The Toxic Tea Shop

Chapter 5 The lights on the interior dimmed to red and the security lady, I now knew to be called Marshall, announced that we had arrived. I got up from my seat and made my way to the pods. We each stood by one and once the all clear was given, climbed inside. The actual pods are situated inside the wall on one side, and you have to slide into a small airlock/hole in the floor next to the wall, where you can then climb into the pods. The pods were rugged and claustrophobic, meant to withstand atmospheric re-entry. I pulled the harness tight and locked myself into the pod. I pressed the button above my head which told the pilot I was ready. I heard the pings of the other members readying up. A countdown started on the small screen in front of me. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1. FOOSH A large force pushed us out of the ship, after the G’s normalised, the screens turned on and I could see the others pods falling into position ahead of me. I could see the target approaching, appearing be...

Chapter 4 I pushed my way against the tide of the day shift returning home, and pressed towards the docks. the lift emptied and I got in, once again descending towards my destination. Only now did I start to realise the risks involved in these missions I left the lift and walked back to the dockmasters office. There was a not on the door which read: Sam, (then an arrow) dock 18. I shrugged and asked my Forzy as to the location of dock 18, he promptly overlaid a line for me to follow on my visor. Dock 18 was a part way down the secondary docks, within the dock was a large, stocky looking ship, its snub-nosed, dropship design being quite iconic, I recognised it as being a Class B vessel of the Aster variety. It bore the classic white and blue markings and paint job typical of its creator, the Kerbodyne corporation. The name of the ship was “Bullfrog III”, part of me wondered what happened to Bullfrog I and II. I made my way to the gangplank and as I approached the dockmaster came o...

Chapter 2 The difference between a third technician and a second technician is like that of private to captain in the military, i'm not the highest technician, that titles goes to the executive technicians, but it’s a significant promotion never-the-less. My day-to-day roles have changed slightly, I now oversee the third rate technicians, and also get to work on the more advanced machinery. For example I no longer run maintenance on any quarters lower than Q2! I now get to work with the Primary Technicians in the power rooms, tweaking and fixing the giant StatBlocs, making sure the ship always has power. Today however, I was crawling through the stiflingly hot utility tunnels of the PR Residential block. It was actually quite relaxing, going through the tunnels by myself, I had somewhat gotten used to the heat and continued with the job at hand. The rooms here were smaller than mine, but the furnishings were improved, the beds a little bigger, fabrics a little softer, etc. In ...

Chapter 3 The lights came on slowly as my alarm sounded, simulating dawn. I lay still in bed for a few minutes, trying to extend a lay in as much as possible, I thought I deserved it , since yesterday I saved a StatBloc from exploding . I was just about to get up when my bed did it for me, it rose up on one end, tipping me onto the cold floor. I groggily stood up, I asked Forzy “What was that?” Forzy replied “All Q2 standard issue beds are fitted with a wake-up insurance policy,” I just nodded and waved it away. I sleepily padded into the bathroom and stepped inside the auto fit. This machine automatically undresses you, washes and then clothes you, it certainly makes getting ready a whole lot quicker.  The machine tore my sleepwear off as it always does, then sprayed me with the cleaning fluid, followed by its slightly painful powerful water jets. They certainly get in all the nooks and crannies. This was then followed by an intensive drying procedure, It then presented me with...

His Majesties Seed Ship: Pangolin Prime This is the personal log of Sam Grimsbry, second technician on board the HMSS Pangolin Prime. The year is 2178 and humanity has left earth, a mixture of global warming and wars made it uninhabitable. Mankind spent its latter years creating seed ships in the stellar docks, but tensions broke and war erupted in a high earth orbit, causing many of the seed ships to be destroyed. The remaining four were separated in the dash to flee the conflict and now roam the milky way en route to one of many possible exoplanets. HMSS Pangolin Prime is heading to  Kepler-186f, one of the first exoplanets to be discovered to be roughly the same size as earth and in the “habitable region” of its solar system, its years are shorter and its sun is dimmer, but it could be humanity's last hope. Chapter 1 “Yahoo!” I shouted as I leaped over the railing of the administration building, Today I finally got that promotion I was going for, you can now cal...

(Note, this is the New first Chapter) Seth watched as Lorus held the sword to the man with the hat’s throat, they were both glaring daggers at each other, the man with the hat’s men were tied up behind him were gagged, probably for good reason as muffled shouting could still be heard. The man with the hat spoke up “Lorus, you don’t need to do this, I got a kid back home” Lorus just stared at him coldly and whispered in his ear, “So do I” as he plunged the sword through his neck. His colleagues exclaimed at Lorus, the man with the hat choked once, then collapsed to the ground. Lorus beckoned to his men and they brought up one of the man with the hat’s men. “Now you too, will die” Lorus said to the man, he raised his sword and as he brought it down, Seth jumped in front of the swing, trying to block the sword with his arm, the sword met his arm and... Seth woke up. “Another nightmare?” he said to himself, as he rubbed his forehead. Seth decided not to dawdle and pulled himself out...

Week 1 Day 7 Evening Everyone sat around the fire, staring into it their expressions grave. Ellyn had tried arguing a rescue out of them but Julian said that the risk was too great and Seth would understand. The look that Seth had given still haunted her. They had made their way back to the building, without being spotted but decided to not stick around. Acorn was exited at their return but had kept looking in their group for Seth, Ellyn tried to tell him that Seth wasn’t there, but either he didn’t understand or didn’t care, he sat on her shoulder and kept looking for him. Ellyn had barely eaten anything, she had no appetite for anything, she just sat staring into the fire, trying to think of a way around the problems, but she just didn’t know where he would be or even how they could get there, they had the cart but only Julian knew how to operate it at a basic level so it wouldn’t be much good for longer journeys. They had set out with the setting sun, moving away from the...