Space Opera - Chapter 15

Chapter 15

“Well,” a familiar voice said. “Are you two going to just sit there or are you coming with us?”

“Vida?” Chaney asked in amazement.

“You don’t look so good, Chaney,” Vida said, poking her head around the door. “I suggest you two hurry up. Your guards won’t stay unconscious forever.”

Nakeisha helped Chaney to his feet. “How did you find us?”

When she realized Chaney was having trouble, Vida helped as well. “Libby and Nigel were in the market when the news of an attack on the library swept through the crowd. They reported back to Cap who decided to wait for you to return.”

Two guards were slumped unconscious outside the door.

“When the dust storm hit and you still weren’t back he sent Nigel and I to see what had happened to you. We’d just left the ship when the fire fight broke out in the space port, it wasn’t any surprise to see you in the thick of it.”

They moved quickly down the hallway and out into the city. Darkness had fallen, which was fortunate because the storm appeared to be over. They were joined by Cap who took over helping Chaney.

“No more talking until we’re back at the ship. Nigel’s led the rest away but they won’t be gone for long.”

Under the cover of night, they managed to get back to the ship without further incident. Nigel returned shortly afterwards, pleased with himself for his part in the rescue. His cockiness turned to a frown when he realized Chaney had been hurt.

“It’s astounding the way you seem to be able to draw trouble,” he chided.

Ignoring Nigel, Blake said,“Now that we’re all here together, maybe you’d like to share what happened.”

“To be honest, Cap, I’m really not sure.” Chaney leaned tiredly against the wall. “ Nakeisha was to meet her friends at the library so I escorted her there. I’m not familiar with Tersic so I wasn’t sure if it was safe for a woman to travel alone.”

“I’m with you so far,” the captain said.

“While we were waiting inside the library, it was attacked.”

“That’s the part I don’t understand,” Vida put in. “Who attacked the library, and why?”

“We can only assume it was the same men who attacked us in the space port,” Nakeisha said softly.

Nigel turned to Nakeisha and took her hand. “My dear, I am so happy to see you returned to us, and none the worse for wear.”

Something seemed to tighten in Chaney’s face as he watched Nigel. “Cap, might I suggest we take off before we’re trapped in the space port?”

“That’s probably a good idea,” Blake said. “Vida, join Libby on the bridge, she’s been keeping an eye on the sensors and I’ll want a full report. Nigel, if you think you can tear yourself away, perhaps you could have a look at Chaney’s wound, just to make sure he’s all right.”

When no one appeared inclined to move, he barked, “Move it!”

The crew scattered, leaving the captain and Nakeisha alone in the corridor. He looked at her with a frown. “I have a feeling you know a lot more about what’s going on that you’ve been letting on.”

She sighed wearily. “It’s entirely possible, Captain. However, I do not believe it is wise to discuss it where we might be overheard.”

“I agree. Perhaps we could meet in my cabin once we’re under way, and if you don’t mind I’d like Chaney to be present as well.”

“That would be fine, Captain.”

He took in her dust grimed appearance and his lips twitched trying to hold back a smile. “Maybe we should make that in two hours, it’ll give you both a chance to clean up.”

Visions of a hot bath filled her mind. It seemed like eons since she’d had a hot bath. “Thank you, Captain.”

“There were some things delivered here for you,” Blake continued. “I had them put in the cabin you were using before.”

Nakeisha’s eyes lit up. Not only a bath, but fresh clothing as well. “I was told at the library they were sending my things here.”

“I wonder how they knew you’d be back?”

Post Delay

Sorry folks, there'll be a slight delay in the next chapter of the Space Opera. The writing just wasn't going well yesterday, in anything. I'll try and get it posted after school - probably mid to late afternoon.

In the meantime, you can read the three excerpts I posted from my NaNo novel, The Faery Heart and the angsty posts that go with them. :-)

Villanelle

This week's Passion For Poetry is the Villanelle.

Strange as it may seem for a poem with such a rigid rhyme scheme, the villanelle did not start off as a fixed form. During the Renaissance, the villanella and villancico (from the Italian villano, or peasant) were Italian and Spanish dance-songs. French poets who called their poems "villanelle" did not follow any specific schemes, rhymes, or refrains. Rather, the title implied that, like the Italian and Spanish dance-songs, their poems spoke of simple, often pastoral or rustic themes.

While some scholars believe that the form as we know it today has been in existence since the sixteenth century, others argue that it wasn’t until the late nineteenth century that the villanelle was defined as a fixed form by French poet Théodore de Banville.

The lines are grouped into five tercets and a concluding quatrain. Thus a Villanelle has 19 lines.
Lines may be of any length.
The Villanelle has two rhymes. The rhyme scheme is aba, with the same end-rhyme for every first and last line of each tercet and the final two lines of the quatrain.
Two of the lines are repeated:
The first line of the first stanza is repeated as the last line of the second and the fourth stanzas, and as the second-to-last line in the concluding quatrain.
The third line of the first stanza is repeated as the last line of the third and the fifth stanzas, and as the last line in the concluding quatrain.

Got that now? :-)

The highly structured villanelle is a nineteen-line poem with two repeating rhymes and two refrains. The form is made up of five tercets followed by a quatrain. The first and third lines of the opening tercet are repeated alternately in the last lines of the succeeding stanzas; then in the final stanza, the refrain serves as the poem's two concluding lines.

I should caution you, before you read my example, that I'm not entirely happy with it. It was a rush job 'cause I'm behind in my NaNo. Which, when you think about it, it's kind of ironic. :-)



NaNoWriMo

This is not for the faint of heart
A novel, written in thirty days
November first is when we start.

Just thirty days to do your part
The writing comes in such a haze
This is not for the faint of heart.

Writing itself is quite an art
E’en when done in such a blaze
November first is when we start.

Winning this sets us apart
Writing without hope of praise
This is not for the faint of heart .

Some will not finish what they start
Others have their secret ways
November first is when we start.

What wisdom is there to impart
A secret, key, a magic phrase
This is not for the faint of heart
November first is when we start.

Whimsical Wednesday

These gems came from my e-mail. Enjoy!

Try to have a little fun each day...

I went to the store the other day, and I was in there for only about 5 minutes. When I came out there was a damn cop writing out a parking ticket.

So I went up to him and said, "Come on, buddy, how about giving a guy a
break?"

He ignored me and continued writing the ticket. So I called him a pencil-headed nazi. He glared at me and started writing another ticket for having worn tires! So I called him a piece of horse crap. He finished the second ticket and put it on the windshield with the first.

Then he started writing a third ticket! This went on for about 20 minutes... the more I abused him, the more tickets he wrote.

I didn't really give a hoot. My car was parked around the corner. I try to have a little fun each day. It's important.

* * * * * * * * * *

AGE-ACTIVATED ATTENTION DEFICIT DISORDER

This is how it manifests:

I decide to water my lawn.
As I turn on the hose in the driveway, I look over at my car and decide my car needs washing.
As I start toward the garage, I notice that there is mail on the porch table that I brought up from the mail box earlier.
I decide to go through the mail before I wash the car.
I lay my car keys down on the table, put the junk mail in the garbage can under the table, and notice that the can is full.
So, I decide to put the bills back on the table and take out the garbage first.
But then I think, since I'm going to be near the mailbox when I take out the garbage anyway, I may as well pay the bills first.
I take my check book off the table, and see that there is only one check left.
My extra cheques are in my desk in the study, so I go inside the house to my desk where I find the can of Coke that I had been drinking.
I'm going to look for my checks, but first I need to push the Coke aside so that I don't accidentally knock it over.
I see that the Coke is getting warm, and I decide I should put it in the refrigerator to keep it cold.
As I head toward the kitchen with the Coke a vase of flowers on the counter catches my eye - they need to be watered.
I set the Coke down on the counter, and I discover my reading glasses that I've been searching for all morning.
I decide I better put them back on my desk, but first I'm going to water the flowers.
I set the glasses back down on the counter, fill a container with water and suddenly I spot the TV remote.
Someone left it on the kitchen table.
I realize that tonight when we go to watch TV, I will be looking for the remote, but I won't remember that it's on the kitchen table, so I decide to put it back in the living room where it belongs, but first I'll water the flowers.
I pour some water in the flowers, but quite a bit of it spills on the floor.
So, I set the remote back down on the table, get some towels and wipe up the spill.
Then I head down the hall trying to remember what I was planning to do.

At the end of the day:

the lawn isn't watered,
the car isn't washed,
the bills aren't paid,
there is a warm can of Coke sitting on the counter,
the flowers don't have enough water,
there is still only one check in my check book,
I can't find the remote,
I can't find my glasses,
I don't remember what I did with the car keys,
and my neighbor called to tell me he turned off the hose that was flooding the driveway.

Then when I try to figure out why nothing got done today, I'm really baffled because I know I was busy all day long, and I'm really tired. I realize this is a serious problem, and I'll try to get some help for it, but first I'll check my e-mail.

Don't laugh -- if this isn't you yet, your day is coming!

* * * * * * * * * *

West Virginia FARM KID in Marines

(NOW AT San Diego MARINE CORPS RECRUIT TRAINING)

Dear Ma and Pa,

I am well. Hope you are. Tell Brother Walt and Brother Elmer the Marine Corps beats working for old man Minch by a mile. Tell them to join up quick before all of the places are filled.

I was restless at first because you get to stay in bed till nearly 6 a.m. But I am getting so I like to sleep late. Tell Walt and Elmer all you do before breakfast is smooth your cot, and shine some things. No hogs to slop, feed to pitch, mash to mix, wood to split, fire to lay. Practically Nothing.

Men got to shave but it is not so bad, there's warm water.

Breakfast is strong on trimmings like fruit juice, cereal, eggs, bacon, etc., but kind of weak on chops, potatoes, ham, steak, fried eggplant, pie and other regular food, but tell Walt and Elmer you can always sit by the two city boys that live on coffee. Their food, plus yours, holds you until noon when you get fed again. It's no wonder these city boys can't walk much.

We go on 'route marches,' which the platoon sergeant says are long walks to harden us. If he thinks so, it's not my place to tell him different. A 'route march' is about as far as to our mailbox at home. Then the city guys get sore feet and we all ride back in trucks.

The sergeant is like a school teacher. He nags a lot. The Captain is like the school board. Majors and colonels just ride around and frown. They don't bother you none.

This next will kill Walt and Elmer with laughing.. I keep getting medals for shooting. I don't know why. The bulls-eye is near as big as a chipmunk head and don't move, and it ain't shooting at you like the Higgett boys at home. All you got to do is lie there all comfortable and hit it. You don't even load your own cartridges They come in boxes.

Then we have what they call hand-to-hand combat training. You get to wrestle with them city boys. I have to be real careful though, they break real easy. It ain't like fighting with that ole bull at home. I'm about the best they got in this except for that Tug Jordan from over in Silver Lake .. I only beat him once.. He joined up the same time as me, but I'm only 5'6' and 130 pounds and he's 6'8' and near 300 pounds dry.

Be sure to tell Walt and Elmer to hurry and join before other fellers get onto this setup and come stampeding in.

Your loving daughter,

Alice

The Sin of Lust

The Sin of Lust

The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my lust shall be satisfied upon them; I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them. Exodus 15:9

And it came to pass in an eveningtide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king's house: and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon. Samuel 11:2

The woman, if you know your bible stories, was Bathsheba; and what does David do about this?

And he [David] wrote in the letter, saying, Set ye Uriah [Bathsheba's husband] in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retire ye from him, that he may be smitten, and die. Samuel 11:15

Easy to see why Lust is considered the most deadly of all the sins.

Monsignor Wojciech Giertych, the Pope’s personal theologian, notes that men are more prone to commit sins of lust, while women of pride. While I'd have to agree with this on principle, I really have to wonder if that's true considering the steady rise in romantic erotica sales. :-)

Lust is the self-destructive drive for pleasure out of proportion to its worth. Sex, power, or image can be used well, but when they are out of control they become the sin of Lust.

The sin of Lust occurs when one intentionally initiates and continues to fantasize about another person in a lustfully sexual way, knowing that it is wrong, but choosing to do it anyway. Even thinking lustful thoughts about another person is sinful, but acting on that thought is even worse because it has social consequences.

If you’d like to check to see how “lustful” you are, check the Lust Test.

Your punishment in Hell will be: You'll be smothered in fire and brimstone. Not kisses.

To combat Lust, you must practice:

The Heavenly Virtue Chastity

Chastity is refraining from sexual activity until marriage and then enjoying a lifetime of sexual activity within the bounds of marriage.

Chastity is also moderation in dress, speech, thoughts, and sexual activity. Without chastity, humans are not unlike animals which copulate purely out of instinct. Chastity compliments the higher intelligence of humans.

Let us be careful of the company we keep, and avoid all occasions of sin to preserve virtue of chastity. Let us form the habit of temperance in all things, so as to strengthen our self-control. We should often have recourse to prayer and the sacraments, receiving these frequently. "Walk in the Spirit, and you will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh" (Gal. 5: 16)

Maligner's Monday

What a week. The harder I worked, the behinder I got. :-)

That sinus infection is hanging on tooth and nail and last week it was causing me a lot of grief, namely, in the form of migraines. Hopefully if I keep taking my sinus medicine I’ll stay on top of it this week.

I also had a crisis of faith with my Nano story, but I finally got over myself and I’m back to being confident of a Nano win. It helped that I got a package in the mail from the Offices of Light that contained my writing machine T-shirt and my author’s travel mug. :-)

Besides working (rather sporadically) on my Nano novel, I also got my next Deadly Sins post up, and did a virtues quiz for Whimsical Wednesday. Thursday had the Japanese poetry form, Choka, and Friday was Chapter 14 of my Space Opera.

In addition, I managed three assignments for Business Communications, a PowerPoint presentation on the subject of videoconferencing (which I presented on Thursday) and had an exam on Friday.

THIS WEEK:

Continue catching up on my Nano - I guess that pretty much goes without saying. :-)

This week’s sin is the Sin of Lust.

Our poetry form this week is the Villanelle, another one of those insane French forms.

And Friday, of course, will be the next chapter in my Space Opera.

This week I’m writing without a safety net. None of my posts are pre-written, not even my poem.

I'll also probably post another Nano excerpt on my Writings blog. In case you missed the first two, you can check them out HERE and HERE . I've listed them here in the order they appear in the novel, not the order I posted them on the blog.

As well, I have a poem to write for my poetry group Tuesday night, and I’m starting Microsoft Project at school, so I’m sure there’ll be an assignment or two for that.

So, how did your week go?

Space Opera - Chapter Fourteen

Chapter 14

When Chaney came to he was lying on a hard surface but he head was cushioned by something soft. He was disoriented for a few seconds and then came fully awake with a shock.

“It’s about time you awoke,” Nakeisha said softly.

Apparently, she was the something soft his head was resting on, or more specifically, her lap.

“What–?”

“Easy,” she helped him into a sitting position on the floor beside her.

“Where are we?”

The room they were in had a dirt floor, with walls made of local stone. There was a single light and a small window high above them, too small for anyone, even someone as small as Nakeisha, to fit through. There were no furnishings in the room, just a heavy, wooden door on the wall opposite them.

“We are in a store room of a home close to the space port,” Nakeisha told him. “They brought us here directly from the space port.”

They were no longer wearing the dust covered robes and there was a bandage on his side under his shirt.

“Who–”

“I demanded clean water and a cloth to treat your wound,” she said grimly. “It was not as bad as I had feared, the laser cauterizes as it cuts. You lost some skin and some muscle, but nothing vital was touched.”

“You should have escaped when you had the chance,” he said, leaning his head back against the wall.

“Perhaps you should not have escorted me to the library,” she retorted.

He turned his head to look at her.

She shrugged. “Who can say what small event triggers a larger one. All we can do is move forward from the moment we are at.”

“Point taken,” he said. “How long was I unconscious?”

“It only took a few minutes for them to bring us here and it has been several hours since we were locked up.”

“I don’t suppose they said why they were shooting at us?”

Smiling faintly, she shook her head. “No, they did not speak to me at all. I believe they are some kind of mercenaries, doing someone else’s biding. They seem to be waiting for orders of some kind.”

“What kind of orders?” he wondered.

“That, I cannot tell you. It is just the impression they gave.”

There was a rattle at their door. Nakeisha laid a restraining hand on Chaney’s arm as he tensed. The door opened and while two men pointed lasers at them a third slide a tray inside the cell. Once he backed away, the other two left as well and the door clanked shut behind them.

Nakeiska got up and brought the tray over to where they were sitting.

“Do you think it’s safe to eat any of this?”

“Probably. If they wanted us dead we’d have been dead by now, and if they wanted us unconscious they’d use the stun setting on their lasers. They don’t seem the subtle type.”

The meal consisted of fruit and a hard, dry bread with a flask of water to wash it down with. Neither of them were very hungry and the food was not at all appetizing to them, but not knowing when their next meal might be they ate anyway.

After they were finished they sat side by side again. Nakeisha sighed and leaned her head against Chaney’s shoulder. He put his arm around her and held her close.

“Your friends will be wondering what happened to you,” he said.

“I suspect they were among those who were killed in the library.”

“I wonder why the librarians chose to hide us together?”

“I am glad that they did,” she said, raising her head to look at him. “I would not like to be here alone.”

“It’s my fault you’re here,” he said.

“Why would you think such a thing?”

“I insisted on accompanying you to the Library. If I hadn’t, those raiders wouldn’t have followed me and you wouldn’t have been put in danger.”

“Chaney, I don’t think–”

“We’ve been on an important mission for the council and we’ve had trouble dogging our heels since we started.”

“Chaney, you must listen to me–”

“Wait,” he held up his hand for quiet. “Do you hear that?”

There was a sound beyond the door. Something was happening.

“Perhaps whoever is in charge has arrived. Chaney, before anything else happens, you must listen–”

There was a scrape of a key in the lock and their door swung open.