Moving (BARF)

Sorry for the late post. Moving has decided to occupy the entirety of my time. Where I would much rather spend my days at the drafting table, drawin' up a storm, relocating has become number one priority.

Hrrm...

I did find time to make this before all the hullabaloo started, however. I hope you find the quote as inspiring as I did.

One last word...I did find time to see "Ghostbusters" on the big screen last night. Boy, if that isn't a great film, I don't know what is. Why is it that so many movies from the 80's (Ghostbusters, Back to the Future, the Goonies) are so great? It almost seems like there was a film-making pinnacle where special effects and screenwriting were both on equal ground, and since then, special effects and CG animation have just taken the place of a good story. Can anybody point me towards a modern exception?

Time to pack up! Hope you all have a Happy Halloween! :D

***

The Flame 102808

The Forest of Solitude - Part 3

For hours, Dirk walked. Given his lack of destination, and the lack of any sentient life around, Dirk didn't care which direction he was walking. Odds were, he figured, there had to be something found in the Forest of Solitude that could help him escape the timeless trap. For the duration of his walk, Dirk would shift his shades amongst the variety of scanning functions it possessed.

Tired from the monotonous trail he was traversing, Dirk decided a higher perspective could give him a better layout of what was in front of him. Picking the tallest tree in his vicinity, Dirk attempted to climb above the tree line. A few failed attempts to climb later, and Dirk decided to use the third of his three marvelous devices, the Golden Rod.

The Golden Rod, in its original capacity, was a general issue weapon found amongst soldiers in the alternate timeline where Dirk had his first mission. The Golden Rod had the ability to transform itself into any armament imagined by its wielder, as well as enhances the wielder's athleticism. In the hands of Dirk, however, it became far more dangerous and incredible. By interfacing the Chronoton Dynamo's central core with the digital sentience of the Golden Rod, Dirk was able to unlock abilities possessed in the rod that would have been prohibited from the typical foot soldier's use, including full biological boosting capabilities.

Utilizing the Golden Rod, Dirk leapt upward from branch to bough until reaching a thick mist that lingered in the forest ceiling and obstructed the sun. Determining the mist as being non-toxic via a forensic scan from his shades, he pushed his way through the vaporous curtain to look upon the sky.

Whereas one would expect to witness a blue cascade hovering over the Forest of Solitude, Dirk discovered that in reality, beyond the mysterious mist, there was nothing. Above the mist, Dirk viewed an ebony sky as ink. Though black, the sky was still illuminated. A crimson son shone over the bed of mist that blanketed the Forest of Solitude. Dirk scanned the red sun to see if it was the temporal anomaly he was sent to repair. With reports reading negative on the sun's involvement in the era's aberration of time, Dirk descended back into the Forest of Solitude.

Dirk decided to rest in one the tree's boughs before returning to the forest floor. He sat there and thought about his options. With the rod boosting brain functions and the Dynamo providing probability scenario feedback, Dirk had theorized and tested over a hundred escape scenarios in under an hour without finding anything that could provide him respite.

Dirk groaned. "Maybe if I found a way to upgrade the rod again, then I could think of a probable way to escape." With that thought, the Dynamo began processing upgrade scenarios for the Golden Rod, itself, and the Shades.

"No...I need to upgrade the shades!" Dirk realized.

Just as he had unlocked the Golden Rod's full potential using the Dynamo, Dirk created an interface between the Golden Rod and his Shades to boost the scanning power. Connecting the rod to the Shades, Dirk now wore a set of golden, wrap around sunglasses, which allowed him to see the entirety of the world. Equations regarding the descent of individual air molecules in the environment began filling up Dirk's view screen.

"Whoa..." The pure stream of unfiltered information quickly overwhelmed Dirk. "Limit display parameters to basic sentient necessities." The information disappeared, and all Dirk saw was a simple arrow. Flummoxed, he increased search functions. Still, the arrow sat in front of him. "Dammit!"

Before he could remove the rod in frustration, Dirk noticed that the arrow would change direction depending on what direction he was looking. If he looked straight ahead, the arrow pointed down, but if he looked down, the arrow pointed forward. Finally, Dirk found some direction.

Having descended the tree, the arrow urged Dirk to continue forward on the path he had originally been walking. Meandering further into the forest, Dirk was caught unawares when a few equations began popping up again, this time in accordance with the arrow, however. As the arrow lead him along a predetermined path, it occasionally pointed out unusual flowers or fungi, and brought up their basic chemical equations. Dirk's brain, backed by the rod’s continual bio-boost, began reading the equations more as names than as numbers and letters. Long strings of identifying code were soon seen by Dirk as simple as the names "Bob" or "Tim" on a nametag.

Following the arrow with steadfast pace, Dirk soon came across an open grove. Within the grove was a boy. "Why didn't the Shades pick him up earlier?" thought Dirk.

The child in the grove appeared to be only three or four years old. He was dressed in a pair of smooth, creaseless yellow overalls and a long sleeved red shirt. His skin was pale, but his hair glowed blue. Surrounding him were small floating globules of liquid. Every couple of seconds, a new globule would emerge from the boy's eyes.

Dirk stood outside the grove observing the boy. "What is he?" thought Dirk. A deluge of information filled his visor, and Dirk was overwhelmed. His brain felt as if it were a balloon filling too quickly with air. Unable to withstand a moment more of this incredible data flood, Dirk removed his Shades and cradled his burning, tearful eyes with his palms.

"Are you sad too?"

With blinded eyes, Dirk stumbled backwards. "What?"

Floating a few feet away was the boy. "Why are you sad?"

Dirk removed the rod from his Shades before putting the tinted lenses over his eyes again. "I'm not sad."

The boy tilted his head. "Then why were you crying?

Dirk's lips curled to the left. "Heh...so that's what you were doing. Crying?"

The boy nodded.

Dirk's Shades gave him some basic information regarding the boy. "So...you're a child...but you're more than that, aren't you?"

The boy nodded again.

To Dirk, the information provided by his shades looked familiar, but he wasn't sure why. "What is your name?"

"I had many, and now, none."

"What do you mean?" asked Dirk.

"Before," said the boy, "there were many of us. We ran wild amongst the world now covered by these silent woods."

Dirk sat to listen to the story.

"Then, there was a great catastrophe. In order to save ourselves, we learned. We learned how to live on within each other. We learned to consolidate knowledge so it would live on beyond any one person. And by doing that, we learned how to live on ourselves. Now, we are many, but have become one."

"And you are that one?" said Dirk.

"Yes," said the boy, "but even though there are people inside of me, I am lonely."

"I see..." said Dirk.

"Tell me," said the boy, "you are only one, correct?"

"Yup. Just me," Dirk crossed his arms, "No one else."

"Then what is your meaning?"

"What do you mean?"

"What is the purpose of living if you are alone? My purpose is to keep my people alive, so I live. But you...what is your purpose? What does your life mean?"

Dirk thought for a moment. "I think you have it wrong."

"Wrong about what?"

"I don't believe that any one person has any single meaning, or that there is any over-riding purpose to life itself."

The boy smiled "There are many of me, and only one of you. How can all of me be wrong if we are all in agreement?"

"It's happened before," said Dirk.

The boy thought for a while, "True. But if life has no meaning, why don't you just die?"

Dirk stood up. "Just because I don't believe life has a single meaning doesn't mean I can't give my life a meaning. Or multiple meanings for that matter. My theory is, you have to always look forward."

"Oh." The boy was now hovering next to Dirk, looking up at him. "Are you God?"

"No."

"Then who are you?"

Dirk kneeled down to eye level with the boy. "My name is Dirk Mason."

"Thank you Dirk Mason." The boy smiled. "You have answered my questions and made me happy. If you hadn't come along, I would have quit existing."

"Well," said Dirk, "you're welcome. I'm glad I was of some help."

"Is there anything I can do to repay you?"

"I don't suppose you can help me get back home?"

The boy looked quizzically at Dirk. "Hmm...you are from the past, aren't you?"

"Yes," Dirk said, "how did you know?"

"Your coding is very primitive." The boy explored Dirk. He was especially curious about Dirk's watch. "Is that a Chronoton Dynamo?"

Dirk was surprised that the boy correctly identified the secret of his wristwatch. Then, his shades flashed a familiar signal. Dirk had just unwittingly corrected a temporal disturbance. "What..oh, yeah."

"You'll need chronotons to fuel your trip home, then." The boy reached out and touched the watch face.

The dynamo jumped to life, once again brimming with the energy necessary for it to function properly. "How did you know that?"

"Time travel is like breathing to us," said the boy, "eventually, your race will reach its pinnacle and become like us."

Dirk had already prepared the necessities to open the corridor back homeward. "Well, thanks."

"You're welcome"

"So when I get home and fill out my report, what do I call you?" said Dirk.

The boy smiled. "From now on, I think we shall be known as Sprite."

If there had been a smile on Dirk's face, it was gone before the dynamo enveloped him in the sapphire sphere and brought him home.

***

The Birth of the Sprite 03B

The Forest of Solitude - Part 2

Dirk dropped his backpack at the door once entering his apartment. Seated in front of his computer, he did a quick scan of his email, news sites, and conspiracy homepages, checking for anything new, hoping to find something to garner his attention. Dirk was disappointed to discover a lack of any new updates on the websites he frequented. Nor did he have any new email. Leaning back in his desk chair, Dirk surveyed the room, searching for any uncompleted homework, unread book, or unfinished project. Nothing on Dirk's desk or shelves or in the whole of his apartment was left unaccomplished. He had made sure of that a week earlier when he took a static time siesta.

With silver bands reflecting the ambient light of the room, Dirk's wristwatch was the only item he found mildly interesting. It wasn't the time-keeping capacity of the watch that interested him, however. It was the pure scientific majesty that it represented. The tick-tock monotony was only a shell masking a far greater device known as the "Chronoton Dynamo". For Dirk, the Chronoton Dynamo represented more than a personal time machine. It was the key he used to open doors to other eras. It was the tool he utilized to repair broken epochs. Most importantly, it was the ship that rescued him from a timeless purgatory while running from childhood monsters.

To the naked eye, the sapphire face of Dirk's watch was resplendently azure. Behind the shaded lenses of his ever worn sunglasses, Dirk saw something far more majestic. The second of three items in Dirk's possession that teetered on the edge of high tech and high magic, his shades allowed him to see beyond the limitations of the naked eye. With but a thought, Dirk could shift between viewing the world in visual sonar representations, making accurate medical diagnosis on strangers in the street, or witnessing the cross between second, third, and fourth dimensions. The vast catalogue of options in these optical wonders had yet to be fully realized by Dirk. Yet, he had his favorite tricks. Looking upon the Chronoton Dynamo, for example, revealed a visual orchestra of spinning, stretching, snapping light, or the inner workings of the Dynamo itself, whereas a combination of manipulating the spectral range and infrared intensity granted Dirk the ability to see everything as clearly and colorful in the dark as in the day.

Dirk sighed. He crooked his head and looked at the black bag left at the door. "Early bird gets the worm," said Dirk. Combining an x-ray spectrum with a data retrieval option, Dirk collected the necessary coordinates for his mission without opening the mission statement or backpack. Twisting the dial that encircled the watch face, Dirk entered the information into the Chronoton Dynamo. The Dynamo then flashed and spun its own dial. A turquoise sphere surrounded Dirk, who witnessed again the acceleration of time around himself while standing anchored in the glowing aura of the wrist mounted Dynamo. The passage of time slowed down outside of Dirk's bubble. Once it finally stopped, Dirk stood amidst tall, writhing trees, and luminescent spores. A thick mist crawled the forest floor like sea jelly. The wind both carried and caused the only sound within the woods. Dirk stood in the Forest of Solitude.

With his shades, Dirk scanned for potentially dangerous life forms. His lenses showed a lack of life outside of the flora and fungi. "Peaceful," Dirk said. Dirk then scanned the data his shades collected from the mission dossier, searching for goals and prerogatives. Unfortunately, in the haste to occupy his impatient mind, Dirk did not allow his shades the time necessary to collect all the dossier's data. "Ah man," said Dirk. Raising his left wrist, Dirk's right hand spun the dial again. This time, however, nothing happened.

Dirk’s mind raced through numerous possible explanations. He ran a quick diagnostic to determine what caused the malfunction. To his dismay, Dirk discovered it was not a malfunction at all. The Chronoton Dynamo was empty. Its natural collection of ambient chronotons was inhibited by the lack of any chronotons in the environment. "No," said Dirk. Running a quick time scan, Dirk had hoped to disprove what he feared was the case. Unfortunately, the evidence only cemented his suspicions. Dirk was trapped at the end of time.

***

The Forest of Solitude 07

The Forest of Solitude - Part 1

(Note: These next three posts, I'm going to try something new. My plan is to offer up a serialized story complete with illustrations. This experiment will last three posts. Whether you like it or not, tell me. And if you hate this, please bear with me. )

“The Sprites won’t leave me alone,” said Dirk.
“And why should they?” responded Dover, “You’re their hero.”
“I was just fulfilling the task at hand,” Dirk said, “liberating the Sprites from whatever lives of servitude they were living under the imps was solely used as a diversionary tactic. If there was a dragon, I probably would have set that free instead.”
Dover stood up from behind his oaken desk. “Your intentions, whether benevolent or not, are beside the point. You saved an entire race of pan-dimensional beings.”
With five short steps, Dover stood behind Dirk and placed a hand on the young man’s leather coated shoulder. “It would be rude for the Sprites to act in any other fashion.”
Dirk’s sunglasses masked his rolling eyes, but the annoyed sigh was more than audible. “Fine. I get it. Gratitude. But aren’t they breaking some sort of dimensional treaty by following me around everywhere?”
Dover groaned wearily as he took a seat in the chair next to Dirk. “They are following all the rules of extra-dimensional travel. Trust me.”
“Fine,” Dirk’s grasp tightened on his backpack. “Before I leave, any info on my next mission?”
Dover reached across his desk and grabbed a leather-bound folder. “This is the dossier for your next mission. All the information you need is in here.”
The Minuteman insignia on the cover of the dossier caught Dirk’s eye as Dover handed the folder over. “Can’t you just give me an oral synopsis?”
“I can see my predilection towards discussing mission specifics has spoiled you,” Dover stroked his silver moustache, “Unfortunately, I must conclude this conference quickly. There is a very important meeting I must not be late for. Furthermore, this mission requires extra knowledge of your date and surroundings than what I would be able to tell you if we followed the pattern of our previous mission briefings.”
With the backpack unzipped, Dirk slid the dossier into the bag thoughtlessly. “I’ll read it later. Can you give me the basics before I go home?”
“The mission takes place in an era known as the Forest of Solitude,” said Dover, “now if you will excuse me, I must prepare for my meeting.”
“Since when is Father Time worried about being late?” said Dirk, who tried to hide a mischievous smirk.
“Never you mind,” said Dover, who had twisted himself in a most uncomfortable position in order to look Dirk in the eye.
With the grin disappearing into his usual grim façade, Dirk left with a courteous farewell right before a glowing-white sprite blinked into existence on Dr. Dover’s shoulder.
The sprite spoke to Dover. Had anyone else been in the room, all they would have heard was a melodic choir of chimes and bells.
“And that’s why I gave him the dossier,” said Dover as he stood up. “Now, would you care for some tea?”
The sprite chimed cheerfully.

***

Grassy Knoll