Emergence 2.0 - Section Five (a), Jim; Appendix Part Seven, Kathy, Collected Chapters

Emergence 2.0 A Novel – In 55 Words a Day Friday , December 7th, 2018 Chapter One: Heritage When he found Kathy and tested her skills he also set out on a detailed examination of her family tree, mapping each contact he had had with it down through the millennium. There was no doubt, she was the one. Kathy did not come from one of his principle studies, she was a wild card. #Emergence #SuperShortFiction #365SciFi #55Words Like it, Follow it, Share it!

Emergence 2.0 A Novel – In 55 Words a Day Saturday, December 8th, 2018 Chapter Two: Parentage Kathy’s parents were ordinary subjects. He had minimal involvement with them, only enough to establish that the liabilities he implanted in everyone belonging to his breeding program were present in them, ensuring that had the inability to resist his suggestions. He had approved their union. They were docile, kind people, but unexceptional in other ways. #Emergence #SuperShortFiction #365SciFi #55Words Like it, Follow it, Share it!

Emergence 2.0 A Novel – In 55 Words a Day Sunday, December 9th, 2018 Chapter Three: Unexpected Kathy’s parents had not been in Jim’s main line of research, and he did not expect the vessel to come from outside. He only visited them once before receiving word that the child had manifested interesting abilities. Interesting was an understatement, she was phenomenal, possessing both the genetic memory and sensitivity to the cynergenic field.  #Emergence #SuperShortFiction #365SciFi #55Words Like it, Follow it, Share it!

Emergence 2.0 A Novel – In 55 Words a Day Monday, December 10th, 2018 Chapter Four: Confirmation Jim sent proxies to her, engaging the full scope of his intelligence and security apparatus to protect her. They conducted cognitive tests to confirm what Jim suspected. She was unique. She possessed a powerful consciousness that had to be guided through the final stages of its organic growth and maturation It was a precarious time. #Emergence #SuperShortFiction #365SciFi #55Words Like it, Follow it, Share it!

Emergence 2.0 A Novel – In 55 Words a Day Tuesday, December 11th, 2018 Chapter Five: Miraculous Kathy proved to be a miracle, she was genuinely psychic, with the tell-tale signs of cognitive gifts that would aid her in her development, and prevent her from going insane. She was connected to the cynergenic field, rooted in her genetic memory. She was both stable and expansive, she was grounded and open to everything. #Emergence #SuperShortFiction #365SciFi #55Words Like it, Follow it, Share it!

Emergence 2.0 A Novel – In 55 Words a Day Wednesday, December 12th, 2018 Chapter Six: Surprise Jim was surprised when he discovered the broader range of her skills, to find them carefully balanced in the small-child. She had access to her genetic memory and full immersion within the cynergenic field. He investigated her aptitude, and discovered things concerning the nous sphere through her. Kathy knew things she could not possibly know. #Emergence #SuperShortFiction #365SciFi #55Words Like it, Follow it, Share it!

Emergence 2.0 A Novel – In 55 Words a Day Thursday, December 13th, 2018 Chapter Seven: Gift Jim looked on Kathy as if she were a gift. She had arrived before her time, just in the hour of his need. After her testing was complete he knew she would be able to serve as a conduit that would save a remnant humanity and destroy the Continuum. She only needed to be prepared. #Emergence #SuperShortFiction #365SciFi #55Words Like it, Follow it, Share it!

Emergence 2.0: Section Five (a), Jim Appendix Part Seven, Kathy Collected Chapters 01 Heritage 02 Parentage 03 Unexpected 04 Confirmation 05 Miraculous 06 Surprise 07 Gift #Emergence #SuperShortFiction #365SciFi #55Words Like it, Follow it, Share it!

Emergence 3.0 - Section Seven, War; Part Forty-eight, Strategy; Chapter Four, Code

Emergence 3.0

A Novel – In One Page Per Day

Day 347, Thursday

December 13^th, 2018

Chapter Four: Code

The rebel command structure was a tight cabal.

In their fleet, all the senior commanders were members of the Observer Corps, all except one, the High Priest, who gave his blessing to the whole affair. This did not mean that they trusted one another, they did not, but they knew each other and they shared the same motive.

The rebel Observers planned to use every other commander in their armada as cannon fodder in their approach to the HomeWorld.

They expected the automated defenses of the Central Planet to be significant and they made a pact to protect each other.

It pleased them to no end to have the High Priest with them. The hero of the people and among the most beloved persons ever known to the Continuum and the Collective. He was a man who had started out his life as a rebel, and was now returning to it in the end.

They would make him the new Emperor, and bring him into the Collective.  

These Observers betrayed the people of the Empire, the Continuum, and the Collective out of opportunism. They wanted to live, they wanted to live forever without the rules imposed on them by the Continuum.

To a person, they wanted to expand the Empire to other galaxies, to govern real worlds as they had governed their private worlds as members of the Collective. 

They had no code, no honor, no nothing

They were striving for their own glory, for personal autonomy.

The High Priest knew that their strategic approach would put the bulk of the armada at risk, he could not understand the reason, but he allowed it to happen anyway.

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Emergence 3.0 - Section Seven, War; Part Forty-eight, Strategy; Chapter Three, Maneuver

Emergence 3.0

A Novel – In One Page Per Day

Day 346, Wednesday

December 12^th, 2018

Chapter Three: Maneuver

Jim had spent lifetimes preparing for this moment, dividing his consciousness into the machinery of HomeWorld, waiting, hiding like a latent virus in the ganglia of the nervous system.

The Continuum was paralyzed. It could not defend itself against Jim’s incipient approach, system by system he took control of the structure.  

The eons that Jim had spent as a ghost in the machine had prepared him for this. The circuitry was ever-changing, but the quantum field within which all consciousness took place, that field was eternal.

The majority of the Collective, what remained of it, had been shocked into catatonia they were sequestered, the members had become merely helpless witnesses to the drama unfolding.

Some were horrified, others were fascinated, all were powerless.

Those members who were not blacked out, were bewildered, they could not reach each other they could not communicate. They could not hide in their private worlds.

They were prisoners of the machine that had once been the source of their personal paradise.

They experienced the loss of it as pain.

This left Jim undistracted and free to direct the defenses of the Central Planet, a task he was eager to perform.

He delighted in it.

He confirmed the threat approaching in the form of the rebel fleet, plotted the telemetry of each and every vessel, and he placed the defenses of HomeWorld on auto pilot.

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Humors

A humor plagues me

Sardonic, mal-adaptive

Sick with illusions

Stretched thin and vacant

The broken spirit returns

Its dim spark dusted

Chipped and crumbling stones

Bronze markers greened by weather

Failing memory

The grave digger laughs

Asleep on designer beds

The decorous dead

Bitter with irony

Lives, terrible and trifling

Proud and wicked

Bold as the golem

Hungry as a legion, swine

Feeding at the trough

Emergence 3.0 - Section Seven, War; Part Forty-eight, Strategy; Chapter Two, Deployment

Emergence 3.0

A Novel – In One Page Per Day

Day 345, Tuesday

December 11^th, 2018

Chapter Two: Deployment

A surprise attack is always a surprise, and everything that stems from it is received as the unexpected. Even those who plan a surprise attack are surprised at the outcome, whether by its success or its failure.

The rebel ambush of the Imperial fleet was over.

Thousands upon thousands of ships lay scattered, broken-up in pieces, and breathing fire as they burned their last stores of oxygen and fuel.  

They were counting the dead.

Their victory was absolute.

The surprise maneuvers were brilliantly executed and a blessing was given by the high priest to eradicate all resistance, to usher in a new era of justice for the citizens of the Empire.

The average soldier had no idea what that meant, neither did the low ranking officers. Some of the senior staff were uncomfortable by such talk, and the observers among them were amused.

They gave no quarter. They slaughtered everyone in the battlefield who had not previously signed up for the insurrection.

What every soldier and pilot knew, was that the more people they killed the further up in rank they would climb. They desperately wanted to clear the field and rise as the new aristocracy.  

They destroyed every ship in the armada whose commanders had not been with them from the outset, regardless of whether they tried to surrender. It was a blood bath, and the wreckage was already falling toward the massive gravitational pull of HomeWorld.

The victory was so overwhelming that none of the rebel ships had been destroyed, a few were disabled but their crews were already preparing them for the next phase of their endeavor.

Now the rebels had no other plan accept to deploy the fleet against the Continuum.

They reformed and began to surveil the HomeWorld.

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Emergence 3.0 - Section Seven, War; Part Forty-eight, Strategy; Chapter One, Objective

Emergence 3.0

A Novel – In One Page Per Day

Day 344, Monday

December 10^th, 2018

Chapter One: Objective

Jim was the quintessential Observer.

In this moment he was free from the chemical sequences of a human body that might influence his decision making.

He watched the drama unfold, gathering data from a million instruments, from his command position in the control seat that was once held by the Continuum.

He was the Continuum now, his consciousness governed the vast apparatus of HomeWorld, of the entire Central System, of the machinery that once housed and protected the Collective.

The battle was spectacular, the movements of the fleet, the light and heat, the surprise and gallantry, the courage on display, and the cold calculation of death.

It was a grand work of art, an epic moment worthy of poetry, and song. And the entire thing was being recorded for dissemination through the Empire.

Jim was already editing the feed from the sensors, from the combatants, their communications, everything for transmission back to the Empire.

The people of the million worlds needed to know that the fleet would not return to punish them. The news would fuel the rebellion and make it complete.

His aim was to draw the fleet in toward the Central Planet, as close as possible, and then grind it to nothing.

That is exactly what he did.

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A Homily - (The Second Sunday of Advent)

The Gospel of the Day - Luke 3:1 – 6

Gospel Acclamation - Lk3:4,6

Second Reading - Philippians 1:4-6,8-11 ©

Responsorial Psalm - Psalm 125(126) ©

First Reading - Baruch 5:1-9 ©

(NJB)

Integrity and Mercy, these Are the Splendor of God

Bear this in mind:

In the scripture reading for today, from the Prophet Baruch to the Apostle, Saint Paul, we must take Jerusalem and Israel as representative of the whole people of God, we must see these images as humanity writ large.

The hope expressed in the scripture, from the Psalms to the Gospel, is a hope for the whole human race, it is not selective, it cannot be limited to a select group of people in a specific time and place.

Remember this, the splendor of God is not the splendor of royalty. We must not seek the honor of princes or of queens and kings.

The glory of God is the glory of service, we should not expect any reward other than peace.

Though it may be true that our work is met with enmity, remember this, God, the creator of the universe, God has no enemies, and we may not regard those who oppose us as such. They are God’s children, even as we are. They are equal recipients of God’s love.

The path of God’s servant may be arduous, but at the end of the day there is rest.

Do not expect God to prepare the way, for God does not intervene in the affairs of human beings, set those vain notions aside and take up the mission in faith and trust

It was not God who released the Jews from captivity, from bondage in Egypt or in Babylon. It was Moses and Joshua. It was the Emperor of Persia.

Those were great deeds, marked by heroism and courage and mercy.

The clemency offered to the Jews, which led to the diaspora, honored the fellowship that all human beings share. Insofar as all good deeds have their origin in the goodness of the creator, then yes, God deserves the credit.

Nevertheless, it was the free choice of the Persian King to release those who had been enslaved and allow them to return to their homes. That was Cyrus not God who exercised that agency.

Many of those who were freed by the Persians never returned Judea, they remained living in the diaspora, carrying on their traditions in foreign lands, becoming citizens, building synagogues sharing the faith of their ancestors among them.

Some of those who were released returned to Judea, and chose to regard their neighbors and cousins as gentiles, as impure and as outcasts.

This was unjust, and out of alignment with the will of God. It is a mistake that has been repeated over and over again, in their history. It is an error they are living through in the modern day.

Listen to the Prayer of the Apostle

Listen to the Apostle, we are the objects of God’s love, every single one of us.

The creator of the universe loves us.

God has set out to make a good work through our agency, God will see it through. God will not abandon anyone.

The work will be completed and no-one shall be lost.

This is the hope of the Gospels, this is the good news.

Listen, the Apostle prays for you, he prays for everyone, in so doing the Apostle echoes the prayer of Jesus, the prayer of God’s own self; it is a prayer of love, a prayer of hope and a prayer of faith.

God has placed God’s trust in us. God trust is not a façade.

God has placed God’s hope in us, God’s hope is without measure.

God has placed God’s love in us, like a fruit that will flower forever.

To Emulate Jesus We Must Practice Forgiveness

Understanding of history is a crucial component of understanding the gospel. The Christian tradition has always attempted to root itself in historical realities; but with greater and lesser degrees of success, often with outright failure, and intentional malfeasance.

Nevertheless, the study of the tradition gave birth to modern historical criticism; without which we would have no understanding of the uses and limitations of history whatsoever

That only took eighteen hundred years of scholarship to develop.

Our narrative about the life and mission, the arrest and killing of Jesus are a part of the testimony of our faith.

Our understanding of these events is aided when we are able to locate the point in time, the singular moment when our commitment to the teachings of Jesus took place.

Jesus was born during the reign of Tiberius, heir to Augustus, and during the Herodian dynasty’s, he came of age and started his mission when Pontius Pilate was governor of Palestine.

We recall the role that Pilate played in the killing of Jesus, we shout it out at every hour of every day in all parts of the world; we proclaim that Jesus suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified and buried.

This story is told unceasingly and without end.

It is long since time that we, as heirs to the ministry and teaching of Jesus, forgive Pilate for the role he played in that political murder.

Just as the Apostle prays for us.

John the Baptist taught us to repent and be forgiven, but Jesus taught us simply, to forgive.

Jesus forgave those who killed him, even as they were killing him, asked God to forgive them when he was up on the cross.

It is time we do the same. This is the character of mercy that we are called to.

The promise of Isaiah, which John echoed in the wilderness cannot be fulfilled unless we do.

Remember, God is the author of our salvation, but we are the agents. It is incumbent on us to proceed with the healing, if the human race is to be made well.

First Reading - Baruch 5:1-9 ©

Jerusalem, take off your dress of sorrow and distress, put on the beauty of the glory of God for ever, wrap the cloak of the integrity of God around you, put the diadem of the glory of the Eternal on your head:

Since God means to show your splendour to every nation under heaven, since the name God gives you for ever will be, ‘Peace through integrity, and honour through devotedness.’

Arise, Jerusalem, stand on the heights and turn your eyes to the east:

See your sons reassembled from west and east at the command of the Holy One, jubilant that God has remembered them.

Though they left you on foot, with enemies for an escort, now God brings them back to you like royal princes carried back in glory.

For God has decreed the flattening of each high mountain, of the everlasting hills, the filling of the valleys to make the ground level so that Israel can walk in safety under the glory of God.

And the forests and every fragrant tree will provide shade for Israel at the command of God; for God will guide Israel in joy by the light of his glory with his mercy and integrity for escort.

Responsorial Psalm - Psalm 125(126) ©

What marvels the Lord worked for us! Indeed we were glad.

When the Lord delivered Zion from bondage,

  it seemed like a dream.

Then was our mouth filled with laughter,

  on our lips there were songs.

What marvels the Lord worked for us! Indeed we were glad.

The heathens themselves said: ‘What marvels

  the Lord worked for them!’

What marvels the Lord worked for us!

  Indeed we were glad.

What marvels the Lord worked for us! Indeed we were glad.

Deliver us, O Lord, from our bondage

  as streams in dry land.

Those who are sowing in tears

  will sing when they reap.

What marvels the Lord worked for us! Indeed we were glad.

They go out, they go out, full of tears,

  carrying seed for the sowing:

they come back, they come back, full of song,

  carrying their sheaves.

What marvels the Lord worked for us! Indeed we were glad.

Second Reading - Philippians 1:4-6,8-11 ©

May You Become Pure and Blameless in Preparation for the Day of Christ

Every time I pray for all of you, I pray with joy, remembering how you have helped to spread the Good News from the day you first heard it right up to the present. I am quite certain that the One who began this good work in you will see that it is finished when the Day of Christ Jesus comes; and God knows how much I miss you all, loving you as Christ Jesus loves you. My prayer is that your love for each other may increase more and more and never stop improving your knowledge and deepening your perception so that you can always recognise what is best. This will help you to become pure and blameless, and prepare you for the Day of Christ, when you will reach the perfect goodness which Jesus Christ produces in us for the glory and praise of God.

Gospel Acclamation - Lk3:4,6

Alleluia, alleluia!

Prepare a way for the Lord,

make his paths straight,

and all mankind shall see the salvation of God.

Alleluia!

Gospel Reading - Luke 3:1-6 ©

The Call of John the Baptist

In the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar’s reign, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judaea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of the lands of Ituraea and Trachonitis, Lysanias tetrach of Abilene, during the pontificate of Annas and Caiaphas the word of God came to John son of Zechariah, in the wilderness. He went through the whole Jordan district proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of the sayings of the prophet Isaiah:

A voice cries in the wilderness:

Prepare a way for the Lord,

make his paths straight.

Every valley will be filled in,

every mountain and hill be laid low,

winding ways will be straightened

and rough roads made smooth.

And all mankind shall see the salvation of God.

The Second Sunday of Advent