Changing Lanes Chapter 3 is posted.

I would like to say, for the record, that it's all Shadowgod's fault, literally!

Oh you, CJ quit blaming shadowgod

Either General Bradson is going to the dark side, or is going to brake out his son.

Who is this black clad motorcyle rider? I don't know how stars can deal with all those paparazzi in their faces.


Maybe it's just me it seems to me a little cliffe

The dark rider's identity is clearly stated by his liscence plate.

See? It really is all the Shady One's (Shadowgod's) fault!!!
This is it true now, and thus is it true for all that follows.

So, the entertainment is set for the stag party. What surprises me is that Eric is willing to risk life and limb on a motorcycle just to evade paparazzi on LA streets. A court order would be safer.

Eric was in his Jeep... While... But I cannot blame him if that's his plan for the future.

So the "Shady one" has made a guest appearance, haha!

CJ excellent chapter and I love the plot line for the General so far too. You are the only author I know so far that has mixed Rock and Roll with international intrigue, Bravo!

I hope Jensen and Keither (I saw that are you hinting at a Jack Bauer situation! ) know what they are getting into.

A motorcycle??? You just had to get him on a motorcycle, didn't ya?

Okay, that's it. I'm declaring both CJ and Shadowgod equals in evil-dom, and all I can say is that if you so much as break Eric's big toe, there will be HELL to pay!

LOL, great chapter!

That car chase made me nervous!

The motorcycle really makes me nervous! Someone I went to school with died in a motorcycle accident recently

LOL, now you have me paranoid and wondering what 'failures' the government is using as a cover up!

I'm still really curious about Eric's sexuality. He's been careful to say he's 'not gay' not that he's 'straight'. An interesting distinction!

I can't wait to read more

-Kevin

Thanks CJ .

I picked up on the Shady reference as to the Shadowy one . Now I guess in your strange and weird logic since Eric saw the Shady one on the motorbike, it is all Steve's fault that Eric decided to buy a Yamaha motorbike to evade the paparazi.

The info on the satallite was scary as hell. I'm sure those satellites exist and the fact that they can zoom in on anything on earth from so far away makes you wonder if any of us are safe. Kind of like "Enemy Of The State".

I'm not sure if you mentioned before the timeline of the story, but I found this interesting (and it will point out one small typo ):



So the story takes place in the future.

More to discuss, like Erics unease about the stripper team, but save that for later.

Great chapter CJ.

Steve

This is scary. Eric on a motorcycle is just asking for trouble, especially if he has access to tequila. CJ, just because you are imitating Shadowgod does not mean that he is to blame. You are responsible for your own writing.

Great chapter CJ!

You had me nervous right from the start with that chase scene.

I'm still interested to see what happens with Keith and Jensen. If nothing else, the pool show should be a fun surprise for Chase and Brandon!

Who would have thought of the General becoming a semi-villain? I wonder how Instinct will fall into his plan?

And you just had to get Eric a bike, didn't you?

General Bradson is a man with a dilemma. He's trying to save his son's life. Desperate times sometimes call for desperate measures.

As for Shadowgod, it really is all his fault!! If he hadn't gone racing through that scene on his motorcycle (complete with vanity plates! He's not only evil, but vain, too!) Eric wouldn't have gotten the idea... So, let us put6 the blame squarely where it belongs... on Shadowgod!!

As for Tequila... Surely Eric has learned his lesson and will avoid that particular liquor?

Seconded. I wonder whether Shadowgod is not mind-controlling CJ to have him jeopardize his characters through the use of motorcycles.

CJ does like to put the guys in harms way. Eric did get hurt while climbing up the side of the cliff. Now he's putting Eric on a motorcycle? CJ must have a death wish.

Yes he does, Cj does have a point about the General, but I do see him more of just breaking him out, hopefully he's not going to kill our own soilders or held hostage our own govt.

Drew, fire up the spit.

Great chapter CJ!
A motorcycle is pretty tame after the airplain in your last story. I completely missed the reference on the liscence plate. The minute I read the line I thought of a song I used to hear on the radio all the time. "I'm the real shady...the real slim shady..."
I see no reason for a goat roast just yet especialy after those vacation photos.

Yep, that was the Shady One (shadowgod) himself. So, of course, it's his fault for being a bad influence on Eric. So, can't we roast his Shadowyness?

BTW, those vacation pics might be joined by some more recent ones soon. LoL. One of the reasons I've been so busy (and absent) lately is getting ready for a trip. I'll be leaving at the end of this month and will be away for five weeks. I'll be leaving some chapters behind for posting, though, and I should be able to check in from time to time.

Cool! CJ, Bring back tons of vacation pics!

Poor Shady, he gets blamed for everything, hehe!

Nice chapter.

Cj tries to deflect onto Shadowgod I can see it thru though.

Wow, five weeks! Have fun CJ!

He's not gone yet, and trust him to find wifi access.
By the way, my faithful spy team got a hold of CJ's planned journey. And to the risk of seeing my house nuked down, I share it with you:

CJ's trip

Hopefully,you got that battery taken care of in that laptop, or you bought a new one.

When I saw the planned trip, I thought 'Geez, that isn't very far'.

Then I realized that he is a goat afterall, and who has ever heard of a goat driving, so it must be a five week walking journey.

Wonder if he has saddlebags to carry his laptop on him .

Steve

Who would want to walk when they could hire a fit man to carry them around?

Great picture, Jess. No doubt our goat author always travels in style. Wonder what this service would cost.

Last year, he was gone for four weeks and he did tell us about his driving during that time.

.....I've got a lot of catching up to do here.......I didn't miss his Shadowyness attempt at showing himself into this story!! At first I thought it was another attempt by a paperazzi to get a pic of Eric. Shouldn't the platte have read Shadoe - 1 ? Or is that too many letters for a bike plate? Sounds like a great 'bachelor party' in the making, I laughed at Helens wiretapping, perfect and just like her to do so, she knows Eric too well.

A pool party with strippers!!!

Now that's entertainment!

Thanks, CJ!

Conner

I was waiting for your comment Conner

Maybe as Chairman of the Goat Sub Committee, you can wrangle an invite out of CJ for the wedding and pre wedding festivities.

When I read the chapter, I knew there would be one happy goat.
For those of you who hadn't seen CJ driving, here is a repost of an exclusive document, that the paparazzi had a hard time getting:

Was I the only one who thought of the Shadows with that license plate?

I believe we did discuss briefly during LTMP that the takes place in the future. If I recall correctly I don't think CJ ever pinned down when exactly. It seems like a mostly pretty similar world that the characters inhabit so I'm guessing it's not too far into the future.

...wait now that I remember I recall a mention after the Australia bombing that John was the only one old enough to remember the events of Sept. 11th 2001....so I guess that would mean it's maybe about 2018-2020 or so?

That was my initial thought, too. It was mentioned in LTMP that one of the Shadows had a bike, right?

Kevin, LTMP was in 2010 if I remember correctly. I think CJ could clarify though.

..................Double idemnity!! The goat is bringing back the Shadowsc into the fold??? I don't think yet, but the goat has surprised me with his indifference.

Good points about the timeframe...

I felt that it had to be set in the near future, otherwise it has to be an alternate universe (Unless Toowoomba went missing recently?)


For an approximate timeframe, figure a few, though not many, years in the future. Less than 5.

And yes, Conner, I knew you'd love the pool party idea.

Yes, one of the Shadows (Steve, the leader of the shadows) had a motorcycle in LTMP. However, that's not who the Dark Rider was... the true villain of this story: Shadowgod.. Ok, we've seen Eric head off to get his M1 (That's a motorcycle driver's liscence in California) due to spotting the DARK rider with the "shady-1" vanity plate tearing through traffic.

"Shadow-1" would have alluded to The Shadows from LTMP, so that wouldn't have fit. Besides, Shadowgod picks out his own vanity plates for his motercycle, nothing I can do about it... It fits though, he's often called "the Shady One". Had it been up to me, I'd have had the plate just say "shadowgod" but hey, it's his plate, so his choice.

BTW, if you look in the title graphic, you'll see a motorcycle, just to the right of center. When I made the graphics I already knew that Shadowgod was planning on leading Eric into the two-wheeled-death-machine world, so I made that as a hint. I still think SPiCE needs to act, SAVE ERIC!! (Protect him from Shadowgod!!)

Oops! Looks like I was pretty off on the time frame


Cool about the motorcycle graphic! I hadn't noticed that at all!

I found the motorcycle. I highlighted it for all the see...

Hey, I've been somewhat AWOL lately, but I'm watching MythBusters right now and it turns out to be quite a relevant episode to this story, so I figured I'd post about it. One of the myths on the current episode was talking a random passenger through an airplane landing. Using a NASA flight simulator, the two MythBusters guys were given 2 random scenarios each (location, wind, atmosphere conditions, etc.), and tried one of them totally solo, and one on the radio with a pilot, who was put in a simulated control tower. The result was that, on their own, one managed to guide the plane all the way to the runway, but crashed while landing; the other stalled out the plane and crashed quickly. However, when guided by the pilot, both of them managed to land successfully. Now, granted, these were commercial airliners, not private jets, but it's still interesting to note that two people who had never flown before both landed relatively easily when talked through it. They also pointed out that most new aircraft actually can land on autopilot, so once old ones are phased out, the situation of a passenger landing an aircraft will be entirely unnecessary. (The verdict was "plausible," since it apparently can be done, but never in the history of aviation has it been tried or necessary.)

I thought it would be fun to hide clues in the graphics. The left-hand side is similar to the old LTMP graphic (stage lighting at a concert).



Thanks Tim!! See? Shadowgod's EEEvil influence is right there for all to see.



Thanks for posting this!!

I haven't seen that, but I wonder if they took stress into account? In a simulator you know you won't die.

The hard thing about landing is lining up so that you touch down at the right place, direction, and speed. The runway is very confining. Brandon in LTMP had the advantage of not having to worry about the runway; he had a virtually infinite one. On the other hand, he was also dealing with a badly damaged aircraft, plus no flaps.

Thanks!!
CJ

goat goat goat...

C'mon anyone who knows me knows I harbor a general distaste for "choppers" which is what is in your graphic. As for putting Eric on a motor cycle, the only undue influence I had there was perhaps mentioning once or twice that the idea of Eric on a crotch rocket was hot.

Even then it was after I read a Beta version of the chapter.

so

Steve

Hmmm... so Steve isn't completely innocent after all. Still, The Goat is writing the story and is responsible for any accidents that occur that will injure Eric.

Shadowgod!!! Now this is stretching things, even for you!!!

It's true that the type of bike in the graphic is not your style, but I needed a silhouette and thats all I could some up with.
HOWEVER, as for the rest, you should be ashamed of yourself!

Part of it is true (the fact that you have remarked, often, that Eric on a motorcycle = HOT). However, you totally gloss over the fact that it was your daredevil riding through traffic that inspired Eric to think of getting a motorcycle! If you hadn't have been riding like that, it wouldn't have happened! I gues this is partially my fault for setting this part of the story where you live, but still, you could have stayed away! Those notorious vanity plates of yours are proof conclusive; it was you. BTW, I hope you don't mind me blabbing your liscence plate all over the internet, but it's a bit late now..

So, this is indeed all your doing!!!

And BTW, that makes any possible tension regarding Eric, motorcycle, and tequila all your fault! And thus, any cliffhangers in Changing Lanes are all your doing! (I do hope all you readers will bear this fact in mind when it's time to vote for the King of Cliffhangers in the 2008 reader's choice awards).



Ahh, but if Shadowgod hadn't been riding in front of Eric, this never would have happened! I said to him, at the time, that he really should learn to obey traffic laws. That was both hazardous, and a bad influence on Eric.

So it really is all Shadowgod's fault.

BTW, the title for Chapter 4 is Islands in the Sea.
CJ

In Shadowgod's defence (not that he really needs it), but as Changing Lanes is set approximately two years in the future, he hasn't done that riding yet. The daredevil riding only exists in the mind of the author, not in real life (since it's not yet 2010). I think that exonerates Shadowgod for any blame....

Okay,

I dint want to have to admit this, because it will paint me in a less-then-perfect light. However, you force my hand.

I think anyone that has followed LtMP and CLiff, or has spoken to me at any length concerning these two stories will concede to the fact of what I am about to say.

More on that later; first I would like to point out that with out the aide of some very powerful psychotropic drugs it is rather impossible to jump from real life into fiction and back again.

That detail sorted out...

If I could hop into the pages of fiction, rest assured I would be more focused on... how do I put this... corrupting Eric rather then zooming away from him on a motorcycle. With that in mind, I could therefore keep Eric very safe and very satisfied.

.................Admiting is the first step, and of course you have admitted to your embelilishment in Eric's motorcycle endevors; safety of Eric is in peril!!

Ahhh, but, Changing Lanes is indeed set two or more years in the future. That much we agree on. However, that dark rider in Ch 3 was unarguably shadowgod, right down to the vanity license plate. So, was Eric having a flashback, or is this something Shadowgod is going to do in a couple of years time? Or, more likely, does Shadowgod, being Satan, have the ability to change his temporal location?? Whatever the answer is, it's obvious that this is indeed all Shadowgod's fault; he deliberately lured Eric into an interest in motorcycles!

As proof, I offer this indisputable fact: I have, loudly and often, decried the way motorcycles put Shadowgod's characters in danger. Eric is my favorite character; why on earth would I ever let him anywhere near a motorcycle?



Your Shadowyness, might I point out that I have never claimed that LTMP or CL are fiction? I mentioned that it had to be set in the future because Toowoomba hasn't dissapeared in a blinding flash, yet... That would not be the case for fiction. Therefor, if it is a recount of future events, you most ceertainly can be the dark rider (and don't forget the vanity plates... everyone knows that there can be only one set of California plates with that name, so therefor, it's gotta be you).

Therefor, you have a conundrum... If it's fiction, you're at fault becuaseyou kept boosting the motorcycle idea, including for Eric... (You've oft said how hot he'd be on a motorcycle...) Or, if non-fiction, then you're to blame for tearing throguh traffic in front of Eric, and leading him to decide to get a motorcycle.



Agreed Benji! I'm glad that I'm not the only one who can see through the Shadowy One's attempts as dissembling.
Now, if only he would admit his rile, all would be well.
RALLY SPiCE! SAVE ERIC!!