Platinum Morning

1877 Refortification
1977 Platinum Morning
1997 Implemented Proxies
2007 Eminence Ascent

Awaken with a start, in the dark
and then the curtains part
You remember where you are

Light fills the room with the quiet fanfare of hushing surf on Pactolian Plage below.

Dawn — a smoldering crucible of platinum
bathes the sky a tacit mauve

The sea beyond the fort of St. Catherine, crimson velvet
crescive rippling beads of light

The music of Nightkill births the day
electronic chimes wirble and cascade
arpeggiated sevenths stride across the horizon

solisequious... steady, the ascent

silhouettes of minarets, turrets
ramparts guarding the moment

Glimmer and glint in the folds of satin
she slowly stirs under warm beams and a breath from the sea
blinks
and remembers where she is.
As she awakens, she, too, is the dawn.

“Come to the balcony...
Come to the balcony to see...”

Eos Erigeneia, rise from your rest
and come to the edge
between sky and sea

Orville™ 390 Vent Rib Reactor

HWR Armature
Incent Criticality
3 Plasma Trap — Mag • Toroid/Stellarator

Möbius Script: Actor, Dream, Epiphany

It seems to happen every time... a dozen fortnights down the line
emptiness where there was once exuberance...
How did the joy escape? asks the actor. Where is the drain through which it seeped?
A hollow wondering at bonds that fray and binds that fade
yet again again, a script repeated
Slow collapse in upon itself; spent vessel wheezes to a halt.

How does a dream paint this picture?
[FADE IN TO:]

the miserable matted cat
skulks along the wall
slips through cracked door
down descending silent
to the gray cellar
crawls into the shadows
under skewed stairs
curls up
and waits
for final minutes to pass
out of sight, unnoticed
nobody’s burden

This is the way it always ends, the ties that’d bound, unravel
A piece inside the actor dies, as does the dream’s animal
‘This must stand for something,’ the actor sweats, fretting over the Rules of Metaphor.
[beat]
Which part withers and why?
That part inside the actor
It is a part and it is the whole
It is the actor’s part and he

[V.O.: Synecdoche epiphany]

Like General Black finally sees himself
both bull and matador
the actor’s cat is just as much
his heart as much himself

“The dream...
”The dream...
“Me...
”The matador... ...”




[DISSOLVE TO BLACK]

Gréne Nunfæmne of Néahwudu

Soft steps patter down the path
Steady trudge with conviction
Watched from the brush by Titania
Eyed from the sky by María
Measured pace on through the wood
The scent of spruce, the song of wrens
A step, a step a day a year
Whither mote she rove tómorgen
Eala, Þæt wæs god gefæmne

Newborns love the sweltering noonday sun

Parenting Trends 2006

As the searing midsummer sun beats down upon Classic City denizens going about their daily routine, one may take notice of a growing trend among today’s new parents.
Whether being pushed along in a decked-out stroller or cradled tightly in guarded arms, infants are lovingly made to bear the brunt of maximum solar exposure. Just look around. They wouldn’t be sitting there baking like that if they didn’t like it.

“No covering, no hats, no sunblock,” points out Dr. Johnny Gutts, a research facilitator at PedePartners 2K, a life sciences think tank based in Heritageville. “Shade is definitely out for these littlest of tykes.”
Gutts notes that this trend has been growing steadily in recent summers, and that potential risks may outweigh dubious benefits.

“Sun protection is vital for babies six months and younger. These parents are acting irresponsibly.”

“Oh, sure, blame the parents again,” laments Heidi Feick-Craig, local cashier at Flea Bite’s Café. “A lil’ sun is good for my babies. That‘s what’s most important.”

[Video: Dr. Gutts silently shakes head.]

“Dakota really likes the attention,” beams Thad Cruzak, a stay-at-home dad who moonlights at Junque Novelties. “She likes it best when I take her ‘sunning’ around City Square at lunch hour, when lots of people are around. It‘s so hot out then, but at least people are noticing her. Plus, I heard the sun is a good source for vitamin C, so that’s okay.”

Dr. Gutts frowns at parents who seemingly put their own needs ahead of their loved ones. Is there a solution?

Of course there is. Leave it up to the masterminds at the Orville Corporation to come up with an answer that will make everyone happy.

The Orville™ Infant Tanning Bed ITB100

Tanning improves the baby’s level of health. Ultraviolet rays harden the bones, enrich the blood, prevent colds, improve the appetite, and add vigor to the baby’s body.

This compact, small-capacity portable tanning receptacle is specially designed for a baby’s sensitivity to radiation, while maximizing a gorgeous, healthy golden glow.

• Patented NapTimer™ self-monitors session length.
• Self-contained output monitor. A unique energy-saving feature of the unit’s performance status.
• Wide array of UVA/UVB options (100-3.8x10^3Å).
• Clinically proven safe and effective.

The versatility of choice, only from...

Monday Cortical Hotboxing

Stoking the furnace with Scoville units in the kilo range
Cortex housing temperature reaching 346 Kelvins
Condensation appears on the chassis
trickling to a crawl
as a blue breeze brushes by
cool air touching hot surface
a slight hiss on the brow
Pacing into the headwind
Fake Ross quips, “Heading back to the castle?”

Corporate Ugandoid and the Exploding Green Sun

サラリーマン•ダダ

Specimen 6 rises in ranks up the ladder to greener pastures
Still he chop-chops at the air
Martial gestures at BBACBL’s wispy, bygone ghosts

Witness the litany of managerial buffoons:

• Mac MacDoom — Paranoid alky vet who imagines hand-fashioned pungee sticks as legit business tools against competition.

• The Brown Don — Toady gladhandler consultant relies on divide-and-conquer techniques while buttkissing a la Larry King.

• Dragonryder — Oily, miserable micro-manager who re-enacts swordplay from Highlander during meetings while sporting Member’s Only jacket and fanny-pack.

• Andreu Puckerpants — Flaming stereotype with Rich Wife/Beard who nonetheless feels the need to disparage his uncloseted ilk, all while pandering to Bluehairs.



• The BBACBL Triarchy — The masterminds themselves... Fringe bankers of the Foreman Archetype whose reign of incompetence oversaw this succession’s takedown of a once-viable media organ.

...And let us not forget their lapdog, the vile Jethrine-esque Sleezi Tiki.

“Sarariman Dada, why do you swat at faded flies of yesteryear? They are powerless, shriveled shadows from the past. What threat could they possibly hold in your mind?”

Hmmm...

While “living well is the best revenge” is indeed a tasty dictum in which to take comfort, our executive’s concern is not that of a concrete threat. It is the radar’s detection of patterns themselves that may alert us to any Repeating of the Past.

May we introduce a new corporate tool:

The Orville™ Green Nova of Awareness

• 360° recon intelligence
• 4D contingencies map realtime outcomes
• Motive-exploding to shed light from the what-was to the could-be
• Deterministic schemes for assessing future management’s core competency
• Actionable chaos sets for countering management meta-ignorance and zerotasking