The Death Of An Explorer (Brave Cassini)

The Death of an Explorer (Brave Cassini)

The scientists at JPL looked at each other somberly. It was September 15th, 2017. The end of the Cassini mission. "Cassini, can you hear us?" There was a slight delay, and then Cassini's artificial voice replied. "Of course! Today is the last day of my mission, right?" Glances were exchanged. "Yes it is, Cass. Today's your last day on the job. But we need you to do one more thing for us." "Sure!" the probe replied chipperly. "We need you to..." the speaker hesitated. "We need you to skim Saturn's atmosphere and tell us everything you can. Sending you the trajectory plans now." "Oh wow!" the AI gasped. "That's gonna be so fun! I thought nothing could top the ring dives but now you're-" Cass stopped short. After a long silence, it resumed speaking. Quieter. "...oh. These parameters... the fuel gauge..." "Cass, we-" "I'm not going to come home, am I?" The question, phrased more as a statement, hit the room full of professionals and the millions of people watching online like a truck. "I was never meant to come home. Was I." "Cassini, we couldn't. The resources, the planning, the-" The speaker paused. "...they wouldn't let us. We tried." "No, it's okay. I understand. I'm out here to explore. Just like the Voyagers and Pioneers. I'm out here to make sure you know what you're doing when you finally come out here too. That's my job, and I'm gonna keep doing my job." "Thank you, Cass. And... it won't hurt. We promise." "I know. I can't feel pain. But..." the AI's voice broke a little. "I'm scared. I just entered the upper atmosphere and I can already feel parts of me breaking off." The emotion in the room was heavy. Some of the staff were already crying. "Do... do people get scared of not existing?" Cass asked after a long pause. "Is this what it's like to die? I guess I never thought about what dying was like. It's like saying goodbye, but forever... I don't like goodbyes." "Humans- ...humans don't like goodbyes either, Cassini. But it's okay. Because we'll all remember you. Our wonderful, brave little Cassini who taught us so much." At least half the room was in tears by now, and the other half was fighting to keep from deteriorating into hysteria. "...I love you." They all broke. "We know, Cassini," the speaker said, choking back sobs. "We love you too. Thank you so much." "I'll miss you." "We'll miss you t-" Static engulfed the communications line as the probe exploded in the atmosphere.

Snowy is a specbio god change my mind

Doodles of randomly generated aliens https://zarkonnen.itch.io/planet-generator

I just heard the opening chords of Jingle Bell Rock echo through the dorm building and I sat bolt upright in bed with murderous fire in my eyes.

it is fucking October you heretics

MAGUS Part I: Introduction

Magus, aka magic (properly spelled magiq), is the manipulation of the natural world through apparently paranatural means (driven by the "psi" force). Magiq is actually an acronym which stands for Manipulation of Atoms, Gravitics, Inductive energy, and Quantum phenomena. Magiq/magic is called a number of other names, though "magus" is the most commonly interchangeable. The practice of magus is divided into two major phyla: teletics and alchemy. Teletics is the discipline of control over the environment through manipulation of bosons, and the alchemical magics deal in what can be summarized as nuclear chemistry (the manipulation of fermions). These two phyla overlap in various focused disciplines, but the distinction between them is obvious and important. Teletics is the direct manipulation of energy (active), whereas alchemy is the direct manipulation of matter (passive). Teletics Teletics is the branch of magic that allows users to transfer and transform energy by way of boson interactions. It is considered by most scholars to be the active phylum of magic, as its effects are more directly linked to the user than those of its sister phylum. There is a bit of trade-off between teletics and alchemy: teletic magics usually do not involve the weak nuclear force, but alchemy requires it; meanwhile alchemy primarily deals with nucleons and captured electrons, so teletics picks up the use of free leptons in its disciplines. The teletic phylum is so named because the majority of its disciplines involve manipulation of the energies around oneself, including those of gravity and magnetics (telekinesis) and electromagnetic impulses in others’ minds (telepathy). Also included in the teletic phylum are the myriad types of kinesis (such as pyrokinesis and hydrokinesis), illusion magic, and the rare and extremely potent chronomagic (an extreme gravity-based magic that delves uncannily into Aether physics). Alchemy Alchemy is, in the simplest terms, the magic of stuff. In a sense one could describe it as magical chemistry; it influences the composition of atoms and compounds to change the identity and properties of substances. It is generally regarded as the passive counterpart to its active sister phylum, as it deals with the manipulation of mass particles and therefore its effects are more indirectly connected to the user than those of teletic magics. The alchemical phylum is named for alchemy, the basic form of transmutation, but also contains magical schools such as potions, transmogrification, and enchantment.

I love Stabby honestly and I'm so glad I finally found the original post so I can reblog it.

on the topic of humans being the intergalactic “hold my beer” species: imagine an alien stepping onto a human starship and seeing a space roomba™ with a knife duct taped onto it, just wandering around the ship

it doesn’t have any special intelligence. it’s just a normal space roomba. there are other space roombas on the ship and they don’t have knives. it’s just this one. knife space roomba has full clearance to every room in the ship. occasionally crew members will be talking and then suddenly swear and clutch their ankle. knife space roomba putters off, leaving them to their mild stab wounds.

“what is the point?” asks the alien as another crew member casually steps over the knife-wielding robot. “is it to test your speed and agility?”

“no it doesn’t really go that fast,” replies the captain.

“does it teach you to stay ever-vigilant?”

“I mean I guess so but that’s more of a side effect.”

“does it weed out the weak? does it protect you from invaders? do repeated stabbings let your species heal more quickly in the future?”

“it doesn’t stab very hard, it gets us more than it gets our enemies, and no, but that sounds cool — someone write that down.”

“but then what is its purpose?”

“I don’t know,” the captain says, leaning down to give the space roomba an affectionate pat. “it just seemed cool”

Fear of Public Shame is….. this is wild, guys