The Lost Art

The Cosmic Dreamer

I published a poetry book in 2006. I started working on various projects afterwards mainly the unfinished Contes de Montreal
That were supposed to be published in 2009. I revamped one of the short stories from that work. My stories are usually gritty and I seldom write Fantasy/Science fiction( the only other time i indulged in the genre was a Fantasy story that won a contest on Dragonmount.com in 2006 )
Hope you Like the Story

Lost Art, short story by Alseny Janneh

The gravitational clock was announcing an arrival. He could hear a rising ascending chirping emanating from his neuro linked chip.
It was linked to a coronet on his brow made of a composite metal that had been mined from one of the new colonies beyond the 9th planet.
It was very rare and not readily available to all. Its full properties were still unknown and its elements could not be quantified on the added Chang Periodic tables.
What was known is that it was a soft metal that was paradoxically harder than any of the newer Ores they had mined on the mining moons. It permitted a better neuro- link with the birth chips. Moreover it increased the wearers mental link to the Hind Ships and to the Consortium Hive mind. He was not part of the Lead but he was an important enough figure in the Consortium to be given this  privilege.
One of his Avatar drones had first mined it but he had needed five qualifying votes from the Lead to be able to use it with his neuro-link.
It beckoned to him at times. He had sometimes heard whispers that were not  from the Lead nor from the minds of the Hind Ships. Strange whispers that he could barely comprehend. He sometimes heard an echo that came unbidden from beyond the Vacuum's wall.
He would venture there one day.
His algorithm was almost complete. They would soon have the technology that would permit them to leave the confines of this Solar system .

      She is here

The Hind Ship whispered through his neuro-link. He had guessed that it might be her ship that came through the gravitational clock.
He used the warp meter to travel to his chambres . He was there instantaneously.
His coronet had a blueish cast to it.
It often glowed a different colour depending on the task at end.
She would know to come to him directly with her findings. The Lead would not greatly appreciate his side hobbies. He liked dealing with her in safe surroundings.
She  would most likely be with him within a few hours. Standard policies asked that all travellers from earth should be decontaminated before entering the sanctum of a Hind Ship. There had been incidents of viral pathogens that had felled them in the past. The cleansing process was tedious.
He went to the exact centre of  the room and activated the Ba-Gua principle of Sight. He closed his eyes.
His first Avatar responded to his call and opened its eyes. It was on the RX 72 Asteroid beyond the edge of the Solar system. He looked upon the empty of Space through its eyes and  was lost in a daze....