//------------------------------// // III - Canals // Story: Black Forest: Entropy // by Alfoals Trottenbauer //------------------------------// The floor under Sven's hooves collapsed. He plummeted into a giant body of brown water. The distance of the fall plunged him deep into the murky waters. He attempted to swim upwards, but something was sucking him down. He looked below him to see that a gigantic turbine was spinning at the bottom. He still had his metal pipe. He swam down and stuck the pipe in the turbine, stopping it. The turbine creaked as Sven quickly swam down past the turbine, the pipe being split in half as he passed through. Sven jumped onto a walkway over the canal. Water poured out under the blades, into some kind of canal. A security guard was firing at one of the two-legged aliens he had seen before. The alien grabbed him by the throat and choked him to death. Sven dove for the pistol and fired into the alien's head. It fell backwards into the side of the canal about fifty feet below the walkway. He continued along the walkway, treading lightly. The canal ended into a giant waterfall. A stallion lay there with a parasite on his head. The corpse stood up and let out a gurgling roar, lurching toward Sven. Sven shot at it, but missed, hitting a large pipe. Fire shot out of the pipe, lighting the zombie. It started screaming through liquid organs. Sven shot it in the parasite, making it slump onto the ground. Avoiding the fire, Sven opened the door at the end of the walkway. In the next room, there was a valve. Above it read: 'FLOW CONTROL RELEASE' Sven turned it and the water outside rose level to the walkway. Sven trotted back and jumped into the water, swimming down through the waterfall. The water was too deep for the fall to be deadly. Sven swam to a concrete platform and climbed onto it. A door was on the wall, which he went through, into a cargo bay. Two soldiers were trotting through the cargo bay's road, when a scientist caught notice of them. "Wait! I'm with the science team!" They turned around and began to open fire with assault rifles. "Help! Help me!" He pleaded, running behind a metal crate. Sven galloped to the scientist, taking cover, and levitating his pistol. He poked out around the corner and fired, hitting one of their legs. The soldier fired a short burst. Sven fired again, hitting one in the head. "Medic!" The living one cried out. Sven fired again, hitting the other in the chest. The soldier fell. "You- You've saved my life..." The scientist stammered. Sven nodded. "I-I'm certain they would've killed me, if you hadn't shown up. They were supposed to save us... What have we done..." The scientist lamented. "I wish I had something to reward you with..." "Wait! There's an armory not far from here. I can unlock it for you." The scientist got up and trotted to a door labelled 'SECURITY'. The scientist unlocked it and they entered. "Safety at last!" The scientist sighed. There were assault rifles on a rack, one of which Sven took. The rifle had two triggers, the second was for an under-barrel grenade launcher. Sven took three grenades for it, as well as one hand grenade. He left the scientist to his own devices.