edwardroosterHRVST Ch. 22: Ancient Games With New Players Remain The Same
Some games are still played because of their deceptive simplicity. The prize remains even if the players change. The outcomes are never certain, whether it was the first round at first light or the last round before the lights go out. Newcomers to the game can still defeat old masters. Luna, South Aitken Basin, On a train en route to Shackleton Crater, Hyperion “Shisima,” said the Captain. “Excuse me?” Tomassina looked up from her equipment check. The Captain thought about one of his moments ...
edwardrooster2062, Ch. 14.2: Landfall, Part 2
2062 Arcadia Planitia, Mars XIRANG ONE - CHINESE SETTLEMENT - ARCADIA PLANITIAThe bluish sunset marked the end of a long bad day. When night came, the work inside continued. There were injured people and damaged systems to tend to. A fitful sleep for most.Settlements everywhere, from the largest installations to remote outposts, wanted to make it through the night. It was one Martian day at a time. 1 SOL (EARTH CLOCK 24HR:37MIN:22SEC).Hayley rubbed aches, sipped her water to stretch out her b...
edwardrooster1648 4.23 Stupid Games, Bad Ideas, 2909
1960 Park Slope, Brooklyn He learned to read at 4, and he liked to draw his favorite cartoons. His mother encouraged art. At 7, he went to a private school. That year, he and his best friend made a children's book. Everything changed the next year. A car hit him, leaving him with a broken arm and internal injuries. While in the hospital, his mother gave him a copy of Grey's Anatomy. Soon after she was put in an institution. Despite the changes, he became fluent and literate in 3 lan...
Writer: future, fiction, finance, based on history, mythology, and technology
edwardroosterHRVST Ch. 22: Ancient Games With New Players Remain The Same
Some games are still played because of their deceptive simplicity. The prize remains even if the players change. The outcomes are never certain, whether it was the first round at first light or the last round before the lights go out. Newcomers to the game can still defeat old masters. Luna, South Aitken Basin, On a train en route to Shackleton Crater, Hyperion “Shisima,” said the Captain. “Excuse me?” Tomassina looked up from her equipment check. The Captain thought about one of his moments ...
edwardrooster2062, Ch. 14.2: Landfall, Part 2
2062 Arcadia Planitia, Mars XIRANG ONE - CHINESE SETTLEMENT - ARCADIA PLANITIAThe bluish sunset marked the end of a long bad day. When night came, the work inside continued. There were injured people and damaged systems to tend to. A fitful sleep for most.Settlements everywhere, from the largest installations to remote outposts, wanted to make it through the night. It was one Martian day at a time. 1 SOL (EARTH CLOCK 24HR:37MIN:22SEC).Hayley rubbed aches, sipped her water to stretch out her b...
edwardrooster1648 4.23 Stupid Games, Bad Ideas, 2909
1960 Park Slope, Brooklyn He learned to read at 4, and he liked to draw his favorite cartoons. His mother encouraged art. At 7, he went to a private school. That year, he and his best friend made a children's book. Everything changed the next year. A car hit him, leaving him with a broken arm and internal injuries. While in the hospital, his mother gave him a copy of Grey's Anatomy. Soon after she was put in an institution. Despite the changes, he became fluent and literate in 3 lan...
Writer: future, fiction, finance, based on history, mythology, and technology
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2062, Nairobi, before going back to Houston
The transport landed before dawn, the morning haze made the spires of the campus glow and shimmer at its peak. The Captain boarded a roller and headed for the spires. His host was waiting.
Not even the fiercest solar winds in recorded history would stop an entity which began to think in terms of more than one world, and saw the future like a State.
The only thing which could bring down humanity's greatest enterprise was also manmade. Money.
The money, or more rather most of the Cooperative's financial memories, embodied in a sentient ledger, went missing.
The Captain, out of loyalty as a favor to an old friend, began what he realized was a treasure hunt.
First, to Wellington, to meet with a disgraced executive, a chess master whose last move was to make sure the right pieces were on the board. Now, to Nairobi, a hidden asset. Another master of the game.
In the waiting room, the Captain sipped a brew, and watched the oracle news feeds of the worsening financial reports, which spilled over into riots, suffering, and protests. The Cooperative's financial ills made the world sick. Many treated the symptoms but the real problem could not be cured. They didn't know the truth of the growing crisis.
"She is ready for you."
The Captain walked into the local office of the Copresident of the Triumvirate, for the Division of the Middle.
There were 3 who led the Space Cooperative as copresidents of a Triumvirate: in Houston, Wellington, and Nairobi.
Nairobi, according to the Public Oracle News Feeds, was blackmailed by Wellington into a conspiracy of unauthorized Caravan deployments, and suspected blinding of the CoOp's early warning systems, which may have killed many on Mars' settlements.
The truth was half-true, which made it more believable.
"Thank you for seeing me."
The Captain then handed a card to 'Nairobi', which came from 'Wellington'. The card read:
"With this player, we will reach a body of water we seek"
2062, Nairobi, before going back to Houston
The transport landed before dawn, the morning haze made the spires of the campus glow and shimmer at its peak. The Captain boarded a roller and headed for the spires. His host was waiting.
Not even the fiercest solar winds in recorded history would stop an entity which began to think in terms of more than one world, and saw the future like a State.
The only thing which could bring down humanity's greatest enterprise was also manmade. Money.
The money, or more rather most of the Cooperative's financial memories, embodied in a sentient ledger, went missing.
The Captain, out of loyalty as a favor to an old friend, began what he realized was a treasure hunt.
First, to Wellington, to meet with a disgraced executive, a chess master whose last move was to make sure the right pieces were on the board. Now, to Nairobi, a hidden asset. Another master of the game.
In the waiting room, the Captain sipped a brew, and watched the oracle news feeds of the worsening financial reports, which spilled over into riots, suffering, and protests. The Cooperative's financial ills made the world sick. Many treated the symptoms but the real problem could not be cured. They didn't know the truth of the growing crisis.
"She is ready for you."
The Captain walked into the local office of the Copresident of the Triumvirate, for the Division of the Middle.
There were 3 who led the Space Cooperative as copresidents of a Triumvirate: in Houston, Wellington, and Nairobi.
Nairobi, according to the Public Oracle News Feeds, was blackmailed by Wellington into a conspiracy of unauthorized Caravan deployments, and suspected blinding of the CoOp's early warning systems, which may have killed many on Mars' settlements.
The truth was half-true, which made it more believable.
"Thank you for seeing me."
The Captain then handed a card to 'Nairobi', which came from 'Wellington'. The card read:
"With this player, we will reach a body of water we seek"
"The Source. This octagon drawn on the card, Captain, it's an old game called, Shisima, which means "source of water", a kind of tic-tac-toe. There are 4 lines which divide the octagon into 8 slices. Each player has 3 pieces, imbalavali, or water bugs. The objective is to line them up, 3 in a row, but also having the 3 include the center, where all the lines intersect, the source, water. The prize."
The Captain nodded, "so, I am the player." 'Nairobi' smiled, "Well, Captain, you are 1 of them."
"Houston, Wellington, and I were young once. We joined the Triumvirate, filled with ambition. I was from Haute Ecole Technologie, Houston and Wellington came from similar schools.
We all worked hard, each in different ways to rise. Over the years, Wellington watched Houston. He saw a ruthlessness. Wellington prepared. He wasn't sure but he knew the day came when we saw that "ALBERTO" had both sentience and a conscience.
One does not build an empire without having others pay for it.
Wellington anticipated Houston's next moves and prepared.
Houston blinded the early warning systems. He's the cause of a great deal of suffering on Mars, and now he'll do it again here. He sees the Cooperative as an instrument of his vision.
Wellington sacrificed his career, and now himself, so that "ALBERTO", and all the Cooperative's secrets, wouldn't be erased.
No-one will suspect you, or your friend, Robin. That's why she received a message, and that you would go into action. We saw how Robin handled the disaster relief at Heavyville and in the Gulf region. We knew of her friendship with you too. Wellington made sure Robin was promoted, and had Houston take the credit.
You were 2 of the 3 pieces we needed."
"Is "ALBERTO" the third piece fo this game?"
"Very good, Captain. And now you will find him. "ALBERTO", hidden on the 'VERSE, with half a mind will first find himself, then with you and Robin. You do what has to be done.
As far as Houston's people are concerned, I'm grateful to be allowed to remain on the Triumvirate, after being "blackmailed" by Wellington. You are just one of my morning appointments."
"How do I find and meet with "ALBERTO"?" "It won't be like meeting with me. You will go to "ALBERTO", where he is." "Meet him where he is? The 'VERSE?" "He is a sentient ledger, partitioned and scattered to the 'VERSE for his own safety, out of Houston's reach. But "who" he is still in one node, in one cluster which has been hived off. You will be connected to it, to find him, and bring him back." "You will become "ALBERTO's" avatar in the real world."
The Captain was trained for many things but not as a smuggler.
"The Source. This octagon drawn on the card, Captain, it's an old game called, Shisima, which means "source of water", a kind of tic-tac-toe. There are 4 lines which divide the octagon into 8 slices. Each player has 3 pieces, imbalavali, or water bugs. The objective is to line them up, 3 in a row, but also having the 3 include the center, where all the lines intersect, the source, water. The prize."
The Captain nodded, "so, I am the player." 'Nairobi' smiled, "Well, Captain, you are 1 of them."
"Houston, Wellington, and I were young once. We joined the Triumvirate, filled with ambition. I was from Haute Ecole Technologie, Houston and Wellington came from similar schools.
We all worked hard, each in different ways to rise. Over the years, Wellington watched Houston. He saw a ruthlessness. Wellington prepared. He wasn't sure but he knew the day came when we saw that "ALBERTO" had both sentience and a conscience.
One does not build an empire without having others pay for it.
Wellington anticipated Houston's next moves and prepared.
Houston blinded the early warning systems. He's the cause of a great deal of suffering on Mars, and now he'll do it again here. He sees the Cooperative as an instrument of his vision.
Wellington sacrificed his career, and now himself, so that "ALBERTO", and all the Cooperative's secrets, wouldn't be erased.
No-one will suspect you, or your friend, Robin. That's why she received a message, and that you would go into action. We saw how Robin handled the disaster relief at Heavyville and in the Gulf region. We knew of her friendship with you too. Wellington made sure Robin was promoted, and had Houston take the credit.
You were 2 of the 3 pieces we needed."
"Is "ALBERTO" the third piece fo this game?"
"Very good, Captain. And now you will find him. "ALBERTO", hidden on the 'VERSE, with half a mind will first find himself, then with you and Robin. You do what has to be done.
As far as Houston's people are concerned, I'm grateful to be allowed to remain on the Triumvirate, after being "blackmailed" by Wellington. You are just one of my morning appointments."
"How do I find and meet with "ALBERTO"?" "It won't be like meeting with me. You will go to "ALBERTO", where he is." "Meet him where he is? The 'VERSE?" "He is a sentient ledger, partitioned and scattered to the 'VERSE for his own safety, out of Houston's reach. But "who" he is still in one node, in one cluster which has been hived off. You will be connected to it, to find him, and bring him back." "You will become "ALBERTO's" avatar in the real world."
The Captain was trained for many things but not as a smuggler.
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