Vocabulary Part 2 (Cold Equations)

Using at least six of the words above please write a story about how Marilyn Cross sneaks aboard Captain Barton's ship.

         "When will Gerry be coming home?"

          "Your brother is a very important man now, you have to understand that Marilyn."

          "Yes I know, but I miss him a lot."

          "His job on Woden will probably take about a year and a half to complete before he has any time off to come see us."

           There was a discontent sigh that came from Marilyn as she got up from the kitchen table. It was almost 10:00 and she had to make it to her linguistics class that her brother had been sending money to pay for. The Cross family was doing fine financially, but not as good as they could be with two aspiring children looking to work in the field of space exploration and pioneering.

          Marilyn opened the door to her university hoping to make it to class in time, she was running a bit late. In her mind she was thinking of how she would cajole the professor into not penalizing her for her tardiness. There was just one more corner to turn before she would be in eyesight of the door to her room, however a man had yelled her name as she came ten feet away. "Hey Marilyn, can I have a word with you?" she turned around to reveal that the stern, manly voice was that of the dean. She was unsure of why, she didn't object though.

          The dean escorted Marilyn into his office and seated her in a comfortable, velvety chair in which she nervously sat. The dean moved around the desk and sat in his big head-honcho chair. "Marilyn, I called you in her to let you know that you've been assiduously working on your linguistics course at a very alarming rate! I've consulted some education experts and analysts; they were quite impressed with your work. I'm proud to say that you've been rated in the top ten in the whole country and are eligible for early graduation."

          Marilyn didn't know what to say, she pressed her hand over her mouth in blissful shock and the grin on the dean's face grew to her reaction. "You've also been reviewed by some interplanetary work forces. They've commented on your perspicacity and knowledge and you have some job openings that you can pursue immediately after graduation!" This was more than Marilyn could handle. She was pleased beyond belief and she shot up from her chair and squeezed the dean in an epic hug. There was nothing else for Marilyn to do then fill out the paperwork and get everything ready for her graduation!

          Over the next few days, Marilyn had time to pick out some jobs that had been offered to her. She had to choose between a job on Planet Mimir, a two-year tour aboard a spacecraft, or several other menial jobs on remote planets that didn't sound appealing at all. Marilyn thought about her brother Gerry, and how he only had a year to work until he transported to Mimir, therefore if she took the job there so she could see her brother much sooner than her parents. She was jubilant with her decision, and her parents were overly proud and presented her with a large sum of money for her to survive in case of emergency. (But more of a graduation gift than anything.)

          Marilyn was scheduled for transport to Mimir the very next day on the spaceship Spacemarch. It was docked at the space launch pads over 24 miles away along with the Stardust, Marvel, and several other minor transport. She had drove to the station with all her belongings at put them aboard the Spacemarch and left them there and set out to mingle among some of the people she would be working with. She strolled to a group of rather attractive young men. However, their insolence surpassed their looks as Marilyn was mocked as soon as she attempted to join a conversation. She was being laughed at for graduating early, saying she cheated her way through and she was just a spoiled rich girl who got daddy to pay for everything. Marilyn found this a very farfetched allegation and quickly left the group in a sad yet irate  stupor.

          She walked around the space launch site with another hour left to kill. No one else seemed to make eye contact with her, and her futile attempts at interacting with passers by got more humiliating with each try. This wasn't how it was going to be on Mimir was it? Marilyn was befuddled at the churlish behaviour of the few people she met in this short time period. So she thought she might as well go off on some exploring by herself. Her first adventure was the biggest ship in the area, the Stardust! It was so massive, she'd easily kill two hours looking around in there! 

          And in she went, through two large airlock compartment doors which led to the main corridor of the ship. Inside were many doors that sprung off into tunnels that lead into rooms. Maybe two hours wasn't that much after all, this was a huge ship. "What if I get lost?" spoke her thoughts, but it mattered not as she still continued on her journey through the ship. 

          After about an hour and a half, she decided to quell her quest because it had seemed that she was going in a big circle always leading back to the main section of the ship. She went off to what she thought was the exit many times before landing herself into the docking bay where there were six EDS ships awaiting deployment in space. Marilyn was staring at there mechanical marvels not hesitating to look inside.

          There were so many buttons that Marilyn felt sick when looking at the main control board of the ship. She had to look away before temptation took over and had her push some sort of self destruct button or other. It was such a cozy little vessel, and she had to stop her thinking for a moment when the entire ship's intercom blared, "There has been a schedule change, all departing shuttles are leaving in T minus 5 minutes."

           Marilyn was trapped! It was bad enough she couldn't find a way out of the Stardust, but now she couldn't even find the exit to the mini EDS craft. She frantically tried to run to the exit but she found herself facing a board with writing in black marker. It read the current destination of the vessel, which was Woden. Marilyn thought this as a blessing in disguise, and quickly changed her plans and thought if she stowed away on the ship, she'd get to pay Gerry a surprise visit! But if she was caught, how big of a fine would she have to pay? Would Gerry's sent home income be enough to pay for it? Perhaps it could just be dismissed as Gerry was a leader in the Woden expedition. Maybe he could vouch for her! Her thoughts like a hundred moths trapped in a lampshade until a final explosion propelled her into making her final move; to lock herself in a small closet next to her. Inside there was a bottle of an unknown liquid. She scooched the object aside and made herself comfortable. It was going to be a long trip to Woden.

Cold Equations [[(Journal)]]

Write what you would've done had you been the pilot of the EDS in the short story "Cold Equations".


          In other words, I've been handed the lives of seven people and it's my decision whether or not I take one, or every single one of their lives - myself included.

          My thought process is simple; would I rather feel guilt of killing one person or the same one person along with six others? Of course the latter would bare the most weight on my conscience, although with seven lives ended I also would be dead, therefore making feeling guilt impossible. However, this is still a really hard decision given the circumstances. The one who must die in order for the most lives to be saved in the end, is just an innocent, young girl with plans on visiting her older brother. Sure she knew there were consequences, but she severely underestimated them, as space does not abide by most of the rules on Earth.

          Being a fellow Earthling myself, stepping inside her shoes makes this decision even harder for me. Had I missed my brother/sister and my only means of visiting him/her would be to lock myself away in a hidden compartment aboard a small ship I might do it. Especially if the opportunity presented itself, and I had to seize the moment, perhaps this being my only chance for a couple of years! I'd like to assume that the geniuses who came up with the whole space travel scenario would have done a couple extra calculations to grant room for extra fuel.

          This is what would've been rolling through my mind because I'm sure the survival of the pilot as well as the contents would be paramount. Perhaps the scientific space travel place could shell out a couple extra bucks to ensure NOTHING goes wrong with the transport of the goods or in this case a serum for a deadly virus. There's always the worst case scenario, what if the EDS pilot hit a rogue asteroid on the way to Woden and took them off-course by about 50 lightyears? TOO BAD! You only had enough fuel (and a little tiny bit extra) to make sure you made it to your destination had your flight been flawless. 

          With all these jumbled, almost incoherent rambling thoughts stabbing the walls of my brain, I'm still faced with a hopeless girl in front of me that has to die. I know what I have to do, to ensure the safety of the pioneer crew on Woden, she has to be jettisoned. As much as I don't want to do it, I'll have to live with it the decision to fulfill my duty as the carrier of the fever serum.

There Will Come Soft Rains: Journal #2!

          The family that lived before the nuclear fallout in There Will Come Soft Rains strike me as a somewhat higher-class family back in the days of humanity. Considering the house had a large attic, an arsenal of robotic cleaning rodents, a large lawn fitted with a sprinkler system, and the fact it's structure was the only one in the area that seemed to hold up in the nuclear explosion. 


          This unknown family consisted of 5 nameless occupants of the robotic house; The mother and father, son and daughter, and one dog who managed to last longer than the human residents. (Although, it couldn't have been too much longer than the humans seeing how scarce food/water would be with all the radiation about Allendale.) These people were quite social, working 8 to 2:30 in the evening to come home to a house that had martinis and egg salad sandwiches laid out for a party of card-playing guests. It isn't known if they did this everyday, although they seemed to be quite wealthy, although the day of the fire was August 4, which could've been a special gathering for Mr. Featherstone's birthday or Tilita's marriage.


          Once the party had died down and guests returned to their own robotic homes, the adults of the house would take a nice bath and retreat to the study. Here they'd enjoy a nice lit cigar (in my mind I stereotypically assume only rich people smoke these.) while they relaxed and settled down for the night. Last, while their beds were warming up to prep them for the cool night, they'd take a nice listen to some of their favorite poetry. 


          Due to these attributes of the house; the study, the poetry readings, the smoking of cigars, the martinis and card tables for the patio parties, the upper hall Picasso and Matisse paintings, etc. etc.; these people were probably very very well off financially. Sadly, mankind had to be wiped out before I could ever see myself living in one of these houses. Imagine never making breakfast, or any meal for that matter ever again!

Vocabulary (Sept. 13th - Sept. 17th)

Annul - (v.) To make null, void, or to abolish.
          "The President wanted to annul the law because he realized it would bring back slavery."

Anecdote - (n.) A short biographical passage written for amusement or to recollect a amusing time.
          "Brittany told an anecdote of her entertaining adventure in Moscow last winter."

Insolence -(n.) Rude behaviour or attitude.
           "Harry the Slave was stoned for his insolence towards the Catholic Church."

Churlish -(adj.) Rude, usually used in describing peasants.
          "Harry the Slave was also set on fire for being churlish towards his owners."

Irate - (adj.) Enraged, furious.
          "An irate Marcus zoomed down the hallway when he found out there was no more Kool-Aid!"

Efficacy - (n.) Capacity for producing a desired effect or result.
          "Dr. Halstrom designed a new immunity the had the efficacy of curing cancer."

Cajole - (v.) To persuade or coax with heavy flattery.
          "The young boy cajoled the female shopkeeper to give him a 20% discount on all items."

Dastardly - (adv.) Cowardly, sneakily.
          "Samuel the Knight dastardly fled from the dragon's lair because he lacked a weapon."

Pummel - (v.) To pound or beat hard usually with the fists.
          "The irate student proceeded to pummel her teacher due to excessive homework."

Perspicacity - (n.) Keenness of mental ability, perception, or knowledge
          "You must have the perspicacity of a highly sophisticated alien mutant in order to get into Harvard University."

Quell - (v.) To stop, suppress, or calm
          "Luther had to quell the beast's rage if he was ever to prove his bravery to the princess.

Chagrin - (v.) to vex by disappointment or humiliation
          "Much to its chagrin, the cassette has been sadly ignored by the future generations."

Assiduously - (adj.) Hardworking, constant in application or effort, diligent.
          "Allistar was assiduously grinding through his work days in order to get a raise for a successful retirement."

Maliciously - (adv.) In a malicious manner, involving spite or outwardly expressed anger.
          "Greg maliciously tied Rahul to the train tracks; laughing throughout the whole process."