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 Posted: Fri Jan 26, 2007 3:02 pm
[Note: all speech translated from Arnathian. All Arnathian animal names have been translated to the closest Gaian counterpart, for simplicity's sake]
"Boss?"
"Hm?" Zarnn Nkkaranit reclined lazily against the wall of his high-end apartment, situated squarely at the top of the largest building in Nyr City. His short, stubby tail twitched occasionally as he played with his palm holocomputer. Right now it was showing a map of the west end of town, sketched out in 3D purple grids that hovered an inch above the tiny projector. He could have had more detail, but he wasn't willing to deal with the render times.
"Well, you see," the speaker went on. His name was Krry, and his talents lay in vehicles: building, deconstructing, hotwiring, and when necessary, crashing with style. He was also Zarnn's right-hand-man (the technical Arnathian term is left-lower-wing-lobe-individual, but the meaning is the same), and a powerful figure in their gang: the Red Cranes (name translated: the original is 27 characters long and involves an irrational amount of 'q's). "The thing is... it's about Ryykt."
Zarnn sighed and switched the holocomputer off. "It's always about Ryykt, isn't it? What's your problem with him?"
Krry shrugged and fidgeted, fluttering the tips of his wings rapidly. "You know. He just creeps me out."
"Creeps you out?" Zarnn laughed, a harsh, mocking sound. "Creeps you out? Listen, that kid cost me 147 lines of credit, okay? 147. We only won half a line in today's fight, if that puts things in perspective for you. I'm not about to get rid of that expensive akanat freak just because he makes you a little nervous."
"A little nervous?" Krry burst out. "Did you see what he did today?"
"Saw, and recorded," Zarnn smirked, flipping the holocomputer back on and setting it to play a video. Maximum resolution. His thumb twiddled a dial on the side, expanding the 3D image until it filled the entire room. In true-to-life detail, twelve Arnathians clad in electric yellow suits, slit down the back for easy wing movement, spread across an impromptu street battlefield, vibroknives drawn and ready. Krry winced in anticipation, even though he'd been there at the real event only a few hours before.
A holographic image of Zarnn stepped into the recorded field of view, holding the end of a long leash. He said something inaudible to the fighters; the computer's microphone hadn't been on, but his posture held more then enough arrogance to make up for the words. The leader of the rival gang said something, and then Zarnn yanked on the end of the leash.
A new, much younger Arnathian was pulled into view, stumbling slightly. He looked vaguely different from the rest: a little taller, a little skinnier, a longer tail with a strange spike on the end, and freakish reddish eyes. The youngling fidgeted nervously, scratching at the edges of the thick collar around his neck.
Zarnn stepped close to the boy, whispering something in his ear. The boy winced. Then Zarnn unsnapped the leash from the collar and sprinted from the field.
One skinny, unarmed boy versus twelve heavily armed men and women. The fight really wasn't fair at all.
The opposing side should have had at least twenty.
Two men were out before they could even move, sent sprawling to the ground by a lash of the boy's tail. Two more charged him. He grabbed the wrist of one, threw him to the ground with force that snapped both his arms, and kicked him at the second. While those two were entangled, the boy ran for another opponent, dodging slices from the whirring vibroknife, and he finally plunged the spike on his tail into the man's arm. The opponent yelled soundlessly and backed away, the knife dropping from paralyzed fingers.
The rest of the enemies were taken out in similar fashion: quick, efficient, and brutal. The fight concluded with the boy straddling the remaining fighter, slamming the man's head into the pavement again and again until there was little left but a bloody, oozing mush. Then he stood up, turning to face the recorded Zann- and everyone could see the strange, simple happiness lighting his eyes. Like a dog that had just gotten a treat.
Zarnn shut the holocomputer off. Recorded Zarnn, the kid, and the bleeding corpses collapsed and vanished.
"See?" Krry said. "He's creepy. Did you see that look-"
"It's the conditioning," Zarnn said dismissively. "If he didn't like fighting, he wouldn't be worth much to us, now would he?"
"Still..." Krry muttered, as Zarnn shot him a distainful look.
"Just stop whining, okay?" Zarnn grumbled. "Ryykt?" he shouted into the room next door. "Get your a** out here and practice your throws! That thing you used today was sloppy as s**t! If you do that again I will break every bone in your body, you understand?"
Ryykt, the boy from the recording, crept into the room, every muscle in his body tensed in combined submission and fear. It was hard to imagine that he had just killed twelve men that morning. Still, he gave Krry chills.
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Posted: Sun Jan 28, 2007 4:44 pm
"It's not just me, is it?"
"No, Krry. He bugs me too." Akt, a low-ranking Red Crane, shot a suspicious look into the corner where Ryykt was playing. The boy, nearly twenty, still acted like a young child when he was alone. Right now, he was humming tunelessly and playing with a piece of red string, winding and unwinding it around his fingers. Every few seconds he shot a frightened glance around the room. Krry and Akt knew he was making sure Zarnn hadn't entered while he wasn't looking.
"Really," Krry said. "I'm just afraid one of these days he'll murder us all in our beds and we won't be able to stop him. He's too strong. We trained him too well."
"I know. And you can't ever tell what he's thinking! Look at that stupid smile. He's acting the same way with that string as he acts when he's tearing some guy's windpipe out!"
"I don't think it's malicious or anything, but still. Creeeepy." Krry shuddered for emphasis, his wings rustling slightly.
"So... " Like Ryykt, Akt glanced over his shoulder to make sure their leader wouldn't overhear the conversation. "Are we doing something about him?"
"Yeah." Krry's voice dropped to a triple-pianissimo whisper. "I've got Lorrt and Nkail in on it so far, and I'm going to talk to Ccieri tonight. Here's what I think we should do..."
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Posted: Sun Jan 28, 2007 4:46 pm
Morning dawned on Nyr City. Zarnn woke to see Krry holding a holo-gram message and sitting demurely next to the door.
"Whazzat?" Zarnn grumbled muzzily, as he climbed unsteadily out of bed. The young, attractive, and very Arnathian woman who had been lying next to him gave an inelegant snore.
"Fight notice," Krry said, offering Zarnn the message's projector cube. "Blue Dragons. Mikita, the leader. She's challenging you over the northern office block. Says it's her territory and she wants it back."
Zarnn was suddenly awake and alert. He liked nothing better then a fight, and a chance to show off his prize possession. "Where? How many?"
"Top of the Nikika Tower. One-on-one."
"That's too easy."
"I dunno. They got a genmo too."
"I don't care if they've got twenty," Zarnn scoffed, tossing the projector cube back at Krry. "They're no match for our Ryykt." He marched out of the room, shouting orders to his assorted minions. "Get the transport ready, you lazy asses! The chrome one, okay? We're showing off, so uniforms on! Is that ******** genmo Ryykt up yet? Somebody find him and get him his knives, get him some breakfast, then..." His voice trailed off as he strode down the hallway.
Krry allowed himself a small arrogant smile. This was going better then he had thought. If things worked, this would be the last day he'd have to look at those freakish red eyes...
---
The wind howled across the top of the Nikika Tower, where the two rival gangs faced off. The Blue Dragons were arranged in tight, menacing formation, two rows of elegantly robed spear-fighters guarding the leader Mikita. The more casual Red Cranes leaned or sprawled against the side of their transport, a few lazily twirling knives with the kind of fluid casualness that suggested they could strike at any moment, and they were willing to go to any lengths to defend Zarnn.
Of course, this was all for show. The only people who would be fighting today were the akanats: Zarnn's Ryykt, still tethered to his leash, and Mikita's Anaka, bound at the foot by a chain. Anaka had obviously been created to a different set of specifications then Ryykt: where he was build for speed, she was built for muscle, with massive forearms, deadly-sharp claws, and two extra lobes on her massive wings.
At an unspoken signal, both leaders unleashed their charges. Ryykt tensed, ready to spring. He was clothed in camocloth, and he held a knife lazily at his side. Anaka circled him slowly, cracking her knuckles.
Zarnn casually switched on his holocomputer's record function. This was going to be a good fight.
Anaka leapt with surprising speed, but Ryykt dodged, flaring his wings and shooting into the air. He shot over Anaka's head, digging the knife into her shoulder as he went past. Hot reddish blood splattered the ground, and he laughed. Blood. Pretty blood! Zarnn would be happy with this. He blocked a bone-crunching swing from Anaka, dodged a kick, whipped with his tail but missed and leapt away to regain his balance-
A thunderous sound split the air.
In the shocked silence that followed, Ryykt stood frozen at the edge of the tower roof, swaying slightly. Blood gushed down his chest from a hole the size of his fist. A gash on his shoulder was bleeding just as much, and his right ear had been nearly torn off. His wings looked lacy from the myriad holes punched through them.
Across the roof, the Blue Dragon spear-fighters slowly set down their guns.
Projectile weapons were banned from gang use by a heavily enforced set of treaties. Fights were to be between individuals with handheld weapons. Nothing more. Anything else was the ultimate dishonor.
However, everyone had their price. And Krry, in his efforts to be rid of Ryykt, had found the Dragons'.
Ryykt might have been the best fighter in existence, but even he couldn't dodge bullets.
The blood loss, at this point, was too much. Ryykt swayed a bit too far, couldn't find the strength to correct it- and fell. His wings were useless, even if he had had the energy to flap them.
The ground was so far down, nobody heard the sound when he hit the pavement.
Nobody was paying attention, anyway. Zarnn was frothing at the mouth, screaming at the Blue Dragons with every ounce of anger he could muster. "YOU KILLED HIM! YOU HAD NO RIGHT! YOU'VE BROKEN THE TREATY, YOU COST ME MY AKANAT, YOU BASTARDS!"
Then they shot him.
Krry stepped over the twitching body to hand Mikita several lines of credit. They shook hands.
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Posted: Sun Jan 28, 2007 4:47 pm
"How's he doing?"
"He's stabilized. We patched up the hole in his chest. Can't do much for the wings, I'm afraid."
"So any idea who he is?"
"Check out the collar. See the mark? We've got gang business here."
"Oh, s**t. We shouldn't have even gotten involved."
"What, we should have left him on the street to die?"
"This is gang territory! We have to keep out of their business or they'll bring the place down around us!"
"...it gets worse."
"Don't tell me."
"Look at the tattoo. And that tail ain't normal. He's a akanat for sure."
"s**t."
"s**t doesn't begin to cover it. This guy's illegal on so many levels, I don't think I can count them all. I think we've got surveillance video of him too. Murder. The whole shebang. And we can't do a damn thing about it because he's gang property."
"But what can we do now? Give him back?"
"No, that'll show that we've been meddling. We have to get rid of him. Get him out of here before the rest of the police, or the gangs, notice. Any ideas?"
There was a long pause. Then, "ICRS?"
"The criminal place?"
"If he's not a criminal, I don't know what is. And we'll get him off the planet. Nobody will recognize him, either."
"...fine. Give them a call."
---
Ryykt swam in and out of consciousness. He heard vague snippets of conversation, and dimly saw faces looking him over. Then he felt himself being lifted and placed into a small space, cushioned, cozy. Someone strapped something around his chest, holding him in. "Good luck," someone whispered to him. "Have a nice trip," someone else said, with more then a little sarcasm. Then the door was shut. There was a long pause, then a heavy roar- a sudden acceleration- and unconsciousness overwhelmed him again.
The pod soared on into the stars.
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Posted: Fri Feb 02, 2007 7:58 am
Welcome to Gaia
Wrrrr.
Crackle-rustle-snap.
Click.
Somewhere near the center of a large deciduous forest, a sleek, shining pod descended from the sky, silent except for a few snapping twigs and the chattering of one terrified squirrel. Swaying slightly, as though something might be wrong with its internal mechanics, the pod settled in a pile of red-gold fallen leaves, swayed slightly, then powered down. With a sudden click, the door unlatched.
Inside, something stirred.
---
"Why do we have to walk in the stupid forest? Why can't we go buy ice cream? Or play video games? Or go see a movie? Or-"
Taylor sighed, trying to ignore the complaints of her "son." For all his massive bulk, Diacyn was still incredibly juvenile, and was currently acting like a bored six-year-old. However, no six-year-old had biceps as big as Taylor's legs, tribal tattoos, snowy white wings, and a permanently scowling mouth with a cigarette clamped firmly between the lips. Diacyn was one of a kind.
"You didn't have to come with me," Taylor reminded him irritably. "It was your idea." Diacyn scowled and kicked up a drift of leaves, hands jammed firmly in his pockets. He muttered something incomprehensible and probably rude. Taylor decided to ignore him and looked into the treetops instead, keeping watch for any birds or squirrels. She liked watching the animals; it was very relaxing.
Ah. There was a squirrel. She couldn't see it, but she could hear it, chattering madly in the distance. Curiously, she set off towards the source of the noise, wondering what could have the little rodent so upset-
Clang.
Taylor's foot caught on something metallic and she fell forward into a drift of leaves with a soft fwump. In the distance she heard Diacyn laughing. Grumbling something as rude as anything the owl could think up, she extracted herself from the leaves, pulled a few out of her hair, and turned to see what she had tripped on.
"What the bloody- This isn't- no freaking way- Diacyn! Get over here! I think I found a spaceship!"
---
Ryykt blinked awake for the first time since he had fallen off the roof. His shoulder still throbbed a little, but it wasn't bad. It would heal. Not nearly as bad as the time he'd been stabbed through the ribs, or the time he'd gotten his leg broken and Zarnn wouldn't let him take any pain medicine.
Wait. Things were strange. He was in a little room. He liked small spaces, like the table he hid under when he was scared, but he didn't know this space. It was weird. Wrong, Had he done something wrong?
How small was it? Experimentally, he stretched out his arms. They couldn't reach the sides. That was... odd...
Then he noticed that his arms were small and chubby, the fingers stunted but pointy at the ends, the skin dark and shot through with silvery-white designs... these weren't his arms.
Was this another test? Like the fighting tests? He'd never heard of anything like this before...
Then he became aware of the shadowy shapes outside his tiny room, the deep, rumbling sounds coming from them, and suddenly he was very, very scared...
---
"What the hell. It's a spaceship. There's no way in hell it's a spaceship." Taylor paced in circles, her tennis shoes crunching the leaves. "How can it be a spaceship? Who made it? Is it an alien?"
Diacyn was sitting on a nearby log, lazily smoking his cigarette. "Maybe the alien's inside," he suggested, blowing a puff of smoke in Taylor's direction. Taylor gave him a dirty look but took his advice, approaching the pod gingerly on tiptoes as though it might explode at any minute, or zap her with a laser beam.
There seemed to be a door on it. Carefully, so carefully, she touched the handle, then turned and pulled...
Muddy brown eyes met brilliant silvery-blue ones. Taylor screeched and leapt backwards, tripping over nothing and landing in a confused heap in the leaves. The tiny thing in the pod had nowhere to go, but it gaped soundlessly at her, like it was trying to scream but couldn't get the words out.
"Wh- it's a- oh my god, it's an alien." Taylor got up for the second time, not even bothering to get the leaves out of her hair. Okay, it was strange, it was frightening, but it was an alien... a real, live alien... Scientific Taylor took over and left Frightened Confused Taylor behind. She had to study this thing. Where was it from? What did it eat? Why was it here?
"Uh... hey, little guy. Girl. Whatever you are?" She peered into the pod, inspecting the creature closely for the first time. It was surprisingly humanoid. Sure, it had the crazy giant ears and the freaky skin markings and the pointy claws, but it looked just like a human baby.
Oh crap, it was a baby.
"Hell, am I going to have to take care of you?" Carefully, she lifted the tiny thing from where it lay, feeling it shake in her arms. It was terrified. Taylor had all the maternal instincts of a female seahorse, but she felt sorry for it... lost, and alone, on the complete wrong planet... who the hell put babies in spaceships, anyway? She smoothed back some of its long, red-black hair and cooed at it in what she hoped was a comforting manner. Though from the look on the baby's face, this wasn't working.
How weird. The thing didn't have any clothes, but it had a thick black collar, much too large, dangling around its neck. And one ear was nicked twice near the tip. What had this baby been up to?
"I can't have a baby."
But it seemed like there wasn't a choice. "Oy, Diacyn," she said, getting a firmer grip on the trembling infant. "Grab that spaceship. I want to take a closer look at it at home." Diacyn scowled and protested, saying there was no way he could lift that thing, so they finally decided to come back with some rope and drag it home. He finally just rummaged around inside for anything he could carry home, and came out with a picture of a green-skinned creature with wings, a harness buckle, and a handful of foam stuffing from the seat.
"Diacyn?" Taylor said as they walked back home. "He's ours. But you can't eat him."
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Posted: Mon Feb 12, 2007 1:47 pm
Broken
Ryykt couldn't understand what was going on.
He had woken up after the fight in someplace he didn't recognize, and now he had been captured by three strange creatures. Maybe they were other akanats, but they looked weird even for that. All had strange pink skin. One had darkish hair, and wore a funny floppy thing on her head. And no wings or tail. Another looked nearly the same, but shorter and with light hair. The third one had wings, but they were strange, opaque and made of lots of little fluffy bits. Ryykt tried to look at the inside of them, but his eyes didn't seem to be working. He could only see the outside.
Nothing about him worked properly. His body was strange and small, and he couldn't make it move the way he wanted. His movements were clumsy, and he couldn't balance well enough to stand up. How was he supposed to fight like this? Even his ears were broken, because nothing he heard made sense. The creatures talked to him in deep voices and nonsense words. He didn't have wings anymore. And he'd lost his tail, and his poison spurs. There were spikes at his ankles, but they were stunted and lacked the paralyzing liquid he used to have.
This was bad. This was really, really bad. Couldn't walk, couldn't fly, couldn't do anything. If Zarnn found out, Ryykt knew he would be in trouble. He was no good as a fighter in this squishy, tiny body. But where was Zarnn? Where were any of the gang? Ryykt hadn't seen them since he woke up.
He wanted to see them. He had to see them. What was he supposed to do alone?
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Posted: Mon Feb 12, 2007 1:48 pm
Shinies
"You know, he's really cute when he's not freaked out." Taylor smiled, watching the child she had dubbed Karl play with his paints. He seemed to love anything colorful, and the pots of brilliant pigments were too much to resist. By this point, most of the floor was covered with paper bearing his bright paint splatters. He liked brushes, but he'd found that his claws worked just as well.
"I suppose," Diacyn muttered, his tone surly. He wasn't nearly as enchanted with the alien baby as Taylor was. For one thing, he wasn't allowed to smoke in the house anymore.
"Karl," Taylor said, not paying attention, "You have paint on your face." Reaching down, she picked up the child, feeling how he stiffened with fright for a second before relaxing in her arms. The kid sure was jumpy. "Lemme get that." As she wiped a smear of red watercolor off his nose, he smiled, clawed hands reached out for the cloth.
"What do you think?" Taylor said to Diacyn, as Karl played with the piece of fabric. "Who drops alien babies out of the sky?"
"Dunno," the Guardian of Death muttered. "The Alien Baby Dropping Company?"
"And what's with this?" Taylor went on, ignoring Diacyn. Her fingers wrapped around the thick black collar encircling Karl's neck. It had been there since they found him. It didn't seem to bother him, but he freaked out if anyone tried to take it off. And that wasn't the only strange thing. There were the cuts in his right ear, like a wound that hadn't healed right. How had that happened?
"Looks like he was somebody's pet," Diacyn snorted. "Hey! Stop that!" He batted Karl's hands away as they tried to grab at Diacyn's orange-and-fuchsia hat. "My hat!"
Karl winced at Diacyn's loud words and pulled his hands back, curling into a ball. "Hey," Taylor snapped. "Don't scare him!"
"But he keeps trying to take my hat," Diacyn whined. "He won't leave it alone."
"He likes colorful things," Taylor explained. "Maybe we should get him his own hat or something."
---
Which was why, shortly after, the three wound up at the mall. Karl's silvery-blue eyes were wide in amazement at the confusion of sound, smell, and color. So much color! It was almost too much for him to take, and he spent half the time with his eyes closed against the onslaught. But the other half of the time, he was happily grabbing at anything colorful or shiny within reach. Taylor happily bought him plenty of clothes, and a bracelet with rainbow beads.
"Can you take him for a minute?" she asked, as they walked to the cash register with a pile of bright baby clothes. Diacyn nodded and took the baby before stepping outside of the store.
"So. Hi, Alien Baby," he said. Karl was silent. He didn't like Diacyn very much. He was always loud and angry, kind of like Zarnn. It was best to stay quiet and wait to see what he would do next.
"You like shinies, huh?" Diacyn mused, touching one of Karl's oversized ears. "Do you like these?" He fingered one of his own earrings, a bright red and silver stud. That got Karl's attention. Sparkles! Wow! He'd seen some members of other gangs wear sparkles in their ears, but he'd never been allowed to get them. "Yeah? You like those? Well, I have an idea."
Ten minutes at the piercing parlor later, Karl had shinies of every color stuck through his ears. He couldn't see them by himself, but when Diacyn held him up to a mirror, he saw his strange new face and sparkles all over his ears.
Taylor, wisely, said nothing.
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Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2007 1:36 pm
"What the bloody hell are you doing with THAT?"
Karl looked up, wincing at the anger in Todd's voice. What had he done wrong now? All he was doing was sitting on the floor, playing with a knife...
"That's mine, okay?" Todd whipped the blade out of Karl's hands. "What were you doing with it, anyway?" He squatted down, tilting his head to look face-to-face with Karl. "Little kids aren't supposed to mess with knives."
Karl didn't understand many of the words, but he got the emotions- anger and irritation. It didn't make sense! His old owners liked it when he had knives. They liked him to practice with them, and cut things. When he'd found this knife, he'd thought it would make his new owners happy. He couldn't walk or fight or anything in this body, but maybe he could learn?
...he didn't like these new people very much. It was so hard to tell what they wanted. But at least they weren't always angry like Zarnn. The bald one was cranky, and this little blonde skinny one was unpredictable, but the female one was usually nice.
"Honestly," Todd was saying, "You are the weirdest little alien baby I ever met. Playing with knives... what d'ya need knives for if you have these claws?" He grabbed at one of Karl's hands- Karl flinched, but didn't pull back. "And what the hell is this thing?"
His hands closed around Karl's collar, fingers feeling the thick black material- metal? plastic? He couldn't tell. It was perfectly smooth except for a few engraved symbols on one side, and a barely perceptible seam at the back. Was that how to get it off?
Karl's eyes widened in horror. No! NO NO NO! Zarnn put that collar on him! If it came off, nobody would know where he was, or who he belonged to- and everyone would be upset- and Zarnn said it would KILL HIM!
Faced with sudden death, Karl did the only thing he could: screamed, as loud as his tiny lungs could muster. It was enough for Todd to yank his hands away and plug his ears, giving Karl a very dirty look.
"Okay! Okay! I won't touch it!" he shouted, backing away. "Blimey, you're a weird little bugger."
Karl shut up as soon as the danger was over, and waited very quietly until Todd had left, taking the knife with him.
This was all so confusing, and he had no idea what to do to make it right.
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Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2007 2:58 pm
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