So, this will become slightly meaningful as soon as I finish the segment for the story I'm writing

But in the meantime, take a quick peek at this

Yes, its stuff I drew. Anyways, that's just some quick sketches on what the enemy aliens look like in the 'scape game our protag is playing in.

Quick run down on them -
From a largely aquatic world close to their sun, they evolved from marine life. They however are largely cold blooded, remaining close to the surface or on the surface of the water on their home planet. They began to move onto land and developed the leg stalks that they have. Originally just legs, without the four arms, they crawled about, returning to the water often. Later developed the four split arms, at which point they began to be amphibious, but staying mostly on land. Their "hair" is actually a sort of natural antenna, allowing instant telepathic communication between them. This is a genetic trait from back when they lived underwater, and used that to communicate and form packs.

Highly social lives,  androdioecist (I don't know the correct spelling, just click the link... Much like this fish...), highly aggressive and protective of their habitations. When their planet's unstable trajectory brought them further from their sun, they developed means to colonize other worlds, those usually with higher water levels and hydrogen air, close enough to a heat source for them to live comfortably without artificial sources.

Then, they ran into humans while colonizing a planet. Being aggressive over the planet they thought was theirs, humans responding in kind, a small war broke out.

Weapons are laser based, the charge packs are all interchangeable, fitting into the different weapons, and then sliding into wall chargers to allow recharging.

And that's where this game takes place, and whats going on.

So this is that post I talked about earlier that would be a real post because lately they've just been stories.

And I've officially decided I like the large and over descriptive titles style. So plan on seeing them a lot (or however often I use them) in the future. Its also fun to use them. Try it. Just go to your blog (or wherever you write stuff) and use a super ridiculously long and descriptive title. I promise you'll giggle at least a little when you read it back to yourself. No giggling? Maybe you need to try it again.

But whatever. This is the real post! Woot! Life is good, been busy, my birthday is this week, totally not excited, I know, sound like an old geezer already, and thats about it for the update-on-Keegan's-life channel. Oh, that and that I went on a date on Saturday (OH MY GOODNESS KEEGAN KNOWS GIRLS?!?!?! AND THEY WENT ON A DATE WITH HIM??) Why yes, silly sentences contained by parenthesis, I do know some girls. And yes, I did happen to go on a date with one of them. To wild waves in fact. It was rather fun, and I loved the sun. {I've decided at least one sentence per post (Non-story post) will need to rhyme. FOL (Fact of Life)} (Anybody notice what I did there? Anyone? Anyone ever take a math class before?) Anyways, moving on.

I'm actually enjoying the story I'm writing. It fits very nicely into the story universe I have set up, almost as if I was planning on fitting it in before hand. Its what sorta sparks the final war that leads into the Home series. Good stuff, good good stuff.

So, now I'm ending this. Because what I really got on here to do was write an epic(ish) battle gunfight war scene. If I can pull that off that is. Fingers crossed!

Seg 2.1

No. Not here, outside of my dreams. 


I look up at the name, glued to the bed. Unable to move, even if I wanted to. I'm too shocked to even think of moving. 


What is his name doing here? And why is the tile attached to it? I stare at the name, trying to understand. I finally get up, and get it off of my ceiling. The piece of tile was held up by some wire wrapped around it and tacked to the ceiling, and the name was just the same stuff bent to spell out the name. 


I'm not going to be able to get to bed. Not after something like that. I decide to go use the dreamscape. Its one of the few places I feel totally calm.


The dreamscape is like this whole other world, universes really that are dependent upon you for creation. It allows for you to be placed into these scenarios, these video games, and you get to play it out. I don't know the whole science behind it, but when it first came out, you got strapped into a seat basically, and the computer takes a scan of your brain. A second persona is then created within the video game that is you, identically, down to the all your memories, and then while you're asleep or plugged in, your computer persona runs through the game.


So its not like its really you playing the game, but more like your electronic doppleganger is for you. At the end of the game, or the simulation of sorts, the memories created during that game are "downloaded" into your brain. The electronic copy of you floating about in cyber space becomes dormant, stored into a personal storage device, that the player keeps so that you don't need a rescan every time you play.


Originally, it needed you to be strapped into these large chairs to allow the sounds to hit the body correctly to hypnotize you in a way, or just the vibrations, or something along those lines, but now its to where it all can be on a small device clipped over your ear, not much larger than earphone. Some people wear them everywhere they go, using them as earphones until they have a quick moment to relax, slip under, and enter the dreamscape.


Working for CrossTechD, I have one of the newest models on the market, a small earpiece about the size of my thumb that runs in a narrow strip up over my ear. It communicates with the nearest computer terminal to boost my signal, finding other players from all across the world. A game or two might be exactly what I need to relax me.


There's a humming sound as the device in my ear starts up (Its the CR 1512, genetically imprinted to work for me alone) and some shifting lights appear in front of me. They've got the system down to where it partially hypnotizes you at the beginning using just slight sounds to direct what you see and such. The lights clear to reveal a green screen in front of me, just slightly larger than a computer screen. Shows me recent connections used, games I tend to play more often, and a portion is devoted to the news. I'm just glancing around the screen, trying to figure out if I want to play along with some pals from across the world or start playing a game by myself when I notice something odd. 


There, under recent connections is the name Peter again;


/subroutineactive 114.aa45 changeusr indentity: Peter.CSD0001 *******


It's there for only a moment, as soon as I notice it, it flickers out and disappears off screen. I frantically try going to my connections page, to see if its there, but theres no record of any connection under the name Peter. I head back to the main page. 


I must of just been imaging things. I should probably go see a doctor about it. I mean a lot of stress, and now imaging that his name is all over the place? This Peter who I haven't even met but dream that I am all the time? 


Whatever. I need to relax, and thats why I started playing in the 'scapes originally. I go to my friends and find a dreamer (Its what all of us users are called. They used to call it gamers, but less and less console games can actually compete beyond arcade use with the dreamscape tech so now they call us dreamers) from Eurasia named King. At least, that's the dreamertag for him (her. Unsure on that bit actually) He's playing the most recent shooter, some far future alien space invasion game, where we still use projectile weaponry. Which boggles me... Wouldn't we eventually get to laser weapons if we've developed space travel far enough to hit aliens? But then again, I'm not developing the games. 


I decide to join him. The screen flashes twice, and then my vision goes out. Everything's black, and I can't see, but I feel the armor I wear in the game begin to solidify around me. A glimmer of shining white light appears, a pulsating dot. It shifts around a bit, and colors start to shimmer into it as well. Suddenly, the light grows faster, looking as though I'm speeding towards the end of a tunnel, my surroundings being light up, just a gray empty holding chamber without a wall, and the lights almost to me, I can see a field, some human looking characters in a firefight with something gigantic and obviously hostile, the lights passing me by, and the gray walls are gone and I'm standing in the middle of the grassy field, the fight just up ahead. Smoke and the smell of charred flesh and gunpowder reaches me, burned streaks in the grass looking like deathly scars burned into the golden waist high landscape.


Sun glints across my visor as I look towards the fight, pull my gun close to my body, and charge yelling at the top of my lungs into the chaos.