Hey, everyone. I was going to wait until Saturday to post this, but I decided to go ahead and post it now to give you all a taste of what's coming up. So, here it is - chapter 1 of Foo Story 2 (don't read this unless you read Foo Story 1, or it'll make no sense at all).

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Foo Story 2: The Planet of Secrets



Chapter 1: A Ruined Planet

Sonyk jumped up in bed, choking. It had been nearly a year since Fooruman had destroyed the earth’s atmosphere, and it was getting harder and harder to breathe. There had been several attempts since then to take Fooruman down, but nothing had come of it. Spotty had joined the resistance after Unfooruman’s tragic death, and he had proved useful in helping to locate Fooruman each time he moved to a new castle.

Sonyk looked at his computer. They’d done the math, and had developed a program to show the approximate date when it would no longer be possible to live on earth. Sonyk sighed deeply. “Only a month to go.” He hopped out of bed and looked out the window – pitch black, same as always. He walked slowly to the bathroom, stretched, and looked into the mirror. “Well,” he said, “time to decide the future of earth’s remaining population.”

**********

Sonyk looked around the conference table of the Global Technology Corp headquarters. There were only four other people there: Spotty, Faw, Coppertop (GTC’s resident scientist), and another scientist named Violet, who Sonyk hadn’t seen before.

Coppertop stood up and spoke. “Well, as you are all well aware, our calculations tell us that the earth will be expired in about twenty-seven days. I am very sorry to report that I’ve reworked the program and have learned that we really only have a bout a week to go.” Everyone in the room gasped in astonishment. Coppertop continued. “However, I believe I may have a solution. Recent studies show us that the planet Mercury could be suitable to sustain life. I’d like to propose that all of us, along with five females, move life to Mercury and attempt to start civilization anew.” Coppertop sat down calmly, as if the proposition she’d just made were nothing to be alarmed about.

Violet, who had been silent the entire time, stood up to speak his mind. “The idea of terra-forming a planet has already been suggested. What makes you think, Coppertop, that Mercury would be any different?”

Coppertop didn’t stand up to reply; she just looked calmly at Violet and spoke. “Remains of an ancient human civilization were recently discovered there. I’ve run countless simulations, and I am certain that we’d be able to live there. However, there IS some bad news as well – we also discovered a mysterious castle on the planet’s surface.”

Sonyk stood up immediately. “When I was working for Fooruman, I overheard him talking to Black Ninja about building a fortress on a foreign planet. Fooruman may be naïve, but he’s also smart – I wouldn’t be at all surprised if he planned to move to Mercury as well.”

Faw was quick to reply. “Obviously this is what needs to be done. However, how will we select the females to accompany us to Mercury?”

Sonyk was somehow angered by Faw’s question. “I propose that we don’t bring any females along. Everyone’s thinking it, I’m just saying it – we’ve all done the tests, and we all know that Mercury’s surface would not only sustain life, it would optimize it. I suggest that instead of bringing females along to continue the species ourselves, we should bring along several newborns of each sex.”

Coppertop nodded her head in agreement before standing up to speak. “Sounds good to me. All in favor?” Everyone in the room raised their hand. “Ok,” she said, “let’s get to work.”