Time to Orbit: Unknown

First ---- Previous ---- Glossary ---- Archive ---- Next Tyk is of course as excited about the wingsong stream as anyone. She’s desperate for news of home, and Kemia thoughtfully keeps abreast of the situation and the very morning after they start to get faint, fuzzy communication is able to tell her that the Redstone … Continue reading 58: Forging Ahead

First ---- Previous ---- Glossary ---- Archive ---- Next The hiveheart announce Smon’s true nature and the Rayjo Tau plan that very afternoon. Smon helps them frame the situation as better than playing temporary host to some baby stars, as them being the hive that will shape the entire future of the continent, possibly the … Continue reading 57: Red River Ramble

First ---- Previous ---- Glossary ---- Archive ---- Next “It’s a bold claim,” one of the hiveheart says, “for a handful of inexperienced children to make. That this new type of communication tower could reach all the way across the ocean.” “Our star-travelling guest has demonstrated other powerful abilities,” another points out, “and the girl … Continue reading 56: Alone

First ---- Previous ---- Glossary ---- Archive ---- Next Tyk can’t help but be impressed by the restraint of the people of Glittergem Hive. Even as Smon, clean and well rested and adorned in her least tattered silks, strides through the entrance hall with Tyk and Mia and their truebrothers, nobody tries to approach her; … Continue reading 55: Diplomatic Potential

<<First .......... <Prev .......... [Archive] .......... [Glossary] .......... Next> Things move pretty fast when you have essentially unlimited labour and resources to get them done. The Lightsong Travel Agency was up before I knew it. Word of our existence was spreading to every aljik nest we could contact. Very, very slowly. Aljik nests don’t communicate … Continue reading 25: Two Years Later

First ---- Previous ---- Glossary ---- Archive ---- Next After they eat, Mia and Kemia offer to give them a tour of the hive. Smon politely declines, claiming that she must rest. Tyk knows that Smon must be burning with curiosity about the hive, but also understands her dilemma; Smon doesn’t want to get caught … Continue reading 54: The Echoes In Stone

<<First .......... <Prev .......... [Archive] .......... [Glossary] .......... Next> “That’s our cue,” Kate said. “‘Should we meet up and talk’.” I glanced at the boys. “This isn’t safe.” “It was never going to be safe. This is as safe as it was ever going to be. This is as harmless as we can make ourselves … Continue reading 24: Negotiation

First ---- Previous ---- Glossary ---- Archive ---- Next “What’s your read on Mia?” Smon asks. “Fairly nervous, if I’m reading her body language correctly?” “Well, she’s very young. And she and Kemia are in charge of looking after a god, so far as they know. It’s natural to be afraid.” “You were never afraid … Continue reading 53: Nepotism

<<First .......... <Prev .......... [Archive] .......... [Glossary] .......... Next> The human wasn’t wrong. All three of the ships here were mine, part of my Empire; was it really more of a violation to transmit from the Red Four than to have stolen the Oval Nine? But I did need confirmation that she was indeed hacking … Continue reading 23: Outmanoeuvre

First ---- Previous ---- Glossary ---- Archive ---- Next “The plan,” Smon explains, “is to build a Rayjo Tau, which is our version of a communication tower, on the Northern side of the mountain range, overlooking the ocean.” “That won’t work,” one of the men, who had introduced himself as Keton, protests. “Not only will … Continue reading 52: Metal and Magic