I have added to the Prologue since my last post and wanted to update it for all who are interested. This is probably the last time I will throw a preview of the prologue up since it will probably be edited and added to again once I start the editing process. The reason I added what I did is I initially felt that the prologue was too short, indeed it is still a bit short for my tastes now, but I was also struggling with how to tell some backstory that would explain how thing came to be the way that they are.
This edit is my attempt to fix that and so far I am pleased with the results. The journal entries that tell the now ancient history of the planet as well as the history of the moon, Sila, will be scattered throughout the novel. The main concern I have with doing this is creating a jarring experience for the reader, but fixing problems like that is what editing is all about.
So far I am over 10k words into the novel and while I am shooting for just 50k to start off, I am hoping I surprise myself and take it all the way to 100k or more. Also, in case you were wondering about the format in which this is written… I am writing this way for multiple reasons, one, it will make the manuscript easier to get ready for publishing if it is already in this format and font, and two, I like the way it looks in general.
Prologue
They watched and they waited as time slowly passed them by. The Watchers watched as they had done now for thousands of years, waiting for the sign, the sign that would tell them it was time to awaken the Sleepers. They knew that the time was drawing near, they could hear the pulse. The pulse, the rhythm of life, they could hear it slowly fading. High in their orbital position above the planet’s surface they watched, they waited, they listened.
All of the Organics were now gone from the station, their dreams though still living on within the Watchers and the Sleepers. The Organics had built them well, made them to last. Their programming was infallible. If necessary, the Watchers would wait till eternity, though they knew that that would not be the case, for the pulse was slowing, fading and soon the sign would come. Then great machines would them spring into action, fulfilling their purpose once more.
In the vacuum of space there was little to cause damage to the great machines as they watched and waited, indeed, the biggest threat that they had experienced was a loss of power that occurred in the early days, before the Organics had all vanished. Thanks to the Organics that had made them, the machines had an unlimited source of power which had aided them over the many years of their vigil. Strategically placed mirrors that reflected light from the sun when it was on the opposing side of the planet below, kept the solar panels on the back side of the station fed, preventing another outage like that one in the early days. This prevented to station and the machines within from running out of power which was important to the task that the Watchers were charged with.
Electricity sparked as the Watchers summoned the records of the past from deep within their circuitry. They didn’t know why they did this, but it seemed whenever they reflected back to the past in anyway, the records would come to fill the void of memory. Perhaps it was just their programming but whenever the records would com they could not help but turn their attention slightly inward toward the record to view it, as if there was some hidden message within for them to glean despite that fact that they had watched these records thousands of times before throughout the centuries.
#
Journal Entry #1282
Date – 06/12/2234
Project - Sila
Status – 23.4 percent complete
We have completed the framework of the space station Sila and have started installation on the power stations that will power the station once it is complete. So far everything is running smoothly and we have had no complications to report. Once the power stations are complete we will then get the solar panels installed and once we have confirmation that everything is in working order we will start building that machines that will be assigned to run that station once it is complete. They should be able to aid in the construction and speed the project up.
As project manager, I feel that that is the best course of action since we received word that the first of the immigrant ships will be arriving from Earth in roughly ten years’ time. That severely limits our time tables on this project but I have faith that we will pull through and have everything ready before they get here. My family should be on that ship and I can’t wait to see them once again. Maybe this new planet will be the perfect new home for us to start over so that our children and our children’s children will have a chance to enjoy a world that is pure and free of the corruption we wrought on Earth.
The Yggdrasil project has been completed on the planet’s surface for some time and is awaiting our completion with the station. Once Sila is complete we will unleash the Tears and pray that our calculations were correct and this planet can indeed be suitable for life. I hope against all hope that we were correct. If we were, then the Tears working with the Yggdrasil should bring this planet to life, like a virgin Earth, that has been unspoiled by our hands. I hope that we learn from our mistakes on Earth.
All of us here on the Sila project are hoping that we succeed in time and that all of this will not be in vain. Reports from Earth indicate that the situation there is deteriorating rapidly and all their eyes are turned to us in this faraway planet tucked into the corner of our galaxy.
We here at the Sila project realize the weight of our burden and hope that we are strong enough to see it through. The Tears will be ready on time, even if we have to die to make it so.
End Journal Entry #1282
#
Soon, soon, the Watches whispered among their circuits as the record came to a close. The signal will be shown to us once again. Soon, we shall awaken the Sleepers. Soon it will be time once again, time to unleash the Tears of Sila once more.
No comments:
Post a Comment