Follow Up: Religion in Space

Hello Lovelies,

So, after some heated discussion with someone, I realized that I might need to add some clarification to my last post regarding religion in space. While I won't go into the finer details, the essence of the conversation went about like this...

"Why in the HELL are you talking about people's religions?! You have
 a writing blog! Stick to your stupid little stories and don't pick fights!"

While this is not the direct quote, this is definitely the gist of what started the conversation. With that said, allow me to clarify.

I run a writing blog. I live under the belief that any topic within human existence can be focused on in writing. How they are handled will naturally be up to the author and based on the author the approach can be well-done or it can be offensive. The existence of a subject should not be a reason to start a fight with someone.

The fact that Muslim individuals might face an odd circumstance based on a currently followed belief is not trying to pick on Muslims. The face that Christian individuals are currently the most commonly represented religions in most science fiction novels/books/movies is not trying to pick on Christians. Pointing out observations and considerations is not attempting to be bigotted. Only applying hateful thoughts to those works is.

With that said, allow me to answer the first part of the question, "Why?" Religion, at least within our current context, is a huge part of human culture. It exists. Whether you consider one, some, all, or none to be good or bad, it exists. And, as it exists, it very well may be a source of inspiration for some people in their writing. Personally, I haven't chosen to focus too heavily on the topic in my own writing because I haven't had a story come to heart that was inspired by the topic. But that doesn't mean if there's a potentially interesting idea I think it should simply be ignored.

In short, what I'm saying is to two fold. First, to the writers: don't censor yourself if you've got a story to tell and it might be a sensitive topic. People can and will find things to get angry about. Sometimes they're very justified. Sometimes they aren't.

Second, to those that were offended: I'm sorry you took it the wrong way. The act of addressing a concept, of talking about a thing that exists, is not hate. If I ever spoke in a demeaning or hateful fashion on this topic or any other, you're more than welcome to point it out. But the act of simply talking about a subject that some people aren't necessarily comfortable with, whether it's because you're for or against it, doesn't make that topic any less viable. Again, for the people in the back: acknowledging something's existence is not being hateful. So once more, I'm sorry we don't see eye to eye, but I don't believe in hiding from something like religion just because it's a touchy topic.

With that said, I'll get off my soap box. I'm hoping I didn't scare too many away, but I needed to say my peace. Whether it was meant that way or not, I don't take kindly to being bullied over what I originally thought of as a largely inoccuous and academically interesting concept.

I hope you have a pleasant day and will hopefully see you again soon.

Galactic Worship

Hello Lovelies,

I was recently reading an article with regards to the UAE considering building a city on Mars. While the consideration is definitely interesting and there were more than a few comments leaning to either side of the argument, one question that was asked grabbed my attention.

"How would Muslims in space face Mecca to pray?"

While I don't know if the question was asked out of venom and spite or if it was a genuine intellectual curiosity (as many, many individuals were taking their time to bash the UAE for nothing more than being non-American/non-Christian), it did raise a very real question for me. How would they? My understanding of the religion is that individuals must face Mecca while doing their prayers, so how would that work within the context of galactic travel and/or colonization of other planets within or outside of our given solar system.

Just dwelling on it, I imagine space travelers that are actively in a ship wouldn't really have an issue so long they're pointed in the right direction (provided they know what direction Earth is); but what about those colonists on another planet. Let's make the equation easy and say we're on Mars and Earth is directly 'above' us. What then? Does the individual find some inclined method to face our home planet or do they do something else?

This really got my brain buzzing about the possibility of different religions in space. Really thinking about it, the recurring religion portrayed in most Science Fiction movies, books, and games always seems to be Christianity. I'm not sure if this is out of ease or simply out of the commonality of the Christian faith.

Depending on what concept you follow, the concept of religion in space can go one of two ways. Some feel that religion will be done away with as man explores the stores; the need for belief in a high power stripped away by the intricacies of the universe. Otherwise argue the exact opposite: that being lost among the stars and seeing the wonders of space travel will only give birth to a belief that some larger force is at work.

While I won't raise the argument in either direction, it really does make me wonder how space travel and exploration would influence a given religion. Christians definitely seem the easiest to visualize overall, as they would basically just expand their faith to include that their God created all they see...no matter how vast or large. I imagine Muslims to be the same, but they obviously face the aforementioned prayer issue. The Jewish faith seems equally similar, only touted by the issue of 'don't light your minora on a spaceship'. All together, I think the Buddhist faith presents the most readily spaceworthy since they already acknowledge the existence of other worlds and yet they consider the existence of all worlds inconsequential in the great scheme of things.

All in all, this is little more than an open forum...a way to get your brain boiling for interesting concepts that might influence your own writing or creation.

What can you think of with any given religion that might present an interesting challenge or development based on space travel?

I'm only Human...

Hello Lovelies,

The other day, I had an interesting question directed my way. I have actually had this question asked a number of times over the last few years, but it's one I never quite understood what the answer actually was. I've reflected on it for a while and think I've come to an answer.

In short: What is your obsession with Aliens?

First to clarify: For the longest time, I've had a veritable hunger for just about anything other worldly and powerful. The Xenomorphs from Aliens and Yautja from Predator are definitely two of my favorite 'big baddies', but I've maintained a fascination for as long as I can remember with monsters, demons, creatures, dragons, zombies, ghosts, vampires...you name it and I probably studied and or obsessed over it during some period of my life. That's not to say this is hugely uncommon, particularly for a literature nerd who reads, writes, and plays dungeons and dragons. But I never understood why.

At first, I thought my like of any of these given creatures, alien or otherwise, stemmed from a sense of power. Of seeing something strong or strange and so unlike those around me. But, after many years of playing with this concept, I realized that the concept of a perfect, powerful character was incredibly boring.

What made them interesting was using them as a foil. A twisted mirror.

I've realized that my love of different threats for lack of a better term, be it paranormal, alien, or otherwise, stemmed not from the creatures themselves but the reflection of humanity that was shown back. What are zombies without survivors that are making it against all odds? What is an alien loose on a ship without men or women fighting to regain the control that is rightfully theirs? What is a dragon without the knight who slays it?

One of my favorite stories as a child and still one of my favorite stories to this day is Beowulf. When introduced to it, I found I was one of three people in my entire class that even liked it and I was the only one who loved it. "I was too simple!" some said. "It's so black and white!" others said. But that was the beauty of it...it wasn't something twisted or strange. It was a story of a man overcoming a monster. The triumph of humanity over the wiles of the world. At least until he got eaten in his old age, but what is the act of being human if not being bound by mortality?

Surely, there are stories out there that expand against these basic concepts. Grendel is an excellent example compared to Beowulf. But I ask you: "Why do we empathize more with Grendel in his own book than we do in Beowulf?" In short, he is given his humanity. A state of being. Of thought and emotion and a scale that we can weigh ourselves against.

Now, I'm likely not saying anything particularly new. Plenty of people have come to similar realizations but there's one thing that I feel gets skipped over often. While it's very easy to paint the canvas with the brush of "reflection" based on observations of mortality, morality, and a basic man compared to beast motif, there's something that seems to be forgotten: imagination.

No matter the beast, the monster, the alien, whatever...all of it stems from the imagination of man. Many can argue that some stories and superstitions have a basis in nature (creatures like a Werewolf), a basis in true human monstrousness (like a Wendigo), and many more...but I ask: "How many of these things do we actually deal with?" Fiction, by definition, is outside of reality. Whether or not something turns out to be true is up for debate, yet everything supernatural, paranormal, alien, monstrous, etc. has a basis not necessarily in reality but in the power of our imagination.

Everything ever. Everything you've ever known and seen and loved and thought of and read and watched and imagined. Everything was born of and created on our little blue and green marble in the sea of nothingness that is space. While they might be formed from observations of worlds beyond, even those observations require leaps of imagination until we can actively get there. Nothing is from outside our own realm of creation. No matter what we find, similar or not to our 'monsters', everything we've ever known or imagined about the world came from us. It came from humanity and their understand of the world, the universe, and themselves.

And I'll be damned if I don't think that's the most amazing thing.

It's incredibly easy to be calloused and cynical; to let yourself swim in the rivers of hate, animosity, and ignorance that have been poisoned by a select few terrible people. But when you really stop and look around and consider what WE have done. We as a species have accomplished so much! We have built and created and helped and done more than you can imagine...more than you could even learn in a single lifetime. No matter what you believe, consider that humans have risen from the dirt and now have their eyes on the stars. On other planets and suns. On other places who have never heard of us or even considered creatures like us.

So, to come full circle: Why do I love Aliens so much? Because it shows me a distant reflection of that which we will become. Survivors. Explorers. Humans who will see the light of another sun and will bend the very fabric of space and the horror of the worst monsters we can imagine to our will. We will be greater than the sum of our parts and those monsters out there are nothing compared to us.

Xenophobia - Chapter 30

    "Get out of that solar system." A'alan't 32 said with a mix of stern decisiveness and motherly concern. "Let events play out however they will. You're done there."
    "Ma'am?" Harris asked with a lit of surprise.
    "If the humans are gearing up, that's a third army that's mobilizing for battle in that same area. First the Tulgucks, then the Gorderians, and now them."
    Darrian and the other councilors quietly regarded her for a moment before she said.
    "It's not safe for you to stay there anymore."
    Harris seemed to consider this for a moment.
    "You're not wrong." He said after a thinking for a second. "But I'll have to decline."
    A'alan't 32 gave him a quizzical look.
    "Given your direction," Harris continued. "I'll offer those few individuals I have with me the opportunity to head home. But I, at the very least, will stay here until the conflict has resolved itself."
    "But why?" Cagool demanded, sounding quite confused.
    "Monstrous as the humans are in their design," he responded, "I've grown quite interested to see this played out until the end."
    "No matter the outcome." Harris finished with a glance back towards A'alan't 32.
    A'alan't gave him a small nod.
    "Thank you." she said softly.
    There were several other nods and murmured agreements from around the room.
    Harris regarded the room for a moment before saying, "I'll send you a quick report of anyone who is staying and anyone who is going. That way you know which of the survey team to expect back home."
    A'alan't 32 nodded once more before terminating the transmission. The holographic imager went dark and the room eerily quiet with it.

    Despite the fact that there was no real survey data to review and that they had no mediator, the councilors spent the majority of the cycle in the conference room.
    Some of it was spent reviewing the personnel list that Harris forwarded shortly after his transmission. However, the majority of it was spent discussing and pondering what this sudden preparation might spell for them and the impending armada.
    "Not to mention the galactic community." Darrian had offered stoically.
    The implication of what humans might infer from their first interactions with alien races being violent was not lost on any of the councilors. Given how war-like the humans tended to be, the thought of what might come from aliens being viewed as hostile was terrifying to consider. If these naturally violent creatures expected violence, they might enter the universe with the intent to do harm.
    The one thing they could all agree on, however, was that whatever happened on the next cycle would determine the future for the species. The Tulgucks would reach Mars and, three cycles later, Earth.

    "Do we know if the ships Harris mentioned will reach Mars by the next cycle?" Darrian asked.
    "Ships?" responded Ferris.
    "The ones that were en route to Mars."
    "I think so." Illiquina confirmed. "Based on the speed, they should actually reach there by early to mid cycle."
    "Just in time to meet the Tulgucks." A'alan't 32 said quietly.
    The four of them sat quietly, the implication weighing heavily on them. While the other councilors had left, they had stayed by Illiquina's request.
    "So you wanted us for something, Illiquina?" A'alan't 32 asked as she settled herself heavily at the conference table.
    "I did." she confirmed and drew out her datapad.
    It always bothered Darrian how she seemed to pull that thing from nowhere.
    "Did you find something new out?" he asked her.
    "I did actually." Illiquina repeated with a knowing smirk.
    She quickly tapped out a few commands on her datapad. To their surprise, the holographic imager powered up a moment later.
    "Oh wow." Ferris commented. "I didn't know you had access to the imager."
    "I don't..." she said, her voice drifting off.
    The imager hummed for a moment, glew, and, to the group's surprise, generated the image of a diminutive Gorderian.
    "Jin'thun!" they exclaimed with surprise.
    "I'm glad you're still in conference." he said growled out. "I was worried tha-"
    Jin'thun took a moment to regard the empty room.
    "It's just you?"
    A'alan't 32 nodded.
    "Correct. It's a long story."
    "You can tell me later." he said quickly. "Get the judge."
    "About that-" Ferris began.
    The group proceeded to fill Jin'thun in on the details that he'd missed: the Judge, the malfunction, the disappearance, and how they seemingly weren't being provided a mediator by the Merrenian government. They got the impression that Jin'thun was in a rush and tried to make the details short and to the point.
    "So who's mediating the meetings?" he demanded.
    "Officially...no one." Darrian offered. "However A'alan't 32 has stepped up to help try and lead us."
    "Good enough."
    "So what's the issue?" Ferris asked
    "We've arrived." he growled. "We're in orbit over Mars and waiting for the Tulgucks to arrive."

===

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(Hello Lovelies. So, I just wanted to apologize for the delay and let you know that it is related to our previous discussion. At the moment, I'm still undecided as to how we will proceed. However, no matter our direction, I need to return to regular updates. I deeply appreciate all the recommendations and will be considering many of them. Thank you. That said, I hope you enjoy!)

Xenophobia - Chapter 26

    "What was that today?" Ferris demanded, glancing at Illiquina.
    They were once again in the darkened meeting room, joined by A'alant 32 and Darrian, standing in a small semi-circle. While there was a touch more planning than the last time around, they had still elected to keep the lights off and the door locked.
    Don't want someone thinking we're up to something. Illiquina had said.
    What? Like we're not at this point? Ferris had retorted.
    That hadn't gone over well given Ferris's annoyance and Illiquina's barely contained rage.
    Not five minutes later, it looked like they were about to start fighting again.
    "What do you mean by that?" Illiquina snapped back. "That damned 'bot is a lying piece of-"
    "No, no, no." Ferris quickly backtracked. "I'm not talking about your eloquent tantrum earlier today."
    "TANTRUM?!" Illiquina's entire upper body flushed.
    Despite her diminutive stature, Illiquina looked like she very well may try to tear Ferris clean out of his robotic exosuit.
    "Enough." A'alan't 32 stated firmly. "I've had enough of your fighting recently."
    "She started it." Ferris grumbled.
    A'alan't 32 pointed a single, transparent blue digit at him.
    "Are we done?" she asked flatly.
    "Yes." they both answered in conjunction.
    "But I don't understand." Illiquina interjected quickly. "What happened after I left?"
    The group took a few moments to explain everything to Illiquina. They went over the sudden change in tone. The strange observations that the judge somehow thought something different would happen and that it seemed like he somehow felt responsible for the deaths of the humans. They ended by recounting his sudden 'Insufficient Data' comment and how he near about fled the conference room.
    "He's a dirty liar." Illiquina griped. "Covering his tracks."
    "I'm not so sure." Darrian said hesitantly.
    "He's a robot." Ferris observed. "Sure, an old robot designed with the capability to learn...but still just a robot. He's got a base programming. He shouldn't be capable of doing something as implicit as outright misdirection."
    "Well, clearly he is." she snapped.
    A'alan't 32, who had taken and settled in a nearby chair during the earlier discussion, seemed to glance back over the table. Much like the old judge did earlier, it was as if she was rewatching the hologram of the altered human.
    "That doesn't make sense." A'alan't 32 said quietly.
    "Than what do you think it is?" Illiquina demanded.
    A'alan't 32 glanced over to the small Caldrax and considered her for a moment before glancing back.
    "I don't know."
    They stood in silence for a moment. In the low light, they all looked distracted. Concerned. Even Illiquina whose voice burned with rage still looked more upset than she did angry.
    Something didn't add up.
    "What's the old judge's programming?" Darrian asked, thinking out loud.
    "Come again?" Illiquina responded.
    "You said that he shouldn't really be able to do something like lie. It wouldn't be within the realm of his programming." he responded, motioning towards Ferris. "But what if it was. So again..."
    "What's his programming?" Ferris echoed Darrian.
    "Who knows?!" growled Illiquina. "All of that information was deleted! Did you forget the last time we were here? All we know is whatever is in that damned file!"
    "He's a diplomat." she started to count off. "He's a robot. He's part of a larger team of-"
    Illiquina suddenly went blank.
    "-of other robots...with the same purpose..."
    Darrian looked at her sideways.
    "Yea? We know that."
    "No." she said, her entire mood flipping in an instant. "No. no. no. no."
    Illiquina fished out her datapad out of seemingly nowhere and began tapping away on it furiously. Darrian couldn't help but wonder where she'd stowed it because he couldn't remember her coming in with it.
    "What is it?" Ferris asked, clearly confused.
    There was no response. Simply incessant tapping.
    "Illiquina?" A'alan't 32 asked.
    No answer.
    They stood there staring at the little Cadrax in silence as she pounded away on the datapad. Seconds drew to moments in utter quiet, filled only by 'taptaptaptap'.
    Just as Darrian was about to ask again, Illiquina let out a cheer.
    "YES!" she shouted far too loud. "Yes! Yes! Yes!!!"
    "What?" Ferris asked, clearly annoyed by the antics.
    "I have a way to figure out what the old judge was programmed for!"
    "What?" Darrian said, taken aback. "How? The archives were altered."
    "His brothers." she said with a growing smile. "We still have information on the other robots that he was a part of! We can figure out his real purpose!"

===

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Xenophobia - Chapter 24

    Darrian stared aghast at what he had just seen.

    "Wh-what was that?" he stammered, his eyes transfixed on the hologram.

    "Was that a Guillae?" Ugul quickly added, sounded just as shocked.

    Everyone looked to the old judge. However the old judge seemed just as transfixed on the near-silent hologram.

    In the image of the overgrown laboratory, there were still a few little green and brown specks floating harmlessly in the air. The quickly deflating plant cocoon could be seen wilting near the edge of the image. In the distance, the audio could barely pick out the sound of scattered screams and occasional bangs.

    Those were quickly silenced.

    After a drawn out moment of watching the dust settle in the hologram, Illiquina spoke up.

    "Judge." she said in a soft yet demanding tone. "Answer him."

    "No." he said shortly before glancing at Ugul. "That was not a Guillae."

    "Then what the hell was it?" Ferris asked with more composure than Darrian thought he could muster at the moment.

    Once again the old judge did not respond. Instead, he glanced from Ferris to Ugul to Illiquina and finally back to the derelict image.

    "I don't know." he said after another eternity of shocked silence.

    Reaching down, he picked up his datapad and began typing something. The entire conference table watched as his fingers flew over the screen in a flurry of speed. In the quiet, the tapping sounded as deafening as if he were pounding on a table.

    A moment later, the hologram flickered out of existence and he set the datapad down.

    "I've informed Harris and his team to investigate the incident further." he said quietly. "I've also insisted they use utmost caution to avoid those things."

    "They were human..." Darrian said aloud as the thought pervaded his mind. "Those things...they used to be human.

    "It certainly seems like that would be the case." the old judge agreed.

    "But how?" Illiquina asked quietly.

    The old judge could only shrug in response.

    Darrian found himself glancing at A'alan't 32, the only one in their little group that had an intact archive regarding the floramorphs. Illiquina and Ferris were both doing the same. A'alan't 32 was simply shaking her head.

    She doesn't know either. he thought.

    They were in uncharted waters.

    However, Illiquina either mistook that idea or couldn't accept it as a possibility. In an instant, Darrian saw her dismay and horror turn to unfettered rage.

    Rage that was directed towards the old judge.

    "You knew this would happen, didn't you?" she growled.

    Several heads around the table stared at her in surprise. The old judge being one of them.

    "Come again?" he asked, the shock plain on his robotic features.

    "YOU KNEW THIS WAS GOING TO HAPPEN!" Illiquina bellowed; a surprising sound from her small frame. "DIDN'T YOU?!"

    The old judge stood, looking utterly incredulous as he tilted his head. Some of the other ambassadors were backing up a bit from the table. Some look shocked. Other confused. Only A'alan't 32 looked almost embarrased.

    Or was it annoyance?

    "Why would you think that?" the old judge asked, sounding almost offended.

    "Oh please!" Illiquina snapped. "You kept going on and on about how this would be some kind of an important experiment. How we needed to use the time we had to study what we could. You knew!"

    "Of course I didn't." the old judge defended himself. "If I realized it would create..."

    The old judge stared at the empty space where the hologram had been for a brief second before continuing.

    "Whatever that was, then maybe I'd have had the analytics team get involved."

    "Sure." Illiquina grumbled. "To plant more cameras maybe."

    If the old judge had looked offended earlier, now he looked outright angry.

    "What are you trying to imply, ambassador?"

    Illiquina barked a fake laugh.

    "I'll actually don't know. I don't know anything about you OR the Guillae. That's actually the problem!"

    A'alan't 32 looked up in shock and surprise; as did Ferris and Darrian. While it wasn't unlawful to yell at a robot, Illiquina's hacking into the archive code certainly had been.

    "Tell me, 'bot." she said with utter disrespect. "Why don't you tell me why it is that your file-"

    "Enough!" A'alan't 32 yelled as she shot out of her spot. "Sit. Down. Illiquina."

    Illiquina's wrath turned towards A'alan't 32. For the briefest moment she looked as though she might start shouting at her too. But, as she glared at the Bivvie, a flicker of realization crossed the little Cadrax's face.

    She let out an angry yell and, with nothing further, stormed out of the conference room.

    "Keep this up." Ferris muttered under his breath. "And we're not gonna have much of a council left."

    "Guess it won't matter soon anyway." Ugul regarded back quietly.

    A'alan't 32 shot them threatening glances before turning her attention towards the old judge.

    "My apologies for her disrespect, judge."

    "It's not your place to apologize for another species' ambassador." he said, clearly collecting himself.

    "Of course not." she agreed. "But you must be able to see where she's coming from can you not?"

    A'alan't 32 glanced around the table at the worried and shocked faces of the other ambassadors.

    "It all seems a bit suspicious. First your enthusiasm and now...this."

    "I suppose it is." he agreed quietly.

    "So tell us judge." Ferris said, speaking up. "What is it that you did expect?"

===

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Xenophobia - Chapter 22

    Darrian started to respond, but stopped.
    He looked from face to face, considering what had just been said. He had felt like something was odd about not being able to find any info on the Guillae; but the information had been altered? Even then, he had never thought about looking into the old judge.
    He simply didn't know what to say.
    After a moment of staring blankly at the other ambassadors, Illiquina decided to break the silence.
    "Let me ask, Darrian: what do you know about the old judge?"
    "Well..." he started softly, racking his memory. "I know he's supposed to be many hundreds of rotations old. He was created by the Merrenians at the conception of the Consortium to help deliberate, translate, and navigate the political situations that would arise from multiple species interacting."
    He thought for a moment before adding:
    "If I remember correctly, he was one of a dozen or something like that? There used to be a lot more but now he's the only only left over."
    Illiquina nodded in agreement.
    "Picture perfect to his archive entries."
    "Are you saying that's not the case?"
    "We don't actually know." A'alan't 32 stated.
    "All we know is that the information was removed." Illiquina added before glancing at A'alan't32. "We're hoping that the Bivvie might have record of something additional but..."
    "But it's not likely that the old judge was heavily documented. At his conception, he was little more than a worker drone for the Consortium and likely didn't garner attention." A'alant 32 finished.
    "So, in short, we have no idea what dirty secrets that thing has." Ferris growled in annoyance.
    Darrian considering asking about the Guillae when the question occurred to him that he should have asked right away.
    "How do you know any of this?"
    "Well. I mean it makes sense if you think about." A'alan't 32 said. "Why would the Bivvie care about a random robot drone? Particularly when-"
    "No." Darrian said, cutting her off. "I mean how do you know there was some kind of alteration?"
    Everything they were saying felt right. Felt correct in lieu of this nagging feeling that something was wrong. But he couldn't let himself fall prey to wild speculation.
    The other ambassadors glanced back and forth between each other before Illiquina responded.
    "It's in the code." she said simply with almost a confused tone.
    "Code?" Darrian asked perplexed. "What code?"
    Darrian stared at Illiquina, perplexed. She wore a similar look of confusion, as if she didn't understand the question.
    "She means the code for the archives." Ferris offered.
    "I...don't know what that means." Darrian stuttered.
    "Come here." Illiquina said, motioning him closer to him.
    Darrian stepped closer and only then realized that Illiquina was holding a small, strange-looking datapad in one hand. It was notably slimmer than his own work pad and it seemed to be rimmed with small tabs and nobs along the outside edge that could be manipulated.
    Illiquina tapped the screen and brought up an image that she offered up to him.
    The image didn't make any sense to him. It appeared to be nothing more than a random assortment of letters, numbers, and symbols. Here and there he saw things that might vaguely represent words, but all together it proved little more than gibberish.
    "I don't know what this is, Illiquina." he stated with unabashed honesty.
    "You and me both." Ferris offered.
    "Aren't you Merrenians supposed to be experts in robotics?" Illiquina said with a huff. "How is it you don't know coding?"
    "The smart Merrenians make it easy for us dumb ones." Ferris said with a smile.
    "What he said." Darrian said, pointing at Ferris.
    Illiquina let out a soft growl of annoyance before pointing to the a certainly clump of letters and numbers.
    "Here." she said. "Do you know what that means?"
    Darrian offered a little shrug of confusion.
    "THAT!" she said with a sharp tap. "Is the file having to do with the Guillae."
    "Okay..."
    Illiquina huffed again but decided to try a change in tactics.
    "When did the old judge say the Consortium encountered the Guillae?" she asked.
    "Couple hundred rotations ago?" he offered while looking to Ferris and A'alan't 32, who both nodded in agreement.
    "Couple hundred." Illiquina confirmed before pointing to another blotch of numbers and letters. "Than why would all of the data have been removed and then edited twenty rotations ago?"
    Darrian stared at the stream of logic on the screen blankly. He tried to make sense of what she'd said. What he was seeing.
    "It says that?" he finally asked.
    "Yea." she said with a nod. "The data for the Guillae was actually very bloated. Huge in size. All of the sudden, about twenty years ago, it was all deleted and reduced to a fraction of a percent of the original information."
    Darrian considered that for a moment, not sure what to say.
    "Something similar happened with the old judge." she continued, moving further down the stream of information and pointing to another batch of code. "Here."
    "It was edited twenty rotations ago?"
    "Not for the judge. His information changed about forty six rotations ago. Just like the Guillae, his file was outright deleted and then edited to a notably smaller portion of info."
    "Maybe it's some kind of coincidence?" Darrian asked. "And maybe some kind of data loss or something forced them to rebuild the archives?"
    "If that were the case," Illiquina said with an annoyed tone in her voice. "Than I wouldn't have record of it in code."
    "Whatever happened or why," she continued. "Someone actively changed the information on the Guillae and the old judge. Removed information. And I wouldn't doubt that they changed it to meet some hidden agenda."
    "But...why?" Darrian asked, his head swimming.
    "That's what I hope we'll find out." Illiquina said softly before glancing at A'alan't 32.

===

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===

Xenophobia - Chapter 15

   "I...I don't understand." stammered Cherryl from her place at the table. "How can they have found a G-Guillae?"
    "I concur." agreed the old judge. "The Guillae vacated that planet dozens of rotations ago."
    "Indeed they did." confirmed Harris. "But all the same, the humans have recovered one."
    "Alive or dead?" asked Darrian in utter confusion.
    "Are you kidding me?" snapped Cagool. "That thing has been there for who knows how many rotations. Alone. Under the ground from how it sounds. Why would you think it's alive?"
    Harris cast a sidelong glance at Cagool before responding. "It's certainly dead."
    "W-well that's good news." said Cherryl looking notably relieved.
    "No. It's not." said Harris and the old judge seemingly simultaneously.
    "It's not?"
    "No." confirmed the old judge.
    Cherryl looked like she had more to ask, but quickly reconsidered as the old judge and Harris turned their attention back to each other.
    "Sir. Is it normal for Guillae to leave one of theirs behind like this?"
    The old judge shook his head.
    "I'm not completely sure. It's been an exceptionally long time since the Consortium had any interaction with the Guillae. Likewise, as a general rule we never authorize colonization of old Guillae planets. Researchers rarely favor such locations either."
    "So this could be a norm?" questioned Harris.
    "We simply don't know."
    "Why are we even discussing this?" groaned Cagool. "Who really cares?"
    The old judge flashed Cagool a threatening glance before responding.
    "Do you know anything about the Guillae, Cagool?" he said.
    "Nothing more than you've told us before. Plant people. Like to eat planets. That sort of thing."
    "I also mentioned that they travel together in a great cluster. A spore." explained the old judge. "Because of this, or maybe it's the other way around, the Guillae have a number of innate capabilities."
    "Capabilities?" questioned Darrian.
    "Well, for one, the Guillae are linked to one another. Each Guillae is connected to all of the others. Think of it almost like a hive mind, not unlike insects..."
    "Or a flora-network." added A'alan't 32. "Like roots or a forest."
    "Precisely." agreed the old judge. "It functions even across deep space."
    "While creepy to think about, I ask again, who cares?" said Cagool. "It's dead."
    "That brings us nicely to their other capability. Just one Guillae can repopulate an entire planet. One. Dead. Guillae."
    "You can't be serious!"
    "No. He's right." confirmed A'alan't 32. "I've been studying them on my down time. Not unlike some plants, Guillae essentially convert to giant seed spores upon death. Their only purpose is to sprout when exposed to water."
    The old judge nodded in agreement before turning his attention back to Harris.
    "Thank you, Harris." he said with a nod. "Is there anything else?"
    "Uhm...no, Sir."
    As the old judge reached down to turn off the holographic imager, Harris spoke up.
    "Actually, a moment, Sir."
    "Harris?"
    "Should we...do something about this?"
    "No."
    There was excitement and confusion as whispers littered the table.
    "Of course, Sir."
    "Keep us up to date when the Guillae spores."
    "I will."
    With that, Harris terminated the transmission and the old judge sighed. Darrian found the action peculiar for a robot. But with the number of other peculiar learned programming the old judge had demonstrated, this was hardly the strangest.
    "So we're not doing anything about this?" asked A'alan't 32.
    "We must maintain the quarantine." said the old judge. "We would need to discuss the matter with the Consortium before we could take any true action."
    "But what if they accidentally spawn more Guillae. More live Guillae?" demanded Darrian.
    "When the humans do, we will wait and watch to see what happens. This could prove to be an exciting learning opportunity."

===

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===

Xenophobia - Chapter 14

    After the last meeting, Darrian noticed that the cycles began to pass at a sluggish pace. At first, he couldn't wait to get to the meeting room. That was, until he noticed that Jin'thun was missing. Unlike before with Juag-e, the old Judge said nothing about the Gorderian's absence.
    That meeting dragged on like nothing else.
    The next meeting wasn't any better. No Jin'thun. No word of whether they had rallied support or the Gorderians had gone to the Tulgucks aid.
    It was like this for a dozen cycles.
    During this time, the humans were already making immense progress with their colonization of Mars. The colony ships from both China and the United States had arrived safe and sound and had quickly begun the process of creating life-support habitats for the colonists. Once they finished their construction, the humans immediately sank their time into agricultural and scientific endeavors.
    One thing that struck the council as odd was the fact that the humans from the two ships remained separated and seemed to make no attempt to actively interact with each other. Despite their only difference being geographical location on Earth, their groups remained separated aside for occasionally checking that the other was alive and well.
    Darrian thought he'd never understand how humans disregarded their own species so much.
    The humans' presence on Mars created a number of unique problems for the analytics team as well. Unlike on Earth with it's rather massive population, a lone individual or group of individuals stuck out compared to the general populace of Mars. It wasn't a matter of simply slapping on a holographic imager and walking into the crowd. Every human knew every other human and they couldn't simply walk into a mess hall as an unknown.
    But Harris's team was talented.
    Utilizing a combination of technological infiltration and carefully hidden listening and viewing devices, a small group of the analytics team was able to monitor the humans as they progressed into their colonization. It proved challenging keeping their craft hidden, sometimes in orbit and sometimes on the surface, and it was not nearly as informative but they made it work.

    "I just don't get why they don't really interact with each other." grumbled Ugul.
    "Hmm. Do you think it could be the whole 'language barrier' thing that Harris had mentioned before?" said Cagool snidely.
    Darrian couldn't help but feel that the Yool had become absolutely insufferable as of late. While he had actively denied any interaction or affiliation with the Tulgucks or Gorderians, his mood swing seemed too conveniently timed. Ever since Jin'thun's disappearance, he couldn't seem to keep his condescension to himself. Maybe he just liked being the contrarian.
    "Many of the colonists speak each others regional linguistics, Cagool." groaned A'alan't 32.
    "Well, maybe this is a new batch. Who knows? With how short lived they are, maybe they had to reproduce on the ship before the original batch died of old age. Did we think to check?"
    "Would you just shut up?" snapped Ferris in an unusually bad mood.
    Maybe he was just used to being the sarcastic one or maybe Cagool was just getting under his skin. Either way, Ferris had more venom then normal.
    "I feel like you haven't had anything useful to add to these meetings in a while." Ferris added quickly.
    "What's there to add?" asked Cagool. "We're basically just watching a virus grow in a petri dish while we wait for the doctor to come and destroy it."
    "Cagool." warned the old judge.
    "What?" he said as he looked around the table. "You might not like it, but facts are facts. The Tulgucks are on their way right now to wipe them off the map."
    The old judge glowered at him and a few of the other councilors looked uncomfortable.
    "Even if the Gorderians decide to try and stop them, which they probably won't, the Tulgucks have good headway. I'd give it another few cycles before for the first warships show up and then we can start doing something better with our time."
    "Cagool. Are you suggesting that this is a waste of time and that we should be supporting the Tulgucks in their vicious slaughter of a young species?" demanded the old judge.
    "Hey. I didn't say it. You did."
    Darrian could feel his throat tightening and was about to say something when the light on the holographic imager started flashing.
    The old judge reached down and hit a button on his datapad and Harris, not in his human disguise but instead his proper Merrenian form, appeared above the table.
    "Harris?" asked the old judge. "Is something wrong? You have this labeled as a priority one message."
    "I bet the warships just showed up." muttered Cagool quietly.
    "Would you just..." growled Ferris.
    "Shut it!" snapped the old judge. "Harris?"
    Harris adjusted himself and cleared his throat.
    "Yes. Well... I'm not sure how to put this. As you are aware, the humans begin their scientific research on the surface of Mars. Some of that research includes extensive digging. Archaeologic searches and the like..." his tone was hollow and he looked nervous.
    The room fell quiet. Even Cagool didn't have something snide to add.
    "What did they find, Captain?" asked the old judge with hesitation in his voice.
    Harris seemed to look around the room as if he was considering what or how to say whatever it was needed saying. After a moment, he sighed heavily and looked back to the old judge with a stern expression.
    "The humans have found a Guillae, sir."

===

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Xenophobia Title Page

Xenophobia

 

---

When people picture Aliens, they imagine monsters. Creatures. Other worldly things

with voracious appetites and powers and technologies that far surpass our own. But what

if we were the monsters in our eyes. Violent and bloodthirsty with capabilities they could

never imagine. How would they react to these monsters from Earth?

---

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17 

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

-

Xenophobia - Chapter 9

    The next couple dozen or so cycles passed quickly. The council met a few times regarding the human’s excursion to Mars during that time. There was always a little fervor and disagreement, particularly from the “Trifecta” as some of the counselors had started to call Cagool, Juag-e, and Jin’thun, but nothing ever got out of hand. The old judge always managed to rope them back in.

    Instead, the majority of time was spent reviewing data from the analytics team and arranging deep-space signals to keep unwary travelers out of the quarantine zone. It was monotonous sometimes but needed to be done.

    Falling right in line with Harris’s message, the human interplanetary vehicle launched at the tail end of the sixth cycle.  Six passengers were on a course for the nearest planet with the trip expecting to take something in the range of six to ten cycles.

    Reviewing the specs that the analytics team sent back proved entertaining in a way. The craft was dirty in comparison to most space craft, being little more than a series of controlled explosives that helped escape the atmosphere; but Darrian couldn’t help but admire it. The humans demonstrated a nearly suicidal determination for exploration when only twenty cycles before they seemed to have no interest in even leaving their own orbit.

    Additionally, while the council waited for the spacecraft to complete its journey, there was a scattering of other reports that trickled in. These reports were not directly related to space travel, but rather the state of the planet.

    Darrian could never decide if they made him hopeful or fearful for the future of the human species.

    The reports tended to be on both sides of the spectrum. On the one end, there were a number of wars and conflicts taking place across the planet at any given time. Violent actions were so constant amongst the inhabitants that there were a number of special categories; the two primary of which were “assault” and “murder”. Life was damaged or extinguished at a terrifyingly constant rate.

   Yet, on the other end of the spectrum, there were a large number of humans that displayed a much more civilized manner. For every war that broke out, there were humans that resisted the call of violence. Some protested while others fought to defend the innocents caught in the crossfire. Others attempted to garner legislation to their favor while still more actively rescued and healed rather than harmed.

    Most simply did not act on the baser need for violent action. Instead, they went about their time trying to better themselves and their communities using the infrastructure of support that civilization could grant.

    Darrian couldn’t help but feel respect these people.

    The more meetings he attended and the more data he reviewed, the more he started to notice a number of interesting trends.

    The first was that the number of overly violent humans was actually lower than previously thought. Only something in the range of ten to fifteen percent seemed to have a predisposal towards overt violence. These numbers were drastically lower than the initial meetings might have suggested.

    Instead, one of the major problems seemed to be that those individuals predisposed towards violence always seemed to find their way into positions of power and leadership. An otherwise placid population was forced towards violence through the will of a select few.

    Perhaps it was a side effect of the combative tendencies that these violent individuals ended up in positions of power. Or perhaps the humans’ current governmental systems simply favored an archaic need for bloodshed. No one in the council could really agree.

    “Maybe if more humans worked to correct their problems versus just standing by as atrocities happen, they could move forward as a species.” Jin’thun growled during the discussion.

    Darrian couldn’t help but agree. The more he studied the population, the more he realized that most problems were fed more by global indifference than anything else.

    Another pattern that he noticed was that a lot of the global issues seemed to have geographic correlation. Similar to how violence was perpetrated by a select percentage of humans, certain localized populations seemed more inclined than others towards violent and self-destructive tendencies. These populations were often the same ones that contributed to war conflicts and global crisis around the planet in comparison to other locations.

    There had been some arguments over it, but no one could understand how it worked. For whatever reason, specific ‘countries’ as they called themselves seemed to believe they were better than the rest of the global population. It was like they believed that they were the only ones that mattered despite the only difference being their geographic location on the planet.

    These moralistic dilemmas preoccupied most of the council meetings for more than a few cycles. It was taxing because the council had no real power to act upon a quarantined species and so most time was spent just debating with no real endpoint.  They were just arguing over atrocities.

    It made Darrian a little thankful when he found a new priority message flashing on his datapad.

    “Humans are attempting to colonize Mars.”

===

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Xenophobia - Chapter 7

    “Mars?” Darrian asked.

    “Right. We believe it was named after one of the fictional characters that the humans have killed each other over.” responded Cherryl.

    “So what’s its actual name, then?”  inquired Cagool, the Yool ambassador.

    There were a few sidelong glances and a look of distaste from some of the politicians. It was rarely considered acceptable to simply dismiss another race’s opinion during open discussion. Even something as simple as a name for a planet deserved respect. Unless there was a population on “Mars” currently, the human name should have sufficed for it. To simply dismiss it was to act as though the species wasn’t sentient and didn’t deserve consideration.

    Apparently, this convention was lost on Cagool. Whether he didn’t care or didn’t realize it, he seemed to ignore the uncomfortable silence.

    “Well. The planet’s p-previous name was Muspel II.” Stammered Cherryl, obviously nervous and trying to maintain respect towards the humans naming conventions. “It was one of two planets in the system that the Guillae had populated.”

    “Had?” emphasized Ferris.

    Cherryl nodded in response. “Correct. The Guillae used up the majority of the natural materials on the planet and vacated once the atmosphere began to dissolve.”

   “Back up.” said Darrian. “Who are these Guillae? I’ve never heard of them. For that matter, if AV32- sorry. Earth. If Earth is part of this Muspel system, then why didn’t we know about it previously?”

    “The Guillae are a species of floramorphic hybrids. They have a tendency of wandering galaxies and sending a large spore filled with their ‘colonists’ to any planet they deem useful.” The old judge rattled off.

    “Floramorphic?” asked Darrian.

    “Plant people.” whispered Ferris.

    “Once they land, the Guillae tend to be both a blessing and a curse. Their cities and technologies are all biologically based. No mechanics of any kind to speak of. Because of this, every part of their society tends to blend with the given planet and give birth to a host of new life. The planets tend to flourish for a few rotations, at which time the noxious gasses that the Guillae naturally give off have done their damage. The atmosphere tends to burn off and the Guillae take off for other planets elsewhere.”

    “That sounds horrible.” said Illiquina with a shudder.

    The old judge nodded his agreement.

    “Many people in the scientific community tend to have mixed emotions about the Guillae. On the one hand, their very presence on a planet can do fantastic things. They promote untold numbers of species to come to fruition during their time on a planet. However, because of their genetic makeup, the Guillae tend to do permanent damage to any world that hosts them. Mars is just such an example.”

    "A telltale sign that the Guillae have been there is the landscape tends to take on a reddish hue of rust. It has something to do with the gasses the put off."

    “So what was Mars like?” asked A’alan’t 32, the rather quiet Bivvie representative.

    Darrian couldn’t help but smile as he realized that both A’alan’t 32 and the old judge were outright ignoring Cagool’s rudeness earlier by using "Mars" as the planet's name. On top of that, the Yool definitely was taking notice as he was sitting there looking rather annoyed.

    “Actually, Earth and Mars weren’t unlike each other in overall design.” stated the old judge.

    The holographic imager in the middle of the table gave birth to a spherical planet that was indeed very similar to the planet the humans occupied. It was covered in giant splotches of greens and blue with speckled browns and reds here and there.

    “Is that water?” asked Darrian in surprise as he stared at the image.

    “Yes, it is.” responded the judge. “Much like many species in the galaxies, a plentiful water source is what drives the Guillae to populate new worlds.”

    “It’s quite pretty.” Observed Ugul.

    “I must agree.” said the old judge. “At least until the Guillae showed up.”

    To Darrian’s surprise, he watched the image before him morph and change. He watched as a sudden green spot appeared in one of the planet’s oceans. Perhaps the spore the judge spoke of? It began to boil and spread green through the waters until it reached land. There, rich emeralds seemed to entangle and overtake the verdant hues that had already been present.

    “As you can see, the introduction of a Guillae spore can have truly amazing effects…”

    As they continued to watch, the entire planet soon completely turned a rich emerald green. All of the browns, reds, and blues seemed to fade away. For a moment, the planet simply rotated there like a spherical green gem. Then, without warning, speckles of dusty red appeared and spread with frightening speed. Within seconds, the entire planet was the heavy red of rusted iron.

    “…as well as devastating.” finished the old judge.

    “These observations were taken over the course of seven rotations and occurred thirty two rotations ago.” added Cherryl.

    “That’s all well and good, but I have to agree with Darrian.” said Juag-e with obvious tension. “Why the hell haven’t I heard of this species before now?”

    “The Guillae are a nomadic race.” stated the old judge. “They come to a planet, use it up, and leave it a rotted, rusted husk of what it once was. While the species is sentient, they don’t seem to operate with the same drives or capacities of other civilizations.”

    “Frankly. They’re too alien.” he said with a hint of disgust.

    Darrian felt a tinge of surprise. It was rare to call any species alien. In a galaxy filled with so many different types of life, singling one out as an “other” was bizarre.

    “As such,” continued the old judge, “The Consortium made agreements with the Guillae some fifty rotations back that they would not bother each other. The Guillae can continue to wander out further and further away from us and none of our planets are at risk from their colonization. In exchange, the Guillae can do as they will without Consortium interference.”

   There was a long moment of eerie silence. Darrian couldn’t help but feel nervous thinking about these Guillae. While the humans were erratic and warlike, monsters by many descriptions, they were still frighteningly young with the potential for growth. They still had time to grow into something better. This other species,however, was so different and almost accidentally dangerous that the Consortium did not bring them into the fold but rather insisted they not even engage within their sphere of control.

    He couldn’t decide which was more unsettling.

   “While I'm sure we all appreciate the monster story,” said Ferris. “I think we have gotten a little off topic.”

    “R-right.” Cherryl said with another little nod.

    “What are we going to do about humans attempting to reach Mars?” asked the judge.

===

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Untitled / Sci-Fi - Chapter 2 - 05.08.16

 

http://i44.tinypic.com/21pvlx.jpg

    Aryana woke several hours later. With the exception of the occasional beep and a few flashing lights from the control panels around the bridge, it was completely quiet. Just outside the viewfinder, the frozen darkness of space continued to drift by. Indifferent. Endless.

    She reached down and grabbed the datapad to check the calculations and, to her surprise, found that it was dead. She tapped it a few times but it was completely non-responsive.

    Battery’s probably dead. she thought.

    Getting up from under the warmth of her blanket, she crossed the cold floor to the datapad’s docking station and plugged it in. It gave a reassuring beep and the screen flashed to confirm it was charging. It would be at least a few minutes before it let her activate it again.

    Leaning down at the closest console, she flipped on the screen to check the course layouts.

    While she waited for the readouts to come up, she couldn’t help but chuckle at the toys strewn across the top of the console. It was covered with a number of small action figures wearing spandex. Brown, her navigator, was a huge fan of the 20^th and 21^st centuries and apparently these toys were “wrestlers” from some entertainment program back then. She had always been a fan of “The Rock”, as Brown called him.

    The computer blinked and started scrolling numbers across the screen. Thousands of lines of calculations, hundreds of variables and numbers were accounted for, all flashed by in an instant. She could have manually checked them, but right now she was more interested in the overall.

    Course stable. Flashed in green at the bottom of the screen.

    “Good enough for me.”

    She flipped off the screen and made her way back to the rec room to make herself some dinner. While she waited for it to cook, she came to the conclusion that she’d have to wake her crew. It would be jarring to be woken from hypersleep for such a short period, but it would be a lot harder to explain when she woke them up just to make them refuel the ship.

    The next while was spent choking down the poor excuse for a meal that she had tossed together. It was bland, tasteless, and made from what she could scrape together without rehydrating any food stores, but it filled her belly and that was good enough for the time being. She could have a real meal later.

    Afterwards, back in the cryo-chamber, she went about thawing her crew. She started with Duncan. Duncan Kilborne had been her second mate for four separate ore-runs into the Capulet sector and a good guy. Next was her navigator, Hammond Brown, who always preferred his last name to his first. This was followed by Rebecca Lee, the Quartermaster, Richard Sanchez, Pilot, Danisha Folami, the ship’s Mechanic, Yoko Xi, Danisha’s Assistant, Howard Moore, the ship’s Doctor, and Franklin Toss, the Cargo Master.

    The tubes opened one by one. Cryogenic gas poured out across the floors and the cool mist filled the room. Arayana couldn’t help but shiver, immediately regretting having left her blanket on the bridge. It was already cold. Adding the contents of eight freezers to the room didn’t make it any better.

    For a few minutes, nothing moved except the pluming white and blue gases. Then, groans. The sound of sporadic movement. Finally, Dick was the first to speak up.

    “Are we there yet?” he muttered incoherently.

    No one answered.

    Slowly, painfully, the crew went about climbing out of their tubes and making a beeline for the nearby showers. Men and women alike stripped off their cryosuits with no regard to the others around them and basked under the hot water. The water on the ship was rarely used and had been recycled more times than they could count but none of them cared. The hot water helped to blast away the delirium and slimy feeling that cryo sleep left them with.

    Aryana waited calmly for each of her crew. None of them took too long, but she wouldn’t rush them even if they did. Waking from cryo was a horrible feeling and she had just done the same not too long ago. She couldn’t fault them for the toll the process took on their bodies.

    It was only when the showers had stopped and the crew was pulling on fresh clothes that anyone spoke again.

    “They ain’t paying us enough for this shit.” Frank grumbled as he pulled on his pants.

    “Not enough to wake up to your face, Frank.” Dani shot back without even looking over.

    “Good morning to you too, shitface.”

    The two chuckled and soon the eight of them were making subdued small talk amongst themselves. Lots of insults and more than a bit of colorful language, but none of it angry. The only one who didn’t join in was Aryana, and Howard was the first to notice.

    “I can’t help but think we didn’t get to enjoy the sight of our Captain’s fine ass in the shower today.” He said as he finished pulling his shirt over his head. “What do you think Becca?”

    “You’re right,” the spunky little Quartermaster agreed. “I was wondering why I felt so tired. I just realized I didn’t have my coffee this morning.”

    As if to empathize her point, Becca looked over at Aryana and playfully licked her lips.

    “Now, do you suppose it’s because she just doesn’t like us anymore?” Howard asked, pouting his bottom lip.

    “I think it’s because I had to wake up early this morning while you assholes slept in.” Aryana snapped back with a grin.

    “Such are the privileges of that fat little bonus on her paycheck.” Dani said with a laugh as she tried to dry chocolate mop of hair.

    “Wait a second, you guys get paid?!” Brown said with playful panic.

    “Like I said, not paid enough for this shit.” Frank muttered again.

    Dani reached over and smacked him in the back of the head with a laugh.

    “Alright, alright.” Duncan said calmly. “Clearly something’s up. What’s going on, cap’n?”

    The crew fell silent and, for a minute, Aryana hated Duncan. He always had the crew’s attention in an instant and now all of them were silently staring at her. She’d much rather just listen to everyone bullshit amongst themselves than give them the bad news.

    She let out a long sigh.

    “As you know, sometimes we receive orders that dictate when we need to make alterations to our course. And, despite being your captain, I have no say in those alterations…” she said. She couldn’t help but to feel defensive. “Well, it would seem that we had to make a change.”

    “What kind of change?” Yoko asked, her brow furrowing.

    “As it turns out, the course that we were previously heading on would have taken us through active pirate space. The company felt it in our best interest to redirect us around that quadrant.”

    They all remained quiet, staring. They knew more was coming.

    “They...” she scratched the back of her head and sighed again. “They’re sending us up towards Waystation Kappa-34.”

    “Kappa-34?!” Frank said. The huge man stood up to his full height in anger, dwarfing those around him.

    “That’s going to add months onto the trip!” Becca said, gritting her teeth.

    “Yea.” Aryana agreed. “Six months out, we get to stop and refuel. Followed by another six making our way around.”

    “A whole year?” Duncan asked quietly.

    Her heart felt heavy as she looked at Duncan’s calm, but darkened expression. She couldn’t say anything to him. She just nodded.

    The crew stared at each other silently for a few minutes. None of them wanted to say what they were all thinking. The year of their family’s life that they were going to miss out on. The extra year in the freezers to play havoc on their bodies. The extra year where anything and everything could go wrong in the reaches of space.

    “I know this sucks, guys.” Aryana said finally. “But it’s either that or get buttfucked by pirates in your sleep.”

    “I, for one, was hoping to meet a nice upstanding gentleman.” Brown said snidely. “However will I meet him if not through barreling blindly through pirate territory?”

    Dani proceeded to smack Brown this time. Frank chuckled. Dani smacked him too.

    “I figured you guys would rather know this way than when we got to the Waystation to refuel. So, if you want to go back to the freeze right away, you’re more than welcome to. If you want a few hours to stretch your legs, I get that too. One way or another, I want everyone back on ice within a day.”

    “Let’s get this shit done sooner rather than later.” She said sternly.

    They all nodded in agreement.