As she is walking away, Mel pops around the corner of the hallway, waving for her attention. Mel: Talita, could you come here for a moment? Talita shrinks against the wall, grinning nervously. Talita: I s-should really get going, I'm– Mel walks up to her, beaming with excitement. Mel: Starting next week, that's your new outdoors crew! You'll be managing other centaurs‼ Isn't that exciting⁇ I've got a meeting to catch. Introduce yourself! They walk off, back into the plant. Talita: Mel, wait. I– She stops, frozen in a pose grasping towards Mel. The centaurs are approaching her.

The largest adult centaur with the massive scar on their face walks up to Talita, lower lip down and trunk curled upwards. They are slightly shorter than Talita, with a stocky build, longer body feathers, and no visibly defined muscles like Talita's. Scarred centaur: You with the wide eyes. You are named Talita? Talita flinches back, grimacing in alarm with her mane feathers standing on end. The other centaur pauses, lowering their trunk, tightening their lips, and turning their head to look at Talita with their remaining eye. Scarred centaur: …Sorry, did I approach too quickly? Talita grabs her face as if to close her jaw. Talita: N–no, you’re fine! I–uh–didn't expect to be meeting you all so soon. …What were your names…? Verengt: We are the Gwailer clan. I am Verengt, the matriarch. Verengt points at their face with two extended center fingers. Their trunk is curled up, nostrils flared, and their eyes half-lidded.

Verengt gestures to the three smaller adults behind them, who each have a single trunk bar piercing. Two are light in color with thin black stripes and one is darker with wide stripes that break into spots. They all wear ornamental combs and collars. Verengt: This is my entourage: Yaunda, Pay, Jachipt. The three of them point at their faces with two fingers as their names are said. Verengt turns back to Talita. Verengt: My workers are currently occupied with the move. You will lead my workers during our stay here. They are my children, I am trusting you to keep them safe. Bring any concerns you have with the arrangement to me. Talita: Yes, of course. How many will be on my team? Verengt: We have 8 able adults. Talita: Do they have…  She looks at Verengt trepidatiously. Talita: Any prior experience with working in exosuits…? Verengt: We have worked for a recycling operation in microgravity.

This week on #RunawayToTheStars: Mel (ever helpful) leaves, and Talita meets Verengt, the Gwailer clan's matriarch.

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Bing bong. A new work day "dawns". Talita is standing at the mobile life support unit truck, exchanging the gas in her tanks. She leans an elbow on the side of the truck, helmet in her hand, zoning out with a thousand yard stare. Phoebe: Something wrong, boss? Talita comes back to the present and turns to Phoebe. Talita: I'm… fine, Phoebe. What's up? Phoebe: The old radio tower is having outages again. Talita: Oh. Dammit. Well, we can deal with that later.

The work crew re-enters the plant at the end of the workday, announced by the beep beep beep of the airlock door. Talita wanders into the sorting area of the plant, looking worriedly over her shoulder. She finds Tod talking to a couple of internal mechanics interns, and Killian hanging from beam by their prehensile tail while working on cyclone sorter. Talita: Have you guys seen Mel? I need to talk to them. Tod: Weren't they busy giving the centaurs a house tour? Killian: Nah, I think I saw them out with Mel in the plant today. They twist around in their suspended position to look at Talita. Killian: Oh, and your new crew is centaurs! Tod: Surprise. Killian: Have you met them yet? Talita: No, I’ll… um… Get there.

Talita rounds the end of the hallway leading to the recycling plant's exit atrium, looking for Mel. Talita: Mel? Mel is standing in the middle of the atrium, talking to four of the adult centaurs from yesterday. Talita freezes, then tries to quietly walk away before they spot her.

This week on #RunawayToTheStars: Surely the other centaurs didn't notice Talita... surely she can just leave...

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If you hadn’t heard already, the printed #RunawaytotheStars book is going to be crowdfunding in April! Click the button over on the preview page to be notified when the campaign goes live: www.kickstarter.com/projects/iro...

Ranni: I noticed this convoy has a vessel marked as a passenger ship? But we don't have any personnel scheduled to leave until the 21st. Talita and Idrisah look at each other, wide-eyed. Ranni: I also don't recall Ixion owning a passenger ship of this class, just ground to orbit boats. I just wanted to check if there was an entry error. Idrisah glances down at Cheewut, who stares at her with expectant curiosity. Idrisah: It’s… uh… Talita barges into the cubicle, making Idrisah flinch. Talita: Hi Ranni! Talita here! I can explain!

Talita: There was a mix-up and an active ship got incorrectly added to a bulk scrap order. The original owners requested it be sent back to them. Ranni: Oh?? But under the SIMS profile, Ixion is listed as the title owner… She pulls one of her monitors closer to check the information. Idrisah: It's– uh– we had difficulty getting wormhole customs to process it otherwise. Ranni: Haha! Figures. Those worms sure love to micromanage their holes. Idrisah cringes but continues smiling nervously. Idrisah: Ahahaha! Yeah! Ranni: I’ll clear the vessel for launch. Take care, dears. And Talita, tell Killian he needs to call his moms more often! Behind Ranni, Evelyn enters the room, taps Paul on the shoulder, and reveals she has freshly baked cookies in a clamshell wire mesh tray.

Ranni hangs up and the call ends. Talita and Idrisah stare nervously at Cheevwut, who has been standing between them listening to the whole conversation. Cheevwut: Well, That was clearly a bunch of hasty lies. They turn and walk out of the cubicle. Cheevwut: Good thing it’s also none of my funny business. Bye! Talita and Idrisah look at each other, slump back on the cubicle desk, and sigh in relief.

This week on #RunawayToTheStars: Ranni questions, Talita doesn't technically lie, Cheevwut learned what funny business means.

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Idrisah and Cheevwut sit in her cubicle organizing a pile of loose cables on the floor. Idrisah: Cheevwut, do you know where I put that USB-G cable? A series of increasingly loud thumping footsteps causes Idrisah look up in surprise. Talita has returned, gripping the top of the cubicle wall, eyes wild. Idrisah: Is something wrong? Talita glances fearfully at the entrance to the admin wing, the direction she fled from. Talita: There’s… centaurs outside. Cheevwut: Oh yeah, that’s your new temp crew.

Talita grips her neck, horrified. Talita: What?? Cheevwut: Mel wanted it to be a surprise. Looks like it worked. Talita slumps on top on the cubicle wall, holding her head and staring off into space, dazed. Cheevwut seems amused by her anguish. Cheevwut: Haw haw. Idrisah: Are you… alright? Talita: I– Idrisah's computer, which isn’t packed yet, begins to ring. It's a call from someone named "Ranni Powell." Cheevwut leans over to peek at the monitor. Cheevwut: You're getting a call from the orbital station? Weird. They only do that for urgent stuff.

Talita and Idrisah exchange a panicked look. Cheevwut: Uh… You gonna pick it up? Idrisah quickly taps the enter key to pick up the call. Ranni's wrinkly whiskered face appears on the video call screen, with the tubular space station interior behind her. It is cluttered with decades of memorabilia. The bulkhead doors are ringed with circular drawstring curtains, the hatch handles and hand holds are covered with crocheted cozies, and family picture frames are attached all over the floorless walls. Paul floats behind Ranni, upside-down from the camera's perspective, using a computer console surrounded by duck figurines and childrens' artwork. Ranni: Hello Idrisah– Oh, sorry, dear, I forgot you were packing up today! Should I call Ohwitiil instead? Idrisah tries to conceal her terror. Cheevwut peeks over her shoulder nosily. Talita crouches behind the cubicle wall, trying to hide. Idrisah: Hi Ranni! It’s fine! Why’d you call?

This week on #RunawayToTheStars: Cheevwut is watching this office drama and eating alien popcorn.

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Happy Year of the Horse! Talita: Am I doing this right? Idrisah: Hold your palm flatter!

Talita gives a treat to an incredibly chill horse, Idrisah backseats horse feeding. #RunawaytotheStars #YearoftheHorse

Idrisah: Well… In my opinion, you should… She glances back at Cheevwut. Idrisah: (ASL) Also quit. Especially after that shit with Mel. Talita: (ASL) Maybe… Not now, soon after you, Gillie, AND Cal. Management is angry, I think. Ohwitiil walks past the cubicle. Ohwitiil: IDRISAH! Keep packing, I’ve got someone who needs your desk tomorrow! Maybe this one will actually stick around! Talita and Idrisah exchange a look of knowing exhaustion.

Talita: I’ll stop distracting you. Idrisah: Seeya later… Talita waves goodbye to Idrisah and exits the recycling plant, looking absentmindedly at her tablet while walking through the personal exit into the Shikaviil Port dome. An odd echo to her footsteps makes her look up in confusion. She glances around, trying to parse the sound.

Walking past the edge of the sound wall, Talita sees the source of the noise. Far across the dome, near the apartments, a group of centaurs walk on the circular road. There appear to be five adults, four smaller and one larger, as well as four children half their height. All of them have half-lidded eyes and implacable expressions. The four smaller adults are dressed in loose belted leather overpants on their rear four legs, with fabric undershirts that are neatly tucked into their waistbands to leave their upper torsos bare. They wear decorative fabric collars and necklaces adorned with dangling beads, strings, tufts of feathers, and pleating. In their manes they have tucked ornamental combs made from metal, bone, feathers, and beads. Three of them appear to be light in color with thin dark stripes and dark irises, and one is darker with broad stripes and light irises. All have a bar piercing through the upper portion of their trunks, and the oldest of the lighter individuals has two bars. They speak amongst themselves. The four children wear identical dark capelets with tassels that appear to be furred tails. Three are light in color, one is darker. They look around with wider eyes, and one curls their trunk up. They stand close to the small adults, who put reassuring hands on them. The largest adult stands in front of the group, speaking to an enthusiastically smiling Mel and politely smiling Tod. They are finely dressed in a tasseled skirt that covers their lower body and overpants, with a collared cape featuring long hanging panels with embroidery and a tasseled scallop pattern, with a brooch of a carved animal's head at their throat. A chatelaine with a six-legged turtle-like creature hangs from their belt. They are white with black stripes and dark facial markings that extend to the tip of their trunk, which has two bar piercings. The right side of their face is an eyeless crater of scar tissue, with bone missing from the crown of their head to nearly their nostril, an injury that on a human would have been instantly fatal. The large centaur turns their single dark eye and makes eye contact across the distance with Talita, who stares back in dumbfounded horror.

This week on #RunawayToTheStars: Oh golly, so that's what Mel's surprise was!

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Original post on yiff.life

Anyone ever imagine that a century or two from now, #aliens may lie in bed and fall asleep watching the #videos we are currently posting on the internet?

I think about this domestic stuff a lot. It might be the most interesting part of #SpeculativeFiction […]

Chapter 9: Outside, Inside. Talita is shown repainting the centaur text on the outside of the Runaway where the hull patch has covered up the message. She and two electrician worms stand on a hanging crane lift with foam brushes, with the worms leaning perilously outside the railing to reach parts of the text. Inside the Runaway, Talita takes a photo of the cleaned up interior living space. Bip's avatar coils into the frame on the walls, winking and sticking out a tongue while throwing up a V-hand sign that is obviously a photo graphic of a human hand pasted over their vector arm. Talita smiles, standing in her socks on the exterior wall of the sideways room. Gillie is shown redying her hair "Ember Orange," with a dye brush in her gloved hand. She is in a stained white tank top with her wet hair brushed into a mound on top of her head, away from her ears, forehead and neck. Her eyebrows are also wet with color. Finishing application, she notices with sneering annoyance that her mystacial whiskers are growing back in. She opens the rather barren medicine cabinet looking for a tool to deal with them, but the only thing on the shelf is an open medicine box for her prescription of Estradiol—Dissolving Subcutaneous Implants, 0.125 mg/day, "for human use only."

Gillie stomps to get her wife's attention across the hallway. Gillie: (ASL) Did you already pack my tweezers? Idrisah looks up from where she is looking at her phone and squatting on the floor of their bedroom while organizing earrings. She is surrounded by stacks of reusable shipping boxes full of packed items. Idrisah: (ASL) Those should be with the first aid stuff. Gillie walks in and opens a box next to Idrisah. Idrisah shows her the phone screen. Idrisah: (ASL) But look! Talita sent photos of the Runaway! Gillie: (ASL) Wow. Spacious. Idrisah: (ASL) I didn’t know Bip was such a fancy vessel. Gillie: (ASL) Pirates live in style, I suppose. She looks at Idrisah, who is wearing belted pants, a loose top over arm warmers, a hijab, and jewelry. Gillie: (ASL) Heading out? You're all dressed. Idrisah: (ASL) Yeah, I’ve got to pack up my work desk.

Idrisah: (ASL) Can you start packing your computer desk while I'm out? Gillie frowns. Gillie: (ASL) We don’t leave till next week! Idrisah: (ASL) It’s only five days! Gillie: (ASL) I refuse to live out of boxes until I have to. Idrisah: (ASL) You’ll regret that this weekend. Gillie: (ASL) I will pack more NON-ESSENTIALS. In the Ixion admin wing, Idrisah packs up her cubicle space with help from Cheevwut. Talita leans on the edge of the cubicle wall, looking glum. Talita: Need any help over here? Idrisah: Thanks Talita, I think we’re good. Talita: I’m gonna miss coming to admin to bug you.

This week on #RunawayToTheStars: Talita repaints the Runaway, Gillie repaints her hair, Idrisah packs up.

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made a centaur sona yahoo

#furry #furryart #alien #rtts #runawaytothestars #centaur #commsopen

LOG 8: Z-Pinch Fusion The Runaway is a rapid transit vessel (colloquially, a "torchship"), designed to transport cargo and passengers as quickly as possible on intrasystem trips between wormholes. During the majority of a journey, the vessel acceleration is between 8 m/s² and 11 m/s², the comfort range of gravity for most sophonts. While this shaves days off of voyages and reduces crew time spent in microgravity, it requires a great deal of firepower. The Runaway's comparatively tiny habitat sits on top of a massive pair of fuel tanks and z-pinch fusion engines. As plasma fuel is injected into the fusion chamber, the engine’s capacitor banks deliver thousands of electrical pulses per second, creating magnetic fields strong enough to initiate nuclear fusion. This magnetic field “pinches” the plasma along the engine's z-axis into a blinding blue jet of super-heated gases, pushing the ship to its cruising acceleration. Engine Schematic: fuel tanks deuterium capacitor banks shadow shield outer electrode inner electrode plasma electric current The magnetic field follows the direction of the electrical current. magnetic nozzle helium, hydrogen, and neutrons FUSION Image: Bip grumpily holds up a sign in front of one of the deuterium fuel lines with “3He” written on it. Bip: Ideally, I'd have one tank of ³He and one tank of deuterium, that would be more efficient than reacting doot with itself... Talita: Beggars can't be choosers. Also, fusion engines aren't the only propulsion here! Image: She points at a small multi-nozzle rocket on the side of the Runaway’s habitat. Talita: On both ends of the vessel are rings of reaction control systems, aka RCS. These smaller chemical rockets are used for fine maneuvering and approaching dock, since fusion engines are illegal to operate too close to habitation. While fusion engines have less radioactive exhaust than fission engines (which use a process similar to a nuclear bomb for propulsion), they still emit deadly neutron radiation when operating. To protect the inhabitants from being fried by their own engine emissions, there is something called a "shadow shield" between them and the thrusters. This is a block of material that absorbs the thruster radiation and creates a cone of protective shadow around the body of the ship. Image: A diagram of the Runaway shows shape of the shadow cone, and the size of the habitable area of the ship (green) relative to the rest of the vessel. The main habitat is a four story structure under a 12th of the total length of the ship, with a short cargo bay hallway in the upper section of the spine. Most of the length of the vessel is occupied by fuel tanks, shielding, and the engines. Habitat (green) cargo bay (green) RCS (purple) shadow shield (dark blue) radiators (red) Neutron Radiation Zone (white with skulls and crossbones) Radiation Shadow Cone (light blue) This stellar flamethrower also creates a ton of waste heat, which in the insulating vacuum of space, dissipates very slowly. In order to prevent heat from traveling up the spine of the ship and turning the habitat capsule into a multi-story oven, heat from the propulsion system is diverted to the radiator wings. The radiators pump waste heat away from the engine and spine of the ship, giving it more time and space to dissipate, and can glow red-hot while the engine burns. Their triangular shape allows them hide within the shadow cone during burns, and extend to cool faster and provide maintenance access when the ship is coasting or docked.

This week on #RunawayToTheStars: Fusion spaceships are a radioactive explosion generator with a tiny pressurized box of air on the other end.

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i love her
#runawaytothestars #rtts #talita

Gillie, Bip, and Idrisah all look with concern at Talita, who is slumped face down on the nose rig of the front loader, arms hanging limply, with her damp feathers in the air. The towel has fallen off her shoulders. Idrisah: Do… Do you want a hug? Talita picks her head up and turns back to them miserably. Talita: …Yeah… She sits down near her friends, and Gillie and Idrisah wrap their arms around her torso for a group hug. Bip watches from the webcam, their avatar looking thoughtful.

Talita wraps her arms around her friends, rests a cheek on top of Idrisah's head, and relaxes into the hug. Bip turns their webcam towards the the front loader, holding up its newly attached articulated hands. They reach out with them and gingerly grasp the group of women with the metal manipulators, who look down in surprise. Bip: Best I can do, sorry. Talita: Thanks, Bip.

This week on #RunawayToTheStars: Finally, at long last, Talita gets a hug. End of chapter 8.

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🔥 talita plinko 🔥

Physics-based animation commission for @jayeatonart.bsky.social

#blender3D #RunawayToTheStars

Talita, Idrisah, and Gillie are in the yard space behind Talita's house. Gillie is sitting on a work table next to Talita's tablet, which has Bip's avatar on the screen, and is positioned on a motorized rotating platform with a webcam on a stick. Talita, glum and exhausted, is working on attaching a more articulated hand to one of the front loaders, mane feathers still damp from a shower with a towel around her neck. Idrisah stands behind her near Gillie and gesticulates angrily. Idrisah: Mel wouldn't even transfer him!? Talita: No, they only want to talk to him. Idrisah: But he assaulted you!! Talita: I mean, he didn't actually hurt me… Idrisah: That's not an excuse! He needs to be removed from your team, NOW! Talita: He'll be gone in a week, it's not worth the trouble for Mel to move him.

Bip's avatar leans its head on one hand, irritated eyebrow quirked. Bip: Sooo... if it's only a week, then why not just fire him? Idrisah scowls, whips around, and jabs a finger at the tablet, startling Bip. Idrisah: EXACTLY! She turns away from Bip, who realizes with trepidatious relief that they aren't the target of her righteous anger. Idrisah: Talita, you can't let them ignore this just because BASIC accountability would take SLIGHTLY more effort than sitting on their ass doing NOTHING! Talita: I guess… It's just that Mel was basically my parent all through college. I don't want to sour our relationship over this… Bip: Sounds to me like they're the one souring it. Idrisah: Yeah! That's not fair! Screw their good will if they won't even keep you safe! Bip turns the webcam's swivel motor to look at Idrisah and leans their avatar her way. Bip: Right? They so obviously only care about maintaining business as usual. And frankly, demanding he be removed would be doing them a bigger favor than they've bothered to extend to you. This guy's a walking liability. Idrisah: Oh, absolutely! At this point they've given you no reasonable options besides upsetting them!

Talita, finished attaching the robotic hand, leans on an elbow on the nose rig of the frontloader and slumps her face against her palm in exhausted resignation. Talita: Easier said than done. I have so few people in my social circle, I can't afford to burn bridges. And now you and Gillie are going back to Nexus Jovia… And I'm helping Bip leave in a convoy to Nexus Jovia... And I'm still stuck here. On Gillie's laptop screen, the BFGC web portal page is displaying the approval status of customs tracking number. It rolls over from "pending" to "shipping batch approved." Gillie: Haha! She pumps a fist in the air in triumph and signs to Idrisah, grinning. Gillie: (ASL) They approved the convoy! The ship can go through! Idrisah looks between her and Talita in nervous silence. Gillie's smile falls in confusion.

This week on #RunawayToTheStars: Idrisah is charging her righteous anger beam attack, she and Bip are in agreement for once, Talita is exhausted.

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Talita knocks on the door to Mel's office. SFX: KNOCK KNOCK Mel: Come in! She enters the room, which is not quite tall enough to stand up inside quadrupedally, sits down on her haunches, and silently closes the door. Mel: …Is something wrong? Talita: Um… It's one of the temps. Mel: Oh no, what happened? Talita: Adam pulled on my antler. Mel relaxes and sits back in their chair, considering her.

Mel: Is that it? Talita is taken aback. Talita: Well he did it, like, maliciously! He was trying to hurt me! Her face begins to bristle in frustration, and she grips her neck, back hunched to keep her head from knocking the ceiling. Talita: And he’s– he’s been– saying really rude things “out of earshot,” misgendering me, not listening to instructions in the field– Mel: I’ll talk to him about it tomorrow. Talita's eyes widen. Talita: No! Don’t– That wouldn’t help.

Talita: I don't think me being his boss is working out. Could you transfer him to internal mechanics? Mel puts a hand on their hip and thinks, expression doubtful. Mel: Well… it’s only about a week until his contract expires. Could you possibly stand waiting that long? We wouldn’t really have the time to retrain him, and your team is already short a member. Talita leans her face against a hand and looks away, dread and exhaustion closing in on her like the ceiling pressing against the back of her head. Talita: I… I guess. Mel: And if you'd rather I have a chat with him, let me know! The connecting tail of their speech bubble passes over Talita's face, as oblivious to her distress as Mel.

This week on #RunawayToTheStars: Talita enters another room she can't stand up in.

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#runawaytothestars getting a hang on this

🚀 BlueSky trending hashtags (15m):

#impeachthequack #of #vore #pinks #homeforwhovians #furryart #indiedev #dcfcfans #hayseydraws #runawaytothestars #twinks #zootopia #sketch #art #nature

Yao: Oh, the velvet came off your antlers. Talita looks down at Yao's snap-on antlers. Talita: …Yeah? Yao: Was it bloody and painful? Talita pauses vacuuming and rubs her arm awkwardly. Talita: Er… there’s… blood… But it doesn’t hurt when the skin comes off. After the bone finishes growing, there’s not really any pain receptors left. Adam, who is standing to her left, looks up at her resentfully.

Adam reaches up and grabs Talita's antler, yanking on it hard enough to swing her head around. He smiles smugly. Adam: So you can't feel this? Talita recoils from him with a hand in front of her face, staring in shock. Yao gapes and then looks away fearfully from the two of them. Talita: What the fuck⁇ He throws his hands up defensively, still smiling. Adam: Hey, calm down!I thought you said it doesn’t hurt! Talita's face bristles in rage. Talita: What!? That doesn't mean you can YANK on me!

Adam: Ugh, ok! Since you grabbed me, I thought you'd be fine with it! He waves a hand dismissively and walks off, flanked by Phoebe and Dominic. Yao follows after them at a distance, looking back at Talita uncertainly. Phoebe and Dominic whisper to Adam, still unaware Talita can hear them. Phoebe: You trying to get fired? Dominic: Screw that– are you trying to get gored?? Adam: Whatever. We’re getting “fired” soon either way. It’s not like it’s gonna use those things, anyways. Talita tenses at his words with an electric shock of fury, gripping her face and clenching her jaw as if she could curl inwards until she imploded. Then the temps are gone. She slumps down to the floor of the changing area. The massive vehicle bay room is empty.

This week on #RunawayToTheStars: Yao probes, Adam escalates, Talita is alone.

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The scissor lift begins to retract for repositioning. Bip's avatar is flopped over the tops of the comic panels, looking frustrated. Bip: I don't have much time to wait, I've got a rapidly approaching appointment with the launch loop. Can you do it off the clock? Talita switches radio channels and turns to write something on a physical logbook with a pen attached to its ring binding. Adam dismounts the scissor lift behind her. SFX: clk Talita: Tod's gonna ask questions if I pull that too often. Adam hops up the radio tower foundation and begins to scale the ladder up to the tower's ring platforms. Bip: Is there a tool I can borrow..? Talita: Hm... actually, I might be able to replace the claws with something more— She notices Adam out of the corner of her eye. Talita: –ADAM! GET DOWN FROM THERE! Bip's avatar pokes down in front of the comic panel with an apologetic sweat drop. Bip: Wrong radio channel. Talita: God fucking dammit!

Adam continues to the scale the rungs of the ladder. Then, without warning, Talita's hands clamp around his rib cage and she plucks him off the structure, putting him down on the foundation of the tower with an unceremonious THUMP. The surprise wearing off, he gets up and turns to look at her furious face. SFX: clk Talita: Do you have a deathwish⁉ Adam: It's GOT handrails! If we were using the damn things we'd be DONE by now!

The other temps stare awkwardly while Adam is reprimanded on the shared radio channel. Talita: Those rails were built decades ago to support 20 kilo avians! These structures are not stable enough for you to climb! She walks away to return to the job. Adam glares daggers at her back, cheeks flushed. Later, the crew returns through the vehicle airlock. SFX: BEEP BEEP BEEP Talita vacuums the outside of her exosuit after hanging it up. SFX: VVVVVVVVVVVVV She absentmindedly tugs on her lower lip with her trunk lips as she works. To her right, Yao looks curiously at her bare antlers while putting on a pair of prosthetics resembling deer antlers.

This week on #RunawayToTheStars: Talita plucks Adam off of a ladder like a naughty cat.

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Transcript Talita stands on the edge of the dollhouse cutaway, looking incredulously at the enormous luminous Bip avatar. It leans over, considering her with a hand on its chin. Bip: Isn't the water pressure down here deadly? SFX: ping! Talita's eyes open. She is lying disoriented in her bed on Dirtball, awakened by a chime from her tablet on the bedside dresser. Spread over the top of her usual comforter is the antler velvet blanket from the Runaway. She blearily tugs on her reading glasses and picks up her tablet to squint at the source of the notification.

Talita has a direct message exchange with Mel. Mel: Just got a message from the medbay. Clayton slipped a disc, he's off work until he gets better. Talita: Oh no! That sucks. I hope he feels better soon Mel: You and your temps will have to work harder to make up for it. No distractions, ok? ;) Talita: Of course Later in the day, Talita is testing a breaker box in the junkyard with a multimeter, while Dominic and Phoebe peer over her shoulders. Bip's avatar pokes its head up from behind the panel, looking down curiously. Bip: You around? Talita: Not now, Bip. Bip leans out over the panel to look at her grumpy face. Bip: When will you be available? Talita scowls. Talita: Later. Bip hangs off the edge of the panel, nonchalantly swinging their legs over the fourth wall and blocking some of the view with their avatar's body. Bip: Well, I've processed about 100 tons of heavy water.

In the pit with the Runaway, a frontloader positioned in front of a row of frames containing hydrogen gas tanks holds its manipulator arms as if it were a human with its hands on its hips. Bip: But the solenoids on the transport tanks have these caps with an awkwardly positioned guard ring. I can't grip them with the frontloader claw fingers, and the worms aren't strong enough. One of the frontloader claws uselessly pinches the guard ring. SFX: click click Talita: So cut the guards off. Bip: I thought we were trying to avoid hydrogen tank explosions. Talita rolls her eyes. Talita: Well, then, wait. I don't have time this week to run errands on the clock. She looks up from the electrical box on the ground in front of her and switches radio channels. SFX: clk Talita: Alright, none of those antennae are causing the issue. Let's move the lift and test the next array. She is speaking up to Adam and Yao, who are on the fully extended platform of a large scissor lift next to a short radio tower covered in dozens of mismatched radio antennae. Yao pulls cables from the side of the antenna they're next too, while Adam slouches against the platform railing, doing nothing. In the regolith around the base of the radio tower are the tracks left behind from the scissor lift repeatedly being extended, retracted, moved, parked, and extended again many times.

This week on #RunawayToTheStars: Wake up Talita, back to work!

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Doug: She's probably already listening. She has very good hearing. Talita looks up from where she has pressed her face against the corner wall of her bedroom with a start. She is younger, with round glasses and large baggy black hoodie. Both the humans around the coffee table and Talita in her bedroom are shown in an impossibly clean cross section of the entire building, which cuts through windows, walls, furniture, and objects with atomic precision, revealing their interior structure. Next to the break room with Doug and the others is a reception area with a desk and mailboxes. It's decorated with a banner of colorful eggs and flowers, and a large paper wall art "reading "HAPPY FEASTER!" flanked by vegetables and a cartoon chabbit holding a broom. On the floors above the break room and the lobby are the dormitories for foster teens, with hallways in the middle. Next to all the dormitory bedroom doors hang miniature decorated brooms, some doors with many more brooms than others. Each of the bedrooms is in a different state of disarray, all with multiple bunk beds and teenage residents who have decorated and arranged their belongings in unique ways. Talita’s bedroom in contrast houses only her, with a large mattress on the floor and an electronics work desk in between her dressers. The ceiling light fixture is unscrewed, with its wiring split between the light and a cable running towards the work desk, seemingly as another source of power after all the wall outlets were occupied by splitters and extension cables. Her posters and decorations feature human celebrity heart throbs and aircraft. Wind spinners hang in front of her window. Outside the cross section, even more impossible, is Earth's deep sea. The building appears to sit directly on the abyssal plain, its cut rooms open to the environment as if the surrounding water were just more air. Brittle stars and sea pigs crawl on the ground next to the floor of the lobby, while crinoids pop up outside the break room like flowers. A group of snail fish swim lazily around the bisected edge of the break room’s window, and far off in the distant dark waters, a bigfin squid drifts by.

Talita rolls her eyes and heaves a great sarcastic sigh out of her excurrent nostrils, pushing to get up from the floor where she had been eavesdropping to join the adults. Then, she sees outside the cross section. There, pinned to the surface of the abyssal ooze with a colossal harpoon, is the twisted wreck of a small jet airplane. Coating its peeling metal skin and choking its turbines are growths of bacterial slime and anemones, and the rotting crevices of its shattered frame play house to octopuses, fish, brittle stars, and crabs. Twining through the rotting ribs of the fuselage is Bip's avatar, hundreds of meters long and composed from billions of glowing marine snow particles, making its body shine a brilliant white in the darkness of the abyss. Its head emerges from a great hole torn in the roof of the cockpit, reclining on the nose of the plane with folded arms. The harpoon lodged against the ribs of the plane pierces its chest, as if to trap them inside the wreck. It is looking at Talita.

This week on #RunawayToTheStars: Huh. That doesn't seem right.

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Chapter 8: Heavy Water A closeup of a coffee table fades out of blackness, showing three different people's hands. A hotpad sits in the middle of the table with three normal sized mugs around it. On the far side of the table, next to an empty seat on the couch, is a four cup glass measuring jug full of water. The jug has stickers on the outside of a helicopter, an airplane, a flower, and a cartoon quailicorn; along with rectangular labels reading "TALITA ONLY." Otília: Tea, Mx. Derringer? Mel: Thank you, Otília. Otília pours tea from a teapot into a mug held in Mel's hands. The other seated person rests their hand on the table. It is an older hand, with scars on the fingers. Other person: Shouldn’t Talita be here for this?

The view pulls back to show three people seated around the coffee table in a kind of break room, with a sink and cabinets in the background. An e-panel on the wall with a mangled pen cord shows smiling human children and the name "Garriton Teen Village." Mel is younger, with less grey in their hair and no beard. Otília is a middle-aged tabby catgirl, with striped hair in a loose braid over her shoulder. The other person is a bald man with a thick white beard, black metal band shirt, ear piercings, and sparse eyebrows. Mel: Yes, I’d love to talk more with her. Otília: I texted her, but she’s still in her room. Even alien teens are moody, apparently. The man looks over his shoulder out the window and mutters to himself in Portuguese. The man: Hm. Ela está nos espionando… Otília: Mel, anything you'd like to ask before your prospective foster arrives? Mel: Well… Is it true she was anonymously surrendered in a pet carrier? Otília turns to look at the man on the couch. Otília: Ask Doug. We only got her at 15. Doug: Yes. She was six months old, recently pupated. Only this tall. Doug gestures with his hands, showing a height of about 30 centimeters. Inset panel: A pet carrier shows two familiarly round eyes peering out of the darkness behind the wire door. Mel: Wow. Doug: Could run, though. Like a little cat. Doug smiles, Mel strokes their chin incredulously. Inset panel: A little naked creature covered in a coat of wiry spotted feathers runs out of the pet carrier on six long knobby legs ending in tiny four-toed bird-like paws with hooves, with round staring eyes above dark eye-stripes, a tiny tucked trunk, and two tiny spinnerets where a tail might be on an Earth animal. It is familiarly Talita-shaped, but of infantile proportions.

Mel: Do you think she's a trafficking victim? The comic panel background dips away, showing a black void behind Mel's head. A gulper eel swims by. Doug: Hard to say. Otília: There wasn't a note, right? Doug: Nothing. Our youth care facility was not equipped to deal with a non-human infant. The first couple weeks were a scramble for food, medical care… Mel: So… They rub their thumb along the top of their mug awkwardly. The panel background of the brightly lit break room dips away again. An abyssal plain can be faintly seen, a lone squid drifting slowly over it. Mel: …Why wasn’t she returned to the centaur homeplanet? Doug: We tried. Otília's brow furrows. Otília: Centaurs don’t really do foster care, do they? Doug: The embassy told us that most clans choose to cull unclaimed infants.

Doug: By the time we had arrangements for her here, it was easier to just– He rubs the back of his head, gesturing with the other arm helplessly. Doug: –Keep doing it, than find a clan with a matriarch willing to adopt. Mel: Well, I hope I can provide her with some stability going into college. The panel background is absent. A school of lanternfish flicker past in the inky blackness over Mel's head. Mel: It was a hard enough transition for my two bio kids, but with her circumstances… Doug: We’re thankful for your help. Jovia cuts foster sponsorship on her 18th birthday. The window of the room no longer shows sun and leaves, but open black water. A deep-sea ray swims past. Otília checks her phone and frowns in irritation. Otília: It’s been ten minutes. Should I bang on her door? Doug smiles as Otília gets up from her chair. Doug: Isn’t her room just above us on the second floor? Otília: Oh– yes. Why? The abyssal plane lurks behind the comic panel, sea cucumbers and brittle stars crawling languidly over the ooze.

This week on #RunawayToTheStars: Chapter 8 begins. Is anyone else getting a sinking feeling?

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A character's emotion sheet! #Art #Artist #Artwork #DigitalArt #DigitalArtist #Rtts #RunawayToTheStars #Centuar #RttsCentaur

Last week on #RunawayToTheStars: Gravity and antlers.

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Talita opens the top drawer of a large chest curiously, while Bip's avatar snakes around the walls near her. Talita: Are you really getting rid of all of these… …personal possessions? Bip: Objects are meaningless without the people who valued and used them. She frowns, holding up an old, beat up manual book. Talita: I’m not sure I agree… it seems wasteful. She holds the book out arms length, squinting to try and read the text without glasses. Talita: In your position, I’d consider at least selling some of this. She reaches deeper into the drawer and touches something soft, tugging out a thick, plush fold of it with her hand. It appears to be a large blanket of tiled, fuzzy triangles. Each triangle has simple stitched designs and knots in the center, forming simple patterns and symbols. Talita pulls it closer to her face and realizes with sudden astonishment that she's touching a real organic material, not faux velvet. Talita: …Wait, is this real leather?? It must be worth a fortune!

Bip: That’s an antler velvet blanket. Talita holds up the blanket, her arms and the bottom of the artifact appearing to melt away into a series of embroidered depictions of the past crew created with the same stitches as the symbols on the real blanket. Bip: Every year, the matriarch Ngilick would help the clan carve off their loose velvet. An embroidered depiction shows two centaurs, one carving off the antler velvet with a knife. The "knife" is a pointed piece of bone with a hole on the wide end. It's punctured through the embroidery surface to go under Ngilick's hand, with the hole sewn down. The antler velvet appears to be an applique. Bip: The raw skin would be washed in salt water and stretched to dry. An embroidered depiction shows Ngilick pinning pieces of velvet to dry, depicted as applique triangles held down by knots. Bip: The stiff dried skins were massaged with animal gland oil until they softened and cured. Ngilick would sew the panels into the blanket and embroider them with the year's events. An embroidered depiction shows Ngilick sewing pieces of the velvet onto the blanket. They hold the sewing needle with their trunk, portrayed as a real, threaded needle puncturing the embroidery surface. Bip: Some of those panels are from Ngilick's great-grandclan. They might be over 100 years old. An embroidered depiction shows a group of centaurs proudly holding up the blanket, a rectangle of tessellating applique triangles.

This week on #RunawayToTheStars: Bip is very excited to have a new house guest, Talita hauls junk out of sideways rooms. Catch up: runawaytothestars.com Read ahead: patreon.com/jayrockin

This week on #RunawayToTheStars: A living history, written on the corpus of the people it documents, that has died along with them.

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Drawings of avian aliens from the comic runaway to the stars wearing human sk8ter and punk fashion. Denim jackets, checkerboard, challenging jewelry and hairstyles. Etc. one avian with spikey headfeathers and striped armies thinks 'which man are we fighting again?' One avian has a large metal circle that threads through jaw jewelry and and ear piercing, decorated with string and beads.

#rtts #runawaytothestars

THE RUNAWAY'S HABITAT MODULE A cutaway shot shows Talita following the worms, exiting the docking ring and walking carefully through the lower storage room that connects the habitat module to the rest of the vessel. Bip's avatar follows, appearing to walk along the doors of the cabinets, the vector lines of their body interrupted by seams and handles as if they were a painting behind them. Bip: Sorry about the bumpy terrain, "gravity" in here isn't supposed to go sideways. First Floor: Kitchen and Commons The habitat module resembles a four story building lying on its side. Each floor's main space is a ring around the central spine and elevator shaft. The first floor contains a living space with a screen, seating areas, food preparation and storage areas, all clean and empty. It's the area that had a hole in it that Talita peered through on first her look inside the Runaway, but the spotless interior and large wall patch makes it almost unrecognizable. Talita leans over the considerable drop to the far wall of the kitchen to poke her head into the living room. Talita: Wow, you really cleaned this place up. Bip's avatar slides around the 90 degree bend between floor and wall, elongating, appearing larger than Talita. Bip: I did what I could with the electrician worms and onboard actuators. Second Floor: Crew Dormitory Talita walks through the spine, surrounded by open doors to rooms with a much messier interior. Furniture has been knocked loose and tumbled around these rooms, settling to the lowest walls were gravity has pushed it. Strangely shaped chairs, beds, handmade chests, tables, desks, and things smashed beyond recognition fill these otherwise barren rooms. Bip goes with Talita, elongating further and winding their avatar's body around the curve of the spine through multiple room floors. Bip: A lot of the heavier objects still need to be secured or removed, though. Third Floor: Passenger Dormitory Talita leans through one of the open room doors and smirks at Bip's giant avatar displayed on the wall. Talita: Are ALL of the walls in here electrowetting displays? Bip's avatar and two nearby worms strike a pose. Bip: Much classier than a tablet screen with wheels, don't you think? Talita: The tablet with wheels would be more useful for moving furniture... Fourth Floor: Bip's Servers Furthest up the spine and shielded by the thickest walls on the vessel is a command room. The thing Bip essentially is, the animator casting shadow puppets inside the walls of their own body, is a ring of 40 server boxes fixed to the upper corners of the room.

Transcript A montage of panels shows Talita removing furniture from the interior of the Runaway. Bracing against a door, face contorted with effort, she pulls on the moving straps to lift a cabinet that has fallen against the exterior wall of a cabin room next to a smashed and dented desk. Inside the room, the electrician worms help lift and guide the furniture so it doesn't swing and scrape against anything. The walls and floors of the wedge shaped cabins show ghostly lines of where furniture used to be attached, and people used to walk. On the floor of the interior room (which with current gravity, is a wall) Bip's avatar waves at her nervously and appears to watch her progress. Talita adds the cabinet to her pile of removed furniture in the interior room. She carries a piece of furniture under her arm, stepping over the bulkhead dividers between the floors of the habitat module. Then she places the cabinet down carefully into the four sided docking ring room, where a pile of removed furniture is slowly growing in size.

This week on #RunawayToTheStars: Bip is very excited to have a new house guest, Talita hauls junk out of sideways rooms.

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Talita walks down off the elevator ramp in the pit that the Runaway ship is being stored in. A front loader is there to greet her, with two electrician worms perched on the steering wheel. She has a new nose piece on her helmet that's longer and more rectangular to accommodate her antlers. Bip: Wow! Why the long face? She scowls. Talita: Ha ha ha. You’re so funny. Bip: Sorry. She walks alongside the frontloader as it drives towards the the ship. Talita: What did you need again? I don’t normally come out here on weekends. Bip: Furniture removal! The worms strike a silly pose. Her nose wrinkles in annoyance. Talita: Do I look like a moving service? Bip: It’s a bit below your paygrade, I know. But none of my equipment that fits through the airlock can lift more than 20 kilos.

Talita: Lucky you. I can lift significantly more than that. She hops up the ladder on the side of the support jack rail and begins climbing the long extendable staircase connected to the airlock door of the Runaway. Bip: Oh yeah, you're really into lifting weights, aren't you? Talita: Well, it's handy in my line of work. ...And it's kinda fun, seeing what I can push myself to do. Though I'm really better at rowing than lifting. Bip: So how much can you row? The outer hatch of the airlock opens and Talita walks into the the dim glow of the tube-shaped chamber's illumination bars. A posse of electrician worms is waiting the greet her inside. Talita: In 1g it's a little over twice my body weight, with all six legs. Bip: What's your body weight? Her cheeks bristle up bashfully. Talita: Oh… er… I can row 1800 kilos. Bip: Not shabby! Talita: Um, thanks. The exterior hatch shuts behind her. SFX: SHUNK Talita looks down, startled, as gas starts coming out of the airlock chamber's repressurization vents. SFX: pssssssssshhh

Talita looks around the airlock chamber, bewildered, as the interior hatch opens. Talita: Is this gas mix breathable? Bip: Yep! I pinched some O₂ from the electrolysis plant. Talita starts to walk out of the chamber, but the swarm of worms frantically rears up, grabbing her feet. Bip: HEY HEY HEY! Suit off! I don’t want you tracking regolith in here! Talita rolls her eyes and unclips the oxygen lines off her helmet so she can remove it. Talita: Sigh… this better not kill me. Bip: Trust me, I have no interest in dragging more bodies out of here with the worms. Talita finishes pulling her helmet and pauses in stunned horror, considering the implications. Slowly her shock condenses into sadness as she takes off the rest of her suit, leaving it in the airlock chamber. She steps out of the interior airlock door into the large, cross-shaped docking module room. Talita: You... could have asked for my help. Bip: Furniture removal is one thing, but I felt undertaker services was a bit too far. Talita: But doing it alone seems so— She looks at the overhead surface of the room and stops, staring. Bip's avatar climbs around the edge of the opening between the docking module and the habitat like a moving painting on the wall. The worms crawl through the opening and the avatar points for her to follow them, where lights are turning on and hatches are opening in sequence down the long elevator shaft of the spine. Bip: This way. Watch your step! Talita: ...Alright.

This week on #RunawayToTheStars: Bip makes a bad joke to a grouchy Talita, asks how much she weighs, and makes her take her shoes off.

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Idrisah’s phone chimes in her pocket. SFX: RING bzzzzz She takes it out and looks at the screen. It's a new voice message from her mother. She looks at it trepidatiously. Gillie sidles up to her and grimaces. Gillie: (ASL) …You have to. Idrisah waves at Gillie and Talita to enter the apartment without her as she walks off towards the side of the road for more privacy. Idrisah: (ASL) Be right back! Talita looks back curiously anyways, her acute hearing picking up the audio of Idrisah's phone. SFX: clk Idrisah's mom: Ya habibti… if you can't go, that’s fine. There will be another family reunion. But this is the first thing you say to us? In two weeks? I was worried sick! I thought something had happened to you! It’s difficult enough, having to wait 6 minutes for your voice to reach me. But being ignored? Throwing my questions into space everyday, with no response? Do you have any idea how much it hurts me?

Idrisah's mom: We just want to see you. It doesn't have to be at the reunion. I only have so many years left in this world. I want to spend more of that time with my daughter. Idrisah turns downward, crushed by guilt and regret. She has sunk down into a squatting posture on the side of the road. Idrisah's mom: I know your work is important to you, but if it won't even give you time for that... I miss you so much. Please visit soon. The message ends and the options for delete, replay, and record pop up. Idrisah immediately presses record. Idrisah: I'm sorry, mom. I miss you too. She ends the recording and holds her face in her hands. Gillie walks up and looks down at her, hands on her hips.

Gillie crouches down next to Idrisah, concerned. Gillie: (ASL) You ok? Idrisah looks up at Gillie, tears welling in her eyes and hand over her mouth. She curls into Gillie’s shoulder and sobs. Gillie takes her in her arms and consoles her, then hesitantly broaches the subject she knows is on Idrisah's mind. Gillie: (ASL) I know you like how living here lets you work with more Tiiliitians in person… But we knew when we came here that it couldn't be forever. Maybe it's time to move back to Nexus Jovia, and look for something new. Idrisah: (ASL) Yeah… Talita, who was peeking over her shoulder at the conversation, feels her heart quietly sink.

This week on #RunawayToTheStars: Happy 200 pages! Idrisah ghosted her mom for two weeks while she was trying to plan a large family gathering!

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