Radio Sphere (10 page)

^{24. The only unit of planet—side distance measuring worthwhile, 1 devron is equal to approximately 2.1 meters or 6 feet and 9 inches.
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^{25. Don’t you know anything about modern advances in cinema? The technique of crowd sourcing movies was soon to follow the failed gimmicks of found footage and the reintroduction of AromaRama in 2068. Crowd sourcing allowed for groups of Refulgents to make films with smaller budgets and less work, but since no new movies have been made in hundreds of years people watch these poor excuses for entertainment as if they were grandiloquent works of art. It started as a simple trend of movies made by people from across the world, who’ve never even met in many cases, using social networks. As the popularity grew and these movies became monetized by corporations, they became the focus of the media producing industry due to their low cost and speed of production. A craze in full swing by the time Iola was born. Of course, technology did that thing technology does; gets smaller and smaller until it lives within you mentally and physically. People could watch movies any time they wanted. They could even make a movie on the fly. Yet even in the times before after—the—end there were issues. Most issues were the result of the human mind’s ability to accept the images, only happening to few people with a precondition for mental inflexibility. Combine that with the failure to maintain the devices and their ability to be passed down to a child in the womb, the devices themselves believed inoperable after we came, some strange things began happening in isolated cases. For instance, I dissected a boy whose corpse was found in a pond. His mind’s final act was to record memories of his past on the date storage he was unaware of even having. He was twelve when he drowned and apparently was most interested in a small red three—wheeled cycle device he rode regularly some six years earlier. The red cycle’s construction was poor quality and the boy’s stability was worse. Some other boys rode around a street with maternal figures watching over them from nearby. Is that a human thing? When I dissected several of my own kind after the crash, many had final thoughts of the crash itself. They had thoughts about how to survive and their minds conjured images of what that survival might look like on a new planet. My own mind had images of a great spire—tower they’d build as an embassy to Earth in several generations. Did we die thinking of the future while they die thinking of the past? Is there any relevant psychological or sociological information in that? I know my final thoughts, this new me, will be of nothing at all. There is no imperative. Does it imply anything about where we believe we’ll go ‘after’? The great no—after. The known universe is merely a limitation to overcome— with time it will expand and become known to itself. Limitations are quelled with time.
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^{26. A cemetery once surrounded by state wildlife refuges and forests; long been my home.
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^{27. Global warming caused exponentially growing fear well into the 2200s. The result of this fear was massive deforestation, because Refulgents in groups posses no logical capacity or reason. Luckily, as has been the case through all of known human history, a handful of intelligent people existed as well. Two of them created invisible—to—the—human—eye algae webs covering much of the Earth’s oceans, in the atmosphere, and elsewhere that more than make up for the loss of nearly all plant life on the surface of the Earth.
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^{29. A science—fictional film from the year 1985 B.T.E.
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about a retro—futuristic world and an oppressive totalitarian state in which Robert DeNiro
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plays a renegade air conditioning repairman. Their odd estimations of the future were all considerably incorrect from what I can tell, but interesting none—the—less. Why does the air conditioning need repairmen?
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^{30. While we are uncertain of the total number of years in this period previously referred to as “A.D.” we do know that it has been about 200 years since “The End” as the nuclear derived electromagnetic pulse event is commonly called, so the period of years before this era are called “Before The End” merely for dramatic effect.
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^{31. POTUS 52, after the generally considered failed presidency of a John Quincy Adams clone, President DeNiro steered the country into a cultural golden age of entertainment that restored the standard of living throughout the 68 states. Their POTUS is much like our Grand—Zeal. Centralized thinking for the greatest of good in an ever darkening and dangerous world. What would we do without them.
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^{32. Hypothetically speaking the mammal races of the earth are vermin, they can be extinguished with relative ease, however the bugs of this world are much further evolved in this sense and could survive much greater a calamity than even the Refulgents could. The usefulness of insects outweighs that of man, although many of their uses are in relation to the food chain. Refulgents eat the bugs, and in an accident of fate, animal milk was no longer readily available or widely remembered. Instead, almond milk was the norm, which generally speaking improved the health and wellbeing of the creatures who devour it.
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^{33. Flowers bursting out from a single point explosion launched high in the sky; once a symbol of the country chemistry was an important step in human understanding. It is quite amazing how they’ve lost most science, in that it is not taught but imprisoned in books long forgotten, yet religion has suffered the same fate. It will be interesting to see where they land as more of them have no knowledge or nostalgic stories of the previous Earth.
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^{34. Light strong strings played with discord and plenty of sinister factor playing against tubas, oboes, and French horns playing “Dire Wolf” by the Greateful Dead.
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^{35. This particular Torch could launch 45 miniature flare—bullets in 9.6 seconds in rapid fire mode. Each bullet burns at 2251 degrees Fahrenheit and could melt anything from a book to a man.
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^{36. Red has various connotations to the people of this land: fire, risk, death, courage, and passion. I think, weirdly, that Liz meant some combination of all these and more.
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^{37. Vincent van Gogh’s still life with ginger jar and apples, long mistakenly thought to be a representation of a fictional foodstuff before the rediscovery of “fruit” as historical fact. Also, if you recall, the source behind the alternate title of the first log. You know, now that I think about it, it has been several decades— maybe more— since our last contact. This transmission may reach you in transit to my location, or may reach a dead planet, best to believe you are on the way. This solar system is the future of the Lebagir.
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^{38. Frank Weston Benson; had the impression he was American like twenty five hundred years ago or whatever. His marble statue is all blotchy though; painter of Elanor on a picket fence.
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^{39.
“Don’t think, as they do, that the charm of an artist’s work must be found also in his own personality. It is always apart, or should be, should have nothing to do with it, and that is what makes it such an infernal trade. Never to play on one’s own twopenny flute but to keep the big end in view always; to remain patient and cold and quiet and work like a dog from morning ‘til night; there is no other way of arriving even at talent, unless one is cut out of larger stuff than I am.”
Dennis Miller Bunker, painter of the Pool at Medfield.
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^{40. It may be clear as an autumn lake, which is a body of various quantities of dihydrogen—oxide, but there is no water in the substance we call ייַשׁםדּ. The nearest substance I’ve found on earth might be jet fuel.
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^{41. Felis catus, monsters in their own right and cuter than any other.
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^{42. Two songs they seemed to mimic from the real world; I could only tell by comparing the notes I had on file; Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 by Bob Dylan and Swan Lake by Tchaikovsky.
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^{43. The old capitol of the old world. Famous for its dome that depicted the night sky underneath and was used to observe the heavens as a symbol, a watchful eye of providence, that beamed like a lighthouse across the land.
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^{44. Mastery over the human language took time to construct a practical vocal database: “Perhaps there was a time when humankind would dream of the possibilities of space. I’m sorry to say we’ve cut those dreams short… We didn’t intend to frighten your people, we didn’t expect your people to react so violently, self—sacrifice you call it? Either way, I am sorry that our coming has delayed humanity so much.” After a few real—time exchanges I was able to fix the errors in my articulation.
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This novella would not exist if not for the hard work and support of Hollie DeFrancisco. I’d also like to thank Wells Fargo without whom the release would have come one year earlier. Finally, Dan, Mike, and Mike, D.J, and Terri – none of whom are reading this – all of whom I hope are writing still.