"Life At Sea?" You say, sitting there at your internet accessing device. "Why yes!" I say, sitting at mine. "Life At Sea is a story I wrote once", I continue. "It was about us raiders being pirates!". You are suddenly interested. You like stories, you like raiders, you like pirates. Twas fate betwixt us which brought you here today. So hear this story of adventure on the high seas, and embark upon the next great journey with me!
And for those of you with the interest, here is the original Life At Sea, ripe for your reading enjoyment:
http://forums.mangaraiders.com/index.php/topic,4300.0.htmlCHAPTER 1: OUT OF THE DRINK
Oh have you heard the news, my Johnny? Words rang out in Lego’s head, they weren’t his own.
One more day Eyes fluttered. A dim light entered, brighter light in-between, something was blocking it.
We’re homeward bound tomorrow, He felt dirty, unwashed. A rank smell rose from his own body, and he could smell something else, wet and
salty.
One more day Lego’s vision began to clear up, the embrace of sleep was slipping away. He could see the roof, feel the bed beneath. As uncomfortable as it was, they could have been the same thing.
Only one more day, my Johnny
Only one more day Singing, someone was definitely singing. Lego started to turn his head. He was in a small shack.
Oh rock and row me over, A figure backwards in a chair, head downturned, a mess of blond hair. No floor to the shack, just sand, a
canvas tarp where the door should be.
The barrel of a flintlock pistol in his eyes.
“One more day…” The figure finished singing, and it looked up. Coryn smiled at Lego, just before pulling the trigger.
Click!
Nothing, Lego’s face remained un-maimed for a little while long. It didn’t take him long to process.
“What the Hell man?!”
Coryn just chuckled.
“Wet powder, would never had gone off anyway.”
Lego shoved the pistol off to the side.
“That’s still no excuse to point it at me! Why are you wielding a flintlock anyways?”
“Look at your clothes.”
He did. Old, mostly brown, encrusted with salt. He was dressed as a pirate. And now that he thought about it, so was Coryn. Both perfectly dressed to the period.
“Oh no, no no no! Not again! I thought this kidnapping bullsh*t was going to end after becoming a mod! Why am I back in the Life At Sea simulation Coryn!?”
“I don’t know.”
“That’s not!...”
Lego caught himself as he processed that information.
“You don’t know?”
Coryn leaned back.
“No idea. I’m as lost as you are. But whoever stuck us in was both crafty enough to steal the L.A.S. files, and smart enough to operate the simulation chamber.”
He put the barrel of the pistol up against the side of his head.
“At current counting, we have at least two shanghaied moderators, and one unknown operator. We’re stuck in a total immersion simulation of a fictional pirate universe from which death is not even an escape, the best we can do is play along.”
Coryn pulled the trigger again, another click. He lowered the gun as Lego rubbed his temples in contemplation.
“Who can even do something like that, the Adims, One of the Tans, an outside agent of some kind?”
“All of the above?”
“Possible.”
The blond one shrugged as he stood up.
“No point worrying about it now. We’ve got a bigger problem.”
The afro’d one narrowed his eyes.
“What’s that?”
“While you were taking your time waking up, we’ve been surrounded.”
Lego was suddenly aware of a large number of clicking sounds, rifles being cocked. It suddenly occurred
to him to peer through one of the cracks in the wall. He glimpsed a row of men in red uniforms aiming at the
cabin, and he inferred that there were a fair deal more of them.
“Do you have any more guns?”
“No.”
“Any swords?”
“Negative.”
“Super weapons?”
“Definitely not.”
“Surrender?”
“Yes, I think so.”
Lego rose as well, and with their hands in the air, stepped out into the bright sun.
What he had seen through the crack was but a tiny selection of the many soldiers that had been brought to bear against them. In fact Lego counted no fewer than one-hundred men in front of them, and there would be at least that many behind. The men were tense in the hot sun, and Lego watched as drops of sweat formed on their brows and dripped down their faces.
“Coryn.”
“Hm?”
“I can’t help but notice they look like people. Life At Sea didn’t have npc’s, just members and spectres.”
“Yes I noticed as well. Someone’s tampered with the program. They’re smarter than I originally anticipated. Bravo.”
A heavy set man strode up the front of the formation. He gripped a rapier tightly in his right hand, and made several violent motions with his left.
“You pirates ought to know better than try to hide in my port!
His accent was thick and British.
“I hereby sentence you to death by firing squad for crimes against the crown! Effective immediately due to your resistance to arrest!”
Lego leaned his head towards Coryn.
“What resistance? We were just sleeping in a shack!”
Coryn leaned his head as well.
“Correction: You were sleeping in a shack. I woke up an hour ago and went scouting.”
“Scouting? Scouting is how we got to this situation?”
Coryn made motions with his head in lieu of shrugging to try and indicate his innocence.
“Well I may have tried to steal a map. But really it was just sitting on a table. Nobody was even around!”
“Obviously someone was around!”
The commander yelled at them.
“Quiet you!”
Coryn dropped his arms.
“We can talk about this later.”
He raised the arm with the pistol in it back into the air. The soldiers tensed, but Coryn continued the ascent until it pointed straight into the air. The trigger was pulled, the gun clicked, and the barrel exploded with fire and smoke, hurling the tiny lead ball up into the sky.
“I guess the powder finally dried out.”
The commander was beet red.
“Explain yourself!”
Coryn dropped the gun but left both hands high above his head.
“We surrender and request to be tried before a proper court, as is our right as citizens of the crown!”
The commander seemed unsure of himself. Lego leaned in closer.
“Are we citizens of the crown?”
Coryn shook his head.
“I have no idea.”