Fantasy Force
Chapter 1
Page 1
Hey there, my name is Richard Moore. I used to be a sergeant in the US Army, but now I'm in the private sector. Lately I was working as a security guard at a small convention center in Kalamazoo, MI. They host a number of different events but most of the time I sat around doing nothing. But today is the day my life changed for the better or the worst depending on how you look at things.
I was a loner growing up always preferring to be by myself instead of being around others. I didn’t really play any sports or be a part of any organizations. I was pretty fit and people tried to get me to join different clubs and sports but I just didn’t want to. I did get along with everyone so I didn’t really have an issue making friends. I was the guy that just preferred to be alone and surprisingly people understood and left me alone for the most part.
After high school I had a realization that spending so much time by myself as a kid made me want to be a part of something more. I could have gone to college but higher learning just didn’t seem appealing to me. Why spend 10’s of thousands of dollars to have no idea what you want to do in life and only get a piece of paper out of it. I considered going to a trade school but I figured I would join the Army instead. It gave me a sense of being a part of something bigger and I could learn different trades. Also knowing that others depended on me really helped my overall mental state and now I actually like being around people. For a while at least.
Today I think people would call me an extroverted introvert or something like that. I do well with others but I definitely need my alone time. If I don’t get to just sit around and turn my mind off every so often I get really agitated, and you won’t want to be around me. I am telling you this because I am now the leader of a force of strangers gathered from of all things, Comic Conventions. Where you can find some of the strangest and fantastic people you will ever meet.
Page 2
The day it all started was like any other. I was in the convention center checking badges at the main hall to make sure only people with badges got into the main area. You know, the area with all the famous people and vendors and artists. I caught a couple kids trying to sneak by and had to detain them until their parents came to get them. It wasn’t the first time they tried to get in, that's why I had to be a dick. I usually let a couple attempts slide but these kids were relentless and they forced my hand. Fortunately that was the only “interesting” thing to happen on the first day.
On day one I had walked the entire convention doing my rounds. The convention used up almost all of the 1,000,000 square foot building. When you walk in through the main doors there were some tables to either side with flyers and business cards and leaflets. The standard stuff you see at every convention. The Main hall was through a quad set of double doors with a big banner that spanned over all the doors, “Welcome to Kalamazoo Comic Con”. To the left and right of the main doors there are big hallways with 5 “smaller” rooms in both hallways that can seat about 100 people and a small stage at the front.
The Main hall had row after row of small businesses that all had something nerdy, geeky, or pop culture related niche items. Most had their own hand drawn or painted art of the common superheroes, cult followed shows and movies. There were also a lot of comic book sellers and even a good number of novelists and people who wrote their own comics and books. There had to have been over 200 booths taking up a big part of the main hall.
Finally in the main hall was “Actor Row”. This massive line of voice actors, live action actors, artists, and even a couple singers was intense. Most of the lines could hold about 50 people. The “Big” stars had lines that were triple that. I never could understand why people would stand in line for hours to get a signature. But that's just me.
Page 3
Day Two of the convention was one that would not only change my life but several of the attendee’s as well. I had the second day off and I saw a couple things that peaked my interest when I walked the convention on the first day. I am a bit of a closet nerd and wanted to grab a few things. First was a really cool looking wooden “Brown Coats Only” parking sign. It had a picture of the ship from the show Firefly from the early 2000’s. The other thing was a drawing of a Gundam that looked really cool, it had battle damage and was floating in space with a star in the background and the lines showed the Gundam was falling towards the star. The artist had some other stuff that was interesting but just not anything I wanted.
After walking around and talking to some of the vendors I found myself looking at a sign for a panel or a company called Tech Toolbox about a new technology that could “change the way we think about daily life”. At least that’s what the poster said. It looked like this company saw an opportunity to get its tech in front of at least a portion of its target audience. The photo looked like a new phone but also kinda retro in that it was a flip phone but with a full keyboard and the limited specs made it seem like an alternative to a laptop computer. So I went in and got a seat near the front to try and get a good look at the phone once it was presented.
After I sat down an announcement was made by one of the convention staff members that the panel would start in 5 minutes. Looking around the stage it seemed pretty simple, a couple tables with chairs and microphones and a display that was under a sheet. I quietly sat there wishing that the guy next to me knew what deodorant was. Seriously, his hair was shiny and I swear I could see smell lines coming off of him. I looked around and all the seats were taken so moving was out of the question. I just had to remember that it was only for a short time and hopefully this new tech will be cool enough to justify sitting next to this person.
Page 4
Just when I thought I was about to lose my mind due to the smell I heard over the loudspeaker “ Ladies and Gentlemen, we hear at Kalamazoo Comic Con would like to introduce the CEO of Tech Toolbox Ms. Stephanie Anderson!” Everyone stood up and applauded, I stood also as I did not want to be “that guy”. Everyone in the room seemed genuinely happy to see her and I was curious how many were employees and how many were seemingly happy to try and get a chance to play with the new tech later.
As Ms. Anderson took the stage, I noticed that she was around 5’9”, long blonde hair, green eyes, and a very slim build. She looked like she was a runner or maybe a cyclist. At the very least it looked like she took very good care of herself. Once on the stage, Ms. Anderson said, “Hello, My name is Stephanie. I am extremely excited to see so many enthusiastic looking faces here today.” She then went into a long prepared speech about how this new phone would change the way we not only communicate with each other, but change the entire paradigm of personal hand held tech. I kinda tuned out of the speech as it was not very entertaining but I think the biggest reason was that I couldn’t concentrate thanks to ol’ smelly next to me.
I was brought back to the moment when everyone started clapping as she made her way over to the cloth. “I would like to introduce you all to our flagship product, The last phone you will ever need. I present “The T-Phone””. She then pulled off the cloth and it looked nothing like the photo. I was surprised as to how different the device was from the photo.
The device had a nice 5.8” screen, beveled edges, and other standard smartphone features. To say the least I was pretty disappointed. Ms. Anderson then called for a volunteer from the crowd. Not surprisingly, most of the crowd put their hands up. I didn’t as I had lost interest in the presentation at this point.
Page 5
That is when she called for the gentlemen in the second row on the right side on the inside aisle to come up to the stage. Stinky nudged me as I was lost in thought. I was thinking of what I was going to get for lunch from the food court at the back of the main hall. I begrudgingly stood up and made my way to the stage. I put a smile on and was genuinely curious what kind of “test” she wanted me to perform.
I walked up on the stage and was greeted by Ms. Anderson. “Hello sir. What is your name?”. “Richard Moore mam, it is nice to meet you.” She Responded, “Mam?” With a laugh, “Please call me Steph.” I shook her hand and walked towards the table to stand with the phone as she motioned me over to it. “Please Richard, Pick up the T-Phone and your own phone in your other hand.” I pulled out my phone and grabbed the T-phone off the stand. “Wow the
T-phone weighs significantly less. Is this a shell?” I asked Steph. She said “No, it is a fully functional device.” I said “ Really? But the T-phone weighs as much as a piece of paper. My phone feels like a brick compared to it.”
Steph smiled and asked “ Richard please now put your phone away. I want you to test out the T-phone.” I put my phone away and looked over the T-phone and noticed that it had a really high quality chrome finish. Like looking at the chrome pipe of a brand new Harley Davidson. It had 5 buttons on the edge. I asked “What are all the buttons?” Steph said “Why not try them out and see for yourself?” I looked down at the phone blushing as I should have just done that anyways. She did ask me to test out the phone and what better way then to press buttons right?
I pressed the button on the top of the right side, it turned the screen on. I then pressed the button on the upper part of the left side and a volume increase symbol showed on the screen. I then pressed the
Page 6
button just below that and the volume went down. “Ok so far it is just like any other phone.” I said aloud. The crowd and Steph chuckled at that. Steph then said, “OK, Now press the button on the very top of the phone on the left side and then set it down on the table.” I did as she asked and a full keyboard was shown on the table. It was a laser produced keyboard from the phone. I said “ Wow that is pretty cool.” Steph said “That is one very nice feature of this device. But there is one last button. A Coup de grâce one could say.”
I looked at her with my right eyebrow lifted. “OK, should I just leave it on the table or pick up the phone?” Steph said, “ This last button would be best used in your hand.” That made me even more curious and skeptical at the same time. I looked at the phone and pressed the button. Nothing happened. I pressed it again and still nothing. I asked “Isn’t this button supposed to do something?”.
I looked up at the crowd with a smirk and; they were gone. I looked over to where Steph was; she was gone. Now there was someone else there, or rather something else. I stepped back, looked down at the phone and the screen was flashing the words Transmission Complete. I looked back up and instead of Steph looking back at me, it was a Purple Creature. Bipedal, 2 arms, one head and the same Blonde hair and green eyes. “Steph? Is that you?” I asked. The creature replied laughingly, “Yes Richard, I am still Stephanie Anderson. This is my true form.” Steph said. That is when my vision started to get blurry and I asked “What did you do to me? Where am I? Why can’t I see? Why.. am.. I…”. That is when I lost consciousness and fell hard to the floor.
Chapter 2
Page 1
I came back to consciousness and my head was killing me. I noticed I was laying down on some sort of gel bed but it was encompassing me. Kinda like when you lay in a bed of leaves in the fall after raking them up as a kid. You're on top, but in the pile at the same time.
“How are you feeling Richard?” I heard from a short distance away to my right. I tried to sit up but it was difficult as the gel like material was trying to suck me back down into the bed. To say the least I was a little disconcerted with my current situation. “Better if I could sit up,” I said tersely. “Just lay there for a little while Richard. We need to make sure you made it through the transmission without any issues.” The now more familiar voice said.
After a few seconds I realized it was Stephanie's voice. “Steph is that you?” I said. “Yes Richard. Only a few more minutes and we can let you move around. Please sit still as the machine finishes its scan.” “Where the hell am I? What is this bed? What..” Stephanie interrupted “Richard please keep calm, I will explain everything in a minute Ok?” I sighed “Ok”.
After a few minutes of slightly panicking internally. Running through every plausible scenario in my head from hallucinations from not eating that day to the T-phone shocking me so badly I passed out and now my head is trying to make sense of the infirmary room I was in. Stephanie said “Ok Richard, you can sit up now.” I sat up and the bed did not hold me back. I found that the bed was very comfortable and surprisingly firm for gel.
“What happened Steph? Why are you purple? What are you? Where the hell am I?” I asked hurriedly. “One question at a time Richard” Stephanie said calmly. “First what happened? Your body went into shock after we transmitted you from the convention center to our ship. What am I? I am what you would call a humanoid from another planet. My skin is purple due to my blood using
Page 2
Hemerythrin protein instead of hemoglobin. My skin is thin and slightly translucent, that is why I appear purple. To the last question you are in the Medical Bay on our ship in orbit around Orus, I mean Earth.”
“Ok...Ok...Ok” I said to myself as I tried to digest the fact that I was on an alien ship and talking with an actual alien. My mind was racing with a million questions like, What the hell is happening? Why is this happening to me? What in the world could she want with me?
As I was going through these thoughts Stephanie broke the silence “Richard, we need your help.” This statement broke me from my loop of thoughts. “Help? Help with what?” I asked. What in the world could an alien species who has mastered instant transmission and interstellar space flight need help from me with?
“We need you to help us save the galaxy.” Steph said earnestly. “Let me explain the situation and how we feel you can help”. Steph got up from her chair and walked across the room in front of me. She tapped on the wall and it lit up. The entire wall was a screen. My eyes took a moment to adjust to the brightness of the wall.
The wall showed the entire galaxy in 3D. There were several points blinking in red across the spiral galaxy. Steph spoke “This is the Milkyway Galaxy, and here is your home solar system. ”She pointed to the red dot on the edge of the disk. “Over here is my home world.” She pointed to a second dot that was halfway to the center of the galaxy in between Earth and the center.
“My home world is known as Pachiri, and my people are known in the galaxy as Emnair.” Steph paused for a second. She looked like she was trying to hold back her emotions. “We are or were a peaceful people. We started to venture out into interstellar space several thousand of your years ago. When we had learned how to travel faster than light, and how to communicate in real time with those ships no matter how far they were.” Steph explained. I sat there
Page 3
in awe trying to absorb the information. My eyes were as wide as they have ever been and I tried to be mindful of my mouth trying to not let my jaw drop.
Steph continued, “We sought knowledge of the universe and to see if we were alone in the galaxy. We had colonized several planets in several solar systems near Pachiri. We had started resource lines back to our home world as the population had begun to grow at an unsustainable level. All was going to plan. That is when we got word from one of our exploration ships. It had made it to the other side of the center of the galaxy” That is when Steph pointed to the third dot on the map.
“Here is where we made first contact with the only other sentient species we had found so far in the galaxy.” Steph let her face show some of the anger that was growing inside her. “They introduced themselves as the Vacix.”
That is when Steph pulled up a picture of Two of the creatures. I thought they looked sort of like beetles. Four arms, Two legs, Two eyes, and a protrusion on the front of their head. The display had some information on them like, The Males of the species had a larger more pronounced horn and the females have a smaller horn. The males were larger, about 3 meters tall and the females at about 2.5 meters. They had an exoskeleton body and the males were around 180KG and the females around 135KG.
“The Vacix from the start seemed to want to control us but did not take any direct action. They told us that the direction the ship was headed was off limits and if we did not turn around they would take action. Seeing as we did not want to start a war with what we assumed was the only other sentient species in the galaxy we obliged and left that area.” Steph said.
She walked back to the chair next to my bed and sat down. She looked as though she wanted to throw something. “Steph what happened after that?” I asked with
Page 4
concern . “The Vacix escorted our ship out of that star system and told us how we could contact them in the future as they wanted to create a dialogue and form a relationship between our species.” Steph looked down at her hands that were clasped together.
A moment later she spoke again. “The Vacix contacted us about a year later. They wanted us to meet to start a dialogue. We met at the rendezvous which was close to one of our furthest settlements. When we arrived they opened fire upon that ship and destroyed it in seconds. We had no chance to escape. They opened fire and our ambassadors were killed. The Vaxic then moved on to our settlement in the solar system located 2 light years away from the rendezvous and bombarded the surface with rail guns and hyper velocity missiles loaded with antimatter warheads. Our colonies on that planet were atomized.”
Steph’s hands were in fists now. “Those bastards killed an entire colony, stripped the entire system of its resources, and did not even tell us why.” “Wait.. How did they strip an entire system of resources? Wouldn't that take 100’s or even 1000’s of years? Why did they just open fire? What the actual hell?” I asked. Steph looked up and smiled. “Sorry I am getting a little too in-depth with this. I will explain more at a later time. For now what you need to know is that the Vaxic are not a species you want to get involved with.” I looked at Steph and nodded.
“That is a lot of information to take in Steph. What could I, or any human for that matter, do to help?” I asked. Steph replied, “Right, for now we need you to rest. Your body is in shock and you need to recover before I bring you up to speed and explain how you can help. ”I felt a sharp prick in my shoulder. My eyes started to get heavy and I passed out again falling back onto the bed. Steph got up from her chair, placed a blanket on Richard, turned off the screen and left the room.
Steph walked to the bridge after putting Richard back to sleep. The door opened and Steph walked
Page 5
door opened and Steph walked onto the bridge. The Emnair General in charge of Steph’s mission was on the main screen at the front of the room. “Sir Mr. Moore has been sedated. I believe he will be fine according to the scanner. He is in shock and we need to make sure we bring him up to speed slowly to ensure we do not traumatize him. I gave him some information on our history and he seems to care and wants to help. Given his personality and military background I feel we have found the catalyst for the galaxy's survival.”
General Leuter Spoke, “ I hope you are right this time Ms. Anderson. We do not have time to find another like him. If there even is another like him. His test results are far beyond anything we have seen before and we can not afford to lose him. Be sure to take care of him and get him trained and up to speed as fast as you can. I don't need to tell you how important this man is.” “Yes Sir!” Steph replied with rigor. “I will get you status updates regularly General.” “Good.” General Leuter said curtly and the screen went back to the view of the planet below.
Steph looked around the empty bridge. A voice came out of the speakers on the ceiling, “Geez Steph, could you be any more of a kiss ass?” Steph replied, “Shut up you stupid piece of hardware.” “Wow Steph that one sure was original. Anyways how long are you going to let the catalyst sleep?” Steph looked at the speaker above her, “He had quite the shock. We will let him be for now. Let me know when he wakes up.”
Chapter 3
Page 1
Three hours later. “AIB, what is the status of Mr. Moore?” asked Steph. “Dick is stable and from my scans, he may need to relieve himself soon.” replied AIB. Steph looked over at one of AIB’s cameras and glared. “AIB I don't need THAT much detail and did you call him Dick?” questioned Steph. “Yes, that is a common nickname for men with the name Richard. Also from what I can see from his interactions with his family he is used to it.” said AIB. “I’m not sure that is ok AIB but go ahead and Prep him and the room for him to come out of sedation and I will be there shortly.” said Steph. “Preparing the room now.” said AIB.
I started to come back to consciousness again, and again the feeling of floating was disconcerting but it didn’t feel bad so I stayed calm. “Did you knock me out again?” I asked. “We had to. You were in shock and we needed to let your subconscious deal with the shock, and let your body recover from the transmission. Also that was the first time we sedated you, you passed out when you got here.” said AIB.
I looked around and did not see anyone. “Who said that?” I asked. “I did, I am AIB.” said AIB in a matter of fact way. “Where are you, in another room so I don’t infect you with my earthly bacteria and such?” I asked. I had seen War of the Worlds and some other sci-fi films where an alien species came to earth and they couldn’t fight our bacteria and viruses and other such things, and I didn’t know if that was a thing they needed to be concerned with. “What? NO. I am AIB, I am an AI or Artificial Intelligence.” said AIB again in a matter of fact tone.
“OK, does A I B stand for something?” I asked. “Yes, A I B stands for Artificially intelligent Butler. I don't much care for that name but it is my designation.” said AIB with a hint of melancholy. “Oh, do you want me to call you something else?” I asked. With a sigh “No AIB is fine. I am basically this ship's butler, even though I am possibly the most intelligent entity in this universe.” said AIB with a tone of arrogance. “Really, you are that smart?” I asked. “Dick I can’t lie. Well, I can. But I have found over the millennia that it is just easier to tell the truth. I am that smart, the things I could tell you would cause you to go into the
Page 2
fetal position and never recover.” said AIB in a matter of fact way.
I started to get out of the bed and I asked, “Wow, uhhh… please do not do that, and did you just call me Dick?”. “Yes. That is your name.” said AIB. “I don’t really like that name. Only a few people call me that and they earned that right.” I said. “Oh, sorry about that. I noticed those closest to you called you that and I hoped that I could also. I like that name for you.” AIB said. “Yeah call me Rich or Richard. It's nothing against you, it's just I don't know you or anyone here so I don't want to get off on the wrong foot.” I said. “I understand. I will call you Richard for now until you give the ok.” said AIB. “Thanks AIB, I appreciate it. Now where is the toilet? My molars are swimming.” I said with a hint of urgency. “It’s over there in the corner to your left.” said AIB. I looked over in the corner and there was a door that opened and it was a small washroom. It looked like a normal restroom like on an airplane, very small but had a toilet and a sink.
“Hey AIB, do you monitor everything that goes on in the ship?” I asked. “Yes I do” said AIB. “Do you watch or just gather data like from monitors?” I asked. “Both, why do you ask?” said AIB. “So is there like a privacy setting or something so you can’t see me use the toilet or use the shower or other times, if you know what I mean?” I asked. “OH, haha. I get it. No Richard I do not watch the crew or any being while they are indisposed. I used to but I got a mouthful from Steph about that. She went on for what seemed like hours about how people no matter the species need their privacy and this or that. It was really boring.” said AIB. “Ok, so then I don’t need to worry. Thanks for letting me know.” I said. I walked to the washroom and the door closed automatically behind me and I relieved myself.
Steph walked into the medical bay and looked around. “AIB, where is Richard?”. “He is currently indisposed.” said AIB. “OK. Can you please put the medical pod away and bring out the table and chairs?” asked Steph. “Sure thing
Page 3
Steph. What is on the agenda, and should I have the sedation ready?” asked AIB. “How was he when he woke up?” asked Steph. “He seems good to me. Vitals are normal and he is very nice. He even asked if I wanted to be called a different name.”. Steph chuckled “Well that is good, seems like you are taking a liking to him.”. “Oh yes, very much.” said AIB.
I walked out of the bathroom and heard “Very much” from the ceiling or overhead or whatever you call the top of a room in a ship. I looked forward and saw Steph sitting at a table that was not there a second ago and another stool like chair. The medical bed, pod thing, was gone. “Hello Mr. Moore, how are you feeling?” asked Steph. “I’m alright. Still trying to wrap my head around the fact that I am on an alien spaceship.” I stated. “So what were you two talking about?” I asked both Steph and AIB. “I was inquiring with AIB as to your condition” said Steph. I looked up to the ceiling and said “Oh great. Hey AIB, how am I doin?”. “Your vital signs are within normal limits. I do see that your glucose level is low. I suggest a snickers bar to beat your hunger.” said AIB like a commercial announcer.
“Come with me to the galley and let's get you some food” said Steph. Steph got up from the table and made for the door. I followed suit. “What kind of food is available?” I asked. “We have a synthesizer that can reproduce anything you wish. I have spent a good amount of time analyzing different foods from your planet.” said AIB. “Wow, that would take a long time. How long have you been here anyways?” I asked. “We have been in system for 6 months” said Steph.
Following Steph I looked around the halls and was a little underwhelmed. The hallways were about 8 feet wide, just enough space for 2 people to walk side by side without having to bump shoulders, and 8 foot tall. They were a lighter gray and had a slight bend that followed the hull of the ship.
Page 4
After walking with Steph for a while I asked “What’s with this ship? It’s so boring, I thought it would be bright with portholes, and big viewing windows, and where are all the support stations? We have been walking for a bit and nothing and no one seems to be around.” Steph turned her head a little over her shoulder and said “This ship is mostly automated. AIB controls a large majority of the tasks that would normally be staffed by crew.”. “Yes, I can do basically everything needed to maintain and operate the ship. I only require confirmations for major tasks like “high level” tasks.” said AIB.
“What is a high level task?” I inquired. “Oh you know, Tasks like taking the ship out of operation for heavy maintenance, going into battle, firing weapons, those sort of things.” AIB said with a note of nonchalance. “How many crew are aboard?”. “Right now, 3” said AIB. “3...3! That's it! Why are there only 3, with how big this ship is you would think a crew of 40 or 60 would be needed.” I stated.
More coming 2023
Leave a comment here