First Impressions Are Everything Artemis....

"First impressions are everything Artemis" His mother said. 18 year old Artemis wiggled in the uncomfortable chair as the Pritchard family's mechanoid butler straightened his tie. "Mother, why are you forcing me to wear this degrading smeg?" Artemis protested. "Because I want the academy to have a decent first impression of you! This is the single most prestigious academy in the entire system! I want this to go well for you, you need to get into a good college if you're going to be a super scientist some day!" "I already am mother!" "Going to college will make it official dear, not to mention legal" Artemis' super-computer mother had always been overprotective over him, considering his father no longer cared for him. She always pushed him to be his best, and made sure that he had every oppurtunity to be great. Because of her insistance, Artemis was able to graduate from the Academy of Science with 12 docorates. Artemis never thanked her, something that bothered him every day of his isolation on Charon. The last time he saw her was shortly before he boarded Blue Dwarf for the first time after enlisting with the Space Corps, he was dragged off by the captain before he could thank her for everything she had ever done for him. He regretted never thanking her for the lesson on first impressions.....

Artemis followed the sound, which he was sure wasn't part of his narcotic hallucinations. As he grew closer to the sounds, he could make out voices. "Human, disoriented, arguing, talking about tape, Ellen Ripley, brains, spiders" Artemis said, his tone growing more frantic and incoherent. "Artie, perhaps you should sit down for a bit!" Holly begged. "No! We're so close! The potato king says that there's gold in those hills!" Artemis increased his pace to the point where he was almost literally flying over the swamp. But the closer he got, the less and less his condition worsened. The high was starting to wear off, and Artemis could feel his organs starting to tap out. He saw them, a group of people. He slowed to a crawl, and staggered up to the group. His rambling caught the attention of the group, Artemis gathered curious looks as he staggered towards them. He pulled his helmet off and fell to his knees. "Doctor.....science! Potato king, god says hello! Gazpacho soup!" Artemis vomited and fell over. Upon impact the contents of his pockets spilled out, including his goggles, glasses, psi-scanner, the glowstick he took from the tree, and his Blue Dwarf nametag. Artemis took one last look up at the group and fell unconcious. As the darkness engulfed him he heard his mother whisper from the depths of his mosquito toxin flooded mind "First impressions are everything Artemis, and you REALLY smegged this one up....."

Holly looked up from the mud caked watch and recognized the crewmembers that Artemis had been stalking for the past hour. Alex, Jacky, Thomas, and Jade. "Hello there, could you pull me off this chap before he wakes up?" Holly begged....

<tag>