Tag Archives: spaceship

Creativity, Fiction

The Origins of Morality

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From the Microcosmicon, 15:

In my enthusiasm, I twirled the gun so quickly it flew off my hand and a laser shot hit my wristwatch. I retrieved it gingerly.
The doors opened, and I finally met my commissioner.

I consider myself unprincipled. You pay me, you get results. But before me was something not merely alien, but inhuman.
“Welcome, Mr. Long,” it said through countless foetid mouths, stretching scaly arms toward the gun.
Chink. Chink. My eyes fell on the dozens of wristwatches that were heaping on the floor.

I pointed the gun toward myself.
Shortly after, thousands of Mr. Longs left the spaceship.

The Origins of Morality

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Creativity, Fiction

Allies

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From the Microcosmicon, 14:

The Xandal’uc slaves marched onto the Magna. The spaceship departed.
Ten days in, the captain spotted pirates.
“It’s our lucky day. More slaves!”

But clearly pirates were the lesser problem. The Hyperleeches they were fighting were more worrisome.
“We must join forces,” the pirates told the captain from the bluish, buzzing screen.
“We don’t have enough manpower.”
“Of course you do.”
So the slaves were freed, the Hyperleeches vanquished.

“Now help us with the Xandal’uc,” said the captain.
“Sorry, that’s too much to ask of free men,” the pirates laughed, leaving.
The slaves approached the captain. They were not amused.

Fighting the Hyperleeches

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Creativity, Fiction

The Visionary

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From the Microcosmicon, 10:

Riddle me this. I’ll try to present my case as succinctly as possible, and you will be the judge.

You graduate top of your class. You win study grants. You travel the world. You lecture in crowded halls. Everyone praises you for your special vision and your daring challenge of academic conventions. You have something no one else has, they say, and they encourage you.

Then, finally, you land in the space program. They are sure you will discover something unbelievable.
And I did.

Why then, If I may ask, am I the one wasting away in a padded room?

The Visionary

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Creativity, Fiction

Fighting the Vast Ones

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From the Microcosmicon, 7:

It was a galaxy teeming with life. Nations ranged from small islands to whole systems. Travelers were daring. Adventurers trafficked. Merchants brought their culture with them. Dissidents of all stripes were sure to find a more suitable place somewhere else.

Then the Vast Ones came from outer space, and no one was ready.
To face the emergency, the galaxy united under an emergency government headed by the Liberation Front.

Untold lives were lost.
But the invasion was staved off.

Yet, the Liberation Front is still there, and everything everywhere is uniform and gray, a vast oneness with nowhere to go.

Fighting the Vast Ones

MQS

Creativity, Fiction

Planet Empathy

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From the Microcosmicon, 6:

“I’ll come back with the measurements.”
“It could be dangerous! We don’t know anything about this planet!”
“That’s why I’m going.”

My capsule landed. I exited. Dusty light slanted greenly on me. Orbs. Rainbows.
My worries subsided. The vastness of all seeped into the bottom of my soul, assuaging, comforting. No self, no otherness. Unity danced everywhere, overcoming all opposites, compassion without beginning nor end.

I was moved. I couldn’t wait to tell the others.
I started back. Or tried to. But there was no ‘me’ to respond to my will. And I wafted away in deaf rivulets of ecstasy.

Dissolution of the self

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Creativity, Divination, Fiction

The Microcosmicon – Introduction and Index

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Introduction

Much has been said in academic circles concerning the origins of this book, but the truth is quite simple.

Anciently, people used to be able to derive answers to their questions directly from the Macrocosmicon, the book of life. But this ability was lost, so the Kanj of Nebol ordered 1000 stories gathered from around the universe to serve as oracle.

Originally, to answer a question, 1000 eunuchs were left on Scorpion Island for 42 days, after which the story was read and interpreted that corresponded to their remaining number.

Today, a simple randomly generated number is used for practicality.

Index

1 – 50
1. Victims of Each Other’s Discomfort with Themselves 2. The Emperor’s Exile 3. Food for Thought 4. The Synthwave Surfer’s Sacrifice 5. The Waiting Ones 6. Planet Empathy 7. Fighting the Vast Ones 8. Like the Wind 9. Problem Solvers 10. The Visionary 11. Artificially Generated Predictions Concerning the Most Likely Behavior of OneNet’s Netizens by RealValue, Inc. 12. The Prom 13. The Mellified Man 14. Allies 15. The Origins of Morality 16. A Sociosyntonic Disorder 17. The Virtue Signal 18. Public Safety 19. The Sentinel at the End of Times 20. Idols of the Mind 21. The Search 22. The Fuel of History 23. The Love Dimension 24. A Loose Page From Dr. Ferguson’s Copy of the DSM 25. Eternal Life 26. Mrs. Pettigrew’s Cat 27. The Great Watcher 28. Learning From Experience 29. Blending In With The Locals 30. The Circumstances of Greatness 31. An Age Without Titans 32. Space Hagsploitation 33. The Soul’s Journey 34. The Scarecrow 35. On the Way to Follow 36. The Jewel In Space 37. Grandpa Dell 38. Makers of History 39. A Parasite

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