Click here for a PDF version of Franks. Our calculations indicate that the phenomenon began on September 13th at precisely 2:43:05.81458 mountain time. Frank, that is what he called himself, jumped awake to find another fully grown man in his bed. Perhaps some background might help. Frank was recently divorced. His wife had stormed out … Continue reading Franks
How The Only One from No Egg Made the World
A pâ creation myth. A long, long time ago, The Only One from No Egg, who has always been and will always be, was lonely. The One had always been alone. He had no one to talk to, no one to play with, no one to share with. He said, “I will make a companion.” … Continue reading How The Only One from No Egg Made the World
Gonggone Gone — Parts 11 & 12
an accident Racing beyond Saturn, the Earth continued cooling. Two years and fourteen weeks after runaway, copper spool resistance measurements yielded an average outdoor temperature of -131 degrees Celsius. Colder than Earth had ever been but still warmer than the moons of Saturn. Enceladus measured around -200 Celsius, but Enceladus was in thermal equilibrium, and … Continue reading Gonggone Gone — Parts 11 & 12
Gonggone Gone — Parts 9 & 10
breaking chats On the first anniversary of runaway, as Earth crossed the gulf between the orbits of Jupiter and Saturn, Alex and Doug took a day off and gave themselves sponge baths in the airlock. It was one of their paramount luxuries. Every few weeks, they’d fire up the airlock stove to the max and … Continue reading Gonggone Gone — Parts 9 & 10
Gonggone Gone — Parts 7 & 8
mine routine Their days quickly turned into a routine. Every “morning,” they crawled out of their sleeping bags when Alex’s alarm clock went off at midnight. Alex and Doug lived medieval monastery hours; they got up in the middle of the night and called it morning. Monastery hours began when Doug saw their stove exhaust … Continue reading Gonggone Gone — Parts 7 & 8
Gonggone Gone — Parts 5 & 6
heat boxes In the morning, they installed infrared battery-powered motion detectors in the mine shaft. The alarms would warn them if anyone entered the mine while they were inside working. As a further precaution, Alex carried his little Scheel’s 9mm pistol in his snap-up overall pockets. “Paranoid much?” Doug teased. “Hey, it’s a statistical fact … Continue reading Gonggone Gone — Parts 5 & 6
Gonggone Gone — Parts 3 & 4
a road trip By late afternoon, as the stores began filling with panicked shoppers, Doug and Alex topped up the truck at a gas station on Eagle and Pine. Gas pump traffic was heavier than usual. It was sinking in. This could not be ignored or blamed on people you don’t like. Handing Doug the … Continue reading Gonggone Gone — Parts 3 & 4
Gonggone Gone — Parts 1 & 2
Click here for a consolidated PDF version of all the Gonggong Gone posts. I’m back, did you miss me? If you’re foolish enough to follow this blog and even more foolish to care about its author, you may have wondered what I’ve been up to for the last umpteen months — even I’ve forgotten when … Continue reading Gonggone Gone — Parts 1 & 2
Last Schoolboy Standing
Click here for a revised PDF version of this post. If you're not rewriting, you're not writing! Recently, Caryn, the wife of my old ACS (American Community School of Beirut) friend David Holladay, called me out of the blue. The instant I took the call, I knew it was bad news. She told me that … Continue reading Last Schoolboy Standing
Tiny Universe Syndrome
Jennifer pursues evil AIs in a tiny Universe. I sat through Jennifer Lopez’s new Netflix movie Atlas the other night. Atlas is what I call generic low-IQ science fiction. It sports many sci-fi elements: evil AIs, good AIs, warm heroines (Jennifer is way too old to be considered hot), robots, spaceships, space marines, explosions, and … Continue reading Tiny Universe Syndrome
Analyze the Data not the Drivel 