Chapter 34 It Only Takes One Part 3

[Bullethead]

The colony is much further southwest.

Thank you, was not sure.

"The Box" is the local nickname for the training area immediately surrounding Fort Irwin.

Thank you, for some reason in my mind it was some place a bit further away than Irwin.

I found that a little jarring. In most of the earlier satphone conversations the Fort Irwin end started the call with a challenge, looking for a password response. Even in the heat of the battle for Boulder the person answering the phone was circumspect in how they answered the line. Now, suddenly, Michael is a chatterbox?

Precisely, though he has no way of knowing Scratch is on the other line, you all and I know she has a great memory and will recognize that voice. So for that reason I am concerned with his lack of protocol.

As for Michael being a chatter box, phrase/counter phrase would probably only work when everyones properly briefed. He didn't give much away by saying Irwin. Anyone near a Satphone would probably already know Irwins around.

Though you're right that it only works when people are properly briefed there are secondary protocols to follow when the challenge and pass are incorrect. If it is say a bumbling nervous wreck with a sat phone like Datu, Irwin can work with the person in question meet him at some random site and asses if he should come back to Irwin. However if its some psycho like our dear gal Scratch, they again can arrange a meet in a random spot, asses the person in question, and leave her ass to die. Thus the reason why we have Challenge and Pass.

Now that he has exposed his location, regardless of the other end of the line knowing who he is, they know that there is someone at Irwin. Someone with some sophisticated technology. All the mystery person needs is a map and means of travel and Irwin is no longer as safe as it once was.

Finally,

Catch me if I'm wrong, but I think KC has come down pretty hard on radioactive zombies, and no.

^^This^^

[2bgood]

8 months is plenty of time to practice shooting guns. As for them being "remarkable" marksmans they were basically hitting targets between 5ft and 6ft tall with in 75 meters which is not difficult to do if you've had a bit of training and fired a few hundred rounds through your rifle, especially if it's all zeroed to your preferences. At least that's what I've come to learn about shooting Silhouette at the range near my house. It's not unheard of to see 15 year olds hitting "3 inch" targets from 75 yards there and that's while standing through a peep sight.

I know I didn't get how everyone keeps saying in 8 months they can't get could at shooting guns. I mean if your life depends on you daily shooting targets in the head, you get good at it even if you don't get to 'practice'. It is like saying it is super fake they have good cardio as they don't get any treadmill time.

[YetAnotherBloodyCheek]

Should be in bed. Typing while half awake or half sleep, what ever. What if an Inkling bit a biter?
OK G'night

PS, Kegs or Pelly were with the group that joined the batch of 1200 before they were attacked.

Have a good night's sleep, WD!

[Privateer]

I was just spitballing re two SatPhones. Someone made a good point. How would an inkling have the self control and strategic thinking to hang onto a car for half an hour, waiting. I would imagine in this case it was a slow turner or loved one that shoved a turned someone in their trunk or something, cause maybe Irwin has the cure! (Sentiment is the leading cause of death among zombpocolypse survivors.) But, its an issue. You have the inklings retain /ttoo/ much higher function, too many memories, and why on Earth would they not retain some semblance of loyalty and ethical thought as well?

[Privateer]

Predictions for the future though:

1) Boulder is overrun, Kimmet eats his gun or blows the nuke and makes a Valiant sacrifice in doing so. The KODI is a Macguffin to get the Pelican working again, which will be used to fly a group of survivors back to LA, possibly to Dunbar possibly to the Colony. And by group, I mean about 20.

Fact is, I don't believe the Colony is big enough to house even half of Irwin without a severe reduction in population.

2) Someone else has a SatPhone. Which was used by an officer, Kimmet's neice. What other numbers might be in its memory? Could it be used to hold Irwin hostage? Thats more of a pondering then a prediction, but no ones gone on about that.

[YetAnotherBloodyCheek]

Who thinks the end of season three will end the Maller story arc? And leave season four open for the sole antagonist... Ink

The mallers and especially Scratch are a completely different threat than Ink and his zombies. Scratch is the elemental force of evil, she will even sacrifice her life if it allows her to have her revenge on Pegs, Michael and the others. In contrast to that, Ink plans rationally, he assess the risks and thinks strategically. In my opinion, if either one of these two threats is over, WA would become a bit less interesting because it thrives on this constant change.

YABC out.

[Adventureless_Hero]

I'm out for two days and this is what I come back to, 20 pages of comments? Shit. I'm just going to hold my tongue on the predictions this time around. I will say that it was an incredible episode! I loved the action, the drama, and the comedy, all neatly packed into a 19 minute episode.

GREAT JOB!

Fucking Kimmet. I wonder how many civilians were killed in those explosions from the rockets. I'm glad Michael convinced him to leave them alone. I can understand the temptation to want to blow up as much of the threat as possible, but since Michael was there to see the situation I think he made the right call.

The part with Datu, "I have no idea what I'm doing!" Awesome. I loved that bit. And then to have him bring up the line, "You've got tanks and shit, right?" That was a bit of nostalgia. I liked Michael's response, "Yeah, this time we do." And then you had the music with that sort of military drum roll. AH! I loved it! Looks like we're going to war with the biters!

I was also very excited to hear the SAT phone ringing. I was expecting it and almost got pissed when I thought the episode was going to end without hearing from the SAT phone. Now as to who has it, I can't guess. It could be that Saul has it, but that situation seems too happy and perfectly working for me. It could be that for whatever reason, CJ might have taken it back to Glenn, but can't be certain on that either. Then there is the chance that Scratch got a hold of it, but then we'd have to assume her group captured Saul or CJ and made them spill the beans about that mission objective when they could have just easily said, "We only really came to the colony to get Lizzy back."

So my money is on Saul or CJ making the call, with Glenn's help of course.

[YetAnotherBloodyCheek]

One technical question.

The "Pelican" helicopter has yet be repaired by Datu (yeah, hail King Datu the Resourceful!). Let's pretend that he fixes the chopter in time, is there not just another problem with the jet fuel in its tank? I read that a lot of aircraft tanks nowadays are affected by the Amorphothecaceae fungus. It lives in the tank and consumes the alkanes contained in the fuel which renders the fuel useless. The fungus' growth and its metabolic products causes corrosion inside the fuel lines. So even if Datu is able to repair the chopter, will it take off in time?

[UndeadSweeper]

I'm out for two days and this is what I come back to, 20 pages of comments? Shit. I'm just going to hold my tongue on the predictions this time around. I will say that it was an incredible episode! I loved the action, the drama, and the comedy, all neatly packed into a 19 minute episode.

GREAT JOB!

Fucking Kimmet. I wonder how many civilians were killed in those explosions from the rockets. I'm glad Michael convinced him to leave them alone. I can understand the temptation to want to blow up as much of the threat as possible, but since Michael was there to see the situation I think he made the right call.

The part with Datu, "I have no idea what I'm doing!" Awesome. I loved that bit. And then to have him bring up the line, "You've got tanks and shit, right?" That was a bit of nostalgia. I liked Michael's response, "Yeah, this time we do." And then you had the music with that sort of military drum roll. AH! I loved it! Looks like we're going to war with the biters!

I was also very excited to hear the SAT phone ringing. I was expecting it and almost got pissed when I thought the episode was going to end without hearing from the SAT phone. Now as to who has it, I can't guess. It could be that Saul has it, but that situation seems too happy and perfectly working for me. It could be that for whatever reason, CJ might have taken it back to Glenn, but can't be certain on that either. Then there is the chance that Scratch got a hold of it, but then we'd have to assume her group captured Saul or CJ and made them spill the beans about that mission objective when they could have just easily said, "We only really came to the colony to get Lizzy back."

So my money is on Saul or CJ making the call, with Glenn's help of course.

How about:

The group is held hostage and CJ is let go to returned back to the tower, Scratch doesn't know who CJ is so that could cause her to think in just a nobody survivor from the tower not the other tower. She told to get connect with whom ever and get the "murderer" back here. She and Glenn repairs the SATPhone and called Michael about the situation at the colony. ( I even don't think Scratch would want the new tower since it so close to the Ink. )

[LiamKerrington]

How would an inkling have the self control and strategic thinking to hang onto a car for half an hour, waiting.

Because we had one that hung on a chopper for hours before taking it down? Although it was kind of funny to have one flying over the Rockies and lacking the patience to get to the buffet, I don't see much of a difference between a chopper and a car if it comes to a Little One clutching- and later-on-attacking a vehicle ...

As for Michael and behaving strange on the Sat Phone; I thought about it for a while. And I guess something like this could have happened in the "world of thoughts" of Michae.
"WTF? A call from a sat-phone we lost about two weeks ago? It was on a dead body? Someone's calling ... But who? Saul, Burt? Skittles? The Mallers? Just survivors?"
That is why he receives the call and tells the other end something aling this line: "You are calling military services. What's up?" And with that he hpes to achieve some things:
"If Mallers call, they know they are in deep shit now; if it is just survivors, they'll be happy to have America's best boys online; and if it is Saul or Burt, well ... I consider them being survivors for now ... So let's see, what happens ..."

Thus I am not so confused about what Michael does there ...

All the best!
Liam