Image by Steve Jurvetson – Flickr Photograph of the Milky Way in the night sky over Black Rock Desert, Nevada taken on 7/22/2007. It is a 54 second exposure taken with a tripod mounted Canon EOS 5D digital camera with a 16 mm lens, wide open at f2.8 and ISO 800. via Wikipedia
It’s getting so you can be proud for finding an image that hasn’t been meddled with by AI … so this is a real life situation …
Jar-test apparatus used for the experiment. The picture is taken from preliminary testing of different biopolymers by SN Applied Sciences at https://www.researchgate.net/publication/330866661/figure/fig1/AS:941943265697815@1601588183793/Jar-test-apparatus-used-for-the-experiment-The-picture-is-taken-from-preliminary-testing.jpg
The light in the tunnels at the Reefarium, where Zebe is reading her twin’s missive …
This pic had a complex beginning and I wish I could’ve listed the original artist. A friend visited a seaside art installation. He took many pictures without taking note of any artists or their details, and at home let some of them loose into the wilds of a well known art program. Representing krill in this pic. It was originally 9 MB, and 75 cm wide. Cut that down to 15 cm, and I might’ve been too stingy. My apologies.
That is, links between Mongrel, part 1 of the series and Meld, part 2. Ordinarily these might be called back-stories telling how various characters got to the point that they enter the story.
Though in this case, it’s the ongoing premise that needs more explanation than I can fit into the main tale. So I have recruited a group of supporting characters to tell their side of events, in the hope that they will then just slot you into the cycle.
This was a 500 word Flash Fiction try-out that describes Claire King’s secret project. If you’ve been reading long enough you’ll probably recognize the Dolphinate, who live in the Delta in Lodestar.
This little painting represents a bunch of new life in a petrie dish.
Last three chapters. But not really THE END.
It was hard to figure out the cut-off point between Mongrel and Meld. In a way, the whole of Mongrel is Tardi’s backstory and set-up for his role in Meld.
I felt that, with at least the main character a familiar person, we might all be able to better understand the new scenario. Experience it through his senses, as it were. It was hard to write and it’ll be hard to understand. But I hope you’ll find it intriguing.
— — — —
I’ve seen most snakes in the wild, but never a death adder. Like most bush-walking Australians I was always on the look out for them. Very scary. I’ve known several people who thought they killed one, only for the animal to turn out to be a blue-tongue skink.
Image from https://wildlifeqld.com.au/common-death-adder/ Check out this link for all the variety of colors of death adders.
Rita de Heer 
