bored to death
The holoprojector displayed the picture of Earth with it's lone moon. "There's
no other place I'd rather be right now." The room was dark, with the exception
of the planet and it's satellite. "I don't know why I ever left. Oh, yeah!
Now I remember. I forced to." Dirk's had pushed the power switch on the
holoprojector's base. The image of Earth flickered, then disappeared, leaving
the room in complete blackness. "Lights!" The sudden brightness blinded him
for a few seconds. He reached for another beer, even though he hadn't quite
finished the one in his hand.
Dren was off scavanging the ship for the parts he needed for his personal stasis
pod. Dirk was alone, and that's how he wanted it, for now. This assignment
wasn't what he needed. When he first stepped on this ship, he thought that this
would be a good place to start over. How wrong could one man be. There was no
way for him to curb his worst personal flaw, his temper.
Two scutters walked into the room. It looked like they were in drag. ONe
quickly turned on the TV to a presentation of the Rocky Horror Picture Show.
"Off to the gym again." It was the only place he was assured of any peace.
Today, Dirk wouldn't make it to the gym.
As he passed down the hall, a noise came from inside one of the ducts.
Something was moving in there. He couldn't tell what it was, but it didn't
sound natural. Dirk made his way over to the closest access panel and opened
it. He crawled inside on his hands and knees, following the sound.
Soon, he found the source of the noise. A glass ball was rolling through the
ducts. "What in the smeg!" As if by the sound of his voice, the ball stopped
rolling. "How did this get here?" Dirk moved his hand forward to begin a crawl
towards the ball. Before he got 5 inches, the ball rolled towards him, resting
next to his hand. He picked it up in his right hand. At his touch, the
interior of the transparent glass swirled with pink smoke. His face was covered
in a pink glow. His eyes couldn't remove their gaze from the ball.
"We're supposed to be looking for those stolen supplies from medi-bay," a harsh
voice bellowed. The sound echoed through the ducts to Dirk, breaking him from
his trance. He recognized the voice. It was one of the security flunkies that
helped (not really, he just tagged along and smelled bad) capture Allie.
"Can we beat up anyone who might have done it?" said another familiar voice, yet
another member of the previously mentioned party.
"Like who?"
"Like anyone we see."
"I don't think so. It might get us into trouble."
"Well,.... can we beat up the person who took the stuff when we find him?"
"Of course! It's business as usual when we find him." The voiced continued to
converse as they got weaker and weaker.
Dirk looked at his watch. It was impossible! He had been in there for over 2
hours! But it just seemed like moments ago when he picked up the ball. He
looked again at the ball. It had returned to its transparent state. "What are
you?"
Despite his inqusitive nature, Dirk returned to his room with the ball tucked
unseen beneath his jacket to his room. Once inside, he locked the door and sat
on his bed, gazing into the ball. It did not fill with its pink smoke and light
again, but Dirk couldn't put it down anyway.
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