Tag: androids

“The Fallen” 4/19

And we draw to a conclusion of the second interlude. As they learned a lot, losing the drone is not particularly a failure. There is another on the way. And, I suspect, that if Nichole thought Allie was in mortal danger, she’d be head-first down the tunnel, orders or not.

Speaking of, we’ll be back underground. Allie accepted she was alone, found something extraordinary, met a distant relative, then was alone again. Even for a demi, that gain-loss dynamic must hurt. And I bet it hurts more to a fifteen-year-old girl. Underground. In the dark. I hope Nichole was able to reach her, give her a mental life-line. We’ll see. Things might get even darker.

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“The Fallen” 4/18

Nichole 5, being retrospective, is kind enough to make a short summary of many of my books. After that, they find themselves retracing the path which Allie took. I’m glad she showed up, otherwise, with the drone under human control, it would have taken another 5,000 words to complete this segment. As it is, we’ll be finished here on the surface on Wednesday and back underground Friday.

I’d no idea Nichole slept (so to speak) with Gil Haven’s son, Joe. As a Model 5 – the first designed to fit seamlessly into human society – she has no sexual desire or response, per se. But, as a person, she wants those she loves to feel happy. Statistically, Joe is likely dead of age by now. This MS has covered a lot of time, and I really need to think about where I’m going once this is finished.

[And no, the hyperlinks will not be in the final version]

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“The Fallen” 4/17

As the song goes, “A very old friend came by today…” Looking at my notes, I startled myself that Nichole 5 Clarke is right around a century old. I’ve come that far since she made her debut in Friend and Ally. While Kira is miffed at the political issues to Japan sticking its nose into this mission, she realizes that this much older person will be perfectly suited to control the drone, so far under the ground.

There’s a bit more to write before the surface team finds something startling, after which we’ll be back to check on Allie. I’m personally a bit run down today and still have to DayJob a few hours tomorrow, but I’ll keep at it.

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“The Fallen” 3/9

“What’s behind curtain number one?” Now we know. This is, obviously, me ripping off Tolkien; I’ve long said that all writers “borrow” from one another, but “ripping off” sounds better.

This wraps up the Alvarez’s visit to Ekaterinburg. I’ll gloss their trip to the dams and move things along to their stop in what is de facto imperium territory. It will be a much more relaxed visit as everyone is on the same side. Once that is completed, I’ll close Part Three. Part Four still only exists as notes as I still don’t know what I’m doing with Alicia.

Below, Count Lavrov really steps in it, doesn’t he?

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“The Fallen” 3/8

Playing more catch-up, so another longer segment for the weekend. You’re welcome.

We get another possible foreshadowing of what may or may not be under the Tharsis Plateau. There is also an interesting tell in what Ivan calls Anton and Saras. And, with the mention of Cartaphilus, we now have a touch of the Secondary World in this story. No idea where that might lead.

Looking forward to what’s behind the curtain. See everyone on Monday.

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“The Fallen” 2/7

Dinner. I’m good with dinners. Surprised that Les ran his mouth there a little bit; as I mentioned yesterday, having those two alone for weeks and months might be changing how they act around others.

I’m thinking of wrapping up Part 2 by Friday, and then taking another multi-year step. We’ll have to see.

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“Life imitates my art, part…”

From the world of Science! comes news of an experiment growing live flesh onto machine parts. I would call this a “Zeroth Generation” technology, but everything started somewhere.

I mention this because, as my handful of regular readers know, I write about thinking machines – some of who are androids. And, over the course of the three generations of my future history, the tech has improved. Nichole 5, for example, had synthetic skin she could only warm up in a hot shower. By the time we get to my “Ceres” short story, a Model 12 has living skin (and it’s implied several other organs as well). Here’s that model, named Minerva, talking about herself to the captain of the spaceship Lionheart…

*****

“Then, if you also don’t mind,” Laszlo wanted to go technical before this fell into a romantic conversation, alone together, millions of miles from anyone else, “how to you, ah, administer your TPN? I see nothing like a port or picc line.”

“Here.” She stood and walked to only a foot away and raised her right arm. A small patch of skin in her armpit was slightly darker than the rest of her. With her left hand, she pulled that part back. Les saw what looked like a small luer-lok connector there.

“I have one on the other side, as a backup, but this is how I feed my flesh.” She closed the patch, lowered her arm, and leaned down to kiss his mouth. “Thank you for asking about me, Laszlo.”

Tillamook, part 25. End.

Yes, you just missed another bunny with a pancake on its head.

There’s a lot going on here but this is a writing exercise, not a proper short story in an anthology. Someday, it likely shall be. I try to resolve the Russian-Nation political dilemma with Nichole, as Togame’s friend, placing herself and her ship – literally – in the middle. Rhun is dealt with off-screen then we have a lovely little domestic scene.

Fifty bucks says Nichole sleeps with Gil’s son in the next six months. Japanese morals are different. Machine morals? Good luck with that.

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Tillamook, part 24

The rest of the Haven’s backstory followed by a declaration three of them were off before dawn the next day on Nichole’s flying saucer. The last Part, #25, might be on the long side…

A fan on Gab once asked how do I balance or control “high-powered” characters such as Nichole 5. My reply was to write up some kind of foil – a person or group – who can oppose them. With nothing like that here, Model Five just proposed to take Gil and Mac’s first child.

I’ll admit, compared to the last time I saw Mackenzie d’Arcy in the last chapter of “Foes and Rivals,” she’s matured quite a bit.

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