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OYrn in the Kitchen
Triggered by the Thursday Prompt: Mystery
However, Vrghr got a bit carried away and this story somewhat ran away with him. The result is a very "tech-heavy" bit of dialog. For those furs who aren't into tech, troubleshooting, maintenance, etc., this may not be their cup of tea. But wuff is putting it out there anyway, for any who might want to take a look.
MYSTERY:
They don't always involve Col Mustard in the Kitchen with a Candlestick. Sometimes, mysteries may show up with other trappings. This is one such:
Our friendly Otterish Technician is called in for what he thought would be a routine service call. But what he found was something else entirely.
Why did a sophisticated kitchen oven incinerate an innocent batch of muffins?
- The recipe has made delicious muffins previously
- The oven was set to the proper time and temperature for the muffins to cook properly
- No one altered the settings
- The oven is operating perfectly
- The oven didn't malfunction
So why is OYrn facing trays of charcoal-ized pastries?
It's a mystery our valiant technician needs to solve before the kitchen uses the oven again for the lunch service.
(This saga occurs much earlier in OYrn's life on the station, prior to the incursion in his "comic action" sequence posted previously. It introduces some new characters, adds to the otter's back story and personality a bit, and will be used to introduce some new conflicts and side stories in the future.)
Hope some enjoy it!
However, Vrghr got a bit carried away and this story somewhat ran away with him. The result is a very "tech-heavy" bit of dialog. For those furs who aren't into tech, troubleshooting, maintenance, etc., this may not be their cup of tea. But wuff is putting it out there anyway, for any who might want to take a look.
MYSTERY:
They don't always involve Col Mustard in the Kitchen with a Candlestick. Sometimes, mysteries may show up with other trappings. This is one such:
Our friendly Otterish Technician is called in for what he thought would be a routine service call. But what he found was something else entirely.
Why did a sophisticated kitchen oven incinerate an innocent batch of muffins?
- The recipe has made delicious muffins previously
- The oven was set to the proper time and temperature for the muffins to cook properly
- No one altered the settings
- The oven is operating perfectly
- The oven didn't malfunction
So why is OYrn facing trays of charcoal-ized pastries?
It's a mystery our valiant technician needs to solve before the kitchen uses the oven again for the lunch service.
(This saga occurs much earlier in OYrn's life on the station, prior to the incursion in his "comic action" sequence posted previously. It introduces some new characters, adds to the otter's back story and personality a bit, and will be used to introduce some new conflicts and side stories in the future.)
Hope some enjoy it!
Category Story / Fantasy
Species Otter
Size 120 x 120px
File Size 110.3 kB
*smiles* For those who don't dig the tech stuff, a lot of what goes on inside those boxes seems like "magic".
Vrghr's author has been a tech nut since he can remember. Dad bought an Archer Electronics Experiment Lab back when Author was around 6-7 years old, and Author was building electronic metronomes, light-detecting intrusion alarms (leave a light on in the hallway, turn off lights in the room, close room door. Opening door makes more light in room from hall. Alarm blares! *hehe*). Then author got into Ham Radio, and went on to join US Air Force as an electronics technician for Flightline Navigational Aids, and later, for Satellite Command/Control, Space Situational Awareness, and Counterspace Systems.
So a LOT of what OYrn is playing about with in these stories is Author remembering some of his own maintenance tasks, and translating those to a Sci_Fi environment, and re-wording them so that the General Public can follow (HOPEFULLY) a bit of what OYrn was trying to do here.
Wuff wanted to create a technical version of a "locked room mystery" in this, where someone finds a murdered body in a room behind a locked door with no other means of entry, and no one else in the room. Hopefully, for the techies out there, this read a little bit like one of those. *smile*
Vrghr's author has been a tech nut since he can remember. Dad bought an Archer Electronics Experiment Lab back when Author was around 6-7 years old, and Author was building electronic metronomes, light-detecting intrusion alarms (leave a light on in the hallway, turn off lights in the room, close room door. Opening door makes more light in room from hall. Alarm blares! *hehe*). Then author got into Ham Radio, and went on to join US Air Force as an electronics technician for Flightline Navigational Aids, and later, for Satellite Command/Control, Space Situational Awareness, and Counterspace Systems.
So a LOT of what OYrn is playing about with in these stories is Author remembering some of his own maintenance tasks, and translating those to a Sci_Fi environment, and re-wording them so that the General Public can follow (HOPEFULLY) a bit of what OYrn was trying to do here.
Wuff wanted to create a technical version of a "locked room mystery" in this, where someone finds a murdered body in a room behind a locked door with no other means of entry, and no one else in the room. Hopefully, for the techies out there, this read a little bit like one of those. *smile*
If you've any questions on any part of it, please let wuffy know. Those could be areas ol' Vrghr needs to edit a bit so the "general public" can follow what OYrn is doing, with what, and why.
And Author thanks you for the compliment! He says, "After 60+ years of tinkering with this stuff, some of it is bound to sink into even the hardest of heads." *grin*
And Author thanks you for the compliment! He says, "After 60+ years of tinkering with this stuff, some of it is bound to sink into even the hardest of heads." *grin*
*hugs* Wuffy doesn't mind, really!
If there's terms or passages that you didn't understand, you're very likely not the only one. Ol' Vrghr would gladly tweak those to enlighten not only this specific kitty-reader, but any one else they might trip up.
Glad to hear it was clear enough otherwise to follow the plot and enjoy the story!
If there's terms or passages that you didn't understand, you're very likely not the only one. Ol' Vrghr would gladly tweak those to enlighten not only this specific kitty-reader, but any one else they might trip up.
Glad to hear it was clear enough otherwise to follow the plot and enjoy the story!
Thanks for the read and the comments. Glad you enjoyed this!
You're right; OYrn really took a risk there. He's still a pretty young otter at this point in his career. And the young frequently have delusions of immortality. *grin* At least his skills lived up to his confidence (this time).
In this setting, the world is still populated mostly by humans. The hybrids, animorph folks, are very new on the scene here. Their first generations were basically "boosted" versions of the original animal. They were a natural evolution of gene-engineering animals for particular traits to facilitate medical experiments, such as mice with tendencies to developing cancers, or pigs with ability to produce organs for human transplants. The military, law enforcement, and other groups took those 'boosts' in a different direction, creating companions to provide superior assistance in various Military and LE tasks, like drug/bomb detection, and K9 intervention against criminals and hostiles. Creating animals that had greater understanding of their roles and duties, more independent actions when given commands, longer lifespans, greater intelligence, more resistance to common disorders of their baseline animal, etc.
The advent of AI in support of genetic engineering introduced explosive growth in this market. The knowledge of which genes did what, and how, was out for anyone who knew the right questions to ask. And the ability to manipulate them was becoming accessible to teams without the need for financing the size of a governmental bankroll. A few of these developers pushed the boundaries. Their hybrids were created with more advanced human abilities, again, mostly for military and clandestine work, though some Safety and LE roles too. There was also a very large market for hybrids are servants, companions, or slaves in many parts of the world. As the technology to create those got spread around, through independent research and theft of intellectual property, different labs around the world began producing their own variants in competition with one another. One rapidly developing market in many parts of the world, was that for hybrids as servants, companions, or slaves. It didn't take long for one of those generations to demonstrate sapience and self awareness.
That really upset the apple cart! After massive, world-wide debate, most nations decided that, if a hybrid creature line ranked high enough on the sentience quotient, that line and all members of it were considered individuals, sapient beings, not creations, products, or things. This isn't universal though. There are still holdouts around the globe where hybrids are still considered animals and property.
Naturally, every type of clique, hate group, bigot, and racist suddenly found a new target for their particular form of evil. Be they religious, luddite, paranoid, or just plain stupid ignorance. There are also "pro hybrid" groups of all ilk and severity too. Some nearly as hazardous to hybrids as the hateful ones. And, of course, the politicians and lawyers are having a field day with all of it, legislating and trying every possible legal aspect of these new members of society.
OYrn and Ruff are one generation apart. OYrn being younger than Ruff. The riots, legislation, and public outcry during the Sapience Revolution, put a significant damper on haphazard and unrestrained hybrid creation, but it's still going on under (mostly) more controlled and legislated processes. In OYrn's time, there are 10s of thousands of documented hybrids around the world. Folks know there are probably many more undocumented, too. Still, they're a very small percentage of the billions of world population.
But they're a very significant one, for all their small numbers.
You're right; OYrn really took a risk there. He's still a pretty young otter at this point in his career. And the young frequently have delusions of immortality. *grin* At least his skills lived up to his confidence (this time).
In this setting, the world is still populated mostly by humans. The hybrids, animorph folks, are very new on the scene here. Their first generations were basically "boosted" versions of the original animal. They were a natural evolution of gene-engineering animals for particular traits to facilitate medical experiments, such as mice with tendencies to developing cancers, or pigs with ability to produce organs for human transplants. The military, law enforcement, and other groups took those 'boosts' in a different direction, creating companions to provide superior assistance in various Military and LE tasks, like drug/bomb detection, and K9 intervention against criminals and hostiles. Creating animals that had greater understanding of their roles and duties, more independent actions when given commands, longer lifespans, greater intelligence, more resistance to common disorders of their baseline animal, etc.
The advent of AI in support of genetic engineering introduced explosive growth in this market. The knowledge of which genes did what, and how, was out for anyone who knew the right questions to ask. And the ability to manipulate them was becoming accessible to teams without the need for financing the size of a governmental bankroll. A few of these developers pushed the boundaries. Their hybrids were created with more advanced human abilities, again, mostly for military and clandestine work, though some Safety and LE roles too. There was also a very large market for hybrids are servants, companions, or slaves in many parts of the world. As the technology to create those got spread around, through independent research and theft of intellectual property, different labs around the world began producing their own variants in competition with one another. One rapidly developing market in many parts of the world, was that for hybrids as servants, companions, or slaves. It didn't take long for one of those generations to demonstrate sapience and self awareness.
That really upset the apple cart! After massive, world-wide debate, most nations decided that, if a hybrid creature line ranked high enough on the sentience quotient, that line and all members of it were considered individuals, sapient beings, not creations, products, or things. This isn't universal though. There are still holdouts around the globe where hybrids are still considered animals and property.
Naturally, every type of clique, hate group, bigot, and racist suddenly found a new target for their particular form of evil. Be they religious, luddite, paranoid, or just plain stupid ignorance. There are also "pro hybrid" groups of all ilk and severity too. Some nearly as hazardous to hybrids as the hateful ones. And, of course, the politicians and lawyers are having a field day with all of it, legislating and trying every possible legal aspect of these new members of society.
OYrn and Ruff are one generation apart. OYrn being younger than Ruff. The riots, legislation, and public outcry during the Sapience Revolution, put a significant damper on haphazard and unrestrained hybrid creation, but it's still going on under (mostly) more controlled and legislated processes. In OYrn's time, there are 10s of thousands of documented hybrids around the world. Folks know there are probably many more undocumented, too. Still, they're a very small percentage of the billions of world population.
But they're a very significant one, for all their small numbers.
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