700 by Chipka
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Description
There is no sound in the perfect vacuum of interstellar space, and yet the Nemaeans listen: if not to vibrational sound itself, then at least the RF emissions, the synchrotron wail of distant black holes, and their own ship-voices carried on lancing beams of domesticated tachyons.
We have learned to listen as Nemaeans do. The universe has opened to us. What we hear (or think we hear) are mysteries beyond our comprehension. Common chatter between Nemaean starships is as cryptic as the talk among aliens. We can guess at what our Nemaean neighbors might say to one another, but we can never be certain of what they actually mean. Their sprawling, interstellar society diverges from ours, and so their concerns are (ultimately) not our own. Words and the meanings of words have all shifted away from their baseline norm, and so we may learn of one triad of ships (or another) making its way to one target (or another) but beyond that, we can only guess at what agendas drive their captains, their crews, or the desk-bound administrators who decide what ships go where.
We may watch them fly from here to there (or there, and there) and we may guess at what resources draw them. Nemaeans, like us, are human and so their needs are well understood. They require volatiles for every aspect of life from biological necessity to fuel for their leviathan ships; they require metals, exotic materials of arcane and inscrutable pedigree. There are those among us who recognize them as human, but I often wonder what this word means, when it makes reference to the strangest of our interstellar neighbors. Human: I wonder if Nemaeans even recognize the word.
—Anonymous:
Fragments of a hand-written journal found in the ruins of RSS 700
* * *
It’s been a while since I posted anything Nemaean related, and I figured that for my 700th post, I’d rectify that glaringly wrong situation. I was also inspired to create this post due to the exuberant generosity of Mike (NefariousDrO) who allowed me to steal…um, I mean borrow the Nemaean vessels he’d actually put quite a lot of work into. I find it nicely fitting that this dip into the Nemaean universe is also a collaboration. I plan to do a lot more with the Nemaean universe, and to finally get around to finishing Ilya’s, Aleo’s and Dorianna’s winding and super-convoluted story (they have a few more tales to go yet, and well…Dorianna’s getting a bit impatient with not having her subtle antics committed to digital paper.)
There are a few artists on this site who have truly inspired and/or captured the essence of Nemaea, and I’m rather glad that Mike (NefariousDrO) actually came up with a whole line of starships that exactly fit the Nemaean ideal. If you haven’t seen his gallery, click HERE to check it out. He’s also created his own deliciously rich and complex interstellar society well worth exploring, and well…his ships and space stations rock. You’ll even find a triad of impressively massive Nemaean ships there, among other assorted treasures.
As always, thank you for viewing, reading, and commenting, and I hope you’re all having a fantastic weekend.
Comments (24)
geirla
Great image and story!
minos_6
I really enjoy your sci-fi stuff, so different from your photography. I'm reminded of the opening sequence of 2001: A Space Odyssey, you seem to somehow capture that style. Great piece of narrative, and I look forward to reading your new stories. Congratulations to Mike too. His models are excellent!
durleybeachbum
fascinating, Chip! Congrats on this milestone.
kgb224
Outstanding art work my friend.
SIGMAWORLD
Excellent!
NefariousDrO
Thanks so much for the kind words, but you're work is what truly shines here! The poetic and deeply personal style of your writing really works so well when it comes the the Nemaeans, and the planets here are truly magnificent. Thanks for letting me play in your playground, and I'm certainly looking forward to playing some more in the future!
Vonghese
Nice! I like it when people don't just slap up a picture, but actually use the picture to tell a story.
evielouise
comment byVonghese lol--most don't tell them well this is great!You either copy ad paste the story or try, try,try lol and Chip does it well and fantastic!!
sandra46
CONGRATULATIONS AND HAPPY EASTER!!
Bossie_Boots
Excellent art work and story superb work !!
Orinoor
It's good to see you back and delving into the sci-fi story again. I love the different space ships created by DrO, some of them kind of remind me of Babylon 5. I like your story snippet, really wonderful.
jac204
Great story and image. It is so timely for me because yesterday I was at the Charles Hayden Planetarium in Boston where they did a fascinating presentation on the search for planets outside the solar system.
coyoteviper
really cool ships. like to see them close up.
jocko500
real cool and happy for your 700 or is 007 lol just kidding
mgtcs
OMG....what a marvelous image Chip, this is a superb creation and the story captivates us, you are really a great writer!
helanker
This is a really awesome space scenery. Looks fantastic Chip. So nice to see you post again. Congrats with your 700th upload.
MrsRatbag
Awesome milestone posting, Chip! I'm glad you're back exploring your universe!
RodS
I can't possibly think of a better sci-fi collaboration than your writing, and Mike's spectacular ships! This has so many hallmarks of both Chip and Mike - an EXCELLENT work for your 700th! Perfect! Looking forward to the next 700.
flavia49
very beautiful! fabulous story!
beachzz
Wow, how did I miss this one--and #700 to boot. Truly outstanding work, I love every part of it!!
Sepiasiren
this is amazing--ur so very talented!
CoreyBlack
Great work here as always! Congrats on number 700!
danapommet
I enjoyed this image and narrative very much. The scars on the planet are sort of sad to think about a potential dead or dying planet. Dana
icerian
Dear Chip, Chicago was to little for you. Now you try to show us another places in big Universe :-) Well done 5+