Book #2.5-Star Crossed

When I got to college I started messing around with short stories and didn't complete another novel until my senior year. I did, however, get 170 pages into a science fiction novel before abandoning it due to lack of interest (mine, I guess). I barely recall anything about it, really, except the main character had the kick ass name of Ratt Silver and he, a grumpy lonely arms dealer, was in charge of keeping his unwanted niece safe during the last catastrophic night of a major city located on the alien world of Arc. Got that? Arc was a desert world with blue sand and its sole major city was inhabited by four different races, including Trindles (from my first novel The Nebula Quest) and humans. It still seems like a cool idea when I think about it, though looking back at the writing, it's pretty dopey.

From Star-Crossed:

Indolence and a strange fascination with an unachievable Ideal weren’t the only reasons Ratt Silver had chosen the life of an arms dealer. Ratt could have found a less taxing occupation, had he been willing to sacrifice a little more of his personal freedom. No, his reason for dealing arms to the alarmingly high strung citizens of Illusion was simple one, a reason barren of any hidden, deeper causation. Dealing arms was, as one would suspect, a generally exciting occupation.

It did for Ratt something which was extremely rare; it made him feel awake.
Which he could use this morning, Ratt decided as he reached for a bottle on top of the fridge unit. The bottle felt heavy in his hand, although it was only made of shatterglass. Its top was missing, and had been for longer than he could remember. Pouring out two green capsules onto the palm of his hand, Ratt swallowed the caffeine pills without the aid of liquid.

He looked around the kitchen, waiting for the pills to take effect. He regarded the vacuum cupboards and the fridge, wondering if he was hungry. He wasn’t, he decided. He was just too tired.

Then it came, a surge of energy that made him tingle, his hands tremble slightly.
“Ahhh. What would I do with you, my little green friends?” He put the bottle back on top of the fridge, satisfied with the results of just two pills.

“Now, time to take on the world as I emerge a pillar of fire.” Ratt would have laughed at himself, had it not been so early.

“No,” he said, slapping his cheeks to sting some life into them, “More like a pillar of apathy.”

Ratt walked back through his living room and deactivated the energy field that encased his entry door. The energy field was a special addition to the apartment, an expensive precaution against unwanted laser and or explosive fire. It soaked up a lot of credits (the energy it required was insanely expensive) but it was worth it. It allowed him to sleep soundly.

At least when he didn’t dream of Her.

The energy field disengaged, the front door slid open quietly. Ratt whirled around and shouted at the room, as if it had just insulted him. The cube and the lights went dark, only the hum of the air filters could still be heard. Satisfied, Ratt left his apartment, raw caffeine propelling him along as it began to surge through his system.
The front door, sensing the Human’s departure, slid shut after him.