Tag: family

Pai-Graf, 13/x

Imagine living in the equivalent of the US Midwest in the 1890s or maybe 1910. Internal combustion is familiar and maybe you’re heard of flying machines. Then some madwoman shows up, makes off with one of your children, shows back up with yet another crazy woman, talking about other worlds, and your son is off again. Got to hand it to this family: they roll with all this pretty well. Their neighbors down the road would likely be firing shotguns at this point.

Pai and Alix are, slowly, getting more comfortable with one another. I think that their last exchange, about Graf, is telling. In the world of the Change, everyone, human, Machine, knows things are different and to trust their hunches. They both have a hunch about Graf. I just hope they tell me, at some point.

Let’s go to Russia, next.

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Pai-Graf, 10/x

Big update, heading into what for most in FUSA is a 3-day weekend. I have a half DayJob tomorrow and much, much more to write. Which is, of course, my real job.

Graf recovers and we get a tiny glimpse into how Pai thinks of him. I really is a kind of Aragorn-Arwen story, choosing a mate you know is not at all like you and shall be a distant memory in a thousand years. Yet, she seems quite taken with the simple lad. After, Alix twigs to just who they are about to meet and it nearly kills her. It also allows me to introduce the barest leading edge of what may become the plot of this story.

Everyone have a good weekend. Love your families; time is short. Deus vult.

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Pai-Graf, 9/x

If you ever want to sidetrack people, get them talking about their kids. Even I am guilty of that, proud of my two debt-free, employed daughters (cough hint cough) that I am.

The importance of children echoes through all of my stories. Those who cannot or can only have a few are devastated by that knowledge. Reina, also, is NOT at pleased at the prospect. The world of the Change is not one of GrrlBosses and WineAunts. You marry in your late teens and get knocked up ASAP; FFS, Empress Fussy has ten kids. Personally? I think that may be because I’m a mule and my wife sterilized by chemo when she was 28. We adopted two. One of the reasons it was so easy for Pavel and Reina to adopt Tay, I suppose.

Anyhoo, Graf forgets what he was told and nearly dies. He is technically the main character, so I rather that not happen.

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Pai-Graf, 8/x

These girls just won’t stop; it is kind of funny, really. Neither has had a boyfriend before and they are both being made older about that relationship and the complexity between the three of them. Pai thinks she has the upper hand because of vast intellect. Alix does because “I’m good enough and not a fake human.”

Next segment is off to visit Pai’s mom. Constructs, even tribe Tohsaka’s who generally like and get along with humans, are very debilitating and potential fatal.

Personally, a bit better today. Wife came home yesterday afternoon but was still in “Key West Party Girl” mode so instantly started drinking rum smoothies. Her playing music downstairs – loud music – was very rude and disrespectful to me, especially after I asked her twice to turn it down. She better snap out of that shit.

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Pai-Graf, 7/x

These two gals are absolutely catty about what I think are some of the dumbest things. Then again, I’ve worked in hospitals around nurses for nearly fifteen years, so it could be worse. But, I’m here to tell their story, not make one.

Pai’s last line sounds a bit ominous.

In RealLife, I’m slightly worse. Went to bed at 1800, woke up with a mild fever at 0100; barely slept. Dogs went off at 0550 and I damn near died navigating down the steps to let them out and feed them. Finally ate something just now after about 20 hours of nothing. Rather shaky. It makes it hard to “get into” their story when you don’t feel very good.

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Irrational Pai, 5/5, End

Here’s the end of the first part of their journey together. A ending with a beginning. Already typing their next short story. From what’s here, she has to continue her mission to the imperium, something about the colony on Ceres, but will have to at some point have a conversation in tribe Mendro’s construct (and will it be in the dilapidated city or the elegant restaurant of Kuban’s?) with her mom about this human. It had better be short as their construct is not very “human friendly.”

For those curious as to why all the politics was not done via emails or chat, as Page Zaplendam pointed out to me in our last interview, even with 22nd century tech, some things are best by word of mouth only; diplomacy, technology, or other matters.

From a technological standpoint, this is a new situation. Unlike Nichole 5 who was a stand-alone android, this body of Pai is more like Minerva when she was still Reina. Once independent, Minerva chose to be with Laszlo Hartmann until he died. The other case of a machine in love with a human was Henge, but she assumed a human body to be with Gary. I think the next story will delve a bit deeper into what happens when Graf encounters the totality of Pai’s mind, of which her android we’ve been reading about is only perhaps 5% of her consciousness. Love stories are fun, but pushing the bounds of what I know is funner.

Thanks for reading, everyone. Hope to have more next week. Deus vult.

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Irrational Pai, 4/5

As readers will know, sometimes the Machines say things that are taken by humans in ways they never anticipated. That’s the “wildness of human thought” which interests many of them and scares the daylights out of Reina, Pai’s mom. If that older Machine ever needs an excuse to give up power, that’s it.

I was beginning to think there are things going on in the background that no one is yet telling me. Thus, I have already started on a Part Two of the Pai-Graf (swidt?) story. Both will be my contribution to the anthology Stories from the Middle of a River: Tales from the Lemur Throne, Volume One. These two may also turn into book #20, depending on where I’m led by these youngsters and the powers-that-be above them.

I am very curious about Pai’s use of the word, ferocity.

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Irrational Pai, 3/5

They are so pushy. All of them. At least Pai, it seems, know enough to realize when she goes too far, such as grabbing Graf by the throat in the last segment or demanding he marry her.

Nonetheless, it was still funny she took him to bed so fast. Hey: I don’t care what her claims are, if a cute girl wanted 17-year-old me? I would not even have asked my parents. In the Breakup/Change, families matter more than in our time, and even more for the Winsteads, what with their loss.

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Irrational Pai, 2/x

After ending yesterday’s segment with who she is, here we begin to learn what Pai is. A little. Anyone familiar with Machine Civilization should have a pretty good idea where this is going. Although, Part 3 starts a little comedically as they walk toward Madison after an interesting night together. Mark XV’s are amazing, especially as Pai’s mom can afford to buy any mods and upgrades she wants.

This is pushing my 5000-word limit, so I’m assuming there will be five parts, with the last out this Friday. However, that leaves a lot untold for me to get back to the theme of “meeting in the middle of a river;” I mean, they already did, but I wanted a similar close. To me, that implies the second submission to this anthology will probably carry on with Pai and Graf.

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Iter, 4/4, end

Ugh. Helping to move Daughter #2’s stuff to her new house. In 87F/90% humidity. I’m too old for that.

Decided to conclude this one, so it is just a tiny bit longer. Having always been content to just be as her man’s side, Min gets a little surprise from Fussy at the conclusion of Les’ funeral. And then there is the interplay with Reina. Aurie gets in first, to make sure that most dangerous of Thinking Machines does not do anything stupid. Min was, after all, once her.

For the next week, I need to flog Matters of Life and Death to where I can hand it off to my copyeditor. And, I need to ponder the eleven stories and decide what I’d like to see on the front and back covers so my designer can get started. Everyone have a good weekend.

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