#Blak Sea

[wezgworld]

Erdogan’s Third Term as President of Turkey and What It Means

On May 28th 2023, Recep Tayyip Erdogan was giving a victory speech to the excited Turkish masses, who had democratically elected him to a third term as President of Turkey. He achieved 52.2% of the vote in  the second round of elections compared with the 47.8% of the challenger, Kemal Kilicdaroglu. Prior to the election result, it had been widely speculated that the long autocratic regime of…

[grisler]

        ✮        𝑮        R        𝑖        S        𝗟̲        E        R.        —                        ᴬᴺ        ᴬᴺ̲ᵀ̲ᴵ̲ᴴ̲ᴱ̲ᴿᴼ        ᴼᴿᴵᴳᴵᴺᴬᴸ    𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙚𝙧        ᵂᴿᴵᵀᵀᴱᴺ        𝙗𝙮        xander.        𝙱𝙰𝚂𝙴𝙳        𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒍𝒚        ᴵᴺ        ᵀᴴᴱ        ᴴᴼᴿᴿᴼᴿ,        ᵀᴴᴿᴵᴸᴸᴱᴿ,        𝙲𝚁𝙸𝙼𝙴                ᴬᴺᴰ        SUPERHERO        𝙶𝙴𝙽𝚁𝙴𝚂                —        𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐁𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐇𝐄𝐃                ᴵᴺ        ²⁰¹⁷.        .        ⨍𝚘𝙧        ᴳᴱᴺᴱᴿᴬᴸ        𝙃𝙊𝙐𝙎𝙀𝙆𝙀𝙀𝙋𝙄𝙉𝙂:        ᴳᴱᴺᴱᴿᴬᴸ        ᴿᴾ        𝖤𝖳𝖨𝖰𝖴𝖤𝖳𝖳𝖤        𝖨𝖲        𝗥𝗘𝗤𝗨𝗜𝗥𝗘𝗗,        𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴        ᴬᴿᴱ        ᵀᴼ        ᴮᴱ        ᴸᴵᴹᴵᵀᴱᴰ        ᵀᴼ        𝗠𝗨𝗧𝗨𝗔𝗟𝗦        &        THOSE        𝗢𝗩𝗘𝗥    ᵀᴴᴱ        ᴬᴳᴱ        OF        ¹⁸        (𝙿𝚁𝙴𝙵𝙴𝚁𝙰𝙱𝙻𝚈        𝟸𝟶+)        FOR        ���𝘈𝘚𝘌        OF        𝘾𝙊𝙈𝙁𝙊𝙍𝙏.

       his        story        𝗖𝘖𝐍𝐓𝐀𝐈𝐍𝚂                themes        ᵀᴴᴬᵀ        𝒎𝒂𝒚        be        ᵀᴿᴵᴳᴳᴱᴿᴵᴺᴳ,        although        𝐌𝐎𝐒𝐓        of        𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦        will        not        BE        ᵂᴿᴵᵀᵀᴱᴺ        ᴼᵁᵀ        𝗘𝗫𝗣𝗟𝗜𝗖𝗜𝗧𝗟𝗬,        they're        ᴵᴺᵀ̲ᴱ̲ᴳ̲ᴿᴬᴸ        TO        HIS        𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫.        𝗖𝗔𝗡𝗡𝗜𝗕𝗔𝗟𝗜𝗦𝗠,        𝗥𝗘𝗟𝗜𝗚𝗜𝗢𝗨𝗦        𝗧𝗥𝗔𝗨𝗠𝗔,        𝗦𝗔𝗖𝗥𝗜𝗟𝗘𝗚𝗘        are        MA̳J̳O̳R        themes.        MENTIONS        OF        𝐀𝐁𝐔𝐒𝐄        &        ASSAULT        will        BE        PREVALENT        ᴰᵁᴱ        ᵀᴼ        ᵀᴴᴱ        ᴺᴬᵀᵁᴿᴱ        OF        HIS        𝚃𝙰𝚁𝙶𝙴𝚃𝚂.        ᴮᴸᴼᴼᴰ        &        (FAKE)        ᴳᴼᴿᴱ        ᴹᴵᴳᴴᵀ        ᴺᴼᵀ        ᴮᴱ        ᵀᴬᴳᴳᴱᴰ        ᴬᵀ        𝙏𝙄𝙈𝙀𝙎.

    ⁰¹.    INFO.          ⁰².    PIN.        ⁰³.    MIX.

[queerasfact]

NAIDOC Week wrap up

Thanks for joining us throughout NAIDOC Week to learn more about queer Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history and culture! We thought we'd finish the week off with a wrap-up. If you missed any of our posts, check out the links below:

Visit Muru-ba, an online exhibition showcasing the faces and stories of First Nations LGBTQIA+ Elders.

Read Colouring the Rainbow, featuring essays and memoirs from twenty-two queer First Nations people.

Learn about gay Bunurong and Wiradjuri man Uncle Jack Charles, who cofounded Australia's first Indigenous theatre company, and campaigned tirelessly for Indigenous men in incarceration.

Discover the Blak superhero Condoman, who educated First Nations people about safe sex during the AIDS epidemic.

Read about Lookin' Good, one of Australia's first queer First Nations art exhibitions.

Learn about Malcolm Cole, the gay Aboriginal and South Sea Islander who marched in Sydney's Mardi Gras as Captain Cook.

[maniculum]

hi can you check this post

tumblr (.) com (/) martianhare/743856863784878080

I envy your institutional access cause I just graduated

It's not fully inaccurate, I think, though I'm skeptical of it being traced back to a difference between West Saxon græg and Anglian greg. There is a tradition of gray/grey being used to denote a quality of light as well as (separately) a color; I'm just not sure that it comes down to which vowel is being used, or to an Old English dialect distinction. Most of the material I can find on this points to a more widespread phenomenon, with discussion of Old French vair as originally meaning something like "iridescent", and at least one author suggesting that the familiar phrase "grey-eyed Athena" is a mistranslation of glaukos and it should actually be something like "bright-eyed Athena". So yeah, grey/gray carries both of those meanings, but so do other words in other languages, and I really don't think our current spelling situation is likely to trace back to that.

I would also note that Bosworth-Toller, the definitive Old English dictionary, not only recognizes no semantic difference between græg and greg, but also that the usage examples it provides include græg being used both for the sea and for the fur of a wolf, which would undermine the claim that græg was exclusively for quality of light, at least during the Old English period.

I am cautiously open to the idea that in Middle English, this distinction was at some point by some authors clarified by using the two aforementioned different dialect words, though I'd need some citation from @helloelicia regarding that because I can't find any indication that this is the case, or examples of that distinction being drawn in a pre-modern text. The example given in the post doesn't work, because both graye and grey in that sentence are being used to describe eyes, which is a very common use case for the "quality of light" meaning. The distinction the author appears to be drawing there is not between graye and grey -- Middle English authors switch between different spellings all the time, it's not unusual to see the same word spelled two different ways in the same passage -- but between graye and blak grey. The adjective is the focus, not the spelling change. And in order to argue otherwise, you'd have to suggest that dogs' eyes are grey-like-the-color, which is not something I have observed. I would read that passage as saying that the eyes of both animals have a gleaming quality -- possibly referring to the tapetum lucidum -- but that those of dogs are being described as darker in some way.

Also, in my experience with Middle English, this kind of spelling distinction seems implausible to me. If Helloelicia does have a citation, though, then problem solved, done and dusted, why am I even here. Hoping they respond and clear it up.

Speaking of, here's my bibliography for this post. It's brief, because I meant to put aside the afternoon to work on my dissertation but I really wanted to do this instead, so I'm compromising by only allowing myself a limited dive into this topic before going back to work.

Kinney, Muriel. "Vair and Related Words: A Study in Semantics." Romanic Review, vol. 10, 1919, pp. 322-63.

Krieg, Martha Lenore Fessler. Semantic Fields Of Color Words in Old French, Old English, and Middle English. 1976. University of Michigan, PhD dissertation.

Moore, Arthur K. "The Eyen Greye of Chaucer's Prioress." Philological Quarterly, vol. 26, 1947, pp. 307-12.

[synbiota]

▲ SYNBIOTA. AN INDEPENDENT ORIGINAL CHARACTER WRITTEN BY HAXAN ( BLAK AUST. / SOUTH SEA, 26 ) , BASED ON 80'S-90'S SCIENCE FICTION, SURVIVAL HORROR, EXISTENTIAL FICTION & TOKUSATSU MEDIA. MINORS, PERSONALS DNI. BLOG FOLLOWS AGENT JAMES 'ACE' KIRBY, A PEACE KEEPING OFFICER WORKING UNDER RHEIA, AN ESOTERIC INTERPLANETARY COUNCIL.

[pionia-milly]

Watch "'Don't Have Money For...': EU Snubs Ukraine; Refuses To Help Amid Russia's Black Sea Dare | Watch" on YouTube

Omg, I think this start wwiii, wwiii start from blak sea in my dream and every countries be careful and be ready for safe and don't shake USA for peace. I don't like war anymore in this world but world has sociopaths races

[ziaeivy]

I LOVE HUG PART I

I love hug, tp keluarga pada gengsian. I love physical touch, tp sama orang yang aku sayang aja. 😡

Kalau lagi hari raya, gada pelukan. Salim doang terus cupika cupiki, beres. Dari dulu ga ada yang namanya saling bilang "semangat ya..."

Tiap hari kalo mau pergi dari rumah buat kegiatan, cuman salim sama cupika cupiki dan langsung pergi.

Dari dulu sampai sekarang ga inget tuh bilang, "aku sayang kamu.." di keluarga.

Dulu kalo mau tidur biasanya suka ditemenin sama mama, ga dinyanyiin nina bobo tapi aku selalu minta peluk. Emg anaknya suka bgt dipeluk, ngerasa aman dan nyaman.

Makin tambah gede, gengsinya makin tinggi semuanya. Bisa banget diitung pake jari untuk pelukan dalam setahun sama keluarga. Ngerasa loss aja gitu, sayang banget deh kok bisa kaya gini.

Kalo sama teteh aa sih kaya masih, "alah gapapa dah, geli juga kalo pelukan." Tapi bedanya jadi saling berani buat nyemangatin dalam hal apapun, "keep spirit, big sist." "cheer up, big bro." "Thank u, lil sist."

Kalo sama papah dari dulu aku anaknya paling berani kata banyak orang, "anak papah" banget lah.Sama mamah juga, apalagi katanya aku sama mamah tuh 11 12. Pokonya segala diturutin. Tapi mamah papah bilang kalo misalkan "kami" itu (teteh, aa, dan aku) segala diturutin karena jarang banget buat minta sesuatu. Jadi kalo salah satu dari anak-anaknya ada yang minta, mereka malah seneng dan berusaha buat dapetin apa yang terbaik buat anaknya.

Aku juga jadi ada pikiran kayanya keluargaku ini membuktikan rasa cinta dan kasih sayangnya itu bukam physical touch, tapi dengan hal lain.

Sebenernya udah kepikiran dari SMA, tp mau aku ketik disini biar aku selalu inget aja. Soalnya kadang kl lg ngerasa down kek orang gila.

Keluarga aku emang gensian kalo nunjukin rasa cinta dan kasih sayangnya. Tapi... aku bisa ngerasain disetiap orangnya.

Papah:

Gengsiannya parah abis-abisan, ga banyak ngomong kalo emang dirasa ga perlu, tapi suka bercanda walaupun kadang bercandaannya ga masuk di aku. Tapi ini yang bikin jadi kangen kalo lagi jauh kaya sekarang. Bilang sayang? No. Meluk? No. Bilang cinta? No.Bilang semangat? No. Posting poto anak dengan caption mengharukan? No. (Soalnya gaptek, baru punya hp Andro taun ini juga.) Tapi...Dari aku TK-SMA selalu ngiketin tali sepatu aku. Dengan alasan, "si eneng mah lama kalo pake sepatu." Dari dulu kalo jalan-jalan selalu megang pundak/lengan/baju biar ga kepisah sama rombongan. Ini berlaku ke 3 anaknya juga wkwkwk. Kalo beliin barang selalu make sure kalo barang itu nyaman dan bagus ketika dipakai, "neng cobain yang ini, bagus ga menurut eneng? suka ga? mau pilih yang mana lagi sok? mau liat-liat dulu ke tokoh sebelah sana ga? nyaman ga pas dipakenya?" dan 100 pertanyaan lainnya. Aku suka kerang & cumi-cumi. Waktu papah tau, tiap seminggu sekali selalu nanya, "neng makan sea food yuk?!" Akhirnya berangkat naik motor berdua. Pas lg makan emamg terkesan canggung bgt karna bukan tipe yang nyerocos, tp seneng aja makan berdua. Kyknya skrg lupa sih ya wkkwkw. Waktu ketuk palu papah mamah pisah pun, papah cuman minta satu. "Pengen nganterin eneng ke sekolah sampai lulus." Ini yang bikin aku nangis bgt waktu itu.

Mamah:

Gengsian juga parah, tp masih bisa banyak ngomong apapun itu, strict parents sesungguhnya. Bercandaannya suka masuk tp emang kadang juga ngga wkwkwk. Terlalu blak-blakan, sampe kadang bikin sakit hati tapi kalo dipikir dua kali jadi make sense omongannya. Bilang sayang? No. Peluk? No. Alasannya kalo ditanya "pengap mamah kan punya asma" Posting foto sama anak dengan caption yang mengharukan? Ini jarang sih biasanya malah foto yg isinya muka doang terus flexing kalo anaknya dapet apaan. Keknya punya prinsip sombonglah jika mampu. Tapi...

Real daya juangnya seorang ibu.

Kalo anaknya ada kemauan dan itu positif di supportnya bukan maen. Tapi tidak lupa dengan realistisnya, "enengnya mampu ga?" Lah aku kalo digituin makin tertantang kan ya. 😭 Pengen hidup anaknya bener, lurus, gampang, tapi tidak lupa dengan perjuangan sendiri juga. Jadi mama tuh sering banget ngasih jalan/fasilitas ketika udah dikasih hal itu tinggal anak-anaknya mau berjuang atau ngga. Kita yang tetep nentuin perjuangan hidup sendiri. Best mom ever, kalo dia masih bisa jangan panggil orang lain dulu buat bantu. Karena sekarang anaknya udah pada gede, teteh udah nikah dan aku bentar lagi nyusun skripsi. Jadi setiap kejadian apapun mamah harus tau gamau ketinggalan. Setiap ada yang sakit mau itu anaknya apalagi cucunya, pasti pengen ngurus dan bilang "kapan lagi mamah bisa ngurusin kalian." Aww 🥺

Teteh & aa:

Sebenernya agak no komen ya sama mereka karena kita tuh dibilang deket ngga dibilang ga deket pun ngga. Chat kalo cuman ada butuhnya doang. Tapi kalo emang lagi butuh pasti diusahain dan kalo bisa dijemput langsung lah istilahnya.

Balik lagi ke, "I love hug"

Dalam artian aku itu orangnya clingy paraaahhhhh. Kalo ada orang yang nolak ketika aku manja biasanya sakit hati sih hiks~ Tapi aku tidak akan menyerah apalagi kalo ke keluarga AHAHAHAHAHA. TAKE MY HUG OR I WILL HUG YOU TIGHER THAN BEFORE!

- Persepsi ego diri (kompleksbayang)

[kumsal-thingss]

- "Çünkü güzellikleri görmek güzel oluyor".

-"Çünkü gördüklerinde güzellik oluyor"...

[nausinesaa]

Goddess of the sea

✿ Prints: RedBubble, Society6 ✿

[ic001]

From now on, when sharing or discussing Blackness in a global context, this blog will use Bla(c)k as a descriptor to be inclusive of Black voices and experiences that are not African or a part of the Afro-Diaspora. However, when talking about specific Bla(c)k experiences, "Blak" or "Blackfella/Blakfella" will be used to talk about Indigenous Australian (Aboriginal Australian, Torres Strait Islanders, Aboriginal Tasmanians), South Sea Islander, Papuan and Melanesian experiences of Blackness. Meanwhile, for African/Afro-Diasporic experiences of Blackness the terms "Blac/Black" or "African/Afro-Diaspora" will be used to denote African and Afro-Diasporic experiences of Blackness.

Why is this important?

Because Bla(c)k lives and experiences are important to this world. Recognizing the extreme diversity in Blackness as well as its negative universality in a racialized world is important in the deconstruction of antiblackness and the preservation of Bla(c)k Indigenous cultures.

Disclaimer: I only include those in the term Bla(c)k who have a consistent history of being racialized as Black by colonizers, have consistently suffered and experience institutional abuse because of that racialization, embody blackness more often than not and have claimed and reclaimed Blackness as an identity both in politic and embodiment.

(From top to bottom: Pan-African flag, Australian Aboriginal flag, Torres Strait Islander flag, Flag of Papua New Guinea, Flag of West Papua and the West Papua Liberation Movement, South Sea Islander flag, Flag of Vanuatu.)

[p1r0]

Silver gelatin print

[maidabazaar]

★ Black see bania ★

Source

[oceanembraced]

i uhhhh haven’t posted this yet vv much hc

but u bet ur asses that haruka and michiru die when crystal tokyo is established ; whether the causes of their death is through war, or through natural accidents, there is no room for the two lovers in the building of the new world. as they’d have to take their solitary positions at the end of the solar system, neither could bare to exist without everyone, and each other. knowing the light of the regular life, and the light of love that they held for each other, it was decided it was too cruel to let them experience seperation; YET, someone still needed to guide the outer rim ????? they couldn’t just not. it was their duty to do so.

so the two of them chose to pass on,  how that comes is a m y s t e r y honestly, but their star seeds begin a cycle again are born on their respective planets. completely solitary. their memories reset and it’s probably hella awkward everytime the outers or inners get together bc here’s 2 ppl who look exactly like haruka and michiru . . . . but aren’t. and are just cold and empty shells of human beings like in their first lives. . . ..

[fantabulosabasket]

Three postcards produced by the Australian Queer Archives (formerly Australian Gay and Lesbian Archives, though always fully inclusive in practice), where I volunteer. My write-up below is paraphrased from the text on the reverse.

The first shows Aboriginal South Sea Islander man Malcolm Cole dressed as Captain Cook for the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade of 1988. Text on back notes that this was a camp response to Bicentennial celebrations, in which Cole and friends created the first official First Nations float. It was a ‘ship’, pulled the length of the parade by white ‘convict’ men. Malcolm was a dancer, founding member of the Aboriginal Islander Dance Theatre and a HIV/AIDS activist. More about Cole, including footage of him at Mardi Gras, can be found at the Blak History Month website (which is also a great repository of Aboriginal history in general).

The second postcard shows Lyn Cooper, wearing her ‘I Am a Lesbian’ shirt at the International Women’s Day celebrations in Adelaide, 1974. Cooper was a photographer and member of both the Women’s and Gay Liberation movements in Australia, specifically Adelaide. Her image remains popular and commonly posted in pride images and celebrations of lesbian visibility.

The third postcard shows the bushrangers Andrew Scott (Captain Moonlite- spelling intentional) and James Nesbitt, who met in Pentridge Prison (where, as an aside, Nesbitt repeatedly got in trouble for caring for Scott by bringing him things). They lived together after their release, before commencing their bushranging career across the colonial border in New South Wales. Famously, Nesbitt was killed in a police shoot-out, where the depth of Scott’s emotional response- he was reported to have kissed him as he lay dying in his arms- was remarked on even in the newspapers, without mockery. Scott wore a lock of Nesbitt’s hair as a ring, which he passed on to Nesbitt’s mother prior to his own hanging, writing to her as her ‘other son’. While the courts refused Scott’s request to be buried with Nesbitt, admirers later disinterred Scott and moved his remains to the same location as Nesbitt’s, finally fulfilling the request.

[queerasfact]

Queer artists 02/30 - Dylan Mooney

Dylan Mooney is a contemporary artist working in painting, printmaking and digital illustration and a proud Yuwi, Torres Strait Islander and South Sea Islander man. His work explores themes of resilience, strength and pride in both the Indigenous and queer communities.

The three artworks above are from Dylan's Queer, Blak, & Here series of digital portraits of queer Indigenous men. The portraits' subjects are depicted in moments of tenderness or gazing in defiant pride at the viewer.

“The Indigenous and LGBTQI+ communities are resilient peoples that are thriving and growing. Through so much adversity, we have overcome all the obstacles that have been thrown at us, and we will keep empowering each other and grow in strength for a better future for us.”

– Dylan Mooney

You can see the rest of Dylan’s Queer, Blak & Here series here and read more about his work here. 

[Image descriptions: All three images depict a different pair of young, Indigenous men framed against the sky with small rainbow and Aboriginal flags on their clothing. In the first, both face the viewer with one sitting behind the other; words such as “Blak + Queer”, “healing” and “strength” are painted on their arms and legs in white. In the second, the pair are viewed from the side with both facing the viewer and one embracing the other from behind. In the third, the two men face each other seated holding hands with a love heart appearing in the air between them.]

[starr-fall-knight-rise]

HASO, “An Unknown Void.”

Hope you all enjoy your day today. 

The deep blackness of space surrounded him, or it seemed t, with the lights on the bridge dimed and the blast shield lifted from the wind screen, he could see nothing, well, there was the occasional star in the sky, but according to star charts, this place was supposed to be the darkest  in the known universe. 

He reached down and tilted the ship slightly to the side to give a better view for the onboard telescopes. Scientists had a theory that this place wasn’t nearly as dark as it looked. A couple thousand years ago the Hubble telescope had been turned towards the darkest portion of the sky they could see, and returned with the Hubble deep space images depicting thousands if not trillions of unknown stars that had been invisible to the naked eye and inferior ground telescopes. He expected to see the same thing here.

Adam was not himself a scientist, though he tried his best to keep informed and educated on as many subjects as possible. Partially It Was due to his overwhelming desire for self improvement, while another part of him, a more subconscious part of him had someone he desperately wanted to impress.

He reached down to open the comm line to the science division, “See anything?”

There was only a momentary pause before, “Give us just another minute sir. We are having to recalibrate the telescopes.”

“Oh, is something wrong?”

“We tried taking a picture but didn’t see anything. It was probably just a younger scientist who forgot to remove the lens covers. We should be good to go.”

There was a pause.

“That’s weird.”

“What?”

There was quiet for a long moment, “Sir, we are still seeing nothing. I think there might be some sort of malfunction….”

Adam shifted in his seat, “turn the telescope back behind us and see if it works in that direction.”

“Sir, how would the direction-”

“Just do it.”

There was another long, two minute pause before, “Sir…. the images are coming in and they look…. Fine…”

Adam wasn’t sure what to think, “His first instinct was to assume a blak hole or something was eating up all the light in the area, but blackholes were visible due to their event horizon, and their machines would have noticed the anomaly in gravitation even this far out.”

Then a thought struck him.

Had they reached the end of the Universe. 

No no obviously that wasn’t the case, There were plenty of known galaxies and stars all around them. It was just this narrow speck of the cosmos that didn’t seem to have anything. Somehow that thought made him feel slightly woozy. Adam had never been susceptible to Cosmic Schock, but even he didn't find the thought of an endless black void to be particularly comforting.

“I don’t like it.”

The voice in his head nearly startled him out of his sea, and he frowned in annoyance as Conn floated into view just outside the ship window.

Adam was about to say something scathing to the starborn bust stopped as he saw conn floated with his back to the window staring out at the vast blackness. He reached a hand back to absently touch the screen as if grounding himself against the void. Adam stirred uneasily as he felt Conn’s walls slip. Suddenly his own head was filled with a brimming uneasiness spilling over from Conn himself.

The sensation was strange and unsettling. Conn usually kept his emotions under close wraps, but to see him falter like that was more than strange.

He felt a shiver crawl up his spine.

The starborn had spent his entire life in the void of space, so to have him disquieted by something in space was enough to make Adam nervous as well.

He motioned to his navigation specialist, “Give me a rout back to the nearest star system. Conn, get inside.”

The starborn only hesitated for a few moments before doing as told and floating around the side of the ship..

***

The bright lights blinked on and then off.

They  tended to agree, something strange was going on. Their one large eye blinked once as more lights ran up and down the sides of their body. 

They stared through the analysis screen but the readout indicated absolutely nothing. There was no detectable UV light, or unknown radiation except for the constant radiation and background frequency that was to be expected in space. 

They turned the analysis screen back towards the beginning of the star field to make sure their machine was not simply malfunctioning. It had never done so before, but there was always a statistical likelihood that it might again.When the star field came into view, the screen suddenly erupted with a bright array of blinking lights all with scientific analysis ready for use. That was obviously strange, but they were sure that their equipment was now working. They were about to turn their attention back towards the dark field when something on the analysis caught their eye. It was a bright blinking light, much smaller than the rest but indicating that it was far closer. They zoomed in on that particular indicator and was suddenly pleased at what they found. The signature was familiar, a known mixture of nitrogen and oxygen inside an enclosed container run by fusion energy.

They turned over and floated back through the door and down the tight tunneled hallway.

Bright orange and yellow eyes blinked at them as they passed by the others, flashing their lateral lights in question. They would have answered the questions if the others if they were not hurrying to inform their comandante of their new neighbors

They floated through a hole in the ceiling, or floor as it might have been in any orientation ad met the comandante on the bridge.

They turned, “Zheyar, have you found anything.” Bright lights blinked up and down their body to indicate the question dimming and expanding at moments.

“The dark field is….. Still dark. I can get no readings from it, however it seems that we are not alone.”

Bright lights flashed down their body in response to the news, “Oh, lovely, is it anyone that we know.”

“I believe they are a member of the species we met in the ice field, the ones that put us in contact with the GA.”

There was another bright exchange of lights before the comandante made their decision, “We will have to greet them certainly.”

***

Adam was just prepping his ship for a short warp to the nearest star when their comms specialist suddenly bolted upright in her seat. She leaned forward for a moment pressing her headset against her head, “Sir, sir I have a signal… we are being hailed.” He sat up in his seat, “Way the hell out here. Analyse the signal and send it through.”

There was only a momentary pause before, “Sir, I… its transmitting like a Mike ship.”

Adam perked up, “Mikes! I love those big guys. Hold on, patch the through, and get the translation team up here as soon as you can, I’m gonna need those LEDs .”

It was only minutes later that he had the translation team up and running standing next to him and carefully placing illumination stickers up and down the sides of his body. The little LEDs would brighten and dm in connection with his voice in order to translate to the mikes. 

The screen before him lit up and he was excited to see one of them floating on screen before him.

He smiled, “It is a pleasure to see your kind again.” The little colorful dots brightened and dimmed up the sides of his body flashing in bright neons as he spoke. It was only slightly distracting, but he was pleased to speak to the mikes after so long of not seeing tem.

“It is you!” The creature exclaimed emphasizing its enthusiasm with even brighter light.

“I am happy to see you after such a long time. We had assumed you had returned to your home world.”

The mike flashed lights up and down its body. There was no translation so he assumed it was some sort of gesture like a shrug or a shake of the head would be for humans, “We are sorry that we coil not take your GA’s invitation for a visit, but we did have a deadline to consider. We do promise that our monarchs have taken the offer into consideration and will be sending a delegation soon. We are very pleased at the idea of joining your coalition, though we have had so many things to do as of late.”

Adam’s enthusiasm was picked up by the brightness of the LED stickers, “I am personally very excited to hear that. I had hoped that you would take us up on our offer.” he Tried to avoid using his hands too much knowing that the movement of his arms might obscure the lights, “It seems of an almost astronomical coincidence that we should run into each other. There must be a reason.”

“I assume that you are looking at the same piece of dead space as we are, tell me has your scientific equipment been abl to detect what ours have not.”

Adam shook his head, “I am afraid we are getting no readings from the space, though i daresay our equipment is far less superior in comparison to yours.”

The mike flashd a little, “Sometimes simplicity can outmaneuver complex machines, though I see that we are both lost on that particular subject.”

Adam nodded, “Then I propose that we work together for the time being, I supply manpower and technology?”

“It would be a pleasure to work with you, andI must say that you have found quite an ingenious way to speak our language. Yo wear them well.”

He laughed, “You flatter me. We should dock our ships together if you are willing.”

“The pleasure is ours.”

***

It wasn’t more than a few light minutes later when they had docked themselves with the human ship. The cargo doors opened and a waft of wind equalized the pressure between their two ships. The air on the human ship was just slightly heavier making them sink just a few inches towards the floor, though it was of no concern. The humans were waiting for them, standing against the ground, forced to hold up their entire skeletal structures against gravity. It must have been exhausting for them, and likely took a lot of energy.

Their original analysis of humans indicated that a human would have to eat multiple times a day in order to keep up the energy required to move, but these humans seemed bright and awake and likely well fed. Their leader was waiting for them wearing those bright LED dots in order to communicate as did everyone else who stood with him.

They were surprised to find other aliens with him, and were both eager and interested to examine the strange creatures. They floated forward and were met by the humans who bowed low. Another creature floated around the corner of the wall, and the mikes pulled back in surprise.

One of the Star children.

The human seemed to have noticed their surprise.

“You've met the starborn before?”

“On a few occasions,though we weren't aware they had friendly relations with…. anyone .”

The human twitched its upper body strangely before letting the gesture fall, “he i about as friendly as it gets and that’s not saying much.”

The entire group of them shivered lightly as a cold presence washed over them, “Don’t listen to him, he has a hard time admitting how much he loves me. We have a daughter together you know.”

The human’s head snapped to look over at the starborn two eyes narrowing, “Shut the hell up conn, that is not the first thing you need to bring up in front of the company.’

The LED lights on his body flashed bright green with his anger.

The Mikes watched in fascination.

One of the other strange creatures, taller than the human and with another set of limbs stepped forward to Examine the Mike. Its coloring was brightly colored and quite pleasant. It examined them while they examined her, and soon enough she was surrounded by a swarm of poking and prodding at her joints and limbs and strange carapace. They had never seen anything like it before.

The creature took it gracefully enough though their leader to apologize. They did enjoy learning about new things and new creatures. They were completely harmless of course.

The human waved a hand at the dogs on his sides and arms blinking, “Don’t worry, she’d be happy to assist your scientists. If you would please follow me, we can show you how ur ship works see if there is anything that you find useful.

In the end the two groups took tours of each other’s ships, shared as much scientific information as was possible and then began their conjectures about the dark space which they had come across. The Mikes could not penetrate it with any of their equipment and neither could the humans determine that there was really only one way to explore what lay beyond.

They were going to have to go there themselves.

It was suggested that they simply warp to the center of the darkfield, but that thought was quickly discarded as it involved far too much danger. The human offered to fly his ship slowly out into the abyss while the mikes tracked them to see if their signal was lost at any point which they decided was a good course of action if not very reckless.

They were soon to learn that humans tended to be reckless anyway, which both scared them and gave them no small measure of admiration.

They would soon learn quite a bit about humans.

Though both parties were unaware of a stirring in the darkness. A stirring that was well aware of their presence.