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"Disturbing Implications..." scene snippet: The irony of Sora
"Disturbing Implications..." scene snippet: The irony of Sora
#1
(Yuku made a royal hash of the formatting in this post when I edited it... the entire post is re-posted below, the way it should have looked. Edit:

Well, almost the way it should have looked, there's still a few random line breaks that shouldn't be there. -RobK)
--
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
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#2
(Let's try that agian - maybe Yuku won't screw up the formatting this time...)

Since Bob hasn't had a chance to write the story around this scene in the last fifteen months (too busy with DW V, I assume), and it does give one
of my characters some development, I thought I'd share it...

Spot the reference to this scene in http://fnord.sandwich.net/fenwiki/doku. ... gwo_sora_1]Into the Great Wide Open: First Impressions.

Time: the launch of Grovers' Corners, just after Noah and Sora have left the Epsilon Blade and met Bob &co.



I was about to turn around and look for some more golf carts on the horizon when I noticed one of the women from the Epsilon Blade had a deathgrip on Mr. Scott. I walked over quickly and asked, "What's wrong?"

She was whispering, and there was a ragged edge to her voice. "... big ... too big ... where's the ceiling? ... where's the walls? ..."

"It's okay, Sora; I'm right here." Mr. Scott was talking to her, and stroking her hair, the way I do with Luna after she's had a nightmare. "There's nothing to be afraid of." Then he looked at me. "Mr. ... Schroeck, was it?"

"That's right. I gather that Sora's an agoraphobe?"

"She might become one if we don't handle this properly. Sora has spent her entire life in spaceships or my space station; she's not emotionally ready for all this." He used one hand to gesture at the back forty while keeping his other arm around Sora. "I should have thought of that before asking her to come on this trip."

She's spent her entire life in enclosed spaces? Sora needed help, and not just for the agoraphobia. I looked at her and said, "If you can stand the
trip into town, Kat'll be able help you. Can you manage to last that long, Sora?"

"... I'll try ..."

"Atta-girl," whispered Mr. Scott gently. "You can do it. I know you can."

"... you're sure? ..."

"I'm sure. I programmed your personality routines myself, remember? I believe in you. I'm sure you don't need to power down for a little trip across an open field."

Power down? That was different - although Sora still needed to talk with Kat. I looked at the others to discover they were as surprised as I was to learn that Sora was an AI.



Which opens the possibility of a B-plot focusing on Kat and Sora. I like giving lesser-used characters spotlight time...

(What? "What's the irony?" Translated from Japanese, "Sora" means "Sky".)
--
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
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#3
If you folks don't mind, I think I'd like to get in on the fun, if nothing else than to say that Benjamin and Gina were there and so that they have prior dealings when they need food stuffs on a large scale... Oh look! Intro! ^_^;;


We were coming in hot from Mars when Gina popped up on the driver-side screen.
"Hoi, BJ! There's a whole lot of chatter flying around . Sounds like somebody's lifting a world ship out there."
That got my attention. "No shit!" I said in shock. "How big?"
"Nothing confirmed yet but I've heard about a half-mile diameter sphere."
"DAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMNNN!"
"Exactly. I can only imagine the sort of power they had to use in order to get something like that moving."
"No kidding. What's our ETA to Stelvia?"
"We're still a half-hour out."
"Okay. Put whatever they're using for coms over the stereo system. After we drop off our package at Stelvia we'll go ahead and say hello."
"Hmph. As long as you don't make an ass of us."
"Hey! Have I ever failed you?"
"Yes."
"You know that other team wasn't going to like us anyways just because we beat them."
"Hmph."
"Anyhow, go ahead and patch the coms through. I'll go ahead and freshen up while we're enroute."
"Psht, whatever," grumbled Gina as she walked off the screen.


We made our delivery as planned and got underway again in our usual timely fashion. Gina actually appreciates that I don't usually like to dilly-dally around when there's something big going on.  However, just because you're one of the fastest Fen in Fenspace doesn't mean that you always get there first.  This time, we missed the green light simply because we weren't there to catch it in the first place.  That does not, however, preclude us from being fashionably late.
Just as we were getting underway again, we caught the hilarious serious of faux pass from the Inelegant Truth.  The comedy factor there was enough that both of us were reduced to quivering puddles of giggles.
"Best. Screw up.  Ever!" said Gina.  "Ahhh mein gott.  That's going on the Internet for sure!"
I gave Gina my best your-shitting-me look.  "You recorded all that!?"
"You bet I did!" she replied with one of her demonic grins.
"You are one evil little lady, you know that," I replied with a shit-eating grin plastered on my face.  "God I love you!"
"Whatever, pervert."
After that, we had a couple minutes to compose ourselves, but that didn't last once we started to get close.
"Wow," I said.
"How much is wow?" asked Gina, playing along.
"Somewhere between 'ouch' and 'poing-oing-oing-oing-oing!'"
"Wow."  And then we shattered.  Yeah, we're pretty silly in private.  Sometimes in public too, it just takes on a whole different slant then.
"Think we should try hailing them?" wondered Gina.
"Why not.  Patch the microphone onto VOX."
"Done, you're live."
I smiled and got my best radio voice going.  "Good morning, folks.  This is the SC Bullet Boy Express talking at the impressively huge worldship that just caused a whole buncha ruckus.  We're coming in fast, but we're friendly, outgoing, and neighborly with good tidings and clean socks for everyone!"
"Don't take the clean socks part at face value, though," added Gina snarkishly.  I gave her my lopsided you-and-I-are-gonna-talk-later grin.  She only checked a contact lens at me in reply.
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#4
I couldn't resist. With a grin at the folks around me, I lifted the 'waved comset to my mouth. "Bullet Boy Express, this is the Grover's Corners. You're both inbound and outgoing? Would that mean you're standing still?"
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
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#5
Noah looked at me over Sora's shoulder. "Mr. Schroeck, the Bullet Boy Express is never 'standing still'. Even when it's parked. It's that fast." Then he grinned. "Would you tell Benjamin and Gina I said 'hi and what kept you?', please?"
--
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
Reply
 
#6
Gina took over at this point.
"Grover's Corners, Bullet Boy Express - sometimes people can't tell if I'm coming or going because we always blow past everyone fast enough to leave them spining in circles. Really, you ought to know that if you've watched the races on TV. This is the beautiful and talented AI, Regina Langely, the astrogator, avionics manager, autopilot, and manager of our little operation.  Oh, and if Noah is there, let him know that his package is waiting for him on Stelvia."
You could almost see the imperious pose, yet somehow you could also sense that she wasn't really being serious about it. Like as though she was being overblown just for pure shits and giggles.
OOC:
Rob, you can decide what the package was - Benjamin and Gina aren't picky about what they haul as long as it can fit inside the car somewhere.
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#7
Oh, and I just gotta add this little bit in for after he gets clearance to land...


Benjamin put the Bullet Boy Express into a wickedly tight sling-shot orbit around Grover's Corners - anyone watching would have been treated to the sight of the little flying Jetta streaking down one side, then up the other. After the return, Benjamin pulled into one more tight turn, aiming straight for the Garage that he'd been directed to.
"Jumping Jesus Christ! He's coming in too fast!"
"Oh this? Just watch, this is one of his signature moves."
"What!?"
Just as the Bullet Boy Express passed the threshold of the garage, the thruster-wheels suddenly snapped up into their road positions and the little sedan dropped to the deck, powersliding sideways until the car came to a very neat halt, perfectly parrallel to the back wall of the garage and with the perfect amount of space for Benjamin to open the door and step out in his Hazardous Environment suit. The sound of the screeching tires had been heard all the way to the other end of Grover's Corners.
"And that was a perfect example of his Powerslide Landing, often attmepted by others, but never duplicated."
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#8
Quote:"And that was a perfect example of his Powerslide Landing, often attmepted by others, but never duplicated."
"I hate cleaning up the skidmarks when he does one in my landing bay, but it is impressive."
--
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
Reply
 
#9
Quote:Rob, you can decide what the package was - Benjamin and Gina aren't picky about what they haul as long as it can fit inside the car somewhere.
Considering it's just something to get your characters involved in the story, it may as well be a life-sized ebony statue of a hunting bird.

(Please tell me everybody gets that reference. I can't be that old...)
--
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
Reply
 
#10
Ah, so you're having them transport *Bogey impression* The Shtuff DREAMSH are made of....*/bogey* Big Grin
''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
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