Showing up at the nearest Elusian portal unannounced, I wasn’t sure what to say to the interdimensional pioneers—and I was even less certain about what they might tell us. The way Capal had said that our dimension was artificial, as if it was self-evident, stuck in my brain. Sofia had the official script from the ESU, but I wasn’t planning on reading from a teleprompter like a good boy. I...
2025-05-13 11:00:09 +0000 UTC View PostWhile the two human astronauts set out...
2025-05-12 11:00:10 +0000 UTC View PostHumans had three basic wishes: life, liberty, and the ability to pop bubble wrap while sinking into a mind-numbing contemplation of oblivion. Meetings and lectures had none of those things, since they deadened your soul, removed your free will by trapping you in a room, and didn’t even offer any bubble wrap. That was one of many things that Mikri could never understand about humans s...
2025-05-10 11:00:12 +0000 UTC View PostThough it was irksome to admit it, Pre...
2025-05-08 11:00:09 +0000 UTC View PostOur circumstances had shifted in the blink of an eye, as I listened to our internal chatter for any hope that humanity might not be a doomed race. I’d seen the camera drone go through the portal faster than light, and I knew what the results would be. My hands lifted away from the steering column, before I floated like I was in a dream. Let Larimak’s ships gun me down; there was no...
2025-05-06 11:00:08 +0000 UTC View PostThe first thing that I found peculiar was that the dimension-hoppers had wanted their food to be painful, despite being informed of capsaicin’s chemical s...
2025-05-04 11:00:08 +0000 UTC View PostWhat I noticed, as I pursued Larimak’s fleet, was that they were in a holding pattern way further off than traditional engagement ranges. Precognition could only go so far, with the blinding speeds of their looping paths and the far-off distances they kept to. In dumb people words, they were moving away from us almost as fast as we could chase them. They saw us coming, and crossed to...
2025-05-03 11:00:09 +0000 UTC View PostThe text logs stared back at me, unchanging without any cell reception, as I re-witnessed how I’d told Etra goodbye twice. This shelter was near unoccu...
2025-05-01 11:00:14 +0000 UTC View PostJust because I hadn’t been on Earth in years didn’t mean that I’d lost my love for my planet. As much as I needed to escape from my parents, there were good memories on the blue marble. I remembered being the class clown, savoring the moment where I got even the teachers to crack and laugh at one of my comments. My father thought the military would turn me serious at last—and I was dete...
2025-04-29 11:26:33 +0000 UTC View PostThe entire artform of choreographed cooking had been my invention, with Culinary Island in its 24th season and several other spinoff shows getting greenlit over the years. My fine dining restaurants spread the breadth of the globe. As Chef Vanare, I’d gotten to cook for many important people on both Temura and Doros; I was a personal friend of Prime Minister Anpero, often summoned to...
2025-04-27 11:00:40 +0000 UTC View PostAs we pulled up to our base at the Space Gate, ESU Command relayed word that Larimak had gotten clapped at Temura; our favorite feathery critters lived to fight another day. The prince wasn’t getting past us, and word that we’d saved the Derandi caused both Jetti and Vanare to warm up. The good news of this all was that Vanare was much more willing to cook, now that he didn’t have to worr...
2025-04-26 11:00:40 +0000 UTC View PostGetting off of Temura had been a whirlwind, as we’d grabbed Hirri and bolted out to a waiting vehicle. The car sped off to the landing pad to retrieve our spaceship; I wondered whether we should try to rescue more civilians. Back at the resort, Vanare had seemed distraught about leaving his family and panicked about being carried on foot at such high speeds. I felt a little bad for t...
2025-04-22 11:00:30 +0000 UTC View PostEarth Space Union’s Prisoner Asset Files: #1284 - Private Capal
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I found the history of humankind to be a source of complete and utter fascination for me. Earth had once had its monarchs and empires, just as we had, but had emerged with democratic states like the Derandi and Girret. The humans were in the process of coal...
2025-04-19 11:00:13 +0000 UTC View PostThe end of the world felt like everything was finally collapsing around me, the way it had on the inside already. I’d often wondered how society could jus...
2025-04-17 11:00:16 +0000 UTC View PostThe Derandi diplomats, including Ambassador Jetti and Prime Minister Anpero, looked terrified as the gigantic helpings were carted out in trays. Our hosts had gone overboard with all of the options to try, wheeling dozens of entrees and side dishes in. I hoped they were keeping leftovers, because this was not okay to waste that much food: especially when it was delectable, gourmet nour...
2025-04-15 11:00:26 +0000 UTC View PostStaring at the images on the televisio...
2025-04-13 11:00:52 +0000 UTC View PostThe Derandi pampered us to the fullest degree, something I could definitely get used to—even if it was a misguided attempt to ensure that we “found our treatment satisfactory.” The luxurious, almost palatial complex looked like a getaway for the rich and famous, built to host larger aliens as well. A group of bowing diplomats had brought a treasure trove of gems as a gift, the mo...
2025-04-12 11:00:14 +0000 UTC View PostTo describe the ongoing carnage in the...
2025-04-10 11:00:09 +0000 UTC View PostThe Space Force had sidelined me from active combat deployments and extended my mandatory therapy sessions, to my chagrin, despite the airtight excuse of using future vision real-time. At least it wasn’t an immediate discharge, since I wanted to stay in this dimension more than anything. After being here for months and adjusting to my new capabilities, it’d been a shock to return to Sol for...
2025-04-08 11:00:07 +0000 UTC View Post[RUNNING NEW SIMULATION. RECORDING...
2025-04-06 11:00:09 +0000 UTC View PostNebulae were giant clouds of gasses that condensed to form stars and planets, though there were a few differences in their composition, as opposed to what humanity knew in the Sol universe. The processes that formed celestial objects functioned differently on the other side of The Gap, with unique forces governing the necessary elements. The particles were much denser than mankind’s observed ...
2025-04-05 11:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostThe next few weeks were a whirlwind, a...
2025-04-03 11:00:09 +0000 UTC View PostEarth Space Union’s Prisoner Asset Files: #1284 - Private Capal
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Mikri had gone into a panicked state when Preston collapsed, with a whirring sound that seemed like screaming. The Servitor wouldn’t stand still long enough for me to check that I’d toweled off all of the biohazards, and didn’t seem to care what the...
2025-04-01 11:00:16 +0000 UTC View PostI thought about all of nature’s beau...
2025-03-30 13:57:41 +0000 UTC View PostCommand had withdrawn all ground troops stationed on Jorlen, since Larimak would happily glass his world and all of its emo palaces if it cut down our limited supply of Space Force troopers; we were better off stopping him from returning to his planet by keeping our fleet in orbit. Some of the population had welcomed us as saviors, and celebrated the departure of the nobility. Humanity had forc...
2025-03-29 11:00:10 +0000 UTC View PostThe fire burned in the hearth a few paces from me, yet its warmth didn’t register in my brain. I’d asked Polri to sit on the couch beside me, thoug...
2025-03-27 11:00:09 +0000 UTC View PostSpaceships in this universe, of course, could go trillions of miles an hour, but not within a narrow tunnel where they needed to watch every slight turn. Larimak wanted a clean shot to be sure; however, the craft’s turrets weren’t built for precision or a quick turning radius. The pilot’s plan appeared to be bringing the roof down around us, by shooting at the structural supports with mis...
2025-03-25 11:00:17 +0000 UTC View PostThe used Servitor listing had several red flags around it, but I recognized that it was the only way I could get one.
As a widower who’d been tasked with raising a son alone, and a baker by profession, I never had much money to cobble together. I couldn’t afford to pay full price on a new model, and I didn’t much care about the decreased life span of the product. During grief ...
2025-03-23 11:00:13 +0000 UTC View PostHumanity had arranged a meeting on a derelict space station that once belonged to the Vascar Monarchy, at the fringes of Kalka’s old sphere of influence. With our android friends breathing down their necks, the brown-furred shitheads had packed their bags; the installation was ceded to tin can control. However, Mikri’s people preferred to press at the border further out, and to build equipm...
2025-03-22 11:00:09 +0000 UTC View PostTollu was capable of being quite the sweetheart when it wanted to help. It’d retrieved a motor vehicle for quick transit, allowing me to nap on the way t...
2025-03-20 11:00:11 +0000 UTC View Post