spacepaladin15

Prisoners of Sol - Girret Storm Riders (8/11)

First | Prev | Next

There was a certain peace as the flames swirled in all directions, a surreal orange glow that was visible through the dusty, smoky air. I ...

Prisoners of Sol 53

It was my turn to choose where to take Mikri on Earth, and the real question was how much I could get away with. There were three sets of criteria I judged my ideas on: that the cultural event I’d drag his metal tushie to was loud, crowded, and most importantly, would allow me to make fun of him.

That was how we ended up baking under the hot sun at a NASCAR speedway. The three of us had been fighting before we left the parking lot! Mikri already played dead in his wheelchair twice whe...

Prisoners of Sol 52

There were many excellent tourist destinations to choose from on Earth, once we landed in Toronto. The Eiffel Tower, the Taj Mahal, Times Square, or the Great Pyramid: all wonderful displays of human ingenuity throughout our past, despite the adversity of Sol physics. There, Mikri could have the joy of aimlessly wandering through a gift shop and asking strangers to take pictures of him standing in front of “special” buildings. Instead, Sofia insisted on going to podunk Spain to make our v...

Prisoners of Sol - Girret Storm Riders (7/11)

First | Prev | Next

My squadmates and I scouted Ekpan’s layout as the fire roared around us, rushing forward. Our augmented reality visors displayed the var...

Prisoners of Sol 51

Moonfarers, as they were called on Earth, had a bit of a reputation for preferring a more rustic lifestyle. As I would know from being an astronaut, it took a special kind of person to be able to cope without seeing sunlight for months on end, even with sunlamps to counteract deficiencies and SAD. The lunar caverns were pretty cramped, which fostered small-town vibes. Everyone knew everyone, and the families here had lived for generations, proud of their heritage as the first civilian space c...

Prisoners of Sol 50

The teleportation experiments continued full steam ahead after the first manned test, with similar demonstrations conducted back in Sol and Caelum’s initial results verified by multiple launches. Curiously enough, the other organic races were able to use the 4D portals without mental ramifications—Kollig was as good as his word, volunteering despite the risks. It was only after all of the details had been ironed out that we got the greenlight to bring Mikri back to Earth.

This would...

Prisoners of Sol - Girret Storm Riders (6/11)

First | Prev | Next

As soon as I’d healed up from my nasty tumble into the collapsed building, our group was back out in the field; I only allowed myself tw...

Prisoners of Sol 49

Capal’s breakthrough on the teleportation tech was the final piece of the puzzle—sending nanobots up our ship’s ass did have a point. What was it about the Elusians and liking that entry angle? Anyhow, our scientists adjusted variables bit-by-bit, after covering the entire hull in negative energy emitters, until they determined the right values for safe transit. We’d had multiple successful tests, and also developed a rough formula to estimate where the wormhole would end up....

Prisoners of Sol - Girret Storm Riders (5/11)

First | Prev | Next

As the concrete skidded along the rapidly fraying rope, Narol lost his grip on it from above. I’d felt it scrape against the top of my h...

Prisoners of Sol 48

Earth Space Union’s Alien Asset Files: #1 - Private Capal 

Loading Cooperation.Txt…

After the teleportation probe hadn’t reappeared, I had gone off to interview the station’s occupants to see if there were any precognitive clues. Along the way, I’d overheard the humans discussing how little the two Vascars had worked together, and their disappointment with the effect the project had on our biases. Ficrae’s people had monitored the launch ...

Prisoners of Sol - Girret Storm Riders (4/11)

First | Prev | Next

The dust-ridden air flailed and writhed around my goggles, as my mask could only filter the grime out for respiration. There was no simula...

Prisoners of Sol 47

Despite our finest calculations, the teleported probe seemed to have been blinked out of existence. The onboard instruments never sent a signal back, unlike our instantaneous reappearance courtesy of the Elusians. Given how staggering the speed of light was in Caelum, with each minute passing that we didn’t detect a transmission, the more trillions of miles away the drone would have to be—to the point now that it’d be totally overshot out of this galaxy! 

The jovial ...

Prisoners of Sol - Girret Storm Riders (3/11)

First | Prev | Next

The Storm Riders hadn’t been the advertised, noble heroes, but there was one gift that I could enjoy in their ranks: something I’d lon...

Prisoners of Sol 46

Earth Space Union’s Alien Asset Files: #1 - Private Capal 

Loading First Teleportation Test.Txt…

We were gathered today in a detached research laboratory for the first teleportation test. Months of research had allowed for the capture of negative energy through barrier manipulation. Afterward, teams had studied the data from the Elusians warping Preston and Sofia away to determine how to use the mined power to the same effect. The real work would...

Prisoners of Sol - Girret Storm Riders (2/11)

First | Prev | Next

The first step in training was overcoming a natural Girret fear: heights. Teaching us how to rappel was throwing us into the deep end to p...

Prisoners of Sol 45

It was unclear whether our mission to the Girret homeworld was a success, but I was shocked to learn that Capal and Ficrae had come away with an agreement to cooperate on teleportation technology. Asscar scholars and researchers had joined, though they were under close supervision with how fresh Larimak’s hostility was. The androids were maintaining a physical presence to observe, always mistrusting organics, but worked alone; it was a miracle that they were sharing their simulation results...

Prisoners of Sol - Girret Storm Riders (1/11)

Prologue | Next

Initial training was said to be grueling, but I found myself cool and ready as I settled onto my bunk. Whatever challenges laid ahead, I was here to meet noble minds and hone my skills. This was part of the job. Even active Storm Riders conducted training to maintain...

Prisoners of Sol 44

Mikri acted like a small child, and I only had myself to blame; where else could he have learned to be so petulant? The android scooted his chair away from mine, then rotated his seat to turn his back on me. The reaction was not matching the severity of my offense at this point. I mean, I understood that I hurt his feelings. Still, all that happened was in the heat of the moment, I got spooked over a vision of him acting possessive, which was the average Tuesday in Mikriland! This didn’t ha...

Prisoners of Sol - Girret Storm Riders (Prologue)

The Storm Riders recruitment office smelled of windswept air, yet its shadowed interior was a safe haven in the middle of the sweltering desert. Simply reaching its doors on the land of a military base, where vehicle travel was permitted, was a test of character in itself. I tested the air one more time with a flitting tongue, before slithering forward. I observed the displays, the first of which was a massive hologram with the most famous heroes in Girret history, proclaiming: Create...