In Space No One Eats Ice Cream

[Flippington Bigboy]

Flippington focused intently, his breakfast jumping from his stomach to his mouth for the umpteenth time, as he described a wide, circling arc to end up in McPain's six. As sweat poured down his face his eyes began to sting red raw and he fought the urge to run his hand across his brow, knowing that a lapse here, even for a second would spell the inevitable moment of pant-pissing terror, followed by the hideous wrenching as his soul was ripped out and he once again woke screaming in a vat of sticky goo.

Narius had told them all that one gets used to it after a time; comes to welcome it even, as part of the rich tapestry of a pilot's experiences. Narius had lied. Or was very sick. His first time still haunted him even now. Jumping into Uisper to sit terrified and shaking while his HUD filled with terrifying red flashes and his trousers filled with terrifying odours. Mostly it was the helplessness, the impotent rage as Celacant's sadistic voice filled his ears.
- Forty million NOW. Shaking uncontrollably, all the endless academy discussions of escape and evasion tactics fled his mind to be replaced by an overwhelming sick terror. A brief flash back to a booze drenched discussion on Couster - Never show fear to those bastards, it's what they live for. Rather die on your feet than live on your knees. It all seemed so ridiculous now.

He couldn't even remember where the comms buttons was. The months of training, the endless sim runs, all of it for nothing.
- TIME'S UP! The unmistakable tone of satisfaction creeping in.
- WAIT!please I can ....
KRAAASHHHHH....

To feel lesser, colder is something no-one could have prepared him for. Hours of poring into a mirror and a seemingly endless series of medical examinations had managed to convince him that physically he was unchanged, but who did you turn to when you felt like a walking husk? The biggest shock was seeing Laserlips, who had once filled him with a consuming passion. Now, staring at her, desperately trying to rekindle the flame, he felt....nothing.
- Please Flip come back to me. But it was hopeless. They went through the motions of a marriage turned to ashes for a few months, but he had returned from the Crash flea pit last week to find her, bags packed waiting for him.
- I’m sorry Flip, I just can't anymore. I just can’t. It's not just your body that died in Uisper. Drowning your sorrows isn't helping, they learned to swim a long time ago.

He just stared at her as she left crying, wondering how she might react if he asked her to lend him a few ISK for another bottle. Oh Gods what have I done!
Finally, he understood his father. All those years of resentment, his bitterness washed away in the instant of understanding. His mother had always told him that it wasn't his father who had returned from his second tour with the Gallente Milita, he was floating somewhere near Balle. It was just a shell who resembled him. A bitter ex-colonial Marine had spelled it out during a late night drinking session,
-Welcome to the ranks of the DMW.
- The DMW?
- Dead Men Walking.

The only thing remaining that could still light a fire in the remnants of this soul was the idea of revenge. That made sense. He recalled a vague memory from his academy days of a hate everlasting. An eternal war waged by two corporations whose ancient enmity seemed to stretch back as far as time itself. He didn't care about the cause, he was long past that, but getting back behind the stick of a Rifter and sending others into the void with a rack of autocannons was the only thing to stir his passion. Applying to join Red Corp, their reputation as a tight knit group of murderous savages, who cherished all things homoerotic, appealed to his jaded senses. He was quickly accepted and had once again found a purpose.

He would spend weeks, months, years even, dedicated to learning the art of killing. He no longer cared how many times he would die, after all he had nothing left to lose, but he would not rest until he became the swift instrument of death capable of blasting that gang of pirate filth into the hell they so richly deserved.

Part 2 follows shortly.....

[Orion]

Nice! when does this book come out??

Orion Shadowmaker

[Serend]

OK, I'm hooked. I want the rest of the story as it takes shape in your head.

[OptyC]

Moar plz kthnxbai