Friday, May 9, 2025

Exharks #4 - Ex-Positions

“Jeez, so he not only made his video game avatar a character, he made his own pennames into characters to do more stupid little adventures with? Jeez, what kinda cringe narco dweeb is this guy?”

Bobbi, Miner and Crafter Extraordinaire, was sitting on the edge of the bed, rolling her eyes after hearing Sharkerbob’s story of their quite similar origins. Sharkerbob came over with two bottles of water, handing her one as he sat down on the bed next to her. It was the only refreshment he could provide, and even the bottles had to come from Bobbi’s own inventory. For that matter, the bed was the only furniture to sit on.

He gave her a flat look. “We might not be him, but we’re what he’d be in our circumstances, and he’s what we’d be in his. So lay off him a little, won’t ya?”

Tuesday, May 6, 2025

Exharks #3 - Hat Tricks

He flew in a straight line from Brixity for an hour, heading Northwest, approximate to the sun’s path, carefully avoiding the three towns he spotted. He didn’t get close enough to see the details, but none of them had the same reddish hue to the buildings, so he had to wonder if the largely brick construction was unique to Brixity, and what the cultural or economic factors were to cause that.

Sunday, May 4, 2025

Exharks #2 - Unequivalent Exchange

When Old Jaim had mentioned he’d been spotted a few days ago by “sentries”, Sharkerbob could have guessed they’d been spying on him the entire time since. He’d probably had a few tails following him or keeping track from a distance as soon as he entered the city. So he wasn’t too surprised to see two of the dark-skinned humans standing where he’d initially dropped down from his base. What did mildly surprise him was the fact they were dressed in somewhat outlandish costumes, distinct from the rest of the civilians.

Friday, May 2, 2025

Exharks #1 - New Horizons

Author’s Note: Exharks directly follows the short story Eprologue, which itself is a follow-up to the short story Imaginator.

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The dawn saw Sharkerbob leaning against the metal rail that surrounded the garden balcony off the stern of his hovering base. He stared down into the valley below, wondering if this would be the day he’d finally work up the nerve to actually leave his vessel. One would think three months of complete isolation would have made him eager to run towards civilization at the first opportunity, but when the moment of truth came, he’d found himself freezing up at the thought.