So I know we’re all waiting for the release of the Beyond update tomorrow. But, even if you’re not, here is a little story that you can read to pass the time. I wrote it for my English class short story requirement. After reading it, someone suggested that it’s title be “Evien.”
Enjoy:
–“EVIEN”–
There he sat, helpless, stuck in a venting pile of rubble that was now his premature casket. Waiting to drift to sleep, and never wake up. His life support systems to his starfighter were as good as gone, as was the rest of the ship. There was nothing he could do. He was just waiting…
BLAP!
That was probably the oxygen tank pressurization valve finally busting. That was no surprise— he thought it would’ve died earlier. This crate still has surprises even when it’s dying, he mused.
He had a name. TRCR-14 was the official call-sign for his starship, and it was listed on official records that its pilot was named Dhant. He went by that name, though his actual name was nothing of the sort. Like that knowledge would do any good now, he thought, No one’s even anywhere near here to know.
“Ah, what the heck.” He said to his cracked cockpit, “No good even thinking anymore. I’m just wasting air. I just wish I could talk to Evien one last…” The thought instantly twisted his gut, and he knew that she wouldn’t be able to talk to him now.
There was a yellow water droplet running up the windshield. For a moment, he wondered if the atmosphere of the planet he was sitting silently above was acidic enough to be speeding up his ship’s dying process. Wait a minute, he realized suddenly. He glanced down at his planet altitude gauge. Never mind, it was broken. But last I checked, we were nowhere near the atmosphere level (He still referred to him and his ship as “we”). So how is there water…?
Wait, he thought again. Never mind all that! That droplet was actually another spacecraft, and its drive trail was what he thought had been a crack in the windshield. And it was quite close. There was no way it wouldn’t see him. I have no units on me. It’s going somewhere else. It’s a false hope, he consoled himself. But the ship kept coming closer.
The spacecraft that was approaching seemed to be of a heavy hauler size. Twin engine units were mounted higher up and to the sides near the middle of the ship, and the cockpit looked the part. The ship was a very visible yellow, which explained why he thought that it was an acidic droplet earlier. What that didn’t explain was if it was going to come to him, and not just shoot past. I’m not worth it. Oh curse my blasted ship anyway! He still felt bad saying that about his dear ship, even though he wouldn’t recognize it himself if he could have seen the outside. But the hauler was still coming closer.
“Well, they’re not pirates.” he said aloud, to no one in particular. “But then again, pirates don’t really use flashy yellow anyway.”
“Hello?” A voice cut into his helmet. He jerked. It was a distorted voice similar to the voice of classic TV Villains. Never Mind, he thought, I was wrong.
It finally hit him that he didn’t have any working comms on his ship. How was he hearing this? His suit life-support reader did still work, and it basically told him he had so little oxygen left, that he was most likely hallucinating.
“Hello? Did someone say my yellow was flashy?” The distorted voice spoke.
Finally, he realized that what he was hearing was short range helmet-to-helmet communication; the kind that is used to communicate on the ground when there is an unbreathable atmosphere. That kind of communication was usually always left on, unless a traveller had a reason to shut it off. I need to say something, he thought, I’m going to suffocate right when I’m about to be heard.
“Help,” was all he could say. His world started to invert itself before his eyes. The ship’s instruments were on the ceiling. His arms were above his head. He was vaguely aware of his body’s hands banging on his cockpit’s steel-glass.
“Hold on; I’m coming.” was what the distorted voice said, though he didn’t hear it.
A brief flash, and then with the graceful pseudo-motion distortion that appears when a ship warps back into realspace, a large freighter gracefully slid to a stop to fill up the whole sky above and behind the two ships, right at the heels of the yellow heavy hauler. The freighter was also decorated in yellow, its dark grey stripes artfully running back to its helm. The man in the crippled ship saw an open hangar, slowly enveloping the ships. The light from within the hangar flooded his view, and then he saw no more.
He woke slowly.
“Am I dead?” He said, realizing he could talk, so he must be alive. “I must be just waking—”
Then he saw where he was: in a bed in what would be immediately considered a naval officer’s suite, though a closer look would show that this room was a merchant’s guest room. Posters were on the walls showing various organizations and their trade flags, signifying a mutual agreement between the owner of this ship and them. The room had an open door, which looked down the hallway to the steel-glass windows of the helm and onto the top of the yellow freighter, its grey stripes plainly visible from his viewpoint in bed. He was definitely not in a dream; everything had happened as he remembered it.
“No, you’re neither dead nor dreaming.” The voice from before permeated his thoughts, though it was no longer distorted, and he realized now that it was the voice of a woman. He looked back behind him from whence the voice came. She locked eyes with him, and he abruptly halted in his turn. He gaped in astonishment.
“Welcome back,” She said, “I missed you.”
Instantly, they were locked in an embrace, and he could feel the longing in the way she held him. He would be able to talk to her— Evien— once again.
–
So, you can find a few elements in it that are not currently linked to No Man’s Sky as it stands today (August 13, 2019). They are thus:
-Stranded vessels
-recognition of voice chatting being linked to a “short-range universal voice communication” system in the game
-Banners symbolizing trade agreements
-freighter color schemes to match the players ship
-a few more you might have found in the story
As I wrote this, I imagined that I might find some of these elements in the Beyond update. Whether or not they are in it, the story was very enjoyable to write.
–
I am currently a senior in high school, and have enjoyed playing No Man’s Sky since the Atlas Rises update.
I believe it will…