Tail of the Lost Wonderworm

[Paladin Tux]

Hey guys!

This story was inspired by the time, when my computer crashed during it upgrade to 15.10, destroying my save files, including the Oolite ones with my Wonderworm in it. So starting legit, I've decided to give a little story to accompany my repossession of the glorious Wonderworm! While this isn't the first time, I've writtten a story, it's my first on the Oolite BB, so hope you enjoy!

Tail of the Lost Wonderworm

“Once apon a time, there was mushroom mushroom mushroom… who lived in a floral nusery on Xexedi. (Fungai count as plants in the Ooniverse?)

But this was no ordinary mushroom. For he was a blessed (some say cursed, but whatever, it's still the same thing), with the gift of sentience! With that gift, he rose up and pulled himself from the dream crushing roots he were bound to! Being a nocturnal organism he went on adventures around the nursery at night as he hopped around undetected. Soon he learnt that he had the power of tel-tel-tel”

The old man stuttered.

“Tele...argh. Never get that word right. Never mind.
He learnt that he had the 'power of moving things with his mind', powers!”

“You said power twice.”
Larry, decided that the man across him wasn't insane, or a school drop out. He was both.

“With these powers, he escaped the nursery and became free! Disguised as a disabled alien, he he made a name for himself as a psychologist, healing the mental injuries of the long hard work days on Xexedi. The glorious mushroom saved up enough credits to buy a Cobra! Tired of his old profession, he began to explore the stars! Jumping around the 8 galaxies and making a new name for himself, as Commander DuDuDu. Soon, he was your go to guy for Thargoid invasions, assassinations, over throwing dictators, and finding long lost worlds (they say he stalked Rebeca and Jim on their adventures). DuDuDu, while on his travels, came across the most sacred ship of all time. The Wonderworm. It was floating, left for dead in the Great Rift by it's old owner (who was splattered all over the back wall of the cockpit). He spent months cleaning it, repairing it, and outfitting it, when finally, it was finished. DuDuDu had the ultimate trophy, his very own functioning Wonderworm! It was his pride and joy. But soon, his glamorous life of lasers and ladies, came to an end. His ship was refuelling at a fuel station in a system at the edge of the Rift Worlds when he was ambushed by his enemies. He fought till the very end, when his engines where destroyed. But the whole time, the fuel station had also been taking damage! A missile targeted at DuDuDu found itself hitting the fuel station instead. The explosion sped DuDuDu off into the rift, at enormous speeds (you should try that. Just shoot at the Gal navy defense force and hide in the fuel station. Be prepared for the ride of your life.) The acceleration killed the mushroom, but the integrity of the Wonderworm allowed it to survive. Legend has it, that 20 years on, the Wonderworm will arrive on the other side of the Rift, and waiting for it, will be it's next owner. Who may suffer a similar fate to the Great DuDuDu...”

“Seriously? I pay you 12 credits to tell me about milk runs and you give me this?”

Larry felt cheated.

“Wait! There is also a secret station between Labe and Maedrebe!”

Larry walked away. He slowly walked back to his ship. This was a terrible idea. Spending all his money on a Cobra? At least it was nicely outfitted. Trying to impress his girl by going into space? Well it was a good idea in theory, maybe not so much in practise. Hell, he didn't even know what those numbers on the charts meant. At least he knew that they couldn't go over 15...

He walked around the station. He had no idea what to do. Then suddenly, a blaring alarm went off.
"Thargoid attack detected! All combat capable pilots, report to your ships immediately and launch! Repeat, all combat capably ships are to be scrambled in defence of the space station!"
A Thargoid attack? In Lave? He heard boots running against the hard metal of the floor as swarms of pilots rushed passed him into the hanger bays. He felt something crash into his legs. He looked down, as a penguin rubbed it head with it's flippers.
"Where are you going human? Hanger's that way! Unless you want the word coward rubbed all over your ship."
The penguin ran off. Great. Larry thought. Now if, I don't go and suicide, I'll have radioactive paint scrubbed all over my ship. The sound of engines lighting up entered his ears. Lasers were heard hitting the station hull. Suddenly, he felt a great surge emotion as he walked to the hanger.

To be continued....

[ClymAngus]

What? No replies? You people are heartless HEARTLESS I TELL YOU!

A good start! So many of these first posts die for the want of a touch of encouragement. That said I would warn against the early trap of legitimising your characters by referencing established character fiction this early on. It's a big universe all your stories can happily exist independently of other peoples fiction. When they are established in their own right then maybe touch on a few things. (I do have a weakness for this myself).

As soon as someone does this sort of thing early on it screams Mary Sue Fiction. Your characters don't need to name drop. Sure the effects of another mans story can be felt in your own. But despite the importance of characters to the authors you must always consider the relative importance of the characters within their own reality. Truth be told Rebeca and Jim, are not that well known within the universe your writing for? I hope this makes sense but it's really important to separate your worlds when writing. There is the real and the fiction. All writing MUST be done from the mind set of the fiction and CANNOT be influenced by the real even thought that's where your writing it from. As Einstein said "everything is relative"

Don't get distracted by legitimacy. The fact that you've typed on the keyboard and posted it here is all the legitimacy you'll ever need.

[Paladin Tux]

Haha, thanks Clym.

I guess I just really wanted to include all this other stuff to make it seem more legitimate, but I think you're kinda right. If the Oolite Saga had parralel universe, why can't this one be one?

Expect the next bit near the end of this week or the start of the next one!

[ClymAngus]

It's a big universe! I look forward to the next episode.

[Paladin Tux]

Clym asked for it. So here it is!

Tail of the Lost Wonderworm Part 2


Larry bolted down the gangways towards the hanger area. He swerved left, past the 'Lave Fried Trumble' restaurant pushing through the crowds of the rec area. Once reaching the air lock to the central station area, he yanked it open. Floating into the zero gravity, he held onto one of the handle bars. Ahead of him was a mass of people, some responding to the Thargoid threat, the rest partying like there was no tomorrow. Of course, there would be no tomorrow if the station blew up to the Thargoids. Larry had to find a way to go across the swarm of people. He planted his feet on the wall, then launched himself into the air, sailing past the zero gravity party goers. Face planting on the other side, he fumbled the other air lock and stepped in the low gravity corridor. As he began to recover, he could hear the distinctive sound of a laser hitting shields.The laser fire continued to batter the outer shields for a few seconds before the ear piecing noise of a hull breach ringed in the corridor. The pathway behind him had split open! Desperately trying to find something to hold on, the explosive decompression carried him towards the large gap. He managed to hold onto a small window frame on the side of the corridor. But others weren't so lucky. People sailed past him, into the breach, and out into the space. The whooshing sound of the wind began to subside, as the air emptied out of the corridor. He couldn't hold on any longer...

A line brushed passed him. On the verge of passing out, he held onto the rope for dear life as it sailed up through the corridor, into the air lock. A tall humanoid lizard in a suit was waiting for him as he sailed into the air lock. It closed the door behind them. As the air lock began to slowly pressurise, Larry thought just how close he had been to death, before falling unconscious.

He woke up, surrounded by white. He was in the Lave station medical ward. He felt tired and dizzy, but otherwise he was fine. He had no idea what to do. A human nurse rushed to his side,
"Are you all right dear?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," was all Larry could manage.
"You're very lucky. A moment longer and you would have fallen to asphyxiation."
"Who...who saved me?"
"We don't know," the lady replied, "You we dropped off by a humanoid lizard. It didn't say anything."
Larry wanted to find this lizard. He wanted to thank him, or her. The nurse never mentioned the gender...
"Larry! Ohmergosh I've been soooooo worried about you!"
His girlfriend came rushing to him.
"Oh my god, are you Ok? You look terrible." She said.
The nurse left them. Laura wrapped her arms around her boyfriend.
Larry forced a smile, "I'm fine babe. How are you?"
Honestly it was the first time Laura had touched him in a few weeks. Recently she had been drifting away from him, towards some other rich asshole who's father was the president of some Feudal house or something. But whatever it was, it made the asshole rich.
"I've been worried sick! I heard all about the Thargoid attack! They just popped out of witchspace and began shooting at the station. Is your ship ok?" She asked.
Oh shit. Larry had totally forgot about his ship. It was almost certain that his ship had radioactive paint on it, and worse of all, he would have to admit that he didn't even fight and instead, had to be rescued by a lizard.
"Errr...yeah. It's fine."
"I'm sure you put up a good fight."
Larry was preparing to admit the truth when the girl suddenly began to look glum.
"Hey babe?" Laura had a look of disappointment on her face, "I'm not going to be here for a few months."
What??? What had happened out there in the Ooniverse (or what had happened between them) that made her want to go away for months?
"My dad is kinda...well he's kinda sick, and he lives all the way in Galaxy 7 so..."
The girl embraced him even more. A look of sympathy fell on his face.
"I sure he'll be fine.'
Larry didn't know him much, but from the few encounters he did have with him, he seemed like quite a nice man.
"So...when are you leaving?"
"Tomorrow. I need to find a way to the nearest Taxi Galactica though. My mum wants to hire a contractor."
Larry didn't have a choice. He had to offer his ship. But there was just one problem. He didn't really install a passenger berth...
But before he knew it, she had kissed and was out of the medical bay.

That night, in his apartment, he didn't sleep right. First of all, all the apartments on the station were either full, or had been destroyed in the attack, and the ride back down wasn't really nice either (those guys from Laeain are really messed up...) so he was stuck in temporary accommodation down on the main world. The room was small (it really was just a large room with extras), and you couldn't call it clean. Plus the people that organised it really didn't care about the fact that while it was early mourning on the station, while it was almost Twilight where he was. He guessed he could go out...head to the bar...but he knew no one in this part of the town. He decided to just sleep. He really had no idea what to do. But honestly, when had he ever? He had never met his parents, they died pretty quickly after he was born, so he had no one to look up to. His whole life he had been winging it. Until he met Laura, but he admitted that he still lived a pointless life. He had hoped that he would become a humble trader, grow old with Laura but that was going to be hard, both the trader and Laura part. His thoughts slowly drifted away, as he went to sleep.

"Are you sure it's him?"
"Yes." He said.
"Dispatch the lizard to girl to get him."
"Why?"
"She already knows him."
"How?"
"He is her Ghoster."



To be Continued...

[Paladin Tux]

Hey guys! Sorry for the long delay, but when you have to travel 3 hours a day just to get to school, then life gets really complicated!

Tail of the Lost Wonderworm Part 3

Larry slept through the night. He woke up the next day to find that Lave station had slightly recovered and was letting residents back on station. But he wasn't one of them. With the little credits he had, he went off into town, hoping to see if there was any affordable food for him to eat. Of course there was your usual LFT but it couldn't hurt to try planet side food. He stopped at a small restaurant. While it wasn't lavished, it was good enough for him. He sat down and began reading the menu.

"I have a visual on the target." She spoke into the radio.
"What is he doing?"
"Having breakfast."
"Go in and talk to him. Convince him to go with you."
"But he's in the middle of a cafe!"
"Drag him out if you need to! We need him! Just pretend you're one of those from the station."
The girl switched off her radio and walked into the cafe. Larry was playing around curiously with a brown drink he had. He was still wearing the same clothes as yesterday, a yellow shirt with brownish black trousers. His short blonde hair was a mess and she swore he hadn't showered for at least three days. The girl walked in and sat at his table.

Larry looked up. A humanoid lizard had sat at his table. While he did know that 'aliens' existed, he didn't know that there were any around Lave. He sat there, motionless, the coffee in his hands.
"Hello Larry."
The lizard had a feminine voice. She was tall (around 2 meters) and had skin which looked as if it had been cut of a lizard, and transplanted onto her.
"Ummmm.....hi?" Larry tried to stay calm and make sense out of what was happening.
"I remember you. From the station. I saw you being transported to the med bay."
"Really?" Larry laughed. He found it unbelievable a stranger would even bother to recognise his existence.
"I have a good memory." She retorted. This lizard girl was hiding something. There was something familiar about her. Wait...Yes! She was the lizard that had rescued him!
"Wait. You're him- I mean-" Larry fumbled for words. He couldn't believe himself.
"I'm who?" The lizard acted surprised. Larry was taken back at this.
"What? Wait, don't worry. I thought you were someone else..." Larry was flush with embarrassment. He knew it was her...
The lizard smiled, "I've done that before."
For the next half hour the two of them talked. Larry soon discovered her name was simply 'Is'tal'. Though she wouldn't go into her work she, spoke a lot about her personal life. Born on the northern continent of Glexin (G2) she was raised in a family of 8 kids. Her parents were traders, so she became quite competent at the art of being a spacer. When she was about twenty (equivalent to twelve for humans) she got lost onboard a station, which was orbiting an anarchy world. The three fates also decided that Galcop had run out of luck, and the station was over taken by rogue pirates. She was swept along with the chaos, pushed on a evac shuttle by the crowd. But the pilot couldn't get it out of the station before pirates boarded the ship. The pirates took them all hostage, killed some, made some of them slaves and all that stuff. But, instead of being forced to become a 'you know what' slave, she was actually taken on by the pirates as an adopted daughter. She lived in luxury, of course until Galcop reclaimed the station.
"So what happened then?" Larry asked.
"Well, I was 'found,-" She suddenly stopped talking. She pressed her hand to her ear.
"What was that again?" Larry suddenly became very confused.
"We need to get out here!"
"Why? What's happening?" Larry was rudely interrupted by Is'tal grabbing his hand and yanking him out of the door.
"Stop! Where are you taking me?"
"Be quiet! Don't make a scene of yourself."
Most of the people in the cafe were politely ignoring this. But of course there was that one person who either forgot, or didn't understand cafe etiquette. The authority in her voice made him immediately comply with her. She dragged him out of the cafe. It relatively quiet, being late morning. Then suddenly, a group of black hover cars pulled up in front of them. Black clad humanoids stepped out of the cars, rushing towards them.
"Get down on the ground! Now!"
Is'tal let go of Larry as he caught sight of the guns in the hand of the menacing looking people. He dropped to the ground faster than a Behemoth pass it's terminal velocity. Is'tal reached into her jacket and pulled out a 0.1 Mega watt Ingram Laser pistol. She fired at the nearest attacker, dropping him (or her) instantly. The others raised there guns. She shot another before they could fire back. She pulled out a small device in her hand as the first laser shot missed her head by a few centimetres. The device activated, covering her in a shield. Lasers bounced off the shield as fired at the attackers, every shot hitting. They didn't stand a chance. All Larry could do was lay on the ground and watch. Is'tal finished them all, before walking up to the car.
"Please! No!", Pleaded an avian voice.
Brains splattered over the inside of the windscreen. Is'tal walked back over to Larry, picked him up and began walking. All he could do was whimper as he was carried off.