HEAR YE HEAR YE, THE PROFESSOR SPEAKS
I've been tryin' to get down to the Heart of the Matter
But my will gets weak
And my thoughts seem to scatter
But I think it's about forgiveness
Forgiveness
Even if, even if you don't love me anymore. - The Heart of the matter - John Henley
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Frostee looked on in impotent terror as Dann sharpened the ice-breaking pick-axe theatrically. Blood-red sunlight gleamed off it's frozen surface and bathed him in crimson.
"You betrayed us, Frostee." He said "For that you'll die."
"No!"
He broke free of Taters and Marcus' grip and tackled clumsily into Dann, drawing blood from a small flick-knife hidden in his hand. If the blade had hit anything important, Dann didn't show it as he roared and pushed Frostee aside, who rolled on the ice and raised himself into a crouch, holding the little blood-stained knife like a shield. The three chosen to make the kill circled around the man, Dann clutching the wound on his chest.
Taters unsheathed her knife and leapt at Frostee, who parried her wild arc and planted a kick to her stomach before spinning to swipe out the legs of the advancing Marcus. Frostee's hand swung around to plant his blade squarely in Taters' stomach but a desperate last-second roll took her out of the knife's curve to let it harmlessly hit the ice.
Dann took this opportunity to jump on Frostee's arm but his feet slipped on the ice and he landed awkwardly mere millimeters from the razor-edge of the knife.
"If I'm going down I'm going to make damned sure you go with me." Frostee growled at Dann and started to force his hand towards Dann's eye. He tried to climb out of the way but Frostee had pinned him with his legs "Say hello to darkness, bastard."
Dann's scream echoed over the ice and drew the others who arrived in time to see Dann scrabbling on the floor clutching a river of blood pouring from where his right eye had been seconds before. Frostee started to pull himself up when Taters' pick axe thunked into Frostee's skull.
Finding the microchip wasn't difficult.
****
Awesome. The word is thrown around so much in contemporary society that when one encounters something truly awe-inspiring it can be hard to put across the true extent of the sense of wonder filling one's soul.
The Explorers felt the true meaning of the word 'awesome' as they looked over the edge of the world, one moment there was a desert of ice, the next an infinite sea of blackness speckled with a bright dusting of stars.
Nobody said a word, the natural wonder in front of them said everything which could possibly be said. The arc of the Milky Way dipped into a spiral ribbon which bucked and curled somewhere far beneath the disc of the Earth, taking with it a glowing trail of twinkling lights.
"Now." Gayer said, after clearing her dry throat "Does anyone remember which way home is?"
THE END
----
Frostee was Nasa Agent and is now dead - The Explorers win a perfect game.
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Ok, sorry my PM wasn't clear, I forgot we had a Jack in the game, so I thought that "Jack, you are Agent Gulliver" would have just been astatement about whose Agent name everyone got, the 'sent to' line would have revealed who was actually an Agent.
Hopefully it was fun, anyway. If not, I apologise profusely.