The slender and feminine frames of the four Star Sirens floated with an inhuman ease in the microgravity of their shuttle’s cabin, their prehensile feet and tails either dangling freely or clutching an opalescent perching rod. They stared with a novel curiosity out their window towards the small and relatively unsophisticated Earthly craft that had gradually been drifting its way towards their fleet.
“It’s still not answering hails, and I can’t find any sort of transponder or visual identification,” Akioneeda, the eldest of the group, sang in their musical and surgically precise language; the chevron-shaped slits over her trachea granting her a superhuman vocal range.
Using the glittering diodes embedded throughout her mauve skin, she fired jets of light to propel herself over to a crystalline computer terminal on the other side of the cabin.
“Why do they have to make their ships so ugly?” the magenta-skinned Pomoko asked; her large and bright cat-like irises constricting in their dark sclera as she squinted at the foreign craft in disdain.
Its design was a smoothly contoured rocket, with a rounded nose and a flaring aft that allowed it to hold both rear and forward-facing thrusters. Its dark hull was nearly invisible against the black of space, and coated in a radar-absorbent material that until recently had masked its approach. The Siren’s shuttle, in contrast, was a luminescent, bright-pink spiral seashell nestled in an array of gossamer-like radiators, sails, and solar panels that resembled blooming flower petals.
“I think the polite word is ‘spartan’,” the violet-skinned Kaliphimoa corrected her with an excited grin. The crystalline, oval exocortexes embedded on the sides of her elongated skull began flickering as she began reviewing any information that she thought might be pertinent. “Macrogravitals have a much harder time surviving in space than we do, so they have to be fairly pragmatic in the designs of their vessels. And remember that, unlike our ships, that rocket is meant to launch from and land on planets, so it has to be pretty rugged.”
“Kali, there can’t be any Macrogravitals on that thing; there’s no centrifuge,” the Cyan-skinned Vicillia pointed out. “Macrogravitals need macrogravity. It’s literally their defining characteristic.”
“They don’t die in microgravity, Vici,” Kali said with a roll of her eyes. “In olden times, baseline humans would spend months, sometimes even over a year living in space with no artificial gravity at all.”
“This isn’t the Apollo & Artemis Era, Kali. It’s virtually unheard of for Macrogravitals to leave cislunar space without a centrifuge,” Akioneeda said as she examined the telemetry on the intruding object. “That thing definitely has a habitat module, but Earth is on the other side of the sun right now. That’s weeks of travel, and that’s if its fusion rockets are functional. And it is a ship, not a habitat. Something like that is meant primarily for ground-to-orbit transport, and in a pinch travelling between the inner planets during optimal launch windows. It’s not intended to be lived in for prolonged periods of time. I don’t think it came here on purpose. It must have gotten knocked out of orbit and just found its way here. I wish I could tell for sure if there was someone inside, but its mini-magnetosphere is really scattering the sensor beams.”
“But doesn’t its magnetosphere mean there must be Macrogravitals inside?” Pomoko asked. “Even normal cosmic radiation is dangerous to humans without our enhanced DNA repair and chromamelanin, isn’t it?”
“They might have died before they had a chance to shut it off,” Kali suggested as tactfully as she could. “If there are bodies in there, we should recover them and send them back to Earth.”
“Wait a minute. It’s pretty suspicious that there’s no transponder or identifying markings on the craft, isn’t it?” Vici asked. “This could be a trap or terrorist attack of some kind.”
“An attack? Why would anyone want to attack us?” Pomoko asked in dismay.
“They wouldn’t. She’s being paranoid,” Kali said dismissively as she comfortingly slid her arm around her. “Vici, save your racist horror stories for when we’re not within visual distance of an Earth vessel, okay?”
“Reavers are real! Macrogravitals brains get cooked by cosmic radiation and they go crazy!” Vici insisted.
“Reavers are most definitively not real, Vicillia. Nonetheless, we probably shouldn’t rule out the possibility of an attack,” Akioneeda conceded. “Star Sirens now make up the majority of all humans permanently living off-world, and that’s not a lead we’re ever likely to lose. We’ve only been around a hundred years or so, and there are already over two million of us. We breed like rabbits.”
“That’s because we fuck like rabbits,” Vici said lasciviously, only to incur glares of confusion from the others. “Well, not directly, since we don’t reproduce naturally, but it’s good for our esprit de corps, right girls?”
“The point being, there are factions on Earth who view our current and forecasted success as a threat to their own potential expansion into space,” Akioneeda continued, failing to hide her annoyance at the younger Siren’s interruption.
“That’s backwards. Macrogravitals evolved to live on planets, and we were literally made to colonize space,” Pomoko objected. “Why shouldn’t we breed like rabbits? The solar system, the galaxy, the universe should be filled with as many Star Sirens as they can sustain!”
“And they will be – eventually. But if we prioritize our long-term survival over the near term, we might not have a future to prioritize,” Akioneeda gently reminded her. “Steady, safe, and sustainable growth is better than fast and risky growth. We don’t want to spook anyone down on Earth into doing something that might hurt us, which is why we have to abide by the Solaris Accords.”
“Exactly! We’re signatories of the Solaris and Orion Accords, which we’ve always been in complete compliance with,” Kali said. “We’ve already lowered our population growth to two percent per annum, and have agreed to lower it to point four percent when we hit two billion. Anyone attacking us over that would be in violation of the Accords and incur the wrath of every other signatory, including Olympeon, of which we are still a protectorate.”
“Ugh. Don’t remind me that we’re technically compatriots with Macrogravitals,” Vici said in disgust.
“Vicillia, a little respect please for our creators and allies,” Akioneeda reprimanded her.
“I gratefully respect them, Preceptress Akio, because no one able to launch this ship out to us would ever do something so suicidally foolish as commit an act of war against Olympeon,” Kali insisted.
“You make valid points, Kali, and I’m not saying it’s likely this is an attack, but we should still proceed with caution,” Akioneeda reiterated. “At the very least, the scanner still has enough resolution to rule out the possibility of there being any potential high-yield explosives on the vessel. I think it’s worth the risk to jet over and see what’s inside; if that’s something you girls would be interested in?”
“Yes, preceptress,” Kali and Vici said in unison, each immediately assuming an attentive posture with their hands behind their backs as they nodded politely, eager for the opportunity to explore a non-Siren spacecraft. Pomoko, however, joined in a little more reticently, and solely because she didn’t want to upset her companions.
Unlike Vici, she never told stories about Macrogravitals driven into mad savagery by the harshness of space, because she found them unbearably terrifying.
The four of them filed into the airlock and grabbed a lungful of air before depressurizing, the short siphons at the base of their necks cinching shut to hold it in. The only things they brought with them were a small bundle of additional air pods and a field kit, both of which were carried by Pomoko.
The enhanced proteins and nanofiber weaves in their bare skin rendered them impervious to vacuum exposure, and their eyes were protected by transparent graphene lenses. Hundreds of small jets of light from all over their bodies propelled them across the gap between their shuttle and the errant vessel, with Kali and Vici taking advantage of the vast open space to perform challenging acrobatic maneuvers.
Akio was the first to arrive at the foreign spacecraft, circling it several times for any signs that might give her some idea about what it was and what it was doing there, but found none. She even peered into a porthole, but could see nothing of note in the darkened interior.
When she reached the airlock, she gestured for Pomoko to hand her a small but rugged cyberdeck from the field kit. While her exocortexes possessed more computing power than she could ever need, the cyberdeck contained a compact suite of sensor arrays for environmental analysis, as well as antennas and ports for electronic interfaces. Syncing the device with her own exocortexes, a holographic AR display projected itself on her bionic lenses.
It didn’t take long for her to find a frequency to engage with the airlock control mechanism, and even less time to find a skeleton key that could best that woefully inadequate security system. As the outer door of the airlock dilated open, Akio signalled for Kali and Vici to rejoin them, and they all funnelled into the ship together. The outer door snapped behind them, sealing them in complete darkness that was staved off solely by their photonic diodes until some emergency lights began to flicker on and off at random intervals.
As the airlock slowly began to repressurize, the Sirens – who were accustomed to an atmosphere maintained at conditions optimal for them - shuddered slightly at the feeling of foreign air creeping up against their skin.
“The air’s acceptable. It’s a standard oxygen/nitrogen mix with no detectable toxins or pathogens present,” Akioneeda assured them as she opened her siphons and exhaled the breath she had been holding since they left their own shuttle. “CO2’s a little high, but not dangerous.”
“Doesn’t high CO2 mean there’s someone here?” Pomoko asked, nervously looking about in all directions as she clutched her supplies close to her.
“Not necessarily. I’m not detecting any human environmental DNA,” Akio replied confidently. “I am however sampling some environmental DNA that doesn’t match anything on file. It might take some time to analyze it enough to make any sense of it. The power system is failing, which is why the lights aren’t working right. The electrical surges are generating enough EM interference that the sensor beam is still pretty scattered, so I can’t see much through the bulkheads. Keep your diodes lit up bright and stay alert.”
The shadowy main corridor was hexagonal in shape, spanning several meters across and roughly twenty-five meters from end to end. It was broken into six segments, with every other segment containing a pair of hexagonal doorways across from one another, along with a door at each end of the corridor.
“The door next to us should be the engine module, and the one at the other end should be the command and communications center,” Akio said, opening the door to the engine room and sticking her cyberdeck inside. “I’m going to do a quick scan of each room before we start rummaging through everything, so don’t go sticking your tails anywhere they don’t belong until I’m done.”
The other three Sirens all nodded obediently, and limited their exploration of the ship to a solely visual inspection. None of them were used to being in low light conditions, and their pupils were dilated so much they were nearly round. Though their visual acuity was raptor-like in its detail and they could see into the ultra-violet spectrum, night vision had not been a priority when they had been designed. Nonetheless, their large eyes and vertical pupils still let them see better in the dark than any unmodified human.
“The writing is Cyrillic, but everything I can see is just basic labels. I can’t tell for certain which language it is,” Kali said. “That doesn’t mean much though. This thing is definitely second-hand, likely even stolen. That would explain the lack of identification. Maybe whoever stole it got spooked and just set it adrift.”
“So, it’s a pirate ship then?” Pomoko asked, sounding slightly relieved. “That’s better than terrorists, or Reavers.”
“It is not. We’re space mermaids. Space pirates are our natural enemies,” Vici claimed. “If they catch us, they’ll pry the exocortexes from our skulls and pluck out our photonic diodes one by one, then bind us to the front of the ship as figureheads.”
“Vicillia, that is enough!” Akio reprimanded her as she scanned the next room. “Stop trying to scare her! Kali’s right. This is an old ship that’s been stripped of nearly every non-essential piece of equipment. Someone stole it, and then abandoned it when the authorities started closing in. That’s it. There’s not a raiding party of pirates hiding behind one of these doors.”
“Famous last words,” Vici muttered, defensively folding her arms across her chest.
Kali once again put her arm around Pomoko in comfort and gave her a loving kiss on the head.
The glowing, sylph-like Sirens continued floating through the dim and unevenly lit corridor like ghosts, checking one room after another and finding nothing of note until they finally reached the end.
“Now that we’re done checking for pirates, we can focus on the command center,” Akio announced. “Assuming they haven’t been wiped, we’ll check the ship’s logs and records for evidence of its origin and how it got here. If it was stolen, we’ll send it to Pink Floyd Station and they can deal with it. Otherwise, we’ll be free to keep it as salvage.”
She raised her finger to tap the AR command to open the door, but suddenly hesitated.
“What is it?” Kali asked.
Akio squinted at her HUD display in alarm, but seemed reluctant to answer.
“There’s something on the other side,” she whispered.
Without warning, the door was manually thrown open with a physical force that shocked the gracile Sirens. From the impenetrable gloom beyond the door’s threshold, there emerged a grotesque figure the likes of which the Sirens had never seen before.
Its round torso was squat and bloated, vaguely resembling that of a frog’s. Its veiny, crimson hide was mottled in purple splotches from where those veins had broken. Four long limbs dangled down limply, each possessing five boney, claw-like digits. As with the Star Sirens, its pinky fingers had been repurposed into a second opposable thumb; but unlike them, its digits were arranged more radially so that its hands resembled starving sea stars. It possessed a prehensile tail as well, though closer in appearance to an opossum’s than the Siren’s simian tails.
It was the front of the creature that was most alien to them. It had no neck or even a head distinct from its bulging torso. It had two eyes on mobile stalks, each a bloodshot blue with a crescent-shaped pupil. There was a blowhole near the top of its vaguely defined head, and near the bottom hung a toothless proboscis, as prehensile as an elephant’s trunk.
All four Sirens broke out into screams at the sight of the deformed creature, jetting backward as quickly as they could. Wheezing, the creature lurched towards them, slowly raising its proboscis in the air as it did so.
Vici grabbed the bundle of air pods that Pomoko had released in her panic and began beating the creature over the top of the head with it. Though she possessed just barely enough physical strength to walk in nothing greater than Lunar gravity, her love for her sisters and her fear, disgust, and contempt for anything else drove her to assail the hideous being as hard as she could.
The creature groaned, though it seemed to be more of sorrow than of pain. Raising its arms up protectively while keeping its proboscis elevated, it slowly sunk down to the bottom of the corridor as Vici bashed away at it.
“Vici! Vici, stop!” Kali commanded, grabbing hold of her and pulling her back. “It’s not attacking us!”
She was right, of course. Despite its fearsomely unfamiliar form, it actually seemed rather pathetic as it lay quivering on the floor, making no sound aside from laboured and gasping breaths.
“Alien! It’s an alien!” Vici cried in dismay, scarcely believing her own eyes.
Though that improbable, if more palpable, explanation for the being’s origin may have seemed the most obvious, Kali felt a growing sense of horror well up inside her as the pieces started to click together. She glanced over at Akio who was rapidly reviewing the readings from her cyberdeck, and could tell from the revulsion on her face that she had reached the same conclusion.
“Preceptress; please say that it’s an alien,” she pleaded in a softly cracking voice.
Akio looked up at her with pity, and slowly shook her head.
“I’m sorry,” she said quietly. “But that, save for the skill and wisdom of Olympeon and the Grace of Cosmothea, is us.”
“It… it’s human?” Pomoko asked, floating up behind Kali and Vici and just barely daring to peek over their shoulders at the horrid beast.
“It’s bred from a human base, yes,” Akio explained. “Heavily modified, of course. Much more than ourselves, though nowhere near as adroitly. It’s a genetic chimera; probably because its embryo was cobbled together from multiple lines of modified cells. Its hide and at least a few of its major organs appeared to have been grown separately and grafted on in vivo. It’s literally a Frankenstein Monster.”
“What’s that old saying? Knowledge is knowing Frankenstein was the Doctor, not the monster; wisdom is knowing that Doctor Frankenstein was the monster,” Kali quoted, pitying the poor wretch that wallowed before her.
“Yeah. I think… I think that whoever made this was trying to make a new species of space-adapted humans, probably in the hopes of eventually surpassing us,” Akio speculated. “But it’s a failed experiment. All of its genomes are highly degraded and riddled with off-target mutations and poorly thought-out on-target ones. Its cells are barely functional, and it’s undergoing mass organ failure at this very moment.”
“It… he’s dying?” Kali asked softly.
“It was probably dying before it even decanted; it’s been held together with prayers and twine,” Akio explained.
“Good! It’s an abomination! It never should’ve existed in the first place!” Pomoko declared.
“Pomoko, shush!” Kali yelled, hot tears beginning to pool in her eyes. “Can… can he hear us?”
“It can hear, I think. Its brain size and neuronal density are actually over the optimal limit, and its neurochemistry and connectome are a complete mess,” Akio replied. “It’s probably an idiot savant, at best. It likely has some linguistic capability, but I don’t think it would be able to understand Sirensong. It doesn’t have any kind of speech organs or comm implant, either. Its digestive and respiratory systems are separate, and that blowhole doesn’t have any kind of syrinx.”
“In other words, he has no mouth and he must scream,” Kali lamented. “Did he escape, do you think?”
“It must have,” Akio nodded. “Pomoko may have been a bit insensitive just now, but she’s right. This thing’s a violation of multiple transnational laws, treaties and conventions. Its creators wouldn’t want anyone to know about it. It… it must have known that escaping its creators and whatever convoluted life-support system they were using to keep it alive would have meant a slow and painful death, but it did it anyway. All it could have hoped for was that someone would find it and be able to hold its creators accountable. We don’t understand enough about its anatomy to offer any meaningful assistance. The most we could do is prolong its suffering. I think we should just let it pass in peace; it shouldn’t take more than a couple of hours at most now. We’ll return to our shuttle, tell the fleet what we found, and then have the carcass put in cryostasis as evidence. We’ll send it and this vessel to Olympeon, and they’ll deal with it. They’ll find who’s responsible and bring them to justice.”
“Yeah, we need to get back to the shuttle immediately for decontamination and med-screening. We could be infected by whatever microbes and nanites they stuffed into this bloated wretch,” Pomoko said with barely restrained panic, jetting back to the airlock as quickly as she could.
Akio and Vici followed closely behind, but Kali lingered in place as she gazed at the creature’s proboscis, which it still held upright. She recalled that elephants on Earth would raise their trunks when they were dying, and that the ancient Romans, despite being one of the cruellest cultures of humans to exist, had still recognized this as a plea for mercy. Though the gulf between the two species was significant, one self-aware being could still recognize the suffering of another, and be moved to pity by it.
“I’m staying with him,” she announced softly.
“What?” Pomoko shouted, she and the others all spinning around to look at her in bewilderment.
“Until he passes. Akio said it wouldn’t be long,” Kali replied.
“Why?” Vici asked.
“So he doesn’t die alone!” Kali screamed.
Pomoko started jetting back towards her friend, but Akio caught her and gently shook her head in refusal. She silently ushered the two of them back through the airlock and, with some reluctance, left Kali alone with the dying creature.
Kali tenderly took hold of the being’s trunk with her left hand, compassionately petting it with her right. He shuddered slightly, letting go of a noticeable amount of tension in his malformed body. Snorting from his blowhole, he focused his teetering eyestalks up at her, and she could see in those eyes a great, crushing sorrow, both from the suffering he had endured and the lost potential of the life he could have had if fate had been kinder.
A life like the one Kali had led as a privileged and well-bred daughter of Olympeon, and would most likely go on to live for many centuries more.
The tears in her eyes reached a critical mass now, budding off into tiny orbs and floating out into the air.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” she sobbed. It was all she could think to say, and she said it in English, hoping there was a better chance of him understanding it than her native language.
Remarkably, he reacted by raising the flat palm of his right hand up to the space beneath his trunk – a struggle for him even in the absence of gravity – and then lowered it with the palm facing up and out. Kali wasted no time in running the gesture through her exocortexes, frantic to decipher what the creature could be trying to tell her before it was too late.
It was sign language for ‘thank you’.

The slender and feminine frames of the four Star Sirens floated with an inhuman ease in the microgravity of their shuttle’s cabin, their prehensile feet and tails either dangling freely or clutching an opalescent perching rod. They stared with a novel curiosity out their window towards the small and relatively unsophisticated Earthly craft that had gradually been drifting its way towards their fleet.
“It’s still not answering hails, and I can’t find any sort of transponder or visual identification,” Akioneeda, the eldest of the group, sang in their musical and surgically precise language; the chevron-shaped slits over her trachea granting her a superhuman vocal range.
Using the glittering diodes embedded throughout her mauve skin, she fired jets of light to propel herself over to a crystalline computer terminal on the other side of the cabin.
“Why do they have to make their ships so ugly?” the magenta-skinned Pomoko asked; her large and bright cat-like irises constricting in their dark sclera as she squinted at the foreign craft in disdain.
Its design was a smoothly contoured rocket, with a rounded nose and a flaring aft that allowed it to hold both rear and forward-facing thrusters. Its dark hull was nearly invisible against the black of space, and coated in a radar-absorbent material that until recently had masked its approach. The Siren’s shuttle, in contrast, was a luminescent, bright-pink spiral seashell nestled in an array of gossamer-like radiators, sails, and solar panels that resembled blooming flower petals.
“I think the polite word is ‘spartan’,” the violet-skinned Kaliphimoa corrected her with an excited grin. The crystalline, oval exocortexes embedded on the sides of her elongated skull began flickering as she began reviewing any information that she thought might be pertinent. “Macrogravitals have a much harder time surviving in space than we do, so they have to be fairly pragmatic in the designs of their vessels. And remember that, unlike our ships, that rocket is meant to launch from and land on planets, so it has to be pretty rugged.”
“Kali, there can’t be any Macrogravitals on that thing; there’s no centrifuge,” the Cyan-skinned Vicillia pointed out. “Macrogravitals need macrogravity. It’s literally their defining characteristic.”
“They don’t die in microgravity, Vici,” Kali said with a roll of her eyes. “In olden times, baseline humans would spend months, sometimes even over a year living in space with no artificial gravity at all.”
“This isn’t the Apollo & Artemis Era, Kali. It’s virtually unheard of for Macrogravitals to leave cislunar space without a centrifuge,” Akioneeda said as she examined the telemetry on the intruding object. “That thing definitely has a habitat module, but Earth is on the other side of the sun right now. That’s weeks of travel, and that’s if its fusion rockets are functional. And it is a ship, not a habitat. Something like that is meant primarily for ground-to-orbit transport, and in a pinch travelling between the inner planets during optimal launch windows. It’s not intended to be lived in for prolonged periods of time. I don’t think it came here on purpose. It must have gotten knocked out of orbit and just found its way here. I wish I could tell for sure if there was someone inside, but its mini-magnetosphere is really scattering the sensor beams.”
“But doesn’t its magnetosphere mean there must be Macrogravitals inside?” Pomoko asked. “Even normal cosmic radiation is dangerous to humans without our enhanced DNA repair and chromamelanin, isn’t it?”
“They might have died before they had a chance to shut it off,” Kali suggested as tactfully as she could. “If there are bodies in there, we should recover them and send them back to Earth.”
“Wait a minute. It’s pretty suspicious that there’s no transponder or identifying markings on the craft, isn’t it?” Vici asked. “This could be a trap or terrorist attack of some kind.”
“An attack? Why would anyone want to attack us?” Pomoko asked in dismay.
“They wouldn’t. She’s being paranoid,” Kali said dismissively as she comfortingly slid her arm around her. “Vici, save your racist horror stories for when we’re not within visual distance of an Earth vessel, okay?”
“Reavers are real! Macrogravitals brains get cooked by cosmic radiation and they go crazy!” Vici insisted.
“Reavers are most definitively not real, Vicillia. Nonetheless, we probably shouldn’t rule out the possibility of an attack,” Akioneeda conceded. “Star Sirens now make up the majority of all humans permanently living off-world, and that’s not a lead we’re ever likely to lose. We’ve only been around a hundred years or so, and there are already over two million of us. We breed like rabbits.”
“That’s because we screw like rabbits,” Vici said lasciviously, only to incur glares of confusion from the others. “Well, not directly, since we don’t reproduce naturally, but it’s good for our esprit de corps, right girls?”
“The point being, there are factions on Earth who view our current and forecasted success as a threat to their own potential expansion into space,” Akioneeda continued, failing to hide her annoyance at the younger Siren’s interruption.
“That’s backwards. Macrogravitals evolved to live on planets, and we were literally made to colonize space,” Pomoko objected. “Why shouldn’t we breed like rabbits? The solar system, the galaxy, the universe should be filled with as many Star Sirens as they can sustain!”
“And they will be – eventually. But if we prioritize our long-term survival over the near term, we might not have a future to prioritize,” Akioneeda gently reminded her. “Steady, safe, and sustainable growth is better than fast and risky growth. We don’t want to spook anyone down on Earth into doing something that might hurt us, which is why we have to abide by the Solaris Accords.”
“Exactly! We’re signatories of the Solaris and Orion Accords, which we’ve always been in complete compliance with,” Kali said. “We’ve already lowered our population growth to two percent per annum, and have agreed to lower it to point four percent when we hit two billion. Anyone attacking us over that would be in violation of the Accords and incur the wrath of every other signatory, including Olympeon, of which we are still a protectorate.”
“Ugh. Don’t remind me that we’re technically compatriots with Macrogravitals,” Vici said in disgust.
“Vicillia, a little respect please for our creators and allies,” Akioneeda reprimanded her.
“I gratefully respect them, Preceptress Akio, because no one able to launch this ship out to us would ever do something so suicidally foolish as commit an act of war against Olympeon,” Kali insisted.
“You make valid points, Kali, and I’m not saying it’s likely this is an attack, but we should still proceed with caution,” Akioneeda reiterated. “At the very least, the scanner still has enough resolution to rule out the possibility of there being any potential high-yield explosives on the vessel. I think it’s worth the risk to jet over and see what’s inside; if that’s something you girls would be interested in?”
“Yes, preceptress,” Kali and Vici said in unison, each immediately assuming an attentive posture with their hands behind their backs as they nodded politely, eager for the opportunity to explore a non-Siren spacecraft. Pomoko, however, joined in a little more reticently, and solely because she didn’t want to upset her companions.
Unlike Vici, she never told stories about Macrogravitals driven into mad savagery by the harshness of space, because she found them unbearably terrifying.
The four of them filed into the airlock and grabbed a lungful of air before depressurizing, the short siphons at the base of their necks cinching shut to hold it in. The only things they brought with them were a small bundle of additional air pods and a field kit, both of which were carried by Pomoko.
The enhanced proteins and nanofiber weaves in their bare skin rendered them impervious to vacuum exposure, and their eyes were protected by transparent graphene lenses. Hundreds of small jets of light from all over their bodies propelled them across the gap between their shuttle and the errant vessel, with Kali and Vici taking advantage of the vast open space to perform challenging acrobatic maneuvers.
Akio was the first to arrive at the foreign spacecraft, circling it several times for any signs that might give her some idea about what it was and what it was doing there, but found none. She even peered into a porthole, but could see nothing of note in the darkened interior.
When she reached the airlock, she gestured for Pomoko to hand her a small but rugged cyberdeck from the field kit. While her exocortexes possessed more computing power than she could ever need, the cyberdeck contained a compact suite of sensor arrays for environmental analysis, as well as antennas and ports for electronic interfaces. Syncing the device with her own exocortexes, a holographic AR display projected itself on her bionic lenses.
It didn’t take long for her to find a frequency to engage with the airlock control mechanism, and even less time to find a skeleton key that could best that woefully inadequate security system. As the outer door of the airlock dilated open, Akio signalled for Kali and Vici to rejoin them, and they all funnelled into the ship together. The outer door snapped behind them, sealing them in complete darkness that was staved off solely by their photonic diodes until some emergency lights began to flicker on and off at random intervals.
As the airlock slowly began to repressurize, the Sirens – who were accustomed to an atmosphere maintained at conditions optimal for them - shuddered slightly at the feeling of foreign air creeping up against their skin.
“The air’s acceptable. It’s a standard oxygen/nitrogen mix with no detectable toxins or pathogens present,” Akioneeda assured them as she opened her siphons and exhaled the breath she had been holding since they left their own shuttle. “CO2’s a little high, but not dangerous.”
“Doesn’t high CO2 mean there’s someone here?” Pomoko asked, nervously looking about in all directions as she clutched her supplies close to her.
“Not necessarily. I’m not detecting any human environmental DNA,” Akio replied confidently. “I am however sampling some environmental DNA that doesn’t match anything on file. It might take some time to analyze it enough to make any sense of it. The power system is failing, which is why the lights aren’t working right. The electrical surges are generating enough EM interference that the sensor beam is still pretty scattered, so I can’t see much through the bulkheads. Keep your diodes lit up bright and stay alert.”
The shadowy main corridor was hexagonal in shape, spanning several meters across and roughly twenty-five meters from end to end. It was broken into six segments, with every other segment containing a pair of hexagonal doorways across from one another, along with a door at each end of the corridor.
“The door next to us should be the engine module, and the one at the other end should be the command and communications center,” Akio said, opening the door to the engine room and sticking her cyberdeck inside. “I’m going to do a quick scan of each room before we start rummaging through everything, so don’t go sticking your tails anywhere they don’t belong until I’m done.”
The other three Sirens all nodded obediently, and limited their exploration of the ship to a solely visual inspection. None of them were used to being in low light conditions, and their pupils were dilated so much they were nearly round. Though their visual acuity was raptor-like in its detail and they could see into the ultra-violet spectrum, night vision had not been a priority when they had been designed. Nonetheless, their large eyes and vertical pupils still let them see better in the dark than any unmodified human.
“The writing is Cyrillic, but everything I can see is just basic labels. I can’t tell for certain which language it is,” Kali said. “That doesn’t mean much though. This thing is definitely second-hand, likely even stolen. That would explain the lack of identification. Maybe whoever stole it got spooked and just set it adrift.”
“So, it’s a pirate ship then?” Pomoko asked, sounding slightly relieved. “That’s better than terrorists, or Reavers.”
“It is not. We’re space mermaids. Space pirates are our natural enemies,” Vici claimed. “If they catch us, they’ll pry the exocortexes from our skulls and pluck out our photonic diodes one by one, then bind us to the front of the ship as figureheads.”
“Vicillia, that is enough!” Akio reprimanded her as she scanned the next room. “Stop trying to scare her! Kali’s right. This is an old ship that’s been stripped of nearly every non-essential piece of equipment. Someone stole it, and then abandoned it when the authorities started closing in. That’s it. There’s not a raiding party of pirates hiding behind one of these doors.”
“Famous last words,” Vici muttered, defensively folding her arms across her chest.
Kali once again put her arm around Pomoko in comfort and gave her a loving kiss on the head.
The glowing, sylph-like Sirens continued floating through the dim and unevenly lit corridor like ghosts, checking one room after another and finding nothing of note until they finally reached the end.
“Now that we’re done checking for pirates, we can focus on the command center,” Akio announced. “Assuming they haven’t been wiped, we’ll check the ship’s logs and records for evidence of its origin and how it got here. If it was stolen, we’ll send it to Pink Floyd Station and they can deal with it. Otherwise, we’ll be free to keep it as salvage.”
She raised her finger to tap the AR command to open the door, but suddenly hesitated.
“What is it?” Kali asked.
Akio squinted at her HUD display in alarm, but seemed reluctant to answer.
“There’s something on the other side,” she whispered.
Without warning, the door was manually thrown open with a physical force that shocked the gracile Sirens. From the impenetrable gloom beyond the door’s threshold, there emerged a grotesque figure the likes of which the Sirens had never seen before.
Its round torso was squat and bloated, vaguely resembling that of a frog’s. Its veiny, crimson hide was mottled in purple splotches from where those veins had broken. Four long limbs dangled down limply, each possessing five boney, claw-like digits. As with the Star Sirens, its pinky fingers had been repurposed into a second opposable thumb; but unlike them, its digits were arranged more radially so that its hands resembled starving sea stars. It possessed a prehensile tail as well, though closer in appearance to an opossum’s than the Siren’s simian tails.
It was the front of the creature that was most alien to them. It had no neck or even a head distinct from its bulging torso. It had two eyes on mobile stalks, each a bloodshot blue with a crescent-shaped pupil. There was a blowhole near the top of its vaguely defined head, and near the bottom hung a toothless proboscis, as prehensile as an elephant’s trunk.
All four Sirens broke out into screams at the sight of the deformed creature, jetting backward as quickly as they could. Wheezing, the creature lurched towards them, slowly raising its proboscis in the air as it did so.
Vici grabbed the bundle of air pods that Pomoko had released in her panic and began beating the creature over the top of the head with it. Though she possessed just barely enough physical strength to walk in nothing greater than Lunar gravity, her love for her sisters and her fear, disgust, and contempt for anything else drove her to assail the hideous being as hard as she could.
The creature groaned, though it seemed to be more of sorrow than of pain. Raising its arms up protectively while keeping its proboscis elevated, it slowly sunk down to the bottom of the corridor as Vici bashed away at it.
“Vici! Vici, stop!” Kali commanded, grabbing hold of her and pulling her back. “It’s not attacking us!”
She was right, of course. Despite its fearsomely unfamiliar form, it actually seemed rather pathetic as it lay quivering on the floor, making no sound aside from laboured and gasping breaths.
“Alien! It’s an alien!” Vici cried in dismay, scarcely believing her own eyes.
Though that improbable, if more palpable, explanation for the being’s origin may have seemed the most obvious, Kali felt a growing sense of horror well up inside her as the pieces started to click together. She glanced over at Akio who was rapidly reviewing the readings from her cyberdeck, and could tell from the revulsion on her face that she had reached the same conclusion.
“Preceptress; please say that it’s an alien,” she pleaded in a softly cracking voice.
Akio looked up at her with pity, and slowly shook her head.
“I’m sorry,” she said quietly. “But that, save for the skill and wisdom of Olympeon and the Grace of Cosmothea, is us.”
“It… it’s human?” Pomoko asked, floating up behind Kali and Vici and just barely daring to peek over their shoulders at the horrid beast.
“It’s bred from a human base, yes,” Akio explained. “Heavily modified, of course. Much more than ourselves, though nowhere near as adroitly. It’s a genetic chimera; probably because its embryo was cobbled together from multiple lines of modified cells. Its hide and at least a few of its major organs appeared to have been grown separately and grafted on in vivo. It’s literally a Frankenstein Monster.”
“What’s that old saying? Knowledge is knowing Frankenstein was the Doctor, not the monster; wisdom is knowing that Doctor Frankenstein was the monster,” Kali quoted, pitying the poor wretch that wallowed before her.
“Yeah. I think… I think that whoever made this was trying to make a new species of space-adapted humans, probably in the hopes of eventually surpassing us,” Akio speculated. “But it’s a failed experiment. All of its genomes are highly degraded and riddled with off-target mutations and poorly thought-out on-target ones. Its cells are barely functional, and it’s undergoing mass organ failure at this very moment.”
“It… he’s dying?” Kali asked softly.
“It was probably dying before it even decanted; it’s been held together with prayers and twine,” Akio explained.
“Good! It’s an abomination! It never should’ve existed in the first place!” Pomoko declared.
“Pomoko, shush!” Kali yelled, hot tears beginning to pool in her eyes. “Can… can he hear us?”
“It can hear, I think. Its brain size and neuronal density are actually over the optimal limit, and its neurochemistry and connectome are a complete mess,” Akio replied. “It’s probably an idiot savant, at best. It likely has some linguistic capability, but I don’t think it would be able to understand Sirensong. It doesn’t have any kind of speech organs or comm implant, either. Its digestive and respiratory systems are separate, and that blowhole doesn’t have any kind of syrinx.”
“In other words, he has no mouth and he must scream,” Kali lamented. “Did he escape, do you think?”
“It must have,” Akio nodded. “Pomoko may have been a bit insensitive just now, but she’s right. This thing’s a violation of multiple transnational laws, treaties and conventions. Its creators wouldn’t want anyone to know about it. It… it must have known that escaping its creators and whatever convoluted life-support system they were using to keep it alive would have meant a slow and painful death, but it did it anyway. All it could have hoped for was that someone would find it and be able to hold its creators accountable. We don’t understand enough about its anatomy to offer any meaningful assistance. The most we could do is prolong its suffering. I think we should just let it pass in peace; it shouldn’t take more than a couple of hours at most now. We’ll return to our shuttle, tell the fleet what we found, and then have the carcass put in cryostasis as evidence. We’ll send it and this vessel to Olympeon, and they’ll deal with it. They’ll find who’s responsible and bring them to justice.”
“Yeah, we need to get back to the shuttle immediately for decontamination and med-screening. We could be infected by whatever microbes and nanites they stuffed into this bloated wretch,” Pomoko said with barely restrained panic, jetting back to the airlock as quickly as she could.
Akio and Vici followed closely behind, but Kali lingered in place as she gazed at the creature’s proboscis, which it still held upright. She recalled that elephants on Earth would raise their trunks when they were dying, and that the ancient Romans, despite being one of the cruellest cultures of humans to exist, had still recognized this as a plea for mercy. Though the gulf between the two species was significant, one self-aware being could still recognize the suffering of another, and be moved to pity by it.
“I’m staying with him,” she announced softly.
“What?” Pomoko shouted, she and the others all spinning around to look at her in bewilderment.
“Until he passes. Akio said it wouldn’t be long,” Kali replied.
“Why?” Vici asked.
“So he doesn’t die alone!” Kali screamed.
Pomoko started jetting back towards her friend, but Akio caught her and gently shook her head in refusal. She silently ushered the two of them back through the airlock and, with some reluctance, left Kali alone with the dying creature.
Kali tenderly took hold of the being’s trunk with her left hand, compassionately petting it with her right. He shuddered slightly, letting go of a noticeable amount of tension in his malformed body. Snorting from his blowhole, he focused his teetering eyestalks up at her, and she could see in those eyes a great, crushing sorrow, both from the suffering he had endured and the lost potential of the life he could have had if fate had been kinder.
A life like the one Kali had led as a privileged and well-bred daughter of Olympeon, and would most likely go on to live for many centuries more.
The tears in her eyes reached a critical mass now, budding off into tiny orbs and floating out into the air.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” she sobbed. It was all she could think to say, and she said it in English, hoping there was a better chance of him understanding it than her native language.
Remarkably, he reacted by raising the flat palm of his right hand up to the space beneath his trunk – a struggle for him even in the absence of gravity – and then lowered it with the palm facing up and out. Kali wasted no time in running the gesture through her exocortexes, frantic to decipher what the creature could be trying to tell her before it was too late.
It was sign language for ‘thank you’.
____________________________________________
By The Vesper's Bell

The slender and feminine frames of the four Star Sirens floated with an inhuman ease in the microgravity of their shuttle’s cabin, their prehensile feet and tails either dangling freely or clutching an opalescent perching rod. They stared with a novel curiosity out their window towards the small and relatively unsophisticated Earthly craft that had gradually been drifting its way towards their fleet.
“It’s still not answering hails, and I can’t find any sort of transponder or visual identification,” Akioneeda, the eldest of the group, sang in their musical and surgically precise language; the chevron-shaped slits over her trachea granting her a superhuman vocal range.
Using the glittering diodes embedded throughout her mauve skin, she fired jets of light to propel herself over to a crystalline computer terminal on the other side of the cabin.
“Why do they have to make their ships so ugly?” the magenta-skinned Pomoko asked; her large and bright cat-like irises constricting in their dark sclera as she squinted at the foreign craft in disdain.
Its design was a smoothly contoured rocket, with a rounded nose and a flaring aft that allowed it to hold both rear and forward-facing thrusters. Its dark hull was nearly invisible against the black of space, and coated in a radar-absorbent material that until recently had masked its approach. The Siren’s shuttle, in contrast, was a luminescent, bright-pink spiral seashell nestled in an array of gossamer-like radiators, sails, and solar panels that resembled blooming flower petals.
“I think the polite word is ‘spartan’,” the violet-skinned Kaliphimoa corrected her with an excited grin. The crystalline, oval exocortexes embedded on the sides of her elongated skull began flickering as she began reviewing any information that she thought might be pertinent. “Macrogravitals have a much harder time surviving in space than we do, so they have to be fairly pragmatic in the designs of their vessels. And remember that, unlike our ships, that rocket is meant to launch from and land on planets, so it has to be pretty rugged.”
“Kali, there can’t be any Macrogravitals on that thing; there’s no centrifuge,” the Cyan-skinned Vicillia pointed out. “Macrogravitals need macrogravity. It’s literally their defining characteristic.”
“They don’t die in microgravity, Vici,” Kali said with a roll of her eyes. “In olden times, baseline humans would spend months, sometimes even over a year living in space with no artificial gravity at all.”
“This isn’t the Apollo & Artemis Era, Kali. It’s virtually unheard of for Macrogravitals to leave cislunar space without a centrifuge,” Akioneeda said as she examined the telemetry on the intruding object. “That thing definitely has a habitat module, but Earth is on the other side of the sun right now. That’s weeks of travel, and that’s if its fusion rockets are functional. And it is a ship, not a habitat. Something like that is meant primarily for ground-to-orbit transport, and in a pinch travelling between the inner planets during optimal launch windows. It’s not intended to be lived in for prolonged periods of time. I don’t think it came here on purpose. It must have gotten knocked out of orbit and just found its way here. I wish I could tell for sure if there was someone inside, but its mini-magnetosphere is really scattering the sensor beams.”
“But doesn’t its magnetosphere mean there must be Macrogravitals inside?” Pomoko asked. “Even normal cosmic radiation is dangerous to humans without our enhanced DNA repair and chromamelanin, isn’t it?”
“They might have died before they had a chance to shut it off,” Kali suggested as tactfully as she could. “If there are bodies in there, we should recover them and send them back to Earth.”
“Wait a minute. It’s pretty suspicious that there’s no transponder or identifying markings on the craft, isn’t it?” Vici asked. “This could be a trap or terrorist attack of some kind.”
“An attack? Why would anyone want to attack us?” Pomoko asked in dismay.
“They wouldn’t. She’s being paranoid,” Kali said dismissively as she comfortingly slid her arm around her. “Vici, save your racist horror stories for when we’re not within visual distance of an Earth vessel, okay?”
“Reavers are real! Macrogravitals brains get cooked by cosmic radiation and they go crazy!” Vici insisted.
“Reavers are most definitively not real, Vicillia. Nonetheless, we probably shouldn’t rule out the possibility of an attack,” Akioneeda conceded. “Star Sirens now make up the majority of all humans permanently living off-world, and that’s not a lead we’re ever likely to lose. We’ve only been around a hundred years or so, and there are already over two million of us. We breed like rabbits.”
“That’s because we fuck like rabbits,” Vici said lasciviously, only to incur glares of confusion from the others. “Well, not directly, since we don’t reproduce naturally, but it’s good for our esprit de corps, right girls?”
“The point being, there are factions on Earth who view our current and forecasted success as a threat to their own potential expansion into space,” Akioneeda continued, failing to hide her annoyance at the younger Siren’s interruption.
“That’s backwards. Macrogravitals evolved to live on planets, and we were literally made to colonize space,” Pomoko objected. “Why shouldn’t we breed like rabbits? The solar system, the galaxy, the universe should be filled with as many Star Sirens as they can sustain!”
“And they will be – eventually. But if we prioritize our long-term survival over the near term, we might not have a future to prioritize,” Akioneeda gently reminded her. “Steady, safe, and sustainable growth is better than fast and risky growth. We don’t want to spook anyone down on Earth into doing something that might hurt us, which is why we have to abide by the Solaris Accords.”
“Exactly! We’re signatories of the Solaris and Orion Accords, which we’ve always been in complete compliance with,” Kali said. “We’ve already lowered our population growth to two percent per annum, and have agreed to lower it to point four percent when we hit two billion. Anyone attacking us over that would be in violation of the Accords and incur the wrath of every other signatory, including Olympeon, of which we are still a protectorate.”
“Ugh. Don’t remind me that we’re technically compatriots with Macrogravitals,” Vici said in disgust.
“Vicillia, a little respect please for our creators and allies,” Akioneeda reprimanded her.
“I gratefully respect them, Preceptress Akio, because no one able to launch this ship out to us would ever do something so suicidally foolish as commit an act of war against Olympeon,” Kali insisted.
“You make valid points, Kali, and I’m not saying it’s likely this is an attack, but we should still proceed with caution,” Akioneeda reiterated. “At the very least, the scanner still has enough resolution to rule out the possibility of there being any potential high-yield explosives on the vessel. I think it’s worth the risk to jet over and see what’s inside; if that’s something you girls would be interested in?”
“Yes, preceptress,” Kali and Vici said in unison, each immediately assuming an attentive posture with their hands behind their backs as they nodded politely, eager for the opportunity to explore a non-Siren spacecraft. Pomoko, however, joined in a little more reticently, and solely because she didn’t want to upset her companions.
Unlike Vici, she never told stories about Macrogravitals driven into mad savagery by the harshness of space, because she found them unbearably terrifying.
The four of them filed into the airlock and grabbed a lungful of air before depressurizing, the short siphons at the base of their necks cinching shut to hold it in. The only things they brought with them were a small bundle of additional air pods and a field kit, both of which were carried by Pomoko.
The enhanced proteins and nanofiber weaves in their bare skin rendered them impervious to vacuum exposure, and their eyes were protected by transparent graphene lenses. Hundreds of small jets of light from all over their bodies propelled them across the gap between their shuttle and the errant vessel, with Kali and Vici taking advantage of the vast open space to perform challenging acrobatic maneuvers.
Akio was the first to arrive at the foreign spacecraft, circling it several times for any signs that might give her some idea about what it was and what it was doing there, but found none. She even peered into a porthole, but could see nothing of note in the darkened interior.
When she reached the airlock, she gestured for Pomoko to hand her a small but rugged cyberdeck from the field kit. While her exocortexes possessed more computing power than she could ever need, the cyberdeck contained a compact suite of sensor arrays for environmental analysis, as well as antennas and ports for electronic interfaces. Syncing the device with her own exocortexes, a holographic AR display projected itself on her bionic lenses.
It didn’t take long for her to find a frequency to engage with the airlock control mechanism, and even less time to find a skeleton key that could best that woefully inadequate security system. As the outer door of the airlock dilated open, Akio signalled for Kali and Vici to rejoin them, and they all funnelled into the ship together. The outer door snapped behind them, sealing them in complete darkness that was staved off solely by their photonic diodes until some emergency lights began to flicker on and off at random intervals.
As the airlock slowly began to repressurize, the Sirens – who were accustomed to an atmosphere maintained at conditions optimal for them - shuddered slightly at the feeling of foreign air creeping up against their skin.
“The air’s acceptable. It’s a standard oxygen/nitrogen mix with no detectable toxins or pathogens present,” Akioneeda assured them as she opened her siphons and exhaled the breath she had been holding since they left their own shuttle. “CO2’s a little high, but not dangerous.”
“Doesn’t high CO2 mean there’s someone here?” Pomoko asked, nervously looking about in all directions as she clutched her supplies close to her.
“Not necessarily. I’m not detecting any human environmental DNA,” Akio replied confidently. “I am however sampling some environmental DNA that doesn’t match anything on file. It might take some time to analyze it enough to make any sense of it. The power system is failing, which is why the lights aren’t working right. The electrical surges are generating enough EM interference that the sensor beam is still pretty scattered, so I can’t see much through the bulkheads. Keep your diodes lit up bright and stay alert.”
The shadowy main corridor was hexagonal in shape, spanning several meters across and roughly twenty-five meters from end to end. It was broken into six segments, with every other segment containing a pair of hexagonal doorways across from one another, along with a door at each end of the corridor.
“The door next to us should be the engine module, and the one at the other end should be the command and communications center,” Akio said, opening the door to the engine room and sticking her cyberdeck inside. “I’m going to do a quick scan of each room before we start rummaging through everything, so don’t go sticking your tails anywhere they don’t belong until I’m done.”
The other three Sirens all nodded obediently, and limited their exploration of the ship to a solely visual inspection. None of them were used to being in low light conditions, and their pupils were dilated so much they were nearly round. Though their visual acuity was raptor-like in its detail and they could see into the ultra-violet spectrum, night vision had not been a priority when they had been designed. Nonetheless, their large eyes and vertical pupils still let them see better in the dark than any unmodified human.
“The writing is Cyrillic, but everything I can see is just basic labels. I can’t tell for certain which language it is,” Kali said. “That doesn’t mean much though. This thing is definitely second-hand, likely even stolen. That would explain the lack of identification. Maybe whoever stole it got spooked and just set it adrift.”
“So, it’s a pirate ship then?” Pomoko asked, sounding slightly relieved. “That’s better than terrorists, or Reavers.”
“It is not. We’re space mermaids. Space pirates are our natural enemies,” Vici claimed. “If they catch us, they’ll pry the exocortexes from our skulls and pluck out our photonic diodes one by one, then bind us to the front of the ship as figureheads.”
“Vicillia, that is enough!” Akio reprimanded her as she scanned the next room. “Stop trying to scare her! Kali’s right. This is an old ship that’s been stripped of nearly every non-essential piece of equipment. Someone stole it, and then abandoned it when the authorities started closing in. That’s it. There’s not a raiding party of pirates hiding behind one of these doors.”
“Famous last words,” Vici muttered, defensively folding her arms across her chest.
Kali once again put her arm around Pomoko in comfort and gave her a loving kiss on the head.
The glowing, sylph-like Sirens continued floating through the dim and unevenly lit corridor like ghosts, checking one room after another and finding nothing of note until they finally reached the end.
“Now that we’re done checking for pirates, we can focus on the command center,” Akio announced. “Assuming they haven’t been wiped, we’ll check the ship’s logs and records for evidence of its origin and how it got here. If it was stolen, we’ll send it to Pink Floyd Station and they can deal with it. Otherwise, we’ll be free to keep it as salvage.”
She raised her finger to tap the AR command to open the door, but suddenly hesitated.
“What is it?” Kali asked.
Akio squinted at her HUD display in alarm, but seemed reluctant to answer.
“There’s something on the other side,” she whispered.
Without warning, the door was manually thrown open with a physical force that shocked the gracile Sirens. From the impenetrable gloom beyond the door’s threshold, there emerged a grotesque figure the likes of which the Sirens had never seen before.
Its round torso was squat and bloated, vaguely resembling that of a frog’s. Its veiny, crimson hide was mottled in purple splotches from where those veins had broken. Four long limbs dangled down limply, each possessing five boney, claw-like digits. As with the Star Sirens, its pinky fingers had been repurposed into a second opposable thumb; but unlike them, its digits were arranged more radially so that its hands resembled starving sea stars. It possessed a prehensile tail as well, though closer in appearance to an opossum’s than the Siren’s simian tails.
It was the front of the creature that was most alien to them. It had no neck or even a head distinct from its bulging torso. It had two eyes on mobile stalks, each a bloodshot blue with a crescent-shaped pupil. There was a blowhole near the top of its vaguely defined head, and near the bottom hung a toothless proboscis, as prehensile as an elephant’s trunk.
All four Sirens broke out into screams at the sight of the deformed creature, jetting backward as quickly as they could. Wheezing, the creature lurched towards them, slowly raising its proboscis in the air as it did so.
Vici grabbed the bundle of air pods that Pomoko had released in her panic and began beating the creature over the top of the head with it. Though she possessed just barely enough physical strength to walk in nothing greater than Lunar gravity, her love for her sisters and her fear, disgust, and contempt for anything else drove her to assail the hideous being as hard as she could.
The creature groaned, though it seemed to be more of sorrow than of pain. Raising its arms up protectively while keeping its proboscis elevated, it slowly sunk down to the bottom of the corridor as Vici bashed away at it.
“Vici! Vici, stop!” Kali commanded, grabbing hold of her and pulling her back. “It’s not attacking us!”
She was right, of course. Despite its fearsomely unfamiliar form, it actually seemed rather pathetic as it lay quivering on the floor, making no sound aside from laboured and gasping breaths.
“Alien! It’s an alien!” Vici cried in dismay, scarcely believing her own eyes.
Though that improbable, if more palpable, explanation for the being’s origin may have seemed the most obvious, Kali felt a growing sense of horror well up inside her as the pieces started to click together. She glanced over at Akio who was rapidly reviewing the readings from her cyberdeck, and could tell from the revulsion on her face that she had reached the same conclusion.
“Preceptress; please say that it’s an alien,” she pleaded in a softly cracking voice.
Akio looked up at her with pity, and slowly shook her head.
“I’m sorry,” she said quietly. “But that, save for the skill and wisdom of Olympeon and the Grace of Cosmothea, is us.”
“It… it’s human?” Pomoko asked, floating up behind Kali and Vici and just barely daring to peek over their shoulders at the horrid beast.
“It’s bred from a human base, yes,” Akio explained. “Heavily modified, of course. Much more than ourselves, though nowhere near as adroitly. It’s a genetic chimera; probably because its embryo was cobbled together from multiple lines of modified cells. Its hide and at least a few of its major organs appeared to have been grown separately and grafted on in vivo. It’s literally a Frankenstein Monster.”
“What’s that old saying? Knowledge is knowing Frankenstein was the Doctor, not the monster; wisdom is knowing that Doctor Frankenstein was the monster,” Kali quoted, pitying the poor wretch that wallowed before her.
“Yeah. I think… I think that whoever made this was trying to make a new species of space-adapted humans, probably in the hopes of eventually surpassing us,” Akio speculated. “But it’s a failed experiment. All of its genomes are highly degraded and riddled with off-target mutations and poorly thought-out on-target ones. Its cells are barely functional, and it’s undergoing mass organ failure at this very moment.”
“It… he’s dying?” Kali asked softly.
“It was probably dying before it even decanted; it’s been held together with prayers and twine,” Akio explained.
“Good! It’s an abomination! It never should’ve existed in the first place!” Pomoko declared.
“Pomoko, shush!” Kali yelled, hot tears beginning to pool in her eyes. “Can… can he hear us?”
“It can hear, I think. Its brain size and neuronal density are actually over the optimal limit, and its neurochemistry and connectome are a complete mess,” Akio replied. “It’s probably an idiot savant, at best. It likely has some linguistic capability, but I don’t think it would be able to understand Sirensong. It doesn’t have any kind of speech organs or comm implant, either. Its digestive and respiratory systems are separate, and that blowhole doesn’t have any kind of syrinx.”
“In other words, he has no mouth and he must scream,” Kali lamented. “Did he escape, do you think?”
“It must have,” Akio nodded. “Pomoko may have been a bit insensitive just now, but she’s right. This thing’s a violation of multiple transnational laws, treaties and conventions. Its creators wouldn’t want anyone to know about it. It… it must have known that escaping its creators and whatever convoluted life-support system they were using to keep it alive would have meant a slow and painful death, but it did it anyway. All it could have hoped for was that someone would find it and be able to hold its creators accountable. We don’t understand enough about its anatomy to offer any meaningful assistance. The most we could do is prolong its suffering. I think we should just let it pass in peace; it shouldn’t take more than a couple of hours at most now. We’ll return to our shuttle, tell the fleet what we found, and then have the carcass put in cryostasis as evidence. We’ll send it and this vessel to Olympeon, and they’ll deal with it. They’ll find who’s responsible and bring them to justice.”
“Yeah, we need to get back to the shuttle immediately for decontamination and med-screening. We could be infected by whatever microbes and nanites they stuffed into this bloated wretch,” Pomoko said with barely restrained panic, jetting back to the airlock as quickly as she could.
Akio and Vici followed closely behind, but Kali lingered in place as she gazed at the creature’s proboscis, which it still held upright. She recalled that elephants on Earth would raise their trunks when they were dying, and that the ancient Romans, despite being one of the cruellest cultures of humans to exist, had still recognized this as a plea for mercy. Though the gulf between the two species was significant, one self-aware being could still recognize the suffering of another, and be moved to pity by it.
“I’m staying with him,” she announced softly.
“What?” Pomoko shouted, she and the others all spinning around to look at her in bewilderment.
“Until he passes. Akio said it wouldn’t be long,” Kali replied.
“Why?” Vici asked.
“So he doesn’t die alone!” Kali screamed.
Pomoko started jetting back towards her friend, but Akio caught her and gently shook her head in refusal. She silently ushered the two of them back through the airlock and, with some reluctance, left Kali alone with the dying creature.
Kali tenderly took hold of the being’s trunk with her left hand, compassionately petting it with her right. He shuddered slightly, letting go of a noticeable amount of tension in his malformed body. Snorting from his blowhole, he focused his teetering eyestalks up at her, and she could see in those eyes a great, crushing sorrow, both from the suffering he had endured and the lost potential of the life he could have had if fate had been kinder.
A life like the one Kali had led as a privileged and well-bred daughter of Olympeon, and would most likely go on to live for many centuries more.
The tears in her eyes reached a critical mass now, budding off into tiny orbs and floating out into the air.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” she sobbed. It was all she could think to say, and she said it in English, hoping there was a better chance of him understanding it than her native language.
Remarkably, he reacted by raising the flat palm of his right hand up to the space beneath his trunk – a struggle for him even in the absence of gravity – and then lowered it with the palm facing up and out. Kali wasted no time in running the gesture through her exocortexes, frantic to decipher what the creature could be trying to tell her before it was too late.
It was sign language for ‘thank you’.

Poetry is a beautiful art form that allows individuals to express their thoughts, emotions, and experiences in a creative and meaningful way. Whether you're an aspiring poet or simply interested in exploring the world of poetry, this article will guide you through the process of writing poetry step by step. From understanding the elements of poetry to crafting your own verses, we'll delve into the techniques and strategies that can help you become a proficient poet. So grab a pen, let your imagination soar, and let's dive into the world of poetry!

Introduction

Poetry is a medium of self-expression that dates back centuries, transcending cultures and languages. It has the power to evoke emotions, capture fleeting moments, and convey complex ideas with brevity and precision. Writing poetry allows you to play with language, experiment with different forms and structures, and explore the depths of your creativity. Whether you want to write poetry as a hobby, for personal reflection, or to share with others, this guide will provide you with the tools and inspiration you need to get started.

Understanding the Elements of Poetry

Before diving into writing poetry, it's essential to understand the fundamental elements that make up a poem. These elements contribute to the overall structure, rhythm, and meaning of a poem. Let's explore them in more detail:

Rhyme and Rhythm

One of the most recognizable aspects of poetry is rhyme and rhythm. Rhyme refers to the repetition of similar sounds at the end of words, while rhythm pertains to the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables. Rhyme and rhythm add musicality and flow to a poem, enhancing its overall impact and making it memorable to the reader.

Meter and Verse

Meter refers to the rhythmic structure of a poem, determined by the arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables. Different meters, such as iambic or trochaic, create distinct patterns and contribute to the poem's tone and mood. Verse, on the other hand, refers to a single line of poetry or a stanza within a poem.

Imagery and Figurative Language

Imagery and figurative language play a vital role in poetry, enabling the poet to paint vivid pictures in the reader's mind. Through the use of metaphors, similes, personification, and other literary devices, poets can evoke sensory experiences and convey abstract ideas in a more tangible and relatable manner. By employing descriptive language and engaging the reader's senses, imagery and figurative language bring depth and richness to a poem.

Structure and Form

The structure and form of a poem refer to its organization and layout on the page. Poems can take various forms, including sonnets, haikus, ballads, or free verse. Each form has its own set of rules and guidelines, influencing the poem's rhythm, rhyme scheme, and overall impact. Choosing the right structure and form can enhance the poem's meaning and amplify its intended message.

what is poetry

Poetry is a form of literary expression that uses language and imagery to evoke emotions, convey ideas, and create aesthetic beauty. It is often characterized by its use of carefully chosen words, rhythm, and structure, and it can be found in various cultures and traditions throughout history.
Poetry can take many different forms, including sonnets, haikus, ballads, free verse, and more. Each form has its own set of rules and conventions, but poets often experiment with these structures to create unique and innovative works.
One of the distinguishing features of poetry is its ability to convey complex emotions and ideas in a condensed and heightened language. Poets often use metaphor, simile, symbolism, and other literary devices to convey meaning and create vivid imagery. They pay attention to the sound and rhythm of words, utilizing techniques such as rhyme, alliteration, and meter to enhance the musicality of their verses.
Poetry has been used throughout history to explore a wide range of themes, including love, nature, spirituality, social and political issues, and the human condition. It allows poets to express their thoughts and feelings in a deeply personal and artistic way, inviting readers to engage with the words and reflect on their own experiences.

Choosing a Theme or Topic

When embarking on a poetry writing journey, it's important to consider the theme or topic you want to explore. Your theme can be based on personal experiences, observations of the world around you, or abstract concepts you wish to delve into. Here are some ways to generate ideas for your poetry:

Personal Experience and Emotions

Drawing inspiration from your own life experiences and emotions can lead to powerful and authentic poetry. Reflect on significant moments, relationships, challenges, or joys that have left a lasting impact on you. Tap into your emotions and let them guide your words, allowing your poetry to become a reflection of your innermost thoughts and feelings.

Observations and Reflections

Observing the world with a keen eye and reflecting on the intricacies of everyday life can spark inspiration for your poetry. Pay attention to the details, find beauty in the mundane, and explore the nuances of human interactions. Observing nature, people, or the environment can provide a wealth of material for your poetic endeavors.

Nature and the Surrounding World

The beauty and majesty of nature have inspired countless poets throughout history. Take a walk in the park, sit by a babbling brook, or gaze at the starry night sky. Let nature's wonders ignite your imagination and infuse your poetry with the awe and serenity found in the natural world.

Brainstorming Ideas and Free Writing

Once you have a theme or topic in mind, it's time to generate ideas and let your creativity flow. Brainstorming and free writing techniques can help you break through any creative blocks and discover unique perspectives. Here are some methods to try:

Mind Mapping

Start with a central concept or word related to your theme and create a mind map. Branch out from the central word, associating ideas, images, and emotions that come to mind. This visual representation can help you explore different angles and connections, leading to fresh and innovative poetic ideas.

Stream of Consciousness Writing

Set a timer for a few minutes and write continuously, letting your thoughts flow onto the page without judgment or censorship. This stream of consciousness writing allows you to tap into your subconscious mind and uncover hidden thoughts or associations. It can serve as a rich source of material for your poetry.

Word Association

Choose a word or phrase related to your theme and jot down any words or phrases that come to mind when you think of it. Allow yourself to make unexpected connections and let your imagination roam freely. This exercise can spark new ideas and directions for your poetry.

Crafting the Poem

With a theme, topic, and ideas in hand, it's time to start crafting your poem. This is where your creativity takes center stage, and you can experiment with language, imagery, and form. Consider the following steps as you bring your poem to life:

Establishing a Tone and Mood

Think about the emotions or atmosphere you want to evoke in your poem. Do you want it to be introspective and melancholic, or vibrant and uplifting? Establishing a tone and mood helps set the overall ambiance of your poem and guides your choice of words and imagery.

Experiment with Different Poetic Devices

Poetic devices are tools that add depth and interest to your poetry. Experiment with different devices such as similes, metaphors, alliteration, personification, and symbolism. These devices can bring your words to life, creating vivid and memorable images in the reader's mind.

Finding the Right Words and Phrases

The choice of words and phrases in poetry is crucial. Consider the connotations, nuances, and sounds of different words. Look for words that evoke the desired emotions or convey the intended meaning. Play with rhythm and repetition to create a musicality in your poem.

Creating Engaging and Evocative Images

Poetry is known for its ability to paint vivid and captivating images. Use descriptive language and sensory details to transport the reader into the world you're creating. Engage all the senses to make your poem come alive, allowing the reader to see, hear, taste, touch, and smell what you're describing.

Editing and Revision

Once you have a draft of your poem, it's important to engage in the editing and revision process. This helps refine your work, ensuring that each word and line serves a purpose and contributes to the overall impact of the poem. Consider the following steps:

Reviewing the Structure and Flow

Read your poem aloud and pay attention to its structure and flow. Does it have a logical progression? Is there a natural rhythm and pacing? Make adjustments to the line breaks, stanzas, and overall structure to enhance the poem's flow and readability.

Polishing the Language and Syntax

Carefully examine the language and syntax in your poem. Are there any awkward or ambiguous phrases? Can you simplify or clarify certain lines? Aim for clarity and precision in your word choices, ensuring that your poem effectively communicates your intended message.

Removing Unnecessary Words or Lines

Poetry often benefits from brevity and conciseness. Remove any words or lines that don't contribute to the poem's overall meaning or impact. Edit ruthlessly, preserving only the most essential elements of your poem.

Seeking Feedback and Making Improvements

Consider sharing your poem with trusted friends, fellow writers, or a writing group. Listen to their feedback and constructive criticism. Take their suggestions into account while remaining true to your artistic vision. Use their input to improve and refine your poem further.

Sharing and Publishing

Once you're satisfied with your poem, it's time to share it with the world. Consider the following avenues for sharing and publishing your poetry:

Choosing Suitable Platforms

Decide where you want to share your poetry. You can create a personal blog or website, contribute to poetry communities and forums online, or even submit your work to literary magazines and journals. Choose platforms that align with your goals and target audience.

Submitting to Literary Journals and Magazines

Research literary journals and magazines that accept poetry submissions. Follow their guidelines carefully and submit your best work. Be prepared for rejections but don't let them discourage you. Keep refining your craft and submitting your poetry to different publications.

Participating in Poetry Readings and Events

Engage with the local poetry community by attending poetry readings and events. Consider participating in open mic nights or poetry slams to share your work and connect with other poets. These events can provide valuable feedback and opportunities to network.

Building an Online Presence

In today's digital age, having an online presence can amplify your reach as a poet. Create social media profiles dedicated to your poetry, share snippets of your work, and engage with fellow poets and readers. Building an online following can open doors for collaboration and exposure.

Conclusion

Writing poetry is a deeply personal and rewarding endeavor. By understanding the elements of poetry, choosing meaningful themes, and crafting engaging verses, you can create poetry that resonates with readers. Remember to embrace experimentation, revise diligently, and seek opportunities to share your work. As you embark on your poetry-writing journey, let your creativity flow and allow your unique voice to shine through your words. Poetry has the power to inspire, provoke emotions, and connect people across time and cultures. So, pick up your pen, unleash your imagination, and let the magic of poetry unfold.

Events are listed by the day. Events that happen every week appear first, one time stuff after that. If you have anything you’d like people to know about, comment here or message me and I’ll add it in. If you’d like further info about any of the events, look it up! I usually don’t have any extra to add.
Large Scale, Ongoing, and Multi-Day Events

Local Running, Walking, and Biking Info: https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/
OutdooFarmer’s Markets:

Lake Ella Grower's Market: Wednesday and Saturday, 11am-2pm. You can always find organic vendors, and foragers: The Holistic Cannabis Community, Artzi Farms, Hickory Nut Gifts, and others. Including Pita Queen! Farmer's Market Nutrition Program Coupons gladly accepted!
Frenchtown Heritage Market: 524 N MLK Jr Blvd. Saturdays, 10am to 2pm. Come grow community and support your local farmers and makers, while you get your groceries for the week! Don’t forget! We match SNAP/EBT, so you DOUBLE your money to go towards locally grown fresh fruits and vegetables! If the guy with the pineapple is there, get it.
Tallahassee Farmers Market: 2904 Kerry Forest Pkwy, Saturdays, 8am to Noon. Come see us at Tallahassee's longest-running farmers market! We are a year-round market, featuring local farms and vendors that provide the best seasonal produce, meats, baked goods, and more. We welcome you and your whole family (leashed pets included) to come out and meet your local farmers! Ample parking is available between our lot and the shopping center lot next door (by Red Elephant). Come early for the best selection.
Tallahassee Downtown Market: Ponce de Leon Park, Saturdays, 10am-2pm. Join us for a stroll in the park among local makers, bakers, artists and farmers as live music is played by local musicians!

THURSDAY, 6/8

The Hub at Feather Oaks: Bingo. 6pm
Dreamland BBQ: Weekly Open Blues Jam. If you'd like to sing, please bring your own mic. 6pm
The Rose Room: Open Mic Night. 6pm
The Great Games Library: Solforge Fusion Sealed-Deck Tournament. Anyone interested in SolForge: Fusion, please come out! Thursday nights at 6:00pm to 9:00pm ish will be dedicated to SolForge Fusion gameplay and weekly tournaments. If you play or have played MTG but would like to spend less, this is a great alternative CCG with inexpensive entry and minimal purchases to enjoy playing competitively. In-store and online tournaments may be played with the same decks purchased at any store. SolForge was created by the same designer for MTG, Netrunner, and Key Forge, Richard Garfield, and the designer for Ascension, Justine Gary. 6pm/$35 Entry Fee for 4 Sealed Half-decks, Special Art Playmat Prize for 1st Place
Oyster City Brewing Co: Open Mic Night! Join us on Thursdays from 6:30-9:30 PM for Open Mic Night hosted by the incredible Mike Ingram of The Brown Goose! This is your chance to show off your skills! Whether you're a musician, poet, comedian, or have a hidden talent, we can't wait to see what you bring to the stage. 6:30pm
World of Beer: Trivia Night. 7pm
The Bar at La Casa: Tallahassee Thursday Comedy. 7pm
Lake Tribe III: Trivia. 7pm
Smitty's Taphouse: Trivia Lab Thursdays. Teams of 6 or fewer players can compete for $30 / $20 / $10 Prizes + The Golden MacGuffin prize table! New format! Interactive smartphone answering for your comfort and safety! 6 Fun Rounds - 42 Total Questions. 7:30pm
Cap City Video Lounge: Gamera: MST3K. Join us Thursday as we climb aboard The Satellite of Love along with Joel, Tom Servo and CROOOOW as the Gang riffs the 1965 kiju classic, GAMERA, who will devastate every city in Japan but maintains that he is a friend to all children...despite leaving them homeless and killing their parents. 8pm/free but donations encouraged
Fire Bettys: Electronic Thursdays. There will be rotating music genres from local artists! 8pm/free/21+
Poor Pauls: Trivia. 8/21+
926: Karaoke. 9pm
La Casa: Comedy Night! 9pm
Fire Bettys: Electronic Show. Join us for Experiment 002 and take a mind-bending trip into the sound of the future! Our electrifying music party will transport you to another dimension with cutting-edge beats and non-stop excitement. 9pm
Bird’s: Karaoke with Nathan. 9pm

Blue Tavern: Free Jazz Five Buck Thursday (and Jam Session) with the Longineu Parsons Trio. Expect the unexpected when the supertrio of Longineu Parsons, Brian Hall, and Michael Bakan hold court for Blue Tavern's exciting new Free Jazz Five Buck Thursday series (FJFBT). From Louis Armstrong classics to meditative musical dreamscapes, hard-driving funk grooves to wild Balkan beats, and free jazz adventures to the deepest downhome blues, Parsons-Bakan-Hall do it all--and they do it like no one else, whether here in Tallahassee or anywhere else on the planet. Oh, and don't forget to bring your instrument and sit in during the final 10:00 set open jam (space permitting). 8pm/$5
Retrofit Records: King Krule “Space Heavy” Album Listening Event. 8pm
The Bark: Closet Goth with No Face and Good Real Estate. 8pm
926: Jameson Tank with Learning To Swim and The Sparrows. 8:30pm

FRIDAY, 6/9

Blue Tavern: Happy Hour with Everett Young. 5pm
Hobbit West: Friday Night Dart Tournament. Anyone can Enter! Sign ups at 7:30, Darts fly at 8:00/$10 entry fee
Ouzts Too: Karaoke with DJ Nathan. Best karaoke DJ in town. 8pm
The Bar at La Casa: Latin Night. 8pm
Just One More: Karaoke with DJ Rah. 9pm-11pm/21+
926: The Hot Friday Night Party and Drag Show. 9pm/$5/18+

Proof: The Allie Cats. 5pm
Peppers: Saylor Dollar. 6pm
The Red Shed: Walkers Crossing. 6pm
The Hub at Feather Oaks: Ben Baggett. 6pm
Lake Tribe: John Moore. 6:30pm
The Wine House on Markey Street: Little Mercies. 7pm
Ruby Diamond: Second Annual Screen Spectacular featuring original film scores from student films and arrangements of music from film, TV, and video games performed by the FSU Studio Orchestra. 7:30pm
Fire Bettys: Jupiter Troupe + Soul Candy - Free Show! 8pm
The Bark: BRAT! with support from Brass Wizard, Slug Crust, Nightfall Ends, and Subpotent. 8:30pm

SATURDAY, 6/10 It’s my birthday! Happy birthday to me.

Brinkley Glen Park: Invasive Plant Removal. Join Master Gardener Volunteers at this weekly invasive plant removal event. This is a great way to learn to ID our invasive plant species and how to remove them. We recommend wearing long pants and sleeves, closed-toed shoes, gloves, a hat and mosquito spray. Bring gardening tools such as hand clippers, loppers, trowels, etc. if you have them. We are removing coral ardisia bushes and berries, nandina, tung trees, Tradescantia flumenensis, cat's claw vine, winged yam, Japanese climbing fern, skunkvine and more. Directions: The best way to get there is to take Meridian Rd to Waverly Rd, go to the next intersection and turn left onto Abbotsford Way, then turn left at the next road called Woodside Dr. At the stop sign turn left onto Lothian. Lothian ends in a cul-de-sac and there is a sign that says Brinkley Glen Park. 8:30am-11:30am
The Rose Room: The Rose Revue. Performances by your favorite entertainers and special guests! Shows at 8pm, 10pm, & Midnight! A unique cast EACH show! 7pm
Duke’s and Dottie’s: Line Dancing Plus Lessons. 7pm/21+
Bird’s Oyster Shack: Laughterday Night Fever. This week: Five Year Anniversary Laughterday Night Fever! Join us every Saturday at Bird's Aphrodisiac Oyster Shack for a free comedy show! 8:30pm
La Casa Bar: Karaoke With Nathan. 9pm-1am
The Bark: Sickening Saturday Drag Show. 10:30/$10/18+

Woodville Branch of the Leon County Public Library: 2nd Saturday: History Under the Sea. Florida’s long coastline and crystal blue waters make for excellent diving experiences! The wonders of the sea have called many people to explore the depths! Come learn about diving practices through the years. Kids will go on a ‘dive’ of their own and discover the wonders of Florida’s waters! 11am
Adams Street: Adams St Flea. Browse our market full of locally hand-made items, art, and vintage finds, all set to the vibes of our house DJ on Adams St. Make an afternoon of your trip by visiting the restaurants and shops in the heart of our Capital City. Noon
Blue Tavern: 2nd & 4th Saturday Old Time Jam. All players & lovers of old-time Appalachian music are welcome to join! 4pm
The Hub at Feather Oaks: Zach Lambert. 5pm
The Rose Room: Grand RE Opening (Now in RR Sq). Welcome to our Rose Room... Come see how much we bloomed! WE have so much to show you... The Rose Review will leave you begging for more... with 2 amazing shows @9 and 11 followed by our very own burlesque troop @midnight ... This is a themed night Pride month so come out and support these AMAZING performers and show so Love... 6pm/$10
926: Mason Pace, Cinema Stereo, Satin, Copyright Claim, and The Fetish. 7pm
Blue Tavern: Pat Puckett. 8pm/$5
House of Music: Selwyn Birchwood. 8pm
Cap City Video Lounge: Pride Burlesque Show. Shaken Not Stirred Burlesque is back at your fav local theater Cap City Video Lounge! We have an amazing show planned for Pride month! We're here, we're queer, & we're gonna make you cheer! Enjoy our queer cuties, exquisite enbys, & bi-babes! You don't want to miss our Pride Burlesque Revue! Pride looks/outfits welcome & encouraged! Don't forget to tip your performers! 8pm/18+/masks required/$10 General Admission, $20 VIP Admission: Front row seating, $35 Celebration Special: Ticket & a personalized song from Shaken Not Stirred Burlesque!
Fire Bettys: Live Band Karaoke. 8pm/free
SoLook Tally (434 FAMU Way): Submersive Sounds Hip-Hop Showcase featuring Nu Skinny, Trem Sol, Ro-Thoro, Tokyo.Extraordinaire, Da Beast, and DJ Ryan Chargers. 9pm
Common Ground Books: June CGB Movie Night: Paris is Burning. 9pm

SUNDAY, 6/11

Bicycle House: Sunday Ride. Ride at 10:30 AM from Bicycle House. We will ride the Cascades trail to the St Marks trail and down to Wakulla station and return, about 31 miles. Ride speed is 12 to 14 mph, with periodic regroups. Vernon Bailey is the ride leader. Vernon is a new CCC member who’s been biking for 50 years enjoys riding with small groups and weekend touring. 10am
Gamescape: Pokémon League. Come learn, play, and trade with the Pokémon Trading Card Game and the Pokémon video games! We LOVE seeing new players, so come learn how to play! We play both the Trading Card Game and the Video Game casually and competitively. The store offers lots of different seating arrangements to meet our group's needs, as well as food, drinks, and Pokémon products for purchase. We are also hold regular, officially sanctioned tournaments for Pokémon Trading Card Game and Video Game Competitions! 2-4pm
Lake Tribe: Colby Scheib. 3pm
House of Music: Songwriter Sunday. Songwriters of Tallahassee hosted by Rachel Hillman. Bring your original songs on Sunday - sign up is at 4:30. No Cover Songs please - this is an event celebrating original music. Accompanists and Bands Welcome - you must be able to set up within two minutes, so no crazy pedals or amp shenanigans. No Backing Tracks - Please find someone to play your song with you. 5pm
The Plant: Open Jam. All instruments, all players welcome. 5pm-9pm
House of Music: Perkins Street Pickers. 5pm
Oyster City Brewing: Comedy Night. Come have some laughs with us on Sunday nights! If you are interested in participating in the show, reach out to [email protected] 7:30pm
The Rose Room: Synful Sunday. 8pm

Ology: Marauder’s Market. Noon
Goodwood: Tomato Feastival 2023. Join us for our 2023 Tomato Feastival on Sunday, June 11 from 2-6 p.m. at Goodwood Museum & Gardens! Enjoy great food, live music, meeting our farmers, playing games, and of course, local tomatoes. 2pm
The Hub at Feather Oaks: Dominic Milner. BK’s SnowKone Factory is also here from 1-4 pm that day with their great selection of snow cone flavors and Dippin' Dots ice cream. The ice cream of the future of yesteryear! 3pm

**MONDAY, 6/12

Just One More: Bingo. 5pm-6:30pm
World of Beer: Corn Hole Night. 6pm
American Legion Hall: Cha Cha - Weekly Lessons. 6:15pm/$5
Hangar 38: Bingo. 6:45pm
Vino Beano: Tipsy Trivia. 7pm
The Rose Room: Karaoke Night. 8pm

TUESDAY, 6/13

Blue Tavern: Shanice Richards Happy Hour! 5pm
World of Beer: Poker Night. 6pm
The Rose Room: Drag Bingo and Open Stage Night ft. Britney T. Foxx! 6pm
Oyster City Brewing Company: Tuesday Night Beer-go! 6pm
The Rose Room: Queer Dinner and a Movie! 6pm
Crafty Crab: BOOMIN' Karaoke. 7pm
Gamescape: Hobby Night. Slay the grey together! Join your fellow gamers and turn your pile of grey miniatures into a battle ready army. Need some painting tips? Feel free to ask at hobby night. You can bring any miniature for any game to paint. 7pm
Ology Midtown: Jazz Jam Sessions. 7pm
Island Wings: Trivia. 7pm
House of Music: Tuesday Trivia & Karaoke. 7pm
Burrito Boarder: Karaoke with DJ Roldus. 8pm
Blue Tavern: Bluesday Tuesday with Bill Ricci. Every Tuesday is Blues Day @ the Blue Tavern and Blues Meets Girl is a Tallahassee favorite. This perfect, intimate venue provides just what you need for both a mid-week break and authentic blues music experience. 8pm/$5
4th Quarter: Professor Jim's Tuesday Night Trivia. Popular for a reason! 8pm
Argonaut Coffee: Trivia Tuesday. 8pm
926: Tacos and Trivia. 9pm
Fire Betty’s: Comedy Show. 9pm/21+

Cap City Video Lounge: Tallahassee Filmmaker Meeting. Join us at Cap City Video Lounge to pitch and discuss coming film ideas and video projects, both currently in production or in the pre-production stages! Please bring your work and ideas via links, thumb drives, or discs so that we can showcase it on the big screen in the Cap City Video Lounge's Fantomas Theatre! (Trailers and Shorts only, please!) No experience is necessary to join, but a small $5 admission fee will go towards our wonderful meeting location to continue supporting the passion of movie making in the local community! Please invite local actors, crew members, and film enthusiasts to join us on Tuesday, June 13th! We will be returning to an itinerary for our meetings starting in July that will help amp you guys up for the next 48 hour competition in November! Tickets for the 48 Hour Film Festival Premiere from this past month are available for purchase in person or over the phone! Hope to see you there! 7:30pm

WEDNESDAY, 6/14

Rose Room: Women's Wednesday. Featuring Our Rose Roulettes and drink specials all night long. A night for all of our female-identifying friends to enjoy a safe space and an awesome happy hour! 6pm-2am
Blue Tavern: The Wednesday Night Lab Session. 5pm
Sugar and Spice Tally: Game Night. Join us every Wednesday Night for community game night. Bring your own or use ours! Let me know if you need to reserve space for a large group. Free to attend! 5pm
Tara Angel’s Magic: D&D Experience - Adult (18+) Group. Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition - Candlekeep Mysteries. A one-shot is a D&D event that starts and finishes in the same session, typically lasting 3 - 4 hours. We have pre-generated characters for players to choose from. WHAT TO BRING: Pencils, Dice (can be purchased in store), Mask (encouraged for unvaccinated participants), Enthusiasm! Please sign up in advance to reserve a spot in this campaign. Tickets can be purchased in-store, over the phone, or on the website. For more information, please email [email protected], or call: (850) 878-4555 6pm-9pm
Goodwood: Wonderful Wednesday. 6pm/$5
Level 8 Rooftop Lounge: Trivia. 6pm
The Great Games Library: Open Game Night. 6pm/free
American Legion Hall: Sue Boyd Country Western and More Dance Class. Session 2 - Beginner 6:30 to 7:45 pm What: East Coast Swing and Waltz. Cost: $8.00 per person. Wear comfortable shoes you can turn in. 7:45 to 8:15 - Practice dance with paid admission. 8:15 to 9:30: Intermediate - 2 Step and WCS. $8.00 per person or $13.00 for both classes. Vaccines are required. Face masks are optional. Changing partners is optional. 6:30pm
Perry Lynn’s Smokehouse in Quincy: Wed Night Open Mic w/ Steven Ritter and Friends. 6:30pm
Hangar 38: Trivia. 6:45pm
Oyster City Brewing Tallahassee: Trivia. Teams up to 6 players for three rounds with 10 questions and a tie breaker each round. Winners are by round so don’t worry if you need to come late or can’t stay the whole time! Prizes include a round of beer, a 6 pack and a gift card! 7pm
Proof: Trivia. 7pm
Vino Beano: Wine Bingo. 7pm
Fermentation Lounge: Trivia. 7pm
Blue Tavern: Wednesday Open Mic with Doc Russell. The open mic night that has run continuously for almost 20 years, once housed at the Warehouse, lives on at the Blue Tavern. Doc Russell continues as the host with the most. Sign up starts at 7:45pm/free to attend
House of Music: Bar Bingo! Free to Play & Late Night Karaoke. 7pm
The Bar at La Casa: MidWeek KARAOKE! 7pm
Fire Betty’s: Karaoke! 8pm/21+/free
Dukes and Dotties: College Night and Line Dancing Lessons. 8pm
The Bark: Karaoke with DJ Nathan. Best karaoke DJ in town. 9pm
World of Beer: Karaoke with DJ Cowboy. 9pm
926: Dragged Out Wednesday. 10pm

926: Normalizing Hate: A Difficult Discussion on LGBTQ+ Rights in Florida. Gay-owned Junnier Law & Research P.A. is presenting "A Law & Your Rights Hour" discussion on "Normalizing Hatred: An Uncomfortable Discussion About LGBTQ+ Rights in Florida" at 926 Bar & Grill to talk about the government clawback of LGBTQ+ rights in Florida. We will informally discuss LGBTQ+ current events and how they affect our identity as a group and as individuals. Talk leads to anger, anger leads to planning, planning leads to action--Let's turn Anger into Action! 7pm
Square Mug: Ahleuchatistas (feat. Trevor Dunn of Mr. Bungle/Fantômas) with Frogs Dogs and Cowl. 7pm

Apologies for the long-winded post, but I think context matters a lot with this one. TL;DR at the bottom in any case.
We live in a 750sqft, 2B1BA cape cod in a rather competitive area (Philly suburbs), have a covid interest rate, and we're toying with the idea of making our once starter home into a 5-10yr, possibly longer home. We have a child on the way, and we are sort of itching for more space as it is.
I am currently renovating the A-frame attic for my office, to give the baby a nursery in my once office.
I also have a 30 year old oil heating furnace/AC and have gotten quotes for 15-18k to replace it with a heat pump with electric backup (no gas service). During this visit, it was recommended that I do a mini split for the attic, rather than getting duct ran up there. The HVAC system is an 'octopus' that sits right in the center of the house, rendering that half of the basement more-or-less unusable. All three technicians advised that it would not be a good idea to place the new heat pump unit to any corner, out of the way due to efficiency, re-ducting, etc. The 750 sqft footprint in the basement is bisected long ways, between finished and un-finished and we aren't really using that good half for anything due to the awkward shape.
My idea is that my wife and I could ditch our ~150 sqft bedroom, tear out the HVAC, refinish the basement into a master bed and master bath, and replace the HVAC with a three-headed Mr.Cool mini-split system for ~$5k.
To complicate matters a bit, the ceiling in most of the basement (as well as the attic for that matter) is not 7 feet, so we wouldn't really see that extra square footage in home appraisal. This would be a quality of life renovation only, I suppose. I do not have enough space in any direction for a traditional addition.
TL;DR: Would I be insane to ditch a conventional HVAC in favor of Mr.Cool DIY mini-splits? Thanks all in advance.
EDIT: Forgot to mention, supposedly these units get rave reviews and are supposedly capable of keeping a home warm to -5F-- I certainly expect temps that low at some point in my life here in the northeast, but I myself am not above space heaters if and when required.

Postgame Thread 6/7/2023

Final Score: Giants 10, Rockies 4

Line Score - Game Over

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E	LOB
SF	0	2	1	0	5	0	1	0	1	10	14	0	15
COL	0	0	0	1	1	0	2	0	0	4	9	0	8

Box Score

COL		AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	BA
DH	Blackmon	4	2	1	0	1	0	.276
LF	Profar, J	5	1	4	2	0	1	.243
3B	McMahon	5	0	2	1	0	1	.261
C	Díaz, E	2	0	0	0	2	0	.306
RF	Grichuk	4	1	1	0	0	0	.336
1B	Jones, N	4	0	0	1	0	2	.294
CF	Doyle, B	4	0	0	0	0	1	.221
2B	Trejo	3	0	0	0	0	1	.250
PH	Moustakas	1	0	1	0	0	0	.253
2B	Castro, H	0	0	0	0	0	0	.277
SS	Tovar	4	0	0	0	0	2	.243

COL	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	P-S	ERA
Lamet	3.0	6	3	3	2	4	83-46	12.42
Lambert	1.1	3	3	3	4	3	55-30	6.41
Bird	1.2	3	2	2	0	3	36-27	3.12
Hand	1.0	2	1	1	0	1	15-9	4.09
Johnson	1.0	0	0	0	1	2	16-9	6.56
Bard, D	1.0	0	1	1	4	3	35-16	1.04

SF		AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	BA
1B	Wade Jr.	3	3	3	2	3	0	.285
2B	Estrada	5	0	3	1	1	2	.308
DH	Pederson	2	1	1	0	1	1	.241
DH	Flores	1	0	0	0	1	0	.241
3B	Davis, J	4	1	1	3	1	2	.286
RF	Conforto	3	0	1	1	1	1	.250
CF	Slater	2	0	0	0	0	2	.343
LF	Haniger	5	1	1	1	1	3	.225
RF	Yastrzemski	4	1	0	0	2	2	.257
C	Bailey	5	2	3	1	0	1	.309
SS	Crawford, Bra	5	1	1	1	0	2	.191

SF	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	P-S	ERA
Brebbia	1.0	2	0	0	1	0	26-14	3.65
Walker, R	1.0	0	0	0	0	2	15-9	1.04
Manaea	4.2	5	4	4	1	5	83-55	6.10
Jackson	1.1	1	0	0	1	1	20-11	0.00
Alexander	1.0	1	0	0	0	0	11-8	3.74

Scoring Plays

Inning	Event	Score
T2	Brandon Crawford doubles (5) on a line drive to right fielder Randal Grichuk. Patrick Bailey scores.	0-1
T2	Thairo Estrada singles on a line drive to center fielder Brenton Doyle. Brandon Crawford scores. LaMonte Wade Jr. to 3rd.	0-2
T3	Patrick Bailey triples (1) on a sharp fly ball to center fielder Brenton Doyle. Mitch Haniger scores.	0-3
B4	Nolan Jones reaches on a fielder's choice, fielded by third baseman J. D. Davis. Randal Grichuk scores.	1-3
T5	LaMonte Wade Jr. singles on a ground ball to center fielder Brenton Doyle. Mike Yastrzemski scores. Patrick Bailey scores.	1-5
T5	J.D. Davis doubles (10) on a fly ball to center fielder Brenton Doyle. LaMonte Wade Jr. scores. Joc Pederson scores.	1-7
T5	Michael Conforto singles on a line drive to center fielder Brenton Doyle. J.D. Davis scores.	1-8
B5	Jurickson Profar doubles (13) on a sharp line drive to left fielder Mitch Haniger. Charlie Blackmon scores.	2-8
T7	J.D. Davis out on a sacrifice fly to left fielder Jurickson Profar. LaMonte Wade Jr. scores.	2-9
B7	Jurickson Profar triples (2) on a fly ball to center fielder Austin Slater. Charlie Blackmon scores.	3-9
B7	Ryan McMahon doubles (18) on a sharp fly ball to center fielder Austin Slater. Jurickson Profar scores.	4-9
T9	Mitch Haniger walks. LaMonte Wade Jr. scores. Thairo Estrada to 3rd. Wilmer Flores to 2nd.	4-10

Highlights

Description	Length	Video
Bullpen availability for Colorado, June 6 vs Giants	0:07	Video
Bullpen availability for San Francisco, June 6 vs Rockies	0:07	Video
Fielding alignment for San Francisco, June 6 vs Rockies	0:11	Video
Starting lineups for Giants at Rockies - June 6, 2023	0:09	Video
Breaking down Dinelson Lamet's pitches	0:08	Video
Breaking down Peter Lambert's pitches	0:08	Video
Breaking down Sean Manaea's pitches	0:08	Video
Brandon Crawford ropes an RBI double to right field	0:18	Video
Estrada taps an RBI single into right-center field	0:16	Video
Patrick Bailey lines an RBI triple deep into center	0:28	Video
Nolan Jones throws out LaMonte Wade Jr. after review	0:42	Video
Randal Grichuk makes it home on a fielder's choice	0:33	Video
LaMonte Wade Jr. knocks a two-run single into right	0:18	Video
Dinelson Lamet accrues four strikeouts in 3 innings	0:53	Video
J.D. Davis sends a two-run double into center field	0:21	Video
Michael Conforto chops an RBI single into center	0:16	Video
Jurickson Profar smacks an RBI double to left-center	0:22	Video
J.D. Davis hits a sacrifice fly to left in the 7th	0:15	Video
Jurickson Profar nails an RBI triple to right-center	0:49	Video
Ryan McMahon laces an RBI double to left-center field	0:17	Video
The Giants score five runs in the 5th inning	1:07	Video
LaMonte Wade Jr. scores after a bases-loaded walk	0:08	Video

Decisions

Winning Pitcher	Losing Pitcher	Save
Walker, R (2-0, 1.04 ERA)	Lamet (1-3, 12.42 ERA)

Postgame Thread 6/7/2023

Final Score: Giants 10, Rockies 4
Purpose of this thread

Discuss developing baseball action LIVE
Discuss the Giants game
Post hilarious memes / images / gifs / information that may not deserve a front-page post of its own. If it's big news, feel free to do both! This, and the gameday thread, are good places to post your Dodger jokes and memes.
Discuss ANYTHING as long as it follows the rules of conduct.

Highlights

Description	Length	Video
Bullpen availability for Colorado, June 6 vs Giants	0:07	Video
Bullpen availability for San Francisco, June 6 vs Rockies	0:07	Video
Fielding alignment for San Francisco, June 6 vs Rockies	0:11	Video
Starting lineups for Giants at Rockies - June 6, 2023	0:09	Video
Breaking down Dinelson Lamet's pitches	0:08	Video
Breaking down Peter Lambert's pitches	0:08	Video
Breaking down Sean Manaea's pitches	0:08	Video
Brandon Crawford ropes an RBI double to right field	0:18	Video
Estrada taps an RBI single into right-center field	0:16	Video
Patrick Bailey lines an RBI triple deep into center	0:28	Video
Nolan Jones throws out LaMonte Wade Jr. after review	0:42	Video
Randal Grichuk makes it home on a fielder's choice	0:33	Video
LaMonte Wade Jr. knocks a two-run single into right	0:18	Video
Dinelson Lamet accrues four strikeouts in 3 innings	0:53	Video
J.D. Davis sends a two-run double into center field	0:21	Video
Michael Conforto chops an RBI single into center	0:16	Video
Jurickson Profar smacks an RBI double to left-center	0:22	Video
J.D. Davis hits a sacrifice fly to left in the 7th	0:15	Video
Jurickson Profar nails an RBI triple to right-center	0:49	Video
Ryan McMahon laces an RBI double to left-center field	0:17	Video
The Giants score five runs in the 5th inning	1:07	Video
LaMonte Wade Jr. scores after a bases-loaded walk	0:08	Video

Nominate your Player of the Game (POTG). Upvote your choice if it's posted, or add your own!
For more off-topic fun, check out /SFGSocial!

Giants (29-30) @ Rockies (26-35)

First Pitch: 6:40 PM at Coors Field

Team	Starter	TV	Radio
Giants	John Brebbia (2-0, 3.80 ERA)	NBCSBA	KNBR, KSFN (ES)
Rockies	Dinelson Lamet (1-2, 13.17 ERA)	ATTR	KOA, KNRV (ES)

MLB	Fangraphs	Baseball Savant	Reddit Stream	IRC Chat
Gameday	Game Graph	Strikezone Map	Live Comments	Libera: ##baseball

Line Score - Game Over

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E	LOB
SF	0	2	1	0	5	0	1	0	1	10	14	0	15
COL	0	0	0	1	1	0	2	0	0	4	9	0	8

Box Score

COL		AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	BA
DH	Blackmon	4	2	1	0	1	0	.276
LF	Profar, J	5	1	4	2	0	1	.243
3B	McMahon	5	0	2	1	0	1	.261
C	Díaz, E	2	0	0	0	2	0	.306
RF	Grichuk	4	1	1	0	0	0	.336
1B	Jones, N	4	0	0	1	0	2	.294
CF	Doyle, B	4	0	0	0	0	1	.221
2B	Trejo	3	0	0	0	0	1	.250
PH	Moustakas	1	0	1	0	0	0	.253
2B	Castro, H	0	0	0	0	0	0	.277
SS	Tovar	4	0	0	0	0	2	.243

COL	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	P-S	ERA
Lamet	3.0	6	3	3	2	4	83-46	12.42
Lambert	1.1	3	3	3	4	3	55-30	6.41
Bird	1.2	3	2	2	0	3	36-27	3.12
Hand	1.0	2	1	1	0	1	15-9	4.09
Johnson	1.0	0	0	0	1	2	16-9	6.56
Bard, D	1.0	0	1	1	4	3	35-16	1.04

SF		AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	BA
1B	Wade Jr.	3	3	3	2	3	0	.285
2B	Estrada	5	0	3	1	1	2	.308
DH	Pederson	2	1	1	0	1	1	.241
DH	Flores	1	0	0	0	1	0	.241
3B	Davis, J	4	1	1	3	1	2	.286
RF	Conforto	3	0	1	1	1	1	.250
CF	Slater	2	0	0	0	0	2	.343
LF	Haniger	5	1	1	1	1	3	.225
RF	Yastrzemski	4	1	0	0	2	2	.257
C	Bailey	5	2	3	1	0	1	.309
SS	Crawford, Bra	5	1	1	1	0	2	.191

SF	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	P-S	ERA
Brebbia	1.0	2	0	0	1	0	26-14	3.65
Walker, R	1.0	0	0	0	0	2	15-9	1.04
Manaea	4.2	5	4	4	1	5	83-55	6.10
Jackson	1.1	1	0	0	1	1	20-11	0.00
Alexander	1.0	1	0	0	0	0	11-8	3.74

Scoring Plays

Inning	Event	Score
T2	Brandon Crawford doubles (5) on a line drive to right fielder Randal Grichuk. Patrick Bailey scores.	0-1
T2	Thairo Estrada singles on a line drive to center fielder Brenton Doyle. Brandon Crawford scores. LaMonte Wade Jr. to 3rd.	0-2
T3	Patrick Bailey triples (1) on a sharp fly ball to center fielder Brenton Doyle. Mitch Haniger scores.	0-3
B4	Nolan Jones reaches on a fielder's choice, fielded by third baseman J. D. Davis. Randal Grichuk scores.	1-3
T5	LaMonte Wade Jr. singles on a ground ball to center fielder Brenton Doyle. Mike Yastrzemski scores. Patrick Bailey scores.	1-5
T5	J.D. Davis doubles (10) on a fly ball to center fielder Brenton Doyle. LaMonte Wade Jr. scores. Joc Pederson scores.	1-7
T5	Michael Conforto singles on a line drive to center fielder Brenton Doyle. J.D. Davis scores.	1-8
B5	Jurickson Profar doubles (13) on a sharp line drive to left fielder Mitch Haniger. Charlie Blackmon scores.	2-8
T7	J.D. Davis out on a sacrifice fly to left fielder Jurickson Profar. LaMonte Wade Jr. scores.	2-9
B7	Jurickson Profar triples (2) on a fly ball to center fielder Austin Slater. Charlie Blackmon scores.	3-9
B7	Ryan McMahon doubles (18) on a sharp fly ball to center fielder Austin Slater. Jurickson Profar scores.	4-9
T9	Mitch Haniger walks. LaMonte Wade Jr. scores. Thairo Estrada to 3rd. Wilmer Flores to 2nd.	4-10

Highlights

Description	Length	Video
Bullpen availability for Colorado, June 6 vs Giants	0:07	Video
Bullpen availability for San Francisco, June 6 vs Rockies	0:07	Video
Fielding alignment for San Francisco, June 6 vs Rockies	0:11	Video
Starting lineups for Giants at Rockies - June 6, 2023	0:09	Video
Breaking down Dinelson Lamet's pitches	0:08	Video
Breaking down Peter Lambert's pitches	0:08	Video
Breaking down Sean Manaea's pitches	0:08	Video
Brandon Crawford ropes an RBI double to right field	0:18	Video
Estrada taps an RBI single into right-center field	0:16	Video
Patrick Bailey lines an RBI triple deep into center	0:28	Video
Nolan Jones throws out LaMonte Wade Jr. after review	0:42	Video
Randal Grichuk makes it home on a fielder's choice	0:33	Video
LaMonte Wade Jr. knocks a two-run single into right	0:18	Video
Dinelson Lamet accrues four strikeouts in 3 innings	0:53	Video
J.D. Davis sends a two-run double into center field	0:21	Video
Michael Conforto chops an RBI single into center	0:16	Video
Jurickson Profar smacks an RBI double to left-center	0:22	Video
J.D. Davis hits a sacrifice fly to left in the 7th	0:15	Video
Jurickson Profar nails an RBI triple to right-center	0:49	Video
Ryan McMahon laces an RBI double to left-center field	0:17	Video
The Giants score five runs in the 5th inning	1:07	Video
LaMonte Wade Jr. scores after a bases-loaded walk	0:08	Video

Decisions

Winning Pitcher	Losing Pitcher	Save
Walker, R (2-0, 1.04 ERA)	Lamet (1-3, 12.42 ERA)

Game ended at 10:12 PM.
Remember to sort by new to keep up!

First Pitch: 5:40 PM at Coors Field

Team	Starter	TV	Radio
Giants	John Brebbia (2-0, 3.80 ERA)	NBCSBA	KNBR, KSFN (ES)
Rockies	Dinelson Lamet (1-2, 13.17 ERA)	ATTR	KOA, KNRV (ES)

Game Preview
Reddit Stream for this post

Line Score - Game Over

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E	LOB
SF	0	2	1	0	5	0	1	0	1	10	14	0	15
COL	0	0	0	1	1	0	2	0	0	4	9	0	8

Box Score

COL		AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	BA
DH	Blackmon	4	2	1	0	1	0	.276
LF	Profar, J	5	1	4	2	0	1	.243
3B	McMahon	5	0	2	1	0	1	.261
C	Díaz, E	2	0	0	0	2	0	.306
RF	Grichuk	4	1	1	0	0	0	.336
1B	Jones, N	4	0	0	1	0	2	.294
CF	Doyle, B	4	0	0	0	0	1	.221
2B	Trejo	3	0	0	0	0	1	.250
PH	Moustakas	1	0	1	0	0	0	.253
2B	Castro, H	0	0	0	0	0	0	.277
SS	Tovar	4	0	0	0	0	2	.243

COL	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	P-S	ERA
Lamet	3.0	6	3	3	2	4	83-46	12.42
Lambert	1.1	3	3	3	4	3	55-30	6.41
Bird	1.2	3	2	2	0	3	36-27	3.12
Hand	1.0	2	1	1	0	1	15-9	4.09
Johnson	1.0	0	0	0	1	2	16-9	6.56
Bard, D	1.0	0	1	1	4	3	35-16	1.04

SF		AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	BA
1B	Wade Jr.	3	3	3	2	3	0	.285
2B	Estrada	5	0	3	1	1	2	.308
DH	Pederson	2	1	1	0	1	1	.241
DH	Flores	1	0	0	0	1	0	.241
3B	Davis, J	4	1	1	3	1	2	.286
RF	Conforto	3	0	1	1	1	1	.250
CF	Slater	2	0	0	0	0	2	.343
LF	Haniger	5	1	1	1	1	3	.225
RF	Yastrzemski	4	1	0	0	2	2	.257
C	Bailey	5	2	3	1	0	1	.309
SS	Crawford, Bra	5	1	1	1	0	2	.191

SF	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	P-S	ERA
Brebbia	1.0	2	0	0	1	0	26-14	3.65
Walker, R	1.0	0	0	0	0	2	15-9	1.04
Manaea	4.2	5	4	4	1	5	83-55	6.10
Jackson	1.1	1	0	0	1	1	20-11	0.00
Alexander	1.0	1	0	0	0	0	11-8	3.74

Scoring Plays

Inning	Event	Score
T2	Brandon Crawford doubles (5) on a line drive to right fielder Randal Grichuk. Patrick Bailey scores.	0-1
T2	Thairo Estrada singles on a line drive to center fielder Brenton Doyle. Brandon Crawford scores. LaMonte Wade Jr. to 3rd.	0-2
T3	Patrick Bailey triples (1) on a sharp fly ball to center fielder Brenton Doyle. Mitch Haniger scores.	0-3
B4	Nolan Jones reaches on a fielder's choice, fielded by third baseman J. D. Davis. Randal Grichuk scores.	1-3
T5	LaMonte Wade Jr. singles on a ground ball to center fielder Brenton Doyle. Mike Yastrzemski scores. Patrick Bailey scores.	1-5
T5	J.D. Davis doubles (10) on a fly ball to center fielder Brenton Doyle. LaMonte Wade Jr. scores. Joc Pederson scores.	1-7
T5	Michael Conforto singles on a line drive to center fielder Brenton Doyle. J.D. Davis scores.	1-8
B5	Jurickson Profar doubles (13) on a sharp line drive to left fielder Mitch Haniger. Charlie Blackmon scores.	2-8
T7	J.D. Davis out on a sacrifice fly to left fielder Jurickson Profar. LaMonte Wade Jr. scores.	2-9
B7	Jurickson Profar triples (2) on a fly ball to center fielder Austin Slater. Charlie Blackmon scores.	3-9
B7	Ryan McMahon doubles (18) on a sharp fly ball to center fielder Austin Slater. Jurickson Profar scores.	4-9
T9	Mitch Haniger walks. LaMonte Wade Jr. scores. Thairo Estrada to 3rd. Wilmer Flores to 2nd.	4-10

Highlights

Description	Length	Video
Bullpen availability for Colorado, June 6 vs Giants	0:07	Video
Bullpen availability for San Francisco, June 6 vs Rockies	0:07	Video
Fielding alignment for San Francisco, June 6 vs Rockies	0:11	Video
Starting lineups for Giants at Rockies - June 6, 2023	0:09	Video
Breaking down Dinelson Lamet's pitches	0:08	Video
Breaking down Peter Lambert's pitches	0:08	Video
Breaking down Sean Manaea's pitches	0:08	Video
Brandon Crawford ropes an RBI double to right field	0:18	Video
Estrada taps an RBI single into right-center field	0:16	Video
Patrick Bailey lines an RBI triple deep into center	0:28	Video
Nolan Jones throws out LaMonte Wade Jr. after review	0:42	Video
Randal Grichuk makes it home on a fielder's choice	0:33	Video
LaMonte Wade Jr. knocks a two-run single into right	0:18	Video
Dinelson Lamet accrues four strikeouts in 3 innings	0:53	Video
J.D. Davis sends a two-run double into center field	0:21	Video
Michael Conforto chops an RBI single into center	0:16	Video
Jurickson Profar smacks an RBI double to left-center	0:22	Video
J.D. Davis hits a sacrifice fly to left in the 7th	0:15	Video
Jurickson Profar nails an RBI triple to right-center	0:49	Video
Ryan McMahon laces an RBI double to left-center field	0:17	Video
The Giants score five runs in the 5th inning	1:07	Video
LaMonte Wade Jr. scores after a bases-loaded walk	0:08	Video

Decisions

Winning Pitcher	Losing Pitcher	Save
Walker, R (2-0, 1.04 ERA)	Lamet (1-3, 12.42 ERA)

Game ended at 9:12 PM.


Streams
Tracker	MLB.com	Game Graph

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Unpacking the Light Police. Light Pollution News.
Show Link: https://lightpollutionnews.com/podcast/unpacking-the-light-police/
Subscribe: Apple Podcast Spotify Google Podcast
Social: Instagram LinkedIn
Guests:
John Barentine of Dark Sky Consulting, LLC.
Kaitlyn Evans, Conservationist.
Show:
I was busted by the light police. They had a point, Dana Milbank of the Washington Post.
Dana Milbank purchased a home in, soon to be not, rural Virginia. At night he kept the formerly vacant property lit to the degree that spurned one commentator to call it “spaceship lighting.”
Milbank recaps being visited by the “light police,” a group of concerned citizens who help educate neighbors and instill a sense of pride in the brilliance of their starry night skies.
At first, he was taken aback, but later, not only did he appreciate their efforts, but he also converted his blinding always on, white light flood lights to warm 2700 Kelvin motion sensing lights.
Per Ruskin Hartley, executive director of the International Dark Sky Association, “for 4.5 billion years there was no artificial light at night. It’s really only in the last five human generations that we transformed that. It’s one of the most profound transformations of our environment.”
Many of you may recall an earlier story, way back in our Hormone of Darkness episode, showcasing concerns by local residents prior to a 760 house (now 761) plus town center development moving into the Culpepper County, VA area. Per the Rappahannock News, this development features “a resort style swimming pool, clubhouse, tot lot, and multiple sports fields and sports courts, all connected by a network of biking and walking trails.”
The forgotten medieval habit of ‘two sleeps’ by Zaria Gorvett of the BBC.
Gorvett opened my eyes to something I never knew about, the medieval custom of two sleeps. For those of you unaware, two sleeps are exactly what it sounds like.
Folks would partake in a communal nap, complete with rigid sleeping arrangement conventions, between 9 – 11pm, then awaken for a few hours to do everything from hang out to brew beer! In fact, the idea of multiple sleeps crossed cultures and was found in places as far from Europe as indigenous South America.
How can one’s circadian rhythm make sense of all of this?!
Well, for starters, until the invention of the alarm clock, which humorously was invented by a clocks salesman so he could wake up and sell more clocks, people had no firm way to wake up at a consistent time. The industrial revolution enforced a new circadian standard.
And there’s some science behind this! In the 1992 study, In Short Photoperiods, human sleep is biphasic, researcher Thomas Wehr found that after four weeks of 10 hour days, his subjects began to engage in this two sleep cycle, involving a one to three hour period for which they became awake and engaged in between.
Want to Learn About Light Pollution? There’s a mini-course for that!, Jennifer Sensiba of Clean Technica.
Quoting Sensiba, “As I got older, I traveled a lot more and saw the problem more for what it is. Not only did I see that in many places there is no refuge from it, but I also saw that it was slowly growing worse. Places that had been dark 30 years ago had more and more light creeping upon the horizon.”
If you’re interested in learning more, or more importantly, know someone who might benefit from learning more, Sensiba links up to an International Dark Sky Mini-Course on light pollution, call it Light Pollution 101!
There’s a Play Date at the National Museum of Natural History: Lights Out exhibit!
But unfortunately, by the time you listen to this, and hell, by the time we talk about this, it has passed.
Ann Arbor named best place for sunrises, sunsets in Michigan. Sarah Parlette for Click on Detroit.
Evidently gambling websites have decided to honor April’s International Dark Sky week in a strange new content marketing campaign, which was to rank the best places in each state to see sunrises and sunsets. My favorite one, “Ann Arbor named best place for sunrises, sunsets in Michigan,” comes from Click on Detroit, whereby a quote “study” examined Michigan’s most populated cities.”
According to Click on Detroit, “to celebrate International Astrology Day on Saturday, staff at Great Lake Stakes, a Michigan online gambling news site, looked at light pollution in the five most populated cities around the Mitten state to determine which offers the best views every morning and evening.”
Star bathing is the new outdoor travel trend we should all be trying for Summer 2023, according to Amy Beecham at Stylist.
Evidently, as an attempt to destress and promote mindfulness, romanticism about sleeping under the stars has birthed a 70% increase in searches for the term ‘star bathing’ on Hipcamp. And to be sure, “Hipcamp recommends checking a stargazing calendar which outlines major astrological events – like supermoons, pink moons, and star showers.”
“Industry Must Face an Inconvenient Truth — Most LED Lights at Night are Unhealthy”
Dr. Martin Moore-Ede, a circadian clock expert, recently published an article in LEDs Magazine chastising the lighting industry for not recognizing and reigning in the negative externalities of its products. Per the piece, such effects are, obesity, diabetes, depression, cancer, and more.
He cites three categories of industry responses, making the correlation that long term Denial or outright Ignorance of the Facts, may result in “asbestos-scale liabilities or draconian regulations.”
Per the piece, a recent survey by the Circadian Light Research Center of 2,697 peer reviewed scientific articles confirmed that human circadian clocks are highly sensitive to blue wavelengths, and that exposure to such wavelengths leads to major health disorders.
Moore-Ede calls for the industry to harvest the “commercial opportunity” to greatly limit future liability by creating and managing its own standards for circadian modulated lighting.
Unpacking the Wallpack, by Dan Weissman in LD+A Magazine.
Weissman, who recently purchased a telescope for his family in Cambridge, MA, discovered that the scope could only afford him views of some solar system objects and a few brightly burning stars.
The ire of Weissman’s pen takes the shape of a rectangular fixtures, be it box like or simply a panel these days, that typically hang off the side of an exterior wall or above an exterior door. “Devoid of aesthetic value” this light is often put up under the “pretense of security and safety” by “recommended practices and adopted municipal codes.”
Weissman recognizes labels that often accompany, what he calls, “Glare bombs,” including “contractor-select,” “energy efficient,” or “light pollution friendly.”
Further, per an earlier LD+A article, such lighting driven by its extreme contrasts is exceedingly common in minority communities where light is weaponized as a tool of power. It becomes a “device of alienation, creating a zone of control and separation.”
Weissman recognizes that the true reason such fixtures are selected often comes down to cost. He recognizes that it may take equally as much cost to persuade building and homeowners away from such lighting into the realm of more responsible, lower lumen, shielded lighting.
Weissman calls for producers of these glare bombs to be labeled as polluters, putting them in line with fossil fuel manufacturers and PFAS makers.
Songbirds, dusk and clear skies: Scientists explore migratory flights, by Erin Blakemore.
Bird migration season is ending here in the Mid-Atlantic. I was lucky enough to catch several Baltimore Orioles and Indigo Buntings last week. Researchers looked at 400 songbirds from 9 major species, “including the yellow-rump warbler, American redstart and Bicknell’s thrush.”
The question they hoped to answer was how are these birds so darn precise in identifying the best time to take off for their nightly migration? Scientists found that 90% of the migrating birds in the study took off within 69 minutes of dusk. A “much narrower takeoff window,” that even shocked the research team!
Per the study, taking off at night is all about maximum flight time. In addition to being able to precisely schedule their take offs, a feat that every airline I’ve flown with over the past few years has proven inept at, birds also are apparently good meteorologists! They often depart when the atmospheric pressure rises over a day’s span. Other factors also trigger migration, including sex, age, and celestial cues.
‘Lights Out’ initiative appears to be saving birds from crashing into Philly buildings by Sophia Schmidt.
Preliminary results indicate that bird death counts are down 70% at one Market Street tower, since it began its participation in Lights Out. As we spoke about on a previous show, birds utilize the stars to navigate, but city lights can disorient the birds. Combine the lights with reflective or transparent glass, and that spells fatal trouble for our migrating warblers!
Per Keith Russell, a program manager for urban conservation with Audubon Mid-Atlantic, “We’ve lost almost a third of our birds – and [collisions] contributing to that. If we’re going to want to preserve the bird populations here in North America, we have to look at these types of problems. And this is a preventable one.”
The Knoxville, TN Zoo is offering up what they call “Twilight Tours” per WVLT 8. Each event will feature a guide to showcase nocturnal critters.
I did something similar in Singapore years ago. The zoo had very dim lights in the exhibits – and they kept those lights dim as you walked so that you didn’t lose your night vision. It was a very different and, might I say, peaceful experience than the typically chaotic daytime zoo.
Flashlights posing major threat to nesting sea turtles. Fox35 Orlando
Apparently, a single flashlight can deter female sea turtles from coming onto a beach and nesting. Florida, as I did not know, is home to 90% of the sea turtle nests across the world, so losing sea turtles can affect the global ecosystem.
One visitor to Cocoa Beach stated, “Just leave them alone. Stand back and look. You don’t need a flashlight.”
Another, “It’s not super surprising because more buildings go up, more technology. As it increases, nature and stuff like that decreases,” said Zoe Jovaag, whose grandfather used to take her on walks to see sea turtles.
Capture the Dark 2023 officially is under way!
The International Dark Sky Association opens up its annual photo contest complete with prizes across eight categories and an additional People’s Choice category. Voting begins on July 3rd, entries must be received by June 30th.
City Tests Traffic Light That Only Turns Green for Drivers Who Obey the Speed Limit. Erin Marquis for Jalopnik.
And hey, you better not speed in Brossard, Quebec….otherwise you may be waiting around for a while. Brossard is testing out a new traffic light that will stay red until it senses oncoming traffic. However, it will only change to green if the car is going the speed limit. Per the Jalopnik article, “FRED [the French acronym for “educational traffic calming light] forces fast drivers to stop and gives them a chance to reconsider their life choices.” Such lights are already used in Europe, but this will be the first for the Great White North.
Why the Greatest Threat to Star-Gazing Isn’t Light Pollution, and this comes to us from Dorin Elin Urrutia at Inverse.
Elin Urrutia writes, in her compelling piece, that the greatest threat to star-gazing is actually the weather. Citing notable examples of the Mount Stromlo Observatory in Australia (which burnt down due to bushfires) and the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico (which sustained structural damage following the winds of Hurricane Maria).
While the threat of human-caused climate change has presented new challenges, Elin Urrutia references proactive burns that saved Los Angeles’ Mount Wilson Observatory from flames in 2020.
On a similar note, ABC News (the Australian Broadcasting Company, not to be confused with the American Broadcasting Company), brings us “A World Without Darkness Could Be a Reality within a Few Years.”
Per Carol Redford of Astrotourism Western Australia, “There are some people in the world now who don’t actually experience darkness anymore. They’re in a city like Beijing, Toyoko, or London. In all those big cities, it’s never dark, it’s always light. During the day of course with the sun, but then during the night with all of the artificial light. They’re not experiencing darkness, and definitely not seeing those beautiful stars…”
In the 66 years since the implementation of the UN Convention on the Peaceful Use of Outerspace, around 11,000 satellites orbit the Earth. But it’s about to get wayyy busier. Driven by innovations that have led to dramatic reductions in costs, over the next ten years, Per attorney Steven Freeland, it’s anticipated that somewhere between 100,000 to 500,000 objects will be sent up. Let me pause on that for a second.
On the travel front, we stay in the land down under, “Aussie region determined to keep its darkness is a stargazer’s dream” by Chantelle Francis of News.com.AU.
The town of Swam Reach, population 270, resides in a 3200sq km region of Southern Australia that received its International Dark Sky Reserve status over three years ago. On a scale of darkness between 0 – 22, the River Murray Dark Sky Reserve at Swam Reach, measures in at a whopping 21.9!
Tourism has become a growing business. The reserve hosts numerous telescope pads and offers tours of the night sky. There’s hope that an observatory and/or planetarium may also arrive in due course.
Best smart lights for outdoors in 2023, Brittney Vincent of CBS Essentials.
Oh there’s a lot not to love here, but it does fall in line with last month’s ‘Lumens are Coming’ article.
For those of you who feel the need to light your trees, because for some reason they need light at night I guess…I’ll try and pretend it’s not solely for ostentatious and narcissistic reasons. By the way, does anyone remember when those were negative characteristics?
The article features spotlights that can be programmed to over 16 MILLION colors including…lucky for us, ALL shades of white….which you can also do for a 500 lumen flood light set.
And hey, Ring now has solar path lighting. Don’t worry though, the fixtures themselves put out up to 80 lumens of sideways light.
You know, it’s astounding when you look at some of these pictures. The amount of redundant lighting. It honestly makes no sense to me. You have a porch light, which lights up the path. Path lighting, which lights up the path. And, in the one picture, god awful frontward facing flood lights, which also light up the path. How bright do you need these paths!? I digress. But the lumens are indeed coming.
LDS Church will get to light up its Heber Valley Temple after all, but the faith didn’t get everything it wanted, Blake Apgar of the Salt Lake Tribune.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints fought hard to rid itself of any nighttime lighting responsibility by pressuring Wasatch County, Utah officials to approve new lighting rules that would enable the church to light a proposed new temple the same way it does for every other temple.
The Church received permission to uplight the temple, enabling an exception to be made in Wasatch’s rather stringent nighttime lighting rulebook. However, the temple will be restricted by the level of lumens it can use, and it must have exterior lighting turned off an hour after sunset or an hour after normal business hours.
Smart Street Lights Market is Expected to Hit USD 14,751.1 million at a 23.4% CAGR by 2030, Market Research Future Press Release
The pandemic is officially over, smart street lighting is about to boom. Combine the rush to LED fixtures with the Internet of Things, and expect to see street lights moonlighting as traffic and parking monitors, air quality meters, and more. Not to mention, “it is anticipated that camera-connected smart street lighting will increase road safety by lowering the likelihood of accidents and criminality.”
Texas now has 7 dark sky communities for spectacular star gazing, Sana Ameer, MRT.
Let’s cheer on the city of Bee Cave, everyone! Bee Cave joins a growing list of dark sky places already in the Lone Star State, including 2 Dark Sky Sanctuaries, 5 Dark Sky Parks, and 1 Dark Sky Reserve. Nighttime is alive and well in some parts of Texas!
Our Afraid of the Dark article is a bit scary! Hilton Head’s dark roads and pedestrians are deadly combo. What the town is doing about it, Blake Douglas at The Island Packet.
Per the article, 9 pedestrian and cyclist fatalities occurred since 2018, with five occurring after dark. Prior to that period, there were 28 recorded deaths from 2000 – 2016, with 20 of them taking place after dark.
In 2018, an 11 year old resident was struck and killed while walking her dog across an intersection one night. Lighting advocates began taking shape in what otherwise is a very conservation focused island. Hilton Head, SC has a limited number of street lights, priding itself on “avoiding light pollution and blending nature with construction.”
Lighting advocates appear to be, at the very least, asking for flashing crosswalk lights on the island to indicate when an individual is crossing.
It should be noted that the article shows a chart of 9 after-dark-deaths since 2014, only two of them occurred at crosswalks. In fact, during the same time frame, 6 additional deaths occurred at crosswalks during the daytime.
As a whole, the National Safety Council reports that 74.5% of pedestrian deaths occurred at night, whereby 39.1% took place in lit areas and 35.38% took place in unlit areas.
Bryan Bloch, an auto safety expert, surmises that car companies bear some of the blame – producing cheap or ineffectual headlight fixtures, and drivers themselves, who don’t realize that they need to regularly clean their headlight lenses.
Despite opposition from residents, it appears that Hilton Head will be receiving lights at two new intersections and possibly more depending on engineering studies currently in progress.
Is lighting the key variable here? Is more light going to solve pedestrian deaths?
Our featured research article of the month comes to us from Animal Conservation, “Manipulating spectra of artificial light affects movement patterns of bats along ecological corridors.”
Bats are already known to have a wide range of responses to artificial light at night (also known as ALAN). Fast flying species tend to be more opportunistic in the presence of ALAN while slower ones tend to be more light averse. We know that “long wavelengths and reduced intensity” can minimize their environmental effects on bats. It’s not unheard of for bats to travel upwards of “tens of km per night.” Furthermore, bats are very dependent on the landscape and the structures within those landscapes.
Despite the nuances between species, the consensus is that ALAN, especially high intensity ALAN, negatively affects bats. This study attempted to answer what exactly bats do when they encounter ALAN – how do they react depending on different types of ALAN.
The study used three different light fixtures – one green, one red, and one white. The control was devoid of light fixtures. The researchers attempted to ascertain the behavior of bats as they encountered lights adjacent to woody areas. The researchers looked at three different bat groupings based on their foraging-echo location behavior, that being one of open field foraging, forest edge foraging, and narrow space – or more aptly forest foragers.
Researchers found that open and edge foraging bats increased their activity close to white and green lights, and to a lesser extent red lights. However, narrow space bats were more likely to veer away from all colors of lighting. Edge foragers were also less likely to cross a white light.
The positive effects of white and green light on open and edge foraging bats appear to be attributed to the accumulation of insects around light sources containing more blue light.
The nighttime sky over Oahu will be lit up with green lasers in the coming days. Here’s why. Hawaii News Now
Before we close up today, do you live in Hawaii? I know I wish I did!
If so, do you recall seeing green lasers streak across the night sky? Well, the Army Corps of Engineers was using lidar at night to complete a coastal mapping survey.
Why did they survey at night? Specifically, why did they do this between midnight to 5am? Simply b/c the airspace is so busy, that time was the only chance they had to complete the survey. The remaining survey was completed during daytime hours.

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Behold, A Man

Introduction

Understanding the Elements of Poetry

Rhyme and Rhythm

Meter and Verse

Imagery and Figurative Language

Structure and Form

what is poetry

Choosing a Theme or Topic

Personal Experience and Emotions

Observations and Reflections

Nature and the Surrounding World

Brainstorming Ideas and Free Writing

Mind Mapping

Stream of Consciousness Writing

Word Association

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Editing and Revision

Reviewing the Structure and Flow

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Removing Unnecessary Words or Lines

Seeking Feedback and Making Improvements

Sharing and Publishing

Choosing Suitable Platforms

Submitting to Literary Journals and Magazines

Participating in Poetry Readings and Events

Building an Online Presence

Conclusion

June 7, 2023~Bloom Energy, Perenco to Deploy Solid Oxide Fuel Cells in the United Kingdom~

JUNE 6, 2023 ~Westinghouse and Bloom Energy Sign Letter of Intent to Accelerate Zero-Carbon, Large-Scale Hydrogen Production in the Nuclear Industry~

MAY 7, 2023~World’s largest solid oxide electrolyzer begins producing hydrogen~

Bloom Energy has begun generating hydrogen from the world’s largest solid oxide electrolyzer installation at NASA’s Ames Research Center. This high-temperature unit produces 20–25% more hydrogen per MW than commercially demonstrated lower-temperature electrolyzers such as PEM or alkaline

April 5, 2022 ~Scandium emerges from the shadows~

Bloom Energy turned the tide starting around 2010, with its introduction of fuel cells based on scandium-stabilised zirconia ceramic electrolytes. Bloom has grown rapidly and now represents perhaps 80% of the world’s annual consumption of SCANDIUM, a paltry 25t or so of oxide in 2021.

And yet, despite these rickety foundations, SCANDIUM consumption is poised to grow dramatically in the next decade, buoyed by new sources of supply and sustained by demand-side innovation.

The supply side

The demand side

JANUARY 2023 National Defense Act Calls out NIOBIUM & TITANIUM & SCANDIUM & the need to establish a U.S. Industrial Base for the Supply & Processing of ALL!

SCANDIUM PAGE # 246 Briefing on the Establishment of Domestic Scandium Processing Facilities in the United States

MAY 2023 ~Exploring global supply and demand of scandium oxide in 2030 ~ (NIOCORP is Mentioned!)

MAY 25th 2023 ~NioCorp Demonstrates Higher Niobium Recovery Rates New Processing Approach Demonstrates the Ability to Make More Niobium per Tonne of Ore, Produce a Higher Purity Product, and Potentially Address New Markets with Different Niobium Products

MAY 26th 2023~NioCorp Demonstrates the Ability to Potentially Double Projected Titanium Recovery Rates for the Elk Creek Project

MAY 29th 2023~NioCorp Launches Phased Approach to Commercial Production of Made-in-America Aluminum-Scandium Master Alloy

MAY 29th 2023~ Jim/NIOCORP respond to question on recent Scandium News Release above:What comes to mind right off the bat is:

"It is a different process that will be utilized. "

" Yes and yes. But we do not discuss the details of intellectual property matters except as required by law"

"We are focusing on our partnership with Nanoscale on the production of AlSc master alloy, but we engaged with a number of parties on various elements of our scandium-aluminum master alloy business development. We are not working with IBC on niobium or titanium product development efforts."

(****SOUNDS LIKE OTHER COLLABORATIONS ARE ONGOING WITH POSSIBLE PRIVATE & GOVERNMENT ENTITIES?? OFF-TAKE AGREEMENTS & SO MUCH MORE! COULD BE IN PLAY AS THE MINE IS BUILT & NEARS PRODUCTION!!!!!!)

"ENGAGED WITH A NUMBER OF VARIOUS PARTIES!!!!"

FORM YOUR OWN OPINIONS & CONCLUSIONS ABOVE!

(Please Scroll down to see earlier Reddit POST ON GREEN HYDROGEN!)

Postgame Thread 6/7/2023

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Postgame Thread 6/7/2023

Highlights

Giants (29-30) @ Rockies (26-35)

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Binance Lawsuit Withdrawal

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