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
Tag: science fiction
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
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
Generation Ship: Review
I grew up reading hard science fiction. Some of my favorite authors were Arthur C. Clarke, Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, Larry Niven, Frank Herbert, and Jerry Pournelle. All these writers created technically plausible stories with heavy doses of science. I’ve always held that science fiction needs some actual science to distinguish it from … Continue reading Generation Ship: Review
The Collapsing Empire: Goodreads Review
The Collapsing Empire (CE) is a breezy fun to read space opera. Because I rate books on Goodreads mostly on how much I enjoyed them I gave CE a solid four. If you're looking for a few hours away from planet moron (Earth) CE is worth the time. While I enjoyed CE it's unlikely I … Continue reading The Collapsing Empire: Goodreads Review
Dark Energy Entities
I've been having fun on a new social media site called Quora. Quora operates on the StackOverFlow principle. People pose questions and others answer. The act of asking of sincere questions, even silly ones, seems to take the wind out of troll sails. Political sites quickly degenerate into primate poo tossing contests. I enjoy pitching … Continue reading Dark Energy Entities
Analyze the Data not the Drivel 