You are Sam McManus, son of Jarred McManus, the miner, son of Caleb McManus, also the miner, son of Cain McManus, who had come all the way from planet Earth on the Argo to come and settle on the Koprullu Sector planet of Moria. Cain wasn't a miner; he was a criminal responsible for thefts upwards of ten million dollars, but the family never talked about that. You were a mining family and nothing else, as far as Pop is concerned.

As you might expect, you're a miner too. in fact, you're on the way to work right now, headed for second shift in the mines of Mt. Tracy. Your father and your two older brothers won't be joining you yet. They get to work through the night on third shift. Their pay is much better, but since you're only barely seventeen, you don't get to spend the night blasting in caves for the gold and the minerals. You get to shovel rocks and rubble into the sorter so that the gold can be removed from the plain ol' rocks. Yippee.

I grinned. This was a great way to start the story. Granted, it would be nice if I had an actual title for what I was writing, but what are you going to do? I figure I'll write up the rest of the story and decide what I want to name it later. After all, writing a "choose your own adventure" story is bound to take a while. There's plenty of time to name it something. No need to rush.

"Aldaaarissss!" I yelled. "I'm boooooored agaaaaaain!"

Nothing. Well, you can't really expect a coincidence like that to happen terribly often.

I contentedly typed away at the computer in my living room. It'd been a while since anything interesting happened with our resident alien. So I work at a bookstore, and haven't done much outside of work besides go swimming in the pool. Some journal, huh? There was that time when a neighbor of mine had their apartment burn down, but I was at a coffeeshop at the time and missed most of the excitement. Other than that, I made friends with a half-stray named Smoky. Not exactly riveting stuff. Smoky is pretty cute, though. The neighbor said that if I put cat food out, she'll kill the mice that've been in the neighborhood lately.

And thus for the sake of my journal, I was pretty happy when I heard the distinctive voice of Aldaris. Well, sort of. Charlie wasn't in the best of moods.

"What are you doing?" Aldaris' voice, rather impatient, sounded in my head.

"I'm just writing a Starcraft fanfiction." I replied, chirpy as ever. For some reason doing something Aldaris disapproves of is just hilarious to me. "It's a choose your own adventure thing, and I figure if I can write it up pretty well, Blizzard will actually publish it."

Aldaris didn't actually say anything, but he hadn't left; I could still sense his contempt in my head for several seconds of silence. And I'm pretty sure he could sense how amused I was. That made me even more amused.

"And you sincerely believe that this is a profitable course of action?" he finally said.

"Well, not really. Blizzard will probably just send me a rejection letter for legal reasons. But I want to try anyway."

I went ahead and shut down my computer. I'm not willing to risk being teleported with it on and then something bad happening to the hard drive. Then again, if dragoons can recall in Starcraft despite living inside computerized machines, Aldaris' teleporter probably wouldn't hurt it. Probably. It's human technology, not 'Toss, so there might be a difference.

"If it does get published," I continued. "It'll be pretty sweet, but even if it doesn't, I can just post it online and hopefully people will like it. Don't worry, you're not in it."

"Because I am 'dead', I suppose."

"Well...yeah. That, and with you turning out to real and non-historical I don't have the right to use your identity. That's in 's rules." I grabbed my Brood War disc. "If you show up down here, you could sue me or something."

"Bethany," Aldaris' voice darkened. "I believe we have had this discussion before."

"Yeah, yeah, you're not coming down. I don't mean to pressure you or anything, I'm just saying. Anyway, are you ready to finish off Starcraft?"

"More than ready. Less than half of it remains, yes?"

"Yep. Just the final Terran and Zerg missions of Brood War."

"Good. Are you prepared for transport?"

"Uh...I think so."

Sometimes I wonder about the Protoss recall in actual battle. It must be annoying to travel by glowy blue clouds when you're trying to sneak away from an enemy. They're handy, but so terribly obvious to anyone outside. Thankfully I'm in my house which is also surrounded by trees, but in a fight it must be pretty annoying. Probably more than once it's given away the Templars' position.

Of course, if they're leaving then it doesn't always matter where they...what the heck?

Instead of being transported onto a ship, I found myself on the back patio behind someone's house. Someone's nice house, at that. A patio of concrete squares covered about thirty or so square feet in the back, forming a sort of porch for all the wicker furniture there: two loveseats, a chair and a lounge. It was indeed wicker-looking, but not at all cheap. The homey wooden structures were a nice dark brown, topped off with light green cushions and the occasional black and white floral pillow. Seriously, it was a scene straight out of a catalog, other than some of the grass that stuck out between some of the concrete tiles.

The house was nice too. It was a two story building, from the looks of it. A set of glass double doors led into the kitchen; I could see a sink full of dirty dishes. The aggregate walls were a nice shade of white, almost perfect to serve as a projection screen. The tiny little crinkles in it probably wouldn't have much affect on how the projection looked. Yeah, the projector was there, set up on a needlessly fancy wicker table with a glass top. How rich was the person who lived here?

Behind me, two more bits of blue glow appeared and dissolved. One of them was a large chair, and the other was the Protoss who intended to sit in it. I immediately folded my arms, staring directly up into Aldaris' face.

"What did you do?"

"Nothing," Aldaris replied lightly, a little smug amusment in his eyes. "Do you not find this environment more comfortable than a storage chamber? I thought that perhaps you would be grateful for a change of scenery."

"Just tell me what you did. Who lives in this house?"

"Someone surnamed Kensley." a calm Aldaris merrily ignored the human below as he set himself in his chair. The jerk. "He was called out of town for a family emergency."

My eyes widened in horror. Aldaris rolled his eyes.

"An emergency I did not cause," he added. "Surely I would avoid interfering with the lives of any of your people, if only to hide my existence."

"Oookay..." I looked back at the house. "Who else lives here? That's kind of a big house for someone who lives by himself."

"The man does indeed live in solitude, from what I was able to confirm. He spoke with his neighbor of a wife who has apparently passed away some time in the previous year." As if appearing from nowhere, a brown dog suddenly hopped up on Aldaris' lap, and the Protoss didn't shove it off. Instead, he petted the thing as if it were his own. "Perhaps Kensley desires to remain here even without her."

"If you say so." The dog was kinda cute for a dog, so I went up to pet it too. "He doesn't have any neighbors headed this direction to check on the house, does he?"

"I believe so, but this person will not be a concern. No mind greater than a small animal can come nearby without my noticing it."

I reached out for the dog to scratch behind his ears, and all of a sudden the innocent looking lapdog snarled, and if Aldaris hadn't been holding it back, it might have done some serious damage to my hand. No thanks, dog! I've got my ears pierced - that's all the piercings I need!

"Inneen, Raasha, inneen! Maksaleen." Aldaris patted the dog on the head. "Bethany, this breed of animal is extremely aggressive. Its kind is unaccepting of those it does not find familiar."

I blinked. "What did you to do that dog?"

"Nothing," Aldaris replied as he scratched its shoulders. "It likes me."

"Yeah, right. You did something to that dog's brain, didn't you?"

"Why do you make such an assumption?" Aldaris didn't have to have a mouth to make a wry smile, but he would if he could, I just knew it. "Is it so difficult to believe that I am good with animals?"

I stared at him in complete disbelief. He was way too amused for someone telling the truth. "Yes it is. In fact, I am detecting extreme amounts of bullcrappery from your general direction."

"Good for you." Aldaris continued to pet the dog. "Now go and set up your computer. It is my desire to see this Brood War though, and I tire of your accusations."

"My accusations that are completely true."

"Why, Bethany, it is offensive how little you think of me."

"Another lie. You don't care at all what I think about you."

"Very well, I am caught; your opinion does not concern me in the slightest. Now go set up your computer, for I know how it amuses you to torment me with this game of yours."

"For once you tell the truth," I chuckled, walking off to the projector. "I guess I got to see it through, then."

It never takes me long to set things up. The model projector Aldaris has is a pretty good one, easy to work with, and it was already plugged into an outlet outside the stranger's house. I felt bad, though. The projector, as well as all that random stuff that got beamed up on Charlie's ship, had to have come from somewhere. I just hoped that he didn't take anything important from someone that's poor. I made the mistake of looking back at Charlie as I thought of this.

"Bethany," growled the massive Protoss sitting behind me. "I thought I told you not to ascribe to me that human name."

"I didn't say it. I was just thinking about it."

"There is little difference," he retorted. "Would you enjoy it if I replaced your name?"

"Are you kidding me? I'd love a Protoss name! That would be so cute! I..."

I turned back in the hopes he might do as he said, and that was again a mistake. What greeted me was the most crinkled, ugly face I'd ever seen, and for a moment it looked like Aldaris would sic the dog on me. I laughed out loud.

"Don't take it so seriously," I said. "Charlie's just what us conspirators call you when we're talking on the internet, so that just in case someone gets hold of our chat records, they have no idea what we're talking about. It's just a nickname. Besides, replacing my name wouldn't be so bad. 'Bethany' literally means house of poverty or affliction."

"Maiasha N'Gukhol I'n," Aldaris murmured. "That is not quite catchy."

"Huh? What was that supposed to be?"

"Your Protoss name. 'House of misery'. You will enjoy it, I hope."

I turned and stared at him. "Charlie, why're you dang so mean?"

"Am I more cruel than the parents who first named you? Activate Starcraft. Your nonsense tries my patience."

And I did. As you recall, the Terran missions of Brood War are all about the United Earth Directorate, where they're trying to take down Mengsk. The missions introduced Duran, and the psi disruptor gets "destroyed" by Stukov. All through this, Aldaris is silent. I glanced back a few times, and he just sat there, seemingly more interested in just interacting with the dog. He watched the game, but it got no reaction out of him whatsoever. It wasn't until I got to the mission where we go after Emperor Mengsk that he finally spoke.

"This is quite dull," Aldaris rather loudly, which is a weird sensation for someone who doesn't speak audibly. He shoved the dog off his lap and slumped back in his seat like a tired child ready to leave a movie theater. "More dull than the parts before it."

"I don't remember you being bored watching the Protoss missions," I chuckled. "But yeah, it's just that all the real plot is with the Protoss and the Zerg at this particular part of the game."

"That much is certain. Perhaps it is a false hope considering that the Protoss missions have finished, but shall I learn much more of the condition of the Protoss?"

Power Overwheming is such a good cheat. It's really handy when the game tries to nuke them all and you're on a run to make the plot go by as fast as possible. I directed these survivors to Mengsk's command center as I answered Charlie's question.

"Not that much, but terribly important things," I said. "Like what happens to the Matriarch for example."

"Who is this?"

"Y'know, Raszagal."

"Yes, I had forgotten. We did not refer to her with a human word, and in fact do not use many of the human words which describe the Protoss in this game."

"Oh? So you're not really a Judicator?"

"You may as well refer to me in that manner. The Protoss word for my caste is similar enough."

"So what is that Protoss word?"

The fake, invincible troops on screen could destroy a command center without my help, so I went ahead and turned to look when Aldaris didn't answer. All I got was the blank stare of his rather gingerbreadman-looking eyes.

"You have completed the objective." Aldaris pointed to the screen. "I wish to see what will happen."

Well, nothing I could do about that. Back to the screen, I guess. To be fair, watching Raynor save Mengsk is one of the more bizarre and interesting scenes in Starcraft. I tried not to turn and look at Aldaris again. He doesn't like it when I try and see his reaction to things. He hasn't come out and said as much, but with Toss, does he really have to? All the same, I could only imagine how his features torqued at watching that utterly obtuse moment when Raynor comes in and saves the person primarily responsible for all the bullcrap that's happened to him in the past game.

Giving in to my curiosity, I turned back to find that Aldaris wasn't reacting at all, at least not outwardly. Charlie was just sitting there, the fingers of one hand clutched together thoughtfully at his chin (the other hand was still petting the dog). He continued to be thoughtfully silent throughout all the rest of the Terran campaign. At that point, I had to admit I was starting to get bored. It's more than a little nerve-wracking to show someone their home universe with them brooding behind you, and honestly, sometimes some of Aldaris' outbursts are pretty dang hilarious. When playing Starcraft with nothing more than a silent, brooding giant behind you...that's really something pretty creepy. But hey, I said I'd play the game, and play I did.

"Wait," Aldaris finally said. "Dugalle only learns of Kerrigan's existence at the end of it all?"

"Yep." I nodded.

"Then what exactly does the Earth Directorate know when it comes to the Koprullu Sector?" Aldaris leaned his head on his hand. "Their plans were entirely foolish, if they knew nothing of her. Perhaps there were many things they did not understand about the war. Had they more plans than simply domineering the Terrans of the sector?"

"Not that I know of," I said. "Though they're not Terrans."

"Who? DuGalle and the UED?"

"No, everybody in the K Sector. They're not from Terra, so they're not Terrans."

"And where exactly is this 'Terra'?"

I laughed. "You're sittin' on it, Charlie."

Aldaris paused a moment, giving me an odd look as though I was lying to him. "I was led to believe that your planet was called 'Earth'."

"That's the same thing as Terra, just in english instead of latin." I nodded. "They both mean the same thing."

"And that is?"

I kicked at the ground to emphasize my point, but it didn't really work because I was still on the concrete patio.

"Dirt."

"Dirt?" Aldaris exclaimed. "The very ground you walk upon?"

"Yeah. Hence something is 'unearthed' if it gets dug up from the ground. I think it's supposed to be a reference to a goddess of the harvest, or of the Biblical reference to us being made out of dirt. Or that this is the only planet in the solar system that supports life. Or all three at once. Though I have to say that my favorite name for the planet is 'Thulcandra'. It's not official, but it's cool sounding. It means 'the silent planet'. It's a concept C. S. Lewis came up with in his space trilogy when the spirits quarantined the spirits of Earth because they had started a war with the spirits of Mars, or that is, Malacandra."

"As much as you enjoy filling the air with these inane ramblings," Aldaris said. "I much prefer that you cease attempting to make yourself sound intelligent and continue with Starcraft until its completion."

"And I will! As soon as I have a bathroom break." I got up from my chair, though paused before heading to the back doors of the house. "Hey wait, that door probably is locked, isn't it?"

"No. It is open."

I raised an eyebrow. Well, I tried to raise an eyebrow, but I can't raise one without raising the other. It's very undramatic.

"Um, exactly how did you arrange that?

"Why do you insist upon asking questions when you do not desire the answers?"

"I dunno, maybe there's something wrong with me. I've been acting funny ever since I started hanging out with this weirdo alien guy."

I scooted in through the doors before Aldaris could reply. Oh wait, since he's not dependant on sound waves, I guess he didn't want to comment. Anyway, the guy Kensley had a nice house. Aside from the fact his muddy boots were in the middle of the kitchen and there was a pile of dishes in the sink to rival any bachelor, the kitchen looked almost like one of those catalog models with the nice black tile counters and built-in island. It sure didn't smell like a model, but fortunately the smell of the kitchen didn't carry too far. I was able to escape it once I scooted out through a dining room.

The living room was in front of me, but I instead went to the right down the hall to the bathroom. A cranky Protoss was waiting on me, and it's weird to poke around strangers' houses. Crap, first consorting with aliens, and now breaking and entering. This situation is really starting to get out of hand.

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Author's Notes:

- Sorry it's been so long. I've been taking classes lately, and I've just been coming into my own as far as getting a good pace in writing. Anyway, it's back.

New Author's Notes:

- Not to long ago I rewatched Brood War to write about it on my blog, and I noticed that the Terran missions in Brood War are kind of a hot mess. We don't learn that the UED's mission is to take control of the Overmind until DuGalle spits out a throwaway line, it makes no sense DuGalle doesn't want the psi disruptor when he wants to take over the Overmind, and how would the UED know that they can even subdue it? On top of that, Raynor saves Mengsk before Kerrigan explains to him why he might want to actually do it.

Don't even get me started on Raynor and Fenix in Brood War. Neither of these guys have logical reasons to help Kerrigan. The UED has not been shown to be more cruel than Mengsk, and in fact some players might think they're a bit better. It's definitely debatable, and since Raynor had in the past helped a bad leader gain power without realizing it, he should be more cautious against doing so again. Fenix is straight out insane - he's all out there killing humans on Moria for the sake of the Zerg, and then has the audacity to call humans greedy while he's doing this. Holy crap, Fenix, you're killing sentient beings who did nothing to you for the sake of murder beasts! Not to mention that with all the machines needed in the wars, the mining industry is more important than ever. The Morians are not wrong for mining.

I get what Blizzard was going for. They wanted to make everything go down the drains so that Kerrigan could be the surviving tyrant at the end. That's cool, the journey there should just have been thought out more.