Justin approached the entrance to the New World repository for dreams - A generic storage facility for dreams. Dreams that had been harvested across the newly colonised Myzton Colony in the Vega system and beyond. He did'nt give much thought to being on an alien world in an alien star system. He was just following orders to retrieve a set of dreams. Dreams that had been collected from a very distant and isolated system. Whose inhabitants. Who also were quite unawares of their position in the universe. Liked to call earth.
Inside he was met by a decision node robot who processed justines brain waves and immediately began greetings and informal salutations. The robot cooed with delight as it relished the opportunity to flatter Justin with prais worthy of his status. "Ooh Master Justin we are so honoured that you should come all this way to our humble office and from the institute no less. Our pleasure is entirely your and may your wishes all be..." Justine callously interrupted the machine with a wave of his arm across his sensor array, "Yes yes. I am in a hurry we need node 54 from the Orion cluster."
"Oh I see Orion is it. I must say this is all very exciting. Just one minute." The robot opened what appeared to be a translucent tapestry that seemed to unfurl before them as it began to occupy the chamber it illuminated various vacules or chambers that srrounded them in what had until now been a dimly lit sphericle chamber. Each vacule began to emmerge from the wall and the robot merely gestured to the man, "This way if you please most graciously yes". He led Justine towards the first of the vacules which he collected and handed to Justine. "Thats the entire record of 58." said the robot. "Heavey isn't it" justines thoughts escaped him involuntarily.
"Yes well thats the entire system. No other worlds. And no colonys so its very dense."
"I see thankyou."
"I shall leave you with your business in hand"
"Yes." Justines head sank as he cradled the vacule. He rummaged inside his overcoat and found a scanning device that looked more like a twisted blade. Suddenly the vacule began to make a sound more like a squeeling piglet or a newborn baby's squeeling for its mother. Justine looked around there were several robots working and moving other vacules about the chamber and they all turned towards Justine and shushed him. Justine grimaced. The vacule squeeled once more before Justine plunged the blade like item into it which finally shut the thing up and he began to read the dream data into his 'peace book'.
The 'peace book' was institute issue and contained a written form of indifferent writings that had no meaning other than what was on the mind of the reader or transferred via a blade or any other article designed to elicit information in the form of mental energy.
The words or writings contained inside the peace book would first induce a hallucination in the reader rather like a prayer or an incantation after which the reader would then communicate with the hallucinations themselves (which existed outside of time) recording thoughts within its cryptic form and retrieving thoughts placed there on previous readings.
Readings included acts of necromancy. Perfected and trained by the institute. Justine was a necromancer.
The twin suns folded behind a haze of teradactles as Justine hurriedly left the darkly menacing grandness of New world repository building which towered above him denying him the last few strands of sunlight that streamed through the never ending swarms of prehistoric carrion that fed on this season's giant dying sea bugs. He kicked one off the side of his shoe as he boarded an auto step which he directed to the subterrainian enclaves and the Institute.
"We are inclined to agree with the determination of the grand master that you should leave for this...." The high deacon fumbled with some paper work he found something and then looked to an advisor who whispered the word, "...Uuuurth.... And begin direct contact with its ..", he sighed deeply, "...Peoples."
Justine smiled at his superiors lack of pronounciation of a system that neither mattered or held any importance at all to the guild and the institute.
Justine left the high deacon in good spirits. He knew all to well that sending him far far away would delight the council. Justine had always been shall we say a little to honest for this type of work. The exact words were, "He lacks guille". And it was true. In truth by the institutes standards he was an idiot and probably belonged somewhere else entirely.
Justine was delighted.He dreamed of visiting an alien world and vanquishing strange beasts and devouring their souls. He positively loved the idea of doing this on ... What was it called? 'uuuurrrth'
OPening his peace book he began to read and soon enough dreams from the alien world began to take root in his minds eye. He slept for a whole week which was only a day by our time and when he awoke he was fully equipped and ready to leave for earth. His eyes glinted and his sharp teeth chattered in excitement in the prospect of finding a pure soul to add to his collection. First earth and later who knows where. The possibilitys were limitless.
The institute opened doors necessary for travel. Without the funding the gateway that linked necromancys to other worlds would be impossible. The ganzfield experiemnt had been the greatest discovery in the history of mankind on Myzton. A direct link between worlds. Telepathicly speaking.
Justine would just have to leave his body in the chamber and he would be beamed to the next available surrogate on earth. It appeared that all his transit papers had been signed in triplicate and he was being wired up to the cryogenic stabilization chamber that would keep his body on ice.
He left the institute his body and tore across time and space to arrive on earth in the late 20th century and into the body of a stripper named Larry. Larry had been getting alot of a drug of late called spice. It made him lose money when he fell over on stage to the great amusement of his punters. But he was addicted to the effect of making him completely out of it. Now that Justine had taken over Larrys body. He went on a search for any likely candidates for necromancy.
His first victim was a mp for dingley-on-wold. The mp was gay and was rather hoping to have a hot date with the stripper he was disappointed when Justine plunged a dagger into his heart and ate his soul. Before long Justine had worked his way through most of the rulling elite and was now inhabitating a new body - that of a female police officer also called Justine. The police had been investigating the murders of all the top brass and had found Larry and locked him up at the same time Justine fell in love with his double while he was being handcuffed. He sniffed her pefume which he immediately recognised as institute issue psyclocybin and immediately jumped into her body like a ferret up a drain pipe.
The institue had infiltrated the earth years back and sent down certain products including perfume and laced them with psychoactive/genic drugs that could be used by any visiting necromancer - it was an old trick that never failed.
Justine was a hot mamma with a body to boot. Everyone wanted her and everyone who did died. But Justine knew the system and made sure she never got caught with her pants down, so to speak. Everyone she or he devoured ended up in a tragic accident. But necromancy for Justine was getting more and more difficult when he had to dream up ways of killing people especially fellow police officers without anyone suspecting. That is where toby came in. He was a less sucessful necromancer that had become stuck in the body of a black teenager. He would just pop up after Justine made a kill and clean up any incriminating evidence before the police arrived and conveniently plant evidence that would incriminate someone else.
Before long the entire police force had been locked up or killed and Justine had made head of the police. With Toby who had over the years grown larger after each murder as he would always gorge on the soul of each kill.
Justine smiled over the desk which read the sign commisioner in bold as he watched his accomplice Toby sleeping off that nights kill. "That makes a record six in one week." "I just can't believe they still don't suspect." "Me neither." whispered Toby who was too exhausted to speak.
The prime minister flashed up on the tv amidst a rather large armed escort as he looked pensively around him half expecting to be sucked into some deadlights and devoured right there in full view of the unsuspecting media.
"What about that guy. We havent eaten one of them in a while and I am getting sick of students, back benchers and movie stars. They make my stomach groan lets kill someone high up.... and lets do it in such a way that we come out on top."
"Brilliant...How?", Toby chirped. He was wide awake now.
"Well we give him the jump, we don't kill him we possess him."
"Ohh Im not sure boss. Those top brass are usually hard to possess. Christ god knows Ive tried. Why doya think Im down here.", toby pointed out that he was just a tubby little guy.
"Yes they are well protected but thats how we will get them. Infiltrate. Hell look I am head of the police. If I cant get near enough to him to give him a dose of the right drug who can?"
Justine turned away from Toby to stare out into the dank night of new london. The pearl blue dusky skyline looked nothing like Myzton's red mist and yet he was sure that somewhere on the horizon there were a thousand black prehistoric birds waiting to feast on the remains of the carnage he had in mind.
He watched the night fall over the steepled streets and imagined it to be filled with an ebbing tied of crimson carnage. He looked up at the now night sky his eyes twinkled like diamonds and the stars responded in kind. He reached for his cloak and hat. Come Toby we have plans to execute. To the home office.
"Keep close behind me as I show my pass. Theyll just think your one of my servants."
Justine was greeted by a security man as he entered the war rooms beneath whitehall, he began to whisper to Toby under his breath, "This is where they come when theyve been invaded. This is were we will trap him see here is the room where they will all hide when..." "When what ?" "When they go to war with Myzton."
Justines smile was ridiculously mischeivious and bordered on maniacle hysteria, "I know its brilliant what do you think?"
"Myzton is over two trillion light years away."
"Yes but they don't know that. All we have to do is make them believe theyve been invaded by the institute."
Toby deadpanned Justine in the middle of the corridor that connected the prime minsters safe room with the war rooms.
"How?"
"I have absolutely no idea......working on it."
Chapter 2 Invaded by aliens ... Not really
or ....else(All Materials and Story's featured on this site are CopyRight 2024 Sam Shepherd & Simon Kettle - HapHazard Publishing)