November 15 marked the half way point of the month. I have been able to walk 3.3 miles each day. Yeah me. 🎉 I admit, someday I only make the 3.3 miles.
Made it so far 🎉
Coreopsis 3
Jack sat in the dimly lit lab turning the letter over and over with trembling hands. He could tell nothing from the outside. It just looked like any other letter. But it wasn’t. It was from her. His stomach churned at the thought of what she had written. No, she couldn’t come. With nervous energy, his knee bounced. Yes, she would come. He covered his mouth to stop himself from throwing up.
He shouldn’t have done it. He never should have drug her into this mess. With courage, he straightened his back. She said no. Yes. Her answer was no. But. He sank back down in the chair. All those years ago, he should have told her the truth. It took every ounce of courage he had to not offer her the opportunity to go into practice with him. That decision led him here. He shook his head at the thought. That decision led him here.
True, he could have anything he wanted. Not true. He couldn’t have her.
Jack looked up to see Rao standing in the open door. Instantly, he jumped to his feet. As if she had caught him doing something naughty.
“Sit back down.” She seemed to float into the room in the pale light. “I’m being nosy. Indulge me please. Is your friend coming.”
Jack opened the letter. “Yes, my queen, she is coming.”
“Thank you Jack for asking her.” She gently laid her hand on his shoulder.
“She’s the smartest person I know.”
“You put a lot of faith in her.” Rao removed her hand.
He smiled a sad smile, handing her the letter. Nothing was said that would betray how he felt. “Yes, my queen.”
“Two weeks. That’s fantastic news.” She sighed. “I will make all the arrangements.”
“Yes, my queen.”
He watched her leave. Slowly, he re-read the letter. Carefully putting it back inside the envelope before tucking it away in his vest pocket. “She’s coming.” He patted his chest where the letter lay. “She’s coming.”
Night Sky
Waste not. Want not.
I would like to thank Nolcha Fox,
Editor Chewers by Masticadores and Editor LatinosUSA and team for spotlighting my book of poems Waste not. Want not.
A little love
Love is patient, love is kind.
It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
1 Corinthians 13:4-5
Hold’em high
Soldiers march across the great divide, holding up their torches high.
Fighting back the encompassing night.
They march shoulder to shoulder, across the sky.
They cannot win. But still they fight.
Each year their numbers greater.
More torches bring more light.
Some are broken; can’t hold their torches straighter.
Others march with all their might.
No rest for the dead, hoisting their mast
as they hold their torches high.
Death knows no cast,
when you meet Davey Jones of the sky.
http://livingpoetry.net/2025/11/03/november-visual-poetry-prompt-8/
Lost Past; A Star Trek Story
Paramount Global owns the Star Trek franchise. This is a piece of fan fiction based on Star Trek the Next Generation.
The leak
“Cabin temperature 172 degrees Kelvin.”
“This is fabulous.” Data remarked as he worked one side of the Engineering
station while Geordi worked the other side.
“What is fabulous?” Picard asked.
Geordi looked up, “Captain.”
“Who ever did this is either a complete genius or a complete mental.”
“Mental?” Picard repeated, raising an eyebrow.
“They knew just enough about the Enterprise to create a mess. We cannot just stop the flow of the coolant without damaging the warp drive reactor. The flow has to be reversed.”
“That would explain the degree difference in the ductwork.” Geordi thought out loud. “The pressure of two much coolant in an unsecured container is forcing it to go someplace else.
“Cabin temperature 165 degrees Kelvin.”
“Where is it going?” Picard asked.
Data didn’t answer right away.
“Don’t tell me another trip through the Jeffery’s tubes.” Geordi complained.
“No, using the information we collected from the ductwork. The degree difference leads to Deck 9 Room 3602.”
“That is beside me.” Picard looked disturbed.
“Is there anyone in that room?” Geordi asked.
“Westerfield.”
“How wonderful?” Data said dryly.
“We have a degree difference in temperature going to Westerfields quarters?” Geordi analyzed.
“The overflow has to go someplace.”
“What is the temperature in his quarters?” Picard asked.
“Cabin temperature 160 degrees Kelvin” The computer reported.
“285 degrees Kelvin.” Data answered Picard’s question.
“That’s 55 degrees Fahrenheit.” Picard converted the degrees allowed. “What temperature does he normally have his quarters at?”
“70 degrees Fahrenheit.” Data answered.
“This is like trying to chase a mouse through a piece of Swiss cheese.”
Data stopped what he was doing. “What kind of analogy is that?”
“Think about it.” Geordi smiled.
“I have.”
“The mouse is our coolant leak. We are chasing it through the holes in the
cheese, our ductwork back to Engineering.”
“Actually, that was almost funny.” Picard smiled.
“Thank you sir.”
“Cabin temperature 162 degrees Kelvin.” The computer reported.
“The temperature is rising. What did you do?” Picard asked.
“Used Limburger instead of Swiss.” Data answered.
Geordi snickered, he asked. “What are you doing?”
“The coolant has been let out of a radioactive environment. Through filtration it has been stripped of is radioactive isotopes. I found a filtration device in the aft tube leading from the containment unit. The device works through osmosis. The air is cleaned as it flows through the filter.” The device showed up on the Engineering console that Geordi and Data were working on. Picard walked over to take a look. “These bands,” he highlighted for Picard and Geordi, “have no function other than to hold the filter together. By ionizing these bands, it is pulling the air back into the containment unit.”
“Cabin temperature 164 degrees Kelvin.”
“The rise is going to be slower than the fall.”
“Who ever did this was not expecting the ships warning system to activate.”
“Do you have any suggestions about who?”
“It is too convenient that the overflow went to Westerfields quarters?” Data finally looked up from the console.
“I know how you feel about Westerfield. This is a serious charge.” Picard commented.
“Not a charge sir, merely a speculation.”
“Does he have the knowledge to have done this?” Geordi asked.
“Possibly.” Picard scratched his head. “His undergraduate work at the academy was in physics. I never knew him to practice the science.”
“One more nail in his golden coffin.” Data remarked.
“Data that is horrible to say.” Geordi was amazed at the lack of respect coming from his friend.
“Perhaps so but true. I was once told the truth is a hard pill to swallow.”
“Cabin temperature 169 degrees Kelvin.”
“What temperature was your cabin?” Picard asked.
“65 degrees Fahrenheit or 291 degrees Kelvin.”
“Cabin temperature 170 degrees Kelvin. Shall we go survey the damage?” They left Engineering.
Coreopsis: preview
After dinner, he escorted her back to the main room of the train car. He took off his white coat exposing a white tee shirt underneath. He hung his coat in the closet where the porter stored her bags. He then kicked off his shoes side by side as if he had bent over and placed them there.
“White socks,” She remarked.
“I was in a white mood this morning.”
“I see.”
He turned, walking back to his respective seat. A groan escaped him as he clutched his abdomen.
She watched him. “Are you okay?”
He leaned over his lap. She sat down beside of him rubbing his back. She could feel all of his vertebrae along his spine.
“It will pass.”
“Is there anything you need me to do?”
“No, I will be fine.” He groaned.
She got up, returning to her seat. He stretched out, falling asleep. At some point he opened his eyes. She was still fighting with her book. She had gotten a pen and was making notes as she read.
Don’t forget your hat
Lost Past; A Star Trek Story
Paramount Global owns the Star Trek franchise. This is a piece of fan fiction based on Star Trek the Next Generation.
Kelvin?
The crew was having an eventless day on the bridge. This made their second week of being pulled through space. Picard was in a relaxed frame of mind. In an instant, alarms started blaring. “Report,” Picard ordered almost jumping out of his chair. Data worked at his station. The voice of the Enterprise came over the intercom. “Cabin temperature 255 degrees Kelvin.”
“What cabin?” Data asked under his breath. Every touch he made to his console gave a resounding beep. Finally, he stopped, shaking his head. He turned to Picard. “My station has been locked.”
“Cabin temperature 249 degrees Kelvin.”
“What cabin?” Data asked in a normal tone of voice.
He got up going to the science station behind Mr. Worf. Geordi entered the bridge, joining Data. “We are having a massive coolant leak.”
“Is our temperature decrease radioactive?” Picard asked.
“Negative.” Came the computers reply.
“How is that possible?” Picard asked.
“Answer unknown.” Came the answer.
Again as Data tried to trace the source of the leak, the panel would beep. “This station has been locked as well.”
“Cabin temperature 244 degrees Kelvin.”
“Why are you reporting this?” Picard asked.
“A hazard was detected toward the safety of the crew.” The computer answered.
“Stop the leak.” Picard ordered.
“Destination undetermined.”
“Is it a mechanical problem?”
“Negative. Cabin temperature 238 degrees Kelvin.”
“The temperature is falling 10 degrees per minute.” Data spoke.
“Since when does 249 minus 244 equal 10.” Westerfield snapped.
“Degrees Fahrenheit.” Data answered.
“Cabin temperature 233 degrees Kelvin.”
“Geordi accompany me to Engineering, perhaps we can trace the source from there?” Data asked.
“Make it so.” Picard ordered.
“Cabin temperature 227 degrees Kelvin.”
“Cabin temperature.” Data scoffed.
Data and Geordi combed Engineering with tricorders.
“Cabin temperature 216 degrees Kelvin.”
“Is it doubling?” Geordi asked.
“No, we have been concentrating on our jobs. We have not been paying attention to the count down. Your mind blocks out what it deems useless.”
“Selective hearing.” Geordi raised his tricorder to a Jeffery’s tube hatch.
“Bingo.” Data joined him. Geordi took the plate off the control panel to the hatch.
“Phaser blast.”
“Someone set a phaser off and it did not set off any alarms?”
Data tapped his communicator. “Captain, we have evidence of an unauthorized phaser discharge.”
“Cabin temperature 205 degrees Kelvin.” The computer continued.
“I hope no one is in that cabin.”
“We can access this tube from Holodeck 2.” Data walked toward the holodeck. Inside the holodeck, he removed the plate covering the control panel.
“Someone didn’t do their homework.”
“Meaning?”
“We can get in this hatch.” They climbed into the Jeffery’s tube. Data went first staying a couple feet ahead of Geordi. They came to a fork in the tube. Data pointed the tricorder down the tube they were in, “this tube leads to Ten-Forward.”
Geordi pointed his tricorder down the tube creating the fork. “This way to crew quarters. There is a 0005 degree difference in ductwork.”
“Cabin temperature 194 degrees Kelvin.”
“Have you ever seen a personsicle?” Geordi asked.
“I take it you mean a person frozen into a popsicle state?” Data questioned. “A body so cold that when you touch it pieces break off?”
“Yes.”
“Yes. I have.”
“You aren’t in a good mood are you?”
“Being locked out of the Enterprise computer system is enough to create for me the equivalent of a bad day.” They came to another fork in the tube.
“Okay, now I am going to have a bad day. The tube on the right has the .0005-degree difference. The tube on the left has a .0001-degree difference.
“Cabin temperature 188 degrees Kelvin.”
“Let us follow the colder one.” He tilted forward rubbing his forehead.
“Are you okay?” Geordi placed his hand on Data’s shoulder.
“Yes, a little,” he thought for a moment to find the right word, “dizzy.” They continued their route through the Jeffery’s tube.
“The difference is gone.” He moved his tricorder back two feet. “It’s here.” He continued moving it forward until the difference was gone. “Where are we?”
Data pushed a couple buttons on his tricorder. “Above my quarters.”
“Cabin temperature 183 degrees Kelvin.”
Data tapped his communicator. “This leak is directed toward my quarters.”
“Your quarters?” Picard questioned.
“Yes sir.”
“The complicated part is going to be repairing the computer damage in order to stop the leak.” Geordi reported.
“Can that be done from Engineering?” Picard asked.
“We will attempt it.” Data answered.
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