KETTY'S SUBDIVISION Wattys2017

Chapter 6-Part IV

Somewhere at the edge of Ketty's Subdivision, Ballo-dom blipped the throttle to the Collapse-core Supernova Generator powering his spaceship and streaked away from his home world. As most teenagers before him, technology made him feel invincible. It was an age old facet of human nature which caused him to push the envelope and unwittingly explore the limits of his own mortality.

Often, youth loses to fate, circumstances, or just bad luck. Ballo-dom had the small reactor wrung out to its maximum as the artificial flight computer droned in a threatening monologue.

"Maximum thrust achieved. Warning, maximum thrust achieved." He swore he could see light bending back as his ship pierced the darkness like a bullet, and he felt truly alive. He glanced down at the small readout now hovering at point five.

"Yeah!" he screamed to himself, holding the throttle wide open at one half the speed of light. He could feel the stress of carbon and alloy as a rhythmic vibration hinted at the stress his ship endured. A small veil of energy bridged the gap between him and the cosmos, yet he was secure in the integrity of the hull and the design of the ship. For a few brief moments he was one with creation, confident of his destiny, convinced of his purpose.

The collision alarm sounded for one brief second, then the ship around him began shredding away before the thought, oh crap, was processed in his brain. A flash of light signaled the end. Now he was free floating in space, a few remnants of the ship still traveling with him at a ridiculous velocity. Then his stomach lurched as some unseen force grabbed him from behind.

I should be dead by now, he thought. The sparkling remains of his ship were receding in the distance, but somehow his life support belt had saved him. Then he was being drawn into a strange spaceship by a thin strand of wire. Its curves and lines were all wrong, with a bloated sack pulsing underneath. The form and function refused to register in his shell shocked mind, but one thing was sure, he was being abducted. The door slid closed and with it, all hope of escaping vanished. Artificial gravity dropped him on the floor of a strange room covered in musty hay. The smell of urine and manure assaulted his nostrils, then his mind collapsed. He curled into a little ball and cried like a baby. Something kicked him in the gut, causing his eyes to shoot open. What he saw made his stomach lurch worse than the kick. Hideous was inappropriate. The creature in front of him slid with a fluid motion that defied biometric standards in any system. He tried to look away but it held him with its eyes, while razor sharp lips moved in rapid fashion that shot noise like a bullet. The words vibrated in his chest, yet they made no sense. Then it smiled and he understood.

"This one will do," said the creature. One hollow claw pierced Ballo's skull and sucked the DNA rich brain matter like soup.

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