“Ahoy there, good ship Ace Jaded Seven.” A static smothered voice came over the intercom. The three stared at each other. James covered the microphone with his hand.

“What do we do?” He looked to Sinbad, who raised his eyebrows.

“Let’s pretend we’re not here.” Alan knocked Sinbad in the shoulder.

“We can’t do that! They already know we’re here.”

“Maybe they’ll think it was an intercom glitch.”

“We’ve got to say something,” James said, “They’re probably looking right at us.”

“What I want to know is why it took them so long to contact us.” Alan’s brow furrowed. “If they were Navy, they would’ve responded right away.”

“Unless they thought we were pirates the same way we thought they were.” Sinbad nodded.

“No. What pirate ship asks for fuel? Only dumb kids like us get into situations like this. Besides, even if they thought we were pirates, they’d shoot first and ask questions later.” Sinbad frowned.

“Then they must not think we’re pirates…unless we’re the bait pirates use to capture other ships! I’ve heard of that happening before!”

“Who told you that?” James asked.

“They did.” Alan shrieked.

“You can’t just keep saying “they” are telling you these things! Normal people will think you’re insane.”

“Then why do you think I’m insane?” Alan stopped.

“Wow, that’s a good one.”

“Thanks.” James looked at his hand which he remembered was covering the microphone.

“So, what are we going to do?” Alan rubbed his hair.

“I think we should just talk to them, explain our situation and let them know we need help. They may be neither Navy nor pirates. They could just be a ship like us.” Sinbad’s mouth dropped.

“If they’re a ship like us, they’re not going to be any help either! What if they’re sitting over there having the same conversation we’re having? Can you imagine two of me existing in the same plane of existence? The universe would explode into nothingness!” Alan knocked him in the forehead.

“Stop being so dramatic. You’re going to hurt yourself.”

“You’re the one who always hurts me!”

“That didn’t hurt.”

“It could have!” James stared at his two bickering friends with disgust. With a deep breath, he raised the microphone to his mouth. Alan and Sinbad, who until this point have disagreed on almost everything, both stopped and grabbed James’ hands.

“What are you doing?” Sinbad shrieked.

“We haven’t decided what we are going to say yet.” Alan said.

“Ahoy there. This is the good ship Ace Jaded Seven. Could you please identify yourself?” Sinbad nodded.

“That’s good! That’s really good. Keep going with that.”

“Will you shut up Sinbad!”

“Alan, it’s not like you’re being quiet.” James shushed them both.

“Sorry there Ace Jaded Seven. This is the Clear Blue Easy. Captain Al Kasino at your service. You say you’ve run out of fuel?” The silver ship blinked invitingly.

“Yes! Will you help us, please?

Word Count: 527
Total Word Count: 4060

Notes: Do I really like the name of the ship? Keep on truckin...

James sighed and floated by his tucker bed. He looked out his porthole to see and endless stretch of yam-shaped rocks of various sizes all around them. It was almost like being lost in a sea of bubbles. Usually, if they hadn’t been stranded in the middle of the Asteroid Belt, he would be able to see behind the planets and moons all the stars that surround the relatively small galaxy he existed in. It was his idea to pool together and buy the aircraft they floated in, and his idea to go exploring. Alan and Sinbad just came along for the ride, Alan to gain experience in a starship before he applied to join the navy, and Sinbad because…well, because he’s Sinbad. Sinbad was always up for something different.

In the midst of James’ quiet thoughts, a glint of silver twinkled just past his line of vision. It couldn’t be a star, there were too many asteroids to see past to the stars beyond. He plastered his face to the porthole only to see the glint disappear behind the bulk of the ship. Quickly he pushed off of the wall and into the bridge of the ship where he could see better.

“Hey, where’s he goin’?” asked Sinbad. Alan shrugged. “Well, whatever it is, it’s gotta be good, because James never moves that fast without a reason.” Alan nodded and they both followed behind James.

“Look there!” James pointed. Beyond his finger was the shiny glint of another ship. Sinbad whooped and Alan clapped James on the shoulder.

“Try to contact them,” said Alan. James grabbed the mini microphone from its casing in the console.

“Ahoy there! This is the good ship AJS looking for some help. We’ve practically run out of fuel and we need a tow to the nearest naval base. We can pay you for your time. Please, can you hear me?” James clutched the mic in frantic anticipation. Alan and Sinbad froze in their places, barely breathing. They listened for three minutes…nothing. Sinbad started fidgeting.

“Do you think they heard us?” Alan shushed him. “What? They’re not talking.”

“Be quiet, they could start at any minute.” Alan waved at him to quiet down.

“Maybe their communicator is broken? Oh! I bet they’re stranded here just like us.” Alan shushed him again. “Think about it, what else would they be doing out here in the middle of nowhere?” James and Alan paused in their anxious listening. Alan sat back.

“Sinbad is right. What are they doing out here?” James put the mic down.

“Maybe they’re at a mine?” Alan shook his head.

“A mine in the middle of the Asteroid Belt? Wherever there’s a mine, there’s a steady stream of freighters moving ore in and out. Besides, what element could be found over there that isn’t found in the asteroids closer to where the naval bases already are?”

“Maybe they’re a naval scout ship, looking for resources!” James said. Sinbad nodded furiously.

“That can’t be right either. It doesn’t look like a scout ship.” Sinbad furrowed his brow.

“How can you tell? That ship is still pretty far away.” James squinted. “I can’t even see any markings on it.”

“It’s easy. Naval ships are classified by color. That ship isn’t gray, it’s silver.”

“Well, what navy ship is silver?”

“War frigates and the naval bases themselves.”

“Well that’s definitely too small to be a war frigate,” said Sinbad. “Even I know that.”

“We all know that,” said Alan. Uneasiness grew in the three men as they all came to realize what the mystery ship might actually be. Sinbad cleared his throat.

“Hey guys?” Alan shushed him again. “What was that for?”

“We’re all thinking the same thing,” said James, “ If you don’t say it out loud, maybe it won’t be true.”

“What kind of logic is that?” Alan looked at James incredulously. “It doesn’t matter what we say out loud, it won’t change the fact that that ship is probably a…” James shook his hands.

“Shhh! Don’t say it! Maybe they haven‘t seen us and we can quietly drift away.” Sinbad nodded.

“Yeah, I agree with James. Right now we need all the help we can get, and maybe superstition will be on our side.”

“Superstition isn’t an entity, Sinbad! It’s not going to help us whether we state our suspicions or not! Besides, if we can see them, they can see us!”

“Still. Don’t say it.” James glanced from Sinbad to Alan.

“I’m saying it. I think it’s a pir…” The radio crackled.

“Ahoy there, good ship AJS.”

Word count: 841
Total word count: 3536

Notes: Good job today, at least you wrote something. Try to think of a better name for the ship. Also, decide whether the mystery ship is a pirate ship or not.

Terms like “floor” and “underneath” were all relative, of course, since the ship moved through space without a real up or down. Because everything in space is always moving, directions are imput into the computer relative to the ship itself, the ship being the origin, the Z axis running through the center of the ship and the X axis running perpendicular to that, arbitrarily picked by the ship‘s computer. For his own benefit, James marked where the computer recognizes the X axis on the inside of the ship by placing two X‘s across from each other. Then, using spherical coordinates, the ship could place a vector in space with a distance, the angle of the vector from the Z axis (theta, θ) and the angle of the vector from the X-Z plane (phi, φ) to chart a course to anywhere in the galaxy. It was up to the memory banks in the ship’s computer to avoid large predominant celestial bodies such as planets and moons and lay a course around them, but little bodies (little is another relative term, of course, since compared to the Sun, Pluto is little) could either be input into the computer temporarily for a course change, or simply bypassed manually by controlling the helm.

James bounced from the small porthole in the quarters and settled into his seat in the bridge. The seats were aligned one hundred twenty degrees apart from each other around the center of the ship. This allowed for maximum area and viewing capacity for the crew on all sides. Of course, the ship had sensors of all kinds to determine its position in space, but it often helped to be able to see what it was sensing.

“I say we send out signal flares, like they say they did in the old days.” Sinbad made a gun with his fingers and pointed in the air. “Often the older ways are the best ways. That’s what they say at least.”

Alan rearranged his blanket to uncover his head. “Who says that?”

Sinbad shrugged. “They do.” Sinbad floated back and forth past Alan making all sorts of gun noises and finger points.

“Who’s ‘they’?” Sinbad raised an eyebrow. “You’re always saying ‘they say’ this and ‘they say’ that. Who are these mystical people that supposedly know everything, huh Sinbad?” Alan repositioned himself. He caught Sinbad’s finger in his fist on the next pass. They eyed each other down. “So? Who’s ‘they’?”

“Sinbad gave a smirk and used his other hand to poke Alan in the ear. Alan yelped and let go of Sinbad’s hand.

“I’m not sure who ‘they’ are. They’re the old-timers. The ones that say guns shot little metal pellets instead of pulses of energy. They’re the ones that said we weren’t always able to fly past the stars faster than the speed of light. They’re the ones who say that everyone used to live on Mother Earth.”

Alan covered himself up again. “That’s impossible. There’s no way everyone could’ve lived on Earth at the same time. There are 500 billion people in the whole galaxy, and you’re telling me they all fit on Earth. Not blinkin’ likely.” Alan’s head popped out again. “What do you think James? What are you doing over there? Sleeping? You’re bed’s over here.”

James looked up from the instrument panel and turned back to his friends. “I’m trying to figure out a way we can fix the ship’s engine so we can at least move to a place where we’d have a better chance of being spotted.” By my calculations, if we move fifty meters at 37 degrees theta and -40 degrees phi, we should be in an open spot where there are less asteroids to clog up the view.” Sinbad grabbed James’ shoulder from behind.

“That’s a great idea James. Let’s get moving!” Alan sighed from underneath his private domain.

“Have you forgotten we don’t have any fuel?” James shook his head.

“We do have enough fuel to move us to that point.” Alan threw the blanket off.

“And you want to waste it to get to that spot? We’re in the middle of nowhere! We’ve been drifting for hours! Why don’t we just send out Sinbad in a suit and he can push us there!” Alan’s eyes blazed with frustration. “Even if we did make it to that spot, there’s no guarantee we’d stay there. In time we’d just move away and towards the biggest thing closest to use, which would probably just be Sinbad’s head!” Sinbad frowned.

“Hey! You’re mad at James, not me! Stop it with the big head jokes!” James moved between them before the ball game became a fist fight.

“He’s not mad at you, or me. He’s just annoyed with the whole situation.”

“I think he‘s gotten crazy from being under that blanket all the time,“ snipped Sinbad.

“That’s only from looking at your giant head all the time,” retorted Alan. James pushed the two apart by their foreheads.

“We’re all going stir crazy from being inside this tin can and looking at each others’ heads. Fighting about it isn’t going to solve anything.” Sinbad rubbed his head where James pushed it.

“Fighting about it would make me feel better. I still owe him for that big head comment.” Sinbad turned himself away from Alan and strapped himself in a chair at the table. Alan withdrew back under his blanket.


Word count: 961
Total word count: 2686
Notes to self: Beginning Week 2. Good job remembering spherical coordinates! Think of a way for them to get out of this mess.

Chapter 1

Out in the deep silence of space, there floated a small ship. This ship, stranded between an asteroid and a hard place, bobbed along without any fuel or extra batteries. Every once in awhile, another ship would pass. Some would slow down, but none of them actually stopped. The passengers either had to be some someplace right at that second and they were late, or they were too afraid of being mugged by space pirates. In either case, none cared enough to render any help.

Inside the ship were three young men. All three best friends since childhood and all three in most other ways not noteworthy.

“Hey Alan, here comes another ship!” James bounced from the wall to the porthole. His breath fogged the window as he watched it pass.

“Just let it go James. The best thing we can do right now is wait until someone comes looking for us. We lit the distress beacon yesterday. Someone from the navy should be along soon to rescue us. “ Alan rolled himself up in a blanket for comfort. He really wanted to lean back against a wall, but seeing as there is no gravity in space, he’d have to push against something else to lean against the wall, and that was more effort than it was worth.

“The navy isn’t coming for us.” Sinbad shot a couple pieces of a ration bar to James and Alan. “Why would they when they have bigger pirates to fry? We’re just a lonely little ship, hobbling along, generally making our way toward Mars. I’m not even sure if we’re on track anymore. For all we know, we could be headed into a giant vortex where we’ll be swept to Hell knows where. Whoosh!” Sinbad pushed off of the wall and spun across the ship. The ship itself was not extremely large, but it was good enough for the three young men. They slept in a large shared quarters tucker beds for each one, with food stored in the wall bins and floor storage compartments. The bridge was joined to the quarters by a small tube through which they had to float through. Facilities were underneath these, and all waste was stored in a tank until it could be properly jettisoned into the dark void. Terms like “floor” and “underneath” were all relative, of course, since the ship moved through space without a real up or down.

Word count: 436
Total word count: 1746

Notes to self: It took a whole week to write one day's worth of words. Continue on track with James, Sinbad and Alan. Find a way to get them off of the ship.

Not all ship board pillages are this successful. One may remember the tragic and often laughed-at story of pirate Eggy and his ship the Plimsoll in their failed attempt at kidnapping the Homelegate Duke of Europa from his vacation to the Earth Moon. Eggy foolishly believed the Homelegate’s ship would be most vulnerable when the security changed shifts on the ship which was scheduled to take place at a point equidistant between the Mother Earth and the Moon. What he did not realize was that at that point between the Earth and the Moon, there is nothing to provide cover for his pirate ship. Not only that, but also at the shift change, there are twice as many guards awake and alert as there usually would be at the middle of a shift when half of the guard is asleep in their beds. No one knows exactly why pirate Eggy decided to attack when he did, but he did, and when he did he, his ship, and all his crew were captured and taken to a prison of an undisclosed location to live out their lives in agonizing torture, according to all recorded documents.

Life in the galaxy is not an easy one with all the pirateering, but living is still possible. Mankind is a veritable fountain of innovation. Who knows what the next ten, fifty or one thousand years may bring.

Word count: 243
Total word count: 1311
Notes: Leave this for now, start first chapter with Allen and Sinbad.

The cutlass is figurative, of course. In space battles there isn't any need for actual hand-to-hand combat. Most space battles consisted of the artful use of energy and grappling beams to inflict damage and physically steal the cargo from the hold of the victim ship. Rarely is the preyed ship ever boarded, except in times where the cargo was simply too precious to be wrestled from the warm bosom of the cargo hold. In those times, the pirates stole upon the ship with all the stealth of a fifteen megaton asteroid and rampaged through the ship until the desired cargo was actually in their hands. This type of plundering was only attempted by expert (where expert can be considered a synonym for foolhardy) and experienced pirates because it required that the pillagers leave the safety of their own ship and venture out into open space to the wounded ship below. It can be done. Many still remember the ravage of dread pirate Arrghrazam and his pillage of the Martian ship Hughes. The ship itself was not of stellar reputation, its cargo being twenty-five adolescent girls to be sold into slavery on the moons of Jupiter. Arrghrazam and his first mate single-handedly boarded and captured all twenty-five girls after incapacitating the crew of the Hughes with a large nitrous oxide grenade. The girls, believing themselves to be freed, went willingly into Arrghrazam’s ship, the Red Pulsar, only to be sold into slavery by Arrghrazam himself! It was told by a knowing source that the girls pleaded with the dastardly pirate to release them to their families, to which Arrghrazam only laughed as he handed their chains to the foreman of the mine they were to work in. The knowing source also said that the girls were not in chains to begin with, but Arrghrazam placed the chains on them because he knew that that was the proper way things of this nature were done.

Not all ship board pillages are this successful. One remembers the tragic and often laughed-at story of pirate Eggy and his ship the Plimsoll in their failed attempt at kidnapping the Homelegate Duke of Europa from his vacation to the Earth Moon.

Word Count: 385
Total Word count: 1115

Notes to self: I need to be doing better. Also, think of a really crappy and botched way for Eggy to die in his attempt.

In this year, 3005 AD, Sister Technology has taken the children of Earth far past the last layer of the atmosphere (the exosphere, if you must know) and into the inky black vacuum of outer space.

The colonization of outer space started as any other colonization in history started, with ripples. The first explorers wandered out to the no-so-distant moon, leaving footprints and flags everywhere. Soon, the moon became a veritable space-side attraction, much like Coney Island of the olden days. Children chanted "We're going to the Moon!" when rewarded for trivial accomplishments, like good grades and won tennis matches. With the new tourism pointed to the moon, space hotels popped into existance, orbiting all over the earth, followed by the more affordable space motels. Travelling around the earth became a something of a day trip, with breakfast in New York, lunch in Tokyo and and dinner back at home, wherever that is. While families became more aquainted with the newfound affordability of personal space craft, scientists from around the globe discovered how to take old shuttles and refit them for deepspace travel.

While baby humans wondered in the glory of "It was Actually a Very, Very, Very, Small World in the First Place," adult humas travelled to the Earth's brother planet, Mars, and the second cousin moons of the greater gas giants. Colonies popped up in those places like yard weeds following the moon model made popular by Jake Harmington, the original Moon Tycoon. Those colonies, tired of being governed by a planet millions of miles away, seceded from the government and severed the umbilical cord with Mother Earth. It was funny, how even though these estranged colonies considered themselves autonomous and all grown up seventy-five years after each was established, the colonies relied on goods and foodstuffs from Mother Earth and demanded representation in the form of permanent ambassadors to Earth called "Homeworld Delegates" which was quickly shortened to just "Homelegates." The Homelegacy was created to prevent unfair tariffs from ruining what little money the colonies had to begin with, and to ensure the fair treatment of their people on Earth when they aquiried enough money to visit (if they wanted to, which most didn't).

Trade among the colonies and with Earth was one-sided as each colony struggled to find something to export. Economies tend not to work when there isn't any money being generated. Still, the colonies were making do with what resources they had, iron from Mars, nitrogen from Triton, and other various elements and substances from the Galilean Moons. Still, for all intents and purposes, the grand solar economy was a working one.

In every economy, there is always someone to take advantage and live above the lawful economic line. This was no different for the solar economy. Just as brigands stormed the British seas in the fairytale books of old, so did they in space, hiding in coves nestled on seemingly harmless asteroids floating in the not-so-benign asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

These brigands, known collectively as space pirates, roamed the galaxy searching for hapless vessels who irresponsibly wandered away from known trade routes typically guarded by the Intergalactic Navy or IGN. If a reckless star captain sought a shortcut between unfamiliar asteroids in the belt that spans the solar system, or a carelsss star captain took a wrong turn at the last checkpoint, their cargo and their lives coulb be forfeit to the whims of the space pirates. The IGN were noted by the shark pins on their lapels, which earned them the nickname "Sharks of the Star Sea." The Sharks came from all walks of life. Some desired the wealth, prestige, and respect that comes with risking life and limb for the safety of the galaxy's citizens. Others only wanted a steady paycheck and the security of a way of life that would be otherwise unavailable to them in their home colony. Still others sought to be a Shark for reasons more ignoble than the others cited here. With piracy rampant in almost all corners of the galaxy (not just the asteroid belt, mind you) there wasn't a family that hasn't at least been touched by the lost of a loved one to the pirates' saber. The saber is figurative, of course.

In space battles there isn't any need for actual hand-to-hand combat.

Notes to self: continue with description of culture for galaxy.
Word count: 749

NaNoWriMo has begun. I will start my second attempt at writing a novel on this blog. I'm starting a fresh, but I'm not changing the name of my blog. The goal is to write 1600 words a day.

Please wish me luck.