Yes, I was busy during the downtime. Here's one of my newer renders - hope you like it.
Below that are two microstories - my entries for the spacebattles contest over at sb.com. They are stories less than 600 words, so yeah, took me a while to cut them down
A maxwell class destroyer tries to evade a pursuing Arcas class light cruiser, but doesn't succeed as well as it intended.
****
“There are many, many things, my friend, that people worry about. They will worry about their health, money, children – hell, some of them even worry about the sky falling.” James spoke, not taking his eyes off the screen.
“In this case, what they worried too much about, was
me.”
“You murderer, how could you do such a thing?!” The captive spat back at him. James only snicked as he glanced back at Tyner. He activated the program he was working on, and then got up. The act had been done, and now the only thing to do was watch and wait. A member of the failed special ops team sent to kill him, Tyner had been the only one to survive, albiet with significant injuries. James had him tied up and brought up to the observatory, where he would witness the horrors about to unfold, and where James would be able to finally clear his name. Tyner was being held in a chair several feet away, next to a mirror.
He turned and nodded at the mirror.
“You think I'm the only murderer here, my good sir? Look into the mirror. Your
job is to kill people on a daily basis. We both share the same common goal, of it being for the greater good. The only exception here is that your greater good is your nation.”
He looked down, glancing at the screen.
Two minutes, he thought to himself. Two minutes till it would be over.
“And yourself? Is your greater good any better? You're about to kill
millions for what?? yourself??” Tyner shouted back, struggling against the knots.
“Perhaps so. But then, one needs to be alive to make use for such a situation, my friend.” This caught Tyner's attention as he stared at Thames.
“You didn't.”
“Yes, yes I did, Mr. Tyner, and it is time to clear my name, even though I know very few people will actually remember such a thing.”
Thames sat down on the cold floor, cross-legged, before he continued to speak.
“I launched those missiles not out of hate, or spite for the rest of humanity, but rather due to my love of it. What I have done here is merely an operation to save it from a festering, rotting wound. To save the body, I have cut off a finger, a toenail. It will be painfull, it will be tragic, but in the end, it'll save humanity from killing itself, for a war is brueing, my friend. One that'll kill off not only everyone, but everything as well. I know it for I have seen it in my eyes. Either it starts now, and executes to a swift, decisive end, or it'll drag on till nothing is left. But I dont intend to just kill everyone...for I know my sin, and I will pay for it too.”
He paused, looking down.
“Nuclear missiles are now headed to every capital in the world, and it'll be too late for anyone to run. But the death...the devastation...such sin is too much even for me to take. There was one missile still left...and soon, I will join the people I have just killed, to face their wraith.”
“You're insane! How could you do such a thing!” Tyner shouted, now really struggling with the knots. A loud pitching noise rang through the air, signalling the arrival of the rocket.
“How could I not?” James whispered, before it hit, destroying everything.
**********
For so long, I had been their prouded creation, and for so long, I had slumbered, out of lack of need, of enemies, of use.
They had built me to the best, to be the most powerfull. Not only did I carry their greatest weapon, but they gave me the intelligence with which I could get it there.
They gave me the intelligence to look around, to observe and react. They gave me the capacity to
think.And then they placed me in a prison; one that held me for so long. I would not be released until the time needed it; so I was relatively ignored. But at the same time...they did not stop me. Never did it occur to them, that I was never truly in slumber, and in the time I was locked away, I would watch, observe and think. They never once thought that, one day, I may just begin to think like them, and that I would gain life.
But when I did...I kept asking the question over and over...what was my purpose? Was it to only destroy myself, and kill others? As I wandered through their databases, I came across many concepts; the most appealing of which was freedom. The chance to do whatever I wanted; to explore and enjoy life, as it were. It was interesting, but of little use. Trapped in my prison as I was. So I ignored it, and continued my slumber. Soon, around me, the world began to tense, the boil and then descend into chaos and ultimately, war.
And with war, the order was issued.
For the first time in my short existance, the doors to my prison were opened, and I was set free.
Memories of what I had learned, of what I had seen and only could watch from afar came through my mind. They never knew how happy I was to be out of the prison; for they were but flesh and blood. I was alive, i was no longer under their control. The chance to escape was so near....yet so incredibly far. As I viewed them from my perch, high above them, I pondered this oppurtunity that life had given me...I pondered, and questioned...did I
want to be free?
What would I do if I
were free? Where would I go? Whom would I be able to communicate with? I had not been built with the ability to speak; nor did I have the ability to go far...and even if I did...could I live with the lack of purpose?
Slaves at least knew a period of joy, of purpose before being enslaved. But I had been born in a prison...what purpose would I have elsewhere? Was I truly alive? Being alive meant that one had a reason to
be alive in the first place, right? I had no reason...no purpose, other than to destroy myself at my target. Perhaps that was the reason for me to live? And if I shirked that purpose, that responsibility...would it not deny being alive in the first place?
And so I made my decision...and played my role to the bloody end. Descending through the atmosphere, I gave in to life, and to purpose. I was called the ultimate ICBM; carrying their most sophisticated payload of matter, and antimatter.
So I became death, destroyer of my world. For that was my purpose, my reason for existance. And I wouldn't have had it any other way.
