poised tourist Eyes glazed over with tedium and ennui Slouched back into the formfitting couch the navigator thought engages the Drive Analysis Computer to display the current ship posision to the nearest parsec. Twenty-Thousand Lightyears from the planet of Her Birth The Rainbow streaks of the Stars Red Shifting past, From Ultraviolet to Infrared. Falling Forward Toward Another Green World, Still too distant to scan with any certainty, But the Seer Feels the Presence, Knows the Time is Ripe for the Revelation. The Technologies of the Alien World have brought it to the brink of cataclysm, the natives will easily come under Dominion and lay their essence outstretched for assimilation. Just another synapsis of the overmind. Already the tendrils of the alien sorcerers have spread their Web into This Space beyond Time, entangling with the Matrix. These are the threads that Draw the Timeship Forward as much as the Tantric Overdrive that Surges behind the Cockpit. The Dreamweaver Sleeps in Her Cybernetic Cocoon, Saving Herself for the moment of Consumation. This will Be Her First and only Direct Encounter. All of this Worlds Stored Knowledge and Experiences will Flow Through Her. Binding This world to the Uncreated Subspace by Orgasmic Induction. She was bred for this Moment. The Alien World Was also. The Earth just wasn't aware of it.... Yet. 080514 ... cr0wl "another green world" reminds me of brian eno. 080514 ... tourist As I Emptied My Mind Onto The Page Several Things Fell Into Place."Another Green World" Was A Direct Rip From Eno. As Was The Line "Twenty-Thousand Lightyears From The Planet of (Her) Birth" Which Was Lifted From The "Blows Against The Empire" Album By The Jefferson Starship. Brian Has Some Of His Latest Music Available For Listening On His Website www.anotherdayonearth.com You Should Also Check Out "Longnow.org" Of Which Brian was One Of The Founding Members. Lots Of Good Semiars, And Other Cool Stuff, I Really Liked "Frozen Grand Central" 080515 ... pilgrim Beneath His boots the ground crunched, dozens of cockroaches scurried out of his path clambering over and through the plastic and metal shards of broken machines and discarded packaging. He Picked his way through this broken landscape towards the entrance of the Archcology, to where His Friends and Family worked the Hydroponic Farm That made All This possible. He scaned the horizon with his augmented sight for any danger, the roving Rat Packs generally Kept to the Shadows and Sunset was still almost Three hours Away, but you had to play it safe. Those rodents were Scrawny, but twenty kilos of starving rat could take you out pretty quick if it got the drop on you. Even Through the Kevlar Exoskeleton We All wear. Linked to each other by way of Cybernetic Interface, He Was aware that the rest of the Team was Just now Descending the Entrance ramp And that Gira's wounds would soon be taken care of. Damn Lucky! Tinkering with Old Ordinance Was a job better left to your Guardian, But She came upon It Without Realizing What She Had Found. We Know Now through shared experience, but there is Still an Awful lot to Rediscover. The Long War that Followed The Consumer Age Had Left This World A Wreck, And Many Deadly Things lay Buried below the detrius that now covered the Globe. Sipping at recycled watertube by his mouth he savors the slight brininess, the stuff of life. Gira is now in the care of the Robotic Surgeons and He Senses Gia's mind going numb as anesthesia is given. Just then The Infrared Picks up A signature... Rat ... Twenty meters crouching low. He Opens Fire As It Springs. It Falls at his feet. "bring it home Danny" the thoughts of Simone' say, "the young ones need some Meat for a Change. He Picks up his Game and continues to pick his Way Back Home. 080515 ... pilgrim The Sun was starting to set as Danny descended the ramp The Meat slung over His shoulder. As the outer doors opened with a soft hiss he was fed the days events edited for salient content. The leak in the Irrigation Recycler had been repaired using the Rubberized Sheeting minined by Yesterdays Excursion Team, Corn, Bean and Squash production is down From last Year, But still enough to stave off any real starvation. Jim and Tara's Find of Organic Material Below the Plastic Chaf today Should help Boost Crop yeild later on. Gira is going to loose the use of her right eye as a result of this mornings accident...The Account played on in his mind as the air lock cycled letting him in where Simone' waited with the Colony's Children. The Interior Of the Archcology Was A Blessed relief from the Stark wasteland outside. The filtered light of the failing sun filtering fiery orange through the glass overhead being slowly replaced my the light panels soft glow. Water splashing from the tall cascades keeping the air humid and cool. He Peels back his head gear and lets the air play on his bald head The Gold Wires Glinting With the blended light his Sensory augmenter Glowing Softly Green. Like Simone' They were all Hairless And Imprinted with the Bioconductors that Made them Human. Rapid Exchanges Were Made Via This Network and so She Felt the Stiffness In His Neck And Massaged it away as one of the Children took the Meat to the central kitchen. "I thought We'd Lost Gira" he said, "She's always been cautious, But..." Simone' Gave Danny that look, Enough Said Shared empathy. "Tonight after dinner, I have this for You." He saw Simone' unfold Her mind like a glowing Flower becoming a keyhole through which a clear light flowed. He Felt the Pure joy of Desolving Self awareness. "Really, I Don't Know How You Can Keep these things a secret" "I Am A Priestess, Not Just Your Lover You Know. The Substance is always available to Me. You are Troubled. You Need to Unfold." She Smiled back at him as she moved down the hallway her thin robe flowing loosely over her thin frame. She blended into a crowd of people who were moving toward the dining hall. Danny went towards his quarters to Strip out of his Exoskelleton get washed and into his robes as well. Tonight the sacrament. It had been Too Long. 080516 ... pilgrim Ever since the War Global Communications Had been in shambles. The Ionizing radiation Buried radio signals in and endless Hiss, The satalites had been reduced to a halo of debris that effectivly prevented any other launches from reaching Orbit. The Population of this Archcology was only One of Many, but communication between them and the Others was Scant at Best. Occasional Traders would sometimes brave the distance and bring news from other settlments, these communications being inductivly experiensed by all. Seventy-three well established archcologies were known to Still Exist on this Continent. No One Had Successfully Crossed the cesspool that was the oceans to Know what else lay beyond. Insects and Large Rodent Packs Made Staying Out For Long Periods a risky business. Technology Had Saved Humanity, but this was no Paradise. Most of our Time is Spent tending the sheltered crops with occasional Forays to Search out usable Organics to add to our own Recycled Biomass. For this Reason Danny Deposited the fecal material as well as his unrecycled urine into the "Honey Well" before taking a mist bath. His body a Blend of Sinew and Science ached slightly, but that was fading under the ultra sonic cleansing. He dons his Robe and heads to join the others. The Central Dining Room was an evenly lit domelike chamber surrounded by tables with an open space in the middle. People uniformly bald and thin congregated in groups leaning toward one another exchaging Experience packets. The Mood was generally Upbeat. Occasionaly laughter could be heard, but mostly it was the non-verbal silence of Civilized Man. Simone' was with Gira off to the left he knew But he could sense that She Needed to Soothe Her over Her Loss, So he Moved over to where Some of the Children were setting up for a musical performance before the meal. "Here's the Great Black Hunter Now" one child thought to him, "Let Me See through Your Mind, please." Danny opened His Mind to Them. The Children shook with the Adrenaline he had felt himself as the Rat had leaped towards him eyes Dark and Menaceing. "You can keep the outside!" thought One girl, "I love the protien, but I'm not gathering it." She starts tuning her guitar while her Friends Finish setting up the steel drums. Simone' looks over at Him as the Calypso music begins. Funny he thought No one knows if the Islands are even there anymore, Art is Immortal He thought. 080516 ... pilgrim "It's not that I even need to Use my eyes alot, let alone both of them. And I can have a prosthesis made that will look pretty close. But the Scars on the side of My Face! I Used to be Pretty, but now...I don't want anyone to Look at me, Simone'" Gira's face was streaked with tears, not of pain but dispair. Simone' opened her mind to show that there was no revulsion to her looks there. "You're a priestess, you look within, but all the Boys I Know Are more surface oriented than You. I'm Going to be an outcast, I know it." Simone' lets her know that she is still a courageous girl, willing to risk Herself for the good of the colony. "But I didn't even get anything worthwhile, I was just stupid. We didn't have any memory of that object, and instead of calling up a guardian to help, I picked it up and started fiddling with it. Stupid Stupid Stupid!" The Priestess Knew This Through Induction, Gira Had Closed Her mind to everyone, but she coulden't lock out a scourceress like Simone'. She Knew that this Young Woman was distracted by the seemingly innocuous looking device, the digital readouts still working looked "beautiful" reminding her of the friendly glow of some Guardians sensory arrays, She was young, perhaps too young to have been allowed to wander away from the main body of the expidition. Simone' Gazes over toward the musicians at Danny, He's taking Too much on Himself these days. She takes Gira by the hand."I Know your mind. The fault is not Yours, And once You open up your memories to us, We will have gained from your loss. Nothing is without purpose. You will see." 080516 ... pilgrim As night fell so did the orbital debris, the streaks of re-entry becoming visible as the sunlight failed. In the dining Hall the People were sitting down at the long tables that encircled the room as the Guardians brought out platters of Corn tortillas, Beans and Zuchinni. They moved with a slight whirring sound as they delivered the food to the table. Then waited nearby to respond to any needs that arose. Each a product of self replicating machinery tuned to each Human they served, an extension of the Individual. Gina's guardian had been tending to Her part of the Work load back at Home when She had gone on the salvage excursion. Danny was supposed to have been looking out for Her via his Guardian when she got in trouble. They Had only brought Three of Guardians Out with the team and were spread pretty thin. When the layer of Organics was discovered inside of the collapsed factory farm, they were all engaged in shoring up the damaged roof so the weight of the overlieing detrius wouldn't give way. Simone' Witnessed Danny's Awareness shift back and forth between the Excitement of the find and the thing that Gina had found over the ridge. He Himself was taken in by The objects appearance filtered as it was through the girls mind. The Painful Lght caught them both off guard. Simone' jumped involuntarily as Danny had that morning. She held his dark hand as He wept softly, Feeling terrible for Gina's loss of self esteem. And Anger at His own failure to protect Her. 080519 ... pilgrim After the meal Gina ascended the long stairwell that led to an observation dome alone.high in the heap of Recycled automobile tires concrete metal and glass that was the Archology. Her guardian followed behind her at a distance, she was aware through It that no-one else saw where She was going. At the top she entered the glass turret, and closed the hatch behind her. She sat alone with her thoughts closing in on her. With one good eye and sensory augmenter blending the shimmering sky in the visible and the infrared, into streaks that mimicked Her tears. What possible good could come from this? The priestess was just another Old Fool it would seem. "I guess when you don't have any real answers, you just tell everybody it will be alright." Still Gina did't feel any of the revulsion she expected tonight. The shallowness of the others hadn't been displayed. Could the problem lay within herself instead? She'd stay distant from the rest till she knew her mind, she vowed. On the stair her guardian would wait and watch to keep the others at bay. It Was bound to do her bidding, as long as her desires would cause her no harm, For the time being It would keep watch on her privacy, tend to Her duties and make sure she ate. She opened her eye and gazed at the sky that was ever falling Down, Down, Down. 080519 ... pilgrim The Drug coursed through His system tearing the conceptions of this World, this Time This Space into Shimmering Fragments. Piercing The Lotus of Light The Soul Sped Outward Spreading Thinly Twining with the radiance Of The Billions Of Stars. Curling Tendrils of Alien Thought Entwine, Drawing His Spirit Inward, Down the Long Shaft of Clear Light Toward This Thing That Both Seduces And at The Same Time Fills Him With Fear And Awe. She Is Beautiful Beyond Description. She Beckons, Awaiting with open arms Longing for the complete Absorbtion of His Soul. To Know Her Will Be His End, The Total Loss of This sense of Self. Yet He is Hypnotized by the Depth of Her Eyes. The Beast within Him Lays Deeper than His Mortal Flesh, All Of The Genetic Memory Of His Race Is Carried Within His Soul. He Swoons Before The Temptation to Join with the Alien Goddess in Ecstatic Intercourse,Though Knowing It Will Be The End Of His Kind. Almost There.... The Drugs Effects Fade rapidly, and The World of Course Matter Crushes in On Him as a tide. Simone' naked lke Himself, Holds Him Firmly but Tenderly From Behind Hands Resting On the Green Jewel Imbedded In His Dark Forehead. "Show Me What You Saw" She says. Danny Just Shudders and Weeps softly. 080529 what's it to you? who go blather from