Blue Light Productions presents
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[The cover is taken up by an extremely large green pyramid
in the middle of the desert.]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Pyramid Scheme"
Barry looked at the sunlight dancing on the surface of the tea. His
attention drew back to the cup in his hand, then back further as he
heard the traffic in the street next to the cafe they sat at, loud now
as if he had been deaf before.
He shook his head, and looked at Allen. "I'm sorry, you were
saying?"
"It is at times like this when men become heroes in their
bitterest defeat," Allen said, looking into his own cup of tea. "They do
what must be done, no matter the cost to themselves. Because they must."
Barry ran his other hand over the pink tablecloth, smoothing it
out. He felt lazily warm in the sun, and turned his face to catch the
sun's rays on his face.
"But although we admire those who make such a sacrifice," Allen
continued, "we never really face those costs ourselves. Only a few, a...
lucky few, must come to terms with decisions like that."
"Doesn't sound very lucky to me," Barry commented, grinning
slightly at Allen.
"I didn't say it was a good luck," replied Allen darkly, the
shadows hiding his eyes from view.
A breeze kicked up, and Barry shivered. Clouds that weren't
there a moment ago covered the sun, and he felt a sudden chill. "What
are you saying?"
"Have you ever seen a dog with purple fur, Barry?" Allen asked
earnestly. "Its owner must do that, but no-one ever catches them at it."
Barry nodded, and took another sip of his hot chocolate.
Something finally occurred to him. There was something very wrong here.
"Aren't you in hell or Hell or Net.Hell or Hell(tm)... whatever...
at the moment?" he asked.
"Yes," replied Allen, sitting back, pouring his tea into the jug
of cream. "You're right. This isn't real. You're dreaming."
"How do I know it's not you who are dreaming?" Barry countered.
Allen snickered. "I'm not the one trying to convince myself that
I have to kill me."
"I'm not trying to kill me."
"No, me," said Allen, pointing to himself. "That sentence wasn't
easy on the pronouns."
"But I don't want to kill you either," Barry insisted, gripping
the blue tablecloth in his hands.
"You're going to have to, Barry." Part of Allen faded before
Barry's eyes. A skeleton, Allen's skeleton, sat on the chair. "You have
to kill meeeeeeeee......"
Barry jerked awake, heart racing, perspiring, breathing hard. He stared
around the room, unseeing, as the thoughts raced in his mind. Kill
Allen? What was going on?
"Honey, what is it?" The sleepy voice made Barry jerk his head,
startled. Alice rose on her side, uncertain.
Barry wiped at his head, and his hand came away damp. "Nothing,
Alice," he replied, his voice steady despite his heart hammering in his
chest. "Just a bad dream."
Alice moved closer to Barry, resting her head on his chest. "Are
you all right?"
The warmth of her body dispelled the horrid vision from his
mind. He ran his hand down her long hair lovingly. "Yes, I'm fine." He
placed a kiss on her head, and lay his head on the pillow.
He thought sleep would be long in coming, but it overtook him
quickly. There was only a lingering sound echoing in his mind.
"...kill meeeeeeee......"
_-~-_
Rick stared up at the pyramid before him. He didn't have too much
experience with the ancient Egyptian monuments, but even he knew there
was something wrong with this one. It rose before him, sides perfectly
smooth in a way that was impossible for something made out of blocks of
sand. If he squinted, he could make out the point at the top, far away
and almost lost in the heat haze the sun generated.
Being able to create a large umbrella for himself helped keep
the worst of the heat from affecting him, but the dark doorway in the
pyramid before him still looked cool and tempting. Light stopped at the
entrance, creating a perfect silhouette in the side of the pyramid
before him. Despite the absurdity of physics it represented, Rick knew
it was perfectly possible for him to enter. There wouldn't have been
much point calling in the Alt.Riders if there wasn't something to
investigate, and how else would one investigate the interior of this
object if there wasn't a door?
But all such thoughts paled in the face of one observation. The
pyramid was green. A uniform grass green. Every square inch of the
surface. And it hadn't been here a week ago. Not that this was the most
well-traveled piece of land in Egypt, but something of this size could
be seen from miles away. And last week it hadn't been.
Someone had put a green pyramid in the middle of Egypt. Rick
sighed. Sometimes you knew this job would get you killed.
Standing around here wasn't going to solve anything, so Rick
took a step forward, and entered the pyramid.
The blackness swallowed him up. Looking over his shoulder, he
could see the bright landscape outside, but ahead there was nothing but
absence of light. Forming his hand into a torch, Rick shone light over
the interior of the pyramid. Like the outside, the inside was green too.
The passageway stretched out ahead in a straight line with no turnings,
or turn offs. Rick walked on, a muted crunching from his footsteps his
only companion.
After several minutes, Rick stopped. There wasn't any sign he
had made any kind of progress at all. Frowning, he turned around,
deciding that this was just another pointless occurrence, much like ten
foot roll of toilet paper that appeared in Wallawalla last month.
Peering ahead, Rick couldn't see the entrance at all. It was
possible that he was too far away, but surely there would be some
pinprick of light? Telescoping his eyes didn't help. All that was around
him was the passageway he was in, and blackness before and behind him.
Swinging his light, Rick strode forwards. Not that he was scared, but
there was some concern over being trapped in here...
The hell? Rick stared at the path before him. At the curve in
the path before him. A bend? But there hadn't been any bend in the path
on his way here the first time. Was it possible he hadn't noticed it? Or
that he'd become turned around, and this was deeper inside the pyramid?
Nonsense. This had to be something strange. He flashed his torch about,
but the same green walls appeared in the light as before.
Rick took a few steps past the bend, and peered ahead. Still no
sign of the entrance. He looked back the way he had come. Nothing there
either.
With not much option, Rick continued onwards, keeping an eye out
for any other changes since he had last been here.
Which was just as well, as otherwise he might not have seen the
figures on the wall. They were little stick figure men, chalked onto the
wall. It looked like a scene from some cave painting, little men with
spears hunting some kind of large animal. What the hell was this doing
in an Egyptological setting? There wasn't any mention of this in that
Fox special, "When Pyramids Attack!" (It was largely because he had
watched that special that he had been picked for this job.)
Rick moved the torch beam around, looking for other figures, but
nothing appeared. Returning to the picture, a burst of paranoia flashed
through him. Had the men moved? A shiver ran down his spine. Too many
_Twilight Zone_ episodes...
Rick put his head close to the figures and stared intently. They
had moved! Very slowly, and jerkily, but nevertheless they moved! Rick
took a step back, a sinking feeling in his stomach. He glanced up and
down the passageway again, but still nothing.
His gaze returned to the picture and it had changed again. Not
the placement of the figures but in the... attitude of those depictured.
How was that possible? How could the men be watching him?
Or... rather... something behind him. Very, very slowly, Rick
turned around, the torch following to light the other wall. On which was
another picture, another man. This one life-sized, although this
representation was more familiar to Rick. Someone in costume. A long
blue jacket, with silver accenting. Red gloves, red cape, silver boots
and a green visor. And hands that held glowing green balls of energy.
Rick barely had enough time to open his eyes in shock before
green energy flooded the passageway. When it faded there was nothing to
see, and only laughter to hear...
_-~-_
Dva rotated the board and considered her position. She slowly reached
out and hovered her hand over the castle.
"You could-"
"No!" Dva said.
"But-"
"No!"
"The king-"
"Missy, no!" Dva sighed. "I know none of us play you because not
even Agent can beat you now, but you must respect our right to stuff our
own games up without any critical observations."
"Dva let me help him," Missy said, about as calculatingly as she
got.
"He didn't, and even if he did, you aren't helping him that much
either." Dva finally moved the knight, taking the bishop, and then it
was Dva's turn. He pursed his lips as he considered the game.
"The-" but Missy stopped at Dva's glare. She turned away
sulkily. She only wanted to help. It wasn't her fault she was now good
enough to defeat Deep Blue. Not that that incident had been made public.
Barry entered the room as Dva made his move, looking around as
if for anything out of place. "Has anyone... er... heard from Allen
recently?" he asked, trying to appear casual.
Dva looked up. "Well, he did send you that lovely 'See you in
hell' note," she replied. "But nothing other than that. Why?"
"Oh, nothing really," Barry replied, non-chalant. Dva and Missy
shared a look. "So, where's Morph?"
Letting Barry get away with the change of subject, Dva replied
"He was checking out a new pyramid."
"Rick's missing," announced Agent, striding into the room. "Dva,
I want you out there to find him."
Dva looked up from the game, cocking an eyebrow. He pointed a
hand to himself questioningly.
"Yes, you. I have other plans for the Net.Elementalist."
"What about me?" asked Missy. "Haven't seen pyramids before."
Agent considered for a moment, then shrugged. "Okay, but just
help with the researching. I don't want you going anywhere dangerous for
now."
Missy frowned, but Dva got in before she could say anything. "I
am trying to play a game of chess here," she pointed out.
Agent glanced at the board. "Mate in seven," he said,
dismissively.
"Six," interjected Missy. Agent glared at her, then at the
board, and nodded his head in mock defeat.
Dva scowled and stood up. "Next time none of you are invited."
As she led Missy out to the transporter room, Barry looked to
Agent. "So what's this big important mission?"
"We're going to the Safe. Someone very powerful escaped."
"And we're going to hunt them down?" Barry asked.
"Oh, no," replied Agent, smiling innocuously. "We're going there
because that's the one place he wont be."
_-~-_
Dva looked out from under his pith helmet. The bright sun baked the
landscape, making him squint to make anything out. Although the pyramid
before him was very easy to see. He glanced back at Missy sitting in the
shade of the jeep, although in many ways she was just as hot. Dva wasn't
sure if Death Valley was worse or better than here. Either way, Marsha
tended to go gooey in the heat, so it was entirely up to him.
He sighed and peered deep into the same doorway Rick passed
through before. Like Rick, he couldn't make out anything inside. Not
that Dva knew anything about what Rick had experienced.
Turning back to Missy, she passed him a heavy duty torch.
Switching it on, a beam similar to an airplane signal burst out. Dva
directed it at the pyramid, illuminating the green passageway inside. He
nodded to Missy and picked up a walkie-talkie. "Check," he tested, his
voice coming at the same instant out of the companion unit Missy held.
Turning to face the pyramid full on, Dva took a breath and
plunged inside.
Instantly darkness engulfed him, showing him only the patch of
passageway lit up by the torch. Shining the torch before him, Dva
thought he saw the passageway open up up ahead, and entered a large
room. The room was square, three times as wide as the passageway. From
each wall a new passageway led away. Dva shone the light down each
passage but couldn't see anything to distinguish the possibilities.
Taking out a piece of chalk, he scrawled an arrow pointing the way out,
then selected the left hand door.
There was another room at the end of that passage, with another
three new passages. Marking the exit, Dva took the left hand passage
again. There was another room, with more doors, and again he selected
the left hand passage.
Logically, he should be crossing his own path by this point.
Illogically, as he shone the torch ahead, he thought he saw something
flash back at him. Continuing on his way he walked into a room inspired
by the grandest Hollywood movies.
The room inside was larger than most houses, the torch barely
picking up the edges. The walls were covered with hieroglyphic figures,
which meant nothing to Dva, running up and down in tight columns. In the
two corners near the doorway were two statues, of the same figure. A
figure in some kind of costume, arms raised as if receiving benevolence
from above. Dva wasn't sure but it looked like they were made from pure
gold.
But they weren't the main attractions of the room. On the
opposite wall to the door was a much larger statue, of the same figure
in the same pose. Where as the corner statues were man size, this one
reached to the ceiling, far above. The name of the person was picked out
in relief below, but Dva still couldn't read hieroglyphs so had no idea
what that name was. Again the statue was made of gold, which would
explain the flashes he saw as the light reflected.
Turning to the middle of the room, Dva examined the main
feature. It was a sarcophagus, made from stone, the top painted in a
stylised image of whoever the statues depictured. At each corner of the
tomb, a pillar rose to the roof.
Dva swung the torch about, highlighting various parts of the
room, but received no mental illumination. Dva had no idea who this was
the tomb of... just as he had no idea what he was to do about it.
Although there was someone who might have a far better idea that
he didn't. "Missy," he called, using the walkie-talkie. There was no
response, so he tried again. "Missy-"
Dva swung around, darting the torch light out. Nothing was
caught in the beam, but Dva remained poised. There had been a noise. He
could swear it. But there was nothing here now.
"Missy," he hissed, but didn't listen for an answer. Then, as he
spoke, that's when something moved. Hearing a scrabbling sound behind
him, he spun about, torch dancing, but nothing.
Carefully, he turned again, the patch of light playing a steady
path over the room. He remained silent, as only he could, straining his
senses for the slightest noise.
Something slithered, the torch light shot out, and there!
Something had been caught in the beam. Just for a moment. Just so he
could get an impression of there really being something there.
Just so he really knew he wasn't alone.
Dva realised that he still hadn't heard anything from Missy.
"Missy!" he tried. "Missy!" Nothing. Putting the radio away, he decided
on the only sane course. Get the hell out of there.
The bang resounded around the room, causing a slight vibration
through everything. Dva froze. Although his imagination threw up many
possibilities, only one he knew with certainty had happened.
Moving the beam like a man afraid of his fate... which he was...
Dva focussed the light on the doorway into the room. The only doorway,
and hence the only way in or out. The doorway which now had a large
stone blocking the entrance.
The block fit perfectly, made to seal the exit. Dva ran to the
stone, and thumped it. Heavy, very heavy. There was no way he could ever
move it.
Dva put his back to the new wall, feeling panic rise in his
stomach. Was there enough air in here? Was something else going to
happen now? Was-?
Another sound made him jump, the torch lighting nothing but a
nearby statue. His mind gibbered the realisation. He was trapped and he
wasn't alone wasn't alone wasn't alone wasn't alone wasn't
_-~-_
"Dva!" Missy tried again, but still nothing. Perhaps a more powerful
resonator? Missy fired the multi-phase laser gun she brought along at
the sand, fusing some of it into glass. Picking the piece up, she
inserted into the tangled mess of wires, circuits and previous fused
sand she had turned the walkie-talkie into. She managed to pick up some
interesting transmissions coming from the moon, something about a
cyber-invasion fleet, but so far not a peep from Dva.
She looked over at the pyramid. There was still no doorway,
which had vanished just after Dva had stepped through it. Even the laser
gun couldn't make a mark.
Missy considered the possibility of denotating the power cell of
the laser, but radiation fall-out would probably kill her and Dva before
they made contact anyway. She'd wait another hour or two before she
tried that.
Returning to the problem of converting the radio into a sonar
and teleporter, Missy failed to notice the tires on the jeep turning
green.
_-~-_
"It's really not so bad up here," said Allen as they walked through the
clouds. Barry nodded moodily. He stared at his feet. The clouds were
making a mess of his shoes.
"Where are we, anyway?" Barry suddenly asked, looking up and
around him.
"Heaven," Allen replied, shrugging. "Quiet, peaceful. Yeah, go
ahead and kill me. This isn't so bad."
"I'm dreaming again, aren't I?" Barry said, mostly to himself.
"Look, I don't know what's going on here, but I am not killing you!"
"You're going to have to. Me mate. Me chum." Allen put his arm
around Barry's shoulders. "Me old sport. It's one of those things you
just have to do!"
"I don't want to!" Barry pushed Allen's arm away.
"Go on! Look at what's on offer for the other side!" Allen threw
his arms wide, indicating the empty sky around them, with patches of
cloud.
"But I don't believe in heaven! You're me, so you don't believe
in it either!"
"I'm not you," hissed Allen, suddenly up close, his face an inch
from Barry's. "I'm not you, and you'd better understand that. I'm not
you, and you have to kill me."
Allen took a step back, and everything changed. Flames roared up
around them, heating baking them. "Is this it? You don't want me in
heaven, you want me here!"
Barry gasped in horror as Allen caught on fire. Skin burned
away, pieces falling off, still burning. Skeleton Allen capered in front
of him. "You want me to stay in hell!"
Allen suddenly reached out and slapped Barry across the face.
"Wake up."
Another slap, but there was something wrong. That wasn't Allen,
that was someone else. "Wake up!"
Barry caught the arm before the third slap could land, and
glared at Agent. "I'm awake."
Agent jerked his arm free. "You'd better be. This isn't
something you can sleep through. We're the most dangerous people
involved here."
"Well, I know we're pretty powerful-"
"We're the most dangerous people, as in the greatest
liabilities! We're the worst threat to any possibility of catching this
guy!"
"What? What are you talking about? Who?"
"Come on." Agent strode away, leaving Barry to play catch up.
They walked through the halls of the Safe, where the worst criminals on
the Looniearth were incarcerated. Well, the ones that aren't caught up
in other stories, that is.
"Who escaped?" Barry asked. "Stop being so bloody mysterious and
tell me!"
"At the moment, the point isn't who, but how. The last I heard
he was a vegetable."
"Gaah!" Barry had to restrain the urge to thump Agent.
"Are you Agent?" a bespectacled man in a white coat asked.
Agent nodded. "We're here about the escape."
"We've already informed the LNH, and they've alerted all their
people," the man said.
"I have reason to believe that one of our team has already
encountered him. *I* want to know all there is. I need a complete threat
assessment break down," Agent ordered.
"Very well," the man replied stiffly. "I take it you already
know of his abilities."
Agent nodded again. "The last report I had was that he couldn't
even control his own mind. How the hell did he get out of here?"
"If I might interrupt?" asked Barry, before pushing on anyway.
"Just who are we talking about here?"
The man frowned at Barry. "You don't know?" He sighed. "Here,
read this." The man thrust a folder at Barry.
Barry took it, and read the name on the front. It didn't mean
too much to him, although it struck a bell somewhere. He opened the file
and glanced at the first page. That was enough.
"Oh cruk, smeg, and Belgium."
_-~-_
_Peter, calm down._ Marsha's thought passed through his mind, cutting
through the rising terror. He wasn't really alone in his own head. Right
now that thought couldn't be more comforting.
_We're trapped,_ he thought bleakly. _And there's something in
here with us._
Peter panned the light across the room again, but there was
still nothing to see.
He could sense Marsha shrugging mentally. _We've been in worse
situations. At least we're together in this. Tell me more about what you
see. There has to be something here we can use to help us._
_As I said, there are three statues of the same person here,_
Peter explained as he crossed over to one. He tried tugging on the
upraised arms. _I'm checking to see if there's some kind of hidden lever._
_What about the hieroglyphs on the wall? I had a few courses in
Egyptology in school. Perhaps I might be able to read them._
Peter stopped what he was doing in surprise. _What? Really??_
_No,_ he heard Marsha laughing, an odd mental tickling
sensation. _No convenient plot twists here._
Peter continued pulling on the statue. _Thanks. You're really
helping._
_Can you describe the statue? It might be someone we know._
_I don't recognise him._
_Well, I might-_
_Marsha, I have been in the hero business for quite some time,_
Peter thought, slightly more harshly than he meant to. _If we knew him,
I would recognise him._
_Sorry. I didn't mean..._
_No, it's all right._ Peter sighed. _This is getting to me._
_How cool is it in there? Do you want me to have a look around?_
Peter considered. It was cool enough for Marsha not to have any
problems, but he wasn't sure if he wanted to expose her to whatever was
hiding in here... on the other hand, he hadn't heard anything for some
time now, and *he* could be harmed a lot easier than she could...
_All right._
Marsha looked around the room, taking in the statues, the
pillars and the coffin. She directed the light into the face of the
nearby figure. _No. I have no idea who that is._ Peter didn't comment.
Marsha turned her attention to the sarcophagus. _Have you tried
to look inside?_
_Inside what?_
_The tomb here. There might be something important inside._
_There could be a mummy inside._
"Better someone else's mummy to mine," Marsha whispered under
her breath. She crossed to the structure, and examined the lid. It
looked very heavy.
_I'm going to try opening it,_ Marsha told him.
_Are you sure that's wise?_
_We'll see,_ was her only reply. Bracing herself, Marsha took a
grip on the lid as best she could, and-
Marsha's head shot around. Something in the darkness, near the
large statue. Picking up the torch, she shone it on the monument.
Nothing to see. She was beginning to understand how Peter felt. She
contemplated the statue for a moment, but didn't see anything too
noticeable.
Returning to the coffin, she took her grip again, and-
Marsha whirled around, the light stabbing out. As she stood
there, something flashed across the beam, too quick for details. Marsha
frowned, starting to get a suspicion.
She reached back, and placed a hand on the lid. Immediately,
something crossed the beam again, pausing a little longer, leaving only
the impression of... drool... saliva dripping from fangs...
Marsha stepped away from the sarcophagus, sweeping the torch
around slowly. Nothing.
_It's the sarcophagus. There *is* something important inside.
Whatever is here is trying to distract me from opening it._
_Really? Do you think you can open it?_
_We'll see,_ Marsha repeated. Placing the torch back on top of
the lid, Marsha resumed her grip. She heard something behind her, but
she just grinned and ignored it. Gathering her strength, she heaved-
And something large thumped into her, knocking her to the floor.
Marsha threw up her hands to protect her face and something powerful
knocked into her midsection, pushing the breath from her body. Blows
pounded into her, but didn't cause any damage due to her softened body.
The only sense of size she got some as whatever it was eclipsed the
torch light as it shone into the room.
After a devastating punch into her stomach, the presence just as
suddenly left. Marsha curled up on the ground, getting her breath back.
_Oh yeah. There is definitely something in there we gotta see!_
_What is it? What happened? Are you all right?_ The questions
flooded her mind, and she did the best she could to block them while she
got her senses back.
_I'm fine,_ she returned. _Just knocked around a little._
_Knocked around? What happened?_
_I was trying to open the coffin, and something hit me. A lot.
Didn't really do anything to me, though,_ Marsha grinned into the
darkness.
Rising to her feet, Marsha returned to the torch. She considered
how best to proceed. Opening the tomb wouldn't be easy with that thing
slamming into her every time she tried.
As she stood there, she became aware of a new sound. A drip...
drip... drip...
Turning slowly, she aimed the torch in the direction of the
sound. All that was there was one of the statues. She watched for a
moment, then frowned as something didn't look quite right.
She closed the distance, and peered closely. Drip, drip, drip.
There, the left arm. As she watched, a drop of gold formed, and fell to
the floor. Drip.
_The statue... the statue... it's melting..._
_It's what!? We should change back, now!_
_Oh, I don't think that's going to do much good,_ Marsha
thought. As she watched, the dripping increased in speed, and soon there
was a flow of gold pouring off the figure onto the floor. Under it was
revealed a man, the man of the statue. Under Marsha's torchlight, a
figure in a blue jacket with silver trimmings, red gloves, silver boots
and a green visor slowly came into view.
The last of the gold flowed off the figure onto the floor.
Slowly, so slowly, the figure lowered his arms and looked at Marsha.
Then grinned.
"Greetings. Allow me to introduce myself, your capturer."
_-~-_
"And you let him escape?" Barry raved.
"We didn't *let* him do anything," the man bit back. "He was
incapable of acting on his own. As far as we could tell," he added.
"So what happened?" asked Agent.
"As you know, the original host was capable of assuming
different personae, as a decoy, I believe it was. He... er..." here the
man seemed almost embarrassed. "He was pretending to be himself. Instead
of blocking his true powers, we only blocked his powers that he was
pretending to have."
"So he really could have walked out any time?" Barry exclaimed.
"Not really. Something had to kick him out of his... 'pretending
mode' into his true form. We're not quite sure what that cue was."
Barry looked again at the folder in his hand. He withdrew the
picture of the man in red, silver, blue and green. Name of Charlie Risk.
Used to be the Human Decoy.
Now the new Acton Lord.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
NEXT ISSUE: Rick gone. Dva captured. Missy under threat. Agent and Barry
not getting involved. Guess things can only get worse, huh?
Credits:
Acton Lord belongs to Dvandom. The rest to me.
Back to the Index.