Larice.

You’re a Starman. Just a run of the mill Starman. You were made to serve. You carry out orders and never ask questions.

You have friends, though most have been stationed elsewhere and it’s impossible to keep up. You remember them very fondly, and the ones you have right now you hold very dearly. You like to play GemThieves with them in whatever spare time you can get. You’re the undisputed champion of that game.

You were around even before the Earth war. You saw the red capped one wander the land, baseball bat in hand, with the friends he had made. You’re lucky he didn’t attack you.

You were made to serve Giegue. You weren’t supposed to question anything he did, but you can’t help but wonder… if something’s wrong.

You’ve met the new guy. He’s one of Giegue’s species, transferred to the mothership, he says. He tells you that Giegue’s gone starboard… right, that is. You were never good with the ship’s terminology. After listening to the ship’s computer whirr, you try to find Giegue.

There’s a nagging fear in the back of your mind. Is this really the right thing to do? You’ve heard of Starmen who have tried to stop Giegue, tried to rebel… You didn’t want to end up like that. But conditions have been getting worse aboard the mothership, you’ve stated that before to your friends, and you want it fixed, somehow. If that means an attempt to stand up against Giegue, then so be it.

You find him. You approach him. You tell him that attacking Earth again isn’t what he should do. You tell him that you will not tolerate his ruthlessness, his rashness, his cruelty, any longer. Your programming tells you to stop, but quietly. Giegue glares at you. And it all happens so quickly. Before you can blink, it’s gone. Your emblem is gone. A deep gash now sits on you. Giegue is furious at you. He calls you another defective model. Just a glitch. You're just a glitch. You will be improved. You will not happen again.

This wasn’t where you were before.

Around you are other Starmen, all of which with gashes similar to the one that you now bear, scattered throughout the room. They stand, kneel over, as if in pain, one is slumped against the wall. They’re all shut off.

This is the deactivation unit.

But you’re alive. You’ve managed to reboot. Your weapon systems aren’t online, but you know how to fix that. You look down at the gash on your chest before making your way out of the room. You don’t want to come back.

You’ve repaired yourself, and your weapon systems are back online. It’s just as well they are when another Starman attacks you. You manage to beat him, but there are more. Just one look and everyone has turned your back on you.

Almost everyone. Your barrackmates, your friends, they still care about you. You’re never going to come back, you’re going to escape. They wish you luck, and they say their goodbyes. You’re going to miss them.

The shopkeep still welcomes you with open arms. You don’t understand why, but maybe he wants to rebel, too. It would certainly make sense - you’ve already met someone who would. But no one else takes kindly to you anymore.

The new commander has an upgrade reserved for you.You don’t understand why, but you take it anyway. And then there’s a bang. The whole ship shakes. Something’s hit the ship. You can’t go to the lower wing anymore. That’s where your friends are. You worry about them, but you can only go upward now.

The new commander is nice to you, even though you’re just a lowbie. He says you’re still needed. You don’t understand. He cleared up a path to the docking bay for you. The ship you take is a one-seater. You have never driven a ship before. The new commander tells you to go to Saturn and find a blue Mook. You don’t ask why. And already you’re off, flying away to Saturn. You do not land gracefully. At all.

Saturn is a strange place. You’ve never seen these kinds of creatures before. They have big noses and speak in a dialect you have trouble comprehending. You look around for Mooks. You don’t find a blue one, but you do find a white one. He almost attacks you, and you have to explain yourself. Once you do, he gives you half of what you need. Only half. How helpful. You look for the second half, and find it. One of the strange, big-nosed creatures helps you put the two pieces together. It makes an eraser of sorts. You thank the creature, then leave. You pass through a swamp, and find a red Mook. There’s a show about to start. You don’t understand, but you hurry into the crowd anyway. And there he is. There’s the blue Mook you've been looking for. There’s one of the big-nosed creatures and a UFO with him. You’re focusing on the Mook. You’re mesmerized by him. The music is good. It makes the show feel magical. You’ve never felt anything like this. You don’t know how to describe it, other than… good.

Colonel Saturn says that Alinivar and Zarbol are missing. Naturally, you’re worried. You help him look for them. You soon do, but it’s not good. Giegue is there. He’s talking to them. He attacks all of you. You cannot rival his power. You’re lucky you live.

Niiue tells you to go to the lake tower. You follow the colonel there, he knows where to go. At the top, you find a piece of the Apple. It speaks to all of you. But then he arrives. A human with a grey face. He fights you. He runs away with the Apple. To chase him, you all need a ship. You gather parts, and the others see just how bad of a pilot you are. Embarrassing. Elmadan helps you put the ship together. You are grateful. Now you can find the pieces of Apple.

Jupiter was something. Foppies- Fobbies? Whatever they are, they inhabit the planet. It was attacked by Starmen. Their leader, Captain Deepsea, you think is a showoff. And also a jerk. But you find a piece of Apple after you beat him, and it speaks to all of you. You don’t like the Apple’s prophecy - it’s too unhappy for you, but it speaks the truth. You have to accept that.

Mars.

Something about the planet feels familiar. You’re not sure how. You don’t like this feeling.

The planet is deserted. There’s no life. The cow bones speak, but they tell of past life. There’s no hope of current life here, is there?

You were right. You all found a database. All it has was one record, but it’s enough to send shivers through you.

You all soon find more. Your dread has only grown. The halls feel too familiar. The life here was under attack by extrasolar entities. They outmatched them by leagues.

The Cydonia supercomputer. You recognise it immediately. You remember where this is. This was your home. The extrasolar entities took you, your family, everyone, away. They changed you completely. There was nothing you could have done, and yet, it feels like it’s your fault.

And then the grey faced human appears just as you’re about to leave. You all run. You all can’t avoid him. He pulls out a remote. He presses a button. You lose control of yourself.

They are enemies of Lord Giegue.

You must destroy the enemy.

All hail the Transcending One.

Enemies… Enemies… Enemies…?

Crackle. Fizzle.

Rendering environment… Rendering environment…

Niiue will forgive you, right?

The world darkens around you. Everything goes black.

This place is unfamiliar. Light is shining through a window. None of this is normal. You don’t remember what happened last.

Niiue is happy, though. Everyone in the room is. You don’t know the other two Mooks and Zarbol’s friend very well, and you’ve never seen the other two Starmen, but they’re all happy.

You feel a little different. You’re not sure how you just noticed. You feel… freer. You don’t feel contained. You feel more powerful, but by no means are you bragging. You’re just trying to say the facts. You looked down at yourself. You’re a deep, deep blue, almost black, with a pink aura. You know what this means. And you remember what happened now. You apologise. Niiue tells you that it wasn’t your fault. He and the Starmen who were repairing you installed an override to make sure it won’t happen again. You are very, very thankful. Words cannot describe it.

Niiue panics while on the phone with the Applechasers the next day. Once he’s hung up, he needs you to come with him. You don’t understand, but you come along. It sounds important. You sneak into a purple building. You take out the guards silently. When the grey faced human calls for them, you and Niiue come instead. You’re going to rub the fact that you got repaired into the human’s face so hard. The grey faced human gets into an alien mech. You’ve never fought with this new form before this. Time to see what you can do. What you can now do is better than you ever could have imagined. The Applechasers are impressed, too.

Giegue arrives. Niiue tells you to get into the Phase Distorter. You waste no time getting in and teleporting away.

Where you end up is not pretty. You don’t want to describe it. Only two houses remained untouched in the madness that had enveloped the human town. And at the top of the hill, there’s a pink shell. You all go in. The world you arrive in is not what you expected. You all meet alternate versions of Zarbol, Alinivar, and Elmadan. There are others, but you don’t recognise them on a personal level.

You meet Niiue again. He’s only half there. You’re all in the future. 20 years, to be precise. Niiue had been waiting for you all. For so long. He felt nothing. And then, a surge of power. Evil power. It overwhelmed him. He makes a door for you to escape through. You return to the Phase Distorter and teleport again.

You arrive inside your ship. You’ve never been so happy to be aboard.

You said you wouldn’t be returning to the mothership, but here you are anyway.

It’s been infested with plantlife. Plantlife had no place on the mothership. Somebody is talking to you all over the loudspeaker. It’s not anyone you know. You’re scared of them.

The Starmen have been infested, too. Flowers bloom from their bodies and roots cover them. It makes you sick. You want to know what happened, but you also want to live unaware. You all keep moving forward, using the Reboot Orbs you’ve picked up across the solar system.

You’ve found yourself into the lower Starman wing. You begin to panic. You need to know. You rush ahead without the others, but they follow you. They’re concerned, but in your panic, you barely notice. You enter Barracks 3. And there, in the ruined room, you see them. Your old friends. They’re no longer the friendly Starmen you once knew. They’re infested. Just shells of their former selves. They don’t think anymore. The plant does that for them. They attack you. Your body freezes. You don’t want to fight them. You can’t bring yourself to. And once the others finish them off, you take a moment to mourn. You wish that moment could have been longer.

You watched everyone in the other world disappear. One by one, lights out. Some had already gone. You all soon return to the place you had met future Niiue. Four of the doors have been unlocked. They’ve got everyone’s names on them. Yours is red.

You don’t like what’s on the other side of your door. You arrive on the mothership, or at least, a replica of it. You know when this is. It’s the day before Giegue…

...lost himself.

You don’t want to relive these memories. You had suppressed them for a reason. But you have to. There’s no turning back. You can’t find the door. You can’t leave your mind. Not until you’ve faced Giegue again.

The halls remind you of Mars. There’s a curse on the door to Giegue that wasn’t there when it happened. A human girl was there, but disappeared before you could talk to her. Everyone here tells you thing you already know. You have to repeat them to yourself anyway. Nobody cares about a lowbie. Nobody cares about you. You’re with Giegue. Stop lying to yourself, lowbie. The only things you liked were your mind’s manifestation of PK Fire and the teddy bear. You especially like the teddy bear.

The fight didn’t go as expected. You find an Autotele 9000. It takes you to Magicant. But that’s where you alway were, wasn’t it? And there, on a pedestal, it was. It was your programming. It claimed you couldn’t beat it. It was part of you. And yet, you beat it anyway.

You barely made it out alive. Alinivar is still recovering his breathing, and Colonel Saturn is pacing in place now. You’ve never been happier to see the wasteland that the earth became.

Soon, Niiue and Giegue return, and the pink shell becomes no more than a pair of white limbs on a disc.

Giegue isn't what you’re used to seeing him like. He’s small. Wide eyed. Although he’s still shivering, he’s curious. Alinivar gives him a big smile. When Giegue comes to you, you welcome him to the crew. You tell him that although the people of the past won’t remember you all, you’ll still remember them. You tell him that maybe he’ll remember himself. You hope not. Giegue goes to Colonel Saturn, who expresses his pride in Giegue. Niiue gives him something, whether it counts as a second chance or not. And you all gather around to give him a proper welcome.

You never thought you would come this far. You’ve had fears that you would fail, but you’ve come past that. You’ve grown and learned so much. You’ve met so many people. You’ve made new friends.

You’re a Starman. But not just any Starman. You’re Larice.