Crabulon: A Tragic Comedy by SteelAngelJohn, literature
Literature
Crabulon: A Tragic Comedy
CRABULON CRABULON CRABULON CRABULON CRABULON CRABULON CRABULON CRABULON BEWARE yon alchemists - working formulae to create forms that don't exist BEWARE what deeds they do - such maleficence a moral person must eschew BEWARE for the hour is late - thy crustaceans will be bred with such inhuman hate BEWARE mighty Crabulon - he shall strike thee down and all your witty friends anon March forth, dire foe, perchance to nip toes CRABULON CRABULON March forth, evil thing, for the Crab King CRABULON CRABULON CRABULON CRABULON DESTROY eggs inside our kin - parasitic symbiosis is a vile sin DESTROY tis an awful sight - when yon mutants hath a weapon forged of deadly light DESTROY chitin versus flesh - and such mortal things as us will surely meet our death DESTROY us for evermore - like the state of Denmark, we are rotten to our core March forth, dire foe, perchance to nip toes CRABULON CRABULON March forth, evil thing, for the Crab King CRABULON CRABULON CRABULON CRABULON Steel thyself
We thought this small town was the entire world It turned out the entire world was a small town There's always a factory (or bakery or mill or what have you) that was closed or sold off to some out of town man in a suit The reasons for these clusters of people lost to the churn of socioeconomic change and an uncaring market All that changes is if we know the faces that we see literally every single day Waiting for the next lynchpin to be sold off for profit to some investor in an office somewhere (probably friends with the council) Until all we are left with is the distant city and the charity shops and the old houses and the hospital that never seems to have enough staff for some reason Either you make it out or you wish you did or you dig in and you die here And they have a hundred different reasons for why the people move away every single one is wrong all of them are wrong And all night long the lights buzz in the Bosch painting of concrete that is the bus station a hundred
On Acheron, or LV-426, With dust in air and chill of twilit sky, A world we tamed with our mechanic tricks - I witnessed how the colony would die. Co-ordinates just so upon a map Titanic shape dreamt by inhuman spark And from the hold, that fell benighted gap Came deadly shadows, bladed, sleek, and dark We never knew the threat until too late As ribcage fractures out to bloom new life Of ink-black chitin, void of love or hate That severs flesh and family like a knife And thus unleash this death amongst the stars - She said there were no monsters, but there are.
i think many of us spring out of something inherently selfish desire shapes our existence our existence was desired generated to fill a void or sate a chemical requirement just like walking into a pet store but we regret to inform you that a void-filler is for life even if lifes lottery doesnt deal us a dose of crippling conditions we have the unfortunate habit of having our own whims and being our own people which as i can imagine is not what you asked for but then we never asked for this never asked to inherit disorders diseases damnation so who is keeping score right?
Prologue - You're Back by SteelAngelJohn, literature
Literature
Prologue - You're Back
14.07.781 CR
Lights moved in the upper heavens, over the quiet farmstead; the burn of engines, braking and accelerating, the very reason for the farm’s existence joining the mad spray of stars across a black-green backdrop.
It was the quiet nights that Elaine lived for.
Not that she disliked the work on the farm, oh no; it was a life she’d been born into, and a life she had stepped into happily. She’d never felt the wanderlust that a lot of the Ariadne natives had felt, had never wished to leave the Redcorn Valley that hemmed them in on all sides. She put in the work, alongside her spouses, and at the end of each day the
The Shadow / 07 / From Above by SteelAngelJohn, literature
Literature
The Shadow / 07 / From Above
This message will be broadcast to you in the languages most spoken amongst your people.
We beg you to please be calm.
It is unlikely that you have not seen us. We are in your orbit and here we will remain for a time.
An attempt has been made by us to understand your species. Our knowledge is imperfect. We will try.
We have come to you to discuss.
Every step will be taken to prevent an existential change in your species.
We do not oppose you. We do not wish to harm or disadvantage you. We have no need for your resources.
In seven days - from now - we wish to speak with a selection of your representatives.
A location has been chosen.
T
The Shadow / 06 / Communique by SteelAngelJohn, literature
Literature
The Shadow / 06 / Communique
Even with the Armada - as the American media called it - hanging in the sky, Farid and Nour's days always began the same way.
They woke up together, because when one of them woke up, the other always would. It would always be early, and in the half-light of dawn, they'd talk, and they'd smile, and they'd hold each other.
She would get up first, because she always needed to be first into the bathroom. He'd lay there and wait, because he was content to do that. She'd take her shower first, then she'd take her medication, each one at a time so she knew she got it all. After she took her spironolactone she'd look herself in the mirror. She'd tu
"Maybe," he said,
"Ghosts aren't what we think they are."
My eyebrows aloft, an obvious query.
"Maybe the ghost is made when
We die the first time.
Whenever that is."
I'm not walking down that same street any more.
I'm in a room three hundred miles away.
I see sharp steel and crimson and
I start
To haunt
Everywhere
I go.
I breathe, because I have to.
"Maybe we're already all ghosts,"
I riposte, blade gripped between
Sharp inhalations.
"Or that," he concedes.
Or that.
The Shadow / 05 / Extrapolation by SteelAngelJohn, literature
Literature
The Shadow / 05 / Extrapolation
Xian rubbed a hand over her eyes, cursed her choice to quit smoking again, took a breath, and started speaking.
"So the final numbers of what we are calling the Armada appear to be seven thousand, six hundred and thirty nine. Plus the original shadow. That's a lot of objects. Thus far we are calling them objects because we can't make a solid decision about what they actually are yet, even if we think we can assume."
The faces all around her looked worried. The speakerphone she was addressing just looked like a speakerphone. The people on the other end of it probably looked worried. So they should. She was worried, too, and not just because
Crabulon: A Tragic Comedy by SteelAngelJohn, literature
Literature
Crabulon: A Tragic Comedy
CRABULON CRABULON CRABULON CRABULON CRABULON CRABULON CRABULON CRABULON BEWARE yon alchemists - working formulae to create forms that don't exist BEWARE what deeds they do - such maleficence a moral person must eschew BEWARE for the hour is late - thy crustaceans will be bred with such inhuman hate BEWARE mighty Crabulon - he shall strike thee down and all your witty friends anon March forth, dire foe, perchance to nip toes CRABULON CRABULON March forth, evil thing, for the Crab King CRABULON CRABULON CRABULON CRABULON DESTROY eggs inside our kin - parasitic symbiosis is a vile sin DESTROY tis an awful sight - when yon mutants hath a weapon forged of deadly light DESTROY chitin versus flesh - and such mortal things as us will surely meet our death DESTROY us for evermore - like the state of Denmark, we are rotten to our core March forth, dire foe, perchance to nip toes CRABULON CRABULON March forth, evil thing, for the Crab King CRABULON CRABULON CRABULON CRABULON Steel thyself
We thought this small town was the entire world It turned out the entire world was a small town There's always a factory (or bakery or mill or what have you) that was closed or sold off to some out of town man in a suit The reasons for these clusters of people lost to the churn of socioeconomic change and an uncaring market All that changes is if we know the faces that we see literally every single day Waiting for the next lynchpin to be sold off for profit to some investor in an office somewhere (probably friends with the council) Until all we are left with is the distant city and the charity shops and the old houses and the hospital that never seems to have enough staff for some reason Either you make it out or you wish you did or you dig in and you die here And they have a hundred different reasons for why the people move away every single one is wrong all of them are wrong And all night long the lights buzz in the Bosch painting of concrete that is the bus station a hundred
On Acheron, or LV-426, With dust in air and chill of twilit sky, A world we tamed with our mechanic tricks - I witnessed how the colony would die. Co-ordinates just so upon a map Titanic shape dreamt by inhuman spark And from the hold, that fell benighted gap Came deadly shadows, bladed, sleek, and dark We never knew the threat until too late As ribcage fractures out to bloom new life Of ink-black chitin, void of love or hate That severs flesh and family like a knife And thus unleash this death amongst the stars - She said there were no monsters, but there are.
i think many of us spring out of something inherently selfish desire shapes our existence our existence was desired generated to fill a void or sate a chemical requirement just like walking into a pet store but we regret to inform you that a void-filler is for life even if lifes lottery doesnt deal us a dose of crippling conditions we have the unfortunate habit of having our own whims and being our own people which as i can imagine is not what you asked for but then we never asked for this never asked to inherit disorders diseases damnation so who is keeping score right?
"Maybe," he said,
"Ghosts aren't what we think they are."
My eyebrows aloft, an obvious query.
"Maybe the ghost is made when
We die the first time.
Whenever that is."
I'm not walking down that same street any more.
I'm in a room three hundred miles away.
I see sharp steel and crimson and
I start
To haunt
Everywhere
I go.
I breathe, because I have to.
"Maybe we're already all ghosts,"
I riposte, blade gripped between
Sharp inhalations.
"Or that," he concedes.
Or that.
Winter [04] TRouBLeSHooT by SteelAngelJohn, literature
Literature
Winter [04] TRouBLeSHooT
"What made you stop fighting?"
Death-From-Above looked up toward Wintermute sharply. Her nostrils flared just gently, in surprise at the bluntness of the question.
The two of them were alone in the galley of the Starlight. In the Drift, every other member of the crew had something to do - but Death-From-Above had very little function when they were in the dimension between, and Wintermute wasn't sure what he was meant to be doing anyway.
So while he sat cogitating, or whatever it was he was doing with the computer in his arm, she had been stripping down her rifle. She was polishing the lens of the scope when he'd spoken, the first word she
Winter [03] eXPLoRaTioN by SteelAngelJohn, literature
Literature
Winter [03] eXPLoRaTioN
The next few hours were very busy, for Wintermute-263.
He slept, but then he woke up and regretted it. Sleeping reminded him of being inside the box, and if there was anything that he didn't want to remember, it was being inside the box.
Captain Thosh had spoken to him, before he managed to rest. They were still in the medical bay; he'd shooed everyone else out.
The speech had been a long one, and every now and then, Wintermute wondered if the Captain had rehearsed it. It was a rundown of where and when they were, and what he was, and what rights he had, and why it was wrong that he had been treated as he had.
"I'm sorry to interrupt," Wi
Winter [02] WHo aM i by SteelAngelJohn, literature
Literature
Winter [02] WHo aM i
"Tell me about his arms, Mirielle."
"Atrophied, Captain. Gone. They were dead weight. So Rusty and I are replacing them."
"Yepyep, Captain. The right was simple, just a straight replacement. Put some gloves on and it'll be indistinguishable. The left..."
"More work?"
"The datajack he-"
"Why is it a he?"
"Why are they an it, Roma?"
"Fair point. Sorry. No offence meant, Mirielle."
"Definitely some taken."
"Back on task. Rusty. The datajack."
"It's heavy. Wired into the nervous system. Can't take it out even if I wanted to. So rather than have the brain bear the full load, I figured I would incorporate part of the jack operation into t
"Maybe," he said,
"Ghosts aren't what we think they are."
My eyebrows aloft, an obvious query.
"Maybe the ghost is made when
We die the first time.
Whenever that is."
I'm not walking down that same street any more.
I'm in a room three hundred miles away.
I see sharp steel and crimson and
I start
To haunt
Everywhere
I go.
I breathe, because I have to.
"Maybe we're already all ghosts,"
I riposte, blade gripped between
Sharp inhalations.
"Or that," he concedes.
Or that.
Current Residence: Ryde, Isle of Wight, UK Favourite genre of music: ROCK! Operating System: Windows 10 MP3 player of choice: WinAmp Favourite cartoon character: Optimus F*cking Prime! Personal Quote: Don't quote me on that.
Merry Christmas, folks. New writing projects on the horizon. Sorry there haven't been any recent updates - not that I think anyone may have noticed - but there will be more coming.