cheerful_deviant
Head of the Flock
- Joined
- Apr 4, 2004
- Posts
- 10,487
So here's a small section of my Nano for 2004, still not even close to done at 72k words. At the rate I'm going it will never see the light of day so I figured I'd post at least one small section of it because... well... I just felt like it. 
Anyone else who has a current WOP is free to post a clip of their own if they please. Perhaps a stalled peice in you backlog. Maybe having a few people comment on it will get you going on it again.
So here's a small clip:
(Please keep in mind this is unedited)
“Lights up ahead.” Kariana said from the engineer’s seat. She glanced at the digital map on the dash screen. “Something ahead on the map. It say’s ‘Process 03’.”
“Process? Maybe an ore processor or something like that.” Jessica said. The glow was coming from around a corner a few hundred meters up the tunnel. It was still dim but getting brighter with each passing second. “What do you want to do?”
“Slow down and keep moving. If it’s just a work area they probably get trucks rolling through from time to time. Maybe no one will give us a second glance. It may not even be a manned area.” As Kariana spoke she reached over and flipped all the exterior lights on. “That should prevent them from getting too good of a look. Nobody will want to look into the glare.”
The bend was approaching quickly and Jessica eased off on the throttle. She let the speed fall off until they were rolling along at about twenty kilometers per hour.
“Be ready.” Kariana said beside her. The blond had her blaster rifle out and ready but down out of sight of anyone on the ground.
The sight that greeted them as they finally rolled around the corner was not what Jessica had expected. They had entered a small gallery where the tunnel widened out to maybe thirty meters across. There was a large stationary machine of some kind, perhaps a crusher, spread out all along one wall with a massive pile of waste material at the far end. The whole area around the machine was bathed in a glaring white light from a series of massive overhead lamps mounted around the cavern.
Jessica could see that at the far end of the gallery the vehicle track that they were on continued back out into another tunnel like the on the had just exited.
But that wasn’t what caught their interest. Parked in the center of the gallery was a single truck with all its lights off. The truck was smaller than theirs, much smaller. More like some kind of personal transport rather than a real work truck. It had only four tires each about a meter tall. Perched on top was a cab that looked to have four seats and a small cargo bed behind.
“I’ll be dammed.” Kariana breathed.
Leaning casually against one of the front tires was a woman. To Jessica’s eyes she looked to be human, probably in her mid to late thirties. Average height with coffee brown skin and shoulder length dark brown hair. Big, widely set, dark brown eyes looked out over a broad nose and full lips that were stretched into a mischievous grin.
She was wearing civilian clothing similar to what you would see a workman wearing on any one of a thousand planets. Heavy, scarred boots, khaki pants with several pockets, a crème color blouse and a multi-pocketed work vest. Jessica noted that several of the top buttons of the blouse were unfastened putting a rather generous swath of the woman’s heavy, full breasts on display.
“Stop.” Kariana said without turning to look at Jessica.
“Do you know her?” Jessica asked as she eased the lumbering vehicle to a stop and punched the ignition button off.
The woman raised a hand to shield her eyes from the glare of the headlamps.
Kariana reached over and flipped most of the lights off. “I know her. Come on, but be ready. And make damn sure to stay out of my line of fire.” Not waiting for an answer, she turned and rifle in hand, dropped to the ground below.
Jessica looked out the windscreen and gave the woman one more look. She hadn’t moved except she was now looking to where Kariana had just landed. Her smile had increased from a grin to broad smile that revealed a slight gap between her front teeth. She folded her arms beneath her breasts and straightened a little.
Checking the power supply on her rifle, Jessica flipped the strap over her shoulder and then dropped to the ground below.
“Hello Kendra.” Kariana said as they walked over. “It’s been a long time.”
The black woman smiled even broader, “It sure has Kariana. How have you been?”
“Busy.” Kariana said evenly.
Jessica noted that Kariana was about as tense as she’d ever seen her. She was talking casual but the muscles on the blonde’s neck stood out like chorded wire and her eyes flicked around the cavern constantly as if searching for something, but they always returned to the woman. Whoever she was, Kariana clearly thought she was extremely dangerous.
“Talkative as ever.” Said the woman the woman called Kendra. She turned to Jessica and said, “I hope that you’re more talkative that Kariana.”
Kariana made a vague pointing gesture at the woman and said, “Jessica, meet Agent Kendra West. Kendra, meet Lieutenant Jessica Williams.”
“IBI?” Jessica asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Looks like a secret is hard to keep around here.” Kendra said easily but Jessica noted that she glanced sideways at Kariana as she spoke. “Yes, Kariana and I served in the IBI together. Which is why she looks as tense as a cat on ball bearings right now.”
Kariana didn’t so much a crack a grin at the comment. “Are you alone?”
“Right now, yes. On this mission, no.” Kendra answered.
“Mission?” Kariana scoffed. “How can you be on a mission?”
Kendra’s grin was back. “You might be surprised at what’s been going on since you’ve been away.”
“Maybe.” Kariana seemed to allow. “But that doesn’t change the fact that last I heard you were under investigation for suspicion of high treason and Calory had been arrested for the same reason. Then Calory was killed during a botched escape attempt, probably engineered by you, and you disappeared.”
Kendra sobered. All hints of the smile were gone as asked, “Tell me Kariana, did you ever really believe all that abut Calory? Or about me? Answer me truthfully, did you?”
Kariana hedged, “What difference does my opinion make?”
“It makes a difference to me.” Kendra looked directly into her eyes, “Answer me. Did you believe it?”
Kariana hesitated and glanced at Jessica then back to Kendra. Finally she said grudgingly, “No, not really. All sounded pretty trumped up to me.” Kariana seemed to soften a little, “And I was sorry to hear about Calory. I know that you and her… well, she was a good agent.”
Kendra smile returned a little. “She <i>is</i> a good agent.”
“Is?” Kariana asked cautiously.
Kendra just nodded.
“So you did stage it all.” Kariana said.
Kendra nodded again.
“So, she’s still alive huh?” Kariana seemed to smile a little, “Believe it or not I’m happy for you Kendra, I really am.” But before she even finished speaking she suddenly snapped her blast rifle up and had the barrel pointed squarely at Kendra’s nose. “But you’re going to tell me what’s going on here right now.” Kariana hissed through clenched teeth.
Kendra didn’t even flinch; the small grin was back on her face. “You’re good Kariana, very good but even you have weak points.” Kendra flicked her eyes over at Jessica and shifted just a tiny bit revealing a small blaster pistol that had been concealed by her folded arms. The small blaster was pointed directly at Jessica’s stomach.
Anyone else who has a current WOP is free to post a clip of their own if they please. Perhaps a stalled peice in you backlog. Maybe having a few people comment on it will get you going on it again.
So here's a small clip:
(Please keep in mind this is unedited)
“Lights up ahead.” Kariana said from the engineer’s seat. She glanced at the digital map on the dash screen. “Something ahead on the map. It say’s ‘Process 03’.”
“Process? Maybe an ore processor or something like that.” Jessica said. The glow was coming from around a corner a few hundred meters up the tunnel. It was still dim but getting brighter with each passing second. “What do you want to do?”
“Slow down and keep moving. If it’s just a work area they probably get trucks rolling through from time to time. Maybe no one will give us a second glance. It may not even be a manned area.” As Kariana spoke she reached over and flipped all the exterior lights on. “That should prevent them from getting too good of a look. Nobody will want to look into the glare.”
The bend was approaching quickly and Jessica eased off on the throttle. She let the speed fall off until they were rolling along at about twenty kilometers per hour.
“Be ready.” Kariana said beside her. The blond had her blaster rifle out and ready but down out of sight of anyone on the ground.
The sight that greeted them as they finally rolled around the corner was not what Jessica had expected. They had entered a small gallery where the tunnel widened out to maybe thirty meters across. There was a large stationary machine of some kind, perhaps a crusher, spread out all along one wall with a massive pile of waste material at the far end. The whole area around the machine was bathed in a glaring white light from a series of massive overhead lamps mounted around the cavern.
Jessica could see that at the far end of the gallery the vehicle track that they were on continued back out into another tunnel like the on the had just exited.
But that wasn’t what caught their interest. Parked in the center of the gallery was a single truck with all its lights off. The truck was smaller than theirs, much smaller. More like some kind of personal transport rather than a real work truck. It had only four tires each about a meter tall. Perched on top was a cab that looked to have four seats and a small cargo bed behind.
“I’ll be dammed.” Kariana breathed.
Leaning casually against one of the front tires was a woman. To Jessica’s eyes she looked to be human, probably in her mid to late thirties. Average height with coffee brown skin and shoulder length dark brown hair. Big, widely set, dark brown eyes looked out over a broad nose and full lips that were stretched into a mischievous grin.
She was wearing civilian clothing similar to what you would see a workman wearing on any one of a thousand planets. Heavy, scarred boots, khaki pants with several pockets, a crème color blouse and a multi-pocketed work vest. Jessica noted that several of the top buttons of the blouse were unfastened putting a rather generous swath of the woman’s heavy, full breasts on display.
“Stop.” Kariana said without turning to look at Jessica.
“Do you know her?” Jessica asked as she eased the lumbering vehicle to a stop and punched the ignition button off.
The woman raised a hand to shield her eyes from the glare of the headlamps.
Kariana reached over and flipped most of the lights off. “I know her. Come on, but be ready. And make damn sure to stay out of my line of fire.” Not waiting for an answer, she turned and rifle in hand, dropped to the ground below.
Jessica looked out the windscreen and gave the woman one more look. She hadn’t moved except she was now looking to where Kariana had just landed. Her smile had increased from a grin to broad smile that revealed a slight gap between her front teeth. She folded her arms beneath her breasts and straightened a little.
Checking the power supply on her rifle, Jessica flipped the strap over her shoulder and then dropped to the ground below.
“Hello Kendra.” Kariana said as they walked over. “It’s been a long time.”
The black woman smiled even broader, “It sure has Kariana. How have you been?”
“Busy.” Kariana said evenly.
Jessica noted that Kariana was about as tense as she’d ever seen her. She was talking casual but the muscles on the blonde’s neck stood out like chorded wire and her eyes flicked around the cavern constantly as if searching for something, but they always returned to the woman. Whoever she was, Kariana clearly thought she was extremely dangerous.
“Talkative as ever.” Said the woman the woman called Kendra. She turned to Jessica and said, “I hope that you’re more talkative that Kariana.”
Kariana made a vague pointing gesture at the woman and said, “Jessica, meet Agent Kendra West. Kendra, meet Lieutenant Jessica Williams.”
“IBI?” Jessica asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Looks like a secret is hard to keep around here.” Kendra said easily but Jessica noted that she glanced sideways at Kariana as she spoke. “Yes, Kariana and I served in the IBI together. Which is why she looks as tense as a cat on ball bearings right now.”
Kariana didn’t so much a crack a grin at the comment. “Are you alone?”
“Right now, yes. On this mission, no.” Kendra answered.
“Mission?” Kariana scoffed. “How can you be on a mission?”
Kendra’s grin was back. “You might be surprised at what’s been going on since you’ve been away.”
“Maybe.” Kariana seemed to allow. “But that doesn’t change the fact that last I heard you were under investigation for suspicion of high treason and Calory had been arrested for the same reason. Then Calory was killed during a botched escape attempt, probably engineered by you, and you disappeared.”
Kendra sobered. All hints of the smile were gone as asked, “Tell me Kariana, did you ever really believe all that abut Calory? Or about me? Answer me truthfully, did you?”
Kariana hedged, “What difference does my opinion make?”
“It makes a difference to me.” Kendra looked directly into her eyes, “Answer me. Did you believe it?”
Kariana hesitated and glanced at Jessica then back to Kendra. Finally she said grudgingly, “No, not really. All sounded pretty trumped up to me.” Kariana seemed to soften a little, “And I was sorry to hear about Calory. I know that you and her… well, she was a good agent.”
Kendra smile returned a little. “She <i>is</i> a good agent.”
“Is?” Kariana asked cautiously.
Kendra just nodded.
“So you did stage it all.” Kariana said.
Kendra nodded again.
“So, she’s still alive huh?” Kariana seemed to smile a little, “Believe it or not I’m happy for you Kendra, I really am.” But before she even finished speaking she suddenly snapped her blast rifle up and had the barrel pointed squarely at Kendra’s nose. “But you’re going to tell me what’s going on here right now.” Kariana hissed through clenched teeth.
Kendra didn’t even flinch; the small grin was back on her face. “You’re good Kariana, very good but even you have weak points.” Kendra flicked her eyes over at Jessica and shifted just a tiny bit revealing a small blaster pistol that had been concealed by her folded arms. The small blaster was pointed directly at Jessica’s stomach.
