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Post by jonclark on Aug 8, 2022 3:48:10 GMT
I feared for a minute Magnus might be the first living being Artin boom-tubed. I also considered the other end of said tube might be late 40th century North Am in front of another artificial intelligence.
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Post by starskyhutch76 on Aug 8, 2022 13:57:03 GMT
Considering that cat was probably almost as big as the toddler, it's lucky Magnus didn't fall in! Lord help Artin if Kallista thought Artin deliberately put him through the boom tube.
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Post by starskyhutch76 on Aug 29, 2023 0:08:11 GMT
Artin eventually found a few brave soldiers willing to walk through the boom tube. Hearing that Magnus’ cat had paved the way for them might have helped. Human testing was quickly followed by piloting a manned craft through a boom tube. In this case, it was a cargo transporter since they could hardly conduct the test on the surface.
As the craft entered one end, Artin hoped desperately that aa monstrous mangled mass of man and machinery would not come out the other. He was relieved when the transporter and the men piloting it came out of the other end unharmed.
Once he reported his results, a strategy session soon followed. It was a meeting that quickly became heated due to the presence of aa distraught Prince R’yandr. There were aa few senior officers there who didn’t approve of his presence in the meeting, but he was there because of his position as a member of the royal house of Tamaran.
“If the boom tube works, then why have we not already rescued Princess Yrra?” R’yndr said, waving his hands dramatically. “Why are we not going after Hokum?”
“As far as the people of Euphorix are concerned, Harry Hokum is a saint.,” Primus said. “If we just go charging in, we’re the ones who will be seen as the aggressors.”
“Not to mention Primus is not exactly the most popular man on Euphorix these days,” Doc said.
Primus gave the Omega Men’s chief medical officer a sour look. He didn’t like being reminded of the time he destroyed Euphorix’s fabled force shield in a fit of marital pique.
“Well, it’s true,” Doc said. The purple cyborg, who’s face looked like twin computer monitors, gave no sign of his emotion.
“Be that as it may,” Primus grumbled. “We can’t simply go blasting in…”
“This time,” Doc added.
Primus cleared his throat in irritation. “We need to approach this carefully. The people need to see Harry Hokum for the villain he truly is.”
“Artin blinked as a light hit him in the eye. He looked over and saw that it was light reflecting off of one of the twin monitors that made up Doc’s face.
“I may have an idea,” Artin said.
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Post by DocQuantum on Aug 29, 2023 5:41:43 GMT
Good to see this continuing! You've got a really good handle on the Omega Men.
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Post by lawrenceliberty on Aug 29, 2023 16:22:41 GMT
I agree. I was always disappointed with the DC version in that Primus was not featured as the main big hero of the group. It seemed like efforts were made by later authors of their comic to make him less heroic and odder than he seemed in the Marv Wolfman stories from places like Action and Teen Titans.
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Post by starskyhutch76 on Aug 29, 2023 16:39:57 GMT
Thanks, Doc. I can't believe it took so long for me to get back to it.
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Post by starskyhutch76 on Aug 29, 2023 16:47:03 GMT
Thnks, Libby. I think Primus was really done dirty when he was killed off panel unceremoniously in the "Invasion" crossover.
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Post by starskyhutch76 on Aug 29, 2023 16:52:33 GMT
Princess Yrra lay forlornly on the chaise lounge in her royal suite. Her surroundings were opulent, but she had no illusions about what they really were… gilded cage.
During her childhood, she had more than one songbird as a pet over the years. She could remember many times when she would return to her quarters to find one flying about her room after it had figured out how to free itself from its cage. How she wished she could be like those clever birds and escape her own cage. Her situation was far more complex, and her prison was made up of far more than the four walls that surrounded her.
Suddenly, a loud noise filled her room. It reminded her of the Earth conveyance known as a a locomotive that she had seen on an old holo-vid. An opening appeared in the center of her room that looked as if it were the opening to a tunnel. At the other side, she could see Prince R’yandr standing next to a pink skinned man with a large, bald, oddly shaped head. She judged him to be some sort of technician from the red jump suit he wore.
“R’yandr! What are you doing here? The guards…!” she exclaimed.
“They can’t hear anything,” the pink skinned man said. “Only those within five feet of the boom tube can hear it. I have buffers in place.”
“I still can’t leave!” Yrra said anxiously. “You know what is at stake.”
“Artin has a plan for that,” R’yandr said, gesturing to the pink skinned man.
“Artin?” Yrra said in surprise.
“I imagine I look quite different than the last time you saw me, your highness” Artin said, smiling. “Don’t worry. All will be well.”
With some trepidation, Princess Yrra walked towards the man she loved, stepping into the boom tube. Once she took R’yandr’s hand, she tube quickly closed behind her and then all was silent in the room once more.
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Post by starskyhutch76 on Aug 30, 2023 22:46:56 GMT
Over the next few weeks, Harry Hokum was startled by the change in Princess Yrra’s attitude. She no longer grumbled about being an unwilling accomplice in his propaganda campaign. He eyed her suspiciously when she was all smiles at the public appearances that he arranged for her. What was her game? He began to eavesdrop on her with the security cameras to see when the cheerful façade would crack. It never did. He was astounded. Could his captive princess be suffering from Stockholm syndrome? That would certainly make his job easier. If that was the case, he would have to instruct the guards assigned to her to keep an eye out for any less convenient signs of psychosis. It wouldn’t do for his pet princess to have a full blown nervous breakdown right before the wedding.
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The days leading up to the wedding ceremony were filled with celebration. There were concerts, parties, dances, and all other forms of entertainment for the masses. The holo-channels were filled with programs related to the upcoming event. There were several docu-dramas portraying Harry Hokum’s ‘heroic’ liberation of Euphorix from the Spider Guild. More than one portrayed Primus as a bumbling idiot who had caused the planet to fall into their spidery web in the first place.
The most popular program was one titled “The Princess and the Liberator.” It portrayed the romance of Harry Hokum and Princess Yrra. It gave an account of how Harry Hokum had rescued her from a Spider Guild blockade so she could return to her beloved subjects and how the two of them then came to fall in love. While some considered it overly saccharine, the ratings were off the scale.
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“We’re going to have out work cut out for us,” Primus said, watching the many monitors filled with Hokum’s pre-wedding propaganda.
“Oh, I think the people’s eyes will be opened soon enough,” Artin said. His own eyes were trained on a separate monitor that displayed the royal suite of the princess.
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Post by lawrenceliberty on Aug 31, 2023 16:42:59 GMT
I have to say this is a much better marriage story than the painful Titans storyline in which Starfire went through a ceremonial service while an anguished Nightwing stood by.
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Post by starskyhutch76 on Aug 31, 2023 18:01:07 GMT
I have to say this is a much better marriage story than the painful Titans storyline in which Starfire went through a ceremonial service while an anguished Nightwing stood by. Thanks, Libby!
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Post by DocQuantum on Sept 7, 2023 6:17:13 GMT
I like what you're setting up. It seems like Ryand'r has set up some kind of double of Yrra to take her place. Harry Hokum is going to be so humiliated once the truth is known!
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