Spankbelly:A day in my life.

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Creators of Man
Part One
Eternal Prisoners of Forgotten Moon

[Mechanic, Bogeyman]

Questions. Doubts he whispered, soft and low.
Joe went about the business of Joe, down through the checklist. Check, check, check. His eyes never on the prisoner. Never a glance. Check, check, check.
Sentry watched Joe. Glass eyes never blink.
Questions, check. Doubts, check. Secrets, check. Check, check, check did Joe. As if he had no secret doubts his own.
The machine hummed its song. The machine held the prisoner, in frozen sleep.
What voice this? What doubts breathed? Whose thoughts wormed in the mind of Joe?
The machine hummed. The prisoner slept. Joe checked. Sentry did not blink.

[Mechanic, Beauty]

Away from him now. Away from Bogeyman. Away to all the others. To all the machines that hummed and held the sleepers of frozen death.
Check, check, check.
Some still good, and ripe as new. A bruise here, a nibble there. Some mere scraps of nightmare.
Down through the lines and over the rows, Joe checked the machines that hummed and held. Joe checked those that once were. Those that once danced, in laughter and light.
Till he came here. To the rows of darkness. Where no hums hummed. Where no machines blinked their lights of stasis.
The only sound, Joes own breath. Odd and out of place. A solemn beacon in this mortuary of electric ice.
Yet far off, Bogeyman whispered still.
Joe passed the empty chambers. Deep into the black. Deep where Sentry did not follow, no need here. Here where all was used and gone. Where the machines were vacant, even of frozen death.
But one light shone. One forgotten crypt held it’s secret treasure.
Joe did his checks. But this time he did look into the belly of the beast. No Sentry recorded. No nightmare coiled to spring.
Here slept Beauty. And Joe did dream.

[Mechanic Dreams of Beauty]

Joe did dream. A dream of long ago, and far away. A waking dream. A dream faint and forgotten.
A dream of sun and earth. Of light and laughter. Of a face not Beauty’s, but of beauty all the same.
Joe gazed at Beauty and dreamed and dreamed.
The dream faded, out of grasp. Joe hurried the checks. Soon he would be missed.
He touched the glass one last time, turned and walked into darkness.
Just steps from the glow of Beauty’s prison, he bumped his nose into the mechanical eye of the Sentry.



[Mechanic, Doctors Three]

“Talk to us Joe, we’re here to help.” Three voices spoke at once. A practiced chorus of malpractice.
Stereophonic quackery.
Naked Joe wondered when the chromed stool would warm.
“I’m not sure what you want to hear.”
Doctors examined Joe. “Seems you’ve gotten a few bumps and bangs since your last visit.” Observed Surgeon, the central head. The original captain of the torso.
Psychotherapist, the left sided addition asked “How are you feeling, Joe? Rumor has it that you’ve been acting a little erratic.”
“Erratic? I perform my function.”
“Perhaps you have forgotten your function?” Theorized Chemist. “Have you been taking your medications?”
“Yes!” No hesitation there. It is important to not hesitate when telling a lie.
Doctors six eyes seemed skeptical. “What is your function?”
“I check the machines. I make them do as machines do. I do as Joe does. I do as Joes have always done.”
“Yes, yes. You are a Mechanic. You make the clockworks work.” The Doctors hands worked at Joe, worked the flesh spoiled by Sentry. “That is why we need you.” The Doctor paused its repair. “That is why we want to help you.”
“Help me?” Joe, for some reason had always had an aversion to Sickbay. And to Doctors. Perhaps it was the odor.
Its several hands ran down Joe’s seams. “We made you Joe. Of course we want to help.” The hands caressed, as a mother does. “We set you from the pieces of numerous Joes.” The Doctors hands held Joe’s. Joe’s two hands of many fingers. “We birthed you from all the Joes of beginnings end.”
“Yes.” said Joe. “I remember.” Joe did remember. All the Joes of Joe remembered the pains of birth. All the Joes of Joe remembered the savage salvage and reassembly. They remembered the cutting. And the sewing. All the Joes of Joe remembered the quilting off Joe.
Joe held his monstrously swollen head in his hands of many fingers. His one great mind, the minds of multitude. “We remember.”
Doctors lifted Joe’s head, to meet the eyes of all the Joes of Joe. “We know you have difficulties. You are Singularly Challenged. You have Elephantitis of the Soul. How can we recommend punishment, for being what we created?”
“I have done no wrongs amiss. I obey. I check the machines. I do as Joe does.”
“You obey?” Tutt tutted Doctors. “You report the machines. But you left a machine off the list.”
“I obey instructions given. I check the list, and check and check. I do not issue the list. I obey the list.”
The eyes of Doctors Three glinted the pride of fathers. “But you changed the list, Joe. You are a Mechanic. You make the clockworks work. You made the clockworks forget your damsel in distress.”
Joe’s eyes fell. “The damsel. Beauty of endless sleep.” Foolish Joe! Why did you linger and dream so long?
“Yes, Joe. The damsel is now remembered. The clockworks know of her.”
“And…” Joe hesitated, guilted by the traps he‘d sprung by his own careless steps “She will be woken.”
“She will be woken, Joe. And used as all the others.”
The minds of Joe staggered and screamed within his skull of many. Within his house of madness.
“But Joe, my boys Joe, not all is lost.” Doctors again worked Joe’s flesh. “You can save her still.”
“I?...” Joes check the list of checks. Joes do not save the damsel in distress. “I?...”
“There is more to you than what you see.” Doctors hands on Joe’s seams. “You are the Joe of many. You are Legion.” Doctors eyes in the eyes of Joes. “ You make the clockworks work.”
“I make the clockworks work.”
“Yes Joe. You make the clockworks work.” Doctors stepped back, it’s work done. “And you can make the clockworks stop.”
 
So does this make sense? Or does it totally suck?
I can't tell, because I love everything Spankbelly does. We are two peas in a pod.
Of course I like it. Because I'm writing it for me.
I'm obviously steeling heavily from past works. So far you have seen Frankensteins Monster, Sleeping Beauty,various space operas (the hypersleep chambers). There will be more monsters and villains and heroes stolen from others. I don't see any need to create new ones. The ones that exist are already so good. So I'll use them to tell my version of this story.
There are no new stories to tell. There is only skillful retelling. I hope I can do them justice.
Let me know if it sucks. I'll consider changes, to appeal to a real world audience.
 
[Mechanic, Pilot of Forgotten Moon]

“Moon Runner 7 to D909, how do you read? Over.”
Pilot was on the bridge as always, performing his function.
“Moon Runner to Lancer, come’on back. Over.”
Joe was on the bridge too. Check, check, check.
“This is civilian transport Moon Runner 7. To Imperial Cruiser D909 Lancer. Respond please. Over.”
Check, check, “Do they ever respond?” check.
“Almost never. Sometimes I wonder if any of them are still awake.”
Joe looked out the port. Even at this distance the big Navy guns were visible, tracking straight and true. Ready to fire fifty megaton Planet Pacifier shells down Joe’s throat.
Joe swallowed dry, “Oh, I think they are awake.”
Pilot checked his board. Checked the controls. Checked ships status.
“So? Are we good to go?” asked Joe. Check, check.
“Sure, where’re we going?” Pilot glanced at his engine readings. “That blockade ship ain’t gonna let us through anytime soon. And it‘s been a long time since we had fuel to make it back downtown…not without crashing. And I‘m not crashing my baby.” Pilot stroked his joysticks. "Honestly, we're barely holding position."
Joe checked Pilot’s chair. The chair that was Pilot. There were eight chairs on the bridge. Stations for eight crewmen. But only Pilot remained. Over the decades all the stations had grown into Pilot, and he into them.
“I can see why you wouldn’t want to crash your baby.”
Joe checked the fittings, the hoses, the pumps, the conduits, the cables. All the things that made the man the machine. He checked all the things that merged Pilot and Moon Runner.
A buzzer sounded from the control panel. Pilot nearly jumped out of his seat. Or rather, he would have. If he wasn’t the seat.
“Finally some action!” He smacked his hands together, rubbing in some heat. And grabbed the sticks, ready to fly into the stars. As his heart had flown long and long ago. When he had a heart.
“OK Boy! Stand up! This is what you really came to see.”
Beyond the Cruiser, space ignited into nova.
“Right on schedule! Nothing runs like an Imperial clock.”
The Jump Gate ripped a new hole in the back end of space. And through it came a freshly deployed blockade ship.
“A thirty-six month rotation, and they nail it every time! Should’a re-upped. Wouldn’t be stuck in this rotting rust bucket.”
There was brief chatter on a coded military channel, obviously not much news to report. D909 powered it’s engines and turned back into the Gate.
Pilot’s thumbs itched the sticks. “Moon Runner 7 to Navy Cruiser at Dyson Sphere blockade. Request permission to enter the Gate.”
The Jump Gate extinguished the fires of Gods, space closed it’s doors to Pilot.
His hands relaxed their grip, and faintly trembled.
“Imperial Navy Cruiser D552 Shining Knight to Moon Runner 7. Negative. This system is quarantined. By order of the Empire and the Emperor himself. Return to Dyson. None shall pass.”
Pilot sank into his chair, sank into himself. “Moon Runner to Shining Knight. Declaring an emergency. We have no standard drive fuel to dock at Dyson. Request permission to jump. Request assistance. Request fuel. Request supplies. This is an emergency. Request…anything.”
The Shinning Knight took it’s final position, between the gate to the stars and Pilot.
“Shinning Knight to Moon Runner. None shall pass.”
“Moon Runner to…”
“None shall pass.”
Shining Knight’s guns pointed fingers of death at Moon Runner 7.
“None shall pass.”
Pilot released the sticks. He sank deeper into the chair.
The bridge was quiet for uncomfortable moments.
Joe slipped into the copilot’s station. “I’m stuck too, you know? I’m always inside an appliance.” He reached for the controls. He felt the ship alive at the tips of his many fingers. As if the machine was reaching back to him. “You really miss it, don’t you?”
“Yes Joe.”
Pilot closed his eyes and remembered faded dreams. He remembered a man, not a machine bolted to the floor. He remembered wings on his back, rockets in his heart. Screeching above clouds so high, so high he touched the face of God.
He remembered the Jump. The Jump through Gates of Gods. The Jump into the abyss of creation. Stretching out his wings into the universe, being everywhere at once, touching everything at once. Stretching out his wings and surfing the tides of God’s womb.
His eyes opened, staring down at his chair. Where once were legs, now tubes and bolts.
“God, Joe...I miss it so.”
The cockpit door opened, Doctors slide inside.
“Time for your checkup Pilot.”
“Checkup? You’ve never…”
“Well it’s a good time to start, don’t you think?” Doctors three right eyes on each of its heads winked at Joe, as it opened its little bag of black.
“Turn on the autopilot, this could get physical.” Doctors reached into the bag and pulled out all sorts of interesting things.
“Autopilot! We’re sitting in front of an armed Destroyer in a quarantine zone!”
“Come come, Pilot! Nothing ever actually happens here. The autopilot is perfectly capable of holding position indefinitely.” Doctors several hands wielded instruments sharp and shiny. “I doubt your absence will be noticed.”
Joe griped the controls tighter. His mind of many minds, reached past the electronics and into the machine.
“Maybe it’s not too late for me to learn.”
 
This is only a slight update. I added one line of Doctors action/dialog, to make it more clear what is/will happen with Joe.
I'll have to go back and add/change things for the final draft, if there is one. Because the story is already alive and flowing in directions I did not expect.
For example, I had conceived of Doctors long ago. But thought his character would be something else entirely. I thought he would be darker and pure evil, and a terrible enemy for Joe to overcome. And I thought Joe would be good and clean and pure of heart. The typical hero of fable.
I new Joe was created onboard Forgotten Moon. But didn't know to what extent. Originally he was to be a mechanic with cyborg implants to give him special, almost magical abilities when interacting with the machinery of Dyson. I didn't know he was Frankensteins Monster. And I didn't know Joe was a bit dark, and probably insane.
I didn't know I'd like the character of Doctors so much. I have no idea what that guy will do next. When he showed up at the end of the last scene, that was a total surprise to me.

Forgotten Moon was supposed to be a large docking station in the orbit of Dyson. A way station to transfer passengers from big Star Ships to local shuttles down to Dyson. I had no idea that Forgotten Moon was Moon Runner 7, a commercial Starliner. That idea came out of nowhere, as soon as Pilot started talking it fell into place. Too bad about Pilot, he seemed like a good guy.
So anyway, there was to be a big struggle on the station of Forgotten Moon. Escalating into a full on war between Joe and the Clockworks. Eventually destroying the station, with Joe escaping by shuttle down to Dyson. But it looks like it will play out a bit differently.
Oh, I didn't know Dyson was under military quarantine, until Pilot showed me that. So I'm looking forward to seeing how this goes down.
But since the characters have started writing their own script, I'll have to wait for them to tell me what happens next.




[the added line]

The cockpit door opened, Doctors slide inside.
“Time for your checkup Pilot.”
“Checkup? You’ve never…”
“Well it’s a good time to start, don’t you think?” Doctors three right eyes on each of its heads winked at Joe, as it opened its little bag of black.
“Turn on the autopilot, this could get physical.” Doctors reached into the bag and pulled out all sorts of interesting things.
“Autopilot! We’re sitting in front of an armed Destroyer in a quarantine zone!”
“Come come, Pilot! Nothing ever actually happens here. The autopilot is perfectly capable of holding position indefinitely.” Doctors several hands wielded instruments sharp and shiny. “I doubt your absence will be noticed.”
From behind, Doctors tilted Pilot’s head forward. “I need to have a look at the software…you might feel a slight pinch.”
Joe griped the controls tighter. His mind of many minds, reached past the electronics and into the machine.
“Maybe it’s not too late for me to learn.”
 
[Mechanic, Engineer]

Engineer drifted in near weightlessness, across the engine room. From end to end. From machine to machine. Check, check, check.
She leapt high and far, on spidery arms and spidery legs.
Doctors had left its signature of creativity, all across Moon Runner.
“Engineer!” From far below Joe shouted.
The insectoid ballerina paused, anchored by grasping foot to apparatus.
“Joe? You almost never come here.” Engineer thought a moment. “No one comes here.”
“You do your own checks.” Joe looked about the engine room. He had seen these things before. These things of metal and magic. He knew these things inside out.
By schematics. By memories of many.
“Well, what brings you by?” Engineer leapt on again, check, check. “Not that I mind, no no.” She checked and checked, but checked machines closer and closer to Joe. “It would be nice to talk to someone once in a while, you know?” She checked and checked, closer and closer. “Being cooped up here is enough to drive me mad!” check “Ha ha…” check.
Joe tilted his head sideways, a pondering dog.
“Yeah…lot’s of that going around.” he smiled crookedly with the teeth of many. The many teeth that didn’t quite fit in his enlarged mouth.
“The com is down again. I usually talk to Pilot.”
“I’ll check it, as soon as I’m done here.” smile Joe smile, no that’s a grimace.
“Good! It’s been down for awhile, I’m starting to get lonely.”
The spider halted her dance, suspended on power cables just out of reach of Joe’s many fingers.
She smiled brightly, with eyes warm and excited “Well, good to see a friendly face Joe! Just the other day I was thinking…”
“I’ve come to see your machines.” Joe was on a mission. No time for lip flapping across the clothesline.
“My machines?” Engineer seemed confused, sidelined from her thoughts of chit and chat and the reprieve of check and check. “Why Joe, you know all about all the machines. You are the Joe of all the Joes. Some of my own crew are tucked away in that twisted skull.” Ha ha “You could build this whole ship from scrap and bones.”
Joe shook his head, “It’s not the same…the knowing.” Joe ran a hand through patches of his hair. “There are so many Joes…I get confused.” Joe clump clomped with his magnetic boots, up the rooms cylindrical wall. “I need to see the machines, then I know them.” He stroked electric steel, “And they know me.”
“Umm, ok Joe. Look around all you like. I’ll just do my checks.” She danced up the cables, check, check. “Maybe later, we can talk.”
Joe climbed the maintenance ladders, till he came to the centerpiece of the labyrinth. The largest, and most dead, of all the ancient apparatus. “Tell me about this one.”
“That? You know that. Every school kid knows the Jump Drive.” check, check “All the starships had there own, a few generations ago. It was the only way to get around before the Empire built Gates in all the shipping lanes.” check, check.
“Yeah, I know.” He caressed it with all his fingers, “But does it still work?” He reached into it with his mind of many. Deep inside the sleeping coils, something stirred. Something remembered the abyss. “Will it open a Gate? Will it Jump?” The abyss reached back and grasped Joe’s mind of many.
“Ha ha!” check, check “We’re you jumping to?” check, check “We’re out in the boondocks, Joe. Even if we jumped we don‘t have the range to make civilization. That‘s why we‘re waiting for the Gate to open quarantine.”
“But the mechanism is functional?” Joe opened a panel, his jaw began to grind his many teeth.
“Not anymore.” check, check “You know how it is. We salvage parts from were we can.” she waved a spidery limb “Got to keep things running till the blockade clears.”
Joe closed the panel softly, “Could you put it back? Would it Jump?” whispers, whispers from the machine in the mind of Joe ‘yes Joe, for you’
She stopped checking. “Those parts have gone to vital systems. I could return them, yes. But the ship will die. We need to hold position and wait out the storm.” she saw that Joe was unconvinced “What’s gotten into you? You know we don’t have the range. The Jump Drive is useless to us. And besides, we have no fuel. We‘ve burned everything sitting here for God knows how long.”
“I can get fuel.” again the tilted head, the canine “Not much, but it might be enough if we get creative.” Joe smiled his crooked smile “Think outside the box. That’s what Doctors is always saying.”
“Fuel? Where can you get fuel?”
“Well…” he ran his hand over the scares and bumps of his noggin “I’m working on a special project. Doctors showed me how to upgrade my program.” smile Joe, smile.
“Upgrade?”
“Come down, little spider girl. Let’s have that talk.”
 
[This may be a spoiler. I think it is out of sequence, it might not have happened before other elements of the story that I want to add first. But that's what you get with a live work in progress.]


[Doctors, Captain]

“Drink one of these,” recommended Doctors “and call me in the morning.”
Sentry dropped the passenger on Captain’s dinning table.
“Limp as a fish.” Captain poked the body with her tarnished fork “Must you sedate them so?”
“Must you toy with them so?” Doctors took a seat at the table “You know the motto, First do no harm.” Ha ha “Do what you must, my Captain. But you can do it while he sleeps away this terrible dream.”
“Terror adds spice to the meal. You bring me these packaged snacks and expect me to be satisfied?” she pulled the body closer, a mouse to the snake. “And stop with the hypocritical melodrama, that has been getting out of hand lately.”
She tilted the head to expose the neck, bruised. “Sentry, much of you is metal.” she dressed him down with eyes of fire “But some of you may be added to the menu.”
Sentry corrected his posture.
“You do this again, I’ll squeeze your little life into my wine glass.” a wink “Think eggshells Sentry, eggshells.” she bent and began to feed.
“Engineer is dead.”
Captain gagged and released the flesh.
The physician nodded sternly, with three eyebrows raised “It’s best to hear bad news from a professional.”


[to be continued...I know how this scene will play out, but it's bedtime for Spankbelly]
 
Make me think of Bukowski
 
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