The Magician and the Ogre
3rd person:
The desert sands crunched under his boots as he walked toward the thing. Larger than a tank, Marcus thought, looking up at the numerous guns. He hadn’t quite gotten a good look at it on their last encounter. Now that he was within spitting distance, the origins of the thing, with its fusion of metal and organic designs were clear. And it definitely did not belong here. So.
Marcus cleared his throat. “Good afternoon. As a duly designated representative of the town of Northmarch, the Kingdom of Ryozan, and the Empire of her most serene Highness my mother the Empress Julia Procopina, you are hereby in violation of the Sweetwater Compact. As such, you are hereby ordered to remove yourself behind the Black Line back to your origin,or nearest such parallel dimension.”
The metal monster seemed to consider this a moment.
“Are you one of the Nine and Forty?” it stated in that metal voice Marcus had heard before.
“I believe I specified that already” Marcus replied. He tensed himself and was not surprised to see the main gun track and turn on him.
“Is that an affirmative?” the metal voice repeated.
“Linea’s Eyes, YES!”
The gun fired...
1st person Marcus
This was not one of my brighter ideas. I had to trust my sister’s plan, because, well, she was smarter than me. And this thing had to be stopped. I’d invested too much in the Kingdom on behalf of Mom to let some metal construct from the other side of reality wreck it.Besides, if Dulce was right, *I* and the rest of the family was its real target.
I stopped a few paces from the thing.It had been traveling slowly, a few miles per hour, after the sting of our first encounter. It did not immediately fire on me. Maybe she was right.
I cleared my throat and spoke.
“Good afternoon. As a duly designated representative of the town of Northmarch, the Kingdom of Ryozan, and the Empire of her most serene Highness my mother the Empress Julia Procopina, you are hereby in violation of the Sweetwater Compact. As such, you are hereby ordered to remove yourself behind the Black Line back to your origin,or nearest such parallel dimension.”
The thing might be made of orichalcum instead of marshmallow, but the same principle applied.
I think I confused it, it took a moment to answer.
“Are you one of the Nine and Forty?”
Idiot, I thought. I said my mother was the Empress already, indirectly.
“I believe I specified that already” I replied. Yeah, my brilliant big sister was right. Coming for the family. Good. Let’s make this personal. And don’t think, I thought to myself, I don’t see that big gun turning on me.
“Is that an affirmative?” the metal machine repeated.
“Linea’s Eyes, YES!” What a pedantic machine. I tensed my shoulders.
The gun fired.
1st person Ogre
The little man walked toward me. I slowed down to a crawl, and then a stop.I had to revise his threat level from 0 to 3 after the previous encounter. Form indicated negotiation before immediate hositities. There was also a 89 percent probability he would have countermeasures for a sneak attack. Patterns of force suggested allowing him within range of main gun. Programming also dictated confirming the man’s identity, although there was a 45% chance, based on current evidence, he was Prince Marcus. Confirmation was essential before action.
The man spoke.
“Good afternoon. As a duly designated representative of the town of Northmarch, the Kingdom of Ryozan, and the Empire of her most serene Highness my mother the Empress Julia Procopina, you are hereby in violation of the Sweetwater Compact. As such, you are hereby ordered to remove yourself behind the Black Line back to your origin,or nearest such parallel dimension.”
Most of the referents were to local and large scale political entities. Form of the speech suggested allusion to some work of literature. I spent a half second searching for the referent, in vain. In accordance with programming, I resumed the forms.
“Are you one of the Nine and Forty?”
“I believe I specified that already” the man replied. This increased the probability of the subject to 89%. It was not 90% confidence, confirmation was indicated. I trained the main gun on him anyway, he was enough of a threat in any situation.
“Is that an affirmative?” I asked. Human language could be fraught with strange constructions. Why could these Empire dwellers not use a regular language?
“Linea’s Eyes, YES!”
I ignored the mythological reference. He was Prince Marcus,and thus a legitimate target. I fired.
The desert sands crunched under his boots as he walked toward the thing. Larger than a tank, Marcus thought, looking up at the numerous guns. He hadn’t quite gotten a good look at it on their last encounter. Now that he was within spitting distance, the origins of the thing, with its fusion of metal and organic designs were clear. And it definitely did not belong here. So.
Marcus cleared his throat. “Good afternoon. As a duly designated representative of the town of Northmarch, the Kingdom of Ryozan, and the Empire of her most serene Highness my mother the Empress Julia Procopina, you are hereby in violation of the Sweetwater Compact. As such, you are hereby ordered to remove yourself behind the Black Line back to your origin,or nearest such parallel dimension.”
The metal monster seemed to consider this a moment.
“Are you one of the Nine and Forty?” it stated in that metal voice Marcus had heard before.
“I believe I specified that already” Marcus replied. He tensed himself and was not surprised to see the main gun track and turn on him.
“Is that an affirmative?” the metal voice repeated.
“Linea’s Eyes, YES!”
The gun fired...
1st person Marcus
This was not one of my brighter ideas. I had to trust my sister’s plan, because, well, she was smarter than me. And this thing had to be stopped. I’d invested too much in the Kingdom on behalf of Mom to let some metal construct from the other side of reality wreck it.Besides, if Dulce was right, *I* and the rest of the family was its real target.
I stopped a few paces from the thing.It had been traveling slowly, a few miles per hour, after the sting of our first encounter. It did not immediately fire on me. Maybe she was right.
I cleared my throat and spoke.
“Good afternoon. As a duly designated representative of the town of Northmarch, the Kingdom of Ryozan, and the Empire of her most serene Highness my mother the Empress Julia Procopina, you are hereby in violation of the Sweetwater Compact. As such, you are hereby ordered to remove yourself behind the Black Line back to your origin,or nearest such parallel dimension.”
The thing might be made of orichalcum instead of marshmallow, but the same principle applied.
I think I confused it, it took a moment to answer.
“Are you one of the Nine and Forty?”
Idiot, I thought. I said my mother was the Empress already, indirectly.
“I believe I specified that already” I replied. Yeah, my brilliant big sister was right. Coming for the family. Good. Let’s make this personal. And don’t think, I thought to myself, I don’t see that big gun turning on me.
“Is that an affirmative?” the metal machine repeated.
“Linea’s Eyes, YES!” What a pedantic machine. I tensed my shoulders.
The gun fired.
1st person Ogre
The little man walked toward me. I slowed down to a crawl, and then a stop.I had to revise his threat level from 0 to 3 after the previous encounter. Form indicated negotiation before immediate hositities. There was also a 89 percent probability he would have countermeasures for a sneak attack. Patterns of force suggested allowing him within range of main gun. Programming also dictated confirming the man’s identity, although there was a 45% chance, based on current evidence, he was Prince Marcus. Confirmation was essential before action.
The man spoke.
“Good afternoon. As a duly designated representative of the town of Northmarch, the Kingdom of Ryozan, and the Empire of her most serene Highness my mother the Empress Julia Procopina, you are hereby in violation of the Sweetwater Compact. As such, you are hereby ordered to remove yourself behind the Black Line back to your origin,or nearest such parallel dimension.”
Most of the referents were to local and large scale political entities. Form of the speech suggested allusion to some work of literature. I spent a half second searching for the referent, in vain. In accordance with programming, I resumed the forms.
“Are you one of the Nine and Forty?”
“I believe I specified that already” the man replied. This increased the probability of the subject to 89%. It was not 90% confidence, confirmation was indicated. I trained the main gun on him anyway, he was enough of a threat in any situation.
“Is that an affirmative?” I asked. Human language could be fraught with strange constructions. Why could these Empire dwellers not use a regular language?
“Linea’s Eyes, YES!”
I ignored the mythological reference. He was Prince Marcus,and thus a legitimate target. I fired.