'Different' X2 Fiction - Part Two of Chapter 1 added

[The_Abyss]

Prologue - http://www.egosoft.com/x2/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7035

Chapter 1 – Part One - http://www.egosoft.com/x2/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7129

Life, my dear reader, has to it a certain balance. One which often asks questions of itself. We are born, we exist, some of us live, we die. I have experienced the latter once already and let me tell you, I have no desire to do so again. Nor do I think I ever will although should it occur, it will be of my own choosing. But I digress – how easily I can talk about myself. The balance of life has several disadvantages, notably it’s frailty. And with this frailty comes a natural instinct to protect and cling to life. Carried through the ages, it cannot be explained but it runs strongly through all of us. As I opened my eyes, my first sight was that of Captain Alture, and the survival instinct immediately coursed like ice through my veins. Yet it quickly passed, although I could not move even though I could feel no restraints holding me down. I wondered why, but it seemed to take an age even to complete the simplest thoughts, especially with those yellow eyes boring into my very soul. I felt strangely distant from my body and mind yet I was now relaxed. I often treasure that moment – it is always useful to know how another feels when I exercise this particular Gift upon them. But again I stray from my recount – Alture broke the gaze and I felt myself released and was able to move my limbs, prompting a sharp intake of breath as a I felt how much they hurt me.

“You are an unusual individual” Alture said, standing back up straight. “You seem different from the rest”. I pondered this statement, prompting him to hastily qualify it with “I’ve read your file. Your background and education, they’re different from the other officers who serve in the Fleet”.

He turned, giving me time to gather my thoughts. “What do you mean” I blurted out, realising firstly that this was not the way to address a commanding officer, and secondly, it sounded inappropriately vague. Alture replied without looking back. “You know yourself, young man, you do not need me to answer that for you”. And with that he walked across the room to the door where he paused, and turned to me again. “You might want to get up – we don’t have long now. I would suggest the navigation bridge – that’s where most have headed”.

“Why?” I replied. “What’s happening? How long have I been out?”

“Not long” he said. “Most of the crew are dead – massive hull breaches in many sections of the ship. Deprived of the goal of Earth, it seems the Xenon are more than content to continue to destroy anything in their path. Captain R Gunn has managed to shake them, but the ship is doomed and we are being pulled towards the gravity of a large planet.” My panic returned – “This ship isn’t made for planetary entry”. “Exactly” he smiled. “That’s why we think the navigation bridge might be our best chance for survival. Some other ships have survived in better shape than us and will have a better chance, but us? We’re in the hands of the Gods now”. And with that, he swiftly left.

My senses returned immediately. I quickly realised that nothing had changed – the ship still lurched and groaned under me. I half-jumped, half-fell off the medical bed and ran light-headed for the door into the corridor. The scene had worsened somewhat since I boarded the flagship. The lighting was now mainly provided by small electrical fires, dimmed somewhat by the smoke. Looking at the debris strewn everywhere and trying to compose myself, I realised that the artificial gravity was starting to fail – it was starting to get difficult to move. Looking ahead, I saw that Alture was also having difficulty but he was able to still make smooth progress along the passageway to the bridge. Bodies were starting to float from the floor, and I was joining them, unable to keep my feet. I clung to a hanging cable and scanned the corridor, my heart beating faster, starting to panic now, breathing becoming difficult. There! A dead marine lay still on the corridor floor, his grav harness still functioning. Blindly now, almost by touch alone, I made my way towards him, pain shooting through my whole body as I brushed a live cable. Sobbing, I continued, that instinct I told you all about now taking control of my movements. The ship groaned again around me, bulkheads screaming. Flames singed my uniform, yet I could feel no more pain – I kept moving and put my trust in my instincts.

And they did not fail me. My hand closed on the familiar smooth metal feel of the gravity generator. I had made it. Frantically, I clawed the harness from him, and as I did so the marine floated upward, his death saving my life now. I released my hold on the cables, and floated randomly in the corridor as I tried to strap the harness on. With no purchase or resistance, it was a difficult task. You remember that I had been hastily drafted into the Fleet, and had received no training beyond the very basics and had never experienced near weightlessness. I writhed and flailed mid-air, half-trying to strap myself in and half-trying (and not wholly succeeding) to avoid the dangerous power lines hanging around me. Finally, and not a moment too soon, I clicked the final clasp together, and promptly dropped like a stone to the deck, powerless to move. And at that precise moment, it happened.

A roar of noise enveloped me, so loud that it was silent, far too much for my sensitive ears to allow. In an instant I was deafened. My eyes felt like they would explode and my skin be ripped from my very body. Pinned to the deck as I was, debris, bodies, equipment, everything rushed past me and into the inferno raging just metres away from me. My lungs were deflated, sucked dry of the vital air I needed yet could not hold in my lungs. A hull breach, right here, and of all times now, just as we were entering the planet’s atmosphere. I screamed an airless scream, my skin already starting to burn, my fate seemingly certain. Yet whilst my death seemed sure, my fate was not. A hand, claw-like and strong beyond belief grasped my neck, another my shoulder. It was Alture, blown onto me, and clinging on for his very existence. Time paused and an eternity took place before my eyes.

Alture, or what was left of him, stared madly into my face – his visage now so different from that which had met my waking sight only moments before. He was cut in two, scythed apart by a piece of debris, and I was the only object keeping him from being sucked into the fiery vacuum outside the hull. He had changed, his bones were defined under his skin, his eyes burned more fiercely than ever. His mouth, now strangely fanged, hissed at me. His strength was such that his fingers and nails started to penetrate my skin. Yet I felt no more pain – time was frozen remember? It still seemed so quiet but carnage raged around us. And then I moved. The combined weight of both of us was defying my gravity harness. My feet were starting to burn as we slid closer to the rent in the hull, the corridor now emptied of all objects and other crew. Everything suddenly became real again. A chaos of noise and pain swept over me as I was pulled inch by inch towards the jagged rip in the side of the corridor. Alture’s grip tightened and I screamed again in panic. Instinct took over and I knew that I had to act. Frantically, I bit Alture’s arm. And I bit deeply. Blood flowed, almost choking me, but I bit deeper. Alture roared in pain – he was now burning too – but I bit deeper and deeper. The pain of his hands and of my own lower body, now on fire, was intolerable and it drove me to new strength. Alture was wide-eyed and I fought him furiously, his strength now fading.

Suddenly, a pain wracked my body, leaving my burns and cuts and bruises to pale into insignificance. My body bucked and writhed in agony, and this, my final death throe, threw Alture from me. His hands and strange nails raked deep wounds into me as he was pulled out of the craft and into the atmosphere outside. And with his weight gone, the gravity harness held. Yet all this I did not know until much later. For in that corridor, as I fought for life and my very survival, I died. And by the time the ship had come to a dreadful landing on that alien planet, I had been born again. And the real story starts from here.

Oh, and take care, dear reader. I briefly depart from my story here. My little story may not take long to read, but it takes far longer to write. And even after all these years, learning, adapting, evolving, there is still one thing I cannot control. A vampire’s hunger is without compare as you will soon discover. You must hope that you discover this in the next chapter, and not should we meet sooner.

[ElectricMonk]

I get the distinct impression that this should make it ti the X² CD. It would be a crime if it didn't!

[AJ Rimmer Bsc.Ssc.]

very nice...

dont know if your much of a book reader Abyss,but i think you will like the Gene wolfe books very much.

try "claw of the concilliator" or "shadow of the torturer"[my personal fav]


ps..was she aboard?...
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[Gandalf The White]

Does this person get reborn in human form?

[KiwiNZ]

Very creepy

So the Captain was a vampire and passed his fate on to you then. That indeed is a scary thing in the X-Universe. I think I will just have to kill you Does the cross-like shape of a Bayamon make any impression? I'd choose that then for my ship


Cool read.

Try not to interrupt the flow with 'remember?'

I agree, it should be on the CD.

[Al]

very good indeed. The level of description in your story is great and I hope you write a lot and finish in time for addition onto the X2 Cd.

Al

[Adamskini]

\o/

[The_Rock]

makes some intersting reading whilst at work.. loved the opening paragraph..