Robur Was Also Above Politics In The First Book (”Robur The Conqueror”), But Went Dark In The Second

Some worldbuilding for my fic - Corporations, part 2.

Corporations relationships with most of the non-corporate governments are... far from the best, to say at least.

The most hated for them is the Official World State, more known as Pokemon Nation. For corporates, it’s embodiment of everything they hate: ignorance, which allows such criminal syndicates as Team Rocket or even Team Flare to grow and prospere (of course, corps had involvement in the Cipher’s Shadow Project, but they do this very rarely); lack of guts, which allows Legendaries rampages to happen (General Industries isn’t above blackmailing and recruiting Jeanette McMertry, more known as Hunter J, to fight such threat if required - her petrifier cannon is a wonderful thing, though it’s yet to be replicated and mass-produced. Yes, corps had blackmailed and recruited Hunter J, even if less powerful, than in canon, because of time period difference) and, most importantly, heavily Pokemon-dependant society, especially technology. For corps, any technology to be used by humans must be self-sustained and reliable, even if the Pokemon-based devices are easier to produce, or it’s “just a parody of the true technology”.

As you can guess, relationship with Azoth Kingdom isn’t good either. While corporates respect heavy automation of this city, they dislike technological stagnation (corporate “pure-tech” devices are already somewhat ahead of the AK’s arcane science-based ones and continue to advance further, while Azoth Kingdom is now only slightly more advanced than in the Nikola’s times) and Pokemon involvement in the city’s machinery operation. They are also main competitors on the airship and gravplane markets, which were traditionally occupied by the Kingdom, but, thanks to both real Lawrence III and protagonist, as well as many other corporate scientists, General Industries is slowly, but surely starts to overtake these markets, because corporate machines are cheaper, more advanced and can offer more options for the same price. Of course, it’s not going to end well for the AK, if they don’t adapt.

The (fic-unique) Soris Region, while still nominally controlled by the Pokemon Nation / Official World State, is under very heavy influence of the Tunguska Technologies and has lots of TT-owned corporate Enclaves. It also shall be noted that people here love Soris Flygons very much, going up to the point, where it’s far easier to get Pokemon Owner license for these cute, but powerful insect-dragons and their entire evo-line than for the, let us say, Pichu and it’s evo-line. It helps that Soris Flygons, unlike Hoenn relatives and much like Alolan ancestors, are very cooperative towards humans and are more intelligent than most of the dragon pokemon, because Soris is quite a harsh region, where survival requieres either sheer power or sharp minds. Alolan Flygons, which were introduced in the Soris region more than 3000 years ago by the Ancient Soris Empire, lacked in the raw power, but made up with this by their minds and cooperation with humans. Nowadays, their adapted offspring, Soris Flygons, are one of the most successful species in the Soris, but they still retain their cooperativeness and gentle nature towards humans.

GI does not have such influence over a single region, but they make up for this by having many Enclaves in different regions.

While corporates are pretty heavy into military, they also deeply care for the employees, because, as they say, “it’s the best way to prove that we are far better than the Official State!”. Everyone who is empoyed by either of the corporations receives good free healthcare and overall treatment. They have flexible social care programs, as well as job finding. Have willingly terminated your contract with one of the branches to transfer into another? No problem, your shares remain at the previous level, if you don’t screw up badly before, during or after transfer! Want to help employ your relatives? A little testing and they will be presented with a most suitable jobs for them!

Overall, life in corporate Enclaves is, most of times, better, than in the Official State-governed cities, but it comes at price of working for corporation or, at least, living with one who works for it, pretty strict rules, zero criminal Team tolerance (if you are proven to work for one of the Teams at the current moment, your contract is immideately terminated with blacklisting your biological ID, making you persona non-grata in all of the corporate-owned property. However, if you willingly surrender, you make soften your punishment), prohibition of Pokemon battles anywhere but specialized Training Complexes and, to make you feel “better”, some of other moments, which make Enclaves pretty similar to the Soviet “closed cities”, albeit with (relatively) free information access, which is, however, monitored by the Enclave’s main computer system to prevent essential data from slipping into the wrong hands. Yes, not quite paradise, but still something.

Source for Alolan Flygons (author gave me a permission to use them) - http://a-guiar.deviantart.com/art/Alolan-Flygon-637147209

Past of the future, future of the past...

Chapter 3: A hard day.

"Well, those three months were quite something," Anthony said, when the Space Shuttle finally stopped on the runway. "I mean, actual first contact situation, even if with humans!" "Falkis, shut it for now," Sarah mumbled. "We'll have to explain this all over again to our superiors, when we return to the Mossdeep." "Okay, whatever, miss Born-with-camera-in-hands." Several seconds after it, the hatch in the side of the vehicle opened, the astronauts were safely removed from their seats with Psychic of the service Alakazam and put into the wheelchairs on the ground. "Don't worry, guys'n'girls, it's just a precaution," sounded voice of professor Takao Cozmo, making Sarah and Samuel slightly cringe. Of course, this man was a genius, especially for someone, who just turned 20, but at times, he was just impossible to be around. "We know," all four astronauts, along with the rest of Shuttle's crew, replied in unison. Of course, they wondered, why this mission only took astronauts down and didn't bring fresh crew... ---- "Can you secure this thing now?" "Wait… yeah, I'm securing it." Captain Vasilyev hovered near the console, monitoring feeds from the helmet cameras of cosmonauts, along with their talks, and wondered, why exactly did it have to be yesterday for the station's backup power source, the nuclear fission reactor, to get stricken with some kind of space debris and get a total coolant leak. Of course, since the reactor wasn't activated for the entire duration of its staying in the station, there wasn't any imminent radiation hazard, but they still had to return it back to Zemlino Space Center for the inspection and repairs. Right now, Lozhkin, Migulya and Panasenko were removing the reactor and loading it into the opened payload bay of the Lenticular Return Vehicle. There was some sort of a strange irony - today, the cosmonauts from both space stations were returning back to Earth. "Comrade captain, the reactor was safely removed and is now secured in the payload bay of the LRV" sounded the proud voice of Migulya in the comm. "I think we're done here. Let us all pack up and go back home!" "As a commander of this station, I give this proposal my complete approval!" announced Vasilyev to everyone. "Since we are all packed up already, I propose to fulfill it as soon as possible. To EVA team - go to station's primary airlock on the "Drum" module. I know, the LRV's backup airlock seems very nice, but we need to leave the MMUs and suits here for the next crew." "Aye-aye, comrade captain!" reported the EVA team, firing up their MMUs and flying back to the first module of this great station. Since the airlock wasn't exactly spacious, they'll have to enter one by one - mostly because the MMUs were pretty huge. Of course, was it not for the advanced materials from Imperial Science Facility 9, which allowed creation of the normobaric EVA suits - the entire crew would've had to stay on the station for a few more hours. Thankfully, when the EVA team finally got back into station and re-dressed, everyone else was ready. "So, comrades, I want to congratulate you with the successful end of the 10th expedition to the Space Lab 2, which also served as a cornerstone for our relationship with… "Nationals", I think. So, anyway, we all served very well. Glory and long live to the Empire!" "Glory and long live to the Empire!" "Since the rest of our crew returned to Earth in pods already - thank the Emperor for launching that propellant tanker! - we can now return home at leisure pace. All hands - board the LRV and prepare for return." "Aye-aye, comrade captain!" ---- "Goodbye, Space Lab 2. We will miss you and try to return soon. Just wait for us," the pilot said, looking in the return vehicle’s main window. The space station, jewel in crown of the Empire’s space program, was left by its crew and switched to full-auto mode, waiting for the next bunch of people to take the residence in it for performing even more science operations and making even more discoveries. "Proceeding as normal, four hours until touchdown." "Acknowledged," replied the captain, recollecting the events of past three months - the craziest months in his live so far. Contacts with cosmonauts from other regions of the world after the event, which was later named "The Shift"; nearly inviting them onboard the Space Lab 2 one time and only not doing this because of medic's advice; having to constantly help in writing reports to linguists back on the ground; making sure, that the space station works properly, especially before the propellant tanker gave them some more freedom in maneuvering… those months were most definitely crazy. "Comrade captain, I have a small question - why aren't the replacement crew already there?" asked him Grigoriy, who served as a biologist and medic aboard the station. "I don't know. Zemlino told me, that there were some hiccups with their launch vehicle, and their LRV is an experimental one, with fuel cells instead of nuclear reactor... they've decided not to rush it. Station can wait, after all, but losing cosmonauts is not an option. They were launched a few hours ago and will dock to the station tomorrow." ---- "Hello there, darling," said man in plain clothes, entering the room. If not for the reaction of the Empress, not many would've thought, that this man was, in fact, the Emperor Ivan the Second himself. "How's your bad?" "Like ****," replied Empress Svetlana in tired voice. "Trying to make negotiations through these crude translators, when we are no longer the most advanced country on the planet…" "We still kinda are, in some branches." "In some, mind it. So, trying to negotiate with what's, apparently, called "Pokemon Nation", process all the data, prevent instabilities within the Empire and so on and so on… It's so tiring. And you?" "Not much better," said Ivan, starting to undress. "Since our main advantages are more advanced arcane science, nuclear physics and space technology…" "You mean, you want to make orbital weapon platform," finished his wife. "I don't approve this idea. We aren't on exactly good terms with the Nation now and making them even worse isn't going to take us anywhere." "Not quite, my dear, not quite. Do you remember the Project Tin Can?" "Yes, and what?" "Do you remember, what is it?" "I don't. Honestly, Vanya, with so much work, I can't keep track of all of your projects." "This project, my dear, is a nuclear pulse spaceship, whose wet mass measures 4000 tons. It uses small nuclear explosion devices, constructed to create a directed wave of superhot plasma upon detonation, for propulsion." "And?" "We've finished assembling the propulsion bus of this ship today. Pusher plate, shock absorbers, plasma deflection cone, gas gun for drive bombs, magazines and so on - this was quite a challenge! Now, we only need to construct the payload part…" "Wait, actual nuclear explosion launch?! Dear, let me check your temperature…" "No no no, don't be afraid! This thing will be boosted by the NUCLEUS superheavy chemical rocket and will only engage the bomb drive at high enough altitude!" "Still, using demolition devices for propulsion… I think it's pretty crazy." "Crazy or not, it should work. By the way, some time ago, Knyazev showed me a project of turning the "Red Explorer"..." "The what?" "The nuclear pulse ship - we've named it "Red Explorer", since it's designed to explore the Fourth Planet. So, he showed me project of turning the "Red Explorer" into warship, with retro-missiles for planetary bombardment, electromagnetic rail mass accelerators, point defence and so on…" "Retro-missiles?" "Okay, let me explain this for you. Retro-missile is a type of hypothetical space-to-surface weapon, which is launched against the orbital vector and uses its engines to decelerate to slower-than-orbital velocity and fall into gravity well of targeted planet/moon, later correcting direction of fall with smaller maneuvering engines to ensure, that it'll hit the intended target area." "And what would be the true purpose of this monster? Considering, that all-out war is the latest thing we want?" "I don't know. Knyazev is an already a strange one, always seeking to turn any project into the weapon…" ---- "So, why exactly the next expedition wasn't launched?" Donnager asked in not-quite-slightly angry voice. "I'm not supposed to tell it to you… but the reason for it is Rayquaza," half-whispered Cozmo "Rayquaza? Isn't it the legend of Draconids?" "I wish it was, but, as it recently turned out, it's a completely real Sky High Pokemon, and a very territorial one at that!" "So…" "Yes, the space stations will get destroyed any moment now. The road to space is now closed by the ruler of skies." "..." Samuel clenched his fists in anger. He hoped, that the astronauts from the other station have also returned home. ---- "... Nose gear touchdown!" the pilot of the LRV happily commented. "Deploying the drag chute…" The pretty big machine, measuring 12 meters in diameter and looking somewhat like the flying saucer, deployed small fabric cupola behind itself, along with moving all control surfaces into positions for aerobraking, in order to lower the current velocity and prevent rolling off the runway. Roughly twenty-five seconds later, the chute got detached and the machine soon ground to halt. "Welcome back!" sounded from comm. "Guys - hang in there for a few more…" "Zemlino, you're not clear, repeat, you're not clear!" said the pilot, trying to find the reason for the sudden cut-out in the words of flight control officer. "... Guys, you don't even know, how lucky you were," finally replied the officer in flat and shaky voice. "Right now, the Space Lab 2 was destroyed by the Pokemon of Legendary power, known by hoennians as "Rayquaza", along with LRV-03. Second space station was also destroyed. The 11th expedition to the Space Lab 2… is no more." "..." all cosmonauts froze. If not for this lucky early return, mostly forced by the need to return the reactor to Earth - they all would've been dead now. And their comrades weren't so lucky... ---- "Dear, what's with you?" asked her husband the Empress. The Emperor, indeed, did not look good - he was pale in face, shaking and still staring at the screen of his portable computer. "... Nothing too bad. Wait a second," said he, getting the portable telephone out of his case and calling someone. "Knyazev? I know you knew this, you bastard! Does not matter right now. Consult the medics, I guess, Psychics with ability to predict the future aren't abundant. Anyway, your altered version of the Project Tin Can has just got my total and complete approval. Consult the ISF 5 and 9 for required equipment. Yes. Does not matter, but make sure, that it'll be able to withstand hits with Hyper Beam without getting holes - at least not at the first hit." Empress thought, that, whatever has happened, if it was enough to instantly convince her husband to turn the exploration ship, about which he dreamed for a very long time (at least as long as he was together with her), into the machine of war - it must be really bad… and yes, she saw the notification on her own computer - the notification, that the Rayquaza has just destroyed the LRV with the new expedition, measuring 12 cosmonauts total, and the Space Lab 2 along with the space station of the Pokemon Nation. Thankfully, all nuclear-powered satellites executed their contingency protocols flawlessly and moved onto graveyard orbits before this Pokemon would be able to destroy them and spill the nuclear fuel from their reactors. "... Yes. No. Of course. Yes. Goodbye," Emperor ended his phone call and turned back to his wife. "Sorry, dear…" "I know already. You know… I approve of it too. It'll help me rally the people of Soris together and lower the level of internal instabilities, as well as allow our people up here to protect themselves from attacks of this monster. So, you say, that this ship needs lots of nuclear materials?" "Yes. At first, they were needed just for the drive bombs and reactor, but now, they'll also be needed for the weapons - shells for railguns, missiles and so on. We can remake some of our already-existing demolition devices into weapons, but that won't be enough." "I understand. I think I can tailor this campaign as a sort of posthumous reverence for our cosmonauts. It'll really help us in keeping the Empire stable." "Do it, if you want to do so. But we need to get this son-of-a-Red Spirit flying, lest the road to space be closed forever for us all." "... Wait, nearly forgot - what about the political effect? Because, you know, getting something like this in orbit would be even worse, than actual weapon platforms!" "I don't know. I'm sure you can deal with this, my dear." Emperor smiled gently after saying those words. Empress hated it, because she could never resist this smile. "Besides, once everything settles down, we can use this ship as it was originally intended - for exploring the Fourth Planet! The amounts of drive bombs and supplies should be sufficient for this and replacing the landers won't be a problem at all…" Notes: ISF - Imperial Science Facility. Worldbuilding mini-note #1: Red Spirit - mystical being in the sorisian mythology, not directly linked to any of Legendaries. It's a somewhat malevolent entity, which, however, patrons those, who fight to avenge their comrades. Some sorisian warriors pray to the Red Spirit before battle to help them in the quest for revenge and, if they fall - make sure that their comrades will avenge their deaths. Worldbuilding mini-note #2: Emperor Ivan Yevgeniyevich Bazarenko the Second is a very shitty ruler (hence why his wife rules the Soris Empire - he gave his throne to her as soon as he was able to), but is an awesome constructor of pretty much anything that flies. Because of that, he spends most of his time in the Imperial Aeronautics Institute, returning to the palace only on special occasions. Worldbuilding mini-note #3: The Project Tin Can is based on the real Project Orion. Worldbuilding mini-note #4: The Rayquaza's aggression and territorial tendencies are based on its depiction in the anime. The Shift may also have something to do with it. Author's note: those three months will, eventually, get expanded upon in the small series of drabbles. Also, the next chapter will have much more action.

As a matter of fact, I do, and yes, I’ve read “Obsession” completely.

So uh…would anyone mind going over Obsession with me and helping me write this chapter?

Michael Wilson speech transcript.

Source: https://youtu.be/ukRheSjjb34?t=5m26s

My fellow americans, good morning.

As americans, we love freedom.

But true freedom isn’t given, like the air we breathe, or the water we drink.

About 240 years ago, our forefathers fought greatly, giving their blood, sweat and tears, and in the end, they’ve won our freedom, and we must never forget this.

If anything appears, that threatens our believe in this freedom - we will oppose it, we will crush it!

In fighting to gain our freedom, we need no reasons. We require no just cause or flowering words. In order to protect our neighbors who love freedom and this faith in freedom, we continue to believe in our own justice. We won’t abandon any battles!

And the reason is, because we are all citizens of the United States of America.

And as long as you will allow it, I will be a vanguard leading this fight!

And the reason is, because I’m the President of these great United States of America!

Memory, part 2 (mini-fic)

Compulink system active.

Please, enter login and password.

Login and password correct. Access granted.

Accessing “GY-PLFU-LOG-1″ datafile…

EDIT MODE

Goncharenko Yevgeniy, personal bioresearch log.

Second stage.

25.6.424 AFE, 19:43

Huh... Looks like she has imprinted on me. ‘Guess it’s good, because it means easier further observation and experimentation. Also, reinforced cleansuit was a great idea - even the young Lati dragons have pretty sharp claws of their... arms, paws? Whatever. Still, the hatching process, which, like the others of Psychic Pokemon, which were observed before, involved usage of Psychic energy to telekinetically shatter the eggshell, but here, instead of normal breakapart, she blew it up with the force of a pipe bomb! Good thing equipment was protected (it’s a lab for studying Pokemon, after all) and eggshell itself was not hard enough to do any damage. Still, looks like the “mental capacity upgrade”  is already showing, at least in the Psychic power.

23.7.424 AFE, 18:25

For someone born not within the nest, in the embrace of loving mother, but, rather, within cold confines of the laboratory, surrounded by lifeless scientific equipment, she does surprisingly good (and by “surprisingly good” I mean “just as good as normally-hatched Lati dragon, if not even better”). She is quite playful (I need to buy some beer to our arcanist team for giving me this thermographic camera. As good as Lati can cloak or pseudo-Transform, they can’t completely mimic thermal emissions of those they impersonate or hide them), very good learner (once again, I need to buy some more beer to our arcanists, because, if not for their advanced identity recognition system, she would’ve succeeded in accessing my terminal and I don’t want to even think, what she woud’ve done then. Hm... Maybe, I should give her her own terminal? It’ll help with some mental testing experiments and will (I hope) slow her down) and is pretty healthy (thankfully, arcane science team was not involved in this, or I’d have my entire salary spent on beer. Just joking, most of them hate beer, but love nullified Stones for their personal arcane experiments. This shit, most of which is imported from the Kalos mining site, isn’t cheap AT ALL. I’m so going zero on money...).

[Attached files: personal observation and log datafile, general health monitoring datafile, optical and thermographic photos]

31.12.424 AFE, 21:15

Today, our Division’s New Year celebration will, for the first time since the founding of this Facility, encompass both surface and underground complexes. Thanks to my connections with Director, I was able to get clearance to bring Liya (the young Latias of mine) to the celebration. Not without stun-collar, of course, but still better than nothing. We have to go now, so, everything is in attached!

P.S. Liya is growing up really fast, even faster, than normal Lati. Can it be side effect from the viruses I’ve used? Of course, she should stabilize once her body reaches adult stage, but... Anyway, the mind enhancement part most definitely works.

[Attached files: personal observation and log datafile, general health monitoring datafile, optical and thermographic photos, full biological screening record datafile, Liya’s personal terminal activity log datafile]

-                                                                                                                              -

-... 56, 57, 58, 59, 00!!! - sounded scream of hundreds of employes of the facility, when the clocks of the Imperial Palace marked beginning of the 425 year after the foundation of the Empire. Liya still couldn’t understand, why this was so important to the humans, but, considering sheer amount of happiness she sensed, it was. Still, those colorful explosions in the sky were really beautiful, even if slightly hard for her sensitive ears.

- It was beautiful, wasn’t it? - asked her human, who took the role of her father. Liya knew, that human could never be a parent of Lati, but she didn’t really care - he loved her and cared for her.

*Yes,* - replied she. - *It was really beautiful. So, what do we do now?*

- First of all - you drop your camouflage and return to your real form. Second - we go into the Central Biodome and take a ride on elevator into the Underground Complex. I’m sure you’ll like it.

*OK,* - replied she, reluctantly dropping her false human appearance and slowly hovering along with him into the huge dome-shaped building. As much as she wanted to stay on the outside, inside, it was warm, and cold was not something she liked.

- Looks like most of our Division wants to party on surface, - made a comment scientist, looking, how surprisingly few people were in the dome. - Anyway, let’s take a ride on the elevator! Believe me, even the Imperial Palace does not have this kind of visuals!

*Wow...*- telepathically “whispered” Latias, looking through the glass walls of the elevator cabin. Right now, they were descending into giant artificial cylindrical cavern with sleek white ceramic-looking walls, which were covered in similarily-sleek balconies, terraces and rounded windows.

- Welcome to the Underground Complex, Bioscience Division Lobby! - proudly replied Yevgeniy. - On your right, you can see cafeteria, where employees of this Division can relax and eat some nice food. On your left, there’s a small recreation zone, when employees can entertain themselves. This part of complex is highly automated. Right now, the illumination should’ve been toned down and ceiling should’ve been switched into night mode, with imitations of stars and moon, but because of the holiday, it was dropped down, just for one night. Each of the main Divisions - Bioscience, Arcanics, Physics, Production and Chemistry - have their own lobbies like this. To be honest, arcanists got even bigger lobby... but our is still much more beautiful!

*Arcanists?* - wondered Liya.

- The ones, who use arcane science and move it ahead. If you want to, I can give you a tour in the Arcane Science Division’s Sector. By the way, research of your cloaking and psychic abilities helped them immensely!

*Thanks,* - replied Latias, feeling slightly shy.

- Honestly, Liya, you grow up so fast... - said a human, looking at nowhere in particular. Young Eon Pokemon would’ve asked him a question, if not for elevator finally arriving at the bottom of cavern and opening the doors. Human and Lati dragon left the cabin and walked through the large atrium, complete with trees and fountains. As large as it was, a decent part of it was covered with tables with lots of dishes and drinks, most of which had humans sitting at them and partying.

Soon, Liya and Yevgeniy arrived near the relatively small table for eight persons, which had only six of places occupied.

- Hi there, Seryoga! - welcomed his old friend microbiologist. - How’s going?

- Good, we were waiting for you for, like, a thousand years!

- Well, we’ve finally arrived. Do you mind if we take a seat?

- No probs, comrade! But can your Lati friend fold her wings a little? There’s not much place here, you know.

- Lati have rigid variable-sweep wings, not the classic ones! However... Liya, - Yevgeniy turned to Latias, - can you position you wings like for a high-speed flight? No, wait, forget it, it won’t do a thing, not with your reposition angles and wingspan. Can you use this pseudo-Transform?

*I can,* - replied young dragon, focusing her inner power on the shape of her body and slowly, but surely remaking it into what she desired.

- Holy flak cannon, - whispered one of the other scientists, seeing this. - Zheka - mind if I read your files on this?

- Won’t, - said Yevgeniy, seeing, how Liya relatively quickly changed her look from the golden-feathered Latias into what could pass as a human teenager and then taking a seat.

- Awesome, - nodded Sergey, then pulled a decently-sized package from under the table. - Blue cheese, my personal project. I’m a mycologist, after all. Hope it’ll pass good along with our sparkling wine!

- So, an actual sparkling wine this time, and not a gargle blaster from our Booze-o-tron, constructed back in 419? Cool. Liya - sorry, this drink is not for you, since it’s a poison to Lati. Speaking strictly - it’s also a poison to humans, but our organisms can metabolise it somewhat, giving some interesting effects. If you want to drink - here’s your lemonade, - nearly motor-mouthed Yevgeniy on a single breath, grabbing a bottle from another table nearby and pouring some of its content into glass before disguised Latias.

- Well, Bon Appetit, I guess. For the ISF! - raised the glass, full with sparkling wine, Sergey.

- For the ISF! - all of the sitting ones clinked glasses. Latias did not know, what did it truly mean, but decided to support it and raised her own too, causing a few friendly laughes. Soon after, the mealtime came and all men and women started to enjoy the culinary mastery of the Division’s cafeterias. Liya, seeing this, decided to give it a try. Surprisingly, despite her initial fears, the human food was pretty tasty, if only a bit too spicy for her.

- Li, be careful - our food, unadapted, might taste quite good, but eat too much of it today - and you are so gonna regret it tomorrow! - warned her Yevgeniy. She slowed down a little, but overall, the celebration has continued, especially when most of table near the center of the Lobby were moved aside to make a room for dance.

Suddenly, a flash of orange light, a thuderous clap - and the huge, six-limbed mechanical Pokemon appeared just a few meters away from partying scientists.

- WHAT THE FLAK?! - screamed one of the biologists, trying to jump and only succeeding in falling on back together with his chair. - Chugun - what the heck was that?

- Slingshot relaying device test, - replied the creation of the leading arcanist team in his usual metallic voice. - From what it looks like, I’m still in one piece, hadn’t clipped into the ground and operating, so, test’s a success!

- What in the world this “slingshot relaying device” thing is? - asked an already drunk mycologist, examining a piece of blue cheese.

- An addition to the tseryobla, which allows teleportation from one point to other without need to stop in the tseryobla itself. As you know, tseryobla works by using the Reflection World as an unexpressed axis for-

- Please, keep it short!

- I’m doing it. So, it uses the Reflection World, which, as some of you know, is a sort of a border world, as an unexpressed axis, so we can swing whatever we want to teleport around the border world and get it back without it actually going past the barrier. What the slingshot relaying device does in the grand scheme of things? It allows us to pull one slingshot right after another, eliminating the need for rematerialize in-between teleportation beginning and destination points. Basically, it allows true point-to-point teleportation, without need to stop in the tseryobla.

- Cool! - whistled Yevgeniy.

- By the way - Groisman, Maler and I are very grateful to you for the Teleport move research data and we want to invite you to our small party, - said Chugun somewhat shy, then placed two cylindric devices with a single covered button on top of each of them on the table. - Those are Slingshot Beacons. If you want to go to us right now, you can press the button and slingshot yourself directly - it’s completely safe, trust me - into the Teleportation Lab 3, where Team 2 has set our own quiet party. If you don’t want... then you can travel the old-fashioned way or just stay here. Anyway, I’m done here. Goodbye!

One more orange flash, thunderous clap - and Chugun vanished.

- I knew arcanists had some loose screws, but never thought, that their screws are that loose, - slowly commented one of the geneticists.

*What’s this?* - asked still slightly confused Liya, grabbing one of the teleportation beacons.

- A marker device for teleportation. You need to flip a safety cover and press a button to initiate sequence, - mumbled mycologist, examining yet another piece of blue cheese. - Nah, this strain of mold isn’t as good as earlier one.

- Liya, do you really want to... LIYA!!! - screamed Yevgeniy, when Latias, who was a little too curious for her own good sometimes, used one of the beacons and got teleported away. - Seryoga - thank you a flakking lot! Guys, gotta go now!

With these words, microbiologist grabbed a second Slingshot Beacon and activated it, hoping to get to his creation and almost adoptive daughter before something bad happens.

Weird dreams make great fanfic fuel.

Four days ago I’ve got another strange dream, although I’ve only remembered (and quickly wrote down) a single scene - Adam getting congratulated by the Sarif while being in a some kind of art-decoed airlock, which wouldn’t look out of place in a  “Hikōkyū 2”. If we go deeper from here, I think, that it’ll be like this:

At unknown moment (presumably, some time after deactivation of the Darrow’s signal and transmission of the Sarif’s message, which’ve resulted in the actions against the “Humanity Front” and gave transhumanists (Sarif Industries included) the upper hand), Deus Ex world got somehow linked to the Pokemon world.

Sarif Industries, being the first who’ve managed to get into the Pokemon world and create a colony of sort in it, are currently more powerful in it, than Illuminati, but sheer amount of conspiracies in both worlds and such may quickly change this. So far, only Sarif Industries and the Illuminati managed to get into the Pokemon world, and no one in the Deus Ex world has enough power to stop theirs progress.

To get a better hold in the Pokemon world, Sarif Industries currently tries to find a new markets in it, going even as far as creating products with systems based on those of theirs aug-products (Typhoon, Glass Shield cloaking system, Rhino reactive armor, Sarif Series 8 energy converter and so on) and providing cyber-services. So far, theirs best selling products are energy converter (which can turn food into electrical energy in a very short amount of time), wearable electrogravity-based Icarus Landing System (fall from any height and land safely) and several lines of Rhino reactive armor (self-explaining). They aren’t selling augmentations in the Pokemon world yet.

Malik and Pritchard are alive and well.

Adam is still working for the Sarif Industries. At the current moment, Adam tries to get some information from the Lawrence III.

Lawrence III did not know he was helping Illuminati, he was just developing an advanced gravity control and an AI systems for a customer, who gave him a lot of a great and valuable artworks (Illuminati are so Illuminati…) in response. To add to this, some of these artworks were not even from the Pokemon world, and that’s exactly what he would want - a something really unique.

Illuminati here are less powerful, than in the original (Jensen’s and Sarif’s actions, as well as actions arranged by theirs allies, delivered a huge blow to the Illuminati), but still are relatively well and kicking. However, they were only the second to get into the Pokemon world and now they have to avoid Sarif’s agents, while plotting new conspiracies. So far, they’ve succeeded in implating theirs agents in the some Teams and hiring Zero and Hunter J.

Because of the whole interworld-link situation, Sarif Industries became a major power in the Deus Ex world and currently is a decent threat to the Illuminati. They also have a lot of agents in both worlds, but still less than Illuminati.

Hunter J is willingly working with Tyrants - Illuminati strike force, happy about her new allies and thinks on getting augmented herself (for free, because Illuminati recognize great potential agent in her). After all, implanted cloaking system, underskin reactive armor, commlink, Icarus landing system, Typhoon explosive system and an arm-installed paralyzer cannon are pretty useful for the Hunter which has no problems with killing those who are trying to stop her. Also, being able to jump from great height (cloaked airship, for instance) and survive landing without even a scratch, while being invisible most of the time, is pretty useful for any Pokemon poacher. Fat paycheck is a nice addition.

Tyrants are pretty happy of their’s new agent, especially because of her stealth airship, which also has enough volume to place whatever they need in cargo bay and still have a loads of space.

Zero is working together with Illuminati scientists, because they’ve promised to help him with a Megarig and a Mecha-Giratina projects. Currently, he is working on AI, gravity control and a ACS (Abilities Copying System) projects. The last is especially important to the Illuminati, because, potentially, they may get powers of Arceus (and other Legendaries) with it. Beforehand, he worked on the interworld portals phenomenon research (the very reason why there are Deus Ex characters and organizations in the Pokemon world), until it was transferred to the Deus Ex-world science team.

Some of the Team Plasma and Team Galactic scientists are Illuminati agents in disguise.

If the events of one of the previous dreams are taken in the account, Team Cipher is working very closely with Illuminati, have created theirs own underwater fortress (disguised as an oil development station) with some Deus Ex technology installed in it (Hyron Project included) and currently are experimenting with Shadow Pokemon. So far, they’ve managed to get XD-??? (Shadow Lugia) to be able to disguise itself as a human and talk without usage of the telepathy.

I’ll post more later. If I’ll get really lucky, I may have another weird dream with even more events like this.

@blackjackgabbiani​, what do you think about it?

You’re lucky. Once I’ve watched a movie with plot-crucial scene subtitled as “I have no idea what are they talking about”.

I’m watching a movie that’s in about a dozen languages and everything is subtitled EXCEPT when a character gets up on a stage to sing. Than it’s just “singing”. This song pops up several times throughout the film and none of it is subtitled or captioned.

Re-entry (mini-fic)

Six months.

For six months already crew of the “Space Lab Two” was working on pure inertia.

Because Soris Empire fell.

Their families, friends, relatives, co-workers - they were no more.

Killed by the rampant Pokemon, irradiated to death, evaporated in the giant thermonuclear blasts - it did not matter.

The only thing that mattered now was the supplies.

And they were running low.

- Captain, we’ve already overshot our goal by two months, - said the physicist, floating from one wall of the command module to another. - As for now, we have one week at most, then air reprocessors won’t hold anymore and will most likely fail - I told we needed to replace them three launches ago. Does anyone there want to suffocate to death?

- To be honest... - started the biologist.

- To flak with this pessimism, - harshly said the captain. - There are still people down there, so we may as well as try to get down and try to survive alongside them. Our death up there will be no use to anyone!

- Well, you’re top officer here, so, as you wish, - responded the pilot. - However, there are no infrastructure left to meet us, so, we have to de-orbit our return vehicle in such a way, so we’ll land somewhere near the survivors.

- Do you think it’s such a big problem? - asked physicist. - Even if we, for some reason, won’t use our own surveillance telescopes, we still can communicate with the recon satellite network and get all data we want from them, so, finding the good landing place shouldn’t be that hard. Re-entering the atmosphere and landing, however...

- I can work on that, - said the pilot. - Of course, autopilot shall do most of the job, but, in the event of something, we need to be sure we’ll actually land our and not commence unplanned lithobreaking. Even if our return vehicle is, basically, renamed... 

- Work on it tomorrow. Right now, everyone goes into gravity wheels and takes a nice, long sleep. We need to calculate how to bring twenty-five humans back to Earth safely. We need to get everything ready for it. We will not be able to properly do it in such an exhausted state, so, put these caffeine drinks away and go snore a bit.

-... So, deorbiting at this points shall be fine, - murmured the captain, plotting the course for the return vehicle. - The secondary data pod shall be ejected at this point and then station will commence transfer to the junkyard orbit. Vasilyev - had you located the survivors enclaves?

- Yes, I’ve had, you can see them here, - responded the crewmember, marking several points at main display. - As you can see, we can correct our landing course in the atmosphere itself, so, detaching the return vehicle from the station here shall be fine enough. Also, all of the “Overlord of Skies”-class airships have been destroyed, the most recent one - “Researcher-2″ - crashing in Kalos, and, considering the radiation scans, because of some sort of a reactor failure. It’s good thing satellite network is still kicking.

- Not so good, - said communications operator. - We can’t manually order heavy recon and repeater satellites to fire the engines and transfer themselves to graveyard orbits.

- Do you think...

- Yes. If something goes wrong, satellites will de-orbit and disintegrate upon re-entering atmosphere. And, as you remember, they are powered by the nuclear fission reactors...

- Just like the our station now, since the parabolic mirror was destroyed. Well, shouldn’t they fire engines if automatics onboard detect something going wrong with reactor, such as meltdown or running low on fuel?

- They should, and they also should auto-correct orbit, but, if system goes offline or, what’s even worse, nuts, we’ll have radioactive nuclear fuel sprayed across the world.

- But ISF9 automatics rarely, if ever, fail, - taped the captain, trying to prevent panic. - Besides, it’s not like we can do something about it, so let’s just hope for the best. What about our return vehicle?

- Good, comrade captain. After some tweaking, according to the pre-written instruction for that exact kind of situation - apparently, our guys in FCC were quite paranoid - we’ve modified interior of the lenticular return vehicle to be able to safely house all twenty-five peoples for entirety of return and landing procedures. A bit cramped, but better that, than nothing. What we’ll do with normal 3-seated return pods, though?

- They’ll stay here. After all, there’s no infrastructure left for retrieval operations. the LRV can guide where it lands pretty good, these can’t.

- Goodbye, “Space Lab Two”. We will greatly miss you, - said the pilot, looking in the return vehicle’s main window. The space station, jewel in crown of the Empire’s space program, was left by it’s crew forever and was programmed to eject an emergency data pod at the marker of the landed return vehicle, so knowledge will be preserved. - Proceeding as normal, four hours until touchdown.

- Acknowledged - replied physicist, still thinking about the fate of the space station. - Station will fire engines and transfer to the graveyard orbit in ten orbital periods, secondary data pod ejection will be commenced in three periods.

- Good, - said captain. - Let’s hope this snake-dragon-missile-thing - the green one...

- It’s called “Rayquaza”, comrade captain, - taped the biologist.

- Whatever. So, let’s hope it does not commence orbital interception of our lenticular return vehicle.

- And it applies to our station and satellites too, - grunted comm operator, looking at the map with locations of recon and repeater satellites. - I’m sure no one will like reactor’s active zone dispersed all across the region...

The streamlined lenticular return vehicle fired the small frontal engines and slowly sailed away from the huge station, which has already stopped rotation of the giant centrifugal gravity wheels. then turned and fired main thrusters, decelerating and starting the atmospheric re-entry sequence, while the Space Lab Two continued to silently perish, deactivating life support systems, which were not needed anymore, one after another, and preparing to shut down the reactor as soon as it gets to the graveyard orbit.

- Mom, you’ve told me, that seven years ago, our village’s elder died upon gazing at the shooting star and said some strange words. What did he say?

- Something like “recon”, “re-entry”, “disintegrating” and “all across the...”, upon saying which he died.

- What did it mean?

- Who knows, dear, who knows. After all, he came from the time, when humans made great things, discovered the basis of life itself, cracked the uncrackable and even flew beyond the skies...

So, what he wanted to put in his collection this time? Had he got himself a new airship? Was he a villain in there (I so hope he wasn’t villain nor he was hero this time)? What place he had in the movie? Sorry if I’m annoying, but I just love Lawrence III that much.

I had a dream that Jiri was in a new movie but the dub didn’t know who he was and renamed him Schwager. Like “swag”.

The problem may be not with phone itself, but, instead, with battery charge controller. Try rebooting your phone and make sure there are no energy-heavy apps running, such as a Pokemon Go, Pokemon Duel or like it, and, if this fails, try to turn phone off and let it charge for a while before turning it back on and checking progress. If there is no charge buildup, swap charger for another compartible and if this fails as well - there are, probably, big problems with the battery.

There’s something wrong with my phone. It’s plugged in, says it’s charging, but loses battery.