It is currently 7:50 PM CST 8-30-15.
Editing will be reviewed at midnight, and I will decide if it needs further review at that point or if to post. If it is not posted then it will be posted by 7 PM tomorrow evening CST.
There’s no need to make comments — feel free to edit the text directly — unless you have a question,in which comments are the best way to go.
I don’t know who put in the line about Tela Vasir and her adventures on Korlus but I am totally using that in this chapter. 😀
Thanks to everyone who contributed — looks like I missed some edits and will have to go back and redo some things, but this may work well.
I will post again when the next chapter is up for perusal, and try to wait until I’m completely done this time. I will also leave it up for two days before taking it down and making final changes from there.
A link to the draft (when it’s in progress) is now on the left-side menu bar.
As a bonus….since everyone like the Odd Couple…
Kai Leng stared at the redolent form of his partner, Theo Pellam, currently passed out drunk in the worst bar on Therum. The bar itself was a typical hole in the wall — flimsy walls of plascrete held together with straps of scrap metal, a scavenged holovid in one corner and a long bar of any number of materials pressed into service to deal purported drinks from.
The air was thick with cigar smoke and the sticky-sweet fragrance of red sand, the tang of cheap cleaners and a faintly disgusting whiff of something like fish that Kai was trying very hard not to identify.
Damn the Illusive Man for not providing him with some kind of nose filters.
The condition of the bar — at least six miners in various states of severe injury, two more thrown through the armaglass windows, and several tired, pleased looking women of dubious vocation let Kai know what had happened. As usual, Theo had gotten carried away. At least there was little blood — although on reflection, several dark splotches here and there would fit that bill as well, although they looked too old to be of recent vintage.
The Illusive Man had tasking for them, and Kai had been forced to hunt down Theo in order to get the ship’s engines going. Wasting half his morning in every filthy dive on Therum wasn’t how he wanted to spend his day, not to mention being propositioned by any number of sex workers that he would have not touched even in a full environmental suit.
With a sigh, he entered, keeping one hand on his sword. One of the prostitutes, a statuesque blond with a level of chest augmentation that must have required cybernetic spinal implants to support, gave him a salacious smile. “Oh, here for your friend?”
Leng sighed. He’d need hand sanitizer after this, he was sure. With a moue of distaste, he grabbed Theo by the feet, dragging the half-clothed form, still reeking of cheap booze, along the filthy metal decking. “You could say that. I presume no law enforcement showed up for this fracas?”
A second whore next to the first laughed, her voice gritty — no doubt from Therum’s filthy air. “Police? Here? Sweets, ain’t no cops on Therum, just the mine security types, and unless someone is stealing ore they couldn’t care less if you knifed someone in the street.”
What an appealing idea, he thought to himself, as he continued to drag Theo. “Tempting, but too sloppy. If he has any outstanding bills, his TTL is 659S-G, Feel free to bill him for whatever you like.”
Dragging the fool down the steps and making sure his head smashed on each one, he was pleased to have Theo finally wake up and jerk himself free. “I dunno nothin’ about no damned cats…”
Kai arched an eyebrow, before noticing a nearby chemical suppression station. With a hard shove, he deposited Theo into the shallow metal depression and triggered the shower system used by mine workers to rinse off caustic materials in case of an accident.
The water was, of course, icy cold, and Kai’s grin as Theo howled and spluttered to full consciousness was vicious.
I have a number of people who’ve often left reviews or PMs catching minor or stupid typos or missing words on my part. Other people have read sections of the work that are not up to snuff, or had ideas I wish I could have utilized.
Normally, I prefer to keep most of my work hidden, since spoilers. But some people like the idea of helping, so in the furtherance of that:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ratUBJvgkWlkMFk_wk0SDPMaAAlBYWFP5qoeVDt3u7c/edit?usp=sharing
The above link will allow you to edit (and view, duh) the current draft of the chapter I’m working on. The link will remain, but once I publish I’ll blank the page until I have the next one ready.
I’ll probably push this one out later on tonight. I’m still editing one piece I need to post.
Feeling kind of crappy today (ankle pain, some minor nerve pain) and my mother feels a bit down, but I was able to get some work done on TWCD.
No idea yet when I’ll do the next chapter — but it isn’t dead and neither am I.
Between running my mother to treatments and dealing with increased workload from a merger I’ve been unable to write much of anything, but I’m still around.
I have parts of the next chapter of TWCD done but it’s not anywhere close to ready…maybe by the end of August.
I really appreciate all the comments, emails and PM’s. You guys rock.
Mom has lung cancer, small cell. She’s starting chemo, but … even though they caught it early, it doesn’t look good. I’m trying to be positive, but that’s difficult.
Funny. I really don’t have anyone else left in my life. A few cousins, one of whom I’ve left everything to in my will. Most of my close friends died in Iraq or Afghanistan, or have simply moved on to other things.
Work is taking up a lot of my time. Went in at 7 AM today, just now getting home at fifteen till 9 PM. Not a lot of energy to write.
Still some pain — ankle, knee, shoulder. Back is better. Not sure for how long.
I’ll write again as soon as I get any energy to do so, and when I’m in a more … positive mood.
I am now at least able to work again, for the most part. I have a big backlog of PM’s and emails to reply to, but I thank everyone for their well wishes and support 🙂
Today’s thought designed to break your mind:
http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Roko%27s_basilisk  , specifically the part about BLIT (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BLIT_%28short_story%29) is relevant in terms of my version of the Reapers.
So far, I have been told the following:
So, yay. I have to go in Tuesday for something called a Myelogram with CT Scan. Whatever that is.
At this point I have no idea how long this will take. I could get off lucky, only need endoscopic ‘adjustment’ , be done by the end of next week or the week after and back to normal. Or I could need to have the more heavy duty surgical corrections/replacements/fusions done. Ugh.
If it looks like I’ll be incapacitated for a long period of time (like months) then I’ll probably release the outline drafts of the rest of the works I have and my notes to anyone who thinks they can keep the series going. Otherwise, just pretend this is another random hiatus I’m on.
If pain allows tomorrow (it seems to be a bit better today) I might write something.
Back not much better.
Mostly resting. Haven’t got much writing done. Will resume once I can walk without pain. Thank god for work-from-home.
I appreciate the comments and well-wishes and will hopefully be able to write soon.
I’m apparently going to need to see an additional specialist. The little outpatient surgery thing went fine, but didn’t actually reduce any of the nerve pain, just the lower back pain.
Right now my focus is on getting things at work into some semblance of order. I’ll fiddle with little bits of the story but no idea when the next  piece comes out.
Nor am I sure if more intensive surgical stuff will be needed until I meet the specialist, and I don’t have dates for that yet.
In other news, I’m kinda sleepy. Between the 10’s for Vicodin, damn near 1700 mg of naproxen a day, these muscle relaxants, and the stuff they shot me up with, I’m just not very alert or focused.
As far as TWCD goes…
There’s a branch point I’m thinking of. Whether to delve into Shepard psychology and past with chambers, or move straight into the action and the Rise of the Butcher. Tempted to simply close out Arc I and get the action going, but I’m not sure the framework of how Shepard is reacting is set up properly.
Also not sure if the above sentence makes sense. Drugs, lol. Thoughts would be appreciated.