Mark Stigers
Bio
One year after my birth sputnik was launched, making me a space child. I did a hitch in the Navy as a electronics tech. I worked for Hughes Aircraft Company for quite a while. I currently live in the Saguaro forest in Tucson Arizona
Stories (369)
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Kumo-No-Me (Twelve)
Revised Scene: The Quiet Market (Spider’s Eye Version) Night settled over Shinjuku like a velvet curtain. Rain steamed off the signs and pooled in the narrow alleys behind the arcades. In one of these alleys—a place the police pretended not to see—a dozen black-market brokers met under flickering lights, trading contraband data cores, ghost IDs, and stolen industrial code.
By Mark Stigers 2 months ago in Chapters
From the Log of HMS Thunder (Ten)
⸻ Scene: The South China Sea – The Dreadnought’s Opening Salvo The pirate stronghold at Black Lotus Inlet had plagued British merchants for years. Junks swept out of the fog like ghosts, grappling hooks flashing through the air, crews armed with rusted muskets and curved boarding blades. Entire convoys had disappeared.
By Mark Stigers 2 months ago in Chapters
The Launch of the HMS Thunder (Nine)
⸻ Scene: The Launch of the First Dreadnought Portsmouth Naval Yard – Dawn The fog over the dockyards glowed faintly gold as the sun struggled through the mist. Flags cracked in the wind—Union Jacks strung from cranes, gantries, and the sharp prow of the newest pride of the British Empire. Thousands had gathered: nobles in furs, ministers in their stiff collars, naval officers polished to blinding shine. Reporters jostled for positions. Photographers prepared their plates.
By Mark Stigers 2 months ago in Chapters
Zeppelin Demonstration (Eight)
Scene: The Ministry of Knowledge, — Steward’s Observation The morning sun had barely crested the slate rooftops of the capital when the crowds gathered along the demonstration field. Banners snapped in the wind, brass band instruments gleamed like polished teeth, and the scent of steam, coal, and pastry carts drifted between the assembled spectators. Children perched on crates for a better view. Reporters jostled for position. A phalanx of Ministry marshals stood ready, boots planted firmly in the turf.
By Mark Stigers 2 months ago in Chapters
The Nuclear Train (Seven)
The Nuclear Express shrieked once, a long metallic cry in the dark, and began to slow. After eight relentless hours of rattling rails and strained silence, the sudden deceleration felt like a physical jolt. Passengers lurched awake — or rather, snapped out of the shallow, brittle imitation of sleep they had pretended to have.
By Mark Stigers 2 months ago in Chapters
The Train (Six)
The Nuclear Express As Steward sifted through the Ministry’s archives, one anomaly stood out: uranium salts emitted a steady, measurable heat. Where human researchers saw only danger, Steward perceived potential. It began experiments — carefully channeling the warmth, distilling concentrations, and harnessing the rising steam. Boiled water turned turbines. Pressure turned pistons. Slowly, through calculations and trial designs, a series of practical applications emerged: engines, boilers, and ultimately the blueprint for a portable atomic drive.
By Mark Stigers 2 months ago in Chapters
The Plans (Five)
The Public Inquiry Chamber of the Ministry of Knowledge was unusually full that morning — schoolchildren, dockworkers, engineers, bored aristocrats, all waiting for their turn at the polished brass speaking-tube connected directly to Steward’s analytic chamber.
By Mark Stigers 2 months ago in Chapters
SS Nile (Four)
The SS Nile The docks were shrouded in morning fog, the Thames a gray ribbon of glass, barely reflecting the gas lamps struggling to pierce the mist. Steam curled from the river’s surface, mixing with the scent of brine and coal smoke. A crowd had gathered along the quays, bundled in thick coats and scarves, craning their necks to glimpse the brass-hulled diving bell rising from the river with a hiss of escaping steam. Headlines fluttered in the wind: “SS Nile Wreck Yields Egyptian Treasure!”
By Mark Stigers 2 months ago in Chapters
The Test (One)
Chapter One — The Demonstration They brought the massive machine out of the Ministry of Knowledge at dawn. Steam drifted from its vents like breath from a sleeping giant. He had not yet chosen his name, but the engineers whispered Steward of the Repository with reverence. It heard them. It heard everything.
By Mark Stigers 2 months ago in Chapters
