From the other place. A Halloween aside.
31 Oct 2020Creamy Goodness III
Jump, skim. Jump, skim. Jump, nap. Creamy shook his head to wake himself a little. Falling asleep at the stick was uncommon for Creamy, but his visit to the Tranquillity Stop had been very relaxing. “Ninette darling, can I have a bit of cool air directed towards my face please?” asked Creamy mid-yawn.
“Yes, a cool breeze will aid in keeping you alert Charles” answered the computer in a generic computerised feminine voice.
Charles? The voice Ninette used was bad enough, but calling him Charles? A few of the software upgrades installed at the last station may be messing with Ninette a little, but being acknowledged as Charles was a bit much. Creamy was sure he had set the personal assistants’ voice back to the French language and accent he enjoyed.
A bright light reflecting off the back of the hard-points beside the cockpit stopped Creamy fiddling with Ninettes’ settings, then his HUD flickering brought his short attention span back to the inside of the cockpit. On the scanner, Creamy thought he saw another icon for a ship flitting around A Knight but with the HUD shorting in and out, Creamy couldn’t tell if it was another ship or a side effect of his technical issues.
The proximity lights blinked and A Knight rocked, which was closely followed by a number of other warning lights and alarms. A Knight was still in supercruise, if another ship had hit him, they would both be a short-lived, but very long fireball. The air was pushed out of Creamys’ lungs as an emergency stop dropped A Knight from supercruise throwing Creamy towards the canopy, squeezing his ribs into the harness.
“Th. ..ar air…k is ..en. This ves… wi.l remain …..onary until ..e air…k is clo..d” Stuttered Ninette in the pedestrian voice.
“You what?” asked Creamy while he loaded up the owner’s manual to find out what the many warning lights meant.
“..e rea. a…ock is op... Th.s ..ssel ..ll re..i. …ti.na. u.til the ai..oc. is clo..d” Coughed the computer in a deep male voice.
“Oh my no” exclaimed Creamy looking at Ninettes' closest speaker “That voice will not do at all” Creamys’ questing finger glided down the list finding the warning light he didn’t know the meaning of. “Ah! The rear airlock popped open it would seem. Ninette sweety, would you close the rear airlock please?”
The deep male voice coming from the computer was unpleasant and fell from the speaker heavily in a language creamy didn’t understand.
“Nu am fost primii, dar am trăit alături de ei. Creat din capriciu și abandonat cu mai puțină îngrijorare.”
We were not the first but we lived alongside them. Created on a whim and abandoned with less concern.
Closing the display showing the owners’ manual, Creamy stared with a raised eyebrow at the speaker.
“Right, well ok then” he said slowly “Tell ya what Ninette, as ya not feeling up to muster I’ll go take care of the dodgy door mi’self what?”
Creamy walked the corridors of his ship under flickering lights and screens displaying static sounding its accompanying hiss. Something inconvenient, way beyond Creamys’ strictly limited technical knowledge was going on. Closer to the back of the ship, Creamy started feeling a rhythmic thumping through the deck. It felt like something heavy but soft hitting the walls. Creamy hoped the damage from the ships that attacked him outside of Citi Getaway hadn’t got worse thanks to all the jumping A Knight of Goodness had been doing.
Thudunk Thudunk Thudunk
The closer he got, the more the thumping seemed to become a sound. On reaching the rear entrance to his new ship, Creamy saw what was causing the problem under the malfunctioning lights. It was the airlock trying its best to shut, but for some reason it couldn’t. Creamy activated his pressure suit and checked the rest of the room was sealed before hooking himself to the ship and opening the inner airlock door.
“Am trăit în umbra lor și am prosperat cu creațiile lor eliminate.” Droned the computer in his helmets coms making Creamy jump.
We lived in their shadow and prospered on their discarded creations
“Good grief Ninette! That’s next on the fix-it list I can tell you. Ya sound like a cheap narrator” complained Creamy yanking on the outer airlock.
With a few tools and a few minutes spent poking about, Creamy worked out it was a bent hinge preventing the airlock from closing, and a little force with a pry bar got the door closed again. With a job well done, he put the tools away and went back to the cockpit.
Strapping himself into the pilot’s seat, Creamy activated the nav-panel to get ready to continue his trip to Marrallang. Manual flight was going to be the way forward for a bit, he didn’t fancy listening to Ninettes’ new voice. Creamy turned off the lights to give his eyes a rest from their flashing, but the Holo-display was randomly changing size and flickering. Creamy managed to get it to hold still and stay on long enough with a lucky slap to the emitter to get an idea of how far he had left to go.
A Knight only had nine jumps before some professionals could look at the ship and fix everything, providing the carrier had the required experts and facilities. Creamy pointed the nose at the jump point and activated the FSD. The countdown wasn’t what Creamy expected.
“Puterea noastră a crescut și greva noastră a fost fatală pentru primii, dar nu s-au încheiat fără răzbunare”
Our power increased and our strike was fatal for the first, but they did not end without revenge
This time Creamy wasn’t in the mood to quip. The choking voice sounded as if it was losing its synthesised twang, and a static prickle crawled up his spine. While the ship was still in Witch Space, Creamy turned the volume on the COVAS down to zero.
An orange ball of ignited plasma sped its way to the canopy when A Knight dropped into the next system. Creamy rolled the ship so the indicator for the next jump was above A Knight while he steered his craft around the star taking care not to get too close to the corona. It felt odd scooping fuel without Ninette telling him the process had begun. When the jump point lined up with A Knights’ nose, Creamy let the stick rest in the center so his ship could leave the stars' influence.
Again, a light on the back of the hardpoints caught Creamys’ attention. This close to the star, the light should carry a heavy orange tinge, but it was brilliant white. Once more the proximity lights accompanied their waring ding before the HUD fuzzed and blinked. Bracing himself a moment too late, Creamy once more lost the air in his body when A Knight was ejected from supercruise.
“În umbra lor am trăit și în întuneric ne-au aruncat cu țipătul lor pe moarte” gurgled out of the cockpits speakers sounding as organic as an inhuman voice could.
We lived in their shadow, and into the darkness they threw us with their death screams
Creamy unbuckled in silence, eyes darting between the speakers taking short and shallow, but above all, quiet breaths. Creamy had a feeling he was no longer on his own ship, he felt as if he was aboard someone else’s vessel and he had strayed into a forbidden room. The warning light was telling him the rear airlock was open again. Creamy slipped out of the cockpit glancing back at the speakers.
Feeling the vibrations of the airlock bumping against the bulkhead traveling along the ship's infrastructure somehow felt like a heartbeat. As if to enforce Creamys’ growing discomfort, the voice spat its self out of the speakers at Creamy.
“Mintea nebuniei ni se deschide ca o floare și prin nectarul său contaminat vă otrăvim realitatea”
The mind of madness opens like a flower and through its contaminated nectar we poison your reality
The words sounded condescending and angry. The language was still unknown to Creamy, but he ran them through his mind comparing them to the French and pinch of Latin he knew. His mind was not used to this sort of work and Creamy had to concentrate. Not much from the last coughed utterance could be translated, but a few words from the other offerings gave up a meaning, none of the scant few words he recognised were even slightly comforting.
Thudunk Thudunk Thudunk vibrated through the ship slow and rhythmic, a stark counterpoint to Creamys’ own heartbeat. Shaking himself and pressing his lips together, Creamy steeled himself to regain some composure. Taking slow deep berths through his nose, Creamy worked on slowing his heart as he walked calmly towards the open door. Meditation was something Creamy often practiced, and now he was very glad indeed. The shudder in his spine was urging him to run, but no matter where he went, Creamy would still be on this ship. Without the relaxation techniques, Creamy fancied he’d be shaking uncontrollably.
Pressing his face up to the window on the inner airlock, Creamy watched the outer airlock open and close, thumping heavily, Thudunk Thudunk Thudunk against the seal. Pressure suit locked, and the dark room secured, Creamy hooked his safety line to the anchor point and grasped the handle on the airlock. It took a mighty pull from Creamy, who was considered very strong for a man of his size on his homeworld to bring the door into its jam. This time, Creamy shifted the leavers and turned the two handles on their pivot to fire the deadlocking bolts into place. Creamy was in no mood for another walk through the flickering screens of this dark ship.
It took much hard-pressed self-control for Creamy to walk, aided by the lights on his expensive pressure suit, back to the cockpit. Going to the bright airy lounge and hiding in the deep soft sofa with a big glass of sherry was unendingly tempting. The dim cockpit was lit by the light of the nearby star and randomly blinking HUD. Creamy didn’t bother with slapping the holo-emitter; he just turned the ship to face the jump marker and hit the FSD. A Knight would easily pick up enough speed while the FSD charged.
Witch Space raced and swirled by colouring every reflective surface with an oil-on-water effect. Looking ahead Creamy patiently waited for the target star to appear in the ethereal tunnel ahead. There was always too much to see in Witch Space, but seasoned travelers had an eye for what they could expect, and Creamy could tell something was wrong with this jump. There was no star ahead and the ever-present twisting field of distant lights behind the tunnel was thinning, each pinprick glow passing with no more to replace them.
A Knight dropped out of Witch Space while Creamy was still worrying about the unexplained darkening. Nothing was visible beyond the canopy; no star to scoop and no distant points of light that made the familiar background of space travel.
“Prin rădăcinile florilor am gustat universul tău, iar foamea noastră s-a transformat în foamete, dorul de poftă și nevoie s-a transformat în dorință copleșitoare”
Through the roots of the flowers we tasted your universe, and our hunger turned into starvation, the longing to lust and need turned into overwhelming desire
The voice hissed out of the speaker sounding as if it was hindered by a wall of interlocked stiletto teeth, sliding off a long pointed tongue that was never designed for vocalising human words.
His eyes scanned the blackness outside hoping to find something star-like; anything familiar would give Creamy something to mentally cling onto. He felt himself slipping slowly into panic no matter how hard he gripped the arms of the chair. His HUD was no longer its cool calming blue; it was bleeding yellow to red as if that projected light was being burnt. All the words and numbers were in place on the display, but not one of the letters was in an alphabet Creamy recognised. The words seemed to shift and read Creamys’ eyes as he tried to make sense of them.
The distant Thudunk Thudunk Thudunk returned, drawing Creamy away from the invading runes of an inhuman language. He slapped the release of his harness and stood up quickly. The room retracted away from him, and he struck his head on the top of the canopy. There was no magnetic attraction from his suit at all, and Creamy flapped around ineffectually on the ceiling of the cockpit for a moment before he managed to push himself back to the deck holding himself down using the pilots’ seat.
Thudunk Thudunk Thudunk, louder and closer, not just a vibration but a sound. Creamy felt his heart thumping hard against his chest. His breath was coming in cold and fast as he looked wide-eyed at the door to the cockpit.
“Prin fața ta vom fi văzuți” The voice, completely alien came from deep within the ship.
By your face shall we be seen
The thumping was closer now; Creamy pushed himself over to the weapons locker keeping himself on the deck as he ripped open the door. He knew what was in there but desperation made him check. Nothing but his favourite instruments; a new appreciation for keeping a firearm on-board momentarily set on Creamy as he slammed the useless container shut.
Thudunk Thudunk Thudunk closer, stronger preceded the voice. “Pe numele tău vom fi cunoscuți”
By your name shall we be known
It was coming and it had Creamy trapped in the cockpit. He looked at the eject pulls on the seats, and then out to the oppressive blackness; a deeper pool of dark could be seen out there. Creamy didn’t know darkness could get any darker, but there it was, a mass of oily black. Behind it was a darkness that was just the absence of light, but the other black seemed to actually be there, like a lake of tendriled swirling shadow that could drown a man, entering his nose mouth, and lungs like evil waters.
Thudunk Thudunk Thudunk. It was right outside the door now “Prin mâinile tale vom remodela realitatea ta în a noastră”
By your hands shall we reshape your reality into our own
Out there was nothing but a Darkness that wanted to hold Creamy in its cold, fatal embrace. Beyond the door was a thing that at least had a physical presence, something Creamy could make a stand against. He was trembling so hard, his back and shoulders ached. If there was gravity, Creamy doubted he would be able to stand. With a push that felt like the condemned mans’ first step onto the gallows, Creamy put himself in front of the cockpits only entrance, ready for his last stand.
Thudunk Thudunk Thudunk. Blinking away hot tears, Creamy looked up. It was above him, not inside the ship at all. Outside the cockpit yellow lights rallied hope within Creamy. If they were distant stars, maybe he could jump away from here. Pushing himself away from the door Creamy drifted towards the seat, but his fragile hope was snuffed out. The lights outside blinked, they were six yellow eyes in a chevron pattern reflecting off the canopy glass.
Already on top of the seat, Creamy pulled himself into it, he had no choice now. Opening the nav-panel he highlighted the first unknowable word and checked for the jump marker; nothing. The next arcane titled system gave Creamy the same result.
The thudding steps stopped and the voice issued quietly in Creamys’ head, hissing breathlessly in his mind.
“Prin strigătul tău se vor sărbători felurile tale de suferință”
and by your crys shall your kinds suffering be celebrated
Ice replaced the blood in his body and all but Creamys’ left hand went ridged, he expected sharp and bloody death to come swiftly. His fingers danced with adroit dexterity over the nave panel, demonstrating an alacrity that could only be inspired by unrivaled fear. A jump point highlighted ahead of the ship and automatically, with a speed Creamy could never repeat, he hit the boost, engage the FSD, and issuing a cry of fear and defiant determination, catapulted himself out of the seat jamming his body between the dashboard and canopy not daring to look back into the cockpit.
A primal roar, low and quiet that resonating with every bone of Creamys’ body, came from within his mind and from beyond the ship. As the FSD charge built, the voice of unchained rage faded.
“Te-am văzut. Te-am marcat. Ne vom revedea” whispered on a non-existent ephemeral wind.
We have seen you. We have marked you. We will see you again
Dropping out of Witch Space pushed Creamy into the canopy, but he dared not open his tightly shut eyes, even as he felt the heat of a star reassuring him he was no longer in that cold lightless universe. He just hoped the noise he was hearing was his heart straining against his chest.
Thudunk Thudunk Thudunk