SharedSpace 911

Swa ChOPL.PlAStE

The distant tempest of sun 98187 98 9’s glow shot through space at unimaginable speed, crashing blindly into Sergassi Major’s behemoth fragments. Speeding on in diminished remnants, it fell through an ever-changing sheath of golden clouds onto waiting leaves of a green sea. The sea turned its collective face of buds and foliage in silent appreciation of the growing light, rustling gently in the still air as it stood in chlorophylled contemplation of the rising dawn. Small, featherless birds raised their oblong faces from the treetops and called to the distant horizon in a guttural announcement of the new day, unpleasantly rousing all sleeping inhabitants of Planet 11.

“Shut up!” moaned Sahriah, burying her face deeper into her thermodynamic bed sheets. The Shrieks paid no attention to her blurredly fatigued appeal, almost seeming to double the volume of painful announcement of daybreak. Sighing deeply, Sahriah heaved her feet off the bed and into her slippers, scrubbing at her eyes with her knuckles before looking at the clock. The clock looked back at her, face cheerfully showing the time in diagonal acid green slashes. It waited until she had drowsily staggered to the sink before chirruping the 6:00 wakeup signal. Groaning to herself, Sahriah regretted spending most of the night before talking to Johan Veheti, one of the few scientists on Sharedspace 911 of her approximate age.

PhAThECh absently noted the Shreiks’ screeching serenade to the dawn, reaching to his notepad to sketch a rough diagram of the interesting chloroplast he had examined over the past hours. He hadn’t been sleeping much lately, and it showed. Already naturally willowy for a Negaleg, the past few weeks of uneven mealtimes and missed sleep had left him painfully thin, the scales surrounding his eyes toughening from lack of moisture. But this was the way he preferred to work, surrounding himself in data and his own thoughts until it all fell together and became complete understanding, allowing him to truly comprehend all important aspects of the native flora.

He blinked in the sudden light as Essuk, a Heydra scientist working on the life spans of the mobile forests, entered his small laboratory and yanked open the thin lightproof blinds. Essuk looked disapprovingly across at PhAThECh’s desk, which was strewn with notes, empty mugs and an assortment of microscope slides. The data screen behind PhAThECh adjusted to the light change, slowly scrolling readouts becoming again visible as they quantitively correlated data. PhAThECh peered more intently down his microscope, deftly reproducing what he saw on his notepad, trying to ignore the Heydra as he glided towards the desk.
“You will have to come out today, you know.” Essuk said, plucking some empty mugs from their nests of calculations and diagrams. He shoved a memo right under the Negaleg’s nose before floating out of the room and down the corridor to the research facility kitchens. Clicking his tongue in irritation, PhAThECh completed his sketch and focused his tired eyes on the memo, which shortly stated that today the Observation Mission roster would be announced. His horns slowly rose in anger as he realized that his name was on the list of scientists to report to the Governmental Hall at 900 hours. Abruptly standing, sending his chair skittering precariously towards the nearby coffee dispenser, PhAThECh closed his eyes and stretched in the brilliant square of morning light.

“Ooh no, no, no!” Sahriah realized with a start that the time had yet again sped up without her noticing. Hurriedly completing her hair’s elaborate styling, she cast about for her coat.
“This is all your fault,” she frowned at the clock, who blinked back in a diagonal smirk that read 9:05. Bursting out her door, she sprinted down the main road towards the Governmental Hall, stopping only once to catch her breath and check her watch. By the time she had arrived, red-faced, the proceedings had already begun, the Observation Mission rosters posted on the notice board behind an impenetrable gaggle of excited scientists. Picking up a distinctly sour aroma, she turned to find a very tall and very irritated Negaleg glowering at her from his seat by the door.
“Hello, PhAThECh!” she cried cheerfully, forgetting the Mission roster and skipping towards him. PhAThECh clicked his tongue and turned his head disdainfully away, but Sahriah was too close to ignore now.
“You’re just as grumpy as Essuk said” she commented before skittering to a nearby coffee dispenser and knocking into Essuk.
“What’s got his tail in a knot?” She asked, politely righting the Heydra’s communication helmet.
“Haven’t you seen the roster?” Essuk enquired as Sahriah punched at the dispenser’s hexagonal buttons.

A minute later, PhAThECh grudgingly accepted the coffee that Sahriah happily handed him.
“Looks like you’re stuck with me for a whole two months!” she beamed, regarding her soon-to-be Observation Mission-mate.
“And that insufferable Heydra” he grunted, downing most of the coffee in one gulp.
“I don’t know who’ll be worse.”
“Oh, come on Mr. Frowney-snout, I’m sure we’ll get along just dandy.”
PhAThECh cracked his tongue so loudly several of the other scientists stared with alarm. Horns pointing straight to the Governmental Hall ceiling, he stalked over to the Observation Mission roster once again, in the hope of spotting some clerical error. Finding none, he swore under his breath and hastily exited, scuttling back to his comfortable office to enjoy the little time of solitude left before the mission departure.
“Is he always like that?” wondered Sahriah, peering after PhAThECh’s rapidly departing form until it had loped out of sight.
“You got him on a good day” Essuk lamented.

* .......*....... *

50, 000 kilometers from the comfortable confines of Sharedspace 911, an argument raged in heated English from a slow-moving observation platform, spilling out over a rustling expanse of richly green foliage. Sahriah and PhAThECh had been stepping on each other’s toes (or hooves) for five weeks now, and despite Essuk’s desperate attempts at conciliation not a day passed without at least one explosion over a trivial matter. Today’s inconsequential quibble was related to a loose piece of plating above the platform thermostat which had cracked the mercury chamber.
“It’s leaking.” PhAThECh pointed out, regarding the droplets of mercury with disinterest as they rolled lazily down the thermostat casing.
“Well, stick something in it!” cried Sahriah, desperately struggling with the final screw of the access panel.
“What would you suggest?” PhAThECh resisted the urge to stalk away and leave her to repair the broken instrument on her own.
“I don’t know, your tail – anything.”
Affronted, PhAThECh took a deep breath before hissing “Why don’t you stick your tail in it?”

Sahriah plugged the leak with a hairpin before incredulously turning to face the Negaleg, standing on tiptoe until her nose was level with his.

“Because I don’t ruddy well have one!” She swirled around and waggled her buttocks in his direction.
“What is happening out here?” Essuk floated outside from the outer room, where he had been foolishly hoping to enjoy the calm of nature to complete his latest report.
“Do you see a tail?” Sahriah demanded, pointing emphatically at her rump.
“Uh – “ Essuk was momentarily dumbfounded.
“DO YOU!?” With that she stormed inside, tears of frustration welling in her eyes. PhAThECh dispassionately stared out to the distant horizon. After a time he realized that Essuk had been floating next to him. Not for the first time PhAThECh wished that the Heydra had some indicator of emotion when they were silent. He was sure that Essuk was concerned about their quarrel, and that he was desperately searching for the right thing to say, but outwardly all that showed was the unreadable chrome of his communication unit.

Sahriah had turned on her abominably nonsensical music, atonal synthesizers backing a man shouting gibberish to a strong 5/4 beat.
“How childish,” PhAThECh remarked, suddenly finding the Heydra’s silence unbearable.
“She’s barely more than a child.” Essuk said quietly. He was both pleased and surprised when the Negaleg’s tail and horns relaxed, the pervading sour scent that had emanated from his enraged form dispersing in the balmy breeze. PhAThECh looked hopelessly at Essuk, head hunched.
“PlO.OPhESm” The words hung in the air for an age, until the incessant beat of Sahriah’s music finally gave way to stillness.
“It’s easy to forget sometimes” murmured Essuk, reaching out and tentatively placing a manipulator arm on PhAThECh’s knee. The Negaleg turned and entered the inner room of their small mobile home. Sahriah looked up from her sulkily mussed up datasheets, and for the first time that voyage, she smelt the musky scent of apology.

* .......*....... *

PhAThECh vaguely noted the Shreiks’ raucous rapture of the dawn, reaching to his notepad to sketch a rough diagram of the interesting chloroplast he had examined over the past hours. He had been sleeping much better hours lately, and it showed. Although naturally willowy for a Negaleg, the past few weeks of relaxation and enjoyable meals had left him almost robust, the scales surrounding his eyes shining specks that reflected the data screen’s green text. This was how he preferred to work, discussing his theories and the information until his compatriot scientists could spark the solution to the final piece in the puzzle of understanding.

He blinked in the sudden light as Essuk, one of his closest friends, yanked open the thin lightproof blinds.
“You have a visitor.” Essuk chimed, just as a small bundle of energy rocketed into the room.
“Uncle PhAThECh! Uncle PhAThECh!” it cried excitedly, running to him and wrapping its arms around his leg. Smelling sweeter than a migratory tree in bloom, PhAThECh turned from his work and scooped up the grinning human boy, swirling him through the air before setting him on the side of the desk.
“Why, you should tell him the one about the cactuses on 7391” Essuk suggested as he took PhAThECh’s latest empty mug and exited down the corridor.
“Ooh, yes, tell me again!” cooed the boy, his brown eyes widening as he bounced on the desk.
“Ok, alright. Calm down. It was ten years ago, and…”
As PhAThECh re-told for the millionth time how the seemingly harmless little cacti suddenly started biting people’s feet off, Sahriah Ranit-Veheti silently smiled from the doorway. PhAThECh wasn’t too bad a Negaleg when you got to know him. Once he’d realized that he’d have to accept other people’s little faults, and in turn that they could accept his, it had only been a matter of time. Mr. Frowney-snout had made a half decent best man at her wedding to Johan Veheti. Her little Liloth adored his daily visits to “Uncle PhAThECh”.
“Coffee?” Essuk called from the kitchen.
“Lovely.” She shouted back, leaving her enraptured son to the exciting adventures of cactus hacking.

Determined fragments of sun 98187 98 9 refracted in a million dewdrops, shattering as the oceanic forest stirred to life and ambled slowly on its way to new dawns, shuffling into the quiet brightness of Planet 11.


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	The distant tempest of sun 98187 98 9’s glow shot through space at unimaginable speed, crashing blindly into Sergassi Major’s behemoth fragments. Speeding on in diminished remnants, it fell through an ever-changing sheath of golden clouds onto waiting leaves of a green sea. The sea turned its collective face of buds and foliage in silent appreciation of the growing light, rustling gently in the still air as it stood in chlorophylled contemplation of the rising dawn. Small, featherless birds raised their oblong faces from the treetops and called to the distant horizon in a guttural announcement of the new day, unpleasantly rousing all sleeping inhabitants of Planet 11. “Shut up!” moaned Sahriah, burying her face deeper into her thermodynamic bed sheets. The Shrieks paid no attention to her blurredly fatigued appeal, almost seeming to double the volume of painful announcement of daybreak. Sighing deeply, Sahriah heaved her feet off the bed and into her slippers, scrubbing at her eyes with her knuckles before looking at the clock. The clock looked back at her, face cheerfully showing the time in diagonal acid green slashes. It waited until she had drowsily staggered to the sink before chirruping the 6:00 wakeup signal. Groaning to herself, Sahriah regretted spending most of the night before talking to Johan Veheti, one of the few scientists on Sharedspace 911 of her approximate age. PhAThECh absently noted the Shreiks’ screeching serenade to the dawn, reaching to his notepad to sketch a rough diagram of the interesting chloroplast he had examined over the past hours. He hadn’t been sleeping much lately, and it showed. Already naturally willowy for a Negaleg, the past few weeks of uneven mealtimes and missed sleep had left him painfully thin, the scales surrounding his eyes toughening from lack of moisture. But this was the way he preferred to work, surrounding himself in data and his own thoughts until it all fell together and became complete understanding, allowing him to truly comprehend all important aspects of the native flora. He blinked in the sudden light as Essuk, a Heydra scientist working on the life spans of the mobile forests, entered his small laboratory and yanked open the thin lightproof blinds. Essuk looked disapprovingly across at PhAThECh’s desk, which was strewn with notes, empty mugs and an assortment of microscope slides. The data screen behind PhAThECh adjusted to the light change, slowly scrolling readouts becoming again visible as they quantitively correlated data. PhAThECh peered more intently down his microscope, deftly reproducing what he saw on his notepad, trying to ignore the Heydra as he glided towards the desk. “You will have to come out today, you know.” Essuk said, plucking some empty mugs from their nests of calculations and diagrams. He shoved a memo right under the Negaleg’s nose before floating out of the room and down the corridor to the research facility kitchens. Clicking his tongue in irritation, PhAThECh completed his sketch and focused his tired eyes on the memo, which shortly stated that today the Observation Mission roster would be announced. His horns slowly rose in anger as he realized that his name was on the list of scientists to report to the Governmental Hall at 900 hours. Abruptly standing, sending his chair skittering precariously towards the nearby coffee dispenser, PhAThECh closed his eyes and stretched in the brilliant square of morning light. “Ooh no, no, no!” Sahriah realized with a start that the time had yet again sped up without her noticing. Hurriedly completing her hair’s elaborate styling, she cast about for her coat. “This is all your fault,” she frowned at the clock, who blinked back in a diagonal smirk that read 9:05. Bursting out her door, she sprinted down the main road towards the Governmental Hall, stopping only once to catch her breath and check her watch. By the time she had arrived, red-faced, the proceedings had already begun, the Observation Mission rosters posted on the notice board behind an impenetrable gaggle of excited scientists. Picking up a distinctly sour aroma, she turned to find a very tall and very irritated Negaleg glowering at her from his seat by the door. “Hello, PhAThECh!” she cried cheerfully, forgetting the Mission roster and skipping towards him. PhAThECh clicked his tongue and turned his head disdainfully away, but Sahriah was too close to ignore now. “You’re just as grumpy as Essuk said” she commented before skittering to a nearby coffee dispenser and knocking into Essuk. “What’s got his tail in a knot?” She asked, politely righting the Heydra’s communication helmet. “Haven’t you seen the roster?” Essuk enquired as Sahriah punched at the dispenser’s hexagonal buttons. A minute later, PhAThECh grudgingly accepted the coffee that Sahriah happily handed him. “Looks like you’re stuck with me for a whole two months!” she beamed, regarding her soon-to-be Observation Mission-mate. “And that insufferable Heydra” he grunted, downing most of the coffee in one gulp. “I don’t know who’ll be worse.” “Oh, come on Mr. Frowney-snout, I’m sure we’ll get along just dandy.” PhAThECh cracked his tongue so loudly several of the other scientists stared with alarm. Horns pointing straight to the Governmental Hall ceiling, he stalked over to the Observation Mission roster once again, in the hope of spotting some clerical error. Finding none, he swore under his breath and hastily exited, scuttling back to his comfortable office to enjoy the little time of solitude left before the mission departure. “Is he always like that?” wondered Sahriah, peering after PhAThECh’s rapidly departing form until it had loped out of sight. “You got him on a good day” Essuk lamented. * .............. 50, 000 kilometers from the comfortable confines of Sharedspace 911, an argument raged in heated English from a slow-moving observation platform, spilling out over a rustling expanse of richly green foliage. Sahriah and PhAThECh had been stepping on each other’s toes (or hooves) for five weeks now, and despite Essuk’s desperate attempts at conciliation not a day passed without at least one explosion over a trivial matter. Today’s inconsequential quibble was related to a loose piece of plating above the platform thermostat which had cracked the mercury chamber. “It’s leaking.” PhAThECh pointed out, regarding the droplets of mercury with disinterest as they rolled lazily down the thermostat casing. “Well, stick something in it!” cried Sahriah, desperately struggling with the final screw of the access panel. “What would you suggest?” PhAThECh resisted the urge to stalk away and leave her to repair the broken instrument on her own. “I don’t know, your tail – anything.” Affronted, PhAThECh took a deep breath before hissing “Why don’t you stick your tail in it?” Sahriah plugged the leak with a hairpin before incredulously turning to face the Negaleg, standing on tiptoe until her nose was level with his. “Because I don’t ruddy well have one!” She swirled around and waggled her buttocks in his direction. “What is happening out here?” Essuk floated outside from the outer room, where he had been foolishly hoping to enjoy the calm of nature to complete his latest report. “Do you see a tail?” Sahriah demanded, pointing emphatically at her rump. “Uh – “ Essuk was momentarily dumbfounded. “DO YOU!?” With that she stormed inside, tears of frustration welling in her eyes. PhAThECh dispassionately stared out to the distant horizon. After a time he realized that Essuk had been floating next to him. Not for the first time PhAThECh wished that the Heydra had some indicator of emotion when they were silent. He was sure that Essuk was concerned about their quarrel, and that he was desperately searching for the right thing to say, but outwardly all that showed was the unreadable chrome of his communication unit. Sahriah had turned on her abominably nonsensical music, atonal synthesizers backing a man shouting gibberish to a strong 5/4 beat. “How childish,” PhAThECh remarked, suddenly finding the Heydra’s silence unbearable. “She’s barely more than a child.” Essuk said quietly. He was both pleased and surprised when the Negaleg’s tail and horns relaxed, the pervading sour scent that had emanated from his enraged form dispersing in the balmy breeze. PhAThECh looked hopelessly at Essuk, head hunched. “PlO.OPhESm” The words hung in the air for an age, until the incessant beat of Sahriah’s music finally gave way to stillness. “It’s easy to forget sometimes” murmured Essuk, reaching out and tentatively placing a manipulator arm on PhAThECh’s knee. The Negaleg turned and entered the inner room of their small mobile home. Sahriah looked up from her sulkily mussed up datasheets, and for the first time that voyage, she smelt the musky scent of apology. * .............. PhAThECh vaguely noted the Shreiks’ raucous rapture of the dawn, reaching to his notepad to sketch a rough diagram of the interesting chloroplast he had examined over the past hours. He had been sleeping much better hours lately, and it showed. Although naturally willowy for a Negaleg, the past few weeks of relaxation and enjoyable meals had left him almost robust, the scales surrounding his eyes shining specks that reflected the data screen’s green text. This was how he preferred to work, discussing his theories and the information until his compatriot scientists could spark the solution to the final piece in the puzzle of understanding. He blinked in the sudden light as Essuk, one of his closest friends, yanked open the thin lightproof blinds. “You have a visitor.” Essuk chimed, just as a small bundle of energy rocketed into the room. “Uncle PhAThECh! Uncle PhAThECh!” it cried excitedly, running to him and wrapping its arms around his leg. Smelling sweeter than a migratory tree in bloom, PhAThECh turned from his work and scooped up the grinning human boy, swirling him through the air before setting him on the side of the desk. “Why, you should tell him the one about the cactuses on 7391” Essuk suggested as he took PhAThECh’s latest empty mug and exited down the corridor. “Ooh, yes, tell me again!” cooed the boy, his brown eyes widening as he bounced on the desk. “Ok, alright. Calm down. It was ten years ago, and…” As PhAThECh re-told for the millionth time how the seemingly harmless little cacti suddenly started biting people’s feet off, Sahriah Ranit-Veheti silently smiled from the doorway. PhAThECh wasn’t too bad a Negaleg when you got to know him. Once he’d realized that he’d have to accept other people’s little faults, and in turn that they could accept his, it had only been a matter of time. Mr. Frowney-snout had made a half decent best man at her wedding to Johan Veheti. Her little Liloth adored his daily visits to “Uncle PhAThECh”. “Coffee?” Essuk called from the kitchen. “Lovely.” She shouted back, leaving her enraptured son to the exciting adventures of cactus hacking. Determined fragments of sun 98187 98 9 refracted in a million dewdrops, shattering as the oceanic forest stirred to life and ambled slowly on its way to new dawns, shuffling into the quiet brightness of Planet 11.

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