Light peered through the wood panels, beaming across the shack, with a persistent glare. After a few minutes, Emmie rose, with grumbling, noticing the shack smelled as it did, without the vile tinge that once plagued it in the morning. She glanced over noticing Willy slumped over on his bunk, grumbling about one matter in incomprehensible grunts, and partial word statements. She smiled, walking out of the shack to the site of their more permanent stay, a structure Glasgow wrote up on the first day. They had constructed the kitchen and one bedroom, with 4 bedrooms in the corners, with hallways which serve as different utility rooms, so far the rooms consist of storage, production, a hospital, and a kitchen, with a common room in the middle. She walked to the kitchen, with the familiar cold air gushing through the door as she opened it, grabbed her morning meal and sat, reflecting upon her dreams, noticing the bird calls, periodically echoing through the forest. They eventually died off, after a short while, she was accompanied by Glasgow, sitting and talking about hunting. "So I saw some good sized deer while scouting the other day, that should keep us going for a while, or. At least it'll be an alternative to the berries". Glasgow said with a hint of a smile, "Yeah, we also have those potatoes that should be good for harvest here soon" replied Emmie, pondering across the half-finished kitchen. "We should also consider building a freezer to keep food stored" Glasgow said, pondering for a moment before adding: "I'll get Willy on that, now that he doesn't vomit everything he eats" Emmie replied with a chuckle, "which reminds me, when is he goin-" Glasgow's question was interrupted by the sound of a panicked native British yelling frantickly, "Oi, ye bloody get out here, we got company" yelled Willy, Emmie, and Glasgow rushed through the door drawing their weapons, only to be meeted with a flash in the sky, as a large fiery object crashed into the surface, the sound booming across hills, birds scattered as a flurry of bushlife scrambled away from the foreign object. "Oh bloody hell" as Willy rushed over to the scene, following Glasgow, to be met by the site of decimated trees, obliterated brush, and an unconscious voyager, sagging out of what was an escape pod, Glasgow quickly ran over, tending to the most immediate wounds, him and Willy carried the unconscious voyager to what was Emmys bunk, Glasgow ushered Willy and Emmie out, with Emmie's belongings, after the quick flurry of applying medicine from the original crash, time passed, in that time Emmie moved her belongings with the aid of Willy to her new, more spacious room. "Hope the lad's alright, I mean, even we didn't have that bad of a landing," Willy said, sitting at the dinner table adjoined to the kitchen. Emmie glanced up from a journal she was writing and responded: "Yeah, I mean he seemed real roughed up when you guys were moving him". Emmie responded, returning to her journal. "Yeah" he said, pausing for a moment before adding "You know, I never got to ask ya, where did ya come from, I mean where were ya raised" a silence hung over for a short while, before Emmie responded: "I was one of the first generation children, you know, the ones that were born outside the solar system, on RW1027, doctors said I was a miracle child, that with the medicine at the time, it seemed me being born wouldn't have been likely" she paused, reminiscing the stories her parents told her when she was older, she added: "they raised me in a colony like this, of course, lot less green and a whole lot more sand, and crabs." she smiled, remembering the nickname for her homeworld: "crabland" she said in a whisper. "Well what about you?" she said, shaking off the nostalgia. "Well I tell ya, I was born in the British Isles, down south, so many bloody people, we left when I was around me fifteenth birthday. We stayed on Saturn for a while, I met me best bud Alma, real good chap, bit odd, but liked him the same." he said, with a sad note in his voice, "What happened to you guys?" Emmie asked, noting the sigh Willy produced, "Well ya see, I got transported apart of an exploration force when I was in me twenties, he left to a colony in need of farmers. I mean he wrote holo-letters, this place, he named Stardew Valley, he owned a farm there, and he got along with the people alright". "Anyways" shaking off the remaining reminiscence of his lifelong friend. "I got transported on the same ship as ye", "That's right" Emmie replied, "I remember you were cussing up and down the upper deck, trying to find your quarters", "a bloody map would've been nice" Willy responded in a grumble, "the culinary team on the ship couldn't stop talking about ya, always something new every week" she said with a hint of a smile. "Never really got a good look at you until we got out of those pods." "eh, I wasn't a people person, still ain't", at that moment, Glasgow entered through the door, blood smeared over his hands, "Well he's stable, but in a rough state, he had lacerations across his arms and legs, broken tibia, a wound from what I could guess was a arrow through his kneecap reopened, and a few joints ripped". Glasgow said, with a sigh from exhaustion, from the constant care and focus on the newcomer. "Nothing life-threatening thankfully, but he will be out for a few hours, from shock". Willy asked, "do ya think the lad will be alright when he wakes up?", Glasgow responded "yes, the wounds we-", "Nah, Nah, not that lad" Willy interrupted, and added: "I mean will he be wanting to throw fists once the lad gets up?" Willy said, instinctively glancing over to the door. Glasgow remained silent for a few moments before responded: "well, we could always have someone guard over him, til he wakes". Willy nodded, seeing the reason behind it, Willy walked out of the kitchen. Glasgow glanced at the door as it shut, "I think he's hiding something" said Glasgow, jerking his head in the direction of the door. Emmie's normal warm composure faded into a concerned frown, "What makes you think that?", "Well, I saw him last night talking to someone, I think it might be someone from another tribe, or a spacecraft, or something, I couldn't make out words, but he read something aloud, to someone or something", Glasgow said, scratching the back of his head, with the same uncomfortableness as Emmie, his heart beating, knowing his words could lead to the death of Willy. After a short time of silence, Emmie responded with: "do you have any evidence?", Glasgow shifted his eyes to hers and responded with: "he was reading off of a paper, but Emmie" he said with emphasis, "we gotta do something about this, if he's in tabs with another tribe, or even rescue, and he's abandoning ship on us" Glasgow finished, with a heavyweight in the atmosphere between the two of them, silence held for a long time, hours seemed to pass in the moment, Emmie averted her eyes, sighing deeply. "Where does he keep this paper?" Emmie asked, returning her gaze from the table to Glasgow, "Well I guess he keeps it on his desk, he writes on it sometimes, but keeps it closeby", time passed after their meeting, a considerable weight, held in the air, as Willy scouted the local game, Emmie slipped into the space, while the newcomer was still under, moving quickly and precisely to avoid the numerous amounts of materials stacked on the floor, she saw the paper, with what only appeared to be half written out, she swiped it, quickly rushing out of the room. More time passed, eventually the three colonists reconvened for dinner, the three, sitting at the dinner table, silent besides the otherwise normal sounds of eating. Willy glanced up at the other two, noticing a thin silence, "bloody hell, you're making the crickets out there sound like a bloody orchestra" his retort only met with more silence and stares. Willy who just finished eating, stepped up, and left the room, grumbling in his wake. He walked outside, grumbling at the poor evening he has had, he lost the paper when he went in to make his bed earlier, hoping he can rehearse the lines written. He walked out into the woods, the two suns on the brim of the sky, casting different oranges and velvets, he stepped over tangled masses of brush and roots, grumbling as he already noticed a hive of foxtails forming on his synthread socks, he passed through more trees, until finally reaching the pond, he sat on the same log as the previous evening, unbeknownst to him, unfriendly eyes watched from the path he took, the same eyes casted to the paper, which hasn't been read since she swiped the paper from Willies desk, Willy cleared his throat, glancing at his reflection on the ponds surface, noticing the ripples caused by the breeze. "Alright, I bloody better get going" Willy said, talking to himself, Emmie unrolled the paper, reading the paper as Willy rehearsed it: "Eh, so, I'm not much of a Shakespeare so bear with me, but eh, I don't know, where to begin, but I'll say this, I fancy ya, I saw ya on the deck, around the time I was lookin for my dorm on the ship, you could say it was like eh, what they call love at first site, I never felt anything like this, I mean I'm too much of a coward to say it to ya, I guess when we got talkin, ya know, I guess I realized I could ah, you know, love someone, I get if ya don't want a bloke like meself, but if ya fancy this and fancy me, ah I don't know, maybe give it a shot?" Willy ended, as the page ended with only empty line paper left. Willy stared at his reflection until the remainder of the second sun vanished from the sky, he got up, brushing off his pants, walking down the trail. Emmie sat there, next to a raspberry bush and a half petrified tree from a fire. Rereading the paper and gathering what she saw, a few tears appearing in her eyes, as the sound of Willies whistling vanished, she stood up, walking down the same trail, she paused a few moments, recollecting herself as she knew she was going to have to create an alibi for Willy and Glasgow. She went off trail, flanking to the left of the trail, gliding across trees through the uncertain light, she reached the clearing, on the far side of the unfinished structure, she ducked into her room, hiding the paper in the bottom shelf of her dresser. As she shut the dresser door, she could hear shouting, coming from the kitchen door, she rushed out, equipping her rifle on her back, in case it was a raid. She reached the kitchen, Willy and Glasgow, facing each other, shouting at each other: "I bloody tell ya, it was none of your bloody business what I was doin out there" Willy said, with a threatening tone, his feet spread wide, shifting his weight ready for any sign of aggression: "then why did you go out all alone, maybe to call someone? Maybe to leave us?" Glasgow said with a mocking tone: "TO GO WHERE?" Willy yelled, gritting his teeth: "Oh I don't know, maybe to talk to your shipmates, and get you off this GODFORSAKEN WORLD" Glasgow shouted the last few words, Emmie, quickly stepped in between of them, "Listen guys calm down, alright?", Willy glanced at her, easing his tone but not giving ground, "Listen, Emmie, I like ya, and I don't want ya to get hurt, this is between me and that wanker over there", "Oh you're callin me the wanker are you, well I'll tell you something, at least I wouldn't leave my friend behind", "Oh so that's what this is bloody all about is it?" Willy said with a deceptively calm tone, Emmie, beginning to turn angry, only saw one solution to this fight, she glanced at both of them, balling her hand in a fist, Willy about to exclaim another retort, only saw black and blue, he slumped over and crashed onto the wood floor, with only garbled sounds remained before silence, Glasgow, reared forward at the unexpected action, "Nice work Emmie, lets tie him u-" Glasgow was cutoff by Emmies shout "AND YOUR NOT GETTING OFF THE HOOK EITHER" Glasgow quickly reared back, seeing the seathing anger in all lines of Emmie, not wanting to antogonize further but was genuinely confused to the retort, Emmie calmed herself and said in a restrained tone: "What happened, was a misunderstanding" she produced the letter, sliding it across the table to Glasgow, he picked it up and began reading, "he wasn't talking to no one but himself, it was a love letter, to me…." Glasgow, read through the first stanzas, realization dawned over him, as the quick stab of guilt flooded him, Willy twitched on the floor, a film of red forming on his upper lip. "Emmie listen, its a misunderstanding" Glasgow said with pleading eyes, a dull silence filled the room, she glanced at the now unconscious native brit, "help me move him to his bed" Glasgow nodded, swiping extra gauzes from his pocket, placing it over his nose and upper lip as they moved the unconscious figure to the shack, placing him on his bed. "In the morning I'll explain what happened to him, in the meantime keep an eye on our friend" she jerked her thumb at the newcomer, who changed posture on the bed since the last checkup the hour prior. Glasgow nodded, retreating to his patient, Emmie left the room, she retired to her room, she sat on her bed and stared at the wall for a short while, before she was whisked away to the corridors of sleep.

Chapter 4- A Fine Line will be out next week...


Authors Notes

2001 Light Years From Home is based on the events occurring in Rimworld

Content/Character Ideas and Suggestions are Open

Special Thanks to My Voluntary Editors Tommy and Nubbs


About the Author

Hi my name is Geoff, I'm writing this to give you guys an insight on me, I started rim world a few weeks back, and have roughly 60+ hours logged into it

I'm a big sci-fi fan, and love reading and watching sci-fi shows and books, I also enjoy survival games and shows, I fell in love with Rimworld and decided I had enough experience and knowledge to put together a story, as for how long 2001 Light years will be, I'm uncertain, I'm always looking for more content and character ideas, pm me if you have any suggestions. Also I'm a huge classic rock band (shoutout to the Rolling Stones, and Blue Oyster Cult).

Thanks