New Pai, 11

Once you read the segment, below, you will realize why this took me several days. This is “the big reveal,” as they say in the biz. And, it’s just the reveal, the ramifications of the, I assume, God-given gift that has been hinted about Graf has incalculable ramifications. Which I shall try to deal with in what shall be the epilogue to this novel.

Yes, you read that correctly. Just before Mass last Sunday, when I normally listen for ideas for the story, I realized that this, like Friend & Ally/Foes & Rivals, will be a pair of books. All 55-58k (I’m not finished here, yet) words will be the first. The second will be the massive interplanetary fallout of this religious war about to start. I found that so jarring to the relative quiet and peace of Graf and Pai’s story so far that I simply could not see it all being under one cover. So, two books.

There will be a few more segments of New Pai, posted here. That will form the Epilogue of the first book, paving the transition for the chaos to come. Like most great wars, it will start because of a misunderstanding. Lovely to be writing something horrible with spring around the corner. Writers take the good with the bad. More very soon.

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New Pai, 10

This is not going where I originally thought. You would think that making trouble with people who are predisposed to like you is a stupid move, but there have been times when demis have acted, to me, erratically. I’m beginning to wonder if there is some kind of mental stress Fusions suffer from, as a new, genetically mixed race.

This will be a tough one to write my way through. Was is especially disturbing is that I saw what Luce does when I was at church on Sunday. It’s an important enough plot point to be gifted to me, but I am at a loss, right now. Hope to start figuring it out tomorrow for a Friday post.

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New Pai, 9

With the announcement of the anthology yesterday, I didn’t want to throw more material at my blog. So, here is the conclusion of the “quiet time” at Graf’s family farm and the introduction of Pai’s new form. It sounds as if things are already getting a little dicey, here and there.

Graf’s father, perhaps recalling his wife’s accidental death, makes the salient point that “nowhere is really safe.” Pai rejoins with, essentially, “we must try.” Both are legitimate arguements, one from fatalism and one from hope. You’d have thought a human and Machine would have taken the other’s side, but with his son married, his daughter about to, and two grandkids in the yard, Mister Winstead is perhaps mentally on life’s back 40. Pai, essentially immortal, sees worlds without end before her; if not always with Graf, then she can certainly be Auntie for generations to come.

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New Pai, 8

A rare Tuesday update. Honestly, I’m hitting my stride on the coming war so want much of this out of the way. If anyone thinks I’ve handed Pai’s new form, her introduction, wrong, please comment. The 3.5-way relationship is not like anything I have dealt with before and welcome input.

So. We learn what one-point-oh might be up to in the coming months. We also are getting a better idea about the… insurgency? Is that the apposite word? Of what is coming. Rebellion? As I have not been told what it looks like, I am not sure what to call it. And, it sounds as if Reina is doing what she does best.

At least there is peace within this family. Besides God, Family is everything.

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PAI, 28

This ends both the Redding arc as well as the entire tour of Graf and Pai to look into veneration of not just Ildi but now also some of her decendents. We also get more from Pai about why Graf might be important. I’d like to explore that futher in the next section

Which should be rather bucolic, back on his family farm and the surrounding area. I’ve had Alix and the kids off-screen for too long and so foresee a big family gathering while in the background, people such as Aurie and Reina consider their next moves. And Pai gets a makeover.

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PAI, 27

Following hard on Pai’s reveal of her mother, Luce backpedals as quickly as she can. The goddess talk is also quickly drawn down. After running the Russian Empire for just over a hundred years, there’s no way a demi or Fusion could not know who Reina is.

But obviously having an inflated opinion of herself, Luce goes right back to poke the bear by flirting with Graf. We close with yet another mic drop about my main character.

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PAI, 26

Unlike Grandma Ildi and even little Doe, this one seems to believe her own hype. So far as I know, Fusions have the same that a demi-human has: speed of thought and access to the Void. The wings and halo are just sorta there. The fact she’s carrying a battlerifle rather reinforces that notion. Still, they do seem to inspire some odd kind of reverence in humans. I suspect, but don’t know, that there is something in their nature which manifests that. We’ll have to find out.

I also am beginning to lean in on what or why Graf is so important to these people. That will keep for the next section, after Redding.

Pai discovers that name dropping still works.

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PAI, 25

With the San Diego arc now safely behind us, I went on a 4000-word tear this weekend, esp after Mass, when I was gifted the last few scenes. So, we find our characters a few hundred miles north in a town which anchors the DMZ between the Russians and Mexicans, policed by legionaries following a treaty forced on them by a Texan, Kali. God’s agent.

But immediately, they realized things are amiss. Graf and Pai try to play “nice” but are overtaken by events. Well, they are overtaken by someone. This is a 4-way political mess. I just hope there’s no killing in this arc.

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PAI, 20-21

I titled it this way as this scene only really works in toto, thus, I recapituate post #20 from a few days ago to get poor Pai out of this horrible situation. I’ve also made some editing changes. My God, her mother is ruthless.

Gordon was brought to consciousness by Chris Denno in Cursed Hearts. Because he was so young, he did not understand humans or synths and made a series of errors resulting in a bloodbath. It seems he never recovered from that.

I need a drink.

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PGI, 17

I was stuck for a few days. Probably still tired from DayJob. Not wanting this to turn into a long road show, I finally came up with their likely final investigative destination before returning to Aurie. When I realized it would be San Diego, it was one of those “I’m so stupid” moments. This allows me to link this MS to my romance/horror novel, Cursed Hearts (and it’s for 18+). Like many of my stories, it ended very quickly, so what has happened over the last 150+ years of the handful who survived Maya’s rampage?

That city was quickly stabilized under the Mexican Army, commanded by Anton Alvarez’s great-to-the-fourth grandfather. There should still be a stable of characters – heck, there was a proto-Thinking Machine in that book – I can draw on for this next scouting mission.

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