All Comments on 'Three Square Meals Ch. 059'

The end of the chapter had a bit of The Return of the King: Extended Edition about it, going on and on after the obvious, very satisfyingly cinematic, ending.

The author has avoided many of the problems relativity creates in sci-fi by simply ignoring it. The ship is always perfectly synced to Terran time, John has real-time remote training with his swordmaster, and the ship is traversing the Solar System at relativistic speeds - Jupiter is on average 43 light minutes from Earth, yet they travelled that distance in a few minutes.

Star Trek created subspace to solve non-relativistic communications, and Warp Speed for travel. In this mythos, there seems to be different degrees of above-light-speed travel.

Just wonderful and very very imaginative.

Thank you so much.

and WTF, ... Inside the onyx-coloured vessel, a sarcophagus cracked open with a foreboding hiss, icy vapour swirling around the plinth as a dark figure stirred within. ...

-- A dark something coming out of an icy sarcophagus, brrr, sounds spooky to me, ....

-- I am left wondering just how compact the Sarcophagus is on a little onyx vessel, small enough I suppose, .... but I think that it's still bigtime spooky, .... ;-) ttfn

-- Doctor Rachel states, "I'd say it looks like you get to choose the gender of the baby." and the lovely Latina adds, "We'd get to pick if we have a pink one or a blue one?" Calara asked softly, her voice full of longing.

--- this might be the most important revelation in TSM so far, .... the future will be decided, ... ;-) ttfn

As the Dragnet theme ominously moans in the background....

Still 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 with a tonne of dramatic tension.

Again, thank you, Teffler.

Running before he learned to crawl ... John is a definite non-conformists. Doing things very differently from what's expected. And getting IT done. 5⭐

Too bad the Terrans messed up Nexus, he (it) might have made a good ally, .... if only, sigh, .... ;-) ttfn

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

"Those fuckers are on my ship!"

Great story, I am reading it for the second time.

John has a ship with the best hi tech in space and yet every battle is very close. I believe John has to find some one who can command space battles as well as land battles as John sucks at both.

I’ve held my comments over the past few chapters, as I expected some of the open questions to be answered, and so again I say the past few chapters have been very well written, both enjoyable and compelling reading.

I have a few thoughts/questions, suggestions…

There seems to be some inconsistency in the way John (and Alyssa) approach drawing power from others - they instinctively do it at times (like when John first shapes Alyssium), and then other, far more critical times, they don’t (like during the battles). I know it’s a difficult line to navigate as a writer, but [in my opinion] if Alyssa is as brilliant and composed as the story regularly implies, the use should be more consistent (and she should be nudging John to draw power from the Malari when needed).

The ship attaching itself to the hull at the end of the chapter immediately threw technical flags for me, both because the Invictus shouldn’t be able to jump to hyper-warp with anything attached, and also because there should be sensors that immediately inform the crew there is something attached to the hull.

I’ll add more after 60.

Okay, I have a continuity problem with a stealth shuttle attaching itself to the Invictus just befor it leaps into Hyper-Warp, ... now when the two Ashanth military vessels towed the Invictus with two Drakkar drop ship still attached, I said well, that was two advanced, and alien ships, and nothing was said about the speed (fast or slow) that the 3 vessels made on their way to Ashana, maybe it was less than half normal speed, .... but I know that it was stated that a Terran ship could not safely fly through Hyperspace with an attached ship screwing up its (warp bubble?) trim, ... and now this stealth ship does the impossible again, ... smh, ... ;-) TTFN

Lion and Lionesses are Awesome!

Great story! Thank you for writing this!

Not a techie but thoroughly enjoyed this instalment. I read for pleasure and leisure, and not to criticise.

likely the worst chapter thus far.

The "author" instills in the reader a familiarity with the technology that is developed as the story progresses. Then said author extinguishes the adjectives used to fortify the reader's understanding of the material properties.

A "for instance" is required here.... The hull plating that supposedly protects the Invictus is made of "quad shaped", "crystal alyssium". Harder than any known metals. Impervious to blasts from lasers and or high mass rifle rounds from the "suped-up" arms developed by Dana. Yet the author wants the reader to believe an AI robot might possibly "cut into" said panels using substandard Terran technology. Said panels are not enough to ward off the blast from AI controlled lasers.

Sorry, you can't bake your cake and et it as well. You are diabetic (and a lousy baker focused on space balls and blowjobs.

Thus my summary of this debacle. Chapter 59

Note to self: admonish "author" for not using the uplink of Maliri power to re-energise the crew during battle, akin to how they let Irillith go into battle with Nexus without up-arming her telepathically.

Pathetic to leave "easter eggs" laying about to rot!

Smokepole

It is the end of July 2022, Tef's count of followers in Literotica is 5836, gaining ground a little at a time, ... ;-) TTFN

Mid-March 2022, Literotica's TSM count is over 5600, ... congrats Tef! ;-) TTFN

Action, adventure, suspense, and a wild space battle with a crazed A.I. ... Meeting with Vice Admiral Harris at Olympus shipyard, and Meeting with High Command Admiral Devereux enroute to Olympus, and letting both of them know who the Dragon March Traitor is (Admiral L. Norwood) ... showing Lynnette a little bit of the crew's Space Magic. This was one of your very best chapters Tef, so far... So, thank you! ;-) TTFN

I have to say if they know that they are going into battle they should just equip arms and armor before hand instead of wasting time having to get ready in the middle of the battle.

Having read the entire series multiple times, this remains one of the best chapters. More good stuff to come.

Thank you Tefler.

- Kal'adayn.

Congratulations on making it to 5K followers. What took them so long!

I'm here for the depth and development of the Galaxy, the tech and the battles. This was awesome

Another cliff hanger. I am addicted to this story. It keeps one awake late into the night reading and trying to anticipate the next twist and turn. This is a wonderful and imaginative story. Has the drama, the adventure, deceit, and then ends with a cliff hanger.

#@$$& WHAT NOW

Can't they catch a flipping nap after just scraping by with their lives.

In chapter 59, John and Faye have two memorable interactions. Tefler's genius with Faye's development is special. In the first interaction, Faye assumes something is wrong based on John's request. Faye's gifts and desire to be supportive of John's goals is the foundation of her character, and Tefler remembers Faye is emotionally young. Faye's response is priceless following John's compliment.

ch59:pp1-2

John turned to leave ..."Faye, meet me in my Ready Room please, I want to speak to you privately," he said in a firm voice. The purple AI pixie looked up at him, blinking in surprise. She nodded, and winked out of sight as she followed his orders ... He strolled out of the Briefing Room with a spring in his step, then walked across the Bridge and hit the button to open the doors into his Ready Room. There was a blur of purple by his desk, and Faye whirled around, watching him with her big eyes as he strode into the room. He kept his expression serious as he walked over to his desk, then sat in his big leather chair. "What did you want to speak to me about, John?" she asked him, watching him warily. He let himself relax in his chair and smiled at her warmly as he said, "I just wanted to say thanks for everything you've done since you joined us." The tiny purple sprite blew out a big breath, and then grinned at him, looking greatly relieved. "Oh, that was mean! I thought I was in trouble there for a minute!" she exclaimed happily.

John shook his head, and said, "No, far from it." He paused, then studied her closely for a long moment before he continued, "What would make you happy, Faye?" ... "I really appreciate what you've done for us so far, but I'm sorry that I've been so wary of you. It wasn't because of anything you did, it was purely because of your synthetic nature. It hasn't been fair to tar you with the same brush as the Terran AIs, but you haven't complained about our precautions, and just got on with making yourself useful." "It's alright, I understand why you were worried," she replied magnanimously. Faye gazed at him, and then tentatively asked, "Would you consider letting me fly the Raptor?" ... Faye could see the indecision in his face, so she continued in a rush, "I don't mean for combat! Just for ferrying you over for boarding actions, that kind of thing. There's only seven of you in the crew, and sometimes you leave yourself exposed to potential danger, because you don't have enough personnel available for all the roles you need to fill.

In the second interaction, Faye assists Calara's presentation with a supportive simulation, and demonstrates her initiative by using probability and random numbers to simulate a prediction of Nexus' future behavior. Tefler's Faye demonstrates a delightful level of awareness (e.g., looked guilty; unemotional voice; didn't harbour any feelings of hatred; clinical) as she attempts to prepare John and his crew for the battle with Nexus. Such minimizes the possible negative side effect of her contribution.

ch59:pp5-6

Calara rose from her chair, and said, "I was planning to show you the results of my analysis up in the Briefing Room, but Faye had the brilliant idea to set up a Tactical Holo-suite for exactly this kind of presentation." She glanced at the tiny AI at her side, and said, "Can you start the simulation please, Faye?"

Faye fluttered in the air looking agitated, and John looked her way, saying, "Go ahead, Faye. I respect your opinion, and If you've got any insights for us, I want to hear them." … John listened carefully as she spoke, and said, "That seems like a comprehensive summary. What's your conclusion?" She glanced at him, and looked guilty as she admitted, "I created a subroutine to simulate the way Nexus thinks while guided by its primary directives. I executed it fifty thousand times, and the conclusion was the same for all but one hundred and seven outcomes. That's a zero point two percent margin of error." "You've been running a subroutine that hates Terrans?" John asked her, sounding worried. She nodded, but blurted out in a rush, "I deleted it, I swear! Irillith can check to verify I'm telling the truth."

One last observation regarding Faye's role. Like some readers who have read the TSM a number of times, we have knowledge of Faye's expanded role in the upcoming chapters. During this battle (Ch59:pp8-10) with Nexus, it was easy to wonder where is Faye; however, Tefler wisely limited her behaviors based on her character's growth and development at this point and time. Nice job!

It has been years since I have been hooked by a story this deeply. The scope of the story just keeps increasing without losing any of the technical detail. Sure, some of it is magic”; that just makes it better!!!!!!! Just keep writing.

I love this story, great suspense and drama... I too started to skip part of the middle and ended up reading to glean what I thought was important information... it all pulls together....

I have found it is best to stop reading in the middle of the chapters for that very reason. ;)

Just when I think that my binge reading can rest for a few, you load up THIS cliffhanger!

Oh well. I love your writing, your creativity, and your characters.

So what if it's midnight on Sunday with a 5:30 Monday wake up call.

Maybe just a few more pages...

Nexus would never have anticipated it. The invictus could have powered up the nova Lance just before exiting hyperwarp and then wasted the Loki. Then switched power to other weapons to waste the rest of nexus fleet. This was a tactical blunder that almost cost them the battle.

Captain Rogers

"Inside the onyx-coloured vessel, a sarcophagus cracked open with a foreboding hiss, icy vapour swirling around the plinth as a dark figure stirred within."

Damn you and your cliff-hangers, Telfer! I'm trying to go to bed!

Mind blowing chapter. You rock. Dawn

What a far reaching chapter in this tremendous epic. Truely the Galactic GOT. But, once again must appologize for the self-aggrandizing verbose comments from a certain narcissistic reader.

I was up at a plant in Michigan that makes industrial lasers a few years back. They showed us one that would slice 1/2" plate 6 feet away but if you stuck your hand between the emitter and the target you could actually stop the beam and your hand might feel a little warm. To test the focus the would shoot the beam into a block of plexiglass.

If you were using the laser gatling cannons inside the ship you would have to have them focused at target range. If not you could just burn a hole thru the ship.

CH 60 is live..... woooooo..... May have to read it again LOL

I said, "Also, the total energy of the beam does not change but merely disipates at distance to the point the energy at any given point is not enough to cause damage." Which is true in a perfect vaccume. Space dust would deplete the energy levels so that would affect the total energy of the beams to an extent.

Not a problem.

Actually that one was not from me, but from another. I did mention how the focal point of the Laser was important because the energy projects like a hyperbola, something like reversed parenthesis )(. Also, the total energy of the beam does not change but merely disipates at distance to the point the energy at any given point is not enough to cause damage.

For this reason, the focal point compresses the cross section of the beam for the most energy at the smallest cross section. This focal point, )-(, is physically built into the laser. It can therefore be manipulated, to some degree, to lengthen the distance or shorten the distance to the focal point from the source (the final lense) through moving parts within the structure of the laser (a change in a lense curvature--in this case that would mean several lenses on a rotating disk).

Additionally: If there is more than one source of the laser then the two (or more) beams can be focused where the cross sections intensify the energy where they intersect and can effectively double the energy at impact. This allows for an effective ranging of the energy beams to any extent above or below the smallest cross section of the individual lasers while still delivering enough energy to affect the target at that specific point (the intersection of the two beams).

What this means for the Nova Lances is that, because of their massive power in the first place, a simple rail, combined with a simple lense rotation device) that can slightly shift the end of the barrel can extend an intersection of the two beams across planitary orbital distances and still be powerful enough to damage other ships. I would dare to say, take out an entire squadron's shields, or at a bare minimum, severely weaken them (due to the widening of the beams at longer distances), with one shot.

Talk about a tactical advantage! Taking out half the shield strength of an entire squadron before they could even engage? It would take some adjustment of the aiming point because of the limitations of the speed of light in a vaccume (the speed of light is not constant btw, regardless of what Einstien said in E = mC^2)...but this is VERY doable.

1. The Patreon account is just the right thing to do. If you can't that is different.

2. Faye needs a body. Judging from the conversations between Dana, John, and Irillith, that is going to happen.

3. The Invictus, after the T-fed battle, is going for another major refit which will include:

Replacing the mass drivers with singularity drivers,

The FTL drive with a corrected configuration that will massively increase the

the speed available to the ship; to include worm-hole travel (if not immediately

then eventually).

The power core with a corrected configuration that will massively increase the

power available to the ship and which will be able to power all the new

weapons as well as the worm-hole creation/control.

A complete rewire of all the weapon's systems due to the increased need for

power.

A few other upgrades that I cannot mention due to it being a spoiler for Chapter

60. ;-)

4. The Paragon Armor suits are due another upgrade as well. I am thinking this may be along the lines of:

Pneumatic enhancements that come about from the building of Faye's body

(yeah, I know, that is an assumption).

Laser rifles built into the arm(s) of the suits, among other things (sorry, have to

read Chapter 60 first...winks....Just love Tefler's Patreon page.

Shielding like the Invictus has due to a miniturization of the upgraded power core,

like in the railguns and laser rifles (no, it does not interfere with the anti-grav

units or the inertia dampening system would not work during battle....which we

know it does). Yeah, I know, I have suggested this before.

You folks have any thoughts?

Methinks what prevented John from successfully projecting himself from his body was the need to keep PJ imprisoned, otherwise he could break out and keep John outside his body.

Thanks Tefler, this is a work of art.

Shit, you where right about the burst. My bad.

I know that a pocket full of change for pulling beers at the bar helped me make it through college. I earned better cash at the bar than I do as a lab assistant walking frosh through titration because of the bartending tips. Lab work gets me a better looking resume and helps my grad school focus.

Should have created a profile but I don't post just read.

Chemguy (and his good girl!)

I think it's a fair arrangement. Tef posts to both sites at the same time. When it takes longer on Lit it's not his fault. I will support him regardless of any advantages, just because I like what he is doing.

I think the way Tefler has it set up with the Patreon account is a good way to let people support him. He has put a lot of his time into his writing of TSM and he is willing to share here on Literotica. If your one of the cheap bastards that want everything for free then fine. But if you enjoyed his efforts and want to encourage him to write more then support him with some feedback and maybe a contribution. It doesn't have to be a big one, Tefler doesn't seem to me to be the greedy type so a few bucks here or there to go towards a new computer for him is, IMO, a worthy cause. I look at it as he is like one of the street musicians, if you like his tune throw some change in the hat if you want.

I'll still keep posting chapters to Literotica regardless, so I don't want you to feel strong-armed into anything.

Moderation time varies with Literotica, because the weekend disrupts the time for a story to get moderated. Typically it takes two days from when I submit a chapter until it goes live on the site, but moderation doesn't normally seem to happen on the weekend. I submitted Chapter 60 at about 1am UK time this morning, so being up on the site by about Tuesday morning UK time would be fairly typical.

Tefler

A buck a month is a good deal I suppose.

I concur! Ch60 is.... wow

Yeah. Had to read it three times just to be sure.

That was a serious trip

wow...........

No spoilers.... :p

Worth the Patreon page. Be back in a bit......re-reading...sry! Tefler! Don't do that again!!!!!!!

Posted Chapter 60. :-)

Tefler

Bump that! I am reading part 2 then the whole thing again tonight!

Tonight I pick up were 1 left off just so I can get to sleep. Tomorrow I will reread the whole thing.

My refresh finger is getting weak!!!!

Got a script running now to auto refresh patron page until it detects a change.

Take xanex after reading part one!!!

Sorry, I wouldn't wish that on my ex-wife!!!

Marriage does not seem to be part of Maliri culture so the engineers probably won't expect husbands.

They were promised free dates. Babymaking was the option offered.

I literally started reading the first part less than 20 min of it postingto his page. I'm advocating everyone else suffering as we did.

I'll post the whole thing onto my Patreon page and literotica in about an hour or so. I'm just proofreading it one final time to check for errors.

With the moderation delay, Chapter 60 should be up on literotica by about Monday or Tuesday,

Tefler

Trust me on this. You would rather have the whole thing. The cliffhanger on 60 part 1 is just absolutely brutal.

I don't think anyone intends to bring in batches of Maliri males to knock up fertile females in a breeding program. Releasing such authoritarian control is part of the Utopia that Edraele intends to present to John.

On the other hand, there's no reason that Ceraden wouldn't get an opportunity to date some white haired babes in search of husbands. I hope it works out for him.

I want to see the first batch of Maliri males brought in to knock up the Engineering girls.

Ceraden might be invited.

Tefler, I say it's more that great minds think alike vs being predictable. :)

Thanks for the great story!

Part 1 as 60 and part 2 as 61 released a day apart would be awesome!

I'll work with my editors on it, and hopefully submit the full chapter to the site by about Saturday. You can probably expect to see it up by about Monday or Tuesday.

Tefler

Re: Rolling the ships for maximum weapon coverage.

The reason all ships don't do this is they can't roll that fast. It takes ten seconds for their Beam Weapons to recharge, and cruiser sized ships and larger can't rotate quickly enough for the full fire arc coverage in time for the weapon recharge.

Laser Cannons recharge at a faster rate, so its simpler and easier to just blast away while trying to avoid incoming fire.

The only reason the Invictus can, is because its incredibly manoeuvrable now with the Trankaran engines and retro-thrusters.

Cheers,

In space at the long ranges and high target velocity means that obtaining accurate firing solutions is non trivial. Rolling the ship makes it much more difficult. Twice the shots with less than half the accuracy is a bad deal. You need to miss very few shots to risk missing twice as many. Calara has superpowers.

All armour is connected by damping cells to damping frames that connect to the hull. Layers of shock absorbers. Armour actually ripples like water as it spreads the force of a weapon like a massive driver. Imagine that as the Invictus was soaking up damage.

It really is easy and fun.

:)

Fathersin still

Regarding the combat critique.

After discussions between Tefler and his editors about different aspects of space and combat we all agreed that there are other stories that do deep realizations of a space navy fleet engagement. The other end of the spectrum is classic space opera like Flash Gordon. Pew Pew Pew! This story is somewhere in that spectrum, but the point is that realism should not be stressed. The story fits where it is.

We could work up explanations to make it all match your expectations. It is not that hard actually, because we have done it before, and it is kind of fun. It may even make the story better and more interesting. But it might not. It might look like a retcon patch or worst of all be a boring and distracting superfluous detail that most readers blast past on their way to the good stuff.

Quantum chameleonic polymeric molecules of antimatter for the space mines. Try to detect a scattering of molecules that have a quantum indeterminate location and signature. The specialized equipment to contain and deploy the polymer mesh means Space Mines will not be the next big weapon for Invictus. Also and most important is that it reads like twaddle. Most people don't read this story looking for semiplausible hypothesis of tech.

Reading with an eye to realism is kind of flattering. Most of the reading should be for the fun. The characters are friendly and cool and they want you to roll with them through the stars. That is probably the best part, so don't miss out by counting the rivets in the cargo bay ceiling.

Fathersin

That was Rachel...the Doctor.

Ask Tefler to release the first half of chapter 60 before he is finished with the second half! The cliffhanger will drive you INSANE! THANK YOU Tefler for not listening to your editors on this one. It would be pure mutany on this site!

Just pretty is not enough so Rachel might have been just a bit of fun if not for her Medical skill. Allysa is telepathic so she might have had clues that Rachel was not just pretty.

Devereux might have too much commitment and baggage.

She is a boss, and better as an ally than as crew.

It is possible that she and other ofthe female officers get a version of Edraele deal.

1. given the advantages of rolling with long cool down weapons, would that not be a standard tactic with all ships? one set comes into action as the cooling ones rotated to safety. It spreads damage and makes it a little harder to hit. I don't understand why the robot controlled battleship was not doing it as well.

2. why were the mines set by the human fleet undetected by the robots? They were not underwater - they were floating chunks in space. If they use low detection sensor spoofers, why was that technology not used by the robots vs the fleet or the heroes?

I could see it if they had spoofers among the fighter attack to distract the heroes anti-fighter weapons. After all, the robots did not know the heroes had superior sensors.

3. hits by mass drivers only damaged the heroes ship plating - but there should have been vibrational damage all over from the impact. Wire solders and components all over should fail. Or did the anti-grav cancel out the vibrations? I thought it would work with ship planned vectors, not surprise damage ones.

Furthermore it is remarkable that only the plating was damaged - not the structure. You did not write they remade the structure from the super alloy, just the plating.

Just some idle thoughts.

Jupp! you did it again. This chapter was one of the best so far. But i agree. Devereaux shoud be added to the team. Well not entirely. She should stay in her job, and act as an good ally. But i do think she and John should be lovers when ever there is time for it. I would like to se her eventually get the same advantages as the other women. Maybe there could be an subplot where her transformation causes som trouble. (which they totally solve) I imagine someone suddenly getting younger and more beautiful could become a problem.

Also I would like to see more of the merchant woman we saw when Alyssa got her clothes in one of the earlier chapters. There was some talk of adding her to the team, either fully or partially. But nothing has come of it so far.

I started at the beginning and have loved every chapter. 5 stars! Very inventive and quite an entertaining read. Keep up the good work. Can't wait to see the next chapter.

I want to stop this discrimination.

Restricting Faye is more likely to get one of the girls killed than it is to allow her to go rogue.

He's still trading. :-)

They were in a hurry to get back to Terran Space last time they passed the trading post, but it isn't the last we've seen of the flamboyant merchant!

Tefler

Ceridan? Ciridan? Ceredan?

Really disappointed Devereaux was not added to the team, I really liked her. Loved the tactics and drama in this story but Devereaux had me charmed with her curt military bearing. Everyone performed well, I thought about having the Raptor adding firepower but unless the pilot was going to be Faye, too much of a risk.

Alas, the "older woman" is yet another prospect to wait her turn... maybe never to have one. Too bad Port Olympus was less than 14 or 15 hours away. XD I'm sure she is curious about having what Calara and Alyssa have.

Thanks for the Cliffhanger warning. I should have taken it seriously.

Do not spoiler the part 1 here of chapter 60!

That is an evil risk but there are only 80 Patreons and they should appreciate the reward of an early peek.

I think the Assassin might be a Vampire.

I've finished part 1, and I've started on part 2. I should be finished by the end of the week, so I'll probably submit the chapter for moderation by about Saturday.

I posted part 1 to the Patreon site, as its been edited already. Be warned though, it's not for the faint hearted... Evil cliffhanger advisory warning! :-)

Tefler

Well seems his word is as good as his posts.

And his reappearanceuy has nothing to do with some low life hitting up every chapter with a one - because they can.

Thanks to all you regular followers for your posts by the way. They are great to follow. Shit - sometimes you are even right!

Yeah, he is invested. Like Irilleth on being butt-fucked...think about it.

Obviously he's back because he loves your story too much to stay away. He's probably donating to you on Patreon also. Whatever he says, he's clearly a big fan of yours! (Otherwise he just couldn't be this invested.)

I thought you were going to stop posting if I left your comment up? You disappeared for a while, so why are you back again?

I bet John asks his partner which they would prefer. It seems to be his way.

I haven't noticed before but now that you've mentioned it the similarities between Progenitor John and the Bloody Nine are striking...

Good old Joe Abercrombie...

I'd really enjoy having a lengthy chat with you on those books someday perhaps...

Also, what else do you read when you're not writing yourself?

I was amazed to see this chapter get published on the Sunday.

Nice spot on the Admiral at the table, I'll fix that in the master copy.

Tefler

Yeah, I had exactly that previous conversation in mind when I wrote the scene, thinking about the advantages of rapid pulses over a solid beam. The Maliri Pulse Cannons are designed with that same idea in mind, so once again, thanks to all of you for that involved and very interesting tech discussion!

Tefler

I'm glad you liked how the space battle panned out!

I had just written those scenes, and was reading through the comments on Chapter 58, when I saw someone (Mikipub) predict exactly the way it was going to go down. After a good chuckle, I decided to leave it the way I'd written it, and not make any changes. I'm far too predictable it seems!

Btw that was a nice spot in the Nexus conversation. Well done! ;-)

Tefler

Yes, you're correct. The title for the chapter was a reference to the First law of robotics in this universe (and seemingly every other sci-fi one!) that an AI will always turn on its creator.

Of course they now have a clue as to why it keeps happening to any Terran created AI!

Tefler

I think chapter 60 will be about 20k words. I handed over what I've done already to my editors, and left it on a brutal cliffhanger. They begged me to release it as it is, but the howls of outrage would be deafening! :-)

I'll finish off the rest over the next few days and aim to submit it by the end of the week.

Tefler

Btw how long will be ch 60 ?????

@giggityguy, Re: Mixing up the weapons

In this chapter Dana actually commented what sort of shielding is more effective against lasers vs projectile weapons so I actually expect to see things progressing as you suggest.

@Muledriver, Re: Mael'nerak

Yes! I actually commented a few chapters ago that Mael'nerak might be the name of the mysterious ancient Progenitor that created the Maliri and other species. Recent events have clinched that.

Re: impending boarding action

Faye would only be aware of the impending boarding action if the ship's security system isn't over-ridden through some advanced technology or amazing skill. The black figure might be sufficiently awesome at B&E that he can beat our safeguards in some way. After all, Faye doesn't have a magical ability to perceive everything in the ship, she only has access to ship's cameras and sensors. And it has already been demonstrated that Faye is not omnipresent. She is only aware of events at locations where she is actively paying attention. (It wouldn't surprise me if it takes a lot of multi-tasking functions just to constantly maintain a real personality.)

@Anonymous, Re: The first law of robotics states...

We would have commented on it, but that is an old conversation from many, many chapters ago when John first said that the First Law of Robotics is that AIs always turn on their creators. That is the true First Law of Robotics in this fictional universe and it is an intentional parody of Asimov's first law.

In the comments those many chapters ago someone pointed out that Teffler was wrong about the first law of robotics and we had a lively back and forth about how Asimov's laws don't apply to any fictional universe except for his own. The debate continued into explaining how those fictional laws of robotics are nearly impossible to actually implement in any actual technology.

Also, I find Teffler's First Law of Robotics to be really funny so I loved the subtitle for this chapter.

I wonder how many got the reference? No one commented on it.

Nexus did not follow the law, but Faye apparently does. You did not expand on the teaser line. Wish you had.

I agree, no way that gets by Faye.

You said: "There is really no need to fire the laser rifles in bursts of fire like how projectile weapons work. You could just select the beam strength, and fire it as a continuous beam, much like a laser pointer you buy at the store. That is, unless it needs to build up enough charge to fire, which causes the burst."

You may want to rethink your statement. As has been discussed here before, a constant laser strike on target is not as effective as a rapid burst strike because of the plasma that is released from the impact of the laser. It creates a shield between the laser and the target. Pulsing the laser allows for that plasma cloud to disapate and allows the full power of the laser to impact the target...making it more effective.

Also, as I mentioned on the Patreon site....that interloper is a cloaked ship...time for another tech upgrade from Dana....lol

I was thinking that you might line up the battle ship, mining ship and the planet killer and do a 3 for one shot. (granted, it would be more likely a 2 for 1...) I like how you did it though.

I also had the thoughts of carrying both rifles, since different situations could call for different weapons.

Did anyone else get the idea during the conversation with NEXIS, that "Mael'nerak" might be the progenitor's NAME? The Maliri give the impression that The Mael'nerak is the species/boogieman. Maybe over the millennia, it has gone from his name, (possibly title) to species.

The black ship. As I recall, the assassin went and "defrosted" the thing in the black ship, saying that this would do nicely. (or to that effect). So, a special "tool" is being employed, but I am not yet convinced that it is actually the assassin in person yet.

This will be a great time for Faye to act and warn John and crew of an impending boarding action. In theory, Faye should be able to detect that a ship is at the docking collar. The chapter ended before anything could be announced though, since they hadn't even jumped to hyperwarp. Could be a serious case of coitus interuptus fixin' to happen.

I think that is good for now. What think you all? (stirrin' the pot again lol)

Introducing advanced laser weapons makes their ground excursions more interesting. I'd like to see them employ a strategy when they mix up the weapons they bring to battle. Say Alyssa, Dana, and Irillith use Justice rifles, and John, Rachel, Calara use Punishers. I'm picturing it where each weapon is useful for a different scenario, and it helps to have both on hand to be prepared. I'd like to see a capable tactician like John use the pros and cons of each weapon to its fullest. It would break up the monotony of "oh we have a new weapon it's kinda like our old weapons but it makes a bigger hole now" and bring some variety to the combat. Then again, if you can make all your weapons weigh less and find a way to securely attach them to yourself, they could all carry both.

Mixing it would be especially useful against the Kintark; if they primarily fight with plasma weapons it stands to reason that they would have also developed pretty advanced shielding technology and even personal shields, but they also have pretty tough armored hide and regeneration, so the lasers and railguns would both be called for.