The latest additions

(About 385,000 kilometers away)



++ You know, I really miss the high sub-gee shielding I had in my old body ++



**** Yeah, well we miss the high sub-gee engines you used to have, too. In case you hadn't noticed how long it takes you to crawl through a stellar system between Jump points! ****



++ Oh, very nice, thank you so much for reminding me again. ++



**** Look, Ship, we sympathise, we do. It must be a real bring-down to have been recycled as this flying junk pile after seeing action as a fast attack cruiser. But here we are. ****

‎++ The Ringcutta demobilization was a disastrous mistake... ++



**** Speaking of which, have you any new insights into our very own disaster in the making in this system? ****



++ Yes, which brings me back to 'shielding, lack thereof'. We've been hiding from the planet's observers behind this tidally locked moon, but I think we should move around and hover just off the side opposite the star. Soon. A huge flood of energetic protons from that star would not do my molecular memories much good. YOU would merely be fried in your shells. ++

Damn, no toilet paper. What was he going to do? He unlatched the stall door, lunged towards the sink counter and grabbed a handful of paper towels. Scratchy, but efficient. Wendell washed his hands well (always beware of germs), and dialed Alice at the animal shelter. "Cats to the rescue," he thought as he popped one of those shiny little green pills. Ah, this one will do the trick. And it did. Everything around him started morphing into cats - tabby cats, Siamese cats, Persian cats. His favorite was the pillar on the right roaring like a bengal tiger. This was all about to be over. The cats would take care of everything.

While Wendel slumped to the floor transfixed by the cats, Carl was on the phone with Southwest Net ops. They had just lost two more major transmission lines. "Do you guys have any idea what's goin on?" he asked. "Looks like a big solar storm. SWPC wasn't forecasting anything last night, but they just issued an emergency bulletin an hour ago. Doesn't look good. Utilities and sat coms are going to get hammered."

Wendell pulled himself away from the cats, now purring and bathing themselves with aplomb. He crawled to the window, gripped the sill, and hoisted himself up to glance out the window. The calmly glistening sun gave no hint of the troubles ahead. Had he heard Carl say solar storm? “Solar storm...Will I be in the dark?” said Wendel. “How long will this last? I dislike darkness...I only want to be in the light with my cats...”

Wendell's cell buzzed at him. It was Alice. "Alice," he said happily, "Thanks for sending the cats."
"Wendell, I didn't send them yet. What's going on? Where are you?"
"But, they're, they're here. All different kinds of cats."
"Wendell, you need help. Tell me where you are and I'll..." 
Wendell clicked off the phone. Why did everything have to be so confusing?"

See the entire text on my website.

Only five days left to tie up all the loose ends, and we have plenty of loose ends: Wendell and his mental problems, Carl and the nuclear plant/solar storm, Maria and her relationship with Wendell and Wendell's report, the ship and alien(?), bird thrumming the ground, and all the ties between the plot lines. So, here's my request. Pick whichever plot line you like best and bring it home. I'll edit everything together into a coherent whole. If you want to write about Wendell, just put (Wendell) at the beginning of your post, (birds) to tell what happens to the birds, etc.  Choose your plot line and write. I'll make it work in the final text. And, thank you all so much for being part of my project. Twenty one individuals have contributed to the story so far, and every line has been amazing. Let's bring it to an equally great end.