Of Wolves and Weasels - Day 600 - Terror on Moonbase Alpha - Chapter 6, Part 1

Hey all, GoodShibe here!

So on Friday I completed Chapter 5, Part 2 of Terror on Moonbase Alpha.

If you're just joining us now, please feel free to get caught up here:

Without further ado, here's Part 1 of Chapter 6

Terror on Moonbase Alpha - Chapter 6, Part 1

They say that everyone has their breaking point, where they simply run out of the ability to cope with what's happening to them. Jacob hadn't quite hit that point yet, but as he watched the Lieutenant's face - that bitter scowl blooming behind her professional demeanor - he got a good glimpse of where the end of his rope might be and what, exactly, might push him there.

"Look, I'm in no way doubting your skill at what you do... but you basically just asked me to sign my own death warrant for someone I barely know. Look, I'd love to help but... I really like my life. For the most part."

Lieutenant Talon sighed and nodded. "Guess we can't expect everyone to be a hero."

"Hero? Who the hell signed me up to be a hero? I want to get as far away from this thing as humanly possible, forget I ever saw it."

"Fair enough," she said, reaching for the door activator.

"What are you doing?"

"My job." And, with that, the Lieutenant stepped into the room, the door hissing shut behind her.

"Well, that went well..." he thought, staring at Kara's vitals as the Lieutenant strode across toward her, watching the heart monitor beep in time as she lay there unconscious. The long, flat line of her brainwave functions droned onward. He wondered if that meant that Kara was brain dead and almost made a joke about it.

Reflexes. All about the reflexes - having that instant defense on standby. He'd spent so much time playing dumb, working to buck the yoke that his family -- his father -- had placed on him, that, for a while, he'd actually started to believe it. He knew full well he was just as smart as any of them... he just couldn't bear to have his life dictated for him in the same way that his brother and sister had.

Insults like 'brain-dead' or 'Himbo' or 'Jock' were like food for him, at one point - further pushing him out and away from his family's shadow and expectations. That was until they'd started to worm their way in, until those words started to take root -- until he'd started to identify with and find comfort in them.

In lowered expectations there was safety, there was room to move. Not everything was life and death -- certainly not in the way that his dad had always preached.

To hear his father talk, his bloodline was going to be Humanity's saving grace, and they would drag the rest into the future kicking and screaming if they had to. He was merciless on his older brother, Adam. Jacob had watched as any latent interest in music and art was driven out of him, as his father had put Adam through programming drills and programming camps -- designed to help him 'network', fast track him onto the Core Dev team.

His sister, Sarah, had had it worse. His father had pushed for her to get into a "man's" field so that she wouldn't be just another 'weak woman'. He told her to 'fight the patriarchy' and 'take her power as a young woman' with a straight face... even as he chased away her dreams of being a botanist. She would be an engineer, the best engineer.

And she was. She traveled the world creating fantastic projects... that she didn't care about -- and it reflected in her work. They called her 'brilliant but cold'. Her solutions were clean, elegant... lifeless. She wasn't happy -- she could smile the smile and speak the words -- but her life wasn't hers and she knew it.

He had overheard his father's plans for him one night. There was talk of sending him off to military school, to get a soldier in the family -- how that might 'play' to council, to his re-election chances, to have such a diverse and accomplished family.

Jacob had run away that night and it took them a full week to find him. His father, however, hadn't wasted any second of the opportunity, there were photos up, personal vids taken from his early childhood. Public speeches before cameras beseeching for help in finding his son.

His father had hugged him at the threshold of the door, with the cameras rolling. The first and only time his father had ever hugged him.

And it ended the moment the red 'recording' lights had switched off.

He felt his hands twitching, they were warm and they hurt.

"J-J-Jacob!"

The voice cut through his reverie as another slap landed home, bringing him around.

Her face was purple, lips turning blue, eyes red and bloodshot. Those eyes. They were pleading with him.

He could feel her pulse fading. Feel it fading through his hands.

The hands around her throat.

Loosing his grip, Jacob stumbled backward, noticing the pain in his face and ribs and back, the cuts on his arms. The Lieutenant collapsed to the ground, coughing, gagging, fighting for air.

Jacob rushed to her side then and, even close to death, she threw up her arms, preparing to fight him once more.

"What happened? What's going on?" Jacob looked around the room that was now in shambles.

"Lieutenant?"

She was on the ground, face down. She wasn't breathing.

"Good, Good."

The voice behind him was Kara's... but different. Older. Malicious.

"Excellent work."

And that wraps up Part 1 of Chapter 6, I hope you enjoyed it!

It's 9:28AM EST and I'm sending positive vibes your way. Have a great day, my friends! Our Global Hashrate is down from ~1100 to ~1090 Gigahashes per Second and our Difficulty is up from ~22612 to ~24227.

As always, I appreciate your support!

GoodShibe

Posted Aug 31, 2015, 1:31 PM UTC · edited

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