astroguy

There are many layers of the onion. At least four. The school is only the innermost.

Quick post script since no one reads the post scripts in the story: I've written the next three chapters and outlined the next 21. However, those are not yet in the queue. I need to take a bit of a breather for a few days to let things stew in my head for a bit. I've been on a good roll with one new chapter a day for about the last two weeks, so a breather is good! And, this is a decent cliff hanger emotionally, if not narratively.

The four of us made it to the meeting room without incident. Deek was flagged by one of his teammates so left us to join him at a table. At nearly the same time, Heath flagged us down, and we went over to his table. He was the only one there. His face was somber, and he didn't look us in the eyes. Over the next several minutes, Ian joined us. Classmates continued to trickle in. Voices were low and somber. The three faculty and Prof. Sanchez joined us. I heard the murmuring of everyo

He did, indeed. I think it was way back in chapter 1 or 2 – though possibly not on this site – that those who aren't into twinkies shouldn't worry, that he'd get more meat on his bones eventually.

I just finished writing chapter 56: "Investigation."

I felt drowsy. Deek peppered Jake and Zane with questions, but they remained relatively quiet about what they knew or didn't know. I was honestly too exhausted to care, that was something for Future-Me to worry about. I felt like I heard a high-pitched, loud humming in my ears, drowning out some of their voices. I felt sleep coming but I forced myself to stay awake. I don't know if I succeeded. The spinning stars were my visual focus now that the bright blue flashes of debris on the shield

Not that it's at all related, but I'm going to put here that I'm re-working my other in-progress story ("Somewhere to Go"). I was stopped for a few months because it just wasn't living up to my hopes, and I was honestly bored. I sent it to a friend of mine who gave me a good piece of advice: The idea of following a video game can be good, but in a video game, the player (the reader in this case) is the one who actively engages. They're the one who sees and experiences all the risks. Without that, I have to do it through the characters, and the problem with the story right now is that we're only seeing the "win" run of the game, no failures. What happens if the player misinterprets the tutorial? Or fails at the in-game mini-game? Without that, it is kinda boring and I think that's why I was blocked. So, I'm reworking it to focus more on character growth, testing, failure, learning, etc. The overall idea/concept and arcs are still there, but some of the text is being significantly reworked behind the scenes. I'll post revised chapters there when I have a few more written and am happy with how it's going, likely not before January.

Now that we finally have lots of setups and the world established, there are going to be many chapters that do heavy narrative lifting. Such as the last one and this one. We'll still have some breather chapters, but I am now at a point where I have enough parallel plot lines that I'm happy with how they are going and weaving together and setting things up for the future. Also, I'd like to make a point: No one here thinks they are evil. Every character has a motivation where they think that what they are doing is the best course. That'll come out more later. Finally, a gratuitous note: Believe it or not, my English teachers throughout grade school complained I was too brief and never wrote enough. If only they could see that this is >100,000 words and not through Act 1!

All of those questions and more we may or may not find the answers to. And yes, there is a bit of "artistic license" in having upgrades just at the right time. However, something to remember: Cosmic Beings sent Shawn to this universe and gave him the system / gAI. Additionally, as some of these abilities draw from X-Men mythos, one of the consistencies of that series for decades has been that abilities usually manifest during a time of extreme heightened stress/emotion. So, yes, very convenient but it was a literary choice.

The noise around us was deafening. Metal twisting, shrieking. Gases venting. Lights strobing. People shouting. The jolt to full-stop was sudden and profound. But, I was frozen. A passenger in my own body. All I saw was what was in front of me. My eyes wouldn't move. Overlaid was that damnable yellow, so different from the cyan I was used to. It was a progress bar. "Progress: 1% … 2% …" Below it: "User immobilized through upgrade." It was going agonizingly slow as the s

... maybe ...

... maybe ...

In the morning, I felt a large mix of emotions. I was hopefully (for really-real!) going to an asteroid today. Not the moon, but I would be in space! Off Earth. Some place I'd never been, but I'd dreamed of. Excitement and trepidation mingled in my chest like Coke and Mentos, bubbling over and threatening to explode at any moment. There were safeties, but it wasn't like an airplane from my world where if there was a water landing we'd just get on a raft and wait for rescue … this was space

"Needs" vs "gets" are two different timelines. Let's see what happens by chapter 83 .

Okey dokey: I still haven't posted the next several chapters. However, I spent a lot of time re-working / better specifying some of the backend motivations of groups and characters so I can refer to that for more consistency as we start to get bigger stakes. I have also spent a fair bit of time tonight outlining (few sentences each) the next 25 chapters (yikes!). I'd say the end of that particular arc would take us through The Breaking of the Fellowship if this were LotR, so we're now departing Rivendell and headed to the Misty Mountains. Hopefully, Gandalf won't die (is there a Gandalf in my story?).

Interesting suppositions. I've written the next four chapters, but they are not yet in the queue. I've edited them through a couple times, but [redacted] happens and I want to make super-sure it seems plausible and in-universe. There's also some hopefully hard-hitting emotional parts in them, so again, I want to make sure they are portrayed well before posting.

If I say "yes," that would give it away. If I say "no," that would give it away. I will say "that's an interesting hypothesis" and leave it at that.

That was definitely my extremely not subtle intent.

I woke up next on Sunday night, and Heath, Jake, and Zane were there for me. Jake told me that both Peng and Eitan stopped by and stayed for an hour or so, but then they left. I felt a lot better: I could move without immediate pain in joints, limbs, torso … in everything. They said it had been 21 hours – more than a full day – that I'd been in the medical center. I was starving and my mouth cottony. Heath called for a doctor who arrived a few minutes later. After looking at the holodi

You could certainly infer that at this point.

Everything hurt. I groaned. I tried to shift, but it hurt too much. "Are you awake?" I groaned again. "Guys! He's awake!" I heard a door open and the sound of many feet shuffling through. I wasn't sure if I wanted to open my eyes yet. Everything just hurt. "Shawn?" another voice asked. Fuck. I guess I'd have to address my audience. I slowly opened my eyes, then I closed them. I repeated, opening them a bit more each time until they were finally fully open an

I agree. In a well-functioning world, that would happen. And, as I noted in the end notes, yes: This chapter in part was intended to show that Shawn is not invincible, which was a concern I think you raised from Chapter 43.

Friday and Saturday were spent doing normal school stuff, normal horny teen stuff, normal college-when-not-in-classes stuff. I walked in on Jake fucking Eitan and quickly excused myself; I went for a half-hour walk across the fields instead, passing other students, and thinking about what I might do for my next recording for Technology class. Prof. Durand was a hardass, but at least he seemed fair. Or, an equal opportunity hardass. Maybe I could do the matter recyclers? No, too complica

To be determined ...

Third person limited point-of-view. The conference room in the administration building wasn't loud, but it wasn't quiet, either. Fifteen faculty sat around an oval table talking with their neighbors, waiting for the meeting to start. They were all the teachers who taught first-year students, being the three main subject teachers; the Strength, Agility, and Endurance teachers; and then three each for the three divisions for Readiness. Peter, the History teacher, muttered under his bre