Tag: disability

Distant Love (Part 15)

Derek’s eyes flash from one screen to the next. It’s almost time for him to chat with Maeve again. There is sweat on his brow.

He presses the button to reopen communications with C4365. “This is Moon Sector C. Come in C4365.”

A high-pitched voice replies. “This is C4365, over. Am I happy to hear from you.”

Derek smiles. “What is your status C4365?”

“All non-essential people on board have been evacuated. My mum, eh The Captain wants to know, can we commence the procedure to land in Moon, Sector C.”

“Maeve, and I hope you don’t mind me using your first name. But, we’re going to have to talk to each other an awful lot if we’re going to get through this. I’m going to be frank, is that okay? You won’t panic on me.”

For a couple of seconds, there is silence. Then a response. “I won’t.”

“Your ship was never designed to land, not on the moon and definitely not on Earth. Still, that doesn’t make it impossible. It should be very possible if you listen to and follow my instructions closely. And the ship cannot be abandoned as it’s already on a collision course that could potentially hit a moon station. Now, my first question: have you ever taken control of the ship before?

Distant Love (Part 14)

Maeve takes off her communications headset.

That call ended quickly. What was his problem? Guess I’ll have to work with him either way,

She sends a message to her mother in the control room, updating her on the conversation.

Now she is left with a wait.

Perhaps Derek is online.

She checks all the usual gaming sites on the console in front of her,

Where is he?

She bites her lip.

This is silly. I’ve never even met the guy. Yes, I can talk to him for hours; he is considerate and funny. But I’ve no idea what he looks like or even what he sounds like. I’m so ridiculous. Oh, Derek, where are you and what are you up to? And why are you so inscrupable? Are you afraid of me or something? I wouldn’t destroy you in reality like I do at the gaming.

A beep goes off. It’s a message from her mother.

STAY WHERE YOU ARE. HYSTERIA BREAKING OUT UP HERE. PEOPLE ARE NOT HAPPY THAT THEIR TRIP IS BEING CUT SHORT. THERE IS NOTHING WE CAN DO. BETTER FOR YOU TO CONCENTRATE ON WHAT YOU ARE DOING.

Maeve smirks. Very good. I told you not to use all caps in your messages, though. So rude.

Hours pass as she awaits the next communication.

Distant Love (Part 13)

“You have a go C4365. You are cleared for the emergency landing at Moon Sector C. Please acknowledge”

“Thank God,” she replies.

Derek magnifies the screen and, using his mouse, draws a tangent from the ship to the landing area. “It will be six hours till we can start the landing procedure. I am going to familiarize myself with your ship. Reopen communications at five hundred hours. What’s your name by the way?”

The reply is swift. “Maeve”.

“Sorry?” Derek goes cold.

“You can call me Maeve. What’s your name?”

“Yeah, as I said, we’ll communicate again.” Derek clicks the mouse, ending the transmission.

Nathalie looks over at him wide-eyed. “Everything okay?”

“It’s my Maeve. She’s on the ship. I’ve just spoken to her!”

“No way, what are the chances? You’d better make sure that ship lands safely.”

Derek lets out a groan

Nathalie frowns. “That bad?”

He nods as he looks up at the ship’s specifications. It’s a thirty-year-old W-Class Transported. Not only is it far larger than anything he had attempted to guide to land before, it wasn’t built to land at all. Damage from a solar flare had not been countenanced.

Oh, Maeve, how am I going to get you out of this?

Distant Love (Part 12)

It is a female voice. “This is C4365 over. Please acknowledge. I repeat. This is C4365 over.”

Derek clicks on the screen to respond. “This is Moon Sector C acknowledging. What is your status? I repeat, what is your status?”

Her voice is cackling and breaking up at times. “C C C4365 in diff difficulty. Need permission.. repeat permission is needed to land in Sector C.”

Derek frowns. Emergency landings on the moon are rare, and unheard of in Sector C. This would be a management decision. “C4365 Keep your communications open. Your request is being determined.”

He ends the call and instead sent a communication request to Moon Sector A, to his manager Selena Basque.

Selena is forty-four years old with long, black hair and a tanned complexion. She is short and has a fuse even shorter. “Yes, Derek.”

“A ship is requesting to do an emergency landing in Moon Sector C.”

He hears a groan before she replies.

“Look, you’ll have to step up. You can do this. This flare has caused carnage. We already have multiple incoming here.”

The communication came to an abrupt halt.

I guess that’s a go, so Derek. Time to step up and get this done.

Distant Love (Part 11)

Derek stares at the screen and smiles. Most of the ships are moving in the expected trajectory. “How are things on your side, Natasha?”

“Good, everything appears fine, but that was close. The first one we’ve seen in months. You”

Derek grimaces. “I thought I was in the clear, but there’s definitely something up with C4365. Bolux. It must be in trouble.”

Natasha stands up and looks over at him, her brow furrowed. “How do you know?”

“Well, let me put it like this. It’s zigzagging all over the place. And that cannot be good.”

She walks over and stares at his screen for a moment. “No, definitely not. You know what to do. Follow procedure. You can do this.”

“So much for an easy day at work.”

He opens communications with C4365. “Please advise your status. You have deviated from your flight path.” The message is put on continuous repeat.

Tapping the table, he wonders how badly the ship has been damaged and hopes he won’t have to stay on late. There was a good documentary about the planned colonization of Sedna that he wanted to watch. To him, it seemed so much more exotic than his own existence.

A cackling noise came over the communications device. Then a voice started speaking into his headset.

Distant Love (Part 8)

Maeve walks out into the main corridor. It is filling up with guests, many with questions about what happened. They look at her, mouths wide open. She brushes past. This is the first “urgent” message she has received; her heart is throbbing.

A few minutes later, she reaches the small lift that will bring her to the deck. A few years earlier, this lift was strictly off limits. It became somewhat magical in her mind, a portal to a forbidden land. No longer.

The door opens to a panoramic view of the Earth in the distance. A wrinkled woman with long grey hair, her mother, glances back at her while looking at a holograph display of the ship. There are two other people present. One is a bald, pensive-looking man, her father, and the other is the head of customer care, Helen Johnson. Helen, a short, chubby woman, is usually happy and good-natured. Now, she is pale and vacant.

“What’s happening, Mum?”

Her father speaks. “It’s nothing to worry…”

Her mum glares at him. “The solar flare has damaged key circuits in the ship

Maeve is dumbfounded. “But how?”

Her Mum averts her eyes. “Too many cutbacks over the years.”

Distant Love (Part 6)

An hour passed with little conversation between them. Derek focused on the three little green dots that represented spaceships traversing the sector he was responsible for. One had blasted off the moon’s surface a half hour earlier, another was lunar orbit and the final one heading to Lunar City itself.

Natasha threw a paper plane at him.

Derek didn’t even look. “What are you like? You’re supposed to be the old and responsible one.”

“Ya cheeky git. I’m not even forty!” She pouts her lips. “How is your lady friend anyway?”

Derek nods his head from side to side. “I knew I should never have that.”

“Ah, don’t be like that.”

“She’s fine as far as I know. You do realize we’ve never met. I’ve no idea what she looks like or anything.”

Natasha smiles. “Well, you should go meet her. The two of you seem to really click.”

“I’ll probably never meet her. She’s always mentioning how she’d love to stay in close Earth orbit.”

“Her loss.” Natasha insists.

An alert appears on both of their screens.

“What’s Alert forty-one, Derek?

“Solar flare, high probability. Send the warning to all ships. Then we need to get underground. We have ten minutes.”

My Journey as a Writer: Updates and Goals

Hello, dear readers, I hope you are all doing well. A quick reminder to consider subscribing to the website to be kept fully updated. It really is the best way.

So what have I been up to? Well, not too much in the last day or two (I’m so lazy). Before then, I did make some steady progress.

Wheelchair Wars – The reworking is almost complete of my far future dystopia, where people with disabilities are forced to fight to the death for entertainment. I’m hoping to have it published (probably self-published), but I’ll try to look for an agent in the new year. I joined an online writing group, and I think I have significantly improved my writing skills. Like everything I do, I will always endeavor to improve.

Pegasus – This action-packed story set hundreds of years in the future recently came to an end. Like Wheelchair Wars, it will be reworked and published at a future date.

Distant Love – I only started this recently. It is still easy to find Part 1. This is my latest story – a sci-fi romance. I’m still working this one out in my head, not sure how long it will be.

General Overview:

I am on track to get a record number of views this year. I’m hoping to break the 2,000 mark. From research, to be a professional blogger would need an absolute minimum of 24,000 views per year. I’m a long way off, but not beyond the realms of impossibility to do it in a few years.

I now have 1,400 followers on Bluesky. My plan is to try and get over 2,000 by the end of the year. Then drive that audience towards here, along with my Twitter and Facebook followers.

Please don’t be afraid to comment. It would be great to have some feedback.

Pegasus (Part 132)

But which way to go? I tried to remember my time with the Emperor for any little hint. Then I remembered that he had looked in a particular direction when he had mentioned my friends. I thought back to where my bed was positioned at the time. I needed to go to my left.

Without hesitation, I quickly walked in that direction. The next door was over twenty meters away. There was a circular red button to the left, which I pressed. The door opened to reveal a darkened room. I stepped inside, careful not to make any noise. I could make out that several people were lying in what looked like hospital beds.

I searched the wall for a light switch and pressed it. The glare briefly closed my eyes. I reopened them to see Tabitha and the rest of the crew lying in the beds, shouting for my help.

Tabitha was closest.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

Tears were flowing down the side of her face as her eyes darted from place to place. “I can’t move, love.”

I guessed what the problem was and lifted her head with care, searching for a tube, which I pulled out.

“What are you doing, love?”

I rubbed the side of her face with my palm. “Give it a minute.”

Speech at Disability and Older Persons Event 2025

Ladies and gentlemen, it is great to be here with you on this beautiful day. Independent People with Disabilities have long been associated with this wonderful event.  It is great to see so many familiar faces, and I hope you all enjoy the day. This is an excellent opportunity for you to learn more about what services are available to you.

Independent People with Disabilities has had another busy year since our last day here, continuing to try and improve the lives of people with disabilities.  We took part in a Regional Networking Event in Cavan, Make Way Day in both Mullingar and Athlone, and hosted an Event about Disability and Employment in Athlone. The Disability and Employment event made me the most proud. It detailed the supports available for people with disabilities and their employer. I think it highlighted serious issues and gave out vital information.

The organization maintains a strong local presence through active participation in a variety of committees such as Westmeath Public Participation Network, Disability Sub group of Westmeath Community Development, Westmeath Youth Forum and Westmeath Older People’s forum.

 On the national stage, we have a representative on the Board of Iarnrod Eireann, and regularly engage with in discussions with the Department of Social Protection.

Our office is also an invaluable resource providing information on disability related issues, addressing questions, concerns, and making a positive impact on countless lives.

All of this would not be possible without a dedicated Board, and I wish to thank my fellow directors such as Dermot Hope, Larry Quain, Gene and Noel Mulvihill among many more. I would also like to thank our funders, especially you the ordinary people who give at our collections.

Thank you and enjoy the rest of the day.