Night came, but Halrab found it difficult to sleep. Relieved of its #mountainous mask, the black cave of the sky arched from every horizon, while the silver-blue crescent of the moon, smooth as a chip of polished stone, slid down to set in the east long before midnight. #vss365

[1/2] It was said that the mountains surrounding the lake were the points on the crown of a sleeping giant, while the lake was the silver matrix of the Crown. The peak in the middle of the island was the top of the giant’s head, from which it got its name, Ora Vakana. #vss365

[2/2] At the lake’s north end rose Zhinthá – the glacier-seamed Starbell – the highest mountain in Ziraf’s world and the richest jewel in the Crown. On this warm summer day an old man stood shivering on Tinlor, the highest point of Ora Vakana. #vss365

#SciFiSat [Fedaylia High Feather sets her sights on a vulnerable Capt. Nikalishin. This volume is more literary fiction than SF, but after all the series IS a biography first and foremost. Here is the back cover of v.3 Bird of Prey.]

#SciFiSat [1/6] “The bride and groom have chosen to exchange rings. Will you produce them, please?” And Robbie slid the ring on Feddie’s finger. In his mind he was hearing the words that Kolm and Dana had spoken to each other …

#SciFiSat [2/6] Take and wear this ring as the holy symbol of our weddin’ vows … and he wanted to say that, complete with Eirish accent, but he feared Fedaylia would think that was silly, and so he held his tongue.

#SciFiSat [3/6] And as she reciprocated with his ring, she gave Robbie’s finger a painful twist. He winced a little, looking up at her. Her mischievous grin looked back at him, seeming to say, There, Capt. Nik, I’ve got you now!

#SciFiSat [4/6] And then the Registrar said, “Capt. Nicollusion, would you like to kiss the bride?” Before Robbie could respond, Fedaylia said, “I don’t know what the Captain would like to do, but Ens. High Feather would very much like to kiss the groom!”

#SciFiSat [5/6] And she grabbed Robbie’s head between her palms and, amidst much laughter from the spectators, she conferred the same kind of painful osculation that she had planted on him the first time they had met.

#SciFiSat [6/6] And the doubts that the sight of his bride had smothered only moments before came back to life in Robbie’s conscious mind: The tweak of a finger and the sting of Fedaylia’s hard kiss upon his lip became those doubts’ first post-nuptial pricks.

#SciFiFri [A piece of Robbie’s reaction to the Darter Disaster and Kolm’s death in Wounded Eagle.]

#SciFiFri [1/5] It was almost like being on an interstellar ship, except that they were in real time running at sub-light speeds and they would never be forced to birth into some … hideous … other reality … … or would they?

#SciFiFri [2/5] Suddenly everything #shifted focus and nothing seemed normal. The closed door … the other room in there where Robbie’s isolated bed awaited him … the tiny WC with its cramped shower stall …

#SciFiFri [3/5] What was in there? Some grotesque entity from another dimension? Or, when he opened the doors, would there be nothing there at all?

#SciFiFri [4/5] A sound whimpered out of him, and he sat down on the edge of the bed, pressing his hands over his eyes. Everything – everything reminded him. I can’t stand it, he thought. I just can’t stand it. I left him out there to die. I couldn’t help him.

#SciFiFri [5/5] I wanted to go back, but Ian wouldn’t let me. Why? Why did I have to live? I wanted to stay with you, Goody. I wanted to go on to the next dimension with you. I didn’t want to stay behind.

#vss365 “It seems the antennae have developed some specialized function.” “Undoubtedly sensory,” said Gwidian. “A termite’s principal senses are tactile and chemosensory – #touch, taste, and smell – with the input coming primarily from various types of cuticular bristles...”

#vss365 [1/2] She lightly #touched its head, brushing the sensory hairs around the base of the antennae. It cringed, but she persisted, using both hands, gently stroking all over the head, even along the antennae. It lay still, with the antennae vibrating under her fingers.

#vss365 [2/2] She let her hands stray down toward the mouthparts. Suddenly it was #touching her in return, the palps exploring her hand. Its antennae stretched to feel along her upper arm, her shoulder. The hairs of the antennae tickled her throat …

#BraveWrite This entire region was administered by the Aboriginal Ammeriken Enclave. #Enclaves were areas set aside for ethnic or religious remnants who wanted to govern themselves and preserve their customs. The AAE was about 65 percent Navao…

#BraveWrite The citizens of the #Enclave were quite self-sufficient and a bit xenophobic, but that didn’t mean they were backward. Their capital city was Flagstown, where they had their own university specializing in advanced studies in anthropology and archaeology…

#vss365 “I don’t think we ourselves need to fear him, but if you could have monitored his words… A real Makiavel – all oily flattery and ambiguity! I don’t believe there’s a sincere bone in that creature’s body! I know! Insects have no #bones! A sincere sclerite, maybe?”

#vss365 “Then the Zin’tei saw Ul’i’seit and his Warriors! He made a great ruckus and when they spoke to him and asked for hospitality, the Zin’tei seized two of the Warriors in his – claws – and he ate them, bones and all!” [Kaitrin tells the tale of Ulysses and the Cyclops]

#vss365 Will was saying, “Stinger, come in, please! Capt. Van – Capt. !eye Taeva, come in! This is Durga. Urgent. Do you copy?” The scratching and clattering of jaws and claws could be heard on the outer hatch, like #bones rattling against the outside of a coffin, eager to get in.

#vss365 As we turned into a wider corridor, a small Alate skittered out of a side passage into our path. Her smell was of a recently molted imago and her wings were strange – #pale and bright at once, without a hint of color. It was eerie. [Cassandra]

#vss365 "And you – you are Di’fa’kro’mi the Remembrancer. Have you any tales for us?” “We will give him a tale to tell!” remarked Ta’hat’a’pai, flaring her strange, #pale wings. The Mother mouthed the young Alate’s head fondly. “This is my daft daughter, poor little nymph."

#vss365 As we turned into a wider corridor, a small Alate skittered out of a side passage into our path. Her smell was of a recently molted imago and her wings were strange – #pale and bright at once, without a hint of color. It was eerie. [Cassandra]

#vss365 "And you – you are Di’fa’kro’mi the Remembrancer. Have you any tales for us?” “We will give him a tale to tell!” remarked Ta’hat’a’pai, flaring her strange, #pale wings. The Mother mouthed the young Alate’s head fondly. “This is my daft daughter, poor little nymph."

#SciFiSat [1/4] By 2753 Robbie had made Senior Lieutenant and First Pilot. No longer relegated to the night watch, he was part of the Captain’s shift and fifth in order of command, with only the Operations Officer, the Third Officer, the Second Officer, and the Captain above him.

#SciFiSat [2/4] It was traditional for the Junior Bridge Officer to call out “Captain on the Bridge!” When the Com Officer was absent, the job fell to Robbie. It always gave him a thrill. Someday, he thought, the junior officer will be announcing Capt. Robbin Nikalishin.

#SciFiSat [3/4] In the meantime, Kolm had advanced to Chief Mechanical Engineer, with the rank of Lieutenant Commander. Technically, that made him Robbie’s superior, and Robbie took a wicked delight in teasing him about that.

#SciFiSat [4/4] If they would meet in a corridor, Robbie would snap one of his exaggerated salutes, shouting, “Lt. Cmdr. MaGilli-CRUDDY, sir!” And Kolm would retort disgustedly, “Oh, stow it, Nickel-shins! Ye’re embarrassin’ yeself!”

#SciFiFri [1/6] [Robbie and Kolm attend #Flight Academy.] Their only elementary courses were in the subjects they had come to study, such as aeronautics, flight engineering, military protocol and ethics, and the history of flight and the interplanetary space program.

#SciFiFri [2/6] They were soon immersed in the configuration and schematics of every kind of flying craft both historical and current. They were introduced to a simulator, and they got to tour both atmospheric and space vessels and to actually climb in and sit in the cockpits.

#SciFiFri [3/6] They both ventured into plasma/ion technology and Kolm studied gravitational engineering; Robbie took Introduction to Space Flight. The intention was to be ready to choose at the end of the first year a path of emphasis …

#SciFiFri [4/6] …leading to enrollment in the Earth Space Command (ESC) or the Earth Atmospheric Flight Command (EAFC), and in Flight Command versus Ground Command within one of these branches.

#SciFiFri [5/6] For Robbie the choice was a no-brainer. His intention had ever been to join ESC’s Flight Command and work toward captaining his own ship. Kolm deferred his decision; he was committed to an engineering path, but he refused to rule out Ground Command …

#SciFiFri [6/6] …because designing the ships and engines attracted him as much as flying them. But he never talked much about his indecision, because he knew Robbie’s heart was set on one day having Kolm as the Chief Engineer of his own vessel.

vss365 His lips, parted in a gleeful grin, showed five broken teeth while the Siritoch gold of his eyes had faded to a #lambent amber green. His was a child’s face grown old – the ancient face of one who had found it needless to acknowledge the corruption of time.

#vss365 [1/4] And so Anezka Lara and Claud Flournoi found themselves flying from New Washinten to Herinen to commence the sad task of dismantling a dream. On the way Ani vented her #pain to her old colleague.

#vss365 [2/4] “I built that place. I scraped and bowed and kissed ass to get it funded – I browbeat and intimidated and made everybody in the Project hate my guts so I could get my way. I watched every kilo of cement being poured and blueprinted the location …

#vss365 [3/4] …of every electrical grid and coolant valve. If I had built it with my own hands, it couldn’t be more mine. I trained every scientist – every engineer and tech – every flyer – who ever worked on SkyPiercer – and my reward was to be sent packing …

#vss365 [4/4] … by a stubborn flatland jackass with the brain of a slug. And then I had to stand by helplessly while he gets my old crewmembers killed – Wellette, Crowley, Manticora – and Kolm … god, Kolm … ”

#vss365 The plot turns on several physical fights with monsters, but it also begins to address the #soul-struggles that are an integral part of what makes us all “human.” [Translator’s Foreword to The Storm-Wing]

#vss365 Lug’tei’a had grown into a powerful Warrior but a frustrated visionary, for the ancient beliefs of the Desert Shshi failed to satisfy him. So as a mature Intercaste he had wandered away into Marcher country and their fierce Warrior faith had seized his #soul.

#vss365 Near sundown he went to the shrine and stood at the altar waiting, with the sun declining behind him, sending a long #shadow of himself westward. Then, unsummoned, Krozem was there, robed in the silver-blue of the rising moon. “You are prompt, Gilzara,” he said.

#vss365 Krozem was gone. Gilzara staggered to his feet, clutching his staff to steady himself. Above the mountains the full moon hung as delicate as silver-blue opal, although the #shadows that it cast from the stone where Krozem had appeared were black.

#vss365 The man said nothing. His face was shadowed, his deep-set eyes indistinguishable. There was an air of remoteness about him, a lack of presence, as if his perceptions were directed into some other world … [Here is my depiction of Gilzara.]

#SciFiSat [So how do extraterrestrials respond when they encounter an unfamiliar alien species?] amzn.to/337Uem0

#SciFiSat [1/6] The light of the star was glinting off what appeared to be a cylindrical object. “That’s definitely not a natural feature of the landscape – it’s made of machined metal,” said Pikei. “And see right there? It appears to have several claws projecting from various points.”