Archive | December 11, 2014

Next on the Tour, a story of Science! (@rix_scaedu)

Dec11

The new engineering intern was nice, in a terrifyingly curious, infallibly polite sort of way; he was also strikingly handsome and very sweet, in a way that still didn’t quite clash with the office as a whole. So Cara had used the social version of elbowing and punching to get to the head of the line, and she was now showing Dr. Darryl Quinlan around the facility.

The facility tour was the best way to see if a new intern was going to last, giving Cara yet another reason in addition to “and he has lovely eyes” to take over the duty. She had won the last three pools, and had a reputation to maintain.

“Is that…” Darryl shook his head. “No, that was the wrong question. What is that?”

Cara’s eyes swept over the hall. They weren’t in a laboratory wing; everything down here was plans and stolen technical specs. What- “Ah.” She smiled, although her eyes were on Darryl’s microexpressions. “That would be Jane. She’s – well, technically, she’s a failed experiment.”

“She looks… like the T-X.”

“Oh, we get a lot of good ideas from movies like the Terminator series. But Jane isn’t liquid metal, and, unfortunately, she was supposed to be a human-appearing android.”

“I’ll note…” Darryl spoke slowly, and his body language suggested he was intrigued and cautious. “You didn’t mention that she wasn’t a killer robot.”

“Well, right now she works in HR.”

Science! has a landing page here.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/864627.html. You can comment here or there.

Courier Duty, a continuation of “Itty Bitty Package” for Morepls (@clarekrmiller)

Dec11

After Itty Bitty Package.

Want to bring a specific more, please to my attention? Go here.

The road wasn’t really a road anymore, not in this section of the country. It was three-quarters pot-hole and one-quarter bomb crater, with the occasional multi-terrain vehicle left abandoned half in one sort of hole or another. There were corpses, too – livestock and buildings left burnt out and falling down where they stood, people who had fought until they couldn’t fight anymore.

The front had moved forward; technically, Pretza had already gotten them through the worst of it. They had moved past the soldiers, past the tanks, past the first line of rear guards. They had crossed three minefields and one inferno. And they were almost to the border.

The road wasn’t actually safe, but moving near the road had served Pretza well. Too far off the beaten track, and they were likely to find bandits, deserters, and land mines. On the road, they were a target. She moved through the remains of the trees, instead, murmuring as quietly as she could to the tiny bundle pressed up against her chest. “It’s all right, just stay quiet a little longer. Just a little longer, kidlet.”

She avoided three soldiers and one deserter, and then ran smack dab into the fifth man. He grabbed her by both arms, shaking her and her tiny package.

Pretza took a deep breath and assessed the situation. At this range, arterial blood would splatter all over her and her package, which would not only attract flies but make them very obvious. His face was pockmarked and scarred, his nose broken so many times it was impossible to guess if he was Thalassan, Corbetian, or Orion. His hair was grey and nearly gone, and he wore no helm, no uniform, and no insignia.

“You’re not her,” he muttered. “You’re not her. Never really thought she’d still be here, but I had to look.” His eyes raked over Pretza. “But at the moment, you’ll do. Come on, girlie. The front is no place for a pregnant girl.”

Tip Package 😉

Next: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/865297.html “The Border”

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Moving On To Number Eight…

Dec11

Yet another in “where did that kid come from” series.
Caprice is Phelen & Manira’s daughter.
Jack is Ib’s child.
Eryk is Shiva/Ty.
Adalbert’s Ciro/Amanada
Zahavi is a half-sibling of Cynara and a 1st generation student.

Christmas Break

“Well, you’re definitely pregnant.” Dr. Caitrin looked over her glasses at Caprice. “I don’t suppose you know who the father might be?”

The first-year student rolled her eyes at Caitrin by way of answer.

The doctor sighed. “No, of course not. Do you think you were entirely fair with those young men, Caprice?”

The disdain turned into a playful pout. “They wanted a pretty target. I make a very, very pretty target.”

“Mmm. And still, do you think you were fair to them?”

The girl smiled broadly. “None of them asked. All they had to do was ask..

~

Week four.

“I don’t know what to do with her,” Jack complained. “I mean, she doesn’t do anything I want, she’s hot one minute and cold the next, and she bites.“

“Perhaps, if she is not doing what she is told, the fault is not in the Kept but in Keeper.”

Professor Fridmar had probably meant the advice to shame Jack into being authoritative with his Kept. He, however, took it as an excuse.

“Look, Zahavi, you’re a good guy. You’ve been chomping at the bit to rescue someone. Here. Rescue her.”

If he shoved Caprice a little roughly at his Cohort-mate, well, nobody was paying that much attention. “She’s Yours.”

~

“Well, now that you know, are you going to tell your current Keeper?”

Caprice smirked at the doctor. “Adalbert? Bird-boy’s gone home for the holidays. I think he’s done already.”

“And you didn’t want to go home?”

She shrugged fluently. “The world’s a mess out there, Doctor. And my father’s going to come visit me for a little while.”

“Your father?” Dr. Caitrin proved she didn’t know everything and raised both eyebrows at the girl. “Not your mother?”

“Daeva, I’m told,” she shrugged, “don’t deal well with children once they reach the ‘competition’ age. Dad raised me from eight to sixteen.”

“Aah. So Adalbert’s gone home. Do you want to track down the actual father?”

~

Week Seven

“Come on Eryk, you know you’ve been looking at her for weeks.” Zahavi was somewhere between wheedling and selling snake oil. “And now I’m offering her to you on a silver platter.”

“Not interested.” His blue furred ears, however, were pointed straight at Caprice.

“You know you are.”

“I know that she looks like a trap. What’s the problem?”

“Problem? It’s just that she’s… too compliant.”

Caprice pouted prettily.

“…Fine. I’ll take her.”

~

“I suppose I need to tell him, whichever him it is.” Caprice leaned back against the chair and studied the Doctor thoughtfully. “Do you think they’ve learned their lesson?”

“Frankly, dear, I think you weren’t quite hard enough on them.” Dr. Caitrin smirked. “But you’ve only made it through seven. Maybe one of them will manage to learn from the mistakes of the rest of them.”

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Science! Landing Page

Dec11

Why haven’t mad scientists taken over the world? Either they already have, and we just don’t notice, or they’re too dysfunctional to take over much of anything.

This setting posits a little bit of both.

Best place to start
Engineered (LJ)
The stories run in more or less chronological order.

Engineered (LJ)
Re-Engineered (LJ)
Golden Egg? (LJ)
Making Friends (LJ)
Shows Promise
(LJ)
Alibi
P for the Possum Postulate
In Theory
100 Per Cent
Through Biology (LJ)
Blame Game (LJ)
In a Fashion (LJ)
Next on the Tour(LJ)

Lair (LJ) [Beta Filter] started it all

Two stories of Science! appear in Alder by Post, Issues Five and Twelve.
Order back-issues here.

Science! Character List
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