On Saturday, the 16th of May, 2014, I came home to find that the data for the latest chapter of Duke Forever was missing from my in-tray. I searched the house, and happened to discover the printed pages in the kitchen bin. Burnt.
Perhaps I was careless and allowed the papers to be mixed up with the junk mail, when we threw it away. I don’t know how something like this could happen, but I'm not trying to suggest that someone threw it away deliberately. However I'm also not suggesting that someone wouldn't do that either . . .
I was going to skip the chapter, but since the last chapter involved leaving Earth and the one after this involves returning to Earth, I couldn't justify leaving out this portion of the record. However, a great deal of the information I had has been lost. So, my only recourse is to compile what raw data I have to recreate the story for you, although perhaps without the bells and whistles of narrative that I've been adding to give some life to these stories. I apologize for the lack of artistic flair, but I want to retain the tenacity of this record, as best I can.
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The Duke’s timeship is sitting just beyond a stargate, which is inside of some kind of art gallery. Within, the Duke is looking over the console.
He takes note of a large number of life-forms living in a settlement several hundred kilometres away, closer to the equator of the planet.
There’s also a large planet on the sensor, which is orbiting like a moon. The Duke exits the timeship and observes it for himself. The moon is revealed to be larger than any moon, and in fact larger than the planet Earth. The Duke explains this to Anise & Edison.
The low gravity allows the timeship crew to “moon-jump” several metres high in the air. The Duke vainly attempts to explain the science while his companions test to see how high they can jump [approx. 5 metres.], before he observes the stargate itself and is mildly intrigued by the alien design.
The Duke then insists they seek to find the denizens of this world, . They leave the art gallery enter the outskirts of the town [town name unknown.] and find it deserted. The Duke discovers a wheel-less, dark-silver tram trolley, hovering a foot off the ground.
After commenting on the design, the Duke boards the tram, with Anise and Edison right behind him. The Duke activates the trolley with his laser spanner and it automatically takes them to the centre of town, where the Gravitan base station for the space elevator is located. The trio see several Temeritans patrolling the area.
The Duke believes them to be natives, so they enter the elevator dock and the Duke approaches one of the creatures, kindly asking for help. Edison attempts to explain to the Duke that the creatures do not look like the portraits in the art gallery, when the creature roars to alert its compatriots. It then advances on the three, aggressively asking them what they are doing in the facility. Edison tells the creature they’re not looking for trouble, but two more Temeritans join the first, looking ready to fight.
Edison takes the baton out of his belt [a police-issue Monadnock® AutoLock Expandable Baton.] and prepares to defend himself. With one blow, Edison is sent flying across the room, and while Anise races over to tend to him, the Duke holds the other three at bay, punching and dodging under the creature’s relatively slow attacks. Edison regains his feet and helps the Duke, utilizing the low gravity to jump, kick and evade the creatures.
After almost a minute, the pair manage to incapacitate one of the creatures, but the others roar for more backup and they are both exhausted so Anise, Duke & Edison decide to retreat. The Duke runs towards the hovering tram, however there are two Graviten soldiers waiting for them.
The Duke decides to follow them, and so the five of them run deeper into the buildings into a Phandibhan-style restaurant [cuisine native to the nearby continent of Phandibh, known for using subtle spices and offal.], where several Graviten soldiers [approx. 30.] are holding up in the underground stockroom. When they discover who the Duke is, the two soldiers that helped them, named Sir Ghedda Musth & Sir Javaji Hastin, explain the situation:
- Six days ago, a group of Temeritan terrorists came through the space elevator. They declared Graviten citizens inferior and began attacking everyone on site [23 were killed and more than 80 were injured.] with their brute strength as well as weapons stolen from the base station security.
- The group kidnapped several hostages, numbers unknown, [many of them students on a field trip, from the Mabhoudat Mathematics School for Girls.] Then contacted local media, identified themselves as Groko Falem [a group of xenophobic terrorists, whose name translates to 'Fallen Moon'.] they declared war on all Gravitan citizens, in the name of "Lakwa", demanding servitude or death.
- Five days ago, Gravitas representatives sent a deep-space communiqué to Temeritas, asking for help.
- The group, using explosives, destroyed over 3000 G-HAC suits [Gravitas(?) - Heavy Atmosphere Containment suits allow for Gravitens to survive Termeritas surface-gravity for extended periods of time.] held within the space elevator base station.
- The government of Mabhoudan continent moved in their defense forces, but ceased fire when the Temeritans began killing hostages. They were held at a standstill, as the Temeritans have threatened to destroy the space elevator if the army intervened, as a result the army retreated to a perimeter beyond the city limits.
- Three days ago, Gravitas recieved the Temeritans' reply, which stated that they were preparing to launch a series of interplanetary rockets to help, however it could take seven days before the first rocket could land on Gravitan soil.
- Ever since, the Gravitan army have been providing negotations for the hostages, and those trapped in the city limits, as well as covert guerrilla operations.
The Duke is confused, but he tells the Graviten soldiers that he will do what he can to help them, as he once did.
Anise & Edison are confused, but the Duke explains that the that he will most likely travel to the past and help these people, some day later in his lifetime, which makes him somewhat uncomfortable.
Edison asks how he could help them, and the Duke explains that the only way to deal with terrorists such as these is with force, and since he's not a warrior anymore it would be unwise to enter the fight. However, he does have the timeship, and with Sir Javaji's help devises a plan to materialize within the base station, via the timeship, to rescue the kidnapped citizens and schoolgirls. The Duke, Anise, Edison and a fireteam [a group of four soldiers, with a junior officer in command.] sneak out of the restaurant and travel on foot to the art gallery, where the Duke's timeship is waiting for them.
Scene Missing
The group are within the console room, and the Duke is spending a few minutes adjusting the co-ordinates, to aim for the location where the kidnapped citizens are said to be held [Within The space elevator unit itself, is a vessel the size of a skyscraper, with a mixture of Temeritan and Gravitan architecture (See Fig.3), which is capable of travelling between the planets in just a few hours.]. With several minute adjustments, the Duke pulls the ignition lever and the ship dematerializes. After an unsteady flight, the ship rematerializes and the soldiers shake themselves off. Then, standing at the ready by the exit, the Duke opens the doors and the soldiers all take point. They discover that the ship has missed its target, and is sitting on the roof of the base station. The Duke apologizes for miscalculating the co-ordinates, but not wanting to risk another trip, the soldiers enter the building from the roof, and head deeper into the facility. The base station is uncommonly empty and the group attempt to board the space elevator, but the air lock is sealed. The Duke manages to get through with his laser spanner, however the elevator begins to move. The six of them quickly climb aboard as the elevator accelerates into the air, leaving the timeship behind. The Duke struggles to get the air lock closed again, before they enter the stratosphere.
Scene Missing
The soldiers are seen moving up through the facility, slowly incapacitating or killing Groko Falem terrorists as they encounter them in each room [the interior of the space elevator is like a cruise ship or a hotel, with open space and different activity centres to entertain passengers.], however a firefight breaks out in the drinking lounge, with many terrorists joining the fight, leading to a standoff.
Anise and Edison are slowly heading up the facility through crew access corridors [The relative gravity aboard the elevator is approximately 0.9 g, to best facilitate all species of passenger.], and the pair enter the top level of the Gravitas-oriented portion of the space elevator.
A lot of the terrorists have congregated within the mid-section of the ship, so Anise and Edison retreat to one of the "crew access only" areas of the ship, using their pilfered master key [Which must have been acquired during the missing scene.] and enter a large, unusually oriented generator room. Within the mess of generators and computer monitors, Anise recognizes a gravity engine [This device is identical to the gravity engine from Warehouse 88 (See Ref#: b02.0-216-L(X)-m01), it is as yet uncertain if it is the same device.].
The Duke is within the engine room, working on the motor coils with his laser spanner, [it is implied that he was attempting to repolarize the coils to reverse the elevator and return it to Gravitan soil.] when a Temeritan assaults the Duke, drags him off his feet and slams him into a wall and interrogates him about his intention.
Scene Missing
The Duke is next seen quickly vacating the engine room, to head further up the space elevator vessel. After his encounter with the Temeritan, the Duke has come to learn that the ultimate goal of the Groko Falem is to overload the gravity engine, destroy the space elevator, and ultimately pull each planet out of their dual orbit, such that they will collide with one another, and it is his goal to stop that from happening.
Within the gravity generator room, Anise manages to convince Edison that she not only knows how to turn off the gravity engine, but also that it would be beneficial to do so, since Gravitens are used to low gravity, and Temeritans are not. Edison uses his radio to contact the remaining fireteam, who are still in the drinking lounge, and warns them that they are going to attempt to disengage the gravity engine. The soldier thanks them for the information, and tells his men to hold steady. Anise then approaches the gravity engine, and climbs up [The circuit connecting the gravity engine to the gravity plating results in a feedback loop which creates an outward force around the device; such that, when activated, the gravity engine is relatively "up" within the two-metre area around the device.] to adjust it, via a form of gear shift on the device. Anise's first attempt accidentally reverses the gravity across the entire ship.
Anise tries again, with another lever, but but only manages to make the strength of the reversed gravity fluctuate. Finally, Edison joins her and attempts to cancel the engine himself.
The Duke, unharmed but very cranky, accesses the communications section of the elevator, and first uses the intercom to contact Edison [through his police radio.]. The Duke asks, rather bluntly, for an explanation as to why the gravity is such a mess. The pair explain themselves, and although the Duke warns them that their actions were very dangerous, he talks them through how to deactivate a gravity engine.
The Duke then hails the Temeritan vessel and relays to them the details of their encounter thus far. They organize to rendevous in twenty minutes.
Scene Missing
The Duke stands at the control console of the boarding centre, behind the greeting desk, and quickly realizes that the boarding chamber is not fitted with an airlock. Several of the Temeritan terrorists enter the room, looking furious [due to the low gravity, the Temeritans would be suffering from higher blood-pressure in their skulls. However, it is assumed that their aggression mostly stems from the Duke, himself.]
One of the leading terrorists [Whose name is recoded as, Brohl Musth.] monologues about the Duke's weakness, and they attack, the Duke dodges them easily [It is unknown at this time whether or not time lords are naturally adept at manoeuvring in zero gravity, or if the Duke has learned to master the feat himself.], and tells the Groko Falem that they're nothing more than a group of thugs, no better or worse than any pathetic mutineer he has come across in his time. The Temeritan leader insults the Duke's status, the Duke then refutes his claim, closes the bulkhead door behind him & opens the outer hull door. The Duke holds on tight as the vacuum of space vacates the room of air, and the Temeritans are blown out into space.
Duke holds his breath as the Temeritan military ship intercepts the vessel [time lords can survive for extended periods in the cold vacuum of space due to their physiological tenacity and a respiratory bypass system.]. The Temeritan soldiers repressurize the boarding centre and flooded the space elevator with their squads. They swiftly took control [the Groko Falem refused to harm fellow Temeritans, allowing the soldiers to arrest them.], began treating the hostages and reversed the vessel to return to Gravitas.
Scene Missing
Back on Gravitan soil, there was a lot of commotion with the returning hostages, celebration and incarceration of the remaining Groko Falem and the news reporters declare it a miraculous resolution to the conflict. However, without much fuss, the Duke, Anise & Edison slip away to the timeship, and together they quietly vanish.
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The preceding information is everything that I could present (or extrapolate) from the remains of the burnt document and my ancillary notes on this subject. I apologize for this incomplete record, but I will endeavour to take greater care of such precious information in the future. I wouldn't want something like this to happen again.
There was some amazing information lost in this piece. It is, after all, the first time I've seen the Duke deliberately kill someone, but I've got more data on the nature of vacuums than I do that act of murder. I don’t know if it was in the heat of the moment, or if he’d planned for them to die before he entered that room. It makes me question his motivations, and wonder whether this is hinting at the truth behind what would cause such a powerful leader to fall from grace.
However, as I said, this is all that I can offer of this lost chapter, and I hope you've found what you were looking for.
However, as I said, this is all that I can offer of this lost chapter, and I hope you've found what you were looking for.
