#metabolism really makes you think what would happen if the smallest thing goes wrong

[life-is-lifeing-hard]

life lifes hard when you realize that everything that you do depends on this small metabolism involving a bunch of tiny chemicals that carry smaller particles to power you up

[beyondthecosmicvoid]

"What you're talking about is manifest destiny."

"You can call it whatever you want, Tom. The fact remains that if the human race needs to do something to survive and lower orders don't have the power to stop us, we will prevail. It is not right ir wrong, it is just the way things are. You've got to stop projecting human motives and es onto other organisms. Everything is merely what it is. A mongoose that tries to steal a cobra's egg isn't evil -- it is just trying to survive. But the cobra is trying to survive too. And if it catches the mongoose in its nest, there's going be a fight. Fortunately for the mongoose, it has faster reflexes and a more efficient metabolism. Whether that's fair or not isn't event part of the equation -- it's simply the way things are."

"Yeah? Try telling that to the cobra. But for the sake of argument, we'll ignore the question of ethics. Still, all you're saying, Scott, is that it's all right to do whatever we want. To exploit any ecosystem, any species -- as long as we don't run into anything big enough to kick our butts."

"If you want to phrase it that way. Yeah. That's the way nature works."

"Sure, on tutoring disks, but not in the real world. Every part of an ecosystem is dependent on every other part. It's that interdependence that makes interfering with existing systems so chancy. Even the smallest components are vitally important."

“Who could have guessed that millions of ‘killer bee’s could spring from a handful of escaped African bees? Or that a few Brazilian fire ants could make the Southeastern portion of the U.S. virtually uninhabitable in just over seventy years? And what about the ‘oil-eating’ bacterium the gene-splicers at the petroleum companies developed to clean up their spills? Remember how they thought they had it completely in their control?”

“Come on, Tom, the oil would’ve dried up sooner or later anyway, and I hear the new repro-inhibitors they’re using are making a substantial dent in the fire ant populations. Sure, we suffer setbacks, but we’ll always find ways around the problems that nature throw at us.”

“Will we Scott? I’m not so sure, mankind never seems to learn. We get our hands slapped on a regular basis, but we still can’t seem to keep them to ourselves. The tighter the grip we try to get on nature, the more nature pushes through the cracks in our technology. And with some of the things we’re encountering in the settlements, we have no idea what kind of trouble we may be letting ourselves in for by messing around.”

“Well, so far we’ve done okay. On all of the life-supporting planets we’ve come across. The worst thing we’ve ever encountered has been the ‘blood willies’ of epsilon INDI TWO. And I hear they’ve got a vaccine for that now. If I were you, I’d put my faith in science and stop worrying about the bogeyman. And I’d watch what I said around the corporate types, Tom. All any of them care about is their jobs, and you’ll make them nervous with talk about problems that don’t exist yet.”

“I don’t care. This is my last long haul. I’m getting out while the getting’s good. All of the monkeying around the corporations are doing out in the settlements may not bother you, Scott, but it does me. We’ve had a long run of good fortune –longer than we’ve deserved there’s a major league turd coming down the pike, mark my words--- and I don’t want to be around when it hits the fan. I’m telling you, we shouldn’t be messing with mother nature. She’s a real bitch. We have to learn to work with nature. This reliance on technology is getting to be too much for me, Scott. It’s no longer a means to an end. It’s become an end unto itself. We use it like a wall between ourselves and our surroundings … between ourselves and who we really are. We’ve come a long way in the past three thousands years but I can’t help feeling that we’ve lost as much as we’ve gained.”

“So what’s your solution Tom? Give up modern convenience and go back to stone knives and squatting in caves?”

“You’re reaching for extreme again, Scott, but that just might be what it takes to put us back on the right track. And I’m not talking about austerity or deprivation. I’m talking about the challenge of putting away the crutches of our technology and going back to relying on our own strength and cunning. These days we’re so insulated that we make heroes out of anyone who dares to face up to a challenge. But it wasn’t always like that. Life of death challenges used to be an every day thing and real men didn’t wait for adventure to come to them. They rushed out to meet it not like the generals and corporate heads these days who send out the little guys to do their dirty work. It used to be that a man’s standing as a leader was determined by how he handled himself in the face of danger.”

“Yeah, yeah – very nostalgic, Thom. Very macho. But it’s not very practical in this day and age. Can you see a bunch of corporate VPs duking it out for the right be CEO? Or maybe you and me going at each other with knives to see who gets a better pilot’s rating?”

“Hey, every culture observes its own rituals for establishing status. Look at the infighting and back-stabbing that goes on at every level of our society. And we’re still fighting over the same things: property, leadership, territorial rights. The only difference is our methods have become more subtle, less direct. Somehow the old ways seem more honest.”

“You’re an idealist, Tom. What happens when the wrong guy wins? Then you’ve got the neighborhood bully calling the shots: You’re back to pack mentality.”

“There are checks and balances in every system, Scott.”

“Yeah, but your way leaves them all up to individual initiative! Without some kind of sanctioned avenue for dissent. A guy would have to be a real hero or a real fool to butt heads with the chief.”

“So? Are things really so different for us? You’re the one that’s always telling me to watch what I say around the desk jockeys. Where’s my ‘sanctioned avenue for dissent’? At least if I bust a gay in the chops, he clearly understands that I don’t like what he’s doing.”

“There you go with your idealism again. You’re trying to romanticize this into two tigers brawling to determine dominance or rights to a favorite hunting area. In the same situation humans would just kill each other. We’ve ‘out-grown’ the instinct for species preservation that prevents that in the lower orders but we haven’t truly grown into the morality that you’re so fond of citing, Tom. The society we’ve built isn’t perfect. Granted. But it works, probably more because of our level of technology than in spite of it. How many guys wouldn’t want to trade their boring, earthside job for yours: a job made possible by technology? But if you want to get back to nature, there are ways to do it. Go on one of those ‘wilderness’ safaris to Alpha C. I understand the gene-splicers now have something that almost looks like an elephant. Or, if you want real adventure, sign on for a hitch as a ranch hand at our next stop; plenty of fresh air, hard work, and not much else. Maybe that’s your idea of fulfillment. Though I can’t imagine anyone envying you the job. Me, I can get enough adventure from the vids. God bless modern technology!”

                                         (...)

“You’re awfully quiet, Tom. What’s the matter? YOu mad at me?”

“Huh? Uh, no Scott. I was just thinking.”

“Look, I know you said it as a joke. But maybe I should go on one of those safaris or sign on as a ranch hand. Maybe it’ll turn out that you’re right, and I wouldn’t like it. But I should at least give it a try. A change of scenery might be just what I need ... Get back to the land and living things ... Get some adventure and uncertainty back into my life. Did i ever tell you that I went hunting once? I had an uncle who was wealthy. He took me qual hunting when I turned fifteen -said it wuold make a man of me. But all I could think about was how big my shot gun was, and how small the birds were. I guess I oculd understand the potential for excitement in the hunt, but for me the thrill was missing. The contest seemed so lopsided. I wondered what it would be like to hunt something that was capable of hunting me. The challenge. The Danger. To put yourself on an equal footing with nature, that’s got to be the ultimate thrill! To risk everything on your own skill and strength ... I mean, look at what we do for a living - access the computer, punch a few buttons - all of the work is done for us. Anybody could do this job, with the right training. I guess that’s what I meant by m anti-technology tirade. It’s not that technology is evil in and of itself - but once in a while we have to put it aside and do something to remind ourselves that we’re alive - prove that we can accomplish something by relying solely on ourselves. I can’t help but think an experience like that would change a person. Maybe not in a way that other people would notice, but it would be something you’d carry with you for the rest of your life.”

“I know what you mean, Tom. Kinda like the first time you get laid, right? Did I ever tell you about that? I was at this party, see, and ...”

“Oh, brother ...”

   ~ Conversation between Tim & Scott from ALIEN VS PREDATOR #1

^It’s this type of existentialism that makes Dark Horse comics and other graphic novels set in the ALIENS/PREDATOR universe some of the best stuff in science fiction. It has a little bit of everything. Philosophy, cosmic horror, with occasional degrees of theological abstraction.If Disney wants to add more money to their pockets and wants to be true to their motto of inclusion and so on, keep this universe. Don’t erase it. Everything that it preaches, are in these comics. Not only that, but there is also a diversity of ideas where it subtly criticizes every school of thought via different characters and storylines. These are the types of stories that attract every fan, regardless of what their politics are. It’s entertainment, pure escapism (without preaching or self-serving, shaming BS) and world-building at its finest. And it remains respectful of ALL the ALIENS/PREDATORS films, while still offering something new.

Take Tom and Scott’s conversation here. These are two space truckers, blue collar workers like those from the first ALIEN movie, that are bringing up two very interesting points. They don’t fit into any neat box we assign a certain ideology. BOTH of these guys make good salient points. There is also a reason why the first issue of the AVP series starts with this conversation of technological dependence vs the old ways that Tom keeps going back to. While these two argue to disprove the other’s point and defend their own, we catch a brief glimpse into Yautja (Predator) society. It is a violent hierarchy where might becomes right. This is the type of meritocracy that Tom keeps defending. At the same time, it is also opportunistic and more technological advance to the point that they use their technology and survival instincts to hunt other species they deem worthy. This is done at the back of other species they consider inferior or worth risking for the ultimate hunt to prove their worth. Everything that Scott defends is part of the Yautja culture -with the obvious exception of divisions and over-dependence on technology and a corporate conglomerate controlling every aspect of daily life. Then there are the Xenomorphs (aliens). They are the other that is constantly being used as a coming-of-age rite for the predators, It’s an interest dynamic which hasn’t (yet) been explored in the films. This, among other things, makes this universe one of the most fascinating in the science fiction and horror genre.

[imsfire2]

Decisions

[Yay, managed to finish this in between assorted family stuff!  It could probably do with one more polish but I’m really pleased to get to post it today.  Written for the final day of therebelcaptainnetwork’s rebelcaptain appreciation week, for the prompt “Future”.  It fits in, time-scale wise, just before “All is well”]

Decisions

“Do you have a minute?” she asks, standing at the balcony window of their hotel room, looking out at the lake in the evening light.  Her hand reaches for the crystal pendant at her breast for the eternal reassurance that offers;, but it’s easier than she’d feared to say those first words, because she’s not looking his way.  She hears his footsteps as he comes up behind her.

“I have...” Cassian snakes his arms round her waist and rocks her back against his body. 

It feels good, and Jyn settles into the warmth of him.  “Remember the first time you did that? - when I went into attack mode?  I’d never had anyone grab at me from the rear who wasn’t trying to kill me.”

“You nearly broke my jaw. Chirrut said he could feel the bruise in the Force, it was so big.”

“And you forgave me.”

His breath on the side of her neck, a fluttering heat as he chuckles noiselessly.  “You know what a weakness I have for your fighting skills.” He kisses the skin under her ear.

It would be so terribly easy just to turn in his arms now, lift her mouth to his, hold him and forget what she has to say,  forget the decision they have to take.  His lips are so gentle, and so irresistible.   But she makes herself hold still, and as if sensing that she isn’t going to turn and devour him, he draws back and stands just holding her again, resting his cheek on her hair.  

“Actually, there’s something I wanted to ask you,” he says, and Jyn startles in his arms, because hearing your own unuttered words in someone else’s voice is a slightly surreal experience, and even people as deeply attuned as they have become over the years don’t usually speak one another’s thoughts randomly like that. Is Cassian becoming Force-sensitive from long association with Chirrut and Baze?

“Uh – okay...”

“Will you marry me?”

“Oh!  Oh –“ and that wasn’t what she expected, though she cannot say what was; her brain is short-circuiting, thoughts and words scrambled like play-tiles. “Yes.”  At least she’s managed to get that out; one word shouldn’t be that hard. “Yes, yes, yes of course I will.  Oh, what – what the –“ it’s the equivalent of that faint sub-articulate whizzing noise K-2 utters sometimes when he’s really put out by human illogicality.  Find words, real joined-up words, come on… “Am I dreaming or did you just propose?”

“I did.  Did you just say yes?”

“I did.  I do.  I will – you – good grief, oh my dear…”

He turns her now, keeping her within the circle of his arms; he looks into her eyes and his smile is shy and happy and sad all at once.  “Jyn, I know the war’s not over yet, I know this might seem premature, but ever since Endor I haven’t been able to stop thinking about the future.  I – I’ve realised I never used to believe in it. Not for me.  For everyone else, I hoped, if people like me did our jobs right; for the galaxy as a whole; but not for me.  But then I met you, and I wanted it; I wanted to live, to see a life with alternatives and paths stretching ahead and chances to do other things besides fight and kill and go undercover and kill again.  I wanted a future, things to hope for, decisions to make, all of it, even problems and arguments and – just, all kinds of shit, even, because that’s part of real life and so having it means you’re really living, and - am I making sense?”

“Yes.”  It’s hard to say more, her throat has gone tight.  Despite that final hasty query, this sounds rehearsed, and Cassian isn’t much given to making speeches.  She’s only known him do it once before.

“I don’t know how to live that life,” Cassian says.  “Life that’s not in a war, I mean.  And that scares me.  I’ve never been anything but – this – since I was a child.  It may be hard, I may not be any good at it.  I don’t know who I am if I’m not a soldier.  But I want to try, I want to learn how.  And I know this one thing; whether I’m any good at living or I have to fight through every day, whatever comes, I want it to be with you, Jyn.  If you’ll have me.”

“Yes.  Yes, Force alive, yes!”  

She pulls him close and stretches up till her chin is just beneath his shoulder; he grips her and they stand tight-pressed together, touching as they touched that first time, one of his hands in the small of her back and one at the back of her neck, bunching in her shirt, clinging to her as she clings.  

She says the words that this particular, tight, memory-packed embrace always means, the words they couldn’t say the first time. “I love you.  I love you so much.”

A shiver goes through him before he loosens his hold on her and whispers “And I love you, Jyn.”  He’s blinking and his eyes shine for a second; but he grins sideways and adds “I have something for you, let me go get it.”

Something turns out to be a pair of rings, loops of knotted silver wire each set with a tiny chip of crystal.  Jyn swears. “Is that kyber?”

He nods.  “Do you want to put one on?  I don’t know if it’s a custom you like or not; my parents always wore theirs, matching rings for their engagement and their marriage, and I just – when I saw these in that market yesterday I thought they were perfect—“

“They are.  And – Cassian – everything you said, about being unsure of the future, not knowing how you’ll deal with a life without war in it – it’s all true for me, too, you must know that.  The idea we might soon win is wonderful, it’s like a miracle, but I have no idea how to do anything except be a fighter.  I’m going to need to work out who Jyn is, without that.  Thank you for – for still wanting to stay with me.”

All the years since Scarif. It hasn’t always been easy.  They’ve quarrelled and cried, and held one another through nights of love and nights of bad dreams, they’ve been afraid and sick, have come back for one another and fought through to one another and sparred and spat and been scared, and wanted to leave and known they would always stay; they’ve held together and held to the cause, and soldiered on.  And now –

She takes the larger band and pushes it quickly onto his ring finger; allows her own hand to be lifted and the second ring to be placed in position; and they’re engaged.

“Was there something you wanted to ask me?” he says.  “You asked if I had a minute…”

Jyn looks down at her ring, up into his eyes.  Her heart is beating a little fast.  “You remember when I got that implant?”

“That - ? – oh, yes…”

“Well, it was due to run out next month.  So before this trip I went along to get it replaced.  I figured better to play it safe, after all there was a good chance we were going to have a lot of sex if we did get shunted off on shore leave!  But it turns out apparently I have a fast metabolism. They did a blood test and said they wouldn’t give me a new one because I’m already pregnant.”  There, it’s out in the open now.  Odd to think that most people daydream of the day they will get engaged, the day they’ll tell their partner this news; daydream and plan, try to make it a day to remember.  And here they are just standing at a window.  “If this had been just six months ago I would have been saying to you I know what we need to do, I wish things had been different but we need to make a sensible decision…  But now – Cassian, I would have preferred to plan a family – if – if you want to start one, that is.  But since this has already happened – will you help me decide what to do?”

“You’re pregnant?” For a moment he’s worryingly impassive, with shock or disbelief; then a faint smile lifts the corners of his mouth.  “Are you sure?”

“Doc says I’m three months gone.”

“Force alive, Jyn.  A baby.  Do you want to do this?”

“Do you?”

“I want a family.  I know that.  Is this too soon?  In the end it’s not my decision; but I do want a family with you.  If that’s possible, then that’s the best news. Even if this isn’t the right time.”

“It’s not a wrong time, just not planned.”  He’s waiting; but that hesitant, hopeful smile tells her what she needed to know.  They both want to take the risk.  “I want to have this baby,” she tells him.  “Now there’s a real chance of a future for them.”

“Okay.  Okay…  Sweet life. Sweet life!  We’re going to be parents…”

They stand holding one another in the gathering dusk.

“So – three months gone, did you say?  Does that mean – was it that mission on Ah’mina?  When it was so hot, and the ‘fresher broke?”

“And we both got so filthy? Yes, I think so.  The timings fit.  Dirty Daddy Cassian.”

His laugh as always is the smallest of sounds, a faint huff, bare movement of breath.

“I never ever thought I’d be a mother,” Jyn admits after another long silence.  “I never thought I’d even live to be twenty-five.  What is the world going to be like, when the war ends? What are we going to do? – where will we live, what will we live on?  It’s terrifying…”

“Well, we have six months to figure it out.  Some of it, at least.  And plan a wedding.  We’ve done worse, and with a lot less time.”

There’s another pause before she says “So, who’s going to have the privilege of giving K the news? Or should we toss for it?”

And, rare and sweet,  Cassian laughs out loud.