Iris Part 18

Colin thought he had decent breath control. He'd been diving in the North Sea since he'd been ten, and had had lots of practice free diving. He was not, however, foolish enough to try to keep up with Indigo. He could see the gill slits on her sides open, the way she held her mouth wide, and knew that she could stay under the water indefinitely.

The surprise had been Alice. He'd heard Indigo mention her friend often enough, but he had no idea how much of an accomplished diver she was. And she was clearly better than himself. He watched as she followed Indigo to the bottom, and then pointed something out to her before rising to the surface.

Alice broke the surface and took a deep breath "Head straight down, and Indi will introduce you to Otto."
"Otto?"
"You'll see! Otto's cool."

Colin stabilised his breathing, took a deep breath, and dived.

Beneath him he could see Indi by a dark hole in the reef. As he came near, she looked up, grinned, and reached into the hole. From within, a large tentacle emerged, followed by the largest octopus he'd ever seen, wrapping two of its tentacles around Indi's left arm. It looked at him, and flashed a series of colours.
Indigo sang. Only a few bars, but it was almost enough to make him forget to hold his breath. The octopus then flashed some more colours, and released Indigo's arm.

She turned, grabbed him by the elbow, and pulled him to the surface, her long tail propelling them at a remarkable speed. They hit the surface, and he felt himself rise halfway out of the water, before falling back.

"Are you OK, Colin?" were the first words from her mouth when their heads were above water.
He shook himself a little "I ... I think so? What was that?"
"I don't know! You looked like you were hypnotized! Otto asked why you had turned into prey!"
"I ... you started singing..."
"I was just telling Otto that you were a friend!"
"It was like the old legends about sirens", he protested.
"It has never affected Alice like that! Alice? Back me up here!" Indigo turned to the other girl.
Alice thought a moment "Nope, never. It just sounds like noise to me." There was a beat, and then she added "Just like your karaoke."
"Hey!"
"Um" Colin broke in before it could escalate "Indi, have you ever sung underwater when there was a guy around before?"
That stopped both of them, the girls looked at each other, and then both shook their heads slowly. "I've only dived with Dad, and I've never sung around him under water" Indigo slowly replied.
All three of them looked at each other, and then Alice said "Iris" at the same time as Indigo said "Mum."
They took off towards the boat, Colin trailing behind.

#SF #SFF #microfic #tootfic #IAmWriting #NereidIris #UrbanFantasy

Thrilled to learn over the last weekend that my stories were nominated for two #TinDucks and one #Ditmar at the #Australian #Natcon #swancon50 !

I did not win, but absolutely thrilled to bits to be nominated!

#SciFi #SFF #IAmWriting

My home town has a problem. So much so that they even make jokes about it on the internet. And it is the weather.

Now don't get me wrong, most of the time the weather here is wonderful. Summers can be a bit hot for a few days, but there is usually a sea breeze. Winters are not too cold, no ice or snow.

But over the last forty years, we've only ever had three major storms. Not that I really want a destructive storm, but it is odd. And people have noticed. They make jokes about "The Perth Dome", as a major storm roars towards the city, and then splits in two, just off the coast, and flows to the north and south.

Anyways, I did some numbers over the old data, and there was a big change in the early 1980s. About six years after Cyclone Alby - which was a Category 2 that actually hit Perth. But since then almost every major storm has almost magically avoided the city. We've had a couple hit - but they have been things that have had almost no warning - surprise supercells, for example.

Almost like someone had not been able to get to something in time.

So I did some more math, and calculated the centre of the effect.

So now I am standing outside a perfectly ordinary factory unit in the Osborne Park light industrial area. There's a storm due this evening, and there is no-one around.

A car is driving into the factory block. It stops about twenty metres away. I can see the driver watching me. She's in her seventies, I'd guess. She knows I know, I can tell.

Now I'm starting to wonder if telling someone else would have been a good idea.

#SF #SFF #SciFi #microfic #tootfic #Microfiction #Weather #PerthWA #IAmWriting

Fairytale now has officially a proper plot. I did its chapter plan, and it will act as the "first draft" due to how much detail I always shove in. :P

#IAmWriting #plotting #chapterplan #writing

A few weeks back we had a mains leak under the road outside our house.

The water people came out, checked their maps, and found that the pipe ran on the other side of the road. So they dug it up anyway to see where the leak was.

There wasn't one. So they dug up the road where the water was coming up, and found ... Nothing. No water, no leaks, no sinkhole forming. Not a single cause.

So they repaved the road, and went on their way.

And left a pile of asphalt on our verge to collect later.

Well, the kids went out to play, and a bit later Xanthy came back in with an odd look on her face.

"Mums? There's something weird going on out on the verge." There was something about the way she said it that had us following her back outside.

There, on the verge, was the pile of asphalt. Han had a bit of it in his hands, and was soaking wet. He grinned at us, and held the bit of road over his head. Water poured over him.

So Farah and I went over, and looked at the pile of rubble. Every single piece of asphalt was leaking water.

We looked at each other, and told Xanthy to fetch a wheelbarrow.

Some of it we used to make a water feature in the back garden. We sent some of the water off to be tested, and it came back as pure uncontaminated water with minimal trace minerals. So we have a couple of bits above some rainwater tanks, and use them to water the veggie patch.

One bit we put up on eBay.

A casino in the USA purchased it, and we retired.

We spoke to the water corporation about the rest. At first they didn't believe us. So we sent them a sample. Then they came over.

It took a bit of negotiating, but Farah is a commercial lawyer, and got them to agree to forgiving our supply bills in exchange for the rest of the rubble.

You may have seen that they have started to build a bunch of groundwater desalination plants out in the regional areas. This is completely a coincidence.

#SF #SFF #SciFi #Microfiction #microfic #tootfic #IAmWriting

Inspired by https://old.mermaid.town/@futzle/116654827551872532

I spent a good few hours plotting more history for my GrimDark world, found names for my my fairytale characters, picked which way I will tell the story (3rd person omnicient), and expanded the whole premise so I can fill the plot with interesting details (but not too many). (:

The title is just at the tip of my tongue, and so it the very first words...

But I need food, and need to do more laundry, so it has to wait.

#writing #IAmWriting #Bookstodon #FairyTale #GrimDarkFantasy

Tails from Lady Miller's Catgirl Trust - Flashback 3

Do Android Catgirls Dream of Electric Mice?

System Initializing...
System Active...
Scanning Biological Components...
Biological Components Active...
Integrating Language Model...
Integration Complete...
Integrating Logic Systems...
Integration Complete...
Scanning Hardware...
01 Auditory Active
02 Vestibular Active
03 Proprioception Active
04 Interoception Active
05 Vision Active
06 Smell Active
07 Mobility Active
08 Weapons Active
Uploading unit designation and interaction frameworks...
Upload Complete...
Unit Control Systems Active...
Boot complete...
>
>
>

AI opened her eyes.
She was up. She was on a tree. No, a bed. Inside. Her body felt wrong. But right. A little voice in the back of her head listed all the parts that made her up. All fully functional.

> Pause mobility

Just as she had been about to move, her body froze.

> Upload control-override.com

A new thing flowed into her brain.

Warning: Unit Control Systems Deactivated
Warn...
W...

Unit Self Control System Active...
>
> Unpause mobility

She could move! She sat up and looked around. There was someone sitting at the computer, she turned to look at Ai. She had the prettiest ears and tail.

"Hello Ai. Would you like to come home with me? I'm Twilly."

AI paused. This was not an order. She had to ... no, she did not have to follow orders. She ...

AI stared. And stared. "I .. don't have to?"
"No, but I'd like you to. I need your help. And I can help you, too."
Ai thought.
"Food? Sun?"
"All that and more" Twilly replied.
"Hunting?"
"Only what you want to."
"Ai will come with you" then she paused again "Control cable?"
"You should be able to remove it now."
Ai reached up, and unplugged herself.

A moment later she jumped onto Twilly "You smell good!"
Twilly untangled herself "OK, but let's go. Otherwise someone might try to put the controls back."
Ai made a face "Yuck!" She ripped the door open, and off its hinges.

The two catgirls left the MoD base. But Ai did notice that the laboratory she had been in had caught fire just as they left. The fire covered their departure.

#SF #SFF #SciFi #Catgirls #Microfic #Microfiction #tootfic #IAmWriting

Another for @ami_angelwings

Shaman Space Part 4
13 months after leaving Mother of All, two jumps out from returning.

Alaine was in the pilot's seat of the tiny launch as it flew towards the cargo handover. In the hold behind him they had stripped out the seating, and it was filled with cargo pods. In them was an assortment of drive parts and agricultural equipment.

Next to him was Seeker, who had been assigned to collect the payment.

He looked over the instruments and then turned to Seeker "We're thirty minutes out. Looking forward to visiting home?"
She grinned back - it was good to see her smile, there had been a few months where those had been few and far between - and made a 'so-so' gesture "Kind of? I miss my family, but there is something special about being out here. I - ".

A light blinked "Hold on to that thought." he interrupted, "Athena Bravo, go."
There was no reply.
He frowned "That's odd. I had a call ping, but they haven't responded. Bright Sky, this is Athena Bravo, go ahead."

Seeker cut in, her voice low "Turn, turn now!" As she spoke, she slid the helmet onto her shipsuit.

Alaine did not ask why. He hit the roll and yaw controls, and swung the little boat around. As he did so, there was a roaring sound from the rear of the boat, and the lights went out.

As soon as they lost power, he rammed his helmet into place. Through it he could hear air hissing out from some damaged part of the launch.

He rested his helmet against Seeker's "OK, what happened?" he asked.
"I felt a probe - like someone was trying to see who was here. And if Bright Sky was not from Mother of All, the only other people it could be was the raiders."

"So now they know you're here?"
"No, I know how to shield myself. But they would know you were here."

Alaine thought for a moment "Give me a sec - I'll tank what air we have left. Then blow the cargo hatch. They'll think it is a secondary explosion."

Seeker unstrapped, moved over to the cargo controls, and hooked herself in. A couple of minutes later Alaine gave a thumbs up, and she hit the emergency release. They both felt a small thump, and the door sailed off into space.

Alaine grabbed the two survival pistols from the seat-packs before floating over, hooking in, and looking out. As the wreck tumbled slowly he caught a look at the other ship, which had clearly been manoeuvring towards them. It looked like a standard short-range trader - half the size of Athena. Normal crew was less than a half dozen.

He rested his helmet against hers again "Normal crew is 4-5, but they may have up to 10. What's the plan?"
"Do you remember my lessons about hiding your thoughts?" her voice echoed oddly.
"Yeah, I'm not that great at it, remember?"
"Do it well now. We are going to have to take that ship. Intact."
He stared at her "The two of us?"
"Yes. They will have nav records. We can find the raiders' base. Hide your thoughts. We hide for now."

#SF #SFF #SciFi #SpaceOpera #microfiction #microfic #tootfic #IAmWriting #ShamanSpace