Iris Part 15

Adele stepped out, leaving the girls alone for a moment.
"I guess you've been dying to meet Colin for years" Alice's voice was subdued.
"It is exciting, but he's the first person outside of," Indigo gestured around the boat, "here and the exotic community that will know about me. I'm a bit scared. Sit by me? Please?"

Alice shuffled over so she was properly next to her friend. Indi leaned back a little against her.

Outside, Adele looked across at Colin. "Indi says you can come aboard," she made the invitation sound like a threat.
Colin gulped, and stepped aboard. Adele moved next to him, and whispered "If you ever hurt either of them, I will end you."
"Yes, ma'am!", he said, accent back in force.

She opened the door to the saloon, and gently pushed him in.

"Girls", she announced, "this is Colin. Colin, meet Indigo and my daughter Alice."

Colin stared, then shook himself. "Uh, hi. Um."
Indigo blushed hard "Uh, hi, Colin. Uh, yeah, it's real. Er, Adele? Can you get mum or dad from below. One of them should be here."

Adele nodded, and went below. As soon as she was below decks, Indigo asked "Did she threaten you?"
"Yes?" Colin said softly.
"That tracks. Don't worry about it. She hasn't had anyone shot in six years."
"Is that supposed to be reassuring? And what about" he pointed at her tail.
"I'll explain when mum or dad are here. I figured you had your secrets, this one is mine."

Alice looked on as Colin continued to stand awkwardly in the middle of the cabin. "Oh for crying out loud, just sit down!" she finally burst out, just as Iris came up the companionway, Adele following.

Colin, quickly stood up from half sitting. "Uh, hi Mrs Chandler. Sorry for turning up unannounced."

Iris looked over the slender dark haired young man and sighed. "Well, I see the girls have already introduced themselves. Welcome aboard. Dave is looking after Elizabeth, she's fussing a little. As Alice just said, do sit. Tea?"

A look of absolute relief came over Colin's face. This was something he could deal with. "Yes please, white with two, please."

"I'll look after it. Girls?", Adele asked.

"Yes, please," they chorused back.

"Now, we have some rules. Firstly, no photos, and no telling anyone - not family, not friends, no-one - about Indi. Unless you know some other people who are similarly gifted?"

"Uh, no. No, I don't. Does that mean there are other sorts of people out there too?"

"Oh yes. For example..." and Iris turned to water "I am a naiad, or water nymph." She turned back. "I know you are taking a gap year, backpacking. But what are you doing here, specifically?"

"I came to see Indi. Uh, not like that. Cause we've been sending letters so long and well, I got my passport, and um" as he spoke he sped up, and his accent started to get thicker, and then stuttered out.

#SF #SFF #microfic #tootfic #IAmWriting #NereidIris #UrbanFantasy

when one tool is not enough - why i use different writing apps for different tasks

http://cogmodo.com/onewritingtoolperwritingtask

@drafts
@bbedit
@ia
@obsidian
@ulyssesapp

#blog #writing #writingcommunity #iamwriting #software #drafts #bbedit #obsidian #iawriter #ulysses #ios #mac #apple

Iris Part 14

Adele got out of the ride-share and lifted the duffel bag onto her shoulder. A fortnight in the tropics was looking very attractive now that the girls had graduated from high-school.

Indigo couldn't do the usual sort of graduation trip, and Alice wasn't going to go off without her, so this was the alternative. That she got to go as well was an added bonus. Plus someone had to give Dave and Iris a bit of a break - with a newborn daughter, they had their work cut out for them.

As she approached the Nereid, she saw a young man, maybe 18, staring at the boat with a serious look about him. This was not good. He might be a scout from one of the gangs.

She had not got as far as she had, nor survived retiring, by holding back. She quietly walked up behind him, dropped the bag, and before he could turn, had an arm around his neck, and a knife pressed just above his kidneys. "You are going to tell me who you are, and what you're doing here. Now," she hissed into his ear.

"I came to visit Indigo! I'm a friend of her's that's all! I'm Colin!" This all came out in a rush, and in an accent that made it almost unintelligible. Adele took a few moments to process this, eventually figuring what he'd said. The accent alone was enough for Adele. No-one in the local gangs had an accent like that. This boy was fresh out of England.

She let him go "Sorry, the girls have had a problem with a stalker" she explained "Indigo know you're here?"

"Uh, no, Mrs Chandler. I wanted it to be a surprise." He was talking slower now.

"I'm not Iris. I'm Indi's godmother."

"Oh! The mum of her mysterious friend!"

"Yes. Now wait here. I'll see if Indigo is accepting visitors."

With that she picked up her bag, made the knife vanish, and stepped aboard.

Inside Alice and Indigo were hunched over video game controllers. "Hi mum!" said Alice without looking up.
"How do you know it's me?"
"New camera looking out on the afterdeck. I've got it on my phone."

"Well done. Pause the game please."

The girls paused it.

"What's up?" asked Indigo.

"Are you accepting a visitor? From England."

"What? Colin's here?" Indigo's excitement spiked and then her face fell. She looked at her tail. "I'll have to tell him. Should I let him aboard?"

"That is up to you. Do you think he can be trusted?" Adele's face was grim.

Indigo closed her eyes and thought for a moment. Then opened them, looking straight at Alice. "Ask him aboard, please."

#SF #SFF #microfic #tootfic #IAmWriting #NereidIris #UrbanFantasy

Alistair knew what he was in for when he signed on as engineer on a North Sea fishing boat.

They were rodliners, so there was no way they could afford to pay his wages by fish alone. So they had to have a side gig, and one that was not entirely above board. As long as it wasn't drugs or guns, he was going to be OK with it. Ever since Brexit, everything had become more expensive. So some black market luxuries were not something he was going to begrudge.

It did not hurt that this had to be the cleanest and neatest boat he'd ever worked on. Including when he'd been in the Navy.

So when they pulled alongside a Belgian trawler, he was happy to help transfer cases of wine, wheels of cheese, and a couple of crates of car parts.

Later, though when he went through the hold he saw some additional boxes - ones he'd not seen in the transfer. Being the fool that he was (in his mind at least) he went to the captain.

Marge was a heavily weathered woman in her sixties, and listened to him seriously. Then got him to take her below to see.

On seeing the boxes she grunted, and opened one, and inspected the contents. Dozens of single use pre-loaded syringes. All labelled alike, all looking like they came from a professional lab.

Putting on her glasses, she read the label. Grunted again, and closed the boxes.

When she took him up to the forecastle with a grip on his elbow that brooked no argument he got worried. Then she let go, and lit up a clove cigarette. She offered him one, which he declined.

"I can't stand by if you're smuggling drugs Captain."

"Wouldn't want you to. Two things. One, not my cargo. Two, they ain't the sort of drugs you think they are" came the gravelly reply.

Alistair gave a very intelligent "Huh?" and then "What do you mean not your cargo?"

"Lemme take the other question first. Those were medical supplies. Not recreational. Not on the NHS."

"I guess that's better..."

"Now for the first one. I'm pretty proud of havin' the cleanest, neatest boat in the harbour. Don't come free. We got some live-aboard passengers. Don't never talk about 'em. Pay their way by cleaning up. Lately been doing a bit of shipping on the side too. That's their stuff. I'll put out a bit of extra honey tonight as an apology."

Alistair looked to see if the Captain was having him on. She looked dead serious. "So we've..."

"Never say nothing. OK?"

"Right. And those drugs?"

"Reckon there's a bunch of kids around who'll be glad of 'em ever since the busybodies in Whitehall figured they knew better than doctors. They'll save a bunch of lives, I'm thinking. Wish I'd had 'em as a kid. Would've been easier."

Alistair looked down at Marge's arms, and noticed, amongst the tattoos, a very discrete blue and pink flag.

"OK, Captain. I think I need a bit of sleep if I'm seeing things."

"Good lad. Carry on."

#SF #SFF #Urbanfantasy #microfiction #microfic #tootfic #IAmWriting

Inspired by @Steveg58 and @buddhawilliams

all that snow, it's truly magical. and it felt more impressive to me this year than in the years before, it made me even feel a bit poetic 😅 here are more snowy images i didn't have a chance to post yet...

https://aboutgrau.com/blog/wonderland

#blog #writing #iamwriting #art #mastoart #fediart #photography #winter #snow

Iris - Side note - M.V. Nereid

The boat Dave Chandler purchased was a remodeled ex-trawler. 53' long with a 17' 6" beam, drawing 7'.

The M.V. Nereid has a single 480hp diesel engine and single screw.

On the main deck, the cabin has been extended, and (from the bow) has a bridge, head and shower (port), galley (starboard), two bunk cabins (port and starboard) with a central passage, and a saloon area, opening to a rear deck and swim deck.

Between the saloon area and the cabins is a pair of companion ways, starboard leading to the engine room, and port to below deck cabins. There is a ramp to the swimdeck with handholds left and right, to make it easier for Indigo to get up to the main deck. Yes, Indigo does have rather impressive upper body strength.

Below deck there are two cabins, one bunk, adjacent to the engine room, but to starboard, and a double stateroom in the bow. Both have ensuite showers and heads.

She has sonar and radar, and a SOLAS life raft dispenser to port. To starboard is a hoist for an 8' RIB.

When Indigo is sleeping aboard, she takes the maindeck port lower bunk. Alice usually takes the upper when sleeping over.

When she stays aboard, Adele takes the below decks bunk, sleeping in the lower one.

The starboard above deck bunk is usually used for extra storage.

#SF #SFF #microfic #tootfic #IAmWriting #NereidIris #UrbanFantasy

Iris Part 13

Alice got off the train, and walked down to the boat harbour. After six years her mum had finally decided that it was reasonably safe for her to travel alone on public transport.

When she got to Dave and Iris' boat it was clear that something was going down, as there were several people she did not know aboard. Her mum was with them and when she saw her, waved, meaning everything was OK.

"Hi Mum! I thought you'd be at home, what's up?"
"I got called in for crowd control and to keep Indi company", she smiled, "Today's the day. These folks are selkies, and one of them is a midwife."

Alice's eyes went wide, and she darted into the cabin. "Indi?" she called as she ran.
"In here! Oh, Alice! They're all down in the galley!" Indigo was stretched out on one of the benches in the saloon, her tail slapping against the cushions in excitement.

Alice knelt and gave Indi a hug. "So, big sis Indi any time now, huh?"
"And Aunt Alice!"
"I will, naturally be the coolest Aunt."
"Yep! Oh! Wait! How did your graduation go?"
"Our school doesn't stand on ceremony, thank goodness. I've got my results. Number 16 in the year. Bang on the 76th percentile, just as we planned."
Indi grinned. Part of the plan Alice and her mum had was for Alice to do just well enough to get a good round of offers, but not so well as to attract attention. "Perfect! So when," Indi broke off as a pained groan came from below, followed by Iris shouting "DAVE, I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" and then, just slightly less loud "Kirsten! Give me that fucking jab!"

Alice looked at Indigo.

"Mum just went to water for me. The ultimate C-section. She can't do that with Elizabeth," Indigo explained.

Alice blinked "I never thought to ask. That would have been so strange to see. So she was alone for you?"
"Yep. Dave found out the following morning."
There was another pained groan from below. This time it sounded like Dave.

Looking a Indi's twitching tail, Alice decided a change of subject was called for. "What about your results, do you have them?"
"What, oh, yeah, my results came in earlier. 86th percentile. If I could, I could enrol in just about anything. Actually going to university with you would be so cool."
"Tell you what, I'll go external, too. That way we can still study together."
"Alice - but the whole " she broke off as a new sound came from below - the cry of a baby. Indigo's eyes go wet.
"Congratulations big sis!" Alice hugged Indi again.

Adele rushed in "Did I just hear?"
Indi grinned over Alice's shoulder "I'm a sister!"

One of the selkies came up from below, grinning. "Elizabeth Adele Chandler has entered the world. Mother and child are doing well. Father will, once he gets the use of his hand back."

Adele Ringly, former mob boss, stared in shock. "Elizabeth Adele?"
"Welcome to the family, godmum!" Indigo grinned, "Again."
Alice held Indi at arms length "You didn't tell her?"
"Nope! First name only."

#SF #SFF #microfic #tootfic #IAmWriting #NereidIris #UrbanFantasy

Iris Part 10a

Indigo and Alice were sprawled in the cabin working on their chemistry homework, when they felt the boat shift.

Dave, Indi's dad, called out from the deck "Mail call!"
"We're inside Dad!" Indi called back.
Dave stepped into the cabin with a bunch of post in his hand. He looked around. "OK, pretty good. Where is it?"
Alice pointed to the blanket. "In there", she added.
Indi pulled it back, revealing a gidgi or fishing spear laid alongside her long tail, and pointed towards the hatch.
Dave nodded. After four years there was still a risk of the old business associates of Alice's mum coming after her. The spear was a reasonable precaution, and suitably deniable on a fishing boat.

"Okay then. We've got the next month's assignments for you, Indi", as he handed over a large and thick envelope, "And this", he passed over a much smaller envelope.
"Oooh! A letter from Colin!" Indigo exclaimed excitedly.
"Who's 'Colin'?" asked a puzzled Alice.
"I don't believe I've never told you about him! He's pretty cool - he's been my pen-pal since we were ten. He lives in a fishing villiage in England, at the top end of the Channel."
"So he knows about you?"
"Nah, I sanitise my letters pretty carefully. Mind you, I think there's a bunch of things he's not telling me either. Like I think his family do a little smuggling on the side to go with the fishing. From what I've read it is just about a tradition."

Alice looked at Dave "And you're good with your daughter associating with criminal families? I'm shocked."
Dave laughed "We shouldn't have shown you Casablanca! OK, you two, finish your homework, and then you can read your mail"

With that the two girls settled back into their studies.

#SF #SFF #microfic #tootfic #IAmWriting #NereidIris #UrbanFantasy #SliceOfLife

Glennis Cochrane did well from the divorce from Chuck. Despite his wealth, he had decided to represent himself, and, well, you know what they say about that. That he also decided to represent himself in the criminal assault case resulting from what happened outside the court was just icing on the cake. Court officials do not take well to being punched. 10-15 years before any chance of parole.

She sold the house, and purchased a charming heritage building near the CBD. A two story house with an attic. The estate agent said he was obliged to disclose that the house was haunted. Glennis laughed it off..

The reality was that the house really was haunted. She hadn't seen the ghost, but she'd heard it, and seen the effects.

Most noticeable was that the ghost was obsessive about the way the kitchen was set out. The pots and pans had to be just so. The crockery stacked the right way. And the pantry organised by date.

Once she'd figured that out, the ghost started on the bathroom. Then the living room.

The ghost had strong opinions about art. A Mondrian print ended up on the floor, but a Pollock reproduction stayed. Family photos were safe, but often got rearranged. Sometimes in different ways - it seemed that the ghost had moods. Her own paintings were untouched.

And that brought on the studio. Glennis had cleaned out the attic, and had a skylight put in, and set up the area as a studio. Every morning, her brushes would be cleaned, and but any work she'd covered would be uncovered.

Gradually, she started to feel someone watching her as she painted. Just the edge of a shadow out of the corner of her eye. A flicker of movement. So she started talking to the ghost.

About her day, about the divorce, about the current painting, the day's news. Just talking. When she told the presence about Chuck getting dogpiled by the court security team, she was certain she heard a hint of a giggle. And saw the hint of a figure.

---------------------------

Next we have the most famous work by Glennis Cochrane: "Past and Present" where you can see a ghostly outline of a young woman in formal late Victorian clothes on an IKEA lounge chair, illuminated by a shaft of dusty sunlight.

The artist always insisted that it was painted from a live sitting, but no attribution for the model has been found.

What am I bid?

#SF #SFF #UrbanFantasy #ghost #art #SciFi #microfiction #microfic #tootfic #IAmWriting

life is a mess, humans are unreliable, language is vage at best and now computers are striving to become more and more like us? let's face it: with ai, even the digital has become fuzzy

http://cogmodo.com/fuzziness

#blog #writing #writingcommunity #iamwriting #philosophy #ai #technology #tech

Started the initial release on my book on #amazon and though the cover is available and correct, it's just not displaying for the #ebook. When I reached out to Amazon, all I got back was: "Wait 72 hours. It can take that long". I have been publishing there since 2018 and have never had that happen before.

I have no faith in them and have a feeling I'm going to be fighting them for awhile. So, marketing and showing it off is now delayed. Sigh. #writingcommunity #indieauthor #iamwriting

after many months i'm back with a new blog post. finally! and it's about a thing that bugs me every single day: maintenance and why your daily chores still make sense...

http://cogmodo.com/maintenance

#blog #writing #writingcommunity #iamwriting #philosophy

A travelling zoo and circus has arrived in town, and Charlie and I are having a look around.

Entry into the whole thing was pretty reasonable, but you can see where they really make their money - the snack vendors, the side show games, the usual carnival stuff. The zoo side of things is covered by the entry, as is the big top.

We are wandering around the zoo exhibits, when Charlie stops and frowns. Then she drags me back to the start "Toby," she hisses "take a closer look."

So we start over looking at the animals. It does not take me long to spot what is wrong. And the exhibits have noticed that we're noticed. This could get awkward.

One of the security guards comes over to us "Is there a problem?" she asks. Charlie looks her up and down, and whispers "We understand."

This does not reassure the guard, who reaches for Charlie, and then flinches, shaking her hand. My love has ways of making sure no-one ever touches her without permission. The guard, "Sal" according to her badge, looks at her hand, and then back at Charlie. "Shit. Ok, I gotta take you to the Boss."

Charlie smiles like there is nothing better she'd like to do (which is probably true) and we go to one of the smallest caravans in the convoy. Sal knocks, and says "Boss? I've got a couple of special visitors you need to see."

I can't hear the reply, but the door opens and Sal ushers us in. Inside is a very mundane office. A couple of laptops with extra screens, laser printer, and two people working at desks. One of them, a man in his fifties maybe, points to the chairs opposite him.

He barks out "OK, you've scared Sal. Who are ya? What ya want?"

Charlie takes the lead. "Nothing, I just noticed that all the enclosure locks are on the inside. I'm guessing those people get a cut of the entry ticket?"

"Ya know about them folk. Ya gunna cause trouble?"

I speak up "Nah, I work with a dryad, and we have a werewolf over for games every Thursday."

The boss looks at me "A dryad. That's a myth. They don't exist."

"This one does. Her mum made her."

His eyes widen, then narrow "Ya reckon she'd like ta travel?"

"No, sorry, you might say that she'd put down roots."

"Bugga. Well, had ta ask." He looks at Charlie "You a witch?" Charlie nods. "Right then," and he rummages in a draw pulling out a couple of wrist bands, "put these on."

"And what are they?" Charlie's voice is velvet over ice.

"Nothin like that. All area passes. Ya can even go backstage if ya like. Gotta stay friendly with the local authorities."

Charlie takes the bands, inspects them, and then hands one to me.

Her tone softens "Thank-you. We will return them when we leave."

"Hang onto 'em, we'll be back in a cupla years."

And with that we're shown out. Now we get to have the fun of a chat with the performers in the cages after closing. I guess it is a way of making money out of your talents. I wonder which one is Sal's partner.

#SF #SFF #UrbanFantasy #CharlieAndToby #microfiction #microfic #tootfic #IAmWriting

Recently we have been noticing some odd log files on our configuration deployment server.

Our first thought was that it was some sort of attack vector, but the logs continued to appear even when the server was disconnected from the network.

So we dug in deeper, and the logs were perfectly ordinary job execution logs - except that they were from three weeks in the future.

Roll forward three weeks, and we get an urgent change request to deal with a zero day. We run the job, and that was when our junior commented that the resulting log was the same as the one we saw three weeks ago.

So I'm sitting in my home office now, and I'm looking at the classic Magritte - 'The Treachery of Images' aka 'This is not a pipe'. And I'm thinking "What if he was wrong. What if the label can be the thing?"

Our configuration deployment is called "Ansible".

#SF #SFF #SciFi #microfic #microfiction #tootfic #IAmWriting

my new website design is ready for the world now! here's all what's new...

https://aboutgrau.com/blog/newyearnewwebsite

#blog #writing #design #iamwriting #website #grav #cms

Maintaining an interstellar community is extraordinarily hard. Even within the human worlds, it is difficult.

The hardest part is disease.

Not so much massive plagues - they are easy to quarantine. The tricky thing is the endemic bugs of each world. The things that could run riot in other biospheres.

Smoothing the spread of such bacteria and virii is initially handled by the scout service, who introduce the most common microflora and fauna to new worlds in a well controlled way. They also manage the outward spread of the new world's biome to neighbouring worlds.

But what about after that? How do you maintain a biome that is not going to kill travellers across tens, let alone hundreds or thousands of worlds?

The answer lies in one of the least formal parts of any major interstellar community.

The tramp trade network.

Small independent traders that move from world to world in small ships, moving relatively slowly, and almost always visiting the surface. Picking up the latest mutations in the local microflora and fauna as an incidental, and releasing the latest from the nearest neighbours.

Keeping the local group more-or-less in sync. And the trade routes overlap, and operate in overlapping spheres.

Yes, if you were to catch a fast ship from one end of a large polity and travel to the other end, you might well get very sick. But if you did it slowly, you would get gradually adapted.

The downside is that most travellers over large distances tend to spend much of their time vaguely unwell.

"Space Flu" they call it, and it is something that affects many long-distance tourists. People discuss solutions for it on the news boards almost constantly, and new treatments are always being touted.

What only a few very well informed people know is that this travelling malaise is a sign that things are working as expected. There will never be a complete cure for it, and it would be a disaster if one were found.

#SF #SFF #SciFi #SpaceOpera #microfiction #tootfic #microfic #IAmWriting

We were on a deep survey run out towards the far edge of the Orion Arm that Earth is in, so yeah, we were a long way from home. We're just come out of jump, and were recalibrating our sensors, when the collision warning alarm went off.

We had sealed our suits, and were reaching for the controls when the impact happened. Whatever hit the ship got us in the crew quarters. Fortunately we were all on the bridge at the time.

Marcelo went aft to investigate, and a few minutes later we heard him scream, so we went after him like idiots. We found him backed up against the wall, a hexapod advancing towards him - all sharp claws and spines. When we entered, it turned towards us, so we backed out of the common area. It ignored Marcelo, and followed us.

Now I know what you are thinking, why didn't we shoot it. Simple. We were a survey ship. Yes, we had some small arms, but they were kept in a locker near the gravraft. Heck, the ship itself only had a single turret with a couple of popguns.

So, we backed out, and it followed us - but it is not a big ship, and it was not long before it cornered us.

It pulled a rectangular object out and some sort of cylinder with odd grips. Then, before I could do anything, it was right in front of me, and pushed the rectangle against my suit, and did something with the cylinder. Then it turned around and went back into the the object that collided with us.

The thing that had crashed into us reversed course , leaving a three meter wide hole in the hull.

Marcelo made it back to the bridge with a rocket pistol, but it was all over by then.

We sealed the bridge and repressurised, then opened our suits. The outside cameras showed the other craft just sitting nearby. We looked at the rectangle, and it appeared to be some sort of tablet with markings on it. Some of the markings matched the ones on the craft that hit us.

We puzzled over this for an hour or so, then another larger craft turned up, and opened up comms. That was when the one that hit us left.

It took us a while, but we figured out that they were offering to tow us to a repair yard in the next system. Not having any other clue, we sent an image of the tablet, almost instantly, they had tow lines attached.

Marcelo had been sitting thinking for a while but spoke up once we were underway. "Ceinwen, Dargh? I think that thing was giving us its insurance details."

#SF #SFF #SciFi #SpaceOpera #Humour #microfic #microfiction #tootfic #IAmWriting

Thanks to @Steveg58 for the inspiration.

I have words on the page.

Bloody hell, I have got words down on the page.

Unsure that this horrible Writers Anxiety is beaten, however, I have bloody words of this story, pantsed down on the page!

In your face self defeating writers nightmare!

#WritingCommunity #Iamwriting

Regarding my writing:

Perhaps it's not entirely obvious that I am an independent writer. That is, I don't have a scholarship, I don't have a contract for a publisher... and also, I am not rich. This means that I work without pay... largely. I do this because I want to work my books, not on a PHD or commercial writing etc

If you also find value in what I do, consider supporting me.

https://www.patreon.com/abuseofnotation

https://abuseofnotation.gumroad.com/

https://ko-fi.com/abuseofnotation/

#iamwriting

It was only after I graduated that I realised what a career limiting move it had been to study at Florida Keys University.

#tootfic #microfiction #microfic #IAmWriting #SmallStories #SliceOfLife