Post by EmperorMyric on Dec 16, 2017 18:04:52 GMT
Chapter 1
The air was cool. Winter was coming. Danny could feel the chill in his bones. He left much to be desired in the warm clothes department. The wind kicked up spraying dust and rock particles in Danny's eyes and forcing him to walk backwards until the wind died down. A strong gust came within a hairs breath of blowing his charcoal colored apple jack hat back behind him into the seemingly endless wasteland he had just traversed, but for Danny's quick right hand grabbing the hat before it blow of his head. He gripped the collar of his black corduroy wind breaker in a vain attempt to squeeze a little extra warmth from it. Goddam shithole! Danny thought to himself.
It was hard to walk straight due to the wind and the broken pieces of metal and wire that littered the landscape. To Danny's right was the wing of, what he figured what at one time was a majestic airship. A twenty story high wing stuck up out of the ground as if thrust into the dirt by the gods. What happened here? Who would chose to live out here? Danny had to put his questioning thoughts on hold as he tripped over a sizable lump of metal. Danny's face would have hit the hard, sharp ground had he not sacrificed his hands by using them to break his fall. “MOTHER FUCKER!” Danny spat as he got up, dusting himself off. He inspected his plums as specks of blood bubbled to the surface of his hands. He then looked at the object that tripped him. It was the torso of some type of robot. The hood land rover, most likely an agrav one, was taken and rolled into a cylindrical shape to form the torso. The hood/torso was red at one time, but the paint had long since chipped off revealing the rusted colored composite material underneath. The long dead robot’s head (or what was left of it, which wasn’t much) was still semi-attached to the torso by a few thin wires. Of the head, only the bottom jaw remained. It was a different color than the torso, rusted blue not red. The appearance of the robot was surprisingly human like. It had a rounded chin that even had a clef indented into it. There were a few teeth. “Are they real?” Danny mumbled to himself. They looked real, but he deduced that they were just great fakes. On the whole, the robot looked like it was constructed of spare parts. Still, this was the most advanced piece of machinery he’d seen thus far. Why go through so much effort to make something as realistic as dentures? It’s just a junk bot.
Over the course of the day Danny saw more robots like the one that upended him along with many other bits and pieces of mechanical machinery that had met their final resting place in this waste land. Some of these things were quite advanced. He saw remains of electro-powered cranes and weapons. Danny was inclined to grab a blaster or two, but they were all offline. A rock would've been more effective if he found himself in any trouble.
At one point, Danny happened upon an entire crate of unused plastic explosives. It was quickly becoming obvious to Danny that The land in front of, and around was the scene of a airship crash, a rather large and destructive one. Danny couldn't help but think that the debris from the crash fit in perfectly with the barren land.
To Danny's left was a river that ran in the same direction he was walking: west. Some broken down sweeperbots he'd met a few days back had told him that the river running next to him was called the River Erdani. Its current was hard and fast; it sped past the land as if in a hurry to get to some greater destination. Or maybe it just wants to get the hell out of here? Danny couldn't blame it. he was getting sick of the scenery himself. Flat waste land with bits of useless junk sprinkled here and there was all Danny saw whenever he looked around.
The river had a metallic color, sliver-ish. Danny bent down, daring to drink this unnatural looking water. His canteen was almost empty. He didn't want to use up the last few precious ounces of the water he'd found in his canteen when he arrived here. It was surly more savory than the stuff he was looking at now.
He drank from the river.
The water burned the minute it touched his lips. He forced himself to swallow. The hard water hit his stomach like a boulder. “Fuck…” Danny mumbled. For that matter, why did he have to mumble? There was no one out here; no living thing that is. It had been two days since he'd had last seen a functioning AI; more since he’d seen a living organism.
As Danny came up on his destination, everything became enveloped in darkness. The day was still healthy; the sun being only one or two hours past its pinnacle. It was a shadow he was walking through, a huge one, casted by the mountain fortress Erdani, the city Danny was instructed to travel towards.
A huge cliff sprouted out from the landscape, rising for what looked like a mile off the ground. The metallic river that flowed next to Danny split in two upon contact with the cliff. Buildings rested on top of the bluff, tall ones. Most of them had a cylindrical design and many were topped off with a dome, and a flag. The flags swayed in the breeze almost in unison. Danny was too far away to see what the flags looked like however.
In the distance, he could just see the outlines of small buildings built into the side of the bluff. Danny pulled out a pair of binoculars from the black pouch that hung at his side. Through them he could see that the buildings that dotted the sides of the cliff were little more than aluminum huts riddled with cracks and broken windows. From the fact that they the embedded buildings were a great deal smaller, and in worse shape than the ones on top of the bluff, Danny could tell that these building were of a great deal less importance.
Danny walked fast, wanting to cut through this final part of the waste land and reach the city he'd been told about in the hopes of finding some warmth and some answers. It was chilly, not cold, but chilly. It would have been better if it was just cold. Then Danny could run through the still, dry air to keep himself warm. The wind made it impossible for him to break into a run. No matter which direction he faced, Danny always seemed to be walking right into the teeth of the it, as if it was toying with him. Cold is just there, like corpse. Chill actively eats into your soul.
A flock of what looked like vultures circled overhead. There must be a dead caucus around here somewhere. There was; a pack of coyote-like creatures eating out the remains of some furry animal the size of a border collie, possible a fellow coyote. I guess a waste land is a waste land no matter what planet you’re on. Danny thought.
The city turned out to be further away than previously estimated. Danny looked at his watch. The one that had magically appeared on his wrist when he arrived here. The sun was going down, not that light matter considering he was still in the shadow. The problem was the creatures that came out at night. The coyote-like creatures were the worst. They were relatively small but vicious; and they hunted in packs. He could have kept walking, but who knew what awaited him in the city. He'd yet to see a human in the three days that he'd been wandering the waste land, and the few AI's he'd seen were pretty ornery. He needed to rest.
Danny found a vehicle. It was small and flat, a two-seater, about seven yards long, and five across. Like everything else around the area the original paint had chipped off leaving only rust colored metal. The dashboard inside the vehicle was bare, nothing but the decaying remnants of composite material. The were empty slots in the dashboard where the various navigation tools had once been. Even the speedometer had been removed. Any electronics that could be of any use to anyone had been striped out. Besides for it's disheveled appearance, it reminded Danny of the Open Air Cursers that used to speed around his neighborhood back on Earth. A pang of homesickness hit him, but he fought it off. He couldn't afford to get sentimental now.
Unlike the OPC's, the two-seater Danny was looking at had a roof. He could sleep in it. Danny took his seat in the vehicle. It was uncomfortable, but it would have to do. He wouldn't risk sleeping on the flat ground completely exposed. There were gashes running the seat liners. Bits of yellow stuffing oozed out like puss. Both side windows of the vehicle were broken, but the windshield was amazing like intact. The holes where the windows should've been were small, only about two feet wide. If Danny slept in the middle of the two seats a coyote-like thing would have trouble grabbing him before he woke up.
He placed his backpack on the seat next to him. Some one gave it to him, but who? The pack had be laying on the ground next to him when he got woke up in this world, under the shadow of those towers. It contained everything that he needed to survive in this place. Freeze dried food, water, a sleeping bag, a canteen, a small bottle of some kind of surprisingly flammable goo, and matches.
He pulled his shirt- the one he had on before he blacked out and wound up in this godforsaken place- and looked at the black metal object that had glued itself to his chest right over his heart. It too had been with him when he woke up. It was circular with dull, yet piecing red light that shot outward. The light was almost mesmerizing. Along with his supplies and the strange devise, he'd found a note addressed to him stuff into his closed fist. Danny wanted to read the note again, but the lack of light made that impossible. It wasn't that he was uncertain about what to do. His orders were crystal clear. He'd memorized the note, having read it about twenty times in the last few days. Danny just hoped that he could find some clue about who wrote it, and why he had been sent to this place. He closed his eyes and let the words flash in his mind.
Dear Danny,
Hey, how was your sleep? So here's the deal, as you've probably figured out, you're not on Earth anymore, nowhere near it, hell, you aren't even in the same galaxy. You're on Tenebris 866, your colony's mother planet; and right now you're in the middle of nowhere. You have to travel west, to a city called Erdani. I didn't leave you with a compass because I know you have great sense of direction, along with a great many other skills. You'll be traveling on foot (trust me, you're not going to find a ride out here). It should take you about three days to reach the city. You might want to get a move-on ASAP, odds are you've just woken up, so it'll be night in a few hours. The nocturnal creatures around here aren't exactly friendly. Ok, they'll tear you face off first chance they get. Be careful. Good luck.
Oh, P.S. Don't try to remove that metal thing on your chest (you just noticed it now didn't you?) It'll keep you alive. I'll explain more about it when I see you in Erdani. See you soon, -Shaw
With the words in the note fading out of his mind, Danny began to drift off into the darkness
The air was cool. Winter was coming. Danny could feel the chill in his bones. He left much to be desired in the warm clothes department. The wind kicked up spraying dust and rock particles in Danny's eyes and forcing him to walk backwards until the wind died down. A strong gust came within a hairs breath of blowing his charcoal colored apple jack hat back behind him into the seemingly endless wasteland he had just traversed, but for Danny's quick right hand grabbing the hat before it blow of his head. He gripped the collar of his black corduroy wind breaker in a vain attempt to squeeze a little extra warmth from it. Goddam shithole! Danny thought to himself.
It was hard to walk straight due to the wind and the broken pieces of metal and wire that littered the landscape. To Danny's right was the wing of, what he figured what at one time was a majestic airship. A twenty story high wing stuck up out of the ground as if thrust into the dirt by the gods. What happened here? Who would chose to live out here? Danny had to put his questioning thoughts on hold as he tripped over a sizable lump of metal. Danny's face would have hit the hard, sharp ground had he not sacrificed his hands by using them to break his fall. “MOTHER FUCKER!” Danny spat as he got up, dusting himself off. He inspected his plums as specks of blood bubbled to the surface of his hands. He then looked at the object that tripped him. It was the torso of some type of robot. The hood land rover, most likely an agrav one, was taken and rolled into a cylindrical shape to form the torso. The hood/torso was red at one time, but the paint had long since chipped off revealing the rusted colored composite material underneath. The long dead robot’s head (or what was left of it, which wasn’t much) was still semi-attached to the torso by a few thin wires. Of the head, only the bottom jaw remained. It was a different color than the torso, rusted blue not red. The appearance of the robot was surprisingly human like. It had a rounded chin that even had a clef indented into it. There were a few teeth. “Are they real?” Danny mumbled to himself. They looked real, but he deduced that they were just great fakes. On the whole, the robot looked like it was constructed of spare parts. Still, this was the most advanced piece of machinery he’d seen thus far. Why go through so much effort to make something as realistic as dentures? It’s just a junk bot.
Over the course of the day Danny saw more robots like the one that upended him along with many other bits and pieces of mechanical machinery that had met their final resting place in this waste land. Some of these things were quite advanced. He saw remains of electro-powered cranes and weapons. Danny was inclined to grab a blaster or two, but they were all offline. A rock would've been more effective if he found himself in any trouble.
At one point, Danny happened upon an entire crate of unused plastic explosives. It was quickly becoming obvious to Danny that The land in front of, and around was the scene of a airship crash, a rather large and destructive one. Danny couldn't help but think that the debris from the crash fit in perfectly with the barren land.
To Danny's left was a river that ran in the same direction he was walking: west. Some broken down sweeperbots he'd met a few days back had told him that the river running next to him was called the River Erdani. Its current was hard and fast; it sped past the land as if in a hurry to get to some greater destination. Or maybe it just wants to get the hell out of here? Danny couldn't blame it. he was getting sick of the scenery himself. Flat waste land with bits of useless junk sprinkled here and there was all Danny saw whenever he looked around.
The river had a metallic color, sliver-ish. Danny bent down, daring to drink this unnatural looking water. His canteen was almost empty. He didn't want to use up the last few precious ounces of the water he'd found in his canteen when he arrived here. It was surly more savory than the stuff he was looking at now.
He drank from the river.
The water burned the minute it touched his lips. He forced himself to swallow. The hard water hit his stomach like a boulder. “Fuck…” Danny mumbled. For that matter, why did he have to mumble? There was no one out here; no living thing that is. It had been two days since he'd had last seen a functioning AI; more since he’d seen a living organism.
As Danny came up on his destination, everything became enveloped in darkness. The day was still healthy; the sun being only one or two hours past its pinnacle. It was a shadow he was walking through, a huge one, casted by the mountain fortress Erdani, the city Danny was instructed to travel towards.
A huge cliff sprouted out from the landscape, rising for what looked like a mile off the ground. The metallic river that flowed next to Danny split in two upon contact with the cliff. Buildings rested on top of the bluff, tall ones. Most of them had a cylindrical design and many were topped off with a dome, and a flag. The flags swayed in the breeze almost in unison. Danny was too far away to see what the flags looked like however.
In the distance, he could just see the outlines of small buildings built into the side of the bluff. Danny pulled out a pair of binoculars from the black pouch that hung at his side. Through them he could see that the buildings that dotted the sides of the cliff were little more than aluminum huts riddled with cracks and broken windows. From the fact that they the embedded buildings were a great deal smaller, and in worse shape than the ones on top of the bluff, Danny could tell that these building were of a great deal less importance.
Danny walked fast, wanting to cut through this final part of the waste land and reach the city he'd been told about in the hopes of finding some warmth and some answers. It was chilly, not cold, but chilly. It would have been better if it was just cold. Then Danny could run through the still, dry air to keep himself warm. The wind made it impossible for him to break into a run. No matter which direction he faced, Danny always seemed to be walking right into the teeth of the it, as if it was toying with him. Cold is just there, like corpse. Chill actively eats into your soul.
A flock of what looked like vultures circled overhead. There must be a dead caucus around here somewhere. There was; a pack of coyote-like creatures eating out the remains of some furry animal the size of a border collie, possible a fellow coyote. I guess a waste land is a waste land no matter what planet you’re on. Danny thought.
The city turned out to be further away than previously estimated. Danny looked at his watch. The one that had magically appeared on his wrist when he arrived here. The sun was going down, not that light matter considering he was still in the shadow. The problem was the creatures that came out at night. The coyote-like creatures were the worst. They were relatively small but vicious; and they hunted in packs. He could have kept walking, but who knew what awaited him in the city. He'd yet to see a human in the three days that he'd been wandering the waste land, and the few AI's he'd seen were pretty ornery. He needed to rest.
Danny found a vehicle. It was small and flat, a two-seater, about seven yards long, and five across. Like everything else around the area the original paint had chipped off leaving only rust colored metal. The dashboard inside the vehicle was bare, nothing but the decaying remnants of composite material. The were empty slots in the dashboard where the various navigation tools had once been. Even the speedometer had been removed. Any electronics that could be of any use to anyone had been striped out. Besides for it's disheveled appearance, it reminded Danny of the Open Air Cursers that used to speed around his neighborhood back on Earth. A pang of homesickness hit him, but he fought it off. He couldn't afford to get sentimental now.
Unlike the OPC's, the two-seater Danny was looking at had a roof. He could sleep in it. Danny took his seat in the vehicle. It was uncomfortable, but it would have to do. He wouldn't risk sleeping on the flat ground completely exposed. There were gashes running the seat liners. Bits of yellow stuffing oozed out like puss. Both side windows of the vehicle were broken, but the windshield was amazing like intact. The holes where the windows should've been were small, only about two feet wide. If Danny slept in the middle of the two seats a coyote-like thing would have trouble grabbing him before he woke up.
He placed his backpack on the seat next to him. Some one gave it to him, but who? The pack had be laying on the ground next to him when he got woke up in this world, under the shadow of those towers. It contained everything that he needed to survive in this place. Freeze dried food, water, a sleeping bag, a canteen, a small bottle of some kind of surprisingly flammable goo, and matches.
He pulled his shirt- the one he had on before he blacked out and wound up in this godforsaken place- and looked at the black metal object that had glued itself to his chest right over his heart. It too had been with him when he woke up. It was circular with dull, yet piecing red light that shot outward. The light was almost mesmerizing. Along with his supplies and the strange devise, he'd found a note addressed to him stuff into his closed fist. Danny wanted to read the note again, but the lack of light made that impossible. It wasn't that he was uncertain about what to do. His orders were crystal clear. He'd memorized the note, having read it about twenty times in the last few days. Danny just hoped that he could find some clue about who wrote it, and why he had been sent to this place. He closed his eyes and let the words flash in his mind.
Dear Danny,
Hey, how was your sleep? So here's the deal, as you've probably figured out, you're not on Earth anymore, nowhere near it, hell, you aren't even in the same galaxy. You're on Tenebris 866, your colony's mother planet; and right now you're in the middle of nowhere. You have to travel west, to a city called Erdani. I didn't leave you with a compass because I know you have great sense of direction, along with a great many other skills. You'll be traveling on foot (trust me, you're not going to find a ride out here). It should take you about three days to reach the city. You might want to get a move-on ASAP, odds are you've just woken up, so it'll be night in a few hours. The nocturnal creatures around here aren't exactly friendly. Ok, they'll tear you face off first chance they get. Be careful. Good luck.
Oh, P.S. Don't try to remove that metal thing on your chest (you just noticed it now didn't you?) It'll keep you alive. I'll explain more about it when I see you in Erdani. See you soon, -Shaw
With the words in the note fading out of his mind, Danny began to drift off into the darkness