MINI-READ Twenty-third Installment
This twenty-third mini-read installment ran for two weeks from 29/06/20 to 13/07/20 which features the twenty-fourth chapter of Participant In Entropia by Andrew Jenery.
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Participant In Entropia
Video Vixens and the Pop Dragons
Seconds later we're all standing around the teleporter at Studio Street, which I double-checked by quickly looking at the e-map. 'Right, going by the map this is one of just a few teleporter places that we have automatic ID clearance for, the others being Lemmy's Bridge, Vicar Village, Lemmy's Castle and where we just came from. The point being that there's probably loads of other places that we have to get ourselves, and I'm sure that only then will they show up on the map.' At first there's not much of a response, and Jenna and Dillinger have started a 3-AM dance for some reason. 'Well don't all reply at once!' Delos finds this funny. 'He, he! I think it's just that we're all a bit numbed out John. There's something not right about this planet full stop, and what you said – and I'm sure you're right, that we'll have to find wherever else completely blind?' 'Of course... What else can we do? There's obviously no 'other location' info, we checked that back on Calypso...' Jenna has stopped dancing. 'Yea, we did. Anyway, lets look around here a bit.' Ben makes an observation. 'There's a large building to the east that's downhill all the way from here. Maybe that's the studio – who knows?' I started walking east. 'Good idea, lets have a look. We can watch out for mobs on the way. Something tells me we're gonna see something soon on the scopes as we've seen nothing yet.' Minutes later and we've all stormed into the front of the building in the same way that we always did. 'Well at least this one isn't fenced-off, but there's just loads of the usual terminals here... Nothing interesting at all.' 'I agree Delos. It's a typical tourist trap made to look more on the outside than it really is. They just want our repair fees and to buy stuff from the trade terminals, but we all need ammo so may as well get some...' Dillinger informs everyone of nearby creature activity. 'Everyone! There's red dots on the scopes slightly further east! Get enough rounds everyone and lets go see what they are...' Moments later we're heading down a long, wide road away from the studio, and the red dots slowly but surely get closer and closer to the middle of the scope. We were in for a reality check. 'What the... There's four or five female-like entities moving very strangely along the sides of the road. They ID as Android Video Vixens, whatever that means.' Jenna voices her own opinion. 'Yea! I don't like them. They look like half dressed mad bimbos...' This has everyone in hysterics which for some reason brings out my more ruthless streak. 'Ha, yea! Whatever. Lets ping em anyway – whips or no whips. I think they're quite easy.' 'Yea! I hate em! Lets ping all of them.' I turned to Jenna and laughed as Ben cut in with slight concern. 'I dunno... It'd make me feel kind of odd shooting them. They look so Entropian, it would be like sort of murder...' 'I see what you mean, but if we just try and go past them they'll approach us anyway. They're obviously mobs whatever they look like, otherwise they wouldn't be showing up as red dots. C'mon, lets ping em...' Seconds later we had a more or less unanimous decision, so I opened fire on the nearest one with the Isis-HL6 handgun and it jigged towards me erratically in a strange kind of dance as a huge slice came of its health indicator. It cracked the whip at me a few times which was sort of pointless as I wearing good armour, and I fired a few more rounds that brought it to a heap in front of me. At the same time, Jenna opened up on the second one and Delos, Dillinger and Ben dealt with the remaining three. Minutes later they had all been transferred to our personal inventories by the matter converters. 'Ell – they were a bit too easy. Personally I think they're not much more than eye candy for the more deranged colonist...' 'True Delos, but er... It's still loot. Not much but it's a start, and they're economical on ammo. Anyway, lets see what those other red dots are in the direction of those hills there. It's difficult to see what they are with this roadside wall in the way.' Soon we're all standing on the edge of a field looking at a huge herd of two-legged purple behemoths. 'Heck! Pop Dragons!? At this distance they must be huge! These look like major league mobs to me.' 'Dillinger! I think you're right... We should all ping just one of the younger looking ones to find out.' Seconds later we're all aiming at the nearest Pop Dragon with anything long-range that we've got. 'Fire!' Five laser beams converge on the purple creature which then starts hurtling towards us at incredible speed for something so huge, but most worrying of all was that hardly anything had come off of its health-level indicator. We all fired another round, and a bit more came off, but not enough as it was suddenly upon us. Then, whack! Once again the dreaded yang-yang sound filled my head and seconds later I was back at the nearest revive along with everyone else. End of this mini-read instalment. Click here for the next chapter or chapters of Participant In Entropia which runs from 13/07/20- 27/07/20.
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