New Home: Fleeing the Bahro

[T_S_Kimball]

[OOC:  While awaiting a rules check on something, I'm a bit bored and decided to write up some of the events leading to the re-introduction.  Disclaimer: while this does discuss the upcoming Second Shutdown of Uru Live, it does not reflect any official decisions from Cyan.  Some of us are working out a possibility of doing this though...]

-----===== Journal Entry of Alan Kiesler =====-----

Location:  Earth, 'The Cleft'

The scene reminds me of images I've seen of Burning Man.  But it's the stuff that's burning that saddens me, rather than the uplifting feel of that more joyous event.

Books.  Thousands of books, all piled into the Cleft-Home, in a giant pyre that's destroying everything we need to leave behind.  I'm the last one, here to make sure that everything is unusable, before leaving for good.  I've tossed my own KI into the pile just a few minutes ago, and am listening to its Lattice crystals make a tinkling sound as their link to the Great Zero severs.

With me is the Descriptive Book for D'Nay, our new home.  With the great Cavern closed to us - twice now - and its Ages corrupted by the Bahro's civil war, those of us who quietly learned The Art decided to make our own home.  It's sadly ironic really - Atrus eventually did the same thing nearly 200 years ago, after trying what the DRC attempted this past year.  I guess we can't learn from even the greatest people's mistakes, even if our reasons are different.

But we're not going out without a proper 'goodbye' to the Bahro.  A couple of us had friends in more, um, 'interesting' places and secured some old D'ni tech which will seal off this area permanently.  No one knows what, exactly, will happen - but I've been assured that I need to get out fast if I intend to live.

So, with that uncertainty, I'm overseeing the Final Destruction - every linking book and KI we could get our hands on, even the Relto ones, are burning.  Everyone who left, either to stay here on Earth or to start over in D'Nay, were forced to leave everything of the old D'ni behind so that we can not be tracked by the Bahro. 

We only have the one book for D'Nay (that I was told about anyway) so there was a lot of tearful decisions - some taking their families with them, others spending their last money in nearby Vegas, some even linking to Relto and not being heard from again.  I spent the time with my father, not telling him what my plans were other than mentioning the nearby village that I was planning on staying at before going back to work.  That way, my hope is that the events here will make me marked as an accidental death, and the insurance money sent to my brother for ongoing expenses in the family.

Yesterday was the Exodus.  I spent the day at the village, doing some shopping and generally dropping hints that I'd be back in a couple days.  That night I grabbed the car our group shared and headed back to the Cleft.

And here I sit now.  The last of my friends left a few hours ago, and I'm watching to make sure that everything is destroyed.  My book will be the last, and it will be time to close this chapter of our lives for good.  I've already packed what things I wanted from Relto - some of my clothes, my notebooks, and a couple small souvenirs of my time here.

It's interesting, really - The D'ni themselves did this thousands of years ago, when their own home was dying.  They created their link to our world to live in peace.  And now, we seek to do the same.  I can only hope to prove that we can continue their work.

Goodbye, Yeesha.  Best of luck to you, but we don't want your burdens.

-----===== End Entry =====-----

Alan finishes his writing for the day, makes copies of the data for his portable (as well as a printout), and starts the DoD wipe program on the desktop.  Exiting the tent outside the Cleft, he checks on the fire; It's nearly over.  After raking all the remaining embers together, he pauses.  A muffled, sinister scream from the looming volcano shakes him from his reverie though, and decides that its time.

Reaching to his right, he pulls off the Relto book one last time.  Tears come to his eyes as he gently lays it into the fire, where it catches quickly.  Sobs wrack his body as he hears both the buzzing destruction of the linking panel, and the tone of the screams that emanate around him; He realizes that his Relto harbored one of the 'good' Bahro, and despite his anger at Yeesha for tricking him into freeing it, he did not want to take such a life as so many others did.

As the screams fade away, he does one last search of the entire area for Bahro-traceable artifacts.  Finding none, he spreads out the small embers and puts out the fire.  He sighs; One last thing to do.

Collapsing the tent, he destroys the internal drives on the desktop, shuts down the portable generator, and puts on his backpack and shoulder pack.  Facing a box, he opens the huge book on it:  An animation of a great city appears, finally ending on a circling view of the link-in point.  He checks the nearby detonator:  Good connection still, ready to go.  Presses the button with his left hand.  A countdown appears on the display, in D'ni numbers; When it reaches 2, he hits the linking panel with his right hand...

The device, according to notes from one of the translators, was to create mining camps in 'hostile' areas.  The detailed discussion was beyond us, but the fact that it was 'similar' to a MOAB in function was perfect for our needs.  Of course, no one knew what a D'ni version of a MOAB could do, but everyone agreed it would be Big.

And so it was:  In one, rapid flash, the volcano and everything around it turned into a giant crater of Nara.  The Great Shaft is once again sealed.