Sunday Post

 

So some of you know that I sorta ship Steff and Andie from Pretty in Pink. Well, maybe not ship... but I always wondered what their ending would be like. So... Check out this one. 

Pretty in Pink fanfiction Pride & Privilege   

In other news my story had issues with posting so I'm including chps. 17-20 below. Disregard it if so inclined. I know that this makes this post kinda super long  

Here is this week's lyric. 

Do we deserve a second chance  

How did we fall into this circumstance   

Here is the lyric f/ last week and the answer      

Opened my eyes to a new kind of way  

All the good times      

      

   Song of the week

PULP COVER OF THE WEEK: 

  

"Welcome home," Mallory announced cheerfully. 

They had turned a corner and there it was- the secure command center. There were guards before a metal door and a blinking red light above it. 

Stella came over as they entered. 

"Welcome," she was all smiles. "And you must be Maia," she said, turning to Joon's companion. 

Maia nodded stiffly. 

"I see you armed yourself," she turned back to face Joon. "We'll need to debrief you on everything, naturally. After we scan you. Can't be too careful. We'll get you treated too," she waved at Maia's cut which had stopped bleeding but looked rough. 

Mallory ushered them over to a couple technicians as Stella returned to the command group. 

"I'm glad you made it," she whispered. "Things are bad. I want to hear about faux Mallory, but first..." She nodded at one of the technicians, who waved a wand like device at Joon and Maia. It clicked and whirred and then flashed green at the tip. Mallory thanked the terchnician and then took them aside. 

"Experimental scan for intruders. That's what we're calling them pending a better classification. Not that it's a sure thing. No one has really been out of this room since the collapse, so we're sure everyone here is clean, but there was real debate over whether you should be let in- especially since you encountered one."

"That explains a lot," said Joon. "When I got back to the command center I wasn't sure why everyone was gone."

"Right after you left for Ops we got word that the intruders were loose." 

"Loose?"

"Oh, dear."

"Speaking out of turn?"

"We heard rumors," Maia cut in. "A birthing pool, something about a super soldier program. Soldiers who could shapechange, be anyone."

"You heard that?" Joon and Mallory asked at the same time. 

"Well, I have information too," she replied. 

"I hadn't heard that," Joon said rather sullenly. 

"At any rate, forget that." Mallory. "The technicians are working on an inhibitor collar- you wear it and it keeps you from being duplicated."

"She did touch me."

"Yes, I know," Mallory replied. "That's what we're worried about. We don't really know if that means there'd be a Joon running around- you shot her- or if they're alternate versions of us. Now that the Gate is open things have come through- some of the things they're working on are extensions of things we stumbled on coming through the gates or were captured." 

"Gates- plural." 

"Oh. Well, I know you saw the GOA- gate observation area- but most of those are offline, not ready yet. A few experiments. But the Gate in Ops is the only one really live." 

"Wait, go back," interjected Maia. "So... are the intruders alternate versions of us, or are they being grown in a vat?"

"I don't know," Mallory admitted. "Stella knows but she can't really say."

"Maybe it's both," said Joon. "They captured intruders who come from... an alternate reality. It doesn't surprise me they'd try... reverse engineering them."

"Oh, we gotta go," Mallory interrupted. Stella was waving them over. 

"You green?" she asked tightly as they came over. She had a hint of a smile though. 

"They're good," assured Mallory. "I mean, as long as those scanners are legit." 

"Well, here's the situation. We can't close the Gate from here. Ops is ours but there are things on the loose. Our containment system went down and the intruders are on the loose. Could be anyone. We're going to need to get to the Hub and manually shut down the Gate." 

"What about the squatches?" Joon wondered. 

"Still on the loose." 

"The Hub is a ways."

"It is a ways," Stella agreed. 

"Who are you going to get to make that journey?" 

She kept looking at him. 

"Wait a minute," Joon said. "You're not serious."

"I'm deadly serious. Who else can I send?"

"Anybody." 

"Wrong. I need someone I can trust, and you've already shown me you can survive out there." 

"I'm expendable, you mean." 

Stella was getting irritated. 

"I need someone who can pull this off, Joon," she said. "Not expendable. And..." she turned to Maia, "I've been looking into your background while we were waiting for you two to show up. Do you think you can work the Gate controls?"

"Maybe," Maia replied. "I've never been to the Hub. I'm level three but I work with artifacts, samples..."

"Yeah, I know. We'll get you to speed. I'm sending a couple experts with you. You'll only have to do it if they fuck up."

"Stella, how many intruders are there?" Joon wanted to know. 

"That's classified."

"Well, it would be helpful to know," Joon mused, "considering we may encounter them between here and the Hub. And how far is the Hub?"

"There are... temporal distortions between here and there, so it could be three hours or three days."

"DAYS?"

"Joon, are you just now remembering what we do here?"

"There are a lot of creatures running wild."

"I know. As to the intruders, there should be less than a few hundred."

"Oh, is that all?"

"Mallory will  be your contact. You can rest and get that treated," she said, gesturing at Maia's cut, "but I need you to go quickly. We are holding Ops but the yetis running around are a pain, and now we have..."

"The intruders," Maia finished. 

"They're not technically yetis..." someone nearby commented. A withering glare from Stella and the person went back to what they'd been doing. 

"What if I get a fake Mallory on my comms?""

"Well, let's have a code," replied Mallory. "How about... a roly poly?"

"A roly poly?" Joon asked. 

"It just came to mind." 

"I have a question," said Maia. "We've encountered robots, Gaxians?" she looked at Joon for confirmation, "intruders who are shape changing versions of us, and cryptids. Anything else?" 

No one answered. 

"Just checking." 

 

 

Joon. I've been thinking." Maia broke the silence. 

"Yes?" 

"You know Stella mentioned temporal distortions, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, what exactly does that mean? You know, all this time we've been working on interdimensional gateways, tech we've gotten from otherwordly contacts, but... this? Is she talking about time...?"

"Look," Joon interjected. "Could be. I keep getting surprised with how much I don't know about what's going on."

They walked on in silence. It had been a couple hours since they left Command. Joon still couldn't comprehend how big this place was, and he'd been here two years.   

They were approaching the Habitation area now. This was where everyone lived, more or less. The tube stopped here to let some people off- most non essential staff were being sent here to hunker down until further notice- but systems were still offline and the tube was not functioning past Habitation. They were going to have to walk from here on out. 

Habitation was huge. It was an enclosed world, with subdivisions and blue sky- simulated, of course- people had houses, and there was a monorail to get around. A city within the complex. Highly secured, with several entrances and exits, but it could be locked down, and that was the plan once they got everyone there. 

Joon and Maia, however, had other responsibilities. They were heading for the Hub- to shut down the Gate, if they could. 

"Ever wonder why the Hub is so far away?"

"Yes. You have a lot of questions."

"Well, I've never been good at just following orders and not thinking." 

Was that a dig? 

He stopped and looked at her, and the two guards with them stopped as well, keeping a respectful distance. After a moment they started walking again, down a white corridor lit at intervals with recessed lighting. 

"I'm just saying..."

"Have you heard of quantum mechanics? I mean, I know you have. And the idea that time is like a tree- and that maybe every time a decision is made, an alternate reality is born. An infinite number of universes, populated by alternate versions of us who picked a different major, went out with this person instead of that one, took a different job. After everything we've seen... it's not so hard to believe, is it?"

"No," she admitted. "I mean, it would be weird if it weren't true. After all, we know we have recovered technology, a gateway to another world..."

"Right. And I can't help wondering," he lowered his voice, "what it is we're really doing here." 

"Sir," one of the guards interrupted. "We have a problem." 

They turned a corner to find the passageway blocked by rubble. A ceiling collapse. They knew the complex was unstable, but what had caused this? 

"Mallory, we need a detour," Joon spoke into his comm. 

"Why? Did you get lost?" 

"Cute. No, there's a tunnel collapse here. Next best route?"

"I'll get back to you." 

Sighing, Joon switched off. The guards took up positions while they waited. It was very quiet. 

"Do you ever wonder what goes on in these parts of the complex where there's... nobody?"

"Yeah. Like... what is all this for?" Joon agreed. 

"Joon," Mallory's voice on the comm. "Go back to the last intersection, go left. You can get around the blockage there."

"Does it link up to 24C?"

"Checking. Yes. You literally just go around the blockage and you're on your way." 

"Alright. How are things?"

"Bad. We have people in the ops center but there are still squatches running around and the Gate is unstable. We're seeing weird things. Different worlds... but thankfully nothing has come through, yet." 

"It's pretty quiet here," Joon replied. 

"Good. Hopefully the squatches haven't gotten that far. The shapechangers are a problem. Fake Stella has people running in circles. Be careful." 

"Acknowledged. You also." 

He clicked off. 

"Let's go."

They retraced their steps and soon they were on the way again. They hadn't gotten far when the lights suddently went out, only to be replaced by emergency lighting after a few moments. 

"Now what?" Joon muttered. 

"Sir, we have contacts. Dead ahead," one of the guards warned. His handheld proximity scanner was beeping. 

Joon lifted his rifle, taking a position in front of Maia. She was armed too although she'd had little training. 

The beeps were getting more insistent. 

"15 meters," the guard intoned. "Ten. Five. Sir, maybe we should..." 

The beeps were constant now. Around the corner came a procession of spherical floating things... Gaxians. They were covered in eyes, each a different color, with antennae and waving tentacles. There were a lot of them.

 

The Gaxians floated silently by. They were beautiful, in their own way. All the eyes. Each one a different color. Joon had heard they were peaceful, as long as you left them alone. They fed on energy, so some of the laboratories were using them as energy dampeners. He had no idea why a pod of them were just floating along, but hadn't someone said the containment fields were down, so maybe they just... floated out? 

"Hold your fire," he instructed the guards. Maia reached out a hand, as if to touch one, and he almost said no, but he waited. The orb nearest her shied away. 

There didn't seem to be any hurry. The guards kept a nervous eye on them but otherwise there didn't seem to be any problems. The orbs continued on their way. 

All except one. 

As the pod moved around the corner one hung back. It stopped, moved forward, then turned and came back their way. The guards immediately raised their weapons but Joon shouted "No!" and held his hand up. He waited as the thing approached. 

Was this the one Maia tried to touch?

The Gaxian came close and then stopped. He could see the eyes blinking and the creature turned, as if giving different eyes a look at everyone. Maia came closer and looked at Joon, then the creature. 

"Do you think it's friendly?"

"I'm not sure what it's doing," Joon replied. "It doesn't seem hostile."

"Sir, we should keep moving," one of the guards pointed out. 

"Yes, I'm aware." Joon had to admit the creature was fascinating. About the size of a soccer ball, maybe a little larger, and all those eyes! 

"Alright, let's go," he said and they resumed their march towards the Hub. The Gaxian remained where it was, then began to follow as they rounded the corner ahead. They were in 24C according to the marker on the wall. 

The guards clearly weren't happy about their new companion. Maia kept looking back. It stayed about ten feet back, more or less. Joon flicked on his commpiece. 

"Mallory. What do you know about the Gaxians?"

"Kinda busy at the moment. Lemme get back to you."

"Alright."

They proceeded along and were soon in an area of the complex that Joon had never been in. The hallways seemed to go forever, but occasionally there would be cavernous chambers or great arches leading into other areas. They passed another tube nexus but unfortunately the tube was still down in this quadrant. 

The Gaxian continued to follow. They could hear a sound coming from it now. Almost a cooing? 

"Whatcha need, Joon?" Mallory's voice came through the comm. 

"Gaxians. What do you know about them?"

"Why?"

"Becaue we have one following us."

"Oh. That's... hmm. Let's see. Extradimensional. We have between thirty and three hundred in confinement. They're energy dampeners. We have some in the Gate Observation Area, in fact. When those experimental Gates get dangerously high in energy output, our little Gaxian friends feed on the excess and the temps go down. We haven't really found a way to communicate with them yet. Origin world unknown." 

"Thirty and three hundred? How can you not know?" asked Maia. 

"Listen, missy. In case you missed the memo, we're in a crisis right now and systems are down. I'm going from memory but we have multiple species we're investigating. I don't remember what we have of every species, alright?"

"Well, we had thirty just pass us, so unless that's all of them you probably have more than that."

"Let's just relax," Joon interjected. 

"Well, that's all I know," said Mallory. "They are kinda cute." 

"I agree," replied Maia. "On at least that." 

"What are you going to do with it?" Mallory wondered. 

"I don't know, actually," Joon replied. 

"It needs a name," said Maia. 

"Ooh, what are you going to call it?" 

"How about Howard?"

"Howard?"

"Yeah, like Howard the Duck. You know, Nexus of All Realities. From Man-Thing. Howard showed up in that comic." 

"I read Man- Thing," one of the guards added helpfully. 

"Okayyyy," Maia said, turning to the Gaxian. "Going forward we're going to call you Howie."