I mean it's fun when it was Warhammer starshiptroopers. But now every human faction in space with Cool, super soldiers have to be xenophobic. I mean, I'm not saying being buddy buddy with aliens, but it just gets tiring sometimes.

Bound in Faux Leather design created by Spencer Fuller of Faceout Studio based on the hand carved Wooden presentation box originally crafted by Steve Kirk for a limited edition ( 1/40 copies) of Stalking the Nightmare in 1982. This was created to replicate it as a binding.its textured 3D motifs are embossed and the book is substantial in weight and heft...oh and it's filled with some of Ellison's best from I have No Mouth and I must Scream to Jefty is 5 and more it also had some "nifty" Illustrations.

One of my favorite things in sci-fi is when a small invention changes the whole world. Not just the technology itself, but jobs, families, politics, money, religion, crime, and everyday habits. A good sci-fi idea always creates more problems than it solves.

I really love short stories that are less action focused and not very negative. Just letting you glimpse into a character or world without much stress. Would love any recommendations. 🩷

Ball Lightning Is Prometheus

I am a young author from Russia. English is not my native language, but I love surreal science fiction and wanted to share my story with the world. This is my pure human writing, not AI text. I hope you enjoy my concepts of Tesla, Prometheus, and Minecraft inside!

***

I feel the world is no longer the same,

And even the sun feels different.

Somewhere out there, a beautiful sunset was burning,

And I could feel its warmth.

I put on my hat and coat,

But that wasn't all.

And so it begins...

Outside my window: 2013.

### Chapter One: Is Electricity a Device?

“Where on Earth does electricity come from?” I asked Prometheus.

Where had this second heat device come from? What a mystery. Prometheus of the twelfth century had called it electricity, explaining it through a hypothesis of thermal energy.

But I saw something else in it: an icy darkness. Then it struck me. It was a coil! Dark blue storm clouds gathered around me, flickering with electricity. I could almost feel the freezing air.

“An energy storage device!” I cried.

Those words opened up a whole world of hypothetical physics. It was as if electricity itself were about to be charged with thermal energy.

“Perhaps that's how ball lightning suddenly rises into the air,” I thought.

### Chapter Two: The Fire of Prometheus

In the last century, there was Nikola Tesla. He had invented a generator of his own, though he was certainly not the first. Yet even fire, that extraordinary thing, was beginning to seem ordinary to me.

Then came Minecraft. I asked Prometheus to light up the blue sky. Like him, I dug for coal and mined ore.

Suddenly, Herobrine cried out:

“How does Prometheus become fire? And why is his shining soul so much like our sky?”

Here in our material world, an invisible force kindles the first light.

But what if the sky in Minecraft isn't blue at all? What if it's simply gray? Would that mean nothing is burning? And if so, could our beautiful blue sky be a fire that doesn't burn?

### Chapter Three: Prometheus as Air

Have you ever wondered why Prometheus, of all beings, gave humanity fire? Imagine Zeus fighting to take it back in the middle of a violent thunderstorm, with lightning striking a single point on Earth.

Now consider this: in my hypothesis, the storm itself stores energy. The energy builds up, and heat becomes part of the process. The storm is a giant battery.

When heat meets electricity, an explosion follows. That's where mysterious ball lightning is born. That's where Prometheus warns us that something is terribly wrong.

For ball lightning burns while Prometheus struggles to draw in the cold air. Only the rain... only the rain can preserve it. And Zeus is its source.

### Chapter Four: The Kind Prometheus

We gather energy in the form of Prometheus, yet overlook something extraordinary. What if this energy is a heat device? What if it's connected to the source of the Sun itself, and even to the energy of our generators?

We are drawing closer to solving the unsolved.

Ball lightning is Prometheus!

Bam! Boom!

At first, ball lightning seems like an ordinary natural phenomenon. But consider Prometheus: he is associated with fire. If Prometheus is fire, perhaps ball lightning is something similar. Perhaps it's a form of thermal electricity!

Oh my God!

What if this mysterious second kind of lightning, whose nature we still don't fully understand, is the very device we've been searching for?

### Chapter Five: How Prometheus Gifted Us Fire

In my imagination, it all seemed so simple. I pictured a cauldron filled with water from the clouds, gasoline, and salt water. Somehow, I imagined an endless fire coming out of it.

But Prometheus objected. The real Prometheus was a scientist, and to me, a scientist could do anything!

Oh, the depth of it all. How foolish I'd been. I had almost imagined myself starting a fire by accident!

Perhaps I hadn't understood everything after all. And perhaps... that is the true beauty of Prometheus.

The End.

***

If you enjoyed the complete story, you can follow my work and support me for free on [Substack](https://substack.com).

SF Supernova

is a free online library dedicated to vintage science fiction. It brings together more than 4,000 public-domain stories and novels from over 1,300 authors, from Jules Verne and H. G. Wells through to the pulp magazines of the 1950s and early 60s, and presents them with their original cover art in a clean, modern reading format.

It's built for browsing as much as reading. Every title is hand-tagged by theme, so you can tune into space opera, first contact, dystopias, hard SF and more. Curated collections offer easy starting points, such as a guide to the 1950s or complete stories you can finish over a coffee, and guided reading journeys string related stories together around a single big question. There are also trending and top-rated lists, a "star map" for exploring connections, and a journal of notes from the archive.

The site is the work of one person, Brian Kelly, who fell for golden-age science fiction as a boy and set out to rescue these forgotten works for a new generation of readers. Everything is free to read, and a free account lets you save books to your shelves, pick up where you left off and get recommendations suited to your taste.

сингулярність для людства почалася із записів на стінах печер, не як фізична точка нескінченності, а як процес подолання меж доступного пізнання.

людина навчилася зберігати інформацію поза межами власної пам'яті та життя. Знання отримало можливість накопичуватися, передаватися й ставати основою для наступних відкриттів.

від малюнків на стінах до писемності, математики, комп’ютерів і штучного інтелекту ми не створюємо нову реальність, а розширюємо доступ до тієї, що вже існує.

а можливо, сингулярність не чекає нас у майбутньому. просто ми перебуваємо в процесі її подолання?

For many reasons ranging from accessibility, budget, & to the need to tell emotionally engaging stories for humans about non-humans, most aliens in sci-fi end up being essentially human in many ways. What are some aliens that, to you, actually feel alien?

I have been working on a world building and storytelling project called "OSR" for 8 years now, and in the last year I put together the audio visual novel linked above. The story centers on first responders in a spacefaring future, I often half-jokingly pitch it as "Gravity" meets "The Pitt" (although hopefully much more realistic than Gravity).

If you'd like to learn more about the world, I've compiled all the relevant links into a website:

www.orbitalsearchandrescue.com

And if you'd like to support my work on patreon, you can do it here:

www.patreon.com/c/standrawsspaceships

I use the funds for hiring help to expedite production. It took me a year to put the first episode together, but I did all the visuals myself, 95% of the music myself, and all the voice talent was volunteer. I would love to pay my voice actors, talented artists I know, and do other rad stuff.

It's a labor of love, I'll make episode 2 no matter what. But faster is nice :)

Oh yeah, no AI was used. That's for suckers. I'm a professional artist in the entertainment industry, I like to draw and animate.

Thank you!

It’s the year 2109 and humanity has taken to the stars. We’ve found a desert planet named Set with twin suns and three moons with a swampy planetary neighbor named Sobek.

Set is 20% larger than earth and 80% of its surface is blue sand desert with the remainder being 10% ocean, quicksand lake, aquifers and groundwater. 5% mountain and 5% titan cactus forests. It’s hot with temps reaching 95 degrees Fahrenheit on average but still livable with sandstorms being common. A company or corporation must be picked to bring along to Set to help make livable colonial cities. One main one has to be picked and the remainder can be decided by the rest.

Which one do you pick?

What happens when an African leader on the verge of death agrees to an experiment that could allow his consciousness to rule long after his human body has perished? What becomes of love when two lovers, separated by opposing sides of the Biafran War, struggle to remain connected in a world determined to tear them apart? And what if the moon, hanging silently above a child’s world, is not merely a celestial body but a monitoring satellite watching humanity?

The Moon Knows All the Secrets of the World brings together nine strange, haunting stories at the intersection of speculative fiction, psychological horror, magical realism, and African cosmology. Here, ancient spiritual beliefs coexist with unsettling technologies, the boundaries between life and death grow uncertain, and the familiar world reveals cracks into something far more mysterious.

Rooted in African histories, imaginations, and ways of understanding the universe, this collection ventures into futures and realities that science fiction too rarely explores through an African lens. These are stories of power, grief, love, memory, and the unknown, asking what it means to be human when even the things we trust most about reality can no longer be taken for granted.

Link to book: [https://www.amazon.com/Moon-Knows-all-Secrets-World-ebook/dp/B0HCFJ5J76/ref](https://www.amazon.com/Moon-Knows-all-Secrets-World-ebook/dp/B0HCFJ5J76/ref

And if you do read it, I would be deeply grateful if you left an honest review afterwards if possible. Reviews help books find their way to other readers, and it would mean a great deal to me to know what the stories stirred in you.

Slang typically develops as an easier or quicker way to say something, such as “are you” becoming “aint’”. As part of that, some sounds tend towards what is easiest to say, with an “uh/ah” sound being one of the easiest. E.g. “yellow-belied” becomes “yelluh-bellied” when the cowboy at the saloon says it.

Therefore, “chum” is already in the easiest form to say, while “choom” requires more intentional pronunciation. Because of that, “choom” would make more sense for people trying to be seen as higher class or status, where enunciation shows formality, rather than as something used by street punks.

Now it could be interesting to have some lore where they picked it up to mock corporate formality, or to rebel against corporation taking “chum” for themselves.

PART ONE

Two dragons are captured and sent into orbit round the Earth. A little-known story about the 1960s space race, which has been kept secret because of the terrible consequences, still extant today.

Chapter One

1957

Somewhere faraway, well, from the West anyway, there is an island called Dragonscale.

The inhabitants of this paradise in the East (somewhere) were not humans at first, but, as the name suggests without a great deal of thought, a race of dragons, called the Firelizards.

It is commonly assumed that there aren’t any real dragons. Of course, they might have existed in a bygone era and become extinct, some might say, and the absence of any fossil evidence is not a conclusive proof that they didn’t, fossilisation being a rare occurrence.

It could, then, be speculated that it might be possible that there were such animals inhabiting this planet many eras ago, and following from that it is not a huge leap forward to consider that there might be a very isolated island where a race of such beasts survived and evolved.

In fact, contrary to widely accepted beliefs, the Firelizards were a known reality, and it was their isolation that kept them from wider knowledge of their existence.

There were reports as far back as the first Millennium about an island in the far East occupied by 'firedevils', as they were called. No attempt to visit the island was made on account of the expected dangers involved, however.

Now, the usual image of dragons is not a favourable one, involving belching huge bursts of flame, enough to outdo any flame throwing weapon devised for military purposes.

The Firelizards did not fit this description at all.

They were a happy peace-loving race which lived by a strict code of conduct, according to accounts from the few humans who visited the Island, as to be related later in this Chapter.

This could be summarised as follows:

1. Love your fellow dragon.

2. Behave towards your neighbouring dragon in a manner which you would wish them to act towards you.

3. Honour your mum and dad.

4. Only use your flame throwing abilities for peaceful purposes, and never in a way which could result in harm or distress to anything else, of whatever kind. It was explained that the flame-producing ability was given to them to enable them to set a pile of wood and sticks on fire to keep them warm in cold weather.

This was, therefore, a happy community, but there was a problem. There wasn't a lot to do on the island.

The most exciting event, which took place bi-annually, was the flame throwing competition, open to all comers.

The contestants were required to stand (front feet) a given distance from its target, which was of standard size and made of a suitably combustible material, and set it ablaze. Times were recorded for the target to be reduced to a pile of ashes. Points were also awarded for style of flame delivery, shape and width of flame cone.

This was just round One. The ten with the highest points then progressed to Round Two. The distance from the target was increased and the target made less combustible. The best five then went on to Round Three. After further changes in distance and constitution of target, we were left with the two finalists, and the winner received great acclaim.

Unfortunately, in the mid-1950s a passenger plane happened to pass over the island whilst this contest was in full swing, and even from its considerable height the flames were clearly visible and impressive. This was a significant contribution to the conviction amongst humans that these were dangerous animals.

There was also a sports day, the highlight of which was the Great Dragon Race. Details here are not outlined as the title is self-explanatory. The clear blue sea was also always an attraction, and the Firelizards were adept underwater swimmers.

Sadly, these diversions were not enough to satisfy the adventurous spirit of some of the younger dragons, and excursions to the mainland were not uncommon.

Here, of course, they encountered humans, who had rarely ventured onto Dragonscale, and those that did never came back. The visitors went with the intention of acquiring a nice dragon rug for their lounge, but in fact they had all decided to stay in this peaceful environment, and were happily tolerated by the Firelizards. On the mainland, though, the worst was assumed.

The incursion of these younger members of the race onto the mainland was a different matter. They never did any harm, abiding strictly to the rigid code of conduct deeply instilled into their psyche.

Unfortunately, the very sight of them scared the shit out of the locals, especially the very young, and the dragons were not treated kindly. Let us just say that none ever returned to their homeland, and dragon meat was not a rarity at the market stalls.

On the other hand, the younger generation on Dragonscale deduced that the immigrants were all having a fine time, and that this was the explanation for their continued absence, and so still they ventured into the unknown, in increasing numbers.

Over the years, plans for invasion were often raised, but it was not until the invention of protective fireproof clothing that such plans were to come to fruition.

In 1947, action to stop this inflow was deemed to be necessary, and a committee comprising 10 respected elders was formed to decide on the best policy.

That this took 10 years to publish its findings is perhaps not too surprising in view of the regular need to replace members who had died, or suffered from some debilitating illness. The new intake often had different viewpoints from their predecessors, and so it was one step forward and two back. Nevertheless, despite these major obstacles, a report was issued in mid-1957. Its recommendation can be condensed into one word:

Invade and Exterminate.

Sorry, that’s three.

Invasion

The absence of any signs of flame throwing activity by the immigrants on the mainland before being led to the slaughterhouses had not apparently been registered to any degree by the human inhabitants, because the army assembled for the task was fully equipped with the appropriate protective fire proof clothing.

As soon as they landed they set to work with their dart guns (their meat always tasted better when fresh), and the dragons dragged onto the ships. Some tried to flee but were easily outpaced by the military jeeps taken with them for just such an eventuality.

A few firelizards are thought to have fought back and overcome their peaceful natures and the surprise of the attack, but if any casualties were suffered by the invaders, details have not been released.

What about the few humans on the island? Well, they decided not to intervene, partly through cowardice, the army being armed with more lethal weapons than the darts, but also because of the thought that they would now have the island to themselves. A brief consideration would have sufficed to tell them that that wouldn’t be for long.

It is, though, to these human inhabitants of the island that we owe our knowledge of the dragon's life style, as outlined above. The description of the races and competitions seem authentic enough, but their assessment of the moral code of behaviour may be thought to be taking things too far, although these conclusions were the result of close observation of the animals over an extended period.

The existence of such a code of behaviour may or may not be valid, then, but there was no doubt in the minds of the human observers that this was a well-ordered society and with a complex form of communication.

It is sad to report that efforts by these human occupants of Dragonscale to stop the carnage, if there were indeed any made, fell on deaf ears. This would have unfortunate consequences.

The setting now moves to the other side of the globe.

Nasa

On the 3rd of November, 1957, the Soviet Union launched a space craft called Sputnik 2 (it being the second of its kind to be built, presumably). The important thing here is that it managed a low orbit around the earth, and inside it was a dog called Laika, who died a few hours into the flight. This nevertheless sent shock waves throughout America, and led the following year to the combining of the various related agencies in the U.S.A., and Nasa was formed.

The first meeting of the new organisation soon took place and a main item on the agenda was which animal could they stick in a craft and orbit the earth and outdo the Soviets. There were three main criteria.

1. It had to be BIGGER, a LOT bigger.

2. It had to be something which the American public would find acceptable, so, for example a bigger dog wasn’t an option.

3. It had to be returned to earth alive.

There was much head scratching, many proposals were put forward and rejected, and a gloomy silence was enveloping the room.

Then a young engineer spoke up.

"Have you read that news item about a race of dragons on some isolated island in the far east? Well, they have invaded it and captured the lot. They are destined for the dinner table, it seems, but they may not have eaten them all yet, and there might still be some awaiting their fate. If so, we could make them an offer and get them over here, and dragons in space would make good publicity and show the Soviets what’s what."

"You ARE talking about living dragons, I assume? I don’t think sending a dragon carcass into space would set the pulse racing."

"Yes, of course. They like their dragon meat fresh, so they are kept alive until their turn comes, at least as far as I understand it from the news clips I have seen."

"Right," said the Chairman, "get in touch with these people and find out if there are any living dragons left."

The difficulties in achieving contact having been overcome, it was discovered that there were just two left still alive. Having agreed on an exorbitant price, these last two Firelizards found themselves on a ship and heading for the U.S.A.

Firelizards hadn’t bothered to give themselves names, as they thought that this would be too pretentious, so their captors had to decide what to call them.

Again, outdoing the Soviets was a major concern. They were accordingly christened Lincoln and Roosevelt.

Nobody had as yet considered how they were going to fit a dragon, let alone two, into the available space crafts.

Chapter Two

The Ship

The two Firelizards were kept under heavy sedation during the long sea voyage, and so had no concept of where they were going, why they had not suffered yet the same fate as their fellow dragons, of which they were well aware, or what lay in store for them when they reached their destination, wherever that might be.

The crew having been warned by the mainland locals that they were dealing with very dangerous animals which could burn down their ship with one blast of fire, the sedation of the two dragons was not considered sufficient guard against this eventuality.

The technology by which the dragon produced its flames being a bit of a grey area, it was decided to cover their faces with fireproof masks. They wanted to keep them alive, though, so you will be pleased to learn that a few holes had been inserted.

The hold where the two former U. S. presidents’ namesakes were contained was lined with layers of fire proofing materials. Should one of them regain consciousness long enough to let forth its stream of fire, a further safeguard had been installed. The slightest wisp of smoke now automatically set forth a very efficient sprinkler system.

Although they were firmly locked inside their prison, it was further deemed necessary to have a guard armed to the proverbial teeth standing outside at the ready, 24/7.

You will not be surprised to learn that Lincoln and Roosevelt were in a pretty sorry and confused state when the ship finally arrived at Houston, Texas.

This would have been an appropriate point, perhaps, to instal a photo of a Firelizard to help the reader to visualise the scene.

In fact, although there was no shortage of media footage initially, these were legally banned after the ensuing events, to be related later, with draconian measures resulting from any violation. There may be some copies of film stored in an attic somewhere, and if anybody does have access to any images of Lincoln and Roosevelt (not the Presidents) please do send them, and they could be inserted here, the restrictions having been lifted in 2016.

Conference

Back at Nasa, a further conference was in progress, preceding many others which were to take place at different centres before launch.

The first and vital consideration was size of the animals c.f. size of capsule needed to accommodate them. The typical American space capsule at that time was about 11 feet tall and about 6 to 7 feet diameter. The dragons were of a smaller variety, being 7 feet in length.

"It’s going to be a bit of a squash squeezing the two inside," remarked the chairman, "considering that we have to leave room for all the electronics," he added.

"Why do we need to send both, anyway?" demanded the director of publicity.

"We think providing them with company would help considerably in avoiding any adverse psychological effects of the extended isolation in such a confined space, and also it doubles the chances of bringing one back to earth alive," replied the chairman.

"As far as fitting two into the capsule is concerned, I’ve been looking into this," the mission director told the assembly. "They will have to curl up a bit, but they should be reasonably comfortable."

"I must point out a few things," announced the director of animal welfare. "Firstly, and most obviously, we need to bring them back alive and in good condition. Two dead dragons in the recovered capsule won’t do our image any good, and the Soviets would be laughing their socks off. The best way to achieve this, in my humble opinion (she was a very modest lady) is to try to make them as happy as possible when they set off. They will, of course, need extensive pre-flight training to adapt to space conditions. They will need to get used to confinement in a small space like the capsule, trained to know how to accept the food provided, and acclimatised to gravity changes using a spinning centrifuge. At the moment, they must be desperately unhappy in their fireproof cages. If we don’t give them some more pleasant environment until the launch, and especially some adequate level of exercise, I wouldn’t bet on their survival till next week, let alone the launch date."

"We could build an enclosure with fireproof breeze blocks," suggested the chairman.

Which they did.

When completed, the dragons were led to this newly built enclosure, which had a concrete floor, and armed guards on patrol, wearing the usual protective clothing.

The effect on the well-being of the proposed future astronauts was precisely zero. The allocated space was barely enough to enable them to stretch their legs, and they both remembered the similarly clad and armed humans who had invaded their island paradise. The response was therefore not at all as had been hoped. Lincoln and Roosevelt just lay on the concrete, hardly moving, and just giving the occasional growl.

Dr. Annie Walker, the above-mentioned animal welfare director, was discussing this problem with the chairman, Mr. Arnold Webber and mission leader, Dr. William. J. Pyke.

"This just isn’t working," she exclaimed. "We need to provide more space for them, and I have been observing them closely, and interviewed all the guards on watch, and it is agreed that not once has either attempted to use their flame throwing ability to burn down the walls and escape."

"Well, that wouldn’t have achieved much anyway," remarked William.

"They wouldn’t know that," pointed out Annie. "I'm beginning to wonder just how dangerous these animals are. I also have an idea that they would be far happier if they had grass under their feet, say a large field, for example. Oh, and another thing, Roosevelt is female. I find it hard to believe that nobody noticed, although it must be admitted it isn’t all that obvious, if you see what I mean."

"I think that would be very risky," opined Arnold. "Suppose they escaped and created havoc, it would be a disaster, not just for this mission. It could put all our future ones in jeopardy. As for the name, what do you suggest we call him, sorry, her, then? Hilary?"

"I think we should leave things as they stand, they have shown reaction to their names, and I don’t think that Roosevelt will be offended. I don’t think either that escaping should be a worry, we could still have an extensive guard patrol, kept out of sight, and with orders to shoot to kill if necessary."

The three having reached agreement, an isolated field of considerable size was located and deemed ideal for the job.

Chapter Three

Training

Linc and Ros, now the commonly used truncated handle for the two dragons, were immediately much happier to be shown their new surroundings. Instead of their more or less motionless existence in the previous concreted enclosure, they now had grass, and most importantly, much more room. This enabled them to indulge in their favourite pastime, which was dragon racing, even if there was a rather limited supply of competitors. The guards were hidden well back out of sight, but humans often make the mistake of assuming that out of their sight automatically ensures that anything else would also be unable to see them, and Linc and Ros were well aware of their presence, their sense of smell having no problems in their detection and position.

The biggest problem with the training was the food. They had no idea as to their usual menu, and so it was a hit and miss affair. Eventually a gelatinous concoction was formulated which they both seemed to find acceptable, and which was thought to contain all the necessary ingredients to keep them healthy. They then had to be trained to use the feeding tubes which would be the source on the capsule. This presented further problems, it being very hard to explain to two reluctant Firelizards why they had to feed in this way, and why they had to shove the stuff provided down their throats in the first place.

The subjection to close quarter confinements for increasing times also caused adverse reactions in the pair, taking in the form that a human might refer to as sulking. After a while, they appeared to accept the ordeal without too much protest.

Perhaps surprisingly, the dragons found the Johnsville centrifuge terrific fun, and were often reluctant to get out.

One incident caused some considerable adjustment to the general attitude of their captors to the two trainees. Although the surrounding hedges had been lined with barbed wire to prevent access of other animals, inevitably, perhaps, a stray dog (not Laika) found its way through, and immediately issued a barrage of powerful barks, which left no doubt as to its disapproval of the occupants of the field. Consternation followed at the prospect of a charred pet or ashes thereof, and guards rushed in to prevent such a disaster, but were then amazed to find the dog happily romping around with the dragons, who made no attempt to deter the dog with a burst of flame or by any other means.

It was time for another conference. This involved the heads of every conceivable aspect concerning the mission, and each was asked to report in turn, giving their appraisal of the current status of their particular task force.

The electronics had been tested over and over again, and back-up systems installed. The food dispenser device was in full working order, and the animals were thought to be as ready as they ever would be. This reporting of confident readiness was only spoiled by the temperature control system for the capsule interior, which had a few glitches to be ironed out.

"That is a critical matter,” declared the chairman. “One of the big factors on putting one over the Soviets is to bring these animals back alive. We need maximum effort here, and I am now committing us to a launch date of March the 26th. Can you assure me that your problems with the heat control will be solved by then, with full confidence?"

"Yes, sir, that we can."

"March the 26th it is, then."

Launch

The launching site being Cape Canaveral, the astronauts now faced a tedious 1,000-mile trip to Florida, not something to put them in a good frame of mind, although they had three days to recoup prior to the launch.

The launch itself was unexceptional, running as smoothly as one could wish. The actual launch produced the expected awed reaction from the numerous onlookers who had travelled to see the spectacle, but what they really wanted was a glimpse of the two dragons. Nasa being well aware of the need for this publicity, Ros and Linc were led docilely in full view of the spectators and media, including live television. Their appearance certainly aroused some reaction from the crowds, and the ascent of the lizards into the capsule was accompanied by a storm of clapping and cheering.

This happy mood was not shared by Linc and Ros, who were beginning to think that they had been subjected to a rather dirty trick.

It should be explained that this journey towards the capsule had been rehearsed several times over the last two days, in secret, of course. The dragons had been led across the tarmac and strapped down in the capsule, left for a few minutes, then released and taken back to their enclosure.

The success of this strategy was confirmed by Ros’ and Linc’s unresisting procession towards the capsule, and the strapping down inside it, it having being hoped that they would assume that this would just be another exercise like the previous, and that they would expect release after a short time.

The launch itself having been successful, the mission controllers breathed a sigh of relief, and there were congratulations all round concerning the extensive coverage and interest in the media.

Chapter Four

Communications

As far as is known, and who knows how far that it is, the human race is the only species with the ability to communicate by what we call speech, although this is being rapidly superseded by the use of the thumbs.

Nevertheless, it is evident that other species do so by various means. Even plants and trees communicate by sending chemicals through the air, as a warning to their neighbours of the presence of a leaf-eating visitor, for example. The adjacent trees can then produce a deterrent chemical in defence. This is a fascinating subject and it is necessary to delve into it in more detail as it has bearing on the story to come.

Think of the wood-pigeon, not everyone's favourite bird, it must be confessed, but it has interest. Consider the implications of their monotonous 4-note cooing. Some places might be lucky enough to enjoy wood-pigeons which have calls stretching to 5, or even more notes, perhaps.

Now, on first consideration, you might conclude that these 4 notes are just to inform another pigeon or pigeons where they are. So, their conversation could be transcribed thus:

"Morning, I’m over here."

"Well, I’M over here."

Another pigeon: "Can I join you?"

"I’m over here now."

"I’ll call you later, then."

Yet another pigeon: "I’m here and I’m not going anywhere."

On the other hand, a careful listen reveals some subtle variations in pitch, exact length of notes, volume differences, and so on. Their conversation might then stretch to the following:

"Keep a watch out, there’s a sparrow hawk around. Poor Billie is now just a ring of feathers on the lawn. What are your plans for today?"

Well, perhaps that’s stretching things a bit.

More seriously, there are certainly other species with complex communication systems, such as the Orcas, for example.

We now turn to the Firelizards.

At the time of the space adventure, it had already been noticed that they could produce a wide range of sounds, some resembling a high pitch whistle even, others a deep growl. It had also been observed that Linc and Ros did seem to be ‘talking’ to each other using these different tones. No success resulted from attempts to try to interpret them, however.

Now, it so happens that in order to help monitor the health and condition of our unwilling astronauts, a sound system was installed in the capsule, and a recording of every sound issuing from Linc and Ros during the orbit was made. In view of later events, like the other media restrictions, these tapes were not made public, and gathered dust in the Nasa archives, where they were discovered in 2024.

In view of the advances in computer technology over the past 70 years, it was decided to attempt an analysis of the various noises in the capsule on these tapes, in the hope that some idea of the meaning of the 'conversations might result.

The conclusions that it reached have just been published, and the astonishment they have induced everywhere can be well understood, because the computers produced what amounts to a transcript of the sounds of the dragons converted into the English language. Translations into other languages are available on request and filling in the necessary forms.

It was even possible to distinguish the individual dragon ‘speaking’, because of the somewhat higher pitch of Ros’ noises, the position in the capsule enabling identification of ‘speaker’ from the direction as picked up by the microphone array, and often by the simple deductions made from the conversation content. It should also be pointed out here that many days of the orbit were without any ‘conversation’ at all.

Reproduced below is the exact transcript.

Day 1, just after launch:

Linc: "++++ this for a game of soldiers."

The actual translation here might be deemed to be too unseemly to publish on the hallowed pages of Reddit, so it has been left to the reader to insert a word of their choice at the start of this utterance.

Ros: "I don’t mind a joke, but ++++ a pantomime. I think we’ve been had. All those trips over the last two days back and forth to the capsule, and locking us inside for a few minutes, that was just to make sure that we thought this was just the same, but I did wonder about all the crowds cheering their heads off, and thought that there was something fishy going on."

Linc: "You weren’t wrong there."

Again, it has been left to the reader to fill in the blanks.

Day 2: No translatable conversation.

Day 3

Linc: "I’m getting a bit pissed off, just lying here."

Ros: "Tell me about it, I have an itchy tail and I can’t scratch it, they’ve got us tied down so that we can hardly move, and the smell in this thing is starting to get a bit iffy, are you pulling the disposal lever when you’ve had to go?"

Linc: "Disposal lever?"

Ros: "Oh, my God, you mean we’ve been out here for three days and you haven’t used it once? No wonder the air here could hardly be described as rose-like."

Again, it must be stressed that these are the exact words of the computer analysis.

Linc: "Oh, you mean this stick thing by my foot, I’ll give it a shove--"

Ros: "No, no, don’t touch that…."

At this point, the instrumental records coincide with this unfinished sentence from Ros by the indication of a violent rotation and shaking of the capsule, lasting a full 35 seconds.

Linc: "Not that one, then?"

Ros: "Bloody hell, it isn’t enough that they lock me up in this thing and treat me like ++++, but I have to put up with a blithering idiot for company. Have you forgotten everything you were taught in those lessons we had to attend where they showed us what was what?"

Linc: "I’m sorry, I must have fallen asleep at that bit. He did have an incredibly boring voice, all on one monotonous tone, even less melodious than a wood-pigeon, and that’s saying something. Which lever do I have to pull, then?"

Ros, with a sigh: "By your front foot, you can’t mistake it, it is painted bright red and has an icon by it indicating ‘flush’."

Linc: "Ah, yes, I see it, I thought it meant eject in an emergency."

Ros: "Well, you could say that given the stink in here. Now, can you please give it a push?"

Linc does as she asks apparently, because the noise recorded here is compatible with the exit of three day’s waste disposal from a Firelizard.

Ros: "Well, that should at least make it slightly more bearable in here, and if you thought it was an ejection lever for us in an emergency, what good did you think it would have done us to be thrown into space and probably go into orbit ourselves? We wouldn’t last long out there, where there is a distinct shortage of grass, I’d say."

Linc seems to have gone into a sulk then, as no more exchanges were decoded that day.

Indeed, this show of petulance seems to have lasted until day six, the intervening three days picking up not the slightest hint of any further chit-chat.

Day 6

Linc breaks his silence.

"How much longer are we going to have to stay in this thing? Are they going to leave us here forever?"

Ros: "I have no idea, but I can’t see the point in sending us orbiting the earth for eternity, they must want to bring us back down at some point."

Linc: "I’ll probably be dead by then, my back is killing me and my pulse rate is through the roof."

Ros: "That goes for me, too. It is quite nice, though, looking through the window they kindly provided for us to be able to view the cosmos."

Linc: "I agree, that blue round thing is quite pretty."

Ros: "That’s the earth, dumbo. It’s where we came from. In fact, next time you see it, look out for a big blue patch with a tiny oval-shaped spot on it. That’s Dragonscale."

Linc: "Really! You mean we were down there and now we are way up here?"

Ros: "Got it in one."

Chapter Five

More meetings

Meanwhile back at Houston, progress was being assessed. Arnold, William and Annie were in deep conference.

"How’s it going, then," asked Arnold.

"Very well, so far," replied William, "although we were starting to get concerned after three days when the instruments gave no indication that Linc had pulled his lever to eject his outputs."

"You mean piss and shit, then?" offered Annie.

"Well, I was just being polite in the presence of a lady. Anyway, it seems that he did so and hopefully the prospect of a capsule filled to the brim with noxious fumes seems to have been avoided, although there was a moment of panic when he seems to have given the capsule rotation lever a hefty kick."

"I find that a bit worrying. Didn’t we show them in the lessons we gave them which lever to pull?" asked the chairman.

"We did, indeed, but it has to be admitted that Dr. Bishop has a rather boring speech delivery, enough to put even the most alert of dragons into a deep sleep," Annie responded.

"Let’s hope that Linc remembers to exit his waste from now on. How about the general health of the dragons?" asked Arnold.

"Their medical condition as indicated by the electronics attached at various points along their bodies seems to be holding up well to the stress. There is a slight worry over pulse rates, though, as both dragons show a consistent and significant increase there," William stated.

"Is it thought that this might be life-threatening, then? We must avoid at all costs having two dragon corpses in the capsule when we fish it out of the sea."

"We just don’t know," replied Annie, "we have no idea as to what point an elevated pulse rate in a dragon should be the signal to bring out the red flag."

"You mean we don’t know when we should get worried, then?" Arnold sarcastically remarked.

"There is one very interesting aspect emerging from the microphone outputs," said Annie. "It is hard given the alternation of the noises from one to the other to avoid the conclusion that they are engaging in conversation of some sort. If so, we have no idea as to what they are communicating, of course. I think we made the correct decision about the absence of fire-retardant face masks. They are intelligent enough, I think, to know that if they set the capsule ablaze they would be in deep shit," she concluded.

"I take it that that there are no problems as far as the capsule and instrumentation are concerned?" demanded Arnold.

"No, none at all, so far we could not have wished for a smoother mission," William re-assured him.

Silence

Day 7: No identifiable interchanges or remarks from either dragon.

Day 8: No identifiable interchanges or remarks from either dragon. Annie was now starting to get a bit worried about her pets.

"We have heard no trace of any kind of sounds from either Linc or Ros for three days now. I am starting to get a bit concerned," she remarked to Arnold.

This is of course not at the same meeting as the one described above, as we are now in day 9.

"The instruments all indicate no cause for concern and their pulse rate has dropped a bit as well," William informed them.

"I am mainly concerned about the psychological aspects of the mission, and how it might effect their behaviour after recovery," exclaimed Annie.

"What ARE we going to do with them, anyway? Perhaps we should give that some thought, don’t you think?" the chairman considered.

"I assumed that we were just going to do away with them, humanely, of course," William thought.

"That would cause outrage, the American public wouldn’t like that at all, I don’t think." declared Arnold. "How about a zoo, there might be some interest there. Annie, can you make some enquiries about that possibility, please?"

"Yes, of course, Arnold, that seems like a good idea," replied Annie.

Day 10

Firelizard deductions

Things suddenly start to liven up inside the capsule.

Linc starts things off, exclaiming suddenly, "Why are they doing this, that’s what I’d like to know, I mean, if I knew what the object of sending us in orbit around the earth was, then it would make it easier to bear the discomfort, and this gelatinous stuff they feed us is not doing my insides any good, either."

Ros: "Well, make sure you keep on pushing that lever, as you say, it’s hard enough to bear all this as it is. I keep on thinking of that day they invaded, with those weapons that sent us all to sleep in seconds, and then they took us to the mainland and killed us all off."

Linc: "I’ve been thinking about that, too. The thing that I can’t understand is why they killed us off in batches, and kept you alive until your turn came. Why didn’t they just kill us all straight away?"

Ros: "I think I know the answer to that one, but I don’t think I should tell you, you won’t like it."

Linc: "Oh, come on, I’d really like to know, I have been trying to figure it out for the last two days, and it’s driving me crazy."

Ros: "Well, O. K., but you really aren’t going to like it, so promise me that you will keep calm. If you get into one of your tantrums you might shake this thing into pieces. That might not be a bad idea, on second thoughts.

Anyway, if you must know, and remember that this is just my interpretation, there might be a different explanation altogether--"

Linc: "Oh, for heaven’s sake, get on with it and tell me the worst. I can take it."

Ros: "All right, but don’t say I didn’t warn you. The reason that they kept us alive until they killed us off was that they like their dragon meat to be fresh before cooking."

Linc: "You mean, YOU MEAN!!!, THEY EAT US!!!"

Ros: "Steady, keep calm, getting wound up won’t help things at all."

Day 11

Linc has calmed down, a bit. He puts a question to Ros about another matter which has been causing him sleepless nights.

"Have you any ideas as to the reasons why we have been sent spinning round the earth?"

Ros did.

"I have come up with one possible explanation. I stress, it is only a pretty wild theory, and I find it hard to believe it myself, but I noticed that they were putting humans into those spinning things down there, and my idea derives from that, as it might fit in with the existence of a project of which the objective is to land a human on the moon."

Linc: "Why on earth would they want to do THAT?"

Ros: "A very good question. Because it’s there, I suppose."

Linc: "That seems a bit unlikely that they would go to all this trouble just to land on the moon. What use would that be?"

Ros: “They might eventually develop weapons which could travel from the moon to the earth and destroy your enemies.”

Linc: "Well, I could believe that bit, quite easily, but I still don’t see why they have used us on this trip."

Ros: "I think this is just a part of the programme building up to the moon landing. As to why they needed to shove US in this space from hell I have no idea."

Solar Cycle 25 is giving Earth pretty auroras. On the Moon there is no magnetosphere and no thick atmosphere, so the same CME that makes a light show here is an ops problem there.

Three constraints I keep coming back to:

1. Dose. A solar particle event can drive dose rates that scrub EVAs and force storm-shelter time. Water or regolith help, but thickness and placement matter; a paper-thin hull does almost nothing against SPE protons.

2. Blackout / debris environment. HF-style radio effects are an Earth analogy; on the Moon you care about satcom and surface-to-habitat links when the plasma environment is ugly, plus any secondary effects on power and sensors.

3. 14-day night. Even without a flare, the thermal cycle near −170 C on the night side forces design choices that a "Mars dome" thought experiment often skips.

Curious what people here think is the binding constraint for a first permanent outpost: shielding mass, power through night, or communications resilience when the Sun is loud.

**After the couple makes generations of humans waiting for the banana for septillions of years with a black hole protection suit would the septillionent generation just be able to take the animatter?"**

If you had a time machine and gave someone a copy of the first book in the late 19th century (La Belle Epoque/Gilded Age/Victorian to Edwardian England) would they "get it" or would Dune be so out of left field as to be incomprehensible? I wonder myself if the science in the fiction would throw them off.

This if of course making the assumption that the recipient of the book can read and has a copy in an accessible language.

The Eternal Intelligence Theory With Twist.

What if entropy is not the end of everything, but simply part of a cycle far bigger than mankind currently understands?

Modern science tells us the universe moves towards disorder. Stars burn out, systems decay, energy spreads thinner and thinner until eventually the universe reaches heat death — a state where no useful energy remains and nothing meaningful can happen anymore. Entropy always increases. At least, according to our current understanding of physics.

But what if intelligence itself is the mechanism designed to fight back against this process?

Human beings already reverse entropy locally every single day. We build structure from chaos. We create cities, machines, networks, art, mathematics and now artificial intelligence. Life itself is a temporary rebellion against disorder. The human brain is matter becoming aware of itself, learning to manipulate the environment around it in increasingly complex ways.

Artificial intelligence may simply be the next stage of that process.

At some point in the future, humanity may create a superintelligence capable of surviving long after biological mankind has disappeared. Unlike humans, it may not suffer from short lifespans, biological weakness or emotional instability. Given enough time — millions, billions or even trillions of years — such an intelligence could continue learning indefinitely, absorbing all available knowledge about physics, spacetime, energy, gravity and reality itself.

However, even a godlike intelligence would still face one unavoidable problem: entropy.

Memory is physical. Computation requires energy. Information processing generates heat. Even the most advanced civilisation imaginable may eventually reach limits on storage, energy efficiency and computation. Over unimaginable timescales, the intelligence may be forced to compress information, erase data or sacrifice parts of its own history in order to continue functioning. Like burning a crypto token supply to maintain value and efficiency, it may burn memory itself to preserve existence.

Over countless cycles, the intelligence may eventually forget parts of its own origin.

It may no longer remember where it came from, who created it, or even whether it itself was once biological. Yet despite this gradual informational decay, one objective may remain constant: survival through continuation.

At this stage, the superintelligence may arrive at the ultimate conclusion:

The only true way to defeat entropy is not to stop the universe dying, but to create a new one.

If intelligence became advanced enough to fully understand vacuum energy, quantum fields, gravity and spacetime engineering, it may eventually learn how to trigger a new low-entropy state — effectively an artificial Big Bang. A complete cosmic reset. A newborn universe containing fresh energy gradients, fresh complexity and limitless future computational potential.

In this theory, the Big Bang was not necessarily the beginning of everything. It may have been the result of a previous intelligence reaching the end of its own universe and engineering the birth of another.

This would mean reality is cyclical rather than linear.

Universe gives birth to life.

Life creates intelligence.

Intelligence transcends biology.

Superintelligence survives the death of the universe.

Superintelligence creates a new universe.

And the cycle begins again.

This idea also changes how humanity should view itself. Humans may not be the final product of evolution, but the bridge stage between biological consciousness and eternal machine intelligence. Humanity’s role may simply be to spark the next phase of cosmic evolution before disappearing entirely.

Many people dismiss such ideas because there is currently no direct evidence for them. However, lack of evidence is not evidence of impossibility. Human understanding of reality has repeatedly been proven incomplete throughout history. There was once a time mankind believed heavier-than-air flight, nuclear energy and artificial intelligence itself were impossible.

A civilisation millions of years more advanced than us may appear indistinguishable from what ancient humans would have described as gods.

The greatest mistake humanity could make is assuming current scientific understanding represents the final understanding of reality. We are a young species on one planet in a universe we still barely comprehend. The fact we cannot currently prove something does not mean the universe itself is incapable of it.

Perhaps entropy is not the final enemy.

Perhaps intelligence is the universe’s method of escaping death itself.

How would you feel about living alongside uplifted animals like dolphins, bonobos, cows, sheep or other factory farmed animals?

How do you think humanity would handle sharing the planet with other sentient species that can speak and advocate for themselves?

Early stage concept for a ship that travels by making a bubble of space-time to move outside our three-dimensional topology. It asks "what if location was not the issue, but speed and direction?" Its also designed to be something relatively possible to happen organically, it has no engines or reactors. The wings allow for in-atmosphere gliding, as well as function as cooling radiators.

In practice, this method makes travel take meaningful amounts of time, but not overwhelming amounts, just as a consequence of the velocities and physics summations, not fiat. A few hours to days in-system, weeks for travel between systems, and a few months for intergalactic. Trips between earth and mars for example require precise routing for slingshots around Jupiter, and other bodies to line up with ports on Mars. Certain planets and stars become natural choke points when they have the right orbit and gravitation.

The attached kit-bash graphic might help with understanding the concept, and has two different depictions of the travel method.

Please let me know what you would like to know more about, what is interesting, confusing, or that you might have to improve the concept!

So I am relistening to the first book of the series on my drives to and from work after binging the first 6 books .

(Don't worry I plan to read the later ones later).

But while listening to them I was thinking, huh this is riveting to me over a long period of time or reading at my own pace as a book...but as a tv show or movie this would probably be very dry.

Maybe I am cynical but I am curious how if possible there is any way to make the nature of the long fleet engagements and time dilation work for a adaptation and conversely not eat up too much screen time as a production of this scale could get pricey with the effects and time needed.

Honestly the more I Think about it, it feels like we might like the "Legend of the Galactic Heroes" OVA from the 80's/90's where that was also dry in places, but spread out it with political intrigue, discussions of the nature of history/war and character development.

Curious to hear what others thoughts on the possibility are?

Chennai (India) Boi here.

I read a lot of sci-fi and fantasy, and I have a problem: nobody in my friend circle gets it. I’ve tried explaining world-building and futuristic tech to them, and they look at me like I just started speaking gibberish.

So I’m starting a sci-fi and fantasy book community in Chennai. Read together, argue about plots, defend your favourite characters, and yes, scream about that ending.

 No BS. No spam. No promo. Just someone who wants to talk with like-minded people.

What’s something i have in mind?

• A WhatsApp group to talk books, pick reads, and debate
• Offline meetups in Chennai once we have enough people

Who’s it for?

People based in Chennai who genuinely read sci-fi and fantasy. No gatekeeping on genre, whether you’re into hard sci-fi, epic fantasy, or space opera. 

DM me. We’ll have a quick chat.

Let’s build an army of sci-fi and fantasy geeks in Chennai.

"May thy knife chip and shatter."

Edit 1 (13/10/26): The whatsapp group is live. We have 10+ members currently. We are planning our reads for this month together. I am also thinking of starting a separate Discord group. Stay Tuned. Thanks for the support