The Humanoids very first band practice with Ty
Let’s see, where were we?
Oh yeah. Leaving off from the last post, I was about to spend my first night on the ship.
I slept like a rock. Until I heard an obnoxious pounding on my bedroom’s door. “Thump! Thump! Thump!”.
”Okay okay I’m up!! Be right there."
I pulled up my worn out Wranglers and wobbled to the big steel door to my new sleeping quarters.
Thumper was at my doorstep, with what seemed to be way too much energy for the morning. Assuming it was morning. I really had no idea what time of the day it was.
”It’s time!” Thumper shrieked. His voice was unusually high. His voice didn’t sound natural, but his words were clear enough for me to make out what he was saying. No lip reading with this guy, as he appears to have no lips. Instead, where I imagined a mouth would be, below his large buggy eyes and small nostrils, he had these long, fringy tentacles that honestly look a something you’d see hanging from the arm of a fringed suede jacket. Bizarre.
“Time for what?” I asked.
”Band rehearsal!” he squealed. “I’ve been looking forward to this day for a longggggg time!”
“Can I at least score a cup of coffee and chief my first Lucky Strike before attempting to jump into a… band rehearsal?” I politely asked.
”Yeah yeah yeah! Make it quick, the gang is waiting in the Holosphere! Thumper exclaimed. “Coffee is on in the kitchen area. We don’t drink the stuff but Silver Lining knows exactly what you are addicted to so he set ya up real good! By the way, smoke in your room. If Glarzak sees you smoking in the main cabin… oh boy howdy. You may get zapped.”
“Great. Thanks…. Um… Thumper. I’ll meet ya in the Holosphere in 15 minutes.”
This was all a bit dreamlike. Maybe it was a dream. Part of me wanted to wake up right then and there… but the curiosity to see what this ‘Holosphere’ was, and to hear what this ‘band’ sounded like… it was too good to pass up.
After getting good and energized from what was shockingly one of the best cups of coffee I’d ever consumed, I wondered around the ship until I found what I assumed was the practice room. Behind the door, I could hear muffled sounds sort of reminiscent of music. It wasn’t pretty.
I pushed the big round green button aside the massive steel door and “zoooop!” the space opened up.
It was quite the sight. A surprisingly massive room with very high ceilings. I didn’t think the ship looked this tall from the outside. Curious. The room was full of instruments. Amplifiers. Microphones. Stacks of speakers. Racks upon racks of guitars, electric and acoustic.
“Welcome to The Holosphere!” trumpeted Glarzak. “This is perhaps my greeeaaaaatest invention. What do you think?”
“Well, you certainly have amassed an impressive lot of gear. Spared no expense, I see.” I replied. “What did you ‘invent’ exactly?”
”I invented The Holosphere technology!". Glarzak walked over to a panel on the wall that had all sorts of knobs and buttons and screens. “Watch this, and hold on to your boots!”.
He punched some things on the screen and twisted a few knobs and “whooosh!”, a mighty blast of wind swept through the space out of nowhere, and before my eyes the entire room had transformed.
It now appeared as if we were deep in a jungle, full of massive green plants, splashes of colorful foliage, waves of light playing of massive leaves. Even the air in the room felt different. Warmer. Wetter.
“This is a simulation. I turned the Holospehere into a jungle. I can turn it into many things. While it’s not fully real, it feels real. Go ahead, touch one of those plants.”
I ran my hand across a giant leaf, half the size of my body.
”Wow” I said. “I’ll be damned”.
Glarzak seemed pretty pleased at my amazement. He the loudly said, “Team! Assemble! Grab your instruments, we now have work to do! No time to waste! Ty, grab your weapon of choice.”
I picked up an old Gibson acoustic guitar. It was perfectly worn, a beautiful patina. I picked it up and played a few chords. It played like a dream.
I looked up and all the Humanoids were staring at me. Each behind their instrument. Glork on bass. Gary behind a drum kit. Glarzak holding a scary looking black electric guitar, but he was also surrounded by many synthesizers and guitar effects and other gadgets. Thumper has synthesizers. Many mini ones, a few larger ones. He also had this glowing pad with many square buttons. Never seen anything like it.
Silver Lining, the craft’s android, was sitting behind a pedal steel.
In the middle of the room was this contraption that had three long metal tubes that met high up in the room, and on the top was fastened a clear glass ball, with what looked like zaps of electricity moving around inside.
”What’s that… thing?” I asked as I scratched my chin.
”Glurpulator!” said Glork. It captures all the sound from our sessions. It’s an experiment. It may be one of the keys to saving your Universe down there. We’ll see!”
Huh. This just keeps getting weirder and weirder.
”Ty! Play us something. Something you’ve been working on, please.” says Gary. Gary seemed much milder then the rest of the gang. His voice was calm and comforting, even though it had an otherworldly quality to it.
“Ok, well this is a new one I’ve been twiddlin’ on”. I said.
I started strumming the Gibson, and a few chords in, started the first verse. Next thing I know, the drums drop in, and the bass, and some wonky synth sounds. Glarzak is making some weird sounds from his guitar. I keep going. We break into an instrumental peice, and Silver Lining starts working the pedal steel. This was sounding strange, but, I kind of like it. There was potential. It was rough. But, had a beauty to it.
We worked our way out the song, somehow. It wasn’t easy. Still, I said out loud “Hot damn. We may have something here.”
The Humanoids cheered. Well, all except Glarzak. He said very seriously “Not bad, Ty. Same time, everyday, we will meet here in the Holosphere. You pick the simulation theme tomorrow. I’m sure your human stomach must be aching for some food. Let’s get you breakfast then I’ll give you a tour of the rest of the ship.”
What an unusual day. And it only was just beginning.