One
more job, they said. It’ll be easy, they said. Markus Silassus was beginning to
regret taking on this run. Far too much hassle for far too little pay; he
really should have known better but times were hard, especially with the
confederacy on his back in almost every quadrant. Ferrying supplies and several
highly illegal shipments of pulse blasters to rebels on the near moon of
Procturus One was not his best idea yet. Damn,
that one was too close the smuggler thought as a plasma blast evaporated
just off his starboard bow.
“Devin,
get down to the engine room and give us more thrust. Re-route the…”
“The
drive line directly into the tachyon chamber, yeah yeah,” parroted Devin,
Markus’ trusty Agravian mechanic. Devin was a perfect specimen of his species,
slight, sharp eyed and clever with his hands. His green scaled skin reflected
the red glow of the emergency lights which now illuminated the corridors inside
the Blazing Arcturian, his ship,
home, life and source of most of his woes. May
the elders smile upon me now, Devin thought as he ducked into the confined
engine room. The deck bucked and heaved as another blast landed just shy of the
ships energy reflector shield. More
thrust, huh, I’ll give you more thrust you crazy fool. Devin slid the drive
plate loose and began his work. He tapped his wrist communicator and spoke.
“Re-routing
now, things might get a little bumpy but we should get clear of atmosphere.”
His voice was raspy in the cockpit but Markus heard him well enough.
“Punch
it Devin – we’ve only got one shot at this,” replied Markus, still wrestling
with the controls as he weaved through incoming fire. Couldn’t be a moment too soon, I’m getting sick of dodging these plasma
blasts Markus mused as he felt the ship judder then surge as Devin made the
connection and the ship achieved its highest, if slightly unsafe, atmospheric
velocity. Markus heaved on the controls and sent the ship into a tight spinning
arc as he made a break for space and the great black beyond. Just a couple more
seconds and they’d be clear of atmosphere and able to use the Arcturian’s Jump Drive. Suddenly the rumble
of air rushing past the cockpit was gone as the ship hit vacuum.
“Devin,
hold onto your tail, I’m activating the Jump Drive now!” Markus barked into the
ship communicator. Down in the engine room Devin clutched tightly to a plasteel
stanchion as the world blurred and lurched around him. His head span and he
closed his eyes, hoping to alleviate the feeling of nausea caused by the leap
into Jump Space. The inside of the Blazing
Arcturian creaked and bellowed as it suffered under the stress exerted by the
powerful Jump Engines. But she held, she always did…
----
GUEST WORK! So if you have any comments, please send 'em along to Calum so he can incorporate it into his next exciting chapter!
What a load of tommyrot. Slamming the keyboard to find words for things isn't 'writing', it's nonsense. I have just had to explain to my children how 'Agravian' isn't even a word, and now my wife is shouting at me for letting her children see such a load of nonsense. I think that I should maybe send this to a scientist, and see if even they can make sense of this, seeing that they manage to find a ridiculous name for absolutely anything. Honestly, I think you should at least read what you're putting onto your blog before putting it on, but this is still an improvement from the bloody, pain-inducing drivel in your other 'stories' (a term used as loosely as possible). I've got an idea! Let's put giant slugs into this 'space ship' and nuke a city to make it fun! I honestly thought that you would have improved from the last time you posted something, but once again I fall into the trap of not only reading it but letting my children read it as well! And to top it all off, my children think that they will grow tails and green skin when they're older, and fly in space in massive ships with 'Tachyon chambers'! This is your last chance to improve your content, or I'll tell all of my friends not to come on here! Good Day.
ReplyDeleteWell, Mr. Potatohammer, you must remember that this is Science Fiction, and I stress the Fiction part strongly. Of course some content will be far-fetched and made up, but you must suspend your disbelief and enjoy the story of renegades among the stars!
DeleteI do, however, appreciate your comment!
I completely agree with the last comment. What kind of person writes things like this!? I think the writer took giving typewriters to monkeys too far...
ReplyDeleteWhile I question the mental stability of anyone who can muse under plasma bombardment, I'm looking forward to more. And as your technobabble has been declared scientist-level nonsense, I'd say you're on the right track.
ReplyDeleteI would also be prepared to venture that the first commentator was being sarcastic, or otherwise I would ponder how they managed to acquire and operate a computer.
However I do feel that as an opening it feels a little... standard. Nothing in particular makes this stand out from other science-fiction, nothing immediately reaches out and grabs the reader. Presumably this will be resolved in future installments, but unless readers need to continue, that might be in vain. Still, I shall persevere. Looking forward to the next post!
Thank you! I shall indeed be writing more and will try to resolve the issues you mentioned!
Delete