Suzuki Stumpy

“Talking’ of which…” replies Paddy, through a mouthful of bacon, “… where are they? Unlike that lot to be late for a breakfast briefing.”

15 minutes before his alarm is due to sound, Paddy steps out of the fresher and towels himself dry. As he does so, he checks the messages on his comm and sees the requirement to go fully vacc-suited today. Cursing under his breath, he grabs the underlayer and begins zipping himself into the snug all-in-one bodysuit before donning the outer shell, checking all his seals are in place, but leaving the hood unsealed, hanging loosely at the nape of his neck. Damn it, how he hated wearing these things, necessary though they were out here. In short order, he's ready and heads down to the dining area where the smells of a good breakfast make his stomach growl. After helping himself to a good plate full of bacon, eggs and toast, he pours a coffee and heads over to the table where Jayne and Aardzu are sat in conversation. Without asking permission, he simply places his tray down at an empty place at their table and sits down. "Morning both." he says before downing a sizable glug of coffee, "So, any idea what's in store for us all today?"

Yep ... it's pretty much normal gov't weasel words to say 'you're covered, unless you're not, in which case, there are legal avenues you can take, but you can't, because...' Although, to be fair, we do have some pretty decent consumer protection here in the UK compared to much of the world.

Well, the UK Government have responded to the petition (so it's passed the 10,000 signatures mark at least): TL;DR: There's existing consumer legislation that covers all this. You can complain to trading standards or the CMA if you believe a vendor to be in breach of the regulations. [edit: For the record, the petition currently stands at 16,886 names. It'll need 100,000 names to guarantee debate time in parliament]

"Yeah, g'night both." Paddy says, waving off Aardzu and Jayne. He grabs himself another beverage before heading off towards his own bunk, lost in thought as to possible courses of action should that pirate fleet show up. He mulls a few ideas over in his head - but keeps coming back to the potential of sacrificing one of the ships - perhaps loading it full of mining charges rigged to blow at a remote signal. If they could set the thing adrift on the likely approach vector, the pirates might take the bait and allow the station crew to take out a sizable number of them in one go. If nothing else, he figures he'll float the idea with the higher-ups tomorrow morning. Arriving at his stateroom, Paddy unlocks the door and heads in. He places his drink on the cabinet besides his bunk, gets undressed, has a quick shower before turning in. Setting his alarm to wake him in plenty of time for the start of tomorrow's shift rotation.

Welcome back Rob. Great to also hear you’re on the mend - 60 days as an inpatient has to be rough … I’m usually climbing the walls after only a couple of days…

Their last night on Trader's Isle had been one fraught with discussion and argument, but eventually the decision was made to head North once more and retreat to somewhere safer. Somewhere that Dahr-Ol could receive the medical care and rest that he so obviously required. The arguments came, however, over their destination. The Beorning village of Stonyford was closest, being just a few miles upriver from where the company would have to turn off for the hike back to Mountain Hall. That would save them the better part of a week's travel and allow Dahr-Ol more time to recover. However, the wizard had advised the company to utmost secrecy, therefore a visit to the village would put that part of their mission in jeopardy. Assuming, of course, there was still a mission to complete. On that final night resting, the conversation around the fire was strained. " ... Look, I know Radagast wants us to avoid attention," Barin argued, "But even he could not have foreseen what has befallen us. I say we head for the Beorning village. It's closer, and Dahr-Ol has kin there. If ..." He shot a cautious glance in the direction of Dahr-Ol and Elfwynn and cringed slightly. "If, the worst should happen, at least he'll be among his own people. Plus, it's closer so he'll get medical care sooner. I think the time for secrecy is over - the Orcs still living will have doubtless reported back by now, so our presence here is no longer going unnoticed, so the best we can hope for is to try and avoid the servants of the shadow. Plus, if anyone asks, we're on a journey to the far South - perhaps answering a call to Gondor, we were waylaid by foulspawn and decided to head back North to the nearest village. That way, no-one needs know the true nature of our task."

Just finished reading "New Dark Age - Technology and the End of the Future" by James Bridle. It's a little disjointed and alarmist in parts, but a good and thought provoking read all the same. Now onto the third part of Cixin Liu's Trisolaris trilogy...

Yep. It's definitely worth checking out

Ooh. Just taken a look at that and instawishlisted it. Great recommendation.

Don't forget the famous quote from Arthur C. Clarke: So it may well be that some 'ancient artifact', rather than being inherently 'magic' in the sense of the supernatural, is, in fact, simply a piece of technology, the knowledge of which has been lost over time...

As time passed on the island and Dahr-Ol's wounds healed, Barin recalled Elfwynn's words: "The orcs drove the river folk from this isle. We should not consider it a long term refuge. The sorcerers often tell a tale about this river. They claim to have slain a mighty king of men who fled a battle. I've no idea how true it is. The orcs will fear the reaving we did. But their masters will desire to relive an old glory." The following evening as the company settled around the fire he recounted what he knew of that tale... "You mentioned the tale of Isildúr." He began, directing his gaze to the Northlander. "Few of the folk of men recall the details of the tale in this age, outside those wise souls entrusted with the keeping of histories. But we Dwarves, have longer memories." Lowering his voice, forcing all to lean in and listen to his tale, he began... "Isildúr was indeed a great king of men - ruling over the kingdoms of Gondor in the South and Arnor to the West." With a nod to Cecil he added, "In fact, your homelands were under his rule master Hobbit." "As the tales recall, Isildúr and his company were making their way to visit the house of Elrond on the far side of the mountains and were beset by Orcs on the trek northwards, near what we know today as the Gladden fields. The histories tell that the menfolk were vastly outnumbered, but staged a valiant defense, repelling the Orcs with their shield wall tactics but alas, the foul creatures regrouped and came again under the cover of darkness and slaughtered the company to a man. Isildúr however, managed somehow to evade the attack - some say that he was advised to leave his men and attempt escape before the Orcs came back, others that, heartbroken at the death of his son he fled the battle. Whatever the truth of that tale, he made it to the river, but the swift current carried him back down the river towards the marshes he was attempting to escape, and espied by Orc scouts, was slain by their archers." Barin took a moment's pause to draw on the stem of his pipe and take a mouthful of water from his flask before addressing his next comment back to Elfwynn. "Whatever the truth of the matter, you are right - the Orcs will be incensed enough to give chase once they realise what has occurred within the marshes, but I doubt they will be of sufficient mind to come this far up the river and cross to this isle. Even their overseers are simple enough creatures that if there is no immediate chance of battle they'll quickly lose interest, and have no real taste for histories. Especially ones that occurred thousands of years ago, so I think we're safe enough here for now. We will, however, need to exercise caution should we return that way to complete our mission." OOC Using folklore to recount an abridged tale of Isildúr's fate at the Gladden fields...

I figure that Barin would know some detail of the slaying of Isildur since the Dwarves are longer lived than men and also tend to be decent historians … so I’ll try to dredge something up today or tomorrow….

In response to Elfwynns comments about the old tales of men on the river … would Barin know enough about that to recount the tale given his folklore trait?

For three days, Barin stumbled along with his companions. Three long, slow, agonizing days back through the marshes to where they had left the boats previously and then paddling back up the Great River, against the current, to a now deserted Trader's Isle. His spirit was lifted slightly by the recovery of his friend - at least to the point where he could walk himself. This proved to Barin that Dahr-Ol was indeed made of stern stuff and was at least out of immediate danger of death. His injuries would still require tending though, and time. Elfwynn was also suffering, but putting on a brave face for all concerned. As the days passed, Barin felt his own strength beginning to return, and once back at the Isle, he spent his days between tending to Dahr-Ol as best he could - albeit this mostly restricted to spending time with the big man - conferring with Núr who still, for all his suffered hardships, spent time wanting to know more about the geography in this part of the world and tending to his maps. Finally, he spent some further time sitting by the small mound of stones that had been left. Their meaning was obvious - and on finding a suitably large rock nearby, he began the slow process of shaping it into what he hoped would be a fitting memorial to Winfrith's grandfather.

Just signed it. Halfway to getting a government response already. Although still a long way to go before it's guaranteed to be debated in Parliament.

Last I heard, none of the petitions were available for signing anywhere in the world (still waiting here in the UK for government approval)

As his foe fell to the ground, dead, Barin sank to his knees in the mud, leaning his forehead on the haft of his axe. Breathing heavily, the stocky Dwarf's last reserves of strength finally gave out and he remained there, oblivious to the frantic ministrations of his companions. He knew not in that moment whether Dahr-Ol, Elfwyn or the man they had initially tried to save were alive or dead and had not the energy to care. It was only when Ernstyr began instructing the party on constructing a litter for the Beorning that he realised that his friend was still clinging on to life and that the company was preparing to move out. Stumbling exhausted, to his feet, he followed in the wake of his companions, Núr helping him along with his kit which he was too tired to care about until the company decided to stop and rest for the night. Doing what he could to help conceal themselves he eventually sank down into the black depths of oblivion and slept ...

I was thinking more along the lines of some form of ablative armour rather than energy shields. But again, I'd be surprised if an industrial unit had anything more than rudimentary radiation shielding for the outer hull areas as a protection against cosmic rays and the like. Maybe somewhat thicker skin around the habitable areas.

At the moment, the campaign in the UK is stalled somewhat whilst Parliament approves the petition (there's a mere 20 signatures on it at present, and no-one else can sign it until its approved). Hopefully that'll happen in the next couple of days.

Paddy shakes his head. "I'd be seriously surprised if we've got any form of shielding on this bucket. If we're lucky, we'll have some plate armour on the more vulnerable sections I guess, but that's really only gonna protect against any debris floating in our general direction. Nah, we might be able to rustle up a mining laser or two for defense if we can get those turrets into service. There's also that huge mass driver - although I've no idea if that's aimable, or if we'd have to get lucky and hope that someone parks in its firing line so we can fling chunks of rock at 'em."

Barin's strength was almost faded. By now he had registered, somewhere, that Dahr-Ol was down and out of the fight, as was Elfwynn. Indeed, there was but Gram and he left in the Meleé, and scant aid from the archers in this mist and the tall reeds. He knew that if he didn't bring his opponent down now, in this very instant, that it could all be over for him. Gram's words did give him a boost though he could barely hear them over his own ragged breath and the clash of steel against steel. One more swing, that's all it would take. It was all he had left to give. Attempting a feint, he stumbled, deliberately, trying to throw his opponent off-balance and leave him open for a swift upward blow from his axe...

Because on mobile, the username isn’t displayed?

At the top ... where it says 'User Guides' in the menu? ... although they do need updating

True. The setting in revolutionary China and the (necessary for Westerners, I guess) explanation of the historical context did detract slightly from the story flow (which is one of the reasons I suspect the Netflix adaptation moves much of it to the UK), but still and incredible piece of work. Hopefully, the sequels will flow better - primarily because of their length. They’re both far larger volumes than the first… Still, I’ve just embarked on reading the first book of the Silo trilogy for now, so they can wait.