SHIP'S LOG:

SS Evergreen

johnkeely 11/9/2024 11:23pm

WHAT I SAW IN THE WORM'S MIND

These gigantic earthworms aren't what they seem.

They are ancient. And super-intelligent doesn't seem like too big a word.

Once they traveled freely, all over the earth. But not just by crawling and burrowing.

By flying.

This worm has shown me the schematics in my mind. Or at least in a way in which humans could comprehend. But it's fundamentally simple.

Each giant earth worm is harnessed to a gas balloon. The gas balloons are fashioned out of the skin of their elders. You know when you find a dried-out worm husk in your garden? When one of these worms dies, its casting is huge. Usually 75 to 100 meters. This worm on the beach plans to be one of those elders.

And they produce their own bio gas as well. Through the subtle engineering of the bacterias involved in the anaerobic decomposition of their castings, they produce the lighter-than-air gasses needed to inflate their husks.

Thus, the exploration of the new is powered by their own prior generations.

The escaped giant earthworms on this island have already started the process. With our help, we can bridle them up.

What say you, crewmates?

johnkeely 7/17/2024 11:56pm

I came across a big log on the beach and decided to have a sit. But guess what -- that big log was one of those giant worms got loose!

Like I said, I don't know a thing about giant worms. I've seen the worm rodeos on cable but always just clicked right past. But I do know that seeing a worm of any size just laying out in the sun isn't a good sign. That sounds like a sick or dying worm. And though I didn't want to catch anything, I put my hand up side of its big belly. I dunno, to see if had a pulse I guess.

And that's when I saw inside that worm's mind.

johnkeely 3/26/2024 11:57pm

The captain's kept us on island duty, making regular reconnaissance and taking photos and measurements of the activity therein. That's above my rating, and with the engines running easy there hasn't been much to keep a third rate engine mate busy.

So I've taken up surfing while the experienced crew do their work. They say those worms are gettin' bigger, but they like it underground so not much to see. But you can sure hear them at night, worming around in the jungle.

johnkeely 12/1/2023 11:35pm

Wow those worms really are something! They must like the tropics because not long after we came to ground they got real restless and busted clean out of the hold and onto the beach and made for the jungle. Gonna take me an age to get the hull shored up on account of the big hole they put in it. And me a mechanical engineer! But I guess I can patch a big hole in a hull.

I suspect that's the last we've seen of those worms. Good riddance, I say! Taking my beach time away like this.

johnkeely 8/24/2023 10:43pm

When you're a third rate mate in the engine room you don't hear much, but the word is we're on the run from some kind of big shot worm cowboy. What'd the captain do, rustle his worms?

So the Evergreen is heading off the beaten path, just till things cool off. I'm hoping we make it to a tropical island. I've never been to one, but it was the kind of thing I thought I'd see when I became a merchant airshipman. Seems like I spend most of my time looking at big greasy engines.

Jeremiah SB Malone 5/20/2023 11:47pm

So, SS Evergreen?

I'd been awaiting a check from my brokers at the Big Worm Stockshow at Wille Morton's worm ranch -- the intended destination of the delivery of which you took possession of some time ago. And after this check continued not to appear in my letter box I approached my old friend and sometimes nemesis Willie Morton via the wireless transponder and asked him at what time I might receive the proceeds from the sale of my strong young stockworms that he must have overseen at his own auction.

And while I will admit there have been some times in the past where I did not uphold the upmost respect for Wille Morton and some of his dealings on the way to the top of the Big Worm auction trade, in this case I did believe him when he said my strong young stockworms did not appear at his stockshow before the auction or since.

As a Big Worm Rancher, my livelihood depends on my ability to sell strong young stockworms each year at auction. As such, I find myself in a particular peril when my entire stock of strong young stockworms does not appear at the auction which the proceeds from will finance my upcoming year.

I hope you can understand my concern, and desire to discover the whereabouts of my delivery with the most possible speed and attention.

Sincerely,
Jeremiah Squeezebox Malone
Squeezebox Famous Giant Earthworms

cheeseman10 2/3/2023 10:55am

I've just been accepted for a job on the SS Evergreen. I hope I get many job offers.

Jeremiah SB Malone - 1/30/2023 11:23pm

Job claimed by cheeseman10 2023-02-03 10:55:33

The SB stands for SqueezeBox, but this dern thing thinks my name is too long.

You ever had worms? No not inside you that is disgusting! I mean the big boys, the kind a feller might keep in a pen in the back yard? I mean, iff'n you had the right licenses and such.

Well I happen to have had a good year, and now my crop of Squeezebox Famous Giant Earthworms is overflowin' -- quite literally -- and it's time to ship 'em off to market, where they'll get auctioned off and used for various purposes both nutritious and or entertaining.

But you better come and get 'em quick! Before they've grown too big to fit more than a couple in your hold!

Just drop by Squeezebox Earthworm Farms, Big Clearing in the Jungle, Ahsabkab Vallis, on the shady side of Venus.

And tell 'em Jeremiah sent you!