91
The Hate Network / Leave comments here.
« Last post by Daen on November 17, 2022, 02:22:23 AM »Hey, all. If you want me to finish THN, this is the place to tell me so. Hope to hear from you soon!
Daen
Daen
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92
New Releases / Drive Part 26 added, 11/14/22
« Last post by Daen on November 14, 2022, 01:04:05 AM »Drive Part 26 added, 11/14/22
93
Drive (ongoing story) / Part 26: Betrayed
« Last post by Daen on November 14, 2022, 01:03:28 AM »Aysa had promised it would only take two days to get the project on track again. By the next morning, it was clear they wouldn't have that much time.
Observers in grove Thaan had sent word just a few minutes ago that a mass of juns was headed their way. Aysa ordered the evacuation, but there was no chance they could get even one treqar out of here before the attackers arrived. Sure enough, qars were just beginning to uproot Tobor when Moss sensed incoming batches of juns. There were at least fifteen groups up there. Even if most were just decoys, they only had four working thunderers here at the Arbormass. It was unlikely they could survive an attack.
Aysa stopped the qars who were working on Tobor, and ordered him reconnected to the network. When the twins questioned her, she indicated the juns up there. "Even if we could get him away, they'd just follow him. We're safer as a group."
Reluctantly, Moss had to agree. He wished Char were here. Or rather, that she was alive somewhere else. "Anyone feeling lucky and want to guess which packages are decoys?"
A wave of grim satisfaction washed through the network. Doomed they might be, but the Arbormass wouldn't fall without a fight. Even without Char they had the best shots in the Union right here, and enough powder to light up a bunch of those jun vermin. Wordlessly, they divided up the thunderers and waited. The twins each took one, and Moss and Rax did the same. Tobor's connections weren't stable enough yet, and Aysa's reflexes were self-admittedly not up to the task. Rax's qars scurried between the four weapons, distributing powder to each one, and bringing more from the underground storeroom.
For some reason, the juns were now slowing down. They came to a halt up there, hovering just out of range. What were they waiting for? Then without warning, all four thunderers exploded!
Shrapnel peppered the branches and trunks of the nearest treqars. Twisted metal sheared off of the communication roots, maiming qars and burning into the ground. The blasts hadn't been big like Char's, and were no threat to the treqars themselves. Rax's surviving qars returned to him. Shock and horror swept through the network, except from him. From Rax, all Moss could feel was resignation and sorrow.
Moss was barely aware that the juns had started moving again. "Rax, what did you do??"
"What I had to. I'm sorry, everyone. I wish there had been another way."
Lars let out a burst of realization. "You're the spy! It never was Char—it was you who betrayed us!"
"You told them where we are, and now we're all going to die," Moss added, not even sure what he could feel in these circumstances. Resignation? Self-loathing? Maybe Char had been right about how to feel all along.
"No, not if I can help it," Rax insisted. "They're here to uproot me and fly me away. That was part of the deal. I'll speak to my superiors about you—maybe I can convince them to spare your lives."
"The deal??" Moss' dead feeling evaporated in front of a fresh surge of fury. "Why? Why would you ever work with the trejuns—they've killed thousands of us! They murdered your family, for Core's sake!"
"They just made it look that way. My grove is unharmed. You will be too, if you cooperate." Rax let out some resignation. "They knew the Chancellor would set up an Arbormass somewhere, so they approached me just after they poisoned all the qar queens. They said my grove would be spared if I could keep them informed on any new weapons that were designed here. They even said I was strong enough to be bonded to a jun queen when this was done! I'll be able to go home, and provide juns for my people!"
A silence inundated the network, as Moss struggled to believe what he was being told. How could Rax do this? Even if his family was still alive, the trejuns saw treqars as lesser life forms—to be exterminated like vermin! As Moss grappled with this new terrifying realization, he was dimly aware of Grace leaving her post and climbing up his trunk.
"There's no way we can beat them," Rax went on implacably. "I saw what they did to the northern groves outside of the Union. Burned to ash for defying Trejuna. Sure, these thunderers worked for a little while, but the trejuns were just toying with us. They only sent their most expendable juns out, and only with the leftover stone oil they didn't need! If they really wanted to, they could wipe us out in a week or two. It wouldn't even be that hard."
"You're such an idiot," Tobor put in scornfully. "You actually believe they care if you live or die? That they'll give you a jun queen so you can fly wherever you please? They used you, Rax! I grew up with this kind of intrigue and deception! Did you take them at their word when they said your grove was unharmed?"
"They brought me letters from my brothers," Rax responded. "They were definitely written after we lost contact with my grove."
"So they put grove Thurkun a little lower on the list. It's still one of the places they're going to wipe off the map! Let me guess—they insisted that you give them up-to-date schematics of everything we were building here, as soon as we built it?"
Rax hesitated.
Tobor apparently took that as a 'yes'. "Now they have everything we ever designed. They have our thunderers, and our mobile radios. They have our grabbers, and carts, and internal combustion devices. And now that they don't need us anymore, they've sent juns to wipe us out. All of us."
Stubbornness emanated from Rax, but it was traced with uncertainty. "No. They wouldn't do that."
"Look out there, Rax! It would take hundreds of thousands of juns to fly someone your size out of here. Does it look like there are that many juns coming? It's a bombing run, and you blew up our only chance of stopping it!"
Through his horror, Moss had almost forgotten about their impending deaths.
He had ordered all his qars to run away, as far away as possible. Grace was still out of contact, inexplicably climbing up his branches now. Maybe the others could get far enough away to survive what was coming. Then he realized Grace was heading towards one of the good-luck charms that Char had given him. She pulled on it and a syrupy liquid burst from it, pouring down over his trunk. It was connected to the others in his branches, and they all burst open as well, adding more liquid to the flow.
As the first wave of juns flew overhead and let loose, Rax let out a tiny trickle of fear. "But… we had a deal!"
Then fire was everywhere. Streaks of red-hot horror spread across the Arbormass, consuming, absorbing and growing. Qars roasted in their hollows, curling up and shrieking in blessedly-brief pain. Branches lit aflame and blackened, falling off as each and every treqar here felt themselves being cut into pieces. Sense after sense failed, and before long there was nothing but darkness.
Observers in grove Thaan had sent word just a few minutes ago that a mass of juns was headed their way. Aysa ordered the evacuation, but there was no chance they could get even one treqar out of here before the attackers arrived. Sure enough, qars were just beginning to uproot Tobor when Moss sensed incoming batches of juns. There were at least fifteen groups up there. Even if most were just decoys, they only had four working thunderers here at the Arbormass. It was unlikely they could survive an attack.
Aysa stopped the qars who were working on Tobor, and ordered him reconnected to the network. When the twins questioned her, she indicated the juns up there. "Even if we could get him away, they'd just follow him. We're safer as a group."
Reluctantly, Moss had to agree. He wished Char were here. Or rather, that she was alive somewhere else. "Anyone feeling lucky and want to guess which packages are decoys?"
A wave of grim satisfaction washed through the network. Doomed they might be, but the Arbormass wouldn't fall without a fight. Even without Char they had the best shots in the Union right here, and enough powder to light up a bunch of those jun vermin. Wordlessly, they divided up the thunderers and waited. The twins each took one, and Moss and Rax did the same. Tobor's connections weren't stable enough yet, and Aysa's reflexes were self-admittedly not up to the task. Rax's qars scurried between the four weapons, distributing powder to each one, and bringing more from the underground storeroom.
For some reason, the juns were now slowing down. They came to a halt up there, hovering just out of range. What were they waiting for? Then without warning, all four thunderers exploded!
Shrapnel peppered the branches and trunks of the nearest treqars. Twisted metal sheared off of the communication roots, maiming qars and burning into the ground. The blasts hadn't been big like Char's, and were no threat to the treqars themselves. Rax's surviving qars returned to him. Shock and horror swept through the network, except from him. From Rax, all Moss could feel was resignation and sorrow.
Moss was barely aware that the juns had started moving again. "Rax, what did you do??"
"What I had to. I'm sorry, everyone. I wish there had been another way."
Lars let out a burst of realization. "You're the spy! It never was Char—it was you who betrayed us!"
"You told them where we are, and now we're all going to die," Moss added, not even sure what he could feel in these circumstances. Resignation? Self-loathing? Maybe Char had been right about how to feel all along.
"No, not if I can help it," Rax insisted. "They're here to uproot me and fly me away. That was part of the deal. I'll speak to my superiors about you—maybe I can convince them to spare your lives."
"The deal??" Moss' dead feeling evaporated in front of a fresh surge of fury. "Why? Why would you ever work with the trejuns—they've killed thousands of us! They murdered your family, for Core's sake!"
"They just made it look that way. My grove is unharmed. You will be too, if you cooperate." Rax let out some resignation. "They knew the Chancellor would set up an Arbormass somewhere, so they approached me just after they poisoned all the qar queens. They said my grove would be spared if I could keep them informed on any new weapons that were designed here. They even said I was strong enough to be bonded to a jun queen when this was done! I'll be able to go home, and provide juns for my people!"
A silence inundated the network, as Moss struggled to believe what he was being told. How could Rax do this? Even if his family was still alive, the trejuns saw treqars as lesser life forms—to be exterminated like vermin! As Moss grappled with this new terrifying realization, he was dimly aware of Grace leaving her post and climbing up his trunk.
"There's no way we can beat them," Rax went on implacably. "I saw what they did to the northern groves outside of the Union. Burned to ash for defying Trejuna. Sure, these thunderers worked for a little while, but the trejuns were just toying with us. They only sent their most expendable juns out, and only with the leftover stone oil they didn't need! If they really wanted to, they could wipe us out in a week or two. It wouldn't even be that hard."
"You're such an idiot," Tobor put in scornfully. "You actually believe they care if you live or die? That they'll give you a jun queen so you can fly wherever you please? They used you, Rax! I grew up with this kind of intrigue and deception! Did you take them at their word when they said your grove was unharmed?"
"They brought me letters from my brothers," Rax responded. "They were definitely written after we lost contact with my grove."
"So they put grove Thurkun a little lower on the list. It's still one of the places they're going to wipe off the map! Let me guess—they insisted that you give them up-to-date schematics of everything we were building here, as soon as we built it?"
Rax hesitated.
Tobor apparently took that as a 'yes'. "Now they have everything we ever designed. They have our thunderers, and our mobile radios. They have our grabbers, and carts, and internal combustion devices. And now that they don't need us anymore, they've sent juns to wipe us out. All of us."
Stubbornness emanated from Rax, but it was traced with uncertainty. "No. They wouldn't do that."
"Look out there, Rax! It would take hundreds of thousands of juns to fly someone your size out of here. Does it look like there are that many juns coming? It's a bombing run, and you blew up our only chance of stopping it!"
Through his horror, Moss had almost forgotten about their impending deaths.
He had ordered all his qars to run away, as far away as possible. Grace was still out of contact, inexplicably climbing up his branches now. Maybe the others could get far enough away to survive what was coming. Then he realized Grace was heading towards one of the good-luck charms that Char had given him. She pulled on it and a syrupy liquid burst from it, pouring down over his trunk. It was connected to the others in his branches, and they all burst open as well, adding more liquid to the flow.
As the first wave of juns flew overhead and let loose, Rax let out a tiny trickle of fear. "But… we had a deal!"
Then fire was everywhere. Streaks of red-hot horror spread across the Arbormass, consuming, absorbing and growing. Qars roasted in their hollows, curling up and shrieking in blessedly-brief pain. Branches lit aflame and blackened, falling off as each and every treqar here felt themselves being cut into pieces. Sense after sense failed, and before long there was nothing but darkness.
94
New Releases / Drive Part 25 added, 11/7/22
« Last post by Daen on November 07, 2022, 12:42:52 AM »Drive Part 25 added, 11/7/22
95
Drive (ongoing story) / Part 25: Blasted
« Last post by Daen on November 07, 2022, 12:41:47 AM »A tremendous thunderclap echoed through the Arbormass, shaking everyone out of their rest. Qars screeched and chittered in fear, sending more signals into the air and into their treqars. Moss felt a wave of heat pass through him, and then his sides were being bombarded by something he couldn't identify at first.
Bark and leaves!
There was a gap in the network now, where Char had been. The noise had been similar to her explosions, but a lot louder. Had one of her experiments disconnected her? Moss hurried to get his qars out there to find out. They turned back right away, though. The air was far too dry, and too hot!
That explained why he hadn't been able to sense what was happening for himself! There was a fire raging out there, consuming the dry grass to the north of the Arbormass, and spreading outward. It wouldn't get far: there was open rock to one side, and the river covered the other two. Trying to get some kind of image through the smoke and heat, Moss made sure to keep his qars in their hollow. He could handle a few flames, and they couldn't.
Before long the nearest flames had moved away, and the wind dispersed most of the smoke. Moss finally could see over there, and a burst of shock rippled into the network. Char was… gone! Not just from the network, but from the grove itself!
A blasted hole filled with roots was all that was left of her position. From the amount of bark and branches and leaves all around the Arbormass, Moss knew that there was nothing left of her. She'd died, instantly. Not burned to death like so many of their fellow citizens, but blasted apart in one moment.
Moss went numb in the network. He didn't respond to any of the messages from the others, so they looked for themselves. Mostly, the reaction was the same for them. The twins recovered fastest, naturally. They were accustomed to death, being the only ones who'd actually studied battle, and heard all the reports of destruction from the front lines. Moss still couldn't believe it!
A secondary explosion burst out at them from out in the field. Their motion machine, which they had built just a few days ago and successfully tested yesterday, was now in pieces in the field! It had been left there when prayer time came, and the fire must have burned underneath it. Moss supposed that eventually the heat caused the remaining fuel to go up. It was nothing compared to losing Char, but it was another blow. She had helped create it, so in a way this was like losing a part of her as well.
The ground was still too hot to send any qars out, but the fire wasn't an immediate threat to anyone. Other than its first victim. Aysa sent out a burst of encouragement to Moss especially, and then started assembling a message to grove Heirach. Moss only paid scant attention as she dictated the message.
How had this happened? Char was a Combustor professional! She would never have kept anything close enough to her trunk or roots to be a risk to herself. She'd already learned that lesson the hard way, back at her home. And the motion machine out there had carried fuel, but not nearly enough to cause it to explode like that! Moss could only sense melted and twisted metal fragments at this distance. Someone had done this on purpose.
Could it have been Eli? Doubtful. He'd been hostile enough towards Char, Moss had learned from others as well as his own interview, but he'd been gone before the machine had even taken shape. The trejuns? No, if they knew about this place, they would have sent juns to kill everyone, not just Char. Unless they wanted it to look like an accident for some reason. If that communication root he thought Grace had seen really led to one of their agents… If it was even there. No, the trejuns had much more covert ways of communication. A single jun could pick up or drop off enzyme messages and there would be virtually no chance that anyone here could detect it. It wasn't them.
That left only the people here.
Only the Arbormass treqars knew how to handle these explosive mixtures. Only they would know that it would take packages of explosives running almost her entire height to blow her to pieces like that! And only they would know when Char would be dormant, and therefore less likely to detect any intruding qars.
Rax had held onto his suspicions about her for the longest, but skepticism was a long way from murder. Or what about the twins? If the Chancellor really believed that Char was a traitor, despite the completed investigation, she might have ordered Lars and Lens to eliminate the threat!
Had… she done it to herself? Moss knew she still felt guilty about all the damage she'd done back home. It was masked behind her anger and resentment against the people who hated Combustors, but he knew her well enough to feel it. No, she'd been happy. He'd felt the satisfaction from her, at a job well done. He'd felt her joy as she tested that machine herself! She wouldn't kill herself, not without some kind of warning sign first.
"Rest assured, Chancellor," Aysa continued, "the project will only be delayed by a few days. Each of us has a full copy of the motion machine's design, and we have more than enough raw materials here to build more. Despite this… accident, you will have mobile treqars within days. Ones equipped with thunderers, within a week." With a wave of sorrow, she dispatched one of her qars with the package. It would likely reach the relay point by dawn, and the message would get to grove Heirach by the afternoon. Even after the investigation, their security restrictions were still in effect. Even Moss' letters to his father and friends were no doubt being read before delivery.
The fires continued to burn out overnight, but were mostly gone by morning. Time usually passed quickly for Moss. Like everyone else, he had the ability to just let his impressions fade away until some external stimuli like the Core's light. He kept sensing Char though, through the network. Every time he double-checked, she wasn't there.
If a qar was injured and lost a limb, sometimes it behaved as if it was still there. Equity, one of Moss' old qars long dead now, had sent images of pain from the tip of a limb which had been ripped off in an accident. How could he feel pain if it wasn't there to feel? Right now, Moss was feeling pain in the tip of his Char.
The new light showed a field burnt black. Treqars had a limited sense of colors by comparison to qars and other animals, but even Moss could see that much. The ashes had crumbled, and he sent his qars out with all the others to look for clues. Among other things, any sign of that communication root from earlier. Not that there was much chance of finding it now after a fire this size. He kept Strength and Prudence back though, to gather… her remains. There wasn't much bark left—not that she'd had much undamaged bark to begin with—but there were traces of sapwood and heartwood here as well. What little hadn't been consumed by the fire, he collected in the hole she used to call home.
Normal funeral rites for a dead treqar varied from place to place. In grove Praska, it was customary to disassemble the departed, placing them piece by piece in a large circle around the grove. It sometimes took seasons, especially for the oldest treqars. Moss had heard of elders dying just before winter, and their funerals being held in spring. To have a corpse just standing there for a season, unattended but still noticed, put a chill in his sap.
The departed's qars were also doled out to friends and family. There was no need for that now: all of Char's minions had died in the same blast. She hadn't treated them badly, exactly. More like brusquely. Impersonally. It was one of her flaws, and that was why he'd lent her Grace in the first place.
Patrol after patrol reported back with no sign of foul play. Skepticism within the network was strong at first, but faded steadily. Before long Aysa ordered the patrols to stop. They had work to do, which had been set back by the explosion. Reluctantly, Moss helped out with the new construction.
He had thrown his support behind Char, one hundred percent, and then she'd been murdered. It was possible that he was next. Feeling a bit like she must have, Moss arranged for three of his qars to keep a constant watch for any signs of trouble.
Bark and leaves!
There was a gap in the network now, where Char had been. The noise had been similar to her explosions, but a lot louder. Had one of her experiments disconnected her? Moss hurried to get his qars out there to find out. They turned back right away, though. The air was far too dry, and too hot!
That explained why he hadn't been able to sense what was happening for himself! There was a fire raging out there, consuming the dry grass to the north of the Arbormass, and spreading outward. It wouldn't get far: there was open rock to one side, and the river covered the other two. Trying to get some kind of image through the smoke and heat, Moss made sure to keep his qars in their hollow. He could handle a few flames, and they couldn't.
Before long the nearest flames had moved away, and the wind dispersed most of the smoke. Moss finally could see over there, and a burst of shock rippled into the network. Char was… gone! Not just from the network, but from the grove itself!
A blasted hole filled with roots was all that was left of her position. From the amount of bark and branches and leaves all around the Arbormass, Moss knew that there was nothing left of her. She'd died, instantly. Not burned to death like so many of their fellow citizens, but blasted apart in one moment.
Moss went numb in the network. He didn't respond to any of the messages from the others, so they looked for themselves. Mostly, the reaction was the same for them. The twins recovered fastest, naturally. They were accustomed to death, being the only ones who'd actually studied battle, and heard all the reports of destruction from the front lines. Moss still couldn't believe it!
A secondary explosion burst out at them from out in the field. Their motion machine, which they had built just a few days ago and successfully tested yesterday, was now in pieces in the field! It had been left there when prayer time came, and the fire must have burned underneath it. Moss supposed that eventually the heat caused the remaining fuel to go up. It was nothing compared to losing Char, but it was another blow. She had helped create it, so in a way this was like losing a part of her as well.
The ground was still too hot to send any qars out, but the fire wasn't an immediate threat to anyone. Other than its first victim. Aysa sent out a burst of encouragement to Moss especially, and then started assembling a message to grove Heirach. Moss only paid scant attention as she dictated the message.
How had this happened? Char was a Combustor professional! She would never have kept anything close enough to her trunk or roots to be a risk to herself. She'd already learned that lesson the hard way, back at her home. And the motion machine out there had carried fuel, but not nearly enough to cause it to explode like that! Moss could only sense melted and twisted metal fragments at this distance. Someone had done this on purpose.
Could it have been Eli? Doubtful. He'd been hostile enough towards Char, Moss had learned from others as well as his own interview, but he'd been gone before the machine had even taken shape. The trejuns? No, if they knew about this place, they would have sent juns to kill everyone, not just Char. Unless they wanted it to look like an accident for some reason. If that communication root he thought Grace had seen really led to one of their agents… If it was even there. No, the trejuns had much more covert ways of communication. A single jun could pick up or drop off enzyme messages and there would be virtually no chance that anyone here could detect it. It wasn't them.
That left only the people here.
Only the Arbormass treqars knew how to handle these explosive mixtures. Only they would know that it would take packages of explosives running almost her entire height to blow her to pieces like that! And only they would know when Char would be dormant, and therefore less likely to detect any intruding qars.
Rax had held onto his suspicions about her for the longest, but skepticism was a long way from murder. Or what about the twins? If the Chancellor really believed that Char was a traitor, despite the completed investigation, she might have ordered Lars and Lens to eliminate the threat!
Had… she done it to herself? Moss knew she still felt guilty about all the damage she'd done back home. It was masked behind her anger and resentment against the people who hated Combustors, but he knew her well enough to feel it. No, she'd been happy. He'd felt the satisfaction from her, at a job well done. He'd felt her joy as she tested that machine herself! She wouldn't kill herself, not without some kind of warning sign first.
"Rest assured, Chancellor," Aysa continued, "the project will only be delayed by a few days. Each of us has a full copy of the motion machine's design, and we have more than enough raw materials here to build more. Despite this… accident, you will have mobile treqars within days. Ones equipped with thunderers, within a week." With a wave of sorrow, she dispatched one of her qars with the package. It would likely reach the relay point by dawn, and the message would get to grove Heirach by the afternoon. Even after the investigation, their security restrictions were still in effect. Even Moss' letters to his father and friends were no doubt being read before delivery.
The fires continued to burn out overnight, but were mostly gone by morning. Time usually passed quickly for Moss. Like everyone else, he had the ability to just let his impressions fade away until some external stimuli like the Core's light. He kept sensing Char though, through the network. Every time he double-checked, she wasn't there.
If a qar was injured and lost a limb, sometimes it behaved as if it was still there. Equity, one of Moss' old qars long dead now, had sent images of pain from the tip of a limb which had been ripped off in an accident. How could he feel pain if it wasn't there to feel? Right now, Moss was feeling pain in the tip of his Char.
The new light showed a field burnt black. Treqars had a limited sense of colors by comparison to qars and other animals, but even Moss could see that much. The ashes had crumbled, and he sent his qars out with all the others to look for clues. Among other things, any sign of that communication root from earlier. Not that there was much chance of finding it now after a fire this size. He kept Strength and Prudence back though, to gather… her remains. There wasn't much bark left—not that she'd had much undamaged bark to begin with—but there were traces of sapwood and heartwood here as well. What little hadn't been consumed by the fire, he collected in the hole she used to call home.
Normal funeral rites for a dead treqar varied from place to place. In grove Praska, it was customary to disassemble the departed, placing them piece by piece in a large circle around the grove. It sometimes took seasons, especially for the oldest treqars. Moss had heard of elders dying just before winter, and their funerals being held in spring. To have a corpse just standing there for a season, unattended but still noticed, put a chill in his sap.
The departed's qars were also doled out to friends and family. There was no need for that now: all of Char's minions had died in the same blast. She hadn't treated them badly, exactly. More like brusquely. Impersonally. It was one of her flaws, and that was why he'd lent her Grace in the first place.
Patrol after patrol reported back with no sign of foul play. Skepticism within the network was strong at first, but faded steadily. Before long Aysa ordered the patrols to stop. They had work to do, which had been set back by the explosion. Reluctantly, Moss helped out with the new construction.
He had thrown his support behind Char, one hundred percent, and then she'd been murdered. It was possible that he was next. Feeling a bit like she must have, Moss arranged for three of his qars to keep a constant watch for any signs of trouble.
96
Contact me in one of the ways below, so that I know you actually have blood. / This is basically to stop bots. Sorry if it's an inconvenience.
« Last post by Daen on November 04, 2022, 11:06:15 AM »Seriously. They just keep coming, and without actual authentication, I have no way of stopping them. The bots. THE BOTSSSS!!!!!
You can also put a request in the section below labeled Are You Real. That's the part I check most often.
You can also put a request in the section below labeled Are You Real. That's the part I check most often.
97
New Releases / Drive Part 24 added, 10/31/22
« Last post by Daen on October 31, 2022, 12:46:25 AM »Drive Part 24 added, 10/31/22
98
Drive (ongoing story) / Part 24: Back to Work
« Last post by Daen on October 31, 2022, 12:45:50 AM »The interviews finished the very next day. An enzyme package from the Security Apex arrived explaining that the investigation was over, and that 'Eli' had been relieved of this task. It was worded in official language, but Char could read between the lines. Either Eli had failed to find any evidence that she was a spy, or he'd embarrassed himself in some way. Regardless, it was over. Char set two of her qars with the task of reconnecting her.
“—no way to know for sure!" Rax was saying urgently as she arrived. Tobor was about to respond, but suddenly became aware of her and shut up.
Everyone was there, including Moss. Apprehension leaked into the network from everyone except him, and Aysa as usual. She was her typical placid self at the moment. Wordlessly, Char pulled up the designs for the twins' stormer, complete with labels, and placed it for everyone to see. Then she pulled up the modifications for the 'ingenious' motion device, along with the new fuel mixture. As if nothing had happened, she began tinkering with them in front of everyone.
Without hesitation, Moss joined in with her. "I've got Strength supervising the shaping of the new metal frame. I've also got Prudence doing the same for the new wheel design. You wanted it much wider than I expected. Do you think it'll need to travel on loose dirt or sand?"
Not trusting her words, Char sent out an affirmative. He was telling everyone, clear as day, that he trusted her just as much now as before. He was wrong to do so, but it was still courageous. It forced the rest to make a choice. If they still believed her to be a traitor despite the end of the investigation, they would have to show it now. Moss had made it impossible to continue the project otherwise.
If only he knew the full truth! No… even then he would probably still support her. He had a forgiving nature and an open mind. Char wished there were more like him.
Slowly, the Arbormass joined in the circle with them. Rax was the last, but he did so in the end. As it happened, they'd all been advancing the project during isolation, and it was necessary to compare copious notes with each other before proceeding.
The motion device took shape quickly, partially because the raw materials were all here already. Rax's earlier idea about multiple cylinders had been right, but for the wrong reason. He just didn't know enough about how the mixture of fuel to air had to be placed, but Char explained it to him. Despite his suspicion, he listened intently. Also, he and Tobor had been so consumed with the articulator design that it was doubtful he would have been available to learn before this. A pair of the mechanical limbs were attached to the front of the cart, with lines for power and control attached to the accumulator and whichever treqar would test this thing.
Aysa attached the initial sparking device. Unlike the earlier cart which burned at a steady rate, her new design allowed an enzyme control to increase or decrease the amount of fuel in the cylinders. That would hopefully let the treqar on this motion machine move slower or faster as needed. Assuming the accumulator didn't run out of charge, or the fuel didn't run out, or the sparking system Aysa designed didn't malfunction, or the greasing agent Tobor added kept the moving parts moving, or the up-and-down motion didn't seize up again and kept changing to round-and-round motion… and about a million other potential problems.
In truth, Char had never had so much fun! She loved the flames, primarily because of what they represented. Consumption, destruction, and conversion. But building something—actually assembling and testing and using it? She could see why Moss got so excited, even when something blew up or broke down. Failure is still progress, he said so often that people started finishing the phrase for him when he began.
Aysa called them on their work before long. It was already getting dark, and the qars were having trouble seeing even with the open flames nearby. Reluctantly, Char had them extinguish the lights. The later it got into the night, the more bugs they would attract, and her qars wouldn't be able to sleep if they had too many visitors. She sent out satisfaction to the group, and was rewarded with the same.
She was really going to miss these people.
“—no way to know for sure!" Rax was saying urgently as she arrived. Tobor was about to respond, but suddenly became aware of her and shut up.
Everyone was there, including Moss. Apprehension leaked into the network from everyone except him, and Aysa as usual. She was her typical placid self at the moment. Wordlessly, Char pulled up the designs for the twins' stormer, complete with labels, and placed it for everyone to see. Then she pulled up the modifications for the 'ingenious' motion device, along with the new fuel mixture. As if nothing had happened, she began tinkering with them in front of everyone.
Without hesitation, Moss joined in with her. "I've got Strength supervising the shaping of the new metal frame. I've also got Prudence doing the same for the new wheel design. You wanted it much wider than I expected. Do you think it'll need to travel on loose dirt or sand?"
Not trusting her words, Char sent out an affirmative. He was telling everyone, clear as day, that he trusted her just as much now as before. He was wrong to do so, but it was still courageous. It forced the rest to make a choice. If they still believed her to be a traitor despite the end of the investigation, they would have to show it now. Moss had made it impossible to continue the project otherwise.
If only he knew the full truth! No… even then he would probably still support her. He had a forgiving nature and an open mind. Char wished there were more like him.
Slowly, the Arbormass joined in the circle with them. Rax was the last, but he did so in the end. As it happened, they'd all been advancing the project during isolation, and it was necessary to compare copious notes with each other before proceeding.
The motion device took shape quickly, partially because the raw materials were all here already. Rax's earlier idea about multiple cylinders had been right, but for the wrong reason. He just didn't know enough about how the mixture of fuel to air had to be placed, but Char explained it to him. Despite his suspicion, he listened intently. Also, he and Tobor had been so consumed with the articulator design that it was doubtful he would have been available to learn before this. A pair of the mechanical limbs were attached to the front of the cart, with lines for power and control attached to the accumulator and whichever treqar would test this thing.
Aysa attached the initial sparking device. Unlike the earlier cart which burned at a steady rate, her new design allowed an enzyme control to increase or decrease the amount of fuel in the cylinders. That would hopefully let the treqar on this motion machine move slower or faster as needed. Assuming the accumulator didn't run out of charge, or the fuel didn't run out, or the sparking system Aysa designed didn't malfunction, or the greasing agent Tobor added kept the moving parts moving, or the up-and-down motion didn't seize up again and kept changing to round-and-round motion… and about a million other potential problems.
In truth, Char had never had so much fun! She loved the flames, primarily because of what they represented. Consumption, destruction, and conversion. But building something—actually assembling and testing and using it? She could see why Moss got so excited, even when something blew up or broke down. Failure is still progress, he said so often that people started finishing the phrase for him when he began.
Aysa called them on their work before long. It was already getting dark, and the qars were having trouble seeing even with the open flames nearby. Reluctantly, Char had them extinguish the lights. The later it got into the night, the more bugs they would attract, and her qars wouldn't be able to sleep if they had too many visitors. She sent out satisfaction to the group, and was rewarded with the same.
She was really going to miss these people.
99
Destiny (See) / Destiny discussion
« Last post by Daen on October 24, 2022, 01:15:33 AM »I'm still working out the formatting of how to get full stories onto a forum, but for now, reply to this post if you have comments to make (good or bad), on the story.
Hope to hear from you soon,
Daen
Hope to hear from you soon,
Daen
100
Legacy of Fury (Grimm) / Legacy of Fury discussion
« Last post by Daen on October 24, 2022, 01:15:10 AM »I'm still working out the formatting of how to get full stories onto a forum, but for now, reply to this post if you have comments to make (good or bad), on the story.
Hope to hear from you soon,
Daen
Hope to hear from you soon,
Daen