The Geekorium

I have a couple of things I want to write about but first on my list is to keep the pledge I made to finish the story I was writing over 10 years ago and finially publish how it ends.

The story is called Space Flight 704. BUT before you click on that you might want to wait!

First, I formatted the posts to do specific text effects in my previous site iteration. I intend to fix them, and would hold off until that’s done, but well that’s how we got here isn’t it? So later chapters will look and behave weirdly, such as this:

So as unhappy as I am that it’s in that state, maybe by posting it you can see I mean to make it good again.

In my defence, I still think a post that switches timelines as you read is fun, but it makes it a mess to read. And seriously everyone, I absolutely adore this story because it’s got time travel, and a thick skulled hero called Rex Havoc, and dumb space weapons, and evil villains with evil lairs, and betrayal, and mayhem!

I wondered about posting the chapters from the start on the fediverse, one day at a time for about 100 days. The posts are ready to go to do so too, but the fediverse software out there makes my head ache when I think about self hosting it and I don’t know which instance will give me scheduled posts and markdown. The recommendations I’ve had are for glitch-soc and misskey forks, but I’ll need to find a healthy and pleasant instance.

That all said, if you’re not put off and you still want to read, the latest chapter is up at Space Flight 704, Chapter 72: For the First Time, and the whole series starts at the beginning at the link above. The formatting goes off the rails at chapter 11.

I hope you can enjoy it like I enjoyed writing it, and like some of my friends at the time 10 years ago seemed to enjoy it.

Rex reached in to the Ortrix

The other was there and Rex felt like he knew them more intimately than ever before.

“You’re beautiful”, he said.

"We were a race of amazing creatures", the other agreed.

Rex looked his companion in the eye.

“Can I bring you back? Stop it ever happening?”

"That's not why we brought you here."

He sensed the other watching him.

“This is you, isn’t it?” he asked, holding the Ortrix up.

{{% voiceinthedark %}}“In a manner of speaking,”{{% /voiceinthedark %}} replied the other in a way that sounded melancholy, even though it lacked tone.

“All the Torim below created this? Became this before they died?” asked Rex.

{{% voiceinthedark %}}“Instead of dying,”{{% /voiceinthedark %}} the other corrected, {{% voiceinthedark %}}“and not just the Torim below.”{{% /voiceinthedark %}}

{{% voiceinthedark %}}“Although the other Torim lived, what little power they possessed was a power they all shared”{{% /voiceinthedark %}}

“And now it’s all in the Ortrix?”

The Ortrix.

For an object that contained the essence of an entire race, it was underwhelmingly nondescript. It even lacked the ostentatious metalwork it would eventually pick up on its travels.

Rex felt the weight of it in his hand. Not just its mass - again it felt not-enough - but the weight of it’s future.

He could sense its journey from here, had seen it in reverse, and knew where it ended up.

If he concentrated, he could hear every soul that had created it.

But the Torim below survived.

Not as physical beings. Not when their bodies were forcibly taken. Reduced to so much ash and dust.

Not as minds. The Torim below had found a power that linked them deeper than that simple structure.

Not as a single being, but as an entity of thought and presence and power.

And in the caverns of Torim, an Ortrix.

The tension broke.

The Torim above took action. They felt the power from below like electric prickles on their skin and they could no longer bear it.

They sent armies below, and with fire and plasma and the rending of guns they silenced the voices in their ears and released the pressure on their chests.

For a little while at least they even felt relief.

Eventually they gave up.

The experiments failed while the fear in those above grew.

All the while Rex could feel the power of the Ortrix increase although he could not locate it. It was not quite the same power as those below possessed.

And tension grew. And hatred grew. And Rex’s heart felt heavy with more grief than he thought he could handle.

One by one they were taken.

In the darkness, they came with powerful lights that blinded. Although they were met without resistance they brought weapons.

They rounded up a few at a time and they took them above. They opened them up to see where the power lived and tried to pull it out.

Of course it failed. The power was not caused by any part of their physical body, unless you count their consciousness or their ever-loving minds.

Not all Torim were fearful.

When they tried to talk their peers around or tried to provide aid to the Torim below it usually went one of two ways. Either their own power increased until they themselves were shunned, or they were forced to see they were wrong and became even more callous.

And not all the Torim above lacked power. Some held it as a prize to be used and feared. They believed the gentleness that emerged in their kin was weakness, and sought to punish those who failed to use the power.

The horrors began.

…

Rex watched time unfold in silence, the other by his side. He didn’t look at his companion as they watched, but he sensed the tension permeating the non-space they shared.

He watched the Torim drive their fellow Torim underground. In deep cavernous bunkers they waited, uncertain, afraid, but too generous to resist.

He watched the Torim above make plans. They sensed the amassed energy of their captives below and it drove them, ever fearful, to unspeakable acts.

Rex shuddered.

“So what happens next?”

“The Torim below created the Ortrix. If they didn’t make it as a weapon, then for what?”

The Other had materialised, and Rex searched his face for a clue. Instead, he was shocked to see his companion crying.

For a moment, Rex was speechless.

“I… I thought you were a god. But gods don’t cry.”

“I sense disharmony.”

{{% voiceinthedark %}}This is not a world at peace.{{% /voiceinthedark %}}

Rex let his awareness expand, encompassing the planet.

He sensed a rift between two peoples. He couldn’t really see much of a difference, at least not at the deepest levels he could feel them. Pulling back, trying to focus on the conflict, he could see one group were more fearful of the other.

Geographically, the group the others most feared were separated and underground. He sensed a familiar power concentrated there.

“These people call themselves the Torim,” Rex said, realisation dawning, “and those underground… They are the Torim below.”

“How many times have I died?”

“And why is it, that with time and space bending to my will, I still keep forgetting stuff like this?”

{{% voiceinthedark %}}The power of the Torimbalo is not meant to be used by consciousnesses such as yours. The effects can be unpredictable.{{% /voiceinthedark %}}

“So who is the Torimbalo for then?” Rex asked as he wandered around the base of the enormous stone hut.

{{% voiceinthedark %}}It is not a tool for anyone’s use. The power was corrupted and shaped into the Ortrix.{{% /voiceinthedark %}}

“Maybe I can stop that happening,” Rex replied.

{{% voiceinthedark %}}If only.{{% /voiceinthedark %}}

“I’m sure I’ve been here before.”

Rex tried to get a feel for the world around him. Beyond local features and the brief glimpse he’d had from passing through earlier, he felt like this planet was significant to him for some reason.

“There were more buildings,” he hesitated.

“I was running, chasing, something.”

“Did I…?”

He paused, puzzled.

“This is where I died!”

“I recognise this world.”

“We came past here a little while ago, I think - but we were moving so fast I wasn’t paying attention.”

Rex was solid again and standing next to an enormous featureless skyscraper.

“The Ortrix will be here again some time in the future.”

He put his hand on the stonework of the building.

“These stones are enormous!”

Stepping back, he wandered away from the buildings to get a better look at it’s entirety.

“That’s no skyscraper,” he gasped, “that’s a stone hut!”