Centuries ago, a maverick terraforming team played God with a
distant planet. Out of their vanity and spite, something terrible
and unexpected arose.
Generations later, tormented scientist Alis is among the crew of the
research vessel that rediscovers this lost outpost. But Alis wakes
from nightmares of her own making to an all-too-real catastrophe on
board. The rest of the crew has vanished – leaving only Cato, the
belligerent mantis-shrimp captain, and Kern, the ship’s AI.
Searching for their lost fellows, Alis and Cato must venture into
the darkness of the planet below. What did those ancient
terraformers unleash? And will their last surviving crewmate become
a greater threat than the world itself?
In the evening I started in Children of
Strife,
Children of Time novels book 4 by Adrian Tchaikovsky.
After a therapist's patient disappears into a dimension beyond
reality, she must venture into the unknown to save him.
Near the end of the afternoon Jaiden, Esme, and I took a bus to Delft
to watch Backrooms. Jaiden
wanted to see this movie. Originally, we had planned to watch it last
Saturday but we forgot to take Jaidens ID with us; you have to be 16
to watch this movie in the Netherlands.
After we had nourished ourselves we went to the movie theatre only to
discover that our ticket was not valid. It turned out that I had
ordered tickets for the wrong movie theatre! But it was no problem to
change the tickets.
The movie: in the beginning it was very shaky footage which was hard
to handle for me. But then the movie got more steady and became
interesting. In the end, I rate it a 7 out of 10.
A covert team of elite operatives are living in the shadows. When a
ruthless despot steals a billion-dollar fortune, they're sent to
take it back-an impossible heist that erupts into a deadly game of
strategy, deception and survival.
In the evening Esme and I watched In the
Grey. At first I didn't like
the movie much: too chaotic. But then it got better and I even rate it
an 8 out of 10.
The Pnume are native to Tschai, living underground in a vast network
of caverns with their human slave-species, the Pnumekin. Historians
of Tschai, the Pnume collect its past with scholarly disinterest;
they hear rumors of Adam Reith - a man who claims to come from
another planet, named Earth - and they want him for permanent
display in Foreverness, museum of Tschai life! Reith must survive
the Pnume tunnels, if he is ever to return to Earth.
In the evening I started in The
Pnume, part 4 of 4 of
Tschai by Jack Vance. The ebook I had downloaded has cover art
by David Russell.
In the early evening Esme and I went out for a walk with our cat,
Lina. We keep her on a leash to which she is used. We live near a busy
road so she is only allowed out of the house when she is on a leash,
even in our garden.
Lina the cat exploring a bench.
After walking for some time we left an alleyway and came upon an area
with parked cars. There I saw another cat, a nice looking gray cat. It
walked towards me and then spotted Lina. And Lina spotted the gray cat
and went down on her belly.
A gray cat and Lina.
Nothing was happening between the two cats; they were just watching
each other. Until... a loud angry yowl sounded: another cat showed up,
an orange one.
A gray cat and an orange cat in a stand off.
The gray cat immediately turned in the direction of the newcomer. We
decided to take Lina away and slowly walked back towards the alleyway.
When we walked down the alleyway Lina was quite upset. She hissed and
attacked Esme's legs. When I looked back I saw the red cat looking at
us. After a bit more walking Lina calmed down and soon we were back in
the house. Quite an adventure for Lina.
Adam Reith has failed twice to acquire a spaceship. He decides to
build a ship from scratch, but this requires vast resources; his
only hope is to win valuable sequins away from the terrifying realm
of the Carabas, hunting preserve of the Dirdir. Even then, his
greatest adversary is the cunning, monstrous Aila Woudiver...
In the afternoon I started in The
Dirdir, part 3 of 4 of
Tschai by Jack Vance. The ebook I had downloaded has cover art
by David Russell.
After crashing on Tschai, Adam Reith's scout ship is impossibly
damaged. Reith must find another vessel to return to Earth. Having
rescued the beautiful Ylin-Ylan, Reith is assured of assistance from
her father if he delivers her back to Cath; but as events unfold, he
is forced to make a dangerous choice. Inevitably he must risk
everything against the enigmatic Wannek - and their devious human
servants, the Wannekmen.
In the afternoon I started in The
Wannek, part 2 of 4 of
Tschai by Jack Vance. The ebook I had downloaded has cover art
by David Russell.
Just after twelve in the afternoon the tarantula and scorpion I had
ordered with Matthijs Tempelman of
Tarantulahub yesterday in the
afternoon via Facebook Messenger arrived. I paid €25 for the
tarantula, €60 for the scorpion and €10 for shipping. All in all €95.
Later in the afternoon I prepared two enclosures. I had expected the
tarantula, a female Brachypelma boehmei, to be larger. Her enclosure
is now a bit on the large side.
Brachypelma boehmei female.
First, I transferred the female Brachypelma boehmei to her
enclosure; a plastic container with a piece of cork and some plastic
plants. The substrate is a mix of sand and coconut coir, which I had
made slightly moist.
Pandinus imperator.
Next, I transferred the Pandinus imperator to its enclosure; a
small plastic container with a piece of cork and some plastic plants. I
don't know yet if this specimen is a male or a female. The substrate
is moist coconut coir.
Finally, I cut up a superworm and put a small piece in each terrarium.
Later, in the afternoon, while checking up on the new ones, I noticed
that the emperor scorpion was eating!
Pandinus imperator eating a piece of superworm.
I also replaced the lid of the enclosure of the Brachypelma boehmei
with one with much smaller holes. The one I used originally had holes
that are a few millimeter in diameter and maybe the spider could
manage to escape through one.
Near the end of the afternoon I noticed that the Brachypelma boehmei
also had taken away the piece of superworm. When I lifted the cork I
spotted her on the inside holding the piece of superworm.
The starship Explorator IV is destroyed after entering orbit around
the planet Tschai. Adam Reith's scout ship is en route to the
surface when the attack occurs, and is damaged in the explosion;
Reith crash-lands and is separated from his ship. He finds a world
full of violence, where four non-human races rule: the Chasch, the
Dirdir, the Wannek, and the Pnume. Humans are present, but dominated
by the other races. In this volume Reith sets out to regain his
scout ship, and makes his way to Dadiche, ruled by the Blue Chasch
and their human servants. Along the way he finds loyal friends, and
challenges social inequities with the same aplomb that he rescues
fair maidens- like the lovely Ylin Ylan, Flower of Cath.
In the evening I started in The
Chash, part 1 of 4 of
Tschai by Jack Vance. I've read this book several times already. It's
one of my favourite series. The ebook I had downloaded has cover art
by David Russell.
Back in the previous century I named my first Windows machine Tschai
after the planet of adventure.
Just after 6 o'clock I decided to feed my four tarantulas with the
superworms that had arrived earlier today. I had ordered accidentally
two boxes instead of one with De
Kammieshop last Monday, so I have
plenty of food.
Acanthoscurria geniculata eating a Morio larva.
First, I dropped a living superworm with the female Acanthoscurria
geniculata. Normally, I pre-kill superworms to prevent them from
burrowing in the substrate. But the Acanthoscurria geniculata grabs
everything that moves, including water, so I fell confident she would
catch the worm immediately. And I was right.
Pterinochilus murinus with Morio larva.
Next, I dropped a pre-killed Morio larva with the female
Pterinochilus murinus. I carefully moved the quite skittish
tarantula near the Morio larva, but she didn't seem interested in
it. If she doesn't eat it I remove it the next day.
Next, I dropped a pre-killed Morio larva with the female
Monocentropus balfouri. But she stayed hidden underneath a plastic
leaf, so no photo.
Tliltocatl albopilosus with Morio larva.
Finally, I dropped a pre-killed Morio larva with the female
Tliltocatl albopilosus. She was also not interested, yet.
Once a lone bounty hunter, Mandalorian Din Djarin and his apprentice
Grogu embark on an exciting new Star Wars adventure.
In the evening Alice, Esme, and I watched The Mandalorian and
Grogu in a movie theatre in
the centre of Rotterdam. I liked the movie and rate it a 7 out of 10.
We did have some problems with our tickets, though. We thought we had
bought tickets for 17:30. But when we arrived the ticket scanner
reported that the tickets were invalid. A girl working for the movie
theatre let us pass. But when we wanted to enter the screening room the
movie had already started. Confused I asked for help and then it
turned out the tickets were for next week! I was told to go down to
the entry and ask if the ticket could be changed. So I went to the
same girl that helped us earlier and she changed the tickets for ones
for 19:30. So we had to wait nearly 2 hours. Because I was tired I
wanted to stay inside and just wait.
When testing a flashlight I had bought earlier today; indirect light
into the enclosures of the tarantulas I keep, I noticed that the
Pterinochilus murinus, also known as Orange Bitey Thing, was out and
about. So I moved carefully the enclosure to the livingroom table,
opened it, and took some photos.
Pterinochilus murinus RCF out and about.
This is the first time I see this tarantula entirely out of its hiding
spot since the
rehousing
I did nearly two weeks ago.
