The Intergalactic Misadventures of Boyo and Bucko (IX) -- (with writer´s apology) - WritingForums.com - Writing Forums, Writing Challenges, Critiques and Help for Writers

OzzyShiraz · 06-24-2008, 11:10 PM

In a most uncertain way, Bucko knew precisely what was going on. Everything had combined, joined forces, the drink, the drugs, the rip in space, and all that rot that kid Orin had been laying on him...it had all combined into the present state of hyperhallucination.

He had not been seized at the Jump by two incredibly strong men in long dark coats and whisked away in a fast, fast vehicle. The men had not sat staring at him in silence while he´d used his finest breathing and meditative sobering techiniques, and they were certainly not multi-headed fanged monsters. Furthermore, they did not roughly push him down a pale hallway, search his pockets for his key, and proceed to leave him in a quiet, nearly empty room with a screen showing horrific images of humans being consumed live by larger, stronger species of --

No, no, no, Bucko squeezed his eyes shut, grit his teeth, and reminded himself never, ever to ignorantly mix drugs, drinks, and Jumps again, and he´d be fine, he´d be just fine. Still he was surprised at the persistent, lingering nature of the hallucination. For all his efforts, he could not pull himself out of it.

¨Boyo,¨ he said loudly, carefully avoiding the images on the screen, ¨I´m having a really bad trip, buddy. I need you to snap me out of it. Do...do whatever it takes.¨

Although the room he was not in was plain as could be, he began to see shapes and movements in the walls, the floor, the ceiling. The room seemed to be organic, breathing, or perhaps it was digesting him like a creature from the awful images on the screen. No sound, though, funny that. The room seemed to him to be shrinking, but he avoided panic by his own assurances that he was not there.

Taking his attention from the softly moving gills that had appeared in the walls, Bucko let out a startled cry as he came to face a man in a chair seated at a table. The man was sleight, balding, grey, dressed in a simple yet regal black uniform, and, like the walls, sported slow-moving gills on his head.

OzzyShiraz · 06-24-2008, 11:14 PM

This is not at all the apology I was thinking of. I was going to apologise for plenty other things, but right now my internet café is shutting down, so I must apologise for not finishing the ´chapter´. I promise I will tomorrow........................................an d then I´ll come with the real aplogy.

Candrah · 06-25-2008, 10:35 AM

The title looks familiar - did I post feedback on one of these in the past...? (Must have been in a parallel universe

) And what are you apologising for anyway?

I read this and I liked it. Needs some work technically - too many commas and a couple typos - but otherwise this is good. Got me interested enough to want to read more...

OzzyShiraz · 06-28-2008, 09:55 PM

¨Mr. Buckminster,¨ he said, his voice fuzzy and echoing.

Bucko squinted at the man´s gills, ¨Is that you, Boyo? I can hear you...but my visuals aren´t right just yet. I just need to go to bed for a while. Hate to be the lightweight and all...¨

The man´s gills disappeared, but his previously thin lips overcompensated, growing first cartoonishly swollen, then stretching, drooping, and resting on the little table. From there they flapped in speech, ¨I am not your friend ´Boyo´, Mr. Buckminthter,¨ the lips spoke in a dry lisp, ¨And I am not a halluthinashun.¨ the lips fell now over the table´s edge, over the floor, ¨I am Captain Laidnuth of the Thpathetime Continuity Enfortherz.¨

Bucko realised that he´d curled himself up quite tightly into his chair, and noticing the loud clothy sound of his overalls, he put his feet onto the floor. He saw Laidnus´ lips withdraw to their normal state, only to set his fingers to elongating impossibly.

¨You do understand me, Mr. Buckminster?¨ he asked, folding his hands around the desk.

¨I...¨ Bucko stared at footlong knuckles, ¨I don´t think this is funny.¨

¨I assure you it´s no joke,¨ Laidnus spoke evenly and confidently, ¨And you´re in a great deal of trouble.¨

Bucko began to curl back into his chair.

¨In many ways you´re lucky to have turned yourself in outside of Regulated Space. Here we can...negotiate.¨

His fingers shrunk back to normal, but of course then his eyes got weird, and Bucko had to avoid them. Chewing on his knee, Bucko said, ¨I don´t know what you´re talking about...Cap´n...but...if you are who you say you are, I demand to be released immediately.¨

¨I´m afraid you waived that right by turning yourself in,¨ Laidnus´ voice seemed to be zooming in and fading out, ¨We can and will hold you here until we feel it´s appropriate to transfer you to a sattelite in Regulated Space.¨

The floor beneath Bucko´s chair was squirming; a snake-pit!

¨Of course, as I say...here we can negotiate.¨

Bucko shut his eyes to escape the snakes, but they followed him into the darkness. He said weakly, ¨For what crime did I...turn myself in?¨

¨Time-travel,¨ came the quick and curt response, ¨Several days ago. Class A violation, confirmed. Auto-sentence of public execution.¨

Bucko wondered why he should chew on his knees when he had ten perfectly good fingernails, and started in on them. He was nipping at the snakes and they were receding. He heard the word ´execution´ echoing in his ears, and he spoke to drown it out.

¨I didn´t turn myself in, and I´ve never traveled in Time!¨ he said with more emotion than he´d expected.

He heard Laidnus sigh, then say calmly, ¨Mr. Buckminster, your vital scans show that you´ve ingested a notable amount of psychotropic substances. It´s natural that you should feel confused.¨

An anger within Bucko drove him to glare at Laidnus, but the eyes were too big, too big and veiny, so Bucko squinted again and took a pinky-nail between his teeth. His angry hormones were sobering him, to a degree, as he spoke, ¨What do you want? I´ve never travelled in Time and you know it. You want my credits? Take ´em, you´ve got my key.¨

The sound of a clicking tongue tapped Bucko´s eardrums, and Laidnus´voice returned, fuzzy and far-off again, ¨I know you don´t realise it, Mr. Buckminster, but you did travel in Time, a Class A violation, we have enough evidence to carry out procedures, and...well, we will if you refuse to cooperate.¨

The pinky-nail down as far as it could go, Bucko proceeded to others.

¨Were you not onboard the Starflutter two days ago?¨ Laidnus´voice was softening.

¨Yes.¨

¨Did you see a Time-travel device onboard?¨

¨Yes.¨

¨Did you use it?¨

¨It didn´t work!¨ Bucko spit a nail with his exclamation, ¨Nothing happened. We got drunk, that´s all, and that´s no crime!¨

Bucko began to feel as though he were eating his fingers, pulled them out of his mouth, and risked a look at Laidnus once again. Not so bad. Just looking about 15 yards away.

¨Mr. Buckminster,¨ Laidnus relaxed noticeably, leaning back in his chair, ¨I am going to be straightforward and honest with you.¨

Bucko swallowed.

Laidnus continued, ¨You did travel in Time, though you don´t recall it. You travelled 416 years into the future. You arrived drunk, and you departed drunk, affecting no significant consequences. You enjoyed approximately 40 hours of intense debauchery before taking self-defensory measures of memory-blanking procedures, and returned to your exact place and time of origin, in the very same clothes, and in practically the same state of intoxication.¨

In Bucko´s mind, the floor had changed to a landscape of tiny blinking eyes.

¨No amount of truth serum or cerebro-grafting could produce any confessions...¨Laidnus sounded very comfortable, ¨But we in the SCE have more than enough evidence from our detectives to convict you within minutes in our private courts.¨

¨I don´t care about your private parts,¨ Bucko must have been returning somewhat to normal, for he spoke before realising what he was saying.

From a million miles away he saw Laidnus fidget in his chair -- just a bit -- before saying, ¨Mr. Buckminster, I am in an awkward position.¨

The words ´awkward position´ began to echo in Bucko´s head, and he realised that he had a knee tucked under an earlobe, and fingers pulling on lip-corners and nostrils. He said, in a desperate whisper, ¨Why is that screen showing such terrible things?¨

Laidnus glanced casually aside, sighed, and said calmly, ¨The screen is blank, Mr. Buckminster. It has been.¨

Bucko took a tentative peep toward the horrorshow and found that it was true.

Laidnus said, ¨I need your help. This ´captain´ Bordeaux has been good to you. You are familiar to him, and we believe that you could re-gain his confidence...and get onboard his ship again. For this we offer a full pardon.¨

OzzyShiraz · 06-28-2008, 09:57 PM

All apologies now. All in all, that´s all we are, no?

Anyhow, I apologise for not sticking to my points...I wanted every little chapter to be self-contained pulp rot that could be read and laughed at with ease, little fantastical escapism......but I realise now that they´re all so intertwined.

I shall do my best to remedy this in the future.

Happy Reading, my friends!

Ah...I guess I also apologise for the boring bits. I´m just writin´.......