8FOLD/ACRA: Orphans of Mars: To Bell The Cat # 6

Andrew Perron pwerdna at gmail.com
Sun Oct 12 03:09:50 PDT 2014


On 9/4/2014 7:45 PM, Tom Russell wrote:
> Nisja of Titan lives for the space of three breaths after the rex's
> teeth cut her clean in half at the waist. And in those three breaths,
> she has time enough, in a fragmented sort of way, to reflect upon both
> her life and the circumstances of her death.

That is a good way to follow up a cliffhanger.

>     She has been alive for fifty years, as great and holy Saturn turns.
> Few Titanians made it to three, but few had access to cryogenic sleep.

I was going to say.

> Few left Titan, either. Few wanted to. But Nisja wanted the stars, and
> she wanted adventure, and most of all she wanted money, and so she was
> glad to leave Titan behind for the glories of Deep Space and the
> employ of the Pulse.

GASP!

>     Until she heard the whispers. Until someone recognized her not as
> the only Titanian in Deep Space, but hazarded that she might be the
> only Titanian in the universe. She returned to the system of the One
> Star, and to Titan, and found that the whispers were truth.
>     She went back into cyro for another year as Blink made its way to
> the dread planet Mars. And when she woke, she found that it, too, was
> a dead world. Save for one city, of which she made short and brutal
> work. All the other survivors had fled to the stars, to find new
> worlds to terrorize. Most of them fled the system, since Mars had
> killed every other world, save for the violent Earth, fearsome Venus,
> and inscrutable Eris.

Hmmmmmmm, yes. The Martians were fuckers. u.u

>     And so to Earth she came, and here she failed and died. She can
> feel the Eridian nanites in her body fleeing into the thing that has
> ended her.

Hmmmmmmmm!

>     A nagging little voice in her brain tells her that this is
> worthless; this is futile. No matter how fast she goes, the rex is
> going to go faster. No matter how well she hides, he will smell her.
> The mud she used to disguise her scent washed off in the sea. And what
> few arrows she has left will be of no use against its hide. If her aim
> was true, she might put out its other eye. But as her attempts to fire
> upon the Titanian demonstrated, her aim is far from true.

Don't give up, ya jerk!

>     "Thanks. Now, run."
>     "Not without you," says Fenn.
>     "No, she's right," says Ress. "She'll just slow us down. Life is the word."
>     The little bitch seems a little too happy about that. But that's
> Nerrine's fault, at least in part.

Yeah maybe a little, ya jerk >:/

>     Fenn screws up her lips in thought. "Well, you never specified
> which direction."
>     "Fenn! No!"
>     Fenn rushes for the tracker.

:D

>     "Bitches of shit," says Ress, quietly.
>     Nerrine stares at her. "What are you waiting for, Ress? Save yourself! Run!"

DUN DUN DUNNNN. Yay for ethical quandaries for characters who are trying their 
damnedest to be unethical.

>     "Here," she says, tossing an automatic beam weapon to Nerrine.
>     "What are you doing?"
>     "I don't know," says Ress.
>     But she does know.

:D :D :D <3

>     The weapon is DNA-coded. If any hand but the Titanian's touches it,
> the pain will be excruciating, as Quasha learned. Quasha is a
> mountain, a warrior. Ress is but a slender whisper. There's a reason
> why Ress's weapons of choice are manipulation and murder. She would
> not last even a single breath fighting anything straight on. After
> trying the weapon, Quasha looked as if she would spend the week
> recovering. What will it do to Ress?

Mwahahahahaaaaa.

>     "Oh, apparently it ran off after you atomized its tail," says Fenn.
> "That was ridiculously kick-ass, by the way."

Heeheehee <3

>     Maybe it wasn't for Nerrine, though. Maybe this spontaneous and
> stupid act of bravery is what she needs to solidify her standing in
> the group. She was going to tell them the story of how she tried and
> failed to save Nerrine, but it plays a whole lot better if Nerrine
> tells them the story of how Ress tried and succeeded. Maybe she knew
> that, deep down, and maybe that's where all that came from.

Want. To. Hug.

>     "You did a great deed," says Quasha, putting her huge hand upon
> Ress's arm. "To my shame, long have I said words to your detriment.
> But you did prove yourself as true a Daughter of Mars as fair and
> noble Jarissy. A sister of battle."
>     Ress quietly mouths a thank you. She wishes Quasha hadn't mentioned
> Jarissy. When Ress thinks of Jarissy, she calls to mind her face, her
> laugh, her lucky cudgel. Her murder. Her murderer.
>     Ress is crying now. Damn it. It's bad enough she cries in private,
> bad enough she can't control it. Bad enough that Petara and that bitch
> Nerrine saw her crying. But she doesn't want Fenn and Quasha to see
> it. She doesn't want Kellin to see it.

Mwahahahahahaaaaaa

>     Fenn nods. "Hey, Quasha. Come with me?"
>     "Why?" says Quasha, as if Fenn was crazy. Crazier than usual, anyway.
>     "I want to show you my stitches," says Fenn wryly.

Heeheehee. <3

>     "You give," sobs Ress. "You work yourself to exhaustion fixing
> everything for everybody, repairing everything, and you just keep
> doing it, you just keep giving. And all I do is take. I can't..." Shut
> up, Ress. Shut up.

Augh ;.; HUGS.

>     Kellin at long last relinquishes the embrace. She stares at Ress's
> knees. She swallows, then: "I know. I have always known, Ress. And I
> have always loved you."
>     Ress almost laughs. "Why?"
>     "Because you're the only one I don't hate," says Kellin.

Oho.

>     "You know," realizes Ress.
>     "That's what I've been telling you," says Kellin. "I know who you
> are. I've always known. Now. Let's talk about how we're going to make
> you Imperatrix."

GASP. o.o Fascinating.

>     And the eye. The eye that ever burns, burns no longer. The scabbing
> is peeled away by tiny arms, and an Eridian eye peers relentlessly
> into the night.

MEGA GASP. <3 <3 <3

> Readers who also follow me about on the Book of the Faces might recall
> that I announced, and posted a cover image for, a dead-tree version of
> our favorite Martians, with an anticipated release sometime in early
> September. Personal issues have pushed it back, but before the end of
> this year you, your friends, family, and enemies can purchase ORPHANS
> OF MARS VOL. 1: EARTH COLONY as either a trendy little paperback or
> (hopefully) one of those new-fangled e-books. The second volume,
> collecting the miniseries that we have just concluded here, should
> follow a few months later...

WOO <3

> Those volumes will not, however, be collections of RACC materials, but
> will be completely new and slightly longer novellas that continue the
> story of Ress, Nerrine, Quasha, and all the rest. The intention is to
> see of course if the characters and their world can reach and engage
> with a wider audience. So I'm trying to re-imagine it as a series of
> cheap, pulpy paperbacks-- the reader pays a few bucks, I make a few
> cents in royalties, and maybe I get lucky and it turns out "lesbian
> aliens fighting dinosaurs" is something that can develop a fan base
> and branch out into other media. Or maybe that's pie-in-the-sky stuff,
> but at least it'll be a few extra pennies in my pocket.

Hmmmmmm!

> As such-- outside of a few Mighty Medley one-shots here-and-there, and
> sly references in the Eightfold universe proper-- this is likely to be
> the last you'll see of the Daughters of Mars and their ancient Earth
> on RACC.

Interesting. Personally, I plan on serializing my future stuff here as well, 
but I can see the advantages of this path. And I'll undoubtedly be purchasing 
those future volumes.

Andrew "NO .SIG MAN" "Juan" Perron, pretty awesome yes


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