Antivesuvio was a true garden world. It was as if an army of landscapers had systematically combed the planet, levelling, steppeing, hillocking and in general artfully arranging things. Flowerbeds were arranged in patterns large enough to only be seen from orbit. Gently babbling rivers were pre-provided with shellike boats ( Read more... )

This time, when they arrived at the gate, they were not alone. Distantly visible were the glimmerings of other craft. Some where the elaborately jeweled and bronzed structures of Fay'lia craft (not to worry though: the Fay'lia merchants had pressured the legions to maintain a zone of official neutrality for two century* around the universal gate). ( Read more... )

He still had no clue where he was, it felt like he'd been wondering around this metal place for ages ( Read more... )

The planet itself could not have been more suited to being under constant surveillance. About a fifth the size of Sol system's Earth, it was largely covered by water save for one unified, unassuming continent on its rotational meridian. Kept in geosynchronous orbit above this continent was a Fay'lia command station-ship, from which the surveillance ( Read more... )

Take one day off from practice, and you'll know. Take three days off, and your peers will know. Take a week off and your audience will know. Duck didn't know how long she'd been 'in cryo', or whatever people on the station called it. It felt like a long time. At least a week. Not that she had much of an audience for her ballet. Or for anything else ( Read more... )

Wolfwood had called everyone on the comms, now it was just a matter of waiting. After a long discussion with the council, he had managed to convince them that the younger crew on the ship needed proper guidance and instruction. He had had to use the girl he had met, Roxie, as an example, as well as Zazie's gang in the child city. What really had ( Read more... )

Dragging the largest, most imposing chairs into the White Room for them to sit on like the king and queen of the station had been a bit of a pain, but the psychological effect was worth it. From it, they'd summarily dismissed someone doing a meandering, flaily interpretive dance, one girl who'd choked in her clutch, Meteo Spiderbeam (who was ( Read more... )

The stars were a certainly pretty dramatic background for the proceedings. They were bright as nothing else, and the crystalline planet in the background added to the show, making welcome diversions for the senses if a speaker decided to go on too long ( Read more... )

Hiccup could honestly say that of the numerous unusual or alarming things that had happened to him in his life, being cryogenically frozen was certainly not one of them. Hel, he wasn't even sure he knew what the word cryogenic meant. So when he woke up in some sort of a pod with some kind of lingering ice-like substance forming a thin sheen over ( Read more... )

The crate was dim, shifting under its own weight and low-grade momentum of the boxes around it. It was wooden, which was uncommon for the region, but not unheard of, and loosely slatted on top, to allow for airflow. Theoretically, it contained the giant space-goose, a rare delicacy brought aboard to face the tender mercies of Chef Glr'Brrrnglorp, ( Read more... )