The Longest Voyage

The Longest Voyage

By Poul Anderson

At length we saw weeds floating on the sea, birds, towering cloud masses, all the signs of land. Three days later we raised an island. It was an intense green under those calm skies. Surf, still more violent than in our hemisphere, flung against high cliffs, burst in a smother of foam and roared back down again. We coasted carefully, the palomers aloft to seek an approach, the gunners standing by our cannon with lighted matches. For not only were there unknown currents and shoals – familiar hazards – but we had had brushes with canoe-sailing, cannibals in the past. Especially did we fear the eclipses. My lords can visualize how in that hemisphere the sun each day must go behind Tambur. In that longitude the occurrence was about midafternoon and lasted nearly ten minutes. An awesome sight: the primary planet – for so Froad now called it, a planet akin to Diell or Coint, with our own world humbled to a mere satellite thereof! - become a black disk encircled with red, up in a sky suddenly full of stars. A cold wind blew across the sea, and even the breakers seemed hushed. Yet so impudent is the soul of man that we continued about our duties, stopping only for the briefest prayer as the sun disappeared, thinking more about the chance of shipwreck in the gloom than of God's Majesty.

So bright is Tambor that we continued to work our way around the island at night. From sunup to sunup, twelve mortal hours, we kept the Golden Leaper slowly moving. Toward the second noon, Captain Rovie's persistence was rewarded. An opening in the cliffs revealed a long fjord. Swampy shores overgrown with saltwater trees told us that while the tides rose high in that bay, it was not one of those roosts so dreaded by mariners. The wind being against us, we furled sail and lowered the boats, towing in our caravel by the power of oars. This was a vulnerable moment especially since we had perceived a village within the fjord. “Should we not stand out, master, and let them come first to us?" I ventured.

Rovic spat over the rail."I've found it best never to show doubt," said he. “If a canoe fleet should assail us, we”ll give them a whiff of grapeshot and trust to break their nerve. But I think, thus showing ourselves fearless of them from the very first, we're less likely to meet treacherous ambuscade later."

He proved right.

In the course of time, we learned we had come upon the eastern end of a large archipelago. The inhabitants were mighty seafarers, considering that they had only outrigger dugouts to travel in. These, however, were often a hundred feet long. With forty paddles, or with three bast-sailed masts, such a vessel could almost match our best speed, and was more maneuverable. However, the small cargo space limited their range of travel.

Limitless. Photo by Elena.

Operation Afreet

Operation Afreet

Poul Anderson

I was nowhere and nowhen. My very body had departed from me, or I from it. How could I think of infinite eternal dark and cold and emptiness when I had no senses? How could I despair when I was nothing but a point in spacetime?... Not, not even that,f or there was nothing else, nothing to find or love or hate or fear or be related to in any way whatsoever. The dead were less alone than I, for I was all which existed.

This was my despair.

But on the instant, or after a quadrillion years, or both or neither, I came to know otherwise. I was under the regard of the Solipsist. Helpless in unconsciousness, I could but share that egotism to ultimate that it would yield no room even to hope. I swirled in the tides and storms of thoughts too remote, too alien, too vast for me to take in save as I might brokenly hear the polar ocean while it drowned me.

- danger, this one – he and those two – somehow they can be a terrible danger – not now (scornfully) when they merely help complete the ruin of a plan already bungled into week – no, later, when the next plan is ripening, the great one of which this war was naught but an early leaf – something about them warns thinly of danger – could I only scan more clearly into time? - they must be diverted, destroyed, somehow dealt with before their potential has grown – but I cannot originate anything yet – maybe they will be slain by the normal chances of war – if not, I must remember them and try later – now I have too much else to do, saving those seeds I planted in the world – the birds of the enemy fly thick across my fields, hungry crows and eagles to guard them – (with ever wilder hate( my snares shall take you yet birds – and the One Who loosed you!

So huge was the force of that final malevolence that I was cast free.

I opened my eyes. For a while I was aware entirely of the horror. Physical misery rescued me, driving those memories back to where half-forgotten nightmares dwell. The thought flitted by me that shock must have made me briefly delirious.

A natural therianthrope in his beast shape isn't quite as invulnerable as most people believe. Aside from things like silver – biochemical poisons to a metabolism in that semifluid state – damage which stops a vital organ will stop life, amputations are permanent unless a surgeon is near to sew the part back on before its cells die; and so on and so on, no pun intended. We are a hardy sort, however. I'd taken a blow that probably broke my neck. The spinal cord out being totally severed, the damage had healed at standard therio speed.

The trouble was, they'd arrived and used my flash to make me human before the incidental hurts had quite gone away. My head drummed and I retched.

On Imaginary Science. Illustration by Elena.

The Queen of Air and Darkness

The Queen of Air and Darkness

One lightyear is not much as galactic distances go. Your could walk it in about 270 million years, beginning at the middle of the Permian Era, when dinosaurs belonged to the remote future, and continuing to the present day when spaceships cross even greater reaches. But stars in our neighborhood average some nine lightyears apart, and barely one percent of them have planets which are man habitable, and speeds are limited to less than that of radiation. Scant help is given by relativistic time contraction and suspended animation en route. These make the journeys seem short, but history meanwhile does not stop at home.

This voyages from sun to sun will always be few. Colonists will be those who have extremely special reasons for going. They will take along germ plasm for exogenetic cultivation of domestic plants and animals - and of human, in order that population can grow fast enough to escape death through genetic drift. After all, they cannot rely of further immigration. Two or three times a century, a ship may call from some other colony. (Not from Earth. Earth has long ago sunk into alien concerns.) Its place of origin will be an old settlement. The young ones are in no position to build and man interstellar vessels.

Their very survival, let alone their eventual modernization, is in doubt. The founding fathers have had to take what they could get in a universe not especially designed for man.

Consider, for example, Roland. It is among the rare happy find, a world where humans can live, breathe, eat the food, drink the water, walk unclad if they choose, sow their crops, pasture their beasts, dig their mines, erect their homes, raise their children and grandchildren. It is worth crossing these quarters of a light-century in preserve certain dear values and strike new roots into the soil or Roland.

But the star Charlemagne is of type F9, forty percent brighter than Sol, brighter still in the treacherous ultraviolet and wilder still in the wind of charged particles that seethes front it. The planet has an eccentric orbit. In the middle of the short but furious northern summer, which includes periastron, total isolation is more than double what Earth gets; in the depth of the long northern winter, it is barely less than Terrestrial average.

Native life is abundant everywhere. But lacking elaborate machinery, not yet economically possible to construct for more than a few specialists, man can only endure the high latitudes. A ten-degree axial tilt, together with the orbit, means that the northern part of the Arctican continent spend half its year in unbroken sunlessness. Around the South Pole lies an empty ocean. Roland

Other differences from Earth might superficially seem more important. Roland has two moons, small but close, to evoke clashing tides. It rotates once in thirty-two hours, which is endlessly, subtly disturbing to organisms evolved through gigayears of a quicker rhythm. The weather patterns are altogether unterrestrial. The globe is a mere 9500 kilometers in diameter; its surface gravity is 0.42x980 cm/sec2; the sea level air pressure is slightly above one Earth atmosphere. (For actually Earth is the freak, and man exists because a cosmic accident blew away most of the gas that a body its size ought to have kept, as Venus has done).

(By Poul Anderson).

Between horizons of the sky deepened from purple to sable. Both moons were aloft, nearly full, shining frosty on leaves and molten on waters. Illustration by Elena.

Persepolis Rising

Persepolis Rising

By James S.A. Corey (excerpt)

He didn't see the catastrophe coming. Even when the scope of it became clear, he struggled to understand it. Blindsided.

The talk in the station – the talk everywhere – was about Sol system and the surrender. Singh watched it play out in newsfeeds and discussion forums, taking the role of official censor more for the joy of being present in the unfolding of history than from any immediate need. The combined fleet of the Transport Union and the EMC beaten and standing down. The newsfeeds from the local sources in Sol System were anguish and despair, with only a few outlets calling unconvincingly for the battle to continue.

For their own side, Carrie Fisk and the Laconian Congress of Worlds proved to be an apt tool for the job, praising the Transport Union's capitulation as a moment of liberation for the former colony worlds. The rules and restrictions on trade are no longer being dictated by the generational politics of Sol. By being outside the system of favoritism, nepotism, political horse-trading and compromise, Laconia is positioned to bring exactly the reforms that humanity needs. He noticed that she shied away from mentioning High Consul Duarte's name. It was always just Laconia.

Which was fine. The two were essentially the same.

But it was the conversation beyond her and other specifically recruited allies that made him feel best. Governor Kwan from Bara Gaon Complex issued a statement of support for the new administration so quickly that Singh was almost certain it had been recorded in advance. Auberon's local parliament also sent a public message to put themselves in place as early supporters of the new regime. New Spain, New Roma, Nyingchi Xin, Félicié, Paradiso, Patria, Asyum, Chrysanthemum, Riocht. Major colonies, some with populations already in the millions, had seen the battle at Leuctra Point and drawn the only sane conclusion. The power center of the human race had shifted, and the wise were shifting with it.

The imminent arrival of the Typhoon also helped. He had known Rear Admiral Song since he'd entered the service. Not that they'd ever been close, but she was a face and a name that carried a weight of familiarity. He'd only traded a handful of messages with her, mostly to arrange the piece for the newsfeeds, but speaking to her had reminded him powerfully of home. The routines he'd had on Laconia, the taste of the tea, the little part where he would sit with Elsa when she was newborn and Natalia was sleeping. Watching sunbirds dive into the pond. Sending James Holden back had begun it, and the coming of the Typhoon would complete it. Traffic to and from Laconia. Proof that the great roads of space were open.

The longing it called forth in him was vast and complex. The open sky that he wouldn't see as long as he remained governor of Medina. The touch of his wife's skin against his, which he could look forward to. His daughter's laughter and the soft sounds she made at the edge of sleep.

There was a way in which every day since he'd stepped off the Storm had been a pause, like holding his breath. And soon, soon, his real work could begin. With the Typhoon in place and Sol system conquered, the empire would be unassailable, and humanity's future assured. He'd ignored his own anxiety and impatience, and now that he could almost relax, he felt them straining for the release.

Taken together, all the good news nearly made up for the bad.

This is the future the way it's supposed to be. Illustration by Elena.

Aquarius Friends and Family

Aquarius Friends and Family

• Strengths: Idealistic, universal, spontaneous
• Weaknesses: Bizarre, unreliable, uncertain
• Interactive style: Abstract, objective, cool

Friendship is extremely important to most Aquarians. For them, it often assumes an idealistic, global, and universal significance more than a personal one. Consequently, most of their friendships are tinged with a highly abstract and objective quality – cool rather than passionate. Rarely interested in committing themselves to daily or even weekly contact, Aquarians will contact you while they are on the run or when one their latest active exploits has simmered down or momentarily come to rest. Thus you should not count on them as a pillar of stability but rather as an interesting sidelight in your life – one that can be both entertaining and a bit special.

It's bet to have just one or tow questions for your speedy Aquarius friend – especially ones that can be posed and answered in a rapid-fire-interchange. As far as help with moving, planning, arranging functions, making lists for work and future plans, and shopping for hard-to-find items, you had better not count on it. To Aquarius friends, help is something they can offer only in their spare time, which is already probably extremely limited or nonexistent. Then there is the problem of contacting them, which is also difficult. It's best to leave a voicemail or give a heads-up email several days or even a couple of weeks before you need assistance.

Communication and keeping in touch with the Aquarius friend: Although they are generally good communicators, Aquarians are probably the ones who will contact you rather than the other way around. Not only are they difficult to reach, but they also prefer being the ones who initiate conatct, depending on when, where and how it suits them. Too often this will come smack in the middle of something you are presently busy with, and once you find it impossible to respond to their spontaneous gestures, they may prove even more difficult to contact in the future. Aquarians have to feel that you truly need them urgently, first of all, and, secondly, your attempt to communicate has to strike them in exactly the right way and at the right moment.

Borrowing money from the Aquarius friend: Don't depend on Aquarius friends for loans, even thous that have been agreed to or promised. Chances are that just before they are about to deliver, with all the best intentions, they spent the money elsewhere. So spontaneous are they with outlays of cash that they absolutely cannot be counted on to fulfill fixed financial obligations. If you can interest them in what you will do with the money, however, they may look on the loan as an interesting investment and come through with even more than you asked for. This awakening of their interest is worth developing over time, since it is likely to pay off in a generous outlay of cash.

Asking for advice: Aquarians are not ones to give lengthy advice. Normally they can tell you what they think in a few words and do not need time to mull things over. Usually they are perceptive when it comes to objective issues, but they are not particularly talented in the areas of psychological observation, human emotions, and the darker side of life. Sometimes they outright refuse to get involved in discussions of depressing or unhealthy matters, not only out of dislike but also out of principle. It's best to limit your requests for advice to areas that they have shown adeptness for dealing with, particularly in technical matters.

Visiting the Aquarius friend: It is difficult to visit and Aquarius friend since they are often not at home. Furthermore, if they are there but are fully engaged in a professional or private matter, they may not answer the bell or a knock at their door. Aquarians' full engagement with the matter at hand, which of course can change from minute to minute, frequently precludes even visits that have been scheduled well in advance, so be forewarned not to make assumptions or get your expectations up. You may find it better to suggest that they visit you, giving them a wide range of choices and allowing each of these to span a period of several hours or even days when they might drop in.

Celebrations and entertainment with the Aquarius friend: Fun-loving Aquarians enjoy celebrating special occasions and going out on the town for a good time. However, because of their rapidly changing schedules, it usually works best to make the decision to celebrate or go out on the spur of the moment. Following such impulses, you are both likely to have a great time in a wide range of activities, from a simple meal or drink to a full-blown binge of entertainment possibilities. You will find Aquarians inexhaustible in their ability to have a great time, only posing a problem when you try to put on the brakes and bring things to a halt.

Aquarians' fascinating qualities and quick minds attract people who seem willing to overlook or forgive their wayward tendencies. Illustration by Elena.