Audition: A Massive Risk

Name: Vincent "Vince" Darren
Race: Human
Age: 38, but looks around the age of 14 due to him not being able to age.
Gender: Male
Personality: Very bright. Could be very outgoing and adventurous, but is often quiet and secluded. Likes exploring new places, and in some cases is willing to take very dangerous risks.
Appearance: Rather gaunt. Light gray eyes (used to be green), and very pale skin. He has close-cropped white hair (used to be black) and is dressed in a white Telalabs jumpsuit. There is a green chip on his temple, where his memories and thoughts from within his mind are stored.

History: Vince lives with his siblings Mitchell "Mitch" and Theanna "Thea" Darren. Vince was next door neighbor to his best friends William "Will" and Gibson Cline. Both families lived on a large colony on an even larger Earth-like planet; about triple the size of Earth. The colony is known by it's operators as Fitz, and is surrounded on all sides by machinery to mine the planet. Fitz is the largest and oldest colony on the planet, and it's people are very tight-knit and active. The planet is TID-13, one of the first to be colonized by the Dalerent-Telactera Federation (DAH-le-rent-tel-ACT-er-a), a faction of the human race that left Earth to find prosperity in the galaxy. They are best known for the massive amount of mines erected on their colonies, used to extract minerals used for weaponry, ammunition, shelter, and even nutrition!

But one day, Gibson collapsed to the ground, completely lifeless and for no reason at all. Will invited Vince's family to Gibson's funeral, as Gibson was one of his best friends. As Vince, Mitch, Terry, and Will left the church, they were struck by a rare material known as neurite; this heavily disfiguring the four. Their skin went ivory white, their irises seemed to disappear, and their hair turned white as well. And above all that, they have acquired a life-changing power.

They awaken inside a very skilled and technologically advanced laboratory, known as Telactera Labs. Telactera Labs was owned and operated by Dale-Tela, and is the largest laboratory of it's kind. Telalabs, as it came to be truncated to, studied various space phenomena, as well as study the various minerals the federation has mined. In the lab environment, they were draped in pure white suits, that have patterns that are the color of the neurite inside of the four. Vince's neurite signals were a light shade of viridian, Mitch's were a reddish mauve, Thea's were orange, and Will's were black. Their codenames in the lab came to be Viridian, Mauve, Orange, and White, respectively.

Two decades earlier, a Telalabs emergency call shuttle probed the four, deep in a neurite-induced coma. While they were unconscious, Telalabs did many tests on them, and came to the conclusion that they were struck with neurite. The neurite completely rewritten how their bodies functioned. All of their organs were shut down, and blood wasn't flowing. A chunk of neurite, now dissolved into neuroxide, merged with their brains. Anything their brain thought, the neuroxide thought as well, except with one difference. The neuroxide-infused brain could send a purple-colored beam of accelerated neurite through a permanent scar in the host's right palm, and command it to do specific things based on different brain signals the neuroxide sends to the neurite. This was shocking news to workers in Telalabs, and they all rejoiced in celebration of the groundbreaking data.

As Vince, Mitch, Terry, and Will awaken, they are greeted by their supervisor, Dr. Sullivan Roderick, who tells them that they acquired an ability from the neurite. The ability is very similar to telekinesis, allowing them to send a beam of accelerated neurite to an object, and implying it isn't rigid or too heavy, could lift it.

Amazed at their new ability, they started training through a rigorous thirty-year testing exhibition assigned by Dr. Roderick, involving the four to work together by using their powers to move objects around in a way to let them get to the exit door. Vince tended to be very witty while testing, often finding multiple and more intricate solutions to each test more often than Mitch, Terry, or Will could. Out of the four grading sections, which are Speed (how fast the test is completed), Wit (how intricate the solution to the test is), Style (how impressively a test is completed), and Ability (how the subject's ability is used best), Vince scored highest in Wit, scored less on Ability and Speed, and scored lowest in Style. As Telalabs graded each subject's tests, lots of information about neurite and it's effects on Vince and his friends is gathered.

Vince also applied for a vehicle testing program in Telalabs, and has been taking lessons for four years, helping him become very experienced in operating land vehicles. When he was given lessons on manipulating a spaceship, he had a very hard time, doing mistakes in the ship simulation that would have gotten him killed in real life. He tried at the spaceship simulation several more times before quitting altogether, sticking to just land vehicles.

(This, although following it's original story, is mostly non-canonical and slightly adjusted to fit comfortably. Just to ask, do I get points taken off for that?)

Test Subject #10202456 - Prologue  (13+) The start of the telekinetic adventure story. #1934901 by William Fowlkes

To summarize, Vince is an obedient test subject, who has a lot of wit and good judgment, but is too adventurous for his own good.

INTRODUCTORY STORY: A MASSIVE RISK

I was surfing the feeds when I got the message.

I, Mitch, Thea, and Will were watching the newsfeeds together at home, on our giant entertainment center screen. After we were probed in by Telalabs, tons of information on the stuff we got struck with has been gathered, and nearly every channel aired something related to the iridescent mineral. News stories about us. Interviews of Telalabs staff. Even a cartoon about four kids traveling through space and gaining telekinetic powers. We were halfway through a reporter's rambling speech about the research gathered on the four of us until we were suddenly cut off, looking directly at the beaming face of a man. I had no idea who he was, and why he had to cut our newsfeed.

"The hell's going on here?" Mitch said in an annoyed whisper.

The man on the screen began to talk in a very excited voice. "Hello! I'm Ja Domumen!”

Everyone stared at the monitor, clearly not in the mood for something like this. After this Domumen guy talked to us about the race, most importantly what we could win, our newsfeeds went back to normal programming. We turned off the screen and began to discuss what happened.

"I am NOT going!” Thea yelled, face contorted in anger. "That guy can't be serious at all!"

"That's putting it mildly, Thea," Mitch replied. "He's probably gonna kill you instead of giving you that drill."

"Speaking of that drill, who knows if it could work?. Probably a gigantic hoax, perpetrated by some rich nut-job with money to burn." Will said, in the same annoyed tone as everyone else.

"I'm not going either, and Thea here doesn't seem to want to go. Don't wanna be dead meat." Mitch said, glancing at me with pale white eyes. "What about you, Vince? Will you tempt fate?"

I said the answer that stood on my tongue for quite a while. "I'm going, guys. For us."

Everyone stared at me. Thea broke the silence, screaming at the top of her lungs. "Are you joking? You'll die in seconds!

"That place... Basically a floating chrome hell in the void," Will mumbled to himself.

"Guys, I gotta get that drill thing. Dale-Tela would freak out if we could manage to obtain it. Even though winning is far from the equation," I explained.

Mitch nudged me. "You have a point. If you win, we'll be living like royalty for the rest of our lives. That is, if you win."

"I think I'll be with Mitch on this one," Thea said, calming down. "If you really are going to go, I hope you know what you are getting yourself into. It is still very possible to die, but if you win this race…”

Will still didn’t seem to buy it. "It's a massive bluff. The guy's really damn vague. Who knows, he might just kill anyone who en-"

"Will!" Mitch stopped Will. "He'll go by himself. He's taking the risk for all of us, so don't worry. We all have to be confident in him; he's the best guy we know."

Will finally seemed to calm down. "Alright then. I hope you don't end up like Gib here..."

I stood up, changed into my lab attire, and headed for the door, but Thea stopped me. "Wait a sec. Don’t you need a vehicle for the race?"

"I think I know.”

I made a mad dash for the spaceport, a credit card in hand to pay for a ride to Telalabs. Because I was a test subject at Telalabs, I received a minor income, which I saved up on my card. I had to spend some money on my now elderly parents; I feared for their safety. I have managed to save enough money to pay for the two-parsec ride to the laboratory. While on the ship, I stared out into the void of space, thinking about what I'll do if I won the race. After landing at the hangar, I high-tailed it over to Dr. Roderick's office, where he was visibly shocked by my sudden presence.

"What the-?! Viridian, why are you here so early? Your shift is in a-“

"I need something, Doctor."

Dr. Roderick's lips narrowed. "Alright. Come in, Viridian."

He took me to his cubicle, where I plopped on a chair in front of his desk.

"How could we at Telalabs service you?”

I told Roderick the entire story, trying not to leave a single detail out. Dr. Roderick nodded and shook his head as I carefully explained the events surrounding the Domumen guy..

"Wait. I got the exact same message earlier today..." Dr. Roderick said. picking up a clipboard as he reaches for the door. "I’ll talk with other staff members about this Domumen fellow. I’ll be back shortly.” Dr. Roderick then left the cubicle. For the next half hour, I heard muffled conversation between Roderick and other executives. Some people highly doubted me, and others wanted to push my skills to the max. They eventually got to one conclusion, as they abruptly stopped talking. The party then split, and Dr. Roderick re-entered the cubicle.
.
"Okay. I and other Telalabs staff members have come to a conclusion. You may enter this race and be given a vehicle under these conditions: any damage to the vehicle or any other piece of Telalabs equipment is paid for with your expenses, and that a share of the prize money, if there is any, must be given to us. We hired a pilot to transport you to the coordinates given to us by this Domumen. We will keep you here for some final screenings, to make sure you are in top condition for the race. Good luck, Viridian. We'll be rooting for you!"

I took a quick physical exam, to see if I was truly worthy of joining the race. It consisted of a redundant blood test, an injection of prototypical neuroxide, and an obstacle course on one of the testing vehicles. After Dr. Roderick finished screening me, I was then escorted to the hangar, where my vehicle was waiting.

I looked in awe at the powerful quad bike in front of me. The titanium alloy chassis gleamed in the bright light of the hangar. The Dale-Tela logo, two stars separated by a line, was being slapped on by a filthy-looking engineer. After attaching the sticker, he leaped off the bike to greet me with a greasy pat on the back.

"Heya, V. Wanna ride this bike in the race?" The engineer reeked of synthetically enhanced oil and nitromethane.

I tried to find my voice for a moment. "Uh, I assume."

"Well, it's yours," the engineer exclaimed exuberantly. "The crew instructed me to spare this one for ya, even though we had far better vehicles, claiming they didn't want them to be ruined after the race. Doesn't make this bike 'ere bad, no." He patted the bike with another, cleaner hand. "This is the TI-class Überquad, engineered to last. Top-of-the-line defenses. Anti-air weaponry. Keep ya toasty near absolute zero, cool above boiling point."

I nodded idly, admiring the amount of work put into the machine. The engineer looked back to me, showing his yellowed teeth. "We'll send the bike with ya along with a resume for any screening you need to do there," the engineer said, as if he read my mind. "Go in the active ship at the other end of the hangar. Your Überquad’ll be in there. Hope you win that race for us, V!”

I ran as fast as I could to the other end of the hangar, where I picked up a helmet, air tank, and air conditioner. I found the cargo ship the engineer told me about, and stepped towards the door to the hold. I saw a brief flash of red as a monitor scanned my retinal patterns, it giving the OK. The door opened with a soft metallic click, and I was allowed entry into the hold's darkened interior. I stuffed the air conditioner inside of a nostril, put on my helmet, and looked at the spacescape through the hold's lone window until sleep swallowed me.

I was slowly awakened by a buzzing noise. I noticed light filtering through the window, and shuffled groggily towards it. I was nearly blinded by the sight of the millions of metal wasps zipping to the space station. I caught a glimpse of Toby's silver surface, along with the many ships floating near it. After a while, we were now inside the station, and the pilot yelled, "Hey, get ready! We're here!"

The cargo doors then opened, the hold being flooded with light. I closed my eyes for a brief moment, and then stepped out of the ship. I took one last glance at the Überquad, and wandered around the space port. I spotted a green path leading to the reception desk, and started following it. I soon had to weave through many other participants, who muttered cusses in their own languages until I made it to the lobby, which was packed full. Weaving my way through the thick crowd, I got to the main desk, where Domumen stood with a stack of papers. The stoic man noticed me, and brought me over to his desk.

"Hmm... You seem to be that bo- er, person Dale-Tela told me about," Domumen said in that same, condescending tone I recognized from the message he broadcasted. "You were involved in the whole shebang with the neurite, right?" I nodded, keeping eye contact. "Well... I'll give you the application, but..." His voice trailed off. "You look... rather scrawny. You don't exactly seem fit to be in this race. Unsure if-"

By primal instinct, I telekinetically grabbed a clipboard on the far side of the desk, quickly dragged it in front of Domumen, and then sent it back to its resting position. "Watch it," I said, voice tense.

Domumen seemed unimpressed at first. "Huh. It seems you do have some kind of telepathy. Turns out you were actually infused with that mineral, instead of wearing an early Halloween costume. Anyway, may I see your résumé? You can wait over there while I survey it."

I found the resume in my jumpsuit's pocket, folded neatly. I unfolded it and handed it to the man, then walked towards the waiting room.

It was crammed with all sorts of people, many I could hardly recognize. I took an empty seat and killed some time until my name was called. I rushed back to the reception desk.

"You are qualified for a quick screening, as we doubt your physical attributes. Actually, I'll provide you with a riddle if you would. Complete it, and your bike’s qualified to enter."

Domumen ushered me to a room, where I stood at one edge and he stood at the other. There was no space between us, though there were various laser generators on both sides of the wall. Out of the corner of my eye I found some boxes.

"Good ol’ invisible lasers. No cigarettes here, so you’ll just have to guess. Oh yeah, they’ll kill you on contact.

I stared hard at the laser generators, trying to spot a way to get past them. One mess up could get me killed instantly. I thought about it for a while until the solution hit me. I picked up a box, a turquoise aura forming around it, and slammed it against one of the generators

The man kept silent while I solved the puzzle, but clapped as I stood in front of him. “You did it!"

I looked around the room. "Wait, what? Am I qualified to enter, o-"

"Yeah,” Domumen answered. “I thought that one was impossible, but you did it. Thanks to your amazing wit and cunning, you’re now qualified to join the race!”

I shrugged, knowing that there’s no turning back after this.