Narration Room

kudos Effect

2012-02-25T21:54:00.000+08:00

I thought I would document the kudos Effect so that there is some record of it somewhere on the Internet. This is a well known phenomenon to the Rabid Fans of the Cyberlore Forums. Note that it is spelled with a small 'k' and a capital 'E'.

The Kudos Effect with capital 'K' and capital 'E' is something else entirely. I think it is someone else's business or product.

Anyway, the kudos Effect is a phenomenon that happens in an Internet forum. A newbie would start a topic and ask a seemingly innocent question and make some remark about the topic. Then someone will make a post answering that question and comment about the remark. After that, someone else will comment about the comment about the remark.

More and more posts are made about the remark. By the the time the original poster returned for his/her answer, the topic would have gone off on a tangent. There have been flame wars, lightsaber duels, astronomy and all sorts of nonsense created from the remark that the original poster had made.

Somewhere along the line, someone will point out that it is a kudos Effect. Something like:
---
For those of you who have just joined us, this is a phenomenon known as a kudos Effect. This occurs when a topic is hijacked and diverted to an alternate subject of discussion, usually when the person who started the topic is away and unable to reply to the thread (thus preventing the effect).

We now return you to the kudos Effect in progress.
---

The kudos Effect was named after 'kudos', the first ever victim of the Effect.

The Cyberlore Forums no longer exist. However, most of the Rabid Fans are still around, scattered throughout the Internet.

Wakfu: My Short Time in Beta

2012-02-23T11:54:00.001+08:00

I recently tried out the beta of Wakfu.

It is an MMORPG. Most of the game is real-time, except for combat, which is turned-based. What got me interested in the game are the things the player can do other than combat. The player can gather resources and craft items. There is the player's nation, which they can build. There is also the ecosystem to manage, which will give the player's nation bonuses if done right.

Yes, I was excited to play the game. I had not been this excited for a while.

Then less than 36 hours after I started playing, the server closed.

Because the Beta had ended. The full game will be released next week on 29 February.

There is a freeplay part of the game, but it restricts access to a lot of the game's features. Especially the parts about ecosystem management and working with other players to build a nation. And there is no getting or spending money.

Subscription is not very expensive at 52 Euros for a year subscription, with shorter subscriptions available for those still uncertain. However, my concern is not the money - it is the time. Paying real-world money is a commitment to spending time on the game. So the question is whether I am willing to commit a significant part of my next 3 to 12 months into grinding in an MMORPG.

It would be interesting to see how the economy in the game develops. Wakfu uses a player-based economy much like Puzzle Pirates. The players have to create everything, even the hard currency. Baddies do not drop currency - they have to be minted from ores. There are no NPC shops - everything has to be bought from player-run stores. There are no products - everything has to be crafted by players from resources that are crafted by players from even more resources that are gathered by players from the wild.

The game is going to start with everyone having zero money. So I wonder how the economy will start.

There is also the political system but this is nothing new since many MMO-games already have this. Basically, each nation elects its leaders who will then run stuff. In Wakfu, the leaders manage laws and can obtain challenges for the nation's citizens to play around with. I hear that the leader can also manage the ecosystem policies but I am not to clear on that. I did not look much into this since I was not so interested in politics.

As already mentioned, there is the ecosystem to manage. The players have to keep the population of the flora and fauna in an area within specified limits in order to give bonuses to ALL players of that nation. This is were casual players can contribute to their nation and is another feature of the game I wish to try.

So, should I play the release-version of the game? I have to decide soon since there is a 'Subscribe in Advance' offer right now for subscribing before the game is launched. If I do, I get a few items which is going to take up my limited inventory slots, including a pet.

Buddy Rush: Bangbang's Set (1.5)

2012-02-21T14:12:00.000+08:00

Bangbag's Set is the second set I have completed on that day.

Bangbang with all his loot.

There are four items in this set, each of them obtainable from the reward chest given after beating Bangbang. I wonder where he keeps the can of Motor Oil.

Bangbang's Vest

Bangbang's Bandana

Bangbang's Glove

Bangbang's Motor Oil

The complete set gives the following:
Att+160
Def+46
HP+512
HP Regen+2%
MP+216
MP Regen+3%
critical+0%
Evade+0%
Stun+2%
Hit Speed+8%
Skill Pow+36%
Skill CoolTime-2sec

Note the high HP and MP. Att, Def and Hit Speed are good too, along with a few bonuses in other stats. It has low HP Regen, MP Regen and Stun along with nonexistent critical and Evade. The last two equips slots should be used to provide bonuses that boost the stats required for the character's playing style.

I equipped Bangbang's set on Skully:

Futuristic biker chick with an old cannon?

I chose equips to give Skully more Att so that her Bleeding will do more damage. High Att and Hit Speed makes her regular attacks more powerful. I chose this because, when controlled by the AI, the AI does not move Skully into the best spot to use her skills. With good regular attacks, at least the AI-controlled Skully has some effect on Oblins.

The extra MP Regen from the Ancient Cannon along with the high MP boost from the set keeps Skully supplied with MP for a long time. Cutie's Wing (red - I do not have the purple) gives a lot more Hit Speed bonus. The extra Att, Evade and Skill CoolTime bonuses are also welcome.

The main drawback with this setup is the low HP Regen. Skully can take hits. However, she will take far too long to recover from damage. This will be less of a problem if a healer is in the party, or healing consumables are used.

Buddy Rush: Contents

Buddy Rush: Magic Cane Set (1.5)

2012-02-20T21:54:00.000+08:00

Here is the first of the three purple sets I have completed on that one day, the Magic Cane Set. There are two items in this set.

The first item is the Powerless Magic Cane, which can be bought from the shop.

Powerless Magic Cane

The second item was found from a treasure chest dropped by an Oblin during Bangbang's Raid. Actually, it was before the raid since I looted the chest before entering the arena where Bangbang was. I think that this item may also be looted from regular mission drops in C'est Mang.

Magical Essence

If anyone wonders how much the Magical Essence is worth:

It is priceless.

I equipped the set on Nagne.

Dual Purple Set FTW!

The combined Philosopher's stone Set and Magic Cane set give:
Att+284
Def+46
HP+360
HP Regen+4%
MP+80
MP Regen+4%
critical+14%
Evade+8.5%
Stun+8%
Hit Speed+4%
Skill Pow+57%
Skill CoolTime-3.2sec

Overall, both sets give Nagne decent all round bonuses, with good critical for his Forgetful Nagne skill. With this setup, all equip slots are taken by both sets. Thus the only flexibility would be in costume and accessories.

Buddy Rush: Contents

Buddy Rush: Three Purple Sets in One Day

2012-02-20T12:54:00.002+08:00

I completed three purple sets in one day!
(Or was it one hour?)

Wow.

No, it is not that I got all the items in one day. For two of the sets, I was just short of one item. For the third, yes, I did get each and every piece of that set in one day.

I got Bangbang's Glove to complete Bangbang's Set.

Yay!

After that, I got Armored Tiger's Scale Armor to complete Armored Tiger's Set a second time.

Yay (x2) !

But before those two, I got the Magical Essence.

Ok, I was way too slow to grab the screenshot for this one.

This is all happy and exciting until I consider the work that follows. I have the sets to try out. Then I have decisions to make on the best equips to complement the set. After that, I have lots of screenshots to take and writing to do.

So be sure to read the resulting articles once a day all week in gratitude. :p

Update 21 February 2012:
Finally finished writing/updating the articles! Happy reading, people!

Meanwhile, I still have a little more work to do before I can go play. -_-

Buddy Rush: Contents

Super Samurai Sweeper (RPG, puzzle)

2012-02-11T13:31:00.000+08:00

Many years ago, I came across a scratch card which had plenty of boxes arranged in rows. When a box is scratched, it revealed one or more arrows pointing the path to a prize. The idea is to scratch a line of arrows towards a prize in the end, picking paths if there were more than one arrow revealed behind that box. Super Samurai Sweeper reminded me of that scratch card game, though it uses a much different game mechanic.

This is not the scratch card part of the game.

Super Samurai Sweeper by nerdook is puzzle game with RPG elements in it. I classified it as a Puzzle, rather than a Strategy game, since it felt more like one. It is a rather short game, easily completed within an hour of play. However, this makes it easily replayable on a higher difficulty setting for a higher score.

Selecting a target.

The game challenge is to beat the boss character Daimyo in each of the seven levels, called Provinces in the game. Once that is done, the Province with the Shogun is unlocked. The player must defeat the Shogun to win the game.

At the start of the game, the player selects a Province to begin with.

Scratch card!

Within a Province, the player is shown a scratch card map where a target boss Daimyo is hidden and given limited Clicks to find the target. The objective is to find the Daimyo with the limited Clicks and defeat him. Revealed boxes may reveal bonuses/penalties to help beat the Daimyo or it may reveal footsteps, which is a trail leading up to the boss.

Unlike scratch cards, Clicking on a box also reveals partial information in neighboring boxes. This makes the game much easier (and bearable).

Footsteps may be misleading since they do not show how close they are to the Daimyo. It is possible that a newly reveal set of footsteps is further on a trail compared to a previously reveal set. It is also possible that the Daimyo is in between two sets of revealed footsteps. A little bit of judgement is therefore necessary.

The red marks on the map are groups of Mooks that the player may battle immediately or later. The final battle with the Daimyo will include all remaining Mooks on the map. It is easier to fight a smaller number of them earlier to reduce the number faced in the final battle. However, searching for Mooks requires Clicks.

When the Province is completed, extra unused Clicks give additional Score and Exp. The player has to decide whether to defeat many Mooks before the facing the Daimyo, or risk attacking early for more Score and Exp.

Red-green blindness helps me ignore the blood.

Battles are for the most part automatic. The only decision the player gets to make is when to use Chakra for special abilities or reviving followers (more on followers later). Chakra is charged by defeating Mooks or spending a large amount of Silver for a certain item in the Market (more on the Market later).

If the player underestimates the battle with the Daimyo and loses the fight, he/she is penalized 5% of his/her Score. The player then has to restart the Province all over again, with only the wisdom gained from the lost and none of the Silver and Exp. The exception is the Nightmare difficulty level. Defeat in Nightmare means that the player has to restart the whole game.

The final battle with the Daimyo.

There are Restart and Quit buttons to hastily back out of a losing map. However, at the time of writing, using those buttons on Hardcore or Nightmare difficulty level downgrades the difficulty to Normal. It is uncertain if this is a bug or game feature.

The game can be stopped after completing a Province and continued at a later time - the progress is saved. There is an interesting animation behind the 'clear current campaign' option in the main menu.

The reward for beating a Daimyo and completing the Province.

Exp earned in the game may be used to purchase Upgrades after completing a Province. In addition to that, Companions may be recruited to fight on the side of the Super Samurai. The next screenshot explains a lot more about this than mere words can.

The Upgrade screen between Province battles.

Fallen Companions may be revived in battle.

Silver is the other limited resource in the game. It is spent at the Market in a Province. The Market provides a different set of Upgrades for the player along with consumables that are replenished when a new Province is attempted.

So many Upgrades, so little Silver.

The Upgrades in the Market provide more varied bonuses. With the limited resources, the player has to decide on the Upgrade to purchase to best suit his/her playing style.

More unlocks... for the opposition!

As the player defeats the Daimyos in each Province, more and more gameplay features are unlocked. These may be new locations to be revealed on maps or new units and abilities for those people on the other side.

The game has a difficulty setting, which is selected at the start of the game. Higher difficulty settings are unlocked by meeting High Score requirements.

Higher difficulties are not only harder, but also more rewarding in terms of Score and Exp. More Exp means more Upgrades that may be purchased for the Super Samurai and his Companions. This extra Exp makes it a good reason to play the harder difficulty.

(On a side note, all screenshots in this article are from the Nightmare difficulty.)

Super Samurai Sweeper is a short game with decent challenge and some luck involved. The player needs to execute a lot of judgement in the game to decide on the amount of risk to take for the best Score. The presentation is good with decent art and sound and cute animation. The High Score system and different available Upgrades are good reasons to replay the game.

The following are more screenshots from the game.

The Daimyo is a Mook!

Barely managed to defeat the Shogun in the final, final battle!

It was Nightmare.

That was the final score for the game I barely managed to win. 11 HP left in the final battle with the Shogun. And it was at Nightmare difficulty!

One final screenshot from a different game of a Province with the Shogun (labeled as 'daimyo'). It is a little hard to see, but the Daimyo was sitting on a Booby Trap. Smart fellow.

Smart final final boss.

Buddy Rush: King's Set (1.5)

2012-02-08T16:12:00.000+08:00

A buddy of mine just donated a red King's Set, so I guess it is time to write this article.

Update 14 February 2012:
My buddy just donated more items - the blue set and a couple of pieces of the green set. They are added further below.

Update 23 February 2012:
My buddy donated the green set.

---

The Sixth Wave introduced the Arena where the player may battle random parties of other player characters. If successful, the player will be rewarded with a treasure chest, which may contain an item of the King's set.

There are five qualities of the King's Set, each with different level requirements and increasing stats. All four items of the King's Set to be equipped must be of the same color quality for there to be a set effect. Also, two equips with the same name cannot be equipped, even if they are of different colors.

The level requirements are:
colorless - 10
green - 30
blue - 50
red - 70
purple - 95

The King's Set does not have HP or MP Regen. Neither does it have MP or Evade bonuses. The character equipping the set likely would run out of HP and/or MP early. The set does, however, have good Att and Skill Pow, making it good for offense. The last two equip slots may be filled with items that help the character last longer in battle.

Colorless

King's Flamberge (colorless)

Green
(Update 23 February 2012)

King's Ring (green)

King's Necklace (green)

King's Plate Mail (green)

King's Flamberge (green)

My buddy donated another set. Maybe I should have ordered the screenshots from the most powerful down rather than the other way around.

Anyway, the complete green King's Set gives:
Att+96
Def+14
HP+232
HP Regen+0%
MP+0
MP Regen+0%
critical+3.5%
Evade+0%
Stun+2.5%
Hit Speed+4.5%
Skill Pow+31.5%
Skill CoolTime-1sec

My buddy now has 13k+ Honor points. A few more k's and maybe he will donate a colorless set. :p

Blue
(Update 14 February 2012)

King's Ring (blue)

King's Necklace (blue)

King's Plate Mail (blue)

King's Flamberge (blue)

The complete blue King's Set gives:
Att+134
Def+19
HP+320
HP Regen+0%
MP+0
MP Regen+0%
critical+5%
Evade+0%
Stun+3.5%
Hit Speed+5.5%
Skill Pow+46.5%
Skill CoolTime-1.4sec

I have not been at level 50 for quite some time so I cannot say for sure but those stats look good for level 50 equips. However, I do like to have some HP Regen and MP Regen.

Oh, and my buddy's Honor points are now 11k+ (he sent the blue set after the red set).

Red

King's Ring (red)

King's Necklace (red)

King's Plate Mail (red)

King's Flamberge (red)

The complete red King's Set gives:

Att+162
Def+23
HP+400
HP Regen+0%
MP+0
MP Regen+0%
critical+6.5%
Evade+0%
Stun+4.5%
Hit Speed+6.5%
Skill Pow+58.5%
Skill CoolTime-1.6sec

The red set's stats are almost as good as the purple sets from early Raids. Though the red set is definitely better than Genzir's Set. Unlike the purple Raid sets, the red set can be gifted, so it is easier to complete. Also, it can be donated to buddies to help them. :)

I am not sure how many Honor Points are necessary for the red set equips to start appearing. The buddy who donated the red set had his Honor Points at 9k+. Then again, he also has purple King's Set items.

Buddy Rush: Contents

Buddy Rush: Raid Mode, Bangbang

2012-02-02T23:52:00.000+08:00

The Sixth Wave introduced a new Raid with Bangbang as the motorcycle-riding Oblin armed with a double-barreled shotgun. The raid is available to characters of level 94 and above. As with the other raids, the player brings along a main character, two of his/her buddies, and another two character of his/hers that meet the level requirement, randomly chosen among those of the highest level.

It is fortunate that he has only 4.5M HP.

The raid takes place in an arena with the Questern theme. Conspicuously missing are the marble torches, replaced by native totems. The ground texture, however, has the pattern present in the early raids.


Someone dropped a flashbang in Bangbang's pants!

There are no gems to help in this raid. That means no 'Wake up!! Buddy!' to save the player from a bad move.

The pillars/totems are still there to help the player. Activating a totem by running into it may cause:

* a yellow cloud that does damage to targets in a large area.

* a frost field with snowflakes that slows (Wizz's Freeze).

* an expanding white cloud effect that does damage to targets in a large area (Flow's Earthquaker).

* spinning blades (Aikilu's Blade Typoon).

And of course Bangbang may activate the totem too.

Skully admires her hi-tech guns.

Bangbang fires two shots in his regular attack, which may inflict Stun.

His center of rotation is at the front wheel. This is relevant in close fights when he spins to face a different target. When that happens, his hit area moves to an entirely new area - something to note for range attacks. But more importantly, Bangbang could active a totem next to him when he spins.

Boorseye's hat is on fire!

Bangbang has two special skills. Unlike previous Raid bosses, Bangbang's special skills have a much shorter warning period - there is usually no time to run. Either Stun him or interrupt him in order to buy more time to Stun him. Or get ready to use a healing potion.

Bangbang's first attack skill is the flamethrower, which does lots of damage over a period of time. He will brandish his gun as warning before using this skill. Unlike YA-86's version of Burping Fire, Bangbang's fire attack does not Stun. However, Bangbang does correct his aim during the attack. This means no dodging out of the way.

If the main character is the target of Bangbang's flamethrower, consider moving away from buddies to avoid them getting fried. Or if one of the buddies is the target, stay away from him to avoid sharing the heat.

He's going to attack.. ooh, treasure chest!

Bangbang's other special skill is a ground slam with the front wheel of his chopper. The attack does significant damage to buddies in a large area and may Stun.

Target rich environment.

Unlike the previous Raids, there are more extras in Bangbang's. First, the regular extras are two pistol-wielding Oblins. They do not have much HP and may release a single red HP or blue MP orb when KO-ed.

The other extras are many Oblins on motorcycles (who seem to have a problem with balance). They spawn from the back and sides of the arena and ride straight towards the opposite side, unless Bangbang is in the way.

These Oblins on motorcycles do signficant damage when they hit a buddy. Then they are KO-ed. Much like a dumbfire missile. Even if a melee buddy knocks them down first, they may still do damage to that buddy.

They have low HP - one attack is usually enough to KO them. I have not seen them releasing orbs.

Grabbing totems is a good way to KO motorcycle Oblins as the totem effects an area and lasts for a while (different area and duration for different types of effect).

I have the power!

With lots of damage being dealt, it is best to bring buddies with at least some defense, especially since there is no 'Wake up!! Buddy!' gem available. Buddies with area effect skills that last for a duration, like Wizz with his Fire and Aikilu with her Blade Typoon, are also helpful in stopping a few motorcycle Oblins.

It is a good idea to bring Worrier along to increase the chances of Stunning Bangbang. And hopefully nullify his special skills.

The large number of available targets allow additional activation of skills that depend on critical (Nagne, Vivich) or on KO-ing something (Nagne, Aikilu). If such a buddy is the main character, that character can activate his/her skills with the totem, which deals lots of hits, each with a chance to critical. And the totem activation can KO motorcycle Oblins with one hit to active the skill that depends on KO-ing something.

Update 17 February 2012:
Range buddies may have trouble hitting BangBang from the side - their regular attacks just pass through. This is probably because BangBang's hit area is around the front wheel while the buddies aim for the back. Botherella has more trouble with this than Boorseye.

For range buddies, hang near the left side of BangBang's front wheel so fired projectiles will hit (especially with Boorseye or Skully and their ammo spamming skills). That position is within the hit area and is not the side where BangBang's gun is.

Betty Jr's 'Nobody can stop me' has trouble hitting BangBang since it aims for the raid boss' back. That is in addition to the usual problem of hitting a target if Betty Jr uses the skill to close to that target.

Range buddies cannot hit the motorcycle extras.
---

Nagne in action.

Needless to say, I find Nagne really good as the main character.

Nagne's Leaf Slash covers a large area, clearing it of motorcycle Oblins in addition to dealing damage to Bangbang and the other extras. The extra hits may activate his Forgetful Nagne skill and recharge all his skills. In addition to that, the extra KOs may activate his Pray for the enemy, replenishing his HP and more importantly, his MP. Activating totems also help those two skills to activate more often.

The point of this tactic is to spam skills, especially Kiss of Death, on Bangbang.

And there is loot for finally beating Bangbang:

A ball! A ball a ball a ball a b...

The following is the loot I have received from the chest after beating the raid (the number after is the number of tries):

Bangbang's Motor Oil (purple!) - 8
Dragon Quiver (blue) - 6
(Updated 28 January 2012)

The following is the loot I received after the introduction of Arena:
Dragon Quiver (colorless!!!?!?!?) - 6 (And I thought green was bad!)
Hulusi (colorless!!!?!?!?) - 5 (...)
Soccer Ball (green) - 6
Bangbang's Motor Oil (purple!) - 6
Shield of Courage (green!?) - 7
Prayer Beads (red) - 6 (? got disconnected at win.)
Bangbang's Vest (purple!) - 6
Lamp of Discipline (colorless!!!?!?!?) - 6
Shield of Courage (blue) - 6
Inventor's Robot (blue) - 7
Healing Yarrows (colorless!!!?!?!?) - 5
Healing Yarrows (colorless!!!?!?!?) - 6 (Again!!?)
Lamp of Discipline (colorless!!!?!?!?) - 6
Shield of Courage (colorless!!!?!?!?) - 6
Inventor's Robot (colorless!!!?!?!?) - 6 (Colorless again. -_-!!)
Inventor's Robot (colorless!!!?!?!?) - 6 (Again!!?)
Stilettos (red) - 6 (Finally, not a colorless!)
Feather Pen (blue) - 6
Dragon Quiver (colorless!!!?!?!?) - 6
Bangbang's Bandana (purple!) - 5
Bangbang's Bandana (purple!) - 6 (Not complaining - it's a purple!)
Bangbang's Gloves (purple!) - 5 (Completed Bangbang's set! 20 February 2012, 24 tries.)
(Updated 20 February 2012)

Buddy Rush: Contents

Inept Oblin mechanics connected the exhausts to the wrong end!

Buddy Rush: February 2012 Comedy Screenies

2012-02-01T12:48:00.000+08:00

More funny screenies from Buddy Rush.

Last month's collection can be found here.

---

... Boorseye, where are you aiming?

Update 2 February 2012:

Skully has a photon cannon! (Not really.)

Update 6 February 2012:

Worrier does mighty damage!

Update 9 February 2012:
The return of the stunned battlefield!

With all the Stuns thrown about, someone was sure to Stun the battlefield itself!

Update 10 February 2012:

This guy cracks me up.

Update 12 February 2012:
Today, Buddy Rush is one-year-old. Happy Birthday!
Unrelated screenie:

We've found the Skinny-looking Tree!

Update 23 February 2012:
Sometimes in Challenge Mode, I face something easy, like a slug:

Easy!

Or Hugeblin:

Maybe because Boorseye did not see the shaman under Hugeblin.

Elsewhere:

Cutie failed to prevent the buddies from rushing through.

Buddy Rush: Contents

The Tower of Trials Interlude 2

2012-01-19T21:26:00.000+08:00

Hi,everyone! This is Mab again in the Narration Room and it's time for another interlude. Well, not that you have a choice, since the lastchapter of the story is over.

But itis not the end! Unlike the oneshot nature of the Fernham High series,the Wasteland Vixens series is continuous. Characters and plotscontinue so you'll be seeing more of Squirt and the Vixens - when weget around to filming and narrating it.

TheTower of Trials is just the first story for the Wasteland Vixensseries, more like the introduction. Story 2 is in production at thetime I'm writing this. So unless that story has been published at thetime you're reading this, you've got to take a break. Which makes myjob easier since I don't have to think of something to write here todistract you from the story. And I can get away with a shorterinterlude. :)

Oh, thisalso means that I've got some extra free time on my hands. Hmmm...maybe I'll go for some cake. Hope Io hasn't finished all thechocolate cake in the pantry. That girl can eat lots of sweet foodand not grow fat.

So canI. By abusing the magic of the Makeup Department!

***

Contents
Previous Chapter

The Tower of Trials Chapter 8 Page 3

2012-01-19T21:19:00.000+08:00

Georgeforced on a brighter expression. "It was exciting." When hewas not in fear of his life.

Papapicked up the damaged coat that George had worn during his adventurefrom the hook next to the entrance. He held it up. Most of the fronthad been shot off. The sleeves had holes on them. "Hah, lookslike you had a good taste of fun too. Better not show this to..."-he turned the coat around and saw the logo at the back -"Mycoat!"

Georgeglanced up at his father. Why was Papa upset about an old coat?

"Myprecious coat," Papa whispered.

"Sorry,"George said, "Found it in storage. Didn't think you still neededit."

"IfMama sees this..." Papa rolled up the coat and glanced back atthe entrance. "I've got to get rid of this." He turned backto his son. "You've work tomorrow. Get some sleep." Then hespun on a foot towards the door.

"Okay.Almost got this." George returned to his work. More than likelyPapa was going to ask lots of questions about his adventure the nextday. Maybe he would find out more about the coat.

Papagrunted and left.

A littlelater, George had the motor working with power supplied from thetransformer. The door of the box slid open. His first guess at thecorrect amount of power had been right. Maybe he would get lucky withthe content too.

He tookout the only item in the box. It was a strange symbol smaller thanhis palm. It was made of a blue glossy opaque stone, a material hewas not familiar with. He was not familiar with the shape. It did notlook like any creature or object he knew of. It did not appear to berandomly designed either. Maybe it was a symbol in some longforgotten language.

He heldthe symbol up to Tillie. "What do you think?"

Tilliemerely stared at the object with its single camera-eye. It had notbeen programmed to offer opinions either. But it definitely did notidentify the symbol as a tool to be returned.

Still,the symbol looked pretty and mysterious, a reminder of the hiddensecrets of the wastes.

Georgepacked the transformer. "Put that back," he told the robot.

Tilliepicked up the boxy object with both arms. It rode a rail down theside of the workbench and went to replace the piece of equipment inthe cupboard.

Georgecut a length of black cord and looped it through one of the holes atthe edge of the blue stone. He tied the stone around his neck. Thenhe examined his reflection on a small mirror. The accessory lookedgood on him. Yes, it was the perfect reminder of his first trip tothe wastes.

Afterchecking that Tillie had returned all the tools, George left thelittle robot in its recharge socket. Then he shut off the lights andwent to bed.

Heshould probably get a proper chain for his new necklace later.

Thenight's dream would be filled with thoughts of his adventure,reliving again the excitement and savoring the experience. Perhaps hewould visit the wasteland again some day.

***

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The Tower of Trials Chapter 8 Page 2

2012-01-19T21:16:00.000+08:00

Laterthat night, George was in his father's workshop.

He wasworking on that locked box from the tower. It was his down payment.The rest of his meager share would be deposited into his bank accountonce the Vixens had sold the rest of their spoils.

Sincethey could not open the locked box easily, the Vixens could not guessat its worth. So they had decided to foist it off on George.

"Putthis back, Tillie," George handed a screwdriver to a littlerobot standing on the table.

Therobot took the screwdriver with its mechanical arm, turned andreturned the tool to its place on a rack of screwdrivers, arrangedaccording to size.

The boxhad a smooth panel. A keycard reader or keypad or some other similar mechanism was supposed to signal the electric motor, which wouldslide the panel open, revealing the content of the box. Simple.Except that the keycard reader or keypad was missing.

With theprobe of a small handheld multimeter, he poked the motor to test itscircuits while examining them through a mounted magnifying glass. Itwas easy to reach the wirings of the motor since the internals of theelectrical object were exposed. Based on the readings on the digitalreadout of the multimeter, he deduced that the circuits of the motorwere still in working order. If he supplied power to the motor, itshould slide the door open. He laid down the probe of the multimeter.

"Notyet, Tillie," George stopped the robot as it reached for themultimeter.

Thecircuits of the motor appeared to be intact. George still had toguess the amount of power needed to work the motor. Too little andthe door would not open. Too much and the motor could be damaged andhe would have to open the lock with liberal amounts of brute force.

Georgerose up from his stool. He needed a variable transformer from thecupboard. Too bad Tillie had not been programmed to retrieve toolsfor him. When was someone going to get around to doing that? Maybe ithad something to do with the amount of work necessary. There were alot of tools to apply with audio labels if Tillie were to match voicecommands to the required tool.

Amiddle-aged man in dirty coveralls appeared at the door of theworkshop. "Hah, never thought I'd see the day you'd willingly beworking here this late, boy," he said.

Yeah,George would usually flee from work as soon as he was done with hisduties. At that hour, he would usually be in his room, watchingdownloaded videos, or in bed.

"Justworking on something, Papa," George said. He picked theequipment he needed from the cupboard.

"So,the wastes exciting?" the father asked.

Papawould want to know. From his stories about the wasteland, George knewthat his father had also longed for the open freedom. However, hisfather had a family to take care off and so was stuck in the city. Itwas dangerous out in the wasteland and it would be irresponsible toleave his children as orphans.

Georgeplaced the transformer on the workbench. "It was okay," hesaid. His life was not secure out there. There was no one to protecthim - no laws, no authorities, just him and his friends. Life wascheap there. But...

"Itwas free," he added as he looked at his father, "You can doanything you want there. No one to tell you no." Except forMabel. "No need to worry if you're breaking a law or something.Or if the authorities are going to tell you you shouldn't do this oryou must do that."

Yeah,and people were also free to take shots at each other.

Thefather smiled. "Had a good time?"

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The Tower of Trials Chapter 8 Page 1

2012-01-19T21:02:00.000+08:00

Therewas a nick on the windshield.

Georgehad noticed that earlier when he had popped into the front cabin tocollect some equipment from Mabel. He assumed that a stray bullet hadhit the transport during the firefight. That time, the shields thatwould protect the windows had not deployed. At least the glass hadbeen tough enough to take a hit.

They hadstopped to pick up Iona once they were in the open wastes again, outof the rocky area where the tower had been situated. Iona was back inher human form and was at that moment curled up in one of the seatsin the passenger cabin in the middle of the transport. She wasasleep, clutching her stuffed goat like a baby would with her toy.

Shelooked so peaceful. Her sleeping form was a stark contrast to thedangerous panther with armor-ripping claws that George had witnessedearlier.

"Hey,Squirt," Tricia called. Her armored bulk was on a small seatmodified for her armor.

"Yes?"George responded. He was very tired. The fight had been exhausting,with people shooting real bullets at him and him trying his very bestto stop them. He was fortunate to have survived unharmed.

"Youunderstand the concept of suppressive fire, don't you?" Triciaasked.

"Yes."George nodded. "Like you said, shoot at them to stop themshooting."

"Thesame goes for you," Tricia pointed out.

"Whatdo you mean?"

"Whenthey're shooting at you, you're supposed to be taking cover."

Soinstead of shooting back, George should have ducked!? Once he had theleisure of thinking without worrying about seeing his own blood, herecalled that he had been shooting back wildly instead of seekingcover. It was a wonder that he had not been hurt!

Iona wassuddenly awake and beside George. "Squirt, let me see yourbracelet!" she demanded. Without waiting for a reply, she pulledhis hand to herself so she could examine the accessory.

Each andevery one of the beads of the bracelet had broken into pieces. Thefragments that had been trapped within the bindings of the braceletfell out when Iona had roughly taken George's hand.

"Wow,all your balls are broken," Iona commented in wonder.

Mabel,in the driver's seat in front, blew an amused snort.

"Sorryabout your bracelet," George apologized. How had the beadsbroken? A bullet could not have cracked all of them, could it? Did heslam his wrist against something hard? Even that could not havesmashed each and every one of the beads, could it?

"Squirt,that bracelet was for your protection," Tricia explained, "Eachbead protects you from one bullet."

"Whatkind of technology is that?" George asked curiously.

"It'smagic!" Iona proclaimed.

If hehad been told that the day before, George would have rejected it asbaseless superstition. But since he had spent time in the wastes andhad seen things he had only seen before in downloaded videos -specifically, Iona's shapeshifting - he was much more open-minded.There were things out in the wastes that he had never imaginedpossible.

Couldthere be other stuff in the shows on Covenant's network that couldactually have some truth in them?

"It'sa blessing of the Catalocus Tribe," Tricia said, "Separately,armor or the blessing could reduce harm from a bullet but you'd stillget hurt. That's why you've both on you. And from the way you've beenfighting, you'll need all the protection you can get."

"You'revery lucky," Mabel added, "The blessing fails when the lastbead has broken. The next bullet will put you in hospital... orworse."

Georgereally did not like the 'or worse' used to describe his safety!

"Whydon't you have one?" George asked the heavily-armored Vixen toget away from the uncomfortable subject concerning how close he hadbeen to leaking life fluid. As he recalled, only he and Mabel hadbracelets.

Triciatapped her spaulder. "This protects me," she said, "andIona doesn't need it. Her armor's been blessed already."

Georgeglanced at the bone plates on Iona's outfit. He wondered howeffective that protection was.

"So,Squirt," Mabel addressed him, "what do you think? Thewastes is exciting, isn't it?"

"Well,yeah," George agreed. As long as he did not lose a finger, atoe, or his head.

Therewas silence after that. Iona went back to sleep.

"Anyonecare that we left the place wide open back there?" Tricia asked.

"Whatdo you mean?" George asked.

"Weleft the windows and the main doors open," Tricia elaborated,"Any wasters left can just walk in."

"I'msure Lukas can handle himself," Mabel said confidently, "Iimagine he's been in the wastes for quite a while in that tower,waiting for challengers. Plus that black power armor's still in theresomewhere."

Georgedid wonder about the bald man's safety. Well, if anything happened toLukas, 'Madboy Keith's Tower of Trials' would stop releasing newepisodes. He could find out, if he could locate theprogram on Covenant's network.

***

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The Tower of Trials Chapter 7 Page 4

2012-01-18T23:23:00.001+08:00

Georgeeasily spotted a machinegun sticking out of the top of some rocks.From there, he easily made out the buggy the weapon was attached to,though he could not see the gunner. The gun was firing at Tricia'spower armor.

TheVixen had crouched behind a rock for protection and had a shieldedarm up to protect her head. She tossed another smoke grenade toprovide herself with more cover.

Most ofthe vehicle was behind cover so George doubted that he could hit it.Instead, he tried aiming for the weapon. A few of his shots knockedthe gun's aim, giving Tricia a chance emerge from the cover of smoke.She sprinted the distance to the light vehicle.

Once thearmored Vixen was among the rocks, the wasters sheltered there werein trouble. Tricia easily wreaked havoc with her pneumatic pike andenhanced strength.

"Keepthe armors off me!" Tricia requested.

"Thiswalking can's mine," Mabel claimed.

George saw the power armor marching in Tricia's direction. Before hecould train his gun on the armor, he heard a crack. The armor jerkedin response. He guessed that the Vixen sniper was hitting vulnerableparts of the armor to slow it down.

Thearmor twisted in the direction of Mabel's window, aimed anarm-mounted gun and fired. George turned his gun on the armor butresisted pulling the trigger when he noticed Tricia springing out ofthe rocks.

Triciadrove her pneumatic pike into the midriff of her opponent. Her weapondischarged a sharpened spike into her target, piercing through thickplate into vulnerable circuitry and systems within. She continued tosavage the critical systems of her opponent.

"Theother armor!" Tricia called out. It was a wonder that she kepttrack of her surroundings.

Georgelooked around for the other power armor. However, Iona found itfirst. She leaped onto the metal warrior, knocking it to the ground.Then she started scratching furiously with claws. Somehow, her clawswere able to rip pieces of protective plates off her victim.

The boyhad no time to watch, though. For at that very moment, a spray ofbullets hit his shield. George turned the gun around onto the source- another light vehicle from which a mounted machinegun and armed gangmembers were firing at him.

He wasin danger! Fast moving pieces of metal, alloy and ceramic were flyingall around him. His safety was threatened and he was allergic topain. He had to make them stop!

Georgefired wildly. He was not sure if he was hitting anything. He couldnot see with all the sparks and shrapnel flying around him. Hisshield took a lot of hits. Bits of the shield broke off and scatteredpast him.

In hisexcitement, George squealed. It was that high-pitched girlie sort ofsqueal but he did not care. He was in an exciting gamble for hislife. At anytime, he could get hurt or his opponents could stopfiring.

Bulletswere still flying past him. The shield was breaking up. He was sureat least a couple of bullets did hit him. But since he did not feelany pain, he assumed that his armor held. It was a contest to see whowould last till the end.

The ganggave up first - they abandoned the vehicle. A moment later, there wasa disappointingly small explosion at the back of the buggy and firestarted to engulf the vehicle.

Georgelet out one final high-pitched cry, one of victory! He had survived!

"Squirt!"Tricia called over the radio, interrupting his celebration, "Ineed some support here!"

Therewere few wasters left to shoot at. Seeing their comrades beingsmacked around by a Vixen in power armor or savaged by an armoredpanther was enough to unnerve most of them. Once the first few turnedand ran, others started to follow.

Soon,they were all running away, on foot or on the remaining two buggies.

"Squirt,pack up and let's go!" Tricia ordered, "Quick, before theyregroup."

Georgeremoved the machinegun and its ammo box carried them downstairs. Theequipment was heavy without Tricia's help but adrenaline from theexcitement of battle gave him strength.

Mabeldashed past him and reached the transport first.

Georgedropped his equipment and Mabel's into the back of the transportwhile the sniper started the vehicle's engine.

ThenTricia came in with a few pieces of souvenir - a few weapons, piecesof armor, and one vehicle engine. George had to clear some space inthe back cargo area. He moved some of the equipment into thepassenger cabin in the middle.

"Why'dyou take the engine!?" Mabel exclaimed from the driver's seat,"Laura's not here to make anything of it."

"Habit.Maybe we can sell it for scrap," Tricia replied as she stuffedthe engine in the back. "Squirt, close the door. You'll have tosecure the engine with straps later."

"Whatabout Iona?" George asked as he hit the button to close thetransport's back door.

"We'llpick her up later," Mabel said, "And you might want to dosomething about your fashion."

"Mywhat?" George looked down at his outfit. He was horrified tofind that his coat had been torn in the fight. Pieces of his damagedeffeminate armor could be seen. He hurriedly looked in the cargo forsomething he could use as a cloak.

Hopefully,no one else had noticed.

OnceTricia had entered through the side door of the transport, they wereoff for home.

***

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The Tower of Trials Chapter 7 Page 3

2012-01-18T23:11:00.000+08:00

"Okay,again, everyone ready?" Tricia asked. Once Mabel and Georgeconfirmed, the power-armored Vixen said, "Right, let's dothis... just as soon as someone opens the front door..."

Mabelgroaned audibly. "Trish! You don't usually miss out on details!"

"Gimmea break," Tricia said, "Laura usually handles the door.Okay, found the controls. Now, everyone ready? And make sure you haveyour window controls."

Onceagain, Mabel and George confirmed.

Georgeheard the creak of gears turning and the rattle of chains pulling.The heavy main doors of the tower slid open. Then he heard thedistant bursts of gunfire and the impact of bullets on the levelbelow.

"Thetransport's in the line of fire," Tricia reported.

"Argh,Laura usually reminds us of that!" Mabel said.

Couldthose people do anything without Laura!?

"Somesuppressive fire, please!" Tricia requested, "Need to drawfire away from our ride."

"Okay,Squirt, we're up," Mabel ordered.

Georgehit the button by his window. Further along the mezzanine, Mabel ranalong and hit the buttons for three of the other windows. Once hiswindow had slid wide enough, George pushed his machinegun intoposition.

Meanwhile,gunfire from outside had stopped. Peeking around his shield, Georgesaw that a man and a woman had risen among one of the groups ofwasters sheltered among the rocks. Their mismatched armor made themlook unimpressive, unprofessional even. Maybe that was why Mabel hadfussed so much when she had selected his armor.

The manheld a megaphone to his mask. "You've crossed the BlueLandsharks for the last time, Vixens!," he said aloud.

"Yeah,you've gone too far," the woman echoed through a smallermegaphone.

"We'veyou outnumbered and surrounded! Surrender!" ordered the man.

"Yeah,surren"-

Therewas the sharp crack of Mabel's sniper rifle and the megaphoneexploded in the woman's face. The man dove behind a rock for cover.

"Jeez,I hate that Miss Loudmouth," Mabel mumbled.

"Squirt,start squirting!" Tricia ordered.

Georgegot behind his gun. At the same time, a thick cloud of dark graysmoke rose from the entrance - it was likely that one of the Vixenshad used smoke grenades to provide cover for Tricia and Iona's exit.

The boyspotted a few groups of lightly armored people. He would have todivide his time between the groups. He fired a few rounds at onegroup, then sprayed another. He left out that group that wasscattering in panic, having discovered an armored purple-furredpanther among themselves.

"Squirt,the buggy on your two o'clock!" Mabel suddenly called.

"Mywhat?"

"Onyour right!" Mabel clarified excitedly, "Fill it withbullets!"

Georgeeasily spotted the buggy rolling towards the entrance. It was afour-wheeled vehicle with roll bars that offered hardly anyprotection for its occupants. The machinegun mounted on its back wasa big threat, though. George sprayed bullets at the gunner manningthat weapon.

One ofGeorge's bullet hit the gunner on the arm. The latter fell off thevehicle. The buggy spun to a stop. The driver got out but was caughtin George's hail of bullets.

The boycontinued firing at the vehicle's machinegun, hoping to discourageanyone else from using it. Maybe a few of his bullets would damagethe weapon.

A bullethit the shield on his own weapon, harshly drawing George to the factthat he was in a fight where he could get hurt. He glanced about forits source. He had to stop people shooting at him!

"Squirt,that buggy on your eleven - your left," Tricia pointed out,"behind the rocks."

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The Tower of Trials Chapter 7 Page 2

2012-01-18T23:06:00.000+08:00

LeavingMabel and Iona to torment the caretaker, George continued his way tothe window. Tricia guided him with instructions as he installed theheavy machinegun at a mounting point before one of the closedwindows. The boy loaded the ammunition and added a solid plate shieldbehind which the gunner could hide.

"Finished!"George announced once he was done.

"Yousure, Squirt?" Tricia asked.

Georgelooked at the mounted gun. Ammunition, shield... He examined thepivot points and found them to be sufficiently lubricated. "Yeah,everything's there."

"Howare you going to fire it?"

"I'lljust..." Then George realized that there was no trigger.

Triciaheld up the manual trigger for him to install. Without that, Georgewould be reduced to throwing bullets out the window. Thankfully, theVixen did not make an issue of his mistake. Instead, she instructedhim in moving the gun into position, aiming and firing it.

"Areyou okay with having to shoot people?" Tricia asked after shewas done teaching George about the operation of a heavy machinegun,"Real people?"

"We'veto, right?" George said, "In order for us to go home."

Triciabowed slightly to indicate agreement. Her power armor did not have aneck. Thus, her nod could not be seen while she was in her armor."Besides, they're the ones who decided to stand in our way.Squirt, do you understand the concept of suppressive fire?"

Georgedid not.

Lecturetime. "A manually aimed machinegun at this range isn't reallyaccurate. Instead of trying to hit something, use it to suppress theenemy."

"How?"George asked.

"Spraybullets at them, force them behind cover so they don't shoot at me orIo."

"Justthat?"

Triciabowed again. "Aim at groups of them. Leave the singles and pairsto Mabel."

Theother two Vixens joined them at the window. "There's aroundthirty of them," Mabel reported, "Two patched-up powerarmors, four light vehicles."

"Notanks?" Tricia asked.

"Notwith their budget," Mabel quipped.

Ionastepped next to George and pulled his arm so she could inspect thebracelet around his wrist. After she was done, Tricia had George testthe communicator in his helmet.

Georgewatched as Iona clipped a communicator onto her ear, the ear on herhelmet. He thought it was strange but the girl merely smiled at him.He felt a little uneasy that Iona's grin was growing wider. And shehad fangs, really sharp ones. Why had he not noticed those before?And the pupils of her green eyes were narrow vertical slits!?

Iona gotonto her hands and knees.

Okay, itwas getting creepy.

Georgetook a step back. He saw that Iona's fur cloak was expanding to coverher body. So did her fur gloves and boots. The bone plates on herlimbs flowed as her arms and legs grew slender. The top of her helmetmoved down to cover the top half of her face... her face... Theteenage boy realized that he was looking at the face of a panther!

Iona wasan armored panther! Wait. Iona was the armored panther!?George looked to the other Vixens but could not see their reactionssince they had their faces covered.

Thepanther brushed roughly against George's leg, its plates scrapingagainst ceramic armor.

"Iocan shapeshift," Mabel said.

Well,obviously! She did that just then!

"It'sa common ability among her people," Tricia mentioned.

Likethat explained everything!

"Anyway,we've got to get into position." Mabel pushed George to hisassigned window. "Don't want to keep our playmates waiting anylonger."

Therewas more that George had wanted to ask but that would have to wait.He had to help secure his exit home. Also, he did not know where tostart with his questions. There were just too many things that he didnot know about the wasteland.

"Everyonein position?" Tricia asked over their communications channel.

"Ready,"Mabel said.

"Ready,"George said too. He waited for the last Vixen.

"Io'sready," Tricia said.

"Shecan't say for herself?" George asked.

"Haveyou ever heard a panther speak before?" Mabel asked back.

"Um...no," George uttered.

"Well,I have," Mabel mentioned.

Whatother wonders were there in the wasteland?

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The Tower of Trials Chapter 7 Page 1

2012-01-18T22:56:00.000+08:00

Georgemade it safely back to the ground level where the transport wasparked. And he still had all his fingers, toes and head attached!Well, that was a relief.

Lukasthe caretaker with the head as shiny as the full moon was there towelcome George and the Vixens back. He noted all the loot that theycarried, especially the freezer and the two cabinets. "Did youhave a good time?"

"Kindof boring actually," Mabel commented with a yawn, with quite abit of exaggeration - necessary, since she still had her mask on.

Ionaplaced her cabinet and plant on the ground and skipped next to thebald man. "Can I keep you?" she asked.

"No,you can't," Lukas said back.

And itappeared that the moon had water on it.

"Aw,but you're cute," Iona said.

Was thatthe fur-cloaked Vixen's idea of flirting?

"No,you most definitely cannot have me," Lukas said firmly.

Ionatook a step closer. "But I want you!" She raised her pawsand bent her knees slightly in preparation to pounce.

"Ithink you'd better run," Mabel advised Lukas.

And thatled to another merry little chase around the ground level.

Georgehelped Tricia stash the cabinets and the freezer into the back of thetransport. In the meantime, Mabel picked through the equipment theyhad brought with them.

"Squirt,I need you to double-check my armor," Tricia told him onceeverything was packed.

"Justbeing prepared, right?" George asked as he examined the Vixen'spower armor for damage, "In case anything happens on the wayhome?"

"Morethan likely," Tricia said, "You didn't think that gang wechased away earlier will forget everything, did you?"

Iona hadgotten bored of her little game by then. She went into the transportand placed her plant and stuffed goat onto one of the seats. She evenbuckled the seat belt on them.

"They'llbe back?" George asked.

"They'relikely waiting outside just now," Tricia replied, "withreinforcements."

Georgestopped his inspection. He glanced at the closed windows on themezzanine level.

Ionastepped out of the transport. She too looked up at the window. Thecloaked girl ran to the stairs and jumped onto them. After boundingover several steps up, she leaped for the edge of the mezzanine andflipped onto the platform. Using the controls beside one of thewindows above the main doors, she opened the shutters a crack andpeeked outside.

"They'rewaiting outside," Iona called down, "Shall I go out for alook?"

"Notyet," Tricia called back.

"Lookslike a lot of them," Iona said. She leaped over the platformrailing and landed smoothly on the ground level.

"Canwe handle them all?" George asked Tricia with concern. The gangthat attacked earlier was a pretty large group to him. And he had theimpression that what awaited outside was even larger.

Mabelgave his back a clap. "Sure we can! We're in a fortifiedposition!" She carried a pair of guns and a couple of boxes ofammunition up to the mezzanine level.

"Wedon't have to finish all of them," Tricia added, "All weneed to do is show enough force for them to scatter. Then when thepath is clear, we go home."

OnceTricia's armor was checked, there was still work for George. Triciahad him uninstall the heavy machinegun from the transport's turret.They were going to mount the gun at one of the windows. Or rather,George was going to. It was difficult to perform delicate tasks inpower armor after all.

"Youdon't mind us using your tower to fight some wasters?" Triciaasked Lukas as she and George passed him on their way up.

"Notat all," the bald man replied, "It's bonus material for theshow."

Mabel,who was on the way down, heard him. "Wait. You're going to needcameras outside if you're going to record anything."

"Wehave those," Lukas admitted proudly.

Mabeland Tricia glanced at each other. Then the smaller Vixen jumped onthe bald caretaker. "Where's the monitors?" Mabel demandedas she gripped his shoulders, "Gimme access!"

"Freeshow!" Iona exclaimed as she joined Mabel.

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Stop Online Piracy Act

2012-01-18T21:30:00.000+08:00

For those of you who are aware of the Stop Online Piracy Act being debated in the US, you may skip this post. The only thing of interest to you may be this link to Wikipedia about the SOPA Initiative.

For the rest of you, and I hope there's no one in this category, you should at least be aware of SOPA. I do not understand all the implications of SOPA and its sister PIPA or how exactly they will work.

As I understand, if this bill passes, it will have serious effects on the Internet as we know. A lot of material are going to face forced censorship. A lot of information may be restricted, hidden from the rest of the world. It is like dropping a nuke to exterminate roaches in a city apartment. And more than a few roaches may actually survive the blast.

If you use the Internet, which I assume you do since you are probably reading this post from an Internet connection, you should at least be aware of this issue, even if your understanding is incomplete (like mine).

Here's the link again to where you can learn more from a much more reliable source than this post.

The Tower of Trials Chapter 6 Page 4

2012-01-17T21:39:00.000+08:00

Withinthe freezer, sealed in plastic vacuum-packs, were chunks of meat. Rawmeat. Which were very rare in Covenant. George could not remember thelast time he himself had tasted real meat.

"Realmeat! What's it taste like?" George asked.

"Yummy!"Iona replied.

"Butwe're selling these," Mabel said, "Hopefully, it'll beenough to pay for my shopping."

"Iwas hoping to have a taste," George said.

Iona pulled George's hand. "If you want to eat meat, you can come tomy house and have some!"

"Really?"George asked her.

"Notethat Io's place is across the wasteland," Mabel told him, "Afew day's drive from Covenant."

Georgelooked at Mabel with narrowed eyes filled with disappointment andaccusation. Not that his expression could be seen through his mask.

"Meatis plentiful there," Tricia told him, "You can eat all youwant."

"Yeah,but it's still far away," George said dejectedly.

"Wecan take you there one day," Mabel offered. "Maybe,"she added under her breath.

Georgeglanced at the items in the room. "So, we've got some prettygood stuff after all," he commented.

"No!"Mabel exclaimed, "This isn't good. Not even on a bad day!"

"Thisisn't much of a prize," Tricia said as she looked around, "Isthere anything else we can take that isn't nailed down?"

"Thekeypad by the door!" Mabel pointed out, "The door!"

"Ican't carry both the door and the freezer," Tricia said.

"Getworking on the keypad then, Squirt," Mabel ordered, "See ifyou can get the electromagnets too."

Longstory short, George easily salvaged the keypad since he had partlydisassembled it earlier. With the electromagnets, it was easierto have Tricia rip them off, rather than risk contact with a livewire.

Oncethey had taken everything they could, they went back down.

On thelevel with the Trial of Patience, Tricia commented, "Weshouldn't have trashed the turrets. The guns could be salvaged."

"IfLaura were here, I'm sure she would salvage something," Mabelsaid, "Hey, what about that giant power armor Io left runningdownstairs?"

Georgechased after three excited Vixens hurrying down the tower. They didtake extra care crossing the Trial of Caution, though. Perhaps thatwas why that Trial had been called 'Caution' - they had to be carefulafter solving it.

However,once they reached the Trial of Combat, the black power armor wasgone. The warrior had probably sensed the approaching danger and had runto avoid being taken away.

At thecurtains to the level with the Trial of Endurance, Mabel spoke up,"Can we pick up a few of the cabinets?"

"Onesmall cabinet," Tricia decided. She already had her hands fullwith the freezer. "Unless Io takes one too."

"Isthere anything else that isn't nailed down that we can loot?"Mabel asked, "Not that being nailed down would save somethingfrom looting." She indicated George's toolbag that everyone knewhad the keypad.

"There'sstill that man in the ground floor," Iona suggested cheerfully.

"Let'sjust go get us a couple of cabinets," Mabel said as she partedthe curtains, "and leave quick before the itching starts again."

The gas! George was not about to stay any longer than necessary. AsTricia and Iona considered the cabinets, George hurried through thelevel to the other pair of curtains on the other side. He pushed pastthe curtains to stand on the stairs leading down.

"Hey,Squirt!" Mabel called when she caught up to him, her riflelowered, "What's your hurry?"

"Idon't feel like itching again," George replied.

"Yeah,but charging ahead alone and unarmed isn't wise." Mabel wasglancing about the staircase.

Georgestared at her. "Haven't we been this way before?"

"Yeah,but we're still not at the bottom level," Mabel pointed out, "Infact, we're still in the wastes. Someone could have placed a trap orsomething while we're gone. Anything could be here."

Georgecould have gotten himself hurt or worse! "Uh, sorry..." hestarted to apologize. He must have been a handful to look after if hewas careless of his own safety. It was fortunate that Mabel stilllooked out for him.

Mabelclapped him on the back. "Ah, don't worry! If you die, we canalways hire Sharpwrench Kelly!"

So muchfor her having any concern about his well-being!

***

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The Tower of Trials Chapter 6 Page 3

2012-01-17T21:29:00.000+08:00

He priedopen the panel with a screwdriver from his toolbag. The door lookedlike it was held by some hidden lock. Judging from the power cablesat the back of the opened panel, he guessed that it was anelectromagnetic lock. All he had to do was find a way to send thesignal to the electromagnets to stop, or cut power to theelectromagnets without electrocuting himself.

Georgetook a moment to examine the circuitry.

Okay,there was the input from the keypad. There was the microprocessor.Hopefully, the signal to the locks would be a simple electrical pulseand not some complicated code. If it was a simple pulse, the mostchallenging part would be to figure out which wire or conductor ledto the electromagnets holding the door close.

It surewould be easier to concentrate if it were not for that grinding noise.It was irritating, the sound of metal scratching grainy sand. Once ina while, there was the 'plock' of something hollow being dropped.What was causing all that noise?

Georgelooked aside to see Iona working on the brick wall. She scratchedgrooves around a brick with a claw and then pulled the brick out anddropped it with the rest on the ground. She had already made asizable hole by then.

Why didthey even need him!?

Ionacrawled into the hole. A short moment later, there were asimultaneous pair of dull clicks and the metal door swung open,revealing a grinning Vixen on the other side. "Open!" thegirl announced with fists outstretched.

Georgeshook his head and followed the other two Vixens into what washopefully a treasure room. His first impression of the place wasdisappointment. The large room was plain with hardly anything within.There was what appeared to be a toaster, a potted plant and aweirdly-shaped box sitting on a freezer. That was it. There was noteven decent decoration.

"That'sit?" George blurted. He pointed at the first object. "Atoaster?"

With anarmored claw, Tricia gingerly picked up the white toaster, whichlooked brand new sealed in plastic. "An antique toaster,"she said, "One that uses heating coils that bakes food slicesunevenly. Maybe we can sell it to a collector."

"Okay,"George uttered, "But the plant?"

Ionawas examining the plant excitedly. It was small, with a few leavessprouting out of the soil. "This one's mine!"

"What'sthat?" George asked.

Ionapicked up the pot and showed it to George. "A mutantblack-tipped spotted yellow rose," she announced.

"That'sa long name," George commented.

"Andthat's why we call things by what they look like," Mabel said.

"Wasn'tthat name what the plant looks like?" George retorted.

"Well,do you see a yellow rose?" Mabel double-retorted.

Georgehad to allow Mabel's counter. Especially since he had no idea what arose was.

Ionapresented the plant to George again. "Generic green plant!"

Thatname was instead too ambiguous.

"Somehow,I feel like we're rummaging in Madboy Keith's dumpster," Mabelsaid as she picked up the weirdly-shaped box on the freezer.

"Doesthat have any value?" George asked.

Mabeltossed the box to him. "That's for you to figure out, when youget it open."

Georgecaught the box. It looked like it had been ripped out of a metal wallwith a powered claw - depressions on the surface marked where theclaw had gripped and part of the wall was still attached around thebox. There were wires sticking out of it. There was also a smoothpanel that he assumed could open. He noted a motor that could movethe panel but there were no controls to operate it. A light shakerevealed that something hard was inside.

"Oh,this is good," Mabel commented.

Georgelooked up to see that the Vixen had opened the freezer and waspeering within. He stepped round the freezer for a look inside.

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The Tower of Trials Chapter 6 Page 2

2012-01-17T21:18:00.000+08:00

"Goodthinking," Mabel approved. She removed her backpack and took outa couple of fist-sized objects from it. "Smoke grenades."She primed them and tossed one after another into the room.

Thesmoke grenades hissed and discharged their contents into the level,filling the area with smoke.

"Pink!?"George blurted out the color of the smoke, just before the turretsstarted shooting wildly.

"Anyother bright ideas?" Mabel raised her voice at George above thedin of gunfire, bullets whizzing and impacts.

"Idon't understand," George said back in an equally strainedvoice.

"It'sbecause the turrets are tracking where the beam breaks," Triciatold him.

"What?"George asked for an explanation.

"It'sthe same system used by the turret on our transport," Mabelexplained. She tapped the laser pointer on her sniper rifle. "Iaim this at the target and where the laser hits, that's where theturret aims."

"Thesmoke just made the laser break all over the place," Triciaadded.

Georgehad guessed wrongly the purpose of the black walls. It was to absorbthe laser, preventing the light from scattering. When the beam wasbroken by an intruder, the turrets would 'see' the break and fire.

"Sowhat do we do now?" George asked.

"That'swhat we're supposed to ask you," Mabel snapped back.

"Squirt,think of something," Iona encouraged.

Georgeconcentrated in thought. Okay, he knew how the turrets worked. Heknew what they could do. But how was he to get his party across thelevel unharmed? Was there a way to evade detection? Or to resist thebullets? Or to prevent the turrets from firing?

It wasdifficult to think with all the noise the turrets were making.Especially since he was a bit apprehensive of somehow getting shot.And it was definitely difficult to think with Iona pulling his armand asking him to hurry up. That girl had the strength to toss himinto the pink-cloud chaos out there. Or pull off an arm.

Come on,there had to be some way.

ThenGeorge noticed that it was not as noisy as before. No bullets wereflying. Instead, there was a steady sound of clicks coming from theother side of the room.

"Ithink the turrets are out of bullets," Tricia said.

"Wayto go, Squirt!" Mabel happily gave him an approving backhandedpat on his shoulder.

Triciarose up. "We'd better disable them permanently," shedecided as she advanced on the turrets.

Ionafollowed after the armored Vixen into the thinning smoke. There weresounds of hard metal being hammered by something pointed and slicedby something sharp.

After awhile, the noise stopped. "All clear," Tricia announced.

Thesmoke had dissipated enough for George to see the rest of the level.There were twelve turrets, all smashed or sliced. Bullet holesriddled the walls and the floor. There were a few too on the ceiling.A passage between two of the turrets at the back was the exit.

Mabelmoseyed across the level. "Man, if Laura were here, she'd insiston picking through the turrets for anything useful."

"Yes,"Iona agreed, "And we'd have to wait for her."

"She'sa maniac when it comes to machines," Mabel added.

"Well,she's not here," Tricia pointed out, "Let's get going."She stepped towards the passage.

Georgehurried after the Vixens. He wanted to be out of the room quick.There were still laser pointers and being painted by them made himnervous, even if there were no working turrets.

Thepassage was short and it led to stairs that went up. On the nextlevel was a brick wall with a solid metal door on it. George guessedthat it was the highest level. Presumably, the most valuable treasurewas behind the door.

Ionatried pushing the door. "Locked," she said.

"Ofcourse, it is." Mabel pointed at the keypad next to the door andturned to George. "Okay, Squirt, get to work!"

Georgesighed and examined the keypad. Being ordered around reminded him ofhome. Papa had always ordered him around in the workshop, assigninghim various tasks. And Mama had always asked him to do things athome, assigning him various chores. It was something he had hoped toget away from when he ventured out into the wasteland. Sigh.

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The Tower of Trials Chapter 6 Page 1

2012-01-17T21:06:00.000+08:00

On thenext level of the tower, the first detail that George noticed wasthat the walls were dull black. There was a barrier about the heightof George's chest near the top of the stairs. On the center of thebarrier, on the side facing the stairs, was a sign that proclaimedthe level to be the "Trial of Patience".

"Someone'sgoing to be doing some shooting~," Mabel sang when she saw thebarrier.

Thebarrier was too low for Tricia, so she waited at the stairs. It wouldnot be prudent to go any further without knowing what was ahead.

"Let'ssee what we've got," Iona said as she peeked around the barrier.

In thedistance, there were sounds of panels sliding and mechanical gearsturning. Iona pulled back her head just before several streams ofbullets passed around the side of the barrier.

"Machinegunturrets, ten or twelve of them." Iona rubbed her helmet. "Myear!" she sobbed.

Georgesaw that one of Iona's ears had been shot off her helmet. The otherVixens appeared unconcerned, however.

Tricialooked at the holes in the wall where the bullets had hit."Looks like high caliber guns, I don't think my armor can lastlong out there."

"Sowe've got big guns that shoot at us." Mabel stabbed a finger atthe sign on the barrier. "What's 'Patience' got to do withthat!?"

Triciaraised her arm where she had the pneumatic pike mounted. "Ishould have brought a heavy ranged weapon instead. My submachinegun'stoo light for turrets." She looked at Mabel. "Can't youdestroy everything like you normally do?"

"Ionly brought two rockets," Mabel replied.

"Two?Don't you normally bring a truckload of them?" Tricia asked.

"Well..."Mabel slurred, "I kind of forgot to order more..."

"Howcould you forget?" Tricia asked.

"Laura'sthe one who usually keeps the inventory stocked," Mabel replied,"I did bring HE grenades. Anyone want to pop out to toss one?"

No waywas anyone going to volunteer! The time it took to stand out, aim andtoss the grenade was more than enough to get shot at.

"There,fixed!" proclaimed Iona.

Georgelooked at the fur-clad Vixen and to his surprise, Iona's helmet hadboth ears again. Even the blackened spots on her furs from her brushwith fire earlier were gone. He was about to inquire about it whenMabel interrupted him.

"Squirt,figure out how the turrets track their targets," Mabel ordered.

"I'mnot sticking my head out there." George was not about to offerhis head to be shot off.

"Dowe have a mirror or a remote cam?" Tricia asked.

"Laura'sthe one who usually brings those," Mabel told her. "Weshould have brought Laura. If Laura's here, she'd figure somethingout quick."

Bored,Iona tore off the sign attached to the barrier. Then she raised itabove their cover. A second passed, then bullets flew and knocked thesign out of her paw.

But inthat one second, George noticed something. "Can we put outsomething else? I thought I saw something."

"I'msure I can find something downstairs," Tricia said. She wentdown.

A momentlater, Tricia returned with two pieces of metal blades from theprevious level's traps. Still standing at the stairs, she raised oneof the blades above the height of the barrier and waved it slowly.

Therewas a delay before bullets peppered holes into the blade. It kept upuntil the blade was reduced to little pieces of scattering metal.

A littleof the shrapnel hit George but his mask and armor protected him. Afew pieces of metal slashed a few holes in his coat but George didnot notice that. Instead, he had been watching the blade. He wascertain that he saw a couple of red dots on the blade just before thebullets hit. He looked at the black wall, which were dotted withbullet holes. He was certain that the wall was coated with some formof laser absorbent paint to hide the red dots.

"Lasers,"George said, "The turrets are guided by lasers. We could usesmoke or something to obscure the lasers."

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The Tower of Trials Chapter 5 Page 4

2012-01-16T20:55:00.000+08:00

A pauselater, Mabel added, "I'm in the middle of a raid!"

Therewas a thud as another trap was triggered, one that dropped a spikedball onto a black tile.

"Yes,Mum, it's an interesting story. I'm busy keeping up with the damage!You can tell me when I get home."

A fieryball exploded above a white tile.

"Andhow did you call all the way out here anyway? This is out of rangefor a regular call... Did you get Laura to build you something?"

Arotating blade swung out from the ceiling into the wall next to ablack tile.

"Yes,yes, I'll pick some up on the way home."

Astuffed goat dropped onto a black tile. An unremarkable stuff goat.At least George thought it was a goat - he had only seen one once ona documentary show.

"Goat!"Iona exclaimed.

Okay,George was then certain that it was a goat.

Thecloaked Vixen jumped out, nimbly picking her way through the wreck ofa room and retrieved the stuffed animal. She made it back safely withthe toy. She held it up for George to inspect. "See. Cute, isn'tit?"

As faras George could tell, it was a perfectly ordinary stuffed toy of agoat, complete with horns, hooves and tail.

Finally,Mabel ended the call. She sighed. "Jeez, did she have to callnow?"

Iona satat the stairs with the toy next to her. She tossed another ceramicblock. That one caused blades to swing out of the floor.

Georgehad to admit that it was pretty fun. If he ever had the occasion todestroy a room in a fit of anger, it would be awesome if he couldmatch the destruction that was going on in that tower level at thatmoment.

A flyingpiece of rock knocked the "Trial of Caution" sign towardsthem. Tricia caught the sign before it landed. "So... where'sthe 'Caution' in all this?" she asked.

Ionatook the sign from her. "Don't know, don't care." She torethe sign into two and flung a piece at one of the remaining visibletiles in the level. "Now go Boom!"

Therewas no Boom. Instead, a pillar dropped from the ceiling to crush thesign.

"Aww,"Iona groaned disappointedly and tossed the other piece of the sign.

Bladesflew out and shredded the sign into ribbons.

The roomwas a mess. There were rubble, various blades and pointy things allover the place. There were gaping holes in the walls, ceiling andfloor. There was wiring sticking out at places and there werecameras, broken and exposed. A thin cloud of smoke hung in the air.The opposite stairs was out of sight with all the clutter in the way.

"Thinkwe got all of them?" Tricia asked.

Ionashrugged. "Don't know."

"IfLaura were here, she'd keep track," Mabel mentioned.

"Ifshe were here," Tricia added, "she'd probably build somesort of holographic display showing tiles that were still live."

So whowas Laura anyway? George was beginning to feel that she might be somesort of technological genius. He had a pair of pretty big shoes tofill if he was going to take her place.

Mabelpeeked over the edge of the level. "We got those we can see."She turned to the cloaked Vixen. "Hey, Io. Check and see ifthere's a safe path to the stairs."

"Okay."Iona got up and nimbly stepped past rubble and sharp objects, carefulto look for any traps that remained.

A shortwhile later, she was back. "Good news and bad news."

"What'sthe good news?" Mabel asked.

"Goodnews is that there's a safe path," Iona reported.

"Andthe bad?" Mabel prompted.

"Badnews is that the stairs are buried under rocks."

Theparty headed through the safe path that Iona had found. As thecloaked Vixen had said, there were chunks of masonry on the stairsblocking the way.

"Shouldn'tbe a problem for you, right, Trish?" Mabel asked.

"Itisn't," Tricia replied. Clearing the stairs was an easy task forher with the enhanced strength granted by her power armor.

Thenthey found out that they had missed a trap, right when Tricia hadcarelessly tossed the first piece of rubble back into the room. Thathad triggered a spear, which thrust up from among the broken tilesand tangled metal on the floor, just behind Mabel's foot.

"Watchit, Trish!"

"Sorry."

All thesame, Mabel kept an eye out for tiles on the ground. So did George.

***

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The Tower of Trials Chapter 5 Page 3

2012-01-16T20:48:00.000+08:00

Mabelslipped next to George. "So... what about the part where youwanted to keep that hidden?" she whispered as she pointed afinger at his chest.

Georgerealized that his feminine armor was exposed. He quickly wrappedhimself in his coat again. Well, it was her fault for making him beatthe flames earlier! Oh nuts, whatever hidden cameras that were therewere certain to have noted his armor!

Iona satup and pouted. Some of the purple fur on her outfit had blackenedspots on them. "That wasn't nice!"

"Myarmor can withstand darts and fire," Tricia mentioned.

"Wedon't know what else is out there," Mabel pointed out, "Weshould trigger a few more with something."

Tricialooked around until her gaze fell on the ceramic sink that had fallenon Iona earlier. She gripped the faucet with a mechanical claw andbroke it off. "Take cover while I toss this."

The restof the party crouched at the stairs, peeking over the tip of thefloor.

Triciatossed the faucet onto the tiles. It bounced on a black one, then hita white and slid onto another black.

A volleyof arrows landed on the first black tile. A grenade popped up frombeneath the white one. Then a heavy block fell from the ceiling ontothe second black tile just as the grenade exploded.

"Okay,there may be some traps that my armor can't handle," Triciaadmitted.

"Weshould have brought Laura," Mabel said, "She could disableall these in an instant."

"Iwish I learned to fly," Iona added.

"Dothe traps reset?" George asked, "If not, we could set themall off."

Triciaglanced at him. "Good idea." She then turned to the sink."We can smash this into small pieces to throw."

"Allowme," Iona said. Sharp claws sprang from her paws. "Tubbyand I have unresolved issues."

Iona'sclaws were not ordinary it appeared. The claws easily sliced the tubinto cubes. It made horrible scratching noises, though. George winced and wishedhe could cover his ears with his hands but his helmet and maskprevented that.

"Okay,take cover again," Tricia said as she picked up a block ofceramic.

Thattime, Tricia joined them at the stairs. She chucked her piece ofceramic before ducking below the edge of the floor.

Therewas a 'shing' and when they looked up, they saw that a buzz saw wasembedded into a white tile. Mabel reached for another piece.

"Isay the next one will go boom!" said Iona.

"Isay its darts!" said Mabel.

"Fire,"said Tricia.

TheVixens turned to George. "Well, um, water?"

Mabelchuckled as she tossed the ceramic.

It was aBOOM. A big one.

"Poisonnext!" Iona announced her choice.

Theypassed the time guessing what would trigger after each piece ofceramic was lobbed. There were explosions, sharp and heavy thingsflying or falling, fire and smoke.

Therewas a beep on Mabel's wrist. The Vixen passed her cube of ceramic toTricia and slid a piece of armor aside to reveal her wristcommunicator. With the touch of a button, she connected the incomingcall to her helmet. "Hello?" After a moment, she asked,"Mum? What are you doing calling me here?"

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The Tower of Trials Chapter 5 Page 2

2012-01-16T20:41:00.000+08:00

"Whydon't you take the first hit instead?" the warriorchallenged.

"Okay,"Iona agreed. She reached out with a paw and poked the power armor onthe right arm. She appeared to be unconcerned that she was wellwithin the reach of both chainsaws.

Thewarrior groaned. "Is that the best you can do?"

"Oh?"Iona stepped closer and gave a little slap at the elbow of the samearm. "How's this?"

Thewarrior groaned again. "Aw, come on, this is pointless. Youshould just"-

Ionasuddenly leaped up. Claws sprang from her paws, which she used to digdeep into the weak armor at her opponent's right armpit. The powerarmor's right arm jerked, and then fell limp. The girl pulled her armback and ducked under the left chainsaw that her opponentinstinctively swung at her.

Thewarrior took a step back, finally realizing the threat his opponentposed. With a growl, he swung his remaining weapon at Iona.

The girljumped back out of reach. She landed upside down on a hand and usedher other paw to wave. "You ca~n't hit me~," she jeered ina childish tune and added a laugh.

Theblack power armor cautiously moved towards Iona, swinging itschainsaw. The time for trash-talk was over. For him, at least. Ionakept up with the insults as she easily danced in and out of heropponent's reach.

AsGeorge was watching the fight, Tricia carefully picked him up by thewaist. She carried him under an arm behind Mabel as they sneakedaround the room, around the opposite side where Iona, and thewarrior's attention were.

Craninghis head up was painful for his neck so George stared at the groundinstead. There certainly was a lot of sand on the floor, with markswhere people had stepped. Unsurprising, since they were in thewasteland after all. One thing he had seen plenty of, all over theterrain outside, was sand.

Thethree made it safely to the exit staircase while Iona was stillplaying with the oversized power armor. They climbed the stairs,which went up through a space barely large enough for Tricia's bulk.George noted that one of the steps ahead had little sand orfootprints on it.

"Mabel,"he whispered. He pointed towards the step just in front of the Vixen."Trap?"

Mabellooked at the step. Then she gave the thumb up to George. Shecarefully avoided the step and onwards to the next level.

Oncethey were on the next floor, Tricia put George down on the ground,next to the sign that read, "Trial of Caution."

"Anyidea what this is about?" Tricia asked as she rapped the signwith the back of a clawed hand.

"Whata stupid name for a trial," Mabel judged, "We should waitfor Io first."

Therewas giddy laughter coming from below.

Thenthere was an angry shout, "Hey, come back here!"

Ionabolted up the staircase, which was too small for the black powerarmor. She paused long enough to turn and stick her tongue back inthe direction she came.

"Wait,Io"- Mabel tried to warn the cloaked Vixen, just before smallergirl backed into the step that George had pointed out earlier.

Asection of the ceiling above opened and a large blocky ceramic objectfell, crushing Iona into the stairs. The object looked like a largesink or tub - it even had an attached faucet.

Ionastretched a paw from beneath the sink. "Ow..." she groaned.

Mabelsuppressed a snort.

Triciaeffortlessly tossed the sink aside and pulled Iona onto her feet. Thesmaller Vixen dusted her cloak.

"Areyou okay?" George asked.

"Yeah,I'm okay," Iona said. She stretched her back and each limb oneby one. "I've been hit worse before." Then she looked aboutthe level. "So... what have we got here?"

Otherthan the sign, the level was empty. Except for the space at the topof the staircase they arrived from, the floor of the level wascheckered with large square tiles that alternated between black andwhite. Each tile was the width of two of George's footsteps.

Also ofnote was that the walls and ceiling were irregularly shaped, withblocks jutting out and depressions. The exit stairs were on the otherside of the tiled floor.

Ionaskipped towards the stairs on the opposite of the level. As soon asshe stepped on a black tile, there was a distant tiny ping and a dartpoked into her arm.

TheVixen plucked the dart from her arm and tasted the point. "Poisoned,"she announced. Unconcerned, she stepped on the next tile, a whiteone.

The tileerupted in a pillar of flame.

Ionajumped back with a mew of surprise. She hopped back towards theentrance where she rolled on the floor to put out the flames on her."Hot! Hot!"

"Squirt,your coat!" Mabel ordered.

"What?"George asked, confused.

"Beatout the fire with your coat!"

Georgefinally understood. He dropped his toolbag and hurriedly pulled offhis coat. He beat the flames on Iona with his coat until the fire wasgone.

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The Tower of Trials Chapter 5 Page 1

2012-01-16T20:32:00.000+08:00

"It'sstill itchy," Mabel griped as she rubbed the armor over her arm.

Theywere on the staircase just past the plastic curtains. George wasrelieved to be out of the room with the gas but, like Mabel, his skinstill itched. And he was sweating beneath all the armor.

Was thatthe excitement and adventure he had been dreaming of? Swelteringdiscomfort with skin irritation?

"Agood shower will wash all of it off," Iona recommended as shefollowed behind Tricia.

"Asif I'll find a shower conveniently placed here!" Mabel snapped.

Thestairs curved around the tower as they ascended. At a landing beforeanother set of stairs, they came across a door built into the wall onthe inner side. Mabel carefully inspected the door for traps beforesliding it open.

"It'sa shower..." Mabel said as she stared through the doorway.

Georgetook a peek. There was a small brightly-lit room behind the doorway.There was a bathtub and a shower, along with a sink. The walls wereall mirrors and the tiles on the floor had the pattern of clusters ofpurple-colored fruit. George would have identified the fruit asgrapes if he had ever seen one.

"Nowyou have a shower here," Iona pointed out needlessly.

Mabelshut the door and continued up the stairs. "It's too dangerousto remove armor here. It's probably trapped anyway." So said thefox about the grapes.

The nextfloor was "the Trial of Combat", as proclaimed by a signthat was right in front of a black power armor of enormous size. Thepower armor was even bigger than Tricia's. There were spikes too. Onthe sign. And there was small writing at the bottom of the signthat added, "(one-on-one)".

Thelevel itself was a roughly circular space devoid of decoration.The exit was a small curved staircase on the other side of thegiant.

IfGeorge had more experience with showmanship, he would have realizedthat Madboy Keith was really skimping on the surroundings. The placewould look better with a few pennants, perhaps mounted on beautifullycarved columns. And maybe a banner or two and a statue at the base ofthe exit staircase. Unfortunately, Keith had ceased to bother withdecorations after the sixteenth time the place was torn apart byfighting.

"So,someone's supposed to take this on thing?" Mabel asked.

"Lookslike it," Tricia replied.

"Maybewe can take it home!" Iona said happily as she skipped towardsthe armor.

"Idon't think I can allow that!" a voice boomed from the externalspeaker of the black armor. It rose to its full height to look downon Iona. "So, are you to be my opponent?" It flexed itsarms, which had wickedly enormous chainsaws attached to them.

"Wait,shouldn't it be me?" Tricia asked with concern.

Ionawaved a paw at Tricia. "No, no, I've got this," she said.She turned back to the towering armor. "You're going find outwhat it feels like to be beaten by a little girl!"

"Lether handle it," Mabel whispered to the rest of the party, "Watchfor my signal."

Georgedid not know what to think. Certainly Iona was strong. But she was upagainst a larger opponent, with superior armor. Maybe the girl hadsome tricks that he did not know of.

"Youbeat me!?" The warrior in the armor laughed. "Why don't yourun along before you get hurt?"

"Awww,you scared of a little girl?" Iona taunted.

"Me?Scared?" The warrior flexed his arms. "While I'm in this?Why would I be?"

Ionapointed a finger at the power armor. "Because you'll be beatenby a little girl!"

Therewas another harsh laugh from the man in the armor. "The onlything I'm scared of is squishing you like a bug. I don't want peoplesaying I bully little girls!"

"Whydon't you try it?" Iona invited as she danced to his side, justwithin his reach.

"Didn'tyou hear?" the warrior bellowed back as he twisted to keep herin sight, "I don't want to be called a bully!"

"Saysthe man in the big scary armor."

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The Tower of Trials Interlude 1

2012-01-12T21:03:00.000+08:00

Hi,everyone! This is Mab here in the Narration Room and it's time for abrief interlude. Time to get up and do some stretches, maybe get adrink for yourself.

Forthose of you who don't know, the Narration Room is where we add thenarration to the text that we filmed in the studio and do theediting. There's no camera here so all you read is what I type.

You mayhave seen my previous work in Gloriously Messed-up. I played Julia.You know, the basketball player? Has a younger sister...

Okay,she didn't appear much. So I didn't get a chance to show my actingskills. The higher-ups thought that I should have more page time. Butsince there were no plans for more of Julia, they thought I shouldtry out for Mab and here I am! Of course my hair has to be brown forthis role. The Makeup Department did their magic for that.

Oh, andthe actress for Trish played Ursula in Gloriously Messed-up.

For Io,we had a choice of either Carrie or Annie. Carrie's good at pullingoff Io's wacky nature while Annie's sneaky and devious. Bothimportant traits of Io.

In theend, we went with Carrie. Annie just can't do wacky like Carrie can.But she can give Carrie a few pointers in sneaky. So those two aregonna work together a bit until Carrie nails Io's character. TheMakeup Department worked their magic again since Io is a littleshorter than Mab.

So wehave Fernham High's Girls Basketball Team as the Scarlet Vixens!

For somestrange reason, Carrie was a bit apprehensive with the arrangementwhile Annie was delighted. I wonder why.

Oh, andSquirt is played by Roger from Handful of Sand. Yeah, the higher-upswanted someone quiet yet silently tough so he fit the role. Too badhe didn't get much page time in Handful of Sand either, so you can'tsee much of his previous work.

Originally,we had thought of casting Gloria for the role of the main character.But she was busy with behind-the-scenes work on Handful of Sand.

That's abrief look behind the scenes at The Tower of Trials. Hope you had agood break. So please sit back and enjoy the rest of the story.

***

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The Tower of Trials Chapter 4 Page 3

2012-01-12T20:55:00.000+08:00

Mabelspun on a heel towards the cloaked Vixen. "What?"

Ionaglanced back at the way they came from. "Curtains"- she pointedat the other set of stairs -"curtains at the exit. To keep airin."

"Poisongas!?" Mabel gasped.

Georgeimmediately checked that the breathing gear in his mask was working.

Ionasmiled and pointed a furry finger at the Vixen. "You got it!"she approved. She looked to George who was still adjusting his mask."That won't help. It gets in through your skin. You need fullprotection." She jerked a thumb at Tricia.

Triciagave them the thumb up. But that was not the time to wonder how shemade such a gesture with an armored claw.

"Ohno! I'm dead!" George wailed hysterically in a high-pitch voice.

"Squirt!"Iona shook his hand hard. "It's okay. It's just itching gas.Won't kill you!"

"Youseem very cheerful about it," George noted.

"That'sbecause she's immune," Mabel mumbled.

"Immune?"

"Io'simmune to many types of drugs and poison, certainly something as mildas this." Mabel started rubbing an armor plate on her arm. Shelooked into Iona's green eyes. "I hate you."

Ionagrinned happily.

"Maybethere's an antidote in this room!" George suggested hopefully ashe scratched his neck. He pulled open the nearest drawer, combedthrough the oily rags within with his itching fingers, then tried thenext drawer.

"Justbe sure to watch for traps," Tricia cautioned him as she went tothe nearest cabinet.

Georgegave her a withering now-you-tell-me look. He was already at hisfourth drawer.

The boydropped his toolbag so he could concentrate on searching. He couldretrieve the bag later. The itching was starting to becomeunbearable. All over his body, his skin itched. Most of it wasunreachable under his coat and all the armor that Mabel had slappedonto him. It was burning agony not to be able to scratch effectivelywhile searching for the antidote.

Mabelwas also having as much trouble as he was, having to endure the itchwhile searching. She was rubbing armor plates furiously with onehand. With her other hand, she opened drawers and cabinets and tossedout the junk within. Drawers and junk, along with the occasionalunhinged door, flew over her shoulder as she went from furniture tofurniture.

TheVixen must have left her backpack and one of her rifles somewhere,though she kept her other weapon slung over a shoulder.

"Hey,Mab," Tricia called, "You may break the antidote if youkeep throwing stuff out!"

"Shutup!" Mabel snapped back. However, there was a reduction in therate of things flying over her shoulder.

Triciahad a lot of trouble searching with her big armored claws. So herprogress was understandably slow. However, since she was protectedagainst the gas, she was in no hurry.

Georgehad thought that Iona would have the same problem with her furrypaws. However, as she worked nearby, George saw that her furry gloveshad slipped up her arm, revealing a pair of delicate hands with whichshe opened drawers.

Wait. Heshould not be surprised about that. Iona had revealed those handsearlier when she had tied on the bracelet to his wrist.

Hisitching skin reminded him to continue looking.

Afterwhat seemed like an eternity, just as his mind, mad from the itching,was about to slip into a happier place, George found what he waslooking for in the bottom of a cabinet. Placed on a worn red pillowwas a small bottle, clearly labeled 'Antidote'. "Found it!"he announced as he took the bottle.

Ionapounced on him and snatched the bottle from his hand. She held Georgeto the ground with her weight. She was not very heavy, but the boywas not very strong either.

"Hey,I need that," George protested from beneath the girl.

"Letme check first," Iona said as she sat on him. She looked at theliquid within the green glass. Then she opened the bottle and lookedfor vapors before she sniffed it. Finally, she poured a little ontoher little finger and tasted the liquid.

"Well?"George was seriously irritated. The itch was way beyond unbearableand he could not scratch himself freely with Iona sitting on him.

"Thoughtso," Iona said, "This is the real danger." She dangledthe bottle in front of George's face. "Squirt, this isn'tantidote. It's poison. It'll put you to sleep for two days."

George'sheart sank. "So there's no cure for this blasted itchiness!?"

"Oh,all you need to do is leave the room," Iona informed him.

"What!?"Mabel cried from the other side of the room.

"Leavethe room, out of the poison and the itching should stop," Ionaclarified, "eventually."

"Argh!"Mabel snarled her frustration as she ran to the exit and slippedthrough the plastic curtains. "Trish, grab my pack and rifle forme!" she called over the comm.

"Thisis a real treasure," Iona said as she slipped the bottle into apouch on her belt.

Georgewanted to cry. He had just been told how to stop the itchiness. Buthe could not do anything about it, not while Iona was still sittinghappily on him.

Argh,the agony!

***

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The Tower of Trials Chapter 4 Page 2

2012-01-12T20:46:00.000+08:00

"Weshould check our equipment first," Tricia said. "Squirt, Ineed this armor piece replaced." She pointed at her shoulderwhere a bullet was lodged in her spaulder.

Georgehad never maintained a power armor before. However, replacing thearmor plate was not complicated. It simply involved detaching thedamaged part, replacing it with a new one and making sure the newpiece was securely fastened.

Triciathen directed him to inspect the rest of her armor. If it was just asimple visual inspection, he could do that. George was not sure if hecould maintain the complicated inner mechanisms that were shelteredbeneath the armor plates. Hopefully, he would not have to. Triciawould probably take the armor to a qualified technician later.

"So,uh, why's he letting us grab his stuff from the upper levels?"George asked as he worked.

"It'sa mutually beneficial arrangement," Tricia said, "We get toraid the tower, they'll record everything and make it into a show.You may have seen it before on network TV back in Covenant."

"Can'tsay I have," George admitted. He checked the armor on one ofTricia's leg. "Which network is it on?"

"Youshould look it up when you get back home," Tricia suggested,"It's 'Madboy Keith's Tower of Trials'. And you're starring init today, Squirt."

It wasnot surprising that George would not know of the show with hislimited free time and the many, many other shows available fordownload and viewing on Covenant's information network. Still, it wasexciting to appear in a show on his first outing into the wasteland.He had better look good and not mess up.

"But,if the show's in Covenant, why's the tower here?" George askedas he checked the Vixen's other leg.

"Becausethere are rules in Covenant, rules that don't allow the sort ofdangerous things that's up there." Tricia pointed to the upperlevels of the tower.

"Wait.Danger!?"

"Yes,danger," Mabel interrupted from the back of the transport, whereshe was checking her equipment, "Fun, isn't it?"

Okay,that was something to be seriously concerned about. Yes, George knewthat the wasteland was a dangerous place - he had just been through afirefight after all. There within the tower, danger was a certainty.And the Vixens might not be able to keep him out of it. Though hislife would be at risk, it felt exciting.

Triciahad George install a pneumatic pike on her arm to use in close combatinstead of the hammer.

Ionacame up to George when he was done working on Tricia's armor. "Here."With her small hands, she tied a bracelet with green beads woven intoit around his right wrist. "For protection."

Georgewanted to decline. It looked like a feminine piece of jewelry to him.But he could not say so to Iona's happy face. Especially after he hadseen her inhuman strength. "Thanks," he managed.

Who knewwhat else that smiling girl was capable of!

He notedthat Iona was about his height. At least there was someone who wasnot taller than he was.

Mabelstepped up to them. She had ceramic armor with a helmet and mask, andshe was armed with two rifles - one in her hands and the other slungbehind her, beside a backpack. When she held out her right hand forIona to inspect, George saw that she had a similar bracelet of beads.

Perhapsit was a custom among the Scarlet Vixens or something. Wearing such abracelet would not be so bad then if it identified him as one ofthem.

"You'reokay," Iona declared after she was done checking Mabel'sbracelet.

"Thenlet's go," Tricia decided.

Afterthey received the go-ahead from Lukas, Tricia led the party up thebroad staircase, and then up the curved one to the upper level. Itwas the sensible thing to do, letting the Vixen with the heaviestarmor go ahead.

At thetop of the stairs, they pushed through several sets of solid plasticcurtains to emerge on the first floor, ready for their first trial.

Thelevel was full of cabinets of all sizes, neatly arranged in rows. Theexit to the level, a curved staircase up, was in plain sight at theopposite end of the room. A sign near them proclaimed the level as'the Trial of Endurance'. There was a faintly sour smell in the air.

If theywere in a show, there should be cameras, somewhere. But George couldnot figure out where. There were no hanging electronics from theceiling. And there were no conspicuous mirrors behind which camerascould be hidden.

"Thisdoesn't look so challenging," Mabel remarked with disappointmentas she surveyed the floor. She turned to Tricia and pointed at thestairs opposite. "The exit's just right there!"

"Maybeit's supposed to look like that," Tricia said, "So we'llignore the room and go up. But there may be treasure in one of thosedrawers."

Mabelturned to the larger Vixen. "But that man said the treasure's inthe top floor!" she argued.

"Themost valuable ones are," Tricia corrected, "That doesn'tmean there's nothing good here. And besides, he may be lying."

"Soyou think there's something here?" Mabel asked. She looked overthe room again.

"Maybe."Tricia paused. "But it doesn't make sense for this to be called'the Trial of Endurance'."

Ionalooked up and sniffed. "Something's in the air."

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The Tower of Trials Chapter 4 Page 1

2012-01-12T20:36:00.000+08:00

Atfirst, the ride through the wasteland had been exciting for George.However, it ended in pain and discomfort, most of which wasconcentrated at his armored bottom. The armor also protected his bumfrom receiving rubs of relief. When had Mabel slap a piece of armorthere anyway?

Thebattle outside the tower against the waster gang was a new experiencebut he had only been a spectator. And the turret camera had notprovided a good view of the fight. Which was not much better than theaction movies he could download from Covenant's network. The soundquality was not that good either.

Themeeting with Iona, the third member of the Scarlet Vixens, wasinteresting, to put it politely. She was the first person he had metwho was not a citizen of Covenant. Maybe he could learn more abouther later.

However,thus far, George's adventure was not as exciting as he had hoped.Hopefully, he would have the opportunity to contribute within MadboyKeith's Tower of Trials. Maybe he could fix or take apart something.After all, that was what he had been hired to do.

Whatsort of danger would George and the Vixens face inside within thetower? Monsters? Mutants? Killer droid assassins? George felt theanticipation of danger and adventure. And it was about to begin. Andit would begin with...

A baldbespectacled man seated behind a counter looking up expectantly fromthe terminal he was working on.

The manwas dressed in a business suit, looking no different from theoffice executives George had seen in Covenant. The bald man'sonly acknowledgment to the fact that they were in the wastes was thebreathing mask hanging from his neck.

Mabelstopped the transport in the wide space within the tower. "Right,let's get out," she said.

The baldman and his counter were at the middle of the floor, next to a broadstaircase that led to the circular mezzanine level. The mezzanine hadclosed windows facing the outside. A smaller curved staircaseextended from the mezzanine to the upper levels. The area wasbrilliantly lit and there were cameras hanging from the ceiling andthe mezzanine.

Georgefollowed behind Mabel and Iona as they headed for the counter. Henoticed the Vixen logo on one of the bone plates attached to the backof Iona's helmet. Since Mabel kept her mask on, George decided to dothe same. Tricia was still at the entrance, looking for the controlto close the main doors.

"We'rehere to raid your tower!" Iona announced upfront to the man.

"Ah,yes." The man tapped into the terminal in front of him. "You'rethe Scarlet Vixens, if I'm not mistaken."

"That'sus!" Mabel confirmed.

"I'mLukas Grimbold, caretaker of the tower on Master Keith's behalf,"the man introduced himself, "The rules, if any apply in thiswasteland, is that you get to keep whatever you can carry away withyou."

Ionaslipped behind the counter and effortlessly lifted Lukas and hischair. The girl was strong!

Lukasjumped off his chair and backed away. He raised both hands palmsforward defensively. "Whatever you can carry with you! And I'mcertainly not going to let you carry me off!"

"Aw,but I like you!" Iona tossed the chair away and cheerfullychased after Lukas, "You look like a nice plaything!"

Lukasran around the place with Iona after him. "Y-you can only takeaway what you can take! Anything from the upper reaches of the tower,not here!"

"Oh,then I'll just have to carry you upstairs first!"

"B-butthe most valuable treasures are at the top level of the tower!"

"ButI want you!"

Okay,that sounded very creepy. Even if it was uttered by a cute littlegirl.

"Help!!!"Lukas cried.

"Io,"Tricia called as she joined the others at the counter, "There'sprobably some better playthings at the top level waiting for you."

Ionastopped. "Really?"

"Yes,yes!" Lukas confirmed desperately, "you won't be able tocarry both me and those 'playthings'!"

Ionaturned to him with a predatory grin. "Are you sure? I'm prettystrong, you know."

"Yes,I'm sure!" But by the sweat on his round head and his shakyvoice, anyone could tell that he was desperately lying.

"Oh,okay." Iona skipped back to the rest of her party.

Lukasstraightened his suit and dusted his pants. Then he replaced hischair and took his place behind the counter. "Erm, yes. You maybegin when ready."

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The Tower of Trials Chapter 3 Page 4

2012-01-11T21:57:00.000+08:00

In theend, a few of the remaining gang members fled. Those that did notdropped their weapons and surrendered. Tricia picked up a man fromthe ground by his boot. George recognized the man as the leader whohad spoken earlier.

"Well,well. Now Madboy Keith's Tower is ours," Tricia told him.

Itappeared that Tricia had connected her external mikes to the commsystem, for George was able to hear the man's response: "Youbitches, when I get the rest of the gang, you'll be sorry."

"Ifyou think you can find enough gang members, you're welcome to try,"the Vixen said in reply. Then she added ominously, "I'll giveyou a few broken bones next time to remember."

"Youbitches," the man cursed again, and continued with a litany ofother swear words.

Tricialaughed and tossed the man away with her enhanced strength.

"Ahhh,gloating over the defeated," Mabel sighed pleasantly over the comm, "Oneof the perks of victory!"

Triciastarted poking through their vanquished enemies' belongings. "Theydon't seem to have anything worth taking," the Vixen reportedover the radio.

"Oh,but they have some yummy food," mentioned a female voice overtheir communications channel. It was a voice that George did notrecognize.

"Canthat actually be eaten?" Tricia asked.

"Mm-hmm,"was the reply, "Want some?"

"Ugh,no, thanks."

"Sure?They're very good. They added some good spice to it."

"Betternot take it, Trish," Mabel advised.

"No,"Tricia declined again, "some of the stuff you call 'good spice'tend to have hallucinogenic properties."

Georgenoticed that there was someone else up among the rocks with Tricia.It was someone small, wearing a fur cloak. Well, most people wouldappear small next to a warrior in power armor.

"Let'sget into the tower as soon as we can," Tricia decided.

Triciaand the cloaked figure walked back towards the transport. When theyarrived, the armor plates protecting the windows of the transportretracted and the door opened. However, it was Mabel and the smaller,cloaked person who entered. Tricia remained outside. They closed thedoor to keep the dust and heat out. The ventilation fan startedclearing the air.

Thenewcomer was a girl, with a small, delightfully cute face and brightemerald eyes.

"Squirt,meet Iona of the Catalocus," Mabel introduced the cloaked girl,"our darling member of the Scarlet Vixens."

Thegirl's cloak of purple fur reached to her waist, with a limp tail atthe end. There were bone plates of dark brown color attached to thecloak. Under the cloak, she had a breastplate of similar bone andclothes of brown leather. She had a pair of furry purple glovesshaped like paws. There were more bone plates on her shoulders andthe sides of her legs. On her feet, she had a pair of purple furboots.

She alsowore a helmet of purple fur and bone plate, shaped like a cat's head.The helmet had a pair of cat's ears on top along with a nose andwhiskers above the girl's face. There were a pair of empty eyesockets above the cat's nose.

ThenGeorge realized that the fur and bone plates matched that of thepanther he had seen earlier. "You killed the panther!?" heaccused.

Ionaheld her paws to her face. "What? Oh no, I killed a panther!"

"Howcould you!?"

"Ikilled a panther, I killed a beautiful panther!" Iona wailed on.

"What'sgoing on in there?" Tricia asked over the radio.

"Squirtthinks Iona killed the panther," Mabel explained.

"Whatpanther?"

"Thearmored purple one."

Tricialaughed.

"What'sso funny?" George asked sharply.

"Youwere so scared of that thing earlier," Mabel said.

"Yeah,but she didn't have to kill it!"

"Don'tworry, the panther will be back," Mabel assured him.

"It'sstill alive?"

"It'sstill alive," Mabel told him.

"It'sstill alive?" Iona asked.

"Yes,it's still alive!" Mabel exclaimed.

"Oh,okay then." Iona then hummed happily to herself, as if nothingwas wrong.

Throughthe windshield, George could see that Tricia was examining a box nextto the entrance of the tower. Suddenly, the doors of the tower openedsideways.

"Onlyone button and it actually opens the door," Tricia commented.

Mabeldrove the transport into the tower.

***

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The Tower of Trials Chapter 3 Page 3

2012-01-11T21:38:00.000+08:00

"Theydon't look too impressive," Tricia commented over the comm.

Georgesaw around a dozen men and women hiding among the rocks. They werearmed with makeshift rifles and their armor were composed ofmismatched pieces of material of various quality. One of them at theback had a launcher of some sort, probably the one who had fired thegrenade at the transport.

"Awaster gang," Mabel added, "They've got the mark of aland-shark. I'll keep them off you so you can get close."

"Okay,"Tricia agreed, "But let's see if we can talk them out of itfirst."

"Talk?You're surprisingly charitable today," Mabel teased.

"We'vegot Squirt to keep safe."

"Oh,he can take care of himself."

Georgewas not sure if he should feel encouraged by Mabel's confidence inhim or horrified at the Vixen's callousness concerning his safety.

Theturret camera zoomed in on a man who stood up among the rocks with apatchwork hailer. Behind him, a woman also came up with a smallerhailer of her own.

"MadboyKeith's Tower belongs to the Blue Landsharks," the man claimed,"You lasses better clear out."

"Yeah,you'd better clear out," the woman chimed through her ownhailer.

"Idon't think so," Tricia told him through the loudspeaker of herarmor.

"What's two girls going to do against the lot of us?" the man sneered,"You can't stop us!"

"Yeah,you can't stop us," the woman behind him echoed.

"Thatgirl in the back's starting to irritate me," Mabel whisperedover the radio.

"Mypower armor's worth the dozen of you," Tricia replied aloud,"And if you're that confident of winning, you'd have attackedalready."

The mantook a relaxed pose. "Well, my momma always told me not to hitgirls."

"Yourmomma said that so you don't hit her!" Tricia threw back at him.

Mabelgroaned over the radio. "Oh, Trish, I'm sure you can come upwith a better insult than that!"

"Areyou insulting my momma?" the man demanded.

"I'msaying you'd hit your own momma," Tricia accused.

"Oh,that's it!" the man shouted through his hailer.

"You'rein for it now!" the woman behind the man added, "You'regoing to"-

Shenever finished her sentence. There was a sharp crack and her hailerexploded in her face.

"Takethat, you noisy wench!" Mabel gloated over the radio.

The gangleader had more sense and jumped for safety behind a rock.

Thenthe turret came to life and started firing its machinegun in shortbursts at the people among the rocks. Bullets chipped pieces of stonearound the men without actually hitting anyone. Still, the men hidbehind their cover in response.

At theedge of the camera's view, George could see Tricia running up with amassive hammer. A gang member stood up for a shot at her. However,there was that crack again and the waster's rifle was knocked out ofhis hands. He dove back into cover.

Mabelchuckled delightedly over the radio.

Anothertwo wasters tried to aim their weapons at Tricia from behind a rock.The transport's turret sprayed bullets at them, forcing both gangmembers back down.

Once, aman had stood up without either the turret or a crack greeting him.As he aimed his rifle at Tricia, a shadow flew into his back,knocking him down out of sight.

Georgewas not sure what the shadow was. The camera only showed where thegun turret was aimed at so he had not gotten a clear look. He wasmissing a lot of the battle details. But he did catch Tricia when shereached the wasters hiding among the rocks.

Bodiesliterally started flying as the power-armored Vixen grabbed bandits,tossed them up and smacked them away with her hammer. There wereshouts of confusion.

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The Tower of Trials Chapter 3 Page 2

2012-01-11T21:25:00.000+08:00

Georgewent back to watching the wilderness outside. He considered what heknew about the Vixens. He had heard about Mabel and Tricia beforethey had met. Rumors had spoken of a sniper and an armored warrior,descriptions of which matched the two Vixens with him. There was alsoa mechanic or engineer of some sort who hung in the background, whohe presumed was Laura. But about the fourth Vixen, whom they were tomeet, he had not heard anything.

He wasabout to ask Mabel about the fourth Vixen when something out the sidewindow caught his attention, something brown and purple. A shortdistance away, running in the same direction as the transport, wassome kind of four-legged wasteland creature. And it was steadilydrawing closer.

Soon itwas close enough for George to see that it was a cat of some kind,though it was unlike any he had seen before. Its height reached up to George's waist, making it much larger thanthe small felines that often wandered near the boy's house inCovenant. The cat had dark brown plates covering its head,sides, back and limbs, over its purple fur.

"What'sthat?" George asked, pointing at the creature.

"Anarmored panther," Mabel answered briefly.

"Apanther?"

"Yeah.You expected some fancy name for it?"

"Well..."

"Everyone'sgot their own names for everything," Mabel said without takingher eyes off the view in front, "Each creature out here probablyhas a dozen names for it. Better call to that by what it looks like:an armored panther."

"Arethere many creatures out here?"

"Sure.But you won't see them. Best way to avoid trouble is not to be seen."

"Arethey dangerous?"

"Theycan be."

"Isthat panther dangerous?"

"Yes,she is. Her claws can cut through armor."

Georgewas then very much concerned about the fact that the creature wasrunning alongside the transport, close enough for him to see itsgreen eyes. He was comforted by the fact that it had displayed noaggression thus far. But it was small comfort, knowing the potentialof the panther.

Thecreature had sharp claws. George very much doubted that his personalarmor would protect him sufficiently.

Theterrain they traveled over turned rocky. There were light rattlingsounds as the wheels of the transport crunched and scattered pebbles.Mabel slowed the vehicle as they approached a mountainous outcroppingof rock.

Thepanther was ahead of the transport, taking a path between the rocksjutting out from the earth. Among the rocks, there were small busheswith needle-thin leaves. Though there were not many of those bushes,there was more vegetation there compared to the sandy wilderness theyhad just come from.

Mabelappeared to be following the panther.

Was thepanther an ally? Was it a friend? Or was it a peculiarity in thewasteland that wild beasts led travelers to where they wanted to go?George thought of asking Mabel but something ahead distracted him.

In themiddle of an open space among the gigantic rocks was a circularman-made tower made of dark gray stone. It was not very high, withmaybe six or seven floors. There were windows, but not many - most ofthem were on the first level. The roof of the tower appeared to beflat.

Thearmored panther led them straight to the front of the tower. Therewas an entrance at ground level, secured by a pair of heavy metaldoors. The doors were decorated with motifs of lightning bolts andwhat appeared to be stringed musical instruments. The entrance wasmore than large enough for the transport to fit through.

Georgewas so intent on studying the details of the tower that he did notsee where the panther went.

Mabelleft the engine running and unbuckled her seatbelt. She picked up arifle with an attached scope from behind her seat. Then to George'sdismay, she went to open the side door of the transport.

"Whatare you doing?" George asked with alarm, "That panther'sstill out there!" He hurriedly checked his mask as air from thewastes mixed with the air within the transport.

"Oh,don't worry about the panther," Mabel said as she steppedoutside, "I need to have a look around."

Triciatoo got out of the transport. "Just wait here while we check thearea," she told George.

Georgewas still concerned. He looked out the windows to see if he couldfind the panther. He did not see the creature. Instead, he sawsomething small, riding fast on a trail of white smoke, flyingtowards him. George ducked just as the object exploded against theside of the transport.

"Wasters!"Tricia cried through the comm, "Stay in there, George!"

Thedoors of the transport closed automatically. Armor plates rose toprotect the windows. The plates also cut off George's view of theoutside. Up above, mechanical gears started clicking. George guessedthat the turret was moving.

One ofthe displays in front of him appeared to be feeding visual from theoutside. Tapping on the keyboard, George quickly found the controlsfor the cameras. There was one each for the front and back views,which showed him nothing but the tower and rocks. The camera on theturret provided the most interesting view. He activated the externalmikes.

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The Tower of Trials Chapter 3 Page 1

2012-01-11T21:15:00.000+08:00

Havinglived all his life within a city that was the paragon of order,George had grown accustomed to a meticulously planned transportsystem. The streets were straight and perfectly level, placed formaximum efficiency. The highways were always flowing steadily. Evenif there was a vehicle accident, either the obstruction was clearedquickly or an alternate route was made available.

Everyjourney by road was quick and smooth. The most exciting thing thatthe boy could probably expect from a vehicle ride in Covenant was aleft-hand turn at a good speed on a commercial district street whileseated in the right passenger seat.

Thus,riding a vehicle over the rolling dunes of the sandy wasteland was anentirely new experience for George. If asked previously if he wasinterested in a ride through rough uneven terrain, he would not havebeen interested. After all, a bumpy ride was just an uncomfortableinconvenience to him.

Once hehad experienced it himself, however, his opinion had changed. Georgefound that he enjoyed the wild high-speed ride through the sandywastes. One that tossed him up with every bump. One that had himleaning aside whenever Mabel swerved to avoid an obstacle. It wasdefinitely more exciting than the mundanely smooth drive on thecity's streets.

Theexcitement made him squeal. A high-pitch squeal. The little girl kindof squeal.

Thatearned him a sideways glance from Mabel in the driver's seat besidehim. She probably had the appropriate disapproving frown on too, notthat George would notice since the Vixen had her mask on.

From hisseat at the front of the transport, George could see the rollingwasteland around him through the windshield. The land was bleak andempty, endless as far as George could see, covered with dry sand.

Therewas the occasional outcropping of rocks. Sometimes there was awreckage or two, victims of the wasteland. Any trees that he saw weretwisted and stunted. There was hardly any greenery, so unlike thetrees of Covenant's parks and greenhouses, which were full of life.Or the colored banners and lights of the residential districts.

Thoughthe sun shone brightly above in the cloudless sky, visibility waslimited. Dusty fog in the distance hid the view of the horizon.

Anotherbump in the ride. Another little girlie squeal of delight. And anunnoticed groan from the driver.

Mabelappeared to know where she was going. She had maintained a steadyheading, guided by the navigational data that appeared on the HeadsUp Display (HUD) of her visor. She only moved when an obstacleappeared, be it rocks, broken trees, wrecked remains or someone'shouse in the middle of nowhere.

As timepassed, George's excitement wore thin. After an hour of bumpiness,his rump was beginning to feel sore and his leg muscles were gettingstrained. He longed to stretch his muscles but there was not enoughleg room for that.

Georgelooked around for something to take his mind off his discomfort. Hiseyes fell on the small fox's head logo on Mabel's breastplate. Thenhe remembered that Tricia's power armor was plain gray, without anylogos or decorations.

"Whydoesn't Tricia's armor have the Vixen logo?" George asked.

"That'sbecause this isn't my usual armor," Tricia's voice could beheard through the earphones in George's helmet.

"Whyaren't you wearing your usual armor then?" George sent hisquestion through the microphone built into his mask.

"Lauraonly allows the Rose Red to be maintained by her personally,"Tricia replied.

Georgeassumed that the 'Rose Red' was what Tricia called her usual powerarmor. He guessed that it would require considerable maintenanceafter use. Not only would armor plating require fixing orreplacement, but there was the power supply and complicated partsboth mechanical and electronic that needed to be checked for wear.

"Laura'scrazy strict about it," Mabel added, "She doesn't wantanyone to see her technical secrets."

"Hersecrets?" George prompted.

"Laurabuilt the Rose Red herself," Tricia explained, "It's hermasterpiece, a beautiful work of perfection. It's faster and moreagile than regular power armors, able to carry better weaponry andhas better protection."

"Laura'sa real fanatic when it comes to machines," Mabel mentioned, "Shecan build a ride up from scratch, with a souped-up engine, and stillthrow in fuel efficiency."

"She'salways tinkering with the specs, trying to squeeze every bit ofperformance out," Tricia said.

"Andshe's got that crazed look in her eyes whenever she works,"Mabel said, "and she's always up with weird ideas."

"Shecries whenever we wreck her machines, though," the other Vixensaid.

"Ohyeah, that," Mabel agreed quietly, "Makes me feel guiltyabout touching her work."

TheVixens stopped talking after that.

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The Tower of Trials Chapter 2 Page 3

2012-01-10T21:14:00.000+08:00

After adozen tries, Mabel found a breastplate that she was satisfied with.Then she picked a pair of elbow and knee pads.

"Incase someone decides to shoot me?" George asked dryly.

Mabellaughed. "No. In case you trip and fall."

Georgestared at her. "What? You expect me not to be able to stand onmy own two feet?"

"Ifyou can do that," Mabel said, "while bullets are flying andexplosions go off all around you, good for you. You may want to divefor cover instead, though."

Okay, soGeorge had not considered the dangers of the wasteland seriouslyenough. There was going to be flying ammunition and explosives andpossibly other material hazardous to health that he had not heard of.It was going to be difficult to revel in the glory and spend hisearnings if he was stuck in hospital, or worse, dead.

"Relax."Tricia clapped him lightly on the back. Well, it was a light clap forsomeone in a power armor. It was a pretty heavy clap for someone whowas not in power armor.

Georgestumbled forward from the blow.

"We'llkeep you out of any firefights," Tricia said, "We may noteven have one."

That wasnot very reassuring for George. But the women were experiencedexplorers of the wasteland.

"Howconfident are you in that, based on your experience?" Georgeasked.

Triciapaused for a moment. "You know, I'm sure we've had a fight eachtime we're out there. Sometimes three or five."

Definitelynot very reassuring.

Afterthat, Mabel looked for armored boots and gloves for George. Again,the teenager suffered countless tries to find a set that matched therest of his gear. When Mabel was finally done playing dress-up, theVixens took him to the transport waiting outside. Or rather, Triciacarried him there. He really was feeling like a mannequin.

Thedark-brown transport outside looked different from the cargo vansGeorge had seen in the upper levels of the city. It had the generalboxy body shape, but it had pieces of armor attached allover. A gun turret had been installed in the middle of the roof. Thevehicle stood on four large wheels, supported by heavy suspension.The logo of a red grinning fox's head on a gray cloud had beenstenciled onto a flat piece of armor on each side.

Georgesat with Mabel at the front. Tricia sat in one of the seats at theback, one that was specially modified to fit a power armor. Some ofthe space in the back storage was taken up by a small selection ofweapons and other equipment.

Mabelrolled the transport out of the garage. The exits to the city werenot very far down, so there was no need to wait for the megalift, notthat there was any scheduled for such a short distance. They went down the highway that stretched across tens of levels.

Oh boy,oh boy, oh boy, George was about to go on an adventure! Whatexcitement awaited him? What new sights would he see? What sort ofhazards and difficulties would he have to overcome? What would be thefirst challenge they would face?

Answer:Paperwork. The authorities required everyone leaving the city to fillup lots of forms. The loveliness of bureaucracy.

"IfLaura were here, we'd be done by now." Mabel sighed. She turnedto George. "This is why we wanted to leave early!"

Behindthem, Tricia was typing away on a datapad. Mabel knew better than todistract her so she passed her time by pinning the blame on the onlyother person around.

"Ifyou'd been here early, we'd have left early," Mabel continuednagging.

Shereminded George of his Mama. She had nagged a lot too.

"Andthen we had to fit those armor on you."

Actually,that had been Mabel's fault mainly. She had wanted to try each andevery piece of armor and had made certain that it matched each otherpiece right.

"Hey,have we any fruits or vegs to declare?" Tricia interrupted.

"No,of course not!" Mabel answered, "It's not like we'd bringany out of the city. I mean, who'd... Trish, are you filling the formfor entry into Covenant?"

"I...Oops," the other Vixen uttered.

Mabelgroaned. "You've been filling the wrong form!?" She turnedto George and repeated, "This is why we wanted to leave early!"

Eventually,Tricia was done with the paperwork and mercifully, Mabel's naggingdid end. Once the authorities were satisfied, they allowed thetransport to continue.

Mabelhad the transport crawl under the speed limit down the road to themain ground-level gates of the city. Once they were through thegates, the Vixen accelerated down the ramp onto the level sandyground.

Outsidethe transport, George saw the ruins of the old city on which Covenanthad been built. Tricia told him that ages ago, the old city had beenscavenged for raw material to build the tower city Covenant.Buildings, bridges, even the roads had been taken apart. Only thebase supports and foundations of buildings had remained. What hadonce been highways were sand-covered land.

Freefrom the restrictions of the city's traffic laws, Mabel sped offtowards the old city limits, towards the wasteland beyond.

***

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