The Gwen pt. 6 Arrival

by | Apr 19, 2021 | Fiction | 148 comments

Arrival

 

 20 hours Ship time, compressed into minutes, we  had a concept of what FTL looked like, but this was beyond all conception, not just visual, but a complete sensory experience, like we had never felt, and then it was gone, and, behold…

 

 The System had a large asteroid belt, Tidally trapped by two Gas Giants, good pickings for our Gas scoops, and the rocks! Platinum and Gold! Iron, Bauxite! Were we rich? Why in the hell is this thing showing all this, then, ahead we saw it, the Swarm… 

 “Sensors, you’re getting all this?” Yes Sir, I tried beaming it back on tightbeam as we speak, but where? “ Nav, work with Sensors and figure out where we are, Priority one” Sir!, I Love It when they reply in unison, my boys,

 

 I was looking at what the System wanted but never could afford, now I see why, this wasn’t a Dyson sphere at all, just a few hundred thousand what I call lily pads, mini spheres, rotating like normal, but too small for gravity, what were they for? ALL WILL BE REVEALED, ouch, that was loud, point made, so we chilled and scanned. Then we slowed to the entrance to the inner circle, NOW IS TIME, “OK, quit yelling, fuck!” better? “Yes” what is Fuck? “ oh, just something we say when frustrated” Frustrated? What is this thing?, I ask, why does it know my lingo already? Did it alway know, and is fucking with me? I haz Confuse, to use an old term. There were waystations, at every point, directing energy to the LP’s, it was a truly perfect Dyson system,It showed me the Grav effect the star had on the planetoids, and how they spun up the gravs to match Earths, this was all too perfect, it showed us all these worlds, room for trillions or our race,

Why show me? Why show us? This isn’t a normal Romulan Warp, but something very Hi tech….

Can we get back? We can’t even tell where we are, yet, there is something very wrong here,

To be Continued

 

About The Author

Yusef drives a Kia

Yusef drives a Kia

Punctually illiterate But never late

148 Comments

  1. juris imprudent

    *insert It’s A Trap gif*

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      You will learn, oh yes….

  2. Scruffy Nerfherder

    I’m going to need some acid for this, aren’t I ?

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      yes

    • blackjack

      Hope you’re not busy for the next eight hours or so…

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        Heh

      • blackjack

        Yes, Gimme Shelter played there too and Heavy Metal.

      • blackjack

        Ahh! The midnight movies at the Carriage Square theater. Brings me back. Saw the Song Remains The Same, The Last Waltz, Quadrophenia, Rust Never Sleeps and of course the Rocky Horror Picture show there.

  3. Yusef drives a Kia

    This weekend is gonna be awesome, meeting and old friend for play, and going to Cali to meet up, even more fun!

  4. DEG

    this was all too perfect

    It’s good to be cynical sometimes.

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      helps build drama,

  5. blackjack

    I just watched City of Lies last night. Then, I did the deep dive into the subject matter. This city is a crazy assed place. I thought that Rampart helped straighten things out a bit, but it turns out they swept most of it under the rug. Thank the dogs I outgrew getting harassed by the cops ( well, mostly, anyway). Good movie and a hell of a story in general. I went to pick up food at Poquito Mas right after, directly across the street from where the one cop shot the other. Crazy!

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      I’m so glad to live in my little town, no crime, and everyone is packing, and we have swamps for the bodies, I actually heard that,

      • Muzzled Woodchipper

        I’m so glad to live in my little town, no crime, and everyone is packing[.]

        #metoo

        My town has had exactly 0 murders, 3 robberies, and 13 assaults since 2006.

        One project in Chicago will have more crime than that between 10pm and 2am this weekend.

      • rhywun

        My NYC neighborhood of about 79,000 sees one or two murders a year. The problem is all those other neighborhoods.

      • blackjack

        I saw more violence and destruction in the one year I lived in Pheonix than all the rest of the time when I lived here. Personally observed it. They all thought we were dying like flies out in big bad L.A. I tried telling them, they couldn’t hear it. That was 93-94, btw. If you don’t live in the hood, it makes no difference what their numbers are.

      • Muzzled Woodchipper

        That’s the piece of the puzzle that keeps the efforts at lessening crime from doing anything at all.

        They never state where all this crime happens. Not only is it largely a big city thing, but even in big cities it’s mostly isolated in particular areas. Namely the hood.

        But it’s racist, nee, white supremacist, to say that, and instead decide that to control crime in the south side of Chicago, they have to take guns away from rednecks in the south.

        You can’t fix a problem you aren’t willing to even verbalize.

      • blackjack

        Yeah, and, wasn’t there a subset of society that found a use for masks before the pandemic? Seems a bit off to mandate they wear them now, just sayin’.

  6. Muzzled Woodchipper

    Greenwald, bringing it. Again.

    Truth matters. Noble lies are never justified no matter the cause, especially in journalism. But these employees of corporate media outlets have been taught the exact opposite model: that their primary obligation is to please and flatter the partisan agenda and political sensibilities of their audience even if it means lying or recklessly spreading unproven theories to do it. That is their profit model. And they have trained their audiences to want and expect this and that is why they never feel compelled to engage in any self-critique or accountability when they get caught doing this: their audiences want to be lied to — they are grateful for it — and would prefer that they not admit they did it so that their partisan interests will not be undermined.

    https://greenwald.substack.com/p/the-media-lied-repeatedly-about-officer?token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjoyNDcyMDg5NCwicG9zdF9pZCI6MzUzNDk3MjIsIl8iOiJHeG5aeiIsImlhdCI6MTYxODg3NjM4OSwiZXhwIjoxNjE4ODc5OTg5LCJpc3MiOiJwdWItMTI4NjYyIiwic3ViIjoicG9zdC1yZWFjdGlvbiJ9.TSuxhnlb45s–vT6wgNAcFgYCJGTQT02d2smsCGA6cs

    • Muzzled Woodchipper

      What is most depressing about this entire spectacle is that, this time, they exploited the tragic death of a young man to achieve their tawdry goals. They never cared in the slightest about Officer Brian Sicknick. They had just spent months glorifying a protest movement whose core view is that police officers are inherently racist and abusive. He had just become their toy, to be played with and exploited in order to depict the January 6 protest as a murderous orgy carried out by savages so primitive and inhuman that they were willing to fatally bash in the skull of a helpless person or spray them with deadly gases until they choked to death on their own lung fluids. None if it was true, but that did not matter — and it still does not to them — because truth, as always, has nothing to do with their actual function. If anything, truth is an impediment to it.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        TMITE feels a bit trite when it comes to these people defiling a corpse for their gain.

        Journalists are the snake oil salesmen of our generation and should be treated with the same level of contempt.

      • Muzzled Woodchipper

        I have nothing but contempt for TMITE. Contempt isn’t even the right word.

        I feel TMITE is more responsible for our current social and cultural predicament than the government.

      • Hank

        What’s TMITE?

        I tried an Internet search but I don’t think it was informative.

      • blackjack

        The media is the enemy.

      • Hank

        Harsh, but frequently true.

      • CatchTheCarp

        Over the weekend my local NBC affiliate was still describing his death as a murder. And last week I couldn’t help but notice that NBC national news broadcasts were now referring to the events of Jan as a riot instead of insurrection.

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        OK, thanks for playing, I’m out on my own post ,the depressive stuff sucks, I’m tired of it, see you all in the morning, Fuck….

    • blackjack

      It doesn’t even matter. The blue team cheerleaders have made it clear that they only want to hear the lies TMITE tells them. Even if the bastards still were pretending to care about truth, the twitterati and company would just ignore it. We truly live in a post-truth world.

    • blackjack

      Fuck Apple too. It’s obvious that most of the planning for the ” insurrection” was done on facecrook and twatter. Ain’t nobody trying to ban them. It’s all bullshit.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        Apple execs run in the same circles as Facebook and Twitter and Msft and all the other worst offender tech companies. Apple is just a different flavor of the United States Fascist Tech Conglomerate.

  7. Yusef drives a Kia

    i can’t even tell a story without a bunch of downer shit, this place is depressing, WTF people?

    • trshmnstr the terrible

      The forum is better for keeping in a lane. It’s par for the course that the conversation over here is 50% article at best and at least 50% current events shit.

      *shrug*

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        Fair enough, still can’t stand the downer stuff, makes me want to leave, I’m sick of negativity my friend,
        DGED

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        I struggle with the negativity when I spend too much time here, too. I have to manage my time in order to keep the constant current events BS from making me moody and depressed. It’s a hard thing because the community is awesome, but the topics of discussion weigh me down.

        Relatedly, I’m planning on stepping back to popping in once or twice per week once I go back to work on Wednesday. I want to spend less time on the phone and more time living life.

      • rhywun

        Git more cynical. Enjoy the derp.

        Nah, I get it. I’ve come close to reaching my limit too but I need somewhere to vent.

      • blackjack

        Yeah, when I’ve taken breaks, it’s even worse. All I hear is from the liars and hucksters. It’s inescapable. At least here, people mostly make sense. Hell, I even try to make sense here!

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        yep, at least we are real,

      • Muzzled Woodchipper

        I tend to take a week or two off every few weeks.

      • The Bearded Hobbit

        I struggle with the negativity when I spend too much time here, too

        That’s the way I felt after too many Balko articles at TOS. My rage became an issue of my mental and physical health and I had to finally walk away.

        My mantra is, “I can do nothing so I have to just let it go”

    • blackjack

      It’s a great story and we all appreciate it. I doubt that it’s a good plan to try to prevent us from talking about topical stories from a liberty oriented prespective. Please, however, keep the installments coming. I really enjoy them.

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        All my posts end up as open posts, by design, I’m good with that, just tired of the Site promoting bad news all the time, I’m so over bad news….

      • blackjack

        I feel you on that. I’ve taken a breather for a few days, here and there. I always feel better when I come back and hear from people who have some degree of mooring in reality. It’s been a hard year and it prolly will get worse before it gets better. Just remember, we’re your friends.

      • rhywun

        I’ve said it before but I come here for snark on the downer news.

        It’s important to know how bad it’s getting, but also important to see it with a little dark humor that I don’t get anywhere else in my life.

      • Chafed

        So much this.

      • Hank

        Well, when I think about it your mysterious space expedition is much less of a downer than the earthbound news. I wouldn’t want to miss out on your story because the comments turn you off!

        Sometimes I treat any given post as the equivalent of one of those posts where multiple topics are encouraged. But I’ll see if I can do differently with these Gwen posts.

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        Be yourself please, i;m just tired of downer news, glad you like the Tale,

  8. Hyperion

    “I haz Confuse”

    Not to go into the pedantic, but…

    I haz A confuze, the A is the key…

    • The Hyperbole

      Sure, but he’s 100’s (1000’s?) years in the future so the character’s misuse of ancient slang fits with the way slang is distorted over time, even if he is trying to be authentic to the original.

      I’d expect you nerds to understand this.

      • blackjack

        ‘Sides, it’s all about the confuze!

      • Hank

        A confused I has. This sentence structure, surely annoying is.

      • Hank

        Sorry, wrong story.

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        intentional, makes you pay attention,

      • Hyperion

        Just listen to mr. fancy pants here!

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        This Guy gets it,

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        @ Hyperbole,

  9. Hank

    I have seen the dark universe yawning
    Where the black planets roll without aim,
    Where they roll in their horror unheeded,
    Without knowledge, or lustre, or name.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIMLPlgrv7U

    • slumbrew

      That’s dark, dude.

      • Hank

        I just hope that short film does honor to the full horror of Lovecraft’s vision.

  10. Hank

    Can storied urn or animated bust
    Back to its mansion call the fleeting breath?
    Can Honour’s voice provoke the silent dust,
    Or Flatt’ry soothe the dull cold ear of Death?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYOKMUTTDdA

  11. Hank

    But that I am forbid
    To tell the secrets of my prison-house,
    I could a tale unfold whose lightest word
    Would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood,
    Make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres,
    Thy knotted and combined locks to part
    And each particular hair to stand on end,
    Like quills upon the fretful porpentine:
    But this eternal blazon must not be
    To ears of flesh and blood.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lxOJsJKTlE

    • slumbrew

      Are you OK, man? Those are some dank vids you’re linking to.

      • Hank

        I know – the yarn is the fabric of the universe, and the beasts toying with the yarn are the Elder Gods.

      • Hank

        But thank your for your concern – in fact I’m just as sane as I always was.

  12. straffinrun

    Thx again, Yusef. They can ruin all the other avenues of escapism, but we’ll always have the Gwen.

    • Tejicano

      ”…but we’ll always have the Gwen.”

      And that’s important since we don’t have Paris.

    • slumbrew
      • Chafed

        Thank goodness. I thought it was going to be something from the play.

    • The Last American Hero

      They could tell us how he shot first but his aim sucked.

      Or maybe they could tell us the secret of getting hordes of loyal NPR drones to memorize the words to a musical that deifies a proto-Neocon Republican?

    • straffinrun

      I got a buddy that knows about this stuff. Can I get him over here to take a look at it?

      • Chafed

        Pawn Stars reference?

      • straffinrun

        That’s the best I can do.

    • Stillhunter

      These weren’t his dueling pistols. They were with his father in law in the French and Indian war and with him in the revolutionary war. I shouldn’t be surprised by the responses though. Nobody RTFA.

      • slumbrew

        I did, in fact, read it and & knew they weren’t the ones he used with Burr; just engaging in some Gen X nostalgia.

        TIL, Michael Bay directed that commercial. Needs more explosions.

  13. straffinrun

    Interesting how the Chauvin jury is either going to end up giving Chauvin decades in prison or themselves a death sentence.

    • slumbrew

      Jury votes to convict, quietly gets overturned on appeal in a few years due to Maxine shooting her mouth off. Chauvin dies pennyless.

      • straffinrun

        Jacob Frey feels left out of your analysis.

      • slumbrew

        He gets to pontificate loudly after the initial conviction and will have already moved on by the time it’s overturned.

      • Chafed

        I’m pretty sure he still gets his pension. Having said that, Waters is a despicable race hustler. She reminds me of Sharpton.

      • Gustave Lytton

        And a lynching proponent. Because that’s what she’s demanding.

    • straffinrun

      It is kind of fun watching them try to spin this shitshow in terms which don’t sound like the terms they were using a year ago to describe the same situation.

      • Stillhunter

        I’ll give them a little credit for using the term backtracked. At least that’s not gaslighting.

  14. straffinrun

    Today’s 25 minute sketch. First one of these I’ve tried.

    https://ibb.co/x8yKxRz

    • Chafed

      Well done.

      For some reason I read sketch as kvetch. It may be related to how my day went.

      • straffinrun

        Not good, eh?

      • hayeksplosives

        Oy vey.

    • hayeksplosives

      What in the actual fuck?

      So many issues to cover but they force duck the race thing

  15. hayeksplosives

    I’m a little desperate.

    Can we do a zoom ?

    • hayeksplosives

      Or just call me 612 619 3697

      • Tejicano

        I can chat at your Skype address – I sent an invite to the address you posted yesterday

    • straffinrun

      Throw up a zoom link if you want, Hayek.

      • hayeksplosives

        Ok. Imma try…

  16. topnotchtoledo

    I watched 5 minutes of Seth Meyers just now. He is hilarious. At the end of the night I want to see what the government thinks is funny.

    • straffinrun

      “Taxation isn’t theft” is a pretty good punchline.

      • topnotchtoledo

        I used to be good friends with a guy who had a bumper sticker that said, ” Don’t steal, the government hates competition.” He became a teacher in the most radical leftist county in Maryland. I’m interested in his thoughts now.

  17. topnotchtoledo

    Don’t seem to be able to connect on Zoom but you aren’t missing much. I’m a fan of anyone who knows who Ron Swanson is. I swear I’d love to have his pyramid of greatness on my wall.

  18. Shpip

    Florida Man hilariously decries the locust effect.

    For those of you who are fortunate enough to not be in tune with Florida politics, Sheriff Grady Judd is one of the state’s more colorful pols, and believe me, that’s saying something.

    • hayeksplosives

      Lolz upon lolz

    • Stillhunter

      I’m not a fan of the lack of bail, but frankly I don’t know what we’d expect when media and politicians are doing whatever they can to normalize this shit. People are reactionary. If they are threatened, they will respond, and not typically in ways that favor liberty.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      One of the sane bleeding heart lefties and seemed to be a more or less decent guy for a politician. RIP.

  19. Yusef drives a Kia

    Howdy all you miscreants, another Tuesday, but Yusef is almost in Heaven, Friday I’ll make the Journey, and meet a Goddess, I will love her and treat her like the most precious of gems, for she is one,
    /Happy Yusef!

    • Tejicano

      Very good to hear! Life must be lived. Cheering for you over here on the other side of the world.

    • Gender Traitor

      Good morning, Yu & Teji! So! Yu! Anyone we know? 😉

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        No, just an old friend

    • Festus

      So happy for you, Friend! Grab that brass ring while you still can!

      • Tejicano

        Glad to see we’re still doing Trumpian phrasing ’round here

    • Gender Traitor

      Good morning, U! How are you today?

      • UnCivilServant

        Not as awake as I’d like

      • Gender Traitor

        I’ve found that “awake” is overrated but, sadly, frequently necessary.

      • Tejicano

        That’s going on my tattoo list

  20. Tres Cool

    whaddup doh?

    I got (had) bacon. I’m faded af

    • Gender Traitor

      Any AIGS to go with it?

      • Tres Cool

        Fried, dyed, and pulled to the side..runny AIGS
        Fuckin’ baby-mama put the AIGSlandsBest idea in my head, and now I pay more for them.
        Honestly, Im thinking about getting some chickens. Bees too.

      • Gender Traitor

        Hmmm…I wonder if the township has done anything to abridge our freedoms as far as that’s concerned. I’ve seen a pretty cute coop set-up at Sam’s, but it might be cheaper at Rural King or Tractor Supply.

    • Sean

      I posted a link for ya yesterday. Hope you caught it. It was extra special.

  21. Yusef drives a Kia

    Hello everyone, thanks for the kind words, glad you took the trip with me, much more to tell,

    • Gender Traitor

      Now, about this trip YOU’RE taking in allegedly-real life … Any more you can tell about that?

      • Tejicano

        My guess is that “can” and “will” are two separate things. I can wait until he gets this fire started.

      • Festus

        Heh. Me and Bob are text buddies. I think I know the destination but I’m staying mum. You’ll have to wait until he spills the beans…

    • Tres Cool

      what trip? When are you coming down here?

      HEY YUFUS!

  22. Tejicano

    I was just telling my ten-year-old about dinosaur movies we had when I was a kid. He doesn’t know how spoiled he is with a whole series of Jurassic Park flicks. The best we had back in the day was The Valley of Gwanji.

    • Tres Cool

      No love for the original “Land of the Lost”?
      Sleestaks in rubber suits ?

      • Tejicano

        That was the first one I was looking for on youtube but all I found was some cheesy remake

      • Tejicano

        Why, thank you kindly!

      • Festus

        My Dad packed us into the sedan in our pajamas to see this classic at the Drive-In. https://youtu.be/gSYmJur0Npw I was probably about 5. Wonder why Mom stayed home? They don’t make Dino movies like that anymore.

      • Fatty Bolger

        Wow, looks even worse than I remembered.

      • Festus

        But Prime Raquel in a fur-kini!

  23. UnCivilServant

    *grumble*

    I “Upgraded” my browser and now I’m getting the bug where the most recent articles are not appearing on the front page.

    Anyone figure out a fix for that?

    • Festus

      It’s been happening for me for a couple of weeks. Refreshing the page works for me.

      • Festus

        Such grammar, much good. If I’m commenting I’ve been beering. Just ignore the clumsy usage, please.