On the Crystal Bullet, the passengers were scattered around the ship. Half resided in their separate chambers, attempting to get used to the new feeling of soaring through space, and the other half were in different places around the ship.
Nebula couldn’t control her excitement as she stared out the window, looking out at the black universe dotted with bright swirls of gas that were stars. She knew her galaxy was lightyears and realms away, but they had gotten through to Earth through a space portal that had also transported the Crystalon immigrants for nearly 10 years. She was so deep in thought she was nearly scared to death when she felt a hand on her shoulder.
“OH GOD you scared the living daylights outta me!”
“What’re you lookin at?”
She shook her head, “Nothing much… just the universe.”
He smirked. “That’s much to see… let’s see now… I can only spot black air and the light of the stars. There’s soo much to see.”
“Lack of sleep makes you delirious Nick.”
He laughed, and rested his forehead against the clear window of the ship. “So how long is this gonna take?”
“I don’t know… Karielle and Captain Clarque are trying to find the space portal we found so long ago… I don’t remember how long it took.”
“Oh.” Nick paused and his eyebrows furrowed.
“What?”
“Are you sure this is the right thing to do?” Nick asked, turning to look her in the eye.
“You have that ring for a reason you know,” she said, touching the ring on his finger. “And who else could have it but you? I’ve seen your love for the water… it’s unmistakable.”
“But how do you know that we have to go back to Crystalon?”
“What else is there to do on Earth? Daja is on Crystalon. We have to go and defeat him.”
“You’re sure that’s what we’re destined to do?”
“Why question it?”
“I just have this feeling everything’s gonna go wrong…” Nick closed his eyes, but they snapped open as he let out a laugh. “I really am cynical aren’t I? I think I’m up for that nap…”
Nebula laughed and hit him on the back as he left.
+ + +
Joey felt a light tap on his shoulder and he grunted, for he had nearly drifted to sleep.
“What?” he whined, his hand over his tired brown eyes.
“We need your assistance, Mr. Fatone,” he heard Clarque say.
“For what?”
“The ship. Our engineers can’t figure out what’s wrong with it.”
“Alright, alright… coming, coming,” Joey muttered sleepily, getting grumpily out of the bed. Then he wondered how Clarque got into his room. “Of course… he’s the captain… he must have the keys…”
“In here- the engine room.” Captain Clarque showed Joey in before leaving. Joey rolled his eyes and shook his tired head free of the night cobwebs before entering.
“No sign of the problem boys?”
Five heads turned to look up at him, and to his embarrassment, three of them were girls.
“Whoops?”
They only rolled their eyes and continued to converse about the possibilities of fault. Joey wasn’t sure what the problem was, but it looked important.
“What’s the problem?” Joey asked.
“Our engines,” a nearby male said, as if it was obvious.
“Well soorrry. Sheesh.”
A woman with electric green hair sat in frustration. “How can this be POSSIBLE?”
“What?” Joey asked, confused.
“We can’t find ANYTHING wrong with our systems but our engines STILL malfunction at bad times. It’s like they’re programmed to or something. I don’t understand it!”
“It could be from outside,” Joey said.
There was a silence and everyone turned to look at him.
“What? Not everything goes wrong INSIDE.”
There was a clamor before everyone stood up to leave.
Joey looked around the empty room in alarm. “What? Did I say something?”
“Mr. Fatone are you coming, or not?” the woman with the green hair asked, popping back in.
“Of course I am.”
She rolled her eyes, also electric green, before saying, “Then HURRY UP already! Everyone is waiting for you.”
“For me? So I didn’t offend them or anything?”
“Of course you haven’t. You’ve pointed out something good.”
“Oh. Ok.” Joey got up off the metal floor and followed after the woman.
In the back of his mind he knew she was Techtron, just as he was. Her hair gave it away. But her clothing was rather… primitive, for lack of a better word. She looked like a woman from the jungle, actually. Around her upper left arm was a metal armband, curved into an intricate shape. She seemed to be wearing a dress, and a rather short one at that. It was tight fitting, and there was a part cut away on the left side of her torso, revealing her toned stomach. The “dress” was sleeveless and she walked on bare feet. Joey shook his head, wondering if everyone on Techtron wore clothes like that. If so… where had he BEEN?
They found the other four engineers talking to Captain Clarque, who seemed to be awfully worried about what they were proposing.
“Mr. Fatone!” he said once he caught sight of the brunette.
“Yes sir,” Joey said in acknowledgment.
“Our engines… you say something’s wrong on the outside?”
The 24 year old shrugged. “If we can’t find something wrong in here, might as well check the outside.”
The scientists looked at each other.
“There’s a planet nearby… we can land there to check out what’s goin on,” the green haired woman suggested.
They still looked unsure.
“Ok well if it makes you guys feel any safer, I’ll do it.”
The engineers looked almost relieved. Joey wasn’t sure about what they were thinking was so scary, but he just figured they were another race with different needs and a fear for the outside.
“Glad you’re here to help,” one of them said graciously.
“Hey, if you can help, might as well help. Now uh, I don’t mean to be rude but…”
Captain Clarque looked at Joey to go on.
“I’ve got a bed with my name on it, and I’d like it very much if I could get into it and get the hell to sleep,” Joey finished quickly.
Again there was a silence, before it was broken by the soft giggling of the green haired female. Joey smiled slowly before wishing them a good night and heading to his overly welcoming bed.
+ + +
JC grumbled in his sleep before the snooze went off- again.
“Agh just let me sleep ok?!” he muttered nearly incoherently as he slammed the snooze button once again. But this time, it didn’t go off.
“GOD ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT ALREADY!” JC cried in anguish. His eyes not even open, he struggled to wake up. “Why did I ever agree to come… I could be at home… with Vanessa… sleeping in… ugh… sounds like heaven to me.”
There was a pit in his stomach that just churned away when he thought of her. Why didn’t he bring her along?? Instead he told her he was going on a business trip. And now he felt guilty for not telling her the truth. Oh how he missed her.
At last he was awake from the dead, and he found a metallic looking piece of paper folded in half on his nightstand. He picked it up gingerly with his fingertips, looking at it curiously. JC shrugged and opened it.
JC-
Get dressed, and go down the main hall, up the middle chute to the second floor, turn left and around to the dining room for breakfast with everyone at 9. Have a great morning!
-Nebula
“Nine?” JC looked over at his clock and it read 9:54. His blue eyes widened, “SHIT!”
The brunette scrambled to get his day’s clothes on, and finally settled on a pair of black baggy pants (in my world, JC doesn’t wear the cutting-off-circulation pants. EVER) and a dark green muscle shirt. Spiking up his short hair (he won’t have floppy hair, either), he grabbed the card for instructions. He cursed himself silently for sleeping in as he hurried out of the bathroom and into the main hall, spitting out excuse me’s and sorry’s. He was glad the chute moved so fast as he shot up into the second floor, scurrying left on the curved path, to the dining room.
All about 30 heads raised to glance at the late breakfast goer, who became as crimson as AJ’s ring as he made way to one of two places that was already set as dignified as he possibly could be.
Nebula hid her smile as he sat down next to her. She wiped her mouth with her green napkin and whispered, “Sorry, I didn’t know you liked to sleep in late.”
JC looked over at her sheepishly. “My fault. But um… next time, give me a holla when you’re gonna do this again, ok? Maybe then I won’t make an ass out of myself.”
Nebula laughed and agreed, apologizing one last time.
Just then, Captain Clarque stood. “Everyone, we will be landing on a nearby planet for a short moment of time for Mr. Fatone to check something of our ship. It will only take an hour or so he says, but you are free to do whatever you wish- anything legal, safe, and not hazardous, mind you- during that time. You may now return to your meals. Or what’s left of it. Mr. Chasez if you have different breakfast choices… it’s not too late to switch.”
JC blushed furiously as a wave of laughter resonated through the group of people. But he was grateful not to be the absolute last one. He knew that was Justin’s role. Had to get his beauty rest, Justin always said. JC chuckled to himself. “What a weirdo.”
“Talking to yourself JC?” Kevin asked amusedly, sipping his orange juice.
JC shook his head and laughed. “Nah, just thinking.”
“Anything important?”
JC thought a moment before replying, “To me it is.”
The lights blinked off a second before turning back on and a woman’s voice was played over the speakers, “We are now landing, hold on to your nearest handhold. This will last about 5 minutes. Thank you.”
Captain Clarque yelled to everyone, “The handholds are on the underside of the armrests! You can grab the armrest and twist it around for the handholds!”
There was a huge movement from the nine newcomers as they flipped the armrests around and held on.
Imagine being on a plane during slight turbulence. Imagine watching your food and plates (to JC’s stomach’s despair) slide helplessly down the table and clashing to the floor. Now imagine riding in an elevator. You know, the ones that make your stomach queasy when they go down and stop. That’s pretty much how it was.
“Dude cool!” AJ exclaimed, pointing to the window across from him as soon as they had landed.
Everyone on his side looked up and the rest of them turned around, ignoring the crewmembers who rushed to the mess of plates and food to clean it up. It seemed to happen everyday anyway.
“Whoa!” Nick said in surprise.
Everything was… blue. They were surrounded by what seemed like a thick baby blue fog. They couldn’t see anything through it, it was like a swirling wall.
“That is cool.” Chris’ eyebrows were raised and he was nodding.
“I’m supposed to work in THIS?” Joey looked in shock at the window.
Captain Clarque only shrugged. “You’re the smart one.”
“I never said that!” Joey protested.
“What are you talking about, working in this?” Chris asked from the window.
“I said I’d go outside to check on the engines,” the brunette replied.
“We’ll help if you want,” Nick offered. “I mean, you can barely see through that stuff!”
“If you want, I guess you could.”
“C’mon you guys. It’d be fun!”
AJ’s hand went up. “I’ll do it.” Slowly, every one of the Chosen Ten (Nine in this case, for Justin hadn’t woken up yet) had raised their hands and volunteered to go with Joey. They had nothing else to do anyhow.
“Alright. Go get some flashlights and meet back here in… 5 minutes,” Joey said, glancing at his watch, though he didn’t now how these aliens measured time.
Everyone scattered, and in roughly 5 minutes, everyone had a flashlight and tennis shoes. Joey had brought a jar to catch some of the fog to study it.
“Ok I don’t think this stuff is poisonous, considering the scientists say it’s safe, so… open hatch!”
With the same airy hiss Nebula remembered from so long ago, the hatch opened and they all exited the spacecraft into the opaque fog.
“Dude how in hell are we supposed to get around in THIS?” JC’s voice came over the fog. His voice was muffled, thanks to the fog. “The flashlights don’t help in the least!”
“This is bullshit!” AJ’s voice agreed. “I can’t even see a fly in front of my face!”
“Just wait you guys… where are you people?” Brian asked, fumbling around, trying to find someone. “Nick?”
“Um, NO. JOEY.”
Nebula burst out laughing and the rest of the group followed, until they finally found each other.
“Is it just me or is it hot in here? I think this fog is a suffocation unit,” Nick said, pulling his shirt away from his sweaty chest and trying to give himself some air.
“I agree…I’m dyin here!” Kevin said. “Where’s the ship??”
“The door is right behind me,” Chris shouted. “Somehow I knew we’d get lost.”
“Where ARE you Chris?”
“I just TOLD you! I’m in front of the door!”
“Just follow his voice!” someone yelled.
Everyone was arguing and shouting until a voice shouted louder than anyone else.
“MARCO!”
There were stifled snickers and giggles until they all caught on.
“POLO!”
“MARCO!”
“POLO!”
“Found him!” Nebula cried triumphantly. She took in a breath of the fog and found it tingling down to her lungs. It felt… weird. “This stuff is WEIRD!”
“What are you talking about?” someone asked, all the marco polo stopping.
“Pay attention when you breathe in… it tingles.”
“Weird!”
“OPEN EXTERIOR HATCH!” Joey yelled after he had captured some of the fog in his jar.
They all clambered inside, some coughing out the mysterious miasma.
Brian shook his head. “Ok I can see! How do people LIVE on this planet?”
“So? Did your mission succeed Mr- uh, Joey?” the Techtron woman asked. She had been waiting their return inside the ship.
“Negative. I couldn’t even see an inch in front of my face!” Joey sighed, plopping down next to her.
“Well we can’t win everything.”
“What’s wrong anyways?” Nebula asked.
“The engines malfunction sometimes,” Joey replied.
“Morning…”
Everyone glanced up to see a tired Justin trudge into the breakfast hall. It was a wonder he found his way there in the first place.
“Morning… Justin…” Nebula greeted, eyeing the grumpy youth with caution.
“Where’s my cereal?” he muttered, plopping down on the chair.
“Do you guys have cereal on this ship?” JC whispered to Nebula.
“Uh… yeah I think they went to the store and bought a bunch of your Earth food.”
“Ok cuz we need it… now. And milk.”
“Oh…k…” Nebula got up to the wall, where there was a pad. She punched in a code and ordered cereal be served to Justin, and sat back down. “Why can’t he have bacon and toast like the rest of us?”
“It’s cuz he’s “special”,” Chris said, making little quotes with his fingers on the word “special”.
“Ok so what are we going to do now?” Nick asked. “Cuz if we aren’t doin nothin I’m gonna go to my room and play some video games.”
“I’m all up for that,” Brian said, raising his hand.
“I’ll go tell the captain the mission was a bust.” Joey sighed and headed toward the important man’s office.
“Hey what’s your name anyway?” Kevin asked the green haired stranger.
She smiled. It was an exotic smile. “Dierdre. And you?”
“Kevin.”
Dierdre looked at everyone else. “And your names? All I know is your last names… Mr. McLean, Mr. Carter, Mr. Bass…”
“I’m AJ,” the rebel quickly introduced. “Never. I mean NEVER, call me Mr. McLean.”
“Ok then AJ.”
“I’m Nick,” the blonde smiled, kissing her hand.
“Nebula,” the princess introduced, giving Nick a strange look. “I’m sorry we haven’t met before, I should know all the crew. I guess I got lazy.”
“Nah it’s alright. I wasn’t in the ship much anyways. Always outside… exploring and such. Technology is… boring for me, since Techtrons have it so easy… I look for a challenge. Earth has it.”
Nebula nodded and smiled. Why did her stomach churn?
“Chris,” Chris said, making his presence known.
“Brian.”
“Lance.”
“JC.”
“And that charming young man over there is Justin,” Nick rolled his eyes. “He’s a grump in the morning I’ve been told.”
“Screw off.”
“And it’s true,” Nick muttered. “Ok well I’m leaving. I have a Nintendo that’s begging to be played… and Brian’s ass who’s waiting to get whooped…”
“Hey! I’ll get you yet!” Brian shot back good naturedly, jogging after his friend.
“Yeah well I’m bushed… I’m gonna get back to bed,” JC said, following Nick and Brian to the chutes.
In a time span of about 5 minutes, everyone had deserted the area.
+ + +
Nebula sat at her little desk, writing away in her journal. It was her peace- writing. Sometimes it was poetry, but more often than not, it was just her thoughts about things. She had found time in the past few weeks to write about her excitement about the Chosen Ten, and their flight home. Then she wrote about Derrick.
“…I can’t believe I’m going home! Once we get there, I know we can defeat Daja this time.
After we defeat him, I’ll find Derrick. We could be rulers! He-”
Suddenly she was interrupted with a thought, ‘He doesn’t love you’ Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion before she wrote, “He would be,” before her mind told her, “He would be horrified to marry you you’re so ugly.”
Nebula dropped her pen and her face took on a look of total confusion. She shook her head. “Of course Derrick loves me… how ridiculous.”
‘That’s what he wants you to think’
“But he DOES.”
‘Ugly. Ugly. Ugly.’
“STOP IT!” she cried, holding her head tightly in her hands.
‘He doesn’t love you. He’s probably with a million other girls with what he’s doing’
“GOD STOP IT! LEAVE ME ALONE!”
And all was silenced.
But the doubt was there.
And it wouldn’t go away.
+ + +
The blonde sighed as he sifted through his papers, looking over them, looking over contracts, signing contracts. He sighed again. He did that a lot.
He had been looking over contracts for about an hour, and at last he was done, setting them in his briefcase. He only hoped he’d live to use them.
“Of course I will… we can’t lose.”
‘How can you be so sure?’
“We’re going to win. We’re all working so hard…”
‘Not hard enough’
“But we’ve trained for a month, learned Tae Kwon Do even!” Lance pressed, oblivious to the fact he was the only one talking.
‘But it’s not enough. You’ll lose. And you’ll have nothing left’
+ + +
“Alright. I give up. You win!” Brian said ruefully, dropping the controller.
“HA I told you!” Nick smiled, resting against the bed.
Brian rolled his eyes and muttered something under his breath before leaving.
The boxer-clad blonde wrapped the cords around his green controllers before setting them on top of the console. He stood up to grab a shirt- it was getting chilly. Who knew outer space could be so cold?
Nick sifted through his closet for his gray Abercrombie sweatshirt. Then he stood to glance in the mirror.
‘Fat ass’
Nick froze before combing his hair again.
‘You’re fat and you know it’
“God stop it,” Nick cursed under his breath.
‘Fatty…fatty…’
Nick looked angered. “What the hell?”
‘Wonder why you don’t have a girlfriend? You’re too fat!’
“SHUT UP!” Nick shouted, covering his ears. His weak point- his weight.
‘Ever consider being a sumo wrestler?’
“SHUT THE FUCK UP! STOP IT!”
Silence.
His gaze on the mirror was strong enough to shatter it. And Nick began to weep.
+ + +
Joey yawned as he flipped through the so-called “channels”. There was absolutely nothing. He sighed.
‘You can’t do it’
“Wha?”
‘You can’t do it. You never will’
“Do what? Why am I talking to myself?”
‘Your parents will never be proud of you’
His heart stopped for a second when he heard those words. “W-what?”
‘You heard me. They’ll never take you back. They probably forgot about you’
“But-”
‘But nothing. They hate you for discovering their secret, and you’ll never succeed’
“I will succeed!” Joey said loudly.
‘Believe what you want’
+ + +
AJ chewed on his pencil tip for a second before jotting down a few more words.
He smiled.
It was finished.
‘It sucks’
AJ’s eyebrows crinkled. “What?”
‘IT SUCKS’
“Hell no it doesn’t.”
‘Pssh… of course you say that- you wrote it. But lemme tell ya- you can’t write worth SHIT’
“Then why in hell did Lance hire me?”
‘Favor from a friend’
“But… he said…”
‘To make you feel better. But in reality, AJ… your lyrics suck ass. They all do. Just give up’
“NO SHUT UP!”
‘Really AJ. There is a huge canyon space for improvement. Sorry to say… but you SUCK’
“AAGGH!” AJ screamed in frustration as he threw every piece of paper across the room. He buried his face in his arms as his sheets of his lyrical words fall down around him.
+ + +
JC mumbled as he shifted in his king-sized bed, fast asleep.
BEGIN DREAM
“V? Vanessa?”
“Right here baby.”
JC entered his bedroom to find his girlfriend on the bed in a tight red nightgown, looking… very surprised to see him.
“JC? What are you doing here?”
“I’m your boyfriend…”
“Boyfriend? Are you sure?”
“Yes of course I’m sure,” JC said, frustrated.
“Oh. Ok then. Shut the door on your way out.”
“What? Vanessa what are you-”
“Vanessa baby! I brought you a- who’s this?”
Vanessa got up off the bed and started to push JC out the door. “Nobody baby.”
“WHO IS THAT VANESSA?” JC demanded.
“Matt. Please, you’re interrupting.”
“WHAT?”
“You thought I loved you didn’t you? Well I’m sorry. I must be a better actress than I thought.”
“VANESSA! What?!”
“Buh bye now.”
“I love you Vanessa please…”
“I’m sorry,” she said apologetically, slamming the door.
END DREAM-NIGHTMARE
JC shot up in his bed, covered in cold sweat and tears. He panted as he wiped off his face with his sheets. “No way.”
‘YES WAY’
+ + +
Justin was surprised they had an exercise area on the ship as he entered the vast room with a towel for a workout. He was worried when he found Nick lying on a mat, doing curl ups like there was no tomorrow.
“Nick?”
The older blonde ignored him and continued. Justin could see the strain he had, the buckets of sweat pouring down his face. He was overworking himself.
“Nick how long have you been doing that?”
“Fuck off.”
Justin stepped back, surprised at the harsh comment. “What are you doing?”
“What is it to you?”
“You’re overworking yourself!”
“No I’m not. Just leave me alone.”
“No, that’s not healthy. Pace yourself!”
Nick glared and pushed himself for another curl up.
“What is wrong with you?” Justin asked, his patience wearing thin. He didn’t have to care for what Nick was doing to himself, but he conscience wouldn’t let him off without doing something.
“NOTHING,” Nick growled.
Justin looked at him once again disgustedly, then went to the stationary bike. It must have been a half hour he was on it, pedaling his legs to oblivion, but at last he saw it.
Nick collapsed.
+ + +
BEGIN DREAM
Chris watched in horror as the other nine fought off the warriors- the evil warriors of the Mesani. They threw expert kicks, but they always seemed to fall. Their punches were caught, as were their kicks, and they fell onto the rocky gray ground in a matter of minutes. Their bruises and cuts were evident as they fought as hard as they knew.
“Chris! HELP!” Nick cried, his stomach pierced open. The blonde fell onto the ground and groaned in agony, clutching his stomach in pain and horror.
“CHRIS!”
“HELP CHRIS!”
Too many people… who to go to first? Chris thought dizzily as the scene spun around in front of him. It was too much…
They weren’t prepared.
END DREAM
+ + +
BEGIN LINKING DREAM
The fire was high, licking the dark sky. The screams… oh the screams- high and loud and pleading. The buildings were contorted, deformed as the fire burned and melted it. It was like watching a candle slowly burn down… Masts and furniture were broken everywhere, decks were falling, collapsing. People scurried around the bloodied ground like mad mice, eyes wide and scared and pleading.
Brian looked around with frightened eyes. He yelped when he spotted a flying torso. No arms. No legs. No head.
He turned his eyes up to the sky and found it an angry red… angry for…failing to save it. Was this the future? Would they fail?
“BRIAN!”
The Kentucky native spun around madly before spotting a familiar figure. “KEVIN?!”
“Brian!” Kevin called still, panting as he ran to his cousin. “Can you BELIEVE this?”
“What if this is the future Kev? What if we failed?”
“We won’t…it’s just… just a nightmare.”
“HELP US PLEASE!” a woman shrieked. “HELP US ALL!”
END LINKING DREAM
+ + +
Dinnertime for the Chosen Ten (the crew believed that it was a time where they could share ideas to defeat the Mesani) was glum and boring. No one said a word, and most played with their food, not hungry.
The curly blonde stared at all his friends’ faces.
“JC? Yo wassup man?”
The brunette glanced up, gave him a sad smile, and looked back down at his food.
Justin’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion, his head going back just a bit in surprise. He looked around. “Chris?”
He only looked away.
“NICK?”
Same result.
“What’s going on you guys?”
Silence.