In October, transmissions paused temporarily in certain regions of the planet.No marks made it to the page then, hence the retroactive declaratives.If you looked up at the yellow dwarf star at the right time in the right place,you’d see the culprits, sunspots, sitting there available to the naked eyeand readily confused with muscae volitantes, a.k.a. floaters, where loopsof magnetic field in the sun’s photosphere find their footpoints and launchthemselves out to its atmosphere—its corona—tracing arcs of lightso beauteous their optimization as screen savers is likely a fait accompli.Set them to Vangelis and they make for even better ambience. The sun’son its twenty-fifth eleven-year cycle, manifesting as alternating boutsof languor and hyperactivity visible in the number of blemishes. Newshas it that late in the month the sun had an outburst, hurling plasmaand highly energetic particles our way. Its mass ejection superchargedthe northern lights I’ve never seen and caused a brief radio blackout acrossEarth’s daylit side, centered somewhere in the South American vastness.Whether it all connects or this is another instance of word magic falls beyondthis account’s purview, this side of paranormal. Face the sun.                                                            Close your eyes. What do you see.