Geron Kees

Difris and Nyf would certainly be aware of the closeness that Derry and Cally share. Nyf, especially, because he's right there when they're blowing kisses at each other. But neither of the artificial intelligences would comment upon it because neither would consider it strange, and both would certainly consider it a private thing between the guys. As members of a culture comprised of hundreds (at the least) of different races and societies, Difris and Nyf would be aware of every sort of variation on sexuality that existed, which would have to be a bit broader in scope than we have here. They'd also be aware of any taboos regarding sex or talking about sex in the cultures of the empire, and consider what was going on between the two boys as not germane to the problem of what happened to the Armenti. So short of either one of the guys mentioning it to Difris or Nyf, it is unlikely to come up. The two AIs may be curious, but the rules of their culture will dictate that curiosity take a back seat to privacy. Maybe. The guy's ability to communicate privately is just that. Encrypted, surely, and only directed at the ones they feel the are speaking to. Now, that doesn't mean that someone, somewhere cannot listen in. The Armenti and other species certainly had their own variations on the NSA. But for the purposes of the story at this point, let's say their communications are really private.

I can always count on you to flush out the joke in something!

The interfaces are supposed to pick up on intent, yet supply some functions automatically in emergency situations. The only reason no one has flown before was because no one made the thought to do so. Because they didn't know they could. The suits may have more surprises. Nyf seems to think it's on a need-to-know basis.

Actually, they're wearing the suits over their own clothing. Shorts and teeshirts. But nothing shows through. Those Armenti...fashion geniuses! 😁

Ain't technology wunnerful? Red and blue with a cape? Hey, hasn't that already been done?

The castle structure, the terminus of their travel tube, now loomed before them. The sun had retreated to a position above distant, misty mountain ranges to their right hand, showing every evidence of planning to disappear within the next several hours. The blue sky had taken on a golden hue with violet streaks, with a distinct measure of red thrown in around the setting sun. Derry thought it one of the most beautiful and unique skies he had ever seen. "I'm sure we'll get used to seeing ski

That difference of opinion is what makes the world go!

Wonder is a primary component of imagination. If we didn't have it, we certainly would not be where we are today. I was looking at a photo taken today by the Ingenuity helicopter on the planet Mars. Mars. We have flown to Mars, and now we can fly the skies of Mars. All these things we can do now were once imagined by kids looking out bedroom windows, or laying in the grass at night, and watching the stars. There are worse things one can do with his or her time.

Glad you are enjoying it. Every new tale draws something from the ones that came before. I started reading science fiction and fantasy as a kid in Nederlands, though what was there was limited by American standards. My dad was a fan, and he got hold of everything he could. When we moved here when I was nine, one of the first things my dad did was reclaim his book collection from his dad's basement. There were some 2,000 volumes, about three quarters of which was sci-fi and fantasy. It was all late-forties, fifties, and early-sixties sci-fi, too, which he had accumulated when he was a kid. I was told I could read anything I wanted, and did. The brain is a mixing bowl, and the ideas we put into it a sort of salad, that gets tossed and re-tossed, and can come back out again as a new flavor. But I do feel this particular sort of sci-fi adventure is a style I picked up from reading countless others in my youth. I never consciously borrow from other stories, but how can you read so many and not draw something from them? You guessed well on the flying people!

Walking into the tube was no easy matter. Despite its sparkly look from the main gallery, when they actually stepped through the doorway in the almost transparent wall before the tube, it was to find that the tube itself had virtually disappeared, leaving only a slightly bluish pathway that seemed to wander off into the sky. All three of the humans simply stopped at that point and stared. "Where'd it go?" Cally asked, absently patting the front of his suit where Nyf hung inside. "It is

Actually...they're not phasers. That term came into being with Star Trek in the sixties, but THEY simply borrowed the weapons concepts of earlier sci-fi stories. Long before phasers arrived, there were 'blasters' and 'stunners' being toted about by sci-fi heroes everywhere. The 'zap' guns in this tale are descended from the stunners of old. Star Trek hardware is so mainstream now that it is very easy to associate a lot of sci-fi concepts with that show. But the truth is, Star Trek was late to the sci-fi game by at least forty years when it came to the tech they used. They popularized a lot of hardware and ideas that were even then commonplace to sci-fi readers. I try not to borrow anything from Star Trek. I like my ears the shape they are!

Nyf has the job of looking out for the guys. That he is sensitive to the fact is a plus, I hope.

It may well have a sequel, as I also agree that the story is far from over.

The station on Earth had three doors. One went to the large transfer station where the guys met Difris. The other two led to two specific worlds. I am still deciding on what I want to do with that.

Confession: I love the lakes here where I live, but I have never liked the ocean. Or, rather, I do like the ocean, but have no desire to swim in it. What can I say?

Exactly. I think many things are safe to infer, if not explicitly stated. I wouldn't build a transfer station on a planet without looking the place over first. Would you? The business of building an empire would become extremely efficient at that level of technology, especially when artificial minds could do a great deal of the work. Assessing a location for a transfer station of any size would likely entail a pretty thorough survey, and a need to meet a minimum list of criteria for safety for both the station and the place where it was located. The Armenti themselves might or might not be involved in the actual decision-making. It would come down to how detailed a list of requirements they employed to be notified in the process. I would expect them to want to respect the places they built their installations, and generate a minimum of impact. One would hope that a more advanced society would also employ a greater sense of conservation for the environments their tech might impact. Laying waste to worlds in your travels is not exactly an enlightened strategy. And respect for the life that is already on the worlds you discover would need to be the rule and not the exception.

See? What HE said!

I agree that no one could use the guy's weapons but them. That ability could easily be controlled via implant, and authority conferred immediately upon another - or withdrawn. There are going to be many aspects of the technology in these stories that simply will not be addressed unless they come up. It's safe to infer some of them, simply because we know how efficient and powerful Armenti technology was. Stands to reason that anything we can think of that seems of reasonable use or an important safeguard might be rolled into the equipment, even if not explicitly stated. Some of it simply will not get mentioned if there is no need. 'Zap' gun is what the guys call their weapons. I'm sure the Armenti used a more technical term.

Are you talking about the belts the guys are wearing on their suits? The black boxes with rounded corners? I pretty much see these as the power supply and brains of the suits they're wearing. The tech. I envisioned a suit able to adapt most any form of energy that impinges upon it and convert and store that energy as power to run the suit's many functions. The boxes on the belts are small. I actually don't know how small an enormously capable technology can become before the simple matter of scale and ability to handle power become an issue. Nanoscale, most likely. But I'd like to think the Armenti were pretty good at their game. I considered that the guy's internal communicators would be able to interface with all Armenti artificial minds, but that Nyf might not tell them that immediately, any more than he told them about the contragravity effects of their suits until it became a need to know. Baby steps, and all that. Once the guy's implants become fully functional, it has the capability of making the stories more complicated. I was thinking about the poor author in this case! 😁

They exited into a large chamber, which would have been dark had the ceiling not been a flattened transparent bowl. As it was, the sunshine that entered was from an angle, suggesting either morning or afternoon, and the light seemed to paint the vast room in somewhat harsher clarity than might the more cheerful sun of home. "The sun around which Rustgevend revolves is somewhat larger and hotter than your own," Nyf supplied. "Its luminosity is greater, and the light it emits slightly whiter.

I'm sure if they had any sort of transfer station on the Earth, they'd want to know something about the place. Interestingly, I've yet to determine an exact reason for why they may have built a small station there in the first place. I guess Derry and company will have to look into that at some point! Always pleased to see you here!

Yep. I can't believe it took three years to get back to these guys!

"And this one?" Mike asked. pointing at yet another door. "Ysplesa," Difris answered immediately. "A trading center of the Um'ploog Confederacy. Quite a wild place, even back in the day." Derry smiled at the spider's choice of words. Difris had been studying English relentlessly, and was even coming to master the colloquialisms nicely. Mike was looking a little frustrated by now. "I knew it was a mistake to start asking where these darn doors went to. We should have just chosen a

Hope you enjoy the first story enough to continue on to this new one. There are 13 chapters in this story. It was far too long to be posted as one chapter. I've learned my lesson on that!

The Darkness Between Doors by Geron Kees © 2018, 2021 by Geron Kees. All rights reserved. This is a work of fiction. All characters and situations are imaginary. No real people were harmed in the creation of this presentation. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ This story follows events first recounted in The Odd, Onward Door, and Never A Door Lost. You really should read them first.