Percival Phoenix and the Promise of Tomorrow

[cityship]

Last time on Percival Phoenix:
Though the armies of Nuon and the Blood Queen seemed overwhelming in number, PERCIVAL PHOENIX (and also the rescue team) managed to divert the attack, instead striking directly at the lieutenants of Dr. Lady Deathtruction NEUTRO™! Through their combined efforts, they freed both from the doctor's evil mind control. And yet, two crew members still remain. With no choice but to infiltrate the fortress of the dreaded Lash Dr. Lady Deathtruction NEUTRO™, they venture valiantly forth!

Will they be able to save their friends before the Death Ray becomes fully operational?

And now, the conclusion!

Comments

THE END? (Everyone)

[cityship]

[???]

Re: THE END? (Everyone)

[cityship]

With NEUTRO™'s death ray destroyed, the world seemed to be taking on a fuzzy, flickering edge, like the picture on an old earth television that couldn't pick up a signal. The flashing red lights of the Evil Lair were dimming even as NEUTRO™'s remaining evil minions scurried about in confusion.

Percival turned to the crew, smile hearty and strangely beatific even as his image began to fade from view. "It seems that our time together is at an end, friends! Thank you for aid in rescuing Daisy."

He gave them a smart salute. "And may we meet again -- someday, somewhere! Until then, watch the stars, and never give up hope! PERCIVAL PHOENIX, signing off!"

Suddenly, the entire evil lair disappeared, leaving all of them standing in the middle of an arid, deserted wasteland. In the place of the death ray was a small, obviously ancient piece of machinery -- an alien holoprojector, half-buried in the sand. Scattered around the area were fragments of metal and glass, and in the distance, the corroded partial hull of what appeared to be an interminably old, broken spaceship.

It was a crash site.

The projector looked like it was powering down; there was no conventional user interface to speak of, save for a single button visible on its dusty surface.

Push it (Y/N)?

Re: THE END? (Everyone)

[thewunderkind]

Well now that she wasn't half naked and covered in mud anymore, Lash was still a bit confused. What exactly happened? What was that badass looking raygun? She decided she should take things slowly. After all, with all fading away, they could learn the importance of being careful around alien technology--

"OH! A BUTTON!"

--never mind.

She pressed it, without waiting for the others to tell her yes or no. For if Howard had some part of him that warned him it was a bad idea to press buttons, Lash's other side just screamed at her harder to press that button faster.

Re: THE END? (Everyone)

[cityship]

Miraculously, nothing exploded.

Instead, a miniature projection appeared in the air above the projector -- a little faint, but still recognizable. The image appeared to be of the inside of a spaceship, perhaps even the one that now lay broken and shattered on the planet's surface. A small alien boy, blue-skinned with bright, faceted eyes sat at a worktable of some sort, machine parts scattered across its surface. And in the distance, were someone to look closely enough, was a hulking old steel contraption that would look strangely familiar to anyone from Earth. It was open, its contents strewn across the floor around it. An old record album, a stuffed bear, a few volumes of classic books, a framed photo of Elvis Presley, a violin case, and an assortment of other seemingly unrelated items.

It was a space capsule.

"Hey, bro, remember when I said living on a Reclamation Unit was totally boring? Well, guess what? The other day, dad's crew found this!" The boy held up what appeared to be an old, yellowed science fiction comic book. Emblazoned on the cover were the words, "Percival Phoenix vs. the Death Ray!". And below it, "This month's exciting new adventure!"

"Mom says it's from a primitive pre-Bleed culture. So I'm creating a holonovel using the data for my science project! It's kind of my first try at something this big, but it's gonna turn out great, I just know it. I'm even programming it to use information stored in the memory of the people who play it and incorporate that into the scenario. Um, but I haven't figured out how to fully accommodate more than four or so users..."

"Anyway, tomorrow dad's going to help me put in the safety protocols. So wish me luck! Hey, I'll send you another message if I win the prize, okay?" If an alien with no conventional humanoid mouth could beam, this boy would be beaming.

The image faded and the holoprojector grew dark.

"End of recorded data," it announced.

[encourage]

Sakura crossed her arms over her chest. "We were trapped in someone's science project?" Looking around at the crash site made that seem more sad than anything else.

Not hard to recognize the model for Percival.

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"I give it an A for creativity and an F for everything else. Fuck that, F minus."

Oh hey, they can swear again.

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

Oh, come on, Howard. You only sort of got choked by your friend. Jeez.

"They must have ran into some trouble before the safety protocols were fully integrated," said Zouichi. "From the state of the wreckage, I doubt there were any survivors."

He paused. "It appears as though the projector is permanently damaged. Should we take it with us?"

[thewunderkind]

It was a sad scene, truly, honestly...well if you where someone else that wasn't Lash.

"Do you guys mind if I look around and see what we can find in this scrap heap?"

[encourage]

"You're going to even if we say no, aren't you?" Sakura looked at the projector itself, then back over to Zouichi. "The ship sent us to investigate. Is it portable?"

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Even if it's not, I want to get something out of this besides a bruise on my back and neck." Why yes, that is a dirty look he shoots Zouichi. They're alright, now's the perfect time to be cranky. "I'm betting there's some salvageable material in here somewhere."

[8wings.livejournal.com]

Anwei felt a sudden lightness in her mind, not to mention her chest. She looked down and discovered that her costume had vanished, replaced with her familiar jacket-and-and plantsuit combination.

She stalked forward, shuffling her feet through the dust, looking for some fragment of bone that she could spit on. Their lives nearly lost because this boy had nothing better to do than set up his equipment, fully powered, and then put off installing the safety protocols until the next day?

She relieved her wrath with a string of ear-blistering oaths, faithfully translated in full sulphurous glory, ending with the muttered phrase "...my lawyers."

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

Zouichi shrugged. "I doubt it will be of much use to the ship, considering we already have non-malfunctioning holoprojectors. However, it shouldn't take very long to excavate it and carry it back."

Also, he didn't feel quite right just leaving it there.

"Alternatively, I suppose we could bury it."

[thewunderkind]

An afro peeked from over where she stood in the mountain of the ship's debris.

"Let's made it explode!"

Pause.

"..it's only fitting, you know."

[encourage]

"..." Sakura shook her head. "I'd personally prefer to take it back."

[8wings.livejournal.com]

"If we're taking it back, we disable it completely first."

With a rock, if necessary.

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

Disapproving Zouichi is disapproving, Lash. "I would also prefer to take something of the wreckage back with us."

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Or we could stand around forever arguing what to do with it. Let's take it back and decide then. Adventure movies and dead children make me want to take a nap," he says, somewhere between deeply cynical and almost sad.

[thewunderkind]

"JACKPOT! Well..kinda." Out of the sand, Lash pulled out a large box, and opened it after a few well-placed kicks.

"Tee hee hee! You'll never guess what I found."

She held up the yellowed book from where she was standing.

"And the sand kept it it humidity free!"

[j-y-d.livejournal.com]

"My magic tricks seem to be working again. Which means we can take at least a U-Haul's worth of stuff back if we want to do some heavy salvage here. Let me give you a hand, Lash." Cause helping her might mean not dealing with Z more than necessary, plus they both love big guns, so it works out or something.

[encourage]

"Let's get things moving, in that case." Sakura looked up at Lash's call, surprised. "Is that the novel?"

Questions she could ask again later. Ducking down next to the projector, she looked for some sign of an off switch. She found something that said ON and OFF, and moved the little lever down. "I think it's off," she said, shoulders hunching briefly.

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

Zouichi slid his fingers under the sand until he found purchase enough, then lifted the projector up and out of its resting place. It ended up being about the length of a small table, roughly cylindrical, with supportive struts on one side. Heavy, but for him, easily negotiable. He set it upright on the sand, examining its surface. "I don't see any other interface or power source. I think we should be all right."

He glanced back at Lash. "...Seriously? It survived all this time?"

[thewunderkind]

"Yeap! No humidity means the pages weren't able to deteriorate!" She put the book back into the large chest. "Better keep in here until we get to Stacy, however. There was also some fat guy with a microphone in there as a picture frame, but it looked broken." She peeked into it again. "And a tiny toy bear."

[8wings.livejournal.com]

Anwei glared at the projector, lips tight. She really wanted to take it apart, just to be safe. But she hadn't brought her tool kit (and she had such a nice one too).

Why do I keep rushing into these missions, she asked herself. And answered, because the ship might decide to dismember me if I dawdle.

Next time, if there was a next time, she was going to take time to pack properly.

[encourage]

Time to get moving. "Howard," she asked, turning to him first out of familiarity, "Did you guys detect our ship still out there when you landed, or was the projector already shifting landscape?"

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

Howard glances up from where he followed Lash to take a look at things. "We found the ship. Thanks for leaving us none of the clues, by the way. The ship looked fine."

He wags a finger at Lash. "Don't diss Elvis."