Reader's Advisory: This story will contain sparse amounts of PG-13 language and will most likely include some scenes of graphic violence. Enjoy responsibly! - (I also recommend you read this with the old chucklefish forum theme. It looks less childish, in my opinion. Learn how to change the theme here: http://community.playstarbound.com/threads/default-forum-theme.103586/) Chapter 1: Desperation With a feeling akin to stage fright, Sparky reached to turn the knob on the shoddy arrangement of planks that could suffice as a door to the captain's quarters. The avian pirate captain could sense the familiar chill and smell of the brisk night air swimming in from the main deck as the door creaked open. Sparky had his dark gold-painted machine pistol drawn and aimed before the captain could reach his assault rifle. "Intimidating. Freeze!" Sparky commanded, watching the captain's movements carefully. The captain stopped moving toward his gun, but turned to see the red-eyed glare of the five foot eleven inch tall glitch behind the barrel. Silence took the room as neither of the two were sure who was going to speak up next. The room was aglow only from the moon framed in the window behind the captain. "Sincere" Sparky said with a slight, digital grin. "Tell me what I need to know, or I paint the walls with your blood and feathers." "You know" The avian captain began casually. "I've 'eard from other captains that this... This pirating a'int a business that you retire from. You get me? I've known since the beginning that when it's my time to hit the deck for good, it'd be on my own ship." "Disbelief. You don't care about dying, losing all your work and friends?" "I've already raised the alarm, kid. You a'int the first wild child to bust in here with demands. If you kill me, my crew out there will tear you apart bolt from bolt. But don't take us to be unsportsmanlike. If you don't kill me, we let you walk too. As far as I'm concerned, no harm done. What's it gonna be, circuit brain?" "Desperation. I just want information. Honest. You are my last lead to find the apex scientist who specializes with my kind, the glitch." Sparky lowered his gun, but not his guard. Pirates are always unpredictable. "Buddy... Every apex I've met has been a freakin' scientist. They're all a bunch of nerds. You have to narrow things down, son." Sparky's voice fell quieter because his last lead was seeming less hopeful. "Worry. He's just one of the few scientists who specializes with glitch! Shame. That's all I know. Desperation. Do you know any? Please.. I have money for a reward if you know." "Look, son. You got guts to climb all the way up here and risk your life. I don't need your pixels, and them doctor science nerds always get transferred around, so the best I can do for ya is some coordinates of an apex sector. That's all I got." "Tired. Give me the coordinates. Grateful. Thank you" Sparky put his gun away and took down the coordinates the pirate offered. The coordinates looked somewhat familiar, but Sparky was too busy to process anything else. "Polite. Goodbye" With that, he turned around and walked slowly out to the main deck where five crewmen were primed to shoot. Luckily, the captain had already retracted the alarm from inside. Sparky pressed his back against the nearest wall and slid downward until he was sitting on the wooden floor. His legs ached and arms cramped as he sat ready to fall asleep on the deck. The chill of the night seemed to flow effortlessly through his nano-nerves and into his pleasure receptors. The breeze reminded him of how truly alive he was, how he could experience, feel and delight in the night winds under the stars. He no longer merely detected things, he knew he could feel. As Sparky's red eyes began to fade, he remembered how many relentless months he had been searching for someone to help. How long he had searched for leads, leads that only brought him to more leads until he found a dead end. He would lose her forever if he didn't find the scientist to help. She would only get worse every day no matter how much he tried reprogramming. Feelings were tearing him apart. But Sparky refused to give up. The warm bed on his spaceship called his name softly. A quick system diagnostic, data compilation, and reboot would do some good for his processor. Back up on his spaceship, Sparky sought rest for his depression in bed. No programming could help his depression. It was a true feeling, untraceable. The sleep brought rest to only his body. "Hatred. Dammit!" Sparky woke up five hours later to discover he was still orbiting the same planet instead of in the apex sector. In his fogged state of mind the previous night, he had forgotten to set the ship's autopilot before sleeping. He had wasted an hour that could have been spent toward saving the life of his beloved, Lectra. Though his spaceship was a full-sized, Condor Class vessel, Sparky was repeatedly tearing up even their strongest FTL engines by overclocking them so hard. Pounding at Sparky's conscience, the wasted hour tormented him and, to pass time, he eventually chose to start sorting through his eclectic stash of belongings. Exotic costumes from dozens of different sectors. Some glowed or beeped, some had false eyes. It was always important to have a good disguise. Maddening piles of building materials from Sparky's numerous mining endeavors crammed the basement of the vessel. Sorting it all would have to be a weekend project. Various decorations were also stored away, waiting to find a home. Sparky was particularly proud of his collection of musical instruments. He spent years amassing them and downloaded the programs to master them all. There was a time in the not-so-distant past when Sparky made a fortune as a mercenary, scavenger, and sometimes a criminal. But now, with his rap sheet patched up, that life would all be behind him, he thought, as he stared at his pile of voxels which was worth over one hundred fifty thousand pixels. One day, Sparky and Lectra would use it to build and furnish their own home on a remote planet together. They would laugh, play with the native animals, watch the moons rise, and rust into old age, side by side. While spacing out and compiling data, Sparky eventually reached the apex sector ahead of schedule and was in orbit above a planet. Wasting no time, he dawned his red robe and his signature, rainbow colored hood. If you're going to adventure, you should do it in style, he figured. Lastly, he tucked away a gigantic arsenal of weaponry for every scenario, but his favorite were machine pistols. For emergencies, he always packed a grappling hook as well. On the surface, Sparky searched diligently for any sign of an apex establishment. Along the way, his machine pistols plastered the planet's foliage with the biological paint of some hostile, alien wildlife. In nearly a déjà vu sort of way, however, the terrain looked familiar and he had an odd hunch to go a certain direction. Unfortunately, the topography was simply too rugged for Sparky's hoverbike to be effective. So he walked for miles, and sometimes sped it up to a jog. His metal legs carried him until he could finally see a towering building in the distance. Unmistakably, apex apartments stood three stories tall above the ground. A shining moment of clarity came over Sparky when he recognized these apartments to be the ones he had worked at when he was just starting as a mercenary. He thought he had made good friends here and was hoping to quickly gather a plethora of helpful knowledge. Hastily, he made his way inside and to the front desk. "Urgent. I need to know where Algrith Beren's apartment is." "Who? What?" Replied the apex clerk, confused by a glitch asking about tenants. "Serious. I need to find my friends" Sparky stated forcefully. "Mister, I can let you check our resident history list, if that's what you want" the clerk said, hoping it would dismiss the foreigner. "Grateful. Thank you. Where is it?" Questioned Sparky before he was pointed to the computer on the desk to his left. After a quick search, Sparky was absolutely crushed and worried to see that everyone he knew had already moved on, out of the apartments. His lead... It was fading again. Sparky could nearly feel his hope crumbling through his fingers like sand. Desperate and panicked, he spent an hour questioning every person he could find, sometimes accidentally asking the same person twice. None of the common civilians knew very many scientists. And they certainly didn't know the locations of top secret research facilities. If they knew, they would never even spill the secret to a foreigner. Sparky crooked his fingers in madness at the pure frivolity of his efforts. For the millionth time, his lead was shattering. These "retarded monkey people" couldn't help him. The love of his life, Lectra, was going to be lost to the hive mind forever if he didn't find help. Self-awareness is a much more difficult thing to program than obedience commands. Therefore, Sparky was running out of time. There was nothing he could do to stop the hive mind from slowly recallibrating his beloved Lectra. (Author's note: Hey folks! Hope you enjoyed reading this! I wrote and edited the whole thing by myself. It took me a few nights to fully produce. Will I write more? I will try! Will I post on a regular basis? Absolutely not! Haha. Life happens, guys. Would I appreciate any and all feedback? Heck freakin yes! I'll certainly make an effort to respond to every comment. I do genuinely hope you had as much fun reading this as I did writing it. Tell me what you think or just tippity tapping the like button is nice too. So many choices! And have a great day also.)
As I writer myself I love the amount of detail you've put into this peice, it's certainly a very well planned story and I hope your able to write more! Great work Here's a cookie
Well then I will certainly have to write more! I'm glad you liked it! Thanks! I enjoyed writing it. I hope I can write more too! I'm glad you liked it. I honestly am making it all up as I go, so I will take a few days to fully formulate ideas for the next chapter. So stay tuned!!
Reader's Advisory: This story will contain sparse amounts of PG-13 language and will most likely include some scenes of graphic violence. Enjoy responsibly! - (I also recommend you read this with the old chucklefish forum theme. It looks less childish, in my opinion. Learn how to change the theme here: http://community.playstarbound.com/threads/default-forum-theme.103586/) Chapter 2: Infiltration and Frustration Entire weeks of fruitless searching and worthless interrogation had passed. Sparky formed a habit of pacing about his ship and speaking aloud while no one was around. His neck refused to loosen or quit having spasms. Night after night, Sparky slept a mere two hours before getting up to keep searching. His favorite musical instruments had been forgotten and replaced by the shrill, grinding sound made from his own daggers as he would slowly scrape up and down his metal arms. Nano-nerves in his arms brought pain, but it was drowned out whenever he had his overdose of orange stimpacks. Surely it was not long before Sparky would be in an even worse condition than Lectra. Finally something came up. An unknown building on an uncharted planet provided, perhaps, the last chance of hope necessary to keep his CPU from giving out entirely. The planet was marvelous, a perfectly temperate and tropical rain forest and teeming with life. Sparky had no time for sight-seeing, evident from reckless speeding and completely sporadic swerving and curving while exploring on his hover bike. The bike could only take so much; luckily, he did not have to find out how much before he came across what was obviously a laboratory meant to be kept secret. There were no signs around and it appeared to be a simple, metal box of a building. But Sparky had been around the galaxy, and was keen on identifying structures. He began to approach the building and saw an armed guard standing in front of the tall, steel door. "Sir, you are trespassing. Leave at once" ordered the middle-aged apex guard. "Defiant. I'm going inside. Imperative. I have to speak with the scientists" answered Sparky, hands close to drawing his machine pistols. "If you do not turn around and walk away, my orders are to eliminate you." "Pity. You're sure?" Sparky asked as an offer of mercy. "Run, bolt boy" and with that, the guard pulled the trigger, firing his automatic assault rifle in Sparky's direction. The barrage of armor-piercing rounds illuminated a deadly path through the thin fog of the night. Almost instinctively, Sparky activated his evasive maneuvers and drew his machine pistols for combat. Before getting behind cover, he suffered two shots, one in the torso and one in the right leg. Immediately, he began shooting from behind the rock, his cover. Shooting back was important, otherwise the guard may move in. While shooting, Sparky dropped one of his pistols and used his free hand to apply a nanowrap bandage which began to instantly repair the damage. The guard, only partially phased by the gunfire toward himself, continued firing his own stream of destruction. Eventually, the armor-piercing rounds started to take out chunks of Sparky's rock. Mere moments from having his cover blown to bits, Sparky formed a plan. He quickly put his pistols away and pulled out his grenade launcher. The grenade fired and lobbed high, coming back down to land a few feet in front of the guard. With a tremendously loud crack, the grenade exploded and, not only injured the guard, but threw dirt in his face. Sparky utilized this to his advantage, and, while holding a riot shield for protection, began charging toward the guard. In a last ditch effort, the guard fired again, only to have the bullets ricochet off the shield. A violent shield bash knocked him off his feet and slammed him backwards into the metal door he was protecting. The guard fell dazed and defenseless. Crazed to get inside, Sparky did not hesitate to draw his pistol, look the guard in the eye and execute him. Finally, a real Apex laboratory. Sparky let himself in and saw a normal laboratory, tables full of beakers, microscopes, and tools. There were computers glowing all colors of the rainbow and switches and buttons covered nearly every square foot of the lab's bleak, gray walls. Within the lab, there were five more security guards and sixteen apex scientists. Sparky quickly used his advanced targeting system to shoot two guards in the head, killing them both. However, after one died, he collapsed and fell onto a table of colorful beakers. The beakers shattered and chemicals mixed. Scientists dove beneath tables for fear of being shot, but it wasn't until one scientist gasped and shouted "Code L-6! Code L-6! Get the hell out now!" that everyone began to wildly scramble for the exits. Sparky suddenly faced incredible amounts of data to process. All he wanted was to question the scientists and find help. But they were now running out of control because of some "Code L-6." Should he be concerned and leave? He thought to leave and question the scientists outside. However, Sparky knew computers were more reliable. Therefore, he chose to stay in the lab while everyone evacuated. While accessing the personnel database, Sparky felt a scorching pain develop on areas of his body. He looked down to see entire patches of his body slowly corroding, melting away. Panic flushed through him as he began a late stampede for the exit. As he was running, he could feel the burning pain on his face as it was beginning to corrode. His legs were pillars of sandpaper, hurting worse with every step. His internal air ducts shriveled in agony. With a final push of every piston in his body, Sparky dove out of the lab and immediately injected his fluid pipelines with two red stimpacks before he frantically applied nanowrap bandages to himself, all while he consciously felt his vision fading. Conscious until, while lying on the ground, he was kicked in the back of the head, sending his CPU into instant shock. Nearly forty-eight hours later and in unbelievable aching pain, Sparky awoke in yet another bleak, apex room. He could hear buzzing, awful buzzing that rattled his jaw to no end. On top of that, he found that all of his gear was gone except the clothes on his back. Suddenly, a voice came over the intercom above. "You are awake. Please make yourself comfortable while we continue discussing your fate." His whole life, Sparky had lived in control of his own fate. Hearing that he was a prisoner, made him furious. But he needed answers. "Where am I!?" He shouted. "Let me go now!" Sparky was so enraged that his basic programming to state his feeling before every sentence was no longer in effect. "You are in one of many apex maximum security prisons. And you broke into one of our secret facilities, mixed chemicals to create corrosive gas and you know confidential information. Therefore, to prevent the information from escaping, we must prevent you from escaping." "Please! You have to help me! I need to find a scientist, one who specializes with the glitch. That's all I want! I want to find him" Sparky's voice then turned down significantly. "You have to help me.." The apex department of justice began discussing this new information. Five minutes went by and Sparky heard nothing over the intercom. The time passing reminded him of how little time that Lectra had before the hive mind took her. At her exponential rate of decline, she had a maximum of two weeks before she became an absolute robot. There was silence on the intercom for a good ten minutes until the same voice spoke again. "We know of the scientist you speak. Your request will be granted. You will remain in the cell while the scientist is brought to you" These words were absolutely magical to hear. After months of searching, he was now guaranteed a meeting with the glitch specialist. The pure joy and relief brought to Sparky drove him almost as insane as the hopelessness and fear he had known for so long. After much jumping and shouting of celebration, Sparky was finally able to go to sleep with a little bit of peace. The next day, Sparky awoke, but he was still alone in his cell. He called out into the void, hoping someone on the intercom would hear him. They heard and they assured him that the scientist was on the way. The day soon ended and Sparky was alone for the next. The anticipation had begun to turn into concern. Another day passed and he was still alone. The concern began to turn into suspicion. Then after another day alone, Sparky had to start asking for concrete answers. "How long until he gets here?" Sparky asked with a distinct tone of impatience, frustration, and expectation. "We have a..." The same voice from a few days ago was still there and then paused for a moment. "I have a confession to make. I am the scientist that you seek. I have been studying you, Sparky." "What?? You lied to me?! You lied to me, you disgusting psychopath! I need your help or my beloved will be lost forever! I needed you and you ignored my humble request! Get me out! We need to save her!" "Sparky, you don't understand. My name is Grollen and I am a scientist, not a fix-it service. And you are quite a rare find. That means you and I are going to stay here while I study you. Studying is what I do. And you are a fascinating compilation of cogs that I want to examine." "No! No! No!" Sparky yelled in his deepest, loudest voice of hatred and violence. "Help me! Help Lectra or I will never forgive you or your people. Your entire race will suffer if you make the wrong choice today! Mark my words!" "You will stay in your cell and sleep now. I study you while you sleep. Why don't you feel it? Come now... I know what I'm doing. I know nearly everything about the glitch, but I'm hoping you hold even more answers." But Sparky had nothing more to say to Grollen. The cell door was made of five inch thick, bullet-proof plexiglass. Any impact at all was merely absorbed and did virtually nothing, nothing until Sparky began to punch it. He dug out from the bottom of his soul, rage, and threw it all at the door. Month after month, Sparky searched tirelessly to help his beloved. It was not going to end so close to success. Every punch, every swing came from Sparky's soul. He purged his hatred and his depression into this door. Grollen watched from the security cameras in disbelief. The glass should have been strong enough to shatter Sparky, not the other way around. Finally, the glass broke down. He was free again. However, he was still in a maximum security prison. He had to jump from platform to platform to escape. One misstep would lead to a torturous electrocution in the pits below. Luckily, his previous adventuring experience served him well. Sparky made it to the end alive. He found where all of his belongings were being stored and he quickly reequipped them. As he equipped the last of his gear, Grollen appeared behind him. "Well well. Hello, superglitch." "Grollen..." Sparky said with pure loathing in his voice. "You are coming with me and you will save my beloved from the hive mind." "I don't care about your bitchbot. What's in it for me? I could kill myself right now" Grollen said while pulling out a gun and putting it to his head "and your 'beloved' would be lost for good." "Save her and I will let you study me as much as you want. You have my word." Sparky replied, trying to bargain with the person, no, the monster he hates so much in hopes that it will save Lectra. "Mmm. Fine. But only because I am so curious to study and understand how you broke that glass. Oh and if you turn on me after I save her, I assure you that you will regret it." Grollen lowered his weapon. "Agreed. Now every second is precious. We need to beam to my cabin. You got a teleporter?" Sparky asked, doing his best to hide his feeling of relief. "Sure. Let's go." (Author's note: Wow! It's almost 4 in the morning!! I forgot how much I love to write. Here's the next chapter hot off the press. It's even 500 words longer than the first chapter! I hope you enjoyed this one. Please be sure to leave some feedback and tell me what you think. Writing is fun, but I want to improve too. I can't improve without some feedback from you guys. I will also totally reply to everyone because you all are great. I can promise that. What I can't promise is a regular posting schedule though. So please try to be patient with me. Anyways. Thank you all, and I hope you enjoyed chapter 2 of A Glitch in the Galaxy!)
I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed this chapter however it just seemed that he escaped a little bit too easily but no matter, excellent work again!
Thank you for the input. I will be mindful for the future chapters. I'm glad you still liked it! Hopefully I can have one more chapter out before the week is over.
I love the the descriptive writing you put into your story, it's beautiful. I can't wait for some more!
These two chapters were a good, enjoyable read. I too think Sparky got out of the situation somewhat easily, but given that this was only chapter 2 and it establishes that there's something special about him, it doesn't really strike me as a "flaw" in the story. Hopefully there'll be more of this.
