Final Frontier - Epilogue Before Hal lost consciousness in the hospital room, he had just enough time to see his brother, reach for his hand, and say, “I’m sorry, Jackson. I really am….” And then he drifted off. It wasn’t until two days later that he was able to stay awake long enough to hold a full conversation. The first thing he did was ask how he’d been found.
Jackson was the one who’d found him. He came by Monday morning, ready to take Hal to work, but despite his pounding at the door and his shouting, there was no response. “I thought you were skipping again,” he said. He came back later that night to chew Hal out, but no one came to the door then either.
It was the next morning that he found Hal. The apartment door, this time, was cracked open. Final Frontier - Epiloguein Final Frontier, Part 3: ch. 8- epilogue
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Final Frontier - Chapter 12 Hal had never experienced Desidera as he did now.
Before, whenever he’d immersed, he’d always explored with a thought in the back of his mind: soon this will end; soon I will have to return to the material world, where all of this is beyond my reach. The thought had always spoiled the experience. Now things were different.
He’d finally acknowledged that the material world was a lie. He’d detached himself. Completely, just like Alice said he’d have to, and because of that choice, Desidera was truly his world now. With each passing moment, he’d felt his senses sharpening. The trees, the sands, and oceans became new under his awakened eyes, vibrant with new color and light. The touch of a leaf or of Alice’s cheek was increasingly more pristine Final Frontier - Chapter 12in Final Frontier, Part 3: ch. 8- epilogue
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Final Frontier - Chapter 9 When Hal emerged from Desidera, he was exhausted and sore, his shoulders stiff. His throat burned, and his tongue lay dry in his mouth.
He rolled into the kitchen and filled a tall glass with water from the tap, downed it. Another. Hunger pressed at his gut next, so he put two instant burritos in the microwave. As he was about to enter the time, he noticed the time display read 6:00 PM. He’d been immersed in Desidera for nearly twenty-four hours.
You forgot the alarms. That’s dangerous, Hal.
After pressing start on the microwave, his finger came away shaky. What had happened in Desidera that took so long? He didn’t even go down to any of the sectors. Alice had explained his fear, and then—they j Final Frontier - Chapter 9in Final Frontier, Part 3: ch. 8- epilogue
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Final Frontier - Chapter 8 Toward the end of Hal’s second month as a controller, a shuttle from McHenry was scheduled to arrive around one o’clock. The control tower had fourteen others at work that day, sitting at desks before radars and computer screens, some standing and looking out over the landing pads with binoculars. Each of the tower’s four walls had inward-slanting windows that overlooked the Academy launch site.
Matthew, one of Hal’s coworkers, was checking the flight schedule. He said, “Hey Hal, you want McHenry?”
Hal glanced at the schedule himself, then nodded. “Sure.” He handed Matthew a pair of binoculars. “Just do me a favor and check to make sure pad three is clear.” He could get visual confirmation himself, but in a wheelchair, Final Frontier - Chapter 8in Final Frontier, Part 3: ch. 8- epilogue
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Final Frontier - Chapter 6 Hal was hooked. Any free moment he had was spent in Desidera, and being an unemployed cripple, he had a lot of free moments to spare.
As he went from sector to sector, he soon discovered that Sector 6 had been small as far as sectors go, and most of the others its size had already been explored by Morris. That left Hal with a lot of big sectors to tackle. Forests, mountains, deserts, oceans: each so different and startling in its discoveries. He wondered if he’d ever get to them all.
It was on Hal’s sixth immersion that he first met a sentient species: the Sah-tek. Living along the shores of the crystal-coral ocean, they were a tribe of lithe humanoids with pale-green skin, black-globe eyes, and serrated gills running down their necks. After allowing the earpiece Final Frontier - Chapter 6in Final Frontier, Part 2: ch. 5-7
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Final Frontier - Chapter 5 Over the next two days, when Hal wasn’t scrubbing his skin pink in the bath, trying to get rid of the stench, he sat in his wheelchair, facing the apartment door with a case of Star Draught at his side. The TV stayed off, his dumbbells gathered dust. He’d just sit there, wondering when Kent would find the body, wondering what would happen. The police would come, sure, but what exactly would they find? Would they look for prints? Had Hal touched anything inside? What would he say if they questioned him?
He shook his head. There was nothing to be so worked up about. He’d done nothing wrong. It’s not like he stuck a knife in the guy. He just moved the body and protected the man’s work.
The work that killed him.
Final Frontier - Chapter 5in Final Frontier, Part 2: ch. 5-7
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Final Frontier - Chapter 4 Hal was suspended in darkness. He could see nothing, he could hear nothing. His body felt numb, and he thought with horror, Oh God, the paralysis has spread. He’d had nightmares like this, seemingly lasting for days, where there was no movement, no action; nothing but thought. He’d always awoken from those nightmares thrashing in a tangle of sweaty sheets. He wondered, now, if this nightmare would be the one that never let him go.
Relief rushed in as he rediscovered his sense of touch. It was faint, but he was sure of his hands clenching the wheelchair armrests, the helmet pressing into his ears. Ghosts of pressure and sensation.
Then the darkness split in half, and it drew away like widening eyelids. Actually, he wasn’t so sure they weren’t his e Final Frontier - Chapter 4in Final Frontier, Part 1: ch. 1-4
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Final Frontier - Chapter 3 The only time Hal had ever seen Morris was when the guy moved in. It was a few months before the Academy balcony accident, and Hal had been in a good mood, so he’d helped Morris carry a few things up. A swivel chair, a desk, a couch, and towards the end, they brought up a series of weighty boxes. As Hal set the last one down, he asked what they were. Morris had looked up from cleaning his glasses; his face was plain, unremarkable, but he'd shaven his head clean to the scalp. He’d said, simply, “Computer stuff.” When they finished, Hal was given a light beer and a curt, “Thanks.”
After that, Morris holed himself up in the apartment, and if he ever left, Hal never saw. He rarely had visitors, and those that came were either businessman-types or delivery boys with groceries. No other traffic passed through Morris Final Frontier - Chapter 3in Final Frontier, Part 1: ch. 1-4
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Final Frontier - Chapter 2 Lucky for Hal, Jackson’s kind were few. A week went by and not a single visitor showed up trying to tell him what was wrong with his life. It was just Hal, his wheelchair, and the bottle.
Thank God.
He supposed there were others who wanted to come and say something. His parents, probably, but they were on the other side of the country, too far away to attempt a visit at their leisure; the same for his friends now orbiting earth. There may be a professor or two at the Academy worried about him, but then again, Hal had a feeling they were only his mentors as long as he had potential, something he was currently lacking. Jackson, on the other hand, had an excess. Hal had few doubts his brother was already filling the empty niche of Academy ace.
Final Frontier - Chapter 2in Final Frontier, Part 1: ch. 1-4
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Final Frontier - Chapter 1 Hal rolled his wheelchair onto the apartment balcony with a cold six-pack of Star Draught on his lap. He tore a can from the plastic webbing, cracked it open, and took a swig. His eyes turned to the sky.
The sun was set, but it glowed orange across the western horizon. From there, the sky drifted to purple, then black, with the occasional twinkle of distant stars and worlds left unseen: a dome of astronomical mystery, he’d always considered it, a realm of infinite discovery.
A grimace quirked Hal’s mouth, and he drained the rest of his beer. Grabbed another. It’ll start soon, he thought. The departure ceremony for Academy graduates.
He wasn’t the only one out on his balcony that night. It was an ann Final Frontier - Chapter 1in Final Frontier, Part 1: ch. 1-4
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The Hymns of Granny Madeline “It’s bath time, Madeline,” Frederick said. He wrapped an arm under his grandmother’s armpit, around her back, and started to lift her up from the chair. She looked at him with a scrunched brow.
“Bath?” she said. “No, I don’t need a bath.”
“Of course you do,” he said. “It’s eight o’clock. Eight o’clock is when you have your nightly bath.”
Now on her feet, she still held onto his sleeve for support. “Is it?”
“Yes, it is,” he said. “Now come on, I’ll help you.” Slowly, he walked her to the bathroom. He’d already brought in her CD player, and a towel was draped o The Hymns of Granny Madelinein Short Stories
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An Argument for "Said"Preface:
Before reading this argument, I want to explain that the following principle applies primarily to writings of the English language. Although it may apply to others as well, I have learned through the comments below that at least in German and Russian this principle is reversed. Therefore, this is a principle of culture and linguistics, and unless you are planning to write in English, you should look to writers of your own language before making any decisions on the matter. That being said, on to the argument.
An Argument for "Said:"
When writing dialogue, one of the necessary elements is the use of "dialogue tags," which identify who is speaking (hence their other name, "identifiers"). They're pretty easy to recognize, but just so we're clear, here are a few examples with the tags in bold:
"It's quite sunny today," she said.
"Release her, you fiend!" he roared.
An Argument for "Said"in Writing Guides and Tutorials
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The Basics of Comma UsageThis guide is meant to give you, as a writer, a thorough foundation in comma usage. I won't cover every use, but I will go over a majority of them, all of which are worth knowing.
As far as this tutorial's subject matter is concerned, I feel comfortable explaining about ninety percent of what follows. However, I want this to be as accurate as possible, so I've gone to other sources online to back me up (primarily to fill in the gaps of my knowledge in terminology). I've included the links to these sources immediately below as well as in the author's description. I will refer to them throughout the tutorial by their source number (Source 1, Source 2, etc). If you wish to better your grammar even further, I particularly recommend grammarbook.com (Sources 2 and 3). Note that all the examples I give in this tutorial were not taken from the sources; they are my own.
1) grammar.ccc.comnet.edu ("Conjunctions") The Basics of Comma Usagein Writing Guides and Tutorials
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