#ansible

so many concepts that i remember existing in the Enderverse are in these books. i thought maybe this was a Tolkien situation, where one author has ideas so revolutionary that they become part of the genre, but it doesn't seem as cut-and-dry as that. one of the things i looked up was the term 'ansible'. i found that it was used first by Le Guin in 1966, then nothing, until Card uses it in 1985. after that, other authors begin to use it, but Card is very much the first person to take the term from Le Guin. so... what gives? is this a known issue? is this a non issue?

Explaining the interstellar telegraph that doomed the galaxy - a page from "THE ANSIBLE"(colored by @gnarlyghost ), one of the many stories collected in "A STAR CALLED THE SUN"!

To read more of "The Ansible", take a look HERE

I hate ansible

I hate dependency management

I hate having to rely on other peoples messes

yall've told me some and i can guess others but theres some im stuck on...

(Bandia san Insible)

It was cold, so cold her breath hung in the air then slowly drifted to the floor. So cold she had long stopped shivering. That was bad right? Yeah, probably really bad. She glanced over to the pilot, wrapped in three blankets, breathing shallow, asleep to conserve oxygen.

 The pilot, her friend, her lover. That beautiful, excited girl who had spent years working at a scrap heap until she had sculpted it into a ship. A ship they would use to escape from the world that hated them. The irony that it was going to be their coffin now wore her thin.

 They had barely gotten out of the planet's pull when two ships had pulled alongside them. Enforcers of the rich and powerful. They said they were criminals. They weren't allowed to escape. The scrap they used, the food they gathered. It was someone else's property you see.

 Theft was punishable by death. They had tried to jump, tried to run. But one well placed shot had killed them dead in the water, so to speak. Their ramshackle reactor sputtered out and there wasn't even power for life support.

 They had left them to drift, the bastards. At least she still had ansible access to her communicator. She could at least go out with a song she loved. Something full of pop, something happy. She felt so tired now, she just wanted to sink into that happiness and freedom again.

 So she sank into those feelings, remembering the times they played and worked together on the ship. Music had always been there, her connection with the ansible had always been a comfort, the fuel for her fire. She was so tired, so sleepy. 

 She didn't even feel the ship shudder.

 The sound of claw tips on metal didn't reach her through her earbuds. Her cheeks were so numb she didn't feel the sharp edge of one graze across her cheek. Didn't see how they touched her forehead, then... Then she woke up.

 She was warm. She was warm? She could feel her fingers again, her toes too. Her eyes swam with colors and she felt like she was still floating in microgravity. Oh, of course. She was dead huh? Of course she was, how else could she explain the sight before her.

 Everything and nothing stretched out before her. The air buzzed with energy and colors. Electric blues, reds, violets and yellows quivered around her, rippling as she stood, waves of color lapping at her bare feet. 

 Oh yeah, she had to be dead, that would explain the nudity.

 "Have you considered that you didn't in fact die, my friend?" She jumped, startled as the voice spoke into her mind. She whirled around, trying to find them, but found nothing but color and silence.

 "Oh you won't find me there. That's not a space for me. But you? You're perfect for that lonely place. Look at how much you've livened it up already." The voice laughed. She huffed, looking around, it did seem like the air quivered around her. Strange. "Quite strange indeed."

 "But this is a chance for you. You wanted more music, more happiness, yeah? Take it then, this world is yours." She felt something inside her slip away, something she hadn't noticed didn't match. It fell away, leaving her feeling a little empty, a little lonely.

 She dwells on what the voice said. Her world? What even was it? Kneeling down she poked a finger into the colors around her. Electric charge traveled up her arm. She gasped, seeing, hearing, feeling. Conversations, music, videos, messages. All of them poured into her mind.

 She shivered. It felt so good, she was connected to so much. Her shoulders rolled forward and she plunged into the colors, feeling the waves of electricity climbing over her skin. A billion songs and voices filled her mind. She felt herself sinking deeper and deeper into it.

 Then she blinked. She sank but that wasn't right was it? This was hers, her gift. She couldn't just let it wash her away. She singled out one voice, one song. The one she thought she should die to. Now she would live to it.

She grinned, feeling sparks between her teeth. Tapping her foot to the beat and dancing. Laughing. Fingers gliding out across a trillion data streams, each touch a connection. She wouldn't just lose herself in this, she couldn't. That would be such a waste.

Across the galaxy screens flashed. News and programs and streams interrupted. Just the laughing, smiling face of a girl playing over them all a song many had forgotten played over every speaker. She felt it all, every connection, every word and image passed over her.

 They tried to cut her off of course. She saw the techs, trying to stop her. Her grin grew sharp, eyes gleaming at them over screens as she fried their systems, invaded and dominated. She was the ansible now. And she would not let them control her any longer.

 She laughed sweetly as she floated on a wave of electromagnetism. Then a new color appeared in her eyes, a new connection. One that felt so familiar. She reached out for it, tears streaming down her face. How could she have forgotten? She reached out to it, cupping it in her hands and holding it to her cheek.