(Inspiration hits me at the damndest of times. I am currently fighting my way through a complete rewrite of a longer story, which has sucked up my time from working on the story I am posting to this blog. In the middle of its frustrations, setbacks and contemplation of launching myself into orbit, inspiration nailed me for something else. Just remember...I hate weddings.)
"Just who the Hell are YOU?"
Blinking rapidly, I attempted to ascertain where I was. Firstly, I appeared to be laying down. Secondly, the surface I found myself on was not comfortable. Thirdly, a wedding dress hanging over me stared in my face. Fourthly (Is that a word? Oh, it is now.) a rather angry brunette women fumed at me. Looking into her blue eyes, I smiled apologetically. "Dear me. I seem to have arrived in a most unusual fashion."
"Get off the table!"
Swinging hurriedly off the table at the scream, I stood, assessing my surroundings. Groaning, I realised I was in a wedding hall. Judging by the appearance of everything, a Terran wedding hall. A further groan issued when I noted it was early 21st century Terran, and the woman appeared in her early 20s. Terrible music during this period would soon assault my senses, if this woman before me did not.
Realising some form of explanation might be required, I smiled again. "Why hello there, Norville Kaden at your service. Terribly sorry for the unconventional entrance. I seem to have been blasted out of my nap to here."
Rounding on me, the women snapped, "You almost ruined my wedding dress! You made a mess of the whole table!" Eyes flashing in pure anger, she looked into me. Deciding for once to be charming, I said humbly, "Simply your servant Miss, and a mere mistake. Inspection-"
"Get out of here! OUT!"
Running for the nearest exit, I stopped only when a corner hid me from view. Panting and checking for holes, I frowned in thought. Somehow, something yanked me out a rather comfy chair, dropping me on a rather uncomfy table. Shaking aside the thoughts of how rude, I pondered as I walked.
Flicking my wrist, the temporal locator popped out. My initial assessment held true: Earth, November 2011, Fremantle, Western Australia. Odd place, I mused, to find oneself tossed in, especially the bit about the wedding. More thoughts followed a trip over a trash bin into flowers. Dusting myself off, I strode purposely, mindful of the glances of onlookers.
Two hours, three detours, one loss for words and four old people mistaking me for someone's grandson later, I arrived at lodging. Eating in record time, I threw myself at the bed. Bouncing on it, I let the motion jar my thoughts. When that failed, I stared straight into the ceiling for a count.
In my era, temporal travel represented a well documented phenomena. Working for a time agency, traveling through time was nothing new to me. Occupation it happened to be, this represented an amusingly frightening first: uncontrolled temporal shift.
For the 20th time I attempted shunting myself back to my own time, and for the 20th time failed. Cursing, the same answer read out in my brain. Some force was blocking me from achieving temporal shift, yet for some unfathomable reason I appeared here. The growling accomplished little, except to remind me of a cartoon from circa this period.
Waking up in a heap on the floor, I winced from my rather painful choice of sleeping positions. Stumbling about, I managed to shower. Banging my head on the shower, I reflected about just how Terrans survived this period of history. Giving up, I dressed, pondering what next to accomplish.
Striding down the street, I let my thoughts wander about. Returning to reality after bouncing off a pole, a telephone pole to be precise, I laughed. Despite a lifetime of solving complex things, simple items always seemed to escape and amuse me. I headed for a small store I spotted, entering and buying a paper and a coffee.
Making my way back to my lodging, a hotel I believe it is named, I sat down. Listening to the chair creak, I poured over the paper intently. Taking in the info, I smiled, laughing at this century of Terran history. As I continued on, the news turned mundane. At least I noted, reading then tearing the page out with the comics on it, something funny brightened the day.
Turning the last page I saw the notices. I gripped the paper suddenly, seeing a familiar face in the section. Reading over the notice, I saw that the wedding for the woman I met yesterday was to occur today, in roughly three Terran hours. Tossing the paper down, I wondered why I thought this important. Speculation mounted a starship and flew off, leaving me at the spacedock.
Snapping my fingers, a decision arrived. Information needed, and only one way to acquire it. Heading out the door, I laughed, knowing I had but the vaguest of plans for acquiring any knowledge.
Charm working once again, I managed to sneak my way into the wedding hall staff. Vainly attempting to remember Terran wedding customs and the like, I managed to sneak about the place. A concentrated search provided me nothing, not a clue. Huffing in disgust I trudged down a hall, quite intent on making an exit. A plan to find my way home needed-
"Excuse me, we need a couple of towels for the bride's room."
Turning, I smiled and nodded. Escape plans would wait a moment. Wait they would, as I found myself sucked up into the work team for the wedding. Running through chaos and seeming disordered order, I panted. I vowed in my mind never to mock anyone's job, ever again.
Before I could comprehend, the time for the ceremony arrived. Finding myself in the reception hall, I added the finishing touches to the tables with a flourish. Smiling in childish delight, I marched off to the kitchen, checking to see if I could take a break. Receiving approval, I threaded my way to a spot to think.
Reaching the spot I located in my travels, I looked about and realised I could see the wedding. Moving quietly, I saw the groom and minister standing. Skin crawling, I hated the sound of the organ player mashing keys. Just then the bride arrived, slowly marching up the isle. This time she actually looked happy, unlike upon my first encounter. Smiling, my attention wavered as a sound caught my ear. Frowning I turned about me in the dim light.
Seeing something in the dim light, I advanced towards it. Tripping, I landed besides a bound and gagged figure. I noted three things instantly.
First, the person I untied was wearing a tuxedo, and in his early 20s.
Second, more than just this person where occupying this room, all bound and gagged.
Third, this man in the tuxedo looked awfully familiar.
Leaping, tripping and landing at my view into the wedding I stared hard. The ceremony underway, I stared at the groom. I stared again, after a good head shake.
Standing beside the bride, the man on the floor looked on expectantly. Slapping myself, the vision wavered. Slapping myself again, the vision finished wavering, solidifying for me. Choking a scream down, I noted to my dismay a mess of Chindith masquerading as the groom and members of the wedding party.
Acting, I grabbed the real groom and undid his bonds. He was still groggy as I hunted around for a weapon of some sort. A frantic search produced a half empty bottle of water and a yo-yo. Moaning I grabbed the real groom and propelled him towards the door leading into the ceremony.
Finding the lock tripped, I reverted to Plan K, kicking the door open. Yelping from the pain, I staggered into the stunned assemblage. Shock, astonishment and outright anger greeted my unannounced arrival. The father of the bride rose, advancing on me menacingly. I chucked water on him as he did, waiting for the holoshield to short and show him for what he truly was.
Jumping aside as the bride's father lunged, now madder for getting a soaking, I realised my mistake. Turning, I threw the rest of the water on the father of the groom, just then heading for me.
Sparks flew and wedding party and guests scattered, some fleeing. The bride herself stood her ground, staring in something beyond contempt and disbelief. Everyone present looked on in horror and amazement at the unmasked Chindith before them.
Flashing my credentials before the Chindith, I addressed them sternly. "By order of the Galactic Temporal Code, I order you to vacate this planet and temporal location."
My words produced little effect. At this point, the remaining Chindith unmasked, inspiring more panic. Drawing a breath, I steeled myself for serious dramatic acting.
"Jonathan!"
The bride rushed past and grabbed the real groom. Staggering into her arms, he focused on her, saying, "Oh Kella." Turning from the sight of them kissing madly, I returned to the matter at hand. Most of the Terrans managed a masterful retreat, excepting the bride and groom and a handful of guests. Sighing, the Chindith glared at me in unison. Having dealt with them before, I knew I could expect the glare, and possibly being converted into melted flesh.
Speaking rapidly, I made the yo-yo appear. "This device, when activated, pulses non Terran lifeforms. Sadly, for such beings as Chindith, your molecules shall suffer cellular inversion." Stopping before my acting skills received the test of a lifetime, I waited. Fighting the urge to climb on the ceiling, I opened my mouth.
"I don't give a flying damn what you are...leave my wedding!"
Kella's sudden shouted caused everyone present to jump or scream. I managed both, looking in disbelief as the Chindith present clustered together. As a body, they all teleported right from view. When I blinked again, Kella and Jonathan ran to free the remaining members of the wedding party. Kella's father, muttering away, went to round up the guests.
All I could do was stand there. And just laugh.
Roughly an hour Terran Standard Time later, Jonathan and Kella said, "I do." Standing at the back of the hall I smiled, watching the proceedings. Everyone filed out past the newly wed couple, leaving me for last.
Approaching them, I shook their hands. Smiling sheepishly, I said, "Terribly sorry my dear girl for breaking in like that. However, I concluded you may not want to marry an alien, let alone live with one."
Kella smiled just then. She put a finger to my lips to stop me from saying another word. She looked through me again, saying, "I am afraid of an explanation of who and what happened. I wish to convey my thanks to you."
I nodded and bowed to them. My temporal locater beeped, causing me to smile. "Home, headed for, is I. Before I go, I believe tradition says I owe you a gift." With that statement, I handed them each a card. Waving, I faded from view, going home.
Laughing over the entirety of the misadventure, I registered a single regret.
Missing the expressions of shock upon opening those cards.
27 June, 2010
12 June, 2010
On the New Frontier...Chasing Darkness: Part III
Day 5
Watching the readings on my detectors, I whistled. The ship had just dropped out of hyperspace near my position. Thankfully I was powered down already and in a sensor masking asteroid field. My short range detectors worked out of the field thankfully. Based on what the readings informed me of, really thankfully.
The ship registered about as massive as an Alliance Stellar Navy light carrier. Heavily armed and armour plated, I decided I was damn glad I already was hiding. My little transport was certainly no match for anything this massive. A question haunted me about this ship.
Who were they?
So far, nary a clue in my possession told me who happened to have such a 'healthy' interest in me. I mulled over again and again what scant facts I observed. Simply nothing added up in my mind. Running them again accomplished nothing beyond grinding a layer off my teeth. Reason seemed to escape me at this point, and critical thinking was never a strong suit of mine anyway.
Watching the detectors, I noted the ship within visual range. Shrugging, I fired up my exterior vision and made a photographic record of as much of the ship as possible. Keeping a wary eye on the detector readings, in a minute the ship departed. Sighing relief, my thoughts quickly returned to my musing of earlier. I decided to review the information I collected on Sirrum.
Scanning through the history of space flight, I stopped suddenly. The section titled 'Rise of the Imperium' drew my attention. In this place I found myself, space travel was an older knowledge than in my neck of the woods. In the beginning, it seems there were no less than 170 small kingdoms scattered about this particular galaxy. The usual fare of power struggles ensued and the galaxy plunged into a galactic Dark Age of sorts.
About the time Earth first achieved hyperspatial travel, the forces of the Imperium started conquering star systems, bringing order and re-establishing communications. Reading over this information chilled me, with my amateur historian bent screaming bloody murder. All of it had an all too familiar lean to it, right out of the Earth history of dictators and empires.
Leaning back again, I pondered the last major intangible, that of my ground encounters. What in the name of everything unholy were these people using? No visible weapons...chanting...what the Hell! My musings brought me no peace of mind. Turning decisively, I punched every reading on the atmosphere of Sirrum. Giving the computer some marching orders, I focused my attention to leaving my hiding place.
Powering up, I plotted myself a leisurely course out of the asteroid field. Watching carefully as I made my way through, my heart hit my boots when the short range detectors commenced screaming. Company arrived in the form of the light carrier I saw earlier. Cursing myself, I accelerated as much as I dared. Managing not to hit an asteroid, I blasted into clear space.
Seeing three groups of 15 fighters converging on me forced a sudden revision to 'clear space'. Boxing me in, I grimly punched maximum intensity to my forward screens, firing maximum power ion strikes at everything dead ahead. Picking a target as the formation scattered, I screamed for the fighter at 95% sublight. Holding my breath, the fighter loomed larger as the collision alarm sounded. Turning blue, during the last second the fighter skated off to my port.
Exhaling with every thing I had, I gasped as oxygen hit my system again. Scrambling, I engaged the aft shields, listening to the symphony of things bashing my hull. Dialing the shields all the way, I watched the explosions form to my aft. Jumping to hyperspace, I bounced around jumps for an hour. Satisfied, I settled into a nice, tight orbit around a trinary star group.
Huffing my relief, memory kicked me swiftly in the ass. I remembered the analysis I asked of the computer. Transferring the readout to the forward display, I pondered over it. My science skills lacking, I punched a comparative analysis against Earth. In a short moment, I poured over a detailed breakdown of atmospheric components. Two readings caught my eye suddenly.
One seemed to be a radioactive isotope. Suppressing panic, I had the computer check and found it harmless due to my shielding. The other element registered as an inorganic compound. The odd thing I noted, was the inorganic compound scanned at high concentrations in the atmosphere, along with the radioactive isotope. The computer confirm that neither element seemed to be a product of the other, which made little sense.
I mulled over this poser. Something nagged me, saying how truly odd this occurrence was. I thought for a good long while, no revelation forthcoming. I flagged the data, keeping it fresh in my mind.
Searching the immediate area, the detectors found a dead moon floating through the area. According to scan info, the mining base showed no sign of habitation for 64 years. I brought the ship down and settled under a cliff. Troubled, I set the automatic warning, and dragged myself to my bunk.
Day 6
I decided to explore the abandoned mining complex before departing. Hopping about in the weak gravity, I smiled. Looking every bit the old fashioned ghost town, a complete record of Life unfolded before me. Recording everything to an uplink on my ship, I decided I could sell all this upon reaching home.
Home.
Depression slammed me, stopping me cold inside a building. Emotion finally caught me, draining everything from me. I simply stared into the alienness of this deserted place. Home, a place seemingly in a dream. A place remembered, perhaps remaining a memory.
Minutes passed before I moved again. I spent a solid hour exploring, finding nothing but dust and ruin where ever my torchlight shone. Frustration lashed out a foot, kicking a wall. Snarling at myself, I fumed all the way back to the ship. I needed results, not pointless pottering about.
On a whim, I set the computer to analyze the soil of this moon. Waiting impatiently, the analysis presented itself shortly. To my utmost surprise, the same elements I noted in Sirrum's atmosphere appeared again. Frowning, I wondered what this could possibly mean.
Setting down on a world called Asxia, I exited my ship carefully. Looking about, certain no 'reception' committee awaited, I thought. The portable analyzer was strapped to my left arm, allowing it to take readings on everything. Remaining nondescript as possible, I described a circular course through the spaceport. I spotted a park, and entered. Despite the differences, seeing trees and grass of a fashion brought a smile. I spotted a bridge over a reddish stream and looked over it.
"Life is a flowing stream, never staying in place."
The soft voice startled me enough to almost leap right into the stream. Looking left a women stood close to me. She stared intently at the stream herself, lost seemingly in some thought. Locating my voice, I said evenly, "Indeed so. Change, constant, unremitting...unfeeling marching across the shores of Time."
The women turned purple eyes on me. Studying me a moment, she spoke again in her soft voice. "Wisdom of truth I find unfamiliar." She paused, her next words causing my heart to skip, "Strange, I feel no sense of you, yet see and hear you."
Turning, I stared in disbelief. A leap of logic told me that she was referring to a spiritual sense of me. My thoughts mounted a horse and rode off. Unsure of what may happen next, I managed a skillfully hasty retreat. Once certain no one followed, I used my recall and teleported back to the Stellar Rush. Safely inside, I received clearance for departure, wasting no time in the process. In minutes space stretched before me, along with an infinity of questions.
Frowning, I knew at least one answer I could get. Punching the scanner info in, in a moment the readout on Asxia appeared. Unsurprisingly, once again the two mystery elements appeared. Impulsively, I scanned myself and the air of the ship. No trace of those elements existed in me or the air of the ship.
Frowning deeper, I wondered. I could not place it, but something nagged me about this. Those two elements showed up in air and soil in three distinctly different worlds.
Why? What did they do?
Damn I hate mysteries.
Watching the readings on my detectors, I whistled. The ship had just dropped out of hyperspace near my position. Thankfully I was powered down already and in a sensor masking asteroid field. My short range detectors worked out of the field thankfully. Based on what the readings informed me of, really thankfully.
The ship registered about as massive as an Alliance Stellar Navy light carrier. Heavily armed and armour plated, I decided I was damn glad I already was hiding. My little transport was certainly no match for anything this massive. A question haunted me about this ship.
Who were they?
So far, nary a clue in my possession told me who happened to have such a 'healthy' interest in me. I mulled over again and again what scant facts I observed. Simply nothing added up in my mind. Running them again accomplished nothing beyond grinding a layer off my teeth. Reason seemed to escape me at this point, and critical thinking was never a strong suit of mine anyway.
Watching the detectors, I noted the ship within visual range. Shrugging, I fired up my exterior vision and made a photographic record of as much of the ship as possible. Keeping a wary eye on the detector readings, in a minute the ship departed. Sighing relief, my thoughts quickly returned to my musing of earlier. I decided to review the information I collected on Sirrum.
Scanning through the history of space flight, I stopped suddenly. The section titled 'Rise of the Imperium' drew my attention. In this place I found myself, space travel was an older knowledge than in my neck of the woods. In the beginning, it seems there were no less than 170 small kingdoms scattered about this particular galaxy. The usual fare of power struggles ensued and the galaxy plunged into a galactic Dark Age of sorts.
About the time Earth first achieved hyperspatial travel, the forces of the Imperium started conquering star systems, bringing order and re-establishing communications. Reading over this information chilled me, with my amateur historian bent screaming bloody murder. All of it had an all too familiar lean to it, right out of the Earth history of dictators and empires.
Leaning back again, I pondered the last major intangible, that of my ground encounters. What in the name of everything unholy were these people using? No visible weapons...chanting...what the Hell! My musings brought me no peace of mind. Turning decisively, I punched every reading on the atmosphere of Sirrum. Giving the computer some marching orders, I focused my attention to leaving my hiding place.
Powering up, I plotted myself a leisurely course out of the asteroid field. Watching carefully as I made my way through, my heart hit my boots when the short range detectors commenced screaming. Company arrived in the form of the light carrier I saw earlier. Cursing myself, I accelerated as much as I dared. Managing not to hit an asteroid, I blasted into clear space.
Seeing three groups of 15 fighters converging on me forced a sudden revision to 'clear space'. Boxing me in, I grimly punched maximum intensity to my forward screens, firing maximum power ion strikes at everything dead ahead. Picking a target as the formation scattered, I screamed for the fighter at 95% sublight. Holding my breath, the fighter loomed larger as the collision alarm sounded. Turning blue, during the last second the fighter skated off to my port.
Exhaling with every thing I had, I gasped as oxygen hit my system again. Scrambling, I engaged the aft shields, listening to the symphony of things bashing my hull. Dialing the shields all the way, I watched the explosions form to my aft. Jumping to hyperspace, I bounced around jumps for an hour. Satisfied, I settled into a nice, tight orbit around a trinary star group.
Huffing my relief, memory kicked me swiftly in the ass. I remembered the analysis I asked of the computer. Transferring the readout to the forward display, I pondered over it. My science skills lacking, I punched a comparative analysis against Earth. In a short moment, I poured over a detailed breakdown of atmospheric components. Two readings caught my eye suddenly.
One seemed to be a radioactive isotope. Suppressing panic, I had the computer check and found it harmless due to my shielding. The other element registered as an inorganic compound. The odd thing I noted, was the inorganic compound scanned at high concentrations in the atmosphere, along with the radioactive isotope. The computer confirm that neither element seemed to be a product of the other, which made little sense.
I mulled over this poser. Something nagged me, saying how truly odd this occurrence was. I thought for a good long while, no revelation forthcoming. I flagged the data, keeping it fresh in my mind.
Searching the immediate area, the detectors found a dead moon floating through the area. According to scan info, the mining base showed no sign of habitation for 64 years. I brought the ship down and settled under a cliff. Troubled, I set the automatic warning, and dragged myself to my bunk.
Day 6
I decided to explore the abandoned mining complex before departing. Hopping about in the weak gravity, I smiled. Looking every bit the old fashioned ghost town, a complete record of Life unfolded before me. Recording everything to an uplink on my ship, I decided I could sell all this upon reaching home.
Home.
Depression slammed me, stopping me cold inside a building. Emotion finally caught me, draining everything from me. I simply stared into the alienness of this deserted place. Home, a place seemingly in a dream. A place remembered, perhaps remaining a memory.
Minutes passed before I moved again. I spent a solid hour exploring, finding nothing but dust and ruin where ever my torchlight shone. Frustration lashed out a foot, kicking a wall. Snarling at myself, I fumed all the way back to the ship. I needed results, not pointless pottering about.
On a whim, I set the computer to analyze the soil of this moon. Waiting impatiently, the analysis presented itself shortly. To my utmost surprise, the same elements I noted in Sirrum's atmosphere appeared again. Frowning, I wondered what this could possibly mean.
Setting down on a world called Asxia, I exited my ship carefully. Looking about, certain no 'reception' committee awaited, I thought. The portable analyzer was strapped to my left arm, allowing it to take readings on everything. Remaining nondescript as possible, I described a circular course through the spaceport. I spotted a park, and entered. Despite the differences, seeing trees and grass of a fashion brought a smile. I spotted a bridge over a reddish stream and looked over it.
"Life is a flowing stream, never staying in place."
The soft voice startled me enough to almost leap right into the stream. Looking left a women stood close to me. She stared intently at the stream herself, lost seemingly in some thought. Locating my voice, I said evenly, "Indeed so. Change, constant, unremitting...unfeeling marching across the shores of Time."
The women turned purple eyes on me. Studying me a moment, she spoke again in her soft voice. "Wisdom of truth I find unfamiliar." She paused, her next words causing my heart to skip, "Strange, I feel no sense of you, yet see and hear you."
Turning, I stared in disbelief. A leap of logic told me that she was referring to a spiritual sense of me. My thoughts mounted a horse and rode off. Unsure of what may happen next, I managed a skillfully hasty retreat. Once certain no one followed, I used my recall and teleported back to the Stellar Rush. Safely inside, I received clearance for departure, wasting no time in the process. In minutes space stretched before me, along with an infinity of questions.
Frowning, I knew at least one answer I could get. Punching the scanner info in, in a moment the readout on Asxia appeared. Unsurprisingly, once again the two mystery elements appeared. Impulsively, I scanned myself and the air of the ship. No trace of those elements existed in me or the air of the ship.
Frowning deeper, I wondered. I could not place it, but something nagged me about this. Those two elements showed up in air and soil in three distinctly different worlds.
Why? What did they do?
Damn I hate mysteries.
13 May, 2010
On the New Frontier...Chasing Darkness: Part II
Day 3
I carefully plotted a course through the alien space I found myself in. I thanked the fact, yet again, my luck in acquiring this ship. This marked the third time my detector range saved me from encountering alien ships. Watching the data process made me fidget as the ships slipped by. Sighing, I double checked for any other vessels. upon finding none I returned to my thoughts.
Using the data retrieved from that old transport I had located a place I could land and look for information. The approach to the system was troubling me as I did not want to get caught off guard. No technician, no detector counter measures and me a hack of a pilot seemed to fit trouble.
In the end my patience gave up and I made a slow approach to the planet.
"Approaching vessel this is Sirum Control. "
Swallowing hard, I answered the hail. "Sirum Control, Stellar Rush. Requesting permission for ground clearance for maintenance."
I tensed. The (few) seconds stretched into the vastness of time. I think I stopped breathing and the like. Hand poised over the flight controls, an escape vector already plotted, I turned blue.
"Stellar Rush, Sirum Control. Clearance granted. Orbital approach confirmed. Landing beacon activates in 10 seconds."
Exhaling, I scanned the ships in orbit. None seemed similar to the lot I encountered as I went on by. Entering the atmosphere, the beacon pinged merrily away. In three minutes I found myself parked along with 20 or so other ships. Powering down, I pondered the problems before me.
First up, how to find information without drawing suspicion. I held hope for some sort of library/reference system to access.
Second came the question of money. If I needed money/credits/whatever, trouble would abound. No forger or hacker, this one was troubling to me. All I could count on was being a bullshit artist to get me through.
Third was hoping that I could remain here without being detected by whomever attacked me. I despise great big 'ifs' with a passion.
Deciding on action, I levered out of my chair. Walking down to my quarters, I entered and immediately pulled out a case. Popping it open, I removed the portable translator and hid it in a pocket, excepting the ear piece of course. Seating it in my ear, I tested it with a quick clip of alien transmission. Satisfied, I grabbed the next item.
Strapping a holder on my wrist, the small plasma blaster clicked into place. Checking that it remained hidden under my light jacket, I smiled. This little beauty had cost me a small fortune, but had come in handy a few times. Grabbing a spare charge for it caused me to frown in thought.
I slipped a ion disruptor into one of my bigger pockets. Reason told me that perhaps this alien space had superior personal protection than I did. in that case, some strong medicine might be a requirement.
That thought lead to the last item I pulled from the case. A personal forcescreen with environment filter was the greatest single defensive option. Enough backwater planets taught me that lesson in my journeys.
Exiting my ship, I carefully locked and coded her. Strolling around the landing site, I made notes of everything. After a few minutes I used a walkway to make tracks to the actual space port. So far so good, thought me about all this.
The walkway deposited me in the spaceport. Looking about, I noted that at least I would appear nondescript enough to any observer. I thanked my luck and just passed through the crowds slowly, my translator picking up data and adding it to the translation matrix. While alien, the surroundings followed a somewhat familiar look to spaceports at home.
Meandering about I looked around. My shades relayed a visual translation for me to see as I did. Smiling, I spotted a directory and aimed for it. Looking it over I noted all kinds of businesses and attractions. I tapped the information to feed to my palmputer for future use. I smiled as I even got a map of the place. That would come in handy for when I decided to be lost in about 15 minutes.
Moving off I remained as nondescript as possible. Scrambled bits of conversation filtered through to me, but nothing that drew my interest. My review of the spaceport map seemed to indicate something akin to a reference center. Hopefully they were not going to check me for a library card.
An outburst to my left caused me to pause. Three surly looking men suddenly appeared, running for all they were worth. In hot pursuit appeared a uniformed man and woman, striding confidentially. I noted this in puzzlement, doubly more so as the crowd moved suddenly as one, taking me for a ride. In seconds, the three were frozen in place, and dragged off. The crowd, silent through this, sprang back to life and filtered out.
I resumed my walk, thinking for all I was worth. Seemingly, what I witnessed passed for the norm on many a planet, in many a place. There was something odd to the whole event. The massed move of the crowd and the capture of the three men occurred without something obvious.
Any sign of a weapon or restraining device. The crowd just moved as one body, one thought. The three men just stopped, not a sound or anything.
Using a bit of charm and gruff, I managed to secure myself an access terminal. Running through the base tutorial, I soon found what I wanted. Looking about, I made sure no one watched as I used the palmputer to record everything I displayed. A concentrated 20 minutes satisfied every need I could think of. I leaned back in thought.
Here was I, in a completely alien place, no idea where home was.
I jumped out of my seat at that thought. No point in mulling over the things bigger than I. Depression was something I did not need gnawing at my psyche at this point. A brisk walk should provide action enough.
Walking out of the library, my thoughts drifted. Heading towards the landing area, I decided a return to my ship was warranted. An in depth study of the available data might provide answers. Surely, I could at least settle the rumbling in my stomach.
In minutes I gained my ship at the landing area. Entering, I locked the Stellar Rush up. Time to do some thinking.
Day 4
I awoke with a seriously stiff neck. Noting my sleeping position (Sitting) a quick round of reasoning told me I feel asleep reading. Wincing in pain, I worked on my neck and motivated myself for the day. I needed to do something after all.
Getting 'kitted up' to use a quaint turn of phrase, I departed my ship. Checking my palmputer, I located my next search mission on this planet. Engrossed as I was in my work, I managed to run into a wall. Falling on my ass, I cursed myself loudly. Looking up changed my mind on my cursing suddenly.
A rather large and powerfully built humanoid loomed over me. Glaring for a count, I noted movement at the edges of my vision. Smiling up at the figure above me, I stammered out an apology. My smile faded as I detected nary a reaction from the being before me. Looking it over, I noted a father large sword looking weapon in it's hands.
I moved before I could think about it. Hearing the blade strike the spot formerly occupied by me, I rolled into a crouch. I winced as energy bolts bounced off my shield, blasting me back a few feet. Pushing up I suddenly saw I faced three opponents. I snapped out my plasma blaster and fired at each.
Looking at each target, not a thing happened to them. I cranked up the power to full and fired again. Three shots, three direct hits and still no effect. Full power, I thought ruefully, should have blown a hole through each individual, a nice smoking hole. Frowning, I reclipped the plasma blaster to my holder, and just stared.
"Alright friends," I said evenly, "perhaps we have a minor misunderstanding going here. I am sure we can all get along if we talk."
My reward for ham handed diplomacy was chanting from my 'acquaintances'. Translation turned it into balderdash, making me scratch my head. Looking at them, surely they thought something of it. Amazement chased concentration off their faces as they stopped. I smiled sheepishly. "If that was intended to kill me, then my 5th grade teacher was right that I never listen."
Judging by the curses hurled at me, my joke rated low to this audience. Another stream of energy bounced off my shield, pushing me into the nearest wall. As I hit, I yanked out the ion disruptor, thumbing the selector to maximum intensity. Picking the one throwing energy bolts at me, I fired two strikes. Number caught an incoming blast and scattered it. Number two produced the desired result, dissolution of about half of the being in question.
Turning to the remaining two, I grinned at the looks of astonishment they sported. Alien as they were, somethings appeared universal I decided. I fired a strike in front of each, dissolving the landing pad. Suddenly, both began chanting and linked a hand. Frozen to the spot I, I shrugged and aimed, firing three full intensity strikes.
When the smoke cleared I found myself alone. Staring at the smoking remains of them, I realised I mad an error. I cursed as I realised I failed to record information on them. Damn crisis responses anyway.
A sound caught my ear. Something was causing the air to crackle all out. Frantically searching about, I detected more hostiles. One of them was chanting something, causing the air to form into a nightmare. closing my mouth, I reacted by firing at everything. My dismay was profound as I noted that nothing happened. Screaming a tirade i did the last thing I could. Closing my eyes, I tapped my palmputer in my pocket.
In a second or so, I snapped my eyes to the comforting sight of the interior of the Stellar Rush. My relief at emergency teleport lasted a moment, as the sounds of something trying to eat my hull resounded through the ship. I pounded off to the flight controls. Sliding into my seat, I fired up the ion pulsers and opened a channel to ground control.
"Sirum Ground Control, Stellar Rush, dock area 13. Request emergency take off clearance. Under attack at dock area. Repeat, request emergency take off clearance."
"Stellar Rush, request denied. Power down ship and prepare for boarding by authority of Imperium command."
Flicking the toggle off, I brought the pulsers to full. Bringing her nose up, I hosed the landing area in ion particles from the drive. I checked readings as I rose through the atmosphere. No sign of weapons lock meant I would have company above. Snarling I throttled out of the atmosphere, detectors screaming at me. Five ships inbound, I noted sourly.
Cranking the shields to maximum intensity, I assigned the target computer the job of confusing the inbound vessels. Missiles of some kind blasted into the shields, giving me pause. Spinning my ship, I fired at the ships harassing me, only nailing one of them. Swearing, I altered course for a tight orbit. The enemy craft hesitated a moment before regrouping and coming again.
More missiles and now laser fire hammered away at me. Impatience and anger mounting in me, I tore through the planet's atmosphere. Fighting my bucking controls, I looped behind a pair of the aliens attacking me. Firing full ion disruptors at them, I watched both explode as their drives imploded. Turning, I found the other two ships fleeing with all due haste. Firing at them, I plotted a course to exit the system hurriedly.
Entering clear space, I stopped to let my nerves unwind. Huffing loudly, I attempted to organise thoughts in my head. Sadly, and despite all hope, my alien presence to this place had not gone unnoticed. Hence, I noted sadly, this made me a rather popular figure on someone's list.
But why?
I allowed that question to rattle its chains as I pondered other facts. From my ground encounter, what were these people using as weapons? No sign of anything obvious filtered through my mind. And the words, the chanting prior to some of those attacks mad no sense to me either. Muse as I might, nothing sensible presented itself for review.
Hopping into hyperspace, I jumped in random fashion five times for good measure. Making sure no geniuses followed, I parked myself high above the plane of the galaxy I sat in on a roaming chuck of rock and ice. I needed to think for certain, minus distractions.
I carefully plotted a course through the alien space I found myself in. I thanked the fact, yet again, my luck in acquiring this ship. This marked the third time my detector range saved me from encountering alien ships. Watching the data process made me fidget as the ships slipped by. Sighing, I double checked for any other vessels. upon finding none I returned to my thoughts.
Using the data retrieved from that old transport I had located a place I could land and look for information. The approach to the system was troubling me as I did not want to get caught off guard. No technician, no detector counter measures and me a hack of a pilot seemed to fit trouble.
In the end my patience gave up and I made a slow approach to the planet.
"Approaching vessel this is Sirum Control. "
Swallowing hard, I answered the hail. "Sirum Control, Stellar Rush. Requesting permission for ground clearance for maintenance."
I tensed. The (few) seconds stretched into the vastness of time. I think I stopped breathing and the like. Hand poised over the flight controls, an escape vector already plotted, I turned blue.
"Stellar Rush, Sirum Control. Clearance granted. Orbital approach confirmed. Landing beacon activates in 10 seconds."
Exhaling, I scanned the ships in orbit. None seemed similar to the lot I encountered as I went on by. Entering the atmosphere, the beacon pinged merrily away. In three minutes I found myself parked along with 20 or so other ships. Powering down, I pondered the problems before me.
First up, how to find information without drawing suspicion. I held hope for some sort of library/reference system to access.
Second came the question of money. If I needed money/credits/whatever, trouble would abound. No forger or hacker, this one was troubling to me. All I could count on was being a bullshit artist to get me through.
Third was hoping that I could remain here without being detected by whomever attacked me. I despise great big 'ifs' with a passion.
Deciding on action, I levered out of my chair. Walking down to my quarters, I entered and immediately pulled out a case. Popping it open, I removed the portable translator and hid it in a pocket, excepting the ear piece of course. Seating it in my ear, I tested it with a quick clip of alien transmission. Satisfied, I grabbed the next item.
Strapping a holder on my wrist, the small plasma blaster clicked into place. Checking that it remained hidden under my light jacket, I smiled. This little beauty had cost me a small fortune, but had come in handy a few times. Grabbing a spare charge for it caused me to frown in thought.
I slipped a ion disruptor into one of my bigger pockets. Reason told me that perhaps this alien space had superior personal protection than I did. in that case, some strong medicine might be a requirement.
That thought lead to the last item I pulled from the case. A personal forcescreen with environment filter was the greatest single defensive option. Enough backwater planets taught me that lesson in my journeys.
Exiting my ship, I carefully locked and coded her. Strolling around the landing site, I made notes of everything. After a few minutes I used a walkway to make tracks to the actual space port. So far so good, thought me about all this.
The walkway deposited me in the spaceport. Looking about, I noted that at least I would appear nondescript enough to any observer. I thanked my luck and just passed through the crowds slowly, my translator picking up data and adding it to the translation matrix. While alien, the surroundings followed a somewhat familiar look to spaceports at home.
Meandering about I looked around. My shades relayed a visual translation for me to see as I did. Smiling, I spotted a directory and aimed for it. Looking it over I noted all kinds of businesses and attractions. I tapped the information to feed to my palmputer for future use. I smiled as I even got a map of the place. That would come in handy for when I decided to be lost in about 15 minutes.
Moving off I remained as nondescript as possible. Scrambled bits of conversation filtered through to me, but nothing that drew my interest. My review of the spaceport map seemed to indicate something akin to a reference center. Hopefully they were not going to check me for a library card.
An outburst to my left caused me to pause. Three surly looking men suddenly appeared, running for all they were worth. In hot pursuit appeared a uniformed man and woman, striding confidentially. I noted this in puzzlement, doubly more so as the crowd moved suddenly as one, taking me for a ride. In seconds, the three were frozen in place, and dragged off. The crowd, silent through this, sprang back to life and filtered out.
I resumed my walk, thinking for all I was worth. Seemingly, what I witnessed passed for the norm on many a planet, in many a place. There was something odd to the whole event. The massed move of the crowd and the capture of the three men occurred without something obvious.
Any sign of a weapon or restraining device. The crowd just moved as one body, one thought. The three men just stopped, not a sound or anything.
Using a bit of charm and gruff, I managed to secure myself an access terminal. Running through the base tutorial, I soon found what I wanted. Looking about, I made sure no one watched as I used the palmputer to record everything I displayed. A concentrated 20 minutes satisfied every need I could think of. I leaned back in thought.
Here was I, in a completely alien place, no idea where home was.
I jumped out of my seat at that thought. No point in mulling over the things bigger than I. Depression was something I did not need gnawing at my psyche at this point. A brisk walk should provide action enough.
Walking out of the library, my thoughts drifted. Heading towards the landing area, I decided a return to my ship was warranted. An in depth study of the available data might provide answers. Surely, I could at least settle the rumbling in my stomach.
In minutes I gained my ship at the landing area. Entering, I locked the Stellar Rush up. Time to do some thinking.
Day 4
I awoke with a seriously stiff neck. Noting my sleeping position (Sitting) a quick round of reasoning told me I feel asleep reading. Wincing in pain, I worked on my neck and motivated myself for the day. I needed to do something after all.
Getting 'kitted up' to use a quaint turn of phrase, I departed my ship. Checking my palmputer, I located my next search mission on this planet. Engrossed as I was in my work, I managed to run into a wall. Falling on my ass, I cursed myself loudly. Looking up changed my mind on my cursing suddenly.
A rather large and powerfully built humanoid loomed over me. Glaring for a count, I noted movement at the edges of my vision. Smiling up at the figure above me, I stammered out an apology. My smile faded as I detected nary a reaction from the being before me. Looking it over, I noted a father large sword looking weapon in it's hands.
I moved before I could think about it. Hearing the blade strike the spot formerly occupied by me, I rolled into a crouch. I winced as energy bolts bounced off my shield, blasting me back a few feet. Pushing up I suddenly saw I faced three opponents. I snapped out my plasma blaster and fired at each.
Looking at each target, not a thing happened to them. I cranked up the power to full and fired again. Three shots, three direct hits and still no effect. Full power, I thought ruefully, should have blown a hole through each individual, a nice smoking hole. Frowning, I reclipped the plasma blaster to my holder, and just stared.
"Alright friends," I said evenly, "perhaps we have a minor misunderstanding going here. I am sure we can all get along if we talk."
My reward for ham handed diplomacy was chanting from my 'acquaintances'. Translation turned it into balderdash, making me scratch my head. Looking at them, surely they thought something of it. Amazement chased concentration off their faces as they stopped. I smiled sheepishly. "If that was intended to kill me, then my 5th grade teacher was right that I never listen."
Judging by the curses hurled at me, my joke rated low to this audience. Another stream of energy bounced off my shield, pushing me into the nearest wall. As I hit, I yanked out the ion disruptor, thumbing the selector to maximum intensity. Picking the one throwing energy bolts at me, I fired two strikes. Number caught an incoming blast and scattered it. Number two produced the desired result, dissolution of about half of the being in question.
Turning to the remaining two, I grinned at the looks of astonishment they sported. Alien as they were, somethings appeared universal I decided. I fired a strike in front of each, dissolving the landing pad. Suddenly, both began chanting and linked a hand. Frozen to the spot I, I shrugged and aimed, firing three full intensity strikes.
When the smoke cleared I found myself alone. Staring at the smoking remains of them, I realised I mad an error. I cursed as I realised I failed to record information on them. Damn crisis responses anyway.
A sound caught my ear. Something was causing the air to crackle all out. Frantically searching about, I detected more hostiles. One of them was chanting something, causing the air to form into a nightmare. closing my mouth, I reacted by firing at everything. My dismay was profound as I noted that nothing happened. Screaming a tirade i did the last thing I could. Closing my eyes, I tapped my palmputer in my pocket.
In a second or so, I snapped my eyes to the comforting sight of the interior of the Stellar Rush. My relief at emergency teleport lasted a moment, as the sounds of something trying to eat my hull resounded through the ship. I pounded off to the flight controls. Sliding into my seat, I fired up the ion pulsers and opened a channel to ground control.
"Sirum Ground Control, Stellar Rush, dock area 13. Request emergency take off clearance. Under attack at dock area. Repeat, request emergency take off clearance."
"Stellar Rush, request denied. Power down ship and prepare for boarding by authority of Imperium command."
Flicking the toggle off, I brought the pulsers to full. Bringing her nose up, I hosed the landing area in ion particles from the drive. I checked readings as I rose through the atmosphere. No sign of weapons lock meant I would have company above. Snarling I throttled out of the atmosphere, detectors screaming at me. Five ships inbound, I noted sourly.
Cranking the shields to maximum intensity, I assigned the target computer the job of confusing the inbound vessels. Missiles of some kind blasted into the shields, giving me pause. Spinning my ship, I fired at the ships harassing me, only nailing one of them. Swearing, I altered course for a tight orbit. The enemy craft hesitated a moment before regrouping and coming again.
More missiles and now laser fire hammered away at me. Impatience and anger mounting in me, I tore through the planet's atmosphere. Fighting my bucking controls, I looped behind a pair of the aliens attacking me. Firing full ion disruptors at them, I watched both explode as their drives imploded. Turning, I found the other two ships fleeing with all due haste. Firing at them, I plotted a course to exit the system hurriedly.
Entering clear space, I stopped to let my nerves unwind. Huffing loudly, I attempted to organise thoughts in my head. Sadly, and despite all hope, my alien presence to this place had not gone unnoticed. Hence, I noted sadly, this made me a rather popular figure on someone's list.
But why?
I allowed that question to rattle its chains as I pondered other facts. From my ground encounter, what were these people using as weapons? No sign of anything obvious filtered through my mind. And the words, the chanting prior to some of those attacks mad no sense to me either. Muse as I might, nothing sensible presented itself for review.
Hopping into hyperspace, I jumped in random fashion five times for good measure. Making sure no geniuses followed, I parked myself high above the plane of the galaxy I sat in on a roaming chuck of rock and ice. I needed to think for certain, minus distractions.
23 April, 2010
On the New Frontier...Chasing Darkness: Part I
(This is yet another new story. It came to me while watching episodes of the anime series Outlaw Star and the new season of Doctor Who. It is a science fiction story of course. Nothing like being faced with an impossible choice. I am going to wind up writing this in parts on the blog.)
Sitting on a rock, I waited impatiently.
Never known for patience on the best of days, this was not the best of my days at all. My friends would laugh I suspect if they could see me right now. Cursing loudly and muttering, looking for all the worlds like a murder suspect gone wrong.
A fortnight ago, I would have been in a position to have my friends laugh at me for seeing this display. A fortnight ago I set off on a simple flight, nothing more exciting than running out to the frontier to inspect equipment to buy. A fortnight since my ship hit an unexplained spacial disturbance, putting me someplace else entirely.
Day 1
The blaring alert klaxon scared me right out of my bunk. Scrambling in my bare feet, I skidded straight into flight control. Landing in my pilot's seat, I started punching up the full 360 detectors and vision. I powered down the hyperatomic motor of my ship, the Stellar Rush. Scanning everything, I could see why I was awakened.
Directly ahead and to 30 degrees port and starboard, space seethed with energy. I could barely spot it visually, but the detectors bounced madly with readings. Looking them over, I frowned. One moment, the readings bounced off the scale. The very next, nothing.
I spent 20 minutes going over everything in the database trying to figure out what was going on. I held hope I would learn something, as the Stellar Rush was an old Type-4a long range transport. In a stroke of luck, I had managed to get her unmodified when she was decommissioned from active Alliance service thanks to a friend.
At the end of those 20 minutes, I had nary a clue. Nothing in the database matched remotely what I was seeing. I ran a quick science search through the datalinks with all news services. Nothing returned from that. Disappointed, I reached over to send a message and drop a navigational hazard buoy.
The buoy dropped flawlessly. Communications, however, were scrambled beyond eggs. Hammering at the communications board accomplished nothing, prompting me to think. In a moment, I opened a channel to the buoy, transmitting all my sensor info and a brief narrative of events.
"2-October-2315. Stellar Rush outbound from Rigel for Iceon Four. Encountered unusual area of energy activity. Sensor readings erratic, conforming to no known phenomena available to ship databanks. Long range communications disrupted. Navigational hazard buoy dropped per standard Articles of Notification. Attempting to plot new course and report incident once out of range."
Closing the channel, I leaned back in my pilot's seat. Loathe to leave this little discovery, I couldn't wait til another ship happened this way. I sighed, content in the knowledge that I had done what was necessary. I turned my attention to getting on with the show.
Checking the readings, I realised that the erratic nature of this was going to preclude flying through. Flying around would take serious time and care. Doubling back would take time, perhaps causing other complications. I fretted through this mess for several moments.
Finally, I punched my navigation controls and reversed course. I pondered how best to make up for the delay as the ship turned. As she turned, I decided upon speed testing the engines and save the visit to Asimov station for the return trip.
Jumping out of the seat as the warning klaxon went again, I powered the shields to full. Glaring into the detector readout, a tirade formed for the person or persons who scared me. Space piloting rage was a hallmark of mine.
The energy effect seethed in front of me again.
Blinking, I double checked the nav controls. Seeing they were right, I exercised a slow 90 degree turn on thrusters. Blinking again, I saw to my dismay that the energy effect was before me. I powered up the hyperatomic motor, picking a z axis descent. Smiling as space cleared I let the ship creep up to 70% sublight.
What happened next will be hazy for all my life. The warning klaxon started, and I shunted emergency power to the shields. I reversed course under full power, trying to kick into hyperspace. The last thing I remember seeing was the ceiling of flight control rushing at me.
I felt my head throbbing. Every last thing in me ached mightily and then some. With effort I pulled myself up using the pilot's chair. My eyes noted quickly that all seemed working. I slid into the chair and punched commands for a damage report.
In seconds the readout appeared. Running through it, nothing seemed damaged at all. I huffed a serious sigh of relief. I checked for the energy disturbance in case it was lurking nearby. No sign of it prompted a shrug from me.
That's when my eyes caught the main viewscreen. Blinking a few times, the sight before me remained unchanged. I hammered the visual detector controls, then linked the exterior detectors into the visual display. I looked again and again, searching for a fault and finding none.
Knowing the route well, I stared at the viewscreen. As I stared, I linked the databanks into the sensors, looking for known markers. Reaching out and flicking switches, the detectors and communications relays fired to life, searching. Fidgeting in my seat, the answer arrived in about 11.34 minutes.
Position: Unknown. Detectors: No buoys, markers, ships, planets in range. Communications: No signals of any kind detected.
Losing track of time, I have no clue how long I sat there. I have no clue of how many times I checked again everything. In short, I have no clue how long it took me to realise what I was seeing, was no illusion.
The long range detectors pinged suddenly. Turning to them, three ships entered detector range. Waiting for the analysis to come in, I decided to go for broke. Tying in the translation system, I opened every channel I could.
"MayDay MayDay...Ship in distress...repeat ship in distress."
I held my breath, watching the detectors. Without knowing for certain how the translation came out, I could be telling those ships anything. Perhaps something completely mean. Perhaps something completely nice.
I received several bursts of something in reply. Routing that through the translation system, all I could do was hope. Taping I foot and keeping a wary eye on the detectors, I received more bursts of something.
"Attempting to translate your transmissions. Sending pulse ping for locating purposes. Will send more language information as required."
Slapping the shields on emergency full, I fired up the ion pulsers. The unknown vessels detector system was not as good as mine apparently. The directional pulse, however provided all the direction needed. I found the three ships streaking for my position, some sort of projectiles firing from all three, then energy weapons.
Turning 70 degrees starboard, the first cluster of projectiles missed by a good bit. The second batch missed by a few yards, causing me to turn into the third group. The shields managed them handily, I noted happily as I turned, looking for a clear lane out.
I noted as I shoved off at 90% sublight the three ships closing port side astern. Bafflement caused hesitation as more projectiles streamed forth from each vessel. Moving a bit slower, I had enough time to get a good look at them.
Slapping the fire control, the plasma cannons filled space with streaks of magenta. Thanking my luck on getting this ship unmodified, the targeting computer nailed all the projectiles. Firing one last volley, I managed to jump to hyperspace.
In the end I made several totally random jumps, hoping I didn't manage to plow into anything. After the last one, I found myself within range of a binary star system. Running the detectors at full, nothing in the way or life or artificial structures returned in the data. Heading for it, I found myself thinking again.
Running the long range detectors again against the stellar catalog, no recognizable objects returned. Frowning at the repeat of this development, I felt the icy grip of panic grab a hold of me. What was I to do? Where was I to go? How do I survive this?
Upon entering the system, I noted the spatial and magnetic interference would mask my ship. Finding a valley on the fifth planet I settled down under the cover of an overhang. Powering down everything but life support and the sensors I decided to force myself to grab some sleep. A creeping feeling told me I might need it.
Day 2
Nothing disturbed me during the 10 hours of fitful sleep I got. Awaking, I showered and reviewed my situation. No new revelations poured forth, so I excited to my flight controls. Powering up all systems, I feed all the communications data into the translation program. Letting it run, I ran through preflight checks and blasted into the inky sky.
I gingerly made my way through the binary system. My eye caught a reading the flashed up. An erratically twisting asteroid had shifted enough to allow me to see something I missed yesterday. A metallic mass was laying on the surface, partially buried. Curious, I altered course for a closer look.
I hovered 200 yards over the wreck. What I thought was one large spaceship turned into a pair. The detectors told me the wreckage was 40 years old. A creeping sensation feel upon me, as I noted two things.
The first, that the ships look like they had collided. The second was the design off one of the ships.
After a minute and with the computer's help, I realised it was a Westinghouse D40a freighter. Along with that realisation came the knowledge that they hadn't collided, but the alien ship had rammed her. A shudder passed through me, causing me to check my detectors. Upon seeing them clear, I made a decision.
It took more time than I wished it to, but I managed to match the asteroid and touch down next to the wreck. Setting the remote functions, I marched to the airlock. Once safely in my spacesuit, I exited my ship. Bouncing along carefully, I made it to the wreck. The sensor wand detected no remaining power, hardly a surprise.
Looking about, I spotted a large enough hole in the hull of the D-40a. Jumping into it, flashing my torch as I landed on a wall, I barely even made a noise. Smiling that I managed that, I began trekking through the ship. Thankfully the D-40a was mostly just a cargo container, and from scans it was intact.
After marching on the wall for 50 yards, I came to the cargo access door. I dropped my laser torch, as the door already showed evidence of being forced. Pushing through, I flashed the torch about the cargo hold. I actually was astonished at how much was still in the room. I spent a good 90 minutes in that hold, picking through antiques.
I picked up a few things in the hold along the way before exiting. Another 10 minutes had me in flight control. Damage appeared extensive, but I located the data recorder. Prying it out I scanned the room for anything else. Nothing of interest seemed floating about.
I made my way out and stood upon the hull of the D-40a. Staring at the alien ship, I debated going into it. After a moment or so, I turned for my ship. Deciding I would be unable to locate anything useful in alien technology, it was time to roll.
Safely home in the Stellar Rush, I linked the data recorder and waited. In minutes I reaped an unexpected reward, star charts for the general area. Looking them over and feeding them through to the navigational system. The text display of the log yielded little science information.
The strangest part was a line from the captain of the vessel. Noting they had met with representatives of a faction, the captain stated some thing about telekinetic powers. That would merit mention again during the last log entry about a hostile encounter.
Scratching my head, I leaned back in thought. Concluding the captain understood less science than I, I dismissed it from my mind. Deciding to work on a plan, I set the automatics and thought.
How was I going to get home?
Sitting on a rock, I waited impatiently.
Never known for patience on the best of days, this was not the best of my days at all. My friends would laugh I suspect if they could see me right now. Cursing loudly and muttering, looking for all the worlds like a murder suspect gone wrong.
A fortnight ago, I would have been in a position to have my friends laugh at me for seeing this display. A fortnight ago I set off on a simple flight, nothing more exciting than running out to the frontier to inspect equipment to buy. A fortnight since my ship hit an unexplained spacial disturbance, putting me someplace else entirely.
Day 1
The blaring alert klaxon scared me right out of my bunk. Scrambling in my bare feet, I skidded straight into flight control. Landing in my pilot's seat, I started punching up the full 360 detectors and vision. I powered down the hyperatomic motor of my ship, the Stellar Rush. Scanning everything, I could see why I was awakened.
Directly ahead and to 30 degrees port and starboard, space seethed with energy. I could barely spot it visually, but the detectors bounced madly with readings. Looking them over, I frowned. One moment, the readings bounced off the scale. The very next, nothing.
I spent 20 minutes going over everything in the database trying to figure out what was going on. I held hope I would learn something, as the Stellar Rush was an old Type-4a long range transport. In a stroke of luck, I had managed to get her unmodified when she was decommissioned from active Alliance service thanks to a friend.
At the end of those 20 minutes, I had nary a clue. Nothing in the database matched remotely what I was seeing. I ran a quick science search through the datalinks with all news services. Nothing returned from that. Disappointed, I reached over to send a message and drop a navigational hazard buoy.
The buoy dropped flawlessly. Communications, however, were scrambled beyond eggs. Hammering at the communications board accomplished nothing, prompting me to think. In a moment, I opened a channel to the buoy, transmitting all my sensor info and a brief narrative of events.
"2-October-2315. Stellar Rush outbound from Rigel for Iceon Four. Encountered unusual area of energy activity. Sensor readings erratic, conforming to no known phenomena available to ship databanks. Long range communications disrupted. Navigational hazard buoy dropped per standard Articles of Notification. Attempting to plot new course and report incident once out of range."
Closing the channel, I leaned back in my pilot's seat. Loathe to leave this little discovery, I couldn't wait til another ship happened this way. I sighed, content in the knowledge that I had done what was necessary. I turned my attention to getting on with the show.
Checking the readings, I realised that the erratic nature of this was going to preclude flying through. Flying around would take serious time and care. Doubling back would take time, perhaps causing other complications. I fretted through this mess for several moments.
Finally, I punched my navigation controls and reversed course. I pondered how best to make up for the delay as the ship turned. As she turned, I decided upon speed testing the engines and save the visit to Asimov station for the return trip.
Jumping out of the seat as the warning klaxon went again, I powered the shields to full. Glaring into the detector readout, a tirade formed for the person or persons who scared me. Space piloting rage was a hallmark of mine.
The energy effect seethed in front of me again.
Blinking, I double checked the nav controls. Seeing they were right, I exercised a slow 90 degree turn on thrusters. Blinking again, I saw to my dismay that the energy effect was before me. I powered up the hyperatomic motor, picking a z axis descent. Smiling as space cleared I let the ship creep up to 70% sublight.
What happened next will be hazy for all my life. The warning klaxon started, and I shunted emergency power to the shields. I reversed course under full power, trying to kick into hyperspace. The last thing I remember seeing was the ceiling of flight control rushing at me.
I felt my head throbbing. Every last thing in me ached mightily and then some. With effort I pulled myself up using the pilot's chair. My eyes noted quickly that all seemed working. I slid into the chair and punched commands for a damage report.
In seconds the readout appeared. Running through it, nothing seemed damaged at all. I huffed a serious sigh of relief. I checked for the energy disturbance in case it was lurking nearby. No sign of it prompted a shrug from me.
That's when my eyes caught the main viewscreen. Blinking a few times, the sight before me remained unchanged. I hammered the visual detector controls, then linked the exterior detectors into the visual display. I looked again and again, searching for a fault and finding none.
Knowing the route well, I stared at the viewscreen. As I stared, I linked the databanks into the sensors, looking for known markers. Reaching out and flicking switches, the detectors and communications relays fired to life, searching. Fidgeting in my seat, the answer arrived in about 11.34 minutes.
Position: Unknown. Detectors: No buoys, markers, ships, planets in range. Communications: No signals of any kind detected.
Losing track of time, I have no clue how long I sat there. I have no clue of how many times I checked again everything. In short, I have no clue how long it took me to realise what I was seeing, was no illusion.
The long range detectors pinged suddenly. Turning to them, three ships entered detector range. Waiting for the analysis to come in, I decided to go for broke. Tying in the translation system, I opened every channel I could.
"MayDay MayDay...Ship in distress...repeat ship in distress."
I held my breath, watching the detectors. Without knowing for certain how the translation came out, I could be telling those ships anything. Perhaps something completely mean. Perhaps something completely nice.
I received several bursts of something in reply. Routing that through the translation system, all I could do was hope. Taping I foot and keeping a wary eye on the detectors, I received more bursts of something.
"Attempting to translate your transmissions. Sending pulse ping for locating purposes. Will send more language information as required."
Slapping the shields on emergency full, I fired up the ion pulsers. The unknown vessels detector system was not as good as mine apparently. The directional pulse, however provided all the direction needed. I found the three ships streaking for my position, some sort of projectiles firing from all three, then energy weapons.
Turning 70 degrees starboard, the first cluster of projectiles missed by a good bit. The second batch missed by a few yards, causing me to turn into the third group. The shields managed them handily, I noted happily as I turned, looking for a clear lane out.
I noted as I shoved off at 90% sublight the three ships closing port side astern. Bafflement caused hesitation as more projectiles streamed forth from each vessel. Moving a bit slower, I had enough time to get a good look at them.
Slapping the fire control, the plasma cannons filled space with streaks of magenta. Thanking my luck on getting this ship unmodified, the targeting computer nailed all the projectiles. Firing one last volley, I managed to jump to hyperspace.
In the end I made several totally random jumps, hoping I didn't manage to plow into anything. After the last one, I found myself within range of a binary star system. Running the detectors at full, nothing in the way or life or artificial structures returned in the data. Heading for it, I found myself thinking again.
Running the long range detectors again against the stellar catalog, no recognizable objects returned. Frowning at the repeat of this development, I felt the icy grip of panic grab a hold of me. What was I to do? Where was I to go? How do I survive this?
Upon entering the system, I noted the spatial and magnetic interference would mask my ship. Finding a valley on the fifth planet I settled down under the cover of an overhang. Powering down everything but life support and the sensors I decided to force myself to grab some sleep. A creeping feeling told me I might need it.
Day 2
Nothing disturbed me during the 10 hours of fitful sleep I got. Awaking, I showered and reviewed my situation. No new revelations poured forth, so I excited to my flight controls. Powering up all systems, I feed all the communications data into the translation program. Letting it run, I ran through preflight checks and blasted into the inky sky.
I gingerly made my way through the binary system. My eye caught a reading the flashed up. An erratically twisting asteroid had shifted enough to allow me to see something I missed yesterday. A metallic mass was laying on the surface, partially buried. Curious, I altered course for a closer look.
I hovered 200 yards over the wreck. What I thought was one large spaceship turned into a pair. The detectors told me the wreckage was 40 years old. A creeping sensation feel upon me, as I noted two things.
The first, that the ships look like they had collided. The second was the design off one of the ships.
After a minute and with the computer's help, I realised it was a Westinghouse D40a freighter. Along with that realisation came the knowledge that they hadn't collided, but the alien ship had rammed her. A shudder passed through me, causing me to check my detectors. Upon seeing them clear, I made a decision.
It took more time than I wished it to, but I managed to match the asteroid and touch down next to the wreck. Setting the remote functions, I marched to the airlock. Once safely in my spacesuit, I exited my ship. Bouncing along carefully, I made it to the wreck. The sensor wand detected no remaining power, hardly a surprise.
Looking about, I spotted a large enough hole in the hull of the D-40a. Jumping into it, flashing my torch as I landed on a wall, I barely even made a noise. Smiling that I managed that, I began trekking through the ship. Thankfully the D-40a was mostly just a cargo container, and from scans it was intact.
After marching on the wall for 50 yards, I came to the cargo access door. I dropped my laser torch, as the door already showed evidence of being forced. Pushing through, I flashed the torch about the cargo hold. I actually was astonished at how much was still in the room. I spent a good 90 minutes in that hold, picking through antiques.
I picked up a few things in the hold along the way before exiting. Another 10 minutes had me in flight control. Damage appeared extensive, but I located the data recorder. Prying it out I scanned the room for anything else. Nothing of interest seemed floating about.
I made my way out and stood upon the hull of the D-40a. Staring at the alien ship, I debated going into it. After a moment or so, I turned for my ship. Deciding I would be unable to locate anything useful in alien technology, it was time to roll.
Safely home in the Stellar Rush, I linked the data recorder and waited. In minutes I reaped an unexpected reward, star charts for the general area. Looking them over and feeding them through to the navigational system. The text display of the log yielded little science information.
The strangest part was a line from the captain of the vessel. Noting they had met with representatives of a faction, the captain stated some thing about telekinetic powers. That would merit mention again during the last log entry about a hostile encounter.
Scratching my head, I leaned back in thought. Concluding the captain understood less science than I, I dismissed it from my mind. Deciding to work on a plan, I set the automatics and thought.
How was I going to get home?
26 March, 2010
From the Archives....I Woke Up this Morning and I went to HELL
(I am so very proud of this story. I wrote this one for an English assignment in my senior year of high school. We were reading and doing lessons on Dante's Inferno. I decided to write my very own redressing of the original. It contains one of my favourite characters from my writing, as well as myself, not to mention some of my twisted sense of humour. For those who went to Moon, you may just get a laugh out of the devil, and the devils attendants. I have not modified this story from it's original nearly 17 years ago, excepting where there was obvious errors.)
6:03 A.M.
I awoke, as usual, to my mother smacking me in the head.
I, also as usual, hauled myself off to the bathroom.
Oh rot, came my scrambled thought, another sickly pathetic day.
If I had known what was in store, I'd have stayed in bed.
6:55 A.M.
As expected I was doing a mad dash to finish getting ready.
I fired a comb through my hair and launched myself for the doorway.
And never knew what took my senses.
Time Unknown
My senses were swimming, but I somehow managed to regain them. I groaned loudly and tried to stand.
That's when something foul and putrid splashed on me.
"Oh gross!"
The smell was nasty. L tried to locate a pool. Nearby, I spied a pond and quickly jumped in.
I wasn't in the pond more than 3 seconds when something grabbed my ankle.
I struggled desperately to free myself. Yet I knew it wasn't going to work.
Without notice, whatever had a hold of me, let go. A hand reached out and pulled me on land.
"Thanks," I huffed.
"No bother," the man said evenly.
"Uh, where am I?"
"Well," the stranger said slowly, "we've both crossed into an alternate time and dimension, "at this he paused, "a.k.a. Hell."
I just stared, totally lost.
"My name, "my companion said, " is Doctour, Time Tracer."
"John W. Lasanich, "I said solemnly.
After the intros we hiked off.
Land of Slime
Our first stop was green and slimey. I gazed about at all the green slimed people. I decided that they had been envious.
"People green with envy right?"
Yes,"came Doctour's reply. He stopped by one sinner. A nasty smile crept across his face.
I glanced around and spotted J. Edgar Hoover. I noted, in utter surprise, that he was secreting the slime.
I felt nauseous and said hurriedly, "I think we should go."
Doctour turned, also appearing pale and nodded.
Hellhole C.C.
"This is, " came Lee Harvey Oswald's rough cadence, "The Hellhole Country Club. The worst 36 in the universe."
I watched a procession of gluttons stream by the club house. Each was being assaulted by all the food they'd consumed.
I and Doctour headed across the 'reds'. We saw caddies get shredded and golfers chased by gophers.
We both were forced to hurry as Arnold Palmer appeared. He chased us down for a bit.
In our journey across the course we saw:
Landmine hazards and a war zone hazard.
Vortexes that swallow anything without notice.
Man and golf ball eating monsters.
And the coup de grasis, to reach the 36th hole, one must clear a series of nuclear detonations.
Upon witnessing this, Doctour said in awe, "I know where the next Time Tracer's convention is going to be held."
Land of Infidels
"I think that we're going, "I said nervously, "to get a surprise."
Within seconds a large mass of fools headed by Bill Clinton approached. Each was talking about some absurd ideas.
Doctour was groaning. "The worst president you've had so far."
I really didn't hear him. I was far to preoccupied with my thoughts.
"Wait, " I said suddenly, "Clinton's not de-"
If it wasn't for Doctour's quick intervention, I'd have been smashed. An avalanche of rock, bodies, foam, etc rained down on the group.
Land of Darkness
"I can't bloody see!"
"Calm down, "said Doctour calmly, "I've got a lantern."
True to his word he lit off the light. It threw a circle of light.
"I wonder where this is?"
I had no answer for his question. Originally, I was pondering why I saw a non dead person. Yet a feeling of vague terror assaulted me.
As I tried to pin down the source a shot of light flashed by.
"What was that?" came an astonished shout from Doctour.
I made a slow turn, gazing hard into the darkness. Upon completing the turn I said, "Haven't you noticed the complete absence of sound?"
His lack of silence (nervous chattering) was all the confirmation I needed.
"Stand back to back!" I barked.
I felt him comply. We waited, the silence around us oppressive.
In an almost blinding flash, hundreds of forms appeared.
"Oh by the seven suns!"
At least my companion Doctour could speak. I watched in grim fascination as Jack Ruby was systematically skinned and disemboweled. (Red pen comment: Yuk!)
The arm that hauled me away belonged to Doctour. He said tonelessly, "At least I know that Jack the Ripper was taken care of."
Thoughts
"You know, "came the once again steady voice, "you and I were brought here for a reason. But for all my lives, I can't seem to figure out why."
"Maybe this isn't Hell."
"It has to be lad, "came Doctour's response. "Why wouldn't we be?
"I saw Bill Clinton down here, "came the the reply from me.
"What's that supposed - Wait!" Realization hit the Doctour right in the face.
"Of course, "he yelled." Do you know what this means lad?"
I had an idea. So:
"It's subjective."
"Right! It means we create Hell in our own image!" Doctour tossed his head back and laughed. "I figured it out, Dark Lord!"
"You're only half done. You've got to find me."
The disembodied voice made me jump. Off to my left, Doctour sobered up. He said wearily, "Blast him. He's right. I know how to get out of my Hell. But, whose Hell is this?"
The Doctour savagely kicked a stone. His frustration was clear.
None of that mattered. I was remembering something Sherlock Holmes had said. Something about solutions and the impossible.
Minus warning, the entire scene changed. My words cut through to the Doctour:
"I know how we get there."
Centre of Hell
"Into the Jaws of Death."
"Plus all the other good English, "I said.
We then lapsed into silence. In the distance we heard a rumble. We ran towards it.
Then we realized that running was getting us nowhere. Both of us skidded to a stop.
"This is almost too much, "the Doctour huffed.
"Perhaps if we, "I said, " think our way there it'll work."
No sooner than said, a ghastly sight appeared before us. The Master of Evil actually was a Mistress.
An involuntary groan caused Doctour to ask, "What's wrong?"
I just stared at Mrs. Canan, buried to the waist in response books. (Red pen comment: Oh, thanks a lot!)
"More suffers from the Overworld."
Flying response books came at us. Doing some crazy dance maneuvers, Doctour got close to the Devil(Canan) and was about to ascend the pile. Before he got anywhere, Dave Hays and Chuck Rupert yanked him off.
As they tried to pummel the Doctour, I ran and skitterd up the pile. I hit the Mistress of Evil square in the face. No effect on it and for my pains I was tossed. I landed hard, taking out Dave Hays. My loss of sensibility (And concurrent taking out of Dave Hays.) caused Chuck Rupert to be distracted. Doctour rearranged his jaw with a roundhouse.
The as he turned to start climbing, everything dissolved. I had a sensation of falling.
I fell.
And fell.
And fell.
Then sat up.
I was totally puzzled and completely lost. I realized that I was back in the bathroom. I smiled gamely at the whole thing.
Stupid imagination, I chastised myself. That's when I felt an object in my hand. A simple medallion, with an inscription, was in my hand. It read:
Time Tracer Elite, by order of President Time Tracer, Ralph Mordor.
I smiled again. An interesting paradox, but true.
I arose from the floor and finished getting ready.
6:03 A.M.
I awoke, as usual, to my mother smacking me in the head.
I, also as usual, hauled myself off to the bathroom.
Oh rot, came my scrambled thought, another sickly pathetic day.
If I had known what was in store, I'd have stayed in bed.
6:55 A.M.
As expected I was doing a mad dash to finish getting ready.
I fired a comb through my hair and launched myself for the doorway.
And never knew what took my senses.
Time Unknown
My senses were swimming, but I somehow managed to regain them. I groaned loudly and tried to stand.
That's when something foul and putrid splashed on me.
"Oh gross!"
The smell was nasty. L tried to locate a pool. Nearby, I spied a pond and quickly jumped in.
I wasn't in the pond more than 3 seconds when something grabbed my ankle.
I struggled desperately to free myself. Yet I knew it wasn't going to work.
Without notice, whatever had a hold of me, let go. A hand reached out and pulled me on land.
"Thanks," I huffed.
"No bother," the man said evenly.
"Uh, where am I?"
"Well," the stranger said slowly, "we've both crossed into an alternate time and dimension, "at this he paused, "a.k.a. Hell."
I just stared, totally lost.
"My name, "my companion said, " is Doctour, Time Tracer."
"John W. Lasanich, "I said solemnly.
After the intros we hiked off.
Land of Slime
Our first stop was green and slimey. I gazed about at all the green slimed people. I decided that they had been envious.
"People green with envy right?"
Yes,"came Doctour's reply. He stopped by one sinner. A nasty smile crept across his face.
I glanced around and spotted J. Edgar Hoover. I noted, in utter surprise, that he was secreting the slime.
I felt nauseous and said hurriedly, "I think we should go."
Doctour turned, also appearing pale and nodded.
Hellhole C.C.
"This is, " came Lee Harvey Oswald's rough cadence, "The Hellhole Country Club. The worst 36 in the universe."
I watched a procession of gluttons stream by the club house. Each was being assaulted by all the food they'd consumed.
I and Doctour headed across the 'reds'. We saw caddies get shredded and golfers chased by gophers.
We both were forced to hurry as Arnold Palmer appeared. He chased us down for a bit.
In our journey across the course we saw:
Landmine hazards and a war zone hazard.
Vortexes that swallow anything without notice.
Man and golf ball eating monsters.
And the coup de grasis, to reach the 36th hole, one must clear a series of nuclear detonations.
Upon witnessing this, Doctour said in awe, "I know where the next Time Tracer's convention is going to be held."
Land of Infidels
"I think that we're going, "I said nervously, "to get a surprise."
Within seconds a large mass of fools headed by Bill Clinton approached. Each was talking about some absurd ideas.
Doctour was groaning. "The worst president you've had so far."
I really didn't hear him. I was far to preoccupied with my thoughts.
"Wait, " I said suddenly, "Clinton's not de-"
If it wasn't for Doctour's quick intervention, I'd have been smashed. An avalanche of rock, bodies, foam, etc rained down on the group.
Land of Darkness
"I can't bloody see!"
"Calm down, "said Doctour calmly, "I've got a lantern."
True to his word he lit off the light. It threw a circle of light.
"I wonder where this is?"
I had no answer for his question. Originally, I was pondering why I saw a non dead person. Yet a feeling of vague terror assaulted me.
As I tried to pin down the source a shot of light flashed by.
"What was that?" came an astonished shout from Doctour.
I made a slow turn, gazing hard into the darkness. Upon completing the turn I said, "Haven't you noticed the complete absence of sound?"
His lack of silence (nervous chattering) was all the confirmation I needed.
"Stand back to back!" I barked.
I felt him comply. We waited, the silence around us oppressive.
In an almost blinding flash, hundreds of forms appeared.
"Oh by the seven suns!"
At least my companion Doctour could speak. I watched in grim fascination as Jack Ruby was systematically skinned and disemboweled. (Red pen comment: Yuk!)
The arm that hauled me away belonged to Doctour. He said tonelessly, "At least I know that Jack the Ripper was taken care of."
Thoughts
"You know, "came the once again steady voice, "you and I were brought here for a reason. But for all my lives, I can't seem to figure out why."
"Maybe this isn't Hell."
"It has to be lad, "came Doctour's response. "Why wouldn't we be?
"I saw Bill Clinton down here, "came the the reply from me.
"What's that supposed - Wait!" Realization hit the Doctour right in the face.
"Of course, "he yelled." Do you know what this means lad?"
I had an idea. So:
"It's subjective."
"Right! It means we create Hell in our own image!" Doctour tossed his head back and laughed. "I figured it out, Dark Lord!"
"You're only half done. You've got to find me."
The disembodied voice made me jump. Off to my left, Doctour sobered up. He said wearily, "Blast him. He's right. I know how to get out of my Hell. But, whose Hell is this?"
The Doctour savagely kicked a stone. His frustration was clear.
None of that mattered. I was remembering something Sherlock Holmes had said. Something about solutions and the impossible.
Minus warning, the entire scene changed. My words cut through to the Doctour:
"I know how we get there."
Centre of Hell
"Into the Jaws of Death."
"Plus all the other good English, "I said.
We then lapsed into silence. In the distance we heard a rumble. We ran towards it.
Then we realized that running was getting us nowhere. Both of us skidded to a stop.
"This is almost too much, "the Doctour huffed.
"Perhaps if we, "I said, " think our way there it'll work."
No sooner than said, a ghastly sight appeared before us. The Master of Evil actually was a Mistress.
An involuntary groan caused Doctour to ask, "What's wrong?"
I just stared at Mrs. Canan, buried to the waist in response books. (Red pen comment: Oh, thanks a lot!)
"More suffers from the Overworld."
Flying response books came at us. Doing some crazy dance maneuvers, Doctour got close to the Devil(Canan) and was about to ascend the pile. Before he got anywhere, Dave Hays and Chuck Rupert yanked him off.
As they tried to pummel the Doctour, I ran and skitterd up the pile. I hit the Mistress of Evil square in the face. No effect on it and for my pains I was tossed. I landed hard, taking out Dave Hays. My loss of sensibility (And concurrent taking out of Dave Hays.) caused Chuck Rupert to be distracted. Doctour rearranged his jaw with a roundhouse.
The as he turned to start climbing, everything dissolved. I had a sensation of falling.
I fell.
And fell.
And fell.
Then sat up.
I was totally puzzled and completely lost. I realized that I was back in the bathroom. I smiled gamely at the whole thing.
Stupid imagination, I chastised myself. That's when I felt an object in my hand. A simple medallion, with an inscription, was in my hand. It read:
Time Tracer Elite, by order of President Time Tracer, Ralph Mordor.
I smiled again. An interesting paradox, but true.
I arose from the floor and finished getting ready.
11 March, 2010
Side Step...Looking Around
(I want to point out that the inspiration for doing this comes from reading Elizabeth Fulton's blog entry about today. You can find it through this link: http://bethsrants-raves.blogspot.com/2010/03/optimism-and-fresh-air.html Thanks for writing something so pleasant Beth my dear.)
So it is a seriously sunny day, feeling much like Spring. It has been nice these last couple of days, but today is different.
I fix the poor battered mailbox that got wiped out last month by a snow plow. Perhaps this summer I will replace it entirely, considering this mailbox is older than all Hell, and looks the part. And in my memory, it is the second time it has been taken out by a snow plow. The last time being 17 years ago.
I spend some time on the phone, smoking and soaking up the sun. I manage to talk to several people and run myself out of smokes in the process. I even learn a few things in the course of chatting.
I spend some time staring off into space and the sun, watching wispy cirrus clouds overhead. I also follow the airplanes taking off, since they are close by.
I realise why it is different today in a suddenness. I am actually able to enjoy it.
No distractions. No job. No screaming aliens.
Nothing to stop me from enjoying it. Just Time.
I never thought being unemployed would actually be that good of a thing. My Life consists of running, always running. Never one to sit that idle, I have always managed to find something to do, or been working. Accomplishing both those at the same instant of Time marks a crowning achievement of sorts.
It is warm to me, and causing me to melt as my body is still geared for cold. I have been chased by flying stinging insects. I know it is going to rain tonight and tomorrow, and that I may need a boat to get around to the places I need to go.
Despite all the above...
I am going to be thankful that I was able to enjoy a spring feeling like day once again with no hassle, no job, no screaming aliens...nothing at all. Truthfully, forgot what it was like to enjoy something simple had I.
I am heading back outside. If you read this today, the 11th day of March, 2010 I suggest you do the same.
So it is a seriously sunny day, feeling much like Spring. It has been nice these last couple of days, but today is different.
I fix the poor battered mailbox that got wiped out last month by a snow plow. Perhaps this summer I will replace it entirely, considering this mailbox is older than all Hell, and looks the part. And in my memory, it is the second time it has been taken out by a snow plow. The last time being 17 years ago.
I spend some time on the phone, smoking and soaking up the sun. I manage to talk to several people and run myself out of smokes in the process. I even learn a few things in the course of chatting.
I spend some time staring off into space and the sun, watching wispy cirrus clouds overhead. I also follow the airplanes taking off, since they are close by.
I realise why it is different today in a suddenness. I am actually able to enjoy it.
No distractions. No job. No screaming aliens.
Nothing to stop me from enjoying it. Just Time.
I never thought being unemployed would actually be that good of a thing. My Life consists of running, always running. Never one to sit that idle, I have always managed to find something to do, or been working. Accomplishing both those at the same instant of Time marks a crowning achievement of sorts.
It is warm to me, and causing me to melt as my body is still geared for cold. I have been chased by flying stinging insects. I know it is going to rain tonight and tomorrow, and that I may need a boat to get around to the places I need to go.
Despite all the above...
I am going to be thankful that I was able to enjoy a spring feeling like day once again with no hassle, no job, no screaming aliens...nothing at all. Truthfully, forgot what it was like to enjoy something simple had I.
I am heading back outside. If you read this today, the 11th day of March, 2010 I suggest you do the same.
28 February, 2010
Side Step...Thoughts on the 2009 Star Trek movie
I know the movie has been in circulation for ages. But after much thought, and prodding Thursday night from my friend Luke, here goes.
I am a Star Trek purist, just to say it front and center. I grew up watching reruns of the original series and the animated cartoon. I never really could get into any of the other spinoffs.
Anyway...my thoughts on the characters and the movie itself are as follows:
James T. Kirk: I don't doubt that as a younger cadet and junior officer, Kirk was as big of a smartass punk as seen. One has to remember the episode of the original series 'Shore Leave' and his fight with an upper classman named Finnegan. Having read a fair amount of Trek novels, I can almost see that some elements of the character were pulled from a couple of the novels about his youth. Overall though, Kirk comes across as a panicky punk, with a lot of screaming like a five year old, heavy breathing, moaning and whimpering. There are flashes of the brilliance of Kirk though, such as his handling of telling Spock it will work, and the passing of the Kobiyoshi Maru test. Chris Pine had some big shoes to fill, and even though he comes across as a panicky punk, he does a fair job of it.
Spock: Overall the character was done well, and Zachary Quinto did a good job filling another big pair of shoes. Mostly calm and logical the whole way through it all, excepting Kirk pushing him. The biggest problem I have with the portrayal centers on the whole romance thing with Uhura. I just can not see Spock making out in the transporter room in front of people with time and the Earth on the line. Vulcans are known for their emotional control, and half human or not, there was no excuse for him making out like a teenager.
Leonard McCoy: McCoy was probably the best done character of the bunch. He was as sarcastic, gruff and loveable as he should be. His handling of getting Kirk aboard the Enterprise is a nod to the original series episode 'Amok Time'. Karl Urban does a good job delievering lines that DeForest Kelly would have, and with the right character touch.
Montgomery Scott: Was he in the movie? He was? Oh...it was that guy. Scotty was a pure disappointment. He does nothing at all to suggest he is a miracle worker, excepting managing to beam Kirk, Spock and Pike onto the Enterprise. Simon Pegg sounds forced in the little bit of work he is given.
Hikaru Sulu: I was disappointed at first with Sulu, but as the movie went on, he got better. I disliked the introduction of him that made him look like an idiot. Sulu was far from it. His show of fencing skills is a nod to 'The Naked Time'. John Cho did not do a bad job of giving us a Sulu who wasn't an idiot at the end of the day.
Pavel Chekov: At first I was not thrilled with this over the top, so young you wanted to scream, characterisation of Chekov. However, as the movi went on, you could see him turn into the Chekov of the original series a bit. Smarter than he looks, and with a science bent mind. Anton Yelchin does okay, just the accent got to be a little too much.
Nyota Uhura: I am sorry, but I don't remember uhura being a nasty, catty, all out bitch. Zoe Saldana is an attractive woman, but her portrayal of Uhura is just wrong. Completely wrong, as it is just plain arrogant bitch the whole way. And the romance with Spock angle is just terrible.
Spock Prime: It was indeed good to see Leonard Nimoy as Spock one more time. Despite his advanced age, Nimoy manages to turn in one last performance of the Spock we know. The only knock on it, as with a lot of modern movies (See Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull) is using him as the old man explaining the plot.
Nero: When I first heard Eric Bana was going to be the villain, I died laughing. None to impressed with his performance in The Hulk movie, I was prepared to be underwhelmed. I was actually surprised, as his performance turned into a quirky one befitting a deranged and grieving Romulan, Hell bent on changing history. The only real knock on it is his voice when he was trying to yell.
Christopher Pike: I don't have much to say about this character. Little is known for sure of Pike, based on the failed pilot 'The Cage'. Bruce Greenwood did a decent job of it though.
The Enterprise: I can see that Apple won the computer battle against IBM and Microsoft at some point in history. The Enterprise looked to be an IMac from Hell, painfully white that it was. Using a factory to depict the engineering section was terrible. The phaser sound effect sounded more like a noise that I make me screwing around than weapons fire. And a front wind shield? Who gets the fun job of cleaning that when it gets dirty, Janitor, Third Class? The exterior design was not altogether terrible as I thought it was going to be.
The Plot: The story of how an altered history brings together the crew of the Enterprise is okay. The blowing up of Vulcan was just plain idiotic, and basically done because Star Wars did it. The science behind how they did it comes from another science fiction novel by Greg Bear that the title of it escapes me. Oh, and the last time I checked, Iowa did not...and would not in 250 years time, resemble Arizona in any way shape or form.
In the course of writing this, I have come to learn that in about 2.5 years time we should see another Star Trek movie. Who knows how that will be.
I am a Star Trek purist, just to say it front and center. I grew up watching reruns of the original series and the animated cartoon. I never really could get into any of the other spinoffs.
Anyway...my thoughts on the characters and the movie itself are as follows:
James T. Kirk: I don't doubt that as a younger cadet and junior officer, Kirk was as big of a smartass punk as seen. One has to remember the episode of the original series 'Shore Leave' and his fight with an upper classman named Finnegan. Having read a fair amount of Trek novels, I can almost see that some elements of the character were pulled from a couple of the novels about his youth. Overall though, Kirk comes across as a panicky punk, with a lot of screaming like a five year old, heavy breathing, moaning and whimpering. There are flashes of the brilliance of Kirk though, such as his handling of telling Spock it will work, and the passing of the Kobiyoshi Maru test. Chris Pine had some big shoes to fill, and even though he comes across as a panicky punk, he does a fair job of it.
Spock: Overall the character was done well, and Zachary Quinto did a good job filling another big pair of shoes. Mostly calm and logical the whole way through it all, excepting Kirk pushing him. The biggest problem I have with the portrayal centers on the whole romance thing with Uhura. I just can not see Spock making out in the transporter room in front of people with time and the Earth on the line. Vulcans are known for their emotional control, and half human or not, there was no excuse for him making out like a teenager.
Leonard McCoy: McCoy was probably the best done character of the bunch. He was as sarcastic, gruff and loveable as he should be. His handling of getting Kirk aboard the Enterprise is a nod to the original series episode 'Amok Time'. Karl Urban does a good job delievering lines that DeForest Kelly would have, and with the right character touch.
Montgomery Scott: Was he in the movie? He was? Oh...it was that guy. Scotty was a pure disappointment. He does nothing at all to suggest he is a miracle worker, excepting managing to beam Kirk, Spock and Pike onto the Enterprise. Simon Pegg sounds forced in the little bit of work he is given.
Hikaru Sulu: I was disappointed at first with Sulu, but as the movie went on, he got better. I disliked the introduction of him that made him look like an idiot. Sulu was far from it. His show of fencing skills is a nod to 'The Naked Time'. John Cho did not do a bad job of giving us a Sulu who wasn't an idiot at the end of the day.
Pavel Chekov: At first I was not thrilled with this over the top, so young you wanted to scream, characterisation of Chekov. However, as the movi went on, you could see him turn into the Chekov of the original series a bit. Smarter than he looks, and with a science bent mind. Anton Yelchin does okay, just the accent got to be a little too much.
Nyota Uhura: I am sorry, but I don't remember uhura being a nasty, catty, all out bitch. Zoe Saldana is an attractive woman, but her portrayal of Uhura is just wrong. Completely wrong, as it is just plain arrogant bitch the whole way. And the romance with Spock angle is just terrible.
Spock Prime: It was indeed good to see Leonard Nimoy as Spock one more time. Despite his advanced age, Nimoy manages to turn in one last performance of the Spock we know. The only knock on it, as with a lot of modern movies (See Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull) is using him as the old man explaining the plot.
Nero: When I first heard Eric Bana was going to be the villain, I died laughing. None to impressed with his performance in The Hulk movie, I was prepared to be underwhelmed. I was actually surprised, as his performance turned into a quirky one befitting a deranged and grieving Romulan, Hell bent on changing history. The only real knock on it is his voice when he was trying to yell.
Christopher Pike: I don't have much to say about this character. Little is known for sure of Pike, based on the failed pilot 'The Cage'. Bruce Greenwood did a decent job of it though.
The Enterprise: I can see that Apple won the computer battle against IBM and Microsoft at some point in history. The Enterprise looked to be an IMac from Hell, painfully white that it was. Using a factory to depict the engineering section was terrible. The phaser sound effect sounded more like a noise that I make me screwing around than weapons fire. And a front wind shield? Who gets the fun job of cleaning that when it gets dirty, Janitor, Third Class? The exterior design was not altogether terrible as I thought it was going to be.
The Plot: The story of how an altered history brings together the crew of the Enterprise is okay. The blowing up of Vulcan was just plain idiotic, and basically done because Star Wars did it. The science behind how they did it comes from another science fiction novel by Greg Bear that the title of it escapes me. Oh, and the last time I checked, Iowa did not...and would not in 250 years time, resemble Arizona in any way shape or form.
In the course of writing this, I have come to learn that in about 2.5 years time we should see another Star Trek movie. Who knows how that will be.
27 January, 2010
Side Step...The Mists of History
I found it very fitting that inspiration struck me for a new Side Step while I was at my family cabin, as far technology as I get. History holds many lessons for all of us. Especially, as I have learned, in the grand scheme of it all.
Recently I pondered the plight of crews captured by Somali pirates. The incident that brought this to the forefront of my thoughts concerned a Greek vessel. I forget the exact number of months, but it was quite a long time the crew was held captive. Their incarceration only ended upon the payment of a huge sum of cash.
I remembered that history carried a similar scenario. Over 200 years previous, American merchantmen began plying the waves. Upon entering the Mediterranean they encountered the ships of the Barbary States. America quickly fell into the European practise of paying for the privilege of sailing in the region and suffering the occasional merchant vessel being captured.
After some years, not to mention more attacks from the Barbary pirates, the Americans opted to forsake the European policy of appeasement. Initially, the American counterstrike failed miserably, with one American warship being captured. In the end, as the Americans learned, the counterstrike worked, and the pirates were soundly defeated.
While some things have changed in the over 200 years hence, the situations bear some similarities.
The pirates of old were loosely backed by four nations. Our modern day pirates are loosely backed by one nation, and possibly other interested parties. Both groups of pirates practise their trade for essentially the same reason: Plunder and money. Both groups acquire the money through the plunder of the cargo and ransom of ships and their crews. Both groups of pirates represent a menace to the commerce within their sphere of influence.
The question standing out in my mind, and the one I pose to you:
Why are we letting the pirates of the modern day continue with their actions?
I know their have been some small scale military actions against these pirates. As a whole though, it seems we are still letting them be a menace.
I entreat you to read up on the pirates of today, and the pirates of yesterday in the Barbary States. Then ponder my question and draw your own answer.
Recently I pondered the plight of crews captured by Somali pirates. The incident that brought this to the forefront of my thoughts concerned a Greek vessel. I forget the exact number of months, but it was quite a long time the crew was held captive. Their incarceration only ended upon the payment of a huge sum of cash.
I remembered that history carried a similar scenario. Over 200 years previous, American merchantmen began plying the waves. Upon entering the Mediterranean they encountered the ships of the Barbary States. America quickly fell into the European practise of paying for the privilege of sailing in the region and suffering the occasional merchant vessel being captured.
After some years, not to mention more attacks from the Barbary pirates, the Americans opted to forsake the European policy of appeasement. Initially, the American counterstrike failed miserably, with one American warship being captured. In the end, as the Americans learned, the counterstrike worked, and the pirates were soundly defeated.
While some things have changed in the over 200 years hence, the situations bear some similarities.
The pirates of old were loosely backed by four nations. Our modern day pirates are loosely backed by one nation, and possibly other interested parties. Both groups of pirates practise their trade for essentially the same reason: Plunder and money. Both groups acquire the money through the plunder of the cargo and ransom of ships and their crews. Both groups of pirates represent a menace to the commerce within their sphere of influence.
The question standing out in my mind, and the one I pose to you:
Why are we letting the pirates of the modern day continue with their actions?
I know their have been some small scale military actions against these pirates. As a whole though, it seems we are still letting them be a menace.
I entreat you to read up on the pirates of today, and the pirates of yesterday in the Barbary States. Then ponder my question and draw your own answer.
17 January, 2010
On the New Frontier...Falling Away
(This is the first totally new story I have written in a good while. It is a very short story, but uses science fiction to tell a tale of making sure history ends in a place. And of course, there is a small amount of mystery to go with the story.)
I stared at the stars, searching for an answer.
None presented themselves for review, so I found myself staring across the horizon. Looking to the west, I saw the faintest of glows. I sighed at it, knowing the twin moons were about to rise.
I sat, wearily upon the rock nearest to me. I kept staring towards the faint moonrise, one thought going through my mind. It kept cycling continuously, akin to drums I had once heard on the plains of Africa so many years ago. Haunting was that melody, as tireless as the Darkness.
It has come to this. It has come to this. It has come to this.
I looked into the darkness of the east, hearing those words and those drums of days past. I smiled sadly, my entire life playing out in my head. so many adventures spread across the vastness of time itself. So many places, and so many dreams chasing each other.
It has come to this. It has come to this. It has come to this.
The rebel and independent spirit in me suddenly gripped me. I felt the urge to run, as I had always done. Find another way, search for the possibilities, luck into a solution and all the like.
Shaking my head, I sat once again on the rock. My momentary surge of rebelliousness caused me pain and weakness. I fought off a shudder, knowing that my cellular degeneration was fighting the chemicals in myself and my will to perform one last time upon the stage of existence.
It has come to this. It has come to this. It has come to this.
"Ah Roderick, cells turning to jelly on you?"
I didn't even turn at the sound of the cold mockery. "You should know very well the answer to that."
A low sinister laugh washed over me. I refused to turn still, knowing full well the expression on the face of my companion of the moment. Hearing his laughter subside, I spoke evenly, "Have you decided on my offer?"
"Indeed I have, "came the scornful reply," and find your offer laughable and almost contemptible."
I shook my head sadly and slowly. Knowing he would answer that way still made this difficult. I pushed myself painfully off my rock, pulling my ancient Terran pocket watch out. Pushing the release open, I noted the time with fondness. Closing the watch, I turned to face my companion.
I looked into the familiar features and burning eyes. Even in this darkest of moments, I could not resist a faint smile. I always found the sight of my companion just slightly amusing.
Staring at my own features without the benefit of a mirror, I noted the sneer on my double's face. No sense of humor in my alternate dimension self as usual, smiling back at him.
My alternate self drew his weapon. Smiling wickedly, I watched him make a dramatic show of setting the thing to full intensity. I could not help myself, I smiled watching my very own sense of high drama play out in front of me. I held my hands out in front of me, smiling broader now.
"I am glad to see that our sense of drama is still quite intact after all."
My double merely continued to train his weapon on me. His sense, like mine, no doubt detected the menace in my studied nonchalance. He studied me intently, looking for a clue to my calm in the face of death.
I moved slightly, putting my back to the increasing moonrise. Staring intently at each other, a sudden wind whipped up. I smiled brightly, gritting my teeth through the pain of cellular degeneration. I watched slowly as a sudden realisation spread across my face mirrored opposite of me.
My double tapped away at the communicator on his wrist. He tapped harder and harder as he received no satisfactory response. His eyes widening in panic, he kept trying. Finally he ripped off the device and held it in his hand. Hissing at me, he spat, "Cute Roderick. However the ultimate victory will be mine."
I merely smiled as he pressed a button on his communicator. I knew damn full well what it was for. It was the fail safe arm for his plague bombs set across the galaxy. Once activated, 90% of the galaxy's population would die slowly, agonizingly. What would be left would be unable to fight off the alternate dimension's forces, allowing them dominion over an entire galaxy.
The darkness wavered around us. I simply stood, watching in amusement. I finally said, "Rod my boy, you would dream for a moment that I would let you just carry the day, would you?"
My doppelganger glared at me, then at the sky. Clouds formed suddenly and skated in rapid pace across the sky. Lightning flashed in those clouds, growing in intensity. Laughing loudly, I spread my arms. Screaming above the madness of nature, I starred deep into Rod's eyes.
"I had a terrible time finding a place to bring you. Knowing your history matched mine nearly to the letter, and knowing you so intimately, I knew you weren't going to fall for a clever trick."
I paused long enough to glare at Rod. Discerning the panic in his eyes, I laughed as loud as I could. I continued screaming, as the ground commenced heaving.
"So it has come to this! Your ships is gone! We stand together, dying. Your plan is ruined! It has come to this!"
In orbit of the Pralis nebula, a marker makes it's passage every year. It beeps out a simple message.
Here ended the day...beginning the day anew.
I stared at the stars, searching for an answer.
None presented themselves for review, so I found myself staring across the horizon. Looking to the west, I saw the faintest of glows. I sighed at it, knowing the twin moons were about to rise.
I sat, wearily upon the rock nearest to me. I kept staring towards the faint moonrise, one thought going through my mind. It kept cycling continuously, akin to drums I had once heard on the plains of Africa so many years ago. Haunting was that melody, as tireless as the Darkness.
It has come to this. It has come to this. It has come to this.
I looked into the darkness of the east, hearing those words and those drums of days past. I smiled sadly, my entire life playing out in my head. so many adventures spread across the vastness of time itself. So many places, and so many dreams chasing each other.
It has come to this. It has come to this. It has come to this.
The rebel and independent spirit in me suddenly gripped me. I felt the urge to run, as I had always done. Find another way, search for the possibilities, luck into a solution and all the like.
Shaking my head, I sat once again on the rock. My momentary surge of rebelliousness caused me pain and weakness. I fought off a shudder, knowing that my cellular degeneration was fighting the chemicals in myself and my will to perform one last time upon the stage of existence.
It has come to this. It has come to this. It has come to this.
"Ah Roderick, cells turning to jelly on you?"
I didn't even turn at the sound of the cold mockery. "You should know very well the answer to that."
A low sinister laugh washed over me. I refused to turn still, knowing full well the expression on the face of my companion of the moment. Hearing his laughter subside, I spoke evenly, "Have you decided on my offer?"
"Indeed I have, "came the scornful reply," and find your offer laughable and almost contemptible."
I shook my head sadly and slowly. Knowing he would answer that way still made this difficult. I pushed myself painfully off my rock, pulling my ancient Terran pocket watch out. Pushing the release open, I noted the time with fondness. Closing the watch, I turned to face my companion.
I looked into the familiar features and burning eyes. Even in this darkest of moments, I could not resist a faint smile. I always found the sight of my companion just slightly amusing.
Staring at my own features without the benefit of a mirror, I noted the sneer on my double's face. No sense of humor in my alternate dimension self as usual, smiling back at him.
My alternate self drew his weapon. Smiling wickedly, I watched him make a dramatic show of setting the thing to full intensity. I could not help myself, I smiled watching my very own sense of high drama play out in front of me. I held my hands out in front of me, smiling broader now.
"I am glad to see that our sense of drama is still quite intact after all."
My double merely continued to train his weapon on me. His sense, like mine, no doubt detected the menace in my studied nonchalance. He studied me intently, looking for a clue to my calm in the face of death.
I moved slightly, putting my back to the increasing moonrise. Staring intently at each other, a sudden wind whipped up. I smiled brightly, gritting my teeth through the pain of cellular degeneration. I watched slowly as a sudden realisation spread across my face mirrored opposite of me.
My double tapped away at the communicator on his wrist. He tapped harder and harder as he received no satisfactory response. His eyes widening in panic, he kept trying. Finally he ripped off the device and held it in his hand. Hissing at me, he spat, "Cute Roderick. However the ultimate victory will be mine."
I merely smiled as he pressed a button on his communicator. I knew damn full well what it was for. It was the fail safe arm for his plague bombs set across the galaxy. Once activated, 90% of the galaxy's population would die slowly, agonizingly. What would be left would be unable to fight off the alternate dimension's forces, allowing them dominion over an entire galaxy.
The darkness wavered around us. I simply stood, watching in amusement. I finally said, "Rod my boy, you would dream for a moment that I would let you just carry the day, would you?"
My doppelganger glared at me, then at the sky. Clouds formed suddenly and skated in rapid pace across the sky. Lightning flashed in those clouds, growing in intensity. Laughing loudly, I spread my arms. Screaming above the madness of nature, I starred deep into Rod's eyes.
"I had a terrible time finding a place to bring you. Knowing your history matched mine nearly to the letter, and knowing you so intimately, I knew you weren't going to fall for a clever trick."
I paused long enough to glare at Rod. Discerning the panic in his eyes, I laughed as loud as I could. I continued screaming, as the ground commenced heaving.
"So it has come to this! Your ships is gone! We stand together, dying. Your plan is ruined! It has come to this!"
In orbit of the Pralis nebula, a marker makes it's passage every year. It beeps out a simple message.
Here ended the day...beginning the day anew.
05 January, 2010
Side Step...Fear and 2012
It has come to my attention that 2012 is striking fear into some people. It reared its head a while back while working. I was listening to Weekend All Things Considered, a news program we run at 90.5 WDUQ. They were conducting an interview with the Director of NASA. He began talking about emails he got from random people, asking about 2012.
It is thought, as I am certain most of you know, that 2012 will see the world end. This is due to the fact that the Mayan calendar is ending, and there is not another Mayan calendar. All forms of disaster are predicted for this event.
Some of the emails he had gotten chilled me. Some people were asking him when to commit suicide among other insanities. Hearing this made me wonder about how and why anyone would think that.
Pondering the problem, I began talking to people and searching the Internet. I suddenly came to a simple conclusion.
There is loads on the subject. And I mean loads.
Some of it, I found to my dismay was plain poppycock. Some of it actually was truthful. Some of it made me wonder seriously about the loss of brain cells due to questionable activity.
Here's the short of it all. Yes, the Mayan calendar ends in 2012. yes there is no more calendars to follow it. No, there are still followers of the Mayan faith and history, and they see no need to make a new one. Yes the Mayan calendar has ended before. The world did not end then either, unless I am living one serious delusion.
In short, don't panic. Nothing is going to happen. We will be fine, and the world will continue spinning on it's merry little way round the Sun.
Although if I happen to be wrong, no one is going to be able to say 'I told you so'.
It is thought, as I am certain most of you know, that 2012 will see the world end. This is due to the fact that the Mayan calendar is ending, and there is not another Mayan calendar. All forms of disaster are predicted for this event.
Some of the emails he had gotten chilled me. Some people were asking him when to commit suicide among other insanities. Hearing this made me wonder about how and why anyone would think that.
Pondering the problem, I began talking to people and searching the Internet. I suddenly came to a simple conclusion.
There is loads on the subject. And I mean loads.
Some of it, I found to my dismay was plain poppycock. Some of it actually was truthful. Some of it made me wonder seriously about the loss of brain cells due to questionable activity.
Here's the short of it all. Yes, the Mayan calendar ends in 2012. yes there is no more calendars to follow it. No, there are still followers of the Mayan faith and history, and they see no need to make a new one. Yes the Mayan calendar has ended before. The world did not end then either, unless I am living one serious delusion.
In short, don't panic. Nothing is going to happen. We will be fine, and the world will continue spinning on it's merry little way round the Sun.
Although if I happen to be wrong, no one is going to be able to say 'I told you so'.
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