The Battlehymn Of The Asbahri

A hand reaches for the air from below the surface of a watery world. Photo by Ian Espinosa from Unsplash. Title font by Matthew Colclough.
Photo by Ian Espinosa from Unsplash.Title font by Matthew Colclough.

Synopsis

Sometimes, it is better to be dead and stay dead.

The militarised Asbahri face twin existential threats: a generations-long Total War with the more-populous, primitive Squids, which they are losing, and global warming washing away many of their precious islands. High Command might have found a strategic solution in space, but its only key may be a nerdy clone: Lt. Kirel Ilker-145 (it/its). But Kirel is an unreliable asset; for a start, it is dead. That is lucky for Kirel because, being dead, it no longer faces court-martial on a charge of ‘Malfunction’ then execution. 

If Kirel were still alive, it could only have one overwhelming desire: a swift re-communion with its clone mates (missing, presumed dead) … Without communion, it would go mad with grief. Literally.

Unhappily, Kirel is born again. 

Episode 1, The Weight of the World 

A short prologue in which a poetic love story from Asbahri classical literature turns out to have a surprising and disturbing hidden meaning. 

Read on (a 4 minute quickie)

Episode 2, Phoenix Perplexed

Watch this space. Docking soon.