Odyssey 5: After the Fall

[Otis McNutt 395]

Prologue:

"We saw the Earth destroyed and in a heartbeat everything and everyone we knew was gone. Their were five of us, the crew of the Space Shuttle Odyssey, and we were the only survivors. A mysterious being who called himself The Seeker rescued us and sent us back in time. And now we have five years to live over, five years to discover who or what destroyed the Earth. Five years to stop it from happening again!"

Chapter One

"And I beheld a pale horse, and his name that sat on it was death. And hell followed with him"

Book of Revealations

Odyssey Science officer Kurt Mendel sat at his computer. A video chat window showcased a very attractive blonde who was rather naked. "So Kurt, are you gonna call or fold?" she said. "I'll call, Tiffany!" he said playfully. "oh shoot, you called my bluff, oh well say goodbye to my panties." A text chat window suddenly appeared revealing an all to familiar "Ω" prompt. "Sorry sweety I'm gonna have to let you go." Kurt's hands shook as he typed a single sentence. "Who are you?" To which Omega responded. " A friend. As Omega typed his instructions Kurt's eyes widened. He nodded and smiled.

Hours passed and There was a knock at the door. Mission Commander Chuck Taggert, His son Neil ships mechanical expert, Pilot Angela Perry, and civilian reporter Sarah Forbes entered. "Why are we here Kurt, what's so goddamned important that it couldn't wait until morning?" Chuck said rather miffed. "Oh so sorry chucky, I just thought you'd like to know that Omega contacted me!" "Omega, you mean from the...!" Sarah said pointing to the computer. "Yeas darling, I was enjoying a rather brilliant game of poker when our friend Omega decided to so grace me with his company.!" Kirt said. "well what did he say?" Angela asked. "he wanted help for a friend of his, he told me where in cyberspace to find his friend, he just needed a suitable host synthetic body." Kurt said. "oh you didn't, you remember what happened the last time you created a synthetic, it stole your identity and trien to kill you" Kurt smiled. "why would I endanger myself like that when we had a perfectly good Synthetic body just lying around!" "kurt, you did not dig up Harry!" Sarah asked. "you bet I did" He said with a smile. "He sacrificed himself to save the Earth and this is how you thank him, by digging him up and giving his body to some random string of computer code!" Neil said angrily. "Man first it's bottom feeder, now random string of computer code." Harry said emerging from the next room. "You certainly like to insult a guy!" Harry said with a smile.

Harry Mudd was a sentient, a living artificial intelligence living in cyberspace. But like people all sentients aren't created equal. Where others feed on complex code and even each other to get stronger Harry fed on code from cancelled Tv discussion forums, Conspiracy theory web sites, a great Legend of Zelda fan site, and internet porn. Tired of the endless fights for supremacy Harry stole a synthetic body meant for another sentient and contacted the only ones who would keep him safe, The Odyssey 5.

"Is that really you Harry?" Angela asked. "Yeah I mean he sounds like Harry, but how do we really know?" Sarah said in agreement. "I Assure you I'm Harry!" he said as he sat down, but as he did he tumbled and fell back. "That's our Harry alright!" Sarah said.

Harry stole the synthetic body before it finished growing, leading to decreased skin sensitivity and coordination issues.

"Why are you back?" Chuck asked. "Well you remember Fedra, right?" "Fedra, the sentient who tried to disintegrate the Earth, yeah I remember!"

Fedra like Harry tired of the constant battle foe sentient supremacy and decided to destroy herself and the Earth along with it. Her (for lack of a better term) mate was absorbed by Devalos another sentient. Fedra broke into the Nevelson Supercollider, and tweeked the math in an attempt to sabotage the experiment and create Strangelets, particles of exotic matter that devour any matter it can gwt it's hands on (i.e. Earth). But with Harry's help the Odyssey 5 stopped her and Harry left his body to become her new mate.

"Fedra was abosrbed by Devalos, I tried to stop him, but in the end he was to powerful, I barely escaped him, I hid in the one place he would never find me." "and where was that?" Kurt asked "A Dora the Explorer fansite." Harry said. "Ouch man that's harsh, glad you weren't driven insane!" Neil said with a chuckle. "But why are you here?" Chuck asked. "It's Devalos, he took a body like me and plans to release a biological orgsnism, a plague that'll kill millions!"

Edited 19 Feb 2009 by Savanti Romero (see edit history)