(Yes, i read 1984, and i thought it could be adapted into a cool Rimworld story. That is all.)
Story 1- the principles of RIMSOC
The twisted hunk of metal came careening across the sky, a blazing tail of flames trailing it. I looked through the makeshift binoculars with keen eyes, watching the ship plummeting toward this barren world.
"Whatcha watchin?" says Blue, her eyes full of gentle curiosity.
"Just another crashing ship" I reply.
"Cool! may i see?"
"Sure." I say, handing her the binoculars.
When Blue looks out at the ship, her face widens, like she just discovered something remarkable.
"I know that type of ship." she says, "It's a collector for the Ordo Historia."
I have no idea what that means. Realizing my utter cluelessness, she elaborates.
"That ship flies across the galaxy, collecting history and culture from other civilizations."
That makes more sense.
"Do you think it could have anything useful in it?" i ask.
"Probably not, but it's still worth checking out. We could find some interesting storybooks at the least."
"Allow me to go" says a cold, sly voice behind us.
I turn around, startled. It's O'Brien. That crazy psychopath needs to stop sneaking up on people! Josephine wasn't surprised though, and she simply turns around to thank O'Brien, who has already started running to the ship.
"I think that one's still alive!" Shouts noodle from behind the sandbags.
"Really?" i ask
"Yeah" he replies, "He's moving, see?"
It's been two days since that ship crashed. O'brien said he found nothing but slag, but it looked like he had something tucked under his coat. Ever since then he's been unusually perky.
Slowly, amid the peppered corpses and the smoking barrels of the autoturrets, the four of us emerge from our sandbag encampments. I walk over to the incapacitated soldier, gun ready in case he tries to pull anything. Sure enough, he's still moving, but barely. He's too weak to even reach for his gun, and he looks up at me with a look of helplessness in his eyes.
Well, i guess we'll have another member of the colony now. However, before i can pick him up, O'Brien walks up beside me.
"I'll take this guy to the cells." says O'Brien. Strange, O'Brien's never expressed any interest in prisoners before.
"Nah. I'll take him. You can go do better stuff." I say.
O'Brien puts his hand on my shoulder. His soulless hand sends chills down my spine. He looks at me with eager eyes.
"Josephine, I'll handle this. Don't worry." He says, and with that he scoops up the prisoner and hauls him to the cells.
The new colonist emerges from the cells. O'Brien follows him, looking overjoyed with himself. It's only been two days since we first captured him. It only took two days for O'Brien to recruit him. O'Brien spent a lot of time with the prisoner, and didn't let anyone else see him, saying that it would 'ruin his progress'. Occasionally he would even bring metal into the cells for some odd reason. I'm not sure what he did, but darn, that's the fastest recruit time I've ever seen!
That lunch we all sit down and chat while eating our potato soup and strawberry tarts. the prisoner eats too, but he doesn't chat. He doesn't look shy or reserved, he just looks... empty.
"Okay, we still have two sections of conduit to complete to reconnect the turrets after the assault." says Noodle. "Each section should cost about 2 metal."
"So you need five pieces of metal then?" Says the new colonist. We all look at him quizzically.
"2+2=4. Didn't you know that?" I say.
The smirk that has been pasted on O'Brien's face for the past 4 days fades. The new colonist hides his head and mutters something under his breath. Strange. Something's up with this guy, and i'd like to know what.
"Help! Help!" Blue yells as she runs through the bedroom complex. Me and Noodle emerge from our bedrooms, agitated that we were woken up so early in the morning, but concerned as to why Blue looks so shocked.
Blue leads us to the source of her dismay. The new colonist is lying on the floor of a hallway, blood trickling out of the bullet hole in the back of his head.
"My god. Who could have done this?" I say.
"Snipers?!" asks Blue, still alarmed at seeing a fellow colonist murdered.
"It couldn't have been. This area is entirely indoors. also, we would have heard a gunshot. Whoever did this must have had a subsonic weapon, and must have been on the inside." Says Noodle, a hint of suspicion in his voice.
"By the way, has anyone seen O'Bri-"
"GRENADE!" I interject, as a flashbang rolls into the hallway. It explodes, blinding me. The last thing i see before i go unconscious is O'Brien, his baton about to make contact with my head.
I wake up in a small, dark room. I can't move. I'm strapped to a large metal chair.
"Ah, you're awake." Says O'Brien, standing by a small control panel. He's holding a book in his hand.
So that's what he found at the crashed ship. I don't know the book, but from how the psychopath gingerly holds it, i assume it's not about rainbows and butterflies.
"What are you going to do to me?" I ask, trying not to hide my fear.
"I'm simply going to teach you." Says O'Brien. "You see, this book has taught me how to make the perfect society. This is a dog-eat-dog world where we are constantly at war with outside powers. We need a stable society to pull together and conquer them. However, we can not have a stable society when our very thoughts, no matter how irrational they are, can drive us to rebellion. That's why, i am going to teach you not to think of anything, except for the stability and unquestionable rule of the colony collective."
He's even more insane than i thought. What he's saying makes no sense.
"Shall we begin?" he asks.
"No" i say defiantly.
In response, O'Brien turns a handle on the control panel. An immense jolt of pain runs through me.
"THE COLONY COLLECTIVE IS ALWAYS RIGHT!" bellows O'Brien. "TWO PLUS TWO MAKE FIVE!"
"No they don't! They make four, you maniac!"
Even more pain greets me.
"TWO PLUS TWO MAKE FIVE!"
"NO!"
The pain dies down. O'Brien has stopped concentrating on me and is instead concentrating on the screaming coming from the other room. It sounds like Noodle.
"Ah yes, he's awake," he says, "excuse me a moment."
As soon as he leaves, i hear footsteps in the room. It's Blue, sneaking in through the small window.
"Blue?" I say, not sure if i'm hallucinating or not.
"Quiet, or he'll hear you." replies Blue harshly. She presses a button on the control panel and i hear a pneumatic hiss. The clamps on the seat fall away, freeing me.
"We have to get out of here" Says Blue.
"Not so fast." says O'Brien from the doorway, holding a silenced pistol and a bloody baton. "I suppose you are too rebellious to be taught, Blue. I shall have to convert and dispose of you, like all enemies of the Colony Collective deserve."
I tense up. "You killed the other colonist, didn't you?"
"He was an enemy of the Colony Collective. He was properly punished," Says O'Brien matter-of-factly, "as you will be."
With that, he starts firing at us with his pistol. I duck behind the torture chair for cover. Blue runs at him, ready to strike. O'Brien whacks her head with his baton, knocking her to the floor.
"Now, you shall know the true might of the Colony Collective!" says O'Brien, ready to strike her and knock her out.
I will not let him take another life for his crazy cause. Before he can hit her, i quickly reach out and pull him into the chair. He hits his head on the hard metal, and before he can collect himself, i dart over to the control panel and hit the buttons. The metal straps close around him.
"Let's see how you like this!" I say, and i turn the knob to full. I guess the pain is just too much for his brain to bear, and he instantaneously goes limp, dead.
We burn his body, along with the book and the chair (because metal burns on this planet for some reason) that night. Luckily he didn't kill noodle, and we nurse him back to health. Life goes on, but we will never forget this fateful week, and we have become wiser from it. The moral of this story: We will never let a psychopath have literature again.
THE END Beat that forum this took me three hours to write!
--STAY TUNED FOR THE NEXT SHORT STORY: THE CHILD--
Story 1- the principles of RIMSOC
The twisted hunk of metal came careening across the sky, a blazing tail of flames trailing it. I looked through the makeshift binoculars with keen eyes, watching the ship plummeting toward this barren world.
"Whatcha watchin?" says Blue, her eyes full of gentle curiosity.
"Just another crashing ship" I reply.
"Cool! may i see?"
"Sure." I say, handing her the binoculars.
When Blue looks out at the ship, her face widens, like she just discovered something remarkable.
"I know that type of ship." she says, "It's a collector for the Ordo Historia."
I have no idea what that means. Realizing my utter cluelessness, she elaborates.
"That ship flies across the galaxy, collecting history and culture from other civilizations."
That makes more sense.
"Do you think it could have anything useful in it?" i ask.
"Probably not, but it's still worth checking out. We could find some interesting storybooks at the least."
"Allow me to go" says a cold, sly voice behind us.
I turn around, startled. It's O'Brien. That crazy psychopath needs to stop sneaking up on people! Josephine wasn't surprised though, and she simply turns around to thank O'Brien, who has already started running to the ship.
"I think that one's still alive!" Shouts noodle from behind the sandbags.
"Really?" i ask
"Yeah" he replies, "He's moving, see?"
It's been two days since that ship crashed. O'brien said he found nothing but slag, but it looked like he had something tucked under his coat. Ever since then he's been unusually perky.
Slowly, amid the peppered corpses and the smoking barrels of the autoturrets, the four of us emerge from our sandbag encampments. I walk over to the incapacitated soldier, gun ready in case he tries to pull anything. Sure enough, he's still moving, but barely. He's too weak to even reach for his gun, and he looks up at me with a look of helplessness in his eyes.
Well, i guess we'll have another member of the colony now. However, before i can pick him up, O'Brien walks up beside me.
"I'll take this guy to the cells." says O'Brien. Strange, O'Brien's never expressed any interest in prisoners before.
"Nah. I'll take him. You can go do better stuff." I say.
O'Brien puts his hand on my shoulder. His soulless hand sends chills down my spine. He looks at me with eager eyes.
"Josephine, I'll handle this. Don't worry." He says, and with that he scoops up the prisoner and hauls him to the cells.
The new colonist emerges from the cells. O'Brien follows him, looking overjoyed with himself. It's only been two days since we first captured him. It only took two days for O'Brien to recruit him. O'Brien spent a lot of time with the prisoner, and didn't let anyone else see him, saying that it would 'ruin his progress'. Occasionally he would even bring metal into the cells for some odd reason. I'm not sure what he did, but darn, that's the fastest recruit time I've ever seen!
That lunch we all sit down and chat while eating our potato soup and strawberry tarts. the prisoner eats too, but he doesn't chat. He doesn't look shy or reserved, he just looks... empty.
"Okay, we still have two sections of conduit to complete to reconnect the turrets after the assault." says Noodle. "Each section should cost about 2 metal."
"So you need five pieces of metal then?" Says the new colonist. We all look at him quizzically.
"2+2=4. Didn't you know that?" I say.
The smirk that has been pasted on O'Brien's face for the past 4 days fades. The new colonist hides his head and mutters something under his breath. Strange. Something's up with this guy, and i'd like to know what.
"Help! Help!" Blue yells as she runs through the bedroom complex. Me and Noodle emerge from our bedrooms, agitated that we were woken up so early in the morning, but concerned as to why Blue looks so shocked.
Blue leads us to the source of her dismay. The new colonist is lying on the floor of a hallway, blood trickling out of the bullet hole in the back of his head.
"My god. Who could have done this?" I say.
"Snipers?!" asks Blue, still alarmed at seeing a fellow colonist murdered.
"It couldn't have been. This area is entirely indoors. also, we would have heard a gunshot. Whoever did this must have had a subsonic weapon, and must have been on the inside." Says Noodle, a hint of suspicion in his voice.
"By the way, has anyone seen O'Bri-"
"GRENADE!" I interject, as a flashbang rolls into the hallway. It explodes, blinding me. The last thing i see before i go unconscious is O'Brien, his baton about to make contact with my head.
I wake up in a small, dark room. I can't move. I'm strapped to a large metal chair.
"Ah, you're awake." Says O'Brien, standing by a small control panel. He's holding a book in his hand.
So that's what he found at the crashed ship. I don't know the book, but from how the psychopath gingerly holds it, i assume it's not about rainbows and butterflies.
"What are you going to do to me?" I ask, trying not to hide my fear.
"I'm simply going to teach you." Says O'Brien. "You see, this book has taught me how to make the perfect society. This is a dog-eat-dog world where we are constantly at war with outside powers. We need a stable society to pull together and conquer them. However, we can not have a stable society when our very thoughts, no matter how irrational they are, can drive us to rebellion. That's why, i am going to teach you not to think of anything, except for the stability and unquestionable rule of the colony collective."
He's even more insane than i thought. What he's saying makes no sense.
"Shall we begin?" he asks.
"No" i say defiantly.
In response, O'Brien turns a handle on the control panel. An immense jolt of pain runs through me.
"THE COLONY COLLECTIVE IS ALWAYS RIGHT!" bellows O'Brien. "TWO PLUS TWO MAKE FIVE!"
"No they don't! They make four, you maniac!"
Even more pain greets me.
"TWO PLUS TWO MAKE FIVE!"
"NO!"
The pain dies down. O'Brien has stopped concentrating on me and is instead concentrating on the screaming coming from the other room. It sounds like Noodle.
"Ah yes, he's awake," he says, "excuse me a moment."
As soon as he leaves, i hear footsteps in the room. It's Blue, sneaking in through the small window.
"Blue?" I say, not sure if i'm hallucinating or not.
"Quiet, or he'll hear you." replies Blue harshly. She presses a button on the control panel and i hear a pneumatic hiss. The clamps on the seat fall away, freeing me.
"We have to get out of here" Says Blue.
"Not so fast." says O'Brien from the doorway, holding a silenced pistol and a bloody baton. "I suppose you are too rebellious to be taught, Blue. I shall have to convert and dispose of you, like all enemies of the Colony Collective deserve."
I tense up. "You killed the other colonist, didn't you?"
"He was an enemy of the Colony Collective. He was properly punished," Says O'Brien matter-of-factly, "as you will be."
With that, he starts firing at us with his pistol. I duck behind the torture chair for cover. Blue runs at him, ready to strike. O'Brien whacks her head with his baton, knocking her to the floor.
"Now, you shall know the true might of the Colony Collective!" says O'Brien, ready to strike her and knock her out.
I will not let him take another life for his crazy cause. Before he can hit her, i quickly reach out and pull him into the chair. He hits his head on the hard metal, and before he can collect himself, i dart over to the control panel and hit the buttons. The metal straps close around him.
"Let's see how you like this!" I say, and i turn the knob to full. I guess the pain is just too much for his brain to bear, and he instantaneously goes limp, dead.
We burn his body, along with the book and the chair (because metal burns on this planet for some reason) that night. Luckily he didn't kill noodle, and we nurse him back to health. Life goes on, but we will never forget this fateful week, and we have become wiser from it. The moral of this story: We will never let a psychopath have literature again.
THE END Beat that forum this took me three hours to write!
--STAY TUNED FOR THE NEXT SHORT STORY: THE CHILD--
