003 – But You Are Not a Jedi Yet

Dan Smith

When I was a kid I was obsessed with the idea of becoming a Jedi.

I loved star wars. And was enamoured by the Jedi and the Jedi Order.

Going around wielding a Lightsaber against foes, using the force to move objects and just generally being so bloody cool looking.

I think though it spoke to something deeper in me. There’s a line that Yoda says to Luke in Empire Strikes Back, when they are training; a Jedi uses the Force for knowledge and defence, never attack.

I never really thought about it too much as a kid. I was too busy pretending to be a cool Jedi going around saving people and fighting off droids.

But the Jedi spoke to something deeper in me that I am only just realising.

I craved excitement and adventure as a kid but there was also something more. I wan’t the power and the ability and confidence to save people. To use the Force to help others and protect them against the “bad guys”.

And that desire ultimately came from the fact I was powerless myself. I had an abusive dad who I could not protect myself against. And I couldn’t protect my Mum or my brother and sister either.

But if I was a Jedi then I could do anything. I could stop that fist from hitting me or force a peace when there was shouting.

Being a Jedi I would be able to protect myself and those closest to me.

That ideal of a Jedi hasn’t really ever gone away. I still love Star Wars and I still think It’d be awesome to be a Jedi.

I still believe in the ideal, of wanting to help others in whatever little way I can. I don’t need the Force or a Lightsaber to comfort someone or to be a shoulder to cry on. It would be cool if I did though.

There’s something deeper at play in me, in my soul that speaks to that Jedi ideal even now.

There’s a desire to help people somehow.

002 – Probe Droid

Dan Smith

A gentle humm quickly became the sounds of intense beeping and whirring.

Switchboards and monitors flickered back to life. The stillness of the air was filled with the gentle breeze of air being circulated once again.

And the bridge shutters opened up. Light rushing in and opening to the void of space and an orange orb getting larger and larger.

The ship was awakening from it’s deep slumber, the computers reactivating, sensors reaching out to the universe around it and the small crew inside was stirring.

As the captain made his way to the bridge, the sounds and smells of the coffee machine filled the bridge. The coffee prepared as always for the Captain after coming out of hypersleep.

“Computer, how long until we’re in orbit?” asks the Captain as he grabs his coffee and shuffles into the command chair.

“Calculating… 1 hour 23 minutes until scheduled orbit” the computer replies after a while.

The remaining bridge crew had entered the arena and taken up their seats.

“No coffee for the rest of us eh Captain?” asks Janson

“If you don’t program it in before we leave, what do you expect?” The Captain passes the coffee mug over to Janson. “You can finish that one off if you want, I’ll brew up a fresh one”

“Always the generous leader” Mary interjects “I’m almost ready to launch the probe droid, all sensors on board are checked out. Ready when you are Captain”

Miller looked out the window. The orange orb filling up most of his view now. Two months of travel and the destination was in sight. But with a much longer road ahead.

“Let’s fire it off”

“Probe ready … and it’s away”

There was a small shudder as the probe departed. Being launched from mass accelerator, it was on it’s own now as it headed to the planet, unable to stop it’s decent when it got there.

“It’ll be entering the atmosphere in 10. We’ll take a few passive readings on the way down before it deploys”

TIME PASSES

“First readings coming through now… trace amounts of nitrogen, argon, helium… some oxygen and xenon. Be an hour or so before it reaches the ground” said Mary

“And that’s when the real fun begins” replied Janson “We need to find out where on this hellscape, that meteor came from”

“Computer, how’s that image analysis coming along?” Asks the Captain

“Calculating … approximately 3.5% of initial surface scans completed. No pattern recognitions detected in the current batch process”

“Well, so no confirmed signs of humanity yet then. Estimated time until image recognition completes?”

“5.4 hours”

”And that’s just the side of the planet we’re orbiting…” muses the Captain

“We knew this could be a long job when we took it on. I’d say we need to get comfortable” replied Janson.

“Anomaly detected” the computer said in a calm manner.

“I take that back” the sardonic Janson exclaimed.

001 – Right about Writing

Dan Smith

Writing is hard. Simple but hard.

It’s easy to want to write something. Ideas can come and go all day, I have a notes folder full of them as proof.

Is that writing? Maybe, it’s words on a (digital) page at the very least. Is it writing though.

As a kid I’d have lots of ideas too. And I even started to write stories. I loved reading so much that it wasn’t too much of a leap to think I could write one of those myself.

Somewhere along the way though that was lost and I’m no kid anymore. I haven’t had to write properly in years, no long essays as I did at Uni and even in the jobs I’ve had writing has been limited to a few sentences here and there for a report or a presentation.

Actual writing is something that’s been left behind. Ideas I can have all the live long day, thoughts come and go and get strung together all the time.

Committing those thoughts to a page, to writing them down, making them exist physically is something I haven’t practiced in years.

The only writing I’ve done somewhat consistently is in a journal. That’s writing with a very specific purpose for a very specific audience: me. And me alone. To help turn those thoughts into something else, to untangle them and make sense of them.

But it is still creative, turning thoughts into something else, something I need to read one word after the other, something that flows and makes sense it reads one section after the other.

Creative writing doesn’t come naturally, it’s work, for me at least. The ideas flow, but the writing, that takes effort and a will to do it.