Zero Hour

For what it's worth, I managed to finish two stories today.  Once again I'm not entirely certain how well they work, but anyway, there you go.

I was working on Zero Hour Thursday night and Friday, and had planned to finish it today, but I was diverted by some dialog ideas that I thought might work for my Questionable Judgment story idea.  I managed to spin that into a complete story, then turned back to Zero Hour, which had a beginning that I liked, but I wasn't exactly sure where I was going or how to end it:

The ground shook.  Trees snapped like matchsticks.  Over the ground, lumbering slowly as only a 3,000 ton behemoth could, a massive machine crushed everything in its path.

It was black and made of thick plate steel.  It rolled on eight rows of steel tread.  It was more than 10 meters wide and 20 meters in height.   Guns bristled from the upper decks.  It wasn't so much a tank as a land-based battleship.

On the top deck rode a dozen storm troopers in modern versions of Nazi uniforms.  At the helm, face into the wind like an explorer of a bygone era, rode the young hereditary successor to Doctor Zero Hour, the greatest villain of the Third Reich.

The platform rocked and bucked beneath his feet.  He breathed deeply, savoring the scent of morning dew, crushed grass, and upturned earth.  "Such a lovely day for a drive, isn't it, Hans?" Doctor Zero Hour the Fourth asked.

"Yes, Sir!"  the soldier behind the wheel barked.

"A lovely day indeed.  A perfect day for a rampage." he said. "It's Zero Hour, Hans.  We will grind New York City it beneath our treads."

"A perfect plan Sir," said Hans, "with one fatal flaw.  New York City is to our left, and we can not steer."

Doctor Zero Hour the Fourth frowned.  "Well then, let's make for Washington D.C.," he said.  "The lawmakers of the land shall feel the wrath of the great-grandson of the Third Reich!"

"Very good plan, Sir," said Hans, "with one fatal flaw....."

The villain's frown deepened.  "Tell me, Hans.  What can we crush?"

The stormtrooper consulted his charts.  "Well, Sir, given our current trajectory, I can confidently say that we can crush Gilbertsville, PA," he said.  "Or at least wing it.  And after that, with luck, the Limerick Golf Course."

"Then onward to Gilbertsville!" exclaimed the villain.  "They shall feel the fury of my Mobile Terror Fortress!"

The machine rumbled and rolled through fields, belching smoke.  A voice called out, "Pull over in the name of the law!"

The villain glanced to his right.  A 1958 AMC Ambassador station wagon bounced alarmingly over the grass, shedding rust in great clouds.  An old man in a rumpled gray suit and fedora leaned out of the window.  "Doctor Zero Hour the Fourth!  I'm here to stop you!"

I liked the whole idea of a massive war machine, and as it turns out both the largest moving vehicle ever (the V Cat D8R rotating shovel mining machine) and the largest mobile artillery ever (the Schwerer Gustav) were both built by German company Krupp.  So I had to do it.

Where to go from there was the problem.  I also didn't have a sidekick in mind.  Combining both problems, I decided to introduce a sidekick with a name suggested by friends over a month ago:  Mechanical Advantage.  Obviously, this suggests a robot or possibly giant robot, or at least a person that uses a great many mechanical devices and machines.  But given the massive land fortress I'd created for the villain, I settled on giant robot.  ^_^

As I said, I'm not sure if the ending works or not.  But it is an ending, at least.

With this, I can finally say I'm back on schedule for my goal of one Grandpa Anarchy story a week for the year.  I've actually written thirteen stories in August.  Now it's time to get back to editing my potential book... except I got this idea for a story today involving Pacific Rim-style giant robot battles between giant statues from around the world, or perhaps giant statues versus kaiju.  I don't know why, but the idea appeals to me.


May 2013

June 30:  Dark Anarchy
July 1:  Ruse
July 1:  The R Word
Aug 3:  Space Kraken

June 2013

Aug 3:  Triple Aaar!
Aug 4:  Take Me Back to Constantinople
Aug 4:  The Chef that Time Forgot
Aug 5:  The Time of Your Life

July 2013

Aug 6:  Endangered Species
Aug 7:  Anarchy Is Forever
Aug 8:  Brothers and Sisters
Aug 12:  Self-Made Man

Aug 2013

Aug 13:  Hackernaut
Aug 15:  Gutbucket Magic
Aug 17:  Questionable Judgment
Aug 17:  Zero Hour