Author: Derin

<<First .......... <Prev .......... [Archive] .......... [Glossary] .......... Next> I had thought, hoped, for a little while, that Charlie might be immune to the drake toxin. It had held up remarkably well for far longer than anybody should with just one sting in them, let alone several. But after making its final declaration on the … Continue reading 12: Trust

<<First .......... <Prev .......... [Archive] .......... Next> .......... Last>> The shuttle has a weight limit. It’s designed to carry the five of use back to the ship, and not much else. We lied to Antarctica about how heavy we all were, and the removal of the docking clamps will give us a bit more weight … Continue reading 180: ASCENT

<<First .......... <Prev .......... [Archive] .......... [Glossary] .......... Next> What the hell was I supposed to do? I wasn’t overreacting, was I? Maybe… the captain had gone to Earth and abducted a human, knowing the stories. She was on the run from the Queen in a flying prison that was ridiculously ill-equipped for her chosen … Continue reading 11: Hooray for Piracy

<<First .......... <Prev .......... [Archive] .......... Next> .......... Last>> The crew aboard the ship are a lot more cautious about the AI idea than we are, but do have to concede that they didn’t have a better solution. Eventually everyone agrees that if we can’t get a reliable AI from Antarctica or come up with … Continue reading 179: PREPARATION

<<First .......... <Prev .......... [Archive] .......... [Glossary] .......... Next> I watched the people on the bridge very carefully for some time, wishing I could read their moods properly. A lot of them were definitely afraid of me, but some of the drakes especially seemed… well, they glanced at me a lot, but when they did, … Continue reading 10: Housekeeping

<<First .......... <Prev .......... [Archive] .......... Next> .......... Last>> The Hypati launcher grows. New shuttle parts are constructed. I spend far more time than I want to loading and unloading tiny battery-operated trucks with huge chunks of metal and plastic to be bolted to other parts of metal and plastic up at the base of … Continue reading 178: SOLUTION

<<First .......... <Prev .......... [Archive] .......... [Glossary] .......... Next> I listened carefully to Glath’s story, stopping him several times to clarify key points. I wrote the whole thing down, then read over it, then asked more questions to fill in some of the more obvious holes and address any conflicts. Then, confident that I had … Continue reading 9: Every species walks alone

<<First .......... <Prev .......... [Archive] .......... Next> .......... Last>> The letters are written, read and discussed by the crew, read and discussed by the Leadership, rewritten, checked carefully for inconsistencies, rewritten again, and eventually sent. Captain Klees receives a stern letter back informing him that all orders related to major colony decisions should be confirmed … Continue reading 177: DESTINATION

<<First .......... <Prev .......... [Archive] .......... [Glossary] .......... Next> It’s hard to get a full story out of someone who’s acting cagey and scared of you. It’s even harder when you don’t properly share a complete language, or even the same cultural criteria for story structure. But this is, to the best of my approximation, … Continue reading 8: Singers and Dancers

<<First .......... <Prev .......... [Archive] .......... Next> .......... Last>> “We need to convince Antarctica to give us an AI,” Tal says one day at breakfast, not looking away from the computer as ke talks. “We’ve tried everything else and it’s impossible. Mama can’t do it. Amy’s dregs won’t work without brains, and I think we … Continue reading 176: DISCOVERED