METAL: Harkwin Adul and Moltus

  Harkwin Adul was a man who lived on a planet called Raffe. The people called themselves Raffen, and they were quite similar to Humans, from Earth. Raffe revolved around a star that his people called Moltus, because it represents the historical role that metal played in their history. Like most of his fellow Raffen, Harkwin wore a suit of metal, for personal protection. It was part of their culture, and their technology had advanced enough to make it so.

   There was a commensurate advancement in cybernetics, and artificial intelligence. Raffen society was dealing with the question of "should AI lead Raffen, or should Raffen control the functions of AI?" There were many nations on planet Raffe, so this question/challenge didn't have one answer. One thing that was learned was that AI, when integrated with biological brains, could remove and replace memories at will. Raffens from other nations fought against this, creating programs to thwart AI domination.

   Harkwin Adul was seemingly on the sidelines of this techno-war, until he started having vivid dreams. At first, he thought he was infected by some new variant of AI from the Huwan lab, that was being played up in his national media. Days after testing negative for nanovirus infection, he found out what was happening to him. He had acquired a psychic link with Moltus, and Moltus had a message...

Jake Sol

   Jake was having the vivid dreams again. He woke up in an unfamiliar place, not knowing where he was. It turned out he was in a familiar place, but the reality from his dream was still dominant, in his conscious mind. He thought he had died, because that was the theme of most of his latest nightmares.

   It hadn't always been this way. He'd been having these vivid dreams for years, even decades, and while intense, they were a source of amusement. He had given up on trying to figure out any meaning, and certainly never trusted any other person to give their opinion, at least since his teenage years.

   Now, almost sixty years old, his dreams were getting more intense, and more personal. There was a creature chasing him through a waterlogged ancient stone ruins, as he learned how to fly, to keep ahead of the monster.

   He also jumped around like a spider man, in a cavernous casino setting, after escaping the ruins. That's where he knew death had caught him, even if it wasn't an entity. He was dancing to some lively music, and just knew it was his last dance.  Or so he thought.

   The casino opened up to an outdoor valley, that Jake walked into, to escape certain death. It was full of sunlight, that kept getting brighter. As the light engulfed the valley, a figure appeared. A wizened man with long hair and a robe appeared in the middle of the light.

   Jake, overwhelmed, said "Are you God?" The figure replied "No, I'm Sol. At least, that's what you, my grandchildren call me, for the most part." As if in a dream, Jake understood what Sol meant, and what it was. It was our sun, the star that it's child, the Earth revolves around. It was also obvious why it appeared to Jake as and older man. That was Sol's way of using familiar concepts and images to establish communication with its biological grandchildren.

The GRYPHON!

Gryphon is a Savannah and British Short Haired mix. He's the most vocal of our cats, always crying to be petted or played with. His favorite toy is the Atomic Ballie, and he pesters us every day to throw it. He'll bring it back, but usually drops it just a few feet from us, so we have to get up to throw it again!