| Outsider(Conclusion) By Ratt |
| With excitement and adrenaline pumping in his veins he climbed the ladder. He struggled violently to open the mighty lock until finally with a mighty heave he pushed it aside. Panting he lifted himself into the air above. With hopes of fresh pure air he breathed deeply. Only to cough and sputter as the scent of ammonia and smog reached his nostrils, and stung his throat. Looking about him in amazement he saw the vast roofs of the Machine stretched out before him, like jagged teeth. Monstrous domes of putrid brown glass loomed in the distance. Gigantic smokestacks hurled poison into the sky. With horror Outsider saw the nightmare that the machine had turned the beautiful land into. With saddness he realized the truth. The dream had been a lie, a memory of a time when he had not been alive. Long ago the Machine had taken the earth, and destroyed it. With this final defeat his shoulders slumped and his legs gave way. Slowly he sank to his knees on the jagged roof. In the distance a shadow rose from a series of huge latches in the roof. It was a monstrous snake-like shape. It�s body composed of gigantic steel plates, driven by hydraulics and coal burners. The massive iron head reared to the sky. With all speed, Hunter of Souls, the final killer for the Machine made its way to the puny, pale form of Outsider. It�s gaping maw reached for the defeated figure, and closed with a bloody crunch. Deep in the depths of the Machine an electronic message moved along wires and circuits, rushing to the computer that is great mind of the Machine. Sitting in its bowl of putrid toxic liquids it reviewed the data. Outsider was dead, there was no helping it, once they left their work they could never return. There would be more; there would always be more. These humans were so violent and free. That�s why they had built it, to control them, to keep the ones who were different from them away, this was what it would do. |