The Presence Of Being - a MrC CJ - The End

[MrCinatit 30]

A huge wave crashed into the side of the ship, almost tipping it over. Garis swore the sails were dipped in the water.

    The boat suddenly righted itself, and turned full circle three times.

     “Will this ever stop!” Bistrom yelled at the top of his lungs. The water seemed to scream at the two, as the waves seemed to reach over the sides of the boat.

     And just like that, the boat was still.

     The Old Man was now at the rudder, turning it, righting the ship so it pointed out to sea.

     Garis stared with his mouth open. He had never seen so much water.

     It went farther than his eye could see. It went on forever, until it too curved with the surface of Gaia, until it was out of his sight.

     “This is a most incredible sight,” he said quietly. The Old Man stood beside him, smiling. “It is indeed. I never tire of it.”

     Bistrom looked at The Old Man. “You have been out here before? But…it is forbidden!”

     The Old Man smiled. “Many things in that village are forbidden. I have broken many of their laws without their knowing.” He shrugged. “Some of us are unable to stay within the confines of prison walls,” he said, motioning towards the cliffs that lead from the mouth of the river.

     Slowly, the boat moved from the cliff walls, and further into the sea. A breeze blew through the sails.

     The Old Man sighed. “A storm approaches. I do hope it will not be a bad one.”

And Now, A Word From Our Sponsor

Sorry about my little vacation there - please fill in the blank for what you think my excuses are below:

_______________________________________________________________________________

()

Anyway, naturally I am posting this before I am going to bed, so I will have to do two weeks' worth of replies later (We can all thank my internet connection for this one).

Thanks for looking folks. It is appreciated.

And, as always, comments, critiques and questions are not only most appreciated, but quite welcomed and encouraged.

Take care.

[homeandaway 1]

oh no! lol! - an interesting following storyline my friend! - i hope they will survive the storm - you have left us a pic of a cliff while writing a cliffhanger! - get it - cliff - cliffhanger! LOL, sorry my friend - hows you? - i hope life for you is well and take care, be safe

~alex~

[Livin in Sim 83]

Hi, MrC,

That's OK--I realize that from time to time the nature of your work will require you to be out of contact-- ...er, hmmm, well, great update, ha, ha. 

Good save, there, Old Man, I thought they were swirlin' the drain.  What's that now, cloudy in the west, looks like rain?  Will they stumble onto the source of the mysterious lightning??

It's great to experience your beautiful vistas and intriguing storyline once again!

--Liv

[MrCinatit 30]

And Now, A Word From Our Sponsor

And now, finally, replies:

homeandaway - Thanks much...though I still say those are the worst rapids special effects ever

Livin in Sim - Sometimes, old people can be sneaky like that, hiding around and creeping up on people. Kind of like that sneaky snow. Hm. Perhaps old people are made of snow!

(NOTE: There are many who consider me to be one of those old people, so...)

Firebird - I'm very glad you are writing a book, Fire - believe me, it can be a sometimes difficult, but very rewarding experience. For me, personally, it is simply a lot of fun.

patriots_1228 - Thanks very much - I have grown fond of the colorful pictures myself.

Livin in Sim - Elvis was here, and I missed it? Dag nab it! I miss everything!

hamsterTK - Even I might not know what lies beyond the river...though I do have a pretty good idea

jacqulina - Thank you very much - as for a desert oasis, I might have a few of those in the works.

homeandaway - Thanks very much

asturianu - A long time ago, I think I made a tutorial on how to make those rocks in the water - I will have to dig that up. But, basically I leveled the land underwater close to the surface, then indeed did use the terrain tool at its smallest to bring up the bits and pieces of land. I always thought it looked like a good effect where a cliff collapsed into the water on the shore - but this kind of worked, too.

homeandaway - lol - good pun, and it was my intention to leave everyone hanging on a cliff - but I had not intended on ending with a cliff picture. But, hey, it worked out.

Livin in Sim - Thanks for understanding...sometimes it is a combination of things, like needing a break and some brutal days at work in real life. Stupid real life.

And, it would figure that they go from the rapids into a storm. Guess some guys cannot catch a break.

Thanks much for looking, folks, it is appreciated.

And as always, comments, critiques and questions are not only appreciated, but quite welcome and encouraged.

Take care.

[asturianu 4]

Oh, exactly what I thought! I tried to do that while terraforming, but of course, the rock mode, and the water mod didn't help to get the same effect as you have! I like the feeling, yes, it looks like a cliff collapsed into the sea! Thanks a lot, and congrats, this CJ is very impressive!

Cristian

[Firebird 40]

Nice pics! Its obvious you STILL after all these years spend more devoted time on your terraforming than actually building your cities. Which is cool.

Nice story! I'm glad they've finally started exploring!

Nice cliffhanger.

Makes me want to just click on that sc4 icon on my desktop right now! Too bad it'll prolly fry whats left of my 256 MB ram.

But, on the bright side, theres a good chance I'm getting a new good laptop. And my parents are letting me pick it out from dell.

2GB of Dual Channel DDR2 RAM (click!)

120GB 5400RPM SATA HD (click!)

Intel CoreTM  2 Duo Processor (click!)

Windows Vista (click!)

256MB NVIDIA^®  GeForce^TM  Go7900 GS Graphics card (click!)

Hehehe

[MrCinatit 30]

Back and forth in the storm, the little boat rocked in the waves.

     The wind blew. The lightening flashed through the sky. The thunder roared.

     The three sat below deck. Bistrom sat huddled in a corner, while The Old Man and Garis sat at a table.

     The Old Man took a device that fit into his hand out of his pocket, looking at a colorful screen. “It looks like this will last for several days,” The Old Man said. “We shall be down here for a while.”

     Bistrom shuddered. “I think I am going to be sick,” he said, reaching for a nearby container.

     The Old Man took the container back. “That is a valuable piece of scientific equipment. I would appreciate it if you would not deposit your last meal in it.”

     Bistrom grabbed another container.

     The Old Man took it back. “That one is even more valuable.”

     “Do you have anything down here that isn’t a valuable piece of equipment?” Bistrom asked, putting his hand over his mouth.

     The Old Man looked at Bistrom’s head, and smiled. “There is your hat.”

     “Funny,” Bistrom said, glancing at The Old Man’s head. “What about yours?”

     The Old Man took his hat off, looked at it for a little bit, then put it back on his head, smiling slightly and shaking his head.

     “What, is that a valuable piece of scientific equipment?”

     “No,” The Old Man said. “I just like it.” He looked around, and then finally shoved a larger, round container to Bistrom.

     “Not a valuable piece of scientific equipment?”

     “I use it as a detailed analysis unit for highly questionable theories and studies.” He looked at the other two men, who had their eyebrows raised. He smiled. “It is a trash can.”

     Bistrom stuck his head into the trashcan.

     The Old Man sighed. “I am glad they built these ships to last,” he said.

And Now, A Word From Our Sponsor

Wow. Two days in a row with an update. That must be a record for me.

asturianu - Yeah, the right water and rock mods do help quite a bit - I have abandoned many after the surroundings just did not look right. It also took a bit of practice - and to be honest, I think I found the little trick by accident. Thought it looked good, and the reaction made me believe it.

Firebird - To be honest, building after terraforming is simply a bit of a letdown for me.

Oh...the Dell laptop, yeah...to tell you the truth, there have been some large problems with those. So, instead of using it yourself, you should just send it over to me. Yeah. I'll send you back a...uh...er...*looks around*...a 50 stack of burnable CDs.

Actually, those specs are very impressive. I've been thinking of upgrading myself, but I have a lot of other upgrades I would like to make (new television). In addition, I'm working on completing a 1933 Goudey baseball set - and I am to the point where I need about 25 cards. Some of those (Ruth, Gehrig, Dizzy Dean, Mel Ott, Hack Wilson) are going to be a little expensive. So, yeah, you should probably send me that laptop before it...uh...the DVD drive shoots out disks. Yeah. That's it.

Thanks for looking, folks. It is appreciated.

And as always, comments, critiques and questions are not only quite appreciated, but encouraged and very welcome.

Take care.

[2ch.net simplayer 186]

Closely following!!

I see no signs of civilization on the map.... and does the boat have an engine?

[homeandaway 1]

heh heh!...LOL - scientific equipment - oooh! lol - sorry go to stop saying lol - stop! never mind - anyway i really liked that continued short storyline and will continue to look in this CJ now and then for the next part my good friend

take care and be safe

~alex~

[Cleaner475 151]

i LOVE THE SNOWY PICS! CAN YOU UPLOAD MORE PLEASE!

Check out my CJ. The kobe one.

[defcon pilot 0]

still going, me like. the high cliffs are cool.

[homeandaway 1]

i am so eager to hear to following of this great storyline my good friend.

take care and be safe

~alex~

[Shadow Assassin 336]

Well, well.

A trash can that doubles as a deposition facility for dubious theories. Ah, the usefulness of a plot device.

The water looks ah, interesting.

Waiting for the next update.

[jacqulina 162]

hi MRC how are you, i am really enjoying the story allthough i thought they were a gonna on that boat at one stage,im glad there not,more wondrfull terraforming by the master sculpter,you sure sculpt well,i cant wait to see those oasis areas i think they will be beautifull,awesome work and pics my friend,take care

[Firebird 40]

Ahh, nice water, Mr.C! Specially the last pic, what an eyeopener!

I wonder where they could be heading in such a big, big world.

Yeah, I've seen some regions of yours that look so beautiful that i would almost cry if you had to build an ugly grimy city on top of it.

Good luck with that baseball card set. I don't much collect anything anymore (besides marbles) because i just haven't had much time (or a pocketbook) to devote to them lol. Those old marbles are always a joy to get out and play with every once in a while. Those new ones you can buy at the local dollar general really don't roll as well. (They are weighted  more on the left side )

*Looks around at his 50 stack of burnable DVDs and chuckles*

[MrCinatit 30]

     The Old Man grabbed onto the rail as he slowly walked across the slick deck as rain poured on him and the wind blew. Occassionally, a large wave would crash into the side of the boat, sending spray onto the deck.

     Bistrom was still below deck.

     Finally, he reached the bow. Garis stood there, looking across the rough waters.

     “Quite a storm,” The Old Man said above the roar.

     Garis nodded.

     “Your friend is quite sick.”

     Garis nodded.

     “You seem unaffected.”

     “It is Mary,” Garis said. The Old Man could barely hear him over the crashing waves. “I know she is out there somewhere. I know it. I must find her.” He looked at her, his face wet from the spray. “Am I being foolish?”

     The Old Man smiled. “I once walked across 300 miles of desert to get to a house.”

    

     He shook his head. “Of course, there was a woman in the house.” He leaned against the railing. “Love will make a man do funny things. We can go on about Sol, Gaia and The Stars – but in the end, it is the woman who controls our destiny.” He shook his head slowly, looking hard into the ocean. “No, you are not being foolish. You are being a man.”

     Garis looked into the sea, then looked at The Old Man. He also nodded. “Yeah. I guess so.” He looked at The Old Man some more. “You know what is out there, don’t you? You have been out here before.”

     The Old Man nodded. “Yes, I do.” He shook his head. “But I cannot tell you what is out there. You will have to find out for yourself, my young friend. This journey is yours.”

     Garis nodded. He turned, and found his friend Bistrom standing next to him.

     Bistom was looking into the sea. "Garis," Bistrom said slowly. "You remember the old stories we heard of the woman in the sea?"

     Garis nodded.

     Bistrom pointed into the sea. "I think I see her. Out there. Don't you see?"

     Garis squinted through the splashing water, but saw nothing. He shook his head slowly.

     "There is a woman out there, Garis! The woman of the sea - I can see her flowing white hair behind her now...she is calling for us!"

     Garis kept looking, but still saw something.

     Then, he noticed it in the distance. At first, it did look to him like a figure, but he knew it was not. “That is not a woman, Bistrom," he said. "It is an island.” He paused. “No. Wait. Two islands.”

     The Old Man smiled and nodded..

And Now, A Word From Our Sponsor

Hopefully, I will do replies this evening - I've got some stuffs I need to do.

But, as always, thanks much for looking in folks.

And, as always, comments, critiques and questions are not only quite welcome, but most appreciated and encouraged.

Take care.

[bat 6]

fantastic pictures, wonderful story and great region!

bat

[cowcorn 11]

I like where you're going with that story. Am I foulish or the old man took a computer to check the weather? Was it accuweather.com? Hmmmm... I really should stop speculating... I'm always wrong in my conclusions.

[Livin in Sim 83]

– but in the end, it is the woman who controls our destiny.”quote>

Not many have reached this level of enlightenment; oh, yes, he is indeed a wise Old Man, isn't he?  And technologically hip as well, since it sounds like he has a Palm Pilot, and an array of scientific equipment.

The little boat looks so brave on the sea.  I'm glad you chose the orange one.  I think the third and fourth pictures of today's update are just gorgeous.  Is it the Missouri Breaks terrain mod in both?  The rugged fjord-like inlets are something I haven't seen before, and the snowy peaks towering over the lush valley--wow.  I'm glad I'm not too seasick to enjoy the scenery.

Bye for now,

--Liv

[homeandaway 1]

cool follow on - i have had a eck of a day at school - first lesson - English - second lesson - English Literature - third lesson - signing (im deaf and wear hearing aids) - last lesson - English revision - and boo hoo my hand aches! - did to much wirting! lol, i actually choose English for GSCE and im glad i did - its very nice! - i like writing stories. Anyway, i so cant wait to see more and hear from you my good friend! take care and be safe

~alex~

[The boy formerly known as Evil Muzz 27]

This is getting better by each update. I wonder what will be on the island? Great storytelling, and I am still amazed by your terraforming!

[Shadow Assassin 336]

A woman controls our destiny?

Well, Mother Nature has her occasional hissy fits, but is pretty easy to get along with.

Anyways, you've got some real beautiful pictures. The simplicity makes it seem breathtaking.

[Firebird 40]

Holy crap!?! What terrain mod(s) are you using?

And...those islands seem...to be modern buildings! And that largest one seems to be...Alcatraz!

I think i remember you saying earlier that this CJ takes place on Earth. What year might that be?

[MrCinatit 30]

And Now, A Word From Our Sponsor

No update just yet - I thought I would catch up on replies before doing so.

2ch.net simplayer - Nope, no signs of civilization...yet . And as far as I have been concerned, it is a simple sailboat (though I have never really stated that).

homeandaway - I'm glad you liked the little joke

cleaner475 - there will eventually be more snow pictures, but it will be a while - they are on the other side of the map and we have a rain forest, desert and forest to go through, first.

defcon pilot - Yes, the cliffs turned out pretty well, me thinks - thanks to a good rock mod.

Shadow_Assassin - trash cans can be used for many things...sometimes, even storing trash, or so I have heard

jacqulina - Ah, but it would not have been a wise choice for me to kill off my main characters yet, would it?

Firebird - I actually saved the untouched terrain in a couple of different places - so, it is safe, somewhere.

Hey...wait...how can marbles be weighted to the left? Hmmmmm.

MrCinatit -  paddahs

bat - Thanks very much - it is appreciated

cowcorn - you would be correct that the old man has a computer - though I am hoping it does more than check on the weather. Otherwise, it might just be a really expensive thermometer

Livin in Sim - DOH! I knew I would someday regret typing that! I could be evil and use my edit button...but, nah.

As for the mods, I believe the ones used for the above pictures were the Columbus CycleDogg mod. The valley we just left used the Missouri Breaks CycleDogg mod (Moab?), at least I am pretty sure. I think the Missouri mod came out long after I had already done a lot of work on that part of the region - and really did not feel like going back. (This is the same reason I am using an old desert mod, instead of CycleDogg's newer one). However, at the same time, I have been attempting to get a very diverse number of terrain mods, so it ends up working.

homeandaway - I'll bet your hand hurts - even with the keyboard, my hands sometimes ache a bit after a few hours. Sometimes, I miss having good old fashioned writer's cramp from the use of a pen lol

Muzz - Thanks very much - of course the islands took little to no terraforming, as they are both some of the cooler lots - I think that floating castle is one of the best around.

Shadow_Assassin - A friend of mine always used to comment that every time a woman was at the controls of the Enterprise...they got lost. I am not sure if he ever discussed this with his wife, but that could explain his recent divorce!

Firebird - The mods are many - I have 32 folders for this region alone containing "unique" mods for different areas, ranging from CycleDogg's aforementioned mods, to many Peg rock mods, to an old but trusted desert mod, to a water mod that I honestly have no idea what the name of is (I feel terrible about that). Of course, all of this is being helped by CycleDogg's many tree mods.

This journal does indeed take place on Earth. As for the time...I will simply use an old adage: "Two days from now". As for where...well, that secret will be revealed eventually.

Thanks much for looking in, folks, it is appreciated.

And, as always, comments, critiques and questions are not only most appreciated, but quite welcome and encouraged.

Take care.

[homeandaway 1]

my head hurts today man! - i have done so much drama! - i really like it! - cant wait to see more my friend!

take care and be safe

~alex~

[MrCinatit 30]

Garis glided the boat towards one of the islands. Bistrom was not on deck, as well, braving the storm.

     “There is a building on it,” Garis yelled above the noise. “It looks like a fort,” he continued, after getting closer.

     A bolt of lightening covered the sky, followed by a loud roar. “We would be best to make landfall soon,” The Old Man said. “I believe the storm is getting worse.”

     “Is that actual possible?” Bistrom asked.

     “Would you like to find out?” The Old man asked.

     The younger man shook his head.

     Garis parked the boat at a dock with much difficulty.

     After dropping anchor, the three went inside the building.

     It was empty. From the dust and cobwebs, they could tell no one had been in the building for a very long time.

     Fatigued from their trip and happy to be on solid ground, they found three cots and fell asleep.

     They awoke the next morning. The storm was still going full force outside. They explored the fort more, still finding no one. Most furniture was long gone.

     “What was this used for?” Garis asked.

     The Old Man smiled. “You will have to find that out for yourself.”

     Garis smiled slightly and shook his head. “Always the mystery.”

     He searched the building further. He found one room with a broken out window that faced the other island. Rain poured inside the gaping hole. Rows of computers – now worthless from the moisture and ages – sat on desks facing the windows. A large screen sat next to the window, a large hole torn in the side. A door, barely hanging from its hinges, sat next to the screen.

     Garis looked out the window, at the other island.

     “I have seen pictures of something like that,” he said. “If I did not know better, I would say that was a launching pad I have read about in one of our books,” he said.

And Now, A Word From Our Sponsor

homeandaway - My head hurts tonight, as well - today's sleep was not the best. Oh well.

Thanks for looking in, folks. As always, it is appreciated.

And as always, comments, critiques and questions are not only most welcome and encouraged, but quite welcome.

Take care.

[cowcorn 11]

The reason why I hooked on the computer is that a computer itself relies on instruments to predict the weather... or connects to a weather service. Now either it has censors that allow it to predict weather or he can connect himself to an outer source, therefore confirming the presence of another society outside. In both case however there is an unexplained technology gap between what the village uses and what the old man uses. That's why I like where you seem to be going since it's obvious that they will run into someone soon enough. But when? I keep expecting it... which keeps me reading. Much much much (you can add more "much") better than anything I could do.

[homeandaway 1]

ive had better sleeps!lol! - wow - nice continuing! - maybe you could do a 'previous' thingie every time you start the stroy...just an idea!. - erm...i wonder what is actually over that wooden island with a H on it??.......im eager to see more!

take care and be safe my friend

~alex~

[hamsterTK 93]

It doesnt look very stormy

nah it doesnt matter

that place seems pretty freaky. Why would you need to have such a computer system at a secure location like that? I have some ideas....

Anyways, I really do read every update, honest. Sometimes I just have a hard time commenting in a way that illustrates this without saying something meaningless like "oohh good job"

[jacqulina 162]

hi MRC ,i know what you mean lol,they cannot die yet.awesome terraforming yet again,beautifull colours, you know something the fort on the island looks really good close up,i didnt think it was so realistic but it is,awesome work and pics,and another great part to the story my friend