Plotbunny for sale - cheap

[Ebony]

Thing one: Thanks. Still hammering, and I don't know how the schedule will hold up. The BBI and WW1 may just be in the background for now.
Thing two: This I figured would the big thing. I will be working further on this part. I'm at work, so I was just dashing it off today. The thing is, these are older fen; folks who actually have jobs in the Really, Real World (Blackstone's term for the 'Dane. He's a little less condescending of normal folks than a lot of the younger fen.). They would be putting in a lot more work to restore the bus than just throwing things together in a big pot and hoping it comes out alright. I'll go back and fiddle with it.
Thing three: Quirks are still in development. Like I said, this is all rough. As for the ratgirl, it's more a mental thing than a physical. It was meant to be something of a teaser. Wendy's immediate biomod is taking the actual transgender medical procedure and ... well, fixing it. A small bit of SI on my part, as my roommate is currently in the middle of gender hormone therapy, and I would make it easier for her if I could, at least physically (she's gotta do the psychological bit herself). As for quirks, I think that trading testosterone for estrogen and all the issues therein is quirky enough.
Thing four: Handwavium has been described several times as nanotech goo. Or at least in a similar fashion. Nanotech, in the popular meme, very often has the secondary function of "refuel and reproduce." Who's to say that a small amount of 'wavium, left alone in for a period of time, doesn't increase in quantity? But, I see I left that out. Editing will be required.
Thanks for the criticism. I will take it into account in the next draft.Ebony the Black Dragon
Senior Editor, Living Room Games
http://www.lrgames.com
Ebony the Black Dragon
http://ebony14.livejournal.com

"Good night, and may the Good Lord take a Viking to you."

[Sirrocco]

The canonical thing with handwavium is that it's pretty easy to take a small amount and make a large amount. It does take a bit of time - you can't do it all at once, and you have to feed it something as well. Different batches will require different things, but it's usually at least marginally organic, and it's always reasonably easy to get some, given a bit of money.

[classicdrogn]

Since I havn't written that segment yet and Anpwhotep mentioned sending for a list, I will note here - the Gnarlycurl will be on Phobos (physicaly landed far enough from the main dock to have its own approach que) and while the parking available is pretty much amatter of setting down on the surrounding area, and there are only ahandfull of guest rooms available, it's cheap, the ship's store is open to sell everything from Tang mix, to ST:TNG style touch screen material and Cybertronium foam sheets, to a couSERVO: Loook *deeeeply* into my eyes... Tell me, what do you see?
CROW: (hypnotized) A twisted man who wants to inflict his pain upon others.
For the next 72 hours, Itachi intoned, I will slap you with this trout. - Spying no Jutsu, chapter 3
"In the futuristic taco bell of the year 20XX, justice wears an aluminum sombrero!"hemlock-martini
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

[classicdrogn]

couple of pinball machines (one Monopoly, one Lord of the Rings) to fresh fruits and flowers from Deck 4C, and shuttle service to the Phobos Colony habitable spaces runs every half hour, sixpence per passenger. It would be included in the parking rental along with (light) security for the parked vehicles, but the Magic Bus only lets staff ride for free. Tokens can be gotten right at the door, at the Gnarlycurl store, or from the stand set up in the rally room of the airlock being used on the phobos end.SERVO: Loook *deeeeply* into my eyes... Tell me, what do you see?
CROW: (hypnotized) A twisted man who wants to inflict his pain upon others.
For the next 72 hours, Itachi intoned, I will slap you with this trout. - Spying no Jutsu, chapter 3
"In the futuristic taco bell of the year 20XX, justice wears an aluminum sombrero!"hemlock-martini
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

[Sirrocco]

Classic - question: how did your heros manage to go from "shipping out to the belt with the shirts on our back" to "multiple backup vehicles, world's largest entertainment center, and runs a gift shop" that quickly? (especially given the relatively high cost of growing additional seibertronian handwavium and the sheer quantity it must have taken for you all to become stone temple pilots.) Also, didn't you say that nonbiomod plants tended to turn into metal on board? (probably a bit confused on that one, but that's the truth as I was tracking it.)
Mind you, if the "how did you get the cash" aspect is waiting on further story blocks, that's totally cool. I just want to make sure that you *have* some sort of plausible explanation - point B is pretty far away from point A in both work and money, and there's not but so many years between the two.

[robkelk]

Rip and replace of my two earlier vignettes...

---

"Good morning, everyone. Anything of interest overnight?"
The young lady at the communications console - a new employee, I didn't know her name yet - looked up. "Hello, Commander. The Terrestrial circuits are filled with spam, but we also have three requests from 'dane tourist agencies to rent hotel space in the new module."
Conventional wisdom among fen is that 'danes don't like space, but there's a steady tourist business this close to Earth. Adding a separate habitation module with "genuine Venusian diamond panoramic windows" and "genuine NASA life support systems" to the Stellvia was a stroke of genius, despite being a necessity to preserve some of my secrets - it gives me a steady source of 'dane income, which gives me the ability to buy stocks of all the lovely 'dane toys that so many fen enjoy.
The Stellvia? It's named after the station from Ryou Azuki's manga of the same name, of course, although only the comparatively small subset of shojo-fen who like space opera recognize the name without seeing the explanatory plaque beside each airlock. Oh, that wasn't what you meant? Ah... It started small, as such things usually do. When I started this little project, NASA was still launching shuttles with those big fuel tanks. I borrowed an idea from Ben Bova and got NASA to sell me a half-dozen unused main Shuttle fuel tanks. A few fen in NASA towed them up to LEO, where I took delivery of them. Some handwavium and some "elbow grease" got them safe to inhabit, and I towed them to L5 with the Epsilon Blade, where my command staff and I welded them together into a station. Then I moved in; I've rarely left Stellvia except for conventions since 2010.
(The Epsilon Blade? My personal craft, built to my specifications while I was still based on Earth. Winning the biggest lottery prize in all of 2008 let me indulge. It's a two-deck scoutship, named after a couple of friends who died in a car crash before handwavium was discovered - the name has nothing to do with one-up'ing the trekkies, despite the ship looking a lot like one of their Flyers. I'll get back to it later; you wanted to know about the Stellvia...)
That was the Stellvia in 2008. Liberal expenditure on metals and space-trained workers let me build the station up to the six-deck structure it is now, with the aforementioned habitation module being the newest part of the station. (One of these years, the whole thing might even look like the manga "Stellvia".) It's a reasonably-comfortable place for fen to buy 'dane luxury items, 'danes to go "way out into space", and both sides to gawk at the other (with the express understanding that anyone who gawks is expected to be gawked at in return - I often have to hire down-on-their-luck fen to be gawked at). There aren't many wavtech devices installed, aside from the defenses and gravity tech. (Yes, gravity tech. I've never seen anyone else use 'wavium that way, although I've heard stories ... Most of those stories name the Professor, though, so I'll believe it when I see it.)
"Thank you. Anything on the fen channels?"
The communications staffer looked at her display. "There's something here about a convention ..."
"Convention?" I interrupted. "That's top priority on the fen circuits; you should have started with that. Show it to me, please."
"I'm sorry, sir." She copied the e-mail to my hand computer, where I read it... or tried to read it. For the love of Belldandy, who wrote this? I toggled the inner station's all-call. "Command staff to main operations, please. I repeat: command staff to main operations, please."
The Stellvia's command staff is a bit odd - it's a tightly-guarded secret (which means that only half of fandom knows it) that it's made up of AI androids. Bribing Ryou Azuki and Kozuke Fujishima to share all of their notes, and licence a few likenesses and the name "Stellvia", wasn't too expensive - writing manga doesn't pay that well, apparently. In exchange for the quarter-million dollars that cost, I got everything I needed to get personality simulations coded and character likenesses sculpted. That cost a few million dollars... I'm still not sure why only female characters who need to wear glasses (three of Mr. Fujishima's, one of Ms. Azuki's) were the only ones to "wake up" when I installed the solid-state 'wavium in their bodies, but they're a good core crew who are unswervingly loyal to me. Their quirks, besides the one about needing glasses, were minor, and I could live with them. They had to live with them, after all. (And I never, ever, mention the robots that didn't "wake up" around them.) There are four of them - engineers Sora Hasegawa and Kohran Li, security specialist Yoriko Nikaido, and pilot Yayoi Fujisawa.
"Yoriko, does this make any sense to you?" I handed her the convention e-mail. She read and re-read the announcement while the rest of the command staff arrived.
Finally, she looked up. "It's a convention announcement."
"I figured out that much on my own." And if Yoriko didn't know anything about it, it must have come out of the blue. Yoriko hears about everything ... and can't keep any of it secret, which is why I had the hotel built as a separate section. "Any ideas why there's a convention announcement at this time of year?"
Everyone shook their heads.
I sighed. "Only one way to find out, then. Ms. Hasegawa, Ms. Fujisawa, please prep the Epsilon Blade for launch in two hours. Ms. Nikaido, you're in charge until we return."
"Understood, sir," replied Yoriko.
"Stay out of the new module. And don't pester the paying guests."
"Oh, that's no fun ..."

--------

"Noah, why are we going to Phobos?"
"It's a convention, Sora. We can't afford to be left out of a con; who knows what rules might be passed that would unduly affect us if we weren't there to object. Remember the first official convention, two years ago?"
My chief engineer shook her head. "That isn't what I meant. I know why you're going - it's business. Why are Yayoi and I going?"
Yayoi looked away from the Epsilon Blade's pilot console. "I assume I'm along to fly the ship."
"True," I smiled, "but that isn't the only reason. We've all heard the rumours about reaver activity; I want my best pilot and my best engineer with me so that this ship gets to Phobos and back." Sora blushed at the compliment; Yayoi didn't seem to react. "More importantly, I enjoy your company."
Sora was about to reply when the ship shook. "Impacts on the force screen, Commander!" shouted Yayoi.
"Evasive!" But Yayoi was already spinning the ship on two of its axes at the same time while applying random thrust, if the view out the front window as anything to go by. "What's going on?"
"We've taken hits near the engines from kinetic-kill weapons, possibly missiles without warheads. They would have disabled us if we didn't have the screens up." Score one for paranoia... Amongst the gadgets installed on the Epsilon Blade was the most powerful handwavium forcescreen my go-betweens could buy from "Schrodinger" Katz.
I didn't want a fight. Despite my reputation, I don't like resorting to violence. I walked over to the ship's second control station and toggled the transmitter. "Unidentified ship, this is the Epsilon Blade out of L5 station Stellvia. Please cease fire and state your terms." There was no reply. "I say again, please cease fire and state your terms." Their only answer was another missile across our starboard side. I switched the transmitter off. "Yayoi, can we outrun them?"
"I doubt it, Commander."
Damn, no choice but to add another line to my reputation... "Sora, since they refuse to answer, designate them 'Boskonian'." (That's our code-term for violent pirates. And operating between Earth and Mars, they're either powerful or suicidal - judging from recent fen rumours Yoriko had repeated to me, I wasn't willing to bet on which one was the case.) "Unlock the weapon controls. My authority."
She flinched, but flipped the necessary switches on the engineering console. "You have weapons, Noah."
"Thank you. Yayoi, where's the Boskonian?" I asked as I examined the tactical display.
"One ship, bearing 12-by-227." Within the turret's arc of fire, then. "Correction - bearing 19-by-219." I saw yet another missile pass in front of the ship. I know some fen don't like me, but somebody really didn't like me.
I checked the ammunition list. Damn it, Kohran had slipped a gravity implosion mine into the stores - that's a 'wavetech munition (assuming that isn't an oxymoron), with all the danger to the user that that implies. Maybe we could use it as a self-destruct charge if things got bad, but I'd bet it wouldn't even be good for that. I looked at what else we had. Railgun slugs, more railgun slugs, ... A-ha, three baby nukes. (Two engineers on staff plus some uranium salvaged from a brace of 1980s- and 1990s-era mundane space probes we had chased down equals what we've codenamed "kaboomite".) I loaded one into the railgun, followed by a half-dozen railgun slugs. "Steady flight, please."
"Aye, sir." Yayoi steadied the 'Blade. I had one shot. I took it. "Back to evasive, Yayoi." Fifteen seconds later, the ship that had opened fire on us went up in a soundless explosion. "Any more?"
After a moment, Yayoi answered, "It doesn't look like it."
"Good. Stand down from combat." I sat down and let out a slow breath, and started shaking; post-combat stress hits me hard.
("Sat down"? The Epsilon Blade's operation stations are patterned after the ship controls in the "Stellvia" anime - they're designed to be operated while standing. On this ship, sitting down is for relaxation, not for work.)
Sora helped me off the command deck and into my stateroom on the lower deck, where I collapsed onto my bed. "Oh, God, I ... I hate having to ... to do that."
"It was them or us."
"How many ... people did ... I just kill?"
"Noah, you didn't have a choice."
"I ... I know. Doesn't ... doesn't make it ... easier."
She turned off the light on her way out.

--------

Docking at Phobos was ridiculous, even with the VIP treatment I received. (Station administrators tend to get preferential treatment when visiting other stations; it's pretty much the only perk to the job.)
Going through station check-in was numbing. I had to fill out quite a few reports and answer even more questions - the two days I thought I was going to spend exploring Phobos with Sora and Yayoi, plus the first day of the Convention, were taken up with the official investigation of our run-in with the Boskonian.
We didn't even get to the Convention proper when I heard someone call my name. I turned to face a Japanese man I'd never met before. "Yes, I'm Noah Scott. How can I help you?"
"I understand you had some trouble on your trip to the convention."
"Word gets around fast, Mr...?"
"My name is Koizumi Itsuki."

--------

Well, that was disquieting. I wasn't the only one who'd been attacked by reavers. (And I wasn't the only one calling them "Boskonians", either, although they were using the term a bit differently than I was. No reason to be surprised - the SSX folks tend to get upset when people call reavers "pirates", and "Doc" Smithians are noticeable out here. Well, they're more noticeable than the Cordwainer Smithians are.) The other attacks had been close to Jupiter or the main Belt - at least, the known attacks had been that far out. If it hadn't been for one of Kohran's Special Kaboomite Warheads, we wouldn't have been able to report, or likely survive, the attack during our trip to Mars.
And according to the SOS people, some Boskonians were running drugs, too. Nasty drugs, from someplace on Venus. (Idly, I wondered whether the DEA's Mr. Scott was involved in this case. He had visited Stellvia a few years ago, and the resulting confusion with our names was a big reason why the command staff's now on a first-name basis with each other and I'm "Commander" to everyone else on the station. Anyway ...)
The existance of Boskonians between Earth and Mars (don't tell me they don't exist; one attacked me) implied the Venusian Boskonians and the Jovian Boskonians might be connected. That meant the SOS-dan needed an auxillary base between Venus and Mars, to find out for sure. An Earthbound base would be too far down the atmosphere and gravity well to be useful. Earth orbit was too crowded. Luna and L4 were controlled by the 'danes. There weren't any bases at L1, L2, or L3, so dropping anything at any of those would be too obvious. That left L5, which meant the Warsie base or the Stellvia, and a 'dane tourist trap / fen trading post would be able to hide SOS traffic better than a pseudo-military base would.
An hour of dickering, interrupted by two hours of live feed of the Opening Ceremonies Speech from the SOS-dan's leader Suzumiya (which wasn't nearly as dry as most such speeches), and SOS had rented an entire floor of the new hotel for the duration. Steady business meant I could give them a reduced rate, they agreed to bring in any special equipment they needed, and they actually seemed to like the idea of being located near Kohran's workshop ... which made me worry.

--------

Con life can be exciting, if you're in the wrong place at the wrong time. Unfortunately, we had to be in the wrong place - a crowded corridor - in order to get to the right place - a panel on do-it-yourself ship and station fortification. We weren't officially on the panel, but I smelled money.
"Hey, you! This Con isn't a place for old guys like you to pick up girls my age!" It was one of those teenaged Hidden Asteroid yahoos, and he was pointing at me.
Yayoi had gone back to the Epsilon Blade to report back to Stellvia and get changed for the costume competition, so it was just Sora and me. It's pretty obvious what the space ninja, and probably quite a few other fen, thought.
I could feel Sora start to shake as she pressed close to my side. "This young woman is one of my crew, not my date. And you just made her cry." (I didn't need to look at Sora to know she was crying; she's very sensitive about how young she looks. At least twice a week, usually more often, I have to interrupt whatever I'm doing to soothe her ruffled feathers. It's cost me a few contracts with the Trekkies, and a lot of goodwill with the Senshi.)
"But ... She looks like ... I didn't mean to ..." Usually, space ninja that age are so amusing when they're flustered. Usually, they didn't just unknowingly insult one of my friends, so I wasn't prepared to give him any slack.
Judging from body language and muttered comments, the crowd around us seemed to be evenly split between "how dare he make her cry?" (mostly "Doc" Smithians and shojo-fen), "she needs to grow a spine" (mostly Heinleiners and Senshi), and "what the hell's blocking traffic?" (fen from every faction). Time to wind this up. I gave the wonderboy two more seconds to apologize to Sora, then said "Let's just go" while offering her a dry handkerchief.
"O...okay." She dried her eyes as we walked past the teenager, who still couldn't figure out what to do.
One of these days, my dislike of hand-to-hand-fighter fen would probably get me into trouble. But today wasn't that day. I hoped.

--------

I saw a shop run by somebody who used to be a business associate a few years ago. I'd asked Sora to get a couple of cans of beer - I don't usually drink, but the barkeepers around here carded everybody, so she'd be "just another adult" - so I decided saying "hello" was worth a try. Besides, it might take my mind off of what the SOS-dan had told me.
"Welcome to Stan's Kwalitee Danegoo... Oh. It's you."
"Hello, Stan. Can I buy you a drink?"
"No."
"C'mon, Stan, that was three and a half years ago, and I paid for everything that was destroyed. Can't you let bygones be bygones?"
Stan glared at me. "Your pet robot..."
"She's not a 'pet'." I glared back at him.
"Fine. Your Oh-So-Special Trusted Assistant," you could hear the capital letters, the way he spat them out, "made me miss deadlines with a lot of fen. My reputation suffered because of her. 'A drink' isn't going to make that go away. Is the bitch here?"
"She's not a 'bitch', either. And, no, Ms. Li is still on the Stellvia."
"Good. At least this Con won't be ruined because of her fulminative approach to life."
'Fulminative'? I didn't know Stan did that much business with the "Doc" Smithians... and is that even a word? "You're exaggerating things. It was one explosion in a clearly-marked weapons testing area."
"In the middle of a Convention parking area!"
"Hey, I paid for the ships that were wrecked because they parked within a hundred kilometers of the test!"
Stan shook his head. "You still think you can solve every problem by throwing money at it, don't you? The rest of us don't live that way, and that's why we don't like you."
That's not true; lots of people like me. The Warsies love me - I'm a source of explosive practice targets, close to their near-Earth base. (That trade almost pays for the damages to the Stellvia whenever Kohran develops her toys.) Stan was just holding a grudge. I hope. "You're sure there's nothing I can do to make things better between us?"
"Go away, Mr. Scott."
At least I tried. Again.
Sora was waiting for me two stalls down the hall. "No luck?"
"No luck. Beer?"
"Here." She handed me one of the cans.
"Thanks. After that talk, I need this..." And I was still worried about what the SOS folks had told me.
--------

The panel turned into a bunfight between the Warsies, the Trekkies, the Senshi, and the Whedonites (in decreasing order of metaphorical "firepower" on hand). Sora and I cut and run while we still could.
We decided to take in the rest of the first round of the Costume Competition. Sora and I never took part in them, but we did enjoy looking at everyone else's outfits.
("Why not"? I didn't have the right body type for cosplay. Sora didn't want to take advantage of looking like herself, and nobody who knew her wanted to recommend any character she looked like - those characters were all young teenagers.)
We got there just in time to see the "Read or Die" cosplayers. This year, there were a half-dozen Nancys, four Anitas, and seven Yomikos, and they were all quite good. (They had to be; for an older show like that one, cosplayers need to go big or go home.)
One of the Yomikos sent a paper airplane into the audience, and it landed right in my lap. Sora looked at it and giggled. I frowned at her. "What?"
"It's for you, Noah."
Huh? Sure enough, it was a note, addressed to me. I took a better look at the Yomiko cosplayer and realized that it was Yayoi with her hair down.
I read the note once she was off-stage: "Noah, I'll be busy for a few hours, so don't wait up for me. Hugs and kisses. Yayoi." This was not good. Most of the fen who knew I had four loyal, attractive, female companions thought I was sleeping with some or all of them. I was, but (by her choice) not with Yayoi. "Hugs and kisses" meant she was in trouble. What kind of trouble could she get into, or find, at a cosplay contest? I thought for a moment, and came up with too many possibilities.
I didn't have any weapons with me between "fists" and "Kohran's Special Kaboomite Warheads" - I was no good with the former, and the latter were too big, and far too dangerous, to use indoors. But if you couldn't find a decent sidearm for sale at a Con, you weren't looking. What's more important was that I had no idea (or, rather, too many ideas, all of which might be wrong) what sort of trouble Yayoi was in, and I was far from the best choice if combat came up. For that matter, I was far from the best choice for investigation; that's Yoriko's specialty, and I had left her in charge back home ... I needed some help.

---

(Edit for formatting.)

-Rob Kelk
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[classicdrogn]

There's a few more crew you haven't met, and they labor like titans, or the terraforming project workers. Also, when they headed out to the rockhounds they were well equipped with gear, just out of cash, and already had vague plans for a ship built to that scale. Growing that much Seibertron 'Wavium was somewhat more difficult, but selling some samples of cybertronium so the materials lab boffins could try to figure out what alloy was composed of and duplicate it the hard way (so far no luck, btw) bought a SERVO: Loook *deeeeply* into my eyes... Tell me, what do you see?
CROW: (hypnotized) A twisted man who wants to inflict his pain upon others.
For the next 72 hours, Itachi intoned, I will slap you with this trout. - Spying no Jutsu, chapter 3
"In the futuristic taco bell of the year 20XX, justice wears an aluminum sombrero!"hemlock-martini
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

[classicdrogn]

couple tank trailer loads of fuel oil and a bunch of scrapmetal. Once there was a spaceworthy hull, they started with the mechanic business and are still growing from there. They hung out in Earth orbit for some time helping noobs get their duct taped hoopties fit for extended use and charging what they could afford, then headed for the colony projects rather than compete with larger stations as their parts inventory started growing into more of the general store range. The plan was to do atour of the Belt
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

[classicdrogn]

outposts next, but with the news from tge SOS-dan, whoknows?SERVO: Loook *deeeeply* into my eyes... Tell me, what do you see?
CROW: (hypnotized) A twisted man who wants to inflict his pain upon others.
For the next 72 hours, Itachi intoned, I will slap you with this trout. - Spying no Jutsu, chapter 3
"In the futuristic taco bell of the year 20XX, justice wears an aluminum sombrero!"hemlock-martini
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

[Rieverre]

---

I stayed for another piece or two of moody Blues, and to feed Zwei the Corgi some pretzels, after Scales chased me out of his office, claiming he had to get back to working on whatever he had on hand at the moment.
One chit gets you ten all that paperwork he's usually got stashed on top of his various desks isn't, and he was just begging out to figure what the hell I thought I was going to be doing, but, eh.
Me? I was going to go check out what sort of lodgings he'd organized this time around and maybe get my head back in order. Also, to ditch the pirate gear I'd picked up. Tazer-rapiers were meant to be worn, not lugged about.
I didn't really mean to be distracted ... but then, who ever does?
I don't even usually get into cosplay. Not really. Besides, usually if I want to look at 'cosplay' at a Con these days, a contest isn't the place I poke around in.
Look around.
See what I mean?
Still, I had the odd luck of walking past the auditorium - converted cargo storage space - it was being held in just in time to see they were featuring Shirow stuff.
So sue me for wanting to get a good look. More than one, really, once I found out there was a group dressed - or should that be 'almost dressed' - as the Galhound Girls.
Yes, I have no shame. I've also picked up, once upon a meet and greet with the Prof a while back, something that used to be a polaroid camera, but if hooked up to my 'communicator' - read cellphone - the pictures produced project holograms of their contents a couple of inches tall.
They were pretty good, and I decided to sit through the usual run of Puma Twins - one even did the Dance Routine. You do not walk out during the Dance Routine if you're even moderately interested in the female gender.
Yes, I'm a pig. I can live with myself just fine, thankyou.
Things settled down after that, and I was going to make tracks again when I took a glance at the program and decided to stay for the next showing.
What can I say, I read Pulp. Not religiously, or even paricularly devotedly, but I do. And like it. So, back when the R.O.D. OVA hit, I was hooked instantly. Doubly so with the TV series. It's been a good few years now, yeah, but I still rewatch the thing whenever I get too maudlin.
So, of course I was going to stay for it's cosplay portion.
I mean, hello, Read or Die! What's not to love?

---

Your lead in, Rob. Katz has a soft-spot for lookalikes, for obvious reasons, in addition to being a Stellvia and OMG! fan. Hell, he may well have met Yayoi or Sora to deal for the shield kitbash of yours.
-Griever
When tact is required, use brute force. When force is required, use greater force.
When the greatest force is required, use your head. Surprise is everything. - The Book of Cataclysm

[Bob Schroeck]

Catty Nebulart said:

---

hmm, bob the GC seems a little fast to me since it is essentially a buble,

---

Well, part of that speed is based on a quirk -- if the kids aren't on board, the max speed drops to 0.005c.
ECSNorway said:

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Bob, I propose a friendly rivalry over ecosystems in space.
You have the first fen CRAFT with one, I have a very carefully transplanted one on an asteroid base... the occasional "mine is cooler than yours" would amuse anyone with a green thumb.

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I like. Something to build into future stories. Remember, though, that as of the con all-call, the Grover's Corners has only been in space a month so unless we got a good head start, that rivalry hasn't manifested yet.
Morganni said:

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Has anyone tried just uprooting their own house and going into space with it? '.'

---

Well, that is one of the places where I started out, sort of. But yeah, a house all by itself in space, that would be very cool.
Sirrocco said:

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Handwavium is like Cat. It does not go where you tell it to. It goes where it wants to, and is perhaps influenced by outside forces.

---

One cat can be adequately herded by a sufficient number of humans, which I think is how the crew of the Grover's Corners managed as well as they did...
M Fnord said:

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World Watch One. That wins just on general principles.

---

What he said, Ebony. That's one majorly cool idea.
-- Bob
---------
...The President is on the line
As ninety-nine crab rangoons go by...

[robkelk]

---

Your lead in, Rob. Katz has a soft-spot for lookalikes, for obvious reasons, in addition to being a Stellvia and OMG! fan. Hell, he may well have met Yayoi or Sora to deal for the shield kitbash of yours.

---

More likely Yayoi - she's the one who's most likely to be off-station for any reason. This means that Katz will no doubt notice Yayoi's paper airplane...
I'll get back to you later today; right now, it's almost time to deal with Real Life (TM).
Oh, yes... I'm reminded of one line that I've been waiting for the right time to use, after reading one of your lines:

---

Yes, I have no shame. I've also picked up, once upon a meet and greet with the Prof a while back, something that used to be a polaroid camera, but if hooked up to my 'communicator' - read cellphone - the pictures produced project holograms of their contents a couple of inches tall.

---

"As people have known for a few years now, what happens at the Con stays on YouTube."

-Rob Kelk
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Freddy Isnot]

I was wondering who is providing con security. If this has not been decided, could we cameo the Dorsai Irregulars as con security? I think they would certainly end up in FenSpace.
Here is a link for people unaware of this organization.
www.di.org/

Freddy Isnot
-Freddy Isnot

"You are now graduated from newbie and are just clueless. Consider that a compliment."
-Zipcode

[Ebony]

---

I was wondering who is providing con security.

---

Either that, or the Blue Blazer's extended network (which is rapidly evolving in my head into the Global Frequency network from the comic of the same name).Ebony the Black Dragon
Senior Editor, Living Room Games
http://www.lrgames.com
Ebony the Black Dragon
http://ebony14.livejournal.com

"Good night, and may the Good Lord take a Viking to you."

[drakensis]

A beginning is the time for taking the most delicate care that the balances are correct. This every sister of the Bene Gesserit knows and when it comes to working with Handwavium, I am inclined towards the same feeling.
There is one thing that I had hoped for, above all else and with no hope whatsoever of. And now I was going to not only see it lost, but participate in it's demise. To match the quote above with the mangling of another:
We have climbed as high and as far as our machines will take us. To the very limits of human achievement. To the gates of heaven itself. And now we are going to try to kill each other. We were about to stain the sky, fight a war in heaven.
Make no mistake, I was one hundred percent behind the need to eliminate the Boskonians and the Zwilniks as best we were able. But warfare in Fenspace was something that, while inevitable, I had hoped could wait a generation at least for. Now, if we failed, then that future generation would pay the price.
And so I was stood in the door to the Saint Bernard's Alpha Bay not so much deciding how to turn the gathered equipment into a warmachine as endeavouring to purge myself of any ambiguity on the subject. If I had any doubts at all about my cause, then what I was going to build then it would carry those doubts and be less than I needed it to be.
I didn't try to mask those doubts in anger, but in resolve. My purpose here was to create a warmachine, not a killing machine. Not a weapon, but a soldier.
My lips curled into a crooked smile and I knew that I was as ready as I could hope to be. Pulling a remote from the back pocket of my jeans, I thumbed play and a pre-selected soundtrack began to lay down a guitar line, crystallising my frame of mind.

"I name you: Destrier," I told the body shell of the 1969 Dodge Charger that would contain the framework that I was ready to start laying out.

---

The interior of the Saint Bernard is divided into two vertically and three horizontally, creating six compartments of roughly equal size. On the lower deck, the compartments are Alpha Bay at the front (where he's currently working), Zeta Bay at the back (where the Jaime Retief lives and between them are the Saint Bernard's working spaces, 'Lower Amidship', such as life support, parts of the drive mechanism and a personnel airlock with EVA gear.
On the upper deck (which is somewhat wider), the middle compartment, 'Upper Amidship' also contains the workings of the Saint Bernard. The stairs down to Lower Amidship is also here (there is a spinal passage along both Amidships compartments) although Alpha and Zeta Bay both have hatches in the ceiling leading to the upper deck for emergency purposes. The aft compartment on this deck has a large table suited for dining or conference purposes. It's also used as an office and there are a large number of cabinets that don't store anything terribly earth-shaking.
The forward compartment of the upper deck is 'home' for Mr Morden - the rear third has a bathroom on one side and a kitchen on the other, the middle third has a decent-sized bed (which is more important than it might seem) and the front contains the actual controls. There's space for four there, but he usually uses all four workstations himself and all four are completely redundant.
D for Drakensis

You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.

[Sirrocco]

Did you mean "hoped against" or some such? As is, it seems like your narrative disagrees with itself on whether he wanted to see war or not.

[Foxboy]

Drakensis.... a suggestion for the Destrier's AI's name:
Either Traveller or Lucy Long. Both were warhorses owned by Robert E. Lee. Traveller being a stallion and Lucy of course being a mare. He would be more hawkish, and she would be more of a reluctant warrior.
Either would have an uncanny grasp of tactics and strategy.
Besides, it would fit with the theme the Senshi have tagged you with, if I'm not conflating authors...
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''

-- James Nicoll

[drakensis]

I've corrected the erroneous piece of text. Thanks for pointing it out

---

Either Traveller or Lucy Long. Both were warhorses owned by Robert E. Lee. Traveller being a stallion and Lucy of course being a mare. He would be more hawkish, and she would be more of a reluctant warrior.
Either would have an uncanny grasp of tactics and strategy.
Besides, it would fit with the theme the Senshi have tagged you with, if I'm not conflating authors...

---

You've not made an mistkae of authors. That's a pretty good suggestion. In the case of the Saint Bernard and the Jaime the 'AI' isn't really smart enough to be distinct from the vehicle. This will not be the case for Destrier's AI. I think I'll go with Lucy Long, although I make no promises about the reluctant warrior part - Handwavium's more predictable than my muse at times.D for Drakensis
You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.
D for Drakensis

You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.

[Foxboy]

---

You've not made an mistkae of authors. That's a pretty good suggestion. In the case of the Saint Bernard and the Jaime the 'AI' isn't really smart enough to be distinct from the vehicle. This will not be the case for Destrier's AI. I think I'll go with Lucy Long, although I make no promises about the reluctant warrior part - Handwavium's more predictable than my muse at times.

---

No problem. I never meant that Lucy would be a shrinking violet; rather, I was implying that she would be like General Sherman. She doesn't want to be in a war, but she will do her best with all her skill and ability to end it as swiftly as possible.
There's a quote somewhere that goes something like: "Don't fear the career soldier. Fear the family man dragged into war against his will" it then goes on the describe that he will go to ANY length to go home again.
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''

-- James Nicoll

[drakensis]

In the end it took me almost thirty hours to build the Destrier. It helped, of course, to have gathered the parts I wanted in advance. Once I had each subcomponent together and applied the Handwavium, I would read exerpts of science fiction novels to it. Hardcore, military science fiction regarding fighter-equivalents kicking arse. The music kept playing. I'd set it to play for forty-eight hours if need be, without repeating itself once. Only once the part was done would I move on to the next one. Building something that I had envisaged to this degree was not something that I wanted to divide my attention upon.
The last piece of hands-on-work was to lower the bodyshell over the framework and connect it to the lower part of the shell that I had assembled. With the two parts welded together, I took an aerosol can from one shelf and put a mask across my face. I did not want to inhale this stuff.
Then I fast forwarded through the play list until the sequence I'd included for this step of the work and started spraying the outside with the thin layer of liquid Handwavium that would hold the whole thing together (if all went well).

The somewhat intelligent sentiences behind my previous work were perfectly fine for what I asked of them (even though the Jaime was more of a 'moody teenager' than I was entirely happy with at time. But for this, I needed something - no, not something, someONE smarter to be behind the metal. I needed a full AI package to partner me when I was piloting the Destrier. I'd gone so far as to ask the Professor for some advice on how to go about the matter, although the actual parts he'd donated were a safe distance away.
By a 'safe distance', I mean, in small cargo container towed a hundred metres behind the Saint Bernard's tailplane. I trust the Professor enough to know when not to trust him.
But I digress, which I did not have the luxury of at the time. Once the handwavium was on, I stood (at this point, sitting down would have tempted sweet slumbers and bad mojo to my crafting) at the front of Alpha Bay, actually on the ramp of the front clamshell door, jamming to the music playing on my guitar. I did not despoil the moment of it's majesty by inflicting my singing voice upon it it, but I fiddled a little with the rhythm or bass lines (the guitar, lest I have failed to mention, is double-necked, six string on both but bass on the lower) depending on how I felt about them, watching the long, broad face of the Destrier's hood as the handwavium and the paint took a burgundy hue. On the roof, somewhat to my annoyance, the square shape of the Confederate Battle Flag appeared behind the sun roof that I had cut, although I suppose that I should only be grateful that the rest of the heraldry associated with the Dodge Charger's most famous incarnation did not appear (although the Confederate Naval Jack wouldn't really have fit behind the sun roof).D for Drakensis
You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.
D for Drakensis

You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.

[drakensis]

Once I was sure that the Handwavium was done, I left the Destrier alone, heading upstairs for a good night's sleep. Or a day's sleep, perhaps. My sleeping cycle tends to be erratic unless I'm around other people.
I hung my guitar from the wall in the dining room and then crossed the Upper Amidship compartment, following the narrow passage through between the kitchn and bathroom into the control deck of the Saint Bernard, which doubles as my bedroom. Actually, the aft two-thirds is dominated by a large, round bed heaped with pillows and duvets. I chucked my clothes onto the clothesbasket in one corner and curled up under the covers, dead to the universe.
It was hunger that woke me, about ten hours later according to the ship's clocks. I ate, washed, and then decided I'd be better wearing something more substantial than my usual shipboard gear while I played with my new toy, so I dug into one of my closets for a Seijoutaigakure-issue skinsuit (in black) and strapped on enough survival gear that I would be able to survive and send for help even if I was seperated from the Saint Bernard.
I wasn't going to test the Destrier aboard the Saint Bernard either. No one's reported their creations blowing up the first time they start up... but then, they'd not be in any condition to if they had, and there were parts of my new ride that were orders of magnitude more volatile than anything I'd worked with before. Instead I went down to Alpha Bay, secured it and then closed up my suit and depressurised the bay.
The front door of Alpha Bay isn't too different from the back - it's a modified clamshell of the type found on any number of military transport planes. Once lights were green, I hit the switch and felt a rumble through the deckplates as hydraulics lowered the 'ramp' section of the door and raised the upper panel until it was flat against the underside of the control room, leaving a gap about the size of your average garage door. That was handy, since it was about what I needed. Another switch on the same panel cut off the artifical gravity of the Bay. I try not to do that if I can avoid it - I'd have to reset the entire environmentals system again before I had gravity in Alpha Bay again, but I couldn't do the next stage in gravity. Cars are heavy but in Zero-G, with enough effort you can get them moving, very slowly. Doing so, I hustled the Destrier off the deck and pushed her slowly out of the forward hatch, hanging off the rear bumper as we glided out into space...
D for Drakensis

You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.

[Norgarth]

You do realize, that as soon as the got their base working and mostly furnished, the Trekkies put out an open invitation to Shatner, Nimoy, and the rest of the Trek stars, that if they wanted to come up for a visit, the Trekkies would provide transport and living space for free.
The Warsies and Jossies would probably echo the offer to their own heroes soon after.__________________
The main reason Santa is so jolly is because he knows where all the bad girls live. - George Carlin.
___________________________
"I've always wanted to be somebody, but I should have been more specific." - George Carlin

[Anpwhotep]

---

You do realize, that as soon as the got their base working and mostly furnished, the Trekkies put out an open invitation to Shatner, Nimoy, and the rest of the Trek stars, that if they wanted to come up for a visit, the Trekkies would provide transport and living space for free.
The Warsies and Jossies would probably echo the offer to their own heroes soon after.

---

I suspect that will be true of several groups. I know, for instance, that the first couple dozen properties on Pallas are already set aside.--
Homepage: http://www.macmanusnet.net
Sailor Moon Fanfiction: http://crystal.macmanusnet.net
--
Homepage: http://www.macmanusnet.net

Sailor Moon Fanfiction: http://crystal.macmanusnet.net

[classicdrogn]

Wow, it seems like a bunch of us all thought of this idea at once, in one form or another.,
On a different topic, are there any objections to the idea of a supporting character from the Trekkies having an SS scale (meaning under 250ft) version of the Prometheus, complete with free-roving-onboard "holographic" AI character? If so, how much better is a similarly scaled Reliant plus TNG (which the Reliant appeared often in) holodeck?
- CDSERVO: Loook *deeeeply* into my eyes... Tell me, what do you see?
CROW: (hypnotized) A twisted man who wants to inflict his pain upon others.
For the next 72 hours, Itachi intoned, I will slap you with this trout. - Spying no Jutsu, chapter 3
"In the futuristic taco bell of the year 20XX, justice wears an aluminum sombrero!"hemlock-martini
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

[robkelk]

The Prometheus was the one that could split into three linked ships, wasn't it? If you can justify three ships (which shouldn't be hard, says the guy who justified an entire space station), you can justify the Prometheus. I believe it was designed to be better than anything else in the fleet, including the old Reliant class...
As for the holograph, as long as he or she can't leave the ship, I don't see anything wrong with it. It's just a special effect of "the ship's computer is everywhere in the computer", after all. (Yes, I know Noah has autonomous AIs. But that's my character's "special", much like coilguns are Katz' "special" and the spindizzy is Bob's "special".)

-Rob Kelk
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012