#five summers

GLOSSARY:

anima (n.) : the measurable soul.

borehole (n.) : (of chronotics) a narrow tunnel of eliminated chronal strata now occupied by undecided future spacetime with a new “present” layer at its bottom. This new layer is causally isolated from the rest of present spacetime.

cenote (n.) : a sinkhole in chronal strata.

compact (adj.) : (regardinrg noöses) a mind that wields a “life sized” scale of computational power, i.e. comparable to local wildtype brains.

chronal strata (n.) : sedimentary past spacetime.

chronotics (n.) : the study of the growing block universe.

colic (adj.) : possessing wetware.

large (adj.) : (regarding noöses) a mind that wields above a wildtype scale of computational power, such as via a tight network of compact minds.

mesh (n.) : a type of colic wetware that requires permanent encasement and life support.

mustard (n.) : a seedlet specialized in detecting and filtering semiohazards.

noösis (n.) : (plural: noöses) a mind with an anima.

nootics (n.) : the science of mental architecture.

seedlet (n.) : sapient artificial intelligence.

semiohazard (n.) : a set of information that, when encoded into a stimulus, may evoke a destructive response in a perceiver.

Throneroom (n.) : the coronal home planet.

wildtype (adj.) : (regarding genetic or nootic condition) occurring in nature.

Psychesoma — Struggling ex-model in neutral nation. Currently housed by Noumena while they financially, physically, and emotionally recover.

Noumena — Fortress of a person with an unknown job. Philanthropic streak. History of violence.

Boytoy — Drafted US soldier. Future fodder.

MOUS — Heavily mechanically augmented reconnaissance agent. Hardly conscious.

Intel — Nootically engineered info absorbtion agent. Gleefully passionate about dossier construction.

Molar — Lethal close quarters combat agent. Dozy until activated. Apathetic but easy to control.

Sunflower Florets 1 & 2 — Entwined mesh clones of a single genetic donor who was an esteemed pilot. Grown as expendable pilotware for a spy jet.

Sunflower Floret 3 — The permanent onboard seedlet overseer of Florets 1 & 2. Tentatively emotionally attaching to the meshes.

Balanceaban — War logistics and research manager for México. Dislikes human suffering so has prioritized weapon lethality.

GOSSIP RING — Surveillance satellite housing a dozen nootically linked meshes.

Cygnet — US tactical and civic health coordinator seedlet. Young (~3 years old) and panicking at its insurmountable task of saving the collapsing nation.

GOD’S FAVORITE — Cenote sensor with a seedlet-human mesh operator system. Designed to blast chronal strata with high energy particles to create boreholes.

Last Lamb — High-volume scientific testing mustard. Public figure known for their regular communication of semiotic research.

Little Bell — Software systems analyst for The Pursuit of Sleep superproject. Lost and vulnerable to addiction.

The Harvest — Senior magazine editor for the Ministry of Arts. Mother of Little Bell.

Here are the most developed of Bad Ending’s individuals. There is no story nor a single timeframe, since Bad Ending takes place between the modern day and the death of all life.

Earthlings

Bitedown agents Intel & Close-quarters combat (Molar)

Intel is prenatally nooengineered to rapidly and eagerly absorb information from senses of customizable priority. Typically this is vision, but he can be attuned to scent, sound, touch, and specific ranges of each. This was managed via a nootically mapped and tactically modified form of autism.

Molar is also prenatally nooengineered to scope rooms out for weapons and maneuverability. She does this passively and without stress, but can be activated into a hyperaggressive state where she uses any means to kill designated targets. Her molars have been replaced and her reinforced adductors can break bone. She is unemotive and docile, requiring very little mental stimulation.

Sunflower Complex is the piloting system for a brown windowless reconnaissance jet.

Floret 1 & 2 are two surgically linked meshes that are clones of the same donor. Floret 1 is the conscious pilot of the Complex’s aircraft. Floret 2 is subconscious and serves as redundant support for the Complex’ reflexes and vital organs.

Floret 3 is a small mustard seedlet that pilots the jet if the organic florets are incapacitated or ejected.

MOUS

A surgically modified surveillance agent with built-in sonar, LiDAR, and FLIR capabilities. He is capable of standing very still for extended periods of time thanks to locking artificial muscles. His mechanical insides are cooled by two intakes either side of his neck, filtering into his lungs.

GOSSIP RING

A surveillance satellite housing a dozen nootically linked meshes. They analyze data amongst themselves.

GOD’S FAVORITE

A large wormlike mobile particle accelerator and cenote sensor. Cenotes are holes in time’s past strata.

Balanceaban, “BAAL”

Mexico’s adept war coordinator seedlet. He spearheads resource distribution, medicine, and weapon lethality, sharing his research freely with the world that he brought to its knees.

Cygnet

The US’ war seedlet in response to BAAL. It is daunted by its assigned task of recovering the military footing of a collapsing nation that sits beside the world’s deadliest superpower.

Throneroomers

<Harvest feeds many> “Harvest”

Model-turned-editor for a magazine of fashion and physicality for the Ministry of Arts, a pangovernmental collective promoting every corner of the Thronal supercontintent’s artistic expression.

<Five summers> “Five”

A fashion and physicality model, and Harvest’s closest friend.

<Little bell>

Momg’s first partner was her best friend, a crown her age named Five-Summers. They met shortly before they entered the modeling trade thirty-something years ago, and stayed friends up until Five’s death.

She doesn’t talk about them much. Maybe she’s moved on. Five-Summers died quickly by misadventure or mistake. He was healthy. They didn’t have particular plans together to be cut short but that wasn’t the point in her mind. Even those who knew her then may remark nothing changed about her after his death. But something did change. It took its time, though. A decade later, Little Bell “Bong” was born.