Endtown by Aaron Neathery for February 11, 2014

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    Level_Head  over 10 years ago

    The propulsion is rather like Petey, back whenThe blades change diameter, now and againSometimes they’re quite wide for the vertical liftThen small, and they disappear, too. Quite a gift!These drones are much larger than I’d thought beforeCould those legs grab people? Is that what they’re for?The craft seem so large that a Topsider couldGo traveling fast if he wanted.Not good.=|====/ Level HeadVote for Endtown 2.0And for Doc Rat, tooThe Endtown ForumThe Endtown AuctionThe Endtown Books

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    kazen101  over 10 years ago

    And I thought MUTTs were freaky.

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    stevegallacci  over 10 years ago

    Wow, even bigger and a bit weirder than expected.

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  4. Idano
    Ida No  over 10 years ago

    What do you call surface to air missiles when your “surface” is largely a lake of molten glass?

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    Robert Nowall Premium Member over 10 years ago

    I’d been thinking the Drones were the same size as the Mutts…well, they’re scarier this size…but I don’t think they’ll fit through that door…

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    stevegallacci  over 10 years ago

    Working up some scale drawings, these, things are really big, I’m WAG-ing 70 ft or so long. That there are so many on the ground makes me suspect they’re going to systematically beam everything in an expanding perimeter, maybe some miles in radius. Or they still might pace out a pattern and blow up.

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    JusSayin  over 10 years ago

    They walk. Why. Is this some kind of search and rescue mission? Betcha They have convinced a few TopSiders to convert to MUTTs, but they tell they can better take care of them this way, and no mind drain. . Vote ENDTOWN . Vote Doc Rat

    . Vote Hubris . Vote Kevin and Kell . Sincerely, . JusSayin
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    Woodrabbit  over 10 years ago

    They might pick up two bodies first.

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    Lyons Group, Inc.  over 10 years ago

    If this ever happens in the distant future in our world, I hopeI’m at home with the Lord before it does!

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    crookedwolf Premium Member over 10 years ago

    Interesting, the propellers rotate for landing, then slip into storage?

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    Robert Nowall Premium Member over 10 years ago

    Do they carry passengers?

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    Darwinskeeper  over 10 years ago

    Hmmm…I remember Flask saying something about shortages of resources and cutting corners while she was discussing the biosuit’s weak area with a newly captured Linda. These things make me question her words. If the Topsiders had the resources to build something this big, give them folding rotors and walking gear and were willing to send out this many of them after two of their people flatline they can’t be hurting too badly.

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    j2p2  over 10 years ago

    Eep.

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    the other ghost girl  over 10 years ago

    oh my

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    Vet Premium Member over 10 years ago

    Think new and improved Mark II with “improvements”.No emotion, no mercy, no quarter, no heart, no human interference.Fully autonomous.Another APEX monstrosity available at finer weapon dealers.Satisfaction…….guaranteed.

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    BeniHanna6 Premium Member over 10 years ago

    With all the weapon production, you would think the topsiders would have figured out how to clean up the environment.

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    cindyorch  over 10 years ago

    It’s creepy that they all have faces so to speak….a reminder that they are made from humans????

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    JusSayin  over 10 years ago

    It appears the engine covers or nacelles have rotated from vertical to horizontal. The JVX Swingwing, AKA known as the Osprey, can rotate its props about ninety degrees, up for vertical take off and landing(vtol), and possibly rotate to a horizontal plane for speed. I can understand feathering the props and tightening them in, like closing an umbrella, but it almost appears the props have been feathered, and with part of the nacelles withdrawn into the wings, possibly to prevent damage to props and increase maneuverability. Feathering the props means different things in aircraft and auxilliary powered sailboats. Bell and Boeing have had enough problems with the Osprey without adding complexity to the rotor, but I guess they should’ve called Aaron and saved development time.JusSpeculatin

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    yangeldf  over 10 years ago

    they kinda look like the oscar mayer wienie mobile with faces…

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    Lyons Group, Inc.  over 10 years ago

    Does some of them come standard with harvested mutant brains? LOL. Somebody stop me!

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    Tha_Hype  over 10 years ago

    Sheesh!! The scale of those things….

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    MacEwanMouse  over 10 years ago

    From the ground they all look sad, but from the air they all look happy.

    Happy or sad they all look freaky.

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    Robert Nowall Premium Member over 10 years ago

    Or..the drones aren’t really all that big, and they’re now landing around some sort of ditto illusion…

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    Coyoty Premium Member over 10 years ago

    Since when do hawkish governments care about resources when supplying themselves with toys?

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    Coyoty Premium Member over 10 years ago

    BTW, I mean governments, not military. The U.S. military wants Congress to stop sending them big expensive weapons. Congress wants a lot of big boomy things, the more the better.

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    stevegallacci  over 10 years ago

    I’m WAG-ing some kind of largely automated “fabricators” for a lot of topsider hardware. Conventional assembly lines take a fair number of bodies and large supply chains, while a several generations beyond current 3-D printers could grind out all kinds of stuff, needing only some basic feedstocks and the data to do the deed. They already have nanotech and some pretty advanced medtech, so that aspect doesn’t seem at all far-fetched. I wonder if there is some level of fragmentation in the topsider communities? Or, at least compartmentalization of both info and resource. In both what Flask didn’t know, and now the surprise of the drones, there seems much more out there.

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    stevegallacci  over 10 years ago

    You’re right, the drones are not quite as big as my first impression.

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    Ida No  over 10 years ago

    If these are Search & Destroy units, then they’re unmanned (calling them drones implies the same thing). They’re expendable, which means that even if a bunch of them are all in the same area as a suspected target, there’s nothing stopping them from taking out everything within radius.

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    JusSayin  over 10 years ago

    Yeh, they are probably unmanned, or possibly with with mutant brains. I was wandering earlier if the machines had become self aware and turned against the inferior TopSiders. Maybe. They do seem a bit of a tech jump, but not necessarily. Someone, maybe Three Steps Over Japan, or possibly someone else sent me a review of a little four rotor drone, that could serve drinks at a party(my speculative app based on what I read). So maybe these Mr Happy Drones aren’t that much a jump.

    TopSiders may be dealing with Lucrainians. TopSiders may have located and taken Wally’s former airship. It possibly has its own version of a self repair module, and has all that equipment. I think there are still many dittos on the Opabinia Queen, as Marx only took a few feet. The dittos were either in control of the ship, or working with the Queen’s brain.In a few minutes, the drones may roll over onto their backs and start making, something like snow angels.Speculatively, JusSayin.

    Oh, and I agree with Coyoty about Congress sending the military weapons they neither need nor want. For Congress, a multibillion dollar order for tanks represents jobs in several congressional districts. A couple of Southern congressmen were notorious for pushing huge defense toy budgets, and getting the contractor to spread the work over several states.

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