Tag Archives: Tara

Arc 13.6.5: Courtesy

Courtesy: Part 50

4 Comments

It would have been over right there if it had never occurred to us that someday we might be exposed to a Dominator and be without a buzzer.

The bad news, of course, was that we hadn’t had access to Kals or anyone with Dominator training. We did have Julie, but unlike the Dominators in the Human Ascendancy or serving the Nine, she hadn’t been taught from childhood. She’d picked up what she could by experimentation and what the teachers in the  Stapledon program knew the Dominators could do.

Still, it was something—enough to practice with. Continue reading Courtesy: Part 50 →

Arc 13.6.5: Courtesy

Courtesy: Part 49

7 Comments

Arete shook his head, “You’re bluffing. There’s no way this Xiniti could pass that on to the rest. There’s no Xiniti Mars base and even if there were there’s no way they’d find out for hours.”

I don’t know how often you encounter people whose understanding of the world is so far from yours that you absolutely despair of bridging the gap, but I hope it’s never for anything important.

In that moment though, I barely knew where to start. I tried, “Look, there is a Xiniti base at the LaGrange point near Mars. It takes the speed of light more than three minutes to get there. If you’re communicating back and forth to a Mars rover it might take 15 to 45 minutes to communicate back and forth, but that’s partly just technology and it’s not technology we’re using. Continue reading Courtesy: Part 49 →

Arc 13.6.0: Roll the Dice

Roll the Dice: Part 16

7 Comments

South Beach Surfer blinked and pulled the bracelet up to her lips, talking into it.

As she did, a lone zombie ran into the charred area below us and spat a glob of something out of its mouth. South Beach Surfer saw it even as I said watch out, pointing my laser at the zombie and cutting it in half and then widening the beam to burn more of it at once.

The glob didn’t hit her. Like Gordon and Gifford, she controlled air, aiming the gooey mess away and into my beam where it burned away. Continue reading Roll the Dice: Part 16 →

Arc 13.6.0: Roll the Dice

Roll the Dice: Part 2

5 Comments

Nodding, I said, “Then I guess we’d better go do something that’s obviously stupid.”

“It’ll be fine,” Cassie said, “Mr. Sparkles is looking forward to it. I don’t think he quite understands that we’re not going out there to slaughter them.”

I eyed the alien gun in it’s holster on her belt. Using it to its full potential would get us in more trouble than I wanted to imagine.

Haley’s mouth twisted as she glanced down at it, but she said, “I think we need to get out there. Is everyone ready?” Continue reading Roll the Dice: Part 2 →

Arc 13.5.5: Isolation

Isolation: Part 7

2 Comments

I could see how Major Justice or the Nine might have come up with the idea though. Having people barrage you with requests that you surrender, some of them people you know… Well, it didn’t feel good.

Knowing that it had to be a ploy took a bit of the edge off, but I wondered if they’d done this before and to whom.

Then another thought hit me, “If you all are getting deluged with texts like I am right now, forward them all to Hal.” Continue reading Isolation: Part 7 →

Arc 13.5.0: Simple Choices

Simple Choices: Part 9

7 Comments

As Adam took off the necklace and handed it to me, Daniel thought at me, This is a good sign. In my dad’s stories, this is the kind of thing that should have provoked violence and I don’t sense any coming except in the least likely of futures.

I took the necklace and looked at the buzzer. I’d been right to think that it looked like one of my earlier designs, but it wasn’t one of them. I’d made them available to other people at points, but I didn’t think I’d done so with the model this appeared to be a copy of.

Keon had the skill to do it. He’d been at Stapledon before Adam disappeared and so had other techies. Continue reading Simple Choices: Part 9 →

Arc 13.4.5: Sudden Changes

Sudden Changes: Part 7

5 Comments

“We’re ready,” Cassie said.

Given what she’d just done, I couldn’t argue with her. As for myself, I charged up my laser and activated the remaining killbots and boombots. Back when we’d first fought the Cabal, I’d been relieved that we hadn’t had to kill them. Part of me wished I were that version of myself now, but the more experienced version of me knew that even before the Dominators had turned them into the Nine’s servants, they were willing to kill all of us.

Tara’s name flashed in my HUD as she spoke, “The True will get suspicious something’s about to happen now if they haven’t already.” Continue reading Sudden Changes: Part 7 →

Arc 13.4.0: Misdirection

Misdirection: Part 3

10 Comments

I didn’t realize that even as I felt optimistic, the other shoe had already dropped. The tree in the front yard had started on fire and the mulch and one of the bushes in front of their house had started with it.

Haley started talking to her mother over the comm again, “You need to get out, but don’t exit where they can see you. Go over to the neighbors. We’ll figure out a way to get you out of there… How? The police are coming. How do I know? Mom. You don’t have time for this. Get Dad and get out. And be careful, okay? I love you too.” Continue reading Misdirection: Part 3 →

Arc 13.3.5: Friends & Family

Friends & Family: Part 10

8 Comments

I was about to point him out to Haley, but I didn’t need to. She and Travis had already noticed and had looked away from the screen to look at each other.

Haley’s fists clenched and I didn’t doubt that she was restraining herself from changing form, “We should go. Mom’s at home—“

Travis shook his head, “I’ll go. You’re running things here.”

Raising an eyebrow, Haley said, “No. I don’t run—“

“I’ll go,” Daniel said. “You’ve got a better chance if I do.”

“I’m coming too,” Cassie said, hand on her bluish-green gun. “Those guys go down hard.” Continue reading Friends & Family: Part 10 →

Arc 13.3.5: Friends & Family

Friends & Family: Part 4

2 Comments

Soon after that, we all went back to base. After asking Daniel, I stripped out of the full Rocket suit and showered. Haley had assured me that it was a necessity. I put on a real pair of jeans and a t-shirt because she’d also assured me that my nanotech-produced clothing also needed washing.

Daniel had assured me that the chance of anything happening in the next hour or two was extremely unlikely. Continue reading Friends & Family: Part 4 →