Welcome Readers.
Janetfl wrote:Hi Paper
,
Once again I have to apologise for missing an update but I've been a little busy over the last two days and haven't even been on the board. But I'm all caught up now!!!
Paper this is just getting better and better!!!! I'm glad that Serena has realised that there are drastic consequenses for what Khivar has done but yet again he is completely deluding himself!!! This is getting tense now and the only thing that can save them is the granilith ... this now explains why he is so desperate to get his hands on it ... other than the obvious power he would gain from it. I JUST LOVE THIS!!!!! JAN
Hi Jan! I completely understand. I haven’t been able to read anything at all lately. Posting everyday is a major undertaking and RL is infringing on my fun! I’m so glad you still think this is good. I know it is getting unwieldy. But unfortunately, I find I have a lot to say!
Thanks for your support!
Things are still heating up.
Today’s episode is brought to you by the letters “KKK” and the word “consequences”.
50 - Descent into madness
Fear is rampant galaxy-wide as the news of Serena’s predictions has spread like wildfire.
It looks like King Larek’s planet Zhatchar was the closest to ground zero at the time of the blast.
Larek’s planet is already facing major climate change as a result of obit irregularities and their close ties to the Antarian people are fueling added fear here. They have experienced massive upheaval and their temperatures have plummeted dramatically as their orbit swings wildly away from the sun. King Larek immediately issued a formal request for sanctuary for the people of his drifting planet and displaced victims are fleeing to the safety of Antar as quickly as the ships can be loaded. Refugees have been pouring in as fast as they find a spare seat on one of the fleeing kroozers as one disaster after another cause the Zhatcharians to lose their homes and livelihoods.
Public shelters are full and the administration has made a general plea to Antarians to take their neighbors in and provide sanctuary. Many of Larek’s people have already lost their lives as the sudden frigid temperatures and choked supply lines did a number on a population already suffering from the encumbrances of an extended war.
Antar’s Jabber Science Complex has donated special cold-weather environmental suits to protect those left behind who are trying to salvage what can be saved from the drifting planet.
Sero’s planet, Zinder, is too small and too close to the sun to accept any of the refugees from Zhatchar and they too are asking for aid. While accustomed to the hotter temperatures already, the Zinderians do have their limits. Their tiny world has also suffered from the ground tremors and food shortages. Endless bulletins are flooding in from Zinder now describing major volcanic eruptions with deadly pyroclastic landslides of burning ash, and deadly lightning, which have caught even the flame-loving Zinderians in their deadly carnage.
Massive drought has combined with the suffocating ash to covers and dry out fields of crops eliminating all food production on the planet and Zinderians must try to import enough to feed their entire population. Supply sources have literally dried up, overnight. Dehydration and starvation is rampant. The death toll from burns and suffocation may reach millions and Zinder survivors are also fleeing en mass to Antar.
Cerule is the only planet that hasn’t been cut off at the knees from the galactic boondoggle. Although Kathana’s blue planet wobbled a bit from the explosion, they were pretty far away from Fubar when it disintegrated and their orbit has remained relatively stable. Their atmosphere deflects much of the increased heat provoking fires and heat stress on their neighbor’s spheres. Although supply lines have dried up, they seem to be weathering the shortages ok. Because much of their infrastructure is underground and they escaped the massive ground shaking, damages are minimal so far. It was announced that Cerule is unable to accept refugees at this time due to their precarious obit irregularities.
The temperature is beginning to rise here on Antar, as well.
All hell is breaking loose on Antar’s beautiful orange sphere also, due to the overcrowding, food shortages, and new natural disasters cropping up every day. Long lines form quickly at grocery and supply stores. People have started to hoard food and supplies. Store shelves are almost bare and new products are snapped up as soon as they hit the shelves. Something must be done soon.
Earth tremors are becoming a common occurrence across the globe. Luckily damage from the shaking has been minor, but a major tsunami which developed from the North Sea quake has scoured its islands and surrounding beaches clean and millions of lives were lost.
Desperate Antarians riot in the streets leaving a trail of blood from savage hostility and careless accidents alike. Looting and arson plague the metropolitan areas as they convulse with spasms of violence.
All day staring at the ceiling making friends with shadows on my wall
All night hearing voices tellin’ me that I should get some sleep
Because tomorrow might be good for somethin’
Hold on, feelin’ like I’m headed for a breakdown
And I don’t know why
Is that sweat on my brow and under my arms?
‘Impossible!’
I have to stop letting things get to me this way.
If anyone notices, it could undermine everything I have worked so hard to build. Ergo, my whole empire could unravel into ineffectual pockets of vulnerable assets ripe for plunder by anyone passing by.
“This isn’t happening. This isn’t happening. This can’t be happening to ME!”
“I’ve got to do something. Something. Anything!”
“Come on. Come on! THINK!”
“What should I do?”
But I’m not crazy; I’m just a little unwell
I know, right now you can’t tell
But stay a while and maybe then you’ll see
A different side of me
But I’m not crazy, I’m just a little impaired
I know, right now you don’t care
But soon enough you’re gonna think of me
And how I used to be, me
‘The whole zamn galaxy is unraveling right before my eyes. And they all want to move here because of it!
It’s a nightmare of logistics.
Thank the gods I’ve got so many advisors and competent Generals for that sort of thing!
I haven’t seen Tove in days. I’ve heard his hair is turning white.
At least I don’t have to worry about that old biddy anymore. That ground-quake did me a big favor. I hope she saw it coming! I hope she thought about me with her last gasping breath before the tidal wave swallowed her and all her cohorts. She can rot in Haydeez!’
I’m talkin’ to myself in public, dodging glances on the train
And I know, I know they’ve all been talkin’ about me
I can hear them whisper, and it makes me think
There must be somethin’ wrong with me
Out of all the hours thinkin’, somehow, I’ve lost my mind
‘I’ve got major disasters everywhere I turn.
People are flocking to Antar from every zamn planet in the Universe! Maybe I should cut that off. No more refugees! Let Larek, Sero and Kathana take care of their own problems!’
‘If they had just given in to my initial demands, NONE of this would have ever happened in the first place!’
Khivar paces the room like a caged Gauth. ‘Yes. That’s what I’ll do. No more Mr. Nice Guy! What was I thinking, allowing all those undesirables to come here in the first place? This is War!’
“They think they can just dump all their problems off onto me? It stops NOW!”
But I’m not crazy, I’m just a little unwell
I know, right now you can’t tell
But stay a while and maybe then you’ll see
A different side of me
His constant headache is testament to the monumental strain he is under.
It feels like the walls are closing in on him.
He wonders what calamity will be next to topple onto his head. He feels paralyzed with impotence.
He wonders where it will all end. Will he be able to survive it?
But I’m not crazy, I’m just a little impaired
I know, right now you don’t care
But soon enough you’re gonna think of me
And how I used to be, me
‘If I don’t watch out, I’ll have no one but changzlings left to rule over. Those zamn things are the least affected by all of this. They can survive anything! If their zamn planet hadn’t been swallowed by the sun, they would probably have overrun the whole zamn galaxy.’
‘Me, on the other hand. . . I wonder if I should check out of this mountain death-trap before it decides to slide down the hill. I need to find something a little more stable in a ground-quake. Serena thinks they are going to continue and will probably get even worse. What did she say? Magmatude? Magna? She’s been spouting so many scientific terms at me lately; I can’t understand a word she says!
I don’t know if I’m coming or going.
I hardly even know my own name any more!
How am I supposed to think?
How am I supposed to come up with a solution to this galactic dilemma when everyone is pullin’ at me and pushing their own agendas? The world’s gone mad!
I just want to curl up and hide under the covers. I haven’t had any decent sleep in . . . I can’t even remember when!
I haven’t had sex since that zamn girl started all of this commotion!
Maybe that’s what’s wrong with me! I need to relax. Unwind.’
“I need to have a little fun . . . while my entire gods zamn empire is BURNING TO THE ZAMN GROUND!”
“FRRRRAAAAAAAAAACK!”
I’ve been talkin’ in my sleep
Pretty soon they’ll come to get me
Yeah, they’re takin’ me away
I’m not crazy, I’m just a little unwell
I know, right now you can’t tell
But stay a while and maybe then you’ll see
A different side of me
‘All right. All right. Calm down. Calm down. Calmness. Feel the calm.
I can do this. I just have to think. I just have to come up with some way to get that Granolith.
To get Nicholas to DO HIS ZAMN JOB!!!
Breathe! Calming, soothing breaths. In. Out.
I’m just gonna have to do his job for him.
But how can I, when I’m here and it’s there? On that zlug-infested rath hole.
Come on. Come on. THINK! How can I get to Terran and find the Granolith before the whole galaxy flushes down the sewer?
Zan knows where it is. Why hasn’t Nicholas gotten it out of him yet? If I was there . . . I’d wring his scrawny neck!!!
He’s supposed to be able to mind-walk someone and TAKE what he wants! There aren’t many left who can do that sort of thing. I can’t do it! I don’t even know anyone else who can, now. I’d have sunk his boat a long time ago if he didn’t have that valuable skill! Why hasn’t he used it? I’m going to tear him limb from limb when I get my hands on him. I’m gonna peel his skin off piece by piece with my fingernails till he drowns in his own tears. I’m gonna feed his ashes to the Vultures!
When I get that Granolith back, I’m gonna blow up their whole fraking planet! That will teach those Terran’s for harboring those criminals! I’ll take out the whole zamn Universe!’
“Ha! Ha, ha, ha, ha, HA HAAAAAAAA!
Khivar collapses onto the floor and slumps against the hard wall. “Who am I trying to kid? Zan has defeated me.
Without lifting a finger. Maybe they were all right about me? I am a ‘fraidy fhe’ loser.”
But I’m not crazy, I’m just a little impaired
I know, right now you don’t care
But soon enough you’re gonna think of me
And how I used to be, yeah, how I used to be
How I used to be
Well, I’m just a little unwell
How I used to be, how I used to be
I’m just a little unwell
‘Don’t be ridiculous! Stop feeling sorry for yourself!
YOU are a leader.
Get up off your zamn ass and get to work!
There must be something I can do.
Zan knows where it is. I need to get inside his head and find out for myself!
I’ve got all these Seers everywhere. Not one of them warned me about this impending disaster! I should boil them all in oil! I should hang them in the courtyard!
Every last one of them!
But Serena says they don’t really “see” future events. They just get vague notions and gut feelings. They need to “interpret the signs” to prognosticate. She says it isn’t an exact science. They may have thought trouble was on the horizon, but they have no way of knowing exactly what would happen.
They’d probably take ME out if they did!
Their most useful skill is being able to tell when someone is lying. That is what makes them so valuable a commodity.
That’s why I keep them on the payroll.
To cover my assets. They do a zamn fine job of that, as far as it goes.
Serena says I should have consulted someone who knows astro-physics before using the bomb.’
‘Now she tells me! She couldn’t have mentioned this before . . . oh I don’t know . . . before the ships left dock?’
‘Why didn’t she stop me before I blew the whole zamn galaxy to Haydeez? Some good she is!
I don’t even think we’re really related.’
He purses his lips in distate. ‘She always thought Zan was such a prize. I’ll bet she even had a crush on that slug. He thought he was THE MAN. Bastard! How did he get away with the Granolith right under my nose? Someone else helped him.
Someone. Someone. But who?
Probably his fracking Momma. I’m so glad I never have to see HER fugly face again.
But Zan is another story. There must be some way for me to get to Terran and take care of business. A summit, perhaps? We’ll inhabit some of those human vermin and trick Zan into giving us the Granolith!
Maybe I should gather all those good-for-nothing Seers and use them to inhabit Rath, then use the drone to kick Zan’s ass. And Nicholas’s too!
Maybe I’ll just drop in on Zan, himself. Surprise!’
“At last. A workable plan!”
He contacts his Adjutant to call in the clowns.
Unwell by Matchbox 20
JAN 