> The Industrialist V2 > by Woodrow Wilson > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > The Details > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Industrialist© The first two chapters are not necessary for the storyline Chapter 1 The Factory The Factory is magnificent, an artificial monument for efficiency, invention and innovation, to show us what is possible to tame and subdue the savageness of nature and all of its dangerous and ferocious life-forms which inhabit areas yet untamed. It is inspiring to the generations and generations of extraterrestrials in search of intergalactic knowledge. I looked to my left and right to look through windows to rooms of clean, sterile white. The walls were made of a smooth plastic paneling, which made them easy to clean and sterilize. The ceiling also had the same type of panelling, but in smaller squares. The floors, however, had white ceramic tiles. The tables and benches were made of a titanium alloy, but with a protective resin coating over both table and bench. Bright saucer-shaped dishes of polished aluminum reflected and refracted the light emitted by the LED bulb array. Each desk had a projector and a stylus and a large projector was suspended from the ceiling. Each projector projected a holographic interactive screen, while the instructor used a laser pointer on the large screen projection. The constant hum of the central air unit and the computers occupying the room, filled the room with a familiar, civilized background noise. A noise that was often ignored and taken for granted by those who experienced it, because they became so familiar with these ever present sounds. Small green, yellow, and red lights glowed from the projectors, giving very little color differentiation in the predominately white room. The rooms I had looked into had random creatures of various species. All of which were being told the required rules and other miscellaneous information in order to work here. I walked down the seemingly endless aisles of the Factory Equipment warehouse, the shelves appearing to become shorter the farther the distance they were from me. Above, the aisles were lit with similar LED array lights, but the tags of each shelf lit up as he neared them, as three was a motion sensor beneath each tag, and an LED array of lights surrounding the tag lit it up to make it much easier to see and scan into and out of the factory’s digital inventory system. However, due to the size of the factory, it was only reasonable that the storage warehouse for the equipment needed to repair and replace the broken or worn down parts and machinery, was of an equally massive size. Half of this structure consisted of nothing but the warehouse with its seemingly endless rows of parts and machinery to repair or replace something that had either broke or needed to be replaced. I made these systems automatic and self-sufficient, my robots constantly adjusting the warehouse’s digitized inventory database. The warehouse filled with the hum of the central air unit and the hum of forklift engines, the hissing of hydraulic lifts and the hum of the computers contained within the robot's frame. Red and green indicator lights shone from the forklift interface panel as metres and digital screens indicated the functionality of each forklift as well as what parts needed to be repaired or replaced. It was necessary given the constant usage of many of the parts and machines within the Factory and as a consequence three arose a need to replace parts after so long. The constant inventory database updates and revisions were made by my army of robots specifically designed for this kind of monotonous work, since ordres had to be placed far enough in advance for some of the machinery that ran in this factory. A worker much shorter than me, jogged up to me with a glass tablet which also served as a clipboard. The suit to which was assigned to each worker represented their respective occupation. Grey kevlar jumpsuits were for the Metal Managers as they manage the amount of metal supplied to the Factory and its relevant production facilities and distributed these metal resources throughout the warehouse, and factory. Sometimes they would be the ones to tell the Pricing Data Management team how much the various metals were bought at so that they could factor those costs in the final price at which the various products which the Factory produced would be sold at. Like for the iron alloys they might price it at around 72 units per pound. Considering that's just as expensive as buying something like granola for around 17 U per Pound. Because that’s pretty damn expensive for some Granola. But it’s good, so. Orange was for the Pollution and Toxicity Control, and Management team which should make it obvious as to what their job is. And the one that was three to notify me to which their suit colour was of a teal gilded with a frozen blue outline of the suits structure, as it would identify broken mechanical parts, computers, and engines, as well as identifying the purpose and functionality of the part, computer, or engine in need of replacement. The blue hue, covering the outline, identified them as belonging to the Parts, Engines, and Computers Requisition team, or P.E.C.R. for short, for they were the ones, to which would go out throughout the Factory, and scout out and document what parts, engines and/computers were in need of repair, or replacement as well as documenting the progress of the wear and tear on the parts, engines, and/computers not yet in need of repair or replacement so that the P.E.C.R. team could stay informed of possible future requisition requests., Sometimes they would be the one to go into dangerous areas because of the need to requisition and monitor all of the mechanics, computers and engines which operated within the Factory. There are thousands of teams, sections and divisions of labor within the Factory. Too many to count, actually. = But those are the most important jobs, the top three labor divisions within the Factory. I looked down at it. The many different types of lifeforms that worked here, gathered from various universes had widely varying appearances. Given that three tree species which appeared to have no sexually defining appearances, I frequently used the gender neutral pronoun of it when thinking about my workers. It was a quirk of mine, since I didn’t want those who appeared to have no defining sexual traits to feel left out when I thought of any of them. “Sir, three was a molten steel breach in Sector Q21A3. However, I do bear some good news as three was a scientific breakthrough for a renewable energy resource in sector L29F2.” “Thank you, I’ll take care of the problem and figure out how to implement and distribute the power from our new renewable energy resource. I’ll also look over the schematics for the power distribution infrastructure to ensure that the system can deliver the energy safely and ensure that a breaker system will trip to prevent a power overload.” I continued walking, ”Please oversee the delivery of the necessary equipment for the repair ‘bots.” “Yes, sir.” I continued down the aisles to the sectors told unto me by my reliable worker. “I’m here for the reconstruction of the section breach involving molten steel. Is this sector Q21A3?” “Yes sir, this is the molten steel breach.” “Well, for the sake of efficiency and safety, I will employ the use of my construction ‘bots,” I stated. The worker stood back, looking at me with confusion apparent upon its face. Had it never seen the power of the creations I built more than a decade ago? I have been working on building my own personal ‘bots, in the Independent Mobility Robotic Assembly Systems, which are currently under construction right now. Three were thousands of dark matter energy power plants under me, for as I looked down, the pathway was imbued with fibre optics in order to display necessary data at lightning fast speeds. Currently the fibre optic glass was set to show the power level, where all my energy sources and dark matter manufacturing systems are. The dark matter energy plants hummed with the background hum of computers, with green, yellow, and red LED lights either shining steadily or flashing, while computerized displays flickered through information and indicators far too fast for the carnal eye to follow. The efficiency this Factory is in, is the highest it has been in this dimension in the past one-hundred earth-years. In the top 463,345,212 universes, I have the 312th most efficient system since my first days in the multiverse. The assembly block for the robots will be finished in fifty-four Earth years, and the size will be six-hundred and forty by twelve-hundred and nine square metres. The sector will be sector Z12L14K out of the hundreds of thousands of sectors and blocks. Multiple mechanical arms will hang from the stainless steel ceiling, with power cords to operate the gears to move and rotate the arms and other cords to deliver the gasses and liquids necessary for the mass production of my assistant robot army. Wires of red, yellow, and green will thread around the metallic ‘bone’ of the arm. Other clear plastic tubes will wrap and thread about the arm to deliver the fuels needed for the delicate and precise welding that would take place at each station as my robots are assembled with speed and efficiency. Lights of green, yellow, and red LED lights will glow at various points along the flexible welding arm as well as a high speed fibre optic connection for manual override in the event of the robot assembly plant malfunctioning or begin to rewrite its own programming in order to create a robot army in order to eradicate the ‘imperfect flesh bags.’ The first sector of the Factory was built seven hundred and forty thousand years ago. “Sir, the machines have been fixed and the initial diagnostic test reveal no issues, however we will watch for any anomalies outside of normal operating procedures, so you may now resume your examination of the factory.” “Thank you, worker. Thank you very kindly for your diligence in ensuring the proper operation of these systems for me.” I responded, with a hint of appreciation in my voice. I walked back to the main aisles, and noticed that the Train Of The Multiverse was being fitted with the new UJSUCITR. The abbreviation stands for: Universal Jumping Stabilizers of the United Corrupted Industries, Technologies, and Resources. A small gathering of my construction robots were busy causing sparks to fly as they welded the UJSUCITR into the body and frame of the multiverse travelling train. A group of engineers were busy looking at the train’s blueprints and supervising the robots as they welded, tightened bolts, connected wires and fastened the hoses necessary for the UJSUCITR to work. Hopefully the trips through space and time won’t feel quite as turbulent as the previous models of the UJSUCITR. Even here, the hum of the central air unit hummed, in addition to the hum of the computers running within my working robots. The hiss and crackling accompanied the background noise around me as the welding torches affixed the UJSUCITR into the frame of the train. Three was also the muttering and chattering of the supervisors as they conferred and consulted with each other, which also contributed to the background noise surrounding us. Bright magnesium lights shone upon the train from stands and on the ground, smaller versions of these light attached to either side of the working robots’ heads to provide light where their body blocked the light from the array of lights. Sparks flew and hissed as the torches welded, while inside of the engine room, the normally active engine was dark and quiet, the usual LED lights and computerized displays unlit as well as the miniaturized dark matter energy plant had been disconnected in order to replace the old UJSUCITR. The train’s next Coordinated Destination in Time and Space (CDTS) is my home planet from which I was born on and left behind more than a few hundred thousand years ago. But I haven't been three for a long, long, long time. But back to the events to which I record on a short lasting piece of paper, that will have been to be turned into a text on a small, inadequately sized screen on a piece of Homo Sapiens technology. Why I preferred to use paper doesn’t make sense to many of my employees. I use paper to have something to fall back on should three be a technological failure. Then one of my secretary robots has it scanned and digitized and added to the ever expanding digital database of the factory. But I have entire libraries of diagrams, blueprints and assembly/disassembly instructions printed out so that in the event of a Factory-wide technological failure, one of my employees or myself can repair or replace what caused the technological failure so that three should be very little impact on the Factory’s functionality in the event that a Factory-wide technological failure should occur. I walked to the workstation of the train, to see it being fitted with some of my latest technology. It's new, of course and I thought it convenient to give it the aesthetic appearance of a train, since it was truly not necessary in regards to the travels I go on throughout the universes. An SE3 drone flew by and I waved it down. It flew and hummed as I listened on the sound of the machines Infini-Pyros’ at work. I looked at the symbol on the top of the device to show a moon behind a mountain with UCITR on the top-front of the moon, the lettres for the abbreviation seemed to be supreimposed over the front of the moon. They were of a black-ish blue hue to them. The mountain had a steam locomotive, as well as a pile of steel I-beams in the back of the train, which was exiting a tunnel that was embedded into the mountainside. That’s the company’s symbol. The machine I made of the technology the humans showed me is astounding, even 13 years after the Rebellion of Time. RT: I thought it odd that they would abbreviate it, because it was a word that meant decaying. It doesn't sound like a good thing, does it now? I caressed the chassis and shells of the machinery which I had built, feeling a sense of pride and affection for each piece which comprised the Train of the Multiverse and the part each piece plays in the greater whole. Each piece is like my baby, it’s a part of me that will never betray me. Each piece works hard with its brothers and sisters to do something greater than it could alone. In each piece of these, my children, is a legacy that will last long after I have expired. I continued walking to the train of the multiverse and to the train’s labeled destination of Home. I know that it’s strange, but that was the posted destination indicated by the several micro-display screens of the Multiverse Train, that the destination planet was called Home. It still confuses me on how they can't figure out the planet's name, even though I told them directly. I’ve attempted to convey it in a myriad of languages that is spoken in the multiple universes. I’ve even tried various computer coding and even binary coding! I suppose that it will remain one of the great mysteries of the multiverse. I have heard humans and other technologically advanced extraterrestrials discuss a concept called, ‘the ghost in the machine.’ There are times when I speculate if that isn’t the case here. That the train had somehow gained sapience and for reasons unknown to me, refused to call my home planet by anything other than Home. Foolishness, I know, since machines have no need of souls, but I’m at a loss on how to explain why it can only be programmed to call my home planet ‘Home.’ Lily, a character of interesting and unknown qualities, was coming to the Train of the Multiverse for the purpose of guarding me and to keep herself informed with regards to my health during the process of my ‘Calibration’ to whichever universe I happened to choose to visit. Lily, and others like hre, come along for the specific purpose of monitoring and providing whatever care that I need, emergency or otherwise. She and the others who work for me are fiercely loyal to me, since many of them were rescued from orphanages and theatres of war. I called for the helmet of an RT Soldier, which was brought to me as immediately as they were able to retrieve the helmet from where it was safely secured. The helmet. On the need of the description for the legends of the future on a small inadequately-sized screen of a tablet of a kind. It was black, with the symbols of the entyrion language, which was the first foreign language I ever learned, using cryptographic symbols to spell out the words which meant Rebel of Time. For some reason which escapes me, this Rebel of Time used a teal colored font. Seemed rather impractical to me, but I’m also not a felon in the eyes of the other Time Lords. But on the back in the human language of English was RT. I handed it back and told them to put it back. I hit a button on the wall with my fist, summoning a high speed transit tram so that I could arrive at the dining hall in as efficient a timely manner as possible. An annoying necessity for those who would rather experiment and search for knowledge, wherever it may be found. But, so long as I’m confined to this body of flesh and blood, I must answer its demands, regardless of my opinion on how such physical demands take me away from the many other things I could be doing. Time well spent, rather than wasting it to ensure my body’s continued survival. > On earth > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 2 The Human of the Ages ____________________________________________chapter 2____________________________ Pov On Earth I grunted in annoyance as the shrill ringing of my alarm clock hurt my ears and grated upon my nerves, my fist descending to hit a button on my alarm clock. My hand slammed into the clock with pain lancing through my hand and causing me to shed tears due to the pain and cradling my injured hand. The shrill ringing was still hurting my ears and I almost smashed the button on the device again. I was so focused on my desire to stop the shrill ringing that I had temporarily forgotten about the pain my hand was currently in. “Gah!” I cried, reacting to the hot, lancing pain as I held my long-fingered hand to my face and grasped the wrist of it very gingerly, blowing lightly on the reddened skin in an attempt to soothe the sudden heat incurred by trying to bludgeon my alarm clock into oblivion using my now tender hand, and fell out of my bed face first into the hardwood floor of my bedroom. “Oh my God!” I put my hand to my face and checked if to determine whether or not I had broken my nose. “What a beautiful start to my morning … oow …” I tried to stand up and hit my head on the bottom of my desk, and fell face first into the floor, again. “Gah!” I cried out, feeling the hot lances of pain piercing my head like lightning. I got up onto my hands and backed up to lean against the side of my bed. I muttered to myself, “I'm going to get brain damage at this rate …” I slapped my hand around on the nightstand next to my bed, grabbing for my glasses. I grabbed something and put it really close to my face and saw an object which had the shape of my glasses as my hand felt the cool metal frame and my vision when looking through my lenses drastically improved once I put them on, and could clearly see my room again. I felt wrong and clutched my hand over my stomach, my brow furrowed and covered in a light sheen of sweat as my stomach roiled and grumbled, feeling rather acid-y due to my sudden stomach ailment, so I immediately went to the bathroom. Only to slam into the door to the bathroom. “God-dang it!” I yelled and held my hands to my face and fell to the floor. I pulled my hands away from my face, gingerly feeling my nose. From what I could tell, my nose didn’t feel broken, to my immense joy as I was becoming a far too frequent face around my local health clinic. However, my glasses fell off. “Blasted door! My glasses!” I shouted, my vision now reduced to seeing fuzzy shapes and lines. I couldn’t live by myself without my glasses. I patted the ground, and crawled in the direction of the blurry rectangular shape of my bed and then started patting around as I headed in the direction of the darkened vertical rectangle which led into my bathroom. Much to my immense relief, I found them some two or three feet from my bathroom door. I picked up my glasses and scrambled up from the floor, but then felt as if I was gonna hurl, I walked to the door and turned the knob and walked in. And I fell. I fell forward and tried to catch myself, but then when my arm hit something, I heard a crack and then I was in so much pain; hot, throbbing lances of pain raced through my mind as my vision exploded in an array of lights and colors., and I tried to fling my legs straight to catch my fall., However, when I fell, my leg got stuck between the leg of my dresser and a support beam for the dresser. I probably should have live-in assistance, but I have a fierce independent streak. I would rather do something for myself than rely upon someone else. I realize that it would make people think well of my intelligence if I were to do the smart thing and have somebody help me get around, but I honestly don’t care if people think poorly of me. The way I had fallen resulted in a sharp crack, which sounded much louder than I thought it should have and I the pain I already in had additional pain added to all the pain signals that was being registered in my brain. I was in so much pain, I simply blacked out. *Some time after he broke several bones and nearly died* I coughed a couple of times, groaning softly as my head throbbed and ached. I did notice that I wasn’t in the hot, lancing pain that I had been earlier. It didn’t make sense, since I didn’t have anybody to check in on me to make sure I was okay. Not that I would have asked them to, given my fierce independent streak. So not being in the same amount of pain as I had been earlier really caught my attention. I slowly opened my eyes in order to assess my situation and perhaps determine where I was and what kind of environment I was in. It was blurry and bright, and mostly quiet, with a small hint of clanging somewhere … . It sounded distant and tinny, like someone was clanging a pair of pans together at the other end of a very long tunnel. “Activate the final procedure, he”s awakening!” says a male voice frantically. I felt cold metal tapping my body, until it suddenly stopped. I tried to move, but I couldn't feel a thing … . I started to see more and my vision began to clear. What I saw was frightening on many levels. The sounds of hydraulic hissing, the hum of computers and the whirring sound of various gears moving greeted me as I stared in disbelief at what I was seeing. Coming from the ceiling was small metallic arms that folded into slots on the ceiling, gears rotating as the ‘elbows’ or joints of the metallic arms folded over each other as they were retracted into recesses above the ceiling. The room of which I was in was hardly describable as I had no glasses on. So I assumed those shapes were what I think they are. The constant beeping of the heart rate monitor and the monitor displaying the jagged line every time my heart beat was unmistakable however. I could see the boxy shape of what I assumed to be a medical trolley with a what I think were various surgical tools glinting in the bright lights of the room with a chrome-like glint. There was a sink in a counter with cabinets beneath. There were also cabinets above, with glass to see whatever was inside. I try and successfully situp. I look around and then realize … . I can't see. Or more like I can’t see very well … . I continue feeling around the table, as I blindly searched for my glasses. Then my hand gets cut by something small, and I fling my hand back to me and grasp the wrist of my right hand, and I started to yell, “Gaa-!” However, due to the lancing pain that pierced my head, due to the sudden transition from a mostly silent room to me crying out in pain, my ears ached and rang as I grasped my injured hand in an attempt to staunch the bleeding.. I cringe at the sight of how much blood was streaming from my hand and the hot, lancing pain that I was experiencing from the cut.. I sit up, still confused and in pain. I turned so my legs hang of the bed-like thing I am on, and try to stand up, but when my feet touched the ground, I expected to feel a lot of pain, but I didn’t. I was wobbly, but I didn’t hurt anywhere, my hand notwithstanding. Hmm … . I froze. Why is there humming? Click What was that? Shhhng I felt something on my face, but while it was being put on, I started to see a lot better. “My glasses!” I yelled loudly, and putting my hands in the air, for I was excited about me getting them back, but I was still confused where I was at, and how I got here. “Sir, hello, and welcome to the mobile hospital of the Train of the Multiverse,” said the same male sounding voice from earlier. “Who are you?” I said, looking where whoever was talking to me could be. “I am the one who saved you, Austen,” said the mysterious being. “From what?” “You were suffering from a case of neurological vertigo.” He responded. At least I think it’s a he. A blue figure appeared, but he looked odd. Where the knees would have been, there’s a dual-joint in the leg, and his face was hidden behind some kind of helmet with a little bump on the forehead of the helmet. Funny thing was, was that the helmet looked bulky and reminiscent of the helmets used for the clone troopers from Star Wars. The rest of his body was in the same kind of styled suit, like a clone trooper from Star Wars, aside from the legs and the weird looking hands, which looked of sections like their bionic or something. “I’m not stupid! I got an A in three of my college classes: Math, Scien_” I was interrupted. “Quiet, Idiot! That’s nothing. Then how do you build a dark matter generator with multifunctional core levels?” the creature asked me. “What?” I said stupidly. “Exactly.” He crossed his arms, and tapped his ‘fingers’ on his arm. “Also, I’m not a Clone Trooper,” He then said. How did he know? I walked forward a few steps, and noticed a clanging sound from my left. “Oh, I’m sorry, but I had to give you a new … leg, elbow, right ear, artificial cerebellum, and a new hand.” he stated calmly. I was at a loss for words, that this creature would just perform bodily alterations like that upon me without my knowledge or consent. But, just like most guys, I figured I might as well check out the new features, so I looked on my body. “Walk through the door and you'll come to the main room of the train,” He said as he buzzed away. “But what door?” I said before I heard a whooshing sound and saw a lit room. “Oh, that door.” I walked into a room. > The landing > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 3 Landing The door led to the room which held the human, opened, revealing the clumsy bastard unto the the main room of the T.M. He came and sat next to me, and asked, immediately within the vicinity of my hidden masked face: “Who the hell are you?” he queried curiously. “I would ask the same question, if it weren't for the fact that I already can know your name, however, you can call me, Indy,” I said quite quietly, almost a whisper in terms of volume. I brushed my mechanical, carbon-plated hands against my knees as well as the popliteal of my legs. The sensory modules inserted into my outre hand layer, allow me to brush the dirt and dust from my suit’s pants legs, because they have electronic sensors and has a rubbrey skin-like plated substance with high level of grip yet kinda silky and plush like a real hand would be like. The explanation for the ‘skin’ and ‘nerves’ in the english term of the Human language would be a special Carbon-polymer mixture. Three was an interruption as the ship crashed into something, causing the emergency pilot-guard ran up to the fuselage. “Sir! The ship shalt be going down, we hath hit an asteroid!” the pilot-guard exclaimed, conveying the important message, to which I responded quickly by running to the fuselage’s command console. “We need to get this thing on the ground! ASAP!” I screamed as I punched a specific sequence of buttons, looking to activate the lifepod activator. I pressed a teal coloured button, only to hear: “Destruction sequence activated for the Train of the Multiverse; Def’r Sek-yiu actru re ‘t. Tein ir ‘t Milti Brez” the female robotic voice said in English and Entirion. And yet, the peaceful Human from the planet Earth said only one word: “Shit.” And ‘tis then we felt the urge to grab onto something. So I grabbed onto the bottom of my leather chair. The ship ruptured in a spray of shrapnel and debris as powerful pyrotechnic explosives located at key structural points of the ship destroyed the support structures and the nearby hull, the resulting explosion sending the resulting hail of shrapnel and debris in an ever expanding capsule, most of which fell into the depths of space. Some of it, caught in the planetary gravitational field started streaking in a rain of fire as they sped toward the surface of the planet. Lily collided with an asteroid, to which she clung to as it receded deeper into the depths of space. I grabbed Austen shortly before we began our atmospheric fall and teleported him and myself directly onto the planet’s surface, and as if the cosmos was giving me the middle finger, we ended teleporting 24 feet above the ground. When we hit the ground, it felt sort of soft like freshly tilled dirt, but rough like sandstone, and something hard and malleable, like iron. It seems as though we had hit at terminal velocity a stockpile of iron, which thanks to the durability and shock absorption capabilities afforded me by my suit, I have impacted upon. The pile seemed to be a stockpile for iron, as three were many others, it was just very well organized. By the time I had looked toward the human Austen, he had rolled over and had began groaning. It twas then that I noticed small burns and scratches on Austen, leaving him bloody around his face and upper torso. “Ow! What in all of the nine-hells happened?” said the man. I responded with the answer to his question. “You flew with me through the universe and almost died,” said I. He continued groaning right next to me. I tried to get up, but the pile of metal shifted under my weight and proceeded to collapse in a cascading avalanche, Austen and I fell to the cobblestones of the road between the different piles of different metals. It took about 7 seconds for all of this to happen, of course, because the cosmos likes to make me suffer, I think. Considering how many metal spears are in the steel pile 7.29 feet aways from me? Or better yet, count the amount of time between my attempts to stand up only to end up falling upon the cobble path. Then a pair of beings, clad in an unknown material, which I do assume to be some kind of armour. The left had some visible skin, to which I could see it was pale, but kinda splotchy, the right one had a tiger striped skin or something and the middle one looked like a Norwegian from Earth. Around 6’7” is what seems to be the average height of the small, patrol. They spoke some-kind of language, which of course, I can’t identify in the Universal Language Database. “Mitt nah-oom dez yuree, yih nah-oom dez?” questioned the middle one. The left and right creatures, readied some-kind of charge rifle, likely using an internal fusion engine, I assume and aimed it. The middle one pointed toward me and mumbled something to the left one, to which they answered in the same language. I assume they were speaking about what to do with me. I looked to where Austen was and asked him if he knows what they were saying, and he responded in the negative. I tried to identify the language, but to no avail, I couldn’t identify the language they were using. So I answered my name just to see if that was to be called a answer to a possible question they might’ve asked. “Corrupted Industries.” I said loudly putting my fake hand in the air pointing up. I had gotten off of the ground, when the middle one grabbed my arm and pulled me away from our crash site. They did the same with the human, but seemed to treat him much more gently. The middle one grabbed my arm, and linked it by putting their arm around mine. However, the two guards linked an arm to one of Austen’s arm so that Austen had a guard arm-linked on either side of his arms. I was being held on the left of my guard’s side and walking beside of the being holding onto me. We were being led to a city-like congregation of structures, which I identified to have been made from a similar concrete mixture to Greek mortar, and clay brick. And an odd very dark Wood-like substance, it wasn’t wood, but rather something similar. But along this cobble path, I saw quite a large building as it towered above all of the others among this town. I saw many pretty peasants, for most of the beings here were quite pretty, but they appeared sort of dirty. However, the oddest thing was that they either looked human-like having the same coloration and skin tone variation as the humans of Earth. Others had a skin tone selection that was beyond the spectrum the human-like beings had. They reminded me were of my race of Equians from Home and the Cat people of Freentyne, for they had tails that appeared very similar to that of a cat, the Spectrum Beings I started thinking them as due to their far more varied skin tone spectrum of unnatural colours, rather like that of my peoples. Yet they strike me as beautiful for no other apparent reason, other than the similarities of my people, three can three be many factors which appeal to me in this state of open-mindedness, to which they fulfill certain criteria regarding things that I find attractive in my brain. Despite our minor physical differences and our current inability to understand or communicate with our captors, the native species of this world continued its day-to-day chores and routines. I had just then noticed right in the middle of that thought, that we were just about 12.65798 feet from the door to the large structure, to which I had just noticed to be incomplete in its construction, and from the looks of it, it is likely not stab- Loud knocking sounds rang forth from the bronze knocker on the generally average sized door. A little being of the spectrum, opened the door for us, to which we entered. > The Forgotten Colony's Return > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 4 A lost colony’s return “We hath been lost! Now We hath been found!” passionately cried a priest,”By God’s will, we hath been saved, my dearest siblings!” he continued his impassioned rhetoric,”For we hath found an escape from this wretched creation of home! We have stayed far too long! Our resource run dry, our miracles subside, our inventions lost in the deep annals of history! We hath been …” he repeated and continued on with his statement as I continued walking down the blue-lit walkways of glass. I’m surprised we even have survived as long as we have. 54 years. 54. Thats our years. And one of our years is 453 days. Oh well, we have lived here long enough. We’re gonna leave on a ship, which is gonna house the great and powerful Emperor Luna. He’s an okay guy, but he tends to build things out of the shape of human sin. The only reason I assume he might be doing these things for is the fact they look cool, and they seem to hold reference to something that he put it on, like wrath for military. It’s pretty pointless, though... Generally anyway. It’s so weird. And guess what? I’m on board the ship leaving in search of a new home! We used most of our resources on alloys and new different highly stable molecule structures to build our homes, so we used the rest of them to successfully make a 20 person maximum capacity ship. Out of 8,315,374,835 people on this planet, that ship is the only one going to be able to leave until we find a suitable planet for colonization. Which might take a few weeks … but, oh well. It’s totally worth it. What needs to be done, will be done or else we’ll die trying. I continued to walk down the endless hallways of the Reactor Chambres and I did my best to get out of three, to get to the ship’s sleeping quarters. The hallways were filled to the brim with reactor cores, uranium, magnesium and a specific bromine compound that’s extremely reactive to platinum and thorium. |WARNING! WARNING!| |System failure imminent! Please address and correct the issue, if possible before continuing with work!| |WARNING! WARNING!| Oh. I don’t think that’s good at all, but the good side is, is that no one knows this but me. Hopefully. |Please address and correct the issue BEFORE continuing with work, thank you| A klaxxon blared out throughout the sector. The facility I was in was suddenly plunged in red emergency backup lighting, as all the backup lights came on and the power began failing. |Ship undocking enabled, all scouting personnel are to commence to the boarding area and proceed with boarding the Divine at this time!.| The craft! It’s leaving! I teleport aboard the ship and heave a sigh of gratitude as all 20 of us made it aboard. The autopilot programming had been activated by a panicked Emperor Luna. Upon having received a status update as to why the ship was activating the launch sequence before the appointed time, I proceeded towards the ship’s command and control centre in order to correct and fix whatever it was that the Emperor had done to prematurely activate the ship’s launch sequence and autopiloting programming . POV switch:Emperor Luna I had teleported to the ship, Once I had decided that the whole facility and colony had been left to rot, having exhausted this planet’s metal resources and having decided to set forth in the search of other metal-rich worlds to continue meeting our ever growing needs for metal resources. I looked out the bio-titanium glass windows and saw everyone running about, attempting to fix the problem, but to no avail. They had no idea where the issue was located within the facility. |Spacecraft leaving space docking station: Activating launch sequence in T minus 13 seconds!| |Nuclear meltdown imminent!| I don’t think I should build that many skin-related structures anymore … . I’ll still build a Wrath Sky-Base, though. It’s pretty cool, so I’ll still build it. We need to assess the issue, as of now. I run to the control pad and smack that launch button, and the intercoms boom with static, and scream the words: |Launch sequence: Manual launch override engaged! Launching in T minus 5 seconds!| The ship began to hum slightly. |T minus 4| The Divine begins to vibrate slightly |T minus 3| We take a seat in the Command chair around which all other stations were arrayed around in a half-circle arrangement. |T minus 2| We buckle in. |T minus 1| The ship slowly lifts off from the surface of the planet, and the whole ship rumbles slightly. We feel a pulling sensation from the behind us as we continued fighting the gravitational field of our planet. I hear the shaking and slight scrape of the materials and supplies from the bottom of the ship, as it vibrates violently as we commenced with exiting the atmosphere. We are taking on about 7 Gs right now. | Planetary gravitational pull has been neutralized, transfer to the nearest habitable planet? Y/N| I press ‘Y’ and the navigation view screen goes dark. A holoscreen folds down from the middle A woman in a white jumpsuit, appeared, and stated the exact sentence unto which we all watched and listened. “Thank you for boarding the ship of requisition: the Divinity. The hip new way of getting places faster! It’s better and more efficient than our previous spacefaring models!” she stated happily. “Now back to what I was to say! You are going to a new planet! Your soon-to-be new home! Be safe, be defined, be great.” I watched as the holographic screen blipped out of sight. I continued on the subject, after I looked at the Planet Array. The most beautiful solar system came into view on the Planetary Habitation and Industry Holo Panel. It showed me a great amount of resource, and … a single ship. Well the ship’s early warning system only detected a minor trading ship sized craft out on the planet 3rd from the sun … . Aside from that, the planet right next to the sun, has a metric ton of carbon, the sun itself is currently in the red giant phase of the star’s lifecycle… so it contains a ton of iron apparently. Three’s a lot of iron, and a lot of carbon and other elements in that sun. And we need carbon and iron to make steel and carbon for the construction of the walls of Astral-E technologies… Yeah, we could harvest the sun, and the planets within this system. One of the planets have been identified as nearly entire carbon … with a hyperdiamond core. And another supports a low-level civilization and an extremely high tech being of unknown origin with technology that matches and maybe even surpasses ours! We have found a solar system on which we could build a civilization and expand our civilization and industry to the edges of the galaxy!” We celebrate, joyous of the opportunity presented before us. But someone asks, ”What’s out there?” It was Wrekkx. (Rah-eh-ex) “Three’s a planet primarily composed of carbon in which hides a hyperdiamond core. The habitable planet contains sapient life, though their technological level is abysmal, though it may be possible to strike up a trade relationship with them, and more resources in the star of the solar-system, and possibly more! We must live here!” Wrekkx walked up to the Holo-Panel, and looked at it. He had a look of odd satisfaction and surprise, because it had been a long time since we had been close to such a large amount of resources. Wrekkx had a suit to which looked alike to all of the others, red and blue with a slight tinge of his job colour. Grey. He’s a miner, or mining engineer. Either one. I slammed my hand down on the panel, where the solar system is, and it ported us three within a few seconds. “When we get to the living planet, we’ll build a fortress, and call it …” I didn’t know what to call it. After a few moments, Wrekkx said, “How about a vote?” I responded with a ‘sure,’. “Let’s vote, and then put them into my robe pocket. I will not vote, for I generally name these things.” It took a couple minutes, but everyone voted. “We have two major names out of the five decided. Vanaar, and Tefillin Town,” I yelled throughout the ship. “Raise your hand for Vanaar.” 17 people voted. “Vanaar it is,” I said. Without a doubt, this’ll be Jamestown all over again. We’ll all die this time, though. | Time skip| We had landed on the planet. I need some rest. And Vastaan seems tired as well. We need sleep. Wrekkx seems absolutely fine. The goldman seems restless. I asked what he would like to do. “Yup” he says, happily.I noticed that of which he can walk faster than any of his kind. He’s even more useful than before in this case. I have counted the races. Race Count Sheet: 4 Gold men 4 Coal men 4 Silkmen 2 Treemen 6 royal men 2 middlemen I walk back to the construction of the first Mountain quarters. The mineshaft colony now exists in the name of Vanaar. Updates will continue on the fortress as our technologies advance, and grow through the universe. The multiverse even hopefully, to which we will not scavenge but control as one. Rebuild society as we- I was interrupted by a knock on the steel Vault Door we built to protect us from the outside world. Another knock resounded throughout the mining entrance subterranean city. Wrekkx walked up and answered the door. He wasn’t wearing his suit, which enabled me to finally get a look at him. His skin was smooth, black with little white and gold speckles, possibly from mining. His skin was made of plates of coal, which is why they’re called coalmen. He had a small outre ridge that went all the way up his spine, making him slightly aerodynamic when running and rolling. He seemed to have just come from mining in the carbon mines. We also seem to have found a new metal, that has a new form of element. We call it Vanaarium. It seems to have a smaller quantum structure, more than the average atom. The atoms are made up of something imma call quantum cubes, because there are seven cubes in each atom, but the strange quarks and up quarks and down quarks don’t exist here. My fingers were tipped with the Vanaarium, as well as gold. The tips were an alloy created from the melding of the two different metals. I had a feeling of intense curiosity as Wrekkx opened the door. And what awaited on the other side of the door was a mystery to the eye. > who are you? > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 5 Who are you? The steel door was a mystery on it’s own, but the most questioning thing was the hideous creature who opened the door before me, for it was of a hideously ugly and terrifying black skinned biped, as well as the quite pointless ridge down it’s back. I thought these things were dead. I thought I annihilated their entire species. Their work, their buildings. I thought they were wiped completely out of existence. The black being in front of me, seemed to take me as a threat. Which is exactly how they need to take me. “Who are you and why are you here?” the being asked. “Why are you here, you most abominable and vile waste of atomic bonding.” I started with a wretched hate of a thousand warriors. I continued to force myself into the room they were stored into and as a result of my hostile words and body language, they kept trying to push me away. The room was filled with conveyor belts covered in filthy coal and carbon. Three was the mysterious metal as well. It was coming in in stacks, piles, hills. It was exceedingly plentiful. It was … beautiful. “May I have a look into your little fortress here?” I asked. The being hesitated for a couple of seconds before allowing me to entre. “Kill it! It’s an equian! Those beings deserve no respect, and give no respect to anything other than themselves.” Said a familiar voice from a room to my right. “Burn it! Scrap him! Get rid of it!” I opened the door.”Is there something …. Emperor Luna. We meet again.” “I’m going to fucking shoot you if you don’t leave, actually, I’ll go ahead and shoot you anyways, you weakling. Whenever did you get so weak?” I run up to him, only for him to have shot me, the crack of the gun firing and the spray of blood, shrapnel and other fluids scattered through the air as the bullet embedded itself into my chest, near my heart’s new location. The clang of the bullet shell hitting the floor, as the suit i was wearing identified the bullet as… Goleriium. I grab at my heart, looking down in a state of shock as I morbidly watched my lifeblood pour and seep from the wound in my chest. I couldn’t breathe. I felt it pouring and pooling inside of my lungs as I gasped for air, numbly feeling, watching as blood continued to pour out of my chest like an inverted gory eye weeping liquified ruby tears. Blood gurgled in my throat as it started coming through my mouth. I fell to my knees, not even registering the pain which I might have otherwise felt under different circumstances. My knees made an unsettling clacking sound as they collided with the steel tiled flooring. “Ho-gurgle-w c-could-gurgle- you …” I fell face first toward the floor. And blacked out, blood pooling below me, encompassing me in a morbid and gory warmth. “Because you tried to end my race.” POV SWITCH 3rd person of a pair of middlemen “This guy is disgusting. What even is he?” “I’ve been told he’s the Industrialist. The one to have enslaved our kind and tried to recently annihilate our species.” “Woah, that’s pretty insane.” “The Industrialist is pretty insane.” “I guess so.” They continued carrying the body into the nearby forest and tossed him into the bushes, making them a morbidly beautiful, to them, shade of crimson. They had previously stripped him of everything he had, so he was naked of anything he owned. POV SWITCH Indy 1st person I touched the spot where the bullet went through to my lungs. “Fucking hell!” I scream throughout the forest I was in. I look down to find me naked and divested of anything other than my cyborg parts which I had meshed and melded into my flesh “Well, I guess there will be an issue with this situation. Why do I talk to myself?” I queried to myself aloud as I began questioning the soundness of my psyche. The tweeting of birds called to each other through the forest’s canopy and I heard the rustling of bushes as I traversed my way through the undergrowth, nuts falling from trees, and … rocks? I looked from where I was and saw a nearby tree and tried not to further aggravate my injury as I while moved, but regardless of my attempt at caution, I still succeeded in causing pain in my ribs. I sat up against the tree and noticed three were spherical rocks lying everywhere, which were covered in swirls and primitive-looking symbols. I was in no state to even begin to try and interpret or decipher them for the blood loss was making me lightheaded and dizzy. The stones seem to roll towards me slowly as I close my eyes to succumb to the eternal sleep. I hoped that I hadn’t done anything to deserve burning in hell for all eternity… [---|------------------|---] A whisper sounded in the darkness of my mind, as I walked through the woods, the darkness as deep and complete as the inside of a sealed writer’s inkwell, and the skeletal forms of the trees, like a cluster of eerie skeletons remaining standing as a testimony of a cataclysmic event so strong and powerful that they died standing up.. “You are loved.” Whispers alarmed me, these strange voices, unfamiliar, foreign, but the most eerily part of it was that I had not seen whomever it was that was whispering to me in the depths of the inky darkness of the night, as they prepared me for … something, but for reasons that they, for whatever reason, neglected to explain to me.. Another whisper sounded through the inky darkness of my surroundings as I searched for a different environment than this canopy of despair and desolation. For this? This was a graveyard, a monument against that force called life. An unsettling reminder that with existence comes closure, mortality, whether willed or otherwise. But for those of us, who walk amongst the living, the end of our life is perhaps the most frightening thing of all, for we know not whether death is the complete obliteration of the life within us, or merely the closing chapter of our carnality, wherein we shed the frail and mortal shell to live a different kind of life, one which transcends the carnal understanding of the mechanisms of science and rationality. For if there is no continuance of the summation which we are, at the end of our existence, then the cessation of one’s life is a truly frightening prospect indeed. “You are needed.” “You are hated.” As I walked along the dirt road, I noticed the change in scenery as it shifted to a cobblestone road, to replace the well-worn road of dirt. A sign passed me by, which welcomed me to at village, though for some reason the name escapes me. Was this some really weird dream? Was it a memory? Am I awake right now and really living in this surreal environment? Why was I here? For what purpose had I come? Was I here to save somebody? Or was I to be a harbinger of doom? These questions raced through my mind as I continued down the cobblestone road toward either some civilization, or perhaps the skeletal remains of one. One thing was for certain, the lack of traffic did not sit well with me as I journeyed onward toward this village. A scream pierced the dead silence of the night air, a bloodcurdling scream which caused my skin to raise a bunch of goosebumps up and down along my epidermal expanse. The moon of this environment was full as it’s light shown down upon the symbol of my fears. It shown a shape far too reminiscent of the insane, the gruesome and grotesque form of ‘One that drove mortals insane’. For the shape was of— Greed. “Vanair!” Screamed a voice through the eerie silence of the moonlit night. I got closer to the sound. “Vanair!” the screamer screamed again. The voice was female, familiar, and sounded alarmed. A shining being stood in the distance, showing a stance of pride. It stood with a stance which exuded confidence, that regardless of how the night’s events might play out, it, amongst all of the inhabitants that walked in the darkness of the night, would emerge victorious. It stood, tall as the trees, its body appeared as hard as the earth. Its appearance was looming and looked to be as unyielding as the stone and iron buried beneath the surface of this bleak and desolate-looking land. The being had a white mask, with a red cross bisecting it. There was no sign that three was a face, for the mask had no straps to secure it upon the being’s head. The being looked like a metallic angel, with a blue-black plaid skirt. The being looked to be made in interwoven cords. Thick metallic cords, which were composed of smaller interwoven cords until the metal was as thin as the gossamer of spider silk, but by interweaving these smaller metal strands into a larger cord, the strength of the metal increased, while not reducing the flexible capacity each metal strand entailed. “Awaken!” cracked the voice as it caused the earth beneath me to fissure, causing me to fall toward the molten fiery core deep within the earth toward Hell ... . “We still love you ...” “I still love you.” The voice echoed as I fell toward my awaiting judgement and eternal punishment… [---|------------------|---] I awoke with a start. A beam of light caused me to raise an arm to block the bright light from hurting my eyes as I awaken. The light seemed to come from some kind of opening at the entrance of the place I am in. The area seems to be of moss and cloth as well as tanned skin and a collection of herbs lying around a mortar and pestle, which sat upon some kind of cushioned seat as various weeds and plants peeked out from beneath the skin which served as the ‘cover’ of the seat. There was a stone knife over by a small stone platter of sorts, stained with some blood and upon which rested the bullet that had been used to try and kill me. I looked down at the area where I had been shot, only to see it covered in vine and some kind of tanned hide. Primitives. The entrance to the encompassing abode opened, revealed a black striped being, which also had a tail of sorts like the Spectrum Beings from the town. But I don’t remember the species name, nor did I remember the species to which they belonged. The being spoke in the language of English, to which I didn’t remember any sort of primitive to be able to speak such a complex language such as so, but I continued to listen to the impossible being. The being, to which I might identify as female, as if not for the exposed extremities, but to which, I was in the same position of being without clothing of any sort, whatsoever. She got closer and was pushing on different parts of my body.. I felt awkward and started moving back against the walls of my containment area. “Calm, horse-man. There is no need to be upset,” She stated, her face was very close to my face. She seemed to feel for different areas and watched for pain and flinching, for some areas seemed to be bruised and hurt, but it couldn’t be seen through the covering from my coat. The mark on my thigh was showing then. “There is a need to be upset! First of all, I don’t know you! and if I don’t know you, then I should know you, or you should leave!” “I said calm! I’m trying to help you,” she said with a tone of anger, concern, and frustration. Silence overtook the room as I paid attention to what she was doing with her fuzzy hands. After a while I asked, “What are you doing?” She appeared to be mixing herbs and other ingredients which was unidentifiable to you. She was colored differently, as if she was manifested from a silent movie. Her coloration was black and white. Her coloration was patterned in a manner very reminiscent of that one striped earth animal, to which I cannot recall the name of. “I’m helping you,” she said calmly. “How? So far all I see is a bunch of mashed plants and a pair of wooden tweezers as well as a small stone knife.” “Those are my tools,” she stated again, still sounding mostly calm, but with a little more frustration in her tone of voice. “Why are you using such primitive tools, and why are you … naked?” “It’s not the best, but y’know, you get what you get. Because either you make it yourself, or scavenge it from somewhere else. Also, there's no one to judge you out here! It’s much better than living in the city, but harder to live out here. I think you would understand that, since, you know, you’re equian, so you should understand what it means to be naked and have no necessity for clothing. ” “Except if you’re a noble, then you always wear a tux, or something equally formal and fancy, but I wear bipedal-style clothing, since I walk on two legs, most of the time.” “I don’t know everything, other than your species tends to be incredibly smart, or stupid. Sometimes I think they seem mentally unstable, but that has no reason to be added to the list, does it?” she responded, seeming to get attached to the conversation I had been carrying with her. She walks over and kneels beside me and begins to peel away the large leaf and vines that were covering my wound. When she reveals it, it looks like it is not infected like when I last saw it, as a large lump on my torso. She dabbed a small cloth onto my wound. “Hnng!” I cringed in pain as my muscles contracted at the sudden pain in my torso. She held me down. “Please! Refrain from convulsing while I work on your wounds! Don’t want to bleed out and die for real, now do you?” She held me down by pressing my chest and legs down. “Be careful!” I felt violated and awkward as she wrapped me in a leather and vine wrap and tied my legs to some poles around my feet, and my arms to my torso. “Now you won’t convulse as I disinfect the scar.” She began to work. The events which followed after, were the most painful, longest moments in my life. > what now? > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 6 What now? “The coalmen wish to raise their wages in order to be able to purchase more food , will you accept this?” “Yes, I accept this suggestion.” You know, without having to deal with a possible death threat against the colony from the locals, and the Industrialist, things have been going nicely around here in Vanaar. The mines are doing better, since we can make wood supports, rather than carving decorative stone pieces, since the forest isn’t something like crystals this time. I still hope the Industrialist burns in Hell for all of eternity, though. And now, he will need to begin all over again. With no one to help him out there, wherever those guys dumped the body, and that is assuming that he’s even alive. Which is unlikely, since if the bullet didn’t kill him, then the blood loss likely will, and if not the blood, then other things like infection and tainted water likely will. And given how long he has lived far removed from living in survival-type conditions, I am rather skeptical about his knowledge of survival knowledge in wilderness conditions. And that’s only if he’s still alive. “Sir, we can’t seem to find the body anywhere in the forest, but we did find blood stains on the side of a tree which led us toward the northwest.” “Is he nearby?” “No, sir, there is no trace of him after a certain part of the forest had been reached.” I slammed my hand on the desk I was sitting at, causing some papers and a small statue of me made from carbon nanotubes to fall off the desk. “Find him!” They flinched and left the room quickly. When I find him, I’m going to kill him with my bare hands. And there is no ‘if’ in this extreme scenario, he could be anywhere, he had two days to do anything. Two days, that could mean that he's on the other side of the mountain range in the dense forest on the north side of the entrance to the base. He could be waiting for someone to exit the base, so he could ambush them. Maybe even me. I need sleep. I need to get rested for tomorrow. I will rest … . I fell asleep on my desk. [======\==============/======] The planet detonates and I laugh. “We’ve done it, Andromeda, we’ve done it!” I celebrated with my sister Andromeda. “I congratulate you for your work. Now will you please focus? We need you.” She looked sorrowful. “What is wrong, sister?” “I fear the Industrialist. He might come back again.” “Don’t worry sister, I’ll take good care of him might he come back.” The Industrialist appears and shoots my sister with a magam-ray, which caused her to convulse, and her back to arch backwards … . I try to shoot him, but it just goes right through him. My sister's back snaps, as her muscles strain her spine to the breaking point, causing her to scream in pain as her body is disassembled at a molecular level. She screams loudly, before it cuts off prematurely as I watch her violently disintegrated before my eyes! The stars begin to go out as her galaxy dies with her. It implodes before becoming a massive black hole as she dies. The industrialist disappears into the light escaping from the massive gravity well, and melts into the behemoth of a star. [======/================\======] I wake with a start as my door creaks open and a coalman walks in. “Sir, are you okay?” It was Wrekkx. He stood, holding onto the edge of the door and peering into the lamp lit room. A single desk-lamp was the only thing lighting the room. “Sir?” “Oh! Yes. I am fine. Why do you ask?” “It is because I heard yelling and heard you talking in your sleep, Sir.” “I am fine. I cannot remember my dream right now, so I cannot tell you anything about my dream.” He walks out and closes the door. “My dearest family, I wish to avenge you, but I might have not completed my task of killing the Industrialist. Help me so that I might avenge you.” A picture of Andromeda remained superimposed over my vision and the sound of her screaming echoed from the memories of my past, haunting mes for the rest of the day and likely will until I die. > About > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 7 The Beginning “Wake up, It’s time for breakfast,” A female sounding voice said. I open my eyes to find the zebra-like S’Fentuinian primitive, kneeling next to me and pushing me, telling me to get up. “You need to get up or no food.” “Fine … What’s for breakfast?” I ask, but still wary of my injury in my torso, and get up to walk from the teepee. “We have,” she looks back out the entrance of the small skin teepee,”ceriggen with sneiffen.” I look at her with a blank stare. “Basically the human version of a ‘mountain man’ or whatever they call it.” “Oooh, that sounds grete!” I said giddily”, what’s a ceriggen.” “Meat, which might not fit your dietary needs for plants …” She didn’t notice my accidental use of the word great in Anglo-Saxon English. “I don’t generally eat much as such, since i don’t think nuts and a few other things containing protein, like some fruits in the Galileian system. Plus, there’s no Equians to judge me, so why not try meat for the first time?” “Your own species does not trust you with this knowledge? What led to them watching you?” [======\==============/======] I stood at the pristine white quartz doors of the palace that stood hundreds of metres tall, from the ground from which it rose, to the highest steeple piercing into the air of the sky. I opened the doors, and sat at the end of the halls, where a pair of pristine, singularly-godly beings, to which stood, with such profound necessity for their inability to help themselves, after another. “What is it you need now?” “I need everything you have.” “I’m sorry, but we don’t understand what you mean by that. Could you elaborate further as to what exactly it is that you’re requesting from us?” “Die.” A shot rang out as my Clicker went off, and left a mark on the horn of the two beings where they sat, and then heard them scream in pain. “Guards! Guards! Arrest this … Monster!” Equians of white and grey ran up and grabbed me as I stand up on two legs with an arm which held the clicker extended. I, however, stood frozen as I started to realize the consequences of what I have done. “He will rot in the dungeons!” I was dragged off to an iron-clad door, but as I passed the godly Equians, I saw their horns as the damage was a very significant deal. It took half of their horns off and fragments of the horns lie across the ground and on the rugs of the Throne Room Little drops of blood could be seen, slowly dripping out of the base of the horns as that is where I had hit them, taking a chunk off the base. I pulled out my little cactus amulet and pulled a spike out and threw it at the rulers of these lands. They fell and left little spots of saliva spread unevenly among the ground, as they lied unconscious on the beautifully designed quartz-granite floor. Everything went black as my view darkened and I collapsed to the hard crystal floor. [======/================\======] “Life is a story just waiting to be told. That’s all you need to know.” It was a mystery to me as to why I was experiencing these visions. Were they memories of the past? Did they really happen? Or were they visions of what might have been, or what could still be, if I don’t change the way that I live my life? The machinations of the mind is a mystery to us all. “Well, you gonna tell?” She looked curiously at me, “No, that’s a story for another time and another place, and it’s not here and it’s not now,” I explained to her. “What’s your name? I still haven’t been told it yet, I don’t believe.” I asked, avoiding the previous question, trying to get away from my past. “Oh, I haven’t told you yet?” I shook my head, in a fairly universal response for ‘no’. “That’s surprising, well, my name’s Sarina.” “Does it mean something in your language?” I questioned her. I like the name, it’s got a ring to it, it kinda reverberates a feeling I very rarely feel, and haven’t felt in thousands of years. “Sympathy.” I said, absentminded. “How did you know the translation?” She looked curiously, since she knows that I know nothing of their language. I can’t even properly pronounce the word castle, still. “I didn’t?” I was curious as to why that word was the same as the word sympathy. “Yes, my name directly translates to the human word of sympathy.” I looked at her, still questioning how she knows these words, and even successfully pronunciating these, even I still have bad grammar, and I’m supposed to be the smartest being in the universes. “English is complicated, my child,” said an outside voice, familiar to all Equian ears. “Where are you?” I asked. Sarina was in the clearing meditating for the day. She always did this a little bit before she woke me up, and I would watch as animals would sometimes walk up and she would pet them like dogs. I was just talking to her future self. But how? That’s not even possible in any universe, that I’ve discovered, anyway. The possibility of her walking here and then asking me these questions, her future self travelling back through time and manifesting in the past is confusing and extremely complicated. More than a neutrinos ability to go through atoms with ease. Especially since that … thing, could touch me, to wake me up. This confusing and irrelevant situation is a complex image to look at. As a creature of logic and reason, I wish to know how these things are possible in the universes. The other Sarina was gone. “It’s okay my child, we still love you. Your deeds have been evil unto us, but some have done good in spite of that.” Please visit us sometime, would you? The voices of The Pristine rang around in my mind. My vision grew hazy and went black once again … .[b/] I awoke with a start and instantly wondered what I was doing sprawled out by the mountainside. On a dirt path with a few of the S’Fentuinians around me, staring, as I was still naked, but my coat covered me so none could see nothing of my unmentionables aside from my Mark on my thigh. A child. “Caruled, def sergh kii?” the child seemed to have asked a question from the significant curiosity in the child’s brain signature. The neurological patterns in the S’Fent child’s brain told me so of the curiosity. And body language. “Cargh dex se Equian lu commun.” I recognised the word Equian in the sentence and stood up, but slowly and unsteadily, much like the unsteady wobbling of a drunkard, but my back arched as I slouched. “I am Corrupted … *Cough* Industries …” I collapsed again as all the S’Fentuinians gasped, as the name seemed to hold significance in their lives. They wore tuxes and gold gilded outfits. Black and white … Black … And … White … . > A Venture into Depths > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 8 A Venture into Depths POV Austen 1st person “Where could he possibly be?” Ylva asked me as she paced around the little throne room. “Well, it’s not like I have mindreading powers like the two of you, I mean really, he’s a fuckin’ sapient bipedal-goddam horse. What’s it to me, that if he gets hurt that I take blame?” I questioned, considering the possible odds against my statement of recognition to the inability t understand the reason to which they just try to telecommunicate with their minds. “We … didn’t think of that. Why am I so stupid!?” She hit her head with her fuzzy palm. “What?” I asked stupidly. “Why didn’t I try to complete a connection to his mind? Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!” she kept on hitting herself on the forehead with her palm, repeatedly. “Stop! Don’t injure yourself. It could just make the situation even worse, ‘cause this world is not where I wanted to be, but I’m here and I need to deal with anything that comes my way, and this is one of these things, so stop and try to get this done, okay?” I contemplated how we could get a connection as Ylva just stared out the colourful window-panes. “What is it that you are contemplating, Princess?” A guard wearing a livery of grey and purple, queried the princess. “I’m contemplating the factors that have led to naught but misery on my psyche and life,” she said, her voice colored with the tone of despair. “Damn, why so serious? I mean, it’s only been like, 2 weeks. For all we know, he was on some-kind of adventure,” I said, trying to think of what he could be doing. “He could be dying, which could kill me if I connect, or any sort of injury could be psychically transferred to me. Meaning we would both suffer the same amount of pain and the injuries would be manifested on my body in the same locations in which he was wounded,” she explained to us. “Well, why not send a search party, or send some-kind of magic bird or some shit to go look for ‘im?” I said, wondering why they aren’t doing the obvious. “Because we don’t have ‘magic birds,’” she emphasized the magic birds words. “And search parties are expensive.” “But you’re the princess.” “That doesn’t mean anything here,” she stated plainly as if it were obvious. “Than why are you princess if you can’t do anything? Can I be crass?” “What? No! That doesn’t mean … Oh, you already are pretty crass.” she looked frustrated. “Yea, this sucks anyway, I’mma go adventure through the hallways. Have a Merry Shitmas!” “Wait stop!” she exclaimed, but I had already walked off, going down a randomly selected hallway. “Too late! On an adventure,” I yelled, cupping my hand to my mouth and looking back toward the princess, to direct the sound of my voice towards their location. I was walking, and realised it’s been, like, 7 minutes since I last saw someone. “Hello? Is someone around here?” I asked aloud throughout the hallways. As I walked through the hallways, there were some noises of clicking from different pathways. It took a little while, but I found the resting rooms around the East Wing of the castle. There was a white door, with the details of a daylight sky, clouds and everything. The door across from it was a dark night sky door, with the details such as stars and galaxies, constellations and more. It was frustrating that these things could even be popular designs. Considering that there were two of them, there would possibly be more than like, a hundred people living here, but that all considered, The hallways were filled with a pristine Citrus Crystal yellow light, and as I continued the walk through the hallways of endless emptiness, I forbid myself for a limited time, to open doors, and it was around 10 minutes into my walk, was when I thought I heard conversation through a door. I thought to eavesdrop, but thought it wrong, and did it anyway, for my curiosity overcame my common sense. “... But the issues would lead to such great consequences, that the consequences alone, have great implications and could be a tragedy of our own making, and lead to misery, a-and-” the voice was female, at least the vocal intonation made the speaker sound like one anyway. “There will be no issue with this project of ours. If there was, I would know, and if there was, I wouldn’t do this, for then it would be the stupidest thing as to do something with such risk.” “This project, it’s-it’s … Retarded! The stupidest things that we have thought of so far! Dark magic and science are not a thing to be combined, especially with this creature! The creature could revolt against us, it won’t work …” “It will work!” screamed a voice. “There are no fucking exceptions, you can either leave, or you will succeed!” “Fine we’ll join! Let us hope this damned thing doesn’t backfire on us …” I walked away from the door, slowly, and after a few steps, hopped into a sprint. “I’m telling the princess about this!” I muttered aloud, as I sprinted past maids, butlers, guards and civvies, all dressed in noble attire, aside from the maids, and butlers, but even they still had nice uniforms. Small POV section: approximate number of words, should be at least 723 words. At least. I lay upon some kind of stone altar, primitive to all who could see it, but all I could see was the very edges since I was pinned by some force, of a supernatural, non-physical nature and the force seemed to be of a type of magic. I opened my eyes around 2.3 minutes after awakening, which I kept closed for about 10 or more minutes, The 3 beings, finally stopping a quarreling, from the sound of someone yelling something about a princess. They only noticed my awakening, after the 2.3 minutes. But 3.2 seconds after that was when they began speaking, to which was a language, yet again, was unrecognizable, nor was I even understandable, so I initiated the plan of interrogation of my captors, which did not seem too great, but was difficult under the factor of the spell that was previously cast to keep me down. Said spell was slowly dying away. But the one thing that didn’t help at all was the fact that I, this time, had no control over the situation, which is odd for a being of such a high place in the societies of the Inter-universal Organization of Industrialism. And that society in which I rule highest to the Purity, is a position to never argue with. But that position gives me no control over new lands, that of which could never be controlled, and this land was one of those places. So, there was nothing to do, in this kind of situation. Aside from the cultists that surrounded me, to which was only three. But the cultists began to speak in some kind of babble, that even I could not identify. The syllables would never be remembered, by me in any day, but otherwise, they seemed just a jumble of letters, nothing more, all I could make out was a few letters being the letter ‘T’ the pronunciation of ‘th’. Aside from the unintelligible language they spoke, there was no err in the way they acted, aside from my pinned state of capture under their sights, as I lay bare of my technologies, hoping for the help, I had been given before, as I seemed to feel forgotten, unknown, and alone. > Madness > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- they left me alone, they Turned out the torches in the corners of the room, but left a window, which consisted of steel bars, and a Quartz tile between each of the