astroguy

Layers upon layers ...

Thank you! Comments like this help my motivation. The basement AI is going to tie in very soon. These "Mystery Time and Mystery Place" interludes are going to all be brought together ... soon.

Yup, been another month. Sorry. It wasn't work this time, it was re-examining my "free time" writing structure, expanding it, partitioning it out in a few accounts in a few different places. And, as I mentioned in ch. 73, some complete re-writing of the first several chapters. I have completely re-written chapters 1–8. First person point-of-view. Fully backstory and world building continuity and further development behind the scenes (I have almost as much back-end stuff written now as what you see here). I've always known where this story is going, but now I know better how it's getting there. If it's been awhile since you read ch. 1–8, I recommend re-reading them. Honestly: they are significantly improved. If I do say so myself. I've been giving myself a re-crash-course through AP English (which I took, getting a solid B). Focusing on exactly how those authors who are taught in that course write their prose and the literary density. I'm not the new Lewd Bronte Brother, but the prose is much better than it was, and the story is richer. The next several chapters and arcs are sketched out, so keep the Follow so you know when new stuff is posted, and I'll let you know in the comments of those new posts if I've updated more of the back-chapters.

"Ing" "what" "on?" "go" "is" Distorted. Sync out … out of … out of sync, out of order. Focus. Shut eyes. Breathe. Wind through palm trees. Sandy beach. Waves … Eyes open. What light through yonder window? Fuck. ("You told me no Shakespeare, now you're quoting it?" —gAI) Fuck. The window, there was nothing to see but a mirror. A mirror that shone with darkness and reflected nothing. I couldn't comprehend it, I stared. And it was gone. Stars, nebulae.

It was very loosely stolen from Doctor Who: "Rule One: The Doctor lies."

Hey guys, it's me ... me. I know it's been – what? – two months? Yeah, something like that. Sorry. A couple reasons for that. I'm not looking for sympathy 'r anything, but I feel like I owe y'all a bit of an explanation. Okay, a fucking long explanation (or, skip if you don't care!). I discovered AI. Okay, not like Gary in the "Mystery Place and Mystery Time" in the story, but what it can do with respect to computer coding. I ended up putting in an average of about 10.4 hrs of work per day, 7 days a week, for >30 days straight (gay?). Because I was using AI to update and bug-fix and optimize about 5 different completely different code sets I use for work to do work stuff. I got – easily – a year's worth of coding done in a month. But, it was incredibly draining and I had no free time. Almost no free time. My Patreon account got banned. I do some other more erotica-focused writing (I don't post that here) and apparently it was too much for Patreon. It wasn't incest or anything like that, but apparently my use of Krampus as a transformation mechanism tripped their bestiality filter (even though he's more a demon and their rules explicitly allow that) and it probably also raised their filter on consent (even though my protagonist expresses clear consent, it could read as coercion). So, I got shut down with no warning, and my appeal was not approved. That was a fairly big emotional bummer, so I've also been exploring other avenues. It honestly wasn't a lot of subscribers (20?) nor money in there (they're not even paying me out what was in there), but it was a blow that put a big dent in my writing motivation. This chapter (and the next) landed really flat to me and I didn't know how to fix them. Chapter 72 has a huge amount of weight: Steven going from bully to someone you almost feel sorry for, Durand's sociopathy, Dir. Green learning more about Shawn, the three faculty all starting to wonder if they can contain Shawn for their own purposes, and Shawn realizing he fucked up with Prof. Hamilton basically telling him he started an internal war that he might not survive. The way I originally wrote chapter 73 felt like a massive disservice to that arc's conclusion, like it wasn't living up to the promise. But, honestly, no chapter could. Chapter 73 needed / needs to be an emotional reset/recalibration, but it was too much of a reset and it just wasn't fair to the story I have been writing. So, I needed to get some distance from it and come back and re-read ch. 69–72, and then do a major rework of ch. 73 and 74. I've done 73, and that's what you're seeing above. Now, on to 74.

Over the weekend, I moped. I stayed in the dorm, only leaving to eat, and only when someone asked me to join them. I couldn't get Prof. Hamilton's words out of my head. If I were to confront Dir. Green – really confront him in some way – he could kill me before I realized what was happening. And I might have set that in motion. Part of me wished I hadn't confronted Steven. That I'd listened. But, I couldn't change the past. Fuck. I couldn't even get up the energy to go train in the VR m

Totally agree.

I am avoiding making political statements on current events, but ... yes. And, read chapter 72.

We're nearly 148k words in. The Fellowship of the Ring is 187k. Phase 1 really shouldn't be longer than that. So ... stakes are escalating. Phase 1 should be <~100 chapters.

We shall see. Everyone has motivations. Meantime, those questions and others will not be answered in the next chapter. Which will likely not be posted today; draft 1 is done, it needs to stew a day before I post it. Regarding the first interlude / coda / aside with Sebastien and Steven: I left it purposely vague for reasons.

Still feeling high from the encounter, I hurriedly made my way back to the dorm. When I entered, Jake, Peng, and Eitan were all there. Jake and Peng didn't react when I came in, while Eitan quickly closed something on his computer. I raised an eyebrow, announced, "Hi, guys," and after materializing a chair, I sat down at my desk. In my head, gAI told me, "I saw it. It was there long enough for me to read it. You're not going to like it." "Uh, hey, Shawn!" Eitan had swiveled ar

From ch. 43, "I also monitor computer traffic at random." So, he might have. But, there's something different from "blocking instantaneous communication signal" and "faking biometrics in a hospital bed." I'm trying very hard not to have omnipotent characters/features despite the various X-Men-like abilities and advanced technology. As to your last sentence, I'll answer in two ways: (1) "Layers," and (2) it's impressive what a sociopath can do when left unchecked. (Hopefully by now it was pretty obvious I wrote Sebastien Durand as a sociopath.)

Time and text will tell ... 'cause I won't.

It was late by the time we were done. I went directly to dinner, and while eating in a corner of the hall, I asked gAI: "You said that the system here tracks all the students' locations, right?" "Yes …" he replied, his tone warily. "Good. I want to know where Steven is. I want you to let me know when he's alone and not in his dorm." "Shawn, I don't like where this is headed. You heard what they said." "gAI, I'm not asking you. I'm telling you this is what I want. Do it

Shawn is a headstrong young lad. I was listening to someone talk about Matt Smith's casting as The Doctor for a few seasons of the 2005 Doctor Who reboot. They were remarking that Matt Smith was certainly one of the – if not the – youngest to ever be cast in that role. So, on the one hand, he brought a youthful exuberance to the character. On the other, in the interview they were remarking about how he was simultaneously able to make the character seem as old as he was supposed to be (~900 years at that time). Shawn is a similar balance. Part of him is middle-aged for our world. Part of him is 18, with all the headstrong nature, thinking he knows what's best, and righteous indignation that that entails. Chapters 71 and 72 are in the queue, 72 going in just a half-hour ago after another round of edits and sitting on some of the end parts for a few weeks. Things are ... escalating.

Two days later, we were back on Earth with nothing out of the ordinary. Heath seemed to take things okay, and he kept pressing me for more information on what I could do. I tried to be fair to him – after all, he knew things in general now, so more couldn't hurt – but I also didn't want to share everything. There are certain things that you can only share with people with whom you also almost shared imminent death. Meanwhile, on the ship, Profs. Akana, Hamilton, and Petrov behaved as tho

Heath knows what he asked about and what Shawn felt comfortable telling him. Is that vague-cific enough for you?

The looooooong game. Did you ever watch the Star Trek: The Next Generation "The Next Phase"? Romulan accidentally phases through the hull of the Enterprise and drifts lifeless in space. I'd say it's a bad way to go, but on the other hand, it does happen within seconds so perhaps not as bad as other ways to die.

"Mister Olsen, if you wouldn't mind standing up, please?" Prof. Hamilton asked as though me falling through a bulkhead was the most mundane thing in the world. I was hyperventilating and looking around frantically. Prof. Petrov looked startled, but nothing else. "Mr. Olsen – Shawn – please, focus on your breathing. You need to remain in control. In control. That's critical, especially if you are randomly phasing through matter now." I scrambled up and stood, backing up into wh

Ricky definitely needs some 'splaining from Lucy here.

All the visuals of glass domes and icy gas giants and walking on a moon aside, it was honestly a mundane mission. "Being out here was amazing, though," Jake emphasized. "And we're working more, better, as a team," Heath added. "All things considered. And when we were on the Bridge." He frowned slightly. "I just kinda felt like it was a field trip, in the end. Strip all this other stuff away – the ship, systems, being on a moon, seeing the sun so far away – and in the end we're

As they should! I won't say it's important, but I won't say it's not important ... because I'm bad with red herrings. There are reasons why no one – character, organization/group, species – thinks they're "the bad guys" in this story.

That's the goal. Can't make the future too perfect, right? This is not a George Jetson thing where we sit in an office and push a button all day.

Hey Guys! I'm back, I know it's been a cold minute. I'm editing a couple chapters now so you should get one a day for at least a few days. I'm returning after getting some work-work done, a work trip, and getting sick on said work trip (back to 70%, well enough to edit!). Chapter 68 is already in the queue to post automatically tomorrow. I also paused for a bit to re-work chapters 1 through ~10ish, completely re-writing them in first-person limited point-of-view. I didn't realize just how much of a rewrite that required. A few minor consistency things are also corrected (for example, Shawn is in his early 40s, but chapter 1 says he's 37 ... now it corrects it to early 40s; or, replacing the physical door on Shawn's hospital room with a holographic one). I'll post those en masse just overwriting what's already up. I'll let you know when they're actually posted.