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| menace64 |
 Posted: Fri Jun 16, 2006 4:41 am |
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Joined: 12 Apr 2006
Posts: 836
Location: Wichita, Kansas
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The Long Trip: Prologue
The Saucer-class freighter ripped through the canyon at speeds that – had it not been for the inertial compensator dialed to 98% - would have boiled Larence Caben right in his seat.
Even at 98%, Larence felt his innards burning just from having to see all of the jukes, dips and twists he was being put through.
“Don’t you think we can turn up the compensator a bit more,” he asked the pilot; his name he didn’t quite catch amid the hubbub of spaceport dealings.
“Hell no!” Came the reply. “‘Can’t let a compensator keep a pilot from the sky,’ they say.”
“Well,” Larence argued. “Don’t you think you could have picked a smoother course to the spaceport?”
The pilot laughed and hunched forward deeper into his controls. He threw the ship into a suicidal loop around a rocky outcropping, then leveled the ship back out again. “Look, kid. Davon’s Canyon is the quickest way to the spaceport that I know of. You said to make the trip quick. I’m doing quick. Now shut up and tighten your harness… this next part is fun.”
Instead of allowing Larence to adjust his own safety harness, the pilot reached over and pulled the strap for him. For a moment Larence thought he would surely suffocate, but the “next part” the pilot mentioned stole the rest of his air instead.
The freight turned a jagged corner, and then dead ahead loomed an enormous wall of stone. Larence panicked, afraid that his brash pilot had gone stir crazy. Closer and closer the ship rocketed towards the wall. Larence’s eyes flashed between the barrier and his captain, unsure of which was frightening him more.
At the last possible second the pilot flipped his freighter onto its undercarriage. The repulsorlifts kicked in, rebounding the agile craft off the wall. The pilot allowed the deranged flip to continue, all the while switching his afterburners to life.
Larence grabbed hold of his armrests even tighter as the ship danced through the air. The viewport was nothing but a blur, occasionally revealing ground or sky. Larence winced as the pilot suddenly leveled the ship out, and even with the compensator Larence’s body leapt into the air, held down only by his tightened restraints.
And then the terror was over.
Ahead of the ship Lawrence immediately noticed the grandiose spaceport in the distance. He saw the bustling water canals cutting through the capital city. He saw the Grand Towers at the center of it all.
“Wow. I never thought Abregado-rae City would be so… beautiful,” Larence said in disbelief. The pilot chuckled to himself, then asked, “So what are you coming to town for? Wanna be a pirate?”
“No, as a matter of fact.” Lawrence loosened his restraints a bit. “I’m looking for a transport off-world.”
“And you’re coming to Abregado-rae City? Why here?” He asked.
“What better place to find a respectable transport than the capital of a world?” Lawrence replied, no longer sure that his assumption was wise.
“Well,” the pilot began. “It all depends on where I land this thing. If I go Modern, you should find fare easily enough – though it’ll cost you a cute credit or two.”
“And if you don’t go Modern?”
The pilot laughed again. “If I go to the Old Patch, you’ll either hire me to take you where you want to go or you’ll be walking there.”
“Is that a threat!?” Larence demanded. “Because if you’re threatening me I’ll-”
“You’ll do what, exactly?” The pilot bit back with enough venom to drop a rancor. “Far as I can tell, you’re the only passenger on my starship. And on top of that you’re unarmed and probably couldn’t tell the difference between a holster and a blaster even if I shot you with one. What are you gonna do?”
Larence fell silent.
“But no, I ain’t threatening you, boy. In fact, I’m trying to offer you a deal.”
“A deal?”
“Since you’re obviously out of the loop, I’ll tell you a secret. Abregado-rae City may look all mujas and prishts to you, but it’s not. Not in the slightest. The government swept in, cleaned the place up, then left the same way they came. Law ain’t much around the town, except for what you bring with you. Once we land, I’ll be your best bet for getting out of the system.”
“How can I trust you?”
“Did we crash?”
Larence thought about his options while he tried figuring out if his pilot was lying to him or not. From a few kilometers out, the capital looked fairly nice still. The canals were sparkling blue, the buildings peaceful white.
Landing control hailed the ship, and the pilot was quick to respond. He got clearance to land at pad E673-OP, which led Larence to believe they were in fact heading for the Old Patch.
The pilot killed his com, then turned to Larence. “So what’s it gonna be, boy? Am I your pilot?”
“I suppose I don’t have a whole lot of choice in the matter, do I?”
“None at all, as a matter of fact,” the pilot smirked.
“Well then I need to know one thing. What’s your name?”
“I have a name?” The pilot teased. Larence was taken aback for a moment, but caught the lop-sided grin on the other’s face and understood the humor the pilot must have been in.
“Of course you have a name. Everybody’s got a name.”
“Well then some day I’ll have to tell you about this Gand I knew…”
“Look, if you don’t tell me your name then I can chance it on my own.”
The pilot took his hands off the controls and raised them over his head in surrender. The starship immediately sagged to the side and sank in altitude. “Fine, fine! I give up! I’ll tell you my blasted name!”
Larence yelped as the ground climbed up to meet them. “He-hoo! I don’t care about the name - We’re gonna crash!!”
The pilot flashed back to the controls and brought his ship out of the dive. “Whoops. I sure do that a lot…”
Then he turned back to Larence. “Anyways, my name’s Peman Deele. Call me Peman, call me Deele, call me Captain, call me Sir. Don’t care which.” |
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| fingolfin |
| Posted: Fri Jun 16, 2006 9:48 am |
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Joined: 30 Mar 2006
Posts: 321
Location: it's getting hotter in Iowa every day
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| That was ... um... short and went into fine detail like in a long novel. if I had to rate it out of five stars I would give it a 3 1/2. |
Soldier: why'd you do that captain?
John Wayne: Because I hate your guts!!
Exerpt from "Iwo Jima." |
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| menace64 |
| Posted: Sat Jun 17, 2006 6:51 am |
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Joined: 12 Apr 2006
Posts: 836
Location: Wichita, Kansas
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fingolfin wrote: That was ... um... short and went into fine detail like in a long novel. if I had to rate it out of five stars I would give it a 3 1/2.
lol, of course it was short. It’s only the beginning of the beginning. 
Thanks a whole bunch for reading it, though. I should have more soon. |
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| fingolfin |
| Posted: Sat Jun 17, 2006 8:31 am |
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Joined: 30 Mar 2006
Posts: 321
Location: it's getting hotter in Iowa every day
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| I am looking foreward to it. |
Soldier: why'd you do that captain?
John Wayne: Because I hate your guts!!
Exerpt from "Iwo Jima." |
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