Runic244

O.B.I.T. Although it can now be built by any competent engineer, how the O.B.I.T. machine – the Outer Band Individuated Tele-tracer – works remains something of a mystery.  Clearly, the business about humans being “signal-generators” is at least partially bunkum – sounds do not travel far before randomizing, and any sort of electromagnetic signal is affected by intervening solid matter in the way the OBIT is clearly not – but the machine picks up something that allows it to show people on the opposite side of the planet as pointillist luminous images of themselves, their clothes and objects in immediate con

A drabble. The Third-Rank Hierarch of the Inner Church grinned. He had discovered a clear error of dogma in the annoying Second-Rank Hierarch James of Oxfrd's writings – he was implying that the current Nine Castes were an elaboration of a smaller number which had existed at some time in the past. That was clearly a doubleplus ungood violation of the Principle of Conservatism, under which only the High Council of the two Innermost Castes could recreate Falsepast to bring it in line with Truefuture. A clear case of Thoughtcrime. He wet his quill in the ink and began writing. If he followed Properproc and made sure to put this information in t

As the ship slipped into Underspace, Gort gently laid to rest the fragile body of its android companion and servant. It was a shame, really, but given the humans xenophobia, it had been necessary to give them a humanoid mask through which the Galactic Union could speak to earth, and the android had suffered damage too severe for permanent repair. The humans, which Gort had watched and studied through its various invisible orbiting eyes and those of its servant, were a crude, barbarous, race, their passions and fears most often overriding their reason, but they had potential, and it would be a shame if in their pursuit of "safety" through eve

The Sasquatch, or Big Foot, is the only non-human member of the Higher Primates to possess natural psychic skills. It has long used its mental abilities to avoid humans, being of a peaceable nature. (Although the Sasquatch's mental ability to read is prey's mind make it an excellent hunter, the same ability makes it extremely unpleasant for the Sasquatch to kill anything brighter than a fairly dull rabbit). Given its high intelligence and tendency to bury its dead in well-concealed locations, it was a mostly mythical creature to the early Amerindian settlers, variously seen as helpful, a prankster, or even (most unfairly) outright evil. Rarel