venort

'So! Here we are, the basement-- not the grandest part of the building, I know, but it's where it all happens, so to speak. I know this might feel like something of a step down from your old job, Si, but the way I see it you're right where you need to be.' This was their new boss: he'd introduced himself as Big H, although Si wasn't quite sure why: he wasn't big enough for the name to be genuine or small enough for it to be ironic. He was average height and average weight, although something about him was off-putting. Two things about him, actually: one was the cheerfulness, the other Si wasn't quite sure of. They weren't even sure that 'S

'Look,' I said, 'I just-- I just need to take a year out between the end of my growth cycle and looking for a job. I need to find myself.' It was the fifth time I'd told them this: I should have given up by now, I know, but they were family. 'Wanderlust is in my blood,' I added. 'It damn well isn't and you know it,' my father snapped. 'Last time you said that I asked Blackmaw from down in fluids-- he told me that our blood is regular blood and a secret blend of other substances.' 'Metaphorically speaking,' I sighed, wishing I hadn't been granted to such a literal-minded family. 'You had plenty of chances to take issue with my decision to see

Genovax spent the next two days half-starved as they prepared the Xylem for one final trip. The ship, for zir part, managed to negotiate for enough fuel for a last-ditch run to Pinion. They'd have to use the planet's atmosphere for a braking manoeuvre, which Genovax didn't like the sound of, but there wasn't enough fuel available for them to both accelerate and slow down. This meant it was effectively a one-way trip, although Genovax still hadn't told the others on the surface yet-- even though Celevar and Melvia managed to track down the old ansible facility, which against all odds still worked, albeit barely. Nobody involved in what had, i

'Look,' Ciiil snapped, in the early hours of the morning after. 'You promised me--' 'I know, I know, I know,' Genovax said. 'I'm sorry. I just-- someone had to, and I already knew... 'Look, I'll be back.' Ciiil let out a lengthy sigh. 'How?' Genovax grimaced and hesitated as they tried to think of a suitable answer. 'I'll figure something out,' they decided. 'And in the meantime?' 'In the meantime,' they said, 'I'll be out of radio range in a couple minutes.' 'So what you said about sneaking out yesterday--' 'Mostly for your benefit,' they said, grimacing once more. 'Not that I doubted your ability to realise it, of course--' 'I know, I know,

That evening found Genovax aching and exhausted, but excitedly gazing into a telescope, trying to work out where Salifer was. Her advice over radio was proving less than useless: she didn't quite know where she was either, but she could at least see the distant artificial trees of the village. Technically, so could Genovax and the others, but given that they could see them because they were inside them, this was only of limited use. 'Screw it,' Salifer eventually said, over the radio. 'I'll just set it off and we'll see if we can see it. I managed to automate everything, so the lack of visibility won't be a problem. 'God, starting a space pr

Most humans were surprised to discover the people of Taurax actually didn't look much like bulls. Most Tauraxians hadn't actually heard of humans: in a recent poll by the Interstellar Bureau of Statistics, 80% of those surveyed believed humans to be some form of nutritious snack. 100% of humans, when confronted with this information, tried to find some form of factual error, failed, and then decided that spending any more time near the International Bureau of Statistics was probably very bad indeed for their peace of mind. Tauraxians, for their part, didn't particularly care about the nutritional value of humans-- or about anything else huma

Jane wasn't quite sure what it was she'd hit, but she knew for a fact that hitting anything at relativistic speeds was probably going to put something of a dampener on her day. However, she was currently struggling to focus on this: her whole world was spinning. Her whole world at the moment encompassed the Pegasus, an attempt at a manned mission to Titan that, needless to say, hadn't exactly gone as planned. 'Pegasus,' Jane said, 'what happened?' After a few moments, the ship's computer replied, 'we've hit something. Calculating new trajectory... ah. Jane, I've some bad news.' 'We're not going to make it back to Earth.' Her voice was flat;