Hey guys! Part three of the Sci-Fi story coming right up.
Part one can be found here.
Chapter 3
The moment he stepped onto the hard greenish dirt of the planet Tarsec, Gerald knew it would be perfect. The planet was the most densely populated of all in the Palao star system, and in terms of services and amenities, was surprisingly well catered for. There were a whole host of sensory augmenting movie theatres and games halls, as well as luxurious bath houses full of jacuzzis and automated robotic massage rooms. There were also bars and clubs, of the kind that every self-respecting planet could produce.
The first thing Gerald did was establish a stronger link to Lark, so that he could walk around with the A.I.'s advice in his ear. He didn't want to be alone, something that was rare for a man of his demeanor. But, he was usd to a shallow form of company from people when he wasn't travelling, because of the chiselled features genetic engineering had gifted him. It was just a shame that the same engineering hadn't done anything much to his body, so he was forced to work out a lot.
It wasn't long before Gerald found a real estate agent and rented an apartment under one of his many aliases. It was there that he went next, to check that the key the young woman had given him worked, even though he knew it would anyway. Nothing was defective these days, but he still felt like he had to make sure everything was as it should be.
The next port of call was the spaceport. It was a slightly aged chunk of metal and glass, which had begun to rust somewhere in the last few decades by the look of it. It wasn't nearly as bad as the pile of spacejunk Gerald had been forced to stay at before, but he found the aged look disconcerting. His expertise was in mechanics, and he'd have to spend a lot of time in that spaceport, earning money to fund the next journey in a few months' time, if he was lucky.
By the time he re-entered the apartment he'd rented, it was early evening, and all Gerald had the energy to do was lie down and sleep. Outside, most of Tarsec did the same, which others woke up to begin the long night.
The planet had a full day-night cycle of about 30 hours, meaning that people without genetic engineering found the towns and cities rather difficult to adjust to, but most enjoyed the extra time of day, because sleep was something most people needed little of. So for people other than Gerald, who could stay in bed for extended periods of time, the night was the time to get out and drink, meet people, and ultimately have fun.
This behaviour stemmed from the rather strange way Tarsec had been populated, and somehow pulled itself up out of the ground. Initially it had been one of the now defunct UN camps, which catered for refugees from interstellar warfare by setting up self-sufficient places for them to live. They had never been meant to be permanent, but when the UN had been bakrupted, millions of people had been stranded in these camps.
The saving grace of these people was that the UN had somehow sourced a host of full atmosphere planets, which had meant that local and imported plants and animals could be farmed with relative ease. One thing had led to another, and within two centuries, Tarsec was a fully functional Class 3 planet with a wide range of services and enough trade routes to sustain the living standards at a very high level.
In other words, Tarsec was a miracle. Since the start of mainstream space travel, nobody had been kind to one another. The universe was out there, but also expensive enough that it was every man for himself. Bonds were lost, and in the end only small groups of friends endured the split together. But for refugees who had lost everything, surviving was all they had. So, as a result, the refugee planets had become some of the most powerful in the entire universe. They thrived against adversity.
Gerald, however, wasn't aware of just how powerful they were. It was just his luck that as well as being powerful, UN camp planets, as they were known, were among the most peaceful in the galaxy.
Hey everyone. Here's part two of my new story. Part one can be found here.
Chapter 2
As exciting as the voyage was to begin with, Gerald soon found himself becoming bored with the entertainment. It wasn't enough to have the most advanced spacecraft money could buy if you were bored out of your mind on it. He glared at the wires and screens around him, all the while knowing that they would help him reach his destination that much faster.
Palao, however, seemed so far away. While he waited, he had read a host of encyclopedia articles, all of which had praised the safety record of the settlements around the star. Then after a few hours spent bathed in the pale white light of the screens, he had come to the conclusion that none, in fact, were biased in the way they were written. It seemed far too good to be true, but Gerald had long had enough of shunning opportunities because of pale suspicions.
So he left the dark grey spaceplane on autopilot, and decided the best course of action would be to entertain himself would be to sit in his luxurious cabin and while away the hours. Just how he would do that was unclear, but at least he'd be comfortable lying in his oversized bed. He had some sensory augmenting games, some lewd sensory movies, and some impressive A.I. he could talk to.
By week two, he had spent only few hours sleeping, and the rest had been spent pleasuring himself in the way only someone who hadn't had sex for a long time could, as well as lifting weights and playing a shooter game based on one common on the original earth. It was entertaining enough, with steamy jungles and post-apocalyptic planets, but he had played it many times, so it wasn'tlong before he moved on to a spaceport simulation, which required keen micro-management, and tested his mind to the limit.
All the while, nothing around him changed. Various A.I. and hidden machines dealt with dishes and waste, as well as the course, so all Gerald had to do was wait. Wait, within in the smooth, bare white walls of his room, which he quickly decided didn't have enough entertainment built in. He had decided that the previous journey too, but for some reason nothing had happened. It seemed to him that he forever failed to live outside the moment. It was a wonder he'd managed to escape his pursuers for so long.
But they were the problem, weren't they? Living was cheap and easy if you knew how, but hard if you had someone on your back for no reason. He cursed the day his father had named him, because that had been his downfall.
Week three brought him more days of lounging around, and he began to wonder if his journey would ever end. He was scared to look at the softly glowing screens, because every time he wondered how he might feel if it turned out he was still many thousands of miles away.
It was much to his relief, then, when the A.I. running his main computer annouced loudly that they were less than a day away, right in the middle of a particularly graphic scene in one of his movies. Normally, he might have been annoyed, but it was his favourite A.I., with a welcome message.
The A.I. in question was Lark. The name was actually an acronym for Logical Artificial Robotic Krait, where Krait was supposed to be his actual name, but Gerald thought that was stupid. He much preferred using the acronym, and Lark didn't mind. The A.I. had been with him since the beginning, making it quite old, but very reliable. The voice was still the same real sounding but also unsettlingly robotic voice Lark had always had. Others talking to Lark would feel like something was wrong but wouldn't know what, but Gerald had long become used to it. Lark was his friend.
It was Lark who would accompany him in his initial scout of the territory of Palao, through some very clever networking technology he didn't understand, as well as through neural nanotechnology.
When it came down to it, Lark was the only reason Gerald had survived. He was alone, but at the same time he had the best friend he could have hoped for.
I'm bored. Very bored. I came into Uni expecting a computer lab and it turns out it's not happening and I have three more hours to kill. So, what better way to spend the time than a new, ongoing serial that can, in fact, help with my writing and descriptive skills, as well as provide entertainment for people online.
So, here it is:
Chapter 1
Gerald hated the fact that in a few hours, he'd be forced to leave. It was always the same, and it was getting more and more difficult. He breathed in deeply, feeling the cool air fill his lungs satisfyingly, and gazed at his surroundings. The old spaceport was full of old machinery with a worrying amount of rust, with floors that hadn't been polished in decades.
His lip curled as he observed the way weary travellers trudged over the exposed concrete floor. This place was hardly the most exclusive of ports, but it was also in a great position for him. Him, who had spent his life running away from people he had never met.
Tensing his legs in dissatisfaction, he began to walk briskly, even though he had nowhere to go as of yet. He could very easily have launched into a tirade about the unfairness of it all, so he attempted to distract himself by observing his surroundings; every bolt, every scratch. He could see everything, but as it turned out, none of it was sufficiently interesting.
In an instant, he had come to a conclusion. If he didn't leave immediately, then he would surely go mad, even though at first he thought he'd walk around to calm himself down. The rusty steel walls, however, were no company at all to a mind in turmoil.
The way towards the private bays was short, and just as rusty as the rest of the port. How it stayed, floating in mid-space, was anybody's guess, but it was good enough for him, and had always been. Still, it wouldn't take him long to forget the stale bread and metallic-tasting water that were the hallmarks of any of the old spaceports dotted around the galaxy. Next time he would choose a planet or something, not a piece of old space-junk.
By the time he had reached his small craft, he had thought of the smelly off-white toliets, sub-par healthcare and complete lack of entertainment services to leave while thinking 'good riddance'. In fact, it had been surprisingly easy to turn a mind he had been conditioning to just be happy to be alive. The reality was, living was not enough.
Walking into the cramped cockpit of his spaceplane was like a breath of fresh air; it was outfitted with the newest technology he could get his hands on, using any and every spare cent he had. It was always clean, and the green and red screens fed information from the advanced sensors the craft was covered in. All of it was real-time, accurate down to a hundreth of a second. Gerald sank down into his soft red chair, relaxing for the first time that day.
He wasted no time flicking all the switches to get the craft going, eagerness replacing all other emotions. Sometimes his mood variation surprised even himself, but he didn't let it bother him. He could very easily hide those emotions whenever he had to; other people never suspected.
It was two minutes before he was away, hurtling through the universe. The force pushed him back into his chair, but he loved the sensation. The stars seemed to be almost stationary in the blackness of the sky, but he could feel the motion pulling him through the neverending night. The reason for his love of it, he knew, was the fact that it made him realise the sheer scale of the universe, and how many places were left to explore.
Grinning in glee, he fixed his gaze on a far-off star, deciding in that instant that it was his target. Neuroscanners picked this up and instantly adjusted his course, while feeding him information. Dark blue writing projected across his vision, telling him the star was called Palao. It held three spaceports and an inhabited planet. In other words, it was perfect.
Behind him, the old spaceport was already far behind; a speck in the distance. His craft was a silver streak through the night sky, silent in the void. The overwhelming silence and Palao were all that was left. But his world was complete.
So, yesterday I had some fun doing various small crafting projects, and I thought today is as good a day as any to post the results. To begin with, a little about my first project.
I like polymer clay, because while being bright and colourful it is easy to work with and can make the cutest earrings. So, with that in mind I started work on my sister's birthday present, which is pictured.
The birthday present is the ward from League of Legends, pictured in the foreground and unfinished in the background. I also made her that plant just below the weighted companion cube earrings, as it relates to one of the champions in LoL.
Then, still unsatisfied with the number of clay earrings in my collection, I decided that adding a few more would be a great idea.
Yes. I made Minecraft earrings. Each little cube of TNT is about 1.8 x 1.8 x 1.8 cm, to put it into perspective. The diamond swords look quite awesome, but they did turn out quite thin, so care is required when wearing them. I have fiddled with clay creations before and broken them.
Finally, to round off my day of crafting, I decided what better way to spend my evening than knitting? This particular project has been on my mind for ages, and now that it's finally underway I'm very pleased.
I have started making gloves inspired by the ones Hermione wears in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, for which I found the colour chart here. In my version, the arrows are pointing the wrong way because of the way it's knitted, but it's close enough. Any closer and I might just go mad, because so far other attempts to replicate these gloves have been fruitless.
Anyway, that's all I have for you today. I'm now going to go off and... I suppose I should study. Bye!
