Author's note: Hey, who remembers this thing? I'm surprised I do! Just kidding.
I really had no idea what this would turn into when I started writing it. I love dialogue, and to write a story in this style was...quite the change for me. It's been difficult to get inspiration, as you can tell from the time between updates. I have no idea when or if I'll update it again, but I'd like to think I might. Don't hold your breath, though.
Na
I can see, but only dimly, as if I am far away from everything. I feel trapped inside something stifling, and it is difficult to breathe. I must get out! My limbs flail all over the place, and it is difficult to keep track of them all. Then, at last, I feel cold air on my face as I scramble out of a thin film.
What is going on?
I am standing in darkness, on the brown surface of a planet. Nearby is a red mass. It feels wrong, and dim memories float to the surface. A spaceship, a job to do. I tilt my head around, but nothing seems familiar.
Carefully, I step forward—and almost fall over. I am teetering on two legs. Only two! What has happened? I feel like I am very high above the ground, like I was in a spaceship. Tall. Powerful.
Great.
((YOU ARE AWAKE.))
A powerful force stuns me. There is thought in my mind that comes from outside of me. It speaks of a "you," of me. Wildly, I turn around, and now I do fall over. As I clamber back up, I see my legs—skinny and gray. The limbs of a Great One.
((WHAT ARE YOU DOING?))
Something is wondering what I am doing, but I hardly know. So I go back down on the ground to show it, then rise up again. Down, and up.
((STOP THAT.))
I stop it.
((WE NEED YOUR HELP.))
It is not a grammatical statement so much as it is the expression of an emotion. It—or they, it is hard to tell—is desperately relying on me. But this feels good. I know how to obey.
((YOU MUST GO TO THE YEERK SPACEPORTS AND TRADE FOR WHAT WE REQUIRE. IF YOU CANNOT, STEAL IT.)) Only much later am I be able to restate this; it is a wave of thoughts and images. The action of taking a thing away. Many great machines. And small, ugly things that...change people, and turn them into ugly things? It is difficult to understand.
I see myself taking the things away and bringing them back to the red mass. It is my small self, with a body that falls apart from time to time. I see myself taking the things and I understand that it is not happening now—I am standing here, not in the place with the many machines—but it must be in the future.
((AND IF YOU FAIL...YOUR COLLEAGUE WAS ONLY BARELY EDIBLE, BUT YOU HAVE CHANGED. DO NOT FAIL.))
It is confusing, but I have images of the other child from the big machine being...eaten?
((WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? GO. NOW.))
In the images they have shown me, there is another place. Another place I am supposed to be. But how can I get there? I walk away from the red mass, uncertain.
((THIS WAY.))
Flickers in my head, holes among the darkness. I see the holes for only a moment, but all of a sudden, I see them and they stay in place! I am supposed to go...not to them, through them. I approach them and then enter.
It is like I am falling very long and very fall. I am scared.
But why should I be scared? I have seen the pictures. There will be a future for me, I will return to the red mass.
And now I am not scared.
Then, I am standing on the ground. The ground is orange, but it is still ground. Nobody else is there.
I walk around. I can walk, even on just two legs. It feels nice to walk. I walk faster and faster, running on my two legs! Without so many limbs to get in the way, I can go very fast.
Out in front of me are two arms, like the arms of a Great One. Everything about me I can see looks like a Great One. But I cannot see my eyes or my mouth—I do not know if they are eyes and a mouth like a small self, or eyes and a mouth like a Great One.
It feels good to run and run, but it is lonely. I need to find other people. No, other things! I will take the things away and bring them to the red mass.
Things, things. Where are the things?
I look all around. I do not know where the red mass is or the holes are. But then, I see something else. So I walk towards it.
I want to eat, but there is nothing to eat. So I keep walking and walking. It is a boring walk, with nobody to play with. All I can do is think inside my head.
Everyone is gone. The Great Ones and the other child. He was...eaten. By the red mass!
But the red mass needs my help. I can help them, then they will not eat me.
I need to get the things.
I walk and walk, until I get tired. I put my arms down on the ground. They are not tired. I did not walk with them. But now, I can walk with them—they are legs now, just like a Great One's legs!
So I keep walking, and at last, the far-away things get big. They are not the things I am supposed to get. They are like huts or machines that do not move. Things are going in and out of them.
One of those things comes towards me, and makes lots of noise like a Great One. It is not the noises for making food. But I know I am supposed to get the things from it.
When the Great Ones make noise, their mouths move. When the thing makes noise, its mouth moves. So I move my mouth, but I do not hear any noise.
The thing makes more noise. It moves one...hand, it must be, down at the end of its arm, so it is close to another hand. On the other hand is a silver thing, with buttons on it. Like buttons for making food. I bend down and press several buttons. They are blue, red, and green.
The thing moves its hands away and makes a little more noise, then turns and walks away. It takes a couple steps, then turns and waves to me.
So I follow it.