Chapter 35 is here. Hurry and link up before it disappears.

Another great chapter, CJ. The plot moves forward nicely. No real cliffhanger that I could find except the big one implicit in the plot itself.

Chase helps us understand Eric's sexuality a bit more...

Mario's list has grown. A goose?

Yes, Chase seems to understand Eric even when he's been drinking. I do believe that Eric is still a little confused about his sexuality, but some people seem to have difficulties. Maybe he is a bi leaning female after all. I guess that's the only cliffy in this one.

............The goose was a surprise too, perhaps it was easier than obtaining a goat, (CJ probably detested the engineers idea) which brings up another point, I don't remember Scar knowing or mentioning Telluride, he obviously knows that the place exists? Then there is Dimitris coded message to Mario, wonder what he is up to? Finally will Helen mention to the band about Joe? Good for Eric tucking in a tip to Cody, well after that kiss I guess he wanted to show his "appreciation". I can only guess the next titles chapter binary tellurium compound: a binary compound of tellurium with an electropositive element or group

hey everyone it has been awhile since i was here. I found something in this latest chapter I wanted to point out. Also where has graeme been?

The Scar chugged a caffeine-laced energy drink, knowing that he needed to be awake and alert. It was far from easy; he’d worked through the night, supervising the setup of Instinct’s gear. ‘The City that Never Sleeps,’ he thought, was an appropriate label given his current sleep deficit. He consoled himself with the thought that the following afternoon’s concert would be their last.

Not sure what your question is, but the second concert in New York's Madison Square Garden is the last concert in the worldwide tour. Last line of Chapter 35...

That's last concert as in "finished as planned", not as in "kaboom".

Graeme is still kicking; see his recent posts at Graeme Profile.

Mike was right about last concert, what concerns me more is:



Well I'm glad that Eric FINALLY came out of the closet . Tri? Never heard that one before, but it works.

What really is interesting is the email to Mario, and Mario's reply. Why the hell would he look in a phone book to get a goose ? Actually I know that quite a few planes go down (hmmm, the email was from Dimitri) when an engine sucks in a goose. But how the heck would Mario get a goose into a jet engine in flight?

Also, their is five targets, maybe we should rehash this discussion.

BTW, I do believe that is 3 Mondays in a row CJ, does this mean Monday is the new Tuesday? Or are you just teasing Graeme?

Steve

Monday is the new Tuesday, five is the new four, and a goose is the weapon of choice?

CJ, another awesome chapter! Plenty of suspense without a cliff. I'm already counting the days 'til the next chapter.

Damn, things will go down soon.

And wow Eric finally admits hmm Eric and Wilde to "try" things out.

It was a good chapter CJ,, finally we got some Joe showing up in the story.. I particularly loved all the details, historical and not, that was given for the station...

If I understand the story right,, it means the the entire band survive the tour without too much problems,,, it's good news,,, hopefully they won't be close to SF nor NYC when the bombs will explodes,,,,

I don't see the problem with SF, Los Angeles, where they all have their homes, and well the surprise package in the Chavez ravine ... that's another story all together.

That IMHO is particularly devious, as the LA Police Academy is right there as well.

Wait, incinerating the police academy... Cj has stated his distaste for California in the past... Could the goat have a slew of unpaid parking tickets he is trying to get out of?

Another good chapter, CJ!

I wonder about Dimitri, though. Would you trust someone named Dimiti, especially considering his line of work?

And, the goose! Now, that's good! Getting the goose to do it's part is a bit tricky, but the effect will definitely look totally accidental, which is the point, right?

I think Yogi Berra was talking about California when he said, "Nobody goes there anymore; it's too crowded."

Agree, or the bombs won't. well have to see

............No bomb in SF, you mean LA

Isn't there a bomb planted at Candlestick Park in San Francisco?

.......read on..........there were only two bombs brought over from Australia
Dodger Stadium had proven perfect for The Scar’s plans. It is situated on a small rise, which would increase the lethal blast radius by over forty percent. A mile and a half to the southwest, he could see the soaring skyscrapers of downtown. The destruction at that distance would be near total. The real destructive ability of the bomb, though, was not the nuclear blast itself, but the cobalt. That element would, under neutron bombardment during the detonation, produce cobalt-60, a highly radioactive isotope. The prevailing winds from the west would spread the lethal fallout cloud downwind, most likely to the east, in an ever-widening zone of contamination that would extend well past San Bernardino. If the bomb detonated, most of the Los Angles basin and vast areas to the east would become uninhabitable for decades.



By the time the sun neared its zenith, the trucks carrying the shipping containers rolled out of Candlestick Park, bound for the rail yard, where they would be loaded aboard a freight train bound for New York.



Glancing around the station, The Scar smiled at the remaining granite. It would afford his device the secrecy it needed in more ways than one. Granite, he knew, emitted a small amount of natural radiation due to the traces of uranium it contained. A little-known fact is that Grand Central Station, due to the massive amount of granite it contains, has radiation levels higher than the maximum allowable for most areas of a nuclear power plant. The low-level background radiation in Pennsylvania Station was ideal for The Scar’s purposes; it would prevent any radiological scanner from detecting his bomb.

Someone is extremely trigger happy. I still have not figure out why he wants to do these things. Is his reasoning ever going to be explained? Surely there is a reason why someone would want to destroy major cities.

..........In the goats world...poor misunderstood "Scar" wants money and power! He hopes, by "demonstrating" that he has the power to destroy a major US city he will be able to blackmail the US for money, maybe even hoodwink other countries that they are at risk or sell them the phoney ones. Once he (don't know how he plans to get away with it and get the money too, considering everyone in the world will be out to get him). But in his crazed (misunderstood) mind he wants to install himself as a dictator for some South American country........in the goats world mind you!!

P.S. If he gets caught, I wonder if they will waterboard him

Waterboarding seems rather tame compared to what I think needs to be done. I don't consider The Scar misunderstood. He's just evil.

..........Maybe just leave him tied up in a room with Eric#1

My sincere thanks to all who acknowledged that this chapter was cliffhanger-free!

Writing Eric's conversation with Chase was fun. Honestly, *I* wasn't quite sure what his sexuality was when that began. It basically revealed itself during the conversation.

I was wondering if anyone noticed this bit?



That isn't a goof on my part. That sets the year that LTMP is taking place as 2010 or later.

And yes, Mario is consulting the phone book in search of a goose. However, that's totally logicial IMHO: he's new in town, and as such where else would he go looking for a goose?

All the background info on Penn station is, to the best of my knowledge (and per some considerable research) true. Even the staircase structure under which the bomb is planted is real. The natural radioactivity of granite is also very true.

Well, now we know for sure who Mario's targets are.

As for chapter posting days; I try and post on Tuesday, but, I was expecting to be busy today, so I figured I'd post Monday afternoon instead. I often post late monday.

Oh, I have a little surprise coming... I was fairly far ahead when writing the next two chapters, and also I didn't want to break them at normal length. As a result, chapter 36 is about 50% larger than normal. Chapter 37, however, is over twice normal size. I can't speed up the posting rate, but at least this way they are far larger chapters.

BTW, FrenchCanadian, I can assure everyone that the band survives the tour! I can do this without fear of the Echidna's anti-spoiler spines, becuase it's in the posted text. The tour ended at the end of 35, and they were all alive, so therefor they survived the tour!

Okay, there are, per the text; three bombs. They are identical. What we know so far is that they were desighed to have a shelf-life of about ten years, unmaintained. That means the two in the US can sit where they are for years if need be.

We don't know, for certain, all the details of The Scar's plan yet. However, there have been references and clues all along. We know he's expecting to have unlimited funding for his Paraguay takeover. For those who are curious to know exactly what the plans are, in detail, you don't have long to wait.

Oh... It's a bit early to mention this, but the next chapter is entitled "Prometheus".

Seeing as The Echidna is on holiday and thus unlikely to read this, I'll even give tidbit of info about it ; we find out the meaning of the story's title, and it is not what you think.

I'll come back to the thread soon; I'm also always happy to answer any questions, though in some cases I can't if the answers would be spoilers.

Ok, a question...



Was ending the tour with a very "down" song (called Lost To The World) appropriate? BTW, if those lyrics look familiar its becuase they are the ones to the song for the "Carlisle Island" video shoot.

CJ

Hmm, so the story actually takes place in the future, maybe this would explain why a goose would be listed in the phone book .

I was kind of wondering what you were doing when you had them do that song at the end of the concert tour, and since it was the last song, it was kind of dark. But you seemed to give us the reaction of the crowd, who was silent, pondering the words and then breaking out in applause, so even though it was dark, maybe it wasn't a downer for the crowd.

Speaking of dark , in a way this was kind of a dark chapter.













For some reason, I read a lot of doom and gloom into this chapter. Especially the song lines, kind of makes me picture something out of a Mad Max, or Terminator movie, looking at a post nuclear holocaust world. Maybe I'm reading too much into things.


The one bright spot was the encounter between Joe and Helen. I still think he might end up being the unforeseen hero, much like the heroic Eric in FTL .

I don't think it's unforeseen actually. In fact, I believe his reappearance is foreshadowing of his importance in the story. I could be wrong though.

Another great chapter! What would we do without our favorite goat?
Now we get 50% more!

I'm wondering about the goose. Is it realy a goose or is goose some kind of euphamism? I guese he could be planning his dinner but why would we need to know about that?

I like the term tri-sexual its almost like omnisexual.

........One does wonder where the goat came up with that term!!

Well, it' comes down to the phrase, "I'll try tri anything once, twice if I like it."

............ROFLMAO!!! it's perfect!!

OK, CJ, I've missed something. I reread chapter 35, and this thread in the forum and the Who is going to have an accident? thread and I can't find anything more than speculation as to the identities of the five victims.

Someone please help. No guessing please. Just the facts. Thanks.

..........I'm afraid it is all speculation right now, the goat tends to misdirect. The general consensus of the readership believe that Instinct is in danger.

Thanks Benji. I feel better. I've been with the consensus all along; I just couldn't be sure I had not missed something. I wonder who the fifth victim might be...Helen? Joe? Of course, if Mario stuffs a goose inside a jet engine, there are likely more than five victims.

........I'm sure if Instinct is the intended target Helen is the fifth, remember her "donantion" to Jerry and him musing the irony that the money would be well spent. I would think somehow by stuffing a goose in the intake of the jet engine would be sensory noticed, and take-off would be aborted before it even started. Or is the goose just the goats way of leading us all on a "wild goose chase"

I just thought "Tri-sexual" was a good moniker for someone who likes 3-ways. LOL



ROFL!!! I love it!



I kind of presented it piecemeal all along, sorry if that was confusing... Let me see what I can find...

OK, I found this in Ch 32:


Helen gave Jerry the check. Therefor, the band mentioned above is Instinct, and the hit, per the text in 32 and 35, is to occur as soon as the bombs are planted. The last bomb was the one in New York....

Remember, though he played "lookout" for Jerry when the nukes arrived in LA, Mario is in the US (Per a much earlier chapter he's based in the UK) for one reason only; his contract hit. Chapter 32 tells us who; Instinct (granted, the 5th target might be open to speculation) So, Dimitri's instructions to Mario, per the text, are how to carry out the hit on Instinct.

CJ

........Well, it is possible the band can shake loose of Helen, but I doubt she will let them be until they are safely tucked away at their ranch retreat. So my guess that Helen is the fifth.

OK. Thanks, guys. I guess I should have reread the whole story.

We can only hope Brandon's flying skills will save the day.

If Mario can figure out a way to get a goose into the intake of a jet engine, he might as well toss a goat in there.

............Might as well, since Vlad can't seem to get one.

In one of the other topics here, I said I thought the second bomb would be placed in New York someplace and I was right.

As for Mario, I think he's just been hired to take out Jerry/Scar.

Hmmm... An interesting idea. You think Dimitri is tired of playing second fiddle? Maybe he plans to assume Scar's role as dictator of Uruguay. Would Mario turn on Scar, too? Maybe Dimitri offered a bigger payday.

Well I'm late to the party... Drew sent me a link to the story and now I'm hooked! I guess I'll just skip all of the fluff speculation that ran through my head throughout the story (since most of that was revealed now anyway) and get straight to the point. The fifth person is either Helen or Scar. Helen is a big threat since she was/is an integral part of the band and the tour that saw the transport of the bombs to the US. The Scar is my other guess simply because, in that sort of business, there are NEVER any partners. I would not be surprised if the Scar has plans for Dimitri's demise as well.

Now for my proposed heroes... the engineer and Joe. The engineer understands that he won't be paid or set free, thus the lining of his briefcase with gold and his supposed "plans" for cheating death. Whether or not his plans unfold before the first blast has yet to be determined, but I get the feeling that the first blast will not come for a little while yet since they keep saying over and over they have a lot of work to do. It could happen in as little as a few days or as much as a few months, I don't know. All I can guess is that the lives of "the five" will be in danger once they return to L.A. I also picked Joe because he serves no other purpose to the story now. His original purpose was a placeholder as lead singer to get the band going initially and to be a part of the web that linked the band to the terrorist plot. He was the Scar's "in" for getting the band to be his method for smuggling the weapons into and across the US. Since he has returned, he must have some significant purpose, and who better for uncovering the Scar's plans than his own son, who he has foolishly assumed is done? I wondered if Phil wondered if there was some deeper underlying motives for 'Jerry' to not care about his wife's death. I wonder if the specialist Phil is calling in for Joe will uncover those motives? Joe flies out the night of the concert for L.A., so he'll be out of range of 'Jerry' who likely has unfinished business with the band and must remain in the city for a while. This is, of course, all speculation.

There is also the possibility of Gunter playing the role of hero, but I don't think he suspects much.

Further, there is something that has been nagging my mind since the Scar's plans started to unravel... there no way in HELL that he would be able to blackmail the US for billions, take over Paraguay and the natural resources of South America, and get away with it. There are six billion people in the world and most of them would not let him get away with it. The US still has major allies who would seek out and destroy her enemies when she has been so mortally wounded (two nukes more powerful than Hiroshima and Nagasaki). It could also be likely that her enemies would join in the fight if only for feeling threatened that a terrorist has such devices at his disposal and has pictures suggesting that he has even more.

That said, his plan will fail. Of that I am sure if the story is to remain fictionally accurate, such as it is. I will also say that I have read each chapter bracing myself for the inevitable -- one or more members of Instinct will die, particularly if Mario's list contains their names (and it will contain all of them).

One more thing -- a question. What's all this business involving a goose and a phone book? I don't recall that ever happening...

Oh and, regarding Eric's sexuality, he isn't gay. He's straight as they come, but he's adventurous. I say this because I firmly believe that he would have an intimate sexual encounter, with all of the trappings of casual sex, with a man. He said at the resort that he would try anything once. Sure, it took a bottle of tequila to get him to kiss Cody, but I don't think the alcohol was doing anything when he deepened the kiss and had no regrets after Helen caught him. Though, I get the feeling that, if they live long enough, she'll play on it in tandem with her threats to 'out' him.

It's there in chapter 35...

Thanks CJ, now every thing is clear as mud





A lot of good points .

I agree with a lot that you say. My question on the fifth, is regarding Gunter. I would assume since the guys have played their final concert, his contract is over. But wasn't their mention of him working with Rob to ensure their security was looked after up in Telluride?

The one thing that kind of sticks out, is that Gunter is disliked by J/S, ever since the tour of Rome, but he really hasn't alluded to that since then. Actually he hasn't mentioned Gunter as being an obstacle or anything. Maybe J/S is not giving him the credit that he should.

As far as the possibility of Dimitri eliminating J/S, that is a very real possibility. Dimitri has shown J/S a lot of respect in the past. Calling him his boss, and trying to connect with him. J/S has shown him nothing in return. Now that the bombs are armed and in place, it wouldn't be hard to get rid of J/S and then Dimitri would be holding all the cards.

I know in the past I have said that I believe that J/S will blackmail the US for money to carry out his plans in South America, but Rob makes me re think that situation. Could J/S not get more money, by demonstrating he has the bombs, by detonating the Australian one (speaking of which, is Graeme hiding in his newly constructed fall out shelter that we haven't from him ) and then providing the disposable camera pictures, making people believe that their is more than two more, and then auctioning off the activation codes to the highest bidder? I think he could get a fair amount of money from Al Quida, or other middle eastern interests.

Steve

Welcome, Rob!!! Thank you for joining us, and wow, that's one heck of a great analysis! I really can't comment on any of it yet without giving spoilers, but that's a great post, THANK YOU!

Mike mentioned the bit about Mario and The Goose in his above post (thanks Mike!). It was just one small bit in Ch 35.



Hi Steve! I think I can answer a little of that as the answer is fact-based rather than in the text. Gunter works for Instinct, but like much of the permanent staff (as opposed to the road crew) his contract does not end with the tour. That's standard in the industry for a head of security. They do often hare additional staff for a tour, but the core remains throughout. And yep, Gunter was talking to Jim about Telluride.

Oh, and BTW, before any shadowy entity says otherwise (he's evil, so he just might...) I need to remind everyone that Ch 35 was not in any way a cliffhanger. The slight bit of tension over Mario's orders is nowhere near the end of the chapter.

CJ

............Gunter is a key figure in this story, he is a lot more than meets the eye.

In order to head off any objections from SPiCE, I'd like to point out that Eric kicking a live nuclear warhead put him in no danger from the bomb!

The anti-tamper mechanism is a net of wires inside the case. Therefor, unless he can kick through plate steel, he was in no danger of triggering it.

I've been keeping Gunter in the back of my mind on the issue of the hero. He hasn't played much of a role at all except for the tour of Rome and the short discussion he had with Brandon about his relationship with Chase while they were in Aussie land. His role might be a physical one since a situation like this might actually require multiple people to bring down someone as determined and cutthroat as the Scar. Of course the 'who' part of the solution to that equation is entirely up to Mister Goat.

I'm not sure how I missed that part about the goose, but on further inspection of the context I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest Mario was not referring to an animal at all. Maybe saying "goose" here was his way of referring to some sort of a jumpstart, or a link to a missing connection in the plan? He IS from the UK, after all -- and their terminology and slang is far different from that of the US and the Aussies. That's just a total stab in the dark though... I'm probably way off base haha I just can't see what an annoying bird who shits all over your property after migrating back has to do with a plan to kill five people all at once and make it look like an accident.

I can't actually comment on your questions, but I can propose several scenarios.

Mario wants to hire the goose to subcontract out the hit.

Picture this; The goose, winging his way through the skies, wearing a bomb belt and an MP3 player, listening to the resounding refrains of "Ride of the Valkyries" as he swoops down upon his intended victim's hotel.

The goose, disguised as a bellhop, gains admission to Instinct's suite and guns them all down.

Or perhaps Mario wants the goose to drive the getaway car?

Not if I get to that goose first. It won't be doing anything. Nothing like a fresh goose dinner.

...................Picture a goose on the back of a frightened goat as it pecks him in the head!

Maybe the goose is in cahootz with the AFLAC mascot?