#fictionblast

[weaselle]

The POD hashtag fictionblast

so I first came up with this when I saw these for the first time

oh sorry, those are boats

AND DID I MENTION THEY GO UNDERWATER? here, have a video

now, these can only go a little under the surface for a minute -- they have an engine that requires air intake and they are too buoyant for dives. But I immediately started imagining a different engine design and controls that would allow a nearly identical vehicle to keep up with various cetaceans.  Dolphins only hold their breath for about 10 minutes. Orcas do about 15 minutes. You could totally design one of these to keep up with them. AND, researchers are currently working on  dolphin translation programs that can allow them to speak with dolphins. So, naturally, I started imagining an adventure crew that lived in a variety of vehicles with designs based on sea creatures, and traveled around with a pod of translator/guide dolphins. They’d be like a caravan with a one or three mac truck camper conversions, a couple of RVs, and some trucks and vans and motorcycles and things... ... only it would be submersible vehicles, so, one or three blue whale submarines, a couple sperm whale sized vehicles, a mixed pod of orca and dolphin subs, a couple sharks, a whale shark design, a giant manta ray vehicle, an octopus diving suit with robot arms, a seal or five, and probably a remote controlled robotic giant tortoise, salt water croc, and giant squid. Basically a bunch of submarine vehicles and robots in the spirit of the sea breacher, designed like most of these things (and also some real ones)

They go around learning the languages and cultures of the whales and then explore the depths with them uncovering truths and mysteries of the oceans and our shared history on the planet

#fictionblast #the pod

[weaselle]

Hashtag fictionblast

Okay, so, I have the writing bug, a bunch of ideas, and not much time - I’m going to use tumblr tonight to capture as much of it as I can before I have to go to bed and start my 60 hour work week. I have a trio of group adventure ideas: The POD aquatic near future fiction that takes place almost entirely in the deep ocean, as the group explores cetacean intelligence, marine creatures and behaviors, and the unseen depths of our planet.  Cirque Moulin modern fiction about a socioeconomic revolution with it’s genesis in a visionary traveling street circus. Scry Capers a far future scifi story in which humans mostly live on the moon and mars, and a small crew of Dead Earth scavengers uncover the deep roots of humanity in their raids to the surface. okay, here we go!

#fictionblast #intro #one of idk how many

[weaselle]

Scry Capers hashtag fictionblast

      In the far future, more than half of humanity lives on the Moon. There are also a few populations on in-system space stations, the Mars Colony, and the Fleet Crews that live on the enormous ships that travel between them all.      The last of the earthlings inhabit a dead and deadly Earth, ruined by humanity’s failure to properly steward our planet and ravaged by terrible wars. Vast abandoned mega-cities return to nature and yet become home to the unnatural: altered animals/people that are either cybernetically Upgraded or biologically Enhanced beings. Scavengers and Privateers make illegal loot runs to Dead Earth for anything of value to smuggle into space colony black markets.       The situation for the few million people still living on Earth is growing worse and a final chance of rescue off-planet is taking place, a cooperative mission organized by the governments of the Moon, overseen by the newly formed and nefarious Planetary Evacuation and Transfer Agency, who takes violent measures to protect against “infiltration” of the Moon by any who are not “pure” humans.       This is not a welcome policy for the various UpGraded and Enhanced people who have become a part of Dead Earth society - lifelong lovers, leaders, parents and friends in the communities left to fend for themselves for so many generations. Into this hotbed of unrest and wreckage sails the crew of one small smuggling ship. Come explore this future with them. Basically it’s about a space smuggling ship of rag-tag adventurers who raid the surface of Dead Earth and sell goods on the Lunar black market. They wind up chasing down a series of ancient sites that answer questions about the deep origins of humanity.

In addition to the Martian and Lunar Colonies, there are the Space Stations, and The Fleet. Originally, the Fleet was the Station Supply Fleet, created to service the seven space stations humans had built. Life on these stations was secretive, and their smaller populations tended toward high I.Q.s in the top of their various fields of study, who then raised  several generations of children who were certainly very, very smart, even if thus far unproven to be genetically enhanced to be extra intelligent, as several stations were rumored to do. Stations were little worlds unto themselves, and along with developing various needed commodities in their areas of specialty (such as nano-tech, medical research, the production and improvement of various foods and technologies) they also developed their own ways of life. Likewise, the Service Fleet, many ships crewed by up to two hundred men and women on between-station journeys that could take three years or more, acquired their own culture. The stations began to have differing opinions about what the law should be on-station.Those opinions disagreed with the opinions of Earth and the Lunar colonies, and when one of those disagreements came to a head on Station Delta, Space Command  found out very quickly that one of the things all the stations had in common was an opinion that attempts at military boarding and take-over of a station would not be tolerated. Initial reports by surviving members of the Lunar Military incursion team were to the effect that yes, the extremely intelligent people of Station Delta had, in fact, thought to engineer quite efficiently against armed intrusion. Planetary authorities were further caught with their pants down when the seven stations of Sol System immediately unionized, announcing themselves an alliance of self-governing bodies. The Sol Union then gave the fleet that serviced them (and relied largely on the stations for refuel and supply) an offer: “join us.” On each ship of the Fleet, decisions were made. On some ships, there were votes. On other ships arguments were more pointed. Explosive, even. Two ships were lost entirely. In the end, the Council of Captains was formed (some of whom were very new to their captaincy indeed) who defined each ship as an autonomous entity within the Captain’s Council, and unanimously offered an alliance with the Sol System Union, simultaneously offering Earth and the Lunar Colonies a peace-treaty with trade agreements. Once the Sol Union signed allegiance with the Council of Captains, there wasn't really any choice for Terran government; the station labs produced a lot of the best goods and technology: medical equipment and vaccines, personal electronics, as well as widely enjoyed arts and entertainment- that last bit was particularly tricky for Space Command to get around. It was extremely difficult to garner the support of the citizenry when the 'enemy' was so damned popular. And the ships of the Fleet were almost all of the serious space-craft humanity had made; there was no space navy, or any kind of second fleet to provide shipping. In effect, the rebel space stations, while refusing to trade any of those things with Earth or the Moon, had agreed to sell to the Fleet. And the Fleet was offering to sell those things to the Earth and Moon. And buy goods from them to sell to Sol Union, of course. Terra couldn't afford to refuse, and indeed, the Delta Solar Treaty worked well for all concerned.  ______________________________________________________________________ The ship is a Sprite Class escort ship repurposed for surface raids and smuggling. The crew is 12 strong 1 AL Short. Buff. Mechanic. Loves vehicles. Missing two fingers. Weapons of choice: sawed off shotgun, hammer, and explosives. Seems fierce but is a big softie. Loves sandwiches and beer. Very seriously insists that he is not of the magic race of dwarves. Always winks afterward. Pet/companion: robot badger. 2 PAIGE Navigation officer. Bookkeeper. Researcher. Woman of Persian heritage. Smart, plays chess, loves books. Grew up half her time on a Space Fleet ship half at a space station. Excellent cook. Weapons of choice: tranq gun full of customized doses and a poisoned dagger. Pet/companion: cat. 3 FEY the captain’s left hand. Loyal to a fault. Black-haired lady of Irish decent. Deadly with several weapons, as well as hand to hand, for some reason, likes the compound bow. Pet/companion: a raven. 4 Q (sometimes Quade or Quin) Tech savant. Computer engineer, code monkey, inventor, robotics tech. Ship pilot. Genius. Always listening to weird music. Androgynous ace black person. Pet/companion: probably-sapient robot built by Q. Resembles a spider the size of a chihuahua  5 DOGWOOD (or maybe Jinx) Being of mystery. So many tattoos. Unrecognizable ethnicity. Witch, probably. Constantly picking pockets and pulling little cons. Tarot cards for poker, winners hands come true. Weapons of choice: hands, random items, the surrounding environment, and pure luck. Flirts with 100% of everyone. Pet/companion something that is probably a coyote but might be a fox? some kind of jackal? Smarter than it should be.  6 . SIX Six is trouble. Don’t bother Six. Six is emotionally fragile and also might rend you limb from limb. Let’s just, let’s just leave Six alone. Pet/companion: the beast within 7 LIEUTENANT WOLFE (usually just called Lieutenant) the captain’s right hand. Weapons of choice, rifle, axe. Russian and Scandinavian ancestry. Companion/pet, clearly, a grey wolf, grey, named Shadow (follows him everywhere.) 8 EIGHT-BALL. Rogue. Gambler. Half-Japanese black trans woman. Loves pool and casinos. Loves cash, jewels, and reeeeaaalllyyyy expensive whiskey. Quickdraw artist with a pistol. Personal pool cue houses a sword cane blade. Laughs easy, holds grudges. Pet/companion: raccoon. 9 THE CAPTAIN. Also referred to as Boss. Trying to navigate the group to success. Slow to give up personal information. The crew are all family the captain would die for. Non binary person with ancestry in mongolia as well as various east asian populations. Pet/companion: Siberian Husky.   10. DOC. Not actually a doctor, more like a paramedic, field surgeon. Sort of a vet for humans. A mostly Tibetan person. Might be 40 years old, might be 90 years old. Pet/companion: saker falcon. 11. SU. Sometimes Suke. Assassin. Bodyguard. Not a talker. Japanese. Highly specialized weapons. Pet/companion: venomous cyborg snake.  12. The Client / possible new adoptee, a well-off lad from the lunar colonies, disowned for his stance against the political status quo, with powerful political enemies. He has hired the crew to help uncover proof of a big secret he is trying to bring to light, and he has his own secret from the crew. Meanwhile, he does his best to unlearn some of his lunar colony privilege and preconceptions, out where population gene pools aren’t screened for designer mutations and cybernetic upgrades don’t define you as less than human. Companion/pet: cyber-ferret. _____________________________________________________________________ Here is some background and world building, and please, I know it says prologue, but it’s really just, like, rough world building notes

#fictionblast #scry capers #writing #fiction