Neo Chronicles: Black Void
Episode 17: Meteors or Meteorites?
Table of Contents
Maybe he's just takin' a nap. It could just be the way these dudes sleep. He's not dead. He can't be dead.
I think I just killed him.
He was just a kid.
Crud, I didn't know it was him though. Darn it. He's dead.
He's not moving at all.
The sky's still raining meteorites every which way. I'm thinkin' they had something to do with this. Gotta take a step back and think. Juun said he's never seen this happen before. That means this is out of the ordinary. Something's off. What do I do about it? What can I do? I ain't nobody.
It's a long walk on the way back the the dome house place. Not long in the sense that it takes a while, but—I feel like how I felt leaving Miraivus. That whole planet got destroyed, and I kinda feel like it was my fault. I know it wasn't, and I know I really couldn't have stopped that Visigen from doin' what she did, but that junk—it gets to you.
There's Carlos at the—what is he doin'? He's rushing to the front door and yellin' like a fool. I walk inside and see him gatherin' some bags—luggage more like it.
“What are you doin'? You don't see the sky fallin' outside? We gotta go! Ran's already at the ship. Move it!”
I guess I should be worried. Now I know those meteorites are a weird thing. I'm interested in why it's happening, but I'm also interested in living, so I put a slight pep in my step, pick up a couple of bags to help out, and follow Carlos outside.
“Where's Juun-Met?” he asks as we're running. Of course he asks. He knew him. Probably knew him better than I did. And I—well, no use in hiding it.
“I think I killed him.”
“You what? That's—dang, well I probably woulda had to do it, too. Those meteorites are doin' some crazy caca to the natives of this planet. If you didn't do it, he woulda died anyway.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean—he did transform into a humongo dinosaur lookin' thing, right? Everyone around here's doin' that, and then five minutes later, they just kill over dead. I don't know the details, but I do know that if we stay here, we might end up bein' just like 'em.”
Wait, that did happen. I knew I didn't kill him. He just—well, that changes things. Now that I know those rocks are messin' things up, I gotta—I gotta do what? Still don't know how or why or what for real.
We make it to the boat. Ran's ship is huge. Never had the time to actually look at it from the outside. Way bigger than Ri'lar's truck. This is like—it's like a house and a boat and a truck with some wings on the side. I guess the closest thing to liken it to is like those aircraft carriers from home—from earth.
Inside, me and Carlos find Ran in the main cockpit area doin' whatever it is people do to get these things in orbit. Aside from a quick jolting feeling, everything seems to go okay. We're off the planet, looking down on how red and green it is. There's splotches of blue sprinkled about. I guess that's the water. Things sorta get weightless for a bit, then artificial gravity kicks in.
I see Ran let out a sigh of relief. I'm still mad at her, by the way. Sure, she gave that big sap story about why she did it, but that don't really—gotta get past this. Don't worry, I will get past it. Just not—not today. Let me through, Carlos.
“So we got any idea what that was about?” I hear him ask. He's talking to the both of us, but I leave without givin' him the time of day. Nothin' against him, it's just—you know.
So I'm in the hallway. It's a big hallway. It's a big hallway on a big boat. I miss Juun. He was cool. I wish he didn't—yo, what was that about? Something catches my eye outside. I enter an empty room to look out a window. We're still in the planet's orbit, so I'm watching the falling rocks slam down over the world from a different angle. It's kinda cool looking. Something magical about it. Like it's out of this—oh, well I guess it sorta is. Especially considering—well, you know.
What is that? There's something off about where the meteorites—wait, they're not “ites” yet, right? While they're out here, they're just meteors. Or is it the other way around? Like I know. If I was back home, I could just ask the live feed on the air waves. Search engines run the world. So why are they doin' that?
They're sorta just—I don't know how meteors are supposed to be acting, but seeing them sorta being fired off from a big rock that doesn't look like it should be floating like it is next to the planet is just—it's just off. I wanna get a closer look. I gotta get a closer look.
What do I do? Should I just go out there? I got my space suit on. All I gotta do is find the helmet, and I could be out there okay. But then there's that whole weightless thing. I kinda try to avoid it as much as I can because it feels weird, and I don't think it's good on the bones. I think I read that somewhere. Or is it on the muscles? Maybe that just means I need to exercise more? I don't know. I just know that I'm goin'.
I find my helmet, put the visor down, got the oxygen flowin' through. I got my sword attached to the magnetic holster thingy. My suits all fitted up. No holes in it, no skin's exposed. Space is supposed to be cold, so I gotta make sure the internal heat is up. If I could read this alien language running down my visor, I'd feel more certain about what I'm doin', but havin' looked at the pictures accompanying it, I think I'm understanding how it works. Hopefully. I could be wrong and end up killing myself.
I'm outside right now. With all the fumbling I did at the door, I'm sure that Ran and Carlos know I'm out here. Boat's gotta have some kinda sensors or somethin' to let 'em know, right? So I'm floating now. Haven't really done this before—not like this anyway. I've been flying around on ships, walkin' on other worlds, moons, an' all that, but I haven't been out like this, just floating before. How do I move? Do I just keep going? What happens if I float all the way to the planet? Will I get sucked in? Is that how gravity works? The smaller thing gets pulled to the bigger thing. At least the suit's heat is working, sorta.
I'm drifting, like I'm lost at sea. The good thing is I pushed off towards the big rock that I was trying to get to. As for what I find? Well, it's even weirder. Turns out that there's something attached to the rock. It's a big metal thing. I'd say it's like a space ship, but it's literally attached to it. Like a space—yo, that's a space station!
I try to propel myself, but it's not really workin' like I pictured it in my head. How do space ships work? They got rocket fuel, and that fuel goes to the engine, the engine makes some sorta explosion, and the explosion pushes them. I'm notta engineer or nothin', but I think I need somethin' to propel me. I don't got that. If I had a jetpack, maybe, but I don't, so I'm just drifting. I guess I could try flailin' around, but I don't think that'll do me much good.
Maybe I could—nah that'd be crazy. It'd be crazy, but maybe—well. What if I did that aura slash thing? Like I swing my sword, shoot off the energy blade, and—I guess that'd work. No use in not tryin'.
Sword gripped tight. I turn around to reorient. Pull back. Swing—and nothin'. Not nothin' like nothin' happens. Somethin' happens. This aura blast thing's become like second nature to me now. I can blast off as many shots an' beams as I want. One's all that's needed to get me goin'. Burstin' out in a sea of blue. It's just weird that there's no sound to it. No atmosphere to carry it. Never realized it like that first hand, but I guess it makes sense. It's just so out of this world.
So I'm movin' with some speed now. It's crazy cool. I'm literally flyin' through space. Not as fast as a ship or nothin', but I guess if I sent off another few shots, I could, but this is good enough. A little more than cruisin' speed. Definitely faster than jus' walkin'.
I guess I'm just gonna ram upside it. Don't see how else I'm stopping. Maybe if I can find just grab something when I bump into it. And then I could see if I could find a way inside. Or maybe—what's this? Some guy just popped up next to me outta nowhere. And he just—what?
Next thing I know I'm not flying in space anymore. I'm standing inside some dark room. The dude who grabbed me is standing next to me looking out some window. Where am—
“Eres un idiota!” the guy says as he takes off his helmet. “What were you thinking?”
Oh, it's Carlos. I guess he can teleport. That's good to know. So are we back on Ran's ship or—it looks different. No, I don't think this is—yeah, this isn't her boat.
“Are you listening? You coulda got yourself killed! How old are you? Me an' Ran can't be babysitting your a** like this. You need to grow up, quick! Mierda!”
I feel bad. He's obviously upset, and it was kinda stupid of me to just jump off the boat to float around in space. Shoulda thought that through. Stupid, man. Just stupid. I guess I needed him to tell me that for it to sink in.
“Sorry man. I get it. That was on me. My bad.”
“Oh, you're damn right it was your bad! What in the world were you thinking? I really wanna know.”
What was I thinking? It wasn't really an impulse thing. I did think about doin' it before hand. I guess it was curiosity? I wanted to know—still wanna know—what made those people planetside hulk out like they did. But I probably coulda got Ri'lar to—I mean—dang.
“I dunno. I jus' did. I'm fifteen. I don't know no better.”
He tenses up a bit, like he's ready to start yellin' at me some more, but then exhales deeply, calmin' himself down. Yeah man, I know. You don't gotta say it, I know, and it won't happen again.
“Whatever man, just—I don't know—think before you leap. I remember growin' up, an' that was a major problem of mine, but once I got out here in the black, I had to drop that habit real quick. So, yeah.”
I nod my head in agreement. With that settled I go back to lookin' around. Carlos' curiosity sorta gets to him, too. I think he ported us to inside the space station I was tryna get to, so this worked out okay after all.
It's all dark an' junk, but we see these weird devices. Computer machines all lined up along the walls. The whole place has this cold, dark, mechanical layout and feel to it, nahmean? Robotics an' jazz. Speakin' of robotics, we see a door open an' a bot comes rollin' in on tank treads—jus' a small lil' somethin', 'bout four feet tall—comes rollin' in, with a flash light or somethin' an' spots us. Me an' Carlos don't know what's goin' on or what's gonna happen next, but we get ready to run. He can teleport, so we don't gotta stay in this mess any longer than we have to, but I decide to chill for a bit.
Carlos said I should think before I leap. That's cool. I'm always thinkin'. An' right now, I'm thinkin' I wanna find out what's goin' on here. This is the place were those meteorites—is it meteors or meteorites—is comin' from.
“So uh, who is you?”
Then we hear some gurgled up, machine like voice come boomin' in through some speakers from somewhere.
Then this tall dude, like 7 or 8 feet, standin' upright, humanoid in structure, except his neck is longer than average. His head is exposed, got some dark goggle lookin' things for eyes. His arms an' legs are all skinny, his torso's all cybernetic, an' he's got these tentacle like things branchin' out from his back.
“I am Doctor Mallec. And who, pray tell, are you?”
Episode 17: Meteors or Meteorites?
Table of Contents
Maybe he's just takin' a nap. It could just be the way these dudes sleep. He's not dead. He can't be dead.
I think I just killed him.
He was just a kid.
Crud, I didn't know it was him though. Darn it. He's dead.
He's not moving at all.
The sky's still raining meteorites every which way. I'm thinkin' they had something to do with this. Gotta take a step back and think. Juun said he's never seen this happen before. That means this is out of the ordinary. Something's off. What do I do about it? What can I do? I ain't nobody.
It's a long walk on the way back the the dome house place. Not long in the sense that it takes a while, but—I feel like how I felt leaving Miraivus. That whole planet got destroyed, and I kinda feel like it was my fault. I know it wasn't, and I know I really couldn't have stopped that Visigen from doin' what she did, but that junk—it gets to you.
There's Carlos at the—what is he doin'? He's rushing to the front door and yellin' like a fool. I walk inside and see him gatherin' some bags—luggage more like it.
“What are you doin'? You don't see the sky fallin' outside? We gotta go! Ran's already at the ship. Move it!”
I guess I should be worried. Now I know those meteorites are a weird thing. I'm interested in why it's happening, but I'm also interested in living, so I put a slight pep in my step, pick up a couple of bags to help out, and follow Carlos outside.
“Where's Juun-Met?” he asks as we're running. Of course he asks. He knew him. Probably knew him better than I did. And I—well, no use in hiding it.
“I think I killed him.”
“You what? That's—dang, well I probably woulda had to do it, too. Those meteorites are doin' some crazy caca to the natives of this planet. If you didn't do it, he woulda died anyway.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean—he did transform into a humongo dinosaur lookin' thing, right? Everyone around here's doin' that, and then five minutes later, they just kill over dead. I don't know the details, but I do know that if we stay here, we might end up bein' just like 'em.”
Wait, that did happen. I knew I didn't kill him. He just—well, that changes things. Now that I know those rocks are messin' things up, I gotta—I gotta do what? Still don't know how or why or what for real.
We make it to the boat. Ran's ship is huge. Never had the time to actually look at it from the outside. Way bigger than Ri'lar's truck. This is like—it's like a house and a boat and a truck with some wings on the side. I guess the closest thing to liken it to is like those aircraft carriers from home—from earth.
Inside, me and Carlos find Ran in the main cockpit area doin' whatever it is people do to get these things in orbit. Aside from a quick jolting feeling, everything seems to go okay. We're off the planet, looking down on how red and green it is. There's splotches of blue sprinkled about. I guess that's the water. Things sorta get weightless for a bit, then artificial gravity kicks in.
I see Ran let out a sigh of relief. I'm still mad at her, by the way. Sure, she gave that big sap story about why she did it, but that don't really—gotta get past this. Don't worry, I will get past it. Just not—not today. Let me through, Carlos.
“So we got any idea what that was about?” I hear him ask. He's talking to the both of us, but I leave without givin' him the time of day. Nothin' against him, it's just—you know.
So I'm in the hallway. It's a big hallway. It's a big hallway on a big boat. I miss Juun. He was cool. I wish he didn't—yo, what was that about? Something catches my eye outside. I enter an empty room to look out a window. We're still in the planet's orbit, so I'm watching the falling rocks slam down over the world from a different angle. It's kinda cool looking. Something magical about it. Like it's out of this—oh, well I guess it sorta is. Especially considering—well, you know.
What is that? There's something off about where the meteorites—wait, they're not “ites” yet, right? While they're out here, they're just meteors. Or is it the other way around? Like I know. If I was back home, I could just ask the live feed on the air waves. Search engines run the world. So why are they doin' that?
They're sorta just—I don't know how meteors are supposed to be acting, but seeing them sorta being fired off from a big rock that doesn't look like it should be floating like it is next to the planet is just—it's just off. I wanna get a closer look. I gotta get a closer look.
What do I do? Should I just go out there? I got my space suit on. All I gotta do is find the helmet, and I could be out there okay. But then there's that whole weightless thing. I kinda try to avoid it as much as I can because it feels weird, and I don't think it's good on the bones. I think I read that somewhere. Or is it on the muscles? Maybe that just means I need to exercise more? I don't know. I just know that I'm goin'.
I find my helmet, put the visor down, got the oxygen flowin' through. I got my sword attached to the magnetic holster thingy. My suits all fitted up. No holes in it, no skin's exposed. Space is supposed to be cold, so I gotta make sure the internal heat is up. If I could read this alien language running down my visor, I'd feel more certain about what I'm doin', but havin' looked at the pictures accompanying it, I think I'm understanding how it works. Hopefully. I could be wrong and end up killing myself.
I'm outside right now. With all the fumbling I did at the door, I'm sure that Ran and Carlos know I'm out here. Boat's gotta have some kinda sensors or somethin' to let 'em know, right? So I'm floating now. Haven't really done this before—not like this anyway. I've been flying around on ships, walkin' on other worlds, moons, an' all that, but I haven't been out like this, just floating before. How do I move? Do I just keep going? What happens if I float all the way to the planet? Will I get sucked in? Is that how gravity works? The smaller thing gets pulled to the bigger thing. At least the suit's heat is working, sorta.
I'm drifting, like I'm lost at sea. The good thing is I pushed off towards the big rock that I was trying to get to. As for what I find? Well, it's even weirder. Turns out that there's something attached to the rock. It's a big metal thing. I'd say it's like a space ship, but it's literally attached to it. Like a space—yo, that's a space station!
I try to propel myself, but it's not really workin' like I pictured it in my head. How do space ships work? They got rocket fuel, and that fuel goes to the engine, the engine makes some sorta explosion, and the explosion pushes them. I'm notta engineer or nothin', but I think I need somethin' to propel me. I don't got that. If I had a jetpack, maybe, but I don't, so I'm just drifting. I guess I could try flailin' around, but I don't think that'll do me much good.
Maybe I could—nah that'd be crazy. It'd be crazy, but maybe—well. What if I did that aura slash thing? Like I swing my sword, shoot off the energy blade, and—I guess that'd work. No use in not tryin'.
Sword gripped tight. I turn around to reorient. Pull back. Swing—and nothin'. Not nothin' like nothin' happens. Somethin' happens. This aura blast thing's become like second nature to me now. I can blast off as many shots an' beams as I want. One's all that's needed to get me goin'. Burstin' out in a sea of blue. It's just weird that there's no sound to it. No atmosphere to carry it. Never realized it like that first hand, but I guess it makes sense. It's just so out of this world.
So I'm movin' with some speed now. It's crazy cool. I'm literally flyin' through space. Not as fast as a ship or nothin', but I guess if I sent off another few shots, I could, but this is good enough. A little more than cruisin' speed. Definitely faster than jus' walkin'.
I guess I'm just gonna ram upside it. Don't see how else I'm stopping. Maybe if I can find just grab something when I bump into it. And then I could see if I could find a way inside. Or maybe—what's this? Some guy just popped up next to me outta nowhere. And he just—what?
Next thing I know I'm not flying in space anymore. I'm standing inside some dark room. The dude who grabbed me is standing next to me looking out some window. Where am—
“Eres un idiota!” the guy says as he takes off his helmet. “What were you thinking?”
Oh, it's Carlos. I guess he can teleport. That's good to know. So are we back on Ran's ship or—it looks different. No, I don't think this is—yeah, this isn't her boat.
“Are you listening? You coulda got yourself killed! How old are you? Me an' Ran can't be babysitting your a** like this. You need to grow up, quick! Mierda!”
I feel bad. He's obviously upset, and it was kinda stupid of me to just jump off the boat to float around in space. Shoulda thought that through. Stupid, man. Just stupid. I guess I needed him to tell me that for it to sink in.
“Sorry man. I get it. That was on me. My bad.”
“Oh, you're damn right it was your bad! What in the world were you thinking? I really wanna know.”
What was I thinking? It wasn't really an impulse thing. I did think about doin' it before hand. I guess it was curiosity? I wanted to know—still wanna know—what made those people planetside hulk out like they did. But I probably coulda got Ri'lar to—I mean—dang.
“I dunno. I jus' did. I'm fifteen. I don't know no better.”
He tenses up a bit, like he's ready to start yellin' at me some more, but then exhales deeply, calmin' himself down. Yeah man, I know. You don't gotta say it, I know, and it won't happen again.
“Whatever man, just—I don't know—think before you leap. I remember growin' up, an' that was a major problem of mine, but once I got out here in the black, I had to drop that habit real quick. So, yeah.”
I nod my head in agreement. With that settled I go back to lookin' around. Carlos' curiosity sorta gets to him, too. I think he ported us to inside the space station I was tryna get to, so this worked out okay after all.
It's all dark an' junk, but we see these weird devices. Computer machines all lined up along the walls. The whole place has this cold, dark, mechanical layout and feel to it, nahmean? Robotics an' jazz. Speakin' of robotics, we see a door open an' a bot comes rollin' in on tank treads—jus' a small lil' somethin', 'bout four feet tall—comes rollin' in, with a flash light or somethin' an' spots us. Me an' Carlos don't know what's goin' on or what's gonna happen next, but we get ready to run. He can teleport, so we don't gotta stay in this mess any longer than we have to, but I decide to chill for a bit.
Carlos said I should think before I leap. That's cool. I'm always thinkin'. An' right now, I'm thinkin' I wanna find out what's goin' on here. This is the place were those meteorites—is it meteors or meteorites—is comin' from.
“So uh, who is you?”
Then we hear some gurgled up, machine like voice come boomin' in through some speakers from somewhere.
Then this tall dude, like 7 or 8 feet, standin' upright, humanoid in structure, except his neck is longer than average. His head is exposed, got some dark goggle lookin' things for eyes. His arms an' legs are all skinny, his torso's all cybernetic, an' he's got these tentacle like things branchin' out from his back.
“I am Doctor Mallec. And who, pray tell, are you?”
