An antiseptic glance across a space
Betrays the more forgiving blankness act;
With eyes two blacknesses cut through a face--
Whose pupils, always learning, can't contract.
The pale fluorescent tubes above our heads,
(A substitute most dire, absconded sun)
Would cast us all in yellow palls of dread
As we recoil from plastic walls of dun.
The train approaches, slowing to a trot,
A shifting mass as nervous laborers
Array themselves before the exits, not
Allowing, for a moment, our traverse.
The doors erupt and outward salmon spawn;
I look for you but you're already gone.

This is a standalone work, based in the Mars of my story, Olympic.
( Read more... ).</div>

So... I'm feeling a little uninspired with this story of late. Additionally, there are bits of it that don't work well with the serial format. Maybe someday I'll work on it more, but I don't feel like spacing out a bunch of single-chapter chunks, so I'm going to do a couple bigger thwops of story and then set it aside when I've given you everything I have so far.
( Pa-whooof! )

Andrea Harper worried about the state of the world with increasing frequency.
( Read more... )

Diana missed school the day after the Founders Day demonstration.
( Read more... )

Word appeared to have spread through the Bureau that the ship needed to get finished as quickly as possible. ( Read more... )

Jonathan Roberts sat in a sidewalk cafe in New London, a few blocks from his house, waiting for his tea to cool down. ( Read more... )

News coverage of the procession lasted long into the night. ( Read more... )

Diana was home late. ( Read more... )

Excerpted from The Rough Guide to Mars, 2076 edition: ( Read more... )

The shawarma were very good, though they sort of made Diana think about the Indian food from Curry Kings on Braithwaite in New London. ( Read more... )

"What did you think, Roberts?" the Commandant asked as they returned to Mars. ( Read more... )

Diana wore a blue dress. ( Read more... )

Randall Browning was informed of the Commandant's visit about half an hour before she arrived. ( Read more... )

When Jan had asked her if she'd wanted to go out sometime, Diana Sorokin hadn't really expected him to mean it. ( Read more... )

"You look a little lost, Roberts," Garandine said.
( Read more... )

Andrea Harper moved, surrounded by bodyguards, toward the VTOL transit parked on its landing pad atop the spire.
( Read more... )

It was about halfway through Jonathan Roberts' day off when his phone rang.
( Read more... )

Marina Ustinova, stationed behind the big desk in her octagonal office, did not like to admit that for the moment, she had nothing to do.( Read more... )