Neo Chronicles: Black Void
Episode 22: Pirates
Table of Contents
When I'm asleep, there're times when I know it and times when I don't.
When I don't, it's amazing. I'm dreaming but I'm still following the rules. The rules may not always make sense after the fact, but they're still followed.
When I do, it's even better. That's when I realize there aren't any rules. I can do whatever I want right up until the time I wake up. Like right now, I'm in the kitchen. It's got a fridge, a sink, an' a stove. Got an oven too, but it broke, so we got one of those plug in convection ovens right between the microwave and the sink. Maybe not the safest place, but whatever. We make it work.
Mom's is upstairs, probably asleep. It's the weekend. I'm sittin' on a stool by the counter top. I just made me a peanut butter jelly sandwich. Got a nice tall cup of milk to chase it down with. Everything's great. Then comes Jade. She tryna tell me how stupid I am. Callin' me names, doin' everything she can in her power to get me to move. I'm not movin'. Why? Because the counter is my spot. It's where I sit down to eat. Problem is, she thinks it's her spot, too. She always does that. Everything that I make mine, she feels like it should be hers. That junk be gettin' annoyin'.
I ain't budgin'. So like every little sister does, she starts to get violent. Smackin' me on the back, shoutin' out some gibberish only 12 year olds like herself could understand, an' basically jus' actin' silly.
Now normally in situations like this, I'da got upset, ran upstairs an' told mommy. It be like that some times. But right now, I got two things goin' for me.
This is a dream.
And I know it.
So I jus make her go away. Jus like that, she fades to white. An' I get to eat my peanut butter jelly.
Now I'm thinkin' that I'm gonna have to wake up now. I got my peace. Time to come back down to the real world.
And here I am right where we left off last time. I'm slouched up against a big metal door on a cold metal floor in this big empty storage room. The flashing red warning light is still flickering every few seconds, but the alarm that was goin' off with it has stopped. No idea what that actually means.
What do I do now?
On the bright side, I think whatever crud that wasp freak shot me with has worn off. Thank you for that. Hopefully that jus means it was temporary.
I gotta do somethin' here. The ship has been attacked. There're strangers on it. Don't know who they are. Maybe some folks who've got beef wit Ran an' Carlos, maybe friends of Ri'lar, maybe jus' some thieves. That junk don't really matter since they'd all be against me.
Guess I'm defendin' this ship then. My sword's here. It may or may not got the ability to absorb energy. Good to know since they got energy based weapons.
How many of 'em are there? How close are they to me? If I were to jump out right now, what would I run into? Are Ran an' Carlos already dead? The ship ain't movin'. No windows in this room, so I can't jus look outside to see what's goin' on out there.
I'm jus' sittin' on the floor right now, knockin' the back of my head against this door. Not knowing is the worst. Jus' need to jump in head first an' run wit it. Did it get cold all of a sudden? I'm shakin'. Shoot. Calm down, dude. Dang. Alright.
Alright.
Time to put in work. I'm on my feet. Got my sword at the ready. I open the door and the first thing I see?
Nothin'.
The halls is empty. Look left. Look right. Nothin'. I pick right an' start walkin'. I think about runnin', but decide that sneakin' around would be better. Think ninja. Think assassin. That be me.
So I'm walkin' all stealthily an' junk for about 10 minutes now. It's not that I'm walkin' slow. This is a big ship. 5 minutes to get from place to place on a boat like this ain't that uncommon. These halls is large. I'm lookin' in every crevice as I pass by, checkin' every corner before I get there, makin' sure to check my back every so often—more like frequently—jus' to make sure I know what's around me at all times.
Still nothin'.
Did they leave? Maybe they got what they want while I was KO'd. How long was I out anyway?
I finally make it to the front of the ship where the piloting controls are. Before I even get there, I'm hearin' a firefight goin' on. Lot's of BZZT's an' PEW's. I do well to stay out of everyone's line of site as I make my way on deck. Stickin' to the corners an' walls, doin' my best to minimize the sounds I make.
Turns out the fight's between Carlos an' some ugly lookin' somethin's. Wasp-like creatures, yeti-lookin' whatever's, jelly-shaped things, they all got guns, an' they all lightin' up the place. Nobody's really payin' attention to where they shootin'. The aliens are definitely shootin' in Carlos's direction, but with how often he's teleportin' around the place, none of their shots find their mark.
I check over my shoulder to make sure nothin's behind me, an' make my way closer to the fight. I'm gonna go in an' take out as many of 'em at once before they notice me. Then when Carlos realizes he's got back up, we're gonna clean up the rest to—My heart leaps. I feel a cold chill all over me.
Something touched my shoulder from behind.
What the crud?
One of 'em done snuck up on me!
I take a quick step to the side an' turn towards it. Some four legged thing with an upper torso. Two arms, a head. Sorta like a centaur, 'cept instead of fur an' hair, it's got green scales. It's alone, so I'm about ta step in an' strike it down, but it speaks. It speaks, and I hear it.
“Calm down, it's me.” it says. I understand it. I understand it like I actually heard it. Like my translator's supposed to make me understand everything, but I still can hear the alien part layered with it. There wasn't an alien part with it, so it spoke English.
Then my brain comes back on, and I realize that it's probably Ran. All that adrenaline's still rushin' at me. That loud thump, thump, thump is poundin' in my chess, but I'm thinkin' straight.
“Ran?” I ask.
She answers by shifting back to the human lady I know. Standard white lady skin, red-brown hair down to her shoulders, wearin' a space suit sorta like mine. Strange, since she usually likes to wear people clothes most of the time. I guess this is her battle suit. Whatever.
She pulls me back into the hall an' starts spittin' somethin' at me.
“Where've you been?” she asks.
“Asleep,” I answer.
“I'm going to pretend that was a joke.”
“Ayo, if you end up gettin' shot by their weapons, you'll be sleepin' too.”
“Oh you got—that's not good.”
“Whatchu tryna say?”
“You seem fine, though. Maybe—”
“Whatchu tryna say, Ran?”
“We'll deal with that later. Right now, we gotta get the ship back.”
“Am I gonna die?”
“Not yet, but maybe.”
“Raaan.”
“Keep your voice down. Carlos is keeping them busy right now. I think there were others on the other side of the ship. A couple more in some other rooms.”
“What do they want?”
“They're pirates. What do you think?”
“They're pirates?”
“That is the word for it, right? People who travel around attacking ships, stealing as many valuables as they can?”
“And they're here?”
“The ship's already taken heavy damage on the outside. We're trying to keep them from breaking everything else up on the inside.”
“Then come on, let's get to it. We gotta fight 'em off.”
“Let's not.”
“Why?”
“The ship is falling apart. What do you think us breaking it is gonna do?”
“Then what do we do?”
“I don't know yet.”
I catch something out the corner of my eye. We've been spotted, and it doesn't take long for the lizard lookin' pirate man to take aim. With the adrenaline still puttin' me in hyper reflex mode, I instinctively move between him and Ran raising my sword.
The blast he fires hits the flat side of my blade head on. Worked just like a charm. A surge of energy, like I just ate a dozen donuts—blueberry of course—at once without the immediate itis effect after. You know about the itis, right? That sleepy feelin' you get after eatin' a big meal full of high cholesterol, fat, sodium—the good stuff basically. Soul food. I think white people call the itis somethin' else. Yeah, food coma. Dat's da itis, an' right now I don't feel none a that.
Right now, I'm on some grade A, fruity tooty, hyperactive energy rush, jus from that one shot, an' the lizard dude is still firin' at me. This sword's takin' it all in. I like it.
“Well, Ran. When you do figure it out. Let me know. Right now, I'mma handle my business here.”
“Darius, no!”
I think she says somethin' else, but I ain't hearin' it. Nah, I'm already rushin' the lizard dude, usin' the sword as a shield. Manage to run up right in his face. BLAO, smack him out cold with it.
I turn back to Ran, pass her a glance as I motion towards Carlos an' his troubles. Ran shrugs her shoulders. I take that as her giving me the go-ahead.
Forget bein' sneaky. We goin' in.
Episode 22: Pirates
Table of Contents
When I'm asleep, there're times when I know it and times when I don't.
When I don't, it's amazing. I'm dreaming but I'm still following the rules. The rules may not always make sense after the fact, but they're still followed.
When I do, it's even better. That's when I realize there aren't any rules. I can do whatever I want right up until the time I wake up. Like right now, I'm in the kitchen. It's got a fridge, a sink, an' a stove. Got an oven too, but it broke, so we got one of those plug in convection ovens right between the microwave and the sink. Maybe not the safest place, but whatever. We make it work.
Mom's is upstairs, probably asleep. It's the weekend. I'm sittin' on a stool by the counter top. I just made me a peanut butter jelly sandwich. Got a nice tall cup of milk to chase it down with. Everything's great. Then comes Jade. She tryna tell me how stupid I am. Callin' me names, doin' everything she can in her power to get me to move. I'm not movin'. Why? Because the counter is my spot. It's where I sit down to eat. Problem is, she thinks it's her spot, too. She always does that. Everything that I make mine, she feels like it should be hers. That junk be gettin' annoyin'.
I ain't budgin'. So like every little sister does, she starts to get violent. Smackin' me on the back, shoutin' out some gibberish only 12 year olds like herself could understand, an' basically jus' actin' silly.
Now normally in situations like this, I'da got upset, ran upstairs an' told mommy. It be like that some times. But right now, I got two things goin' for me.
This is a dream.
And I know it.
So I jus make her go away. Jus like that, she fades to white. An' I get to eat my peanut butter jelly.
Now I'm thinkin' that I'm gonna have to wake up now. I got my peace. Time to come back down to the real world.
And here I am right where we left off last time. I'm slouched up against a big metal door on a cold metal floor in this big empty storage room. The flashing red warning light is still flickering every few seconds, but the alarm that was goin' off with it has stopped. No idea what that actually means.
What do I do now?
On the bright side, I think whatever crud that wasp freak shot me with has worn off. Thank you for that. Hopefully that jus means it was temporary.
I gotta do somethin' here. The ship has been attacked. There're strangers on it. Don't know who they are. Maybe some folks who've got beef wit Ran an' Carlos, maybe friends of Ri'lar, maybe jus' some thieves. That junk don't really matter since they'd all be against me.
Guess I'm defendin' this ship then. My sword's here. It may or may not got the ability to absorb energy. Good to know since they got energy based weapons.
How many of 'em are there? How close are they to me? If I were to jump out right now, what would I run into? Are Ran an' Carlos already dead? The ship ain't movin'. No windows in this room, so I can't jus look outside to see what's goin' on out there.
I'm jus' sittin' on the floor right now, knockin' the back of my head against this door. Not knowing is the worst. Jus' need to jump in head first an' run wit it. Did it get cold all of a sudden? I'm shakin'. Shoot. Calm down, dude. Dang. Alright.
Alright.
Time to put in work. I'm on my feet. Got my sword at the ready. I open the door and the first thing I see?
Nothin'.
The halls is empty. Look left. Look right. Nothin'. I pick right an' start walkin'. I think about runnin', but decide that sneakin' around would be better. Think ninja. Think assassin. That be me.
So I'm walkin' all stealthily an' junk for about 10 minutes now. It's not that I'm walkin' slow. This is a big ship. 5 minutes to get from place to place on a boat like this ain't that uncommon. These halls is large. I'm lookin' in every crevice as I pass by, checkin' every corner before I get there, makin' sure to check my back every so often—more like frequently—jus' to make sure I know what's around me at all times.
Still nothin'.
Did they leave? Maybe they got what they want while I was KO'd. How long was I out anyway?
I finally make it to the front of the ship where the piloting controls are. Before I even get there, I'm hearin' a firefight goin' on. Lot's of BZZT's an' PEW's. I do well to stay out of everyone's line of site as I make my way on deck. Stickin' to the corners an' walls, doin' my best to minimize the sounds I make.
Turns out the fight's between Carlos an' some ugly lookin' somethin's. Wasp-like creatures, yeti-lookin' whatever's, jelly-shaped things, they all got guns, an' they all lightin' up the place. Nobody's really payin' attention to where they shootin'. The aliens are definitely shootin' in Carlos's direction, but with how often he's teleportin' around the place, none of their shots find their mark.
I check over my shoulder to make sure nothin's behind me, an' make my way closer to the fight. I'm gonna go in an' take out as many of 'em at once before they notice me. Then when Carlos realizes he's got back up, we're gonna clean up the rest to—My heart leaps. I feel a cold chill all over me.
Something touched my shoulder from behind.
What the crud?
One of 'em done snuck up on me!
I take a quick step to the side an' turn towards it. Some four legged thing with an upper torso. Two arms, a head. Sorta like a centaur, 'cept instead of fur an' hair, it's got green scales. It's alone, so I'm about ta step in an' strike it down, but it speaks. It speaks, and I hear it.
“Calm down, it's me.” it says. I understand it. I understand it like I actually heard it. Like my translator's supposed to make me understand everything, but I still can hear the alien part layered with it. There wasn't an alien part with it, so it spoke English.
Then my brain comes back on, and I realize that it's probably Ran. All that adrenaline's still rushin' at me. That loud thump, thump, thump is poundin' in my chess, but I'm thinkin' straight.
“Ran?” I ask.
She answers by shifting back to the human lady I know. Standard white lady skin, red-brown hair down to her shoulders, wearin' a space suit sorta like mine. Strange, since she usually likes to wear people clothes most of the time. I guess this is her battle suit. Whatever.
She pulls me back into the hall an' starts spittin' somethin' at me.
“Where've you been?” she asks.
“Asleep,” I answer.
“I'm going to pretend that was a joke.”
“Ayo, if you end up gettin' shot by their weapons, you'll be sleepin' too.”
“Oh you got—that's not good.”
“Whatchu tryna say?”
“You seem fine, though. Maybe—”
“Whatchu tryna say, Ran?”
“We'll deal with that later. Right now, we gotta get the ship back.”
“Am I gonna die?”
“Not yet, but maybe.”
“Raaan.”
“Keep your voice down. Carlos is keeping them busy right now. I think there were others on the other side of the ship. A couple more in some other rooms.”
“What do they want?”
“They're pirates. What do you think?”
“They're pirates?”
“That is the word for it, right? People who travel around attacking ships, stealing as many valuables as they can?”
“And they're here?”
“The ship's already taken heavy damage on the outside. We're trying to keep them from breaking everything else up on the inside.”
“Then come on, let's get to it. We gotta fight 'em off.”
“Let's not.”
“Why?”
“The ship is falling apart. What do you think us breaking it is gonna do?”
“Then what do we do?”
“I don't know yet.”
I catch something out the corner of my eye. We've been spotted, and it doesn't take long for the lizard lookin' pirate man to take aim. With the adrenaline still puttin' me in hyper reflex mode, I instinctively move between him and Ran raising my sword.
The blast he fires hits the flat side of my blade head on. Worked just like a charm. A surge of energy, like I just ate a dozen donuts—blueberry of course—at once without the immediate itis effect after. You know about the itis, right? That sleepy feelin' you get after eatin' a big meal full of high cholesterol, fat, sodium—the good stuff basically. Soul food. I think white people call the itis somethin' else. Yeah, food coma. Dat's da itis, an' right now I don't feel none a that.
Right now, I'm on some grade A, fruity tooty, hyperactive energy rush, jus from that one shot, an' the lizard dude is still firin' at me. This sword's takin' it all in. I like it.
“Well, Ran. When you do figure it out. Let me know. Right now, I'mma handle my business here.”
“Darius, no!”
I think she says somethin' else, but I ain't hearin' it. Nah, I'm already rushin' the lizard dude, usin' the sword as a shield. Manage to run up right in his face. BLAO, smack him out cold with it.
I turn back to Ran, pass her a glance as I motion towards Carlos an' his troubles. Ran shrugs her shoulders. I take that as her giving me the go-ahead.
Forget bein' sneaky. We goin' in.
