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Orpheus and the Dark Aether – Chapter 10 (Part 3)

As I ascended out of the ocean I noticed that I needed to refuel. I forgot that traveling through the Vortex, even within the same temporal location, would still burn through power and it had been a long time since I had refueled. The timelock prevented me from accessing the normal refueling points, but I had found a way to convert Aetheric power into a makeshift fuel source. While I was refueling, I stumbled into Avariel Falcon.

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Ms. Falcon informed me that she had done an extensive survey of the city and had located all of the mysterious canisters. She offered to help me find them, but business came up and we had to leave each other’s company. I then proceeded to leave the Power Station. A thought had occurred to me. I knew that nothing had been spotted in the ocean. It occurred to me that no one had reported anything in the Fells. I wanted to make sure that was still the case, as the Fells provided a possible escape route if needed. I made my way towards the mountains.

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As I patrolled the mountains I detected no signs of any machinery that didn’t belong. After a couple hours of searching, I turned and headed back. As I was almost back to the city walls, the ship’s klaxon sounded. It had detected something unusual, so I pulled up the disturbance on the viewer.

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Strange looking crab creatures were flooding the streets! These had to be the monsters described by the Writer. I quickly threw on a dry change of clothes and landed in the Port. I still did not know where many of the canisters were hidden, but I remembered there was one in the sewers below Loner Lane. I snuck out and checked to make sure no one was around. Satisfied that the coast was clear, I climbed down.

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I saw that since I had been down here the last time, someone had had the foresight to seal the chamber. I approached carefully. The door in the wall turned out to be locked, which I imagine to be a good thing. Behind the door I heard a horrible scratching. I can only imagine that the crab creatures were in there as well, as if hatched from the machines.

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Birthing Machine?

[img_assist|nid=4059|title=|desc=|link=popup|align=left|width=640|height=330]Crabs try to claw their way out…

That clawing, scratching sound was so horrible I had to get away. I made my way back to the surface. I was spotted sneaking out by Stormy Stillwater, who from the looks of it had quite a bad day.

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We chatted for a while and were joined by Scald. I was informed that the monsters had indeed been swarming the streets, usually staying fairly close to the devices. At least, for now. I told them that I would be willing to shelter people in my ship if things got too bad. Technically we could indeed fit every citizen of New Babbage into the Tardis, plus the other Tardises hidden around town. Stormy and Scald both seemed rather skeptical of this idea, and seemed to believe that no one else would go for it either. I’m just saying, if worst comes to worse, its an option. I would stay and fight, but it would beat having to send people away on boats or airships. But if thats the way they want to be, no skin off my nose. I just hope we start getting answers soon…. 

Orpheus put down the pen and walked outside. He could see the port off in the distance. A massive fleet of ships had begun to gather. He was puzzled. The danger still resided in New Babbage, and a fleet of ships was getting ready to DEPART? He hoped they knew what they were doing.

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