The Frontier Spark
Episode 10: Strange Times
A/N: Sorry I took so long to get this out but all can say is that this story has been difficult to write. it's hard for me to think up original stuff to happen in this story or coming up with original things for characters to say. If my audience is still here, I'm sorry. I'm sorry to Ronmr, cjboughton, Greatazuredragon, cyberlord4444, TheVoidHunter250, SPRTN544, FanGirl. I'm sorry to all of you for taking this long and the quality dropping, but I've gotten to the more mundane moments, and it's difficult for me to do these parts. It's almost like it hurts. Please forgive me everyone. If you read this author's note PLEASE REVIEW and let me know if you are still interested in this story. Please tell if the quality has gone down, I need to know these things and how to get my skills back or improved. I can't make this story better if I don't know what else I'm doing wrong.
But, I will say that if no one is going to read this story, then I might just put it on indefinite hiatus or cancel it by the end of the week.
Message me if you want to discuss this and change my mind.
-A SHORT TIME LATER-
Burke and Agatha had argued with each other over what Burke considered to be trivial matters until they eventually grew tired of the constant back and forth. It was difficult enough situation to make the young militia officer feel tired from doling out a streak of comebacks. Agatha won the insult competition, which had made Burke decided to remain silent for several minutes to center his thoughts on something more productive. Finally having his moment to think after Agatha had taken the hint to let him have some peace, Burke pulled out an old leather-backed field journal he'd brought along for extended operations. He sat down on a rock and briefly took in the surrounding area, then he began to scribble in the book with a pencil he'd pulled from a pocket on his jumpsuit.
Agatha watched him scribble wildly in the book he opened, the constant scratching noise of the pencil reminded her of some of her time spent at the university. She had to admit, it was a somewhat comforting reminder of more peaceful times to watch someone scribble away like an inventor, or in this case an artist. Her comfort faded after a moment though when the boredom set in, which prompted her to approach the scribbling soldier in order to figure out what he was sketching and alleviate her boredom. She attempted to peek over the edge of the book but Burke seemed to catch on and spun his back to her in response.
"Would you mind showing me what you're drawing?" Agatha asked Burke.
"Hmph, you should've asked before you got in my face." The pilot told her in a grumpy tone.
"Come on, do we need to get into another fight?" Agatha palced her hands on her hips.
"Nah, we don't. I'll give ya that much. Fine, but let me have a bit longer and then maybe I'll let you see it." Burke sighed and shrugged his shoulders.
"Seriously?" Agatha raised an eyebrow.
"That just lowered your odds." Burke deadpanned.
"Er, what?" Agatha peeked over Burke's shoulder.
"Oi, quit looking over my shoulder!" He snapped.
"Alright, fine. Sorry." Agatha huffed.
"Thank you." Burke slapped the journal shut and turned to walk back to the camp.
Agatha cocked an eye at him. "Where are you going?"
"Where does it look like? Back into camp. I guess I might as well try to learn more about this place world from the other civilians. Besides, I could be wrong but, you do owe em. Might as well try to pay em back a bit." Burke said as he strolled back into the camp.
"I- you have a point there." She said reluctantly, and followed the future soldier back into the camp.
-WITH BURKE-
Agatha and Burke temporarily parted ways, and the pilot then began looking around, sketching some of the strange new sights into his notebook. The strange attire of the troupe's members was something that intrigued him to an extent. But what also caught his interest was strange little building with legs that resembled those of a chicken. He scribbled the design into his field journal for Doctor Vahlen to look over later whenever he would return to his world. He then spotted the man known as master Payne having a private conversation with a blonde woman whom Burke deduced to be someone very close to the circus master. Keen on acquiring some new information, the pilot stealthily climbed up to the top of the wagon for a less conspicuous vantage point. But just as he reached the roof of the wagon, his boot landed on the tail of a certain annoying creature.
Krosp was about to mewl in agony but Burke was quick to clamp his hand over the cat's mouth. The self-proclaimed cat king was hopping mad from having his tail stepped on the angry facial expression was showing to Burke. The pilot put a finger over his mouth, a gesture to the angry ball of fluff to remain quiet and join him in listening to the circus master and his associate. Krosp nodded gritted his fangs at the pilot before turning his attention to the two people below their position.
"So my dear, what do you think?" Master Payne asked his wife.
"It's too soon to tell but she seems very nice, and so does that boy with the huge clank. They're brave and good-hearted, but then that's not the question is it?" She replied coolly. The blonde woman narrowed her eyes and looked her lover directly into his own. "We may have nothing to fear. It will take us a few short months to get to mechanics-burg, if both of them leave at that point, they might never notice anything. Are you worried?"
"Moxana has started a new game." Master Payne told her in a serious tone
"What? Started over? Why didn't she add them like she always does? Which pieces?" She gasped in fear, her eyes opened wide in surprise.
"I- I don't know." Payne sighed tiredly. "It's not just a new piece but a completely new game, with completely new rules. I'm still working it out, but it seems that those two are at the center of the whole thing." He explained what little he could to his fellow troupe member.
"Oh my lord! What have we done?" The woman lamented the complex situation that she and the others had stumbled into by bringing in the newcomers.
"What we had to. You said it yourself, we couldn't abandon the girl, though I believe that the boy could take care of himself but he may not go anywhere without her." Payne tried to comfort her.
"Of course we couldn't. But a whole new game? That has me very worried." She put her hands to sides of her face in worry.
"As am I." Master Payne replied.
"Well that was interesting." Krosp hummed with a furrowed, fuzzy brow.
"Once again we can agree on something, hairball." Burke lazily told his unwanted companion.
"I'm not going to forget this by the way, how you stepped on my tail!" Krosp hissed at the pilot.
"Ooh I'm so scared." Burke deadpanned, the sarcasm in his tone only served to further infuriate the feline.
"As you should be! The wrath of cats can last for generations!" Krosp glared at Burke.
"Not this isn't fun, in fact it's actually boring me out of my skull, but we have other matters to attend to. This information could be very useful." Burke deadpanned.
"True enough, we'll settle this later. You can be sure of that." The cat king crossed his arms with a thoughtful look on his face.
"Yep." Burke lazily replied. The two of them went their separate ways for the moment and Burke remained on top of the carriage. He pondered the new development and what his next move would be from this point going forward. Another question that had arisen was the identity of 'Moxana' and what sort of game she was playing. Who or rather whatever it was, Burke knew he had to find out more about it.
With his moment of thought over, the pilot took off into the trees to get some practice with his parkour skills and more peace for himself. He fired a grapple line from his wrist that latched onto a nearby pine tree. At the apex of his swing, Burke unlatched the hook and leapt towards another tree. He immediately bounced off of it to land on his next perch. The tree he happened to land on next though was not the most stable of platform as it began to tip over when he made impact upon the old wood. Burke darted up the falling tree and took to the sky with a quick burst of fire from his jump kit thruster. He made a graceful flip as he soared through the air and smirked at the freedom of being able to run wherever he saw fit. It was an enjoyable experience to go through the forest as fast as his feet could carry him, with no threat behind him, or any ambush in front of him. He felt like it was just a relaxing stroll through the park to go at that pace, with his lungs pumping and the clean air of the forest surrounding him.
The kind of freedom this world had provided him was something he'd rarely felt before in his life. Sure there had been exotic planets he'd been sent to, but he'd always had a mission or some kind of goal in front of him. But here in this dimension, his directive from command was to explore this strange open world at his leisure. Aside from the baron hunting him and the odd nature of the local technological state, it was an explorer's paradise. Burke leapt high over a pack of wolves on the hunt and grinned as he soared among the tree tops as free as a bird. After several more hops from one tree to the next, the pilot reached a tree that stood taller than the rest and decided to get some climbing practice. In a flash he had grappled over to the tree and secured the retractable line to his belt for safety. Burke then began to scale the tree up to its highest point for him to enjoy.
When Burke had reached the top of the wooden spire he took a breath at the sight of the vast expanse of wild lands that stretched to the horizon. From his point of view the entire world seemed to be in harmony with how the forest and its creatures went about with the circle of life. He looked back in the direction of the camp and frowned, whether he liked it or not, he had made a promise to Agatha to get her to his time. Burke shrugged and skydived down into the forest with a joy filled yell.
-SEVERAL MINUTES LATER-
Burke had returned to the camp and hung from a tree, he'd taken care to conceal himself in the shadows to observe the usual goings on of the troupe. So far it was a mundane group of ordinary people, doing their usual business. For him it was a boring observation but still necessary to get a feel for how these people lived their lives and he'd be traveling with them for as long as Agatha did. She was his guide to this strange world, that was a big part of his reasoning for staying with her this far, certainly not because he had any affections for her. That was what he told himself, but the more he thought about that reasoning, the less it seemed to feel right. He shook his head, he'd barely known the girl for a few days so she was maybe kind of a friend, and that was pushing it.
As if the universe had heard his thoughts, out of the corner of his visor he spotted the orange haired girl peaking out of a barrel and speaking to a member of the troupe. Burke darted over to her location through the trees and perched on top of a branch. He took a quick glance around the area to see if any one was around besides Agatha and the guy she was talking to. With no one else in sight, Burke grinned to himself and latched the grapple line to the branch. He carefully turned himself upside down and twisted his boots around the line for some control. The pilot began to slowly lower himself down to where Agatha was positioned, the girl being completely unaware of where he was.
The man she was talking with happened to take a quick glance up and spotted Burke. The pilot stuck his finger in front of where his mouth would be and pointed down at Agatha. Luckily the guy understood what Burke was up to and didn't say a word and give any indication to Agatha on what was about to happen. With his secret safe, Burke inched closer to Agatha until he was right above her. The pilot took a quick and prepared to give Agatha a good bit of pranking.
"BOO!" Burke shouted at his friend.
"WAAGH!" Agatha bolted out from the barrel in a burst of speed.
"Hahaha!" The person with whom Agatha had been talking was holding his gut in laughter as Agatha huffed and puffed from being given a good scare.
"NOT FUNNY LARS!" Agatha stood up and snapped at him.
"Are you kidding ?! It's hilarious!" Burke said as he hung from the grapple wire.
"Burke you jerk! THAT IS NOT FUNNY!" Agatha's face was a fiery red while she shouted at her traveling companion.
"It is to me!" Burke guffawed.
"Your reaction makes it even funnier!" Lars said in between laughs.
"SHUTUP!" Agatha hissed, she practically had steam plumes erupting from her ears in anger.
"Ok, ok. I'm done." Lars grinned regained his composure.
"And you, Thomas?" Agatha glared at the pilot.
"Alright, I had my fun." Burke said he tried to lower himself to the ground. Just as he was about to touch down, Agatha slugged him in the gut.
"OOF!" Burke grunted as the wind was knocked out of him. "Okay…. Maybe I deserved that." He rasped.
"Don't do that again." Agatha growled to Burke.
'Those two are like an old married couple.' Lars thought as he observed the two companions. He shook his head and took a deep breath to relax. "Okay, so where was I before Burke scared you?"
"Your life making cheese."
"Ah yes, Indeed you see before you a former cheesemaker's apprentice who stopped to see a traveling heterodyne show one day."
"That's what led you to join the troupe then isn't it?"
"You hit the nail on the head Tom."
"Like I told everybody before, call me Burke."
"Got it."
"My favorite show was the race to the west pole!"
"Oh yeah, we haven't done that one in a while."
Burke tuned out as the two of them began to reenact a scene from the show they had been discussing. A few minutes passed as Agatha and Lars went over the lines of the scene with animated expressions to suit the roles. Just when they had concluded their minor performance, the group came to a stop just out of the path of two giant white spiders that were being rode by two strange women. Burke froze at the sight of the immense creatures, his blood ran cold at the very sight of the massive, eight legged beasts. He was rooted to the spot out of fear, every instinct he had made him want to either run or pull his gun, but at this moment all he could do was stand completely still.
"Geisterdamen…" Lars whispered.
The two tribal women spoke in their native language as they eyed the small group of people in front of them. After a short conversation that ended in a dismissive expression that involved the word actors, the two tribals went on their way again. After a minute or two of silence, both of the spider riders had disappeared into the distance. Burke jittered and shook for a brief moment, which caused Agatha and Lars to give him confused looks.
"Err, Thomas? Are you o-?" Agatha reached for the pilot but just when she put her hand on his shoulder, the most unexpected thing happened.
"SPIDERS!" Burke screeched as he scrambled into the nearest tree. "I hate spiders! HATE THEM! Oh I hate spiders! H-A-T-E! Regular spiders are bad enough, but giant spiders?! Why in the good lord's name does there have to be giant spiders on this planet?!"
"That's something I'd expect from Balthazar when it comes to regular size spiders." Lars said as he stared at the quivering Burke.
Agatha couldn't help but giggle at the display of childish fear from the normally cool and sarcastic pilot. "You're scared of spiders?! Ha now that's funny! How do you like it?!" She pointed a finger at Burke in a teasing manner.
"Not the same!" He spat while he sat on his perch.
"Alright that's enough." Lars said to the both of them.
"Oh fine. Anyway, who were those people?" Agatha asked Lars
"They call em Geisterdamen, spiders riders, webdamen. All kinds of things. People say they cause revenants, blight crops, steal children, the usual burr. Truth is though that nobody knows much about them, but they've been around for years." He replied.
"I've never heard of them." Agatha said in wonder.
"Lots of things you never hear bout in the wastelands. Want to get dropped off at the nearest town?" Lars said with a smirk.
"No thanks." Agatha snorted.
"Is everybody alright?!" One of the other troupe members shouted as a group of them ran over to see what was wrong.
"Yeah!" Agatha said loudly.
"NO!" Burke shouted.
-SEVERAL HOURS LATER-
Agatha and Burke had returned to camp and were briefed on the proposed living arrangements, to which Burke objected and opted to sleep either in his Titan or under the stars. Agatha shook her head at that and watched as the pilot left to rejoin his machine. Day turned to night and the moon hanged in the night sky over the peaceful forest. Wolves howled off in the distance and smoke billowed from a campfire among the troupe's wagons. Burke and his Titan had moved somewhat closer to the group but otherwise stayed out of sight. Burke looked out at the stars and watched as one trailed across the night sky in silence. It was a beautiful night and beside him was his trusty machine.
"What more could a guy ask for?" Burke thought aloud.
"There are several answers to that query, pilot." Vex replied.
"I know Vex, but I was just enjoying the moment. Right now I've got no war to worry about, you sitting with me, and the open road ahead." Burke chuckled languidly.
"An expression as you call it?" Vex asked his operator.
"Exactly buddy, and right now things seem perfect." Burke sighed.
But suddenly the pilot's relaxing moment of peace was pierced by a loud noise from the campsite near the fire. "SKREEONK!"
"Or not…." Burke groaned.
-END CHAPTER-