A Sea of Stars - Ch. 16 - Collision

2012-10-19

          the
          void
    between the stars
      is cold dark
     and        more
    lonely        than

           one
          could
    possibly hope to imagine
       but it is foolish
       to         see
      it           as

    completely
         empty

They waited a heartbeat. Two. Half a dozen. The emergency power finally kicked in, bathing them all in a reddish glow that contrasted harshly with Eve’s blue. With a start, Lillian realized that she wasn’t actually sitting on her bed any longer, but rather floating a few centimeters above it.

She looked over, Madeline was doing the same beside her. On her other side, Eve seemed unaware of the fact that they should be floating and was still sitting resolutely in Lillian’s chair. That puzzled her for a second longer than it probably should have until she put it all together. The power was out. And with it, the artificial gravity, apparently. It should have been on the emergency circuit, but apparently it wasn’t.

A Sea of Stars - Ch. 15 - Artifact

2012-10-16

        we
        are
     not alone
      in  the 
     uni   verse

It all started out in the Kuiper Belt. About 40 years ago, that’s when the first real effort to mine the Kuiper Belt objects came about. And Dark Sun was at the forefront. They’d claimed hundreds, if not thousands, of Kuiper Belt objects for themselves. Most of them were for mining, but they had a good number of scientific endeavors as well. One of particular interest was the Deep Deep Space Array of telescopes.

A Sea of Stars - Ch. 14 - Madeline

2012-10-12

        of
       all
    the species     
     on Earth
    only   one  
    has     not

            only

             the
           ability
      to destroy itself
        but also what
       seems     to be
      the          need
             to
            do
           so

“Missing something?” Lillian could feel her voice rising and tried to push it back down. “We’ve been looking for you for over an hour.”

“Looking for me?” Madeline looked truly confused.

“I stopped by your room probably a little bit after midnight and you weren’t here.”

“Sure I was. I’ve been here since I left your room.”

A Sea of Stars - Ch. 13 - Missing

2012-10-09

                  when
                 in the
             deepest darkest
    depths of space, there is nowhere
      to run, nowhere to hide and
          no one to turn to when 
         everything      suddenly
        takes a              turn to
       the                     strange

“Madeline?” Lillian choked out after a moment of stunned silence. “You can’t be serious.”

“I’m completely serious,” Eve responded evenly. “Why?”

“She’s my best friend,” Lillian replied, but it sounded flat even to her own ears.

A Sea of Stars - Ch. 12 - Eve

2012-10-05

           the
          human
    body and soul are
     sometimes known
      as the  ghost
     and         the

    shell    what
            no-one
      seems to ask is can
        you can have a 
       shell     without
      its           ghost

             or a ghost
                without a shell

Leaving Adrian’s office, it was too late to finish her shift and too early for dinner. Nothing else particularly drew her, so Lillian decided to go back to her room. She was going to have to have to deal with that briefcase sooner or later.

A Sea of Stars - Ch. 11 - Surprises

2012-10-02

              there
            exists an
    old Chinese saying: may you
     live in interesting times
        but sometimes, things
       can get       just a 
      little           too 
                         interesting

Lillian awoke from her dream full of bittersweet memories. It had been a while since she’d dreamed of her mother. Since she’d felt the cool touch of her hands on her faces. Heard the soft voice, reading to her before bed. But the memories of after were terribly bitter. They had found some of the men directly responsible for the bombing, but never those in charge. And no reason was ever given. Truly, that was the worst-it being just a random act of violence.

Lost in translation

2012-09-30

A man and a woman stood side by side, overlooking a sight that had, until a few months ago, never before been seen to human eyes. They were in orbit around a planet, blue green like the Earth but with just enough difference to know they were nowhere near home.

The land was different. Rather than half a dozen large land masses spread more or less evenly, this world had only a single huge continent, spanning perhaps half of an entire hemisphere.

A Sea of Stars - Ch. 10 - Memories

2012-09-28

          at              
          our             
    core all that we       made
      know and all         from
       that   we    the places that we
      are      is       have seen
                       and     the
                     people     that
                we
          once
    knew

The morning began just like any other. Lillian awoke to the sounds and smells of frying bacon and the delicious aroma of homemade pancakes. She jumped out of bed–Mom’s cooking! she thought to herself–and threw herself out of her door. She was in such a rush that she nearly collided with her father just outside the door, jumping aside bare centimeters from impact.

A Sea of Stars - Ch. 9 - Lies

2012-09-25

            the
          absolute
    best of lies are those
      hidden between two
        two grains of
      what        could
     only            be
            truth

Adrian had a small office in the command section of the ship, just off of a central area shared by all of the security staff. He took all four of them there, leaving his partner to examine the wreckage of the kitchen.

Herman

2012-09-23

Herman was alone.

But then again, Herman was always alone.

He had no family, no friends. No one to call and ask how his day was. No one to come over and borrow a cup of sugar or chat about the latest ball game.

Then again there was no more sugar.

There were no more ball games.

Still, it would have been nice to have someone to talk to.