Chapter 1- Just another cat video
A/N- Hi all, this is my new SI story, at the time I release this I aim to have at least six chapters finished so you can expect regular updates for at least 2 months. I really tried to add my own spark and slant to this slightly overused trope so I hope that you enjoy. Last thing, Please, please, please review as I really want to know how I can improve. On a far more interesting note, on with the story
(This is me about 16 years ago, back before my life was irrevocably screwed by something that most people would assume would be a blast. I'm a 15 something year old, with nothing special in the looks department, I've got scruffy brown hair that's probably a little too long and golden hazel eyes; I am also graced with one of those faces that would blend in anywhere which means that I pretty much do. Anyway, I digress)
'Hey Michael, come look at this!' shouted Jess, one of my better friends. She had this really annoying habit of just yelling things in my general vicinity, rather than coming over to me to talk. 'Jess, I swear to god if this is another cat video then I am going to throw your phone out the window!' I shout back. Jess feigned hurt, 'But you love them! And they're soo cute!' I simply respond with a withering glare I reserve for her in these situations 'Yes but there are only so many times that you can find videos of cats getting scared of things of kittens getting into teapots before you get bored'. 'Okay fine, I promise it's not, it's something waaay cooler'.
'Fine! What is it?' I ask as I walk over to her desk, directing my attention to her phone as I do, 'It's another one of those videos that I found on YouTube, this one is completely real, I promise, there's no way it can be faked.' I don't even look at her phone for 10 seconds before stating 'Yup, fake', and walking off. There had been videos appearing on the web for the last few days about these supposed 'cracks' appearing in the fabric of the world, I personally think that they're just a really talented photo shopper/ video editor screwing with the world and my more gullible female friends I wryly think to myself. 'These have been going on for so long now and in so many different places' argued Jess 'If this wasn't real then why is the government shutting down random alleys for no reason? Huh?'
'I have no idea, but just about any reason is more plausible than that' I reply just as our chemistry teacher, Mr Jones, walks in and starts the lesson. An hour later Jess is once again in my ear about the damn 'conspiracy nut porn' videos as I had come to call them as we walk out of class towards the gates, at this point, I'll take the damn cat videos. 'Jess' I cut her off mid-sentence 'You can tell me more about them tomorrow' If I don't kill myself before then I thought mirthlessly 'If I don't get home soon then I'm gonna WISH that I got swallowed up by a hole considering how my mum will kill my ass' . She let out a short laugh before saying that she'll see me tomorrow and starting to walk home herself. I begin my relatively short walk home to our relatively large house on the outskirts of the town I live in. As I make my way home I decide to cut through an alley, semi-worst decision of my life. As I get about three quarters of the way through the alley, the ground beneath my feet suddenly ruptures into a wide gulf filled with bright white light. 'Fucking cat videos' is the last, extremely irrational thought that goes through my mind before I black out.
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(This was the point at which my normally, um normal? Life goes completely down the drain)
I bolt upright as I wake, panting heavily with my eyes frantically searching around what appeared to be….my bedroom? It looked similar to mine at least, there were the same colours on the walls and posters that were in the same places but instead of Star Wars they were for... a new Blasto film? What the feck is going on? I jump up out of the bed that I'm in, grab some jeans and a hoodie from a chest of drawers that were standing against the wall, vaguely recognising them. I decide to walk downstairs only to see my mum standing there in the kitchen, casually cooking what I supposed to be breakfast, seemingly not noticing the apparent lack of being in the right universe! 'Mum?' I manage to choke out, she turns to me 'Hey Michael, sleep well? There's some food on the table if you want it.'
'Okay, erm, thanks mum' I grab a pain au chocolate of the plate' I'm gonna go out for a bit, take a look around?' at this point I am completely baffled because as I turn to leave my mum calls out 'don't forget your Omni tool okay, I want to be able to call you if I need you.' Okay I seriously feel like I took something and am now in a drug induced coma in an alley; because there is absolutely no way that I am in Mass Effect. 'Yeah, you know, orange thing that goes round your wrist so you can talk to people….' Oh mother how I love your sarcasm, 'Ha ha ha, I love your use of sarcasm mum, but yeah I know what the 'orangey flashy thing is'. On another note, I am definitely at best in a Mass Effect related drug induced dream in an alleyway; at worst I am in an alternate universe with my entire family who have spontaneously lost all memory of their other lives. I grab the device and take it outside with me as I leave. I can't even compute the fact that I am holding a real life, working Omni-tool that my mother seemed completely blasé about!
As I walked outside it didn't escape me that I seemed to be standing in a colony world straight out of mass effect. The people in the colony seemed to be clothed in a style that represented both the type of clothes around when I was born and straight out of the games. I started wandering around in awe and fiddling with the Omni tool as I did, it was a savant I, so a pretty nice version. I couldn't help but admire the scenery, the planet was clearly a lovely temperate world as there was some king of alien grass growing in patches all over the area I stood in with the systems star shining brightly above. The brighter natural colours contrasted massively with the dull steel grey of all of the colony units; despite their being shiny and new they seemed to stand out like a sore thumb compared to the natural beauty of the world. There were humans wandering around everywhere but a distinct lack of any aliens. I assumed that due to how new the colony was that there weren't any reasons for aliens to visit yet. I was still trying to come to terms with the fact that I was on an alien world, despite the large planet in the sky almost mockingly pointing it out to me as wandered through a market that had people selling all kinds of supplies; from food and drink to clothes and gadgets like Omni tools. Speaking of which, I was beginning to get the hang of mine, the way in worked was surprisingly similar to a smart phone with apps and other icons on a main screen. I assumed that this was only a civilian version and that military ones would be far more complicated. Suddenly I looked to the corner of the haptic interface .I stopped when I saw the year- 2170.
'Shit!' I start to frantically looking around at the nearby hab units, desperately hoping that I wouldn't find what I was looking for, my mind was, despite rarely playing mass effect one, churning as pieces of the puzzle began to fall into place. As I turned the corner around one of the 'buildings' I caught sight of its label, exactly what I was looking for.
Colony Prefab unit #1549#
Attican Traverse Colonisation
Colony: MINDOIR
MINDOIR- that name filled me with complete dread as I remembered with sudden clarity the colonist background for Commander Shepard; my first thought is of my family (I assumed that all my family were here, not just my mum) , other than my mum I have to sisters called Emily and Hermione and my dad. He wasn't always around a lot at home as he was in the 22nd EOD, I smiled to myself- no matter what universe my dad was in, he would always be a soldier. My sisters were both younger than me, Em was 12 and Hermione 6, they were both blonde and had blue eyes, my dad was particularly proud of them, ripping my mum for having 'weak genes', I love them both a lot and the thought of something happening to them is just unbearable to me . I turn and begin to run back to our hab unit, thankful that I had worked out how to use the navigation function on my Omni-tool, just as the first rounds ploughed into the earth. The Ground seemed to erupt around me with people and buildings disappearing into clouds of dust, debris and human. I looked up to see what seemed to be about a hundred shooting stars but knew that they were all either slaver ships or fragments of destroyed alliance vessels. I was just about to turn the corner onto my hab's 'street' when I suddenly was gifted with a close up of the side of a building as I was unceremoniously thrown face first into it. Screams filled the air as I passed out.
A/N- Well that the first chapter done. Hope you all liked it; please review as I would really like some feedback on this story. The next chapter will probably be out next Friday as that is when I have the most time to write. See you next time.