The universe was as cold and as dark as it had ever been. Eras ticked by like years, and the years themselves, at any given time, went by numerical names that would have been gibberish to those forgotten creators of the human calendar. But as alien as it sounded, ten duotrigintillion years had passed since… Continue reading Priming the Cosmos
Tag: Black Holes
Noblest of Endeavors
Giants of light and hellfire swirled around Blair like lightning bugs caught in a twister. She couldn't rely on her vision at these speeds; relativity caused the universe to warp and flux around her little cocoon of spacetime in ways that weren't only unnatural to her earthborn eyes, but unnatural even to nature. Outside of… Continue reading Noblest of Endeavors
Return of the Maleficarum
As a young man, Rich Speyer thought he'd seen the last of the Maleficarum. At the time, he commanded the special joint task force responsible for the Sweep—the rounding up of the dissenters, the objectionists, the pacifists, the skulking members of the anti-party-party, and shuttling them off world to take their deviant ideas to the stars.… Continue reading Return of the Maleficarum
No Philosophers Aboard the Prism
"What do you know, Doc?" The small contingent of science-minded survivors loitered around the lower level of the observatory like dead leaves without a breeze to carry them. The other—the religious, and the despondent, and the most insufferable of them all, the indifferent—migrated around the gargantuan alien spaceship in endless, meaningless loops, passing the time… Continue reading No Philosophers Aboard the Prism
Garden of the Lightflowers
I missed home. I missed my garden. So I planted a new garden, right in the middle of everything in an unused emptiness. I added nutrients to make it fertile and put in scaffolding, a trellis of sorts, to give it structure. I love my new garden. I grow lightflowers—uninspired, I know. No braided vines… Continue reading Garden of the Lightflowers
