Rocket Science: Chapter 5 – A candle and the shadow

Dan Wild

Previous Chapter A rising hum passed through his entire range of hearing, like the proposed Ravel-Class Dreamliner lulling passengers to sleep. He had a sudden vision that maybe he should have done Flight Attendancy. Bags flashed through his mind: leather bags, suitcases, knapsacks, pouches, rucksacks, backpacks, bumbags, plastic bags, swags, beanbags, handbags. He saw every …

Rocket Science: Chapter 4 – Update the PriMate

Dan Wild

Previous Chapter The PriMate tried its best analysing Chuck Marley, but he hadn’t installed the recent updates. In fact he hadn’t updated it in quite some time. His room was stuffy, and dietary feedback had been deactivated. Marley’s attempt at biophysical independence had backfired. His shower sprayed him with a bodywash that was perfect for …

Rocket Science: Chapter 3 – Procrastinating at the bar

Dan Wild

Previous chapter Marley lifted his head from the desk and looked around the library. It was mid-evening and buzzing with students. He collected his laser stylus and fold-up tablet, or flablet, and headed to the Quasar Bar to spend money and time. Marley didn’t drink unless there was someone to drink with him. At the …

Rocket Science: Chapter 2 – A haircut, red dust and Octomaids

Dan Wild

Previous Chapter Marley had not taken Interspecies Liaison seriously. Presentation was important, so the first requirement – have a haircut. He recalled his visit to the Bad Ends. The hairdresser had asked, “Do you want to look like him?” He pointed to a picture of Frisky Benjamin, the famous C-grade actor. And the haircut was …

Rocket Science: Tales from the Orion Arm

Dan Wild

Chapter 1 – The Omniverse The Multiverse was in a particularly bad mood when it first noticed Chuck Marley. It had just snacked on Y77, a small test universe on the fringes of imagination. Y77 was a failed universe and the Multiverse decided to eat it and start again. However, the ingestion of Y77 left …

Percy the Pianist: Canto 1, stanzas 51-69

Dan Wild

Previous.. Invocatio:    To its own substance; woven tracery ran Of light firm texture, ribbed and branching, o’er    The solid rind, like a leaf’s veined fan— Of which Love scooped this boat—and with soft motion Piloted it round the circumfluous Ocean.       –Percy Bysshe Shelley, The Witch of Atlas, XXXIII, 308 51The bath continued… The river Lethe …

Percy the Pianist: Canto 1, stanzas 31-41

Dan Wild

Previous.. 31Half a day before the gathering stormRose Percy, not Percival of Wagner’sDour overture, based on the French wormOf Tours – these were really snaky nagas,Like an open pack of Lady gagasBought from a small Chinese tobacconistThat sells everything except hate. No ragasWould be played today, nor would F. LizstBe taken out of the stool …

Percy the Pianist: Canto I, stanzas 21-30

Dan Wild

Stanzas 1-20 21Next eve the band Toucani reconvened,A final chance to demonstrate the planTo put on stage was sound. Absent a fiendOr devilish surprise, the piano manPercy was full prepared, the billy canOf his musical ideas ready to overflow.He was not going to AfghanistanTo liberate or command, althoughHis nerves seemed to say that this was …

Cosmogony 67: the Zentrians

Dan Wild

It is believed the Zentrians tie in with the multiverse theory, although no one has been able to prove this. Indeed, there is no scientific proof that the Zentrians even exist. Whether they are a race, an entity or a collection of spiritual beings is pure conjecture. The favoured explanation of conspiracy theorists is that …

Cosmogony 766: Bad Ends

Dan Wild

Seventy kilometres north of Crete 581d’s capital, Reticulum, lie the Bad Ends. Most citizens avoid the Bad Ends. The Bad Ends became bad when Phineas Guthrie founded Conscious Follicles. Since then, hairdressing has often had links to organised crime. Jeremiah Kibbles moved into the area soon after, starting his business at the back of a …