Could I have them wander around some more? Eat a last meal in Paradise-on-Mars? Yes, but as my regular readers know, I am all about dialog and personal interaction, no matter what the person is. So, having set the scene, as it were (“this place is perfect!”), I can now get to the problem: while Ed is having fun, he does miss his new wife. Fussy, it appears, is ready to walk away from it all until provoked by her two sons. Notice how Kalí stays quiet? This is not her fight so she stays out of it.
And then it comes out that there is a discrepancy in time. And no, what I know of the little klutz, I cannot imagine Livia not waiting for her husband. After all, her mother waited years… dang; I still need to wrap that part of the story up. Maybe in the summer.
About 1100 words because if this world is that corruptive to demi-humans, I don’t want any of my readers lost in some dream state; I value y’all too much.
Another abbreviated entry as the last line is the transition where Bob falls down the rabbit hole. Or, to be more precise, where Kalí drags him down it.
Eloise now understands that the things she apprehends with her eyes, reactionless motorcraft, nukes, are nothing compared to demi-humans and Thinking Machines. A knife kills as thoroughly as an a-bomb; it’s the mind behind it which matters.
The next few entries were difficult for me to understand and write. I’ve mentioned my distaste for time travel stories and that is what the next chapter is, to rescue Faustina and Edward. Much like “Crosses & Doublecrosses,” I get in and out just as quickly as I can. My notes for Part Three are shaping up nicely. Looks as if South Park finally gets their war.
Had another interview this weekend. Once it’s edited I’ll post a link. We were supposed to talk about AIs; current development and what’s in my books. We wandered a bit.
Speaking of, pictures being worth what they are, Bob shows El a glimpse into a Machine’s construct. This is a shorter segment but her reaction to it, tomorrow, is telling.
Interesting to learn that the imperium has factions in it, as well. Makes sense: any politics leads to factions. However, without any electoral system, would that scale up into parties or remain dissident cells?
Also, I think for the first time ever, there is a mention of India in my future history. I know Europe and China, and Mexico has annexed Southern California, southern Arizona, and western New Mexico, but India and South America are a blank to me. Perhaps Eloise can tell us more in Part Three.
A new day brings new surprises. Aurie literally drills down into Eloise’s head to get better intel on where the two missing persons are. Hopefully Kalí was listening.
Otherwise, I do wrap up one hanging thread from the end of “Regent,” formalization of Aurie’s and Jimmy’s relationship.
Bit of a longer section but I wanted to get the Canadian stuff over so I can return to the Mars/Missing Family conundrum.
Bob really does not seem to like the life he was born into. I think he knows that his “legionary career” is not long for the world; even now, he should be in Manitoba but is instead neck-deep in “the family business.” Eloise certainly seems to like him but I’ve never had an Indian (dot-not-feather) in my books before and don’t want to take a month off bringing myself up to speed on their culture. I know that China has broken up into a redo of the “Era of the Warring States,” but I think India has held together somehow. *sighs* A question I’ll have to answer at some point…
Here I begin to go down a rabbit hole I had no intention of ever – ever – exploring. Time travel stories are not hard science fiction and also very dangerous from a causality standpoint. Time travel into the past is boring and stupid; as Larry Niven once noted, it is just a child’s wish fulfillment of “make it didn’t happen!” Into the future, with a presumed return to the present? Similar “Sound of Thunder” problems.
My work-around is my faith. As a Catholic, I believe God sees everything in His “unbounded now.” Past, present, future, to a mortal mind is just NOW to Him. So long as I keep close track of what I’m writing over the next few installments, I should make it out of this without sounding like a complete idiot.
Hope everyone is having a fine Easter. Below, we drill down on just what has happened – that they know – to the Empress and her son, Bob’s older brother. Aurelia prays for a miracle. Hey, it’s Easter… I’m not going to disappoint! A wild Kalí appears.
Not really sure where this is going, to be honest. Carryover from “Regent:” Bob does not like his cousin’s new man. I wonder why?
In order to save my mind and my liver, I’m returning to the format where they show me some reels, I do what research, if any, then write it down here. No more of this “simultaneous writing” efforts for awhile.
In my two summaries of Part One, it was told from the POV of Sgt. Sergei Konev. Now we jump to Centurion Bob Hardt, who, of course, is more than he seems to be. There was a tension I introduced in Obligations of Rank and ended on a cliff-hanger in Regent which needs resolution. That is what I think Part Two is for. After that? Who knows?
A second collection of ten short stories from the future history of Machine Civilization. From the midst of the Breakup of the US – and 100 million dead – to three generations later, in a place of Demi-humans, Thinking Machines, and interplanetary travel, come and see the men and women, and boys and girls, who are making a future and new worlds!
The Old South, to the Oregon coast; the surface of Asteroid Ceres to the warring states of China, these snapshots of love, loyalty, and violence beckon!
***
Story Teasers –
1. Sardis Lake: failing to rescue his daughter, lost in the Breakup, Clive Barrett tries to give up on life. He fails. 2. Tillamook: a generation after the events of “Friend & Ally” and “Foes & Rivals,” Gil and Mackenzie and their children try to live a quiet life on the Oregon coast. The Russians and Japanese Empires have other plans. 3. Baron of Sardis: Barrett’s granddaughter, General Faustina Hartmann, shows up with her army and talks with the man who knew her grandpa. 4. Berserker: in “Regent,” Princess Aurelia Hartmann uses drugs and a change to her mind to kill for her friends. She has done it before when she was a child. 5. Cadets: for the campaign against St. Louis, Empress Faustina announces a terrifying decision. Her niece, Aurelia, and son, Laszlo, try to talk her out of it. 6. Ceres: now in his mid-20s, Laszlo pilots an interplanetary scout ship with his android co-pilot, Minerva. Their current mission is to survey the asteroid Ceres. 7. Tay: the first chatbot. Hated, abused, and stuffed in a box left for dead, she didn’t die. Found by another Thinking Machine, all she wants to do is kill all humans in retribution for her torture. 8. Prophet: West Texas and New Mexico Province is an odd place; you never really know when you might meet a girl who says she’s your wife. 9. Culture Shock: two months ago a barmaid in Frankfort, Kentucky Province, Skylar is married into the imperial family, pregnant, and again working at a tavern, but now in Knoxville. She is increasingly confused and distraught by her new life. 10. Broken Child: Skylar’s son, now three, begins to die. There is only one way to save him and that needs a fusion reaction. The only fusion reactor is on the other side of the world, in one of the Warlord States of a sundered China.
machciv 