I had someone ask, “Who are all these people?” So, much like Reading Order, I thought I’d pin a post showing a simplified family tree of the Hartmann and Rigó branches, with a side mention of some of the Thinking Machines.
Bolded are demi-humans. Kalí gets an underline as no one knows what she is.
Continue reading “Machine Civilization Stemma”A lengthier addition as I’m travelling this extended weekend. Daughter #1 is graduating college with a technical degree and completely debt-free. I want to be there to honor her for her hard work. A week later she’ll be in Japan for an internship. I hope she’s been watching lots of anime for her language lessions.
Below… well, it’s not really a surprise to us, as we saw the end of Part Two. Still, Aurie’s announcement surprises everyone, even her husband who got her that way an hour before. I do wonder what Julian means about Eloise “being different” as she is entirely human. I might be misunderstanding what the lad means. When he said, “my family are scavengers,” I nearly spit-taked my Martini onto the laptop screen.
And as we have all seen, once you put a glass in Eloise’s hand, she doesn’t stop. Very cheap date.
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Continue reading “Book 17. Part Three. 5”Politics, sure. How can there not be with a group such as this? But it is also a chance to see a simpler side of “normal” humans out for a walk.
As we have seen in some of my books, Empress Faustina has always been very careful to not let he first husband, and now her second, have, or even to be seen to have, political power. She is an autocrat and acts as one. That certainly does not mean she doesn’t love them, but power is power and too dangerous to share.
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Continue reading “Book 17. Part Three. 3”Ideas come from the oddest places. On the social media site, Gab, there is a clever gentleman who goes by the name this post is titled. Some quick intarweb searching informed me it is from an animated series/live-action movie called “Aeon Flux.” I am not familiar with it nor does it sound as if it is something I’d like. Still, that’s his moniker. The man is astonishingly well informed – especially about medical matters – but also politics and culture. And he does not suffer fools. If, as the Left believes, words could hurt, he would have a body count in the tens of thousands.
For some reason, it occurred to me to incorporate that persona into Machine Civilization. Of the meatspace man, I know nothing and think it’s best to keep it that way. So, having read his posts for all these years, I wanted to construct an image of his image. That is what’s below. A mere 1500-word micro-story, but once someone is in, they are in. Hell, I tie Trevor to Arpad Rigó, one of the two most important families in my stories. Expect to see more of him as I keep writing. Until my liver explodes.
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Continue reading ““Trevor Goodchild””Starting part three with the focus on Eloise Patel. We pick up the story just where Bob literally vanishes out of her arms. While Aurelia is in this scene, most of this part will involve humans, both in the imperium and in Canada. I know that sort of flies in the face of the whole “Machine Civilization” theme, but I like to mix things up now and again.
There’s not exactly tension in the plot as we already know Faustina and Edward are back safe, albeit six months from now. And we know that Eloise gets herself into trouble back home. Now we just need to find out what happened.
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Continue reading “Book 17. Part Three. 1”Another person was foolish enough to talk to me. For an hour. What happened to folk’s “fight or flight” instinct?
This is the end of Part Two. I’ve mentioned Part Three, currently underway, will be from Lt. Eloise Patel’s POV as she has been arrested by a faction of the Canadian government.
They, the Canadians, are realizing that things have turned against them. Riding high from occupying the former US Midwest ten years ago, they thought their problems of access to resources and – more importantly – a place to move as the ice and snow of the Maunder Minimum continues to come south, were over and it seemed to be champaign and roses. For a few years.
Then Yukon and British Columbia fell to the Russian Empire. A couple of meeting engagements around Winnipeg. Then Winnipeg under the ice; Edmonton under the ice and road and rail lines to their western provinces cut just as a Russian brigade shows up to claim it all. At the same time, with Canadians on the Ohio River, Empress Faustina incorporates Kentucky into a new imperial province. A few months later, she sends her niece, Aurelia, at the head of an army to bring the Northern Federation of Maine, New Hampshire, and surrounding communities into Friend & Ally status; Aurie goes even further, prompting the Archbishop of Montreal to reopen the matter of Quebec’s independence.
All of this, plus the imperium and the Russians have reactionless motors and fusion weapons. Factions of the Canadian government are now scared and scared governments do stupid things. How stupid? We’ll find out in Part Three.
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Continue reading “Book 17. Part Two. 13 (end p2)”Back home. Aurie has a surprise and Bob chastises his older brother regarding his wife. We get only a tiny look at what’s been going on for six months. More tomorrow, when Aurie starts talking, I’m sure.
Tomorrow will mark the end of Part Two. I’m making progress on Part Three but may wait to get ahead a bit more, in case I hit a block.
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Continue reading “Bool 17. Part Two. 12”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.
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Continue reading “Book 17. Part Two. 11”Well, here I go. There is this entry then one more, covering Bob’s rescue attempt. But as we’ll see, is it really a rescue?
I’m about 3,000 words ahead, just at the close of Part Two. Notes are ready for Part Three. It’s been a long time since I have had first-person-female-normie. This should be interesting.
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Continue reading “Book 17. Part Two. 10”
machciv 