Please Scroll Down to See Forums Below 
THeMaCHinE
New member
This is a new project I am working on. If there is enough interest here, I will publish one or two segments a week. Seriously, let me know if you like it and would like to see future updates.
And There Be Gods
by MACHINE
© 2001 by MACHINE
All Rights Reserved
1.
Space. Blackness and light. A sterile starscape repeating beyond the boundaries of sight.
Entropic calmness. A preternatural and primordial abyss locked eternal in a staunch glacial grip.
The automated long-range service pod sailed the solar winds, navigating the silent vacuum like a phantom — its single-entity payload awaiting activation. It was the last of five. Its four brothers lost to various catastrophes during the course of the long journey from Xia-Xia, the home planet.
Danger surrounded.
The P-24 shock trooper lay still, empty black eyes reflecting the starlight that permeated the pod’s small portal window; a drug-induced haze holding its mind from self-immolation, electrical and cryogenic systems suspending its internal organs and neuromuscular system.
300 solar miles from the red planet’s surface, the LRSD initiated the stealth system. A gelatinous amber substance spurted from multi-directional surface nozzles on the pod’s outside skin. Flowing like mercury, the substance engulfed the pod, cloaking it from the powerful net shield that acted as a mass-intrusion detection and early defense system for the enemy planet.
Too small to be snared in the shield’s glowing energy folds, the LRSD sliced through the shield and proceeded toward the red planet of Troy.
250 solar miles. Eighteen gauge half-inch hypodermics snaked from the recesses of the pod’s medical system, plunging into the shoulders, traps and neck of the shock trooper. Six grams of halotestin, methyltest, amphetamines and adrenaline rushed into the trooper. Cryogenic and electrical systems activated the revival sequence.
The inhabitant’s index finger twitched. A small droplet of spittle escaped between sharpened teeth to rest on a pale lower lip. The trooper’s chest expanded with its first natural breath in months. It exhaled a fine dust into the cabin, clearing its lungs of the medical detritus used to keep it alive during the journey. Dim eyes began to sharpen, sentience returning.
Closer and closer, the red planet grew larger in the reflection of the pod’s portal window.
+++++++++++
And There Be Gods
by MACHINE
© 2001 by MACHINE
All Rights Reserved
1.
Space. Blackness and light. A sterile starscape repeating beyond the boundaries of sight.
Entropic calmness. A preternatural and primordial abyss locked eternal in a staunch glacial grip.
The automated long-range service pod sailed the solar winds, navigating the silent vacuum like a phantom — its single-entity payload awaiting activation. It was the last of five. Its four brothers lost to various catastrophes during the course of the long journey from Xia-Xia, the home planet.
Danger surrounded.
The P-24 shock trooper lay still, empty black eyes reflecting the starlight that permeated the pod’s small portal window; a drug-induced haze holding its mind from self-immolation, electrical and cryogenic systems suspending its internal organs and neuromuscular system.
300 solar miles from the red planet’s surface, the LRSD initiated the stealth system. A gelatinous amber substance spurted from multi-directional surface nozzles on the pod’s outside skin. Flowing like mercury, the substance engulfed the pod, cloaking it from the powerful net shield that acted as a mass-intrusion detection and early defense system for the enemy planet.
Too small to be snared in the shield’s glowing energy folds, the LRSD sliced through the shield and proceeded toward the red planet of Troy.
250 solar miles. Eighteen gauge half-inch hypodermics snaked from the recesses of the pod’s medical system, plunging into the shoulders, traps and neck of the shock trooper. Six grams of halotestin, methyltest, amphetamines and adrenaline rushed into the trooper. Cryogenic and electrical systems activated the revival sequence.
The inhabitant’s index finger twitched. A small droplet of spittle escaped between sharpened teeth to rest on a pale lower lip. The trooper’s chest expanded with its first natural breath in months. It exhaled a fine dust into the cabin, clearing its lungs of the medical detritus used to keep it alive during the journey. Dim eyes began to sharpen, sentience returning.
Closer and closer, the red planet grew larger in the reflection of the pod’s portal window.
+++++++++++
