The Prophecy Unspoken

Nobody can hear a scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say.

Garth slowly inches his fingers closer to the eject switch on the console in front of him. Presently blind due to head impact suffered in the Perseid meteor shower currently raining down on his air cruiser, Garth struggles to see through the visor of his Mark III Titan helmet.

What was the meteor shower doing out here? And why didn't it register on his short-spectrum radar or sonar pulses? Garth thought to himself.

"That's a question I'll have to find the answer to later, first I have to get the hell out of here before this ship explodes. Jesus Christ, not another one. This is the 3rd ship this year, Jackie's going to be so mad! Ha-ha". Garth continued, his voice cracking up due to the damage to his ship's communications array.

Garth chuckles under the thought of a maddening Jackie and a small smile strikes across his green scaly lips. Confident he has the eject pod switch in his fingers, he takes a deep inhalation and looks out at the black cosmos in front of him, thousands upon thousands of meteors ranging in size from football, to football stadium hurtle through space and time around him, smashing into one another in a display of cosmic fireworks. Sparks fly out from broken cables inside the ship, warning sounds blare out of speaker systems and red lights flash throughout the console.

Garth exhales. He flips the switch on the eject pod, hears a soft, subtle release of air depressurizing, a loud clank, and whoosh, Garth is ejected from the wrecked air cruiser into the vast chaotic space around him. He has to hope first that he can escape the meteor shower, and then make it to a suitable planet to contact help and return home.

Meteors fly past his head, small chunks of rock and other debris clatter around him, smashing together into smaller pieces, those smaller pieces then colliding again. He sees a larger meteor closing in on his location, it doesn't look like Garth will have time to move out of the way of this speeding skyscraper. He locks in and scans the meteor, his readings show the speed, trajectory and necessary statistics to pull off a stunt Garth never thought he would attempt.

"No way, no way, no fucking way, I mean it’s not even possible, it’s like some movie shit!" Garth screams out, but it’s decision time, and there's only one way out of this hell hole, on the back of that flaming rock! Garth allocates a portion of his oxygen to his thrusters and uses the scan of the meteor to guide his trajectory. In an instant, Garth will need to unleash his full thrust capacities to match the meteor's speed and grab a hold of something on the surface. The issue is that he was going to be much, much slower.

Garth ripped the bracket off his thruster pack and pulled up the override sequence, he punched in his command dial and removed the speed restrictions. These were only in place for the safety of the space nought, they can become seriously uncontrollable if not handled correctly, thankfully Garth knows a thing or two about uncontrollable spacesuits, being an Alpha Zeta Bio-Engineer for some 80 years.

Garth knows that the following is not going to be pleasant. He twists his tail back, ready to grab on when the time comes, and presses the thruster button…

Garth's chest feels like it is about to explode as the thruster smash past maximum velocity to attempt this fatal landing. The meteor soars past and Garth crashes to the ground, fumbling over himself, bouncing off into space before crashing again into the meteor's surface as it passes by.

He spills backwards, tumbling out and away from the meteor, he grasps with his hand and catches the rocky surface, his claws scraping the rock as he slips, Garth tightens his tail and stiffens its tip, he crashes it down onto the surface and through the skin of the meteor, from here he anchors in, tail attached to the mighty flying beast, claws fixed to its craggy flesh.

“Woooooooohooooooo!!!” Garth screams, “Holy hell I can’t believe I made it, ha-ha!” he chuckles out loud. Garth pulls up his visor, scans the area around him, enables his Grav-Boots, and withdraws his claws. He stands upright, tail still anchored afoot in the rock to ensure his stability, Grav-Boots have betrayed him before, and he doesn’t want to risk that again.

Garth’s visor brings up a small rocky cave a few hundred yards from his position and he decides to make his way there to find shelter. The plan is simple, wait it out on the meteor until he establishes a position closer to a planet or a passing ship.

As Garth steps forward towards the cave he withdraws his tail and crashes it into the rock a few meters ahead to establish stability, the meteor is still flying around and debris is hitting its surface so Garth is right to be wary as he walks.

Just a few steps before the cave's entrance, Garth cracks his tail into the rock and feels a difference. Immediately, as if by magic, white spores burst forth from the rock, coating Garth from head to toe.

Thankfully, Garth has his suit on and the spores can’t infect him.

That is when it happens, that noise, the noise he will never forget, a heavenly sound, coming from inside the cave, something drawing him in, like a magnet, or a Virquip to a flame. Something in the cave, asking him to come forward, ushering him inside, something warm, something strange.

And Garth did exactly that. He couldn’t do anything different. He moved towards the sound, and as he entered the cave and the darkness crept over his visor and the black became his vision, that is when they showed themselves. White, green, glowing edges, pulsing, pure light, they were all these things and more.

They had what looked like a stem of sorts, and a cap on top, they glowed in the dark and they spoke to Garth. They told him to consume them, and he obeyed.

It was there, inside that cave, on a meteor flying through the infinite universe, alone and hungry and desperate that Garth saw that which he was destined to see.

It was in this cave that Garth understood why he was here, why his ship had ended the way it had, why all the events of the past had led him here and why the pain and suffering and hardship he had conquered had been to prepare him for what was to come.

It was in this cave that Garth saw his death and his entire life and every possible conceivable path and every inevitable door that was to be opened and all the impact his decisions were to make and the idea that would start it all.

It was in this cave that Garth met her, the omnipotent, indescribable, indomitable force that purveys the spaceless space. She didn’t speak, she didn’t have to. Garth knew from her presence alone exactly what he had to do.

He didn’t know he knew, but something inside him knew nonetheless. Something deep inside him was awakened that day of darkness. It was this thing that would eventually become Garth, and Garth would eventually become this thing.

The Fajarcharp. A thing of legends. He always knew it was true, he always felt it, on the cold nights in the Trakelinium, he could sense the presence of the almighty path, the true way.

The Fajarcharp. Let it commence.

Garth felt a sense of deep belonging flood his tall, strong, scaly body. He felt a power within him surge and rise up. Clarity washed over his mind like none before.

The message was clear, get to the Order of the Way, make contact, prove yourself worthy and begin the quest you were destined for.

Garth positioned himself cross-legged on the floor of the cave. He needed to reserve his strength just now and replenish his lost energy. Garth remembered the practice Phylo taught him many years ago.

He steadied his breathing. Focused on the tip of his tail resting between his legs and allowed his mind to relax. Everything went dark, blackness rose and enshrouded his consciousness. Garth saw himself, sitting crossed-legged, yet floating, suspended in the darkness. He flew above himself and sat there, watching his own body intently.

Garth began to summon the darkness. He allowed it to take his body so that only his mind remained. He gave to it everything he had in physical form. A faint smile grew across his lips. And then he disappeared too. (Garth is still unaware of the intimate nature of this process, he is young by Fuitopian standards and has much learning to do).

He came back to his senses in the cave moments later when his consciousness returned to his body. Rejuvenated. Empowered. Garth’s tall ears picked out strange vibrations coming from across the surface of the meteor.

A mining droid.

“It’s time to get off this fucking rock,” Garth thought to himself. He would sneak up on the droid and hack its mainframe to disable the AI. After that, he could pilot it to the closest planetary system and carry on the quest he started.

Garth has an incredible sight, and he used this to his advantage to pick out the serial number on the drill of the mining droid.

“B-Class Humanoid LTD OX99” He chuckled to himself, bloody humanoids. Garth knew he would have to approach the droid at speed, this version, in particular, carries a wide range sonar pulse that sends out repeat bursts every 6 seconds. That’s all Garth needs. It is a wonder the pulse hadn’t picked him up yet, he must be just out of range.

He steadies his breathing and begins to climb the craggy rock surface next to the entrance of the cave for a better advantage point. Claws quietly search for cracks to cling to. Garth is some 30 yards above the droid now and about 60 yards away.

His legs tighten up and kick back off the surface as he begins to sprint towards the droid, arms pounding down to propel his massive body across the rock. In just 4 seconds he reaches the droid and dives into the air towards its back.

He smashes into its armour shell and crushes it to the ground. His massive legs and arms pin the droid down as his tail rips open the panel to access the mainframe network. He inserts his tail into the port of the droid and hacks its systems instantaneously.

The droid makes a low buzzing whir and shuts down. Garth clambers over the giant machine and opens the front cover of the unit with his large, clawed fingers.

He contorts his body to fit over the central console units. Droids like this are equipped with a body configuration exam and as Garth slides into the console seat the droid begins a meta-scan. It determines his size and shape accordingly and the holo-plastic chair morphs to suit his physique.

Garth closes down the hatch and seals the inside chamber of the droid unit. In front of him sits an array of colourful panels and holo-screens. He hadn’t used anything holographic for a long time but remembered the simplicity of its design immediately and he quickly managed to navigate his way to the star and planetary systems map.

Garth activated a sub-routine that enabled the autopilot protocol of the AI onboard the droid to activate. He selected the closest planetary system with a stage 1 civilization and the AI created a route for maximum efficiency. He tapped in the commencement procedure and the craft took to the air in an instant. Thankfully, these drones are equipped with a gravity propulsion system, he will get to Nivugrap in a few days.

Garth starts to drift off into memories of the almighty one he saw just days before in the cave. So much power, so much strength. Why did she choose him for this mission? Is he the person she says he is? Only time will tell.

Garth finds an old copy of the “Planetary Encyclopedia Datalog Compilation 3917”, these books were created by a faction of humanoids a thousand years ago, they sync discoveries and facts about the Universe from chartered expeditions, and as he waits for his ship’s arrival on Nivugrap, he flips through the pages and entertains himself with the contents of the book.

“Planetary Encylopedia Datalog Compilation 3917”

Datalog; Nivugrap; A hydrogen gas giant with a stable core

Datalog; There are currently 42 species carrying the humanoid genome

Datalog; meteors are mined for precious materials like gold, silicon, water and more

Datalog; Fuitopians can see a vast light spectrum with exceeding detail

Date log: The planetary system Hurbog has 1/8th the universe's population

Datalog; the golden ratio is said to be built into the universe by The All

Datalog: Fuitopians are one of the newest species to enter the galactic stage, and the only lizard species so far to be accepted

Datalog: Virquips are nasty flying Pyrobugs

Datalog: Ruptures in time caused by the Great Wars can still be felt today

Datalog: Never underestimate the claws of a Sheeklybut

Datalog; The Terminis were the first to harness universal energy

Datalog: The water on Phuki is redder than the surface of Mars but completely safe

Datalog; Garth is part Fuitopian, part Levevafo. Hence the scaly skin but long lifespan. Not much is known about this species other than their intelligence. And they’re lacking in any social skills

Datalog: Fuitopians have been known to live well over 1000 Humanic years

Datalog: The Levevafo is one of the founding five elder races

Datalog: OlR has been announced prime evil by the Foundation

Datalog: Levevafo – Elder race, one of the founding five. Known to possess powers associated with universal energy, deep wisdom runs through the race, inside each one, powers of the mind such as telekinesis, the ability to see the future, wield the power of time, lifespan unknown, from the Levevafo planet.

Datalog: The planetary system Hurbog has 1/8th the universe's population