The Feelings of Mindforce

I've found that each aspect of mindforce has a different feel to it. When I first started using my powers, at least the first time I can remember, I recall how odd it felt, the task of sweating caused a sort of pressure, it was really quite uncomfortable, that's what makes the new sweat guns such a wonderful thing to have. For the longest time after making my initial living in sweating I had the oddest sensation, it took a very long time for that pressure to subside. A much more pleasant experience is in using the healing side of mindforce. It is soothing and warm. The powers that heal are comfortable, calming and draw me into a delightful frame of mind where nothing is or could be wrong. Even given my limited experience so far I would have to say that healing is my calling when it comes to utilizing these abilities. The other kind of mindforce I've had a try at is the electrokinetic type. The feel of this force is tingly, it feels exciting and dangerous. To call forth the bolts of electric energy is very stimulating. It brings forth something new, yet familiar, in me. The more I use it the more I want to use it, controlling this element is intoxicating. As I cast forth this embodiment of my wrath I feel the desire for more power. I dare say that if I am not careful with the use of this element I may very well lose myself. By far it is my favorite way of defending myself, much more natural to me than handling a gun, but I feel that if I do not watch myself I very well could lose who I am. It is at times very scary utilizing these destructive forces. Even with this sobering thought of losing myself I still look forward to trying out the other types of mindforce available. The need to exercise a bit of caution when using them all is apparent as there is definitely an inner hunger for the raw power that they offer but this is something I will pay strong attention to. I do not feel I should neglect it completely, just keep it in check. At least for now the stronger desire is in the calm surrender required in the employment of the healing forces.

Slow and Steady

Having a variety of work to do is very helpful at times. In mining I am self employed and don't always make the profits I hope for. In healing I am guaranteed some profit, though it isn't always very much. It is good that I have these different jobs I can do, and between the two I survive pretty well. I hardly ever have to sweat, mostly just once in awhile for my own uses, though most of the time I'll buy sweat from someone else. This past week has turned out well. After a good healing job I was able to get back into the groove in mining for a few days, making some small but steady profits. I did have a couple of great size finds as well making it jump quickly. These profits I used to repair all my possessions and then purchase my first attack chip. I did actually use it as well as I had a poor translocation jump and ended up in a situation where I needed to kill it or lose the meager ped I just used to get where I was. The feel of the power coursing through me was amazing. The lighting bolts cast forth were much stronger than my old weapons, but I need quite a bit more practice in using it. I tended to miss a bit more than normal, but still, it was a rush controlling that force of nature to dispose of my foe. Hopefully my profitable runs will continue, it definitely would help. If that does happen, I better start thinking of my next steps towards ensuring consistent, future profits.

Mind Powers

Fairly recently they were able to resyncronize our mind powers with the energies of the planet. With this resyncronization they updated the current chips out there, slightly changing some of the properties. The new technology updates allow us to quickly deploy some of our mind powers, requiring much less concentration time in order to draw in the energy we need to manifest our desired result. It took awhile, but I was able to purchase a regeneration chip, a level III one, to use for healing instead of a standard Vivo. I got a chance to take the new toy for a spin last night and quickly fell in love with this thing. It is pretty fast and the added range I can work in makes healing groups so much easier. To me it feels so natural to use my mind for doing things instead of using tools. Granted I cannot mine with my mind yet, but at least I can use my mind to heal others now. I feel like a healer in some of those old fantasy books now, gracefully casting forth my energies in a spell that restores the life of my fellow adventurers. Although it isn't quite like what I imagine that to be, but a modern day cleric of sorts, it is a pretty interesting thing. Also with the reintroduction of our mind force powers they discovered new ways to procure mind essence. We are now able to acquire sweat from creatures we have killed to use with force nexus, although this new sweat is not near as vibrant it does allow us to use a few of our powers. There is also now a synthetic mind essence, one that doesn't require us to find force nexus or acquire sweat. This stuff is great, it is what I use for healing. Being able to buy as much as I need as if it were ammo makes it so much easier to use my powers and not break the bank. So with all these changes we are in a position to be as much mystics as the shamans that the natives have. So the next thing I need to save up some PED to buy is some more chips to make myself a true mindtropian.

Vehicles

I've heard talk of vehicles being shipped to the planet for quite some time. They have also been talking about developing some blueprints that would allow us to build some of our own vehicles using materials found on the planet. With all the delays in shipping the time finally came and vehicles arrived on the planet. Many people went and got their first vehicle and were driving them around and testing out how well they perform on this planet's terrain. It was quite a sight to see actually, so many of them driving around so fast. One of the people in my society bought one, he let me drive it a bit as well. I have to say, that is a pretty quick way to get around, not quite as fast as a teleport chip, but for an older type of technology it is pretty good. They are saying that we should be receiving air and water vehicles at some point as well. Judging from how long it took to get the first of the land vehicles I'm not going to hold my breath. A few other land vehicles were mentioned as well, one of which was a motorcycle. After looking up what exactly those are I realized that those would be more of my style. A solo vehicle, meant for the one who rides alone. I do look forward to someday possibly being able to get one of these machines, but for now I'll make due with my teleport chip and running around on my own two feet.

In Search of the Big One

I'm a miner, and as a miner I'm always paying attention to what others are finding and trying to figure out where they're finding at. They have a numbering system for the sizes of finds, it is based on the value of what was discovered. My personal best find was classified as XVI, commonly referred to as a significant sized find. Recently someone found a size XXV, when I saw the information on it I was simply in awe. I couldn't imagine finding that and knowing that suddenly I had the money to own something of significance in this world. I always dream of finding the big one, but I won't hold my breath for it. The occassional size XIV or XV satisfies my desires usually, though it is hard not to hope for the big find after seeing someone else get it. What I would do with such a find is hard to say, there are so many options. I would probably at least get an apartment so that I would have a comfortable place to sleep when I'm not out in the middle of nowhere looking for another nice find. Anyway, dreaming big is good and all, but it does not pay the bills, or in my case, feed the stomach. Maybe someday I'll be the lucky one, but for now it is enough to survive on what I am getting.

Survival

I've been toying with the thought of the robot evolution. If indeed they evolved because of this planet then how long will it take for other life on this planet to evolve to a level where they will be competing with the both of us? I mean, there are some more advanced creatures here, they just don't have the technological advantages of the robots or us. It just makes me wonder how long we all could survive here. With rapid evolution and the robot attacks it should seem impossible. Our ability to revive definitely gives us an advantage against the native wildlife here, but the robots are very similar in their abilities. With their network and communications they don't lose much information and they can just keep building more and better versions of themselves and keep coming. We don't defend ourselves as much as we could from them, we want their technology so we just keep fighting. The one advantage that the robots have over us however is that our technology can be stopped. That was shown when the professor didn't revive as he should have. If the robots ever figure out how this happened then they will definitely have the advantage, their numbers alone would eventually overcome any advantages we may have been able to glean from reverse engineering their technology. If the robots indeed do have the advanced evolutionary fragments within them, I'm sure it is just a matter of time before they will reach a level far beyond anything we can hope to achieve, I just hope we can find a better way to fight this war before that happens. Of course, we also have our fight for survival here to worry about, there is a good chance that some of the advanced species here will begin to evolve more and eventually have their own technologies to use against us. Although, perhaps their evolution would be beneficial to us if we were to work on peace with them so that they could join us in our fight against the robots.

Evolution

One of the discoveries made this year was fragments. These fragments are what causes the rapid evolution of all species here on Calypso. We have only isolated a few of these fragments so far, but what we have been able to gather has definitely allowed us to improve our technology quite a bit. The new technology is a bit fragile, but it really can boost performance in various ways. What I wonder about this discovery is, if it can improve our technology so much, is it what caused the robots to linger and change when they discovered the planet in the first place? Does it have a greater effect on technology than what we assumed? I suppose it would be possible that the robots created from the resources on this planet would inherit the same properties the planet exhibits. If this is the case, there would be very little chance in us keeping up for too long with the robots, they would not only have their superior problem solving that they were originally created for but they would also have the added benefit of accelerated evolution built into them. I wonder if future generations that live here will eventually have these fragments inside them too, making us evolve in a much faster way and no longer be the same humans that we have fought so hard to be.

Trees

There is such a variety of plants here on Calypso. I love wandering in different areas when I'm mining, there's just so many wonderous things to see. Wandering in the wilderness of this world brings back what could be a memory of my past. It's hard to say if it is real or just something my mind made up, but I can remember forests, the kind like you see in old pictures from Earth. The air in the forests was clean and moist, it felt good to breathe. I vaguely recall the sounds of the leaves rustling in the wind and the birds calling to each other from the trees. It is a bit different here however. When I breathe here the air is fragrant, not musty like the forests of Earth. I can still hear the leaves rustling, but their sound is slightly different and the bird calls aren't as familiar. The colors are greater here than they are in this dream-like memory. At times its hard to say which is more breathtaking. I have a hard time believing in the memory. When I read on the more current history of Earth it would be hard to find what I see in my mind's eye. So what makes it so familiar to me? History says what I see cannot be, but my heart says that it once knew that. I guess that's why Calypso feels so much more like home to me than Earth. Every time I see pictures of what Earth looks like now I cringe. That isn't the Earth that I feel I should know. But it doesn't really matter, this is home now, and I have no desire to leave it.