Angelic Serenity - 16/Aug/2012
Was he lucky? Arthur wasn't sure. But, he was getting to see the Angels fighting. Up close. Real up close.
He was only here with Janet, this time. He'd missed SOS-Con, as he was still in hospital, recovering from his 'holiday' with the Boskone. So this was his first opportunity to meet people he'd got to know at CrystalCon, two years ago now.
Yes, he was wearing his waved suit, as smart as any businessman, but as protective as old-style heavy body armour. He could pull an emergency helmet out from under the collar, put on the gloves, and be in a spacesuit. But, he'd heard heavy weapons fire, something he was far too familiar with from his youth, and a head shot would kill just about anyone.
The Angels were here, all three of them. It seemed unlikely they were all free at the same time, so it was probably a Stellvia-related issue. They'd volunteered to work on Con security, and apparently been accepted. Now they were carving a way out for a group of civilians, that included Arthur, and Janet.
Janet was a bit annoyed. She'd not brought the right avatar. As she'd told Arthur, only that one body that'd helped to rescue him was properly trained in space combat; the skills didn't seem to smoothly transfer to other bodies. And, that was the only body that could wear her Invisible Space Suit, or use the Mark II Flight Ring. All her attempts to duplicate either of those had failed. She'd like to know how Arthur made three, interchangable, sets for the Angels. So, all she had was a bit of tai chi, and a bullet-proof business suit like Arthur.
Sounded like the Angels had met another squad of terrorists. They were using a terrifying mix of martial arts, non-lethal Con security kit, and weapons scavenged from fallen Boskone. Arthur was pretty sure they'd got concealed pistols, as well, but hadn't needed to use them, yet. Their coordination was the most impressive thing. Each knew exactly where the others would be, without even looking, and assisted with the more acrobatic martial arts. He swore he saw one of them put her fist straight through a ceramic chest plate, and back-kick another only a moment after.
When they got enough time their actions were more individual. Sarah used heavy weapons single-handed, nearly ignoring enough recoil to knock a man over. Jane used automatic weapons, controlled burst of three shots, something Arthur remembered the British Army used to teach. Kelly kept improvising weapons, from just about anything they found, altering the Con security kit, creating a steam gun from a coffee maker in a smashed-open room.
The most impressive thing Kelly built was a guardbot, from the remains of some sort of Boskone cyborg. This was (of course!) steam-powered, and had six arms each ending in a curved shield. It proved to be able to move these arms in a blur, stretching them out more than two metres, and blocking bullets and shrapnel. Janet got the job of looking out for water, as its boiler needed topping-up quite often. She also apparently needed to whisper it words of encouragement, to keep it going.
Arthur was drafted to help on the medical side. He'd intended to demonstrate a range of medical instruments that his company was selling, compact things, designed to be used with minimal medical training. He'd been near enough when the alarms went off, so he'd grabbed the samples case. Working with a nurse he'd managed to stop anyone dying on them, though two had been 'put on ice' for later treatment, and were being carried on improvised stretchers. There was more than one walking wounded, and a man who'd been having a heart attack before Arthur stabalised him.
The sounds of fighting had stopped. Arthur thought they might have reached the service entrance they'd been heading for. Sarah came back, her arms soaked in blood up to the elbows, but with no obvious injuries herself, beyond a few scratches, and maybe a bit of bright metal shrapnel in one cheek. Arthur thought she looked as though she was in shock.
After a brief pause, she turned and scanned the evacuees, almost mechanically. "We seem to be safe, here. Most of the fighting is towards the more central areas. I will remain with you, while we scout for a suitable vehicle to leave in."
Suddenly, Arthur realised. "So, it's 'Stay with you, if we want to live'?"
And, for the briefest moment, a smile flickered on her face.
--
"It is the business of the future to be dangerous" - Hawkwind
Was he lucky? Arthur wasn't sure. But, he was getting to see the Angels fighting. Up close. Real up close.
He was only here with Janet, this time. He'd missed SOS-Con, as he was still in hospital, recovering from his 'holiday' with the Boskone. So this was his first opportunity to meet people he'd got to know at CrystalCon, two years ago now.
Yes, he was wearing his waved suit, as smart as any businessman, but as protective as old-style heavy body armour. He could pull an emergency helmet out from under the collar, put on the gloves, and be in a spacesuit. But, he'd heard heavy weapons fire, something he was far too familiar with from his youth, and a head shot would kill just about anyone.
The Angels were here, all three of them. It seemed unlikely they were all free at the same time, so it was probably a Stellvia-related issue. They'd volunteered to work on Con security, and apparently been accepted. Now they were carving a way out for a group of civilians, that included Arthur, and Janet.
Janet was a bit annoyed. She'd not brought the right avatar. As she'd told Arthur, only that one body that'd helped to rescue him was properly trained in space combat; the skills didn't seem to smoothly transfer to other bodies. And, that was the only body that could wear her Invisible Space Suit, or use the Mark II Flight Ring. All her attempts to duplicate either of those had failed. She'd like to know how Arthur made three, interchangable, sets for the Angels. So, all she had was a bit of tai chi, and a bullet-proof business suit like Arthur.
Sounded like the Angels had met another squad of terrorists. They were using a terrifying mix of martial arts, non-lethal Con security kit, and weapons scavenged from fallen Boskone. Arthur was pretty sure they'd got concealed pistols, as well, but hadn't needed to use them, yet. Their coordination was the most impressive thing. Each knew exactly where the others would be, without even looking, and assisted with the more acrobatic martial arts. He swore he saw one of them put her fist straight through a ceramic chest plate, and back-kick another only a moment after.
When they got enough time their actions were more individual. Sarah used heavy weapons single-handed, nearly ignoring enough recoil to knock a man over. Jane used automatic weapons, controlled burst of three shots, something Arthur remembered the British Army used to teach. Kelly kept improvising weapons, from just about anything they found, altering the Con security kit, creating a steam gun from a coffee maker in a smashed-open room.
The most impressive thing Kelly built was a guardbot, from the remains of some sort of Boskone cyborg. This was (of course!) steam-powered, and had six arms each ending in a curved shield. It proved to be able to move these arms in a blur, stretching them out more than two metres, and blocking bullets and shrapnel. Janet got the job of looking out for water, as its boiler needed topping-up quite often. She also apparently needed to whisper it words of encouragement, to keep it going.
Arthur was drafted to help on the medical side. He'd intended to demonstrate a range of medical instruments that his company was selling, compact things, designed to be used with minimal medical training. He'd been near enough when the alarms went off, so he'd grabbed the samples case. Working with a nurse he'd managed to stop anyone dying on them, though two had been 'put on ice' for later treatment, and were being carried on improvised stretchers. There was more than one walking wounded, and a man who'd been having a heart attack before Arthur stabalised him.
The sounds of fighting had stopped. Arthur thought they might have reached the service entrance they'd been heading for. Sarah came back, her arms soaked in blood up to the elbows, but with no obvious injuries herself, beyond a few scratches, and maybe a bit of bright metal shrapnel in one cheek. Arthur thought she looked as though she was in shock.
After a brief pause, she turned and scanned the evacuees, almost mechanically. "We seem to be safe, here. Most of the fighting is towards the more central areas. I will remain with you, while we scout for a suitable vehicle to leave in."
Suddenly, Arthur realised. "So, it's 'Stay with you, if we want to live'?"
And, for the briefest moment, a smile flickered on her face.
--
"It is the business of the future to be dangerous" - Hawkwind