Stickmaker

Masks 25: Part 2

Part Two

"I'm glad you told me about that guy who woke up on the body farm and walked away," said Special Agent in Charge Drake, when Vic entered his office in response to a summons late that morning. "I just had a talk with the director there and she was very glad - if a bit startled - to hear the explanation for what happened. They were thinking someone had stolen one of their subjects."

He laughed.

Masks 25 - A Conflict of Expectations

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Even televised wrestling matches with normal humans can have serious accidents. Staged matches for charity between supers could produce many casualties. What happens if the organization behind them tries to keep these quiet?

Oh, and what went on in that frozen lab, on an island, in a lake, in a federal park in Washington State, sixty+ years ago?

Masks 25: Part 1

Masks XXV: A Conflict of Expectations

by

Rodford Edmiston

Part One

"You feeling all right?" said Mesa, noticing his team leader working her shoulder, as the third - and junior - member of their group watched silently.

"Just pulled something in my workout this morning," said Steel Lace, with a wince which he could see through her armored veil.

A Conflict of Expectations

I had hoped to post the first installment of the next Masks serial today. However, "things happened" over the holidays (nothing majorly bad and a few things good, including some nice presents) and I'm only about halfway to the planned final length. I only just got my main villain of the piece completely fleshed out this morning! (He has connections to Rasputin, with some of my inspiration from Doc Savage and a bunch of other sources.)

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On the Topic of Fruit Cakes

There is a tradition involving fruitcakes which most folks currently alive are unaware of. Yes, people make fruitcakes for eating, often with whiskey of some sort, perhaps even with a small amount inside the container so that the fumes enrich the cake. However, these are not the fruitcakes traditionally given as gifts. Even if the tradition is no longer remembered by most of the people who follow it.

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In the Spirit of the Season

No-one knows how Devil's Hollow (which I can see part of from my front porch) got its name. I even asked at the Kentucky History Museum*. Here's one explanation:

http://www.dcr.net/~stickmak/Transformation/Catamount/devils...

*Their best guess was that it still looks like the kind of place where you might encounter the Devil.

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Masks 24: Part 17

Last one!

Part Seventeen

As if to spite the local police, Dare made multiple, all brief appearances over the next three days. None lasted long enough for Vic or even the air mobile Lady Green to reach the scene in time. However, the new metro still blamed Vic and the Bureau for Dare repeatedly appearing and escaping. She claimed that Vic's previous "attacks" on Dare had made her shy and wary.

"Wary, yes," said Vic, sourly, to Michelle that Thursday night, as she did fingertip pushups while on her toe tips. "Shy? Has Lady Green even seen what Dare wears?!"

Masks 24: Part 16

Part Sixteen

Unfortunately, the city decided that the best way to introduce Lady Green to the public was to have Vic not only present at the official welcoming ceremony, but to have her formally "hand over" protection of the city to the new hire. Vic and Drake both tried to get her out of this, but Brade reluctantly told them they had to participate.

"Aren't federal employees supposed to avoid endorsing local governments?" said Vic, on the conference call in Drake's office.

Masks 24: Part 15

Part Fifteen

Alvin woke slowly, feeling horrible. Even before he opened his eyes the smell told him there was something very wrong. As soon as he was able he made a thorough evaluation of his situation, including an inventory of what he was wearing. He was in a third-full dumpster, and as for what he had on...

"Buckles," said Alvin, sourly.

Masks 24: Part 14

Part Fourteen

The trio tried to dogpile her. At the moment, Vic assumed they weren't using firearms because they didn't want to alert the cops down the block. Or maybe saw the armor and knew bullets weren't likely to work. In the light of subsequent events, she later decided they just weren't thinking too well right then.

Masks 24: Part 13

Part Thirteen

"We let some of the fire fighters in so they could make sure the fire was actually out," said Vic, when she reported to Drake and the local heads of the FBI and Marshals' Service that afternoon. She was in her armor - hastily cleaned though still smelling of smoke - with her helmet in hand. She grinned. "Our evidence people had a bit of trouble keeping them from throwing everything in those rooms off the balcony into the part of the lawn outside the hotel which they had cleared, though."

Masks 24: Part 12

Part Twelve

"Local police are saying that the word on the street is that whoever financed the theft of the swords is having a meltdown, because they didn't get them."

"Are you telling me," said Vic, slowly, after her boss delivered this bit of news at the next Monday morning briefing, "that the people who stole the swords are keeping them instead of turning them over to their client? If so, are they trying to get more money? Maybe from the original client or someone else?"

Masks 24: Part 11

Part Eleven

The boss is right; we really need to get some sort of air transport for our office, thought Vic, as she drove her wagon - code three the whole way - to the subject mall. Her boss had called the police dispatcher to let them know Vic was on the way. At least this time the drive was in daylight. Though this also meant much more traffic.

Masks 24: Part 10

Part Ten

"I've got a bad feeling about this," said Vic, as she, Murphy, Muravachick and Medura left the briefing.

"You're not the only one," said Murphy, in an irritated mutter.

"Well, why don't we all wait by Vic's car, and if things do go south try to... do something constructive?" said Medura, with an uncertain movement of her hands.

"Sounds like a plan," said Muravachick, tiredly. "It's vague, but open-ended and flexible."

Masks 24: Part 9

Part Nine

"I remember when some important people were wondering if I would ever be able to adult," said Vic, wistfully, as she and Michelle cleaned their dishes after a nice supper in their own dining room, that evening. "These days I sometimes feel like I'm the only adult in the room."

"I know what you mean. People - customers and even people I work with - just seem not only short-tempered these days but... irrational!"

Masks 24: Part 9

Part Nine

"I remember when some important people were wondering if I would ever be able to adult," said Vic, wistfully, as she and Michelle cleaned their dishes after a nice supper in their own dining room, that evening. "These days I sometimes feel like I'm the only adult in the room."

"I know what you mean. People - customers and even people I work with - just seem not only short-tempered these days but... irrational!"

Masks 24: Part 6

Part Six

"Has he started puberty early, or something?" said Randy (Template) Devon, pacing irritably around the kitchen.

"He's ten years old," said Karen (Colossa) Devon, patiently, as she stood by the central table, hoping her husband would be reasonable about this bit of childhood mischief. "You have to expect some rebellious periods. As well as needing time to learn which pranks are going too far."

"Sarah is five, and a lot better behaved!"

"Well, since she got over the Terrible Twos," said Karen, trying to use humor to bring her husband's mood down.

Masks 24: Part 5

Part Five

The Bureau had been nice enough to arrange for Vic to stay in a good-quality hotel in the city where paleogeneticist Dr. Oliver Gumprich had his office. Which caused a few problems when Vic registered. She had a bit of trouble convincing the desk clerk she was actually old enough to be in a room without an adult. Fortunately, Vic had enough forms of ID - including a Bureau credit card - to reassure the woman. Though Vic figured some phone calls were made after she headed upstairs.

Masks 24: Part 4

Part Four

"This time it was a sound attack of some sort," said the Detective, as Vic came hurrying onto the crime scene of yet another "super drive-by."

Unlike the previous two attacks, this one had been during business hours. Additionally, the target was not a crowd, but a downtown real-estate company. This turned out to be one of the business working to refurbish and resell abandoned houses in the Detroit area.

Masks 24: Part 3

Part Three

Vic - in her old armor, the helmet in her left hand - got out of her Corolla wagon at the scene of another "super drive-by" attack. This time, what was apparently the same black SUV from which the energy blast had been directed at the theater crowd days earlier, had made a different type of attack. Vic found it odd that even though there had been several more-traditional drive-by shootings lately in Detroit during that same period, the energy blast attack - and now this one - were "the" drive-bys on the minds of most police and civilians alike.

Masks 24: Part 2

Masks 24: Part Two

"What is with this city, anyway?" said Michelle, as, together, she and Vic moved into their den and the couch in front of the TV.

"Part of it is that it's a crossroads," said Vic, shrugging as they sat and unconsciously snuggled closer. "Part of it is that all the empty - in many cases abandoned - properties and even entire neighborhoods here make hiding illegal activities relatively easy.

Bad Idea

In Masks XVIII there's the following:

"Scaring someone to trigger their latent powers is the stupidest..." said Tiger, as Middleton sat, further startling him. He leaned forward, aura flickering. "Didn't you idiots learn anything from Tokyo in 1983?!"

This was a reference to a sequence in the Japanese animated feature Harmageddon. For those who may not have seen the movie, I made a music video of this several years ago, and it can be found here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsqv6tboIbg

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Oldies but Goodies

I have for decades been writing a column titled The Joy of High Tech, which has appeared in print and digital fanzines. I have recently begun rewriting some of the older ones and posting them to DreamWidth, at:

https://stickmaker.dreamwidth.org/

Folks who enjoy technology, science and the history of both might find these interesting.

The next Masks story is coming along slowly, recently reaching 23k words out of an estimated 40k - 50k.

Stickmaker

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Better

For some reason, the blog entry I made yesterday hasn't shown. Oh, well.

Naped much of Saturday, went to bed early and slept in a bit on Sunday. Felt a lot better.

Took it easy Sunday, as well, though I did some errands and did a bit of writing on next Masks story. I also napped a lot and went to bed early.

Slept in a bit on Monday. Feeling vastly better. We'll see...

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Not a Well Man

I've been fighting an irritable bowel attack for over a week. Thought I was about it over last night. Then I ate some sunflower seeds before bed.

Pretty sick all night, and taking a lot of medicines. Which meant that by the time I got soundly asleep I was *really* asleep. Woke this morning with neck and lower back hurting so bad I was barely able to feed the cats.

Gonna to use my neck traction, now. If you folks haven't heard from me in a couple of days, send someone to cut me down. :-)

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The Magic Unleashed

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On an otherwise unremarkable day in late April, several thousand people have their secret wishes and desires fulfilled. Some become heroes. Some become villains. Some become victims. Some become monsters.

One thing revealed by all this is that most people's secret wishes and desires are rather petty and mundane.

The stories can be found at:

http://www.dcr.net/~stickmak/Transformation/GIFTEDSA/

Current Events

Editors warn book writers not to include current events in works of fiction in progress, because by the time the work is finished the events will likely no longer be current. I am therefore not including anything about pandemics in the Masks story I'm working on. However, I planned months ago to have events in the story which lead to demonstrations against politician and police actions and inaction and those will still be there. There will also be at least one riot. However, all these will be due to events in the story.

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What's in a Name?

I have a terrible memory, especially for names. There's a sort of hereditary aphasia in my Mother's family which I seem to have a double dose of. Using "Denver" for "Detroit" in a recent story is one symptom of this. That I am having nerve problems with my hands which affect my touch typing isn't helping.

I recently discovered I had accidentally referred to Vic's wife Michelle as Melissa a few times in a few stories. I believe I have corrected all such instances. However, if anyone finds future incidents of this sort of name problem, please let me know.

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Masks 23: Part 7

Part Seven

None of the three teams had an easy time. The one handling the civilians had to be careful not to hurt anyone, at least seriously. Those hunting the aliens had to avoid the humans the creatures had dominated into protecting them, or else deal with the innocent people a gently as possible, while trying to find their targets.

Aiding the latter two groups were two factors; the continuing updates from the microprobes and Runner.

Masks 23: Part 6

Part Six

They grilled him for over an hour more, getting some additional details, though frustratingly few of them. All of this information was served with a large helping of self-aggrandizement and matter-of-fact bragging. Fosworth clearly found the entire process boring and not worth his time, but was determined to make the most of it by making the most of his contribution in stopping the monster. He made clear through his attitude that he was cooperating for the good of the c\o\m\p\a\n\y\ team.

Masks 23: Part 5

Part Five

Vic's manager at the local office the Bureau of Special Resources maintained in Detroit was Bruno Drake. Though their office was tiny, in both physical size and number of personnel assigned to it, Drake took his job very seriously. He was a grizzled man in his late fifties, with short, grey hair and a conservative manner. This included his way of dressing; he was very fond of bowties, for example. Vic found that as a manager he was a good boss who cared about and for those under him.

Masks 23: Part 3

Part Three

"I'm starting to hate that doorbell," said Vic, as she walked quickly to their new apartment's door in response to said bell.

This time the caller was a clean but scrawny man perhaps in his mid-thirties.

"Hey. You changed your WiFi password," he said, with no preamble.

"No, it's the same one we've always used with this router."

"Then why can't I get on?"

"Well, you shouldn't be able to. Our WiFi has always been private, even before we moved in here last week."

Masks 23: Part 2

Part Two

That same evening, in their main meeting room, the Assembly was having a special discussion about a more serious matter: The death - murder, actually - of John Gaughn.

"You don't think Constantine did this, do you?" said Champion, leaning back in her chair and looking thoughtfully at the glow panels in the high ceiling, though addressing the team brain.

Masks 23: Part 1

Masks XXIII: The Obscenity in the Ice

by

Rodford Edmiston

Part One

Summer, 2016

Laurie felt great. In fact, she had risen from bed that morning feeling twenty years younger. She thought she even looked better in the mirror. Maybe this was all due to the excellent weather, but she had a suspicion. A hope.

Masks 22: Addendum

This goes between the last chapter segments about the thing in the ice and the shooting of Mr. Gone.

Finally back in the small Detroit apartment she shared with Michelle, Vic acted strangely the first day. However, the next day was the last one before classes restarted, and Vic made sure to catch Michelle at a time when she had nothing important going on.

"Now that all that holiday stuff and the Moldarian treasure recovery are over," said Vic, uncharacteristically both nervous and serious, "I have something important to ask you."

Wedding Belles?

I am about a fifth of the way through the actual writing of the next Masks story. (10k words out of an estimated 50k.) The first part is a flashback to shortly after the demon invasion. Then the story jumps forward to mid-2019.

As I was writing the second - and by far the largest - part of the new story I realized there were things which happened between Masks XXII and this one which might be of interest to readers. Such as Vic and Energia graduating with their Masters' degrees, and Gadgetive getting her Doctor's. Then there's the wedding of Vic and Michelle...

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Freddy On the Loose: Part 26

TFOS: Freddy On The Loose, Story 26
Things Get Serious! (Yeah, Right...)

by

Rodford Edmiston

Note: This story uses background and concepts from the Teenagers From Outer Space role-playing game, Copyright and Trademarked R. Talsorian Games, Inc. The characters and story are Copyright 2020 Rodford Edmiston Smith.

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