Time to Orbit: Unknown

<<First .......... <Prev .......... [Archive] .......... [Glossary] .......... Next> Careful to stay far away enough to avoid being bitten, I looked up at the fruits on Morlin’s tree. They were vaguely luminous in the rapidly fading daylight, casting a slight red glow through the bone-white branches and onto the black rotting plant material around the … Continue reading 15: Time to Move

First ---- Previous ---- Glossary ---- Archive ---- Next In a caravan, the carts are usually ordered from lightest to heaviest, to help prevent carts getting bogged down or stuck. Which means that as they set off, Tyk finds herself in the lead, with her mother all the way at the back and the entire … Continue reading 23: On The Road

<<First .......... <Prev .......... [Archive] .......... [Glossary] .......... Next> “What the fuck is that?!” I exclaimed, in English, which of course nobody understood. The amalgamation screeched and clicked back in what I was pretty sure was aljik, which I didn’t understand. And to complete the trio, the drakes started making a lot of very emphatic … Continue reading 14: Spectre

First ---- Previous ---- Glossary ---- Archive ---- Next One of the older diggers, Maiza, comes to find Tyk while she’s on soil clearing duty in one of the peripheral tunnels. “Hey, Tyk. You can understand the skyborn visitor, right?” “About two thirds of what she says, yeah.” “Two thirds?” “Sometimes she talks about rocks … Continue reading 22: Nailing It

<<First .......... <Prev .......... [Archive] .......... [Glossary] .......... Next> I knew we were getting near the centre of the labyrinth when the trees started to thin out. And I mean that literally – there weren’t less trees, they were just noticeably thinner, the thick bark black and peeling and clearly rotten underneath, the branches dead … Continue reading 13: Maze Invaders

First ---- Previous ---- Glossary ---- Archive ---- Next “What in there?” Smon asks as she and Tyk walk away from the burrow. “Just a fight,” Tyk says. She inspects her leg; exoskeleton and joint are intact, Ayan hadn’t split or torn anything. There’s barely even a mark. “For Bette?” “Yeah.” Tyk considers not explaining, … Continue reading 21: Star Children

<<First .......... <Prev .......... [Archive] .......... [Glossary] .......... Next> “I’m an engineer,” I pointed out. “You are no kel,” the Princess said. “W-well, okay, I mean, I’m not aljik. I’m definitely no Princess. It’s like the drakes – they worked for you without being a caste, right?” “Drakes do the duties of atil, until they … Continue reading 12: Fight Or Flight

First ---- Previous ---- Glossary ---- Archive ---- Next Smon listens to Tyk explain the issue. “And now hiveheart think to send or not send messenger?” “Yeah. I mean, they’ll send people. They only need to go to two locations, and it’s pretty important. So they will.” Smon tilts her head. The echo stone doesn’t … Continue reading 20: Family Commitments

<<First .......... <Prev .......... [Archive] .......... [Glossary] .......... Next> I don’t know what I am. I know who I am, of course. The first shape I mastered was that of a perfect ceramic bowl with a fine white rim. My template had been produced by a large blue worm that, in the manner of its … Continue reading 11: Ease Of Identification

First ---- Previous ---- Glossary ---- Archive ---- Next Half a season ago, Tyk wouldn’t have dared approach a member of the hiveheart directly, but with the welfare of Smon’s hivemates in the balance she tracks down Hetta that very night, cornering her and Kehetta as they line up for food. “I need to talk … Continue reading 19: For the Hive