You are hiding behind a stone wall being shot at by heavily armed cultist. You have had two weeks of training to deal with situations like this. But you’re only just starting to remember this. You know you should feel angry that people are shooting at you. But you consider that they would shoot at anyone trying to sneak into their heavily armed and very secretive religious compound. Instead you think about the figurative bastards that put you in this situation. They woke you up at four in the morning approximately thirteen hours ago. Bundled you into a car, then an airplane and whisked you six hundred miles from your home. They told you that that two week blackout you had was their fault. That two week blackout two years ago. A blackout that cost you a relationship with a person you deeply loved and very nearly alienated you from your immediate family. They said that you’d been taken to a secret government facility and been in their words ‘The Clockwork Orange’ treatment. Except instead of making you dislike violence they taught you to know how to do very unpleasant things to your fellow human beings. When you didn’t believe this as they quite reasonably expected they produced photographic evidence, timestamped and digitally signed. These memories slowly came back to you. You attributed this to the background music playing in the airplane’s cabin.
The current problem that you are to be injected into was explained to as a local disturbance which could rapidly turn into the European version of the Waco Ranch massacre. They explain to you that this is where you come in. You, they explain are to sneak into the compound and assassinate the leader of the cult as well as disrupt as much of the chain of command. Logically you try to explain to them that Solid Snake does this in the video games and he tends to die an awful lot in the attempt. They do not get the reference. They also suck their gums a lot which you take as a sign of ‘you’re not the first one we’ve sent in.’
The sneaking into the farm ran by crazy cult members did go better than expected. You made it past the official police line and through a field past the body of who you assume was ‘the first one sent in.’ As you reach the edge of the main farm complex however it all goes wrong.
Not the first one to be sent in seems to explain the problem well as you hide behind a dry wall. Your mouth is dry and your hands have almost stopped trembling. Their bullets have stopped firing. Cautiously you peer around the corner and see that three of the larger cultists are running towards you while brandishing very scary looking shotguns. You gulp. Aim the silenced pistol you were given at the closest cultist. Then you fire. It isn’t a perfect shot. It goes through his leg and he tumbles to the floor. He is screaming but the other two have upped the pace. You take aim again and fire. The next one drops without a sound in a mist of red. The third cultist stops. He raises his shotgun. You take cover. He discharges the weapon into the wall and the pellets bounce off the wall harmlessly. You feel you are getting the hang of this. Looking around the corner you feel slightly disappointed that he is running away from you.
You move forwards from this wall to the next. This is progress you think. Then they start firing a machine gun at you and you dive for the closest thing you see that looks like cover. The training you remember consisted of firing ranges, simulated close quarters combat exercises and training drills. Very little of the training (although you cannot be quite certain right now as your memory is still fragmented) involved being shot at and the immediate action to be taken when you inevitably come into the situation. You go on instinct here. Duck and cover, then hope that the machine gun breaks or runs out of bullets.
The person manning the machine gun appears to be enjoying himself. Every few seconds a burst of fire removes fragments of the dry stone wall. The bullets are close and you hear some of them whistle through the air. The gunner however has a steady rhythm to his firing. You remember that you have a mirror on one of the cargo pockets. You take it out and use it to peer round the edge of the wall. There is only him. His burst finishes. You jump over the wall and shoot him in the head. The way into the main building is clear now. You kick the flimsy wooden door from it’s hinges. You hear a thumping noise.
You are cold and cannot move. Your head aches with a dull throbbing sensation. Your face hurts. Opening your eyes you see that you are in a cellar. The thin light of sunset comes in through an opening in the wall near the ceiling. You work out why you are cold and cannot move. Directly ahead of you is a man. He is naked and strapped to a gurney. His right arm has a horrific gunshot wound and his groans occasionally break his possibly drug induced sleep.
Four sky clad people walk into the cellar. One of them has a demonic mask and a evil knife. Another, a drum made from wood with a tight white skin with tattoo ink blue Celtic markings on it. The other two are women who start dancing and chanting as soon as they enter the room. The drummer starts to hit his drum and the masked man you watch move to stand in front of the injured man blocking him from your view.
“For your intrusion onto hallowed ground we punish you,” the masked man shouts. “For your intrusion onto hallowed ground we punish you,” the others repeat. You watch the masked man drag the knife across the injured mans chest. Blood runs to the ground. “For your violent ways we injured you,” the masked man shouts. “So we shall injure you again!” The two dancers say. The masked man pushes the knife into the injured mans gunshot wound. He screams! “We the children of the gods say you must die,” all of the cultists say. The injured man screams one last time. You see the masked man turn to you.
You are sweating heavily now. That evil knife is covered in gore and the blank look of the masked man you feel hides a sadistic smile. The drumming man carries on his vile rhythm for the dancers to follow. You see a small ball shaped object role through the sunlight opening. It bounces on the stone floor of the cellar. “For your intrusion,” the masked man starts to say. You close your eyes in terror.
You hear a deafening noise followed by chaotic screams and gunshot. You close your eyes even more. The ringing in your ears stops and you open your eyes. You try to speak and a desperate whimper is all you can summon. You see eight people in battle dress and black full face gas masks. One of them approaches you and slings his weapon over his shoulder. You watch him take his gas mask off. “It will be alright. You’ve done your duty. You’ve exceeded our expectations. Let us help you,” he says.
This story was originally entered into the SFX Pulp Idol competition. It didn’t win (aw), didn’t get shortlisted and it didn’t even get an honerable mention. No matter I’m well aware of it’s deficencies and it was a tracer bullet. Oh well it’s a success if someone enjoys it.
I do most of my dreaming in the morning. That’s just the way it is.
And this morning, I did a LOT of it. Here’s a brief overview:
Dreamt my dad was still alive because he’d been sent on a Top Secret Mission that involved faking a serious illness, but wound up being marked down as faking his death. I had a hard time coming to grips with any of that, but was still overjoyed to see him. Mom gave him shit for still smoking.
I dreamt about participating in naked wrastling and sloppy makeouts with some hot girl. The boyfriend was supposed to get involved but he’d wandered off to do something-or-other. A co-worker tried to hump me instead and I politely declined his offer. Still weird. Boyfriend, girl and I determined we should grab a patio lounge chair and run off into the woods since there were so many people around.
There were several co-worker type people floating around in this unfamiliar house environment. Two of which were apparently dealing coke. I tried to make suggestions on how they could improve their business - but it felt really wrong.
Meanwhile, my pink nail on my left hand had duplicated itself, and the original nail underneath was all loose, like a tooth, and connected to the underside of the new one by what seemed like really thin clear fibers and pus only. GROSS. I pulled it out, and the finger immediately seemed mostly normal. Still kinda infected looking though.
I know there was more than that but I gotta run and it’s all I remember!
If anyone is subscribed to the straight up site RSS feed of RKNet, I’d encourage you to hit the RSS link in the header of the site for the Feedburner feed, because I just added:
Flickr automatic updates - which I promise to try and make interesting!
del.icio.us automatic updates - a once-per-day summary of what kind of bookmarking I’ve been doing. That way all the lurking SEOs can learn my sources and super-special secrets without having to check too many things or stalk me on Twitter! (Note: This last statement is fueled by paranoia, and by the fact that I feel like I’m getting a lot of friendings by random SEO people lately. What gives?)
Did I happen to mention that I love making mix tapes?? I am already hopelessly in love with Mixwit.
On this mix:
Blonde Redhead
Sonic Youth
Of Montreal
Royksopp
David Bowie
SUPER SECRET SPECIAL THING! FOR YOU!
The Knife
Shael Riley (AKA Disk Masta Smokabitch) x 2!
Jose the Bronx Rican
The Damanhurians are a lot of things. A small group of semi-private spiritualists, architects, philosophers, ecologists, and revolutionaries, for starters. In 1978 they began building a complex series of temples into a mountain in Italy. They finished this construction in the 90’s. They were constructed with the use of whatever labor they could find, and construction was done in secret so they didn’t have to deal with legal constraints. According to wikipedia, Damanhur was an ancient Egyptian city whose name translates literally to “City of Horus”.
For your edification, here’s a short video on the history of the Damanhurians. Check out the Damanhur websites and scope around for more videos. The temples are absolutely gorgeous. There’s so much more to the Damanhurians than just the temple though, they’re a fairly good sized group at this point, with ecologically conscious installations all over the world.
I’ve seen the new (proposed) layout for Ectomo! It’s gorgeous! It’s terrifying! It’s truly a wonder to behold! And… I’m not gonna share.
Nope, you’ll just have to wait. It should debut soon when Ectomo moves to better, more stable hosting. It’s their surprise and I’m not going to spoil it. (Man, I’d never make it at Valleywag, eh?) I think the proposed move date is rapidly approaching, but anybody who has ever run a WordPress blog will tell you, it’s never as simple as it seems.
Of course, while you’re waiting for the glorious unveiling of the new and improved Ectomo, you could always consider beating yourself repeatedly over missing our contest. Hell hath no fury like a fun idea gone down the toilet! Except for Dr. Hypercube. He gets a free pass.
Hint: To see this miraculous thing early, you could also just do what I did and spend more time in #ectomo on efnet!
Subject: I will die bravely, like a smug bridegroom. [how romantic is that?!]
It is open to any interested individual. [death? love? What is?]
Das Ende der Parteien 1933.
F1, F2, F3, -. F-Prot for Windows 8. [Word association game? I'm down]
To build a single sample, run the build.
But in a few minutes there were so many dolls that they filled up the yard, their little street, two big avenues and half the square. [The "Boil, little pot, boil" story, doll style?]
In some instances, these files will perform functions that necessarily require the program file to change. [Sounds like the kind of tech dialogue I read every day.]
Frequently agents go as far as deliberately damaging secret arms and equipment so that they can be written off and then sold.[National arms smuggling secrets revealed in junk mail!]
Remember that the description should explain the effect of clicking on the button. [Usability is very important, afterall.]
They turn around and head for Grand Central Station. Those who hold that this growth is essential to gain full employment are fully entitled to their opinion. [Those two sentences don't pair together at all!!]
Remember that the monsters don't like water (that goes for Ice too). [So they're fire-type, then?] Not for prophecy or. [...or what? How about: Not for prophecy or pontificiation, this product may not apply to all philosophies. Consult your local theologist before applying Rando-mail Brand Email. Side effects may include confusion, dysphoria, and mild irritation.]
24: Season 01 10-31-2006 Currently watching
108352 Ghost World 10-31-2006 11-06-2006
105828 Buffy the Vampire Slayer 10-24-2006 11-01-2006
148435 Crash 10-24-2006 11-01-2006
137167 Donnie Darko 10-17-2006 10-25-2006
127884 The Royal Tenenbaums 10-16-2006 10-25-2006
120330 Secretary 10-16-2006 10-25-2006
136788 Bright Young Things 10-11-2006 10-18-2006
100453 Open Your Eyes 10-06-2006 10-16-2006
111927 The Adventures of Baron Munchausen 10-04-2006 10-16-2006
1088028 Neon Genesis Evangelion: Genesis Reborn 10-02-2006 10-09-2006
110652 The 7th Voyage of Sinbad 09-25-2006 10-12-2006
121104 Millennium Actress 09-25-2006 10-04-2006
131927 Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind 09-25-2006 10-04-2006
100927 Clash of the Titans 09-20-2006 09-25-2006
154828 Brick 09-25-2006
106737 The Wiz 09-14-2006 09-25-2006
122438 Neon Genesis Evangelion [Anime Series] 09-08-2006 09-18-2006
150673 The Super Milk Chan Show [Anime Series] to top of Queue 09-08-2006 09-20-2006
1090145 Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence 08-31-2006 09-08-2006
120654 Perfect Blue 08-31-2006 09-08-2006
153781 Shopgirl 08-24-2006 09-08-2006
154770 Aeon Flux 08-24-2006 09-01-2006
153247 Happy Endings 08-24-2006 09-01-2006
158613 Waiting… 08-17-2006 08-24-2006
156222 Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride 08-17-2006 08-24-2006
150256 Proof 08-16-2006 08-24-2006
155570 Lord of War 08-09-2006 08-17-2006
163614 A History of Violence 08-08-2006 08-17-2006
153347 Domino 08-08-2006 08-17-2006
137942 Earthsea 07-31-2006 08-09-2006
155649 The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe 07-31-2006 08-09-2006
As stolen from Matty: ten words beginning with a predetermined letter and what they mean to me. Comment on it and you get stuck with a letter of my choice.
I got “L”
Listen - Something I try to do often, which also prevents me from speaking a lot of the time. right now, I’m listening to my new neighbor make noise thru the wall.
Litany - something experienced daily. As in ‘today I went through the litany of bullshit that’s more and more common these days.’
List - something I frequently use to convey my thoughts because it’s organized.
Lethargy - a common state of being for me these days, as charactarized by my not wanting to give much of a damn anymore.
Late - something I am rather often, and a time frame in which I am typically up. See Also: late thirty, late fifteen, and late o’clock.
Love - is a super-crazy emotion. I wish I understood what drives it a little bit better.
Loser - opposite of winner. Something I try to avoid being, and something it’s hard not to feel like anyway a lot of the time.
Longneck - a type of beer bottle. mmm… beer.
Linens - fancy word for sheets or fancy sheets themselves. Sheets go on beds, I like to be in bed because it’s warm and safe and I can sleep there. Fancy sheets are also a secret status indicator for me.
Last - “nice guys finish ___” “at ___ my love has come along.” “____ but not least” “____ in line” “____ of the mohicans” “let’s dance, the _____ dance” etc etc etc. a filler word, a catch prase word, an often dismal word at that.
Side note: Before anyone can suggest it…. I’m not emo, goddamnit, I’m scared shitless and it’s clouding my judgement. Doesn’t the latter approach say so much more about me as a person than “emo” ever could? Good. Stop using the term, it’s boring.
Some kids play in the sandbox. We play in the.... litterbox??? The RKNet staff is pleased that you decided to stop by. Currently this is a multi-author project, with a rotating cast of totally kooky characters. Contact giania [at symbol] gmail [dot] com if you'd like to play here too.
