Mission 19: Start the countdown

[Neko Koneko]

Mission 19: Start the countdown
Requirements: None
Post Length: 5,000 Characters
Alignment: Any
Level: Any
Cost: 0 GP

Rewards:
500 GP + ??? bonus GP for creativity/character development/humour
500 EXP + ??? bonus EXP for creativity/character development/humour

Outline of Mission: For some reason you've been asked to start the countdown. What countdown? When? Where? Questions, questions...

[urcute08]

Mine! Claimed.

[urcute08]

[Anthony – Blue, also anything in italics are Catherine's thoughs... I hope you enjoy!]

Catherine never really liked anything to do with space, yet she found herself now standing in a space museum. She would never have come in here if it wasn’t for the great advertisement poster just outside. It had caught her eye and she came to the conclusion that it wouldn’t kill her to go have a look, nor was she in any rush.

There was only one problem, the place was empty. Looking around there was no one not even one person; besides the staff of course. The history of space shuttles, satellites and people had just started to get boring when she heard a whisper.

“Pssst!” some person whispered behind her.

She turned around and stared at the person in disbelief.

“Yes, you come here,” he beckoned with his hand to come over to him.

Why would he be whispering when there is no one here? She wondered. She suspiciously started to walk over to the strange man.

“Good, seeing as you are the only one here we were wondering if you would like to do a countdown for us.”

Catherine’s eyes started to widen from excitement but also gave the man a signal to continue speaking.

“We are launching a new rocket into Rael’s atmosphere and we need someone to do the countdown for us. This is because the crew is too busy to do that along with their other work,” he continued. “Would you like to do this for us?”

She nodded.

“Excellent, now please follow me to the back. Oh, excuse me for not introducing myself! I am Anthony.”

Catherine was bursting with excitement; she was nearly skipping to the back of the long building. She almost completely ignored Anthony, her instructor.

By the time they had gotten to the back door Anthony was still looking for the right key – it had seemed that he had a key for absolutely everything – he had stared to pull on her patience. Eventually when he had opened the door you could see people running around like crazy.

“This way,” he said gesturing the way. “Just make sure you don’t knock anyone down while walking. Our employees have been trained to do that and you have not.”

She stared at him for a moment before she realised it was a joke. He has very bad humour. She observed.

Walking through the short strip of hall was nearly impossible with people rushing around like maniacs. One had nearly knocked her over. He led her to a seat in front of a large window, computer and some strange machine where she sat down. The rocket was in her view surrounded by a dry deserted ground land.

“Okay, we are here! The rocket will be launched shortly but first I would like you to fill out this form with some of your details; name, last name, birth date, address etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.” With that he passed her a clipboard.

Finishing the papers had taken her several minutes asking some really strange and unnecessary questions.

“Great!” He looked at the paper and looked up again with a nervous smile on his face. “You don’t talk a lot, do you Catherine?”

She shook her head.

Of course I don’t you idiot, I am a puppeteer! We have an eternal vow of silence; we are, after all, cousins to assassins, who are trained to be quiet people for most of their lives. Where have you been living? Under a rock?

“What is the rocket for?” she asked.

Anthony was almost astonished as if he had heard her thoughts, although it was actually because she had spoken for the first time that afternoon.

“Um, well, seeing as you will probably not leave here before late tonight – or ever – I might as well tell you the truth. This rocket will be launched to completely wipe-out the whole of Rael or at least Zoshnel, Baasar and some of Hainiel.” He had stopped talking because Catherine had become really pale and was staring at him like he was a mad man.
“Look, I know how you feel, I really do, it’s just…” He paused as if he didn’t quite know how to finish the sentence.

He really is insane! He’s planning to kill most of Rael, how could he possibly know how I am feeling right now?! How am I going to stop him? I can’t just let him kill us all and get away with it!

“Did you just hear what I said? … Are you okay? You don’t look so good.” He waved his hand in front of her face to get her attention. “Anyway, the countdown is about to start, get ready!” Anthony started to fiddle with a few buttons on a computer in front of him then on the strange-looking machine.

Her brain almost falling apart at the rate she was thinking and worrying she found her solution just across the room. Now the only way to get it was to see how good of an actor she could be. Tears started to pour from her eyes and she started to sob.

Anthony gave a concerned look, “Is everything alright?”

“No, not really … Can I have one last request before I die, please”

“Depends what it is.”

“You see that over there.” She pointed across the room. “I want to hold that while I do the countdown.” She continued her flow of tears.

He looked at the crying girl and decided it wouldn’t stop the process so he said yes. She tried to manage her pace so that she didn’t look suspicious while getting the object. She sat down with it in her lap.

“Okay, please start the countdown from ten… now”
This had better work at the exact time to save my life!

“Ten, nine, eight, seven, six…”

Gotta get ready now. Her grip on the object tightened as she stood up.

“…five, four, three…”

She jumped on her chair raising the electric guitar above her head and smashed it down onto the computer. When the computer was good as done she started to break the machine-like thing. She didn’t quite know what it was but she was sure – especially hoping – that it would stop the rocket.

She looked up just as what was left over from the guitar flew to the back of the room. What happened next was quite a blur to Catherine because too many things were happening at once. Anthony was of his chair yelling his head off at her, calling security. People rushing toward her trying to grab hold of her.

That was the least of her concern at that moment, she was focusing on getting out of there the only way she could, teleporting – home. The rocket was still for the moment but the fear of it going off at any second was still there.

Then she was gone.

Completed.

[Neko Koneko]

This is your first mission isn't it? I'll try to give you some pointers...

First, you've fulfilled all the requirements. That means you'll get the specified reward (500 GP/500 EXP in this case).

Next comes the bonus. This is based on originality. Did you take the obvious way or did you think up something very original and unexpected? Well, a rocket is one of the most obvious things isn't it? So no bonus in that department. Next, how did you handle the rest of your mission? Did you take the easy way (in this case that would be launching the rocket into space) or did you decide to go for a plot twist? You did just that, so I can give you a bonus for that :)

In total: 600 GP, 600 EXP