***********~Next Time I say Bolivia, Let's Go To Bolivia~****************
With Valve Twenty-Three seeping a brown-orange fluid onto Tumbler I's cockpit
floor, the idea of investigating further seemed to be a doubtful option. Bernard the
Maintenance-Droid knew his friend thought this too.
"Ah'm not the Gaffer ah' wuz ten years-ago..." Valve said from his leaning position against
the Engine Room door and craned to see if the smaller robot disagreed, Bernard kept his
optical lens on the main-monitor.
"...My Gyro's are givin' me hell" the ancient Foundry Boss groaned and wished he could
sigh like a human.
"You could always use the Bell?" Akron suggested, he wanted to get back to his fellow
-Tumblers above, Cecilia had come back on-line and Mut was indicating an uneasiness
about the whole exploration-jaunt.
Bernard touched the button on the panel that would call up Akron's Display Manual
and there on the bright-green screen, the instructions told of how the domed-section
of a Tumbler could be utilised.
'The Bell' or as Drake The Repair-Droid back on The Yydryl would call it a Single-Carrier
Automated Bell... or 'S.C.A.B' -would certainly be a better mode of transport to get closer
to the mysterious Drilling Rig and with the wheezing-sound from Valve getting louder,
Bernard agreed that the option was a good one.
The Bell set out keeping close to the Cavern floor and Bernard the intrepid-explorer,
wondered why he hadn't just stayed at his post, inspecting the sewer-pipes.
.....................................................
"Did she handle it with her bare hands?" Victor Kershner growled across his desk at the
man dressed in a Security jacket and pegged jeans, James Craddock had changed his outfit
again.
"No, Doro... Ms. Goodyear placed into the anti-mag container and brought it to the lab"
James said and stroked the leather Biker-jacket and felt a 'rebel-like' power tickle his
chest. "Knock it off..." the huge man in the small-dark glasses rasped and watched his Second
-in-command dwindle away from the Devil-may-care Rocker style to his usual vain, foppish
businessman-style.
"...This isn't a game. That artifact holds great power and it should be held with the greatest
of reverence" Kershner warned. The silence in the room condoned the warning.
With an alarming show of stealth, Kershner moved from his chair and stepped towards the
door of the room Craddock had never entered, the ornate carvings on it's surface told of
religeous magic and fear of the unknown.
"I will need the Shadow Diamond brought here... to my office" the Crime Boss whispered
"...It has a destiny to assist in"
James touched the studded wristband on his right arm and wondered if a tattoo would be
a good idea. He knew it wouldn't be a good idea to ask the bald-headed man with his back to
him.
"I'll go to her at once" James said and left the dark abode that shunned reflective surfaces,
not sort of Mr. Craddock's place.
.....................................................
Dorothy nibbled her bottom-lip and wished she'd gone to the bathroom earlier. Sitting in
the small room just off from the laboratory, she stared at the metal-door and wondered what
secrets the Shadow Diamond would bring.
Of course, there had been theories and wild-stories about what the chunk of uncut crystal
could do... it could reanimate the dead, it could re-set time and it could open doors into
other dimensions. Dorothy had heard them all.
The faint light-blue glow from the Cage never made it to the foot of the toilet door.
The stone was suspended in the Mag-Cage and the scanners were doing their work, she
wondered if James would come around this evening and this brought a small-smile to the
young woman in the rather-serious spectacles on the can.
It was around that time that the Diamond Dark began it's dance.
.....................................................
Pandora felt it first, maybe it's a female-thing or it may have been that Death was too deep
in thought about how the meeting with Boy In A Dress -would go. His own brother -who stole
the virtue of Death's only love.
The air stank of sulpher and crackled with static, the raven-haired Pandora glanced over at the
cinereal-coloured crib of her child and as her form began to fade, she whispered "I love you"
Death followed a moment later.
.....................................................
The first portal rippled like a pond kissed by a Autumn breeze and the Ophi-Leader in a coat
not dissimilar to Nenothu's Duster, nodded to his two fellow-buzzards that it was time.
edit on 28-9-2012 by A boy in a dress because: Left Rock Hammer in Edit Room.