Aero's Other Writing.

I thought some of you might want to take a look at some of the other things I write. Because I’ve been writing a lot lately. A whole lot.

First up is a gift fic I did for a friend’s birthday based on characters from her webcomic.

The Hover Mammoths of Summer
by ~aerostarmonk

On a clear warm summer night a young man spoke at length about the most recent movie he had seen.

“…and you’d think that he’d have him cornered but he totally didn’t which works fine but doesn’t make any sense if you ask me and if you ask me it doesn’t make sense because the jig was definitely up definitely up and…”

It wasn’t that she didn’t listen. She heard every word he said. She always listened. She would do it intently. She would hang on to ever syllable. If asked to repeat everything she could quote it verbatim. It was just that she often never had any idea what was being said. Vinny would jump from one subject to another with little to no point of reference. And even when one was provided it simply wasn’t enough for her to make heads or tails of the topic. It was something he had trouble grasping because he felt the need to ask…

“Emma. Are you listening?”

“Of course I was,” she responded in what she hope was a conciliatory tone.

“it’s just,” he said. “You weren’t saying anything.”

She never knew what to say in these situations. They’d happen every once in awhile. She wasn’t sure how to reassure him beyond what she had already given. The same would be enough for her. She turned her gaze towards the ground and pondered the ordeal.

There was no need to however. He had already rebounded. A smile stretched across his lips. He knew the solution. It was a simple one too. Change the subject. And as always he jumped out of the gate without a point of reference.

“Hey, what do you think about time travel?” he inquired.

“Time travel?”

She had honestly never given it much thought. She couldn’t time travel and she didn’t know anyone that could so it seemed silly to even think about it. What if Vinny could time travel though. Perhaps that’s why he was bringing it up. Some heretofore unknown ability that he was only disclosing to her now. It would definitely explain this new thread in the conversation.

“Yeah, time travel!” he exclaimed. “Where we’re going we don’t need roads?”

What did roads have to do with time travel? She was about to ask that very question before she realized that he was probably quoting something.

“Wouldn’t it be cool to go anywhere you want in time?” he asked. “Just anyplace you could think of?”

“What’s wrong with this one,” she replied inquisitively.

“Well, nothing. It’s just that it isn’t as cool as it could be,” he explained. “Like there are no vikings or samurai or dinosaurs or saber-toothed tigers or daily flights to the moon or Spartans or—”

“Do you want any of those things?” she said in a puzzled manner.

“I dunno. Maybe a little bit,” he answered. “Like it would be great to ride a mammoth to school on a hovercraft!”

He had gotten up and did his best impression of a young man riding a mammoth on a hovercraft. It was terribly silly. Emma could almost feel a laugh building deep inside.

“Wait, no. That’s silly,” he scolded himself. “I’d have to choose between the mammoth or the hovercraft. I don’t want to seem greedy.”

“How about a hover mammoth?” Emma offered.

She wasn’t sure why she had said that. She was fairly certain that there weren’t such things as hover mammoths. But she was also fairly certain that she wasn’t quite sure if they couldn’t exist. And these new creatures would solve her friend’s dilemma.

“I like the way you think, Emma!” he shouted excitedly. “In the year 2348, one rogue scientist decides that humanity is lost. Now is the dawn of a new species. HOVER MAMMOTH!”

She wasn’t quite clear on why, but she loved it when Vinny did that silly deep voice of his. As if he were trying to announce his own previews. Suddenly a lot of their previous dialogues made a lot more sense. She watched as he tromped around crushing invisible people and making extravagant mock sound effects.

.“…Nothing can stop the HOVER MAMMOTH!” he yelled. “Oh no, there is no God! Why! Tell us why! NO! AHHHHHHHHHHH! Hahahaha! Fools!”

“Is there anything you’d want besides hover mammoths?”

Vinny snapped out of his own scenario and gave Emma a confused look.

“Samurai…hover…mammoths?” he mused.

“Maybe,” she replied.

She then turned her head towards the night sky and began to wonder about the stars.
“Ohhhhhh,” he said. “That would be cool. Very cool.”

“What would be cool?” she answered in an intrigued tone.

“To go there,” he responded while pointing up.

“Where?”

“There!” he said again.

“I don’t see it.”

“That star you’re looking at,” he explained. “The one you’re looking at right now. Right there.”

"What’s so special about there?’

“We’ve never been there,” he stated with a grin. “And we could. With time travel. We could go to the future and hop the first spaceflight to wherever. But I have my heart set on there.”

“That would be nice,” she smiled.

“That would be AWESOME!” he declared.

He was right. It would be awesome. And in the proper sense of the word as well. To come face to face with a distant star. Some place so far away from home that it was once dreamed impossible that one could ever visit it.

“Not just that star. All of them. ALLLLLLL THE STAAAARS!” he exclaimed. “We could go back in time and visit those stars. We could go forward in time visit new stars. Swing by all the cool haunts. Endor, Gallifrey, that gangster planet from Star Trek. Magrathea. Nowhere we wouldn’t go.”

She was glad to see him happy once more. She had been worried that she might have had to come up with something to say earlier. But it seemed as if he had come up with everything himself.

“But wait…” he paused.

“Huh?”

“If we were supposed to be there we would’ve already done it. Any change on any side of the timeline could change everything forever. It wouldn’t be able to be fixed. I could step on a bug near Alpha Centauri and wipe out Julius Casesar’s grandpa.”
His speech was becoming more and more frantic. He was hyperventilating. He had switched from wonderous excitement and was headed towards sheer terror

“You could collect solar rays that were reserved for the primoridal ooze that spawned life on this planet. WE COULD STEP ON A BUTTERFLY AND EVERYTHING WOULD BE SPELLED WRONG AND WE’D HAVE A DIFFERENT PRESIDENT WHILE DINOSAURS WITH SAMURAI SWORDS ATTACK CHICAGO AND ALL THAT WOULD BE HEARD IS THE SOUND OF THUNDER!”

Vinny finally caught his breath as he grabbed his knees and inhaled deeply. While at the same time Emma was left questioning why thunder had to be involved with anything. She tried once more to calm Vinny’s nerves for the night.

“We could choose not to change anything,” she said. “If such insignificant things could lead to such destruction then surely they’re not worth doing.”

“I’d change one thing.”

He was still grabbing his knees. His face was obscured by his mop of hair as he continued to suck the summer air into his lungs.

“I’d find a way to save your mother,” he continued. “I’d find a way so you’d be truly happy again.”

For the first time that night she knew exactly what to say.

“I’m already truly happy. As happy as necessary,” she declared. “There is no reason to launch an attack of samurai dinosaurs on my account. I have you. And everyone else I’m likely to need.”

Vinny finally looked up. He was smiling once more. It was a smile of relief. He didn’t have a time machine but he would’ve done what he had said. But he was glad that he didn’t have to.

“Hey Emma. How do you feel about parallel universes?”

Next up is a gift fic that I made for a friend that had a birthday on the exact same day. She’s one of my closest friends so my little sister and I collaborated on a project that’s heavily inspired by Super 8, her favorite movie so far this year, featuring characters she created.

(Art by Tessa Kleiner)

I Want To Be Well
by ~aerostarmonk

They usually never ate as a family. It wasn’t because they hated each other or anything of the sort, it was just something that didn’t happen often. Conflicting schedules, interests, tastes and a host of other factors tended to keep separate at meal time. Each person would provide dinner for themselves and that was that. The only one he ever really ate with was her and she wasn’t here. And that was the reason they were eating together tonight. It was the same reason they had eaten together every night for nearly a month.

He was exhausted with the whole thing. Everything that could be said about the situation had already been mentioned. There was really no use to trot out the subject every single night as if it may be mistaken for a different horse than the dead one it had already become. He had made up his mind, if it was brought up again tonight he would leave. That would be it. It was time to end this nonsense or else they’d never get the point.

He didn’t look at either of them as he continued to eat his dinner. The mashed potatoes were delicious as always. He hoped that he would be able to finish them before—

“Hector,” his mother said. “Are you alright?”

He took another bite of the potatoes without looking up. So far, so good. The question was vague enough to be about anything. She could’ve been asking about anything. It didn’t have to be about her…

“You just haven’t been the same since she—”

But it was. It was always about her. He pushed away his plate and got up from his chair. He wasn’t going to sit through this again. Not now. Not today. He could think of better things to do.

“I need to be excused,” he mumbled as he sulked away from the table.

“Hect–” his mother started.

“You know where I’ll be!” he called back to her.

He could hear his father’s voice faintly in the background as he left. It was the same forced consoling tone he had been using for the past few weeks. Normally Hector would’ve felt terrible acting in such a manner. But lately he couldn’t muster up such emotions anymore. Besides, they would distract him from his work. And there was much work to be done.

Editing was always the part of the process he hated. He loved shooting things, he loved watching things, but he hated cutting things. It was the most excruciating part of the entire deal. He would find himself hating things that he thought he’d love forever after being forced to re-watch them for the hundredth time. But it was essential and the reward always made it seem worth it. This was also the first time where he didn’t mind rewatching footage over and over again.
He flicked off the lights and started up the projector. He watched as a familiar scene began to unfold on the screen in front of him. This place had always been his fortress of solitude of sorts. He didn’t even let her in too often which made it strange that this was the only place he could “visit” her.

There she was. She hadn’t aged a day since when he had filmed her. He remembered how hard he tried to get a shot of her face and how she simply wouldn’t look at him. There was no sound synced with the film but he didn’t need it. He knew the dialogue by heart.

“Hey hey hey hey hey hey Nessa,” he whispered to himself.

The sullen face of an eight year old redhead looked up at him through the screen. She looked like she was seconds from bawling her eyes out. She seemed perplexed by the voice calling her name. For a second she was obscured from view by a passing nurse. But when she reappeared she was no less puzzled.

“How ya doin’?” he asked.

Her face screwed up into a mask of anger, disgust and sadness. She doesn’t say a word but her voice is heard loud and clear.

“Are you okay?” he continued.

His mother popped into the field of vision. Her expression was stern yet sad.

“C’mon Hector. Now’s not the time or the place,” she said.

“Butbutbut,” he stammered.

“Put the camera down,” she demanded.

"I need to capture this, " he begged. “This moment has to be on film.”

She shook her head and replied, “No. No, it doesn’t”

She placed her hand over the lens and the screen suddenly went dark.

As the reel ended he wondered why he chose that particular one to watch. It wasn’t his best work and it wasn’t his finest moment. But there was something raw about it. Something real. He had to put it in the film.

He loaded another reel into the projector and let another moment unspool before his eyes. This time there was sound. There would be no need for recitation to keep track of events.

The same redheaded girl appeared only quite a few years older and now sporting spectacles. She was grasping a fishing pole and sitting on a bench by a large body of water. Every few moments she would turn to look at the camera with a silly smile on her face.

“You’ll never catch anything that way,” she said.

“I’m catching plenty. I’m catching more than you,” Hector responded.

“Just you wait. I’ll be feasting on walleye tonight while you go hand empty-handed,” she laughed. “Maybe you can make a meal of celluloid.”

“Pfft. You have as much of a chance of catching a whale as you do any walleye,” he declared.

“I don’t fish for whales. Fishing for whales is illegal in Lake Erie.”

“Oh come on. Says who?” he inquired.

“Probably the same people who say that Bessie exists,” she answered.

“Bessie does exist. I’ve seen her. You’ve seen her. The entire family has seen her…” he replied.

Nessa seemed to go into a sort of trance as she stretched out her left arm and placed her right one on her chest.

“I’m not scared of you and you have no reason to be scared of me,” she said in an overly dramatic voice.

She then proceeded to let out a loud scream as she shook herself violently from side to side. She stopped abruptly and shot Hector a goofy smile.

“That was a damn good movie,” he stated quite matter-of-factly.

“Bessie Attacks had to be one of the worst by far!”

“Nuh uh. It was just underfunded. With better production values it would’ve been mint,” he argued.

“Mint? When did you start saying mi–”

The screen went black as heard the telltale sound of another spent reel wheeling madly around the projector.
He fumbled around for another reel to put in. The last one ended too soon. He didn’t care which one it was it just had to be something. He selected one at random and threaded it properly eagerly anticipating seeing her once more.

This time the scene was in black and white. This time Nessa was accompanied in the frame with a young man around the same age. She was a bit younger than she was in the last reel. He was dressed in 40s attire and trying his damndest to appear dashing. Nessa was wearing her usual hodgepodge of thrift store clothing. Her style was retro chic but her demeanor was fairly modern. The imagery seemed to clash with itself. Which was sort of the point.

“There is only one explanation for this,” the young man said. “I’ve died and have gone to some kind of hell.”

“Your notion of Hell is an odd one,” Nessa replied.

“What’s so odd about it? My prolonged befuddlement is clearly punishment for all the cases I shouldn’t have taken,” he explained " My lack of charisma the result of all the dames I shouldn’t have been involved with. And the speed of this infernal place is obviously life getting retribution because I never slowed down."

He wasn’t really adept at selling his lines. Then again the lines weren’t that great.

“Steven, you’re simply a man out of time. A relic still trying to tick away when it should’ve been put in a museum–”

“Relic? Museum?!” he exclaimed. “I’m not some washed up gumshoe. The more things change the more they stay the same. Sure a few attitudes may be different but human nature never evolves. I can get by. I simply have to adjust.”

"Wait. Hold it guys, " Hector said offscreen. “I didn’t put film in this camera.”

The young man turned to the camera and raised his hands in disbelief.

“Oh my GOD!” he shouted. “What do you mean you didn’t load the camera?!”

“I just think I forgot,” Hector responded apologetically.

“Why don’t you ever use something else?! They’ve got these new cameras now. Really awesome. They can record on microchips and video! You know things that people actually use in the 21st century.”

“It just doesn’t look the same,” Hector explained. “I want it to look real.”

“This is a neo-noir film about a PI who finds himself in the future after running through a tunnel!” the young man yelled. “That’s so stupidly real I can’t believe it’s not a documentary.”

“Not that real I meant. Video just has this ugly look to it. It just looks awful.”

“Filters in editing!”

“Those filters look terrible!”

“ARGH! I can’t believe you forgot to load the camera!”

“Oh wait!” Hector said excitedly. “I just remembered I did load the camera.”

“Hector, I swear to God when this is done I’m going to kill you.”

“Why wait?” Nessa chuckled.

“Yeah, I’m completely fine with that,” he agreed. “Just make sure the camera’s rolling. It’ll look good. Really real. Makes for decent production value. Alright. Places everyone!”

The camera bobbed up and down trying to reset its position from before. The young man took his place opposite Nessa and was ready to restart the scene just before Hector began to speak once more.

“Shoot!”

“What?” asked the young man?

“Don’t worry about it.”

“Whaaaaat?” the young man demanded inquisitively.

“It’s nothing,” he said while laughing sheepishly. “It’s just that we’re about to run out of film.”

“You know what? I’m going to kill you now. Right after the camera dies. I’m going to do it just to spite you.”

“You’re not going to shoot it on video, are you?”

“I didn’t pla—”

Once again the screen went dark. This time he wasn’t so quick to load another reel. He just wanted to sit and think for awhile.
His parents had finished dinner. He could tell because he could hear the blaring speakers of the television. He had been avoiding television lately. Not that he ever really watched it anyway. There was never anything on that he couldn’t do better in his opinion. But that wasn’t why he had stopped watching it in recent weeks. He didn’t even need to hear the muffled sounds clearly to know what was being said. He had heard it a thousand times before.

“—any information regarding the disappearance of Vanessa Sharp…”

He knew in his heart that he was working on his most emotionally powerful feature yet. It would be the magnum opus of his young life. The culmination of everything he had ever done since first picking up a camera. But he never wanted to finish it. Not now. He was hoping he wouldn’t have to. Not yet.

My newest story is short is set in a world where a new technology has revolutionized the way people get around. But as always there are some people are more reckless than others. There’s actually a bit of a larger world hinted at in this piece. Hopefully I will return to it in the future.

Jump
By Aero Nicholson

“You’re not being fair!” Chelsea whined

“I don’t even know this boy! Or his family!” her mother shouted.

“So what? That doesn’t mean he’s some pedophile out to kill me!”

“I don’t want you talking to him! Not anymore,” her mother demanded. “If I find out that you have you’re going to be in deep trouble!’

“WITCH!” yelled Chelsea.

“Chelsea Andrea Harper–” her mother began.

By then it was too late, Chelsea had already tore out of the kitchen and began to storm upstairs to her bedroom. She left a trail of destruction in her wake. Knocked over vases, fallen picture frames, flipped tables, nothing was spared.

How could she do this to me? thought Chelsea. She doesn’t even know Floyd.

That wasn’t completely true. Mrs. Harper did have some idea of Floyd Montgomery. She was certain he was nothing more than an Internet friend. Though very wary of the circumstances she had no problem with that sort of relationship. But when she had found out the rest…

Whatever, that wasn’t going to stop Chelsea. Everything was going to go according to plan. She just had to speed things up a bit. Well, more than a bit. A whole lot actually. But it shouldn’t be too much trouble. She knew Floyd would understand. She hadn’t much time though. She was sure her mother was probably calling the Montgomerys at that very moment.

Good, it’s still there, Chelsea thought.

She wasn’t sure why she thought it would be gone. It just seemed like something that would be logical. But there it was sitting in her closet, the MT-TPV 5100, looking as ugly as ever.

In her haste she had forgotten to close her door. She rushed towards it and slammed it as hard as she could. She was a lot less angry than before but she had to keep up appearances. She didn’t want to seem suspiscious. By the time her mother caught on to what was happening she’d be long gone. It would be even sooner if it weren’t for her stupid older brother. If only he had been more careful. Drag racing below 60%! Who does that?! She wasn’t going to risk anything below 80 herself.

She pulled out the 5100. Gosh, what an ugly thing. It was a harness with bucket straps. In other words it made her look like she was wearing a giant diaper with suspenders. If that wasn’t bad enough, she often walked around bowlegged whenever she had it on. Her classmates usually sported much more stylish models. Even her brother never had anything less than the deluxe wristband. Though that was the reason he had his accident in the first place. It was also the reason why she was stuck with this hideous thing. It was safer and much more reliable, even if it did make her look like a giant baby. The biggest problem was it would take longer for a scan to complete. If the Montgomerys heard from her mother before she hit the required percentage… She didn’t even want to think about it.

It was times like this one where she was glad that her mother made her organize her room. Otherwise she’d be untangling the straps for hours. But because she had neatly hung up the harness it was tangle-free, allowing her to slide right into it with ease.

She made sure each buckle was firmly in place. She double checked each buckle to make sure they were tightly fastened. Placing her right hand on the emergency brake which was tucked underneath the center strap she wondered why such things were built in. There wasn’t an occurrence of the use of such a thing in her memory. Not by her or anyone else she had known. She tugged on a cord that had a keypad and a gauge at the end of it.

It’s now or never, she thought.

Vancouver was a long way from Michigan. Hoping for 90% under 5 minutes was probably too much to ask, but she figured she should have a little faith anyway. She hoped the code hadn’t changed. Not that it would be that big of a deal. If it had been she’d simply be looped to the nearest transit center. That wouldn’t be so bad. But it would make things a bit more complicated.

Tapping in the requisite numbers she then glanced at the blue LED numbers on the gauge. A watched pot never boiled, or rather a watched gauge never rose. Still, knowing both of these adages she decided to continue to stare at it anyway.

5%. Wow! This was already going faster than she had imagined. She might just get in under 5 minutes after all.

I can risk a 90%, she thought. No big deal. If I have to I’ll jump at 90%

She heard footsteps at the bottom of the stairs. It was her mother. She might have to do this at just below 90. That was foolish, but what else could she do? Her plan would be ruined if she didn’t go tonight.

Just then she remembered a cheat. If you enter coordinates twice you get double the scan. People didn’t usually do it because most machines considered it an error. But thankfully hers was one that had this little loophole glitch to make such a thing possible. She hammered in the numbers once more popping the gauge from its current 20 to a full 40%. She was going to make it!

She had never really noticed the tingling that went along with a scan before. People had talked about it, but it had always been something that slipped her attention. She decided it was rather uncomfortable. Perhaps because of the double scan. The gauge was now clocking just over 70% and climbing. She could hear her mother getting closer.

“Chelsea!” her mother called

“Not now! I’m busy!” Chelsea said.

She had since forgotten she was supposed to be mad at the woman. Hopefully that wouldn’t give away what she was up to.

“Chelsea, I just want to talk,” said her mother. “I may have overreact–”

The doorknob began to rattle. Chelsea’ s mother had realized that the room was locked.

“What are you doing? Why is the door locked?”

“I’m in the bathroom!’ Chelsea replied.

“The bathroom is out here,” her mother said in a suspicious tone. “Open this door this instant, young lady!”

The lock wasn’t fool-proof, all it needed was a thin straight object rammed through a tiny hole on the other side to force it open. She could hear her mother scraping the outside of the knob with what was likely a bobby pin.

Chelsea looked down at the gauge. 85 percent! Good enough! She pulled on the cord with the keypad and gauge while simultaneously pressing a button mounted on the side. Her entire room turned a bright electric blue and proceeded to fall away at an accelerating rate. She had jumped!

This was her first long-distance jumps. She had never attempted one above 60 miles before. She had always been too scared to try. And to even risk it at 85% would’ve seemed sucidal to her at any other time. But she couldn’t think of a better reason to do it.

She could’ve sworn she lost quite a bit of her hair. That’s what one gets for not being cautious. A new look wasn’t that bad of a thing. She wanted to get rid of that ponytail anyway. And besides, at least it wasn’t a hand. Really, who jumps at below 60? Even for short range?

Jumping isn’t what one would call an altogether pleasant experience. It’s a bit like being human molasses being poured out for what seemed to be an eternity though it hardly ever lasted longer than a minute. Some people regarded it as the ultimate thrill ride. Though the thrill had dissipated over the years since it first began.
She could hear her gauge beeping. She was finally almost there. Meeting Floyd in person would be the a true joy. And then she could execute Phase 2 of her plan.

It had occurred to her that she had broken enough jump protocols to get her license revoked. She never checked for clearance, not to mention the double scan cheat. Reckless endangerment would only be the beginning of her charages if anyone ever found out what she did. But the ringing of the beep was alerting her she was home free. She wouldn’t have to worry at—

“Access to Montgomery residence denied!” said a cool computerized voice. “Re-routing to Downton Vancouver Transit Center.”

No! she thought. Everything was perfect. It can’t end like this!

Something was wrong. She should’ve hit the transit center by then. But instead she only felt herself accelerating. Faster and faster. She felt herself switch directions, back towards Floyd’s house. She began to panic.

It was a feedback loop. She had heard about them before. Botched jumps would end up stuck between destinations. Sometimes never to be heard from again. She didn’t mean to! This wasn’t what she wanted! She just wanted to be with Floyd and get out from under her strict parents! This wasn’t fair!

Her speed only increased the longer she stayed in the loop. She had to think of something and fast. If she didn’t who knew what could happen.

Emergency brake! she screamed inside her own head.

But she had never known anyone who had used it. She was terrified. She had no idea what would occur. But she had no choice. It was either that or possibly something worse. Her right hand squeezed the brake inside the central strap.

She could feel herself slowing down by the instant. Her pounding heart was starting to resume its normal rhythm. Only a few more seconds until she made her landing. But before that happened she blacked out completely.

A few moments later she awoke to find herself in what looked to be some sort of forest. Tall conifers surrounded her on all sides. There were no voices, computerized or otherwise, to tell her where she was. She looked down at her hand to see that she had somehow crushed the keypad. Some of the circuitry in the straps was smoking, no doubt fried out from the time spent in the loop.

Where am I? she thought.

Somehow she believed her day could’ve gone much better.