Showing posts with label translator. Show all posts
Showing posts with label translator. Show all posts

Thursday, January 13, 2011

TIME DOUCHE CH. 2 - FIGHT YOUR WAY BACK!



TIME DOUCHE CH. 2 - FIGHT YOUR WAY BACK!
By Steven Novak

Get the hell away from Napoleon! Do you hear me you buffoon? Get away from him right now!”

It’s Nubleman. He’s screaming at you from your pocket and he’s apparently pretty pissed. Napoleon looks at you quizzically. His eyes drift slowly downward to the voice emanating from your crotch where his expression changes from confusion to revulsion.

“Pardon me,” He mutters while scratching his head, “but it seems there is a spirit haunting your genitals.”

Nubleman’s excited voice interrupts, “YOU IDIOT! GET AWAY FROM HIM NOW! YOU’RE THREATENING TO DESTROY THE VERY FABRIC OF TIME-SPACE!”

You don’t know what to do. Everything is happening so fast. Napoleon is eyeing your groin like it’s one of those stupid Sudoku puzzles your sister won’t shut up about; three very angry men are charging in your direction from behind; and that pompous son of a bitch Nubleman won’t stop calling you names from your pocket! Out of sheer frustration you punch yourself in the baby maker. Nubleman’s voice disappears with a crunch.

Admittedly, it’s not the smartest decision you’ve ever made.

No time to worry about that now. Three pissed off French dudes are less than fifty feet away, cursing at you from underneath elaborately curled mustaches and waving clenched fists in your direction.

Napoleon is still staring at your crotch, listening intently as the shattered piece of technology in your pocket hisses, pops, and occasionally sparks.

“Guess that killed the ghost,” you state with a nervous smile and half a chuckle. “I’m a regular Peter Venkman.”

He doesn’t get the joke. It’s not a very good one anyway.

With no time to run and nowhere to run to, you decide that you’re left with only one choice. It’s the worst choice and it’s the one with the absolute least chance of success. The only way you’re getting out of this mess is to fight your way out. This is the olden days after all, right? No one respects a pussy in the olden days. Time to knuckle up. Time to grow a pair.

Reaching forward, you snag Napoleon’s dueling sword. “I need to borrow this for a second.”

He lets it go freely and begins to slowly back away. Quickly leaping into the air you spin to face the charging Frenchmen and land in what you think is a “sword fighting” stance but looks more like you’re squatting in the bushes to drop a poop.

The first words out of your mouth are, “En garde, you ruffians!”

It’s stupid – stupider than your Ghostbusters joke even – which was pretty stupid.

Surprisingly, and for all the wrong reasons, it succeeds in stopping the mustachioed Frenchmen in their tracks. You begin flailing your sword, jabbing at the air and yelling “Ah ha!” over and over again. You’re not sure why you’re doing it. It looks stupid, but it somehow feels right.

The same as Napoleon minutes before, the confused eyes of Frenchmen drift slowly to your crotch. One of them removes his hat and scratches his head. Another begins to chuckle. Your nose catches wind of something – it’s smoke. Something’s burning. It smells like hair.

It’s your crotch.

The sparks from the shattered device in your pocket have lit your pants on fire. Your sword goes flying and within seconds you’re screaming at the top of your lungs while hopping around and smacking your burning pubes in a vain attempt to douse the flames. Remembering that corny fire safety video you had to watch in the first grade, you stop, drop, and begin to roll. Turns out those videos were more accurate than you thought, because it works.

Breathing heavily you roll to your back and begin to chuckle. You did it. You’re alive and your most private of areas remains relatively unscathed. Black smoke is still rising from your pants. You really dodged a bullet this time.

Ceci doit être une certaine sorte de plaisanterie.”

Oh crap, the Frenchmen. You forgot about the Frenchmen.

Wait a minute, why are they speaking French again?

Propping yourself onto your elbows you look toward the three men and notice that they seem to be talking to each other rather than you. Half smiling and half confused, you aren’t sure what to make of the expressions on their faces.

No me mire. No tengo cualquier cosa hacer con esto.”

That wasn’t French. That was Spanish. You took half a semester in Community College before flunking out – you’re eighty-six percent sure that was Spanish.

The universal translator – you must have broken it while rolling around.

The lead Frenchman – who happens to be the one with the largest mustache – shrugs his shoulders. “ดังนั้นสิ่งที่เราควรทำอย่างไร?”

What the hell language was that?

With an annoyed sigh, he pulls an elaborately decorated pistol from his side and points it in your direction.

pItlh vam jIH 'oH” He mutters with a chuckle before pulling back on the trigger and blowing a hole in your head.

That last bit was Klingon.

Nubleman is such a nerd.

THE END


Monday, January 10, 2011

TIME DOUCHE CH. 2 - TIME TO DUEL



TIME DOUCHE CH.2 - TIME TO DUEL
By Jason Campbell

Dressed? Probably a good idea, you think to yourself as you slide the door open one more time. The three men haven’t noticed the time machine yet, but it won’t be long until you’re in full view. The compartment with the clothes slides open easily enough. Once you have the clothes spread out, you begin to rethink the idea of getting dressed.

“Pantaloons? Frilly shirts? Where the hell are the Nike and Christian Audigier?” You ask Thomas.

“Don’t you think you might stick out just a little wearing modern clothing in the 1700s?” He responds with his usual snobby attitude. “You really are a douche, aren’t you?”

Ignoring his remarks, you dress yourself in these God-forsaken clothes. It’s only slightly better than being naked. Outside the machine you can hear a horse neigh nearby. The three men are getting closer.

Avons-nous côté avec le roi?” asks one of the men.

“French? They’re speaking French!” you say, holding the transmitter to your mouth. “How the hell am I supposed to communicate?!”

Did you forget my warning not to fuck up history? No talking to anyone!” Nubleman’s voice explodes from the speaker in your pocket. It’s a little unnerving to hear your crotch talking to you. “But on the off chance you have to, second compartment down from the clothes you’ll find what looks like a small bandage. It’s a universal translator. Stick it to your neck and it will not only translate what they are saying, but it will translate your Neanderthal speech to them.”

The voices are even closer now; time is running out. You slap on the translator and prepare to step out the door to try and hide the machine. It’s then you realize that there is no material close by with which to disguise it. You glance around the side of the machine and realize that you are precariously balanced at the top of a tall hill. Without giving a thought to how this might turn out, you step back into the Time Machine and begin rocking it back and forth.

“Please don’t tip forward,” you whisper.

What?” comes Thomas’ voice dripping with concern.

“Ahh…nothing,” you say as you slam your shoulder into the back of the machine. You feel it begin to tip backwards. Everything seems to be happening in slow motion. The heads of the men appear at the top of the hill as you punch the button to close the door. Your vertical world is all of sudden diagonal, then horizontal.

“Oh shit!” You shout as your body slams against the back wall. Gravity is a bitch and now she is taking her vengeance on you. Tossed around like a two-dollar salad at the local buffet, your body is pitched back and forth across the machine as it rolls down the hill. The blood stain of some poor critter appears on the outside of the glass walls.

Damn, I hope that doesn’t affect the space/time continuum, you think to yourself.

The machine continues to pick up speed and so does your stomach. It lurches once, twice, and then you feel the inevitable kick of your stomach trying to empty its contents. Swallowing, you fight back the gag reflex. That would have been nasty.

The machine seems to have hit a flat spot as the bounces don’t seem quite as violent. You try and catch a glimpse of the landscape but all you see is a blur of green, then blue, then green, then blue. This ride has to stop soon. As if someone heard your silent wish, the machine rolls to a stop…and then begins to fill with water.

“You’ve got to be shittin’ me! Can anything else go wrong?”

What, WHAT?” Thomas is screaming into the speaker, “What have you done to my machine?”

“Nothing, why?” You respond while desperately reaching for the door button. The door slides silently open and you hop out and into a foot of water. The machine comes to a rest at the edge of small pond. Slipping behind the machine and about a foot deeper in the water, you begin pushing the machine out of the water.

Why do I hear the sloshing of water?” Thomas asks in a panicked voice.

“Don’t worry about it, I’m dealing with it.”

Dealing with what?”

Ignoring Nubleman’s wailing, you manage to, with some effort and a lot of grunting, roll the time machine out of the pond and behind a stand of bushes. Stuck in 18th century France, you wonder what to do to kill an hour. I’m sure if Nubleman was here, he would just be sitting hidden in the trees, observing like some sort of voyeuristic bird-watcher. You seemed to have rolled to a stop in the middle of some peasant’s farm. Walking over to the fence, you hear the distinctive sound of metal crashing against metal. Could it be? Swords? A duel? They had those in the past right?

You vault over the fence like some fourteen year old Olympic gymnast and take off at a sprint towards the sound. Out of the corner of your eye, you spot the three men that you saw earlier. It appears at some point they have dismounted their horses. Maybe you didn’t get away as cleanly as you thought. They seem to be walking with a purpose straight towards you. Somewhere around the next corner the sword fight seems to be taking place. You pick up the pace and disappear out of sight of the three men.

With a fist pump and a mental Yes!, you find that there is a duel happening. The younger of the two men is dressed like the three men from the hill. The other is a little older and is dressed somewhat similar but in darker colors.

“Is a girl really that important to lose your life over?” Says the older man.

“I plan to ask for her hand in marriage,” replies the younger man. “Now let’s begin.” Without warning the older man’s blade flashes out, but just misses as the young man snaps his head to the side. The younger man thrusts back, cutting through a layer of the other man’s coat. It’s like a car wreck; you just can’t stop watching.

A sound somewhere behind you reminds you that the three men are still following you. It looks like today’s entertainment is going to be cut short. You figure with a quick jog you can get around the next curve, slip back up the hill and back down to the time machine without the three men being the wiser.

What is that sound?” Nubleman interjects as if he just woke up. “Tell me it’s not the time machine. It sounds like a sword fight. Tell me you didn’t start a sword fight!”

“Shhh…” you whisper at your pocket. “There are people around!” Your warning comes seconds too late as the older man is distracted. The young man takes advantage of the interruption and skewers his opponent. The life in the older man’s eyes disappears. At the same time the three men come around the corner.

“Stop!” They shout in unison at you -- or you are assuming at you. The young man is confused and turns to you.

“You saw, it was a fair fight. Tell them it was a fair duel.” He pleads with you.

“I think they want me,” you answer.

“Why, what did you do?”

“Nothing I know of.”

“Come with me,” he says, “I might be able to help. By the way, my name is Napoleon.”

Bonaparte?!” Both you and your pocket say.

Will you...

A: Take your chances with trying to outrun the three men following and make your way back to the time machine later?

B: Pick up the older man’s sword and prepare to fight your way back to the time machine?

C: Follow Napoleon and hope that your interference doesn’t change the course of history?