Captain Harlock Fanfic in Honor of Tawk-Loik-a-Pyrate-Day
The following is a excerpt from a short story I had written for a contest some six years ago, when I was working as a hotel night man. With soundtrack by Gilbert & Sullivan. :) WIVRNN stands for "Wetware Interactive Virtual Reality Neural Networking".
For a couple nights, I left my computer in its carrying bag. I was afraid not so much of the WIVRNN idea but of having it kick in at a inopportune time.
But once again, I was presented with a slow night...spent alone. It was about one-thirty A.M. when I started the computer. I looked in on Properties and tried to isolate as many of the "triggers" as I could. Finally, I was satisfied that only a conscious thought of my own--a story's title--would launch the WIVRNN program. Even then, I put in an "Are You Sure?" gate, so I wouldn't accidentally run the program if I were in conversation with my partner or some other employee or a guest.
At about "lunchtime", I decided to try it out in earnest. With the cursor clicking the icon, I thought Space Pirate Captain Harlock.
Are You Sure? it asked my mind.
Yes.
* * *
Somewhere among the dust and debris of the Solar System's asteroid belt orbits Leiji, a rocky midget planetoid. Known by this name as well as by other designations and names over the centuries, it is more notoriously known for being the haven for buccaneers of the high Seas of Stars...Pirate Island...the SSX Base! Deep under the cratered Leijian crust lie huge caverns, into which the Harlock and Oyama Pirate Knight clans have installed shipyards, biospheres and vast storehouses for their prizes and booty.
Captain's Log: after a month of hectic activity, Arcadia, healed of her wounds, appears ready to emerge from spacedock and resume her endless voyage.
As the doors to the bridge come open, the Tokargan condor mascot squawks "Captain on the Bridge! AWWWK!"
I do not ask for much discipline from my crew, but it is always gratifying to see them all acknowledge me as I take my post, my conning chair behind the helm. "Crew status?" I ask my First Officer.
"All stations are ready, Captain."
Oh, better far to live and die
Under the brave black flag I fly,
Than play a sanctimonious part
With a pirate head and a pirate heart.
"Navigator...Helmsman...Cast off and take us out!"
"Aye, Sir!" "Aye, Sir!" Their replies are followed by the routine chatter of all the bridge crew members going about their final pre-flight checks.
Away to the cheating world go you,
Where pirates all are well-to-do;
But I'll be true to the song I sing,
And live and die a Pirate King.
"Let's see what she's got in store for us today." I reach down to my holsters, Delameter pistol for the right hand, beam cutlass for the left. I must have checked them a dozen times this morning, but once more doesn't hurt. Then I straighten the front of my pitch black jumpsuit.
For I am a Pirate King!
And it is, it is a glorious thing
To be a Pirate King!
For I am a Pirate King!
Anchor chains and fueling lines and coolant lines drop to the floor of the space dock, one by one. Gantries retract away from the ship. The chamber fills with the sound of power as the huge engines begin to fire up.
You are! Hurrah for the Pirate King!
And it is, it is a glorious thing
To be a Pirate King.
It is! Hurrah for the Pirate King! Hurrah for the Pirate King!
A series of airlocks begin to open, a sequence that would clear the flightpath of Arcadia all the way out of the asteroid.
When I sally forth to seek my prey
I help myself in a royal way.
I sink a few more ships, it's true,
Than a well-bred monarch ought to do;
My Ship's Counselor offers me a glass of wine, but I refuse. After all, I'll toast my past comrades at Pluto in a little while and I know that after two glasses, I don't need a four hundred meter long starship to fly.
But many a king on a first-class throne,
If he wants to call his crown his own,
Must manage somehow to get through
More dirty work than e'er I do,
There is a lurch as the gravitic drives engage. Instantly, the ship lifts from the berth and the alighting gear retracts into the hull. Some of my crew give themselves a brief cheer as we clear the docks and proceed on our sojourn.
For I am a Pirate King!
And it is, it is a glorious thing
To be a Pirate King!
For I am a Pirate King!
In less than a minute, Arcadia emerges from Leiji. For a frightful aspect, nothing can beat a Death's Head the size of a baseball diamond gracing the bow. From our vantage point on the bridge, the vast panorama of the Sea of Stars opens around us.
You are! Hurrah for the Pirate King!
And it is, it is a glorious thing
To be a Pirate King.
It is! Hurrah for the Pirate King! Hurrah for the Pirate King!
Out there, all manner of adventures await us. There are villians to thrash and tyrannies to sunder. There are wrongs to right and evils to avenge. There are planets to explore, riches to plunder, futures to forge and wonders to discover.
I press the button on my console that raises the holographic Jolly Roger flag above the stern of my ship. It unfurls in a breeze blown solely by imagination. "Navigator--verify our true course."
"We are on the beam, sir!"
"Arcadia--Full Speed Ahead!"
FP
For a couple nights, I left my computer in its carrying bag. I was afraid not so much of the WIVRNN idea but of having it kick in at a inopportune time.
But once again, I was presented with a slow night...spent alone. It was about one-thirty A.M. when I started the computer. I looked in on Properties and tried to isolate as many of the "triggers" as I could. Finally, I was satisfied that only a conscious thought of my own--a story's title--would launch the WIVRNN program. Even then, I put in an "Are You Sure?" gate, so I wouldn't accidentally run the program if I were in conversation with my partner or some other employee or a guest.
At about "lunchtime", I decided to try it out in earnest. With the cursor clicking the icon, I thought Space Pirate Captain Harlock.
Are You Sure? it asked my mind.
Yes.
* * *
Somewhere among the dust and debris of the Solar System's asteroid belt orbits Leiji, a rocky midget planetoid. Known by this name as well as by other designations and names over the centuries, it is more notoriously known for being the haven for buccaneers of the high Seas of Stars...Pirate Island...the SSX Base! Deep under the cratered Leijian crust lie huge caverns, into which the Harlock and Oyama Pirate Knight clans have installed shipyards, biospheres and vast storehouses for their prizes and booty.
Captain's Log: after a month of hectic activity, Arcadia, healed of her wounds, appears ready to emerge from spacedock and resume her endless voyage.
As the doors to the bridge come open, the Tokargan condor mascot squawks "Captain on the Bridge! AWWWK!"
I do not ask for much discipline from my crew, but it is always gratifying to see them all acknowledge me as I take my post, my conning chair behind the helm. "Crew status?" I ask my First Officer.
"All stations are ready, Captain."
Oh, better far to live and die
Under the brave black flag I fly,
Than play a sanctimonious part
With a pirate head and a pirate heart.
"Navigator...Helmsman...Cast off and take us out!"
"Aye, Sir!" "Aye, Sir!" Their replies are followed by the routine chatter of all the bridge crew members going about their final pre-flight checks.
Away to the cheating world go you,
Where pirates all are well-to-do;
But I'll be true to the song I sing,
And live and die a Pirate King.
"Let's see what she's got in store for us today." I reach down to my holsters, Delameter pistol for the right hand, beam cutlass for the left. I must have checked them a dozen times this morning, but once more doesn't hurt. Then I straighten the front of my pitch black jumpsuit.
For I am a Pirate King!
And it is, it is a glorious thing
To be a Pirate King!
For I am a Pirate King!
Anchor chains and fueling lines and coolant lines drop to the floor of the space dock, one by one. Gantries retract away from the ship. The chamber fills with the sound of power as the huge engines begin to fire up.
You are! Hurrah for the Pirate King!
And it is, it is a glorious thing
To be a Pirate King.
It is! Hurrah for the Pirate King! Hurrah for the Pirate King!
A series of airlocks begin to open, a sequence that would clear the flightpath of Arcadia all the way out of the asteroid.
When I sally forth to seek my prey
I help myself in a royal way.
I sink a few more ships, it's true,
Than a well-bred monarch ought to do;
My Ship's Counselor offers me a glass of wine, but I refuse. After all, I'll toast my past comrades at Pluto in a little while and I know that after two glasses, I don't need a four hundred meter long starship to fly.
But many a king on a first-class throne,
If he wants to call his crown his own,
Must manage somehow to get through
More dirty work than e'er I do,
There is a lurch as the gravitic drives engage. Instantly, the ship lifts from the berth and the alighting gear retracts into the hull. Some of my crew give themselves a brief cheer as we clear the docks and proceed on our sojourn.
For I am a Pirate King!
And it is, it is a glorious thing
To be a Pirate King!
For I am a Pirate King!
In less than a minute, Arcadia emerges from Leiji. For a frightful aspect, nothing can beat a Death's Head the size of a baseball diamond gracing the bow. From our vantage point on the bridge, the vast panorama of the Sea of Stars opens around us.
You are! Hurrah for the Pirate King!
And it is, it is a glorious thing
To be a Pirate King.
It is! Hurrah for the Pirate King! Hurrah for the Pirate King!
Out there, all manner of adventures await us. There are villians to thrash and tyrannies to sunder. There are wrongs to right and evils to avenge. There are planets to explore, riches to plunder, futures to forge and wonders to discover.
I press the button on my console that raises the holographic Jolly Roger flag above the stern of my ship. It unfurls in a breeze blown solely by imagination. "Navigator--verify our true course."
"We are on the beam, sir!"
"Arcadia--Full Speed Ahead!"
FP