not even when she was banging Corporation security officials for the rebellion. Her stomach was doing somersaults. Katy swallowed a bit of air and made herself burp, which helped a bit.
This was a mistake, she thought. Supporting and propping up Thomas was a mistake. He was not beloved by the people, and that wasn’t likely to change. And now the revelation that he was far more than an alien, but the butcher for hundreds, perhaps thousands of poor young women, whose bodies had been mere vessels for his insidious invasion.
“My dear,” Thomas appeared in the passage quite by surprise, starling Kate. She turned abruptly, laying a hand in a vain attempt to still his pounding heart. Thomas seemed please to have evoked that reaction. As usual he was flanked by several of his lieutenants. “I am terribly sorry. A woman should never have to wait on her wedding day. Pressing business. You understand. The trappings of leadership.”
“Let’s just get this over with.”
“Ah, and they say romance is dead!” Thomas laughed. “You’re nervous. It’s to be expected.”
Katy stood in the shadows of a passageway looking down at the scene. Thomas was late, taking care of something or other. She was nervous. Katy had never been this nervous before, not even when she was banging Corporation security officials for the rebellion. Her stomach was doing somersaults. Katy swallowed a bit of air and made herself burp, which helped a bit.
This was a mistake, she thought. Supporting and propping up Thomas was a mistake. He was not beloved by the people, and that wasn’t likely to change. And now the revelation that he was far more than an alien, but the butcher for hundreds, perhaps thousands of poor young women, whose bodies had been mere vessels for his insidious invasion.
“My dear,” Thomas appeared in the passage quite by surprise, starling Kate. She turned abruptly, laying a hand in a vain attempt to still his pounding heart. Thomas seemed please to have evoked that reaction. As usual he was flanked by several of his lieutenants. “I am terribly sorry. A woman should never have to wait on her wedding day. Pressing business. You understand. The trappings of leadership.”
“Let’s just get this over with.”
“Ah, and they say romance is dead!” Thomas laughed. “You’re nervous. It’s to be expected.”
Angry Jasper: Forty-two
Maury beamed. Normally it might have ticked him off to be interrupted as he knocked one off in front of the entire Universe. The Identicals arrived with the news just as his man-goo corrupted the finely polished glass of his office. With a mighty groan the milky droplets joined the myriad expanse of the galaxy, before oozing to the floor. He turned, still holding himself with thumb and fore-finger and sneered at the Identicals.
“Better be figgin' important!”
In unison the Identicals swallowed hard, pushed the eyeglasses against their nose and nodded.
“We have received coordinates for the rebel stronghold, and the location of Thomas,” said the first.
There is other news that will please your Excellency,” said the other.
Maury's hairy flab glistened with a fine sweat from his exertion. He covered himself with a towel and turned back to the Milky Way. He waved his hand in the air impatiently.
“Well, out with it!”
The weapon will be ready to fire much sooner than expected,” said the other Identical.
More turned. His expression was animated and thrilled even more so than during his orgasm. He was like a cruel little child delighting in the sadistic butchery of an innocent kitten. The towel slipped away. He hardly seemed to notice.
“well, why didn't you say so?”
Fire control estimates two hours, said the first. “Our spy in the rebel headquarters is requesting to be evacuated as soon as possible.
“He is awaiting a secret transmission,” said the second identical. “He can be to the surface in one hour. Shall I tell him to proceed, Excellency?”
“Send the following transmission,” Maury turned away, clasping his chubby little hands behind his back. “Your heroism and ultimate sacrifice for Corporation is well noted.”
“That's it?” asked the Identicals in unison, stunned at Maury's utter disregard for one of his finest and most loyal men.
“Send it or don't send it,” Maury snapped. “I don't give a damn one way or the other. What I do care about it that weapon working and the destruction of the rebellion. As for our asset on the planet...he was dead the moment he landed on the planet.”
“Better be figgin' important!”
In unison the Identicals swallowed hard, pushed the eyeglasses against their nose and nodded.
“We have received coordinates for the rebel stronghold, and the location of Thomas,” said the first.
There is other news that will please your Excellency,” said the other.
Maury's hairy flab glistened with a fine sweat from his exertion. He covered himself with a towel and turned back to the Milky Way. He waved his hand in the air impatiently.
“Well, out with it!”
The weapon will be ready to fire much sooner than expected,” said the other Identical.
More turned. His expression was animated and thrilled even more so than during his orgasm. He was like a cruel little child delighting in the sadistic butchery of an innocent kitten. The towel slipped away. He hardly seemed to notice.
“well, why didn't you say so?”
Fire control estimates two hours, said the first. “Our spy in the rebel headquarters is requesting to be evacuated as soon as possible.
“He is awaiting a secret transmission,” said the second identical. “He can be to the surface in one hour. Shall I tell him to proceed, Excellency?”
“Send the following transmission,” Maury turned away, clasping his chubby little hands behind his back. “Your heroism and ultimate sacrifice for Corporation is well noted.”
“That's it?” asked the Identicals in unison, stunned at Maury's utter disregard for one of his finest and most loyal men.
“Send it or don't send it,” Maury snapped. “I don't give a damn one way or the other. What I do care about it that weapon working and the destruction of the rebellion. As for our asset on the planet...he was dead the moment he landed on the planet.”
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Angry Jasper: Forty-one
“Somebody is gonna pay for this,” Jazz, doused in that awful gruel, shivered hard and nearly heaved.
His mood continued to turn, until it stunk worse than a carcass in the sun, and almost as bad as the filth he’d just eaten. A part of Jasper reveled in being a sour cuss. He half wanted to see just how low his mood could go until he just turned himself inside out and disappeared from the friggin’ world. To hell with Katy, he thought. What did he need of some space trollip, an interplanetary slag, a gin guzzling Ionian skank? The solar system was full of easy women. They were a credit a dozen. Hell, the simple fact that she was the best lay he'd ever had just meant that Jazz had not had enough women yet. The fact that he loved her—well, he would just have to get over that schoolboy crap.
The thought led him down a long lonely road towards the end of his life(which didn’t seem so far off at that moment). With a long, low groan he sagged against the pole and wished it was all over now. But that just wasn’t like Jazz. It wasn’t like him to quit anything. That he was about to quit on the only person who ever meant anything to him, no matter how much she stomped on his heart, well that was just unacceptable.
It suddenly struck him that the coup against Thomas would take place at the wedding. If they stood any chance at all of succeeding it would have to take place where they could capitalize off the confusion that was sure to follow. They would have to strike hard and fast, and with lethal determination. That meant anyone anywhere near Thomas would be toast. Kate was in trouble, and Jazz doubted she had any idea the size of the turd storm coming her way.
“Screw that!” he exclaimed.
Jazz rallied himself once more and rose to his feet. He yanked hard once and then a second time, ignoring the pain and fatigue in his shoulders. It was probably the stupidest thing he could have done. Something big came loose from the ceiling above him. Jazz caught sight of it at the last instand and swung around the pole as a huge chunk of concrete and stone crashed to the floor where he had been standing. At that moment the door opened and Skullboy entered as casually as if he was coming home from school.
“I'd like to speak with a manager,” Jazz managed a quip. “This place is dangerous, and the food sucks!” The guard frowned stoically, already pulling the door closed again. Skullboy walked up to Jazz with a fresh plate of gruel. He held it close to Jazz’s face. It smelled even worse than the previous batch.
“Get’s better with age,” Jazz winced.
“Eat it!” said Skullboy.
“Eat it yourself.”
“Eat it.” The boy shook the plate a little, spilling some on Jazz’s boot. He was just about to bitch when he saw the key hidden within.
The kid seemed to delight watching Jazz fish for the key with his face. When he had it Jazz managed to turn the key round using his lips and tongue with surprising dexterity (Katy didn’t love Jazz for his money). With that he pushed it into the lock. His heart leapt when the shackles sprung open. Jazz pulled them off and almost thought he could hug the kid, no matter how ugly he was. Almost.
“Wait a minute,” something suddenly occurred to Jazz. “Why didn’t you just unlock the shackles, instead of making me wrastle around in that crap?”
“More fun that way.”
“Remind me to smack you later,” Jazz replied. “For now let’s figure a way out of here.”
His mood continued to turn, until it stunk worse than a carcass in the sun, and almost as bad as the filth he’d just eaten. A part of Jasper reveled in being a sour cuss. He half wanted to see just how low his mood could go until he just turned himself inside out and disappeared from the friggin’ world. To hell with Katy, he thought. What did he need of some space trollip, an interplanetary slag, a gin guzzling Ionian skank? The solar system was full of easy women. They were a credit a dozen. Hell, the simple fact that she was the best lay he'd ever had just meant that Jazz had not had enough women yet. The fact that he loved her—well, he would just have to get over that schoolboy crap.
The thought led him down a long lonely road towards the end of his life(which didn’t seem so far off at that moment). With a long, low groan he sagged against the pole and wished it was all over now. But that just wasn’t like Jazz. It wasn’t like him to quit anything. That he was about to quit on the only person who ever meant anything to him, no matter how much she stomped on his heart, well that was just unacceptable.
It suddenly struck him that the coup against Thomas would take place at the wedding. If they stood any chance at all of succeeding it would have to take place where they could capitalize off the confusion that was sure to follow. They would have to strike hard and fast, and with lethal determination. That meant anyone anywhere near Thomas would be toast. Kate was in trouble, and Jazz doubted she had any idea the size of the turd storm coming her way.
“Screw that!” he exclaimed.
Jazz rallied himself once more and rose to his feet. He yanked hard once and then a second time, ignoring the pain and fatigue in his shoulders. It was probably the stupidest thing he could have done. Something big came loose from the ceiling above him. Jazz caught sight of it at the last instand and swung around the pole as a huge chunk of concrete and stone crashed to the floor where he had been standing. At that moment the door opened and Skullboy entered as casually as if he was coming home from school.
“I'd like to speak with a manager,” Jazz managed a quip. “This place is dangerous, and the food sucks!” The guard frowned stoically, already pulling the door closed again. Skullboy walked up to Jazz with a fresh plate of gruel. He held it close to Jazz’s face. It smelled even worse than the previous batch.
“Get’s better with age,” Jazz winced.
“Eat it!” said Skullboy.
“Eat it yourself.”
“Eat it.” The boy shook the plate a little, spilling some on Jazz’s boot. He was just about to bitch when he saw the key hidden within.
The kid seemed to delight watching Jazz fish for the key with his face. When he had it Jazz managed to turn the key round using his lips and tongue with surprising dexterity (Katy didn’t love Jazz for his money). With that he pushed it into the lock. His heart leapt when the shackles sprung open. Jazz pulled them off and almost thought he could hug the kid, no matter how ugly he was. Almost.
“Wait a minute,” something suddenly occurred to Jazz. “Why didn’t you just unlock the shackles, instead of making me wrastle around in that crap?”
“More fun that way.”
“Remind me to smack you later,” Jazz replied. “For now let’s figure a way out of here.”
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