12-04-2004, 11:33 AM
"Will all participants please report to the information deck." A bored voice rang over a loudspeaker system. Several warriors expressed their desire to continue sleeping/drinking/sparring/etc., but that was quickly addressed. "Failure to do so immediatly will result in an automatic expulsion from the tournament."
That got everybody's attention in a hurry. Along the ceiling, a large flashing arrow appeared, directing everyone to the "information deck." The deck contrasted startingly to the rest of the station. There was little decoration throughout what was, in essence, one giagntic room, save for around the doorways. The doorways themselves were twice the size of all the others, for reasons that soon became apparent. A seemingly endless stream of warriors trickled in through the door ways and sat down in one of several folding metal chairs. Several aliens complained about the chair's design obviously not meant for those with tails. The folding chairs were all set up facing a large, make-shift stage, similar to the one Boz had used to announce the tournament's existance.
"Looks like everyone's here." The room had been filled with exctly enough chairs for the warriors present. "As of this moment, everyone here is a participant in the Dante's Abyss tournament, sponsored by Synex Corporation." There were several groans in response to the shameless plug. "I'm here now to give all of you a bit of information before the ships take you all to Dante."
"Why don't they just you tele-tubes? Like they did to take use here?" A faceless voice spoke up.
"A good question. Can anyone else answer it?" The announcer, a human standing on the stage with a microphone clipped to some kind of uniform asked. This tone suggested that he simply didn't want to waste his own breath on the question.
"You can't teleport to, or from this place." Raditzu answered, having tried already.
"There's a stasis field covering this entire area." Koola added, with a smug grin. Having purchased several of the grenade-sized stasis field generators, he hade made sure he knew what they did.
"That is correct. The same sort of field is around Dante. You were able to take a teleportation tube here because, for lack of a 30 minute explanation, we modified the tubes you used." The announcer snapped his fingers after a short pause. Another human male, dressed in the same red and white uniform as the announcer, brought a small box onto stage, set it down, and left. "Moving on. The only thing any of you will be allowed to take with you to Planet Dante is whatever armor you are currently wearing. Any sort of protective suit (Enhanced Bio Suit) will be allowed as well."
"We can't even take a scouter?" King Cold stood up immediatly, expressing his annoyance at having purchased the device specifically for this event.
"No. You may not even take a scouter. Now please sit down so I may continue." After a few choice expressions, King Cold sat down. "Any items that are not armor will be placed into one of these boxes. It will then be locked using a fingerprint, or whatever appendage you choose. This is to ensure that your items are not in any risk of being stolen. Not even we can open these boxes without your fingerprint, so there's nothing to worry about."
"What if we lose our arm in the tournament?" A morbid, but entirely plausible situation in this tournament.
"Look, 'what if's aren't my job. And, frankly, I'm not paid enough to take more time than neccissary explaining all of this. The last thing on the agenda is this little collar." The human pulled what appeared to be a plain, black, collar out of a hidden pocket. He snapp his fingers again and a manequin was brought onto the stage. He fit the collar around the manequin's neck and it immediatly resized itself to fit in a choker-eqsue fashion. "On Dante there are several 'safe-houses', or bunkers. Within each bunker is a device that deactivates the dematerialization feature of the collars." There was a small murmur at the use of the word 'dematerialization.' "Failure to enter a bunker, and turn off this feature, results in an immediate activation of the collar." The announcer snapped his fingers once more and the manequin, without a flash or a sound, shook for a second, then turned into a pile of dust. "I assure you, the collar does not care how strong or fast you are. Oh, and tampering with the collar in any way will result in the collar's activation."
"And we're just supposed to trust you guys with something like that strapped around our necks." It did seem like quite the leap of faith.
"Get over it." Raditzu, who had picked a seat as close to the center of the room as possible, responded. "They've done the same thing for every tournament."
The announcer nodded towards Raditzu. "Now, with all of that taken care of, it's time for everyone to board the ship." He waved towards the door they had come in through. "There will be several waiting rooms where you may lock you items in, then you may proceed to the security station where you will be checked for any extra equipement. Please have your armor off and ready for inspection when you enter this room. From there you will each be fitted with a collar and sent on your merry way." He scanned the room. "Any questions?" Several people raised their hands. "No? Good." He was off the stage and out of sight before anyone could say a word.
OCB: You heard the man. For the tournament, you will be considered to have only your armor. The ship will arrive at Dante Monday morning. Consider the ship be the same as the Loading Station, in terms of what you can do.
That got everybody's attention in a hurry. Along the ceiling, a large flashing arrow appeared, directing everyone to the "information deck." The deck contrasted startingly to the rest of the station. There was little decoration throughout what was, in essence, one giagntic room, save for around the doorways. The doorways themselves were twice the size of all the others, for reasons that soon became apparent. A seemingly endless stream of warriors trickled in through the door ways and sat down in one of several folding metal chairs. Several aliens complained about the chair's design obviously not meant for those with tails. The folding chairs were all set up facing a large, make-shift stage, similar to the one Boz had used to announce the tournament's existance.
"Looks like everyone's here." The room had been filled with exctly enough chairs for the warriors present. "As of this moment, everyone here is a participant in the Dante's Abyss tournament, sponsored by Synex Corporation." There were several groans in response to the shameless plug. "I'm here now to give all of you a bit of information before the ships take you all to Dante."
"Why don't they just you tele-tubes? Like they did to take use here?" A faceless voice spoke up.
"A good question. Can anyone else answer it?" The announcer, a human standing on the stage with a microphone clipped to some kind of uniform asked. This tone suggested that he simply didn't want to waste his own breath on the question.
"You can't teleport to, or from this place." Raditzu answered, having tried already.
"There's a stasis field covering this entire area." Koola added, with a smug grin. Having purchased several of the grenade-sized stasis field generators, he hade made sure he knew what they did.
"That is correct. The same sort of field is around Dante. You were able to take a teleportation tube here because, for lack of a 30 minute explanation, we modified the tubes you used." The announcer snapped his fingers after a short pause. Another human male, dressed in the same red and white uniform as the announcer, brought a small box onto stage, set it down, and left. "Moving on. The only thing any of you will be allowed to take with you to Planet Dante is whatever armor you are currently wearing. Any sort of protective suit (Enhanced Bio Suit) will be allowed as well."
"We can't even take a scouter?" King Cold stood up immediatly, expressing his annoyance at having purchased the device specifically for this event.
"No. You may not even take a scouter. Now please sit down so I may continue." After a few choice expressions, King Cold sat down. "Any items that are not armor will be placed into one of these boxes. It will then be locked using a fingerprint, or whatever appendage you choose. This is to ensure that your items are not in any risk of being stolen. Not even we can open these boxes without your fingerprint, so there's nothing to worry about."
"What if we lose our arm in the tournament?" A morbid, but entirely plausible situation in this tournament.
"Look, 'what if's aren't my job. And, frankly, I'm not paid enough to take more time than neccissary explaining all of this. The last thing on the agenda is this little collar." The human pulled what appeared to be a plain, black, collar out of a hidden pocket. He snapp his fingers again and a manequin was brought onto the stage. He fit the collar around the manequin's neck and it immediatly resized itself to fit in a choker-eqsue fashion. "On Dante there are several 'safe-houses', or bunkers. Within each bunker is a device that deactivates the dematerialization feature of the collars." There was a small murmur at the use of the word 'dematerialization.' "Failure to enter a bunker, and turn off this feature, results in an immediate activation of the collar." The announcer snapped his fingers once more and the manequin, without a flash or a sound, shook for a second, then turned into a pile of dust. "I assure you, the collar does not care how strong or fast you are. Oh, and tampering with the collar in any way will result in the collar's activation."
"And we're just supposed to trust you guys with something like that strapped around our necks." It did seem like quite the leap of faith.
"Get over it." Raditzu, who had picked a seat as close to the center of the room as possible, responded. "They've done the same thing for every tournament."
The announcer nodded towards Raditzu. "Now, with all of that taken care of, it's time for everyone to board the ship." He waved towards the door they had come in through. "There will be several waiting rooms where you may lock you items in, then you may proceed to the security station where you will be checked for any extra equipement. Please have your armor off and ready for inspection when you enter this room. From there you will each be fitted with a collar and sent on your merry way." He scanned the room. "Any questions?" Several people raised their hands. "No? Good." He was off the stage and out of sight before anyone could say a word.
OCB: You heard the man. For the tournament, you will be considered to have only your armor. The ship will arrive at Dante Monday morning. Consider the ship be the same as the Loading Station, in terms of what you can do.
![[Image: RadOct.jpg]](http://frozendust.com/sig/raditzu/RadOct.jpg)
"In this world, his world, life is just a game you play"