Character Contest Entry

Gender: Male

Name: Otto von Hesch

Age: 37

Race: Human

Skills: Captain of a smuggling crew. He is a smooth criminal. Nothing can ever be pinned on him or his crew. He behaves himself in public and never gives a reason to have trouble with the law. He is treated almost as a celebrity by civilians. Hated by the government. Gangsters from across the galaxy use him to obtain and move items.



Introduction:



Otto sat on top of a pile of sacks filled with Rostrum, the key ingredient in many brews on Horvath. The clouds were moving in and he could smell rain in the air. He took a bite of the apple he was holding. Nice crisp, sweet apple. Rare these days, but he had come across a few during his last trip. The tastebuds in his mouth came alive with the long missed flavor from his childhood.



He had seen the boys looking at him from across the road before he had decided to sit down on the Rostrum sacks. They had been staring at him and whispering at each other, and then throwing him glances. Probably daring each other to come over and talk to him.



One, the smallest of the group, probably no older than nine, slowly walked over to him, looking back and forth, then back at his friends, avoiding eye contact with Otto. He stopped right in front of Otto, and put his hands behind his back, looking at his feet on the ground. Otto smiled and took another bite of his apple and then gave a short laugh, waitng for the youngster to speak his mind. After awhile of silence, Otto said, "Well, I'd best be gettin' movin'", and stood up.



"Uh, n-no, wait!"



Otto looked down at the boy with feigned surprise. "Oh, I didn't see ya there. What can I do for ya?"



The boy, staring with big wide eyes looked back toward his friends again, looking for reassurance. "Are you him?"



"Am I who?"



"You know, him?"



"And who would him be", asks Otto as he lowers one knee to the ground to look the kid in the eye.



The kid hesitates, looks to the ground, and then back up at Otto. "Otto. Otto von Mark."



Otto smiles. "Never heard of 'im. Who is he?"



"You've never heard of Otto von Hesch?! He's the most wanted man in the galaxy! He smuggles stuff in from all over the place for gangsters everywhere! Him and his crew get into crazy shootouts with the UGA (United Galaxy Administration) and Alien Armies! He's probably the coolest guy ever! You sure you've never heard of him?"



Otto tilts his head to the sky and takes another bite of his apple, putting on a look of deep concentration. "Hmmm. No, doesn't ring a bell. Why'd ya think he's me?"



"Well, you've got a pretty cool blaster on your belt. And I've heard he always wears a vest with grenades and stuff under it so that if gets into trouble, he can, like, disappear. And your wearing a vest. And he's got long hair like you, and a scar on his neck."



Otto turns his head to the side and reveals a long white scar that shadows his jawline. "See, I've got this scar here, but that's not really on my neck. So, I can't be him."



The kid turns back to his friends and shakes his head. The other boys start arguing amongst themselves about who was right and who was wrong. Otto laughs and, at that moment, he catches movement from the corner of his eye. He sees a man from the landing dock with four armed UGA Troops pointing in his direction. He knows it's trouble. He reaches up and keys the hidden radio in his vest pocket. "Rio, get ready to move."



The kid looks to where the troops are and then turns back to Otto. Otto looks at the kid and, smiling, says, "Hey kid, stay out of trouble, 'kay?"



Otto pulls his vest open and reaches inside. As he is trying to reach for something, the kid sees an array of grenades and what is a very rare, very illegal DIRK (Digital Image Recovery Key). The kid's mouth falls open in amazement. Otto finally takes out an apple and the DIRK. He tosses the apple to the kid, who bobbles it before catching it and turns it over in his hand to look at it.



"It's called an apple. Use to be pretty common on a planet in a different galaxy." Otto looks up to see the troops picking up the pace, and reaches in his vest again, this time pulling out a grenade. He flips a switch on the side and the word SMOKE lights up in yellow. He pulls the pin with his teeth and lobs it halfway between him and the troops, looks down at the kid and says, "See ya kid."



The kid turns around and looks at the smoke pouring over the road, the troops disappearing behind the thick cloud. As he is looking behind him, Otto is typing in the DIRK, and scrolls down on the selection menu until it reads, Plagaryth, the alien race that inhabits this world peacefully with humans. They are very short, rotund creatures covered in thick reddish brown fur, with large pointy ears and a big snout. He hits enter.



The kid turns back around and no one is behind him. All he sees is a Plagaryth walking into the tavern that the Rostrum sacks were sitting against, and a half eaten apple at his fit.









Word Count: 959