MISC: The Girl Who Saved the World Part 64

[Scott Eiler]

On 2017-08-19 19:57, George Phillies wrote:
> So in 90 days I wrote the first draft of a ca. 130,000 word novel. Not
> this one.  Another one.
> 
> 
> Chapter Thirteen
> The Invisible Fortress
> January 17, 2018
> 
> I did wish that Medico and the healing matrix would be a bit faster
> about what they were doing, but I had to be realistic.  I had injuries
> that would have put an ungifted person in the hospital for weeks, or six
> feet under for rather longer..
> 
> Thinking back, I’m not quite sure how I managed to reach the Martyr, let
> alone climb the Stairs.  I must be tougher than I thought. I let Medico
> go about its business, assure me that I am not about to die, and tell me
> when to exercise, how much to eat, and when to sleep. GR, I cheat a tiny
> bit on going to sleep if I’m reading something interesting. That’s
> almost every night. I am slowly catching up on studying and homework,
> relative to my lesson plans. I tell myself I am three months behind, so
> I should not be upset if I don’t catch up in three weeks. The weather
> has been good, so the ponies don’t need me mucking out their stalls
> every day.  I still go out to feed and comb them and cuddle the barn cats.
> 
> World news is terrible. None of the great powers have started shooting
> at each other yet, but the talking heads think it is only a matter of
> time. Some of those Great Powers will attack me instantly, wherever and
> whenever found.  Others view uninvited foreign armies on their soil as
> declarations of war.  The Federal Congress has done a partial
> mobilization of the Army, not putting people into uniform but making
> sure everything is ready to go on a few hours’ notice, including weapons
> to people’s homes. Across America, second and third line personae are
> practicing timed combined attacks, those being way more deadly than they
> sound.  In other news, Brazil and Argentina are still glowering at each
> other.  They’ve halfway figured out the sky octopus is someone else’s,
> but popular sentiment is lagging behind. That kid who took all the
> photos is a real hero, but each reconstruction of the creature is more
> outre than the last. I thought it was quadridimensional, but six
> dimensions? Really?
> 
> I do miss seeing my friends, but travel is just out at the moment. I
> especially wish I could commiserate with poor Teranike. She’s trapped
> here. The gate between our worlds has been closed. Her country is what
> we call Antarctica, except on her world Antarctica is Polaria, a cold
> temperate rainforest, thanks to really different ocean currents, an
> extra continent in the Pacific, and a land bridge between Antarctica and
> South America. In any event, Polaria has been invaded by most of the
> rest of the world, their air defenses were betrayed by their Minister of
> the Skies, and they are fighting back gallantly if not very
> successfully, Apparently the Air Minister had been promised he would
> rule as colonial potentate, took the offer, and got caught. The Polarian
> legal doctrine is ‘treason is a hereditary disease’ so they executed his
> children and grandchildren, too, but they are still losing.
> 
This is the sort of stuff I used to put in sidebars.  This one is indeed 
interesting.  So now I ask:  Can it affect the story?

And I still love the universe.

-- 
(signed) Scott Eiler  8{D> -------- http://www.eilertech.com/ ---------

When you *are* the leader... whatever goes wrong... whether you did it
or not... *you* are held responsible. - Barack Obama

I know. - Archie Andrews

- from Archie #617, March 2011, scripted by Alex Simmons.