I smile when Samantha gives me her paintings. "Thank you, Samantha. I'll take care of 'em." I am indeed surprised when I find that the paint is already dry. But hey, it's the 28th century, why not?

Then she leads me around town to go shopping. I just observe my surroundings as I walk with her. Doesn't look like things here are too different from Earth at the turn of the millennium, which is a welcome sight. I feel comfortable here.

When Samantha buys me an album, I take it and thank her for it, slipping my paintings in. Then she asks me what we should do next. I ponder for a moment before replying.

"Hmm...well, I could use some cash, so I guess a loan would be alright. I could also use some tools to help me get by here. I don't wanna go on a major spree, I just need some essentials. Then I guess we could take a trip in your aircar." I say, smiling. Looking back, I'm glad Samantha was the first person I ran into when I versed here. Pretty sweet girl, one of the nicest I've met recently. She knew her stuff, too.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:58, Fri 01 May 2009.

She considers, and offers you four hundred Trade Certificates, or Certs, for 8% annual interest. Early payoff still requires the minimum of 8%.

She shows you some other stores where you can get some basic supplies, and tools.  What did you have in mind?  She reccomends a Working Knife, a used Railgun Pistol, and a Diagnostic Kit for Basic Medical which total will hit 275 certs.

She takes you out to the aircar, and takes it up to four thousand feet, and off toward the wilderness.  She then calls on the local airnet, and schedules a 'training session' which includes giving her a lot of free airspace,and keeping an eye on the car just in case it crashes.

She runs through the basic controls quickly, and then turns over control to you.

"Keep it between 2 and 6 thousand feet, and above thirty kph unless you've activated the hoverboost for low speed travel."

OOC: You find you can learn this, but feel free to describe....

Four hundred Certs? Well, it's a start. Good enough for me.

I look over Samantha's recommendations as we travel from store to store. Hm. All these items looked useful enough. Of course, I am mostly interested in that Railgun Pistol. Sure, it may have been used, but it'd provide a nice boost to my firepower. I'm not too sure about the Working Knife at first. I already have my Swiss Army Knife, but hey, it's always good to have a backup, and I don't know what it's capable of. I decide to buy the items recommended by Samantha. Nice. Now my chances to survive in this world have improved a bit.

Then she takes me back up in the aircar. I'm busy just looking around, enjoying the sights when Samantha decides to schedule a training session. I look at her, confused, before I receive basic instructions. Then she turns over control to me. Hoo boy. I'm pretty nervous, but this is the perfect time for me to learn. I make sure I'm within the 2-to-6,000 feet altitude limit, and I keep the speed above 30 kph. Then I carefully attempt to maneuver the aircar, taking slow turns at first. I'm simply trying to get used to the controls.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:18, Wed 06 May 2009.

She leans back after a bit, and closes her eyes, and you gulp again, but the gesture does increase your confidence. After about thirty minutes of practise, she shows you how to transfer control back, and she cancels the training flight.

Suddenly you're in negative g's with only your seat belt holding you in the aircar as the car plunges downward. A small twitch, and it flips over. Now you're free-falling face down. A  thousand feet later, and she slams on the power.

It doesn't start the first time.

"Um."

It does the second.

And she rockets the aircar even faster to the ground, and then starts to pull it out in a great curve that bottoms out about four hundred feet above the ground. A snap roll at two thousand feet, and you're heading home.

She scorches the aircar in for a landing. Several other of her relatives are in the garage when she lands. They are all giving her the fish eye.

"If you bend the airframe again, I'm going to bend you over my knee young lady. Don't think I don't know what you were doing, and why." A  matronly woman snaps. "Hello, young man. I'm Granny Lucy. I don't believe we've met." Her manner changes instantly to cordial as she turns to you.

PT

Yes, I am initially nervous, but as the minutes go by, I seem to get the hang of this thing. This wasn't so hard after all...

...Then Samantha takes control back and the aircar stalls. I nearly yelp as we are sent into freefall. Then the car flips over. That's when I yelp. We're falling helplessly, the ground getting closer by the second.

"...NnnnnNNNGH!" Then Samantha skillfully flies us back up at the last second, stabilizing the aircar at 2,000 feet.

I just sit there in silent shock the whole way back.

When we finally land safely on the ground, I stumble out of the aircar, my legs still shaking and my heart still beating rather fast. Then I notice Granny Lucy nearby. I take a deep breath, straighten myself up and face her.

"Um...greetings. Yes, I don't believe we have. M-my name is Shane. I'm a pretty good friend of Samantha. She took me shopping, and boy," I chuckle. "She can drive."

She smiles.

"She can cook too in three different planetary cuisines. However, she has a bit of a problem being obedient, and following orders. She's managed to wreck three aircars which is actually fairly hard to do if you follow the rules."

Samantha heads for the exit of the garage, and a 'ahem' from one of the males stops her.

"I think inventory on the shipment to Xor needs to be done." He pauses. "By hand. Gotta doublecheck the computer, make sure its not getting false readings." Samantha's face falls, and the moustached man smiles.

"Yes, Uncle Steven." She looks at you, and sighs. "I'm going to be hip-deep in counting small metal parts for the next ten hours."

"Surely not. It should be done in six hours at most." Uncle Stephen says with evident amusement.

"I guess I'll see you later, Shane." Samantha says or asks.

PT

I simply smirk at Granny Lucy's statement, unsure of what to say.

Then Uncle Stephen comes in and talks to Samantha. I arch a brow as the two speak. Then Samantha says goodbye. Now wait a minute. I still had so much to talk to her about. I consider helping her out. Sure, it'll probably take a while, but I think it'd be a good way to repay her for the help she's given me. I wasn't that hungry, anyway.

I don't say goodbye. I simply smile. "You kiddin'? After all you've done for me? Come on, Samantha. Let me help you, we'll get it done faster if we both do it. It's the least I can do to repay you."

She gives you a dazzling smile, and the others nod thoughtfully, except for the youngest male in the back who chortles until Samantha gives him an icy glare.

Samantha takes your hand, and leads you to an underground storage room. You and she start counting by hand, blocks of a hundred micro-gears, and mini-hyrdaulic presses. It would be terribly boring, but Samantha is eager to entertain you, and so she bubbles over with conversation and answers questions readily.

Gradually, you realize that volunteering to help her pleased her immensely. And despite that, it is still pretty boring.

PT

I chuckle as she leads me to the storage room. This shouldn't be too bad...

...At least, that's what I thought. I can see why Samantha was so hesitant to do it. At least she's here. I would've felt so guilty had I just left her to do this by herself.

And as time goes on, I realize that I really cheered Samantha up. And that cheers me up as well. I chat with her a bit, asking her various questions, like where she's been, how she grew up, what she knew about the technology and military forces in this universe, etc. Oh, and aliens. Of course I had to ask about them.

As we do this, I pause for a moment to look at her. I don't say anything...I just look at her...and I realize that I may just be attracted to Samantha. I didn't think it would happen, but it has. She's easy on the eyes, and she's been so kind and helpful to me this whole time. Samantha was just a real pleasure to be around.

But I ask myself: do I honestly have a chance? Though I've been hanging out with her for the most amount of time out of all the Rakows, I still didn't know that much about her. Is there a possibility that she likes me as well? I don't even know if she's really single. I mean, it didn't seem like she was taken throughout the time I spent with her, but you never know. And even if I did muster up the courage to ask her out, it'd just be awkward. I barely know anything about this planet, let alone this system. Heh, where would I even take her out? Either way, I like her, and I don't know if I'll ever be able to date her or anything, but right now, all I want to do is help her out.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:30, Fri 08 May 2009.

She's been all over Ti Premeras as a 'factor', which is some kind of merchant. She's been to Ti Secundas and Ti Terturas a number of times.  She's also been outsystem twice, once for her Training Run, and once for her Apprentice Run which she had to do by herself.

She's of course got her own politics, but if you had to translate to Earth, you'd put her somewhere to the right of Rush Limbaugh. Free entrerprise, the sanctity of contracts, responsibility, family, hard work....

She's also got the merchant bug in that she's frequently looking at things from teh angle of buying and selling.

She mentions that she was engaged once, but broke it off. Considering she looks about seventeen that surprises you.

She is a space battle geek. She has long lists of varying ships, and theories about the proper usage of them, and historical examples, and ideas for improving in the future.  Her description of war is sudden, massive, and shattering. Planets firing hordes of darts into space, lights flaring brighter than suns, armadas firing back, and causing earthquakes a thousand miles from the point of impact...

It seems there are three stages of war: Duelling, War, and Unlimited War. In Duelling, individuals go out and challenge others on the opposing side. In War, space fleets duke it out. In UW, sometimes planets become uninhabitable. Its a fairly formalized system. One thing you note is no mention of terrorists or the like.

She tells you about the Ysawn, giant gas bags that float in Jupiter like atmospheres, and use full-fledged nanotech that they control psionically.

"No one really understands them. We trade heavy metals for extremely advanced computers...we call them Magiccomps because they should not work. We've had a few wars with them, mostly we don't know why. At Tau Ceti, they disintegrated a fleet, and looked like they were going to go further, so we nova'd the Tau Ceti sun. Next trade point, they were ready to trade, and did not even bring up that we had vaped one of their colony worlds. And when I say, we, I mean Earth. We...that is the Ti System don't have stellar crackers."

PT

I listen closely to Samantha's explanation. Fascinating. I'll trust her for directions around here anytime.

She's got an interesting political view, and I ponder about it, but not too much. I find her other answers to be more interesting.

I'm surprised when she mentions that she was engaged once. Strange...she looks younger than I am. I come to the conclusion that either society has either become more, well, accepting about these matters, or Samantha is actually older than she looks. Not impossible; I'd expect there to be some way to actually extend a human's lifespan in the 28th century.

I find the warfare here to be very unique. A lot different than it's usually depicted back on my Earth. Samantha's description of war here also sounds very, very destructive. Hoo boy. These weapons Samantha speaks of sound terrifying indeed.

Then she tells me about the Ysawn. Wow. Giant sentient gas bags? Nanotech that could be controlled psionically? Computers that defy human science? Wow. Now those are some REAL aliens.

The way Samantha described them also leads me to believe that their beliefs and norms are much different from ours. It's not unlike humans to retaliate if someone were to strike against them. Destroying a fleet was more than enough to invoke a reaction from us. However, I'm puzzled about the fact that we seemingly caused a lot more damage than they did (destroying a SUN and one of their colonies)...and apparently, they didn't care. Huh. In any case, I wish I could meet one, if it's possible.

"Fascinating...these aliens sound really remarkable. Not to mention strange...hey, um, Samantha? If I may ask, eh...how old are you?" I ask, hoping that I don't come across as rude here.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:50, Mon 11 May 2009.

The Ysawn are five hundred lightyears away.

Samantha blushes.

"I'm seventeen, which is a bit old but really, I haven't met a guy who was interesting enough. Well, okay, I did meet a few, but my parents vetoed one, and the Council of Uncles vetoed the other. I can see why now. Neither of them were stable individuals."

Just to be on the safe side, you verify that the local years are based on Earth years, and they are. Society has evidently changed in what it accepts. It turns out that its common on Ti Premeras for girls to be married at sixteen. Boys usually wait until they are about eighteen.

"But, then you get slotted into a job in your Great Family, and you get lots of advice from your aunts and uncles."

PT

...Huh. I didn't expect that. Well, uh, that's ok! Things are different here! May be a bit young for my society, but not theirs! It's ok. Heh heh...eh.

Well, either way, it doesn't stop me from being attracted to her. I wonder if she's still in school. Well, education's probably much more advanced here, so it doesn't take as much time.

"Ah...interesting. Back in the 21st century, things were different, at least in the United States, we're I'm from, and the majority of the world. People usually married at older ages," I explain, smiling. "We've a lot to learn about each other's societies."
This message was last edited by the player at 20:35, Mon 11 May 2009.

"But how did people keep from getting in trouble? Dishonouring themselves and their families and providing a sinister name for their children?" It takes a bit of work to understand her, but eventually you realize that the Ti System has teenagers marry young in order to keep their vows of abstinence.

She thinks out of wedlock sex is barbaric or primitive, and not something civilized people do.  She also thinks waiting ten years to go to college to get married is barbarically cruel.

"However, you could see it as romantic, in a primitive sort of way. Like Odysseus travelling in a raft all over the ancient Earth to get back to his wife.  You'd know someone loved you if they waited for you ten years." She's a bit starry eyed with the hideous horrors of the distant romantic past, and you're reminded that she is a teenager, even if unusually mature.

And you and her finish, and have lunch with the family.  Afterwards, she goes to discuss Theory of Space War with a great-aunt, and then to read up on the Tolinan Matriarchies in the Tol System.  There are definite improvements in study techniques. She can put herself into a trance, and the 'read' is more like 'stand in the middle of a holochamber, and be surrounded by information displays of arcane significance that very rapidly change', but from her discussion, everyone in the Rakow Family is expected to keep studying for the rest of their life.

PT

I open my mouth to retort, but I just close it again, listening to Samantha. Wow. Heh, I should've known people here would see society in the 21st Century as primitive, like my time sees practices that are hundreds of years old as primitive.

When we finish discussing, I go to lunch with her. I'm satisfied with the food. They make some good stuff in the future.

Afterwards, I just follow her around, listening to her discuss with her great-aunt with interest, then follow her to the holochamber. Woah, awesome. Samantha's probably been using these things for years. No wonder she knows so much. Then I wonder...

"Hey, Samantha," I call out to her. "By any chance, uh...you think I could use the holochamber? These things must be carrying a wealth of information, and I could really use the knowledge!"

She gives you another dazzling smile, and you realize you've earned another point in her records. Being desirous of learning is a good attitude in her mind.

She sets you up, and runs you through the basic symbology and commands of the holochamber. She shows you how you can access the more complicated commands and symbols (the symbols start with pie charts, and move on upwards in complexity and abstraction.) if you like. She also shows you how to find various fields of interest in the database. And she shows you how to access a wide variety of suggested courses of learning ranging from the learning course offered to a medieval scholar to a liberal arts major to the course preferred by 'well-balanced gentlefolk in the Sca System in the 24th century during the Golden Age of the Sca'to the Rakow Family Core Curriculum.  She also shows you the self-testing which will offer suggestions on what you could learn.  And lastly, she shows you the Mentor Program which she assures you is not an AI, but it is a model of several hundred famous thinkers from the past, and your chosen mentor interacts with you, and teaches you.

And then she leaves you to study on your own as you like.

She smiled at me again...heh, I'm really starting to get on her good side, aren't I? All the better.

It takes a bit of time, but I eventually learn how to work with the holochamber. Jeez...this device would revolutionize education back on my world.

I am amazed that I can pick from so many different mentors from all these centuries. I'm not sure which one to pick...maybe Niels Bohr, or Isaac Newton, or Socrates. I'm not sure. Maybe I'll switch from one to another as I go.

I want to take a course in Psychology, Politics, Programming, Biomedicine, and Neuroscience. Of course, this may all be a bit too much for one session, so I may have to limit my selection. However, if I can do it, all the better.

Bohr appears, and he's crisply logical, and hard-driving. He pushes you to focus, to work harder.

Newton is simply brilliant, and sometimes you have a hard time keeping up with his intuitive leaps of logic, although he always comes back to help you out.

Socrates uses simple examples of what he is saying, and a lot of questions to draw out your ideas, and then expose the logic or illogic of what you are saying. He rarely comes out and says 'you're wrong', but by the time you answer five questions in a row, you're know it without saying.

You begin work on Pschyology, and Socrates leads you by the nose into Dualism or Materialism.

"If we are pure matter, then are we not determined?"
"If we are determined, then why do you care that you learn?"
"If we are not pure matter, then should we not start with the controlling element, the spirit, the mind, what have you?"

Bohr explains in crisp detail the attitude of modern practitioners of Mental Science to their predecessors, the Pschyologists.

"The utility of Pschyology before the 22nd Century is similar to the utility of surgeons before the twentieth century. Which is to say, they're more likely to damage you, than cure you. They combined the barbaric with the immoral with the ignorant in a witch's stew more toxic than even Naziism."

Newton is more generous, but even he is not impressed with Pschyology. Instead, the holochamber wants to teach you Mental Science. However, it is willing to teach you Pschyology if you insist.

PT

When the holostation starts up, I just watch and listen, completely amazed. I was LEARNING from the great Niels Bohr, Isaac Newton and Socrates...I mean, I knew they were simply programs here, but it was still astounding! I've never seen anything like it...it's times like these when I'm glad that I received this gift...to become a Worldwalker. None of this would've been possible back on my Earth.

I listen to the three virtual pioneers closely, taking in the information. Then they suggest that I take Mental Science instead of just Psychology. Apparently, my people's system was rather barbaric. Hmph...alright. These people ARE about eight centuries ahead of me. Surely, they must know better.

"Ok, then... Mental Science it is."

You dive into Mental Science. It has a few concepts you're not familar with, but once you absorb those, you find several questions that had long niggled at the back of your mind 'why do people act THIS way?' are suddenly plain and clear. It gets into a bit more depth, and then Newton smiles.

"Research in Mental Science shows that a student can only absorb so much of a particular study in a day effectively. So now for something different."

They skip over Politics as its too similar to Mental Science, and head into Programming. They start you with basic Logic, and Mathematics, but they ask if you wish a Technician approach or a Programmer approach.  A Tech might learn one language, but a Programmer will learn the basic structure of all languages, and then one specific language, and then if there is time, the other of the Core Languages (It seems there are seven primary languages used for differeing purposes in the Ti System--each optimized for its use.) And if you want to go on further you can learn some popular languages in other systems, and even how to make your own language suited for yourself.

I come out of Mental Science, thoroughly impressed. Throughout my life, I had wondered why some people made stupid decisions that could've been avoided. Thanks to this course, I know now. I now understand humanity better. Maybe this'll make me more charismatic. I'll make sure to take this class again next time.

Now my mentors offer me the option of choosing whether I want to take a Technician approach or a Programmer approach. Hm. The Technician course seems pretty basic, but it's faster than the Programmer course. However, the programmer course seems much more advanced. Knowing at least the basic structures of these languages could really help me in the long run, and hey, I've got plenty of time.

"I'll take the Programmer course, thank you."

Six months later, you've advanced quite a bit in your studies, your skill in flying an aircar, and Samantha seems open if you are to becoming more than friends.

You're with her in the tradetown, and she runs ahead to catch up with someone she needs to trade with. You folllow her, and come around the corner to see the trader she wanted to talk to was leaning against the wall of the building puking his lunch up, obviously the victim of the trio of stun baton armed Ti Secundans.

One of them, the farthest away is dragging Samantha off by her hair....

PT

Six months. I can't believe that it's already been six months. It's almost a blur, really, and within those months, I have learned so much. I'm able to read people and understand them better, thanks to my classes in Mental Science. I am now an adept programmer (and maybe hacker. I'm not sure, I've yet to try) who knows a multitude of programming languages. The list goes on, really. It's fantastic.

I still haven't confessed my feelings about Samantha to her. Why am I so nervous about that? Why should I let that stop me? I try to gain the courage to just go and tell her, but my nerves always get the best of me. I've never been with someone before...

I am surprised when Samantha runs off toward the trader she wanted to deal with in the tradetown. "H-hey, Samantha, wait up!" I jog after her, but my eyes widen in shock as I turn the corner.

An ambush...Ti Secundans...no! They were taking her away! NO!

I don't hesitate. I immediately draw my railgun pistol and aim it at the Ti Secundan carrying Samantha away, ignoring the other two for now. "DROP HER!" I shout, but right after I say that, I pull the trigger, enraged. I truly hope that I hit him and not Samantha. My god, what am I thinking? Well, it doesn't matter. Too late now...if I'm successful, I will attempt to switch targets and stop the two other attackers before they can react. I will not hesitate to shoot if they try anything. If I could just react fast enough...
This message was last edited by the player at 01:17, Tue 19 May 2009.

You blow a hole through his chest with the kick nearly knocking the weapon out of  your hands. Samantha staggers free, blood of her erstwhile attacker spattering her.  She looks at you with a suddenly horror-stricken face.

You feel a burning pain knife into your back, and come out your chest. You look down to see a hooked blade, supernally sharp, protruding from your chest.

There were four Ti Secundans.

Your knees fold through no will of your own, and the gun falls from suddenly nerveless fingers.

====

You've versed out.

====

OOC: Oak will decide where you land next.  And you can talk to him about whether Samantha comes with you or not.  Thanks for playing. I've appreciated our game. :)

I've appreciated it too, PT. You're awesome. :) Thanks.