all for poor Honebead. The disintegrator
leaves little to bury.The Track of the Pocket Miner
Page 11
Honebead Nik Under cover in E-8 ,
reloads his Grenade Launcher. Tiring of chasing the Miner's
Track, Honebead decides to go after the bucket head which has
been reported in Section B-8. That sector is shrouded in fire and
smoke, but Honebead jumps anyway. It is a mistake. He fails to
see the bot and lands just a few feet from him. The bucket head
saw the Eli and fires his disintigrator at close range. That is all for poor Honebead. The disintegrator
leaves little to bury.
Barjhel Gip standing on top of the evil track thing fires one of his laser pistols at the right Waldo which is napping at his head. To his horror he sees multiple hits but no discernable damage, only small pits in the huge claw. Suddenly the Wombat's left Waldo pulls Barjhel off the top of the track and slams him into a nearby tree. Splat! Barjhel fails to survive the impact. His broken body falls crumpled into the weeds as the roars on by, its disintegrator cutting into the forest.
Seeing Barj slammed into a tree by the SYCOTRAKFING, and then flopping like a broken doll, Turel Bevlik, knows that another good Eli Raider has gone to Vahalla and the Big Party in the Sky! He wonders how many others from the party will be there soon, especially an certain poe ole Eli Raider.
In H-2 Zuvebee sees the Miner's track through the cloud of white ash and dust. It has stopped and begun a pivot turn. It is trying to bring the disintegrator to bear on his positon. He fires and hits; the right track slithers off the bogies and the vehicle comes to a stop. Just as the Orphan Eli fires he is attacked from behind by the Stripped Beast. The creature leaps on on his back clawing and biting . Zuvebee is knocked fat on his face, the Beast is on top thinking to make lunch. The Track fires back at his position with its HCMG. The Beast takes the full burst right in the head and forebody. The Eli is literally buried in bloody chunks and quivering flesh.
Turel Bevlik is further depressed to see DA KID, Zuve, blast away at the SYCOTRAKFING, then go down in a HUGE BLOOD SPLASH under a storm of return fire from the SYCOTRAKFING...
Turel Bevlik mutters a silent prayer to the Eli marksmanship god, DayfeyDanalAlfvin , and hopes that Hitshaid or he can DO SOMETHING to the SYCOTRAKFING with their weapons, or that Fabio Bronstik can beat up on it with the DISCO HORROR some how.
"Aarrrghh! Honebead!" Wimdit screams, as he whips out his combat knife and begins to slash at the side of the tent. "Asbeef, howsabout you frag dat hebby forest in da C-10 from whence is disgorgin' alla dese bucketheads anna slabers anna udder tings atsa killin Honebead. We isa none uv us leavin until alla dese tings is ina bitty pieces."
Asbeef, unable to fire as ordered, due to the PML's smart site bitching at him about trying to target out of range, curses, and jumps for the Miner's tent to join up with his leader, Wimdit the Xrit.
His brother Oerkjof lingers only long enought to fire a full clip from his cheap Saturday night special, Gyro-jet pistol. His brother always said, "Dat stoopid ting, nottin' but a toy." Oerkjof is gratified to see his target spider exploding with a satsifying splat! He fires his jets and follows his brother toward the tent.
The tent is much tougher than Wimdit had thought. It finally gives up and tears open. The Xrit pushes through and fires his jets. He makes a short jump to H-10 where he lands and fires the big motha flare toward the Miner's evil track. "Poooot!" The flare streaks out of the oversized muzzle in the general direction of the track, then it suddenly turns and rockets up out of sight into the sky.
For a moment Wimdit stares up after it, nothing happens. "Whotdehell!" He curses in Low Eli. "Iffen we hasta, we is gonna crunch dat Sycotrakfing wit da Disco, an when da RepCom is gettin here, dey can load up onna famous miner JACK BROSTNIK anna alla his peace-lubbin Eli miner-buddies." Then he notices a great deal of thick black smoke coming from the area of the miner's track. Could it be on fire?
Wutbipe Tic, standing in the Miner's tunnel, seeing Barjhel's cruel end through his helmet com, cries out, " Oh Mytee Xrit,Tuvel, man!!!!! Scarrf up dem errent Eli wit da Disco and plonk em in dis hole. Weel be fighten the invireement all dam day! Im in dis hole and day ain't noooo puhcaans, buckithaids, fire-pukin' lizzies, tonytigur stripey tings, sooper spyders or sykotracs!"
"WATS AWL DIS WEENIE TERRIE TEAR JERKIN STOFF, NO?" Turel Bevlick thunders, "NEEK en BARJHEL too, weel laks Ayes dun sayed maybees kilt, BUT, DEY AIN'T DAID! Dey inna dat playces awl Eli Raiders wannas tew bees! VALHALLA!
Wiff da hot anna cole runnin raidhaids, blons, and brute-nettes runnin ah roun, playin wiff ole Elis plummin anna hans feedin heeyams good chow anna good booses and bay-yars!!! Fitin dose good fites wiff awl dose udder hee-roses anna passin da thymes taylin awl owf dose beeg leyes ta dems lak hee wassa awl ah wayes ah taylin usses!
Owe orse, ett mite tak poe ole Neek ah wiles ta getts awl orgy-ized ah gain, sayin haus hees wuss vaped by dat dommed slaber dis-gun totin wotzits owt deres inna dose trices anna booshes!"
TUREL BEVLIK, wipin sum owf dat jay-yet bakblass stoffs frum hiss poe ole Eli Raiders ices, anna snortin snods inna hiss poe ole stoffed up noze, anna finkin wees awls, orse sums owf usses, issa gonna bees a draykin booses anna bay-yars anna ate-tin wiff Neek en da old Barjhel soons.
Tuibb is still down, and maybe on the way out, but Turel does not know for sure! Cursing the Eli Raider gear designer for not including a LIFE STATUS MONITOR (like he saw in a Starguard recruiting ad on Lee's World), Turel wonders about the rest of the gang OUT THERE locked in a death dance with robots, SYCOTRAK - FINGS, spiders, lizards, puh-cahns from hell, and one crafty miner dewd.
As these heavy thoughts work their laborious way through the old raider's brains, the helmet vid shows THE FLARE launched into the sky by the Boss toward the SYCOTRAKFING! Turel Bevlik is amazed to note that it did not burst into a huge SMILEY FACE like the fireworks did at that big do on Lee's World earlier this year.
Who will take the amycis stoff to market, them or us? Them or us.
Thinking hard and fast, (which IS HARD BUT NOT VERY FAST!) Turel Bevlik, keeping one eye on the helmet vid feed and the other on his fingers as he rigs that strapping with his Terrie knife, tongue shoved out for leverage, almosts slices off an armored finger when the DISCO HORROR klaxon blasts and the vessel lurches unexpectedly, bonking his armored noggin on the use worn DISCO's deck.
Recovering, he has not the faintest idea wot it was he was thinking based on the Tuibb's last transmission, but gives the control room an dazed glare between the individual stars, constellations of stars, and whole nebulas of stars flashing off and on in front of his eyes.
"GODS OWF SPACE, FABIO!!! Ayes awl moss ka-utt mah fangers owf we ya ded dat!" And then he has another starry thought!
"HEYA!!!! Ennie owf youse yoekkars hurd frum the Drik layt-a-lees? Wot dat pegkar haid doink wile awls dis xhit ben fuh-lyin ah rounds?"
Then watching the automaton like motions of the super-charged Hitshaid preparing for what ever he is gonna do next, says, "HEYA!!!!! Dat Doc Fukyews stoff, has ole Hitshaid ree-sitin lines frum ole Terrie 2-D moofies, anna stalkin ah bowt da cabin laks hees ah dun toined inna tew da Voim- en-ay-der dewds lak dat guys inna da moofies -ah, ummmmm, ahhh, hmm, dat Oin-awld-Swashin-Akkers!"
To Hishead Bevlik says,"HEYA, Hitshaid ole buddy! Nao dat pegkers hankin normals, (then noticing the large fist sized NEW bulge in the crotch of the Eli Raider armor, Bevlik thinks "Weel ak-shu- awlly , ett kinda makin a bulge in dat armor!), hausa ah bowts lettin me ties ya seekurelee ta da DISCO afores wees opens dems doors fors usses tew shutes frum? Doan wan ya fawlin owt and gettin kilt daid! Dat wayes wiff usses boat tied tew da DISCO, wees canna shute da xhits owta wot evah na-yeeds shutin foist! Anna Hitshaid, da pote siyades ayreloks issa my shutin plass! Ya gits wan owf da udder wans!"
Freeing himself from the gore, Zuvebee has to take a few moments to clean his helmet's optics of the blood and hair from the dead beast. Even with the optics clean he can hardly see anything. Thick black smoke is billowing from the last position of the track.
Suddenly a nova star bursts the heavens, temporarily blinding everyone who is not inside or as, in Zuvebee's case covered by thick black smoke. Enough light from the great flare burns through the smoke that Zuvebee can see a little way about him. He moves toward the last position of the track, but it is no where to be seen. The only sounds are the soft crackle of several small fires burning in the surrounding bushes. He examines the ground, and finds several chunks of burnt and broken metal, but the track has gone. The ground is torn up, but the Eli can see, alongside the marks of the left track, the intermittent impressions of the track's right bogies; and along side them the widely spaced impressions of the track's right Waldo. The track is using its right arm like a crutch.
Inside the Disco Nightmare, the Fabian is surprised to see the ship's ports turn obsidian black as the great flare bursts; filling the sky with blinding light over the entire visible and radio spectrum.
(Find out more about the Disco Nightmare) (Read the stats for the Eli warriors) (See the map for the game.)
For questions concerning this webgame contact John McEwan at john@tin-soldier.com
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