Any chance we'll actually see them and the rest of the Misfits of Science "on screen"?

-- Bob
-------------------
My race is pacifist and does not believe in war. We kill only out of personal spite.

Hayes and Lincoln both appear; the others, no. By the point in the doctors' careers where this story is set, they'll all have gone on to other things.

Good spot, though! :)

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

That door opened onto the main room of the Humanidyne Project's laboratory. It was a sleeker, shinier, more futuristic-looking space than the school above, which was modern but also rather traditional in design. Mikoto, remembering the main STAR Labs facility downtown, immediately recognized the company's influence in this place's design language, with its bright lights, its sliding power doors, and its white walls and neutral-colored floors, the latter marked with color-coded stripes meant to guide those who knew what the colors meant to their destinations.

To Shepard, the main area looked half like a hospital ward and half a fancy sports club. The central "island" with its outward-facing counters and work stations was very like a nurses' station, but instead of hospital rooms with beds and medical equipment, the glass-fronted chambers facing inward toward it were like high-tech, evidently soundproof racquetball courts. Most of them were empty, presumably because it was Saturday, but a few were occupied by lab-coated researchers and younger people who must have been students doing various scientific-looking things.

In one of them, a ponytailed blonde girl of about twelve, dressed in a PE uniform and wired for EKG, was jogging on a treadmill while a youngish woman with a clipboard watched her. This didn't seem too remarkable at first glance, until Shepard took a closer look at the digital readout on the wall nearby and saw that, according to the treadmill's instrumentation, she would have been doing 45 miles per hour on open ground, while maintaining a heart rate of 58 beats per minute.

The cubicle next door contained only a couple of chairs arranged facing each other across a small table. In one of the chairs sat a researcher with a clipboard and a deck of cards; in the other, a girl in a different school uniform of mostly blue and grey, her head enclosed in a space helmet with a solid blast shield completely covering the facebowl. While Shepard paused to watch for a moment, the researcher held up a Zener card with the wavy bacon lines, then wrote down what Shepard assumed was the girl's answer and moved on to the next card (triangle).

The next couple were empty, after which there was a cubicle in which a young scientist appeared to be playing ping-pong against an animate Tokiwadai uniform. This utterly perplexed Shepard until she realized that the uniform must have an invisible girl in it. At least, she assumed a girl, based on the type of the uniform. Shepard wondered how she could see to play ping-pong with nothing in her eyes that could stop incoming light. However she did it, she seemed to be pretty good at it.

In the last occupied cubicle on this side, a couple of scientists were looking on while a dark-haired, rugged youth in a tracksuit assembled a series of simple mechanical contraptions—screwing nuts onto bolts, aligning gearwheels, and whatnot—which wouldn't have been that impressive, except that he was standing with his arms folded at one end of the room, and the contraptions were on a table at the other, a good 20 feet away.

"Huh," said Shepard.

"What?" Kuroko wondered.

"Nothin', I was just watching the telekinetic guy. Pretty cool."

"Oh, that's Adrian." Kuroko nodded. "He's Level Three, but he's a hard worker. I think he'll hit L4 at his next full assessment."

"How many levels are there?"

"Theoretically six, but no one's actually reached Level Six yet," said Kuroko. "There are only six Level Fives in the whole city so far. I'm Level Four myself," she added with a trace of pride.

She said the last as they entered an office at the far end of the ward, and in response, the dark-skinned, youthful-looking man sitting at a desk facing the door said,

"Keep working on your precision, and you'll reach Level Five yet, Kuroko. You have the potential."

Kuroko gave a rueful, unconvinced chuckle. "Thanks, Dr. Lincoln." Then, brightening, she added, "Look who's here!"

Lincoln smiled and rose—and rose—and rose from his desk. Standing, he had to be well over seven feet tall, and his skinny build exaggerated his height still further.

"Mikoto! Good to see you!" he said, coming around his desk with hand outstretched. "They told me you were coming in. No problems, I hope?"

"Nice to see you too, Dr. Lincoln," said Mikoto, shaking his hand. "I'm not really having any problems, it's just that my test readings back home have been flat for a few months. Jenna says she can't tell if that means my power level has peaked, or just that I've reached the top of the scale WDF Medical's equipment can measure."

"Aha," said Lincoln, nodding. "Sounds like it's past time for a full workup, then." Picking up a datapad from his desk, he glanced through a document on it, then gave her a look of playful reproach and added, "We haven't seen you in almost five years."

Mikoto went slightly red. "Yeah, well... I've been pretty busy since we moved to space."

Lincoln chuckled. "I'll bet. There must never be a dull moment on the Wayward Son."

He seemed to notice Shepard just then. Looking mildly startled, he blinked and said awkwardly, "Oh, um... I didn't realize you had someone with you. Sorry. Uh... I'm Dr. Elvin Lincoln. I'm the, uh, the head researcher here."

Shepard considered her reply. The man seemed unaccountably nervous now that he'd noticed her, but he hadn't shown any sign of discomfort with either Kuroko or Mikoto, bantering cheerfully with them right from the first. After a moment's reflection, she decided he was just shy and uncomfortable with people he didn't know, and so she resolved not to cop an attitude with him, but before she had a chance to put that resolution into practice, Mikoto had made the introduction for her:

"This is my friend, Gin Shepard. She gave me a ride over so the SDF-17 wouldn't have to divert from its regular patrol route." Folding her arms in annoyance, she went on, "And the first thing the headmistress did was threaten to throw her out."

"Eh?" said Lincoln, but then he nodded as the realization arrived. "Ah. Because she's with the WDF. Yes, I can see where Dr. Takasaki would be concerned about that." He gave Shepard a shy smile. "I, uh, I hope she didn't come on too strong. The whole, um... the whole idea of military people getting their hands on our students is sort of a... thing with her."

Shepard straightened up and raised her right hand in the Scouting salute. "On my honor as a member of the Wedge Defense Force, I solemnly swear I am not up to any sketchy bullshit."

Lincoln considered her for a moment, then cracked the first smile he'd directed specifically to her, seemed to relax a bit, and said, "Good enough for me." Then, turning back to Mikoto, he slipped back into his cheerfully brisk persona and said, "Well then! Shall we get started?"

Once in Hawaii I was taken to see a Buddhist temple. In the temple a man said, "I am going to tell you something that you will never forget." And then he said, "To every man is given the key to the gates of heaven. The same key opens the gates of hell."

And so it is with science.

—Richard P. Feynman

That one's an old favorite of mine. Glad to see it's responsible for this.

Matrix Dragon, J. Random Nutter

------
Authors of our fates
Orchestrate our fall from grace
Poorest players on the stage
Our defiance drives us straight to the edge

I had never really listened to Maroon 5 beyond That One Song either, but I ended up buying the album "Lucky Strike" is on, and I'm really into about half of it, which is pretty good going for any album, to be honest.

Also my incredibly-right-wing 70-year-old mother likes them, which kind of freaks me out a little.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

22 chapters completed, 23rd started. Doc fears for my remaining brain cells. Also my wrist bones.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

------
Authors of our fates
Orchestrate our fall from grace
Poorest players on the stage
Our defiance drives us straight to the edge

I'm taking breaks (mostly to play Midnight Suns) and staying hydrated. The main trouble is that a lot of the scenes only want to come out in one piece, which can lead to long sessions. Still, so far I haven't worked myself into an MS flareup, like I did in the middle of Gallian Gothic. So that's something! :)

--G.
"You are too old and broken for this 1990s all-nighter bullshit, fat boy," said my white matter.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

To be fair, that was the product of several years of off-and-on work around other projects, so its size doesn't necessarily reflect the same sort of concentrated effort.

>On the day of Wrestlemania. Which I’m almost positive was just a
>coincidence?

It was, but this amuses me. :)

>it’s still one of my favorite stories ever, though. The fact that
>it was winning my attention over Hulk vs. The Rock is high praise
>indeed

Why, thank you.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

Hmm... she'd have a lot more melee cards, and I reckon her overall ability set would be very tactical. Kind of like Magik, except with melee-based teleport stunts instead of portals. Her "environmental" animations would usually involve creative teleportation (not necessarily of herself) rather than just... you know... jumping over or kicking crates. She'd also synergize nicely with those characters who have cards that can make a hole for bad guys to fall into.

One of her Attack cards would be named Spikes! For You! and inflict Bind. She'd also have a Heroic called Beset On All Sides (a multi-angle melee combo with a chance to Stun), and a Skill that gives her (maybe melee-only?) Counter with Knockback In Any Direction for the rest of the turn, the latter effect of which would be animated as a teleport. (Upgraded version has Forceful Knockback.) I think I'd call that one Keep Your Distance.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

I have no idea whether or not the code could support this (probably not), but I imagine her walking up to an explosive barrel and launching it into the center of a crowd of mooks.

Also, using one of those electric generators to smack Venom off a roof, making him the first symbiote to break the sound barrier.

Peter Eng
--
"Whether the pitcher hits the stone or the stone hits the pitcher, it goes ill with the pitcher." - Sancho Panza

Yeah, unfortunately I don't think the "bomb" objects (barrels, gas pumps, et al.) can be moved. You can only throw enemies into them or attack them directly to blow up anyone standing within the blast radius.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

... except for "Fisher's Hornpipe" and "Tarzan Boy", which came the hell outta nowhere and left me wondering just what sort of scene those could be tied to.

If they were actually on the soundtrack, I mean.

--sofaspud
--look, I dig Tarzan Boy, but I'm just not feelin' it re: Mikoto :D

There is a scene that it would kind of make sense for, but mostly it's just there because YouTube threw it at me in the suggestions list while "Easy Lover" was playing and I thought, Wow, I haven't heard that song in years and stuck it on the playlist for the hell of it.

As for "Fisher's Hornpipe", I mean, she does play the violin. :)

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

Thanks for sharing this, I really enjoyed listening to the playlist. The tracks from Real Genius were a particularly nice touch, especially "I'm Falling". Also, I was reminded of how much I liked "Separate Ways", to the point where I wound up ordering a CD of Frontiers on the spot. I'm quite stoked for Operation: Blackout to be released, thanks for providing this to help tide us over in the interim!

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

You got this, man! Stay strong!

I'm looking forward to this as much as everyone here, but with how "ADH--Oooh, shiny!" I am, I respect anyone who can follow through on a project.

Can't wait to see this. When it's ready. :)

------
Authors of our fates
Orchestrate our fall from grace
Poorest players on the stage
Our defiance drives us straight to the edge

* https://www.reddit.com/r/cats/comments/99lc07/where_is_your_kitty_on_the_chonk_chart/
--------------
Lime2K
The One True Evil Overlord

On the Gabriel “Fluffy” Iglasias Scale, it’s moving from “fluffy” into “DAMN!!”

--
Jen Dantes - Darth Mephron
Haberdasher to Androids, Dark Lady
of Sith Tech Support.
"And Remember! Google is your
Friend!!"

We passed 500,000 bytes (but not 500 KB, thanks to that 1024-bytes thing) last night, so the scale might need more topend. :)

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

So what you're saying is, we need to amend the scale to include "OUT THA WAY FOO'"?

------
Authors of our fates
Orchestrate our fall from grace
Poorest players on the stage
Our defiance drives us straight to the edge

At this point, I'd say it's possible we may have to go all the way to AIN'T NO MOON Y'ALL.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

That said, I *do* remember being curious enough to fire up MapQuest (remember MapQuest?) and getting something very similar to your Google map there.

That was roughly the same period where I was printing out EPU stuff to carry with me in my briefcase when I was on-site with clients so I had something to keep me entertaining while waiting for $whatever to finish.

Good times. :D

--sofaspud
--

Sometimes a muse has something to say, and sometimes she bursts out of an author's head like the Kool-Aid Man. :)

Much of my creativity these days goes into running D&D, and there's definitely been some days like that for me.

------
Authors of our fates
Orchestrate our fall from grace
Poorest players on the stage
Our defiance drives us straight to the edge

No shock there, "Wounded Rose" alone is over 80% of the way to having the length to qualify under the definitions the Hugo awards uses, (40k+ for novel). You've hit novel quite a few times, (basically anything as long or longer than "Friends Like These", which gave a count of 42,202 when I tossed the text into Kate).

UF is bigger than some things that get hailed as "longest fanfic ever" and about the only thing that competes with it for size and breadth of sources are the Infinite Loops, (and that uses a disconnected multiverse cheat).

Which reminds me, I need to update my personal spreadsheet tracking EPU output (filesize, authors, publishing date) since I stopped looking up the information a few years ago...

--- Philip
(may need to add a wordcount column eventually...)

	Philip J. Moyer Contributing Writer, Editor and Artist (and Moderator) -- Eyrie Productions, Unlimited CEO of MTS, High Poobah Of Artwork, and High Priest Of the Church Of Aerianne -- Magnetic Terrapin Studios "Insert Pithy Comment Here" Fandoms -- Fanart -- Fan Meta Discussions

Mm, I know this intellectually. For example, I have hard copies of the first two Symphonies that Truss prepared back in the day, and on the bookshelf here, they're comparable to biggish trade paperbacks.

This feels different, though. Maybe it's because of the chapter structure, which is something I use pretty rarely, or the fact that I'm keeping it together as a single document before release. My mental picture of these things is usually of something more serial, like a TV show or comic book series. This one feels like a book, if that makes any sense.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.