liamc2

[center]~~~~[/center] [size=1]So the plot thickens. The Load project has been highly successful in the past few years. Due to the massive increase in technical knowledge, less and less people were needed to man the computers. AI programs took their places. Audits were taken of the entire project and certain ?expendable? people were fired. These expendable people were given quite beneficial sums of money and shares in the company, more than enough for them to live out their days in comfort. Almost all were pleased with what they got. However, there were some who wanted more. Some who wanted [b]revenge[/b]. Disillusioned computer staff, who were the bulk of the people forcibly retired, attempted a vendetta against the Load project. After months of planning they attacked the Load computers through the back doors they had left so long ago. They hit a brick wall. The new Load AI had discovered their assault the nano second it began. Buffers that had been especially inserted fired up and reversed the googolplex of pings that had been fired by the would-be hackers. The authorities descended upon the base of operations to find 1.5 million shards worth of wiped computer technology crowded by shocked computer techies. All of the hackers had been accounted for, except for one, the ringleader. Time has passed, six months from the assault, a year from the update of the Load project. Life is normal, aside from the fact rifts are occurring more and more often. The Load Psychologists attributed it to the influx of mass media, computer games and an impressionable youth on Earth. The Load Physicists attribute it to a flaw in the Load technology, an untraceable flaw that seems to be growing?as though someone is feeding it? Both parties are correct, more so the Physicists, but their claims have no evidence and are mostly speculation. Nothing has been done to follow up their claims and waste funding on another wild goose chase. So the rift grows? While the Load project is eaten from the inside, the press attack it from without, claiming that the Load project is nothing but a front for the training of military soldiers for the purpose of overthrowing the government? This is said to face of the government that is built entirely around the Load project and merely exists to keep funding flowing into the important project. Ignorance seethes in the dark shadows and threatens to topple what holds time and space in equilibrium. And still the ringleader walks free, and the Load slowly expands, millimetre by millimetre. [center]~~~[/center] ?All of you are here today because you are the best in your fields, and new to your fields. It is because of that we now have a balanced team of defenders and technologists- Jonathan shot a glance around the room, noting that all the techies smiled smugly to themselves and sat back in their seats, knowing full well that they?d have the cushy job of sitting outside of the Loadspace and watching the antics of the defenders on wide screen plasma television. - who, for one of the first times, will be joining the defenders in the field.? The techies didn?t look so confident anymore. Jonathan laughed, this was going to be amusing. Even though it had been required of the techies to undergo militaristic Load training, he was certain some of them had weaselled their way out of it. ?The reason why the techies are going in field is that their has been a serious problem with the super computers. Something even the AI cannot fix. It?s going to have to be an inside job. Defenders will not only be guarding the Load from the rift, but also your technicians and their equipment.? Great, another snag. Jonathan shot a look at his little sister who was sitting over the other side of the room, chatting quietly with one of the technicians, so as not to be discovered. Jonathan grinned to himself, she always seemed to not be paying attention in the briefings, and yet she knew exactly what to do in the Loadspace? Jonathan forced his eyes back to the speaker. So now he had to become accustomed with some new defenders, meet some new techies, guard his sister, guard loads of equipment [I]and[/I] deal with the new rift? -before I forget, you lot are being sent to Ancient Ireland, about the same time period of the Formorians and the Tuatha De Danann.? There was a groan from the group, the Ancient Ireland thing had come up quite a lot in the past few weeks, there just seemed to be something permanently wrong with the server or something. ?Now now, you won?t just be defending your people from the Formorian horde, you?ll also need to defend them against a very, very early form of the bubonic plague. In-station techies discovered a breach in the Dark Age server and somehow it?s leaking through every firewall they put up. Even the AI don?t know what?s happening, but they suggest that it?s something to do with a rupture in the Ancient Ireland hardware?? Great. So this meant that they had no home base support, no emergency exit and living in the real Ireland with only the technology they could carry in with them? ?Suit up and meet in the break room. I have the feeling you lot will want a good long feed and a few injections.? Jonathan winced at the thought of the needles as he rose from his chair. No doubt there?d be one loaded with penicillin to deal with plague, a needle for dietary supplements to deal with the low nutrition food they?d be fed in Loadspace, a needle to protect against poisoning?a needle for hepatitis? [/size] [center]~~~~[/center] BTW: Here's the 'official' banner for Loaded, if anyone is interested... [center][img]http://www.otakuboards.com/attachment.php?s=&postid=427730[/img][/center]

*raises eyebrow* Whoa...I didn't expect this many people to sign up over such a short period o___O; Well, mustn't let it get to my head. *sound of a bicycle pump inflating a tyre* Well I guess I can say these sign ups are closed. Expect plot direction in the first post in the Arena, all will be explained. Feel free to contact me with queries [i]after[/i] that official post. *ego extremely large now, and avoiding sharp objects*

Most of you guys know me (Oldies that is) and would also know my thirst for my particular type of Science Fiction. In an effort to satiate my own thirst, as it were, I'm bringing you guys one of my favourite, and yet shortly lived, RPG's. Here begins the rebirth of my RPG career *bows* ^_~ [b][center]~~~[/center][/b] [size=1] The world is a complex mix of times past and times present. All the while history repeats itself. Pointless wars are fought over forgotten bad blood. Inventions once forgotten come out rehashed and ?reinvented.? Fashions, fads keep returning with vengeance. The same mistakes are made again, and again, and again. The question is, why? The simple answer would be that man is full of faults and errors, arrogant and unwilling to come up with something new, unwilling to heed history?s advice and lustful for blood. The other answer is complicated. Much more complicated. Far above the rat race and rush of the modern world, far away in the centre of the Universe, lies a planet not much bigger than Earth. The planet, long inhabited by highly advanced humans, is now entirely covered in metal cities and vast buildings. Here is where time and history is stored. History is not as old as it seems, for there is no present. Every word you speak, or action you do, you have [b]done[/b] and it is recorded. The present itself is so infinitesimal, it does not exist. Every time an atom twitches on Earth or around it, history is being written, recorded, spoken [b][i]done[/i][/b]. Impressive computers, beyond super computers, are utilised by these human sentient beings. They designed the computers to be able to write an entire library's wealth of knowledge on a cluster of molecules. They have been given the task to store and file history of the entire Universe. They know not who gave them the task, but they know the task is important, for time would stop without their important work. The planet is filed with vast arrays of storage devices, the computers that constantly run history and analyse it for faults, for errors, for rifts. When a rift is discovered it acts like a virus, infecting time and history itself. Because of these rifts, time repeats itself. Because of these rifts time cannot continue, it can only loop while this advanced race enters the past and rights the error. Despite many attempts, rifts cannot be avoided or neutralised forever. It is because of Earth's people that they exist. Everytime an archeologist finds an anomaly and wonders, a rift is born. (Not surprisingly, archeologists are not the most favoured people.) When the rift occurs, the affected section of the past is loaded onto a planet nearby, much like Earth, in fact exactly like Earth. This planet, once the period of history is loaded, becomes directly entwined with the little blue planet of Earth and the little ignorant people inhabiting it. Into this planet is sent a special task force. This task force enters under an unsuspicious guise. They enter and neutralise the rift. Their 'job' is recorded by the watching Loadpsace people, usually as epic historical records. Gradually history, from their perspective, is purged by passing through the ages to the 'present' day, where it is remembered as a myth and nothing more.[/size] [center]~~~[/center] [size=1] Jonathan slipped the ammunition clip slowly into his pistol, wincing at the grating sound it made. Something human on the other side of the room twitched at the sound and lumbered over. Jonathan raised his pistol slowly beside his head and muttered a prayer in his mind. Why a daemon? Why did it have to rift him into a daemon? Why for once can someone be rifted into some form of benevolent creature? They?re so easy to dispatch and no-one is the wiser?everyone expects an angel to appear in the medieval past?but no, Jonathan has to get a fire daemon? The human creature?s footsteps came closer. Jonathan lowered his fingers to the trigger, nodded once and leapt out from his cover, firing a concise spray of fire on the creature?s chest. Large blue balls of energy exploded on the creature and it screamed in pain, flailing out at him with its burning talons. Jonathan wanted to swear but instead let his training take over. With a mind of it?s own, Jonathan's hand pressed a button on his other wrist just as the talon came close. The creature grinned lopsidedly as its claw hit nothing. How odd. All those other weak humans crumpled before him in a satisfying heap and yet this one didn?t. It fought back?it fought back and hurt him? Jonathan dropped lightly out of thin air behind the daemon, thanking the inventor of the little warp device that saved his life. And to think, all it did was 'cut' and 'paste' his form for a few seconds. The only cost was a slight headache and stars before his eyes... After gaining his bearings, he pulled an egg-like object from his waist and stuck it on the daemon?s back. Jonathan covered his eyes and prayed. There was a blinding flash of light that illuminated Jonathan?s eyeballs even behind his hands. The daemon screamed, and then froze. It hung in the air and vanished. Jonathan uncovered his eyes and sighed in relief. A voice spoke in his ear, ?Nicely done Jonathan. Head back to the ship after claiming you killed the daemon and we?ll kiss the Dark Ages goodbye?for a little while at least.? Jonathan chuckled. ?Alright Nina, Be back in a few minutes. I?ll see if I can ditch the feast.? The voice of Nina laughed, ?that?s what you said last time remember? Ah well, I?ll take your word for it. Don?t forget to change by the way.? The voice vanished and Jonathan was alone once more. Feeling much better than before, he whistled and holstered his ?Blue Bang? pistol, as it was affectionately called, and pressed yet another button on his hi-tech suit. A nano-second later and he was dressed in full plate armour and carrying a large double handed sword. Still whistling, Jonathan climbed up the stone steps and left the dungeon.[/size] [center]~~~[/center] All I request of you now is a pleasant demeanour and a willingness to post well thought out contributions to this RPG, quality is just as important as quantity. [size=1][b]Name:[/b] Jonathan Richton [b]Age:[/b] 28 (this is a special task force, keep it real and above 25) [b]Appearance:[/b] 6ft, red streaked black hair, blue eyes slender and averagely well built. [b]Bio:[/b] Senior of one of the lesser task teams, has grown up under the shadow of his father who died because of a rift in the World War Two Load. Has tried to follow in his father?s footsteps and has gained respect somewhat from those around him. Unfortunately because he is part of a lower ranking team, he is confined to the less delicate missions of medieval lore. He hopes one day he take on a real challenge from a serious task in the 21st century (current) history.[/size]

The things my parents do aren't weird to me, but might be to you..soo *prepares to count off fingers* Letsee now; -they both join in on quoting Monty Python with me. -request updates on the storyline with both DBZ and Zoids when my brother and I watch them, and start an avid conversation and speculation with what is about to happen - (My father mainly) pops up in the middle of playing Timesplitters 2 and requests to blow something up, usually when I'm holding a grenade launcher and am in a melee situation (^___^; ) - Throw things at me when I refuse to get off the phone ( lol, Rae and marbar can vouch for me on this) eg: grapes, a small potato, my Nike thongs... and then after that they both leapt onto my bed and tried to steal the phone from me. Lol ^^; - Join in on conversations with my friends while we were waiting for the bus to TNT, usually quite amusing ones... All in all, my parents are quite cool ^^

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by James [/i] [B][color=#335062]It would definitely be horrible to discover, on your wedding night, that your partner is a dud in the sack. lol [/color] [/B][/QUOTE] *dons hat* *points out paradox* See the thing is, if you've been a virgin up to that point, [i]how would you know?[/i] *removes hat* *dances away*

Ooo...deep conversation. When you think about it, 'mature' is defined by whether or not if a kid plays it will he/she either A: ask awkward questions from parents or B: be somehow scarred for life (many subcatagories here) But theres more, Halo, for instance, is MA 15/18+ but it is an awesome game, and the violence is 'tasteful.' Compare it to Turok: Evolution, which is littered with blood guts and gore, not to mention Nintendo 64 graphics (I apologise to fans, but seriously, it does). The violence is tasteless, look at the opening scene for instance, with the throwing axe. Thats just plain grotty. But hey, both games have the same rating (well, there abouts). In my opinion Turok is bloody for the sake of being bloody, and...well...gross...but meanwhile Halo, with its blue alien blood with pleasant splatter effects is cool. Yet both have the same rating. I guess it all comes down to some fine line that the rating boad follows and where it's drawn. Again, all of the above is my opinion, and yes, I apologise about mentioning X-Box in the hallowed halls of the Nintendo forum, but I really found this thread interesting..

Interesting, like I said to you on msn, space out the paragraphs a leetle bit. Also, some of your sentances can be shortened. But other then that, keep it up

The ability to eat an enormous amount of food and the ability to fly ^__________________^ *dreams* Good or Evil? Duh, definitely Goo--vil o.O;

*falls over laughing* I remember doing this. I hated it. --;; Stupid 'Z for Zacheriah' ~~ Gahahahaha! I showed Mrs Hurley though :shifty: Man I loved that photo essay ^__________^ Showed Mrs Hurley good for choosing such a stupid novel. [quote][i]From an english class long ago...[/i] [b]Mrs H:'Eugh...what are these photos of?' Me: 'Nerve gas victims. Seeing as she went out to find if anyone was alive, I thought it fitting to end the novel on a sour note that she was trapped on the American continent with no-one to keep company but corpses from a horrible holocaust.' Mrs H: O.o; [/b][size=1][No really, her face was the spitting image ^^][/size] [/quote] ~~ *cease ranting* ^____^;;

*laughs* ~~ Hey, with the board, I thought it was spelt as ouija? 'oui'- french for yes 'ja'- german for yes Hence 'yes,yes' *cough* u.u don't ask me how I know these things...

[b]TN[/b]: *sigh* There's no way I'm going to win this. My battle is lost before I've even put the pieces on the board. But before I back down and return to my horribly narrow-minded world, let me just say something, Your morals really are what you are. When I saw pornography ( bloody 'Liam, about school' junk emails --; ) it turned my stomach, literally, I felt foul for the rest of the day. However, you say if you see pornography and justify it as fine because it's not enacting sex, great for you, you've just received a Bachelor of [b]Justification[/b]. I hope you live to be a great spin doctor. ~Adieu

I used to spend every spare internet minute here, after 4 hours straight, I [i]still[/i] had plenty of things to do. Bah, but now ther ejust doesn't seem to be anything here thats worth taking note of. I hate to say it, but OB has really gone downhill --;

He rally drove? [i]And[/i] for Subaru? He...he...is the coolest! Pity I didn't hear about him until now...I would have been a great fan ^^

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Transtic Nerve [/i] [B]Pornography is fantasy, and fantasy is what our minds are all about. If you can go live your life without the express want to see at least a BIT of pornography, then kudos, but alot of people can't including even the highest orders in religion. [/B][/QUOTE] Well you've won me over. Excuse me, I'm going to download all the pornography I can get because the 'majority' of male otaku's thinks its cool. : prepare yourself : : raising eyebrow... : : now : *raises eyebrow* Look, I find pornography disgusting, and believe all of it should really, burn. But hey, if you guys want to ogle, be my guest, just keep it the hell away from me. ~~~~ EDIT: [size=1]Am I the only one that [i]doesn't[/i] chop and change his morals? Actually, don't answer that, I do [b]not[/b] want to know.[/size]

Yes, yes we do. Mostly because I'm lazy and I couldn't be bothered training for track and field. But that's the wrong answer isn't it? ^___^; ~~ Seriously, if you're a nice guy and you seem to always 'come up short' don't let it kill you. Honestly, if you're intentions are good you will find someone that will be very special to you. Sometimes you really need to question a 'nice' guys motives...:rolleyes:

Liam picked up the phone and slowly dialled a number he hadn't used in a long time. 'You got enough digits in that number?' Brad muttered. 'You keep going like that and you'll end up ringing some place in China.' Liam raised an eyebrow, 'they're called area codes Brad, you use them to ring interstate...excuse me, I have to ring a dlivery firm about a package that has to arrive tomorrow.' Brad chuckled, 'you really do have no idea about the outback do you? You city kids come here with all your city expectations...honestly, you have no clue about the bush do you?' Liam shot him a dark look and muttered something into the phone. A short conversation later, he hung up and faced Brad. 'It'll arrive tomorrow.' Liam chuckled, ' [i]honestly[/i] you country folk have no idea about the power of [i]money[/i]' Brad snorted, removed his akubra and wiped the sweat off his forehead with the back of his arm. 'I'm headin' to the shower to get washed up, tea'll be ready soon, Mum won't want the mud through the kitchen, so you might want to get washed up too.' Brad nodded to the quad bikes through the window and the drizabones lying on them, 'don't forget to put those away too.' Brad clomped off through the house, footsteps heavyier than necessary. Liam grinned and left the house, heading over towards the bikes and grabbing a full jerry can of fuel. ~~~ [b]Meanwhile, several thousands of kilometres away[/b] 'Crap.' The secretary looked up from her work, new to the job, she didn't understand the importance of the phonecall the boss had just received. 'What is it sir?' The head of Darling Shipping looked at her blankly, 'we had a call, I need a package to be picked up from this address and delivered here- he slipped a piece of paper towards her- by tomorrow. Do I make myself clear?' It was the secretary's turn to look blank. 'There? [i]Tomorrow?[/i] Picked up and delivered, by [i]tomorrow?[/i] But..that's half a country away!' Her boss mopped his brow. 'But if we do it, it's worth a seven figure lump sum...' 'I'll get right on it now shall I sir?'

The screen blipped quietly to itself, as though not daring to intrude into the silence engulfing it. The man at the table was half asleep, but the one standing behind, his eyes were alive, soaking up the computer screen's glow. [i]Ship in Load space, upload file Y/N?[/i] The tall man leant forward and pressed the key. The screen darkened and a percentage bar appeared. The computer itself started to hum and the LED lights around the chip lit up one by one. [i]Initializing...2%...40%...[/i] The long cables of fibre optics flashed to a silent, rapid hypnotic beat. The dark in the room shrank into the far corner as the opposite wall shone. The man at the table woke up and stretched, yawning loudly. 'You missed all the fun,' the man behind him said, 'but you are just in time to weave your magic as it were..' [i]Load complete, open program Y/N?[/i] [i]Installing now....Done. Do you wish to activate program?[/i] [i]Activation of program requires pass key, please swipe pass key before you continue[/i] The man at the table reached his hand behind his head and had a plastic card handed to him. Carefully he insterted it into the slot. 'I hope you have a masking program,' the man behind him said, 'it would turn out bad for you if they traced it back to me..' [i]Card accepted, welcome [u]UNKNOWN USER[/u] program initiated. Load space expanding[/i] [i]5%[/i] [b]Red flagging Load agents now...[/b] [b]Done[/b] [b]Agents Jonathan and Nina Red flagged.[/b] [i]10%[/i] [b]Load Expanding..[/b]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by James [/i] Australia lost over 1 million troops in WWII. We could have easily argued that Germany was nowhere near us...and therefore, we wouldn't have to be involved. But we [i]were[/i] involved because we saw the importance of defending Europe's freedom. And we wanted to express support for the United States and Britain in the strongest possible terms. We made that decision, as a people, because we understood how important it was to defeat Hitler. And so, even though Hitler was not a threat to us, we took action. I might remind you also that 1 million was [i]one sixth[/i] of our population during the 1940's. Also, after sending massive numbers of troops to Europe, we were attacked on our own doorstep -- both Darwin (our northern most major city) and Sydney (our most populated city) were both attacked by Japan directly. Thousands of our troops died in Papua New Guinea, defending that nation from Japan. So, as far as Australia goes...we might be relatively small, but I don't think anyone can say that we don't back up our position on International issues.[/color][/QUOTE] HAHA! ^_^ Just as I was about to bring up this topic, damn my lack of computer.. ~~ Also at that time, Australia was eager to prove itself to the Commonwealth (Britain) so basically all of those soldiers were off-the-land-bronzed-aussie-farmers. Entire country towns, once bustling communities with thousands of inhabitants, just died out. It's rather sad driving out west and you see all these towns with only one or two people living in them because all those years ago their great-grandfather and grandfathers were killed in the war. On another note, what we lack (Today) in manpower we make up in coldhearted, conscience free soldiers that have been under intense military training for half their lives. o.O;; I've got some seriously crazy tales to tell you too, about their training, but thanks to a burst of hindsight from the future I doubt it'd be wise that I blather about it all over the net. And for those of you who feel I'm lying through my teeth, I told the story to Asphy over the phone last night...ask her o.O; ---

Good point TUN. My grandfather was a member of the RAAF, a mechanic, and was offered plenty of times for an officer position, but her turned them all down because he didn't like the idea of being shot in the back. Also he recieved a coupla medals, but he's kept them hidden away... o.O; My mother's side of the family is crazy. (This is the same grandfather that trained a tiger cub to guard his valuables. I've still got to find that photo...) My other grandfather was an officer in the army and received a few medals too..but I also don't know much about the story.. ~~~ I just find it amusing that the SAS is further in Iraq than any other team (the 'mad bad' people as my mother refers to them..) and have been pulling more stunts than anyone else knows about. Whats more amusing is they got in a fire fight with some Iraqi military, killed one of the Iraqi soldiers and the rest dropped their weapons and ran away... It just shows that Saddam's army really isn't as loyal to him as he claims. ~~~ BTW, I have some stories that could make your hair curl about the 'special treatment' Saddam gives to his people. But as you guys have already torn me away from my Proto Human essay, I'm not about to tell you. James might tho, James did you watch that documentary on SBS a couple of nights back? Had stuff in it about the Iraqi opposition party 'n stuff..

OOC: So sorry so very sorry.. ~~~ Jonathan coughed into hand. The robes and 'dress' furs he was wearing were dusty and smelling oddly of mothballs. Nina stood beside him wearing a stunning Celtic evening gown. Jonathan groaned, and he was stuck with something long dead and decomposing. Jonathan squeezed her hand and they walked along the noisy dining hall and sat at the head of the tables. The assembled audience faced them and applauded, raising horns and meat. Jonathan was more than disconcerned, something was wrong, something wasn't right, everything was...Feudal age...the meat, the drink...the dress... A rift was definitely at play.. Jonathan felt a nudge in his ribs. Nina whispered up at him, 'You noticed it too?' 'Yeah...notice those minstrels over there? They [i]used[/i] to be axemen...' 'Something is wrong here. [i]Really[/i] wrong, normal rifts don't have this much power.' Jonathan blinked and suddenly the open windows were now inlaid with fine stained glass. 'If it's a rift,' he said, 'it explains where they managed to pull all this stuff from...I mean, one minute we're in a humble run down fort, the next we've got rich gifts and clothing. We're way over our head here...' ~~~ Damn..library closing...

Liam paused, perched on the quadbike and utterly lost for words at what he saw before him. The day had started so well, and so...normal..he met the family, got weirded out by the little kids, met Brad's year younger sister...watched her flee from his presence for some odd reason and then was asked to herd cattle that had got lost in the far off paddocks. Then he found the Uranium mine. Well it was pretty obvious it was one, and an illegal one. It basically reeked of it. And suddenly he was confused. He knew it [i]couldn't[/i] be coincidence, the Commander must've known this was here and sent him to deal with it...and yet...it was all so troubling...he actually had [i]doubt[/i] in his mind about what to do. It was rather disconcerning. Brad pulled up beside him and whistled. 'What the hell is that?' he said. Liam raised an eyebrow, 'something about a k long and wide is sitting in your back paddock and churning out trucks every hour and [i]you have no idea what it is?[/i]' Brad snorted and spat in the dirt, ' 's in the back paddock, not enough feed out here, besides, the house is about 600k's from here. We never come here.' 'Oddly enough I can understand that logic...'

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Delian [/i] [B] I guess if Goerge Bush wants to ban Tatu, maybe he should also ban Christina Aguilera for showing 2 guys making out in her 'Beautiful' video clip and numerous other 'contraversial' displays in the media these days [/B][/QUOTE] There are so many controversial clips out there that deserve to be burned that I don't know where to start Delian. But yes, I believe Christina Aguleria is at the top of the list. [b]Solitare:[/b] Ha! Well I object and no-one could care less. Evidently there seems to be a lot of otakuites with double standards.

*wanders in waving a little flag* Well we're at war, yay...I guess. You see the funny thing is we won't know all the facts about this war until 50 years have passed and the 'secret' documents have been brout out from the code of secrecy vault. I was intending to come here to sprinkle a little magic on this topic but I'm really too tired to bother. I haven't even read further than the 11th page and I [i]already[/i] know some idiot is going to turn this into some patriotic mumbo jumbo or claim that all the soldiers are butchers or some rot like that. People, face the facts, while you're all sitting on your lazy butts, some unfortunate soul is off in Iraq (or 'A rock' as its so frequently pronounced by our esteemed American General associates..) and fighting for you and your livelyhood. Grow up already. There's no point in holding peace rallies or vigils or whatever, war has started and that is that. I just find it amusing that 'peace protesters' are rioting in the streets, burning flags, blocking traffic and sitting in front of bulldozers [size=1](*snort* *resists urge to burst out laughing* that was hilarious...)[/size] John Howard himself said not to show anger or malice towards the soldiers themselves. He told the public to take their views and anger up with him, after all, the soldiers and sailors and pilots are only doing their job. -EDIT: out of 36 Allied missiles fired only 1 civillian was killed. If you ask me that's pretty damn good odds...

The small computer hummed softly to itself as it trawled effortlessly through data. The screen held seven digits and two spare spaces. The humming increased and another digit appeared on the line, it flashed, notifying the hunched user of its presence. The computer continued back into its normal soft humming state. The user smiled to himself and picked up a headpiece, pressing an autodial button. It rang once and the phone clicked. ?One digit left.? Said the user in an even tone. ?Good.? Came the digitally distorted reply, ?I?ll be right over.? The user removed the headset and again glued his eyes on the screen. The computer hummed, ?busy? light blinking on and off to a steady nonexistent beat. A twist of fibre optic cables trailed from the back of the machine and off into the gloom, illuminating the darkness with an odd flash of green light that rushed to the machine. Eight digits glowed on the screen, washing over the face of the user. As the speed of the ?busy? flash increased, the anticipation of the user grew. He leaned forward expectantly on his seat, half risen and clutching the desk in a state of frozen excitement. The computer whirred and the space at the end of the queue of digits blurred. The final number focused and flashed on the screen, joyful at its own presence. The row of numbers blinked and turned red. The computer?s hum subsided and the ?busy? light faded. The door behind the user opened, the sound of footsteps stopped behind his back. ?The time is nearly come.? Muttered a dry and raspy voice. ?The rescue ship is about to leave. You know what to do.? The user nodded and scribbled the code down onto paper. The computer blinked off and another beside it blinked on. The user glided to it in his chair and typed the number into an already waiting box. All nine digits blinked once and a much larger window opened. [I]Load planet access open. Attach file, update registry or clear RAM?[/I] The user grinned. Years of work had finally payed off. He rubbed his hands together and picked up a small microchip out of an open drawer, placing it gently into a metal groove on the front of the computer. [I]Uploading now?[/I] [I]File present, Attach where?[/I] The user scrolled the screen across until a blinking object was present. He selected it and pressed attach. [I]Craft currently out of Load reach. Attach object when craft in reach? Abort?[/I] The user selected his choice and leant back in his chair, smiling smugly to himself. ?So it begins,? droned the voice behind him.

The ancient windscreen wipers slapped back and forth across the muddy windshield. Overhead, the threat of a monsoon loomed. Brad was hunched over the wheel and peered through the opaque glass. In the end he had to resort to sticking his head out the window to see where he was going. ?Bout five minutes and we?re there.? Liam rolled his eyes. That was the fifth time Brad had said that. Brad had a very strange conception of time, seeing as that had been the sixth time he had said that. Liam folded his arms and listened to the patter of rain on the rusty roof above him. ?Hey! There?s the house!? Brad said gleefully. Liam opened his eyes a crack and raised an eyebrow. ?Joy.? He muttered dryly The wheels of the 4WD made an odd slurping sound as they desperately clawed for traction on the red mud. The house loomed, lights glowing in the fading sunlight. Brad was grinning now. Liam remained silent and brooding over his situation. The 4WD groaned under pressure and then hit the concrete, putting into the monster of a Titan shed. The engine spluttered and turned off. The sound of thunder rolled and echoed through the metal walls around them. Liam pulled his gear out of the back, not surprised at the pools of water that dripped off them. He sneezed as the hint of mouldy, sodden straw offended his nostrils. Brad took one of Liam?s bags off him and commented on the weight, ?Whatcha got in here, guns?? He said jokingly. Liam glanced at him and said flatly, ?yes.? Before making his way towards the glow of the house. Brad looked surprised and eyed the bag as though it was going to suddenly explode. Then, mentally reassuring himself, realised that Liam couldn?t possibly be able to carry fire arms, especially if he had been recently arrested for it. Brad chuckled and hefted the pack, trotting after Liam like and excited Jack Russel.