Another scribblage
This is something I produced for my creative writing class. It reminded me how bad I am at ending things.
"Dammit, dammit, dammit, DAMMIT!" Jasper kicked the box. There was an audible crunching sound from his left foot, and his language cranked up to eleven. "HOLY MOTHER-"
"What the hell are you doin' now, boy?" Frank stumped out of the little skyhopper and eyed Jasper as he hopped one-legged around the little box. "Kiss your momma with that mouth?"
Jasper gestured ferociously at the culprit box, while continuing to describe it in ever-more-unlikely detail. Frank frowned and squatted next to it. "Where this come from? It's Columbite, pre-Fenny."
"I know that! Whatcha think I was tryin' to get in the -------- thing for?"
Frank lost his balance in astonishment and sat down suddenly on the loose sand. "You was tryin' to open this?"
"That's what I said," Jasper growled. "Any ideas?"
"Uh, yeah- don't." Frank was dead serious now. "You got any idea what might be in there? Any notion what them Columbites stored in 'em?"
"Somethin' worth more'n' we earned the last 2 decades." Jasper snapped the words out, but the bite was gone from his voice. Frank was unnerved, and that unnerved Jasper.
Frank nodded slowly. "Could be, sure. Could be any number'f things. Columbites were some evil sons of bitches... some of the darkest tales I ever heard was about Columbite arties, an' what's inside. I'm thinkin' it's best you don't get it open."
"So what good is it to us?" Jasper demanded petulantly. "I know it's worth billions, at least!"
"Gotta get it to one of the inners. Terra, prolly, they got the tools to open these things safe... or know when not to open 'em. We'll take it to Terra. Price for an unknown arty's pretty good too."
"...billions?" Jasper hazarded hopefully.
"Millions, sure. Billions, maybe." Frank stood up with a grunt. "Get it in, an' I'll call the ship." Jasper nodded and stooped to pick it up.
"You know..." Frank had paused on the gangplank. "You didn't say where it come from."
Jasper shrugged. "When I come around to check the port 'stat, saw it right there on the ground."
Frank shook his head. "An' your first instinct was t'open it. Good thing I stopped ya first, eh?"
Jasper laughed. "Yeah... good thing..."
Frank vanished through the door, and Jasper went rigid, then flickered out. The Columbite soul animating the artifact knew a lost battle when it saw one- Frank would never try to open the seal, probably never even touch it. But it did at least have one new morsel to savor, and there would be other visitors. It wavered, as though seen through great heat, and dissolved back into the ancient planet-wide teleport network.