Something new
I have been out of sorts for a while, lost in a miserable mental state and in that dark and miserable place I found myself unable to write. I was blocked and no matter how often I would bring up my WIP I would find myself staring at the screen just unable to do anything.
Deciding that I needed to stir things up in the old noggin, I chose to spend this past weekend doing something other than staring at my half finished WIP.
I wrote a short story of the *ahem* adult variety and published that through Amazon and Kindle Unlimited. It was a quick 5000 words that from the moment I sat down to the moment I finished, just flowed. It was incredible to have that feeling of joy at creating something again.
Exhilarated at the fresh enthusiasm for writing that I had found from somewhere deep within myself, I put down the first chapter of a science fiction story I had been toying with.
Since I won’t be sharing my naughtier works here, I will share with you this first chapter for anyone to read. I won’t give any indication of the greater story or what will happen, I believe that the first chapter should be always be enough to encourage the reader to want to know more. I hope that I have managed that with this. As always, comments welcome.
Are you working again? I swear I heard the click that meant you were recording. Oh please god, please be working. Someone needs to know, someone needs to understand what happened here. It wasn’t my fault, I never meant for this to happen.
Chapter 1
I’d always wanted to travel. In fact, I could recall telling my mothers’ at an early age that I wanted to be the first of our family to leave the planet. They had scoffed and told me how I would change my mind when I was older. The vastness of space is nowhere for an intelligent young man to be.
Their warnings had fallen on deaf ears but as I made my way through the plain corridors towards the docking ring, worry began to surface. I remembered their warnings and a kernel of doubt formed in my mind. Was I right in leaving my homeworld?
I clutched my case tighter and squared my shoulders as I shoved those thoughts as far down into the darkness as I could. It wouldn’t do to have my doubts show for the offworlders. My crèche mates and mothers had spoken at length about that too. Offworlders were little more than barbarians. Full of wild emotions and ready to pray on any young Athernite who wasn’t prepared.
Not for the first time I wished that the station had windows and clamped down on that thought. It wasn’t very Athernian to wish for things that one couldn’t change and was yet another sign of why I felt so different from my people.
My mothers, my crèche mates and even my fathers were all true Athenians’. Even Narbello Nar Maz, likely the most adventurous of my fathers had frowned often when I visited. He had been to both the continents and the forested moon that orbited our world in his role as a shuttle pilot. Which somehow made it worse when he looked at me askance as I spoke of my dreams of leaving the homeworld, the system and even our sector of known space.
“Those are not the proper dreams little one.” He would tell me as he prepared my favoured meal of Jarro stew. “You should dream of a life spent well in service of our world, like your crèche mates do.”
“But I want to see.” I would reply.
“See what little one?” he would enquire as he had done so often before.
“Why, everything of course.”
He had chuckled and just shaken his head, dismissing my dreams as something I would grow out of in the fullness of time. It was the same way that my mother’s would and was perhaps the main reason that I avoided the sharing of communion as often as I did.
I paused in my journey to compose myself, my thoughts threatening to spill out. Something I would certainly not want to happen. My family would take the first visible sign of doubt as reason to convince me to stay.
A moulded bench of plain grey plastic was set to one side of the corridor and I settled down onto its cool surface. A quick run through of the calming exercise to still the storm in my mind and I was soon breathing easier and able to once again feel joyous apprehension at the journey to come.
Apprehension was such a rare emotion to feel that I held on to it for as long as I could, even reaching up one finger to brush at the implant controls set behind my right ear. It would be pleasant to keep a recording of the feeling, to allow myself to experience it once more whenever I wished.
When the calm serenity returned to my mind once more, I reached up once again and pressed a second time on the controls to cease the recording. I rose to my feet and set off walking, my case held by my side.
In short time I entered the docking ring and paused to gape at the people crowded into that great space.
Athenians’ by and large were a conservative and often composed people. Our bodies and public spaces reflected our ordered minds and lives. The people who wandered around the docking ring were clearly not Athernian.
All around me sound filled the air as a multitudinous people wandered the area, plying their trade or going about their business in as noisy a fashion as they could.
I was able to single out the various crew members of the great vessels docked to the outer ring of the station by their garb. They one and all seemed to favour utilitarian ship suits, once piece garments that held a number of pockets for equipment.
Amongst those people were the traders. A few of them wore business attire but the vast majority seemed to feel the need to dress like the mythical peacock from the old earth stories. Hats, gowns and robes, coats of fur and metallic cloth, a thousand different types of eye catching jewellery and more bare flesh showing than I had seen since reaching adulthood.
Here and there in the throng I could spy Athernites. They wore the utilitarian grey robe with four slashes of colour on the left shoulder to indicate their rank and role as merchants. Even without those garments they could be easily discerned by the strained look upon their faces.
I steeled myself and entered the crowd, carefully making my way through the gaps that opened up between the people. An occasional apology was issued as I stepped ahead of a harried looking offworlder or overwhelmed Athernite.
My gaze lifted to the great screens above each of the docking ports. On them in a multitude of languages were inscribed the name of the vessel, port of origin and next port of call along with the standard line of text that denoted their purpose.
The first vessel was of little use to me, hailing from two systems away and on a trade run that would take it to one more place before returning home. I approached the next and after one look at the hulking offworlder with wild hair and an even wilder gaze as he watched the crowd I decided that it was perhaps not for me.
So it went, for three hours I wandered from docking port to docking port as I searched for a suitable vessel. I did find one that seemed almost ideal but was unfortunately not interested in taking on passengers. Somewhat disheartened I continued searching.
My arm was beginning to ache from carrying my case as I approached a promising docking port. The screen above indicated that it was an independent vessel and not owned by either a corporation or a particular world. Its port of origin was a great enough distance from my own homeworld that I had never heard of it and it had no stated plans to return anytime soon.
Two humanoid figures lounged by the docking lock and I made my way towards them while examining them to better form an idea of the crew makeup. They were of mixed gender which boded well as some systems had strange notions on what gender was allowed to do what task.
The male was over two metres in height and wore a pale green ship suit. He had a harness attached with several empty pouches and holders. I couldn’t help but wonder what they had contained. He wore a scruffy beard that was the same dark colour as his hair and his round face held a jovial smile as he watched me approach.
His companion, the female was just a few inches shorter than he and had a deep burgundy hair cut short, no doubt for comfort. Her ship suit was the same pale green as his and while her harness had empty places, they were less than his. She stared back at me with eyes the same colour as her hair and spoke quietly to the male.
I bowed low as I reached them with three fingers extended against my chest, a gesture of respect for their chosen profession and their knowledge.
“Mia par tor cam?” The man said in a firm voice that carried easily over the din.
“Your pardon sir, do you speak Athernian?” I asked.
“Na tar priam.” He said and I tilted my head as I watched him.
“Forgive me I do not speak your language, do you have any other?”
“Sha til mariam lak par.” The female said in a lilting tone and I glanced across to her.
“I am very sorry but I do not understand.” I said.
The female rolled her eyes and tapped one finger behind her ear insistently as she spoke. “Sha til mariam lak par.”
A slight blush rose up my cheeks as I realised what she meant and I reached up to my implant to tap a sequence into the controls.
“Maybe he’s an idiot.” The male was saying to his companion who shrugged and smiled.
“Ah, forgive me. I had never used that feature before.” I said as my blush deepened.
“What do you want kid?” The female asked, her voice echoing strangely as she spoke her own language with my implant translating the words directly into my head.
“I’m looking to purchase passage.” I said with another low bow of appreciation for the reminder of my implants abilities.
“We’re full.” She said and my disappointment must have shown as her companion spoke.
“Sorry lad, we’ve only got so many spaces for passengers.”
“I won’t take up much room. I’m willing to bed down anywhere.” I said with more than an embarrassing hint of desperation.
The female looked at me curiously and I turned away in shame at her noticing my lack of calm. I had no need to record these emotions as I had felt them often before and no doubt would again.
“Wait.” She said to me and her companion glanced questioningly at her.
“We’ve no room.” He said to her.
“Yeah but there’s something different about this one. I’m intrigued and the captain will be too.”
“Different?” he said.
“How many of these freaks have you seen blush or get embarrassed?” She asked and I wondered if I had heard her right.
“You got any skills lad?” The male asked as he turned back to me.
“I have several skills that could be of use to you.” I said, “If you would consent to a communion I would be more than willing to share knowledge with you.”
“Do what?” He said with a look of puzzlement crossing his features.
“That weird head thing.” The female interjected, “They all connect to each other like insects, a group mind thing.”
“That so?” The male mused before speaking directly to me, “Sorry lad, normal folk don’t do that.”
It was fascinating. I had of course learnt that many people’s beyond our system were unable to commune but to find evidence of it in person was terribly exciting and just helped with my determination to experience more of the space beyond my world.
“In that case I believe that I can make a packet and forward it to you, if you have an accessible device?” I said as I reached up and tapped out another sequence on my implant.
The female reached into one of the pouches on her harness and pulled out a rectangular plastic device. She touched a button on the side and the display lit up. She looked at me and I nodded to indicate that I could locate it.
Her device felt different to the equipment my own people used and it took me several seconds to configure the information in my mind and send it across to her. My blush deepened at the time it had taken but neither of the humanoids across from me seemed to be displeased.
“No. No. No.” The female said as she read through the items on the display, the male reading over her shoulder pointed at something on the device.
“That could be useful, we could sell the captain on that.” He said.
“Yeah, maybe. Would be better if we had something else though.” She said musingly as she tapped once more on the screen.
“Ah, we can train him up. Been awhile since we had a junior member of crew to run errands for us.” The male replied.
“Fine, I’ll send it up to Nelson. If he thinks it’s worthwhile, he can check with the captain.” She said.
“Right lad,” The male said cheerfully, “Park your arse here and wait. We’ll see if we have something for you.”
I bowed low once more with right fist pressed against my chest, a gesture of gratitude for their time and efforts that it occurred to me that they may not understand.
A quick glance sideways as I moved past them and placed my case carefully on the decking seemed to indicate that they either hadn’t noticed or didn’t care as they went back to their own conversation.
My finger tapped the control on my implant as I settled comfortably on my heels and waited with as much patience as I could. If their captain allowed me to join them on the ship, I wanted to record the emotions to experience later. They would make an interesting gift to my fathers and mothers to remember me by.
