Introductions

"Is that so?" Rassilon raised an eyebrow. "Looks more like you've come here to raid my tomb for valuables!"

Mike coughed and shifted uncomfortably.

"Anyway." Rassilon said. "I appreciate your pluck and courage in getting here. And I even have a little job for you, Michael Cunningham. Carry it out, and I'll let you have a prized jewel from my collection of tarnished grave goods."

"Really?" Mike said. "Geez, that sounds great! Uhh... you know, I really didn't expect to find you... well, alive!"

"Do I look alive?" Rassilon said, coughing up maggots. "I've been awakened for a very specific and very important task - and once it's done I'm going right back to sleep."

"Allright. I can dig it, bone daddy." Mike said feebly. "So what's this job I have to do?"

"A man and a woman have just arrived on this dimension." Rassilon said, taking a puff from his pipe. A heavy sweet aroma filled the room. "They carry a letter - I can sense it, for it's power is what awakened me. It is imperative that I get this letter - being a dimensional traveler, I'm sure you can appreciate the ill effects of several dimensions imploding into one another, googols of people dying from a naughty disease - you know, that sort of stuff. But the pair that has the letter is soon to be in terrible danger. Find them and bring them to me, and I shall give you whatever your little heart desires."

"Sounds sweet, shag!" Mike said. "But how the hell do I find them?"

"I will teleport you into their approximate area, within a mile at worst." Rassilon said crossly, unflattered by the 'shag' remark. "Aid them - but if worst comes to worst retrieve the letter - at all costs! It will be in a plain grey manila envelope."

"Great! Let's get this party started!" Mike said.

"I will now teleport you into the heart of the Death Zone." Rassilon said. "Oh, and Mike."

"Yeah, chief?" Mike asked.

"Do not fail me."

With a wave of Rassilon's hand, Mike vanished, leaving the undead Time Lord to himself shift uneasily in his tomb.

___________________________________________________

Meanwhile, Fred and Astra were squaring off against the Sontarans. The stocky little creatures blasted away at them fiercely, unloading round after round of heavy laser ammunition upon our heroes. Fortunately most bounced off of Fred's laser and flame retardant rune mail, and Astra was too quick on her feet to let any one of the enemies draw a decent bead on her. Within minutes the Sontarans were retreating, leaving the battlefield littered with their dead.

"What strange beings!" Astra said. "And what strange weapons they were using!" She picked up one of the laser rifles the Sontarans dropped.

"I can't help but wonder what those brutes wanted with us." said the Doctor, looking only slightly more scuffed from the experience of being fired upon. "Of course, I wonder about most everything nowadays. For example, what am I doing here with Susan? And where did you two come from?"

Before Fred could explain about the Shoggoths and the Rules and Agents, and many, many people with clones of themselves... analogs, he thought he remembered them being called, there was a loud flash of lightning, and a strange looking man appeared in the corridor before them. He wore a dark leather coat, and had handsome, but not kindly, facial features. In one of his hands he held a metallic device.

"I am so pleased to meet you!" the man said in a high pitched voice. "Fred, and Astra, and Susan, and the Doctor, of course."

"How do you know my name?" Fred asked. "And who are you?"

"Me? Oh, I am the Renegade Agent." the man said with a smile. "Also known as the Lost Agent, Agent Strange, and the Agent of Chaos. Though I see myself more as an Avatar. As for how I knew your names... well, I recognized the Doctor by his ridiculous hat, and Susan from that smashing play on British TV. As for you and the girl, I simply guessed. Amazing how often that works for me. Of course, I couldn't care less if your names were Studly and Mighty Mouse."

He started pressing buttons on his device. "Now I'm about to teleport you four very very far away from here. I know perfectly well how loyal you are to the Bureaus, and the Commitee, and all that boring tickertape crap. For me, this is reason enough for my little experiment. There. All primed. Now, where would you like to go? The Seas of Moridne, perhaps? Lovely sharks there. Very ill tempered. Or maybe the doomed swamps of Lorchenew?" He paused in thought.

"Don't even dare!" Fred said, raising his sword, the Dragonslayer. "We're on a mission to save the very cohesion of the Universe!"

"Precisely." Agent Strange grinned. "Wait... I know! The Ultimate Savage Land will be a perfect proving ground for your strength. Makes this Death Zone look like a pile of puke. And it's tucked so far away into the very folds of barely even recognizable reality... in this case an obscure videogame world of 20th century human non-colloid Earth... that there is no chance the Rule and the Agent could ever even find you!"

"No!!!" Fred screamed, lunging toward Agent Strange. But it was too late. He had pressed the button.

Fred, Astra, Susan, and the Doctor vanished.

Almost simultaneously, Mike popped out of thin air, totally unaware of what he had just missed.

"Well hello!" Agent Strange said. "Who might you be?"

1. Mike introduces himself to Agent Strange.
2. Mike attacks Agent Strange.
3. Scene shifts to Fred, Astra, Susan and the doctor, deep within the Ultimate Savage Land.
4. Introductory Scenario for "Fred, Astra, Susan and the Doctor deep within the Ultimate Savage Land".

Add New Option

Go Back

View Forward Story Tree
View Back Story Tree

Display All 2 Links to this Episode