Voyages - Revision history

JonBuck: Fixed italics.

2007-10-10T07:10:38Z

Fixed italics.

← Older revision		Revision as of 02:10, 10 October 2007
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	"What in the Frozen Hells?"		"What in the Frozen Hells?"

	It was no longer air on the move. In a spreading, turbulent wake behind the torpedo was something he had last seen while boating behind a propjet. A glowing spiral wake, spreading backwards ~~_through_~~ a new hole in the lab's wall. A shining, twirling mutil-layered helix that fluoresced deep into the infrared, and farther. Anything in a hundred tails of that strange effect was simply ~~_gone~~._		It was no longer air on the move. In a spreading, turbulent wake behind the torpedo was something he had last seen while boating behind a propjet. A glowing spiral wake, spreading backwards ''through'' a new hole in the lab's wall. A shining, twirling mutil-layered helix that fluoresced deep into the infrared, and farther. Anything in a hundred tails of that strange effect was simply ''gone.''

	Unfortunately, while none of them were his people, that included five saurids. Gone. Vanished. And presumably dead.		Unfortunately, while none of them were his people, that included five saurids. Gone. Vanished. And presumably dead.
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	Over and over again. The same images. No eating, no sleeping. Only the beeping of his communicator brought him out of it. He took it off his belt, dreading what he would hear next. It was the emergency channel again. "Gannett."		Over and over again. The same images. No eating, no sleeping. Only the beeping of his communicator brought him out of it. He took it off his belt, dreading what he would hear next. It was the emergency channel again. "Gannett."

	"Priority message from Orbital Station One," the voice of his proxy there said. "Five energy transfer floaters became active at twenty-one hundred hours near the alien wreck. Attempted all emergency shutdown procedures, even the new ones, but units did not respond. I've squirted you all the diagnostic data I could coax out of them. Please advise. Bakter out."		"Priority message from Orbital Station One," the delayed voice of his proxy there said. "Five energy transfer floaters became active at twenty-one hundred hours near the alien wreck. Attempted all emergency shutdown procedures, even the new ones, but units did not respond. I've squirted you all the diagnostic data I could coax out of them. Please advise. Bakter out."

	{{Separator\|stars\|'''The Voyage Continues?'''}}		{{Separator\|stars\|'''The Voyage Continues?'''}}

JonBuck: Edited out an inconsistency. Click "diff" if you want to see the tiny changes.

2007-10-10T07:06:49Z

Edited out an inconsistency. Click "diff" if you want to see the tiny changes.

← Older revision		Revision as of 02:06, 10 October 2007
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	"We need you and your staff to look at it right away," Sacram replied. "As for your other issue..." His fingers danced over the control panel. "Unless the drones in your sector become operational again, we have enough time to plan a 'rescue'. There won't be any more than soft tissue changes. This... this First Contact a very fragile situation. I'm sure I don't need to remind you just how much. Leave it to the diplomats. Though knowing them, they'll spend a month on protocols first..."		"We need you and your staff to look at it right away," Sacram replied. "As for your other issue..." His fingers danced over the control panel. "Unless the drones in your sector become operational again, we have enough time to plan a 'rescue'. There won't be any more than soft tissue changes. This... this First Contact a very fragile situation. I'm sure I don't need to remind you just how much. Leave it to the diplomats. Though knowing them, they'll spend a month on protocols first..."

	A few hours later, Gannett and his crew had the alien torpedo in the lab ~~and halfway taken apart~~. His little pack of engineers and scientists pounced on it like hamstrung prey, running multiple scans, trying to get inside of it without taking it apart first. It was three tails long and shaped like a fish. The hull blocked most of the scans, though one revealed the presence of a lot of boron-11 from a slice on the bottom.		A few hours later, Gannett and his crew had the alien torpedo in the lab. His little pack of engineers and scientists pounced on it like hamstrung prey, running multiple scans, trying to get inside of it without taking it apart first. It was three tails long and shaped like a fish. The hull blocked most of the scans, though one revealed the presence of a lot of boron-11 from a slice on the bottom.

	"It's a thing of beauty," one of the young engineers said. His head feathers were mussed, his body reeked a little, and his eyes were reddened with lack of sleep. But he had come recommended as an up-and-coming specialist in power systems. "It's a fusion reactor. A tiny fusion reactor." He traced his claws along a spherical bubble about two-thirds of the way down the "torpedo". "The boron is the fuel slug, see. And there's no steam turbine!"		"It's a thing of beauty," one of the young engineers said. His head feathers were mussed, his body reeked a little, and his eyes were reddened with lack of sleep. But he had come recommended as an up-and-coming specialist in power systems. "It's a fusion reactor. A tiny fusion reactor." He traced his claws along a spherical bubble about two-thirds of the way down the "torpedo". "The boron is the fuel slug, see. And there's no steam turbine!"
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	Gannett watched the readouts and graphs on the screen, as well as a multi-spectral image. "This makes no sense," he said with a snort.		Gannett watched the readouts and graphs on the screen, as well as a multi-spectral image. "This makes no sense," he said with a snort.

	"Well, I imagine our nanotechnology is giving them headaches," the xenobiololgist added. "And scales, and possibly tails, if we don't ''do something."''		"Well, I imagine our nanotechnology is giving them headaches," the xenobiololgist added. "And scales, and possibly ''tails'', if we don't ''do something."''

	"It's out of my hands, Kurin. Please, I'm doing my best for them."		"It's out of my hands, Kurin. Please, I'm doing my best for them."
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	It was several long seconds before there was an answer. "Um... still kind of in shock here, Technician," the xenobiologist trilled. "Have... have no idea what happened. Got a few injuries, but I think everyone's still in one piece. Um, so far. Can't say the same for the lab, though. Wait until you see the video!"		It was several long seconds before there was an answer. "Um... still kind of in shock here, Technician," the xenobiologist trilled. "Have... have no idea what happened. Got a few injuries, but I think everyone's still in one piece. Um, so far. Can't say the same for the lab, though. Wait until you see the video!"

	~~{{add\|~~Gannett watched, over and over again, at the sequence of events that wrecked the lab and had nearly cost the life of the young fusion engineer.}} Apparently there had been some kind of reserve fuel somewhere inside the message torpedo, and their scanning beams had triggered an automated startup routine. He watched as the blades had started spinning. Slowly at first, but the torque from the motors was immense. Dozens of RPMs became hundreds, then thousands. The air inside the lab turned into a hurricane, safety protocols dumping it wherever it could.		Gannett watched, over and over again, at the sequence of events that wrecked the lab and had nearly cost the life of the young fusion engineer. Apparently there had been some kind of reserve fuel somewhere inside the message torpedo, and their scanning beams had triggered an automated startup routine. He watched as the blades had started spinning. Slowly at first, but the torque from the motors was immense. Dozens of RPMs became hundreds, then thousands. The air inside the lab turned into a hurricane, safety protocols dumping it wherever it could.

	And then...		And then...

JonBuck at 08:02, 24 September 2007

2007-09-24T08:02:46Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 03:02, 24 September 2007
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	{{Separator\|stars\|'''The Voyage Continues?'''}}		{{Separator\|stars\|'''The Voyage Continues?'''}}

	{{author endnote\|One reason why these stories grind to a halt is loss of momentum. I started this story around the time I got my first Real Job, and that transition from retail to professional life threw a monkey wrench into the works. Writing often means hearing the voice of the characters clearly. Once you lose that, it's damned hard to get it back.}}		{{author endnote\|One reason why these stories grind to a halt is loss of momentum. I started this story around the time I got my first Real Job, and that transition from retail to professional life threw a monkey wrench into the works. Writing often means hearing the voice of the characters clearly. Once you lose that, it's damned hard to get it back. Stories like the recently posted [[Unexpected Shore]] got me thinking about this story again. Again, updates will be ''very'' slow.}}

	~~{{author's note\|~~Stories like the recently posted [[Unexpected Shore]] got me thinking about this story again. Again, updates will be very slow.}}

	[[Category:Jon Buck]][[Category:Story]][[Category:Science fiction]][[Category:Animal]][[Category:Transgender]][[Category:Alien]][[Category:Unfinished]]		[[Category:Jon Buck]][[Category:Story]][[Category:Science fiction]][[Category:Animal]][[Category:Transgender]][[Category:Alien]][[Category:Unfinished]]

JonBuck at 08:01, 24 September 2007

2007-09-24T08:01:48Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 03:01, 24 September 2007
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	{{~~WIP~~}}		{{Stopped}}
	{{author's note\|This story is an attempt at a more "realistic" version of ''Star Trek'', at least where military procedures are concerned. I poke fun at Rick Berman a bit. Since I hadn't written a SciFi story in many years, I opted to co-opt a lot of other concepts from other series rather than do something original.}}		{{author's note\|This story is an attempt at a more "realistic" version of ''Star Trek'', at least where military procedures are concerned. I poke fun at Rick Berman a bit. Since I hadn't written a SciFi story in many years, I opted to co-opt a lot of other concepts from other series rather than do something original.}}
	{{author's note\|~~No longer considered to be on Hiatus~~, but ~~updates~~ will be ~~slow. New addition starts with green text~~.}}		{{author's note\|This is going back in the Unfinished category. I had a bit of inspiration for a while, but it's gone again. Updates will be very sporadic at best.}}

	{{byline\|author=Jon Buck\|user=JonBuck}}		{{byline\|author=Jon Buck\|user=JonBuck}}
Line 359:		Line 359:
	{{Separator\|stars\|'''The Voyage Continues?'''}}		{{Separator\|stars\|'''The Voyage Continues?'''}}

	{{author~~'s note~~\|One reason why these stories grind to a halt is loss of momentum. I started this story around the time I got my first Real Job, and that transition from retail to professional life threw a monkey wrench into the works. Writing often means hearing the voice of the characters clearly. Once you lose that, it's damned hard to get it back.}}		{{author endnote\|One reason why these stories grind to a halt is loss of momentum. I started this story around the time I got my first Real Job, and that transition from retail to professional life threw a monkey wrench into the works. Writing often means hearing the voice of the characters clearly. Once you lose that, it's damned hard to get it back.}}

	{{author's note\|Stories like the recently posted [[Unexpected Shore]] got me thinking about this story again. Again, updates will be very slow.}}		{{author's note\|Stories like the recently posted [[Unexpected Shore]] got me thinking about this story again. Again, updates will be very slow.}}

	[[Category:Jon Buck]][[Category:Story]][[Category:Science fiction]][[Category:Animal]][[Category:Transgender]][[Category:Alien]]		[[Category:Jon Buck]][[Category:Story]][[Category:Science fiction]][[Category:Animal]][[Category:Transgender]][[Category:Alien]][[Category:Unfinished]]

JonBuck at 05:36, 16 September 2007

2007-09-16T05:36:56Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 00:36, 16 September 2007
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	It was several long seconds before there was an answer. "Um... still kind of in shock here, Technician," the xenobiologist trilled. "Have... have no idea what happened. Got a few injuries, but I think everyone's still in one piece. Um, so far. Can't say the same for the lab, though. Wait until you see the video!"		It was several long seconds before there was an answer. "Um... still kind of in shock here, Technician," the xenobiologist trilled. "Have... have no idea what happened. Got a few injuries, but I think everyone's still in one piece. Um, so far. Can't say the same for the lab, though. Wait until you see the video!"

	{add\|Gannett watched, over and over again, at the sequence of events that wrecked the lab and had nearly cost the life of the young fusion engineer.}} Apparently there had been some kind of reserve fuel somewhere inside the message torpedo, and their scanning beams had triggered an automated startup routine. He watched as the blades had started spinning. Slowly at first, but the torque from the motors was immense. Dozens of RPMs became hundreds, then thousands. The air inside the lab turned into a hurricane, safety protocols dumping it wherever it could.		{{add\|Gannett watched, over and over again, at the sequence of events that wrecked the lab and had nearly cost the life of the young fusion engineer.}} Apparently there had been some kind of reserve fuel somewhere inside the message torpedo, and their scanning beams had triggered an automated startup routine. He watched as the blades had started spinning. Slowly at first, but the torque from the motors was immense. Dozens of RPMs became hundreds, then thousands. The air inside the lab turned into a hurricane, safety protocols dumping it wherever it could.

	And then...		And then...

JonBuck at 05:36, 16 September 2007

2007-09-16T05:36:28Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 00:36, 16 September 2007
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	{{Separator\|stars}}		{{Separator\|stars}}

	~~{{add\|~~Gannett's talons went ''screeee'' along the floor as flexed his toes, trying to keep his anger contained.}} "Why wasn't I told about this earlier?" he snarled, head crest rising to full, furious height. "I'm supposed to be in charge of ''any'' technology we retrieve! Now I only hear about this discovery after three days?"		Gannett's talons went ''screeee'' along the floor as flexed his toes, trying to keep his anger contained. "Why wasn't I told about this earlier?" he snarled, head crest rising to full, furious height. "I'm supposed to be in charge of ''any'' technology we retrieve! Now I only hear about this discovery after three days?"

	To his credit, Sacram did not rise to the body-posture insult. The older saurid knew better than to rise to any challenge from youngsters. "I have only just heard about this myself, boy. That's why I called you. One of the shuttles grabbed it on the way back from the orbital station. Command was as furious as you are now. The pilots were demoted. But I suppose you can forgive them for the enthusiasm?"		To his credit, Sacram did not rise to the body-posture insult. The older saurid knew better than to rise to any challenge from youngsters. "I have only just heard about this myself, boy. That's why I called you. One of the shuttles grabbed it on the way back from the orbital station. Command was as furious as you are now. The pilots were demoted. But I suppose you can forgive them for the enthusiasm?"
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	It was several long seconds before there was an answer. "Um... still kind of in shock here, Technician," the xenobiologist trilled. "Have... have no idea what happened. Got a few injuries, but I think everyone's still in one piece. Um, so far. Can't say the same for the lab, though. Wait until you see the video!"		It was several long seconds before there was an answer. "Um... still kind of in shock here, Technician," the xenobiologist trilled. "Have... have no idea what happened. Got a few injuries, but I think everyone's still in one piece. Um, so far. Can't say the same for the lab, though. Wait until you see the video!"

			{add\|Gannett watched, over and over again, at the sequence of events that wrecked the lab and had nearly cost the life of the young fusion engineer.}} Apparently there had been some kind of reserve fuel somewhere inside the message torpedo, and their scanning beams had triggered an automated startup routine. He watched as the blades had started spinning. Slowly at first, but the torque from the motors was immense. Dozens of RPMs became hundreds, then thousands. The air inside the lab turned into a hurricane, safety protocols dumping it wherever it could.

			And then...

			"What in the Frozen Hells?"

			It was no longer air on the move. In a spreading, turbulent wake behind the torpedo was something he had last seen while boating behind a propjet. A glowing spiral wake, spreading backwards _through_ a new hole in the lab's wall. A shining, twirling mutil-layered helix that fluoresced deep into the infrared, and farther. Anything in a hundred tails of that strange effect was simply _gone._

			Unfortunately, while none of them were his people, that included five saurids. Gone. Vanished. And presumably dead.

			Sacram had only glared at him. Either he found out what went wrong, or there would be some very serious consequences for him.

			Over and over again. The same images. No eating, no sleeping. Only the beeping of his communicator brought him out of it. He took it off his belt, dreading what he would hear next. It was the emergency channel again. "Gannett."

			"Priority message from Orbital Station One," the voice of his proxy there said. "Five energy transfer floaters became active at twenty-one hundred hours near the alien wreck. Attempted all emergency shutdown procedures, even the new ones, but units did not respond. I've squirted you all the diagnostic data I could coax out of them. Please advise. Bakter out."

	{{Separator\|stars\|'''The Voyage Continues?'''}}		{{Separator\|stars\|'''The Voyage Continues?'''}}

JonBuck at 21:29, 15 September 2007

2007-09-15T21:29:49Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 16:29, 15 September 2007
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	{{author's note\|One reason why these stories grind to a halt is loss of momentum. I started this story around the time I got my first Real Job, and that transition from retail to professional life threw a monkey wrench into the works. Writing often means hearing the voice of the characters clearly. Once you lose that, it's damned hard to get it back.}}		{{author's note\|One reason why these stories grind to a halt is loss of momentum. I started this story around the time I got my first Real Job, and that transition from retail to professional life threw a monkey wrench into the works. Writing often means hearing the voice of the characters clearly. Once you lose that, it's damned hard to get it back.}}

	{{author's note\|Stories like the recently posted [[Unexpected Shore]] got me thinking about this story again. ~~So here's about 325 words of new text~~, ~~just enough to finish this scene~~. ~~--[[User:JonBuck\|Buck]] 03:16, 11 September 2007 (EDT)~~}}		{{author's note\|Stories like the recently posted [[Unexpected Shore]] got me thinking about this story again. Again, updates will be very slow.}}

	[[Category:Jon Buck]][[Category:Story]][[Category:~~Unfinished~~]][[Category:~~Science fiction~~]][[Category:~~Animal~~]][[Category:~~Transgender~~]]		[[Category:Jon Buck]][[Category:Story]][[Category:Science fiction]][[Category:Animal]][[Category:Transgender]][[Category:Alien]]

JonBuck at 07:30, 15 September 2007

2007-09-15T07:30:43Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 02:30, 15 September 2007
Line 1:		Line 1:
	{{~~Hiatus~~}}		{{WIP}}
	{{author's note\|This story is an attempt at a more "realistic" version of ''Star Trek'', at least where military procedures are concerned. I poke fun at Rick Berman a bit. Since I hadn't written a SciFi story in many years, I opted to co-opt a lot of other concepts from other series rather than do something original.}}		{{author's note\|This story is an attempt at a more "realistic" version of ''Star Trek'', at least where military procedures are concerned. I poke fun at Rick Berman a bit. Since I hadn't written a SciFi story in many years, I opted to co-opt a lot of other concepts from other series rather than do something original.}}
			{{author's note\|No longer considered to be on Hiatus, but updates will be slow. New addition starts with green text.}}

	{{byline\|author=Jon Buck\|user=JonBuck}}		{{byline\|author=Jon Buck\|user=JonBuck}}

JonBuck: More added.

2007-09-15T07:27:34Z

More added.

@@ Line 272: / Line 272: @@
 "We don't have enough parts with us to make anything that works, unfortunately.  And we won't until we've cut away about ten meters worth of wreckage.  We're stuck with the small ATVs for now and however much solar we can collect."  North snorted, and scratched at his peeling rash.  "I didn't think it was possible to under-engineer one of our Explorers."
-{{add|Since humanity had discovered faster-than-light drives it had sent out a dozen exploration vessels over the past century.}}  From what they could tell, intelligent life wasn't all that plentiful in the universe.   But if the physicists were correct, it wasn't even possible for something as smart as a modern human existed even a hundred thousand years ago.  The idea that the laws of nature weren't as immutable as they seemed ''still'' hadn't completely worked its way through the scientific community after a century.
+Since humanity had discovered faster-than-light drives it had sent out a dozen exploration vessels over the past century. From what they could tell, intelligent life wasn't all that plentiful in the universe.   But if the physicists were correct, it wasn't even possible for something as smart as a modern human existed even a hundred thousand years ago.  The idea that the laws of nature weren't as immutable as they seemed ''still'' hadn't completely worked its way through the scientific community after a century.
 Life-bearing worlds were plentiful enough, but the majority  of the sentient species they had observed were anywhere from Neolithic farmers to 18th-century preindustrials.  And of the dozen known spacefaring races within several hundred light years, only half of those had FTL drives and had only had them about as long as Earth.
@@ Line 289: / Line 289: @@
 ''I'd damn well better find out!''

JonBuck at 07:21, 11 September 2007

2007-09-11T07:21:18Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 02:21, 11 September 2007
Line 284:		Line 284:
	Able-bodied. Of the fourteen survivors, four were too injured to do more than convalesce. At least they had climate control in one shelter. But without the autodoc nobody had more than the basic survival training course that all Earth Exploration Fleet recruits got. They were fortunate enough that this planet didn't have any diseases they could die from because of the different biochemistry.		Able-bodied. Of the fourteen survivors, four were too injured to do more than convalesce. At least they had climate control in one shelter. But without the autodoc nobody had more than the basic survival training course that all Earth Exploration Fleet recruits got. They were fortunate enough that this planet didn't have any diseases they could die from because of the different biochemistry.

	The acting Captain scratched a rash on her forearm. ~~_Don~~'t be so certain about that, Hannah girl,_ she thought. But the equipment hadn't detected any biological agents. In fact, she didn't know ''what'' she was looking at.		The acting Captain scratched a rash on her forearm. ''Don't be so certain about that, Hannah girl,''she thought. But the equipment hadn't detected any biological agents. In fact, she didn't know ''what'' she was looking at.

	But if their condition got any worse, they were simply dead.		But if their condition got any worse, they were simply dead.

← Older revision		Revision as of 03:01, 24 September 2007
Line 1:		Line 1:
	{{~~WIP~~}}		{{Stopped}}
	{{author's note\|This story is an attempt at a more "realistic" version of ''Star Trek'', at least where military procedures are concerned. I poke fun at Rick Berman a bit. Since I hadn't written a SciFi story in many years, I opted to co-opt a lot of other concepts from other series rather than do something original.}}		{{author's note\|This story is an attempt at a more "realistic" version of ''Star Trek'', at least where military procedures are concerned. I poke fun at Rick Berman a bit. Since I hadn't written a SciFi story in many years, I opted to co-opt a lot of other concepts from other series rather than do something original.}}
	{{author's note\|~~No longer considered to be on Hiatus~~, but ~~updates~~ will be ~~slow. New addition starts with green text~~.}}		{{author's note\|This is going back in the Unfinished category. I had a bit of inspiration for a while, but it's gone again. Updates will be very sporadic at best.}}

	{{byline\|author=Jon Buck\|user=JonBuck}}		{{byline\|author=Jon Buck\|user=JonBuck}}
Line 359:		Line 359:
	{{Separator\|stars\|'''The Voyage Continues?'''}}		{{Separator\|stars\|'''The Voyage Continues?'''}}

	{{author~~'s note~~\|One reason why these stories grind to a halt is loss of momentum. I started this story around the time I got my first Real Job, and that transition from retail to professional life threw a monkey wrench into the works. Writing often means hearing the voice of the characters clearly. Once you lose that, it's damned hard to get it back.}}		{{author endnote\|One reason why these stories grind to a halt is loss of momentum. I started this story around the time I got my first Real Job, and that transition from retail to professional life threw a monkey wrench into the works. Writing often means hearing the voice of the characters clearly. Once you lose that, it's damned hard to get it back.}}

	{{author's note\|Stories like the recently posted [[Unexpected Shore]] got me thinking about this story again. Again, updates will be very slow.}}		{{author's note\|Stories like the recently posted [[Unexpected Shore]] got me thinking about this story again. Again, updates will be very slow.}}

	[[Category:Jon Buck]][[Category:Story]][[Category:Science fiction]][[Category:Animal]][[Category:Transgender]][[Category:Alien]]		[[Category:Jon Buck]][[Category:Story]][[Category:Science fiction]][[Category:Animal]][[Category:Transgender]][[Category:Alien]][[Category:Unfinished]]