drsawzall

The quote below is frightening and has dangerous import, to wit...while the blobs are effective in water, what is to say a different approach could/would be utilized for land-based creatures... This is no longer just fishing orx, but the front line on this battle that could affect all settlers. Truer words never spoken, it would be wise to point, to assume nothing other than someone wants you and your kind for lunch... It's best not to make limiting assumptions. I prefer to prepare with the premise the enemy is great and powerful. We only know they are far superior in biotech and are willing to kill. The colonists are at a distinct disadvantage. The enemy knows much about them while they know very little. What you don't know can kill you. While the means and mechanism is yet to be discovered, if the operating theory is close to the mark and sound, at some frequency modulation, is the basis for communication, I have to wonder if music, in some form or fashion, just might be a means of communicating or deterring these blobs....Now that we know that they can see images after invading the visual cortex of the Orx, what is to say that having studied/learned the basis for how primitive images are formed, that using the tools they have at hand, devise a means and a way to incorporate imagery into these blobs? We can say that these Aliens utilize visual images since we know that the visual cortex of the Orx was utilized by the blob (control drone?). So we have all this data transmitted by the drone and control data sent back to the drone. Apparently not by sound or radio. Obviously, something(s) somewhere, are behind what we are now seeing, where are they: are they on another continent, in low orbit around the planet, or as noted in the comments above @centexhairysub...earther's running amok? It sucks being on the road these past couple of days, and getting to this chapter late, the only benefit is reading the comments, gleaning some thoughts from the same and knowing when zero dark thirty's ending rolls around tomorrow morning, another chapter will be waiting for me.... Shades of Moby Dick, somewhere out there is the Great Gray Something or another....how's that for specificity????

Thanks for the chapter, currently it hit 95 degrees (F) today, got up this morning and took a shower, took another shower after hiking early this morning, my 3rd shower of the day is about to happen!!!

Well..if that were to happen would the Gonna's end up looking for their rear's????

Truly a delightful chapter...

Do they deck each other on the dock or the new deck???? Inquiring minds (must) need to know!!!

Like others have said, I see Maria reverting to form, possibly looking to resume 'old habits' in straying off the committed path she's chosen.... I got a hoot out of the following and could only imagine @Summerabbacat sitting in the conservatory... So, he dragged them to the conservatory which sat in an angle between the kitchen and his wife’s pottery and seemed to be an adjunct to both. There was a view of a verdant, rather wild-looking garden, a pair of cats who seemed determined to enjoy the new visitors, home-made cake and tea from lovely tactile pots. Nico’s wife was sat in the pottery and contributed to the conversation from afar. And Keith came away with a pair of mugs like the ones he’d admired.

Kevin was a little too quick to come to assumptions regarding Eric, glad to see that worked it out...Chris seems to belong to the category of tiny brains/small penis variety... Talk about foreshadowing....and the thought Tiny PePe Chris will be out on the streets soon....

Both @Anton_Cloche and @Philippe have made some good points. Established protocols have been deliberately ignored... My next thought is, are/is the local constabulary corrupted, while it is a very longshot, care needs to be taken with revealing what is shared/discussed with them... One last thought, who in the name of Sam Hill are these idiots with the shotguns??

Can't wait to see the tailpipe on the stand....it should be very interesting to see why Billy is calling he back... Loved the showdown at the school....

On tenterhooks here, hoping that Roger is an honorable person....

Thanks, very glad you found it enjoyable, and your comment is appreciated!!

Oh my...I humbly stand corrected.... it's what happens when there's no caffeine in the morning....

Wow...simply wow...

A seed has been planted; will it germinate??? Loved this chapter!!!! Thinking of perhaps starting a business for myself, like doing something in woodwork. It was an idea, nothing fully formed yet. I already knew that the Navy was no longer an option, unless I spent the rest of my career behind a desk or shouting at recruits at a base somewhere. And that didn’t appeal to me. I knew I would be eligible for Honorable Discharge, which would help with benefits. Then, reading back up a bit, his mention of antiques began to worm into my brain. Wouldn’t that be great, to start something like that. An antique store. Restoring furniture. Hmm…

Thank you for the generous comment, the next installment will be along shortly!!!

Andrew's father is a wise man, and it will take time for Andrew to adjust to the fate that awaits the boys that were sold... Matt may 'serve' his new master until he becomes disposable, Kanaan can't spend all his time on the boat...what then??

Below reminded me very strongly of Melville's description of the sea, from Moby Dick...has me wondering if, with apologies to @weinerdog and random thoughts, if we might see a great white Orx... There was no white line along the horizon this day, the gray sky being fully lowered to cap the world in every direction. Benteen's star was several shades whiter than the sun that warmed Old Earth, and so even a gray day on this world was less than somber. The dark gray at the horizons lessened as the clouds soared overhead, until the sky to sunward was a light gray gem, glowing with the power of the distant fires beyond the billowing facade. Poets of Old Earth would have sighed in wonder, and written lengthy verses to describe the mysterious dark-light sky, striped and swirled with every shade of gray. But those who sailed the waves on Benteen took such a view for granted, and seldom let their attention be taken, save for to glance briefly above and say, perhaps, that it was quite a pretty day, indeed. From Moby Dick... “Consider the subtleness of the sea; how its most dreaded creatures glide under water, unapparent for the most part, and treacherously hidden beneath the loveliest tints of azure. Consider also the devilish brilliance and beauty of many of its most remorseless tribes, as the dainty embellished shape of many species of sharks. Consider, once more, the universal cannibalism of the sea; all whose creatures prey upon each other, carrying on eternal war since the world began. Consider all this; and then turn to the green, gentle, and most docile earth; consider them both, the sea and the land; and do you not find a strange analogy to something in yourself? For as this appalling ocean surrounds the verdant land, so in the soul of man there lies one insular Tahiti, full of peace and joy, but encompassed by all the horrors of the half-known life. God keep thee! Push not off from that isle, thou canst never return!” ― Herman Melville, Moby Dick Uh...Uh...nothing like a bit of foreshadowing.... Jem nodded. "I know the thing is fast." "It's definitely that." Til tapped the cylinder, and then touched the mount beneath. "This is all made from ironwood. The mount is bolted directly into the ironwood framework of the deck supports beneath us, using ironwood fasteners. Each mount is rated to handle fifty-five tons of lateral force, and that does not include the fifty-percent safety margin built in. But it needs that kind of strength, to be completely dependable and safe for this kind of work." He smiled. "Frankly, there isn't an orx alive that could break an ironwood mount, so the ratings they give them are more for the engineers than for you and me." One wonders then, just why was this planet picked??? But colonists on Benteen were set up to eat the closest chemically-matching foods. Fully ninety-percent of the plants and animals available here are toxic in some way to the human body. The rest would be unhealthy in an Earther's belly, and not nutritious enough to keep him going. Our ancestors were subtly altered at the genetic level to accommodate us to what little can be safely eaten here." He turned, and gazed out over the sea. "So orx are food, and that's the way it is." No foreshadowing here folks...nothing to see or understand, keep the line moving folks... Til's eyes widened briefly, and he laughed. "Definitely, that." He nodded. "But someday, given enough time for our numbers to increase, and our technological base to expand, I can see us even being able to hold our own there, too. The chief problems with the life in the warm lands and seas are their size, power, ferocity, and numbers. Even with our best weapons, the sheer numbers of the enemy there are too much to counter with our current ability to project force." Jem frowned. "My dad says we will not be able to even try to move off our continent to any of the others for another five hundred years, at the least." Jem and Nico have flown past a threshold into a full-blown romance, more to the point, both boys just may end up together on deck in a battle of survival!!!

This chapter was a tour de force to say the least. Carmella is proving to be quite the capable asset to George, I am a little concerned with William's reaction. If others were jealous of George's accomplishments/victories in the past, that little sojourn up to London was a masterpiece!! Here's hoping the Princess Amelia's stay is comfortable!

I suspect good old Chris just may be behind this little fox paw... Why am I reminded of Madeline Kahn in Blazing Saddles @Cane23 Fourteen inches?! 14"?! As 35.5 cm?! Now, you are not writing sci-fi anymore, it's fairytale! 🤣 How could he not stare?! Everywhere he looks is that monster 🍆

Many unexplained undercurrents at play here, most concerning are the two 'extra' folks in the conference call and the 'grands' accident...then we learn several international crime syndicates are now involved, could those folks be tied into the troubles with the first criminal group they encountered???

Wasn't that book about a coal fired whaling ship???

Jem's experience hunting with his father, his observations are bearing fruit, they aren't suppositions but rather keen observations. Something tells me both Jem and Nico both just may be needed above decks.

Where is the freaking groan emoji, then there's always the following Ivor...

Adam's family not finding a way to send at least one person to see him while he is recovering is puzzling. It didn't sound as if any of them were doing poorly, the funds from selling the house, unless all taken by bills/extended care expenses, should have afforded the funds for someone to go visit...Cheese and crackers folks...what the F are credit cards are for... If someone in my family was as badly hurt and in recovery as Adam, you can bet your sweet ever-lovin-bippy, that I would have found a way to go...it's frigging family!!! Having said all that and having no strong opinions, I'm loving the slow burn and the delaying of the repair work to the dock and what it portends...

Can't add much to the comments above, but my curiosity was piqued with the following, inquiring minds would like to know which end was doing the winking... Jack, one of the contract staff, was getting something out of his bag, bent over, winking at me. Not unpleasant, gave me unprofessional thoughts; it was definitely time to get home."