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The Cancer / Re: Bounty Huntress 101
« on: March 26, 2016, 07:15:11 pm »
Dolly had accompanied the proprietor of the farm she had been staying in to deliver their goods at the spaceport. Usually, these things had to go through some sort of middle man who bought all the goods the small farms of Edanith produced for the season and resold it to trading ships from other planets. Their farm, however, was an unusually large one who had a direct buyer. At the moment, the proprietor had gone to see the man who bought his wares leaving Dolly to sit by a bench looking at the motley bodies rushing about the place.
"Maybe you'd see something that would jog your memory." the old man had told her before she left. So, for the past hour she had been observing men, women, and other entities that boarded and disembarked to and from the different ships from various locations in the vastness of civilized space. She watched as porters and crewmen hauled luggage and other paraphernalia on and off cargo ships and passenger ships. She witnessed a few teary goodbyes, sweet homecomings, and indifferent commuters She watched it all but none moved her.
Then something brushed against her legs. She looked down and saw nothing. Then something cold and hard passed over her right hand which she had laid out on the bench. She turned to it and found a silver ball roughly four or five inches in diameter. All around its metallic surface were grooves cut in peculiar patterns that to Dolly’s intuition did not seem logical. She reached her left hand out to grab a hold of it but suddenly its groves lit up and it rolled over the bench seat and down to the floor. It turned, as if to give her a look, then rolled away.
Dolly was intrigued at the little thing. She was curious to know where it was going. She looked around to see if her temporary guardian was coming back and finding no trace of him, stood up and walked towards the direction of the ball.
Off in the distance amidst the crowd, she could see the odd little object bouncing up and down as if to signal its whereabouts. She pushed and shoved her way through the throng to get to it but it was yet again on the move.
Now something inside her told her it was not wise to move any further lest she lose sight of the rendezvous point. But her curiosity compelled her.
The silly ball rolled and rolled to the other side of the port. Here, not many people roamed. There were the occasional alien or two, and a few humans too. But it was mostly crates and cargo.
Dolly’s inner voice once again urged her to go back. Something did not seem right. Yet she still ignored the feeling and followed on.
Eventually they arrived at a platform that led to the open hull of a cargo ship. The ball bounced up to the platform, waited on her to take the step too, and rolled into the cargo bay.
Dolly peered inside and saw several metallic boxes stacked on top of each other. She did not know what they contained because there was a tarp draped over them that impeded her from reading the labels. She could not miss the fact that they glowed a faint greenish light that softly shifted into a shade of blue and back. She was about to touch the glowing boxes when all of the sudden, the ship shook, the hull door closed, and she felt a powerful push that threw her to the wall.
She opened her eyes to the sight of metal bars. She was in a cage, she was in chains, and she was not in the hull of that ship anymore. This brought a slight panic in her but she squelched it down. By instinct, she knew it would not do her any good to panic. She was a little insulted, though, to be locked up like some pet in a carrier. She sat up, and banged the metal cuffs around her wrist on the bars of her prison. It took her a few minutes but eventually she caught someone’s attention.
The strange tall thing standing on four tentacles was a scary looking fellow. It blew hot snotty air at her face. She interpreted this as anger and she recoiled to the farther side of the cage. It was more for avoiding the slime missiles than any kind of fear though.
The thing loomed hugely over the cage and picked it up. It was carrying her to somewhere else. Dolly hoped it was somewhere with people she could understand. They exited the building out onto the streets. It was a river of dubious looking characters of all shapes, sizes, and species. One thing was for sure though, they did not look like a respectable bunch. They passed by a huge metallic gate that she presumed was an airlock. On the other side was probably the emptiness of space. On the surface of the gigantic portal was painted “CANCER” in alien letters that she still somehow understood. They passed by some seedy looking stalls that vended a large array of items of questionable uses. From that she concluded that she was in some spaceport in the less civilized part of space. They entered another building. It was dimly lit and smelled of things that were edible and others not. All around were more shady characters seated in groups, pairs, or alone. Dolly knew what a bar was and it meant only one thing. It was a chance to escape in the cover of darkness. It was chancy but better to leave now than await the fate she will have with her buyer. Dolly waited until her captor was seated and had a cup or two to drink. She then reached out and grabbed the sharp thin utensil that had fallen to the floor. She used this to pick the lock of her cage and with a satisfying click, she knew she was free. On all fours, she crawled her way under tables and chairs looking for an escape route. Once she crawled straight past a seated creature with eight eyes all trained at her. Her heart left out of her body fearing that she was discovered. Yet the thing just continued to stare. She gave the creature a smile and crawled on.
Then she heard a ruckus and a familiar roar. Her captor has finally noticed her escape.
She need to hurry now. The longer she was on that floor, the smaller her chances got at escape. Her spirit started to feel heavy. But then she heard something that filled her with a remote sense of hope-- the sound of human language. She immediately crawled towards that direction as fast as she could and hoped it belonged to a kind person.
"Maybe you'd see something that would jog your memory." the old man had told her before she left. So, for the past hour she had been observing men, women, and other entities that boarded and disembarked to and from the different ships from various locations in the vastness of civilized space. She watched as porters and crewmen hauled luggage and other paraphernalia on and off cargo ships and passenger ships. She witnessed a few teary goodbyes, sweet homecomings, and indifferent commuters She watched it all but none moved her.
Then something brushed against her legs. She looked down and saw nothing. Then something cold and hard passed over her right hand which she had laid out on the bench. She turned to it and found a silver ball roughly four or five inches in diameter. All around its metallic surface were grooves cut in peculiar patterns that to Dolly’s intuition did not seem logical. She reached her left hand out to grab a hold of it but suddenly its groves lit up and it rolled over the bench seat and down to the floor. It turned, as if to give her a look, then rolled away.
Dolly was intrigued at the little thing. She was curious to know where it was going. She looked around to see if her temporary guardian was coming back and finding no trace of him, stood up and walked towards the direction of the ball.
Off in the distance amidst the crowd, she could see the odd little object bouncing up and down as if to signal its whereabouts. She pushed and shoved her way through the throng to get to it but it was yet again on the move.
Now something inside her told her it was not wise to move any further lest she lose sight of the rendezvous point. But her curiosity compelled her.
The silly ball rolled and rolled to the other side of the port. Here, not many people roamed. There were the occasional alien or two, and a few humans too. But it was mostly crates and cargo.
Dolly’s inner voice once again urged her to go back. Something did not seem right. Yet she still ignored the feeling and followed on.
Eventually they arrived at a platform that led to the open hull of a cargo ship. The ball bounced up to the platform, waited on her to take the step too, and rolled into the cargo bay.
Dolly peered inside and saw several metallic boxes stacked on top of each other. She did not know what they contained because there was a tarp draped over them that impeded her from reading the labels. She could not miss the fact that they glowed a faint greenish light that softly shifted into a shade of blue and back. She was about to touch the glowing boxes when all of the sudden, the ship shook, the hull door closed, and she felt a powerful push that threw her to the wall.
*****
She opened her eyes to the sight of metal bars. She was in a cage, she was in chains, and she was not in the hull of that ship anymore. This brought a slight panic in her but she squelched it down. By instinct, she knew it would not do her any good to panic. She was a little insulted, though, to be locked up like some pet in a carrier. She sat up, and banged the metal cuffs around her wrist on the bars of her prison. It took her a few minutes but eventually she caught someone’s attention.
The strange tall thing standing on four tentacles was a scary looking fellow. It blew hot snotty air at her face. She interpreted this as anger and she recoiled to the farther side of the cage. It was more for avoiding the slime missiles than any kind of fear though.
The thing loomed hugely over the cage and picked it up. It was carrying her to somewhere else. Dolly hoped it was somewhere with people she could understand. They exited the building out onto the streets. It was a river of dubious looking characters of all shapes, sizes, and species. One thing was for sure though, they did not look like a respectable bunch. They passed by a huge metallic gate that she presumed was an airlock. On the other side was probably the emptiness of space. On the surface of the gigantic portal was painted “CANCER” in alien letters that she still somehow understood. They passed by some seedy looking stalls that vended a large array of items of questionable uses. From that she concluded that she was in some spaceport in the less civilized part of space. They entered another building. It was dimly lit and smelled of things that were edible and others not. All around were more shady characters seated in groups, pairs, or alone. Dolly knew what a bar was and it meant only one thing. It was a chance to escape in the cover of darkness. It was chancy but better to leave now than await the fate she will have with her buyer. Dolly waited until her captor was seated and had a cup or two to drink. She then reached out and grabbed the sharp thin utensil that had fallen to the floor. She used this to pick the lock of her cage and with a satisfying click, she knew she was free. On all fours, she crawled her way under tables and chairs looking for an escape route. Once she crawled straight past a seated creature with eight eyes all trained at her. Her heart left out of her body fearing that she was discovered. Yet the thing just continued to stare. She gave the creature a smile and crawled on.
Then she heard a ruckus and a familiar roar. Her captor has finally noticed her escape.
She need to hurry now. The longer she was on that floor, the smaller her chances got at escape. Her spirit started to feel heavy. But then she heard something that filled her with a remote sense of hope-- the sound of human language. She immediately crawled towards that direction as fast as she could and hoped it belonged to a kind person.
