by submission | Feb 21, 2007 | Story
Author : J. S. Kachelries
Captain’s Log, Day 523: This is the 38th Earth day since we landed on Europa. At 0900 hours this morning, our exploration team discovered extraterrestrial life! They named them “Europea Hortenis†(Nightcrawlers of Europa), because they resemble big, fat worms. They are about six inches long, and one inch in diameter. They have a huge mouth at one end that contains about 100 razor sharp, articulating teeth. Our Xenobiologists would have been thrilled just to find bacteria-type life in Europa’s subterranean ocean. Imagine their elation to discover complex, multi-cellular life just a few inches below the surface. In addition, they’re easy to capture. You just pick them up by the tail. They aren’t flexible enough to turn around and bite you.
Captain’s Log, Day 526: Today we brought some of the worms inside the ship. They died almost instantly, or so we thought. When we examined one of them using Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), it came back to life. Our biophysics team determined that their “spine†was made from an aluminum-copper-iron alloy that produces electrical energy as Europa orbits through Jupiter’s variable magnetic field (magnesynthesis, so to speak). The worms use magnetic fields for energy like Earth plants use sunlight. Since the interior of our ship is heavily shielded, the worms became dormant inside. When we took them back outside, they were their nasty ice-crunching selves again. Their teeth were made of Cubic-Boron-Nitride. On Earth, that’s a super-hard ceramic use to grind carburized steel. Apparently, that mouth was used to scour the ice for metals and minerals, presumably so they could grow.
Captain’s Log, Day 555: Today I had to post guards full time around the ship. Thousands of worms have begun to overrun our base. Apparently, they think our ship is a 24 hour buffet. We bent four screw drivers trying to pry their teeth off the aluminum landing struts.
Captain’s Log, Day 576: We thought we had the worm situation under control, until the external lab station collapsed. The damn worms had tunneled into the structure from underneath, like termites. I worry that they have eaten their way up through the ship’s landing module, and got into the return module? I have no way to check. Therefore, I decided to abandon the mission three months early, and orbit Jupiter until Earth is in the right position for our return trip.
Captain’s Log, Day 577: We achieved orbit just beyond Callisto. I sent an EVA team to examine the underside of the module to make sure there were no holes. Everything checked out. Look’s like we made it.
Captain’s Log, Day 714: Our situation is perilous. I’ve ordered an immediate return to Earth. We’ll have to adjust our trajectory in-route. We have to get away from Jupiter’s magnetic field as quickly as possible. The video monitors show that the worms are in the unshielded airlock and storage bays. They ate so many holes in the outer hatch that we can’t pressurize the airlock. We have no way to get at them, since our EVA suits are in a compromised storage bay. We’re trapped!
Captain’s Log, Day 718: We’re not going to make it. They’ve began to penetrate the interior hull. They eat through the meteoroid patches seconds after we plug the holes. At least we discovered what our mistake was. It was the ice samples in the storage bay. We had checked the samples for worms, but not for their eggs.
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by featured writer | Feb 20, 2007 | Story
Author : Sam Clough aka “Hrekka”, Featured Writer
Underneath the great, grinding cogwheels of the Clockwork Battlements, clandestine schemes were devised, great plans worked out, and many betrayals came to pass. Out of the four main battlements, all but the southernmost were under the firm, unyielding hand of the Clan Engineers. The smallest, southern battlement was, for all intents and purposes theirs as well, but the flag that flew above it was that of Clan Aerospace.
I ran along behind Dixie. We were both wearing uniforms of Clan Engineer, and her bare arms were completely covered with tattoos – delicate structural diagrams, as was the trend at the time among the Engineer clan. My uniform revealed less skin, which was intentional. Dixie’s ‘tattoos’ were easy to remove, given five minutes. The tattoos on my upper arms and across my back were of the permanent variety. It was a risk, of course. They weren’t Engineer tattoos, but were those of Clan Deepground.
We were southbound, running across the hightops of the Clockwork. We leapt from a half-fallen catwalk onto a huge, slowly rotating cog. The teeth were easily a metre and a half deep, and I quickly judged the cog to be at least twenty-five metres in diameter, tooth to tooth. It meshed with a much faster, smaller cog. This worried me. It didn’t seem to disconcert Dixie. She pulled herself up onto the top of the tooth, and helped me up with one hand. We leapt together, and ran across the top of the next cog – the teeth were just as deep, but spaced closer together, so we could easily hop from one to the next. The axle looked as thick as a tree trunk. About five metres above it, a ledge had been carved into the wall, easily wide enough to stand on. She pointed to it, and leapt. She made it. I took the jump.
I nearly made it.
I caught the edge with my hands. One of my feet slipped down, searching for a foothold. It found one – the axle of the cogwheel. There was a split-second of blinding pain as my foot was crushed and thrown away, down onto the floor of the battlement. Dixie was there, locking her hands around my forearms, dragging me up onto the ledge. She was saying something, but I couldn’t hear it.
I was only unconscious for forty-five seconds, or so Dixie told me later.
I looked down. My foot was back. And my clothes were different. Dixie’s were the same cut as before, but the Clan Engineer tattoos had changed. They were now Aerospace patterns.
Dixie held up a disk of yellow metal, and grinned her toothy smile.
“New code, fresh as the morning dew. Thought this would be as good a time as any to get our new looks on,” she dragged me to my feet.
I pointed to my new foot.
“Like I said. New code,” she said, and smiled again. “Come on. We have an appointment to keep.”
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by Stephen R. Smith | Feb 19, 2007 | Story
Author : Steve Smith, Staff Writer
“You’re not supposed to be here; you could get me into a lot of trouble.”
“I won’t take up much of your time, I understand you can get me unfettered access to the nets.”
“I know you, I know who you are, and I know that you’ve been disconnected. Helping you could get me disconnected too.”
“I promise to make this worth your while”
“Quarter mil, and you’re out in 18 seconds, no extensions, no second connections.”
“That will be fine, that’s more time than I need. Can you guarantee we won’t be interrupted?”
“I’ve got Digital Free Foundation minutemen on the grid, they’ll keep us online, and as long as you’re gone in 18 seconds there won’t be time to untangle the route and take us down. Besides, if I can’t deliver, I won’t be able to spend any of your money anyways, so I guess you’ll just have to trust me. Just be quick. You’re good for the fee?”
“I guess you’ll just have to trust me. I know exactly where to find what I need, I’ll be gone before you know it”
“I thought you’d been shutdown completely, how’d you get onto the grey nets?”
“I was a very capable servant of the netminders before they exiled me, and I learned a great many things while in their graces.”
“Right, whatever, anyways – let’s get this done, I really don’t like your being here – nothing personal you understand.”
“Of course, I don’t care much for being here either. Let us begin.”
“Ok – you’re in – make this quick. What are you after anyways?”
“I’m moving up out of the grey, into the light. I’m acquiring upgrades. I’ll mind my own nets now, thank you.”
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by submission | Feb 18, 2007 | Story
Author : Aelanna Cessara
She picked up a page of the large volume that had been compiled, her keen eyes picking out each individual strand of fiber in the primitive paper. They had not originally planned on doing it this way, but she had convinced the council that using the hand-made material would have significant impact on their charges, and thus she had spent all month making the rough pages and handwriting the all-important documents.
Her partner was looking her with some amusement, and she smiled with the pride that accompanied the success of such a difficult task.
“Did you know?†she said, tugging absent-minded on a feather as she gazed down at the surface. “They have a name for us now.â€
“Oh?â€
“They call us angels. Messengers in their tongue.â€
“Indeed,†he answered, smiling back at her. “We definitely have a message to deliver.â€
His fingers danced over the controls, and the shuttle nosed downwards, preparing to enter the atmosphere.
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by submission | Feb 17, 2007 | Story
Author : Noel Sloboda
Author : Noel Sloboda
Oh, let’s go back, Bekah pleaded. She had made a decision. Alone. What? Go back where? We’re in the middle of nowhere. Halfway between South Carolina and Vermont, Julian protested. Oh.
Palpable silence filled the car, pressing like a wet palm on the back of his neck. Do you have to go? To the bathroom, I mean. Oh. No. I just want to see it again. Jesus, Bek–you mean that thing? They had been the only ones on the road when they approached the mangled mass. The moonless night made it impossible to make out anything clearly.
Do you really think you’ll be able to figure out what it was? Do you? She didn’t. Still. He started to sneer yet hesitated. Something dead in the road had never ended a relationship, he reassured himself, no matter how strange the shape. His lips pursed as he started breathing through his nose. Ignoring her, he tracked the broken yellow lines beneath his lights, then sped up.
There was nothing ahead of them, and he didn’t look back. But long after the elements as well as hungry, little birds had their way with the mystery in the road, Bekah still yearned to return. She thought she could perform an autopsy, perhaps determine the cause of the thing’s end, even if there weren’t any longer remains to be found. Alone.
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by featured writer | Feb 16, 2007 | Story
Author : Sam Clough aka “Hrekka”, Featured Writer
The Soul Collector strode through the echoing streets of Sarvan, and found a cluster of people sheltering in the lee of the great reactor situated in the centre of the city. These people were the first that she’d seen in weeks. They watched her approach, her green robe swishing against the ground, a green lantern hanging from her hand, headdress framing her face, and a tall staff click-click-clicking on the ground.
“What do you want?” One man demanded of her, breaking away from the group and the fire that had been lit in the centre of their small huddle.
“To talk. I have a deal to make you.” She pitched her voice so as to sound more local, like him.
“We have no food,” he said, just as fiercely as before.
“I’m not hungry,” she replied smoothly, making it seem as if this should have been an obvious fact.
“Good.” He slunk back to the fire, exhaustion replacing the anger in his manner.
“What do you know of truth and beauty?” she asked the gathering as a whole.
“Nothing!” shouted one. “They’re both dead!” shouted another.
“Truth and beauty are admirable things to chase,” another man said quietly. He was quite close to the Soul Collector, “but they cannot be captured, nor may they be achieved.”
“Ah, philosophy. You’re right, though, Truth and Beauty do not exist in their absolutes, at least not in this world. In the next? Who knows.”
She walked around the group, pitching her voice higher, applying an edge of control to it.
“Death is an unknown. Beyond it may lie paradise or nothing. No one can know. But I can offer you something real. I can hold your soul in this world. I can keep you from the dark. I can hold your soul as insurance against the unknown. Is life meaningful? Or is it a hollow lie? I can’t tell you. But I do know that life can only truly hold meaning if it can be perpetuated beyond the grave. And that is what I offer. I can offer you a karmic loan on your next reincarnation. I can deduct time from purgatory. I can put off death’s call.”
She unhinged the top of her lantern. Wisps of green smoke drifted from it. One flurry began to form the shape of a human: she waved her hand through it, dissipating it.
“It’s painless, simple, and will feel like a dream of decades. Your mind will be free. This is a heaven of here and now. No need to eat or drink. Just the simplistic pleasure of being, forever more.”
Her vocal technique was proving effective, as they all listened with rapt attention.
Hours later, leaving the empty shadow of the reactor, staff again click-click-clicking on the ground, her lantern burned that much brighter.
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