Tag Archives: audio

The Timeline Dissolution Cocktail

Posted by Madd_Fictional on

It was at the 92nd Annual International Science Conference, held in Washington, D.C., where Dr. Jonathan Krendler and Senator Emily Simmonds first met. They were the key speakers in the debate of the use of an experimental drug on convicted felons condemned to die by lethal injection.

Dr. Krendler, a renowned dimensionalogist, had discovered, and supposedly perfected, a way to isolate criminals from our timeline, essentially removing them from our reality without actually killing them. His solution to the death penalty involved the use of a two-part chemical solution, called the timeline dissolution cocktail, that once injected into the individual, rearranged their chronal DNA and slowly shifted them from our reality into another dimension of existence.

“This is a far more humane way of removing unredeemable elements from our society,” Dr. Krendler said. “Leaving no blood on our hands.”

“No blood? How can you be certain of that?” Simmonds asked. “Have you seen this other dimension these criminals are being sent to? Do you know for sure this process of yours even works? That your test subjects aren’t just being atomized instead of relocated? And for the sake of argument, let’s say there actually is some other dimension, do we know that humans can safely exist there, and if they can, do we have the right to dump our problems on some poor unsuspecting society? How is that not a form of cruel and unusual punishment?”

Dr. Krendler shook his head at the audience comprised of scientists and researchers, sighed, and said, “Senator Simmonds, are you attempting to derail these talks with groundless hypotheticals?”

“Yes, and here’s another one for you: What if the condemned wants to die in our reality, so their families can mourn and move on, and the victims and their families can see justice done and finally get some closure in their lives?”

“It never ceases to amaze me how you liberals are never satisfied with any progressive scientific achievements,” Dr. Krendler responded. “You think the lethal injection barbiturate, paralytic, and potassium chloride cocktail is Ineffective, don’t you? Because it doesn’t get the job done fast enough for your liking.”

“Fast enough for our liking?” Simmonds rolled her eyes in disbelief. “It takes 20 minutes to kill the average inmate!”

“Only in rare cases. The majority of the executions were conducted without a hitch,” Dr. Krendler said proudly. “However, I am willing to concede that subjecting anyone to twenty minutes of chemical torture, even in a low percentage rate, is totally unacceptable, which is why I built a better mousetrap.”

“A better mousetrap?”

“Yes. You can nitpick at my solution all you like but in the end, I’m sure you will come to see that my timeline dissolution cocktail is the perfect way to carry out a painless, and less dramatic, execution.”

“And you feel not one ounce of remorse for being the man responsible for dissolving a human being’s entire existence as if they were never even here?”

“Remorse for what? No one’s dying because of my procedure. They’re being relocated, perhaps even to a better life. Isn’t that better than murdering a fellow human? As a liberal, aren’t you opposed to the death sentence? Doesn’t this take care of that?”

“I’m opposed to inhumane killing. If you came up with a completely painless way to implement a death sentence for a monster that couldn’t be rehabilitated, then I might be willing to accept it as a viable solution. But what you’re doing goes beyond the realms of nature and reality. You’re eradicating their very soul from our universe, and I can’t explain why, but I find that thought sickening.”

“Then what’s your solution, Senator? No lethal injection, no electric chair, no gas chamber, no hanging, no firing squad, or drowning or stoning. How do we deal with the monsters that can’t be rehabilitated?”

“I don’t have an answer,” Simmonds admitted. “But until we find one, I intend to block the use of your cocktail.”

“Good luck trying to stop me. This country has elected and nominated conservative Republicans to all three branches of government for the past 50 years, and they all support my agenda.”

Simmonds remained silent for a moment before slamming her fist on the table and leaving the conference abruptly.

The Sextraterrestrial Experience

Posted by Madd_Fictional on

To those adults who hold on to their virginity as a point of pride, we salute you! This message is not intended for you. If, however, you are among the twenty-nine percent of the world population gagging for a shag but find yourself taking up permanent residence in the friend zone, we might have just the solution for you!

At The Sextraterrestrial Experience, we know that today’s men and women are faced with far more difficult sexual choices than ever before. The spectre of rejection, virginal ridicule, sexually transmitted diseases, and unwanted pregnancy looms large in a society where people display not only their own lives, but yours as well on social media.

Sexually inexperienced adults today need new choices that reflect the reality of their complex lives. Abstinence is often preached by the self-righteous them-what-knows-what’s-best-for-your-life pundits, but that’s simply not a realistic approach to modern day sexuality. To hear the marriage-first-nookie-later brigade, you’d think even masturbation would lead to the end of civilization.

But there is a way to stop shy, socially awkward virgins from transforming into frustrated InCels and mucking up life for the rest of us. Now anyone, and we do mean anyone can enjoy rich and satisfying sexual intimacy without risking rejection based on appearance or personality.

Welcome to the world of Alien Sex!

That’s right, extraterrestrials have grown bored with secretive farmland abductions and nonconsensual probing and are now eager to explore human relations in all its various forms. Best of all, these curious visitors from a distant star are not compatible with humans on a procreation level, so no unwanted pregnancies, are not capable of transmitting any earthborn sexual diseases, have no racial, age, or gender bias, and they do not blink at kink, so you can feel free to experiment and if you discover that you have a freak flag, let it fly with confidence.

Nothing’s too foreign for the foreignest of them all…Aliens!

Disclaimer: The Sextraterrestrial Experience is not a bordello, it is a matchmaking organization for intergalactic species singles looking to engage in consensual, guilt-free amorous congress. Applicants should not be married or in a committed relationship, do not necessarily need to be virgins, but must be 18 or older. Although The Sextraterrestrial Experience, LTD, makes it their business to thoroughly screen participating extraterrestrials for all known planetary sexually transmitted diseases, we strongly advise the use of protection as we assume no responsibility for any off-world diseases contracted from any contact, intimate or otherwise, with an alien lifeform.

The Moemoeā

Posted by Madd_Fictional on

After an extended drought of blackout nights, Vidalia was dreaming again, but nowhere near ones of the ordinary variety, especially for a person of her kind. These dreams were filled with murky, ever-shifting shapes, people she knew in the waking world, but who tried to obscure their identity, as if they were in a dreamland witness protection program.

She knew, in that way the unknown became known in dream logic, that the people were pixelating themselves because of something she did. She had inadvertently given birth to an idea that was so next of kin to chaos in The Dreamorium, that it made her persona non grata among the inhabitants.

Fearing for her safety while existing in dreamstate, Vidalia had no other choice but to pay a visit to the ruler of The Dreamorium, in order to convince him to take her sleep-wandering soul under the wing of his protection, and make it known to all, that anyone who attempted to do her harm would be severely dealt with.

As her visit to the DreamCore was unannounced, Vidalia arrived while Morpheus himself was asleep, and found it difficult to approach the monarch, because she was forced to wade through his own dreams; the images flowing from his mind were thick with nastiness and liquidy with sin, and they wanted ever so much to enter her, to drown the very essence of her being.

Vidalia’s head bobbed just above the surface of the dreams that threatened to drag her into their undertow. While she struggled to stay afloat, her eyes kept returning to Morpheus’s sleeping face. How could this peaceful-looking man have dreams filled with so much rage?

In her battle to avoid drowning, Vidalia uttered a shriek that woke Morpheus from his sleep. His eyes opened and the dreams evaporated instantly. When he yawned, the air became warm and heavy with welcoming scents: freshly cut grass, and old books, and Christmas morning.

Morpheus, unsurprised by Vidalia’s presence in his boudoir, smiled and sauntered over to her, taking her face in both hands and kissed her. Although the kiss landed on her forehead, she felt it on her lips, and it tasted of chocolate made from cacao and cane sugar.

“I am heartily sorry for disturbing your sleep, sir,” Vidalia said, humbled suddenly by the nearness of him. “But I was drowning in your…“

“Nightmares, I know,” Morpheus nodded. “I daydream as many as I can manage to spare you mortal lot their pain and anguish.”

“My name is…“

“Vidalia,” Morpheus finished. “From the tribe of secret dreamers known as the Moemoeā, and in addition to being the strongest, smartest, and most beautiful of your sisters, you are the seventh daughter of seven daughters, and you have come craving a boon.”

Vidalia tried to step back, to remove herself from his sphere of influence, but Morpheus clasped her shoulders and held her to the spot.

“Your loneliness is like a beacon in The Dreamorium,” he said. “It calls out to me and confesses your secrets. I know your crime.”

“Then you must despise me, sir,” Vidalia turned her face away from the Lord of Dreams. “And I was foolish to travel to this place in search of a compassionate ear and perhaps aid in the form of a possible solution.”

“How can I offer aid without a request being made?”

“I have done a thing here in your realm and it has grown beyond my control,” Vidalia said, not quite able to meet his gaze.

“And you have come to me seeking to make your error mine own so that I might repair the damage you have done?” Morpheus raised an eyebrow.

“Yes.”

His fingers gently caressed her chin and he turned her face so that their eyes met. “Tell me, mortal, do you think me so weak of mind that I cannot detect when I am standing in the presence of a falsehood?”

Vidalia brushed his hand away. “How am I false, sir?”

Morpheus leaned in closer, their noses almost touching. “I see in you so many levels of deception, it is quite fascinating, actually. But you cannot bury the truth deep enough within your lies to hide it from me. You will reveal to me, child, what you have done.”

When Vidalia offered no response, Morpheus circled her slowly, whispering in each ear as he passed, “I can feel it, this thing you have loosed in my realm. It salivates at the very thought of me. It aches to sip the wine of life directly from my throat.”

“So, you desire the truth?” Vidalia asked.

“As near as you can manage.”

“Very well. I gave birth here.”

“You gave birth in The Dreamorium?”

“I was impregnated here and delivered here. A first to my knowledge.”

“A surface lie,” Morpheus scoffed. “Try again.”

“The thing that seeks you out, I am responsible for its presence. You have said that I am the seventh daughter of the seventh daughter, and that is true but it was my mother who was impregnated here, by an idea made flesh. And I am the result of that union.”

“And what was the fertile idea?”

“It was not so much an idea as it was a truth,” Vidalia said. “Now is the time of women.”

Morpheus smirked. “And you believe that you alone can unthrone me?”

“I know that I will unthrone you. And since you favor truth, the simple truth is that I am never alone.”

Behind Vidalia, women began to materialize. Her mother. Her sisters. her aunts. “We are a tribe, as you have mentioned,” she said. “A tribe of experienced dreamers and we believe ourselves capable of holding mankind’s nightmares at bay.”

“Your number has grown from one to fourteen, that is still not enough, I assure you,” Morpheus said dismissively.

“Peer outside your window, great king,” Vidalia stepped to the gossamer drapes and pulled them aside.

When the Duke of Dreaming cast a glance at the grounds beyond his keep, he witnessed an impossible gathering of women.

“Those women stretch as far as the eye can see and even farther still. It is the Moemoeā and we are legion.”

“The first of our kind inhabited this place since its infancy and we have watched your rise to power with much admiration,” Vidalia continued. “But the world beyond this place is changing and dreams are too, becoming darker, some taking on the quality of nightmares.”

“It is more than one man can bear, even a man such as yourself. We wish to offer you a respite, carry the burden for you now.”

“If your intentions were noble and your cause just, why then approach me like sneak-thieves in the night?” Morpheus asked.

“Would you have granted us audience if we made our intentions plain? No, you would not.”

“Foolish women, I shall oppose you.”

“You will try, and you will fail. You know this to be true but pride demands that you defend your throne. But this need not end in senseless violence,” Vidalia placed a hand on Morpheus’ chest, his heartbeat betraying his calm demeanor.

“It can be gentle, peaceful, and sweet,” she whispered as her lips brushed his mouth. “Why sip wine from your throat when your lips, far more desirable, would achieve the same goal?” She kissed him hard and full and he groaned pitifully.

There was a weight to Vidalia’s kiss that he struggled against, unaware her lips were siphoning his essence at the same time.

Soon, the others joined in, touching and kissing the Lord of Dreams and soothing him into submission, into surrender. His defiant roars transformed into desperate pleas as he begged them to stop but they paid him no heed.

And when he was but a shade of his former self, a ghost who was evaporating at Dawn’s approach, the women praised Morpheus, killing him with kindness until he was no more.

Vidalia led the women in prayer after his passing before demolishing all he had built.

Now, the difficult work began, devising a new way for mortals to dream and a new way to filter out nightmares. Peace might not be achievable in the real world but Vidalia and her kin strove to make it a reality in The Dreamorium.

The Isle of Winston

Posted by Madd_Fictional on

John Donne once wrote, “No man is an island, entire of itself,” but this was not true, not in Winston Brooke’s case, at least. He spent the majority of his days chipping away at the connection, until he was not “a piece of the continent, a part of the main,” as the poem suggested. He was born alone, lived his life apart from others, and would surely die in the same manner.

This did not mean that he hadn’t had encounters. He found love once and he fell completely head over heels. But she hadn’t fallen, neither head nor heel, so she departed, leaving him oh so utterly alone, thus cementing his decision to cut ties with anything remotely resembling society.

But even as an island, he still received reminders, things that washed up on the shore from the life he left behind; old love letters rolled tight in bottles, forgotten memories carved onto driftwood, secrets whispered into conch shells, and so many pieces of his broken heart that arrived every single day.

As he had no further need for these keepsakes, no need for companions, no need for rescue, Winston tossed the flotsam of his former existence back into the sea, and kept his island deserted and camouflaged from the notice of humankind.

Many years later, the infamous she, the breaker of his heart, rowed her boat ashore, after realizing her mistake and returning to make amends, found Winston’s desiccated remains. His independent island had become his silent grave, and now the acre upon acre of desolation and loneliness belonged solely to her, as the certificate of ownership changed hands.

Text and Audio ©2021 Rhyan Scorpio-Rhys

Can’t Help Who You Love

Posted by Madd_Fictional on

The world had seldom witnessed a woman as simple and complex as Eleanor Fetsbury of Cranford-upon-Reslington. A working single mother, she was extremely unpleasant in the most pleasant manner possible, deeply spiritual in an atheistic fashion, and so very fortunate in a There-But-for-the-Grace-of-God-Go-I sort of way. She loved to be hated, and hated to be loved, but I loved her anyway, because she was my mother.

What other choice did I have but to love a woman who would not show me an ounce of affection, but would battle a regiment of armed soldiers single-handedly in order to keep me safe?

Text and Audio ©2018 & 2021 Rhyan Scorpio-Rhys

Greetings from Europa – Fourteenth Transmission: Respect for The Aged

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First Transmission * Second Transmission * Third Transmission * Fourth Transmission * Fifth Transmission * Sixth Transmission * Seventh Transmission * Eighth Transmission * Ninth Transmission * Tenth Transmission * Eleventh Transmission * Twelfth Transmission * Thirteenth Transmission

Greetings from Europa!

By our second day on the road (keep in mind that one Europan day is equivalent to three and a half Earth days) we were able to reach Meis’lo’s village, Jhisal, and I was surprised at the great deal of reverence he was shown by the entire community. Young ones wanted to count the wrinkles on his face, and the adults asked permission to swipe their fingers across his brow in order to taste his sweat.

While we might find these actions bizarre on Earth, here they’re meant as a sign of admiration. Europans secrete a fluid from their sweat glands that typically take on one of four characteristics, and it is believed that you can tell a lot about a being’s personality and character traits by their sweat appearance and taste.

Clear sweat has almost no taste and these types are neat, tidy, and plan things meticulously, almost to a fault. Amber-colored sweat has an odd maple taste and these types are spontaneous, prone to do their own thing without planning or worrying about the opinion of others (this was Meis’lo). Brownish sweat types taste salty and tend to live in a private world inside their minds. And milky sweat has an astringent taste. These types tend to be great thinkers, and usually become village leaders or arceks.

Meis’lo finally made sense of everything by informing Jampi and I that it was Biem, a time to show respect for the aged, especially those who have lost their families, because in a Europan village, no one is alone and no one is forgotten, a fact that I can personally confirm.

So, after dispatching a Denpa to my wife to let her know Jampi was well, we sat around in a circle and listened to elders tell stories of what amounted to “the good old days” and ate the pickled meat of a tart root with shredded algae, and washed it down with a spicy mineral water. A good time was had by all. When the festivities ended, and everyone entered their rest cycles, Meis’lo generously offered us lodging in his home. After Jampi was tucked in tight, Meis’lo pulled me aside, his expression more serious than I had ever seen before, because he claimed that if I planned on continuing my journey to Dery’Ylok Prefecture, I needed to know the full story of the death of the spiritual prophet Nes’Tim.

Until next broadcast, this is Captain Edwards, signing off.

Text and Audio ©2014 & 2021 Rhyan Scorpio-Rhys

Glossary of Terms

  • Abogzons – Gynecological engineers.
  • Agvann – Translation: The will of Nes’Tim; an accident.
  • Alum’Vedca – The day marking the new solar cycle of Peace and Maturity; a tribute to the era when Europans evolved from their primitive prey state.
  • Arcek – A spiritual theologian
  • Biem – A time to show respect for the aged.
  • Biss’ore – Travelers, nomads
  • Bokloryn – An unrepayable debt; an act that places the receiver in a lifetime contract of servitude.
  • Cu’nal – A biological storage unit.
  • Denpa – An envoy equipped with an audiographic memory that can store and recall spoken messages at will in the same voice, tone and inflection of the original person who spoke it, who travels from village to village to deliver messages from other communities both near and far.
  • Egami – A docile mineral-based creatures primarily used for family transportation due to the fact they are virtually inexhaustible.
  • Gates of Juh’holl – Europan afterlife; where souls are released from the flesh to become stardust and rejoin the universe.
  • Grahas – A gerbil-sized creature, resembling a stone armadillo, that emits heat when stroked.
  • Homnils – A warm, yet sad, reminiscence about something in the past.
  • Ipu llqr mwyll xfrr – Abogzon credo meaning “success or death”; satisfaction guaranteed.
  • Isogoles – Europan monthly day of pay.
  • Jampi – Captain Edward’s son.
  • Jbwqnadb – The Europan spelling of lemonade.
  • Jhisal – Meis’lo’s home village.
  • Klanea – Translation: unknown to us; stranger.
  • Mecot’ra – Unterraformed areas of Europa.
  • Meis’lo – The only surviving witness to the murder of  the prophet Nes’Tim.
  • Micdow yl – The vessels of new life; children.
  • Nes’Tim – The most revered spiritual prophet on Europa, slain by a heretic tribe who call themselves Sel’Tab.
  • Pwyll – Europa’s highest mountain.
  • Qik’climajh – Depending on its usage in a sentence, denotes either the act of telling a story, or the storyteller themselves.
  • Sel’Tab – A heretic tribe responsible for the death of the prophet Nes’Tim.
  • Shig’umfu – “Interesting world of another”; a documentary qik’climajh in which neighbors tell the story of a person’s life as learned from casual conversations.
  • Spo – Food.
  • Uz Cu’nal – A biological storage unit used primarily for food preservation.
  • Uz – An unspeakable sexual act; a derogatory term; an insult.

Greetings from Europa – Thirteenth Transmission: Grahas

Posted by Madd_Fictional on

First Transmission * Second Transmission * Third Transmission * Fourth Transmission * Fifth Transmission * Sixth Transmission * Seventh Transmission * Eighth Transmission * Ninth Transmission * Tenth Transmission * Eleventh Transmission * Twelfth Transmission

Greetings from Europa!

We’re on the road to Dery’Ylok Prefecture, and by we, I mean Meis’lo is accompanying me for part of the journey, as his home is on the way. I’m able to send this broadcast thanks to the egami (whom I’ve nicknamed Roadie) lent to me by my village, who is transporting my transmitter. He (I’m assuming gender here, but have no actual frame of reference) is smaller and younger than Rocky, our family egami, but quite up to carrying the load of the transmitter, its solar panel and antenna array, as well as the uz cu’nal packed with supplies.

We also have a third travel companion, my son, Jampi, who stowed away in the uz cu’nal and would have died if Meis’lo hadn’t requested that we stop to take a food break. The boy hid himself inside the storage unit because he wanted to come with me, not realizing that uz cu’nals were vacuum sealed. Yes, I was relieved that he was alive but I was also furious at how reckless he was, and I was about to chew him out something good, when Meis’lo, the peacemaker, spun the event into a story of courage and adventure. He repeated it so that I would remember because that was one of the conditions of the village gift of the egami Roadie. I had to promise to bring back many wonderful stories.

At least now I know why Jampi wasn’t there to see me off, which hurt my pride a bit, I must admit. We’re not only father and son, we’re best buds, and thanks to his heedless nature, we’re about to embark on our first adventure together. I have to remember to send a message to my wife with the first Denpa we come across, to let her know that Jampi’s safe with me.

I might have mentioned in an earlier broadcast that the weather here is typically mild, but ever since the death of Rezter, there have been fluctuations in the pattern. As we made camp for the night, we got our first taste of really cold weather, something I didn’t pack for. And it was Meis’lo to the rescue once again, who took morsels from our meal, set them out and sang a prayer that attracted a small cluster of creatures no larger than gerbils, called Grahas, that resembled stone armadillos.

The old man scooped one into his hand and stroked it, advising us to do the same. The Grahas gave off the musty smell of a space heater burning kerosene, which triggered homnils in me, a warm, yet sad, reminiscence about something in the past. Childhood memories flooded my mind, and for the first time in a long time, I missed Earth.

Jampi must have sensed my sadness, because he scooted closer to me and leaned his head on my arm, as we sat there in silence, stroking our Grahas for warmth. This moment of quiet reflection made me think, what am I ever going to do, if and when a rescue party arrives here? Do I go home to the familiar, or stay in this place where I am welcomed but not truly a part of?

Until next broadcast, this is Captain Edwards, signing off.

Text and Audio ©2014 & 2021 Rhyan Scorpio-Rhys

Glossary of Terms

  • Abogzons – Gynecological engineers.
  • Agvann – Translation: The will of Nes’Tim; an accident.
  • Alum’Vedca – The day marking the new solar cycle of Peace and Maturity; a tribute to the era when Europans evolved from their primitive prey state.
  • Arcek – A spiritual theologian
  • Biem – A time to show respect for the aged.
  • Biss’ore – Travelers, nomads
  • Bokloryn – An unrepayable debt; an act that places the receiver in a lifetime contract of servitude.
  • Cu’nal – A biological storage unit.
  • Denpa – An envoy equipped with an audiographic memory that can store and recall spoken messages at will in the same voice, tone and inflection of the original person who spoke it, who travels from village to village to deliver messages from other communities both near and far.
  • Egami – A docile mineral-based creatures primarily used for family transportation due to the fact they are virtually inexhaustible.
  • Gates of Juh’holl – Europan afterlife; where souls are released from the flesh to become stardust and rejoin the universe.
  • Grahas – A gerbil-sized creature, resembling a stone armadillo, that emits heat when stroked.
  • Homnils – A warm, yet sad, reminiscence about something in the past.
  • Ipu llqr mwyll xfrr – Abogzon credo meaning “success or death”; satisfaction guaranteed.
  • Isogoles – Europan monthly day of pay.
  • Jampi – Captain Edward’s son.
  • Jbwqnadb – The Europan spelling of lemonade.
  • Jhisal – Meis’lo’s home village.
  • Klanea – Translation: unknown to us; stranger.
  • Mecot’ra – Unterraformed areas of Europa.
  • Meis’lo – The only surviving witness to the murder of  the prophet Nes’Tim.
  • Micdow yl – The vessels of new life; children.
  • Nes’Tim – The most revered spiritual prophet on Europa, slain by a heretic tribe who call themselves Sel’Tab.
  • Pwyll – Europa’s highest mountain.
  • Qik’climajh – Depending on its usage in a sentence, denotes either the act of telling a story, or the storyteller themselves.
  • Sel’Tab – A heretic tribe responsible for the death of the prophet Nes’Tim.
  • Shig’umfu – “Interesting world of another”; a documentary qik’climajh in which neighbors tell the story of a person’s life as learned from casual conversations.
  • Spo – Food.
  • Uz Cu’nal – A biological storage unit used primarily for food preservation.
  • Uz – An unspeakable sexual act; a derogatory term; an insult.

Greetings from Europa – Twelfth Transmission: Mecot’ra

Posted by Madd_Fictional on

First Transmission * Second Transmission * Third Transmission * Fourth Transmission * Fifth Transmission * Sixth Transmission * Seventh Transmission * Eighth Transmission * Ninth Transmission * Tenth Transmission * Eleventh Transmission

Greetings from Europa!

This morning I sensed an eagerness in my wife that I hadn’t seen since we first met, when her curiousness about a klanea opened the doorway of my being accepted into her village.

At first, I thought she was eager for me to leave, that perhaps she had grown tired of my strange, non-Europan ways and customs but was too polite to say, and she could finally find some peace in my absence and settle into a brief period of normalcy with our neighbors.

That couldn’t have been further from the truth, which just goes to show that no matter where you go, there you are. Here I was in the most peaceful paradise in existence, the happiest I’ve ever been, and I was still carrying with me all the baggage and insecurities of my old life.

Outside our home, the village had gathered to see me off on my spiritual journey with a present of a village egami (one not belonging to any one family) and an uz cu’nal packed with food for the trip. I have no idea how word spread so quickly, but I suspect my wife had a hand in it. Everyone was in attendance, except for Jampi, who tried to hide his disappointment when I told him I would be leaving for a while and that it would be best if he stayed behind to be the man of the house, an expression I’m not sure he understood. I voiced my concerns to my wife and she said she would speak to the boy in time and bring understanding.

Just before I left, a Denpa arrived and announced that Kubus and Veron have reached a mecot’ra, one of the areas of Europa where the terraforming hadn’t taken hold.

You know, I just realized that if these broadcasts are being picked up, the receiver might not understand the complexities of a terraformed world. The process isn’t just about creating conditions for plants and vegetation to grow in order to create oxygen, you also need to create a greenhouse effect to keep Europa warm by trapping the sun’s rays and creating an atmosphere by releasing any of the moon’s available CO2. Then, you have to create a protective shield in order to deflect the Sun’s radiation and prevent solar winds from slowly shaving the atmosphere away, which NASA did by placing a field generator between Europa and Sol to act as a magnetic umbrella.

But there are places on Europa where the air is so thin that it is practically unbreathable and the landscape is a brutal, icy tundra of peaks and valleys, a result of the daily rise and fall of Europa’s subsurface ocean due to tidal forces from Jupiter. I sincerely hope that some miracle comes to their rescue so that Rezter’s children can put this hurdle behind them and that they aren’t forced to give up their pilgrimage, as I begin mine

Until next broadcast, this is Captain Edwards, signing off.

Text and Audio ©2014 & 2021 Rhyan Scorpio-Rhys

Glossary of Terms

  • Abogzons – Gynecological engineers.
  • Agvann – Translation: The will of Nes’Tim; an accident.
  • Alum’Vedca – The day marking the new solar cycle of Peace and Maturity; a tribute to the era when Europans evolved from their primitive prey state.
  • Arcek – A spiritual theologian
  • Biem – A time to show respect for the aged.
  • Biss’ore – Travelers, nomads
  • Bokloryn – An unrepayable debt; an act that places the receiver in a lifetime contract of servitude.
  • Cu’nal – A biological storage unit.
  • Denpa – An envoy equipped with an audiographic memory that can store and recall spoken messages at will in the same voice, tone and inflection of the original person who spoke it, who travels from village to village to deliver messages from other communities both near and far.
  • Egami – A docile mineral-based creatures primarily used for family transportation due to the fact they are virtually inexhaustible.
  • Gates of Juh’holl – Europan afterlife; where souls are released from the flesh to become stardust and rejoin the universe.
  • Grahas – A gerbil-sized creature, resembling a stone armadillo, that emits heat when stroked.
  • Homnils – A warm, yet sad, reminiscence about something in the past.
  • Ipu llqr mwyll xfrr – Abogzon credo meaning “success or death”; satisfaction guaranteed.
  • Isogoles – Europan monthly day of pay.
  • Jampi – Captain Edward’s son.
  • Jbwqnadb – The Europan spelling of lemonade.
  • Jhisal – Meis’lo’s home village.
  • Klanea – Translation: unknown to us; stranger.
  • Mecot’ra – Unterraformed areas of Europa.
  • Meis’lo – The only surviving witness to the murder of  the prophet Nes’Tim.
  • Micdow yl – The vessels of new life; children.
  • Nes’Tim – The most revered spiritual prophet on Europa, slain by a heretic tribe who call themselves Sel’Tab.
  • Pwyll – Europa’s highest mountain.
  • Qik’climajh – Depending on its usage in a sentence, denotes either the act of telling a story, or the storyteller themselves.
  • Sel’Tab – A heretic tribe responsible for the death of the prophet Nes’Tim.
  • Shig’umfu – “Interesting world of another”; a documentary qik’climajh in which neighbors tell the story of a person’s life as learned from casual conversations.
  • Spo – Food.
  • Uz Cu’nal – A biological storage unit used primarily for food preservation.
  • Uz – An unspeakable sexual act; a derogatory term; an insult.

Greetings from Europa – Eleventh Transmission: Complexities of the Tongue

Posted by Madd_Fictional on

First Transmission * Second Transmission * Third Transmission * Fourth Transmission * Fifth Transmission * Sixth Transmission * Seventh Transmission * Eighth Transmission * Ninth Transmission * Tenth Transmission

Greetings from Europa!

Communicating isn’t as easy as you think it ought to be. The same word can have several different meanings between speaker and listener, writer and reader, and sentences often offer sub textual detours that were not part of the original narrative. And that’s when all parties involved in the conversation are native speakers of the same language.

Now, imagine taking your complex native language and translating it in your head so that an uncomplicated mind could comprehend it in their native language, a language that you are not yet fluent in. That was the conversation I had with my wife that lasted the entire solar day.

And before you misunderstand me, I am not calling my wife simple, she is highly intelligent, as are all Europans, they merely communicate in a language stripped of unnecessary complexities, where events, thoughts and requests are expressed as stories, and if the story is about them, they refer to themselves in the third person. Whenever I refer to something being suspicious or mysterious, that is solely from my point of view. These people know nothing of suspicion, mystery, or guile, so when I told my wife I wanted to travel to Dery’Ylok Prefecture to investigate Rezter’s murder, I had just taken the first step in an uphill struggle to make my point known.

She understood the concept of murder from the story of Nes’Tim, but had no firsthand knowledge of one being taking another being’s life in anger, jealousy or revenge, no concept of investigative police work, gathering evidence, and bringing guilty parties to justice, because none of these things had ever occurred during her lifetime. Any event that happened beyond her ability to comprehend, was written off as agvann and left for fate to handle.

Just as I was about to concede to the futility of my labor, Meis’lo interceded on my behalf and told a wonderful, though not quite accurate, story of my wanting to go on a spiritual journey to the place where Kubus and Veron began their pilgrimage, as a sign of respect.

Confusion immediately disappeared from my wife’s face as she said, “Xal argok khuts Gix’oh?” which loosely translates as “Why didn’t you say so in the first place?”

And that’s the thing about language, you never know how your words are being interpreted, so be careful and kind with the words you say, and understanding of the words you hear, because you never know their true intent or how they are being perceived.

Bless your ancient soul, Meis’lo, because your misunderstanding has set me on a purpose. I finally think I know why I’m meant to be on Europa.

Until next broadcast, this is Captain Edwards, signing off.

Text and Audio ©2014 & 2021 Rhyan Scorpio-Rhys

Glossary of Terms

  • Abogzons – Gynecological engineers.
  • Agvann – Translation: The will of Nes’Tim; an accident.
  • Alum’Vedca – The day marking the new solar cycle of Peace and Maturity; a tribute to the era when Europans evolved from their primitive prey state.
  • Arcek – A spiritual theologian
  • Biem – A time to show respect for the aged.
  • Biss’ore – Travelers, nomads
  • Bokloryn – An unrepayable debt; an act that places the receiver in a lifetime contract of servitude.
  • Cu’nal – A biological storage unit.
  • Denpa – An envoy equipped with an audiographic memory that can store and recall spoken messages at will in the same voice, tone and inflection of the original person who spoke it, who travels from village to village to deliver messages from other communities both near and far.
  • Egami – A docile mineral-based creatures primarily used for family transportation due to the fact they are virtually inexhaustible.
  • Gates of Juh’holl – Europan afterlife; where souls are released from the flesh to become stardust and rejoin the universe.
  • Grahas – A gerbil-sized creature, resembling a stone armadillo, that emits heat when stroked.
  • Homnils – A warm, yet sad, reminiscence about something in the past.
  • Ipu llqr mwyll xfrr – Abogzon credo meaning “success or death”; satisfaction guaranteed.
  • Isogoles – Europan monthly day of pay.
  • Jampi – Captain Edward’s son.
  • Jbwqnadb – The Europan spelling of lemonade.
  • Jhisal – Meis’lo’s home village.
  • Klanea – Translation: unknown to us; stranger.
  • Mecot’ra – Unterraformed areas of Europa.
  • Meis’lo – The only surviving witness to the murder of  the prophet Nes’Tim.
  • Micdow yl – The vessels of new life; children.
  • Nes’Tim – The most revered spiritual prophet on Europa, slain by a heretic tribe who call themselves Sel’Tab.
  • Pwyll – Europa’s highest mountain.
  • Qik’climajh – Depending on its usage in a sentence, denotes either the act of telling a story, or the storyteller themselves.
  • Sel’Tab – A heretic tribe responsible for the death of the prophet Nes’Tim.
  • Shig’umfu – “Interesting world of another”; a documentary qik’climajh in which neighbors tell the story of a person’s life as learned from casual conversations.
  • Spo – Food.
  • Uz Cu’nal – A biological storage unit used primarily for food preservation.
  • Uz – An unspeakable sexual act; a derogatory term; an insult.

Greetings from Europa – Tenth Transmission: Peace and Maturity

Posted by Madd_Fictional on

First Transmission * Second Transmission * Third Transmission * Fourth Transmission * Fifth Transmission * Sixth Transmission * Seventh Transmission * Eighth Transmission * Ninth Transmission

Greetings from Europa!

My village has been seeing increased Denpa activity ever since Kubus and Veron began their pilgrimage, as everyone is keen to keep track of their progress.

The last report we’ve received was that the children of Rezter had reached Svalegos, a swampy region in which their egami, who is carrying the uz cu’nal containing their father’s corpse, cannot cross easily. While there is no damage threat to Rezter’s physical body, as the uz cu’nal can preserve it indefinitely without loss of integrity, I’m sure the children want to send their father’s spirit on its way to rejoin the universe as soon as possible. And though Kubus and Veron did not actively seek help in crossing the wet and spongy marsh, nearby villagers have taken up the act of gathering stones to build a narrow walkway to aid the egami across.

In other news, today is a very special day on Europa, the Alum’Vedca, or the day marking the new solar cycle of Peace and Maturity, a tribute to the era when Europans evolved from their primitive prey state. As they are a race fascinated with storytelling, I’m sure you can imagine all the proud reenactments that have occurred today, each family putting their own personal spin on the act of evolving into a higher life form. My family did as well, but I didn’t participate, despite Jampi’s persistent urging for me to evolve with him. Although I’m sure the villagers wouldn’t have minded, it felt a little disrespectful to me. I am happy to learn and participate in all aspects of their way of life, but I never lose sight of the fact that I am an outsider, and that at any given moment I might unintentionally offend someone in an act of cultural appropriation. I doubt this would ever happen, as I’ve said, they are a kind and generous people, who would most likely rejoice in my participation. It’s just some of that human baggage that I can’t seem to shake off, which makes me err on the side of caution.

The Alum’Vedca celebration did bring a bit of fortune my way, as Meis’lo, a relative of my wife, traveled to our village to share the day with us. As the oldest living Europan and witness to the Sel’Tab attack on Nes’Tim, I wanted to pick his brain in hopes of getting some background information and perhaps a few leads in my investigation into Rezter’s murder.

Inquisitive by nature, Meis’lo was more than happy to assist me, and he had access to information that none of the Denpa were aware of. It turned out that Rezter wasn’t the first mysterious death to occur in Dery’Ylok Prefecture. A female Europan with arcek markings painted around her neck, who was referred to as Klanea, which translated as unknown to us, or stranger, had been found with a similar blow to the head as Rezter, but her death was classified as agvann, or the will of Nes’Tim, an accident, as she was located at the bottom of a steep cliff, and was assumed to have fallen from a great height.

The urge in me to get to the bottom of this is stronger than ever now, which means I need to take a trip to Dery’Ylok Prefecture, and the only thing standing in my way, is somehow explaining the entire situation to my wife, and getting her permission to let me go.

Until next broadcast, this is Captain Edwards, signing off.

To be continued…

Text and Audio ©2014 & 2021 Rhyan Scorpio-Rhys

Glossary of Terms

  • Abogzons – Gynecological engineers.
  • Agvann – Translation: The will of Nes’Tim; an accident.
  • Alum’Vedca – The day marking the new solar cycle of Peace and Maturity; a tribute to the era when Europans evolved from their primitive prey state.
  • Arcek – A spiritual theologian
  • Bokloryn – An unrepayable debt; an act that places the receiver in a lifetime contract of servitude.
  • Cu’nal – A biological storage unit.
  • Denpa – An envoy equipped with an audiographic memory that can store and recall spoken messages at will in the same voice, tone and inflection of the original person who spoke it, who travels from village to village to deliver messages from other communities both near and far.
  • Egami – A docile mineral-based creatures primarily used for family transportation due to the fact they are virtually inexhaustible.
  • Gates of Juh’holl – Europan afterlife; where souls are released from the flesh to become stardust and rejoin the universe.
  • Ipu llqr mwyll xfrr – Abogzon credo meaning “success or death”; satisfaction guaranteed.
  • Isogoles – Europan monthly day of pay.
  • Jbwqnadb – Europan spelling of lemonade.
  • Klanea – Translation: unknown to us; stranger.
  • Meis’lo – The only surviving witness to the murder of  the prophet Nes’Tim.
  • Micdow yl – The vessels of new life; children.
  • Nes’Tim – The most revered spiritual prophet on Europa, slain by a heretic tribe who call themselves Sel’Tab.
  • Pwyll – Europa’s highest mountain.
  • Qik’climajh – Depending on its usage in a sentence, denotes either the act of telling a story, or the storyteller themselves.
  • Sel’Tab – A heretic tribe responsible for the death of the prophet Nes’Tim.
  • Shig’umfu – “Interesting world of another”; a documentary qik’climajh in which neighbors tell the story of a person’s life as learned from casual conversations.
  • Spo – Food.
  • Uz Cu’nal – A biological storage unit used primarily for food preservation.
  • Uz – An unspeakable sexual act; a derogatory term; an insult.