Do you ever look something up on the CKD Encyclopaedia and then spend the rest of your day browsing through various different articles? Yep! Me too!
After a funny evening working my way through what turned out to be the VERY basic new TaxShare system with my new friend Ben, I decided to take myself over to the CKD. I'd been thinking recently about how a track journey of only one hour can take you from a section where the upground is a fairly temperate climate, like Alf's, to a section where the upground is a blistering desert, like my office. I suppose we're so used to not really seeing the upground world that we don't think that these two places must be extremely far apart.
Well, my avid readers, I have some answers for you!! You'll have to excuse me if you already knew all of this, I suppose I may just be showing my ignorance.
Ok, so the Track Carts that we hop on and off every day are inside a sealed tube. You know that hissing noise when the door opens? That's air flowing into the tube. It's all in a complete vacuum! Because there's no (or little) air in the tube, there's no air resistance or friction. This allows the Track Carts to move incredibly fast. Furthermore (Yes! There's more!) the carts aren't actually touching the ground underneath them. They're suspended by really powerful electro magnets. It's these magnets that also power the train. They pulse on and off in the direction of travel. This creates a ripple effect that pushes the train forward. The faster the ripples, the faster the cart will go!
Again, sorry if you knew that...but I was oblivious! I suppose I'm slightly more aware of how unusual some aspects of our life are from doing what I do for a living. Upgorunders have to travel for days, weeks, even months to get from one place to another...on foot!! Months! Think about it! Don't really mind your morning commute now, do you?
Anyway, like I said, I was on CKD for a few hours last night. There's some pretty cool stuff if you look long enough. Annoyingly, I didn't have Rank Clearance for a lot of the articles. I found a few photos of the topography of the upground world and I was curious to see where the relative positions of my office and Alf's were but you've gotta be White or above! Soon, soon!
I had a bit of a half hearted chat with Mum earlier. I don't whether it's because there's only text-based chat available when talking to people who have gone off world, or if it's just that they're out enjoying the luxury that they've spent years ranking up to achieve but all offworlders tend to get very distant. Don't get me wrong, I was ecstatic when Mum got her Platinum Pass and her ticket to go offworld, but I do miss her. That's normal, right? Apparently, back before the sub-colonization, people used to live together with their parents for a general minimum of eighteen years. Even after you left them, it was normal, even expected to stay in fairly regular contact with them. If the traditionalists and the upgrounders are right, this weird system of early separation is very unhealthy.
Anyway, I'd better stop before people start thinking I'm some sort of Traddy! Lol.
I'm hoping to see Marc again later on. We've managed to get tickets to a new game that's in Beta. I've not read much about it, but apparently it's set in an ancient upground society that is going through a bloody witch-hunt. The reality engine is said to be really good. You can feel the "breeze" against your "skin" apparently. I have to wonder whether or not that extends to the "lemon juice" in your "open wounds"! Haha. Should be fun to try it out at least! Most of Marc's other friends get a little scared of playing any kind of game with him. He gets really into it and generally plays on servers where the whole experience is taken very seriously. Yes, it's a little strange to walk around in a fake world playing make-beleive, but I actually quite enjoy it! All this "Prithee Sire, may I join thy righteous dragon hunt" business is quite nice. Almost romantic. Definitely harmless!
This is the point that I get flooded with comments about how sad I am. Ho hum!
Right! I see Marc's avatar loading up. Wish me luck! Would it be bad taste to deck out my avvie with a broomstick and a cloak for this evening's merriments??
-Sophie
Showing posts with label scifi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label scifi. Show all posts
Saturday, 13 February 2010
Tuesday, 9 February 2010
Entry_002
Entry_002
I finally had that catch up with Marc today. We went down to our usual haunt, a nice Yellow rank coffee house about halfway between my place and his. It's about an hour and a half from here by track and it's on the way to a large financial section so the track cart can be a little crowded if you time it wrong. It's worth sitting through the commuters, though. The coffee house, whilst not much to look at from the cart, is open air!! It's based round a large, square courtyard with the chairs and tables right out in the middle in the open. It's in a nice little upground territory that enjoys warm, humid summers and beautiful, snowy winters. You'll have to forgive me for not sharing the location. An open air facility is rare in Yellow sections as it is. In the summer, you need to book a week in advance to get in so the many regulars like to keep it as secret as possible. For the purposes of this blog, I'll call my little haven "Alf's" (Gettit? alfRESCOE?! Har har!)
I was surprised at Marc; he made absolutely no mention of his new rank and we just had a nice chat. Unfortunately, our time was cut short. We'd only been there for around an hour when the drill sirens went off and we were herded onto the next track cart. The Sirens seem to go off a lot at Alf's. I asked one of the Reds who works there once, but they just said that it was standard drills like any other district. We used to think they set them off on purpose, especially in the summer. It's a great way to turn over the punters. Especially when you've got a queue of two hundred waiting to come back in. Seems a bit pointless in winter when the place isn't even at three-quarters capacity, though! Maybe I'm being paranoid. Maybe it's just that we spend most of our time there so we always get the bad luck!
I said bye to Marc and then dropped over to the office. Managed to claim i was on "Official Government Business" and catch the fast track which only took around an hour instead of three! Did I mention I love the perks of my new job?! I was set to work from home today but my new Team Leader, Camilla, said that I could come and watch one of the shipments coming in from The Badlands. I managed to do all my work on the various track journeys so it all worked out pretty nicely.
Upground of my office is a desert territory. The vehicles come right in to a large, hangar like depot on the top floor of the building. There are catwalks that run around 30 feet above the hangar floor from which employees can view the goings-on on the deck below. One of the walls of the cavernous room has four large doors that roll up to let the vehicles in and out. I'd previously only seen video surveillance footage of this area and it was absolutely breathtaking to see it with my own eyes.
Everthing was quiet when we first arrived and Camilla showed me around, pointing out various people and things. One of the large trucks was in a bay being refuelled, and there were a few Reds and Oranges running around performing maintenance, replacing the tyres, etc.
I was just beginning to get used to the huge space when, without any warning, an alarm starting buzzing, and one of the colossal hangar doors started to open. It was like someone had opened an oven and I had to cover my eyes from the heat and the light that were pouring in through the opening. It took me a minute to catch my breath and for my eyes to adjust. Camilla saw that I was looking a little dazed and started to laugh.
"Gets everyone first time", she shouted above the roar. Great! So why not give people a little heads-up?!
Looking down from the catwalk, I could see another one of the trucks easing in through the doorway. More Reds and Oranges were rushing around and barking orders to each other and to the truck crew. There was a hot draft and dust blowing through the whole huge space.
As soon as it had started, the whirlwind stopped. The hangar doors shut quickly, cutting out the wind, dust, heat and light and the huge truck cut power to the engines. The only sounds were the shouts from the workers down on the floor. Their voices echoed around the cavern and distorted so I couldn't hear their exact words.
The driver of the truck stepped down from the cab and opened a hatch toward the back of the vehicle. A total of four Badlanders stepped out and huddle together. I wanted to stay and watch what would happen next, but Camilla said we had to get back to work.
The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. I visited a few other areas of the building that I'd not seen before. We actually have an Oxygen farm that I didn't know of. A large glass dome near the top of the building that houses probably twenty or thirty small trees. It's odd to think that the only clue to anyone on the upgorund of the vast underground government complex hidden under the sands is a large glass dome and a big metal door built into the side of a dune.
I'm on the track cart at the moment heading home. I was let to go home an hour early so the cart is empty. Alf's was on the news feed a moment ago. Apparently it has been closed all day because of a glitch in one of the theft detectors. Marc's voice is ringing in my head: "Shoddy Yellow Rank engineering!" Haha. Bless him, he does make me laugh.
More merry news from me soon. Thank you to Ben who wrote to me on here and has kindly volunteered to walk me through TaxShare tonight! He also works for another Intake office in a different territory! Small world, eh?
See you soon, readers!
-Sophie
I finally had that catch up with Marc today. We went down to our usual haunt, a nice Yellow rank coffee house about halfway between my place and his. It's about an hour and a half from here by track and it's on the way to a large financial section so the track cart can be a little crowded if you time it wrong. It's worth sitting through the commuters, though. The coffee house, whilst not much to look at from the cart, is open air!! It's based round a large, square courtyard with the chairs and tables right out in the middle in the open. It's in a nice little upground territory that enjoys warm, humid summers and beautiful, snowy winters. You'll have to forgive me for not sharing the location. An open air facility is rare in Yellow sections as it is. In the summer, you need to book a week in advance to get in so the many regulars like to keep it as secret as possible. For the purposes of this blog, I'll call my little haven "Alf's" (Gettit? alfRESCOE?! Har har!)
I was surprised at Marc; he made absolutely no mention of his new rank and we just had a nice chat. Unfortunately, our time was cut short. We'd only been there for around an hour when the drill sirens went off and we were herded onto the next track cart. The Sirens seem to go off a lot at Alf's. I asked one of the Reds who works there once, but they just said that it was standard drills like any other district. We used to think they set them off on purpose, especially in the summer. It's a great way to turn over the punters. Especially when you've got a queue of two hundred waiting to come back in. Seems a bit pointless in winter when the place isn't even at three-quarters capacity, though! Maybe I'm being paranoid. Maybe it's just that we spend most of our time there so we always get the bad luck!
I said bye to Marc and then dropped over to the office. Managed to claim i was on "Official Government Business" and catch the fast track which only took around an hour instead of three! Did I mention I love the perks of my new job?! I was set to work from home today but my new Team Leader, Camilla, said that I could come and watch one of the shipments coming in from The Badlands. I managed to do all my work on the various track journeys so it all worked out pretty nicely.
Upground of my office is a desert territory. The vehicles come right in to a large, hangar like depot on the top floor of the building. There are catwalks that run around 30 feet above the hangar floor from which employees can view the goings-on on the deck below. One of the walls of the cavernous room has four large doors that roll up to let the vehicles in and out. I'd previously only seen video surveillance footage of this area and it was absolutely breathtaking to see it with my own eyes.
Everthing was quiet when we first arrived and Camilla showed me around, pointing out various people and things. One of the large trucks was in a bay being refuelled, and there were a few Reds and Oranges running around performing maintenance, replacing the tyres, etc.
I was just beginning to get used to the huge space when, without any warning, an alarm starting buzzing, and one of the colossal hangar doors started to open. It was like someone had opened an oven and I had to cover my eyes from the heat and the light that were pouring in through the opening. It took me a minute to catch my breath and for my eyes to adjust. Camilla saw that I was looking a little dazed and started to laugh.
"Gets everyone first time", she shouted above the roar. Great! So why not give people a little heads-up?!
Looking down from the catwalk, I could see another one of the trucks easing in through the doorway. More Reds and Oranges were rushing around and barking orders to each other and to the truck crew. There was a hot draft and dust blowing through the whole huge space.
As soon as it had started, the whirlwind stopped. The hangar doors shut quickly, cutting out the wind, dust, heat and light and the huge truck cut power to the engines. The only sounds were the shouts from the workers down on the floor. Their voices echoed around the cavern and distorted so I couldn't hear their exact words.
The driver of the truck stepped down from the cab and opened a hatch toward the back of the vehicle. A total of four Badlanders stepped out and huddle together. I wanted to stay and watch what would happen next, but Camilla said we had to get back to work.
The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. I visited a few other areas of the building that I'd not seen before. We actually have an Oxygen farm that I didn't know of. A large glass dome near the top of the building that houses probably twenty or thirty small trees. It's odd to think that the only clue to anyone on the upgorund of the vast underground government complex hidden under the sands is a large glass dome and a big metal door built into the side of a dune.
I'm on the track cart at the moment heading home. I was let to go home an hour early so the cart is empty. Alf's was on the news feed a moment ago. Apparently it has been closed all day because of a glitch in one of the theft detectors. Marc's voice is ringing in my head: "Shoddy Yellow Rank engineering!" Haha. Bless him, he does make me laugh.
More merry news from me soon. Thank you to Ben who wrote to me on here and has kindly volunteered to walk me through TaxShare tonight! He also works for another Intake office in a different territory! Small world, eh?
See you soon, readers!
-Sophie
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