- O-Storms, Internet Access, Gate Phone Lines: After thinking about it for awhile, I realized that I’d made a major mistake with the Internet and having the Gates go between cities. Major Mistake: The O-Storms are enormous fields of electrical currents, continuously moving around the world. They would break up and interfere with any and all electrical signals trying to get through -- which includes the Internet satellite relays and the phone systems.

Therefore, I decided that some premises need rearranging. The Internet and Gates still exist, but are of primary usage within individual cities. There is still interaction between the cities, but it is totally dependent upon O-Storms as to whether the signals can get through often or not. Since Island City is on the pathway of major O-Storm routes, the city is, essentially, fairly isolated. (Which explains a lot of their attitude.)

I still have to figure out what this does to affect Jacine’s visiting habits. I think I’ll still have her visit as often as she can, but it costs a lot more money, and the interference is irregular, so nobody quite knows if she’ll be showing up or not, or when!

- Space: In order to keep up the repair and access to satellites, we need a space program. I’m still of the opinion that Earth, as a whole, would be too devastated by both disasters to maintain a space program at this time. However, as a compromise with myself and viable solution, I will leave the Space Station intact and functioning. Along with a Base on the Moon. None of the personnel on the Station or the Base will have taken the Youth Drug (which could be a future social problem), and after all these years are unable to tolerate full gravity. But they have a very active and existing space program. There are not, quite, enough people to make a colony viable on their own, but everybody expects to be united with Earth in the sometime future.

Earth is still trying to get back out there, with their limited resources. Primary places of research are in Austria and Brazil. What Earth mostly contributes to the space program is engineers and ideas. They come up with theories and designs and relay them out to the people living out there in space, who test and implement them.

- Jacine, 23, and the Ballroom of Romance: Sorry to do this, people, because this will rearrange some of our present stories, but I’m redoing 23 and Jacine’s relationship. The "Ballroom of Romance" is officially tossed. Along with "Prelude". I will probably use some of the scenes from each (finding the Tunnels, Helen visiting Jacine, etc) and throw them into other stories, but the basic concept behind "Ballroom" is no longer valid. I’ve been treating Jacine like an 18 year-old, basically, but she is 30, and has a fair amount of experience. When I first pictured it taking them five years to get together, I was basing it on: 1) they didn’t encounter each other much since Jacine lived in a different city; 2) I originally had Jacine visiting mostly to see Michael and Azami and Tam, with creations with 23 on the side; 3) They were both inventors who spent a lot of time inventing (more for Jacine) and not much reflecting; 4) Both would be actively involved in trying to get Michael together with Azami, Rhin, or Tamlynn. (Particularly Jacine.); 5) Jacine was unexperienced and still a bit naive; 6) The mystery about implants needing to match, and Jacine’s reluctance to show hers; 7) I didn’t think any of the Gang would notice either 23 or Jacine’s feelings for each other, and 8) When I was rearranging some of the earlier and searching for a reason to still have them keep their distance, I invented a rape scene (actually, that was more of a exploration of the ’Locked’ phenomena, but it had the alternate affect as well).

Those have mostly changed since the original ideas. 1) Jacine’s visiting much more often then I originally thought -- even with the problems with O-Storms and Gates counted in. 2) Now it’s Azami and Rhin and Tam on the side with collaberations with 23 the more main reason for visiting. That may still change, I haven’t thought too much about it, I have to write it, and I have to see where I’m going to be going now with these new ideas. 3) Still fairly valid for Jacine, but the way you’ve been writing your stories, not valid for 23 at all -- he’s well aware of his feelings for Jacine. Upon thinking about it, and reflecting on the ’smugness’ 23 had in the show ("... my good looks" / taking his shirt off every other scene / etc), he’s a womanizer (not in a bad sense) and would definately notice his own feelings and ususally act on them. I think I got thrown with the embarroused way he reacted to Helen’s purring approach. But maybe he was just monentarily flustered by her directness. 4) That got switched with three points in the stories, namely: a) adding Rhin into the set means that Azami and Tam wouldn’t need any more help (not that they really needed it anyhow); b) you haven’t been writing it that way, and that portion of this story is yours, not mine at all, and it should be how you write it, not how I thought it; and c) we made Michael no longer so skittery about his conditioning not to have sex with females nor his control so tenuous. 5) I invented Wes fairly soon in the beginning, but initially, he was mostly a friend for Michael, and maybe a romatic interest for Jacine, but not consumated. When I started developing his character more, it turned into a full-blown romance with all the icings for Jacine. Well, there goes "inexperienced". 6) With changing the implants to something more reasonable, the choices open up, and while there is still the problem for people who match colors, it’s no longer the skittery thing that it was originally. Probably, most couples wouldn’t notice it unless they happened to be colors that couldn’t mate. And making the implants more of a trivial event (until it becomes major), takes away nearly all of my initial premise of why Jacine was so opposed to showing hers and so vocal against the High Council and for ideas about birth control. The way they had implants, it didn’t make sense. The way we do, it does. So there’s no longer the tension that I originally had 23 and the Gang wondering "do their implants match?" "Should I get romatically involved with someone who isn’t my color?" etc. Which means that 23 would be much more likely to do something about his feelings much sooner. 7) Almost instantly, you had the Gang teasing 23 about his feelings for Jacine, or at least noticing them. Again, I was thinking that the Trio would be much too involved with persuing Michael to notice details like that. But with all the changes we’ve made with making Michael easier to seduce, and considering that they are suppose to be older, experienced, people, they probably would notice. 8) I cut the rape scene after the implants changed. Also, I agreed with you that that was a bit much for my poor character to endure. And I’d explored the ’Locked’ phenomenon in the story, and once explored, it didn’t actually need to come into play anywhere in any storylines. (Yes, I know, that’s weird!) I originally said that I wanted to keep the gang rape from High School with the school bullies, but I’ve since changed my mind on that too. High School with bullies is enough and tramatising for anyone. I don’t need to throw a gang rape in there too. That mostly came around because while I was doing the monolog scenes for "Locked", it came out as something that also got trapped in the Stream. Slightly accidental, you might say...

On discarding their current relationship ideas... Besides, I didn’t like the way "Prelude" was going, and I couldn’t think of any logical alternative. Also, I’m transwarping right now, thought of a nice little segment, wrote it down, and decided that it worked.

And when I was re-writing "First Encounters", I had Jacine reacting much more favorably to 23 than I had originally, and the other way as well. When it was just the pain getting out of control, Jacine was too intent on her brother to notice anybody around her. Then, when you switched it to the ’bad memory’, Jacine’s usefulness got majorly downgraded, and there was also more interaction between the two. With the switch, Jacine’s actions were no longer reasonable, so I rewrote the story again, with Jacine no longer doing anything, except worrying -- which opened the door for even more interaction between her and 23. Which makes future ’indifference’ very implasible and silly.

So, now that that’s out, I’m not quite sure where I’m going. Luckily, "Tunnel Danger" was after they got together, so that’s intact. "Bedroom Scene" and "W & F" are still fairly valid since they occured very soon after the first meeting. I’ll just have to revamp them a little to include all points of view. "Explosion" was already going to be slightly re-written, and I’ll include this in that rewriting. Humm... There’s actually not all that much that needs to be changed in actual written stories. Just the basic concept, which is a big enough problem in the planning for future stories. Parts on your stories will have to be changed too, mostly minor parts where you have Michael thinking, "I wish she’d notice...", etc. Or 23 looking hauntingly after her... etc. It’s going to create a problem in scenes with both of them together, since I haven’t decided on a time period for them yet. I’m going to play this a bit by ear. Make it a sort-of ’mutual-interest’, but neither does anything about it for quite awhile. Mostly because of the visiting constraints, and the interludes of lots of stuff happening in between any attempts at romance ("Explosion", etc.) But mainly because neither wants to ruin a good friendship and partnership by turning it romantic and then having it go sour.

That might make it more fun for little snippets like the type I just wrote, where one or the other envisions "what it would be like", then tells her/his-self to ’go take a cold shower’. :) :)

- Well, with all that, I think I’d better review the stuff that has been officially tossed. Which turns out to be almost half the stuff I’ve written! Oh well -- that’s writing practice for you! I’d be a fool to insist on keeping old stuff just because I didn’t want to throw it away. Characters change, and styles change, and it’s only when we’ve got things truely worked out that anything should be considered a ‘keeper’.

- Keepers are:

So, the only things that stay, ‘as is’, are "Dragon’s Blood" and "A Day in the Life...".