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Barrabas and NCommander need to stop with the drama, I think. The continued posting of ever-longer emails and IRC logs doesn't seem to be serving the purpose of transparency anymore, and I think it's actually going to become counterproductive. The last thing you guys need to do right now is rile up the community or poison the environment. Take it offline, or just agree to end it.

Chapter One
Previously...

Weightless
        It would be a couple of minutes before we were completely weightless. I lowered the throttle and gravity slowly went away as I dropped it. The gauges said we were stationary so I killed the motors. Stuff started floating around.
        Shit, I forgot about the coffee. I flew back to my cabin - and I mean literally, since there was no gravity. Destiny was floating above the couch. I pushed against the doorway towards her. "I like this," she said. "Lets make love, I've never been weightless before."
        "Well, I have, but I never had weightless sex before," I said.
        Having sex in zero G wasn't easy. Gravity makes almost everything easier.
        An hour and a half later my fone buzzed. "John? Bill here, I'm almost at you, can you adjust speed to match?"
        "Yeah, I'll be in the pilot room in a second." I set my fone to the shipwide speakers. "Attention, passenger and cargo. We will be experiencing low gravity shortly and then zero G again, so if you've been floating around with nothing to grab, now's your chance."
        I docked with Bill's ship. He called. "John, you want me to come over?"
        "You bet, old buddy. I ain't seen you in ages!"
        "See you in a minute."
        "I'm going to cargo," I said to Destiny. "Want to come along?"
        "And meet one of your friends? Try to stop me!"
        God, but I'd fallen in love with this woman. If it hadn't been for her the whores would have had me by now.
        We met Bill at the dock. "Bill, meet Destiny. She's, uh, I guess my best friend."
        Bill said "I thought I was your..." and looked at Destiny. "Oh. Damn I'm dumb. Pleased to meet you, Destiny. You hooked up with this guy? And I thought astronomers were smart!"
        I laughed. "Fuck you, Bill. Want a beer?"
        "You have beer? I was wondering what you were hauling. I thought you didn't do cargo runs any more?"
        "Well, this one's different. It ain't your normal cargo."
        "If beer ain't your cargo why do you have beer?"
        "I like beer! I have wine, too."
        "Hell... can you spare some, old buddy?"
        "Sure, I brought plenty. I can spare a few bottles of wine, too."
        Wow, thanks. No wonder I like you so much, you old asshole!" We both laughed. "So," he said, what's your cargo and why are you so rich right now."
        "Whores."
        "Huh?"
        "I'm hauling whores. They gave me a fifty percent bump in pay to haul 'em."
        "Christ, you always get the good assignments! How the hell did you manage this one?"
        "Hell if I know, the fucking CEO himself called me into his office. Scared the shit outta me."
        "you must be livin' right!"
        I laughed. "Me? Damn, Bill, you know me better than that."
        "Uh, 'scuse me, Miss, uh..."
        "Name's Destiny, Bill."
        "Uh, can I have a word in private with John?"
        She looked at me and winked. "Sure, Bill." She took off, knowing full well I'd tell her what happened later.
        "Ok, uh, look, John, I ain't been laid in like forever and you got hookers on board. Uh, you mind if I spend a little money on your boat?"
        "Bill," I said, "I am about to make your day. No, I'm gonna make your whole damn year! You're gonna get laid and it ain't gonna cost you a penny. These bitches are horny as hell. They'd pay you if they had any money. If you want an orgy, just go to my commons area and take your clothes off. Meanwhile, I'll gradually accelerate for a while while those batteries are being moved to your boat and installed, no sense in both of us being late."
        "Damn, buddy," Bill said. "You're the best friend I ever had!"
        I winked at him. "All for the company's bottom line. Make sure that's in your report!"
        "Christ, John, of course!"
        "Look, Bill, have fun with the whores and I'll meet you in my quarters after you get your rocks off."
        Bill owes me! ...and, well, I guess I owe him, too. Maybe the whores will leave me alone for a while, I got Destiny. I don't need no fucking whores. They're just a pain in my ass. I want a raise! Fifty percent more ain't enough to put up with these bitches.
        It would have been a lot different without Destiny. The whores would have probably took over my boat by now.
        I went back to the pilot room, recalculated the trajectory (at least that's what the computer said it was doing) and started gravity back up. We were moving again.
        When I got back to my quarters, Destiny said "You should talk to Tammy."
        "Huh? Why?"
        "She's not a simple street hooker, she holds two PhDs, one in anthropology and one in psychology. She was studying the droppers when she got hooked."
        "How the hell could that happen?"
        "I don't know, ask her. "
        "I can't, I was kind of an asshole when I first met her. I had to be of course, but that doesn't make me feel any better about it."
        "She likes you, John. She said that's one of the reasons."
        "Huh? She likes me because I was an asshole?"
        "She likes you because you aren't one of the knuckle draggers that would have let her on your boat for a blow job. She said you had a good character, and I told her I wouldn't have been with you if you hadn't.
        "She's really nice, really. I like her. Lets have coffee with her tomorrow."
        "Uh, OK, I guess."
        The doorbell buzzed. "Who is it?" Destiny said.
        "Wild Bill Corpse. Jesus... them whores damned near killed me! But what a way to die!" he said as the door opened, smiling wider than I'd ever seen anybody smile.
        "Did the robots finish moving the batteries?" he asked.
        "No," I said. "Is anybody but me hungry?"
        Bill grinned even wider. "I just ate! Damn, John, thanks! Hey, can I take a few with me?"
        "Get paper from the company and I'll do anything you want. But not without it, you know that."
        He laughed. "You thought I was serious? Damn, John, I'd never do anything to get you in trouble. Especially after tonight. God! This might be the highlight of my whole life!"
        "It'll be an hour before the robots finish," I said. "Lets eat something, I'm hungry. Come on, Bill, pussy isn't very filling. How about pizza?"
        "I could go for pizza," Destiny said. "Bill?"
        "Sure. Got a beer to go along with it?"
        "Yeah, didn't I tell you? Have a beer and take a few cases with you."
        "Damn, John..."
        "Look, Bill, what you did for me on that Jupiter run... you know. I couldn't have a better friend. You could have been ruined but you stuck up for me anyway. Ain't many people I know would do that." I chuckled. "My Mom, um, probably wouldn't."
        A table with a sliced pizza and three beers rolled over to us.
        We talked and laughed and ate pizza and drank beer and had a good time and promised each other to keep in touch.
        Bill shook my hand again and went back to his boat, and the docking retractors retracted the docking mechanism. Or something, I ain't went to college.
        I let him accelerate first, so he would be ahead if he had more trouble. Running on batteries... shit.
        Destiny and me didn't bother with a movie. We went straight to bed.

This is a crude, rough draft of an upcoming book that is less than 10% finished. This is the last of the chapters that were posted at slashdot, and in fact has a little added to the end.

I just "finished" tomorrow's chapter, which will be a Soylent's Fiction exclusive for a few days or so. Continues...

Chapter One
Previously...

Hangover
        I woke up with the worst hangover I had in years. Damn, that wine. I usually drank beer and I hadn't drank any at all in a few weeks.
        I didn't want to get out of the spinning bed, but I really had to pee bad. I staggered into the head and peed like forever. I wanted coffee. Damn, I was going to have to make coffee, the robots suck at making coffee. I hate robot coffee.
        I put on a robe and stumbled into the kitchen - and smelled coffee. It took a few seconds for my hungover eyes that I hadn't really used since I woke up, and in fact maybe I was still asleep, to see Destiny and two cups of coffee on the table.
        What a woman!
        "You're not hung over?" I said.
        "Hungover? I'm still drunk."
        I sipped my coffee. "What time is it?"
        The table said "The present time is..."
        "I wasn't talking to you, computer."
        Destiny laughed. "I don't know what time it is. Tuesday, maybe?"
        "Computer."
        "Waiting for input."
        Who programs these stupid things, anyway? "What damned time is it?"
        "The damned time is oh eight fifty seven."
        Shit, who programs... SHIT, I got fifteen minutes to get to the pilot room.
        "Shit!" I said. "I'm sorry, honey, I have to run."
        "Shouldn't you put some pants on first?"
        "I'm wearing a robe, I gotta go." I kissed her. "Bye." I ran to the pilot room, coffee mug in hand.
        I got there with two minutes to spare. All the readouts were nominal, which is egghead space talk for "everything is normal." At least, I think that's what it means.
        I went back to my quarters, kissed Destiny, put on some pants, filled my mug back up, and went on the morning inspection while little men with jackhammers were busy inside my head making my brain hurt.
        The reduced gravity didn't make my head less light or my stomach less queasy.
        I inspected the passengers' quarters first, since they were up front. Except Tammy's, of course. Passengers deserved privacy.
        After the little incident with the explosion I checked the rooms a little closer than I had been. Yeah, the doors stay locked but who knows what these drug-addled whores know? I couldn't even tell a whore from a real woman, look at Destiny, I thought she was a whore at first, just because she was cargo.
        I'd billeted Destiny in the closest cargo quarters to the passengers, but it hadn't mattered since she'd only went there once after the takeoff. She's been in my quarters since.
        This was the part I hated. I knocked on the door. Hell, I didn't have to since they were cargo but I don't want to be any more of an asshole than I have to. In some situations you have no choice, you got to be an asshole.
        I'm a boat captain, I'm used to being an asshole. I don't like it, but it's a shitty part of a great job.
        "Who is it and what do you want? I ain't got no drops, bitch."
        "It's Captain Knoll. I'm doing ship inspection. May I come in?"
        "No. Fuck off, asshole."
        "Door, open." The door opened and I went in. She was naked. "I don't have to be polite, dumbass. I just am. I'll skip it from now on if you prefer assholes."
        "I ain't got no drops, bitch."
        Gee, I've been hearing that a lot lately, and usually from one whore to another. "I ain't looking for drops. Just routine, damage or danger of damage."
        "I ain't got no drops, bitch."
        "Whatever."
        As I left for the next apartment two naked whores passed me, laughing. It was the two Thai chicks laughing about the fat blonde whose name I can never remember. Hell, there's two hundred of 'em and I ain't went to college or nothing.
        Lately it had gotten to where the only people on the boat who wore clothes were me, Destiny, and that Tammy girl.
        Nobody else was home, except Kathy and Dawn, who just yelled "come in" when I knocked and kept on playing with each other's pussy while I did my inspection.
        I'd skipped the infirmary and commons, I'd check them when I got back. They were between cargo and passenger quarters.
        Next was the engines, and they never had anything wrong with them. They should keep them in a vacuum, I thought, because I never once found a problem during an inspection and it didn't keep the engines on that Saturn run going.
        That Saturn run... that's why I stopped doing cargo. Lot of good my inspections did there. Jesus, that's a long time to be alone, I almost went crazy. I almost quit, but headquarters said I'd have passenger runs.
        It isn't like the boat stops moving when the engines stop. It's worse. You keep going but have no way to maneuver, you just keep going at the speed you were when the engines stop and they have to come to you to tow you to port.
        I checked out all of the shit my tablet told me to check out and walked back to the infirmary. Next time I'm on Earth I'm getting a bicycle or something, this is a big damned boat.
        "Hi, Billie."
        "Um, yeah, I am" she said, looking at the IV tube.
        "Don't get too used to it," I said. "You won't be in here long."
        "Well, I guess if I want to get high I'll hurt myself!"
        "Nope, that's up to me. Next time it's naproxin."
        While I was there I got some naproxin myself; my head was still throbbing but my stomach wasn't as bad. Now to inspect the commons.
        The commons area was huge, an eighth the size of the entire passengers deck with a full automated kitchen.
        It was full of naked whores.
        Half of them were practically begging me to have sex with them. Man, if it weren't for Destiny I'd be having a hell of an orgy right now. I hurried my ass back to my cabin when the inspection was over as fast as I could.
        Destiny was sleeping, so I figured I'd go over the inventory list. The maid would be noisy in about ten minutes.
        Right before the noisy damned machine showed up an alarm went off. Damn. DAMN! Fucking whores!
        But this time it wasn't the whores, it was a distress call from another ship. "Knolls, here," I said to the tablet. "How can I help?"
        I didn't know how far away the other boat was but it would probably take at least a minute for the signal to get to it unless it was really close. I laid the tablet down and opened a beer. Hair of the dog, you know. Halfway through the beer I decided to return the favor for Destiny; she was going to want coffee when she woke up, so I made a pot.
        The rackity machine came in and started noisily cleaning. Destiny woke up. "Damn, that thing's noisy," she said. "Do I smell coffee?"
        I handed her a cup and sat down next to her. "Thanks," she said "What do you want to do today..."
        The tablet interrupted her. "Captain Knolls? Is that you, John? Kelly here. Thank God somebody's in range. I'm about thirty light seconds behind you and one of my engines shorted out. It didn't leave enough fuel for me to make the Mars landing. I'm just coasting, so I'm going to be weeks late. Can you spare a couple of batteries?"
        Hey, it was Bill Kelly, an old friend driving one of our company boats. I'd known Kelly for years. "Wild Bill" they'd called him, even though he wasn't very wild at all.
        "Hey, Bill, sorry about your luck. Yeah, of course I can spare a few batteries, you might even have enough charge that you won't be too late. I'll go dead stop for a while so you can catch me."
        "Boat captains sure are busy," Destiny said.
        "Sorry, hon."
        I spoke into the tablet again. "Attention passenger and cargo. We will be enduring a short period of weightlessness, so be prepared. Captain Knolls out."
        "I don't think I've ever been weightless before," Destiny said.
        I grinned. "Get a barf bag, it upsets some folks' stomachs. I have to go to the pilot room. I'll be back shortly." I kissed her, threw the beer can at the noisy maid and walked to the pilot room.

This is a crude, rough draft of an upcoming book that is less than 10% finished. Continues

A lot of Slashdot refugees ended up on Usenet before SoylentNews was up and running. Many of us joined up here as soon as open registration started, but most have also continued to participate on Usenet as well. We kind of made comp.misc our home base, but we've started to use misc.news.internet.discuss as well (mostly for non-computer subjects), and some are also frequenting alt.folklore.computers and other groups.

If you haven't stopped by yet, please come check it out. If you like it here, you should feel right at home there. The easiest way to get started, especially if your haven't been on Usenet in a while (or ever) would probably be to visit http://squte.com/, which provides a Slash-like interface to all the newsgroups mentioned above (and then some).

Come check it out, and make sure comp.misc is the first group you visit!

Chapter One
Previously...

Fire!
        "Shit!" I said. "A fire! Oh, hell!" I took off running toward the burning cabin. I heard screams as I approached the door. Horrible, blood-curdling screams of terrible pain. And then, even worse - the screams abruptly stopped.
        The door wouldn't open. "Computer," I said to the tablet. "Open that damned door, there's someone in there that's hurt."
        "Unable to comply," it said.
        "Reason?"
        "Danger to the ship and cargo, crew, and passenger."
        "GOD DAMN IT!" I yelled. "There's a woman dying in there."
        "Containment in approximately two minutes." This must be a bad one for the automatic suppression to take hold – but of course, since the cabin was occupied it couldn't just let all the air out like if the engine room had caught fire.
        "OPEN THAT GODDAMNED DOOR!" I screamed.
        "Unable to comply" the computer answered programitically. God damend piece of shit computer! God DAMN it!
        A cot rolled up behind me and the door opened, air rushing into the smoke-filled quarters, its pressure already lowered but not enough to harm a person. The cot lifted the woman, who I recognized as the Billie whore, on itself. It put an oxygen mask over her face and a needle in her arm and she and the cot left for the infirmary.
        I walked around and saw what caused the fire – the stupid whore was trying to make an ancient drug called "methamphetamine". Even on Earth making that shit is dangerous, in space it's a fucking crazy menace. I guessed that since she couldn't get angel tears she figured she'd make a substitute, as if all drugs were alike or something. Dumb whore.
        My fone buzzed; it was Destiny. "Is everything OK?"
        "Yeah, sugar, just one of those stupid whores trying to get high. Blew up her quarters and burned herself up pretty good."
        I went outside. As soon as I closed the door I could hear the smoky air being blown out to space. Maids were already waiting outside the door to clean up the mess. I started walking back home. A dozen whores were coming down the hallway towards me. "What's going on?"
        "Billie blew herself up trying to make drugs," I said. "I catch anybody else doing that and they're in deep shit. Now excuse me."
        Wait! Is she OK?"
        It was that one broad, the one that was fighting with Billie the first week. Apparently they'd not only made up, but were lovers. Lesbian hookers? That don't make no sense to me, but I ain't went to college. The bunch of them went on to the infirmary and I went back to drink some wine with Destiny.
        The robots would take care of Billie.
        As I walked back to my cabin I pulled out my fone and hailed the ship's communication stuff. "Attention, ladies," I said. "There has been a fire caused by someone really, really stupid. Pay attention, now. If I catch any open flames whatever, the lady with the fire is locked up 'til we get to Mars. So if you're going to try to make drugs, you damned well better not need fire to do it. And even if you don't use fire if I catch you with drugs you're alone until we get there. So be good."
        As I passed the commons there were two naked women having oral sex with each other. "Hey, you two. Get a room," I growled. What was wrong with these whores?
        They ignored me.
        "You wanna be locked up?"
        "Fuck off, Joe."
        "That's Captain Knoll to you," I said, and pulled out my taser.
        "You're an asshole."
        "Get. Both of you. You're alone the next twenty four hours."
        They weren't paying me enough for this shit. Fucking droppers!
        Well, Destiny would cheer me up, she always did. I was pretty cheerful when I got back.
        "Took you long enough," she said slyly.
        "Oh, them whores," I said. "I had to lock a couple up."
        "What did they do?"
        "They were eating each other, I told 'em to go somewhere else and they told me to fuck off. Look, hon, there's two hundred of them and they act like feral children. They'll take over if I let 'em."
        "Feral?" she grinned.
        "You're rubbing off on me, Brainiac!"
        She giggled. "Here, I got some cheese while you were gone."
        I picked up my glass. "To cheese!"
        She laughed. "I'll drink to that. Want to watch something?"
        "Nah, put on some music and we'll cuddle."
        "Cuddle?"
        "Well, I know where cuddling goes."

This is a crude, rough draft of an upcoming book that is less than 10% finished. Continues.

I posted reruns from fifteen years ago at my slashdot journal. New material will be posted here at Soylent first.