LAST EDITED ON Nov-03-05 AT 12:32 PM (EST)
 
I dunno if I'd be so bold as to say it's coming soon... but it's coming sometime.

	In that chair sat a broad-shouldered man in his middle
thirties, dressed in a charcoal-gray sweater with raglan sleeves
shoved up to his elbows, showing lean but muscular forearms lightly
furred in black.  He had a boyish face topped with a thick, slightly
unruly, similarly black shock of hair, and he hadn't shaved in a day
or so.  He was looking down at his desk, intent upon something the
girl couldn't see, so his eyes weren't visible to her.
	"... In conclusion, comma," he was saying as Keller led her
into the room, "I daresay that Sir Eddingsley knows what he can do
with his offer, semicolon; but in the event that it must be elucidated
for him, comma, would you be so kind as to tell him that he can bloody
well shove it up his - ah, Keller!" he broke off, sighting the new
arrivals.  He looked up from his desk with smiling bright-blue eyes.
"Is this our guest?"
	"It is, my lord," said the butler.
	"Thank you, Keller," said the man.
	"Very good, my lord," said Keller, and he vanished from the
room.
	"I'm glad to see you're up and about," said the man in the
sweater, getting to his feet.  "Welcome to Crofthenge.  I'm Derek,
Lord Langley-Croft."  He gestured to the wingback chair.  "This is my
confidential assistant, the Honourable Miss Carillon Ellison."
	She hadn't noticed there was somebody in the chair until Lord
Langley-Croft had pointed the other woman out.  She was a small and
delicate-looking creature in her late teens, with a short bob of
blue-silver hair, pale white skin, and wide eyes the same color as her
hair.  She wore a smart gray suit and white blouse, and had a
stenographic pad propped up on one knee.
	"How do you do," said Miss Ellison in a soft, pleasant voice.
	The girl nodded and turned to Lord Langley-Croft.  "If they 
find me here they'll kill you," she said flatly.
	"I've dealt with dangerous people before," said Langley-Croft.
"The prospect of doing so again doesn't fill me with terror."
	"No," she said.  "I'm grateful that you saved my life, my
lord, but trust me - you don't want to stay involved in this."
	Lord Langley-Croft - still DJ to his friends - sat down again
and regarded his visitor.  Now that he got a long, uninterrupted look
at her in good light, she looked curiously familiar...
	An alarm bell began to jingle softly at the back of DJ's mind.
	Outwardly, he had only frowned for a moment; then he sighed.
"Well, miss, if that's the way you feel, I won't try to hold you here
against your will.  If you're in some sort of trouble, I wish you'd
let me try to help you."
	"Thanks," she said with a wan smile, "but nobody can help me.
You'd only get hurt trying."
	He affected a hurt scowl.  "I'm so glad you think so highly of
my abilities," he grumped.  Before he could go on with that line,
though, Keller had appeared in the door bearing a small silver tray
with a card on it.
	"A gentleman to see you, sir," he said, placing the tray on
Lord Langley-Croft's desk.  DJ picked up the buff-colored card and
regarded it quizzically.
	"Anton DeMarco, Consolidated Biochemistry Limited?  What on
Earth does he want with - "
	The girl sucked in a sharp breath, what little color there had
been in her face draining away.
	"Oh, my God," she hissed, panic edging into her voice, "he's
found me already."
	Lord Langley-Croft looked over the card at her eyes, his own,
a moment ago sparkling with a slightly mocking joviality, now as hard
and cold as ice.  "-CBL- are the dangerous people who are after you?"
	"They're not what they seem to be," she said, her voice
quavering as she fought down the panic.  "They'll kill you if you try
to - "
	"Listen to me carefully," said Langley-Croft, fixing his eyes
on the girl's.  "You're safe here.  We can protect you from this man
DeMarco and his friends.  If you don't want to go with them, you
don't.  Period.  All right?"
	The girl thought to argue again, then nodded silently.
	"Good," said Langley-Croft.  "Now please take a seat there,"
he said, indicating one of the straight chairs which stood at the end
of his desk opposite the door, "and try not to worry."
	As she went to sit down, the fierce tension drained out of
Langley-Croft's face, replaced once more with a slightly jovial
aristocratic blandness; he settled back into his seat and adjusted his
sleeves.
	"Show him in, Keller," he said calmly.
	"Very good, my lord," said Keller as though nothing unusual
had passed, and he went.
	DJ had time to wink at Carillon before the door opened and
Keller showed in a tall, portly man in a nicely-cut brown three-piece
with tan pinstripes, covered by a brown camel-hair topcoat.
	"Good afternoon, Mr. DeMarco," said DJ, rising to his feet and
extending a hand.  "I'm Lord Langley-Croft.  What can I do for - "
	He stopped as DeMarco turned to the girl sitting in the chair
at the end of the desk and shouted, "Galatea, your mother and I have
been worried sick about you!  When we get home you'll be dealt with
severely.  Now get out into the car and wait while I apologize to this
man for his time you've wasted."
	The girl seemed to visibly shrink, trying to pull herself away
from the red-faced man without leaving the chair.
	Langley-Croft gave the man a sharp look.  "I say, old man,
we don't shout at people in my house.  Do you know this girl?"
	"She's my daughter, Galatea," DeMarco said, his anger
moderating slightly as if for the sake of good manners as he faced the
lord of the manor.  "As you can see," said DeMarco with a gesture
toward the girl's hairstyle and metallic adornments, "she's in her
rebellious phase.  Always defying me and her mother, running away,
getting into trouble.  She's lost respect for us.  Runs with a bad
crowd."
	"Well, bellowing at her's not going to make her respect you,"
said his lordship offensively.  "Now why don't you take a seat there,"
he went on, pointing to a chair not far from Miss Ellison's, on the
other side of the wingback from the place where Galatea sat, "and
let's discuss this calmly."
	"There's nothing to discuss, my lord," said DeMarco frostily.
"Galatea is going home to face her punishment."
	Galatea's eyes flicked to Langley-Croft's, silently pleading.
	Langley-Croft frowned.  "Have you some evidence that this girl
is your daughter?" he inquired.
	DeMarco scowled.  "Are you implying that I am a liar?" he
demanded.
	Langley-Croft replied unflappably, "I'm implying that it's
possible.  Have you?"
	"No, of course not," DeMarco said.  "She's not old enough to
have a driving license, and I don't carry my children's birth
certificates with me.  This is absurd!"
	"Absurd it may be," Langley-Croft said, resuming his seat,
"but I have a responsibility.  The girl came to me in need of help and
sanctuary, and I have offered her both.  To turn her over to a man who
says he's her father on the basis of nothing but his insistence would
be unforgivably irresponsible."
	"Ridiculous!" DeMarco spluttered.  "She's my daughter and
she's coming with me.  End of discussion!"
	"Fine," said his lordship, turning the telephone on his desk
and pushing it toward DeMarco.  "Ring the police, then.  I'm sure they
can sort out where she ought to go."
	DeMarco snarled and pushed the phone away, taking a step
around the back of Miss Ellison's chair toward the girl, who shrank
away.  "By God, Galatea," he said, "you're really going to pay for
this one!"
	"Mr. DeMarco!" Lord Langley-Croft snapped, freezing the man in
his tracks.  "I will not tolerate this!  You are a guest in this
house.  See that you comport yourself accordingly."
	DeMarco whirled, his face a mask of anger.  He pulled a
long-barrelled automatic from under his topcoat and thrust it into his
lordship's face.
	"Carillon!" Lord Langley-Croft barked.
	Something touched DeMarco's right shoulder, but before he
could react to the light contact, it had become a crushing, twisting
agony.  His whole arm went numb, the automatic dropping with a thud
onto Lord Langley-Croft's desk blotter, and, gasping, he fell to his
knees in the vain hope that it would relieve the crushing pain.  He
forced his head to turn to the right and raised his eyes to see the
slim, smartly-dressed form of Langley-Croft's secretary.  To an outside
observer, her left hand appeared to rest lightly on DeMarco's shoulder.
	Langley-Croft picked up the automatic, dropped it into a
drawer of his desk, and smiled.  "Thank you, Miss Ellison," he said.
"I think you can let him up now."
	Carrie smiled slightly, let go of DeMarco's shoulder, and
returned to her chair.  Gasping, the portly man slumped against the
front of the desk.
	"Now then, Mr. DeMarco," said Lord Langley-Croft
conversationally, sitting back in his chair.  "Did you want to ring
the police?"
	"By God, I'd like to see you try me man to man," DeMarco
snarled, struggling to his feet.
	Langley-Croft shook his head.  "No, you wouldn't," he said
pleasantly.  "Now, suppose you tell me what's so important about
this poor girl that you have two men beat her up and drive her across
the country in the middle of the night."
	DeMarco glared.
	Lord Langley-Croft shrugged offhandedly.  "All right, failing
that, then suppose you get out of my house," he said.
	DeMarco glared a little more, then turned on his heel and
headed for the door.
	Just as he arrived at it, Keller opened it, but DeMarco didn't
see him; he turned back to direct a furious gaze at the man behind the
desk.
	"We'll be watching you," he snarled.  "You can't hide her in
here forever."
	"Yes, well, that's very nice, Mr. DeMarco.  Keller, show
Mr. DeMarco out, please."
	"Very good, my lord," said Keller, and he conducted the fuming
interloper out.
	DJ waited until the door closed, then let out a sigh.
	"Nice save, Carrie," he said.  "D'you know, for a moment there
I almost thought the bastard was going to shoot me."
	"Not on my watch," said Carrie with a smile.

So this is what it feels like to choke on a caffienated drink. This rather irrating day suddenly became so much better.

So... An older (Though probably not grown up) DJ. Rei and Jon's kid?! And... *Tries not to go into wild speculation mode.* Ben, you rock.

Matrix Dragon, J. Random Nutter
My LiveJournal
Everything goes better with Ninja

....

Oh my goodness.

A rather interesting name, Galatea.

>A rather interesting name, Galatea.

Given the name's origin you think people would know better than to use it for their projectschildren.

Polychrome

>>A rather interesting name, Galatea.
>
>Given the name's origin you think people would know better than to use
>it for their projectschildren.
>

Heh. Good Point Poly. Though I'm not quite sure which Galetea this one will be. For some reason I keep thinking I've heard of more than one; I suppose the fact of Who's after her and the name of that company should help sort that out, but for some reason they're not ringing any bells...

LAST EDITED ON Nov-03-05 AT 05:51 PM (EST) by Gryphon (admin)
 
[ Fixed broken link - DCForum likes to make me do that. --G.]

Inside my head, I'm doing that wild take Roger Rabit did at the end of the Maroon Cartoon's short, Tummy Trouble.

>>>A rather interesting name, Galatea.
>>
>>Given the name's origin you think people would know better than to use
>>it for their projectschildren.
>>
>
>Heh. Good Point Poly. Though I'm not quite sure which Galetea this
>one will be. For some reason I keep thinking I've heard of more than
>one; I suppose the fact of Who's after her and the name of that
>company should help sort that out, but for some reason they're not
>ringing any bells...

A search on Wikipedia has been most illuminating. The original Galatea is a sea nymph in Greek mythology. The most prolific reference in Wikipedia, though, is to Fritz Lang's Metropolis.

Gryphon, you evil person you... Now I am going to be plagued by a craving of the new and upcomming adventures of DJ Croft and company. You really do like to watch us squirm, don't you? ;)

----------------------------------------
Black Aeronaut Technologies
Creative aerospace solutions for the discerning spacer
What? Under the dorsal guiding feathers!?

>>Heh. Good Point Poly. Though I'm not quite sure which Galetea this
>>one will be. For some reason I keep thinking I've heard of more than
>>one; I suppose the fact of Who's after her and the name of that
>>company should help sort that out, but for some reason they're not
>>ringing any bells...
>
>A search on Wikipedia has been most illuminating. The original
>Galatea is a sea
>nymph in Greek mythology. The most prolific reference in Wikipedia,
>though, is to Fritz Lang's Metropolis.

Galatea is also the name of the statue Pygmalion created, who was brought to life --

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pygmalion_%28mythology%29

Galatea was also a character in Bubblegum Crisi: Tokyo 2040.
The character description seems to be a little older that that Galatea, though.

--------------
Lime2K
The One True Evil Overlord

>The character description seems to be a little older that that
>Galatea, though.

And a smidgen less psychotic...

Speaking for myself, and having just come from a read of Scrapiron City Shuffle (And there not being a description of said Galatea in the teaser, that I could see, besides 'metal adornments') my mind automatically pinpointed a certain little Cyborg...But, of course, there's really no telling until it comes out..whenever it does. I can only hope it's 'soonish', 'cause I really wanna see what Our Heroes are up to now. :)

Hmm. It's debatable if that is supposed to be Gally/Alita or not. I know Gryphon's got a soft spot for her. The big thing is that I see no description of what she looks like - we're in the dark about that and I wouldn't jump to any conlusions until we're enlightened.

Black Aeronaut Technologies Creative aerospace solutions for the discerning spacer "What? Under the dorsal guiding feathers!?"

>we're in the dark about that
>and I wouldn't jump to any conlusions until we're enlightened.
>

Meh. I'd say we can jump to all the conclusions we want... as long as we're prepared to find out they're absolutly, 100% WRONG!

>>we're in the dark about that
>>and I wouldn't jump to any conlusions until we're enlightened.
>>
>
>Meh. I'd say we can jump to all the conclusions we want... as long as
>we're prepared to find out they're absolutly, 100% WRONG!

True. But best of all, when we're wrong we're usually too busy enjoying the new product to notice anyways. ;)

Black Aeronaut Technologies Creative aerospace solutions for the discerning spacer "What? Under the dorsal guiding feathers!?"

YAY!! =)

Since nobody needs me, I'm going to be in the corner taking bets on which characters are going to be in the next release from EPU.

Or maybe I'll just be chewing on my ankle while I wait for the next release.

Patience - I must learn patience. And soon.

(but damn, this promises to be fun...)

Peter Eng

Yow.

And I thought being home sick from work today was going to be a drag.

My oh my oh my.

-- Bob
-------------------
Then the horns kicked in...
And my shoes started to squeak.

Woah...new adventures of DJ and company....cool, can't wait to read this in full.

Light the new avatar of chaos

*picks self off floor after boggle-induced whiplash*

Of everything you guys have done, this is the work for which I least expected any kind of sequelage. Snuck up on me from behind, sort of thing.

But damn am I looking forward to it now. Between the Symphony, Cybertron Reloaded, and now an NXE sequel... (dabs kleenex at trace of drool)

Kai the authors,

--Sam
The Evil Midnight Lurker what Lurks at Midnight
"Surf's up, space ponies--I'M MAKIN' GRAVY WITHOUT THE LUMPS!!!!!"

Awesome. Y'know, I really missed these guys.

So are we talking a one-shot, or more of a series thing? , yes, I think I'm far enough away from Rule 1.

Lady Langley-Croft is going to be annoyed she missed the fun at home, isn't she?

Have to admit, I just finished reading through NXE a few days ago - it's kinda neat to see this afterward!

You don't know the half of it. After Apotheosis Now we all figured "Well, that's it, we'll never see DJ and company again except as cameos in the UF. And even then, they won't be the same characters." And that's was, what? Year and-a-half, two years ago? I'm too lazy to go fish out the 'publication' date. Now Gryph has popped this on us and my eyes start buggin' out.

----------------------------------------
Black Aeronaut Technologies
Creative aerospace solutions for the discerning spacer
What? Under the dorsal guiding feathers!?

>You don't know the half of it. After Apotheosis Now we all
>figured "Well, that's it, we'll never see DJ and company again except
>as cameos in the UF. And even then, they won't be the same
>characters." And that's was, what? Year and-a-half, two years ago?
>I'm too lazy to go fish out the 'publication' date. Now Gryph has
>popped this on us and my eyes start buggin' out.
>
>----------------------------------------
>Black Aeronaut Technologies
>Creative aerospace solutions for the discerning spacer
>What? Under the dorsal guiding feathers!?

I'm tempted to test this newfound mojo and start going through some of the Gods Willing stuff to see what falls out afterwards.

Though I suppose I could take bids on where to use my powers for good or ill.

>I'm tempted to test this newfound mojo and start going through some of
>the Gods Willing stuff to see what falls out afterwards.
>
>Though I suppose I could take bids on where to use my powers for good
>or ill.

"Did you understand that?"

"No, didn't get a word of it!"

I'm not following you, Jonesey. If you're saying you're tempted to try and continue a petered-out EPU series on your own, uh, please don't.

--G.
(it's spelled "villain", by the way)
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Admin
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/

>>I'm tempted to test this newfound mojo and start going through some of
>>the Gods Willing stuff to see what falls out afterwards.
>>
>>Though I suppose I could take bids on where to use my powers for good
>>or ill.
>
>I'm not following you, Jonesey. If you're saying you're tempted to
>try and continue a petered-out EPU series on your own, uh, please
>don't.

In his earlier post he observed that this teaser came out just after he read NXE, thus the idea to try reading a different series and to see if it happens again.

>In his earlier post he observed that this teaser came out just after
>he read NXE, thus the idea to try reading a different series and to
>see if it happens again.

Oh, oh, I get it, OK.

Well, I'd say the odds of that working for Gods Willing are fairly slim; the conditions that gave rise to the original concept were fleeting and I rather doubt they'll come back around. It just wasn't an idea with legs - too close to the original, and much less adaptable than UF - which is too bad, since some of the stuff I had in mind for later on would've been fun.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Admin
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/

>Well, I'd say the odds of that working for Gods Willing are
>fairly slim; the conditions that gave rise to the original concept
>were fleeting and I rather doubt they'll come back around. It just
>wasn't an idea with legs - too close to the original, and much less
>adaptable than UF - which is too bad, since some of the stuff I
>had in mind for later on would've been fun.

Pity, that. I remember trading some interesting emails with you on the topic lo these many years ago, and I've been waiting for that fun since then... oh well.

-- Bob
-------------------
Then the horns kicked in...
And my shoes started to squeak.

Y'know, it was precisely because of this preview(or rather, the mention of it)that got me out of my usual rut and onto reading NXE in the first place(which, out of the intimidation factor of getting sucked into yet ANOTHER large storyline, as I knew I would, kept me from starting it earlier) so that when this came out, I'd not be completely out of my depth on backstory.

Because of that, I've finished yet another of the quality works on here, and am much the richer for the experience. Looking forward to this continuation quite a bit. :)

- OM

>>I'm tempted to test this newfound mojo and start going through some of
>>the Gods Willing stuff to see what falls out afterwards.
>>
>>Though I suppose I could take bids on where to use my powers for good
>>or ill.
>
>"Did you understand that?"
>
>"No, didn't get a word of it!"
>
>I'm not following you, Jonesey. If you're saying you're tempted to
>try and continue a petered-out EPU series on your own, uh, please
>don't.

No, no, no. I meant that since I finished the last chapter of NXE the day before you posted this, I'm hoping I can read the last chapter posted of something else and get lucky. :D

>--G.
>(it's spelled "villain", by the way)
>-><-

Ack - will fix. Thanks!

Gah! Just when I was starting to come down from the NXE addiction too :D

Good job gryphon we hope this series will be as interesting as the original :)

Having just read this, I have to ask...Keller. As in ex-Lieutenant OTTO Keller, (presumably) late of the X-Com Military Intelligense Bureau?

/MoonEyes

Having just finished a re-read of NXE, God this is a teaser and a half.

I'm just curious; does this exist in the same continuity as Exodus 5 (presumably a bit further along the timestream), or are they now being regarded as two different possible futures of NXE?

dbrandon

>I'm just curious; does this exist in the same continuity as Exodus 5
>(presumably a bit further along the timestream), or are they now being
>regarded as two different possible futures of NXE?

Unclear at this time.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

Fair enough.

dbrandon

LAST EDITED ON Aug-20-16 AT 09:38 AM (EDT)
 
>>I'm just curious; does this exist in the same continuity as Exodus 5
>>(presumably a bit further along the timestream), or are they now being
>>regarded as two different possible futures of NXE?
>
>Unclear at this time.

hey, its a free continuum. like the man said: "do what ya like"

still, looking forward to the results no matter how it ends up.