Collision: Part Six
- Location
- Florida
Calm mind brings inner strength and self-confidence; so that's very important for good health
- Dalai Lama
Collision: Part Six
John Cambell was not having a particularly great day. John tried to stay positive, though; He reasoned that things could be a lot worse for him and his friends. They could be dead, for example, or being eaten alive, maybe tortured till he begged for death. So, in contrast, John's day wasn't going horribly.
"Where is my daughter! I want to see my child. You stupid bug faced monster!"
John couldn't help but sigh as he looked over to the shouting woman. An older blond, of average build, was shouting in the face of one of the grey armored guards. John didn't want to feel annoyed, but the woman was getting on his nerves.
She, his buddies, and about twenty other campers had been taken… sequestered? Kidnaped, yep, he was abducted by a bunch of anthropomorphic bug-people and brought to their magical Kingdom.
Crazy day.
They were ushered into a cafeteria-like building and were poked and prodded for hours. Some snail-people had also been here trying to bridge the language barrier. Not particularly easy when most of the campers were less than cooperative. There were a few tied up and gagged in the corner of the room—one of which John suspected to be an empire, eighty-eight members; if that tattoo was any indication.
"Hey lady, will you give it a rest; they don't even know what you're saying." The high pitched voice of Will broke through the lady's tirade.
The woman spun on her heel and looked at them. Her face was flush, and tears were building in her eyes.
"Give it a rest! They took my daughter!"
She was stomping her way towards John's small group.
"Perfectly normal," a voice in a southern drawl started, "This is some sort of Kingdom, we crossed the border. Well, the border crossed us, but that's semantics. It's standard procedure to separate criminals from kids, a security measure, and nothing more."
Shay calmly flipped the next page of the book he was reading. The bugs had left many picture books, and other material for them to 'read.' John kept quiet; that was an excellent possibility to be sure, but there were a lot of worse things that could be happening.
"Also," Will spoke back up, "they might find the kids easier to work with."
John nodded as they looked back to the guards. There were only two of the Mantis creatures, most of the other bugs left when the Snails did. Maybe they had given up on the adults? Not many of the campers were very cooperative. John and his friends were, but they were treating this as First contact, an exciting prospect, and John couldn't help feeling a little bit of glee. Sadly John was studying economics, a reasonable basis for cultural studies, not so good for linguistics.
"I don't understand how your boys are so calm!" The woman dropped down next to them at their bench. A little bit of pity wormed its way into John's heart. This was probably even harder for a mother. As if thinking the same thing, Shay sighed and passed the small book to the lady.
"I'm worried too, ma am after all my sis is with 'em, but I don't really think they're in any danger." as if being soothed by his word, the woman accepted the book.
"What's this?"
"I believe this is a picture book, probably meant for children, bug-children. The words are gibberish, but the pictures tell a good enough tale on their own."
John leaned towards his friend and smiled, "Care to share your opinion with the class, Mr. Connors."
"Hardieharhar Jo, anyway, by cross-examining some of the different books, I can safely say we're dealing with a lost Island here."
"I don't know about you, Shay, but I don't see any fucking water around."
Shay picked up a small book from the stack, "First, language William and second look here." The picture in the book was that of a grey desert and marble road. A small figure was also in the drawing; John couldn't read the short text, though. "It's in a ton of these books—a mountain, and sometimes a small village surrounded by Grey deserts. If we add that and all the other weird things about this place, well, I'm sure you've all thought about it. These bugs are from another world."
"Why can't it be the work of a Cape?"
John shook his head at the woman, "I thought so too at first, but Shay is right; this is all far too much for a singular cape or group. How this Bug-city got here; maybe a cape did it, but the true answer is probably beyond us mere mortals."
"Well, that's all very interesting," Will spoke up his voice laced with sarcasm. "Is there anything that might help us with our current predicament?"
Shay put the book down and reached for one of the more massive tomes in the stack. It had the stylized four-pronged white symbol that was a typical decoration in the city and on the bug-soldiers' armor. John had already guessed that it was this Kingdom's national symbol or sigil of their Royal Family; if they had one.
"This is what I think is a child's version of a national history book or bible. The key figure is this… Woman? I think this is a female, at least." Shay flipped to a picture of a human-like bug donned in a red cloak. It was a familiar sight, as well.
"Isn't that the Statue next to that well in the center of this town?"
Shay nodded in Will's direction. "Yes, she is a key figure in the second half of this book—imagine the Declaration of Independence or Crossing of The Delaware— Then replace Washington with her. Most importantly is that I think this is all recent history too."
"What makes you say that," replied John.
"Because that's where it ends. There's like maybe a handful of pages and then nothing."
"Well," John spoke up, "let's hope the bug-queen is friendly."
Their new friend rested her head on the table, "were so doomed."
They were, in fact, not doomed. A few minutes later, a human-sized snail and a beetle, dressed in a cloak, came into the hall. John had noted that cloaks, capes, and masks seemed to be the most common wear for the anthropomorphic bug people.
The beetle spoke first in the strange language, but what shocked the group was the badly accented pronunciation of their names.
When the snail spoke, the group truly got a shock.
"Shay, William, and John, your presence is required by the Queen."
John looked to his friends; they all shared the same thought, that was fast. It wasn't particularly perfect English but still understandable. That was not natural. John had thought it would take at least a couple of days to get any intelligible dialogue. Yet it should not have been too unbelievable, and stranger things were happening.
Two more of the guards came in to escort them, and although not physical with the group, the intent was clear; the request was not something you can deny.
"Wait!"
John turned back to the woman they talked to earlier. Worry and depression marred her face, but John could tell that she wasn't as scared as she was before.
"If you get the chance, can you see if she's alright?"
John smiled, "What's her name?"
"Dinah Alcott."
John nodded and headed off with the small precession. The first thing he notices is the rising sun as they exit the building and the odd reaction of the bugs they pass. They were all pointing at the sky and shouting at each other. It seemed that clear skies were something of a new experience for them.
Their destination was a small clearing where a large hut sat. John's first impression was that of Mongolian yurts or the stereotypical Gypsy tent. At the entrance was a huge bug donned in armor of crimson red and lined with black.
All three of the humans froze at the sight of him. It did not last long as the escorts pushed them forward. The giant bug barely glanced at them as they approached, however. When he did speak, the deep voice shook their bones.
There was a short conversation in the bug language between the massive Guard and the smaller beetle. John had a distinct impression that the beetle might be a female.
The tent's inside was well lit with white lamps and furnished with some sort of fur rug. The canvas itself was spacious, able to hold many people without feeling crowded, and it was a good thing too.
There were probably a half dozen bugs, snails, and of course, humans all inside. Whatever John expected, this wasn't it; he had expected a throne room, or interrogation chamber if his luck was terrible. There was a google of children in a semi-circle to one side of the tent. In the center of the group was one of the snail's. It looked oddly like old storytimes back in grade-school or the scouts.
The kids, all around or younger than ten, seemed to be enjoying themselves as they chatted with the small snail. Something was unusual with some of the kids. John thought he heard some of them were speaking in that crisp bug language. That pretty much confirmed to John that some sort of power was at play here.
Of course, their group's attention was drawn to a small group in the back of the tent. There were four of them. Two human girls, one of which was Shay's younger sister Rebecca. The other girl was a pre-teen, maybe fourteen, with dark brown hair. It was the younger girl that noticed them first and shook Rebecca's arm.
"Oh, hey bro, what's up."
"Oh, hey sis, not much just imprisoned by giant bugs; you doing well?"
Rebecca opened her mouth to reply with a sarcastic remark, probably, but someone else replied first. The voice was feminine and young but had a confident that oddly reminded John of the hero, Alexandria.
"Yes, I do apologize for the inconvenience, but we were quite… surprised. Please take a seat."
It took John a moment to realize who was speaking to them, but he didn't know why. The speaker had a dominating aura to her; tall and thin, her horns added almost another foot to that height. She wore an elegant red cloak, and a four-pronged medallion rested around her neck. She had a natural beauty, like that of a classical statue.
She was the human-like bug from the picture book, and statues. It was evident that Shay's little theory was spot on.
She also spoke English fluently because what is normality; John certainly hasn't seen it in his twenty years.
Will seemed to be on the same page as John.
"Um, are we supposed to bow… your majesty?"
John almost laughed at the question. The Queen chuckled too.
"No need. We of Hollownest aren't as formal as the kingdoms of your world; again, please sit. I'm Hornet, Queen of Hallownest. This is my Master Knowledge, Quirrel," The bug beside her dipped his head. "He's the equivalent of your Secretary of education. Rebecca has already told me your names; it is nice to make your acquaintance."
The three boys slowly took a seat on the carpeted mats, well aware of the guards' eyes on their backs. John wasn't sure what they thought they could do? John had the impression that the Queen's spear wasn't for appearances. You don't survive Brockton Bay without knowing when you are outclassed.
"Now I'm sure you have plenty of questions, I can only imagine."
The boys nodded but did not speak up. Will cleared his throat before taking the offer.
"We have… many questions; I don't know where to start?"
The Queen, Hornet, rested her head on the one hand, "How about I answer one question from each of you."
"Maybe if you could say how this place got here?"
"We don't know ourselves; it wasn't intentional." Hornet turned her head to Shay.
"How come you know our language, especially so fluently as you do?"
There was a pause before she opened the palm of her hand. John idle noted the claws before a white light captured his attention. The strange light grew and then condensed into a sphere.
The boys looked at each other before Shay decided to confirm, "So you have powers?"
Hornet smiled; it was a strange expression for John to look at, uncanny.
"In a manner of speaking, but not these para-human powers you know of."
Shay looked like he wanted to ask more but decided to leave it alone. John agreed with the sentiment; it was best not to be rude even if the host was evasive. It was a can of worms though; concerning in a sense, the way they used this light power could be as dangerous as they were varied. Most troubling if it was similar to that of a master.
John had seen the smuggled pictures of the Hope Killer.
"It wasn't a master power, not really?"
John wiped his head to the youngest in the group. Now that he was closer, John was sure the girl had to be at most twelve. Before he could ask for more, the bug, Quirrel, spoke next.
"The young one is correct, we would not use such aberrant practices," John squinted; there was an edge to his voice that spoke of personal experience. "The Snail Shamans' power was unintrusive, mutual, and used only to assist and speed up the process."
"Okay, so that's good to hear," John spoke, "I guess then one last question then; why are we here?"
"Well, you can thank the young Miss. Alcott here for that."
XXX
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♦ Topic: Message to PRT/American Government
In: Boards ► East North East
Jojo-soup (Original Poster)
Posted On Apr 11th, 2011:
@Alexandria @Legend @Eidolon
So this is a message I'm writing for the Queen of Hollownest, That's the giant mountain that appeared last night in the Green Mountain National Forest. So The Queen, Her name is Hornet, knows that you have a perimeter set up around the Forest, and she wishes to meet you at this location [Link] in one Hour.
There You will meet with one Bug representative and myself before talks will begin. The Queen wishes for a peaceful meeting and want's no reason for hostilities.
Do not bring more than ten people. The Queen also wishes for one PRT, Protectorate, and Governmental representative.
Proof that this is all true
[Link],[Link],[Link],[Link],[Link],[Link]
The Queen also wishes to assure you that all the human Guests are well taken care of. [Link]
(Showing page 1 of 1)
►Acree
Replied On Apr 11th, 2011:
What?
►Bagrat (Veteran Member) (The Guy in the Know)
Replied On Apr 11th, 2011:
I don't want to jump the gun, and I think we have like a minute before this thread is taken down, but He's not lying. The PRT, Army, and National Guard have cordoned off the Forest. Also, there were reports of blinding lights in the area at around midnight.
►Vista (Verified Cape) (Wards ENE)
Replied On Apr 11th, 2011:
That Queen looks familiar. Wait, is this a bug Kingdom!
►Tin_mother (Moderator)
Replied On Apr 11th, 2011:
Thread Locked
A/n so ya it's been a while. Moving sucks!
- Dalai Lama
Collision: Part Six
John Cambell was not having a particularly great day. John tried to stay positive, though; He reasoned that things could be a lot worse for him and his friends. They could be dead, for example, or being eaten alive, maybe tortured till he begged for death. So, in contrast, John's day wasn't going horribly.
"Where is my daughter! I want to see my child. You stupid bug faced monster!"
John couldn't help but sigh as he looked over to the shouting woman. An older blond, of average build, was shouting in the face of one of the grey armored guards. John didn't want to feel annoyed, but the woman was getting on his nerves.
She, his buddies, and about twenty other campers had been taken… sequestered? Kidnaped, yep, he was abducted by a bunch of anthropomorphic bug-people and brought to their magical Kingdom.
Crazy day.
They were ushered into a cafeteria-like building and were poked and prodded for hours. Some snail-people had also been here trying to bridge the language barrier. Not particularly easy when most of the campers were less than cooperative. There were a few tied up and gagged in the corner of the room—one of which John suspected to be an empire, eighty-eight members; if that tattoo was any indication.
"Hey lady, will you give it a rest; they don't even know what you're saying." The high pitched voice of Will broke through the lady's tirade.
The woman spun on her heel and looked at them. Her face was flush, and tears were building in her eyes.
"Give it a rest! They took my daughter!"
She was stomping her way towards John's small group.
"Perfectly normal," a voice in a southern drawl started, "This is some sort of Kingdom, we crossed the border. Well, the border crossed us, but that's semantics. It's standard procedure to separate criminals from kids, a security measure, and nothing more."
Shay calmly flipped the next page of the book he was reading. The bugs had left many picture books, and other material for them to 'read.' John kept quiet; that was an excellent possibility to be sure, but there were a lot of worse things that could be happening.
"Also," Will spoke back up, "they might find the kids easier to work with."
John nodded as they looked back to the guards. There were only two of the Mantis creatures, most of the other bugs left when the Snails did. Maybe they had given up on the adults? Not many of the campers were very cooperative. John and his friends were, but they were treating this as First contact, an exciting prospect, and John couldn't help feeling a little bit of glee. Sadly John was studying economics, a reasonable basis for cultural studies, not so good for linguistics.
"I don't understand how your boys are so calm!" The woman dropped down next to them at their bench. A little bit of pity wormed its way into John's heart. This was probably even harder for a mother. As if thinking the same thing, Shay sighed and passed the small book to the lady.
"I'm worried too, ma am after all my sis is with 'em, but I don't really think they're in any danger." as if being soothed by his word, the woman accepted the book.
"What's this?"
"I believe this is a picture book, probably meant for children, bug-children. The words are gibberish, but the pictures tell a good enough tale on their own."
John leaned towards his friend and smiled, "Care to share your opinion with the class, Mr. Connors."
"Hardieharhar Jo, anyway, by cross-examining some of the different books, I can safely say we're dealing with a lost Island here."
"I don't know about you, Shay, but I don't see any fucking water around."
Shay picked up a small book from the stack, "First, language William and second look here." The picture in the book was that of a grey desert and marble road. A small figure was also in the drawing; John couldn't read the short text, though. "It's in a ton of these books—a mountain, and sometimes a small village surrounded by Grey deserts. If we add that and all the other weird things about this place, well, I'm sure you've all thought about it. These bugs are from another world."
"Why can't it be the work of a Cape?"
John shook his head at the woman, "I thought so too at first, but Shay is right; this is all far too much for a singular cape or group. How this Bug-city got here; maybe a cape did it, but the true answer is probably beyond us mere mortals."
"Well, that's all very interesting," Will spoke up his voice laced with sarcasm. "Is there anything that might help us with our current predicament?"
Shay put the book down and reached for one of the more massive tomes in the stack. It had the stylized four-pronged white symbol that was a typical decoration in the city and on the bug-soldiers' armor. John had already guessed that it was this Kingdom's national symbol or sigil of their Royal Family; if they had one.
"This is what I think is a child's version of a national history book or bible. The key figure is this… Woman? I think this is a female, at least." Shay flipped to a picture of a human-like bug donned in a red cloak. It was a familiar sight, as well.
"Isn't that the Statue next to that well in the center of this town?"
Shay nodded in Will's direction. "Yes, she is a key figure in the second half of this book—imagine the Declaration of Independence or Crossing of The Delaware— Then replace Washington with her. Most importantly is that I think this is all recent history too."
"What makes you say that," replied John.
"Because that's where it ends. There's like maybe a handful of pages and then nothing."
"Well," John spoke up, "let's hope the bug-queen is friendly."
Their new friend rested her head on the table, "were so doomed."
They were, in fact, not doomed. A few minutes later, a human-sized snail and a beetle, dressed in a cloak, came into the hall. John had noted that cloaks, capes, and masks seemed to be the most common wear for the anthropomorphic bug people.
The beetle spoke first in the strange language, but what shocked the group was the badly accented pronunciation of their names.
When the snail spoke, the group truly got a shock.
"Shay, William, and John, your presence is required by the Queen."
John looked to his friends; they all shared the same thought, that was fast. It wasn't particularly perfect English but still understandable. That was not natural. John had thought it would take at least a couple of days to get any intelligible dialogue. Yet it should not have been too unbelievable, and stranger things were happening.
Two more of the guards came in to escort them, and although not physical with the group, the intent was clear; the request was not something you can deny.
"Wait!"
John turned back to the woman they talked to earlier. Worry and depression marred her face, but John could tell that she wasn't as scared as she was before.
"If you get the chance, can you see if she's alright?"
John smiled, "What's her name?"
"Dinah Alcott."
John nodded and headed off with the small precession. The first thing he notices is the rising sun as they exit the building and the odd reaction of the bugs they pass. They were all pointing at the sky and shouting at each other. It seemed that clear skies were something of a new experience for them.
Their destination was a small clearing where a large hut sat. John's first impression was that of Mongolian yurts or the stereotypical Gypsy tent. At the entrance was a huge bug donned in armor of crimson red and lined with black.
All three of the humans froze at the sight of him. It did not last long as the escorts pushed them forward. The giant bug barely glanced at them as they approached, however. When he did speak, the deep voice shook their bones.
There was a short conversation in the bug language between the massive Guard and the smaller beetle. John had a distinct impression that the beetle might be a female.
The tent's inside was well lit with white lamps and furnished with some sort of fur rug. The canvas itself was spacious, able to hold many people without feeling crowded, and it was a good thing too.
There were probably a half dozen bugs, snails, and of course, humans all inside. Whatever John expected, this wasn't it; he had expected a throne room, or interrogation chamber if his luck was terrible. There was a google of children in a semi-circle to one side of the tent. In the center of the group was one of the snail's. It looked oddly like old storytimes back in grade-school or the scouts.
The kids, all around or younger than ten, seemed to be enjoying themselves as they chatted with the small snail. Something was unusual with some of the kids. John thought he heard some of them were speaking in that crisp bug language. That pretty much confirmed to John that some sort of power was at play here.
Of course, their group's attention was drawn to a small group in the back of the tent. There were four of them. Two human girls, one of which was Shay's younger sister Rebecca. The other girl was a pre-teen, maybe fourteen, with dark brown hair. It was the younger girl that noticed them first and shook Rebecca's arm.
"Oh, hey bro, what's up."
"Oh, hey sis, not much just imprisoned by giant bugs; you doing well?"
Rebecca opened her mouth to reply with a sarcastic remark, probably, but someone else replied first. The voice was feminine and young but had a confident that oddly reminded John of the hero, Alexandria.
"Yes, I do apologize for the inconvenience, but we were quite… surprised. Please take a seat."
It took John a moment to realize who was speaking to them, but he didn't know why. The speaker had a dominating aura to her; tall and thin, her horns added almost another foot to that height. She wore an elegant red cloak, and a four-pronged medallion rested around her neck. She had a natural beauty, like that of a classical statue.
She was the human-like bug from the picture book, and statues. It was evident that Shay's little theory was spot on.
She also spoke English fluently because what is normality; John certainly hasn't seen it in his twenty years.
Will seemed to be on the same page as John.
"Um, are we supposed to bow… your majesty?"
John almost laughed at the question. The Queen chuckled too.
"No need. We of Hollownest aren't as formal as the kingdoms of your world; again, please sit. I'm Hornet, Queen of Hallownest. This is my Master Knowledge, Quirrel," The bug beside her dipped his head. "He's the equivalent of your Secretary of education. Rebecca has already told me your names; it is nice to make your acquaintance."
The three boys slowly took a seat on the carpeted mats, well aware of the guards' eyes on their backs. John wasn't sure what they thought they could do? John had the impression that the Queen's spear wasn't for appearances. You don't survive Brockton Bay without knowing when you are outclassed.
"Now I'm sure you have plenty of questions, I can only imagine."
The boys nodded but did not speak up. Will cleared his throat before taking the offer.
"We have… many questions; I don't know where to start?"
The Queen, Hornet, rested her head on the one hand, "How about I answer one question from each of you."
"Maybe if you could say how this place got here?"
"We don't know ourselves; it wasn't intentional." Hornet turned her head to Shay.
"How come you know our language, especially so fluently as you do?"
There was a pause before she opened the palm of her hand. John idle noted the claws before a white light captured his attention. The strange light grew and then condensed into a sphere.
The boys looked at each other before Shay decided to confirm, "So you have powers?"
Hornet smiled; it was a strange expression for John to look at, uncanny.
"In a manner of speaking, but not these para-human powers you know of."
Shay looked like he wanted to ask more but decided to leave it alone. John agreed with the sentiment; it was best not to be rude even if the host was evasive. It was a can of worms though; concerning in a sense, the way they used this light power could be as dangerous as they were varied. Most troubling if it was similar to that of a master.
John had seen the smuggled pictures of the Hope Killer.
"It wasn't a master power, not really?"
John wiped his head to the youngest in the group. Now that he was closer, John was sure the girl had to be at most twelve. Before he could ask for more, the bug, Quirrel, spoke next.
"The young one is correct, we would not use such aberrant practices," John squinted; there was an edge to his voice that spoke of personal experience. "The Snail Shamans' power was unintrusive, mutual, and used only to assist and speed up the process."
"Okay, so that's good to hear," John spoke, "I guess then one last question then; why are we here?"
"Well, you can thank the young Miss. Alcott here for that."
XXX
■
Welcome to the Parahumans Online message boards.
You are currently logged in, XxVoid_CowboyxX.
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■
♦ Topic: Message to PRT/American Government
In: Boards ► East North East
Jojo-soup (Original Poster)
Posted On Apr 11th, 2011:
@Alexandria @Legend @Eidolon
So this is a message I'm writing for the Queen of Hollownest, That's the giant mountain that appeared last night in the Green Mountain National Forest. So The Queen, Her name is Hornet, knows that you have a perimeter set up around the Forest, and she wishes to meet you at this location [Link] in one Hour.
There You will meet with one Bug representative and myself before talks will begin. The Queen wishes for a peaceful meeting and want's no reason for hostilities.
Do not bring more than ten people. The Queen also wishes for one PRT, Protectorate, and Governmental representative.
Proof that this is all true
[Link],[Link],[Link],[Link],[Link],[Link]
The Queen also wishes to assure you that all the human Guests are well taken care of. [Link]
(Showing page 1 of 1)
►Acree
Replied On Apr 11th, 2011:
What?
►Bagrat (Veteran Member) (The Guy in the Know)
Replied On Apr 11th, 2011:
I don't want to jump the gun, and I think we have like a minute before this thread is taken down, but He's not lying. The PRT, Army, and National Guard have cordoned off the Forest. Also, there were reports of blinding lights in the area at around midnight.
►Vista (Verified Cape) (Wards ENE)
Replied On Apr 11th, 2011:
That Queen looks familiar. Wait, is this a bug Kingdom!
►Tin_mother (Moderator)
Replied On Apr 11th, 2011:
Thread Locked
End of Page. 1
A/n so ya it's been a while. Moving sucks!
Last edited:
