Supercape Posted July 17, 2011 Author Posted July 17, 2011 GM The warehouse was much as before: although Carrie noticed a few extra gang members, more alert and better armed. Security had obviously been tightened. But none noticed the two dimensional ghost that circled round them. The warehouse was still active, with steam and furnace. A few automatons were having repairs done, and several automatons were actually active, hauling machinery around. Some of it flew across the warehouse on chained harnesses, swinging along the network of girders that webbed the ceiling. In the centre, two open furnaces were active, fired by coal, and full of molten metal. The heat was intense. Near these, there seemed to be a massive metal manhole, about 20 feet wide, with winches and levers indicating it could be opened, although there seemed to be some locking mechanism.
Aoiroo Posted July 18, 2011 Posted July 18, 2011 It was easy to circle around the factory, thoughout the production she did little things to screw things up. Mostly it was anything she could cut. Coils, straps, remove a cog here or there. Fanbelts, she did hell on those just snipping them as she went. She could hear the things go bump and start to move off center inside the automatons. On the actual assembly she moved things, hid them, or if they were metal tossed them into the vats to be melted down. That would piss them off, especially the really small ones, those always had to be hand made. It would mess with the purity too of the things, metals of all kinds just being mixed in. All little things, all put together would set the place back for months. When she had taken forty minutes of this silent work was when she came across the manhole. It was a curiousity, reaching her fingers around it, she found it wasn't air tight. That was good, that meant they couldn't trap her down there. Which meant that curiosity would be quenched as she descended unseen.
Supercape Posted July 19, 2011 Author Posted July 19, 2011 GM And what a sight was below! Below the manhole was basically a circular pit, with regular gang walks and pulleys, winches, and other machinery. All centred around a steel colossus. For dominating the entire pit was a fifty foot tall automaton, a giant replica of the ones working above! It looked as if it was not completely finished, but Carrie's guess was that it was not far off, and could well be operational now. Hanging from some chains was a lone Chinese man, around 50 or so, armed with a wrench, who was deep at work on the left shoulder of the giant.
Aoiroo Posted July 20, 2011 Posted July 20, 2011 Carrie didn't really need much in the ways of thinking to get who was in charge of this project. The little old man working on it certianly was immersed in his work so it was really nothing to walk over and set herself on the walk. She waited until most everyone else was out of the room. It didn't take long, he was the only one working on it really. Looking at the man she said with a friendly voice, "So, whatcha making the Iron Giant for?"
Supercape Posted July 20, 2011 Author Posted July 20, 2011 GM The man nearly dropped his spanner in surprise. "What are you doing here!" he gasped. He looked up, checking the manhole cover. "How did you get down here?" he asked, waving his spanner. "This is secret! the boss gonna be mad at you little girl! very mad! he cut you up into little peices and feed you to dog!" He puffed his cheeks and gave her a long hard stare, still waving his spanner at her as he swung gently on the chair suspended by chains.
Aoiroo Posted July 20, 2011 Posted July 20, 2011 She reached out and grabbed the chains steadying them, "Calm down, calm down you might fall and it'd be a shame to do anything to someone who can make something this nice." With both hands on the chains she pulled him to her eye level and smiled, "Now mister, why are you so stressed? You think I'm gonna hurt you, or that your bosses will hurt you for talking to me? No, you're valuable, this is very valuable, if excessive. Why do you need something this big? I understand the ones up top, they're nice, they can work and make things it's very effient. But why do you need a giant robot?"
Supercape Posted July 20, 2011 Author Posted July 20, 2011 GM "The boss wants, the boss gets!" replied the irate engineer, with a heavy Cantonese accent. "No you tell me little girl! who are you, and how you get in secret place? boss find you, he will be plenty angry! big trouble for you and me? you best get going before bossman find you! he plenty nasty to anybody find out about metalmen!" He tapped the giant robot. "They do all work, see? The Chinese gang, they gonna clean up the docks!"
Aoiroo Posted July 21, 2011 Posted July 21, 2011 She took a few seconds before holding out her hand to shake and smiling, "I'm Carrie and I walked right into your factory, past all the guards and the muscle and your boss who I suppose is the one with the large shot gun and jumped right down your hidey hole without a single soul noticing because I am just that good. Really, if I do just as well getting out, no one will know I was here unless you tell them and if you'll get in trouble I see no point in doing so." Turning her head she looked at the robot again, "Now, please, tell me again what this is for. I do believe you are leaving something out. I mean, why do the docks need to be cleaned? Your metal man is very nice, seems a bit of a waste."
Supercape Posted July 21, 2011 Author Posted July 21, 2011 GM "Man with gun is no boss" replied the engineer, shaking his head. "He is fatman Chow. He eat too many noodles, but very good with boomstick. Dont mess with fatman Chow he boom your head!" he said, putting his head right up to Carries and almost shouting the last words, his mouth exploding with traces of spit in Carries face. "Bossman even more scary, but has plus more brains than fatman Chow. Dont mess with him either. " He tapped the giant metal man. "This my finest creation. Put all my love into giant metal man. He work of art!" he out his head to the shoulder and stroked his creation lovingly. "Bossman allow me to work on giant man. My hobby!" he smiled.
Aoiroo Posted July 21, 2011 Posted July 21, 2011 He was dancing around the subject, moving to points not really, but some of her questions were getting answered. Chow was the man with the gun, the boss was someone that he feared way more than Chow and he's the main engineer of this robot. "It is a work of art, why are you making it here though? Bossman let's you do this, why do you need someone to let you do it? Can't you find someone else, or do they not understand what you can do? Is it hard, living here at the docks, I doubt the academy really gives you the respect you deserve."
Supercape Posted July 21, 2011 Author Posted July 21, 2011 GM "THe academy? Pfah" spat the Chinese Engineer "they not accept me, Master Chun-Su! I not study at their university! I come from Beijing!" he waves his wrench in anger. "And I am genius!" "I come here to make fortune and learn from English masters, but no, I must study at Oxford, or Cambridge, but I not qualified, not have Imperial passport. So I work here, and bossman gives me good money, and gives me all machines I need..."
Supercape Posted July 21, 2011 Author Posted July 21, 2011 GM "THe academy? Pfah" spat the Chinese Engineer "they not accept me, Master Chun-Su! I not study at their university! I come from Beijing!" he waves his wrench in anger. "And I am genius!" "I come here to make fortune and learn from English masters, but no, I must study at Oxford, or Cambridge, but I not qualified, not have Imperial passport. So I work here, and bossman gives me good money, and gives me all machines I need..."
Aoiroo Posted July 21, 2011 Posted July 21, 2011 "But it all has to remain secret, that's such a shame. It is a beautiful robot. I bet if those people at Oxford saw this they'd let you in no problem. I know I would." She started to tap her chin with an inquisited look, "You know it makes sense, what the bossman is doing keeping this a secret. If anybody else knew how good you were they wouldn't let you clunk around in a little hole in the ground. They'd want to set you up proper, and he'd lose himself a brilliant engineer."
Aoiroo Posted July 21, 2011 Posted July 21, 2011 "But it all has to remain secret, that's such a shame. It is a beautiful robot. I bet if those people at Oxford saw this they'd let you in no problem. I know I would." She started to tap her chin with an inquisited look, "You know it makes sense, what the bossman is doing keeping this a secret. If anybody else knew how good you were they wouldn't let you clunk around in a little hole in the ground. They'd want to set you up proper, and he'd lose himself a brilliant engineer."
Supercape Posted July 25, 2011 Author Posted July 25, 2011 GM "Hmmm, what you trying to say?" replied the enginneering, putting one eye right up to Carries face, only an inch away, and scrutinizing her intently. He smelt of oil. "You offering Chun-Su better deal? Chun-Su get better parts? make better giant metal man? hmmm? hmmm?" He tapped his spanner in his hand. Chun-Su appeared to have no real loyalty to Boss-Man, but then, it didn't look like he had much loyalty to anybody other than himself. "Trustworthy" was not a word that sprung to Carries mind if she was to describe the small, dirty but quite probably brilliant man.
Aoiroo Posted July 25, 2011 Posted July 25, 2011 "It's not me who's offering, it's the people who paid me to slip in here have a look see. I would say they're my employers, but they ain't. I'm my only employer. These people paying me though, they are super generous with their payroll. As for everything else, you'll have to talk to them about it yourself. Though I can guess you'll get just about all that from them if you ask, they're a very well funded organization." Really she couldn't say if this individual was exactly the brilliant maker of the design or not, but he clearly knew something about it if he was down here working. As for the folks paying her, well they could certianly use some diversity among their ranks and if they paid him like they did her, she doubted they'd have many problems.
Supercape Posted July 25, 2011 Author Posted July 25, 2011 GM "An who are these people?" asked Chun-Su, suspiciously. "Chun-Su like money, pays for better cogs, better coal, better iron..." he gave the giant robot a clang with his wrench to punctuate the last point. "And Chun Su like rice wine, and dice to pass the time..." he smiled with a toothy grin. "But Chun Su not work for anyone!" he said with some pride. "Chun-Su work for himself, to show the world his genius!" he seemed to get quite animated at the last point, shaking his wrench violently but not aggressively, lost in his own thoughts.
Aoiroo Posted July 26, 2011 Posted July 26, 2011 "I have no idea." She let her legs swing, "Some large organization who like to work on the down. I don't really know anything about them myself, but they pay well. Twelve gold coins is how much I'm getting for this little trip. Not sure how that translates figuratively since I'm a bit like you, a non-native." She gave him a big smile as she said though, she knew perfectly well who she was working with but this dude even if he was the one working the robots was slimey and didn't need all the details if that could be used against her. Anyway, her being foreign shouldn't of been that much a surprise.
Supercape Posted July 26, 2011 Author Posted July 26, 2011 GM "Twenty shiny coins biiig money!" agreed Chun Su, nodding his head as his eyes grew wide. "But Chun Su needs more than coins for rice wine and dice. He needs special parts, and people who wont poke noses where noses dont belong... like little pretty girls..." he said, poking Carrie in the chest. "Even if lots of big shiny gold coins!" "Chun Su not fan of boss man, but he know who boss man is. Boss man leaves Chun Su to do what he wants, Chun Su gives small metal men for Chun Su. Chun Su knows where he stands with Boss Man. Big Shiny Coin nice, Chun Su tempted, but who knows what kind of deal Chun Su end up with at end of day?"
Aoiroo Posted July 26, 2011 Posted July 26, 2011 "Well really where will you be at the end of the day with the bossman I wonder. I mean, what is this big robot for, is the bossman going to do anything bad. That could be a lot of trouble you know." She leaned over and looked back at the giant robot, "There's a lot of things wrong with this thing being here, you really want to be around when things go bad?"
Supercape Posted July 26, 2011 Author Posted July 26, 2011 GM "Well really where will you be at the end of the day with the bossman I wonder. I mean, what is this big robot for, is the bossman going to do anything bad. That could be a lot of trouble you know." "There's a lot of things wrong with this thing being here, you really want to be around when things go bad?" Chun Su jumped to his feet, balancing with surprising ease on the chain and plank of wood! "But giant metal man ready! A few more gatling guns would be nice, but metal man does work! Chun Su show you!" With that, Chun Su jumped to the Head of his Iron creation, and started winding up a giant ratchet, with feverish vigor. Carrie could hear cogs spinning and steam whistling, and the sound of coal powered engines firing up...
Aoiroo Posted July 28, 2011 Posted July 28, 2011 Carrie looked back at the metal man as it strung to life. That can't be good. Something like that in this day and age could tear up the town if left unchecked. Glancing at the old man she gave the platform he was on a good kick making it wobble and threaten to turn as she jumped onto the creature and slipped out of of sight onto the other side. Clinging to it as it moved, she could hear it heating up and moved her fingers around it until she found, aha! She pulled loose a panel and looked inside as she clung and started to pull at the wires to see what she could do about this now moving metalic monstriousity.
Supercape Posted July 28, 2011 Author Posted July 28, 2011 GM "Stop! Thief!" Yelled Chun Su as Carrie slipped inside the Giant Robot. He had caught the young woman out of the corner of his eye, but he could do precious little about it. The Robot was not really meant to house anybody. It was not meant to be entered. But a two dimensional Carrie could slip in nearly anywhere. Chun Su frantically pulled a lever outside, and banged on the robots outer skin with his wrench. "Get out get out! My plan! You destroy plan!" At the pull of the lever, the manhole above opened up, and the iron flooring below started to rise... like an elevator, the giant metal man started to rise up to the factory floor. Inside, Carrie could feel the engines powering up. Levers and dials inside flashed and whirled, giving the clear impression that Chun Su was true to his word. His creation may not have been fined tuned, but it was fully operational...
Aoiroo Posted July 28, 2011 Posted July 28, 2011 It was pretty cramped inside the iron giant, but than again it wasn't really made to be ridden in. Didn't stop her of course as she started to pull at whatever thing she could to try and direct it. When that didn't work, she went to the next best thing, screwing with the wiring. But that was way easier said than done. This thing was far more sturdy than the other things in the factory and she found herself pulling wires with little to no effect. Ohh well, it's not like they could get her out of there anyway.
Supercape Posted July 29, 2011 Author Posted July 29, 2011 GM Whatever Chun-Su's plan's where for his masterpiece, Bossman did not feature into them, and nor did the warehouse. The Sixty foot Iron giant had just about fitted in the enormous pit, but when raised, its head crashed through the girders and roof of the warehouse. Carrie was jostled left and right, and could hear mufled screaming. She could even hear gunfire clangin against the robot, but small arms were unlikely to leave more than a dent on the armoured collosus. Meanwhile Chun Su was screaming blue murder. "Get out! Get out! Master plan ruined!...wait!...Still time for Masterplan! Not fully operational, but Chun Su make do!" With that, he lifted out of his workclothes some kind of copper contraption and pressed a few knobs. A hiss of steam emitted from it, and a crackle of direct current emited from two copper wires. There was a sudden Jolt, and the Iron Giant started walking off, crashing through the Warehouse, wrecking it in the process. Carrie could hear every jolt, and then a sudden splash as one foot then another sunk into the Thames. The Iron Giant did not stop, but carried on, hissing steam, as it plowed on down the famous river.
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