Joseph Orlando

Picard on Risa

Best funny caption wins virtual cookies!

Chapter 51 - I, Robot 2004

A refresher of the movie.

Chapter 51 - The Chicago Skyline in our World

IF you're thinking, Joe, you take your research too far. I might have to agree.

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Walking out of the downtown area park that I had been originally placed by Q, I recognized the skyline, mostly. I was in Chicago, in the United States. I recognized the Sears Tower and the Prudential building, though there was a giant building, the tallest one in the visible skyline now, one th...

Chapter 51 - Chicago, 2035

AAG - Chapter 51!

I have visions of HK-47 dancing through my head with this chapter. A powerful, utterly loyal, and obedient little bodyguard and killer for Gothic, ready to do his bidding no matter what it is.

I hope you like the chapter. I could have spent multiple chapters alone in this world, but decided to be quick about it. As always, from the bottom of my heart thank you for supporting this sto...

Chapter 51 - Teaser!

That now rather familiar feeling of forced unconsciousness followed by intense disorientation after I jumped dimensions was back and in full force. And of course, my armor’s systems were deactivated once again, but this time I felt them slowly reactivating, seemingly in time with my own return to consciousness. That, admittedly, was a prudent move on Q’s part. My armor systems could do a lo...

Chapter 50 - Robert Kirkman, Author or Creator God of the Walking Dead universe?

Where do you guys stand on this debate?

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“Who wrote the comic book series?” Dale asked intently. “Could he be our creator? Or our universe’s God?”

My eyes widened at the question, the room going still as the weight of the question could seemingly be felt by everyone. I thought I was going to be asked fun questions about Star Trek for a few hours, not digging th...

Chapter 50 - Mixed Governments

T’Maz stood up, then gestured widely from her omnitool transferring her report to us. As was her nature, she was direct and to the point, with little in the way of preamble.

“I have determined that the best form of government, given the unique circumstances and challenges this world faces, is a mixed form of government, combining an absolute ruler centered around you, captain, with a ...

Chapter 50 - The Philosophy of Thomas Hobbes

Hobbes is who we often think about when we imagine a post apocalyptic world.

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“Before it was probably all so clear. This world was over and there was little hope for anything to get better. Your final promise to your wife, which you had honored as you walked these tomb-like halls by yourself, had run its course. You could be proud of that fact, knowing that everyone was alrea...

Chapter 50 - Who are the Tholians?

I watched in disbelief as Deep Space 9 became hardcore gay midget porn with a clown and circus theme, and not just gay midget porn with humans, no, but hardcore gay midget porn with little Klingons and little Romulans and little Cardassians, etc., all ass banging each other. I’m pretty sure Tholians didn’t even have penises and assholes as they were a crystalline-based non-hum...

Chapter 50 - Trafalgar Square and a Dubious Tour Guide

I watched a bunch of videos like this to get a feel for the place.

Chapter 50 - Facts about Trafalgar Square

Chapter 50 - Trafalgar Square from the Air

This aerial drone shot of Trafalgar Square was very useful in writing the scene.

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Eventually I reached my destination in London, the famous Trafalgar Square, a public square in the City of Westminster, Central London. The square, as you might imagine, had seen better days. Abandoned vehicles and rotting corpses with their innards spilling out littered the area liberally. The ...

Chapter 50 - 1987's Masters of the Universe

I was inspired by this scene. An image of Gothic appearing 30 feet tall was probably nicely ego stroking and the beginning of people's worship of him. He's larger than life, after all.

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“The color depth and visual contrast with the surroundings is excellent,” I commented, though it lacked the solidity that could be found on a traditional Star Trek holodeck. This was a ho...

AAG - Chapter 50!

It's amazing just how much time, effort, and thought goes into a chapter and when you read it after its done, it flies by so quickly. Goes to show you just how much we take for granted in our lives. Virtually everything man-made we interact with was the product of an incredible amount of time and effort on the parts of many people, with a ton of ingenuity going into even the simplest things. ...

Chapter 50 - Teaser!

I had no idea coming up with a plan to rebuild a post-apocalyptic world would be so hard! I have a feeling this chapter will divide some folks, some liking the idea of it, others wishing for more action, but I feel it's an important chapter to build. I should have the chapter finished and published by Sunday night. :-)

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As I had expected, given the intimate moments we’...

Chapter 49 - What is Vulcan Love Slave?

Besides another name for T'Maz, of course, lol. :-P

Chapter 49 - Replicator Food Patterns

Gothic's trip through the multiverse has been good for many things, but one probably underrated area is in expanding his database of great food from his home time period. But it makes you wonder, if you had the power to make these pattern copies, what would you want scanned/copied? Would you copy every dish made at a Micheline star restaurant? Would you go to your favorite local pizza place ...

Chapter 49 - What is a vibroweapon?

I grinned a bloodthirsty grin, one that would have made even a Klingon backstep in instinctual fear. My rifle disappeared back into my armor’s buffered inventory and my sword and combat knife were brought out, their purposely darkened blades reflecting none of the night’s moonlight. Unlike the few other times I’d used my sword in battle, I didn’t activate the plasma cutting edge, instea...

Chapter 49 - How do vibroweapons work?

And what is their battle utility for someone like Gothic?

Chapter 49 - Kirk and the Chameloid

I always get a kick out of watching the Star Trek movies with the original cast. Undiscovered Country is my favorite.

"It's cold!" - Might be my favorite line in that clip.

Chapter 49 - What is a Chameloid?

Chapter 49 - Clearing a Misconception: Life does not adapt!

Neil set me straight here and helped me better explain what value the Walking Dead universe has provided Gothic.

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“The changes in your DNA are very minor, but so are the genetic differences between a chimpanzee and a human. Even a minor genetic change can have profound and unknowable effects as a whole, which is why we so often see unintended consequences when parents ge...

Chapter 49 - What is an allasomorph?

Something that people don't always remember: the Federation had met many so called shapeshifters before they ever encountered the Founders.

Chapter 49 - The Drone Chase

The drone chase in the movies is showcasing kind of what I envision for the drones in the future of the story. The issue is that using weapons like these will be a serious escalation in warfare and will invite copying/countermeasures. It might be a situation where I can only safely use weapons like these where there will be no survivors or sensor records afterward. Thoughts?

Chapter 49 - The Making of the Drone

The one major change I made to the drone design was the lack of those protruding thrusters. Let's assume that Star Trek tech does not need such an obvious engine thruster like we see in ships in Star Wars. It should allow for better spins/turns and aiming at targets both in front and behind it.

Chapter 49 - Gothic's Choice in Drone Weapon Design

I had considered many drone designs that existed in both the Star Trek universe and those that I had seen in real life or in fiction, before I had made my decision. It had been a hard one, but one that I was happy with.

Appearing in large holographic form was the white spherical drone weapon that had appeared in the 2013 movie Oblivion, starring Tom Cruise.

“An interesting design,...

The Chapter Collections are Complete!

It's taken me the last several months, but the Chapter Collections are complete!! :-)

During the last update for the platform, Creators can now organize all of our posts by Collection. That was ideal for me as all my posts on this platform have been organized around a specific released chapter. If you go to the Collections page you can now see see every chapter's collection of posts org...

Chapter 49 - Gothic's Drone Weapon

What did you guys think of the final choice in drone?

If you could have chosen any drone design that wouldn't have been utterly story-breaking, what would YOU have chosen?

AAG - Chapter 49!

Thank you guys for being so patient given my family's recent loss. A few scenes will be moved to the next chapter, but I think it comes together well. :-) As always, let's discuss in the chat!