Five minutes after leaving Mr. Fornby's sixth period physics class I was preparing to jump out of a perfectly good helicopter. The four of us were leaning out of the open doors as Ms. Studney piloted. Next to me, wearing a skin-tight black jumpsuit, was Jessica. She looked at me through her sunglasses and smiled. I then looked behind me at James and Melissa. They too were wearing the black jumpsuits and sunglasses. I nodded to them, and then set my goggles down over my eyes. As the HUD popped up and focused, Ms. Studney began to speak over the radio, "Joe, you're lead on this one."
I took a deep breath, "Roger control." I then looked out below the helicopter, as it hovered 300 meters over the street below, "Three. Two. One. Jump!"
The four of us executed a precision exit from the helicopter, and began a quick descent. I focused on the altimeter reading on the HUD. "Three," I shouted over the wind, "Two. One. Stop."
Suddenly, two meters above the pavement of the alley, we stopped falling. I quickly executed a mid-air flip and landed on the asphalt. The other three followed suit, "Good jump. Mel, nice catch."
"Not sure we were going to make it," she replied.
"Would I let you down?" I asked, as I looked over the wall. I pressed a button on my belt and a hologram of the bank building popped up. I pointed to a section of wall a meter to the left, "Behind there's a storage room. We'll enter there."
Jessica looked at the four of us, "I'll have to make two trips."
"No time, Jay, if you would, a door?" I asked, as I walked to the wall opposite our future point of entry, "Mel, shield."
As James crushed through the wall, Mel projected a telekinetic field to protect us from the debris. Once inside the storage room, Jessica frowned.
"Control said four hostiles, right?" ash asked.
"Yeah, and a dozen or so hostages, what's the matter?" asked James, trying dust the concrete from his black jumpsuit, and failing miserably.
Jessica pointed at the still-floating hologram, and four figures popped up in red, "Well, there's four hostiles here." She then swept her hand back and forth and the room filled with the huddled forms of just over a dozen people, all green, "And thirteen hostages." She then left the lobby and pointed at the vault, where two more figures appeared, in blue, "Plus two unknown in the vault. They seem familiar, but I can't place them."
"Okay, change of plans," I said, taking command, "Jay, Mel, you take out the four up front, make sure none of the greens get hurt, and the red's are only out cold. Jess and I will take the vault in a port and pound."
"Roger," the replied, and we exited the storage room, Melissa and James taking a left, towards the front of the building, and Jessica and I went right, to get around to the vault.
Another two minutes, and we were in position, "Ready?"
"Ready," came the reply from Melissa a the front, just outside the lobby.
"Three," I began, grasping Jessica's hand, "Two. One. Go!"
Suddenly, Jessica and I were two meters forwards, inside the vault. Just as suddenly, I head the click-click of two guns being cocked.
"Hello Joe," came a voice from my left, a familiar voice.
"Jess, nice to see you again," came another from my right.
I sighed, seeing the faces behind the voices and the guns. On the left was Mike, a year older then me, and on the right was his girlfriend, and partner, Zelda. They had graduated at the top of their class last year, and then fell off the face of the Earth.
Mike smiled, and I radioed in quickly, "Control, we have a problem."
Sunday, June 25, 2006
Saturday, June 24, 2006
Josefer Martin - A Day in the Life - Chapter 1
"Josefer to the office please," said the shrill voice over the classroom speaker.
Not again, I thought, as I began to quickly clean up my desk. I glanced up at Mr. Fornby, he looked mad. He was just in the middle of a lecture on using integrals to find the instantaneous velocity of the planets. This was the third time this week that I'd been called down to the office, and the second time during his Physics period.
"Is there a problem Mr. Martin?" he asked, trying to guild trip me into staying until the end of the period. He tried this last time, and the time before that, a month ago, and before that too. It never worked, but I guess what little ego he had as a high school teacher demanded that he at least try.
"I hope not, but you know the drill," I hastily explained as I hefted my backpack onto my left shoulder and began to walk to the front.
"It's a good thing you're acing all of your tests, Mr. Martin, or I'd have to have a talk with the principal about this," Mr. Fornby countered. He knew it was a lost cause. Ms. Studney, the principal, had explained to the teachers at the beginning of the year what was what, but they still didn't like their classes being interrupted.
"Hey, well, see you tomorrow, there's a test, right?" I asked as he reached the door to his classroom, turning to at least give him that courtesy.
"Yeah, tomorrow," he admitted with defeat. It's not like he could have won. Ms. Studney had to answer to the school board, and then the county after that. There's no way she'd let me, or Mr. Fornby, off the hook if I stayed. No, this was the way it had to be, and that way it had been since 7th grade.
I thought back on that last six years as I rushed down the hall, towards the office. I tried not to go too fast, but just fast enough to make up for lost time.
I had missed ten hours of school in 7th grade, including one day where it was four hours plus two hours after school. That was the first year I ever got straight A's. Eighth grade wasn't much different, that by then I was up to twenty hours a semester, and I missed the Junior High Spring Formal, not that my date was there either.
As I turned the corner from the Science hall to the Main hall, I thought back to my first year here, twenty-five hours a semester, and I even missed one full day. I also missed almost every single prep rally, so it's not exactly a big loss. Sophomore year was more of the same, except for an errant French teacher who decided that she'd penalize me for all my missed time. Last I heard she was working as a private tutor in Tokyo, harsh, but she broke the rules.
Last year, my Junior year, I missed fifty-three hours of school over both semesters. I even missed my junior prom. That sucked, but, such is life. Luckily, my girlfriend had understood since we got together in the summer before seventh grade, we'd been going steady ever since.
I finally made it to the office, and saw that Mr. Fornby had delayed me enough to make it here last. Already waiting with Ms. Studney was Jessica, my girlfriend, James, a large African-American who was a year behind me, could have player for the varsity football team, if he hadn't have missed the first game last year. Lastly, there was Melissa, James' girlfriend. They'd been steady since seventh grade as well.
"Good, now that Mr. Martin's here, we can get this over with," sneered Ms. Studney. He opened her office door, and followed us in. We sat down in the four seats in front of her desk as she walked around to face us.
"Now, to why I called you all here," she began, pressing a small button hidden under the edge of his desk. As she explained the situation, the room quickly descended three stories.
She finished just after the room stopped, adding a , "Good Luck," as we made our way out her office door. The room beyond looked like a locker room, and in a way it was, but it only had eight lockers, and there wasn't separate rooms for the girls and the guys. As Melissa and Jessica began to take off their clothes, I nodded my head at James.
Sometimes, being a teenage super hero has it perks.
Not again, I thought, as I began to quickly clean up my desk. I glanced up at Mr. Fornby, he looked mad. He was just in the middle of a lecture on using integrals to find the instantaneous velocity of the planets. This was the third time this week that I'd been called down to the office, and the second time during his Physics period.
"Is there a problem Mr. Martin?" he asked, trying to guild trip me into staying until the end of the period. He tried this last time, and the time before that, a month ago, and before that too. It never worked, but I guess what little ego he had as a high school teacher demanded that he at least try.
"I hope not, but you know the drill," I hastily explained as I hefted my backpack onto my left shoulder and began to walk to the front.
"It's a good thing you're acing all of your tests, Mr. Martin, or I'd have to have a talk with the principal about this," Mr. Fornby countered. He knew it was a lost cause. Ms. Studney, the principal, had explained to the teachers at the beginning of the year what was what, but they still didn't like their classes being interrupted.
"Hey, well, see you tomorrow, there's a test, right?" I asked as he reached the door to his classroom, turning to at least give him that courtesy.
"Yeah, tomorrow," he admitted with defeat. It's not like he could have won. Ms. Studney had to answer to the school board, and then the county after that. There's no way she'd let me, or Mr. Fornby, off the hook if I stayed. No, this was the way it had to be, and that way it had been since 7th grade.
I thought back on that last six years as I rushed down the hall, towards the office. I tried not to go too fast, but just fast enough to make up for lost time.
I had missed ten hours of school in 7th grade, including one day where it was four hours plus two hours after school. That was the first year I ever got straight A's. Eighth grade wasn't much different, that by then I was up to twenty hours a semester, and I missed the Junior High Spring Formal, not that my date was there either.
As I turned the corner from the Science hall to the Main hall, I thought back to my first year here, twenty-five hours a semester, and I even missed one full day. I also missed almost every single prep rally, so it's not exactly a big loss. Sophomore year was more of the same, except for an errant French teacher who decided that she'd penalize me for all my missed time. Last I heard she was working as a private tutor in Tokyo, harsh, but she broke the rules.
Last year, my Junior year, I missed fifty-three hours of school over both semesters. I even missed my junior prom. That sucked, but, such is life. Luckily, my girlfriend had understood since we got together in the summer before seventh grade, we'd been going steady ever since.
I finally made it to the office, and saw that Mr. Fornby had delayed me enough to make it here last. Already waiting with Ms. Studney was Jessica, my girlfriend, James, a large African-American who was a year behind me, could have player for the varsity football team, if he hadn't have missed the first game last year. Lastly, there was Melissa, James' girlfriend. They'd been steady since seventh grade as well.
"Good, now that Mr. Martin's here, we can get this over with," sneered Ms. Studney. He opened her office door, and followed us in. We sat down in the four seats in front of her desk as she walked around to face us.
"Now, to why I called you all here," she began, pressing a small button hidden under the edge of his desk. As she explained the situation, the room quickly descended three stories.
She finished just after the room stopped, adding a , "Good Luck," as we made our way out her office door. The room beyond looked like a locker room, and in a way it was, but it only had eight lockers, and there wasn't separate rooms for the girls and the guys. As Melissa and Jessica began to take off their clothes, I nodded my head at James.
Sometimes, being a teenage super hero has it perks.
Saturday, May 13, 2006
[IC] A Recounting
A dark-skinned man clad in a red linen shirt walked into the Goldshire Inn. His chain leggings made little sound as he sat down in front of the fire. He could barely hear the battle cries of the various duels outside the Inn, something that he had grown tired of shortly after entering the Inn itself.
Across from him sat nobody, and that was how it almost always was for him. He rarely travelled with others, though those that he did he kept in touch with when he could. Instead, he reached into one of his belt pouches, and removed a simple leather-bound journal. It looked new, probably recently purchased in Stormwind. He removed a pencil and began to write.
This is the story of Därtzen van Grüden. I was born twenty-three years ago, in a Weastfall farmhouse, now a burned-out ruin of a better time. I had a family once, a mother, a father, a kid sister, but now, they are all gone. Killed or kidnapped on an otherwise ordinary summer night.
I still relive that night in my dreams, less often with every month, but still, it comes to me. The warm embrace of my mother as she put my sister and I to bed. The game Mëlinda and I always played as a way of staying up later. The stern look from father that always showed a hint of anger, as well as love. The scream of my mother as she clutched my sister and I in the corner. The look of glee in the eyes of the masked man as he advanced. The futile attempt mother made to spare our lives. The cries as they look Mëlinda away. The loneliness as I wept for mother and father. The smell of smoke. The crackle of fire. My brief but futile attempts to drag their bodies from the house. The burning sensation as I leapt from the inferno into the grass. My sorrow as I felt truly alone, and was.
But, I've grown. I've made a place for myself, not much of one, but a place just the same. I've fought back. First in Northshire, then in Elwynn, then in Westfall, Moonbrook, and the Mines. I've taken the fight to them. I've had setbacks, yes, but I'm still here. I'm still fighting. And that, well, that makes me who I am. I am Därtzen van Grüden, and this is my story.
Across from him sat nobody, and that was how it almost always was for him. He rarely travelled with others, though those that he did he kept in touch with when he could. Instead, he reached into one of his belt pouches, and removed a simple leather-bound journal. It looked new, probably recently purchased in Stormwind. He removed a pencil and began to write.
This is the story of Därtzen van Grüden. I was born twenty-three years ago, in a Weastfall farmhouse, now a burned-out ruin of a better time. I had a family once, a mother, a father, a kid sister, but now, they are all gone. Killed or kidnapped on an otherwise ordinary summer night.
I still relive that night in my dreams, less often with every month, but still, it comes to me. The warm embrace of my mother as she put my sister and I to bed. The game Mëlinda and I always played as a way of staying up later. The stern look from father that always showed a hint of anger, as well as love. The scream of my mother as she clutched my sister and I in the corner. The look of glee in the eyes of the masked man as he advanced. The futile attempt mother made to spare our lives. The cries as they look Mëlinda away. The loneliness as I wept for mother and father. The smell of smoke. The crackle of fire. My brief but futile attempts to drag their bodies from the house. The burning sensation as I leapt from the inferno into the grass. My sorrow as I felt truly alone, and was.
But, I've grown. I've made a place for myself, not much of one, but a place just the same. I've fought back. First in Northshire, then in Elwynn, then in Westfall, Moonbrook, and the Mines. I've taken the fight to them. I've had setbacks, yes, but I'm still here. I'm still fighting. And that, well, that makes me who I am. I am Därtzen van Grüden, and this is my story.
Thursday, March 23, 2006
Plans are made to be broken.
Well, so much for my plan to post more often. Heck, I've even got a [PLAN] post already written up, but I'm just not in the mood for it. I guess, well, that I've gotten complacent, not really wanting to post because I don't have to, or really want to, well, scratch that, I want to post, just not more then I want to WoW, or watch TV. It's about priorities, and I never got far enough into this thing for it to become a priority. Heck, my first post was back at the beginning of the Fall semester, and here it is, spring break, and I'm on like my two dozenth post.
Not a very good blog, but then again, that's about par for the course with me. I get really into something for a week or so, then fall off when nothing really comes out of it. Right now, this blog is just for me, and since I don't have any investment into it, at least, not recently, I really don't seem to have a lot of care for it.
Well, here's hoping that putting the [PLAN] tag on my last post doesn't mean that that plan is an improbable one.
Not a very good blog, but then again, that's about par for the course with me. I get really into something for a week or so, then fall off when nothing really comes out of it. Right now, this blog is just for me, and since I don't have any investment into it, at least, not recently, I really don't seem to have a lot of care for it.
Well, here's hoping that putting the [PLAN] tag on my last post doesn't mean that that plan is an improbable one.
Sunday, March 19, 2006
[META][PLAN] Resurrecting the blog
We all make plans in life. From the mundane, everyday plans of our daily rituals, to our vacation plans, our wedding plans, our retirement plans, our plans for our children, and out plans for our own life. Each and every one is an attempt to add order to the chaos of everyday life. Plans do change, though, some subtly, other more dramatically, but still, they change.
I bring this up because of my reflecting I've recently done regarding my own plans. I have many many, many plans throughout my life. From the mundane, to the life-altering, from the practical, to the fanciful. Some of them were used once and discarded. Others are used on a daily or weekly basis. Some were begun to be implemented, and then aborted or radically altered. Most, though, were thought up, and then abandoned before they could even become to come to fruition, orphaned to the whims of fate.
Now, most of that latter category are contingent on improbable or impossible circumstances, plans that could never come to fruition, or even begun, because of the conditions for implementation. So, in the interest of reinvigorating this faltering blog, hopefully one of my better plans, I will post those impossible plans. Each of these posts, like this one, will have the [PLAN] tag as a prefix, just to make it easier to navigate.
So, here' to one of my better plans.
I bring this up because of my reflecting I've recently done regarding my own plans. I have many many, many plans throughout my life. From the mundane, to the life-altering, from the practical, to the fanciful. Some of them were used once and discarded. Others are used on a daily or weekly basis. Some were begun to be implemented, and then aborted or radically altered. Most, though, were thought up, and then abandoned before they could even become to come to fruition, orphaned to the whims of fate.
Now, most of that latter category are contingent on improbable or impossible circumstances, plans that could never come to fruition, or even begun, because of the conditions for implementation. So, in the interest of reinvigorating this faltering blog, hopefully one of my better plans, I will post those impossible plans. Each of these posts, like this one, will have the [PLAN] tag as a prefix, just to make it easier to navigate.
So, here' to one of my better plans.
The War
I'm not sure why I started this, ro where I'm going with it, but here it is, none the less. Life has finally become mundane, at elast for a while. I have recently found myself conflicted though. I don't support the president, I didn't vote for him in '04, and I wasn't able to put my vote towards Gore in '00. This is the first part of my conflicting thoughts.
The second, though, is that I agree with him on one point. Just one. I agree that we need to stay in Iraq for the foreseeable future. I don't agree with any of the myriad reasons put forth for the commencement of Gulf War II, but I can't see any logical reason for the US to end it at this time. You see, if we were to pull out every troop right now, we'd lose. We'd stop losing lives, even though this is the least deadly war in US history (though there is a shitload of casualties), but we'd lose the war, and a few other things. We'd lose our credibility, since if we pull out, who will trust us in the future, when we couldn't even finish what we started.
We need to stay in Iraq, no because of democracy, though that is fine and dandy, but because if we leave, the terrorists win. They gain an unstable country with millions of sympathizers, and we lose one of our few allies in the region. Sure, we're not going about this the smartest way, but we can't just leave, it would cascade into another isolationist movement like we had after WWI, and that lead to WWII, because we refused to join in. This is a worse case scenario, the best case is just a mild PR nightmare, and the Iraqi people banding together to form a strong and liberal Muslim democracy.
So, we need to stay, and we need to help support the Iraqi citizens. We need to get the Iraqis defending themselves, and to see the terrorists for exactly what they are, homicidal maniacs that don't want to see a free and democratic Iraq. Sure, we put Saddam in power, but he was the lesser of two evils, and then he became the greater evil, but we left him in power after GWI because of politics. If we can't support an Iraqi coalition government, then he might become, once more, the lesser evil. That would be a sad day for America.
So, I hate to admit it, but I agree with President Bush, we need to stay the course in Iraq, because the alternative is worse.
The second, though, is that I agree with him on one point. Just one. I agree that we need to stay in Iraq for the foreseeable future. I don't agree with any of the myriad reasons put forth for the commencement of Gulf War II, but I can't see any logical reason for the US to end it at this time. You see, if we were to pull out every troop right now, we'd lose. We'd stop losing lives, even though this is the least deadly war in US history (though there is a shitload of casualties), but we'd lose the war, and a few other things. We'd lose our credibility, since if we pull out, who will trust us in the future, when we couldn't even finish what we started.
We need to stay in Iraq, no because of democracy, though that is fine and dandy, but because if we leave, the terrorists win. They gain an unstable country with millions of sympathizers, and we lose one of our few allies in the region. Sure, we're not going about this the smartest way, but we can't just leave, it would cascade into another isolationist movement like we had after WWI, and that lead to WWII, because we refused to join in. This is a worse case scenario, the best case is just a mild PR nightmare, and the Iraqi people banding together to form a strong and liberal Muslim democracy.
So, we need to stay, and we need to help support the Iraqi citizens. We need to get the Iraqis defending themselves, and to see the terrorists for exactly what they are, homicidal maniacs that don't want to see a free and democratic Iraq. Sure, we put Saddam in power, but he was the lesser of two evils, and then he became the greater evil, but we left him in power after GWI because of politics. If we can't support an Iraqi coalition government, then he might become, once more, the lesser evil. That would be a sad day for America.
So, I hate to admit it, but I agree with President Bush, we need to stay the course in Iraq, because the alternative is worse.
Wednesday, December 21, 2005
Big E, Little e, and Faith...
Okay, so, it's been like what, two months, plus, since I updated this thing? Well, here's a bit that I just had to put somewhere for people to see.
In today's Schlock Mercenary, Howard Taylor discussed the subject of Evolution, Intelligent Design, and Me. Now, while I may not share his religious faith, this essay is probably the best way to state my own beliefs.
I believe in God, and I'm a scientist. I know that God created the universe, and that he created it in such a way so that we, his creation, could, one day, understand it. This understanding comes from science, and from faith. But, once must realize that faith without science is blind faith, and science without faith is just as blind.
Each new scientific discovery I hear of reveals to me a new and more interesting level of God's love for us. Take the discovery of antibiotics, a way for us to not only finally claim dominion over some of the smallest of the beings God placed under us, but through the evolution (little e) of resistant bacterium, a new level of hubris.
In today's Schlock Mercenary, Howard Taylor discussed the subject of Evolution, Intelligent Design, and Me. Now, while I may not share his religious faith, this essay is probably the best way to state my own beliefs.
I believe in God, and I'm a scientist. I know that God created the universe, and that he created it in such a way so that we, his creation, could, one day, understand it. This understanding comes from science, and from faith. But, once must realize that faith without science is blind faith, and science without faith is just as blind.
Each new scientific discovery I hear of reveals to me a new and more interesting level of God's love for us. Take the discovery of antibiotics, a way for us to not only finally claim dominion over some of the smallest of the beings God placed under us, but through the evolution (little e) of resistant bacterium, a new level of hubris.
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