The Storm Wolf: Tranquil waters - chapter 6 - Air Conditioning and Barbarians 6.2
The icy, bone-chilling pain jolted me awake. I sat up abruptly, gasping for breath. Instinctively, I touched my right shoulder and found the wound had healed. There wasn’t even a scar or any sign of tissue regrowth on my skin. Only the severed...
The Storm Wolf: Tranquil waters - chapter 6 - Air Conditioning and Barbarians 6.1
Air Conditioning and Barbarians: Sealing all the doors and windows can lead to more than just poor air circulation. I exhaled slowly, watching my breath condense into a cloud of white mist, and then shivered. I hate cold...
The Storm Wolf: Tranquil waters - Void
Void : Void... will consume everything. “To cool coffee faster, people used to pour it into a saucer to drink. This was common until thin, efficient porcelain cups became widespread, making the practice of drinking from a cup...
Pale Blue Dot - volume 3 - Promise 3.6
“You really can get your hands on anything, can’t you?” said the African lion with a long scar over his right eye, greedily toying with the Federation-standard combat rifle in his hands. I tapped the table lightly twice, signaling to him that...
Pale Blue Dot - volume 3 - Promise 3.5
I hadn’t figured out how to explain the source of those supplies to Ali or anyone else, so I just tossed the bag into the basement for now, planning to deal with it later. Curling up beside Ali, I could feel his steady breathing and...
Pale Blue Dot - volume 3 - Promise 3.4
Like an old friend, the White Horse drone passed overhead again, but this time I didn't greet it. On days when the weather is calm, the raptor drones are deployed. The waves of communication between them always make me uncomfortable, especially when...
Pale Blue Dot - volume 3 - Promise 3.3
Military boots and tank treads crunched over the cracked streets, a sound that had gradually become part of daily life in the settlement zone. The clattering noise was no longer strange, and the drones flying overhead, far above us, were far less...
Pale Blue Dot - volume 3 - Promise 3.2
The sudden crack of breaking fibers shattered the silence, sending up a cloud of dust and sparks that pulled everyone out of the ancient tragedy from centuries past. "After the last big cat died on Ceres, the dragon carried these stories as...
Pale Blue Dot - volume 3 - Promise 3.1
The Pegasus-class skyhook streaked across the heavens, releasing a departing shuttle into space while its opposite claw latched onto what appeared to be a cargo ship bound for Ares. The Pegasus was the newest of the twelve skyhooks operating above...
The Storm Wolf: Tranquil waters - chapter 5 - Roses and Violets 5.5
Unexpectedly, Momus was the first to tire out. It seemed even the pups had their limits. Although neither Aether nor I noticed where he had wandered off to, at least Momus appeared to have had a great time, and fortunately, didn't cause any...
The Storm Wolf: Tranquil waters - chapter 5 - Roses and Violets 5.4
The ballroom queue moved quickly, so quickly that we were ushered inside before I even had a chance to properly study the paintings lining the hallway. Passing through the narrow entrance hall illuminated by flickering orange flames, we...
The Railroad - Accident - 3.3
The world is built on numbers. Not those meaningless numbers used just for records and designations, but living numbers that name, express, and construct everything. Sunset, moonrise, the motion of the stars, the changing of the...