I had just finished a whole bunch of Quickbooks homework, and had about forty percent of it left. Yeah, I'm so looking forward to next semester when I have to do income taxes. The teacher gives a crap ton of homework, including a discussion board every day. But that's next semester. For that moment, I was completely done with homework. I'd been sitting at my kitchen table for the past three hours, and while admittedly some of that I was watching Minecraft Quick Builds, that's way too much time to sit in one place. I stretched and got out of my chair to get some tea. And then facepalmed.

"Oh crap." I groaned. "I haven't planned out what I'm writing for November."

You know, National Write a Novel in a Month, where you write 50,000 words for the month of November. I'm going to win this year! I swear it! Or I will if I ever sit down and make plans for what exactly I want to write. I've got this primary story I'm working on, but there's alternates too, and I want to get my Starcraft choose your own adventure novel on its way to being finished by the end of the year.

"But not now!" I announced to my imaginary audience. Sheesh, even when I'm not writing these journal entries, I'm talking to you guys. "Now I sleep. I'm tired."

Actually, I wasn't that tired, but my eyes were starting to hurt from being on the computer so long, and that's kind of like being tired. It's really hard to think when your eyes are groggy. But I've got a report on franchising to do, and that's going to take a while. So I laid down on the couch, expecting to just sit with my eyes closed for ten minutes, or at least until my anxiety about getting everything done nagged me into working again.

Well, that's what I intended. Anxiety had hold for only a minute or two before sleep took over, and off I was on the sleepy train. I don't know how long it was, but suddenly I was awake. And instead of having my face half-smushed in the purple cushions, my nose found itself stuck against something cold. It was so dark I was practically blind. Not completely, though, as after only a few seconds of blinking my eyes adjusted. The cold stuff was obviously a metal floor.

Something heavy started nudging against my side.

"Get up! Rise at once!"

I rolled over and blinked to find an angry Aldaris kicking at me.

"Charlie!" I spluttered, still not quite awake. "I was trying to sleep!"

"Not on my vessel, you are not!" he snapped. "On your feet!"

I did, but only to keep Aldaris from kicking me more. Seriously, the guy could punt for the Denver Broncos, and I don't want my lungs to score a field goal. Apparently I'd been asleep longer than I thought, as my elbows were pretty sore from being against the metal flooring. I rubbed them as I followed Aldaris through the darkened halls.

I was never very familiar with the layout of Aldaris' ship, but with the lights out it was even more obscure than usual, and I could barely see the dark mass of the Protoss leading the way. About then my mind started to wake up, and I realized that something must be seriously wrong. Maybe this was his ship acting up again. I looked around, but there were no more random Earth things scattered about. So the ship just beamed me up randomly? If it did that, then why weren't the lights on?

"Get in."

I was looking the other direction, so it took me entirely by surprise when he grabbed my arm and practically threw me into a room. I stumbled in, barely managing to keep from falling on my face.

"Stay there."

Despite turning to see what was going on, all I got to see were two halves of a metal door slamming into each other.

"Uh...okay..." I called out for no reason. "Not like I've got a choice."

Even in the dark of the apparent power outage, light streamed in from three massive windows on the far side of the room. I went closer. The sun wasn't visible at that angle, but the stars certainly were. None of those golden metal beams characteristic of Protoss ships blocked these windows, so the expanse of space was only interrupted by Earth itself, hanging happily in space just a little lower down. Some people say space is boring, but I have a theory that everyone has a type of environment that they're drawn to. Mine is space, the empty expanse with nothing but neon colored nebulas and mystery dotted every so often. Sometimes I wish I could fly through the whole of space, drifting from world to world...but that's just silly. I turned away.

The rest of the room was hung heavy with shadows, so I didn't get to see much. Though possibly I wouldn't have seen much more even with the lights on. Where the leftmost window turned into wall there were these massive cabinet-like doors that I could easily have walked inside - if there had been handles to open them. Back near the wall where the door was stood a huge table, covered in some odd papers and other things that couldn't clearly be seen. I could have climbed onto one of the nearby chairs to get a better look, but I left it alone.

The rest of the room was fairly empty. The only other notable thing about the room that I could see was a small computer console on the wall near the rightmost window. A tubular device folded in the wall looked sort of like a telescope. So maybe this place was supposed to be an observatory or something.

"Annyonghashimneekah? Aldarisu-shee?"

As I turned to the table, I saw the last glowing bits of the recall's tentacles fade away from Cheonha. For a moment there, I didn't quite realize it was her. Her cheeks had filled out, and she wore a colorful shirt with a teddy bear on it, as well as a blue skirt and red leggings. Dang it, why can't American fashion be as cool as Korea's? I swear, Asian people have the cutest clothes. Cheonha had some notebooks under an arm, and in the other was a plastic shopping bag, full of something. Apparently the teleportation interrupted her going somewhere. Home, I hope. It would be awkward if a friend was expecting her and she couldn't show up.

"Lee Cheonha!" I exclaimed. "Annyonghasehyo!"

Cheonha just nodded and frowned. I don't think she was mad at me, but with irritation she got out from behind the table and joined me by the window. She said something. I don't know what. Okay, confession time: I've been slacking in learning my korean. Sorry.

"Uh..." I thought hard about the right words. "Aldarisu...uh, uri-nun...yoginun issoyo."

I think she got the message. I think. I was trying to say that we need to stay here, but I might have just said "we are here." In any case she just shook her head and sat down beneath the window and spread out a drawing pad. She pointed out the window and said something.

"Um...I don't know." I shrugged. "But that's the Earth down there."

"Yes...Earth," she said. "America?"

Oh cool, she'd been studying english. I looked out the window, and despite partial cloud cover, the United States and Canada clearly faced us. Very peaceful.

"Ne, America," I answered.

"Aldarisu odee-ehyo?"

"Morugessawyo.."

Cheonha pointed to the ceiling and said something else, which I didn't catch. She pointed again.

"No lightu?"

"Ne. I think it's a power outage. Or, um, Kongangpeh-nun chalmot iree-ehyo."

Cheonha nodded. I guess she's used to things being outside of her control. In any case, she was way more prepared than I was for being stranded in a strange room. From her bag she pulled out a pencil case shaped like a toothpaste tube, which she placed by her notebook. Dang, that thing was cute. It even had a pencil sharpener in the "cap" of the tube. The bag also held two packets of cookies, a liter of fruit juice, and a small bag of those really tiny cups that Koreans use for some reason.

"Both of you! Immediately!"

That was a voice that couldn't be ignored, and both Cheonha and I jumped. The double doors opened, allowing two more barely obedient subjects to come in. We barely got a glance of Aldaris' glowing eyes before the doors slammed again. One of the newcomers was a disgruntled but not upset John Statkus. The other was a very groggy Toby, standing there rubbing his eyes in a "wife-beater" T-shirt, plaid pajama pants and no shoes. Me and Cheonha burst into giggles.

"Hey, it's the middle of the night for some of us." Toby awkwardly clutched his arms. "Brr, it's cold in here."

"Yeah, I bet." That laugh deserved a snort, and I gave it one. "Nobody has a spare jacket or something for good ol' Toby, huh?"

"Not me." Statkus casually strolled up to us girls. "Looks like not you girls either."

"I'm okay," Toby sighed and walked up too. "I just hope our dear friend Charlie can get the heat going."

"I don't know." Statkus looked up at the still deadened lights. "We might be out of power for a while."

I scratched my nose. "If the ship is out of power, then why did it beam us all up?"

"Maybe the teleporter sucked out all the power on the ship," Toby suggested.

As we spoke, Cheonha paid us little attention. She carefully unwrapped the first packet of cookies, making sure to take it apart only at the seam. She lay the now square sheet of plastic on the floor between me and her, then smoothed out the edges. She then passed out four of the cups around each corner of the cookies and poured a little of the fruit juice into each.

She gestured toward the guys with a downward motion. "Anjuseyo."

"Aw, that's really sweet!" Toby eagerly sat down. "Cheonha's our own little Martha Stewart. Hey Bethany, how do we say 'thank you' in korean?"

"You say kamsa-hamneedah."

"Alright, gamsa-hameedah!" Toby smiled at Cheonha.

"You are welcome," Cheonha spoke with careful emphasis. She went on pouring, and said something. I'm not sure what it was, but I recognised "Starcraft" and "nolli", so the meaning was easy to guess.

"Yeah, we play Starcraft." I answered. "Uri-nun Starcraftu-rul nolliehyo."

Cheonha just nodded and waved her hand over the cookies. Well, you don't have to tell us twice. Toby didn't have any cookies, though. He just yawned and went for the juice.

"I was hoping to get a chance to talk to Charlie again," Toby elbowed me. "He seems to like you the best."

I scoffed. "Hardly. He just talks to me because I both know about Starcraft and I'm not cranky like Statkus over there."

"Maybe you should have told him to check in with all of us." Statkus thoughtfully munched on the sugar cookie. "I don't like getting all my information secondhand."

"He barely even talks to me," I said. "All he does is let me know he's there and then leaves. He hasn't even said as much as a word about Wings of Liberty."

"Yeah, and he never got Heart of the Swarm from me either." Toby nodded.

"Can't blame him on that one." I winced. "Someone warned me that Heart of the Swarm was even worse, and they were right -"

"Stop!" Like a musician, John made a pinching gesture insisting on silence. "Listen!"

We stopped munching on the cookies. Cheonha also got quiet, and we silently waited for something to happen. Nothing did.

"I don't hear anything," Toby whispered.

"Exactly," Statkus whispered back. "Since we got here, there was a humming noise, you know like the sound a computer makes. It's not going anymore."

"Oh!" Toby nodded. "That's right, I notice it now!"

I blushed. I almost never notice those kinds of things. "Uh, does that mean our orbit is going to decay? Like we're going to burn up in the atmosphere?"

For a moment, the lights flickered on, and the humming noise they noticed came back on again, so suddenly and loudly that I noticed it too - it's hard not to notice digital screaming in your ears. I also noticed when both the lights and sound went off again. They flickered once more, like lightning indoors, and then went off again. All four of us lay on the floor with our hands over our ears for several seconds before daring to get up.

"Aigoo!" Cheonha huffed. She'd spilled the last bit of her juice on her shirt. It wasn't much, but who knows if pomegranate and plum stains come out?

The doors suddenly slid open, and there once more was the extremely livid gingerbread man.

"I need the assistance of one of you. Quickly!" Aldaris scowled. "Remain seated, Bethany."

Aghast, I sat back down. Statkus, however, was on his feet in a moment. He'd suddenly turned on "professional mode"; it was like watching a robot in operation to see him go. The door slammed shut, and the three of us remaining sat in silence. Cheonha looked back and forth from Toby's face to mine.

"John...John okay?" she asked me. "Gwenchanna?"

"Ne. He's helping Aldaris."

Hm. I guess Cheonha's english language class wasn't on the word "help" yet, because she just stared at me goggle-eyed. But since me and Toby weren't freaking out, she didn't either. We just chatted for a while. It was a little difficult with language differences, but Cheonha really wanted to practice her english anyway. I had a feeling she didn't know enough of our language to ask the questions she really wanted to, though. After a bit, she got a little frustrated and scooted over to the window for enough light to draw in her notebooks. That was fine enough with me. Practicing my korean is cool and all, but I'll admit a certain impatience with language barriers. They just irk me, probably more than they should. Feel free to criticize me for being lazy.

Anyway, me and Toby started talking Starcraft, when all of a sudden the lights flickered on, and the humming the guys noticed before went on full. With all the silence from before, the once invisible humming hurt my ears. Ow.

"Oi!" Toby gasped. "Look at that!"

And I did look, just in time to see a little, brown rodent scamper next to Cheonha's leg, its little cheeks stuffed full of something. Cookie, I guess. Toby's shout scared it, and the thing ran alongside Cheonha's leg, tickling her.

"Hold still, Cheonha-"

I reached over to grab it, but Cheonha gasped and jumped out of the way before I finished saying her name. She almost flipped over to get away from the critter at her knee. It scuttled out of my reach before I could even get near it. I dove right at it, but it chugged its tubby little paws and headed for the table - before it disappeared again into the shadows as the lights went out. In the silence, Toby and Cheonha clearly heard the crunch of me stepping right into the middle of the cookies as I got on my feet again. It was dark, okay?

"Bet-any!"

"Chesunghamnidah..."

The lights were on again in a minute. Cheonha shoved me out of the way and wiped up the cookie crumbs into the bag. I tried to help, but she pushed me away. I could barely get her to let me hold the bag. Thankfully though, it was all more or less wiped up before Aldaris got back. The big doors opened again, and in came John, wiping some greenish-black stuff from his arm with a rag. Aldaris followed not far behind, keeping a wary eye on Statkus.

Huh, Charlie was wearing the most boring thing I'd seen him in since he got to earth. Just a really long, green robe and a dark green...uh, I don't know what you call it...a sleeveless tunic, I guess, with no embroidery. Seriously, Aldaris likes his embroidery. In any case, his authoritarian eyes glanced the three of us over, as if expecting that me, Toby, and Cheonha had conspired to do something bad in his absense. Well, even if we wanted to, there was still the language barrier to deal with, so yeah. Besides, what kind of mischief could we do in a room with almost nothing in it? Aldaris seemed to think there was some. He backed over to the chair closest to us, making sure to sit between us and the table as though he were guarding it. Great. I really regret not investigating the table when I had the chance.

"Everything fixed?" I asked the Protoss.

"All is under control at the moment," Aldaris replied.

Toby sat up a little straighter. "So what was wrong with the ship, then?"

Aldaris narrowed his eyes, in that way he always did when someone asked a question that pried too much into his business. Sheesh, we aren't electrical engineers. It's not like we know how any of this stuff works. Aldaris, catching my thought, glared at me before continuing.

"It is the recall unit. It malfunctioned, and because the four of you were the last ones to be taken by the recall possessor, your..." Aldaris seemed lost for words, and he gestured a bit as though it would help him think. Finally, he gave up. "I do not know the human word for it. My vessel remembers you, and that allowed the device to summon you in its error." Aldaris shifted in his chair, straightening his posture and lifting his head like a disdainful king. Charlie tends to do that when he wants to change the subject. "For the time being, you shall remain here until the recall device is at adequate power to send you home."

Yeah, and he could hardly wait, I bet. In the meantime, John had already sat down with us again, and Cheonha very professionally poured him more juice.

"Yay, so we get to hang out with everyone's favorite cranky reptile," I winked.

Aldaris responded with such a stare that I almost turned to stone. For real. Totally.

"Bethany, perhaps you wish to rephrase that statement."

I was about to respond with even more sarcasm than before, but I felt my mind blank out - as though I couldn't get access to my wit. It was weird...normally I don't feel that way unless I'm up at one in the morning trying to write a story and hyped up on nothing but day old coffee. Oh wait, there's a seven-century old psychic mastermind sitting there glaring at me with his laser eyes. That would explain it.

"Uh, what I meant to say was that we get to practice diplomacy by speaking with a highly intelligent foreign politician," I blushed and pointed to the window. "And that I'm going to go sit over here now and stop saying things."

"That is an improvement," Aldaris nodded. "Though I doubt that you would keep any promise to remain silent for longer than a a few minutes at a time."

Statkus was starting to get annoyed with Charlie at that point. He doesn't like it when Aldaris starts getting all "I'm the boss of you" to us, even when I deserve it. Thankfully, though, Toby's not good at noticing cranky people. Either that, or he's really good at putting up them. It's a superpower.

"So Charlie," Toby asked. "How'd you like Starcraft II? You never did pick up the disks for Heart of the Swarm. That bad, eh?"

Before answering, I got a nice second dosage of evil stares from Aldaris. "Is it your doing that my unfortunate 'nick' name has taken precedence over the proper way of addressing a 'foreign diplomat'?"

I crossed my hands over my mouth. Hey, he's the one that didn't want me talking.

"I see." He glared at me a second longer before turning back to Toby. "I find this 'Wings of Liberty' to be nonsensical. Though I have learned many dark things of Raynor from your game, his actions in this sequel seem highly out of character for him. I did not finish it, nor care to."

"Did you get to the part with Zeratul?" I asked, grinning.

"There it is." Aldaris said, lifting his gaze to me. "Bethany deceives us with a false promise and breaks her silence. But to answer you, If Zeratul was present in the game, I have not seen it. Though I doubt I shall like the answer, I ask you this: what have they done to slander the Prelate Zeratul?"

I considered my answer for a bit, cringing at the horror which was Zeratul's dialogue. "They basically rewrote his character so that he's nothing like he was in Starcraft 1. Anyway, after he talks to Raynor, Zeratul gives him a memory crystal of some sort, and through it the player can access some additional missions. It's been a while since I looked at those, and even if I could remember them I'm not sure I'd want to."

Aldaris cut me off with a swipe of the hand. "By all means, cease speaking of Starcraft. I am beyond submitting myself to human prevarications. It was already clear from 'Wings of Liberty' that I have nothing more to gain from observation."

"Certainly not from Heart of the Swarm," I winced. "'S terrible."

"Then by your courtesy, do not elaborate."

Aldaris focused on the things on his table and started...I think writing something. Maybe he only meant to keep an eye on us until he could send us away. In any case, he ignored us when we started talking again.

"I actually liked Heart of the Swarm," Toby piped up.

I turned to him and stared at him with the most dead of eyes. "Toby, we can't be friends anymore."

"What? It wasn't that bad. It was fun to play."

"Gameplay, eh? Okay, fine, that's a legitimate reason," I dropped my stare. "I only like Starcraft for its plot. I'm not that good at actually playing it."

"So many people left Blizzard since the 90s that I knew the story wouldn't be any good." Stakus stretched out his legs. "The reviews said that the gameplay was basically the same as the first, so I didn't see any reason to get the new one. I'm an adult now, and I've got better things to do than to play games."

"I like Starcraft too much not to at least watch the let's plays. I had to at least find out what happened." It was sort of cold there, so I hugged my knees. "At least I had to find out who all the new characters were in case I wanted to do my personality tests again."

"Personality tests?" Toby asked. "On Starcraft?"

"Oh yes. I used to determine things about people based on which Starcraft characters they liked and disliked. It's based on the idea that all characters have themes, and the themes that the three favorite characters have in common are ideas that are important to the person who likes the characters. And on the other side of that, the things that a person dislikes about their least favorite speaks volumes about who that person is not."

"Wow, you really are a nerd," Statkus wrinkled his brow. "And you're how old again?"

"Mind your business." I turned back to Toby. "It's sort of annoying because I have to get a clear understanding to understand the characters again, and they've butchered the three characters that mean the most to the Starcraft franchise."

This caught Aldaris' attention. Though it's easy to assume that he was keeping an eye on us, this comment got him to look up from whatever he was working on. He didn't say anything, and I pretended I didn't see it.

"Don't even tell me what they did to Raynor," Stakus chuckled. "I don't even want to know."

"Why don't you test me?" Toby asked. "I wouldn't mind it if you poked my brain a bit."

"I don't know...after all, I sort of know you, and that's cheating. The personality test works the best when someone's a stranger on the internet, or I just met them."

"Aw, come on. You can at least try." Toby put down his cup and shifted into Indian style on the floor. "Here, give me a second to think which ones are my favorite."

"You're not sure?" I asked. "It works best either off the top of your head or after you've given a lot of thought. If it's only halfway thought out, you'll probably pick misleading characters. But anyway, first tell me which of the three races in Starcraft is your favorite."

"Oh, that's easy!" Toby grinned up in the direction of our host. "The Protoss, of course. They're the most interesting."

"Okay." I nodded. "Now tell me three characters in Starcraft that you like the most."

"Well, I definitely like Raynor. He's amazing. Fenix was awesome too." Toby scratched his head. "I like so many characters...I don't know, Artanis is fun."

"Now give me three people you don't like."

"I definitely don't like the Overmind," Toby said. "And I simply can't stand Duran. As for number three...uh...I'm not really sure."

"That's okay. Even if you don't have three picked out, it's more important that you really dislike the ones you pick than to fill out the number."

I cracked my knuckles. Yay! Poking at people's brains is fun. I haven't been able to do this in years, and thankfully he hadn't picked any Starcraft II characters that I don't have a firm thematic grasp on - and let's be honest, how thematic are shallow characters like General Warfield or Mengsk Jr?

I began. "So you've picked a race that isn't your own. What with the themes of the Protoss, this means that you either find modern culture disdainful, or certain specific people controlling modern culture really irk you. In either case, you feel a disconnect with the world as it currently is, and have an idealistic view of a future you want or a society you want to escape to, where society is advanced in ability, beliefs, and just generally how people treat each other."

"You got all that from him liking the Protoss?" Statkus raised an eyebrow at me. "And Protoss society..."

Statkus didn't have to look at Aldaris to know he shouldn't finish his sentence. To Charlie's credit, he said nothing. Still, even though humans aren't psyonic, all of us could feel his irritation. Probably even Cheonha could, even though she was still drawing by the window.

"Sort of. You have to remember that I kind of know him," I answered. "Besides, if you look at his favorites, they're all very obviously good guys, none of whom would go out of their way to start a conflict. This means Toby views things through a more idealistic lens, and by Starcraft's standards, Protoss are the thematic equivalent of Vulcans from Star Trek or elves from Lord of the Rings: a race somewhat higher than humans in culture and ability. They're by no means perfect, but provide different angles on how life could be lived. You'll notice that in all three cases, the high race makes critiques of ordinary human life."

"What would it mean then," Aldaris placed down his pencil (pen?) and addressed me. "If Toby had chosen the Zerg?"

"In Toby's specific case, I'd have to think about that a little. In general though, it could mean that something is very wrong with a person, and that they've become attached to grim things as they have no hope for the future. Or it could simply mean that someone prefers playing the game as Zerg. Depends on how seriously the person in question takes the game."

"I just have one word to say about all that," Statkus said. "Nerd."

"Let me finish already. This is fun." I thought for a moment about Toby's favorite characters. "Okay, so the first thing, like I said. All of Toby's favorite characters are very obviously good guys. None of them are especially secretive, except that Raynor and Fenix are soldiers, and there are lots of things that soldiers don't talk about to civilians. Just how it is.

"Now, a person admires others for two reasons: because these heroes different from them, and because they're the same. I'm sorry to say this, my dear Toby, but at this point in your life you are not as cool as Raynor and Fenix. Don't feel bad, their kind of toughness is only earned through hard times, and with age. No, the thing about Raynor and Fenix is that they're generally very calm in any given situation, and aren't given to extreme emotional output. They're the sort of guys that can calmly assess a situation and do their best to figure out how to act. They don't go out of their way to find trouble, and if the circumstances of Starcraft hadn't taken place, Raynor would go quite happily on being a marshal on Mar Sara. We don't really get to see much of Fenix's background, but presumably he'd just be a regular Templar, just earning whatever promotions his experience brought him."

"What does that have to do with me?" Toby asked.

"It means that you admire these men for what they are. You want to be like them," I answered. "You admire their self control and resourcefulness in a pinch. You also probably are the same leadership type as they are, in that if you ever lead a group of people, you need to be in a place where you can see those who your decisions affect. You not only like being around people, but you work best when you can see for yourself how your followers are; you're not going to be some detached bureaucratic mofo a hundred miles away who passes laws on people he never met."

"Hm..." Toby nodded. "I see that, I see that."

"I do not know that Fenix and Raynor are particularly similar," Aldaris mentioned. "I have known Fenix many years, and I do not believe he is quite as you describe him."

"Well, you have to remember that it's not about who Fenix and the others from the game really are, but how they're portrayed in Starcraft," I said. "After all, Toby's picking his favorites from the game, not from having met them."

"I see. Then what do you say of Artanis?"

"We don't get to see much of him, but it's pretty clear he's gotten his authority not because he was especially talented or smart, but because better people weren't alive to take his position." I hoped my frankness didn't offend Aldaris, but he said nothing in response. "And it's also clear that Artanis doesn't have a lot of confidence in himself, as he's in a high-pressure position and seems prone to insecurity from time to time. Compared to the rest of the Protoss in the game, he's way less self-contained and calm. And that's reflective on Toby in the sense that he feels also inadequate, though for either reasons that are not clear or he hasn't told us."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Toby said. "My life is fine. It's quote boring, really. The most exciting thing ever to happen was Charlie here to pop out of nowhere."

"Ah yes, feelings of being fenced in and not allowed to reach whatever your fullest potential is." I nodded. "In any case, if my observation is correct, you seem to have an underlying insecurity about your own ability, and that if you were ever in a tough situation, you want to believe you would handle it like Raynor, though you don't trust yourself enough to be certain of that. Mostly because you haven't really been tested yet."

"I...I don't...that's...that's odd." Toby sputtered. "I've never looked at myself that way."

"Maybe you shouldn't. I don't know if it's healthy or not."

"So what about the Overmind and Duran?" Statkus asked. "What do they mean?"

"For Toby, his likes are more important than his dislikes. What all three of his favorite characters have in common is that they are fairly accepting of anyone. Raynor accepts the Protoss, Fenix doesn't say one bad word about the Dark Templar, and Artanis is a friendly little puppy. None of them are especially suspicious by nature. So is Toby. As for the Overmind and Duran, as a parallel, they're clearly bad guys, both enigmatic creatures. They prioritize themselves and their missions, with no real love for anyone outside of their aims. Also, the Overmind is a distant authority, and Duran is a solitary operator, two different functions in which Mr. Collins here can't operate in, because they both involve not being close to other people."

"You're really good, you know that?" Toby shook his head. "You're making me sound a bit like a nutter, though."

"Nah, it's not like that." I shrugged. "Everybody has problems. Yours are pretty cute, actually. And normal. You just have sort of an idealized view of the world and you want to measure up to your own idealized, manly view. That's all."

"I suppose you're going to want to psycho-analyze me now." Statkus sat up a little straighter. "I'm ready."

"Cool, cool. Favorite race, favorite characters, least favorite characters. Go."

"Alright, but keep in mind that I haven't played Starcraft in years." Statkus tapped his chin. "My favorite race is Terran. My favorite characters are Zeratul and Duran. My least favorites are the Overmind, Kerrigan, and Ju..." his eyes wandered to the table. "...Just those two."

It didn't take a psychic to know what he was thinking. Me and Toby burst out laughing. Cheonha couldn't figure out what was going on, but guessed from Aldaris' look that maybe she should stay out of it. Actually, Aldaris didn't seem that irritated. He simply rolled his eyes.

"And to think that I have credited you with being the most rational of the four," Aldaris said.

Surprisingly, Statkus actually winced. "Um, well, those likes and dislikes are all from when I was a teenager. I was really immature then..."

"That is quite likely," the Protoss said, still calmly working on whatever he was doing at his table. "Be at peace. It is not I that am judged by your younger self, but my portrayal at the hands of humans that have not known me. It is of no concern." Aldaris' eyes glanced briefly in my direction. "The implication that I have anything in common with Kerrigan and the Overmind is certainly quite offensive."

"I'll admit it's a stretch." I nodded. "But it's not so much you have something in common with them, as Statkus thinks you guys have something in common."

"...I find myself even more offended."

"But I'm curious now." Statkus grinned. "So Bethany, what do Aldaris, Kerrigan and the Overmind have in common?"

I hit two fingers against my other arm. "They're all composed of sub-atomic particles. Seriously, Statkus, give me a minute. Yours is way harder than Toby's. Oh, and for thematic purposes, I have to know which you dislike more: Sarah Kerrigan, or infested Kerrigan?"

John thought about it for only a few moments, and nodded a little to himself. "Okay, Sarah. I hate her worse."

At this point, Aldaris wasn't even pretending to work on whatever it was on the table. He raised a flippant hand toward Statkus' direction. "There we have it! There is no need for further analysis. John is mad; his senses have left him, and he remains morally stranded in a world where right is wrong, and evil is true."

"Now hold up a minute." I chuckled. "Again, the themes of the characters are more important than the characters themselves. After all, none of us here have met anyone else from your universe, and I'm sure we'd feel more appropriately if we actually knew them."

"I'm just mad that he likes Duran," Toby said. "Duran? Really? The biggest scumbag in Brood War?"

"Duran was just interesting to me at the time." Statkus tried to explain. "When I was a teen-"

"Nope!" I made an X with my arms. "Don't say why, that's cheating. Now give me a minute to think, alright?"

I thought hard. Seriously, Judicator Aldaris, the Overmind, and Sarah Kerrigan? If it were any two of them, I might be able to figure it out, but the three all together? I snapped my fingers near my ears to help me concentrate, and squinched my eyes tightly shut. And then, after a moment, it came to me.

"Ah-ha!" I snapped my fingers one more time. "It's authority! That's what all three have in common! All of them tell other people what to do. Yes...yes...ah, and it matters that it's a wide spread of authority too. The Overmind has absolute control over the Zerg, representing high authority. Charlie's in the middle, as he's high ranking but not the highest."

"No one person can claim penultimate leadership of the Protoss," Aldaris said. "It is impossible, even when one does not consider the Nerazim. We do not have singular leaders. All followed the Conclave."

"You know what I mean, though. You're still the middle compared to the other two. In any case, Sarah's the lowest, since in her human days she mainly just worked with a few to complete a specific objective, and Mengsk always took care of the big picture for her. In other words, Statkus over here has an authority problem. He doesn't like being told what to do. Which is why he isn't as irritated at Kerrigan when she becomes Zerg. At that point, Kerrigan is working for herself and not being a naive follower. Isn't that right, Statkus?"

"Maybe a little," John grinned. "But that's not quite right."

"Oh, yes, because it's more than that. What characterizes each of your three dislikes is their devotion to an ideal or philosophy that is not their own. Naive human Kerrigan followed Mengsk even though it was clearly stupid to do so - from the perspective of someone playing the game, at the very least. The good Judicator here is fiercely devoted to the Khala, and the Overmind somehow got the idea into his head that it's alright for him to take over the universe.

"This is so much fun," I giggled. "So you contrast this with your likes, Duran and Zeratul. Both of these guys are very independent. As much as Duran appears to be working for other people, all he really wants is his own agenda, and he doesn't need anyone else to tell him what to do. Zeratul also does more or less as he chooses, and is loyal to the Matriarch only because she is, in his opinion, very wise. From a day to day basis, however, he makes his own decisions."

"So you're saying I can't listen to people unless I really trust them?" Statkus just wouldn't stop smiling, but it wasn't out of amusement. A sort of suspicion made his lips turn upward, as though he were a modern scientist trying to take seriously the claims of a tribal mystic. "I'll buy that."

"What's more," I went on. "Duran and Zeratul are not really leaders. Presumably someone helps Duran with all the Protoss-Zerg hybrids, but we only see him doing things of his own initiative, and he's clearly not afraid to do things for himself. Zeratul, also, is not a great leader. He can manage a small group of highly trained warriors to complete a very specific objective, but he has no sense of the bigger picture, as is seen in his rather not thought out choices in Brood War. However, the independence of these two characters is what appeals to you, as is the fact that they don't control other people."

Statkus shifted his position on the floor. Clearly sitting on metal tiles wasn't exactly the most comfortable thing ever.

"Are you trying to say I'm incapable of being a leader?"

"No, because I think you have a better grasp of the big picture than Zeratul. I imagine you have trouble making people listen to you if they don't share your goals, especially since you have no real urge to force them to. You figure that either people will hear you out, or they won't, and there's little you can do to convince them. Hence the individuality of Duran and Zeratul. They get stuff done through practical means, not by sitting around and talking."

"An interesting take," Statkus said. "But just out of curiosity, what does favoring the Terrans mean?"

"When taking your characters into perspective, it means practicality. You're no-nonsense, and don't deal with fantasies, either personal ones, or ones created by people like Toby, who imagine a future better than today. To you, Toby's views are silly."

"Did you hear that, Statkus?" Toby chuckled. "We're mortal enemies."

"Y'know, I figured my mortal enemy would be a British guy. It just makes sense."

"Does this mean I have to grow an evil goatee and buy a cat?"

"No, you're the idealistic one, and that makes you the good guy. I get the goatee and the cat."

"Good. In my flat they don't allow pets."

"Anyway," I went on. "Your natural perspective is sideways. You don't hold good and evil as your main line of distinction, as Toby does. Your distinction is independence and practicality versus fantasy and control. This is shown by your distinction: your dislikes all have immense, odd power. The Overmind holds mental control over his entire race, Aldaris is a psychic of seven and a half centuries, and Kerrigan was apparently powerful enough to catch the Overmind's attention. Because you're such a materialistic person, things like psionic power rub you the wrong way. It's bizarre mysticism, and if it weren't for Charlie here being evidence that psychic powers are real, you'd still think it a bunch of bunk.

"Contrast this with Zeratul and Duran, and you get a whole different side. Duran may very well have powers comparable to Protoss abilities, but everything he does in the game is something an ordinary human can do with only a little cleverness. Despite Zeratul's powers, he's known in Starcraft for his ability to fight and his resistance to Aldaris, neither of which are particularly mystical. And the Aldaris character, because he is used as a metaphor for how atheists see believers - specifically Christians, to be exact - is played off to the atheist notion that believing in God automatically turns someone into an uptight jerk. Zeratul, because he gives Aldaris so much crap, represents the almighty atheist who gets up in the believer's face and tells him he's wrong."

"Do you think I will continue to endure such nonsense ?" Aldaris snapped, and I jumped ten feet in the air even from a sitting position. Oh crap, and now he was getting out of his chair. "You speak such lies so effortlessly and expect that I shall simply accept it? The Nerazim have no fewer gods than those of the Khala, and if I am not mistaken, have indeed adopted more in their ruminations over what they describe as 'the void'. I will not accept such a translation of events from you."

That was my fault. I really shouldn't have said anything about Zeratul, what with Aldaris and him not getting along. It's not exactly easy for Aldaris to be merciful to someone not only partially responsible for his death, but apparently responsible for the Overmind discovering Aiur. I winced and tried again, avoiding the urge to scoot away from Charlie. When in the shark's waters, it's best not to appear as prey.

"I apologize," I said. "But it's not my translation. It's Blizzard's. It doesn't have anything to do with real events at all, but is the usage of human connotations on the events of your time period. They are using what appears to be a religious conflict to create a distinctly human message. It's not you they're trying to offend, but people like me."

"Be that as it may, I am wearied by how you speak of those you have never met." His red eyes shone darkly on all of us. "You speak with light heart the names of those that would kill all in the universe if profit was in it, and indeed could lead your own race to extinction. And you wonder if such a future is not your own! Whether the events you have seen take place will befall your latter generations, or are the events of some 'alternate universe', I cannot imagine too distant a year of devastation for the descendants of people such as yourselves. This assumes also that the Zerg do not find some way to this world by whatever means put me in this place."

"Charlie," I protested. "You're taking-"

"Have we all not been exhausted by the sound of your voice?" Aldaris snapped. "Be silent and allow us relief!"

"Chogiyo!" Cheonha suddenly exclaimed. "Tah-shee wayo!"

She pointed down at the ground, and the now clearly obvious rodent, a peachy-brown hamster, scuttled right across Statkus' leg. To John's credit, he didn't freak out, just sort of stiffened. The hamster ran off, but I was fast enough to snag it, thankfully. I let the squirmly little thing run from hand to hand until it trusted that I wasn't going to hurt it.

"Aw, it's a little hamster!" Toby gushed as he broke a little piece off of a cookie. "Here you are, little bit."

The critter sniffed at the broken cookie. It snatched the bit out of Toby's fingers and quickly stuffed it into a cheek before it returned to running through my hands.

"Hamsuter?" Cheonha didn't come too close. "That is hamsuter?"

"Ne." I held it closer to her. "It's cute. Pet it."

"No, don't pet it." Statkus said. "Who knows what that vermin got into?"

Cheonha ignored him and held her hand over its little head. The thing wiggled too much to really pet, but Cheonha managed to rub a finger over his little ears. She even giggled at it, putting her hand next to mine so that it would run to her.

"That must be the culprit." Aldaris' shadow fell over us as he went to look. "This diminutive animal has caused me no end of trouble."

"He must be a smart little guy to survive on a ship this long." Toby patted the hamster. "Especially one with no food."

"There were some rotting oranges here the other day." I shrugged. "Maybe there were other foodstuffs lost around the ship."

"Rotting oranges?" Statkus said. "Oh, you mean that time you nearly got electrocuted?"

"Wait, what? I didn't tell you about that."

Like I'm going to tell the guys all of the stuff I put in my journal. That's for posterity, not people that can make fun of me.

"Yeah, Aldaris did." John grinned. "I think it's funny as hell."

"I did not nearly get electrocuted. I wasn't even near anything that could shock me."

"Says the person obviously ignorant that fruit is capable of conducting electricity," Aldaris retorted. "And given your highly apparent lack of knowledge in engineering and personal discipline, it will be a desperate day indeed when I shall again ask for your assistance in any such matter."

Toby and John burst out laughing. Sometimes it's just not fair; my brain won't download any witty comeback or insult in response to mockery. It was deserved mockery, after all, so I just sat there with my arms folded until the guys shut up.

"I want hamsuter," Cheonha suddenly said, pulling the little beast closer to her chest. She must have calmed it down somehow, as it finally sat still in her hands. "Che hamsuteriehyo."

"Choayo," I nodded. "They're good pets."

"But what if I want the hamster?" Toby teased.

"No." Cheonha scooted back. "It is my hamsuter. Pappa-rul ne mari issoyo."

Toby chuckled. "I was just teasing."

"Too much english, Toby." I reached over to pat the little ham, and Cheonha let me. "Besides, no pets in your flat, remember?"

"Yeah, yeah." Toby stretched. "So was it this little hamster that messed up the ship?"

"I don't think so." John answered. "There didn't seem like there was any chew damage, but what do I know about Protoss ships? Maybe it chewed on something that I didn't see."

"At least hamsters aren't known for their plagues. Well, except for wet tail, but only hams get that." I turned, expecting at least a comment from Aldaris, but he wasn't there. "Huh, where'd Charlie go?"

"Now that's odd." Toby looked around. "How in the world does somebody that big go off and disappear. He's no Dark Templar."

"Maybe it's a psychic trick." John said. "He made it seem like he was still here, and then just walked away. Probably because we have a religious nut on board."

"Or maybe it's because we have an ignorant materialist in our midst," I replied with a wink. "Hey man, was I wrong in my assessment of you?"

"You were wrong in saying it."

"Eh...that much is certain." I winced. "I probably should not have said so much about Zeratul."

"Probably?"

"Okay fine, definitely."

Cheonha poked me with her elbow and said something. I didn't catch what it was, but given that she was shoving the hamster into my hands, her intent was obvious. I took the fuzzy critter from her as she cleaned up. Toby and John finished their juice and dumped their cups into the bag she held open. The wrapper from the first pack of cookies joined it, and her notebooks all closed.

"Hamsuter chuseyo." Cheonha reached out her hands.

I gave it back. None of us knew how we knew, but we all silenced as we expected a change. It took only a few moments, and once more a blue cloud surrounded us, sweeping us away and sending us back home. And then I sat down and typed all this out. And then had some nachos.

\\\\\

Author's Notes:

- I don't feel the need to translate most of what Cheonha said, as most of the korean here is either fairly obvious or explained in the text. However, I'll go into a little. Choayo means good, and can be sort of an equivalent of "okay" or "that's good". Pappa su opsuneyo means "you can't have Pappa", with Pappa being the name Cheonha decided to give the hamster. It's a reference to Pappa Roti, a kind of fancy bun that they sell in Korea. Apparently it's sold in other places too, but not where I live. Basically, Cheonha is saying that the hamster looks like a little bun.

Note that when Cheonha has trouble speaking, the following sounds don't exist in korean: "sh", "z", "v", "st", and "th". Also note that the Korean language doesn't like ending words with consonants, which is why there's a very faint "uh" sound after some of the words Cheonha says. Don't worry, she'll learn.

- One thing this story allows me to do is express my opinion on things, as well as express contrary opinions through other characters who feel differently from me. Therefore, if one character wants to bash or praise Starcraft II, then they can do so. Toby likes it, John doesn't really care, Cheonha likes the original better, and I could write a thesis on everything wrong with the plot. If it's relevant to the story that any character express their opinion, then they will. I plan on being at least a little controversial. Not too much, but in a way that naturally reflects who the characters are and serves a purpose to the story.

Also, you have to consider that Aldaris is bound to feel really weird about the Starcraft games, and he's definitely not the type of guy who will hide his opinion if he really dislikes something. He's half curious as to how this whole Starcraft thing developed, and why none of the four truly understand how horrible it feels to have his whole world taken as a joke. So he's going to speak his opinion freely.

Author's Notes New:

- Oh wow, I can't believe I was still watching Minecraft Quick Builds back then. I've since gotten over that particular youtuber. Actually I've done that with pretty much every single youtuber I've watched regularly. At some point the youtuber gets too routine, or they lose that creative spark, or I just change as a person and don't want to watch anymore. Technically there's one youtuber still kind of hanging on that I've watched for years, but he's borderline.

- ...That feeling when you realize how long you've been "trying" to write a Starcraft CYOA and it hasn't been done now. In my defense, real life was in the way. ...And I was slacking. Technically I'm around 60% done with the first draft, but...yeah. Oh, and no, I did not beat NaNo that year. I beat it this past year, though. I've been trying to get to writing at least 30k a month, but who knows if that will happen. I'm also trying to be more social and take an online language course so...actually 30k per month really isn't hard. That's just 1k a day. Less than an hour. So if I don't slack it will be fine.

- Lol, ignore the korean translation I did in the original notes. I'm pretty sure the grammar was wrong, so I edited the korean in the chapter to be something simpler. I could translate the new stuff I put, but frankly it's obvious in context. That, and it's Tuesday night, meaning last week me was a liar about regular updates. Time to get a move on.