My god this is old.
Highly outdated, but, could still be fun for someone.
This was originally going to be an origin story to Venus Orbital Station McQuarrie, but somewhere along the way, I realized that I jumped through the story way too quickly if I wrote with chapters. I haven't ever since.
Still, I haven't ever written anything else like this. The tone, feel, and pace is a vastly different beast than anything else in my history. For that, I still kinda like it.

Enjoy.








Chapter 1
Process of Introduction

“So I hope you can see the possible potential of this project.”

Kyra looked over the blueprints presented to her.

“Well, yes I do, but it seems so…”

“Yes?”

“Well…. Ambitious.”

“Of course! I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

“That’s not what I meant!” Kyra paused, took a breath, and continued. “What I mean is… Convincing the government to allow this sort of expenditure.”

“f*** the government.”

Kyra was taken aback at this. “What did you say?”

“The government is corrupt beyond repair. Yes, I’m saying that about the Canadian Government, possibly the least influenced parliament in the world. That’s not what I’m after here. f*** the government, they can stick it to a non-existing hell for all I care. I’m going on my own thing here, outside of their influence. Done in secret, away from prying eyes, and completely confidential. Nothing can be known about any of this, except for those that have an active hand in it. Even our suppliers must be dealt with. I can’t allow any publicity.”

Kyra lowered her head. What was she getting into, with this? This man seemed like a fanatic for this, to the point of zealotry. He was risking ruining his entire life, everything he had worked up for in the last eight years she’s known him.

Kyra Hanes was Argus Swift’s editor. He had amassed a great fortune in his writings, fulfilling every theater of audience one could ask for. He was renowned throughout the world, famous, and respected. He had paparazzi’s vying for anything they could dig on him, but he led a secretive life. Other than his name, basic appearance and country of origin, one had nothing to go on to find him. No one except Kyra and a few select friends.

But Kyra was more than an editor. She was Argus’ second most trusted friend, to whom he confided almost everything he wanted or needed with. He was her only client, since all his works took up most of her time. The monetary benefits of it prevented her from needing anyone else, also.

“Argus…”

“Kyra, listen, please. This isn’t some pipedream. I’ve been scheming this for the last ten years now. I’ve taken everything into consideration. Every possible thing. I’ve done my homework, and then some. Follow the plan exactly and nothing can go awry.”

“I don’t know, it still seems almost too much to even handle.”

“But once you get working on it, you’ll see just how possible it is!”

Kyra gave a hefty sigh. She leaned back in her chair, put her hands in front of her face and thought. What is he thinking? There’s no way this can even get off the ground… He’s asking for too much.

She sat like this for a few minutes. She had basically been living a rut for the last eight years. Ever since Argus came along, she’s eaten the same thing for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. She never saw anyone, she never even spoke to long-time friends. All her time was consumed by this man with incredible writing and mental abilities. She had thus far been able to comprehend everything he did no problem, even the most complicated of books, but this… It seemed impossible. Maybe because it was real and not just empty words that she could toss aside or not. This was a real bona fide plan that Argus was obsessed about. But how could she refuse him? Who knew what could happen.

“Alright, Argus.” She began to breathe heavily and lowered her arms to her chair’s armrest. “I’ll help you as best I can.”

Argus gave a great cackle. “BRILLIANT! Most excellent! Thank you, Kyra!”

Argus jumped up in glee from his chair. The normally mellow, smart, almost depressed man had shown true emotion for the first time she had ever seen.

“Yes, well…” She stood from her chair, hiding her nervousness. “It won’t be easy, but, I’m with you until the end!”

Argus grinned at her.

She looked back at him, saw his smile, and couldn’t help but following suit.

He swooped his face in, like an eagle on its prey, towards her face.

She instinctively braced for a kiss, and closed her eyes.

She felt a kiss on her left cheek. Her eyes opened and saw Argus’ head move back to his surprisingly straight body.

“You won’t ever regret this, Kyra! I sure as hell won’t forget it!” He stepped for the door to exit her office, placing a hand on the knob. “I’ll be back tomorrow to discuss more details with you!”

He twisted his hand, pulled the door and in a swirl of trenchcoat and feet, left the room.

Left standing, Kyra Hanes blinked at his hasty departure.

She allowed herself to crash into her chair. She gave a great sigh, and not a sigh of happiness. One of sorrow, her mind far from Argus’ plan.





















Chapter 2
Leading to the Beginning

“Now, about the building space…”

“Got it taken care of.” Argus said confidently. “I own a huge plot of land right in the Northern Albertan prairie. Almost a city, it’s a huge factory meant for manufacturing over-size goods.”

“But to make that, it would require vast amounts of men, machines…”

“Already under way.”

A pause.

“What?” She asked, confused.

“Soon as you confirmed to help me last night, I sent a crew of my boys from my summer job days to start making the plans I had sent them. Industen…” Argus leaned in closer to Kyra and looked her in the eye. “Is already under construction.”

She could only watch him, speechless. How could he have arranged something of that magnitude in only one night?

“Argus, I-“

“Kyra, trust me.”

He looked her in the eye, unblinkingly, his sunglasses suddenly off.

“Please Kyra? I trust you.”

She just looked into his steely gray eyes, hoping to get some kind of hidden message to give up this whole idea. She was an editor, not a building construction manager! Well, she had done more than review Argus’ books. She was a combination agent, editor, friend and secretary for Argus. Her one-person business had boomed once he came along, and now she had more connections to almost anything than she had ever dreamed of.

She kept staring into his eyes. They seemed… Pleading.

“Yes, Argus. I do trust you.”

“*phew* Thank you so much, Kyra. Now, moving onto the initial construction design…”

The two of them continued for much of the rest of the day. They had started in the later morning, and carried on well into midnight.

Kyra’s office window illuminated nothing but a dark street. The lights above became hot with extended use, running longer than they were suggested to be.

A clock on the wall struck one.

“Oh!” Kyra lifted her head from a detailed blueprint. “It’s…” She looked at the clock on the wall. “Dear god! It’s one in the morning!”

Argus looked also. “Oh, so it is. Heh. Lucky we ordered pizza for supper, eh?”

Her flustered look leaving, Kyra took her seat. “Yeah, it is. Thanks for paying, by the way.”

“Hey, no problem! If I have enough to start this project, then an extra 14 bucks is nothing!”

Kyra nodded her thanks again.

“Say Argus…”

“Yes’m?”

“How did you find time to work on all this stuff? Between all your writing, you must have been working on this for quite a while.”

“Ten years, in fact. The first two years were mainly sketches and concept ideas, but after that I started getting into the actual work. It’s taken a lot, especially between all my writing, but I’ve managed it.”

Kyra leaned forward, put her elbows together on her desk between her and Argus, resting her chin on her open palms. “Must have been a lot of work. Don’t you ever get out and do stuff?”

“Not…” Argus tilted his head to the side. “Really, no.”

“Why not?” Kyra put some kind of cutesy smile on her face. She’s always been mistaken for being drunk when tired.

“I just don’t really ever feel like doing it. I just stay at home every night and work, really.”

“Aw, that’s no fun! Tell ya what!” She dropped her arms, stood up and took Argus’ hand in hers. “This Friday, how about us two go out on the town, for once, have some fun! We’re both in pretty deep ruts!”

She gave him the most sincere smile she could muster. He looked at her, smiled back, but brushed her hand off his.

“Sorry Kyra, but I hope to do some more writing on Skull Keep this Friday. And with this now, I doubt I’ll ever have a night free. Who knows, though!”

He stretched his arms out with a small yawn. “So late… I’ll catch ya later, Kyra! I’ll take you to the site of Industen then, and you’ll see the concepts of it!”

He took his trenchcoat off the coat hook, donned it with a flourish, gave a small nod and wave goodnight to Kyra, and left.

Kyra’s head sunk to her chest.



* * *



“Knock knock!”

The door swung open. Kyra saw it was Argus and smiled.

“Hiya, Argus!” She opened the door fully and stepped out of his way.

“Hoi, chummer. Ya ready to go?”

Kyra nodded. “Let me grab my coat and I’ll follow you right out!”

She took her small black nylon jacket from the coat hook, locked the door and shut it after her. She looked at Argus, and they both headed out. Kyra had to significantly increase her pace in order to keep up to his speed, even though he was slowing his down quite a bit.

They crossed the street to the parking lot for the bank that Argus always parked in. His black Pontiac Sunfire GT was there, right where he had left it. He chivalrously opened the passenger door for Kyra, who accepted and was treated to the door being shut for her too. Argus leapt over the hood of his car, opened his door and they were off.

Argus, being a bit of a car enthusiast, had souped up his Sunfire to be faster, have better control and acceleration, run quieter, and have better mileage. It helped the fact that it was the kind of car Argus had been lusting over since he was rather small.

An hour of driving straight north later, they came up to the start of the construction yard for Industen. They came up to a massively wide fenced-off area, with a small border gate across the road. They approached it slowly.

A security guard came up from a small guard house. His uniform was a snappy red and white combination. He went up to Argus’ window, which he promptly rolled down.

“What business do you have here?” the guard asked, bending and peering into the car.

Argus brought his shades lower down his nose, giving the guard a good look at Argus’ eyes.

“Oh it’s Mr. Swift!” The guard’s composure changed immediately. “I’m sorry. Go on through, sir!”

Argus nodded at the guard, and they sped on.

The entire distance across the land had nothing on it. Not a single thing marred the landscape, even all the way to the horizon.

In ten minutes a large blot was seen in the distance. Dark for the moment, it grew into a brighter shade of yellow as they approached.

Argus drove right up for it, and when close enough, Kyra saw that it was an extremely large building. He parked in a large parking lot and got out, Kyra following his lead.

Kyra’s eyes went wide at the sight of the site before her.

Definitely larger than a small city, the surrounding wall enveloped massive structures erected under a clear blue sky with people walking and working like ants in comparison to the behemoth buildings. On the opposite end of the site from Argus and Kyra was a massive factory, already in place, with many doors on the side, some small for people, others huge, large enough to move a house through.

Kyra stared in awe at what had been accomplished in one short night.

“You-“

“Yep.” Argus nodded.

“All that in one night?”

“Well, the big ol’ building at the other side there was already made, it was just transplanted here.”

She blinked.

“Neat stuff, eh Keer?”

She turned to look at him. He hadn’t called her that before.

She nodded, giving a smile. “It’s great! You’ve done so much in such little time!”

“What can I say…” Argus shrugged. “I have the connections, I have the money. It was just a matter of knowing what to do with the two.”

She looked back at the construction site. “I can’t imagine what you’ve had going on here! I have to see!”

She started off for the buildings. Argus put out an arm and blocked her path.

He handed her a light blue construction hat. “Hard-hat area, you know.”

He was already wearing a yellow hard hat. A darker yellow, with a green stripe around the middle of it with a green cross on the front. It looked vaguely familiar to Kyra, but she ignored it and followed Argus as he walked for the site.

He had left his black trenchcoat in his car and now just wore a t-shirt that fitted loosely, but was tucked in tightly. The words ‘Go Earth’ were clearly visible in white letters against the black cloth they were imprinted on. His visible arms weren’t skinny, but they weren’t large either. Kyra got the impression that if Argus wasn’t so lengthy in proportions he would be rather stocky, but instead he was quite wiry. Odd that this was the first time she had seen his uncovered arms.

“The smaller buildings are constructed in the large, main factory.” Argus explained as the two of them walked. “After being built there, they’re moved to the spot on the site that they were planned for.” He moved his pointing finger from the main factory to a chalk square on the ground beside them, like many others all around the site. “Normally they’re moved via wheeled planks slid under them, but sometimes they have to be moved” He pointed to the roof of the main factory. “By helicopter to” he moved his arm in an arc to another spot. “The designated placement zone.”

Chalk squares had been drawn on the ground in set zones. They had writing at the end of each square, ‘H1’ or ‘S7’ and the like.

“Well, Kyra? How does Industen work for my plan?”

She looked the scene over.

At that instant the front doors of the large factory opened.

Out came a building. On wheeled planks, one for each of the four corners, it was towed by a small truck used to pull airliners. Compared to the large factory, the smaller building was miniscule.

The small building was wheeled over to spot A1. It was pulled past where Argus and Kyra stood and watched.

As it passed Kyra, the building was actually very large when up close. Three stories, easily.

“So yeah” Argus said suddenly. “As you can see, Industen is huge. Two kilometers wide on each side, room for a total of 260 small factories.”

The doors on the large factory opened again. Another smaller factory was being driven out, and was taken to the spot marked A2.

Argus and Kyra started off for the large factory building. Just in the trip there alone two more small factories were sent out.

Argus opened the door for people to enter from. He stood behind the door as he swung it open and beckoned Kyra entrance first. She accepted and he followed.

He walked into her as Kyra had stopped as soon as she saw what was inside.

At least two dozen of the smaller factories were being put together at the same time within the large factory. When one was completed, it was put on wheeled planks and sent off, and immediately after another was started. A continuous cycle that didn’t end until nightfall, where the workers retreated to their rooms inside one section of the large factory.

Argus gave Kyra a little push. She jumped a little, but continued to walk regardless. The two of them went across the massive internal construction yard towards a hallway that ran along the right side wall of the extremely spacious room.

“Along the left of this hallway is small management offices…” Argus explained to Kyra as they walked. “And on the right is dorm rooms for the workers.”

The hallway seemed to stretch for infinity. Doors lined the sides for the entire length.

“Why do you so many management offices?” Kyra asked as they walked.

“One for each small factory planned.”

“Oh! Okay…”

Kyra saw the amount of offices on the left side stretch on for unfathomable lengths.

Soon however, the end came, and the last door was an elevator.

“After you.” Argus gave a small bow, and Kyra stepped through the open door, Argus following.

Argus reached for the button panel, put his finger on a portion of the wall, lifted a secret panel and pushed the button contained therein.

The doors shut and the elevator lurched upwards and skywards. It started as a slow movement, but gradually increased in speed. The feeling didn’t last long before it stopped and the door opened.

It opened to reveal a rather simplistically built office. The desk was a hardwood, with a laptop and lamp on top, a wall composed entirely of glass, overlooking the construction yard. White squares littered the ground below. The floor and walls of the office were of simple carpet

This office was where so much management was going to be done.

“This office is mine.” Argus said, spreading his arms wide as if to invite the room to embrace him. “But it’s only a temporary base.”

“You’re going to let someone else take over Industen?”

“Soon as everything’s in full swing, yep.” Argus went over to his chair, sat in it and propped his feet up on the desk. “I’ll still be an owner, but it’ll be Bruce that manages everything.”

“An owner? Is there more than one?”

“There is indeed!”







Chapter 3
Underling to it All

“So… There’s more people in this plan than you and me?”

Argus nodded. “There is one other that has had a very active hand in all progression thus far.”

“Why wasn’t I told before, though?”

“Slipped my mind till now.” Argus shrugged while spreading his arms out.

Kyra’s expression changed to one of impatience.

“What all has he done, anyways?”

“Oh, he’s helped lots with the basic concept of it all, helped fine-tune the details, oh, and gave up countless hours for Descent along with me.”

Kyra blinked in slight disbelief. How could someone have done so much without her knowing of it?

“Where is he now…?”

“Well, seeing as how it’s…” Argus checked his watch. “Only nine thirty in the morning, I’d say he’s at Leduc Elementary.”

“Is he a teacher?”

“No, he’s only in grade four.”

Several hundred kilometers south of Industen, in the moderately sized town of Leduc, Minion sat writing science notes the teacher had written on the board.

Feverishly scribbling, Minion wished he had been allowed his laptop for all these notes.

The teacher behind his desk at the very front of the classroom spoke, with the slightest trace of a Scottish accent.

“Now, from the notes given here, can anyone tell me the distance from the Earth to the sun?”

Immediately Minion raised his hand while still writing. He already knew everything in the Astronomy unit, and his marks didn’t really need any help, so he has had a relaxed semester so far.

“Blaine?”

“93 million, 563 thousand 240 hundred miles.”

The teacher’s eyebrows rose ever so slightly in an impressed gesture.

“Very accurate, but incorrect.”

“Actually, at the current time, my distance is more accurate than yours. Since the Earth’s orbit isn’t a perfect circle, the distance from the sun can differ over the year. Also, it depends on if we’re talking distance to the core of the sun or to the surface of it.”

Mr. Sverchek lowered his relatively thick brows. “Mr. Piro, how do you know all this?”

“Oh…” Minion leaned back in his seat at the back of the row. “I’m just interested in it.”

The class continued as normal, Minion hardly saying one word for the rest of the lesson.

It all ended when the bell rang, signaling for the lunch break to commence.

Minion immediately stuffed his binder and textbook into his desk, grabbed his laptop and dashed off, far faster than anyone else.

Other kids couldn’t help but marvel at the speed Blaine moved at. All the others either had friends to talk to or a lunch to eat, but not Blaine. He always dashed off as soon as the bell went, always with his laptop. Where he went after that was beyond anyone.

Within ten seconds Minion was already out of the school, into the school yard and clambering up one of the tree’s, his laptop bag in hand, and he climbed up to the two limbs that branched off just right for him to sit on, proper his feet up and lean back on the tree, with a broken branch to hang the bag on.

He pulled the laptop from the bag and hung the bag, which still contained his lunch. The laptop was a pure DOS based computer, with enough speed to play anything that was made for the OS. It looked a little dated, but the battery life was unbeatable, since it hardly taxed the computer at all to run anything, so he was perfectly happy with it and its 7-hour battery life.

He pushed the computer on, four seconds later he typed in cddescent descentr and he was on his way.

Several minutes of blasting Clawbots later, he turned Descent off and typed cdarachne arachne, typed in the url for a private chatroom and let the wireless internet do its work.

Argus has just come online.
Minion: Heya, Swift.
Argus: Hoi, chummer.
Minion: How’s it going?
Argus: You’ll see in a second.
Minion: Eh?
Argus: You’ll see in a second!
Argus has gone offline.

Perplexed, Minion turned Arachne off, turning on QCD to play some music as he ate the lunch he got out of his bag.

He munched on a sandwich, listening to Machinae Supremacy on headphones, watching other children go by under him. He was unseen by all, and none of them knew that he resided up this tree.

But one head seemed much too far up for a child. The head stopped directly under Minion, and he worried that a teacher would discover him and make him stop going up here.

The face looked up and Minion immediately recognized it as that of Argus Swift.

Excited, Minion stuffed his lappy in the case and dashed down the tree almost halfhazardly in order to see his old friend.

Minion slid down the tree and came to a stop about a foot above the ground, and he jumped down, thoroughly happy.

“Hoi, chummer.” The tall, stout man in a trenchcoat said in greeting.

“Heya, Swift!”

“How has school been so far today?”

“Beh, I was too accurate for the teacher.”

“How so?”

“Well, he asked for the distance of the Earth to the Sun, so I gave him the exact measurement for this time of year, that and he failed to specify if he meant to the center of the sun, or the surface of it!”

“The faculty is slipping, I told ya.”

“Yeah, you’re too right.” Minion leaned back against the tree behind him. “But you’ve been through it all already, so you’d know.”

“I would, that’s true. Heh.”

Argus looked up at the tree Minion was leaned on.

“Got your stuff up there?”

“Hm? Oh yeah, my lappy and lunch are there.”

“Ol’ Stoker still kicking?”

“Yep, that’s been a great lappy, man!”

“Heh. It’s the least I could do, getting it for you. I know I wanted one when I was your age.”

“You probably could have had that one when you were my age.” Minion added with a snicker.

“Yep, Phex has kept it in good shape the last decade or so.” Argus said amid a grin.

“Wanna go up?”

“Sure thing!”

Argus looked around to make sure no one was looking, and without a sound he jumped up to the first branch and began climbing to the top. Minion was about to take the first hop to follow, but-

“Blaine! C’mere!”

Minion looked over and saw a girl waving him over.

“What for, Liss?”

“We’re gonna play Chinese baseball with a bunch of other people! Wanna come?”

“No thanks, I’m good!”

But Liss was renowned for her persistence. She started striding over to Minion, a look of determination that almost frightened Minion on her face.

She grabbed his arm and started tugging. “C’mon! It’ll be fun!”

Minion fought desperately to avoid going, but the sheer willpower this girl possessed was astounding. Perhaps what made it hard for Minion to reject her invitation was the fact that the two of them were of sorts, an item, at least, as much an item as they could be at their age. But, nothing could stop him from seeing a friend he hadn’t seen in months.

Nothing except Liss… He gave a departing look up at the tree where Argus was, but Argus didn’t frown, rather, a wide grin on his face as he gave Minion the thumbs up.

As the boy was drug off, Argus leaned on the two thick branches the same as Minion had. He looked over to the bag hanging on a stump of a branch, extracted the laptop and an apple, propped the laptop on his stretched legs and flipped it open as he munched on the apple.

The laptop gave a silent hum as Argus turned the computer. Within four seconds it had fully loaded and was ready to go.

“Hm, I had it topping a five-second load time last I had it. Good going, Min!”

Argus typed with one hand the keys for a status check.

Hmm… He reduced the amount of loaded XMS to just the amount he needed, yet easily able to load more if he had to… Clever move there, Min.

Typing around a bit more, Argus had finished the apple and tossed it to the side. He alt-f4’d out of the status program and entered DOSShell.

He clicked through the sub-folders and quickly scanned the installed software on the hard drive.

Whoa, Civilization II… Where’d you get a DOS version of that, Min?

Nodding approval, Argus exited DOSShell and loaded up a game of Master of Orion.

After several minutes of waiting, Argus had effectively wiped out the Klackons before they expanded and had a Non-Aggression Pact signed with the Bulrathi’s in order to better fight the Mrrshan’s.

Damn, I love the Meklars.

Sudden climbing noises announced Minion’s rearrival.

Looking rather haggard, Minion sat down on a branch a little below Argus.

“Have fun?” Argus asked while sending a fleet to intercept a Mrrshan attack force.

“This has been going on for weeks now. She can’t leave me alone for even one lunch hour…”

“Which is why you’ve been hiding up here?”

“Yeah. School is boring, recess isn’t much fun if I’m dodging around Liss, my dad is such a control freak… It’s a pain.”

Minion closed his eyes and sighed, putting his face in his hands. Argus saw the opportunity.

“Maybe some good news would cheer you up.” Argus added with a little hint in his voice.

“Boy would it, chum.”

“Well have I got a doozy for you.”

“A doozy?” Minion lifted his face from his hands and rested one arm on his knees, turning to face Argus. “C’mon, you’re how old now? You can probably think of a better word for it than that!”

“Okay, fine. I have a new piece of information that is sure to give your sprits an uplifting.”

“That’s better.”

“Feel glad I don’t have my pocket thesaurus on me, I’d be sure to verbally run circles around you.”

“Why bother doing it verbally when you can do it anyways?”

“Hey now, for your age, you’re catching up really well!”

“Whaddya mean?”

“When I was 10, I wasn’t as fast or strong as you are, and definitely not as smart!”

“Weren’t you a problem child though?”

“That’s beside the point, Min.”

“Well, maybe it’s because I had a good teacher!”

Argus turned his head, smiling and nodding. “Yeah, maybe…”

They sat there for a few seconds, reminiscing this and that, back over the years…

“Oh yeah, Swift. What was that good news?”

“Oh yeah! Heh. It’s a doozy,”

“Just tell me what it is!” Minion was getting almost impatient with a hint of excitement.

“Alright, you ready?” Argus had the laptop Stoker on pause with the lid closed, his hands open pointing at Minion, who was quivering with either anger, anticipation or happiness.

“Yes, I want to know!”

“Do you really want to know?”

“YES!”

“Okay, here it is; McQuarrie is under way.”








Chapter 4
Sorrow of the Night

When the final bell rang to signal the end of school, Minion ran out in a spur of glee. His backpack all ready to go, Stoker in his hands, he ran out of the school and straight for home.

Another reason he left so quickly was that it happened to be the last day of school.

Dashing through the streets of the local Suburbia in Leduc, Minion seemed to literally be flying.

He slowed down when he saw that a black car was parked outside his house.

Approaching cautiously, all suspicions flew out of his mind when he saw that the car was Argus’.

He ran up to the passenger side window, which was open already, and once again saw the familiar face of Argus Swift.

With another person in the passenger seat.

“Hoi, chummer! Don’t look so obvious!” Argus said with a swath grin.

“Heya, Swift!” Minion said, setting down Stoker and leaning on the car with his elbow.

“Have I introduced you to Kyra?”

Minion peered over Argus and looked at the person in the passenger seat.

A girl barely younger than Argus gave Minion a smile. “Hi!” her voice gave the indication that she was rarely shy, but not too outgoing either.

Minion smiled back. “Heya!”

“Kyra, this is Minion, one of the founding members of this project.”

She looked at Argus. “One of? There’s more still?”

“Well, there’s me…”

“Oh. That’s it?”

“Pretty much.”

Kyra nodded this information.


“Anyways, Minion.” Argus continued. “I was wondering if you wanted to come with me and Kyra to Industen. I’ll show you what we got going there!”

Minion nodded frantically. “Yeah! I really do!”

“Good! You go and clear it with your parents, make sure there’s no drek going on, and come back out with an answer.”

“Well, can I have about half an hour to unload my backpack? This is an overnight thing, right?”

Argus thought a second. “It can be, yeah! Go and pack for an overnight dealie and we’ll be off!”

“A’ight!”

Minion picked up Stoker again and ran into the Piro home.

He shut the door frantically behind him while yelling “I’m home!” before dashing off for his room.

His father stood in the way of Minion’s dash.

“Why are you in such a hurry, Blaine?”

Minion pointed backwards, at the door. “Swift is outside, he’s taking me to see something that he’s been working on!”

Mr. Piro raised an eyebrow. “He has to take you somewhere else just to show you a book?”

“Oh no, it’s not a book! It’s much bigger than that! It’s an overnight thing!”

His father’s eyes blazed with a sense of fury. “Overnight!? Don’t you know how busy we are tonight?”

“What’re we doing?”

“We’re having a celebratory dinner with you and your sister for the end of school! We have had this planned for weeks now!”

“Aw, but I wanted to go with Swift! It was gonna be fun with him!”

“But he’s not family, is he?”

“He’s a better relative than you are!” Minion yelled and ran past his father to his room, ignoring what was being said after.

He shut the door and locked it and began packing his backpack for a night.

He and his father always had disputes like this. They usually didn’t go as bad as this, but they always worked it out in the end. He would just have to talk to his father tomorrow.

Instead of going out the door and risking another confrontation, Minion slipped out the window, took to the ground with his backpack and Stoker in his hand. He dashed under windows and to the front of the house, running for Argus’ car.

“All drek-free with your folks?” Argus asked, clearly anticipating Minion.

“As drek-free as it’s going to be.” Minion replied as he climbed in the back seat.

Argus nodded, understanding totally. He had known Minion’s parents longer than he did Minion himself, and knew how his father got. Not asking any more questions, he put the car into gear and sped off.

Minion sat in silence, quietly playing on Stoker while Argus drove and spoke with Kyra. What they were talking about, he didn’t know, he was too busy with his own thoughts and with Civilization.

Over the hours, Minion was hardly aware of the distance traveled. The falling level of sunlight went by unawares. The stars broke through the dark milk of the night sky and he didn’t notice.

Just before they arrived at Industen, Minion had flopped onto his side and embraced the sweet warmth of slumber.

When Argus parked his car at the Industen parking yard, Minion was already snoring away. It had been a tiring day for him.

Argus turned his head to look at the boy sleeping, Kyra doing so also. He reached over and pushed the power button on Stoker, leaving the boy to his dreams.

Kyra smiled and whispered. “He’s just so cute!”

“Like a growing Greek God.”

Minion’s rather lengthy hair had fallen over his face, moving with the breaths from his nose.

Swift took out his digicam, switched it to night mode, moved it into place and snapped the picture.

The bright flash was seen through Minion’s closed eyelids, resonating on his retinas.

He sat bolt upright in an instant, eyes shot open wide open from the blast of light.

Half a second later his eyelids drooped once more.

With a small grin, Argus had pulled Minion out of the car, hoisted the boy onto his own shoulders, and the three of them made off for the darkly lit exterior of Industen.

Kyra held the door open for Argus as he walked into the dormant belly of the giant building. Nothing but the small security lights illuminated a path for them to walk down. Upon reaching the elevator, Argus took Minion to his private office, which had a bedroom attachment.

Argus lightly put Minion down in the bed while Kyra held the sheets open. They both tucked Minion in, then left the room, Minion dreaming of things not unfound in those his age.

Argus twisted the knob and pulled the door shut silently.

“Where will we sleep now?” Kyra asked, whispering.

“There’s a guest room on the other side of the room. You can have the bed in there.” Argus said in a strangely… business-like tone.

Kyra, not one to give up, pursued, in her drunken stupor of a weary mind. “C’mon, would it be so bad to share?”

Argus tilted is head to the side, looking away from Kyra as she made odd facial expressions. “Yes, it would be.”

Persistent to the end, she grabbed hold of his arm and tugged for the lingering door opposite them.

He broke free of her grasp in a single motion and stepped off of her for the overlaying window.

“Kyra, no. Just no…” He stifled a lump in his throat. “Please. Don’t tempt me.”

She didn’t know what to say. There was an undeniable sense of sincerity in his voice that she could not object to.

Losing her intoxicated appearance, she cautiously stepped for him and put a hand on his shoulder.

“Why, Argus? Why don’t you even look at me like I do you?”

“It’s…” He stammered for a fleeting instant. “Complicated.”

For once in a long time, she gave up her pursuit and resigned to the guest room.

Before closing the door totally, she peered out at the object of her affection. He was merely standing beside the window, gazing into the distance at some unseeable object. She didn’t notice that the window faced south, or more accurately, south south east.

She breathed a silent breathe of sadness. His facial expression seemed of such despair that her curiosity was obliterated in a flash of pity, wonder and respect for this seemingly wondrous person.

She shut the door before the light of the full moon could reflect her lone tear.

In the other room, Minion slept uneasily. Despite his state of unawares, he had the subconscious inkling that something was going terribly wrong.

Argus, meanwhile, had only one thing on his mind. Or, rather, one person, far away in a distant land, nearly four thousand kilometers away.

A person that lay in eternal slumber beneath a quilt of soil, in the shadow of the leaves of a great oak tree.

There was none but himself to hear his stifled sobs.








Chapter 5
Shattered Tears

Back in his room, Minion stood up and went out of his room, heading for the bathroom to get a drink of water. His feet padded silently on the carpeted floor that his father had paid good amounts for, since it was high thread count industrial grade carpet that could easily hold up a couch without an imprint in the cloth.

Fetching the brown plastic cup designated as his, he poured water from the faucet for a second before putting his glass into the stream and filling it half full and tilting the cup at his lips, draining it of its contents and setting it back where it belonged. Infinitely refreshed, he tottled back to his room through the darkness in a half-asleep stupor.

He passed his parents room and peered in to see if they were still sleeping.

His reverie was shattered in a shocking instant when his eyes widened to the brinks of his eyelids in utter devastation at the horrific sight in this room.

The image of both his parents, more vivid than any nightmare, slaughtered in their sleep was forever-burnt in an ashen-coated memory upon the surface of his scarred retina’s. Blood was encrusted upon their faces, the last remnant of their life force desiccated upon their body. Their limbs were scattered across the floor, all blood long sapped from their dead shape and barren of moisture upon the carpet, forever to remain as a red stain. Legs, arms, all removed and spread across the floor in this act of utter atrocity,

Both mind and spirit was crushed as his innocence splintered into a thousand jagged slivers, scattered across the expanse of his consciousness to remain for the rest of his days, forgotten and left to rot.

He backed up from the doorway and bumped into the wall of the hallway behind him. His face was frozen in a shape of shock, his mind far beyond what his mortal face could express.

Babbling, he managed to tear his eyes away from the horrific scene. He covered his eyes and forced himself to avert his eyes. He put a hand on the floor to support his shaking body.

His hand felt something wet. He moved his head and looked at what it was.

On the floor of the hallway in front of him was a symbol, written in blood, fresh blood, still wet, a circle divided by a wavy line with speckles of red throughout one half of the split circle, the other totally shaded in the same shade of bright red.

Blaine Piro, too frightened to think properly, his hand still dripping from the mark, desperately thought of where he could go for help. Argus lived too far away… The Kirks were also in another town. Bob Walmer lived out in the country, too far to run for.

Emily!

Quickly, Blaine gathered his thoughts as best he could and dashed for his sisters room. Four years younger than him, she was always a good sister to have. Right now, he needed her more than ever.

He struggled into her room, barely able to maintain what little sense of balance he had remaining, and made his way to her bed with drunken feet.

He put a hand on the slumbering form and shook. “Emily! Wake up… Please…”

Slowly the small shape of Emily lifted itself as the covers slid off her cotton pajama’s.

“Blaine? What’s wrong?” her soft voice drifted through the still air and into the quivering ears of her brother.

“Mom, Dad, they’re….. They’re…” He made tugging motions on her sleeve, urging her to come see. Was that the best thing to do though? Would she be able to handle the vision as well as he was? He had to, she deserved to know, and would find out anyways.

She surrendered to his desperation, and he led her to the room with shaking body and broken mind.

She looked in and gave a silent gasp. Her mind, at that instant, shattered, irreparably damaged, shaping her persona in a fashion much harsher than it had her brother.

She stood motionless, her face frozen in abject fear. She didn’t notice as Blaine left her side and ran to the kitchen, fumbling for the phone. He collected his senses, gathered his courage, and dialed out a number.

Thirty kilometers away, the phone rang in Argus’ room. Only slightly asleep, he automatically reached for it and put it to his ear, without looking.

“Hello?” he answered groggily, but snapped to attention when he heard the utter desperation in the familiar voice of Blaine, so desperate that he wished he hadn’t heard it.

“Swift! My parents are… dead! Killed!”

Argus’ eyebrows raised up in shock. “They’re… What? Like, shot in bed?”

“Arms! Legs! All over the floor!”

“gosh darn…. I’m on my way!”

With that Argus dropped the phone onto its stand and he jumped out of bed, flew on something better than the nothing he had on and raced out of the door, grabbing his car keys and burning away from Edmonton to Leduc.

In the dead of the night, none were present to see a black streak seemingly fly past at the speed of sound. His car was humming far louder than any other time he had ever heard it, and the speedometer needle was at its highest ever. While driving at this extremely illegal speed he phoned the one person he trusted second most, and knew that she would be needed.

Minion, now crying on the tile floor of the kitchen, crawled back to his sister, now sobbing on the floor.

He put his arms around her and held her tight. She returned the favor, and they sat on the hallway floor, closer than they had ever been, both shaken, disturbed and crying.

Forever onward, he still remembers the vision of his parents, the last time he had seen them.

He hadn’t even been able to make amends for his behavior that night with his father. His soul was disrupted from happiness, a lingering inwards hate feeling at himself.

Blaine shut his eyes tight, forcing the nightmare to end.

It never did.

Both Blaine and Emily felt a hand on their shoulders.

“There there, you two…”

Argus knelt down and cradled them both, embracing them in his powerful arms. He scooped them both up with difficulty and carried them to the living room, where he sat down and held them both, not daring to let them go. Minutes later another person came into the house, heard the sound of children crying and went to comfort the saddened people. Kyra didn’t just comfort Blaine and Emily, but Argus also. She knew he needed it too.

For the rest of the night, all four of them sobbed sleeplessly. Morning sun had broken the barrier of night and light shone in on all of them, but none noticed. Argus didn’t cry outright, but felt internal anguish mainly for the sake of these children he loved more than even himself. They were the best thing he had to call family, even if they weren’t blood related, they were as close as any family could have been.

Blaine simply sobbed, desperately willing the horrific dream to end. He managed to save himself from being driven insane by simply wishing the horror to end.

Emily, however, was not so lucky. Two day after, she was taken to the Ponoka Mental Institution, unable to make conscious thoughts or responses. For years after, she never returned to the same caring, polite girl she was before that horrific night.

Argus was also extremely saddened by this event. He had known both of them before Minion was even born, and both were good family friends. He also knew perfectly well that he was the appointed godfather to both of these children, and that now they were both, legally his to take care of.

But what of the godmother? The legally stated one was now resting beyond the mortal realm, unable to serve the duty that Argus was going to need. Now, the only one he would even consider to babysit them was Kyra. She knew in her mind that Argus could not raise a child on his own, and she was determined to help in any way she could.

The police were called when Argus had gathered the courage to do so. They came quickly, inspected the scene, and knew that none of the adults present were suspect to the gruesome murder. One could not fake the rings of constant tears beneath their eyes. Soon after an ambulance came, gathered the bodies and their attachments, and headed for the hospital for an autopsy. The scene was inspected and detectives were sent, and the only clue to the killers was the odd symbol on the floor. Inspections suggested that the material used to stain the symbol was blood, but no cleaning agent could remove it, and it never dried. It was perpetually moisturized, and still burned in the same shade of red after many hours. After all inspection was finished, that portion of flooring was cut from the carpet and taken to the police headquarters.

The day after, Minion stood in the cleaned room, devoid of a bed and a sheet of plastic over the ground, and he looked over the collection of odds and ends that his parents had accumulated.

There was always one thing that he loved. An old 1946 cast-iron toy Peterbuilt semi truck. As a small child he loved to play with it, just as his father had when he was a child, when Minion’s grandfather bought it for his son for Christmas. It was the closest thing their family had for an heirloom, for even Emily and their mother loved the toy. Semi trucks were always a large interest to all of them, and the fondness for this toy stretched beyond his own circle. The Kirks, close family friends, loved the toy and when Dave was a child along with Minion’s father, they both had great fun with the toy.

Blaine stepped up to the shelf that the green truck and trailer rested on. He ran his finger across its still gleaming surface, no scratch or smudge to mar the beauty of its finish.

He took the toy in his both hands and lifted it from the shelf. He held the toy like a teddy bear, hugging the last physical remnant that remained of his father.

Argus stood at the door, watching Minion embrace this toy. He himself knew the toy fondly, and remembered it over the course of many years. He smiled at the scene, until he looked in the full-length mirror and saw that Minion had many tears flowing from his eyes.

He silently crunched his way on the plastic and put a hand on his young friend’s shoulder. Minion slowly lowered the toy, returned it to its perch, and turned around to wrap his arms around his one true friend that stood two feet taller than himself.

He now had a child to take care of. Emily was beyond their help, but Blaine still retained every fragment of his intelligence. While Minion was a nice person that didn’t expect much, Argus’ tiny and cramped one-bedroom apartment was going to have to be left behind.

A small fact arose in Argus’ mind.

That was the first moment that they truly held each other as godfather and godson, one on one.



“So, she’s in good hands?”

The doctor nodded confidently. “Of course! This is one of the best institutions in the country! She can be trusted here.”

Argus cocked a sly eyebrow. “I certainly hope so.”

Kyra spoke up. “How long will she need to be kept here?”

“Hard to say, really.” The doctor replied intelligently, his bushy mustache quivering with each word. “It often depends on how much into shock she is, how her subconscious is handling it, and if she can get the image out of her head. She may have to forget about her parents in order to bring back her intelligence.”

Minion just sat in the chair of the office, holding the hand of his now insane sister. She did not give any indication that she knew him, just occasionally tugged her hand away, simultaneously tearing at her brothers heart. She was such a good sister. Always nice, never bossy, mean, or snotty. Kind and gentle, fun and always considerate. Why did she have to be in such a shape? Why did his parents have to be taken? Who was it that committed this atrocity? He didn’t know any of the answers, just questions.

The staff came and took Emily away. The gaping hole left in Minion’s hand and heart was attempted to be filled by the soft hands of Kyra, who sat on the other side of Minion from Argus. He bent his head and rested his forehead on her hand wrapped around his as he attempted to restrain his sobs. So many questions, and no answers were given. Kyra and Argus had no answers. Those had to be answered by Minion himself. They could only aid him in finding the solutions.

They soon left the institution. All the bills needed to keep Emily here were easily picked up by Argus, who had more than enough to spend on such a needed expenditure. If they kept Emily around with them, she not only would have been more trouble than needed, but they could treat her improperly to what she needed. It was for the best that she be left with professionals.

Seeing that Minion was too distracted to think much, Kyra and Argus went to the local Burger King for a bite to eat. Minion hardly noticed where they were going, even though he sat in the middle of the back seat and could see properly, if he lifted his head. He blindly followed the two of them into the restaurant, and just replied with “The usual.” When he was asked for his order.

“Something wrong with the little guy?” the cashier asked with a soft voice.

Argus pointed to the front page of the newspaper sitting beside the till. It showed a large headline of ‘PARENTS MURDERED IN BED’ with a blood splattered bed below the text, devoid of the mutilated bodies.

“He’s their son.”

The bright eyes of the cashier immediately shone in sympathy. She looked at his lowered head and asked Argus again “How’s he taking it?”

“Better than I would.”

Kyra took Minion over to a seat while Argus paid for the meal. He sat down in a slump, and didn’t avert his eyes from the surface of the table. Agony wrenched at his heart, and he felt nothing but sadness. But, he had been cried out in the last day or two, and he had no more tears to spare. His face was rigid in an expression of stoic suppression, neither a smile or a frown, but sorrow still managed to penetrate his exterior. His shoulders lay slumped, his arms totally dormant, and his even his lengthy hair hung down in the sheer magnitude of the sorrow that coursed through his soul.

Kyra moved her hand and rubbed his shoulder a little. He didn’t fight it, only lifted his head slightly and looked at Kyra. She gave him a comforting smile, but he just sunk his head down, even though he was grateful to be reminded that someone cared. He only knew Kyra for a couple of days, but he already loved her as a very close friend. Argus alone was not enough to aid him properly in the sadness he felt. Kyra’s presence made a lot of difference to Minion’s now shrunken, gloomy little world.

“Blaine!”

The voice that called his name was familiar. Normally he either ran towards it or retreated out of sight when he heard that ever familiar sound, but now, he did neither.

Soon the hurried little footsteps of Liss were heard on the well-cleaned floor. She was in her stocking feet, socks slipping on the slippery floor. She had seen him through the windows of the play area, where her and a couple friends were having lunch at.

She slid to a stop at his side, and he tilted his head to look at her. She noticed the sadness coming from him, and immediately put a hand on his shoulder.

“What’s wrong?”

He was silent, devoid of the ability to answer this question, like so many others.

But, he knew he had to tell her. He stood up from his chair, took her hand and went to another table, away from other people. In a quiet whisper, he told her what happened. She was left speechless, only able to listen the tale he had to tell.

When he was finished, she took his hands into both of hers and looked into his eyes. Normally a darker blue, they now gave no impression except that of pure, heartbroken grief.

His head sank again, hiding his face of the tears that soaked his eyes. He didn’t want her to see him like this.

She put a finger under his chin and lifted his head.

“Keep your chin up, or your neck will get sore!”

And she did the one thing she thought that could help him.

She leaned in and planted a short kiss on his lips.

She drew back, smiling sympathetically at him. Then, for the first time in days, his lips curled into a smile. A very small one, but it was an important step to his recovery.

Looking on from the other table, Kyra smiled at the scene. It was just so cute, and she knew that Liss had been able to help Minion in a way that she could never have.

Argus came by, and saw that he definitely had missed something. But with a smile on Minion’s face, he knew nothing bad had gone on.

“Hey Min! Ya gonna come get some food or what?”

Minion diverted is gaze from Liss to Argus. He nodded once and got up to go to the other table. “Yeah, I sure am!”

Argus heard the sincere happiness in Minion’s voice, and knew that he would make it alright.

The thick veil of sorrow had been penetrated by an act of kindness so powerful that no human with a heart could not feel happier after it.








Chapter 6
Carry On



It has been four months since the murder of Minion’s parents.

The killer has not been found. No clue to the whereabouts were known, and they seem to have gotten away with it scott-free.

Minion despised this fact.

He hated that his parents were killed so brutally without him knowing. He knew that he probably couldn’t have made any difference, but how could he just sleep while this happened to them? Would they not have screamed at least? One can’t sever all the limbs on two people in an instant.

Could they?

After having a hearty lunch at the Burger King, Minion was taken to his new home. Argus had (easily) bought a house in the southern part of Edmonton, and sold his measly apartment.

The house was a split level, with a total square footage of 3,000, certainly enough for the two of them. There were four levels overall. The top was devoted to bedrooms, 3 in total, the one below to a kitchen, living room and greeting area. Below it was a general storage area, and was hardly visited.

Unless on the way to the last level.

It was largely unknown, added in secret, and made to Minion’s request. Just an open floor the same size as those above it, it had a large assortment of weaponry, weights, training equipment, and a virtual shooting range.

In here, Minion trained himself. He practiced using his fists, he practiced with knives, he practiced with swords, guns, nun-chucks, shotguns, axes, spurs, such a wide range of weapons that it disturbed Argus. He inquired why Minion trained himself like this, and he said that it was to keep his mind occupied, to maintain his sanity. Every day, unknowingly to Argus, Minion practiced various ways to kill a human being. A mere boy of 11, already focused on one sole thing in his life.

To find the one that killed his parents. And return the favour that his parents could not deliver.

Argus knew nothing of this plan, and even joined in with Minion in his training. Argus had let himself physically slip in the last few years, and for the first time in his life, felt his stomach stick past his belt. He alleviated that in two weeks, carefully toning his stomach, arm, and leg muscles to be even better than they were before.





“Watch your lower half!”

Minion swung his boken to parry an attack that Argus had swung. The two wooden swords clashed at an angle, and Minion pushed Argus’ sword off and swung himself at the same spot that Argus had swung at. Argus blocked this with a powerful swing of his sword, sending Minion’s flying upwards while Argus made another swing at Minion’s arm.

Minion ducked down and rolled on the ground, standing up on Argus’ right side while his sword was still being sent the other direction. Minion swung his sword at Argus’ shoulder, but he managed to lean out of the way while he again sent his sword flying at Minion.

Their fight continued for nearly half an hour. Both of their stamina’s had been increased exponentially since they had started training together, and both of them could spar with each other for hours on end without either of them getting hit. They often versed each other with various weapons, even guns. However, they used a varied system of laser tag instead of real guns, and they practiced split-second reflexes and instant aiming. They both enjoyed sword fights the most though, with a variation of equipment, such as shields and full-fledged field plate armor. [made of weightened wood, of course]

Kyra came by rather frequently, either to cook a meal while they practiced, or to watch, or just to be there. Her house was not that far from Argus’ new house, so she was around quite often.

When September came, Minion went off to school again. In a matter of weeks, he was by and large the best student in grade five in all subjects, except math. He had never really gotten the hang of math, and he did barely average in that class. However, in gym class, the teacher was taking special notice in Minion’s capabilities. He suggested Minion to try out in extracurricular activities, such as basketball or football. Minion, much to Argus’ surprise, signed up for track and field.

The reason for this was because if Minion had to run to catch up to an adult, he was going to need to do a lot of work. He trained his legs to move faster while breathing harder, toning his muscles as close to perfection as possible. He easily broke the local records for running, jumping, throwing, and in particular, rope-climbing, though he just enjoyed doing that, it wasn’t for any real purpose.

But come November, Minion had begun acting differently. He stopped spending so much time in the training room, and most times in his room, on his computer. Argus decided to follow suit, spending more time on his computer as well. He began to meet up, once again, with some old internet denizens that he had been out of contact with. Minion joined in as well, having known them over a couple years, was just as much a member of them as Argus was. Though Minion wasn’t around as much as Argus was, yet from the room beside his, Argus hardly ever heard the keys ceasing from being tapped.

One time Argus peered in through the door silently and looked at Minion’s screen. MSN. He shrugged and went back to his own computer.

Maximillian: What was he doing?
Dr. Swift: Eh, MSN.
SARCASTIC USERNAME: Any clue who to?
Dr. Swift: Neg on that, chum.
Maximillian: Must be someone special or close to type like that, though.
Dr. Swift: Especially since there was only two MSN windows open.
SARCASTIC USERNAME: That’s all?
Dr. Swift: Yep.
Maximillian: And one of those windows is you, right?
Sr. Swift: Aye
SARCASTIC USERNAME: Strange… Should we be looking closer into what Min’s doing?
Dr. Swift: Nah. Let’im have his privacy.
Maximillian: Ah geez, my mom is yelling something at me. I gotta go, guys.
Dr. Swift: Later then, Seej.
SARCASTIC USERNAME: See ya, killer.
Maximillian has left the conversation.
SARCASTIC USERNAME: So now, with him out of the way, what about Minion?
Dr. Swift: Iunno. He’s been acting different, talking different, even eating different.
SARCASTIC USERNAME: What, he uses his nose to eat?
Dr. Swift: Ears, actually.
SARCASTIC USERNAME: Neat.
Dr. Swift: Aye. Steak proves to be an interesting sight.
SARCASTIC USERNAME: Seriously though, what’s he like now?
Dr. Swift: Well, I’m not saying he’s worse now. He was all focused and determined before, in the training room all the time, and now he’s a lot cheerier and laughs easier. Though I’m still worried. First thing he does when he gets home from school is go to his room.
SARCASTIC USERNAME: Who does that remind me of?
Dr. Swift: Ha ha.
Illbert: Really though, anything else?
Dr. Swift: Just a strange case of switching callsigns.
Illbert: Heh, yeah. I’m just an illing kinda guy.
Dr. Swift: And that means…?
Illbert: Back to Min.
Dr. Swift: Fine. He’s stopped going to track, and his grades have slipped a little. Not that that’s much of a worry, he’s still head of the class in everything but math, but last report card he had 5% less in every class than the last one.
Illbert: Hardly a worry.
Dr. Swift: I know, but still, it’s enough to catch my attention.
Illbert: Dude, you’re like, an overbearing parent.
Dr. Swift: Kinda what I am, ain’t it?
Illbert: Yeah, except you don’t have a squeezetoy.
Dr. Swift: Well, I would, BUT, I don’t.
Illbert: Poor thing. Never had a chance.
Dr. Swift: Look, just don’t…
Illbert: Sorry, dude.
Dr. Swift: S’alright, it’s just… 6 years just isn’t enough.
Illbert: Yeah. I miss her too.
Dr. Swift: Well, who doesn’t…
Illbert: NMX?
Dr. Swift: haha
Illbert: Well, it’s true.
Dr. Swift: Didn’t doubt ya.
Illbert: Anyways, I gotta get some NiGHTS played. Later, killer.
Dr. Swift: See yez.
Illbert has left the conversation.

Argus leaned back in his seat and sighed. Oh, how he missed her…

The doorbell ringing ricocheted through the halls of the house. Quickly Argus got up from his chair and dashed for the front door, swung it open and saw the smiling face of Kyra facing him.

“Hoi, chummer.” Argus said and stepped aside to let Kyra in. She strode in, took her shoes off and let herself into the house. She had been here quite often, though after spending a week at a family reUNION in another country, she had been away for quite a while.

She entered the living room and took a seat on the couch. Argus took his place right across from her in the one-person loveseat, a large, circular coffee table between them.

“How was the reUNION?” Argus asked as he got comfortable.

“Good!” She replied with a very chipper voice. “Lots of my family didn’t really understand why I moved here at first, but then they saw how much I was making, and they understood quickly.”

“I bet you must have done a lot of catching up.”

“Oh yeah! Lots of relatives I haven’t talked to in a while.”

“I can tell.”

She cocked an eyebrow. “How can you tell?”

He pointed at her with one finger. “Still got a little German in your accent.”

“Oh!” she thought for a second, and spoke again, in a clearer, more-local accent. “This better?”

He nodded. “It works.”

She gave a smile, and changed the subject. “How’s Minion doing? I haven’t talked to him in a while.”

“He’s changed. Or changing.”

“So he’ll be down in a second?”

Argus, inexplicably, laughed.

“What?” Kyra asked, confused.

“Nothing. I just meant… He’s changing, psychologically.”

Her eyes flitted with a light of concern. “What?!”

“He isn’t in track anymore, he isn’t training constantly, his grades have been slipping (slightly) and first thing he does when he gets home is run to his room and hop on the computer.”

“Oh…” She contemplated this for a second. “Is this something we should look into?”

“I don’t really think so… I remember doing the same thing when I was his age. He could just be tired of constantly working out. Maybe he thinks he’s at his peak now and can’t get any better.” He lifted his shoulders. “I don’t know.”

“How about I go talk to him?” Kyra suggested.

“You’re welcome to. Be sure to report anything you notice, okay?”

She nodded, got up and headed upstairs. Argus continued sitting in his seat and waited. He sat, and waited, and sat, and waited… for seemingly half an hour. In the last several years he found he could occupy any amount of needed time simply by thinking, and leaving himself to his thoughts, to drift into the dregs of his subconscious. There were a seemingly infinite amount of things brewing in his head to ponder on. McQuarrie, Minion, current events, but no matter how much he tried to focus on those, his thoughts always came to her…

His chin resting on his hands, the fingers intertwined into each other, weaving a netting for him to rest on. Six years, and the thoughts were no less painful than they were 70 months ago.

He distinctly remembered the day it happened.

He remembered the day he laid her to rest.

He remembered every detail. Every strand of flawless hair, what her smile looked like, what her voice was like, her eyes glinting under the moon, even what she was wearing…

In a slow, powerful wave, it all came back and flooded his mind. None of it was new, he had felt it all before, but every last bit of pain he felt on that day was still present to pierce his heart with steely, jagged points.

His eyes began to tear from the pressure on his heart. Happiness, forever stolen from him in less than a week.

Footsteps coming down the stairs prompted him to quickly wipe his eyes clear, choke the thoughts down as he’s done so many times before, and forge what little a smile he could make.

Kyra came into view, alone, and she resumed the spot she was in on the couch.

“And?” he asked nonchalantly.

“Nothing serious or anything. He talked to me for a bit, he just was saying how he found a new site that has a lot of interesting info, and he was just spending a lot of time reading it.”

“Ah…” Argus nodded slowly and closed his eyes. “I see. I guess that explains a lot of things.”

Kyra nodded also. “Yep.”

They both sat, each hiding what they truly wanted to say, neither knowing the others ulterior thoughts.

Later on, Kyra went to make dinner while Argus helped her. When completed, they set the table, called down Minion, and ate. Minion ate down his food quickly, said his thanks to the cooks, and jetted off for his room again.

Once again, Argus was left confused. Regardless, him and Kyra munched on the dessert that they had prepared that Minion had decided not to take part in, cleared the table and helped wash them.

Argus took his towel to a plate, drying the droplets of water off it.

He paused in mid-wipe.

“What is really going on with Minion, Kyra?”

She turned her head from the basin of water. “Hm?”

Argus turned to face her, lowering the plate but not moving his hand off it. “There’s something more going on with Minion than you’re telling me, isn’t there?”

She seemed taken aback at this. “What? No, he just found a site that he’s been reading a lot of, that’s all!”

He stepped closer to her, moving both arms to his sides, which didn’t move with his steps.

“Kyra, you and I both know that Minion wouldn’t miss dessert with us for some info that he could just read after he ate.”

Considerably taller than her, he bore over her with a powerful gaze. She faltered under his shadow and lowered her head, her eyes hiding from his sight by her hairline.

“Okay…” she swallowed and launched into her speech. “He’s been searching for something to lead to his parents killer. He’s used all sorts of image searches to find some kind of connection leading to that mark on the ground that was left behind. He’s made slow progress, and he says he’s actually getting closer to finding who he’s looking for.”

Argus lifted his gaze up from her head to the window above the sink. A mad drive for revenge? That would explain all his training, but he worried what Minion would use that training for.

He lifted a hand and put it on Kyra’s cheek. She lifted her head to look at his face, which had lowered to face hers.

“Thanks for telling me this, Kyra. It’s what I was wanting to know in the first place.”

She gave a small smile and relished in the hand on her cheek. She put a hand of her own on his and gave a silent moan of longing.

He slipped his hand out of her grasp and back to his side. She simply stood there as Argus strode out of the kitchen, up the stairs and to Minion’s room.

He gave a little knock on his doorframe, which was glaringly open. Nothing but Firefox and MSN on his screen…

Minion turned his head to look at Argus. “Hey.”

“Whatcha doin?”

“Talking and forming, mainly.”

“Oh yeah?”

Argus walked closer and looked at the screen. He quickly tried to look at the Firefox tabs that he had open before he minimized anything.

TPH, CJF, ToE… ToE? When did you start going there… And… Lycos image search. Hm…

“Whatcha got going on Lycos there?” he asked quickly.

Minion moved the cursor to the tab and clicked.

General Grievous pictures.

“Oh, awesome! Grievous kicks ass.”

Minion nodded. “He sure does! Best Star Wars character ever.”

“No doubt about that. Though you can’t really beat him in the Clone Wars cartoon.”

“NOTHING can beat him in the cartoon.”

An awkward silence.

“So…” Minion spoke. “It has come to my attention that you have a fixation for mudkips.”

Argus only closed his eyes and sighed, raising one eyebrow in resignation.

“I can feel the ToE influence in you already.”

Argus took his leave. It seemed there wasn’t anything that Minion was doing regarding what Kyra had said now, so it was useless to pursue.

Argus retreated to his computer, loaded it up, and looked at his desktop.

Many little icons littered the surface of a quarter-view of Venus with a backdrop of a distant sun. It was a beautiful image, and he had always loved it.

Good ol’ Jim. Always finds the best stuff.

Argus was about to load Firefox when he felt a sudden set of arms wrap around his neck.

He recognized it as Kyra by the scent alone.

“Y’know Argus, you haven’t given me any writings for a while!” she said in a chipper voice as she laced her fingers with her own on his chest, both arms hopelessly bound around Argus’ neck.

She must be tired… Acting like this. Argus thought as he replied: “A lot’s gone on, Kyra. Cut me some slack.”

“That’s no excuse! You spent all that time training and internetting, you easily could have made a book or two!” She began leaning sharply to try and look into his face, and in turn made it hard for him to try and keep straight.

“Hey, it’s not so bad if I take a couple months off! Really helps clear out my head!”

“I guess, but still, would it be so bad to just make a little progress here and there?”

“I have! I did…”

Argus opened up Skull Keep.doc and scrolled to the bottom of the document.

“I, uh…”

“Argus, that’s exactly where you left off after showing me what you had.”

“I know! I just, uh…”

She gave him a playful smack on the side of the head. “You haven’t been writing! I knew it!”

“Well, it’s not like I’ll go bankrupt anytime soon!”

“If you’re going to pull of this McQuarrie thing, you’re gonna need every bit you can get!”

“Not really. I have it planned so I’ll have a good amount of surplus when it’s finished!”

“What then? How can you make money off of that?”

Argus sighed. “Didn’t you listen to the whole plan?”

She got a quizzical look on her face, which Argus didn’t see. “Huh?”

“I have an idea.”

He reached down to his right, taking her with him. He tugged at the door to a cupboard in his desk and opened it, revealing a well-hidden stock of chilled beverages.

“We’ll give ourselves an excuse to forget.”

He pulled out a medium sized bottle, which the label read as fine red wine. From the inside of the door part of the fridge he removed two crystal glasses. He set these on the desktop while he opened the bottle with proper squeezing of the cork. It popped off with the proper sound and Argus took the glasses in hand. Using expert hands, even with Kyra still clinging to him, he held the glasses between the fingers of one hand while he poured with the other.

Both glasses now filled, he passed one to Kyra while he kept the other in his hand. She lifted one arm and took the offered glass while keeping the other tightly wrapped around his neck still.

Argus lifted the glass up to be level with Kyra’s. “You make the toast.”

“What to?”

“Whatever you want it to be to!”

She thought for a second, got an idea and lifted her glass up.

“To McQuarrie, and all it’s success!”

They tilted their glasses and drank.



An hour later….



“To… to…”

“No, it’s my turn!”

“Like hell it is!”

Minion pointed to Kyra. “Her turn.”

“Oh c’mon!” Argus complained. “You’re just saying that cuz she offered you a drink!”

“Which I didn’t accept. It really is her turn!”

This continued for quite some time. The two adults, quite drunk, and Minion, still sober and calm, of course. Even whenever he did turn to an adult, Minion had no intention of drinking. He always did like to be at his peak, and alcohol was not a way to augment that statistic.

Several hours passed, and soon Argus and Kyra began to nod off in sleep. With a little help from Argus, Kyra was carted off to the guest bedroom while Minion pushed the gradually slowing-Argus to his bed.

He fell onto the extended mattress with a thud.

“Y’know…” Argus began with little coherency in his voice. “You’re a really great guy, Min. I’m glad me dad and yours met so many years ago so we could know each other.”

Minion gave a small smile. “Yeah, me too.”

“I really hope you find the guy that got your folks. G’luck in your search, chum…”

And with that, Argus slipped into slumber, leaving Minion alone with the thoughts of mild betrayal he now felt towards Kyra.






Chapter 7
Progress Commencement



“Launch status.”

“Five minutes until engines primed, two until proper angle is set.”

“Stealth protocols?”

“Operational.”

“All systems go?”

“Affirmative.”

Argus Swift leaned ahead to the keyboard and typed two keys in. A helmeted face appeared on the small screen in front of him, and he spoke into the microphone on his headset. “What’s your status, Min?”

The pilot of the Sartha exploratory scout ship replied with the microphone built into his helmet.

“All power systems are working fine, the fuel is at maximum, and my cabin is pressurized. I’m ready for anything.”

“You don’t know that yet, Min. Just be prepared for anything, okay?”

“Yes, Swift. You’ve told me that a hundred times already.”

“That doesn’t make it any less important. I don’t want to lose one of my founding crew members, okay?”

Minion gave a visible nod, which appeared on the screen in front of Argus, followed by a thumbs up. “Null sweat!”

Argus gave a smile.

“Now, run the mission by me again.”

“Oh pah!” Obvious impatience was in Minion’s voice. “You should know it!

“I’m making sure you do. Run it by me, Min.”

“Fine. I take off from Industen, orbit the earth once, use the momentum gathered from the gravity to increase my velocity towards Venus, where I’ll do a preliminary scan of the surrounding area and orbit the area until a rescue flight comes after me.”

“Good! Now, you should have more than enough fuel in your retro’s to fly you to Jupiter and back, but that doesn’t mean you should be wasteful. Use just what you have to, you never know, you might have to sit there a while, or fly back on your own.”

“But I thought the Sartha wasn’t made for atmospheric reentry?”

“That’s not its emphasis, but in an emergency, it can with difficulty.”

Minion nodded. “Good to know.”

A technician sitting beside Argus turned and spoke to him, two fingers pressed against his right side headset speaker. “Thirty seconds till takeoff time!”

“Thank you! Minion, you feel up to this?”

He replied with a dronish, mechanical voice. “I have the utmost enthusiasm for the mission, Dr. Chandra.”

Argus gave a sarcastic laugh, and hovered his finger over the latch release button.

The Sartha was a simple design, two large retro engines attached against the fuselage and reverse-delta wings protruding from the engines. The wingspan was only five meters across the entirety of it, but the ship was very small in comparison to even a small airplane, since the only intended pilot for it was only eleven years old, and considerably smaller than many potential pilots.

Argus switched his viewscreen from the pilot view to the exterior camera, looking outside the Sartha from a distance of ten feet away. Two large separate rockets were attached to the wings, which would be jettisoned once the atmosphere was broken.

Due to the utmost secrecy that Industen was still shrouded in, the Sartha was covered in an anti-radar paint, so it was rendered invisible to any scanners. It also was planned to not engage any electronic devices until it was cleared from Earth orbit, so that no radar would detect electrical activity. The small ship would zip out from the Earth, skim the Earth and fly off to Venus, totally unnoticed.

The means of communication once the Sartha was past Earth was a direct line to Industen, meaning that it could not be intercepted unless one was right in its path, and even then no one would know it was there. The line was much like a wireless internet line, so audio, video and file transfers would be possible. Pictures, videos, anything that Minion found while in orbit around Venus could be sent right back to Industen.

It seemed like a daunting task for one that was only eleven years old, but Minion was ready for it. It was, after all, Easter break, so he had a ten days to complete his mission. It was planned to be done in seven.

Minion pressed the button to engage the takeoff engines. Immediately all four engines he had spat out their liftoff fumes, and the Sartha lifted a centimeter up, against the lines keeping it down on the ground.

The viewscreen Argus was looking at shifted to Minion’s helmeted head. “Let me loose! I’m ready!”

“Here goes!”

Argus pressed the button.

The metal latches keeping the Sartha from lifting off retracted, and the power of the four engines thrusted the small ship up into the air.

Argus looked up to the glass-covered roof and at the smoke trail that the Sartha left behind, hoping against hope that his dear friend would once again walk Earth ground.

Minion was pressed against his seat, despite having been strapped in tightly at the start, the cushions found that they could be compacted a few centimeters more. The g-forces inflicted on Minion’s tiny frame began to take their toll, but the advanced flight suit that Minion had on simulated its own atmosphere within the suit, and the effects of the g-forces were reduced to a minimum. But still, the effects broke through his defenses and began assaulting his body, but Minion was ready. He had undergone simulations and found his tolerance was higher than what he was feeling now.

Several thousand feet up, the preliminary fuel ran dry, and the secondary fuel took over. This fuel burned much cleaner, and left no smoke trail to reveal its position. It had less power than the previous fuel, but was much more discreet to use. Not even an intense thermal scan would pick up noticeable traces of it.

After nearly five minutes of thrusting, the small ship penetrated the lower atmosphere, quickly ascending upwards and outwards, away from Earth.

Two minutes later, all the cloud levels were cleared and Minion was now overlooking the Earth from above. Even from this location, many communications satellites were visible, but none posed a threat to his detection.

He adjusted the direction of the Sartha via simplistic maneuvering jets, heading for the trajectory that was planned to propel the Sartha around the Earth and outwards to Venus. He pressed a manual switch button, and the explosive bolts that held the booster rockets in place blew, sending the long thin pipes floating off towards the Earth, when small-scale implosives detonated within themselves and with hardly a trace, were eradicated from this existence.

Within the confines of his cockpit, Minion felt quite at ease. What Swift had told him earlier was quite true. One could be troubled in space, but one could not be worried in it. He wondered where he got the saying from, but remembered his many quotes from 2001 and 2010, some of his favorite books. They were just a bit too complicated for even Minion to fully grasp, even though Minion was, by many rights, an expert gravitologist, astrophysicist and astronomer, but he possessed no credentials on any field, just the needed knowledge to obtain them, which was all that Argus needed out of him.

He hung loosely in his strapped down seat, and the effects of zero gravity already had psychological impacts on him. Looking around, Minion used his bearings to get a fix on his location to make sure he was on the right track. He had run many simulations on this mission before actually flying it, and he could find the correct trajectory and orbital path just by looking down at the Earth and finding his location just from that. But should that have failed, he had a sextant-like object that could give him a more accurate look at his path.

The trajectory he was heading down on now was indeed the correct one. He locked his control stick so it wouldn’t deviate his course, and he closed his eyes to catch forty.



Forty minutes later, Minion awoke calmly. He was perfectly aware of where he was, and after only a few more minutes of thinking, was fully awake. He checked his current path, and found that he had already made considerable progress over the Earth. Not faster than anticipated, but definitely exceeding minimum expectations.

Below the atmosphere, back at Industen, everyone had resumed their regular tasks. Since they couldn’t track the position of the Sartha until Minion engaged higher-end electrical activity, they had no way of knowing where he was, save for manually scowering the sky with telescopes.

This hung on Argus’ mind fiercely. He attempted to continue his work of more 3d modeling ship plans, but his mind just continually focused back on Minion, and where he might be now.

Above the Earth, Minion was playing cassette tapes, listening to music he had arranged prior to his flight. A CD generated too much electrical activity, and ran a higher risk of being noticed than a cassette. Luckily, Minion was quite a fan of audio books, particularly The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, so any potential boredom just didn’t exist. Once he cleared Earth’s orbit, however, he could turn on his ship’s computer and do anything he could do on a regular computer, such as the stockpile of games that he had collected.



* * *


Eight hours later, Minion was preparing to leave the Earth’s orbit.

He had prepared himself for this moment, since it was a very important landmark [spacemark?] for the plans that he and Swift had conspired years ago. The first successful interplanetary flight…

Minion checked his position over the earth, his trajectory, velocity, momentum, food and drink supplies, all carefully inspected with his sextant. It wasn’t the most accurate form of position finding, but it was accurate to a ten-number variation, which was definitely enough to head in the general direction of Venus. Any later trajectory adjustments could easily be made with his maneuvering jets.

His position was correct. His trajectory was acceptable. He only had to do one last thing…

He activated the thrusters on his engines. Invisible gasses emitted from his engine exhaust ports and propelled the Sartha forward, breaking the Earth’s orbit and sending it hurtling towards the neighboring planet.

He had the thrusters engaged for roughly an fifteen minutes, until the Earth was a fading silhouette against the starscape beyond.

His range was now acceptable.

He pushed the power button on his keyboard.

Immediately the twin screens flitted on and displayed their starting up information.

Starting WC-DOS…

Minion waited for a few seconds until the proper words were shown, and he began typing onto the screen with a simple set of keystrokes, exactly replicating the interface system found in the Wing Commander games.

He pressed C, and on the right side screen came a list of potential contacts. Industen was first on the list.

Minion pressed 1, and after a few seconds of initialization, now had flawless video and audio with the computer screen in Swift’s office.

Argus immediately noticed his screen automatically shift to a view of Minion’s helmeted face.

“Hoi, chummer. Everything is a-okay, and I’m currently on course for Venus.”

Argus began to cheer excitedly at the sound of Minion’s happy voice. Even though only his eyes and surrounding area was visible, Minion still had a visible smile on him.

“Alright! That’s great news! I’m overjoyed!”

“I can tell.”

“Heh… How’s it feel up there?”

“It’s exactly like you said. One could be troubled in space, but one could not be worried in it.”

“Actually, Arthur C. Clarke said that.”

“But I heard it from you.”

“That doesn’t change the fact that you know damn well that I didn’t come up with that saying.”

“I didn’t say that you came up with it, I’m only saying I heard it- Ah, what are we doing, bickering over a hundred thousand kilometers? Pass the word on that I’m fine and be sure to tell Kyra that I’m perfectly fine up here!”

Argus saluted. “Sure thing, chum!”

Minion switched off direct communication and continued to drift along his current course. Being rather tired from the constant checking of his position before, he initiated auto-pilot functions and leaned back in his seat, closed his eyes, and drifted off into the sleep he had been wanting to take.



* * *



A dull beeping noise awoke Minion… a day and a half later.

He opened his eyes and beheld the glorious picture of Venus on slow rise over a distant sun.

Minion opened communications with Industen once again, this time to a the communications department and not directly to Argus’ office.

A radio technicians face appeared on Minion’s left screen after roughly a twenty second pause.

“Yes, Minion?” the easy-going technician asked.

“Feast your eyes on THIS!”

Minion sent a jpeg file he had taken with the Sartha’s exterior cameras. After forty seconds the reply was joyful.

“So you have reached Venus! That is excellent! Enter orbit as designated by your computer coordinates and activate your scanners. Send us everything, no matter how insignificant.”

Minion sent a reply back. “Roger!”

With the pressings of a few buttons, Minion began to scan the area with wide-range radar, fitted within the nosecone of the Sartha.

Detailed information of what was in the vicinity of the Venus was beamed back to Industen, relaying critical information for the next step in the plan.

Already prepared, a Drayman, large transport ship, was ready for take off. The rounder-shaped Drayman was attached to one, larger booster rocket, that was clipped to both of them at once, ready for takeoff towards Venus.

The data that Minion was sending to Industen was being looked over by several radar technicians on a much larger screen than Minion’s. With the three of them combined, they could look over the surrounding area in just a few seconds. Anything over a foot in size would appear on the radar, and anything below that worth mentioning could be seen personally by Minion.

Once the surrounding area was checked and cleared for flying, the take-off rocket attached to the Drayman ignited, sending it blasting off for outer space.

Aboard that Drayman was the single most important cargo thus far.

Argus, at the co-pilot seat, watched the clouds fly past the windshield, the pressures of the launch pressing him into his seat. With him sat three crew members, all with a specific task.

The atmosphere was broken, and the booster rocket was jettisoned. It imploded, like Minion’s, and the Drayman entered the gravitational coils of the Earth. But, since the Drayman had much more mass, it floated at a slower pace than the Sartha. Thus, to save time, it didn’t loop around the Earth to gain momentum, since the gain would be minimal and consume far too much time. So, it circled as far as it needed to and engaged the on-board engines, and sent it off towards Venus.

The Drayman cruised along slowly, roughly half of the speed that the Sartha went at. But, since the Drayman had far more fuel than the tiny Sartha, it burned its engines constantly to gain more velocity and reach Venus in as little time as possible.

In the meantime, Minion set his radar to auto-scan, and put the Sartha into orbit around Venus. He loaded up a game of Wing Commander, disengaged his primary controls so that the Sartha didn’t move no matter where Minion pulled the control stick. He then adjusted the controls so that what he inputted into his control scheme would be what the action put in would be what was plugged into the game. [ie: Pulling the control stick to the left would simulate pressing the left button on the keyboard]

Minion played this for several hours, before switching to Wing Commander II. He ran through this game once, and switched to Wing Commander III. He got about half-way through before his stamina ran short. He closed it all up and leaned back in his seat for a good sleep.

One could not grow hungry in the ships that were made in Industen. They had stores of liquid nutrients that simulated food, running through thin tubes into the helmet. Many different drinks were available, ranging from water, Coca-Cola, all-range nutrient drink, and a thicker liquid that seemed like a warm, tasty slushy, resembling a thick soup.

Two and a half days later, the Drayman closed in on Venus. Minion, who was well-informed of the distance it was at, flew off from Venus orbit and came into close escort around the Drayman, flying roughly parallel to the ‘sport.

Both ships entered orbit at the same time. Minion had to slow his Sartha considerably to orbit at the same speed as the Drayman, and even then he had to occasionally fire his reverse thrusters to slow down again.

Inside the Drayman, the crew was preparing. Argus had, in his hands, a small box. It had numerous outriggers and handles, and if one looked closely enough, could see that it was a scale model of a space station, barely a foot across.

It was a test station, McQuarrie v. 1. Nothing was inside except many electronics and a small plant, it had one of every essential system planned to be added to the future project. In each outrigger, similar to an enlongenated section that people could look out of as an observation deck or if technology permitted, rooms with views, was an oxygen detector. Inside the main box of the McQuarrie sat a potted plant, tied down to the pot with small strings to keep it in the covered dirt, so as to keep it alive and functioning. Above the plant was a fluorescent light, to simulate sunlight and give it the nutrients it needed. A small water dropper was also in place, with a timer that, when set off, would squeeze the dropper ever so slightly, so as to drip only one drop at a time. All information was processed on a miniscule computer, which then radioed the information back to the Drayman.

On the outside of the model, encasing two sides of the box, were solar panels, and converters that would power the on-board battery, oxygen detectors plus the light and timer for the plant.

Every essential system that would be planned for the McQuarrie was in this small model of it.

Argus, with a Swift Co. brand space suit [composed of metal plates with pressurized joints rather than cloth, making it far more durable and safer] slowly stepped off the open cargo doors of the Drayman and began drifting off into space, McQuarrie V.1 in his grasp.

He floated to the appropriate distance away from the Drayman, lifted it up to eye level, and let go.

The small model space station began to slowly distance itself from Argus, who could see vividly in the light of Venus below that small blinking green LED light on a small antennae on the ship, indicating that all was well.

Beside Argus appeared Minion, in his pilot’s suit that could be used as a space suit, a long tube leading back into the open cockpit of the Sartha, which had been put into the same orbital cycle as the Drayman.

In the expansiveness of space, the difference in height between Argus and Minion was much more apparent now. Or perhaps that Argus’ suit made him look larger than he was, where as Minion’s seemed rather slimming, since his helmet made his head look larger and his pilot suit was mainly one expansive piece of cloth formed to his individual shape.

A crew member, still in the Drayman’s cargo section, in a pressurized pilots suit [not unlike Minion’s] sat with a laptop strapped to his legs. It was receiving and monitoring the signals that McQuarrie V.1 was sending, and the technician watched all the figures closely. One other crew member, in the cockpit, was watching a wall-mounted monitor, making sure that the ship and space suits were in working condition. The pilot, meanwhile, was taking a snooze while the others did their work.

Argus made to clasp the McQuarrie V.1 in his hands, but kept his fingers an inch away from it.

“Look at this, Minion… The seed of things to come, in the palm of my hand…”

Minion drifted closer.

“Sure is something, ain’t it…”

He extended his arm and ran a finger along the steely finish.







Chapter 8
Second Success



It was an overwhelming success.

The first run of McQuarrie V.1 proved that life could be sustained on the design basis that they had for the final product. All systems on the model McQuarrie were maintained at satisfactory levels for the three weeks that they monitored it. They only stopped because the water dropper feeding the plant had run dry, and the plant would have died shortly, despite the plant being in optimum condition.

Thus, all signs were pointed to continuing progress.

Argus and Minion spent many hours in the same room, going over many concept sketches and 3d models they had made together over the years. They were finalizing the ideas they had, in hopes to make McQuarrie V.2, which could hold at least a dozen people and keep them there as long as the food lasted.

Argus edited 3d models he had made, Minion made sketches and simplistic blueprints in AutoCAD on the laptop Stoker, using a simple DOS version of AutoCAD Drafting program, with much Machinae Supremacy played amidst it all.

“With a two foot width expansion on the main bay-“

“No good, Min. We’d have to totally rearrange the so-far perfect way that we have the bedrooms set as.”

“Well, it’s zero gravity, they don’t need much more room than a couple feet of floor…”

“They do more in their rooms than sleep, ya know. Gotta have room for a desk and stuff, right?”

“I guess….”

“Not to say your point isn’t valid, an extra two feet of Main Concourse room would be dandy, but not the extra two hours it’d take to re-model the left half of the station.”

“Well, who says it has to hold twelve people, Argus?”

“Que?”

“Would it be so bad to have ten, eight, even just six there instead?”

Argus put a thumb to his chin.

“I s’pose, but then I would have to go and tell the other six or so chosen demo, or, shareware people, if you will, that they can’t be the first to partake in the single largest step in the progress of mankind. I know I’d be right ticked at being denied a chance at that.”

Minion was convinced. Twelve people for three weeks it was!

And so their progress had steamed forward.

After a few more days of work, they had their finalized plans for McQuarrie V.2. They called Kyra over, ran the plans by her, and obtained her approval. Argus put the 3d model and AutoCAD blueprints onto a CD, put the drawings into a folder, handed them to Kyra, and, a three hour drive later, she presented it all to the engineers at Industen. Work commenced immediately. She stayed at Industen to manage the financial work and oversee production.

But the days of straight work put into the plan had mentally drained Argus and Minion. They drove home and slept for almost a full day straight. Kyra eventually came back to find them huddled over the kitchen table, both with breakfast food in front of them, and both reading the newspaper. It was odd to see them both doing the same thing at the same time. Usually they were doing different things simultaneously. Even if what they were doing was related to the same subject, they both could work together and cover the area’s each couldn’t cover, so that nothing was left untouched as they worked.

The work they had put into the plans had them tired. Argus never wanted to think again, and Minion had a perpetual headache. They both eased into a more aware state of mind, working their way back up the intellectual chain until they both were back at their primes, engaging in heated discussions of subject matter that Kyra could barely fathom, yet she knew, hearing these fights, that they were back to the pair she loved.

A week and a half later, news came down that McQuarrie V.2 was completed. In an excited euphoria, the three of them drove up to Industen to witness the final product.

It was exactly as they had envisioned. Down to the last bolt. Industen had its work cut out for them. This was obviously the field that Argus had chosen them for. Sure, they were more used to making metal lockers and more simple things before, but they were flexible, and they made truly awesome pieces of art, and at a much better rate of pay.

The Drayman, with a cargo expansion, could fit the McQuarrie v.2 within its great expansive innards, and did so wonderfully. Within the day, it was on its way up towards Venus, and three days later, was ready to drop off into orbit.

The designated twelve people had already clambered inside of the McQuarrie v.2, and it was tied to two cables that ran along a set of tracks on the roof of the Drayman’s cargo hold. It slid out on the wheels in the tracks easily, and was soon hanging out of Drayman altogether.

It was released from the clasps of the Drayman, and for the first time in mankind history, people existed within an orbital space station that orbited around something other than Earth.

Argus, in a replica of a Centurion ship, and Minion, in his Sartha, cheered within their individual ships. The Centurion was quite larger than the Sartha, having four engines mounted on a cylindrical fuselage that reclined into a sharp point on the front, and two wide straight wings at the back.

Minion flew over to the McQuarrie v.2 and landed on a spot meant for his ship. He opened his cockpit and, with a little pressurization, had his windshield open up right into the roof of the McQuarrie v.2. The first extravehicular docking in outer space.

It was a shame that Guinness wasn’t there to make it official.

Human progress had made an immense jump within an hour, and no human that hadn’t participated in the making knew nothing about it. But, it was a necessary risk that was needed to be made, and until Argus was sure of his inevitable success, it would remain that way.

His progress could not be stopped.

Until…

The door to the principle’s office shut behind Argus.

“I appreciate you coming so quickly, Mr. Swift.” Mrs. Torrington, Harry Ainley Edmonton all-grade school principal, spoke as Argus took a seat in front of her desk, in the chair beside the one occupied by Minion.

“Null sweat, chum. Came when ye called.” Argus said happily, taking Mrs. Torrington slightly off guard. Normally, a parent wasn’t exactly enthralled to hear their child was in the principals office.

“Well…” she continued regardless. “I trust you know why you’ve been called here.”

“No clue, actually. Care to fill me in?” Argus said with a slight raise of an eyebrow above his sunglasses.

Mrs. Torrington cleared her throat and began to explain. “Over the last 2 and a half months, your son-“

“Godson.”

“Hasn’t appeared for classes very often.”

“How often does your records state?”

“He has missed thirty-eight days out of fifty.”

“I like those numbers. I remember doing the same thing at his age!”

“Mr. Swift, are you saying you’re condoling his behavior?”

“Not at all! I was a problem child m’self, but…” He took a quick glance at Minion, who stared blankly at Mrs. Torrington, since he was perfectly aware what Argus had planned, and wasn’t going to ‘throw off his groove’, as Argus put it earlier.

“Is Blaine a problem child?” Argus requested.

“Well-“

“Has he been a bully?”

“No,-“

“Has he been an over-all juvenile delinquent?”

“Hardly, but-“

“Have there been numerous teacher complaints about bad behavior?”

“Not at all-“

“So you’re telling me…” Argus leaned in closer to the desk between him and Mrs. Torrington. “That Blaine should be reprimanded for being absent on days of school that have been otherwise unavoidable to attend?”

“I beg your pardon?”

“I mean should he be punished for missing days he could not have been at school?”

“Is he sick? He looks fine to me.”

“I do not recall stating that he was ill, so do not assume as such. I merely mean that he has to be unavoidably detained for the time being. The amount of days he has been present has been a great strain thus far.”

Mrs. Torrington, while a swift negotiator, was being taxed merely to keep up to Argus. She decided to play his game.

“What sort of strain has his absence wreaked on upon whatever plans you might have?”

“Transportation has been the largest of the stresses, but if we were cleared to not be required to attend the fine educational services provided here, we would merely have to transplant our temporary location elsewhere, and all our worries would be alleviated in one fell swoop.”

“But what of these fine educational services? He has to get the education he needs, right?”

“True, but from my studies, I venture to say he has learned more than necessary to pull his own in the real world.”

“Your studies? How can your collection of information pertaining Blaine be an accurate assumption of his level of intelligence?”

“I encourage you to ask him anything that you may find in the fifth grade curriculum.”

“Very well, I shall assess your theory.” Mrs. Torrington turned to face Minion. “Mr. Piro, what are the different ecosystems on the North American continent?”

Minion immediately launched into an answer… That was perfectly correct.

Mrs. Torrington was indeed impressed, but didn’t stop there. She continued on with a barrage of questions, probing his knowledge. All but the more complicated math problems he answered flawlessly.

“So you see, Mrs. Torrington…” Argus spoke after the intensive interview. “There is little else you can teach Blaine that he doesn’t already know.”

As usual with school administration, she was not convinced.

“Just because he could answer several questions does not entitle him to not attending the rest of this year of school.”

“Your point is a valid one, however, despite Blaine no being present this last while, has his grades fallen any? He’s caught up on his tests and assignments, he’s still the top of his class, and I don’t see any evidence stating that maintaining this status quo will lead to negative results.”

“How about this.” Mrs. Torrington leaned in close and threateningly, making each word she said painfully clear. “Either Blaine comes to class more often, or I’m expelling him.”

Despite her attempts at beating Argus at his own game of verbose and complicated vocabulary, she conquered him with a tactic of her own.

Argus looked into her face, finding no hint of mercy on her face, and he knew that she was serious.

“Well…” Argus maintained his cool. “Me and Blaine will just have to discuss this later.” He stood to his startlingly tall height, put a hand on Minion, who stood, and they both walked out.

Argus was silent as they both walked back to their house. It was a mere five minute walk for the both of them to stride to their abode, and the entire time was spent in silence.

Argus opened the front door, Minion went in and Argus followed.

And for the first time in Minion’s memory, Argus knelt down so they could see eye-to-eye.

He took off his sunglasses and looked into Minion’s eyes with humble gray eyes.

“Minion…” Argus began. “Do you want to go to school anymore?”

Minion raised an eyebrow. “Wha-what do you mean?”

“There’s no way that the progress on McQuarrie can be stopped. When we succeed in building it how we dreamed, you won’t have any need for schooling. Your future will have been assured for endless generations.

“But is that what you want?”

Minion looked at Argus incredulously. “What, do you think I don’t want it to work? Of course this is what I want!”

“Think it through, Minion. Any chance for a normal life will be gone. You won’t need to know anything beyond the ships and operations that McQuarrie will have. I don’t want to force you into anything. It’s entirely your choice.”

Minion made a glare-like face at Argus.

“I was ready for all that when I helped you start this. I’m not worried about not having a normal life.”

Minion turned towards the stairs.

“It already isn’t.”










Chapter 9
Out of the Dark



“…And the source of this new arrival is not exactly known, but it does appear to be of human creation.”

Argus grinned slightly. “Very perspective, Mr. Steinke.”

He continued to watch the news broadcast, which showed rather high-resolution images of McQuarrie v. III, with Minion’s and Kyra’s eyes watching the same screen.

Minion laughed at the obliviousness of the news anchor. “Ain’t it a great feeling, knowing things they don’t?”

“I’ll say!” Argus said amidst a non-stop grin.

Kyra wasn’t so sure of this… Yes, making McQuarrie public was inevitable, but in such a fashion as Argus has brought forth? Making random anonymous tip-offs to astronomy towers, odd pamphlets saying “Examine Venus closely” and other such things… Wasn’t there a better way to make McQuarrie known to the public? And even then, he wasn’t claiming ownership of the strange, new satellite of Venus.

“Whether this new sight is an alien creation made to look human-made or if a secret organization is behind it is still unconfirmed, and many conspiracy theories are abound. Is it a storage facility for weapons of mass destruction?”

Argus gave a great hoot of laughter at this. Minion chuckled along as well, but Kyra was rather clueless as to why they were in such fits of humour.

“All we can say at this point is that it only gives off mild electrical signals, and we don’t know what purpose that it is orbiting for.”

Argus took in a breath of air, and exhaled vehemently.

“Ah, this is great stuff.” He said with a tired aura in his voice.

Kyra had just about had it.

“Why is this so funny?” she barked out loudly, interrupting the reverie.

Argus cocked a sly eyebrow at her, then turned to Minion.

“I thought you told her!”

“Me?” Minion made an outrageous motion of mock anger, rising up from his seat with clenched fists. “Why should I have to deliver your messages?”

“Uh…” Argus acted nonchalant, of course, and feigned serious thinking, then replied in a voice dripping with sarcasm “Because I told you to?”

“Hey!” Minion leaned in with a face livid enough to reduce mortals to ash, but Argus just grinned at him. “I’m nobody’s messenger boy.”

“Why not?” Argus replied with a growing smile.

Minion faltered. Even if he was actually angry, he wouldn’t have a reply to this, but since he wasn’t being at all serious, he spat out a silly counter.

“Because it’s against my beliefs!”

Argus laughed.

“Good answer.”

Kyra grew more infuriated and confused with each passing word. Argus noted this, and turned back to her, but not before putting a hand on Minion’s forehead and pushing him back into his seat.

“Here’s how it is, Keer.” Argus said in a calm tone, pointing at her with both hands and two fingers each. “If we had announced McQuarrie publicly, then there would be opposition to it, of course, right? Humans work that way.”

Kyra nodded slowly, absorbing this in as Argus continued.

“Now, if we do what we’re doing now, letting others know of its presence, but not explaining what it is or who made it, then we’ll let the conspiracy theorists think it out, and plant the seeds of worry in the minds of everyone.

“Now, the purpose of this is to let everyone’s imagination fill in the gaps about what the hell it is floating over Venus. Why?”

“Tonight at eleven: Lucifer’s Rock, the new satellite in orbit around Venus. A storage for weapons, an alien beacon, or something more sinister?”

Argus jerked a thumb towards the television. “See? With all these rumours going around about what it is, once we actually say what it is, it’ll seem like something docile and great! I mean, c’mon, if people are thinking that it’s something for totally evil purposes under the control of totally evil people, then once we tell everyone that it’s just a research station, it’s gonna seem like nothing at all wrong about it! Anyone that might have originally doubted the benevolent purposes of McQuarrie before would be convinced that it’s a great thing, since they know that they were thinking it was something much worse.”

Argus lifted an eyebrow slightly and let this all soak into Kyra’s mind.

“Got that all?”

Kyra blinked a few times and squirmed her lips.

“Yeah, kinda…”

Argus reached over and patted her on the shoulder. “Give it a day or so, it’ll sink in jes’ fine.”

Argus turned back to the television, which was now displaying a cheesy commercial for some sort of cleaning product [that Argus often joked about being possessed, by what he never specified] and they were all content. Argus has happy with the progress McQuarrie has made as of late, Minion was quite thrilled with it all, and gave him a reason to smirk while at school.

Kyra, on the other hand, was slightly skeptical. It was a good plan that Argus had, handling the psychological factors of humanity such as he was, but she was a doubting person at heart. She could usually find the flaws in even the most perfect of plans.

But that was exactly why Argus entrusted to her so much of his needed assistance. Both he and Minion were happy-go-lucky sorts, that would often launch right into a plan after barely thinking about it. [as they often have] What they needed most of the time was a voice of reason, a down-to-earth sort of person that would give them a good dose of reality at the intervals needed.


* * *


“Can none of you see that there’s nothing harmful about this thing?”

“We aren’t going to be taking any chances, Pat.”

“We don’t need to! We’ve subject it to x-rays, ultraviolet, thermal… There’s nothing spectacular about it!”

“They could easily shield against all of those. We’re not going to let it just sit there, nobody knows what it holds.”

“But… Ugh, you never listen to me.”


* * *


Minion lay dozing on the arm of the couch, and Kyra clearly nodding off to the sight of the flickering television screen. They had been watching a movie until that moment, when the credits were scrolling across the screen.

Amidst this obvious display of lethargy, Argus sat resolute, his eyes staring adamantly forward, towards the wall beyond the television, his hands made into fists beneath his nose, and his elbows resting on his knees. His mind was a few thousand miles away, and didn’t register anyone else in his proximity.

Until Kyra tottered to the side and almost fell her head on Argus’ shoulder, catching Argus’ attention at last. She didn’t notice however, and started to rest upon his shoulders.

Argus almost broke into tears at this. The amount of times that she had done this to him, staying up late to watch good movies, and the times he had carried her off to her bedroom… That was before they had been married even, heck, it was done sometimes even before they dated. And now Kyra had to nerve to do the same thing as she had?

Argus shook his head mentally. He was being ludicrous. Kyra knew nothing, and couldn’t have possibly done this on purpose.

He sighed inwards, and leaned himself back slowly, taking Kyra’s head with him. He rested his back against the couch, and closed his eyes while letting his head fall backwards. Normally, he would have taken Kyra to the guest room, then Minion, then to bed himself, but at the moment, he didn’t care. In an odd bout of apathy, he merely let himself sit, and pondered amidst his clenched shut eyelids.

The darkness enveloped him, permeating his mind as well as his body.

But despite that, his thoughts turned to happier ones… Ones of the past.

He remembered that moment so well…




“C’mon!”

“Hold yer horses, I’ll get there!”

Argus, twelve years younger, was running up a moonlit dirt road, clearly visible from the light of the stars and moon that shone above.

One of few people that could actually go as fast as him, was running up ahead. She was leading the way, to where, he didn’t know. She had only said she wanted to show him something, and his imagination took care of the rest. Curiosity piqued his mind, and he followed her, far past both their curfews, to get a possible glance at whatever it was she had to show him.

The dirt road ended and made way to merely grass, and they both climbed up a gradually increasing slope, that led to who know where but her.

Argus always admired her speed. Him being a very quick person, he often had to slow up for others. He never did for her, though… He liked that fact.

The slope they were climbing fell into a lunar shadow, and neither could see anything, but they both knew exactly where they were. They were good enough friends to have a certain sort of knowing of each other, being able to tell where the other was through sheer instinct.

They emerged from the darkness, and the slope fell to a flattened level, and they both looked up at the grand sight before them.

At the top of this tall hill stood a single, lone great oak tree. Gargantuan in size, mammoth in it’s sense of power, and it seemed to emanate an aura of wisdom, having gazed upon this area for generations, it seemed like it knew all there was to know.

“Wow…” Argus uttered under his breath.

She grabbed his wrist and gave him a small tug towards the tree. “C’mon! it gets better!”

He wasn’t one to go against her insistence, and he followed her. They stepped onto the lower branches, pulled themselves up, and they scaled the tree with relative ease. The size of the branches were great, and held their weight as if they were nothing. Her speed was not limited to running and walking, she was just as experienced at tree climbing as Argus was, and they both went up at admirable speeds. She was often slightly better than Argus at tree climbing, having nearly the same level of strength as him but with less weight to lift, but in this case, she made sure to stay at the same level as him, not wanting to out-pace him.

They both made it to the upper most branches, and the last large limb that could support them both was their seat, as they planted themselves atop it, side by side, to gaze at the sight before them.

On the other side of the hill, opposite of the side they made their ascent on, lay a vast valley, overgrown with vegetation and plants, with a glistening river running between it all, completing the picturesque scene brilliantly.

To put it simply, Argus’ breath was taken away. Here, more than a mile out from their town, lay this, this perfect image of mother nature’s perfection, the epitome of beauty.

“Pretty neat, huh?”

Her voice permeated through Argus’ reverie, and he turned to look at her.

“Sure is! How’d you find it?”

“heh…” She closed her eyes and seemed almost embarrassed. “Google Earth.”

Argus gave a small chuckle.

“Lazlo will like that.”

She opened her eyes and turned back to look at him.

For a sole instant, their eyes met.

That instant did not end for some time.

For a seemingly brilliant hour, nothing seemed at ill. It all rested in perfection, with no negative occurrences to weigh them down.

The moonlight glinted in her eyes, shimmering with an earthly brilliance that burned into Argus’ mental eye permanently.

Beneath the stars of a perfectly clear night, they both shared a moment neither would forget.

The possibility had been ringing in their minds for some times, mainly spawning from the dares that good friends gave them, and that night, the seeds that had been planted sprouted and bloomed, and neither had any doubt in their minds.

A kiss shared between both, below a warm, dark blanket of night, away from prying eyes, no one in their world but themselves.

The only witness was the man in the moon, who gazed upon the landscape below with a placid expression.




The light shone brightly in his eye.

He groaned from the sharp jabs on his shoulder.

“C’mon!”

He slowly brought himself up to a sitting position, and stood up quickly.

“Where’re we goin’ today?” he asked groggily, his eyes, still shut.

She was always wanting to go somewhere. She could never stay in one place for too long. He always did like this aspect, it ensured that boredom wouldn’t ensue, and that they wouldn’t fall into pits of apathy to waste away to nothingness in.

The familiar scent of cooking food wafted into his nostrils.

“We’re gonna check the statistics of McQuarrie version three today, but nothing else, really.”

Argus’ eyes shot open, and the sight of the morning sun burning into his eyes was seen, but to his left, was Kyra, a spatula and apron adorning her visage.

His heart fell a few beats as the sinking realization of reality settled. No longer was he in his happy land of life with her, but now it was the harsher, depressing kingdom of the present.

He gave a little sigh and plopped himself back on the couch that he had slept on.

Kyra took notice of this instantly. “What’s wrong?”

Argus didn’t remove his gaze from the floor. “Nothin’.”

She knew better than to accept this answer.

“I highly doubt it. C’mon!” Somehow her saying that word both raised Argus’ spirits and crushed them simultaneously. “Spit it out! What’s wrong?”

Argus tilted his eyes up at her direction, but his head stayed resolutely at the whim of gravity. “Your disregard for breakfast.”

She gave a little gasp. “Right!”

She dashed off, much to Argus’ relief, back to the kitchen, to tend with the food she was preparing for both him and Minion, who stayed resting on the floor, where he had fallen in the course of the night, and stayed at. Argus gave the bottom of Minion’s feet a small kick, and he awoke with a start.

“Huzawha?” Minion stammered, raising his head, and pushing his shuffled hair out of his face.

“Wake up, boy.” Argus said in a mock Scottish accent, similar to a cartoon character they both liked.

Minion groggily came to a stand, and they stood and looked each other over.

Lookit this kid grow… Argus thought to himself.

The call for breakfast came and it was served, consumed, and cleaned afterwards.

Through connections to the computer mainframe at Industen, the three of them did a check up on McQuarrie version 3 right from Argus’ computer in his room. Minion could do the same from his, but it ran notably slower than Argus’, so they just did it all the main work from his.

“So Argus…” Kyra spoke out while writing status reports on a clipboard, sitting on Argus’ bed. “When do you plan to reveal what McQuarrie actually is to everyone?”

“In two weeks time.” He said. “That’ll give enough time for everyone to generally know about it, and for the conspiracy theorists to throw around a bunch of idea’s around, each getting progressively worse..”

Kyra nodded, and continued writing, soon finishing, and standing up, organizing the papers on the clipboard and slipping them into a binder. “Well, that should be enough for today. I might as well go off for home now, and I’ll be here for tomorrow’s checkup.”

Argus nodded. “Sounds good.”

They exchanged farewells and Kyra went off to her own place.

Argus and Minion made and ate their lunch and dinner, passing the weekend day well enough with the activities they had at their disposal, and upon the fall of night, they both retired to their beds, to await what the next day brought forth.

Since this isn't exclusive to vizzed and can be found on another site (as seen here), the words of this post wont count toward the Tour de Vizzed.

It does appear to be your story though so I'm happy that you posted it here