//------------------------------// // They're coming through the walls! // Story: A Tale of Two Apples // by The Blue EM2 //------------------------------// “Move, move, move!” Babs’ voice echoed down the corridor as the Marines sprinted for their lives. The Xenos had been ready for them, and had thoroughly mauled their forces. Now they were running for their lives, sprinting through tunnels and past doorways as they tried to reach a defensive position. They took a left into a room and Tender Taps pulled the door open, the mechanism sliding open with a hiss. They stepped inside, and took a look around. Inside the room were a pair of boxes, which were sealed and had the text UA-571-C marked on them. “Open those boxes!” Babs commanded. “Yes ma’am!” Featherweight replied, flipping the catches open and removing the contents. “Sentry guns,” Raindrops noted. “Perfect.” “What’s the plan?” asked Apple Bloom, adjusting her M56 Smartgun. Silverstream raised her opinion. “Try and stay alive? I don’t fancy being eaten by bugs!” “That’s the best course of action,” Babs observed. “We have four of these guns, is that right Taps?” “Yes ma’am, it is.” “Good. Set up two in that corridor there, and two in the other corridor.” “Yes ma’am!” “Taps, I want you to operate the turrets from here. They auto track targets, yes?” “That’s correct ma’am, but I’ll want to check the calibration first.” Babs looked around her. “Why are you all just standing around? Get those guns set up!” Silverstream and Apple Bloom put the first two turrets into place. They were easy enough to set up; just unfold the tripod and put the gun on top. They then mounted the magazines on the side and ensured the barrels were pointing the right way. “So, how do these things work?” Bloom asked. “Like your Smartgun,” Silverstream answered. “It follows motion of targets and sends out an IFF signal to establish if you are friendly or not. If the system gets an IFF return, it does not fire. If the system does not get an IFF return, it opens fire.” “Must make one heckuva mess,” Bloom noted. “Are the turrets set up, over? Raindrops and Featherweight have already finished setting up their turrets.” “Taps, they are ready,” Silverstream radioed back. “Prepare to test calibration,” Taps radioed in return. Apple Bloom picked up a bottle and threw it in front of the guns, which then sprayed a water jet to indicate they were tracking correctly. “I got those results, over. Now get back in here, we’ve got hostiles approaching.” The two soldiers needed no encouragement to retreat to safety, and when they got inside, they found Featherweight welding one of the doors shut. They quickly chose to do the same on their end. Babs stepped forward. “Any further reports?” “Hostiles have stopped. We are detecting a massive build-up of enemy troops.” “How many?” Tender Taps paused before speaking again. “Several hundred, at the very least.” Apple Bloom cursed quietly. “How many of the darn things are there?” Featherweight sighed. “We’re about to find out.” Just then, the loud, percussive roar of automatic gunfire could be heard outside. “A and B are tracking targets, mostly far end. Turrets have engaged.” Indeed, they had. Explosive .50 calibre bullets tore down the tunnel and slammed into the approaching xenomorphs, tearing them to shreds and spraying acid blood everywhere. “Ammo?” Tender looked at his display and began to sweat nervously. “B is down 50% from 500, A is on 260.” The loud noise and furious thunder continued outdoors as the guns burned through ammo. “Watch those ammo counters fly,” Raindrops said in shock. A few more seconds of fire continued, followed by a loud explosion. “A is down to 40 rounds, B is on 50.” Taps found his readouts were out of date as soon as he was quoting them. “30. 20. 10. 0. A is dry, B is on 20. 10. 5.” There was loud sustained beeping. “Guns are dry,” Babs said finally. “Shit, we are so screwed!” Silverstream panicked. “Get your shit together!” Babs bellowed. “We are makin’ it out the other side! We’ve still got the other guns.” “On that note,” Taps continued. “Targets are closing on C and D. Guns are engaging.” More loud percussive roars sounded in the other corridor, the thunderous reports of the guns ripping more xenos to bloody chunks. “We are running low on ammo. C is on 250, D is on 275. Ammo count dropping.” “How many?” asked Apple Bloom, prepping her Smartgun. “Too many to count. Hundreds, I’m guessing.” Babs looked around. “Ready your weapons.” “A is down to 20 rounds, B is on 15.” The beeping filled the room, as the sentry guns ran out of ammunition. They took up defensive positions. Babs, Silverstream (who had a flamethrower) and Tender Taps covered the left side of the room, whilst Apple Bloom, Raindrops and Featherweight took up the right. They were almost prepped when the doors burst open, and a horde of aliens rushed them. The Marines opened fire, the gunfire deafening. Hundreds of caseless rounds were expended as the enemy charged forward, and Silverstream incinerated several of them. But this proved to be a mistake, as one charged forward and suddenly exploded, hurling them through the air. Apple Bloom looked over and saw Featherweight and Raindrops gets taken down, and a creature jumped onto her, held her down, and prepared to slash. The display went red. GAME OVER YOUR TIME: 25 MINUTES 37 SECONDS NEW HIGH SCORE “So, how did you find that?” Babs asked Apple Bloom, as they headed for the lobby to grab a bite to eat. “That was fun actually, even if Ah haven’t seen the movie it’s based on,” Bloom replied. They were at a lasertag arena just outside Edison, which specialised in recreating the movies. They had just done one based loosely on Aliens, and were preparing to try another one, this time being an original scenario and much closer to traditional lasertag games. “Well, we do this sort of thing all the time,” Featherweight told her. “If you ever bring your friends here, they should try it out.” Bloom laughed. “Yeah, Ah’d love ta see how Diamond Tiara would react ta that.” Babs looked at her. “Was she one of the girls who was ridin’ with us on the narrow-gauge line you have?” “Yup, that’s her.” And so, the day ended. The next day, Apple Bloom and Babs Seed went to visit Ellis Island, and not only went up to the top of the Statue of Liberty, but toured the immigration halls as well, where they even found Forgetful Furgerson! However, the return trip proved to be most eventful. For a bit of contrast, Babs took Apple Bloom on the bus to Grand Central. However, this went wrong when the bus broke down and they had to seek alternate transport home. It took them a while, but they certainly got to see the sights while they were at it! That night, Apple Bloom lay awake in bed. “So you can’t sleep too, huh?” asked the distinctive Bronx voice of her cousin. Apple Bloom sighed. “No,” she said. “And Ah’m pretty certain it ain’t the Philly cheese steak either.” Babs sighed in response. “I know. I just worry about stuff sometimes, like the future. And besides, I feel a little lonely when yer not around.” “But you’ve got such great friends!” Apple Bloom told her. “They’ll rally by yer side if ya need them to.” “True,” came the reply. “But you showed me that life was worth livin’. If that hadn’t happened, I’d still be stuck in a shithole with no escape.” Apple Bloom wanted to chastise Babs for language, but let it go. “Ya know, Ah miss ya too. Ah was so happy when ya came over fer Christmas, but now we are here, Ah don’t know when Ah’ll see ya again.” “There’s some talk of a reunion or somethin’ like that,” Babs answered. “I don’t know when though. Or where.” Alas, that was that, and they headed off into the land of dreams.