Captain Bolide! #2 - Part Two of Two
The Possession of T.I.M.
Be sure to read earlier editions of my pulp series, Captain Bolide!
And be sure to check out the non-fiction “The Planets Are Evil” post for a look at groups who believed and still believe planets are evil.
THE CONTINUATION
Chapter Three: Planetary Possession
Captain Bolide placed Marshal Tejas on the bed aboard the rocket ship, ensuring the wounded man’s head rested upon the soft pillow. Parched lips kept muttering the words, “I needed to stop him. It’s not him” over and over again. The wounded man ceased speaking only when Bolide patted him on the head and gave him water to drink. After that, the battered and bruise lawman drifted off into unconscious sleep.
Tapping his foot, Bolide looked around his ship. “None of this makes sense,” he said aloud to no one. “Deputy Bravura’s recording and Teja’s accounts aren’t matching up. Once T.I.M. gets back, we can search for Bravura and take care of the marshal at the same time. Until then, I better pack supplies for an expedition.”
The captain opened a locker and grabbed an empty canvas bag as well as a box filled with water bottles, high-condensed food bars, and wilderness tools. When he remembered the sharp barbs of the plants, he made sure to snatch a box of bandages.
His hands moved supplies from the boxes into the bag. At first he started off with a day’s supply, but a creeping sensation of dread caused him to double everything in the bag.
Woosh. The main door opened and in walked T.I.M., its eyes glowing red while its gears made their normal sounds. Instead of speaking, T.I.M. stared at Bolide.
Captain Bolide gave off a guffaw. “You okay there, T.I.M.?”
Small gears whirled inside the robot, but it said nothing.
“Is something wrong, T.I.M.?”
The machine took a step forward, then stopped. “What are you doing?”
An eyebrow shot up on Bolide’s face. “I am getting ready to go look for the deputy. The marshal was saying things that don’t jibe with the recording we found. If the deputy is still alive, we need to find him and figure out what happened here.”
A loud digital sound erupted in T.I.M.’s head unit. The machine twisted its body towards the living quarters and began walking.
“T.I.M.,” the captain asked, “what are you doing?”
No response. So the captain asked again, still no response.
“T.I.M., stop!”
An alarm shot up the captain’s spine. He ran up to the robot and placed his arm on its shoulder. In response, the robot grabbed his wrist and flung him into Marshal Tejas. The lawman screamed in pain as Bolide’s body collided with his.
Two terrible robotic fists rose above T.I.M.’s head.
Bolide took one look at the arriving death and used his body to shield the wounded man.
Deep crimson eyes on the robot lightened, darkened again, and went back to the regular red. Its arms froze while gears screamed on the inside. “You are protecting him. Protection is what the captain does. I must learn from the captain. Must resist. Reset to factory settings- no! Yes!”
Bolide held his breath as the robot’s red eyes turned black. Everything went silent. Then, a soft gear sound was heard, then another, and another. Slowly, red lights - the normal red- came to life.
“Captain,” the robot said, “something was controlling me. Thankfully, I saw you protecting another with your life, and I wanted to add selflessness to my programming. Whatever was controlling me resisted that.”
“What was controlling you, T.I.M.?”
“Something- dark, sir. Something that wanted to leave this planet.”
Before the duo could continue, the inside of the rocket began shaking. Then, a loud roar of trembling earth filled the air.
Chapter Four: The Last Grasp
“Earthquake!” Bolide and T.I.M. said in unison.
Both moved with purpose to stations. The robot’s fingers tapped away on the power control console while Bolide’s muscular arm flung the rocket engine switch up.
Bursting, flaming gas blew out of the rocket ship’s rear, launching it upwards. Soon, though, the familiar rattle of liftoff failed to lessen, but rather increased to a cacophony louder than the planetary quake.
Captain Bolide looked over and shouted at his robot. “What’s wrong, T.I.M.?”
The machine began speaking, but then stopped as its voice was drowned out. Its internal speaker boosted itself to maximum volume. “Captain, the planet’s gravity is increasing!”
“What?!?!”
Looking at his command screen, he could see it was true. 20.98 miles above the surface. 19.87 miles above the surface. 18.74 miles.
“All power to the rocket!”
Quick robotic hand and finger action sent every last watt the nuclear drive could produce down to the engine to ignite more fuel. Doing so caused the glass covering on the gauges to break loose and shatter on the floor. The ship’s shaking then sent the glass flying as little projectiles.
The screen now said 18.73 miles above the surface. 18.73. 18.72.
“It’s not working,” cried the captain.
A hard slap on the back turned Bolide’s head. There, deathly pale, gripping the captain’s shoulder with one hand and the console with the other, was Marshal Tejas. The weakened man leaned over and screamed into Bolide’s ear.
“The planet is alive! It took over Bravura, and I had to destroy my ship to stop it from leaving in his body! If it can’t leave with us, it will try to kill us all! We have to escape its pull!”
“But how?! We are now at 18.69 miles and falling!”
Tejas’ faint eyes darted about, first on the command screen, then at the falling apart bridge, but then settled on T.I.M.
The lawman pushed all the air his lungs could handle as he yelled, “Robot!”
T.I.M.’s head twisted toward Tejas. “Yes, marshal?!”
“Is it possible to turn the ship sideways and use all energy to slingshot out of orbit?!”
Though no sounds other than the ship tearing itself apart could be heard, Bolide knew every processor, chip, and gear was working overtime to do the complex mathematics involved in determining an answer.
“The possibility of success of such an action is sixty-five percent and falling, marshal.”
Bolide needed no request from the lawman. “Do it!”
T.I.M.’s upper body turned one hundred eighty degrees and its arms grabbed a knob and joystick.
The rocket ship’s shift was so sudden that both men fell against the wall that now acted as a floor. While Bolide moaned, Tejas cried out in pain that was audible even above the roar. Straightening his head, Bolide watched the command screen. 16.02 miles, 13.21 miles, 11.92 miles. 8.86 miles. 6.65 miles. 3.21 miles. 2.99 miles. 1.75 miles. 0.91 miles. 1.23 miles. 2.23 miles. 3.35 miles. 5.93 miles. 9.99 miles.
Gravity began lessening, returning to a normal level. 29.21 miles. Both Bolide and Tejas gave a cheer. As the rocket climbed, they could return to standing on the floor, though the marshal had to grab the railing.
“Captain,” T.I.M. said, “the planet is- retreating.”
The robot flipped a switch, turning on the viewscreen. There, the black and dark red planet clearly was entering Apollo III’s clouds.
Bolide could only watch perplexed as the hellish world disappeared out of view.
“T.I.M.,” he said, “how is this possible?”
Tejas coughed and spoke before the robot responded. “That- that world- was something other than a normal planet. It couldn’t leave the orbit of Apollo III, but something in it, or maybe itself, possessed my deputy.”
“And my robot,” Bolide said.
T.I.M. nodded. “I am indeed sorry, captain. I could see and process everything, but there was something stronger overriding my commands. However, it did not just want to leave; it wanted to spread. I believe it was what you would call evil.
“It was your protecting life that I wanted to add to my programming. Thank goodness for the processor you installed.”
“Thank God, T.I.M., thank God.”
The marshal coughed again.
“Come, Tejas,” Bolide said, “let us get you patched up. We’ll have to file a report at the nearest outpost and put out a warning about this strange planet. And afterwards, we can get back to living a life of adventure!”
CAPTAIN BOLIDE WILL RETURN!
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This anthology is the brain child of a fan convention and a 2 am conversation between Paul Jenkins and Frog & Esther Jones of Impulsive Walrus Books. The ultimate goal of the book is to (lovingly) prank one of Paul's friends, Glen. Glen dies in every story, and we will lovingly gift it to him at the end of the Kickstarter, and expect the cover art to go up on his wall within three days flat of him knowing of it's existence. There's even a Crystal Palace mentioned in each story, since that football club is how Paul and Glen met. Please come join in the hilarity and help us make this book something Glen is thrilled to death to receive! We hope you love Brad's story, and this mischievous adventure we've embarked on as much as we do.
Unit Next Time
Next time, I will post a podcast interview episode looking at Harmonialism and Aliens. The guest connects Swedenborgianism, Theosophy, Flying Saucers, Steven Spielberg, and Disclosure Day together. It is quite a fun listen.
As always, please leave a comment with any questions, reviews, thoughts, whatever about Fallen, Risen, Dormition, An Odd Pilgrimage, The Savannah Paranormal Detective Agency or whatever else I have discussed. I promise to reply!