noprobllama (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
noprobllama) wrote2019-08-29 03:33 pm
noprobllama) wrote2019-08-29 03:33 pm
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Chapter 1: Rebel Planets
Not the most exciting update, just setting things up!
Meet Roketi. I came across his name by chance. It turns out that during the Space Race, some Samoans ended up being named "Roketi" ("Rocket"). This seems to be mentioned as a silly quirk of Samoan naming, but I personally think it's good and it was absolutely perfect for this particular Sim.
He was born in Sulani, where he spent his childhood. He was always a bit of a misfit, even though everyone loved him and tried to include him. He was just so shy, spending long hours by himself reading science fiction novels or trying to tune in on space launch broadcasts on the radio. Like everyone else on Sulani, he'd heard the stories of other Sims who'd come from far away, a long time ago, and arrived on Sulani. Also like everyone else, he resented the word "discovery" to talk about a place where Sims had been living for millenia. Those stories, and others like them, always made him wonder how far it was possible to travel even if your means were not the most technologically advanced. He'd stare at the horizon and dream about going to space.
The isolated farm was just the perfect place to bring his plan into fruition. Because Roketi had a plan. He knew that to become an astronautl, he'd have to pay his dues and climb the ranks of jobs at the space centre. He'd even become a janitor there. It was just that there was so much to learn, so many places to see, he couldn't wait for someone else to give him that chance. He fully intended to do as much work in space science as he could, even outside of work. Here he could do that and maintain some secrecy.
Plus, it was cheap.
Only one of the once-large farmhouse’s many rooms was usable, but Roketi didn’t mind. He didn’t have time to worry about those things. All his time was spent at work, working on his skills for work, or reading his science fiction books. This wasn’t his home, it was just a base to work from.
No matter how hard he worked, however, things weren’t easy for Roketi. He gave it his all and was probably the best janitor the space centre had ever had. He wasn’t very social but was well-liked; he’d even refused to rat out the astronauts when he suspected they were taking the space vehicles on joyrides. His performance was, by all accounts, excellent. And yet, he always seemed to stop short of getting promoted. Sometimes he worried he’d be mopping up hallways and cleaning vomit from space capsules for the rest of his life.
Then there were the downsides of living on an island with an active volcano. There were frequent earthquakes, and even though nobody ever seemed to panic, Roketi never got used to them. They always made him wonder whether the house would come crashing down.
There was also the flaming debris that fell on the farm whenever the volcano erupted. Sometimes things caught fire, and while other people would occasionally notice and run over to help, Roketi had to fight the flames on his own on a fair number of occasions. There was nothing less relaxing that coming home after a long day and having to put out fires.
But he wasn’t going to give up. He was determined to achieve his dreams. He got out his grandfather’s old woodworking table and set to improving his handiwork skills. He even took up boxing – athletics had never been his cup of tea, but he knew he had to be fit and healthy if he was going to become an astronaut.
His work eventually paid off, and he was finally promoted. Now he was doing assisting in repairs made to spacecraft and even being assigned his own repair projects.
(Woodworking while shirtless doesn't sound like the safest thing, but that's The Sims for you.)
Roketi was a true loner, but that didn’t mean he was alone. Everyone had been curious about his arrival and it was Duane Talla who finally managed to speak to him. He started regularly checking in on his strange, strange acquaintance who lived like a hermit and spent all his time doing who-knows-what. Roketi couldn’t help but like him, and they became good friends.
Of course, his peace couldn’t last. One day at work the team received some strange signals from extraterrestrials. They were supposed to be kept secret, but something about it didn’t sit right with Roketi. Who was going to benefit from all the secrecy? Shouldn’t regular Sims have the right to know? He leaked the information. Fortunately for him, there were only suspicions but no proof that he’d done it. He didn’t get fired, at least, be he did get demoted.
At least, Roketi still had his secret project. He’d spend entire nights working on it and it was his main preoccupation on his days off.
Slowly, it was starting to take shape. It was becoming real.
All his dedication paid off. In the end, he had a spaceship of his own. It wasn’t great and it was still somewhat dingy. It was probably a whole safety hazard. But at least he could travel to outer space now.
He was both afraid and excited when he stepped in for the first time. His calculations had been perfect and it should work, but he knew that even the best engineers could make mistakes sometimes.
It worked, and Roketi was off, flying even higher than the volcano’s crater.
He didn’t go very far on his first space trip, but it was a dream come true. He was full of wonder at all the things he saw. The planets! The stars! The aliens! There were many other Sims, too, which confirmed to him that not only were there more secret, official activities, but also an underground hobby of space exploration.
On this occasion, an alien asked him for help hiding some cargo. Roketi complied and feigned ignorance to the authorities. As a reward, he received a beautiful, enormous space rock. He’d think of the incident later, and why he’d made the choice he did. Something just seemed off about the fact that laws were enforced by Sims, and they were Sim laws, in that vastness of space with so many different life forms.
Soon after, he was promoted at work. Things were looking up!
But trouble was never far from Roketi. One particularly beautiful night, he was gazing at the stars. He’d always loved doing it and actually exploring space hadn’t diminished the fascination he'd always felt.
On his way inside, he was enveloped by a strange, bright light.
Just like that, he was gone. He didn’t remember his abduction very well and he kind of resented it. On the other hand, he did feel a little proud that aliens had thought him noteworthy and a perfect example of Simkind, who should be looked at more closely.
The next day, he had to call in sick and slept until mid-afternoon. He was exhausted.
Between his space journeys and his abduction, events at work no longer bothered Roketi as much. He could have quit if he wanted – he no longer needed it to go to space – but it was the only way to get paid for his passion, and rocket parts weren’t free.
He was busy upgrading his ship when he felt something weird for the first time. He’d been queasy since his abduction, and now he seemed to be putting on weight. It was like there was a weird feeling in his stomach all the time.
And then one day, he knew. He felt something moving in there. There was an alien lifeform growing inside him. Not like in the movies, where they burst out of your chest and kill you. No, this was different. Roketi wasn’t stupid and he could put the pieces together. He’d seen this happen before, with aunts and neighbour’s and the mothers of classmates.
He was pregnant.
Meet Roketi. I came across his name by chance. It turns out that during the Space Race, some Samoans ended up being named "Roketi" ("Rocket"). This seems to be mentioned as a silly quirk of Samoan naming, but I personally think it's good and it was absolutely perfect for this particular Sim.
He was born in Sulani, where he spent his childhood. He was always a bit of a misfit, even though everyone loved him and tried to include him. He was just so shy, spending long hours by himself reading science fiction novels or trying to tune in on space launch broadcasts on the radio. Like everyone else on Sulani, he'd heard the stories of other Sims who'd come from far away, a long time ago, and arrived on Sulani. Also like everyone else, he resented the word "discovery" to talk about a place where Sims had been living for millenia. Those stories, and others like them, always made him wonder how far it was possible to travel even if your means were not the most technologically advanced. He'd stare at the horizon and dream about going to space.
The isolated farm was just the perfect place to bring his plan into fruition. Because Roketi had a plan. He knew that to become an astronautl, he'd have to pay his dues and climb the ranks of jobs at the space centre. He'd even become a janitor there. It was just that there was so much to learn, so many places to see, he couldn't wait for someone else to give him that chance. He fully intended to do as much work in space science as he could, even outside of work. Here he could do that and maintain some secrecy.
Plus, it was cheap.
Only one of the once-large farmhouse’s many rooms was usable, but Roketi didn’t mind. He didn’t have time to worry about those things. All his time was spent at work, working on his skills for work, or reading his science fiction books. This wasn’t his home, it was just a base to work from.
No matter how hard he worked, however, things weren’t easy for Roketi. He gave it his all and was probably the best janitor the space centre had ever had. He wasn’t very social but was well-liked; he’d even refused to rat out the astronauts when he suspected they were taking the space vehicles on joyrides. His performance was, by all accounts, excellent. And yet, he always seemed to stop short of getting promoted. Sometimes he worried he’d be mopping up hallways and cleaning vomit from space capsules for the rest of his life.
Then there were the downsides of living on an island with an active volcano. There were frequent earthquakes, and even though nobody ever seemed to panic, Roketi never got used to them. They always made him wonder whether the house would come crashing down.
There was also the flaming debris that fell on the farm whenever the volcano erupted. Sometimes things caught fire, and while other people would occasionally notice and run over to help, Roketi had to fight the flames on his own on a fair number of occasions. There was nothing less relaxing that coming home after a long day and having to put out fires.
But he wasn’t going to give up. He was determined to achieve his dreams. He got out his grandfather’s old woodworking table and set to improving his handiwork skills. He even took up boxing – athletics had never been his cup of tea, but he knew he had to be fit and healthy if he was going to become an astronaut.
His work eventually paid off, and he was finally promoted. Now he was doing assisting in repairs made to spacecraft and even being assigned his own repair projects.
(Woodworking while shirtless doesn't sound like the safest thing, but that's The Sims for you.)
Roketi was a true loner, but that didn’t mean he was alone. Everyone had been curious about his arrival and it was Duane Talla who finally managed to speak to him. He started regularly checking in on his strange, strange acquaintance who lived like a hermit and spent all his time doing who-knows-what. Roketi couldn’t help but like him, and they became good friends.
Of course, his peace couldn’t last. One day at work the team received some strange signals from extraterrestrials. They were supposed to be kept secret, but something about it didn’t sit right with Roketi. Who was going to benefit from all the secrecy? Shouldn’t regular Sims have the right to know? He leaked the information. Fortunately for him, there were only suspicions but no proof that he’d done it. He didn’t get fired, at least, be he did get demoted.
At least, Roketi still had his secret project. He’d spend entire nights working on it and it was his main preoccupation on his days off.
Slowly, it was starting to take shape. It was becoming real.
All his dedication paid off. In the end, he had a spaceship of his own. It wasn’t great and it was still somewhat dingy. It was probably a whole safety hazard. But at least he could travel to outer space now.
He was both afraid and excited when he stepped in for the first time. His calculations had been perfect and it should work, but he knew that even the best engineers could make mistakes sometimes.
It worked, and Roketi was off, flying even higher than the volcano’s crater.
He didn’t go very far on his first space trip, but it was a dream come true. He was full of wonder at all the things he saw. The planets! The stars! The aliens! There were many other Sims, too, which confirmed to him that not only were there more secret, official activities, but also an underground hobby of space exploration.
On this occasion, an alien asked him for help hiding some cargo. Roketi complied and feigned ignorance to the authorities. As a reward, he received a beautiful, enormous space rock. He’d think of the incident later, and why he’d made the choice he did. Something just seemed off about the fact that laws were enforced by Sims, and they were Sim laws, in that vastness of space with so many different life forms.
Soon after, he was promoted at work. Things were looking up!
But trouble was never far from Roketi. One particularly beautiful night, he was gazing at the stars. He’d always loved doing it and actually exploring space hadn’t diminished the fascination he'd always felt.
On his way inside, he was enveloped by a strange, bright light.
Just like that, he was gone. He didn’t remember his abduction very well and he kind of resented it. On the other hand, he did feel a little proud that aliens had thought him noteworthy and a perfect example of Simkind, who should be looked at more closely.
The next day, he had to call in sick and slept until mid-afternoon. He was exhausted.
Between his space journeys and his abduction, events at work no longer bothered Roketi as much. He could have quit if he wanted – he no longer needed it to go to space – but it was the only way to get paid for his passion, and rocket parts weren’t free.
He was busy upgrading his ship when he felt something weird for the first time. He’d been queasy since his abduction, and now he seemed to be putting on weight. It was like there was a weird feeling in his stomach all the time.
And then one day, he knew. He felt something moving in there. There was an alien lifeform growing inside him. Not like in the movies, where they burst out of your chest and kill you. No, this was different. Roketi wasn’t stupid and he could put the pieces together. He’d seen this happen before, with aunts and neighbour’s and the mothers of classmates.
He was pregnant.