Neo Chronicles: Black Void
Episode 24: Breaking Point
Table of Contents
“Ran's dead, Darius. Do you get that? She's dead, and it's on me for freezing up.” Carlos is upset.
Things could be worse right? Our ship was attacked. It was a big ship, the biggest moving thing for transportation I've seen in my life. Something like that, I'd expect only rich people to have. Or the government. Yeah, government peeps got everything.
It was too fancy. Back home, for that thing to last longer than a day without someone comin' up tryna start somethin' is impressive. It was just a matter of time before some pirates came up and—listen to myself.
We got attacked by space pirates! No wonder Carlos is freakin' out. I'm freakin' out. Ran's probably—wait—
“Didn't she die before? Last time a whole planet blew up on her—”
“Idiota! There was a Visigen there to save her!”
“What?”
“You were there, weren't you?”
“No. I got out before the splody thing happened.”
“Dang, ese. You missed out. The Vis was there to give birth. Since their babies are born from planets, the madre had to clear everyone off quick. Obviously, not everyone got off, so she sorta protected the rest with shields an' sent them off to the nearest star system. Real cool from what I heard, considering a certain someone tried to beat her up.”
“Man, dat's sum bull! That lady said she was gonna kill everyone!”
“Well, she didn't. All she wanted was her kid.”
“Which used to be a planet.” I take a moment to process this. “Visigens are planets?”
“More like certain planets are Visigens, hombre, I don't know how it works! Every alien's got some weird birth cycle, but that's besides the point! Ran didn't die then. Chances are, she's dead now!”
“Well dang. Dang. She's dead then?”
“What did I just tell you!?”
“I hear you, dude! I hear you!” Caught myself shouting again. I take another moment, and whisper. “But we can't think a that right now. I know it sucks, but we jus can't. We runnin' high an' dry in tha middle a sum crazy tailed space pirates who just tried to kill us. We gotta find some way to survive. Ya feel me?”
He shoots a strong, stern look my way. His brown eyes looking extra creepy under this low light. Under his curly, shaggy, black hair that frames his face like a window, you can see the glisten his forehead sweat gives. He's nervous, he's scared, he's—he's looking the same way that I feel.
“Carlos?” I ask. “C'mon, dude. You can't be breakin' down on me now. We jus lost Ran.” Probably shouldna said that. I'm still the outsider here. He and her probably went through a lot of tough times together. Probably a lot more than me an' Ri'lar did. They got a bond. They had a bond.
“s**t, alright. I hear ya.”
“You good?”
“Yeah, I'm good.”
“You sure?”
“Sure enough.”
I breathe a sigh of relief at the sound of that. Carlos has finally calmed down. He's stopped yelling. He's standing still. His eyes don't look all bugged out like they get when he's mad. He's finally thinkin' straight.
“Good.” I say. “Good, so what's the plan?”
“I'm thinkin' we take over the ship.”
“Just like that?”
“Just like that.”
“Is you crazy?”
“As hard as this is to believe, I've been keeping track of exactly how old I am. Thirty-three. I'm thirty-three years old, and I'm still not used to that question.”
This dude is insane. He ain't calm. He's mad! He went up a level, not down! I'm gonna die, an' it's gonna be his fault.
“Okay.” I gotta stick this out. He's all I got left. “Take over the ship. Okay. How?”
“Kinda thinkin' of just wingin' it.”
Just what? My God. My God! “Okay. Dude, you wanna—know what—let's go.”
I smash what looks like one of those touch panels that's on the wall, hoping that it'll open the door next to it. Not realizing my own strength in the moment, I accidentally shatter the glass that made it up. The door still opens, though. Makes something of a hissing sound as it does for some reason, but it opens.
I step out. Carlos steps out.
First thing I see is a hall full of every different typa alien this side of the universe. Dozens upon dozens, all crowded around us, all taking note of us, all surprised to see us, all drawing their firearms on us. Guns of all shapes and sizes wielded by creatures of even more shapes and sizes.
The hall goes quiet. Only thing makin' a sound is the revving up of some of these people's very large plasma cannons.
This bulky, muscular, dog faced human-like dude is growling at me as I stare down the barrel of his very large, high tech looking, light flashing blaster. I'd be lying if I didn't say my butt clenches up a bit.
Instantly, my mind races towards finding the quickest solution to getting out of here. Practically every pirate on this ship is here. They all know me an' Carlos are here. They're all ready to kill us. If I run straight ahead, I'd bump into at least four or five people before making it to that door on the other end of the hall. Maybe if we go back inside the room we came out of, we could find a way—oh, but I broke the door. Can Carlos teleport us downstairs? What if there're more people?
“Way I see it,” I hear a voice coming from the far corner of the hall. The aliens step aside to make room for whoever's talking to walk through.
It's a cyborg of some sort. He's got four, large bulky legs like an elephant from the waist down. One of the forelegs is robotic. For a torso, he's got something of a large gut on him that flabs out of his red, unbuttoned jacket. He's got four arms. Two of 'em seem to be like the dominant ones. They look the most human like, and his other smaller arms are under the armpits of the bigger ones. His face has a distinct, elongated jaw line, almost like a snout. He's got three eyes, all of which look like they were replaced for cybernetics. I think that's hair coming off his head, but it's covered up by a—is that a? No really? It's covered by a black, gold trimmed, three cornered hat. Pirates man.
“You got two choices here,” he goes on to say as he makes his way in front of us. Standing at him face to face, he's definitely taller than us. Seven feet. Seven and a half? About as tall as Ri'lar was. Maybe an inch or two shorter. He's towerin' over us. Very intimidating. I'm all frozen up stiff already.
After taking a look at the folks behind him, chuckling a bit with that large grin of his, he turns back to us and says. “Join our crew or die.”
I'm sorry what?
Not even half a moment later, I hear Carlos say, “Done. We'll join.”
I turn to him. I look him dead in his eye. Confused. Bewildered. Betrayed. They just killed Ran, and he's ready to what?
How could he be so—I clench my fist. I grit my teeth. I'm not even conscious of myself in the moment right now, but I know all of this is happening. I drop my sword, and lunge at the guy, tackle him to the ground. I hear him call out my name, telling me to stop and get a grip of myself. I think I got a firm grip of exactly what I wanna do.
I pull back my fist, lock my gaze with his, and...
Nothin'.
I black out right there on the spot.
Episode 24: Breaking Point
Table of Contents
“Ran's dead, Darius. Do you get that? She's dead, and it's on me for freezing up.” Carlos is upset.
Things could be worse right? Our ship was attacked. It was a big ship, the biggest moving thing for transportation I've seen in my life. Something like that, I'd expect only rich people to have. Or the government. Yeah, government peeps got everything.
It was too fancy. Back home, for that thing to last longer than a day without someone comin' up tryna start somethin' is impressive. It was just a matter of time before some pirates came up and—listen to myself.
We got attacked by space pirates! No wonder Carlos is freakin' out. I'm freakin' out. Ran's probably—wait—
“Didn't she die before? Last time a whole planet blew up on her—”
“Idiota! There was a Visigen there to save her!”
“What?”
“You were there, weren't you?”
“No. I got out before the splody thing happened.”
“Dang, ese. You missed out. The Vis was there to give birth. Since their babies are born from planets, the madre had to clear everyone off quick. Obviously, not everyone got off, so she sorta protected the rest with shields an' sent them off to the nearest star system. Real cool from what I heard, considering a certain someone tried to beat her up.”
“Man, dat's sum bull! That lady said she was gonna kill everyone!”
“Well, she didn't. All she wanted was her kid.”
“Which used to be a planet.” I take a moment to process this. “Visigens are planets?”
“More like certain planets are Visigens, hombre, I don't know how it works! Every alien's got some weird birth cycle, but that's besides the point! Ran didn't die then. Chances are, she's dead now!”
“Well dang. Dang. She's dead then?”
“What did I just tell you!?”
“I hear you, dude! I hear you!” Caught myself shouting again. I take another moment, and whisper. “But we can't think a that right now. I know it sucks, but we jus can't. We runnin' high an' dry in tha middle a sum crazy tailed space pirates who just tried to kill us. We gotta find some way to survive. Ya feel me?”
He shoots a strong, stern look my way. His brown eyes looking extra creepy under this low light. Under his curly, shaggy, black hair that frames his face like a window, you can see the glisten his forehead sweat gives. He's nervous, he's scared, he's—he's looking the same way that I feel.
“Carlos?” I ask. “C'mon, dude. You can't be breakin' down on me now. We jus lost Ran.” Probably shouldna said that. I'm still the outsider here. He and her probably went through a lot of tough times together. Probably a lot more than me an' Ri'lar did. They got a bond. They had a bond.
“s**t, alright. I hear ya.”
“You good?”
“Yeah, I'm good.”
“You sure?”
“Sure enough.”
I breathe a sigh of relief at the sound of that. Carlos has finally calmed down. He's stopped yelling. He's standing still. His eyes don't look all bugged out like they get when he's mad. He's finally thinkin' straight.
“Good.” I say. “Good, so what's the plan?”
“I'm thinkin' we take over the ship.”
“Just like that?”
“Just like that.”
“Is you crazy?”
“As hard as this is to believe, I've been keeping track of exactly how old I am. Thirty-three. I'm thirty-three years old, and I'm still not used to that question.”
This dude is insane. He ain't calm. He's mad! He went up a level, not down! I'm gonna die, an' it's gonna be his fault.
“Okay.” I gotta stick this out. He's all I got left. “Take over the ship. Okay. How?”
“Kinda thinkin' of just wingin' it.”
Just what? My God. My God! “Okay. Dude, you wanna—know what—let's go.”
I smash what looks like one of those touch panels that's on the wall, hoping that it'll open the door next to it. Not realizing my own strength in the moment, I accidentally shatter the glass that made it up. The door still opens, though. Makes something of a hissing sound as it does for some reason, but it opens.
I step out. Carlos steps out.
First thing I see is a hall full of every different typa alien this side of the universe. Dozens upon dozens, all crowded around us, all taking note of us, all surprised to see us, all drawing their firearms on us. Guns of all shapes and sizes wielded by creatures of even more shapes and sizes.
The hall goes quiet. Only thing makin' a sound is the revving up of some of these people's very large plasma cannons.
This bulky, muscular, dog faced human-like dude is growling at me as I stare down the barrel of his very large, high tech looking, light flashing blaster. I'd be lying if I didn't say my butt clenches up a bit.
Instantly, my mind races towards finding the quickest solution to getting out of here. Practically every pirate on this ship is here. They all know me an' Carlos are here. They're all ready to kill us. If I run straight ahead, I'd bump into at least four or five people before making it to that door on the other end of the hall. Maybe if we go back inside the room we came out of, we could find a way—oh, but I broke the door. Can Carlos teleport us downstairs? What if there're more people?
“Way I see it,” I hear a voice coming from the far corner of the hall. The aliens step aside to make room for whoever's talking to walk through.
It's a cyborg of some sort. He's got four, large bulky legs like an elephant from the waist down. One of the forelegs is robotic. For a torso, he's got something of a large gut on him that flabs out of his red, unbuttoned jacket. He's got four arms. Two of 'em seem to be like the dominant ones. They look the most human like, and his other smaller arms are under the armpits of the bigger ones. His face has a distinct, elongated jaw line, almost like a snout. He's got three eyes, all of which look like they were replaced for cybernetics. I think that's hair coming off his head, but it's covered up by a—is that a? No really? It's covered by a black, gold trimmed, three cornered hat. Pirates man.
“You got two choices here,” he goes on to say as he makes his way in front of us. Standing at him face to face, he's definitely taller than us. Seven feet. Seven and a half? About as tall as Ri'lar was. Maybe an inch or two shorter. He's towerin' over us. Very intimidating. I'm all frozen up stiff already.
After taking a look at the folks behind him, chuckling a bit with that large grin of his, he turns back to us and says. “Join our crew or die.”
I'm sorry what?
Not even half a moment later, I hear Carlos say, “Done. We'll join.”
I turn to him. I look him dead in his eye. Confused. Bewildered. Betrayed. They just killed Ran, and he's ready to what?
How could he be so—I clench my fist. I grit my teeth. I'm not even conscious of myself in the moment right now, but I know all of this is happening. I drop my sword, and lunge at the guy, tackle him to the ground. I hear him call out my name, telling me to stop and get a grip of myself. I think I got a firm grip of exactly what I wanna do.
I pull back my fist, lock my gaze with his, and...
Nothin'.
I black out right there on the spot.
