Hey, Everyone.
I am on a sort of working vacation so the blogs may not be coming out every day. I am in an area where I am at the mercy of wi-fi spots or my friends I-phone, which becomes a wi-fi hot spot. I haven't had many comments posted on my previous postings, but would really appreciate some feedback. If there are any subjects you would like me to cover, please let me know. I like to think I am well read and know a little about a lot of things. I most definitely want feedback on the short stories, as I am thinking of actually writing a novel. So, please, let me know.
Hope my readers are happy and doing well. More later. Have a better one.
Saturday, March 17, 2012
Friday, March 9, 2012
Continuation of Last Night's Short Story
Jack grabbed an oxygen cylinder from the cabinet and raced toward the window, spraying the pure gas directly into the creatures' mouth as it broke through. The creature stiffened and froze instantly, sealing the hole it had made with its' own body. Jack sank back into the chair and breathed a sigh of relief, glad that his ploy had worked. He figured that any creature that could survive the vacuum of space wouldn't be able to handle a straight shot of oxygen. He had guessed right.
Jack glanced at the creature and then back to the monitors. He checked the external scanners on the ship to make sure there were no more surprises on the way. He didn't know if he would get as lucky a second time. Everything seemed clear and he switched on the sensors to alert him of any motion approaching the ship.
A quick check of the radio showed no incoming messages, and that worried Jack. The colony ships should have replied by now. He sent another quick message, explaining what had just happened, and warning them in the process. A sense of urgency gripped Jack. He set the ship on a higher than sub-light speed, cutting his planet fall to less than 6 hours. Time enough for some exercise and a shower.
Jack set himself to a strenuous set of calisthenics and stretching exercises, his body loosening up after the 100 years in cryosleep. The stimshocks to his muscles might keep them from atrophying, but there was nothing like actual physical exercise to take its' place. He finished his work out and showered in the sonic shower, marvelling at the way the sound waves cleansed his body. Felt like a miniature lightning storm was playing over him. A wonderful feeling.
After finishing his toilet, Jack checked the creature, noting that it was still sealed perfectly in the window. He would deal with the creature after landing, knowing that entry into the atmosphere would be tricky with it in its' current position. He would make do, he always did. He brushed his fingers through his brown hair, and punched up a video on the computer. Since he had some time to kill, might as well watch a movie.
Settling into his seat, the images from "Forbidden Planet" filled the screen. How appropriate, he thought. 4 hours to go. Time enough for another movie after this one. The computer would probably play another classic movie, it seemed to be stuck in that mode for some reason. Ah, well. Good thing he enjoyed them. The planet was drawing close. Not long now....
Thanks for reading everyone. Have a better one.
Jack glanced at the creature and then back to the monitors. He checked the external scanners on the ship to make sure there were no more surprises on the way. He didn't know if he would get as lucky a second time. Everything seemed clear and he switched on the sensors to alert him of any motion approaching the ship.
A quick check of the radio showed no incoming messages, and that worried Jack. The colony ships should have replied by now. He sent another quick message, explaining what had just happened, and warning them in the process. A sense of urgency gripped Jack. He set the ship on a higher than sub-light speed, cutting his planet fall to less than 6 hours. Time enough for some exercise and a shower.
Jack set himself to a strenuous set of calisthenics and stretching exercises, his body loosening up after the 100 years in cryosleep. The stimshocks to his muscles might keep them from atrophying, but there was nothing like actual physical exercise to take its' place. He finished his work out and showered in the sonic shower, marvelling at the way the sound waves cleansed his body. Felt like a miniature lightning storm was playing over him. A wonderful feeling.
After finishing his toilet, Jack checked the creature, noting that it was still sealed perfectly in the window. He would deal with the creature after landing, knowing that entry into the atmosphere would be tricky with it in its' current position. He would make do, he always did. He brushed his fingers through his brown hair, and punched up a video on the computer. Since he had some time to kill, might as well watch a movie.
Settling into his seat, the images from "Forbidden Planet" filled the screen. How appropriate, he thought. 4 hours to go. Time enough for another movie after this one. The computer would probably play another classic movie, it seemed to be stuck in that mode for some reason. Ah, well. Good thing he enjoyed them. The planet was drawing close. Not long now....
Thanks for reading everyone. Have a better one.
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Another Short Story
Waking up was hard. Having been in cryosleep for over a hundred years didn't help matters. Jack Harper slowly rolled his head, loosening up neck muscles that hadn't had much exercise during the trip, except for the neurostims that kept his muscles from atrophying. His mouth tasted like dry cotton and he moved his head to the left to catch the spigot that was set into the wall panel. Tepid water squirted down his throat, relieving the thirst and giving him a chance to rinse his mouth after the first few gulps.
Climbing out of the cryochamber, Jack took a quick look around. Capsule looked the same, he thought. But, then, why shouldn't it? He was the only one aboard the tiny spaceship, a one-man sleepship, headed to Alpha Centauri, to set up an ecolab on an uninhabited planet the big brains had found. His job was to make sure the atmosphere was brought into line with Earth's, or a reasonable facsimile, so that when the colony ships that were a year behind him landed, they had a perfect atmosphere to develop the planet into a new paradise. Or at least one better than the Earth they had left behind.
Jack went to the front of the spaceship and sat in the control chair to check on his co-ordinates and get a bearing on the planet that should be just a few days out from his current position. All of the ships windows had been blacked out automatically upon his entering cryosleep and Jack typed in a command on the computer console to cancel that order. The panels slowly drew back and Jack was greeted with an amazing view of a brilliant yellow sun that seemed to be the size of Earth's moon.
So, he thought, still a few days away from the planet. Not bad timing. Our scientists really know their stuff.
Jack typed in a request for a visual display on the main terminal to get a readout of the travel time to the destined planet. A second later the response was given. 2 days, 6 hours, and 42 minutes. Plenty of time to make things ready. Plus, time to get a bite to eat. Jack's stomach had been growling since he woke up. Not actually having eaten anything solid for the last hundred years, he was ravenous. He went to the storage locker and found a ready-made-meal and broke into it, knowing they weren't the tastiest things in the universe, but they were all he had for at least the next year. He was hoping that the new planet had edible fruit and vegetables, but until he arrived and his tests were complete, these would suffice.
Jack hit a few buttons on the console and music suddenly filled the spaceship. Rush, 2112. Jack smiled at the selection. That corresponded to the year he was actually in. How appropriate. It didn't hurt that he enjoyed the classics. Jack had had the foresight to download an immense amount of music, mostly his own favorites
Finishing up his meal, Jack turned back to the main viewscreen. On course and on time. Life was good. He tapped a few buttons to turn on the communications system. Time to check in.
"Spaceship X-1 to Mothership, do you copy?" Jack's voice sounded odd. He cleared his throat and repeated the request. "Spacehsip X-1 to Mothership, do you copy?" No response. Hmm. Jack decided to give it a few minutes and try again, not overly worried. The colony ships were supposed to be a year behind, and communications might take awhile, although the sublight radio should be instantaneous.
The yellow sun continued to glow in the main window, growing ever so slowly. He could make out one of the outer planets of the solar system he was headed to. Looked like a large round rock, nothing exciting at all. At his speed, he should be in the inner planets by this time tomorrow.
A sudden loud thump caught his attention and he turned his head toward the sound. Nothing in the cabin, he thought, suddenly feeling a bit apprehensive. He turned on the external monitors to get a view of the outer surface of the ship. What he saw turned his blood to ice. Moving along the surface of the ship was what looked like a six foot long eel, but with steely looking skin, and a sucker shaped mouth with sharp looking teeth around it. It was moving slowly along the ship, moving towards the windows of the ship.
Jack looked around the confines of the small ship, hoping to find some kind of weapon. If that thing got in, Jack was done for. A sudden scraping noise above his head caught his attention. Looking at the monitor, Jack saw that the creature had attached itself to the main window and its' teeth were rotating, slowly sawing a hole through it. Jack found a small pickax in the tool chest near the sleep unit. Hefting it, he raised it over his head.
Jack realized that if the creature did manage to gain entrance, the air would escape through the creature's entrance hole. This was getting worse by the minute. It was coming through quickly, the sawing noise of the creatures sucker mouth grating on Jack's nerves. Only seconds left. Jack sat back in the chair, knowing the end was near. And the colony ships would never know what happened...
Thanks for reading everyone. Have a better one.
Climbing out of the cryochamber, Jack took a quick look around. Capsule looked the same, he thought. But, then, why shouldn't it? He was the only one aboard the tiny spaceship, a one-man sleepship, headed to Alpha Centauri, to set up an ecolab on an uninhabited planet the big brains had found. His job was to make sure the atmosphere was brought into line with Earth's, or a reasonable facsimile, so that when the colony ships that were a year behind him landed, they had a perfect atmosphere to develop the planet into a new paradise. Or at least one better than the Earth they had left behind.
Jack went to the front of the spaceship and sat in the control chair to check on his co-ordinates and get a bearing on the planet that should be just a few days out from his current position. All of the ships windows had been blacked out automatically upon his entering cryosleep and Jack typed in a command on the computer console to cancel that order. The panels slowly drew back and Jack was greeted with an amazing view of a brilliant yellow sun that seemed to be the size of Earth's moon.
So, he thought, still a few days away from the planet. Not bad timing. Our scientists really know their stuff.
Jack typed in a request for a visual display on the main terminal to get a readout of the travel time to the destined planet. A second later the response was given. 2 days, 6 hours, and 42 minutes. Plenty of time to make things ready. Plus, time to get a bite to eat. Jack's stomach had been growling since he woke up. Not actually having eaten anything solid for the last hundred years, he was ravenous. He went to the storage locker and found a ready-made-meal and broke into it, knowing they weren't the tastiest things in the universe, but they were all he had for at least the next year. He was hoping that the new planet had edible fruit and vegetables, but until he arrived and his tests were complete, these would suffice.
Jack hit a few buttons on the console and music suddenly filled the spaceship. Rush, 2112. Jack smiled at the selection. That corresponded to the year he was actually in. How appropriate. It didn't hurt that he enjoyed the classics. Jack had had the foresight to download an immense amount of music, mostly his own favorites
Finishing up his meal, Jack turned back to the main viewscreen. On course and on time. Life was good. He tapped a few buttons to turn on the communications system. Time to check in.
"Spaceship X-1 to Mothership, do you copy?" Jack's voice sounded odd. He cleared his throat and repeated the request. "Spacehsip X-1 to Mothership, do you copy?" No response. Hmm. Jack decided to give it a few minutes and try again, not overly worried. The colony ships were supposed to be a year behind, and communications might take awhile, although the sublight radio should be instantaneous.
The yellow sun continued to glow in the main window, growing ever so slowly. He could make out one of the outer planets of the solar system he was headed to. Looked like a large round rock, nothing exciting at all. At his speed, he should be in the inner planets by this time tomorrow.
A sudden loud thump caught his attention and he turned his head toward the sound. Nothing in the cabin, he thought, suddenly feeling a bit apprehensive. He turned on the external monitors to get a view of the outer surface of the ship. What he saw turned his blood to ice. Moving along the surface of the ship was what looked like a six foot long eel, but with steely looking skin, and a sucker shaped mouth with sharp looking teeth around it. It was moving slowly along the ship, moving towards the windows of the ship.
Jack looked around the confines of the small ship, hoping to find some kind of weapon. If that thing got in, Jack was done for. A sudden scraping noise above his head caught his attention. Looking at the monitor, Jack saw that the creature had attached itself to the main window and its' teeth were rotating, slowly sawing a hole through it. Jack found a small pickax in the tool chest near the sleep unit. Hefting it, he raised it over his head.
Jack realized that if the creature did manage to gain entrance, the air would escape through the creature's entrance hole. This was getting worse by the minute. It was coming through quickly, the sawing noise of the creatures sucker mouth grating on Jack's nerves. Only seconds left. Jack sat back in the chair, knowing the end was near. And the colony ships would never know what happened...
Thanks for reading everyone. Have a better one.
Monday, March 5, 2012
Zen the Boxer
Hello, everyone! My name is Zen and I am a boxer dog. My life is very hard. My day starts very early, as I have to get up at 5 in the morning to take my human for a walk. For some reason, he gets up before the sun gets up and wakes me up so he isn't lonely as he walks down the stairs. I smell around the bushes a bit and leave a mark for the other dogs in my neighborhood and then we head back upstairs so I can go back to sleep.
Around 8 or so, the prettier human gets up and starts a machine that squirts out a brownish liquid and has a tart smell to it. Yuck! How do humans drink that stuff? I lick myself a bit to get the smell out of my nose and wait for the pretty human and the other one to take me down to the metal box that takes me to my other home. It's nice to have humans to chauffeur me around. I try and thank them by licking their faces, but they avoid my long tongue.
When we get to my other home, I notice there are always 1 or 2 fluffy critters hanging around. They kind of look like my brother and sister, but they smell different and they are OUTSIDE! My brother and sister never go outside! They stay at home and lounge on the human beds and sitting things and chase each other around like they were puppies. I love my brother and sister, though. My big sister welcomed me with open paws when my pretty human brought me home. She would look down from the human sitting thing and pat my nose with her paw and let me know that she liked me. I will always protect them.
Now I am in my other home and the pretty one gives me some yummies in my bowl. I try not to dribble them on the floor, but they are so yummy! I usually get them later at my next yummy time anyway. I go out into the outdoor part of my other home and drink from the unusually large water dish that my humans have. I will never be able to drink it all, not sure why they made it so big. My water dish at my first home is tiny and my brother and sister share it with me. Humans are so odd.
One of my humans has a yellow bouncy thing now. I love this game! Bounce! it goes up in the air and I try to catch it before it can hit the ground! Sometimes I get it on the first try and bring it back to the human, who bounces it again. I have him trained very well! When he gets tired of playing, I stop bringing the bouncy thing back to him and go and lie in the sun for a bit. Boy, that sure feels good! I nap for a bit and before I know it, it is yummy time again! I love yummies!
The pretty human has been very busy taking care of a slow moving human and I try and stay out of the way when she uses this metal cagey looking thing that rolls a bit. The slow moving human is very sneaky, though. Sometimes when the pretty human isn't looking, the slow human tries to kick at me, but I am way too fast.
When the sun starts to go down, I know it is getting close to the time to go back to my first home. I love to get back in the metal box and watch the lights going by as we zoom away. When I ride with just the other human, slidy things go down and lets wind in and I put my face out and get all those wonderful scents in my nose. Then I lay in my padded seat for a bit until we are almost home. My humans think it's amusing when I start to dance around in anticipation about getting home. Silly humans!
At 8:30 in the dark time, I tell my other human that it is time for his last walk of the evening and he gets my ropey thing and puts it around my neck so he doesn't get lost in the dark. For some reason the other human just can't see very well in the dark time, so I lead him around for a bit, marking bushes and leaving secret messages for the other dogs in the neighborhood. For some reason though, when I poop, he keeps picking it up in this rustly thing and carries it with him until I decide to go back home. Strange human!
Once we get back in for the night, my humans either curl up on one of the two sitting things and watch a box or a thing that sits in their laps and they talk about their day with me. The other human goes to a wood swinging thing and gets me my midnight snack. He does this every night, as I have him trained very well! I talk to my brother and sister for a bit, but they have nothing to report as they have slept all day. Lazy bones fluffies! They tend to prowl around in the dark time and try and wake the humans up with what they think is their cuteness. Silly fluffies! I am the one who does cute things for my humans!
Well, that's a day in my life. It's a dog's life, I know, but someone has to do it. Thanks for reading my markings. Have a better one. Woof! Woof!
Around 8 or so, the prettier human gets up and starts a machine that squirts out a brownish liquid and has a tart smell to it. Yuck! How do humans drink that stuff? I lick myself a bit to get the smell out of my nose and wait for the pretty human and the other one to take me down to the metal box that takes me to my other home. It's nice to have humans to chauffeur me around. I try and thank them by licking their faces, but they avoid my long tongue.
When we get to my other home, I notice there are always 1 or 2 fluffy critters hanging around. They kind of look like my brother and sister, but they smell different and they are OUTSIDE! My brother and sister never go outside! They stay at home and lounge on the human beds and sitting things and chase each other around like they were puppies. I love my brother and sister, though. My big sister welcomed me with open paws when my pretty human brought me home. She would look down from the human sitting thing and pat my nose with her paw and let me know that she liked me. I will always protect them.
Now I am in my other home and the pretty one gives me some yummies in my bowl. I try not to dribble them on the floor, but they are so yummy! I usually get them later at my next yummy time anyway. I go out into the outdoor part of my other home and drink from the unusually large water dish that my humans have. I will never be able to drink it all, not sure why they made it so big. My water dish at my first home is tiny and my brother and sister share it with me. Humans are so odd.
One of my humans has a yellow bouncy thing now. I love this game! Bounce! it goes up in the air and I try to catch it before it can hit the ground! Sometimes I get it on the first try and bring it back to the human, who bounces it again. I have him trained very well! When he gets tired of playing, I stop bringing the bouncy thing back to him and go and lie in the sun for a bit. Boy, that sure feels good! I nap for a bit and before I know it, it is yummy time again! I love yummies!
The pretty human has been very busy taking care of a slow moving human and I try and stay out of the way when she uses this metal cagey looking thing that rolls a bit. The slow moving human is very sneaky, though. Sometimes when the pretty human isn't looking, the slow human tries to kick at me, but I am way too fast.
When the sun starts to go down, I know it is getting close to the time to go back to my first home. I love to get back in the metal box and watch the lights going by as we zoom away. When I ride with just the other human, slidy things go down and lets wind in and I put my face out and get all those wonderful scents in my nose. Then I lay in my padded seat for a bit until we are almost home. My humans think it's amusing when I start to dance around in anticipation about getting home. Silly humans!
At 8:30 in the dark time, I tell my other human that it is time for his last walk of the evening and he gets my ropey thing and puts it around my neck so he doesn't get lost in the dark. For some reason the other human just can't see very well in the dark time, so I lead him around for a bit, marking bushes and leaving secret messages for the other dogs in the neighborhood. For some reason though, when I poop, he keeps picking it up in this rustly thing and carries it with him until I decide to go back home. Strange human!
Once we get back in for the night, my humans either curl up on one of the two sitting things and watch a box or a thing that sits in their laps and they talk about their day with me. The other human goes to a wood swinging thing and gets me my midnight snack. He does this every night, as I have him trained very well! I talk to my brother and sister for a bit, but they have nothing to report as they have slept all day. Lazy bones fluffies! They tend to prowl around in the dark time and try and wake the humans up with what they think is their cuteness. Silly fluffies! I am the one who does cute things for my humans!
Well, that's a day in my life. It's a dog's life, I know, but someone has to do it. Thanks for reading my markings. Have a better one. Woof! Woof!
Thursday, March 1, 2012
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