Here is Chapter 2 from my new story.  Feel free to comment with what you think!

Chapter 2

Seven Years Prior. . .

“ROBERT! How many times do I have to tell you to stop playing that game and do your homework!”

“MOM! I’m almost done this mission, can’t I have a few more–”

“No! Get off of that computer, put that game away, and do your homework!”

I sigh, knowing that if I don’t, it’s only going to continue. “Yes, mom…”

I hit the escape key, bringing up my combat simulator’s control menu, and save my progress. I know that I’m going to lose the last fifteen minutes or so of my playtime, since I hadn’t reached the checkpoint, but it doesn’t matter. Homework is homework, and it’s just a silly game, even if it is a really cool one. I mean, thirty-foot tall combat robots. So unrealistic, but so amazing to think about. And these characters in the game, so well thought out. Even their artwork seems like they were drawing from someone’s pictures. Granted, they are aliens, some human, some lizard-like, some more mammalian, even a few insect-like creatures, but it’s still amazing. It just drew me in from day one. Now, if only I could convince my mother and father that a newer system would make this so much better. And, maybe a yoke and pedals.

As the software winds down, I stand up and stretch, looking out the window. It was dark outside already. Have I been playing that long? Explains why mom was freaking about homework. I step forward to close the blinds when I see a flash of light from just outside. It wasn’t big or spectacular, something that normally would have been overlooked. But this one was just outside the window, and way too close to be something simple, considering this one particular window overlooks the backyard. My curiosity perked, I grab my jacket, and yelled to my mom that there was something going on outside, and that I’d be right back. I was out the door before she could object, and started to where the flash was.

Now, I’m not exactly a big guy. Just under six foot, I was skinny, lanky, and awkward like any teenager is, the best I could have done was startle someone, stun them, and yell for help. But, I didn’t think about that, all I knew is that wasn’t supposed to be there, and I wanted to find it before it disappeared.

I jumped down the three steps that made up the small porch, my dirty blonde hair slapping against my forehead, and turned hard, running to find whatever it was. No sooner had I landed did I almost run down Allessa, my next-door-neighbor. She was fifteen, just like me, and was only slightly shorter than I am. She used to be much shorter, and was often thought to be a few years younger. She was pretty, with full lips that just begged to be kissed, a cute little nose that wrinkled ever so slightly when she laughed, and a soft, light skin tone. I had never seen her almost-black hair any way other than pulled back. Her most memorable feature, though, were her eyes, a cool, soft neon blue that you could swear were glowing. They weren’t glowing then, though. She looked at me in startled confusion.

“Oh!” I gasped, side-stepping to avoid slamming into her, and tumbled down the slight downhill just past the stoned walkway. I managed to bring my hands and feet out to stop my tumble and jumped back up, dusting off my faded jeans. “What are you doing out here, Less?” I asked, curious about the fact that she was at the back door instead of the front.

“Oh, I, uh,” she started, those entrancing eyes looking back and forth. “I thought I saw something outside your house, and I wanted to see what it was.” She turned to where I had seen the flash, and I turned with her, looking in the general direction.

“So did I! Wow, you’re fast. Maybe I should go–”
Her hand grabbed mine quickly as I started to step closer to the spot. “N-no, uh, you shouldn’t worry about that. Hey, did you get the new ChromeBots game yet?”

“No,” I answered flatly, still looking towards where the flash was. “But I really should see what that was.”

She pulled my arm, and her free hand grabbed at my jacket, pulling on it to make me face her, smiling sweetly at me, like she did every time she wanted something from me. She had known that I had had a crush on her ever since someone snapped up my notebook and found my writing of my confession of my feelings for her. The one that I was going to give her one day when I wasn’t so skinny and out of her league. She also knew that that sweet smile tended to make me forget what I was doing, just for a moment of gazing into her big blue eyes.

“Really, Robert , I’m sure it wasn’t anything to worry about. I mean, I didn’t see anything over there. Anyway, how about you come over and try the new game. I’ll even let you win the first round or two so you can get the hang of it.” She winked playfully at me, keeping that enchanting smile on her face, almost to guarantee my submission. And I fell for it, letting her pull my hand over her shoulder, and, in her soft voice, she starts telling me all I would need to know to set up my own ChromeBot, and how to control it. Not that I was actually listening, all I could process was this girl who was holding me close to her, like she had a hundred times before.

As she pulls me into her house, I vaguely remember having homework that needs finished. “Allessa, I know you’re excited about the new game, which, no, I can’t afford to get right now, but I really should be home. I have homework that needs done.”

She ignores me, pulling me into her house. “Go into the living room, I’ll meet you there. I need to get out of my jacket.” She never took her jacket off around me. In front of anyone I knew, for that matter. She was very secretive about it, but everyone just laughed it off as a personality quirk, and we’d learned not to ask her. She never gave the same answer twice.

I walked into the living room, finding it in the same, absolutely clutter-free condition it was always in, its walls their never-changing and sterile white, the carpet a mocha brown.. Three computers lined a wall, always separated in the same fashion, an opaque curtain hanging between them. They were also spotless, always meticulously maintained, dusted, and polished. Each system was specifically color-coordinated. There was a cobalt blue system, complete with blue keyboard, mouse, speakers, even a combat yoke and pedals that was custom-done to match the system. Then there was a neon-green system next to it, and the last one was blood-red. Blue and Green were the visitors computers. She was very protective of the Red computer, much like an over-protective parent. The television across the room was connected to the house’s network. I don’t remember ever seeing it used for anything other than connected statistics and replays. In fact, thinking about it, where were her parents? Weren’t they usually here?

She walked into the room, the sound of her shoes on the carpeting giving her away. “You really waited for me? I’m impressed!” I turned to see her, and again caught myself admiring her raw womanliness. Not many girls at her age had her form, and she just seemed to naturally know how to use it. My eyes trailed down her body once again, which, even fully clothed in her white sweater and blue jeans, was a spectacular sight to behold. She flashed that smile at me yet again, and I could feel my knees weakening. At that moment, I wanted nothing more than to find that she wasn’t wanting me to play a game, but, instead, wanted to tell me that she felt for me as much as I felt for her. “Here, I’ve already set it up on the systems. All you have to do is log in. You’ll find its controls familiar, and…”

She continued on, but I had stopped hearing her, feeling my heart smashing for the millionth time. Oh, well, I thought. Maybe if I stopped being such a pansy and just admitted it to her myself, she’d see it. Maybe, if I… No… She wouldn’t, she’s just so beautiful. I gotta stop being so down on myself. The last thought hit me by surprise as I take a seat at the green system, the one closest to her, and set up my profile on ChromeBots 2. Turns out, this newest version connected to a web server, and I would only have to set up once. Once I set up, it would automatically load my profile, settings, everything on any computer I play on. Great! I think, so much time wasted on three or four computers setting up.

By the time I’m ready to go, I’d already received an invite to a game in progress. Much like its predecessor, you start with only the basic ChromeBot, more or less a large, walking battle robot, and work your way up. On the original, I had already worked my way up to the strongest Bots, and could walk through almost any battlefield unscarred. But, being a new profile, I was still a green and raw recruit, and not trusted by the Uniform Galactic Military, the game’s extra-galactic combat core. This meant time taking time to get stronger, but, if the controls were identical to what I was used to, there wouldn’t be too much trouble. I accept the invite, and find myself pulled into the basic training simulator, working side-by-side with Allessa, and pressing through the area. The controls were mostly identical, and a small options change made all the difference. Within a half-hour, we’d begun pushing through the storyline, her gentle voice becoming hard and cold as she issued orders, called for reinforcement, and we settled into another gaming trance that lasted for several hours.

- -

Ten feet from the window of his house, a small, insect-like machine goes active. It extended small wings and fluttered to the wall. It began climbing the wall, around the gutter, and to the roof. It jumped, fluttered, and crawled to the highest point of the A-frame roof, then flattened itself to the tiles. Its optical receptors analyzed the tile coloring, then changed its own coloring to blend in to the tar and stone that made up the roof. It then flipped open its back, a small transceiver pointing skyward, and began its burst transmission to space. It waited for a moment, then received the return transmission it was expecting. It then began an up-to-the-minute interfacing with the cloaked ship in orbit, keeping record of all the “training” being done.

“She works quickly, shipmaster,” the data operator hissed, turning its serpentine head towards the control seat, its ruby eyes flickering in entertained delight. “We only ordered her to begin transmitting today.”

“She had better. If she doesn’t, she’ll pay the price.” The shipmaster chuckled to herself, knowing that it wouldn’t be much longer.

Around the world, dozens more of the small robots tapped into the network that had taken three local years to covertly get into position. Now, it was just a matter of sitting back and collecting the data.

As I’ve said before, the working title is still No Way Back.  We’ll see what I think about it once I’ve gotten it finished.

And, because I don’t want to miss a chance of actually doing what I set out to do, here’s chapter 1!

Chapter 1

I woke up lying on my back. That wouldn’t have been strange, had it not been for the hard, unpadded feeling that came from it. Or the lack of my soft pillow. Or the unusually-shaped black light positioned over me. That’s what startled me the most. I closed my dark blue eyes, thinking it was just some odd dream I was having, that, if I passed back out, I would wake up again in my room. But the air around me moved, cold, and told me this wasn’t a dream. I opened my eyes again to the same, oddly-shaped light that was positioned only inches from my face. I turned my head to see if I was trapped, finding that, whatever it was positioned over me, it wasn’t affixed to the dark, metallic slab that passed as my resting place.

Just outside of that slab stood … something. From where I’m laying, all I can see is the glowing of the black light off of some kind of fabric, but it’s moving, slowly, folding in some places, stretching taut in others as they seem to be leaning over whatever is over my body. I hear a gasp, then a loud yelling, something I can’t understand, nor do I think I want to. Then, a hand comes into the gap and lands on my shoulder. At least, I think it’s a hand. The same voice, now gentle, kind, feminine, comes through the gap, spoken in English, a strange accent tingeing the words that sound almost forced into existence, almost like someone speaking a language they had only learned yesterday. “Pr-lease, do nort p-hanich. You ahre s-hafe now,” she said, her voice, though obviously not used to speaking the language, was gentle, reassuring. But the feeling of her hand made me nervous. It didn’t feel right. A strange shape, blurry-looking, and long, black nails that pressed against my shirt. When she realized I was looking at her hand, she withdrew it quickly, and yelled again in that strange language. A hiss came from behind her, and a stronger, deeper, more gravelly voice sounded from behind her in the same language. The sound of that voice made me more nervous, and I began to feel around with my hands and legs. My feet were bare, but I was still clothed otherwise, which did little to console me in my growing panic. I discovered at that moment that, whatever it was over my head and chest was not over the rest of me, and that I was not restrained. I lifted my hands to press against the lighting. No sooner had I done so did a loud buzzing begin from outside the device. I heard the deeper voice cry out in its strange language, followed by seeing the flash of the fabric turning away, and it being hidden by something else blurry. As I pressed on the hood, I heard her yell in my language, much clearer, “No! Don’t! He doesn’–” That’s all I remember before the light above me becomes dazzlingly bright, and a wave of searing pain courses through my arms. Then, silence. Darkness.

Was it all a dream?

I wish I could say that it was. But it wasn’t. That’s how I came to live here. Away from all that I knew.

– –

“How do you know he wasn’t going to kill you?! They are vicious! They can’t even live with their own peacefully, let alone deal with someone new in a friendly matter!” The commander’s voice, his deep, throaty growl obviously angry about her attempt to countermand his order. “I understand very well that you are the medical officer on this ship, but it is MY job to keep everyone on this ship ALIVE and SAFE, and that includes our chief of medical staff! You intentionally kept him unsecured, and you were standing next to the gurney! What is it, your desk safely across the room couldn’t show you the vitals and scan data?” He licked his lips, his grey eyes glaring, daring her to challenge his logic.

The problem was that she was just as capable in combat as she was in the medical bay, and his concern, she felt, didn’t apply to her. “The problem, sir, is that this ISN’T a combat room! There’s absolutely nothing here he would have been able to use as a weapon! What could he have done, hit me with the scanner? You and I BOTH know that it wouldn’t have moved! What else could he have done, sterilized my non-existent scratches? He’s not a warrior, he’s barely an adult! His pack is going to be looking for him soon, and we needed to get him taken care of quickly.” At this point, she began to settle down, her golden eyes beginning to lose their flash of aggravation, and turned to mockery, turning and giving a dismissing hand gesture. “Besides, if your men had done their job, we wouldn’t even have been in this situation. He’s supposed to be sedated and checked for any weapons.” She stepped back to the scanner, looking at its readouts. “What did you find on him, anyway?” She casually looks over her shoulder, throwing her long bronze hair back as she does.

The commander, still fuming, stormed across the medical bay, snatched up a bag, and returned, dumping its contents onto her desk. “See? He was armed,” he snapped, the growl finally leaving his voice, pointing to a round object with several slivers of metal attached. “It’s primitive, but it’s definitely a weapon of some kind. And this,” he gestures to a black leather square, “Must be a trophy of some kind. It’s made of an animal’s skin.” He grabs a thin, silver object, running a claw through an opening. “Is this some kind of tracking device?! Get it off my ship!”

The doctor reaches over and grabs his hand, taking the device from him. She sighs, and then flips it open. “Mergrayne, this is a communications device. They use these all the time where he is from.” She turns it to show his cell phone’s numeric pad and graphical display. “We have our own versions of these,” as she points to his uniform’s collar, the small, matte black device almost blending into his clothing.

“Well–” he starts, but she barrels on.

“And this,” she lifts the ring of metal between claws, speaking matter-of-factly, “is their version of this…” She reaches into the folds of her close-fitting outfit, and pulls out her touch-card. “They use those … What are they called… Oh, yes, keys, much like our own datacards, but they only work for opening things, or holding them down. And this,” she points to his leather square, dropping the key ring loudly to the metal desk, “is what they use to hold together their currency, identification, and other materials, just like what is all stored on our datacards. He’s safe. He’s not going to hurt anyone. Least of all me. Last time I checked, Mergrayne, I was able to best you in the combat ring.” She smiles as she finishes her last statement, her feline ears twitching as her tail follows suit, its white fur finally laying smooth.

The commander tries to continue to glare at her, but can’t. He sighs, finally relaxing. “I’m sorry, Nishka, I just worry about you sometimes. You don’t keep your guard up around them. And how many times do I have to ask you to call me Commander Greyguard when we’re on duty?” He smiles, his jet-black fur settling again, his tail wagging slowly. “Or, at the very least, sir…”

Nishka stands slowly, walking up to him with an exaggerated gait, letting her tail playfully whip behind her, and stops dangerously close to him, a flirting smile crossing her maw. “The day you don’t consider me yours is the day I’ll stop, Mergrayne…” she whispers, and gently kisses his cheek, pressing her lithe body to his. She starts to say something more, but hears the auto-door open, and quickly steps back. “Now, Commander, I want to know why this rescue wasn’t properly sedated. I find it rather haphazard that such a creature–”

“It’s only me, doctor; you don’t have to hide your pawing, against regulations, might I add, of the commander…” The artificially sweet and melodic voice coming from behind the lupine commander’s body. “I’ve only come to let you know that the scan was complete, and they hadn’t had a chance to put a recruit marker 5]‘on him yet. I’ve also come to remind the commander that his wife is waiting for him back home, with their pups, and, according to regulations, I am supposed to report this to my superior officer.” She comes between them and puts the thin sheet of plastiform into Nishka’s waiting hands. “But, seeing as you are my ranking officer, doctor,” she turns to let her accusing, yet soft eyes fall on Mergrayne, “and you are the ship’s superior, I don’t think it would do me much good.” She continues to turn, then nimbly jumps into the doctor’s seat, her dark-purple fur and soft pink stripes along her large, bushy tail settling against its texture.

The two officers embarrassedly step apart, looking at anything other than each other or the younger skunk who had taken an unneeded seat in their company. They knew that she was well aware of them, having stepped into a moment of passion before when they had neglected to make it to either of their quarters, nor had they locked the med-bay doors and disabled the cameras. They also knew that she wouldn’t say anything, so long as they made the attempt to conform to their stations.

“Was there anything else that you wanted to mention, Dharcia?” Mergrayne quickly added, clearing his throat and straightening his navy-blue uniform, pulling at its mandarin collar and adjusting the row of polished black buttons. He absently ran his claws through his tail’s fur as he watched with hidden longing as Nishka returned to the table and adjusted a few settings, each one sounding its own tone.

“Well…” Dharcia started, spinning in the chair. “There is one major issue of protocol.

“We know about the protocol, Dharcia!” hissed Nishka, glaring over the sensor hood.

“Not that protocol, doctor.” Dharcia quickly added, not letting her superior bully her into silence. “Didn’t he wake up?”

“Well, yes…” answer the commander slowly.

“According to protocol, he’s not allowed to return home then.”

“Wait, what?” Commander Greyguard asked, obviously confused. “You mean to tell me that we rescued him from that “recruit transporter” only to make him a prisoner here?”

Dharcia jumped up from the chair, and tapped the holoscreen on the desk, pulling up a link she’s forwarded to herself for just this purpose. She waited for the officers to step nearer, and then tapped the display to bring it standing off the desk, so they would be able to read it without stooping over. “Universal Federation Order, designed as both collective rules, and to not let alien species know we exist until they are deemed safe for merging with the galactic community, makes it where we can’t interfere with their race.”

Nishka puzzlingly chewed on one of her extended claws as Mergrayne furrowed his brow, looking over the document he’d half-read before. “I know about this, what does this have to do with our “rescue?” His spat the word, and Nishka looked at him, troubled by his irritation.

The skunk pressed another button, and the pages rolled forward, much deeper in the document than the commander had ever gotten. “It seems that the UFO has a ‘you break it, you bought it’ clause. We broke it by not ensuring that the specimen was properly sedated. He’s witnessed something. Even though it could easily be dismissed as a dream at this point, he’s seen at least some of our technology, and I doubt that control-shock didn’t burn his skin, since he doesn’t have the natural protection that most of us have. There’s no way to return him without there having been some kind of evidence.”

“So, what you’re saying is, because I hit the button too soon, and the wrong one at that, he’s our… prisoner?” Mergrayne looked at the slab, irritation still laced in his cold, stony eyes.

“No,” Nishka quickly added, “he’s our guest, whether he wants it, or not…”

“Great.” The commander grunted, looking back at Dharcia and hiking a clawed thumb over towards the table. “Now, how do we explain it to him?”

No one responded.

This is less of a posting of the chapter and more stating the obvious:  I’ve had a chance to re-read my chapters and decided to edit them.  That being said, I feel there’s been enough changes to justify a re-posting of the story starting from the beginning.  Starting later, I’ll be deleting the chapters I have already posted and re-post them in their current formats. 

You have been warned. 

Edited 23:55, 23DEC2009

There we go.  The original postings of the three chapters have been cleared out.  Why?  Well, because I said I was.    I’m the author, that’s why.  Besides, the modifications, adjustments, rewriting, etc, makes this something that’s needed.  From here on out, the plan is to simply update the chapters as they are corrected or modified, and put a note on the chapters stating that they’ve been changed.  A lot of the changes will be subtle.  Some will be moderate.  In a few cases, entire chapters may outright disappear.  Part and Part of the whole learning, writing, editing thing. 

I want to ask, again, for people’s inputs.  Even if it’s not via comment, but via e-mail.  See, I’m not a great author.  This is my first attempt at writing anything.  The wordings, grammar, punctuation, they’ll all make sense in my head, but if they are fuzzy or incoherent, my book suffers.   Well, as of now, I should say “story,” but, who knows, if it’s good enough, it may become “book.”  And then, I’ll have about a dozen first release and signed copies that are asked for…  XD  Yeah, right…

Quick sketchie of Rintoo for the new year.  I love the little guy.

Testing the noo bloggything.

You're A Girl?

Bunny is surprised.

I know, I know, it’s been a long time since I posted. What’s new? Lots of stuff has happened since our last post and trust me it’s been interesting. As we’ve progressed into winter, we’ve all been getting things done, mostly Christmas shopping and the like, but either way. It’s been a long month and we still have a few days to go till Christmas.

Whiiiiich, by the way, for any of you who forgot, will be Paisley’s first. Though I’m pretty sure, she’s figured out that Christmas for puppies in our house means lots and lots of cool toys:

And dis is wewe all de bownes and Squeakies go, wight?

Paisley met her first Christmas tree a few weeks ago and has since taken to gnawing on it whenever she gets the chance.  It’s not surprising to look up and find a piece of Fraiser Fir stickng out of her mouth.  We noticed the trees were pretty sparse this year, so our tree is a little dry and easily chewed, so this isn’t a shock when she tries to wine and dine herself.  With nature.

Also, because we live in the midwest and winter isn’t winter without a blizzard– Guess what… We got a blizzard.  This was also Paisley’s first major snowstorm and she seems to be enjoying herself, even though the snow got to be about chest high on her:

Aneeebodee gawt a shovel?!

She’s more Husky then she lets on– she pants when it’s cold and can’t just walk passed snow– no, she has to have dive-bomb into every drift.  She never comes into the house dry.  I’m not looking forward to spring when there’s mud…  But at least the family gets that she loves to play in the snow:

Ah catch it! I wuv de snoooow!

This blizzard came as predicted and made it impossible for people to get around safely.  The college my father teaches at actually cancelled classes three days in a row, which never happens and my mother’s office decided to stay closed right before she left so she didn’t have to go to work.  Unfortunately, in some cases, as I attend a small college where 99.9% of the population lives on campus, closing is never a possibility.  And for the 1 or 2 people who live off campus– it sucks, because classes are never cancelled, even if there’s a lot of snow.  So, I got to make (or, rather, my mom did) an executive decision to stay home.  I wasn’t too broken up about it as this year seems to be the year for ridiculously stressful classes, and even though I was missing participation points, I honestly didn’t care I wasn’t there.

Since I stayed home, mom and I decided to do some of the baking we had planned on doing later in the week.  We had bought a cookie recipe magazine previously and had decided which ones we wanted to try and also a few traditional recipes we try to do every year, if possible.  And this year, we had help:

Dwoppp de cookee dowwwgh-- Dwopppp de cookee dowwwgh...

She’s Santa’s little helper these days.

Did you dwop any cookee dowgh yet?

We made several types of cookies and dipped Candy Cane Sticks, though we only handed out a few plates.  The rest we’ve been knocking back pretty well.  I’m all right with that.  They were good.  Aside from the usual sugar cookies, we also made Snickerdoodles, Chocolate Jubilees (omg, never make those if you only want a few!!  The recipe makes about ten thousand cookies!) and a few others that are soooo good:

Snickerdoodles

Chocolate Jubliee dough... 600 ingredients, 5 million cookies

I will never... Ever... Make these... Again...

At least someone ended up being happy in the process:

Ahhhh, happyhappy.

However, some of us found out the hard way what trying to sample the cookie dough for free comes to:

I haz been banished...

Yuri didn’t think this was fair:

Give me a minute... I'll figure this jail door out...

I’m not sure Paisley got the point– She’s too tall for this baby gate anyway and frankly, she uses her cuteness to get out of trouble– A lot.  As in, one look and we’re all forgiving her, her transgressions… No penance here, just adorableness…

I am de pwincess of dis caswle.

You see?  You’re falling for it too– don’t lie, I know.  You fell for it.  Get the Milkbones out now, because it doesn’t end here.

The snow kept going for two days straight and left us all with almost 10 inches of snow.  It doesn’t help the snow came back yesterday and came down so heavy that my parents, boyfriend and I couldn’t get to the extended family Christmas.  We had all been looking forward to it, we had presents to give and food to share and it took nearly an hour to drive less than halfway– That normally takes 20 minutes.  It just wasn’t in the cards, which was sad, because I was really looking forward to seeing my grandparents and family.  It happens, I suppose.  We live in the midwest, winters are usually hard and the weather doesn’t recognize holidays.  Gotta get over it and maybe we’ll get to visit later in the next week or so before I go back to school.

Anyway, Paisley has a big day tomorrow.  We’ve gotten some things together for PAWS & More Shelter where we adopted The Puppy.  She’s been with us since September and we’ve been lucky to see some good growth in her, both physically and behaviorally.  Although she still uses her genius for evil, she’s really very smart and can be a joy.  Since she’s brought so much to us, we figured it was only right to bring something to the shelter that brought her into the world and kept her safe until we could bring her home and add her to our family.  We’ve bought toys for the dogs and cats and also some treats for those fuzzy loves that haven’t found a home yet.

I’ll try to take photos tomorrow but the weather is threatening to stink again so we may not get to the shelter and I don’t know how crazy it’s going to get.  I guess we’ll see.  I’ll try not be slow when it comes to posting.

Whenever that it is, here are some photos of two of my fuzzy babies, looking lovely in the snow:

I wooowd weally wike to come inside pwease!

Or I wiww eat threw dis doow!

May I come in?

Until then!

Jaina, Faith & Paisley

- – Australia has acquired two giant pandas on loan from China, and the couple has been publicly encouraged to, err, be fruitful and multiply! Wang Wang (“Net Net”) and Funi (“Lucky Girl”) were encouraged by leaders at the Adelaide Zoo to “Look after yourselves, keep healthy and active, eat your greens and maybe, when the time is right, think about starting a family.”

Pandas are notoriously poor breeders, with females having only three days a year in which they can conceive. Artificial insemination has accordingly become a standard practice in breeding captive pandas, of which 120 are in Chinese breeding facilities and zoos and about another 20 in zoos outside China.  Only about 1,600 pandas exist in the wild.

We can, I suppose, be grateful that The Captain and Tennille never wrote a song called “Panda Love…”

Chapter Three of my story entitled No Way Back. 

(And yes, I know, I can’t seem to make up my mind about the title, when it’s finished, I’ll correct them all.    )

            BZZT! BZZT! BZZT!

            I reached over and slammed my hand down on my alarm clock.  I had set it about an hour early so I could get my homework punched out, but now, laying in bed, looking at my clock, its display now showing 5:01 in the morning, I wonder if I can even get started, let alone starting on my homework.  I sigh, then throw the blankets off of my body.  It’s chilly in my room, like it always is.  I keep asking dad to fix that vent, and always get the same non-answer that he has for just about everything minor, “When we have the money.”  He had the money when he bought that old Challenger to restore, he had the money to make it great, but didn’t have the money to replace a section of ducting.  I grumble as I flip my light on, pull my clothes together, get myself dressed, and hop into my shoes.  I look at my backpack, knowing what’s waiting for me inside.  I got lucky, at least it’s my algebra.  I’m good at math.  Science, too.  I’d already done half of it at school while I was waiting, so it would be a breeze.

            That’s what I thought, anyway.  I sat down at my desk, pulled my books out, and found myself thinking about Allessa and that game.  She is so lovely, so sweet, but when she sits at that desk, it’s like someone flips a switch.  She becomes cold, ruthless, almost scary.  Isn’t that what makes a good leader, I muse, gnawing on my eraser.  And that game…  It was impossibly realistic, in every way better than the original.  We had spent several hours on it when mom called, asking her to send me home.  During that entire time, she commanded that imaginary battlefield in her armor, calling out commands, positions, and tactical data.  How she does it, I’ll never know.  I’d heard rumors about some kind of commanding officer package, that allows a person to deploy sensors and get satellite readouts, but my ChromeBot didn’t have it.  With her help, I’d managed to work my way into a medium-duty ‘Bot, one of many.  I had opted to set mine up as a short-to-medium range assault unit.  It left me vulnerable to longer-range attacks, but made me far more formidable once in the thick of battle. 

            A half-hour had passed and I had only gotten through three equations.  I forced the thoughts of the girl and her game from my mind, and pushed myself to finish out the assignment.  As my concentration gathered, they just got easier, and I managed to finish up in time to hear my father’s typically heavy footsteps land outside my door and hear him pound the door once, twice, then a pause, and a third time.  Always the same. 

            “I’m up, dad.” I called out, knowing he’d hear me.

            “Good.  Now, put your homework away and come on downstairs.  Mom and I have something to show you.” 

            “How’d you know?” I yelled, genuinely surprised.

            The door opened, and he looked in.  “I’m your father, that’s how.”  He stepped in, half-closing the door.  “Besides, your alarm woke me up, and you mom said that you hadn’t done your homework last night.  I just put two and two together.”  His smile was huge, and he winked.  “But I won’t tell.  I know why you were over there last night.”

            I felt my face get warm, and I looked down at my finished work, closing it into its book.  “Yeah, well, one of these days, I’ll tell her.”

            He laughed, then started out the door.  “Hurry up.” 

            I threw everything back into my backpack, then slung it over my shoulder as I headed out of the room.  I turned down the hall and hopped down the steps, dropping my backpack at the front door.  I made my way through the living room to the kitchen, thinking they were waiting for me there. 

            No one was there.

            “Mom?  Dad?”  I passed through the kitchen and dining room, and into the back room.  That’s where they were waiting, smiling.  “Uh, what’s going on?”  I asked nervously.

            “Well, we know that you’ve been doing well in school, even if you don’t do your homework,” mom started.  “And you’ve been bugging us about getting a one, so.”  They separated, and there was a new computer system already set up and booted.  They’d gone all-out, even getting the control scheme I’d been drooling over for weeks, similar to what was set up next door, but its basic black coloring. 

            I blinked in awe of the system for a moment, no words forming.  After a brief moment, I managed to stutter, “But, I thought we didn’t have the money!”

            “Well, that was true, but the office gave me a promotion and a big hefty bonus!  Since we already had a newer system, we thought it was time to update yours!” came dad’s response.  “I’ve even put in to replace that duct to your room, finally.  They’ll be in to do it after you get home from school, so make sure to get home right away.”

            “Oh my gosh!  Thanks mom! Dad!”  I was finally able to move again, and rushed forward, hugging them both.  We all laughed for a moment and shared the hug.

            “But,” mom started again after the group hug had subsided, “We’ve had this system specially done.  See that?”  She pointed to a small round socket on the front of the computer.  “Your grades slip, and that thing won’t start up.  We can do that.”

            “I got it mom…”  I sighed.

            Dad’s laugh made the thought end quickly.  “We also talked to Allessa about what to have in it.  She made sure we got the right thing.  Oh, one more thing…”  He grabbed a box from the desk and thumped it into my chest.  “You’re gonna need this later.  Now, I’m sorry, but I have to run to work.  I love you both!” he said as he kissed mom quickly, then quickly took off towards the front door. 

            I looked at the box.  He’d wrapped it in brown paper.  As mom followed dad out of the room, I tore into the paper.  “ChromeBot 2″ in chrome on a black background.  They’d gotten the new game!  I guess they do listen to me, I thought, as I started to sit at the computer.  It was waiting for its initial programming and setup. I looked at the clock, realizing I only had about fifteen minutes before I would have to be out the door, and turned around heading out to grab something to eat and catch the bus.

            I charged out the door to get to the bus stop after eating a quick plate of pancakes.  When I say quick, I mean I can’t tell you what they tasted like.  Jumping down the steps, I bolted forward, cutting across the street and to the bus stop.  Allessa was waiting there, along with a half-dozen other students.  Those hypnotic eyes of hers lit up behind a smile when she saw me.

            “So, anything interesting this morning?” she asked, her voice telling me she already knew.

            “Dad says you helped them pick it, so… Thanks…”  I smile, noticing the other students laughing in my direction. I looked over my clothing quickly, thinking I might have spilled something.  Nothing.  Then, as I turned, I saw it in the reflection of the glass.  My hair was sticking straight up!  I’d forgotten to comb it!  I turn to run back to the house when I hear the bus crest the hill.  Too late!  All I can do is climb up and be ready for the day of tortured harassment.

~*~  ~*~

Well, that’s chapter three.  I’m really hoping people are enjoying this some, since I haven’t gotten any responces back.  Then again, I understand that there are a lot of blogs out there, and most people don’t use them to post stories, so it’s kind of out of place.  Also, since I used to post the Random Thought of the Day here, it still seems that much more out of place.  I haven’t entirely forgotten or given up on ROTD, simply trying a more creative vein.

Anyway, let me know what you guys think so far.

- – As those who share life with them can testify, a dog’s love (and that of cats or other animal companions) is priceless.  But to date, such companions have legally been considered property.–Well, the state Supreme Court of Vermont is being asked to consider what a dog’s love is worth…a mixed- breed dog named Shadow.

That court is hearing a case that began in July of 2003 when two people visiting relatives let their dog wander onto a neighbor’s property. The neighbor fired an air gun pellet at the dog in the hopes of scaring it off his property, claiming that he intended to hit the dog in the rear end.  The pellet instead penetrated the dog’s chest and severed his aorta, and he died soon thereafter on route to the vet.

The shooter pleaded guilty to animal cruelty charges, a misdemeanor.  He was given a year of probation,  ordered to perform 100 hours of community service, and pay a $4,000 fine in restitution to the dog’s owners. The owners of the dog, however, have pressed a civil case against the shooter, claiming that their dog was more than a piece of property, and that the compensation awarded was inadequate and did not incorporate emotional loss.

Historically, laws across the country have sharply limited the ability of plaintiffs to collect damages for emotional loss.  The same court earlier this year ruled against a plaintiff seeking to collect for emotional distress when a cat’s death resulted from a veterinarian’s medication error.  That case, however, involved negligence whereas in this case the defendant is alleged to have acted with malice and intent when he shot Shadow.

The case accordingly is potentially precedent-setting, and could result in an expansion of animal rights and protection…

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

- -Happy Avatar Opening Day!   

(Foxsylvania thanks our valued  readers for enabling us to reach the 70,000 hits mark!)   

This is one of the oddest little music videos I’ve ever seen. That said, I think the unusual methods used to animate it, and the merits of the song itself, are compelling enough to show this to my viewers. For some reason it reminds me of a dark(er) and (more) surreal descendant of Smashing Pumpkins’ ‘Tonight, Tonight’ video, seen here.

More probably though, this music video can trace its cinematic roots to this video, ‘Megalomaniac’, by Incubus.

Either way, you have a very respectable pedigree of influences. Not a very original music video, but certainly eye-popping and surreal, which is something I like to see in music videos.

Not doing much work

Ok, I am not fucking around here. You are going to listen to me or I am going to reach up your cunt, tear out your cervix and use it as a scrunchy to keep my hair out of my face while I beat your throat with a salt lick and my associates double-team your asshole. Do I make myself clear? (By the way, if you’re into that sort of thing, see the lady with the clipboard to make an appointment.)

Stop making stupid websites that show up at the top of my Google search and have nothing to do with the query at hand. Want to write poetry about finding your dad with a belt around his neck and a tube sock full of bloody jizz, then post it on Deviant Art so we can all heckle you? Don’t slap unrelated tags on it, like “tits” or “genocide.” If I click a link promising fetus soup recipes and end up looking at your white-screen-Times-New-Roman whining, I am hacking the site to include your name, address, phone number, and preference for rough gay sex. When I search, I expect relevant material.

Better yet, just stop making your own sites. If you have a business, promote it. If you have a collection of previously-unreleased information of import: lyrics to good songs, new studies about the effect of beer on breast tissue, photos of bigfoot, knock yourself out. With a brick. But make sure you hire a designer to put it together. Don’t just link sparkly ponies from MySpace for the banner and turn your Helvetica purple. It’s like flinging a used tampon at the wall of the mighty Internet and calling it art. Fuck you, Tom Kay.

And if you have a blog, erase it. Nobody gives half a shit about what you think. My opinion is the only one that counts and my loyal subjects will not stray from the path I have set down from them. Mostly because they know what’s good for them or they’re too stupid to escape the peer pressure. Oh, except these guys. Because nachos are cool. Everyone else, get the fuck out of the blogosphere. And stop calling it the “blogosphere.” It’s even more pathetic than your attempts to push “turnips” as a word. As far as 1972 Scrabble knows, it’s not. And antique Scrabble is the Google of linguistics.

We can still keep the “social networking” sites. I allow this because I love seeing young people post photos of themselves getting it on with a furry at a Dollar Tree after hours because some guy named “Skeet” has an extra key, thus locking themselves into an eternity of burger-flipping. Plus, it gives me the chance to set up anonymous gangbangs with guys named Skeet and their muskrat-costume-loving friends. Everyone wins. And by “everyone,” I mean “everyone who matters,” and by that, I mean “me.”

- – I confess that I’ve always loved Lewis Carroll’s Alice In Wonderland, and especially had a soft spot for the Cheshire Cat…well, said feline has never looked better or toothier than in the upcoming March of 2010 version by Tim Burton!–Who better to capture the notes of madness, darkness,  and menace in the piece than Tim Burton, especially with Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter?!  Stephen Fry plays the Cheshire Cat.

It’s very hard to do justice to Alice In Wonderland, and many attempted adaptations have fallen short of the mark and been disappointments; the recent SyFy Channel’s adaptation comes to mind, while it did have its moments.– This could well be the definitive version!– The Cheshire Cat looks ten times creepier than in all previous versions!!!

…It’s gonna be a weird, wild Wonderland in amazing 3D…March 5th, 2010 can’t come soon enough for this fox!

The original CSI (I miss Grissom) taught me many things, like Lady Heather has a fantastic job. My first encounter with BDSM, as opposed to experiencing some of the aspects of it unknowingly, was through watching CSI. The episodes with Lady Heather impacted me more than the others. I became fascinated with the BDSM world. True, CSI  did glamorize the world, making it look seductive; but like other things there is a certain amount of truth in the portrayal. For example, death is a risk in breath play (A reference to the episode where the househusband to a lawyer plays dom to an employee of Lady Heather and kills the woman by suffocation through nose tubes and a full face mask).

Remember the episode with the guy who dresses up like an animal? Yes, there are people who dress up in anthropomorphic (furry) suits and “cuddle” up (as well as involve themselves in BDSM) close to one another. Now, furries are interesting creatures. I’ve had personal experiences with them through an off and on lover, Donatello. Aye, Don. He fits quite well in the community though, the way he is.  He’s a medium height, stocky, strawberry blond guy. He looks comforting. The way he looks just says “comforting.” I loved snuggling up to his soft body, even when he smells like a hotel room. -_-;  He is/was part of the furry world and he introduced me to it, including an online community. He’s protective of me and warned me of certain people who could be potential threats.  After hearing that, I explored some and I didn’t like what I saw, so I left. As I said earlier, there are some BDSM activities that go on there, but not as explicit as BDSM communities (duh). For example, there is a top and a bottom to furry relationships.  In other words, a dom and a sub. (Animal hierarchy, biology people!)

So, finals week is upon us here in Kirksville, and I get the feeling that I should be much more stressed out. I mean, I only have two comprehensive finals, but I see everyone cramming like crazy, and I feel like I should be doing the same. However, I can say without a shadow of a doubt that finals week is my favourite week of the year. Not only do I not have any classes, but it seems that there is always something to do; even if it is just watching Saw with Missi’s house. That being said, I have probably eaten more junk food in the last four days than in the last four months. And tonight is Reading Day Eve. This should be interesting.

In other news, this past Friday I met the only other furry in Kirksville, a senior at TSU, and it was freaking awesome. Not only can I say that I have met a friend from the internet IRL, but I now have a friend in the fandom, which is nice. And according to him, I didn’t come off as a complete freak, which is good.

That is actually something I am really self-conscious about. Don’t get me wrong, I love myself the way I am and do not plan on changing, but I realise that I am really weird. So I always worry that when I meet people for the first time that they won’t like me because I freak them out. And then it all kind of snowballs from there and I end up freaking out for nothing. Not to mention that while I love meeting new people and making new friends, I am terrified of the initial conversation. Maybe this has something to do with me being an introvert, maybe not.

Well, I’ve taken up enough of your time. I will try to post stuff more regularly in the future.

-Ryujin

Days until Winter Break: 3

Days until Christmas: 10

Anyone else notice that the alien race in James Cameron’s new movie Avatar look kind of like…furries?

(Note: I was going to put up a furry picture that kind of reminded me of the one here but it was highly inappropriate and I was tempted to tear my eyes out after seeing it. Imagine a Hustler spread featuring a Furry. So just use your imagination. Look up “furries” on Google, get a feel for what they generally look like, watch the trailer again, and tell me that I’m wrong. Because I’m not. I’ve had several people tell me they see it now too. Moving on…)

If you spend a lot of time (read: too much time) on the internet you’re bound to come across references to furries, which are anthropomorphic animals. In case you don’t know the definition of “anthropomorphic” it means when an animal take on human characteristics and (but not in all cases) a human personality. Okay, you’re thinking, whatever. People like what they like. As someone who owns all of Rob Liefeld’s X-Force and has seen Pink Flamingos multiple times I couldn’t agree with you more. But here’s the kicker – some furry fans (but not all) enjoy dressing up as those little varmints. Some people see it as a lifestyle. Some people…get turned on by furries and enjoy dressing up as them. Don’t believe me? Check out this totally Safe For Work (honest) link featuring the Snow Leopardess Furry. Strange and unnerving isn’t it? Especially the trance music in the background. Somebody’s been listening to too many bootleg Oakenfold remixes. I keep waiting for the wife and kids to get home and figure out why he can’t stop watching Bambi.

But enough about furries. Way too much about furries actually. The internet is crawling with them. But in order to understand what I mean when I say that Avatar looks like a very “furry” movie it helps to know what a furry is. Even the plot of Avatar is kind of a furry plot. The main character (a soldier unable to walk) takes on the form (the “avatar” if you will) of these oh-so-way-too “furry” alien race and walks among them as one of them. In fact, according to the plot summaries I’ve read, he even falls in love with one of them! Can you begin to see why this is all creeping me out.

Granted, I wasn’t going to see it anyway. Not a big fan of action movies and the whole plot sounds very 1990s to me (which is when Cameron actually wrote the script I believe). But it will make a million bucks because people love trailers and everyone on the internet seems very pumped about a thirty minute long aerial battle. As I said earlier – to each their own. Furry fans can have their furries. Avatar fans can have their Avatar.

All I’m saying is that there might be a little furry fan in all those Avatar fans. That’s all I’m saying.

Enjoy Avatar.

- – Where some see only a hog-sized jungle rodent, others see economic opportunity…or perhaps a sandwich!

Bolivia is planning to export dried meat of the capybara, the world’s largest edible rodent, to Venezuela.  The capybara regularly grows to 145 pounds, and grazes on the banks of rivers and lakes.  It is a shy, short-haired creature with a blunt snouth and no tail that is widely consumed in Venezuela.

Plans to export the meat of between 200 to 500 capybara a year from Bolivia to Venezuela are considered environmentally sustainable, but the meat must sell for $4.45 a pound to be profitable…

Foxes do eat rodents, but this one’s out of my size range, thank you very much…

Who-da-ho? Idaho? You-da-ho!

Honestly I don’t know what to think about this article. It reads like an editorial, almost as an open letter to furries. It starts off with a brief overview of the fandom before diving right into the pervasity of it, spouting off some dubious percentages, and then defending the other side against itself.

Give it a read for yourself and see what you think.

Furry Fun

There’s nothing quite like the Chicago Botanic Garden, although it’s not exactly good weather conditions to be growing anything outside, which is why they use the greenhouse. But during normal growing season, one of my favourite plants there is the Lamb’s Ear, scientific name Stachys byzantina.

It’s soft and silky to the touch, and furry, just like a (you guessed it) lamb’s ear, only without the fear of being bitten or having the ear run away from you. Well, I haven’t touched an actual lamb’s ear before, so I can’t really compare the two, but I’m guessing they should feel pretty similar. Otherwise, it’s a wonderful plant because it grows throughout most of the year except winter, though it lasts longer than other flowers and plants because it has fur to protect it from some of the cold.

Apart from that, I love miniature cacti. I’ve resolved to buy a few of these once I get my own place to live, because not only do they not require too much watering, but also they are deceptively spiky and look so innocent because of their rounded shape. Lamb’s ear and cacti. What a contrasting combination.

Hey all, so my busy week is finally over. Phew. Got some new information for you as well.

Fur Trek Combadge

Coming soon to Second Life is a new roleplay group: Fur Trek. We’re a sci-fi based group, with a main focus on Star Trek, but we’re including things from lots of different sources. As you’ve probably guessed, we’re a Furry group, but don’t let that stop you, anyone can join. We just want to have some fun.

Currently, though, we’re looking for land. If that’s land that’s given to us, or rented to us, it doesn’t matter, but the group has no where to call it’s own, and I don’t think the sandboxes are going to like us very much if we rez 300+ prims worth of spaceship every time we want to RP. Anyway, any information you have on that would be helpful.

To get things going, we have 100% custom combadges, built and scripted by our own people. These are going to be for sale (slightly modified from the version the RP will use. However, anyone who purchases one and joins the RP will get the full version. Basically, the full version includes a titler (the floating text above you telling your rank) and access to the RP com channels. Look for it soon, still got a few bugs to work out.

Real world news: Spike TV’s VideoGame Awards are on tonight, at 8PM. I hope you all watch them, it’s going to be awesome. So excited for Halo: Reach! Can’t wait. I’ll post my thoughts of it after the fact. For now, see you all in world.