Some notes on Linux distros

There are times when I really would like to have several desk top computers set up. I don't. Or, at least have two, one to use and one for experimentation with different Linux distros. I do have Virtual Box, but that is not the same as having a distro installed on a computer.

For stability, I have to say that I believe Linux Mint is the best. Or, perhaps I think that because it is easy to use. There is very little to do after installing Linux Mint, whereas other distros require a bit of work to set up after installation.

But, there certainly are times when I like the idea, perhaps a bit romanticized, of Debian. Debian is the polar opposite of Mint when it comes to ease of use and set up. There is a lot that has to be done after installation generally. I suppose it could be used as is upon installation, but there are things that one might want from an OS that have to be gotten after the installation process with Debian.

And then, because I am a person who like to attempt to create various types of art I suppose, whether being visual, video, or audio - there is one of my favorite distros, Ubuntu Studio. There is always something more that could be added from the repos, but the software is pretty much there to create art upon installation of Studio.

Of course, any distro (although I prefer Debian based ones) can be made to suit the needs of the individual user. It is just a matter of taking the time to set things up, and finding the right software in the repos.

For multi-media uses, one could argue that Windows is superior, but I don't think I would like to go back to Windows anymore. I prefer Linux instead.

A little of the story painfully slowly crafted.

I am still, even after long months, at the very beginning of this, what is intended to be, a short novella. Here is the first installment for this blog space:

King Oswerth stood with his sword in his hand, wearing his gold helmet. His ranks were swelled with soldiers, many of them the sons of the great and wealthy Gedas of Eos. This was to be the first time I would witness a battle fought on Eos, and to say I was partial to Oswerth’s forces would be an understatement. This is because his enemy on the field that day was Ubert, the man that held me captive, and mistreated me (although not as badly as others I would learn). 

In fact, I would later find out that it was only Ubert’s superstition, the belief that I somehow came from the gods, that saved me from being executed. If their gods live in a Heaven, then I can understand how he could come to that conclusion. You see, I am Jake Bard, an astronaut from Earth. King Ubert, an unpleasant man, was the first to find my ship when I crash landed into Eos’s one great sea. Of course, much of that sea is frozen, and I was lucky enough to come down into relatively warm liquid water. I was taken prisoner that day, but since escaped, only after learning there was somewhere to escape to, which was behind Osbert’s lines.

The two armies glared at each other, uneasily, across the field, which was more of an expanse of red and brown muddy dirt, interspersed with sparse vegetation. Some of the men shouted insults at one another. All were ready to follow the orders of their kings into  battle. 

Another test of different source for embed code

This is yet another test. I have been interested in what will work as a source for html audio, or in this case, even just an embed. I've been interested to see (as of yet it only works for a time, then stops) if Google Drive can be used as a sufficient host for an audio (I know it works in various scenarios with video) when used as html directly, or an embed. So, I'll yet again make an attempt.




So far, this seems to work. I can't take credit for figuring this out. I got it from here. the song is mine, done with uke and vocals. Called, "Dusty uke." Update: hmm...after a certain period of time, it seems to stop working just as the audio tag with this source does. Still works when brought up as a "pop up" player. Update 2: It seems to work again once refreshed, or more perhaps it is a random problem.Update 3: Doesn't seem to work in Firefox, or perhaps it is an authentication problem, I don't know.

Many blogs or one

It is an old question among bloggers. For now, I think I'll stick to maintaining my several blogs. Here are a few that I will link in this post: Jymediablog    johnyorks blog  soundblogbyjy

cleaner blog look?

Maybe I'll take out some of the CSS, and go for a cleaner look? Cleaner look is in they tell me. I'll have to think about it though. I've gotten used to it this way, and change can sometimes not be good. (Sometimes it can, it depends on the circumstance.)

Where next ?

Well, I'm sure more coding or tech stuff will occur to me, but right now I haven't come across anything that catches my curiosity.  Every now and then, I feel the need to play around with a new Linux distribution. Maybe, I'll post something about that here. I don't know. Probably, I'll put up more of my media using html instead. I might include media from other places too. In other words, continue on, but with less focus on the different ways of designing the audio/video players, and more focus on content.

If I discover new things, I'll post here about that as well....

Another test of IA viewer to work in Firefox

I think if I use a different embed code that can be found on Internet Archive site with the item, then it might actually work in Firefox without a plugin. Let's see....

Link color test

Just atest to see how I designed the link colors after all. Test

The Meaning of Google Search Console

Oddly, I am nerdy enough to look at my sites with Google Search Console tool. Maybe, that isn't so odd. Still, it is a mystery how the Google indexes, and decides the fate of each blog or site. Crawl errors? Really? And why does one site get indexed far more than another? Mysterious.

So far, for some reason beyond my understanding, this blog is doing well in the all-mighty Google Console tool. Yet, others don't. Hmm....

Even if I could comprehend how to fix crawl errors (and other such problems Console has informed me of), I don't know if I would want to spend the time struggling with it. It seems a great effort to fix a few errors. Oh well, continue on I guess.

Test of IA book embed

This is mainly a test of writing my own embed code (rather than iframe) to embed a digital book from Internet Archive. Hope it works. From the preview, it doesn't seem to work the way I imagined.

notes on e books and formatting for electronic text

Since this is the blog my Amazon readers might see, I thought I'd repeat some notes I made on my JY Media blog. Mainly, I discovered a problem with the formatting of two of my older books, especially regarding how the text was rendered on a Kindle Fire. I'm still not exactly sure why the Fire deals with the same input as the Kindle or Paper White in a different way, but it does. On the Nook side, the problem was not very noticeable either. Only the Kindle Fire stood out, and I apologize if anybody with a Fire bought either of those two books, and had to struggle to get it to present the text in a readable fashion.

Somehow, I was able to fix the problem. I think I know how, actually, but it would be too complicated to explain in this blog post, so I'll leave it at the problem seems to be fixed, and the text, as far as I can now tell, looks great - even in the Kindle Fire. Thank You.

very soon now

Very soon, there will be the full novella coming out for Nook and Kindle. This means it is very probable that the serialized version on this blog will end at part 9, unless I change my mind. I am referring to, A Child's View of Inter-Stellar War, of course.

Unfinished Sci-Fi Novella Link

This is a link to the Science Fiction novella that I've been working on for a long time. It is called, A Child's View of Inter-Stellar War. It takes place in a sort of dystopian future, but much of the dystopia is happening on a planet far from the earth. Won't give away anymore here.....

A Child's View (part 9)

He had been using all the skills he had acquired to determine whether he trusted her or not. It was quite possible she had the ability to deceive him on this point, but he thought for several moments, and realized he had little recourse but to go with her. He would worry about the rest later.

Back on earth, the President of China was preparing to address the world. A large audience, understanding that events had reached such a point that some truth, or in other words, some explanation was going to have to come from the address. Joe had his radio on. He listened intently. The speech began and the translation followed. "People of the world, many of you have noticed the increase in sightings of what have come to be called UFOs. This is actually a very old term for unidentified objects in the sky. When this term was most commonly in use, it implied extraterrestrial beings were traveling from other planets in these objects to visit earth, for whatever reason. In truth, our government can not confirm or deny the validity of the claims from that time. However, we can confirm that robotic drone like craft have been discovered orbiting the earth at an extremely high altitude." Joe, in a state of shock, dropped his coffee, breaking the cup as it fell into the sink. He continued listening. "I know previous world leaders relied on deceit. We have said from the beginning that we would follow a different path, and be as truthful as circumstances allow. Therefore, we can only tell you that we do not yet know the purpose of these craft, but they are small and without a doubt pilot-less. They seem to be gathering atmospheric data about our planet. We have yet to decide whether they are dangerous, or to discern where they have been sent from. We have the capability to shoot them down, but have made no decision to do so as of yet. We think it unwise to act rashly." Joe understood the allusions to "previous world leaders" were thinly veiled attacks on the Presidents of the US. The speech was concluding. "We have gathered a bit more intelligence than we are providing, but we don't want to speak to soon about things we are uncertain about. We will not take questions at this time, as we simply do not have answers." 

Joe sat for a long time bewildered by what he had heard. These UFOs are real after all. At least, this is what the world was being told. At this moment, Joe had no reason to disbelieve anything in the President of China's speech. 

Tum followed the girl through desolated areas often covered with foliage. At places, the vegetation was so thick, he had difficulty making his way through it. He was sure he was quite lost. At some point, they came to an opening that led to a rather run down neighborhood. Tum had never given much thought to the privileged background he enjoyed. The sight of what could only be called poverty distressed and embarrassed him. They walked past an open square that seemed not monitored.  Yet, by the circuitous path the girl was taking, he could tell they were travelling in a way designed to avoid detection. There must have been cameras hidden somewhere in that neighborhood that Tum couldn't detect. 

The neighborhood seemed quite deserted except for a small boy playing a game with a handful of stones. The boy glanced at them briefly, but paid little attention to their presence.  

A Child's View (part 8)

He sat for many hours, hoping not to be discovered, as he was thinking. As twilight came, he was getting a bit anxious about the events that had unfolded in the past several days. He tried several ways to gain insight. His main idea was to access, another skill he had developed, the brainwaves floating around through the "sousx" to see if there is anything within any of the patterns that could help him. He did this over and over, but could find nothing of use. Generally, the people were caught up in their mundane thoughts, being so damaged by the "sousx" as to have no comprehension of the servitude they've been placed in, other than that promoted conventional politics used as a diversion for divide and conquer. Although, he could feel the undercurrent of disenchantment building among the masses. As the society loses supremacy and economic conditions worsen, Tum could tell that the trajectory would continue, and society could face a variety of scenarios.  Tum thought it most likely that society would simply face a breakdown of some sort. But the other possibilities he could think of were also quite likely. One of the most frightening was some form of revolt among the masses. This was frightening because he could see the state making preparations for such an event, and could tell that the authorities had no intention of being gentle.

Just as darkness was setting in, Tum was becoming very afraid. The mysterious girl he met the other day appeared. "Your family will get through this fine," she reassured him. "Remember, the authorities can access their chips and their brainwaves through the "sousx." This means that after a time of interrogation and discomfort, perhaps even some of their lesser torture techniques, the likelihood is they will discover your family knows nothing." Although the prospects she presented were less than hopeful, he acknowledged that he would have to accept her description as the way things were for the time being. He spoke, "Well, what do I do now." "Come with me. It is lucky I found you before they did."

A Child's View (part 7)

Tum finally decided to get up and leave his room. He didn't have school this day, which was fine because he didn't know if he was ever going back to school, now that his chip was disabled. That was another problem. He would be scanned for his chip at school. He was wondering more and more if disabling his chip was a good idea.

He decided for the first time he could remember to go out and walk around the town. There was a certain danger in this. He would have to avoid the cameras, which seemed ubiquitous, and most of all, the drones. A feeling of terror went through him as he imagined being vaporized by a drone. He started out, being careful to avoid any main route, especially ones that would take him to the main public transports. He cut across and around corners. He felt driven to keep moving on. It being the hot season, the sun shined through the hazy red sky. Tum actually felt hot, which was unusual for his species, being used to warm temperatures and averse to cold. In fact, if one of Tum's species were exposed to cold below what on earth would be 0 degrees Celsius, he or she would slow down, and eventually shut down.

He didn't really know where he was going, but he seemed to be drawn in the direction of the natural place. He knew he couldn't enter the natural place itself, because that would be too dangerous. There was too much monitoring going on there. It would take a long time to get near the natural place, especially since he had to take such a circuitous route.

He finally came to the edge of the natural place. He sat down in a secluded area. What was to be done now?

A Child's View (part 6)

 Meanwhile on a tiny blue planet 1,000,000 miles away,  Joe drinking morning coffee and listening to the radio, had a conversation.  "What do you make of reports of UFO's as they've come to call them again?"  This Joe asked his wife.  "It sounds like tabloid stuff from 100 years ago," she replied.  "Well, the President of China is about to give an address they've  been talking about for weeks,"  Joe responded.  "Do you think it could have something to do with the UFO sightings?"

A Child's View (part 5)

Chapter 3




Tum had two goals upon waking that morning. One was to disable his chip. The other was to find the girl he met in the natural place. He also wanted to meet her friends and find out what the small group was about. He knew he could no longer trust the public transport, and without the chip he could travel about more freely. But he also knew without the chip he would be without credits for food, and the strange security, one of almost captivity, that the chip provided. He would have to travel on foot, and he would have to be cautious not to give himself away.


        The first task, disabling the chip, would be difficult enough. Why didn’t the girl give more information? He knew it wasn’t impossible, as he had met the girl, and the small band existed without chips. Even without their chips, it was amazing the group was able to escape detection. The people were under surveillance in many different ways.


        There were the blimps as an English speaker might understand them, flying high above barely seen by the people.  There were the small automated craft that appeared and disappeared,  getting various sections of the planet. Some of them came equipped with weapons, just in case there are any dangerous rogues to be dealt with. Of course, there were also simple camera like devices, in various locations, keeping watch over the public. Tum often wondered why all this is necessary when the people are already under the induced haze of the "sousx."


         As he sat in his tree house, it started the dawn on him how to disable his chip, it must be done through mind processes. He couldn't quite pin down just how to begin. If only to girl had told him.


 For hours he would begin, come to a dead end, and start over again.  It had to have something to do with affecting the nerves where the chip was.  But how?  He experimented with different ideas, first making an attempt thinking of energy, or perhaps making the neurons overload right on the spot, on what an earthling might call his neck, which is where the chip is located.


He could feel the nerve start to tingle.  No matter what he did, the chip was still active. He couldn't quite understand how he knew that, he just did. It was part of the greater awareness he was developing.  He just couldn't get past a certain point in the procedure.


         He came at from different directions trying to affect different nerve groups or paths. Not being a neurosurgeon he understood what he was doing intuitively.


          It was starting to get very late but he kept at it.  He could feel a tingling sensation.  Then he felt something, but all at once the pain stopped.  He then knew the chip was deactivated.  He became very frightened by this.  There were many dangers involved. The danger of not being able to have food. The danger of putting his family in trouble. The state would surely know he wasn't using his credits. Even if he just left,  the security services might still visit his parents. It being very late Tum decide to go to sleep for the night.


         The next morning he considered this problem for a very long time.  There had to be a way to keep his family out of it.

A Child's View (part 4)

She then got up and walked beyond the edge of the natural place, as though she had the freedom to go wherever she wished, whenever she wished. Tum thought long and hard about what the girl told him. He found himself being self-conscious about his thoughts, as he wondered how in “xact” he could both think things through, and disguise his thoughts. And how would he live if he did disable the chip. All of his credits were tied into the chip. No chip meant no food, no clothing, no ride on the transport, and nothing material he might want or need. As he considered her words, he slowly realized the transport meant nothing to him. In fact, the thing was a constraint on his ability to travel, as the girl and her group proved by moving beyond security perimeters at will. Was it simply the chip that restricted movement? Or, were there other factors? As he considered the problem of the chip, he figured out that if he held some other idea in his head, like the latest game or fashion, this would probably camouflage what he was really interested in thinking about.


As it was almost dark, he decided he had better hurry to the transport. As he was walking that way, another problem presented itself to him. He became worried for his family. He certainly didn’t want any of them to be endangered because of his actions.


Tum went through the usual security steps, was in the tube, but suddenly the transport seemed to take off at the usual incredible speed, then with an alarming jolt, stop. Tum fell against the wall of the tube, but apparently was not badly hurt. He felt a slight pain across his shoulders, and his wrists hurt some in two of his limbs because he instinctively tried to catch himself from falling. The English translations for “xact” anatomy are far from perfect, so perhaps one might say it was a slight injury of the neck, and his ankles hurt. He could hear a voice coming from somewhere demanding he stay where he was. This seemed rather obvious to Tum. A moment later, he was completely immobilized. He was standing in the middle of the tube, and could not move in the slightest even within the tube. In fact, no matter how much he willed it, he could move no part of his body. Then, mysteriously, he couldn’t see, as there seemed to be an opaque black hood, or perhaps bag, that covered first his head, and then his whole body. This was very frightening to him, but the fear only lasted a few short moments, as within  an instant, the transport had taken him somewhere he had never been before. He was still unable to move, but the black covering was removed, how he wouldn’t remember, and he could see again. However, the room he was in was very dark. It was a rather small room. Tum’s intuition told him thast the room was designed to make him uncomfortable, and even afraid. Oddly at this point, he had developed a come what may attitude, and was totally unafraid. He may have felt a bit numb. The lights would slowly brighten and dim. Tum came to understand that this was also a form of conditioning. Perhaps, it was meant to be a subtle technique of torture.


Tum didn’t understand how, but from behind a barrier, like a wall or thick glass, he could hear a man’s voice. “But sir, this one has the chip.” “I don’t care. You get out there and get me some answers about that kid,” came the reply. Tum was certain he wasn’t intended to hear any of this. At that instant, the lights came on, full and bright in Tum’s eyes. He was momentarily blinded, but then could see the man in a security uniform standing in front of him. “You think an awful lot about politics,” the man stated as though this in itself were some crime. “And you don’t fit the types provided through the ‘sousx’ for that.” Tum didn’t speak. He simply stared into the distance. An earthling creature, at least one who was aware of the planet’s philosophical ideas, might have labeled Tum’s current state as stoic. “How are you hiding your thoughts so well?” Tum didn’t answer. “Are you aware of anybody within ‘xact’ who doesn’t have the chip?” The man continued to ask what seemed like banal and pointless questions.


        Tum continued to look beyond the man, off into the distance.  At times, the questions were directly about Tum, his beliefs, and even his abilities.




        This last part the man seemed particularly interested in. Finally, the man captured Tum’s attention. “If you could bring us to any citizen that is without a chip, you and your family might find a lot of credits appear for your use.” Tum  ruled this idea out as soon as he considered it. However, it might serve his temporary interests to act intrigued by the offer. Of course, his main interest at the moment was gaining his freedom. “How would I do that?” Tum said.


        The man was shocked that he finally got a question out of Tum. “We believe you already know how to do it. We know you tried to crawl beyond the safety of the square during the incident the other day. Of course, this was a very minor annoyance to us, and if anything, serves our purposes of bringing justice to rogues. It has really made it easier for us to be less subtle in our work. We also suspect you weren’t alone in the natural space.”


        Tum was silent for a moment.  He concentrated his brain waves around the concept as he spoke. “I thought I saw something, maybe some people, outside the square. I tried to go over there, but as you are aware, that seems quite impossible to do. Other than that, I can’t really tell you anything. Yes, I suppose I like to sit and think. That’s why I was in the natural place. However, as to rogues, I have no opinion what -so -ever about them.”


        He stopped there and waited to see if the man was concerned. He seemed to be. Tum was getting good at guarding his thoughts.


        The man thought for a good long time after that. It seemed like an entirety. Then, he handed Tum a small metallic tag with a contact code number. “If you do learn anything, contact me.” Tum was as suspicious of the tag as was of just about everything out of officialdom. He decided to keep the tag in one drawer at home, but never carry it with him. This would make it seem as though he was keeping the tag, which he thought was probably another surveillance device. It would sit in a drawer surveilling nothing. Tum was still immobilized. The dark cloak enveloped him once again. This time he was fearless. Before he could understand what happened, he was back in the transport at the station near his home. He could see fine. He was able to move normally. By this time it was quite late, and he wondered if his parents would be worried about him. They were still up, obviously worried about him, but said nothing to him.


        Tum was exhausted from the day’s events. He went to his room and fell into a sound sleep. After school  the next day, he sat in his tree house as usual. He sat there thinking, but was developing greater awareness of his ability to cloak thoughts, using a technique of dualistic thinking. In other words, he could project one set of thoughts for the status quo, and another for himself. He sat and thought into the evening.

A Child's View (part 3)

Chapter 2


Tum decided one day to leave his tree house for an afternoon, and go down to the square closest to his home. He walked through the scanner where his microchip was processed for the proper security code, and the credits deducted from his parent’s account. He entered the portal from there, and was asked for his destination, except for the nearest square. See, the system was designed to take the traveler to the square unless otherwise directed, and some destinations required an extra fee (meaning also an extra scan), and perhaps a more thorough security check (also meaning another another extra scan). A moment later, the tube he was in moved at incredible speed, and a moment or so later than that arrived at the portal stop just in front of the square.


Tum left through the portal and was scanned once more upon entering the tunnel into the square. After a short distance, he emerged into the square. The place was crowded with people and an “akkutt” was yapping at him. A very close English translation of the word would be “small pet.” The people, of course, had a glazed look in their eyes, and were trance-like, glued to the “sousx” spilling out of the Holographic monitor. Except, there were a few people, just at the edge of the square, that didn’t seem to belong with the mass of trance-like zombies. Their eyes seemed clear, and they had a certain focus about them. At first they seemed to be spaced out away from one another, slowly converging on one point. When they finally arrived at a certain point on the outer edge of the square, they discreetly moved on, on foot, which nobody really did anymore, outside the perimeter of the square. Tum was astounded by this, as he had always been under the impression that the square was a protected security zone, and certainly it must be impossible to just up and walk right out of the square.


He began to follow them, but as he came near the edge of the square, the “sousx” became distorted, and even the monitor screens momentarily dissipated.. For a moment, there was a state of chaos among the people gathered in the square. They seemed confused, and as the bewilderment grew, the crowd became mob-like, with many of the people becoming aggressive. There was some pushing and shoving. Genuine fear could be seen in the eyes of a great number of the people assembled.


Tum continued on after the small group as they walked further from the square. When he got to the edge of the square, a queasy feeling overcame him and he became weak. He could only manage to crawl past the edge. He became too ill to barely move across the edge, and it suddenly dawned on him that this was a security precaution of the square working through his microchip. He crawled backwards, away from the edge, and as he did, he became stronger and in better health again. By the time he recovered, he could no longer see the group that somehow managed to escape beyond the edge of the square. After giving this seemingly impossible escape he had just witnessed some considerable thought, he realized the only plausible conclusion he could reach was that the entire small group of them must not be microchipped. Tum had no idea how that could be, as all the citizens, on every planet in the coalition, were microchipped at birth for reasons of inter-planetary security.


Tum sat in his tree house the next afternoon. How did the small group manage to to interupt the transmission for the entire square? Not only that, the latest “sousx” was that they were a horrible band of rogue criminals that somehow managed to distort the “sousx” throughout the entire inter-planetary “sousx” system. The leaders of Tum’s planet claimed they suspected one or two of the more eastern planets to be behind this act of sabotage.


Now, of course if the more powerful eastern planets were to be accused of sabotage, then they would simply call the accusation ridiculous, and there would be a holographic conference, which no common citizen would ever know the content of, or the deals made. Tum suspected it was to the benefit of both sides from time to time to accuse the other side of such things, whether true or not true for many reasons. He couldn’t know all the reasons for sure, but he suspected reasons could include keeping control over a planet’s population more fully, getting something one side wanted from the other, showing the ability of one side or the other to counter perceived or real threats from the offending side,  or maybe actions meant as a threat - who knows really? Another thing Tum had considered was that the leaders of his own planet we're behind this. It seems to him that the “sousx” had not been perfectly maintaining control over the people in the way that was intended, which of course meant complete and total control. Tum reasoned that it could have been done as a pretext to go after this seemingly growing number of people who have broken free from to a greater or lesser extent depending on the person from the control system. But if so many had already broken out of the control system then why would the leaders expect a stunt like this to work anyway?  Tum pondered this question for a long time but was unable come up with a good answer.  Perhaps the leaders weren't as smart as they pretended to be. Perhaps they had already lost control to such an extent that something drastic was called for. Or, could it simply be that the small group he witnessed that day at the square were independent operators who could even be part of a larger group that has managed to break the ties to the interplanetary social control grid.


While there was still light Tom decided to leave the comfort of his tree house and take the transport, really the only transport allowed on his planet or even the other planets of “Xact” to
the one section of open natural space set aside for his town. Each town or larger city had such a space. An English speaker, or really any sentient creature of the tiny blue planet, might get the impression that this was the park, but that wasn't exactly the case. Although the people were allowed  to take to transport to these areas they could only travel to the area designated for the region they lived in and once there just as in the squares if one of them attempted to venture beyond the perimeter they would experience the same fate Tum did when he tried to walk beyond the square


In fact much of the land of the entirety of “Xact”had been set aside as off limits to the people, and the official reason given was that the natural environments of the planets were being made fragile by  the overuse and over exploitation of the people Tum couldn't decide whether this was true or not, but when he considered who was doing the exploiting, which to him seemed may be the powerful private conglomerates and the government they apparently controlled, the official reason caused him to be skeptical.


Momentarily and of course after all the required security scans, Tum arrived at the natural space. He really only came there because he thought this particular change of scenery might help him to think and sort things out. One central question he couldn't get out of his head - how could this group of people truly exist within the system designed by “Xact?” It seemed impossible. He was really starting to lean towards the idea that the whole thing must be some sort of inside operation carried out by exactly whom  he couldn't figure. It seemed unlikely to him that any of the more eastern planets would be able to carry out such an operation. They would first have to put the operatives at great risk of which the participants would surely be aware of because they needed to travel beyond the safety of their own radiation belts. And if any of these planets where to take care to provide protection against the radiation of space,  then the expense of such an undertaking would be astronomical, so in Tum’s mind that possibility was ruled out. Besides,at this particular time, as Tum could reason, the more eastern planets would have no motive for such an act. It seemed to him that the more powerful eastern planets were content to quietly consolidate their control over the less powerful ones using economic incentives and diplomacy not to mention the implied assurance of protection from the more odious plots and plans of the planets aligned with Tum's planet. For them it was more of a waiting game. Soon Tum's planet would no longer have the financial or military superiority to dominate the other planets. Tum knew they would operate as they had to if they felt threatened,  but generally these eastern planets wanted calm. With calm the other planets would gravitate towards them unless conditions changed drastically.


A slight digression is now in order. For it must be mentioned that there were different levels of “sousx” for the people. This seemed to depend on how much of a role the particular individual played in society, which really meant how much of a role the person believed they played a role in society. If so, there were a few variations on a theme to choose from. This was a clever diversion. These individuals might have a an intense passion about the role they selected for themselves. It also served to keep the people divided. Yet, really there was very little at issue. In fact, the divided people should have been allies attempting to change the corrupt ruling structure of “xact.” Instead, unable to break the trance, they argued and fought with each other. The individuals uninterested in such a role were provided transmissions of games and fashion to divert their attention, as well. As of late, more people were trying to find their civic role, and as Tum had discovered lately, break through the trance at some level, whether it be as Tum’s case, perfectly unaffected, or some lesser degree. Tum attributed this to the deteriorating economic conditions on his planet mainly. He reasoned it must be difficult to keep people under the “sousx” influence as the objective reality was becoming too far divorced from the “sousx.’ Also, as the more eastern planet’s influence grew, their “sousx” was starting to matter more.


As Tum sat by a large tree near the edge of the natural place, he caught a glimpse of something a good distance away and to his right. It was a girl, probably only slightly older than himself. He couldn’t tell for sure, so he walked in her direction to get a closer look. As he approached, trying to seem as casual as possible, he became more confident he recognized her as one of the small group that pulled off the stunt in the square. She looked up at him. “You’ll never be able to travel freely about as long as you have that chip underneath your skin,” she suddenly said. Tum, of course, was breathless. She recognized him? She knew he was trying to cross beyond the square that day, and follow her group of friends? “Yes, I know you tried to crawl beyond the square the other day. Be careful not to think too hard about one thing in my presence. I, and more to the point, others - can access some of your thoughts.Don’t worry too much. Your thoughts are more private than most.” Tum was astounded. However, he also had an uncanny skill. Under pressure, he could ask the direct questions he needed to get the answers he required. “Who are you? What do you mean by others accessing my thoughts? Who? What organization are you working for? I believe you and your friends are the ones who distorted the “sousx” the other day.” The girl laughed nervously. “Well, let’s take your questions in order. Who I am is unimportant for now. What I mean is that others, some in the leadership of “Xact,” have the ability to a greater or lesser degree, to access your thoughts. In your case, however, this ability seems very limited. Just don’t think too hard about any one thing all at once. That, they can pick up on. As for myself and my friends, I won’t yet tell you anything you don’t already know. I don’t want to put you in more danger than you’re already in.” Again, Tum stunned. “What do you mean by danger?” “Think about how you’ve been able to set to set yourself apart from the control system of the ‘sousx.’ Do you believe our leaders are happy with people who have managed that? They’ve only ignored you so far because you’ve refused to act upon what you know, or even simply speak out.” “But you and I are just children really.” “On some planets, for instance the tiny blue one, we might be considered quite far into adulthood, but that is confusing because time is measured differently depending on the planet. This is a digression anyway. You know what you know. They don’t care about your age. And now you’ve tried to crawl across the security perimeter of the square. So, I would think they might be a little more interested in you. I wouldn’t get too worried yet, though.”


Tum was motionless. He thought for a moment about the implications  of what the girl was telling him. He finally spoke. “What do I do now?” “I can’t tell you what to do now. That is up to you. I will give you some advice, though. You have, whether you know it or not, the power to disable the chip inside inside you. Don’t be too obvious when you think about this. Try to disguise your thoughts. You’ll learn how. Once you disable the chip, their ability to limit your freedom will be greatly reduced, but so will your comfort and ability to survive within their system. If you are successful, we will most likely meet again.”