Time to Orbit: Unknown

First ---- Previous ---- Glossary ---- Archive ---- Next Tyk doesn’t think. She just jumps into the water. This is a mistake. She’s significantly lighter than the object she’s looking for, and the current drags at her body, pulling her against the long sharp fronds growing up from the riverbed (pulling with the current, of … Continue reading 31: River Run

<<First .......... <Prev .......... [Archive] .......... [Glossary] .......... Next> Hello, Void. My garden is so small now! I guess this is what happens when you don’t take care of them. I cannot fit inside their vessel this time; there wasn’t one big enough to give them. But that’s alright. I can observe from outside, and … Continue reading 1: Questions

First ---- Previous ---- Glossary ---- Archive ---- Next As soon as the puller yells the warning, the lurch stops. The boat still wavers a little on the rapid river water, but doesn’t tip or wash away – it seems that the tethers are holding. For a moment, everyone just sort of stands there, confused. … Continue reading 30: Frayed Trust

<<First .......... <Prev .......... [Archive] .......... [Glossary] .......... Next> It still hurts to breathe, of course. I try to ignore that. But the only other thing to focus on is the inherent helplessness of being inside a spacecraft performing such a critical manoeuvre, and not being wired in. It’s been a long, long time since … Continue reading 21: Fair Trade

First ---- Previous ---- Glossary ---- Archive ---- Next Getting a caravan across the Redstone River is no easy feat. Even here, at one of the best crossing places, the river is wide and the waters near the middle are rapid and unreliable. Tyk will happily swim about near the shore, but crossing the river … Continue reading 29: Crossing the River

<<First .......... <Prev .......... [Archive] .......... [Glossary] .......... Next> I’d never been inside a spaceship that was actually in good condition before. It was a novel experience. Admittedly the random corpses, splintered machinery and shreds of ketestri tentacle were a bit of a vibe killer, especially since some of the evidence of carnage suggested tentacle … Continue reading 20: In Motion

First ---- Previous ---- Glossary ---- Archive ---- Next Bette and her children spend their first night in the Green Hills Hive inside the hive itself, in one of the spare residential burrows, but the rest of the group decide to stay in the trader burrow, with their goods. Smon is reluctant to leave her … Continue reading 28: A Map of a Prayer

<<First .......... <Prev .......... [Archive] .......... [Glossary] .......... Next> “A trained engineer would be able to give a better assessment,” Kit explained, “but the Captain and some atil looked over the ship and it’s in remarkably good condition. It’s a – ” he gave some aljik word, some complicated series of clicks and whistles that … Continue reading 19: Pilot Program

First ---- Previous ---- Glossary ---- Archive ---- Next The Green Hills hiveheart is made up of ten people, and as Tyk, Smon and Toi walk into the room, it’s immediately obvious that a slim, delicate-shelled woman named Hahn and the man who’d summoned them, who turns out to be called Kegalt, are the two … Continue reading 27: Rayjo Tau

<<First .......... <Prev .......... [Archive] .......... [Glossary] .......... Next> The thing about humans is that they need to sleep a lot. That made it very easy to wait until Charlie was asleep and then, very carefully and quietly, head off to my mission. There wasn’t really all that much need for secrecy – anybody who … Continue reading 18: Investigation