Some flights of fancy. |
"The Wranglers." "From the stars, we descend Light is nothing; space we bend Borne upon atomic fires, hurtling from hell Reactors thundering like Doom's bell Out of deepest Hyperspace, we emerge The Federation's endless scourge On this fateful day, in the deeps so black We prepare for another attack.' 'Our ship screams down, plasma flares like suns Nothing can withstand our guns! The Sound Barrier cracks, the hull moans And the hammer falls upon their thrones Through the mesosphere we hurtle, At the sound, their blood will curdle We are the heralds of Heaven's ven'geance Hear the roaring of our en'gines! Thrusters trembling, at last we land To bring this planet under our Master's hand.' 'And now it's time to go to work Our duty we will never shirk Nets fly, the foul beasts cry The strong enslaved; the weak will die By Emperor's bidding, we are here To take what they have held most dear So cities crumble under our fists And like nightmare we ascend into the mists.' 'With our fleshy cargo in tow Back to the stars, we once more shall go With a world burning in our wake At our name shall others quake We are warriors of divine will For humanity's sake, we shall kill' 'We are the Wranglers, and this is Humanity's Galaxy!" "The Space Rangers." "On distant Darkseid, armies march and fires burn For ever-more slaves, the bleak pits yearn The Emperor thunders from atop his throne "Bring me flesh and hide and bone!" Out from Hell the Wranglers go Riding onwards as solar winds blow Who shall meet this deadly scourge? They must be stopped, or on the Galaxy they'll gorge' 'Space Rangers rise, they heed the call Screaming "Never will our galaxy fall!" Dark angles soar a 'twixt the stars Hunting ships, breaking open steel bars C-Platinum gauntlet, iron greave Rangers enter, Wranglers leave' 'Don't get caught with slaves on board Dealing in flesh to enrich your horde For good reason are Rangers feared far and wide This universe is not big enough for you to hide As plasma sizzles across the skies Another raid, the gunship denies Turned back again, the Wranglers flee Nothing out in space is this scary!' 'Whatever the cost Whatever is lost Whatever the danger Remember the Ranger' 'We are the Space Rangers, and we will see slavery vanquished!' "The Fellowship Herd." ‘A Space Knight with an ancient sword A single marine loyal to the last word A budding mage destined for power A turncoat pirate who makes Wranglers cower An alien prince from distant space A psychic catfish, best of his race A Russian mustelid with a shotgun A trans-dimensional wolf who can’t make a pun A wise space-captain to keep it sane And a doctor by the name of Crane.’ "James." He’s got guns and attitude and testosterone Came from another world to find a new home. A butterfly with wings -on caffeine He’ll never be the same after what he’s seen. Him and a buddy by the name of D. Eagle Cleaning the galaxy; refuge for a seagull. Does he miss those he left behind? So long ago, do they still remember his kind? Twisted into a form not his own The crazed doctor wanted a new weapon to hone. A rebellion, a break-out, a run for escape In these evil labs so bleak and desper-ate. Tumble into an alien portal A feat seldom performed by a mere mortal. Brand new world, of pain and injustice Deciding I must stop this. Revolution -rise with a slave so proud Who knew so many together could never be cowed? And now what drives him on? This isn’t his war; he could’ve gone. Should’ve retired, looked for a way home Could’ve upped and vanished in sub-atomic gloam Yet here he stays, till the last victory And in the meantime threatens to dominate the entire story! "A Day in the Life of the Commissar." "I have got my gatling gun just in case the deserters run Command calls in; has someone won? No, but it's 'Good new everyone' when the call is done Ah, a whole new mission! This should be fun! Hopefully it'll go better than the last one... But ah, to best the Wranglers once again! To screw with the Duchess, do you ken? So now up we pull, to the palace with the foot-men Disguises are perfect; they think I'm Sir Ben We're here to steal a secret or ten And afterwards we can practice zen But as the ball drags on, complications arise Albatair trips into the curly fries A noble helps him, slips, dies Luckily as to our diversion, they are not yet wise I don't like the looks of some of these guys Those Sin Girls have arms thicker than my thighs I can only hope Mercer is doing well He and Cooper'll usually give them hell The vault is emptied; Plan goes swell When suddenly I gag at a nasty smell The Duchess herself, chortling like Doom's Knell I adjust the monocle; else my eyes will tell She then walks right on up to me Just as my timer beeps; we should be free Yet I can not leave -the ruse she'll see Her smile is ever so spark-ely But somewhere else I must urgently be So I heft a shiny tureen and set those teeth free Through the halls I race to and fro The mob'll catch me if I slow! Tentacles flying in the wind's blow Wow; the Duchess is a cranky ho' 'Round a bend I hurriedly go And here comes my pickup -yo ho! And here I sit like a flopping bas The geteway car is out of gas Melody's giving me total sass And half the Wrangler fleet is on my ass Our rocket flees above the grass Knocking the hair from one pretty lass Running on fumes or no, we're going up Just enough fuel to fill a cup I want to get home so I can sup But the Wranglers are saying that that's just not up We'll need to find another space-worthy pup Boarding action? Let's go! Hup! We leap into the enemies' halls Combat boots bouncing off the walls Into the reactor Jango falls Now who'll answer all my calls? The ship casually onwards crawls Heedless of the passenger's brawls It's a right awkward little smash I break my arm when a marine's nose I bash But eventually we got the cash Now we must flee, quick as a flash Another nick upon my sash This mission... Technically wasn't a hash Oh well; no plan ever goes right When you're a Commissar, your schedule's tight Which is why I'm in mid-flight In a ship reduced to a metal kite I may not be prepared for this new fight But in the end, everything is alright." Bonus: "1986"; a fanfic of George Orwell's 1984. “The Revolution came, the Revolution left To the core, society’s soul was cleft Flames, pillaging, war all around Discontent could only abound Machine guns in London, war-planes in the skies We never foresaw Oceania’s rise Bombs fell, Great Britain burned For stability again –oh, how we yearned! Ingsoc had the final solution Its ideology; our great ablution Ministries to rule us all Never again shall the mighty fall Our Brother rules us mind and soul His pleasure is our only goal We work forever, without fail Heedless of the iron hail’ ‘Mindless cogs within the machine Yet when rocket-bombs fall, how we scream Hiding in our rotting holes Like animals, we are the Proles.’ ‘Watched hawkishly, every day, For an aberrant thought, we dearly pay We are the Members, in our dank shelters of ‘Victory’ Not sunk like Proles, yet even less free.’ ‘A world to rule, a war to win To do it we would commit any sin We are the Upper, oligarchs all And never shall our party fall!’ ‘But deep down, we know it’s for show There will only be one final blow Not a fist, a bullet, or even a rocket But a mere worker choosing to ignore his socket. From below, will the pyramids fall, Rubble crashing to the Proletarian’s call. The world cannot go on this way Soon shall come a brand-new day.” "R'lyeh." "Deep beneath the ocean swells Repose in wait, Promethean hells Slime-ridden, murky, covered in silt Wrapped in crustacean carbuncles snug as a quilt In the lightless depths so far Kept in company by the bravest carr Embalmed in sea-weed, an ancient trove Endless basalt column, the thunder-cloven grove.' ...Fhtagn... 'In this realm of endless night Dreams the god; the source of fright While the stars shuffle overhead The dead god sleeps on cyclopean bed Where columns twist, so non-Euclidean Secrets are etched, strange and Druidean Squid flit by; they know their master The terrible unspeakable brother of Hastur.' ....Fhtagn! 'But up above this dank empire Hominid thralls would this word burn in pyre To wake the god; that is their goal Bring terror rising from the deepest shoal Cavorting with Deep Ones in sick play To serve Earth to Old Ones on a silver tray Madly dancing around black idols To affix to humanity alien bridles' Cthulhu Wakes! 'And when the stars are right, It will come Heralded by the flayed-hide drum From grottoes so deep Where nameless spawn creep The Great Old One shall rise amidst madness While trembling Gaia can but look on in sadness Like ticking clockwork, it will come to be There exists nowhere microbial humanity can flee." |