C James

Very well done; I loved the slow reveal, and that ending... that had me cracking up, especially the way you played it off the title. Another favorite of mine was Chord's fondness for spending his cousin's money. That had me chuckling. Thanks Lugh.

It's a delight to see sci-fi that makes use of actual phisical effects, such as quantum pairing (better known as quantum entanglement). Where or not quantum entanglement can be used for superluminal (faster than light) communication is highly controversial, though less so in recent weeks. The reason was that some of the more adamant stances against the possibility;ithy of superluminal communication were based on the speed of light limit being a fundamental limit. Well, that wall looks like it may have been cracked, in the form of neutrinos clocked as traveling faster than light. And that may be the biggest news in physics in 40 years, *IF* it proves out. Thanks for this story, Altimexis. It blends in very well with the prequel, yet stands well on its own. Crafting a unique universe is hard to do, yet far harder still in shorter formats such as these. The sentimental overflight of the Escalante Canyons area was a very nice touch. (I've been 4-wheeling in the area quite a few time,s and highly recommend it). CJ

Cia, I really liked this! The reveal upon leaving the elevator was superbly done, causing a mental shift from prior assumptions. I also very much like the attitudes displayed. Bravo. I was even stunned (And relieved) to see that, unusually for you, there was no cliffhanger at the end. I think what I liked most was the accepting and supportive - but not oppressive or of a feeling sorry for kind - way Ramero was portrayed as helping Kirian; the occasional offer to push. Well done on that, it paints the relationship well, though with the economy of words needed in a short story. I was in a wheelchair for six months in grade school, due to an accident that injured my leg. That was long enough to give me a view as to what its like for those who are disabled, and I've always tried to keep those lessons in mind. What you wrote is IMHO a just right. Thanks Cia!!! CJ

The Winter Anthology, "Aftermath", is up!!! Great turnout, and some very fine stories. I'd like to take this opportunity to express thanks to Graeme, our Anthology Coordinator, for putting this all together and keeping it going! Thanks also to Lugh, for his help on the tech side. And thanks to the Writer Support Team, Thanks also to the authors and their teams for participating. CJ

Happy Birthday, Jan!!!!!!!

Time to announce the upcoming chapter title, which is "Click". However, I'll go one better: I'll reveal the probably-unoriginal title of the following chapter (the Christmas one) as well: Christmas on the Farm. I'm really thrilled about this one; I've always wanted to do a chapter where it's both Christmas in the story and for us.

Yep, close to four chapter's worth coming in the next two weeks. Think of it as a Christmas present. One the downside, this basically obliterates my chapter buffer, so... I'll try to avoid it, but there might be a skipped week after the Christmas posting. I can give one assurance; the circumnavigation of Australia, if it happens, isn't the circumnavigation in the story title. That's a circumnavigation of the earth. Of course, it's always possible that it's just Trevor's head that completes it, but that's fulfill the title. Me? Play with emotions? Would I do such a thing as that? Billy (the guy there with Bidget) took George's car, tracking device and all. Maybe Basingstoke is just in the Christmas spirit? Okay, for the "Two miles above, soaring like a guardian angel on high," line, the two miles above means he's at roughly 10,500 feet, a nice, comfortable cruising altitude for a Beechcraft Debonaire. The Guardian Angle on high could mean he's keeping watch on them from on high, like we've seen him do before. Though, I suppose that it could be argued that Basingstoke isn't totally akin to an angel. Yep, but why to Miami? Thanks!!! Basingstoke, cause trouble? What sort of trouble could he possibly cause? http://www.gayauthors.org/forums//public/style_emoticons/default/innocent.gif What might that package be? There are clues to it, in prior chapters. http://www.gayauthors.org/forums//public/style_emoticons/default/smile.png True... though they have to figure out what it is first. http://www.gayauthors.org/forums//public/style_emoticons/default/smile.png One thing is certain; Basingstoke is a pro, and so he's very careful, but he also can't work on this job forever. Taking too long risks both the contract, and also exposes him to risk for longer. http://www.gayauthors.org/forums//public/style_emoticons/default/smile.png

Chapter 104: Heading North The next morning, Friday the 22nd, Trevor was the first up, and padded out in his boxers to attend the coffee maker. He’d just finished loading it when Joel, also in boxers, padded down the galley stairs. “Hi Trev,” he whispered, while grabbing a coffee cup, ready for the morning brew. Trevor grinned. “Shane’s still asleep. Lisa too?” he whispered. Joel nodded. “Yeah, that flight knocked us for a loop.” He paused, and then added, “Nowhere near as bad as what you

Heading North is up. We're still using Aussie Maths for chapter numbering, to enable me to keep my promise to keep the story under 100 chapters. (otherwise, I'd have to admit that I'm a long-winded blabbermouth who cannot count). Also, some story news; as we enter the final stretch, I ran into an issue with the upcoming chapters. Basically, I could either cut them where I felt they should be cut, to make chapters that IMHO work as a whole, or I could cut them to make standard sized chapters. So, I cut them where I felt they ought to be cut, resulting in approximately double-sized chapters, starting next week for two weeks. CJ

Basingstoke is a careful man, so I'm not surprised he came up with a plan that pleased Bridget and Sanchez. Don't worry though, we'll find out what it is, soon enough.

The irony is, Bridget saved Lisa and Joel from being arrested.

I suspect George did not find this particular breakfast to his liking, either.

I suspect George did not find this particular breakfast to his liking, either.

Wow, thanks everyone!!! I usually try to reply to all comments, but in this case, I'm very constrained in both time and spoiler limitations; there's not much I can say without letting many cats out of the bag, and getting ready for winter is putting huge demands on my time this week. Great points raised... I can, sort of, address one issue, by mentioning that the title of the story is Circumnavigation. That means that something has to go around the world, though it might merely be Trevor's head if Basingstoke gets his way and ships it to the Bahamas. It could be Atlantis... or Trevor alone, or Trevor and Shane, etc.. but I have to hold true to the title. Will I say how many chapters remain? Nope... not because I won't, but because I can't. Whatever I say will surely be wrong, because it's been proven, time and again, that I stink at chapter estimating. We're in the home stretch though... as George's little swim indicates; things are heating up a bit, and we might be in for some interesting times. Bridget, as she said to George, does have plans to make use of his actions, but it remains to be seen if she can pull them off. Will Georges' absence be noticed? Not right away... he is often mentioned as working undercover, so if he vanishes for a couple of days, it's nothing unusual. The next chapter title is Heading North. BTW, one thing I have always wanted to do (but have always bungled the timing on) is have Christmas in a story coincide with Christmas for us. It looks like, at last, I'll be able to do it. I'll have to mangle the posting schedule a bit though, by posting chapter 105 two days early. Plan on it for Christmas Eve. CJ

You're right... The kilo is a unit of mass. This is a further proof that me trusting my memory is a bad idea. I always preferred using slugs for acceleration calculations, but it's been a few years since I did, and for some reason I remembered that slugs were used because many other units were units of weight, not mass, but even the pound is actually a unit of mass.

Thanks! And, now we know the answer to what the farm mentioned a few chapters back by Bridget is.

Hey now! You're one to talk, seeing as how you're a partner of Bridget Bellevue in Rob's Marine! We've seen Rob once, and he's mentioned as being young, and having a Jersey accent...

That 767 was the Gimli Glider; an Air Canada flight that due to both an instrumentation problem (non-working fuel gauge) and a goof on converting liters to pounds of fuel (or something along those lines) ended up suddenly running out of fuel in mid flight. They managed to set down, deadstick, at what used to be an airfeild but was now a racetrack, one in use at the time... one awesome landing IMHO, because no one died. I sometimes use Metric. One way I use it often is for measurements when I need to divide, such as for figuring out where to center boards to get evenly spaced horizontal fence slats. That kind of math is tricky with a base-12 system (I'd usually have to convert feet to inches to pull it off, an extra mathematical step, then deal with fractions, ugh)) so I just use the metric side of my tape measure. But Zombie, I thoguht you'd be all in favor of anything with a potential for mayhem, death, and carnage? I do agree thought... the mish-mash has caused trouble. NASA has converted to Metric for engineering (mainly) but aviation... not really. In fact, it's IMHO less metric than a decade ago. I think they did go for standardization in fuel measurements (gallons and pounds) and avoid metric after the Gimli Glider incident though. Metric IMHO is inferior for some purposes, such as units of mass (as opposed to weight). When calculating acceleration rates, you need to use mass, not weight, in your calculations, such as calculating the rate of acceleration (in physics, there is no such thing as deceleration, any change in delta is an acceleration, even slowing down). An example would be figuring the acceleration rate in G's of a chunk of foam suddenly introduced to a 4000mph slip stream. For that, you need a unit of mass, and I much prefer slugs. A slug, like all units of mass, is defined by its inertia: one slug is a mass that accelerates by 1 ft/s2 when a force of one pound (lbF) is exerted on it. On earth's surface, one slug weighs thirty two point something (the acceleration rate of 1G gravity) pounds. The slug is needed for engineering calculations in non-one G environments where a kilogram or a pound change value with the G field, because they are units of weight, not mass. (a kilogram on the moon is a lot different to one on earth, or in a fighter pulling G's, etc, etc). So... what's the metric equivalent unit for a slug? The glug, or, for a different scale, the mug. But, the last I heard, even European engineers still use the good old Imperial slug.

Chapter 103: Breakfast on the Farm Trevor and Shane got up early, taking the shuttle bus into Rockingham, and then trains into Perth and on to Ashfield station – the closest they could find to the domestic terminals of Perth International Airport. It was a three mile walk across the Swan river, into Redcliffe, and then into the airport. En route Trevor observed, “Joel will have luggage, plus he’ll be tired, so unless we can find a bus going the right way, we’ll probably have to take a taxi b

Breakfast on the Farm is up. We're still using Australian Maths for the chapter numbering, so this chapter AUD 69. However, if you're longing for a return to northern hemispheric math, just turn the chapter number upside down. For those wondering what happened in Sydney in the last chapter, and about some other incongruities - some from many chapters ago, regarding the drug-frame-plot - this chapter has the answers, and a lot of new info. Special thanks to Graeme for the photos in this one.

I'm back, got in yesterday after a brutal drive, the last 100 miles in a raging blizzard, and have been busy as heck ever since. I love the posts above (thanks!!!), and I'll be back to reply soon, probably tomorrow, but right now I think I'd best work on getting the chapter ready to post so it won't be late. One thing though... is there a cliffhanger around here? Sad to say, yes! I see it, quite clearly, in the post above... Benji left us HANGING for the chapter title, so Benji is clearly guilty of a cliffhanger!!!!

Chapter 102: Welcome to Australia Kookaburra, once Ares though now wearing the name ‘Red Roo’, churned south, riding the early morning winds offshore of Fremantle. Trevor was at the helm, glancing at the navigation display, when Shane asked, “What do you want to do when we get there? We were going to search for your family; not a lot of point in that now.” Trevor smiled and shrugged. “See Perth, I guess.” Shane grinned. “I saw a bit of it when I was here for the competition: I arrived a fe

"Welcome to Australia" may, or may not, be up yet, depending on when you are reading this. It's slated to automatically post as 4pm Monday because I'm going out of town for a few days, so I used timed-posting in the GA stories software. I can't, however, do that with the thread, and I like to directly link the thread from the chapter, so that means it has to be created before I load the chapter. The chapter number... well, let's call it AUD 69, as demanded by Australian Maths. However, if you're one of those folks who are having trouble with Australian maths, feel free to turn that 69 upside down, for the northern hemisphere number. The chapter is slated to post at 4pm Monday. I'm not sure whether that's my time (Mountain standard) or the server's time, which I think it Eastern. When the chapter appears, the link should work. I hope. If not, we can all blame Wildone. CJ

Interesting! I don't know... I could see it going either way. IMHO, Metric sees to be coming less, not more, accepted in the US over time, at least for the last decade. For example, I had to buy a few quarter-inch bolts the other days, and there was no mention on the label of their metric size. A few years ago, it would have been on there somewhere, though likely in small print. Weather forecasts used to feature temperatures in both F and C, but now they are mostly F only. I can say for sure that the push to eventually change over to Metric is pretty much gone, though we still have the dual labeling laws for most things. Space, on the other hand... NASA has adopted Metric to a large degree, especially since the Mars Climate Orbiter mission in 1999. Long story short, they used a metric measurement for thrust for the onboard engine, but the software routines for the mid-course corrections burns were written for foot-pounds. The mission profile demanded utmost precision for Mars arrival; an aerobreaking maneuver (skimming the Martian atmosphere) for Mars orbital insertion. So, they did a 4th course correction just prior to reaching Mars. The result of the metric mixup; the Mars Climate Orbiter was targeted too low in the atmosphere, probably causing it to break up. It was never heard from again. Ooops. So, for Space, we went largely Metric. For example, even tracking arcs for satellites tracked by SpaceCom report orbital apogee and perigee in kilometers, not miles. On the other hand, the design specs for the SLS, the new Heavy Lifter NASA wants to build, list the vehicle length in feet and the payload fairing diameter in meters. The specs for payload are in tons, but SLS was specced out by the US Senate (what could possibly go wrong there?) and the mandated payload mass is listed in tons. Are those metric or standard tons? We spell "ton" the same way for both, and the Senate didn't bother to say which. (there's a roughly 10% difference). So, even NASA doesn't know. (And if it sounds crazy that the Senate, not NASA, is coming up with rocket design specs, that's because it is.). So, in, say 25 years, will we find a quarter inch drill bit in orbit? My guess is "Maybe", because they'll still be selling them on the ground, and they aren't flight hardware, but, they will probably have metric sizes too (and I do hope they don't try to put a quarter inch bolt in a 6mm hole...). Automotive tool kits, for example, often have metric and imperial sockets and wrenches.

Trouble? but what could possibly go wrong? Don't worry, Basingstoke is alive and well, he hasn't had an accident or anything. We'll be hearing from him soon. Rachel did indeed cause a lot of trouble for Trevor. More than any of the characters yet know; they don't yet know, for example, all of the reasons why Bridget wants Trevor dead - one was to frame Dirk, the other to stop Trevor finding Ares. Joel has two (not counting his adoption of Trevor) brothers; one younger, one older, and the older one is in college, and a touch homophobic. The bows of Ares were replaced, and the ones on Atlantis destroyed at sea. There is a void space in the bows. You're right; Shane would not be a good choice to take Ares halfway around the world. You're also right that she's a bit of a hot potato; she could be sold, but without a clean title (which she no longer has) she's damaged goods, kind of like selling a car without a clean title. You can do it, but you would only get a fraction of her worth. She couldn't just be registered as "new" because, like a car, she has a title and registration that would have to be included. She could be registered in the US under the circumstances, but it would be a nightmare, at least, getting the paperwork done. Lisa didn't actually tell Bridget much of anything, except via the bugs, and Joel did most of the talking. And, Lisa and Joel got some nice new suitcases out of it, so it's all good, right? Poor Trevor; he was already kind of overwhlmed with PTSD, the aftermath of his Indian Ocean ordeal, the constant threat from the press, the worry that someone wants him dead and might try again, and now his 'dead' mother drops by for a surprise chat. He's going to have a hard time dealing with it all. Yep, the police car was Greg Fowler's doing. Don't worry about Henry; George was mentioned as having walked to the cafe, so he's not parked close, so Henry won't see anything to worry about on that tracker. Bridget... maybe she was just being helpful? But but but... I'd never cause tension, it would be too much like a cliffy! And we all know I'd never do that. Bridget's tip on rolling the clothes is actually a very good one; it's a great way of packing. Perhaps she was just trying to be helpful? Yep, Lisa has sort of "adopted" Bridget as a surrogate mother, which to a large degree blinds her a bit. Bridget knew of that gap in Lisa's life, and carefully stepped into the role. If Lisa ever learns the truth, it will be devastating for her. Actually, the oppositite: it creates an explanation as to why Bridget's fingerprints and DNA might be on the suitcases. What it doesn't show is when the cases were given to Lisa and Joel; it could be well before any internal additions. It would also seem incongrous that Bridget would just waltz up and provide the cases, plus pack them, if Bridget intended to frame Lisa and Joel. Also, how would Lisa and Jeol prove it happened as they say? Also, what of the other peices of the frame up... one of which was cash. Whatever happened to the coke-tainted money Bridget gave Joel for Trevor's car? BTW, time to announce the next chapter title. It's Welcome to Australia! A happy, utterly non-ominous title. So, no worries.