“Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.” –Dr. Marie Skłodowska-Curie As the mutters in the crowd turned to shouts, Xú Mùlán looked back toward her friend. She could feel the crowd turning on Eyrn, or at …
Tag: Tigoni Belfsec
Chapter Thirty-Four: Like Going Home Titan: Contact by D.X. Machina
“We shall not cease from exploration And the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know the place for the first time.” –T.S. Eliot, “Little Gidding” “Eight meters…six…four…mooring. Repeat, we have mooring.” “Asimov Station, this is Stanisław Lem actual. We show mooring, please confirm.” “Confirmed, Lem. We have mooring …
Chapter Thirty-Three: What’s Up There Beyond the Sky Titan: Contact by D.X. Machina
“All journeys eventually end in the same place – home.” –Chris Geiger “Okay, I think that’s the last of the big stuff,” Naskia said, looking over the suite that had briefly served as their headquarters at Titan Station. “Just personal effects, some small gear, and so forth. Pryvani, anything that shouldn’t be loaded on the …
Chapter Thirty-Two: Take My Hand, Come Along Titan: Contact by D.X. Machina
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.” –Mark Twain Depending on where you’d grown up and how you marked your calendar, either a week or eighteen days had passed since the Gyfjon had captured the Stanisław Lem. The Minatar had departed the station three Earth days before, the same day they’d moved the Lem …
Chapter Twenty-Eight: Out on the Edge of Darkness Titan: Contact by D.X. Machina
“Make me feel tiny if it makes you feel tall.” –Ben Folds, “Cooler than You” Sorcha arrived back in the Freemans’ suite with a new blouse and a bag in one arm, a tree in the other. “Okay,” Naskia said from the couch, where she was currently slumped, her husband asleep, curled up in her …
Chapter Twenty-Six: Times Must a Man Look Up Titan: Contact by D.X. Machina
“Love is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own.” –Robert A. Heinlein, Stranger in a Strange Land The chair struck the bell three times, and the Imperial House grew silent. “The House will be in order. The chair recognizes the Representative from Wedney.” “Thank you, madam chair,” Rodrec …
Chapter Twenty-Five: Something Good Has Begun Titan: Contact by D.X. Machina
“There’s not a word yet For old friends who’ve just met.” –Kenny Ascher and Paul Williams, “I’m Going to Go Back There Someday” Tig sprinted through the corridors of Titan Station as fast as her legs could carry her, which in this case was approximately 300 miles per hour. She was heading to Hangar One, …
Chapter Twenty-Four: Lay Down My Burden Titan: Contact by D.X. Machina
“To be, or not to be, that is the question: Whether ’tis Nobler in the mind to suffer The Slings and Arrows of outrageous Fortune, Or to take Arms against a Sea of troubles, And by opposing end them.” –William Shakespeare, “Hamlet,” Act III, Scene i “Sally Ride, this is Captain Lauryna Gwenn of the …
Chapter Twenty-Three: And Mortal Life Shall Cease Titan: Contact by D.X. Machina
“But we in it shall be remembered – We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; For he to-day that sheds his blood with me Shall be my brother….” –William Shakespeare, “Henry V,” Act IV, Scene iii “Hit the ground!” Kir shouted, on instinct as much as anything. The three Titans dove low, as …
Chapter Twenty-Two: Study War No More Titan: Contact by D.X. Machina
“When you’re getting ready to launch into space, you’re sitting on a big explosion waiting to happen.” –Dr. Sally Ride “My question is, at what point do we attack?” The question seemed to hang in the air; the various world leaders who fielded Admiral Harwell’s question seemed almost taken aback by it. It was Robyn …