Alright, I know it’s been a while, and it seems that I just wait every few years and begin my next post the same way, but here I am again. I’m not going to bother giving excuses about why I’ve been gone or promises that I’ll come back. I might try to post more, but it’s just as likely that I won’t (if not more likely).
But, this post isn’t just another pile of pointless filler. For those that followed Natural Selection on here and liked it, well, sorry, there was another one I did strictly on Facebook about 5 years after that and, despite intentions, never got around to posting it here. However, because I am considering starting a new one within the next month, I’m finally getting around to posting the last one. Of course, you’ll be reading this in its complete form, so no matter what you wish to choose for the next move, you’re about 5 years too late. And for the new one I have planned, although the plan is vague so far, I’m pretty sure I’m going to keep it strictly on Facebook again (and not just because I haven’t been here in so long that I don’t remember how to do the poll thing I used before). Still, I’ll try to at least post the whole thing when it’s done (sooner than 5 years later this time).
the Next Selection
… so far…
Ba’awb awoke to a void of perpetual black. His self-awareness barely stood out to exist before staring into darkness slowly faded into view three doors. Above each door were words: Past; Present; Future.
He felt drawn to choose one to open and step through, but which one…?
{Which door should Ba’awb choose?
A: Past
B: Present
C: Future}
Ba’awb looked between the doors and felt drawn towards the one labeled Future. He reached towards it and it slid to the side into an invisible wall. He stepped through to a void a perpetual white. His self-awareness barely stood out to exist before staring into the light slowly faded into view two doors. Above each door were words: Dark; Light.
He felt drawn to choose one to open and step through, but which one…?
{Which door should Ba’awb choose?
A: Dark
B: Light}
Ba’awb looked between the doors and felt drawn to the one labeled Light. He reached towards it and it slid to the side. He stepped through—“Whoa, man,” a man announced startled as Ba’awb almost ran into him at the same time he was apparently walking across.
“Sorry about that, I wasn’t really paying attention to—”
“Oh, don’t worry about it, I was the one spaced out a bit—I mean, we’re in space, so, I guess we’re all a bit spaced out, right—ha—get it—spaced—‘cause—yeah…”
Ba’awb just looked at the man with confusion.
“Hey, aren’t you the new Second?”
“Um, I guess I am…”
The man raised an eyebrow, “You’re not sure?”
“Yeah, my head’s a bit fuzzy. I guess I must have been celebrating a bit too much last night.”
“Gees, what’d you drink?”
“Um… it… it was… green…”
“Wait—wait! I make a stupid space pun, but you make a Star Trek reference, and I’m the one looking like the asshole? I mean, what the actual—did we really just go through that hot mess of dialogue just to set-up that dumb joke?”
Ba’awb looked at the man with confusion.
“Oh, sorry, that was a bit harsh,” the man stuck out a hand, “But, hey, my name is J’aeff—and no, that isn’t a reference to anything, you just read it that way anyway.”
“I’m—”
“I know, you’re Ba’awb. And, man, did you get a way more creative spelling than me, I feel like yours was actually thought out with a group effort, and mine was just completely a last second thing. God help anyone outside of this conversation, they probably weren’t even created yet…”
Suddenly an alarm went off.
“Uh oh,” J’aeff said, “sounds like it’s time to punch-in. Since it’s you’re first day, let me show you to the bridge. I mean, I’m probably going to be your comic-relief sidekick that’s necessary for exposition anyway, so might as well get started, right?”
Ba’awb went with J’aeff to the bridge. When they came in, the Captain was sitting in a large chair in the center of the room, and assortment of men and women were scattering about looking at readings and pushing buttons, with a giant window in the front speckled with stars on an infinite void of black.
“Ah, there you are,” the Captain said, “it seems we have a distress signal out there. Although the details are a bit vague.”
Ba’awb looked and a display, and tapped the distress warning, and a star chart came up with the location, “It looks like there’s two of them—”
“Oh, no—no,” J’aeff interrupted, “We don’t go to that other one, that’s been going off for like 5 years now. Some alien zombie invasion thing, with a random western vibe—no, we just leave that alone.”
“Ok, well, this other one looks like it’s only a short jump—”
“Yeah, but there’s plenty others around that could respond to it, and there’s not necessarily any money in whatever it is, and this is an independent ship, we have bills to pay,” J’aeff said.
“Well, was there anything else on our agenda?”
J’aeff pull up a job manifest on the display, “Well, there was a cargo export request at an astro-mining expedition, which usually pays pretty well, or there’s always charting—basically, jumping to the farthest jump-point, exploring for a bit, then lay out a new jump-point then head back, it can be dangerous, but it not only does the government pay up well, they cover other expenses, including fuel, supplies, and reloading jump-points.”
“So, what do you think we should do, Second?” the Captain asked.
{What should Ba’awb do?
A: Distress Signal
B: Cargo at a Mining Expedition
C: Exploration}
“Well, I guess I’d really like to see what’s out there, so let’s go exploring,” Ba’awb said.
“That’s good,” J’aeff responded, “I mean, I don’t know if it was going to be the mining or the distress signal, but I just know one of those was going to be loosely inspired by Dead Space, and I did not wanna find out which one. But if it was me, I probably would have gone with D, skip all this and go to an alien strip club—I mean, it’s alien, so there’s not a lot of mammals, so you never really know what exactly you’re looking at and it’s mostly just confusing, but yet you can’t seem to look away…”
“Um…”
“But it’s just as well, exploration pays better, and the Captain has plenty of bills to pay—a bit too much of ‘the D,’ if you get my meaning,” J’aeff said with a wink.
“Captain?”
“What? No, I don’t!”
“No, sir, the exploration, I suggest we go to the farthest jump point and have a look around,” Ba’awb said.
“Oh, right, very good, Second,” the Captain said, “Make it so.”
“That was a bit borderline Star Trek reference, I’ll let it slide, but I’m watching you…” J’aeff said.
“Helm,” Ba’awb commanded, “Set course for far-point!”
“Laid in, sir!”
“Initiate!”
The windows suddenly flooded with light as if all the stars in the universe were glaring on top of them, and just as suddenly, returned to white specks on black canvass, but a large gate now lay before them.
“Sir, gate control has cleared us for jump,” the helmsman relayed.
“Bring us in,” Ba’awb responded.
The ship was directed towards the gate and the massive ring-shaped structure responded by coming to life with a large fluid-like swirling pool forming in its center. The ship thrusted forward and plunged through the spiral, and instantly exited through the opposite side, thousands of light-years away from where they just were with an identical gate now sitting behind them.
“Jump successful, sir. Where to?” the helmsman asked.
“Captain, any specific destination?
“Reports show that nothing was charted out here beyond initial scans and nothing seems to stand out as very interesting in them, so anywhere is as good as anywhere else, Second.
“I mean, is the blob thing even really naked? Does it actually wear clothes to begin with? It just doesn’t make any sense…” J’aeff said.
“Helm,” Ba’awb commanded, “set destination for the nearest solar system!”
“Nearest system, about 2 light-years away, plotted, sir!”
“Engage and initiate continuous scans, dropping a probe every quarter light-year!”
“Wow, what is with all the yelling? This isn’t that big of a bridge, you’re like right next to each other,” J’aeff said.
The windows flooded with light again.
Ba’awb was about to sit down in the chair beside the Captain.
“Sir?” a Science officer said, “One of the probes we sent out just got pinged by some sort of scan—Sir, we just lost communication with the probe!”
“Was it able to relay any details?”
“No, sir, before the scan, it saw nothing, during the scan, it only detected the incoming energy signature, then—sir, local just got pinged, the ship has just been scanned by the same signature!”
“Captain?” Ba’awb said, “What should we do?”
“Bring us around, Helm,” the Captain said, “let’s see who’s playing poke-the-bear with us.”
“Bringing us around, Sir, but it’s not clear where the scans are coming from—”
Suddenly the white light in the windows turned a burning red, and the ship was brought to an immediate halt as if it slammed into a brick wall. Ba’awb was thrown to the ground, system alerts blared, and explosions thundered and burned with pained and terrified screams all around.
“Red alert!” the Captain announced, “Who’s attacking us, give me a target, and blow him outta—”
Just like before, the ship was rocked like it was kicked by a giant, sending the Captain flying forward with a loud neck-snapping crunch against a flaming control consol.
“Holy crap,” J’aeff said running over to the Captain’s lifeless body, “Captain, no—this is why you never got an actual name—oh-sweet-merciful—this whole room is filled with extras! Everyone start introducing yourselves before it’s too late!”
Ba’awb got to his feet and stumbled over to J’aeff and the Captain, “What should we do?”
Just as he got the words out, another blast rocked the ship.
“I don’t know,” said J’aeff, “But I guess you’re the Captain now, so you’re in charge for the rest of the way. It’s almost like that was going to happen no matter what we chose…”
“Helm, drop the jump-gate!”
“Gate controls are locked-out, sir,” the Helm responded.
“Best we can do is either try to run back to the far-point gate and maybe get home alive, run to the solar system we were headed to and try to fix our gate or find some other help, or stand and fight against something we can’t even see,” J’aeff said.
{What should Ba’awb do?
A: Run back to the gate
B: Run to the nearest system
C: Stand and fight}
“Helm, return our course to the nearest system, at top speed,” Ba’awb commanded.
“Laying in and executing course, sir.”
“Science—”
“Her name is Kk’thie, she has a one-eyed cat named Skittles, and the Helm is Ber’eyin, he owes me money, please don’t let him die!” J’aeff said.
“Um… Kk’thie, focus scans on the system, and let me know of anything significant, life forms, etcetera, anything that might help us, or even figure out what’s attacking us.”
“Yes, sir… and it’s not a cat, it’s a genetically manipulated tardigrade—”
“Wait—this isn’t going to become a Discovery reference, is it? No one watches that,” J’aeff said.
“No, it was going to be a Lilo and Stitch reference and you just ruined it!”
“Hey, those are my fourth-walls, you leave them the hell alone!”
Ba’awb sat in the seat that was moments occupied by the Captain and stared at the white glow of the windows. Another, but more subtle blast hit the ship.
“Apparently, they’re still attacking, but we’re at least leaving their range for now,” J’aeff said while sitting in the seat that would have been Ba’awb’s prior to the untimely feild promotions, “We so far know nothing about the system we’re headed to other than it’s binary, with at least one or two possible planets in the ‘Goldie Locks Zone,’ or at least close enough to possibly have some form of life, and maybe not even kill us right away.”
“Any idea what we should do when we get there?”
“I don’t know, seems like we’re just winging this whole plot as we go…”
“Sir, we’re entering the edge of the solar system,” Ber’eyin said.
“Kk’thie, do you have anything for us?” Ba’awb asked.
“The planet closest to the binaries seems to be mostly desert with only vague traces of plant life, water is mostly near the poles, and the other seems to be more of a mix similar to Earth, but neither are revealing any communication signals or other signs of advanced life.”
The ship was rocked by another blast with increased force, and then another and another, each with greater force.
“I think they’re catching up!” J’aeff said.
“Ber’eyin, evasive maneuvers, get us to one of those planets!”
“Heading set to the nearest planet, which would be the Earth-like planet, but I’m not sure how to evasively maneuver from an invisible attacker, sir—”
“Learn to strafe, noob!” J’aeff yelled.
“Sir, approaching the planet—”
A blast tore through the ship from all around.
“Sir,” Kk’thie said, “it’s hard to be sure, but at least some part of that last one came from the planet.”
“Well, at least we know there’s life—and they could use improved social skills,” J’aeff said.
“Can we get to the other planet?” Ba’awb asked.
“Yes, sir, but that one has a more hostile environment, survival will be more difficult—”
“This one’s shooting at us…” J’aeff said.
“What do you think we should do?”
“I don’t know, seems like suburbs of Detroit verse Detroit, but either way we need to find somewhere to hide long enough to fix the gate, or get a plan to figure out what’s coming at us. So, planet where the environment is hostile and everything else is still unknown, or planet where the environment is fine, but everything else is hostile.”
{What should Ba’awb do?
A: Planet with the hostile environment
B: Planet with the hostile everything else}
“Ber’eyin, get us out of here, and bring us to other the planet—”
“Ooo, we should name them,” said J’aeff, “this one’s going to be Pew-pew, because that’s what it does…”
“Executing, sir,” Ber’eyin responded. Another blast struck the ship as they began to pull away.
“See, it knows its name already. Bye, Pew-pew! You were my favorite death planet so far!” J’aeff waved as the planet shrunk from the window.
The blasts continued but grew weaker as the next planet entered view.
“Whatever was attacking doesn’t seem to be following, sir,” Kk’thie said.
“That’s definitely good news,” Ba’awb said.
“Well, of course it’s good news, I mean, they’ve only been attacking us continuously since we were still light years from the system, and only now stop as we approach this planet—what could go wrong…” J’aeff said.
“Bring us in and find a place for us to set down, Ber’eyin.”
“Bringing us in, sir, but there seems to be some wild electrical storms, I should be able to get us around some of it, but after the previous attacks, the shields won’t be able to take much if I misstep.”
“Just be a leaf on the wind—” J’aeff’s voice cracked as he bit his fist, “no, sorry, I can’t make that reference, it’s still just too soon…”
The window filled with bolts of plasma, as smaller of the jagged strings lightly tickled against the hull.
“Shields are fluctuating, but still holding, sir,” Kk’thie reported, “But I wouldn’t suggest getting into anything much worse than—”
A massive bolt that appeared to shoot across the entire planet’s sky lit up the windows with blinding light then struck the ship with a massive blast. Reports of systems failures began echoing around the deck as the ship began to plummet like a free-falling boulder.
“We’re going down, sir!”
“Oh, that’s good, ‘cause I thought the ground started chasing us!” J’aeff said.
“All hands, brace for impact!” Ba’awb announced.
Ber’eyin was able to barely tilt the ship, shearing the top of a mountain. This only sent the ship into a further tilt that Ber’eyin was visibly struggling to recover from as more jagged mountains flew past them and the ground came ever closer.
“Bring us upright, there’s not much chance the ship can take the impact like this,” Ba’awb said with a restrained concern in his voice.
“Thanks, didn’t know that, guess I should stop stunt flying then!” Ber’eyin replied
“Okay, I know we’re all a little stressed here, but smartass jokes and exposition are all I have, please don’t take that from me!” J’aeff said.
With barely enough room to maneuver before a wing collided with the ground, the ship was turned upright, with relief from one crash only to be rewarded with the inevitable collision. With a hard rumble, the ship smacked to the ground, continuing to dig further down and forward. Rocks and unknown debris scattered and rained across the windows and over the hull leaving them blind to anything before them. Gradually, the ship’s speed decreased as the dirt burying them began to slow until finally they simply came to a full stop.
The entire bridge sat motionlessly, still bracing and reclaiming their wits.
“Asshole!” J’aeff suddenly said, “that’s what I’m naming this planet, ‘cause this planet is an asshole.”
“Reports!” Ba’awd requested.
Kk’thie replied, “Shields are offline, communications, sensors, all offline, engines, flight control—”
“What isn’t offline?”
“My cellphone’s working,” J’aeff said, “Oh, but no bars. Don’t worry I have every season of ‘Rick and Morty’ downloaded.”
“Ok, I need to know about where we are and how to get out of here. J’aeff, organize crews to assess possible repairs and to have a look around.”
“Yes, sir, organizing the extras to be canaries.”
“And let’s have a look what’s out there ourselves.”
“The point-of-view is centered on you, so the readers would appreciate that, sir.”
Ba’awb, J’aeff, and a security crew bared environment suits and approached the rear hatch. J’aeff hit the release and the door opened with dirty and rubble raining around it.
“After you,” J’aeff gestured to a guard.
The security walked down the ramp with pulse riffles at the ready. Their feet hit the yellow soil leaving thick prints behind.
The guard in the lead position looked around, directing the others to countering positions. He turned back, “It’s clear, sir—”
A sudden flash struck down, and exploded, leaving a black crater where the guard was standing, followed by a shower of bolts scattered before the hatch, with sparks dancing slightly up the ramp, and screams from the other guards barely audible over the explosions.
“Wow… this planet is an asshole…”
Ba’awb and J’aeff went back to the bridge.
“Outside isn’t happening, what do we know about repairs?”
“Reports are showing that we have enough supplies on hand to fix the gate, but if we do we will not have enough to repair flight controls, but apparently, we can fix flight controls, if we don’t fix the gate,” J’aeff relayed.
“Can we use the gate without flight?”
“Hypothetically, yes, but most standing hypothesis suggest using a gate on a planet would be bad. Like, planet go ‘boom’ and take out half the system with it, bad. But, if timed right, we’d be fine on the other side of the gate before it’s all destroyed.”
“Right, but if we don’t do that, we’ll have to fly back into whatever’s been attacking us, and try to fight our way through, and hopefully making it to far-point.”
“So, the choices are a quick genocide or a drawn-out suicide? Jesus, this one’s grim. What the hell was going to happen if we landed on Pew-pew?”
{Final choice: What should Ba’awb do?
A: Genocide
B: Suicide}
“There’s no chance we could get through alive whatever’s been attacking us, and I choose the sake of what’s left of this crew over this clearly hostile system,” Ba’awb said, “J’aeff, arrange for gate repairs, we’re getting out of here.”
“Beginning dramatic buildup for final epic escape and explosion, sir!”
Hours went by, Ba’awb paced every inch of the ship, inspecting progress, lending assistance anywhere possible as the crew members scattered about making repairs.
“Sir,” J’aeff said, “since were partly buried at least a few feet below soil, someone is going to have to go out there and not only dig us out, but for the exterior repairs, so we’ll be able to release the gate. And um… I don’t really wanna do that. It’s just that… I’m the comic-relief in this story… and this is the final act—everyone knows the comic-relief is fair game for a heroic death in the final act!” J’aeff fell to his knees, gripping Ba’awb’s legs, weeping.
Then, suddenly, there was a knocking sound at the hatch.
Kk’thie scanned the hatch with a hand-held, “Sir, I think there’s someone outside.”
“Crap, everyone pretend we’re not home!” J’aeff said, “Go away, you religious nuts, no one wants to know about the Selection!”
Ba’awb walked over to the hatch, directed a couple of guards to be at the ready, and hesitantly pushed the release. The hatch opened, revealing a group of four figures dressed in black environmental suits.
“Hi, um, can I help you?” Ba’awb said.
The figures stood there unchanged.
“We don’t care where your class wants to go this year, we’re still not buying of your damn overpriced chocolate!” J’aeff said.
The figures continued standing staring with no noticeable change.
“Okay,” Ba’awb began while reaching to reseal the hatch, “it’s been nice meeting you—”
“He—hel—hello—” the lead figure got out, “Hello, are—are you in need?”
“Damn it, I was right about the religious nuts reference,” J’aeff said.
“We’re fine—” Ba’awb began, but then noticed that the entire visit so far had yet to be interrupted by any lightning, “How are you surviving out there?”
There was a drawn-out pause, then the lead raised his left arm that had some sort of device on it, “Planet not threat,” he tapped the device a couple times and just barely behind the group, a large bolt struck down charging the air with static, “We are threat.”
“You control the environment?” Ba’awb said processing everything this revelation could me, “are your people the ones that have been attacking us?”
The guards at Ba’awb’s sides clicked their weapons on queue with the realized threat. The figures jumped back slightly, the three behind the lead drew devices from their sides and directed them between the guards and Ba’awb franticly.
The lead tapped anxiously at his device, “Par—pardon, something not translate correct.” He continued to tap at his device, “we not attack, only defend. Keep out war enemy. You accident.”
“Now you just sound like my mother,” J’aeff said.
“So, who is your war enemy?”
“Hegemon.”
“Is that some trading card game? I never got into those,” J’aeff said, “but hardly seems worth going to war over.”
“Do you have a way off this planet?” Ba’awb asked.
“No, we limit technology. Refuge here, away from war planet.”
J’aeff cupped his hand to his mouth, “I think they’re talking about Pew-pew.”
“We only defend, keep out war.”
“Well, can your people maybe help us with repairs? Or at least keep the lightning turned off for a bit?”
The lead figure looked around as if analyzing the ship and estimating how long he was willing to keep the lightning turned off, “Yes, not long. They notice, they attack. Only defense.”
“Alright, my crew will work as quickly as possible, we don’t want to deal with them anymore than you do,” Ba’awb agreed and directed the crew to work on the exterior of the ship.
They dug away the soil from the ship and made repairs to the gate’s launch bay. Before long, the repairs were complete.
“Reports,” Ba’awb requested.
“All tests are coming back positive, sir,” J’aeff relayed, “We should be able to launch the gate, and get out of here without problems. So… um… are we taking our new friends with us, or are going full dicks on this one?”
Just then, blasts started exploding all around.
The lead of the refugees ran into the ship, “War here! Must defend now!”
“Wait,” Ba’awb said, “We can take you with us, away from this planet, and this system.”
“No, we leave, they follow, never stop war.”
“When this ship uses the jump-gate, it will destroy this planet and half this system, including the entire war planet. They won’t follow anything.”
He stared at Ba’awb for a long moment, then tapped at his device, then looked back up at Ba’awb, “You destroy all?”
“Yes, that’s the plan,” Ba’awb responded.
He tapped at his device again, then back up at Ba’awb, then back and forth again, “You kill all?”
“Um… Yes… but… you can come with us.”
“Family?”
“They can come to, they’ll have to load up on the ship quickly, but we have room to take at least a small colony with us.”
He continued tapping at his device as if putting extra emphasis into translating the words, “Family fight war planet, not here.”
“Oh…”
“Hey, I bet that’s important to what would have happened if we landed on Pew-pew instead!” J’aeff said.
“You take them?”
Ba’awb looked around as if hoping to find a better answer in the air, “No, we can’t, they would have to stay.”
“They stay, they die?” He looked at Ba’awb for a long moment, then tapped his device again, and the sound of thunder began to rumble all around the ship, and screams came from the crew still outside.
“Stop!” Ba’awb yelled reaching for the device.
The man pulled away and drew the device from his belt, directing it towards Ba’awb. J’aeff jumped across Ba’awb pushing him back and drawing his pulse pistol as the refugee fired his weapon. A bolt of plasma shot through J’aeff and traded with a pulse blast through the refugee, burning a whole a gaping whole through is chest. The refugee’s body stood as if his muscles hadn’t caught up to reality yet, then fell into a limp pile to the ground.
“J’aeff!” Ba’awb scramble to J’aeff’s side.
“I’m sorry, sir,” J’aeff coughed out with a mouth of blood, “the cliché was just too strong to resist…” J’aeff let out a final gasp.
Ba’awb clenched his fists with rage, “Clear them from my ship, we’re leaving.”
Guards began storming out the hatch and fire pulse rifles, bringing in the remaining crew, “Clear, sir!”
Ba’awb returned to the bridge and sat in his chair, took a long look at the chair next to him, then commanded, “Ber’eyin, release the gate, and get us out of here.”
“Complying, sir!” Ber’eyin responded, “Gate release and jump in… 5… 4… 3… 2…”
An abrupt jolt was felt as the jump-gate ejected from the ship, and the swirling pool flooded the windows. The ship suddenly felt like it was kicked, and their position of “up-right” suddenly shifted from the orientation of going forward through the gate to suddenly being thrown bottom out. The pool cleared, and the view was fill with the empty calm of the white specks on black void, with a jump-gate just barely above them.
“Jump cleared, sir, and gate control is hailing us.”
“Relay the situation reports to control and inform them of the need for repairs.”
“Yes, sir—you know we’re probably not getting paid though, right?”
Anthony Richer 