"Desmond, it's time for breakfast." He was completely engrossed in cataloging the root structures of the young bean sprouts he was growing, and he ignored the reminder. For a third time. A voice came over the intercom. Not the virtual assistant again, but the commander. Desmond couldn't ignore her. "Stop working and come eat." He… Continue reading Breakfast on Mars
Tag: Scientists
Paradox Resolved
The Milky Way rang like a bell, but only Kenza Ziani could hear it. The construction of the Resonance Stations had been her life's work—more than a life's work in some ways. Her brain was still her own with only minor alterations, but she'd regrown numerous new bodies around it through the long years. Twenty,… Continue reading Paradox Resolved
The Solovyova Object
The Second Cold War was colder than the first, the stakes higher, the players more numerous. But it picked up in the most memorable arena of the First: the Moon. NASA and JAXA maintained a joint science outpost in the Avogadro crater on the far side, and it was from there that Comet Calvillo-Ōtsuka-Folts was… Continue reading The Solovyova Object
False Flag on the Balena Assetata
Chief Petty Officer Brayden Sullivan hadn't been on a single straight-forward operation in his impressive career, and this was clearly not going to be the first. He went over it again in his head. He had plenty of time to think about it. He'd be freefalling from the mesosphere for more than five minutes. The… Continue reading False Flag on the Balena Assetata
The Day Without a Yesterday
It had been happening for a while. Well, technically it had been happening since the dawn of time—it was the Big Bang that got it started. It was nice that they figured out how it started. Would have been better if they'd figured out how to stop it. Way too late for that now. All… Continue reading The Day Without a Yesterday
Nothing Comes From Nothing
The tunnel walls were smooth as blown glass, hard as diamond, and cold as everything else in the empty depths between the stars. A brown marbling splintered across the cream-colored surface like veins. Jiten had never seen anything like it anywhere in the solar system, and he'd been to three rocky planets and a hundred… Continue reading Nothing Comes From Nothing
Unbound in the Shade
"Entering the Shade in 30 seconds," said Ecliptious, the Resolution's onboard AI. It was the smartest member of the crew—though they were all gifted scientists and explorers—even bound as it was. The risks of this mission were unknown, but the risks of an unbound AI were well understood. The mission proceeded, and Ecliptious remained bound. No… Continue reading Unbound in the Shade
Emerging Problems
Sander Hurr stood outside the locked hold watching the monitors and smoking a cigarette. He hadn't smoked in years—was it ten yet?—and he couldn't believe how hard it had become to find the damn things. Or how much they cost. They were selling them individually wrapped now, and for what used to get him a… Continue reading Emerging Problems
Don’t Touch
It looked like a house-sized tumor. It was a fleshy mass that twitched and oozed thick scarlet fluids and puffed out gases at intervals. The whole thing had a clear sheen like raw pork shoulder. The two scientists and their military escort were too amazed to retch at the otherwise disgusting glob that filled the… Continue reading Don’t Touch
Lux Apocrypha
Lieutenant Colonel Randall Jung watched alone from the observation spire of his command cruiser, the Fate Arisen, as the drop ships poured from the formation of carriers by the thousands. The starfield beyond was completely blotted out. To think, such an imposing show of force, and still it would not be enough. A million soldiers… Continue reading Lux Apocrypha
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