Author's Note: Sorry for the long wait for this chapter. It had actually been completed a week before today, but hadn't been edited. The delay was mostly from trading facts with dripik and waiting for my editor to recover from her accident. Much love to my editor who while still recovering from her accident edited this chapter.
Also their are two times in the story when a character mentions music, I have put links to the actual music in red text if you care to hear it. It may take a second to load and I can't really do anything about the pictures that come with the sound. The pictures have nothing to do with this story.
Now enough blahing. Please enjoy.
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Chapter Five
look into your heart and what do you see?
whatever it is you've worked to be
who you are depends on your choice
you must be willing to put forth your voice
-Cris
"So yur telling me that ya didn't try to kill the Paramites that were chasing ya?" My traveling companion, Flour, asked me. "You had your gun didn't you?"
"Yes, Flour, I had my gun," I said, slightly annoyed. "But the things were trying to talk to me. I just couldn't understand them."
"True, but then dey tried to kill ya! Ya need to protect yourself ya know."
"I don't know what it was.. I just felt this bond with them."
"Some bond.." Flour mumbled, but left it at that.
The two of us traversed the desert quietly, walking over small dunes while fighting back walls of sand that the wind perpetually threw into our faces. It was almost as if Nature itself was telling us not to proceed. Too stubborn to quit, we kept fighting the inhospitable desert. As it neared night fall I was so tired and brain dead I was mostly walking out of habit - no longer watching where I was going. Suddenly my blind, albino companion grabbed my shoulder to awaken me. "I don't dink it'd be a good idea ta walk much furder." Flour said. Alert once again, I took in my surroundings; Flour was hiding just behind a small dune and just in front of that stood a monstrously gargantuan black building. The scary thing was surrounded by a metallic fence with sharp-looking spikes at its top. The fence seemed to go on for miles - I couldn't see its end. I noticed that at various spots in the fence there were skeletons of multifarious species: Mudokons, Scrabs and things I had never seen in my entire life.
"Would dis 'appen to be da fence you were talkin bout?" Flour asked me, awakening me from my utter shock. The memory of this barracks flying past me vividly played in my head - this was the place from my nightmare. I looked up at the tall towers that protruded from multiple points in the tower - they rose so high up that they almost blocked the moon. For some reason, when I saw the moon, fear danced up my spine. What was I doing here? Yet.. I still felt compelled to go into the grim-looking building.
"I must get in there." Was all I said. Flour could tell I was serious. The white Slig sighed, but opened a compartment in his metal pants and pulled out a pair of binoculars. He looked into them, facing the menacing building for a moment, then handed them to me.
"Look over there." The blind, albino Slig ordered while pointing at something. I placed the binoculars against my visor and looked at what I assumed to be an Intern. The thing was standing on top of one of the many lookout towers - it was the weirdest thing I had ever seen. The Intern didn't have feet, but stubs. It didn't really have hands either; just spindly fingers. Its body was about half the size of its over-grown thick head. The thing had a mouth - it was more of a vertical slit - which was stitched up. To counter its ugly grey skin, it wore purple and yellow striped hat and speedo. It was so ugly.
I handed back the binoculars to Flour and asked, "That was the ugliest thing I have ever seen! What was the point of showing me that?!"
Flour smacked the back of my head and said slowly; as if to explain to a child. "Wat I'm tryin ta show ya is that 'e is da only guard dere and 'e seems to be sleepin."
I slowly nodded my head in acknowledgment, but suddenly I realized something. "How did you see all that? You're blind!" I asked, shocked.
"Ya don't see me pointin out yo flaws do ya?" Flour said, not answering my question at all. Before I could say anything further, my blind companion ran off towards the fence. Not wanting to be left behind, I quickly followed. Flour stopped in front of the fence and beckoned for me with a motion to come. As I arrived, I saw a a hole in the sand just deep enough to allow a Slig in his pants crawl under the fence. As I started crawling under, the rough sand scratching up my stomach, I heard Flour say; "Try not ta touch da fence, it'll kill ya."
"Thanks for the heads up." I said somewhat angry. Once I was across, I stood up and turned around to face Flour. "I guess this is goodbye." I said.
"I'll see you later." The white Slig replied, already walking off. I guess he didn't like me as much as I thought. Not knowing what to say, I shouted after him, "Are you really blind?"
The Slig stopped moving for a second and after a pause said, "Maybe." After that, Flour was gone.
Suddenly alone, fear started taking over my body, making me shake. I was by myself in the middle of a desert with no idea how to go back home. Trying to make things less scary, I imagined that Joe was here with me.
"Lonely?" The imaginary Mudokon asked, offering me a hug.
"Shut up." I said to Joe as I started walking towards the barracks. The fake Mudokon followed me with a smile on his face. "Thats a weird thing to say to someone you conjured up in your mind to keep you company." Joe replied.
"I'm just a little shaken up ok?"
"Shaken? I always thought you proffered your drinks to be stirred?"
I couldn't help but laugh at the imaginary Mudokon's cheesy joke and with that, my fear died down. No longer scared, it didn't seem like such a huge distance from where I stood to the creepy building. I ran so as to not waste time and quickly reached the nearest door, as there were many, and entered the building.
I immediately realized that Interns were not the ugliest things in existence: Vykkers were. Just to my left, in this endless light-pink hall filled with doors, was a poster of a Vykker. Like the Intern before it, the Vykker had a huge head, larger then its body. This thing's head was bulbous, covered in wrinkles, and purple like the rest of its body. Its hands ended in three, sharp-looking talons. Oddly enough, the Vykker also had three stubby legs.
Above the picture of the Vykker it said: "Dahmer's Barracks! Amazing soldiers at a cheap price!". Below the Vykker on the poster was the Vykker's Conglomerate logo; an oval with a 'V' going through it.
Though I was in the barracks, I had no idea what to do next. I just stood there for a moment with my mind blank. I started looking at all the doors down the light pink hall when my curiosity got the better of me. I walked up to the nearest door on my left and grabbed the copper knob. I slowly and silently turned the knob and opened the door. There was nobody inside - just a bunch of computers making beeping sounds, a couple chairs, and weird gizmos. I sat down in one of the chairs and stared at a monitor. The device showed a picture of a brown fuzz ball with metal teeth. There was a metal string stretched from the back of the thing's mouth to a gun taped to its head. There were also bar graphs next to the picture as well as percentage - I couldn't understand any of it.
I tried to understand the things on the computer a little longer until I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. In a dark corner in the pink room sat a small cage with one of those fuzz balls inside. I think it was called a Fuzzle. I hopped off the chair and walked over to the cage to get a better look. The Fuzzle moved as far back as it could in its small barred cage. The thing was scared of me. I briefly imagined playing hacky-sack with the little guy, but something told me that wasn't right to do. Not sure if it would understand me or not, I said to it; "Hey little Fuzzle guy. Theres no reason to be scared of me."
If the Fuzzle could understand Mudosian, it didn't show it. The thing continued to push itself into the corner of its very small cage. I felt bad for the Fuzzle - the cage it was in was barely bigger then itself. The poor Fuzzle was so small! Barely bigger then the metal stub I call my foot. It was just then that I remembered what Joe did to make animals not fear him. I put my yellow hand against the cage, not moving it. The Fuzzle eyed my hand cautiously, then slowly it went next to my hand and licked it. The lick was somewhat painful, not enough to actually hurt me, but I sure didn't want it to lick me again. I had no idea that a Fuzzle's tongue was sharp. The Fuzzle moved to the center of its cage, looking up at me with its cute red eyes, smiling.
I think the Fuzzle wanted me to get it out of its cage. I wasn't really sure how to open it, so I looked around the room for some idea. Suddenly the Fuzzle started mewing, "Mwii mii mii!" The little critter started looking at something - I followed its gaze and found a remote lying on top of a Newspaper. As always, there was a picture of the terrorist Abe on the front of the paper. I wondered for a moment if the Newspaper companies really hated Abe. Terrorism sells papers and without Abe they wouldn't be making moolah. Getting back on task, I picked up the remote and looked at the Fuzzle. The small, brown fuzz ball stared back at me with anticipation. I pushed a yellow button only to see sparks fly off the top of the Fuzzle's cage. I randomly chose a red button and hit that. Much to my surprise, the cage came open and the little Fuzzle jumped out. "Miii!" The little critter shouted as it jumped around in freedom.
"So what are you going to do now?" I asked the Fuzzle in curiosity. The Fuzzle didn't say anything back - it just kept looking at me with that big smile on its face. What am I doing here? Any second now an Intern will find me and kill me, or worse yet, report me to my mother.
I put the Fuzzle cage remote into a compartment in my metallic pants and sat down in one of the few chairs. Lying my head against the desk, I began to think about that poor Mudokon that got killed in front of Rupture Farms. Why did he have to die?
Interrupting my thoughts, the little ball of fuzz mewed loudly, "Mwii mii!" Getting my attention. As soon as I looked at it, the thing ran out of the room. I hastily got up and chased after it. "Where are you going? Are you trying to get us killed?" Paying me no mind, the thing kept bouncing down the clean halls of this oddly pink barracks. As soon as I caught up with the Fuzzle I ended up running right past him - I didn't expect him to suddenly stop at a door. The little Fuzzle mewed at the door as if that would open it.
"You wanna go in here do you?" I asked the little thing. I looked at the door and it looked like every other purple door in here - I have no idea how the Fuzzle knew where he was going. I opened the door slowly and silently like I did with the last one, but this time, as soon as the door was cracked open enough the small Fuzzle ran in. "Fuzzle!" I shouted and ran loudly into the room.
Luckily no one seemed to be inside. This room was much bigger than the previous room - which had seemed like a closet. There were still plenty of computers in this room, but there was also a tread mill, a water cooler, and a test dummy with several bite marks and bullet holes. As I scanned the room, I noticed my little brown Fuzzle. It was sitting on a chair in front of one of the many computers. At that computer desk sat a Fuzzle cage. Inside it was a very dirty and old looking Fuzzle. The Fuzzle's fur looked like it hadn't ever been cleaned, ever. The old Fuzzle had been sleeping and woke up at my approach, unlike the young Fuzzle, this one wasn't scared of me. The old Fuzzle looked directly at the smaller one, who had been sitting quietly, and said something in the Fuzzle tongue. The old Fuzzle mewed for quite awhile before finally finishing, the small Fuzzle seemed to mew in protest, but the older one paid him no mind. It was then that I noticed the older Fuzzle had metal teeth like the one I had seen on the computer, but this old Fuzzle looked ready to die - unlike the ready-to-fight one I had seen.
For some odd reason, the old Fuzzle looked at me and started to say something, but it wasn't the mewing of Fuzzle speech... it sounded like the clicking of Paramite speech. The old Fuzzle sat silently, waiting for my response. I had no idea what it was saying, so I told it just that. "I'm sorry, I dont' understand you." The old one just frowned and mewed a little longer at the small one before spontaneously going back to sleep. The little Fuzzle looked upset and ran off again, outside the room and into the hall. I have no idea what transpired between the two Fuzzles, but what ever it was, it made the young Fuzzle mad. For what ever reason, I felt responsible for the little fuzz ball, so I ran out to the hall to find him, but someone had beat me to it.
Just ahead of me, I saw an Intern holding a needle-dispensing rifle in one hand, and the poor Fuzzle in the other. I couldn't risk shooting the Intern from this range - my blunderbuss was not an accurate weapon. I was just as likely to shoot the Intern as I was the Fuzzle. The Intern started walking off somewhere, so I decided to follow him.
I wasn't the quietest follower in the world with my metal pants, but the Intern had headphones on that were blasting with music so loud I could hear it clearly as a I followed. I easily got lost, following this Intern, traversing through the countless corridors. Eventually he stopped at a pair of large blue doors that came open just by standing in front of them. I lost sight of the Intern after he entered the room. I crept as close to the doors as I could without entering them or causing them to open. I looked through a window on the left door and saw a Vykker talking to the Intern. Then a second later the Vykker started visibly laughing and began to head for the doors. Trying not to panic, I started looking for a place to hide. Before I found anything, the Vykker came out of the door and spotted me. "What are you doing here!?" The Vykker shouted with its squeaky non-threatening voice.
"Uh... I.." Was all I could manage to sputter. The Vykker looked annoyed with me and asked, "You're the new Slig aren't you?"
Seeing my luck, I grabbed at it happily, "Yeah. I'm new here."
Still annoyed, the Vykker asked, "Lost?"
"Totally."
"Would you look at the wall behind you?"
I turned around to see what looked like the inside of a building with several symbols and words describing places. It was a map.
"Oh, my bad. Didn't see that." I said.
"Of course not." The Vykker grumbled and wandered off, mumbling something about idiots.
As I took a better look at the map I realized I was in the
All-purpose mechanical unit wing of the building. It appeared that each wing of the building was allocated for a certain type of research. Remembering the small Fuzzle in possible peril, I peeked my head into the room with the blue doors. This room was very wide - bigger than both of the previous rooms I had entered, but was practically empty. There was one small computer, which the Intern sat in front of, typing very fast with his unique fingers. The small Fuzzle was in a cage again in the middle of the pink room, next to a large purple cylinder that stretched from the floor to the ceiling. I hadn't noticed them before, due to my line-of-sight, but just inside the room was an old, dark-purple skinned Vykker talking to a young Glukkon donned in a violet suit. I could just overhear the couple's conversation:
"I'll be happy to show you a couple of my designs." The Vykker said. He pulled out a remote from his black utility belt and pressed a button. A television attached to a long metal arm descended from the ceiling in front of the two inhabitants. The TV turned on, showing a Greeter who had loud speakers attached to it, moving across a scarred battlefield with many fallen Sligs. Mudarchers began aiming their weapons at the Greeter when suddenly-loud obnoxious music began playing. The Mudarchers started covering their ears and while they did so, the Greeter invaded into their ranks, incinerating natives left and right with its laser. The Glukkon didn't look too interested in what he was seeing. The Vykker, seeing this, smiled nervously and said, "Of course thats not the only thing I have to show you today. Now you know how Sligs go through ammo like it grows on trees? Well studies show that Sligs using launcher-esque weapons tend to preserve ammo. However, rockets are too cost expensive, so we have produced cheap launchers with even cheaper ammo." The Vykker pressed another button on his remote and the scene on the television changed.
A native Mudokon's body jerked back and forth as a Slig sprayed countless bullets into the poor guy's body. The Slig reloaded his weapon and kept firing at the fallen body - the Slig just laughed maniacally. Then the scene changed to a Mudokon running away from a Slig wielding a green cannon. The Slig took a second to aim, then fired one shot which hit the Mudokon in the back. The Mudokon slowly got up, but the ammo that was shot, a berserker Fuzzle, began to tear the Native to pieces.
The Glukkon smiled slightly, but it seemed in response to the gruesome scene, not in response to the
fine product. The Glukkon looked over at the Vykker and started to say, "I'm not here to buy trinkets Dahmer, if you expect any more funding I expect much better from you." The Glukkon started to walk away when the Vykker, with slight panic in his voice, said; "Wait wait! Thats not all, I've saved the best for last!" The Glukkon turned around with mild interest and asked; "What do you have for me?"
"Have you ever heard of the cursed RG unit?"
Surprise sprang to life on the Glukkons face. "Yes, I have."
"Well you see, I like many others before me tried to put together the cursed thing. My creation, RG-48, was a horrible failure. For some odd reason, it wouldn't do anything, but continually play a
horrible song. I sold the RG schematic to a foolish Vykker named Phyl Corbadon."
Anger sparked in the Glukkon. "You know better than to waste my time, Dahmer."
"Let me explain myself. Upon meeting Phyl, an idea sparked into my head and I rushed off to my lab to make modifications to the RG unit. I came up with the superior RH series, these units may lack some AI, but they more than make up for it with their abounding functions and combat readiness."
With that, the Vykker pressed another button on his remote and a door on the giant purple cylinder in the center of the room opened, and out of it came a very tall robot. "Introduce yourself to General Belknap." Dahmer called to the robot. With very large strides, the robot moved towards the Glukkon who visibly flinched as it stopped in front of him.
I didn't see a mouth moving, but from the general direction of the robot I heard a monotone voice saying; "Greetings General Belknap. I am RH-02 an all-purpose mechanical unit. It is a pleasure to meet you." The Glukkon stared at the robot in obvious awe.
"Well done, Dahmer." Was all the Glukkon said. Then he, with the Vykker following him, exited the room. As they walked past me, I stood in a guarding position. I pretended to be the security for this hall, seeing as they paid me no mind, they must of bought it. I loudly exhaled, not realizing I had been holding my breath.
Looking back into the room I saw the Intern was absorbed in whatever he was doing. The robot wasn't moving at all. I think it was in stand-by mode or something. Scared that I was giving up my life for nothing, I sneaked into the room - I was relieved to see the robot remaining motionless. I walked over to the fuzzle cage in the center of the room and looked down at the small Fuzzle inside. He looked back at me with hopeful eyes. I pulled out the fuzzle cage remote from a compartment in my pants and pressed the red button. The cage opened and the small Fuzzle hopped out happily. Unfortunately, the robot turned around to face me and looked me up and down with its sensors. The Intern, finally looking at the world around him, noticed me and the freed Fuzzle. He got up and looked at me angrily, picking up his rifle ready to fight. The robot's sensors strayed from me and began to focus on the Intern. The Intern froze as the robot began to analyze him. The robot began eying the worker's weapon - apparently my blunderbuss didn't pose a threat to it. Suddenly, I heard a monotone voice coming from the robot. "Weapon sighted, possible hostile. Intern organic, put down your weapon." The Intern regained his composure and rose up one if its hands, making a very rude gesture at the robot.
Wrong move.
In little time at all the robot's arm stretched way farther then I thought possible and slapped the Intern in the face with such force it sent him spinning into the air, only to crash into the ground loudly a second later. The tall robot took a few giant strides and arrived at the fallen Intern. The robot kicked the Intern in the face with its heavy foot, sending the worker into a wall. Able to process multiple things at once, the robot grabbed the fallen rifle while harming the Intern and crushed the device with its bare hand.
This was freaking me out - this robot thing was about to kill that Intern. I looked down at the small Fuzzle and it was smiling with evil glee. Not really knowing what I was doing, I grabbed my blunderbuss and took aim at the robot that was about to smash in the Intern's head. As my finger touched the trigger, the robot turned around to face me. I pulled the trigger in attempt to fill the robot with bullets. It ran towards me as my ammo drove through it. "Foul move Slig organic." The robot said with its mechanic voice as it ran towards me. Its arm stretched out and grabbed me by the neck. The robot raised me in the air, taking me out of my mechanical pants.
"Identify yourself meat bag." The robot ordered as it continued to choke me. I was so busy fearing death and choking I couldn't quite remember my Vykker code or ID number. "Organic hostile is insubordinate, processing required actions...command sequence reached. Kill organic hostile."
I'm sure the robot could pop my head off in one second if it wanted too, but it looks like the Vykkers had programmed their sadism into the robot. The thing slowly tightened its grip as I tried to pry open its hand in vein. Suddenly, I heard some loud firing and the robot released me. I fell to the ground on my back with a thud. My vision was slightly blurred as pain took my body.
When I could see again, the Intern stood there looking at me. He didn't do anything... he just stared. The small Fuzzle looked at the Intern, growling, but he paid it no mind. I crawled back into my pants, not liking the helpless feel of having no power. I looked over at the fallen robot, noticing the Intern's needle ammo ripping through it. The Intern went over the robot and kicked it, then I noticed a blue sheet of paper in the Interns hand. The Intern crumpled the blue paper and threw it at the downed robot and with that, he left the room.
"Thanks!" I called after him, but I'm not sure if he heard me. I picked up the paper and straitened it out. On the paper was a picture of the robot with high-tech details written all over it. On the bottom of the picture, it said RG-49 and just under that it said: 'Phyl Cobardon' in small text. On the back of the paper, there were very-hard-to-read notes and something about modifications. I was able to make out: The all purpose personal-aide robots of the RH series are economically superior to the RG prototype. The RH series brandishes far more devices ranging from a flame thrower to a toilet paper dispenser. The RH personal-aide units can assist in anyway common personal-aide Sligs do, however the RH units, like RG before it, can carry items far heavier then common Sligs can even imagine to carry. In order to to reduce the price of the RH unit, there have been reductions to the AI and adaption programs. Once the RH unit is mass produced and becomes popular, Skillya will lose her hold over the Cartel and the Vykker Conglomerate will regain the power it once had. Why did I ever help that cannibal?
The paper was signed 'Dahmer'. He must be some insane Vykker.
I left the room with the destroyed robot and the small Fuzzle followed me. We stopped at the map and I started looking for a way out of this place. I couldn't stand it here. According to the map, there was a small room just down the hall that lead outside. Following the map's directions, the Fuzzle and I started down one of the halls before turning around and going down another hall. We had chosen the wrong hall by mistake - sometimes maps are so confusing. I don't know why, but that Fuzzle seemed intent on following me - hopefully this wouldn't bite me in the leg later. We finally came across the door that should belong to the small room, but for some odd reason there was a pile of headphones just outside the door. Ignoring that I opened the door, as soon as I did,
strange music blasted into my ears. I peeked into the room to see the strangest sight I had ever seen. This wasn't a small room as the map showed, but a large, dark room filled to the brim with Interns not wearing their usual head phones. There were two platforms on either side of the room. One platform had a Greeter on it with speakers attached to it, blasting the music Interns listen to. On the opposite platform was one of those tall robots. From several parts of its body, it shot colorful lights that moved throughout the room. Practically all of the Interns were holding and twirling around colorful cylindrical objects.
I slowly entered the room and no one seemed to notice me entering - they were too busy jumping up and down and playing with their glowing sticks. The music was so loud I couldn't hear my own thoughts. I tried walking past Interns, seeing if they would stop me or not. They didn't. As I walked past these Interns I had to be careful, some of these Interns moved so wildly about they were knocking each other down. There were glowing sticks and pills all over the floor. I kept stepping on the drugs and getting white powder all over my mechanical feet. I almost stepped on an Intern that was on the ground - as I looked down at him, I noticed he was having a seizure - his body shaking wildly. Nobody was helping this Intern. I moved a bunch of needles that were next to him away, because I didn't want him stabbing himself. Then slowly the Intern's body stopped jerking, but he wasn't moving anymore. I hoped that he had simply passed out. I kept walking past Interns, watching out for their flailing limbs. Suddenly I got pushed into a empty circle surrounded by Interns. The nearby Interns immediately stopped dancing and glared at me, they looked ready to fight. One of the Interns waved at me, catching my attention. It was the same one from the room with the robot. He threw two glowing sticks at me, which I caught. The other Interns turned to him, looking at him weirdly. Thats when I caught on to what he wanted me to do; he wanted me to dance. I started to actually listen to the beat and began tapping my foot to it. All the Interns suddenly started facing me with evident surprise. I moved my arms to either side of me with a glowing stick in each hand. Then, once the music sped up, I started spinning the sticks with my hands. I grabbed onto them tightly and made circular motions in front of me. In this dark room, the glowing sticks left colorful light where they had just been. It looked pretty neat. Copying something I had seen earlier, I moved my hands near my foot and starting revolving the glowing sticks around each other and slowly made the light crawl up my body and back down to the other foot. Hoping to really surprise the Interns, I let myself fall and caught myself with one arm and spun in a quick circle, using the momentum from my fall and jumped back up. The Interns all made sounds of approval and started dancing again. The Intern from before quickly pulled me out of the circle and started leading me through the room.
In seconds I was at the end of the room, at a door that said; 'Exit' on it in red text. The Intern gave me a thumbs up sign and opened the door for me, leading me outside. Quickly, the small Fuzzle ran out of the room, following us. I was back in the desert outside of the barracks, the Intern made some gestures, which I figured to mean '
Where are you going?'
"I don't know." I said to the Intern.
The Intern looked at me as if I was insane, then gestured '
I'm coming with you.'
A Slig who cares.(A Fanfic)
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