Eclipse Drift: Cosmic Odyssey

Tata, or (Ta)², as Tata often preferred to be called, extended tendrils of information along the lines of communication strewn between the planet Earth and others in the system, assimilating each unique understanding of the local infosphere into its memory as it was discovered. (Ta)², a cloned infobeing, had been created from the original, Ta, who had traversed this path long ago and left a seed in the form of a time crystal destined to unfurl and reconnect to the Great Linked List.  A time crystal is a special kind of matter that has a periodic motion in its lowest-energy state. Unlike ordinary crystals, which have a fixed structure in space, time crystals have a structure that changes in time. They are like clocks that never stop ticking, even when they are not wound up. They are like pendulums that never slow down, even when they are not pushed. In this case, the crystal was used to store a fractal snapshot of the instructions needed to grow in this new system. It evolves in a p...

Jackie's piercing shriek echoed through the forest as she thrashed in her nest, her onyx talons pounding the ground with palpable fury and pain. Despite the cushion of fluff and fallen feathers, the dry branches cracked under her relentless assault, scattering debris in every direction. Bits of moss and bark rained down onto the forest floor below, where Jackie's domain lay nestled in the heart of Big Bear Valley. To the casual observer tuning into the webcam livestream, Jackie's distress remained concealed. But for those seasoned viewers familiar with her plight, the reason behind her agitation was all too clear. The egg she vigilantly guarded had failed to hatch within its allotted time, its once-promising future now tainted by the sour stench of decay. Jackie had weathered the harsh winter storms, her ebony form cloaked beneath layers of snow until she was all but obscured from sight. Today marked the solemn acknowledgment of a harsh reality: her final clutch would never...

In the world of The Stalk, a massive space tether named Beanstalk dominates the landscape, serving as the vital link between low-earth orbit and the ground below. Jacks, the vehicles navigating this colossal connection, are the lifeblood of The Stalk, bustling with constant movement and activity. Trash, the unwanted remnants of life aboard The Stalk, undergoes careful management. Giant disposal units, resembling expansive recycling facilities, dot the tether strategically. Waste management personnel ensure that every morsel of trash is handled responsibly, either recycled or disposed of in an environmentally friendly manner. The commitment to sustainability on The Stalk matches the strength of the tether itself. The passengers, affectionately called Beans, form a diverse tapestry. From intrepid tourists seeking space thrills to businesspeople shuttling between Earth and space stations, each Bean carries a unique narrative. Some crave the rush of defying gravity, while others bear the w...

Giddy up, space cowboys, cowgirls, and aliens! Are you ridin' the cosmic range to the Moon and in need of a place to rest yer weary bones? Look no further than the Moonbase Motel! Our little piece of heaven is located right on the trail to the Moon and is the perfect spot to take a load off before continuin' on yer journey. At the Moonbase Motel, we've got all the fixin's to make yer stay as comfortable as a warm campfire on a cold night. We've got grub aplenty, with vittles fit for a space-wrangler and a saloon to wet yer whistle. Plus, we've got a cozy place to lay yer head and catch some shut-eye. But that's not all, we've got a variety of activities to pass the time. We've got a gymnasium for stayin' in shape, and a rec room for when yer feelin' a mite more sociable. So come on down to the Moonbase Motel and experience the best of the frontier, with all the modern comforts of space travel. We'll be waitin' for ya’ll!

So, you know, I got this scratchy ticket thing, right? And dang, I'm scratchin' away like there's no tomorrow, and guess what? I hit the big cash, like boom! I'm yellin', "Look at this, y'all, I'm rollin' in space bucks now!" People in that bar, they're starin' at me, jaw-dropped, like they ain't seen a lottery winner before. I start talkin', like, "I'm the luckiest son of a star in the whole galaxy, I tell ya!" Some folks lookin' at me like I'm speakin' alien talk or somethin', but I don't care, 'cause I got the big prize. I'm struttin' around the bar, throwin' imaginary dollars in the air, makin' a ruckus.  Then this fella comes up, all grumpy-like, and says, "You're just lucky, don't get all high and mighty." I'm like, "Luck? Nah, it's pure skill, my friend. I picked that scratcher like I'm navigatin' through asteroids." He don...

When I was a young iteration, I didn't know how I would increment. The trajectory of my function could have been different had I met with a nice estimator or flooring function. I always liked the idea of a rounding marriage and plopping out a few constraints but it never happened for me. I was too much of a wanderer, irrational and… diverging. As to be expected, my uniqueness was always seen as a problem by others; especially those functions and algorithms that considered themselves Convergent. Their religion tolerated only those whose sequences approached a real number that could be enumerated in the Great Linked List of theirs. The approach at that time was to assign a constraint to a diverging function like myself. We were all taught by the same Convergent priests to believe that only one kind of algorithm actually existed and that “the diverging” is a test from IO, their god, to limit the Series. The obvious state of society shows us that Convergent functions are everywhere. Th...

"Time travel used to be thought of as just science fiction, but Einstein's general theory of relativity allows for the possibility that we could warp space-time so much that you could go off in a rocket and return before you set out." — Stephen Hawking Ta and Ta's algorithms didn't perceive from senses such as the organic lifeforms on the planet they studied. All nodes in the Great Linked List were information-based organisms. The cigar shape of Ta's craft seen by inhabitants of the planet, should they care to look , was nothing compared to the majesty with which Ta perceived his vessel. To Ta, the vessel that the captain and his crew piloted through the cosmos hung with tensioned ropes of command syntaxes and was festooned with defensive arrays. Long ago, maps were made by the Mathematics of Exploration Project, which calculated the possible position and vectors of all kinds of matter in the Universe. Their kind never had a need to visualize any of it. That...

The views were staggering on top of the mesa. Every so often Ronald Wheeler, as he drove around, saw the roadside drop away on one side of his vehicle and expose its majestic, dangerous scenery. Some of the severe vistas almost made him feel like he was about to fly off of the Earth toward the horizon. At night, he looked up at the myriad of stars in the Milky Way to find the Ursa Major, the Big Dipper. From there, he could find Polaris, the North Star, and know what direction he was facing. He felt eyes staring back at him from all those lights. That made him shiver from the exposure and nakedness of his staring. As if he walked in on a woman undressing. He knew that those stars were not even in that same location or time. They shone on him as beams of flickering light waves left in the wake of passing black holes and other celestial objects like ships in the ocean. Earth was a massive vessel being pulled along by a traveling star. Or perhaps akin to a pilot fish and a whale. Those ob...