#eridani writes

[eridanidreams]

Snippet Sunday

Tagging: @bearlytolerant, @silurisanguine, @aro-pancake, @fangbangerghoul, @atonalginger, @aislingdmdt, @fshenkoescape, @ninjaofnaps, @lisa-and-shadow, @a-cosmic-elf, @thatsgoodsquishy0, @hockeydemon42, @fomagranfalloon, @violenceandviolets, @therealgchu, @staticpallour, @artemis-crimson and @constellation-2330

Yes, I have a snippet today! While I work on finishing up the current chapter of stars through my fingers like grains of sand, here's something I was inspired to write the other day, from a future chapter.

Sam put his hand to the door and hesitated, reluctance rolling off him in waves. Cait laid a hand on his arm. "Love," she said softly, "we don't have to do this if you don't want to."

"I don't," he admitted. "But... gettin' married here is kind of a Coe tradition." He let out a little huff. "Which is why I _didn't_ marry Lillian here." He gave her a wry little smile. "Bad luck, that. Or so goes the family tradition."

Cait couldn't quite keep the skepticism out of her voice. "You think that's why..." she trailed off, aware she was treading on shaky ground; fortunately, Sam just chuckled.

"No, darlin', I think things didn't work out with Lillian because it was never meant to be. You, though—" he wrapped his free arm around her and gave her a quick kiss. "Feel like I used up all my luck finding you. Not sure I want to push it any further." He let out another sigh. "Might also be nice to make some _good_ memories here. Make it feel like a home again."

"Okay, then." She leaned her head against his shoulder. "I've got your back, you know?"

"Always," he reassured her, and pushed the door open.

Jacob was truculent as ever. "I wanted to see my granddaughter, not your... latest fling." his growl trailed off as he saw Sam's arm wrapped around Cait.

"Latest fling?" Cait said lightly, before the stress fracturing Sam's spirit could flash into anger. "That's nicer than 'Constellation lackey,' if not by much." She looked up at her lover as if Jacob weren't even there. "Sam, what does a lackey do anyway? Sarah didn't cover that in my orientation."

"'Cause you're way too much of a smartass to make a good lackey," Sam replied, just as lightly. The tension inside him released enough to let him find a semblance of his usual good humor. His arm tightened briefly around her waist as she sensed his brief flash of gratitude.

"Well," she said cheerily, "that just makes me perfect for you, doesn't it?"

Sam chuckled again, but quickly grew serious. While he wasn't as acidly angry as he usually was when talking to Jacob, there was no give in his voice or face. "The phrase you're looking for is _future wife_."

Shock flashed through Jacob, a bolt of lighting that burned through his usual sour resentment to wake something colder, sharper. "I would hope," Cait said gently, in an attempt to divert his usual vitriol, "that whatever else might lie between the two of you, you could be happy for Sam."

"Happy?" Jacob's eyes widened incredulously. "You expect me to be happy to see *my son* tricked into wedlock by some half-alien tramp?"

Sam's jaw set; his whole body tensed, and his rage roiled down her tie to him in a molten tide. Before he could say anything, Cait pivoted to put herself between the two men. She met Sam's eyes—whatever he saw in hers sent a shock of worry through the anger. She took his hand and squeezed it lightly. "Sam," she said, as levelly as she could manage, "Why don't you go meet Cora down at Sinclair's, maybe go for some Chunks? I'll call you when I'm ready to head back to the ship." Sam didn't argue the point; he paused in the doorway just long enough for her to pick up the complicated knot of emotions—anger, frustration, resignation, even a little savage satisfaction—then let the door fall closed behind him. Cait turned to face the room's other occupant.

"Don't think I'll spare your feelings just because he's not here to run interference for you," Jacob growled. Despite the assurance in his voice, he was anything but confident. She smelled his uncertainty like an ashta scenting blood.

"He doesn't need to worry about what you might do to me," Cait said dismissively. "I can handle a bitter old man like you in my sleep." She looked around the living room with the air of one who found it distinctly wanting. Just to make sure she'd seen what she'd thought she had… and the confirmation shredded the leash of her temper. She whipped her head back around to face him. "Tell me," she snarled, "what kind of father goes to these kind of lengths to make sure his son *forgets his mother's face?*"

"He needed to see the reality of the situation," Jacob said dismissively. "Better that he didn't have any unnecessary reminders."

"What you mean," she hissed, putting words to the emotions that writhed serpentine beneath his skin, "is that you didn't want to be reminded that she betrayed you. She left you alone. And you gave up *so much*. Respect. Influence. Power. After all, the government needed a Coe at the helm, didn't it?"

"That's right." He got up in her face, trying to stare her down. "Not that you would *understand* that kind of responsibility. God knows my son never did."

"He was never a son to you," she lashed back. "He was just a vessel for your ambitions. Grooming him to be your successor without a thought or a care as to what he wanted."

"It wasn't his *place* to want!" Jacob's face reddened. "I am his *father*. It was his job to sit down and do what he was told. Just like I did when I was his age."

"Lucky for you Sam doesn't think that way." Cait met his glare, knowing that her eerie gaze disturbed him—for once, she was not at all upset by it. He was the one to look away. "The *only* reason you've been getting time with Cora is because she wants it. And you have me—yes, the 'half-alien tramp'—to thank for that." He opened his mouth to say something; she just kept going. "Don't bother—I know just how much you'd mean it." She lowered her voice to a bare whisper. "Make no mistake, Jacob Coe, if I even get a *whiff* that you've done something to hurt that little girl, Sam won't find out about it, because I will take you apart myself."

Jacob paled and took a step back. "She's my *granddaughter*. I wouldn't—"

"I've seen what you did to your *son* because he wasn't what you wanted him to be. Forced him into a mold that didn't suit him. Belittled him with every breath. Made sure he *knew* he would never be good enough for you." Cait advanced on him. "I've stood right beside him, multiple times, listening to you spit your bile right into his face. You treat him like ashta crap, and you still expect him to lick your boots."

"If you can't show your worst side to your family, who _can_ you show it to?" he sneered.

The dark, dangerous part of her coiled up from the back of her mind at the thought of how much, and how badly, this man had damaged her Sam, and the barest wisp of it seeped into her voice. "Try the mirror." He actually flinched away from her. "Understand this, old man. You are not dealing with just Sam anymore. So keep a civil tongue in your head." Her eyes bored into his; he stared back as if caught in a basilisk's gaze. Her voice was deadly soft. "You don't want me to think you're a danger to my family." Before she could be tempted to say anything worse, she pulled her eyes away from his.

Jacob half-staggered back with the sudden release. "Is—is that a threat?" He tried to regain his usual bluster, but it was a threadbare cover over his sudden fear.

"A promise." Cait gave him a thin, ironic smile. "And a soon-to-be-Coe keeps her promises."

His hands curled into fists at his side, impotent fury sizzling through him, replacing the fear on his face. "I don't know what you did to get your hooks into my son, but—"

"I love him." Cait cut him off. "That simple." She laughed, but there was no real humor in it. "You have no damned idea what a gem you threw away." She tilted her head at a sudden thought. "Of course you wouldn't. You may have sired him, Jacob, but in every way that matters, Sam is *Solomon's* true son. You? You're just a petty, shriveled bureaucrat coasting on the laurels of your famous ancestor."

She turned and walked to the door, pausing with her hand on the frame. Over her shoulder, she said, "Détente, or war to the knife. Your decision." Without waiting for his reply, she stepped out into the Akila rain.

[eridanidreams]

As a matter of fact, yes. And then I had an argument with the character over it. And then I had to re-write that chapter. And it's going to get re-written *again* because I just changed a *huge* part of the lead-in to it.

Do you ever write a sentence and then realize “Nah, that’s too self aware for you” and backspace a bunch of times.

[foone]

We build bases on the moon. Colonize the planets of the gas giants, terraform Mars and Venus, build orbital habitats around everything with enough gravity to hold it up. We invent FTL, and send ships named after dreams to every star we have cataloged. We have rulebooks and plans and endless ideas of what we do when finally we meet another spacefairing race, but it never happens. We don't hail any vulcan cruisers above the skies of Epsilon Eridani and get in no laser battles with a star destroyer in the scarlet light of Wolf 359. No one responds to our endless messages sent to the heavens.

Life? We find that everywhere. If a rock is big enough to hold onto enough atmosphere, we find something growing there. Maybe just a moss or some protokarotic slime, but there'll be something growing there. We spend centuries cataloging the flora and fauna (and everything in between) of a million stars, and never meet anyone who can say hello back.

Not yet at least. In the unending sunset of the Mu Herculis system there's the Peterson's Mermaids who are just developing language and starting on metallurgy. The vampires of Fomalhaut b have begun to write down numbers, and we expect them to have a full language sometime within the next hundred thousand years. There's no animal life on Gliese 499 d, but we have reason to suspect the clonal organism inhabiting most of the northern forest is verging on sapience. And we don't even have time to get into the theory that 55 Cancri B (the red dwarf orbiting the star Copernicus) is a living being in it's own right.

There's plenty of life to study. Lots to learn. But we never meet anyone we can greet in friendship, and there's no star gods out here in the black. We've looked everywhere.

Humanity takes decades to come to terms with the reality of the situation. But we do, of course. We can't give up now.

We searched endlessly for the ancient aliens with all the answers, who built hyperspace portal networks before our sun even burnt, and couldn't find them. We settled for locating our brothers and sisters amongst the stars, another race that had fought their way up from the trees and into the stars, and couldn't find them either.

We always dreamed of finding a parent we could look up to, or a sibling we could share the sky with. They weren't there.

Humanity settles into their role. It wasn't what we hoped for, but we'll be the big brother/big sister to the life of the universe. Not the parent, no. We didn't create them, and we don't control them, but we'll protect them. We'll help them when they fall, and let them make their own mistakes when they need to. But we're here to be the role model and the helper and the partner in crime, the one we wanted but never had.

We keep searching, of course. And our observers on a thousand planets report that there are hints of an ancient race, older than writing, mentioned in the myths of endless cultures. Gods from the skies who stopped the flood, who ended the plague, who taught them to plant a new crop, who stopped the war just as the bombs began to fall, and who led them to a new land when the star began to flare.

We investigate these rumors and myths and stories, just in case we missed the Ancients we always wanted to find. But at the heart of these stories, there's always a description of the helpers: bipedal, two arms, two eyes, no fur, no wings. And if the species has developed art and writing, there'll often be a drawing of a figure, standing alongside a local god or great leader, and nearby the legend will read "humans".

Art historians and religious studies scholars are amused at how often they give us halos. Someone even suggests redesigning our force-suit geometry to reinforce the impression, but cooler heads prevail. We're not doing this for praise or worship. We're doing this because no one could do it for us.

Millenia later after we've been joined among the stars by our sibling races, a mermaid and a vampire are idly chatting while they wait for their turn through the portal network around Fornax A. "What drove the humans to do all this? Why did they take it upon themselves to search every corner of the universe and decide to protect and shelter and guide the many younger races of the stars?". The mermaid shrugs, which is hard to do without shoulders. "I think they just wanted friends."

The vampire looks out the observation window, at the thousands of ships from hundreds of spacefairing races, waiting in line or jumping through phase gates to the other side of the cosmos. "Well, they've got them now."

There's a beep from a console, and a warning light activates as the ship accelerates towards a shimmering gate. Our children play among the stars, without fear of the dark. There's no monsters there, we checked. There's only us.

[stardriveskickstart]

Parahuman Space

While Stardrives is complete, I'm not done with TTRPG writing yet. I've been working on the @para-imperium setting for over a decade now and I'm almost ready to launch a complete RPG based on the Cepheus System derived from Mongoose's Traveller (but more open).

Parahuman Space is a furry setting, yes, of the genetically modified variety. It covers over 2,000 years, but the RPG will be focused on the period after the collapse of the big interstellar empire. When newly independent planets and systems are busy scavenging the wreckage.

Players will primarily be salvage crews venturing into hazardous ruined spaceships and stations. Braving haywire security systems, leaks of corrosive chemicals, and the dreaded Kessler Syndrome to retrieve valuable technology.

In other words, dungeon delving.

At present I am about halfway done drafting the rulebook, drawn heavily from the Cepheus System Reference Document that can be read online here. Once I'm finished and I have interior artists lined up I was hoping to bring it to Kickstarter.

Below is the setting's history, as written for the rulebook.

Timeline:

Most calendars in Parahuman Space are oriented around the launch of the first parahuman-built starship as the start of the exodus from the clade’s system of origin, Sol. On the Georgian calendar the year 0 Post Exodus (PX) would be in the early 22nd century AD. So the Federation would be founded in the 32nd century AD and collapse in the 45th century, or roughly the year 4600 AD.

-40 Before Exodus: Creation of parahumans. -24 BX: Parahumans emancipated and corporations that enslaved them dissolved. -17 BX: Events of The Pride of Parahumans. 0 Post Exodus: First Seedship, the Traveller, launched. 4 PX: Pallas launches second seedship. 10 PX: Earth destroyed by relativistic projectile, origin unknown. 14 PX: Second Pallene seedship is caught by berserker probes that destroyed Sol.  Crew commit suicide first. 45 PX: Traveller lands on a planet orbiting Alpha Centauri A, creatively named "Secland." 48 PX: Vestan ship lands on opposite hemisphere from the Traveller.

115 PX: Ship from Ceres arrives at Epsilon Eridani to find a lifeless system. Instead of terraforming the new corporate government opts to build artificial habitats in the asteroid belts and beneath the surfaces of planets.

124 PX: A second Vestan ship discovers a garden world orbiting Tau Ceti. The crew decide to eschew technology after printing enough colonists in fear of Sol’s Destroyers.

150 PX: Sleeper ship carrying 1500 humans from Sol arrives over Secland. After an abortive attempt at invasion the survivors gradually integrate into Pallene society. 500 PX: Cold war between nations on Secland ends with the completion of terraforming.  Biological weapons leave New Pallas the sole nation standing. 950 PX: New Pallas contacts Tau Ceti thanks to the newly developed conversion drive. Triggering political restructuring among the natives resulting in the kingdom of Schwarswelt under King Hideo Fink.

1060 PX: Stable wormholes large enough to move a spaceship through are produced and launched from Proxima Centauri to Tau Ceti and Epsilon Eridani. 1100 PX: Alpha Centauri, Tau Ceti, and Epsilon Eridani form the Federation.

1150 PX: Centauri Grand Mayor Selkd de Argentum assassinated by Cetan partisans and succeeded by his more aggressive sister Lirdrill.

1200 PX: The Federation centralizes power in the office of the Praetor, first held by Lirdrill de Argentum.

1205 PX: The Outworld memetic quarantine and contingency program is established, forcibly relocating ideological dissidents to frontier worlds with limited technology.

1500 PX: After extensive lobbying by Centauran merchant houses and the Eridani Company, Federation Senate votes to allow limited trade with Outworlds, which now compose roughly half of all colonized planets.

1846 PX: Kershkans, the first extant xenosophont species, discovered. 1903 PX: Contact established with Kershkans. 2300 PX: Federal Guard destroys Sol with strangelet bomb, inducing a nova. Evacuation of Core Worlds begins. 2304 PX: Wormhole gates at Alpha Centauri collapsed ahead of the nova's radiation. The capital cut off, the Federation quickly begins to fragment. 2345 PX: The Emissary-Governor of the Tiere System, wracked by tensions between earlier colonists and new refugees, disables all nanotech in the system in an attempt to reassert control. He is lynched by an angry mob within weeks. 2590 PX: The self-proclaimed Imperator Ronkal launches Project Paladin, sending ships with new reactionless drives and augmentation suites to neighboring systems. 2600 PX: A Ronkalli ship reaches the Tiere System, only for interplanetary debris to kill the entire crew. The ship AI forcibly augments a crew of scavengers who come looking.

The Origin of Species:

The first parahumans were engineered from a blend of human and animal genes and bioprinted in corporate labs in high Terran orbit. They were designed to fill roles in asteroid mining that were too complex for robots but too dangerous to risk human life for. It took less than a decade for rebellions and strikes to start.

Fortunately, the parahumans found many allies on Terra and after the revolutionaries on Ceres worked out a treaty to maintain the flow of resources back to Terra they were essentially left to themselves. With their new freedom came disagreements over how to govern themselves. The guilds on Vesta formed a form of anarcho-capitalist feudalism regulated by the cloning guild that held the early parahumans’ sole means of reproduction. But then a Vestan scientist, a silver fox named Argentum, discovered a simple gene therapy to remove the genetic sterility imposed by their creators and their followers formed a breakaway colony on Pallas.

The Vestan guilds could not tolerate this loss of control and war almost broke out between the two asteroids. Luckily they found an alternative means of proving the superiority of their respective systems of governance. A space race. Exploration of other star systems had been proposed many times but there had been little interest with the abundance of resources right there in Sol system. But with the new nanofabricators it was possible for even a small asteroid outpost to construct an Orion-style starship with a small crew and the fabricators to print out an entire new colony, colonists included.

They couldn’t have timed the launch better. Just ten years after the first starship, the Traveller,was launched from Pallas towards Alpha Centauri, it received a frantic message from Sol:

“This is an automated beacon broadcasting what may well be the last message ever sent by the human race. Five years ago, our homeworld, Terra was struck by a 50-ton projectile traveling at 90% of the speed of light. The debris took out most of our habitats in Earth’s orbit, a few million of us survived elsewhere in the solar system. Then the rest of the invasion force arrived. Machines, vast machines kilometers in length that home in on any sources of radio transmissions, and annihilate them. We pray they are not intelligent and are simply weapons fired by a xenophobic alien race. But they’ve almost completed their work, we estimate that there’s only a couple hundred of us left in the system. We’re sending this message in hopes that there is someone out there who can hear it and beware. This universe is more hostile than we thought. They attack radio transmitters, dismantle whatever devices you are listening to this on before they find you.”

In total, five starships were far enough out to heed this warning. The Traveller, a Vestan ship also headed for Alpha Centauri, a second Vestan ship on course for Tau Ceti, a craft launched from Ceres to Epsilon Eridani, and the largest but slowest ship, a sleeper ark from Terra to Alpha Centauri.

Alpha Centauri: Sol’s Nearest Neighbors

Around Alpha Centauri A the Traveller found a Terra-sized rocky planet that had long been scoured of life by stellar storms from the trinary stars nearby. It was determined that this little rock could be reanimated with comparatively little effort and the crew made immediate plans to colonize and terraform the planet which they named “SecLand” (the landing on Pallas being the first land).

Just three years after the Traveller’s arrival, they were followed by their Vestan rival. Considering the horror they’d experienced since Sol’s last transmission they decided to set their differences aside and work together on terraforming SecLand, albeit from opposite hemispheres. This detente was strained at times, but the first real threat to world peace didn’t come until 150 years PX, when the ark carrying the last of unaltered humanity arrived.

By the time the sleeper ark arrived SecLand had a population of several thousand, the ark carried a mere 1500 passengers but over half were soldiers who’d entered stasis with orders to make sure that the first exosolar foothold of humanity was human, not parahuman. Or at least that was the plan, when word of what happened to their homeworld got out there was a mutiny and the victors immediately surrendered to the parahuman colonists, with most passengers integrating into the Republic of New Pallas. These newcomers brought a wide range of skills and knowledge, living knowledge, to a planet whose inhabitants up until then had primarily only known life inside their half-built habitat structures. The humans emigrated nearly equally to both colonies, over the centuries they interbred with the parahumans, with the net result being that many SecLanders have less fur or their facial features are closer to human than many further colonies. Today pure-bred humans, and parahumans (excepting uplifts), are miniscule minorities on SecLand with only a couple million individuals. The average SecLander resembles a blend of at least half a dozen species of Terragen origin.

For centuries the two colonies lived in relative peace, New Pallas breeding like rabbits while the Vestans cloned new citizens in bulk. But when the terraforming of SecLand had reached the point where colonists could breathe the atmosphere tensions re-established themselves between the two old enemies. With terraforming nearing completion some wondered what use New Pallas could have for the Vestans, on both continents. To that end the Vestans began to covertly build weapons in their Arcologies while New Pallas shifted their orbital satellites slightly. It all came to a head when the Vestans concealed a lethal virus in food shipments sent from their farms to the cities of New Pallas, thousands died in the months that followed. By the time the New Pallas government realized what had been done every Vestan arcology had unveiled surface-to-orbit mass drivers that could shoot down their enemy’s satellites. Even then, many arcologies were leveled by orbital strikes. Then the land battles began. The cybernetically augmented citizen-soldiers of New Pallas facing off against the bioprinted legions of the Vestans. The fighting raged on for months, then abruptly, it ceased less than a year after the war had begun. You see, the Vestans had underestimated New Pallas’s skill with biotechnology, crafting a virus that could be deadly to all the diverse inhabitants of the Republic had been difficult, but a dirty little secret of many 21st century regimes were the techniques to engineer a virus that had disastrous effects when it interacted with a specific gene or genes. And the Society for the Preservation of Parahuman Species had only used a couple genotypes for their army, and even fewer for their ruling priest-scientists. Once the virus had been grown any Vestan unit that came into contact with the enemy was dead within a week, in a month the ruling class had been reduced to a few paranoid individuals who had sealed themselves in hermetic bunkers. Specialized by repeated cloning into an effective caste system, and their soldier castes suddenly extinct, the surviving Vestan arcologies found themselves helpless against New Pallas occupation forces.

The medical advances achieved fighting the bioweapons led to the development of leukosynths, symbiotic microbots that could fight off nearly all microbes and repair the body at an accelerated rate. Even fighting off the advances of aging. When this “immortality” was proven to the public they clamored for the government to subsidize their deployment to the masses. Within the century 90% of New Pallas’ population enjoyed the benefits of leukosynths.

Among this chaos a new power emerged in the Pallene cities and settlements. Families all over the planet started giving birth to silver fox kits, reminiscent of their colony’s nearly-deified founder, Argentum. Some religious leaders saw this as a sign and exalted these silver foxes, propelling many into high positions in politics. The cynical suggested that the parents had modified their children’s genes in-utero, but after the plagues many people were desperate and willing to believe anything. Most of them were actually descendants of Argentum’s, but their progeny numbered in the hundreds of thousands by that point anyways.

An unintentional side effect of this bit of social engineering was a renewed interest in their origins out in the depths of space. And despite the terrors they knew awaited them they couldn’t help but wonder if any other colony ships had made it…

Epsilon Eridani

Ceres, the largest asteroid in Sol’s asteroid belt, was the main off-world base of operations for the corporation that created the first parahumans. During the revolution parahumans took over the local branch offices and largely continued to operate along the same lines. Their participation in the exosolar space race was almost an afterthought, an attempt at remaining relevant compared to the other two major asteroid civilizations in Sol system.

Upon arrival in the Epsilon Eridani system they found even fewer viable prospects for terraforming than those in Alpha Centauri. Instead, they opted to construct enclosed habitats in the system’s asteroid belts and under the surface of the larger rocky planets. Like on Ceres the colonists retained the corporate style of government that had served their forebears fairly well.

After about a century of this arrangement dissatisfaction among the lower ranking employees spread towards the shareholding class. A bloody revolution followed, after which the revolutionaries distributed the seized shares in the Eridani Company equally among the employees, granting everyone a vote in company elections and a share of the profits. Roughly a generation later a group of managers started buying up shares from others.

The third such regime made contact with a probe from New Pallas, trade began almost immediately.

Tau Ceti

The second Vestan colony ship took over a century to reach its destination, the star Tau Ceti. Along the way two generations of crew were decanted from the ship’s bioprinters to replace their predecessors. While the final crew were genetically identical to those who had set out from Vesta their commitment to the ideology of the Society for the Preservation of Parahuman Species had wavered, and with the news of Terra’s destruction some suggested that perhaps the best way to avoid sharing that world’s fate would be to lose their advanced technology.

That would require them to give up cloning as a means of reproduction, however they were unwilling to allow reckless crossing of genelines so they added genetic markers to prevent different phenotypes from interbreeding. Fortunately, unlike the other colony ships they discovered a lush world that wasn’t too hostile to Terran life which they named Schwarzwelt after the dark colors of the local chlorophyll analogue. They then settled each “species” into different “clans” in different regions of the planet. The clans grew in population rapidly, bumping up against the borders designated at founding in less than a century. War broke out.

Clans rallied behind charismatic warrior-nobles and weaker clans swore oaths of fealty to stronger ones to save their own skins. These wars continued until contact with the first probe from the Centauri system, realizing that there was another civilization out there and that they were capable of interstellar travel the clan heads held a council to decide what to do about it. The majority ruled that they needed a single man to represent their world when the outsiders came in person, they elected King Hideo Fink of the feline clan as the official ruler of Tau Ceti.

Birth of the Federation

While the first manned starships with conversion drives were still traveling to their neighbors, scientists at a research base orbiting Proxima Centauri, the small red dwarf star that barely qualified as the third star of the Alpha Centauri system, made a breakthrough. Using a newly discovered form of exotic matter a wormhole could be pulled from the quantum foam of the universe and held open indefinitely. Once they successfully sent a laser through a pinprick-sized wormhole from Proxima to Secland, the New Pallas senate approved funding for the production of wormholes large enough to send materials through.

A very expensive experiment proved that wormholes larger in diameter than a micrometer could be catastrophically destabilized by proximity to large gravity wells. It was decided that no traversable wormhole could be placed closer to a star than the Oort Cloud, but even then the potential for shortening an interstellar voyage from decades to months was too exciting. Proxima Centauri was enclosed in a small Dyson sphere dedicated solely to producing the exotic matter for wormholes and just over a century after contact the first interstellar traversable wormhole between Proxima Centauri and Tau Ceti was ready, Epsilon Eridani followed suit. Commerce and communication between the three systems exploded, and conflict with them.

While interstellar war didn’t break out, there were many in both Tau Ceti and Epsilon Eridani who suspected that New Pallas intended to invade them through their wormholes. Before long both planetary governments were dealing with armed insurrections. New Pallas was all too glad to provide advanced weaponry and vehicles, especially on Schwarzwelt where the military was decentralized and entire clans or houses were rebelling. Eventually Pallene troops and warships were stationed in the two systems to defend Pallene interests.

Seeing tensions rise Grand Mayor Selkd de Argentum came up with an ingenious solution, an interstellar government composed of representatives from all three star systems, as well as any new systems that would be colonized in the future. That way, everyone could theoretically have a say in interstellar politics. While visiting Schwarzwelt in 1150 to promote his vision, Selkd was assassinated by a sniper.

Selkd was succeeded by his sister, Lirdrill, who ordered the sniper’s family estates leveled by orbital bombardment as an example to the others. The ruling houses of other clans that had rebelled were rounded up and stripped of their noble ranks, then imprisoned in stasis banks. She continued her brother’s vision of a united parahuman government, but centralized around Alpha Centauri and the office of the Praetor, which would be held by her house.

Wormholes took a lot of time and resources to set up while probes were reporting back dozens of exoplanets that were inhabitable or easily terraformed, so the senate on New Pallas had been debating whether to launch colony fleets before or after traversable wormholes arrived at the potential colonies. As Lirdrill solidified the Federation, she made an executive decision. Wormholes would be spaced anywhere from 20 to 50 light-years apart, depending on resources and stellar density, and the stars between them would be reachable only by ships traveling at 80% of the speed of light or slower. Since leukosynths and cryo-stasis had become mature technologies by then the decades of travel were deemed acceptable.

Even then, there was some trouble finding enough volunteers to fill the colony ships that were being built. After a few suggestions of using rebels as indentured labor the Memetic Quarantine and Contingency program was established. The thousands of rebels held in stasis were to be shipped off to marginally inhabitable “Outworlds” light-decades from the nearest wormhole, and to make sure they didn’t draw too much attention, without any technology more advanced than the most basic steam engines. It was hoped that eventually they’d become “civilized” and submit to the Federation, or die off.

But, there was a secondary purpose to the program. The machines that had destroyed Terra were still out there, and if the Destroyers were to notice the Federation growing under their noses, perhaps they’d overlook those small Outworlds without radio.

The Traders

With the vast distances between most inhabited systems trade opportunities were limited. Most star systems had enough raw materials locally that shipping them from another star without a wormhole was simply not cost-effective. While nanofabrication meant that most manufactured goods could be produced in a small warehouse, if not a garage. For the first few centuries of expansion the only goods that were worth shipping interstellar were in the form of digital data, and most of that could be handled by laser transmissions, and the occasional courier.

Just over two centuries after the Federation was established, a courier ship operated by a branch of House Argentum decided to stop off at an Outworld. The captain decided to land a shuttle near one city-state established by the unwilling colonists to see what they were up to.

The locals were wowed by the great flying machine and the crew, having forgotten their origins already. They offered tribute to the visiting immortals, foodstuffs, sculptures, and textiles. The crew decided to take some of the tributes with them, leaving some inconsequential trinkets of Federation technology which were quickly replaced by their on-board fabricators.

When the courier next made port at a Federation starbase they showed off the unique goods they’d acquired, many of which were purchased at exorbitant prices by bored oligarchs. The Outworld’s inhabitants were rapidly diverging culturally from their forebears, far faster than the leukosynth-using worlds of the Federation. Those simple couriers had found something valuable to the nearly post-scarcity Federation, novelty.

Many houses and companies commissioned their own Outworld trade freighters while the senate debated whether it was even legal to trade with the “barbarians.” Eventually it was determined that trade would be allowed; but no weapons, vehicles, communications, or nanotechnology were to be given to Outworlders. Small starships with industrial nanofabricators would set up shop over Outworlds for years at a time, fabbing trinkets made from space-age alloys and exchanging them for cloth made with alien fibers. Many of these traders became fabulously wealthy during the next few centuries as the Federation expanded outwards and established more and more Outworlds.

It was fun while it lasted.

The Return of the Destroyers

The Destroyers responsible for Terra’s demise had made occasional appearances in the next two millennia. Zeroing in on sources of radio transmissions with relativistic projectiles followed by hunter-seeker probes that would scour the surrounding system of life. But it seemed they hadn’t noticed, or didn’t care about the Federation at large.

Then astronomers in the Federal core noticed something. Sol, Terra’s sun, was dimming. A few disposable probes sent back horrific images, a Dyson sphere, and it was almost complete. With the energy of Sol the Destroyers could incinerate the core worlds at the speed of light! A secret panel of the senate met with the Praetor to decide what to do about this unthinkable prospect.

The Federal Guard’s fleets were assembled at Proxima Centauri and dispatched for Sol. Never before had Federation technology been tested against the Destroyers, and no one wanted to underestimate them, so the fleet was loaded with the most advanced weaponry they could muster.

It wasn’t enough.

Quantum ansible transmissions reported massive ships that maneuvered without visible reactions and accelerated to impossible speeds in seconds. The Federal Guard was slaughtered in short order, but before they died one ship managed to launch an experimental superweapon at Sol itself.

A strangelet bomb, filled with the same strange matter that converted baryonic matter into antimatter in conversion drives, with catalysts for self-replication. They spread across the star in a matter of days, triggering a series of detonations that tore the star and the incomplete Dyson sphere apart.

When word came that they had a potential nova carrying strangelets in their neighborhood the Federation’s elites abandoned the core worlds en masse. Fleeing through the wormholes at top speed. As the secret mission to Sol and its destructive results leaked everyone who could afford a ship followed suit, departing for distant worlds that they hoped could bring salvation.

Then, just before the nova’s wavefront reached Proxima, the wormhole network was collapsed to prevent it from spreading to the far colonies.

The Collapse

Every star system that had a direct link to the wormhole network found itself swarmed by refugees from the Core. The remnants of the Federal Guard struggled to maintain order as refugees clashed with natives. Many refugee fleets were forced to leave for other systems that were less sparsely populated, a few even attempted to invade Outworlds. Other fleets became nomads, passing through inhabited systems without slowing down and trading for or extorting supplies as they passed.

As unrest reached critical levels many governors activated failsafe programs embedded in every Federation citizen’s leukosynth implants, rendering the star system’s entire population mortal. Most such governors were torn apart by angry mobs. On other worlds the population voluntarily gave up advanced technology in hopes of hiding from the Destroyers.

Three hundred years later the dust has mostly settled. Few star systems are politically united, with individual planets and megastructures using everything from wooden carts to gravity-manipulating starships. The Federation is ancient history, and its technology treasure waiting to be discovered.

[eridanidreams]

Sunday Snippet

tagging: @bearlytolerant, @silurisanguine, @aro-pancake, @fangbangerghoul, @atonalginger, @aislingdmdt, @fshenkoescape, @ninjaofnaps, @lisa-and-shadow, @a-cosmic-elf, @thatsgoodsquishy0, @hockeydemon42, @fomagranfalloon, @violenceandviolets, @therealgchu, @staticpallour, @artemis-crimson, and @constellation2330

Tags are friendly, as usual--post if you want, read if you want!

from *stars through my fingers like grains of sand*

Sam swung back and forth in his chair, staring at the two slates lying haphazardly on the console—both needing to be dealt with, and neither one calculated to make him feel good about the world. He picked up one of the slates with the same care he'd give an alien beast with far too many teeth, even though he already knew what it said.

From: Daniel Blake To: Sam Coe You have a good eye. Your friend's shaping up to be a fine Ranger—she's got smarts and guts and her heart's in the right place. Problem is, she's stepped in something that's way too big for her. You know what happened out on Andromas III. Hell, you were there—God knows Pryce was bitching up a storm about you asking for classified information—but the way I figure it, you had cause. Point being, you know someone's gunning for Rangers. Emma tells me you helped take down the First on Montara Luna, so you also know about the bank robbery being just a distraction for something bigger. And Lynch is right in the middle of it. She'll follow that case wherever it leads her—I know the type. Hell, I was the type. And right now, fifty years of experience is telling me that whoever she finds at the end of that trail ain't going to go down easily, and they ain't going to go down quietly. Don't know if she told you, but she made a damned good point about Rangers going off solo after the Mosquera thing. Problem is, that applies to her, too, and right now there's no other Ranger I can peel off to partner with her. And I sure as hell can't rein in the rest of my hotheads if I'm not doing the same to the damn rookie. Which brings me to you. I know why you left. You weren't real happy even before Cora was born, what with Lillian pushing you into all those ugly undercover jobs. Emma told her it was going to backfire on her, but she just wouldn't listen. And you were even less happy sitting behind a desk, even if it gave you all the time with little Cora that you could want. Things have changed, Sam. And it may stick in both our craws to have to admit it, but you're needed. Lynch needs someone who can be the eyes in the back of her head when she's got the bit in her teeth, and someone willing to do what it takes to protect her. You were always good at bringing a partner back home. And hell, you're practically glued to her back already. I won't lie, we lost a good man when you stepped down. And I won't pretend that it wouldn't make me a happy man to see you put the badge back on. But it ain't about me. There's a bigger picture here. Think about it. P.S. Tell Lynch the answer to her question is Diego.

Sam swore under his breath. Anyone else, he'd just wipe the slate and be done with it, but Blake—he respected that old man. The only reason he'd gotten out of the Rangers as easily as he had was because Blake hadn't opposed it. Had quietly unruffled some feathers behind the scenes, most like. He owed the man, whether the Marshal knew it or not. But did he owe him that much?

He tossed the slate back on the console. That one only threatened to upend his life; the other would definitely upend Cait's. Again. He let out a heavy sigh. She tried so hard, but she was struggling under the weight of power and the shadow of her past—Jesus, even his love was a burden on her sometimes, and that broke his goddamned heart every time he saw it happen. He wanted to sit on the news for awhile, until she was a little less overwhelmed—but she'd made it crystal clear how she felt about him trying to protect her from herself. And she wasn't wrong to feel that way, even if it made that primitive little part of his brain gibber in frustration.

He snatched the second slate up, re-reading it to make sure he hadn't missed anything.

From: Ari Miller To: Sam Coe I looked into that matter we discussed last week. Discreetly. While officially we don't have access to UC records, there's always the unofficial channels. Sooner or later everyone asks the Clinic for help, and we keep good records. Thing is, New Atlantis doesn't tend to get hit by xenodiseases. The native microbial life is different enough that it hasn't gotten a foothold in Earth-descended plants and animals—knock wood—and their spaceport's had top-of-the-line biosensors since before the Colony War—well, with all their xenowarfare experiments, that's no surprise. Anyway, according to my source, the Well does have fairly frequent breakouts of disease, but they're mutated Earth bugs. There's nothing that would suggest a cover-up—no unexplained gaps, no data that's too clean, nothing. The records are legit—there was no xenodisease in New Atlantis, in or out of the Well, between 2310 and 2315. Sorry to come up dry, and best of luck in your investigation!

Sam tapped the edge of the slate against his palm, thinking hard, then tucked it into his jacket. The problem was that they had so little to go on—Cait's memories had been tortured into unreliability, and the best guess anyone had was sometime around the end of the war. It looked as if the answers they needed were in Neon, and Sam didn't want to put Cait through that. Not now. Bad enough he was going to have to tell her that one of her foundational memories was a lie—he had no idea how she would take it.

[ionlymadethissoicouldleaveanask]

SPIDER-MAN KISS FROM PROMPT LIST

From this prompt list!

Thanks for the prompt. This was a fun one to write. Anybody else who is interested, send a prompt my way! I need the help getting back into the swing of writing.

...

2230 Hours, September 10, 2525 (Military Calendar) / Epsilon Eridani System, Reach UNSC Military Complex, Planet Reach

Frederic-104 paced slowly, his footsteps silent in the pitch black of the cavern around him. He was on watch duty while several of the others went on a recon mission - that meant that it was his job to make sure no adventurous DIs managed to get the drop on the rest of the squad while they were otherwise involved. They didn’t know why Mendez had brought them to this particular hole in the ground, but not a single one of them was stupid enough to believe that the old man had had anything but tricks up the sleeves of his standard-issue BDUs.

Fred hated pulling watch duty.

The others were all off having fun. Ambushing DIs, stealing whatever supplies and equipment they could find, just making a general nuisance of themselves… you name it, they were doing it. What was Fred doing? He was pacing back and forth in an empty cavern, bored nearly to tears.

It sucked.

He wasn’t sure just how long he’d been down there on his own. That wasn’t true. He was sure exactly how long he’d been down there. Twenty-six minutes. The excursion team - John, Sam, Anton, Linda, and Kelly - would be back soon. No team was allowed to be gone more than thirty minutes. They didn’t want to draw the attention of any hidden camera they might have somehow missed. If they kept their exploratory missions to short and sweet supply or information runs, they stood a better chance of keeping their instructors fooled.

Twenty-seven minutes.

The young man’s shoulders tensed imperceptibly when something in the air shifted. He wasn’t alone anymore. He didn’t quite know what to make of this newfound ‘sixth sense.’ It was certainly helpful - in the weeks since their augmentation procedure, each and every one of the Spartans had learned to trust their body’s natural reactions first and pick out the memories that actually set such a reaction in motion later. 

For instance, in this moment Fred’s first response was to take several steps to the left of where he had been standing, then cut back to the right and circle around slowly. It wasn’t until halfway through his circle that he realized what it was - somewhere up above him, there was an almost imperceptible sound of movement. 

If he were a regular person, Fred would never have been able to pick up the practically nonexistent whisper of fabric against fabric in the rafters up above, but… well, he wasn’t exactly a regular person these days.

The young Spartan continued his casual pacing, careful not to alert the newcomer that he had recognized their presence.

Suddenly whoever had been stalking him from above seemed to grow bored of being patient. He tracked the sounds of their movement as they angled around behind him. There was something different about it, but Fred didn’t waste time trying to discern just what had changed. He was too busy getting ready for whatever was coming. He had to imagine that whoever it was had night vision goggles; otherwise, they would be blinder than a mole down here in the dark. Even Fred’s enhanced vision was having a hard time compensating for the darkness of these caverns. He would be at a visual disadvantage, but that didn’t mean much.

In fact, Fred enjoyed the challenge.

He reached into his pocket. There inside was a tube of something that resembled ancient livestock markers. It was a tube of chalk that was potent enough to stain clothing. He had stumbled upon it while sifting through one of the trainer’s bags a few weeks ago, and ever since had taken up the hobby of marking whatever non Spartan personnel he came into contact with. It was something akin to the ancient Native American tradition of counting coup.

Suddenly the stranger dropped. Fred turned to watch them; they must have lost their balance and fallen by accident, because rather than go feet first like he had expected they plummeted headfirst toward the floor. He very nearly let them fall. Almost regrettably, his sense of morality insisted he reach out a hand to at least attempt to keep them from breaking their neck. In the other hand he lifted up his marker and prepared to mark them, just to add insult to injury.

It wasn’t until the interloper’s descent began to slow unnaturally that Fred realized they were attached to a black rope and were controlling their fall. They slowed to a full stop about six feet off the ground, leaving them roughly eye-to-eye with Fred.

In the span of a moment, the young Spartan took the other person in. They were clad head-to-toe in a black uniform, including a hood drawn over their head covering everything but their eyes. Bright blue eyes that were meant to be scowling, but were very clearly grinning instead. Eyes that he knew.

Kelly.

“Got you,” they said, their voice playful, if muffled by the fabric covering her mouth. She glanced meaningfully at his outstretched hand still poised to catch her.

Fred stuffed his hand back into his pocket and grinned at her just as teasingly. “Did not. I just didn’t want your brain matter to splatter onto me.” He took another look at her, raising an eyebrow appreciatively at her new attire. “Nice getup. Where’d you get the new threads?”

Kelly smiled in response, the mask stretching around her lips as she did so. “Oh, we liberated a few items from the guard garrison a few levels up.” With the hand not currently holding her in position on the dangling rope, Kelly held out a tightly wrapped bundle of black fabric to Fred. “I picked out some new clothes for you; thought you’d like to see them.”

The young man grabbed the clothing and held them up. “Just my color,” he said with a conspiratorial wink. “Kelly, you really shouldn’t have.”

The other Spartan shrugged, which turned out to be a somewhat funny image when dangling upside down like a spider, and waved away his mock admiration for her ‘gift.’ “It was the least I could do,” she said with a theatrical sigh. With another smirk hidden beneath her black facemask she added, “After all, I knew I’d have to do something for you to make up for scaring you like I did.”

Fred rolled his eyes, but didn’t argue. “Well, thank you,” he said, his voice quieter and slightly less sarcastic now. He turned away from her and started down the corridor, calling over his shoulder, “I’ll let the others know you’re on your way back.”

Then Fred stopped, turning around and grinning. “Actually, Kelly, I forgot one thing.” She cocked her head curiously to one side and mutely watched him approach her. Her posture was relaxed, unsuspecting. She remained that way right up until Fred stepped in close, pulled her facemask to uncover her mouth, and planted a firm kiss on her lips.

“Got you,” he breathed with a smirk. Then he turned and stepped into a quick trot away from her. He was already nearly out of earshot by the time Kelly managed to yell after him, “Did not!”

[nota1eks]

GUYS I DID IT! I FINISHED WRITING THIS FIC! AND YALL ARE GONNA HEAR ABOUT IT!

my newly-finsihed project hail mary fanfiction follows Rocky on the eridian side of the astophage apocalypse, over at 40-eridani. all the way from discovery, through launch, through his crewmates dying, until he's left alone, then him returning home, grace by his side, and fulfilling the promises he made.

it's been 300 days since i started work on it, and i am (humbly) proud of myself! here is the link. i hope you enjoy!!

(the early chapters will have punctuation errors, and for that i dearly apologize. the later ones will be more-or-less great grammar-wise, except for stylistic choices.)

[my-soliloquy-chamber]

My favorite book is Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. I didn’t mean for it to happen, but it turns out I’ve listened to it more than ten times.

It’s just so good. So suspenseful and funny and nerdy and emotional and it makes me cry so hard every time.

And it makes me want to write (well, read) a… what would a story taking place in parallel be called? Paraquel?

Yeah, a paraquel following the life of one of his students while Grace is “traveling”. I’m not sure about the whole thing, but I am sure about a scene at the end.

There he was. Her throat clenched and tears welled in her eyes. He looked older of course, but not nearly as old as he would have been without time dilation. The harsh gravity had done a number on him too; back hunched, steps slow and pained, his face drooping almost comically, but it was him. She’d hung back as the captain and the rest of the crew greeted him, shaking hands and giving hugs and smiling wide. She waited for a lull.

“Hello, Mr Grace.” Her voice was thin, wavering with tears, but he heard her, his eyes searching the room. The crew heard her too, captain frowning while Shaan spoke up, irritated voice loud in the small room.

“It’s Doctor Grace. Have some respect, Miller.”

She hadn’t told them. Why would she have? They hadn’t traveled to the 40 Eridani system for Grace, they had come to meet the neighbors. Ryland Grace was dead, he had died saving Earth, and even if his last message said he was turning back to save Rocky and his people, that didn’t mean he had survived his heroic sacrifice. She had hoped though.

“No, it’s Mr Grace. He told me so, first time we met. Wrote it on the board as he introduced himself.” Her voice was still wavering, and tears ran down her cheeks as she looked at her old teacher. “I haven’t seen you since you walked out in the middle of class.” She smiled at him through the tears. Her throat hurt. He was alive.

His eyes stared at her, widening in comprehension. “Abby? Oh my god, Abby? Is it really you?”

She nodded, completely ignoring her captain asking what was going on in the background. “Hi, Teach.”

A sob erupted from his throat as he stepped towards her, hands reaching out. “Abby. You grew up.”

She laughed and took his shoulders, pressing her forehead against his. “I did.” Then she pulled away and grinned. “You didn’t. I’m almost caught up to you.”

[snotsloth]

August Reading Log

My August was full of political machinations, capricious gods, trauma recovery, and outrageous amounts of slow-burn mutual pining, yes even in the smutty books. I finished seven books this month and DNFed one. Overall, I had a great time and I’m excited to continue several of the series that I started. 

First off, I finished Godkiller by Hannah Kanner. This is book one of The Fallen Gods series and it was a fun fantasy adventure with good characters and an interesting world. Kissin, one of the main characters has very strong Geralt from The Witcher vibes, and she, along with Skedi, a minor god of white lies were my two favorite characters. It was quite short for an adult fantasy, so in some ways, it felt more like a teaser than a full novel, but it still packed in some cool world-building details and set up a larger quest for our protagonists along with a mystery to solve. So I’m invested enough to keep reading the series. I’ve already purchased the second book, Sunbringer.

Meanwhile, I listened to The Obelisk Gate and The Stone Sky, written by N. K. Jemisin and narrated by Robin Miles. These are the second and third books in The Broken Earth trilogy that started with The Fifth Season. I had previously listened to the first few chapters of The Obelisk Gate but then lost steam and set it aside. This time I was determined to finish the whole series and god, it was so worth it. 

Some people will tell you that The Fifth Season can function as a standalone and while they are technically correct, the first book is just the tip of the iceberg. You don’t understand even half of what is actually going on until you are at least a few chapters into The Obelisk Gate, and most of the real answers and resolutions don’t come until The Stone Sky. This series as a whole is a masterpiece of narrative structure, world-building, and character-building. It is so worth the effort it takes to finish all three books. 

After Godkiller and The Obelisk Gate, I was in the mood for something more romantic, so I picked up A Strange and Stubborn Endurance by Foz Meadows. This is one of the most beautiful love stories I have ever read. Val is possibly the most sympathetic, multi-dimensional, nuanced depiction of a sexual assault victim I’ve ever seen. And it’s within a larger story about slowly becoming a happier, healthier, kinder, and braver version of yourself when you are suddenly removed from a hostile environment and placed in one where you can thrive in the open. I think one of my favorite quotes from Val sums it up really well, “I have lived a cramped life, it seems. So shy of having my greatest indiscretion discovered that I seldom dared indulge in the simpler ones.” 

Moving directly from such a tender love story to a filthy monsterfucker romance might seem unhinged. But the heart wants what the heart wants and I wanted A Bone in His Teeth by Kellen Graves. I went in expecting eerie atmospheric coastal settings, a smattering of the kind of delicious body horror only non-cis people seem able to write, and lots and lots of freaky genderfucker monster smut, and boy howdy this book delivered on all that, and then some. What I was not expecting was a surprisingly tender love story about two people who could never quite fit right into the unjust systems they were born into and chose to burn it all down for the chance of finding a way to fit all their jagged, broken edges together. Alba is my favorite protagonist of any book I’ve read this year, and Eridanys is a literal force of nature with two dicks and a thirst for human flesh in more ways than one. This is Graves’ best book yet and I cannot wait to read what they publish next. 

Riding the high of several delightful books in a row, I started Silver Under Nightfall by Rin Chupeco with confidence that I had another banger on my hands. With vampires, body horror, a gloomy atmosphere, and a poly romance, this book had a lot of elements that I expected to love. However, the clunky prose, sloppy world-building, and meandering plot so drastically reduced my enjoyment of the book that I abandoned my read at 70%. 

Needing a palette cleanser after that, I turned to a guaranteed hit and picked up A Restless Truth by Freya Marske. And Marske did not miss! This is the sequel to A Marvelous Light which I read earlier this year and loved, so I was excited to pick it up. Marske is a master of character-driven smut, a.k.a. Sex scenes that serve a purpose to the story and reveal aspects of the characters we would not otherwise know. The setting and core murder mystery were also excellent and kept the plot moving at a decent clip. Maude had been one of my favorite side characters from the first book, so having her as one of the main characters really worked for me. Her love interest, Violet was charismatic and brought her own interesting baggage both to the plot and to her romance with Maude.  On the craft level, Marske is one of my favorite authors working today. Her prose is so bright and evocative in both its emotional and physical details. Her settings are lush and full of historical easter eggs. And her characters breathe with multi-dimensional life. I have one book left in The Last Binding series and I will probably devour it this month, seeing as it just arrived in the mail this week.

My final read of the month didn’t quite measure up to A Restless Truth, but I still had a fun time with Winter’s Orbit by Everina Maxwell. This was another arranged marriage romance set against a backdrop of courtly intrigue, espionage, and a fantastical setting, except this time it was a space opera instead of a historical fantasy. I thought Maxwell struck a good balance between romance elements and space opera elements. The settings were appropriately grand and gorgeous in scale and the political web was an effective tangle of different conflicting interests with no clear immediate solution. However, I felt that the two main characters lacked dimension and uniqueness. I fear part of the problem was that I had so recently read A Strange and Stubborn Endurance, and Winter’s Orbit just could not stand up to the inevitable comparison. Still, it was an easy, entertaining read that kept me engaged while stuck in bed on a sick day. Maxwell has a second book set in this universe and I think I will probably pick it up at some point.

Overall, it was a great reading month with only one dud. For September, I have a few books I know that I want to get through. While I don’t keep a strict order to my TBR, I know I want to finish The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri for my local book club (I’m about ⅓ of the way through at the moment). I am also still listening to A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine, which is really starting to pick up in the second half. One of my most anticipated reads of the year, Reclaimed by Seth Haddon arrived in the mail this week, along with the conclusion to The Last Binding trilogy, A Power Unbound by Freya Marske. So, while I’m not certain of what I’ll finish this month, I have a few suspicions of what I will gravitate towards. 

Hope you all had as good of a reading month as I did. Let me know what your best book of the month was and what you thought of any of the books I read this month. If you pick up any of the books I recommended, please let me know your thoughts. I’m especially excited to talk to anyone else who reads A Bone In His Teeth. It was such a unique read!

[captwraith]

She thought they would get tired of her letters, but they never did.

Her father had chosen this woman, a kind and gentle woman who sent her beautiful letters and little gifts sewn by hand. If the seamstress believed Eridani thought her own mother was being replaced and would resent her for it, she couldn't have been more wrong. Eridani's mother had passed years ago, a fact that still brought her grief at times but eventually came with the peace and understanding of adulthood. Eri loved no one more than her own father and it was clear that he hadn't been happier in so long than he was now with this Iskaldrik woman. Eridani bought the seamstress new perfumes and pressed flowers in letters; she told her she would be honored to be her daughter. Her new mother promised that they would have a second wedding in Lysara one day so Eridani could attend.

Dearest Etienne Selland, My deepest gratitude for your letter, it was received with so much happiness. I am Eridani, as you must know by now! Words cannot describe the joy I feel at the news of our mother and father meeting and being in one another's company for the past few months. I haven't seen my father write such words of excitement in years! Your mother seems like the kindest of souls, the most beautiful of women. My father should be so honored. Do not show this letter to him, I fear it would make him quake and blush for days, but I expect there may be a future where we're family. Could you imagine such a thing? But even if there isn't, I would love to know the son of the woman who has captured the heart of Jayesh Maheswari. One of these days I hope to escape my studies, if even just a month and...

It was odder at first with the son. Eridani thought of her sister, Carina, who had never been able to breath even one little breath in this world. A baby sister who died before she could ever live. Eri had ached all her life for a sister or a brother but there was no telling what this man would think of her, especially with both of them old enough to quite safely ignore the other. But she didn't want to, and it seemed that neither did he. Casual, polite letters became entire sheets of paper with stories and jokes, little gifts and pranks hidden between pages to make him laugh. For months, then years, this was their seperate lives entwined.

Dear Etienne, That was a very TERRIBLE picture of your house renovations, you're going to have to draw me a better one!! In fact, our ma has much better taste - have her draw one for me next time ✿ ☺. Speaking of showing, there will be a party The Tower is hosting next months, so I will need your help choosing from one of these three dresses because I cannot, for the life of me, choose. I have attached the photos... But ignore that for now!! You gave me such a great story, so it's my turn. There is this girl, an Apprentice of Vulcan. You would not BELIEVE the...

Being a student of The Tower had it'd perks: the witch enchanted her letters and gifts and had the birds who delivered them be enchanted as well. They would be fast, fast as the wind, and they wouldn't return until her family in Iskaldrik had the chance to use them too. Some months she paid for a caravan to bring them more gifts, sweets and letters, as well as photographs and music. A sweet bard followed Etienne around for a month as a joke.

Even in The Tower, Eri never felt that she had made a truer friend so quickly. Etienne Selland was gentle and curious, kind and modest, and there was no chance for Eridani to use any of the tricks that came to her so easy these days. Within letters, she could not manipulate her voice or body language or anyone else's mind. She had to fully trust him and he had to trust her - to learn one another through words, sentiments and little gestures that spanned across the borders of Lysara and Iskaldrik. By the time the following spring arrived again since their very first letter exchanged, Eridani never would have considered the need or desire to get anything out of her new brother. Her father was safe with their new family, he was happy. She was happy. For years, this happiness endured, for years she thought she would find the time to spare to travel past the borders.

She would see them soon.

Brother, My heart is aching. I haven't heard from you in days. Iskaldrik has fallen and I am traveling back from Astoria to see what there is that I can do... please, please, message me. Please. I can't bear another bare-footed bird coming to my window with no word of our family. I love you, Eri

By the time Iskaldrik had fallen, Eridani had already taken on responsibilities that nearly drowned her but that she would never let overwhelm her. The Agent of Minerva was cunning, quick, and dependable and she would prove her worth to her country. So she did, she did the very best of what was expected of her and then did more. However, months passed and then years, and her family was placed further down her list of priorities. Her ambition had taken the forefront. With all the work she did in the borders of Astoria, there was hardly time to spare to travel all the way to Iskaldrik. She regretted not going directly there after her graduation, and she regretted not postponing her studies for at least a month or two during her time as an Accepted to see them. She had many regrets but none of them changed the fact: her father was dead, the mother she never met was dead, and the only brother she ever had was gone where he didn't want her.

[silent-moons-camp]

Whenever I get around to writing this full Starfield fic I'm planning, things will canonically diverge a bit from the main quest. (Honestly, part of me wonders if I should wait for the DLC in order to write, but we'll see.) I think instead of the normal outcome of High Price to Pay, I'll write things a bit different, although there will still be, well. A high price to pay.

I think it's a little silly that the Artifacts weren't moved after the first encounter with the Starborn, but also I think it's good writing and nice angst in Sarah's regard for her anxieties and fears of leading her peers to certain doom. Maybe in my canon they intend to move them soon but they don't get the chance to in time before the Hunter comes.

Anyway, point of this post is: Kanan will pay dearly. I do love putting my blorbos into situations and making bad things happen to them. Kanan will lose a leg at the hands of the Hunter. They end up isolating themself on Eridani II while they recover and go through physical therapy and learning how to use a prosthetic. They will have to deal with all the Horrors regarding the trauma. It will be a long road to recovery, and it perfectly mirrors some other Kanan Lore(tm) that I don't want to reveal yet.

... And I may also be planning this just for the image of Sarah's military instincts kicking in and carrying Kanan over her shoulders all the way through New Atlantis and to the ship. 😳

[eridanidreams]

From a draft of a future chapter of The Odysseus Gambit...

Sloane made a strangled little noise and buried her face in her knees. “Fuck. What the hell are we going to do?” And despite the strain in her voice, Adam was heartened by her tacit acceptance that she wasn’t in it alone.

He inched closer. “Hey. Look at me.” She lifted her head exhaustedly. Sweat beaded on her face and plastered her hair to her head. Now that he knew what to look for, he could see his effect on her in the dilation of her pupils. “Can you trust me?”

She took a deep breath. “With my life…?”

Adam just held her eyes. “Sloane—” He couldn’t be less than honest with her, even in her condition, even if it hurt her to hear it. “How many times in the past four months have you just thrown yourself into something that's like to get you killed? Five? Ten?" He took a deep breath. "It’s easy to trust someone with something you don’t really care about.” She looked like he’d punched her, but he continued on, putting all the caring he could into his voice. “You’ve got to trust me with you. That’s the only way this is gonna work.”

Sloane’s eyes fell from his. The silence stretched over them, broken only by their breathing—hers harsh and ragged, his soft and metronome-even. When she spoke again, he could barely hear her, and he wondered if she’d meant her words for him at all. “I don’t know if I can do that. I don’t even know where to start.”

I love "i would kill for you" ship dynamics but what about "i would stop killing" ship dynamic??

I would lay down my sword for you. I would change my nature and go against everything i've known. I would resist the easy way out of solving my problems. I would give up the adrenaline of battle to stay by your side and make tea instead. I'm not sure I know who I am without a weapon in my hand because I've had to fight for so long but for you I'm willing to try and figure this out.

It must be hard. To put down your weapon that's protected you for so long. It's allowed you to stay alive it's kept you from getting hurt--physically and mentally. Because you've never had to worry about a real relationship if you think you'll be dead at the next battle. And you feel naked without it and it feels like you're ripping off an extension of yourself. Are you even whole without it? Are you worthy of being loved if you can't prove it by risking your life? And yet they've found someone who's asking them for something much harder than dying in battle on their behalf. They've found someone who wants them to live. And that's much more terrifying.

[random-thought-depository]

Write-up for the Earthlike planet around Alpha Centauri A in my own SF setting. I've written a couple of these before, but now I've got a firmer idea of what I want this world to look like, and I figured it'd be good to write that idea down.

Alpha Centauri was one of many nearby stars chosen as the destination of an Eridani colonial expedition. I've got some ideas about the colony's history, but that history is still mostly blank spaces and vague outlines, so for now I'm focusing on the planet itself.

Names are placeholders until I come up with something better.

I'll do a write-up for the Gaian class planet around Alpha Centauri B too if I can find the time and energy.

The astronomical setting:

Alpha Centauri A is a somewhat bigger and brighter star than Sol; it has 1.105 times Sol's mass and about 1.5 times Sol's luminosity. It has a system of three planets and an asteroid belt.

The innermost planet is quite similar to Sol's Mercury; a small, cratered, essentially airless, dry, metallic world. Like Mercury, it has a relatively elliptical orbit due to the gravitational influence of the next planet out, and it has a long rotation period that is in a 3:2 resonance with the orbital period (three rotations in every two orbits).

The next planet out is a superterrestrial, about 1.6 Earth masses, with a very thick carbon dioxide atmosphere and a high-altitude layer of sulfuric acid clouds. It is similar to Sol's Venus, but, with heavier gravity and an even thicker atmosphere, its surface conditions are even more hostile. This planet has a very large moon that's bigger than Sol's Mars. This large moon has a thin, dusty atmosphere of mostly carbon dioxide, and is a barren desert world, rather resembling a hot version of Mars. The large moon has no surface water, but it does have substantial water in ancient aquifers beneath the surface, and some simple unicellular native life survives in these subsurface aquifers. The second planet and its big moon are mutually tide-locked to each other, and since the big moon orbits the planet at an altitude above 100,000 kilometers, they both have a rather long rotation period.

The third and outermost planet is the Gaian class planet.

Beyond the third planet, there is an asteroid belt centered around 2 AU, in the zone where stable orbits are possible but the gravitational influence of Alpha Centauri B prevented the conglomeration of a planet.

Beyond this, there is a large volume of space where stable orbits are impossible due to the overlapping gravitational influence of Alpha Centauri A and Alpha Centauri B. Theoretically, a planet might orbit both stars in a very distant orbit, but no such planets are known to exist. However, Alpha Centauri B has its own system of planets, including its own Gaian class planet, and distant Proxima Centauri also has its own system of planets, and there are a large number of small icy objects in distant orbits.

The planet:

Alpha Centauri's third and outermost planet is Gaian class. It orbits Alpha Centauri A at a distance of about 1.25 AU, at which it receives slightly less energy from Alpha Centauri A than Earth receives from Sol.

Alpha Centauri A's Gaian class planet is a bit bigger than Earth, about 1.3 Earth masses. It's also a bit denser than Earth. This works out to it having a mean radius of around 6,780 km (Earth's is 6,371 km). This gives it a surface area of around 578 million kilometers (Earth's is about 510 million kilometers, so about 70 million kilometers less), and a surface gravity of around 11.3 m/s^2 (1.15 G).

Axis obliquity and rotation period are similar to Earth (rotation period is a little shorter). The year is longer due to the higher orbit, with correspondingly longer seasons, which tends to accentuate seasonal variations in temperature and precipitation.

The oceans are deeper and more extensive than Earth's. This planet has more surface area than Earth, but less land (however, more of the land it has is good land). This tends to counteract the slightly lower illumination, as all that dark ocean absorbs lots of light, which warms the planet (a higher level of atmospheric carbon dioxide also partially counteracts the climate effects of the dimmer illumination). The absence of polar continents and the polar oceans being more open to mixing with the rest of the global ocean than Earth's Arctic tends to reduce equator-to-pole temperature contrasts. The polar regions are cold, but have only seasonal sea ice caps that usually more-or-less completely melt in summer. This also tends to warm the polar regions and to a lesser degree the planet as a whole, as the seasonally ice-free polar oceans absorb lots of light during summer.

This is a world rich with life, its biosphere at the time of human settlement being comparable to Earth’s before humans started to change things. Alpha Centauri is likely about 1-2 billion years older than Sol, so this planet’s biosphere is significantly older than Earth, but this doesn’t make much of a difference; evolution isn’t progressive, life doesn’t automatically get “more advanced” just cause it’s been around longer.

This planet has a single very big moon. This moon orbits the planet at an altitude of around 530,000 kilometers (compare to Luna's 360-405,000 km orbit around Earth). It has about 3.5 times the mass of Luna, making it comparable to Mercury. It is substantially more metallic than Luna. Aside from the higher surface gravity, its surface environment is not very different from Luna's; it is a cratered, dry, basically airless, mostly geologically dead world. It is probably a captured world that formed independently, instead of having formed in an impact like Luna. Due to its higher orbit and the inverse cubic function of tide strength with orbital distance, the tides it raises on the planet it orbits are only moderately higher than the tides Luna raises on Earth.

Geology and geography:

This planet seems to have recently (in geologic terms) undergone an episode in which plate tectonics temporarily "locked up," putting the planet in a "stagnant lid" one-plate regime for a while. This era ended when a surge of upwelling hot material "broke through" and the crust basically cracked in a 43,000 kilometer line from pole to pole, an event which "reactivated" plate tectonics. As a result, the planet now essentially has two major seafloor spreading centers and two major subduction zones (plus a bunch of minor ones). The biggest seafloor spreading center is the ancient "crack," which extends roughly from the north pole to the south pole. A secondary spreading center formed in the deep basin beneath the south polar ocean; instead of being a neat midocean ridge line, this secondary spreading center is a more distributed, "oozy," chaotic zone of volcanism, a little like the Martian Tharsis bulge or the ancient Lunar maria as they might have looked when they were active; very little of this tumultuous geology is visible above the surface of the ocean, as the ancient south polar basin was very deep. Major subduction zones have correspondingly formed in a north-south line roughly antipodal to the great north-south spreading center and in a great circle parallel to the equator where the northward-expanding southern oceanic plates meet the northern oceanic plates.

The planet has five continents:

Homeland: This was the continent the first settlers established themselves on. It is actually the higher regions of a bigger continental platform that has experienced substantial subsidence, like Zealandia on Earth. What remains above sea level is a number of islands of varying sizes (the biggest comparable to medium-sized European countries) and a single large contiguous landmass about the size of Europe (around 10 million square kilometers).

Homeland proper (the large contiguous landmass) is in the northern hemisphere, and stretches from around 20 N to around 70 N. As an ancient highland region, it is rather rugged, but the mountains tend to be eroded and low (relative to sea level), and there are also substantial plains.

A mountain range that runs parallel to the east coast blocks rain in the south, so the southeast corner of Homeland is desert except for a narrow humid coastal strip on the east coast. Most of the rest of Homeland is watered by rain-bearing winds from the west and has a mix of Mediterranean, temperate, and cold climates. Before human settlement most of the continent was covered by forest and there were also substantial grasslands (technically not grass but a structurally similar and ecologically equivalent organism).

Southland: A somewhat bigger continent (about 15 million square kilometers) south of Homeland. Southland's major mountain range is in the north, in the equatorial tropical zone, and runs parallel to the northern coast; it is a subduction range, like the Andes and Rockies. The erosion of these mountains and the volcanic activity associated with this subduction zone helps fertilize the soils of this region, doing much to mitigate the factors that normally impoverish jungle soils, and the east-west orientation of the mountains allows rain-bearing winds to blow relatively freely across the continent, so this area is quite lush and was favorable for settlement. The central regions of Southland trend toward more open subtropical landscapes, but are still largely relatively well-watered and lush; a relative absence of rain shadows helps a lot, as does the presence of a shallow sea that extends deep into the heart of the continent. The southern regions of the continent are mostly warm-temperate, with extensive forests. The only cool part of the continent is a large peninsula that extends to south of 50 S. Overall, Southland is largely a humid land.

Westland: The smallest continent, comparable in size to Australia, about 8-10 million square kilometers. Westland is actually a highland region of a very large ancient continental platform that has mostly subsided to below sea level and is now mostly covered by shallow seas. Westland is, as its name suggests, to the west of Homeland, separated from Homeland by a substantial stretch of ocean. Westland lies almost entirely within the northern temperate and sub-polar zone, stretching from around 30 N to around 70 N (with a not very big peninsula extending south of 30 N). It has a single major mountain range, but these mountains are heavily eroded and low, like the Urals and Appalachians on Earth. Westland is overall a pretty flat continent, and before human settlement it was almost entirely covered by forests.

Redland: Part of the same ancient subsided continental platform as Westland. Bigger than Westland (about 10-15 million square kilometers) and even more ancient and heavily eroded. It is centered on the southern subtropical latitudes and much of it rather resembles Earth's Australia; an arid and ancient land with poor soil and extensive red deserts. The eastern portion is more fertile. The north is jungle and heavily eroded, swampy wetlands. The south has extensive temperate forests. Redland lies almost entirely north of 40-45 S, it mostly has a warm climate.

Bigland: By far the biggest continent, bigger than all the other continents combined. To the east of Homeland.

Bigland was formed by the relatively recent collision of two smaller continents, and one of the planet's two major tectonic collision zones basically runs straight through it. Along this collision zone, an enormous complex of mountains and highlands has been raised. This complex of mountains and highlands runs north-south along the long (north-south) axis of Bigland like a spine. These highlands heat up faster than the surrounding lowlands in spring and summer, creating a monsoon system that draws rain onto Bigland and makes it much more fertile than it otherwise would be.

The northwest corner of Bigland is quite wet; here, before human settlement, temperate forests extended unbroken from the coast to the great central mountains and climbed their lower slopes. As one moves south, the land begins to dry out, especially inland.

The southwest is much drier. Here, the coast turns southeast, and here the western Bigland continental plate is riding over and subducting northward-expanding oceanic plate, so here a coastal subduction mountain range has formed. The coast is relatively wet, much of it quite humid, but the coastal mountains block rain. In their rain shadow lies perhaps the biggest desert in the world, certainly the most extreme. Only a few restricted regions on the fringes of this desert are at all habitable; most of it is extreme desert like Earth's Sahara, with extensive dune fields. The heating of these dunes and barrens in spring and summer strengthens the monsoon.

The eastern side of Bigland is wetter in the south. Before human settlement, the eastern seaboard of Bigland was essentially uninterrupted old growth forest almost from the southern tip of the continent (around 10 S) to the northern tip (north of 70 N). The interior is drier, with extensive arid and grassland regions.

The terrain of eastern Bigland is such that much of the eastern side of the continent is drained by two enormous rivers. The southern stream is similar to the Amazon on Earth; it drains an enormous equatorial jungle lowland and the run-off from the mountains that border it (this equatorial lowland is lush but oppressively humid and has poor soil and is sparsely populated even today). The northern stream drains an even bigger area, and unlike the southern river it flows through heavily populated lands (its outflow is somewhere between 10-25 N).

Islands: As mentioned, Homeland has a number of islands associated with it, highland regions of the same continental platform, and some of these islands are quite large (comparable in size to medium-sized European countries).

Many of the smaller highland regions of the Westland-Redland continental platform also poke above sea level as islands, so Westland and Redland are surrounded by a very large, diffuse archipelago of islands. Most of these islands are small but some are large. The shallowly submerged regions of the Westland-Redland continental platform support extensive coral reefs (technically, convergently evolved coral-like organisms) where conditions are suitable, so a large number of coral islands have formed on the Westland-Redland continental platform.

The great north-south seafloor spreading line runs between Homeland and Westland, and the highest regions of its associated midocean ridge are islands. Most of these islands are small, but some are as big as Iceland or bigger.

A major midocean subduction zone runs from the southern tip of Bigland to the south polar region, roughly antipodal to the major north-south seafloor spreading zone. Some granite (continental) crust is being generated along this line, and the highest regions of that are islands, some of them quite large.

In addition, there are the usual microcontinents and midocean hotspot islands and coral atolls.

[cathygeha]

REVIEW

Maggie and the Pirate’s Son by Rose Prendeville

Brides of Chattan #3

Another wonderful story in an delightful series ~ Maggie & Bash were perfect for and with one another.

What I liked: * Maggie: dutiful daughter, romantic dreamer before marriage, disillusioned by marriage, wants nothing more to do with men, runs away, ends up on a Pirate ship…oh my

* Bash: son of a pirate, lived most of his life on a pirate ship, survived abuse and life at sea, bright, compassionate, navigator of seas and of life

* That Bash protected Maggie and others on his ship

* The attraction between Maggie and Bash and the way it slowly became more

* That both Maggie and Bash were survivors of difficult pasts

* Dutch: quartermaster on the pirate ship, a bit of a father figure to Bash

* The trustworthy members of the pirate ship that looked up to Bash: Langston, Duffy, and Samson

* The growth not only of friendship and love but admiration, respect, and inner strength exhibited by Bash and Maggie as they openly and honestly communicated with one another

* That I could see the two main characters having a loving and fulfilling life together

* The plot, pacing, setting, writing and feel of the book – felt I was there and cared about the outcome – a bit of a fairytale feel but what a nice feel it was

* Constantin: English Naval Captain that provided more than one surprise

* Custard the cat and the rescued kestrel

* The medical controversy and how it was resolved

* The conclusion with all the mysteries solved and bad guys dealt with

What I didn’t like:

* Who and what I was meant not to like

* The painful times both main characters endured

Did I like this book? Yes

Would I read more by this author? Definitely

Thank you to NetGalley and Eridani Press for the ARC – This is my honest review.

5 Stars

BLURB

Once upon a time, Maggie Mackintosh Budge yearned for handsome rogues and breathtaking adventure. Now widowed after a disastrous marriage and desperate to escape her still-matchmaking father, she stows away on the nearest vessel because sometimes the only solution is running away to sea. Bastian MacLeod never chose a life of piracy, but after coming of age under the brutal regime of Auldfarrand’s Revenge, his world has been limited to placating the volatile captain and staying one step ahead of the navy—that is until he discovers Maggie in the cargo hold. The first rule of piracy is: wenches are unlucky and will be cast overboard. With Bastian’s help, Maggie disguises herself and joins the crew, but sparks between them ignite like St. Elmo’s Fire. Can they keep her secret—and keep their hands off each other—long enough to outwit the navy and hunt down the captain’s lost treasure? Or will bad luck send them both to the hangman’s noose?

[brantodd33-blog]

The Universe is infinitely expanding into darkness, but for now it slumbers!

A shimmer of gold light shines deep in the belly of the Eridanus consolation of the Blue Serpent in a distant galaxy. This place is our Mother Earth’s Celestial twin, and is the Great Mother Eridani. Known as Eden to a special few who have sworn to protect Her.

As we zoom in close, closer, and even closer, like through the lens of a colossal cosmic microscope. We see her, this beautiful and awesome world. Protecting all of her children from the darkness, and the emptiness of the expansion. The darkness has one who wants to destroy everything. The Aurora life light of Mother Eden is the magic that keeps this dark being, and his empty ones at bay. As we go in closer. Moving away from the blackness. Smashing into the horizon, and breaking through the clouds.

A boy sits alone in the cabin of a small King air filled with the drowned out rhythmic sounds of the song; “Entitled Generation” by the band “Tiny little Houses.” The lonely passenger is a seventeen year old with dark blonde curly hair pulled up in what's known as a “man-bun” wearing wire framed Ray-ban glasses with apple air pods jammed deep in his ears. His name is Ryder Chronos. However his friends as little, as that circle is just call him ‘Tripp’.

He is on his way to spend the summer with his dad. Dr. Saturn Chronos is a Senior Astrophysicist, and runs all operations at the Oculus of the Rose Space Observatory located in Antarctica. Where they are now starting preparations for a six month record breaking Antarctic winter. The solstice will begin this evening at six thirty-three P.M. making for a very long, and very cold Night.

Tripp is anxious, as the plane crests over a row of large snowcapped glaciers. He sees a large black lens with one upper, and lower shutter coming from the dome of a white sandstone building, as the plane flies in closer. Tripp thinks to himself. Recalling how as a child he would pretend it was a giant cyclops looking out at the universe, waiting for something or someone.

Now as the plane lower’s its landing gear his anxiety returns.

Not about the touch down, or the Observatory. The reason Tripp ‘believes’ he is feeling anxious is because today is June 19th the first day of the Antarctic winter solstice. He has never been worried about spending the summer months in total darkness before, but this summer he is feeling some sort of strong dark ominous, and sinister presence. Worrying it’s most likely depression, but not fully knowing why exactly…not yet, but soon!…Trying to meditate into his Playlist, and drawn-out his teenage thoughts, and school house troubles, He is slammed back into reality when the plane hits the asphalt, and comes to a slow stop. Tripp is not surprised to see his father.

A tall broad-shouldered man. With a beard, and dark hazel eyes, behind black framed glasses. As he waves from the end of the runway. Tripp also notices military tents, and vehicles.

Thinking how strange it is, because the Observatory is usually housed by a small team of astronomers, and physicists always accompanied by a doctor with a nurse or two, and some college kid who is always writing some ridiculous paper on how he spent his summer at space camp in total darkness. Tripp thinks with a smirk.

This is a large military presence. What is going on he wonders? As father runs to meet son, and despite Tripp’s worries he is excited to see him.

As his dad yells out. “Star Ryder’ over here Stretch. How was your flight?”

“Hi dad, it was fine. I wish you’d stop calling me that, I’m not five anymore!” Tripp exclaimed, with an eye roll.

“I know how old you are Cheese head, but well…. I have missed you, and you know how I get with the nicknames when I’m all, with the feelz…” Doctor Chronos exclaimed.

“God dad stop acting like a teenager, it’s so cringey.” The young smart-ass replied pushing his prescription Ray-Bans back up his nose.

Now talking as they walk from the long runway to a small row of housing units. Walking through a small courtyard.

They pass men, and women in naval officer uniforms, and clustered up groups of marines in full fatigues.

“So tonight is the big night, Ryder aren’t you stoked? This will be our first winter solstice together in what, thirteen years. Plus I have some exciting news. The team and I have made some really unbelievable discoveries. Just in the past two weeks. We have so much to talk about. Tonight is going to be very exciting, son.” Dr. Saturn exclaimed.

“Yeah dad super stoked, and it’s been fifteen year since we spent the first night of the winter solstice together, not thirteen dad.” Tripp said with anxious annoyance.

“What’s with all the soldiers, dad?”

“Well son you remember that mysterious interstellar object that flew past Earth in 2018?” He asked.

“Yeah, the asteroid, wasn’t it called Oumuamua? Sounds Hawaiian doesn’t it?” Tripp asked. With a small grin, and a wink.

Dr. Saturn replied, “Yeah, that’s the one, and it is Hawaiian. It means ‘The Messenger’ but NASA now believes it was not an asteroid. When it zipped past earth, it dropped some kind of Black crystal monolith off the coast of Greenland, and NASA has had it since early December of that year.

About one week ago, it started sending out a radio frequency, like a kind of beacon. The Department of Defense had The Navy ship it in for further study by me, and my team.

“Hello Doctor.” Two voices greeted from behind Tripp, and his dad.

“Well speaking of the devils. Son these two badges, are Admiral Ward C. Dexter, and the Jar-head here is Captain Wentworth Whatley. Everyone just calls him Ole Went-worthless, isn’t that right Dex?” Dr. Saturn said with a good humored laugh.

“That’s a big affirmative!” Admiral Ward exclaimed with a grin peering at Captain Whatley.

“Guys this is my son, and future king of The Oculus of the Rose. Ryder Chronos ‘Tripp’ for short.” Dr. Saturn chuckled.

“Well Tripp it’s great to meet you! I hope you grow to have a better since of humor than your old man here.” The Captain said red faced as he stuck his hand out for a shake.

Trip shook Captain Whatley’s hand, saying “Nice to meet you, sir.” With some reluctance.

“You excited about the first day of winter, Tripp?” Admiral Ward asked with a wink.

“Huh I guess.” Tripp said in a wavering unsure tone.

“These two dashing CRATS are over seeing protection detail for the Monolith. While it is here at The Rose, isn’t that right guys?” Dr. Saturn asked.

“Yes sir that’s a ten four.” Both of the commanding officers exclaimed.

“Well guys me, and Tripp have some catching up to do. So we’re going to take our leave now fellas. You both have a great day!” Saturn said with a smirk. “OK guys you two, take it easy.” Admiral Ward said.

“So where was I?” Dr. Saturn asked.

“You were telling me about some kind black crystal monolith, and it was sending out a beacon? Dad that’s insane, but if it’s a beacon, then where is it being sent?” Tripp asked.

“Oh that’s right the Monoliths beacon. Well son, we are not entirely sure, but somewhere out past the Andromeda region, but where is not the important question, son. To WHO, is what we need to find out!” Dr. Saturn strongly proclaimed.

“Wow, this is wild dad.” Tripp said.” Yeah it really is, but do not think I have forgotten about your little adventure at school.” but that can wait. In addition, I believe it is related as minor as it might be, to what I have found. He said to Tripp,

“Wait what? Tripp asked with complete confusion.”

“What the hell does this black monolith have to do with me freeing all the animals in the biology wing at Bay view Preparatory?” He asked.

“Well son you, and your stoner pals, were I believe, a small part of something big, I mean cosmic level big…and I believe it is on its way here to Eridani.”

“What the fuck dad! You really believe there is some big interstellar thing or being out in the cosmos, and it is communicating with this Monolith? Wait….you think I’m smoking pot?” Tripp asked.

“That’s what the team, and I know Tripp, these NASA scientists believe it as well!” Dr. Saturn remarked with unwavering firmness. As for the sticky icky. I used to be a narcissistic seventeen year old, come on son, I was once believe it or not. In the age of Nirvana, and Sublime when wearing airwalks and Jnco’s was the thing, no less.” The Doctor spoke with a gleam of fond remembrance.

“Also I’ve talked with your academic counselor.” Dr. Saturn said with a big smile.

“Whatever, old guys are so weird. So about this interstellar thing could it hit Eridani? Will we be ok?” Tripp asked in a wavering unsure voice.

“Well son, I’m not entirely sure, but we will talk about it in more detail after you get situated.” Dr. Saturn exclaimed.

“I will give you a run down at dinner later. “Tripp there is a lot to unload so be ready, and son bring an open mind ok. For now though, we both need to start getting ready. The Winter solstice begins at six thirty three, and it’s going to set new records in length son. So go unpack, and relax.” Saturn said. “OK dad I will. It’s noon now so I’ll set my alarm for four, and meet up with you then? Tripp asked.

Great son that sounds like a plan, and Tripp I love you!” His dad said, with a choked and strained voice.

Tripp gets to his room, which is actually a small kitchenette, with a full size bed, a TV, small refrigerator, a Coleman portable stove, and a bathroom off to the side.

He puts his ear buds in shuffling through his play list picking ‘passengers’ by The ‘Deftones featuring Maynard James Keenan.’ and drops onto the bed face first, and in minutes he is asleep.

As he sleeps, he dreams, or is it a nightmare?

A slithery hollow voice fills the Dark sleeping emptiness of Tripp’s mind. As he falls through the blackness.

The unknown voice tells Tripp.

“I am coming, but first I send the Empty ones. Shaitan, with His Hollowmongers. They bring with them ‘dark matter’ the magic of The Expansion. The Winter solstice brings the long night, and this is our door way, and the felagi is in position to open it. We will eat all, and give nothing. First, we bring chaos, second, we leave darkness. We will devour Eridani the Mother Eden, and all of her aurora, the light can no longer protect her. In the beginning I was born before all, and in the end, I will be all that remains. I will consume all magic, all light from the universe”.

“Time will decay, Nature will die, and “The Third” The Voyager will not stop ME!

A loud Thunder Clap and a dancing light of blue, green, and purple crash through the darkness, with a loud ethereal bird like cry, silencing the dark voice.

“I tell you ‘Primmyothos’ this.”

“You can come, you can bring the great empty ones, with the dark and build your armies, but know this… you, and those who follow will never destroy the Mother, the Light will never allow it.”

“For millennia the aurora has kept you away. You ‘Primmyothos’ will be sent back to ‘The Void’ your own prison of endless dark.”

“We have our Samsararian Eternal, and when he regains his full Aurora life’s light magic he will be Eridani the Mother Eden champion. With the help of his Urdr-mates, the Atlanteans, and The forgotten one of inner-Eden, who are the sons and daughters of the Cryptids we will lock our bond dark one. You will be pushed back to The Void.”

As the voice slowly fades out.

Tripp wakes to Maynard James Keenan telling him,

“I know the pieces fit cuz I watched them tumble down. No fault, none to blame it doesn't mean I don't desire to Point the finger, blame the other, and watch the temple topple over.”

Covered in sweaty goose flesh, breathing heavy, and shaking with panic.

Tripp pulls out his phone, opens his Playlist reading; ‘Schism’ by ‘Tool’ he shuts off his Spotify.

“What the hell was that?”

“My God that was the most vivid dream I’ve ever had. Is that what lucid dreams are like?” He wonders.

He gets up, and walks across to the sink. Splashing water on his face, and looking into the mirror, at his reflection.

His face begins to ripple outwards from his nose, in waves of oily blackness.

Now, Tripp’s reflection stares back at him.

His eyes are just empty dark sockets. The mouth starts to twist into a crooked spiraling grin of narrow rotten teeth, and opens to say

“We will consume ALL, and leave only darkness!”

At that same exact minute. A loud rapid knocking begins at his door that startles him back from the nightmare reflection.

”Son of a BITCH, what the Fuck is going on?” Tripp asks shaking his head.

He opens the door to the kitchenette. To see a short pudgy man-wearing round thick black framed glasses, and black tee shirt.

The shirt reading. “Black holes are the Assholes of the universe.”

“Tripp?” The man asks in a frantic voice.

“You need to come with me; your dad just had some kind of severe seizure.” The pudgy man said.

“Doctor Kranz The teams lead physician.”

“Yeah I know Doctor Kranz.” Tripp cut the man off.

“He and my dad have worked together here for years.” Tripp exclaimed rudely.

“Oh OK well he is saying your dad is in stable condition, but may need to be put in a medically induced coma.” The short man said.

Tripp looks at the pudgy man with unblinking intensity for a moment.

“What in flipping fuck are you saying? I just got here, and my dad is fucking sick?

This makes no sense.” Tripp proclaimed.

“I am sorry to have to be the one to tell you this, but it is the situation. I need you to follow me.”

“Who the hell are you, and what do you do here at The Oculus?” Tripp demanded.

“Shit, sorry!” the short man said.

“I am Grover Jackson Associate Professor of Astronomy. Please to meet you….under the circumstances of course.” Grover The Associate Professor of Astronomy exclaimed.

“Umm…yeah so where’s my dad now?” Tripp asked, thinking of that strange dream,

Moreover, if it is all connected.

The black monolith, the evil reflection in the mirror, and now his father…blinking, and shaking his head he mumbles “No way”.

“What was that?” Professor Grover asked.

“Nothing, Take me to my dad. Take me to him, now! Tripp exclaimed with anger.

“OK, ok no need to be so damned pushy, man! This way. Grover informed.

Tripp feeling like a complete asshole to this guy. Said, “Your shirt is pretty cool.”

Grover laughs, saying. “You’re the first person to say so. Thanks,”

“I’m the only one with a since of humor on this damn rig!” Come on your dad is being kept in the Med bay at the southern end of the facility.” Grover told him.

They walked down several hallways passing NASA scientists. More military men and women.

Through a cafeteria, loud with the sounds of echoing conversations, and clacking silverware on dishes. Janitorial staff, down the hallways, in offices running vacuum cleaners, and discussing their day.

“My dad has ran the place my whole life, and I have never seen it this full.” Tripp said in amazement.

One research lab that was totally quiet, with the exception of mice running on squeaky wheels, two staticky radio rooms, and the telescope control room.

This was Tripp’s favorite room growing up. His dad brought him up here every day as a child, and they would spend hours in here. He thinks, “Damn I’ll always love the smell of the hydraulic oil, and the way the light bounces around up here.”

“I felt like we were these great and powerful beings watching over the entire universe protecting the planet from evil.”

“Fuck, the minds of children are warped by their own imaginations,” Tripp thinks.

They walk outside to a courtyard, and head into another building,

Tripp reads “research and medical” while walking through the entrance’s double doors to a lobby. To a row of visitor elevators, they step into one, and Grover hits the third-floor button.

Before the doors close Admiral Ward C Dexter, and Captain Wentworth Whatley squeeze through the narrowing passage. “Hello, Grover.” Admiral Ward greeted.

“Well hiya Admiral, and Captain Went-worthless, huh I mean Wentworth.” Grover greeted nervously. Admiral Ward cocked a crooked smile, winking at Tripp.

“Well how are you Tripp? Me, and Captain Wentworth just heard your dad had some sort of accident, we are headed up to check on him.”

“We also have some new security procedures to go over with him!” Wentworth informed.

“WELL GOOD FUCKING LUCK WITH THAT!” Tripp yelled in angry annoyance.

All three men looked at Tripp with wide eyed shock.

Silence filling the elevator now. They reach the floor, and the doors open. All four men awkwardly walk out. Tripp sees a small plaque on the wall, reading ICU. Making their way around corners, and down long red, brown, orange octagon patterned carpeted hallways,

Tripp started to think, “Damn this is taken forever.”

Grover says. “Here we are.” pulling back a teal green divider curtain. Tripp, Grover, Admiral Ward, and Captain Whatley entered together.

Tripp sees his dad for the first time since the runway, when he first arrived, and he could not believe what he was seeing. Dr. Saturn was hooked up to two monitors with IV’s coming out of his right arm, and an oxygen mask covering his nose, and mouth.

“Ahem, ahem…. Mr. Chronos.”

Tripp hears behind him, expecting his dad’s eyes to open. “Tripp, I’m talking to you kid.” says the voice. Tripp spins around on his heels. “Damn kid, you’ve grown into a man. What’s it been three years since I’ve seen you?” Doctor Alex Kranz asked. “Oh my God uncle Alex.” Tripp yelled giving the old man a hug. “Where have you been uncle?”

“Well kid, I took a few years off after my Debbie died. I took some time off, and well I got board after a long journey of depression, and reconciliation. Retirement got old. So, I called up your dad, and here I am. This man is the closest thing to family I have left.” Kranz said with his head low. “Oh, I’m so sorry Uncle Alex, I didn’t know Debbie passed.” Tripp said in a grief-stricken tone.

“It was difficult, but I’m okay now son. It’s great to see you, but back to what I believe happened to your dad. You see he was finishing up some last-minute research on some long distant sound wave. He believed was focused in the Andromeda region of space, when he had a very severe seizure, I’ve done a CAT scan of his brain, and I’ve found Intracranial Hemorrhaging. It’s something I’ve only ever seen with patients in the late stages of brain cancer, but I can’t determine a cause yet. I would like to place him in a medically induced coma. I am very concerned, because he has always been adamant on doing weekly exams, and I have not seen any signs of illness. So, it’s very difficult to understand how or why?” The doctor explained with a slight waver. “Do you think it was work related, maybe he over did it.” Captain Wentworth asked. “Yeah Doc, we noticed Saturn was spending a lot of time with that Monolith. I know for a fact he had been running on forty-eight hours with no sleep.” Ward said with excitement.

“Well captain, and admiral we can’t rule anything out at this point.” Kranz proclaimed before being cut off by shouting echoes from down the hallway.

“It was the sound waves!!” A short dark haired woman wearing an Eminem T-shirt, camo cargos, and timberland hiking boots, busts through the curtains. Breathing heavily she exclaims. it was the sound wave, those god damned sound waves, we found coming from far out in space. I just ran them with the Gravitational Detector, and with the help of LIGO that’s the laser interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory, and the waves are definitely Space-time.

Exactly like the signal the Crystal monolith is putting out, but in a tighter more concentrated pattern. Saturn had just received.” “Slow down Juno, we can’t understand your ramblings”. Admiral Ward said.

“Tripp, this is Ms. Juno Lovelace your dad’s Assistant Theoretical Astrophysicist.” Captain Wentworth informed.

“Well if it isn’t the famous Star Ryder!” Juno says with a turned up grin.

Tripp rolls his eyes in embarrassment, and says “please continue Ms. Lovelace.”

“OK like, I was saying we were sent some samples of a new sound wave from ALMA, that’s the Atacama large millimeter array Radio Telescope Observatory in Chile, and I am certain that’s what harmed Dr. Chronos. See the strongest wave we know of is a Gravitational wave, and this happens when a Star explodes. This is called a supernova. When me, and Saturn were listing to the patterns of the waves we both began to feel an odd tingling sensation beside our eyes. I heard some kind of distant chatter, and passed out for a brief second, and woke to Doctor Saturn mumbling,

“Oh Mighty Eridanus by the light of Selene he is coming, and the expansion follows. We must wake the third.” That’s when he passed out. So, I know now, this is something new! Completely unlike anything we understand. I believe it’s a very strong Spacetime wave from a large Black hole. I also believe it’s relaying a message back to the Monolith, and I also suspect its ejecting immense amounts of Dark Matter.” Juno said with a nervous shaken voice.

“What did he mean by the expansion, and waking the third exactly?” Tripp asked. “I’m not a sure what any of that was. Probably just some strange dream, but I’d like to run the frequency through the Doctor’s, I’m mean your father’s Particle accelerator.” She said being interrupted.

“Wait…what…?” Professor Grover exclaimed. “You can’t actually be serious? We have no idea what the implications would be if it is indeed dark matter. Or how it will react to the Monolith! What if it’s some kind of Alien nuke? You could inadvertently set it off, killing us all. Also what if you create a time paradox, or smash our reality with another one? Haven’t you heard of the Mandela effect? You’re fucking crazy! Grover anxiously screamed.

“Oh my dear lord, Grover you’re a fucking Professor of space science not a fucking conspiracy theorist, aren’t you? Tell me you don’t really believe CERN ripped the multiverse apart?” Juno yelled rolling her eyes, and twirling her left index finger around her ear, smirking at Tripp.

“I don’t care what you do. I just want to figure out what’s going on with my dad so Dr. Kranz, are we going to do this, put him in the induced coma I mean?” Tripp asked with some frustration. “Ahem huh yes, yes of course.” Kranz agreed.

“Well that’s fine. You two have work to do, and so do I.” Juno told them.

“Grover I will need some help. Would you care to join me in tearing through the fabric of Spacetime, and destroying all perception of reality as we know it?” Juno laughed with sarcasm. “Well of course I do, given your lack of all seriousness, if just to be some force of reason here. This is madness. Grover remarked. “Oh fuck Professor, where’s that fabulous sense of humor, that terrible shirt suggests?” Juno asked.

“Oh Ms. Juno we’ll be accompanying you as well. Both Admiral Ward, and Captain Wentworth exclaimed.

“Sirs Yes Sirs! Juno said with a limp wristed salute. “Anyway Kranz take care of the Doctor, and his little star child, we will be in the west wing research lab If you need us, just call on the Telecom system. We will be running the accelerator so you will need to be careful entering.” Juno said.

“Ok Ms. Lovelace you four be safe, and take caution.” Dr. Kranz told her.

“Now my boy let’s get started here.” Dr. Kranz told Tripp. Yes sir, what’s first? Tripp asked with red faced embarrassment smiling in Juno’s direction.

“Well, boy I need to head down to the Med Lab, for the right sedatives. I believe we have Pentobarbital, and Thiopental. I need you to stay here with your father, and monitor is brain activity. Keep an eye on both of the monitors in front of you there, this one here is the EEG monitor it measures electrical activity, and this one on the left MEG it captures your father’s neural activity in real time, but take care with the shield barrier around it though, any magnetic fields from outside interfere with the data.” Kranz explained.

“OK I understand, but Doctor, please hurry.” Tripp begged.

“I will be as quick as two shakes of a jackrabbit’s ass, like my ole man used to say.” Dr. Kranz comically exclaimed, with a smirk.

A little while later, in the west wing research lab seats Juno, a shakenly nervous Professor Grover, and both Captain Wentworth, and Admiral Ward.

“Come on Grover stop being so fucking scared. You’re a man of logic aren’t you?

This is going to be ground breaking shit we’re doing here Prof!” Juno told him.

“Yeah ground breaking, or world breaking. We have no real understanding of what dark matter, or dark energy is, let alone what its capabilities are?” Grover Said with a wavering voice.

“That’s how science works prof, now hand me that row of batteries, and the screwdriver there. Not the flathead dingus the Philips.” Juno said with joking focus.

“Here professor.” Wentworth said handing the tool over to Grover.

“Oh shit, thanks Captain.” Grover remarked as he threw the screwdriver over to Juno, hitting the machine.

“Fuck man, watch out!” Juno exclaimed. “Oh hell, I’m super sorry.” Grover said.

“Alright now flip that switch on the magnet there.” Juno said as she rolled in her office chair to a set of computers, and starts punching away at the keyboard.

“Let me just set this puppy up, and key in the sound frequency. ‘Rapid clicks’ Now I think I’ve got it powered up.” Juno proclaimed as she stands up, and walks over to a yellow box mounted to the left of the machine, and flips it up showing a red emergency stop button. She pulls it out with a loud popping sound that makes Grover jump falling out of his chair.

“Jesus Prof calm down dude.” Juno told him. Then reaches over his head, placing her hand on the power switch. That’s when Grover asked in a panicky voice looking at Ward, and Wentworth.

“How are you guys so damn calm? We’re just going to stand here allowing this? Looking at Ward saying. “Dex man? And then at Wentworth. Went? Guys come on!”

Both of the observatories military liaisons look at Juno with a nod that said “Go on.”

So with a glance at Grover she sticks out her tongue giving the pudgy funny man a tooting raspberry, and flips the switch, powering on the accelerator. It starts to windup, making a low humming sound.

“Ok, now we’re cooking with avocado oil.” Juno Cracks a smile. “How long will this take? Asked Ward C. Dexter. “Well it’ll take about thirty minutes to build up the Particles to collision speed.” she answered as she Pulls a joint, and lighter out of her left cargo pocket and puts it in her mouth. Saying “then we’ll know what we are dealing with.” as she sparked the flame.

“What in the hell are you doing? Grover asked.

“Chill out Prof It’s prescribed for my anxiety.” exclaiming as she takes a deep hit holding it in, and releasing with a loud cough. Looking at Grover, then Ward, and Wentworth.

“Would any of you gents like a hit?” She asked, handing it over to Grover.

And at that exact moment in the ICU room. Tripp moves in his seat watching his dad’s brain activity on the MEG. He notices something strange with the Image readings. He thinks it must’ve been his movements messing up the data, but that thought was quickly gone when at the same time he starts to hear a very faint voice behind him, or so he thinks.

Out of nowhere he begins to feel a tingling in his left eye, and behind his ear. “Tripp!” the voice calls out “It’s me son.”

“Dad, is that you!? What is going on, is this some kind of telepathy? Tripp asked in shocked surprise.

“No! Now close your eyes, and listen to my voice. Hurry there’s not much time son! I have a lot to tell you. I was hoping to be with you, to help you process this, but I guess the dreamscape in between will have to work. Now focus Ryder.” Dr. Saturn said sternly, as Tripp tightens his eyelids, and focuses on his dad’s voice. So hard now he feels the water starting to run down his cheeks, and begins to see bright red and yellow spots behind his lids. The spots start dimming away to grey morphing into swirling smoke. The smoke turns into a greenish blue beam moving like waves above him, in and out of the light he sees a figure emerge.

It is his father just a bit out of focus moving like a shimmer in and out of his vision. “Dad, dad is that you?” Tripp asked with confused wonder.

“Yes it is me, Star Ryder it is, and now I must speak. So you must hear me, hear me very well. I told you something was coming. Do you remember?” Tripp nodded slowly.

“Ryder when you were a young child you were afraid of the dark. You would beg me to stay with you till you fell asleep, but now my son the darkness will soon be on its way, and you will have to face it without me this time. The Void Expansion is being awaken, and Primmyothos will ride it through the universe once again.

There is a fellowship of the occult who believe the void expansion is a cleansing. But son it is only chaos, which will leave nothing, but endless dark in its wake.

This group of men, and women are spread all over Eridani. They call themselves the Cult of the Great empty ones. They have found the scriptum vacua spatium. This is a collection of ancient Latin scripts, the knowledge to awake the void expansion. This will summon Primmyothos, and his army of Shadowmongers led by Shaitan the warlord Shadow demon.

I believe Primmyothos as a felagi it is a kind of head sorcerer who leads The Cult of the Great empty ones. It is someone here at The Observatory, and he will use the scriptum vacua spatium to open a black hole. This must be done at the exact moment of the winter solstice. The process will be cared out by someone without any knowledge of what there are opening, and if I am right it will most likely be my assistant, Juno. We both heard the dark lord call out to the crystal at the same time. He spoke to her unconscious mind, telling her to open the doorway. He is Primmyothos; and son, he is a being as old as time, and I should know.

I’ll get to that! This universe is full of magic Tripp, but there is only two types Dark cosmic magic and it’s made up of dark matter. Which comes from dark energy this is produced by Black holes. Wielded by Primmyothos, and the Hollowmongers. The second is the Aurora this is produced by each habitable planet, but these worlds are living creature’s son. They protect each living being who dwell upon, and within them.

This magic is the life force of the Mother Eden, and she allows only two types of beings the power to wield the aurora. The Samsararian reborn eternals, and the children of the Cryptids. Leaving all Outer Eridaians oblivious to go about their lives. The first protect the outer-world, the seas, and the Tree of Creation, and the second protect the inner-world, and the Heart of Mother this is where the aurora is kept son. The tree of creation is the doorway to the Mothers heart. Primmyothos wishes to devour Mother Eden, and consume All of her Auroras life magic, and in turn adding to the Great Expansion. Leaving only the dark nothingness behind. This is where you must come in son, because you are the third, the Voyager

You Tripp are a Samsararian reborn, and the only child of Time, and Nature. It is your burden now to save Eridani the Mother Eden. The mother leaves The Samsararian's to be reincarnated living infinite lives, but not knowing of any past life, unless they are awaken. There are only two ways we can wake remembering all our past lives. Understanding our true purpose, and gaining our full Auroras life magic. The first is when we pass from one life to the next. We are in an awake state moving through the dreamscape in-between. The second is Eridani the Mother Eden will fully enlighten us, but only if she feels a threat, and needs protection. This time is different she’s hidden, she is afraid.

There is a Void space already blooming somewhere within her like a cancer. So now she slumbers in the Tree of creation. It is flipping through time, and place. You must defeat Primmyothos, and his Hollowmongers. Push them back to the Dark Void imprisoning them once again. But before this you must find the tree, and wake Eden. Son I am stuck here in the dreamscape, to die and be reincarnated. In which case I am no help to you anymore. So I will stay in this place for as long as I can, to aid you on your Voyage.”

“Wait, dad. So, you’re Time the physical embodiment?” Tripp asked.

“Yes son, but I am fading out. I have more to tell you, he is coming, but first he sends his army of shadowmongers Led by his General Shaitan. Find the waters on the wind, Erythaea the Oracle, in the burning maze. Ryder son you must find your Step Mother.”

“What the fuck, magic, water on fucking wind, oracles in burning mazes, and now I have a STEPMOTHER?” Tripp asked shocked and confused.

“Yes you will understand everything in time. Now listen. Her name is Basilea Renee Queen Marid of Atlantis and her four sons of the Ocean’s. I’m fading, I will send Ragnar the Rugur of the Rising Phoenix. He will know how to find the Oculus stone. Tripp you will need his help.

This will be your shared destiny, and Wendigo’s our bond locked to serve Mother Eden. I must go for now son. The Black hole will open here at The Observatory soon.” Dr. Saturn Chronos as Time spoke.

[eridanidreams]

Snippet Sunday

tagging: @bearlytolerant, @silurisanguine, @aro-pancake, @fangbangerghoul, @atonalginger, @aislingdmdt, @fshenkoescape, @ninjaofnaps, @lisa-and-shadow, @a-cosmic-elf, @thatsgoodsquishy0, @hockeydemon42, @fomagranfalloon, @violenceandviolets, @therealgchu, @staticpallour, @artemis-crimson, @genesisarclite and @constellation2330

This is my brain right now...

...and I've been writing in four different fics for three different fandoms. Today's snip is from The Passage of Distant Stars...

Cait braced herself before turning, knowing what she'd see. It still wasn't enough; Sam in one of his relaxed leans against the wall, looking devastatingly handsome in t-shirt and jeans damn near stopped the breath in her throat. "Comfortable?"

"Mmm-hmm. Like they were made for me." He eyed her up and down; she'd expected something of the sort, and managed not to outwardly react. "So tell me, you invite every Starborn that comes in here for dinner and a drink, or am I special?"

"Oh, you're special," Cait admitted, and took some small amusement in his well-hidden surprise. Well-hidden from anyone but her, that is. "And yes, I keep those in there for someone like you." She could smell the paprika now, mingled with the other scents, sharp and just this side of acrid. She grabbed the bowl of chicken and started adding it to the pan. "But I don't invite every person, Starborn or not, in for dinner. Most of them just want to go straight through. Others," she glanced at him as he came over to lean against the fridge, "I want to go straight through. There's usually a few, though. People I've known, one way or another. People who need a little reassurance before making the jump." The tomatoes followed the chicken and she gave the whole thing a vigorous stir, then set a timer.

"I'm in that first group, I suppose," he said, a little whimsically. "Damn, that smells good! What is it?"

"Paprika Hendl," she replied. "Cora ever make you read her Dracula?"

A fond expression crossed Sam's face. "Sure did. In more than one 'verse." He chuckled. "Her and those books."

Cait couldn't hold back a chuckle of her own. "In my universe, I gave it to her." She laughed a little more softly, caught by the memory. "Gave her every book I could find, just to see the smile on her face. It was like to drive her father crazy some days." She caught a shift in his emotions, like a cloud pulling its veil across the sun. She cast him a quick glance, and his smile had turned melancholy. "I'm—"

"Nah," he interrupted. "No need to apologize. That was my—Lila—in a nutshell." Wryly, "I've gotten used to looking at another me from the outside. In a weird sort of way, it's good to know I'm loved, even if it's at a remove." He looked like he was going to elaborate on that, but instead took a deep breath and nodded at the pan. "So what's that have to do with Dracula?"

She accepted his silent request to change the subject. "Ah, yeah. It's the meal Jonathan Harker has before he gets to Castle Dracula. Traditional Central European dish. Supposed to be served with slivovitz—that's a plum brandy—but I'm not much for hard alcohol, so we'll have to make do with wine."

"Works for me," he drawled. "So how come I've never heard of this—Paprika Hendl?"

"Now that's something interesting," Cait said, gesturing him to join her at the kitchen island. (Multiple jumps and she still could not understand why Sam always blocked the fridge when she was cooking.) "Before we jumped, Cora and I had a theory that we wouldn't see a lot of big changes in the universes we went through, at least not the first few times. The idea was that as we started out from our own universe, we'd go through some 'close' universes, where the differences that made them were pretty minimal."

"Right. The—uh—butterfly effect, I think Cora called it." Sam leaned on the island across from her, eyes bright with interest and a sharp-edged curiosity shivering around him.

"Right," she nodded. "We figured it would be hard to change the big events, the ones that had lots of decisions going into them and lots of consequences coming out of them. But small things, things that don't matter much in the long run, or only to a very few people—those we expected to see a wide variety in." She cracked an egg with a flourish. "Turns out, recipes are one of those small things. Someone remembers their grandmother's recipe book, another leaves theirs behind…" A second egg. "Once I figured that out, I started looking. Found this one three, maybe four jumps back." A third egg joined the others in the dimpled flour; she gave it enough of a stir to break up the yolks, then carefully poured in some water and stirred that in, as well. "I thought maybe I could share them across timelines. Restore a little of Terra's lost heritage where I went."

He stared at her in disbelief as she took a heavy spoon and started beating the egg-flour mixture. "Hell, you have got to be the least Starborn Starborn I've ever run into. Most Starborn I've run into don't have the time of day for history. Or the people around them."

"That's the problem," Cait said absently, feeling for that moment when the dumpling batter came together. "In their search for power, they've forgotten everything that makes them human. Unity asks for part of your humanity when you go through, to give to the universe you leave behind. If you don't restore what's left of yourself, what happens when you run out?"

Sam stared at her, mouth all but agape, for several long moments. "Jesus, you're dangerous," he finally said, sounding half-awed. "No wonder they all want you dead."

She lifted the spoon and watched a clump of batter fall back into the bowl. Just about ready. "They want me dead because I don't play their game." She gave him a sardonic look. "Don't tell me I should knuckle under to a psychopath and his enabler."

"Of course not!" he countered. "But the Hunter's bad enough news that I'd pick my fights with him real careful. I ain't going out there punching a—a—terrormorph in the nose, either!"

Cait couldn't suppress a smirk. "Oh, I don't know, some terrormorphs are downright friendly compared to the Hunter and his followers." She moved back to the stove and started dropping batter into boiling water.

"Okay," he said, voice reflecting his bemusement, "You are officially weird."