Temple in the Stars – Part 5

The hardest thing to do is to set realistic goals for writing.  Honestly, that statement may seem so obvious it defies reason, but ask any fledgling author.  Every day, they compare their work with the best of what their heroes have written.  For myself, I constantly compare my work to Stephen King, Philip Dick, Patrick Rothfuss, and Kevin Anderson.  Seriously.  Every single one of those names has written for decades, plural.  I’ve written for months.  I’ve essentially started consistently working out, then wondered why I’m not instantly the second coming of Arnold Schwarzenegger.  Unrealistic is an understatement.

So I’m going to step this back a bit, and commit to a more realistic writing style which will still allow me to meet my desire to post a bi-weekly short story on Kindle.  It’s important that I not only meet the needs to publish my work, but also meet myself with where I am as a writer right here in this moment.  I’ve focused too much on running the marathon and receiving the attendant glory without being willing to do all the training between now and that moment of success.  Rome was not built in a day, Marathons are not run overnight, and a great author isn’t made over a few months of unedited blogging.

So there.  I’m still awesome, but I need to remember that I have decades, plural, before me and realistically comparing myself to the names above.  All I must be is patient.  All I must do is write.

Temple in the Stars – Part 5

Six months had elapsed since Everett revealed his grand plan.  Half a year filled with agony, tedium, and no shortage of frantic repairs and adjustments.  When her mining rig had the extractor arm broken off by random shifting of rock, she had almost raised the white flag.  Everett was his usual invaluable self however, showing her exactly what parts of the work bench could be cut in what order to allow for the formation of a replacement.  It worked, barely, but Ashley had new worries with the arm now.  Even more steps required at the end of her days to make sure nothing broke catastrophically.  Her life was now lived day to day, waiting for the final strike which would make all her work for naught. 

That final blow had never come.  The Sword of Damocles she had operated under for so very long was gone, and she stood inside her painstakingly crafted one man sized airlock with the example canisters which would make her family rich beyond their wildest dreams.  It’s happening today She thought without elation, only numb relief.  Everett was on his clip at her belt, hooked into the systems jury rigged out of everything non-essential: from her automated stimcaf machine to the controls in her bathroom stalls.  They worked however, and Everett had tested and retested the airlock device from the safety of her scouting shields.  Everything worked well within the safety tolerances of the Mining Guild, thankfully above the rather lower standards Ashley had been prepared to accept.  Anything to get this thing over with, one way or the other.  

 She held the improvised heating laser she would be using to cut through the remaining ten feet of rock.  It was going to be a long afternoon, and she didn’t feel like rushing it by risking the foundation her airlock sat in.  So, for at least the first several feet, it would be just a hole big enough to fit her and her gear.  She put the glare shield down over her helmet, and fired up the laser she had stolen off her mining rig.  It rumbled and roared far louder than she had expected, and the vibration of it threatened to shake her arms right out of their sockets.  Eventually though, the beam issued forth as it was supposed to, and the shaking subsided some.  Easy girl Ashley thought as she got everything under control and began cutting as Everett indicated in her helmet’s HUD.  It was more tedious, sweaty work in a job filled to the brim with them, but it was the last one and that knowledge alone kept Ashley on task.

As she always did in these situations, she would play the faces of her family one after the other, in all the video and pictures she could scrap together from the nearly infinite amount she kept stored on Everett’s data banks.  The hours passed as she slowly cut her way towards victory, laughing as she always did at her favorite memories of her family.  It always seemed to involve her shepherding the flock of her siblings through some public area, her successfully keeping them alive and the displays intact.  It always filled her with pride at the end of such excursions.  She missed all of the wonderful and terrible aspects of her life spent leading and raising them.  Finally, Everett chimed in over everything to let her know that she had to proceed with great care, as she was about to cut through the last few inches of rock.  Suddenly, excitement such as she had not known in this whole affair grasped her, as though the true purpose of her life was only just about to be revealed.  Heart racing, she fired up the laser one last time, and hurriedly cut through the remaining barrier. 

To be continued…