http://slow.writerscafe.org/tclavlsl The original writings of author Ted Lambert en-us Copyright 2026 WritersCafe.org 1776012934 WritersCafe.org RSS Generator 15 ChapterOne Hundred Two Once Hamp turnedhis banker’s brain to the problem of how to get everyone in the same boat, soto speak, and rowing in time to the same beat, his analytical side took over andtold him the best approach resembled a simple statistical function. Find .. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/tclavlsl/668825/ Chapter101 The SlizzardCaptain, barely promoted, wondered idly (and somewhat disjointedly) if herpromotion had anything to do with the barely subsequent takeover andextermination of nearly all her shipmates. It was clear she and her team ofLOnePs had not been successful in.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/tclavlsl/668765/ Chapter100 “’High Command,’huh?” I asked the seven people in front of me: Hamp, Melanie, Booker,Fallhouse, Adam, Sydney, and Chen. “It was Hamp’sidea,” Adam said, and Hamp moved over to do Adam some serious harm.&nbs.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/tclavlsl/664640/ ChapterNinety Nine Looking at yourbody without occupying it is strange. Mine didn’t appear to be damaged orwounded in any way, but I knew it had been in the stasis the Slizzards put abody in while the person was attempting a stage for quite a while now. Watchingit br.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/tclavlsl/657199/ Chapter Ninety Eight “Richard,sir. Richard, Sir,!” Chen had to repeat himself a few times to get myattention, as I was deep in the core, trying to figure out how long we hadbefore Slizzard Central figured out something was wrong and folded space to bringa herd of scaly b***.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/tclavlsl/657197/ ChapterNinety Seven “Holy God in Heaven,you have to be kidding me,” I told Hamp, after he broke the news to me. We had securedthree Slizzards for testing and weapons development, temporarily carried theirknocked-out slimy b*****d bodies to the bridge, .. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/tclavlsl/647331/ Chapter 96“Rich?  Rick? Uncle Rick?”I heard myfriends’ voices asking for me, but had to finish dealing with Adam first.“Adam, juststay cool for a while so we humans can talk things out. You might considerspending whatever time you have coming up wit.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/tclavlsl/646643/ Chapter 95We all stoodthere and looked at him, for a moment. Sydney had awakened by this point, andto her fainting spell she now added a pile of vomit, thankfully most of itcaught by one of the trash incinerators located around the bridge.“Oh my God,”she kept saying ove.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/tclavlsl/645593/ Chapter 94I wasstaying as close to the outer ring of whatever space I was in, as I mentioned,to keep the time flow as similar for my crew as it was for me. Regardless,there was still a time differential, and I had time to watch Sydney take outthe shielding and navigation panels. She .. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/tclavlsl/645591/ Chapter93 Adam left on hismission in tandem with the others. He had the benefit of his destinations beingstraight shots through the duct work from where the thoughtference had beenheld. He entered, and made short work of getting to the weapons locker. As hedidn’t nee.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/tclavlsl/644171/ Chapter92 Blocking offsections of the ship from each other had multiple benefits, if done correctly.First and foremost, it kept reinforcements from getting to you, once the crewrealizes their ship has been breached. A close second is the leverage itultimately gives you, as.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/tclavlsl/644163/ Chapter91 Never one for subtlety, until it wasrequired, of course, during his eight minutes prior to ‘go’ Hamp looked aroundfor as long a pipe as he could. Not finding anything that fit his liking, hesprinted down the hall and around a corner, and tore off one of t.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/tclavlsl/640908/ Chapter90 One of the reasonsI’d chosen Sydney to take out the engines and shield is that the only way toreach the three key nexus points required to shut them ALL down, including theinevitable fail-safe systems I’d discovered, required a tight squeeze throughsome.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/tclavlsl/640906/ Chapter 89Sydney would take out the engines and the shields.Hamp would deal with the navigation and inbound/outbounddecks.Mel would complete the physical actions I needed done tolock the sections of the ship off from one another.Adam would take the bridge and communications, bo.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/tclavlsl/637901/ Chapter 88The Captain was furious, then he was dead.Before pursuing the military ladder, he had been a LOnePhimself, which is why Colonel Rtzff had that department underneath the Captainin the ship’s hierarchy.Considered a storm-computing expert, he knew no peers forhis i.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/tclavlsl/637897/ Chapter87 I’d gotten used toit, but the hardest part was the waiting. From my perspective, it took Hamp andMelanie a couple of my years to find Sydney and Adam, but they did it. After happy reunionrequirements had been met, yet another week for me, but mer.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/tclavlsl/635939/ Chapter86 Hamp and Mel madetheir cots, left a few things out that a casual inspection would indicate theowner was close by or in a nearby bathroom ‘bot, and set off to find the ‘down’portal Rich had shown Hamp. As they walked, theygenerated a f.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/tclavlsl/635928/ Chapter85 Probably whatsurprised me most about them was their size. The smallest I saw among thethousands of aliens operating the ship, once I learned to access and interpretthe data from thousands of cameras throughout the huge recruiting vessel and constructsome perspect.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/tclavlsl/634169/ Chapter84 “So, these guys can resurrect dead people, right?,” Mel asked her dad. “Well, not quite,”he responded. “When a species goes into the orbs, they trick you withtechnology. Their A.I. and sensory manipulation is so much more ad.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/tclavlsl/634164/ Chapter83 The instant after Imade sure Adam had left the stage, I strung all the dots together in thecorrect order in my mind. The image they formed was strangely beautiful. Itwove complex patterns in a three dimensional space, and the entire patternitself seemed a message.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/tclavlsl/626767/ Chapter82 Melanie’s immensechamber was nearly full. The explosions, ironic final deaths of people who hadalready died in the maze, had slowly ended as the cots filled in. People aroundnewcomers just held them in place, showed them how to “enlist” using the ba.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/tclavlsl/626764/ Chapter81 The Captain knewsomething fairly serious was going down. Not in all his time in the Service,spanning a great number of years and a considerable number of ships, had aShip’s Colonel called every single Level One Programmer off to a single task. Protocolswere.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/tclavlsl/625320/ Chapter80 Adam and I stoodoutside the shimmering surface of stage nine. I couldn’t be sure, but I thoughtthe quicksilverish nature visible in the orbs was getting deeper and deeper thefurther we got into this massive cluster-f**k. The more you looked into the orb,the.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/tclavlsl/622758/ Chapter 79Most athletically-inclined people will tell you that at some point, when you push through the pain barrier that comes with a over-coming a level of performance you've previously touched the edges of, but not yet shattered, you will immediately feel a 'high' of sorts. In the human body, thi.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/tclavlsl/622152/ Chapter 78Rtzff awoke to water dribbling in his face, and with a splutter and acidic swearing came fully to consciousness. The Lieutenant (wait a minute, hadn't he made him a Captain?) was dropping water on his forehead, awaiting his commander to return to consciousness."Captain!" he bellowed, "what.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/tclavlsl/622114/ Chapter77 I looked at thethree hundred or so cards I’d had Booker prepare for me. Each had nothing on itbut dots. I’d had him remove all the swirls, lines, textures, and boundariesthat adorned the originals. Each card was still constrained by what wasoriginally.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/tclavlsl/621530/ Chapter76 Melanie slept hardand slept well. Apparently dying really takes it out of you, she thought as sheuncovered the ‘hood’ of her make-shift tent. She had been ableto warn the others who had popped into existence on cots up to three away fromh.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/tclavlsl/621528/ Chapter75 Rtzff, stillslightly drunk from over-indulging the night before the Stage-Viewing (anoccurrence ever more common this trip), stood before nearly the ship’s entire personnelcontingent, around twenty three hundred officers and two thousand deckhands ofvarious.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/tclavlsl/621526/ If you're in a depressed mood, DO NOT read this....... http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/tclavlsl/621183/ Chapter74 “You know,” Bookersaid, “those actions by Hamp and Sydney evoke images of the most courageous andhonor-filled deaths the country has ever seen.” “Yeah, I and wasprivileged to send both of them to their deaths,” I ras.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/tclavlsl/619231/ Chapter73 Melanie awakened ona cot in a room larger than any she’d ever seen before. To her, it seemed asbig as about ten Moffett Field dirigible hangars, having seen that specialhangar while her father was stationed there a couple of lifetimes ago. She gotto her fee.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/tclavlsl/617545/ Chapter72 “Sir, it appears tobe confirmed. We have identified a new recruit planet!” The Lieutenant poppedopen an against-regulations bottle of Lipsanthe, a heavy intoxicant from theirhome world, and poured both himself and Colonel Rtzff a heavy shot. .. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/tclavlsl/616942/ Chapter71 Adam, superbsoldier that he was, knew that if Sydney didn’t make the next attempt soon shenever would. We made eye contact, and confirmed this with a simple nod of heads.Hamp’s death had rocked her to the core, and neither of us had time to figureout .. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/tclavlsl/616914/ A poem I wrote decades ago that I like more over time. If it resonates for you, please review http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/tclavlsl/615925/ Chapter70I grabbed Hamp’s wrist, and hegrasped mine. No simple final handshake or hug for us. Hamp lived like aSpartan, did business like one, fought like one, and was now going to die likeone.“We did a lot of good thingstogether, Richard,” he said.“.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/tclavlsl/615050/ Chapter 69The nextmorning, all six of us stood outside the opalescent, shimmering orb. There wasno need to say anything; this one scared us all, even Booker and Fallhouse.Booker had made a bit more progress on Hamp’s dots, but not enough to provideanything remotely useful for t.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/tclavlsl/614626/ Chapter 68Hamp’s nose exploded in blood, and he said ‘thanks’.There was definitely something beyond bizarre, and somewhatshameful, about watching two people fight each other, when they should arguablybe saving everything they had for eight.  Most would watch an.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/tclavlsl/614512/ ChapterSixty Seven “Talk to me, Hamp,”I said. “Rich, you’re goingto have to trust me on this, or learn multi-variate regression analysis acrossmultiple intersecting data fields and some basic string theory in a big f*****ghurry,” Ha.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/tclavlsl/613817/ Chapter66 “What do you thinkabout all this?,” I asked Hamp, as I slid out of a judo hold and rolled into areversal, Hamp’s head and left arm caught in a triangle hold. “I don’t think muchanymore,” he said, as he relaxed into the.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/tclavlsl/613157/ Chapter65 “Pity the weaponselection wasn’t the same,” Hamp said, dispassionately. We had de-briefedAdam and Sydney for a few hours prior to them entering seven. Unfortunately,they had to figure it out for themselves, because neither of the weapons .. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/tclavlsl/613144/ Chapter64 I finished drawingall fifteen of the symbols I’d seen in stage seven, and pushed the pad acrossthe table to Booker. He wasted little time; he glanced through them with acouple of under-his-breath “uh-huh”s, like they were what he had come toexpe.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/tclavlsl/609756/ Chapter63 The orb stoodbefore us, once again. I was sick of seeing the damn thing, and irritated atmyself that I couldn’t reproduce the ‘a-ha’ moment I had in the ring beforeHamp knocked it right back out of me. I took three deep breaths, denying mybody t.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/tclavlsl/609755/ Chapter62 “Highestprobability, some type of puzzle-solving exercise. Second highest probability,weapons testing. Third highest, reproductive assessment. Fourth highest,ability to take orders.” Fallhouse curtly concluded his little speech in themess tent at our .. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/tclavlsl/609754/ Chapter61 I came to in mycot, in my tent, alone. No one was watching over me, and I sat up slowly. EvenHamp’s half-punches were pretty damn brutal. I knew we had only been fightingat half to three-quarters speed, and with no bad intentions. Now I just had toremember .. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/tclavlsl/609752/ Chapter60 “You mean to tellme, you really don’t know?,” I goaded Hamp. If this was what had been makinghim so grumpy over the past couple of days, then he was going to take some majorcrap from me over it. “C’mon, Dick-lessWonder, .. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/tclavlsl/609354/ Chapter59 The Lieutenantnearly popped out of his seat in excitement when the two tiny humans, wholooked like they were well on their way towards dying, somehow made the sixkilometer death march around the perimeter of the sixth screen. This, alongwith the pain tolerance th.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/tclavlsl/609352/ Chapter58 Late the next day Iwas working out a few frustrations in the tent set up as a gym. Booker told methat months ago, the gym tent was standing room only, and hopes were riding skyhigh that the orb would be cracked in a few weeks. Now the gym was nearlyempty, and tha.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/tclavlsl/609351/ Chapter57 “Not a singleone?,” Booker whined. “So sorry, oldchap,” I threw back at him in a crappy English accent, “It was an awfully bigspace, and I was terribly busy bleeding out, being paralyzed, and dying.Sodding bad luck, mate.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/tclavlsl/609350/ Chapter56 I understood beforeI even fully entered the stage. Hamp and I were floating in what appeared to bethe middle of an enormous space, probably a sphere, since I could see the wallsa good distance away were slightly curved. My stomach gave alittle heave,.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/tclavlsl/609349/ Chapter55 Booker andFallhouse had clearly been up all night; they were wearing the same clothingthey were in the mess hall last night. Booker appeared frazzled, but moderatelytriumphant. Fallhouse looked like he’d just pulled an all-nighter for the MCAT. W.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/tclavlsl/608735/