***
After dinner, Balph Bonzip took Nebb on a tour of the largely-automated space cube that he ran and operated. Only when Nebb saw some of the familiar mutant characters from the Dookimon TV show sparring with one another in a large arena did it truly sink it that he was on THE Dookimon space cube.
A creature with an insect-like body, pincers on his face and two muscular arms was sparring with the ooze-covered Ballpoint. This being had come from the laboratory of the same Saturnian scientist as Ballpoint, so he too could only say his name. “Earrrrrrwiiiiig!” the beast bellowed after throwing Ballpoint across the room with his pincers and a powerful flick of his neck. Ballpoint responded by hurling balls of ink from his fingertips that caused Earwig to lunge backwards to avoid them. “Earrrrrwig!”
“The radar systems on our satellite ships peruse the galaxy for those who are genetically unique,” explained Balph as Nebb watched the sparring match, laughing hard when Earwig found himself stuck to the floor with strings of sticky black goo. “And we give them a place to shine.”
“Earrrrrwiiiig!”
Nebb certainly appreciated having a place to shine, or at least stretch his wings. It had been years since he had a place to walk where he didn’t feel he had to cover up his wings under a shirt, wrapping them around his body in such a way that the muscles would easily get cramped. Now, with Balph’s permission, Nebb was walking around this ship with shirt off and his wings outstretched as he watched with wide-eyed wonder many unique mutant creatures. They had come from one alien species or the next, but they had become truly unique when their genes were mutated in some fashion, a lab experiment, an accident, harmful energy on a space mission. Their backstories created endless match-up possibilities for the show.
Nebb followed Balph through a long hallway with a series of picture windows on either side. Most of these windows allowed Nebb to watch Dookimon cast members, a rich array of diverse mutants, either sparring with each other or training. One window even allowed Nebb to watch a band practice that the Meal Worms were having. Fun-loving and gregarious drummer worm Haohmaru was greeting some female fans of his that had seen the show live, signing autographs for this interplanetary group of loyalists. Big brother, guitarist and lead singer Lau was tuning his guitar while the focused, intense, angry yet brilliant worm known as Scorpion was hard at work fixing a speaker that had malfunctioned. Scorpion took off his black eye mask, which had a skull painted on it and wiped his forehead of excess sweat as he continued to work on these wires and fuses.
Another window showed Nebb the cube central computer, also known as the ‘3C’ or ‘Cube Cubed’. It was a relatively smaller cube in the direct center of the cubed space station. It consisted of countless three-foot-wide computerized pods that were each responsible for a function of the larger space station. Everything from food preparation to the lights, environmental control, broadcasting, living quarters, service robots, you name it.
Nebb could only see two sides of this cube-shaped computer, but it went on for miles and miles, as far as the eye could see, one pod after another. Numerous tree trunk-sized wires came out of this cube as bolts of electricity wrapped around them, throwing sparks that were the same size as the spaceships that the Uranians used to recruit.
Nebb kept walking and listening to Balph explain all the benefits that cast members on Dookimon received. At this point, they had reached an enormous gift shop where people who came to the Dookimon space cube to be part of the studio audience could purchase souvenirs. There were T-shirts, mugs, action figures, posters and countless other items with either the Dookimon logo or a picture of a cast member streaking across it. Nebb frowned at the blatant commercialism that was apparent here, especially when he saw that the Meal Worms’ album ‘Coming Out of the Dirt’ was on sale in this gift shop as well. Even the prospect of a large platform where he could perform and sell his music was not enough to pique Nebb’s interest in becoming a cast member of Dookimon.
I can get my own record deal, Nebb thought. On my own planet. I don’t need to make a deal with these greedy butt-clowns.
Fortunately, Nebb did not call Balph and his business associates “butt clowns” out loud, but he did respectfully decline to join what he would later refer to as “a freak show with a pulse”.
“Yeah, sorry…” he complacently told Balph. “I don’t believe in shoving your crap in front of people’s noses, trying to force people to accept you. Bigots are stupid. They’re just gotta hate you anyway. Some people change, but I believe in just existing, man…not letting the haters mess with your inner peace.” Nebb thought about the wings behind him. Then why do I cover these bad boys up all the time? he thought. I must be a coward. “Anyway,” he continued to speak with Balph. “I appreciate what you’re trying to do for us here, cuz a lot of mutants have to take a lot of grief from ‘normies’ and can’t even make a living on their own planet, but this place just isn’t for me.”
Bowing respectfully, Balph Bonzip thanked the mutated Martian musician for his time and made arrangements for him to be taken back home to Mars.
***
When a mutant declines the offer of being a cast member on Dookimon, there are eight pods in the 3C known as the ‘specimen restoration units (SRU-01-SRU-08) who handle arrangements to have the specimen (Nebb, in this case) brought back to their home world. And they are activated by an ‘override card’ that one of the Uranian CEOs has to swipe into the computer system. Balph did just that, swiping the override card into the nearest port and sending commands to the ‘specimen restoration units’ in the central computer.
Today, it was SRU-01’s turn to shine. Proud of his opportunity to be useful to the system that he called home, SRU-01 sent many electronic impulses from his pod body to the other pods through metallic tentacles that were attached to the 3C. SRU-01 arranged for a chrome spaceship to fly out of the storage area, where it was hanging upside down with other ships just like it, to find Nebb again. This ship beamed the Martian onto it and brought him back to the parking lot behind the bar in the Martian desert where he was found. When the task was completed, SRU-01 felt a sense of accomplishment and contentment in the form of tingly electronic impulses that raced up his tentacles and into his pod.
Nebb went back to his normal life as a folk singer with an increased sense of pride in who he was. Even though he had dismissed Dookimon as being too ‘showy’ for him, being on the space cube inspired him to start performing with his shirt off, stretching his mutant wings proudly for all to see. He would even paint symbols and positive messages on his wings to spice up his act.
Weeks later, when a record producer just happened to wander into a bar where Nebb was performing (when his car broke down), it was this unique feature of Nebb Tuk that caused him to look twice. After hearing Nebb’s music and loving his “whole vibe”, the producer signed him to a record deal that made him one of the biggest music acts on Mars at the time.
Yes, whether directly or indirectly, Dookimon changes lives for people who feel that they are different and don’t have a place to fit in.
Stories from the same universe…
THE INTER-TERRESTRIAL and DOOKIMON: THE INTER-TERRESTRIAL volume 2
(now available on turtlerocketbooks.com)
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