The shuttle shook violently, nearly knocking Charlie from his chair. He looked around in a wild panic, his hair a mess on top of his head.
“What was that?” he said aloud as he pressed buttons wildly on the control panels that he really shouldn’t be pressing. A red light was flashing and there was a constant annoying warning sound, blurting throughout the room. Charlie, unable to find the button to switch it off, kicked the speaker it emitted from instead. Music began to play. The music wasn’t much better than the warning sound, but it was a start.
Eventually, pressing a touch screen by his side, he managed to find out what was wrong. There was a hole in the top of the shuttlecraft, an area that led to a random space that seemed to have no use other than to give the shuttle a cool go-faster fin on the top.
Luckily, the Overseer’s shuttle was top of the range and came with a ‘self-repair’ kit. Thousands of tiny metal ants that, working as one unit, could mend anything that had been broken. Within moments the hole had been patched, meaning Charlie had nothing to worry about.
Except of course for what had made that hole in the first place.
Deciding it was probably just a random bit of space rock, Charlie sat back in the comfy chair and tried to tune the music into another channel. Perhaps something with a bit of jazz. This seemed like a jazzy moment.
The first flash of golden glow flickered in the window. The shuttle was beginning to enter. Charlie could see the hole he had made in clear view ahead. He was so close now to home, to his own dimension. So close to Earth.
Earth. Now that he was by himself, Charlie’s heart began to beat quicker and quicker as he thought about his planet and about what was waiting for him on his return.
A destroyed city and a couple of thousand dead city dwellers.
A perfect way to start a Sunday morning.
Charlie’s ears pricked up as he heard something clunking in the room behind him. It was nothing more than an airlock. Surely there was nothing inside there?
The door suddenly ripped in two as the Mechanoid burst through, its wild, metal arms flailing in an attempt to connect with Charlie's head!
X7421a’s landing had been much harder than anticipated, severely damaging its frame work and circuitry within in the process. Now it was a horrific sight; wires loose, patches of metal hanging off, an eye completely smashed. Its vocal chords had also been damaged, giving the Mechanoid a hissing, fizzing sound as it spoke.
“COLLABORATOR… OF… THE… NNNGGHHH… UNWELCOME…”it said, its metal head twitching as it shouted.“YOU… ARE… GUILTY… OF… DESTROYING… X7421… YOU… WILL… BE… NNNGGHH… DEACTIVATED!”
Charlie Pinwright stared in horror as the robot began to advance towards him. His throat dried up and he froze to the spot.
“You?” he screamed in terror. “I thought I’d seen the last of you!” But even as he said it he realised that this Mechanoid was different from the last. He realised another had been sent to kill him!
“YOU… WILL… BE… DEACTIVATED!”
“About that,” said Charlie, hoping to reason with the tin can, “it doesn’t really sit well with me. You see… turns out I’m quite important. I know… who knew! You are obviously from a dimension full of robots and talking calculators and singing kettles and are finding all of us ‘living’ creatures highly annoying and full of emotions. I can help! I can return things to the way they were meant to be!”
The Mechanoid did not seem to either hear nor care. Its sights were set on removing the life from Charlie. It sprang forward with a spiked arm and caught Charlie in the shoulder. With one, simple swing, it hurled the screaming Human to the other side of the room!
Charlie hit the wall hard.
The Mechanoid advanced once again. Charlie had to do something and quickly. He began to think. The problem here was quite an obvious one for any person who had been following Charlie’s life of present. Charlie Pinwright was a little slow. It wasn’t that he was unintelligent, just slow to think of the intelligent things. At school he was always the last to finish his work due to this. In fact most of the other pupils had already gone home and then come back for the next day by the time he realised which letter came after L in the alphabet. N obviously.
An idea slowly began to creep into Charlie’s mind.
“JUSTICE… IS… SERVED…” X7421a laughed. Actually laughed. This was due to the malfunctioning in its programming but it was a laugh nevertheless.
A laugh however was exactly the one thing that Charlie Pinwright did not want to hear, but was exactly the one thing that he needed to. For that laugh made Charlie mad. That old anger swelled up inside him. That old fuming rage that filled his body and boiled his blood. That frenzy that he could not control. Too much. Charlie was so close to getting back to his miserable life, so close to home. The last thing he needed now was a pissing sandwich toaster laughing at him.
The bull smashed through the China shop, shattering ornaments, breaking tea sets, crashing down vases. And leaving without paying for the damage!
Charlie ripped off one of his shoes, one of his oh-so-worn, oh-so-dirty, oh-so-wishes-it could-be-thrown-away shoes, and he threw it away. It flew through the air and hit the direct spot it was meant to at the other side of the room.
An accurate shot was something that Charlie had in his favour, yet only when angry. The rest of the time his throwing was crap. He was never picked to be on the basketball team. Yet, when working at King George’s Electrical Repairs, whenever he had become angry at a stupid customer or his obnoxious boss, Charlie had screwed up the paper he was writing his notes on and thrown it as hard as he could across the room to vent his temper. After some time, the paper began to land in the bin. Soon every shot was a winner.
Charlie’s angry shoe shot was a winner. It struck the button that opened the airlock door!
“I got rid of your predecessor,” Charlie growled at the Mechanoid as the airlock door began to open, “and now I’m going to get rid of you as well! You’ve really pissed me off! And I was actually feeling quite alright with myself as well! Well thank you Mr Machine. Thank you for stopping me from being happy!”
X7421a looked at Charlie a little perplexed. However it did not have time to dwell on his words as the airlock door opened to its maximum and the Mechanoid was sucked towards it. Charlie hung onto a handle on the wall for dear life as the Mechanoid, desperately grappling at the side of the doorframe, lost its grip and was hurtled out into space.
The airlock door slowly closed and things returned to normal inside the shuttlecraft. Charlie, after several minutes catching his breath, released the handle and found he had actually squished finger delves into it. Wiping the sweat from his brow, he returned to the seat and tried to steer the shuttle back on course for the tear in the Enveloping Effect.
X7421a floated through space. It tried in vain to activate its thrusters. They had burnt out. With no hope of gaining any sort of control, and the horrific thought of floating through space for an eternity, X7421a triggered the shut down if its systems.
One by one, every light on its body blinked off until eventually only the one eye remained lit. Then, with a tiny flicker, that too died, leaving the Mechanoid nothing more than a dark shape drifting forever through an eternal night.
Chapter 59
The orange glow flared outwards, surrounding the shuttle. Charlie could see the hole once again and had piloted the craft towards it. Being inside the Enveloping Effect could only be described as an eerie experience at best. The last time Charlie had been in this position it had been quick, over in a flash as the orange glow had enveloped him. This time however, he was in control. He was inside the glow, yet not quite touching it.
Everything was silent, except for the music coming from the speakers that trailed off in an echo and sounded very, very distant. Charlie could hear his heart beating.
The tear grew closer and closer, but was also growing smaller and smaller as it began to close. Charlie panicked. He brought up a r
eading on the touch screen, which confirmed his fear. The hole was too small. The shuttle would not fit through!
He looked around the room, desperately trying to figure out what he could do. With luck, Charlie just happened to feel the inside of his trouser pocket. There was a small, disc shaped object sitting inside. He took it out. It was a molecular expanded stretchy thing, one that Charlie had put in his pocket for good measure when he had destroyed the first Mechanoid. God, that seemed like an eternity ago.
Moving on impulse, and it should be added very much like a pro, he headed to the torpedo launcher and flipped the lid open. He removed the torpedo inside and flung in the molecular expanded stretchy thing. Sitting back in his seat he took aim with the shuttle’s weapons system and fired.
The molecular expanded stretchy thing rocketed from the torpedo launcher and hurtled through space towards the rapidly closing hole in the Enveloping Effect. With a slight puff it attached itself to the side of the hole and just in time too as the shuttlecraft was directly behind it.
The shuttle and everything inside it, which included Charlie, began to distort as all of the molecules began to give way for the tiny disc stuck to the side of the Effects hole.
It was a very uncomfortable feeling, one that Charlie could only describe as the way a sausage would feel being wrapped in its skin.
But it had worked. The shuttlecraft was through the gap, travelling inside a long tunnel, like some sort of vortex. The music from the speakers crackled as the frequency was lost, yet another song was taking its place, being picked up from one of Earth’s satellites. ‘Since You’ve Been Gone’ by Rainbow. One of Charlie’s favourites. Many a night had Charlie bounced around his bedroom with his air guitar, his messy hair flapping up and down. Hearing the song now made him smile.
And then Charlie saw it. A gap up ahead showed a small green blue planet that, compared to some of the other places he had seemed, looked distinctly average.
Earth.
A million thoughts bubbled inside Charlie’s brain, and it worried him to find that most of them were negative. Negative thoughts towards Earth. An empty bed in an empty flat. That was what awaited Charlie back home. In fact not even that as he had managed to destroy the city that his flat occupied.
He had a lot of explaining to do on his return. And even if he should get away with the destruction of his home city, what did he have in store for him. No job, no money, no family, no friends. Just a whole lot of sadness. Sadness that Charlie had felt all of his life. On Earth his life had been pointless.
He looked back, through the airlock window. At the other side of the vortex he could see the new dimension, the Overseer’s judgement ship a tiny fleck amongst the stars. Back there was excitement. Back there was adventure. In front of him was boredom.
He reached down and pulled sharp on the handbrake. The shuttle screeched to a stop. Charlie had to think and he had never been very good at doing that whilst moving.
If he went back home, would he always regret his decision? Would he die wishing he had the courage to just turn back? However if he did turn back what awaited him there? The unknown.
In Charlie’s mind the unknown seemed a hell of a lot better than regret. There was no doubt about it. He hit the reverse button on the controls. The shuttles thruster’s changed direction and slowly the craft and Charlie began to back away from Earth and back towards the new dimension!
Chapter 60
“What’s he doing?” shouted Rufi as the shuttlecraft appeared back on the judgement ship’s screen, leaving the Enveloping Effect.
“Maybe something went wrong,” said An’ishia concerned.
“No,” muttered Fungust panicking and shaking his head madly, “no nothing could go wrong! Nothing at all!” He hoped. His reputation was at stake.
“Allow him to dock,” growled the Overseer. “Let’s see what he has to say for himself.”
They all watched as the little shuttlecraft docked with the large judgement ship. Behind it, the tear in the Enveloping Effect finally closed and sealed itself up, never to open again. The golden glow began to fade until eventually it could not be seen at all. All that remained on the screen was space. An eternal space that would forever be made up of stars and planets from a mixture of random dimensions that didn’t really belong together.
The docking port doors opened, Charlie stepped out and instantly a number of highly charged weapons and two wands thrust into his face.
“Would you care to tell us what the hell happened?” growled Rufi, a mad glare in his eyes.
Charlie took a deep breath and puffed out his chest proudly. “I changed my mind,” he said confidently. An’ishia smiled and found Professor Amirous giving her a wink.
“Changed your mind?” roared the Overseer. “You changed your mind?”
“The way I figured it,” Charlie continued, “back on Earth I was a nobody. Here… I am somebody.”
“A dead somebody is what you are!” screamed the Overseer, his voice making hearts attempt to commit suicide. He gripped Charlie roughly and threw him in to the centre of the room and onto his knees. The Overseer reached behind him and drew out the meanest, nastiest looking weapon in existence. Imagine something so horrific that your heart would actually succeed in committing suicide when you looked at it and you might just begin to be able to visualise this weapon.
It was called the obliterator and it was famous throughout the Overseer's galaxy. Those that had been killed by that gun could still be heard screaming in pain. The Overseer pointed it at Charlie’s head.
“No!” cried An’ishia as she pushed through the guards towards him, Vegora Vrall joining her. They were blocked by a stream of blue flame that emitted from the end of Rufi’s wand.
“You have made a brutal mistake Human!” the Overseer yelled. “I clear your name of your crimes, I let you avoid Reformatory, allow you to return to your own dimension, your own world. I even give you my shuttlecraft to travel in… and this is how you repay me? We are now trapped forever in this new dimension!”
“I will not apologise for my actions,” Charlie said defiantly.
“Perhaps not… but you will die for them!”
“Dying here is better than my life on Earth!”
“Very well! Charlie Pinwright… your time is over!”
The Overseer’s finger pressed the trigger. A bolt of pure malevolence fired from the gun, but even as it did, Charlie’s body began to shimmer and glow as he began to teleport away. The bolt passed through him harmlessly, hitting the other side of the room in a great explosion.
The Overseer and Rufi screamed in anger. An’ishia cheered.
Charlie, half transparent from the teleportation, heard her cheers. He turned to her and smiled. In that face, that pasty, messy haired, forgettable face, the Princess had a startling revelation. She was in love with him also!
“Charlie!” she shouted amongst the noise from the room. “Charlie there is something I need to tell you!”
“Block that teleport signal!” yelled the Overseer to his workers. But it was too late. It could not be traced.
“The baby Charlie,” shouted An’ishia. “My baby… the father Charlie…”
Rufi and Fungust tried desperately to bring the Human back using magic. They sent wave after wave of vibrant coloured jets over him, but it was no good. Charlie Pinwright had gone.
An’ishia fell to her knees, tears flowing down her pretty face. “It’s you,” she whispered. “Somehow... it’s you.”
Epilogue
An ending is always a time of great reflection. The end of a life, the end of an era, the end of a vindaloo. Of course there are many emotions being thrown around at an ending. Happy that you are fulfilled, sad that it is over, confused as to what there is to do next, annoyed that perhaps what you have just done wasn’t quite as good as you hoped it would be. Perhaps an ending doesn’t have to be an end. Perhaps it could be classed as a new beginning. A new start.
The only problem with new starts
is that one has to begin all over again. Take the end of a good book for example. Once read it is time to move onto the next. To take the time to get to know and love the new book’s characters as you had the last. What if this new book is not as good? What if it is better? Making a new start is a risk we all have to take.
Charlie Pinwright knew that he had taken the biggest risk of them all. By choosing to remain in the new dimension, his new start was not so much a new book but a new bloody set of Charlie Pinwright chronicles, providing he lived that long! Was it the correct choice? He guessed that only time would tell (another saying that Charlie did not understand. He had met many clocks in his time and not a single one of them had told him what was to come other than the next second).
Charlie opened his eyes. Teleportation was a horrific experience. He quickly checked his body parts to make sure they were all still there. Thankfully, they were. He breathed a sigh of relief.
He looked around wildly and focused on the smiling face staring at him. The face was grey, slightly plump, had yellow eyes and, at the top, had a ridiculous antennae bobbing up and down.
“You!” he gasped.
The smile widened even further. “Hello Charlie my friend!” Greebol said jovially.
“Of all the people…”
“Charlie,” Greebol continued tutting, “I just saved your life. Surely you cannot still be angry at me?”
“If you’ll let me finish,” said Charlie. “Of all the people… I am glad it’s you!” He rushed forward and embraced the Gumthar so hard he almost popped.
Greebol patted Charlie on the back, this hug was lasting slightly too long. A hug, especially between two men, should either be;
a) A brief, manly shoulder nudge with a quick slap and a nervous cough afterwards, followed by a pint
b) Completely non-existent
Greebol and Charlie were more of option ‘b’ sort of men, yet at times, and this seemed to be one of them, an option ‘a’ was perfectly acceptable. At the moment, Charlie was doing an option ‘c’, forcing Greebol to peel him off.
Intergalactic Terrorist (New Dimension Book 1) Page 31
