From: Toussaint Subject: wod/sla x-over I actually went and wrote up the background of how an ebon ended up on earth. I went and changed a couple things from the rules to fit better into the story (espes the shaktar home language) but not many. Flames, critiques, responces welcome. Following material copyrited by yours truly. If you wish to reproduce it go ahead. just give me credit that's all I ask. First time off planet? The rain reminded him of home. He laughed to himself. It was one of the few things on this ebb-forsaken world that did. He looked up into the thunderstorm, the rain pouring down his face the same way his memories poured into his mind. ----------- "Daybreak, Are you ready," his best friend Ka'tr'a called out to him. Ka'tr'a was a nice guy for a Shaktar. He at least had a sense of humor unlike most of his kind. "I'm on my way. Just let me get one more thing," he called out. He reached out and picked up his SCL card. The six gleaming on it's surface. He polished it with pride. The first one in his family to gain level six. Other then 'Slayer. He quickly banished the name from his mind. Ka'tr'a came into his room, "Come. We leave now." As he was dragged from the room he reached out and grabbed his belt, and jacket. The belt contained all of his Science Friction gear. The jacket was still weighted down with his most recent treasures from the previous night. The chip read 7.48 Ka'tr'a was right they were going to be late. The BPN office opened at 8.00 and there was a good chance of them getting in on a good BPN. They ran to the BluePrint News office and got there just as the office opened. The secretary there asked for their ID numbers. They both rattled them off. "There is one BPN starting right now. It pays 2000 Credits each. A green BPN they need an ebon. Are the two of you a package deal?" "Yes," the two of them answered in unison. "Very well. Please go to dock 132. Your accounts are already credited." "We got one," they shouted as they ran down the hall. Then they got to the dock. They were instantly quiet as they say the Foldship. *Name* sang through his mind. *Daybreak* he replied. *Your friend is accompanying you?* *Yes.* *His name.* *Ka'tr'a, of the Shaktar.* *Welcome.* They entered the Foldship. He was the only other Ebon on the ship. Everyone else was human. "First time aboard," one of them called out. He nodded an affirmation. "Well... welcome on board the Alexis in that case. We should be leaving in a few moments. Sit." "Thank you sir," he replied. "First time off planet?" "Yes sir." "Well then strap yourselves in. Alexis really moves sometimes. She can be a bit unsteadying to you first time you ride a Foldship. You guys get motion sick?" "No sir," replied Ka'tr'a. "Not sure sir," replied Daybreak. "Ha. Don't call me sir it fit's about as much as calling a whore a lady. Call me Lerin. Everyone else does." "Where are we going?" asked Ka'tr'a. "Otherside of known space. Near where we think DarkKnight has their HQ. We should be hitting the fold about no..." His insides were turned inside out. It was the closest to feeling the call of the white he had ever gotten. Then as soon as it started it was over. "We're through it boys. Time to earn out pay. Scan report." "66% of surface area is water. Nitrous-dioxide atmosphere. Mostly bare land. Perfect for... Sir we have an anomalous reading. We are picking up Nuprats in the atmosphere." "What" shouted Lerin. "Are you sure!" "Sir we have red across the board. We are..." The pilot was cut off by the bulkhead severing his head from his body as it flew towards the back of the ship. "Everyone abandon ship. Abandon ship!" He grabbed one of the survival packs and jumped out the side of the ship. The low oxygen level in the air at that hight was forcing him into unconsciousness. He fought it as long as he could but to no avail. ---------- The gentle fall of rain on his cheek was the first thing he became aware of. He slowly opened his eyes. He was laying on a field of green. He looked more closely. It was fragmented. It was not all one object. He pulled up a handful of the objects. Each one was identical, with just slight variations of color on each one. Millions of them. stretched out as far as the eye could see. He made a slow turn and surveyed the area around him. There not too distant was a burning. His ship. The two words burned through his mind. The sudden flash of lightning startled him. Rain he was used to but light flashes without shiver patrol units following them? Has the world gone mad? He started running towards the crash site. Was it indeed his ship? If it was how would he get home? As he reached the edge of the crater he knew it was his ship. Over to one side he could see the burning corpse of his friend. He steeled himself and ran inside the ship, counting on his Deathsuit to protect him. The entire crew had been trapped inside when it hit. He checked quickly for survivors. There was no one else. He grabbed as much of what he thought he would need out of the survival hold. *Daybreak?* he felt the ship's mind touch his. "I'm here." He called out. *get out fast. Too much damage. Beacon has been sent. Rescue.* He felt the ship die in his mind. The will to survive burned to brightly in him to grieve there on the floor of the ship. He ran out the same hole he went in through. Grabbing Ka'tr'a's bandoleer as he went, determined to keep at least one remembrance of his friend. He had just gotten clear of the crater when the ship went up in a ball of flame. The concussion of the blast threw him off his feet and face down onto the ground, where he blissfully lost consciousness. When he awoke the ship had been turned to protoplasmic goo by the heat of the fire, and the rain had curioussly stopped. He had no time to figure out that particular puzzle. He had to figure out where he was. The chip flickered in and out of functionality. Finally it kicked in. 23.58.57. 23.58.58 23.58.59 0.00.00 0.00.01 He hit his head trying to figure out why it had reset itsself so soon. He accessed the chip with one of his new toys. He still wasn't sure how it work and be so small, but it would interface with the chip so he could get the information he wanted from it. The reader told him that he had been unconcious for one day. The world he was currently on had a 24 standard hour day and the chip had reset itself to accomidate that fact. "What kind of damn fool planet has a 24 hour day," he muttered to himself as he closed the reader, "Everyother planet has at least 28 sometimes even 30 hours. But noooooo. I have to crash on one with a 24 hour day. I knew this was a bad idea." He picked up his posessions sorting them as he did so. Rifle, disk launcher, Ka't'r'a's "switchblade", his foci, pack, emergency food rations (white I hate these things). He decided that as much as he had he should sort it elsewhere so he wouldn't get any of it dammaged by the weath... He was cut off in mid-thought by the sky turning a bright red. He stopped and stared at the approaching change as the sky went from purple to orange to red to finally blue. Then he saw the sun. At which point he fell to his knees and wept at the beauty of it. Never before had he seen anything like it. It was so bright, it filled the entire world with light, and what's more it felt warmer. Off in the distance he thought he herd a shaktar calling, but that wasn't possable K'a'tr'a was the only one on this planet. At least as far as he knew. "Hello," he called out in return. The call was getting closer and closer followed by a high pitched whine. Then he saw the source of the call. It wasn't a shaktar at all but some sort of quadroped. The screaching was comming from ... a human? Yes, no doubt about it it was human all right but it wasn't speaking standard. Maybe, he thought to himself, if I show no signs of hostility I can get something to eat. He raised his hand. ---------- Tad had herd the explosion last night and wanted to go out into the rain to investigate. His mother told him that it was 3 AM and there was a downpour so he would have to wait until after the storm had passed. At 7:30 it was bright enough that he had gotten dressed and was out the door. He had always loved the smell of the fields after a rainstorm. He ran towards where he had seen the light show. His ever present companion Sparky was at his side, barking the whole time, as they ran accross the field. He herd something bark back towards their direction. He ran towards it. If the Patterson=92s dog had gotten loose again... Then he saw Him. The guy was barking and waving, at him. The guy stood about 6' 3", white hair down to his waist (fucken' hippy his father woulda called him), wearing a blacl lether trench coat and a jet black skin tight outfit. It looked like the same thing Marelyn Manson was wearing at the concert 2 weeks ago, and skin so dark the sun reflected off of him. "Hey Mister," he called out "are you lost or somethin?" ---------- "Hello," Daybreak said in his most politshaktar. Actually what he said corisponded to 'give me food or I will rip out your heart and eat it while it is still beating.' He winced internally wishing he had learned more of his friend's language. "You aren't from around here are you," the quadroped responded. "No I'm not. You, you can talk." "Yes and so can you. So what?" "What about the human?" "Not our language. He is still young yet. He asks if you are lost" Dayberak nodded vigerously. The dog said, "He thought so. He asks if you want something to eat." Daybreak nodded again. The boy screached again and ran in the oposite direction. The dog followed. Daybreak watched them go before he realized he was to follow them. He ran after them. Seldom had he run so fast. The gravity must be less here then on Mort. As he passed the boy and the dog, he grabbed the boy and swung the boy onto his back. The dog said, "You can really move. See if you can keep up," and with that sped on ahead. Daybreak picked up the pace. the boy howled with glee as they passed the car driving along on the road beside them. ---------- Tad's parents were at work by the time he got back home, so he made himself and his new friend a healthy breakfast. Chocolate cake, and a tall glass of milk. He took the tray out into the living room and turned on the TV. Daybreak stared at it as if hipnotised. Tad incouraged Daybreak to eat. Daybreak did so mechanically, every now and again making little sounds somewhere between a whistle and babytalk. Tad didn't mind. There wasn't a whole lot of people around here for him to talk to so even having this mysterious stranger was thrilling. At noon his new found friend was babbling the lyrics to the videos Tad had taped the night before off of MTV.. "So where are you from," Tad asked slowly. "From long way off," Daybreak strugled to say. This local language was giving him difficulty but his almost obsessive collection of languages made it a bit easier, and once he figured that the human was a child he realized that speech patterns were fast. "Ride flaked on me, got stuck here." "Bummer. Well I'd let you stay here but mom and dad..." "I understand. I thank you for the meal. What was it?" "Chocolate cake and milk. Your eyes. Are those contacts?" Daybreak looked at the dog and growled, "Contacts?" "Humans put them in their eyes to see better. Sometimes to change the color of their eyes as well," Sparky answered. "No these are my real eyes. Why" "Well it's just I've never seen eyes that color. There's no white or black in them. Just blue. That's weird. If you go out much," Tad lept to his feet and ran out of the room. When he returned he brought back a pair of sunglasses, "Here wear these. They will conceal your eyes. Don't ever take them off with others around." The sound of an engine came from outside the house. "Shit my mom. Hide quick. I'll find you some stuff to help you out." Daybreak nodded and reached for the Ebb. It responded greatfully, enthusiastically. Reality folds around him and he is outside. Daybreak looks around suprised that the Ebb responded as well as it did. A few moments later Tad comes out carring his pack. "Here you are. You left this inside. My mom aksed about them. I told her they were toys. I packed you a lunch. I also gave you a couple of books to help you learn to speak better. Good luck." "Wait," Daybreak called out, He reached up to his right wrist and removed the gem from it's holder. He pondered what he was about to do. He had another one but if he lost it as well... "Here. Hold it like so and concentrate." He handed it to the boy who did as he instructed. The gem lit up. Not as brite as it could have but the boy did have the talent. The boy was shocked. Finally he stammered, "Here. Go to LA. look for my father. My real father. He can do that stuff too. His name is Scott Kenter. Please go." ---------- As he walked down the road to LA the rain fell on his sholders. He looked up into the sky. One of the lines in one of the books he was given lept into his mind. "Oh what a brave new world that has such people in it." The books suprised him a bit. They were written in Glyphs. He wondered if the people here knew just how much the written word had here. He sighed as he looked at the sign which read Los Angeles 50. He wondered what he would find once he met Scott Kenter. The End (for now.)