The Irangel | Prequel Story |

Chapter 1 ~ The Rich Girl

______________________________________

I shared the entirety of Tori's past
with the irangels.

Now I'm sharing it with you.

– Demian Daggers

______________________________________

________________

~ Początki, Poland ~

________________

Ambition. It drove her. Compelled her. Fueled her. Became her life; her ultimate demise.

Ever since she was a little girl, Tori Nichok had always wanted to fly. To explore the world and see it from a bird's eye view. To discover new places and meet new people. To soar beyond inconceivable limits. To go where no one ever went before.

She was a rambunctious child, wild at heart and as untamable as the wind. She lived in an affluent neighborhood. The house she grew up in was in a nice subdivision where there was always a crime watch even though crime never happened in that part of the neighborhood. It was like a storybook life right out of the Hallmark channel. Nothing was ever out of place in Tori's life; it was as perfect as a fresh cup of tea in the morning.

Her father, Arthur Nichok, was the CEO and overseer of the Aerospace Station Nieznane, and her mother, Nichok, was a financial advisor at Bank Polski. Their life was full of luxury and glamour. Tori was like the daughter of a rich aristocrat; she had everything she wanted and never lacked anything.

Growing up rich had its benefits as well as several disadvantages. Tori went to private school until one day she asked her parents to let her go to public school, just to see how it was like being around normal kids. That was the year her eyes opened.

Tori got to experience firsthand what it was like being around kids whose families weren't rich. Her lunches were stolen more than once. She was picked on for being rich and for having parents pick her up in a brand new expensive white Corvette instead of an old Ford or Toyota. She received jealous looks and glares from those who envied her.

But instead of cowering, Tori conquered. Besides getting straight A's and being the perfect student, Tori's challenging manner wasn't because she took martial arts classes. Bullies were no problem; she punched them right in the nose whenever they'd harass her, smashing one and injuring several others. Everybody quickly learned not to mess with her. Though she often ate lunch by herself, Tori was content being alone. She stood out from everyone, but she held herself high instead of trying to blend in.

Tori spent only one year at a public school before finishing her education at an esteemed private school. She attended the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and graduated with an MBA in Human Biology and Science Engineering, following in her father's footsteps. Her enthusiasm for science and passion for space, as well as exploring the unknown, were an aggressive force to be reckoned with.

When her father died in an accident five years after she graduated, Tori received a large amount of inheritance and was quickly promoted to chief executive second, one step away from becoming chief executive officer. The new CEO would later step down from his position once Tori got a powerful grip on the launch station.

Her father's inheritance left Tori super rich and able to live luxuriously for at least four decades. Nadja moved to Lithuania shortly after Arthur's death. Tori remained in Poland, working on taking her father's position someday.

Aerospace Station Nieznane was a space center located in Początki, Poland. It had the observatory, the launch station, spaceport, spaceship manufacturing, landing lots, and research center all in one place. It specialized in space exploration. Certain command centers kept track of the spaceships in orbit. So far, there were only two ships in orbit near planet Neptune. There was also a department that kept in contact with SETI's scientific searches for extraterrestrial life; that was the department Tori was working in before she became chief executive second.

Tori stood at the windows of the launch station, remembering how her father had taken her there when she was a little girl and how often they watched spaceships launch into space. They would also go stargazing at night, looking at stars and constellations through a telescope. They spent many hours talking about the possibilities of human life on other planets. Both Tori and her father firmly believed humans were not alone in the universe and that there were other humans on other planets.

"They're out there somewhere; they just haven't been found yet," Arthur told Tori, inspiring her to be the one to find them. She was hard and persistent in her work, analyzing every radio signal and studying every bit of information on habitable planets. She knew most of the galaxies and star systems by name, even assisting in naming some.

Now that she was chief executive second, Tori vowed to not only maintain her father's legacy at the Aerospace Station Nieznane, but also to be the one to discover humans or human-like lifeforms on other planets. She was determined to become the first person to not only find them, but also to see them in person.

________________

How to pronounce Początki
(poh-zhaht-kih)

________________

Music:

"Grenzenlos"
by Glasperlenspiel

(means Limitless in German)

"Echt"
by Glasperlenspiel

(means For real in German)

________________