William Doors, the CEO of the world's largest hi-tech corporation,
stared at the alien device. What a puzzle the red crystals were.
Archaeologists recovered them under an ancient megalith.
Analysis indicated they were of terran origin, but they had to be alien.
No human could activate them.
They were encoded for a specific type of DNA.
Similar to human DNA. But not quite. A human-alien hybrid?
He volunteered for the gene-modification experiment.
Mostly, he felt the same, but his ears felt funny.
...
The Kurzard Wattsford was a magnificent airship.
The first of a class of carrier warships.
The Druid Drifter assembled the best Trackers
and Roamer argonauts he could find.
...
The crew landed on Parkrica in the morning.
Off in the distance, the shards of ruined buildings stood menacingly.
Drifter was alerted to a ripple in the invisible waves of magic.
Something was let loose.
"Hurry! Extend the ramp! Pek, come with me!".
Drifter and Pek jumped into the wheeled vehicle.
The vehicle was an AMC Gremlin GT Destroyer, the last of its kind.
Drifter turned the key, its powerful 4 cylinder engine responded with a roar.
He kicked the accelerator, and the Gremlin charged down the ramp onto the beach.
The Central Processor issued the instruction.
It instantly received the reply acknowledgment.
Instructions were always executed.
Never any arguments. Never any excuses.
The Sneakers were racing to annihilate the intruders.
That was their instruction. Made of adamantine,
and designed to survive in a nuclear war,
the Sneakers would prove indestructible.
Drifter saw them. He fired the Macafee radian missiles,
destroying four of them in rapid succession.
One more Sneaker was still racing towards them.
Out of missiles, Drifter pressed the accelerator.
"We can ram it. Hold on!".
Then the AMC Gremlin slammed into the adamantine Sneaker.
Miles away, the crew saw the brilliant explosion.
When the smoke cleared, Drifter and Pek stared thru the windshield.
The Sneaker was obliterated. The Gremlin survived with a dented hood.
They sighed their relief. But then they saw the lone figure.
It was riding on a Sneaker with two wheels.
A red beam flared out from the chest of the figure.
Drifter and Pek were flung out with the swirling pieces
that used to be the AMC Gremlin.
The figure shambled towards them.
It did not shift its weight as it walked.
One leg thrust forward in the same exact way as the other.
It was a machine. The head was human,
with a mop of uncombed red hair,
and large square-framed spectacles.
The torso was a metal plate with a glass square.
Three red stones were embedded in the plate.
Amazingly, magical runes appeared and disappeared on the glass square.
Drifter could read the archaic words but could not understand their meaning.
"...Page Fault #14...Restart System Now...
...Launch Nuclear Missiles After Windows Update Completes?".
Disclaimer and Fair-Use notice:
This is a parody of "The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara" copyright © Terry Brooks.