The Toxic Tea Shop

Hey guys, so worlds adrift, an in development game i'm following, recently started a creative writing contest, where the reward is to have the winners entry in game as a piece of collectable lore! Any-who this is my entry to the contest, and the names are not linked to my other bits! Oh yeah and it is limited to 500 words. I looked up at the clear blue sky, enjoying the cool breeze run across my skin, our ship creaked a gust of wind brought the scent of pollen. My brother called me over, he said that he had found something. I turned from the edge and jogged back towards the ruins. He was trying to move a stone pillar that had fallen over, but underneath it I could see his discovery. A small gold coin lay pressed into the dirt, I could already tell that it was old. Lorus held the pillar steady as I crawled underneath it. I used my trusty knife to pry the coin from the ground and I quickly retreated from under the pillar. Lorus dropped it with a thud and a small cloud of dust ...

Chapter 1 - A Bounty Fit For A King It all started back in the Drakoon system, I was posted there as part of the high king's new “security initiative”. I was with the 44th squadron holding position in orbit around the systems 3rd and most remote planet, on paper it was called Drakoon 3, but we called it “Red-Light-Roody” due to its Prominent Red-light district. My old Tiger-class Skirmisher, called the Dubber Rucky, was parked on the dark side of a large asteroid within the planet's rings, My crew was on edge, there was a rumor running around about a large drug train which makes its way through this sector once every 168 hours. We were staying dark, so that meant no heat, no lights, only enough power running to stop us from suffocating. And so we just sat there, no leaving our stations, ready to go at a moment's notice. I checked the low scanner, its infrequent pings showing no differences, the timer clicked on, showing that we still had 3 hours to go before the drug t...

This is the story of Corporal Jash Masterson, and how he survived world war 3. A Smoothie of Comrades- I was tucked into my bunk when the first bombs fell. The ground trembling around me, I heard loud noises from within the compound as some of the ceiling caved in. I flung myself from my bunk, and legged it down the corridors. The corridors I knew so well, rushing past me as I charged forwards, the piercing wails of the alarms cutting through the chaos. I was one of the first to make it to the kit room, a few others made it in before the ceiling collapsed outside the door. The hardened walls and roof of the kit room, made us all feel better. In the room with me were; Captain David Hams, Lieutenant Laura Barnsley, Corporal Gregory Smithers and Madam Cornblower, one of the Compounds cooks. We all stayed silent for the first five minutes, except for the still screaming alarms, recovering from the sudden start, breathing heavily. I stood up and made my way to one of the cases and ...

Chapter 1: A speech to the masses “And now a reading from Miss Sakamoto, from class 2B” said Mr Strauss, the whole base clapped me as I walked across the stage to the microphone. I felt so small under so many stares, I looked down at the piece of paper which was supposed to have my speech written on it, instead it had a picture of a cowboy riding a narwhal on the moon, no, I don’t know how that works either but it does so ok? I looked up from the paper, and stared at the back wall of the classroom, through the porthole positioned there and into the deep blue water beyond. I took a deep breath and began: “I am grateful. I am grateful for the food we eat and the water we drink. I am grateful for the walls which keep us safe, and dry” There was a small chuckle from the audience, “I am grateful for the friends and family I have. I am grateful for my education and the teachers who provide it. I am grateful for the life I lived and will live. But most of all, I am grateful for the ove...

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 ...