Cold Eyes (First Contact common theme quasi-series) - Peter Cawdron

This post has 6 comments with rating of 5/56

• 
  Knightmare666
  June 15th, 2022
  

  

  Awesome ….. Many Thanks !!

  Cold Eyes (First Contact common theme quasi-series) - Peter Cawdron
• 
  stinamin2
  June 15th, 2022
  

  

  Takk

  Cold Eyes (First Contact common theme quasi-series) - Peter Cawdron
• 
  alnilam
  June 18th, 2022
  

  Any other sci-fi novels or book series, worth mentioning, where most events occur on tidally-locked planets? I myself can recall Proxima trilogy by Brandon Q. Morris, and Otherspace, 3rd book of Truesight trilogy by David Stahler, but hardly much else.

  Cold Eyes (First Contact common theme quasi-series) - Peter Cawdron
• 
  alnilam
  June 18th, 2022
  

  > there are some other similar massive tidally-locked planets that we know of, where intelligent life existed for millions of years… like us, they are trapped in their own deep gravity wells, so they cannot lift into space… so the inhabitants of such worlds can only helplessly observe other more fortunate civilizations, residing on less massive and non-tidally locked planets… and hope one day they would come to the rescue, help them get into space

  Let me see if I got this right:

  (i) intelligent life can evolve on tidally-locked super-earth planets, where the gravity is 2-3 times higher, compared to Earth

  (ii) such intelligent life can exist and progress for millions of years, and yet still unable to escape its deep gravity well

  (iii) external help from space-faring species is needed to get into space, to that end some locally developed technology can be offered, like a super-strong material for space lift cables

  I’ve never been a fan of space lifts, the idea seems unrealistic and implausible even for Earth (about 28,000km distance to objects on geo-stationary orbit) — let alone space lift cables, spanning distances measured in light minutes (!)

  It seems to me there’s an overlooked technical possibility like constructing a long vacuum tunnel, with exit elevated to 30km height, well above the dense atmosphere (using the same super-strong material, offered for space lift cable), and using it to launch space vehicles from the surface of super-earth planets.

  Cold Eyes (First Contact common theme quasi-series) - Peter Cawdron
• 
  alnilam
  June 20th, 2022
  

  burying the dead aliens episode (ebook, fragment):

  —
  Dali pushes off his knees, getting back to his feet. His power-walker engages, helping him rise.

  “This—this is a war zone!”

  Craters have formed where once dwellings stood. Already, water is pooling in the muddy clay at the bottom. A nearby brick wall has collapsed on top of another blue-skinned creature. Dali drags stones off the victim, slowly casting them aside.

  “They were slaughtered,” he says, lifting a large rock off the second dead alien. He crouches, bending his knees so his suit’s power-walker engages to help. “There’s no sign of a fight. Not from them.”

  Dropping rocks on Bee is an art. They don’t tumble the way they do on Earth. Let go, and they fall straight down, rushing from his fingertips. One of them bounces off his boot. Dali needs to be careful he doesn’t damage his suit. Lifting rubble is exhausting. He’s supposed to be conserving his energy so he survives longer or something, but he can’t ignore what’s happened here.

  “What am I doing?” he says for the sake of those back on the Magellan. “Helping. At least, I think I am… They lost their lives. They need not lose their dignity. I—I can’t just walk away from this.”

  Dali drags the second thin body into the street and lays it next to the first. As difficult as it is to crouch in his suit, he’s determined to show respect for the dead. In Dali’s mind, there are some things that transcend mere planets. He straightens the alien’s arms and legs, fussing with them even though it makes no difference to anyone other than him. Moments ago, he was worried about First Contact. Now, he feels for the death of creatures he’ll never know. Their intelligence is obvious. It’s the art that gives it away. A silver band winds its way around one of the shorter arms like a bracelet, snaking through four revolutions as it binds to the creature’s forearm. Ornate markings adorn the silver. Their clothing is so fine he can’t spot the weave of the material. There are patterns in the cloth. They repeat, forming interlocking shapes.

  “Intelligence is more than having smarts,” he says, pointing at the bracelet although he has no doubt they’ve seen it—or they will see it eventually on his camera footage. “They care. They value beauty. Seems almost human.”

  Perhaps he’s reading too much into the polished metal. Kari would say there are other possibilities, like tribal affiliations or designations of social status. For all he knows, it could be the marking of a slave, but for Dali, there has to be something beautiful in the midst of such tragedy. Maybe that’s because he knows he’ll join them all too soon. How many days have passed already? How many does he have left? How long will it be before he joins them lying there on the cold dirt?

  Dali straightens the clothing on the corpse. He’s an undertaker on an alien world, but it’s all he can do for them. What if their attackers return? What will they make of a strange creature nestled away within a thick white suit? Will they understand his pity?

  “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” Dali says, pulling the upper torso of another creature out into the street. Entrails drag along the path, staining the rocks blue. This body has been mangled. Shrapnel has peppered one side of the victim. The arms have been singed by fire. 

  A necklace falls from the pointed bulge where the alien’s head would be were it human. It’s beautiful. The chain glistens with diamonds. A large red ruby hangs at its tip. Once he’s rested the creature next to the others, he walks back, crouches and picks up the necklace. He examines it carefully, quietly. He’ll leave the commentary on this to the crew of the Magellan. It’s all he can do not to cry as he returns to the third dead alien. Dali drapes the necklace around its bulge, resting the ruby on its chest.

  Dali finds an older alien lying half-submerged in the weeds beside the creek, at least, he thinks it’s older as its skin is wrinkly. He pulls it from the bank and drags it over with the others.

  What if there are survivors out there? Perhaps some of the clan were away from the village during the attack. What will they think when they return? Will they confuse him as a hostile? They might assume he raided their village. Will they think he’s plundering these bodies? No. Respect is universal. It has to be. Dali can only hope his actions speak where mere words would fail. Although it feels nothing, he makes the corpse comfortable, tenderly laying it next to its fallen comrades…

  Cold Eyes (First Contact common theme quasi-series) - Peter Cawdron
• 
  bradsmithsite
  June 20th, 2022
  

  

  Thank you!

  Cold Eyes (First Contact common theme quasi-series) - Peter Cawdron

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