Jack’s page

Jack stood in front of a recently planted rose bush.  This felt stupid.  But… she had promised, and she made it a point to keep her promises.  She looked around.  Miryam, who lately was spending a lot of time here among the roses was around but not right there.  Annie was away, most likely at Berkley.  Val’s grandma had told her to go on, tea would be there when she was done.

She knelt before the rose bush.  ”Hey Andy.  I went and looked it up.  Puck is alright, he wasn’t at the library.  I am sorry i didn’t get a chance to tell you before… well, you know.”  She stood up and brushed the dirt off her hands.  ”It’s all good Andy”

And as suddenly as a blink of an eye i am busy again.  

Lance wants me to help run the Midwest government.  Good, done.  Secretary of Education here.  Census taker extraordinare.  

Annie wants me to head the Walkers.  Good.  Done.  She even asked.  Now, what to do with them, other then supply the midwest with food and medicine.  Well, i have some ideas.  Most involve Kensai Starke right now.

So yes.  I will be busy.  I will be visible, and i am not sure how i feel about that.  For soem reason, people think i have skills that are needed.  We will see.  There are now many things that i am called.  

Jaqualine Mary Burns, Technomage, Walker, Minister, Postmaster.  I can live with this i think.  I can do it…

i am no longer able to help the Midwest in the only way i could.  i am no longer allowed to be part of the government.

i am not sure i am welcome to live there anymore either.  

what now?

Jack cursed and tossed the wrench away. It landed in the grass nearby without the satisfying sound Jack wished for it to make. She shook her head and leaned her forehead on the metal frame in front of her. The metal was warm form sitting in the field in the sun for hours. Jack realized that she probably aught to be drinking some of the water she had brought with her. As she took a sip, she looked up to Ajax.

“I hate this stupid thing.”

The horse just looked at her, as if he was not able to speak and tilted his head.

“Yeah ok, you are right, I don’t.” Jack sighed.

Ajax had been hanging around among other things providing shade with his massive body but also looking on with curiosity as to what Jack was doing. The horse was mostly silent, with only a few comments here and there. He did tell her to quit it the previous time she threw the wrench.

“Alright let’s try this again. If i unbend the L-connecter, which I have done, the whatever this is rod should be able to fit, right?”

Ajax looked at the thing in front of Jack and snorted. “Perhaps”

With a sigh Jack retrieved the wrench and tried again, with slightly more patience and a bit more care. The rod fit perfectly. “Huh. Take that” she said, and started re-stretching the canvas on the frame.

Ajax looked on. There was much more work to do, and he wasn’t entirely sure why Jack wasn’t’ asking someone to help, but when he had asked earlier she just glared at him.

If i thought this was insult or injury i would think they were adding to each other.  But i don’t think so.  I think this is just a stupid coincidence.  Not only must i wear a horrid white dress, but if i want to change out of it later i need to change into something white.  And to make it worse i have to walk down the damned isle with that damned robot.  The one thing that has usurped Devin’s life.  Damnit.  Devin should be there, at Annie’s wedding.  But no.  Why is he in the wedding party anyway?  It isn’t like he is that great friends with Lance or anything.

I hate this.

I hate the fact that it is Rosie’s fault that i have to wear a white dress.  I hate the fact that Rosie is even freaken involved.  Why isn’t she doing the stupid dress and bridesmaid thing?  Oh wait that’s right.  She is being a martyr, cause she thinks Miryam and i might have a problem beign in the same wedding with her.  Fuck it.  She can have it.  SHE can walk down the damned isle with the usurping robot.  They get along.

If i thought for a second that i could do this without hurting Annie, i would be out of that bridal party like a bullet.

I wish Devin was here.

well… SHIT.  Oh good god, do i tell Annie?  No of course i do.  just… how??

Rocks sing back.  I am… perplexed.

The Grand Canyon is beutiful though.

Annie thinks i started walking a different way then what she had taught me. She says i shoudl walk with my mind and not my feet. But i think she means with my mind and not my heart. To think and not feel. But i have always felt my way around the Tween…

Annie thinks i can walk the bulk, to get to Devin. I will try to go as far as i can and see what happens.

Annie also says i found Boston, but i am not sure she is right.

I just don’t know, and i am running out of ideas.

When Lance asked her to find this thing, Jack thought as she looked at it now, she wasn’t sure she could o it justice.  Sure, she generally could find anything, but this was different.  It was a secret and a surprise and it had to be exactly the correct thing.

She had thought to look for it in ENY or Penn State, but that thought didn’t last longer then a minute.  No, this needed to come from the Midwest, the PPOC.  And it couldn’t be from the Was either, no it had to be new.  It was while she was drawing up plans, idly doodling on the maps General Sykes had provided for her that the idea struck.  Of course.  That kid, the one whose father was a watchmaker.  She rememberd him clearly.  He was the one who had brought his dead father’s watch to trade.  She had let him keep the watch, and given him the ring he needed for free.  He was married now, expecting a baby.  She stopped by often, to drop off vitamins for the Missis.  But the kid had taken over his fathers trade.  And he was good, one of the best.

More importantly then that however was the fact that the kid was a full blood Navjo.  He would know exactly what Jack needed.  And he had the skill to make it.

Jack grinned. The boy. Eric, he did well.  She studied the box in front of her.  Yes, it was perfect.

Thesis Proposal

Proposal

An abstract of the thesis of Jack Burns for the Bachelor of Science in General Chrononaut Sciences presented July 20, 2058.

Title: Energy threads connecting the splintered shards, and their interaction with the energy flows of the shattered Braine.

Energy lines are observed between fractured threads. They are observed to be of different thickness and color. The questions posed are as follows.

1. Do these thread lines contain their own Energy?

2. Are they the keeping the fractured bits of a mega-thread such as the Midwest together through their own Energy?

If, through observation and analysis it is determined that the answer to both questions is yes, as is hypothesized for the purposes of this document, then the following question stands.

1. Will severing these thread lines dissociate Threads from each other and slow or inhibit the flow of energies that are observed, such as the flow of Energy form the Midwest to the Hive or to Axa.

Observation and Methodology

Thread lines were observed in the Tween in and around the area known as the Post Holocaust Midwest. The lines appeared to be of measurably different size and color. Careful observation and recording of said observation needs to be performed.

Energy output needs to be measured at various points along the lines. This will allow one to know if the thread lines contain their own energy. The thread lines need to be mapped, such that it is possible to tell what is connected to what. Select lines that appear to be connecting small and uninhabited segments of the PPOC need to be severed, and the small segments need to be monitored to see if they maintain cohesiveness next to each other or if the thread lines do in fact hold them together.

The secondary observation involves measuring if one segment is draining an energy of another and if that is the case, will severing their connective thread line stop that energy drain.

Glory be, i can proceed with my thesis. Dr Winter has reached new levels in dedication to assholery though. He PRINTED out my proposal, marked it up in red, scanned it back in and then sent back. He actually took the TIME to print it out. Clearly he needs a hobby. But it is accepted. He even mentioned having a possible practical application in mind. Now, i have a LOT of work ahead of me. I am rather excited.

Dylan hit it on the nail.  They are the chess team.  They ARE sacrificing the queen.   Damn it.

The days are starting to blend again. I hate it that they are fighting. They need each other, but what do i know anyway.

Annie asked me why i don’t get a house near the Ranch. But.. .that is her home, not mine. My home is with Oasis. Or maybe with Christi at Berkley, i can’t tell anymore. Sometmes i wonder if i was better off before i ever heard of the JET. It’s nice to know a lot. but a little bit not.

Winter still hasn’t gotten back to me about my Thesis. I really need to start writing that… I want to have that degree. it is like some external source validates that i am good enough, smart enough. I want to make her happy. Proud. something. she said she thought of me as a daughter. i am glad. i think of her as a mother. it is… odd.

work progresses apace on getting supplies into the Midwest. More and more information is coming out about Axa and how it is sucking us dry. Not sure what to do about that yet.

as always, there is a near infinite amount of things to do. Need to talk to Lance. I think we need to find Logan… but not without Lance’s ok…

Jack walked out of the Hive embassy in LA. A tiny vial was in her hand and she looked at it periodically as she walked. Such atiny thing, and yet so many deaths for it. At least this one killed no one in its creation.

She walked into the room she was staying in at Berkley. Triple checking that the door was locked, and Christi was not home she sat down and stared at the vial again.

“Well, for science” she said as she drank the contents of the little vial. “It is always better to know then not.”

Jack found the results of the experiment to be startling.

She is back.  SHE IS BACK!

Oh good gods, it is so good to have her back.

Even if everything is totally fucked up otherwise.

We killed.  We voted and we killed 75 million.  Caused them to never have existed.  Damn.  We are monsters, all of us.

We are monsters and killers.  Murderers.

But she is back.

Well that was… different. Christi is quite talented at making her dress fit me. . . Devin is clearly insane. Perhaps being dead is getting to him? Annie would be laughing her fool head off at me. But no not anymore, no more Annie. Anyway i had another letter from Devin. He.. .well. Hm. No one has called me Jackie since my mother. Not even Annie. Once she called me Jaqualine. once. but… Devin did. In his letter. It was odd.

Apparently there is a park by the physics building. Who knew. Well Devin clearly. There is a pond too. I think the only reason i wore the damned dress is because he wasn’t around to see. There is a turtle nest there. I am glad i looked. I re read the letter as i listened to the frogs.

I miss talking to him.

God damn it all, i need Annie.

This is unsettling.  From what i know, when the LOVE  neurotransmitter is extracted from the human brain, the brain is damaged, this is why the human dies.  If the only thing the Technosphere needs human bodies for is gray matter, brains, then why do they need the LOVE bodies?  Their gray matter should be unusable, shouldn’t it?  This is odd.  I will need to ask around.

I think i will also need to ask Alice about LOVE…

Rosie introduced me to another way to eat ice cream.  With apple pie.  I think i need to start keepign a list.

I do not know why i assumed her gender. But there it is. I named her too. I guess because it is easier to talk to a named thing. As easy as it can be to talk to an inanimate object in the first place. Either way, her name is now Mary. So far i have learned that she hates being placed in closets and in general being put away, but she does not mind corners. My stick has a personality.

I am slowly learning her full potential. Faust has agreed to tutor me as an independent study. He is a character, but i shoudl not complain he knows his stuff rather well. So far, i have sorted out full recording and audio only, and i have made it so that no message is sent to Jabber with my vitals. She still crackles electricity to show her displeasure at what i am doing. It is a bit like having Annie around… except not.

Jealousy is irrational right?  I shoudl not be jealous of her.

Had a long talk with ZQ last night.  I do see his point, somewhat.  A person should have a right to kill themselves.  But… as i said to him, if i know that a man is the one to save the universe and i see that man try to kill himself, damn straight i am going to bring him back.  Don’t care that he wishes to die.  He can kill himself again later.  His individual desire just does not win over the good of the many.  This is exactly why i hate organized religion.  Or disorganized one.  I think i am not speaking to him currently.  He was a jerk.

Meanwhile, Devlan and Aye are having a pissing contest.  It would be funny if it wasn’t so sad.  As much as i think Devlan’s an ass, Aye is as well.  Damnit they both need to grow the hell up.  But… i am staying out of it.  i am, i am, i am.