A Different World

Delta Green (Call of Cthulhu) –  RPG session.

Run by Chris (alcoholandaphorism)

Players / investigators;

Me – Frank Tomlin – Delta Force

Jason (jymmijamz) – Norris – Delta Force (NPC)

Will – John Cominski – FBI

CHAPTER NINE

Bearings

Operative Spoon is propped up against the wall on the inside of the temple, with Charlie stood next to him near to the doorway in.  Operative Norris steps through the rift that is torn in to their reality before them, floating there above the staged area like being held by large invisible hands.  Sergeant Hicks has his gun at the ready and watches his team mate and point man walk in alone.  Agent Frank and operative of the Delta Force squad stands beside his Sergeant, his commanding officer from the Delta Green organisation, Cominski, standing behind him.  The finally guy of the squad, the quiet driver from the Evac vehicle, Cooper is bringing up the rear.

“Hey! Ya still got that taser on ya?”  Charlie calls over to Cominski.  Cominski pulls out the taser, holding it up and looking at it. “Yup.”  Charlie holds his hand out, “Throw.  Some of those…’things’ are still moving out their.  Me and Spoon will hold the line here while you guys go on in.”  Cominski tosses the taser over at him and turns back to the uninviting hole before him, now both Hicks and Frank have stepped through.

As they step through the dimensional rift, the hole in their reality.  They get an uneasy feeling run through their bodies, and can see themselves in three dimensions.  They all have this urge to look out at themselves, and eagerness but at the same time they also want to recoil and close their eyes to what their brain is trying to compute.

Norris arrives through to the other side first, feeling himself become flesh and form again.  The space he finds himself in, is a capsule shaped room, no large than what could hold five people in total comfortably.  There is a liquid dripping off of everything, and a mass of condensation on a large crystal display before him.  There is more but his mind stops taking it in as he is aware of himself not touching the ground, but instead float their as if in the void of space.  There appears to be no gravity in this room.  His stomach knots and flips, as he notices his gun float up next to him.

Soon the others arrive in the same room as Norris, all receiving the same sensation.  The walls of the room are spongy, and as they breathe in the atmosphere here they have a feeling of choking, almost as if they are breathing in a mouldy, fungi type of air.  They can all see this large crystal display/view screen before them, near one of the sides.  They are all also aware of a resonance to the room that they can feel and hear.  It is a low tone, almost like a chorus.  Cominski has this horrible feeling that he has heard it before.  It quietly reverberates through everything.

Both Norris and Frank’s mind want to reject what it is seeing and tries to shift it’s perception else where, giving them the feeling of unease and sickness.  However they soon gain control once again, and begin to think clearly.  Cominski is getting used to all these unworldly things he has been seeing, and just takes it all in.  And what seems odd to him is that both Hicks and Cooper seem to both take it on the chin as if it is everyday.  They turn back to the hole in the wall behind them, seeing through it in to the temple they just stepped from.  And can see both Spoon and Charlie busying themselves at the door.

The rest of this capsule shaped room appears to have an octagonal shaped tile at either end, at about one foot above the floor.  The colour of which is almost stone like, and almost translucent.  As they carry on looking around the room, they spot several blisters on the spongy wall.  The blisters have a strange glow to them, with odd lights flickering within them.  There is around six of these blisters dotted around and near the crystal view screen.

Cominski floats himself over to the screen and takes a piece of clothing as a rag and begins to wipe the condensation from the screen, being careful not to touch it with his naked hand.  Hicks positions himself against a wall, affording him full view of the two octagonal tiles.  He braces himself there with his rifle at the ready.  He orders Cooper to do the same at the other ends.  Frank braces himself near to Cominski, covering his back in case of any trouble.  They brace themselves by punching in through the sponge like substance, finding an almost ridged rings beneath that they loop their arms through.  Norris takes a closer look at one of these blisters.  Everyone’s breath is visible before them as they breathe in the cold air in the room.

Norris manages to manoeuvre himself over to one of the blisters and take a more steadied look. There is thousands of blinking and glittering colours beneath a thin membrane, almost like that of a jellyfish refracting the light.  It looks as if there are many small objects imbedded within the blister, but it is difficult to see through this membrane.

The piece of cloth that Cominski is using to wipe off the screen soon gets sodden with the moisture.  But as he clears the screen he finds himself staring out in to space.  A cold and dark black abyss, with nothing but a rust red planet beneath.  Many swirling clouds can be seen racing across the surface, and several sharp protrusions sticking out like mountains except for the fact that they look like they would dwarf the Himalayas.  Also he notices that the placement of the sun is in an odd position to what would be expected.

A stream of consciousness can suddenly be heard coming from Norris’ mouth.  As they turn to look at him they can see him just motionless and solid as he looks blankly at this blister, his eyes wide and froth bubbling from the corner of his mouth.  He suddenly gets an overbearing fear of open spaces, and is aware of being in a very open void that is called space.  He quickly lunges and grabs a tight hold on to the spongy wall, holding himself closer.  “NORRIS!  Norris, snap the fuck out of this.”  Hicks orders his team mate.  Hicks persists with this to the extent of going over to him and hitting him in the family jewels.  This eventually bringing him out of his stupor as he curls up, his mind finally clearing and coming back to the current reality.

While back at the large crystal view screen display, Cominski spots an odd happenstance.  As he stares back down at the rust red planet’s surface, he watches an earthquake run across and two continents separate.  A silver ocean swells out from the opening, looking back at Cominski and he suddenly is aware of this eye looking back at him.  A malevolent force that would crush him without a second thought if it could.  It dawns on him that it can, and the only reason it is not is because something else is pushing it onwards.  He is insignificant before it.  Cominski’s mind tries to rebel against what it is taking in, his body begins to shake and quake.  He quickly snaps control on his mind again as vomit escapes his mouth and floats before him.  The eye of the planet closes.

Once everyone’s mind calms and settle in line again.  Cominski pipes up and addresses the Delta Force team, “Okay hypothesis.” He starts with a slight stutter to his voice. “Have you been watching the news of late?  Are you aware of an asteroid that is knocking about the heavens?”  Hicks gives a gruff ‘yes’.  Well I think this is it.”  Hicks just looks back at Cominski, shrugs his shoulders, “And?”

“Well what hasn’t been on the news, is that it is heading towards Earth, in a splat kind of way.”  Hicks sighs and asks how can they stop it, “As I do not have enough thermite to blow that off course.”  They discuss what to do, Cominski suggesting that they need to severe the connection from the Unylsis.  To follow where Gene Downing may have gone.

Making a Move

Cominski exclaims that they are wasting enough time and kicks at one of the octagonal tiles, and then promptly disappears.  Frank goes up to the tile that Cominski kicked and places his hand against it, and then he promptly disappears.  Quickly Norris follows suit, promptly followed by the remaining members.  They all get the sensation of dislocation again, and they can see in more than four dimensions.  The feeling of stepping through the cold of space around them, and the music sounds louder as they seem to be in utter subservience to it.

Cominski finds himself arrive in another chamber almost identical to the previous, except for the fact that there are three creatures hovering before him.  Floating on an unseen breeze and spreading out like a type of sentient fungal.  They are half carapace and claws as they turn and chitter towards him with a buzzing of their wings.  He quickly draws his weapons and pulls the trigger.  Two shots find their target and Cominski is forced flying backwards with the recoil of his gun.  He kicks the wall next to the octagonal tile and bounces back, vomit rising and leaving his mouth.  Both Frank and Norris soon arrive in the room next, to find some vomit floating about, Cominski flying towards the three creatures.

Norris comes through looking at this scene before him.  There are strange creatures before him wanting to kill him, in this odd alien environment.  His mind questions why he is there.  What he is doing.  In fact he wonders who he is.  He just floats there in his thoughts and questions.

The three creatures set upon the flying Cominski, swooping in on him like a pack of savage wolves.  They find it difficult to grab him, but unfortunately one manages it, locking on to him like a vice with it’s pinchers.  Pulling him in close, and it’s light like eyes looking in to his soul.  Cominski’s head feelings like it wants to explode.  And he feels violated as the creature wraps it’s limbs around him.

Upon seeing the scene before him, Frank takes stock of the situation and braces his back against the wall, making sure the creatures are before him and takes aim and the closest creature to Cominski, but not the one wrapped around him.  He moves the barrel of his rifle and pulls the trigger, sending a burst of hot lead towards this alien creature.  All the bullets find their target on the creature, but they seem to pass through the wings harmlessly.  Lights flicker across it as it turns to face Frank.  Now the final two of Hicks and Cooper come in to the room.  However as soon as Cooper enters the room he screams and flees back through the portal, shouting obscenities, spittle flying from his mouth.

Cominski tries to focus his mind on this creature he is face to face with, trying to find a mouth of some kind, seeing this raggedly aperture moving back and forth.  He shoves his gun at this, pulling the trigger.  The creature doesn’t seem to notice.  Hicks braces himself and joins the fight, letting his rifle do all the talking.  He lets a larger burst rain down upon the creature Frank shot at.  Its concentrated form can’t seem to hold together against this and fractures in to many spore like fragments.  The third creature grabs Hicks and lifts him up by the head.

Norris is aware of the fighting around him.  He knows that he is not one of the creatures, and he is very good at using the gun that is in his hands right now.  He squeezes the trigger.  The force of hot lead screaming from his rifle sends him flying backwards, smashing in to the view screen and then careering back in to the centre, the breath knocked out of him.  An odd bullet or two hit Hicks’ body armour, while the majority tear in to the creature holding him.

Frank draws his combat knife, slinging the rifle around his shoulder, and pushes himself of the wall behind him, forcing himself at the creature holding Cominski.  His knife tears in to the creature, pulling clumps of what looks like fluff from it.  And the only recognition from the things is the lights that flicker across it.  Cominski fires again at point blank against this thing.  The two bullets burst out through the creature narrowly missing Frank’s shoulder.

Another large burst is heard and then, “Finally. I slotted the bastard.”  Hicks wipes away the spores around him, and reloads his rifle.  Cominski is tossed against he wall as the creature tears out through the opposite octagonal tile.  Norris manages to anchor himself against a wall, stopping himself from sailing around the room.  Shell casings float about the now empty room.  Hicks truns to Cominski, “Just for future reference.  What the FUCK was that?”

“I’ve heard of them….I think.  But I have never seen them before.”

“Okay they seem to be vulnerable to full auto, but little else I have in the pack.”  Hicks glances about the room, “It looks very similar to the last room in here.”  He reels off the inventory of the room, he then asks if they are going to do anything or move on.  “In fact, hold on.”  He then disappears through the tile they came through, only to soon come back with Cooper in tow.  “And if you do that again, I will fucking slot you myself.”

“I know more of this shit, but you’re the military man.  I suggest we move on.”  Cominski offers as a response to Hicks’ earlier question.  Frank notices that one of the blisters has been ruptured from the gunfight.  And now inside can be seen, showing what looks like the crystal that had disappeared from the Unylsis temple.  There is probably around fifty to sixty crystals embedded in it.  Frank uses his knife to dig at the crystals, eventually tearing one out, a fracture running down it, his hand feeling numb where he holds it near to the fracture.  “I have thermite if you need it.  You were always good with that stuff.”  Hicks then pushes the satchel over to Frank.

Frank spends some time setting and shaping a charge to each of the six blisters in this room, with a timer controlling it for when they leave the room and go back.  He uses as minimal amount as possible.  Once done and he is happy with the result he triggers the timer and they step back through the tile portal to the previous room.

Cominski steps through in to the previous room only to be met by complete darkness, he cannot see a thing.  The only thing he is aware of is that he is floating still.  Frank steps through to find the room is filled with those creatures, there is barely enough room to move.  They turn and descend upon him.  He braces himself next to the octagonal tile, un-slings his rifle and begins to shot.  Norris enters the room to bump in to Cominski who is just floating there motionless, while Frank is opening fire in to the empty room.  Many of the bullets hitting the view screen, causing dents and very small fractures to etch upon it.  “Stop! Its breaking.”

Frank hears his Sergeant, Hicks shout “Stand down.  That is an order.”  Frank carries on shooting but turns his head to look at Hicks.  He sees the barrel of the Hicks’ gun in his face, “If you don’t stand down then I will fucking slot you myself.”

“But can’t you see all the creatures.”  Frank replies turning back to and concentrates on the approaching things, dodging a butt strike from Hicks.  Cominski is still just hanging there doing nothing.  Cooper stays at the back wondering what on Earth is happening.  Norris pushes himself away from the wall, sailing towards Frank, knocking in to him and punching him to his senses.  Frank goes tumbling across the room, his gun flying from his grasp.

They all hear a sort of thrumb sound and notice a flash on the view screen.  This happening at roughly the correct time of the detonation, and they feel the whole room shake, violently vibrating for a moment.  There is a temporary lull in the odd musical lullaby that always seems to be going on in the background.  Frank shakes his head, clearing the madness from it.  Looking up he can now see that the room is in fact empty of creatures, however the view screen looks in a bad shape.  It looks like the screen is about to collapse.  He looks around a little bit sheepishly.

Cominski on the other hand can still not see anything.  He heard the gunfire going on around him, and he also heard the response from the explosion but no flash of light.  Unsure he grabs a hold of the wall bracing himself.  Hicks checks on Frank asking if he has stopped messing about.  Frank explains that his mind must be messing with him as he thought the room was full of the creatures.  Frank suggests that after what has happened, and the poor condition of the view screen, that they had better get out of there.  He grabs a hold of Cominski and takes him through in to the next room, going in the opposite direction.

Can it get any worse

They step through in to another room, all pretty much arriving at the same time.  Only to find themselves face to face with a room the same as the others, except for this one has six of those creatures, and three of them have a strange electricity running over them.  As soon as Hicks sees this he anchors himself, bracing and aiming with his rifle.  “Weapons loose you fucks!”  His gun spits out more hot lead.  Three of the creatures quickly disappear through the opposite octagonal portal, while the three that remain, the ones with the shimmering electricity running over them, each shoot a blast at the intruders.  There is this crackling sound and a static discharge, quickly followed by a shower of blood and gore as operative Frank Tomlin explodes.  The blood and gore just floating about the room.  Another strike knocks Cooper back towards the wall, and he stays there shaking.

Norris braces himself and fires his rifle on full auto, letting it rip in to one of the creatures.  The creature is knocked back, stunned slightly.  Cominski’s vision finally comes back as he feels himself go loose and his legs give way not wanting to do what his brain tells them.  All around him he can see this horrific blood and gore and the gun that Frank was using but no Frank.  He launches himself towards one of the creatures with his arms, getting in close for point blank firing of his pistol once more.  The lights from the creature burst out like before and the electricity races across it’s body as a high pitched screeching is heard.  Cominski starts to gag in response.  Cooper grabs Frank’s gun and pulls the trigger as he steadies himself, but none head the creatures.  Hicks rains more bullets at the creatures, but this time he misses them too.

Cominski tries to dodge the creature’s electrical burst, managing but still getting caught in a glancing blow.  His hand locks on to the pistol grip and trigger, having to repeatedly smash it against the creature to free up his hand once more.  Norris reloads his weapon, keeping himself out of the way.  Cominski pumps two more shots in to the damn creature, but again it doesn’t have much effect.  Cooper fires, misses again and immediately reloads his weapon.  And Hicks quickly dislodges an empty magazine, slamming in the next full one.  They all notice the octagonal portal shimmer and three more creatures come through, each of them with the electricity running over them.

Norris is hit by the next blast from the creatures knocking him down, blood bursting from his blistering skin.  His veins rising under his skin and then exploding through, showering more blood in to the room.  His now dead body going lifeless and limp as it floats in the way.  Cominski leads the charge in through to the next room, taking the creatures unawares.  Hicks orders Cooper to go on through and quickly follows him.

The three remaining agents/operatives arrive in another room the same as all the others, and thankfully this time it is not occupied.  They pause for a very brief moment and quickly decide to head on in to the next room, Hicks leading the charge.  However the next room is not so empty.  This time there are four creatures with the electricity running over them, and four others without.  Those four without quickly flee out through the opposite portal, leaving the four with to deal with the intruders.  Hicks does not stop and charges his way on through pass the creatures, quickly disappearing through the octagonal portal.  Followed by Cominski who again gets caught by a glancing blow from the creatures.  Cooper brings up the rear and makes it through un-scathed.

In the next room all three of them are instantly set upon by many claws from the creatures as they try to pin them to the ground.  Hicks rams the barrel of his rifle up in to what he believes to be the head of the creature and unloads his weapons.  The creature reels backwards, giving them an opening, but otherwise not doing a lot of damage to the creature.  Cominski charges on through the gap and through the portal to the next room, quickly followed by Cooper.  Unfortunately Hicks is left alone as more of these creatures come in to the room from behind.  The creatures before Hicks try to pin him with their claws but he dodges, only to be caught from behind by the claws of the creatures with the electricity running over them.  As Cooper goes through the portal he hears the bloody splatter of Hicks.

In the next room, just Cominski and Cooper left, they find themselves looking at ‘The Living Power’, Gene Downing.  He is amongst many of these creature, and unlike the other rooms, this rooms has a third doorway.  They can see a hollow kind of deep red through this doorway, and just glancing upon it makes them want to throw up.  Gene Downing turns and points at them.  “False acolytes come.  Stop them.  Stop them.”  Cominski doesn’t hesitate and leaps for Gene Downing, shooting his pistol at him.  One shot hits him in the shoulder and the other in the stomach.  Gene Downing goes down screaming near unconscious and in pain.  Cooper takes aim and fires at Gene Downing also, cutting him in twain.  The creatures around ‘The Living Power’ quickly pounce on his dead body, tearing at him and tucking in.  Cominksi and Cooper are suddenly aware of the portal behind them activating.

The dead body of Gene Downing distracts the creatures momentarily.  Taking torn pieces of him away, going in to dimension not yet explored.  They seem to be using tools unseen, and they strip him down to just fat and bone in seconds.  Cominski quickly comes to his senses and dives back through the portal they had came through.  He takes another hit as he goes, his muscles spasm and lock up as he goes through.  Cooper follows his lead and goes through.

Back in the previous room they find it now empty except for the bloody gore floating about and the satchel of charges that Hicks was carrying.  Cooper quickly scoops this up and shoulders it.  Cominski suggests that Cooper makes a small charge and throw it through the portal to the room they just left.  Cooper quickly makes an explosive and tosses it through.  However mere moments later it comes back through attached to one of those creatures.  And before anything else can happen there is an explosion.  The creature is torn to pieces, sending pieces and a shock wave through out the room.  Many of the crystals fracture, and there is a feeling that the room has but moments before imploding or exploding.  Without waiting to find out, both Cominski and Cooper dive through the octagonal tile portal to the next room back.

They manage to make it to the room, feeling a brief pulling from the room they just left.  The room they are now in shakes and the music dies again.  There are also two creatures within this room, one with and one without the electricity.  They are in a static state of none movement as the music is disrupted.  Cominski goes up to the Electrical creature and point blanks it, telling Cooper to set a charge.  Again it still makes little effect on the creature, all that happens is it is knocked aside.  Cooper quickly places the charge on and in his haste forgets to wire the fuse.  The creatures now come to their senses and the electrical ones attacks Cominski, while the other creature notices the explosives and quickly scuttles away to the previous room.  Cominski tries to quickly sort out the explosives, but Cooper comes along and moves him aside slamming the wire in place and setting it.  The creature fires again, missing them this time but striking near to the explosives, the electric arcing across to it and triggering them.  Cominsk and Cooper just dive through in time as the opposite portal begins to shimmer with the approach of more, and the explosive charge goes off.

Again the room the two find themselves in shakes and the music dies.  And just as well as they find that there are about seven of these creatures in this room, all luckily stunned and motionless.  Cominski and Cooper pull themselves through the throng eventually reaching the opposite portal and diving through.  Cooper puts a short fuse on a small charge and drops it as he goes.  The explsion goes off just as Cominski reaches the portal, throwing him through, shredding his skin and tearing chunks of shrapnel in to his legs.  Cooper is not so lucky as his bloody body pieces fill the room.

Cominski is now alone, the sole survivor so far.  He can feel the room shake again and the music die as before, from the effects of the explosion.  But his legs are now more than just psycho-somatically useless, and he is finding it even more difficult to move forwards.  In this room he can see the bloody remains of his colleague, and this means that he is but a mere room away from the room they had started in.  He drags himself over to the portal but stays there to shoot at the blinking blisters that look down upon him teasingly.  His first shot misses but the second is bang on target.  And begins an effect similar to what had happened in the senators house, which seems oh so long ago now, but on a smaller scale.  The room begins to blister and hollow outwards, parts of it disappearing.  Unsure if this is going to be enough but it is starting a chain reaction.  Quickly Cominski pulls himself through the portal in to the next room.

He sits himself down next to the portal to the final room, aiming his gun at the more of the crystals in the wall.  He changes the clip on his pistol and begins to fire, squeezing the trigger again and again.  A creature comes through the portal, the electricity running across it, and it turns to look down at Cominski.  Another two follow it through, and as the crystals begin to rupture one of them disappears as it’s internal becomes it’s external warping and bending.  Cominski keeps on firing at the crystals.  An electrical burst just misses him and hits the opening behind him.  A further two more creatures come through portal, both with the electricity running over them.  And yet another comes through but this one is also torn apart as it does so.

Cominski manages to finally catch a crystal with a well placed shot, fracturing it, and the reality warps as it tears three more of these creatures apart.  Cracks and fractures begin to run across the crystals, and Cominski can hear this moaning and whining in the distance.  After a pause the reaming creatures turn and flee.  Cominski then hears an odd sound that is carried on the tune of the crystals shattering everywhere, and the music ceases to be.  He quickly turns and drags himself in through to the final room.

The room is shaking and the crystals are fracturing around him.  He can see the rust red planet in the view display is moving away, pulling these ‘rooms’ with it.  Air is rushing out as Cominski drags himself slowly across the room to the final portal that leads to the Unylsis temple.  It is hard going for him as he fights against the air, his muscles strain against the force and the thinning of oxygen.  Oddly a few more creatures come through the portal for him as if on a suicide mission of vengeance.  Cominski places his hand on the final portal to home, and suddenly find himself looking back and seeing the room collapse in on itself and rupturing.  A black balaclava dressed guy places his hand on Cominski and pulls him away from the rift as it starts to collapse.  The taser still in his other hand, and he is covered from head to feet in a liquid type of gloop.  “We have to go.  We have to go NOW!  More media is turning up.”

Charlie scoops up all the weapons that they were all using and tosses them in to the rift, even the pistol that Cominski has in his hand.  Spoon’s body is lying there motionless with glazed over eyes.  Charlie manages to toss the body in to the rift as well, just as the rift collapses in on itself.  Charlie lifts Cominksi up on his shoulders and carries him out.  Cominski can see many bullet riddled bodies lying around the door to the temple on the out side.  Once on the outside Charlie begins to sprint away, and Cominski’s tired mind finally shuts down and he passes out.

Fallout

The next few days are interesting to say the least.  The last report on the asteroid states that it has shifted position again and is moving even further away than first thought.  Never being revealed how close it was believed to have come.  There was a live report that went out of a team that had attacked the Unylsis Foundation’s Headquarters.  An investigation in to the attack is linked to NCIS and a possible connection to the earlier report of one of their agents.  With some harder evidence available than what would have been there, almost like it was planted for them to take the blame.  The is a great out cry from this incident, so much so that there is an official statement from the president about the massacre.  Cominski never finds out the true name of the operative who helped him at the end, but he does hear that he was silently pushed off the force before an investigation.  Cominski manages to get away with it, as the rupturing of the rift took out the security camera’s footage.  There are reports across Delta Green’s network, of Majestic 12 being incensed by these latest happenings, aware that it was a Delta Green operation.  And the attacks on the cells have sky rocketed.  Where as before they were viewed as an annoyance, they are now viewed as a danger.  When Cominski has recovered he receives a one-line message.  ‘Good job.’

Strangely Unylsis pretty much collapses after this incident.  However after about a month has passed it is turned around as Gene Downing appears and takes control of it once again.  Turning what seems to be a bleeding out of the recruitment, in to a new resurgence of the faith.

It is not a good time to be a Delta Green agent, but the world manages to stay alive for another day.  The stars are not yet right.