Wednesday, April 29, 2009




The time with Russ went far too quickly, of course. And now I'm working at trying to get things done, and that certainly isn't going very well. Focus is completely shot, of course. I need to get the newsletter and Vision done, and neither of them are cooperating.

And it's getting far later, isn't it? I just realized I hadn't done this yet. Hmmm... I have gotten a little bit more done on the Newsletter. I need to work on Vision, though, which is actually do out the day before the Newsletter. However, since I get paid for the Newsletter, I feel an obligation to make certain it is going to be done on time.

I do admit to being somewhat sidetracked by http://www.stashmycomics.com/ and going over there to drop a few more of the things sitting around on the shelves into my collection. Much like LibraryThing.com, it is addictive to see the collection grow. I only found it last night, and I have 204 comics listed. These were the ones I had stacked on a shelf in the library -- just some extras sitting around. Apparently, they're worth about $1000. These were back from our days as owners of a comic book store, so they're bagged and most of them never even saw a store shelf. Multiple copies of some of the original Crisis on Infinite Earth series have turned out to be worth far more than I ever expected, considering how much they flooded the market with them.

Writing. Yes. Yes, I am writing.

Actually, I'm just a few pages from finishing up Vita's Vengeance. As it draws closer to the ending, I am finding a few things that I need to go back and write in, but overall, I like how it came out.


Here's a little bit (I think I may have snippeted this before, a year or so ago... but I still like the scene and really didn't even have to do much to it this round!):


Devon watched until the cutter came down and the swirl of dust blinded him to the world. He followed Tashin to the little ship, remembering how perfect the cutter had looked the first time he saw her on Paradox. Now he could see patches and scorch marks, far too many signs of near destruction. Tashin hoped to get her a new black coat soon, but such niceties would have to come when they had time -- and they never did.

Devon paused at the airlock and looked back. Sand and dust had settled again. Lastor knew the cutter would draw attention and a path straight back to Mesa would invite discovery. His little aircar headed for the low rise of hills close to the north.

Devon slipped inside and palmed the airlock closed, and stepped into the cabin. Filtered air immediately flooded the room as Devon gratefully settled into his familiar chair.

"Prepare to launch. We're heading out," Devon announced.

"Where are we going?" Modesta inquired. The woman seldom cared about destinations as long as they kept moving.

"We're doing some surveillance work for the Jadian underground. Those transports we noticed were taking people. The Verdi are calling it relocation and Lastor wants to know where they're going."

"Does that mean we're going to follow a Verdi Transport in slide?" Modesta asked. He had her full attention this time. Devon glanced back and saw her dark eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Can we do it?"

"We're going to try," Tashin said and shrugged. "We know the basic direction, and the round trip time limit. There isn't much out in that sector. We might get lucky."

"Prepare to launch, ten seconds," Devon warned, pushing the power of the engines up again. "We're going straight up."

"And then what?" Tashin asked as the ship pushed upward, the pull of gravity pinning them back into their seats. Tashin's hands rested against the weapon controls, a precaution they took instinctively these days. "We can't sit out there and wait for the ship to take off. They'll notice us. And if we're not close enough to follow, we'll lose them if they make another slide."

"I'm taking out us on a slide, letting them think we're leaving the system. We'll slip in to the asteroid belt and wait close to the area where they've been sliding out of the system."

Jade's hold lessened and the on-board gravity took over, a pleasant change after their stay on world. Lights glowed green across the boards. Devon brushed bits of sand from around the controls.

"I have a fighter on the sensors within firing range in thirty-seven seconds, Captain," Tashin said.

"Time to go." Devon quickly put half a planet between them, but the fighter obviously wanted the prize of Vita's Vengeance and the Verdi held tight. Devon managed another thirteen-second gain on them before he turned out of orbit and headed toward Paradox.

"They're still back there," Tashin announced. A flash of laser fire swept past them, still bright in the high, rarified atmosphere. "I think they want to anger us into coming back and fighting them."

"As much as I would like to have one more Verdi ship to our credit, we do have other places to go," Devon said. He let his hands move across the board. "We're going to slide in 63.72 seconds."

"That's a little soon, isn't it?" Modesta asked, her voice rising slightly as it always did when she wondered about something unusual Devon was doing.

And with good cause.

"This is going to be a bumpy trip," Tashin warned, making adjustments to his own board. "Jade is going to have a lot of pull against us this close. What are you locking on to for a path?"

"Paradox."

"Are you crazy!" Startled, Tashin turned to his Captain as though there wasn't another danger anywhere else in the universe.

Modesta made a hiss of noise behind them, but apparently couldn't get control enough to speak. Emery, at least, seemed as oblivious as ever.

But Tashin had plenty to say. "We can't slide to Paradox! It's too damn close!"

"We're going to slide in less than thirty seconds, Tashin. Complain to me afterwards. I'm busy now."

"I think you're being exceedingly optimistic about there being an afterwards!"
Posted by Picasa

No comments: