was arguably even more shit than the Gralaks’, given that their role at this point was to obligingly get themselves
slaughtered.
Ross helped him fulfil his purpose with a single pulse from his rifle. He knew now that the marines were not his enemy, but
he didn’t really have the option to explain that to his wild-eyed assailant. Besides, he had just spotted where the largest
part of Bob had landed and he wanted a quick word before he died. It would be difficult to give the guy his full attention
while a battle-crazed but incompetent space marine was peppering his metal arse with implausibly intermittent bursts of machine-gun
fire, and it would be fair to say that the inconvenience of peremptorily ending up in a completely different part of the map
was not the thing that was worrying Ross most about getting killed. He would have to confess to a nagging worry that Bob might
be mistaken or deluded about the whole coming-back-to-life thing. Plus it hurt.
Bob, or what was left of him, wasn’t troubled by such doubts. His expression was one of irritation and embarrassment. His
head and torso were lying against a big rock, looking a lot like an action figure Ross had owned as a kid, after Megan got
hold of it during her ‘battlefield surgery’ phase; one she had arguably never grown out of. She was a consultant orthopaedic
surgeon now. He hadn’t seen her in months, and it suddenly occurred to him that he might never do so again.
‘Sorry about this,’ Bob said, rolling his eyes in self-reproach. It was like he’d shat himself or something.
‘Can’t be helped,’ suggested Ross.
‘I’ve not got long, and once I’m gone, don’t wait for me to catch up. But if you make contact with the Americans first, make
sure they know about me too.’
‘Definitely,’ Ross said. ‘If either one of us finds a way out ofhere, we come back for the other. I’ll get you back to your family: that’s a promise.’
Uncomfortable as he was with such rituals, Ross nonetheless felt this was probably the kind of moment when it was appropriate
for them to grip each other’s fists. Unfortunately, as Bob didn’t have one, it was moot. Then a second or so later it was
even mooter, Bob having snuffed it.
His body faded and disappeared: classic
Starfire
style. It was so that your computer didn’t get bogged down with needlessly drawing dozens of dead Gralaks during big fights.
In
Starfire 2
, the Gralaks were smarter but less plentiful, so when they died they lay there and visibly rotted, a feature Ross was grateful
not to see implemented here given that this Actual Reality version included smell.
Ross felt suddenly very bereft at Bob’s absence. He had only known the guy a few minutes, and under any normal circumstances,
there was every chance he’d have considered him a boring two-point-two-kids suburban stereotypical twat, but given that he
was the person Ross currently had most in common with in the entire universe, it would be underselling it to say he had felt
a bit of a connection.
He had also been genuinely moved by Bob’s love for his family. It had made Ross feel that he, too, couldn’t give in to despair
while he had a responsibility to Carol and their unborn child, as well as a responsibility to help this man get back home.
Putting aside the thought that this cast him in the role of the nobly self-sacrificing unmarried guy who in the audience’s
eyes is expendable to the greater cause of the family man, he gripped his gun and ventured onwards.
In truth, Ross had gone along with what Bob was saying in order to keep him on an even keel. He personally felt there was
little point in trying to contact the Americans. They were just blundering NPCs and their spaceships didn’t come from anywhere:
they just spawned in the sky and got shot down by the giant boabby-shaped blaster.
Then he remembered his own bullshit, offered to Bob to offset his panic:
we don’t know anything
slaughtered.
Ross helped him fulfil his purpose with a single pulse from his rifle. He knew now that the marines were not his enemy, but
he didn’t really have the option to explain that to his wild-eyed assailant. Besides, he had just spotted where the largest
part of Bob had landed and he wanted a quick word before he died. It would be difficult to give the guy his full attention
while a battle-crazed but incompetent space marine was peppering his metal arse with implausibly intermittent bursts of machine-gun
fire, and it would be fair to say that the inconvenience of peremptorily ending up in a completely different part of the map
was not the thing that was worrying Ross most about getting killed. He would have to confess to a nagging worry that Bob might
be mistaken or deluded about the whole coming-back-to-life thing. Plus it hurt.
Bob, or what was left of him, wasn’t troubled by such doubts. His expression was one of irritation and embarrassment. His
head and torso were lying against a big rock, looking a lot like an action figure Ross had owned as a kid, after Megan got
hold of it during her ‘battlefield surgery’ phase; one she had arguably never grown out of. She was a consultant orthopaedic
surgeon now. He hadn’t seen her in months, and it suddenly occurred to him that he might never do so again.
‘Sorry about this,’ Bob said, rolling his eyes in self-reproach. It was like he’d shat himself or something.
‘Can’t be helped,’ suggested Ross.
‘I’ve not got long, and once I’m gone, don’t wait for me to catch up. But if you make contact with the Americans first, make
sure they know about me too.’
‘Definitely,’ Ross said. ‘If either one of us finds a way out ofhere, we come back for the other. I’ll get you back to your family: that’s a promise.’
Uncomfortable as he was with such rituals, Ross nonetheless felt this was probably the kind of moment when it was appropriate
for them to grip each other’s fists. Unfortunately, as Bob didn’t have one, it was moot. Then a second or so later it was
even mooter, Bob having snuffed it.
His body faded and disappeared: classic
Starfire
style. It was so that your computer didn’t get bogged down with needlessly drawing dozens of dead Gralaks during big fights.
In
Starfire 2
, the Gralaks were smarter but less plentiful, so when they died they lay there and visibly rotted, a feature Ross was grateful
not to see implemented here given that this Actual Reality version included smell.
Ross felt suddenly very bereft at Bob’s absence. He had only known the guy a few minutes, and under any normal circumstances,
there was every chance he’d have considered him a boring two-point-two-kids suburban stereotypical twat, but given that he
was the person Ross currently had most in common with in the entire universe, it would be underselling it to say he had felt
a bit of a connection.
He had also been genuinely moved by Bob’s love for his family. It had made Ross feel that he, too, couldn’t give in to despair
while he had a responsibility to Carol and their unborn child, as well as a responsibility to help this man get back home.
Putting aside the thought that this cast him in the role of the nobly self-sacrificing unmarried guy who in the audience’s
eyes is expendable to the greater cause of the family man, he gripped his gun and ventured onwards.
In truth, Ross had gone along with what Bob was saying in order to keep him on an even keel. He personally felt there was
little point in trying to contact the Americans. They were just blundering NPCs and their spaceships didn’t come from anywhere:
they just spawned in the sky and got shot down by the giant boabby-shaped blaster.
Then he remembered his own bullshit, offered to Bob to offset his panic:
we don’t know anything
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