Floppyshop 2/Floppyshop - 2.zip/Floppyshop - 2.iso/diskmags/4671-5.790/dmg-5484/our_tale.txt

Text File | 1989-12-31 | 9KB | 144 lines

                 TALES FROM THE CYBERNAUT'S REST

     Hello!  Suleana here again, barmaid at 'The Cybernaut's Rest'
public house in Ourtown. Happy new year to you all!
     Well!  Wasn't it cold around here about Christmas  time?  All
that thick snow on the ground everywhere!  You can see why I lit a
fire  in the dining room where the Christmas dinner was laid  out,
can't you? I hope you enjoyed it, by the way. Oh, and apologies to
a  certain  J.  Chadwick  (  what does  the  J  stand  for?),  for
attributing  the creation of stepping stone park to Tony!  When  I
commented  on it,  he didn't say he wasn't  responsible.  Typical!
Anyway, nice work, Chadwick! Talking of Tony, I'm so proud that he
awarded  us the 'Best New Building of '95'.  Perhaps we'll  get  a
plaque put up later,  or something.
     It was very nice of Cyber Sid to drop in last month.  Once he
told me about the Temple and asked about the Hotel,  I just had to
go and take a look myself.  How wonderful to see a few more people
wandering around Ourtown at last!  Officer Bill was hanging around
the temple. He told me it was closed, but could not say to whom it
was  dedicated  or if it had any legends  connected  with  it.  He
suggested I try the shop opposite,  which is apparently a sort  of
tourist information center, I understand. When I asked Bill why he
was  standing  outside in the snow instead of sitting  inside  his
nice  warm  police station with a cup of cocoa,  he  replied  that
quite apart from protecting the temple against vandals that  might
want to edit it in some way,  he had no police station to go to as
yet!  I saw his point, and told him that I would mention it to you
on  the offchance that one of you might be able to put right  that
situation.  Bill  also  suggested  that  other  emergency  service
buildings might be handy.  For myself,  I would quite like to  see
some public transport facilities - a taxi rank or office, perhaps,
maybe a bus or railway station.  You know,  to allow more visitors
and  that sort of thing.  Then there's attractions to  tempt  them
here.  Perhaps  a cinema or an arcade.  I know the  castle  always
attracts visitors and the church is a good place for those seeking
to get away from it all,  but apart from the children's play  area
and  the  ghost  train,  there's not much in  the  way  of  casual
diversions unless you like a mystery.
     Talking of which,  after what Sid said when he popped  in,  I
thought  I'd better take a look at the Tower Hotel.  Maybe it  was
empty  when Sid went there,  but when I entered,  there  was  some
creepy looking fellow at the desk. What he said made me leave in a
hurry,  I can tell you!  Incidentally,  I did try to find out more
about  the temple at the shop,  but though the proprietor  was  in
doing a bit of tidying up,  he said he was closed,  but offered me
seasons greetings, so if you want to know more about the temple, I
suggest you go there.  With any luck,  it'll be open. That's where
the  guides which tony puts on your disk as a textfile come  from,
by the way.
      Anyway,  that's the local gossip up to date, now on with the
first of my little tales. Last time, I said I'd tell you about the
first  time  Jack Peters - he who is now my husband -  met  me.  I
would  like  to add at this point that even though  this  was  the
occasion  that he first met me,  it was not the first time that  I
met him!  But that is another tale,  for another day.  This is the
sort  of thing that happens when you are a traveller in  time  and
space.
     There is so much to tell,  in a life as long and  complicated
as Jack's,  that it is difficult to know where to begin.  To  tell
you  everything  you should really know about Jack would  use  the
space  of an entire feature on its own,  so that is my  next  tale
booked  already!  Suffice to say for now that Jack is in the  same
line  of  business  that I am in.  That is  to  say,  guardian  of
Spacetime.
     Against whom do we guard this, and how do we define it? Well,
our  definition of Spacetime is the entire history from  beginning
to end of one universe.  Believe it or not, there is an 'official'
time-line,  of which only one planet is aware - the one upon which
the base of the Guardians rests.  I shall not mention it by  name,
for  I cannot be sure whether Spacetime Marauders that would  love
to see the destruction of The Guardians may be tuning in.
     As you may have guessed,  Spacetime Marauders is the  general
name  we  give  to  those that would  twist  the  true  nature  of
Spacetime  to  their own ends,  usually to gain  power.  The  most
dangerous  of  these is Melania,  Jack's nemesis.  But  there  are
others,  most notably a bearded male who has a fondness for  black
garb.
     By now, you may be thinking that much of what you are hearing
sounds very familiar, with only a few cosmetic changes. There is a
very good reason for this. Guardians are everywhere and everywhen.
Knowing  of  the Earthers reluctance to accept such  concepts  and
dismiss  them as science-fiction,  one agent thought it  would  be
amusing  to  turn the tables and present the concept  as  science-
fiction. You will notice that I did not say that it was amusing or
that I thought it so,  just that the Guardian in question  thought
it so.  Guardians can be quite eccentric, and often have a strange
sense of humour...  Do you suppose Tony Hartley..?  But I digress!
     In the tale in question,  the Spacetime Marauders are a bunch
of characters calling themselves 'The High Ones'. In reality, they
broke  through  from  a parallel pocket universe which  was  in  a
constant  state of war,  where they were 'The Fourth  Army'.  They
emerged  at  a fairly primitive  nexus-point  -  twentieth-century
Earth  - and since their technology was on a par with that of  The
Guardians  (of  whom  they  were  initially  ignorant),  they  set
themselves  up  a power-base and gave  themselves  their  arrogant
title.
     Well,  it  so happened that Jack had been assigned  to  watch
this  particular known Spacetime anomaly,  and became involved  in
action  to prevent them spreading their powerbase over  Earth  and
out into the cosmos.  So how does this tie in with the first  time
Jack met me?
     The  answer  is  time-travel.  Due to the  High  Ones  having
technology equal to ours,  they were just as capable of travelling
anywhere in Spacetime.  However, they were dogged at every turn by
Jack Peters! In time, they became, to say the least, annoyed about
this.  And I shall not repeat the sort of things that Jack started
to  say when in found himself running into them for the  umpteenth
time!  Anyway,  the  long  and short of it is that the  High  Ones
decided  to  tackle the problem at  its  source.  Without  getting
bogged  down in detail,  they broke into Guardian files  to  glean
information,  then sent a squad back in time to destroy Jack as  a
child.  As  soon as this was discovered,  I was ordered to  pursue
them by The Co-ordinator.
    I arrived at the farm upon which Jack was raised just as  the
attack was taking place.  The High Ones were already in the  farm-
house turning it upside-down in their search for Jack.  Young Jack
was in the garden playing.  His mother and father stood no  chance
against the merciless High Ones. I caught up with Jack just as the
High  Ones,  too,  spotted him.  I swept him up under one  arm  as
a  deadly barrage of plasma-gun fire decimated the spot  where  he
had stood a moment earlier.  Racing for the safety of my Spacetime
Access  Portal,  I drew my blaster with my free hand and  returned
fire  at  the High Ones task force even as  their  lethal  weapons
continued to discharge all around me.
     Needless to say, we made it to sanctuary, and eventually, the
High  Ones  were finally dealt with.  But such is  the  nature  of
Spacetime,  and so much are The Guardians tied in with it,  that I
was forever linked with Jack's fate.  For with no home for Jack to
return  to,  and  for  his own safety,  he had to  remain  on  the
homeworld  of The Guardians.  It was only then,  with some  shock,
that I realised that it was only through my action in saving  Jack
that he ever came to recieve education on The Guardians' homeworld
and thus become,  in due course,  a Guardian of the highest  order
himself,  and  thus  a  threat to the plans of  'the  High  Ones'.
     In other words,  consider:  If the High Ones had not attepted
to destroy Jack as a child,  his parents would have survived,  and
Jack  would  have been brought up to live  (probably)  a  ordinary
life.  He  would not have been educated as a Guardian,  and  would
have  proved no threat to the plans of the High Ones in the  first
place.  It  can  truly be said that in this case,  the  High  Ones
turned out to be their own worst enemy!
            Until next time, see you in Cyberspace!
                                                    Suleana.