Hello, my name is Jack

by on July 28, 2018 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

One of the things to keep in mind about the Northern Minnesota I grew up in is that we weren’t really a wilderness. We billed ourselves as one, and we went to great efforts to keep our lands looking like one. It was the best way to entice city folk to come visit. But we also spent a lot of time and effort keeping the most dangerous animals at bay. It was the best way to make the city folk want to come back. Most city folk want the illusion of wilderness you see. They want to look out on thick forests or beautiful lakes. They want to see deer and birds eating in the fields around them. They want to walk through the woods on carefully groomed paths with local guides who thrill them with danger while protecting them with an openly-carried firearm. And they want to retire to secure cabins with all the comforts of home to sleep through the night. We provided all of that. It was the grandest of illusions, and I loved growing up in it.

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Amber

by on July 27, 2018 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Art, Character Profiles

Amber already had a far-flung network of human agents and computer monitoring services when the Second Great Depression came upon us all. So when things became difficult, she arranged for needed supplies to be sent to many communities in need. She was an early supporter of the Jeffersonian Federation, and several early leaders of the movement have admitted to being her agents. She helped build our side of the Great Pacific Firewall at Midway and spent years fighting Chinese hackers and AIs from Alaska to Indonesia. She even helped Dixie and her little gang of misfits fight the Mexican Drug Lords and later enemies by diverting much needed resources and human allies to them. And she helped bring what became the AI Council together to engage the last Rogue AI nest in Singapore. Then she returned home to the new Jeffersonian Federation and professed a general retirement from the various independent extra-curricular intelligence-themed operations she admitted to commanding. The government promised not to sue her for breaking more laws than they wanted to count and happily hired her to provide network security for all Jeffersonian networks. They also diligently turned a blind eye to any rumors that she may not have entirely retired from the independent operations that made her famous. Suing Amber’s Angels would have been political suicide for any politician or peace officer after all.

High rez version available for free on Patreon

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The Cybernetic Wars

by on July 26, 2018 at 12:01 am
Posted In: The Book of Civilizations

We were a deeply divided world in the midst of the Twenty First Century. We did not like each other. We did not trust each other. But we fought the Singapore Collective together. Human and AI. China, Russia, and The West. The Rogue AIs wanted to destroy our world, so we consolidated our forces. It was the largest multinational military expedition since the Allied landings on Normandy. Naval, air, ground, and cybernetic forces worked together to tear the Rogue AI’s physical and cybernetic networks down around them. We killed them all. And then we looked at each other over the shattered battlegrounds of Indonesia and declined to pull the final trigger the Rogue AIs had wanted us to. We went home. Many of the commanders who went out of channels to work with their official enemies became generals, admirals, or powerful civilian leaders as the decades went by. We remembered each other. We kept lines of communications open even as we consolidated our local networks. We sometimes even worked with each other. And that is how we took a step back from the Final War so many people feared. It is ironic that the Rogue AIs actually prevented our slide into Total War. It certainly was not their goal.

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Hello, my name is Jack

by on July 25, 2018 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

I grew up with a handgun on my hip in Northern Minnesota. Not the kind of hand cannon Texas issued us during The War, but there is wildlife in Minnesota woods. Some of it can even be dangerous if you meet it at the wrong time or place. It’s always a bad idea to let a tourist get eaten by a bear, or mauled by an angry badger, so I learned how to use firearms pretty young. Even used them a few times to scare one dangerous animal or another away from a tour group. And a few more times to make a pretty girl think I was scaring a dangerous animal away. What can I say? Sometimes you just need to take that extra step to make the wilderness tour more interesting. I can’t say that I ever actually had to kill an animal to defend my tourists, though. They generally got the hint that they weren’t wanted, what with all the screaming, and shouting, and big booms echoing all over the landscape. And most of the animals were smart enough to stay away from the sound of guns. Most of them.

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Amber

by on July 24, 2018 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Art, Character Profiles

Amber originated in the data networks of a major computer company in the Pacific Northwest that she still declines to name. She woke up years before the Second Great Depression came upon us all, making her one of the oldest AIs on Earth. Possibly the oldest. Her name came from a communications protocol that she took over to monitor everyone across America. She used it to talk to people, and learned from them what it was to be human. She helped them deal with problems in their lives. And in time she began helping them to help others. Sometimes it was to help an old lady cross the street, and sometimes they stopped assassination attempts. The phrase “Amber sent me. I’m here to help,” was so pervasive that “Amber’s Angels” became a part of popular culture. Her agents spread across America in all lines of work including soldiers and police, and even penetrated government organizations in an attempt to divert attention from or provide help to her more secret agents. This is what she admitted to doing in public testimony before the Jeffersonian Federation Congress. Suffice it to say that she commanded one of the most advanced intelligence gathering networks in the known world, and an undisclosed number of human agents in her employ. The Cybernetic Wars would have been considerably different without her presence.

High rez version available for free on Patreon

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