Twisted Inksoul - The Anthology of Inkwell

Part 1 Chapter 5: Welcome to ScrapTown

Inkwell couldn't concentrate. Huxley was bickering with the android pilot of the service pod in some kind of machine language, which sounded like a poor radio broadcast. Verna was standing next to him, rambling and staring at his arm. About twenty minutes had passed since Inkwell scared off El Diablo de la Salsa with his mysterious arm attack. His hand returned to its previous normal state. He was utterly dumbfounded at what happened. Is there something wrong with me? I don't believe that was normal. How did my arm do that?, he thought to himself. Verna was also curious, but was a lot more vocal about it. She was asking Inkwell a hundred questions a minute, hardly taking the time to take a breath. Inkwell didn't respond to anything she was saying. All he could do was stare at his hand in awe and fear.

"Dude, that was absolutely amazing! It all happened in a second! You totally made a pussy out of 'em! Did you know you could do that?! Wait till everyone back at home hears about this!" Verna exclaimed. It was the most excited she had been in a while. She looked at Inkwell, but he did not return the eye contact. He finally looked up, dissatisfied. "Yeah, it was cool I suppose," he responded.

Huxley finished connecting their speeder marooned speeder pod to the maintenance pod. He used a thick tether to connect the vehicles together with a satisfying clunk. The automaton motioned to Inkwell and Verna to board the pod. As Huxley boarded the transport, Verna and Inkwell hopped into the back seats. The service android looked at Huxley and nodded. The engine fired up and the speeder began to gain speed. The crew was off.

Time passed. The sun was just about up, and the winds started to pick up again. Verna's hair whipped in the dusty wind. It kept blowing in her face, but couldn't seem to tame it. She shifted in her seat to face away from the wind and to face Inkwell. He had a thousand-yard stare, gazing lifelessly into the sandy horizon. Something about him gave her a strange feeling inside. She didn't trust many people besides Huxley, but his bravery and willingness to help meant he was gaining her trust. She smiled a little bit. The world seemed a lot less dangerous with him around. Inkwell's stare was broken.
"Um, is something wrong?" he asked Verna.

Startled, she sat up in her seat. "No, I just...... I guess I wanted to say thanks for what you did." Inkwell whipped his hair back and tapped his blade sheepishly. "Well, you're welcome, but I don't even know what I did or how I did it." Verna looked away for a moment and thought. "The stuff that came out of your arm-"

"I don't think it came out of my arm. My hand liquified, I believe" Inkwell interjected. Verna glanced at him with skepticism. "Oh, my bad" she said sarcastically, "Whatever happened, I think the goo that shot out at El Diablo is the same stuff we found in your pod." Huxley turned to face them. "Affirmative," he simply replied. "I guess everyone feels like interrupting me today" Verna huffed. "I know none of us have any answers, but once we get situated I know someone who could help us." Inkwell perked up. "Who are you referring to?"

Verna adjusted her goggles. "Makli, the Oracle. She's actually pretty important to our livelihood. I can't believe I forgot to mention her." Inkwell was still confused. "Why is she so important?" Before Verna could answer, the maintenance speeder slowed down drastically and made everyone rock forward without warning. "We have arrived" Huxley announced.

Inkwell scooted over to his leftmost side to see their destination. All he could see was a large sign they were encroaching on. The sign was made of various materials and propped up on flimsy-looking support beams. The garbage near it kicked up in the wind as the pod got closer. What stood out most about it was the rusty spears planted in the dirt next to it. They were stained and worn. On top of one of them was a malformed skull. It had no nose cavity and there were no signs of sutures. Inkwell assumed the grim sight was what used to be a member of the Ten'traal species. Inkwell glanced at the sign. It was plastered in graffiti, and it appeared to read SugarTown. However, crudely splattered paint changed it to ScrapTown. As the pod drifted past the sign, it only sparked more questions in Inkwell's head. The pod finally stopped. Verna and Huxley dismounted, which Inkwell didn't notice right away and clamered off in a sloppy fashion. They stood at the edge of a cliff, and Inkwell couldn't believe his eyes.