Human Black Box: Follow the Money (Part 3)

In the previous two installments, Anjali was given an assignment by ANTARES to hunt down information on a guy named "K-Wave." Along the way, she ran into an old friend, and found herself unraveling the interesting history of a man who vanished 5 years after the fall.

Today, Anjali comes a little closer to finding the truth - but still has a long way to go from understanding it.

Human Black Box: Follow the Money (part 1)

For this next segment of Human Black Box, we leave Chloe and Zira (and their adventures on Mars, the Christbot, Dr. M&M and the strange cult-like atmosphere of the New Hope Village colony - possibly), and catch up with an old friend - Hotaru, now going by a different name with a different identity - living on Luna. Thus far, she's enjoyed the life of a transhuman teenager denied to her because of the Fall, but we know that can't last...

Human Black Box: Devil's Advocate (Part 9)

Here we are, back on schedule again (sorta). The last few Human Black Box installments have been spread out over the last few months, due mostly to my working schedule and classes, but I'm back, and I've got new updates down the tubes for it.

First up, A recap of where we are: Chloe and Zira were sent to Mars by ANTARES to investigate a "Dr. Mahmoud-Martinique", who went vanished. While there, they started digging up evidence that Dr. M&M worked for a reclaimer movement who had made actual runs to Earth, and that he'd gotten tied up in a strange cult-like group, with individuals who model themselves after the Left Behind series of novels. While following up on the lead that lead to the discover of a Christbot that Dr. M&M had brought back from Earth on one such trip, one of those individuals - a blogger named Cameron Williams - got the drop on the women and killed Chloe. After resleeving, Chloe and Zira concocted a scheme to get into New Hope Village Colony - by creating beta forks of themselves and sleeving them into flats. Chloe, sleeved in a specialized ruster morph, followed them in. While there, Chloe discovered agents of a group called Ozma there, interrogating what looked like the Christbot. After saving him and killing off the Ozma agents, Chloe found herself face-to-face with the Christbot sleeved in a biomorph... and it wasn't entirely human...

Meanwhile, Zira caught up with one of Cameron's forks, and after a question and answer session, managed to get some disturbing truths from the fork, including a plan to smuggle the fork through one of the Pandora Gates and into an exosolar colony...

This is the final part of Devil's Adovcate. The next arc-segment will pick up with a familiar face that we haven't seen in a while - even though she's got a new one - and deal with a different problem...

As Promised! Human Black Box - Now As A PDF!

I burned the midnight oil for this - let this be lesson: Never put off today what you can do tomorrow. Or something like that. Anyway, after spending a couple of weeks intermittenly working on it, I'm finally done. I have collected the entire first part of Human Black Box into a single PDF file, done through publisher. I sorta wish that I had more artistic talent than I do, but that's what DAZ studio is for.

So - here it is. Human Black Box: Things Go Sideways.
I plan to do this for all of the releases of Human Black Box, but what I learned here was that I need to start sooner than a week before I promise it. Anyway, the document is released under the Share and Share Alike license, so if some Godforsaken reason you want to use the artwork or you want to use the characters, feel free - just attribute me as their creator. Everything else is the IP of Posthuman Studios; the folks who created Eclipse Phase.

Human Black Box: Devil's Advocate, Part 8

Here we are, at Part 8 of Devil's Advocate. The mystery has only gotten deeper - what is going on at New Hope Colony? What's Cameron and the inhabitants planning to do with the Christ bot once they get it out of the sysem? Why a did Dr. M&M risk life and ego to bring a Christ bot back to Earth? What does the Christ bot know? Where did it come from?

With all these questions and more, let's dive headfirst into the story, and rejoin Chloe back at New Hope Colony...

Human Black Box: Devil's Advocate, Part 7

Alright, here's Part 7 in the continuing saga of Chloe and Zira.

Last time around Zira concocted a scheme that would either get them killed or get them into New Hope Colony. And by "them" I mean Chloe, and by "killed or get into the colony" I likely mean both. Today picks up with Zira following a few leads, and answering a few questions while Chloe infiltrates the New Hope Colony.

Human Black Box: Devil's Advocate Part 6

It's a been a while since I posted a new Human Black Box. I've been busy at work, so I haven't had a chance to get ahead like I'd want to, but I'm still far enough ahead that the only reason they haven't been posted is because I've forgotten to. While I'm burning the midnight oil tonight, I figured I might as well set up Part 6. Hopefully, I'll get Part 7 up tomorrow.

Last time around, things picked up when Chloe and Zira found themselves confronted with two unusual things - the ego that M&M brought back from Earth (a Christbot), and a wily and skillful Cameron, who managed to get the drop on them by complete surprise (sleeving in a flat? And then pretending to be bioconservative and an idiot to get them to drop their guard?). Today's HBB picks up with Chloe and Zira, following Chloe's resleeving.

So let's roll the footage!

Human Black Box: Devil's Advocate (part 5)

It's been a while, but that's only because life's gotten in the way. In the last installment, Zira was attempting to find her way into Zygote, and branch out to make the proper connections - in the world of transhumanity, it's very much a case of not what you know but who you know, and knowing the right people goes a long way to making the proper connections, especially when you go digging for men that seemed to have multiple lives and multiple identities...

Today's installment sees things heat up a bit; perhaps a bit literally in some senses...I present for your consumption Human Black Box: Devil's Advocate Part 5. As usual, you can find the character list here, and the archives here.

Due to recent outside interest in the story, I may split the difference and move Human Black Box to it's own blog, and leave this blog for just the political stuff. It'll depend upon how things go in the future, but I wanted to let everyone know that this is a possibly bouncing around in my head now. Anyway, let's roll that beautiful bean footage...

Human Black Box: Devil's Advocate (part 4)

On a roll today; in the last installment, the mystery deepened when the our protagonists learned of a flat that was looking for their man; the let him go, but they still have no idea what a flat, from an right-wing evangelical Christian community (rare in it of itself) would be after Dr. M&M for.

So, the two set out to try and find these answers, and more, on their way to Zygote in this installment of Human Black Box.

As always, you can find the archives here and the character page here.

Human Black Box: Devil's Advocate (part 3)

It's been a while, but after plugging away, I've managed to get a head of the curve. The last scene saw our noble heroes tracking Dr. M&M to an isolated colony on Mars, only to learn that he was famous in another isolated colony.

The hunt for Dr. M&M continues, and the mystery deeps, in this section of Human Black Box.

As always, you can find the archive here, and the character list here.

Human Black Box: Devil's Advocate (part 2)

In the last installment, Chloe and Zira learned why they were on Mars. In this one, they continue their hunt for the mysterious Dr. Erasmus Mahmoud-Martinique, which takes them to a small, not-so-well-known location in the Martian Outback. Bring your cowboy chaps, horses, and jeans. Akubra's are optional, however.

Human Black Box: Devils Advocate (prt 1)

Welcome to the newest installment of Human Black Box, pumped out ready for a Friday. This is the beginning of a new arc; Arc 2, titled "Sacraments and Lies." This particular section is part one of Devil's Advocate. Before I go any further, I shout out to the guys over on the EP Forum - this particular thread inspired me to draft up my thoughts for this arc. Expect plenty of Left Behind references. Simply because I can't resist.

This particular act begins on Mars. Because the webbernetz is pretty cool, I have two things for you, my dedicated readers. The first is a map of Mars at the time of EP:

The second is even cooler. I present to you Google Mars. It's like Google Maps, but it's for Mars instead of Earth. Google Earth also has a 3d Mars Skin that you can download for it, too; it's definitely something you should check out if you're interested in that sort of thing.

In the meantime, let's get this arc started on the right foot...

Human Black Box: Interlude 1

So, I just recently finished the first arc of Human Black Box, and as I gear up to move into the second, I decided to make use of the various possibilities that an Internet-based story allows me.

Human Black Box: What Happens in Vegas... (pt 8)

... moves to Area 51.

Things are down to the wire now. Running on nothing more than sheer adrenaline, a little sleep, and plenty of ammunition, the team is on the last leg of their journey, and probably on their last leg, period. Four exhumans, two uplifts, and two transhumans are gearing up to mount an assault against a fortified position, protected by a general who has made multiple copies of himself and downloaded them into battle-hardened synthmorphs, creating his own person military.

Oh, an there's a TITAN somewhere in there, too.

If they can survive, they're almost all but guaranteed to get off the planet (providing Antares wasn't lying). But from where they stand, that's a pretty big if...

You can find the previous parts of Human Black Box here, in the Human Black Box archive. You can also find the character list here.
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Human Black Box: What Happens in Vegas ... (pt 7)

Strike the iron while it's hot.

In the last section, the crew butted heads with the warbot. One good shot was all it took - but it was at the cost of Hotaru's health. To make matters worse (this whole section can be summed up with It Got Worse), and a nanobot swarm appeared over the horizon, forcing everyone to duck and run.

But the warbot is temporarily out of the picture. And the headhunters - at least a few dozen of them, anyway - are out of the way. For the time being, anyway.

Welcome to Part 7 of "What Happens in Vegas". You can find all of the previous parts of Human Black Box here, in the Human Black Box archives.

Our heroes are in the home stretch, now...
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Human Black Box: What Happens in Vegas... (pt. 6)

In the last installment of Human Black Box, the team found themselves the unlikely allies of the exhumans. Two enemies working towards the same goal... it helps that Mikhail is holding Cornelius hostage. Chloe's scheme is to go along until the time is right, and then plunge the knife into their back - of course, that means not turning hers. After all, if she's planning to betray them, it doesn't take a genius to figure out they're going to do the same thing...

You can find all the previous parts of Human Black Box here, in the Human Black Box archive.

In the meantime, it's off to the picture show!
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Human Black Box: What Happens in Vegas... (pt 5)

Welcome back all. When we last left Chloe and her intrepid friends, they had barely managed to give one creature the slip before accidentally discovering the lair of what appeared to be more exsurgents. The team struck out with the last bet, and this one is for all or nothing...

You can find the Human Black Box archive here, with all of the previous entries in the story, and a running list of characters. So, that said, let's continue with Part 5 of the "What Happens in Vegas" act. 
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Human Black Box: What Happens in Vegas... (pt 4)

Things went all sideways in the last installment. Now down to four - five if you count Sava - the group is stranded near the middle of Las Vegas, in the middle of the night, having narrowly gotten away from the Exhumans and their pursuers, the TITAN Ares (delta-forked into a warbot) and the headhunters. They've barely had time to count their losses, and things will only get darker as the night goes along before they get brighter... if they get brighter at all.

After all - there's still an unaccounted for third party.

Welcome to Human Black Box: What Happens in Vegas (part 4). You can find the other parts of What Happens in Vegas and Things Go Sideways here, in the HBB Archives.

Finally, an observation: I've been rather busy lately (hence the distance between the updates). But never fear - I do have plans to make the corrects pointed out to me. Thanks so much for those who are willing to deal with my obviously beta drafts. :)

Anyway, on with the show!

Human Black Box: What Happens in Vegas ... (pt 3)

... I need to find more ways to finish that.

Welcome back to the ongoing saga of Chloe and her allies as they try to get off of Earth. Unfortunately, it seems like every time they turn around, there's something there stopping them. First they get waylaid by the exhumans of Vegas, and then they realize one of their own was working with the exhumans... and now Chloe is backed into a corner.

This is Part 3 of "What Happens in Vegas...". To find the other 2 parts, and the rest of the Human Black Box story, go to the HBB Archives, located here: HBB Archives. In the meantime, let's get on with the show.

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Human Black Box: What Happens In Vegas... (pt 2)

... Gets made into commercials.

The last installment left Chloe in a rather tight spot - she'd run afoul what was apparently one of the exhumans, who got the drop on her in a rather startling way. That was only after their first encounter with the exsurgents, who resembled so much as giant floating snot-bubbles that could fling an acid like substance.

The stakes are high in Vegas, and it's not at the blackjack table.

Welcome to "What Happens in Vegas...", part 2. You can find the Human Black Box archive here: HBB Archive.

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