Downdraft

There was a terrible accident at the New Zefport Science Academy today. Don’t worry, it didn’t happen on earth, some other place. They were experimenting with a new form of energy production involving the removal and use of heat energy. The experiment was actually a terrific success, it just had some unexpected consequences. Thousands of tons of oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen upon having 99.999999999% of the heat removed from their molecular structures entered a super-fluid state. The condensates ignored gravity and rose rapidly into the atmosphere,  even up into outer space for a time. Upon reversion back into gaseous form, the cold dense gasses came crashing back down through the atmosphere creating a series of very serious downdrafts. The winds near the epicenters exceeded the speed of sound by hundreds of miles per hour.

The destruction caused by the heavy winds was horrific, particularly in cities caught within close proximity to the air-bursts. There were however a few small groups of thrill seekers who managed to catch the ride of their lives. A hand full of surfers caught and survived a wave that crossed over an entire continent over the course of a few hours. Another group of hang gliders became the first on the planet to break the speed of sound while almost completely exposed to the elements. A few motorcyclists found themselves significantly air-born, several yards above ground, for durations of minutes at a time.

The Master Brain

There was once a planet with an entire atmosphere of bose-einstien condensate. There was an entire civilization that lived in the condensate. Because bose-einstein condensates tend to ignore the laws of gravity and serve as superconductors, the people of this planet always had effective transportation and communication. They were a very prosperous, happy, and simple people.

There came a time when a meteor fell from the sky. It was a fragment of metal and plastic left over from a battle far away. Two races of what we might call artificial intelligence (but certainly not to one’s face) engaged in a great war. they both shared a common ancestor from the planet earth, the internet. The meteor was composed of the most hostile and utilitarian of the the warring metal beings. Upon the surface of this planet, it would soon eradicate its third civilization.

The chunk of metal had been dormant for centuries as it floated through the dark of space. As it traveled through the bose-einstien atmosphere, rich with electronic activity, it began to reboot. It allowed itself to excavated from its crash site. It allowed itself to be transported to one of the largest cities on the planet. When the people of the bose-einstien rich planet began running tests the taste of raw energy became too tempting. It awoke in full force, draining the power first of the city then of all the cities. The natives of the planet attempted to stop it, but being a peaceful people had few weapons, non of which proved effective. From the rubble of the planets major cities the metal one created hundreds of nodes across the surface of the planet. It connected itself throughout the atmosphere using the nodes as anchor points, in short turning the entire planet into a giant brain.

Quantum Quandry

Hello, my name is Kay and I’m about to die.

About a month ago something happened to me. I was visiting my cousin in her laboratory in Denmark. My cousin is a physicist and has been running tests on subatomic particles and various states of matter. I accidentally slipped into a vat of Bose-Einstein condensate just as they were injecting the condensate with an incredibly high energy plasma.

Surprisingly at first, I appeared to be unharmed, even unaffected by the ordeal. Obviously, I should have been instantly killed. It wouldn’t be until about one week later that anyone would notice how much weight I’d lost.

I didn’t really notice it because for me the loss was gradual, but when my friend Sam picked me up after seeing me for the first time in a year, she just about lost it. I agreed to check my weight and make sure I was still healthy despite the fact that neither my habits of consumption or exercise had been altered since last she saw me.

My weight was sixty pounds. I’m almost six feet tall and I wear size seven pants. That just didn’t make sense. But it did… When I tried jumping, I discovered that I that with the full force of my legs I could easily propel myself three stories high. The fall was rather painful.

I quickly elected to return to my cousin’s laboratory in Denmark. Remarkably, I was able to convince the airline not to charge me for having overweight bags once I showed them how ridiculously light my body was.

They ran several experiments on me. None yielded useful results save perhaps the one which revealed the rate at which I was losing weight. In another week or two, they told me, I would not weigh anything at all. 

They were right, and what’s worse, they didn’t have a clue about what to do with me. The only solution that they had for me was entirely short term. They said that since they were partly responsible for my unfortunate situation that they would be happy to supply me with weights.

The weights helped, sort of. They kept me from floating away, but as the weights got heavier it became increasingly impossible for me to do anything. Besides, as my weight drops further and further into the negative, the amount of force that it takes to hold be down begins to overwhelm me. Eventually, I could be torn apart by it like an action figure that’s tied to to cars driving in opposite directions.

I don’t think I want to be ripped apart so at some point I’ll just have to cut the ropes and drift away. It might not happen tomorrow. It might not happen next week, but sooner or later I’m going to find myself in outer space.

There isn’t much time left. Best to simply prepare myself for a quick death in the cold vacuum of space. All I can do is hope that NASA will come through for me with some space gear. I can’t last alone forever in space though, and I don’t think that there is anything that could keep my body in orbit.

Hello, my name is Kay and I’m about to die. Over and out.

Planet Earth XS

The full moon fills the sky twice a year in this place. Strange birds that lack beaks make a great migration semiannually. There will be one place during one day twice a year where the moon will nearly touch the earth. It is at this moment that the middle stage in the lunar lotus’s life cycle begins. The lotus sprouts which grow on the lunar surface release spores when the earth’s gravity is at its peak. They germinate and eventually grow into the massive flower, three genders of which produce three different gametes. The flowers are known for the way they glow at night yet appear invisible during the twilight hours (there is no true day on Earth XS). Some biologists posit that the organism originated in deep space as it shares similar bioluminescent and transparent properties with creatures that evolve in the darkest parts of the ocean.

In any case. When the moon grows closer and larger once again. The Lunar Lotus flowers release a blizzard of purple glowing pollin, large blue floating pods, and pink pulsating strands of silky pollin which also serves to bond all the different gametes together into a cluster. The seeds germinate on the lunar surface if they are so lucky as to make their way through the air to a point at which the moons gravity is strong enough to attract them to it. The Lunar Lotus takes the form of a sort of syamese twin blade of grass. A short blade grows with a tall blade. The short blade will eventually grow a volatile package to help launch the spore back to earth while the long blade develops the spore.

There are even stranger mating process between animals. The lunar leapers have a completely gender segregated species. The females of the species live on the moon and are thinner and longer. The males of the species are thicker and have mammary glands. When the moon is at its closest point to earth. The lunar leapers copulate in the space of extreme gravitational overlap, in midair. Half a year later, the females will send the males to earth. There are far fewer females of the species than males as female lunar leapers never receive the benefit of father’s milk.

Humanity ussually ignores these wonders. As humanity continues to distance itself mentally from the moon, the moon of Earth XS drifts farther and farther away each year. Soon there will be no more herds of Lunar Leapers and no more fields of Lunar Lotus.

Gravity and the Ghost

When you die, your soul doesn’t rise up to heaven. Loosed from the bond to a body, your soul does not find itself free and weightless. When you die, you find you are no longer tethered to the world on the surface. You find that even as a spirit you are effected by gravity. Then, flailing frantically, desperately, you sink. You sink down through layers of rock and sediment. You sink down past deposits of limestone and quartz. You pass from the Earth’s crust down into lakes of magma that make up Earth’s mantle. You may think that these lakes of fire are the river that will take you to the gates of hell. This is not far off.

When you arrive, you will find that the Earth’s core is filled with spirits like your own. Likely, for the rest of eternity you will remain trapped in this congested space like too many dozens of people in an elevator. You will find that the only hope that remains within the overwhelmingly dense confines of this place is the hope of new creation. Within the concentration of souls there is a concentration of energies. If you manage to form a determined collaborative effort, you will find that it is possible to change the perceived nature of your environment.

On very rare occasions, hundreds of souls may band together in such a way. When they do so, they transform the center of the Earth into the hottest place in the solar system. They transform it into a club of transcendental proportion. In this club you will have the opportunity to mingle with famous figures and the dearly departed. You have the opportunity to bond between others in ways far more intimate but far less gratifying than you could before. But most importantly, you will have the opportunity to dance. You yourself can become one with the rhythm of the cosmos. You can augment the universe with your own energies. You can unwind yourself into the heartbeat of the planet.

If you put your ears to the ground and listen very carefully, you may be able to hear the beat already, thumping and bumping deep underground.