Outline for Gremlins in the Mist

This is an outline for my next Writers of the Future entry.

Gremlins in the Mist

BACKGROUND

The year is 2248, and humanity has spread across the galaxy. While sentient extraterrestrial life remains undiscovered, non-sentient life populates numerous habitable worlds. Humanity quickly began colonizing these different planets, resulting in a multitude of cultures over time.

The settlers of the planet Solomon discovered a planet filled with a wide range of fauna. The Solomonians became renowned for their skill in handling and dealing with animals. Society is centered on massive family groups often controlling entire industries.

They still retain a very tribal aspect to society and consider themselves better than any human cultures. These families are close knit and exclusive. Each holds their own traditions and ceremonies all family members must respect before they are considered part of the family.

CHARACTERS

Sydney Bateman – A 28 year old warden in Solomon Downs, one of the biggest interstellar zoos, run by the Corbeck family. Her parents were both Corbeck but she was adopted in, and is ostracized as an outsider since she never passed any of the appropriate trials.

She lives in the shadow of her deceased mother, considered by most of the family to be the paramount of Corbeck excellence. Her mother died in a shuttle accident over a dozen years ago, leaving Sydney with just her father, a full blooded Corbeck. With his wife gone, her father, who had never approved of the adoption, blamed Sydney for the accident and dissolved into drugs and alcohol. He died a decade ago.

Rasket – A gremlin. Gremlins are small hexapods (six legs) animals from a light gravity world. They’re incredibly curious and known for living up to their name sakes. (Gremlins were imaginary creatures blamed for engine troubles during WW1/WW2) Because of this, most wardens are loath to deal with the creatures, seeing them as a headache.

Director Anna – Director of the zoo, and leader of the Corbeck family along with Chief Warden Corbet. She despises Sydney as an outsider and if she could have her way, she’d have Sydney thrown out. She acts as a family leader in matter of traditions.

Chief Warden Colm – His title is somewhat of a misnomer as Colm’s chief responsibility is towards the welfare of members of the family. He acts as their advocate no matter the reason, and is the only thing approaching a friend that Sydney has.

PLOT

Act 1

Sydney accidentally induces an attack by a Cthulhian (an abyssal squid-like animal) when she enters its enclosure with her lights still on. The smelly animal hurls her into a wall, but she survives thanks to her suit. Her supervisor, Anna, berates her, and informs her Chief Warden Colm will hear about violation of procedure. With luck, Anna says, Sydney will be tossed out by the end of the day.

A few hours later, Colm calls a meeting, and Sydney is terrified she’ll be publically dismissed and humiliated. However Colm warns them about evidence of a smuggling ring operating inside the zoo, selling off valuable specimens. Some look towards Sydney, thinking her responsible. Relieved, Sydney begins to leave, but Colm stops her.

He tells her Anna is pressing him for a dismissal, but he must act appropriately regardless of personal stakes in the matter (it’s vaguely surmised that he agrees with Anna). So instead of a dismissal, he’ll put Sydney in charge of the Gremlin enclosure.

Act 2

Sydney arrives at the enclosure to find the previous warden elated he no longer has to work with the animal. He introduces her to Resket, the Gremlin. Resket is rather hostile and tries to bite Sydney numerous times before the previous warden tosses the animal her comlink. Resket ignores her and gleefully tears apart the device.

When Resket isn’t aggressive, he becomes incredibly laconic, and Sydney is at a loss as to what to do. She gets the impression Colm is disappointed she isn’t taking the initiative nor investing in her future, and she resolves to do something about it. All the while, the smuggling ring continues to strike, stealing rare or valuable specimens.

Sydney’s plan is to befriend the animal by discovering why it’s such a volatile creature. Her first assumption is Resket’s diet is improper, so she tries to alter its food to something approaching what he might naturally eat.

Instead of becoming less volatile, Resket slips into a coma, and she rushes the creature to the zoo hospital. Sydney dodges the blame for intentionally poisoning the creature, and waits for it to recover during the night. She realizes while waiting that she has somehow misplaced an access keycard, and gets another.

Resket recovers faster than expected and escapes right in front of her. She chases the animal through the mostly empty zoo. The creature’s gift for mechanical destruction leads them through several enclosures, including the Cthulian’s, until the chase abruptly ends outside the zoo when Resket suddenly calms and becomes more docile. Upon further analysis, Sydney realizes the electrical fields in the zoo interior caused the animal’s mania.

She has Resket’s pen enclosed by a Faraday cage and the animal becomes calm. Everything seems fine, and Sydney gets to gloat over Anna, who before had been constantly taunting Sydney of her impending dismissal.

Act 3

Sydney lies awake when she received an automated com warning, saying she’s still checked in at the zoo. Confused, she heads down to figure out what is going on. She finds the entire zoo empty, and wanders around for a time. She starts to leave when she hears a disturbance from Resket’s enclosure and goes to investigate.

She stumbles onto Anna and several others trying to smuggle the irate animal into a crate. They also have Sydney’s missing keycard from before. Sydney realizes Anna was behind the smuggling ring Colm mentioned earlier and she was using the card to potentially frame her.

Anna finds herself in a bad position. She can’t exactly kill Sydney, but she can’t let her go free. Anna presents a proposition then for Sydney. Pretend she saw nothing, and Anna would see to it that Sydney was inducted into the family, as well as promoted to the enclosure of her choice.

Sydney considers the proposition for a moment, but recalls her father cursing her and calling her a coward. She remembers Colm’s own words saying she’d never be one of them. Rather than prove them wrong, she rejects the offer and frees Resket. Anna and company draw weapons and try to stop Sydney, deciding eliminating her will be much easier after all.

Resket freaks out and runs off, with Sydney on the animal’s heels. Resket enters into a dark enclosure, and as Sydney brings out her light, the animal savagely attacks her, breaking the light. Thinking she’s dead, she watches as Anna and company enter the enclosure.

They step inside, lights and guns raised, ready to finish the job. Just then, Sydney recognizes a memorable stench, and ducks just as the Cthulhian attacks Anna and Company, stopping them in their tracks.

Sydney is greeted is a hero by the rest of the family, and Colm inducts her on the spot. He then grants her the promotion to move into the sky whale enclosure, but Sydney remembers Resket and rejects the offer.

END

Poor Son of Hell

Alright. The last story is done. Time for the next one.

Poor Son of Hell

“You’re late,” Duke Zapporo said.

From an alley, a gangly man in a trench coat stepped into view. “Never can be too careful.”

Zapporo raised a cigar to his mouth. The Charleston Gold ignited on contact with the devil’s mouth and he inhaled, savoring the flavor. “We’re clean. And lateness is no excuse.”

Norman West glanced up, inspecting Zapporo’s devilish visage. “Not when the Imperial Bureau of Investigation has been cracking down hard on the Black Market lately. Emperor Theodore sent Special Agent Elliot Ness to shut down Capone’s outfit.”

“Then it lies in both our interests to finish this business quickly,” Zapporo said. Interesting. Ness’s involvement is going to complicate further business here in Chicago.

“You got it, Zappo. You’ll excuse me for bringin’ a couple of my boys along,” Norman said and he snapped his fingers. More shapes materialized from the alley, shambling like stunted men. Tattered flesh hung from the vacant faces of the zombies, and their hobbling gait wouldn’t win races anytime soon.

I hate necromancers. “Far be it for me to forbid you your security,” Zapporo said. “Did you bring what I require?”

“Yeah, I got the thing. Tricky business, getting’ hold of it. All the dough’s there too.”

“Give it here.”

Norman’s hand vanished into his coat, reappearing with a fist-sized bag jingling with coins. He tossed it to Zapporo who snatched it from the air.

Sixty-sixty golden American dollars sat inside, but the newly minted 1929 coins were chicken feed compared to why Zapporo was here. The reason sat in an isolated pocket of the pouch. Zapporo drew out a gray pendant and held it against the brilliant light of Chicago’s skyline.

Time’s inexorable march had worn the pendant’s luster away, and the sigil on the face was nearly obliterated. Not even the stingiest miser would pick the trinket up from the street if they happened across it.

“I gotta ask, Zappo. What’s it for? Don’t look like much, tell you the truth,” Norman asked.

“As far as you’re concerned, necromancer, it’s a fashion accessory. You need not trouble yourself,” Zapporo said. At least I’m not the only one in the dark about this thing. But when Beelzebub, Zapporo’s superior, wanted something, he got it. “Everything appears to be in order.”

The bag vanished into Zapporo’s dark coat. He nabbed another pouch and tossed it to Norman who nearly dropped it before peering at the powder inside.

“Don’t look like much.”

Zapporo narrowed his eyes. “I hold to the arrangement as agreed. One Imperial pound of hamadryad dust. Good for strengthening dead flesh, and seasoning roasted chicken if you’re feeling peckish.”

Norman’s eyes sparkled with greed. “Good. Good. Anythin’ to get these zombie-bozos working better. Last batch ripped my assistant’s throat out. Made a real mess too. If this works, I’m gonna have all of eastern Canadian-America under my thumb.”

“Ambitious. Not since the War of American Succession has there ever been a more ambitious plan.”

Norman scowled in response. “Hey, I ain’t no House Jefferson flunky. I think my plans through. But, what can I say? Some people wanna leave their mark on the world. I’m gonna leave a stain.”

“Such evocative imagery. Pleasure doing business with you,” Zapporo said, and turned to leave.

A disembodied voice penetrated the silence as he retreated. “Finished, Zapporo? Then we can continue to other affairs.”

Zapporo jerked to a stop, and spun on his heels to face the newcomer. His hand instinctively shot to the grip of one of his holstered guns. I know that voice.

“Hey, Zappo. You said we was secure. Who’s this clown? I smell a rat,” Norman said.

A solitary figure stood illuminated by a beam of light from the street lamp a dozen yards away. He held the aura of a performer in the spotlight, waiting for the orchestra to begin his performance. The lamps only served to better highlight his ivory skin and golden hair poking from beneath his fedora. His light tan coat billowed behind him in a nonexistent breeze.

“Ramiel,” Zapporo said.

“Inquisitor Ramiel, actually,” the seraph corrected.

“Inquisitor? You’ve moved up since I last saw you. Was the lackey business too unfulfilling? Did you decide to branch out to elite prude?” Inquisitors sat among the highest echelon of the Celestial Inquisition, Heaven’s equivalent to America’s Imperial Bureau of Investigation. They were elite agents, love wolves aimed at Heaven’s enemies. He and Ramiel’s paths hadn’t crossed since the Crusades forced the Infernal Host from Jerusalem.

Ramiel shrugged. “They must have been desperate. You’ve changed too. Horns and the red skin. Good choice of trench coat. It matches your eyes.”

Zapporo bared his pointed teeth. “What do you want, Ramiel? I’ve business to attend to.”

Ramiel’s smile vanished. “Come now. Can’t we banter like old times? When the Betrayer fell, he took the decent conversationalists with him. I do so miss our talks, Azariel.”

“Don’t ever use that name, you frolicking fop,” Zapporo said. “Much as I’d love to chat, I’d sooner bash my skull open with a brick.”

“A brick?”

“Yes. It’s a fine tradition. You should try it.”

Ramiel sighed. “Very well, Zapporo. Ten-thousand years in Dis seems to have sapped you of humor, so I’ll snap to the chase. You’re in violation.”

Zapporo blinked. Becoming an Inquisitor had apparently straightened the twit’s spine, and bestowed him with the arrogance common among elder angels. The old Ramiel would be avoiding this confrontation, not pushing forward.

“Violation of what?” Zapporo asked.

“Section thirty-six-dot-two. Trafficking illicit goods on the mortal plane.”

Zapporo grunted. “Didn’t know it was against any accords.”

“You’ve done penance for it thirty-seven times.”

Zapporo smirked. “Oh right. That violation. Good times, those were. So you’re working with Elliot Ness and Emperor Teddy’s boys?”

“It’s not so hard to imagine. The IBI and the Inquisition hold similar goals.” Ramiel’s eyes narrowed. “Though I’ll admit curiosity, Zapporo. This isn’t typical of your methods. My reports don’t show you playing delivery-boy to two-bit necromancers. You always called the shots and played in the big leagues. Seems a step down.”

Zapporo shrugged. “I owed a debt. Had to repay it and I got offered this charming opportunity.”

“You devils and your debts. I still don’t understand why you’d hold to such bizarre traditions.”

“Despite what you may think, Inquisitor, we still have honor. I always pay my debts.”

White Gold - Last Section and Beyond

Recap: Doniel found out about the fossil, Meri was a dead end. Saderick doesn't know what to do!

This is the last part of the story. I'll start with a new story next week.

The sunlight dimmed as Lockhart’s parent star faded across the western mesas and I abandoned my excavations to await Meri’s call. As I rounded the mesa corner, I felt a beam of pride seeing the type specimen of Rostimperator lakii. However as I approached, I caught a quick glint flash of sunlight on metal.

An observation drone, marked with the sigil of the California Academy of Natural History, hovered in front of my fossil, scanning and recording it. He had sent a drone to follow me. I’d become wrapped with the fossil and forgotten the possibility existed.

I froze, as I watched my future broadcast away to my greatest enemy. This isn’t how it goes. I willed myself to move and snatched the closest rock, hurling it like a thunderbolt. It slammed into the drone’s side, spraying rock and metal in a fountain of sparks. Its impellers sputtered, forcing the tiny drone to jerk through the air as its internal compensators fought keep it stable. Sparks sprayed from the side, its mechanical death rattle, and it smashed to the ground.

I scrambled to the fallen machine, another rock clutched in my hands. I slammed the stone again and again, shattering the drone into debris. As if fate herself mocked me, the California Academy of Natural History’s sigil somehow survived intact.

How much had Doniel seen? My stomach plunged into my feet. More than enough.

My transmitter hummed to life, emanating the annoying jingle signaling an incoming call. I froze. It’s just Meri. As long as I repeated that, everything was fine. Doniel knew nothing.

The jingle began again, the cheerful ditty honing my fear into a fine terror. Finally, I broke, accepting the call.

It wasn’t Meri.

“Well, just when I thought you’d found the Valley of the Kings, you just had to go and dig up Troy. I’m impressed, Saderick. You don’t need to show off,” Doniel said.

“This is my find, Doniel. Not yours.” My voice was of an enraged animal.

He laughed. “No, it was your find. Mine now. But I’m a fair man. Since you found it for me, I’ll play nice and give your Crazy Cliff bones back. You can’t say I’m unreasonable.”

“I’ll pulverize it before I’d let you touch it.”

His jovial nature vanished. “You wouldn’t dare. A find like this? You’d sooner destroy the Sistine Chapel. Now just scram away from my find and we’ll all be happy.”

The line died. I stared at the transmitter for what felt hours. From emperor to pauper in under an hour. He’d seize the find, the glory, and everything between. The Craggy Cliff fossils seemed rubbish compared to this.

I’m not letting you win without a fight. It’s my find. Mine. Not yours. Don’t think I’ll destroy the Sistine Chapel? I will make Michelangelo weep. I spotted a massive chunk of sandstone and picked it up, before staggering back to the Rostimperator lakii. I’d used explosives before to obliterate entire hillsides to prevent Doniel from getting his greasy fingers on my fossils. This was no different.

He thinks I’ll blink? I stepped up to the beaked skull, the skeleton’s most fragile part. If I could destroy only one section, it would be this. Without it, the skeleton was a pale shadow of its true majesty.

During his life, Rostimperator lakii must have been the true king of the jungle. Whatever he wanted, he got it. But even his strength failed against the sand dune whose collapse ended his reign. A pang of gloom settled over me, that he had come so far to vanish now. The marvel I felt while considering his journey bordered the divine.

I realized suddenly I couldn’t recall the last time I’d felt that marvel, nor the last time I stood mesmerized by relics of creatures millions of years departed. How long has it been?

As I looked at his skull, again I transported back to my American Museum of Natural History, three decades ago. Those enormous giants reached high above me, seemingly conjured from another world. My parents, the gala, all faded to nothing as I wandered amid this graveyard. My wonder turned into ecstasy in my young mind.

My parents finally had to forcibly drag me from the museum, and before we arrived home, I knew what I wanted to do. That sense of wonder carved my destination into stone.

I wouldn’t be standing here amid those alien mesas and plains, if not for those fossils. Their discoverers were men like me, with flaws and rivalries, but they never lost faith.

Numbers beyond reckoning preceded this titan. How many followed after? The legacy of his species may perhaps exist only in this solitary fossil. Enduring as he had seemed miraculous.

Could he inspire some youth sometime in the future as those Museum fossils inspired me?

I couldn’t destroy it, it wasn’t right, and I dropped the rock, sighing. Doniel was right. Meri had been right too and I felt worse knowing that. Where did it all go wrong?

Wait. I grabbed the transmitter and saw the dots representing Doniel and Turner, approaching. Maybe there was time yet to make amends.

I dialed Meri’s number and hoped I could get through to her.

#

“I’m still waiting for the other shoe to drop, Saderick,” Meri said as we stood a distance off from the fossil excavation. “What’s your angle?”

The sound of her excavation drones filled the air with a cacophony as they chiseled and incised the rocks. The more rock removed now lightened the load, but each pristine fossil still needed an absorptive barrier to protect them while in transit.

“No angle. Just paying off debts,” I said before taking another long drink from a canteen. Meri grunted a response.

Doniel glowered some distance away, scowling while he watched the excavation. Meri beat him here by almost two hours, more than enough time to get setup. He could do little after I’d wired enough money through Travers to Meri to purchase the land. He’d fumed and fussed, but after he saw the skeleton, he fell oddly silent.

“What are you calling it?” she asked.

I sighed. Rostimperator lakii was a ridiculous name. “Me? I recall you excavating it and you owning the land. It’s your find. You pick the name.”

She thought for a moment. “Aureus titan.”

I blinked. “What’s it mean?”

She smiled. “It means Gilded Titan.”

I raised my eyebrow. That works.

###

White Gold Part 6

Recap: He discovered this new fossil, but he has no way of extracting it out. He thinks up a scheme to trick his former grad student.

There was a long pause, and I thought she disconnected, but she finally spoke. “What’s your angle, Saderick? You’d never talk to me unless your reputation was at stake or you had a huge collector waiting.” She used the word like a doctor referring to diseases.

She isn’t taking the bait. “It’s the truth, Meri. I’d be happy to leave you be, but I need to borrow a hoversled to get to Dubois. I can’t very well saunter over there, can I? I’d be more than glad to pay--”

She interrupted “You’re right on one account, Saderick. I would rather be left in peace.”

“And I’ll gladly leave you to it. Look, I don’t expect charity from you. I’m willing to offer the coordinates for this as payment.” I tapped several buttons on the transmitter and it keyed into the wireless signal on my neural drive, accessing the image archives. I selected the best shots of the Craggy Cliff site and started an upload to her.

“This is prime fossil grounds. I can’t extract anymore without gear. It’s open for anyone and if you don’t take it, Doniel will.”

“What, you didn’t explode this one?”

I decided silence was the best retort. The upload finished and she must have begun examining the images as she said nothing more.

After some moments, she spoke. “This is a pretty imposing find, Saderick. Better than what I’ve seen. I’ve never known you to share regardless of the circumstances. Why the sudden change of heart?”

“Because… I’d rather you get them than Doniel does.”

She gave an exasperated groan. “Again with your idiotic rivalry, Saderick. Do you ever stop and notice your war with Doniel does harm than good?”

“Harm to what? I’m protecting the paleontological community’s integrity from that heathen. They must know the misdeeds he’s enacted. Why I’m--”

“Out of all the fossils you’ve published on, how many do you own? None? You collect enough data to call it research and then sell to rich collectors who hide them away in their mansions. Do you know why I wanted to work with you?”

I could imagine several good reasons, but I wondered her perspective.

“On Earth we watched reports of the great Saderick Lake and his magnificent discoveries. Bought his own starship ticket, funded his research, and pioneered a new branch of paleontology. The man I revered wasn’t the one I worked with. Somewhere, you decided research mattered less than crushing a rival. I doubt you remember the names of half the fossils you’ve discovered.”

My fists clenched. “I was young and naïve like you,” I said. “But I discovered idealism doesn’t keep you funded. I’m all that’s keeping Jacobs from turning us into a laughing stock, and sacrifices became necessary to prevail. You, of all people, know how expensive this work is. You’re not being fair, Meri.”

“Not fair?” She gave a contemptuous snort. “You want to talk about fairness? How many years did I work with you? And throughout those years, how often did my name appear alongside yours? None. Zip. Zero. The paleontological revolution of a lifetime, and you wrote me out of it, you bastard.”

I tried to correct her, but she interrupted me. “You want to talk fair? I scour the boondocks, scraping what samples I can while you and Doniel intimidate or buy out anyone who dares to infringe on their territory.”

Her misconceptions were wrong, of course. She made me out to be some villain. Again, she spoke before I could defend myself. “I’ve nothing to show for my work, Saderick. Nothing. My parents tell me I’m wasting their money and my life, and are going to cut off my funding. I understand ‘publish or perish’ but there was no excuse. I could be someone, but you put an end to that.”

She paused long enough for me to interject. “Now wait a moment, Meri. I didn’t remove you. I wanted to wait until you were ready. Your skills were immature. I--”

“Until I was ready?” She gave a bitter laugh. “The only juvenile one is you, Saderick. Doniel can have your damn field and whatever else you’re hiding. I won’t be your footstool again.”

“I’m offering you the find of a lifetime, Meri. Send me the hovercraft, I’ll send you the coordinates. That’s all I want.”

She answered by clicking her radio off. I stared at the device for a moment. I hadn’t cut her out for personal gain. I suppose she could have come to that conclusion through jealousy. I’d stayed successful because I played Doniel’s game. Meri hadn’t and now realized she had plenty to learn.

That conclusion would come to her eventually. Later in the day, probably toward evening, she’d call back. I’d heard frustration in her voice. She was desperate for anything to validate her failed career. Meri would brood, but eventually realize she had to take my offer.

The result was inevitable and we both knew it. Just wait. I set the transmitter down and walked back to my discovery. It seemed even more marvelous now. A few more hours and you’ll be mine. It needed a name. Something powerful and fierce, on par with Tyrannosaurus rex.

I puzzled through some possibilities. My Latin skills extended only to forming binomial nomenclatures used with animal classifications. I’d find a name later. You don’t rush these decisions.

I gazed at his glistening beak and the three pairs of talons. Long ago, this area wasn’t badlands, but floodplains. He lived as an apex predator, without equal. Powerful as an avalanche, whatever beast stood against him, died.

A thought entered my head. All the animals living on Lockhart’s surface mated for life, never separating from each other by more than a few dozen meters. It felt logical this behemoth had a mate.

I stood back, startled at the idea. Judging by the pristine nature of this fellow, he’d been buried in a sand dune collapse like the Velociraptor and Protoceratops in Mongolia. And if the collapse caught him off guard, it might have caught others.

I crept into the gully, circling the mesas. No signs betrayed the presence of another but that meant little. Fossils weren’t exactly a surface phenomenon. Using a thin chunk of sandstone I ground at the sides of the mesas, trying to break through the tough rock.

The morning and afternoon went without event but I remained optimistic as I excavated through the sandstone using a fragment of rock. Even if I didn’t find it, I could conduct further excavations later but I might as well keep busy.

The sandstone in front of me shattered as I rammed my stone into it. The rupture sprayed a puff of sand into my face causing my already parched throat to burn. Further excavations should be delayed until Meri calls.

All I needed was the species. Given I made the discovery; I allowed myself some vanity. Rostimperator lakii. I doubted the UN Committee on Paleontology cared if I attached my name. Those old fossils would be too captivated by this new fossil to care.