The Earthloop Trilogy - S1E1
That's right, Nori Furukawa and Lax Morales are back, weirder than ever.
Edit: This story was originally published in June 2022 in anticipation of my first ComicCon appearance as an author/bookstore. I signed 46 copies of Who Built The Humans? and made a lot of new fans.
The Earthloop Trilogy launched on Kickstarter at ComicCon as well. It got 80% funded over the weekend before struggling to a halt when I relied on social media. I have since set out a plan for my next eleven books, including the earthloop trilogy, and plan to relaunch it on crowdfundr once the first book is 80% complete (because crowdfundr permits series-projects, meaning I could launch each earthloop book independently, getting it to you faster).
This episode is also available on Wattpad.
Even more preamble
(You can scroll past this, I won’t be upset. It’s here because some people find it interesting)
If you are already a fan of my work, you will know that the universe here first appeared in another book, ‘Who Built The Humans?’, and that it was presented as its own novella within the book. It was a complete, standalone piece that could (and probably should) have been printed on its own. But you know me, value for money and all. The Furukawa universe was a standalone piece in the collection that had hints of a deeper mythology. There were some purposeful spaces in dialogue, so it was up to the reader to choose if a character could be trusted. The enigmatic Lax Morales, for example, appeared in more chapters than you might first think. Only a handful of readers noticed the yellow-eyed audience member in ‘The Furukawa Device’ because Lax was only introduced afterwards. But that’s how time travel works. Sometimes you’ll miss something crucial because you are headed in the wrong direction. If you have Who Built The Humans? try reading the Furukawa Universe again, but backwards.
What was in 2020 an artistic tool used to deepen the story has now become a perfect opportunity for expansion. Almost as soon as I finished ‘Who Built The Humans?’ my mind was asking difficult questions: What happened to Darlene in the end? Did Krystal really die? Why was Nori’s campaign desk missing a drawer? I knew the answer to these before WBTH hit the printers, of course, and I have been careful not to spoil them in my communications thus far, but they will come up in Earthloop.
I would be lying if I told you I didn’t plan at least some of this in advance. There is, as always, a deeper lore behind it all. Nori’s universe is far too massive to fit in one book, and the time travel aspect that sees Lax loop back through history lends itself to a trilogy, each book focusing on another era of Lax Morales’ life as he overlaps with himself and tries to save Earth. I’ve also structured the books into episodes, so it is easier to pitch to television. Because that is my goal, and it will happen.
S1E1 PILOT
1947
The leather suitcase beneath Betty’s feet was cold and hard. She reached up to the bolt on the door and opened it. The door rattled slightly as the wind pressed against it. Betty removed the suitcase and opened the door slowly, peering out into the night alone.
The child walked out onto the sheltered wooden porch and turned to her right, watching the rocking chair carefully. Beyond the chair and the porch, the wheat fields rustled as if they were laughing. The little girl stepped down into the dirt, feeling the Earth’s coolness against her feet. She felt as if the world might open and eat her, but still she kept walking. She turned and headed into the desert, following the nagging voice behind her own that told her where to go and where to stop.
If there were coyotes or snakes here, they were not interested in her. The desert was unnaturally quiet. Even the sparse bushes were careful not to rustle, holding themselves tense against a ghostly breeze. Betty looked up at the stars for a moment, waiting for something.
The ship materialised in the distance, its triangular form looming as a black silhouette against the navy midnight sky. Betty was terrified, but her body moved automatically, dragging her onward. She walked underneath the floating thing and waited. After several long and cold minutes, three thin beams slipped down from its corners, each radiating a column of warmth and noise that overwhelmed Betty’s senses. The fear snapped her out of the trance now, but it was too late. The beams snapped inward, capturing her in white light. The rocks and dust and bugs around her were swept up into the beams. Betty’s feet left the Earth. She panicked, but it was over quickly. The three beams threw her helpless body into the underbelly of the starship. The aperture spiralled shut behind her, and her little body fell against a metal panel somewhere dark and warm. The air in here stank of decaying plants, and soon enough Betty slipped into a deep and endless sleep.
The next morning her brother and father scrambled to find her. They drove in manic spirals through the desert. Within the hour more people showed up to help, but despite the footprints that took them halfway into nowhere, Betty could not be found.
That evening Charles Bines fell to his knees in the dirt, cursing the sky. He showed police officers the drawings of spaceships little Betty had created, but they shook their heads and said pointless hollow things. Bill Bines, Betty’s older brother, demanded help from his superior officers. They searched through the night. But it was hopeless. Betty Bines was gone.
1950
A broken starship burned in the desert beyond the Bines’ farm. Something with six legs scrambled away from gunfire. The creature galloped into the darkness desperately, hoping to find a hiding place among the boulders and hills. But someone else had seen it. Now, as it scraped along a darkened highway, a light blue pickup truck blazed into view. Tyres screeched. The creature concentrated, shifting the colour of its eyes from a streetlamp yellow to a deep blue. It could see a weapon shaking in someone’s hand, sense the fear radiating from the pickup truck.
“Please,” the creature shouted in perfect English. It held two massive red arms at the sky, edging closer on crablike legs, scraping one limply across the tarmac. It had been shot. Nobody replied. The creature sensed deliberation from the vehicle, hoped the result would be positive. The gun was retracted in from the truck’s window. Now a human head bowed out, obscured by the intensity of the headlamps.
“What’s your name?” the human asked. The creature was taken aback by the question.
“My name is Lahkx. Please. They’re going to kill me!”
The air grew tense.
“My name is Lahkx. Please. They’re going to kill me!” the creature in the headlights shouted.
“I knew it! The one and only Lax Morales!” the human yelled. “Come on, we’ll take you somewhere safe!” the human shouted from the window. Its head retracted back into the vehicle. Again, it talked with an unknown companion, muttering something incomprehensible. Lahkx took a tentative step toward the pickup truck, struggling with his damaged leg. After a few seconds the truck door swung open. Lahkx flinched, and a human of average height stepped out, silhouetted by the headlamps, extending a nervous hand to the alien.
END
So that’s part of the pilot. After this there’s a flash forward to 2009, where three teenagers are chatting and laughing beside the Betty Bines memorial fountain. Officially Betty was never found, but that doesn’t mean she was never seen again. There are things in time that get erased, men who want fate to follow a certain path.
That is what this first book is about. Lax, our shapeshifting alien friend, is introduced right away so the reader knows what to expect. It only gets weirder from here.