Where were the Noah?

A few weeks ago I posted the beginning of a story inspired by a Tweet from artist Lar DeSouza.  This is the continuation of that story.

Many millennium had passed since the Noah had first visited this system. An unexpected communication from their home world forced them to return as soon as they had finished seeding the healthy planet with life. An unfortunate war with a violent reptilian species forced the recall of all exploratory vessels in the Noah's fleet. The reptiles grew to large sizes compared to most intelligent species. They had broad wings they used for gliding in some atmospheres. They had a unique ability to spray an acidic combination from their mouths that burned into most types of flesh. They used this talent for “breathing fire” sparingly and effectively.

Despite the extreme suffering on both sides, the war with the Drag'korns continued to this day. The reptiles had scouted the majority of the Noah's research stations and colonized worlds. The scaled advanced teams had left their mark on many worlds and developing civilizations. It seemed that the goal of the Drag'korns was to obliterate the entire Noah race and every other species they had encountered, the residents of this small remote planet included.

A craft very different than the one that had rescued all the life of a single planet now stealthily approached the planetary system's largest gas giant. This craft bristled with fewer protrusions of scientific equipment and more weapons pods and missile ports. The crew featured more battle hardened warriors than curious seekers of knowledge. Moving through the solar system, the ship less like a stray star and more like a darker spot hiding in the blackness of space.

The Noah had left behind a number of automated sensing devices and signal relays to keep them apprised of the growth and development of their unaware beneficiaries. They had made a number of technological advances. Despite this, they had not progressed far enough to break the bond to their adopted planetary home. They had sent probes beyond their solar system and remote vehicles to neighboring planets, but had no homes outside the moist atmosphere under which they resided.

The Noah's interstellar battleship rounded the gas giant and worked its way through the asteroid belt that sat between the fourth and fifth planets. They decided to make their presence known by broadcasting a message translated into a multitude of the languages their remote devices had broadcast back to the Noah's home world and scientific stations.

The message was in two parts. The first part assured the peoples of the planet that the Noah were peaceful and meant them no harm. It mentioned a number of places where evidence of their previous visit and benign nature could be found. The second part of the message warned of the approaching Drag'korns and that race's violent intentions. The reptilians would be arriving in a about the same amount of time it took the blue planet to orbit its sun two times. The dominant race had that time to decide as one if they wanted to be evacuated once again or stand and defend their home. The Noah would aid them in any way possible. However, major battles in other star systems and the remoteness of these planets from the galactic core limited the Noah to the single ship now present.

Once again, to be continued....

Challenge Accepted

A few days ago I posted a writing challenge on Twitter.  Being a fair-minded person, I felt I couldn't make a challenge without undergoing it myself.  Here is my simple story.  The words from my game with a friend are highlighted.

It was the greatest day of the solar cycle. The entire village was celebrating. The thumps of dancing feet mingled with the pounding of ceremonial drums. Musicians blew into their flutes and strummed their strings in a joyous ballad that lifted the hearts and raised the spirits of everyone around the large campfire. Hunters marked their chests and faces with bold colors drawn in intricate designs. All of this was to call forth the ancient gods to judge us and see if we were worthy of continued existence. If we were deemed unworthy, how quickly or extended our deaths would be depended on the god that decided we were no longer worth their attentions.

The bleating of goats was silenced as they were sacrificed on the altars of each of the gods. The village's shaman entered the light cast by the ceremonial fire. The glow from the flames reaching deep into her hood only when she drank from her tea. Ceremony and tradition demanded a brew that was made from haws that she alone could harvest and dice fine enough for this one night. The musicians reached their envoi as the village chief greeted the shaman to the ceremony. As the shaman passed the half full cup to the chief, her hands appeared to shrink to the size of a baby's as they nestled inside his large palms.

The shaman stepped up to each altar and offered a prayer to each god separately. She asked the mother god whose ova spawned us and the stars above for continuing new lives to be born from the women of the tribe and the species of the animals we hunted. She asked that our heavenly protector heft his axe above us in order to protect us from those that would harm us. Her request to the god within the mountain below us was simple. She requested that he keep his sloping grades gentle enough for our hunters to remain surefooted and his soils fertile enough for the trees in which we lived to continue to grow.

The final altar was for the god we all respected as well as feared. It was a god that we all wished to never meet, but were also aware of how necessary his presence was. She prayed to the god of death. She asked that he keep his scale balanced. She asked that he not let it tilt too far in his favor and kill us all. She also requested that he not let the balance go too far the other way. Too little death would put a drain on the resources around us and force the herds we relied on for food to move to more plentiful feeding grounds.

Finished with her pleas and requests, the shaman returned to the chief to collect her emptied cup. Only time would indicate whether or not she had been heard. Only when the sun once again rested on the tip of the correct peak four seasons form now would we know if this ceremony had achieved its goals.

Most of these words were easy enough to incorporate into a story.  I will admit that I had to look a couple of them up in order to know how to fold them into the narrative.  Ultimately I look on this as a way to expand both my vocabulary and flex a few more creative muscles.

If you happen to hear about or know of any other writing challenges, please let everyone know in the comments or drop me a note on Twitter.