FB4-97 "Examination Exacerbation"

FB4-97 "Examination Exacerbation"

A Chapter by dw817
"

Mr. White spoke to me, "Close your eyes, Dev. You don't want to look into this light. Don't reopen them until I tell you." He then started up new controls and the violet disc started to light up.

"
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F U T U R E   B A R R I E R
( The 4th Novel )
Secret Technology, Unrequited Love, Absolute Vengeance

© May 2021 - Written by David Wicker
Please do not reprint without permission


 CHAPTER 97 - "EXAMINATION EXACERBATION"

[ CHOOSE A DIFFERENT CHAPTER TO READ ]

* * *


This chapter is Rated: TEEN




Slice Of Life (05-05-21)



How many of you went for a dictionary because of the title ? :)

That's fine and good afternoon. The word in definition means to make a problem even worse than it is - thus will happen to Dev.

For the moment though I have some exciting news, well at least for me. It's good news and bad news actually.



As you know or should I have been programming and have written many programs in Pico-8 years ago. It is a Fantasy Console that is pretty easy to code in for writing videogames.

The drawback to it is unlike every free product that is on the market today it costs $15. But that $15 is well-spent let me assure you !

Some of the most exciting games I have ever seen have been written in it including some real head-turning turn-based games which are always my favorite.



Ah but back to the good news and bad news. The good news is I found a program for my RG-350 (it's a portable game and media player that I own) which runs Pico-8.

But before I get too excited it will run NONE of the programs I've written as I do not program conventionally. That is in Pico-8 you have functions _draw() and _update() which I do not use.

I prefer to have complete control over all my programs so when I found out the Pico-8 I had did not require these and I could do everything I wanted with my own timers, method, and FLIP(), I did so.

And it made it possible for me to write programs in it in record time as the method I choose always ensures brevity and simplicity.



So the thing is I REALLY do want a good programming language on the go. I can write this in Pico-8 but I will HAVE to use _draw() and _update() if I plan to do so. And yes I've already tried to contact the author of the Pico-8 emulator to no avail.

I can write it. That will be amazeballs. But it will be work on my part, granted, however the results will allow me to write programs while I'm on the go.

First off there are no programming languages to my knowledge that let you SAVE STATE. That is to save off not just your source-code but the very running state of the system itself. And I can code it to do this.



The only computer that comes close is the TRS-80 in that if you save off your program and reload it later, it also included all the active variables and arrays at the time.

Really a wonder that was not carried to computers today. Would've solved a lot of problems.

So why the pull for save state ? Why code it ? As the RG-350 has no SLEEP mode it has only two states, on and off.

Making use of Save State in the programming language I develop will not only instantly save off all your programming but the screen you see and all the variables.



While Pico-8 was only intended to save off 256-bytes of save data I got the interesting idea to make use of its seldom used "backup memory."

In this I traced memory locations and found under the right circumstances and correct code you can save off a whopping 8192-bytes and even more through multiple renamed files.

Remind me sometime to tell you about the Japanese KVCD video format and how I changed it to record from 40-minutes of video time instead up  to 3-hours. Anyways, we'll save that for later.

Also everything will be graphic. That is the save-state screen is saved, the source is saved as a screen and even the variables are saved as a screen.

I don't want to reveal much more of the engine until I get more coding done in it and can show you through example code. And I need to confirm my nifty 8192-byte method will work.

So yeah exciting days are ahead of me when I can finally develop my own programming language and build in it besides.

It will also have slots for saves.

Now the last recent work I did I found a way to save off an infinite amount of data, that is up to your hard-drive space in Pico-8. I need to check with this RG-350 emulator to see if it too allows for this.

If so then I could use the entire 8192-bytes PER program instead of break it out to a fixed 10-programs as I have allocated it now.

Good stuff. What else ?



My dreams of course have been very busy indeed. I haven't so much been recording them as I used to though as even though they are fantastic and incredible mostly, they are things I have dreamed before.

And I try to write down only the new stuff.



Other than that I did want to go into a bit about Publisher's Clearinghouse. First off, you MAY win. Let me just get that straight.

You MAY win if you play their game, answer every Email, etc. The actual odds of winning according to research (not mine) is one in 6.2 billion.

Now let's look at this the right way. The current population of planet Earth (2021) is 7.9 billion people, so that means if you could be any person on Earth right now, you and 1/4 other person will win.

But when you think about it the money is not really the surprising thing nor what it is you will do with it, the amazing thing is if you win.



Let's look at something else that's super rare. Being struck by lightning. While I myself have not been hit I did have a bolt come within 20-feet of me and I could not see anything for about 10-seconds because of the bright flash.

The air smelled like burnt metal even though it hit the tree next to me outside. Scary stuff.

But what are the odds of actually being hit by lighting ?

According to the National Weather Service you have a 1 in 15300 being hit in your lifetime.

So let's calculate that now. We take 6.2 billion and divide that by the finite number 15,300 leaving 4052287 or 4-million 52-thousand two-hundred eight-seven.

You would need to be struck by lightning consecutively 4 million times in your lifetime to meet the odds of winning the Publisher's Clearinghouse sweepstakes.

Shocking, isn't it ? :)

Now if you want to BUY things from Publisher's Clearinghouse, you are welcome to, and I have done so in the past myself as they do carry a wide variety of interesting items, not just magazines.

But there is one technical detail you really should be aware. When you order something the shipping & handling will cost at least for me has always been the same cost as the product I am purchasing !



For instance I recently purchased a teddy bear throw for $8 from them. The shipping & handling was also $8 so that's $16 right there.

Always double the price of what you're seeing and you'll come out ahead. As for winning ? Well, if you do, let me know ...

To date I've bought more than $100 of their merchandise from them and have won $10 in a random drawing which is probably more money than a lot of people have.

. . .

Hmm ... with that new information all up in your brain let's return back to Future Barrier.

. . .

Mr. White spoke to me, "Close your eyes, Dev. You don't want to look into this light. Don't reopen them until I tell you."

I did so. He started up new controls and the violet disc started to light up really bright.

And then, I guess I started to hallucinate or something. With my eyes closed I could hear what sounded like an explosion.

And people were yelling and screaming and carrying on all over. For a moment I thought I could hear dishes breaking too.

I bit my lip in bitter thought. I had this when I was a child. I would listen to a fan that was running and hear these strange things. People laughing like at a party. People screaming as if they were terrified of something, and dishes breaking like someone was going postal in the kitchen.

I told Mom about it at the time and she just rubbed my head saying that there was nothing wrong, that I just had a very high level of creativity.

Well this high level of 'creativity' got me into problems later. During my early teen years I wound up in a mental ward for seeing and hearing things.

Strangely later it just vanished. No need for medication, no need for hospitalization.

But here it was back again and in full force. Tears came to my eyes. I had hoped to be over this madness. The purple light was still going as I could hear the sound it made.

Suddenly my chair lurched forward as if to hit the floor and I opened my eyes to cushion my fall !

The beam cut off and I could see - there was indeed a problem !

Mr. White was beating off these other guys with his staff and there was a computer's female voice repeating over and over, "Intrusion - intrusion. Activate method Omega Delta."

The guys attacking White were formidable indeed. And while White managed to crack his staff over the head of one of them knocking him cold, the others closed in.

One came to me and pointed a gun to my cheek, "Are you the one ?"

"The one, what ?" I asked.

He shook his head agitated. Someone else yelled, "It's not here ! We have no time !"

He then smacked the butt of his gun against my head and ran off.

I suspect it was supposed to be a solid enough blow that it would have knocked me out, but it didn't. My nanobots or whatever they were must've kicked in.

Janet then came to me with a little blood dripping down her face.

I asked, "Wha - what's going on ?"

As if in answer to my query the computer's quiet voice replied, "Self-destruct in 4-minutes ... counting."

Janet struggled with my bonds to get me free and I fell into her grip.

"The door is sealed !" Tyr wailed back from where she was. "There's no way out !"

Janet ran back to Tyr. "4 point 45. 4 point 44." the computer spoke in quiet friendly tones.

I went over to Mr. White to see a stone pillar had fallen over on his chest when in his vigorous attempts to pull free his mask suddenly fell off of his head.

I gasped in fear to see that the mask - well - really hid nothing at all. His own head and face was a misshapen mass that vagely resembled a hideous and ghastly ... rabbit !

"So now you know the truth." he said quietly and coughed ragged.

He looked around for a second hearing the computer's countdown.

I asked, "Is there any way to turn that off ?"

He looked up, his bright pink eyes shining in the radiant light of the room, "If I can get to the controls. See if you can get this off of me."

I then struggled with the stone pillar and seemed to make some progress when it slipped out of my fingers and came back down on White with a crushing blow.

Blood bubbled out of his mouth now and he ... laughed ?

"I suppose it's my time, Dev." he said with a ragged chuckle. Then he reached into his vest, the part that he could reach.

"Take - this. It will - help - you - where - you are going."

* * *

I looked. It was some kind of funky and ornate brass key in the shape of a bunny's head with the two ears having the 'teeth' for a key on the end.

He looked at me with his nightmarish figure, "There is one other thing I need to tell you."

He struggled to breathe but found it difficult. Finally he motioned for me to get forward so I could hear him better.

I put my ear right up against his savage sharp rabbit teeth. But there was nothing for him to say. Just then he quietly wheezed out his last dying breath directly on to me.

I felt weird and cold all at the same time to have someone's breath of death up in my ear.

"Self-destruct in 2-minutes. Counting." came the steady computer.

Janet shrieked, "D****t ! Dev, come help me here !"

I patted White on his torn furry head for a moment. Then got up to see her.

"Mr. White is dead." I told her.

She nodded but pointed to what was of immediate concern to her now, "The escape release won't break free." She pointed to a long metallic lever. "Can you move it ?"

I went to pull on it and felt a strength I had never felt before !

The very metal arm bent in my grip !

"Not too hard ! Don't break it. Turn it. Rotate it THIS way." she insisted.

I did so and a panel of the wall opened up showing red walking lights down a staircase.

"Good job !" she said, smiling, then we all piled in.

"What is this ?" I asked her.

"It's a danger room." she said.

I had to think about this for a minute. "Is there any danger ?"

She laughed, "No, it's not like that. It's a room of safety."

Lilly quiet up to now spoke, "Will it protect us from the self-destruct mechanism ?"

Janet nodded, "According to the plans I read earlier when this place was constructed, yes, it will."

Suddenly a new alarm started to sound. Janet prang into action, "We've only got a minute ! All of you, I want you to run and I mean RUN as fast and as safely as you can down these stairs ! NOW !"

And then our feet were flying. The staircase was immense ! I suddenly heard what sounded like dynamite going off behind me and the staircase itself shook. We all stopped to turn back and look.

"Keep going !" Janet yelled above the noise.

I nodded and continued to run down the stairs for - for what seemed forever. We finally reached the bottom.

Then there was another explosion and the staircase about 25-feet up suddenly crumbled into dust !

"Get back ! The whole thing could go !"

We did and sure enough the rest of the staircase was unable to stay up at that awkward position without its pillars of support and crushing and crumbling rock pulled it straight down.

"Cover your eyes !" Janet demanded.

We did so and little bits of rock and shrapnel pinged against the floor and ceiling where we were.

A few sharp pieces laced through my clothes. I heard Tyr cry out.

With my eyes still closed I pulled her form behind me so I could act as a shield for her. A minute more of rock slivers then it was over.

I opened my eyes at once to look at Tyr. She had a little wedge of steel jammed up against her leg !

She was crying, "Dev. It hurts !"

I had her sit down on the floor as I looked at the razor sharp stone embedded in her leg.

Janet was there too. "Here. And she suddenly pulled hard on Tyr's clothes to rip it off."

"Hey !" Tyr shouted in anger now only in her panties.

"I need this." Janet said patiently and then spoke to me, "Tyr. He's going to pull it out. Brace yourself. Go ahead, Dev."

I reached my fingers to the cold metal and wrapped my fingers tightly around the blade. Then yanked it free where it started to bleed but Janet was there to quickly put a tourniquet on it from Tyr's skirt.

"Put pressure there, Tyr. To stop the bleeding."

Lilly was crying a little herself. I went to look at her.

"Are you okay ? Not hurt ?"

She shook her head, "I'm just - rattled is all. I'll be okay.  Gosh, Mr. White didn't make it ? I'm sorry ... I don't know what else to say - but how do we get out of here now ?"



END OF CHAPTER 96



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Featured Review

All the programming stuff is still over my head, unfortunately.

I dreamed about pudding, so I mixed up some instant pudding in the middle of the night after feeding my baby and ate it in the morning. I ate the pudding, not the baby.

I've been buying lots of household items like curtain rods and motion-activated night lights in preparation for my upcoming move. I shop on Amazon and got an Amazon credit card that gives me 5% cash back on all Amazon purchases and 3% cash back on other online purchases, so I started using that for Ebay as well. It's really adding up!

The motion detector lights are so handy for breastfeeding. Sincy I'm doing elimination communication, I take him to the potty when he wakes me up. I just stretch, and the lights go on! They're not too sensitive that they'll go on with small movements, so if Baby is just squirming a bit, they stay off. After turning on, they automatically turn off after thirty seconds of inactivity. They also don't turn on during the day when there is lots of light in the room. Anyway, I got two for the bedroom, and they work so well that I ordered four more, so when we move into our new place, we'll have a total of six. I'll put them in the hallway on the way to the bathroom, in the bathroom itself, and in the kitchen so we can get midnight snacks without fumbling for light switches:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08HMZ1Y1W/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

We're in the final phases of construction, and all we need are a few finishing touches. The workers were spending time cleaning up instead of installing certain things, though. We already set our move out date to the 15th, so we need them to hurry up so we can get the final inspection done and get out of here!

We'll have to sanitize the place before moving in, too. The workers have been using our refrigerator for beer, and even though I've had both my shots, my husband has only had his first shot, and of course our baby has only had the standard polio, hepatitis, etc. vaccinations recommended for his age. He might have some Covid immunity from my milk, but we're not counting on it.

It's going to be a lot of work moving in, but I just got word that my mom is going to take two weeks of vacation, so that should help a lot. My dad can cook for us while we're moving in, too. I'll basically just be feeding the baby and taking him to the potty and changing his diaper while everyone else runs around. Well, maybe I'll pack a few boxes here and there, but I'm not going to stress over it. I'm going to let everyone else handle that for the most part.

Watching my mom handle our baby makes it painfully obvious that Dad raised me while Mom made the money. Dad doesn't handle our baby too much because of his back, though.

Amazing chapter!

Posted 3 Years Ago


1 of 1 people found this review constructive.

This comment has been deleted by this chapters author.
dw817

3 Years Ago

Caffeinated pudding, Kari ? Alrightee then. :)

And yes I went to Wal-Mart to pick up .. read more
dw817

3 Years Ago

Sorry, Tyr was an account I used for online gaming years ago. The girl direct from Future Barrier.read more



Reviews

All the programming stuff is still over my head, unfortunately.

I dreamed about pudding, so I mixed up some instant pudding in the middle of the night after feeding my baby and ate it in the morning. I ate the pudding, not the baby.

I've been buying lots of household items like curtain rods and motion-activated night lights in preparation for my upcoming move. I shop on Amazon and got an Amazon credit card that gives me 5% cash back on all Amazon purchases and 3% cash back on other online purchases, so I started using that for Ebay as well. It's really adding up!

The motion detector lights are so handy for breastfeeding. Sincy I'm doing elimination communication, I take him to the potty when he wakes me up. I just stretch, and the lights go on! They're not too sensitive that they'll go on with small movements, so if Baby is just squirming a bit, they stay off. After turning on, they automatically turn off after thirty seconds of inactivity. They also don't turn on during the day when there is lots of light in the room. Anyway, I got two for the bedroom, and they work so well that I ordered four more, so when we move into our new place, we'll have a total of six. I'll put them in the hallway on the way to the bathroom, in the bathroom itself, and in the kitchen so we can get midnight snacks without fumbling for light switches:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08HMZ1Y1W/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

We're in the final phases of construction, and all we need are a few finishing touches. The workers were spending time cleaning up instead of installing certain things, though. We already set our move out date to the 15th, so we need them to hurry up so we can get the final inspection done and get out of here!

We'll have to sanitize the place before moving in, too. The workers have been using our refrigerator for beer, and even though I've had both my shots, my husband has only had his first shot, and of course our baby has only had the standard polio, hepatitis, etc. vaccinations recommended for his age. He might have some Covid immunity from my milk, but we're not counting on it.

It's going to be a lot of work moving in, but I just got word that my mom is going to take two weeks of vacation, so that should help a lot. My dad can cook for us while we're moving in, too. I'll basically just be feeding the baby and taking him to the potty and changing his diaper while everyone else runs around. Well, maybe I'll pack a few boxes here and there, but I'm not going to stress over it. I'm going to let everyone else handle that for the most part.

Watching my mom handle our baby makes it painfully obvious that Dad raised me while Mom made the money. Dad doesn't handle our baby too much because of his back, though.

Amazing chapter!

Posted 3 Years Ago


1 of 1 people found this review constructive.

This comment has been deleted by this chapters author.
dw817

3 Years Ago

Caffeinated pudding, Kari ? Alrightee then. :)

And yes I went to Wal-Mart to pick up .. read more
dw817

3 Years Ago

Sorry, Tyr was an account I used for online gaming years ago. The girl direct from Future Barrier.read more

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Added on May 5, 2021
Last Updated on May 5, 2021
Tags: davidw, dictionary, Pico-8, Lexaloffle, RG-350, _draw(), _update(), amazeballs, save state, load state, TRS-80 computer, 256-bytes, KVCD, Publisher's Clearinghouse, hallucinations, nanobots, self-destruct, danger room

Future Barrier - The 4th Novel

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dw817
dw817

Fort Worth, TX



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