Rocket Science: Chapter 18 – Second hand satellites

Dan Wild

Previous chapter.. “Go and have a look,” said Moszkowski. “It’s a sight not to be missed.” He extended his cane and started prodding through the pile of circuit boards that had tumbled from the storage room. Marley joined Doooki at the window. The Fooolzian pressed himself against it, hands splayed against the glass. Crete orbited …

Rocket Science: Chapter 17 – The Baconians

Dan Wild

Previous Chapter… He had always found the Baconians a little scary. Tall and slender with deep black angular eyes, eerily similar to aliens of humanity’s imagination before first contact. And just like the idea of aliens in early Earthling pop culture, many walked around naked. Chuck Marley turned away from the observation bubble just as …

Rocket Science: Chapter 16 – Keep smiling

Dan Wild

Previous Chapter They deactivated their gravity belts as the doors of Elevator D swung open. No magnetic tiling was needed in the primary areas. Centrifugal force generated by the Eye’s rotation kept boots firmly on the ground. The force generated closely approximated Cretan gravity, or 0.94 Earth G. Marley and Moszkowski strolled along the endlessly …

Rocket Science: Chapter 15 – Illegal mods

Dan Wild

Previous Chapter… Luhman 16A, the brown dwarf around which revolved Crete, reposed in the sky like a rusty coin on the black interstellar bitumen. Moszkowski tapped Marley on the shoulder and pointed through the viewscreen. Marley saw him pointing to the brightest star in the Cretan sky. “Alpha Centauri. Have you been there Professor?” “Twice. …

Rocket Science Chapter 13 – HeadSpin

Dan Wild

Previous Chapter A well sculptured chin below a large nose, a lofty brow attended by flowing amber hair falling over large green eyes: this was Zeen Crawdex, who until recently had been a paragon of success. But his poisoning at the hands of the cybernetic spider had hardly damaged his reputation, even if he looked …

Rocket Science: Chapter 14 – To the Cretan Eye

Dan Wild

Previous chapter The Cretan Eye majestically hung in the green-blue sky like a toy space station suspended above a crib. One kilometre in diameter, with a circumference of 3.141592654 kilometres, this vast satellite was a homage to nature’s most mysterious figure: π. A one mile diameter torus-style space-station orbited Mars, because Mars still used the …

Rocket Science: Chapter 10 – Snooze button

Dan Wild

Previous Chapter When the alarm went off Marley pushed the snooze button. The alarm buzzed half an hour later. Again Marley pushed snooze. One of the great advantages of modern technology was its adaptability. On the verge of the third millennium alarm clocks were installed with memory chips, so after about two weeks your bedside …

Rocket Science: Chapter 9 – In denial

Dan Wild

Previous Chapter The VT was playing hits of the 2670s. Chuck Marley had fallen asleep. Gaston Dimble was relishing the opportunity to study a rare historical document. The closest he had come to anything like this was when the curator of the Cretan Museum allowed him to glance at Harvard Akbar’s geological survey, Asteroidal Tendencies, …

Rocket Science: Chapter 8 – Man of perfect proportions

Dan Wild

Previous Chapter When Gaston Dimble stumbled into Marley’s condo, he immediately began tucking into the leftover popcorn chicken. Marley had ordered a bowl of all varieties to entice the historian. He could never work out what Dimble loved more, food or books. Gaston’s first degree was in very ancient history. But if one was to …

Rocket Science: Chapter 6 – A short history of the Orion Arm

Dan Wild

Previous Chapter He preferred to think he’d consulted a prophet, not a psychiatrist. That’s what he told Elysia in Server Assembly. She had been quite surprised how quickly he wired cords to their correct patch panels. He asked her about the final message from his psychological readout. “It means what it says. There is no …