Attack of the Pantaloons from the Moon

Dim lights appeared on the darkened stage, then a crackle and buzz of static, and a voice, asking a question.

“What do you mean by pants?”

(Soft chuckles from the audience, but mostly they were quiet.)

“They’ve only been seen at night,” another voice answered. “And for some reason, all the video captures of them are blurry or distorted. There’s no way to tell what they’re doing other than walking around.”

“Pants?”

“Yes, pants. There have been more and more sightings in the recent weeks and days. The director is already calling it a quiet invasion.”

Read More Attack of the Pantaloons from the Moon

The Lunarian

Pike tilted his head up slightly, so he could see more clearly through his helmet. He raised his arm and glanced at the detector in his gloved hand. With his other hand, he pointed straight ahead.

“That way,” he said.

Captain Tai drifted past him, holding her own arm up, so that the light beam panel on the forearm of her suit could illuminate their way.

The dark side of the moon was not just regular dark. It was pitch dark. If not for the trackers, and the back-up trackers, and the emergency back-up trackers, in their suits and their equipment, Pike would have at least hesitated wandering any farther into the unmapped region from which the anomalous signal seemed to be originating. More likely, he would have talked his captain out of venturing ahead altogether. Even more likely, she wouldn’t have needed to be convinced.

Read More The Lunarian

When Sun and Moon Fled the Sky

Mischievous, capricious, boisterous Sun never took her cosmic duty seriously in her younger days.

Many cast light upon the mortal world, but only one, only Sun cast warmth upon the mortal world.

For Sun was always laughing.  Always.  And her great warmth came from her perpetual laughter.

Her elder sister, Moon, cast a light that was calming and dim enough to let other lights shine, like the stars and the planets.

Read More When Sun and Moon Fled the Sky

The Galactic Analyst

I noticed him seeming to notice me, and I found that so unlikely that I almost frowned.  I was extremely skilled at remaining unnoticed.  The Queen of the Hollow Yellow Moon had once proclaimed that I had the power to turn invisible.  Of course, there’s no such thing.  At least, I haven’t come across any such thing in my work so far.

Read More The Galactic Analyst

The Moths in the Moon

When first the moths alighted in the world below, the land of earth, they did so out of curiosity.  And they did so because they were sent forth from their home by their creator.  Their home and their creator were one and same, and she bore the name Moon.

And she was the moon.

Read More The Moths in the Moon

Panofus

Panofus spoke the last words of the spell and flicked his raised fingers in the proper precise configurations.  As he did, another sudden quake struck the tower.  And the room filled with gasps and cries of fear.

One of the children in the group of unpracticed mages standing before Panofus pulled away from the old woman who was holding him.

“What about you?” the child asked just as he began to fade from view.

Read More Panofus

Lantern Light

We bowed to our grandfather, trying to be solemn through our eagerness. He smiled and then he began.

“There is something living in the forest.
It is neither good nor evil.
There is something lurking in the forest.
It is neither human nor animal.
There is something dying in the forest.
He was called to save it.
She was called to free it.
Neither ever returned.”

Read More Lantern Light