Apocalypse seems to always go hand in hand with zombies, for some reason !
Weird science routine and Resident Evil in the city
Archie mentioned some strange routine Krove installed (with his permission) that he did not yet understand… we were a bit doubtful, thinking it could be dangerous (The Collector had already hacked into the TARDIS after all !), but he assured us it was insulated and safe. Hum, why would Krove need to install some program in the TARDIS database ? He seems like a good guy, but I am not so sure about his organisation…
After that, we discussed the whole “evil in the city thing” and asked Pelemik if he could tell us more about it. He only knew it was “cold, slowed life until it stopped and was ancient and growing” and that he grew the forest to imprison it…. But he was not a forest now ! He also had never felt anything like that before…
It appeared to work like a disease but “not sentient” according to Pelemik, and there were no nanites or anything like that around, according to Archie.
We would have to wait until we got to the city to know more. I suggested we would need to talk to Mepiphane (he had obviously been touched by evil, even if Pelemik assured us he was “kind and compassionate” !) and Melandra (she would have contacts and seemed much more sympathetic).
Pelemik went on a bit on how Mepipahne was not crazy and “had been valuable”, to which Ev replied he was also “a good shot” (she can snark quite well, as I had already noticed !) !
Still, Pelemik would not relinquish, insisting that he was kind and good, and that “we younglings” should forgive him for having killed us and “be kind to him” as he probably already felt very guilty and “not be prejudiced against him” !
We may be “younglings” compared to him, but age has certainly made him obstinate (and a bit patronising, as well as being able to show his emotions in a more “human”/humanoid way !) ! Then again, he had become a legend, a religious figure, so is it any wonder he sounded a bit like Jesus and the whole “turn the other cheek” ?
He was not really wrong in the end, naturally, Mepipahne did think he was doing his will and acting for the good of his people, but his fanaticism had allowed him to be manipulated and corrupted enough to be ready to kill 3 people who did no threaten him ! Well, he redeemed himself in the end, spending all his remaining lifeforce to protect his city !
Still, even more important, at least we know that Archie does not watch HBO and should watch X-Files ! Of course, it is not exactly surprising, knowing him !
Dino rodeo !
Pelemik suggested we used dinosaurs mount to arrive to the city quicker (draco rexes to be precise, with space enough for 3 people on just one of them). With his animal powers, he managed to call two of them to transport us ! After observing them, we noticed they had some circuitry upon them, probably to calm them down and make them ridable while allowing them to roam around freely (kind of like a Vélib system !) !
Anthony hurried up to make the two separate groups riding each beast (which Pelemik called Belly Bean and Happy Claws, he said that these were their actual names that he reads in their minds, but I think there might have been some translation conventions here !), choosing Brettuer (naturally !) and Archie in his group and leaving us “ladies together” with Pelemik. Well, it was not a bad idea in the end, I did not know how to ride, as I warned them, but neither did Evelyn, and she was less used to this kind of sportive situations…
He called us a couple of dinosaurs to ride. Impressive beasts, I was glad Pelemik could communicate with them (after millions of years he had completely mastered the power he has first shown with Seymour) !
On the way, I had to grab Ev to stop her from a long fall (she was too busy taking pictures to notice, I guess some clichés about American tourists are true ! Luckily Pelemik warned me in time ! Still, it was nice to see her happy after everything we had been through recently), while Brettuer was naturally in full rodeo mode ! Still, he did managed to ride well, even without Pelemik’s powers.
To be (in the city) or not to be…
Before going into the city, we could see several signs of the imminent catastrophe… the Remembrance Forest was literally moving away from us (or at least the earth under it), the sky was turning red and various animals had started their exodus ! All that was missing was some doom-sayer to announce the end of the word, and the picture would have been truly complete !
The doors were protected by two guards. Luckily for us, they seemed to be the philosophical type (then again, until now we have met only two kind of guards and henchmen : procrastinating philosophers or complete idiots !). They were surprised to see an unknown species, but quite ready to discuss rationally ! They told us the Elders had affirmed to them the asteroid caused no danger to the city and that they were safe on its outskirts…
But we had their messiah with us, of course, which greatly helped to convince them to let us in, follow us (they even fell to their knees !) and even bringing us directly to Mepiphane !
The city (Deeperterrank) had an oval shape and was a nice mix of nature and technology. There were also plenty of dinosaurs in electrified pens (including 2 tamed gigantosaurs !) and appeared very busy…
Points of departure : flight and run
Once in the city, Pelemik asked one of the guard to convoked the “Council of Elders” (the Silurians seem to have a rather ageist society, Pelemik would have no trouble getting used to it !), especially Mepiphane, while Ev ordered the other to organise an emergency departure, calling back everyone inside. The guard obeyed, even though it was against his orders. But then, I have noticed that Evelyn seems able to influence people with sheer force of will and logic (whereas I tend to use bluff, manipulation and charm), and it works well in crises !
The Council arrived quickly (there were 2 other elders with our favourite priest). Mepiphane (who had really powerful psychic energy) went out and quickly fell to his knees in front of Pelemik. He praised him for “having returned and raised those he had no deemed worthy” (well, it is one thing of not thinking of “worthy”, it is another to kill us because of it ! He talked only to Pelemik, never really apologising to us, even when Pelemik told them to treat us with respect, as we had the knowledge of “several elders” !).
We also learned that “Pelemik” (almost certainly the conscious nasty black oozing oil animating the dead dinosaurs) had told Mepiphane the long weight posed “no danger” in his dreams… that is the problem with blind faith, you tend to turn your brain off and forget logic and common sense !
Pelemik told him someone or something must have interfered and asked him to tell us everything the voice had told him, suspecting it was the “evil” he had felt before.
But just as Mepiphane was about to answer, one of the other elders started to have a oozing liquid coming out of his whole body… and then he literally exploded in front of us, leaving only his skeleton covered in this black oil ! I think I cursed us when I talked about it earlier !
Brainnnnnnnnnns
This oozing black thing (the enemy ghost described to us ?), once out, promptly started to attack everyone in the vicinity!
And it was only the first of the zombies… Granted, it was actually an animated skeleton, but it does not have the same ring to it !
It also called for an army of dinosaurs-zombies, wanting to rampage the city just before the asteroid hits…
Revenge of the body snatcher
Just one of these walking dead was dangerous enough by itself ! I told everyone to scatter away from the beast as soon as the ooze appeared, but some guards were frozen in their place.
After the first wave of attacks, it targeted Pelemik, as he was (naturally !) in the middle because he was helping the others to organise/run away ! The zombie attacked him right away, and Pelemik could feel all its coldness and will to destroy as he was slightly hurt by it… Thankfully, there seemed to be no lasting consequences !
Seeing all this, I ran to put him to safety ! There was not a lot of immediate cover, the only place I could see then was the dinosaurs pens. Luckily, Pelemik is quite light, so I could throw him inside even with my limited strength ! All right, he did get scorched slightly on one of his feet as I did not throw him very high !
Meanwhile, Evelyn tried to attack him psychically, but he was too strong, all she could do was restraining him for a while… I don’t know what it was, but from what I could perceive through Ev afterwards, it had a hive mind and really powerful psychic powers…
Anthony tried to shoot it when he saw it charged at Pelemik, but the thing absorbed the blast easily, so he stayed near Evelyn to cover her as best as he could. And she looked like she would need help, she was really pale and appeared ready to faint at the end of this !
Archie tried to distract the beast, but as his presence is not exactly physical, there was not much that he could do !
Brettuer, ever the swashbuckler, promptly decided to charge him with his sword… I told him conventional weapons did not seem to work, but he went on brashly anyway, saying nothing had resisted his sword so far… it turned out he was right, the Rackhagen metal emitted some sort of vibration (coupled with artronic energy ?) which was effective against the zombie, especially as Ev was restraining the thing psychically !
Cade managed to cut the head in one swoop (passing through Archie’s “body” to do so !). I hope he will not take this as a licence to do any foolhardy thing that comes into his head !
The monster was down, but we knew plenty of other dino-zombies were converging toward the city… we could even fell the ground vibrating already !
Zany scheme
We had a few minutes respite before their arrival though, so we managed to put a plan together.
Archie told us that the vibration from Cade’s sword could be reproduced but that the only thing powerful enough to transit it on a grand scale was the TARDIS… which was now right in the middle of the horde, of course !
There was also the asteroid about to hit Earth in about 2 hours ! Mepiphane told us that the spaceship engine had been dismantled in the heart of the city, as there was supposedly no danger…
Fortunately, Archie thought he could fix it with the help of some Silurian engineers ! So, he would stay in the city to do the necessary repairs, while we would try to go back at the TARDIS and amplify Brettuer’s sword vibration to neutralise the Army of the Dead !
Pelemik and the Elders would use all their psychic might to protect the city and slow them down, giving us the time we needed…Pelemik actually planted roots (from his belly of all places !) in the ground to reinforce his powers… he really had become amazingly strong during these millions of years !
We were about to try and get some pterodactyl to fly to the TARDIS (avoiding at least being attacked from the ground) when Brettuer suggested to use the transmat he has just noticed (he was really useful during the whole thing !) to teleport us directly next to the TARDIS .
Cade came with us as well, not wanting to let us disarmed in front of the army. We thought he could help defend the city, but he had a point saying there were too many for him to be effective, and we needed his sword there to reproduce the vibration.
So, we disappeared into thin air…
Shaky arrival/ Shoked to the death ?
But the zombie hive mind must have understood the importance of the TARDIS… as soon as we arrived, we were surrounded by a horde of dinozombies AND Romerik (hundred of meters tall !).
We ran into the TARDIS straight away to avoid being possessed, but he horde was right outside, trying to force its way through the door !
We were all around the console, Cade threw me his sword while I hacked through the system to make it broadcast a wave of the vibration as strong as possible. I don’t think I ever worked this fast before !
Romerik was quite determined to stop us and took the TARDIS in its claws before squeezing it hard ! The marks left on the outside were scary !
Meanwhile zombie Romerik and his allies were attacking the TARDIS, shaking all of us ! I hacked into the console, Ev sent the vibration through the telepathic circuit (with our energy helping her a bit).
Back at the city, the strain put on the psychics was enormous… one of the Elders had died already at that point !
Phenomenal cosmic powers! Itty bitty living (dead) space!
Despite the pressure, Pelemik managed to help Romerik to overpower the ooze briefly… it allowed Evelyn to reach out to him and make him pick the TARDIS to bring it to the city directly !
This was when things veered dangerously close to the supernatural… Evelyn gathered what appeared to be “Light” (probably her mental image of what was happening projected to us) around Romerik, while the other zombies seemed bathed in darkness …
In the city, panic reigned as the zombies had started to tear everything apart…
What happened then is a bit hard to describe with words…
Ev looked a bit like Charlie in Firestarter with her hair floating around, while she was literally glowing (she looked almost golden right then !) with a golden hue as she was channelling an amazing amount of this “Light” !
The light came through the telepathic circuits, but Ev managed to channel a huge whirlwind of it, kicking the TARDIS doors wild open and neutralise every dinozombie it touched, leaving only a small ball of light which disappeared quickly into the general Light… For a moment the entire atmosphere around was golden !
According to Ev, she freed the soul of Romerik and the others from “the shadows”, I don’t really believe it, at least not in the literal sense, of course the hive mind was nefarious, evil even, but I don’t buy into an actual “Evil” with the capital influencing things, people and beings are perfectly capable of doing that themselves !
Anthony and I mostly took care of the physical side of things by channelling the vibration from Cade’s sword to couple it with Ev’s and Pelemik’s powers to completely destroy the dinozombies and the ooze animating them !
When Romerik disappeared, the TARDIS fell right through the hole he had made in the city structure… luckily for us, as Archie had just managed to repair the hyperspace engine and the whole city/arch took off straight away !
Aftermaths : going in peace
Pelemik was extremely grateful to Evelyn for allowing him to send Romerik “home” and for showing him he had “the biggest tribe at the other side of time and space” (I still feel sorry for the hopelessness and loneliness he must have felt waiting all this time).
Brettuer was crying at that point, as his sword literally melted under the pressure, leaving him only the handle… Anthony and I both told him we were sorry, and he used the opportunity to throw himself into my arms ! I did not stopped him then, he had earned the right to a little comfort after what he did for us. In fact, I even kissed him on the cheek to thank him, figuring he would enjoy this kind of “reward” ! Evidently he did, as he blushed rather furiously ! I was a bit surprised by this, this is not the reaction I would have expected from the shameless flirt he showed himself to be until then !
Archie was furious at the damages (he was literally shouting and shaking with rage !), but had to admit quickly that we were not really responsible as Anthony and I explained !
Besides, he was soon distracted by Evelyn who simply dropped out from exhaustion after everything that happened !
I was about to catch her up; but Archie had come back just then and I let him took her in his arms directly to the medbay. She was barely conscious then, but I am sure she could still enjoy it a bit !
Pelemik also soothed Mepiphane as he was finally dying from old age and the recent ordeal… from what he told us, he went at peace… He did good in the end, still, I hope his example will serve as a warning to the other Silurians against the dangers of blind faith !
Farewell gifts
The remaining Elder wanted to give Pelemik Belly Bean as a gift, and when he objected he would be all alone on the TARDIS, he added Happy Claws in the bargain ! Pelemik seemed really keen on the two beasts, and we finally agreed to take them with us… It’s not as if we don’t have the space in the TARDIS ! We did ask Archie if he agreed, and he told us yes without really asking for details… something he would soon regret !
After this gift, Pelemik was evidently emotional as he was about to leave the Silurians from Deeperterrank : after all, he had been with them for millions of years ! But his speech was really touching, full of thanks for welcoming him all this time ago and insistence on friendship, community and family !
Before travelling in the TARDIS, I would probably find it rather cheesy and naive… but I learned how valuable trustworthy friends could be in a scrape since !
Just as we were about to depart, Brettuer came in running, telling us to take off right away.
And sure enough , he had stolen a sword to the Silurians… I scolded him a little then, (stealing is perfectly fine of course, but you do not steal from your friend’s allies, that is rather rude ! And he could probably obtain them without problem if he had just asked them !) but Pelemik seemed to approve, even saying that “some gifts had to be taken” ! I have got the feeling he was talking about more than just swords, he put his arms on both of us and Cade had been sufficiently obvious for even Pelemik to notice his interest !
Anyway, if Pelemik was OK with Cade’s shenanigans then who was I to argue ?
Pelemik then just went through the console room with the 2 dinosaurs who had stayed in the entrance until then, and even Archie could not fail to miss the tremor that went through the TARDIS ! We just told him that these were Happy Claws and Belly Beans, once he finally looked above the console ! I think the whole vortex could hear his roar when Anthony told him a bit later ! Well, as I said, we did ask him several times, although it was rather clear he was not really listening… still, it was impossible to resist the temptation of bringing them on board to later see Archie’s reaction as he realised what he had unwittingly allowed ! More seriously though, it was obvious that leaving was hard for Pelemik and this “small” memento seemed to cheer him up…
We were finally ready to depart to go back to saving our own present world…
Pelemik was evidently sad, perhaps even a bit torn at leaving people he had protected for millions of years, it was clear as he watched the city in space and prehistoric Earth one last time before we dematerialised…
Afterwards, he chose to go “tend to Happy Claws and Belly Beans”, obviously wanting to be alone.
In spite of his speech praising community and friendship, at that moment he chose to go on his own to take care of the dinosaurs rather than talking to us or being hugged… Do what I say, not what I do ?
Archie then asked who they were and I told him I would leave him “the surprise” !
Cade then took me aside, away from Archie’s certain wrath , and gave me the knife he had “acquired” for me as a gift. He also refused to take the machete back, saying it was also « a gift » (I guess there was a bow around it !) !
When I said blades were not usually the tools I was used to, he replied I could show him “the kind of tools that I liked to use” ! But for once, in a strange inversion, I was the one interpreting things too literally ! You must admit, dying, resurrecting and near-apocalypse is an exhausting business ! I almost felt sorry for him, after everything he went through, he did not really deserve to be shut down like that… But there was not much I could do just then, I did not want his head to get even more swollen than it already was !
Oh, and I just realise I know have two “swords”, so I guess I could be running with them if I wanted… and I still need to talk about it to Ev, but there never seems to be time in between the disasters to prevent !
Right then we would soon found out we did not even had time to rest or talk bit about what happened, thanks to the Collector !
Le chaudron créatif 