The Babbage Net - New London
Divergence Point: Robert Boyle discovers luminiferous Aether is a conduit for raw elemental forces in 1689.
Fuelled by scientific progress Charles Babbage aided by Ada Lovelace creates his Difference Engine, Lovelaces Paradigms develop into an entire virtual world.
The Babbage Net.
The usual orange sky suddenly changed, a lime green cast spread quickly across the heavens, deep dark green streaks forming the facsimile of clouds.
Sirens sounded across Babbage, most of its visitors were unconcerned nothing in the realms virtual could really hurt them, death here only dumped people unceremoniously back into the land of the living.
The Britannic Tower towered over the glittering jewel that was Babbages New London, Great Britannia had always enjoyed the most cutting edge Paradigms, it was only right that the birthplace of its creators should enjoy such prestige.
The tower extended thousands of feet above the virtual city, sculpted in the likeness of Britannia herself, with a hint of Queen Victoria drawn or carved into the facial features.
The Defender of the Crowns head slowly turned surveying the elemental territory beyond the walls, inside its head the administrators of New London watched the sky change.
Silvery domes covering the city shimmered into existence and turned opaque, fractions of a second before great waterspouts whipped up from the terrain and extended into the clouds.
Elemental storms were an unpleasant part of existence within Babbage.
The Hammond House Collection
Officers of the Charles Babbage Special Constabulary had more pressing concerns than the water elemental storm raging above, a bizarre side effect was that it had started to rain within the virtual grounds of the Collections Domain.
Non programmed weather was the least of their worries, great mechanical spiders carried marbled black columns and were slowly planting them in a circular perimeter surrounding the domain.
Inside the internal paradigms of the hall had been taken offline, something that had almost taken an act of Parliament to effect, however Lord Roborough’s voice carried more weight than one would have thought.
Babbage Constabulary Agent Hopkins barked at the government drones <MOVE, MOVE, MOVE>
[Why were Government Paradigms so damned slow] he thought
The Domains own perimeter defences were also activating, the picture perfect green lawn complete with stripes rippled and large maze like hedgerows springing up forming a perimeter wall.
Large stone dais rose from the ground, animated stone dragons stretched their wings and growled at the unseen invaders.
<Come on, come on> he buzzed in frustration, the Constabulary Agents all turned as the lights illuminating the outer hedgerow wall blinked out, followed by the next row.
<MOVE IT> they collectively bellowed, the black suited government avatars moved at an unhurried pace, as the huge mechanical spider drone drove the last column down into the ground.
As soon as this occurred the columns shuddered and transformed into solid black trees, the branches intertwining and then covering the Domain.
The lights completely died across the grounds, a dragon statue exploded and the darkness illuminated by the flickering of flames as a flight of butterflies created entirely of fire flowed through the defences.
The government avatars vanished, [Cowards] mentally swore Hopkins, who grew his Hardcode pistol and joined the barrage now cascading from his fellow agents, who were now retreating into the domain.
Razor edged clockwork cogs spat from their weapons, tearing into the column of fiery insects.
However the agents onslaught failed to prevent the insect code from reaching the foliage defences and setting them ablaze, the intertwined trees flaring.
The Agents stood fast, this was Government code it didn’t get much stronger, his attention drawn from the fire now raging across the defences surface, to the dozens upon dozens of small dark shapes hopping and leaping through the darkness of the grounds.
Hopkins nor his fellow Agents had never seen anything like them and prayed they never would again
<Control, inform the Yard we are besieged, the enemy force is a bloody great army>