EnuoCale

     Adam awoke with a sudden start.     He couldn't remember where he was, or how he got there, but that wasn't surprising really; his memory had hardly been good in previous days, though for the life of him, he couldn't remember if he was supposed to remember why.     He had been in the water drowning, last he knew. From the rocking of the small room he found himself in, presumably he was in a boat of some kind; hopefully one that had come to rescue him. Either that, or his headache was making him think the room was moving. Either was as likely. He tried to get up, but he found that his limbs were all weak, probably from his recent near

      Adam reflected on how much better things were in the world a month ago. Or a year ago. Whenever it was. There was no progress in time for him, anymore. In his ruined world, there was no longer even night and day; just pale red skies, which rarely even changed. Other than the clouds moving a seemingly insignificant amount, that is. They didn't move as fast as they used to, that was for sure.       Of course, he figured that his life -like that of everyone in the world- would have taken on qualities like this, as he grew older, anyway. One by one, the people you knew would either mentally ort physically abandon you, and you would live o

      But all good things eventually pass away.      It had been years now, since Adam had seen his sunset. So long that he had even given up his alternating hope, running toward every sound he heard in delusions of rescue; and despair, acting like he didn't hear them, to pretend that he was master of his mental situation. Now, there was simply emptiness. Barely even sane enough to remember where he was, or even that he was alive, he spent his days wandering the empty streets; simply being. No thought, no fears. Even in his best moments, he barely even cobbled together enough brain cells to remember to find something to eat. After all, he h

    "Why do you think people are afraid of being alone?"     Damien almost dropped the pile of papers he was bringing in to Ophiuchus' office. No matter how many times Ophiuchus demanded to talk about whatever random topic he had on mind; Damien would never cease to be surprised (and somewhat alarmed) by it. Truth be told, he had actual work he could have said he needed to be back to, and it wouldn't have even been a lie, but he knew from experience that trying to escape wasn't an option.    "Why do you think people are afraid of being alone?"     Damien got the idea that it wouldn't be too healthy to prolong an answer.    "Because t

        Sophie was once again failing at her intended goal of being able to quietly observe the ambient night view of the rain, and the city lights. As was often her wont, she had wandered into the city from the more forlorn and empty industrial district she lived in; not on any sort of a specific errand, but merely to get a chance to be in a more colorful area, with a (slightly) less oppressive atmosphere. Not to say that she at all disapproved of where she lived, that is. She chose it after all; for it's forlorn and empty feel. But sometimes it was good to have a change of scenery.       She was sitting on what in reality was only a third

     Adam became vaguely aware of the feeling of rushing movement and bright streams of somewhat pink light around him. He wasn't quite conscious enough to know what was happening, but he vaguely had in the back of his mind slight confusion as to why he was alive enough for anything to be happening at all. Or why it even would be, even if he was. He felt pain distinctly from almost every individual part of his body, which he was sure wouldn't have made sense if he was actually dead. But at the same time; he didn't feel quite like he was fully alive, either.     Though he slipped in and out of semi-consciousness, without ever being fully "in

            ACTIVATING ISRAEL 61.            ACTIVATING ISRAEL 28.            ACTIVATING ISRAEL 13.            ACTIVATING ISRAEL 42.            ACTIVATING ISRAEL 16.            PREPARING LONG SLAVE DRIVES…            Samuel Volke checked several of the many synchronized watches he had set on his arm-computers. He generally did so every thirty seconds whenever he was doing anything important where anyone could see him, though he never knew why he bothered. He could calculate the passage of time just as easily (probably better) in his head, in what passed for his brain nowadays. But this was an important task he was doing, whic

          Adam was waking up a second time. After being left by the twins, he wasn't sure what to think; even about them, much less about the situation of his rescue. It was certainly odd that his old friend had come to an abandoned place to rescue him in the first place, much less that it was inter-spaced with a random wacky revolution endeavor. (or whatever the original reason had been for, since it certainly didn't seem likely that it would have been obvious to anyone that he was still alive after all that time. But then wasn't it a coincidence that it was someone he knew, of all the possibilities?) He wondered if those things were related

              "I don't know, Tomas... I'm not sure what to think."               Tomas was sitting in a meditative pose. He generally did, whenever he was communicating with his voices. And at most other times, as a matter of fact. You'll note that I said 'voices' and not people. It was uncertain whether he had all the screws adequately put in in his head. Probably not. He heard voices.               Sophie waited for an answer. Even if he was insane, there was no one else she was willing to trust for advice. How that made sense, even she wasn't sure. But it wasn't an impulse. He really did seem to have at least enough screws to give reas

           "So that's about everything. A brief history of the time I spend in my ruined city."             Adam had been feeling a bit better. Not enough yet that he could walk, or get up much, without a wheelchair, but he had certainly been improving rather than dep... deproving? ...getting worse. Sophie would come occasionally, bringing a little girl he didn't recognize; or the twins would come and talk to him from time to time. Or they would watch movies with him, or whatever other boring things people do with people who can't wa