Dusty got a bit of recognition. Not the big news story on TV, but a mention in police blotters. Her name doesn't come up, but Commander Haag can connect the dots. It's not like the muggers are going to be believed when they say what happened to them; one young woman managed to not just beat them up but inflicted painful injuries all by herself. Dusty wasn't wearing her uniform at the time. She's not going to be tied to the fight officially.
Entertainment in science fiction can be fun to think about. What form would it take? What would audiences want? What does science fiction look like in a science fiction setting? Are adaptations popular? Sure, people can go out and blow off steam in a drinking establishment, but what about the people who just want to relax at home? And the big question, can I figure this out without throwing myself off stride to reach 50 000 words? I extrapolated from today by looking back a few decades to see what hadn't changed. Since the advent of radio, people could stay at home and listen to music or a play in the comfort of their living room. Television added video to the audio and the Internet brought in a wide choice. The question is just format. The answer, I left for the reader, though I have hinted at holographic technology in the past. What is Singularity Web? A series of action movies, about what I have no idea.
Space television isn't the only option. Karl went for it because he put in a full day in the fields. Heidi, though, has spare energy now that her children are growing up and don't need constant supervision. She's learned (or maybe re-learned) how to sculpt, something to fill her time once Lisbet and Bjorn leave the nest. Speaking of Lars' siblings, homework is still around in the future. It's a constant, no matter how it's done.
Ric's homeworld, Venitarii Four, is a small mining colony. He exaggerates how far off the beaten path it is, but the world doesn't see heavy space traffic, just the bulk haulers to pick up ore and the freighters to deliver needed supplies. Not revealed in the story yet, there is a difference between a member of the Empire and a colony of the Empire. For a world to have a seat in Parliament and to have representation in the House of Lords, its population must reach one million. Tamar should have both after the next census. Venitarii Four won't; instead, it has to rely on whoever colonized it.
The Grand Republic should get a mention here. The Republic is the Empire's opposition; the two nations are in a cold war at the moment. The Republic has world rights as one of its major platforms; each world is an equal, no matter how many people live on it. Each world maintains its own military, though the Republic as a whole has its own space navy. Tensions are high along the border because Republican worlds are eyeing Imperial settlements, including Tamar, but the Republic's government is doing nothing to shut down the worlds' desires because of world rights. The various militaries in the Republic use lasers weapons instead of gauss-based technology, but they also have armoured infantry and grav tanks.
Friday, Mecha Academy, "By Your Leave" Chapter 5, "Internal Conflicts".
Also Friday, over at Psycho Drive-In, hiatus due to CanGames.
Saturday, over at The Seventh Sanctum, The Mummy (2017).
There's an interesting triangle developing between Lars, Ric and Dusty. Both of them invited her out socially in the scenes before and after the assembly. Alas, Rhiannon and Miyami are getting some two dimensional squashing in that all they can do is take shots at Dusty, Miyami faring worse. Why imply being a spy at the person who knows you're leading a double life?
ReplyDeleteAlso, Dusty was right when she said the recall was based on their heroics. Rhiannon never called her on that, which might have been a legit gripe. There's also some possible research angles here about the criminals which aren't considered. And Dusty said the city where she'd been, so it would be easy enough to verify. It's like we've returned to status quo, when I thought we were building to some commonality, or at least casual conversation.
Well, okay, that's not quite true, because Ric is still making the effort. While him bringing up the crooks news thing strains credulity (why was he listening to news after the assembly?), the scene with him and Dusty really works. In particular the questioning whether he's hoping to bed her, which allows for more character development. I wonder if relationships are frowned on in squads? If not, why not simply swap Dusty for Susanna? I'm curious as to how things are out of Haag's hands.
Incidentally, Haag has a bad memory, or communications aren't that great. He sent her a question about the "mistake", she replied saying "it's not so bad now" and sending a picture of the haircut. In this part, he says he never heard anything from her since that initial message.
Anyway, interesting how the entertainment angle can spawn it's own set of thoughts and research. I just thought 'Singularity Web' was a neat title. :) I guess if it doesn't stand out, things are working.