Torn MacAlester's Blog, page 7
August 29, 2023
Short Story: Golf and Outgassing by Torn MacAlester
Golf and OutgassingGraphic By Shannan Albright A sixty-year-old Moon mystery prompts Colonel Annie Macturner to make a risky decision. Intrigued by an interview designed to manipulate, Milton Johnson, a candidate that conflicts with her highly distinguished military background, is selected as her crew-mate. Can Annie solve the landing site mystery and unravel Milton’s enigma before a life-threatening collision with the past occurs? Join Annie on every bounding step of her journey as she traverses the Lunar surface and keeps you on the edge of your seat! Golf and Outgassing by Torn MacAlester Annie MacInturner glanced at the space-suited figure moving toward her […] 
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August 28, 2023
Vignette: Y+1 by Torn MacAlester
Y+1by Torn MacAlester This morning on the Night Watch Live AM, we are speaking with Nick in Montana, who’s been living inside of the blast zone of Yellowstone since the explosion last year. Nick, we have a caller on line two, are you ready for questions from the audience? “Go ahead Sam,” I said, pouring myself another cup of coffee. “I’m ready.” I’ve got Cooter from Texas on the line. Cooter, you’re live with Sam Dean on Night Watch AM and Nick from Montana. “Hey yeah Nick, this is Cooter. Ya doin’ all right?” “I can’t complain Cooter, what is […] Gerd Altmann from Pixabay" alt loading="lazy" class="so-widget-image"> The post Vignette: Y+1 by Torn MacAlester appeared first on Torn Macalester.
August 27, 2023
Short Story: Morgan’s Road by Torn MacAlester
Morgan’s Road a short story by Torn MacAlesterMorgan’s Road, a short story by Torn MacAlester Graphic by Shannan Albright Making a living on the Moon is not for everyone, but Nelson Carmike actually preferred the airless basalt plains over Earth’s windy prairies. Unfortunately, three years of Moon prospecting left him penniless, and without funds for supplies he was doomed to face a forced flight home. Out of options, Nelson had all but given up until a prospector, presumed dead for twenty years, arrives on his doorstep with a secret. Can Nelson figure out how the man survived on his own, and learn to do the same before […] 
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August 26, 2023
Vignette: The Soldier by Torn MacAlester
The SoldierBy Torn MacAlester Image generated by Torn MacAlester using GIMP 2.10.2 with Stable Diffusion AI add on. The Soldier Y+0 Granger realized that the whirlwind month had ended as he headed to the Greyhound bus, hoping to see if he could get a trip. According to the sergeant in the discharge barracks, his chances of getting a home trip to Wyoming were next to nothing. He had the Army travel voucher and four hundred bucks in cash–enough to last maybe two weeks, if his luck held. In the hazy twilight, he made note of the limousine pulled up along […] Gerd Altmann from Pixabay" alt loading="lazy" class="so-widget-image"> The post Vignette: The Soldier by Torn MacAlester appeared first on Torn Macalester.
August 24, 2023
Vignette: The Mountain by Torn MacAlester
The MountainBy Torn MacAlester Original Photo by Jose Vega from Pexels. Modified to grayscale and blurred using GIMP. I sighed, looking at the grey landscape, trying to estimate the direction to the cabin. I abandoned the mountain, like everyone else, when the ash fell. They didn’t expect us to get a lot, but they encouraged everyone to move south if they could, and I could. I loaded the jeep and headed down the mountain and headed south to New Mexico with a relative. After about six weeks, I’d worn out my welcome, and I returned home. Now I […] Gerd Altmann from Pixabay" alt loading="lazy" class="so-widget-image">
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August 22, 2023
Vignette: Sins of the Son by Torn MacAlester
Sins of the SonPhoto by Brett Sayles from Pexels Sins of the Son By Torn Macalester “Did you hear it?” The patient asked over the cacophony of emergency equipment as the doctor worked on him and six other patients that were nearly as bad. “Hear what?” The doctor asked, placing the gauze pads over the burns. “Make sure we clear his lungs. We need a scope in him as soon as possible.” “She’s singing to us.” “What is she singing?” Doctor answered, looking at his eyes. One seemed burned, but the other remained clear. Triage put him in the urgent category, but the billionaire made everything […] Gerd Altmann from Pixabay" alt loading="lazy" class="so-widget-image">
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August 21, 2023
Worldbuilding 4: Articles by Torn MacAlester
The Drake EquationIntroduction: Drake equation developed the equation: where is the rate of star formation, is the fraction of stars that have planets, average number of planets per star that could support life, is the fraction of planets that have life, is the fraction having intelligent life, is the fraction that develops sufficient technology, and is the lifetime for the civilization. The parameter is the number of civilizations in the galaxy. This equation is a series of parameters when multiplied together account for all the factors leading to a civilization capable of interstellar communications. Despite a lot of tantalizing clues, we have […]
PanspermiaFeatured Panspermia Something interesting occurred in the late 1960’s as part of the Apollo program. The uncrewed probe Surveyor 3 was landed in the Ocean of storms in 1967. Part of the Apollo 12 mission, the second crewed landing in 1969, was to retrieve engineering samples from Surveyor 3. That mission was a success, but that is only the beginning of the story. For two years, Surveyor had unintended passengers waiting on the surface of the Moon for 31 months. They were bacteria spores that managed to survive in the vacuum of space. The very fact of their survival begs […]
PanspermiaFeatured Panspermia Something interesting occurred in the late 1960’s as part of the Apollo program. The uncrewed probe Surveyor 3 was landed in the Ocean of storms in 1967. Part of the Apollo 12 mission, the second crewed landing in 1969, was to retrieve engineering samples from Surveyor 3. That mission was a success, but that is only the beginning of the story. For two years, Surveyor had unintended passengers waiting on the surface of the Moon for 31 months. They were bacteria spores that managed to survive in the vacuum of space. The very fact of their survival begs […]Science Fiction and the Drake EquationFeatured Science Fiction and the Drake Equation I started thinking about one of the classic authors of science fiction, and the setting he created for some of his stories. I often wondered what the implications for the Drake equation would be in that particular setting. I’ve taken a subset of the stories for this setting, since not all of the story settings are self-consistent. Let me review the three conditions from four books: Humanity discovers that there are ancient alien civilizations on both Mars and Venus. Life is found on Ganymede. The first two interstellar locations visited by humanity have […]
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August 20, 2023
Worldbuilding 3: Articles by Torn MacAlester
It’s All About PowerPart 3 of World Building for Science fiction: This is the definition of the Kardashev Scale. Since it is a measure of the power generated by a civilization, it is titled: All about Power. In case you’ve missed the previous posts in the thread, Part 1 begins here. The previous post in this thread, Part 2 is here. Image by Pixabay available on Pexels The Kardashev Scale The Kardashev scale measures the technology of a civilization. It expresses the details in one parameter: the power generated by the civilization. The power delivered to the Earth from the Sun (approximately […]
Mathematics of the Kardashev ScaleThe Kardashev scale is a measure of the technological achievement of a civilization. Traditionally, there have been three levels on the Kardashev scale: Type 1 – corresponding to a planetary civilization, Type 2 – corresponding to a stellar civilization, and Type 3 – corresponding to a galactic civilization. The types of civilization correspond to the amount of power the civilization wields. Here is the mathematics of the Kardashev scale. The Kardashev scale is defined by the expression: K℗=(log P – 6)/10 where P is the power generated by the civilization expressed in Watts. For planetary civilizations P=1016 W, K℗=1 (e.g. […] The post Worldbuilding 3: Articles by Torn MacAlester appeared first on Torn Macalester.
August 19, 2023
World Building 2: Articles by Torn MacAlester
It Starts With A ParadoxPart 2 of World Building for Science Fiction Part 2—It Starts With A Paradox by Torn MacAlester Photo by Rakicevic Nenad from Pexels The Fermi Paradox The Fermi paradox tries to answer: Where are they (the aliens)? It looks at how fast travel is across the galaxy. It says by inference the time to explore the 100 billion solar systems within the galaxy. The paradox assumes that the first civilization to emerge will find itself alone the cosmos. Because they find themselves alone, the civilization will try to figure out the answer to the question: Where are they? […]
The Great FilterFeatured The Fermi Paradox creates an interesting dilemma from science. What is the filter that seems to be preventing conclusive evidence of alien civilizations? In other words, what is the ‘Great Filter’? We have several options: Planets capable of supporting life: That might be a deceptive description. What is a planet capable of supporting life. The first indication is that it must have liquid water present. This is certainly necessary but it isn’t sufficient. A better criteria would be the world having sufficiently long time to support life for life to evolve far enough to have intelligent life. Such examples […] The post World Building 2: Articles by Torn MacAlester appeared first on Torn Macalester.
August 17, 2023
Worldbuilding 1: Articles by Torn MacAlester
World Building for Science FictionImage by Snapwire on pexels I wanted to share some insight into the world building process that I am using in my science fiction stories. First off, most would call my science fiction as ‘Hard’ science fiction because of my use of scientific rigor when developing my stories. For myself, it’s part of the reason for storytelling. The situations I like to consider an interesting science or engineering problem as part of my story. As part of that effort, I try to keep the science as correct as possible. The question that every science fiction author faces at some point […] The post Worldbuilding 1: Articles by Torn MacAlester appeared first on Torn Macalester.
