Newcomer to the Theatre...
Robert Johan Enters
long hair, getting rid of the fould water from the drizzle outside.
He walks uncertainly to the bar, and stands next to a friendly looking
customer. After having ordered a cold beer, he turns to his neighbour and
speaks thus:
'Excuse me ser, but I am new around here, and would ask you some few
questions. Until now my interests were mainly in the hard-SF area of the world,
but recently my attentions have shifted to this part of our fair world. My
fledgeling talents in writing worked well enough in the SF area, but here I am
clueless. Could you perchance give me some pointers or books to read to get a
better feel for this field. I am but familiar with running the shadows for the
FASA corporation, and read some books relating to that. I have followed the
stories pertaining some frequent customers of the Chatsubo, and liked the
stories on Nekoko greatly, amongst others. Unfortunately my time is little, and
when I raided the Matrix for the archives, I did not have the means to unravel
the huge data-chunks in which so much valuable information is stored. If you
could help me on these two matters, it would be greatly appreciated.'
Having said this, the man gulps down his beer in one long, thirsty haul
and waits patiently for an answer.
--
I am that nastiest of combinations: An engineer in aerospace as well as nuclear
I can design the warhead AND the missile :).
"Nuke 'em till they glow, then shoot them in the dark."
-=+the whisper of the net+=- |whi...@wpi.edu|
Jason Magnus
Enters) wrote:
>
> The doors to the chatsubo open, and a short man steps through. He shakes his
> long hair, getting rid of the fould water from the drizzle outside.
> He walks uncertainly to the bar, and stands next to a friendly looking
> customer. After having ordered a cold beer, he turns to his neighbour and
> speaks thus:
> 'Excuse me ser, but I am new around here, and would ask you some few
> questions. Until now my interests were mainly in the hard-SF area of the world,
> but recently my attentions have shifted to this part of our fair world. My
> fledgeling talents in writing worked well enough in the SF area, but here I am
> clueless. Could you perchance give me some pointers or books to read to get a
> better feel for this field. I am but familiar with running the shadows for the
> FASA corporation, and read some books relating to that. I have followed the
> stories pertaining some frequent customers of the Chatsubo, and liked the
> stories on Nekoko greatly, amongst others. Unfortunately my time is little, and
> when I raided the Matrix for the archives, I did not have the means to unravel
> the huge data-chunks in which so much valuable information is stored. If you
> could help me on these two matters, it would be greatly appreciated.'
> Having said this, the man gulps down his beer in one long, thirsty haul
> and waits patiently for an answer.
Argus listens patiently, then signals Ratz to bring two more beers. He
looks at the stranger, who sees himself reflected in the bearded Decker's
blue mirrorshades.
"I believe I can be of some assistance." he says, with a slight grin. He
reaches into his jacket and unreels two fiber-optic cables from the compact
'deck nestled there. One he snaps home into a Cyberlink on the back of his
head, under his pony-tail. The other cable he patches into a datajack set
into the bar. The vidscreen above the bar goes black, then is replaced by a
scrolling textsceen.
Across the bar, a burly biker curses Argus for interrupting the porn-vid
that had been playing.
Argus growls back at him "So turn yer lazy head. It's still playing on the
other three screens chummer."
He turns back to the newcomer and smiles again. "Watch the vidscreen. You
may find it useful to you." The newcomer reads the display...
------------------------------------------------
This is a list of the most frequently asked questions (FAQ) for
alt.cyberpunk.chatsubo (a.c.c.). I've tried to cover most of what folks
ask the first time around, if there are things that I've left out, please
write me and tell me. If you have any questions, feel free to write me and
ask. Much of this is my opinion, gleaned from what folks say in posts and
letters; therefore, most of this is still subject to discussion and input.
Last edited 23 August 1993.
Thanks. :) And I hope you have fun with the group.
Jason Magnus <rze...@email.mot.com>
--------
* What is alt.cyberpunk.chatsubo?
It is a group for encouraging creativity along the lines of the cyberpunk
genre. It is a group where posting prose, gif files, song lyrics, poetry,
and interactive fiction is all appropriate and encouraged. The definition
of 'cyberpunk' is still pretty much in the air, but most of it is based on
near future, dark/bleak outlook, and technology beyond what society and
human emotions can sometimes deal with. It was also created to get all
this off of the purely fact and non-fiction oriented alt.cyberpunk, so
that they don't have to be bothered with this fiction/speculative stuff.
* Are there any rules?
Jim Gaynor wrote a wonderful piece on what he thought a.c.c. was, and
these three rules came out. They seem to characterize the group well, so
I've included them here.
1) Give feedback! If someone writes something you like, tell them so!
If you don't like it, tell them! Everyone writing here is writing to
be read, and we want to know what -YOU- think.
2) Participate! Write something yourself. Join in a conversation,
join in a storyline, start up something yourself. "It's good to be
involved..."
3) Be Considerate! If you decide to participate in a storyline, be
sure to be considerate of the efforts others have made. Don't go
whomping on continuity. If you make changes in a story, or use
someone else's character - get permission! Basically, use your brain.
One additional thing that I'd like to put here is that if someone is
inconsiderate, inform them of the mistake in email, first. Try not to
ascribe to malice what might simply be cluelessness. After that, there is
a playground sorta rule in that if someone's stomping on things right and
left, they can be very easily ignored into inexistance. Flaming someone
that is fishing for the negative response is exactly what they are looking
for, so let them wait for it.
* What are these ADMIN postings?
As an exact opposite for most other groups, instead of marking story
pieces, all things which *aren't* story should be flagged with the string
ADMIN in the subject header. Discussion of how groups work for the
interactive fiction is encouraged.
* I'm completely new to this place. Where do I start?
A good place to start is with as much cyberpunk literature as you can get
your hands on. Some folks like using the Shadowrun (TM) games for a
starting point, beginning characters are pretty well limited and can be
very interesting. Most, however, make their own virtual cyberpunk reality
up. There are, presently, about five or six shade of VR on the Chat at
the moment, and were mostly made up by the people that wanted to play in
them. So make up your own if you don't particularly feel comfortable with
what's there. The one thing that isn't subject to do-it-yourself is the
Chatsubo itself, as the bar is a nexus for a number of stories and there
is already some consensus on what is there. The keyword is 'some'. If you
want to get a feel for what's happened in the bar, check out the archives
listed at the end of this article.
* Should I use the bar in my stories?
Most of the interactive fiction is centered around the bar, the Chatsubo,
as created by William Gibson and embellished by the folks of the group.
Ratz and Lonny Zone and his girls are all from the books. (The word
chatsubo == 'cha' = tea + 'tsubo' = pot/bowl). In _Neuromancer_ the
Chatsubo is in an English speaking section of Chiba, in Japan. The
Sprawl, as defined in the books is the Boston-Altlanta Metropolitan Axis.
But the location of the bar in this group is TBD by anyone that wants to
play in/around/with it. The stories have had it in Boston, along the
Eastern Seaboard, in Chiba, in Seattle, in Ohio, in Chicago, and in
unknown worlds. The year has been 2050, 2020, 2035, 2033, etc... usually
in the next century plus some, depending on how far along you think your
technology is.
One reason to play with the Chatsubo as part of the story is that the
story will get more readership. People *like* being acknowledged in
someone else's posts and are flattered when they make a big enough
impression to be included in someone else's story, even as a cameo.
As far as who else is at the Chatsubo, Jason Magnus <rze...@email.mot.com>
has now volunteered to take over character tracking duties. Jason
is maintaining -two- databases now. An Author's database, to track which
authors are contributing to which stories, and how to contact them; and a
Character's Database, tracking characters and their descriptions. The
information that he suggests is along the lines of the following:
[Author's DB Entry]
Author: Jason Magnus (aka Jay B. Brandt)
Contact: rze...@email.mot.com
Story Line(s): 'Silk and Steel', Chatsubo Patron
Major Character(s): Argus, Shadowcat, Aki, Obaasan, Takuo, Skinny Willie,
Detective Susan Isbell, Spinner, Skrag, Lance
Other info: FAQ Manager for a.c.c; Maintains archive of his stories, back
issues available; Will correspond with readers.
[Character DB Entry]
Name: Spinner
Author: Jason Magnus
Contact: rze...@email.mot.com
Story Line(s): 'Silk and Steel'
Desctiption: Male Caucasian, 5'5", 150 pounds, gang tattoos on hands and
face. Member of 'Street Screamers' go-gang.
Skills for hire: Motorcycles, Martial Arts, Muscle, Firearms, Rapist.
Other info: Cheap hire. Coward. OK to use, just don't kill him.
Jason may be e-mailed for the information as well as being the central
storehouse for the stuff.
* Can I use magic in my stories?
There is some controversy, still, in the group, about wheither or not magic
should be allowed in the stories. Make up your own mind and/or read some
of the Kent Jenkins <jen...@agvax2.ag.ohio-state.edu> stories, Klone
Crimson stories by Mark Friedman <frie...@cis.ohio-state.edu>, or various
others that have started magepunk lines. Kent has borrowed the phrase
Gothicpunk from the White Wolf games for the atmosphere of much of the
magic use in the pieces in the group. "The dark, mysterious and mystical
side of life on the streets."
Psionics are pretty prominant in the Mechanics' stories by Joan Shields
<jo...@durham.med.unc.edu>.
* Should I copyright my stories? What do publishers think about Net
published stories?
Yes, it's a good idea to put a copyright notice on all your fiction if
you're thinking about getting published. The legal form is Copyright
<date> by <Name>. (c) and (C) do not count as copyright symbols. In the
U.S. and a number of other countries, there is actually an automatic
copyright for written material, wheither or not it has the notice. The
notice, however, can't hurt, and it may help someone remember to respect
your rights as an author. You're going to have to ask the publishers
you're interested in publishing with about their opinions on what Net
publication is. Some don't regard it as a publication, some do regard it
as a first time publication to a public access forum. From a paranoid
point of view, it's best to regard posting it to the Net as making the
story public domain.
As Tim Kuehn pointed out, it isn't really public domain, as you still will
have all the legal rights to the piece. The trick is in enforcing those
rights. A copyright notice informs the honest and uninformed. It doesn't
always work. I've had a friend who found one of his stories in a magazine
with someone else's name on the by-line. The original story had a
copyright notice on it. The only way to completely protect yourself from
that kind of fooey is to register the copyright as well at your local
copyright office. It's cheap and easy insurance if you really think you
have something hot, and it's something any aspiring author ought to know
about anyway.
Jason Magnus reports from his own dealings with literary agents that if a
piece -does- head for publication, the author should be ready to rewrite
the piece to eliminate copyrighted characters like Ratz and Lonny Zone, and
places like the Chatsubo itself, from the story. Bear that in mind if you
plan on later publication. It doesn't mean you can't use them here however.
* If you might lose your story, why the heck post it?
Because it's fun.
Because there is no other medium in the world where you can publish your
own stuff in whatever form it might happen to fall out of the keyboard in.
Because you can experiment and get instant feedback. Not only feedback of
the "I *loved* it."/"I hated it." kind, but feedback from other writers as
you see them take off with an idea that you only hinted at. Because it's
fun to create characters that other people take an interest in and actually
enjoy not only reading about but speculating about and tell you what they
think about them pretty much instantaneously.
I've had stories and articles that I've worked with and on published in
a book and magazines, and all my friends tell me that they can't, for the
life of them, find either the book or the magazines. They can all find
the Net. I find that I'm not in it for the money, I'm in it because I
love to write and I love having an audience.
Or, as Carl Rigney put it so succinctly, "You do it for the egoboo!"
* Some story/character guidelines that may be thrown out if you like:
Parodies are *WONDERFUL* and are well accepted here, and they break every
guideline that follows. The biggest thing is to Have Fun.
Interesting characters aren't ones that are all-powerful. This isn't a
place for 'My-character-can-beat-up-your-character'. It's pointless and
uninteresting for most readers. If someone asks 'What is the most
interesting thing about your character?" and the only answer is something
like "the 90mm cannon mounted in her ----" then it's time to think the
character over again. The same holds for magic, as well. Unlimited magic
is wish fulfillment and makes for a bad basis for a story.
A good story has tension, suspence, emotional involvement by the reader.
If a character is obviously going to mow over everything in their path,
then there simply is no point to it.
This goes for groups as well as singles. If a 'group' can pull everyone
that it might ever need out of a hat, it gets boring. It's also a good
idea to have a designated 'bad guy' if a story is a polarization between
good and bad, because then the bad guys aren't just idiots that can be
steamrollered. Again... a playing for style as opposed to munchkinism.
One particular thing to be avoided is creating brainless cretins just so
that your character can disembowl, slice and dice, and generally make soup
out of simply to show how 'bad' your character can be. Again, it's
boring and pointless and should bring on the cops or whoever and whatever
gang, corp, or organization that poor shmuck belonged to. Without
consequences, any action is pointless.
* Where can I find archives of old stories and articles?
There is anoynmous FTP access from catalina.opt-sci.arizona.edu (IP number
128.196.206.60) under pub/chatsubo. The back issues are divided into
files, roughly corresponding to the time that the articles where posted;
however, in 1992, the files are kept by article number (400-499, etc.) The
files are compressed with standard Unix compression. Please restrict
FTP'ing to evening and weekends. The archive is maintained by Hubert
"Yukipuma" Bartels <h...@catalina.opt-sci.arizona.edu>.
Kent Jenkins <jen...@agvax2.ag.ohio-state.edu>, Mark "Crimson" Friedman
<frie...@cis.ohio-state.edu>, Ben Thomson <ph...@csv.warwick.ac.uk>,
Dan McDonald <dan...@cs.arizona.edu>, and Jason Magnus
<rze...@email.mot.com> all maintain their own story archives and their
stories may be gotten from them through email. Kevin Lincoln Flynn has an
archive of the stories the he's been involved in available for anonymous
ftp at acm.rpi.edu [128.213.5.10] under pub/chatsubo. There are other
archives of other material, usually if you really enjoy a story line ask
the author/authors for archives and they might best be able to tell you.
------------------------------------------------
The screen goes black again as Argus jacks out, then it resumes showing the
porno flick. The fiberop cables slither back into his jacket like a pair of
trained serpents.
"For a detailed reading list, I'll recommend the FAQ from alt.cyberpunk. If
you can't find it, e-mail me and I'll locate a copy for you."
The annoyed biker who had cursed at him earlier slowly crosses the room
with a bottle clutched in one hand, sneaking up on the decker from behind.
Argus seems to be paying no attention to him. As the biker raises his hand
to strike, a loud crack of a gunshot rings out, and the bottle drops to
shatter on the floor. The biker looks dumfounded at the tranq dart imbedded
in his nerveless right hand, then collapses in an unconscious heap.
The newcomer looks franticly for the source of the shot, but sees only
seven other patrons who have taken defensive positions under tables or who
seem equally confused as to the source of the gunfire.
Argus chuckles at the newconer, and points to a 10cm diameter black ball
next to a dead plant on a shelf above the bar. The sphere raises up on six
spidery legs, and a small-bore gum barrel swivels to cover the room. A
faint wisp of smoke from the barrel indicates it had fired recently.
"Rigger remote." he says with a deep chuckle. "I have several of them in
the room, all armed with Tranq guns. I'm called Argus. I don't believe I
got your name earlier."
Robert Johan Enters
"My friend Argus, I am called whisper. The Whisper of the net, the unseen shade
sometimes Nightshade. When angered Dark Star the destroyer, to some Tier Breche
the Unholy. My names are many, as are my roles. One thing I was looking for in
this bar was someone who mightst be able to point me to a source where the
stories of this bar can be found already unravelled, and any tips on writing
mine own. The data you showed, though of interest, is known to me. What I look
for is a bit more specific. Data on how to write myself. I lack a good feel for
this world virtual, and wouldts read the things posted here, but my time and
abilities make it hard to splice up the data of the acc archives into its
respective stories. Others might also be interested in such data."
Nightshade accepts a second beer with a nod of gratitude and takes
a moderate sip this time.
"Your gear is impressive, I myself am less subtle or forgiving.
Tranq's? An Ares Predator or a good Fireball is my style. A bit rough around
the edges, but it get's the job done." This said with a nasty smile.
--
'This town is just a fake. A place where you can't tell the Devil from your
brother. Poisoned every breath you take. It's just like one nightmare after
the other.' Mike Oldfield 'Earth Moving'
Jason Magnus
Enters) wrote:
>
> The newcomer seems to be amused at the handling of the biker and responds thus:
> "The data you showed, though of interest, is known to me. What I look
> for is a bit more specific. Data on how to write myself. I lack a good feel for
> this world virtual, and wouldts read the things posted here, but my time and
> abilities make it hard to splice up the data of the acc archives into its
> respective stories. Others might also be interested in such data."
>
> Nightshade accepts a second beer with a nod of gratitude and takes
> a moderate sip this time.
>
> "Your gear is impressive, I myself am less subtle or forgiving.
> Tranq's? An Ares Predator or a good Fireball is my style. A bit rough around
> the edges, but it get's the job done." This said with a nasty smile.
"Oh, I have one of those too, as a final argument." Argus chuckles and
slowly draws an Ares Preditor from his shoulder holster. The .50 cal
autopistol is equipped with IR and Visible Light sights, mounted -below-
the receiver, and there's no eyepiece on the scope. "The sights are
hardlinked straight to my internal optics via palm transducers. Alternating
rounds of teflon coated DS and HE explosive rounds. One or the other is
bound to get through all but the toughest armor." He holsters the big
sidearm again and takes a long draw on his beer. "But as I also serve as
the bouncer here, I hafta keep the biz in mind. Dead patrons don't pay for
any more drinks, drugs or girls." He grins.
"As to fireballs, I leave the magick to the street-shamans and wage-mages."
Argus slips a two-barreled derringer with 10-gauge shotgun barrels out of
his pocket and shows it to Whisper. "Y'see, I've always found a couple
White Phosphorus flare rounds a perfectly adequate substitute for
fireballs." The two-shot slips back out of sight.
"But enough shop talk. Hubert Bartell's Chatsubo Archives are UUEncoded and
Z-compressed. It's a good format for long term storage and transmission via
the Matrix, but difficult to browse. I have access to public domain
utilities that can decode that to text files in the Macintosh OS, for
transfer to any other OS. I have a large chunk of the archives, plus some
-very- early stuff from the formation of the newsgroup that Liralen Li sent
me, stored as uncompressed text files on antique 44MB SyQuest cartridges. I
still need to FTP and decode Hubert's most recent entries, but I have a lot
of it from the last several years. Lemme check, and I'll see exactly what I
have on tap. The stuff's filed away in my home datastore, and not available
on-line. But if you would like a sampling of some stuff from that, or if
you want to do a keyword search for something specific, that can be
arranged. The whole thing's pretty big though. I read at 500 WPM, and it
took me several weeks of dedicated reading time each evening , plus several
hardcore weekend cram sessions, to read everything I have in the datastore.
When I report back on what I have, I'll letcha know just how many meg it
is."
"Myself, before I started writing my chronicles of the times you and I live
in, I went back to the old print-books and read the cannon of the old
masters of the genre. Gibson, Sterling, Charrette, and anyone else I could
find, weather straight CP, or Shadowrun, or Magepunk. Then I downloaded and
decoded the Chatsubo archives, and read all of that. I also bought a copy
of 'the Writer's Market' and several other print-books for beginning
fiction authors. Useful stuff there on everything from plot and character
development to dealing with publishers and agents. I'll hafta see if I can
put together a bibliography of the stuff I found useful. After a while, I
chatted with a few of the authors who were already posting stuff and whose
work I admired, and they advised me to give it a fly myself. I did, with a
5-page short story called 'Silk and Steel', which has since grown to a
novel on the way to publication."
Argus looks at Whisper. "That more like whatcha were after chummer? If ya
need to take it to much more length, or if ya wanna chat on specifics,
catch me in the Matrix with an e-mail. Here's my card."
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Jason Magnus
<rze...@email.mot.com>
Author of 'Silk and Steel'
aka Argus, your Chatsubo Bouncer and Congenial Guide to the Clueless
(aka Keeper of the Chatsubo FAQ)
Phyllis Rostykus
>What I look
>for is a bit more specific. Data on how to write myself. I lack a good feel for
>this world virtual, and wouldts read the things posted here, but my time and
>abilities make it hard to splice up the data of the acc archives into its
>respective stories. Others might also be interested in such data."
The Asian woman in blue grins at the last. "Uhm... one thing that you
might not have gotten is that there is no one world here. Unlike the
alt.pub heirachy, this particular group has deliberatly choosen to
encourage individual universes. The only time you have to worry about
continuity is when you work with other authors, and than it is only as
much continuity as your group is willing to work with or wants to bother
with. This applies not only to storyline and timeline, but position and
location, in both time and space, of the bar.
"Most people, lately, have only worked with themselves. When the group
began there were a couple of big interactive projects, with different
people in charge of different parts of the universe. Most of that work
has been lost with the various people that have left, and would probably
not work anymore anyway. Silk and Steel is set in a completely different
universe than the Nekoko universe which is different than the Dancer's
universe which is different than Unity's universe and so on... and so on...
and...
"Basically no one has wanted the administrative headache of playing
controller for the whole group and/or people have objected to having any
kind of definitive 'Universe', and it's what we've liked."
> Nightshade accepts a second beer with a nod of gratitude and takes
>a moderate sip this time.
>
> "Your gear is impressive, I myself am less subtle or forgiving.
>Tranq's? An Ares Predator or a good Fireball is my style. A bit rough around
>the edges, but it get's the job done." This said with a nasty smile.
"Uhm... fireball?" Hasaki can't help it, she starts just chuckling,
and then laughing so hard she's crying, and only slows to gulps after a
while... "Uhm... one thing to remember, this is a cyberpunk group and that
is the main emphasis of it. Most of the magics that have been introduced
here are subtle ones, ones that could be explained away with very advanced
technology: holographs, genetic plagues, hallucenation, drugs, or, in my
personal opinion, that Yuppie form of magic, psionics. Of course you are
free to write a story that has..." she starts laughing again, but hushes
more quickly this time, "fireballs, but you may get a lot of... uhm...
laughter at the idea."
"Yes, it's true that people have used the Shadowrun gaming system
as a backdrop, but it's more so that the characters would have interesting
limitations on their capabilities. In the Nekoko stories and my White
Crystal stories, we basically took the magical system, stripped out *all*
combat spells, pulled out any certainty that something was magical as
opposed to luck or chance or belief or a trick of the light or solid
medical facilities or urban myth or a maladjusted lense or a hidden
holograph projector in a sleeve and went with that. If we couldn't come
up with a solid 'other' explanation, we didn't do it.
"MOST of the stories in the last two years are straight cyberpunk,
with a touch of nanotech thrown in," Hasaki grins a white-toothed grin.
"So that's a kind of guideline."
--
Liralen Li | "Looking down on empty streets, all she can see are
l...@inigo.Data-IO.com | the dreams all made solid, are the dreams made real."
aka Phyllis Rostykus | - "Mercy Street" by Peter Gabriel
Bruce M. Tannenbaum
Sweat drips down my temples as I stare at my bottle of Kirin. Lost in
thoughts, I suddenly come back to earth when this rather large biker falls to
the floor with a thud. I dart a quick glance in the general direction of a
seated man with a long pony tail, who has just put his fiber optics back into
his pocket. The short man standing next to him looks slightly amused and
cracks a half-smile.
I glance up at the vid screen above the bar and become absorbed in the
porn-vid....My god, those are large mammories......
No name given (as of yet)...
Jason Magnus
Rostykus) wrote:
Argus grins at Hasaki as she enters the bar. "Hey pretty lady, long time no
see. Hey Ratz! Whatever the lady wants, I'm buying. Come on over and join
us Hasaki."
None of the tables seem available. The three of them move toward a nearby
table anyway, and three corp deckers suddenly decide that it's time to head
back to the office. Argus takes a seat and pushes a chair out for Hasaki
with one foot.
> The Asian woman in blue grins at the last. "Uhm... one thing that you
> might not have gotten is that there is no one world here. Unlike the
> alt.pub heirachy, this particular group has deliberatly choosen to
> encourage individual universes. The only time you have to worry about
> continuity is when you work with other authors, and than it is only as
> much continuity as your group is willing to work with or wants to bother
> with. This applies not only to storyline and timeline, but position and
> location, in both time and space, of the bar.
> "Most people, lately, have only worked with themselves. When the group
> began there were a couple of big interactive projects, with different
> people in charge of different parts of the universe. Most of that work
> has been lost with the various people that have left, and would probably
> not work anymore anyway. Silk and Steel is set in a completely different
> universe than the Nekoko universe which is different than the Dancer's
> universe which is different than Unity's universe and so on... and so on...
> and...
Argus nods agreement. "Yep. For me, this place is in the Seattle Sprawl,
near the waterfront. For others, it's in the black zone in Chiba City,
Japan. Tech levels and even the year things are happening covers at least a
50-year span. Hell, we can't even agree on how the old US of A and Canada
split up and reformed again. There's no Magick or metahumans in 'Silk and
Steel', just lots of solid tech."
> > "Your gear is impressive, I myself am less subtle or forgiving.
> >Tranq's? An Ares Predator or a good Fireball is my style. A bit rough around
> >the edges, but it get's the job done." This said with a nasty smile.
>
> "Uhm... fireball?" Hasaki can't help it, she starts just chuckling,
> and then laughing so hard she's crying, and only slows to gulps after a
> while... "Uhm... one thing to remember, this is a cyberpunk group and that
> is the main emphasis of it. Most of the magics that have been introduced
> here are subtle ones, ones that could be explained away with very advanced
> technology: holographs, genetic plagues, hallucenation, drugs, or, in my
> personal opinion, that Yuppie form of magic, psionics. Of course you are
> free to write a story that has..." she starts laughing again, but hushes
> more quickly this time, "fireballs, but you may get a lot of... uhm...
> laughter at the idea."
Argus shakes his head. "Now now Hasaki, what were you just saying about
multiple universes crossing here? I'll admit, we haven't had any -good-
examples recently of a Shadowrun style adventure, but that doesn't mean one
couldn't be written. Give him a chance. He may surprize you. Still, I have
to agree that the main emphasis here has been a lot stronger on Gibsonian
universes, and less on Shadowrun. Besides, it's more of a challenge to
write Magepunk in a way that uses only -subtle- magicks."
> "MOST of the stories in the last two years are straight cyberpunk,
> with a touch of nanotech thrown in," Hasaki grins a white-toothed grin.
> "So that's a kind of guideline."
Argus nods. "Agreed. Now, what would you like to drink?"
Jason Magnus,
Robert Johan Enters
himself. Still drinking from his second beer, he replies to the lady's
replies:
"My lady, forgive my ignorance, but my original backgrounds lay several
years back in the realms of T$R's Fantasy, so my familiarity with the things
arcane come more natural to me than the realm of science, to which I was but
introduced fewer years back. I will attempt to better fit in this brave new
world of dark dealings and darker technology."
Nightshade ponders this revelation some, while toying with his
long, unkempt hair.
"Having played the part of the mage so long and often, t'willst be
quite a challange to change so drastically, however, a try I shall give it.
A challange is always interesting."
At this Nightshade mutters under his breath and begins to metamorphose.
Slowly more metal appears on him, and his looks change drastically from a pure
human to a fully cyberized hunk of man and machine. Small LED's flicker on his
arm, as he checks on the displays if everything is fully functional. You hear
the small gears and hydraulics click and whirr softly as his 'new and improved'
eyes focus on his company. The space behind his left ear shows a full array of
jacks and chip-slots. A coloured tattoo of an oriental dragon appears. It's
jaw opens around his left eye, and its tail winds several times around his neck
disappearing between his shoulderblades. As he tries out some of his new toys,
a small gun pops out of his right fore-arm, and pops back. An antenna shoots up
out of the right side of his head.
"Hmm. I will need some more experimentation with this stuff. But this
suits your tastes better?" This said with a metallic grin :).
David M. Palmer
> I glance up at the vid screen above the bar and become absorbed in the
>porn-vid....My god, those are large mammories......
And hers aren't too small either.
--
David M. Palmer pal...@alumni.caltech.edu
pal...@tgrs.gsfc.nasa.gov
Clipper: Privacy for people who have nothing to hide.
Phyllis Rostykus
>In article <1993Aug24....@data-io.com>, l...@Data-IO.COM (Phyllis
>Rostykus) wrote:
>
>Argus grins at Hasaki as she enters the bar. "Hey pretty lady, long time no
>see. Hey Ratz! Whatever the lady wants, I'm buying. Come on over and join
>us Hasaki."
Hasaki does a double take over her silvered shoulder at the 'pretty lady';
but when it becomes obvious that Argus actually meant *her* she orders her
usual tea and joins Argus.
[..]
>> "Of course you are
>> free to write a story that has..." she starts laughing again, but hushes
>> more quickly this time, "fireballs, but you may get a lot of... uhm...
>> laughter at the idea."
>
>Argus shakes his head. "Now now Hasaki, what were you just saying about
>multiple universes crossing here? I'll admit, we haven't had any -good-
>examples recently of a Shadowrun style adventure, but that doesn't mean one
>couldn't be written. Give him a chance. He may surprize you. Still, I have
>to agree that the main emphasis here has been a lot stronger on Gibsonian
>universes, and less on Shadowrun. Besides, it's more of a challenge to
>write Magepunk in a way that uses only -subtle- magicks."
"Uhm... Argus. I didn't say that he *couldn't*, if you'd listen." Hasaki
is still laughing, though, so it doesn't really give her words much weight.
"But, yeah... full agreement with the rest."
>> "MOST of the stories in the last two years are straight cyberpunk,
>> with a touch of nanotech thrown in," Hasaki grins a white-toothed grin.
>> "So that's a kind of guideline."
>
>Argus nods. "Agreed. Now, what would you like to drink?"
"After all this talk about fireballs... How about a Dragon's Breath?"
Hasaki says with a grin.
--
Liralen Li | "Remember, science is talking about the universe in a
l...@inigo.Data-IO.com | way you can understand it, magic is talking to the
aka Phyllis Rostykus | universe in a way it can't resist hearing." Carl Rigney
Phyllis Rostykus
>Nightshade (aka Whisper) waits for the lady to sit at the table, then sits
>himself. Still drinking from his second beer, he replies to the lady's
>replies:
>
> "My lady, forgive my ignorance, but my original backgrounds lay several
>years back in the realms of T$R's Fantasy, so my familiarity with the things
>arcane come more natural to me than the realm of science, to which I was but
>introduced fewer years back. I will attempt to better fit in this brave new
>world of dark dealings and darker technology."
"Apologies," she says with a grin, "I didn't mean to berate your
ignorance..." Hasaki shakes her head and then laughs softly, "Your
language habits, Nightshade, are... quite infectious."
> Nightshade ponders this revelation some, while toying with his
>long, unkempt hair.
>
> "Having played the part of the mage so long and often, t'willst be
>quite a challange to change so drastically, however, a try I shall give it.
>A challange is always interesting."
She nods and grins and rapid fires, "Only dopes take no slopes."
> At this Nightshade mutters under his breath and begins to metamorphose.
>Slowly more metal appears on him, and his looks change drastically from a pure
>human to a fully cyberized hunk of man and machine. Small LED's flicker on his
>arm, as he checks on the displays if everything is fully functional. You hear
>the small gears and hydraulics click and whirr softly as his 'new and improved'
>eyes focus on his company. The space behind his left ear shows a full array of
>jacks and chip-slots. A coloured tattoo of an oriental dragon appears. It's
>jaw opens around his left eye, and its tail winds several times around his neck
>disappearing between his shoulderblades. As he tries out some of his new toys,
>a small gun pops out of his right fore-arm, and pops back. An antenna shoots up
>out of the right side of his head.
At first, she blinks in awe at the transformation, and then she
starts giggling again. Can't seem to please her. No need to try. She
does duck when the gun pops out, but the antenna has her laughing so hard
she's on the floor again. Oh, my. ;) Not mocking laughter, just pure
delighted laughter at a joke well told.
> "Hmm. I will need some more experimentation with this stuff. But this
>suits your tastes better?" This said with a metallic grin :).
"Should that be :-]?" she asks, still giggling. "Quite... nice.
A bit flash for my tastes, though." She cocks her head and then smiles,
and, for the first time looks the mage in the eye, "I think you'll do
quite well here. Welcome to the Chat'."
Jason Magnus
Rostykus) wrote:
> Hasaki does a double take over her silvered shoulder at the 'pretty lady';
> but when it becomes obvious that Argus actually meant *her* she orders her
> usual tea and joins Argus.
Argus chuckles at her backwards glance. "Aw cummon Hasaki. Of course I mean
you. I sure the hell wasn't talking 'bout Lonny's doped-up whore back there
in the corner. You oughta know it's grace and style that catch my eye, not
how well the chassi's painted or how much flesh's exposed." He catches her
disbelieving glance. "Nor does the amount of well-done cyberware ever
detract from my idea of beauty. I'm not making a pass, just offering a
respectful evaluation of fellow professional. I like what I see in you, and
yer rep's solid. Your arm and other 'ware are damned nice pieces of work.
Certainly nothing to be ashamed of."
Hasaki joins Argus and Nightshade, and they discuss the reality of Magick
like fireballs, and weather or not it was just an a stage trick or dressed
up Tech.
>> Nightshade mutters under his breath and begins to metamorphose.
>>Slowly more metal appears on him, and his looks change drastically from a pure
>>human to a fully cyberized hunk of man and machine. Small LED's flicker on his
>>arm, as he checks on the displays if everything is fully functional. You hear
>>the small gears and hydraulics click and whirr softly as his 'new and improved'
>>eyes focus on his company. The space behind his left ear shows a full array of
>>jacks and chip-slots. A coloured tattoo of an oriental dragon appears. It's
>>jaw opens around his left eye, and its tail winds several times around his neck
>>disappearing between his shoulderblades. As he tries out some of his new toys,
>>a small gun pops out of his right fore-arm, and pops back. An antenna shoots up
>>out of the right side of his head.
> At first, Hasaki blinks in awe at the transformation, and then she
>starts giggling again. Can't seem to please her. No need to try. She
>does duck when the gun pops out, but the antenna has her laughing so hard
>she's on the floor again. Oh, my. ;) Not mocking laughter, just pure
>delighted laughter at a joke well told.... "Quite... nice.
>A bit flash for my tastes, though." She cocks her head and then smiles,
>and, for the first time looks the mage in the eye, "I think you'll do
>quite well here. Welcome to the Chat'."
Argus laughs as well, and it's clearly -with- Nightshade and not -at- him.
"Hey that's -great-! I never would have suspected you were using a
holoprojector to mask your appearance. Now ya got me wondering if -this- is
reality, or the other, or if the truth is really somewhere in-between.
Welcome chummer, no matter -what- yer shape. Ya got class, and a good sense
of humor too. Don't lose either of 'em, an you'll do OK."
Argus turns to Hasaki. "Now, what would you like to drink?"
> "After all this talk about fireballs... How about a Dragon's Breath?"
> Hasaki says with a grin.
"On top of green tea? You get a steel gut with that new arm? Hokay, you got
it."
Argus walks up to the bar, and chats with Ratz in apparently fluent German.
They seem to disagree a moment, then Argus slips a credstick across the bar
and waves off the return of his remaining credit on that stick. Ratz slots
the stick, nods gruffly, and says something dispariging in English about
'rookie bartenders'. But he motions for Argus to step behind the bar.
Argus rummages around for a few minutes, mixing some no-doubt potent
concoction. After a bit, he torches one glass of red liquour with a pocket
lighter-stick, then pours the flaming booze over ice and mixer in another.
He walks around the bar and hands it to Hasaki. Nightshade notices the ice
in her glass is -burning-.
Argus laughs at Nightshade's disbelieving stare. "One 'Flamethrower'. Or as
we used to call them in the Chiba slums, a Dragon's Breath." he says.
"Drink up, Hasaki-san."
As Hasaki downs her drink, Argus looks mostly at her, but also over her
shoulder. He says quietly to her. "Um, Hasaki? There's a guy by the door
sipping a beer. Null apparent threat factor. Same one you spoke with
earlier at the bar. He's been watching you since you came in, and I don't
think he's admiring your swords. He a friend of yours?"
Argus
<rze...@email.mot.com>
Daniel L. McDonald
For those with threaded newsreaders, sorry to jump threads like this.
And also, not everyone's character is in a jocular mood...
Dan
=====================(Cut up to and including here.)======================
In article <rzex60-25...@192.1.249.17>,
Jason Magnus <rze...@email.mot.com> wrote:
>In article <1993Aug25....@data-io.com>, l...@Data-IO.COM (Phyllis
>Rostykus) wrote:
>
>respectful evaluation of fellow professional. I like what I see in you, and
>yer rep's solid. Your arm and other 'ware are damned nice pieces of work.
>Certainly nothing to be ashamed of."
Dr. Ken Moriarty overheard this, and noticed her arm for the first
time. He would be working with several practicers of body prothesis and
enhancments. He had so far only met his boss, the clinic's director and chief
neurosurgeon. The thought of some twisted bioengineer inventing cybernetics
for Ken's specialty crossed his mind, and made him giggle for a brief second.
He then thought of how that mob would have taken it. He shuddered and took
another long draw from the mug he had poured himself.
>Argus laughs as well, and it's clearly -with- Nightshade and not -at- him.
>"Hey that's -great-! I never would have suspected you were using a
>holoprojector to mask your appearance. Now ya got me wondering if -this- is
>reality, or the other, or if the truth is really somewhere in-between.
>Welcome chummer, no matter -what- yer shape. Ya got class, and a good sense
>of humor too. Don't lose either of 'em, an you'll do OK."
Ken could not see the source of the apparent laughter. He only hoped
it was not at him. Although the woman had expressed her appreciation at his
kindness, he still paranoiacly thought his opening the door for her was a
potential source for the patrons' amusement. People were so fucking insincere,
except for the crazy ones, including those who promised, "His wrath."
>> "After all this talk about fireballs... How about a Dragon's Breath?"
>> Hasaki says with a grin.
>
>"On top of green tea? You get a steel gut with that new arm? Hokay, you got
>it."
_Dragon's Breath?_ thought Ken. It sounded to him like something he
would have drank in school, either after a good football game as an undergrad,
or a grueling semester in med. school.
>Argus walks up to the bar, and chats with Ratz in apparently fluent German.
>They seem to disagree a moment, then Argus slips a credstick across the bar
>and waves off the return of his remaining credit on that stick. Ratz slots
>the stick, nods gruffly, and says something dispariging in English about
>'rookie bartenders'. But he motions for Argus to step behind the bar.
>
>Argus rummages around for a few minutes, mixing some no-doubt potent
>concoction. After a bit, he torches one glass of red liquour with a pocket
>lighter-stick, then pours the flaming booze over ice and mixer in another.
>He walks around the bar and hands it to Hasaki. Nightshade notices the ice
>in her glass is -burning-.
>
>Argus laughs at Nightshade's disbelieving stare. "One 'Flamethrower'. Or as
>we used to call them in the Chiba slums, a Dragon's Breath." he says.
>"Drink up, Hasaki-san."
"Oh my God," with the short 'o' giving away Ken's midwestern heritage.
This was definitely an undergraduate drink. It was the kind of drink he was
drinking when he met Cindy.
>As Hasaki downs her drink, Argus looks mostly at her, but also over her
>shoulder. He says quietly to her. "Um, Hasaki? There's a guy by the door
>sipping a beer. Null apparent threat factor. Same one you spoke with
>earlier at the bar. He's been watching you since you came in, and I don't
>think he's admiring your swords. He a friend of yours?"
_Oh shit, what's he saying?_ Ken thought to himself, almost whispering
it. Both the woman and this man she was talking to certainly looked like they
were close, but not the way Ken had dreaded they would be. The woman still
looked like Cindy from the waist down, and that was enough to make him down
the rest of his Asahi.
--
Dan McDonald |Internet: dan...@cs.arizona.edu, UUCP: ..!uunet!arizona!danmcd
U. of Arizona |BITNET: danmcd%cs.ariz...@arizona.BITNET
Computer Science| "I'm in a groove now, or is it a rut?
2nd year Grad. | I need some feedback, but all the lines are cut." - Rush
Alexander P Durham
>multiple universes crossing here? I'll admit, we haven't had any -good-
>examples recently of a Shadowrun style adventure, but that doesn't mean one
>couldn't be written. Give him a chance. He may surprize you. Still, I have
>to agree that the main emphasis here has been a lot stronger on Gibsonian
>universes, and less on Shadowrun. Besides, it's more of a challenge to
>write Magepunk in a way that uses only -subtle- magicks."
A female head looks up. Funny, you didn't see her there earlier. She
stands. Only a child, somewhere between 13 and 20...it's a little fuzzy.
Thin, black hair cut short but long at back, shapeless grey clothes.
The eyes, full of such innocence and such age. She speaks, her voice
emotionless.
"This person is Tarmissa, the latest creation of the construct known as
jeremy. While this person does not live in a universe with magic, or maybe
on the tech side of Shadowrun, jeremy would like to extend his disagreement
with the above statement. Waiting.
"Cyberpunk is not only tech, it is about modern society and the foul
creations we have made. The problem with Shadowrun is not the magic,
how subtle or unsubtle it is. The problem with Shadowrun is the focus
of the game, the same problem which can easily pop up with any other game-
inspired world or even non-game-related fiction. A lot of cyberpunk
fiction deals with breaking into corps and the criminal element, elevated
to a mythical power. It deals with combat and killing, and wasting
foes with a highly cybered heavy pistol is just as bad as wasting foes
with a fireball, but the pistol is more 'punk.' It's a strange world
we live in.
"I have made it my first goal in life to disprove the common belief that
magic and elves don't belong in cyberpunk. I do agree that common
fantasy magic does not fit well--it is not sinister enough. But it
does not need to be subtle. The world in which Dunset Rock exists
has a very prevalent magic--in fact, the laws of physics of the universe
do not permit any of our modern technology to work. I would say that
the world is very cyberpunk, or failing that at least tasteful, elves,
magic, and all.
"The main thing to keep in mind is that cyberpunk is not about what you
can do, but about what you bring upon yourself when you do it. Story-
bashing is much more useful than magic-bashing.
"Waiting.
"Thank you for listening to this person talk. This person has no currency,
and needs a place to stay. Does anyone wish to lend assistance?"
jeremy
a...@math.ufl.edu
Phyllis Rostykus
>
>For those with threaded newsreaders, sorry to jump threads like this.
Well, Jason's the one that brought it over... Grin... I'd been trying to
keep the two seperate and parallel... with ADMIN just being ADMIN, but what
the hell, I'll improvise. :) [Like this isn't off the top of my head,
anyway... heh.]
>And also, not everyone's character is in a jocular mood...
Cool. :)
Liralen
=============== continuation =============
>>As Hasaki downs her drink, Argus looks mostly at her, but also over her
>>shoulder. He says quietly to her. "Um, Hasaki? There's a guy by the door
>>sipping a beer. Null apparent threat factor. Same one you spoke with
>>earlier at the bar. He's been watching you since you came in, and I don't
>>think he's admiring your swords. He a friend of yours?"
Hasaki blinked at the evaluation and turned while licking the last
flaming drops from the edge of her glass. She cocked her head to look at
the man that had held open the door for her.
> _Oh shit, what's he saying?_ Ken thought to himself, almost whispering
>it. Both the woman and this man she was talking to certainly looked like they
>were close, but not the way Ken had dreaded they would be. The woman still
>looked like Cindy from the waist down, and that was enough to make him down
>the rest of his Asahi.
The convulsive toss of the beer down the gullet of the guy 'caused
Hasaki to blink a bit, and she grinned at Jason, "Not absolutely sure. He
opened the door for me when I came in, so I bought him a drink." She
cocked her head, "Looks 'ta be scared sick of somethin'; but from the way
he's lookin' at me..." she shook her head and sighed. "Maybe I should
point him in Lonnie's direction..."
She walked over to Ken. Her body language all business. "Hi.
Mi'friend there," she nodded in Jason's direction, "noted that you're
starin'. Any particular thing on your mind, chummer?" Her entirely blank,
mirror silver eyes watched him with the blind benevloence of an Annie on
speed.
Tim Kuehn
a Matrix war started by a rogue process that got away from him when his
lab blew, Unity.re-established is checking his holophone monitoring systems
to see how his custom improvements are working. Remembering the Chat' to
be a good place as any for some digital schenanigans, he dialed in, hooked
into an available holophone, tweaked some parameters, and saw what was up
at the bar.
Before his unbelieving eyes, Unity.scanning watched....
>In <25cbd2$8...@bigboote.WPI.EDU>, whi...@wpi.WPI.EDU (Robert Enters) wrote:
>"Your gear is impressive, I myself am less subtle or forgiving.
>Tranq's? An Ares Predator or a good Fireball is my style. A bit rough around
> the edges, but it get's the job done." This said with a nasty smile.
<<LISA, please tell me they've improved the most recent model
newbies in the time I've been gone,>> thought Unity.dumbfounded.
<<'fraid not,>> replied LISA. <<From what I've been able to
determine since coming back on-line and live, this seems to
be the norm.>>
<<What kind of life-expectancy do you project for this one?>>
asked Unity.musing.
<<If he behaves a lot smarter than he talks, he'll have an average
lifespan with the usual 75 to 80 percent mission survival rate,>>
replied LISA. <<If he actually acts that way on a real mission, I
compute a 1 to 10% probability of survival.>>
Unity.thoughtful was silent for a while....this character may bear watching.
When newbies rush in where angels fear to tread, a lot can be learned from
the sleeping giants they often woke up.
<<LISA...>>
<<Yes?>>
<<Keep an eye on this newbie. He may bear watching to see what
kind of mischief he gets himself into. If he ends up someplace
with useful information, we may be able to use him to scare up
some credits to replace all the ones I had to blow fixing you
back up.>>
<<And I deserve every credit of it too!>> replied LISA. <<After
all, *I* was the one who pulled your ass out of the fire in the
Matrix wars and got the necessary data through to that Rudke
fellow. If he hadn't been in the right place at the right time
that HK would STILL be roaming the Matrix making life unsafe
for organic and synthetic alike!>>
Unity.amused chuckled at that.
<<Ok, you've made your point,>> replied Unity.kidding.
<<It was just a reality check anyway.>>
<<Glad to hear it boss,>> replied LISA. <<I'll keep an eye
on him. Anything else you want while I'm on watch?>>
Unity.pondering stopped to think for a while.
<<Yeah, pull the log on the last battle from the Matrix Wars.>>
<<Still not satisfied the Matrix-HK was dissipated?>> asked LISA.
<<Not at all,>> replied Unity.determined. <<That HK may've been
confused, but any AI as intelligent as it was was bound to figure
out that self-preservation comes before its primary motivation of
killing and destroying. With the backup process wound in with the
HK code, it may still have a vault of data stored away someplace
where it can get to it later on. Personally I'm almost certain it's
still hiding out there, and I want to track it down before it
attacks again.>>
<<Read you loud and clear boss,>> said LISA. <<Retreiving records
now.>>
<<Thanks LISA,>> said Unity.grateful. <<You're a doll.>>
<<I will be if you ever got me a real body!>> retorted LISA.
Unity.amused chortled.
<<One of these days when I have enough credits to build
you one, I just might to that,>> said Unity.affectionate.
<<For now you'll have to settle for what you have.>>
<<Yeah, like having a small motorized cart with a
maniplator on the end is some geniuses idea of fun,>>
snorted LISA.
<<But LISA, I love you for who you are already!>> replied
Unity.fake-hurt. <<You know that!>>
<<Riiight,>> replied LISA affectionately. <<And cows can
fly. Records retreived and on-line now.>>
<<Begin playback,>> replied Unity.absorbed.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Unity.*, LISA, the Matrix HK, and the "Matrix Wars" are mine.
Touch them not lest you die! :-)
The newbie's character is his own. Who knows what he'll do next? :)
Tim Kuehn
Jus T. Ego
: In article <rzex60-24...@192.1.249.17> rze...@email.mot.com (Jason Magnus) writes:
: A female head looks up. Funny, you didn't see her there earlier. She
: stands. Only a child, somewhere between 13 and 20...it's a little fuzzy.
: Thin, black hair cut short but long at back, shapeless grey clothes.
: The eyes, full of such innocence and such age. She speaks, her voice
: emotionless.
Her conversation is directed at the locals at the bar, but her final
comments go to everyone in the Chat.
: "Thank you for listening to this person talk. This person has no currency,
: and needs a place to stay. Does anyone wish to lend assistance?"
From the far corner of the bar rises a newbie decker. True-blue wannabe.
Two meals short of just un-healthy he slopes over to the woman.
A cigarette hangs from his mouth. When he's old enough, he'll get around to
smoking it. Faded black denim hangs in stringy threads where his trousers
should be. Shredded jeans which resemble coils almost cover his scabbed
legs. A leather jacket, too new to be truly comfortable, hung over his
shoulder.
The shaven head displayed the slaughtered embryo tattoo of the DoomBoys,
but he isn't enhanced, so it's a fake.
He slumps down onto the pools of stale beer which stain the almost wooden
finish of the bar, pulls the un-lit cig from his mouth and adopts his best
James Dean.
He pauses. Expecting everyone to hang on every word of this stranger...
But this is the Chat, so they don't give two shits for a tragically hip,
sad ass trendy.
"I might be able to help ya", he continues when he notices that noone else
is even looking in his direction.
The child-like girl stares into his blood-shot eyes, past the layer of
cheap drugs. She thinks carefully and then shakes her head. She needs help
but this kid needs several years of therapy.
He shrugs and tries to swagger off with indifference, but the all too familiar
pain of rejection stings. Not only has he been knocked back, it was in front
of everyone who matters in this urban pit. And he had been knocked back by
a bum. Homeless and penniless and still she she didn't want him.
He stalks out. Replacing the cig as he leaves.
There would be other days. Other times.
There was still a space reserved for him in the Hall of Fame.
Dave Meno, "DATACRIME1", flicked the cig into the gutter, where it flowed
into a drain, on the brackish outfall of Night city rain.
He shrugged up his leather jacket and shielded his damaged eyes from the
neon lights, with a set of Wayfarers.
They'd see. He could cut it.
--
--
_Jus T. Ego
"Er.. I don't think you want to mess with that"
Daniel L. McDonald
Phyllis Rostykus <l...@Data-IO.COM> wrote:
>
> She walked over to Ken. Her body language all business. "Hi.
>Mi'friend there," she nodded in Jason's direction, "noted that you're
>starin'. Any particular thing on your mind, chummer?" Her entirely blank,
>mirror silver eyes watched him with the blind benevloence of an Annie on
>speed.
Ken caught the word, "chummer," and slightly winced. He never
appreciated the Northwest dialect which employed such words. Being a
Midwesterner with strong Eastern influences, he learned a different vocabulary.
"I didn't mean to scare you. You just," _keep it under control, Ken_,
"reminded me of someone, someone very close."
Ken hoped that either she would completely dismiss him without noticing
the last clause, or take enough interest to probe about it further. He needed
to unload on someone, and a stranger in a bar in Chiba seemed (especially after
that Asahi) the perfect candidate for that unloading.
Robert Johan Enters
Nightshade suddenly taps the left side of his head, just under the base of his
antenna. He seems to listen to something only he can hear, then taps louder,
metallically clinking about. Then he mutters....
"Hmmm. I would swear this antenna actually picked something up!"
Then with a smile/grin to Liralen.
"I guess this thing IS useful afterall for something else beside
ostentatious ridiculousness. I could swear I could hear some 'unity' person
blabbering to some 'LISA' thingy. Hmmm. Interesting observations they make.
Heh heh. A bit haughty and definately from someone with an inflated ego.
Well, I guess I would laugh too if someone entered MY worlds as a newbie.
Although I would only ridicule when that person put up airs. I guess not
everyone is as nice *mocking grin* as I am. Survival rate of one to ten
percent eh? We shall see...."
Then he shakes his head. "Maybe I should get rid of this thing."
Nightshade goes through a new transformation, and returns to something mostly
human. Though a small panel with indicator lights remains embedded in his left
arm. The tattoo also stays. The hair grow back to a dark brown, short cropped
with silver lightning strikes on the sides. The chair creaks as his weight
turns back to that of a regular human.
Looking up at his newfound companions Nightshade asks:
"So, what has been happening at this place lately? Some neat threads
of information just passed through, but most seem to be by singular people.
Have there been any multi-writer happenings here in recent weeks?"
Phyllis Rostykus
> Ken caught the word, "chummer," and slightly winced. He never
>appreciated the Northwest dialect which employed such words. Being a
>Midwesterner with strong Eastern influences, he learned a different vocabulary.
>
> "I didn't mean to scare you. You just," _keep it under control, Ken_,
>"reminded me of someone, someone very close."
Hasaki chuckled at both the wince and the 'scare'. She nodded,
pulled out a seat at the table and the rainbow streak in her black hair
glittered under the neon. She sat in the chair, a good arm's length away
from the table and said, "Ah... O.K. Who do I remind you of? Or should I
ask?"
Phyllis Rostykus
>
> "So, what has been happening at this place lately? Some neat threads
>of information just passed through, but most seem to be by singular people.
>Have there been any multi-writer happenings here in recent weeks?"
Grin. Perhaps you should start your own, there seem to be a lot of people,
recently, looking for a thread to get into. :) So far as I know, there
have not been too many multi-writer happenings in the recent past. I am
having fun just talking with folks that want to talk with my chars; but
have no clue where that's going to lead.
Heckler
> "So, what has been happening at this place lately? Some neat threads
>of information just passed through, but most seem to be by singular people.
>Have there been any multi-writer happenings here in recent weeks?"
'no. not for some time.' the voice, though quiet, carries all the way to
the Nightshade's table from the barstool where the voice's owner is sitting,
three or four places away from where Hasaki and the good doctor are having
their conversation.
the man -- at least, he seems to be nothing else -- rises from his seat and
walks slowly towards the table, stopping when he is two steps away.
his eyes are a custom job with a vanity overlay; a dark purple oilslick surface
dances in his sockets. his hands seem to be his own, and he has no other
visible 'ware. his clothes are nondescript in that fashion that is difficult
to convey; looking at him, one got the impression that it was not that he
couldn't afford to dress better but that he couldn't be bothered.
the clothes, albeit rumpled, fit him well and showed no obvious disturbing
bulges. he stood in front of Argus and Nightshade silently for a few moments,
unconsciously striking a pose.
'my name is funes. some call me 'el memorioso,' he who remembers. shall i
buy the next round?'
heckler
--
"...the ceaseless stroking of my ego is something that all creatures, living
and dead, should obviously devote their existences to."
-- Scowling Jim Cowling, from rec.arts.comics.misc
heckler is: pech...@scf.usc.edu
Daniel L. McDonald
Phyllis Rostykus <l...@Data-IO.COM> wrote:
>
> Hasaki chuckled at both the wince and the 'scare'. She nodded,
>pulled out a seat at the table and the rainbow streak in her black hair
>glittered under the neon. She sat in the chair, a good arm's length away
>from the table and said, "Ah... O.K. Who do I remind you of? Or should I
>ask?"
Ken deeply contemplated answering the question. As he looked at her,
he realized that coming here was a big mistake. He had dressed the way he did
when he was practicing in Howell. His pale blue oxford, and tan khaki pants,
had no business being worn in this establishment. That, and Hasaki's direct
questioning, made him doubly uncomfortable. It showed in his playing with his
filtration mask in his right hand.
"My... wife," a pit in his stomach quickly formed, "You remind me
a little of my wife. She was," his voice rising slightly on, "was", "a dancer,
and you look like one too."
Phyllis Rostykus
> Ken deeply contemplated answering the question. As he looked at her,
>he realized that coming here was a big mistake. He had dressed the way he did
>when he was practicing in Howell. His pale blue oxford, and tan khaki pants,
>had no business being worn in this establishment. That, and Hasaki's direct
>questioning, made him doubly uncomfortable. It showed in his playing with his
>filtration mask in his right hand.
>
> "My... wife," a pit in his stomach quickly formed, "You remind me
>a little of my wife. She was," his voice rising slightly on, "was", "a dancer,
>and you look like one too."
Hasaki nodded and her smile went away for a moment, "Sorry she's
gone. But I'm no dancer." Her head went up like a hound's when it catches
a scent as a man walked into the bar. A man that moved a bit like she did.
>Russell T. Brown writes:
>
> The bartender returned with the vodka, but after seeing Hart's
>attire demanded payment up front. Hart complied. The old guy perked up at
>seeing the balance on Hart's credchip. "Name's Ratz" he said, "This is my
>place. Anything I can do for ya?"
> "Maybe," Hart replied, "I'm lookin' for a docshop, one that really
>knows cyberware. You know anyone who can point me in the right direction?"
For a second, Hasaki's eyes narrowed in memory. She shook her
head and then looked at Ken, at his out-of-place clothes and his
discomfort. She grinned again and said, "This isn't a pickup line; but
what *is* a nice guy like you doing in a place like this?"
Daniel L. McDonald
Phyllis Rostykus <l...@Data-IO.COM> wrote:
>
> Hasaki nodded and her smile went away for a moment, "Sorry she's
>gone. But I'm no dancer." Her head went up like a hound's when it catches
>a scent as a man walked into the bar. A man that moved a bit like she did.
_Am I that obvious?_ thought Ken to himself. No matter, the cat was
out of the bag. Perhaps she could drive the stake in a little deeper and ask
why.
>>Russell T. Brown writes:
>>
>> The bartender returned with the vodka, but after seeing Hart's
>>attire demanded payment up front. Hart complied. The old guy perked up at
>>seeing the balance on Hart's credchip. "Name's Ratz" he said, "This is my
>>place. Anything I can do for ya?"
>> "Maybe," Hart replied, "I'm lookin' for a docshop, one that really
>>knows cyberware. You know anyone who can point me in the right direction?"
Ken heard the word cyberware and thought. A new patient was always
welcome at any clinic. He started reaching in his wallet, trying to see if he
had any cards from the clinic.
> For a second, Hasaki's eyes narrowed in memory. She shook her
>head and then looked at Ken, at his out-of-place clothes and his
>discomfort. She grinned again and said, "This isn't a pickup line; but
>what *is* a nice guy like you doing in a place like this?"
"I was told to come here. Stupid little shit, oops..." He then
thought that she had probably heard worse, and continued, "The guy at the
front desk of my coffin stack told me the name of this place. I looked it up,
it seemed there were a lot of gaijin here. I should've guessed better what
KIND of gaijin were here. Still, lot's of," he fumbled around his wallet and
found two business cards from his new clinic, "potential customers could be
here."
He showed the one card to Hasaki. It contained only a street address
and the name Kawai. He again continued, "Not that *I* do stuff like your arm,
but we've good people."
Tim Kuehn
>antenna. He seems to listen to something only he can hear, then taps louder,
>metallically clinking about. Then he mutters....
>
> "Hmmm. I would swear this antenna actually picked something up!"
> Then with a smile/grin to Liralen.
> "I guess this thing IS useful afterall for something else beside
>ostentatious ridiculousness. I could swear I could hear some 'unity' person
>blabbering to some 'LISA' thingy. Hmmm. Interesting observations they make.
LISA, per Unity.commander's orders, was still watching the newbie when
this revelation came in. Obviously Unity.security still had some fine
tuning to do on the emission controls of his security system.
<<Boss,>> thought LISA.
<<Yes?>>
<<I think we've been found out,>> thought LISA. <<The newbie's
managed to pick up some of our conversation.>>
A pregnant pause ensued. Then Unity.debug asked,
<<You DID remember to enable the synthetic telepathy scrambler,
didn't you?>> asked Unity.debug.
Another pregnant pause, then
<<No,>> replied LISA. <<The scrambler was not enabled.>>
<<Then please do so,>> replied Unity.fixed. <<And while you're
at it, send that newbie the section of ARES's manual on "Personal
Combat: Strategy and Tactics" which deals with the proper use
of firepower in combat situations. Mark it as coming from the
ARES Recruiting and Training Command. That should raise an eyebrow
in the Chat's ARES-allergic atmosphere. :>>
5 nanoseconds later, a bullet of data was headed in the Chat's direction,
with the newbie's name attached. On Ratz's bar a small indicator blinked.
Ratz looked down, saw the name of the person the transmission was to on
the display, slotted a datastick, then handed it to one of the barmaids.
The barmaid took one look at the display on the datastick, walked over to
the appropriate table, and placed it gently beside the patron. It didn't
pay to move too fast in place crowded by people with hyperenhanced reflexes.
>Heh heh. A bit haughty and definately from someone with an inflated ego.
>Well, I guess I would laugh too if someone entered MY worlds as a newbie.
>Although I would only ridicule when that person put up airs.
BEGIN TDK's brief treatise on the place and use of firepower in combat
situations:
Anyone that goes around tossing fireballs and 50 caliber rounds without
regard to the amount of attention the use of such weaponry draws qualifies
as "extremely foolish" in my books, and is the mark of someone who's main
contribution to any discussion is "my gun is bigger than yours." (in
other words "YAWN.")
For example, suppose your character was assigned to protect an important
person and the occasion came where firepower was required. You pull out
your trust personal 50 cal. machine pistol and blast away, with a few
fireballs thrown in for good measure. While you're most likely going to
either scare off or eliminate the bad guys, you're also going to cause
a large amount of collatoral damage in the form of casualties or property
damage. So while you may've accomplished your main objective of protecting
your client, you've just landed them in a *lot* of hot water in terms of
irate property owners, relatives of the casualties you caused, gov't and
corp. attention, etc. etc. etc.
Do that once and you may be lucky to either live through the next day,
and -maybe- get another job. Do it twice and you'd better consider
moving to Alaska or some other wilderness location where you can find
another identity.
The secret is not to toss large amounts of explosive of kinetic energy
weaponry at an enemy force, but (in order of desirability):
1) keep them away in the first place (psyops),
2) keep them unaware of your presence or location
3) evading them
4) disposing of them with the -least- amount of firepower required,
5) as a last resort, call in the tanks.
See the movie "Sniper" for an example of small-unit/solo tactics in
terms of concealment, diversion, attack, and evasion.
"One shot, One Kill. No Exceptions."
>I guess not
>everyone is as nice *mocking grin* as I am. Survival rate of one to ten
>percent eh? We shall see...."
Use of large-caliber weapons *anywhere* including a battle field is going
draw a large amount of unwanted attention your way. And unless you're
running a diversion or have a lot of supporting assets to protect your
large-caliber weapons, attention is something you do *not* want. Hence the
1-10% probable survival rate -- unless you're going up against incomptent
idiots who's guns are smaller than yours.
END TREATISE.
> Looking up at his newfound companions Nightshade asks:
> "So, what has been happening at this place lately? Some neat threads
>of information just passed through, but most seem to be by singular people.
>Have there been any multi-writer happenings here in recent weeks?"
Just to inject one last comment, Unity.* and LISA (Lifelike Interactive
Systems Administrator) are two characters from the multiwriter effort
started late summer '91 and which was suspended in late summer '92. That
particular effort, of which I was the principle co-ordinating author,
had upwards of ten people involved at one time, and basically collapsed
under it's own weight, too many people pulling too many different
directions, and the fact that I just didn't have the time to put in
40+ hrs / month to carry it on any further.
It was a good story though, and a lot of interesting things have developed
from there. (The Matrix-based HK and "Matrix Wars" for example. Lots of good
material in that. :)
Tim Kuehn
Phyllis Rostykus
>> For a second, Hasaki's eyes narrowed in memory. She shook her
>>head and then looked at Ken, at his out-of-place clothes and his
>>discomfort. She grinned again and said, "This isn't a pickup line; but
>>what *is* a nice guy like you doing in a place like this?"
>
>thought that she had probably heard worse, and continued, "The guy at the
>front desk of my coffin stack told me the name of this place. I looked it up,
>it seemed there were a lot of gaijin here. I should've guessed better what
>KIND of gaijin were here. Still, lot's of," he fumbled around his wallet and
>found two business cards from his new clinic, "potential customers could be
>here."
Hasaki delicately took the business card between two slender
fingers and looked at it. She sighed and muttered to herself, "Docs..."
One corner of her mouth slanted down. Then softer yet, "Argent... wonder
what happened to you?"
> He showed the one card to Hasaki. It contained only a street address
>and the name Kawai. He again continued, "Not that *I* do stuff like your arm,
>but we've good people."
She nodded in the direction of the guy that had just entered the
bar. "Sounds like you got biz, chummer." She sighed, got up from the
table and bowed and with a grin said, "Looks like you really do belong..."
Russell T. Brown
second vodka. He spotted a couple towards the other end of the bar that
caught his attention. The man looked nervous and a little out of place.
However, the woman was tall and athletic and wore a sword strapped across
her back. Hart couldn't be sure, but he thought that she was watching him
on the sly. He decided to return the favor, not an easy thing to do with
only one functioning eye and Kyoto Eyewitness News blaring on his internal
comm-system.
> Hasaki delicately took the business card between two slender
>fingers and looked at it. She sighed and muttered to herself, "Docs..."
>One corner of her mouth slanted down. Then softer yet, "Argent... wonder
>what happened to you?"
>
>> He showed the one card to Hasaki. It contained only a street address
>>and the name Kawai. He again continued, "Not that *I* do stuff like your arm,
>>but we've good people."
>
> She nodded in the direction of the guy that had just entered the
>bar. "Sounds like you got biz, chummer." She sighed, got up from the
>table and bowed and with a grin said, "Looks like you really do belong..."
Just then, Ratz arrived with his drink. As Hart took hold of the
glass the stabilizer circuit on his cyberhand went out. The glass went
flying as the hand flopped back and forth, out of control. With a curse,
Hart pulled a screwdriver from the pocket of his jumpsuit and pried open a
small service compartment in his forearm. As Hart shut off the power to
his hand, it slowly came to rest. He had better find that clinic fast.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Are there any doctors in the house :) Hart is in bad shape!
-Russ
--
**********************************************************************
* Russell T. Brown * E-MAIL: rtb...@nyx.cs.du.edu *
**********************************************************************
Ididn'tdoitnobodysawmedoityoucan'tproveanything - The Immortal Bart
Daniel L. McDonald
Russell T. Brown <rtb...@nyx.cs.du.edu> wrote:
>>> He showed the one card to Hasaki. It contained only a street address
>>>and the name Kawai. He again continued, "Not that *I* do stuff like your arm,
>>>but we've good people."
[EDITORS NOTE: I think Phyllis's line makes more sense after the above
paragraph, rather than before it...]
>> Hasaki delicately took the business card between two slender
>>fingers and looked at it. She sighed and muttered to herself, "Docs..."
>>One corner of her mouth slanted down. Then softer yet, "Argent... wonder
>>what happened to you?"
Ken barely heard something coming from Hasaki's lips. Business was
picking up in the place, and so was the crowd noise. Her sighing disquieted
Ken further. He started looking around, nervously.
>> She nodded in the direction of the guy that had just entered the
>>bar. "Sounds like you got biz, chummer." She sighed, got up from the
>>table and bowed and with a grin said, "Looks like you really do belong..."
>
> Just then, Ratz arrived with his drink. As Hart took hold of the
>glass the stabilizer circuit on his cyberhand went out. The glass went
>flying as the hand flopped back and forth, out of control. With a curse,
>Hart pulled a screwdriver from the pocket of his jumpsuit and pried open a
>small service compartment in his forearm. As Hart shut off the power to
>his hand, it slowly came to rest. He had better find that clinic fast.
_Holy shit,_ thought Ken to himself. This guy was going to need a
cyberware specialist, quickly. He sprang out of his chair, the quickly passing
sense of relief giving way to professional concern and attentiveness. The
man seemed to have only mechanical trouble, no seeming neurological trouble.
Nonetheless, he quickly walked up to this man, who had just shut his hand off,
and asked the first question for cybernetic triage.
"Is it just the machinery, or is your body hurting too?"
Russell T. Brown
> _Holy shit,_ thought Ken to himself. This guy was going to need a
>cyberware specialist, quickly. He sprang out of his chair, the quickly passing
>sense of relief giving way to professional concern and attentiveness. The
>man seemed to have only mechanical trouble, no seeming neurological trouble.
>Nonetheless, he quickly walked up to this man, who had just shut his hand off,
>and asked the first question for cybernetic triage.
>
> "Is it just the machinery, or is your body hurting too?"
Hart looked up to see who had spoken to him. Surprisingly, it was the
guy from the end of the bar and his female companion seem to have left.
Was this guy doctor? He sounded like one. "Well, I'm not in too much
pain, but I don't even know if the pain editor in my neuralware processor
is functioning," said Hart. "Most of my cyberware is out of control too,"
he hefted his now powerless hand in testimony. "Think you can help?"
Daniel L. McDonald
In article <1993Sep3.0...@mnemosyne.cs.du.edu>,
Russell T. Brown <rtb...@nyx.cs.du.edu> wrote:
> Hart looked up to see who had spoken to him. Surprisingly, it was the
>guy from the end of the bar and his female companion seem to have left.
>Was this guy doctor? He sounded like one. "Well, I'm not in too much
>pain, but I don't even know if the pain editor in my neuralware processor
>is functioning," said Hart. "Most of my cyberware is out of control too,"
>he hefted his now powerless hand in testimony. "Think you can help?"
>
"I'm only a neurologist. I work at a clinic with a lot of cyberware
people. We ought to get you there stat," replied Dr. Ken Moriarty as he
thought about how to get this guy out of the bar.
Russell T. Brown
>
> "I'm only a neurologist. I work at a clinic with a lot of cyberware
>people. We ought to get you there stat," replied Dr. Ken Moriarty as he
>thought about how to get this guy out of the bar.
"Only a neurologist?" thought Hart. In an age where "handy velcro
fasteners" made the art of shoe tying beyond the abilities of most, being
"only a neurologist" was pretty damn impressive.
Hart stood and picked his plastic duster up off the bar. "Okay
Doc, lead the way." As he followed the Doctor out of the Chatsubo, Hart
began to tell him about the Aztechnology mission and how he came to this
sorry state of affairs.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hart is my character.
Dr. Ken Moriarty belongs to Dan Mcdonald.
Daniel L. McDonald
Dr. Ken Moriarty kept watching Hart, that was the man's name, to see
if anything else would start failing. He seemed to make the brisk walk out of
Night City without incident, and as they reached the edge, Ken signalled the
first autocab he could hail. He helped Hart into the cab by being a support
for Hart's one good arm, and then he entered the cab. He muttered off the
clinic's street address to the cab, and turned to the now relaxed Hart.
"What the hell did you do to get like this?" He asked as he looked
over his damage, wondering what had cause it all.
Russell T. Brown
Hart leaned back into the soft seat of the cab, and told Dr. Moriarty
the whole story. About being a Corp Commando, the ambush by the
Aztechnology troops and Mitron's refusal to fix him up. "So I came to Chiba"
he concluded, "Because they're supposed to be able to fix anything in the
clinics here."
"So Doc, Whataya think about that neural scrambler, or whatever it was
they used on us?"
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sorry it took so long to answer your last post Dan, I got busy moving this
week.