Author Topic: EP147: Pressure  (Read 41852 times)

ancawonka

  • Palmer
  • **
  • Posts: 47
Reply #75 on: March 14, 2008, 12:20:47 AM
I just finished listening to this story, and I thought it was pretty enjoyable.   I like the narrator's voice, and I'm thrilled that he didn't try to voice a woman "au naturel" - the sound effects got me past the inevitable cringe I get when I hear the whiny tone that most male narrators use when voicing women.

Personally, I can relate to the protagonist.  He has a real passion in life, and it wasn't other people.  His inability to really understand other humans (as TAD pointed out a couple of pages ago) made him look at his relationships as obligations, and therefore he set for himself an unrealizable materialistic standard of "happiness".   

This would be a great story to see as an illustrated version! 



Chivalrybean

  • Peltast
  • ***
  • Posts: 158
    • The Space Turtle
Reply #76 on: April 16, 2008, 03:08:54 PM
Who the hell is John Colton and why haven't I heard of him? That done...

Endings seem, for some reason, to be the hardest part. Is this a sci-fi thing, or just fiction in general?

While the ending seems obvious (upon relistening) from the beginning, I hated it. Wa wa


I havn't read all the comments yet on this story, so I may be repeating something already said, but I agree that the ending was obvipus, and I didn't really like it. Maybe that is just because I really hope to have a better family life and could never see my self running *ahem* swimming away.

I liked the concepts of becoming fish man (without help of creatures like Dagon on Obed Marsh) and the things they could do, the after-war bit was interesting, but I didn't care for the Finding Emo bit. Don't get me wrong, I totally want real characters in stories, but like I said, I didn't relate at all with him.

(Pardon any typos, I'm on a laptop at work without my aid of the spell cheker of Firefox.)

The Space Turtle - News that didn't happen, stories to entertain.


stePH

  • Actually has enough cowbell.
  • Hipparch
  • ******
  • Posts: 3906
  • Cool story, bro!
    • Thetatr0n on SoundCloud
Reply #77 on: April 16, 2008, 06:34:01 PM
... but I didn't care for the Finding Emo bit.

 :D BWAHAHAHAHAA!  :D

"Nerdcore is like playing Halo while getting a blow-job from Hello Kitty."
-- some guy interviewed in Nerdcore Rising


wintermute

  • Hipparch
  • ******
  • Posts: 1291
  • What Would Batman Do?
Reply #78 on: April 16, 2008, 06:59:21 PM
I'm not sure if I heard it right and understood his plan, but was he expecting that the body he saw would be mistaken for his own? Even if that body was "aquacized" like him I find it hard to accept, given the amount of detailed medical data they would have had on him.

It's been a while, but I think I remember him expecting to be written off as missing in action; presumed dead.

Because having invested millions in his mods, there's no way they'd think in implant a subcutaneous GPS transponder, right?

Science means that not all dreams can come true


Tango Alpha Delta

  • Hipparch
  • ******
  • Posts: 1778
    • Tad's Happy Funtime
Reply #79 on: April 17, 2008, 03:04:01 AM
I'm not sure if I heard it right and understood his plan, but was he expecting that the body he saw would be mistaken for his own? Even if that body was "aquacized" like him I find it hard to accept, given the amount of detailed medical data they would have had on him.

It's been a while, but I think I remember him expecting to be written off as missing in action; presumed dead.

Because having invested millions in his mods, there's no way they'd think in implant a subcutaneous GPS transponder, right?

The "Fish-man Lojack" - keeping your heavily modified post-humans safe since 2022.

This Wiki Won't Wrangle Itself!

I finally published my book - Tad's Happy Funtime is on Amazon!


Windup

  • Hipparch
  • ******
  • Posts: 1226
Reply #80 on: April 17, 2008, 03:45:16 AM
I'm not sure if I heard it right and understood his plan, but was he expecting that the body he saw would be mistaken for his own? Even if that body was "aquacized" like him I find it hard to accept, given the amount of detailed medical data they would have had on him.

It's been a while, but I think I remember him expecting to be written off as missing in action; presumed dead.

Because having invested millions in his mods, there's no way they'd think in implant a subcutaneous GPS transponder, right?


I'm fairly certain that a GPS transponder would become ineffective at fairly shallow depth.  Water is a truly lousy carrier of high-frequency radio waves. To talk to submarines, you either need a surface buoy (which partially defeats the purpose of being a submarine) or radio waves with meters-long wavelengths, which requires miles of antenna and has a really slow bit rate.  Of course, these guys were using radios underwater -- you can either be like me and let that bug you, or assume that the frequency issue was dealt with through liberal applications of handwavium.

Someone should correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the GPS satellite signal is fairly weak and fairly high-frequency.  Therefore, Aqua-man ceases to generate meaningful position information shortly after diving.  'Course, I suppose we could go with an inertial navigation unit, transmitting position with one of those mystery radios, but I think those are a bit large for subcutaneous implant.
« Last Edit: April 17, 2008, 03:48:26 AM by Windup »

"My whole job is in the space between 'should be' and 'is.' It's a big space."


Deaf Leper

  • Extern
  • *
  • Posts: 9
  • Hand Crafted
Reply #81 on: April 18, 2008, 04:57:31 AM
I loved this story. It reminded me of Episode 95: Blink. Don't Blick, which isn't a shocking revelation, I know, but both stories occupied my thoughts for some time afterwards.
The idea of wanting to be something other than human. About a year ago, quite randomly, I met a man named Dennis Abner. He's known as the "Catman", and has been featured on several television specials and news articles. He's undergone countless medical procedures to make himself look like a cat, and talking with him for a few moments was one of the oddest experiences of my life.
Anyway, I won't rant about the encounter or the similarities between it and these stories. They're obvious enough, I suppose.
« Last Edit: April 18, 2008, 05:00:11 AM by Deaf Leper »

"I used to think I was serving humanity....and I pleasured in the thought. Then I discovered that humanity does not want to be served; on the contrary it resents any attempt to serve it." - Jubal Harshaw


wintermute

  • Hipparch
  • ******
  • Posts: 1291
  • What Would Batman Do?
Reply #82 on: April 18, 2008, 12:08:26 PM
I'm not sure if I heard it right and understood his plan, but was he expecting that the body he saw would be mistaken for his own? Even if that body was "aquacized" like him I find it hard to accept, given the amount of detailed medical data they would have had on him.

It's been a while, but I think I remember him expecting to be written off as missing in action; presumed dead.

Because having invested millions in his mods, there's no way they'd think in implant a subcutaneous GPS transponder, right?


I'm fairly certain that a GPS transponder would become ineffective at fairly shallow depth.  Water is a truly lousy carrier of high-frequency radio waves. To talk to submarines, you either need a surface buoy (which partially defeats the purpose of being a submarine) or radio waves with meters-long wavelengths, which requires miles of antenna and has a really slow bit rate.  Of course, these guys were using radios underwater -- you can either be like me and let that bug you, or assume that the frequency issue was dealt with through liberal applications of handwavium.

Someone should correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the GPS satellite signal is fairly weak and fairly high-frequency.  Therefore, Aqua-man ceases to generate meaningful position information shortly after diving.  'Course, I suppose we could go with an inertial navigation unit, transmitting position with one of those mystery radios, but I think those are a bit large for subcutaneous implant.

Fine. Then they only know where he is when he comes up to the surface.

Science means that not all dreams can come true


DKT

  • Friendly Neighborhood
  • Hipparch
  • ******
  • Posts: 4980
  • PodCastle is my Co-Pilot
    • Psalms & Hymns & Spiritual Noir
Reply #83 on: April 18, 2008, 04:19:11 PM
I'm not sure if I heard it right and understood his plan, but was he expecting that the body he saw would be mistaken for his own? Even if that body was "aquacized" like him I find it hard to accept, given the amount of detailed medical data they would have had on him.

It's been a while, but I think I remember him expecting to be written off as missing in action; presumed dead.

Because having invested millions in his mods, there's no way they'd think in implant a subcutaneous GPS transponder, right?


I'm fairly certain that a GPS transponder would become ineffective at fairly shallow depth.  Water is a truly lousy carrier of high-frequency radio waves. To talk to submarines, you either need a surface buoy (which partially defeats the purpose of being a submarine) or radio waves with meters-long wavelengths, which requires miles of antenna and has a really slow bit rate.  Of course, these guys were using radios underwater -- you can either be like me and let that bug you, or assume that the frequency issue was dealt with through liberal applications of handwavium.

Someone should correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the GPS satellite signal is fairly weak and fairly high-frequency.  Therefore, Aqua-man ceases to generate meaningful position information shortly after diving.  'Course, I suppose we could go with an inertial navigation unit, transmitting position with one of those mystery radios, but I think those are a bit large for subcutaneous implant.

If they can turn the guy into Aquaman, I'd be surprised if they couldn't tweak the GPS so it worked well underwater.

However, if he can make everyone believe he's dead, I'm sure he could do something to the GPS to destroy or damage it, and cement the belief he's dead.


Windup

  • Hipparch
  • ******
  • Posts: 1226
Reply #84 on: April 18, 2008, 11:43:35 PM
I'm not sure if I heard it right and understood his plan, but was he expecting that the body he saw would be mistaken for his own? Even if that body was "aquacized" like him I find it hard to accept, given the amount of detailed medical data they would have had on him.

It's been a while, but I think I remember him expecting to be written off as missing in action; presumed dead.

Because having invested millions in his mods, there's no way they'd think in implant a subcutaneous GPS transponder, right?


I'm fairly certain that a GPS transponder would become ineffective at fairly shallow depth.  Water is a truly lousy carrier of high-frequency radio waves. To talk to submarines, you either need a surface buoy (which partially defeats the purpose of being a submarine) or radio waves with meters-long wavelengths, which requires miles of antenna and has a really slow bit rate.  Of course, these guys were using radios underwater -- you can either be like me and let that bug you, or assume that the frequency issue was dealt with through liberal applications of handwavium.

Someone should correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the GPS satellite signal is fairly weak and fairly high-frequency.  Therefore, Aqua-man ceases to generate meaningful position information shortly after diving.  'Course, I suppose we could go with an inertial navigation unit, transmitting position with one of those mystery radios, but I think those are a bit large for subcutaneous implant.

Fine. Then they only know where he is when he comes up to the surface.


Only if they've got receive coverage for a very weak transmitter.  I can believe in that in the work area, but once he gets to the open sea?  The "point and track" problem has always been acutely difficult in naval warfare.  If you don't have recourse to air or satellite surviellance, it's darned hard for whole fleets to find each other, much less one lone human head poking up out of the water. 

But, like some other posters, I think his most likely future is fish-food.  Once he runs out of flechettes, I'd say he's pretty well done for.  A guy I used to know learned to dive, and he said his instructor always prefaced a dive by telling his charges: "Remember, there's stuff out there that won't mess with you because you don't make a big enough bite to be worth the trouble."

"My whole job is in the space between 'should be' and 'is.' It's a big space."


williamjamesw

  • Palmer
  • **
  • Posts: 34
Reply #85 on: April 18, 2008, 11:51:37 PM
I figure they'd use something similar to what was supposed to happen in Jurassic Park; make sure he would need some nutrient that wasn't available in the wild, only in the stuff they provided.  Eventually, if he wasn't really dead, he'd come back on his own.

I'll just go back to being silent again now.


DDog

  • Matross
  • ****
  • Posts: 187
    • Twitter
Reply #86 on: June 02, 2008, 10:54:37 PM
I listened to this story awhile ago, and skipped from page one to page five to post this, so I apologize if I'm repeating anything.

Does anyone else think it's funny that a guy who's into Japanese rope bondage read a story that had a tentacle attack in it? Love ya Graydancer. :D

Also love the song at the end. Thank you for including it (although I don't see how you couldn't), it is now one of my favorite Jonathan Coulton songs.

I agree with the 'dramatic inevitability' perspective. The story felt solid and internally consistent. I think it was hard to be sympathetic for a man who would just leave his family like that, but the family doesn't have much sympathy either because we never really meet them and their voices are transmitted via computer recitation. We're totally in the protagonist's head. I can't say I wouldn't love to be amphibious, but I don't think I could just...leave.

The Greenpeace or whoever attack was the only thing that was a little weird... It made sense that there needed to be a catalyzing event for our hero's aqueous departure, but it was a little jarring.

Ask a Tranny Podcast
"Watching someone bootstrap themselves into sentience is the most science fiction thing you can do." -wintermute


Unblinking

  • Sir Postsalot
  • Hipparch
  • ******
  • Posts: 8729
    • Diabolical Plots
Reply #87 on: September 10, 2010, 04:32:36 PM
If they can turn the guy into Aquaman, I'd be surprised if they couldn't tweak the GPS so it worked well underwater.

However, if he can make everyone believe he's dead, I'm sure he could do something to the GPS to destroy or damage it, and cement the belief he's dead.

Who's to say that he DOESN'T have a handwavium GPS transmitter?  They only show him swimming away, they don't show him 20 minutes later when they've landed him in a giant cargo net.  :P  And he can only disable the GPS if he knows about it and if it's possible to remove without lethal damage..  If I planted a GPS in a secret body-mod project, then I wouldn't tell the subject.  And I'd probably try to root it in his brainstem or something so that if he rips it out with a pliers he's worse off than he would've been if he'd left it in.

Anyway, didn't care for this story, mostly a guy complaining about his life, not really my thing, and then he just leaves his family at the end.  I can take stories with unsympathetic protagonists, but I have to have SOMETHING to keep me listening, whether it's a cool idea, or the unsympathetic person is a guy you just love to hate.  This guy wasn't evil, he was just a dick.  I felt bad for his family, though I think they're much better off without him.

Am I the only one that keeps getting this one mixed up with Everything That Matters?



DKT

  • Friendly Neighborhood
  • Hipparch
  • ******
  • Posts: 4980
  • PodCastle is my Co-Pilot
    • Psalms & Hymns & Spiritual Noir
Reply #88 on: September 10, 2010, 04:48:32 PM
Huh. Really weird to read my comments from 2 years ago...

I actually listened to this story again at StarShipSofa, and kept waiting for stuff from "Everything That Matters" to pop up in it. So, no. Not the only one :)