Come and Discover chapter 2
Califf, Jennifer (jcaliff@nsai-petro.com)
Thu, 25 Mar 1999 20:38:39 -0600
Here's chapter 2. Again, it hasn't been spellchecked, but C&C is
appreciated. This chapter isn't too exciting, but I promise things'll
pick up a bit in the next chapter. Then again, it's Galactic Heroes --
talking heads, what do you expect? Additional notes after the story.
Enjoy!
JLC
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Come and Discover - Chapter 2
Captain Wootenhoffer stood and stared at the view screen. Before him
was a mid-sized star, not uncommon in-and-of itself. However,
surrounding that star was a well-developed solar system that by all
official records shouldn't have existed. Six planets orbited the star,
each with at least one moon and two with rings. But perhaps most amazing
of all was the computer's confirmation of that which they most hoped
for, but least expected.
"Are you sure, Mr. Stein?" the captain asked.
"Sir, according to the ship's computer, the second planet in this system
is not only capable of sustaining life, but has a large number of life
forms currently residing on the planet's surface."
"Humans?"
"Unknown. There do appear to be several organized communities on the
largest continent. That *is* odd."
"What is, Mr. Stein?"
"Sir, our sensors are picking up what appears to be a large wall."
"A wall, Mr. Stein?"
"Yes sir. A wall that runs all the way from one end of the large
continent to the other."
"Hmm. Like the Great Wall of China."
"Sir?"
"Old Earth History, Mr. Stein. Don't they teach that at the Academy any
more?"
"Sir, as I recall it was an elective."
"Never mind, Mr. Stein. Mr. Schmidt!" As the captain turned to his
navigation officer, he didn't notice the look of disgust Braun flashed
at Stein, and the uncomfortable way Stein shifted in his seat.
"Mr Schmidt, have you determined a good location for us to land and
retrieve supplies?" Schmidt had been eagerly anticipating this moment.
With a flourish, he caused an enlarged image of the alien planet to
appear on the main view screen. It was all he could do to not jump up
and down like an excited child.
"Sir, I've narrowed our possibilities to three locations. The first,"
he said, zooming in on a location in the northwest, "appears to be
farmland near a large stone structure that resembles, for lack of a
better term, a castle. The second," he said, changing the view, "is an
area near a large lake in the north-central area of the main continent.
And the third is a valley in the southeast near a large forest. All
three areas would probably be good places to touch down, and all three
offer intriguing areas to explore."
"This is not an exploration vessel, Mr. Schmidt," the captain reminded
him.
"This isn't exactly a military vessel right now, either," Braun muttered
under his breath. Only Stein could hear, but even if he had known what
to say, he knew it was best not to respond.
"So which one do you think would be best, Mr. Schmidt?" asked the
captain humorlessly. Wootenhoffer was quickly growing weary of Schmidt's
ebullience. Besides which, his hunger had given him a short attention
span -- he didn't want to play these kinds of games.
"Sir, there appears to be a relatively severe atmospheric disturbance
over most of the continent. I've tracked the movement of the storm for
the past few minutes. It's travelling from east to west at 30
kilometers per hour. The storm center appears to have already passed
over most of the eastern continent. And, although it's currently night,
the sun should be rising on the eastern continent within the next 4
hours. Therefore, I would suggest landing in the valley." Schmidt
instantly changed the screen to reveal a flight plan for their decent to
the planet below.
"Very good, Mr. Schmidt. Mr. Braun, prepare the landing procedures.
Mr. Stein, alert the crew to standby." The captain sat down in his
chair. Suddenly a thought occurred to him.
"Mr. Schmidt," the captain asked, "are there any settlements in that
valley?"
"Sir, our sensors detect a single structure in the center of the valley,
and another possible structure at the edge of the valley."
"Very good. Let's try to aviod landing on top of either one."
----------
Teddy couldn't sleep. Although the storm had died down, the sound of
the constant dripping of water through the roof was driving him insane.
It was just too much, on top of listening to Grubby snore and Gimmick
talk in his sleep. Teddy finally stood up and got dressed. It was only
a couple of hours before dawn, and since he couldn't sleep he figured he
might as well do something constructive.
Being careful not to wake his sleeping friends, Teddy decided to go
outside to survey the damage from the night before. He stepped out the
front door, only to feel his entire foot submerged in cold water. Teddy
was startled, but he managed not to make any noise that might upset the
others. He went back in the house and found the pocket torch, another
of Gimmick's inventions, albeit a more sucessful one than most. Newton
Gimmick was a brilliant inventor, although his inventions had a tendency
to work in ways Gimmick himself never anticipated. However, it was not
exaggerating to say that without Gimmick's inventions, Teddy and
Grubby's life of adventure would never have gotton off the ground. . .so
to speak.
Teddy smiled. Gimmick's most important invention was the airship. The
airship had taken Teddy, Grubby, and Gimmick from this little corner of
Grundo to far away lands where they had made amazing discoveries and met
many unusual friends. Teddy and Grubby could never have dreamed where
their adventures would eventually take them when they'd first set out
from their home on the small island of Rilonia, just south of Grundo.
Teddy was an Illiop, for most of his life he'd lived in a small Illiop
villiage. Until he met Grubby, he'd never met another person that
wasn't an Illiop. The first time he saw Grubby, Teddy had thought he
was some kind of giant insect; Teddy still wasn't sure if Grubby's eight
limbs were supposed to be arms or legs. Gimmick wasn't quite as strange
looking as the bright yellow Octopede, but it had taken Teddy a little
while to get used to the bespeckled elderly man with almost no hair.
Getting his thoughts back in order, Teddy aimed the torch at the doorway
to see how deep the water outside was. In his mind, he imagined a
horrible scene; Gimmick's house floating in a huge lake that had once
been the valley. He nearly laughed out loud when he saw what he had
stepped in. The dish! It was right in front of the doorway, still
embedded in the ground, and completely filled with water.
Feeling much better, Teddy stepped over the dish and outside into the
chill early-morning air. The hundreds of cannon balls on the ground
surrounding the house glinted in the night, but he could see the
beginnings of a beatiful dawn on the horizon. He turned around to look
at the house, curious if the damage from last night had been made any
worse by the storm. What he saw took his breath away. High in the sky
above the house, a huge, dark object shaped like a giant cannon was
falling from the sky.
"Grubby! Gimmick!" he called into the house, "Wake up! You have to see
this!!"
End Chapter 2
A little more exposition in this chapter, as I tried to introduce the TR
characters a little better. Don't worry, those of you who want to know
what an Illiop is/looks like. You'll be getting Wootenhoffer's
perspectives in the next chapter.
Jennifer
jcaliff@nsai-petro.com http://www.topher.net/~jcaliff/iserlohn.htm
Broken mirror, a million shades of light
The old echo fades away
But just you and I can find the answer and then
We can run to the end of the world
-"Small of Two Pieces" lyrics by Masato Kato, end theme of Xenogears
