Poem: "The Thistledown Drive"
This poem came out of the July 6, 2021 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by prompts from ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
siliconshaman and Anonymous. It also fills the "Some Assembly Required" square in my 7-1-21 card for the Winterfest in July Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by a pool with fuzzyred, ng_moonmoth, janetmiles, and edorfaus. It belongs to An Army of One series.
"The Thistledown Drive"
At first Estelle thought
that it was just a glitch.
She saw it not long after she
arrived in the Lacuna, and
her supervisor called it a glitch,
so that's what she believed.
Estelle forgot about it and
focused on her project, which
involved trying to find better ways
of penetrating dust veils in space.
She got to be quite good at editing out
space dust and noise and other things
that could obscure astronomical readings.
It wasn't a glitch. She knew that now,
but it was also none of her business,
and the war was heating up again,
so she ignored whatever it was.
A maintenance tech named Babs
joined the outpost, and they
soon became best friends.
Time passed. The war ran
hot and cold and hot again.
Then it was off altogether,
and the Secession happened.
Suddenly the Lacuna was
a thing of its own, not just
the backwater that drifted
between the Galactic Arms.
After that, Estelle led the search
for usable planetary space in
the Lacuna -- which did have
stars and planets, just very few.
She continued to keep an eye
on the anomaly, now and then.
"Is that thing ... moving?"
Babs asked one day.
"Sort of," said Estelle.
"It's not where it was when
I first spotted it." She flipped
back through the images to show
the original position. "It seems
to stay put for a while, but when
I look back, it's somewhere else."
"So it's not moving all the time,
just occasionally?" said Babs.
"It moves about once a year,"
said Estelle. "Well, a little less than
an Old Earth year, but close enough."
"Huh," said Babs. "I wonder why."
"I have no idea," said Estelle.
"It doesn't behave like any other
known celestial object, so I don't
know what it is or why it does that."
Babs leafed through the images.
"Are these getting shorter?" she said.
"I mean, jumping closer together?"
"Let me see that," said Estelle.
She checked the data. The intervals
between the jumps were shrinking.
"You're right. Whatever this is,
it's moving more often now."
"So where is it?" Babs said.
"It's coming from intergalactic space,
by the Sagittarius Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy,"
said Estelle. "It's still a long way away."
"We could watch it together," Babs said,
shuffling through the images again.
"I thought you were more into
mechanical stuff than astronomy,"
Estelle said, teasing her a little.
"I am, but you love astronomy and
this bit is interesting," Babs said.
So they studied the thing together,
off and on, enjoying the break from
looking for useful things in the Lacuna.
They noticed that, not only were
the jumps getting more frequent,
the anomaly was getting closer.
"It looks like it's moving into
the Milky Way," said Babs.
"That's because it is,"
Estelle said with a nod.
"Is it coming toward us?"
Babs said, tilting her head.
"Vaguely," said Estelle.
"We're in the Milky Way,
after all, and that's where
this thing is heading. I
don't think it's anything
to worry about, though."
Eight months later,
the anomaly made
an enormous leap and
became close enough for
them to see clearly, and
people started worrying.
It looked for all the world
like a tangle of seeds
blown together in a storm,
but the thing was enormous,
easily the size of a solar system.
Vast struts and fringes made of
who-knew-what crisscrossed
in space, connecting pods
of different shapes and sizes.
Everyone wanted to know
what the thing was and
what it was doing and --
most importantly -- whether
it might possibly hit them.
Estelle and Babs had no idea.
They could calculate its trajectory,
which still "vaguely toward us,"
but not the speed or timing since
the thing moved so erratically.
So they shared images of
the anomaly on the ciphernet,
in case anyone had better ideas.
"Thistledown," said Sam the Gardener.
"What?" Estelle said, frowning.
"It looks like thistledown,"
said Sam. "Well, some of
the pieces do. I bet they
come apart. Anyway, these
look like thistledown. A few are
bigger, like salsify, and some
are smaller, like dandelion."
"I've seen those seeds,"
said Babs. "I used to work
planetside. They blow in
through vents and then
jam the mechanical gear."
"That's not very reassuring,"
said Estelle. She used
a program to break down
the shapes in the anomaly
and hypothesize separations.
Then she asked Sam, "Do
these other things look familiar?"
"Some of the ones without stems look
like milkweed," Sam mused. "The fluff
seems more akin to cottonwood."
"What about these flat bits?"
Babs asked. "I've been
wondering about those.
Everything else is fluffy."
"Elm seeds," said Sam.
"Each one has its own
little papery ring that
works like a sail."
Estelle looked at
the display, which
now showed the parts
of the anomaly sorted by
which seeds they resembled.
"This is interesting," she said,
"but we still don't know what
this is or what it's doing."
"Unless there are dandelions
the size of galaxies, spreading
seeds somewhere," said Babs.
"Spreading ... seeds," Estelle said.
"Could that thing be a starship?"
"It's the size of a solar system,"
Babs pointed out. "That seems
a bit too big for traveling."
"Look at the structure, though,"
Estelle said, getting excited.
"It's clearly designed to catch ...
well, not wind exactly, but
something like that."
"So it could travel without
fuel," Babs guessed.
"I think so," Estelle said.
"Call it the Thistledown Drive.
At least, that's the best idea
I've come with -- or really,
that Sam came up with."
"So if it's a starship, or fleet,
and it's traveling, do we try
talking to them?" Babs said.
"How could we talk to them?"
"I don't know, that's really not
my area," said Estelle. "Look on
the bright side, though -- we have
all kinds of different brains here!"
So they passed the word, and
various people chipped in
their ideas for messages.
One used mathematics,
particularly fractals, based on
the structure of the seedships.
Another focused on chemistry
encoded into radio chirps, while
a third used light and shadow.
It was a fun exercise, and
it helped to pass the time.
Then the seedships moved again.
They tumbled into midst of the Lacuna,
but instead of staying still where they
arrived, they broke apart and then
began to drift, slowly spreading out.
There were individual seedships,
and some smaller clusters of
several similar ones together.
They had plenty of space to spread,
because the Lacuna was so big.
Estelle used the ciphernet
to repeat the messages.
Probably none of that had
reached the seedships before,
unless they had some sort of
long-range scanning ability, and
it wouldn't work now unless they
had shorter-range sensors.
The seedships stopped moving,
like thistledown suddenly
suspended in the air.
"Well, it looks like we got
their attention," said Babs.
They tried looping the messages,
but nothing got any more response.
"It took us a while to figure out
that they were even moving,"
Babs pointed out. "Maybe
they need time to puzzle out
the messages we sent?"
"Instant alien contact,"
Estelle said with a sigh.
"Some assembly required."
On their viewscreen,
the seedships still hung,
looking light as thistledown,
yet heavy with potential.
* * *
Notes:
This poem is long, so its notes appear separately.
siliconshaman and Anonymous. It also fills the "Some Assembly Required" square in my 7-1-21 card for the Winterfest in July Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by a pool with fuzzyred, ng_moonmoth, janetmiles, and edorfaus. It belongs to An Army of One series."The Thistledown Drive"
At first Estelle thought
that it was just a glitch.
She saw it not long after she
arrived in the Lacuna, and
her supervisor called it a glitch,
so that's what she believed.
Estelle forgot about it and
focused on her project, which
involved trying to find better ways
of penetrating dust veils in space.
She got to be quite good at editing out
space dust and noise and other things
that could obscure astronomical readings.
It wasn't a glitch. She knew that now,
but it was also none of her business,
and the war was heating up again,
so she ignored whatever it was.
A maintenance tech named Babs
joined the outpost, and they
soon became best friends.
Time passed. The war ran
hot and cold and hot again.
Then it was off altogether,
and the Secession happened.
Suddenly the Lacuna was
a thing of its own, not just
the backwater that drifted
between the Galactic Arms.
After that, Estelle led the search
for usable planetary space in
the Lacuna -- which did have
stars and planets, just very few.
She continued to keep an eye
on the anomaly, now and then.
"Is that thing ... moving?"
Babs asked one day.
"Sort of," said Estelle.
"It's not where it was when
I first spotted it." She flipped
back through the images to show
the original position. "It seems
to stay put for a while, but when
I look back, it's somewhere else."
"So it's not moving all the time,
just occasionally?" said Babs.
"It moves about once a year,"
said Estelle. "Well, a little less than
an Old Earth year, but close enough."
"Huh," said Babs. "I wonder why."
"I have no idea," said Estelle.
"It doesn't behave like any other
known celestial object, so I don't
know what it is or why it does that."
Babs leafed through the images.
"Are these getting shorter?" she said.
"I mean, jumping closer together?"
"Let me see that," said Estelle.
She checked the data. The intervals
between the jumps were shrinking.
"You're right. Whatever this is,
it's moving more often now."
"So where is it?" Babs said.
"It's coming from intergalactic space,
by the Sagittarius Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy,"
said Estelle. "It's still a long way away."
"We could watch it together," Babs said,
shuffling through the images again.
"I thought you were more into
mechanical stuff than astronomy,"
Estelle said, teasing her a little.
"I am, but you love astronomy and
this bit is interesting," Babs said.
So they studied the thing together,
off and on, enjoying the break from
looking for useful things in the Lacuna.
They noticed that, not only were
the jumps getting more frequent,
the anomaly was getting closer.
"It looks like it's moving into
the Milky Way," said Babs.
"That's because it is,"
Estelle said with a nod.
"Is it coming toward us?"
Babs said, tilting her head.
"Vaguely," said Estelle.
"We're in the Milky Way,
after all, and that's where
this thing is heading. I
don't think it's anything
to worry about, though."
Eight months later,
the anomaly made
an enormous leap and
became close enough for
them to see clearly, and
people started worrying.
It looked for all the world
like a tangle of seeds
blown together in a storm,
but the thing was enormous,
easily the size of a solar system.
Vast struts and fringes made of
who-knew-what crisscrossed
in space, connecting pods
of different shapes and sizes.
Everyone wanted to know
what the thing was and
what it was doing and --
most importantly -- whether
it might possibly hit them.
Estelle and Babs had no idea.
They could calculate its trajectory,
which still "vaguely toward us,"
but not the speed or timing since
the thing moved so erratically.
So they shared images of
the anomaly on the ciphernet,
in case anyone had better ideas.
"Thistledown," said Sam the Gardener.
"What?" Estelle said, frowning.
"It looks like thistledown,"
said Sam. "Well, some of
the pieces do. I bet they
come apart. Anyway, these
look like thistledown. A few are
bigger, like salsify, and some
are smaller, like dandelion."
"I've seen those seeds,"
said Babs. "I used to work
planetside. They blow in
through vents and then
jam the mechanical gear."
"That's not very reassuring,"
said Estelle. She used
a program to break down
the shapes in the anomaly
and hypothesize separations.
Then she asked Sam, "Do
these other things look familiar?"
"Some of the ones without stems look
like milkweed," Sam mused. "The fluff
seems more akin to cottonwood."
"What about these flat bits?"
Babs asked. "I've been
wondering about those.
Everything else is fluffy."
"Elm seeds," said Sam.
"Each one has its own
little papery ring that
works like a sail."
Estelle looked at
the display, which
now showed the parts
of the anomaly sorted by
which seeds they resembled.
"This is interesting," she said,
"but we still don't know what
this is or what it's doing."
"Unless there are dandelions
the size of galaxies, spreading
seeds somewhere," said Babs.
"Spreading ... seeds," Estelle said.
"Could that thing be a starship?"
"It's the size of a solar system,"
Babs pointed out. "That seems
a bit too big for traveling."
"Look at the structure, though,"
Estelle said, getting excited.
"It's clearly designed to catch ...
well, not wind exactly, but
something like that."
"So it could travel without
fuel," Babs guessed.
"I think so," Estelle said.
"Call it the Thistledown Drive.
At least, that's the best idea
I've come with -- or really,
that Sam came up with."
"So if it's a starship, or fleet,
and it's traveling, do we try
talking to them?" Babs said.
"How could we talk to them?"
"I don't know, that's really not
my area," said Estelle. "Look on
the bright side, though -- we have
all kinds of different brains here!"
So they passed the word, and
various people chipped in
their ideas for messages.
One used mathematics,
particularly fractals, based on
the structure of the seedships.
Another focused on chemistry
encoded into radio chirps, while
a third used light and shadow.
It was a fun exercise, and
it helped to pass the time.
Then the seedships moved again.
They tumbled into midst of the Lacuna,
but instead of staying still where they
arrived, they broke apart and then
began to drift, slowly spreading out.
There were individual seedships,
and some smaller clusters of
several similar ones together.
They had plenty of space to spread,
because the Lacuna was so big.
Estelle used the ciphernet
to repeat the messages.
Probably none of that had
reached the seedships before,
unless they had some sort of
long-range scanning ability, and
it wouldn't work now unless they
had shorter-range sensors.
The seedships stopped moving,
like thistledown suddenly
suspended in the air.
"Well, it looks like we got
their attention," said Babs.
They tried looping the messages,
but nothing got any more response.
"It took us a while to figure out
that they were even moving,"
Babs pointed out. "Maybe
they need time to puzzle out
the messages we sent?"
"Instant alien contact,"
Estelle said with a sigh.
"Some assembly required."
On their viewscreen,
the seedships still hung,
looking light as thistledown,
yet heavy with potential.
* * *
Notes:
This poem is long, so its notes appear separately.