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Saturday, November 21

Landscrapes: Part 8 – Balance of Power

Jim-Bean was once again at the wall, wearing the bizarre mask. He looked like some kind of alien insect hybrid, not unlike the alien dogs, or Mothmen, they had met in the past. Humming filled the air.

Hammer dashed back into the chamber.

"What'z up?" asked Jim-Bean. With the mask on his speech was garbled.

Gunfire answered Jim-Bean's question. Hammer returned fire. "Work on getting that wall opened!"

The enemy agents were all dressed in black body armor with laser sights on their pistols and nightvision goggles. Hammer suspected they were yet another clean-up crew, sent by Dawn Biozyme to keep them from discovering whatever secrets lay beyond the wall.

There was a flash and a WOOSH as a bullet arced around one of the stalactites at Hammer, narrowly missing his head.

"What the hell waz that?" asked Jim-Bean, reflexively ducking from the small explosion.

"I don't know." Hammer shut his visor lamp off and snapped a glow stick. He kept it out of sight, but close enough that he could still see right a few feet around him.

In the green radiance of the glow stick, the masked Jim-Bean looked even more bizarre. He kept probing the wall, and as he did so the mask resonated. It was almost as if it were trying to find the right pitch to harmonize with the wall's vibrations…

The comms of the pursuing clean-up team were magnified in the tunnels. "This is Agent Balance. Targets sighted. All teams converge on my point."

Another gyroject bullet shrieked around the corner, punching through a stalactite.

Hammer fired blindly in the darkness. "Jimmy, if you're going to do something, do it now!" more

posted by talien at 8:54 AM

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