I like Speculative Fiction and I write tidbits and such. Here are some of my light-hearted creations for fun...Something to read.

What if Life as we know it is not Life as it really is?
For a moment, consider this:
Life may be a planetary force that is a single lifeform and all the plants, animals and germs are part of that as a whole instead of individual life forms.
What we think of as separate individuals are really nothing more than manifestations of a single living thing.

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Considering that we are within the Universe and we think, feel and dream, Isn't it likely that the Universe thinks, feels and dreams? Is it aware of our sentience even tho we are not aware of its? I'm 53 Solar Cycles but the Universe is 14 billion years old or more. Given that much time and the uncertainty of Chaos, the Universe could be the supreme intelligent life form. All other life within it is just a manifestation of itself.

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I stepped on the transportation plate as indicated and suddenly felt queasy. I watched in wonder as the outside world shifted and morphed until it stabilized to a surreal setting with vibrant colors and deep hues. The people at the control panel were replaced with creatures resembling octopi with fluid-like protrusions erupting from its gelatenous main body.
One of them struck me with a green glob of puss from one of those protrusions and I could suddenly read and understand their language. The largest creature gurgled and I instantly knew he said, "Welcome to the Sertise Cluster. Please remain still for a moment more"

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The Alien ship appeared in the center of the armada, pulsed once and disappeared again. I watched the horror unfold as the pulse radiated thru the fleet, jamming my control stick into a vertical dive to purchase safety from it.
The pulse passed thru the immediate ships effortlessly and continued out in a blossom of death. I watched in sadness as each ship slowly dissolved into atomic dust. The few ships that were able to maneuver from the horizontal radius of it streamed off in all directions like a swarm of bees.
There were some remaining ships that only partially escaped and they were dissolved in all manner of ways. Half-dissolved panels and structures littered space along with partially dissolved people.
The weapon they used was indefensible. It was some type of pulsing wave that destabilizes the atomic bonds that hold atoms together. Its edge cuts like a knife and the pulse wave scatters the elements that made the matter like a blast wave.
The only saving grace is that it radiates outward on a plane similar to a ripple in a pond and is only about a kilometer wide and dissipates in less than a minute. The biggest fear is we have no idea how to track the alien ships and the pulse recharge time is unknown.
Too small of an effect to endanger Earth but it would certainly split the moon.
Was this a small weapon or their largest?
Who are they and where are they from?
Are they heading for our Sol System?
Is there a defensive strategy?
How do we track their ships?
Too many questions, Too much death and destruction and this is but our first contact.

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The Stove watched us from afar for a thousand years. Learning us, our habits, our languages and our biology. They arrived last week, two of them in their little ship just large enough to fit them.
I was chosen as part of the welcoming committee because of my cancer. Given less than a week to live, I was prepped and instructed by the world's leading scientists to make first contact.
The Stove were extremely strange looking. Nicknamed the Black C's, because they resembled tall black letter C's. About 3 feet wide and over 9 feet tall they sluffed about on their bottoms by some unseen locomotive force.

As we met I could clearly see some type of writing in their midsection. Not a plaque or a uniform, the writing seemed to emboss out of their bodies in a brilliant yellow glow. As we grew closer I read the writing, It was English and it said "We Are Stove"
The smaller Stove approached me and the writing changed to "Heal"
It touched me and I immediately felt a warm flow fill my body. As it radiated rapidly thru me I felt overwhelmed with vitality. My vision went white and flashed back to normal. The entire sensation lasted but a few moments but the result left me feeling strong and healthy.
The writing changed again "Healed"

At that moment the larger Stove approached me as it's writing morphed into "....to be continued...

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History will write that it was Mankind's first megastructure.
Poets and singers will tell the tale of the world's first cultural union.
People will forget the significance and accept it as a normal condition.
It's really quite remarkable...

The Filament is what its called.
Covering the entire planet is a tiny web of conductive nano structure mesh.
It absorbs energy in all forms. From sunlight to movement. Storing the energy within itself.
Energy that can be tapped with a simple RF-type signal.

No more fossil fuel, no more wind turbines, solar panels, batteries or power plants. No more wires, fuel tanks or collectors. No condensers or amplifiers and most important, no maintenance required.
At the sea floor, in the deepest trench to the highest peak of a mountain. A continual covering, absorbing, gathering and releasing. Stretching and growing along our changing planet surface.

Signal range is roughly 9 miles into the air. Abundant, FREE energy.

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Ketchup - Who Knew?

Back in the early years of the 21st Century mankind was helpless against the effects of cosmic rays.
All until a simple space accident by hungry astronaut.

Randy Boudir haphazardly sprayed a packet of Ketchup onto a cosmic ray detector in the old ISS.
He hurriedly commenced to clean up that awful red mess from the sensor and noticed it had stopped registering any cosmic rays. As he wiped the mess away, the detector once again started spurting forth data.
On a hunch, Randy spread more ketchup onto the detector and it went eerily silent again. A simple swipe confirmed his discovery.

Next time you take your trip to one of the outer planets just remember that its only a thin film of ketchup that protects you from a relentless shower of deadly cosmic rays.

Thanx Randy!

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PPBs
Personal Plastic Bottles

Nobody remembers how this got started but it is a mega world-wide business now.

It seems humans have adopted a need to carry around their own personal plastic bottle. Some are filled with liquid, some with material and some are empty but everyone carries one.
About the size of a standard 16oz drink bottle they range in color and contents to match each person's personal preference. It's kinda like those old cell phones everyone had to have. I guess when the ocular implants became the communication mainstay they opted for something else to carry around.

I have my own PPB (who doesn't) but it's just not that important for me to always have it in my possession. I've seen people really freak out if they misplace theirs.

Silly Humans...

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Deep within the Earth's crust there are a series of fabricated shells of super density. Our hardest drill bits have no bite on that mysterious substance.
It wasn't until the late 21st Century that we discovered the true nature of these constructs.

During the early days of life on this planet all life was anaerobic. These life forms exhaled oxygen and polluted the atmosphere making it deadly to them. They moved underground to escape the hostile oxygen levels.
Over the eons these life forms became sentient and grew. Their scientists mastered the elements and created these huge shells as an airless habitat so they could flourish.
Three Billion Years of evolution resulted in a lifeform that is superior to the surface dwellers in every way.

Now, They want their planet back...

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Panel Training

The 'Panel' was opted the slang name given to the new neural interface being fitted to mechanical structures.
As navigator on the fleets newest most powerful starship I was first to receive panel training.

Stripped completely naked I was ushered into the application chamber to be fitted with my panel. It was slightly chilly as my skin reacted to the dry cool air within, giving me a shiver and those old familiar goosebumps. No chair or furnishings I stood in the center of the chamber as directed by the unseen voice of the operator.
A holographic timer displayed a countdown so I could be prepared to hold my breath. Tens seconds agonizingly ticked by and at the last digit I filled my lungs and breathed no more.
The spray was chilled but not cold. It saturated my entire body instantly, even spraying forth from microscopic nozzles in the floor. I wanted to shut my eyes from the onslaught but I was instructed not to. The whole application took less than a second and the voice soon instructed me to breathe normally. The chamber door opened and I stepped out and into an awaiting robe. A few seconds in the scanner and I was deemed 'Applied' and sent to prepare for my tour of duty.
I didn't feel different? As a matter of fact, I felt pretty good.
I gathered up my belongings and headed to the ship. Berthing was simple and fast and after a quick bite in the mess hall I proceeded to the bridge to continue my practical panel training.

This was certainly the strangest bridge I had ever seen. There were no controls, no view-screens and no accommodations. Just a room, white in color, empty but for a few other crew members.
I was instructed to pace the room in its entirety. They told me to heel-toe the entire floor slowly and as I positioned myself in a corner I noticed the room got slightly brighter. I did as instructed and returned to stand in front of my instructor for my next phase of training.
His gaze seemed to flutter and suddenly I was immersed in activity. The entire room came alive with information. As I gazed around in wonder I noticed each crew member had a readout of color and data that followed them as they moved. I could see their health and mental awareness as hues of color. I looked at my own hands and they faintly glowed similar to my ship mates.

The instructor thankfully allowed me some time to take in this assault on my senses. Finally, quietly telling me to think of any destination. I said to myself "Saturn" and instantly a chart appeared before me with our position, our destination and thrust vectoring timing and specifications. I heard "Good, Now take us out" from the instructor and suddenly a simple control stick materialized in front of me. I made motion and grasped the stick with my hand and it felt as if I was actually holding a control stick. I pushed the stick forward and the ship moved! Raw data came pouring into my 'Panel' as I navigated the ship into Pull. Pull is the optimal location that allows all ships to maximize and amplify a celestial gravitational force. Until now, finding Pull was a tedious task requiring calculation of sensor data, mass and vectoring with a whole lot of computer assist. I had Pull instantly. As the ship came to Pull I announced "Pull" to my instructor and was commanded "Engage Pull, Navigator"
A trigger materialized on the control stick and I instantly depressed it. We engaged, Boy did we engage. A single blink of my eye and we had achieved our destination. I heard the instructor say "Passed" and the room went white and bare again.

I came to find out that the 'Panel Test' was not to test my skills or the Panel ability. It was to test my focus. Seems they actually developed a propulsion that moves the ship not with speed but with thought. A Thought Drive

The Universe is ours!

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Wormhole Leo1263b opened mankind to new galaxies late in the 31st century. After establishing commercial trade routes and habitat worlds were found we expanded like locusts. Leo1263b had been stable for the last 2000 years according to our historical records. All that changed 73 solar days ago when the wormhole lost stability. Over 1,000 vessels were lost and billions of souls were stranded in the Leo Supercluster. No hope of ever returning or even contacting our empire.
Our end of the wormhole remains stationary but the other end materialized in the Great Sculptor Void.
Probes sent to find the lost ships actually found them, frozen and dead. From the data we received from the probes, before they too went dead, indicated an intelligent force within the Void. A hostile intelligent force.

Their ships emerged into our space shortly after our last probe went silent. Huge black balls with no indications, lights or propulsion method visible. Their attack was strange. According to recordings salvaged later, the huge spheres released a flotilla of pitch black orbs that absorbed all the energy of the ships and crews. We found the ships and everything aboard them completely frozen.

No sign of the strange ship or the mysterious black orbs can be found. It is believed they returned to the Void and the wormhole remains stable. Our scientists are working on a defense for the energy depletion weapon but so far every attempt involves using energy which will just give them more of what they steal.

Back in the 19th Century mankind used projectile weapons. Our weapons currently vaporize their targets using high energy discharges. They are completely futile against this enemy. Projectiles carry kinetic energy which may or may not make them vulnerable to the enemy's absorption spheres. Tests are being made to try freezing the projectiles to near absolute zero in hopes of a stealth impact.

Zycroptionium (once called Dark Matter) may be a defense or a shield since it has properties similar to their orbs. Zy blocks the transference of energy like an inert mass. It neither absorbs or radiates energy. In fact, the enemy's ships appear to be made of it or something similar. Work is currently being done to find a way to coat our ships and the new projectile weapons with Zycroptionium. Zy is expensive and difficult to extract but it can be synthesized. The problem is that the synthesizing process creates a massive energy signature that is sure to be a bright glowing target for the enemy.

We just got notified that Leo1263b is now active. Probe telemetry shows two ships emerging...wait 16..no, 60! My GOD! Its a steady flow and not slowing! 1000, 2600, 4000...

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Who Knew?

James Turger was in the observatory after his shift one evening and was playing with his new 5 gigawatt spot light when he accidently shone it onto the telescope's mirror. The Scope recorded the image and as Jim tried to remove the evidence he noticed black spots in a pattern on the display.
James, being a curious guy, decided to map those dark spots against the star pattern. He flashed the mirror again and made some observations and found those dark spots were actually dark matter.

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Canyons of Sedwick Four

Mission: Goldilocks-Bootes 592
Segment Time: MT3419825CT3137
Body: Binary Gas Giant Rocky Moon
Location: Bootes Cluster>Stratus Galaxy Layer 2>Dawn Rotator>Star 966/Sedwick
Mission Commander: Lanny McMurdock

Excerpt:
"Data shows massive ancient tectonic upheaval created crustal stacking resulting in entire continents being elevated. The canyons became dammed and filled with water resulting in many waterfalls around the continental perimeter. Ranging up to 5 km wide and 3 km deep the canyons funnel across the entire plateau exiting as a massive waterfall to the West. The resultant sedimentary deposits have created small lush islands near the shore of the great basin ocean. The plateau is covered in a heavy green and yellow forest with blue water canyons giving it the appearance of a river system. There are heavy storms across the entire hemisphere."

Colony Factor: Prime 12
Phylogeny: Bacteria, Archaea & Eukaryota
Civilization: >Type Zero

~End Update~

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Cell Theory

We thought we knew about plants. We were so wrong.
When Professor March devised a way to increase the sensitivity and speed of his galvanic sensors it was a minor scientific accomplishment. When he hooked them up to a Ficus he expected nothing more than just a bit more response signal. His discovery changed our very way of life.

During his test of the new configuration he externally stimulated different parts of the plant and recorded the results. What he didn't expect was results before the stimulus. The plant was anticipating.
The anticipation was not the only change his detector revealed. The plant was communicating. Communication so subtle and so fast that no detector had ever captured it.

On a whim, Professor March hooked the sensors up to a severed cell and found that not only was the communication happening, it was happening at the cellular level.

The Ficus was subjected to a series of stimuli that defined a yes or no answer. It was tested for prime number logic and not only did it learn quickly it was very good at it.

A Turing test was devised to determine if it had consciousness. The Ficus passed.

Professor March put together a team and started testing random plants the same way. They determined that all plants are conscious and intelligent. Work continues as the team attempts to teach the plants our language. Their response signals are so fast they are able to flash off alphabetical representations of letters with incredible speed. The team have dubbed this ability as "Cellular Response Typing".

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The Game Room

I entered my new game room and sealed the orifice with a swoosh. I walked to the center of the barren room except for the control chair and activated 'The Bubble' and the clear barrier popped into place. The vent beneath me gave a quick swoosh of air and I picked up the control rod. Activating it, I chose a nice relaxing space battle game that allowed me plenty of exploring. I sat down and the holographic cockpit materialized around me. Outside the bubble the room morphed into a vista of a 3 moon gas giant and a starbase. My readouts indicated I was ready for warp and I depressed the button and the view zoomed into a blur.
My destination was a small planetoid in the Greadeez System. My goal was to reestablish communications and determine why trading had ceased. Sensors determined severe devastation all across the settlements. No radiation signatures detected. A sensor sweep of the system revealed no spacecraft or artificial satellites. Only faint scattered life signs on the surface.
When I landed, the bubble temperature increased slightly and there was a faint smell of decay present. The room morphed into a starport that changed as I walked around. Everything was blown to hell. I could see and smell dead bodies strewn about like a war zone. My control rod holographicly morphed into a pulse rifle. I did a test fire and the kickback was insignificant but I felt the rod get hotter just a little. I saw movement over by a blown out building and ran to investigate. The room changed as I moved. The bubble environment changed as well.
On the speakers in the chair I heard my mom telling me it was time for dinner. I saved my game and hit the end command. This is gunna be great!

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Extinction Entry: ~gzyy61h72599935p12h4.00000019651G~
Subject: Event 161259885188 - Level 1
Location: Beatreest Nominan > Dderese Fontonac > Karea Pleaces Aniggata > Glomanadde
Language Conversion Matrix: Sentinel 6.English
Detection Method: Spectral Condensate
Summary:
Records show that the inhabitants of a small planet called Earth in the Sol star system created and deployed a static hole in the Universe using what they called a particle accelerator. Using electromagnetism, they accelerated a stream of leptons and collided them causing an eruption in the fabric of the Universe. The hole lasted for 6 hours standard time.
The results of this event caused a spiral boring down to the planets core at which time the planet broke apart. Ending all life and changing the balance of the system.
Reference: Glomanadde, Species h4.00000019651G, Earth, Static Anomalies, Human, Sapiens, Sapient, Type 0 Civilizations, Extinct Civilizations, Boson Physics
Details: See Spectral Condensate Capture gzyy61h72599935p12h4.00000019651G: 4,500,263,986.263 to 4,500,263,986.264

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The 'Side Effect'

Its been 3 generations since the medical nanites were made mandatory. People stopped dying. Even if someone were to be decapitated simply placing their head near their body initiated auto repair. Children still grew into adults but stopped aging at their physical prime. Below is some of the unexpected side effects of this wonderful technology.

Bathrooms became obsolete.
The nanites break down body waste into its atomic components and reuses the atoms to maintain the body. Houses and buildings started being built without toilet facilities and many older homes had theirs removed.

Medical facilities became obsolete.
Nobody ever got sick anymore. Injuries were healed or prevented by the nanites immediately. Schools and universities closed worldwide. Pharmaceutical companies closed down and there was no need for doctors, nurses or and support personnel.

Funeral homes & cemeteries became obsolete.
Since nobody was dying anymore, there was no need for burial facilities.

Riskier lifestyles became the norm.
Since nanites controlled the pain threshold and make instantaneous body repairs, people were able to perform death defying acts on a regular basis. Personal protection devices and methods became obsolete. Not only could someone walk into a burning building they could jump from an airplane without a chute and work in space without a suit. Volcanologists would drink a solution and the nanites formed a heat barrier around their bodies allowing them to stand in volcano magma.

Reproduction became an lucrative business.
For two people to reproduce, both had to have the nanites reprogrammed to allow their bodies to manufacture the sperm & eggs. Worldwide population growth slowed to a trickle. Children were born with their own nanites and pregnancy only lasted for 5 months. Regional reprogramming facilities sprang up and prospered from the costs.

Explosion of arts.
With longer life came an increase in artistic talent. From drawing to dancing, expressionism became the new drive in people's lives. Great display halls were built and the music recording business failed. Each region had an army of performers that toured to represent them. World domination switched from a power base to a talent base. It was a great honor to be chosen to represent your region and it became the most coveted job in the world.

Explosion of technology.
With the increased creativity there was also a technology explosion. Space and ocean based facilities sprang up at an incredible rate. The Moon and Mars were populated and a new base is being built on Titan supported by the Jupiter/Saturn Mining Corporation. A great space port was constructed at the equator in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. Cities sprang up in Antarctica and on the North Pole. High speed magnetic transportation systems were built that allowed worldwide travel in hours.

Personal farming became the standard.
Since the nanites only needed raw materials and very little of those, there was no need for a large food supply. People started eating once per month. Kitchens were removed from homes. Restaurants and grocery stores became obsolete. The nanites in saliva allowed you to consume anything your body needed by just placing your mouth against it. Don't worry, human nanites have protection protocols so you can still kiss your honey.

Wars became obsolete.
Since bodies heal instantaneously war and assaults no longer had any affect. Nanites could morph your body to form a hard protective shell or separate your parts to avoid excessive damage. The world's military forces were disbanded. Weapons were recycled.

Prisons became obsolete.
Using the reprogramming industry, deviant behavior was reprogrammed. Brain damage was repaired and personality disorders were diagnosed and therapy became the new society measure. Huge institutions grew worldwide and each community had their own team of therapists.

Religions became obsolete.
Aside from the few that chose to keep their religions there was no longer a reason to believe in an afterlife. Churches closed and all the drama, fighting and racism related to the opposing views died shortly after. People became content with life and pursued active productive lifestyles in harmony.

The world population is 9,864,799,331. There are 161,800 on the Moon and 78,064 on Mars. Another 50,270 in the outer reaches. We average 700 new souls per year and ZERO deaths.

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They're Not Here For Us

Our scientists never detected it until it was as close as Jupiter and slowing down. Strangely, It was coming in above the Solar Plane directly over the Sun. I guess we just weren't looking in the right direction. I mean, It was huge! Estimated to be one quarter the mass of the Sun. So huge that before long you could see it plainly in the daylight sky. It stopped advancing around the distance between Mercury and Venus but directly over the Sun.

The world gazed up at this intruder with frightful eyes. The shining bright rectangle to the east of our familiar star. For 3 weeks mankind questioned its purpose? Its origin? Some people hid in caves and underground shelters. Others went mad with fear. The scientific community agreed that a probe of some type must be launched to gather information on our new huge celestial partner. Eight months later, due to a worldwide pooling of resources the people of planet Earth readied the launch of our mechanical emissary.

The mission would take 4 years to get to the vicinity of the object. We gathered all the information we could with our ground and orbit based instruments. The only thing left was an up close and personal encounter. Eighteen months into the trip the craft went silent. It was still on its way but it was no longer sending back any data at all. Shortly after that the object started to change. You didn't need instruments to see what was happening, all it took was a look in the daylight sky.

You could see that the object was a sorta rectangle box and it was spinning slowly on its axis with the Sun. When the change started it looked like huge flower petals were opening on both ends. It resembled a huge glowing barbell in the sky. The petals opened for 23 days, extending out like a satellite dish on each end. Once both ends were open it stopped moving. What we had was the Sun with a huge glowing dumbbell beside it. Our visitor remained fixed for the next 144 days. Then all hell broke loose.

Suddenly, with no indication of an energy buildup or change in appearance, a huge beam of energy erupted from the end farthest from the Sun. It shot out into the Universe with incredible ferocity. The beam stayed on for 6 full months and it could be seen not only during the day but at night as well. Lighting up our atmosphere in a bright glow. Night turned almost day-like. Then as quickly as it started, it stopped. For the next 31 months it just remained with its barbells extended. Suddenly one day it closed back up.

Sixteen days after it closed our spacecraft started transmitting again. The pictures that were returned showed a giant rectangular box like thing with no indications of structures on the surface. It was smooth. The scientific communities worldwide analyzed the incoming data. It had signatures from the deepest detectable infrared to the fasted gamma. From the data, this thing was hotter than the Sun!

Five months later it changed yet again. This time, like last time, our spacecraft went silent but this time it opened in its midsection. Great spires erupted in all directions. They grew to different sizes at a multitude of angles. The sight in the sky resembled a spike ball with two boxes on either end. The spires grew for 46 days and stopped. Twenty three days later it pulsed something and a cloud could be seen dissipating around it.

The object hit the Earth at the equator in the Pacific Ocean. There was no sound, no shock-wave. Hell, you didn't even see it. It was Doppler that picked it up. Choppers were sent to investigate the area and the found a 2 meter hole in the ocean. The hole didn't refill with water? What the...? A probe was released into the hole and right before it crushed from the pressure it sent back data that there was a solid object located some 300 miles into the Earth. Shortly after that an intense bright beam emitted from the hole and the water closed back in.

The object beside the Sun then closed back up. It left our system shortly after that. Did they try to contact us? What is that object buried so deep in our planet? What does this all mean? During the next year there was great speculation on the strange visitor and the thing they put in the planet. We learned something very important exactly one year to the second from the day that object came to Earth.

One year, to the second, the object emitted a high end gamma pulse directed to the same spot where the Sun's strange companion was at. Its been 30 years since that first pulse but every year, on the second, it pulses again. We have now detected other pulses from celestial bodies in our Solar System as well. The Moon has its own pulse interval as does Venus and all the other planets, moons, asteroids and comets. We have tracked back on the pulses and have discovered millions of new bodies in our system. Asteroids with moons that have moons, comets that have never been detected because they are so distant and infrequent, even Pluto sized planetoids far out in the Oort Cloud. Everything and I do mean everything natural in our Solar System has a gamma signature being directed to that spot.

Our spacecraft, the one we sent so long ago to find out what our visitor was, well it sent back data that there is an object at the very spot where the huge object was. Right above the Sun. The Gamma beams reflect off that object and out into deep space.

The people of Earth are sure they are not alone. The best guess is that our Solar System has been mapped by some outside force. They didn't come to meet us. Its just a mapping program for some Universe Encyclopedia or something. I wonder if we will get tourists?

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The Morning Ride

"I'll be taking the new buck stallion out today. He's not quite broken enough for the ride into town. Ya wanna come along?" Jark said. Minnis looked around the stable spying Jira looking excited for a ride in her enclosure. Jira is such an easy ride it might be peaceful taking her out for some morning sunshine. "Sure, Let me saddle up Jira" Minnis replied.
The two quickly saddled up their animals and filled the ration packs for a morning ride. Jark took extra care not to spook Miller. Miller was a fine animal, best of breed. The trainers had some trouble getting him to lead and carry but now it was up to Jark for the fine tuning. Today will be about focus. Miller was stud material and Jira was his prize if he does well this month. His overpowering musk filled the barn making Jira prance with delight.
Minnis lead the two out into the pasture and onto the northern trail. The morning dew glistening on the trees and bushes giving sparkles of reflected light from the sun. At first, Jark had to constantly restrain Miller from Jira. His excitement for the mating making him hard to control. Jark and Minnis both knew that if Miller couldn't be tuned to control himself they would have to sell him to a breeder. In town he would try to breed with every female he encountered.
"Easy boy," Jark quietly soothed the beast. "Just a bit more control and you get your prize" He assured. Miller smiled and nodded to show understanding. Jark hesitantly moved his mount closer to Jira. Minnis felt Jira shudder and get warmer. Jira inched her stride closer to the buck stallion as they entered a clearing by the pond.
"This is good" claimed Jark. They dismounted and set up a small picnic by the water's edge. Miller, tied on one side and Jira pacing on the other. Their eyes were locked on each other. If there was no picnic separating them mating would have been fast and brutal. "Are you going to unleash Miller today, Jark?" Minnis asked. Jark nodded, "but not right away. I think we should sit and talk for a bit and see if he can develop some control", He added. Jark put some feed out for the animals while Minnis prepared the picnic food. A fresh salad of worms and grubs and some chilled knarna blood. It was low-budget Knarna Blood but since it all must be imported to this planet, still a treat. The animals enjoyed their cheeseburgers and fry fries. It was strange that these animals liked water, eww! And it had to be purified water, LOL.
All during the meal the beasts behaved. Jark and Minnis slowly removed the saddles and as soon as Miller was freed he ran to Jira. But... Instead of mounting her as expected, Miller wrapped his arms around her and started pressing his lips to her face.
In awe Minnis looked at Jark and said "Silly Humans"

The Runners

I swear it was the strangest thing anyone ever saw. The craft was miles long and it came to Earth as slow as molasses. It stopped just over the African continent in Geo-synchronous orbit around 300 mile up. It looked like a giant shiny comb.
The craft paused for a few hours and then slowly turned till the tines of the comb were pointing at the planet. Then the tines began to grow, slowly. I noticed on the end of each tine was a small black ball. As the tines entered the atmosphere there was no fiery hot entry. They just advanced on the surface ever so slowly. As each ball got close to the surface it detached and fell the remaining 50 or so yards to the ground where it stuck, motionless for hours.
Now, I don't know about anyone else but this was freaking me out, man! The craft then slowly edged its way away from the planet never veering from its synchronicity with the weird black orbs. Orbs that were about the size of a one story cottage.
About 6 hours later the orbs opened to flat black combs with what looked like legs where the tines would be. Each orb had 20 or 30 legs and they started running around stepping on everything. It was comical to look at but a sense of foreboding over came me as these...things started moving out in a circular pattern. Some were stepping on plants other on animals. Water didn't deter them and they ran all over the place stepping on our world.
They expanded their running and soon they were in the oceans, in valleys and on the highest mountains. No place where they had been remained unstamped upon. Some plants and animals withstood their stepping while others laid flat and dead, buildings and roads held evidence of their passing as well. Luckily, Most of the people were able to get out of their way but those that didn't were flattened in a bloody pulp.

When the entire planet was ran upon, the main ship returned and gathered up the runners across the globe. Long tines would extend and the runners would just jump and ball and 'stick' to it and be carried back to the ship. Once all the runners were gathered back up the ship slowly left.

"What the Hell just happened!"

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When scientists detected a strange new comet entering the Solar System there was concern that it might impact the Earth. Computers churned out trajectory calculations and our new comet was going to miss us with a wonderful margin. On its first pass thru the inner planets it would impact the Sun and be gone. And it came to pass.

We recorded its flyby and the uneventful impact with our star. Life went on as if nothing happened. The data was released and the world treated it as a non-event. One full year later all life on our planet was changed.

Unknown to the scientific communities that observed and studied this intruder from the stars, this ball of icy dirt had a core of an unknown material from far off in the center of our galaxy. It impacted our star and created a disturbance in the photosphere. The radiant light from our Sun started changing ever so slightly.

We started seeing a faint glow around every living thing on the planet. From insects to forests, life appeared to have an aura. Over time, this aura grew stronger and more vividly colored. Not only could we now see a life force, we saw the mood as tints of hazy color splashed against a light or dark fuzzy glow.

At first, scientists tried to find a cure for our strange new visual acuity. Eventually it was discovered that the phenomenon was not in us but in the light coming from the Sun. There was no 'cure'.
A panel of world renowned scientists set forth to help mankind deal with this new-found vision. Studies were done to try to identify the meaning of the colors and shades that differed not only person to person but moment to moment. Plants, animals, insects and even bacteria were studied and noted for their visual changes.

The test results were released to the internet and the entire world society was changed with those results. People grouped together according to their baseline color groups. Family, religion and social groups fell apart and became new groups of similar mood people. Everyone on the planet could see love, anger, hatred, good, bad and all the emotions and mood states that make up our complex personae.

As we became accustomed to our new-found ability we found that we could distinguish not only someone's baseline essence but we were able to read even the slightest mood fluctuations. Lies showed up as a greenish tinge around the head of the person while love showed as a deep blue blotch at their midsection. The population started to segregate according to the severity of the light or dark tinge that surrounded us all. It was found that the darker the overall tinge the more apt someone was evil. On the opposite side, white tinge indicated someone was good. The colors ranged the spectrum but the tinge remained. None were pure white or black but some had come very close.

Plants and animals also had the tinge. Most were a light grey but some predatory species had darker auras while some of the herbivores were very light. Plants were almost always white. Bacteria were almost always black.
It was a huge concern when harvesting food that all lifeforms being harvested expressed the red hue of fear. Harvesting became a night business.

The phenomenon did not manifest under artificial light. Seems it only could be viewed in sunlight, direct or reflected. The term 'Exposed' now meant that you were to be exposed to sunlight so others could read you. Courts became an open air affair. Dating became a daytime activity and overcast days resulted in empty streets. The society of the whole planet changed.

-----------------------------------

May 18, 2073​
Steven Wayne Mills, using the Canyon Quantum Supercomputer, discovers the photon signal from our nearest galactic repeater. A mere 28.8 light years from Earth and it is believed to be the size of a large marble. It pulses the signal at 2 billion hydrogen electron shifts and is stable.

The God Photon, as it has been deemed, contains quadrillions of information packets which changes with each pulse. Sometimes packets enlarge, sometimes new packets emerge but it grows geometrically. CQS is tasked to isolate a single packet and extract the data. With the whole planet's data storage at it's disposal it is only able to store the first section of one packet. This section is now called School because it is the instruction data that is used to unlock the contents of the packet.

School is sent to the Deep Water Data Supercomputers in the Indian Ocean and is slowly understood. DWDS has determined that the language of the Universe is not mathematics after all. It is a language of emotions and experiences. Each symbol in the alphabet represents an emotional state, a specific experience or is used as a combiner. This Master Alphabet is more than 16 trillion characters and still growing. It is hypothesized that a single word in this encyclopedia could represent a whole lifetime of observation, feelings and tasks. A single sentence might contain all the history of the rise and fall of a nation. A single paragraph that might encompass the lifetime of a whole planet.

We learn from School that the Universe is saturated with repeaters and beacons. Beacons are used to gather up the ever changing conditions in it's range of influence and that data is updated and pulsed on a single photon. This Encyclopedia Universe is actually a repository of the whole Universe that is updated in real-time from a human perspective. As of this moment we can only read the most basic information. There is, however, a sub-module that has been discovered that hints at Reading Requirements but at our present limited computing ability we are unable to decipher the building requirements of the Reader.

What we do know, using the most basic information gained, is very little. There are still elements we can not decipher and a billion or so simple characters that are still to be identified. Not that we are fumbling about. We have identified that there is not a single species responsible for its creation but that it has been operating for around 8 billion years and is a collection of information condensed by every civilization that has been Schooled. In addition there is an artificial element that monitors the real-time changes in a sphere of influence that adds information as well. We also know that photons are faceted and each facet contains a separate set of packets dealing with specific boundaries we think of as galactic super-clusters.

December 28, 2106​

Mark Rheyas Smith and his personal AI: Veebus accurately map the School alphabet onto High Density Reader Film (HDRF). At 2130zulu school001.0hdrf is mainstreamed to the planetary AI. Two hours later planet Earth transmits its first information pulse confirming our understanding of School's alphabet sequence.
Immediately the photon signals from all surrounding Repeaters is modified. The sequenced alphabet is returned with an additional sequence that is different. It is determined that the second, modified sequence is a correction of mistakes in our transmission. There is also a new 'letter' included that contains a mixture of all the written languages of Earth.
Using the 'Earth' symbol dynamics, it is discovered that this symbol converts the Schooling Alphabet to our planet's language. It is discovered that the Reader is not a mechanical device nor an organic appendage. It is an Axion based modification to the surface area of the brain's dendrites. In essence, the Reader is you. Any being with a firing synapse is capable of being fitted with a Reader. AI and mechanical intelligence is not.
The ramifications of creating a Reader immediately sent shock waves thru our planetary society. AI and humans had mixed reactions but for different reasons. Even tho the science is not yet developed to construct a Reader, the impact that such a thing could exist sends society into turmoil. From what School is implying, once the reader is applied to one being it cascades to all life on the planet. Sort of like a plague. The planetary AI, Erdee, initiates a campaign to find a cure for the Reader before it can occur. As Erdee locks out people from School data, people begin unplugging from Erdee. Individual computing systems start capturing and mining the School modules on HDRF. Scientists begin to experiment with genetic coding and radiation frequencies.
A chimpanzee, Frank, has been chosen as the first life form to receive the Reader. Frank is isolated in a subterranean vault and the reader is pulsed into his optic nerve. Frank immediately passes out.
After 6 hours a team in hazard suits is sent into Frank's chamber to determine his condition first hand. The team is equipped for brain surgery just in case. As soon as the team breaks the seal and begins to enter Frank's chamber, Frank sits up and immediately says "There is no danger." The team passes out. Alarms blare and doors shut and lock. Frank laughs and rubs his hairy chin. "Humans".
Six months of intense scrutiny of the 11 occupants of the 'Cell' reveal no detrimental physical or mental conditions. Of the 11 subjects, none have offered any insight as to the nature of the condition. They are not smarter or different in any way except their eyes have a distinct glow in darkness. In light the glow is indefinable.
Months turn into years and years pass into decades. Kept alive and in good health by an army of robotic servitors the "Eleven" show no signs of any detrimental effects of the exposure. Frank grows into a sentient and rather likeable 'guy'. He demonstrates all the social skills of a human being but has little quirks that are determined to be species unique. While he can eat meat he prefers fruits and vegetables. He still holds an aversion to open flames but can work with controlled fire. Frank passes after 22 years and his body is moved to a different chamber and is robotically autopsied. Aside from the blueish tint of his optical nerves and related brain areas there is no physical changes or contaminates to be found. As a precaution, Frank's body is cremated and compressed. The resulting pellet is then sealed into a tomb.
The remaining 'Ten' infected continue in isolation with nothing more than robotic visitors and holographic projections as company. As they slowly succumb to the ravages of time, one by one they are added to the 'Tomb'. No new information has been gleaned for a very long time. They possess no new knowledge of School, the Reader or the Encyclopedia.

Exploring the supposition of intelligent alien normality:

Like we control heating and air conditioning for comfort perhaps they control alkalinity and acidity.

Instead of a personal space suit perhaps they project an atmospheric bubble.

Instead of using suspended animation they are freeze-dried then reconstituted at their destination.

They power their devices by atomic forces within the component molecules instead of by electricity.

They have different eyelids for different wavelengths of light including magnifying and telescopic lids.

They have no mouths to eat with, they bond with their food at the molecular level.

Their communication method is a subtle variation of temperatures.
Their communication method is by changing the absorption and reflectivity of light that hits them.

They may have no concept of front, back or sides due to 360 deg clear vision.

They may have willful control of their own body's density.

Like a cuttlefish can control its skin color, perhaps they can control their body structure to accommodate differences in mass or gravity.

Their technology may be based on efficient sliding instead of rolling.

Similar to ants that use their bodies to construct bridges their bodies may interlock in different configurations conducive to specific tasks or purposes.

They may reproduce by cloning and extruding their brains.

The bodies you see may be their waste that is sluffed off as they age like a snake shedding its skin.

What you see as skin or clothing may be a symbiotic organism that covers them as a protection.

They may employ some type of organic magnetism to catch food prey.

They may be able to tap into and use potential and static energies.

Their bodies may produce sweat or mucus that we find sweet and refreshing, like bees making honey.

They may absorb the life energy (vitality) from their immediate surroundings.

Their ship in orbit may be connected to every unit by a series of control tethers from ship to unit to unit.

They may be able to actively change their atomic states.

They may be able to change their phase or vibration rate (frequency).

They may travel by some type of advanced astral projection that allows them to break and reconstitute the atomic bonds at their destination to interact. Example: The tables and chairs dissolve and reform as a representation of their own body or a device.

They May be EXACTLY like us but Smarter.

They may tell time by radioactive decay rates.

They may belong to a taxonomy between plants and animals, A little of both but all of neither.

What you see as one entity may be a colony of millions/billions of individuals.

Their music may consist of a single note for a specific duration at a specific time.

Their written language may appear to us as a series of random blotches and smudges.

They may not have a written language.

They may use dark matter/dark energy in their daily routine.

They might be addicted to sugar too.

Their telepathy and telekinesis may be visible as a waveform in the air.

They might communicate by absorbing you and then spitting you out.
If you taste good, they might not spit you out.

Like the Tardis, their ships may be small but huge inside.

They may not see the planet but a mass of life energy.

They might attempt to communicate with inanimate objects.

Cows might be their mortal enemies.

We may be completely insignificant to them.

They might try to wrap us all in plastic for preservation and study on their homeworld.

They might harness nuclear forces of atoms but completely become befuddled by our radio and television.

The Qwine by Tom

It stood 12 ft tall on its haunches. Capeable of 18ft if it reared up on its toes.

The bulk of the creature was covered in sharp spine-like fur that flattened downward giving its body the appearance of being able to penetrate into something but impossible to back its way out.

The spines were crimson at their base bleeding into emerald to silver at the tips. It shimmered when it moved.

It had two lower appendages that I took for legs due to the fact it used them for its primary locomotion. At what would be its knees the appendages slid down over the lower part like a foreskin. When it raised up before me, I noticed that the lower parts were crimson smooth like leather. Its feet had seven digits each and those were arranged in groups of two encircling the things foot. A single long digit extended from where the creature's ankle would be. All of the digits were equipped with ten inch long silver talons. It grasped the wooden floor where it stood, diging into the lumber like it was attempting to pull up chunks of the floor.

The upper appendages, four of them, were arm like with graspers similar to its feet on each one. Two of the 'Arms' extented out from the upper sides of the torso as would a human's arms. The other two extruded out of the thing's chest just below the front of the neck. These two worked like the lower legs and varried their lengths like foreskin causing them to suck back into its body when not used.
The digits on its upper extremities were four groups of two around a center hole in the end of the limb. Two finger-like digits with three bend points extended out where the wrist was.

The whole creature was a massive bulky rippling mass of muscle and sinew. Its mass distorted the size of its head making it look much smaller than it should be but if it were by itself it would be larger than me balled up on the floor.
Its neck was etrudable and it undulated to varring lengths as it stood before me.

When it noticed me watching it, It's first reaction was to bring its eyes upon me. On fleshy crimson stalks there were two sets of pink and yellow eyes on each of both stalks. One squinted and one opened wide on each stalk. Small leaf-like structures grew from the base of each stalk. Crimson in color it appeared they 'Focused' upon me as well.

It's 3 ft snout looked to be divided into four separate segments which opened wider than its head. Inside I saw pearly silver teeth lining both sides of each segment. The outer most teeth resembles inward curving daggers that slowly downsized towards the back of its gaping maw massive emerald-perl molars at the very back. Its tongue was split into four whisps with a silvery claw on the end of each whisp. The tongue opened and flayed outward before coming together with a claw-like snap.

Around its 'waist' it tapped a black object about the size of my hand and I heard it say (felt it say) "Friend or food-Your choice"

-----------------------------------

Pharcies By Tom

It had been two years since they came to our planet. The Pharcies.

Our scientists studied them, some of the scientist became food for them, the ones that got too close.

The Pharcies were omnivores that grew at an incredible rate. Flat creatures, they inhabited fields, parking lots and flat places on the Earth. They are ambush predators, nutrient eaters and photosynthesizers. You must be careful where you walk nowdays.

Here are some things we now know about The Parcies:

1. They are extraterrestrial, perhaps even extragalactical.
2. They are masters at camoflage, almost invisible.
3. They will eat anything - in tests, they actually disolved a diamond.
4. So far, their size is limited to appx 30 ft and are pancake shaped. After 30 ft they divide into two 15ft entities.
5. They communicate with pheremones that resemble an acidic swamp smell. There is often an overpowering odor of rotting flesh.
6. In extreme ultraviolet light they glow like star puddles.
7. They are extremely dangerous to all known lifeforms.
8. Their locomotion is agonizinly slow and they move on millions of tiny cili like protrusions on their underside.
9. They have tentacle like whips that lie flat until prey is detected.
10. Any contact with its exposed surface is irretrievable as digestion is rapid and immediate.

Description of a Pharcy:
1. Pancake appearance when dead (Death occurs usually by starvation or perhaps longivity of appx 2 years)
2. Live ones can be detected with extremely powerful ultraviolet light and the smell of acid, swamp or carrion odors in its vicinity.
3. Most are about 18 ft in diameter and about 20 inches thick. Most of their thickness is hidden below the surface of their surroundings. A 20 inch deep trail is etched in their wake as they move about. A Pharcy will not cross the wake of another Pharcy. Their trails are another indication of their position as the trail suddenly ends where the actual Pharcy is. A Pharcy will not travel over liquids 8 inches or deeper.
4. They could almost be called 'Clear' but that is a misrepresentation of what actually occurs. They mirror their position so it appears as it was until it moves leaving a path of disolved destruction in its wake.
5. They can be likened to a flat land jellyfish that is able to camoflage itself similar to an octopus.

Death By Pharcy:
1. You are walking along minding your own business when all of a sudden you step on a soft piece of pavement or a mushy part of ground
2. Your foot immediately starts to burn like its disolving in acid (It is). but before you can react you are grabbed and pulled into its middle by whiplike tentacles. By the time you are down - you are dead
3. In less than a second you are absorbed into the creature and there is no sign you were ever there.

1. You are driving along minding your own business when suddenly you stop violently.
2. You hear your tires pop and these whiplike thngs pass thru the vehicle
3. Everything was disolved before you could scream.
-the Pharcy is bigger.

1. You poke at the Phacry with a long 20 ft pole.
2. You feel a slicing momment of searing pain and a quick sensation of being pulled
3. You and your pole are history pal
-Don't frak with a Pharcy

A Pharcy's whips are composed of the Pharcy itself and are as long as the mass of the entity minus about 1/4 of its size.
In other words - Its reach is longer than itself.

Known Weapons agains a Pharcy:
1. Heat - appx 2500 deg farenheit. Not fire - it will eat the combustible material - even napalm
2. Cold - Freezing can stop its advance but it will not die from it. If you could freeze it solid you could transport it but the acid would eat anything that touches it. Think acidic freezer burn
3. Sonic disruption - effective but it takes wavelengths that are destructive to its surroundings and needs prolonged exposure.
4. Starvation - This is the most effective means of termination. A Pharcy will not cross another Pharcy's wake. To trap one within anothers wake effectively limits and then cuts off its ability to aquire more food. They simply die. When they die they disolve into itself eating away its mass until all that is left is a microscopic cinder of inert matter with more properties than a piece of felspar.

BTW - they are attracted to noise and movement

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Lasciliks by Tom

Around the turn of the century of 2100 humans developed a commercial nanofog that went viral. It was so cheap to make and maintain everyone had a set.

The Lascilliks were unrestrained and rampant results of this nanofog.

You see, people throw things away quite haphazardly and would often forget the nanofog had the ability to morph. Where they should have put the article back into its original state and recapsulated the fog, they tossed their creations like trash.

Lascillics were created from the nanites ability to molecularly change matter. Without instructions the nanites acted on an instinct for preservation. Thank God they inventor put a sized restriction on their mass.

The first Lascilliks resembled small scavengers in the landfills. As they converted more and more trash they multiplied and expanded into the surrounding communities resembling animated objects that scurried around the edges of humanity.

Nobody know who initiated the AI into the Lascillik sub-routines but they became aware shortly after the 2131 famon.
They abosorbed the media and fiction they found in the empty human dwellings. They recreated the shapes and demeanors of the waning human occupants of the planet.

They became the things of nightmares.

Humans found themselves besieged by small renditions of werewolves, vampires, demons and monsters. None were bigger than a german sheppard but they all had one thing in common...They were just as deadly as the fictional stories that created them said they were. For the remaining humans nightmares had become all too real.

Around 2135 the nanites had figured out a way to reanimate the dead. These dead animations then began 'feeding' on the living. The feeding process was to infest the living host with nanite replicas essentially disolving the living then reconstructing it with greusome features and abilities.

Of the billion or so remaining humans in 2135 only 700 million survived by 2138. By 2140 the scientists had figured out a way to rewrite the nanite programming via remote upload. Unable to 'kill' the nanites, scientist settled for rewriting their imperatives to non-lethal parameters.

In 2150, Lascilliks were peaceful but horrible monstrosities that assisted in the rebuilding of the decimated human populations. They became the workforce that sustained the human reproduction efforts.

Occassionally errant programming sent a nanofog on a murderous rampage until the nanites could be brought back under control.

Yea, monsters exist - we made them.

Sci-fi fan?

LOL
Speculative Fiction fan more precisely

Lol....yeah, ok

I just wrote some more stuff:

The Laddership

The object appeared one clear July evening. A huge construct that filled the night sky from horizon to horizon.
For all intents and purposes it looked like a giant aluminum ladder stretched across the sky behind the Moon.
Scientists reported that it was a full 1 million miles beyond our Moon. Its length was reported as being 12 million miles long, 3 million miles wide and of very little mass. The Earth launched a probe to gather more information but as soon as the probe passed the Moon it was destroyed by some unseen, undetected force. Every probe after that met with the same fate.

Gazing up at our new companion we could see the Moon passing in front of this object with extreme clarity. We could see the shadow of the Moon and track it rung by rung. The object never moved, never drifted but stayed in an exact position relative to our planet. For 17 years it never wavered, opened, released anything or shifted its position. Then it just winked out of existence without fanfare.

Probes were sent to the area but found nothing. Human life on this planet has never been the same after that Laddership appeared. SETI was refunded and there was a huge surge of support for space exploration. New religions surfaced, old religions died out. There was speculation all over the planet as to the nature of this object.
Since it appeared and disappeared with no signs of propulsion, science pushed into new areas. Scans were disseminated to look for radiation signals or spectral mass analysis to determine if we could locate its point of origin but nothing was revealed.

After a few years of debate our top minds declared the 5 scenarios and set forth to explore them.
1. The object was some type of projection
2. The object had some type of stealth technology
3. The object warped/worm-holed
4. The object was trans-dimensional
5. Something of unknown technology

-----------------------------------------

The Communicant

So, there I was sitting on the back of my truck one summer evening on the beach enjoying a beer and the beautiful starry sky. Out in the distance I saw a depression in the surf and it was coming towards me. It looked like a beach ball was being pushed towards me rather quickly but there was no ball? When the depression hit the beach sand it disappeared and I felt a pressure on my face. My eyes focused to a very tiny metallic object floating right in front of my nose. It just hovered there for a few seconds until it sped to the side of my head.
I felt a pressure on my eardrum and suddenly I heard a clicking, whiling whizzing noise inside my head. I swatted at my ear but the sound remained.
After about 5 minutes of this noise I heard a tinny voice echo in my brain.
"This is your final warning" it started. "You are in violation of the sector space code. Cease and desist all space-bound maneuvers immediately or we will be forced to take appropriate action." It continued.
Well, I threw down my beer and shook my head. Afraid that I was losing my mind the voice continued. "You will take us to..." and an image popped into my mind. It was Cape Canaveral, The launch pads. "We will communicate with your commander." it continued to say.
Well, I knew that NASA was just a few miles from this beach but how would I ever convince anyone to let me enter the site? For that matter, Why am I even considering this?
I got in my truck thinking I need a shower and some sleep, boy is this gunna be a bad hangover. As I looked down at my key I saw the key ring move slightly and it turned by itself. My truck started up by itself?!
When I pulled onto the beach highway my truck went towards NASA even tho I lived in the opposite direction. I thought I was turning towards home but my arms did the opposite? Oh, felgercarb! This is going to be one helluva hangover! My truck auto-drove itself thru me until I reached the gate for NASA Headquarters.
At the gate I was confronted by the guard asking for my pass and ID.
I heard myself speaking but I couldn't understand the meaning of what I was saying. I recall a large string of numbers and letters and a few sounds that I had no idea I could utter. The guard returned to his shack and I saw him pick up a phone. A few minutes later the barricade lifted and my truck continued its coarse. It came to rest at the Administration building where three very serious white coats and two armed guards met me as I exited my truck.
I was escorted into a room that was covered in mirrors with a projector thingy in the center. It looked like something out of a planetarium.
I heard a voice on the speakers that stated they were ready and in my reflection I saw my eyes light up brilliantly. There was no pain or discomfort and I could still see clearly as the room transformed into a vista of stars. In the center mass of the star field I saw a greenish line faintly glowing at first, within this irregular circle of green there were perhaps 10,000 or so stars. The vista advanced on the one side of the green perimeter towards a single jagged edge. Just outside the edge of the green line I saw a grouping of 20 or so stars. The view advance on those in particular the stars in the center of the grouping. As the view advanced, only one star became visible and it had hundreds of small points of light around it. The view advanced closer to one small point and I started to recognize the Earth and the Moon. The view paused just over the Earth. Brilliant red dots appeared all over the globe as it rotated. On each of the mirrors I noticed places with technology being shown from elevation. One of those pictures was of This NASA installation.
I heard a chirping and buzzing noise in my infected ear and the room's loudspeakers came to life. That same tinny voice I hear in my head was now on the loudspeakers blasting number & letter strings and some kind of legal code. I remember sensing it saying. "You have one star day to comply". Well, everyone knows that our sun rotates once every 27 days. We have 27 days to comply with what?
On the mirrors around me the view started moving. It crashed towards the ground at incredible speed and continued to move not in distance but in scale. On one mirror I saw a spider grow to huge proportions and on that spiders leg hair there was a tiny speck of metallic sheen that got larger and larger. The speck turned into a dot then a structure started to grow in view. Each of the mirrors depicted the same type of structure but at that site. Soon the view was of a craft of some type. The mirror views stopped advancing and each one shown a craft similar to all the others.
Suddenly the entire room went white. The flash blinded me and as my sight started to slowly recover I saw a planet of unknown origin. It was green with splotches of blue and grey dotting its entirety. Across the room, a magnified view of one of these tiny craft was shown. It pulsed once and a yellow wave of energy traveled from it to the planet in a matter of seconds. When the yellow wave met the planet it passed through the planet effortlessly breaking the planet into dust.
That's when I passed out...

---------------------------------------------

Alien Chocolate

Back when ET phoned home it wasn't the Reese's Pieces that became the big hit in the galaxy, It was the Chocolate. When he left he managed to return with a sample that was studied and remanufactured.
A huge and lucrative business was created in this galaxy all based on our confection.
Well, I happened to get a sample of the Alien Chocolate and let me tell you. It looks like chocolate, It smells like chocolate but the taste is just terrible. Hopefully no alien race will taste real chocolate because if they do we will be invaded and robbed.
Keep a close eye on your chocolate. If you see some not under guard, buy it and hide it. I'm serious, Don't mess around with this. The only sure way to remove the threat is to eat all chocolate as soon as you find it. Do your part to help Save the Planet from Alien Invasion.

This is a public service announcement.

Primer, One, Two, Three

Of the 650 candidates that started Primer nine years ago, I am one of five that were selected. My first three years were at the Gulf of St Lawrence Facility off the coast of Newfoundland. My second was in the South Pacific between Santa Cruz and Santiago Island. My Final Primer was spent at the Gulf of Mexico Delta Facility just South of New Orleans.
Nine years of rigorous training, education and endurance testing has landed me in this small room awaiting the three capsules that will change my life, and everyone else's lives, Forever. Locked away under the highest security in the Sky Tower in Barcelos, Amazonas , South America, I ponder my fate and the promises made that lead me to volunteering for Primer.

The door to my chamber swooshes open and in walks a tall shapely black haired woman with a tray. On the tray is a glass of ice water and she places the tray before me on the table and walks out. Next to the water is the capsule for Step One. About the size of a small tootsie roll, black in color, I notice a bright white line glowing around it's center. I pick it up and swallow it as I was instucted during my training. Finishing the water, I sat and waited for something to happen. Nothing. Aside from the feeling of being full from the water, I felt no changes.
After around 20 minutes or so I noticed a fullness in my head. Almost like a sinus pressure but so insignificant.
I have heard of candidates that have went insane from the Step One Black Pill of Death but I felt just fine.
Soon, a team of doctors rolled in carts and started taking my vitals, Looking into my eyes, ears, nose and mouth I heard under-breath comments like..."no blood from this one"..."I think it took"..."Wow"...
They gathered up their equipment and evacuated the room. I could feel their excitement as the room emptied leaving just me sitting there waiting for Step Two.

After a few minutes the same black haired woman returned with another tray and another glass of water. On the tray next to the water laid the infamous Step Two capsule. This time the glass of water was tepid. I picked up the Widowmaker. This capsule has claimed the lives of everyone who has attempted to consume it. Black in color, it had a glowing red line around it's middle. I swallowed it and the water, expecting to die. But I didn't die. Not ten minutes later I felt full in every part of my being. Not only was I not hungry, my flesh felt full, almost like a blood pressure cuff in reverse. My mind and soul felt full, like it was difficult to contain all the brain activity inside me. My mind was racing. I reviewed all nine years of primer in a matter of seconds. Every feeling, instruction and even balance coordination flooded into consiousness.

The team of doctors returned with even more elaborate equipment. They plugged me up to a body EEG! They were measuring the brain activity in my toe? Primer got my body and state of mind ready for this. I just had no idea how much they didn't know. After a good two hours of flash cards, questions and coordination tests they exited the room again.

Seven minutes and 41 seconds later Bonnie returned with the final pill. I sensed her fear thru her protective suit. She placed the tray on the table and hurried out of the room. This time there was no glass of water. This final capsule was wrapped in a foil pouch and I tore it open and a glowing white capsule landed on the table before me. It had no stripes and as it laid there I got a sense of it dematerializing so I picked it up.
When my fingers touched the capsule I felt my fingers absorbing it. I didn't need water because the capsule and my fingers were becoming one.
I felt a wave of warmth flow thru my body. That pressure I felt inside from the prior Step began subsiding. My head cleared and my thoughts became organized and clear. I knew exactly where I was both in Time and in Space. I could feel my awareness expanding faster than I could have ever imagined. Not only did I 'feel' the facility and every thing inside I was starting to 'feel' the entire planet and everything upon it. I now understood exactly what the Primer, One, Two, Three was about.

The Primer was preparation for understanding the root knowledge of mankind. It subjected my body to extremes and focused my abilities. It honed my coordination.
Step One was the AI nanosystem being introduced to my body. It not only set up operations in my brain, it became part of every molecule of my body.
Step Two was the introduction of the nano-assemblers and disassemblers. It facilitated the construction of more assemblers within my cells.
The Final Step, The Glowing White Capsule was the activating agent. The additional energy needed to spark jump the assemblers into active control. The interface, if you will, for allowing my will to direct the AI matrix to control the assembler saturation and function.

As a simple test I decided to absorb the table. I rearranged the atoms to become a personal sheild. Immediately I sensed fear among the scientists watching me from the monitors. I heard the doors lock and saw metal walls come down all round the room. I felt..."How do we contain it?"..."Nobody has ever survived phase two"..."What if he gets out?"...
I spoke to the minds, "I am no threat to you". "Let me show you."
I reached out and disolved the metal covering, the door and stepped into the hallway. I saw bullets slowly moving towards me and disolved those as well. "Don't be afraid" I said to the minds. "I will not hurt you."

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Tastes Like Fruit Juice

In the 47th Century we finally found a planet within our means that harbored life.
We went there expecting to inhabit the planet as our own. There were no advanced intelligent species inhabiting this world but the animals became a staple for all humans.
Seems the animal life on this planet has blood that tastes like fruit juice.
We have become Vampires!

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The mining ships arrived in the early 27th century. Our forces had no impact on their technology.
Starting on the ocean floors they stripped away the Earth's crust down to the mantle. Sea levels dropped, weather turned extreme and life began to wane.
The miners then began to harvest the land masses. Whole cities and all the people left within them got scraped up into the giant machines. As the mantle was exposed great volcanoes and earthquakes occurred.
By the end of the 27th century all the crust had been stripped from the planet. Nothing was left alive.
The Mars colonists were the only human beings in existence.
They weren't mining for minerals. They eat organic material. The Earth's crust was a rich supply of billions of years of organic material. Lime, oil and coal were like candy to them. Plants and animal were like energy bars when mixed with rich topsoil.
Humans never named them and the Mars colonists only saw the end of days reports on their monitors.
Would those strange harvesters come to Mars?
There was a new fear in the human condition. Fear of extinction.