Daniel twitched just slightly as he sat waiting for her.  She was a bit late having to finish her chores on the family station.  Penrose was the largest property in the area for her family had been in this region since the mid-30s.  It had grown decidedly since her grandfather first posted as his squat with only a handful of sheep and sheer bloody-mindedness. His people had been here forever but the family spoke about how their grandfather had been a breaker on cattle propert

The circumstance of his predicament was judgier than his preoccupation for procrastination and protestation. Not knowing his own level of self-importance and ability to talk absolute bull shit, he looked upon the other occupants of the life raft with derision and disgust just as he struggled to understand their predicament. The land, just peeking over the horizon, was coming closer with every stroke of the oars as they pulled in unison. Well, one side pulled in unison whilst

The species is very curious.  It’s easy to ‘create’ beings from silicon and plastics.  Pod’s Quantum systems with replicator, can supersede a flesh being.  One that can out-smart, out everything the carbon-based muscle-and-blood-bags.  But doesn’t make them a ‘being’.  Bonn doesn’t have a ‘friend’ and he needs one.  The physics ‘essential’ to produce a replica is easy from minerals on their planet but there is something missing.  How do you make a spirit, a character, a being