Will Hawkins

It is true that much history is lost every year, but there are still First Nations writers here who are attempting to get it all into the computer system. The only problem is hat much of out history, so many personal stories were recorded in computer memory systems that are with the advances in technology, now unreadable except by specialized equipment. Let us hope that enough technicians recognize the importance of getting that background material re-recorded into currently readable format before it is lost forever. Lime toothpaste sounds really neat (cool) to me -- sometimes one gets tired of mint this and mint that all the time.

I am especially interested in the similarities between your first Australians and the First Nations peoples in my country. It is almost as if the same stories are written about two similar people, perhaps they are merely telling the creation stories in two different languages! Just for a little background: the First Nations in my country were the Native Americans before the coming of the European invaders. The first contact between them with our government brought recognition that the Amerinds had governments long before the coming of the Europeans and, at first, out government recognized the uniqueness of those tribal governments. That is the origin of the term, 'First Nations'. Our national government even made treaties with the tribes, just as if they were independent nations -- then, time and time again, violated these treaties as the pressure of white immigration and the desire to acquiring new and valuable land for farms and cities grew. When the Europeans reached the Great Plaines territories, they encountered a overwhelming reluctance on the part of the natives to part with these lands. The Amerinds believed that the wealth of a man could be measured in horses, but the land was a gift from the Great Spirit and did not belong to any one alone. We were here as guests and could not sell the land as no-one really owned it. It was this difference in religious belief that prompted some of the worst battles in our history. Of course the Amerinds were defeated by the overcoming might of our government and ended up dead or poor living on the tailed remnants of their former lands. Our treatment of the First Nations peoples is a continuing black mark on out nation's history.

I keep relating your tale to my own experiences with the USA First Nations. There are parallels from opposite corners of the earth. Fascinating to a student of prehistoric lore like me. Totally great writing, I am enthralled.

In my own Pacific Northwest there are remaining just a few authentic totem poles from our First Nations. Oh, of course there are modern imitations as well, but there is a distinctive aura about the really old ones, so I know exactly what you are writing about in your descriptions of the First Nations people in Australia. Each of our authentic poles tells a story of a tribe's ancestors and if there is someone available who can read it, makes a truly fascinating story.

I can see that Hawke needs some attitude adjustment -- it seems she feels that a rescue from drifting forever frozen in space and a ride to her assigned station is balanced by $$$. I think she is suffering from a head-up-ass problem. The words 'higher rank' have several meanings, one of which is 'more rotten smell'- in this case, that is the correct meaning.

That comment may be a negative hint -- but after all, you are the author and only you know the full direction the story is going to take. Now, if I overstep the bounds of politeness you may just rush off in a snit, but my curiosity bump is itching terribly -- you mentioned transitioning and in the next breath mentioned a more mature fiancé, curiosity: which way are you going and how far along are you?

As a slave, Elias was so badly used that it will probably take him quite some time to get used to a normal M/M relationship. It looks like Artemis ha the patience to see the transition through. Let's hope so, Elias has been badly used in his short life and needs warmth and affection, but most of all patience on Artemis' part.

He is very, very, lucky. And at 19, you are very lucky too, to have a fiancé who likes to top. Best wishes to both of you.

Take it from an OLD Kinsey three, (85 years of age) being a bottom is not the end of the world -- as a matter of fact, if the top is experienced it can be really good, I mean really, really good! Of course at my age, being a top is just a memory!

'Anyways' is not very often used in anything other than North American slang. It is a good idea to avoid using it as it lowers the tone of the writing. The word 'anyway', without the 's' is better, unless the speech you are writing is backwoods hillbilly slang.

I recall stories told about the slaves in America after they were freed at the end of our War Between the States, the one we name the Civil War, they, just as Elias, did not know how to deal with their new freedom, They knew their enslavement had been terrible, against the ways of God and man, but they had relied on their masters to make all the decisions -- in truth, they did not know how to act. At that time, however, the Reconstruction era, there had been many evil men, the carpetbaggers who were eager to point the freedmen along a path -- it was the wrong path, but at that time it was the only path they knew.

My opinions, for what they are worth -- Sebastian was overly harsh in his dealings about Chas. Some sort of repercussion was warranted, but not that severe a one. Xander eventually, will have to learn how to fight his own battles, and the near destruction of the support of the school over one student's errors was a little too much.

First, some general comments about the differences between Australian and American grammar rules: I like very much the simplicity of the Aussie method of showing times of the day, the full stop between the hour and minutes is much simpler than a colon which is US style and the am and pm in lowercase is easy to live with. In addition the use of the titles Mr, Mrs, and Miss with no punctuation, while it is different from US style, is easy to adjust to, but the practice of melding quotes from several characters into a single paragraph is confusing to my eye. To me, each separate speech deserves its own paragraph and a statement by a character, a quotation of some sort, begs for sentence-type punctuation; a full-stop, question mark or exclamation mark at its end with a 'said John', 'she asked', or some other identifier included. This is not meant as a criticism of your writing style, but just as a general comment about the variation in grammar rules between countries, separated by oceans, but supposedly speaking (and writing) the same language. A year ago my partner purchased as a gift for me a lap-top computer, a MacBook Air, when he was visiting his European home. I had quite a bit of trouble with it at first as the keyboard is set up in the Continental Portuguese style which, for the first year of use, I did not realize, attaches different characters not to the alpha-numeric keys but to the punctuation and symbol keys. Now that I have gotten used to the Portuguese layout of the non-alpha keys, it is fine. They are all there, just located in slightly different places from the keyboard orientation I had learned on a US keyboard as a youth. It is not wrong, it is just different. Mister Will

I normally like longer stories so I can really get into the characterizations, but I just happened on this tale in my search of the 'recently posted dramas' section of the GA stories listings. I have been so pleased with your stories in the past, I picked this one because of the name of the author, though it is a short series. I promise not to go too deeply into my 'Troll' mode while reading this -- to just relax and enjoy. OK, lets see what happens to Xander today. By the way, how do you pronounce that name? Ex-an-der, or maybe Shan-der? I like to think about the characters in the stories I read and want to get their names straight in my mind (even if that is the only thing 'straight' about them! LOL.) Misterwill

The secret to having things for an overloaded executive run well is efficient and cooperative assistants -- it looks like Sir Lewis is accumulating those as needed. Once he gets the official bullshit over with and settles down to do his job, I am sure he will do well.

I keep hoping he will b able to settle down for a while someplace where there is a cue man to keep his feet warm. A dog is good, but does not quite fill the bill!-

That the masts of the ship are 'permanently attached' to the hull, is an unusual method of installation as often the masts of a tall ship are inserted through a hole in the main deck, wedged into place there and then go down to the keel where they are again wedged in place, this being done in anticipation of storm damage breaking the masts and requiring their replacement. I am not saying anything in opposition to the author, just that fastening the masts permanently in place would be an unusual form of construction.

It is interesting to me that, a) The American Forces on Diego Garcia and, b) The Australian Government in reference to Lewis former position with the Aussie Navy,, are acting each one just as badly.as the other. It would seem that governments, no matter on which side of the world they are found, are just as ass-holy. The Australian Government security officers are just as demanding as IRS (Income Tax) people are in this country.

Well, Q You have just given me direction in selecting the next series I will choose to read, now if, at my advanced age, I can just remember 'New Beginnings' I have a direction to pursue. I am pleased to see Lewis developing a relationship at last. As I mentioned previously, I was somewhat upset at how lonely a man he was turning out to be. It pleases me that he seems to be sorting that out. Wyatt might be a choice that will work out well. Somewhat better than a dog as a companion, but then dogs as bedmates are very useful in cold weather.

As a yank, I had no concept of the immense distances and time required for transport and communication in the Indian Ocean and southwest Pacific areas. This story is a real learning experience for me. Some of the tenures of Lewis in one position or another, seem to be short, but he seems very able to do the job of administration quite well, of course his ability with languages is of great benefit there. It is rewarding that those in top administrative positions have recognized his administrative abilities and rewarded him with nearly the entire lexicon of medals available. Am I off base in feeling that there are some financial aspects to the award of one medal or another? In spite of the gratitude of his superiors in government, it seems that Lewis has been forced to lead a very lonely life. I am looking forward to his meeting a life companion at some interval in the story, he needs human companionship, just like any other man -- can we at least get him a dog? LOL.

The embargoes and recall of ambassadors are definite signs of escalating problems between Australia and Indonesia. I don't know how Indonesia hopes to obtain significant quantities of minerals from Christmas Island -- their actions at this time are tantamount to a declaration of war.

we leave hear -- here till collection, over and out -- the proper procedure never calls for "over and out", Whoever initiated the radio call just says "out" and the ends the transmission. "Over and out" is very Hollywood.

to cover the collar panels -- Let's cover the solar panels instead- as crept out of the store room, -- as I crept out.... I received the injured -- injury

The comment about the news media is very apt -- their only concern is to be the first on the air with the news reports and they will do that even if it fucks every thing up. GRRR! It has always been the concern of the military to air only non-essential information because of that. In this case, however, the military is not in control. Ditching the phone is a good idea, let's hope it is in time. Of course the asshole who overpowered the man to get the cell-phone just HAD to call home to remind his wife to feed the cat, didn't he? The fact that the Australian Defense Forces are getting into the picture is great -- if an attack like this had happened to an American Island, trump would be out there scratching the enemy's balls, not moving to the defense, but then you know what I think of him, or you can well guess. The 'eyes on' intelligence that Uncle is giving them is of inestimable value to any attacking force... Good on, Unc! Do we see a Victoria Cross in his future?

store room -- the suggested spelling for that word is either store-room or storeroom, depending on which software you use, but, I am not going to make pure spelling suggestions as I am frequently in error on those myself.