Christopher B. Wright's Blog, page 16

Barrels of Kerosene, and Plenty of Matches to Spare

It all started with this series of tweets.

It’s kind of a joke for those of us who have been around long enough to suffer through multiple iterations of site redesigns and upgrades, but as someone who is largely responsible for administrating his own site I’ve got to keep on top of patches and security fixes. This year Drupal released a number of emergency patches for somewhat severe exploits that caused me to drop everything and patch like mad.

I don’t say this as criticism. As far as I’m co...

Barrels of Kerosene, and Plenty of Matches to Spare

It all started with this series of tweets.

It’s kind of a joke for those of us who have been around long enough to suffer through multiple iterations of site redesigns and upgrades, but as someone who is largely responsible for administrating his own site I’ve got to keep on top of patches and security fixes. This year Drupal released a number of emergency patches for somewhat severe exploits that caused me to drop everything and patch like mad.

I don’t say this as criticism. As far as I’m c...

City of Knives, City of Glass: Part Eight

Crossfire Safehouse

“It’s starting.”

Senator Morgan’s voice cracks as he says it. His hand shakes as he sweeps a stray bit of hair out of his eyes. He is very pale, and sweating profusely. His eyes are wide, and terror shines out of them like beacon fires. But he’s still hanging on, despite it all.

“I’m here.” CB sits down on the couch next to the senator. “Right here.”

“You might not want to be.” Senator Morgan speaks slower than he usually does, concentrating on the words he wants to say. “I...

City of Knives, City of Glass: Part Seven

City of Glass

David doesn’t like being a passenger in his own body, but he takes some comfort in that he isn’t a prisoner. He can, he realizes, retake control over his body and mind at any moment—it is trust and active restraint that is allowing Allard to take control.

Allard turns David’s face away from the maelstrom, focusing on a patch of nondescript, empty space far in the distance. David can’t see anything, but he can feel Allard’s certainty that something is there.

The mix of golden ligh...

City of Knives, City of Glass: Part Six

City of Knives

Under normal circumstances, David wouldn’t think that diving toward a near-infinite cosmic storm of unfathomable power was a good idea. But the dot of white fire now glows so fiercely that it hurts his eyes, and rapidly changing altitude is one of the fundamentals of avoiding artillery fire. Since the storm is already exerting force, trying to draw them down, he can dive faster than he can climb. So they dive, arcing away from the dot of white fire as they descend. The fire dims...

City of Knives, City of Glass: Part Five

The Nautilus, Atlantic Ocean

Robert Thorpe stares at the image of the bruised, spiky-haired man on his monitor, mind racing to process the new information he’s just received.

“How sure are you about this?”

CB shrugs, his gaze shifting to something outside of the monitor’s view. “Toby is absolutely certain of it.”

“And you believe him?” Robert doesn’t bother hiding his skepticism. “He hasn’t exactly been particularly high on our list of people we trust.”

“Yeah,” CB agrees, “but we trust him to...

City of Knives, City of Glass: Part Four

Somewhere Else

I am unraveling.

David winces as the glowing ribbon of flesh tears away from his hand, pulled inexorably into the maelstrom below. The pain is significant now, as if he were grasping a red-hot brand with his bare flesh. The pain spikes, and his arm ripples, his skin twisting and expanding as more of it pulls away. Spidery lights flicker across the surface of the maelstrom below, somehow keeping time with the pulses of pain coursing traveling up his arm. With each pulse he can fe...

City of Knives, City of Glass: Part Three

Crossfire Safehouse

Senator Tobias Morgan stares down at his hands. They’re trembling slightly—either from fear or exhaustion, CB can’t tell. The Senator certainly looks exhausted, and if everything he’s saying is correct, he has plenty of reasons to be afraid.

“The government is full of cabals.” The Senator’s voice betrays nothing of the tremors in his hands—it is as strong and confident as it has always been. For most of the time CB has known, he’s hated the smug surety in that voice. Now it...

City of Knives, City of Glass: Part Two

Almost a Dream

David Bernard stands on the cracked stone floor of an open dojo in the middle of an endless grassy plain. A warm wind blows, carrying with it the smell of dry soil. The sky is clear and blue, and the sun shines hot on his face and neck.

He glances around the dreamscape, briefly wondering if this is the one he always uses, and not a clever counterfeit. It feels right, which probably means more than whether or not it looks right. The only thing that doesn’t seem right is that he’s...

City of Knives, City of Glass: Part One

Crossfire Safehouse

The chair in the center of the room looks like it was taken from an old black-and-white horror film—a mashup of an electric chair and the table Frankenstein’s monster was strapped to just before it came to life. It’s made of heavy wood, with metal clamps along the arms, legs, and torso, all closed and locked firmly in place. The back reclines, but at the moment it’s set fully upright—not a comfortable position, especially when all of the clamps are locked in place. The man...