Link to my LMS thread in Writers Corner
Check it frequently! I'm updating stuff on page 2 on a semi-regular basis!
Book Cover
Spoiler
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Equivalent Worlds - Scarli's LMS
15 posts in this topic.
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Okay. So, here goes. all my LMS chapters will be going in here. Either as a link to a work or in spoilers (or maaaybe in my LMS Thread), so...uh, enjoy?
Link to my LMS thread in Writers Corner
Check it frequently! I'm updating stuff on page 2 on a semi-regular basis!
Book Cover -
Progolue (1173 words, approx.)
[spoiler]Aboard the Thanatos, orbiting Earth - March, 2017
The Sun began to peek around the edge of the planet as Samira watched through the thick glass of the Thanatos' Viewing Deck, casting streaks of red-gold-pink across the planet's surface. It was as if she were watching a painter in action. Beautiful, she thought, leaning on the railing set a few feet from the glass. And a part of what makes me, me.
She sighed, tracing a finger over the glass, and frowning down at the swirl of blue-green-grey. It should have felt like going home, like finding a piece of the puzzle that was her. It didn't. It felt strange and alien, and nothing like home at all. Samira rested her head against the glass, squeezing her eyes shut. Where are you?
Sam had searched all over the damn galaxy, and had all the clues, all the rumours, had led her here. To this small, almost unnoticed planet. She sighed, opening her eyes to stare out the window again at the slowly rotating hunk of rock in front of her. She'd heard it was a very unique place, with a vast array of plant and animal life. And then, of course, there were the humans. According to every she'd ever read on them--and from her mother's first-hand accounts--they were pretty damned destructive. Yet they could also be incredibly peaceful.
For all of Earth's flaws, all it's civil wars and fighting, the pollution... It was a part of her. She couldn't deny that. Not when she was staring down at it, brow furrowed as she scanned over the clouds covering the part that faced the ship. She exhaled, breath fogging up the glass, and pulled away from it. She hold onto the rail tightly, the cool metal grounding her in the now.
A throat clearing behind her had Samira jerking upright and spinning to face the intruder. The tall, pale-haired man standing behind her smiled. She should've know he would sneak up on her. He liked to do that a lot, and always used some excuse about her hearing not being as good as his. She narrowed her gaze when he gave her a tiny smirk.
"Taking a look at the planet part of you comes from, hm?"
"It's quite pretty," she said, turning back to the view out the window. Her gaze roved over a particularly red-brown spot, then drifted to the deep blue-green that covered most of the planet, clouds swirling slowly over some of it. "Is that really where my brother is?"
"I'm sure," the man replied, coming to stand beside her. He rested a hand on her shoulder. Sam didn't have the heart to reject the comfort he was obviously giving her. They'd fled her father's home planet before Hakor or the others got to her. "Would you like me to have Emir scan the planet for you?"
"That would be helpful, yes." She listened to him walk away a few steps. "I'd like to land as close to him as possible. It's of utmost importance."
Her companion paused. "I understand."
"Thanks, Amerys. I owe you one."
"No, you don't."
She listened to his footsteps as he strode out of the room. They echoed on the metal flooring until he was no longer in the room. She relaxed a little and turned her back on the view of earth through the Viewing Deck's window. Inside, it was all grey metal with black accents and pale blue lighting. She liked the atmosphere of the Thanatos. It was calming. Usually. Recently, it had been full of tension. Now that they had evaded Hakor and the other group, they'd found a moment to calm down.
Amerys returned several minutes later with another man. "Emir has the results of the scan," he announced, touching her shoulder gently. "Would you like to see them?"
"Yes, please," she said, and turned to face the other dark-skinned alien who'd followed Amerys into the room. He inclined his head and approached a small, unobtrusive stand at the rear of the room. Samira watched as he set a small, clear orb on the stand and tapped it.
Stars exploded out of it, and the lights on the Viewing Deck dimmed. She turned to glance at the glass behind her. It had turned dark and opaque, cutting off her view of the planet below. The stars and galaxies span around her once, twice, three times--and then zoomed in on the little planet they were orbiting.
A small, purple dot lit up, hovering somewhere over Alaska. Samira squinted to read the word beside it and realised it was the Thanatos. She smiled and watched as Emir cycled the planet through half a rotation, and then zoomed in on the Southern Hemisphere.
"I'm sure I don't have to repeat my lessons on Earth," Emir commented dryly, making both her and Amerys look at him. Samira raised an eyebrow. "This little continent here is called Australia, and..." He made a sharp gesture with one hand, and the holographic map zoomed in on a city on the western shore of the country. "This is the city he's in."
"But that's..."
"Not very helpful?" Amerys offered with a frown. She exchanged a confused look with his frustrated one.
"Yes."
Emir sighed. "That's the best I can do, I'm afraid." He turned towards them, waving one hand over the over to shut down the map. The stars and galaxies were sucked into a tiny pinpoint of light before flickering out of existence. Samria frowned at the tiny orb sitting quite innocuously on its stand. "When I try to zoom in more, to triangulate his exact location, something throws me out of the system." Emir's face scrunched up. "Every. Single. Time."
"That's concerning," Amerys commented, slipping away from Sam's side to stand at the window. Slowly, it became clear again and the planet faded into view. She frowned at the older alien, a thousand questions running through her mind but no will to voice them. Amerys glanced back towards Emir. "I don't like that, you know. But he is there. We'll find him."
"As long as he's planet-side," Samira said, eyes drifting back to the orb that held their holographic map. "That's more than we had just a few years ago."
"It is," Amerys muttered, glancing towards her as she joined him by the window. Together, they stared down at the planet that held the answers to so many secrets, and possible an heir to the largest empire in the know universe--or at least, in the [i]Lyra Constellation[i]. How in all the universe was she supposed to track down her brother in an Earth city with no idea what he looked like or who was friend or foe? Sam didn't have the answer to that question, but she sure as all Lyra was going to figure it out quickly.[spoiler] -
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Chapter One! Word Count; 1343, approx.
Spoiler
Chapter One
stared down at the bar sullenly. His boss had just fired him, and he had no idea why. When he'd asked, his boss has given him the bullshit line about poor customer service. He didn't believe it for a second. He'd always made sure the people he served were happy. Man, he'd loved that job. Serving customers, waiting on them, rushing around. All over some asshole getting prissy about how he and Alec handled themselves.
"You want another?" The bartender’s voice brought his head up slightly. Seth nodded and watched from under his lashes as the bartender, a pretty dark-skinned young man, poured him another drink.
"Thanks," Seth muttered as the man set the glass down in front of him. The bartender nodded and headed off down the bar to serve someone else. Seth glowered moodily into his drink, swirling the amber liquid around in his glass with a sigh.
At least Alec had managed to keep his job. In the meantime, what the hell was he supposed to do? He had a good reference, yes, but that might not mean anything if no one was willing to hire him. Seth rubbed a hand over his face, frowning. He was going to have to start job hunting, again. And who knew how long it'd be before he found another job.
Someone slid onto the stool next to him. Seth barely glanced up, taking a sip from his drink as the stranger got settled and ordered themselves a drink. With a sigh, Seth pushed off the stool and tossed a twenty onto the bar. The pretty bartender glanced his way and nodded. Seth nodded back, then turned to walk away only to be stopped by the stranger on the stool next to his grabbing his arm.
He looked up and narrowed his gaze at the pale-haired man sitting on the stool. "Can I help you?"
"You don't happen to know where I can find a Mr. Pearce, do you?" the stranger asked, raising one thin, near-white eyebrow. Seth frowned at him, then looked the man up and down. He seems a little old for dreadlocks, though he did look good for his age. "No?"
"I don't know anyone by that name," Seth snapped, tugging his arm out of the man's grip. Dark eyes narrowed at him, the heavily tanned skin crinkling near at the corner of the man's eyes and around his mouth. "Sorry, but I gotta get home."
"You sure?" the man insisted, still watching him. Seth gave him a sharp jerk of his head and stalked off, ignoring the man's calls for him to come back.
Should've known he'd be a creep, he though with a scowl as he pushed through the doorway and out onto the street. He glanced about for a moment, then dug into his pocket for his phone. Seth squinted down at the phone, checking the time. 11:57pm. He should probably head home, before his housemates got too worried about him.
Seth sent off a quick text to Alec, letting him know that Seth was headed home and might take a while to find--or call--a taxi. He snorted when the reply he got was a simple 'k'. Seth shook his head, and turned to move out of the way. He cast a look about for a nearby waiting taxi, then sighed when he didn't see on and decided to call for one.
It took twenty minutes for the taxi to get there. When it did, he hoped in and let the driver know where he was meant to drop him off. The driver was silent the rest for the rest of the drip home, leaving Seth to stare out the window blankly at the pretty city centre lights, and then, in the suburbs, the odd set of Christmas lights that people hadn't bothered to take down earlier on in the year.
His mind circled back to jobs and job searching again. If he was out of work for too long, he wasn't going to be able to afford a lot of things. Like food or rent or his damned bike. He sighed, dragging his gaze back to the meter and winced. He didn't have enough cash on hand to cover the entire trip home.
"Stop here," Seth said, leaning forwards and startling the driver. He got the man to pull over. It was only a couple blocks walk home from where they'd stopped. "I'll walk from here, thanks."
"That'll be twenty-two dollars and fifteen cents," the driver said, turning to peer into the backseat with a frown. Seth handed over twenty-three dollars, told him to keep the change and hopped out. He stood there until the taxi was well out of sight before he started walking. Two blocks down, turn right and it was halfway down the street.
Seth slid his phone out of his pocket and then dug for his keys. He frowned when he came up empty. He'd had his keys... When did he have them last? He was certain he had them when he'd left work after getting fired. That had been at around seven, so he'd definitely had them when he'd entered the bar. What about when he'd left? He patted his pockets again. Phone. Wallet. Seth's frown deepened. No keys.
"What the hell?" he muttered, then remembered the stranger in the bar. Had the seedy old man nicked his keys? Did he leave them on the bar? Seth wasn't sure.
He sent a quick text off to Alec, letting him know that he'd lost his damn keys and he was pretty sure some seedy old guy had nicked them. That was sure to amuse the other young man to no end. Alec's response was exactly what he'd excepted it to be. A lot of laughing emojis. He sighed, shook his head, and turned onto his street, glancing up for a brief moment to see Alec standing out on the footpath, waving at him.
"Did some old guy stiff up?" the other young man asked when Seth reached him.
"I dunno," Seth muttered, pushing past him as they headed back to the house. "I could've lost 'em in the taxi, but something tells me I didn't. Seedy Guy was a total creep. Looked older, heavily tanned, white dreadlocks. Ridiculous, I tell you."
Alec frowned, pulling open the screen door for him. "That is pretty odd," he said, tapping his phone against his bottom lip thoughtfully. After a moment, he shrugged and followed Seth into the house. "He see where you went?"
"Nah, I grabbed the taxi as quickly as possible. Thank god for security guards."
The other man huffed out a laugh as he closed and locked the door. Seth ignored him and wandered down the hall into the kitchen. "I do like me a uniform."
"Mmh," Seth hummed, opening the fridge and shuffling a few things around. "I'm starving. Is there any food?" He pulled his nose out of it long enough to give Alec a pleading look. Alec shrugged.
"Maybe?" he offered. "Might be some old Chinese in there?"
"How old?"
Alec hesitated. "...a week?"
Seth groaned. "You're terrible. I'm going to bed."
With that, he swung the fridge door closed and stalked out into the hall, heading down to his bedroom as the back of the house. He called over his shoulder; "Might want to consider getting the locks changed! Especially if the creep has them! He was way sus, man."
"I'll take it into consideration, Seth!"
Seth pushed into his room and kicked off his shoes before dumping his phone and wallet on his bedside table and collapsing onto the bed fully clothed. He was asleep before his head hit the people. They'd both had a long day--and an even longer night for Seth. Hopefully, it would be better tomorrow. Then again, maybe not.(I made sure I coded it properly this time) -
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