pretty big cracks running through them and the whole thing looked lopsided, as though the house had given itself a good stretch, then settled back down to sleep again in a slightly different position. Some of the other houses on the street had holes blown out of the roofs, or entire sides fallen away, a normal bedroom or living room, the furniture still arranged just so, open and displayed to the street. It was like accidentally catching an eye full of someone with no clothes on.
I sat on my rocker and ate my sandwich. Then I remembered my tablet. Obviously there was no power right now, but the battery was usually good for a couple of hours before it needed charging.
I figured I may as well try to get myself a little information while I waited for Mom and Dad and the boys to come back.
At first, it was the same old “unable to connect to wireless network” crap, but after a while, the familiar homepage filled the screen. Facebook kept timing out, and Google was a bust, but the forum I liked best, Shriver’s Outpost, was running.
Shriver’s Outpost had started out as a fan forum dedicated to the main character of the Galactopia series, Shawn Shriver—a renegade starship Captain. They always described him as “
Renegade starship Captain, Shawn Shriver”
on the back covers of the books. It was a kind of in-joke for us Outposters.
The “off-topic” sub forums were where the Outpost really became interesting. Only n00bs still posted stuff about the Galactopia books themselves after the TV series finished and the movie got put on indefinite hold.
The off-topic threads were where the cool kids hung out, and there were some really cool kids on that forum. Some cool grown-ups, too.
I figured there was nothing like a group of Sci-Fi nerds if you wanted some truly informed opinions on an alien invasion. There was one poster in particular, “6_star” who was rumored to work for NASA. She always brought the facts when some troll criticized the tech in the Galactopia books. The Outposters required technical accuracy in their Sci-fi and considered the Galactopia books to be the best around. It was just that sort of a fandom.
6_star had all the best gossip about the Space Men. Except, on Shriver’s Outpost, we had to call it “speculation.”
The good thing and the bad thing about a site like the Outpost is that you’re never sure if you’re really talking to who you think you are, but I tended to believe what those guys said. Even if 6_star was really some chick who worked for Happy Burger and lived in her mom’s basement, after what had happened today, she’d been right about a lot of things.
More things than the TV news guys, anyway.
The Outposters weren’t too crazy about “the mass media.” They thought the TV news and even the big online sites just told everyone what they needed to hear to make them keep on trusting the government. The Outposters were more concerned with facts. So, I didn’t even look at any of the big news sites, even the BBC, who the Outposters loved like they loved anything British.
I just went right to Shriver’s Outpost to see who was online.
As it turned out, no one but me.
There were a couple of unread posts in the off-topic forum, though, and I was excited to see that they were both by 6_star. The first post was some link to a Wikipedia article about “parasitoid wasps” which although awesomely gross—and still online, figures Wikipedia would be the last thing standing—didn’t seem that useful to me. The second post was a list of emergency evacuation centers. 6_star had added a line of her own text under the copy and paste job. “
Be safe & see you on Io 12.”
Io 12 was Shawn Shriver’s home planet. He spent the whole series trying to get back there. I figured if there was anywhere safe, then the places on the list 6_star had posted had to be them. The nearest center to us was in Needham.
The best thing to do, it seemed, was to wait at our house for my family so we
I sat on my rocker and ate my sandwich. Then I remembered my tablet. Obviously there was no power right now, but the battery was usually good for a couple of hours before it needed charging.
I figured I may as well try to get myself a little information while I waited for Mom and Dad and the boys to come back.
At first, it was the same old “unable to connect to wireless network” crap, but after a while, the familiar homepage filled the screen. Facebook kept timing out, and Google was a bust, but the forum I liked best, Shriver’s Outpost, was running.
Shriver’s Outpost had started out as a fan forum dedicated to the main character of the Galactopia series, Shawn Shriver—a renegade starship Captain. They always described him as “
Renegade starship Captain, Shawn Shriver”
on the back covers of the books. It was a kind of in-joke for us Outposters.
The “off-topic” sub forums were where the Outpost really became interesting. Only n00bs still posted stuff about the Galactopia books themselves after the TV series finished and the movie got put on indefinite hold.
The off-topic threads were where the cool kids hung out, and there were some really cool kids on that forum. Some cool grown-ups, too.
I figured there was nothing like a group of Sci-Fi nerds if you wanted some truly informed opinions on an alien invasion. There was one poster in particular, “6_star” who was rumored to work for NASA. She always brought the facts when some troll criticized the tech in the Galactopia books. The Outposters required technical accuracy in their Sci-fi and considered the Galactopia books to be the best around. It was just that sort of a fandom.
6_star had all the best gossip about the Space Men. Except, on Shriver’s Outpost, we had to call it “speculation.”
The good thing and the bad thing about a site like the Outpost is that you’re never sure if you’re really talking to who you think you are, but I tended to believe what those guys said. Even if 6_star was really some chick who worked for Happy Burger and lived in her mom’s basement, after what had happened today, she’d been right about a lot of things.
More things than the TV news guys, anyway.
The Outposters weren’t too crazy about “the mass media.” They thought the TV news and even the big online sites just told everyone what they needed to hear to make them keep on trusting the government. The Outposters were more concerned with facts. So, I didn’t even look at any of the big news sites, even the BBC, who the Outposters loved like they loved anything British.
I just went right to Shriver’s Outpost to see who was online.
As it turned out, no one but me.
There were a couple of unread posts in the off-topic forum, though, and I was excited to see that they were both by 6_star. The first post was some link to a Wikipedia article about “parasitoid wasps” which although awesomely gross—and still online, figures Wikipedia would be the last thing standing—didn’t seem that useful to me. The second post was a list of emergency evacuation centers. 6_star had added a line of her own text under the copy and paste job. “
Be safe & see you on Io 12.”
Io 12 was Shawn Shriver’s home planet. He spent the whole series trying to get back there. I figured if there was anywhere safe, then the places on the list 6_star had posted had to be them. The nearest center to us was in Needham.
The best thing to do, it seemed, was to wait at our house for my family so we
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