172: LIFETIME
I stare at Dandelion. “Reaching another exoplanet is the entire plan.”
“Yes, but it doesn’t actually solve anyone’s problems, does it? The Hylarans want to avoid having their settle...
2024-05-18 23:30:01 +0000 UTC View Post
Derin Edala posts
171: Velocity
It takes about two weeks for Captain Klees to find an algae pancake recipe that’s halfway tolerable, and by then the first hydroponic root vegetables are almost ready. By order of our dear captai...
2024-05-14 23:30:01 +0000 UTC View Post170: BLOOM
The dandelions have started to bloom. Specks of yellow dot the patches of green spread across the largely dead sands on the slopes just out of sight of the colony, and it’s well past time to take...
2024-05-11 23:30:01 +0000 UTC View Post169: INDEFINITE
The next day is full of preparation. The first thing we do is set up a meeting between our ground crew, a handful of Hylarans (Hive, Celti, Elenna, Max and Dr Kim, chosen for their existing proximi...
2024-05-07 23:30:01 +0000 UTC View Post168: PROPOSAL
We tell Max that we have something important to talk about and there will be a big decision for the colony to make, and a setmeet is arranged for that very night. I know they’re expecting some so...
2024-05-04 23:30:01 +0000 UTC View Post167: UNBREAKABLE
I expect Max to show up sooner or later to try to figure out what we’re so upset about and start doing social damage control before we can relay our complaints to the ship and make a much larger ...
2024-04-30 23:30:01 +0000 UTC View Post166: FREEZE
“What did you do?!” I ask the doctor, collapsed on the floor and struggling for breath. But he can’t talk right now, so I look instead to Max, who takes another step back.
“The doctor...
2024-04-27 23:30:01 +0000 UTC View PostA Mother's Duty
Tellyn Delphin looked up from the documents in front of her to survey her son. The fourth of her children and sitting there with that faux-apologetic look on his face, shoulders hunched, hands ball...
2024-04-24 08:35:29 +0000 UTC View Post165: Fight
We head back to our own living dome, dodging random Hylarans who want to talk about what just happened with the ship. That’ll still be fresh news tomorrow. Once alone, I explain calmly, neutrally...
2024-04-23 23:24:55 +0000 UTC View Post164: FAWN
Captain Klees and Tal turn immediately to face the direction of the radio tower, way on the other side of the colony. I don’t waste time with questions. Sharing two breathing masks, the three of ...
2024-04-20 23:56:59 +0000 UTC View Post163: FLIGHT
The chip in my hand isn’t mine, obviously. Mine is still in my own arm. Tal or Captain Klees would’ve had to load the code onto one of theirs and then cut it out. I wonder how secret this whole...
2024-04-16 23:30:01 +0000 UTC View Post162: CANDLE
Hey guys.
Can’t believe I missed soap making. If I’m not out in time to see a Hylaran cuddle their first tiny animal, I’m killing someone. You guys had better be taking vid...
2024-04-13 23:30:00 +0000 UTC View Post161: SOAP
I have a pen. I have the synthetic paper that the colony uses. I sit down to draft a reply.
It needs to reassure the crew outside that I’m fine, and it needs to not contain anything that Dr...
2024-04-09 23:30:14 +0000 UTC View Post160: BOBBY
Hey there, Aspen. How’re you doing?
Dr Kim says you’re too weak for visitors right now. She won’t let us send you a voice message either, says that you’re fighting the in...
2024-04-06 23:30:00 +0000 UTC View Post159: LETTER
We do the scan. Dr Kim doesn’t pretend it’s about anything except my brain this time. I go back to my room. I eat a resentful breakfast.
Would I have gone along with this if Dr Kim had be...
2024-04-02 23:30:01 +0000 UTC View Post158: TECHNOLOGY
“Honestly,” Dr Kim says, “I have very little frame of reference for what you do and don’t know, so it’s hard to know where to start.”
“Start with the eye. What does it do?” 2024-03-30 23:29:02 +0000 UTC View Post
157: PUSH
“Hi, Aspen,” Dr Kim says. “I’d like to do another scan of your spine today.”
“Why? We all know the infection has basically cleared up, right? What’s the point of scanning it aga...
2024-03-26 23:30:01 +0000 UTC View PostPatreon tier reward change
The Ask Me Anythings will be discontinued, and votes on the next TTOU bonus are moving down from Craftsperson level to Apprentice level starting next month. I am open to suggestions for a new Craft...
2024-03-26 03:41:47 +0000 UTC View Post156: REHABILITATION
“What do you think about the Courageous finally coming here, Aspen?” the AI asks.
I shrug, not bothering to sit up in bed. “It brought me. It’s better to be here than in spac...
2024-03-23 23:30:01 +0000 UTC View Post155: STOCKPILE
“Mama, how many people currently live on Hylara?”
“397 people.”
I relax. 392 Hylarans plus my crew; that’s the expected answer. “Why is the colony being supplied for 464 Hyl...
2024-03-19 23:30:01 +0000 UTC View PostPatreon bonus story: Mercy
All but the topmost level of the hospital was underwater, and the Friend was more worried for the structural integrity of the lower levels than the rain. Most of the building had already been evacu...
2024-03-17 01:10:46 +0000 UTC View Post154: CHILDREN
Tinera, Tal, the Friend, and Captain Klees gather outside the door, peering at me anxiously. I give them a little wave. “How is everyone?”
“How are you?” Captain Klees asks.
“...
2024-03-16 23:28:13 +0000 UTC View Post153: FEVER
I wake up in darkness.
I’m sore, warm, and on a bed; not the stretched canvas of the Hylaran beds, but on a thin mattress on a solid surface. My muscles don’t want to move, but I force my...
2024-03-12 23:30:00 +0000 UTC View Post152: SKY
It’s not a nice reminder of home.
I’d seen my fair share of storms. Arboreans had all sorts of responses to all sorts of different storms. Your high velocity winds with little to no ocean...
2024-03-09 23:24:30 +0000 UTC View PostAsk Me Anything -- Note Waveskimmer
If we played two truths, and a lie what would be your two truths, and one lie?
I can free dive over two hundred metres down.
I have a scar on my thigh from when I tried...
2024-03-09 09:16:42 +0000 UTC View Post151: SET
The light from the robot eye is even more distracting the next morning. I drag myself out of bed and stumble into the main living area, where Tal is already at the computer.
“Did you sleep?...
2024-03-05 23:30:01 +0000 UTC View Post150: VALLEY
Captain Klees goes in to consult more about his foot replacement the next day and reports that the replacement is growing well. I go in to talk to Dr Kim about my eye. She’s very excited about me...
2024-03-02 23:29:16 +0000 UTC View Post149: TOWER
The four of us storm up the hill, Tinera in the lead. The Hylarans picking through the scene are mostly strangers, but we recognise Elenna and Celti; Elenna inspecting a piece of wreckage, expressi...
2024-02-27 23:30:01 +0000 UTC View Post