The writer lives. And so the story returns.
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You could say there are a lot of things I am thankful for. For one, we're finally in an area where we have satellite coverage for the GPS unit, a second thing to be thankful for... my satellite phone machinations of the past apparently work still, though not the same way as before, this time I'm using the antennae and microprocessor from an Amorok Satellite radio out of a car, not to mention that there are authentication systems working, much less the internet exists.. even if it is slightly less... alive. you could say it is a shell of itself. Used primarily now by those that either could not forget what the world was like before the second strike, those that are looking forward, and simply those that have no other alternative way to contact the rest of the world. Latency sucks, and apparently some programmers and corporations saw....something on the horizon and prepared.
Also I'm thankful to be alive. That alone can be considered a miracle, or pure luck depending on what you believe. According to the clock on the GPS, now that it's sync up with the satellite arrays, and with corroboration with one of the clocks I was able to access online, it's been one year, three months, and 27 days since the world over got bathed in atomic fire...well as far as we know that's what went down.... To be honest, now that we've made it to the edge of a massive field of ashes, it actually doesn't look too worse for it. Granted we haven't seen another living human yet, and the animals we have seen weren't keen for conversation.
I'm going to take the next few posts, and summarize journal entries that I wrote down, since a lot of it boils down to "woke up today, still in the bunker, checked the air vents and the monitoring station, still too hot radiologically to leave."
For starters, you could say we were lucky in the first place that the missile command bunker we made out way to was open at all. The commander said so himself, if we had come through any other day, the doors would have been closed and sealed shut, however that day they had been being resupplied and when they went to seal the bunker, well the door fucked up and wouldn't move and they'd been working on it all day, when the two guys on missile watch came hauling down the main corridor saying the board just lit up and was doing precheck automatically, then the sirens and the missiles launched. We arrived about twenty minutes later, hoping for shelter. This is where our luck started. White Rock missile base happened to be a converted VIP bunker and not just a normal command post. Originally it was built to house 40 people comfortably like a small underground motel complete with exercise and entertainment facilities with a maximum allowable residency of 120. When the air force imminent domained it due to the proximity of the newly planned missile silos they kept most of the gear, but never staffed it with more than four people at the most.
Our second stroke of luck happened to be that Leishey, one of the soldiers from Eivan's group, was part of the cultural exchange with the U.S. during the 90s when we swapped missile engineers for training and understanding during the peace and disarmament talks and he'd actually trained here before. This is one of the reasons why he insisted we run towards the "comms" station when the missiles started flying, and not away. Anyway he actually knew how to manually override the main blast door, and with the combined work of 12 people we managed to manhandle the partially seized machinations into place and get it closed up.
Our third stroke of luck in this time-span, was the resupply they had received earlier in the day that led to the blast door seizing up. Normally enough food to last 4 men a full year (if needed) on very rich meals, when combined with the rations we had, we did the math and, if we wasted nothing, we could make it last 6 months for the 12 of us. Thankfully we only needed 4 months... not because of the radiation, that cooled down enough after about a week that we could go outside for about an hour at a time, weather permitting.... and god damn was the weather terrible.
That's enough typing for one night, Eivan and Leishey just got back to the camp and said something about a group of deer nearby and want to see if I can still shoot straight. We've got a running betting pool against each other, honestly I'd like to see Rogan shoot something off other than his mouth, he talks big about his training from the airforce, but we've yet to see anything come of it. Anyway, fresh venison sounds nice for dinner instead of more two year old canned food.
Thursday, November 27, 2014
Thursday, October 16, 2014
Teasers from beyond the blastwave Part VIII
Just informing my readers that Blog with the Blastwave is going to be going on a short Hiatus, though this will only be for about a month or so. I'm in the middle of a transition hase in my career and so will be scurrying around prepping my gear to move out from my apartment and take one of two options before me, unless an unexpected third option presents itself
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Coalinga was a blast as usual. A weird mix of chaos and order at the stockyards as they sell off most of the cow calf pairs to the ranchers in the delta to winter on the last crop of rice hay. Apparently I missed my older brothers visiting by a couple days. Eh there'll be more chances down the road I guess, some more research into the solar array has been done since I was last there, between the heavy armor cache underneath it, and the missile defense system, it still has secrets it's keeping. Hard to believe that it had had a massive chemical laser built into the solar collector and the whole facility has capacitors built into it. The estimates from the techmages that are poking around the facility are that it could burn a 40 foot hole through a meteor about a hundred miles out of atmosphere. Not really that impressive, but the information in the computers and paperwork in the control center itself imply that there's more of these hidden around the country, possibly the world.
And now we know where all that money for Green energy went, Al wasn't squirreling it away to be just a regular thieving bastard white collar criminal... he was becoming a supervillain.
Also did some testing with my gear and it's anomalous properties, basically I found a couple friends from college that got dragged along with the Mennonites into kings canyon when they evacuated everyone in the area the second time. Anyway the breakdown goes a little something like this:
Me without my ash coated gear=No visual anomaly.
Me with gear I took into the ashlands that stained: Slight visual anomoly, dizzying to look at.
Me, with my ash coated gear (the stuff I had with me out there originally) but no cloak: Kinda dizzying to look at directly.
Me, with ash coated gear, with cloak: Dizzying to look at directly, hard to notice in a crowd, even just alone standing out in the open a person just overlooks my presence unless I actually want to be noticed.
Further tests:
Friend with the gear I took into the ashlands: No visual anomaly
Friend with gear I brought out of the ashlands: Some visual anomaly, not as pronounced as with me though
Friend with my ashlands cloak: Same as above, some visual anomaly, not as pronounced or dizzying.
Got a job as a guard on a train to the north, so going to stop in Davis, there's supposed to be some smart folks to the north that might be able to figure things out a bit better than I can.
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Headed towards Oregon, mostly due to snow blocking my way south, and the route through Idaho is clear as far as I can see. Haven're really seen to many people, and no one's really commented on the wolf. I guess most of the stalkers are strange enough one with a wolf as a companion isn't too much of an oddity, even if that wolf is a cybernetic creation.
Anyway learned a few things about Pandora (great success, IDA finally decided that Pandora could actually be a better name to use since it's full designation of "Institute Design Ambassadorial" was a bit of a mouthful.) It can eat. Anything organic, wood, grass, meat....me, etc etc. It isn't because it has dietary needs, rather it's because it's power source is an advanced microbial fuel cell, and yes, what goes in must go out as well, Pandora likewise wasn't programmed to taste anything but it does prefer cooked food over uncooked, something that due to the whole "having paws and not hands" thing it is incapable of doing on its own. The AI is also naturally inquisitive about the world, considering the programs that compose it originally came from the institute, and have never left the campus it literally has no knowledge of the world beyond what information was on the campus hard drives, and what they've gleaned off the internet now that that's a bit more restored to its former "glory".
As well as being inquisitive of the world, Pandora is also extremely cautious. They found a copy of terminator on a hard drive and a few Asimov stories in PDF form and are, probably rightly so, afraid of humanity and actually were quite afraid of even sending out some kind of ambassador. It apparently was a huge debate among the various AI's there so huge that it lasted four days, an eternity to them before they reached a consensus and decided I wasn't enough of a threat and had me do their search and rescue work for them.
Anyway, idaho, + a light snow = a desolate place that's like they rolled the streets up and closed shop for the most part, at least for a person passing through. That's about it for this post. Should be into eastern oregon in a few days since I'm in no rush and the cold temperatures are keeping the deer I caught out in the open chilled with no risk of spoiling.
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Coalinga was a blast as usual. A weird mix of chaos and order at the stockyards as they sell off most of the cow calf pairs to the ranchers in the delta to winter on the last crop of rice hay. Apparently I missed my older brothers visiting by a couple days. Eh there'll be more chances down the road I guess, some more research into the solar array has been done since I was last there, between the heavy armor cache underneath it, and the missile defense system, it still has secrets it's keeping. Hard to believe that it had had a massive chemical laser built into the solar collector and the whole facility has capacitors built into it. The estimates from the techmages that are poking around the facility are that it could burn a 40 foot hole through a meteor about a hundred miles out of atmosphere. Not really that impressive, but the information in the computers and paperwork in the control center itself imply that there's more of these hidden around the country, possibly the world.
And now we know where all that money for Green energy went, Al wasn't squirreling it away to be just a regular thieving bastard white collar criminal... he was becoming a supervillain.
Also did some testing with my gear and it's anomalous properties, basically I found a couple friends from college that got dragged along with the Mennonites into kings canyon when they evacuated everyone in the area the second time. Anyway the breakdown goes a little something like this:
Me without my ash coated gear=No visual anomaly.
Me with gear I took into the ashlands that stained: Slight visual anomoly, dizzying to look at.
Me, with my ash coated gear (the stuff I had with me out there originally) but no cloak: Kinda dizzying to look at directly.
Me, with ash coated gear, with cloak: Dizzying to look at directly, hard to notice in a crowd, even just alone standing out in the open a person just overlooks my presence unless I actually want to be noticed.
Further tests:
Friend with the gear I took into the ashlands: No visual anomaly
Friend with gear I brought out of the ashlands: Some visual anomaly, not as pronounced as with me though
Friend with my ashlands cloak: Same as above, some visual anomaly, not as pronounced or dizzying.
Got a job as a guard on a train to the north, so going to stop in Davis, there's supposed to be some smart folks to the north that might be able to figure things out a bit better than I can.
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Headed towards Oregon, mostly due to snow blocking my way south, and the route through Idaho is clear as far as I can see. Haven're really seen to many people, and no one's really commented on the wolf. I guess most of the stalkers are strange enough one with a wolf as a companion isn't too much of an oddity, even if that wolf is a cybernetic creation.
Anyway learned a few things about Pandora (great success, IDA finally decided that Pandora could actually be a better name to use since it's full designation of "Institute Design Ambassadorial" was a bit of a mouthful.) It can eat. Anything organic, wood, grass, meat....me, etc etc. It isn't because it has dietary needs, rather it's because it's power source is an advanced microbial fuel cell, and yes, what goes in must go out as well, Pandora likewise wasn't programmed to taste anything but it does prefer cooked food over uncooked, something that due to the whole "having paws and not hands" thing it is incapable of doing on its own. The AI is also naturally inquisitive about the world, considering the programs that compose it originally came from the institute, and have never left the campus it literally has no knowledge of the world beyond what information was on the campus hard drives, and what they've gleaned off the internet now that that's a bit more restored to its former "glory".
As well as being inquisitive of the world, Pandora is also extremely cautious. They found a copy of terminator on a hard drive and a few Asimov stories in PDF form and are, probably rightly so, afraid of humanity and actually were quite afraid of even sending out some kind of ambassador. It apparently was a huge debate among the various AI's there so huge that it lasted four days, an eternity to them before they reached a consensus and decided I wasn't enough of a threat and had me do their search and rescue work for them.
Anyway, idaho, + a light snow = a desolate place that's like they rolled the streets up and closed shop for the most part, at least for a person passing through. That's about it for this post. Should be into eastern oregon in a few days since I'm in no rush and the cold temperatures are keeping the deer I caught out in the open chilled with no risk of spoiling.
Monday, October 6, 2014
Teasers from beyond the blastwave part VII
I get less stares running around with my usual gear stowed in a pack. Apparently it is in-fact a visual anomaly based around the ash on my clothing... I may need to run some further tests
Oh right back in the CR, the caravan that I helped escort last week was the last big one for the summer especially with the snow starting to fall across the passes and no one wanting to invest too much work into getting a fleet of snowplows running again, at least right now anyway. Might do it when/if we're a unified country again but there's just too many differing opinions and fractured loyalties floating around right now, and too many people with those drastically differing opinions and loyalties that are employing small armies, however there are some signs of unity regardless.
For example: the California Republic and the Salt Lake Confederation, somewhat opposed ideologies: the CR having become extremely libertarian after the first election that was had, mostly due to shell-shocked folks just looking for some kind of flag to rally around and the idea of "spreading the wealth around" didn't hold to well with them. However some things never change and San Francisco is one victory parade shy of being Communist totalitarian, but that's a whole other story. Meanwhile the SLC's governance structure has faith intertwined into the highest levels, I'm not saying that's a bad thing, it's just you wouldn't expect the CR whose leadership professes "No gods, no kings, only man" to be trading partners with a confederation whose ideals and politics are intertwined with that of the Mormon Church.
Now some of you reading this may be wondering, "but where is the military in all this? Why haven't they stepped in and acted as a nationwide unifier/police force? Why are mercenaries like you protecting caravans?"
Well it's simple, the remnants have described that as not in their job description as they are mainly for defending us from foreign threats, that and the bulk of the military was in the field and got hit by tactical nuclear weapons. So most of the ones that are still around that didn't retire and or desert are stationed along the Ravenwood/Alameda DMZ and various other Chinese military footholds still in the U.S.
Anyway, headed over to my hometown to check on things there and see how everyone is before considering what to do next. Might bother a couple of friends that are around on the east side and run some tests with my ashlands kit to see what's what with the anomalous properties.
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Snow, I hate snow.... well not so much hate... dislike being cold and wet is a better choice of words I guess... my own damn fault for heading north to Canada without much cold/wet weather gear, then again I didn't plan on spending a month or so up there's that.
Anyway, found a snowmobile store out here in between towns, IDA (trying to convince it that Pandora would be a better name, though my arguments on the symbolism of pandora's box and the potential chaos that the idea of autonomous artificial intelligence could bring to human society has so far fallen to deaf audio sensors) and I were able to get it running after monkeying around with it and stuffing the engine off a portable diesel generator into it in place of the gas engine making it a bit more versatile in the fuels department... and easier to deal with since it's just compression at that point and no spark, and no electronic ignition needed. Hell pulling the computer, engine, and other unnecessary components (block heater and battery is necessary) made the damn thing lighter and easier to drive even after stuffing a diesel engine into it, weird, but it happened. Anyway this is making getting back south towards....hmmm.. not sure if I should go near the SLC just yet... a robot hellhound could get me burned at the stake, Ashlands stalker or not...Oregon perhaps?
Eh this is just musings though. dunno where to go just yet.
Oh right back in the CR, the caravan that I helped escort last week was the last big one for the summer especially with the snow starting to fall across the passes and no one wanting to invest too much work into getting a fleet of snowplows running again, at least right now anyway. Might do it when/if we're a unified country again but there's just too many differing opinions and fractured loyalties floating around right now, and too many people with those drastically differing opinions and loyalties that are employing small armies, however there are some signs of unity regardless.
For example: the California Republic and the Salt Lake Confederation, somewhat opposed ideologies: the CR having become extremely libertarian after the first election that was had, mostly due to shell-shocked folks just looking for some kind of flag to rally around and the idea of "spreading the wealth around" didn't hold to well with them. However some things never change and San Francisco is one victory parade shy of being Communist totalitarian, but that's a whole other story. Meanwhile the SLC's governance structure has faith intertwined into the highest levels, I'm not saying that's a bad thing, it's just you wouldn't expect the CR whose leadership professes "No gods, no kings, only man" to be trading partners with a confederation whose ideals and politics are intertwined with that of the Mormon Church.
Now some of you reading this may be wondering, "but where is the military in all this? Why haven't they stepped in and acted as a nationwide unifier/police force? Why are mercenaries like you protecting caravans?"
Well it's simple, the remnants have described that as not in their job description as they are mainly for defending us from foreign threats, that and the bulk of the military was in the field and got hit by tactical nuclear weapons. So most of the ones that are still around that didn't retire and or desert are stationed along the Ravenwood/Alameda DMZ and various other Chinese military footholds still in the U.S.
Anyway, headed over to my hometown to check on things there and see how everyone is before considering what to do next. Might bother a couple of friends that are around on the east side and run some tests with my ashlands kit to see what's what with the anomalous properties.
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Snow, I hate snow.... well not so much hate... dislike being cold and wet is a better choice of words I guess... my own damn fault for heading north to Canada without much cold/wet weather gear, then again I didn't plan on spending a month or so up there's that.
Anyway, found a snowmobile store out here in between towns, IDA (trying to convince it that Pandora would be a better name, though my arguments on the symbolism of pandora's box and the potential chaos that the idea of autonomous artificial intelligence could bring to human society has so far fallen to deaf audio sensors) and I were able to get it running after monkeying around with it and stuffing the engine off a portable diesel generator into it in place of the gas engine making it a bit more versatile in the fuels department... and easier to deal with since it's just compression at that point and no spark, and no electronic ignition needed. Hell pulling the computer, engine, and other unnecessary components (block heater and battery is necessary) made the damn thing lighter and easier to drive even after stuffing a diesel engine into it, weird, but it happened. Anyway this is making getting back south towards....hmmm.. not sure if I should go near the SLC just yet... a robot hellhound could get me burned at the stake, Ashlands stalker or not...Oregon perhaps?
Eh this is just musings though. dunno where to go just yet.
Wednesday, October 1, 2014
Teasers From Beyond the Blastwave Part VI
Bit of a short update for today. Like I said, Mea culpa Mea culpa.
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So I finally got someone to tell me just why ashlands stalkers, not some of the new guys, people who started off the apocalypse out there, get talked about like we're harbringers of the apocalypse and things of that nature.apparently there's a miasma about us that makes us and the air around us blurry, kinda like a heat mirage with a hint of shadow is how he put it. Apparently this only affects people who started out out there. Which I guess makes sense, that area is weird with anomalies and what some people are calling magic now, so it could be a matter of acclimation as well, which would explain why none of us are able to notice it and everyone else does.
I guess that could be intimidating to most people... I'll have to bring this to the others, so we can figure things out, might have the organize those of us into some kind of order since this apparently affects the ash too which is why people need us as guides...
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Weather sucks, trapped in a forest due to snow. Not much to say. IDA is having a blast running around through the snow with a "holycrapwhathehellisthis" reaction to the snow. Which is kinda odd for coming from Canada....but..yeah.
Well not so much trapped as it's taking a while to slog through all this snow, and I can only melt so much of it in a day with fire.
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So I finally got someone to tell me just why ashlands stalkers, not some of the new guys, people who started off the apocalypse out there, get talked about like we're harbringers of the apocalypse and things of that nature.apparently there's a miasma about us that makes us and the air around us blurry, kinda like a heat mirage with a hint of shadow is how he put it. Apparently this only affects people who started out out there. Which I guess makes sense, that area is weird with anomalies and what some people are calling magic now, so it could be a matter of acclimation as well, which would explain why none of us are able to notice it and everyone else does.
I guess that could be intimidating to most people... I'll have to bring this to the others, so we can figure things out, might have the organize those of us into some kind of order since this apparently affects the ash too which is why people need us as guides...
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Weather sucks, trapped in a forest due to snow. Not much to say. IDA is having a blast running around through the snow with a "holycrapwhathehellisthis" reaction to the snow. Which is kinda odd for coming from Canada....but..yeah.
Well not so much trapped as it's taking a while to slog through all this snow, and I can only melt so much of it in a day with fire.
Monday, September 29, 2014
My apologies.
In the last 6 days I've spent 30+ hours in the driver's seat, my mind is shot, I will be posting a double update this week, once on Wednesday and the followup on this-coming weekend.
I meant to make this post on Thursday but preparation for a camping trip distracted me.
My apologies.
I meant to make this post on Thursday but preparation for a camping trip distracted me.
My apologies.
-Blastwave
Saturday, September 20, 2014
Teasers from beyond the blastwave part V
Reports of my demise have been greatly hyped.... but wrong. Just was a little bit busy with work the last couple of weeks and it resulted in writers block. That and I'm trying not to get too close to the terminator franchise with the institute's envoy into organic territory... The Ellison Lawyers are scary, especially since they're backed with funding from the CIA.....No seriously Oracle was largely built up with money from the CIA because they wanted simple and easy to use databases, unlike the most recent articles that don't even mention them, with only a passing mention to government contracts, at all and implying that it was all private sector willpower and capitol.
Anyway I digress, and have changed the AI coming with the protagonist from one based off an austrian bodybuilder to a robot dog.
Back to the Blastwave.
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The ecologist is back in the CR, Eivan stuck around to negotiate some kind of contract for a larger expedition next spring.... We're going to have to hunt down [redacted] to help us if we're going to be making this venture work, they'll be able to help organize things. One person was almost more than Eivan and I could keep safe at any given time. Well, one person who's more curious about stuff than is safe to be curious about.
Anyway... I'm currently contracted out as a guard for the caravans to and from Utah....I don't know where they found it all but the mormons pay surprisingly well for my services. 2 meals a day with fresh vegetables+ whatever the trail scouts catch when picking the route for the day, on top of the 50 rounds of pre-war sealed ammunition a day. I think they might have one of the folks who figured out how to manipulate plants like I did with fire. Which is surprising to me I guess, never thought their faith to be as accepting of that kind of change, much less outsiders.
Either way my everyday goes more or less like this right now:
Anyway I digress, and have changed the AI coming with the protagonist from one based off an austrian bodybuilder to a robot dog.
Back to the Blastwave.
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The ecologist is back in the CR, Eivan stuck around to negotiate some kind of contract for a larger expedition next spring.... We're going to have to hunt down [redacted] to help us if we're going to be making this venture work, they'll be able to help organize things. One person was almost more than Eivan and I could keep safe at any given time. Well, one person who's more curious about stuff than is safe to be curious about.
Anyway... I'm currently contracted out as a guard for the caravans to and from Utah....I don't know where they found it all but the mormons pay surprisingly well for my services. 2 meals a day with fresh vegetables+ whatever the trail scouts catch when picking the route for the day, on top of the 50 rounds of pre-war sealed ammunition a day. I think they might have one of the folks who figured out how to manipulate plants like I did with fire. Which is surprising to me I guess, never thought their faith to be as accepting of that kind of change, much less outsiders.
Either way my everyday goes more or less like this right now:
- wake up before dawn and check my gear
- swing by the food truck and get something to eat for breakfast
- climb partway up the cattle trailer, or the largest rock near camp and check the horizon and surrounding area for anything the nightwatch may have missed, escaped horses, rabid bandits, herds of cows that were just over the rise and no one saw them or heard them, things of that nature.
- take my perch atop the cattle trailer and settle in for the day
- chew on jerky around mid-day
- stand up because I saw something odd, usually just an angry rabbit (seriously they have no fucks left to give and will attack a full grown man on a horse, it's comical but at the same time a person caught off guard will usually require stitches), and also because at this point in the day my legs have fallen asleep and I forgot to stand up and stretch earlier.
- help direct the traffic from up top of the trailer as they set up camp for the night
- get something to eat for dinner
- patrol first watch then grab some sleep under the dozer
And that's a normal day for me right now. Haven't had to shoot anyone, the one group that did pass by headed east to Salt Lake kinda got hushed and talked quietly among themselves as they passed the cattle-trailer. Afterwards someone told me that they apparently consider me otherworldly due to how my gear is stained from the ashlands. I seriously don't understand the superstition that's cropping up around those of us who have no problem wandering around out there. It's just ash, there's nothing magical about it, you just need to take the basic precautions and the right types of food, and something to filter water. Hell it's possible to build a community out there if someone wanted to. And it'd be worth it with all the old world tech hidden and preserved under the ash.
That's just my two cents anyway.
That's just my two cents anyway.
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Got to actually see inside the institute..... it is...the most impressive gem of pre-war tech I have ever seen. It is what legends are made of to be honest. Somehow here a remote technical college in Canada....actually honestly most of canada survived the exchange, so it really shouldn't be surprising. But still, everything in here is a weird melding of magic and tech, the likes of which the techmages in the Silicon Valley would either farn over in absolute adoration.... or declare heresey and attempt to purge is from the realms of man.
Yeah... no middle ground with them really. One of them fixed a night vision filter for my M4's scope and the guy next to him grabbed it and tossed it in the trash and it almost turned into a knife fight between the two of them....Techmages are weird...but they keep the internet running and create fantastic machinations, granted those machinations take constant maintenance to keep operational. Wonder if we'll be back to Vegas in time to see the launch of the Auk IV (whoever named it after a flightless bird needs to be slapped), first manned mission to orbit since the war. As Eivan put it "Is great momentous occasion, do not be of missing. It will be spectacular even if it is blowing up of launch pad and not taking off into space like majestic reverse meteor shower of last year"....and he kinda has a point.
So as I said.. We'll try to be back in Vegas for the launch. I have a companion now. One of the ai's from the institute, well a group of them. According to IDA-01 (Institute Design Ambassadorial model 1) it has about 9 times the programs of a standard institute platform, and 12 times the processing power allowing it to move around and hold an intellectual conversation on its own without need of the institute's wireless network. That and the platform's design is much more complex compared to the normal two foot four legged spider drones they use for moving around most of the campus. I mean it looks like a dog, to the point where it has synthetic muscles and skin with a self repair function as well as a very complex temperature regulation system involving fur made up of bundles of carbon nano-tubules. The only way one could tell it wasn't a dog, or wolf at first glance is the pattern welded teeth and claws, mechanical blue eyes that are backlit, and the fact it can talk.
Going to have to come up with a decent name for the dog though, IDA doesn't fit its personality since that just seems cold and calculating to me while the AI is naturally curious and inquisitive about its surroundings, pandora maybe? Anyway, according to the other AI's they chose a canine as the base for model 01 because of humanity's long partnership with them. I think it might be a longshot, but I'll escort their ambassador around the major hubs.... let's hope no more weird mythology about the ashlands stalkers crop up because of this. According to some we're ghosts of the old world, while others call us angels sent to judge the fate of the survivors of the war, while others call us devils, however none of the last group have openly tried to kill any of us.
Regarding that book. Still no idea what's up with it, and the institute drones would lose all power if they got nearer than 40 feet to it. They would reset once taken out of the area. the AI's made a consensus about this pretty fast and have decided to seal off the entire floor of the hotel just as a precaution, with monitoring stations with hardwired connections to keep an eye on things in the event the effect's area expands.
Yeah... no middle ground with them really. One of them fixed a night vision filter for my M4's scope and the guy next to him grabbed it and tossed it in the trash and it almost turned into a knife fight between the two of them....Techmages are weird...but they keep the internet running and create fantastic machinations, granted those machinations take constant maintenance to keep operational. Wonder if we'll be back to Vegas in time to see the launch of the Auk IV (whoever named it after a flightless bird needs to be slapped), first manned mission to orbit since the war. As Eivan put it "Is great momentous occasion, do not be of missing. It will be spectacular even if it is blowing up of launch pad and not taking off into space like majestic reverse meteor shower of last year"....and he kinda has a point.
So as I said.. We'll try to be back in Vegas for the launch. I have a companion now. One of the ai's from the institute, well a group of them. According to IDA-01 (Institute Design Ambassadorial model 1) it has about 9 times the programs of a standard institute platform, and 12 times the processing power allowing it to move around and hold an intellectual conversation on its own without need of the institute's wireless network. That and the platform's design is much more complex compared to the normal two foot four legged spider drones they use for moving around most of the campus. I mean it looks like a dog, to the point where it has synthetic muscles and skin with a self repair function as well as a very complex temperature regulation system involving fur made up of bundles of carbon nano-tubules. The only way one could tell it wasn't a dog, or wolf at first glance is the pattern welded teeth and claws, mechanical blue eyes that are backlit, and the fact it can talk.
Going to have to come up with a decent name for the dog though, IDA doesn't fit its personality since that just seems cold and calculating to me while the AI is naturally curious and inquisitive about its surroundings, pandora maybe? Anyway, according to the other AI's they chose a canine as the base for model 01 because of humanity's long partnership with them. I think it might be a longshot, but I'll escort their ambassador around the major hubs.... let's hope no more weird mythology about the ashlands stalkers crop up because of this. According to some we're ghosts of the old world, while others call us angels sent to judge the fate of the survivors of the war, while others call us devils, however none of the last group have openly tried to kill any of us.
Regarding that book. Still no idea what's up with it, and the institute drones would lose all power if they got nearer than 40 feet to it. They would reset once taken out of the area. the AI's made a consensus about this pretty fast and have decided to seal off the entire floor of the hotel just as a precaution, with monitoring stations with hardwired connections to keep an eye on things in the event the effect's area expands.
Sunday, August 31, 2014
Teasers from Beyond the Blastwave Part IV
Didn't want to head south to Salt Lake... though really didn't get much of a choice. Largest settlement at the edge of the ash-lands, especially with the mega Desal plant working again, all the tech, and people, that survived in the Bingham Canyon city sized bunker made that possible. Despite the chaotic weather there was an amazing crop of vegetables that grew in the surrounding farmland.
Anyway, backing up to Why we headed south instead of continuing west. There was a creature in the way. Not really sure what that was to be honest, it wasn't there when we hiked through the first time. The best description would have to be a dragon. Lizardlike, as long as a bus is, The wingspan was just as wide that allowed it to glide easily enough while it used it's tail like a rudder as it moved through the air, two rear legs no front legs, when folded and landed it used its wings as such. It was terrifyingly majestic as it slowly circled above us after leaping off the cliffside before landing in front of us lightly. Eivan and I had the sense of mind to grab our ecologist friend and drag him back, it's mouth could have easily swallowed any of us up whole in one bite. It didn't breath fire on us, though we didn't give much of a chance since we immediately bolted back down the road we'd came. Didn't stop much as we headed south along the 15 towards Salt Lake. It followed us for a couple days, watching us, we didn't stop till the ecologist dropped from exhaustion and we took shelter in a bus terminal in Malad. I guess by that point it had grown disinterested in us. We rested a day then continued south to Salt Lake to get supplies and see if a caravan along the I-84 needed guards. Thankfully they didn't give us as much grief about being non-mormons this time, fair prices on food and drink as well.
Hopefully we'll be back in the CR in a few days and we can finish our contract by getting our ecologist friend home safe and sound.
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The s͇͎̳̯͇̯͈̮͔͚̖͇̹̘̗̗̤e̳̪͕̗͍͕̬̭͕̙̰ͅv̱͉̻̱̬͎̰͍̟̩̘͕ͅͅe̯͓̯̩̟͍̜̝̜̮̳͉̹͍̮̮ͅͅn͔͚̮͕͖̳̰͎͙̬͉t͔͚̮̠̖̥h͈̘̹̼̘̱̘̺̲̣͔̩ͅͅ floor is definitely larger on the inside than the outside, it is definitely a labyrinth as well, however I was able to map it all out, I didn't find the missing drones in it. That took most of the week, would have been faster if I'd figured out how to see in the dark faster, well and adjust to that which took a day. A quasi modification to my eyesight that allows me to see into the u͚̺͓̲̼͇̦ͫ͒ĺ͚̑͛t̺̊̍ͨ̐͛̿r̦̤̥͕̓͑̚a̜̯̰͛ͤ̔̇v̖̺̯̺̩̽ͅĩ̟͇̤̬̦̲ͯ͒õ̳̤̬ͧ̂l̬͔͖͔̹͇̫̳͖ͬ͂͛̑ͮͯͭͯͫe͍̤̓̋̍ͭ̍̐̓ͤ̚t̲̠̞̲̤͉͈͋ͯ͊ ̤̭̻̣̪̙͉̲̼̍̑̿̌̍̐̍̈́s̞͖̹̮̣͋̌ͅp̲͉̣̰͖̤͔ͣ̐ͅe̻̘̥̱̙̦͚̋́̈̀̎͒ͥc͎̝̱̗̯̘̭̭̞̀͛ͣ͌ͧ̃̐t̜̝͎̼͖̻͊̂̿ͭͨ̓r̩̲̜̫̩ͮ̊̓ǘ̹ͧ̋ͨ̾͛̑ͧ̃m̻̝͊̇ͭͬ. I was wondering why the drones had no problem with the seventh floor while I couldn't see jack, Something about the air of the seventh floor adsorbs all normally visible light. No idea why, and since there wasn't anything physically there to sample there's nothing to really check. Anyway, no drones. I did find a dias made of apparently all the towels that were on this floor with a leather-bound book on it but it c͕̬̃̈́͊̋̈r̸͉͚̘͍͎̤̂ͫ̂͊ͯͫ̓͝ȇ̛̩͓̦̹̳̪̟̈́̕é͍̦̖̜̗̲̱̗̇ͯͯ͂́͜p̶̘̞̬̥͔̳͚͆̀̇̎ͭ̔̒̉̐e̵͔͔͙̯͂͆ͤ̅͂̓d̵̺͔̭̱͇̼̮͐̑͂ͣ͢ͅ me out enough I didn't want to touch it. Something just seemed... ỏ̻̤͓̤ͪf͈ͦf̤̟̩͍̳̩̖̾ͫ̌ͅ about it.
Fifth and sixth floor still remain impenetrable despite the best attempts of myself and drones from the institute. ID-9 though has declared that I attempted to complete the task in good faith and that the inability to explore the remaining floors doesn't count against anything, the fact that I did in fact find one of the missing drones is being debated upon and hopefully a c̳͛͑o͖̬ͦ͋ͩ͊͌̑̅͐n̤̭̩̝͑̌͐͂̍̾̆̏s̲̖̤͖͓̙͛͌̎̂ͣe̟̭̹͉̥̓̍͂ͩ̎̈̀n̰̬͍̗͗̓ͥ̋͊ͤͩ̓s̤̗̗̄͆̃ͫ̄ͩ͐̔ͅu̱̰͈͉ͥ̌ͪ̇ͣ͂͊s̘̳͙̒͒̾̐ͮ on whether to open up "trade options with organics" or not can be made in the next day or so Snow's starting to fall now..
....seriously w͇̤͙͕̆́̃ͪ͂ͮḧ͇̹ͯͮ̐̚o̥̟̪̥̙̙̪̎ͮ̃͌̚'̭͔͂̉ͪ̇s̻̮͋̽̇̾̈ͤ̿͑͒ ̹̬̭̪͎̩͍̠ͥ̊̍͐̃i̗͇̦͑̎̑d͓̻̫ͧ̚ě͓̫̭̟͎̭̭̼̿̈́ͪ̓̒a͓̥̳̖͂ͬͨ̓ͮ͐ ẃ̗͓̘̤͈̫̟͙̤a͏̨̞̩͉̼̀s̡̱̰͙̠̙̙̠̦͓ it to make ME the ambassador for the human race to new creatures and entities? First the Drakony, and now AI's... what's next E-T's?
Anyway, backing up to Why we headed south instead of continuing west. There was a creature in the way. Not really sure what that was to be honest, it wasn't there when we hiked through the first time. The best description would have to be a dragon. Lizardlike, as long as a bus is, The wingspan was just as wide that allowed it to glide easily enough while it used it's tail like a rudder as it moved through the air, two rear legs no front legs, when folded and landed it used its wings as such. It was terrifyingly majestic as it slowly circled above us after leaping off the cliffside before landing in front of us lightly. Eivan and I had the sense of mind to grab our ecologist friend and drag him back, it's mouth could have easily swallowed any of us up whole in one bite. It didn't breath fire on us, though we didn't give much of a chance since we immediately bolted back down the road we'd came. Didn't stop much as we headed south along the 15 towards Salt Lake. It followed us for a couple days, watching us, we didn't stop till the ecologist dropped from exhaustion and we took shelter in a bus terminal in Malad. I guess by that point it had grown disinterested in us. We rested a day then continued south to Salt Lake to get supplies and see if a caravan along the I-84 needed guards. Thankfully they didn't give us as much grief about being non-mormons this time, fair prices on food and drink as well.
Hopefully we'll be back in the CR in a few days and we can finish our contract by getting our ecologist friend home safe and sound.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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The s͇͎̳̯͇̯͈̮͔͚̖͇̹̘̗̗̤e̳̪͕̗͍͕̬̭͕̙̰ͅv̱͉̻̱̬͎̰͍̟̩̘͕ͅͅe̯͓̯̩̟͍̜̝̜̮̳͉̹͍̮̮ͅͅn͔͚̮͕͖̳̰͎͙̬͉t͔͚̮̠̖̥h͈̘̹̼̘̱̘̺̲̣͔̩ͅͅ floor is definitely larger on the inside than the outside, it is definitely a labyrinth as well, however I was able to map it all out, I didn't find the missing drones in it. That took most of the week, would have been faster if I'd figured out how to see in the dark faster, well and adjust to that which took a day. A quasi modification to my eyesight that allows me to see into the u͚̺͓̲̼͇̦ͫ͒ĺ͚̑͛t̺̊̍ͨ̐͛̿r̦̤̥͕̓͑̚a̜̯̰͛ͤ̔̇v̖̺̯̺̩̽ͅĩ̟͇̤̬̦̲ͯ͒õ̳̤̬ͧ̂l̬͔͖͔̹͇̫̳͖ͬ͂͛̑ͮͯͭͯͫe͍̤̓̋̍ͭ̍̐̓ͤ̚t̲̠̞̲̤͉͈͋ͯ͊ ̤̭̻̣̪̙͉̲̼̍̑̿̌̍̐̍̈́s̞͖̹̮̣͋̌ͅp̲͉̣̰͖̤͔ͣ̐ͅe̻̘̥̱̙̦͚̋́̈̀̎͒ͥc͎̝̱̗̯̘̭̭̞̀͛ͣ͌ͧ̃̐t̜̝͎̼͖̻͊̂̿ͭͨ̓r̩̲̜̫̩ͮ̊̓ǘ̹ͧ̋ͨ̾͛̑ͧ̃m̻̝͊̇ͭͬ. I was wondering why the drones had no problem with the seventh floor while I couldn't see jack, Something about the air of the seventh floor adsorbs all normally visible light. No idea why, and since there wasn't anything physically there to sample there's nothing to really check. Anyway, no drones. I did find a dias made of apparently all the towels that were on this floor with a leather-bound book on it but it c͕̬̃̈́͊̋̈r̸͉͚̘͍͎̤̂ͫ̂͊ͯͫ̓͝ȇ̛̩͓̦̹̳̪̟̈́̕é͍̦̖̜̗̲̱̗̇ͯͯ͂́͜p̶̘̞̬̥͔̳͚͆̀̇̎ͭ̔̒̉̐e̵͔͔͙̯͂͆ͤ̅͂̓d̵̺͔̭̱͇̼̮͐̑͂ͣ͢ͅ me out enough I didn't want to touch it. Something just seemed... ỏ̻̤͓̤ͪf͈ͦf̤̟̩͍̳̩̖̾ͫ̌ͅ about it.
Fifth and sixth floor still remain impenetrable despite the best attempts of myself and drones from the institute. ID-9 though has declared that I attempted to complete the task in good faith and that the inability to explore the remaining floors doesn't count against anything, the fact that I did in fact find one of the missing drones is being debated upon and hopefully a c̳͛͑o͖̬ͦ͋ͩ͊͌̑̅͐n̤̭̩̝͑̌͐͂̍̾̆̏s̲̖̤͖͓̙͛͌̎̂ͣe̟̭̹͉̥̓̍͂ͩ̎̈̀n̰̬͍̗͗̓ͥ̋͊ͤͩ̓s̤̗̗̄͆̃ͫ̄ͩ͐̔ͅu̱̰͈͉ͥ̌ͪ̇ͣ͂͊s̘̳͙̒͒̾̐ͮ on whether to open up "trade options with organics" or not can be made in the next day or so Snow's starting to fall now..
....seriously w͇̤͙͕̆́̃ͪ͂ͮḧ͇̹ͯͮ̐̚o̥̟̪̥̙̙̪̎ͮ̃͌̚'̭͔͂̉ͪ̇s̻̮͋̽̇̾̈ͤ̿͑͒ ̹̬̭̪͎̩͍̠ͥ̊̍͐̃i̗͇̦͑̎̑d͓̻̫ͧ̚ě͓̫̭̟͎̭̭̼̿̈́ͪ̓̒a͓̥̳̖͂ͬͨ̓ͮ͐ ẃ̗͓̘̤͈̫̟͙̤a͏̨̞̩͉̼̀s̡̱̰͙̠̙̙̠̦͓ it to make ME the ambassador for the human race to new creatures and entities? First the Drakony, and now AI's... what's next E-T's?
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