The Goddess of the Hunt: Part 3
13 Aug 2018Ouberos
I only fade in the cameras once the music has run through a few bars. I’m learning as I go but with the drone telemetry linked into my new toy Im picking up a steady 120 beats per minute of deep dance music with added funk.I still can’t believe my luck.
When I analysed the Shell relic and figured out what it used to do I got so excited I just had to make a working one of my own. I’m not telling you how it does it , all you need to know is that it translates sensor data into music. I guess at one point it was linked up to someone’s personal biofeed. So they could listen to music that suited their mood. Only the possibility of linking it up to a wider data set was much too good to be true.
I had rigged mine to pick up the feed from the camera’s and my EVA suit. I patched in the Advanced disco scanner onboard “Nothing to Declare” and uploaded my cracked copy of the entire music library from Galnet. Naturally, because I’m a genius it worked first time and suddenly I was listening to audio that represented the aggregation of hundreds of thousands of data sets. It makes a dynamic theme tune, just for you and based on what's occouring around you at any one momment.
I’d even thought up a cool name.
The camera feed begins recording and I smile for my future viewers.
“Hi, this is Kara. This Hololog isn’t suitable for minors but you know that already. This last few days Ouberos and I have been scavenging the Artemis, that spooky Generation ship where everyone got murdered by a really nasty Serial Killer. Truth be told it’s very boring and let’s face it you didn’t come here to watch us use cutting torches on bulkheads did you?”
“Later today we are going to do something a little different but for now I have a few jobs to do. You can watch if you want but the good stuff won’t happen for a few hours yet. Skip ahead, you’ll know it when you see it,”
I turn to go, but just as the music mixes in some more funk with a deeper bass line I turn back to the active drone.
“Oh and the music you can hear is a little treat for you. It’s something I invented all on my own. Without any help or clues from any other sources," I lied because I figure any patent is long expired and Ouberos always says that good marketing begins with a clear backstory.
"My little music device is processing the world around me in real time and converting that feed into music for you. I know, i’m awesome. Upvotes please. Anyway, if you want to build one yourself you can buy the specifications from my shop. Just search for Sonorous Engrams and don’t forget your credits because after all piracy is theft,”
Then I pick up my tools and head for the EVA suits. The music gives me some sexy Saxophone while I get undressed but afterwards, when I’m in the suit and just before I’m about to leave it makes some weird breakbeat drums which make me look around for something new. Only I’m all alone. I see the gun cabinet and the music flattens out to a long tone of anticipation.
Then because the music has told me to I take a Blaster.
Later the music switches to a crazy sample of a fast paced show tune just before I pull the gun and fire a few shots for fun. Only now I can’t figure out if the music knew I was going to have a manic couple of minutes or if it was the music that put the thought into my head. Either way, I think this is going to be my best Hololog yet.
I had been back and forth to the T9 a few times and just finished getting everything ready when the camera assigned to Ouberos picked up motion. I made him the primary feed and let everyone watch him search the ship for me. We got the Saxophone again when he scrambled into his suit and I got a great close up of his tight buns squeezing into the trouser section. Then the music went low and ominous as he realised I had taken a Blaster.
Like the music was scared. Like Ouberos was scared. Which made me wonder if he was scared of me. I mean, let’s face it he should be.
He picked the other gun up and at that moment I decided I should probably kill him today.
It’s always been at the back of my mind. One of those job’s I keep meaning to get round to. I do quite like him and he is very pretty to look at but the music seems to want us to both carry gun’s and I’m guessing that’s because we are going to shoot at each other later. Plus my ratings have begun to plateau recently.
Despite being encumbered by a few of my toys from the ship I am able to silently track him to the shattered Biodome and close to within a few feet. The ominous music builds as I sneak up on his turned back and when I slip out my favourite knife the sound rises into a discordant melody which really sounds like the sort of music you could frantically stab someone to. Only just then my guests drop into real space and not long after that he figures out I’m behind him. The stabbing music fades as I slip my knife away until later.
I tell him about the Sonorous Engrams while I send the primary feed out to track the Conda. The giant ship positions itself over a hatch. A ten man tactical team leave the Anaconda and breach the Artemis in seconds. They are feeding a threatening and very militaristic background music into my Hololog that gets louder as they close on us. Overhead the Federal fighter scrapes its shields off squeezing into the Biodome and from the way it begins to move towards us I’m guessing they have a fix on me. Then the threatening soldier music cuts to perfect silence as I activate my mag boots and shoulder my rocket launcher.
It’s a shame Ouberos has his visor darkened because I would have liked to have caught his surprised expression when I pulled it out of the gun bag.
I prefer knives but sometimes you just can’t beat a shoulder mounted battle weapon.
The drone camera in front of me captures the launch perfectly. Later, in post edit, I plan to slow that section down so as to make the most of that big yellow rocket coming out while the blowback swirls around me and shatters the long frozen foliage into a verdant crystal jet cone.
The Biodome is big but the ship launched fighter has nowhere to go and the moment it explodes the music comes back with drums and trumpets and all kind of good stuff.
“That’s gotta hurt,” I said and I can almost hear my audience cheering.
Then, because I've decided to keep him alive for now I take Ouberos by the hand and tell him to follow me. The music switches to rapid notes from an Oboe as we rush through the corridors of the Artemis. I assign a couple of drones to monitor the tactical team and get a good look at them. They are a serious looking crew. Adaptive camouflage and personal Bi-weave shields. All kinds of sensory overload devices and some fancy personal plasma weapons I haven’t seen before. They have drones of their own and I can tell they are racing through the ship ahead of them. No doubt that’s how the SLF found us. Of course they don’t realise it yet but things are about to get a bit harder for them to track us.
On the way Ouberos asks if I have anymore battle weapons in the bag.
“No but I’ve made something much better,” I reply and show him my bow and arrows. He doesn’t say anything so I can tell he is impressed.
“I thought that it suited the situation, what with this being the Artemis. I read those stories you showed me, you know, the ones about Artemis. I think she and I have a lot in common so I thought I would channel my inner goddess and go old school,” I replied as we reached the central deck. I had stashed somethings here and started to check everything over.
“Kara, that’s a Federal special forces death squad. Rocket launchers good. Arrows bad,” he whinely mansplained and I had to work hard not to stab him there and then.
“Yes, and I’m fairly sure that I’m the reincarnation of the virgin goddess of the hunt so quit your whining and pass me that power coupling will you,” I replied. Then when I was sure it was all working I strung the pvc bow I had made with a heat gun and a length of pipe. The draw on it was heavy and I was really interested to see how well it would work in zero gee. Then, even though I thought about not doing it I gave Ouberos the antique mechanical pistol he likes so much.
“I brought you this, you might need it later,” I said and told him to keep behind me because the feds were really close. I panned a drone in close on my face and smiled for the camera.
“Sadly you folks at home can’t watch the next bit. I have to deactivate all of my camera’s. Only for a short while. If everything goes to plan we should be back up with a few minutes. If we don’t come back up then I guess it didn’t work,”
“If what doesn’t work?” Ouberos asked loudly. “Damnit Kara, what have you done? There’s no way they could have tracked us here. You called them didn’t you? You’ve told them where we are and now there is no way out. You can’t fight these people with a homemade bow and arrows. They will roll into this place and murder us in seconds,” he was really getting worked up. I looked into the camera and gave everyone watching a bored eye roll.
“Of course I told them. Those soldiers know who I am. Their orders will have come from someone who has what I want. The truth Ouberos, the truth,” I told him and once again his words failed him. He just looked at the old gun in his one hand and the modern blaster in the other. He was probably wondering how many megawatts of pain the death squad were packing.
“Don’t be scared,” I reassured him as warmly as some of the real actors do. I even put a hand on his shoulder to build up the emotional content of the scene.
“I really am the reincarnation of the virgin goddess Artemis and those Feds aren’t hunting me,”
Then I pulled a cover sheet off a thing I took from the T9.
“I’m hunting them,” I said dramatically and made sure the camera’s got a good look at the fully charged Shield cell bank and the coils of fat salvaged copper I had wired into it.
"Is that my Cell bank? How did you? Why is it not in my ship?" Ouberos sounded confused as he looked at it. I pulled him away from it and picked up the switch that would fire it off.
"It's not a cell bank anymore. Think of it as a really big capacitor. Like massive, and I'm about to short it out. Do you know what an non nuclear electro magnetic pulse weapon is?" I asked him and then killed the camera's.
I could tell he was still upset so I pushed him over behind the blast shield and jumped on top of him. Then I pressed the button.