Flash FIction Friday - Memos From the Disaster

It's Flash Fiction Friday! I'll start with the story, then follow up with the inspiration behind it.

Enjoy.

"Memos from the Disaster"

--by Leonard C Suskin

[Classified] - Heat-resistant tiles
URGENT - Do not share with press.

A thorough review of the heat-resistant tiles on the re-entry vehicle was completed via satellite flyover. An as-yet unidentified failure created a cascade effect in which a six square-meter section of heat-resistant cladding has been removed from the vehicle. Simulations indicated that remaining cladding is insufficient for safe re-entry.

See figures. We need a way to fix this, or they're all going to die.

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Communication log - mission control to orbiter (excerpt)
[MC] ... so that's the situation. You lack sufficient heat-resistant cladding for safe re-entry.
[orbiter] So how do we fix it? Will have our team prep for EVA as soon as patch procedures are uploaded.
[MC] This is a catastrophic failure. No patch procedure possible. (message pauses) We're so sorry.
[orbiter] There's always a solution. You work on it down there, we'll work on it up here. Find it.
~~END TRANSMISSION~~

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[Classified] RE: Heat-resistant Tiles

Let this note serve as a reminder that , while the situation is being released to the press as of noon today, ONLY the public-relations team and dedicated press liasons are to speak regarding this matter. PLEASE DIRECT ALL INQUIRIES TO APPROPRIATE PUBLIC-RELATIONS PERSONNEL.

This includes discussion of the choice to crowd-source mitigation strategies. It is understood that many of you see this as a rejection of your expertise. Nothing of the sort is intended. With the lives of four of our bravest at stake, we feel the obligation to utilise the full resources of earth in their entirety. 

Thank you.

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UPDATE on the "SAVE AN ASTRONAUT" Public Project

We thank all of you, the members of the public, for your diligent and enthusiastic work on this. In order to prevent duplication of efforts and to avoid overwhelming our screening team, please consider the following points in your submissions:

1. Sufficient reaction mass is not available for docking with the International Space Station.
2. There are no launch-ready lifter systems available for a resupply mission.
3. The crew will not resort to cannibalism. Even if they were to do so, caloric content would not be sufficient for survival until a resupply could be sent (see item 2)
4. Even if they could be attached to the hull, space suits will not offer sufficient heat ablation to protect the craft during reentry.
5. Solutions.Nasa.Gov is dedicated to proposed solutions. Messages of encouragement or support for the astronauts should go to LoveNotes.Nasa.Gov. Messages will be screened for content before sending. Due to the volume or well-wishes, responses should not be expected.

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[Group Message from  Nails Greenfield, president of the Brooklyn Science Fiction Society (Excerpt)]

Of course I wrote to them, even knowing that they'd never read it. I'm not a rocket scientist; this is all I could do. Here are the closing lines of my message:

...I know that this is easy for me to say, but even knowing  that you may never come back, I envy you the chance to climb above the clouds, to touch the sky. You're part of the select group, a bearer of the dreams I've held since I was a very young man.

I'm no longer a young man, and am resigned to live and die earthbound. You - all of you - are awesome and special and have given the rest of us a great gift.

We thank you.

There was more, but it's personal, including some "American haiku" which, in all honesty, feel lovely to me.  It's what  I can do. Tomorrow I'd like to share this with the group rather than workshop the next chapter of the novel; this will count as my turn.

You all can share your thoughts, and then we'll sent it up, a prayer to the doomed gods above us who may never have the time to read it.

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Thank for reading.

The inspiration for this one was Andy Weir's novel The Martian. It's a survival novel, and, as a realistic nuts and bolts SF adventure,  a bit of a throwback.  What surprised me as I read it was how little suspense I felt as the crises mounted and situation grew more dire; it's a survival novel, so of COURSE the character would survive. Everything about it pointed towards that conclusion, just as everything pointed towards further disasters en route. The fact that it felt like a "successful rescue" type of survival story left me certain that titular Martian would survive, so reading it became the exercise of opening a series of clever puzzle-boxes rather than riding a white-knuckle thrill-ride. 

This piece was the result; How do things end when we know that it really might be hopeless? This is one of those flash pieces which might grow into something more as tehre IS more to say on it. Thought experiment for you, dear readers: What would you do were you one of the doomed astronauts? How would you live the last days, hours, even weeks of your life knowing that they were your last and knowing that everyone was watching? It is - at least to me - an interesting question.

Thanks, as always, for listening.

Flash Fiction Friday - Community, Hashtags, and The Future of AV!

This will be one of two upcoming Flash Fiction Fridays dealing with the moon, and more science-fictional than my usual fare. As readers of this blog know, I not only work in the audiovisual field, but also have a somewhat active presence in the AV online community, including occasional appearance on AV-related podcasts, this blog, and the AV twitterati. AV twitter peeps (referring to ourselves with the hashtag #AVTweeps).

A massive #AVSelfie

One thing at which some AVTweeps have done an excellent job is the creation of community through shared experiences - often trivial ones. Last year at Infocomm (the annual AV tradeshow) Chris Neto came up with the idea for the "#AVSelfie" hashtag; people were encouraged to take selfies either at the show or with AV equipment. There was even, believe it or not, a music video. If you don't blink you'll see your favorite pixel-and-inkstained wretch, taking a selfie at the moment the song premiered (on the AVWeek podcast).

More recently, there's a weekly #AVHashtags game; a weekly joke hashtag with which we AVTweeps play. We've had AVTVshows, we've ReplacedAVWithFruit, and other silliness.

This year's game was #Infocomm2099 - imagining the AV industry through a trade show nearly 75 years in the future. I love the future, and like the idea of using small details from press-releases, foot-notes, and what would be other "found" writing to sketch a picture of future worlds. This is too much to cram into 140 characters on Twitter, so I give to you the following Two Excerpts from the Infocomm2099 Program.

Enjoy.

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"Two Excerpts from the Infocomm2099 program"

Training, Day 1

Tuesday, 9AM

Vid127 (Video, Intermediate), Instructor: Glenn Yorreazz. Use of standing tachyon waves to achieve lip-sync in non-deterministic video systems

• • For as long as video streaming has been with us, so too have lip-sync issues. Explore the use of time itself to solve the conumdrum!

Net103 (Network, Basic), Instructor: Jarash Gosou. Mystifying Time-Aware Networks.

• • Explore the metaphysics behind this newest incarnation of the soon-to-be-adopted TAW suite of IEEE protocols. Originally introduced as audiovideo bridging, this is a technology whose time has come. Learn why you'll expect to start seeing TAW products next year.

Aud322 (Audio, Advanced), Instructor Glenn Yorreazz. Catching the retro "wave" - the use of air pressure waves as an audio transport tool

• • Discuss the opportunities and challenges inherent in this age-old alternative to subcutaneous speaker implants or direct neural transmission.

Vid127 (Video, Basic): Instructor Marco Knox. Quantum Entanglement and HDCP7.2

• • Understand the physics behind the newest digital content protection standard, including a discussion of the continuing issues we have with the HDMI9.7 standard which still lacks a locking connector.

Gen133 (General, intermediate): Instructor, Glenn Yorreazz: Time Management Techniques

• • Learn how the instructor is using temporal fugue to teach three simultaneous courses while walking the show-floor and visiting the nearby theme park.

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Special Event: Lunar Projection Mapping
Congratulations to the Infocomm member known as AVSunrise, of NewBoston. In a first, her winning design will be projected onto the moon itself using multiple banks  Sircthie Digital's new advanced TurboLaser projectors, placed throughout the hemisphere. See the following Q&A with Sirchtie spokesman Dick Bowlerton.

Q: Tell us about this project

A: The TurboLASER projector is a first in its class. Centuries-out-of-date regulations limit use of LASER light in earth-based projection, but sending light to the moon is safe and effective.

Q: Tell us a bit about the technology

A: Light engines are located at various generation hubs (ie, Pacific tidal generators, Hoover Dam), with light pumped to transmission units via fiber optics. We'd planned a field-trip to the Southwest Windfarms, but the prototype wasn't read last year and this, as you know, is an Orlando year.

Q: How do you answe concerns that the focused energy would be any danger to the newly active Lunar tectonics, and the lawsuits threatening to shut the project down?

A: This is very, very highly unlikely. Our engineers are confident that the moon will survive! If it doesn't survive, out multi-body algorithm will be quite well suited for projecting images on the ensuing dust cloud. Just kidding about that last part. But it really would work.

Q: What else is new from Sirchtie?  

A: Inerplanetary mapping is a big thing. More of this will be detailed in the free interactive neural upload "Book of Explorations", including a new plan to "paint" canals on the surface of Mars, several major advertising initiatives, and a few surprises. At last, we can see the world as we see it in our imaginations. Expect new wonders, new miracles. The world is our canvas.