Conference With An Incorporation
I dreamed that a bird, a terrible raptor, was eating my eyes. Needless to say I awoke somewhat discomfited.
Thus it was with a feeling of great relief that I looked around to see orange dappled light playing across the ceiling, and smelled the moist, hot air of Maja's equatorial balm. I was not blind, nor dead. Life chirped and whinnied beyond the windows. I heard the screech of a large bird and shuddered, gooseflesh rising on my arms. I sat up. I looked around the bed, in which I had slept alone.
What morning was this? And why did it smell like afternoon?
Dear readers,
It's finally happened: the free version of this science-fiction novel has been taken offline in order to make room for the hard-cover printed edition from Ephemera Bound Publishing, on sale in stores and online beginning Valentine's Day, 2008.
I regret any disappointment. I kept the free version available as long as I could. Pleasure be sure to check out the new edition! See Cheeseburger Brown.com for more information and updates.
Love,
Cheeseburger Brown
P.S. You can read more of my free fiction via my weblog or in the complete story achives.
posted by Simon of Space at 00:42
68 Comments:
Yay! First comment!
Yay! Crushed Head Faeda!!!
Nitpick:
"Nine bells, sir. Neary supper."
should read:
"Nine bells, sir. Nearly suppler."
The best line of the post: "Jeremiah turned. "What do you remember about the bird?" he asked in a sharp, commanding tone."
Beautiful. And I must echo irish wolf - I'm so excited to see Crushed Head Faeda again! I always liked her.
Oh, and I forgot to add: I absolutely love the idea of the Incorporation. Brilliant.
I almost had first comment... then I realized that there was another chapter... below the one I just read... i.e., that I'd read Conference w/o reading the preceding chapter!
I understood what was going on because of references back to the prior chapter. And I read it, lamenting that CBB hadn't written the actual confrontation with Jia! ROTFLOL!
Anyway, thanks for these two chapters, shot out so close together I actually missed the prior one initially! :)
Awesome writing as usual, dear CBB. :)
I feel really bad about Jia. She truly fell in love with him.
uh oh I did the same thing as you, Sith Snoopy. I better go back and read then. :oP Was just about to complain about the lack of explaination!
Holy crap, a near double-post! Hooray for the return of Crushed Head Faeda! Well, not really the Faeda we knew... or is it?
Wish there was more explanation though; these two posts seem a little too hectic and action packed. Anyway, looking forward to more!
-Ott
I can't wait to find out what happened to Faeda. Does she remember Simon?
wheee!
*hearty applause*
Magnificent.
The line from Jerimiah about the bird was very telling, and interesting.
But the "best line" for me was: "No," I replied, not looking at her. "I believe she died from being killed." It probably says something about me that I laughed out loud at that line. What I think it says is that sledgehammer honesty is near and dear to my heart. However, your milage may vary...
Olorio is Volsmash, eh? Yeah, it fits.
It's a shame that Jia has died. Then again, dying wife/girlfriend is a thematic device that brings out my unmitigated fury every time, even though I'm quite single and have been most of my life. I've been told that I've experienced it in a past life...
ah, but if I recall correctly, Crushed-Head-Faeda was going to die once Before-the-Accident-Faeda was restored in her brain..
so all this excitement to see her again the story may be a little presumptuous as it's not very likely that she's going to be the same woman from the earlier entries, nor is it likely that she will even recall ever meeting Simon..
but I could be wrong.. ;)
Dear Irish Wolf,
WTF is "suppler"?
My usage of the word "supper" was meant to reference the third meal of the day.
Love,
CheeseburgerBrown
CBB, yeah i was wonder wtf "sppler" was too :|
This chapter definatly was the best for me so far, I still think things are a bit rushed, but I'd like to point out that you seem to be writing this "on the fly" with some notes & diagrams to help, so DAMN you're doing a fine job of it :D
I'm sure that if/when (hopefully "when") you publish Simon, another draft will clean things up.
It's damn near irritating waiting between posts ;)
*impatiently waiting...*
*L* Crushed head Faeda makes an appearance!!!
Now I can't WAIT till the next installment!
Yeah, I did the same thing as sith snoopy and lilaena.
But why are you all so sure Jia is dead??? I'm not.
Sooooo many questions.
I think Simon made a tactical error when he stopped asking the Inc. questions so soon. He might have been able to get "how they work" and "how do we counteract them" info out of the Inc.
These drugs are crazily programmable. The headache-induced death enforcement is an option likely not used on Horror victims. Also, the level of repression seems to be an option.
Simon and Faeda - Completely wiped. Or are they? It was a Fellcorp facility telling them that. We may see Simon bleed from the ears yet.
Omar - Wasn't aware he couldn't remember things.
Jia - Was aware of the deceptions. But why was she left that way? I wonder if she introduced Simon to Blighton because she fell in love with Simon. She had to know it could screw up their new happy family, hoped it wouldn't, but couldn't stand deceiving him.
Why is Jeremiah allowing Simon to continue on his quest for truth when his comment about the bird seems to indicate he doesn't want him to remember?
Why does this enemy kill some people and tamper with others? Faeda is a confusing mixed case of possible attempted murder and erasing of someone who had a backup.
I hope that Jia isn't dead. No one ever saw a body.
Glory has some accounting to do for her time away from the team. I still don't know that she should be trusted despite the standard "kid trusts her so she must be good" theme.
Good confusing job CBB.
PS - When I think of Simon in the red longcoat packing his gun I think of Vash the Stampede.
It's so cool how everyone is comming together.
And how everyone is connected, it is as if Simon was placed in a position to meet these people so he will be better at controlling the life he one had and the he is creating for himself and his new found family.
Although i still don't trust Glory.
And now will "Crushed Head Faeda" remember Simon??
SantaMaria
Dear all,
Regarding the knitting of SIMON OF SPACE, as so many have asked:
Here is a short but complete manifest of the resources I use to create each episode. The episodes are, as has been speculated, created "on the fly" -- that is, each episode is copy-pasted into Blogger about thirty seconds after I finish typing the last paragraph. As I've mentioned, I get my first full read of the episode once it's up on the blog.
SIMON OF SPACE AUTHOR RESOURCE MANIFEST:
* ITEM THE FIRST
Page 36 of my little red ink-based notebook is devoted to SoS. Because these notes are on the thirty-sixth page of the book, I made Simon thirty-six years old.
A majority of the space is devoted to a series of bubbles each representing a planet. These bubbles are connected by arrows, which detail the sequence in which the planets are visited. In the periphery of each bubble is a line or two of plot notes.
For example, around the edge of the bubble marked MAJA the biggest note reads: "When a man has nothing else to live for, he scrapes the bottom of the barrel. Why not quest for truth?" A small scribble reads: "Intro World Train - Jeremiah's 2nd Revelation? - Glory's colleague: ah-ha!"
The first note is about where I needed to get Simon to, before we left Maja. (If you like to think about things in computational terms, it basically boils down to a required condition for exiting the Maja loop.) The second note is some thoughts about other things that might happen on Maja, some of which I used (World Train) and some of which I shunted over to the next world (Jeremiah's 2nd Revelation).
Crammed into the margins of Page 36 are some quotations, which might have occurred to me in the grocery store or while watching TELETUBBIES with my daughter. Jeremiah's "I am your enemy" bit is jotted there, and so is Peebles' "revenge is a form of truth" conceit. And others I can't mention, lest we spoil.
* ITEM THE SECOND
I have a plain-text file called "Inhabited Worlds" which I researched and assembled in the autumn of 2001. Basically, I plotted out a bunch of sun-type stars within a dozen cubic parsecs of Earth, invented fictitious planetary systems for them, and then decided in which order they'd been populated.
* ITEM THE THIRD
Anytime I come across an interesting word or name in any language I put it in a plain-text file called "Scifi Names" along with a brief description of the meaning. I use this compilation to help me name planets, stars, cities, languages and characters.
* ITEM THE FOURTH
I have a plain-text file called "Galactic Timeline" which lists in single-sentence summaries lots of cool miscellaneous crap I've thought up over the past few years, arranged in a rough chronological sequence beginning with the settlement of Mars and trailing off several millennia after the period in which SoS is set.
* ITEM THE FIFTH
Me.
Some questions and answers:
Q: Does CBB know how it all turns out?
A: At this point I can confidently say, "Yes, more or less." In the last month my idea for the ending finally gelled, and I'm pretty sure it won't change substantially by the time I get to typing it out. Some of the key dialogue points are already noted on Page 36 of my little red notebook.
Q: Does CBB knows what happens next?
A: A slightly different question, with a slightly different answer. "Nope." The details I make up as I go along. I don't have all that much idea how a world's really going to work out until I get there. I have ideas like, "Annapurna's a pioneer world with guns" but that's about it. The capital world of Callicrates exists in my mind mainly as the one-liner that will introduce it (thank you Page 36), and I'm interested to see how I end up fleshing it out. Whee!
Q: Will a revised and properly edited version of SoS be available?
A: Possibly. As I've mentioned before, a dead-tree edition of the text that appears on this blog will be available (self-published via Lulu) upon the story's conclusion, as a keepsake. A second edition would be prepared only in the event of interest from a traditional publisher. You see, I can't be induced to spend immediate time on a project that's "finished" in the creative output sense unless there's money in it for me. I know that's crass to say and all, but I'm a frank fellow. I'm trying to feed my family, and so if there isn't any traditional publisher interest in SoS I'm far more likely to devote my time to writing something new. I have two new projects forming in my head now for post-SoS writing: a mainstream novel set in contemporary times, and another science-fiction novel extending upon the scenario described in my short story TWO MOMENTS OF INVENTION, and starring its anti-hero Slimfast Metamucil (who is quite unlike Simon in all the ways that matter...even more so after the round of rewrites poor Slimfast's adventures so badly need).
Q: Will the Lulu edition contain this weblog's comments?
A: Possibly, depending on how including such material would affect the price, and how much time I'll realistically be able to devote to copy-pasting and reformatting it all. As ever, time is of the essence!
Love,
CheeseburgerBrown
i love the bird...
glad glory's back...
can't wait for faeda...
i think irish wolf has one too many L's, meant nearly, but somehow it flew into supper too... (wft is suppler?, lmao)
three nits:
"There is one piece of advice I can give you and your valiant forces, Simon."
and
"The column answered smoothly:"
and
"I put my arm should -> around him."
everyone seems to have an instinctive fear or mistrust of jeremiah, is that just a majan thing? or is there a larger prejudice? some robot-war or involvement at kamari?
kamari nightmares... 2nd book! ;)
I was so glad to see not one, but two posts! I just wanted to say that I don't think the increased pace of the story is a bad thing. It gave me a sense of urgency....which is exactly what Simon's going through. I think that a few more details could be added, but overall great job! I do have to say that the lack of Jia's body leaves her death questionable - probably what you wanted anyway.
Yea! Crushed Head Faeda!
I think the ultimate plot twist at this point would to be to have Simon as Volsmash and did this to himself, either as penance or as the best way to hide.
I cannot believe how mind-reeling you have made this story. I am continually guessing at the plot, and I know I am not even close. You give us too much time to think about the story between posts.
At least I have not lost 2 days of continual reading from not being able to put down your book. You force me to interact with the world and digest your plot.
I really dig the literal use of the word incorporation. After all, since we treat businesses legally as persons, why shouldn't they have a physical personification?
I'm feeling the Faeda!
P.
Man. That painting at Blighton's house was... well, disturbing. I assume that's meant to shed some light on his morbid character (hopefully not to foreshadow something more sinister about him).
A curiosity about Jeremiah: when he said "I am your enemy", I wonder if it indicated a mutable condition. Could J be less an enemy as the story progresses? Either way, what a wonderfully complex character.
By the way, I gave you a plug on some of my listservs as well as the "Link Mart" forum at PointlessWasteOfTime.com; hopefully it'll bring you some more traffic/revenue. It's about time more people were introduced to Simon!
Hey CBB - do you have any plans for future adventures in the SoS "universe"?
Perhaps 'suppler' is what the Onceler has for the third meal of the day?
I find it interesting that the reader can tell within the first paragraphs if the installment will be reveling or merely substance to fill out storylines or character. CBB, you manage to write in manner that tells me in advance to hit the edge of my seat, or sit back and take it in. Beautiful.
Even if Jia entered into her new found life voluntarily - as a prostitute most likely would have - she seems to have maintained some independence over the program, possibly to the extent that she maneuvered the Blighton meeting without triggering the the program's error handling module. A story hole? If Simon is blocked by a similar program, why aren't any of his revelations causing him pain - unless a) he is on a truthful path but still one chosen/allowed by his tormentors, or b) the program has 'backdoors' by which the truth can set you free if accessed appropriately.
There is something of a circular logic problem here too: some of Simon's questions and reasoning are based on facts supplied to him by Omar and Jia who he knows is under compulsion. The is selective belief here both in the length of Omar's tenure and his bullet.
If Glory knew Kassandra back in the day, would it not be possible that she also has been programmed? Her timing is impeccable.
Crushed Head of course spoke of crystals holding her memory. What is a crystals relation to the program? Who can't wait to find out how that head really got crushed? Did Simon or Jeremiah do it - the Second Revelation?
Best guess on the future: the conclusion Simon has reached is too easily gained, and as walking evidence of the crimes/cover-up it would be all to simple for Olorio to arrange for a similar convenient death for Simon and his band of merry folk. I think Simon is still at the whim of a puppeteer. The question: is the puppeteer nervous?
Cheeseburger Brown, thanks for the insight into your creative processes. You reveal the depth of your preparation and the flexibility of a mind that can develop so involved, detailed, and intricate a story on the fly.
The Incorporation is neat, indeed :)
I hope there's a good reason for the High Priestess of the Citadel being in the same hospital as Simon, though. I expect it's not a coincidence she had an accident at the same time as Simon, but Fellcorp must have had a bunch of other hospitals they could hide her in.
Unless both of them were manufactured in the hospital, except Faeda was defective and had to be fixed?
few more things: I think I am more anxious for the tidbit revealed in these comments by CBB - Jeremiah's second revelation - than anything the actual installment provided.
How will it lend new perspective to the phrase "I am your enemy"? Maybe our lamp shaded anti-hero speaks of a conflict with the program and not the man, or is it a conflict with who he was and not who he is becoming - as foreshadowed by Crush Head's early recitations?
One other thing - why the coitus didn't Simon enter into the most obvious line of questioning with the Incorporation: "who am I?" Why did he ask Omar what it had to do with him when he had the Majan version of Ask Jeeves right there?
and finally one more possibility in this infinite goo of possibility Cheeseburger has given us: which of the former officers of Fellcorp might Simon really be?
the birds. must stop the birds.
This has got to be the longest post that i have ever read in my entire life!
Line of the Day:
No," I replied, not looking at her. "I believe she died from being killed."
The bird is ... a Prometheus reference, perhaps?
matt, you're absolutely right about the Vash!!
When they started talking to the Incorporation, I was instantly reminded of Accelerando.
Boy, I'm just full of references today, aren't I?
"I dreamed that a bird"
Maybe should be "I drempt that a bird"
just saying
Except "drempt" isn't a word. But nice try.
"dreamt" is, however. :p
"Dreamed" is a word. "Dreamt" is a different tense of the same word.
"Drempt" is just plain funny.
I'm afraid "suppler" has lost the crown for the strangest attempted-correction today.
Love,
CheeseburgerBrown
P.S. I'm really enjoying the speculation. Keep it coming!
Just wanted to say thanks for the insight into your style of development.
-fooburger
"Suppler" is the meal one eats after the person doing the typing has been kept up much of the night by an inconsiderate neighbor, whose habit of burning extremely nasty incense by an open window often causes the typist's pregnant wife to vomit excessively.
Hey, I'm going through L here, why not you? :)
"Drempt" is a funnier word, though...
Speculation:
"revenge is a form of truth"
Simon is Volmash, forced to rediscover what a monster he is.
Also: Simon keeps his enemies close.
1) We are given reasons not to trust Glory. Her original appearance was cooincidental enough, but her knowing Jia is too much of a cooincidence. Her re-appearance is downright fishy.
2) We are given reasons to fear Jerimiah. At least we thought Simon was safe as long as he protected Pish, but now we see the robot is also gaurding Simon's secrets.
3) Pish is innocent and absolutely trusted by Simon. Therefore, I think it would be the most fun if he were found to be manipulating Simon as well - because he can do it so slyly in that cuddly little kid body.
Umm, did we forget about Duncan?
And why is noone asking, "How in the HELL did Glory even get to Maja, much less in Simon's house?"
I don't like Glory, never did.
Dear all,
If you're interested in supporting the cause of me having more time to devote to writing, please do consider buying a copy of my new children's storybook, GOODBYE TO KITTY.
It's the story of a toddler's experience of a death of a family pet. Full colour illustrations. Frank but not morbid. Sure to be a collectors' item in years to come.
Preview: http://mfdh.blogspot.com/2005/08/goodbye-to-kitty.html
Purchase: http://www.lulu.com/content/144833
Love,
CheeseburgerBrown
...OR people could just donate to SoS here, if they think the story's good enough to read every day and discuss to the nth degree :-D
I never said that I could spell!!!
And just a moment before I was laughing at the other person for suppler!!!!
HA HA.....
Dear Anonymous,
An critical requirement to work on our editorial staff of punctuation and corrections: spelling skills.
Perhaps you would be better suited for work in our department of manufactured languages and accents.
‘Drempt’ is a good start.
Jia's not dead; she's being held as a future bargaining chip.
This just in: the person responsible for editing and submitting the last comment posted by delirium of disorder has been summarily sacked.
The irony.
Edmund said ...
Jia's not dead; she's being held as a future bargaining chip.
I like the way your mind works.
What? Simon accepts Glory back in his midst just like that? What 411 is she withholding? She worked with Jia who happened to take a job as Simons's wife? What kind of security man is Omar who lets Glory get into the house and doesn't question what she's doing hanging with Simon?
Thank You
oh cool... have you ever clicked on the word "said..." at the top of one of these comments? It collapses. Makes things a little easier to read.
The whole "Glory is back" senario is too weird. I hope Simon is being wary of her, although I don't see how he could be trusting her at all.
He's probably starting to subtly manipulate everyone around him, starting with Glory and Omar. The manipulated becomes the manipulator!
I think Jia is dead (technically Jia never existed, only Kissandra [if one can believe Glory]), and the bird is some how worked in with how and why Simon exists.
Simon of Space - literally! He was birthed by space itself perhaps? Now I think I'm getting too far afield, because with that theory comes the "Simon as savior" aspect which is... a little too cliche. For me, anyway.
Bottom line: Next post please!
So like, not to beat a dead horse or anything but the point of irish wolf's nitpick (viz the word "neary") got lost :)
so to nitpick irish wolf's nitpick:
Nine bells, sir. Neary supper."
should in fact be:
Nine bells, sir. Nearly supper."
Like many here, the idea of The Incorporation I found to be magnificently brilliant. So much so that I hope the damn thing gets invented soon. (Invented being the step after conceptualised, which CBB has done).
Thanks,
Seemant
Dear Seemant,
Christ, thanks for clearing that one up! I had a total blindspot to actual correction Irish Wolf intended to point out.
Love,
CheeseburgerBrown
Your google ads are now exceedingly freaky. Looking at it, google seems to think that Simon is a hypochondriac.
hmmm, faeda is returning, what about jessem? he had the super-short memory, right?
awful lot of memory issues at the clinic there in the beginning, no?
sometimes research on new treatment methods is done in a clinic... successfully & unsuccessfully.
quite a few people seem to be having memory issues in some way, and are they all linked to the kamari incursion? or maybe it was the kamari rebellion?
hmmm, someone's twisting my mind.
;)
how did i mispell wtf??? sheesh!
Has anyone thought that the bird might be connected with the nightmare cannon? It might be triggering some memory or something in Simon... Great post, CBB! Keep up the good work!
Hmm. Reading all these bring up MORE questions.
Yes, why didn't Simon query the Incorporation more? Odd.
Also, CBB, do you ever use speculations from the comments in the future of the story?
WHERE'S THE NEXT POST??? *LOL*
CBB has said from time to time -- or at least once -- that he enjoys reader speculation, and that we should feel free because if one of our ideas pops up later, we can think that *maybe* we had some sort of influence on the story.
Maybe.
Also, I keep forgetting to ask this, but (re. the previous episode) if this is coming to us through a mechanized translator of some sort, how in the world did we get a phrase like "St. Elmo's Fire"?
Must... work... before... next post...
I've discovered a new way to appreciate the poetry of SoS.
I was showing my wife how to enlarge the text on the page so she can read it (she's going blind the poor thing) and discovered that if zoomed up so that you get approx. 1 word per line (ctrl+mouse wheel in firefox, dunno what it is in IE as I refuse to even start that abomination up on my machine) there are moments of exquisite poetry throughout the prose. Give it a go.
The best one I've found so far is (ignoring punctuation)"his dignity was being tested by being slathered in manure by the painted hands of chanting desert Ruffians" from "A Meek Cancer". Take each snippet out of context and see what it conjours.
Dear all,
Regretfully, I am writing to say that I'm behind. The last couple of days have been...hectic.
If I get a new episode up on Friday, I will -- but to be candid we may end up with a weekend post this time, folks.
Life is thick now. And stupid.
Love,
CheeseburgerBrown
Cheeseburger Brown,
You get things taken care of and we'll wait patiently (ok that's a polite lie) for our next installment.
As much as we'd like you to be jester to our courtly whims, we know life happens.
Thanks for letting us know there will be a delay.
We can read some back installments and speculate more. Someone always discovers some subtle foreshadowing when this happens.
Rereading probably would probably give some new insight. I think everyone (that comments anyway) had forgotten that Jeremiah showed as the property of Terran Volmash before Corinthia Tag brought him up.
So that means nobody else noticed that Corinthia Tag had a seam running from skull to tailbone, almost as if she were some sort of... costume?
Somehow I don't think that Tag was a guy in a body-suit. Tag asked Simon to kiss her, and giggled afterwards.
I think Tag is real.
-- SithSnoopy, who got tired of waiting for the
browser to finish loading up the text boxes for her blogger identity and password! [Wow, there are a ton of comments for this post!]
You think there are a lot of comments here? Check out the last post on Darth Side.
Tag did not have a seam... ? I didn't read that. Prove me wrong if you weren't joking.
I just wanted to see if anyone would bite.
Now, Omar's giant zipper is a different matter entirely...
I bit... I had to go back and read that whole section. Curse You. That would've been huge...
.. not to say Tag isn't part of the puppeteer's plan... she is afterall the voice on his cell phone... that's tooo fishy.
Wow, until reading the comments, I had completely missed that Jeremiah was owned by Terron Volmash!!!
"when I faced Jeremiah -- for him the plate identified his model and make, his year of construction and his legally registered owner (somebody named Terron Volmash, apparently)."
I think i missed that one. when did the plate say that Jeremiah was owned by Terron Volmash.
Oh Boy
I think it is time to reread everything!!!!!
clueless
You see CBB, by NOT posting you give everyone hours of enjoyment instead of the 15 minutes they would have spent on a single installment.
And on the re-read look how much more impressive a writter you are with all these hidden nuggets.
So we're fine while you handle what life is tossing your way.
But don't let that ever stop you from posting when you are ready.
So who caught the part about the Constable on Annapurna being named Bick Tou - the same name as the former Chief Personnel officer of FellCorp who disappeared?
Just kidding.
"...I have already blown my oracle --""
heh! My fav one liner yet...
"I will piss on your face."
Man, I hope Faeda hasn't changed.
That line sure did crack me up. I actually thought about it and started laughing in the shower the next morning.
Later that day, I was sitting in a business meeting and that line came back into my head as I was listening to a boring rant from a coworker. Man oh man I actually had to turn my chair around, stare out the conference room window, and bite down HARD on the back of my hand to keep from laughing out loud in the meeting.
Can't wait to see Faeda again.
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