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This message is a repost of one sent on Thu May 22 at 15:45:00
by eris@pen.net (Eris Reddoch).
For those that are new to the game and have never seen this...
Eris
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As the lights dim, the wall screen comes on and displays
AKUS MOBY -- LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT
SEP 29, 978
Then the screen clears to show a small man seated at a table. The man
is very old, with a weathered face and hands. He is talking to someone
off screen.
"Yeah, I know I should do this, but it seems like bad luck to be talking
about dying. I've lived so long now...", he pauses and glances toward
the camera, "..oh, we're on?"
"Ok, then let's get started. My name is Akus Moby, and if you're seeing
this I'm dead.", he grins at the camera, "I'm already 175 years old, and
there's no telling *when* you're seeing this, so..well I've had a pretty
good run."
"First things first , let's get the question of why you're here out of
the way. I'm your great-great-umppty-ump grandpappy. I'll give ya a
moment to digest this piece of news.", he says as he takes a 15cm stick
out of his pocket, lights one end, sticks the other in his mouth, and
puffs a few times before taking it out.
"Nasty habit, but I'm a nasty old man, so I'm entitled.", he grins at
the camera again and clenches the cigar between his teeth.
"None of you are Moby's..I'm the last one of them, but you're in here
'cause I saw a lot of Moby in you while you were growing up...and not in
your brothers and sisters. You aren't the first group I selected, and
seeing as I don't know when you're seeing this all I can say is you're
the last."
"Anyway, I'm going to leave all of you something *really* good..if you
want it bad enough..but before you find out what I'm gonna tell you my
story.", he winks at the camera", So, you might as well settle back
'cause it's a *long* story."
"I was born in 803 on Argent. I married your great-umppty-ump
grandmother, Marta, when I was 22..she was um, 20. In 830, Argent was
sending out the first of the big slowships to colonize Gorath, and we
both applied for crew positions, and I got accepted..she didn't."
"Well, I was gonna turn it down..hell, we could apply again for one of
the other ships, but Marta.", he stops a second and scratches the back
of his neck, "But Marta said for me to go, said she didn't want to go
anyway, just applied because I'd wanted her to. One thing lead to
another and we argued back and forth. I'd have still stayed, but she
told me she wanted a divorce. She said that she had fallen out of love
with me, wanted to settle down with a 'grown-up' not an
'over-grown-kid', and was relieved she hadn't been picked."
"So, we got divorced and I left."
"It was 70 years before I got back from that trip. I'd spend 90% of it
in cold storage, so biologically I was still in my early 30's, but
chronologically I was closing in on 100. Starflight was a lot different
in those days.", he taps his cigar on the table and the glowing ash make
a heap on the surface, "Anyway, when I tried looking up folks I'd known
most were long dead. Marta had died years before I got back."
Someone from off camera slides a plate across the table and a hand rakes
the ash onto the plate, "Oh sorry.", Akus mumbles, "I told you it was a
nasty habit."
"I found out Marta had remarried right after the divorce. She married
Anton Vishinik and had lived a long happy life, so, I was happy for
her.", he squirms in his chair a second, "Ok, so I was *miffed* that
she'd married "Anton, the Dane" not 2 months after she divorced me."
"I was surprised when Anton, yeah he was still alive..all that Vilani
blood I guess, called and said he wanted to see me. I said no. He
insisted. I gave in and talked to him...and that's why you're here."
"Turns out Marta was pregnant when she divorced me, and it was my kid.
She didn't tell me before she divorced me, and I wasn't around by the
time it became obvious..or for the next 70 years."
"She *did* tell Anton, and he'd always had a thing for Marta, so he
asked her to marry him, and she married the dolt. They named my kid
Josie Vishinik, and never told her she was half Moby."
"Ok, so, Josie was almost *70* when Anton told me all this. She was a
grandmother, for heaven's sake, and I was a 34 year old stranger she'd
never heard of, so I never said anything to her. I signed on a ship
heading for Shaw and left again."
"When I got back from Shaw in 942, I hired Darrius Sung to track down
everybody that was..well my children. I figured, even if I never met
any of them, I ought to find out what they were up to. I've been having
the Sung's keep track of all of you ever since, and a few times I've
given a little encouragement to the Moby's among you."
"Me, I spent all my money on one of the new Jump ships and when
exploring.", he smiles wistfully, "Those were *good* years."
"I lost my ship in the first Zeristu war, but I met Mae Lee so it was
worth it. We spent 10 years having fun until the second Zeristu war."
"The damn, Zeristu killed her on Birrawl."
"I survived that and have been puttering around the Quental Main for a
few years now. Then young Sung here, he nods to someone off-camera
browbeat me into making this recording."
"That's my story, and if you stayed in the room this long. I'll reward
you by telling you what I've stuck you with, and why I stuck *you* with
it."
"Over the years, it's become clear that Marta's genes bred
'smart-industrious-danes', and my genes bred 'misfits.' Good news, crew!
You're the misfits.", he grins, "Every one of *you* has been a rebel, or
a stubborn SOB, or just a screw-up...just like me. If you made it into
your 30's you are also survivors...just like me."
"I've been using Sung's reports to track you, and you are the last bunch
in your 30's and 40's, and I want to encourage you *not* to 'settle
down'.", he laughs and winks at you, "It's a hell of a lot more fun!"
"Ok, here's what you get.", he pulls a packet from his coat pocket,
"Title to the Mae Lee."
"She's a 1,000 ton trader, rigged for exploration. She's mine to give,
and I give her to you.", he swings the cigar around in an arc, "Equal
shares to each one of you...with one proviso."
"To take permanent title, you have to live on her and work her for the
next seven years.", he pauses to let that sink in, "You can't sell her.
You can't sell your share in her. You either work her together for the
next seven years, or you walk away."
"Things change. Some of you might have 'settled down' already. I might
have misjudged some of you, so if you *don't* accept my legacy, I'll
give you 5,000cr for wasting your time and you leave now."
"If you *do* accept the challenge I'm laying down for you, stay and Sung
will have you sign the papers. Seeing as I won't be there, he'll have
to answer your questions, too."
"That's it! If you want to go on with your lives, 'bless you, here's
5,000 cr, and it was nice to know you'.", he grins and continues. "If
you want an adventure and you're willing to take a chance, then stick
around."
The old man waves at the camera and the screen darkens. You are left in
silence for a few seconds, while the lights come back up, and then Sung
says...
"Well?"
Eris
AKU GM
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eris@pen.net (Eris Reddoch) using MR/2 ICE #245
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-- End of reposted message
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"Eris Reddoch" using MR/2 ICE #245
http://www.crosswinds.net/~erisr
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