(Read here for links to the whole story, and why it’s being written)
Blink/Sophie sat in as fetal a position as possible in the corner of a phone booth outside of Negworth, Amsterdam. Their recent merging was, of course, successful. Both minds were now in perfect harmony, and mostly open to one another. Therein started the awful realization.
“Blink, it’s so hard because our memories don’t line up exactly right. Is that because we interpreted the situations differently?”, thought Sophie.
“Well, normally I’d say yes”, thought Blink, “But our memory divergence goes far beyond what differing points of view would explain. Apart from our thread-bonded love and compassion, everything seems different in our pasts. Even our recent past.”
“Blink, we’ve both changed. I’m a little girl living in the head of… of… well, we’re in the same head!”
“I know sweetie, and I’m so happy to be merged with you.” Blink emoted love to Sophie. “Travel back in our memories though. I’m not even sure what a coconut is, and yet, you remember — no, experienced — us both living on them. Sophie, I’ve never been to a desert island.”
Blink could feel fear well up inside Sophie. Horrible scenes of Not-Sophie, emotions of pain, and crippling terror were flooding their consciousness.
“Sophie! Wait!” Blink solidified their thread-bond, and opened his entire consciousness to her. “I don’t want you to think I’m anything other than Blink. Sophie, you can see everything that I am. I love you. I can’t lie to you. I will not hurt or deceive you.” He could feel her calm down, and relaxed himself too.
Blink/Sophie worked together, slowly piecing together the horrible truth regarding the sterilization fleet. It was Sophie that first realized the fleet wasn’t destroying planets, but rather, terraforming the galaxy piece by piece into parallel universes in order to create the perfect Tragethen empire. Why destroy a planet, when enough dimensional shifting would bring forth a slave planet?
“Sophie!” thought-shouted Blink, “That explains their need for a dual mind!”
Blink/Sophie began to realize the futility in the way the Space Force was trying to defeat the Trageth. Amassing armies was pointless, and the SF officers with their single minds had no way of knowing the Trageth were just trying to keep them all busy. Just as Blink/Sophie started to plan their next move, the phone booth seemed to change.
This post is part of a multi-blog, round robin, create your own chaos, short story write-a-thon. It’s sorta like Ficlets, but on a larger, less organized, slightly longer form. You can still play if you’re reading this before noon on Sunday, just go to Nathan’s blog and he’ll add you to the pool. It should be tons of fun.
Objectively, Sophie knew that the real SpaceForce wasn’t all adventure and excitement, but compared to Chenolla VI, anything had to be an improvement. “Jeez”, she thought, “What’s taking so long?”
It was easy enough to take this little girl’s body over, but over the past few months, the Trageth officer had begun to sympathize with her “family” on Chenolla VI. Why aren’t these idiots preparing for the battle? Yes, the Space Force is powerful, but they can’t defend all the human planets at once. When the sterilization fleet comes to this planet, the best defense the humans will have is fishing poles!
All the preparations were made in the beryllium mine, and the accelerated decay was already spewing beryllium ions into subspace, signaling the start of the first wave. If Sophie didn’t get accepted into the Space Force, and off this planet, she would die with all the stupid fishermen.
“Why are they making us wait, Mom?” Sophie muttered, nervously.
“They’re warming up the brain remover, dear.” Said her mother, as she casually flipped a page in her magazine.
Sophie panicked, and almost suicidally released the real Sophie to avoid the torture herself. After a moment, however, she realized the mother was playing the human lying game. Some humans lied like this more than others, but Sophie’s mother was particularly evil. The past few months had taught her how to deal with situations like this, but with her current stress regarding the interview, she momentarily slipped. Thankfully, the mother hadn’t noticed.
“Shut up, Mom, they already removed my brain in school.”
“Nice, Soph. Nice.” her mother chuckled.
It was reasons like that which required the humans to be destroyed. They lied to their own nestlings! How could they ever be trusted as allies? Sophie was even more determined to get accepted into the Space Force and help destroy these evil creatures. They’re so seductive! So many times I’ve wanted to suggest a peace negotiation, and then they lie for nothing more than evil pleasure!
“Mom, what are you and Dad going to do when I go off to the Space Force?” Sophie asked.
“Oh, I think we’ll be fine, dear. The one I’m really worried about is Blink. Are you sure you don’t want him to stay here? No one is really sure if they can survive off planet, and you might not see him for months.”
Ok, if you’re on the east coast, press pause on your Tivo, and go outside. Right now. Do it.
About 3 minutes ago, the Lunar Eclipse started, and we won’t have another till 2010. And it will probably be cloudy in 2010. So go watch now! (It’s actually a rather slow event, so you have some time. You can go to the bathroom and stuff. Just don’t tell me about it.)
My family drove to a beautiful home on the shore of Lake Huron today for lunch. Thankfully, the home is owned by friends (actually, my former boss — he retired), and they were expecting us. When we arrived, they had gifts for the family, and the coffee mug below is one that I think he’s had for years, but wanted to give me because he thought I would appreciate it. He was correct.
I don’t know why. I know that I would like to wear it to work. And just one, because two would be silly.
If you want one, just click on the photo, it will take you to an online store. Please buy me one too, because there’s absolutely no way I could convince my wife it was a good idea.
I don’t think they should be smoking marijuana on the space station at all. Call me a prude if you will, but I have to draw the line somewhere.
That said, are the laws the same once you leave the planet? If an astronaut kills another in space, is it illegal? How far do our laws extend? Yes, these are the things I think about…
Tonight, the full moon is also the Perigee Moon — which means it’s actually at it’s closest point to us. Here in northern Michigan, we have a beautiful clear night as well, so the view is spectacular. In celebration of the Full, Perigee moon, I give you the Spongemonkey’s rendition of, “We Like the Moon.” You’re welcome.
A literal star I mean. I would want to be a brown dwarf. They just look cool, what with their eerie glowingness and all.
If I couldn’t be a brown dwarf, I would want to be a star large enough to go supernova, because I think that’d be fun. I’d also want to be large enough to be a black hole, or at least a neutron star. I mean, that’s some cool stuff.
If I couldn’t be a star, I’d settle for a failed star, like Jupiter. At least it emanates light. It’s just so gassy, it seems a little lame. But I could have red storms and stuff. That’d be cool.
So if you could be a heavenly body, what would you be?
If you’re awake, and it’s Sunday night (the 12th of August, or if it’s already past midnight, the 13th), GO OUTSIDE AND LOOK UP!!! The Perseid meteor shower is going on right over your head!
Ok, in all fairness, it’s largely better in the Northern Hemisphere, but it’s worth a look regardless. The peak will be about 2 hours before the sun comes up on Monday morning, so make some coffee and get a comfy chair.
Meteor showers are great, because you don’t need anything but eyeballs to see them. The are expected to peak with 60-80 meteors per hour. Just watch the entire sky, partially easterly sky if you want to have a facing direction, and you should see them. Tonight is especially great because of the new moon. (New moon = no moon visible)
Below is a diagram of the sky. The meteors appear to streak from the Perseus constellation, and go across the whole nighttime canvas. It should be great!!!
Ok, if you’re on the east coast, press pause on your Tivo, and go outside. Right now. Do it.
A literal star I mean. I would want to be a brown dwarf. They just look cool, what with their eerie glowingness and all. 
