Time Bandits (Part 3)

The soft swish of the cockpit door opening behind him roused Jel from his drowsy state. He glanced behind him to see Tisha walk in, her face expressionless. Her hands and shirt sleeves had black soot and grime smeared on them, no doubt from the Siphon. He could see a dark lump forming on her forehead where she had hit it. Her right sleeve was damp, and some of the black stuff had transferred from it to her face from wiping away tears.

"Hey Honey," he said quietly. He smiled at her, but she didn't look at him. She went straight to the copilot's console and deftly pulled up the navigation charts. Satisfied that Jel had set them on the right course, she next checked the condensed time buffers. Jel could see they were almost full. Tish continued to stare at the screen, but her eyes seemed to loss focus. Jel got up and walked over to her. He tenderly laid his hand on her shoulder.

"You should have waited," she stated in a low, flat tone.

"Sweetheart, I'm sor—"

"You should have waited!" she shouted in his face. She was facing him now, her eyes blazing. Jel's instinct was to put up his defenses and make excuses, but he knew that wouldn't help anything, so he said nothing. He just glanced between her eyes and the blackness in the windshield behind her. He couldn't hold her gaze for long at a time. Finally he broke the tense silence.

"Tish..." She didn't respond. "Look, I know it's my fault the Siphon exploded, I know that."

"You're right, it is your fault!" she snapped.

"Also," he continued, trying to keep his voice calm, "I'm sorry the Siphon was destroyed, but I'm not sorry I warped when I did. I made a judgement call, and I'd choose the same thing again if I was in that situation again. We would have died if I hadn't warped when I did!"

"You don't know that! A few more seconds and it would have been done! We could have lasted that long!" The fire in her eyes blazed even brighter.

"You didn't see the lasers coming at us! We wouldn't have survived that many hits. We cut it close as it was."

"But—" Suddenly the fire in her eyes was doused by a rush of water. Jel was immediately next to her, wrapping her in his arms. She shook as her tears soaked his shirt. "That Siphon was my father's life work. It was all I had left of him..." she mumbled into his shoulder.

"I know sweetheart. And I wish we'd had time to save it. But don't you think he would rather see you alive than die trying to save his creation?" Her shaking had stopped, and she looked up at him with tears streaked across her face.

"Yeah, I know. I just... I feel like he just died all over again." Jel smoothed her hair with his hand, and brushed tears from her cheeks. He smiled at her and kissed her tear-streaked cheek. Staring at her, his eyes said it all. I love you. I treasure you. And I always will. She smiled back, and laid her head on his chest, hugging him tight.


They stayed like that for a while, without even noticing time passing.


Eventually, Jel pulled out of the embrace and said,

"Don't forget, we still have the Spindle. You haven't lost everything your dad left you."

"Yeah, but the Spindle isn't much use without the Siphon. It's pretty hard to manipulate time without a supply of condensed time, and our buffers won't last forever." Tisha replied thoughtfully. "Unless...." Tisha's brow furrowed, as her mind spun across the possibilities. Jel smiled, knowing the conversation was over. His wife was as brilliant as she was beautiful, and once she got an idea in her head, it consumed her attention. As if to confirm his thoughts, Tisha turned and quickly moved toward the back of the cockpit. At the door she paused and glanced back at him.

"Thanks Dear," she said. Her face lit up with a big smile. He smiled back.

"Go my Love," he replied, but she was already through the door. Go use that passion and drive I love so much.

To Be Continued...

Brainssss

I've been really wanting to write again lately. I've sat staring at this blank page for a while now. I started to write about several things, but each time, the perfectionist engineer half of my brain stopped me. And yet, the artistic half keeps urging me on.

"Create! Write!" it says.

"It isn't perfect! You aren't doing it right." shouts back my left brain.

"Shut up! I want to design something! Build something! Create something! Paint! Draw! Write! Ahhhhh!!!! I'm gonna go crazy!" responds my right brain.

Yup. My brain argues with itself. It makes it difficult to focus at times. Or think.

If I try to do something mathematical, my right brain fights against it.

If I try to do something creative, my left brain fights against it.

Sometimes I wonder why God gave me such a tumultuous brain. (Even right now, I'm having such a difficult time continuing to write, even though I'm not really trying to be creative at all). I feel like I'm supposed to create something. I'd love to write a novel, or write a bunch of tutorials that teach programming, or paint a beautiful landscape, or design and program an awesome video game, or draw a portrait of my lovely bride.

But a combination of my own laziness and my crazy brain always get in the way.

I feel like this has gotten off topic (whatever the topic was to begin with) so I'm just going to end it now. Suffice to say, my brain is a confusing place to live.

At least I wrote something :)

Time Bandits (Part 2)

An explosion rocked the ship, nearly throwing Jel out of the pilot's chair. At first he thought a laser blast had finally punched through the shields and impacted the hull, but then he noticed the frigates on the radar falling quickly behind.

Good, he thought, the time warp was successful. He spun the ship around and brought it to a stop, facing the three frigates. The sight that greeted him would have been very strange if he hadn't seen it before. Everything seemed to be frozen. The ships all had their thrusters burning brightly behind them, but they weren't moving, at least, as far as a human eye could tell. No less than a dozen bright spears of light were pointed at a single location, the exact spot Jel's craft had been a few moments ago. If he had watched closely, he might have seen the beams slowly inching forward, but he didn't waste time watching the familiar scene. Instead, he tried to raise Tisha on the intercom.

“Tish, are you there? Tish, you okay?” No answer. “Come on Tisha, answer me! Tish!” Fear shot through him. What if she was caught in that explosion? What if– He jumped out of his seat and dashed through the ship's corridors. He was almost to the hold where she had been working when he saw her stumbling toward him. She looked dazed, and there was blood on her forehead and in her hair. He ran to her and helped her stay on her feet.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“I'm fine, I'm fine. Let me go, I can stand on my own.” He let her go, but concern etched his face.

“What happened back here?”

“I'm not sure exactly,” she replied, her brows scrunching in thought. “I had left the hold and sealed it shut, like you told me to, when an explosion knocked me off my feet. I guess that's how I got this,” she said, tenderly touching her forehead. “The next thing I remember is hearing you calling my name. I tried to answer, but it seems the blast knocked out the nearby comm controls.”

“Well, at least you're not hurt more. And I hope the Siphon is okay.” A look of terror leapt into Tisha's eyes. She ran back to the hold the Siphon was in and pounded on the door controls when they didn't respond. Jel ran up to her and grabbed her arm before she hurt herself. “Tish! Stop! The controls are broken. I'm going to get a crowbar, I'll be right back.” She whirled and ran down the hall to the nearby supply room. Jel decided it was better if he just stayed put. She came back shortly with a crowbar. She managed to get it wedged into the edge of the door, and with Jel's help, got the door opened enough to slide inside. The sight of the blackened wreckage of the Siphon brought her to her knees in tears.

“It's gone! Dad... Dad, I'm sorry... I tried to keep it safe... I failed you...” Jel stood outside and watched for a few moments. He thought about trying to comfort her, but he knew she wouldn't want that. It was hardest to just leave her, but he knew that was the best thing he could do for her. So he went back to the cockpit, punched in their destination, and initiated the phase jump. Everything outside wavered and vanished. Nothing but blackness could be seen outside. Only by looking at the readings on the computer screen could he tell that they were flying at enormous speed through phase space. With nothing else to do until they arrived at their destination, he put his feet up on the console and tried to relax, which was impossible with worries about Tisha flying through his mind.

God, he prayed, You know what she's going through a lot more than I do. Comfort her with Your love. And thanks for keeping us safe. Many times it was hard to see God at work in the universe, but Jel never stopped believing in Him. He was out there somewhere, even if He seemed far away.

To Be Continued...

Truth and Lies

If you want to see lies and deceit, just watch some commercials. It seems like our economy thrives on lying and cheating and taking advantage of people. But I won't rant about the depravity of advertising. Instead, there is another who thrives on lies and deceit: the devil. He spreads his poison all over the world, dripping it into the minds of everyone. Why are lies the devil's weapon of choice? Are they really that harmful? I don't know about you, but one glance at my own life gives me the answer. "You aren't strong enough." "You aren't smart enough." "You're ugly, no one would ever like you." "You one really cares about you." "You are the only one who struggles with that problem." And on and on and on.
I could spend all day writing down the lies that the devil pounds us with on a daily basis. And what happens when we believe them? Our view of reality is distorted into something false. We don't see things as they truly are. Before long, we begin to tell ourselves the lies, because we have accepted them as truth. And when we believe the lies, we are crippled. Even worse, we may end up doing the devil's work: hurting others, hurting ourselves, not helping, not loving, etc.
I have believed a lot of lies in my life, and I have no doubt I still believe many more I have yet to discover, or have yet to let God take care of. I've believed I couldn't do a countless number of things. I've believed if I didn't do well in school my parents would be disappointed and wouldn't like me anymore. I've believed I was an ugly, worthless piece of crud.
How do we stop believing lies? Truth. Truth destroys lies, just like light destroys darkness. The truth is, "I can do everything through him who gives me strength." (Philippians 4:13 NIV). The truth is, my parents will love me no matter what I do. The truth is, "God doesn't make junk" (The Skit Guys).
God's Word, the Bible, is The Truth. By knowing the truth, it is much harder to be deceived. There are some things I've learned over the past few years which I can always hold onto as true. Here are some of them. God is GOOD, all the time. God loves me UNCONDITIONALLY. God is IN CONTROL of my life. Of course, I don't always live like I believe these, but when I start to doubt and get afraid of life and all its troubles, I remember these truths, and know that everything will be fine.
Now, I don't have an awesome way to wrap this up, this has all just flowed out of me, and hopefully it made some sense. I think the most important thing for you to take away from this is: you believe lies about yourself. We all do. Find out what those lies are, and find out the truth. The truth will set you free. God bless you.

Time Bandits (Part 1)

The console lit up like a Christmas tree and a warning siren blared. Jel nearly fell out of his chair with surprise. Recovering his wits, he realized that sound could only mean one thing: another ship had dropped out of phase space right near his. He pulled up the scanner on the screen. Three small ships were headed his way. The computer found them in the ship database and popped up their info. Jel's stomach dropped into his toes.

“Nilites,” he spat. Hitting the intercom button, he spoke into the mic. “Tish, we got company. Nilite police. Three Liton-class frigates, closing fast. How's it going back there?” A woman's voice came through the speaker.

“Not done yet. The Temporal Siphon still needs a few more minutes. Can you hold them off for three minutes?”

“I'll see what I can do. Hurry it up.” He flipped a switch and the engines roared to life. The three ships had spread out, moving to surround him. One of the ships hailed him. He responded, hoping to give Tisha more time. “What can I do for you?” he asked, already knowing what the reply would be.

“Our sensors have detected a time distortion coming from this location,” replied a deep, no-nonsense voice. “Please shut down your engines and prepare to be boarded. Any act of aggresion will be met in kind.”

“Um, I don't know what this time distortion thingy is, but I'm sure I don't have any of them on my ship.”

“Then you have nothing to fear. Shut down your engines immediately.”

“Ok, ok, gimme a sec to find the switch. It's my first time flying this type of ship. The controls seem to be all mixed up, you know what I mean? Heh, heh,” he chuckled. The officer did not laugh. Jel made a show of searching for the engine power switch, hemming and hawing, while his mind frantically scrambled for more options. When he thought he had stretched their patience long enough, he said, “Aha! This must be it.” He flipped the switch, killing the comm connection. He immediately launched his ship forward, straight at the frigate positioned directly in front of him. He closed the distance quickly. When he could just make out the frantic looks on the faces of the pilots, he veered to the right, just barely avoiding a collision.

“Heh, that will give them something to think about,” he smiled. His celebration was cut short by an angry woman shouting over the intercom.

“J you idiot! Next time warn me before you let a drunken monkey fly my ship!”

“Your ship? Last I checked it was my wallet that got lighter when we acquired this little baby!” he yelled back.

“We can argue that later. I need thirty seconds more!”

“Come on, we have to warp now! In a few moments we'll be nothing but scrap metal!” As if to emphasize his point, at that moment the ship shuddered under a rapid serious of collisions. He didn't need the computer to tell him they were being shot at.

“Don't warp! This machine is unstable as is, I don't want to find out what a time warp will do to it!”

“Then shut it down! This craft is agile, but I can't dodge everything, and the shields are almost gone!”

“I can't shut it down til its finished! You know that!” Warning lights flashed everywhere. Shields were gone. Jel knew the next hit would turn them into space junk. He made up his mind.

“Get out of that hold and seal it! I'm warping!” Before Tisha could argue back, he initiated the time warp.

To Be Continued...

Doodle

A little comic I made in class one day.

Windows 7

About a month ago I upgraded from Vista to Windows 7. Now, before I go into what I think of Windows 7, I should mention two things so you know where I'm coming from. First, I really enjoyed Vista, and I wasn't plagued with problems as it seems a lot of people have been. I don't know if I just got lucky, or if most people are just a bunch of babies who whine all the time, but either way, I was generally happy with Vista. Second, I did not pay for Windows 7. I got a new laptop at the beginning of this school year, and it came with a coupon for a free copy of Windows 7 when it came out. Okay, now time for my thoughts on it.

One of my favorite changes in 7 is the new taskbar. Since the taskbar has been basically the same for many many years, at least since Windows 3.1, it's nice to see them finally update it. Basically, the long, text buttons have been replaced by icons similar to shortcuts on your desktop (except without the text). This is the obvious difference, and is very nice because it frees up much more room on your taskbar. This is particularly important because of the next new feature: you can pin programs to the taskbar. This means that a pinned program's icon will stay on the taskbar even when it isn't open. If the program isn't open, clicking the icon will, of course, open it. If it is already open, clicking the icon will bring that window to the front, just like on the old taskbar. And don't worry, it is easy to tell which programs you have open, because when they are open, the background behind them changes (and how it looks varies from program to program, in a very asthetically pleasing way, but that is just an added bonus). I love this feature, because now I can just pin the programs I use most onto the taskbar, making it easier to access them. There are other nice features about the new taskbar, like being able to easily rearrange the icons on it, whether pinned or not, and recent popup menus, but I won't go into all of them. Suffice it to say, the new taskbar rocks.

There are two other new features that I find particularly nice. These are called Snap and Peek. Snap is where you can snap a window to the left or right side of the screen. Doing this will make it resize to fill up the left or right half of the screen. This is very handy when viewing two windows at once, which I do a lot. Also, it is very easy to do this. All you do is drag the window to the left or right until the cursor is touching the edge of the screen, and then release. You can also drag it to the top of the screen to maximize it, but this isn't all that useful since there has been a button to do this on all windows for a very long time. Peek is not quite as useful in my opinion, but it can be nice. Imagine that you have many windows open, of all different sizes and located all over your screen. Now, with Peek, if you hover your cursor over the icon of an open window (on the taskbar), all the other windows will disappear, leaving only the outlines of them behind, and you will be able to see the window of the icon you are hovering over. I imagine that I will use this more often as I get used to it, (and as I remember that it exists more) but either way, its kinda cool. There is also something called Shake, but I haven't found it useful at all and I don't really like it. Basically, you click on a window, shake it (move your mouse back and forth rapidly a few times) and all other open windows will minimize.

There is one more feature that I really like. Vista brought about the days of UAC, which, if you have ever used Vista, is the thing that makes the screen darken and asks you if you really want to do what you just told it to do. If you haven't used Vista, just think of it as something that triple checks if you want to do anything (that is an exaggeration, but you get the idea). This feature makes things a little more secure, because it helps prevent programs from making changes to important stuff without your permission, like if you have some kind of virus or spyware/shareware, etc, but it does get annoying when it asks if you really want to delete a shortcut from the Start Menu. In Vista, this was either on or off, but in 7, you have some control over what exactly it asks for confirmation on. This allows you to keep the extra security without being asked five times if you really want to do what you just said to do.

Overall, I really like Windows 7. It has some nice new features that make things a little easier and faster. It also works with most of my programs (I even have a Windows 95 game running on it, though it doesn't run perfectly). At the same time, I don't think these flashy new features make it worth the $100+ price tag. It seems to me to be just a nice upgrade of vista. If I had not gotten it for free, I wouldn't have gotten it. My advice to anyone considering buying it is this: don't buy it to upgrade a computer you already have, but if you are looking at buying a new computer, make sure it comes with Windows 7. I hope you found this helpful.