■ Calum's Story ■ DNP!

[Raptocidic]

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Art dump
xxx

(I won so im continuing the story here)

.:name:.
Calum Lapsus
.:gender:.
Male
.:Nicknames:.
Outcast, Pepper

.:Name meaning:.
Calum - dove
Lapsus - fallen, unfortunate

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[Raptocidic]

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■ Chapter 1 ■

"Agent outcast, agent outcast, do you read me?"

I leave nothing but a fuzzy sound for them to hear.

"Agent outcast, if you're out there, please respond! Agent outcast!"

I could hear their voice slowly begin to panic. I pictured they're worried sick face and laughed a bit through my tears.

"Agent outcast... please, please..... please respond..."

They broke into tears.

"If you can hear me, outcast, anyone... please respond..."

So, how did i get here? In fact, where am I? And, why aren't I responding?

Ahh, the truth can be told in many, many ways. But I want to start my truth from a beginning, and I chose that to be when a loved life was lost.

I was 12; young, happy and innocent. Walking home with two friends, but one event lead to another and my best friend died in a car crash. What now annoys me the most is the fact that he wasn't even in one of the cars involved. We were simpily walking by, but a car involved spin unto my friend, killing him on impact. I consider myself lucky to have survived the event with no injuries. But back then, I truly thought I was the cause of my friends death. This spun me into depression, lasting around two years until i began to recover. By then I had lost all forms of social status, having lost my place with the world altogether.

But what has that got to do with me now, where I am and why i'm not responding to whoever's calling me agent outcast?

Well, during those two horrible years of my life, I became an outcast, even gaining the nickname "outcast" from everyone, not just the school's bullies. But I grew to love this nickname, and took it with me to my adult life. I guess it describes me as a whole. I was once normal, but was made an outcast when watching my best friend die scarred me forever. Im a lot better now, but I'm definitely not the same kalon I once was.

After I graduated from school and eventually from university, I joined a space project. It started as a simple hobby, with a genuine interest in the area and so I offered myself as a test subject. I eventually got an actu5 job from this, since I already had some qualifications, I went back into education and got the rest of the qualifications that i needed. At first I was simpily working on the planet, but after a few years of working in a lab and working my way up the ranks, I was put into training to enter space. This was a dream come true for me.


"Outcase, Agent outcast, do you read me?"

Oh yes, that reminds me. Right now I am floating through space. If you hadn't already figured that fact, well there you are. Allthough im talking to myself with the radio transmitter broken beyond repair. Plus, im in space, so what's the chances anyone can hear me?

Anyway, back to my story.

Training was hard, but I made it through. I first went into space a few years ago, and I only went as far as our planets second moon and returned home after a few months. My second trip to space I was the first to land on the third moon and I stayed in space for almost a whole year doing experiments on plants there. Our third and final moon is a lot bigger than the other two moons that we have, and has the potential to sustain life there.

Now we get to more recent events in my story. I am currently on my most recent mission, a mission to go beyond our planet and our moons. Everyone back at mission control has adopted the nickname "Agent Outcast" for me. I really like it, there's a real feel of friendliness and support from our entire planet. I can feel the sorrow of others who don't even know me personally as they slowly realise that im lost for dead, in the middle of space, nothing but small bits of metal within lightyears of me.

I've lost my ship in an explosion when I turned on the boosters. It's new technology that we're still developing and well, lets just say that its far from perfection right now. The boosterscare supposed to help us gain new speeds without turning out organa to mush. It works, it works very well. But it works too well and it only works for a few seconds before it overheats and explodes. Luckily I survived by pressing an ejector seat button.

Yes, out of all the cool advanced technology we had on board, it was the most simple thing we had that saved my life. Well, that's now the second time i've stared death in the eyes but gone "nope" and avoided them. Unfortunately my radio transmitter got badly damaged and now im left floating through space with one oxygen tank and a crack in my mask that will break anytime soon. So I guess death is the one laughing now.

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[Raptocidic]

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■ Chapter 2 ■

Unknown to Calum, a creature of the Tausalien species named Chow is sat in a dark room, looking at a human-made computer screen. His species had reached tier 3 on the Kardashev scale and were heading in the direction of tier 4, although they're a long way off. Chow, however is more like a human, he's more emotional than other tausaliens, and he often foolishly acts upon these emotions. He's definitely intelligent, just not as much as others of his species.

He's been listening to every word Calum has said. He watched the explosion and even predicted it.

"Calum Lapsus, this is Chow Tau, you're communicator should work between this 2H-9 frequency. Do you read me?"

What? Who, who's talking to me? I better reply, i guess...

"Hello? This is Calum Lapsus, Agent Outcast, reading you loud and clear."

Chow replies.

"Agent Outcast, I have a rescue on standby."

I have no clue who this guy is, but if they can save me...

"Thank you, a rescue would be appreciated. Im... not in a good situation."

"I can see that."

Hey, how come before they knew my name? Are they an old friend who i've forgotten or something?

"Wait, how can you see me and how did you already know my name?"

At this point, Chow actually jumps in his seat. He's getting a little too excited. He completely drops his formal speech.

"Simple, I'm sat on the nearest asteroid with one of the galaxy's most powerful handheld telescopes that I rigged up to an old camera and some robotics so I could stay sat in a seat inside. Also you're basically a celebrity on your planet and you've made it into galatical news around a solar year ago."

Calum is speechless. He allows Chow to continue speaking.

"Anyway, I've sent a rescue drone that should arrive to you in 8 minutes of your galactic timezone. Once it reaches you it will reorder your matter and move it over to my asteroid. Don't worry, these things are more reliable than anything you've ever known before this and you won't even realise that you're teleporting untill you're already here."

"Ok...."

8 minutes pass. The drone arrives, and as described, Calum teleports.

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[Raptocidic]

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■ Chapter 3 ■

Calum arrives safely. He is in a small room made from scrap bits of random material. Chow and Calum stare at each other for a split second. Stood before Calum is a young, healthy Tausalien. They're tall, twice the size of the humans on his planet. The creature has a small muzzle, but the face resembles more of a four-eyed monkey than any animal. The back of the head has a long fleshy structure that resembles that of a certain dinosaur that Calum had once read about, but couldn't remember the name of. It has skin flaps on both sides of it's face. Calum notices that it has no ears, but then figures that the skin flaps actually are it's ears. It has a long reptilian like tail, but there's no scales, just skin. It's body structure looks almost out of shape; the shoulders are wide, but the waist looks unhealthy thin in comparison. If this creature was a human, they would be critically underweight, however for a tausalien Chow has a normal structure and besides his intelligence, he's a perfectly normal Tausalien. They have three toes, although they only stand on two. The third toe has an extra sticky substance on the paw pad and is used as a last resort grip sort of thing. They have two pointy fingers and one thumb that acts much like a human hand. Chow decides to be the first one to talk.

"Huh, well you look like you made it in one piece. I've already introduced myself, but it was a bit formal, don't you think?"

Woha, I wasn't expecting a creature like this. They remind me of that alien from that movie tralier... what was that film called again, anyway?

Calum takes off his helmet.

"It's, um, nice to meet you."

Well, at least I didn't say something too stupid...

"Rather. I've already said, but i'm Chow. I mean, my full name's Chow Tau, but you really don't need to call me by my full name. My own species, tausaliens, call me by my full name, and i've gotten rather fed up of it."

"Why do they call you by your full name?"

"Oh, it's a tausalie thing, its part of our culture, i guess."

Calum looks around the room, unsure of how to continue the conversation. He spots random parts of technology from various different civilizations, many he couldn't name or recognise. He noticed that the only monitor screens of any sort were old human technology. Among all the other random parts and items, it looked rather outdated and out of place. Chow realises that Calum is out of things to say, and so finds a different subject.

"What do you think of this place then? Its really not ideal, but it keeps oxygen in here and space out there, so it works."

"It's ok. What's this built from?"

"Anything I could find. Mostly bits of spacejunk I found in the area. You're ship wasn't the first to randomly blow up around here. Mine did too. Crew of 45 died, bar myself and I have no clue how I survived."

"Oh, i'm sorry to hear that..."

"No, no. It's ok. That factor can't be helped now."

"It seems strange how multiple ships have exploded in this area..."

"True."

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[Raptocidic]

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■ Chapter 4 ■

Calum and Chow's conversations continued on, passing the time without anything useful to do. They became friends surprisingly quickly, finding that dispite the fact that both Kalons and Tausaliens knew nothing of each other's existence untill then, both Calum and Chow had a lot in common. But above all, they both agreed that they wanted to find out why both their spaceships, along with many others (who unfortunately didn't survive) blew up randomly, all in the same area of space. It puzzled them both, they quickly agreed that it couldn't just be luck or coincidence.

Nearby, a strange machine was watching the area. It's programming was corrupted, it's exterior material in no better state. It's vision was blurred, broken and battered. This machine was once of high intelligence, created by an elusive type 6 civilization. It was put there originally to monitor a small area of the space around it and gather data, learning from it's experiences.

Unfortunately, after years of the machine's peaceful existence, this machine was descovered by an alien species who really shouldn't have even been in space in the first place. They were in space becuse the intelligent dominant species on their home planet sent them up there as a test for space travel. This is much like what humans once did, sending species from their home planet into space before they risked their own lives. The species that got sent into space this time was much like an ape, but with scales and smaller skulls. These creatures found the machine and decided that the machine was a toy to play with, topped up with a minimal gravity effect, making playtime all that extra bit fun. The machine retaliated by flash heating these poor and slightly stupid creatures into dust. From that point in time onwards, this machine would kill abd destroy any creature or spaceship that came into the area of space it was trying to study. It simply saw others as a threat to it's research and itself.

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[Raptocidic]

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■ Chapter 5 ■

Bleep! Bleep!

Calum looks at the old human made monitor screen. He stares at it and this catches Chow's attention, who sits next to him. They both stare at the screen for a few minutes, their eyes following a red dot that moves around occasionally. Neither dare to blink or look away from the screen. They both keep their breathing at a minimum and they begin to talk, but only whisper. Calum whispers something first.

What is it? I can only see a red dot on the screen (wow this is really old technology). It could be anything!

"What do you think it is?"

"I really can't tell, but whatever that dot represents, it's moving and its likely something significant."

Whatever it is, it could be really dangerous...

"And now part of me thinks it's another alien, big, scary and out to get us."

"Ha, ha. Ohh, it's probably something a lot less scary. The worst I can think of are space rats."

"Space Rats? Like, those are a thing now? So, are they little rats in a spacesuit?"

Chow looks at Calum with a cold, firm stare. He doesn't seem impressed.

"Space rats are not a joking matter. They're a deadly giant sized virus and they're set on destroying anything in their path. A plague of them wipes out whole galaxies from life."

Eesshh...

"Oh. Uhh, sorry. I'd never heard of them before, besides a stupid child's comic series."

"It's fine. They're mostly unknown in this part of the universe."

Is that an apology? Eh, I should just leave it.... Quick, change the subject!

"Sooo, what do you think that red dot represents then?"

"I really dont know. Hopefully not a space rat."

"Huh."

"Hey, you know how we find out what it is?"

He's planning something...

"... Go on?"

Chow grins.

Knew it! That's his 'I have a plan that will get me killed' face!

"We go and look for it!"

I don't like where this is heading...

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[Raptocidic]

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■ Chapter 6 ■

Chow puts on a spacesuit. Chow had previously fixed the cracknin Calum's helmet. Calum puts his space helmet back on.

"So, do you even have a way of getting there?"

"Yes. It's called this."

Chow holds up a small, strange looking cube. He shakes it vigorously, turning the cube a bright, glowing cyan before tapping a circle marking that wasn't visible before he shook the cube. Chow and Calum instantly find a cyan glow around them before the glow wrapped around them. Before they could even blink, their matter was teleported to near the location of the red dot.

Calum and Chow arrive safely on a nearby asteroid. They immediately notice a strange, battered machine. They hide using the uneven surface of the asteroid. Calum noticed back at Chow's base how strong the gravity was for an asteroid and the samevthought crosses over his mind. The gravity felt like he was walking on his home planet, temporarily reminding him of how he was stranded in space and making him a little homesick for a split second before Chow whispered through the transmitter.

"I- I think I just found out what the red dot is..."

It sort of looks like a toaster with more screens, buttons and arobotic limbs. Also more of a box shape.

"Yeah. I can see it, but do you know what it is?"

"Well, i'm not 100% sure, but I think it's a machine from old Tausalien legend. Apparently one of these things once came to our planet."

"Was it a good thing, this machine?"

"Yes, apparently it traded the right for it to study our species for goods and valuable resources. So, i'd say it was a good thing."

"Oh, ok. Then it should be safe to-"

Calum stepps out of his cover. The machine turns towards him and fires a beam at him. Luckily Calum dodge out of the way. He ducks back into cover.

That was close...
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[Raptocidic]

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■ Chapter 7 ■

"Alright, myth busted then. It's definitely not friendly."

Calum brushed dust off his suit. It's ineffective, since his spacesuit is charred from his ship's explosion.

"What now?"

Chow turns to face Calum.

"We leave!"

Calum used the same cube as before to teleport back to his base. The same cyan glow flows around Calum and Chow before they dissappear from the machine's sight and radar, just in time. The machine flash heats the asteroid, destroying the asteroid, but only damaging itself slightly in the process.

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[Raptocidic]

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■ Thanks for reading! ■


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