7Summary: The origin of Westin.
Setting: On Westin's home world, as I imagine it.
Disclaimer: The character of Westin and the entire concept of sigils of power all belong to CrossGen comics. I know my little story here is NOT part of their universe, but its fun to pretend!
Rating: PG.
* * * * *
1 Tumbleweeds & Cyber-Space, A Tale of Origin
The World:
Vogoul is a world of technological wonder. This gritty world of fire, and oil, and servos, and data empires. Vogoul is a world of commerce. Everything has a price, and so does everyone.
Nearly 90% of all fossil fuels have been exhausted on Vogoul. Synthetic fuels and cutting edge technology drive this world, literally.
Fourty years ago, construction was completed on The Ring. It took three generations of families, 219 years, and nearly 2 billion lives to finish. The Ring is a solar power station erected above the atmosphere. Solar plates line the "outside" of The Ring. These plates collect and store energy that can be used all over the planet. The Ring is also the planet's primary space station and weather station. As a space station, The Ring can accommodate a constant flow of traffic flitting to and from Vogoul. As a weather station, The Ring combats and controls the raging weather patterns that have resulted from deforestation, global warming, and centuries of pollution.
24 immense towers that are evenly spaced around the globe at the equator anchor The Ring to Vogoul. Each tower stretches into the outer reaches of the atmosphere, and each tower is a self-contained city housing 20 million souls.
Vogins have mastered travel within their solar system. Vogins have colonized their twin moons, and are actively exploring several planets within their system. Vogins lack the resources to create vehicles that would allow them to explore beyond their solar system.
Vogins have mastered the science of cybernetics. They view the alterations of themselves as 'version upgrades'. Vogins upgrade themselves for power, fame, and fashion.
Finally, Vogins are not only reaching for outer space, but also nano-space. They have mastered, and are continually enhancing and expanding, a virtual reality network that touches nearly every aspect of a Vogin's life.
**************
The Tale:
In unison, the horns bleat out a long note. The heavy tanker then vented the trapped steam and lifted slowly into the air. Steady rain drummed the metal hull of the ship. The crew finished reeling in the hoses and secured them to their locks.
On the street below, wrapped tight in his vinyl cloak, Westin looked up into the wet sky and watched the tanker drift away. He tilted his head back even further to watch the tanker pirouette as it lifted into the sky. He could see, in large white letters, the company name and logo 'Meta-Oils: Fuel For Your Life'.
"Oil doesn't fuel my life, slow-witted cy-junkies do", he muttered and smiled to himself.
Westin was jarred out of his thoughts by the throng of people bumping into him, pushing to get by. Westin ducked his head and merged with the mob to shuffle off.
********
Jessika kicked the doors open with her right leg, leaving her room to pivot and launch the bruised and bloodied drunk out into the street with her powerful and gleaming left arm.
"Don't come back in here tonight", Jessika was as tough as she was beautiful. "I don't want to have to rewire your head!"
She stood defiantly in the doorway waiving him off, "Good night Pol."
"Goo-nigh Jez-ka", Pol gurgled as he stumbled into the wet night.
Jessika returned to her bar with a sly smile on her face. "Anybody else want to start a fight?" Her voice touched every corner of the room.
When no one responded, she slid back behind the bar to continue serving the zombies she called 'customers'. She picked up a shotglass and rag, and turned her back to the room. Jessika looked at herself in the mirror behind the bar, and she used this brief private moment to calm down. She hated having to get rough like that, especially to a regular zombie, like Pol, but she had to maintain order if she wanted to protect herself and her investment, her bar. She worked too hard peddling data, smuggling tech, and working with the wretches of society all those years to build a life for herself and her little brother. And she wasn't going to let a drunk with a Hammer Fist smash her place up. She was thankful to have been lucky enough to get in the first blow.
Jessika looked at herself in the mirror. She liked what she saw, a young fit woman who worked hard to save her money to build the life she always wanted. She had a business of her own, a powerful cyber-arm, (a Cybiotics model #PX99-L), stylish synthetic leather clothes, and photo-reactive hair, (Cybiotics model #H0100-long). She ran her fingers through her hair and watched the rainbow of colors shimmer across her silky mane. Then, with a thought, she changed the color of her hair from her usual raven black to porcelain blonde.
Yes, Jessika liked what her life had become…
The doors to the bar cracked open just enough for Westin to slip through. He headed for an empty table.
…she just had to help her brother find his place in life.
"What are you doing here", she asked as she turned to face him.
"Do I have to be doing something? Maybe I just want to get out of the rain."
"Don't give me that", she said as she poured a zombie a beer, "Why aren't you at the arcade?"
"I dunno." Westin moved from the table to the bar.
Jessika served one beer and began pouring another, "You're not in trouble again, are you?"
"I haven't done nuth'n", he was annoyed, she always thinks that he's a screw-up. "Why do you care anyway?"
"You know why I care, and you know why you can't stay today." Her face fell as the thought moved from her mind to her lips, "Sook will be coming by in a little while, and if I want to stay in business, I have to do business with Sook."
Westin's eyes glared at his sister. "Yes, well you know how much he likes you too", she said. "So I don't want you anywhere near here when he arrives."
Jessika pushed his arms off the bar and wiped that area clean. "Now beat it. Go to the arcade. Burn off your energy there."
Westin mumbled to himself as he headed for the door.
***********
Chiru, the largest city on the southern continent of Abbufae, stood in the shadow of Ring Tower #9. Chiru, like any other city on Vogoul, is a living example of overpopulation to the extreme, with buildings built upon buildings, built upon buildings. Six million people living, working, and dying elbow to elbow, most not knowing a single day of solitude.
Westin flew into the Red Levels of sector 2017, also known as the Entertainment Grid in Chiru. He piloted his grav-cycle into the area known as Gibson Square. Westin knows this area well, and he is well known here; he headed straight into The Double Helix, a VR gaming bar. Westin knew he would run into his best friend, Riggearlo; he practically lived in The Double H.
Westin pushed past the pack of cy-junkies, to find Riggs strapped into a VR chair, his head encased inside the holo-bubble. Riggs' eyes were squinting as if he was looking into the sun, and Westin noticed that his right hand was pantomiming holding a pistol. Westin had a good idea which program Riggs was running.
"Howdy sheriff", Westin tried to yell through the Noise Negation field and the drone of sounds that Riggs might be listening too.
Riggs' eyes perked up at the shout; he deactivated the bubble. "Hey Weez, 'bout time showed up. The Blood Gang just blew up the entrance to that silver mine outside of Tumbleweed. Lets go see if there are any survivors and if we can find some treasure first, then we can go after the gang." Riggs is a feisty young rebel with a fire in his heart. He had bright blue eyes, spiky green hair, and a constant smile on his face.
"Come on! Saddle up!" Riggs did his best cowboy impersonation.
Westin climbed up into the VR chair and began activating the sensor controls. In a matter of seconds, he was standing next to Riggs under a warm yellow sun, dressed in soft leathers and a cool cotton shirt. His reptile-hide boots were comfortable, and his wide-brimmed hat cast a cool shadow over his eyes.
Westin was holding the reins of his trusty steed, Photon. Photon tapped his hoof and bowed his head as the simulation got underway for Westin.
The boys were standing outside the destroyed entrance to the silver mine. "How are we going to get in there", Westin asked.
A broad grin crept across Riggs' face. "I downloaded some hints from the Tumbleweed website yesterday. There's a hidden entrance down in that gully", Riggs pointed down the hillside.
"Let's hurry, we might find some silver in there. I want to trade it in for some better weapons", Westin leapt up onto Photon and galloped into the gully. Riggs was quick to mount his horse, Mutant, and follow Westin to the hidden entrance of the mine.
The boys tied their horses to a thin tree. The entrance was hidden behind a large thorn bush. They could 'feel' the simulated thorns prick their skin as they crawled through to get into the mine.
Once inside, they found lanterns and oil. They ignited the lanterns and made their way deep into the silver mine. The thoughts of treasure and fame pushed them deeper into the darkness. "We may be able to afford to move to the next level of this game, Weez. We could start our own gang! How do you feel about cattle rustling?"
Westin smiled, "I think that'll be jazzy! I'm ready to wear a black hat for a while."
"Yeah, lets see how long we can run from the Law", Riggs raised his lantern to illuminate a split in the passageway.
"Where do we go", Westin asked.
"I don't know, this wasn't on the website."
"You go that way, and I'll go down here", Westin pointed to his left.
"Fine, but if you find the silver first, you have to share", Riggs playfully pointed into his friend's face.
"Fine, fine." Westin waived him off.
"Oh yeah, and watch out, there might be some miners in here. They might be a little ticked-off, but we will earn extra points for any of the old geezers we can save." Riggs headed off into the darkness of the right passageway.
Westin felt a growing sense of excitement as he moved through the dark mine. This is the life, Jessika can have her bar, and take care of Sook on her own. "I'd rather vid-out anyway", he said.
Westin moved into a larger chamber, he saw mining tools, a wheelbarrow, and some pots and pans. The air was cloudy with dust, he speculated that he may be near the main entrance, and that the air was still settling from the explosion. Westin heard someone coming towards him; he saw a shadowy figure in the dust cloud.
"Mine! This is mine! Get out of here, this is mine!" An old grizzled man dressed in filth and rags, with his face smeared with soot and his head lined by gray hair and a shaggy gray beard, approached Westin. The white of his remaining teeth shone in Westin's lantern, and Westin saw that he had the strangest eyes. They were orange, and they seemed to glow with a life all their own.
"Come on old geezer, I'm Deputy Westin. I'm here to get you of here alive", Westin jumped into the role of his character.
"Deputy? Deputy my foot! You're just some punk kid playing a video game! I think it's time you learned to quit running from your problems, stand up for yourself, and look them right in the eye!"
"What the… This isn't part of the program", Westin distracted himself by thinking about the obvious glitch in the game.
The old man stepped closer, "And you can't have my silver neither!" The old man cocked back and slammed his fist into Westin's right eye!
Westin screamed in pain as his body was flung to the floor in the real world. Riggs heard his friend's shriek, shut down his equipment, and leapt to the floor to check on Westin. "What happed? Are you alright?"
A groggy Westin rolled over, his hand was covering his face. "I found an old miner, but he talked to me about the game itself, and he knew me. He knew that I wasn't a deputy, and that this was just a game."
"What…?"
"Yeah, and he sucker-punched me in the eye! It hurt Riggs; it really hurt!"
"Let me see if it's ok", Riggs moved Westin's hand. Westin timidly opened his eye for Riggs to see. Westin saw the strange look on Riggs' face as he looked at Westin's eye.
"What is it Riggs, am I bleeding?"
"No, you're not bleeding. I just don't know what it is."
Westin's right eye now bore a sigil where his iris once was!
2 END CHAPTER 1
