[Orlando_the_Technicoloured]

Well I think I should give this a go while my imagination holds out, It will give me a good reason to keep popping in to the forums and hopefully some of you will like it too (I read a lot, but haven't written much)

I'll drop each bit into a new post for clarity

[Orlando_the_Technicoloured]

Scene One : Changes

The shift change buzzer sounded, loud and harsh, bouncing round the grimy walls of the sleep pod. Lights flickered on, first in the ceiling then, flashing, around the door. 10 minutes to wake and dress then you had to be in the mess hall or you would miss you meal. Twenty minutes to eat, then report to the terminal to get you shift assignment. You didn't want to be late to the terminal, that give you black marks. Black marks were bad, too many black marks and a worker was punished, or worse just disappeared.

Cort rolled out of the sleeper, scrubbing tired eyes, then reached for the Alabaster station work suit crumpled on the floor. Orange, the higher ups didn't want anybody mistaking the workers for administration staff. The colours gave a sense of order, of direction. Orange for the Workers, Green for the Administrators, Blue for the Professionals and White for the Scientist. That's the way the power flowed too, from Orange to White, any time a Scientist said jump you did, and fast too.

Shrugging into the work suit Cort wiped his hand over his face, slapped the panel on the door open it and stepped out of the sleep pod into the corridor. The lights in the pod died behind him as the door slid closed, jerkily. “Crap” the thought jumped into his head, the servos were failing, or maybe there was some grit in the runners. Whatever the problem was it was bound to be up to him to fix things. To few maintenance staff to keep up with the repairs on the station, especially with all the changes the Whites had been asking for lately. The new woman in charge of them was plain spooky, eyes that seemed to look right through you. Wanted the quarantine section expanded to five times the size. Good luck there. Even if there were enough workers to handle the task Alabaster station had been changed too often in the past. Walls moved, new pipes and power conduits added and rerouted, air-ducts modified to filter out this pathogen but let that pathogen through, EMP grids used to inactivate stray nanotech moved, redesigned, ripped out then reinstalled. All these changes had left so many scars on the station that expanding the quarantine zone would be nigh on impossible. Even if they did have the workers. Even if the workers did have access to the best tools. Even if they had enough materials to do the job right. Cort was glad he wasn't involved in that, the one plus from being reassigned from the dormitory to the single sleep pod.

He missed the camaraderie of the dormitory, being able to talk to his friends after shift until the lights were put out. Maybe play a few games, maybe have a bit of fun with one of the girls who wasn't serious with anybody. Sometimes even a few drinks, not banned as such but not easy to get for the workers, or if one of the traders had been in a taste of Vegembite which certainly was. Not that it was bad for you, just that one taste tended to lead to another, and if you were looking for a taste you weren't working, that was the only reason it was banned. Bet administration could have a taste without being pulled up by the guards.

The mess hall was deserted, ranks of scuffed plastic tables and benches swept clean, no queues at the dispenser along the walls. Lights around one of the dispensers were flashing, indicating this was where Cort could grab his fore-shift food. Watervit to drink and resik to eat, same as always. Not too bad, not fancy but it tasted OK. Resik had come a long way since the early days of the station when it really has been made of the recycled organic waste of the crew. Now it was quicker and cheaper to bring in grain and other organics as a feedstock for the manufacturing process. Meant you didn't need to worry about heavy metal build up, or viruses, and the olders swore it tasted better now too.

After eating Cort dumped his trash back into the dispenser and checked in on the terminal in the centre of the mess hall. Assignment: skincrawl, just like last month and probably the one after this too. In fact most frequent assignment he got since he'd been plucked from the dormitories and retrained on the Th Is. At first he'd been so proud, not every body got to use those suits, it took brains. Not so much that it was tricky, but if you got things wrong you could do real damage. Screw up and hit somebody with a clap and that was them done. Screw up with the welder or cutter and you could easily start a fire, or it could be a whole heap worse if you were on skincrawl. Decompress a whole section, it had been done before, hundreds dead, not just workers. The pilot of that suit just disappeared. So did the workers responsible for door maintenance that cycle. If the doors had been airtight like they should have been just the one room would have been affected. Not that Cort blamed the rest of the workers, none of the doors in this place worked right, to little maintenance and cut price parts.

Leaving the dining hall Cort made his way to the hanger using the back ways. No point getting seen by anybody else higher up, they might ask him to do something, then he'd be stuck with that too, and late for the skincrawl and shift wouldn't be over until that was finished.

[Cranch157]

I like it. Kinda reminds me of the two Riddick video games, which took place in a prison and a slaver ship, respectively. It's interesting to see Alabaster from the perspective of such a lowly worker. It's gonna suck when the Strain finally get him. Keep writing!

[Studio McVey - Ali]

I like it too.

Thrilled that sw is inspiring people to write their own stuff. Keep posting!!!

[Devil Ray]

cool story.
I enjoyed reading it.
Cant wait to see part two

[Orlando_the_Technicoloured]

thanks for the positive comments, so another chunk before I go to bed. Hopefully I'll dream where the next part will go

[Orlando_the_Technicoloured]

Changes Part 2 : Something New

As Cort reached the repair bay something felt different. He didn't know what, but something , something had changed. The bay was still the same, unpainted plasteel walls, the metal sheen broken here and there by stencilled signs and warning lights. The same grimy floor with a scatter of drainage grills, coloured lines snaking off into the distance marking the way to other parts of the station. The same scatter of snoops and cameras on the high roof, wait that was it, a gleaming black hemisphere now protruded from the roof above the Administrations desk.

The administrator on shift was one of the decent ones, Darv Harik, he spent most of his time back here with the maintenance crew, and was regarded as an honorary worker. Cort approached, glancing upwards.

“New decorations Darv, when was that put in?”

“Good shift Cort, we've got a new shipment coming in, spares, or so they say. That's a guard to make sure nothing wanders off. Meant to be gone after we've squared it all away, but I'd say it's here to stay.”

“It lets the Terminal keep a closer eye than with the snoops and cameras”, Harik continued, “and I think there's an auto-gun of some sort in there too, but I didn't get a close look before they put the shield over the installation”

“Now let's see which suit I can give you today...”

Cort snorted, the Thorn Heavy Industries (THI) suits might be the top of the line kit but the ones on Alabaster station were not in good condition. Years of hard use, too little maintenance, unskilled users, and a lack of spare parts had cut into the stations stock so instead of the full compliment of twenty there were usually only three or four in full working order at any one time. Maybe another six that could be used indoors if necessary as their air-seals had gone or the canopies were seized.

“Number Seven is good to go, the crew stripped out that glitched leg servo for one from Number Twelve. Not a lot left of that now, I doubt we could fix it even if this shipment does come with a full set of spares”, Harik passed over the jumper, the blue glow from the plastic rectangle rippling over his face, “Get going, Alpha Sector needs checking, the sensors say the hull held up OK after that last meteor shower, but you know how much that's worth.”

Cort slipped the jumper into his worksuit's breast pocket, grinning.

“Now, now Darv, the sensors get it right sometimes. If there any fractures or holes I'll fix them up. Then you can let me help you drink your allocation to celebrate.”

“No chance Cort, you know how much trouble it caused when they found I was slipping you an odd glass.", voice going high and flat, 'For their own safety workers on Alabaster station should refrain from the consumption of alcohol in all its forms. They are responsible for the maintenance of heavy machinery and safety equipment and other specialities are requested to help them in this by not sharing allocations'. Harik smiled as he spoke, taking the sting out of his words.

Turning away Cort headed off to the garage, patting the pocket the jumper was in, making sure it was still there. Without it the THI suit would not power up, although it could be used as a safe refuge in case of a hull breach or chemical spill. Workers were not trusted to hold jumpers off shift, they had to go back to Administration. Actually not a bad rule all told, stuff like that did tend to go missing. Terminal could trace them but that took time and the THIs were in such short supply if another went out of action a shift might end up being twice as long.

Cort reached the transit shuttle and climbed on board, keying in Garage, Alpha Sector as his destination. Held onto the hanging straps as it hummed into life and sped away. He ran through the plan in his head, the best way to run a skincrawl over Alpha Sector. If you planned it right you could shave an hour or two off the time. Some sections were so well lit you could just look at the hull from a distance and see if there had been any strikes, other parts you had to walk over, using the THI's lights to check. So the route you took was critical. Cort had it down now, but he always ran it over in his head, looking for another short cut, another few minutes to save, but no the route was perfect as it was.

The transit car slid into the platform, and the hum faded as the door slid open, Cort stepped out onto the platform and moved on towards the garage. As promised Number Seven stood in a pool of light, ready for work, the yellow paint chipped and worn, but the metal underneath still strong. The remains of warning signs scattered across it's surface were a testament to the Administrations obsession with playing lip service to safety. Nobody would step try and touch the arc welder when it was on, so what was the point. Other slots along the wall held other suits, most of them shrouded in shadow indicating they were offline for one reason or another. The carcass of Number twelve sprawled on the floor, the left leg lying beside it in pieces.

Cort grinned as he swung open the front of Number Seven, and stepped backwards into the suit, settling his body into the foam, the suit adjusting to hold him tight as it closed around him. The smell of stale sweat filled his nostrils but his grin didn't waver. Despite the long hours, despite loosing his friends in the Dormitories this was what he lived for. Inside the THI he felt powerful, in control. Maybe Administration had got it right when he was selected for training. The canopy slid closed, segmental plates sliding forward enclosing him completely. Cort preferred full immersion, the THI's sensors replacing his eyes, the nano-augments allowing him to feel with the THI's metal skin. Not all pilots did, some of them just didn't understand.

With his augmented vision he noticed something in the far corner of the room, in the slot they normally stored the spare tool racks. Another THI, but not an Alabaster Station suit. This looked nearly new, paint bright and smooth, red as blood. No warnings, clean, except for a name on the arm. Iron Lilly.

[Jokeroz]

Second part was even more immersive than the first great stuff

[Lugburz]

Would anyone mind if I moved this thread, along with Tom Hoefle's "New Tale" fan fiction thread, over to the Sedition Wars > General Discussion subforum? I'd like to pin a single thread at the top there with links to each of your threads/fiction so people can find them easily in the future.

[Orlando_the_Technicoloured]

Lugburz, on 02 July 2012 - 02:32 PM, said:

Would anyone mind if I moved this thread, along with Tom Hoefle's "New Tale" fan fiction thread, over to the Sedition Wars > General Discussion subforum? I'd like to pin a single thread at the top there with links to each of your threads/fiction so people can find them easily in the future.

Go for it Keegan, hopefully folk are checking both

[Devil Ray]

Part two is even better than part one was. And good idea of yours to have a overview thread of all fan fiction stories Lugburz/Keegan

[Orlando_the_Technicoloured]

Changes Part 3 : Starlight

The airlock closing silently behind him Cort piloted the THI forwards onto the surface, the hull of Alabaster Station stretched out before him. A field of white plasteel, broken here and there with towers of machinery, vents, aerials and other less identifiable protrusions. Above the black of space, tinted with blues and greens as the clouds of dust and gas in the nebula interacted with the light of the local stars.

Alpha Sector was part of the old hull, once the skin of the generation ship that formed the original core of the station, and, it's reason for existing. The ship was discovered in orbit around a cold sun in the folds of the Alabaster Nebula. Empty and shut down. There was no sign of the crew, or any of the cold sleep passengers, nothing organic was ever found. All the equipment was still there, the ship, the terraforming supplies, the backup shuttles shut down and cold. The design of the ship dated back to the very first wave of expansion, before FLT became a reality, before jump lanes boosted the speed FLT ships could achieve even further. No records remained about it's destination, or who had launched it. Another mystery along with everything else.

Take a large iron rich asteroid and hollow it out, dig tunnels and caverns, fill it with fusion plants and cold sleep pods, DNA banks and body printers. That's where the sleepers went, in a cold rocky womb. Then build a hull around the asteroid, big enough for the crew to live in, generation after generation, tending the ship and it's myriad engines. Redundancy was the key there, solar sails, ram scoops, gravity tunnels even primitive ion thrusters. A risky business, most vanished into the deepness in the sky never to be seen again, others found new worlds, gave birth to a new homes for humanity. An unlucky few arrived to find Solcon already there, a society radically different from the one they left. Most of them never adjusted.

Not this ship, there was no new home for them to colonise, just a series of dead worlds without atmosphere orbiting a cold sun. The ship spinning in counter orbit between the fifth and sixth plants. Too far from either for sensible disembarkation, they had both been extensively surveyed, all the planets had, none the less the mystery remained unsolved. The first Alabaster station was set up to solve the puzzle, but eventually the Scientists admitted defeat and moved onto other projects, adopting the old ship as their new home. As the station's use changed the ship was remodelled, parts removed and parts added until it was hard to tell what was old and what was new. Most never even knew the stories, or cared about what had gone before but some of the workers remembered. Telling stories in the dormitories after lights out.

The THI's magboots held firm to the hull and Cort began his skinwalk, sensors straining to detect any damage to the surface. His heart sang as the low level solar radiation ticked the THI's skin, his ears teased by the faint white of the Nebula as interpreted by the suit. It was only out here in the dark that Cort felt truly at peace. Tension he hadn't even felt drained away and his steps became lighter, flowing.

It had all begun when his Dormitory was one of those selected for testing. The station needed new pilots and if your reflexes were sound and your psych profile fitted that was it. A solid week of mental and physical tests, 10% passed, the rest returned to the Dormitory. Cort had passed, he was fit and strong, he didn't mine enclosed spaces and whatever the blood tests and scans said they were obviously OK too. Then the augmentation, that was the bad part. When you were in the gestation chambers, or in a breeder the nano threads crawled through your brain unhindered. Making and changing connections. As a kid it was a little worse, Cort still remembered the fear when his eyes were upspecced. It had taken 3 weeks for them to recover, before he could see properly again. As an adult, well the risks were high. Nanothreads tore through a rigid brain, it was all too common to end up crippled, or worse, loose part of what made you, you. If that happened you were gone. Still, Cort had survived and thrived. If had had a choice, knowing the end result, he might even have volunteered.

[Dead Circus Monkey]

Congrats, your little short stroy has become the first entry in the the fan creations of the wiki

http://seditionwars....y:Fan_Creations

I would Like to add the second 2, but how would you like me to enter it (for the title?)

Changes (part 2) Something New

Then

Starlight

Not sure how you want me to title and organize it.

[Orlando_the_Technicoloured]

Dead Circus Monkey, on 02 July 2012 - 07:50 PM, said:

Congrats, your little short stroy has become the first entry in the the fan creations of the wiki

http://seditionwars....y:Fan_Creations

I would Like to add the second 2, but how would you like me to enter it (for the title?)

Changes (part 2) Something New

Then

Starlight

Not sure how you want me to title and organize it.

Thanks (though Tom's came first during the chat on the kickstarter comments page if it makes any difference)

I hadn't thought how to tile the whole thing but I'd go for

Changes
Changes Part 2 : Something New
Changes Part 3 : Starlight

I'll edit the posts to refect the change

[Jackswift]

Very nicely done. Looking forward to the next chapter.

[galatician]

That's great content!! You've got some talent here. I was going to raise an objection about the skin crawl as the station is on an asteroid but you resolved that nicely. Also helps explain why the Firebrand end up rebelling as the lowly worker's life is not much to look forward to...unless you have a THI suit!

[darkendlight]

Excellent, I love the setting and explanation of the station. Hope you update soon.

[Orlando_the_Technicoloured]

Thanks for the positive feedback

I do plan to continue, but while I have a bunch of fragments written none of them have come together yet

(I may need some more inspiration in the form of more sculpt shots in the news thread )

[darkendlight]

You should have gone to GenCon to get some inspiration from the source.

[deadestdai]

Well, just printed this out and read it on the loo. Really good stuff and well written considering how little background you had to go on.

Hope you can give us part4 some time soon!