Me, In Tears, Halfway Through Writing A 300 Word Essay: I Can’t Do This Anymore

TOMORROW IS HALLOWEEN!!!

War for America's Legacy

Found from the last log of Flagship Captain Aergin:

“Captain, what’s wrong?”

For your eyes only. “Nothing, Admiral. Just a chest spasm. Might be time for another inspection.”

“If you’re sure, Captain.”

“Admiral Solkowałksa, I don’t say things I’m not sure about. You know that.”

“Yes, Captain.”

For your eyes only, Flagship Captain Aergin. Enter biometric triple security to access.

Triple biometric is the highest possible. Nothing good ever comes out of something locked like that.

Enter decrypt code.

They really aren’t messing around to have layered an encryption on top of the biometric.

Decrypt successful. Loading message.

“Captain Aergin,

At 0600 hours four days ago, an alien fleet appeared just outside of our atmosphere. We attempted to communicate, but we received only one phrase back, in the common tongue: ‘Pray to what gods you have.’ Before we could react, their energy spiked and their weapons discharged. America was slag and glass before we were able to do anything. That fleet was destroyed before they could do any more damage, luckily, but your family was killed along with the rest of the American population. We are sorry for your loss. Do nothing rash, this situation will be handled.

Condolences,

Interplanetary Fleet Commander Nurodu

I couldn’t believe it. America, gone. Just like that. In the blink of an eye. My family, friends, children. All gone. My crew was the only family I had left. Nurodu has the indecency to tell me to do “nothing rash,” like I’m just going to accept that my life needs to start over, like my husband and children weren’t just killed without a chance to fight back, like I’m not going to avenge the death of my country. I will have revenge.

—18 Months Later—

“Sir, you asked for updates on the identification of the species that destroyed America. A major data dump has just occurred when the Alien Classification/Dossier database updated. The relevant files are being shunted to your holodesk now, and the species is listed as having been confirmed to destroy your country.”

“Thank you, Lieutenant Commander. Dismissed.”

The Zorax, huh? Home planet Xeron, only 20 parsecs from here. Time for the plan. They have no other worlds colonized according to the database, and if I have my way, they never will. Those bastards will never see me coming.

“Set course for Xeron. We’ve been ordered to give the Zorax a visit to make sure they are on the up-and-up.” The lie didn’t bother me at all. I will say anything to avenge my family.

“Immediately, Captain.”

—3 hours later—

“Captain, coming out of FTL in 3…2…1…”

“Stay on course to the planet, stay in high orbit once we’ve arrived.”

“Yes, Captain.”

Time to enact my plan. I keyed for the computer to send an abandon ship protocol, on my authority. Earth Federation laws requires I make sure everyone else is off the ship first, but that’s the point.

“Abandon ship protocol 00215. All personnel report to your assigned pod as soon as possible for whichever species may be.”

“Everyone go. Admiral Solkowałksa, you have command. Take my personal pod. I don’t intend to make it off this ship. Jettison happens in 8 minutes.”

“Captain, are you sure?!?”

“I don’t say things I’m not sure of, Admiral. Go.”

Everyone is off the ship now. It’s very quiet. Not even the night cycle is this quiet.

“Computer, open communications with planet Xeron main base when in range.”

“Initiating communications.”

“Hello. My name is Flagship Captain Aergin, of the third American Fleet. You may remember glassing a place called America on Earth. I say the same to you now that you said to them: pray to what gods you have.”

“Communication interrupted.”

I punched up FTL for just long enough to come out in their atmosphere and collide with their largest landmass. This is my last log. America is avenged.

 (This is my first attempt at something other than lurking this tag! Hope y'all like it!

-therandomnessofages)

All I know is my dash is 90% more nudity than ever before, now.

Random mansion generator

The Procgen Mansion Generator produces large three-dee dwellings to toy with your imagination, offering various architectural styles and other options. Each mansion even comes with floorplans:

https://boingboing.net/2019/07/12/random-mansion-generator.html

Summer body wishlist: - six wings - a million eyes - constantly on fire - ability to scream forever

my night manager (who is a gay man) and i sometimes sit down and exchange stories and tidbits about our sexuality and our experiences in the queer cultural enclave. and tonight he and i were talking about the AIDS epidemic. he’s about 50 years old. talking to him about it really hit me hard. like, at one point i commented, “yeah, i’ve heard that every gay person who lived through the epidemic knew at least 2 or 3 people who died,” and he was like “2 or 3? if you went to any bar in manhattan from 1980 to 1990, you knew at least two or three dozen. and if you worked at gay men’s health crisis, you knew hundreds.” and he just listed off so many of his friends who died from it, people who he knew personally and for years. and he even said he has no idea how he made it out alive.

it was really interesting because he said before the aids epidemic, being gay was almost cool. like, it was really becoming accepted. but aids forced everyone back in the closet. it destroyed friendships, relationships, so many cultural centers closed down over it. it basically obliterated all of the progress that queer people had made in the past 50 years.

and like, it’s weird to me, and what i brought to the conversation (i really couldn’t say much though, i was speechless mostly) was like, it’s so weird to me that there’s no continuity in our history? like, aids literally destroyed an entire generation of queer people and our culture. and when you think about it, we are really the first generation of queer people after the aids epidemic. but like, when does anyone our age (16-28 i guess?) ever really talk about aids in terms of the history of queer people? like it’s almost totally forgotten. but it was so huge. imagine that. like, dozens of your friends just dropping dead around you, and you had no idea why, no idea how, and no idea if you would be the next person to die. and it wasn’t a quick death. you would waste away for months and become emaciated and then, eventually, die. and i know it’s kinda sophomoric to suggest this, but like, imagine that happening today with blogs and the internet? like people would just disappear off your tumblr, facebook, instagram, etc. and eventually you’d find out from someone “oh yeah, they and four of their friends died from aids.”

so idk. it was really moving to hear it from someone who experienced it firsthand. and that’s the outrageous thing - every queer person you meet over the age of, what, 40? has a story to tell about aids. every time you see a queer person over the age of 40, you know they had friends who died of aids. so idk, i feel like we as the first generation of queer people coming out of the epidemic really have a responsibility to do justice to the history of aids, and we haven’t been doing a very good job of it.

u know that thing where an animals grow in a far off place and some idiot introduces him to a new habitat and it turns out its characteristics that help them in their own sometimes are too helpful in the new one and they become like an invasive species yeah thats the word i was missing anyway back to my point i think i saw a human version of that just now i was driving in tonights snow storm and i saw a man wearing a big ass cowboy hat to keep the snow off him and a bandit red bandana to keep it off his face and a big ass pancho to keep him warm and nice ass cowboy boots to keep his calves dry and he was prancing along while everyone on the road looked miserable and frozen solid and idk i guess the point im trying to make here is i feel like cowboys would have taken over russia if given the chance or something