Lindström

3,000,000+ years ago

40 of the Guild's greatest and most unstable minds worked at the infamous Charon Facility, but it was Dr. Artemis K. Pritchard VI and Dr. Lars A. Lindström IV that performed the brunt of the research. The two were almost like brothers, they thought alike, acted alike, liked the same things, and both hated Dr. Horton with a passion. It was as if nothing could separate the dynamic duo, until the Brooklyn Project came along.

A GELF uprising in the outer systems had dangerously depleted the Space Corps 1st Deep Space Fleet. The Space Corps needed a weapon that could douse the hordes of industrial GELFs that were tearing through the colonies. Artemis and Lars were contracted build a super weapon based on their theory of a quantum shockwave generator. The top secret Brooklyn Project strained the two parters as they struggled to split the fabric of space. Their two competing theories put them against each other. Stress turned to anger, anger turned to hate, and hate split the project into two opposing parties. In the end it was Lars who finished first, but his weapon was unusable by the Space Corps as the warships couldn't interface with the bomb. Artemis' bomb was not only usable by the Space Corps, it lived up to it's expectations. Within weeks the war was ended by the Quantum bombs, and life went back to normal. The Space Corps contracted Artemis and Lars to develop an Inter-Planetary Ballistic Missile to defend against future threats. During the project, something went wrong, and the prototype detonated pre-maturely and destroyed the facility. It was assumed that Artemis was the only survivor, but the body if Lars Lindström was never found....

Present Day, in the Roo Outpost...

Artemis and Holly had traveled some distance, but hadn't found the objective yet. To make things worse, they were running out of time. "Holly, time?" "Fifteen minutes dude" "Damn, has anyone reported in with the cure yet?" "Nope, but I've been hearing some nasty stuff about water and gunfights" Artemis continued on his path, wondering if everyone would make it out. Just then he spotted a pair of gerbils escorting a human in an environment suit down the hall. "Hol, do you see that?" "Yeah. I don't recall anyone in our group wearing an environment suit except for you. In fact it looks a lot like yours" "Whoever it is, their impeccable taste in fashion warrants a rescue!" Artemis leaped at the gerbils and fired a cone of white flame at them. The hostage took off down the hall, Artemis followed after. "It's okay! I'm from Blue Dwarf, it's Artemis!" The man stopped and turned around. "Pritchard?" Artemis immediately recognized Lars Lindström. "Lars? What are you doing here?" "I was continuing our projects from the Charon Facility before you and your friends attacked us!" "What? You mean you're the one who stole my pets from the lab?" "Stole? Me and the Roo saved them! They kept me alive to continue my research in my own lab!" Artemis remembered the lab he burnt down, and a small human-like lab setup in a glass cage. "They're not helping you Lars, that lab was a cage, they're keeping you as a pet!" "What? No! It's....quarantine glass so they can't catch human disease!" "They're atemporals you moron! They can't catch human disease!" "You're just jealous! You always were!" "Jealous of what? A stupid bomb that didn't work?" "That's because I didn't know that Humans can't use atemporal technology!" "You built your bomb out of atemporal tech? You're the one who let them into our lab!" "Enough! You won't stop my work!" "I'm not here to stop you, I'm here to help someone!" Lars pulled out a modified psi-scanner that the Roo had altered to allow Lars to control the environmental defenses in an emergency. He kicked up a gust of wind and tossed Artemis into a wall. He hid behind a crate and pulled out the flamethrower. "Do you think that's a good idea Artie?" Holly shouted over the wind. "I won't know if I don't try!" Artemis fired at Lars, but the flames came back at him and scalded his face. "Hah! Keep it up nimrod, I can do this all day" Lars remarked.

<snip>
To be doubly sure it wouldn't mess with them any more, he used one of his charges to blow it the f*ck up, striding calmly away and lighting a fag, as the room exploded hugely down the corridor behind him.
<snip/>

Thanks to Alex's assault, the environment defenses fell, the winds died down to a light breeze and tapered off into oblivion. Lars fiddled with the remote, "Please not now!" Lars looked up just in time to catch the butt of Artemis' flamethrower. "Oh! My nose, it's bleeding you stupid smeg!" Artemis pulled Lars up and pinned him against the wall. "Why did you do it?" Artemis shouted. "I needed to succeed! Besides, the Roo offered better benefits!" "Betraying us and becoming a pet to a race of vermin was better than serving your own people? You better make yourself useful you piece of smeg!" Artemis kneed Lars in the stomach. "The medical facility, where is it?" "I don't know, I can't really recall much, but it's up a level!" "Lead the way, and behave yourself or I'll burn you to a cinder!" Artemis shoved Lars in the direction of a nearby stairwell. "We'll get revenge on you and your stupid dilapidated mining ship!" "So sorry to tell you that my fellow Dwarfers are preparing to level this place as we speak" "What? Where will I go!" "That depends on your cooperation, now let's move!"

Artemis dialed his communicator and signaled the nearest dwarfer, he found their target....

<tag>