Chapter 11: A Fork in the Road of Time

[nanocerancowboy]

[One choice can make all the difference of a lifetime.]

[Gat might still be an android, but the change Friday brought to the minds within Mayfield have tampered with him considerably. He doesn't remember a thing about his life in the Gurhal system, or serving aboard Pioneer 2 and exploring the haunted world of Ragol. In fact, he doesn't remember Coral at all, either.]

[Gat's memories come from a life that might have been, had he never chosen to join the Pioneer colonization project. Instead he continued his work as a freelance Ranger for the various warring nations of the dying planet. Decades, maybe centuries passed—Gat will never know for sure, for the Great Blank forced all of Coral's androids offline, sent the Numans seemingly into extinction, and left humanity on the verge of following their child races into oblivion.]

[All Gat remembers is being recovered by an expedition party in the remains of the city of Paru, roughly a hundred years agter the Great Blank, with no memories left to him save for his name and what had survived in his body's sub-memory systems. By then, Coral was a very different place—most of the planet was now inhospitable, with toxins of unknown origin threatening to kill any human who wandered too far from the safer areas on the planet. Most of the wildlife that competed for space in these havens were openly hostile to sentient creatures, making both travel and communication between human settlements difficult—and life was difficult enough, with the once high-tech civilization of Coral reduced to something akin to the American Wild West, imbued with fragments of the previous age.]

[So, since Friday, Gat's been coping with the awkwardness of this CAST body built with technology very different from those from Coral at the time of the Great Blank. Dakki Sigal was never a co-worker or friend—and given her own memory corruption, they only barely manage to get along. Gat's personality has changed some, too—he's a little more blunt and serious than usual, and more of a loner.]

[ACTION - A (In and Around 458 Stone, Morning, HOUSEMATES)]

[Gat's busy taking care of house chores. Much as he'd rather be outside the house doing things other than being here with this woman who sees him as an arch-nemesis, this house was a shared living space. There's Chen to think about, and the drone human kids, too. He's got some responsibility to keep house.]

[ACTION - B (Mayfield Firehouse, Afternoon, OPEN TO ALL)]

[Where the technology of Mayfield's era once left Gat a little awkward due to its relative primitiveness compared to that of Gurhal and Coral's, he's now more confounded by it because much if it is actually more advanced than the technology Coralian civilization is capable of producing after the Great Blank.]

[This isn't exactly a good switch-up when you're trying to check the fire engine's ... engine ... for problems.]

[Are you a fellow firefighter? Or just passing by the firehouse? Feel free to bug the RAcast!]

[ACTION - C (Shooting Range, Evening, OPEN TO ALL)]

[When you're living with a woman who thinks you're her arch-nemesis and is more than ready to kill you to satisfy her deep-seated grudges, it pays to keep your own fighting skills at top notch. Which is why, while Dakki's out spending time training or exercising her skills as a Hunter, Gat's doing the same as a Ranger. Even though he has a strange mechgun that was sent to him for Christmas last year, Gat's preferring to train with whatever weapons are at hand—mostly shotguns and hunting rifles. As might be expected of an android, he's not a bad shot—but it looks like he's working on his timing and speed more than his aim.]

[ACTION - D (Anywhere in Mayfield, Evening/Night, OPEN TO ALL)]

[Rather than go home, Gat's decided to take some time to explore the town. Not necessarily to get a feel for the lay of the land—he'd already done that a few times, especially after he got this strange non-Coralian CAST body. It's mostly exploring for the sake of exploring—and the closest thing he'll get in a town such as this to the lifestyle he led in the post-Great Blank world, drifting from one town to the next.]

[Given the increase in violence in the town recently, though (to say nothing of Dakki's behavior), he's not letting his guard down.]

Comments

HEL YEH

[nanocerancowboy]

[Gat scoots over to the side so Alfred can take a look. Wouldn't want to wind up knocking the guy over with those big ailette-like armored shoulders of his.]

I ain't never seen a workin' vehicle 'till Mayfield took me.

[Alfred ought to be able to discern that the oil pump is wearing out. Gat was looking in entirely the wrong place.]

[redwhiteandhero]

[Wait wha--]

... But you're a robot.

[nanocerancowboy]

[Gat glances down at himself, as if reminded.]

CAST, specifically. An' I ain't lyin' to ya—most of th' things in this town're more advanced than where I'm from.

[redwhiteandhero]

[... So they can make working robots where he's from, but not fire trucks? If only the Empire'd had those kind of priorities.]

It's about the same as what I'm used to. I should be able to suss it out.

[nanocerancowboy]

[Gat looks over to Alfred again. From his body language, his interest is piqued.]

You're from a world like this one, then?

[And yet despite saying that, Gat's voice has a rather Texan-like twang to it ...]

[redwhiteandhero]

More or less.

[He's stuck his head back under the hood again, poking around in the engine's innards.]

There's some differences, but this place is practically like home. [After a moment, he straightens up again.] Think I found the problem. Oil pump's about to give out.

[nanocerancowboy]

[Gat muses to himself, rubbing his chin thoughtfully with a thumb and forefinger.]

Practically like home ...

[Though his attention is brought back to what Alfred's found wrong with the engine, glancing first at him, then down to the engine's guts.]

That so? How do ya go 'bout fixin' somethin' like that?

[redwhiteandhero]

Best bet is probably just get a new one. They oughta have 'em at the mechanic's.

[nanocerancowboy]

[Gat's trying to figure out which part is supposed to be the oil pump. He's looking roughly where Alfred was inspecting the engine, but to him it's all a strangely shaped series of tubes.]

I'll prolly have to take it with me for reference—is that somethin' we can install here at th' station?

[redwhiteandhero]

Shouldn't be too hard. I can usually handle your basic stuff.

[nanocerancowboy]

[Gat shakes his head a little, expressing some measure of awe.]

Basic stuff ... Wish I could remember what life was like before th' Great Blank.

[redwhiteandhero]

Great Blank?

[nanocerancowboy]

Yeah. That's what th' humans of my time call it. Somethin' 'bout a hundred years from when I woke up forced all us CASTs offline. None of us got our memories, 'cept what little we kept in th' sub-memory unit of our bodies.

[redwhiteandhero]

[None of that made any sense.]

So you can't remember anything?

[nanocerancowboy]

Nothin' except when I woke up a few years back. Found myself in a ruined city long since deserted, with a group of humans. They'd been sent from a settlement not far from there to scavenge for anythin' usable.

[redwhiteandhero]

That's horrible!

[nanocerancowboy]

It's been that way for all th' CASTs who've woken up, all over th' world.

[Gat glances to the side for a moment.]

Whatever happened to cause th' Great Blank, it did a number on th' planet—if'n th' stories passed down're anything to go by.

[redwhiteandhero]

What d'you reckon happened?

As an aside, I messed up: PSZ takes place 200 years after the Great Blank, not 100!

[nanocerancowboy]

It might've been war. That's what th' stories mention. How there used to be "three great tribes of old" that "gave birth to divinity," an' then a rift cut through 'em "like a blade."

[Gat shrugs.]

There ain't no tellin' for sure, 'least with th' way th' world is now. Much of it still ain't safe to live in. Some kinda airborne toxin, or pollution—lotta places're thick with it.

Duly noted o7

[redwhiteandhero]

[That sounds scary... and a little too close to home.]

Even with all the robots and all?

[nanocerancowboy]

[Gat nods once.]

'Fraid so. Since us CASTs lost our memories, we also lost any knowledge an' skills we had in th' past, mostly. We ain't much better off than th' humans.

[redwhiteandhero]

I'm sorry to hear that.

[nanocerancowboy]

It ain't no thing. No sense in worryin' about yesterday. Gotta focus on what's goin' on now.

[Gat turns and glances out toward the town.]

... Come to think of it, this town's th' longest I've stayed in one place.

[redwhiteandhero]

How long've you been here now?

[nanocerancowboy]

[He looks back over to Alfred.]

Since last August. Almost been a full year, come to think of it.