"Rounding the #corner, I found myself entranced by the shining spires of Rahlee. My mind opened, and I agreed with the Revastarians: God stepped here, at that Scorch Mark, starting life in the universe."
- Fragment of a letter, discovered after the Great Earthquake, circa 547 OE.
#vss365 #scififri
"This map has the River Harmony flowing the wrong way."
"It's an old map, from the first Earth expedition to Celester. At that time, the river flowed east to west. By the founding of Colony Prime, a thousand years later local time, tectonic shifts had altered the course of the river."
#vss365
Purple #lightning crackled and struck the sacred city of Rahlee, capital of Revastar B. Poydras's sensors picked it up 5 kilometers away. He added it to the list of things concerning him. Weather Control Stations don't just go haywire.
It meant there was no one in the holy city to stop it.
#vss365
In support of stand up for science here is an image of galaxy M51. Beautiful night. Clear and no moon
The harbor is crisp in morning sunshine. She dips her broom. Holds tight in her galoshes. Lets loose all her speed.
Fingers skim the Atlantic. Lobster buoys bob in her wake. Zooming just above the water, she laughs.
She’s a witch.
She’s flying.
She’s alive.
#vss #sff
Our toes draw lines in wet sand.
“We liked it here?”
“Yes. I’d talk of the cosmos. You wrote poetry.”
I look to the whitecaps. “We’re waves. Stardust orphans of lost supernovas. Cresting, receding, reforming.”
They take my hand. “Love, our only constant.”
#vss #sff
Pope Barbara, #spellbound, hung on every word Athena told her: how the ship crashed, how the city of robots healed the crew, and how the survivors founded the colony. Barbara found many things fascinating in this tale, but 2 stood out: how humans here are cyborgs, and Athena herself.
#vss365
Jeremiah looked down at the shining, #splendid city world Celester, capital, religious center, and #jewel of Known Space. He did not share in that or any other religion and was one of the few who remembered the grime of the planet before Prelate Markos's Great Reform of 9000.
#vss365 #scifisat
Firefall, Yosemite 2/2025
Horsetail Falls, illuminated by the setting sun for a couple of weeks each February….
#flowing #blueskyartshow #nikon #yosemite #landscape #landscapephotography
💧
Twin Peaks' cataract
Generates psychic mana
Infusing owls
🦉
#Fantaiku #supernatural #vss365 #fantasy WooHoo!
A tunnel in space of bright light and stars with lens flare. Image by <a href="https://pixabay.com/users/bookdragon-72424/?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=image&utm_content=7798792">bookdragon</a> from <a href="https://pixabay.com//?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=image&utm_content=7798792">Pixabay</a>
#Note to self: when flying test warp vessels at 100 #percent of maximum #velocity, ensure that you keep #calm. Especially when answering hails from ships in distress: The hysterical voice in the transmission is likely to be your own. Pixabay:bookdragon
#2wordprompt #vss365 #vssmagic #sff #writesky
"And what do you think #stellar exploration is? It is fire and ice and rage. It is the moment we decide to step beyond all we have ever known, a blue dot in an infinite void. It is the face of God and the fear in a handful of dust. It is me, your father, asking what you will be, my son."
#vss365
"We're there, sir."
"Put me intraship."
"You're on, captain."
"My friends, consider if you will, the questions of existence. Find a window and look out. Don't rely on viewscreens - use your own eyes. We are at the Vela Molecular Ridge, the first humans to see a #stellar nursery."
#vss365
#vss365
Jay and Finesse drew their guns as the #crazed reptilian approached. "We thought this was a junkyard!" Jay said.
"It's my garden!" the reptilian hollered, waving his tail.
"And a lovely one it is!" Finesse said. "Who needs flowers when you can have oil puddles and spaceship parts, right?"
#vss365
At first, Poydras thought the Celesterines #crazed. They worshipped the triple moons, waiting all day for Neph, Ren, and Ka to climb the sky. All would break out in frenzied dancing at dusk, listening to tunes from Old Earth. This went on until midnight, when the Prelate gave benediction.
#vss365
#SundaySilence
… somewhere in the forest …
Book cover / UK version (top part)
First 2 paras of Chapter 17 mentions Streamlining as in Streamliner train, Hoovervilles (shanty towns)
Enjoying every sentence in Shadow Ticket by Thomas Pynchon set in 1932.
There’s a lot of American slang.
Chapter 16 - … Union Station …
Rain in Chicago today, a downbeat hush. Yard bulls in slickers moving among the gaunt steel monsters, rain brightened rails, treacherous footing.
Photo of a tan colored Coyote standing in a patch of grass
I snapped this one six years ago today! I was out taking Eagle photos in Tacoma and I happened to catch this one out of the corner of my eye. Just standing there watching me! #Nature #Photography
Most vampires begin their unlives living by a code of rigid ethics they believe will preserve their humanity. As the nights pile up, the truth becomes #blatantly obvious. Humanity is for humans. You either embrace that fact or find a quiet place to watch the sun rise.
#vss365 #microfiction
"Those aliens are #beastly!"
"Cthuloids are actually one of the sweetest mannered species in the galaxy. They just happen to have their distinct outward appearance, and have an u deserved bad rep. How did you get into the Fleet again?"
#VSS365
Poydras saw the message flashing on Xilton's screens.
"Loss of communication, Admiral?"
"Yes, that's why I called you here. Celester's had no response from Revastar B for 3 cycles. Since we are the closest system to Revastar, they want us to check on "our cosmic neighbor"."
#Scifisat #scifimicro
#Evaluating the stargates, we went to the #limits of our galaxy meeting wealthy beings hungry for our stuff. But the traders were #mystified as the journey transformed us into #Chimeras. It's hard work selling our terran trinkets while breathing fire at the same time
#vss365 #2wordprompt #vssmagic
It was a #blatant trap. Dylan could see it thousands of kilometres away. A ship, outside the space lanes, with no transponder code, no radio contact, only a call for help on repeat.
He had the science officer run it through the tests. Artificial. The Enemy was getting sneakier, it seemed.
#vss365
The site #mystified everyone else. Xidril, however, knew exactly what they were looking at: the long lost ruins of Colonial 3, the first ship to bring humans to this world, along with their biomech tech. Mingling with the natives came later, resulting in the hybrids they all were now.
#vss365
He broke the wooden stake before leaving the alley. Fresh blood from a young man's neck almost always left him feeling festive, almost #bouncy. He'd let his guard down and didn't realize until the hunter was upon him.
#vss365
Barbara thumbed through the holodirectory, looking for a single, valid contact. She needed a pilot, willing to be handsomely compensated and ask no questions.
"I am the Pope," she muttered. "Why is this difficult?"
"Maybe I don't need a pilot. Change search. I need a pirate."
#2WordPrompt
Xydon flew over the Great #Mountainous Range, where the Flame Mountains met the Mountains of the Two Dawns. Though he found such flights exhilarating, he thought of Poydras. It had been 6 months since Poydras went on his "most secret mission," leaving so much unsaid between the two of them.
#vss365
At the edge of day
as the sun surrenders its light
the mind grows quiet
and the heart awakens
to the #enchanted truths
it could not hear before.
#Nature #Naturephotography
#Naturelovers #Photography
#Landscape #Sunset #Sky #Clouds
#Naturewisdom #Positivevibes
#Vss365 #Blueskypoets #Poetry
