Email - tearz@geeklife.com
Disclaimer: Animorphs doesn't belong to me, it belongs to the ghost writer minions of KA Applegate.
Author's Note: This is a rather dark fic, so don't read it with the lights off! ;) Oh, and the more reviews/feedback I get, the sooner the second chapter it written!
Note: All new words a linked to a glossary at the bottom of the page. Click on a linked word to find out it's meaning.
I wander over to the D-en, glancing out the window as I do. An endless row of reflective rooftops greet me. Apparently all this area was once a forest or something, farms and stuff, but now it's just one huge housing estate. Which is better off now. Who'd want to live around all those trees and, what did the oldies say they'd called them? Oh yeah, raccoons and wolves and the like. I sigh again for the second time that morning and turn back to the D-en, all shiny black plastic and swish buttons. I pause for a bit, thinking. Now, what do I want for breakfast? Tapping one of the numerous buttons I pull up a menu. Hmmm, cereal? Nope. Toast? Nope. What about something with eggs? Poached? Boiled? Scrambled? Yeah, that'll do. I punch a few more buttons, and after a short whine a plate of deliciously scrambled eggs appear, complete with vegemite soldiers. Just the way I like it. Smiling to myself, I grab the still warm plate and sit down at the table on the other side of Mum, away from It, er, my sister. Mum's halfway through her breakfast. As I sit down and begin to eat she turns to me and says in a quiet voice.
Lise is waiting for me. I trot up slowly, out of breath and exhausted. She smiles as I approach.
We sit in companionable silence for a while. The only sounds are the hums of the Security fields on some of the houses, and a few stray BMpets. Biomechanical. All the fun of a real fur but without the feeding, cleaning, dying and other messy facts of life. Never could stand those things either.
The remains of the city rolled past the tinted bus windows. Abandoned buildings, derelict and dark, lined the sparse streets. Only the heart of the city was kept alive now. The rest was left to the Vagues. Homeless people, most of them wildly schizophrenic. About 20 years ago a whole bunch of people went crazy, just like that. There's a whole lot of theories, some say it was a chemical warfare test, others claim that it was too much preservatives in the food, that's how come D-ens are so popular now. All the freaks say that it was some huge interstellar war with aliens and everything. Yeah right! Anyways, no matter how is happened, there's now a whole heap of crazies running around all over the outskirts of the city. There's too many to help, and they refuse any aid that's offered. Paranoid, really. So those that are sane just sit back behind out Sec fields, with out D-ens and our BMpets and watch. Or, you could do what my Dad did just before I was born, and go run away to IST. The International Space Station, somewhere up there in orbit. I bet everyone looks out of those port windows and laughs at up poor earthies. Good for them I say. At least I know what the sun looks like without the help of Solglases.
A sharp elbow pokes me in the side. I blink a little and turn to face the person sitting next to me. Tell me again how I ended up next to Billy? I sigh and turn around just in time to catch a sympathetic look from Lise. She ended up sitting next to the teacher. I don't know who's pitying who. This thing with Billy is going to far. I might have to get around to punching him one of these days. But that wouldn't be good. These days any signs of extreme emotion and you end up with counseling for a month.
Another sigh, must be a record today, and my gaze returns to the unknown world passing by my window, like a pic on the Vox. Building. Building. Building. Burnt down building. Building. Building. Even greyer building. The images kept whizzing past. Then a sudden splash of colour caught my gaze. Something lighter, and... moving. It was a man. He was tall, about 30 something, and had light brown hair, that was what had caught my eye. It was long, falling in matted locks down his back, as did his unkempt beard. He was dressed in shabby clothes, dirty and torn, a long black overcoat was all I could see, the ratted hem ending just above his bare feet, which were also black. Despite his obvious height he was stooped over, like he wanted to hide, or crawl into himself. Or that he had the world resting on his shoulders. I watched him with interest, I'd never before seen a...
Everyone calmed down and returned to their seats under the stern gaze of the teacher. The pair behind me began a conversation about the Vox shows last night. Like everything was normal. Nothing had happened. But those eyes... How could anyone standing like that in a street at day feel so... so lost?
The bus rolled past steadily. There were many faces at the window. Little faces. Children's faces. Probably on their way to school, the remaining parts of my brain informed. Ah, school. There was a though. Remember school? Books and lessons and bells and homework and teachers and projects and friends... Stop. Stop it right there. No further. No. No. No way. Just focus on the present. Right, the bus. Long, with wheels, steering wheel, seats. Seats in two's. Remember bus rides? Sitting there, talking to the person next to you? Your friend...?
The sullen figure watched the bus until it turned the corner, out of sight. He continued to shuffle along at a steady pace, never ceasing. After a few silent moments he blinked slowly a handful of times. A casual observer, if there had been any, would have heard him mutter under his breath. "Remember friends, Jake?"
The Last Outpost Animorphs Fanfiction Archive - http://www.lastoutpost.f2s.com
I bounded down the stairs and into the kitchen, greeted by the enticing smells of the D-en. Mum and Kally were already there, waiting for me. The D-en whined again before producing another perfect plate of maple syrup and pancakes. They both looked up as I entered, Mum greeting me with a patient smile, and my little sis Kally with a scowl. She reached into the D-en's alcove and removed her breakfast, then went and sat beside Mum at the table. I sighed.
"Alright, so I'm late again. I'm sorry, okay?" I said, exasperated. Surely being the last one ready in the morning every time wasn't that bad...
Mum just gave me another patient smile. Kally looked up from her meal and sneered at me.
"Honestly, Jhana, you are so pathetic, I mean, honestly anyone could get ready on time but you, it's..." she whined. She said a lot more after that, but I just tuned her out. Sometimes I wonder how my sister and I are even related. I'm quiet and shy and all that, and she's so... Kally.
I tried to think of some witty reply to shut her up, but it's too early in the morning, so I just ignore her.
"Aren't you going on that excursion of yours today, dear?"
I freeze. Oh frit! I do!
My chair protests loudly as I push it back, rising to my feet instantly and breaking into a run towards the front door. "Bye Mum!" I manage to yell through a mouthful of egg. I grab my bag by the door and bolt out and down the road towards the bus stop.
"Hey Jhana, running late again?" she mocks playfully.
I grin and give her an evil look, then stagger over to an old log, a remnant of the old days, and take a seat. Lise sits beside me, waiting for me to catch my breath. It takes a while. The worst thing about living all the way out here is... that you're all the way out here. There's not many buses, despite the number of people who live out here, because the roads are so few. Sometimes I wonder what made people years ago live out here, with all the grass and trees and furry things, maybe they were just insane. But then that's not unusual. Mum says that when she was my age she knew someone who lived out here, a friend of a friend. She helped her parents look after sick animals and stuff. Apparently she enjoyed it to. Can't remember what Mum said her name was... Oh well. She was definitely insane.
My thoughts are suddenly shattered.
"Heya Chapman!"
I sigh. Again. Well this is just the perfect day, isn't it?
Billy walks up behind us from between two houses. Their sensor alarms start baying loudly, and through all the clamor he just grins. He ambles over, collecting rocks as he goes and chucking them at the houses with Sec Fields. They spark furiously, sending off a shower of electric blue sparks. Moron. I wish the other houses, now whining stupidly, had Sec fields instead of those stupid alarms, that would wipe the smile of his face. Everyone, meet Billy McCormic, idiot extraordinaire and general all round annoying git. He walks up directly behind us, and kicks the log Lise and I are sitting on. She throws me a look, saying 'Ignore it and it'll go away...'. But I can't. He's trying so hard to annoy me though. Most of all; my name. He used my mother's maiden name, just to prove that his parents knew her before she was married, and that Billy and I have known each other since we were babies. Worse luck. I chuck him a steely glance and remain silent, as does Lise. We sit that way for a few long minutes, while he wanders around, kicking things, throwing rocks and humming very out of key. Only the very dedicated and the very dumb are that persistent. Then, a silver grey streamlined shape silently glides into view. Our bus is here. Thank Omn.
"Vague!" Billy hollered, right into my ear. "Heya everyone look! It'sa Vague!" The entire human contents of the bus clamored over to look out the left hand windows. The man continued to shuffle slowly along, completely unawares. All the others started banging on the glass and jearing at him, even though bus windows are claimed to be soundproofed. My eyes followed him in silence though. He seems so... lost. So alone. I couldn't help but let my sympathies go out to him. Just then Billy leaned across me and started pounding on the glass. I sneered at him, but he didn't care. The man was almost behind us now. I looked at him one last time... and his eyes met mine. Deep blue orbs, they shined slightly the dim light of the street, but emitted no light of their own. Instead they seemed to draw in light, like twin black holes, and not reflect it. Like the was... to use the old saying, like there was no one home. Or if he was he didn't want to be. His gaze was intense, but at the same time lifeless. I couldn't look away. So sad, so hopeless. Just dark and space and... nothingness. I felt my heart sink in my chest, lower and lower and... The bus turned a corner. The man was gone.
Glossary - Written in the world of the fic. My notes are in brackets.
D-en: Shortened for 'dispenser'. A food dispenser that produces any type of requested food or beverage on demand. (Working on a similar but less advanced concept of the replicators in Star Trek.) Go back.
Vegemite: An Australian spread for toast and sandwiches. (And stuff, real beaut stuff too.) Go back.
Soldiers: A British invention. A slice of toast cut up into strips that look like the guards outside the royal palace. (An Aussie invention; to cover them with vegemite, hence, vegemite soldiers!.) Go back.
Frit: Minor level swear word. (Equivalent to crap.) Go back.
BMpets: Biomechanical cats and dogs, and a few other domestic animals.Developed when living pets became unfashionable. (Along the lines of the current Aibo dog in Japan, but more realistic.) Go back.
Sec fields: Short for 'Security fields'. A small, low power force fields used locally, such as around a house. Powerful enough to seriously burn anyone who tries to enter. Go back.
Omn: Short for 'Omnipotent being'. A term used now that most of religion has been deemed irrelevant. Meant to refer to any and/or all omnipotent beings (i.e god/ess) that may or may not have an influence on how the world works. Commonly just substituted for the word 'god' with the introduction of the Anti-Discrimination laws of 2004. Go back.
Vagues: Short for 'Vagrants' and also referring to the mental state of the same. The large number of people, almost 1/5 of the population, who for the last 20 years have wandered the street, homeless and mostly insane. No-one knows why this happened, although some report of the Vagues claiming of alien wars and slugs and other bizarre things. These are, naturally, disregarded. Go back.
IST: Abbrev. International Space Station. A huge station in orbit around the earth where 5% of the human population now lives, mainly the scientists and academics. Go back.
Solglases: Glases with special tinted lenses to protect the eyes from the dangerous rays of the sun when there's no atmosphere. (Sol is another name for the sun. You figure it out!) Go back.
Vox: Short for 'Video box'. An entertainment device that shows recorded and live displays in three dimensions. (It's just 3D tv, people.) Go back.