SIM:JP Atorin/Zuril: SECURITY FOOTAGE (III): The Wrath of Zolrak
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SECURITY FOOTAGE: The Wrath of Zolrak ((Ooyetirent Control Center, Asav, Year Two after the Gift of Zolrak))
Zuril: Any news? :: The former minister had come back recently to the now abandoned and hidden facility, with a new uniform and some equipment. Going out was more and more dangerous each passing day, since the Church of Zolrak became a de facto dictatorship after the floods started. :: Atorin: ::abusing a well-worn and macabre joke:: Yes, It’s still raining out today. :: Zuril managed to produce a sad smile. Of course it still rained. It had been raining for the last year and a half, since the first drops from the destroyed ice moon started falling onto the atmosphere, and the storms covered the whole surface of Asav after the massive shards of ice started falling from a decaying orbit around the planet. The ocean level had already raised by two kilometers, and if his calculations had any merit, it was supposed to raise way further in the following months. :: Zuril: And this new uniform? What’s the AFP, some new government maneuver to save their hide? Atorin: Ha, you jest. There has been a government in name only for the last 6 months. Powerless, fragmented, hunted by the clerics of Zolrak. :: If the drought had brought forth the faith of Balzog, god of the earth, the floods did the same for Zolrak, god of water. But, for some reason, the church of Zolrak were better prepared, and as their faithful grew in numbers, they started taking over the cities and governments, violently routing the unfaithful, more preventing their evacuation than actually dirtying their hands. Government facilities, as well as libraries and any other buildings that would be a proof Zolrak had not always ruled Asav, were left to flood and be lost under the water. The government had tried sealing some of them, in order for them to survive, but most were discovered and destroyed. Ooyetirent was yet to be found, thanks to its secluded and protected location, but it was a matter of time. Either they were found, or they drowned. :: Zuril: And Chitern? What happened to them? Atorin: They are bringing the first of their “biodomes” online. Apparently they will be self sufficient under the surf, each housing thousands of Asavii. ::derisive sniff:: I don’t care what they claim. These domes were under design well before the Gift of Zolrak failed. I swear they had planned for this eventuality right from the beginning. Zuril: So they had been preparing for our failure? I’m guessing the ‘Wrath of Zolrak’, as they have nicknamed themselves, did not take that news very well. Atorin: Apparently, Chitern is finishing the domes under threat of death from the followers of Zolrak. They will likely wrest control of them once they are finished. I wouldn’t doubt it if they cast out Chitern as soon as their usefulness is complete, much as they have already done to the unbelievers. The Wrath of Zolrak blame Chitern nearly as much as they blame you and I, my old friend. :: Another long silence, made deeper by the offline computers and the generator at the edge of failure. All their problems were in part due to Chitern failure, but since the two of them were the visible heads of the project, they took all the blame, leaving them ostracized in the abandoned facilities, knowing the whole world would bring on them the weight of all their disgraces. So they did not feel bad at all for any terrible destiny Chitern would happen to suffer. But with them went another part of the old world, of the Asav before religious war took over. :: Atorin: ::contemplatively:: How much longer will the heavens rain ice into our atmosphere, do you think? Zuril: If my calculations are right, for another three years. But this will be underwater in a few weeks. :: That train of thought brought them towards the new equipment, and they both looked at the boxes next to Atorin. It was the equipment to seal the entrance of the lab, so it would not flood and be destroyed when the water level raised over it. :: Zuril: So you are going to do it? Atorin: It has to be me. It was my hubris that led to the loss of all that made Asav great. If anything is to survive of the way it once was, then it falls to me to be the final steward. :: The former minister showed the sealing instruments. Complete with a sensor that would work as a beacon for those that knew how to decrypt it, but would jam comms for anyone who didn’t. Apparently they were hoping this religious uprise would end up shortly, and when the rational and scientific society Asav had been for years raised again, they would be able to find their old computers and dig up their old knowledge, that this Wrath of Zolrak was trying to erase. Looking over the beacon activation signals, Atorin had to choke back a barking laugh:: Atorin: “All Hail Balzog”?? You have a twisted sense of humor, Zuril. :: The professor sniffed in a mischievous and entertained way. Taking this from Zolrak was one of the last few pleasures he could afford. :: Zuril: Can you think of a password the Wrath of Zolrak is less likely to produce? Atorin: No, I concur. If anyone overcomes the Wrath of Zolrak, it would likely be someone who turned to Balzog out of desperation or survival. And, it is guaranteed to be something that would never be uttered by a follower of Zolrak. ::with all seriousness:: Where will you go now, Zuril? Zuril: Me? I will probably go into hiding. I would love to see my Warp Field Generator become and actual engine that can take people away from this sinking planet-ship. :: Sinking planet-ship. Apparently there was yet some energy left for additional humor somewhere in the old professor. :: Zuril: But I don’t think they would appreciate it right now. Maybe I will try to find an apprentice I can teach everything I have discovered so far. :: They didn’t know yet, but he wouldn’t. He would be found, and killed fighting for his freedom, unwilling to let himself be captured. Apparently, there was yet some energy left for fighting in the old professor, too. :: Atorin: You could always hide out in the remnants of the old Chitern facilities near here. Did you know, the Wrath of Zolrak have christened them Skarlozent. ::sad smile:: In retrospect, it’s the perfect name. Unbeliever’s Folly… that sums up all of our actions in a nutshell, doesn’t it? Some day, everything we have touched will be called Skarlozent. ::pause:: After some thought, disregard my suggestion. You deserve better than some old Chitern factory. Zuril: So, this is farewell, isn’t it? Atorin: Yes it is, my old friend. It truly is the end. :: Stepping just outside Ooyetirent, the two most hated men in Asav, and maybe the two men who had given more for their planet in an age, shook hands until they succumbed to a heartfelt embrace, sniffing in respect and affection for each other. As the old professor turned to leave the control center that had been so important in his life for these past years, he slowly came to a terrible realization. :: Zuril: Minister… you are going to seal this place from the outside, right? :: The only response was another sad smile, as Atorin stepped back through the door and closed it between them, and the last thing Zuril ever heard from Atorin was the heavy clank of the locking latches clamping into place. ::
Minister Atorin & Professor Zuril
& Lt.JG John Valdivia |