Wayne Gray

Thanks, tim. Yeah, I like the different interactions possible with the AIs and their humans. It’s essentially double the fun. 😀 you’re not wrong about Aster. It is indeed a little smug and uses literal replies as a way to needle Naren. But it also won’t let Naren wallow in worry when it doesn’t make sense. Kinda like a friend who keeps asking questions highlighting how goofy we’re being. Theres more coming for everybody. I hope you keep enjoying it.

Chapter 2: Hey Sailor The next morning, I hustled through the mostly empty corridors with my bag slung over my shoulder. Anxiety fluttered in my belly. "I have no idea what the fuck I'm doing," I mumbled as I approached Dock Fourteen. "Why the hell did they say yes?" Your qualifications and capabilities align with the crew’s desired specifications, which is why you were chosen. I frowned. "What qualities and capabilities? I don't have any! Well, other than a prospecting program I

When I first read this, it instantly conjured a story I read decades ago in school. “The Lottery.” A tale of doing things because those things have always been done. This ended better. Nicely done, tim. 🙂

Great to have you along for the ride on this one. Thanks for reading and commenting. I think this is a fun story. It was certainly fun creating it, and those relationships you mentioned.

Glad you enjoy Sci-Fi. This should be up your alley. Oh, there's always a story. And we'll get to see Vacumine in action soon, along with the whole crew. Each has their own part to play, along with their AI companions. More to come next week. And thanks for the read and the comment!

Thanks, Chris! I like this one, and I hope you do, too. More to come soon.

Oh, just wait, Dave. Hehe. Thanks for reading and for the comment. I'm curious how you'll feel as the story goes on.

Yes. Exactly. We've got the humans, but we've also got their AIs. AIs can talk to each other, their person, or they can "echo" other people over any network they have in common. With little networks like Rockhopper's, this can turn into a bit of a public forum with no real rules or protocol. So all of the AIs use it to talk to each other and to all of the humans in the network. With a network like Occator One, with tens of thousands of AIs, there are necessary permissions AIs have to gain to talk to anyone other than their own person or previously approved AIs. It's how Aster could continue chatting with Wendell. But you'll notice Wendell never spoke directly to Naren. That's because no one had set up that permission for them over Occator's network. It probably seems semantic, but I have it in my head how it works. And I'm a geek for rules governing systems. That helped me write this a lot. LOL Thanks for reading and for the comment. More is coming.

This is the first "hard sci-fi" I've written. I've tried to get as many facts right as possible and extrapolate what could actually happen based on the trajectory of our technology. Ultimately, though, this is a tale about relationships. Some participants are human; others are not. But it's all about relationships, and how those pull on the characters in the story. I really hope people enjoy it. I certainly enjoyed writing it. Thanks for the read and for the comment!

Thanks, tim. And I largely feel as you do. There's so much doom in the news and social media that it infects us with the same downward perspective. So, yes. Like you, I wanted to portray AI in a positive way, because it really could be positive. And my hope is to show some of what that could look like somewhere down the line. I loved your story. I've had my little opening scene written for about two years now, but your tale certainly helped kickstart me into finishing the thought and making a scene into a story of my own. So, thanks for that. And thanks for the review of my first few chapters. I appreciate that a lot. More to come.

Great to hear you're going to give it a shot! Thanks for that. I'm really writing a story about where I think AI could take us if we leaned in the right direction. Well, that and a romance that happens to be set in space. Really, though, you've already picked up on what is different about this one. What would the world look like if we had a constant, helpful, deeply integrated companion who traveled wherever we went? That's the question I'm asking, really.

Naren is a prospective asteroid miner arriving on Ceres. He and his AI, Aster, navigate life, mining, and more, millions of miles from Earth.

Chapter 1: Crew "That's it, isn't it?" The gravelly voice of the man I knew only as Standon tugged the corner of my mouth into a half-smile. "Yep. That's it." I pointed as our destination hung, seemingly motionless in the window of our transport. "Ceres. Specifically Occator Crater, there on the rim." You are off to the left by 2.3 degrees. I resolved to ignore the correction offered by Aster, my onboard AI, then annoyed myself by shifting my finger slightly right. Stand

It's like nothing I've ever written before. I'm experimenting with style, mechanics, setting, and the incredible complexity of all the relationships possible in this new future I've built. It's pretty fun so far. I do hope people enjoy it, but... I've really enjoyed the challenge of writing it. I've probably got something like three more chapters to go. So... maybe around 12-13 chapters total. Not too long, and the end is in sight.

I love it when I'm writing, and three of the more substantial "floating scenes" I've been saving all land in the same chapter. BAM. Started a chapter yesterday. Done today. Just had to stitch those scenes together in a sensible manner, and it's done. Sometimes I'll write a floating scene and never use it. Sometimes they get wildly adjusted. Then, some I can just drop in. That's how these went. Super satisfying to go from 700 to 3,600 words in... ten minutes. LOL Chapter 8 done. Moving on to 9 after work is over today. I hope everybody else is having a great day.

I... never thought of doing that. Jeez. :-s lol

I still suck with commas. So I need help with those. So... I'll keep using proofreading programs of some kind. I've just gotten a lot more aggressive when it comes to rejecting suggestions. I wish there was a setting of some kind to only see mechanical corrections. THAT would be exactly what I want out of a program like Grammarly. That said, I'm up to chapter seven on my newest one. It's slow going, but it's fun, too. My first attempt at writing a story set in space. It's going all right, overall. And part of writing is enjoying the process. I am, so I guess that's a success already.

Grammarly is doing that too, Brayon. I'm seriously considering cutting my Pro subscription next go around.

You may be right. Time will tell. 🙂

Thank you. It should. I wrote both, and I'm proud of Camp Refuge, so that's a compliment. After all, that's really where I found my "voice" as a writer. I hope you keep reading and that you enjoy this one.

I give a mean backrub. 😈

Instant coffee on meat doesn't taste like coffee once cooked. It adds a bitter dimension that's hard to find another way. Salt, fat, acid, heat, bitterness. Those are the pillars of flavor, and I try to use as many as possible when cooking.

Exactly! mmm good.

There's a technique where icing is applied to a still-warm cake, expressly because it will melt into the cake itself. Then it's iced again. I imagine something similar happened. Just... on a more... impressive? scale.

Medium rare or medium for me. One reason is a simple physical limitation of my throat. Yes, I'm a gay man who has problems swallowing meat. And when put that way, it just sounds sad and funny. Mostly funny... lol But I genuinely enjoy the flavor/texture of medium. A nicely grilled ribeye? There's nothing like it. Though, again... I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the steaks that came out of the oven. Wild stuff.