Captain Montgomery Abbott floated down the center of the funnel that coupled together the two rotating cylinders of Elbridge Station. Lieutenant Commander Laramore waited on the landing platform, standing stationary but appearing to slide sideways down the wall due to their differing inertial reference frames. Abbott was coming up on 30 years of service, but… Continue reading The Builders
Tag: Exoplanets
Blessings of the Arc
Zin Zidel awoke hot and sweaty, tangled in her swaddling robes. She pinned her feathery black hair atop her head and went digging through the cart's many trunks and baskets for something to busy her moaning stomach. She settled for tough jerky, though there weren't many choices left. "Smithlin Caust, do you never sleep?" she… Continue reading Blessings of the Arc
Absentia
Cade awoke beneath the clear dome of the transport. It was nighttime, but the blizzard held its own soft luminescence, vaguely purple. It felt like the storm was on the wrong side of a snow globe. He shifted in his seat, his leg sore from the prolonged nap in a strange position. "We're almost there,"… Continue reading Absentia
Prepared for Anything
The Cada's crescent outline still faintly glowed violet in the skies above Nova Aparanta as the lingering exotic matter decayed and fell away from the ship's shielded hull. Omari was among the survivors, looking down at unnamed continents and murky freshwater oceans, knowing their fates were chained to this unknown world as sure as the stars… Continue reading Prepared for Anything
Fate of the Denali
"Commander, this is Spatha Six." Horace stood alone on a grassy outcrop overlooking a calm river that curved to the south through brilliant grasslands. But there was tragedy here. "Go ahead, Six." "I've got something you'll want to see, ma'am. I think I found the main drive system." The quiet hum of radio noise shushed… Continue reading Fate of the Denali
Little Things
Luca sat alone on the sprawling bridge of the Lillehammer Forge, watching extra large snowflakes drift down onto the mining complex below. It hadn't snowed on Alcyone III in sixty years. It seemed fitting; nothing made sense anymore. The hatch hissed open and in walked Brantley carrying a giant fresh orange—it was the size of a… Continue reading Little Things
Fluke
Far away, in a galaxy which we have not yet catalogued, in a time we could call the present—though to do so would be at the midpoint of a span terminating at impractical at one end and meaningless at the other—there is a planet that we shall call Fluke. On planet Fluke, there are things… Continue reading Fluke
Professional Courtesy
"Captain Itsu to the cockpit, please." There was no acknowledgement, but moments later there were two klanks against the hatch. I buzzed him in. "Problem, Aviator?" I looked back over my shoulder, past the captain, at the squadron seated in the cabin, and then nodded at the co-pilot's chair. He made his aggravation known but… Continue reading Professional Courtesy
Blue Skies Ahead
Up ahead the sky was baby blue. Fortunately, between Karta and the sun were long white stretches of high cumulonimbus clouds with inflamed charcoal-filled underbellies. If she only looked up she could almost mistake it for Earth, as long as the clouds held out anyway. But the wind was picking up. It was supposed to… Continue reading Blue Skies Ahead
Human-Overkill Theory
You've probably heard the name Linda Beckman. Early twenty-second century visionary industrialist, world's first trillionaire. She made some unfortunate political alliances late in life that stained her reputation, but overall she did more good than bad. During the decades between her meteoric rise and her shameful final years, she spent her fortune and her energy… Continue reading Human-Overkill Theory
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