Time to open the portal to the coffeehouse again!

[Opus the Poet]

Once again we are left to entertain ourselves while Pablo gets his act together.
So, where is the portal to the coffeehouse? I have tales of derring-do and mercantilism in the asteroids and Kuiper belt.

[Sgt. Howard]

Actually, there's some new fanfiction courtesy of yours truly, under the title of "Higher education"- Enjoy!

[Sgt. Howard]

Well now, seeings as how you asked nicely...


A long disused room saw a quick flash of light as the Old Sergeant suddenly appeared- looking around, he noticed the thick, soft layer of dust on everything as well as the coal-like substance solidified in the coffee pot. Throwing the light switch, he noted the vague flicker of the overhead fluorescent fixtures as they attempted to function. The two windows were near opaque with grime and the stench of mouse droppings and urine were near unbearable.

"Been a while," he muttered to himself, "I wonder how many of the old crew will show... "

Reaching into a desk drawer, he pulled out a harness and strap. Donning the harness, he then attached the strap to a large eyebolt in the wall opposite of the windows. A lever appeared next to the eyebolt once the strap connected- he then pulled the lever to the floor-

Both widows opened. Vents in the ceiling gushed a torrent of soapy water and flooded the room. Automated scrub brushes went hither and yon as the water turned clear to rinse the dirt and soap. Greg simply held his breath as all of this occurred. The waterfall exiting the room changed from muddy to clear in less than a minute and the waters subsided. Even the coffee pot was cleaned. The vents now blew hot air to dry everything off while towels attacked the old Sergeant to the same goal.

One towel was stubbornly getting soap out of Greg's right ear as he addressed the lights...

"Hmm... yea... let's go... LED!"

And with a snap of his fingers, the old lights were replaced with a bright, warm-toned light that had no flicker whatsoever.

"Much better- I'll get some 'Black Rifle' coffee going and put out the hue and cry. Better get Tina to send up some of Becky's finest... and don't spare the apple fritters, they seem to be a favorite..."

[Sgt. Howard]

The newest additions to the room also appeared in the form of a mega desktop configuration with a 48" wallscreen for the room to view.

"I think I need Gltchmeister here to do the connections- not having much luck here. Hmm... well, I can play the holy hell outta 'solitaire' if nothing else. What else do I need? A girl jumping outta a cake? Hmm. go bulimic and have the cake come outta the girl? ... naw... maybe an indoor range? THAT would be fun! I could give the Garand a workout... Or little Mama's .44 magnum? For that matter, when was the last time I did urban combat training exercises with my 1911? I would need a 'Hogan's Alley' for that... hmm... why not?"

A door became apparent right in from of Greg. He opened it and a make-shift street scene assembled out of the matrix. On a small table to his right were an assortment of firearm magazines with blank adaptors or adapted barrels. He selected a 1911 barrel and 3 magazines, swapped the barrel out and replaced his mag of 'black talons' with one of flashpowder blanks. Leaving the tube empty, he re-holstered the piece and slipped a few more mags in his pockets.

He then commenced his stroll.

Gaze held straight ahead with eyes unfocused, he saw both sides of the street at once. A figure appeared suddenly in a window to his left. He looked as he reached... but saw a little girl looking back at him. Motion to his right caught his attention- Dude with a shotgun! Greg backstepped as he drew and fired. Photosensors on the dummy registered two hits- head and mid-chest. Dummy fell down. Three shots, one miss. Greg continued...

[Opus the Poet]

Trying to get the shuttle registered with the FAA was a nightmare. Even though my simulator runs were perfect there was the problem of no wings and the non-aerodynamic mode of flying, hard to demonstrate recovery from aerodynamic stalls on a craft that can hover without falling from the sky. Eventually we just agreed on making a takeoff, entering orbit and matching orbit with the ISS, then deorbiting and demonstrating reentry without turning into a burnt-out ember and returning to my back yard was enough to get an N number. Getting clearance to make commercial runs to the asteroid belt and Kuiper belt was simply a matter of saying I could do it, since who was going to disagree with the guy flying a Tic Tac UAP? I did have to agree to no buzzing Navy ships off California, because that was something the previous owner seemed to enjoy.

My first gig after getting legal was a milk run to the ISS, literally. Four hundred fifty kilos of milk in vacuum tight containers in a variety of fat contents and flavors. I undercut Elon by a factor of 100 in cost per ton. I offered to deliver cases of beer at a "slight" mark-up but they declined. The hard part was getting the transfer port to dock with the ISS, as Orion transfer ports did not "like" the one on the ISS until I got an adaptor made at the Ceres base. Then it was just a "normal" docking run by the ship's computer.

Telling the feds that the diamond dust I had was a waste byproduct of an Orion manufacturing operation and that I had access to ton lots of this "waste" blew their minds, but they recovered quickly When I agreed to let them broker the exchange for currency. The said they wouldn't even make me pay taxes on it. I think they took their cut when they resold the dust. I did have to pay taxes on runs to the ISS, but that was fair, that was a direct transfer from the Treasury to my checking account of many thousands of dollars, and all of it pure profit because the ship was fully fueled when I got it and flying didn't cost me anything except time.

The Orions also paid me well when I was able to get consumer items at a fraction of the cost charged by Iola Kirke, the Siren/Mermaid they were going through before they sold me the shuttle. As well as a Terran male with a healthy sex drive, if you discount the inability to perform some sex acts under 1g fields. I had no problem with the 0.3g of Orion ships and habitats except for not being able to take on as many of their women as they wanted me to. They were requesting 3 or 4 a day when my 67 YO body was finished at one per shift cycle. I had trouble switching between Central Time and Orion time, but if I spent a week or so on either time I didn't have much problem with lost sleep. Well I had some lost sleep from my other duties, but that wasn't a problem after a while, I would just sleep through their first shift when nobody was needing me. So I was a vampire with the Orions and the Terrans. I normally went to sleep at sunup in Texas, as well as the Orion equivalent.

[Sgt. Howard]

The stroll was interrupted by Greg's phone- "Pause challenge" Greg called out as he answered the call.

"Mr. Howard?"

"Speaking,"

"Hi- I am Peter Levitt of the Federal Aviation Administration- have I got you at a good time?"

"Eh... could be worse I suppose... what can I do for you?"

"You have been listed as a personal reference by a Mr. Opus- are you familiar with him?"

Greg chuckled to himself, "Yea- what mischief has that joker gotten himself into... wait a mo... does this have anything to do with a Federation shuttle?"

"Are you familiar with that ... craft... what did you call it?

"Yup- it's a shuttlecraft. Whatever he says it can do, he's being modest. I believe it has the capacity to surf the sun's corona with the shields up. And no, he poses no national threat. He is rated "Echelons of Reality", same as myself. NSA will verify this. Tell them you were referred by 'Sergeant Howard' and you'll get no guff. OH! If you get the chance, tell him that 'the Old Sarge' has opened the room- he'll know what you mean. Any further issues I can assist you with?"

"Uh... no, I guess not. Uh... thank you for your time, Sir,"

[Opus the Poet]

As the resupply runs to the ISS stacked up I was faced with an unfamiliar problem, I was making money faster than I could spend it. And as my stays at the Orions' Ceres base continued I was having a similar problem. I was accumulating credits faster than I was allowed to spend them because I was getting fed and had no need for quarters as I was "entertaining" in whatever woman's quarters I was seeing, even at only one woman in a 35 hour shift cycle the credits were adding up, not to mention the money from "disposing" of waste diamond dust. The Orion Basic provisions were free as I was given Orion citizenship with the understanding that I would retire on a habitat at some point and make as many babies as I could. My genes were relatively good compared to Orion males, and I was an "Idea Man" a person highly valued in Orion culture.

Orion culture was hampered by the fact that something in their makeup made them bad at invention and innovation, something I was good at. My speciality was reading some data, then flying off in a whole new direction extrapolating from the data. It was something I did all the time on Terra, especially when I was hot rodding an engine. But with access to Orion Fabbers my creativity went wild. First thing I made was a fabber of my own, with the ability to extract aluminum from asteroids, and to make carbon fibers from carbonaceous asteroids witch I then used to make high strength composites. The fabber on my ship could make very comfy clothes on demand, especially shoes that were very long lasting. But as I'm no clothes horse I limited that to a variety of coveralls to wear when I was expected to greet people in my ship or go on the ISS. Otherwise I went nude onboard my shuttle.

One thing I had to do frequently that I didn't have to do on Earth was use the Heavy Gym to maintain muscle mass. In reduced G fields and especially 0G I had an alarming tendency to drop muscle mass in a few days, which had to be recovered by resistance exercise in a 1.2 to 1.5 G field. But I was at no loss for workout partners, especially females from the former Lifter caste. Unfortunately not many of them needed "entertainment", but they were fun to work out with. And extremely easy on the eyes.

[Sgt. Howard]

You and I are wandering here alone it seems.

[Hansontoons]

You and I are wandering here alone it seems.

Not completely, but activity is probably limited to lurking.

I was up your way a couple weeks back, made it to Washington Pass before turning back to Seattle for the trip home. Was in WA and OR with travel buddy and checking out a little bit of the Cascades was the last thing on the itinerary.

IMG_8112.jpeg (109.2 KiB) Viewed 433 times

[Sgt. Howard]

What highway did you take East? If you took I-90, then at Cle Elum you were 2.5 hrs. away from me.

[Hansontoons]

What highway did you take East? If you took I-90, then at Cle Elum you were 2.5 hrs. away from me.

Washington Pass on Hwy 20, so even closer.

Didn't have time budget for even a stop for a howdy and hearty handshake as we were meeting up with a cousin of mine back in Edmonds that evening.

It's entirely possible that I'll be back that way at some point with more time for detours.

We were there for a grand adventure that started in Seattle, then over to Lake Quinault, Hoh rainforest, Rialto Beach via Forks, Crescent Lake area, Hurricane Ridge, Sol Duc, Mt Rainier, Columbia River area, Mt Hood, N. Cascades, then back to Seattle for flight back to Texas. Put almost 2K miles on the rental. Saw many waterfalls.

[FreeFlier]

Edmonds to Washington Pass . . . you drove past me.

Some time you need to go over Deception Pass . . . from the south, of course. It's best to have someone who's been there before drive, as it can be . . . disconcerting.

--FreeFlier

[Hansontoons]

Edmonds to Washington Pass . . . you drove past me.

Some time you need to go over Deception Pass . . . from the south, of course. It's best to have someone who's been there before drive, as it can be . . . disconcerting.

--FreeFlier

Neat bridge! I'd let someone else drive just so I could check out the scenery! Otherwise, piece of cake. It has railings!

Looks like it might be a nice drive to go along the island and return by ferry to the mainland.

[FreeFlier]

When you come up from the south, it's the surprise of learning that you're 200 feet above the water . . . you drive through a cut and emerge onto the bridge.

Oh, and if you have kids with you, keep them very tightly under control and watch your own step very carefully if you stop on Pass Island . . . there are places that if you miss your footing the next stop will be the water . . . after you bounce off the rocks a couple of time.

If you're into military history a stop at Fort Casey is also neat.

Many many longearses!

And you're not to chase them.

--FreeFlier

[Sgt. Howard]

[/quote]

Washington Pass on Hwy 20, so even closer.

Didn't have time budget for even a stop for a howdy and hearty handshake as we were meeting up with a cousin of mine back in Edmonds that evening.

It's entirely possible that I'll be back that way at some point with more time for detours.

We were there for a grand adventure that started in Seattle, then over to Lake Quinault, Hoh rainforest, Rialto Beach via Forks, Crescent Lake area, Hurricane Ridge, Sol Duc, Mt Rainier, Columbia River area, Mt Hood, N. Cascades, then back to Seattle for flight back to Texas. Put almost 2K miles on the rental. Saw many waterfalls.
[/quote]

20? If you took it all the way to the 97 junction, at one point you were three or four miles from my front door!

[Opus the Poet]

I remember spending many happy vacations as a kid at the resort in Sol Duc. Do they still have the huge body temperature soaking pool?

[Opus the Poet]

I had a strange request from my ship, she asked most firmly that I at least stow my ship suit as a belt or collar if I insisted on being otherwise nude. Not wearing my shipsuit was a serious violation of safety protocols and she would have no trouble with grounding me for my own safety, and doing a depressurization drill because I had never done one since I bought the ship. I had to promise that I would do a drill the next time I did a delivery to Ceres. My ship responded by setting up a health and welfare inspection to coincide with my next delivery as well as an overnight appointment with the inspector.

One of the things I had to have was a 30 cycle supply of Basic Rations. The only objections I had to that was the trip to and from Ceres at opposition was only 2 days Earth time and space used for rations was space I couldn't use for payload. Not that I am cheap, but do you know how many Blu-ray players will fit in the same space as 30 days of Basic Rations? Several thousand credits worth.

I had one lady who was almost always the second one at the airlocks on Ceres, a robust Orion with a pixie cut and a figure to match it who wanted to pay me extra if I could get her pregnant. I was surprised at that because I had assumed that wouldn't start until after I emigrated to a habitat. But apparently her biological clock had been going off for a Cycle (292Earth days)and there was nobody at Ceres Station who the Yenta gave higher than a 9% chance of success with. I was at least double digits at 12%. She was even given several shift cycles in a row to spend with me.