By David C. Daoust He awoke again in the tunnels, the dark shaft of cut stone arched over him. He knew he was underground; Away from the wreckage above. He knew not the town that stood before, anymore than he knew himself. He had his faith; he had his god’s name in his heart, as…
By David C. Daoust “…so, I’m happy you feel like talking, Dakota,” Suzanne began sharply, partially to try and snap Dakota back into reality, partially at the sheer frustration of listening to nonsense for the past half hour, “but how am I supposed to make sense of any of that?” “Hmm?” Dakota asked as she…
By David C. Daoust The remaining population of Grandeur II was stranded within the nothingness, within the vastness of space- light years from any planet or sun. While all communication had been severed, the technology designed to keep the humans alive and well, still functioned. They still had some hope to maintain life. At every…
By David C. Daoust Dakota was no longer able to trust her mind. At least, that’s what her mind told her. Before, while her body resided within that pod, technology fused her to an entire population of minds; fused all of them into a greater mind. A mind that could answer Dakota’s questions before she…
By David C. Daoust Vincent had to come to grips with his latest limitations. He no longer had the strength of a two ton Mining bot, nor did he tower over all those around him. He was now trapped within the petite form of a tiny little girl named Margo. His days on the other…
By David C. Daoust She sat in the rafters, above the mess below. She was crouched in the shadows; the pit in her stomach, that grumbled her hunger, could only be matched by the void in her chest. The void was formed of the loss of everyone she knew, the loss of Dakota. Suzanne Otomo…
By David C. Daoust Colin just ended his visit with his lifelong friend Khalia and her little daughter. The adorable little girl was getting bigger and bigger. She looked so much like her mother when she was that age that Colin could not believe it. It was good to see them, he’d been waiting for…
By David C. Daoust Hugo Lions was best known for his music. In fact, most of his life was one long tour of the Solar System. Album after album, he rocked the system like none other before, and many would agree, like none other ever since- at least thus far. Despite the rigors and ever…
By David C. Daoust Hamlin found himself plastered to the top of the ancient device known, most recently, as the ‘Brain Stealer’. They charged through the endless corridors of Twin Crown’s Starport, his solid light boots gripped the curvature of the device as his mitts clutched at the rather fortuitous rope wrapped around its center….
By David C. Daoust Ratchet was back within the hold of the Blue family Sand Crawler. The series of events that now made up his life weighed heavily into his very being- forming a pit. The pit in his chest was like a gaping wound, seeping worry into the rest of him. As always, Ratchet…
By David C. Daoust Colin had not awoken in such a situation in quite a while. Studying the strange ceiling above, told him he had not made it back to his home chambers. Instead, wound up crashing in some strange domicile. It was a familiar feeling, though truly not since he was a young hothead…
By David C. Daoust “You still won’t see,” the hollowed empty voice filled Dakota’s mind, an intrusive thought into her studies. “I have made it clear– I do not wish to see,” she shot back shortly, then clarified, “Not with your eyes.” “And yet how long have you spent in study… searching,” The Grandoxa posed…
>>> Warning to any new readers- reading this page out of order, may spoil some of the earlier posts! Just fyi. ty,DD
By David C. Daoust Restricted. That’s all Ivan could comprehend, all he could feel. Restricted. It was an endless nightmare, his mind was active, yet… restricted. He had no eyes, no ears, nor a mouth to make a noise with; to protest, to scream, nor cry out or plead. Restricted. It was that word. No,…
By David C. Daoust The four men fell away, lost, but not forgotten; they had left their mark, each in turn. Civilization had enlightenment after enlightenment. Yet by the end of the twentieth century, the third man’s followers were building pyramids, echoing ‘never again’, and the fourth’s- were hording wealth. This carried true through the…
By David C. Daoust Dakota Sun found herself within an expanse, stolen away from her world, left to flounder. She was not alone. She was fused to a whole, to a greater mind made more powerful for all its parts. It was new and different; it was the ‘Grandoxa’. How long she had been there-…
By David C. Daoust Suzanne was surrounded by the open void of space, at least, that’s how it appeared. She was in reality standing on her holostage as a series of red fighters bombed her ships shields; the small controller in her hand gave her command over one of the many turrets built into the…
By David C. Daoust There was ‘bout a second longer of confusion than would be normal, before Grandpa Haul found himself truly confused. He wasn’t sure where his grandson came from- just out of nowhere, there he was. Standing between him, and what he had named the ‘Brain Stealer’. “Please, don’t destroy me!” Ratchet pleaded….
By David C. Daoust “My goodness!” Hamlin exclaimed as he did what he could to extinguish the small fire atop his head. Hamlin stood, alarmed, before a full length mirror, patting at his head – trying to figure out why his actions did not seem to make much of a difference to the wild fire…
>>Finally, a new post! ty,DD
>>New image incoming… uh eventually. ty,DD
I added a disclaimer at the bottom of the site, cuz well, narcissists are real! ty, DD By David C. Daoust Sheriff Montgomery Dunn, aka Monty, stood off to the side as the small holopad device he’d just finished setting up, suddenly began to flicker with light as it quickly wove together a hologram. This…
By David C. Daoust Between waking up in a pod of nutrient enriched chemicals, regaining his mental faculties, and getting everything in order that needed to be in order, Colin Vice really did not have much chance to react. He’d steadfastly dealt with the nurses, took a shower, got some real food; all of which…
By David C. Daoust Raymond wasn’t happy. The anger carried him full sail through the Starport. Word of his son’s arrest had reached him. Word of the ‘leaked footage’ that had been played for all of Grady to see, had reached him as well. His first thoughts were of his wife’s take on the situation….
By David C. Daoust No one was more surprised than Montgomery Dunn, that his life had landed him here- as a sheriff on the small distant moon of Twin Crown. Monty was born and raised on New Runnymede, the entertainment epicenter of the Onion. He was, at one time, a writer. He started out, struggling…
By David C. Daoust Colin wasn’t sure what his plan was. He’d pried himself within a narrow crevice that ran the depth of the canyon. His legs held his back pressed against the opposing rock wall, as he recklessly descended lower into the canyon. He actually just let himself slide, his back and boots scraping…
By David C. Daoust The howling wind raged over the endless dunes. The air was thick and dark as the sand storm ravaged the region. Colin Vice raised his arm to try and block the latest blast of streaking sand laden wind that overtook him. He could feel the sand as it blew within every…
>>> This is kind of a special post. I’ve convinced myself that no one got the whole Vanguard twist thing, so… I wrote this! This is probably as neutral as I can get… its kind of a compiled ‘history of the Onion this far’. Enjoy! ty, DD
By David C. Daoust The Commandant rose from obscurity, a small army at his back. It was an unaligned force, a weapon without a target. It could be argued that the Labor Unions changed that, gave them a target, an enemy; though it could just as easily be argued that it was the Commandant that…
By David C. Daoust The Dragons of Taman were without names, even if minds such as theirs could grasp such a thing, they had no need. They were great metal constructs, with minds closer to animals than that of men, though a great wisdom was buried in their very beings, all thanks to their lives…
By David C. Daoust Craiden was buried in the darkness, he couldn’t think. He saw the light finally break the shadows, but he wasn’t himself. He was a scared trapped animal, frothing at the mouth; a scared trapped animal that was suddenly released. He tore into the silhouette of a figure that appeared first. The…
By David C. Daoust Raymond Haul sat deep in his chair, one hand shadowing his brow. The permanent scowl on his face was a bit deeper than most days, though given the developing situation it was clearly warranted. He was still sitting in that same room, from the day before, along with the other representatives…
By David C. Daoust It seemed the whole world was at the Starport. Considering how small the population of Twin Crown is, it was close to being true. Minus who? A stubborn minority that, unlike most First Wave, wanted nothing to do with Grady -smashed or no. And possibly those of Grady that were so…
I made a slight change to last weeks post, concerning what was mined from Iopa. I was alluding to Metal Hydrogen when I mentioned ‘superconductive metals’ last week, yet I’d alrdy modeled Iopa after Neptune which means its an Ice Giant. Metal Hydrogen is thought to be found in the bigger planets like Jupiter and…
By David C. Daoust The Planet, Delphine. The highest structure built throughout the surrounding base-city of the domes, was known as the ‘Central Cathedral’. It represented the Arks ‘house’. The Arkroy were all welcome to visit. To view past records and histories, with the Ark’s themselves there to explain what they were looking at; to…
By David C. Daoust Constable Joe Axel did not begin his life among the Royal Alliance. No. He started out as ‘Alfred Zhou’ with the Trade Consortium. If it wasn’t for his mother’s failure, he’d probably still be policing the ‘Industrial Stations’ that made up the bulk of Consortium holdings. He wasn’t like his mother,…
By David C. Daoust The Planet, Delphine. The skies above were a kind of putrid green, thanks to the poisonous gasses that erupted from the now broiling inner core. Gasses that bled into a newly forming atmosphere, which had not yet been purified by the filtering ships that still toured the planets skies; such ships…
By David C. Daoust Merrick Denali had a voice, a voice he tended to use- a lot. A crowd favorite among the throng of speakers that were so popular in the UM. Though, like all those with the confidence to speak his mind, Merrick was convinced he differed from the rest. Deep down he always…
By David C. Daoust ‘Fuck Yeah, I’m gunna Sing!’ was the name of Blue Sands Theatre House’s premier play on Twin Crown. It was a tale of a young ‘Desert Girl’ who lived the life of a nomad on an unnamed reclusive moon, a young woman who had always dreamed of becoming an actress and…
By David C. Daoust “I can’t believe you’re a little girl too!” Dicey’s muffled voice said from within Margo- The little girl still comfortably hanging out within the massive bucket that someone had decided to use to house Margo’s Data-Sphere. “We have so much in common!” “Yep, once my friend Colin shows up with my…
By David C. Daoust The lights came on. Margo found herself all alone, within, what she had to assume, was the exact same hold she had awoken in earlier. Of course that time, when she woke up, she was still within the stolen form of the Mining-bot. Now, she was in… she didn’t know. Examining…
> By David C. Daoust Harper nodded with a grim solid lip as she paused to take in the sight of the towering wide wall of the Starport. She knew most of the moon’s population was in there. She also knew that her sister was laid up in a medbay after being beaten by some…
> By David C. Daoust Colin Vice had told himself he’d only have to do this once. One time, that was it, get it out of the way, and it was clear sailing. He just needed to grit through the work, lower his head and trudge, and trudge, and trudge- ‘til he reached his goal….
By David C. Daoust Zhou lowered herself down into the small pod her men had taken to calling a ‘Jacker’. The vehicle was called this for the simple fact, that it was used primarily for high jacking ships. Maybe not the cleverest of names, but she’d never considered her men to be clever. Once she…
By David C. Daoust Sweet Honey Zhou entered the ship’s bridge with a flourish, the sharp heel of her thigh-high boots clacked strongly against the grated flooring of the Swiftblade-class Starship, known as ‘the Black Bruise’. The urgency could be felt in her posture and the grim look on her face, enough to keep the…
By David C. Daoust He suddenly awoke, eyes wide, gasping for air. He couldn’t remember what it was in his dream that frightened him so… but it didn’t matter, it flitted away. He relaxed on his cot, glad that whatever it was that made him so tense, was just a figment of his imagination. His…
By David C. Daoust It had known life before. It had lived a thousand lives, just as its brothers and sisters had. They were deemed of low intelligence, though they had been at the heart of a simulation, far more complex than common man could grasp. It had lived over and over, born in the…
By David C. Daoust ‘Dreadcurse Taman’, that was what Zhou had decided to rename the small hidden moon, once she’d gotten her mitts on it. She spent a good two hours coming up with that name. Someone had named it ‘Parable’. Pshht- she thought that was a stupid name for any moon. What was there…
By David C. Daoust Craiden’s left eye was sealed shut, his nose was broken, blood and sweat were blurring his vision. The throng of cheering men, of the crowd that surrounded the make shift ring he found himself within, was deafening. He felt no pain, but this was not a thing that registered in his…
By David C. Daoust The Hub was far more complete than most average users could ever guess. At its core was a program engine that recreated entire worlds, not just the visible illusions people enjoyed in their time within a holo-park. They were fully actuated simulations of old worlds and planets. From molten iron cores,…
By David C. Daoust Mari Haul had never actually been to one of the Temple Reactors. In fact, she doubted any living person had, or, at least, not many. The Temple Reactors were the massive devices that helped give life to otherwise dead moons. ‘Temple’ was a slang term given to these structures. Mari could…
By David C. Daoust Raymond Haul had never once imagined himself in such a position as he now found himself in. What started as his small crew, a group of friends he’d been running with since his early years on the City-station, heading out to do a ‘job’, now found they represented the First Wave…
By David C. Daoust Charles made his way through the crowded landing bay. It was the central landing area of the starport, now cleared of the majority of ships that usually filled it, all to allow the people to congregate. The sky above was clear, the smell of foods of all types wafted through the…
By David C. Daoust Ratchet was not surprised to learn of the reaction to the tiny toy bunny that Harper used to try and communicate with the new data-sphere. He grew up with a bot, Vincent. Quality ports were important to high caliber Data-spheres. Vincent spent most of his time plugged into a small hover…
By David C. Daoust Hugo’s roar was deafening, unlike anything he’d ever forced through his vocal cords. It had a steely piercing sound, like some massive movie monster climbing from the ocean to destroy some ancient city on some long lost world. The sky splitting roar got the attention of the group of men that…
By David C. Daoust “Who is it you think you are? Who is it you think you’re talking to? Do you think it’s ok to talk to anyone this way?” Sadie angrily asked in rapid succession, her finger poked hard into the young man’s chest, which forced him against the wall. The young man just…
By David C. Daoust For Harper, Grady was weird from day one, the adults especially. They were all neatly dressed, neatly groomed. There seemed to be four or five acceptable styles. They liked to cycle through these styles, like, with the seasons or something? Harper didn’t get it. Not like her older sister Sadie, she…
By David C. Daoust Genetic Alteration and ‘Upgrades’ had been around since before the Ark Age. The people of the Ark Age however, those barricaded within someone else’s reality, forced to march to the same drum, day in, day out, with very little to look forward to beyond petitioning to start a family, which was…
By David C. Daoust Harper grew up a tomboy, flying through the skies on illegally modified vehicles just like all the First Wave youngsters. Like the rest, her family migrated from Royal Alliance City-Stations. Harper was not born yet, so she didn’t know, firsthand, what they’d left behind, though her mother would go on…
By David C. Daoust The lights came on. Or rather, she woke up. Better yet, she powered back up… Margo found herself within the confines of what appeared to be a cargo hold. She did not know how she got there. Clearly someone must have moved her… but who? Last she knew she was being…
By David C. Daoust Mari Haul, the Hero of the Royal Alliance, found herself within a Red Faction Starfighter, being dogged by a group of Consortium Fighters as they dropped orbit around the desert moon Twin Crown. She had no idea where they came from, or what they planned to do. She did know that…
By David C. Daoust Growing up, when Colin Vice looked at men, all he saw were rats. Rats were one of those species that could survive. Even if they were secluded from a flourishing ecosystem, like rats trapped in ghost ships or abandoned mines that had been sealed a bit too tight, these creatures had…
By David C. Daoust “Rescue me? Rescue me from what?” Dakota asked in response to Ivan’s sudden declaration that they were there to rescue her. The Commissar stood in the middle of a stark white lab, Dr.Sun completely surrounded by his small squad of assault-bots that had infiltrated the Consortium Cruiser. The mass of snake-like…
By David C. Daoust Dakota watched the monitors in disbelief, Consortium troopers were running every which way. She watched as dozens of Starfighters launched into the black abyss in answer to the Reds astral assault. She planted a hand to her forehead, a hand that then dropped down to her gaping mouth, as the Red…
<<<<I’m probably going to replace the image above, for one of Nora. I’m kind of torn on the design for her though… Noreen’s’ll do for now. ty,DD >>> By David C. Daoust The Arks mind was rooted in logic. Foreign AI’s, like the battle drones, which began to spring up throughout the AI’s new solar…
By David C. Daoust Dakota had pulled the panicked boy out of the oversized spacesuit. He was remarkably light. She bounced him around a bit and patted his back ‘til he calmed down. She told him he would be okay, or at least that’s what she tried to tell him. The language was easier to…
By David C. Daoust The clumsiness of the new form melted away; in fact Ivan started to have fun a while ago. His long cordlike arms could stretch a bit farther than he originally thought, and he was swinging from limb to limb throughout the corridors of the Consortium cruiser, which he had cleverly invaded,…
By David C. Daoust Suzanne had begun her exercise regiment when she was very young. Younger even than her peers, that she would eventually train with. At least that’s what her father claimed. He joked often how many times she would mimic his movements, even as a toddler, as he practiced his own exercises. Exercises…
By David C. Daoust The level of tech awareness was pretty low throughout the Onion. Technology, for the most part, was so user-friendly that any device could be scooped up and figured out in a matter of moments. Even complex vehicles like, for example, a transport ship, could be used by anyone without any specialized…
By David C. Daoust Dakota Sun found herself back in her natural environment- the stark white walls of the lab. Dakota could not help but imagine these rooms were all made on the same assembly line somewhere in the Onion. All to be shipped out to random places she may visit. This was an idea…
By David C. Daoust Vincent was an old Bot at this point in his life. He had experienced life in a lot of different ways. His early years, in the virtual world known as the Hub, where he first awoke in a paradise, was a time long lost to him; as a childhood is lost…
By David C. Daoust Dakota could tell as soon as Suzanne entered the small cluster of rooms, that made up Dakota’s chambers, that it was the actual woman and not her holographic projection that Dakota had become accustomed to witnessing the past few days. The biggest giveaway was the strong smell of familiar perfume that…
By David C. Daoust Despite an almost relentlessly bad day, Craiden was holding himself together. From waking up with a hangover, to not taking his meds, to having the APC he was in suddenly crushed by his own cohort Vincent… Then being dragged into the very belly of the ship of those he hated, just…
By David C. Daoust Raymond found himself milling about the inside of the dark Starport- milling about with the people of Grady. The massive blue ion cloud managed to interrupt Raymond’s heist, mid-getaway, just as they were passing by the front entrance of the Starport. It was almost laughable, there wasn’t a single man…
By David C. Daoust Grandpa Haul had never felt so focused as he did at that moment. Ratchet was clearly in trouble. He had witnessed him struggling in the debris but moments before the darkness enveloped them. The young mottled boy screaming at the hovering drone, he was too far away to hear what was…
By David C. Daoust Sims could not help but feel sorry for the man, Craiden,(he’d picked up his name on the evacuation of the Barracks Ship) not only had he and his soldiers been the ones to lock the man up on the Red Faction’s ship in the first place, they were also the ones…
<<<<Ug! You know, I swore I wouldn’t just casually throw out political jargon without being real clear about each piece, but then last week I was like blah, blah, comie, blah, blah, fascist…It came out in a jumble, lets see if I can straighten it out without making a bigger mess. (1.) Dakota called the…
By David C. Daoust Still strapped into his Sky screamer as it lost power, Charles really didn’t get a good look at the expanding Ion Cloud until it was well past him- and he was dropping from the sky. The blood rushed from his face as he spun about in a plunge. Anti-grav vehicles, without…
<<<Next week, next month… what’s the diff?? ty, DD>>> aWLoN!prt.2 starts here! By David C. Daoust Elma awoke in a huge plush bed, pink blankets and silk sheets nestled her in their warm folds as her head sunk deep into the mound of excess pillows. The canopy above matched the piled blankets and pillows that…