Northern Minnesota

by on October 6, 2018 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

I grew up on the lakes of Northern Minnesota. Spring. Summer. Fall. Winter. There’s so much you can do in every season. But for all my days, there’s one thing I’ll never forget. One image that will always remain with me until the day I die. A great bonfire on the beach, reflecting on the surface of the water. A stiff, cool lake breeze on the air and stars in the sky. A full moon looking down over everything. Add a few pontoon boats anchored off the beach. Have some music playing and friends singing joyful tunes. People lying in the sand. Swimming in the water. Dancing on the pontoons. I never wanted to leave that behind. It was paradise.

 Comment 

Chloe

by on October 5, 2018 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Character Profiles

Chloe arranged for the man she thought could unite France to see how badly her nation was faring after the bombing of Old Paris. She showed him the fighting in the streets between the Islamic Brotherhoods and the French Resistance. She showed him the neighborhoods where French police dared not go. She showed him the ruins of downtown Old Paris. And then, when she was certain she had his full and undivided attention, she showed him herself. Her recognized her, of course. He’d told her “no” in New York. This time he simply shook his head and asked who she really was. He was the first person she came out of the network for.

 Comment 

The Memory Worlds

by on October 4, 2018 at 12:01 am
Posted In: The Book of Civilizations

The AI Council’s Memory World on Proxima Centauri was a closely-guarded secret for decades, and a more open secret afterwards. Very few people traveled to Proxima before The War because the AIs did not invite visitors. All of that changed after they built the Privateers my Cowboys used during The War. With all the publicity we acquired, people wanted to see the place that built them. Which is how biological humanity finally came to Earth’s closest stellar neighbor and discovered just how beautiful it was. Most of the system infrastructure is built into moons and asteroids all over the system, and the primary habitable world is only lightly settled even now. It was a vacation destination before The War, a place for cybers to rest and relax and enjoy a slower life for a few days.

 Comment 

Lake Country

by on October 3, 2018 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

I grew up in the Lake Country, seeing trees and sky reflected off the surface of the water. It’s like a perfect mirror when the lake is calm. Sometimes the ripple of a fish or bird will disturb it a bit. Maybe a boat will send waves all over it. But if the wind is calm and the people and animals are quiet, the lake will always calm back down again. And that is when you see everything above by keeping your eyes down. Trees. Bonfires. Clouds. Stars. It’s amazing what you can see in a crystal clear lake in Northern Minnesota.

 Comment 

Chloe

by on October 2, 2018 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Character Profiles

Chloe wasn’t the first person to meet the heir to the name Napoleon when he visited France. She wasn’t the second or fifth or tenth to meet him. She’d managed to pack his schedule with a combination of government meetings and tours of France so he could just how troubled the country was after the bombing of Old Paris. She only revealed herself after she was confident he understood just how badly things were going. It didn’t take him long to realize she was playing him. He was a fast cookie. But it was too late for him. She’d snagged him.

 Comment