Some people have an issue or two with science, because it keeps saying no to all their fond notions. Geocentrism? Turns out that not only is your world not the center of the universe, but itâs an insignificant speck in the middle of undreamt vastnesses and eternities. Souls, destinies,
Libation for the Dead: In a variation. Just as the eldrae burn their dead (to free the spirit, whose nature is of fire, from the body, whose nature is of wood), the equivalent of libations for the dead are burned, not poured out. (Thus, theyâre also usually of quite
Letting Her Hair Down: This trope is essentially enshrined into standard eldrae etiquette, (especially for women, although long hair is de rigeur for both sexes); whether one wears oneâs hair up or down is universally understood as a signifier of whether one is busy working (and therefore should not
Todayâs question for Dr. Science is, âWhat are starports for? Lots of starships call at my hab, and we donât have one.â Starports and starships have surprisingly little to do with one another. If there were only starships and drifts, and perhaps the odd rock, weâd have
Leave No Witnesses: Mostly averted. Given the prevalence of vector stacks (allowing reinstantiation), muses, lifeloggers, pervasive surveillance, and so forth, the sensible criminal finds it much more convenient to so arrange their affairs that it doesnât matter that they were witnessed. Sometimes, nonetheless, played disturbingly straight, by those people
Leave Behind a Pistol: This is not, it should be said, Imperial policy when dealing with the former great or good who have gone bad but still retain a shred of honor. It is merely Imperial practice.
Captainâs log, 11204.9. Weâve come alongside the eighteenth belt mining facility in our securing patrol of Ădeln System. On our way in, we tracked what appeared to be a merchant freighter inbound to the station, presumably lacking the delta-v to go elsewhere. Well, it wasnât a
Le Parkour / Combat Parkour: Something of a standard part of the skillset, even for getting around normally, in the modern era. This tends to come from three places: one, common exposure to how one gets around in microgravity; two, lots of habitats and inhabited planets/moons having less than âstandardâ
Latex Space Suit: Yep, these (âskinsuitsâ, as opposed to âhardsuitsâ) are in common use â by the civilian spacer, anyway, who has no use for, for example, vacuum-sealed hardshell combat armor â although without the ridiculous semi-Stripperiffic elements (Sheer, you say? Heh. That fabric may contain pores, but it also contains MEMS,
IT IS CYBER MONDAY! So, Iâm having the obligatory sale! If you donât yet have my first book â a second is expected to follow early in the new year â nowâs your chance to pick up the Kindle e-book for just $0.99. If you do , on the
Latex Perfection: Unfortunately, no longer nearly so useful as it once was, due to the difficulty of compensating for all the exotic sensoria of all the species out there, never mind the sheer range of possible sensors. (Mass-market cameras, for example, tend to cover everything from high radio bands through
Laser-Guided Amnesia: Memory redaction. Exists as a technology specifically to let people forget (a) traumatic memories, (b) merely unpleasant memories (âletâs agree that this argument never happened, loveâ), and (c) memories which one is contractually obligated not to have (i.e., a very effective non-disclosure agreement â although the separation