Derin Edala

Patreon bonus vote -- March

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Patreon bonus chapter -- A Lake of Stars

Snowpea couldn’t keep her eyes off the shimmer.

It was well and truly dark. High above, the real stars shone in the cloudless sky, light from places too distant to be meaningful concentrati...

148: WAR

The next day, I wake up feeling… off. There’s some sort of strange pressure in my head. Not a headache, exactly, but something unusual. A weird… taste? No, rinsing my mouth out does nothing. ...

147: COLONISATION

We gather back in our living dome with Max. This isn’t a conversation to be had lurking in a security room underground.

“The plan,” Max says over a hot cup of coffee, “was to establis...

146: VAULT

Going through the cargo door leadsto a small room ending in another cargo door. This room has two more guards in it, meaning that 1.5% of the entire population of Hylara are occupied just guarding ...

145: UNDERGROUND

The metal doors leading into the side of the dune are thick. Heavy. Free of sand, although the angle suggests that sand would fall past the guards and onto them easily with the slightest wind; prob...

144: COORDINATION

Celti seems to be doing calculations too, glancing between Max and Captain Klees and looking somewhat baffled. “If we asked for medical supplies?”

“Absolutely. Tell us what you need and...

Ask Me Anything -- Hive Cattail

Does the colony have any naming conventions? (like generation names for example)

We just have the one name, which we choose when we reach adulthood. Some people change theirs...

143: CULTURE

Max gets us robes. They show us how to tie the belts. They explain that different belts don’t have any official meaning, but fashions go in and out among different groups of friends, so your belt...

Behind the Keyboard -- Note Waveskimmer

142: SEEDS

“What? You can’t go out there!” Max goes to rise from the table, and Tinera and the Friend let them, but don’t let go, don’t let them try to block our path as we head for the door. “You...

141: ANSWERS

We all leap back, as if a bit more distance will protect Max from the viruses in the mostly enclosed tent.

“You said the viral treatment would take another week after our landing!” Captai...

140: CURATION

The next day is an awkward day of inactivity. It’s frustrating, but there’s not all that much we can really do. We consider going for another look around the settlement, but it’s much more pr...

Bonus story -- Smooth As Glass

Heron Sandcomber was eleven when her pod first travelled to the Shore of Glass. Like any khemin child, she’d heard stories of it since she was a baby in her mother’s boatsling, but there was no...

139: SURGERY

We discuss various possibilities of what, if anything at all, is strange about the colony, but it only goes in circles. The only thing we can all (except Tal) agree on pretty quickly is that we pro...

138: QUESTIONS

We get back to our dome and desuit, and Captain Klees starts pacing back and forth, agitated. I also want to pace, but two people pacing seems weird, so I sit at the table all tense instead.

...

137: RADIO

Max shows us the central meeting area, which is exactly what it sounds like – a huge dome that’s apparently for meeting up and conducting business. A town hall, I suppose. Some benches are line...

136: DOME

One thing to be said about the Hylarans is that they work quickly. Even as we eat, we can hear people moving around outside the dome, doing something around the door. By the time we’re finished, ...

Ask Me Anything -- Sienna Kae Jin

Why did you want to come to Hylara?

Why did I want to contribute to humanity colonising planets outside our solar system? To making a life for our species, for life itsel...