~~~~
"Emerging over the horizon,
like a beacon of justice, it's the man, the myth the legend. Brock Anders,
Defender of the Universe," the titular hero announced himself. The
champion of justice stood tall and firm in his form-fitted red space suit. It was
adorned with sharp shoulder pads and large rings around each joint. He wore a
sleek, stylish space helmet topped with fin upon his head and possessed a
spectacular raygun belted to his side.
"He overlooks this vast,
uncharted, alien world. Ready to discover its secrets and smite any alien
menaces who lurk in the shadows!" The beacon of human achievement
declared. With a mighty leap, Anders leaped forward into the landscape before
him. The low gravity slowed his descent as he landed softly upon the dusty,
desert-like ground.
"Aided by his young sidekick,
Elma Pauling, scientist in training!" The hero of humanity shouted to the
heavens. Yet, the announced sidekick did not emerge. "I said, Aided by his
young sidekick!" Anders repeated as he searched for his missing ward.
"Up here Anders," a voice
called from atop the ridge. The mighty spaceman looked up to see his sidekick.
The young woman was garbed in a simplified yellow version of his own outfit. However,
she lacked a fin on her helmet and raygun of her own.
"There you are my amazing
sidekick," Anders chuckled, "Come forth we have a planet to
explore."
"I cannot Anders," Pauling
admitted, "such a jump is impossible for me."
"What is that?" The
champion of the universe shouted. "Some alien menace holds you back, do
not fret I'll be right there."
"That's not what I-" The
sidekick began, but Anders had already begun his ascent. With aid from low
gravity and two small rockets attached to his boots, Brock Anders zoomed back
up the ridge. His raygun in hand ready to destroy whatever alien menace held
his sidekick hostage.
"I knew it!" The greatest
spaceman announced as he leveled his raygun. "The Ratiguns from Planet H,
who knew you'd follow me this far." Mere feet away was a swarm of large rodents,
with bright, red eyes and knife-like teeth. "Begone alien scum!"
Anders pulled the trigger on his raygun, which released a burst of light that
scared off the Ratiguns.
"Anders-" Pauling began.
"No need to thank me, my young
ward," Brock Anders struck a heroic pose, "it's all in a day's work
for men of justice like myself."
"Anders," his sidekick
tried to speak again.
"Did I ever tell you the first
time I fought those vile Ratiguns?" The spectacular, space hero ignored
her.
"Anders!" She snapped at
him.
"It all began in the Beta
Quadrant eleven years ago!" Anders continued his monologue.
~--~
"Anders, listen to me for
once!" Elma pleaded, but Anders just continued to ramble. "He's stuck
in his stories again, it'll be another hour before he even acknowledges I
exist." She sighed and looked back at the "mighty, space hero"
she was stuck with. His spacesuit was filled with holes, his helmet had several
large cracks in it. The toy raygun he waved around was in desperate need of new
batteries.
"Stupid machine," she
moaned. She took a seat on a pile of scrap metal, while Anders's hydraulics
stuttered in their attempt to emulate human motion. Pauling turned away from
the ignorant android and observed the area around him instead. The large dome
of the space station hung almost a mile above their heads. A distant star
provided a moderate amount of light. The area was filled with piles of scrap
metal and dilapidated structures. The exhausted sidekick looked back over the
"ridge" Anders had leaped before. It was laden with jagged metal.
Then she flipped back towards the "Ratiguns." The small rodents had
scurried back into their holes. Frightened by the flash of red light from
Anders's toy gun.
The "Universe's greatest
hero," continued his endless speech, completely oblivious to the world
around him. Meanwhile, Pauling pulled out a small tape recorder and clicked the
record button.
"Observation Log, Day 117:
Subject continues to indulge in his delusions with no signs of stopping,"
she spoke into the device.
"Why yes, I am incredible thank
you," Anders responded before he returned to his monologue.
"Subject continues to hear only
what he wants to hear," Pauling sighed as she continued her recording.
"I must continue to advocate for the theory this is not simply faulty
programming. Nor do I believe it is a hardware malfunction. The delusion is far
too well realized and detailed."
The young scientist collected her
thought for a moment, "I would like to reach out to the original
programmer for the Brock Anders android. However, they refuse to return my
calls. This leaves the specifics of the android's creation the subject of rumor
and speculation. My personal favorite rumor is that the programmer stole the
source code from police androids. Then slightly modified it in order to meet a
deadline."
"Obviously I'm the most
decorated captain in all the galaxy," the "space hero" claimed
to a nonexistent audience.
"I will continue my
observations on the subject until further notice. I continue to be thankful for
the abandonment of this space station. I fear what might happen if he were
among more people," Pauling finished her log and turned off her tape
recorder. She yawned and stretched back. "Well, I've got some time to kill
before he finishes his little speech." Pauling leaned back and closed her
eyes while Anders droned on in the background.
~--~
"...And that my sidekick is how
I saved the galaxy with two broken legs and half a wine bottle," the
exemplar of justice finished his spectacular story. "Do not fret, there
will always be more stories to tell," he proclaimed to his awestruck young
ward. "But now we must go forth and make those future stories
reality." The hero of the universe turned toward the endless horizon and
raised his arms to the heavens. "This new frontier is only the beginning
of a hundred more stories. A hundred more encounters and a hundred more alien
menaces to do battle with!" Anders reached his arm out forward to seize
the horizon. "This is no time to dawdle we must...we must-"
"Error," a mechanical
voice echoed from Ander's body, "optical malfunction. Repair process
initiated..." Ander's vision, once filled with a boundless, alien
wasteland flitted to the sight of a horrid, abandoned space station. He made no
comment while the mechanical voice continued. "Repair process 50%
complete...70% complete...90% complete."
"We must..." The hero
attempted to finish his speech, but couldn't remember the words.
"Error, repair process
failed," the mechanical voice stated. "Attempting reboo-" The
mechanical voice suddenly cut off as Ander's vision returned to the alien
landscape.
"We must seize the future by
our own hands!" The galaxy's greatest champion announced in triumph. "The
mere idea of the future could hold brings joyful tears to my eyes," Anders
admitted as tears streamed down his face. "But at the same time," he
muttered, "why do I feel so...so...?" Anders trailed off, unable to
find the right words as his tears refused to stop.
~~~~
Now this is one of those stories where I came up with the concept and then wanted to write it immediately. The character of Brock Anders was a complete accident, created one Sunday when me and some friends were goofing off with some tabletop RPGs.We played a gritty sci-fi game, but I wanted to create a character who didn't quite fit in with aesthetic (which was the joke). Thus I created Brock Anders, a crazy spaceman who believed he was in a 1950s era pulp sci-fi adventure. When in reality he lived in grim, dystopia. I workshopped the idea with my friends and that lead to him being a malfunctioning android with a toy gun.
This story was a joy to create from start to finish, I even got a little emotional at the end. I hope you enjoyed one of my favorite stories I've created in a long while.
As always, Read, Comment and Enjoy.
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