WHEN I FIRST SAW THE BLUE PLANET

When I first saw the Blue Planet

Being advertised on widely on TV

I have to confess that nature wasn’t

The first thought that came to me 

MARS WALK

 After many years of trying

And years of deep space flying

After journeying across the stars

We finally land a man on Mars

 

He begins his walk at sunrise

And then he finds to his surprise

After exploring near and far

An Irish pub and a burger bar

The Tornado Sojourns (3) – Chapter 03 – Picnic

 

It was a bright summer morning as the Tornado’s APMTV, (All Purpose Multi Terrain Vehicle) turned off the main road onto a quiet lane lined with age-old trees that formed a canopy above them.

It was like driving through a tunnel, the foliage was so thick, and the leaves defused the sunlight and dappled the road surface with spots of golden light.

The APMTV was nicknamed the “Stroller” which was an ironic name because when Shiyne or Merri were behind the wheel it did anything but stroll, but on that morning the former was under strict instructions to drive sensibly, at least while Wisma Berita was aboard.

All of the crew were aboard, with the exception of Pulsat and Vanzyl, who were already engrossed in the repair to one of the Plasma Turbine Pyroclast Engines, the damage to which was what had facilitated their extended stay on Eikon Minor, as they going on to the Baringita plains, about an hour beyond the lake, to test drive their recently acquired Hover Dirt Craft, which was a two seater, tandem recreation vehicle.

Apart from being a mad driver Shiyne was a Vann Telepath and was stunningly beautiful despite being completely bald, with cerise coloured skin and purple eyes, but she didn’t need her telepathic gift to detect the strong feelings between Bagg and Wisma.

Nor did she need Wisma to verbalize her direction as she could read her very clearly, but Wisma didn’t know that.

“The turning is just ahead” Wisma said “there’s the sign”

Wisma was navigating as she knew the area very well as visiting the lake had been a large part of her childhood.

High above sunbeams burst through the canopy and illuminated the sign which read “Lake Tranquil”, so Shiyne turned left into a small, deserted pot-holed clearing, which obviously served as a vehicle park.

“We have arrived” Wisma said and smiled at Bagg who returned her smile with interest.

The moment the Stroller came to a halt Bagg climbed down and then took Wisma’s hand as he helped her down, and after Parse had handed him the picnic basket, he said goodbye and closed the door, then paused to look at his companion with pride, before taking her hand again and heading along the path that lead away from the clearing.

After five minutes they emerged from the wood and Bagg caught his first look at the lake, and he was instantly struck by its beauty.

He couldn’t believe he had never been there before in all the times the Tornado had been visiting Gipki.

It was not of course the first time that Wisma had viewed it, but it was however the first time she had seen it while holding the hand of a man she loved.

“The best picnic spots are on the other side” she said and he nodded and they walked towards the head of the Lake where it was fed by a stream.

Breathing fresh air, feeling the sun on his face and the breeze off the water were all the things he missed when he was aboard ship.

When they reached the stream there was a stone bridge that crossed it, Bagg paused briefly before crossing and turned to look across the lake and was again struck by the beauty of the natural scene, it was very pleasing to the eye, then he turned and looked at Wisma and thought that she too was pleasing to the eye and then still holding her hand they continued across the bridge.

 

It appeared that they had the lake to themselves so Bagg allowed Wisma to guide him and choose a suitable spot where he then laid out a plaid picnic blanket

“Milady may now be seated”

“Why thank you sir” she said and sat down gracefully

Bagg opened the basket and produced a bottle of wine, which he took down to the water’s edge, and after tying a piece of string to the neck he lowered it into the water and tied the string to a low branch, before joining Wisma on the blanket.

 

After about ninety minutes of amiable conversation, while taking in the lakeside scenery Bagg said

“I think that wine will be ready to drink”

“Oh good, I’m parched” she said and began unpacking the basket while Bagg got the wine.

 

They spent all day by the lake and couldn’t believe the time when Shiyne contacted Bagg on the comms to say they were already waiting for them in the clearing.

“My goodness” she said “Where did the time go?”

“I don’t know” he said “But losing all that time was very pleasant”

“Yes it was” she agreed and then they quickly packed everything away and walked back the way they came, holding hands again.

 

When they got back aboard the Stroller they found the crew in a boisterous mood, covered in dirt, dust and even a bit of blood and doubtless beneath the grime there was also to be some considerable bruising, and were all eager to regale them with tales of their exploits on the Hover Dirt Craft, which was apparently also dirty battered and bruised.

 

Bagg and Wisma thought their first date, which was how the crew described it, was a great success, so they made plans for a second and a third.

Whenever the Tornado was on Eikon Minor the two of them were virtually inseparable and both of them were amazed by that and the fact that she had found love again and he for the first time.

Over the months, that love deepened, possibly because of the periods of time they were apart, but they tried not to analyze it, but they did have discussions on the matter of how the relationship might develope.

In particular whether he should give up his nomadic existence to spend more time with her or should she give up the bar to travel with him, although for the time being they concluded they should just maintain the status quo.

 

ACROSS THE VOID OF SPACE

 

Across the void of space

The alien race from Danubiah

Came only to destroy us

The human race they call Terravian’s

These Huge Terrifying creatures

Slimy with dripping talons

And the sole reason they came

With only vile and evil intent

The reason we had to fight them

In the mud and the blood and the fear

Because our emissary of peace

Our ambassador of understanding

Voyager one had entered

The Transdanubian space way

CERES

 

The frozen Dwarf planet Ceres,

The largest asteroid among the stars

Between the belted giant Jupiter

And the red planet of war Mars

The Tornado Sojourns (3) – Chapter 02 – The Visitors Rest

 

Visitors were a Christian sect who took to the stars with the first migrants to visit new worlds, spreading the word while seeking enlightenment, and they had established Visitor enclaves in every corner of the known universe, they even thrived in Mehreen space and they were the least spiritual beings to ever draw breath.

The difference between Visitors and the established Christian Church on earth was its spontaneity, they didn’t wait until Sunday to worship, they did it wherever and whenever it was desired, and it didn’t need to happen in a church, Visitors worshipped everywhere.

Visitor Parham felt blessed, and thanked God for placing him on Alwi at the moment of Merionwen Strong’s great need, and for facilitating his enrolment on the crew of the Tornado.

Which had given him new purpose in life at the time he was floundering, he felt needed on the freighter, admittedly more for his cooking than his ministering, but it felt good for him to be part of something.

Bagg, as he liked to be known, left his home world, Mars, as a young man and set off into the stars to spread the word, and he had never returned, and was still travelling thirty years later, and he had a lot to be thankful for, being part of the Tornado family for one and being reacquainted with his brother Trebreh and his family for another.

 

When you were a Visitor, meeting family was one of the rarest of occasions, when there were two Visitors in one family they were almost impossible.

Apart from his brother Trebreh, who he hadn’t seen for twelve years, and his wife Xandra there was her brother Ale, who was his boyhood friend and a host of nephews and nieces whom he had not met before, in the agrarian settlement of Montrose on Eirkos, where he and the crew were regular visitors.

But after being reunited with his family he found himself, for the first time in his life, regretting not having a wife and children of his own, thought his regret was short lived as he had enough blessings in his life to count, he did though occasionally feel lonely, especially on a ship full of couples, rare though those times were, but he always found cooking a batch of scones helped.

 

On the Tornado crew’s first visit to Eikon Minor they went into town of Gipki, they all went off in different directions, with different needs to fill and as he often did, Bagg headed for the market place and went in search of the herbs, spices, dried and desiccated fruits that he needed to replenish his cupboards.

He loved markets, even if he didn’t need many provisions he would never give up an opportunity to stroll around among the abundance of food stuffs on offer and allow him to indulge his passion for the exotic foods, and his vocation in one fell swoop and when he had completed his task he headed for the rendezvous point, which was a bar and restaurant.

He grew a couple more inches when he saw that the hostelry was named The Visitors Rest, and it quickly became a regular spot for him and the crew.

But the Visitors Rest didn’t take on its true significance for him until the day he met the new owner Wisma Berita, because that was the day he fell in love for the first time.

 

Wisma Berita was a mature woman a year or two younger than him and the first time he saw her he was smitten, she was certainly not in the first flush of youth, and she was a widow who had bought the pub from her brother in law, the previous owner, who had retired after a health scare.

Wisma was no stranger to hospitality, she had been doing it since she was a girl and that was where she had met her husband, and they had run a place together until he died and then she had run a bar on her own as well since, though not anywhere near the size of the Rest.

She could quite easily have lived a comfortable life with her inheritance, but chose to work instead, and she chose Gipki because that was where she had been born and raised.

 

Bagg was beyond fifty in years with long white hair and a short trimmed beard, tall and disproportionately thin, but cut an impressive figure in his full length pale blue robe, tied at the waist with a royal blue cord and this was beneath a full length dark blue leather jerkin, and he carried a simple roughhewn staff which was undecorated but for a carved cruciform relief a few inches from the top.

Wisma was still a very attractive woman, 5ft 6 inches tall with nice legs and a trim figure, and kaleidoscopic hair, which could appear, red, blonde, brown, blue, or black depending upon which angle you were seeing it from.

They hit it off immediately, maybe it was because they shared a similar sense of humour, the same faith and a love of cooking, but in truth their mutual attraction was due to more than them having a lot in common.

When they were on Eikon Minor he found himself spending more and more time in the “Rest” and Wisma spent the time he wasn’t in there wishing that he was, and it went on that way for several months until one day when he was in the bar for lunch, after neglecting to walk the market again.

NEIL ARMSTRONG'S MOON-LANDING ANAGRAM - ONE SMALL STEP

 

A thin man ran

Makes a large stride

Left planet

Pins flag on moon

On to Mars