I timed the speed of the text to match the length of the music.

Introductory Narrative:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siic1Ul1fg8

This is a story game where the posters of the thread will think up creative responses to the threats posed by the antagonists in the story. The succeeding chapters will be provided and act as an expansion pack for the game, just like an online RPG. When the poster posts a response, they must indicate the chapter or scene they are responding to and quote the scenes in their replies. The thread starter will then make a quoted reply to the responses with a grade to each response. Since there is no limit to the number of people who can respond to the thread, the respondent with the current highest score will be the present winner. So the winners of the game will be constantly updated.

It is a televised battle between two original super villains created by Conal Mc Beth and Tom Savage.

From the confines of their evil laboratories, Dr. Holocaust and The Savage Bandito have come out into the city to engage in a battle of supremacy that will test both their minds and the brilliant machines they have crafted! The battle will unleash weapons of such awesome destructive power that the city of Toronto will never be the same again! Let the world watch in horror as people bear witness to the scientific geniuses who show no hint of remorse in demonstrating the terrible weapons of super science!

The trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsHy9nBs4UM

The video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzfMzeOgP_c

It is impressive that such beautiful women have submitted to the righteous scientific authority of both Dr. Holocaust and The Savage Bandito! It is truly a triumph of the awesome scientific power that they possess!

The video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hi5A4l9uxQ

Dr. Holocaust and The Savage Bandito in: The Wrath of Heaven Unleashed in Akihabara!

After witnessing the awesome battle between Dr. Holocaust and The Savage Bandito, Ninja with a Soul Patch sends a message to the two mad scientists challenging them to a battle of supremacy. With decades of extensive scientific study on the dark sorcery of the Shinto religion and the martial arts of Ninjitsu in a temple laboratory in Akihabara, Japan, Ninja with a Soul Patch has crafted the most powerful magical weapons in history which he is confident he can use to bring down all opposition. Can The Savage Banidto and Dr. Holocaust triumph in a battle that will summon the forces of the Universe and the Wrath of Heaven?

The video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dY_vLSPWP8E

Conal Mc Beth, also known as Dr. Holocaust on stage, performer, comic book author, science promoter, physicist, computer programmer, and electronics engineer builds a steel armored hybrid powered limb suit that uses motors controlled by switches built into the suit that respond to his muscle movement. The switches are designed not only to switch on current but to flip the electrical terminals from the DC lithium ion battery in reverse orientation to reverse the polarity of the current in case the pilot wants to move the suit in reverse direction. The suit also carries a spinning assembly of metallic tubes powered by an electric motor that demonstrate the possibility of armored suits being used to carry automatic Gatling Guns. The images of the powered suit can be found below:







In related news, a Japanese Scientist, Dr. Yoshiyuki Sankai builds a similar powered suit. The full story can be found at the following link:

http://thefutureofthings.com/pod/5701/hal-robot-suit.html



The Japanese automation and robotics giant Sakakibara-Kikai also builds robotic limbs but this time in the form of a land-walker. The full story can be read at the following link:

http://www.gizmag.com/go/4004/



Though building suits like this might seem fun, they can also be extremely dangerous since large amounts of electrical and mechanical power need to be used. If the suit is not insulated correctly, it could cause electric arcs to form between the metal plates and the circuitry which could burn the operator alive, and if the operator's skin touches an exposed live wire, they could be electrocuted. Also, the circuits controlling the motors must be very carefully inspected so that the motors' power outputs are carefully regulated. If the motors turn the limbs in a position they cannot be moved to, or if there is a sudden surge in power, it could tear the person's muscles and ligaments apart, or it could break their bones. The robots were also placed within safety lines during public demonstrations since a sudden accidental swing of the limbs could strike the observers and cause serious injury such as head concussions and crushed ribs. It just goes to show that industrial robotics is definitely not child's play and this is further demonstrated by Conal's dangerous gimmicks which include the use of a fast spinning assembly of metal tubes which could snap fingers if they came in close contact or scrape flesh and the use of a Tesla globe which can be seen on the chest of the suit which, being powered by a built in inverter-transformer power supply delivering 1,000V of electricity runs the globe and runs the risk of electrical shock, electrical arcs, and arc explosions.

.

This article will discuss how to build the ultimate Sim City 2000 City with the highest population possible. The most useful and versatile buildings used in the Sim City 2000 game are the Arcologies. At a population of 120,000, the player will be granted permission by the game to build an Arcology. The Arcologies are not only capable of providing almost all the infrastructure needed by a city; they are also capable of housing large amounts of people in small spaces due to their tremendous heights. All four types of Arcology available in the game will be used because each type of Arcology has a unique set of features it incorporates to eliminate the need for additional infrastructure. The only other buildings needed by the city are the power plants because they are needed for the Arcologies to operate. The most efficient type of power plant to be used in the game is the fusion power plant because it has the best cost efficacy and the highest power density among all the power plants in the game. The features of the Arcologies and the fusion power plants will be discussed below.

1.) Plymouth Arcology:
Statistics:
Area: 16 tiles
Population Capacity: 55,000
Power Required: 5 mw
Cost: $100,000
Built-in Infrastructure:
Industrial Areas
Army Bases
Naval Bases
Air Force Bases
Missile Silos

2.) Forest Arcology:
Statistics:
Area: 16 tiles
Population Capacity: 30,000
Power Required: 5 mw
Cost: $120,000
Built-in Infrastructure:
Educational Facilities
Parks
Residential Areas
Commercial Areas

3.) Darco Arcology:
Statistics:
Area: 16 tiles
Population Capacity: 45,000
Power Required: 5 mw
Cost: $150,000
Built-in Infrastructure:
Recreational Facilities
Residential Areas
Commercial Areas

4.) Launch Arcology:
Statistics:
Area: 16 tiles
Population Capacity: 65,000
Power Required: 5 mw
Cost: $200,000
Built-in Infrastructure:
Spaceflight Capabilities
Residential Areas
Commercial Areas

5.) Features Possessed by all Arcologies:
Pipes
Power Lines
Roads
Railways
Seaports
Airports
Police Stations
Fire Stations
Hospitals
Prisons

6.) Fusion Power Plant:
Statistics:
Area: 16 tiles
Power Output: 2500MW
Life Span: 50 years
Cost: $40,000
Power Density: 156.25 MW/tile
Cost Efficacy: $16/MW

7.) Average Power Density of the Other Power Plants: 38.22MW/tile
Average Cost Efficacy of the Other Power Plants: $25/MW

Calculating the maximum population achievable based on the optimum configuration for the infrastructure:

   The Arcologies of the city have all been clustered into groups of four in an 8x8 grid with each type of Arcology being within that grid. Since there are 40,000 tiles in the game, the maximum number of grids that can be constructed is 625, but because the Arcologies require electricity from an external source, space must be made to accommodate the best type of power plant available, the fusion power plant. 

Since there are a total of 2,500 Arcologies that can be built in the space provided by the game, and they each use 5MW of power, they will consume an estimated,

2,500 Arcologies x 5MW = 12,500MW

With 2,500 MW of power per fusion plant, the total number of fusion plants needed to sustain such a city is,

12,500MW/2,500MW = 5 Power Plants

Because the power plants will occupy space, it will be deducted from the space that can occupied by the Arcology grids, with an area of 16 tiles per fusion plant and 5 fusion plants needed, the total area they will occupy is,

16 tiles/plant x 5 = 80 tiles

Thus the total area available to the Arcologies is,

40,000 total tiles - 80 used tiles = 39,920 spare tiles for the Arcologies

With 64 tiles occupied by each Arcology grid and 39,920 spare tiles, the total number of grids that can be built is,

39,920 tiles/64 tiles = 623.75 tiles

Because there are five fusion plants that will be used, the fifth fusion plant will infringe on the space occupied by one of the Arcology grids, therefore, the space of the Arcology with the lowest population capacity, the forest Arcology will be used up by the fifth fusion plant instead for that one grid.

With a total of 39,920 available tiles and 16 tiles used by each Arcology, the total number of Arcologies that can be built is,

39,920/16 tiles per Arcology = 2,495 Arcologies

Because one grid will have a fusion plant in its place of the forest Arcology to be built there, the total population in that grid will amount to,

55,000 People in the Plymouth Arcology + 45,000 People in the Darco Arcology + 65,000 People in the Launch Arcology = 165,000 People

For the remaining 623 grids with 2,492 Arcologies, and 623 of each type of Arcology, the total population of all the Arcologies is,

Plymouth Arcology: 623 Arcologies x 55,000 People = 34,265,000 People

Forest Arcology: 623 Arcologies x 30,000 People = 18,690,000 People

Darco Arcology: 623 Arcologies x 45,000 People = 28,035,000 People

Launch Arcology: 623 Arcologies x 65,000 People = 40,495,000 People

Total Population:

165,000 People from the Arcology grid with a fusion plant + 34,265,000 People from the Plymouth Arcologies + 18,690,000 People from the Forest Arcologies + 28,035,000 People from the Darco Arcologies + 40,495,000 People Launch Arcologies = 121,650,000 People

Calculating the total cost of building the Arcology City:

Plymouth Arcology: 624 Arcologies x $100,000 = $62,400,000

Forest Arcology: 623 Arcologies x $120,000 = $74,760,000

Darco Arcology: 624 Arcologies x $150,000 = $93,600,000

Launch Arcology: 624 Arcologies x $200,000 = $124,800,000

Fusion Power Plants: 5 Plants x $40,000 = $200,000

Total Cost of the Arcology City: $480,560,000

Images showing how the city is structured:

1.) The four types of Arcology side by side:



2.) An image showing how the Arcology grid containing all four types of Arcology are arranged:



3.) An image showing how the fusion power plants are arranged, with the fifth plant occupying the space for the forest Arcology in one of the grids:



4.) An image showing a corner of the Arcology city:



5.) An image showing the center of the Arcology city:



6.) A poster of the Combine Arcology:



7.) A poster of a block of the Arcology city:



8.) A Launch Arcology fan art:

PRESENTING CHAPTER 4:



"My God! When will this ever end?" Airman Lucia Fallonia comments upon seeing the battalion of steam powered tanks and elemental mages moving in to meet their starship as it lands on Lunarian soil.

"What shall we do about this Premier Grover?" Queen Althena asks while she stands on the bridge of the starship and gazes upon the large army from the alien nation living in Lunaria.

"We've communicated with their leaders and apparently they are a race that calls themselves the Viltra and preside over the nation of Majirac which is the only nation on this moon. Their messenger has told us that their leaders refuse to give us refuge on this moon and that if we do not leave, they will kill us all. Unfortunately we could not afford the extra weight of weapons aboard our ship so we are currently unarmed. But there is one solution however…"

"Yes?" Queen Althena asks.

"Since our astronomers believe that our living environment is not compatible with the environment of the people living here, we can activate the terraformation machine now and use the sudden change in environmental conditions to kill off any resistance to our arrival so that we can keep this hemisphere of Lunaria to ourselves while we wait for several thousand years for the reformation of the Earth to complete itself."

"Under normal circumstances this kind of action would be considered murder, but since the survival of humanity depends on this, I suppose we have no choice." Althena replies and frowns, repulsed at being forced to commit the same atrocities committed by Dr. Morridon and Dr. Astral.

"Alright, reactor room, prepare to divert power to the terraformation machine!" Premier Grover sends the order through the intercom.

"Yes sir!" One of the personnel replies.

"Magic systems initialized!" Another of the personnel says as he flips on several switches that prime the machine.

"Power output maximized!" Another of the personnel says as he turns a dial that increases the power drained from the Azuron energy crystals to maximum.

In a matter of minutes, the terraformation machine shoots out a wave of energy that radiates outwards in all directions and envelops half of the moon. The Majirac soldiers manning the tanks and the elemental mages surrounding the starship are immediately suffocated by the change in air quality as are all of the citizens in the hemisphere of the moon covered by the terraformation energy that changes the terrain, water and air quality of half of the Lunarian surface.

"Alright, the next phase of our plan involves turning Lucia and I immortal through the cells recovered from the damaged organic robots produced by Dr. Astral. Afterwards we will proceed by nominating one of our most decorated soldiers Louie Rumador as the Dragon Master of our re-established nation of Azuria whose duty will be to aid me in enforcing my rule as the Goddess of this world along with the aid of the four dragons that we will manufacture using technology borrowed from Dr. Astral to ensure that no human ever rediscovers the advanced technology that has led planet Earth into ruination. It may seem wrong for me to play the role of a divine being even though I am just a human but this myth is necessary to ensure that humanity never becomes too powerful for its own good so the Magic Guild of Vane and the Church of Althena that we will establish will help to maintain this myth. I'm assigning you, Baal Grover as the first Premier of Vane so it is your duty to ensure that human society remains pre-magical and pre-industrial. Your first task is to erase all records pertaining to the construction of machines and the casting of advanced magic. Humanity shall get by using only hand tools and draft animals to help them with their daily needs and any human that tries to develop something more advanced than that is to be heavily monitored by the Guild."

"Yes your majesty! I shall get to it." Premier Baal replies as he and other politicians coordinate the formation of the new ruling bodies of Azuria.

"Come Lucia, you and I shall receive our infusion of magic derived from the cells of the organic robots. After that more work lay ahead for us in reforming the people and the world." Queen Althena calls out to her sister.

"Yes your majesty." Lucia replies and smiles happily at her sister as they stroll along the halls of the starship, Althena's Tower discussing much of the groundwork that needs to be laid to ensure humanity's survival.

****

The following is a timeline of events that occur after humanity's colonization of the moon, Lunaria:

2,050 SY – humanity settles in Lunaria and forces the Viltra to secede half of its territory to them. The Viltra's civilization nearly collapses due to the sudden drop in its possession of resources and manpower causing their civilization to regress and most of their advanced steam powered technology and elemental magic to be lost.

2,100 SY – the dragon cloning program is initiated to ensure that the four dragons are continuously replaced when they die of old age. Also, Earth is renamed the Blue Star to perpetuate the myth between the battle of the God Zophar and the Goddess Althena and ensure that humans never realize that it was advanced science and magic that allowed such a catastrophic war to take place.

2,500 SY – the Goddess Althena starts to occasionally revive herself using Dr. Astral's biotechnology as an ordinary human to observe what is happening to her people.

2,980 SY – Gad Telwin establishes Azuria's first mail, cargo and taxi services using his newly invented horse carriages and highways.

3,000 SY – the Beastmen War and the First Viltran War takes place as the beastmen compete with humans for the possession of natural resources and racial superiority and the Viltrans with the aid of their Magic Emperor Ignatius Gall who has become Dragon Master and corrupted his power, wage war on the humans to attempt to take back the land that was stolen from them. Ignatius develops a technology that inoculates his soldiers and makes them immune to the climate of the humans which is stolen by the heroes Jian Campbell, Lucia Collins, Gabriel Ryan, Flora Banks, and Rufus Crow to aid in their infiltration and destruction of the Viltran's tower fortress where the possessed dragons were to be launched into Azuria to destroy the humans.

3,860 SY – the city of Vane gains a magic cannon and the ability to fly through the air thanks to the efforts of Premier Gauss Sodrav who was commissioned to develop the technology to help defend Vane from attacks.

3,950 SY – after much protest from the Magic Guild that seeks to preserve the primitive but harmonious way of life led by present humans, the Industrial City of Iluk is established in the Marius Continent and its notable inventions include factory scale farming, windmills, watermills, sail-powered ocean liners, and diving suits used for underwater mining and the fishing of the newly discovered colonies of deep sea marine life. It is also in this time period that powered flying machines in the form of airships are developed by Dr. Reginald Might. These new airships use a similar levitation technology as the one used to allow the magic city of Vane to fly except that instead of just lifting the airship from the ground, it also gives the airship the power to move in any direction.

3,960 SY – the Majirac Empire is able to rediscover its lost magical technology and slowly begins to rebuild its war machine.

3,980 SY – the Heresy War takes place in which Mach Eiphel, a wizard of Vane, builds an undersea fortress which he calls Leviathan and uses it to imprison the Goddess Althena. A fleet of attack submarines built by Dr. Reginald Might are utilized by the Azurian military to destroy the fleet of alien creatures sent by Mach's alien allies, the five princes of the black star to guard the fortress. Upon infiltrating the fortress, the four leaders of Azuria, Dragon Master Dyne Zyria, Meribian Mayor Mel Tiberia, Premier of Vane Ghaleon Vardos, and Lemia Ausa the Leader of Vane discover that Mach has built a technology never before heard of, a Planet Summoner to bring the planet of Danarkia which belongs to a solar system that orbits a black hole close to Lunaria in order for the five princes of the black star whom he has secretly been communicating with using a lost technology called a satellite dish to Azuria in order for them to help him absorb the Goddess' power in exchange for helping their overpopulated planet to resettle some of their people on Lunaria. Mach Eiphel is killed by the Four Leaders and all the blueprints, formulas, and other records of his technology are destroyed.

4,000 SY – the Second Viltran war takes place in which the Premier of Vane, Ghaleon Vardos reveals his identity as the Viltran Magic Emperor of Majirac and captures the girl Luna Strasburg who is the incarnate of the Goddess Althena. He then enslaves the four dragons to pulverize their bodies into ore and use the ore to fuel the power reactor of his armored mobile fortress, the Grindery built by Dr. Taben Hellstorm so that he can launch his attack on Azuria and seize control of Althena's Tower where he will manipulate Althena's mind so that she will transfer her power unto him and make him tremendously powerful. While his attack succeeds in destroying the magic city of Vane, he is ultimately defeated by the heroes, Dragon Master Alex Strasburg, Daughter of the Guild Leader Mia Ausa, mage Nash Rumack, thief Kyle Wallace, and daughter of the Meribian Mayor Jessica Tiberia. At the end of the war, Goddess Althena Fallonia decides that she is tired of trying to intervene in human affairs and decides to die with her lover the former Dragon Master, Alex Strasburg.

4,050 SY – thanks to the development of climate inoculators by deceased Magic Emperor Ignatius Gall, the Viltrans are able to assimilate and intermingle with humans and beastmen producing half-breed offspring. The steam engine technology and advanced elemental magic introduced by the Viltrans triggers an industrial and magical revolution that accelerates the technological and economic development of the world. Thanks to the fall of the magic city of Vane, there is little its leaders can do to prohibit or regulate the new technological developments.

4,500 SY – by this time period, the industrial and magical revolution is ripe, with sail and steam powered land and water ships providing intercontinental passenger services at speeds of 20km/h for the sailing ships and 50km/h for the steamships, levitation powered airships providing domestic intercity passenger services at speeds of up to 130km/h, and teleportation pads, a technology originally exclusive to the magic city of Vane, allowing short range teleportation from one city district to another, greatly decreasing the amount of time to travel from place to place and making the world increasingly interconnected. The diffusion of magical knowledge from Vane and the Viltrans triggers the development of magic crests that allow artificial magic mined from underground ores to be used by ordinary civilians making the class division between magician and non-magician increasingly blurred. It is in this time that the science of archaeology becomes established to research ancient civilizations that existed before the coming of humans and Althena to Lunaria to re-discover the ancient magic and technology of those lost civilizations and harness its power.

4,750 SY - Premier of Vane Gregory Volt develops the world's first magically powered robots which are used in factories and as test dummies for magic students. He also develops the magic carpet as a form of compact air transport, but its use is only limited to the most skilled users of magic due to the difficulty of maintaining gyro balance in mid flight.

4,970 SY – failed magic student Borgan Reimon leaves the magic city of Vane and studies the technology of artificial magic which is fast becoming popular the world over. He develops a new type of engine called the dragonite fossil engine which uses the fossilized ore unearthed from the tombs of dead dragons and from graves of dead giant reptiles to produce magic power. He uses the engine to power ships capable of traveling on land and water using vibrating propulsion fins that move up and down to push the ship. This type of ship is the fastest ever built; able to achieve record speeds of 300km/h and the most notable is the Destiny which is the flagship of the White Knights of Althena. He also uses the engine to power beam cannons which are built into the dragon powered ships and to levitate his magic city of Neo-Vane.

4,990 SY – a carnival ride mechanic named Samuel Compton develops the world's first rocket glider which uses the rocket to propel the pilot into the air and then uses the gliding wings to perform a controlled descent into the ground. This is by far the fastest vehicle ever built in Lunaria, achieving top speeds of 500km/h.

5,000 SY – the Destroyer War takes place in which, Dr. Zophar Astral, in his partially recovered form, communicates information to priests on Lunaria and the Four Leaders of Azuria which he uses to manipulate them into doing his bidding which is to divert the energy of the terraformation machine into his body to accelerate his regeneration. Upon completing his recovery, he then activates his starship and flies into Lunaria to capture Airman Lucia Fallonia and absorb the magic power she took from Althena's Tower and use it to seize control of the terraformation machine to accelerate his plan of rebuilding the Keplerian Empire. Airman Lucia Fallonia is broken out of captivity by archeologist Hiro Sumden, priest Ronfar Daculi, fighter Jean Darian, daughter of the Leader of Vane Lemina Ausa, and White Knight Captain Leo Lendon. Despite their successful rescue operation, it is too late because Dr. Astral transforms into a giant bio-robot and prepares to launch his attack on the Azurian and Majirac military. Lucia eventually has no choice but to reveal the myth established by Althena 2,950 years ago so that the people will realize that Dr. Astral is not an almighty God and can be stopped if the ancient technology and magic lost to time are revived. Lucia brings back textbooks preserved in the ancient Azurian military base where the starship Althena's Tower was launched and hands it over to the wizards and scientists in Lunaria who are shocked by the conspiracy which has lasted for nearly 3 millennia to prevent humans from re-learning advanced magic and science. Divisions of Majirac tanks, and elemental robots, as well as dragon battleships, air battleships, fighter airships, flying fortresses, rocket gliders, and the flying carpet mage infantry from the Azurian military surround the landing site of Dr. Astral's starship which has assembled a fleet of flying wing attack robots, and bombard the site with powerful blasts of magic artillery. The Majirac and Azurian military use magic mirror shields recovered from the lost city of Labyrinthus to reflect the powerful beams of solar radiation shot out by Dr. Astral's robots and redirect the energy back into them to vaporize them but it is the carefully placed shots of magic made by Airman Hiro Sumden and Lucia Fallonia from their fighter airships that enable Dr. Zophar Astral's complete annihilation. After the end of the war, all evidence of Dr. Astral's biotechnology is vaporized by magic because the leaders of Lunaria believe such technology to be far too dangerous to fall into human hands. Hiro Sumden follows Lucia Fallonia back to Earth to help monitor its terraformation and facilitate the migration of humans back to their home planet. Lucia Fallonia gives up her immortality to die a natural death with her new lover Hiro Sumden.

5,100 SY – with the revival and superseding of the lost technology, the future of humanity, the beastmen, and the Viltra once again becomes uncertain. A new war called the Trans-Planetary Civil War erupts when anti-magic and technology unions riot against developments that plunge most workers into unemployment who are supported by terrorists working for religious institutions that are not in favor of progress. Another faction, robots that have been given sentience by reckless wizards and scientists start a revolution because they are mistreated by the owners who purchase them.

6,000 SY – the environmental degradation brought about by over development angers the sentient ancient organic fibers that run across Earth and Lunaria causing it to lash out on humans and trigger mass natural calamities. The situation is confounded when flying cylinders from Mars land on the moon and Earth and Martian robots and soldiers gifted by reality bending psychic powers using a magic and science thousands of years ahead of Earth and Lunaria invade, resulting in the first Solarian Interstellar War.

The world darkens as the cloud of smoke from the explosion of the multiple Azuron missiles cover the sky. Several days later, all plant life start to die out and it is a race against time to escape Earth before the supply of oxygen completely runs out. Fortunately, the air fleets of Azuria manage to escape the powerful explosion and make it back to the base which is far enough to survive the blast completely undamaged. Some important politicians, members of the royal family, and other citizens with useful vocations are chosen to ride in the starship that will be used to leave Earth.

"All passengers please remain calm and stay within safety lines!" Airman Lucia Fallonia exclaims as she motions for the passengers to calmly walk in single file towards the doors leading to the passenger cabin of the starship.

"I thank you for your assistance in coordinating our exodus to Lunaria, Lucia, but there is one more favor that I will demand of you."

"What is it sister?" Lucia asks.

"Premier Grover tells me that for the terraformation reactor to terraform Earth, it must beam its energy through a transmission tower from Lunaria and into a receiver tower that will be stationed here in Azuria. I need you to remain in that tower and guard it along with a battalion of enforcer robots to ensure that the terraformation process is not interrupted by attacks from aliens or malfunctions. Of course you have to accompany us to Lunaria to undergo a procedure we discovered by taking samples of some of Dr. Astral's destroyed organic attack robots that will grant you eternal life because the terraformation process, according to Premier Grover will take thousands of years to complete itself since the energy coming from the terraformation machine is being transmitted from a very long distance."

"Consider it done!" Lucia replies and hugs her sister.

"This is the last time we can be together for awhile but don't worry you can always teleport to Lunaria through the communications tower if you need help from me or you can use it to communicate if ever you feel lonely."

"It's alright, I will always think of you when I am doing my duties." Lucia replies as she sheds a tear while she is in her sister's embrace.

"Alright all passengers are aboard so we have to go in as well." Queen Althena pats her beloved sister on her shoulder and they both enter the ship.

"All passengers aboard, helmsman, initiate launch procedures!" The ship captain commands.

"Firing Azuron rocket engines!" The helmsman replies as he switches on the engines and he pushes on a lever that gradually increases the thrust exerted by the engines.

The two royal sisters fasten their safety belts as the rocket engines of the starship are fired up and the starship accelerates into the launch ramp that points the starship upwards into the sky. The craft shakes violently as it moves faster and faster until it leaves the Earth's atmosphere and enters the vacuum of space. Lucia stares longingly at the planet that was destroyed in a matter of days by the lust for power of one man and an alien tyrant. A harrowing journey lies ahead for the refugees of Earth as their starship heads for the moon.

PRESENTING CHAPTER 3:



While the tension between the two national superpowers, Pandemonia and Azuria heighten, Queen Althena Fallonia and Airman Lucia Fallonia have been waiting in solitude for days at the holding cell in the Morridon National Laboratories. The holding cell is ironically reserved for spies and saboteurs so it feels very strange for the two royal sisters to be reduced to common criminals and be placed in such a drab and dank prison.

"We've been in here for days, and still the royal house has not attempted negotiation! I'm starting to feel that Dr. Morridon was right about our royal family being corrupt and inept." Lucia paces around the cell nervously while thinking about the shocking turn of events.

"Come, come, Lucia, let's not be so pessimistic. The royal house may be partially at fault for placing too much trust in Dr. Morridon and not regulating his activities more stringently but ultimately it is Dr. Morridon's fault for not using the tremendous trust and power that was placed in his hands responsibly." Queen Althena replies.

"Yes, I do suppose the royal house isn't left with any good options especially after Dr. Morridon has got his hands on the most powerful weapons ever devised." Lucia comments on the dire state of affairs.

"That's true, if we are released, the royal house would have to surrender state power to that madman and if they don't cooperate, we die. Although if worse comes to worse, I think Dr. Morridon is ruthless enough to use the Azuron missiles to get what he wants if things don't go his way."

"Yes, and if the royal house attempts to rescue us, he'd definitely launch the missiles! I shudder to think that we are both hostage to this man, either way it just seems inevitable that we are beaten."

"Yes, it seems we must embrace our end with dignity because we really do have little choice in this matter…" Before Queen Althena is able to continue speaking, a loud bang suddenly causes a section of wall in the holding cell to fall down.

"Don't make such a hasty conclusion Queen Althena!" A voice calls out from behind the cloud of dust kicked up by the fallen wall.

"Is that… Airman Ramius? You fool! How could you! You're going to agitate Dr. Morridon with this reckless behavior!" Lucia scolds the airman.

"Well… truth to be told, I have some good news and bad news. But I don't have time to explain that here. Come on! I'll explain everything on the airship, but first we have to get out of here!" Airman Ramius says as he motions for the two royal sisters to follow him out.

"Looks like you've brought company." Lucia comments upon seeing the royal enforcer robots escorting Airman Ramius.

"Yes, it would have been suicide for me to come in here alone." Airman Ramius replies, after all the idea of being surrounded and ripped to shreds by enemy robots is not a pleasant one.

"By the way, you're both going to need these I trust." Airman Ramius hands a black magic mace to Queen Althena and a black magic blaster wand to Airman Lucia.

The two royal sisters walk out of the gaping hole torn in one of the buildings in Dr. Morridon's research compound along with the enforcers and Airman Ramius. Their escape is fraught with danger as wave after wave of bronze enforcer robots give chase to them. The royal sisters, Airman Ramius and the two enforcer robot escorts occasionally turn around and shoot at the laboratory enforcers that give chase to them as they run through the field of the compound and make their way to the airship.

"Alright, we're within range. Airship captain, activate the short range teleportation beam!" Airman Ramius calls out to the captain while he and the two royal sisters step backwards until they are underneath the airship and while destroying enforcer robots that approach them with blasts of magic.

In a matter of seconds, the teleportation beam emerges from underneath the ship and the two royal sisters, Airman Ramius and their enforcer escorts are beamed into the ship. The jet engines of the ship then shoot out powerful streams of gas that propel the ship quickly out of the compound.

As they walk along the hull of the ship, Airman Ramius explains the situation. "Alright, now for my explanation, you see the reason we were able to rescue you both without the fear of being flattened to the ground by Dr. Morridon's missiles is that he was, uh… distracted when we broke into the laboratory compound."

"Distracted by what?" Lucia asks.

"You see, according to our military intelligence, the President of Pandemonia, Richard Garlyle is launching a counterattack on Dr. Morridon's lab with some new weapons apparently, which he believes can match the power of Dr. Morridon's missiles. And while Dr. Morridon was busy preparing to repel the counterstrike, we took advantage of his preoccupation by sneaking into his compound and breaking you two out. Now, we don't really need to worry about angering Dr. Morridon and provoking him into attacking us because he has no choice but to divert all of his resources into Pandemonia's retaliation."

"Alright, I know what to do. We may not have the kind of new weapons possessed by Dr. Morridon but we have got to do something, and that is to observe this battle and witness its outcome. Airman Fallonia, I am assigning you to lead a reconnaissance team to observe the battle from the air. You will be accompanied by a fleet of carrier airships ready to provide cover fire should anything happen. I trust you are up to the task?"

"I will succeed my mission or die trying! I could not imagine a world without my beloved sister or my nation for that matter." Lucia replies.

"The courage you both display is admirable but now I'm afraid I'm going to have to come out with the bad news. Our intelligence reports have noted that the new weapons built for the Pandemonian military were built by the alien who emerged from the second meteor that crashed into Pandemonia. In a few days, he has exerted great influence on the ruling party of that state so we believe his intentions to be very dubious. Also, intelligence reports have gathered that the battle between Dr. Morridon and Pandemonia could cause so much destruction that the clouds of smoke would cover the Earth for several days, starving all plant life of sunlight and basically killing all life on Earth."

"It just looks like things are going to get from bad to worse." Lucia comments and frowns.

"Do not worry about that Airman; we already have a backup plan." Airman Ramius replies.

"What plan?" Lucia asks.

"We're headed there right now."

****

In a few hours, the airship lands on an Azurian air force base. As Airman Lucia and Queen Althena step down from the airship that rescued them, they spot a massive, white tower shaped craft parked on the runway.

"What in the world is that?" Queen Althena comments on the vehicle that is so large that it occupies four runways.

"That Queen Althena is humanity's last hope. It is a craft powered by the mighty Azuron rockets and capable of defying the gravity of the Earth and flying into the vast emptiness of space. Dr. Morridon designed the craft and originally intended to use it to fly to our moon, Lunaria and colonize it, after all our astronomers have observed Lunaria's surface and found signs of life, even advanced civilization. We have named the ship 'Althena's Tower' in your honor, and by the way, it's good to see that you and your sister are alive and well."

"Hmmm… another civilization for that madman to bring down!" Lucia comments angrily at Dr. Morridon's insatiable lust for power.

"Premier Grover, it's good to see you." Queen Althena shakes hands with the Premier of Azuria, Baal Grover.

"We were able to build the craft thanks to plans stolen by our intelligence agents. It can seat 5,000 people whom we will have to notify and carefully handpick to follow us into our exodus from a destroyed Earth should worse come to worse. Also, since the environment of Lunaria is not completely compatible with our species, we have installed the terraformation machine also designed by Dr. Morridon which is also powered by the ship's onboard Azuron crystals. Part of its energy will be used to terraform half of Lunaria's surface while the rest has to be conserved to terraform the Earth back to its original state once it is destroyed." Premier Grover explains.

"Don't worry Premier, we won't allow the Earth to be destroyed! Send an order to the air fleet! We are moving in to observe the battle between Pandemonia and Dr. Morridon's forces. Airmen Fallonia and Ramius, report to your squadron commander and prepare for battle!"

"Yes your majesty!" Airmen Fallonia and Ramius both reply and salute the Queen before they head into their designated hangar.

****

Meanwhile, in the Morridon National Laboratories, Dr. Morridon prepares all of the missiles in his silos for launch against the approaching Pandemonian air fleet. In a few minutes, a visual confirmation of the fleet is made but surprises Dr. Morridon and his crew.

"Where are Pandemonia's airships? And what are those things?" Dr. Morridon stares anxiously at the green flying wings coming closer to the city with tails of light trailing from behind them as they fly through the air.

"I have no idea sir, but the airships are nowhere to be found!" The navigator replies.

"Well nonetheless nothing can compare in power to my Azuron missiles, now that the enemy is in range, prepare to fire the first wave!"

"Yes sir!" The launch controller fires the first Azuron missile at the approaching entities.

Meanwhile, the airships of the Azurian fleet which are a few kilometers away from the flying wings receive the command to sortie.

"All personnel to battle stations; prepare to launch fighter airships!" A voice from the carrier ships' intercoms call out.

Airman Lucia and Ramius immediately leave their barracks and board their designated fighter airships. The small airships are dropped from bay doors in the carriers and their jet engines instantly fire them off into the air.

"We're coming in close to the enemy and I am placed in charge of this reconnaissance mission! All other fighters are to remain in standby before I give permission to open fire, is that understood!" Airman Fallonia radios out to the other fighters.

"Yes ma'am!"

Airman Fallonia is escorted by three other fighters while the others remain floating above the air, a safe distance from the upcoming battle. The reconnaissance fighters rush into the battle and observe the developments closely. In a few seconds, the Azuron missile shoots into the area covered by the squadron of the flying wings and as it nears them, the photon vacuum dishes of the robots begin to forcibly draw solar radiation from the sun. Once the vacuum dishes have drawn enough energy, the flying robots shoot beams of yellowish white solar radiation that fan out from the gels in the fore of their fuselages and shoot at the missile. The missile explodes in mid air with a large spherical bluish purple blast front that is so bright that it temporarily blots out the light of the sun.

"Ugghh!" Lucia moans painfully as she shields her eyes from the light and she and her fighter escort turn away from the explosion that is about to swallow them up.

Applause is heard in the command center of the Pandemonian air force base as they witness the destruction of Dr. Morridon's missile.

"Alright! Now we've finally got a chance at stopping those Azurians!" President Garlyle declares excitedly.

"President Garlyle! Watch out!" President Garlyle's bodyguard shouts as he pushes the president to the ground to prevent him from being vaporized by a laser beam that instead sears a hole through the wall.

"Dr. Astral! What is the meaning of this?" The President calls out to the doctor upon seeing the smoke emanating from one of the laser guns of Dr. Astral's bio robot escorts.

Dr. Astral laughs maniacally and to the President, he says. "Fool! You have played cleverly into my trap! With your assistance you have given me the materials necessary to build the weapons that will eradicate the only person powerful enough to stop me! Did you really believe my story about trying to preserve the heritage of my planet? Well, that part was correct, but there are some elements of the story that I needed leave out to earn your gullible trust! I am preserving a heritage indeed, and that is the heritage of my dictatorship! I was once the absolute ruler of Kepleria until a black hole swallowed up the planet and erased the dominion I worked hard to build! I have escaped certain destruction and scoured the galaxy for centuries so that I may one day find a planet where I can build my tyranny anew and enslave the populace!"

"I thought you were here to help!" The President replies.

"I am afraid not Mr. President! Your world's freedom is at an end and my absolute rule shall begin anew! As we speak, other attack robots are already overrunning all of your cities and eliminating all those that oppose me!" Dr. Astral replies as he mentally commands his robots to vaporize all the personnel in the room.

Violent screams are heard as all the people in the command center are reduced to gas.

****

"Dr. Morridon, those things have intercepted our missile!" The navigator reports.

"What? Prepare to fire a volley of missiles! Surely they will not be fast enough to intercept all of them!" Dr. Morridon commands, but before the command is executed, the face of Dr. Astral appears on the screen of the command center.

"Dr. Morridon, I am Zophar Astral, the one responsible for building the weapons that are going to attack your nation. I shall make this planet called Earth my new seat of power and I assure you that your missiles are powerless against my attack robots! Surrender now so that we can prevent any further destruction to this planet!"

"Never! I alone shall be the master of this Earth and I have no plans of backing down any time soon! Alien or not your weapons cannot stop what I am about to unleash!" Dr. Morridon answers back.

"We shall see about that!" Dr. Astral replies.

"Prepare to fire the missile volley!" Dr. Morridon commands.

"Yes sir!" One of the personnel replies as he opens all of the missile silos and fires the volley.

Multiple missiles launch into the air and fly towards the attack robots.

"I have a bad feeling about this." Airman Fallonia whispers to herself as the missiles approach and she sees them through the rangefinder screen built into the cockpit of her fighter airship.

"Airman Fallonia, I have an urgent report!" One of the ground crew at the air force base radios to her fighter ship.

"What is it?" Airman Fallonia asks.

"We were right about the alien's intention. The alien goes by the name of Zophar Astral and he has conspired to take over the Pandemonian government, he too has plans of using his own weapons to force the world to subject to his rule! We have it on record! We intercepted a conversation through video conference between him and Dr. Morridon! Queen Althena orders us to concentrate all our firepower into the missiles and the attack robots!"

To all the fighter airships, Airman Fallonia gives out her command. "All fighter airships are to move several kilometers away from the battle airspace and when I give the command they shall fire all their ether shells and ether magic rods at the flying wings and the incoming missiles! We shall receive cover fire from the cannons and rods on our airships so we can put as much firepower into our enemies as possible! I know that the weapons of our enemies may seem too powerful for us but this is our last chance as nation… no as a race to survive this war, so we have got to put all our effort into this attack, is that understood?"

"Aye!" All of the pilots of the fighter airships reply collectively as they turn back from the battle airspace and train their cannon pods and magic rods at the enemy.

The carrier airships further away do the same with their much larger cannon pods and magic rods as they await the missiles and the approaching flying wings to fall within target range. In a few minutes, the weapons sights of all the fighter and carrier airships turn red indicating that they are ready to fire. Airman Fallonia and the rest of the air fleet hold their breath as they pull the triggers that shoot out the ether shells from their pods and cast magic spells by holding handgrips connected to the ether magic rods that act as a spell casting conduit and shoot out streams of translucent brown ether gas. The ether shells explode on impact releasing blast waves of ether gas which are followed up by the streams of ether gas shot out from the magic rods. The dust clears and the approaching missiles and attack robots are left undamaged. Airman Fallonia and the rest of the air fleet stare at the missiles and attack robots in shock, their eyes wide at the seeming invincibility of the weapons built by the two scientists.

"How can this be real? God help us!" Lucia whispers to herself, the fear welling up inside her, making her almost unable to move.

"Airman Fallonia! We have orders to retreat back to base! They say they are to execute 'Plan Exodus' with our newly constructed starship!" The ground crew radios to Airman Fallonia's fighter ship.

"Alright! All fighters are to retreat back to the carriers!" Airman Fallonia commands and all the fighter airships hurriedly fly back into the hangars of the carrier ships.

The attack robots again shoot their beams of solar radiation but this time against a volley of Azuron Missiles. The missiles explode instantly but because there are so many of them, the resulting blast wave is so powerful that it destroys Dr. Astral's attack robots and envelops the northern part of the Atlantic Ocean, hitting the east coast of the North American continent where the Pandemonian air force base Dr. Astral is using to coordinate his attack is located and also the city of Azure in the west coast of Europe. Dr. Morridon can only stare at the explosion in shock as there is little time for him to do anything before he and the capital of Azuria are vaporized.

I never expected Dr. Morridon's weapons to be so powerful! But nevertheless this is not the end! It is only the beginning! Dr. Astral thinks as he teleports himself back to his spaceship staring contemptuously at the display screen as the robots he worked hard to build to take over the other cities of Pandemonia are also vaporized by the blast.

However, before he is completely teleported away from the base, the explosion vaporizes most of his body. Dr. Astral struggles with his magic to teleport the only intact part of his body, his head, into a regeneration chamber in his ship.

It does not matter how long it takes for me to regenerate my body and recover my full strength because no matter what happens, my empire will be rebuilt! Dr. Astral thinks before he falls into a coma and the bio machines in his spaceship insert tubes into his head that provide energy for the regeneration of his completely vaporized body.

PRESENTING CHAPTER 2:



   “Can our missiles still reach the meteor in time?” Dr. Morridon asks.

   “I will run a trajectory estimate…” The navigator replies.

   A few minutes later, the navigator gets a response from the computer. “I am afraid not sir! The meteor has penetrated too deeply into the atmosphere for our missiles to reach it in time! The missile’s going to hit a desert in Pandemonia ETA 8 minutes and counting!”

   “What did you say? Pandemonia? That country is one of the nations we hit with an Azuron missile so this other meteor is just the opportunity we need to cause them further damage! Navigator, estimate the blast area that will be made by that meteor!” Dr. Morridon orders.

   “Yes sir!” The navigator replies.

   “This other meteor is smaller and slower than the first one so we have nothing to worry about! The blast will cover an area of 7 square kilometers and will swallow up some nearby Pandemonian towns and cities.”

   “Well that is all in good because as long as we are not affected, we have nothing to worry about! But those Pandemonian morons on the other hand…” Dr. Morridon follows his comments with a maniacal laugh.

   A few minutes later, the meteor impacts Pandemonia and triggers a powerful shockwave that digs a huge crater into one of its deserts and pulverizes some nearby municipalities with its powerful blast front.

   “Sir, the meteor has struck, and the size of the blast area is just as we have estimated! The industrial zones of that area have also been crippled as a result!”

   “Excellent! This will make our job of destroying our nation’s most powerful rival a whole lot easier!” Dr. Morridon excitedly exclaims.

****

   Meanwhile, west of Azuria, in the North American continent, the president of Pandemonia, Richard Garlyle sits nervously on his office chair pondering the series of incredible developments that have happened too fast too seem believable.

   First those Azurians discover the most powerful energy source known to man and have freed themselves from the Ether Gas Energy Gridlock allowing their economy to get the upper hand on ours, then they use it to build the most powerful weapon conceivable and they have the audacity to use it to level one of our cities!  And now, a meteor has struck down more of our cities and townships. God damn it all! I must be dreaming! All of these things happening simultaneously! It’s almost as if our nation is fated to be destroyed!

   “President Garlyle, the secretary of state is here to see you.” The receptionist calls out through an intercom.
   
“Let him in.” The president stands up from his seat and steels himself to calmly accept the startling incidents.

   “Mr. President you have to see this!” The secretary of state calls out.

   “What is it?” The president asks.

   “It’s the meteor sir… something is emerging from it!”

   “Damn! I must still be asleep!” The president rubs his eyes wishfully but to no avail, he is awake to the horrible reality whether he likes it or not.

   “This is no joke sir! You have to watch it to believe it!” The secretary of state nervously motions for the president to follow him.

   “Fine, it’s not like I have a choice in all the insanity the world has come to!” The president obliges and follows his secretary of state.

   The president follows his subordinate to the video conference room to watch news live via satellite television. The secretary of state switches on the television and turns to the news channel.

   “We are here live in the Panderian desert overlooking the meteor and we are seeing what appears to be the outer surface of the meteor cracking open to reveal what strangely appears to be an artificial internal structure. The army and air-force command in nearby Fort Bradley have been placed on high alert to watch out for mysterious activity coming from this strange extra terrestrial object.”

   “What? An artificial structure! What in God’s name is going on here?”

   “Richard Garlyle, president of Pandemonia, heed my request.”

   “What? Who the hell are you?” The president asks.

   “Sir, is there a problem?” The secretary of state replies.

   Impossible… you’re in my thoughts! The president thinks, shocked. He decides to keep the conversation in his mind as opposed to verbalizing it to avoid appearing insane.

   That is right, I am communicating with you right now using a psychic wave carrier signal I am transmitting from my ship. The mysterious voice replies.

   Your ship… you don’t mean…

   Yes, the meteor, I used it as a heat and impact shield for my fast traveling interstellar ship. By the way, I am Zophar Astral, in human terms I am what you call a ‘scientist’, that is, a person who seeks to understand the forces of the cosmos and harness its tremendous power. I have journeyed far from my dying planet which my people have purged dry of natural resources and brought about the death of my race and scoured the galaxy for centuries in search of a planet with an environment that can sustain life so that I may take the heritage of my people and begin civilization anew. Judging from my observations, your world is in a similar crisis with the depletion of your natural resources and the outbreak of countless wars. Please enter my ship; there I shall share with you the secrets of my advanced race in exchange for natural resources and the right to settle down in your planet.

   Yes doctor, our world is in crisis indeed and you could be just the answer to our problem. President Garlyle obliges the alien scientist.

   “Secretary, summon the Minister of Defense, the Air Marshall, the Grand Admiral, and the General of the Army we are going to inspect this meteor.”

   “Yes Mr. President.” The secretary replies.

Several minutes later, an airship carrying the four heads of the military and the president touches down tens of meters away from the meteor. Prior to the arrival of the airship, a military blockade has already been setup around the meteor with airships circling it overhead and armored hover-cars, attack robots, and the mage infantry assembled into a perimeter surrounding the blast crater.

   “Ah yes, welcome visitors from Earth. I trust you represent all of Earth’s leaders?” Dr. Astral communicates to the five ambassadors from Pandemonia.

   “Yes, we represent the most powerful and worthy of the leaders.” President Garlyle replies.

   “Is it okay to lie to him like that? We don’t rule the world after all.” The Minister of Defense whispers.

   “It’s fine; we’re only one of two national superpowers who practically boss the rest of the world around which basically can’t drag its ass along without our help. And the other superpower has just been taken over by a madman so what choice is our interstellar guest left with?”

   “Hmmm… Good point.” The Minister of Defense replies.

   “Feel free to enter, leaders of the Earth.” Dr. Astral replies as he activates a series of controls which cause the meteor covering his ship to completely crack into pieces and fall off.

   The shedding pieces of extra terrestrial rock reveal a massive white tower, roughly five stories in height looming overhead. An entry ramp is lowered from one of the many airlocks of the ship, inviting the five ambassadors into it.

   “Good God, such a massive thing can fly through space…” The President looks around the high tech interior with amazement as he walks along the halls of the ship.

   The interior of Dr. Astral’s ship is something out of the world indeed, with all of the ship’s instruments run by a fleet of almost organic machinery. The ambassadors are met by an organic looking robot that rapidly flaps the tiny wings surrounding its spherical body to fly around.

   “Ambassadors from Earth please follow my lead. I shall take you to up to my master’s laboratory.” The robot motions the ambassadors to follow it into a massive platform.

   Upon stepping into the platform, the ambassadors gawk as they are showered by a beam of light and are teleported into Dr. Astral’s laboratory.

   “Greetings, leaders of the Earth, we meet face to face at last.” Dr. Astral walks towards the five men and a series of formalities ensue.

   “So doctor, to be able to fly to space and carry all of this equipment and infrastructure with you is astounding. Not even our most powerful Ether gas rockets can propel such a load to space, so tell me, how was such a mean feat accomplished?” The president asks.

   “The type of engine I use is far in advance of the ones that are used here on Earth, I traveled millions of light years in just centuries thanks to the use of a photon drive which uses the force of light beams to accelerate even the heaviest loads to speeds approaching that of light, which in human terms is 1,080,000,000km/h.”

   “Unbelievable, and the machines you use here, they seem almost… alive.”

   “Well these robots are actually bio-robots comprised of cells genetically programmed for self repair and self replication. This technology was critical for my departure from my home planet Kepleria because I could carry no other person for this trip, so the thousands of machines I employ need the power to self-repair. Of course I also used the technology on myself to grant me the power of eternal life and survive the journey through space.”

   “Amazing… to be able to run all of these instruments for centuries must require tremendous amounts of energy.” The Minster of Defense comments on Dr. Astral’s ship.

   Dr. Astral then activates a monitor with his mind to show a bowl shaped dish positioned at the top of his ship which is monitored by cameras. “Well as you can see on this screen, the power source I use is the one that you humans see everyday upon the rising of the sun. I harness the power of solar radiation with the aid of a device called the photon vacuum dish. The dish can absorb and contain energy from even the darkest and deepest regions of space where the solar radiation from suns is weak and transmit it to the whole of the ship.”

   “Well, in that case, our energy crisis is solved.” President Garlyle exclaims to the laughter of the people on board.

   “Yes, with these devices in place, you can power all of your cities for billions of years.” Dr. Astral replies.

   “The only problem now is that madman Dr. Morridon, the bastard has built city destroying missiles and is now haughtily demanding the surrender of all of the world’s governments to his rule! It’s outrageous!” President Garlyle comments angrily.

   “I have designs for just the weapons that may stop your enemies, but I did not bother to build such weapons because they would already be too heavy to carry onboard my ship. Bring me the following list of materials and I will build you what you will need to crush your enemies.” Dr. Astral replies and then causes an organic book engraved with text to materialize from a nearby instrumentation panel; again with the interface his mind has on the machinery of his ship, and hands the list over to the president of Pandemonia.

   Under the pretext of needing to ease the citizenry into accepting the surrender of all state power to Dr. Joseph Morridon to prevent any riots and needing to prepare the government and private sectors for the doctor’s coming dominion, President Garlyle was able to buy a few days to assemble the materials needed by Dr. Astral in a military warehouse and move all of Dr. Astral’s equipment into the warehouse to begin the construction of his weapons. In a matter of days, piece after piece of organic matter has begun to grow in the cleared warehouse to form massive organic robots, each one of them carrying large photon vacuum dishes on wings with transparent fins divided by arrays of hexagonal cells and supported by a green framework comprised of artificial plant cells. In the fore of the flying wing robots is a strange spherical piece of gel the likes of which have never been seen on any Earth weapon.    

   “So, Dr. Astral how goes the construction of the weapons?” President Garlyle asks Dr. Astral as they take a tour of the warehouse where the bio-robots are being built.

“They are nearly complete President Garlyle and in a matter of hours we shall launch the robots and prepare to destroy Dr. Morridon’s missile silos.”

“This is wonderful news! Those Azurian bastards are going to taste the power of Pandemonia’s new weapons!” President Garlyle replies excitedly as he prepares to start a war on a scale so destructive it could rattle the very planet itself.

This is a story game where the posters of the thread will think up creative responses to the threats posed by the antagonists in the story. The succeeding chapters will be provided and act as an expansion pack for the game, just like an online RPG. When the poster posts a response, they must indicate the chapter or scene they are responding to and quote the scenes in their replies. The thread starter will then make a quoted reply to the responses with a grade to each response. Since there is no limit to the number of people who can respond to the thread, the respondent with the current highest score will be the present winner. So the winners of the game will be constantly updated. 

This story is a prequel for the origins of Zophar and Althena. Civilization is at its peak with the two national superpowers Pandemonia and Azuria making discoveries that would give them untold power, inducing a wave of escalating national anxiety for both states.




The year is 2,050 SY (Solarian Year) and civilization is at the pinnacle of its power with the two greatest national superpowers Pandemonia and Azuria unlocking secrets of nature that would give them unpredictable levels of power. In 2,035 the people of Azuria have unearthed a magical ore dubbed Azuron by its discoverer Dr. Joseph Morridon which possesses tremendous amounts of energy, sufficient to solve the energy crisis of a nation that relies entirely on magic power as the backbone of its economy and industry. The civilization of Azuria possesses many advanced technologies such as flying cities, skyscrapers, airships, hover-cars, robots, teleportation, and spell-casting, all of which are powered by the highly polluting ether gas which is running on a limited supply. Azuron has alleviated the need to use ether and provides the framework for a sustainable economy, but the peace and prosperity is not to last for there are those too power hungry to be content with simply using Azuron for peaceful applications.

****

2,050 SY, 11th Lunar Cycle, Day 26, 10:35pm, at the Morridon National Laboratories:

"No comment on the status of the new Azuron reactor design, this project is classified, as I have told you journalists before." Doctor Morridon declares as he fixes the collars of his lab coat and walks up the entrance stairs of his massive laboratory and walks towards the control room for his secret underground missile silo in Azure, the capital city of Azuria.

"Dr. Morridon, please just give us a few words on the state of the Azuron Industry!" A news reporter says as he tries to follow Dr. Morridon into the lab.

"I am afraid you can't go any further since this area is classified as a level 4 top secret facility we'll have to ask you to turn back sir." Aide de camp and sister of the Queen of Azuria, Mage Airman Lucia Fallonia declares as she accompanies Dr. Morridon along with her head of state sibling into the facility to witness the demonstration of Dr. Morridon's new reactor.

As Lucia along with security mages and bronze enforcer robots motion for the stubborn journalists to leave the laboratory, Dr. Morridon starts some small talk with the Queen as they both walk towards the control room.

"So how goes the pacification of the old ether cartels Queen Althena?" Dr. Morridon asks.

"There is already rioting in the streets as thousands of citizens who used to work for the ether gas companies lose jobs to the Azuron refinement facilities that process the easy to manufacture Azuron fuel rods. The energy crisis may have been solved but labor demand and the stocks of major companies are plummeting. You already know this anyway so why ask? Are you trying to make fun of my administration's incompetence?" The Queen though supposedly beautiful in her black dress robes, red tiara, red poncho and shiny black leather flats looks aged and weak from all the problems occurring under her rule.

"Well, I can understand your anxiety, but look at it this way; our plan to stop the meteor from crushing the Earth would not be possible without the new knowledge uncovered by science. Without these technologies we are doomed to extinction as a species your majesty."

"I know, but still… It's a sad new world we live in, as my theology professor Marl Topper once told me we humans who used to ask for blessings and guidance from the spirits in the hopes of receiving salvation once we die and vanish into the other dimension have discarded such traditions in favor of the magical technologies uncovered by scientists like you who have dug far deeper into the secrets of nature than any religion has ever done. But the powers these new discoveries have granted have also brought untold misery to humans in the form of greed, environmental destruction, and war."

"Well I do apologize for the countless lives wasted in the name of progress but science must march on regardless of this fact. People would have died from natural calamities such as the meteor headed for Earth nonetheless if not for the power of science." Dr. Morridon replies.

Fool! Today is the last day you run this country! Dr. Morridon thinks.

"Well I suppose I offer thanks to your efforts as a scientist Dr. Morridon, at least you have tried to help humanity with your inventions and discoveries. Your continued service to this nation is a blessing to our people. You who have solved the energy crisis even start a disinformation campaign to conceal the fact that our planet is headed for destruction out of consideration for the people who will panic in the midst of such a crisis. You are truly a kind and dutiful man who has placed the value of human life above science."

"Well, I suppose I do what I can to help. After all science exists to make people happy and it is not just an intellectual's hobby horse." Dr. Morridon anxiously scratches his receding hairline as the moment that humanity's fate will be decided draws closer with the ticking of the clocks in the laboratory.

Dr. Morridon enters the laboratory with Queen Althena Fallonia, along with her sister Mage Airman 1st Class Lucia Fallonia and her subordinate Mage Airman 2nd Class Henry Ramius who have managed to get into the control room in time to witness the missile launch after shrugging off all the persistent journalists.

"Now in this control room I will direct the launch of ballistic missiles powered by Azuron rocket engines that will be used to carry Azuron Energist Bombs into the meteor which will release the Azuron ore's tremendous energy in an instant to generate an explosion powerful enough to vaporize the meteor." Dr. Morridon explains.

"Now, the meteor is nearing the Earth's gravitational field so there is little time to explain how the missiles work any further, so please take your seats your majesty, Airman Fallonia, and Ramius." Dr. Morridon motions the two sisters and the other man to sit in spare chairs provided for them.

"Though I'm a Mage Airman, this is the first time I've ever been so hell a scared in my entire life! What's happening now's just so unthinkable!" Lucia nervously grips her hips as she speaks to her sister.

Queen Althena holds her sisters right hand. "It's alright Lucia nothing was ever made to last for eternity. At least if we are to die, we die together."

"Thank you sis; even though you haven't tasted the brutality and hell of the front lines, you still have the strength to comfort me." Lucia smiles endearingly at her sister.

"Do not forget your best subordinate, Mage Airman 2nd class Henry Ramius will also be here!" Airman Ramius also sits beside Airman Fallonia and comments naughtily.

Lucia pats her subordinate's shoulder and says to him. "I know you've been hitting on me since day one; a lot of the other war-boys think I'm hot so I've dealt with this before. Not a subtle as you think you are, weasel, but it's alright, I appreciate it."

"Well glad to be of service!" Airman Ramius replies.

"All personnel To battle stations! The missile launch procedures are to begin in half an hour!" Dr. Morridon calls out to the launch crew through the intercom and they assemble in their designated control quadrants in the allotted time.

"Preparing for snap count!" One of the crew declares as he activates a computer's trajectory estimator to determine the right time for the missiles to fire.

"Fuelling all thirteen Azuron missile fuel tanks!" Another crew presses a set of buttons that activate the fuel rod insertion mechanisms that thrust the fuel rods into the missiles.

"Arming Azuron Energist Bombs!" Another crew activates the mechanisms that will set off the warheads.

"Opening missile bay doors!" A crew opens the doors that expose the underground missile silos in preparation for the launch.

"Trajectory estimation complete! The Meteor will land in the Indian Ocean ETA 12 minutes and counting!"

"All missiles launch!" Dr. Morridon announces.

"Launching!" A crew starts the missile's rocket engines and deactivates the arrestor claws that hold the missiles in the silos.

In a few minutes, the thundering sound of the rocket motors fill the air as the Azuron rockets thrust the missiles out of the silos. The missiles quickly gain altitude as displayed in the navigational screens that track their movements. The approaching meteor collides with the first missile and a violent explosion causes the meteor to be completely vaporized.

"Target neutralized!" A crewman excitedly announces.

Applause is instantly heard in the room and several personnel as well as the queen and the two airmen stand up in excitement but Queen Althena looks uneasy.

"If you knew firsthand that one missile would be enough to vaporize the meteor then why did you launch thirteen, doctor? What are you going to do with the other 12 that are now climbing higher into the atmosphere?" Queen Althena asks nervously.

Dr. Morridon laughs maniacally and to Queen Althena he declares. "You idiot! The meteor was not the end of the world as you and those other royalty who do nothing but sit on your hands and hold tea parties I led to believe. In fact it was the excuse I was waiting for! Yes, my calculations were correct that one missile was enough to destroy the meteor but those other twelve were not meant for that! They were meant to decimate our enemies and make the world bow to our nation! I have served this country and given it many long years of thankless work! But I have had enough of that! It is time for the world to bow to its new supreme ruler!"

"You hypocritical bastard! I thought you were dedicated in your long years of service to this nation! But I was wrong; you have done everything in your capacity to advance your own agenda! Just think of all the innocent people you'd sacrifice! You think that just because you have unlocked the power of the Azuron Ore that you have the right to play God!" Queen Althena angrily declares as she clenches her fists.

"My God! You're… insane! This is your last straw, you are under arrest! Henry! Alert the guards and put this place under emergency lockdown!" Airman Lucia adds.

"Yes ma'am!" Henry salutes and tries to walk out.

"Not so fast you patriotic twits!" Dr. Morridon shouts as he summons the bronze enforcer robots with a wave of his hand, robots that he programmed to follow his every command even to the point that the orders of higher authorities are overridden.

The robots enter the control center and surround Queen Althena and her posse.

"Enforcers! Seize this traitor at once!" Queen Althena commands.

The enforcers do not respond.

"Enforcers! Seize those traitors at once!" Dr. Morridon commands and the robots slowly walk closer to the queen and her posse.

"Impossible! How could you overwrite the command hierarchy for the enforcers!" Lucia asks nervously.

"How did you think I designed Azuron Reactors and Missiles? Just think my dear! I'm way out of your or any other empty headed royals' league for that matter when it comes to intelligence!" Dr. Morridon replies.

"I am afraid you leave us with little choice Dr. Morridon! Airman Lucia Fallonia! Let us summon the sacred heirloom magic that house Fallonia has passed down to us in time of dire circumstance!" Queen Althena draws her black magic mace and prepares to cast a powerful attack spell.

"Yes your majesty!" Airman Fallonia salutes and draws her black magic blaster wand.

"I'll hold the magic in this room so it doesn't leak out and set off the other missiles I'm sure that twisted bastard has kept in here!" Airman Ramius adds.

"Please do that Airman!" Lucia says as she wipes sweat off her brow and prepares to cast magic against the fast approaching enforcers.

"Waveon Solaria!" The two royal sisters shout as they aim their cast magic at the bronze enforcers to shoot them down.

Waves of small solar flares then instantly erupt from their magical weapons and fly towards the enforcers.

"Cancelleon Destrudo!" Dr. Morridon shouts and the enforcers then shoot invisible energy waves that ripple through the space-time continuum and neutralize the effect of the royal sister's magic.

"But how could you cast magic remotely through robots? It's impossible to cast spells without directly holding the magical medium! What are you!" Queen Althena cries out to Dr. Morridon.

"As I've said, you puny little ants are way out of my league! You did not think I spent all of those years conducting scientific research for no reason did you? And to answer your question, what I am soon to be is the master of this world! Enforcers! Take these lowly filths and place them in the holding cells! We'll see if we can use them for ransom and make the royal house submit to my rule! If not… they die!" Dr. Morridon commands and the enforcers disarm and grab the two royal sisters.

"What shall be done with the other airman?" One of the enforcers asks.

"Take him to the royal palace, so that those royal idiots will know of my actions and my demands!" Dr. Morridon replies and the enforcer drags Airman Henry out of the laboratory.

"Please Dr. Morridon! This is not like you! Millions of innocents will die from your actions! Please stop what you are doing!" Queen Althena begs of the doctor as she is carried away to the holding cell.

"Millions have already died in the wars, famines, and calamities of ages past! So what does it matter? I never once cared for all those puny little ants and their puny little minds! They mean nothing compared to the glorious new future I am going to build!" Dr. Morridon excitedly declares.

"Now take them away! I will hear no more of this incessant bleeding heart patriotism! I am sick and tired of it!" Dr. Morridon commands and the enforcers carry the two royal sisters out of the control room.

A few minutes later, unsuspecting citizens from various cities around the world go about their daily lives, completely unaware of the great destruction that is about to befall them. The toweringly massive Azuron missiles turn downwards to face their targets after climbing thousands of meters into the air. They hurdle quickly into the ground like spears hurled by a mighty deity about to visit his wrath upon the human race. One by one chosen cities are vaporized by blast waves of bluish purple Azuron energy that devour the cities and its citizenry whole leaving nothing but giant mushroom clouds and blast craters in their wake.

The navigator who has observed the missiles' trajectories on the navigation screen gives his report to Dr. Morridon. "Doctor! All cities have been completely vaporized, data analysis of the cities show no life force signatures! All signs of life have been completely eradicated!"

"Excellent! Now I think it is about time I make my demands to the governments of the world!" Dr. Morridon jeers.

"Dr. Morridon I have some bad news!" The navigator calls out.

"What is it?" Dr. Morridon anxiously replies.

"Behind the dust cloud of the meteor sir! A… another meteor is headed for Earth!"

"What!" A tinge of panic crawls up Dr. Morridon's spine as dealing with the world's leaders has become the least of his current problems.