Beyond Fortress Europa

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I have been so busy posting feedback titles that I had not looked yet into your story.
I just happen to come upon it this moment and I like the style, this is what we need more than the usual flaming and put downs, although maybe that is needed too.

Any way keep it up, and I'll wait for the movie too.

 

hehe, I want one of these contraptions.

shit, shower, and shave all in one!

*gigggles*

i am enjoying the hell out of your story, Scorpy... keep it up!

*hugz*


arty:

 

Thanks Vixie It helps when I read your writing, because it inspires me to search within my self for answers, and reason. Failing that, it's always handy to have friends like you around who always hold a light to guide people.

Hari, I'm very glad that you're a fellow writer. Your work is colorful, and cheerful, and compliments the warm days of spring. I would like to name a character after you in our forum sci-fi saga in the near future in your honour.

 

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That writes cheerful to me.

 

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yes prime minister what?

that was a hoot. i'm puzzeled as to why psycorps wants to keep everyone disconnected from the dreamnet.

it does i suppose explain a bit of their own loonieness.
and then keeping the econ on ice.
(well most states probably WOULD run better if their 'heads' WERE,
at least untill something unexpected chainged)

i loved the bit with the cat. the classic ventrilloquist gag where the human wasn't exactly the brains of the outfit did cross my mind.
(i DID catch the reference to mad cat from inspector gadget,
but the other bit, in my twisted mind, held all the high nuts)

i did have a dream once where everybody made me something like that econ too. i could never figure out why they wanted to, or even wanted to have one, but who was i to argue? fortunately the former 'econ's' security chief briefed me as to where and when my predisessor had made appointments to speachify and on what, or i would have been at a complete loss as to what was expected of me.

they had actualy given me some real authority too. appearantly the econ (or whatever they called me) was the only one allowed to set the thermostats. (and at least in principal security answered to me, he/they, held all the data, and with myself being in something of a vacume as to what was going on, speachify and adjust the thermostats was about all i could figure out to do about it. presumably i would be briefed more fully at some point. but then of course i woke up before that could take place)

and thank YOU. that gives me an idea as to why ...

=^^=
.../\...

 

Wow FE is certainly better this time around
You really are a genius WS

Back in the very early days of cinema camera men used to film a crowd at a fun fair or by the seaside then they would show the film and people would pay good money to see themselves on the screen

FE is a lot like that where you are filming the life of the forum and showing people who they are.

The early days of forumotography

 

Themnax, there will be many surprises involving the Econ, and his mysterious green cat as the story unfurls. I wish I didn't have schedules and deadlines to meet, so that I could dedicate more of my time on this project. Eventually you will find out why the government does not want the population to have any dreams, and how they have devised methods to achieve those ends.

On another note, I am starting a separate thread involving the naming of the green cat.

Forumotography! It's YOU who's the genius, Sentient. I can see that word entering the dictionary one day.

 

doood is anything going to happen in this story or is it some kind of torture you are developing and we are just your guinnea pigs? Ok I am ready to confess after reading that what do you want me to admit to? Afterwards just shoot me dood so I dont have to see any more of this rybald drivel

 

So, I guess you won't be reading any more of it. Damn! What a shame.

 

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Hi whitescorpion
it has been nice reading the story until now the encyclopedia europa is a great invention also really helps with keeping track of the story line.

 

Thanks, Raysun. Don't forget to give name(s) for Themnax's green cat in the other thread.

 

Why dont ronnie just piss off now, a jokes a joke dude but that was offensive criticism - I am certain you just took it on the chin tho scorpion, because I am sure you are more adult than to let some 14 year old thats pretending to be 27 bother you

correction I see ronnie has now put 77 in his sig

 

Ronnie is a good person at heart. That is what I believe, even though I do not know him. I have never reported him, but I also believe that we have to stand up to bullies. You say that Ronnie is 14, bro.

When I was his age, my father was taken away from me. His body is in some foreign land somewhere, but in a way, he is with me when I need him. My ma had her work cut out to raise the family, and just like Ronnie I rebelled not just against the system, but against those who provided warmth and shelter to a very confused teenager.

I felt I had no one, and that's when I turned to books. I owe a lot to my mum, but I also owe to Henry V, Oliver Twist, Huckleberry Finn, Tom Sawyer, The Three Musketeers, Sherlock Holmes, Don Quixote, Theseus, Jean Valjean, and little Frodo, as well as many others.

My advice to Ronnie, and other kids his age, is to read, to find the books that appeal to you, to visit the library, to dedicate some time during each day to read what YOU want to read. People are not idiots. Some people want us to think that we are.

Look after your health, but also look after your mind.

 

Today, for some reason that for the life of me I cannot understand, 33 of our fellow human beings were taken away from us. There are no words that can compensate this loss to their friends and family, but I will like to dedicate this issue to their memory, and to the hope that some day we will all learn to tolerate and help each other.

Episode 11
© White Scorpion 2007

Encyclopedia
Character List
Gallery

Half an hour later I was scuttling down the stone steps next to Charing Cross. Behind me Nelson was covered, as always, with pigeon shit.

The tall column in Trafalgar Square had a long history behind it. First, it had some kind of sailor on top of it.

Then they put some South African greenapron on it, because it was opposite his embassy. That’s when we still allowed foreign nationals within our borders.

After that came the Half Nelson, as a backlash to material excess, and because the ruler of the country at that time lost a bet to the Russian Premier.

Then they put someone called Jack Lord up there. Something to do with something called “Magarett Five Oh”, but nobody knew jack about Jack so he came down after a year.

Now they’ve put the sailor back up there again. Everyone likes a sailor.

At least the rain had stopped adding to the misery, and the sun was doing its best to provide a glitter show for the children to come out and play.

A glance inside the railway station as I passed, revealed a common sight in Fortress Europa. The old people. The retired, hanging about, no longer commuting, no longer escaping the city to the greener suburbs.

They looked at huge plasma screens for the latest truth broadcasts from the greenaprons. And for locations of where the cheapest vegetable-produce was available.

It was strange watching them. Standing next to each other, and waving as if hypnotized, only seeming to wake every now and again when a train arrived.

And all their hopes hanging on a thin line, their hearts skipping a beat, in expectation of what freedom or saviour that train might bring.

I could see the Psychic Academy at the bottom by the river bank. As I got closer the Thames almost smelled clean.

You couldn’t stare at the Psychic Academy for long. It gave you a headache.

It was architecture of mathematical genius. Every single aspect, angle, and cranny had been designed to prevent enemy thought penetration.

It was the most covert building in the world, and it housed some of the most feared people in the world: the blackuniforms, the brain-miners, the thought burglars.

There was an inscription above the marble façade, and although the letters were Europan, they were in another language which I didn’t understand.

-VINCIT QUI SE VINCIT-

Every step I took closer I felt different, as if I was sweating from within. Things are not perfect in Fortress Europa, but I’ve always kept my sense of humour, and always found some way to fill my time.

And yet I felt the fear of the unknown, the door that leads to the abyss, the edge from where there is no return.

Why can’t things stay the way they are when you are happy?

I took a last look across the road at Cleopatra’s Needle, some statue our ancestors stole from someone else's ancestors. Its inscripted stone cast a long shadow over the Psychic Academy’s lawn.

And there they were.

Thirty three roses.

Thirty three reasons that somehow aspired me to go on.

Thirty three souls speaking from the ground, not asking for pity, but wondering “why”.

The past meets the present, and the present faces the future. Sometimes strange thoughts enter my head, and sometimes I know that I have to use everything I got in my head to step forward and make that move.

I will not be intimidated by a blackuniform, whitecoat, or green apron. There is purpose in this world. I just have to find it, and then stick to it to the bitter end.

That’s not what makes a rose. That's what makes a human being.

Fear of the unknown. Let’s relish it. Remember the roses.

I entered the rotating prism tunnels of the Psychic Academy, and the only light I had to guide me was the one in my mind.

 

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