FLASH.

A flash of thunder exploded.

But it was a strange thunder —— it was not raining. Rain would be a strange thing as well, as this case of thunder flash is in Mars. Things do not work the same way as Earth.

Armed with questions, Shana looked at the photo that Raziel had gave him. Hold on, this looked off, he thought.

This thunder was made-up. Someone out there caused this.

But Why?

For the sharp-gazed man, it is time to look into the Red Planet.

“You have arrived at your destination” the navigator notified. Shana looked at his surroundings. Now in his fifth form, taking form of a tall young man with a short dark blonde hair, complete with a sharp pair of icy blue eyes. He gazed at the sign on his right.

The sign reads “Ward 16”. From the looks of it, the ward is full of dormitories. Dormitories? How could a thunder could've come from them?, he thought.

The photograph Raziel's assistants took does not seem strange....it is just a flash of thunder. But why? A thunder on Mars?

“Very strange indeed, Shana” Raziel said to him, “But the coloration made it look off” she continued. Shana then pointed out that due to the low shutter speed, she was able to point out how it looked artificial. Not in the 'digitally-added thunder' sense of artificial, but rather, the thunder was manually caused by someone

“Interesting, I'll go to Mars right now” Shana responded.

They all looked the same, put on a sleek corridor, but he saw an outlier in the corridor —— a double door.

Shana recalled that this corridor belongs to living spaces for two people, and he pulled out his commuphon. Quick inspection of the dorms shows that the double door is twice larger than the other dorms. Perhaps strangely, he finds that the strange dorm was privately owned, an anomaly in Planetary Branches, in this case the Bowie Branch, as no one is able to privately own these dorms.

Shana's scanner showed that the door was unlocked. Normally, Shana would never bother with open doors, unless it is part of his business, but something tells him to go to the room.

And he did.

The room was messy, full of papers scrambled on the floor. All the window shutters were broken beyond repair. Bottles of Earth-imported alcohol circled the floors, and hard drives were scattered on tables. Shana took all of them to inspect its conditions, and thankfully all of them are in mint condition. No bad volumes, good., he said to himself.

But the whole place is wrecked. It doesn't looked like a place trashed from a party or a bad hangover, as Shana can felt anger through the room. Shana can sense that there were swinging emotions that are responsible for the sorry state of the dorm room. Even the kitchen looked sorry, with the refrigerator door being split into half. What the hell is up here, Shana said to himself, wondering.

”...!” a sound entered Shana's ears. It came from the bedroom.

Armed with caution, Shana entered the bedroom. It is as messy as the living room and kitchen, with sheets all over the place, contents of drawer being thrown, and papers dumped all over the floor. What a mess, Shana said.

“Get outta here, Irishman!” The man scoffed at Shana. Shana makes a disappointed glare at the man. I'm Shana, for Eden's sake, he muttered to himself. He looked at the man, and then he shifted into a big smile.

“Hi hi hi there, Shana-brother!” A cheery voice said to him. It's Mara. No, not the real Mara the deity, but the alien of the same name. Shana recalled that the alien species often names themselves after gods and deities —— Mara is no exception. “Sorry-y! Really thought you were a randoom-y Irishma-n!”

Shana inspected Mara's appearance —— still the same, with his luscious long hair, chest-exposing robe, and snakey accessories. His appearance made him worthy of the real Mara, being able to seduce any mortal into doing his bidding.

But what surprised Shana is Mara's position. Mara isn't standing, he's not even sitting. That's right —— somehow, someone cornered Mara into a wall, and tied him up to a pole. The strange thing is, Mara didn't made attempts to escape. He stayed still, tied up into a pole with his hands on his back. Mara was even smiling all along.

“What....is going on?” Shana looked in shock at the situation. Normally, it's Mara who will get humans into willingly tying themselves up for him, but this time, it's the other way around. What human being is capable of doing such a thing?

“Ahhh....Stephen X, so angry of me-y”, Mara said in a cutesy tone, but quickly dropped it off, “He got mad that I stole his money, hee-hee”, Mara continued on a normal tone.

“Stephen....X?” Shana asked

“That Earth billionaire....or should I say, former Earth billionaire? Haa-haa!” Mara continued humorously, “Well, I sent him here but he failed to bring someone I want to see.”

“How did it come to this....?” Shana continued, while noticing a large paper on the wall. It is a map of Bowie Branch, filled with 'X' marks on residential areas of Bowie Branches, but on the edge of the map, a large 'YOU CAN'T BE HERE' was written three times.

“Oooooh, that-tie! Stevie thinks he's genie-ous!” Mara looked into the map and said to Shana in a cutesy tone, though he dropped it again, “Poor sod thinks he can escape to Jupiter” Mara continued.

Shana and Mara concluded that Stephen was trying to escape from Mars to Jupiter. But it was impossible, Shana thought.

“Jupiter....that's off-limits” Shana said to Mara, “You can't even approach the Kubrick construction sites, let alone the Clarke Outposts, without Choi's permission”, he continues while he looks over papers.

“Yeeeesh, what a drag that Choi lad is” Mara said, “Biometric signatures? Military grade encryption? The hell Choi's thinking, it's like he's some hot shit or anything”, Mara continued.

Shana instinctively attempted to contact Choi, with his commuphon automatically searching for Choi Yeon-woo, director of the Kubrick Branch construction project and a human he knows. But the only thing that greeted Shana was his commuphon receiving connection error. No use, Shana said to himself. Shana then attempts to untie Mara.

“No fucking use, man, this shit is Stephen's own invention” Mara said to Shana, “Fucker added a lock over there, unlockable only with his computer back on Earth”

“Well, shit” Shana exclaimed, while remembering why he was here at the first place. The Thunder, “Mara, what was that? Earlier?”

“Earlier? The Thunder you mean?” Mara responded, “See, that Stephen fucker used my jammer over there,” Mara continued while he shook his head to the corner of the room —– where a jammer device is placed, “He must've been setting the jammer too high to cause an electrical reaction —– which caused BOOM! That” Mara continued.

“The jammer.....it blocks communications systems and shit for 3 hours” Shana said, “He's.....trying to get to Earth without the outpost's permission”, Shana continued.

“Ex-fucking-actly! That shit thinks it'll jam the ATC, but fucker forgot that he needed permission using Bowie's GBR connection to even start the engine” Mara continued.

Shana knew what he meant. It means that Stephen is still on the hangar. “Mara, I need to go. Sorry I can't do anything” Shana said as he hastily ran off from Mara's place.

“Welp, good luck with it, Kiddo” Mara said to Shana. As Mara is left alone, tied, again, he thinks of Stephen's motivations. He fears that he will lose everything and himself, but his desire gets him into this strange journey.

Fear is the mind killer, Desire is the mind stimulator.

Being tied up for hours isn't something to get fussy about, Mara knows this. He is semi-divine, after all. His race can withstand abandonment like this.

Boredom took over his brain, however. And boredom can lead to unthinkable ideas in mind.

“Jupiter.....great idea”, Mara muttered to himself. Yes, Mars is no longer cool. It's been ruined by pesky humans. he thought. The fact that Mars is now an extension of Earth makes the planet no longer fun for him. He can't run around doing his dealings without being noticeable to normal humans.

Jupiter is on the verge of humanization. There's only smart people in Jupiter, hahaha, he continued his thought.

His eyes are now scanning the entire room, to scattered papers that Stephen spread the floor with. One print of paper in particular caught his eye.

“Aha....there you are, darlings” Mara's voice momentarily returned to his high-pitch voice. He makes a curling smile. The paper's contents are what he needed.

On the left of his position lies a paper detailing the schematics of a space station, with the words Clarke Ganymede – Entrance Protocols. That gave him the answer on how to arrive at Jupiter.

Below the paper lies another paper that made him chuckle a little. It is a blueprint of a Satellite, meant to be for telecommunication operators. It is covered with the paper above, but Mara can deduce what it's for. His guess is correct, as he kicks the papers to reveal the full title: Dullea-3 Orbiter – HSD Receiver.

“Kufufu, my new little radio tower!” he chuckled. Now he knows what to do next.

All he can do is to wait for Shana to untie him. He wouldn't notice, after all, what's behind Mara's childish smile.

Lore Compendium: – Commuphon: Smart Watches with Holographic screens. Can be used as cloud computers connected to a main computer. – Branch: Official term for space stations. So far, there are three 'branches'; L-Post Branch (Lagrange Points), Bowie Branch (Mars), and Kubrick Branch (Io, Callisto, Ganymede, Europa). Planetary branches are always named after artists whose works are related to topics of outer space. – Outposts: Space terminals. Functions as 'airports' and transits. Not for habitation. – GBR: ISP of Bowie Branch. An acronym of “Gebura” a.k.a “Geburah” (Sephirot). In the Martian system, the ISP is connected through a series of satellites named Ziggy orbiters.

#writetober #writing #OCs #override #shana

“You know, there's an extra chair in the closet”

“Don't worry about it, Shou. It's nice in here”, said Shirotani, as he sat on the cold floor of my balcony.

“You'll get cold” I responded. He could be some kind of physically superior alien, but that doesn't mean that such things like cold can't get to him, right?

“The coffee is warm, it'll get through my body” Shirotani responded with slight chuckle. Soon enough, we were enjoying our coffee with the sight of starry skies in the window.

I've never seen Friday night skies that are this starry. Well, I rarely notice skies at night anyway, thanks to my afterschool part-time job. But the sight is wonderful, makes me want to take some days off just to see it.

Looking at the skies, I wondered, how many of them are planets, where Earth is nothing but a star in their skies?

“A lot of these stars....are just waiting to be explored by humans.” Shirotani muses, “Do you think someone is looking at us, at the star you are looking at?” he asks.

I began to think about it, but my mind went somewhere else. It's the fact that humanity was able to be in those stars,.

Humans had accepted the fact that they were never alone and has successfully proven it. The milestones I've heard in space travel are nothing short but amazing. I certainly remember how Mikako is planning to participate in one of them because she was so enthralled.

But not all of them were good. My early childhood....I still couldn't believe what humans had done to me. All because that I wasn't born human?

The discovery of other lives......But what was the price to pay? The expense of my life? Why was my life being held at stake for human progress? It certainly did threw me into this whole ordeal that shouldn't even be my business.

I sighed at the thought, and sipped a bit of the coffee, trying to take off the fact of who I really was born as from my mind.

“Isn't it wonderful, to see a sight that beholds us in this kind of space? and time?”, Shirotani mused.

“Sure I guess” I responded with my best attempt to do a straight response.

“When you were six, your mother would always tell me that you loved the sight of stars”, Shirotani continued with a tone of excitement. His spiky white hair, complete with his glasses, made him look like a scientist, happy to share his creations with me, as a spectator of his genius, or whatever.

“Of course. Mom would tell everyone”, I said to him. It didn't surprise me at the slightest. Mom was quite talkative about the things I'd enjoy to her friends, and obviously Shirotani —– basically my former caretaker, would know that.

“Ah, it's like back then at the—–”

”—-facility?” I continued

“Oh, i'm sorry, Shou, i did not mean to remind you of it” Shirotani apologized. He looked at my expression, and shifted his expression into one that is less happy.

”.....it's all right” I responded, “No worries”

I get where he's coming from. I still could not believe that my origins weren't what I have believed. Shirotani might have felt that he was responsible for that, but he did nothing wrong, as I believed. All he did was taking care of me, right? All he did was making me more human, right?

“No one would take you to see the stars, except for your dad, Shouya. We really want to take you up close to the stars”, Shirotani continued.

I admit that it’s a bit of overblown schmaltz, but I didn’t care. He is very nice to listen to.

“i think I still do”, I responded with a small answer, but Shirotani seemed eager to drop the topic. He began telling me about other people from his past, specifically his experience with a Soviet cosmonaut that opened his eyes to Earth and Humanity.

“I have to remind myself that humans are still wonderful, despite everything”, Shirotani muses to me. “Sasha gave me this”, he continued, while handing me a pendant. Sasha was presumably the cosmonaut, I figured.

It was the shape of an apple, coated with gold. I didn't care if it was actual gold or artificial gold, but the pendant was pretty nice. From the way Shirotani talked about the cosmonaut, he seems to be sincerely missing him.

“Sasha....he told me that ultimately, humans are good. Back in his time, there seem to be no hope for humanity, with all the freezing wars or such....”, Shirotani continued, “He said, apples are the source of humanity. This will remind us of our origins, and our destiny”

“Apple of knowledge?” I asked.

“Well, more like apple of progress. Humanity progresses from a bite of an apple. Humans are like apples. There are fresh ones, and rotten ones.”, Shirotani answered. I find that to be an interesting view. But what kind of rotten apple did they have bitten to cause my ordeal? Was it worth it?

I looked away from it, and looked down at the floor. Shirotani seemed to be bummed, but he tries to reassure me.

“Look. As terrible as our situation was, there are still good things in humanity.” he said as he pats my shoulder. I looked at him, and he is giving me a warm smile. The golden apple swung in my direction from his hands.

“Sasha.....Yua...Shouya....they're the ones that keeps me here”, Shirotani said to me in a reassuring tone, “In a pile of varying apples, there are golden apples”

Of course it all comes to this. I know that humans can be good, I mean I love my friends.....still, it's better to hold on. Some rotten apples shouldn't spoil the whole bunch. Whatever that might be.

I gave Shirotani a smile, “Well, I guess we must keep holding on” I said to him, “Don't let all these stench spoil the good, right?”

Shirotani lets out a happy laugh. I couldn't help but to laugh as well. I held the golden apple pendant in my hands, I looked up at the skies.

And in that night, the stars were ever brighter.

#writetober #OCs #writing #OVERRIDE

Time to scoot off on my gear, then, Chie thought. No commute for tonight it seems. The busy sunday night streets of Ueno wouldn't notice her anyway.

She then picked up her trusted Gravigear, a hoverboard with cheery coloration of pink, blue, and orange, plastered with street-styled logos, streetwear stickers, and vector logos of cats. On the back of the gear, a cheery-looking logo “CATSCRATCH” is plastered, along with a pattern that looked like it was stuck in 1998.

As Chie jumped onto her board, she quickly made a hurrying gesture. Get me home already.

It was a Sunday, but she had just been called for an urgent matter at her office. For some weird reason, her office was installing a device that enables people to meet in holographic forms. And no one understood how to turn it on. Chie, being one of the only ones in the office with a no-nonsense, serious approach to work an things, was called in. To no one's surprise, she did the job easily.

In a time where Virtual Reality is a thing, she thinks that it was a waste of money. But seeing as her job deals with interviewing people, maybe it's the only way to keep people meet in real life. Chie does not think like an old person, but at the same time she sees it as a relief that there is still a way to meet people in person.

She remembers her high school friends. High school was when she sort-of-ruled. CATSCRATCH was the last 'cool' thing she did, it was a street-racing turf she made with her gal pals. But the incidents that followed, and the Shouta ordeal made her realize that maybe it is best to leave it behind and continue living normally. Take your life seriously, Chie

As she wallowed in thoughts of the past, her commuphon gave her a notification: One Missed Call

“Good lord, not when I am riding!” she exclaimed, then descends to find a nearby park. As she walked into a bench, she notices that the stars are exceptionally shining well. Then she sees a blue star, shining.

“Oh right, yeah, commuphon”, she returned to reality by checking on her commuphon. The missed call is from an unknown number, from an unknown location. Luckily for Chie, it was still in Developer's Mode, meaning that she could trace the call. She was easily able to trace it.

To her surprise, nothing that she could recognize came up. The number was not from anywhere on Earth, and the ISP that it called from was written as 'HSD'.

“H....S....D? The hell's an HSD?” she muttered, before she jolted in surprise that the number is calling her once again. She automatically picked it up, even though she always remembers to not pick up random calls. But her body is telling her to pick it up.

“Hello?” Chie greeted to her commuphon, only for a familiar voice to respond.

“Chie!!!!!! Finally! I'm so happy that this worked!!” the voice responded. The cheery voice can only mean one thing. It's a friend. A good friend.

“Mikako? Is that you?” Chie responded in disbelief. How come Mikako was able to call her using an unknown number and through an unknown ISP?

“Ohhhh why do you keep forgetting where I am?? Of course it's me!” Mikako responded, “I've been struggling to make a call to Earth for an hour....”

Chie suddenly remembers something. Mikako hasn't been on Earth for a while. Literally

*“I can't believe this worked! Ichigo's been down for one Earth Day and it had to be at Shouta's birthday......huhuhu! Thank goodness I didn't have to go to an Outpost..”

“Oh, right. Europa, Jupiter. Forgot that they call it Clarke What or Kubrick Whatsit now, I don't know.” Chie said, “How's your first six months been?”

“I don't know....pretty nice I think” Mikako answered, “Just felt a little homesick I guess”

“See I told you that space isn't all that nice” Chie said. She can remember the day that Mikako the joyous CATSCRATCH-er tells Chie that she is giving up her dream of writing stories to learn astrophysics. The Shouta Ordeal did not terrify her of space and aliens. Rather, she felt adventurous. As a friend, however, there was nothing Chie could've done to stop Mikako. It's her choice. But I don't want her to get stranded!

“Where are you living in?” Chie asked.

“Uh...this really nice dorm in Kubrick Ganymedia. I mean you can't even own houses there” Mikako answered. The location is presumably Ganymede, “Also, the temperature is what I am working on.”

“Yeah, thermodynamics. Just remembered” Chie said, with a smile, “Wait, Europa's a cold land right? How are you handling that?!”

“I get used to it.” Mikako answered with a sense of pride, “Yeah it's basically The Snow Queen's den, full of lines, ice, and cliffs, but nothing that can freeze me” she continues, “There's no snow though, so it's not the fun kind of cold”

“I can imagine you handling it with four layers of clothing” Chie joked at Mikako, “Maybe that'll make Europa fun”

“Three! Three layers of Clothing is all I need!” Mikako said with a laugh. Chie laughed also. It's nice that they can still share laughs like they used to, “Nah, Europa's fun. Ice Ice Daily! But really though, It's beautiful....like a room with a view. A cold view.”

“So you're staying frosty” Chie responded. Mikako followed with a laugh.

“Can't help it. After all, Kubrick Europina is still an Iceworld now...my duty is to make it so you can handle it”

For Chie, Mikako's words felt like an affirmation. Mikako is no longer the clumsy, clueless follower as she was back in her CATSCRATCH days, “Is it too hard? I mean you did spent nights in my house working on your physics homework...”

“Nothing too harsh. Besides, it's a team effort.” Mikako responded calmly, “I can handle it”

Chie was always there for Mikako, and she had seen Mikako develop in a good way. Hearing Mikako proudly saying that she can handle it in a calm tone made Chie's heart warmer. Although Chie personally disagreed with Mikako's life choice, she still couldn't help but be proud of Mikako's achievement, “You went this far. Still couldn't believe it”

“I still couldn't believe that you're not dealing with science today” Mikako said,

“Hey I still write about it! Last week was just me and FTL Travel” Chie responded, “I mean I courted with FTL Travel.....as they are my 'muse' for my article” them both of them laughed.

“Must be nice, back on Earth” Mikako muses, “I miss everyone”

“Yeah....me too” Chie responded, “But I think Earth's been the same as always” Chie continues. However, she does feel that without Mikako, Earth hasn't been nicer. “Well, wish you were here though”

Chie looked up at the sky. The stars are brighter than ever. The blue star, as she saw beforehand —— that's where Mikako is. The world is connecting them after a year.

“Chie....I could arrange something. We can meet here. There's a really nice spot for us to meet in Ganymede! We can see Jupiter from up close!” Mikako responded in a tone full of cheerfulness. “I want Shouta here too. Everyone. Even Kazuki and her Shibuya girls....”

”...!” Chie gets stunned in silence as soon as she hears Mikako's mentions of their friends and rivals. The Shouta Ordeal was a strange event. An alien invasion, bringing friends and rivals in races around the world —— and ending with a strange stand-off on Mars.

Chie thought it was enough for her to leave strange things behind and to seek natural things instead. Chie's decision to leave the small island that she, Mikako, and her friends was born and raised on for a busy life in Tokyo was a choice to distance herself, after all. Chie did felt regret, as she still cherished those times, and her friends. CATSCRATCH wasn't just fun and games, they were her home away from home. Shouta and his pals too, while they gave Chie a hard time, it's hard to dismiss them as troubles. They were great friends. Helpful, Cool, Fun, Alive, and Joyous.

It's easy to see Mikako's decision as that too, but it's the other way round. Mikako's in Jupiter, hoping that one day they can spend time together again in one place. In that very place.

“Hey, Chie, do you still talk to them? Shouta and others?” Mikako questioned. From the tone alone, Chie can sense that Mikako greatly misses those days. The chaotic days of The Shouta Ordeal, “I feel bad not talking to them, but gee I keep getting less and less time for contact!” Mikako continued, “I miss them dearly, I want them to know that I did not leave Earth to distance myself”

“I miss them too” Chie said, “Well, they're all busy with god-knows-what though, so I don't think they'd be bothered with us talking to them just now”, she continues

“The cold doesn't bother me that much, but I miss the warmth of those days...” Mikako mused,

“It's all heat here, can see where you're coming from” Chie said, “Come on, make it warm, you're the thermodynamicist after all”

“I figured! I'll find a way to message them, shouldn't be too—–” Mikako responded before cutting, “AH! SHOUTA'S BIRTHDAY!” she resumed.

“Shit, I almost forgot! It is today” Chie startled in shock as she remembered that it is currently 8pm. “God I keep forgetting his birthday!”

“I thought I missed it myself! I'm still working out the time differences” Mikako said, “Well, I can't make calls after this. Gotta scoot back to Ganymede ASAP”

“Well you called me” Chie said,

“But I was just going to say hi! Not to talk for this long....” Mikako followed, “Anyway, tell Shouta I wished him a happy birthday. Send him this image”

Chie sees something in her inbox.

A beautiful image gets loaded, it is a view from Europa. A land full of ice and minimum amount of water. But what struck Chie's attention was the sight of Jupiter, visible from the skies of Europa.

“It's beautiful....” Chie said in awe.

“Isn't it? Can you imagine all of us, sitting here, looking at Jupiter?” Mikako said, “Like that day with the shooting stars...” she continued, reminding Chie of the event that started the Shouta Ordeal. A shooting star changed their lives, said shooting star brought them to where they are at now.

Chie looked up at the blue star. “Yes, I can. I see it”

A silence followed. Mikako seemed to have gone silent in the wave of memories.

“Well....I really gotta go now. Thank you, Chie. I missed you” Mikako said in a lower tone

“I missed you too” Chie responded

“We'll talk in a week, OK?” Mikako said, “Providing I can find some time”

“Yeah, stay frosty!” Chie followed with her joke. Mikako laughed. Both then said their see-you-next-times and closed their call.

It was a great one hour. Immediately, Chie's spirits has regained with a smile. This is what friends are for. While Chie might still be distancing herself, at least she knows that it won't separate her from people she cherished.

Chie immediately taps for a call, while sending that number a View of Jupiter. A voice answered her call.

“Hello? This is Shouta”

Lore Compendium: – Commuphon: Smart Watches with Holographic screens. Can be used as cloud computers connected to a main computer. – Gravigear: Zero Gravity gears. Available as hoverboards, hoverbikes, hoveryachts, hover-wheelchairs, etc. Teens often form street-racing turfs around it. – Branch: Official term for habitable space stations. So far, there are three 'branches'; L-Post Branch (Lagrange Points), Bowie Branch (Mars), and Kubrick Branch (Io, Callisto, Ganymede, Europa). Planetary branches are always named after artists whose works are related to topics of outer space. – Outpost: Large terminals that functions as entry points to Branches. On the Jovian system, the Clarke Outposts functions as terminals connecting the four Kubrick Branches. Inter-branch transportation is handled by the Clarke Outposts. – HSD: ISP of Kubrick Branch. An acronym of “Hesed (ヘセッド)” a.k.a “Chesed”. In the Jovian system, the ISP is connected through a series of satellites named Dullea orbiters. Mikako mentions that one of the orbiters, specifically Dullea-1 (nicknamed “Ichigo”) had been down for a day .

#writetober #OCs #writing #OVERRIDE

“Oh my god oh my god oh my god….He may not like this”, Stephen repeatedly mutters hurriedly as he runs.

“Fuck!”, he exclaimed as he accidentally dropped his boarding pass. A stewardess hands it back to him. “T-thank you”, Stephen said.

The boarding pass is bound for a section in the Bowie Branch space colony. That is on Mars, which puts Stephen in a strange position. This will be his first time visiting the red planet, and yet, there's no excitement. He feels that he will get killed on Mars, ironically, not by the planet itself. Bowie Branch has housed many humans safely for seventeen years at this point. Nothing can kill humans as long as they stay inside any of the five havens of Bowie.

Then what is going to kill him on the now-safe-and-habitable Mars?

The man who christened himself 'Stephen X' after founding a billion-dollar Silicon Valley palace, is on his knees.

“Ziggy One shuttle is leaving for Jones Outpost”

Before he knew it, the ship was heading to the Red Planet. Faster-than-Light travel made sure that he will arrive in 5 days. That's five days to strategize a way out of this situation, he thought.

But no. Something that waits for him on Mars is already killing him softly. His commuphon rang. Shit, this is bad news, he thought. He clenches his teeth as he opens up his notifications, and sure enough, his inbox was full.

“Fucking hell….Mara….why…” he muttered in shock.

His revenues are dropping. Slowly, softly, carefully. One percent, Two percent, Three percent, Ten percent.

“GAHHHH” he jolted in shock as his commuphon rang again. Stephen stared in horror as he noticed what it was. A Call.

“H-hello….” Stephen nervously answers. A middle-toned, childish voice greets him.

“Hi hi hi there, my lovelie littlie coward-ie.” The seductive, cheery voice responded.

“W-what is going on…”

“Me not-ty accepting your appy polly loggies ❤️” The voice grew cheerier. But Stephen felt dread. This is the voice of bad luck.

“You—-You gave me more days!”

“Thennie, why aren't I seeing the presencie of your little brootherlie, your Roger-lie? I wanna play-ie with Boy Roger-lie ☆” The cheery voice now became even more childish.

“Fucking Roger ran off….those bloody Swallows! Always on their way to god-knows-where. He might've sod off to Shangri-la for all I care. The fucking Beaumont arsehole kidnapped that little shit!”

Huuuuh? Then howie come-y my little Seishi managed to find Boy Roger-lie there-y? I should've gotten-y him here-y”

Shit. Stephen felt sick in his guts. He knows what Mara is going to do next, as he failed to deliver what Mara wants. And what Mara will do to him on Mars. He shivered as Mara’s childish tone reverted back to Mara’s normal voice.

“You have no excuse”, Mara's speaking style suddenly shifted into a stern, cold one. Then it reverted back into the cheery speech,

“We will have fun on Mars-ie!!! Bye-bye-byeeee!!!”

The call closes. The cheery, childishly-toned voice of a grown man disappears. Only to be followed by a message from Mara. There was nothing on it. Only a link. Stephen opened it, and he froze.

Falling down...falling. Down the drain went his worth.

500 Million dollars…..300 million dollars….90 million dollars…..One million dollar.

That was all he saw before he collapsed. Just as Stephen had left Earth…

“Ziggy One shuttle, heading to Lagrange Branch One”

Lore Compendium: – Commuphon: Smart Watches with Holographic screens. Can be used as cloud computers connected to a main computer. – Branch: Official term for space stations. So far, there are three 'branches'; L-Post Branch (Lagrange Points), Bowie Branch (Mars), and Kubrick Branch (Io, Callisto, Ganymede, Europa). Planetary branches are always named after artists whose works are related to topics of outer space. – Outposts: Space terminals. Functions as 'airports' and transits. Not for habitation.

#writetober #writing #OCs #override