{This ending is part of the Finish the Story Contest, the 29th contest so far. Click here to see the contest… The prompt was crafted by @f3nix this week... Two music pairs: "Peace and Tranquility" [1.] (A Hat in Time: Seal the Deal OST) and "Shine and Rise" [2.] (Ashley's records, WarioWare DIY).}

Banner done by @f3nix

The Prompt

[1.]

With the passage of time, the omnipresent buzz of the generators - and God knows what else in the bowels of that cathedral of circuits - had become like a second skin. Funny how the white noise coming from the racks was indifferent to him and could, at the same time, launch its messages in the most modulated and subtle of languages, in a perfect symbiosis. After months, Ethan was instantly aware when something in the monotonous chanting cracked, foretelling one of the increasingly frequent system errors. He was developing a third ear in place of a third eye.

He just smiled at the thought, his gaze fixed on the secondary pylons n. 6 and 11, the last still working in the experimental orbital station DDG-31/DD-936 Decatur, renamed "The Decaf".

Silence was a mute vowel screaming inside him. Always. React to the atrophic thinking. Dodge the anguish, sharp like the debris of that day. The slashed modules were like scenic elements for a cheap movie. All the modules except his one. Follow procedures, rituals, checklists. All this to not raise his gaze and stare, right in front of him, the hangover of so much pain.

Castaway. At some point, he had renamed the pylons Romeo & Juliet. For each orbital period, about 90 minutes, the two arms were almost touching each other. A fleeting kiss and again far away. From the beginning of the mission, he had liked to play the game of renaming equipment and modules with funny nicknames. He allowed himself a slow sigh.

The inclination of the station displayed the earth down there. He had promised never to look in that direction again but the mauve colour, so iridescent, so alive, so omnipresent, took him by surprise once again. He thought for a moment that it was.. beautiful.. and the remorse for that thought flooded him soon after. Ethan hid his face between his hands as the tears surfaced and many names knocked on his heart's door once again. Inside him, a spark of curiosity wondered if it was possible to locate one of the 19 towers between the mauve nanoparticles' clouds.

“Ethan, I suggest that you sleep in 30 minutes. I detect slightly high levels of cortisol, are…”

“Thank you. I was going right now, old scrap”. He replied to the metallic yet familiar voice through the speakers.

He suddenly suffocated all those idle musings, it was time to rest. According to Querquobad, tomorrow was going to be the day.

The ending by @theironfelix

[2.]

In his lovely stroll about the station, Ethan heard even more disturbances within the rhythmn. However, these were of a new kind of noise - yet he shrugged it off and decided to heed Querquobad, not even Querquobad minded it. So why should he? Perusing his thoughts in the empty hallways, cortisol climbed again as he remembered and couldn’t purge the memories of Earth. Querquobad radio’d:

“Cortisol levels escalating exponentially, pathologization is in progress. Joy gas now’s ejecting.”

“No!”

Yet Ethan collapsed to the floor, but not before feeling serenity and seeing three armed, armour-clad and gas-masked figures approach him. He saw the pirate insignia on their tricorne and the middle one with a radio speaking like Querquobad:

”Ejection successful.~”

Unknown amount of time later, he woke up tied to his bed. Twisting to the side, he saw through the glass door the pirates checking his lab. The rhythmn steady, they ran check after check on each pylon through simulation as he saw on the screen. Soon the actual Querquobad spoke:

“Unathorized access to shut down the lab.”

Ethan tried to scram outta the hogtie, but then he heard nano-blades unsheath. He twisted his head to see the infamous RN-1197, speaking robotically:

“So the suspect wakes up, the IUUP has placed yah under arrest for the construction of a WMD station.”

“I-I. No!”

“The Inter-Universal Union of Pirates decreed the fact that this station had been contracted and confirmed to be such through oure tests. We may be pirates, but we have an iota of integrity.”

“I was making a-“

“Not only that fact, but we’ve found out that yer fellow space crew were killed off one by one whence they betrayed the contract. Not by yah but by Querquobad - yet the memory had been pathologized. Anywho, interesting that the day the tests were supposed to run, Querquobad would’ve picked yah off by neurotoxin - we changed it in time for Joy Gas.”

“How did-did we even not-“

“The IUUP had decided not to press any charges, however we shall extensively interview yah and check how much the ego-psychology core of Querquobad had changed yah. Anyways, yer gonna help us shut this down - in fact here’s a gas-mask, yer gonna need it.”

With a walk of shame, Ethan walked to the command center and Querquobad commanded Ethan to activate the shut-down sequence. Yet he reached the center and input only one code: DEACTIVATE QUERQUOBAD - EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY. Querquobad went quiet, and then the pylons were uninstalled - they went quietly and collected all the necessary notes. Weeks later, the Space Force checked in on the station. All they found was pure darkness and on the screen they found markings of the IUUP and a Anti-WMD message inscribed:

“No one shall terrorize the masses and pass it off as a necessary evil. Either they are evil or necessary, never the same! Long live the Pirates!”

The station was decommissioned immediately and the event covered up, 2198 Anno Domini.

Cited posts:

@bananafish - "Finish the Story Contest: Week 29"

Cited images

@f3nix - "Official Storyteller banner"