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The West
August 6, 2017
11:03 PM
Eric hissed a creative barrage of expletives as he raced through the Valley. The BRI security was close enough that he could hear their boots thudding against the rocky floor. He hadn’t had time to work out any of the details of this tunnel or where it led to. Some Valleys were short, only a few feet long, and others took days to traverse even in a vehicle. He used the camera flash on his tablet to light his way as he stumbled across the rocky Western floor. This one was a short, narrow tunnel blocked with rocks and boulders. I had to pick the rough one, he thought.
He climbed up a narrow crevice and found himself surrounded by spongy, white Tearil terrain. He leaned over the edge of the hole and looked around. It was too dark to see – if there were any familiar landmarks, he would have to find them in the morning.
Eric pulled a flashlight from his pocket and shone it around. Ahead of him there was a clearing in the thick, white brush, which revealed a steep hill. He crested the hill and found himself looking down on the shore of a river, wide enough that he couldn’t see the other side. It had to be the Vhas Alezhe – the widest river on the northern continent of Tearis.
He spotted a tall tree made of billowing, mushroom-like flesh, rising up out of a thicket of tendrils. Eric pressed his hand against it. The flesh bruised and felt easy to puncture, and he was able to carve out some hand-holes using his fingers. The tree bled a neon-blue sap as Eric pulled himself up to the first curling limb.
No one had followed him – chances were no one would for a while. As dangerous as it was, the one advantage to getting lost on Tearis were that there were no surveillance cameras. For the time being, Eric was safe… as safe as he could be in the wilds of Tearis, at least. Better yet, the Vhas Alezhe provided a sense of direction.
Eric stretched out across the limb of the plant he’d climbed onto and used his jacket to tie himself onto it. Surrounded by darkness, the only thing to do was get some rest.
August 6, 2017
11:03 PM
Eric hissed a creative barrage of expletives as he raced through the Valley. The BRI security was close enough that he could hear their boots thudding against the rocky floor. He hadn’t had time to work out any of the details of this tunnel or where it led to. Some Valleys were short, only a few feet long, and others took days to traverse even in a vehicle. He used the camera flash on his tablet to light his way as he stumbled across the rocky Western floor. This one was a short, narrow tunnel blocked with rocks and boulders. I had to pick the rough one, he thought.
He climbed up a narrow crevice and found himself surrounded by spongy, white Tearil terrain. He leaned over the edge of the hole and looked around. It was too dark to see – if there were any familiar landmarks, he would have to find them in the morning.
Eric pulled a flashlight from his pocket and shone it around. Ahead of him there was a clearing in the thick, white brush, which revealed a steep hill. He crested the hill and found himself looking down on the shore of a river, wide enough that he couldn’t see the other side. It had to be the Vhas Alezhe – the widest river on the northern continent of Tearis.
He spotted a tall tree made of billowing, mushroom-like flesh, rising up out of a thicket of tendrils. Eric pressed his hand against it. The flesh bruised and felt easy to puncture, and he was able to carve out some hand-holes using his fingers. The tree bled a neon-blue sap as Eric pulled himself up to the first curling limb.
No one had followed him – chances were no one would for a while. As dangerous as it was, the one advantage to getting lost on Tearis were that there were no surveillance cameras. For the time being, Eric was safe… as safe as he could be in the wilds of Tearis, at least. Better yet, the Vhas Alezhe provided a sense of direction.
Eric stretched out across the limb of the plant he’d climbed onto and used his jacket to tie himself onto it. Surrounded by darkness, the only thing to do was get some rest.
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The Tchacata Machine is a free, online, sci-fi serial novel I wrote with RRedolfi, titled "The Tchacata Machine." I'm going to try to get all the chapters uploaded here, but do visit the website at Tearis.com for the occasional easter egg and other neat tidbits. It's also @tm-project on Tumblr. Special thanks to Nashoba-Hostina for website suggestions and for helping to get the word out!
The Tchacata Machine tells the story of an unlikely handful of friends caught in the crossfire between a corrupt business empire and a deadly alien civilization. It turns out that the path to other worlds is not through space, but under our very feet. The only goal is to stay alive, but there are fates worse than death. How much can a person go through before they are no longer the person they were when they started? Before they're not even human?
The Tchacata Machine - Chapter Six
Earth: BRI, Coonswater Facility
August 7, 2017
2:15 AM
The Valley terminal to Au’wm was exactly where Eric had said it would be, but he’d never said that it would be this heavily guarded. Of course it was guarded. Lilun didn’t know what she’d expected. She clenched her jaw as she walked past the rows of cold, black doorways, ominous enough without a row of armed guards standing in front of them.
Even if there were guards, Lilun told herself, there was no reason why she shouldn’t be able to go back home. She wasn’t one of the ones back down in the Hole – the men standing at the gates should know that.
Lilun headed with a brisk skip for the Valley to Au’wm, trying to avoid eye contact. She knew it was a mistake as soon as five of the guards arose and blocked her path, gripping the handguns they wore at their waists. “Clearance pass?” said one of them.
“What?” said Lilun.
“This Valley’s on lockdown until f
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The Tchacata Machine - Chapter Four
Coonswater
August 6, 2017
10:38 PM
"I just saw a shooting star."
"I saw it, too."
Every day, after dark, when her family thought she was asleep, Nellie would sneak out of her house and meet her friend, Aleisha, in the cave beneath the mountain. A few hundred yards down the road was the town border, where the huge, faded, peeling sign stood greeting visitors: a cartoon mountain man wrapped in layers of furs, smiling underneath a speech bubble proclaiming, “Welcome to COONSWATER!” Beneath this, in smaller letters: “Home of Ol’ Bob Coon!” Coonswater had no tourist attractions, no history to speak of, and no jobs, but it had a mascot.
Nellie was thirteen years old – two months older than Aleisha – and these nights spent in front of the cave were the only time that the two of them were able to see each other. Nellie was from Mountainside, and Aleisha was from Riverside, and everyone knew that Riversiders and Mountainsiders didn’t get along. Th
:origin()/pre14/4ef7/th/pre/f/2017/133/3/7/untitled_by_entomotheist-db93yys.jpg)
The Tchacata Machine is a free, online, sci-fi serial novel I wrote with RRedolfi, titled "The Tchacata Machine." I'm going to try to get all the chapters uploaded here, but do visit the website at Tearis.com for the occasional easter egg and other neat tidbits. It's also @tm-project on Tumblr. Special thanks to Nashoba-Hostina for website suggestions and for helping to get the word out!
The Tchacata Machine tells the story of an unlikely handful of friends caught in the crossfire between a corrupt business empire and a deadly alien civilization. It turns out that the path to other worlds is not through space, but under our very feet. The only goal is to stay alive, but there are fates worse than death. How much can a person go through before they are no longer the person they were when they started? Before they're not even human?
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