Re: Mind's Eye The Others

Here's a possible first draft. It's 14 words too long.

'You carry few memories for a being of human origin Damon Laplace',
commented the arthropod face peering into his eyes as he recovered
from the cryostasis necessary for the long trip to the near-space
station in orbit round Alpha Proxima. Laplace mumbled he liked to
travel light. A nimble eye adjusted the cloud input interface with
his brain. He would soon be up to speed on what he needed to know.

'I only do memory when I'm trying to be creative these days. The
cloud is so much more reliable', said Damon with an engaging smile not
returned by his host. Few aliens did emoticon communication.

'I see you spent time with one of those human agrarian separatist
sects before leaving Earth. We're you having second thoughts?'

'More a matter of interest that some still choose a limited life-span
and the spirituality of physical fellowship. I was looking for
answers on why I don't'.

'None of us entering the new collective have any answers beyond
survival and more knowledge abilities. We all seem to regret leaving
our heritage behind. I'll come back when you can walk and we'll have
something to eat'.

Zex Katharin waddled off wondering what she had got herself into.
Laplace was an ugly specimen. The genetic meld would leave her with
many of his undesirable characteristics. As their minds met in the
cloud she knew Damon carried the same reservations. She reminded him
her species was much more likely to invite something at the head of an
ape food chain as dinner rather than share one. It was hard to tell
if humans had a sense of humour. They laughed at anything.

Dinner was replicated. Damon refused to try the lizard eggs Zex
relished. She might have spared herself the sight of him eating
lobster. She had trained herself in human protocol only to find he
wanted none of it. When he said his reasons for the gene meld
included escaping human small-talk Zex experienced exasperation, a
dangerous anthropoid state. A dexterous claw would have flicked at
his eyes. Instead she relaxed, facing a small laser cannon. Damon
Laplace had clearly done his homework on the protocols of her race.

On 22 Oct, 18:16, archytas <nwte...@gmail.com> wrote:
> There's a 350 word New Scientist science fiction contest (deadline
> 14.11.2012) we should put up an entry in.
>
> On 22 Oct, 07:10, Allan H <allanh1...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> > lol  Bill me thinks you are preoccupied with aliens...
> > Of course there are "other" species the universe is to large for it
> > not to occur..
>
> > it is more of a question of what type of space drive have they
> > developed..  or have the  figured out how to grasp the very fabric of
> > space and pull space toward themselves..  or how to travel immense
> > distances.. fortunately we have not.
> > Allan
>
> > On Mon, Oct 22, 2012 at 12:03 AM, William L Houts <luka...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > > Hey, Illuminated Friends,
>
> > > I'm thinking I may have already asked this question in essence, but I'm
> > > rolling it out again.  It seems that I'm the high woo woo guy in this crowd,
> > > though I freely admit that everyone entertains my high woo woo ideas with
> > > all seriousness and courtesy.
>
> > > So this is the thing:  does the final game boil down to just humans and God
> > > --whatever who / that is-- or do you suppose that we share this huge
> > > universe --a universe positively dripping with poisonous gamma rays--  with
> > > alien others?  For my own part, I'm thinking that the cosmos has cooked up
> > > numerous quasi-crustacean species on at least hundreds of thousands of
> > > worlds in our galaxy alone, with an additional several hundred sentient
> > > species for good measure. Most human beings, it seems to me, are basically
> > > good as long as they're getting their basic animal requirements met, so I
> > > also think that a few intelligent anthropoids have survived long enough to
> > > have become space-faring peoples. It is beyond me, though, why any such
> > > people would find us very interesting at this point in our history. Another
> > > thousand years, should we make it that long, though, and I think that the
> > > "Alien Love Fest" sequence from the end of "Close Encounters of the Third
> > > Kind" will have become reality.
>
> > > --Mad William
>
> > > --
> > > "I just flew in from the Land of the Dead
> > >  and boy are my arms tired."
>
> > > --
>
> > --
> >  (
> >   )
> > |_D Allan
>
> > Life is for moral, ethical and truthful living.
>
> > I am a Natural Airgunner -
>
> >  Full of Hot Air & Ready To Expel It Quickly.

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