This commit is contained in:
James Tomasino 2019-02-28 00:00:01 +00:00
parent 4eeaff1687
commit 6d0570abc2
5 changed files with 192 additions and 19 deletions

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@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
As we walked down the gangway to the sandy material that cushioned
our landing, we looked out at an alien world. We held our hands
over our eyes to shield them from the first natural light we've
over our eyes to shield them from the first natural light we had
seen in months. The sky was blue, but not nearly the same as those
back home, grading gently to a red and violet in the west.
@ -12,8 +12,8 @@ nothing to dally with. Anything worth looking at was sun bleached
waste and dust heaps, barely enough to stumble over, but more than
enough to make any archaeologist salivate.
We were in a shallow valley, shadows playing about our feet as we
marched on. Our personal safety equipment gave no warnings, there was no
We were in a valley, shadows playing about our feet as we marched
on. Our personal safety equipment gave no warnings, there was no
one and nothing to see, but our guide (for lack of a better word)
insisted that we'd be safer wherever we were going.
@ -21,15 +21,15 @@ The archway lay nearly invisible in the shadows, only marked by
void in the nearly black purple moss. The now familiar iridescent
black sheen sealed over it after we entered. It was not dark here,
dim rainbows shone from the walls leaving white splotches where the
shadows intersected. We were not in a cave, but a corridor.
colors intersected. We were not in a cave but a corridor.
"The walls are alive," whispered Hex "and I'm sensing more life
ahead."
"Please wait here," the box changed shaped again to indicate a
hollow in the wall forming a long low bench. "We are still
preparing a place for you, and anticipate you would like to acclimate
to your new surroundings before socializing."
preparing a place for you, and anticipate you would like to
acclimate to your new surroundings before socializing."
The box smoothly became one with the floor, and we were left alone
in some sort of antechamber.
@ -40,12 +40,12 @@ Walked out of the side of the full-size Mr Swarm's leg and begin
feeling its way along the walls.
"There are hollows behind several sections of the wall, I can't
feel how far they go, but they're also alive." Hex said.
feel how far they go, but they also contain life." Hex said.
"It's alright, my friend can explore freely." Mr Swarm said smugly.
"Whatever this is, it's been here a long time, It's been asleep for
a long time." Hex intoned. "It's hungry."
"Whatever this is, it's been here a long time, It's been waiting for
a long time." Hex intoned. "There's hunger."
The miniature Mr Swarm pushed it's way through what appeared to be
a solid wall and disappeared.

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@ -0,0 +1,80 @@
We, your friends and archivists, wish you to know: This message was
originally transmitted over QEC, early in the morning of Friday,
September 24, 2421, via the "anon.penet.fi" anonymous resender. We
present it here without further comment.
~
TO THE EARTH FLOTILLA NOW CRIMINALLY BOMBARDING AND OCCUPYING MARS
For decades now, Earth's imperial dominion over Mars and the Belt
has produced a constant train of abuse, injustice, and
atrocity. You have enslaved us. You have exploited us. You have
continually alienated our labor in the service of a regime which
has proven by its actions that it no longer deserves to live, if
indeed it ever did.
In your unquestioned and unquestionable power, you have grown
complacent. You have permitted us a laughable measure of what you
consider liberty. Even as you regard us with the lazy contempt of
empire for its victims, you have withdrawn your attention,
preferring the elaborate games and perversions of elitism to
anything resembling concern for the maintenance of your power.
Even among your military class, the rot has set in and sunk
deep. Your captains regard Ceres Station and other Belt postings as
punishment duty, and they are not wrong to do so. Your military
elite has settled into the habit of sending us their least capable
officers, their least ready ships. While here, those officers and
those ships treat us with the contempt their masters teach
them. They know we are not their equals, in might or in rectitude,
for they are after all our masters, and we merely their servants to
be policed. As best they can, they ignore us entirely, again as
their masters have taught them.
They can no longer ignore us. Nor will you.
We have captured your Marine garrison on Ceres. We have destroyed
the frigate ENS St. Louis and seized the cruiser ENS Brooklyn, both
formerly of Ceres Station. At a single stroke, we have decapitated
Earth's military presence in the Belt.
We intend soon to properly declare ourselves among the independent
nations of the Solar System. But we have no time for such niceties
just now. Our brothers and sisters on Mars remain, for now, under
the bootheel of Earth. We are coming to their aid.
TO OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS ON MARS: We know how they are killing
you. We know the desperation you must feel in this moment. But hold
fast, comrades! We are coming. When we arrive, we will smash the
Earthers in orbit. We will smash the Earthers on the surface. We
are coming to relieve you. Defend your domes and caverns, husband
your strength and your weapons, and hold fast! We are coming. We
will be there soon to help you free yourselves, as we have done.
TO THE FLOTILLA OCCUPYING MARS: We warn you once, and once only:
Recover your troops from the surface and depart Mars orbit at
once. You are in orbit, we are not: We have the advantages of
position and velocity. If you do not heed this warning, we will
fire into and destroy your ships as soon as our weapons range on
you, and before yours can range on us.
You may doubt our capacity to do this. You may think that, even if
we are not lying, we have only one cruiser, and you thus outnumber
us. We warn you against such foolishness. We of the Belt have more
weapons than you know. Underestimate us at your peril. If we find
you in Mars orbit when we arrive, you will learn of our
weapons. You will not have much time to gain wisdom from the
lesson.
We do not offer you this warning out of kindness. You have for all
the decades of our servitude been the mailed fist of Earth, the
hand that held the whip that scarred our backs. You have oppressed
us, and we hope very much you will give us the opportunity to repay
you in kind for all you have done. But we do not wish the birth of
our new nation to be attended by unnecessary bloodshed. So we warn
you, this once:
Leave Mars, or we will kill you all.
You have twenty-six hours to comply.

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@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
0Voortrekker - TO THE EARTH FLOTILLA NOW CRIMINALLY BOMBARDING AND OCCUPYIN /Voortrekker/29-to-the-earth-flotilla-now-criminally.txt
0Assumption - Autoresponse: amended. /Assumption/0001.txt
0RSS Revenant - Purple Moss /RSS Revenant/1626.txt
0Slantwise Convection - Past and Present Events /Slantwise Convection/002.txt

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@ -2,6 +2,95 @@
<title>Cosmic Voyage</title>
<link>gopher://cosmic.voyage</link>
<description>Messages from the human stellar diaspora</description>
<item>
<title>Voortrekker - TO THE EARTH FLOTILLA NOW CRIMINALLY BOMBARDING AND OCCUPYIN</title>
<author>alexis@cosmic.voyage (alexis)</author>
<link>gopher://cosmic.voyage/0/Voortrekker/29-to-the-earth-flotilla-now-criminally.txt</link>
<guid>gopher://cosmic.voyage/0/Voortrekker/29-to-the-earth-flotilla-now-criminally.txt</guid>
<pubDate>Wed, 27 Feb 2019 13:30:28 GMT</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[<pre>
We, your friends and archivists, wish you to know: This message was
originally transmitted over QEC, early in the morning of Friday,
September 24, 2421, via the "anon.penet.fi" anonymous resender. We
present it here without further comment.
~
TO THE EARTH FLOTILLA NOW CRIMINALLY BOMBARDING AND OCCUPYING MARS
For decades now, Earth's imperial dominion over Mars and the Belt
has produced a constant train of abuse, injustice, and
atrocity. You have enslaved us. You have exploited us. You have
continually alienated our labor in the service of a regime which
has proven by its actions that it no longer deserves to live, if
indeed it ever did.
In your unquestioned and unquestionable power, you have grown
complacent. You have permitted us a laughable measure of what you
consider liberty. Even as you regard us with the lazy contempt of
empire for its victims, you have withdrawn your attention,
preferring the elaborate games and perversions of elitism to
anything resembling concern for the maintenance of your power.
Even among your military class, the rot has set in and sunk
deep. Your captains regard Ceres Station and other Belt postings as
punishment duty, and they are not wrong to do so. Your military
elite has settled into the habit of sending us their least capable
officers, their least ready ships. While here, those officers and
those ships treat us with the contempt their masters teach
them. They know we are not their equals, in might or in rectitude,
for they are after all our masters, and we merely their servants to
be policed. As best they can, they ignore us entirely, again as
their masters have taught them.
They can no longer ignore us. Nor will you.
We have captured your Marine garrison on Ceres. We have destroyed
the frigate ENS St. Louis and seized the cruiser ENS Brooklyn, both
formerly of Ceres Station. At a single stroke, we have decapitated
Earth's military presence in the Belt.
We intend soon to properly declare ourselves among the independent
nations of the Solar System. But we have no time for such niceties
just now. Our brothers and sisters on Mars remain, for now, under
the bootheel of Earth. We are coming to their aid.
TO OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS ON MARS: We know how they are killing
you. We know the desperation you must feel in this moment. But hold
fast, comrades! We are coming. When we arrive, we will smash the
Earthers in orbit. We will smash the Earthers on the surface. We
are coming to relieve you. Defend your domes and caverns, husband
your strength and your weapons, and hold fast! We are coming. We
will be there soon to help you free yourselves, as we have done.
TO THE FLOTILLA OCCUPYING MARS: We warn you once, and once only:
Recover your troops from the surface and depart Mars orbit at
once. You are in orbit, we are not: We have the advantages of
position and velocity. If you do not heed this warning, we will
fire into and destroy your ships as soon as our weapons range on
you, and before yours can range on us.
You may doubt our capacity to do this. You may think that, even if
we are not lying, we have only one cruiser, and you thus outnumber
us. We warn you against such foolishness. We of the Belt have more
weapons than you know. Underestimate us at your peril. If we find
you in Mars orbit when we arrive, you will learn of our
weapons. You will not have much time to gain wisdom from the
lesson.
We do not offer you this warning out of kindness. You have for all
the decades of our servitude been the mailed fist of Earth, the
hand that held the whip that scarred our backs. You have oppressed
us, and we hope very much you will give us the opportunity to repay
you in kind for all you have done. But we do not wish the birth of
our new nation to be attended by unnecessary bloodshed. So we warn
you, this once:
Leave Mars, or we will kill you all.
You have twenty-six hours to comply.
</pre>]]></description>
</item>
<item>
<title>Assumption - Autoresponse: amended. </title>
<author>kirch@cosmic.voyage (kirch)</author>
@ -46,11 +135,11 @@ Assumption
<author>kirch@cosmic.voyage (kirch)</author>
<link>gopher://cosmic.voyage/0/RSS Revenant/1626.txt</link>
<guid>gopher://cosmic.voyage/0/RSS Revenant/1626.txt</guid>
<pubDate>Sun, 17 Feb 2019 03:26:08 GMT</pubDate>
<pubDate>Wed, 27 Feb 2019 04:39:04 GMT</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[<pre>
As we walked down the gangway to the sandy material that cushioned
our landing, we looked out at an alien world. We held our hands
over our eyes to shield them from the first natural light we've
over our eyes to shield them from the first natural light we had
seen in months. The sky was blue, but not nearly the same as those
back home, grading gently to a red and violet in the west.
@ -62,8 +151,8 @@ nothing to dally with. Anything worth looking at was sun bleached
waste and dust heaps, barely enough to stumble over, but more than
enough to make any archaeologist salivate.
We were in a shallow valley, shadows playing about our feet as we
marched on. Our personal safety equipment gave no warnings, there was no
We were in a valley, shadows playing about our feet as we marched
on. Our personal safety equipment gave no warnings, there was no
one and nothing to see, but our guide (for lack of a better word)
insisted that we'd be safer wherever we were going.
@ -71,15 +160,15 @@ The archway lay nearly invisible in the shadows, only marked by
void in the nearly black purple moss. The now familiar iridescent
black sheen sealed over it after we entered. It was not dark here,
dim rainbows shone from the walls leaving white splotches where the
shadows intersected. We were not in a cave, but a corridor.
colors intersected. We were not in a cave but a corridor.
"The walls are alive," whispered Hex "and I'm sensing more life
ahead."
"Please wait here," the box changed shaped again to indicate a
hollow in the wall forming a long low bench. "We are still
preparing a place for you, and anticipate you would like to acclimate
to your new surroundings before socializing."
preparing a place for you, and anticipate you would like to
acclimate to your new surroundings before socializing."
The box smoothly became one with the floor, and we were left alone
in some sort of antechamber.
@ -90,12 +179,12 @@ Walked out of the side of the full-size Mr Swarm's leg and begin
feeling its way along the walls.
"There are hollows behind several sections of the wall, I can't
feel how far they go, but they're also alive." Hex said.
feel how far they go, but they also contain life." Hex said.
"It's alright, my friend can explore freely." Mr Swarm said smugly.
"Whatever this is, it's been here a long time, It's been asleep for
a long time." Hex intoned. "It's hungry."
"Whatever this is, it's been here a long time, It's been waiting for
a long time." Hex intoned. "There's hunger."
The miniature Mr Swarm pushed it's way through what appeared to be
a solid wall and disappeared.

View File

@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
<pre>
Feb 26, 2019:
- 'bbj' is a message board shared with the tildeverse. Try it!
Feb 12, 2019:
- 'log' will now validate titles and ask for confirmation