Putting the Bainbridge to Bed

Extended inspiration from the fifth one down on the first column. Read related here and here.

You give the deckteam shit for misidentifying your Bainbridge and graciously accept a high berth near the exit corridor. Works every time.

The robots and gizmos are ‘socking’ your flit so you know you’re in the stix again–everywhere else they’d be calling it ‘bagging’. Either way, no dust on the custom flexx. It’ll still drape like a hyperswoop but it’s fair camo for a casual glance in this crowded berthing.

You DX your pad’s tap and get back four bars. Every byte of data gets routed through the flit’s on-board before it floats into your noggin–you can never be too secure. As you walk away with your kit bag slung over your shoulder and your rollie in tow you get the feeling you’re missing something. Oh yeah. You throw the Berthmaster in the watchhouse a curt wave. He probably thinks you’re thanking him for the prime spot in the berthing, but you’re really making sure he sees your gear. Need him to think you’re in town for a long one not just here to kill his wife.

Word count: 192
Day 166

Down by the Memory Banks

I enjoy writing in second person. They say that reading first person feels intimate, I’m sure I haven’t noticed. But I am here to say that writing second person sure feels intimate. Maybe as a long time educator and former classroom teacher I like the instructional character of the language.

Maybe I am doing it wrong but it has the flow of a guide tour or a shared exploration. The eminently more popular third person is just telling. Even when you’re ‘showing, not tell’ it’s still telling. With second person its more like discovery.

And I like the voice I’ve been taking with the wasp posts. A rah rah sort of edgy coach.

Yesterday I wrote ‘memory banks’. I just wanted to say to anyone savvy enough to know that we no longer call them memory banks that I know that too. The ambiance of the phrase appeals to me. Now I’ll have to dig up similar phrases to compliment the piece. Maybe I could ‘cross reference’ something.

Word count: 167
Day 165

Okkatu at Sunset

Inspired by the fifth one down on the first column. Read related here and here.

:Another fucking floating city,: you think.

[Post | Edit | Cancel]

You’ve left the profanity filter on from last night at the bar. And afterward at the brothel.

> Edit

:I hate floating cities.:

Mom commented in your log recently that the in-eye cam is making her sick so you feed out 30 seconds of vid from your flit’s camera instead. The rest of your flight dumps to your on-board memory banks. You never know who or what you’ll find on approach.

:How did I not know Okkatu was a floater?:

:Dammit.:

:Dammit again!:

:Grrrr…:

> Admin > Feed > Off

Okkatu is the uprooted dome style floater. The graceful arc of it’s roof contrasted by the dribbling geometry of it’s belly. If you were to like any floater over another it would be the ringed ones with towers–thick torus with three towers rather than the thin ones with four or five. And leaning out not perfectly vertical. Those you knew where to berth your flit. This thing was like trying to find the ass on a jellyfish.

You drop the Bain’s twin-turbines down to a creamy 5400 HPM and aim for the center like everyone else tonight. Nav picks up the beacon 5 klicks out. You feel it direct you to lower level because it picked up your false ident–tonight you’re a 20 year mini-cargo drone instead of a heartbreaking tricked out hyperswoop. Looks like it’s communal showers with aliens and boys again.

Word count: 247
Day 164