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 Things In The Deep Prologue

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Omniyus
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Omniyus


Posts : 40
Join date : 2014-05-12
Age : 26
Location : Good Ol' US of A

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PostSubject: Things In The Deep Prologue   Things In The Deep Prologue Icon_minitimeMon May 12, 2014 8:46 pm

The room fell silent as static picked up.  A message was coming through.  Even breathing was suspended as the message started clearing itself.  "At. . .PM. . .found. . .artif. . ."

"Somebody clear that message."  The General ordered, his thick, dark brow creasing as he used his fingers to massage the ever growing migraine.

"...General, we've found it.  We've finally found it."

The room exploded in cheers and applause, vibrating the thin walls separating it from the others.  The War Room, transformed into an expedition chamber, for there were no more battles, no more hate, had transformed in less than a second.  A New Age had begun.  

"Congratulations, General.  Your name is now down in the history books."  The secretary of exploration laughed as she patted him on the back.

The General laughed alongside her, "Yes, yes, I thought my name was already in the books for just being a part of the Recollection?"  The room eventually calmed down and the line was cut off with the exploration team, leaving little sound to take its space.

"You know what I mean.  Do not forget the press conference at 5:00; you'll finally have something to tell the public."  She turned his shoulder to avert his gaze back to her, "You will be telling them about this tonight, right?"  She tightened his tie and straightened his hair; none of them had slept in about 18 hours, and their schedule had not lightened.

"Depends on what my advisors tell me."  He smiled sadly and buttoned up his cuffs.  "Things aren't like they used to be, are they?"

"Is that so bad?"  Her smile came to match his.  It wasn't one of those fake smiles politicians wore, but a genuine, rare smile that arrived at the most unexpected moment: When true happiness presents itself to people.

The smile on the secretary's face faded quickly, though, as she remembered her schedule.  "I can't keep the press waiting for too long.  Who knows what kind of folly we'll have for staying in here for so long."  She nodded curtly and took her presence where she was needed.

The General stayed for as long as he dared, shaking hands with his fellow workmates as they filed out of the office, one by one, their happiness diminishing little by little with each person.  His thoughts were not on them, though, as, but on the press conference.  He could already imagine the press cabinet handing him his notes, completely filled in with the updated news.  He would be the one to give the world the final historic speech they needed to urge on an era of peace and prosperity.  He would be the one to end a confusion-filled era and replace it with something much better.  His words would usher in-

"General?"  The secretary of defense gave his hand a tight squeeze, knocking him out of his thoughts.  "I know I'm holding you up for a little longer than anticipated, but seeing as I'm going to retire in a few weeks and all, I would like to personally congratulate you."  He rested one hand on the General's shoulder and squeezed, smiling and giving a reassuring nod.

"Thank you, secretary, or should I call you Michael now?"  They both laughed.  "I thank you for your help in this, even though you're retiring soon.  Anyone going to be replacing you?"

Michael sighed, "No, no.  This will be the end of my career of the career of defense itself, I'm afraid.  Glad would be a more suitable term, but since I am losing my job, I'll keep with my former word.  Good luck with the press release."  With one last nod, Michael left him with his last words hanging in the air.  They weren't complex words or ones with deep meaning or some secret message in them, they were the exact opposite, in fact.  The message was simple and straightforward, but saying it that way was in a way, worse.  It hit home.

"Will do."  The General muttered, turning off the lights in the War Room, letting the glass door gently click into its slot, the lock automatically locking for the final time, the room never hoped to be used again.  "Will do."  He whispered again, a sigh escaping from his lips, forcing its way out into a place that would not be heard from anyone else, but it had its effect.

~~~~

"Here's your notes, in case you forget anything."  The man shoved him a couple of papers with some messages on them.   Three people were around him, fixing any small mistakes in his face, darkening what needs to be darkened so the lights wouldn't drown him out.

"Good luck, General, and make it one to remember."  The man winked and waved to the cameraman, who nodded.  The show was about to start.

The makeup was finished, and the manager made sure to get in my line of sight, looking at his watch and putting up five fingers.

Five.

Four.

Three.

Two...

The curtain opened and light flooded the podium, making it hard to see.  The General cleared his throat, and his stomach clenched up, but he wore his infamous smiled and strode to the podium, where an assortment of microphones were aligned.

"Welcome."  Suddenly, his throat was dry.  He cleared it, and the sound echoed throughout the many microphones.  "Sorry, been a long day."  A couple of laughs ripple through the crowd, somehow making the tension even thicker.

“As you all know, the secretaries of defense and exploration and myself launched an expedition to rid humanity of the scar The Juranoes Rebellion put upon us.”  The papers were of no use anymore.  The General had ingrained in his head about what they did every day for the past two weeks and he needed no paper to remind him of that.  “Wounds take time to heal, but the peace will come back, and so will the exploration and research we have done over the last 60 years.

“In order to usher in the new age, my fellow liaisons and I have begun an expedition to find none other than the lost city of Atlantis.  For months, we have used the largest, most extensive, and most technology advanced fleet in the history of mankind to look for this relic.”  He stopped for a moment to look at the audience.  No longer were they absentmindedly waiting for the speech to end and ask their questions but now they were listening in.  It’s not often that someone gives actual information before the questions of a speech.

“At 9:39 this morning, the pioneers of Expedition One, the flagship of our operation contacted us in the Antarctic Bay of the Southern Georgia Islands.  A sunken city has been located there.”  The crowd of reporters exploded in conversation, almost all of them standing up, trying to vie for attention of the General.  “Settle down, settle down!”  The General shouted, some feedback causing the speakers to whine.  Eventually the audience silenced themselves, eager to see if the General had any more to say.

“Thank you.  Now, we do not know if this is the actual legendary Atlantis, for recent Mesopotamian manuscripts hidden in the underground Giza pyramid hinted at more than one sunken city, at most four.  But we do hope that this will indeed bring upon us the second and hopefully the greatest age of research and exploration.  I will now be taking questions.”  At once, all of the reporters stood up and the sound became deafening.  The blinding lights dimmed to such a point that it allowed him to see the raging reporters.  He pointed to a tall girl with blazing ginger hair and rimmed glasses.  “Yes?”

“Miranda, from CCR news international, is this mission involving all nations?”

“Yes, we had an international team who were in charge of finding the city, and we’re planning for this era-in-making to involve every corner of the world and everyone in it.”  He turned his attention back to the rest of the audience.  “Any more questions?”

The usual commotion picked up, and the General pointed towards a blonde man.  “You.”

“Hi, Robert Painton from SCR Central News.  How will this finding of a lost city help usher in a so-called new era?  I mean, it’s cool and all, but how will that help us move forward with our research and exploration?”

The General chuckled dryly, “Thank you for bringing up that question, Robert.  It’s a very good one.  As for how it will help, according to the newly discovered Mesopotamian scrolls, there seems to be more cities out there.  What’s more initiative than that?  As for other aspects of trying to find those cities, which no doubt will be asked later on in our questioning, will be discussed on a later date.  Next question?”

Once again, the sound volume rose intensely.  “Excuse me.  Excuse me.”  The hall settled down almost immediately.  A man stood up, his balding hair just barely peaking over the seated people in front of him.  “I’m from One to Twelve News in Michigan, from a town you probably don’t know or care about, and I have a couple of questions for you.”  He hobbled out onto the walkway, his features more unsightly than his shiny head.  He pushed up his huge glasses with a knowing smile on his face.  “You say you’ve found this wonderful miracle, but have you really looked in it?”

The General was staring at him with a dumbfounded expression.  “Well, I- we-”

“No, you haven’t right? Here’s a better question: What if it was put down there for a reason?  What if they, whoever stuffed it down in that bay, wanted to keep it there for a very good reason?”

The crowd fell silent.  No mutterings.  No whispers.  Only eerie silence fell upon the room.  “I- I do not know why the city was sunk, but we will find out.”  The General halted, wiping off some sweat coming down from his graying hair.  “No more questions for tonight.  Thank you.”

The curtains closed, shrouding the General from the onslaught of reporters, trying to pry more information from him.

The General sighed, brushing his fingers through his thinning hair.  “I’m getting too old for this.”

The manager walked up next to him.  “Well that was somewhat . . . expected.  Need me to get anything?”

“Yes.  Get me the captain of Expedition One on the phone, and make it quick.  Time is of the essence.”
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SodaSpartan

SodaSpartan


Posts : 34
Join date : 2014-05-10
Age : 25
Location : US

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PostSubject: encore   Things In The Deep Prologue Icon_minitimeMon May 12, 2014 10:59 pm

Wonderful start

I would like to see more of this, keep up the good work
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TriSARAHtops

TriSARAHtops


Posts : 12
Join date : 2014-05-16
Age : 26
Location : The Emerald City

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PostSubject: Re: Things In The Deep Prologue   Things In The Deep Prologue Icon_minitimeSat May 31, 2014 7:21 am

Great start for something that looks really interesting. Very well written, with believable dialogue and great descriptions. Only nitpicks I picked up on were that you capitalised a speaker's tag in the last paragraph of the first half where you shouldn't have, and you also switched into present tense in the first paragraph of the second half with "needs" rather than ''needed". Aside from that, pretty impressive, and I'm looking forward to learning more.
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PostSubject: Re: Things In The Deep Prologue   Things In The Deep Prologue Icon_minitime

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