#WedsStory [1/6] The exterior lighting was turned off early in the village to conserve power, so it was velvety dark in the clearing among the palm trees and the sky looked like a big game field on a port, with markers on it so thick the pointer would never be able to pick them all out.

#WedsStory [2/6] They were approaching the lights of the rail terminal, and Sterling stopped suddenly and crouched down before Robbie, taking him by the shoulders and looking into his face. “You’re going to have a new name now, too, my little son.”

#WedsStory [3/6] “A new name?” he repeated, feeling as though his whole world were heaving and dropping under his feet. “From now on, you won’t be Roberto Vargas any longer. You’ll be Robbin Nikalishin.” “Oh … Can I still be Robbie?”

#WedsStory [4/6] “Epsilon Eridani is the nearest star that they know for sure has planets around it. They probably aren’t like Earth, but just the same … And it’s only 10.5 light years away.” “Ye know how horrible far a #light year is, Robbie?”

#WedsStory [5/6] “What sort of engines will the thing have?” said Kolm. “Some kind of ultra-super physics thing that lets you travel faster than #light. I don’t think it’s been invented yet. “Oh, well, then, it’s tomorrow we’ll be goin’, or the next day at the latest!”

#WedsStory [6/6] “The term with which you will all become intimately familiar is the Temporal Quantum Unit, or TQU. One standard TQU equals 1 #light year per sidereal day of real time. Thus, at a speed of 1 TQU, a star that is 10 light years away could be reached in 10 days.”

#1linewed The meal concluded with #spice cake frosted with delectable praline crème and decorated with Annemika Vandemier’s famous electric candles, which Emmie recycled for each birthday.

#1linewed Robbie turned into the empty Mess, which seemed undamaged except for overturned chairs and some scattered tableware. However, he detected an incongruous smell of cinnamon and he stepped into the Galley. “Emmie? What happened? Did your #spice cabinet break open?”

#1linewed [1/2] [Robbie returns to Eira for Krismess.] There were the candles and the garlands, and a big bowl of apples and pears on the sofa table, and a smell of baking bread and fragrant #spices coming from the kitchen.

#1linewed [2/2] “It’s gonna be goose tomorrow,” Joanna was saying. “Do ye remember how ye feared we’d cooked the goose ye’d made friends with?” “Sure, I remember that,” said Robbie, “and I’m just as glad I haven’t met any of your birds this time around!”

“So we triumph!” cried Lug’tei’a, with a shivering of wings and #clash of mandibles. “And so will we ever! The Sky Mother leads her loyal Warriors to eternal victory! She is great and terrible and crushes those who oppose her will! #vss365

The Marchers had shielded the Nasutes from enemies to the south for longer than they could remember, and it was only in recent times that they had #clashed with the plains dwellers. #vss365

Our Champion managed to keep Ar’dai aloft for the longest interval yet, even though it twisted and cursed wildly, #clashing its mandibles from side to side. It was as if the power being drained from Ar’dai was passing into its opponent! #vss365

[A giant centipede guards the Holy Root] The mandibles consisted of plates hinged at the sides and both they and the labium bore rows of short, grinding teeth! These three jaws were #clashing and working furiously as it cast its head about and darted it at Ki’shto’ba. #vss365

#MartialMonday [1/4] It was unlike any reptile I had ever seen. It had long, slender, muscular legs and a lengthened, flexible neck tipped by a narrow head. Slitted yellow eyes glared at us above a snout cracked open to display thin, sharp teeth.

#MartialMonday [2/4] This creature had finely grained #scales beautifully mottled with spots of green and yellow and brown, shading to a soft tan on its underparts.

#MartialMonday [3/4] It was a thap’ar’zei| – one of those creatures we had first seen attending to Bu’gan’zei’s speaking, only this was a much larger specimen! They have beautiful integuments, with small, fine scales mottled with yellow and green and tan, and even red and gold.

#MartialMonday [4/4] And Ra’fa’kat’wei cried, “Holy Nameless! Za’dut has finally done it! Tamed a reptile to pull a wheelbarrow!” For Za’dut and Bu’gan’zei were riding in the box, which was just big enough for the two of them to jam into it.

#BraveWrite [1/4] As the seasons passed, Halrab began to get the discomfiting feeling that Gilzara was watching him – that he was being examined, assessed, measured for some impending #life-altering event.

#BraveWrite [2/4] “Master,” he asked him one day, “is something supposed to happen after an acolyte has studied venwara for ten years?” “No,” responded Gilzara. “What makes you think that?” “Nothing,” said Halrab, embarrassed. “It’s half a dozen days until the 10th anniversary …

#BraveWrite [3/4] …of the day you accepted me as your first disciple. I thought maybe ... ” Then he burst out, “You keep looking me over like I was a lamb you were fattening for a feast!”

#BraveWrite [4/4] This provoked a laugh, but Gilzara’s amusement tempered quickly. “I’m sorry if I’ve made you uncomfortable. I’ll try to be more discreet.” And, as usual, he explained nothing.

#SciFiSat [1/4] [In v.8 (Rare Birds) our ET Bird friends are fascinated by the fact that Earthers wear clothing and insist on watching them get dressed after Dr. Akh’chu conducts physical examinations. The culmination of an extremely funny sequence.]

#SciFiSat [2/4] “Here’s another funny thing,” said Dr. Souray. “At the end the doctor said, ‘I wants to sees you to puts your clothes to your body.’” She began to laugh. “I said, ‘You want to watch me get dressed?’ And then I had to explain to P.K. what ‘get dressed’ meant.” #vss365

#SciFiSat [3/4] Freddy said, “They were fascinated by the snaps on Akil’s jumpsuit and the #elastic in the waistband of his shorts.” “The fly, too,” said Akil. “I don’t know if they ever caught on to what that’s for.” “They seemed to find underwear really weird,” said Sue. #vss365

#SciFiSat [4/4] “I’ve never had a doctor snap the #elastic in my breastie before,” said Dr. Souray, who then proceeded to become incoherent with laughter, along with the rest of the group. #vss365

#SciFiFri [Obviously, it is Za’dut speaking here.] “Good Commander, the very nature of trickery is prudence. One advertises one’s talents only in the most calculated way. I may be of further use to you in these matters, so it is best that my role in the theft remain secret.”

#SciFiFri “Ah, well, you are a talented villain and a troublemaker, Za’dut Fortress-Breaker,” said Fa’kru’moi, half genial, half sober. “I do not believe New Hope would benefit from your skills, although I admit they are considerable.” Za’dut for once had no rejoinder.

#SciFiFri “You stole my magic skin!” “I know, I know! But it was such a perfect tool for a – for an individual of my talents – that I succumbed to a momentary weakness. I could not believe its destiny was no greater than the screening of wings from the sun!”

#SciFiFri A’zhu’lo muttered, “Do not go getting yourself killed, you runty little nuisance. I have just begun to enjoy the way you jab me when you stuff glon’at’zi| down my gullet.” “None of you can even begin to imagine the depth of my talents,” responded Za’dut cheerfully. [Storm-Wing]

#SciFiFri Ki’shto’ba reluctantly displayed its fighting talents for the awed Warriors. Ei’tot had never been threatened w/ invasion. Such inactivity breeds a hunger for fighting, but Ki’shto’ba did not want to excite that hunger & provoke a search for a reason to start a war.

#BraveWrite “I don’t think some kind of one-size-fits-all psychotropic therapy is the wisest approach in Robbie’s case,” said Dr. Souray. “Making Capt. Nikalishin feel better temporarily won’t serve. He’s got to come to grips with this trauma he’s suffered.”

#BraveWrite “And yet you would offer this – this broken-winged wreck of a bird … a flight command?” Softly, Adm. Soemady said, “Well, Capt. Nikalishin, maybe what you need is somebody with the faith to help you mend those wings.”

#BraveWrite “I went through a bout of – well, #self-examination – while I was in the Brig. And I came out of it with more to hold on to than I’ve ever had before.” Aware he was probing sensitive matters, Malakoff didn’t continue to press his subordinate.

#WedsStory [The Companions meet an ancient Seer who narrates the #legend of the Reptile Teeth.]

#WedsStory [1/9] Long ago there are fortresses in all the lands of the South, ruled by a great Champion named Pai’grin’a. In those parts it is the custom to seek out holy springs and bring water to the fortress to bathe the Mothers at certain festivals.

#WedsStory [2/9] A Seer tells Pai’grin’a to go to a particular spring for the rites. When it gets there, it finds a huge reptile guarding the spring. This reptile kills many of Pai’grin’a’s guards, but the Champion will not give up and fights long and hard.

#WedsStory [3/9] Finally it senses that the reptile is weakening and it picks up a huge boulder and bashes the reptile’s head. “Ai-i-i, now you kill me in spite of my divine strength. You are the mightiest of Champions, and so before I die, I will give you a gift. …

#WedsStory [4/9] “Cut off my head and pull out my teeth, and sow them in the soil as if you were planting the fungus spores, and I promise you a great wonder will result.’ And the reptile expires with a prodigious thrashing that in itself almost kills Pai’grin’a.

#WedsStory [5/9] Pai’grin’a, swelled up with its own prowess, scoffs at its companions for being weakling cowards, and it pulls the many many teeth and plants them as if they were fungus spores. And immediately the ground begins to heave and then it opens up …

#WedsStory [6/9] … and out leap burly, bristly Warriors with huge jaws and a terrifying smell of invincibility about them. But these Tooth-Warriors are not very smart and when Pai’grin’a throws a stone at one of them, they do not know who threw it and they all turn …

#WedsStory [7/9] and begin to attack one another. Gradually they kill each other until only five are left, and these realize they would do better to surrender and to offer their services to Pai’grin’a instead of dying for no reason.

#WedsStory [8/9] “Half of the reptile teeth are not sown, however. One day I was foraging in a distant land and I came upon this bag in an abandoned cave-shrine. I stored the words of the cave-music in my remembering – ‘These are the seeds of the Sown Warriors. …

#WedsStory [9/9] “One day you will give them to an Eastern Champion. …“ My ocelli had begun to ache. “Is’a’pai’a, take the gift. We all know this answers the Seeing of Ko’zim’tuk’zei.” So Is’a’pai’a accepted the gift from Mat’hak’tei’a [& what happens next is a different tale.]

“Linna told me she didn’t think Ian would have ever solved that problem on his own. His mind simply doesn’t function in his old organized way. In SkyPiercer days, he could have sat down and worked out the steps of this #conundrum in an hour’s time.” #vss365

“I’ve been buckling down on the #conundrum of the big, bad name for the rescue ship. And I finally came up with … Dauntless! It tells the world that if you don’t come back, we’ll never give up until we find you. Dauntless – that’s what I want to call my stout little ship.” #vss365

“Have you been thinking, or sensing subconsciously, that if you fill Kolm’s role, you will die, or – back to that old #conundrum – that you ought to die?” Ian shifted uncomfortably. “Doctor, I don’t know. I definitely don’t believe I deserve to die …” #vss365

#MartialMonday [1/6] “I am curious,” said A’zhu’lo, “as to why we find a Cohort Chief on patrol in an area from which no threat seems imminent.” Dai’wak’zei wagged its head. “Your party appeared to merit such attention. Our scouts observed your approach…

#MartialMonday [2/6] …even before you moved out of the Lo’shkei’akh marches. It would not have been the first time the Shbu’cha have attempted to outflank us.” As we trotted along, Wei’tu said to Za’dut, “What were you thinking, you worm?

#MartialMonday [3/6] “You knew we had no intention of going into Thel’or’ei!” Za’dut capered desperately. “I wanted to go there! I wanted to see what a war is like! I have never been in a fortress that is at war!”