Welcome to the Journal of Now and Forever. This Journal is a collection of my Star Control and Star Control 2 fiction. Note: Some of this material is, by necessity, extrapolation from the slim information provided by canon sources.

New fiction is posted first at My Livejournal before it appears here. This story is in response to 15 Minute Ficlets' Challenge #48.

It was surprisingly cold this winter. Eta Vulpeculae 2's seasons weren't as differentiated as Earth's, so the seasons themselves were milder; but there was always a chance of extremity in some form or fashion, Dean thought.

His boots crunched across the thin snow. EV2 was warmer and drier than Earth, but otherwise tolerable to the Androsynth. With some genetic tweaking, the foodstock they'd brought from Earth thrived. But tweaking only went so far without new material, so Dean was out here today with Nick, to bring back any promising plants and animals for DNA harvesting.

EV2 wildstock was not, in and of itself, compatible with Earth stock. But EV2 DNA was close enough in structure that it could be studied with minimal effort, and any interesting tricks or traits a wildstock had might be duplicable in Earth stock. And whatever survived the rare cold winter might have something worth looking at.

His backpack was half-full of plant material. Nick was really the plant guy; Dean was more familiar with mammalian DNA. But plants were easy to locate and harvest without trying to shoot or track them. Dean would have to schedule a collection run with another Androsynth, one who could shoot game, if he wanted any animal DNA and they didn't stumble across a carcass or otherwise get lucky.

Ahead, Nick was grumbling about something – it didn't matter what, because Nick was a grumbler by nature. Dean was used to it, though that didn't mean he listened to it or wasn't bothered by it. It was just luck of the draw that the two of them ended up as roommates. The new housing was supposed to be finished at end of summer. Maybe then I'll get a place of my own, Dean mused.

A sudden gust of wind blew his jacket hood back, and the cold bit at his ears as he scrabbled to cover them up again.

"I think that's it for this area," Nick called back. "I'm freezing. Let's call the shuttle and go back."

"All right." Dean switched on his comm; it crackled and caught signal. "Mick, you there?"

"Go ahead, Dean."

"We need a pickup at..." Dean checked his location map and gave coordinates. "Nick can't handle the cold."

Nick cursed at him as Mick laughed. "All right, be there in five."

They both signed off and Dean stretched, standing on his toes and looking upward, as Nick stomped in a circle.

"Damn planet," Nick was muttering. "Too damn hot most of the time and just when you get used to it—"

Dean blinked. He wasn't mistaken: there was something up there. Something artificial. Satellite? Did they have satellites in this region? He didn't think anything big enough to need satellites was in this area. Maybe he was wrong. There, now it was moving again. What the hell was it?

He blinked again, his eyes watering from the cold, and it was gone, with only the clear deep blue sky overhead, and the dry, bitter breeze biting at his face.

Comments? Email me: laridian at aol dot com