Elegy I
(above: artwork by Ian Ameling)
It was morning at Sub City, but the base was abuzz.
Something pinged on the scanners,
a new artifact under the sediment.
For some reason, despite the seabed being
methodically investigated for archeological finds,
this one had been missed....
or maybe it had just shown up overnight?
Technician Greg Ganon expertly worked
Technician Greg Ganon expertly worked
the crane and plucked the artifact
up without breaking a sweat. Watching his prize
dangle between the mechanical fingers,
Greg scratched his forehead at what he saw.
It appeared to be a suit of armor, covered in seaweed,
reflecting in the sun with a shimmering effect.
They'd been trawling the seabed for years now,
but somehow this had just popped into existence.
As it dangled in the claw, Greg noticed
there was something inside
the armor, filling it out.
When the limbs started to rustle,
Greg panicked and called security.
***
Brick met Dr. Silver in the empty hallway
outside the intensive care unit.
Despite it being a five-alarm situation,
Dr. Silver banned all personnel from the ICU,
save for one staffer in a hazmat suit.
This was too bizarre of an occurrence
to allow anyone to walk in.
Brick doubled his steps to
keep up with Silver as they walked and talked.
"Carbon dating puts his armor back
"Carbon dating puts his armor back
a couple hundred years, but whomever
is in that suit is awake and stirring.
It's apparently fused to his skin, keeping him alive."
Silver delivered the news in a monotone.
Brick shook his head to try and comprehend
how that was possible.
"A time-anomaly." Brick offered, confirmed with Silver's nod.
It was the first time the pair had worked together,
Brick cycling in as Administrator of Sub City for a term
and Silver just joining the team as a defector from the Hyper Knights.
"Let's see what he has to say..."
It was incredible and reality-bending that
the patient could speak, let alone survive after
being below the ocean for who knows how long.
But "reality-bending" met little to Brick anymore,
working for Fred Foods altered his
perception of the possible long ago.
The artifact spoke Middle English,
which was near-indecipherable to Brick,
but Sub City's auto-language translation algorithms
made conversing bearable.
"I am called the Neowise Knight.
I dared to battle the Trilobyte King and failed.
He sent me back to earth, where I have been trapped."
Silver and Brick were silent, taking it all in.
Silver and Brick were silent, taking it all in.
Suddenly, Neowise's vitals started to plummet
and Silver sprung into action.
"Nurse, get this patient plugged into the
static chamber, he's in freefall."
The hazmat nurse followed directions
and wheeled Neowise out of the room.
"I'm going to have to call this one in to HQ.
We've yet to meet anyone with direct contact with the Trilobyte king.
Keep him under lock and key."
Brick told Silver, who offered no objection.
***
It was a long hallway to the static chamber
and the nurse decided he was
far enough away from Dr. Silver to venture a question.
"Sir, stay awake. I have to ask you an important question.
Where is the Trilobyte King...where did you fight him?"
Neowise groaned and opened his good eye.
"Downstar. I fought him on Downstar."
That was exactly what the nurse wanted to hear.
Depressing a button on the hospice bed,
the nurse disconnected Neowise's vitals from the network.
Any further vital sign alarms would go unnoticed.
"One more thing I gotta ask..."
The nurse leaned in close to Neowise,
who had drifted into unconsciousness again.
"...would this happen to be a Kilbit Sword by chance?"
Neowise was unresponsive.
But it was no matter, the nurse had what he wanted.
Standing with the sword in hand,
the nurse summoned some Vector particles
to disperse the illusion spell he had been wearing, only to reveal...
...the one they called Nobody.
And how pleased father will be!
With a swirling of Vector energy,
Nobody cut open a rift and disappeared,
leaving Neowise untented in the hallway.
