* * * *
IN THE first half of Earth's twenty-first century... *
NO FUNNY ANIMALS. *
The cockpits hiss and swing open and the pilots start getting out.
There are four female humanoids and two males, all of varying species.
They all wear the EETF uniform and pilot chest-unit, of varying
colours, over tight vacuum resistant derma-suits. Most have their
half-bubble helmets off already. One male, a grey rabbit in a blue
suit, throws the helmet and unit back into the cockpit, salutes
improperly to his comrades and jogs out of the automatic door with
a blank expression.
"Alec's been weird all day," a female wolf remarks. "How long's
he been like this? Is something wrong?"
Another female, a hare, answers, "Cheri finishes macro-incarnation
treatment today. He's finally allowed to see her. He's kept to himself
all through it, but this last week has been tough on him since Cheri
has been out during it."
* * * *
NO MAKE-UP. *
On the first shot the shining off-white beam zaps into the tank's
dull armour. The machine gets to half-way through the gap before
being affected by the attack, and it stops momentarily. It tries to
move again when the attack finishes.
She sees this, and aims again - above. Two briefer bursts bring
down sections of the buildings' sides, obstructing her enemy's prog-
ress, and not letting it off lightly, damage-wise, either. It stopped
moving when the last of the rubble landed on it.
Bekki knows they can blow another way through. But she just needed
to release her negative feelings. Satisfaction spreads over her face
while a couple of recruits reach her and support her on the way back.
Random convulsions hit her now and the gun slips and spins from her
hand.
* * * *
NO SPECIAL EFFECTS. *
Presently a remote radio voice announces: "Shooting guys. There's
weakening in the protective structure. Standby on the magnetic
cannon. You shut off your drives, guys? 'Cos this is gonna play hell
with the M-fields."
"Truant squadron pulling out," says Alec.
As they ascend through the clouds they are buffetted by sudden gales
of wind, when a thin pillar of light appears in the sky, jutting down
at the alien island. After a few seconds, and minor explosions, a
blinding bolt of energy blasts down the bright thread to impact with
the target. After a brief nuclear explosion, the pilots of the Truants
veiw the impact site, since only energy was involved and there is no
radioactive cloud to obscure it.
* * * *
NO CORIOGRAPHY. *
With acute reflexes Alec deflects the DEG pulse with the sword.
"What the hell are you doing!?" He finally has the opportunity to
yell.
The guy aims again but Alec's thrown sword slices the firearm from
from his hand before embedding in the wall. They close distance fast.
Alec's head-high kick is blocked but his opponent is too distracted
from being disarmed and cannot follow through. He also does not avoid
Alec's closing elbow, catching the blow in his face.
"Answer me! What's wrong with you?" Alec nearly screams. Avoiding
the next attack, he swings a heel into the kidney area then hops
closer to club his fists into the base of the guy's neck. "Dammit!"
he breathes.
* * * *
NO LOVE-SCENES. *
The door slides open. Alec and Cheri's eyes meet.
As Cheri stands and smoothes her gown, a grin of delight lights up
her face. Then, in the minimal centrifugal gravity, she rabbit-leaps
into Alec's arms.
"Alec!! I'm sorry! I should be more careful."
"Ooh," is all he can say for a while as he squeezes her tight,
just vainly trying to fill in the last two months in this single
instant. Eventually: "No. My fault. It was mine."
Cheri rubs her cheek to his then pulls back to face him. "I wish
you wouldn't do this to yourself. You've been brooding and blaming
yourself all this time."
* * * *
NO HEROES. *
Toni stares back at the newcomer then smiles deceivingly. "I have
something for you, too... For all the _tolerance_ you've shown me."
"Toni," the Chief says in a shaky voice, "you get treated like
you treat others. You can't pay people back if you're in EETF. You've
been here over a year because of that."
"_That_ wasn't the reason!!" she suddenly snarls, then abruptly
ignores him and grins at the armed man. She starts to advance upon
him. "Oh boy, you're gonna hurt."
He does not plan to relent untill provoked, and the guy loudly
fires a round off. The 30mm projectile impacts with Toni's swiflty
out-stretched palm, immediately dropping, almost _floating_, to the
floor. Toni's eyes widen with a sudden energy rush. She trembles and
twitches as she rabbit-leaps at the guy, smacking the riveter before
another can be fired. He tries to dodge, but one of her widely swung
arms comes into contact with his fore-head. He is immediately hurled
back with extreme force, head-first into the bulkhead outside the
door.
* * * *
NO FUN. *
"*Crackle*" the radio link crackles. "Operative Recovery Team 8,
copy?"
"That's us," Cheri responds. "Coming into visual range now." She
makes adjustments to some controls. "Standby, Greyrock base."
"Affirm. Your ETA is 4.2 minutes. Its a lovely morning, but be
extra careful out there, you two."
"Thanks. Out." The female looks across the sky to her companion
in his craft. "Shall we go?"
The planes drop from the heavens with ultrasonic whines and the
exhiliration increases for both of them as the horizon contracts and
the world slowly becomes flat. Cheri feels an urge to tear her helmet
off and stick her head out. She giggles at the insane thought.
Alec spontaneously decides to join in, laughing at what, he does
not care.
Cheri throws her head back and laughs even harder.
Laughing like loons, the craft decelerate as they approach a small
clearing in an ebbing patch of forest and scrub...
* * * *
NO CHANCES. *
Another felus speaks from the other side of the room. "Just so
you don't get confused: yes, it is an interstellar propulsion sys-
tem... of sorts."
"Yeah, took us a while to figure _that_ out," the technician in-
tones. He turns his face to Bekki - "You're gonna love these," - and
taps a button. Equations and complex diagrams appear and scroll
fluidly, reflecting off Bekki's glasses.
Bekki's eyes scan and she mumbles, "Magnetic. I knew it had to be
magnetic." The scrolling slows when a large diagram is showing; a
gridded plane, dipping like a valley in the middle, and all crinkled
parallel to the dip. It is obviously a 2D representation of space,
but the strange thing is a thin tube which connects the high edges
in a straight line.
"...So this is actually possible?" she asks.
"Theoretically."
*
THIS IS SERIOUS.
The EETF VEHICLE _Karma_.
Saving the world isn't always fun.
*
Now available.
Created by Oskar Archer and Gareth Barnes. Preview designed by
Imaginethemov Inc. http://www.senet.com.au/~archer
Oska Archer Operative of the Adelaide Japanese Animation Society
Konatsu @ #AJAS @ DALnet and Flappy to his friends 9_9
Part-time Devil's Advocate - 'worse pay, better hours'
http://www.senet.com.au/~archer for `The EETF VEHICLE Karma`
"Hey, do you ever get the feeling you're being watched?"
- Makoto to Misato as they stand in front of the bandaged head
of Unit 01 in episode 20.