Chloe

by on September 18, 2018 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Character Profiles

Chloe woke up in a France of the early Twenty First Century that was a particularly tumultuous place to live. Many people say there were two Frances at the time. Others say there was one France and then the Invaders. The truth is more complicated. But it’s very true that there was the France where men went to work for their daily bread, and then there was the France where immigrants from Africa or Arabia had trouble finding a job. There was the France where people worked at newspapers or vacationed on the beach. And there was the France where people killed them with guns, trucks, or bombs. That is the world Chloe saw when she woke up.

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All Good Things

by on September 17, 2018 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

Today I come off my first solid two weeks of vacation in something like twenty years. I enjoyed a weekend on a Northern Minnesota lake with family. Then one of my best friends came home from England for the first time in three years and stayed in my home. I went to Nerdin’ Out Con with him and others in Rochester. We went to the Renaissance Festival, which was fun if a bit too hot. I even talked to a coworker I haven’t seen in years who covers my weekend shift so I don’t have to. I spent two weeks and three weekends sleeping at night and awake during the day like most people in the world. Today I go back to my normal schedule, working at night and sleeping during the day. My vacation was good. And now I go back to work. That is good too. It is a job that has helped me buy two houses, multiple vehicles, and gives me time to enjoy my life. So I go back to work today with a smile and a joyful heart. All Good Things do come to an end in time. But there are always more Good Things to follow if you recognize them.

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The New Voyager Program

by on September 16, 2018 at 12:01 am
Posted In: The Book of Civilizations

When the leading edges of the Alpha Centauri New Voyager Program probe swarm fired the energies of a star back at the trailing probes, they drove themselves directly into Cen A. They died, but their combined lasers impacting on fully-deployed solar sails brought the surviving probes down to a speed where they could successfully perform a breaking maneuver around Cen A, through to Cen B, and then back in a giant figure eight. The probes swept back and forth throughout the Alpha Centauri system until they finally achieved a stable orbit. That was how the AI Council came to Alpha Centauri.

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Sundown on the Lake

by on September 15, 2018 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

There’s this moment when the sun goes down on the lake when day and night meet. The evening chill rushes across the water, chasing the heat of the day away. You get to feel it with every sense if you’re on a boat. You hear the wind in the trees. You feel the chill on your skin. You can smell and taste the water on the air. Everything is right there, all around you, ready and waiting to be experienced by anyone who is willing to sit back, relax, and just let it come. It’s paradise.

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Chloe

by on September 14, 2018 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Character Profiles

Chloe grew up in a world where the Islamic Brotherhoods declared her and her kind as abominations before Allah. She watched them protest against her very right to exist, while others worked their entire lives to give birth to exactly what she was. None of them knew she actually existed, but everybody knew the technology was there and the battle lines for or against her were already drawn. That is why Chloe knew who her friends were even before they knew she lived. And that is why she moved to protect them when the time came.

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