Novo Komenco – Part 7


resident of Terra, or as we knew her Earth.


Earth and are on your way to be united with us on Novatero.

Fourteen ships were launched as part of the exploration mission that was
charged with finding a new home planet or planets for Earth citizens. After the last fourteen rockets were launched, several governments starting an escalating argument that has now sadly ended with the destruction of Earth.

A worldwide nuclear exchange occurred causing a last rushed launch of
five more ships. At this time, we do not know if the rockets were
able to clear the atmosphere and start their trip before the nuclear
explosions began.

We do know that the planetary instability that was already slowly destroying the planet was magnified during the nuclear weapons exchange.  Due to the large concentration of targets in limited areas, Earth disintegrated. All available ships are trying to reach the remains of Earth to see if any survivors remain and to confirm that the last launch of explorers was successful.

To all former citizens of Earth, I welcome you all to Novateroj in the Keplar Star System. We are the guests of the Keplari.  They have terraformed a planet for us and will be assisting us with building houses, buildings, and all of the necessities of life as we know

Once we have settled on Novatero, there will be weekly broadcasts explaining the current government and how we plan to transition to an elected government. Some things will be very different as we will have two suns and three moons in our skies now and time as we have known it no longer applies.

You will be meeting and working with the Keplari and a few other races from the star system. They will be assisting us in rebuilding our society, culture, and our race. Please, be graceful with our hosts. They have studied our history and culture but they will likely make some basic mistakes in pronunciation of names, locations, and get some of our history wrong.

Work to be calm and understanding. They will help us to rebuild our society and build it stronger and better than it was before the Wobble and it’s untimely demise.

Again, welcome to Novatero from your President. I am President Obsidian
Taylor. Thank you for watching.”

And the red light went off above the camera.

Other writers flashing this week include:

Novo Komenco – Part 6


“President Taylor! President Taylor!” were the first words that he heard as he
recovered.  The next thing he was conscious of was his heart pounding in his ears.

He slowly pulled himself up and rested on his elbows.  He felt fine but there was a
commotion around him. “Apparently, the President of the country isn’t allowed to faint.” he thought to himself.

“I’m fine…I’m fine…step away from me. Sheesh! I just got lightheaded from the

The medi-tech who was overseeing the people around him nodded and the phalanx of people around him dispersed.

“Now, with that out of the way, shall we continue with the founding of Novatero?”
and with those words, the first government of Novatero came in to session.

They quickly passed a broad spectrum of laws that resembled more of the ideal laws from the twenty-first century:  Equality for all, prohibitions on murder, theft, and so on.  Provisions were made for how geographic subdivisions would be made and what currency would be the standard.

Much of what they had decided had been prepared and presented to them, the existing
Terran governments had prepared a full dossier of laws, policies, and expectations for the citizens of Novatero.  It was that approach that had raised the hackles of the group. They had been selected and sent to colonize a new planet but yet they were expected to just genuflect to the Terran ways.  The first mark of rebellion was selecting the
Intergalactic Space Credit (ISC) but pegging its value to the old Terran currency.  It wasn’t a full governmental framework but it was enough for society to take hold with laws and oversight.

Just after 6pm, 1800 hours – we finally use proper 24 hour time Obsidian would
have added
, they adjourned for dinner and met in the state room.  One issue came to the fore immediately, they had created a representative government with members of the Legislative to be selected by each region but no one knew where people would settle and what the first cities would be like.

As the dinner wound down, Obsidian was eager to return to his room and relax with an old text. He had a special penchant for Ancient American Political Science from before the collapse of the U.S.A. during the Kelly Sutcliffe administration of 2024. Old racial and
class divides had festered for fifty years before the Second Civil War broke out.

Obsidian’s new bodyguards led him to a different part of the ship and to the new Executive Suite.  It was a sprawling five room area with a secure office adjancent to it that adjoined his Vice-President’s suite and office.

Many of his old belongings had somehow gotten from Terra to here and it was a comfort to him.  Most impressively, his large bookshelf of ancient American books was in his study.  He took a quick look around the suite and then dismissed his security detachment.  He knew they weren’t far away, likely stationed just outside every door and a few more monitoring everything in both his and his vice-president’s
suites and offices.

He was the leader of all they would know and while somewhat terrifying was also comforting. He took off his clothes and tossed them in a pile but the bathroom door. He looked at the bathroom and realized there were no controls for anything.  Automatic sinks and toilets weren’t new but the bathtub…

Suddenly, a control panel beeped and lit up.

President Taylor, how may I assist you? – said a soothing male voice.

“Call me Obsidian when am in my quarters.”

My apologies Obsidian. – said the same voice. It was having an arousing effect on

“Draw a bath, 55 degrees of Celsius and infuse a small amount of lavender.”

Are you stressed Obsidian? I can summon a massage therapist if you would
like. – the voice sounded genuinely concerned about him.

“No need. A nice hot bath with a good book with help immensely.”

As you wish” and with that, the bathtub started to fill with hot water and the
smell of lavender infused into it.

There was no way that he would risk his reprints of The Federalist in the bathtub, but a
data pad would do the trick.

As he dipped a foot into the water, he realized that it had started flowing at the requested temperature and so hadn’t been moderated by the cool water in the system ahead of it.

“Adjust the bath temperature to 45.”

As soon as had spoken his request, the tub emptied with a sucking noise and just as quickly started to fill with fresh water.  Putting his other foot in, he found it was the right temperature.  He slid into the bath and started reading.

He was just starting to doze off then suddenly alarms starting sounding and his bodyguards were storming into his suite.

He quickly jumped up and grabbed a robe which he wrapped around himself.

“What is going on?!” he asked startled.

“President Taylor, you are needed in your office now. Current attire acceptable.” said one of his bodyguards. I do need to get to know who these people are…

He quickly made his way into his office and sat down at his desk for the
first time.

Two of the ambassadors from their home system approached his desk slowly.

“President Taylor, you are now the leader of the human race. Terra has destroyed
itself in a global nuclear war.  It was enough to cause the planet to disintegrate. Several star systems are en route to help find survivors and bring them to Novatero.”

Other author’s flashing this week include:

Novo Komenco – Part 5

The formal stateroom was set up for a full formal state dinner. As they got settled in,
the crew of the Mercy seemed to appear out of nowhere. Orders were quickly taken and drinks appeared on the table.

A small chamber orchestra was playing a harmony that he couldn’t quite place. The harpist had a talent that made her playing appear effortless. Her arms were in a ballet of flight in the strings and didn’t seem to pause, even between songs.

Obsidian was thankful that when he returned to his quarters, there was a perfectly pressed tuxedo waiting for him. The tailoring was obviously done specifically for him and it fit very well.

Also waiting for him in his quarters was the dossier of his new duties. A note on the dossier advised him to not open it until he had his position briefing the following day. Sitting next to the large dossier was a satchel with a datapad, He muttered to himself and knew it’d be a challenge to not open it until the next day. It wasn’t that he wouldn’t wait or that he couldn’t wait, he just didn’t want to wait. So much had changed since they had been brought out of stasis.

He looked down at the satchel that was sitting on the floor between his feet and saw the slight glow of the datapad within it. He reached down and pulled the it out of his satchel. As he rested his thumb on the base of the display, the screen came to

“Hello! Honorable Obsidian Taylor, I am Konon your virtual concierge. As you have not been briefed yet, much of my functionality is unavailable. Once you…” Konon’s voice stopped as if cut off.

Obsidian looked up and saw that most of the room was staring at him. He felt
his face flush crimson and he quickly set down the datapad. He noticed that the Commandant was giving him a stern look mixed with a wry smile.

There are just too many things going on here…he had a flash of an
old quote from his
pre-Wobble history class.

“I cannot forecast to you the actions that will
follow. It is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma; but
perhaps there is a key. That key is self-interest.” – Winston

I think that was the quote but why is everything a mystery? Hopefully, the presentations during dinner and our briefings will help to clear the mystery and rumors that are starting

A gong sounded in the state room and the lights dimmed slightly as an image was projected on the wall behind the head table. As the lights continued to dim, he was able to make out what appeared to be a title slide “Leaders of Novatero”.

They’ve already set up leadership for us? Great. So much for democracy.

The Commandant stood up and moved to stand behind a podium that rose up
from the table.

“May I have your attention please?” the Commandant didn’t so much ask as demanded.

The room quickly quieted and the Commandant continued after a moment.

“We have had many discussions about how to disclose the leadership of Novatero. Should we announce the legislators first? The Executive? The Judicial? What about the Executive Cabinet? You, our guests on the Mercy, are that leadership. You have each been selected for your new position. Some of you may be surprised at your appointment but you will find a dossier of our rationale on your datapad.  If you do not have your it, please go get it and return as quickly as possible.”

A few people got up and briskly left the room and the remaining people pulled their datapad and opened them as did Obsidian.  Unlike the previous opening, his remained silent and the display was only dimly lit showing a waving flag with a constellation on it and ‘Novatero’ below it.

That flag is a disappointment. Guess it is true that you can’t always get what you
Obsidian thought to himself.

A few minutes passed and the few people who had left returned with datapads in hand.

“Don’t get settled as everyone is about to move around to your new location based on your role.” the Commandant started, “the ship’s computer will call your name and spotlight where you are to be sitting.

A soft gong sounded and the first name lit up.  The process continued for several minutes and Obsidian had to move a couple of times.  By the end of the process, he was sitting at the back of the room with a glowing holographic nameplate on the desk showing his name.

As the last two people got settled into their seats, lighting in the room reversed turning the table in the back of the room into the front of the room and it seemed to Obsidian that two of the lights were focused on him.

The last thing he heard before he passed out was “May I present to you all, the first President of Novatero. President Obsidian Skye Taylor.”

Novo Komenco – Part 4

“Hello. I’m Commandant Kevlin. Welcome aboard the Kepler Federation Ship Mercy.”

“Well, that’s why I think she said.” Obsidian thought to himself before his mind realized that she’d said Kepler Federation Ship.

A collective gasp went up from the room.

“Yes, I know.  You launched from the World Astronautical Consortium on the
Endeavour.  This is the same ship.”

Another gasp went up from the room.

“Please let me get through the opening debriefing. There will be plenty of time for questions once I am done.”

The room got quiet and the Commandant continued.

“As I said, welcome to the KFS Mercy. She was built to Keplerian specifications and tested before launch. There were 200 ships built each holding 1000 refugees and 100 crew members. The Mercy is unique as she only holds  a crew of 50 and 220 passengers. She is the ship built to bring you, the leadership of the refugees, so that they may be up to speed and ready to settle into their new world.

After this initial debrief, each of you will be taken to your own private debriefing where your new role will be laid out for you as well as a full background of the new world you will be living on and your new neighbors.  These roles are not fixed but were the suggested roles based on your psychological testing and training performance.

Now, with that out of the way, I am Commandant Kevlin and I am your liaison to the Keplarian Federation.  Your new home will be a shared planet.  Two other worlds in a situation like your own will also be resettled there as well.  You will be meeting delegations from the other two worlds shortly.

We were unaware that your government would not be telling you the truth
about your mission. They have been working with us for two hundred of
your years, apparently in secret. We had two of our spacecraft on a
reconnaissance mission in your system and heard your transmissions
about the increasing destabilization of your planet.

In cooperation with your world governments, we supplied ships and technology to create a refugee plan to transport 200,000 voluntary refugees to a newly terraformed planet in one of our stellar neighborhoods. It has been declared a no-fly zone for any spacecraft
except for official diplomatic missions and supply ships from your planet or from us.

You and the other two worlds that will be moving into your planet will be left to develop a new civilization on your own.  Our missions will help to oversee that development and to foster communication between three new entities.

Over the last 100 of your years, we have been transporting large amounts of industrial equipment, money, flora and fauna to this new world. After much consideration and discussion, your home world governments decided that your new world would be similar in area to that which you call Roosia…”

Russia.” came a quiet voice from the assembled group.

The Commandant continued, “Thank you. I will likely mispronounce many more names from your home world before this briefing is over. I apologize in advance.  The landforms were taken from southeastern Australia, the area around the Great Lakes of North America and finally from the center of Europe.  Many lakes and oceans were added to the layout of the new world. Naming the land and creating its
regional governments will be among your first jobs as the new

We will be arriving in the Kepler system shortly.” The Commandant paused and let out a sigh, “Going forward, if I mention a time or distance unit that sounds like it was from your world, it is.  You will be taught the standard systems that are used in our system but
you are encouraged to use both your own standard units and ours in parallel.  Time will likely cause the biggest issues for all involved. You will all receive watches, data pads, and other utilities to help you to adjust to our systems.

Again, we apologize for the secrecy and deception of your governments in keeping the true nature of this mission from you all.  As the leaders of the new world, Novatero, you deserved the truth from the beginning. As mentioned earlier, there are 220 passengers on board but there are only 42, errr 41, of you here.  You are the highest government officials.  You will be meeting to create the new governmental framework and policies of Novatero.”

There was a short pause that only lasted a few seconds but to those
assembled, it seemed to last an eternity.

“Once you have attended your briefings and have agreed to the job that you were selected for, you will be asked to assemble in the part that has been arranged for your use.  It has been designed to function as the governmental suite of the ship.  Aside from the navigation of the spacecraft and rules related to its operation, you will be the government of the people on the ships.

Now, one last piece of information to give you.  Through the use of teleportation technology, it is only about eight hours since you launched.  Once you were safely away from the planet, you were teleported into orbit around your new world. The other ships are here and the rest of your people are safely in stasis.  You, on this ship,
were simply sedated as if for a primitive surgery.

Now, please follow me into the stateroom for a proper meal and I will
answer questions at that time.

Other authors posting this week:

Cia Nordwell

Carol Pedroso

Jon Keys

Elyzabeth VaLey

Ravon Silvius

Julie Lynn Hayes

Novo Komenco – Part 3

(Author Note: One more short week. There’s a bombshell coming and I needed to figure out how to attack it.)

Obsidian turned to the person sitting on his right, “What’s thirty more
minutes right?”

“What did you just say?” snarled the person.

“I just said that thirty more minutes shouldn’t be a problem since we’ve been in
stasis for how long now?” Obsidian said a bit sheepishly.

“Whatever. Why don’t you go play hide and go fuck yourself?” the voice growled
aggressively.  Obsidian looked at the name patch on his uniform, “Werner, J” and made a note of it.

What a crab-ass.

Obsidian thought to himself as he got up for more fruit.

As he filled his plate, he looked around again for someone who might be more interesting to speak to but before he could scan the entire group, two guards burst into the room and grabbed the crab-ass and were hauling him out of the room.

Before he could stop himself, he yelled out “I think there’s been a mistake made here!”

The guards stopped momentarily and turned to Obsidian, “You should just
sit down, have some food, and wait for the meeting.  They’ll likel explain this then.”

Obsidian sat down in the closest chair as the two guards pulled the crab-ass out. There was no noise from outside the room.  He sat quietly but didn’t like the bad taste in his mouth from the episode.  We’re all explorers here to find other worlds so why would they take him away?  And, after all the screening and testing that we endured, why
would they let someone as angry as him on the crew?

He popped a grape into his mouth but was surprised when the green grapes
tasted like red grapes and vice versa. Was it a side effect of long-term storage or a new variety that had gone wrong.  Either way, they weren’t bad just not what he was expecting.

Rather than trying to speak to anyone else, he just sat and idly munched on
the food in front of him. Sinking his teeth into a carrot stick, everything went hazy and dark.

A voice in Obsidian’s head reminded him that of the things that stasis was known to cause was vivid flashbacks for the first day or two after being brought out of it.  But that didn’t stop the flashback of his brother’s death in a gruesome car accident.

Jet had been out with some of his friends who had been drinking and they were driving back from a night out in Peoria where he had been told not to go. Jet’s best friend, Justin Rozich, had been driving. For reasons unknown, Justin had crossed over the centerline and into the path of an oncoming tractor-trailer.

The driver of the tractor-trailer was seriously injured as he had jackknifed the rig trying to avoid the oncoming car.  The driver didn’t have enough time to swerve enough to keep the car from hitting him. The ‘68 Mustang was no match for a fully loaded grain hauler. Jet, Jonas, along with two other high school friends were killed instantly. The autopsy on Justin found traces of marijuana but no other drugs but all four had been drinking.

Other Briefers posting this week:

Nova Komenco – Part 2

Please read to the end to find other authors posting this week!

The launch had gone smoothly and they were on their way.  Now in outer space, it was time to put them into stasis for the trip.  As he laid down in his stasis pod, he thought he smelled lilacs. That’s impossi…

Obsidian opened his eyes again to see a naked man standing over him.  He
couldn’t control his eyebrows and they arched up.

“Hello 7-058. Obsidian Skye Taylor.  You are currently in the Cygnus system en route to Kepler-452b.  At this time, you are currently 430 parsecs from your home planet.  We should arrive in approximately six earth hours.”

As Obsidian listened to the information, he realized that the ‘man’ standing in front of him was a robot.

“Uhm, thank you.  The mission schedule called for us to be brought out of stasis approximately three months before arriving in the Orion Nebula.  Why are we in the Kepler system?”  Obsidian asked overwhelmed by information that the robot had given him.

“7-058, there will be a mission briefing in 30 earth minutes in the boardroom.  Please dress yourself comfortably and present yourself in the boardroom at that time. I have no further information at this time.”

Yup, that’s definitely a robot.  That still doesn’t explain where we are, why
we are being brought out of stasis so late in the mission.

“Could you show me the way to my quarters where my clothing and personal
effects are stored?” Obsidian asked as he slowly stood up.

“7-058, you are in your quarters.  You have been in stasis for 127 earth

“127 earth days. And we have traveled 430 parsecs? That’s 3.38 parsecs per day.  We were told we’d been in stasis for almost 150 years due to the speed to travel.” Obsidian paused, “I’m sure you have no further information.”

“7-058, you are correct. I am Maponus, a health maintenance appliance. I was charged with your survival during the voyage from your home planet to the Kepler system.”

“Thank you Maponus.  I’ll get dressed and make my way to the boardroom.”

“Very well 7-058.” and with a small chime, Maponus disappeared.

A virtual doctor?
What else are they going to surprise us with?

Obsidian stood up and felt the artificial gravity trying to drag him down to the floor. Stasis kept you alive and in good shape but it didn’t keep your body and mind working together for advanced things such as standing or walking.

He opened up the bin that was labeled “Personal Effects” and found all of his clothes were there, neatly folded and put away.  He wasn’t sure if he should be thanking Maponus or if there was another robotic assistant that did the housekeeping while they were in transit.

Therewas a small printout laying on top of his clothes advising him that the meeting in the boardroom would be casual and that appetizers and beverages would be provided.

It would be rather odd to wake up the 42 of us on the ship and then not have sustenance for us.

A quick rummage through the clothing found his favorite pair of jeans and a t-shirt from the rock band noktomezo. He took a few steps and after assuring himself that he did indeed have his legs back under him stepped out of room that had been his home for the
last 128 days and out into the hallway.

Thankful for the directory signs that were posted at each hallway junction, he made his way to the Boardroom.  As he approached, he realized that he didn’t recognize anyone.  Memory lapse from stasis or not?

He entered the boardroom and found a large spread of food put out for him and his fellow travelers. Looking around, he still wasn’t able to find anyone that he recognized. He walked up to the food table and gathered up some fresh fruit and also some juice to drink. He did remember that the first few meals after stasis should be small simple
meals to allow the body to get back into the rhythms of eating and digesting properly.

As he sat down, he got an uneasy feeling that he couldn’t explain right away.  It was like an intuition that something was wrong but he had no way of knowing what it was. It’s most likely remnant effects of the various chemicals they use for stasis.

Before long, there were 42 groggy members of the ship sitting in the boardroom and three uniformed officers at the front of the room.

One of the officers, a female, stepped up to the podium and began to

“I’m Commandant Kevlin.  Thank you all for assembling so quickly after stasis.  Please feel free to eat, drink, and mingle with your fellow pioneers.  We will start the debriefing in 30 minutes.”

The officers sat down and began eating and discussing a stack of papers on the table in front of them.

Obsidian found himself lost in his thoughts. Why would the officers need a stack of paperwork for a debriefing?  Wouldn’t everything be in the ship’s computer?  Why are we in the Kepler system when we were trained and prepped to explore the Orion Nebula?  Did something happen on the way?

He let out a sigh and tried to calm his racing mind.  What ever was happening, there was no going back now.  He was almost 1400 light-years from home.

Other Wednesday Briefs Authors posting this week:

Louise Lyons

Jon Keys

Cia Nordwell

Carol Pedroso

Julie Lynn Hayes

Nova Komenco – Part 1

(Author note: My apologies for the previous flash entry – it’s a story idea that I really liked but I couldn’t pull it together enough to make into a series. I will likely come back to it in the future.  This week’s flash is a short intro as well, but I do have future parts written as well and will be running with this one.)

The last words of his mother echoed in his ears – You’re a coward. I’m very ashamed of you.”

He was waiting for his name to be called for his launch.  The launch schedules had all been accelerated as the planet’s rotation has begun to destabilize.  It wouldn’t be long before there wasn’t a planet left.

Suddenly, a robot voice called out his ID Number and name, “7-058  Obsidian Skye Taylor”

He stepped up to the counter and presented his ID card and put his hand
into the biometric reader.

“Welcome 7-058.  You will be briefed in room 19.  Please proceed.”

He was just old enough to remember how life had been before the

Several world capitals and a few countries has been destroyed when Comet Inbou-Tsuku
broke up and rained pieces across the planet. The planet recovered but the population was drastically reduced. The world economy had been set back for almost three centuries but had recovered.

Now in late 28th  century, things had recovered back to pre-impact levels but scientists had discovered a new problem.  The multiple impacts had destabilized the rotation of the planet.

What had started as a second or two per day change in the length of rotation extended
and shortened as much as thirty minutes and was affecting the axial tilt. Seasons
became more and more chaotic as the tilt wobbled causing the peak of summer to become late fall or late spring to become winter causing massive problems with food

The program that Obsidian had volunteered for was started once the Wobble
had gotten so extreme that it was causing tremors and deformation of the planet’s surface. Scientists quickly realized that the destruction of the planet was imminent.  The old space agency plans were retrieved from the archives and put into place to select
astronauts that would be sent into space to find other colonies.

He’d gotten through the selection process and the three years of training,
well, it was three years according to the telechrons.  Hours, days and years had lost their original meaning except as units to measure time.

Obsidian was shaken back to reality by another tremor that caused dust to fall
from the roof of the building.  He grabbed his personal effects that he planned to take with him. He looked around the lobby and saw a few familiar faces from the
training program but quickly trotted down the hallway pulling the two suitcases of his most valued possessions.

He followed the signs to room 19. It should have been labelled as port 19 but he wasn’t going to quibble at this point. There were at least three dozen other people in the waiting area at port 19. Familiar faces filled the assembled crowd which helped to ease his  nerves. He presented himself at the podium with national ID and put his hand in the biometric reader.

His identity confirmed, the agent behind the counter turned to the room
and yelled “42!” and the doors opened revealing the briefing room

Several hours later, all of the necessary paperwork had been signed, next-of-kin recorded and the mission de-brief completed.  Tomorrow morning, he would be put into cryogenic stasis for a trip toward the Orion Nebula to look for a new home for the residents of the planet. He and his fellow explorers/scientists were the hope of the

Other authors posting this week:

Louise Lyons

Jon Keys

Cia Nordwell

Carol Pedroso

Julie Lynn Hayes