“Squirrels and Suns” – Microfiction
Always the worst shifts, we got. First in, last out… that’s how it was.
My bones, they felt like the cracked ground, dust hard and sore. Terminus wore you down, see?
Even breathing hurt sometimes. But what else could we do? This… this was home. Sort of.
Unity, they didn’t understand that. Their boots, too shiny for the dust, their voices sharp. އެވްވަރުކެޔަކުން “Evvarukeyakun [Papers],” their boss man said, like he always did. City-born, that one. Soft. That’s probably why he stared at the mug.
Old Mara, she squeezed it, mumbling about squirrels whispering secrets.
The rest of us… well, better not to look. Mara, she’d seen too many Shifts, touched by the suns, they said. Superstition, that’s what got you by, sometimes.
“Disorder Mug,” I managed to rasp out. “Shows you… stuff.” Play along was best. Play along and maybe they’d leave a few extra rations.
He grabbed it, made a face like he’d tasted something foul. Stared at it hard.
Then, something changed.
Not much, just a flash in his eyes. ބަޔަ Baya [Fear], maybe.
Next thing you know, his men were loading their trucks. Not taking, mind you. Giving.
“Recon,” he said, shoving the mug back at Mara. “Your damn trinket… maybe it’ll keep us alive a bit longer.” Then they roared off.
Mara just hummed. An old song, something about the sea and stars in a tongue I didn’t catch. Didn’t even notice the mess she’d caused.
“Maybe… crazy’s what we need,” I said, more to myself than anyone.
Crazy, that’s what the mug was. Crazy, that’s what Terminus was. Maybe if you were crazy enough (got the right kind of crazy on your side) you could find a way.
My back still hurt. My hands bled. But something felt different inside.
Not hope, not really. More like the weeds pushing up through the stomped dirt. Stubborn. ވާދުރަ Vaadhurah [Madness] as defiance, see?
A desperate play for some kind of order?
Maybe that was the only way to survive.
English reading
日本語 – リスと太陽
いつも最悪のシフトだった。最初に入り、最後に出る．．．そんな感じだった。
私の骨は、ひび割れた地面のように感じられた。ターミナスで消耗したんだ。
呼吸するのさえ時々痛かった。でも他に何ができる？ここが…ここが家だった そんなところだ。
ユニティ、彼らはそれを理解してなかった。彼らのブーツは埃のためにピカピカで、声は鋭かった。އެވުކެޔަކން”エヴヴァルキーヤクン（書類）”と、彼らのボスの男はいつものように言った。都会生まれだ。柔らかい。だから彼はマグカップを見つめたのだろう。
マーラさんはマグカップをぎゅっと握りしめ、リスが秘密をささやくとつぶやいた。
私たち以外は…見ないほうがいいわ。マーラは多くのシフトを見た、太陽に触れられたという。迷信も、時には身を滅ぼす。
「無秩序マグカップ 」と、私はなんとか口にした。「あなたに…いろいろ見せてくれる」適当にやるのが一番だ。そうすれば、少し余分に食料を置いていってくれるかもしれない。
彼はそれを手に取り、何か不味そうな顔をした。それをじっと見つめた。
そして何かが変わった。
大したことはなかったが、彼の目に閃光が走った。ބަޔަ バヤ［恐怖］、たぶん。
気がつくと、彼の部下がトラックに荷物を積んでいた。奪うのではない。与える。
「偵察だ」と彼は言い、マグカップをマーラに突き返した。「お前の小物で…もう少し生き延びられるかもしれない」そして轟音を立てて走り去った。
マーラはただ鼻歌を歌っていた。古い歌で、私が聞き取れなかった言葉で、海と星についての何かだった。彼女が引き起こした混乱にも気づかなかった。
「たぶん…クレイジーさが必要なんだ」私は誰よりも自分に向かって言った。
クレイジー、それがマグカップだった。クレイジー、それがターミナスだった。もし君が十分にクレイジーなら（正しい種類のクレイジーを味方につければ）、方法を見つけることができるかもしれない。
背中はまだ痛かった。手には血が滲んだ。でも心の中では何かが違う気がした。
希望ではない。踏み固められた土を突き上げる雑草のようだった。頑固だ。ވާދުރަヴァードゥラー［狂気］は反抗だ、分かるか？
ある種の秩序を求める必死の遊び？
それが生き残るための唯一の方法だったのかもしれない。
読書
World – Welcome to Fenrir – Earth Year 2111
Summary – Three Body Influence:
- Chaotic orbits as the central feature, shaping all life.
- “The Knowledge” is tied to scientific prediction of this chaos.
- The suns themselves are now active players, not just a backdrop.
Three-Body Twist on Yonaguni + Polish Military
- Yonaguni as Archaic Predictors: The Yonaguni aesthetic now paints an ancient civilization that built structures in an attempt to understand, maybe even appease, the suns. These ruins hold clues or ancient tech, sought by factions to gain an edge.
- Polish Military: Stoicism Elevated: Polish armed forces tradition meshes perfectly with this bleak setting. Stoicism, discipline, and an acceptance of hardship in the face of overwhelming odds become core cultural traits.
Cosmology: The Three-Body Dance
- Origin – Not Nomadic, Trapped Instead of a wandering system, imagine our characters are trapped in a trinary star system much like the one in The Three-Body Problem. The suns’ unpredictable movement creates periods of extreme heat, ice ages, or even gravitational cataclysms across planets.
- Structure – Erratic Orbits & Contested Zones The planets are not on fixed paths; the gravitational influence of the three suns creates incredibly complex and chaotic orbits. Civilization is a game of perpetual adaptation, with some planets eternally hostile and others harboring brief flickers of habitable conditions. “Contested Zones” are planets that swing in and out of these habitable orbits, sparking constant conflict.
- Physics – The Three-Body Problem is ‘The Knowledge’ Instead of a mystical prediction of death, “The Knowledge” is scientific. There IS a solution to the three-body system’s orbital chaos, but it’s incredibly complex. Supercomputers and dedicated strategists can predict planetary shifts, granting a massive advantage in planning both warfare and civilian survival.
- Expansion Idea: The Three-Body solution is incomplete or flawed. There is some other force at work that causes additional deviation, adding a touch of cosmic horror to the science.
- Cosmic Entities – Signals from the Stars The erratic suns themselves could now be the focus. Perhaps they emit strange bursts of radiation that can alter technology, or even communicate… something inhuman. Military strategists could double as astrophysicists in this scenario, desperately trying to decipher cosmic messages.
- Expansion Idea: Each star has a distinct radiation signature, and exposure alters humans – one makes them aggressive, another boosts intellect, etc. This creates ‘Sun Cults’ divided along lines of who wants exposure to which star and why.
Main Character (Aaminah) Microfiction – Fate
Hands shook bad. Not from cold, haven’t felt that in years, no… this was different. Code, swirling in front of me… showed a life. Mine. But I was 54. Skin says so, the ache in my bones says so. But the code said 21.
That crash. The pain. Blood, not mine, all over this fancy tech I barely understood. Shoulda’ been the end, numbers don’t lie. Yet, here I was. Alive, kinda. But floaty? Like I didn’t belong. I was separate from where I should be.
The girl in the code, she was a hot fire. Meant to be me, maybe. Ideas burned in her head, world-changing stuff, the kinda things that sent us off this rock. Before it all went bad. Before Terminus.
A nasty feeling twisted in my gut. Not ’cause she was a genius, an’ I wasn’t. But ー I lived. Thirty years extra, bought with stolen tech and whispers in dark places.
My destiny, see, was to snuff out young. A spark that lit the way, then faded. But I’d hung on, wouldn’t let go. Greed? Fear? Who knows. Mara’s squirrels still chattered, the damn mug still felt warm in my hands. Echoes of a life I wasn’t meant to have?
Something throbbed, not my heart, no… something deeper. They warned me, the ones who sold me this extra time. Each day, I was stretched thinner, ready to snap.
But those squirrels they got louder, mixed up with the crackle of the dying code. Were they always right? Or had they just gone as crazy as the rest of this messed-up world?
Funny sorta calm settled then. My invention, the one that girl, the 21-year-old me, shoulda’ made it was in the code, broken pieces. Wouldn’t change the whole world, but maybe here on Terminus, it could find a bit of hope.
The throb grew, and this time, I didn’t run. Just met it, head-on. Tired, see? Of running from what I was meant to be. As the code swallowed me, I shoved. Not to live, not anymore. But to pass the pieces on.
Squirrels always did like a race, didn’t they?
