Sunday, August 30, 2015

Star Traveler






Star Traveler

Sliding through endless stars cold and dark
Ancient memories reaching out
Highways of stardust guiding
Solar winds pushing all
Gravity tugging
Constant movement
Endless search
Where are
you?
 

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Flickers of Faith


Majestic in movements brought forth,

Of one's soul beams beacons of light,

Reverent prayers whispered in hallowed halls,

Pressing dutifully on faithfully bended knees.


Remembrance of days long since convened,

Wisps of fragrance linger on ghostly winds,

Echoed chants praising Regina coelorum,

Solemn scenes pass painted glass of form.


Stately masses flow in faithful tide,

Reaching upward with spiraling longing,

In shadows of alters prostrate fall,

Harmonizing requests of loved one's fate.

Thursday, January 28, 2010

The Man Looking Back At Me


Rolling into what used to be a subdivision but was now just masses of wind swept rubble, Rob noticed the stranger sitting on the side of the road. Cutting the engine and coasting to a stop, Rob opened the door and got out. Walking around the car he stood above the man who sat idly drawing random runes into the dirt.
"Seems to me you're all alone, my friend." Rob stated matter of factly.
"What makes you think I'm all alone?" The stranger replied opening his duster to display a sawed off shotgun without even looking up.
"It just seems odd, you sitting here, in the middle of nowhere."
"It's because all that I ever had and all I will ever have is here. Here in the middle of nowhere, amidst this rubble and decay." Replied the stranger solemnly as he slowly raised his head to look at Rob. "Besides, why the hell do you care? I didn't ask you to stop. You could have just cruised on through heading out to wherever the hell you're heading to with no mind to me!"
"Listen, fella. I didn't mean anything by it; I was just stopping to see if you needed anything, a ride, something. You just looked like somebody that needed something, that's all."
"Where you headin' to anyways?" The stranger asked sharply.
"Rumor has it there were more survivors of the holocaust and that they are gathering out west. That's where I'm heading, hoping to find my family there. You got family? Maybe you could head out west, see if they are there?"
"They're not there. They're here." The stranger said pointing behind him amid the rubble of a collapsed home. "They survived the holocaust, same as I. Those that survived with us, left, looking for god knows what. But we stayed because this was our home, our life. Then one day while I was out scrounging for food, a marauding gang came, murdered my family for what little we had left. I came back to find them all dead. All I had left was gone. I buried them myself back there and I have no intention of leaving them. So I will sit here, and I will grieve until I have had my fill."
"We've all lost." Rob replied. "Everyone alive today has lost. In this we are kindred spirits, destined to try to find some semblance of what was. I hope to find my family and to find some piece of my former self. It is this hope that I hold on to. This hope is my beacon that I must follow to the end."
"And what happens when you get there and all you see it this!" the stranger exclaimed sweeping his hand across the scene of devastation surrounding them. "Then what? Then where will your hope get you?"
"I have to go. Why don't you go with me, try to find some hope for your own life?"
"Because I am a shell of a man. My spirit is broken; I am empty yet filled with agony. There is no hope left, no reason left. Every night I go to sleep I wish that I never wake, but every morning I am here. In my own hell. No, you go on. Do what you have to do, seek what you have to seek. I'll not be joining you." With that the stranger returned to scribing his random figures in the dirt as if Rob was not even standing above him.
Slowly turning, Rob walked back to the driver seat and got in. Starting the car he drove away, watching the stranger slowly disappear in his rear view mirror hoping who he just met, was not his future self.

Written for 3WW. The three words used are in bold. Thanks ThomG!

Monday, January 25, 2010

Life Was Simpler But Love Is Stronger



Rob scanned the horizon, desolate for as far as his eyes could see. Only the occasional wisp of smoke lazily spiraling skyward in the far distant could be seen. No movement of life. No birds singing or rustling of leaves or trees. Nothing but total devastation from east to west, north to south.
It hadn’t always been like this. His previous life had never prepared him for what he was experiencing now. He had been mildly successful. Married shortly after college he pursued his career with the same amount of energy and reckless abandon that most twenty-somethings do. Still young enough to believe they can change the world, not old enough yet to be disappointed by the cyclic burdens of daily pursuits. But still, he had tried to live the ideal life. Living within their means, he and his wife had bought a nice home, started a family with the birth of their two children and lived the dream. When he left for the business meeting half way across the nation, he had no idea it would be the last time he would talk to his wife, kiss his children or see his accomplishments of a middle class life.
Unbeknownst to him, powers larger and darker than he had ever imagined had invented a future. A future in which mankind itself had become the victim. He was one of the lucky ones. He was able to escape the rain of fire from above. He was able to escape the nuclear terror which had devastated the landscape and left the human race to teeter on the brink of annihilation. Information was non-existent. Rumors and myths were the words of the day. But rumor had it that there were survivors and that they were gathering. It was these rumors which drove him in his quest. He found it his sole thought to find his wife and children. This belief that they were survivors and were gathering with others was all he needed to continue.
Shaking his head, Rob returned to the present. Climbing out of his ride, he took measure of the situation. The world was now a dangerous place, where only the crafty and the hard could survive. Displayed before him were the wrecked remains of the opponent who would have seen him dead, for nothing more than the fuel and little food that his heavily modified car carried. But today was different. Today it would be Rob who would be taking the remnant fuel worth more than all the precious metal left on this god forsaken planet. Removing his newly acquired Desert Eagle from its holster, Rob strode to the driver side of the wreckage and surveyed the broken body of his adversary who lay moaning from mortal wounds. Driven by the animalistic desire to return to who he knew, his family and any shred of his former life, he raised his gun and squeezed the trigger. And to think three months ago he would have thought twice about swatting a fly.


Written for 3WW. The three words used are in bold.

Monday, August 17, 2009

Darkened Void

Through the desolate wasteland of my mind I ponder,
Days spent traveling meadows of painted colors,
Hours spent in the sweet fragrance of love's embrace,
Increasing days yield the horror of shifting memories.

Doubts arise from deep within my hopeless abyss,
These wretched circumstances have left me raw,
From my isolation I peer into a distance time,
Wondering if my love has released her grasp on hope.

Tears of wanting mercy streak my heavy soul,
Overwhelming dreadful silence my only companion,
Challenging my every thought and questioning my reason,
The shifting of time through cold fingers of regret.

My heart breaks with a sound of unequalled thunder,
Reminiscence if the mighty ship which abandoned me here,
Pieces of mortal man's great achievement scattered like broken dreams,
Skeletal remains to remind me of my unending plight.

Humbled and broken I cry out to deaf ears,
Prostrate I fall without an ounce of resolve,
I fear my darkening heart is winning this battle,
Like a tattered sail, my hope wanes, covered in desperation.

For you see, the horizon holds my love, my all, my salvation.

Monday, March 2, 2009

Freedom Eagle

Here is a sketch of a starship in my upcoming novel "The Outer Rim" with a excerpt straight out of one of the chapters explaining the ship. Just a little taste of what to come. As you can see, I'm not a very good artist! :-)


As his boots clicked across the ultra smooth hanger floor he walked up to a very smooth, very black and very sinister looking craft. This was not your normal Xanthanian style craft. It didn’t mirror the surroundings. As a matter of fact, it didn’t mirror any thing. Though its skin seemed metallic in nature, light seemed to be absorbed by its unnaturally black skin. A shiver went up Fram’s spine as he stared into it. He found it hard to take his eyes off of it, as if the ship itself was latching onto his soul and dragging him inward.

“Welcome Colonel.”
Fram spun around suddenly startled back into reality and with a feeling of relief to have been torn from the eerie draw of the strange ship. Standing before him was a very tall, very thin and very pale intelligence officer. It was apparent to Fram that this man had spend way too much time below ground as his skinned looked as if it had not felt daylight in years.
“I see you have found your way to your new ship. What do you think?”
“Uh, well, I’m not sure what to think yet,” Fram said haltingly. “It is definitely dark and foreboding isn’t it.”
“If you're referring to the ship's skin, yes it is. It’s a new technology designed to allow the ship to blend into the blackness of space without notice. The skin has the ability to cloak instantaneously when ever the ship is scanned. You could leave this ship in orbit, say around a planetary moon, and it would remain undetected for an indefinite amount of time. Her detection and avoidance software would automatically maneuver the ship out of harms way. It is the ultimate in stealth technology.”
“Well, that’s all nice and dandy,” stated Fram dryly, “but what about defense and assault posture? I need something that can take a hit and return fire with a vengeance. I also need a ship that can get me out of a situation quickly when needed.”
“Relax, Colonel. This ship has all that,” the intelligence office stated with a raised eye brow. “This ship has the most advance jump technology available. It can open a sub space entry point on demand for immediate sub space departure. It also has the most advance sub space navigation software know outside of Zerlik technology and also has sub space tracking ability. As far as firepower goes, well let’s just say it packs more of a punch that any ship in her class. Her shield technology has overlay capability enabling it to regenerate effortless and automatically over areas of the ship which begin to breach. In other words, if you take a direct hit in a certain area and that part of the shield begins to drop, other parts of the shields move to compensate without input from you or your crew. It’s automatic. It also has the largest pulse cannon that a ship of her size can accommodate. And with her compliment of self tracking missiles, plasma mines and ion cannons, she is a force to be reckoned with!”
“Well, that is very impressive. There must be a catch somewhere though. Every ship has its weakness, am I right?” stated Fram inquisitively.
“How very perceptive of you, Colonel. Well, yes, there are a few drawbacks. First being with her jump engines. Yes, you can immediately open a jump point and travel though subspace to any given coordinate without having to follow standard subspace navigation beacons. However you are limited to how many times you can jump concurrently. You see, her new jump engines develop an extreme amount of heat during jump generation and these engines must cool before they can jump again. If they are not allowed to cool, core breach could happen and you, your crew and anybody within a couple thousand meters would cease to exist. So when you come out of sub space, you must allow the engines to cool to acceptable limits prior to the next jump. The main pulse cannon is also a concern. The amount of energy required to fire the weapon is extremely large. In other words, your shield will drop for few seconds after it fires leaving you vulnerable to return fire. Also its rate of fire is limited to one shot every 15 minutes or so, so choose your targets wisely Colonel.”
“Once every 15 minutes! That’s a light year when you’re in combat. I wish it had a cycling rate a little faster than that and I don’t like the idea of shields dropping or flickering in the heat of the battle. We may have multiple targets that we have to engage at any one time.”
“Like I said, choose your targets wisely. You have plenty of firepower with the ion cannons and missiles to keep multiple targets at bay. It’s the best we can give you, Colonel. And trust me; it is light years ahead of anything you have flown in your career. You just have to trust the technology more, that’s all.”
“Yeah, that’s what scares me. It's not your butt up there getting shot at now is it!” Fram stated sarcastically. "Tell me a little about the range, some of my jumps will most likely be extended depending on where I need to get to and how fast I need to get there."
"Well, like any other standard plasma driven jump engines, you will need to refuel. However these engines are very economical in terms of burn rate. Most fuel is used in opening a jump point and re-entry. So, the less jumps, the better the range. Another item to keep in mind is the extreme turbulence created upon re-entry from sub-space. Scanners will be fuzzy until you clear the wake, a normal occurrence in sub-space travel. The good news is that the target acquisition computer is fully automatic, meaning it will acquire and lock on to multiple targets immediately. The only thing that your fire control officer will have to do is to select which to fire on first. All missile components are fire and forget allowing you to consistently maneuver the vessel during an engagement without worry of having to track a missile all the way to the target. Your ion cannons also lock and track their target and they give you a 360 degree spread capable of covering your position should you need to perform a fall back maneuver. I must say that this craft is top of the line in armament. You will be impressed," stated the intel officer non-challantly.
"Great. I guess all of these systems have been tested thoroughly and run through space trial and acquisition scenarios?"
"Um……….sort of. All tests have been completed here in the hanger using the best in simulation hardware and software."
"What?!" exclaimed Fram, "Are you telling me I'm going to be the test subject, that none of these have been used in real world situations, its all been done electronically?"
"I assure you we have the best simulations available and we have sent every system through every conceivable situation."
"It's not the logical situations that I am worried about; it’s the illogical ones that keep me awake at night. It is those kinds of situations which get you killed. I have to say it will take a few fire fights before I will be completely confident in the craft. How about med stations and forced entry protection?"
"She's fully stocked in the most advanced medical equipment including long term stasis boxes for those patients who require more extensive and critical care that can be provided onboard. Once the patient is stabilized, they can be placed in the stasis box for the ride home where they will be kept in a biomedical cryo state. It really is a very impressive piece of medical hardware."
"I hope I never have to use it, just good to know it's there if it is."
"There is also a complete bio-mechanical repair lab for any cyborge work that may need to be completed to include flesh foam reproducer and installer. No need having any of your cyborge crew running around with their foam flesh hanging off after a fire fight. It can be quite distracting, you know!" the intel officer said with a smirk.
Fram gave the thin man a half chuckle. "Ok, you were saying about the force entry protection?" wanting to keep the dialogue moving.
"Of course the entire aircraft skin uses the best detection software available, you couldn't breathe on it without the craft sensing it and displaying it on the command console. Should the perpetrators make entry, there is an EMP protection system which could be set off to knock out their electronic equipment to include any armament which uses tracking and acquisition software. The bridge console is armored and protected against EMP. However anything in your crew quarters will be fried. Engineering is completely armored and protected against EMP as well as any outside hacker trying to take control of your plasma drives. All armament and maneuvering systems are isolated from the main electrical system on the craft so if someone decides to sabotage your power grid or send a surge through an umbilical cord at a station, it won't harm those systems."
"Well, I believe you boys have outdone yourselves this time," Fram stated with a little hint of sarcasm. "Let's go on in, take a tour of interior systems."

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Soul Wanderer

Gently gliding through clouds of newborn stars,
Casting glances back at worlds in translucent darkness,
Riding wings of hope while clutching the mane of destiny,
Softly caressing dreams common to distant travelers.

I travel alone, always looking forward, never behind.
This ship is my home, a refuge in the vast domain.


Listening to echoes of ancient songs in rhythmic time,
Meandering mindless fields of sobering thoughts,
Finding solace in gentle tugs of wayward gravity,
Searching timeless realms of silent wanderings.

My destiny calls me to this realm, once again solo.
This life is my own, a hell of my own creation

Coasting along this thoroughfare which never ends,
Lightly touching the shadows that always surround,
Grasping aimlessly at anchors of uncertain hope,
Looking for even a nuance of recognition in this despair.

Slowly fading, sinking into my own abyss.
All prospects seem to disappear as in a black hole.

Seizing a safe mooring which floats in this gloom,
Remembering hazy whispers of distant arenas of time,
Calmly soothing rough edges of fractured dreams,
Discovering tranquil peace that transcends all ages.

You grab hold, clutching me, securing the line.
Hopelessness fades as I gaze upon your face.

This poem is in reponse to the promt on 3WW . The words are in bold. This is also a collaboration between my wife and I. Hers are in italic. Enjoy!