One Sentence Or Paragraph At A Time Story

[wayfriend]

Then Mallory put it all together - the shrieking demands, the cruel mockery, the penis envy, the mindless hate - and he knew that the countenance must be, in some way he did not yet understand, his ex-wife Cassandra.

[aTOMiC]

The thought filled Mallory with an anger he couldn't control in the same way that his underwear was filled with a steaming excrement it could no longer contain. He then subconsciously lashed out with his mind in an attempt to expel the mental and emotional construct of Cassandra that he had always kept hidden in the dark recesses of his primitive self, the forlorn animal that cried out in the darkness and howled with frustration at the seemingly unsolvable riddle of Mallory's own true identity. However every new attack produced a wild flash of red light that momentarily blinded Mallory. Again and again the light flashed brighter and brighter until there was nothing but the persistence of the light blanking out all other perceptions. Finally when he could not contain himself any longer Mallory screamed. He howled with all of his passion until he felt something suddenly burst and all at once he regained consciousness. Mallory awoke to find that the light was in fact a low oxygen warning indicator flashing within his armor's helmet, he breathed a sigh of relief but also inhaled the unmistakable scent of fresh urine and feces. "That's just terrific."

[wayfriend]

There was a large red button on his chest that said EVACUATE, but he had already done so, nevertheless he pushed it anyway, and the befouled power armor fell away from him like large pieces of befouled machinery tipping over, leaving him bewildered but smelly in an unknown section of the ship, which contained a large interstellar engine, for apparently the autopilot had brought him here for reasons which he failed to comprehend but which he could imagine all too easily.

[aTOMiC]

The very first thing Mallory did was search Southerland Castle's engine room for a lavatory which he found and used to clean and refresh his aft section as best he could. He then found a clean machinist mate's uniform and, once properly dressed, he discarded his soiled trousers in the nearest toxic waste containment chamber where they belonged. Something troubled Mallory, all along he felt the nagging sensation that unseen eyes were fixed upon him and he repeatedly scanned the immense chamber for any signs of life but found none. Mallory wondered what could have happened to the ship's crew, the subjects of King Daniel, the rank and file inhabitants of the castle that surely had to be somewhere on the ship. To try to answer this question Mallory went to one of the engineering command consoles and called up the internal sensors to try to locate the crew.
"Stop your grinnin and drop your linen, I've found 'em", Mallory exclaimed to no one in particular.
"It looks like all of them, over at the processing station sub-level 'C' under the south tower" he whispered.
"Looks like a goddam town meeting" he plagiarized.

[aTOMiC]

A quick aside.

I have renamed this thread "One Sentence Or One Paragraph At A Time Story".

It has become clear to me of late that it is increasingly difficult to complete one's thought, as it pertains to this story, without occasionally extending beyond the constraints of a single sentence.
The grammatical gymnastics we have been performing to contain our piece of the narrative to a single sentence is becoming entertaining in its own right however it does become tiresome after a time.

If any of you wish to go back and edit your posts so that they contain multiple sentences you are welcome to do so.

And now on with the story....

[wayfriend]

Whatever was going on, Mallory was sure of one thing, and that was that that gathering was a trap, and that the worst thing he could possibly do is go where all those people were, and so, now that he was familiar with the command console, and sure that there would be no more near-fatal interruptions caused by nearby personnel, he started to work out how to plot a new course for the spaceship-castle, because the dire destination that he had read on the bridge console, and had not forgotten through all those digressions, was "Tau Ceti Alpha Major Five Prime", which was known more prosaically as "The Planet of the Death Pirates", and not only did he think that going there was a bad idea, he didn't trust anyone who thought that going there was a good one -- and someone on this ship did!

[aTOMiC]

Mallory then set course for "Angelicus VII", which was anecdotally known as "The Planet of the Soft Kittens" which was also home to space pirates but they were slightly less bloodthirsty than the ones that called "Tau Ceti Alpha Major Five Prime" home. After double checking his navigation entry he discovered that he had made a slight error and accidentally entered the coordinates for Sol III, which was the most accursed planet in the universe and was colloquially referred to by some as "Earth". Mallory almost yelped aloud from fright and frantically re-entered the course, this time for Angelicus VII. Now all Mallory had to do was find some safe, out of the way location and wait out the fourteen hour flight to Angelicus but he still felt the strange, uncomfortable sensation that he wasn't alone. He searched a variety of lockers and cabinets and found a hand held, laser torch among the Engineering tools and toggled the power-up cycle which then began to fill the dimly lit chamber with a pulsating, blue glow. Mallory became increasingly nervous and when his agitation reached its peak he suddenly spun around convinced now that he was being watched.
"Away with your weapon, I mean you no harm. I am wondering. Why are you here?" A timid voice exclaimed.

[wayfriend]

"I suppose I used to know," replied Mallory sardonically, "something about my soul as I recall, but it's all become rather muddled," and then, feeling vaguely clever, he continued abruptly, "so why are you here?"

[aTOMiC]

Mallory could only make out a vague outline of the speaker, thanks to the dim lighting, but the voice sounded strangely familiar as if he'd heard it many times before but in a distant, otherworldly way. "Here is why I am. I am, because I am here." Mallory stood silently trying to understand how his question would have produced an answer of this kind.

[wayfriend]

Thinking, I really don't need another enigma right now, Mallory ignored the stupid voice while he reached back into the locker, grabbed a portable mining laser, hoisted it up on his shoulder, and headed off to the processing station on sub-level C, thinking grim thoughts.

[aTOMiC]

The voice implored Mallory to stop. "Go you must not! Rupture the cooling system you must not. Cause a core meltdown and kill us all you must not! To me you must listen. To me you must obey. Kill you I will. The power I have. Force my hand do not!"
Just then Mallory's left ear began to bleed. He slapped at the side of his face, spattering blood across his shoulder and the mining laser. He then held his bloody hand up into the light with a look of shock and surprise contorting his face.
"Proof I have given you. Mind what I have said. Only can..."
Furious, Mallory suddenly spun around and aimed the mining laser at the dark form of the speaker.
"Damn you! Shut...the truck...UUUUUUUUUUUUUUP!"

[wayfriend]

The dark form waved his hand (presumably, as it was too dark to see) and the laser flew from Mallory's hands and crashed with a very loud crashing sound somewhere in the room, and then the dark form waved another hand (presumably) and Mallory flew through the air and crashed with a very loud crashing sound in a different place in the room, and then the dark form waved his first hand again (presumably) and three coconuts fell from the somewhere up above Mallory and hit him in the head with three very loud bonking sounds, and then the dark form stepped into the light.

[aTOMiC]

Mallory was shocked. The man stood before him with wry smile on his bearded face. He had one hand on his hip and the other dangled at his side clenching a dark green crystal the size of his fist. He wore a lime-green leisure suit with purple pockets and large, yellow buttons. Upon his head sat a tangle of grey/orange hair that looked suspiciously like a toupee. On his feet were bright blue boots that appeared to be made of an animal skin of some kind. Sitting upon the man's shoulder was a bright teal parrot that cocked its head slightly as it fixed its left eye squarely on Mallory.
"So Mallory, you magnificent bastard, what are we going to do next?" The parrot squawked.

[wayfriend]

Mallory closed his eyes, let his head fall forward, and tried to act like he was unconscious.

[aTOMiC]

Candle Wickingham grew up in Hulland Ward near Derbyshire U.K. on Earth. On his fifteenth birthday Candle left his parents, Darby and Chessie, and headed out into the world to make his fortune. After only an hour walking along the A517 highway, Candle was abducted by an alien, off-world conscription team who immediately put him to work mining sorothene on one of the less hospitable moons of Trent-Garner IV. Candle found the work and the local night-life unbearable so he sold his tongue to a Shiari merchant named Glosht for passage to Tantara V and hopefully a better life. Candle lived aboard Closht's transport ship, The Cate, for eleven years and befriended a mutated Parrot named Timmy who eventually learned to speak on Candle's behalf. After a long journey filled with interesting and exciting adventures Candle and Timmy found themselves guests of King Daniel of the Southland Realm and due to circumstances beyond their control they were now confronted with strange and bizarre circumstances as Timmy had once been a human female named Cassandra and was now looking at her long, lost ex-husband Mallory, contemplating the fact that the universe is a rather strange, small place after all.

[wayfriend]

Mallory made his best "Z z z" noise.

[aTOMiC]

Candle snapped his fingers several times, unable to get Mallory's attention. "Really?" Timmy sighed. "You haven't changed a bit, Mallory. You are still the same unforgivable ass-basket you've always been. I've tried a dozen different ways to let you know I'm here, without freaking you out, but I guess there's no way around it." Timmy paused and flapped her wings. "I'm a parrot."
Mallory continued to pretend to be asleep but eventually couldn't help squinting one eye open enough to get a glimpse of the pair.
"I suppose you don't want to know that this ship will never reach the destination you chose. Its going to explode in less than three hours." Timmy smirked. "All of the crew and passengers are in hiding. Seems the great King Daniel is the worst kind of sniveling coward. He has the means to save himself, his people and this ship but he's too terrified to act. We have to persuade him to make an admitted painful sacrifice for the greater good." Timmy waited for some sign that Mallory was listening but then continued anyway. "The only way this ship can be saved is if King Daniel calls for help from...Queen Deathbitch!"

[wayfriend]

Mallory pretended to roll over in his sleep, and while doing so, he pretended to mumble "... you're the deathbitch ..." in his sleep, and, once this had been completed, he pretended to settle into a deeper, more satisfying sleep, the kind where you couldn't hear anyone pestering you - but internally his mind was spinning, making plans and discarding them.

[aTOMiC]

Mallory mulled over the facts of his predicament over and over, trying to make some sense of the disjointed and seemingly un related events and actions that had taken place over the last few days. He knew Cassandra was not a parrot. However he also knew King Daniel to be an abject coward and would indeed rather die helplessly than act on the behalf of his subjects or himself if it required something as outrageous as asking his Queen for help.
There was something missing. Something that tied all of these threads together like a sweater made of spider webs and super glue. But what was it? What was he missing that would clarify the situation and give him the proper solution and course of action?
"Mallory... Mallory! Wake up Mallory. You are dreaming! Wake uuuup!"

[Khaliban]

Mallory hit the idiotic alarm clock. Why did he buy that personalized alarm clock in the first place? That joke got old the second day. He returned to pondering the recent events, looking for the thread. He saw it! Someone pursued him. Or some thing. Something intelligent inflicted these events on him, but who, or what, and how, and sometimes how much? Just then, the alarm clock rang out, "Mallory, get up! You'll be late for school! You'll be late for school, Mallory!" God, he hated that thing.