#TurnUpTheHeat

 So, I've been plugging away at my first comic for the graphic novel all month. I've been doing rough renders with the intent of putting the pieces together in the end with the dialog and stuff.

I took a break to render these.

The first is my original intended entry, a simple broken containment. It was a pain to set up and took 3+ hours to render. (that was the 5th attempt) The lights are set at 100% intensity and I got... yeah, that.

Anyway, when I was having problems figuring out the Atmospheric Fog out I tested in in the Willow Creek scene with the Death Stalker /Shrieker/ Mud Demon/ Dilgarth.

#TurnUpTheHeat

  #MadeWithDaz

#Herschel Hoffmeyer

 

I am doing this for a change of pace and to get me out of a rut.

I do love the photo realism but the render times and clunky interface are a deal breaker!

Pantheon launches now!

 That's right, Pantheon, book 70... that's right SEVENTY! Seven zero is publishing today! Wow!

   The mind boggles at that number. I still remember when I published 1 book and was thrilled. The look when I tell people is fun, when they find out how many they freak. It's hilarious and just gets better as time passes.

  When aliens arrived in orbit, humanity scrambled to deal with the eye opening consequences to their changed world view. It became clear within days that the aliens were refugees bringing word of warning of an ancient threat that was following in their wake.

  Now it is up to humanity's best and brightest to mount a defense against what many thought was humanities doom. But those people are stubborn and highly motivated. They refuse to go down easily even though they are facing a Pantheon of aliens who think of humans as little better than ants to play with…

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09VF3VC4D

 B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/pantheon-chris-hechtl/1141220514?ean=2940160829517

Fair warning, B&N is acting up badly.

Pantheon Snippet 4

 Still in chapter 2...

A reporter managed to score an interview with the visiting aliens. She did so by offering a piece of palladium. The interview was over video chat and brief. She was limited to twenty questions.

She asked the usual questions as a warmup and then got into more detail about the aliens, life on the ships, and what they were running from.

“None have survived to know more,” the alien stated when she pressed for details.

She frowned and made a note on the tablet in front of her. “What do you see as the chances of humanity's survival once first contact with the Celestials is made?”

“Below 50 percent. It depends upon who comes. If it is Death, your agony will be torturous but brief. If it is war, your population will be maddened into a rage that will destroy you.”

She shivered, paling slightly. “And the chances of winning against them?”

“Below point zero cubed one percent. None have won against them more than twice. Those that do are destroyed.”

She shivered openly. “Last question then. Do you see a path for survival of our species? By that I mean, should we just surrender or what?”

“Fighting is not an option. Surrender or not, they do not care. The only high chance of survival is to flee.”

“We can't move a population of seven billion!”

“Nor could we. Only the chosen survived while others fought and died to allow them to escape. But a portion of each of our species survived. This concludes the interview,” the alien said and then cut the channel.

The reporter sat there for a moment before someone prompted her on the earwig. She jerked. “Well, that's it, folks. We need to go to a commercial break as we line up experts to dissect that rather fascinating encounter,” she said with a nod to the viewers.

~~>*<~~

Tobin watched the video and shook his head. Penny sought out his hand and gave it a squeeze.

He shook his head again as she leaned into him for comfort. He didn't know what to say. All that he did know was that he fully intended to beat those odds.

Or die trying.

~~>*<~~

Colonel McCoy heard the interview and saw people going into a tailspin over it. “Look folks, they haven't fought us. Yes, it's grim. Yeah, we know it's bad. But any chance above zero is still a chance. Now,” he surveyed the people in the room. “Remember a couple of things. One, they aren't here yet.”

He looked at them again as he paused.

“Two, we're not done building what we can. We've got the best minds in the world working on the problem. So remember that. Fixate on that. Don't be a part of the problem, be a part of the solution. Got it?”

A few heads nodded.

“And three, we're not headless chickens. We're officers and enlisted of the greatest nation on this planet. So act like it. Professionalism people. It comes from the top down. If others see us not panicking, they won't panic either. So keep the faith,” he said.

A few people nodded.

~~>*<~~

Colonel Pryde strode through his section of intelligence. He had been selected as second-in-command to General Morehouse to glean as much data about the Celestials and alien survivors as possible.

It was proving to be easier said than done. They had little detail other than what had been publicly released. For an Intelligence officer in the puzzle palace, that was considered a bad thing in capital letters.

Everything they had to this point, all of the analysts and stuff, was rehash shit, speculation, and innuendo from bad movies and sci-fi. Like any intelligence based on a series of assumptions, it was a house of cards.

If one wrong assumption was in there, and there usually was, it could bring the entire thing tumbling down. The phrase assumptions were “the mother of all fuck-ups” kept running through his head.

Too much was riding on them getting it right. Therefore, they had to get it right. There was a problem though, well several of them.

The first was the red tape. The typical red tape in that they had to go through the State Department to communicate with the aliens in orbit. It put a monumental delay and crimp on things. They also couldn't get data downloads; there was a fear of being hacked that he couldn't quite disagree with.

The second problem was a doozy. They were trying to get a grasp on the enemy known as the Celestials, but the alien survivors were not very forthcoming. All data came with a price. They had to provide rare materials in exchange for a select amount of questions to ask. It was very vexing, made even more so by State's insistence on their own importance and that they'll “get to the bottom of things eventually.”

When you needed answers to build a battle plan, you couldn't wait on “eventually.” Recon and intelligence were keystones of winning any battle.

He also wasn't very impressed with the stuff TNT was turning out. They were putting out promises of a new quantum leap in war technology without showing anything.

It was acting as a general anesthetic to the public though, calming them down and returning things to normal. He was dubious about that too. Some people thought that they had it in the bag and were already complaining about costs involved and how it was diverting attention from saving the world in other ways.

~~>*<~~

Gabe Amirul read the missive from on high and groaned softly to himself. Things just got interesting, very interesting, or would shortly. He was grateful though that they weren't just going to sit back and watch TNT fuck it up. Doing something was infinitely preferable to sitting on the sidelines and twiddling their thumbs.

He was a former major in army intelligence who'd gotten out and become the security chief of the Safrin Tech company. He was personal friends with Greg who had recommended him for the job.

He knew Colonel McCoy and Colonel Pryde had been his former boss at one time at the puzzle palace. They kept a back channel open to him.

What he was hearing about the TNT project gave him fits. So, he was glad the boss wanted to get into the game. He didn't have any skin in the game though, no money, so he wasn't sure how far the boss would be able to go before he went bankrupt.

The other problem was corporate and industrial espionage. That was the bane of his job; it kept things lively. TNT was a big culprit in trying to pull crap on his watch. To date they'd only managed to pull over a few minor things, nothing major.

It was a concern though as was the idea of TNT hearing about the unwanted competition and coming after them to do something about it.

He thought about that idea and then called his senior supervisors in to have a little pow-wow session.

~~>*<~~

Pantheon Snippet 3

 

Chapter 2

 

 

Over the course of the next two weeks, the survivors gave out tech data in barely understood dumps after each delivery of material. There were no directions, index, translation, or references on how to handle the information.

People were disappointed that the aliens didn't land. They did get to see video of the aliens, but all direct transfer was through robots. Apparently, the aliens feared cross contamination. The governments weren't taking any chances either. Everything on their end was either with robots or with people in hazard gear.

Some of the open-source data was mulled over by every university and private think tank on the world. Within a day, enough factors had come in to figure out that some of the equations were high-end quantum theory that related to the alien's hyper portal technology. It is way beyond their ability to replicate or use though. It was still exciting to see, however.

Then some things came in over the next week. Rough concepts about differences in energy and physics. Nothing was applicable initially. There was something of an arms race about who would crack something and get it to market.

Tobin had his company involved in processing some of the tech info, but he was also focused on the threat of alien invasion. He set up an A.I. and team to sort through every bit of data that came in.

They quickly realized that there was no index, and in some cases, the data was only partially translated. Some of it came in from multiple alien species, each with their own language and point of view.

A matrix was set up with Safrin translation software to sort out each language set and build a collective database. The aliens bartered for everything.

He realized by the third week in orbit that the survivors were offering garbage data for essential resources. There is no primer or basics on tech. No ladder to climb and explore. They skipped important steps and tech. Some technology they took for granted or had bypassed.

There was nothing on weapon tech; something the military was keenly confused and disappointed to find out.

Word finally broke about the Celestials as they were called. There was brief panic but that settled down rather quickly as the governments released statements in unison that they were working on it.

They weren't getting much help from the survivors though.

He shook his head. "This is so damn frustrating! How do they expect us to help them or ourselves if they don't give us what we need?" He threw his hands up in frustration and then began to pace.

"Maybe they want us to figure it out?" Penny suggested.

"Why?"

"Aliens being alien?"

"Penny, we're facing an invasion and extinction. The crap cutting should be going full force here," he said. She grimaced. "This is like giving a kid a book in a language they don't know and with the pages out of order and with some of the paragraphs written backwards or in other languages."

"Do you think it is deliberate?" Colonel Pryde asked from his view on the wall screen. He called in every few days to see if they had anything new to report.

Tobin turned to him and then Penny. "Honestly? Yes. I have this feeling like they are offering beads for land."

"Native American reference? Nice one, Safrin," the colonel said.

"It fits. I don't like it, but it fits."

“So, what do we do about it?”

“Probably something stupid,” he said. Penny groaned.

~~>*<~~

Tom Trill turned his lobbyists loose on capitol hill the moment the word of a potential alien invasion came in. Other military companies were doing the same but his was cutting edge. They were going to need the best equipment, real sci-fi shit that the others couldn't handle.

He capitalized on the government's hesitancy to work with Tobin Safrin since Tobin would want control and wouldn't play nice with them.

~~>*<~~

TNT Robotic Technologies was selected to build defenses against the aliens a month after the arrival of the aliens in orbit. They had an edge in modern mecha development. They were a rival of Safrin Tech, though known to play the lobby field, corporate espionage, and bribery over actually innovating.

The bid was supposed to be open to all since it was a government contract. It had been announced in Contract Opportunities but it had been buried. There was some speculation that some shenanigans had been pulled to hide it from the public.

Tobin was amused when the news was made public in a press conference. They pulled out all the bells and whistles with rows of humanoid mechs and the latest TNT weapon systems in rows behind the podium. They even saluted. "I didn't even hear about anything being put out to bid. They just granted TNT a blank check and told them to save the world," he said in disgust.

"Mad that they didn't come to us?" Penny asked. She was peeved that TNT had gotten away with the bid. She had been ready to unleash the lawyers, but Tobin had told her to let it go.

"No. Worried," he said.

Penny gave him a dubious look.

He shook his head. "TNT is in it for profit. We're in it to make sure we can save the world. Profit is a distant second to survival."

She nodded and pursed her lips as she considered what she said. "What else? Why didn't we bid for this?"

"Government work comes with strings. If they control the purse strings, they can tell us what to do and how to do it." Penny frowned again. "I don't want the human race to die or be subjugated because of bean counters. And I don't want to have to explain myself in hearings."

She nodded slowly.

~~>*<~~

Pantheon Snippet 2

 So, Goodlife put Pantheon on the schedule so we should see it back in 7-10 days. :)

I am working on animations for promo of Shelby 6 and 7 at the moment. I'm also ramping up to work on the graphic novel soon.

Anyway, still in chapter 1:

Colonel Thomas McCoy arrived at his unit and had to go through an additional security check. He found out why when the sergeant told him that the military was moving to Defcon 2.

“What the hell is going on?” he demanded. He was an early third-generation super soldier. The army had begun to explore medical advances to prolong a soldier's time in service and in the field. Many operators were forced out of the field due to soft tissue damage or the ever-dreaded psychological trauma.

They had discussed and explored modifications to skeletal structures but had eventually tossed those. They would interfere with bone marrow, soft tissue connections, and other things.

He had benefited by weaving synthetic material into his tendons and soft tissue. He had also received stem cell injections and steroids to bulk up. Along the way, they'd come up with ways to reduce muscle fatigue and improve digestion to get the best out of nutrients he ate for his enhanced metabolism.

There were costs involved, but at the time as a junior officer, he'd been thrilled by the idea. But once most combat operations had ended, he'd been sidelined to interfacing with the eggheads more and more often or working on one project or another.

“I don't know, sir; they don't tell us much. I suggest you run that question up the flagpole. But you may have a bit of a wait; other people are asking the same thing.”

The colonel grunted.

“I hope you brought your toothbrush. We're on lockdown for an unknown period of time,” the sergeant warned. The colonel grimaced but nodded. His go-bag was in the trunk of his Charger.

~~>*<~~

Answers were in short supply for some time. They finally had returned to their routine, monitoring the news for what some called “the devil's anus.”

Tobin cut out early from work and went home. He usually did that when he needed to really think. Penny wrapped up some of her schedule but then cut loose the moment she could.

Penny came home and stared at the massive house. It was a mansion—seven car garage, six or seven bedrooms, offices, labs, a ballroom for entertaining, several family rooms—really too much.  It even had a direct link to Cassie and a collection of her original servers. Now they were her backup servers.

Cassie was a smart house and business A.I. that had evolved over time. She was the original prototype now used in many homes and businesses. There were stripped-down versions used in user phones and even video games. Game makers loved some of Cassie's code since it gave their bots new life.

Cassie was short for Cassandra Bloc. Penny had asked Tobin to form the A.I. to as close a match as her late cousin as possible. He had outdone himself to the point of fabricating the A.I.'s initial voice based on samples from the original Cassie. A tearful Penny had thanked him but then quietly had him change it to a British female. It had hurt too much to hear her voice, more than she'd expected.

Her cousin had died in a DUI and had been one of the reasons Tobin had gotten into safer vehicles as well as organ replacement. Had Cassandra's doctors had access to what they could do now, she would have lived.

It was cold comfort to some, but to others they saw it as inspiration to help the next Cassandra survive.

She sat there in the driveway, staring up at the sky for a long time. She wondered as the sun began to set what the future had to bring. It scared her now, scared her a lot.

She finally got out of the car and decided to seek out Tobin. He should be on the way to finding out the answers she needed. She wasn't certain if she'd like to hear them though.

~~>*<~~

Tobin redirected equipment he controlled across the globe. These included telescopes and satellites.  "Let's see what we're dealing with …" he murmured as his fingers flashed as if they had a life of their own. They tapped like machine guns, running over a hundred and twenty lines a minute.

They managed to get a good look through the satellites at the rift in space. It was bright and energetic as ship after ship came in. Fortunately, it was in the outer star system. The ships were coming in on a course that would put them in orbit though.

It felt good to be vindicated about aliens. Good and bad all rolled into one. He had to wonder if the aliens were friendly or not. Hopefully, they didn't come all this way to stir up trouble.

He didn't sit well with the people who believed that if a species got to a certain point, they had to be benevolent and peaceful. That was bullshit. Anyone who knew their history knew that mankind had to face adversity to thrive. Challenge made them think, made them find ways to beat it. Whether it was the land, weather, animals, or other people, they thrived on challenge. Sometimes some people went out of their way to find new challenges, usually getting killed or nearly killed in the process.

It was a part of their desire to explore. It fed their curiosity. Sure, there had to be some cooperation involved. But that didn't mean they were going to be family. Families fought too. He snorted softly to himself. Sometimes a bit more than they needed to.

He checked and noted many of his staff were in on the feed or drawing whatever they could from the sensors. He decided to make it official and assigned the team to go over everything. IR, radar, lidar, whatever they could get to assemble it into clear data packages on each ship. The team jumped on it.

~~>*<~~