X fiction - this one is a bit....different

[The_Abyss]

A new twist to X fiction, strongly inspired by my current read. It's deliberately short, waiting for feedback.

There’s a new species in the X universe, and it isn’t Khaak…

Prologue

I was born into light. And for that I am still eternally grateful. Eternally. It still brings a wry smile to my blood red lips. For I have lived. And how I have lived. And long I have lived, yet died once long ago. And was reborn into darkness. How different would it have been had I been wrenched into this world under the dark shadow that now rests over me? I will never know. Yet still I am here. And I have a story to tell.

Ships fly from sector to sector, busy with their never-ending tasks, hauling cargo, ferrying passengers. Stations slowly spin, inexorable in their momentum. Factories hang motionless, suspended by nothing, briefly interrupted by the flicker of a transports shadow passing briefly across their hull. Intense yet distant flashes of light reveal another pirate squabble being settled in the time honoured fashion. The accompanying silence should be deafening. Everything is as it should be in the X Universe. Yet I can hear everything, feel everything, even be everything. And there is something different in the universe tonight.

Have you ever crossed a sector, especially a quite one during a long haul trade, and felt that something else was with you, was close to you? Have you edged closer to stations and factories whilst crossing a sector, with no threats on your scanner but a crawling feeling on your spine telling you to hurry on and leave? You avoid the debris-strewn fields in many sectors despite the potentially lucrative salvage that may lie there, but you don’t know why? Maybe it’s the age-old rumours from many generations ago, or maybe you sense a danger within them? Then, my friend, our paths have crossed, although we have not met for your very existence would already be forfeit.

The Old World has long since passed from story to legend to rumour. Surpassed by the more appealing tales of R Gunn and his brave crew, of which, you may be interested to know, I was a member. But the Old World still exists, and lives with me. And it is sustained by the likes of you. All of us must feed to survive. Yet survival has not been easy, magnified by the ages in which I have taken to accept what I am. What I have become. And the terrible form I have yet to take. Did anyone ever wonder why those cursed Goners are really there, why they really still exist? My ego and arrogance is growing year on year, decade upon decade, yet even though I still control it, I take some pride in being the sole reason for their very existence.

So, brave reader, continue onwards into my tale, and you shall learn the untold story of the X Universe. A dark, gothic universe, existing in the shadows, always there but never seen. Take care my friend, not to stray off your course whilst you read this, or you may discover the truth sooner than you can possibly imagine but you will not survive to tell the tale. Yet do not hate me until you have listened in full to my history. However you should fear me. Recalling memories from centuries ago tires me in a way I cannot explain, and there are many memories to recall. It creates a gnawing hunger that is hard to control, and I need to be free of distractions to tell this epic. Take care now - my appetite cannot be denied - even a vampire in space needs to feed, and this vampire needs no reason.

Next

Chapter 1 – The Crash of R Gunn

[Scarecrow]

Hey...

I like that

[ElectricMonk]

It's odd. I know you've been at the Anne Rice novels (as have I) and I've had the same thoughts about vampires in space!

Daaaa! Da da da da da da. Daaaa! da da da da da da!


As for the writing, it's like Rice's earlier works, probably closer to The Vampire Lestat than any of the other of Rice's books that I've seen. I think you've managed to capture the aching lonliness that Rice portrays in her books very well indeed. The command of language portrays a solemn tale, that everything else in the universe changes with an ebb and flow, but the core of the story (in this case, the main character) remains the same regardless of technology. After all, when you think about it, the X universe is a new twist on our current way of life.

In summary, I liked it. A lot. Do more!

[P88]

yea its gooooooooood do some more!

[Scarecrow]

You guys read any of Saberhagen's vampire stories?

Thorn

Old Friend of the Family

Vlad Tapes

Been a long time ago......but I think they were pretty good


Man.....don't get old

It's everything it's cracked up to be

[GoateeCat]

In space, there is no shade.

Post on mate.

[Steel]

Man.....don't get old

It's everything it's cracked up to be

Steel

[Gandalf The White]

Very good indeed. Nicely painted. Full of mistory.

[Al]

Nice start. Keep it up although as it based in the X-universe I would post it in the on topic board.

Al

[Adamskini]

\o/ the waving man likes it

[Mercenary]

Good start, for some reason it reminds me a bit of the intro into Pitch Black

Just one thing..

"The accompanying silence should deafening." is that "..should be.." ??