Dookimon: The Inter-Terrestrial Volume 2

DOOKiMON:

‘The Inter-Terrestrial’ volume 2

By Chad Descoteaux

Copyright 2016

All the characters in this book are either fictional or the result of satirical cultural commentary.

(Read the first book in this series

THE INTER-TERRESTRIAL

at www.turtlerocketbooks.com)

PROLOGUE

The other eight planets in Earth’s solar system and a few of their moons are inhabited by space aliens that are all aware of each other. They have established travel between their worlds and share both technology and a connected economy. But, thanks to an age-old taboo, Earth was excluded from this interplanetary community for quite a few centuries. Their satellites were tampered with, so Earth scientists would have no solid evidence that surrounding planets even had life, let alone cities and civilizations.

This taboo mostly came about because of the primitive, slow-advancing nature of human technology, but also because human beings have wars amongst members of their own race. True, other planets have wars, but against other planets and moons who threaten their terrain. Fighting amongst one’s own people and destroying the land they share was seen as primitive and uncivilized while others saw no difference between warring against other countries or other worlds.

There were some (mostly science fiction writers) who theorized that the knowledge that humans are not alone in the universe would bring humanity together in an astounding way and help them to grow as a civilized species. This view was seen by many as absurd, until the year humans refer to as 2019 A.D., when an astounding discovery was made.

But the real story started twenty years prior, when a teenager from the planet Neptune, named Bloxnor, crash-landed on planet Earth. He lived among the humans, in disguise, for a few weeks before being rescued. This young man would grow up to be an important scientist and diplomat. He would have more success in challenging the human taboo than any other before him.

It is fairly common knowledge among scientists in our solar system that Neptunians have a rather impulsive survival trait, one that seems bizarre to other species. When a Neptunian male fears his life is being threatened, a chemical in the ‘treina’ part of his brain generates a unique kind of telekinetic energy that impregnates the nearest living organism with the Neptunian’s genetic code. When Bloxnor was on Earth, this happened to a human girl named Becky McGee, who gave birth to an inter-terrestrial child three months after Bloxnor was rescued from the planet by space junk dealers. This was the first time in centuries that a Neptunian had impregnated a non-Neptunian in this way and the first time in recorded history that it happened to a human.

Bloxnor spent the next twenty years after his rescue knowing he had an inter-terrestrial son on the planet, but could not go to him, thanks to laws set up by surrounding planets about landing on such a primitive world. When Bloxnor finally did establish contact with his son, the flawless merging of (always-respected) Neptunian DNA and human DNA proved to scientists across the solar system that humans were just like the other sentient beings in their section of the galaxy.

An effort was made by an interplanetary group of scientists called the U.S.G. (United Scientists Guild) to reach out to the leaders of planet Earth. This was Bloxnor’s opportunity to finally meet his now twenty-year-old son, who had been named Charlie by his human mother. On the day that numerous alien ships landed all over the world to meet with Earth leaders, Bloxnor’s ship landed in an open field, about a half-mile from the circus sideshow where his son grew up. Charlie, having a telepathy-sensitive brain like his father, sensed he was there and ran out to meet him.

Other USG scientists, representing many species, lined up alongside the ship so Charlie could see a small portion of the larger community he was about to become a part of. Then, a monumental thing happened, something that never happened before in the vast history of a thousand worlds, something that would change the solar system. An alien-human hybrid met his Neptunian father.

Out of all the scientists that were here to witness this reunion, the only other Neptunian besides Bloxnor was Dr. Tuklexa, a brilliant, twenty-year-old science prodigy who was the top genetics researcher on Neptune. As Bloxnor was standing on the ramp leading up to their ship, explaining to Charlie what was happening to the planet and where they and he had come from, Dr. Tuklexa was distracted by a noise coming from the surrounding woodland. It sounded like a creature in pain. Being an animal lover, her heart went out to this creature immediately, before she even saw him. She pushed her way through the brush and boldly trekked into the woods of this foreign planet.

It didn’t take long for her to find a wolf lying on the ground with its leg caught in a steel trap. This wolf was considerably larger than normal wolves. It was six feet long. But, not being from this planet, Tuklexa didn’t know how big a normal wolf was supposed to be, so she was not alarmed by his size. Her heart went out to this pained, furry Earth creature with blood soaking its leg fur. The wolf let out a growl and snapped at Tuklexa when she got too close. Tuklexa spoke some comforting words as she tried to get close enough to the wolf’s leg to loosen the trap.

It’s okay, buddy, she said in her mother tongue of Neptunian. You hurt your leg, huh? I’m gonna help you out of that, okay?

The giant wolf lost so much blood at this point that its bloodshot eyes got heavy. It collapsed a few seconds later, unconscious against the dirt beneath him. Tuklexa then got to work. She pried open the trap and hoisted the limp, six-foot tall wolf onto her shoulder, when she herself was only five foot eight. She carried it back towards the ship, displaying the high level of physical strength that is common for determined Neptunian females.

When Tuklexa got back, it was time for the ship to leave. Charlie had agreed to go with his father to the USG space station called ‘Phase Earth’, so Bloxnor was giving him a tour of the space craft that would take them there. Venusian plant man and respected scientist Dr. Rute Seedman was assigned to make sure all USG members were accounted for, so he was relieved to see Dr. Tuklexa walking towards him, carrying an Earth creature that was much bigger than her.

What is that? Rute asked.

Biology experiment, Tuklexa quipped, shamelessly lugging the bulky, shaggy visitor onto the ship.

CHAPTER ONE

RECRUITMENT

Mars.

Looking down at his sheet music from beneath his brimmed hat and strumming away at his guitar, a skilled Martian guitarist named Nebb Tuk sang his heart out. He was singing the blues in a dark, dingy bar called ‘The Red Sun Lamp’. This bar was in the middle of nowhere. Miles of red Martian desert surrounded it before a traveler could get to a city of any kind, so people came here to get away from their troubles, families, lives or a sad combination of the three.

Some of the bar patrons got louder the more they drank and others got quieter, staring blankly into their empty mugs. Nebb preferred the quiet ones, because he was passionate about his music and hoped to share his creative voice with whoever would listen. He didn’t like the idea of intoxicated drifters screaming over his art, especially since he used to be one of them.

Actually, he was worse off back then. He used harder substances. For a lot longer. But he was clean now. He was earning an honest living telling cautionary tales of his sordid past with his blues guitar. And he had a pure clarity of mind that was even sharper than before, because now his life had focus.

This evening was quieter than usual. At least at first. There were a few Martians sitting at the bar, drinking Mercurian beer and watching a bizarre, fascinating, action-packed show on a hologram TV. This show was broadcast from a cube-shaped space station orbiting the planet Uranus. It was an immensely popular show, a show that was broadcast on more than twenty different planets and inhabited moons and topped the ratings on all of them. It was a show on which those who were ‘genetically unique’, those who did not completely belong to any known sentient species, got to compete with one another in a wrestling ring or steel cage fight. It was called ‘Dookimon’, which meant ‘mutant battle’ in the native tongue of the Uranians.

As Nebb provided catchy background music, the vast majority of his audience was far too engrossed in the colorful characters and specific lingo of the Dookimon matches to pay him any mind. They reacted loudly when their favorite characters won a match, lost a match or were violently tossed out of the ring by another mutant.

‘Dookimon’ was not just a fighting or wrestling show. It was also rather heavily steeped in ancient Uranian mythology about the origin of the universe. The show always had these preachy voiceovers about how the combatants were balancing the forces of orgo and pi to defeat the true monastic power. While most just watched the show for the spectacle, die-hard fans knew the mythology and the lingo and would discuss it on whatever interplanetary social computer network they preferred.

The most popular character on this show, at least tonight, was a three-eyed, frog-like Jupiterian with red spikes down his back. All Jupiterians are green and frog-like. But thanks to exposure to radiation a few years back, this fighter was stronger, had spikes and one extra eye that contributed to his razor sharp reflexes. He also had a much longer, sturdier, more whip-like tongue than most Jupiterians. He used this tongue to swing from the rafters above him before attacking his opponent with his spiky webbed feet. His name was chanted by these bar patrons as they banged their mugs of beer against the bar. Their eyes were glued to the screen when this mutant frog-man bounced off the ropes while swinging his large, green, glove-covered fists.

POG! POG! POG! POG!

Fighting a mutant from one of Saturn’s moons who was made completely of ink, Pog was technically fighting two enemies, as this ink-based creature had the ability to split himself into two admittedly-weaker versions of himself. Pog had two mutants on either side of him, prepared to strike.

Ball, said the first.

Point, said the other. This mutant could speak, but only had the brain capacity to say his own name. His name was Ballpoint.

The crowd roared when both Ballpoints grabbed Pog and jumped on top of him. Pog swiftly knocked one of these creatures out with his elbow and lifted the second one over his head. He leapt to the top of the ropes with one of the ink creatures flailing its limbs wildly. The crowd got louder and louder as they anticipated Pog doing his signature fighting move.

Slammer! they shouted. Slammer! Slammer!

Pog tossed one Ballpoint from the ropes and when it hit the canvas that lined the bottom of the ring, the entire ring shook. The unconscious ink creature went airborne, flipping onto his stomach before landing again. Pog leapt off the top ropes and pinned the first Ballpoint to the mat for the obligatory three seconds with the creature’s arm twisted behind his back. The bell sounded and the Jupiterian mutant was declared the winner by the hovering robot referee.

"The winnerrrrr!" a voice shouted from the booming speakers above as a separate stage started to rise up from the ground, from the levels below the ring. And still Dookimon champion… Pog lifted his eyes to the crowd and threw both fists in the air as the Dookimon house band, a trio of mutant worms, started to play his theme song on the second stage. The POG!!!

The live crowd cheered even louder for the house band. They were jumping up and down to the beat of music that pounded thousands of ear drums. Laser effects illuminated the name of the band, which had been spray-painted on the back of the stage in many neon colors. These odd-looking, slithering musicians were known and beloved by Dookimon fans as ‘The Meal Worms’. As they played loud and hard, with stubby fingers protruding from their sleek bodies, the wind from large fans underneath the stage blew the tails of their bandanna eye masks in any and all directions.

The Red Sun bar patrons joined the live studio audience in their cheering, applause and hurling of random objects through glass. On the TV, Ballpoint touched the clone of himself that Pog had knocked unconscious. He absorbed the ink he was made of back into his body, gaining back a measure of strength that he had lost in the fight. Ballpoint! he said, nodding his head with frustration. Ball! Point!

In the bar, drunken Martian riff-raff celebrated Pog’s victory by hurling their beer bottles and mugs through mirrors and other glass objects. The frightened bartender took cover from the storm of exploding glass slivers under the bar itself. Two bouncers came over to handle the situation, which had clearly gotten out of hand, and started man-handling smelly Martian drunks.

At this point, Nebb had given up trying to sing loud enough to be heard over the shouting Dookimon fans. As the bartender and a few bouncers scrambled to get the rowdy crowd under control and clean up all the broken glass, Nebb sang his song at his normal volume because he was getting paid to do so. All the passion had been sucked out of his work and his art and it was now just a job for him. He even tried to boost his spirits, to amuse himself, by making up sillier lyrics for this song than the ones he had written originally.

"I drink lots of soda. It’s part of my life.

What would happen if soda machines came to life?

Grow arms and some wheels, to travel around.

The robots get angry, each other they pound."

Nobody cares, he thought in between chords. Nobody cares.

After his set was over, Nebb collected his money from the bar’s owner and headed out to his motorcycle. He was tired, so he rubbed the cat-like whiskers that all red-skinned Martians have on their faces with his hands, trying to wake himself up so it wouldn’t be too dangerous to drive home.

Around the corner, Nebb saw something that made his blood boil. There was a man, standing in back of the bar, someone Nebb recognized from his days as an addict. This was Nebb’s former dealer. He was a long, haired Martian man with a ponytail, a leather vest and a whole sleeve of tattoos. These tattoos featured symbols for ‘peace’ in the language and imagery of a dozen alien planets. This was Schlock. He was handing a vial of bubbly liquid to a teenaged Martian who had just handed him a roll of Martian money.

Angered, Nebb put his guitar on his bike and ran over to Schlock. Seeing Nebb charging at him, Schlock got scared and started running, clumsily stuffing the money into his vest pocket. Nebb swatted the drug vial out of the teenager’s hand as he ran by hard. The vial smashed against a nearby grate and the drug itself flowed into the sewers.

Dude! the teenager shouted at Nebb as Schlock continued to flee. The teenager watched in horror as the last of his party drug dripped into the sewers. Ah, crap, bruhhh!

Nebb caught up with the inebriated drug dealer on the other side of the bar. Schlock knew he was in trouble when Nebb yanked on his vest and pulled him back hard. Schlock could see the anger in Nebb’s eyes as he was slammed up against the brick wall behind