Word: Adamantine

adamantine

[ ad-uh-man-teen, -tin, -tahyn ]

adjective

1. utterly unyielding or firm in attitude or opinion.

2. too hard to cut, break, or pierce.

3. like a diamond in luster.

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               “Lord Melif, I have a report on the hero.”

               The large, imposing figure that was Lord Melif turned to look at the one who had spoken. It was a small creature, with wings that should not have been able to support it, and horns that were too large for its head. The Lord of Shadows knew this seemingly helpless, unwieldy creature was actually one of the most dangerous creatures in his army. This was Ven, the Imp Lord’s right hand. And if such an important figure was coming to speak with him, it must be important.

               “What is it Ven? Have you been subjecting the hero to constant danger as ordered?”

               “Yes, Milord, we have. He and his party are constantly being targeted for assault. Assassins at all hours, hired thugs, bandits, monsters. We have sent them all. Obviously, the hero’s party defeats them all.”

               “I see. He must be at his limit then. Such a life can fray even the strongest of minds. Soon he will crumble under the pressure and be easy to eliminate.”

               It was a strategy that had served him well against other heroes. On the surface, it may have seemed counterproductive, since heroes and their companions got stronger the more they fought. But a constant state of alertness and steady threats would wear them out mentally and spiritually. In such a state, it did not matter how powerful their bodies became.

               “Well, that’s the things, Milord, no, he isn’t.”

               “What?”

               “Some of his companions are having trouble, but the hero himself is perfectly fine. And he is able to rally his companions and undo everything the constant danger does to their psyches. I have never seen anyone so able to remain resolute under the kind of stress we are putting him under.”

               “How odd. Well, there are bound to be exceptions to every rule now and then. Reduce the number of attacks. No need to make them any more powerful than necessary, and perhaps the sudden lack of danger will make them paranoid. What about temptations?”

               “Yes, Milord. We’ve used all of them. Beautiful women, riches, powerful magic, land. Everything we could think of to tempt the hero away. He refused them all. Now, to be fair, I can understand some of them. The companions he travels with are all young women who rival most succubae in beauty. And they have already conquered enough dungeons to make them very wealthy and hold a number of potent magical items. But we offered far more than they could ever get on their own and made offers before they held such things. And yet, no matter how much we offered, or when we made the offers, they were always refused nearly instantly.”

               “How troublesome. This hero must have a will stronger than steel. Very well, we act to eliminate. We can no longer afford to simply dissuade this one as we have in the past. This one, we kill.”

               A vicious gleam came to the greater imp’s beady eyes. He had clearly been waiting for this moment.

               “Very well, Milord. I shall see it done immediately.”

               The imp flew off to see Lord Melif’s orders done. The Lord of Shadows sat in his throne and thought about this newest hero.

               “This one should be interesting. I hope he does not die too quickly. It might be nice to have a real challenge for once.”

           ***************************************

So, how long do you think it'll take for the hero to cut through everything and wind up utterly destroying this dark lord type figure? A month? Two? I'd say half a year tops.    

              

Word: Kaput

kaput

[ kah-poo t, -poot, kuh- ]

adjective Slang.

1. ruined; done for; demolished.

2. unable to operate or continue: The washing machine is suddenly kaput.

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               Chief Engineer Ken Fields pushed himself through the hallway, lit dimly with red lights. His body floated through the corridor, easily maneuvering through the space with minimal effort. There were a lot of things Ken knew, but there were two that were very important at that moment. One was that red lights were always bad. The second was that he should not be floating.

               He quickly arrived at his post, the engineering section of the ship. There he found Hank, his subordinate and the only other engineer aboard the ship. The large man was hovering, curled up in the fetal position and was sobbing quietly.

               “Hank? Hank! Pull yourself together, man.” Ken said.

               Hank slowly stopped crying and unfurled his hefty form. “Sorry, boss, it’s just…just…I think we’re going to die.”

               “Why? What happened?”

               “It’s the main power core.”

               “What? Did we run out? No, that can’t be. We should have plenty of energy left.”

               “Yeah, boss. Enough to get us from Betelgeuse to Alpha Centauri and back again. But that’s not the problem. The problem is everything else. The connectors are shot, the regulators have blown out. Even the modulator’s done fore. Hell, I’m pretty sure even the basic wiring’s useless now.”

               Ken floated over to the core and looked it over. Hank was right. Every single part save the core itself was well passed working order. The only reason the ship was not currently a bunch of space debris was because the energy simply had nowhere to go, so it just sat in its containment.

               “Well, have you tried replacing anything? Where are the backup parts?”

               “Those are the backup parts. Remember? We changed them out a week ago.”

               “Oh yeah. And the captain said he’d get them replaced, but didn’t. Even though we told him something like this would happen.” Ken said, grinding his teeth when he thought about their credit pinching “leader”.   

               Ken looked it over again. It he and Hank worked their butts off, they might be able to get another hour of power from the core. Hopefully before the emergency power failed and life support went dead. They might be able to get more out of it, but that was doubtful. There was only one thing he could do in this situation.

               He went over to the comms panel, thankful that it was still working and activated an all-ship announcement.

               “Hello everyone. This is Chief Engineer Kenneth Fields. I’m sure you’ve all noticed the lack of main power. This is because all parts that allow the ship to draw power from the core are either broken, worn out, or both. This is due entirely to Captain Bever skimping out on parts. He was informed that these parts are worn out and would fail. However, he chose to ignore this warning. As such, we are now stranded several light years away from the nearest port. I and Sub Engineer Hank Walters will be making every effort to get main power back online. However, nothing we do will make it permanent. I can promise one hour, and anything beyond that will be a miracle.

               “As much as it pains me to say, I advise all of you to…to go back to your quarters and make your Final Message. Good bye and prey to whatever god you believe in that we get picked up before everything breaks down.”

               “Boss?” Hank said when Ken ended the transmission. “I…I don’t want to die.”

               “I know. I know. Neither do I.”

               Faint sounds drifted down the hall. Shouting. Lots of shouting. The clanging of metal on metal, maybe a pulse shot. There was a mutiny going on. Not that it would do much good.

               “Hank, go back to your bunk and make your Final Message. I’ll get started on trying to jury rig this thing. When you finish, I’ll go and make mine.”

               “And after that?”

               “We get to work. We’ve got a miracle to make.”

********************************

Using Star Trek logic, these people will be: 1) rescued at the last moment by a friendly ship; 2) Rescued by a very unfriendly ship who will either imprison or enslave them; or 3) somehow pull some technobabble out of their butts and somehow make it to a safe port.

Which one it is remains to be seen.

Word: Staycation

staycation

[ stey-key-shuh n ]

noun

a vacation spent at home or near home, doing enjoyable activities or visiting local attractions.

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              Jeff had his legs draped on top of the couch, while his upper body was lying on the floor. He stared at the TV with glassy eyes. How long had it been since the season ended? Was it an hour? Two hours?

               “Man, this sucks.” He managed to utter.

               “What does?” Greg, Jeff’s roommate, asked.

               It took Jeff longer than it should have to respond to the question. “This. This whole thing that’s happening now. You know, not being able to do stuff?”

               “You mean the quarantine?”

               “Yeah, that. I mean, we’re supposed to be on vacation now, right?”

               “Yup. Had it booked last year.”

               “And now we can’t go. Because nobody can go anywhere.”

               “Hey now, don’t be like that. We’re still on vacation. It’s just a different kind of vacation.”

               “How is this any different than the previous months? I mean, we’re doing the same exact thing.”

               “Yeah, but now we’re doing it because we want to, and not because we have to.”

               Greg tried to sound cheerful, but it rang hollow for both of them. Jeff oozed off the couch and sat up.

               “That’s not true and you know it. When you’re on a vacation, you’re supposed to go out and do something that isn’t watch Netflix or YouTube. We haven’t left the apartment in months, and the only difference is we don’t have to do any online work.”

               “Well there you go. Vacation. And we can do stuff. We can leave any time we want.”

               “And do what?”

               “Well, we have the local art galleries and museums and stuff. That’s vacation stuff.”

               “Okay, first of all, the art galleries we have here are, on average, two room a piece. And the art sucks. And the only museum we have around here is that lame bottle museum that only real weirdos want to see. And second of all, all of those are currently closed thanks to the quarantine. So is everything else that’s even remotely fun around here. So explain to me again how this is a vacation?”

               This time Greg did not even try to respond. He was having trouble thinking of anything vacation like as well. Jeff sprawled on the floor and stared at the ceiling.

               “Man, we should be on the beach now. We should be soaking up the sun and be neck deep in bikini babes. Instead, we’re here. Doing the same thing we’ve been doing for months.”

               “Oh don’t be so dramatic. There’s plenty of women around here, even if they are fully dressed. And anyway, this is all temporary. The quarantine will end, we’ll be able to go out and do stuff. And we’ll have another trip to the beach next year.”

               “Yeah, but that doesn’t help anyone now, does it? We’re still here, still not doing anything, and I don’t know about you, but I’m still bored out of my mind.”

               “Yeah, that’s fair.”

               It took several minutes before either of them did anything. Jeff eventually let out a frustrated growls and stood. He marched up to the door.

               “Where are you going?” Greg asked.

               “Technically we’re on vacation. I’m going to see if there’s something to do out there.”

               He opened the door and left the apartment.

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Seriously people, don't be stupid. Just because the worst is over doesn't mean the danger has completely passed yet. If you do go outside, be safe about it.