Time to Orbit: Unknown

<<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

<<First .......... <Prev .......... [Archive] .......... [Glossary] .......... Next> There weren’t even any lasers. I suppose there was excitement, in its way. For instance, as the airlock opened into space it suddenly occurred to me that if the ship jolted again before my safety line was attached, it could simply jerk me out into space … Continue reading 7: Space battles are boring

<<First .......... <Prev .......... [Archive] .......... Next> .......... Last>> Gatekeeper Rault to Capt. Klees Hylara has been ordered to continue to refuse supply drops due to possible infections. Be informed that this population may have undetected weaknesses in their immune systems. Provide further information on what health issues your ground crew have and we will … Continue reading 175: DEVELOPMENT

<<First .......... <Prev .......... [Archive] .......... [Glossary] .......... Next> You’d be amazed how hard it is to find information about human nutrition that some random imbecile like me could understand. Thing is, food isn’t really a problem for humans on Earth. Oh, sure, there were societies where poor people starved, and there were issues when … Continue reading 6: Food is complicated, and so is the law

<<First .......... <Prev .......... [Archive] .......... Next> .......... Last>> “I don’t like it,” Celti tells me later. “Trading that tech gives her actions legitimacy. We could have a civil war on our hands.” “Over a couple of unsanctioned unethical science experiments?” I’ve been an unwilling test subject enough times that I barely remember feeling the … Continue reading 174: CONTACT

<<First .......... <Prev .......... [Archive] .......... [Glossary] .......... Next> “Okay,” I explained to Glath, “so I need 240 volts, 10 amps to connect to these bits of metal on this plug here, as AC – uh, with the electrons zigzagging back and forth.” “What are volts and amps?” he asked, crossing his front legs in … Continue reading 5: Physics and chemistry

<<First .......... <Prev .......... [Archive] .......... Next> .......... Last>> “Okay, look,” I say. “There’s something you should probably know.” I explain the synnerve experiment. The Leadership stare at me with uniformly horrified expressions. “We’re so, so sorry that that happened to you,” Tana says. “We should have picked up on what was happening. That should … Continue reading 173: AI

<<First .......... <Prev .......... [Archive] .......... [Glossary] .......... Next> From the outside, the Stardancer was ugly. I guess I’d grown up looking at spaceships in fiction, with the occasional video of a shuttle launched from Earth for good measure. But what space needed, apparently, was neither style nor aerodynamics. The Stardancer was a big fat … Continue reading 4: Space is big

<<First .......... <Prev .......... [Archive] .......... Next> .......... Last>> I stare at Dandelion. “Reaching another exoplanet is the entire plan.” “Yes, but it doesn’t actually solve anyone’s problems, does it? The Hylarans want to avoid having their settlement overwhelmed by a refugee population five times the size of their own, but don’t want to kill … Continue reading 172: LIFETIME