The Winding River Project

[mrbisonm]

1,346,423???

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Update 42b

.....continuing from the last update.

The next morning Slye, Mike, John and Alex Puto met at Barby's Biergarten again for lunch. This time Alex told them what he's been seeing from the big bridge in Phlox.
««" This was first seen a couple of weeks ago by one of our structure-welders on top of the bridge arch. He told us that some helicopters with strange attachements fly around some sort of towers in the distance. Although it is far away, he could see definitively that it was two big cementlike structures sticking into the sky. He said that they seem to be of immense size." Alex took a sip of coffee and looked at John", You know it somehow scares my people now. No one knows what's going on there and some people make it probably seem worse than it is, and you should see where the entrance of that area is, it's crawling with soldiers and people in white dresses, and that scares me somehow also." he continued," Then I got up there and had a look and it is true what he said, copters were transporting materials to the top of these strange towers, strange.....hey, if anyone is up to something to find out what's really going on there, count me in, ok?."
John Gabber said:, "Ok fine, maybe we'll do something stupid one day...haha...You know Alex, we.....Mike , my father and I have bought a few hundred acres not far from there towards the big river", suddenly Mike stepped on his foot under the table interupting what John was going to say, but he continued,"That is in the same district and I am surprized that they haven't yet come to us to search around, although it seems that they are everywhere." looking at Mike with a serious but confirming look.
"But I am sure that it is nothing serious or dangerous to anyone of us, they would have probably evacuated the area if it was dangerous to anyone. I personally don't think that there's nothing to worry about, unless we start seeing soldiers with gasmasks", smiling and trying to make everyone laugh.
"I don't know", Alex said" it seems they already have been everywhere, including your terrains, but they're concentrating on the Powerline's land now. Maybe we should have a look?....Hey, did you know that they actually detoured the Powerlines for more than 3 kilometers because of this?"
Mike, John and Slye shook their shoulders.
Slye: " Yeah, Wilfried from Hydro Lakefield told me than the army fully paid the expenses to make the big detour around that area, a feww million Simoleons.", a small moment of silence," I drive by there almost every day or so also", Slye continued," I have seen that there's a lot of action in the area. I also saw that ever since the access road to the west has been connected at the Highway intersection, the army goes through there instead of taking our highway as if they are avoiding the public. They come with dozens and dozens of loaded trucks from that direction every day." then he stopped and looked down for a second or two," Ok", he lifted his head and looked at everyone," I have to admit something, although I was told to shut up, but you guys keep it for yourselves, ok?.", Alex was ALL ears," I just sold 780,000 linear feet of construction wood to them and another 500,000 were ordered for May and maybe more later......"
A few seconds after total silence from all of them on their table, Mike opened his mouth,
"That is indeed a lot of wood," nodding his head for ever it seemed, "Do you know what they need it for?"
"Are you kidding? Do you seriously think I ask them? Geeeez, that Colonel is so meanlooking that my mind didn't think of asking any questions at all."
" Wow Slye..... that impresses me", John jumped in, " How did that start off ? Now you really got yourself a Big Deal with the Big Folks, I guess. Good for buissness, eh?".....smilingly continuing," Well, maybe you've got it made Slye, now you'r busy and well known", giving him the .

After lunch Mike asked John to come with him to the bridge and have a climb on this beautiful March springday. John agreed and with a big smile added, "Man, you're making me feel like a kid again, but let's not get caught. Imagine the first page of the Tribune saying: *The CEO and the Project Manager of Gabber Inc caught spying the Army*....hahaha....that wouldn't sound too good....haha... by the way, don't tell Mary", looking with his serious look and one lifted eyebrow at Mike. Alex jumped in the conversation: "Ohhhh nooo, you're not going anywhere without me, besides that is MY bridge." and all three left in John's new truck to Phlox.»»
... (to be continued)



**** Let's talk about the rockskulls a little bit. Definition....This is what we know about them:
They were first discovered by a group of people that came into the area in the late 15th century. A man named William Kneerow was the leader of that expedition into the Winding River Mountain range, which today is everything from Beecherfalls down to Bluebay, and they brought back some samples of the rocks that were taken form these big skulls. These samples can still be seen at the National Museum of Simland in the Capitol City today.
Kneerow studied the area for several months and when most of his men died of  unknown causes, he and the rest of the group left the area. Kneerow than only wrote his findings of these rockskulls on paper including a map hw to get there. All the papers got somehow lost and the story ended up as a legend.

Mr Kneerow believed that these carved out rockskulls were used as some kind of a habitation for a group of people who were believed to have landed from Skandinavia long time ago, as the legend says. They also believed to have had a small village or villages in the Winding River Region thriving until one day, they all disappeared together without leaving any trace, not even one of their skeleton was found by Kneerow, as the legend tells us. These rockhuts were big enough to house a whole family and were an excellent protection against enemies and harsh weather.
Then for five hundred years it was continued to be told as a legend, since every attempt to find them afterwards were negative. In 1788 a group of 11 people including some natives and scientists left for the Winding River Region, but they never were ever heard of again. Then several months ago in 1963, two bridge workers disappeared and were found by the Powerline workers almost a year later, having left only their bones. John, Mike, Henry and little Charlie came across the huts in the late fifites and left it at that without asking too many questions. From there on we know the rest.
Oh, I forgot to say that William Kneerow and the 3 survivors of that group were said to have mysteriously disappeared 1 month after they returned from that trip.****



Something else now, just to keep the MD going and busy.....new in Access, Sardine Living, kinda......



....and this week's edition of the Access Center Tribune for next weekend's update.



Have a nice weekend

Fred

[danielcote]

Great to see you're news papers rolling with the times. 

[MattyFo]

Fantastic update Fred!!!  There is definetly something very mysterious going on in The Winding River Region.


-Matt

[canyonjumper]

All the mystery must add up to something good! Great work, Fred! Looking forward to more excellent storywriting !
             
               Your friend,
                              Jordan

[KoV Liberty]

Sweet job! TS Slye made a profit on that lumber I bet, but why would the army need that much lumber...

Alex

[Cyclone1001]

Hmmm.... I predict someone will go see what the army is doing, and never come back. But still, storyline aside, great work!

[kimcar]

Suspence, mystery, and great story lines . All ingredients for made a good MD. Great work Fred 

[nedalezz]

This SkullRock issue is very Lost-ish, lol. A great update, a great piece of history. Maybe Johnny B. Badd would be interested into moving into those townhouses?

[mightygoose]

always the real thing...

[mrbisonm]

Update 42c (last of a series of 3)

Pic0-Regionview




.....continuing from yesterday.....

Sunday morning and everyone (Mike, John, Slye, Alex and Henry) was again at the same table at Barby's Biergarten having breakfast.

«« "Am I glad to see you all here this morning", Barby said while making the table ready for lunch, "The pilot has been asking where to find you guys."
"Pilot? What pilot?", John Gabber asked surprizingly.
" Ahh, I can't remember his name", Barby continued," it's that young fellow, that bushpilot, that flys all over the region and brings those people around the area. I think his last name is Gitzin."
"You mean Steve Gibson?", Alex asked.
Barby:" Yes, that's him, Steve Gibson. He's been around since you guys left yesterday, says he has something to show you....Now is it for Brunch or Lunch?"
"Brunch of course", Slye said. And Miss Barby left. All five looked at each other with hundreds of questions in mind.

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Yesterday Mike, John and Alex went to the bridge in Phlox, climbed up the arches and saw the top of the towers. Alex added that they have grown since Wednesday. John took hundreds of pictures with his camera it seemed before they climbed down again. No one said a thing on the way back until they came to the intersection to turn left towards Access. At the stopsign they all sat stunned in John's pickup, looking straight ahead over the forest and seeing the two tips of these immense towers only maybe half a kilometer away. Mike couldn't resist to explain in details just how he was impressed with the size of these *Cement Monsters* as he called them. When they were only about 500 yards away from the last intersection, they were passing by the army's gate. Having forgotten to act normally while driving by, everyone had their nose stuck to the windows looking at the guards, which in their turn stared back. 

"Wow, did you see this?", Slye asked," it looked like they were going to eat us. Damn I don't like this at all."
"Pssst, calm down TS, these are only soldiers, no extraterrestrials." John added, and Mike starting laughing with a sarcastic voice, " I guess the young fellow here never saw a soldier before, haha." Slye shook his head showing him that it wasn't funny at all.
The pictures below shows not only where John, Mike and Alex went climbing, but also that Alex has kept his promiss of finishing a bridge to the other side, so that traffic can cross and supply the materials that are needed for the big swamp.

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Back to the brunch at Barby's. The cafe arrived and the toasts were delivered when Gibson stumbled into the room nervously and approaching the table where everyone was sitting while looking around to see who else was in the room.
"What the buck are you doing?" Alex asked, knowing well Steve from the several trips he took with him to survey the highway's area in the Stoke area,"You look like a chased fox."
Steve sat down on the only free chair, looked behind his back and pulled out a small envelope. "Everyone in town knows about you guys and what you're up to, I don't wanna be part of this, ok?" Not knowing what he was talking about, all five nodded positively their head without saying a word, keeping their eyes and ears wide open not to miss anything that might come out of Steve's mouth again. "Yesterday while you were spying on the bridge, I was in the air with some scientists from Lakefield. I flew them over to Haley's island in the great swamp area and on the way there I had a superclear view of the towers that everyone is talking about. Usually I always get called to redirect me by the army below, but yesterday no mouse squeeked. "Again he looked behind his back and to the entrance door", I just happened to have my camera with me and I took a quick shot of what I saw without the *Einstein*s seeing me. Here...." and Steve handed over the envelope to John.
John sat there not reacting much and holding the small paper.
"Damn, open it", ordered John's father, Henry, unpatiently and John did, seeing a picture of the two towers.

pic4


"Sorry if it is a little blurr, but I didn't clean my windows lately",Gibson added while lifting both shoulders. Then he continued: "The army has been working on this for the last four weeks, there must be hundreds of soldiers on it, because when I fly by each day, it changes so fast that I'm sometimes not sure if I'm on the right track....Keep that picture.", he added and he looked at John.
"Thanks Steve", John said,"that is excellent. Do they always let you fly by the area without harrassing you? I almost got shot down by helicopters the other day."
"Well, I fly these directions four to five times a day with all kinds and sorts of people, Scientists, Biologists, Prospectors, Surveyors and Government Officials and I have a special permit from the Government to do so. The army warns me by radio to keep off and come to close to the area, but I have never seen a helicopter. I usually turn off harshly when I get their ordering message which usually is very direct and clear." Steve Gibson explained. "Sorry guys , I have to leave now, got someone to fly to the waterfalls.", and Steve left as quickly as he came.
"Waterfalls?" asked Mike surprized, "What waterfalls, where?" No one seemd to know neither." Are there waterfalls in the valley?"

John: " I think that we are actually exagerating the whole thing here, while acting like little curious kids and making up all kinds of things, don't you think?", and he looked at everybody on the table. Barby came with the first brunch plates in her hands and saw the picture on the table: "So this is why Gitzin wanted to see you. Are you guys interested in photos of the towers?" Mike slightly nodded looking up at Barby who stood just beside him," Hey, I have seen a few photos like this last week, when a man from not around here showed them to some folks at the bar. I don't where he got them from, but they were clean and much closer and more detailed."
Everyone looked at Barby by now, " What's the matter?" Barby continued, "Is this a Top-Secret Mission or something?....Anyone more coffee?", and she left with a smile to get the other plates.
Mike: "I think John is right, we're just exagerating the whole thing. Did you see how Barby reacted to this? As if she knows about it since months and mo one seems to care about it much anyways."
"And what about that Gibson fellow", John asked, " Explain me then why he was so damn nervous handing us the picture."
" Mike couldn't help it: " Maybe.....maybe his wife is looking for him....haha." »»»

Everyone had their brunch, and slowly the conversation swang over to other subjects before the end of the meal. That day John got home late and his wife Mary started to ask questions about where he has been in the last days. Trouble with the big bridge was his answer.

In Access Center the tension in the townhall rises. Several services are unsufficient. People are complaining about how the Mayor handles the situations. What the people don't consider is that it isn't easy to organize a town that is growing by several hundreds every month. Mayor Bartlett tries to make this understand to the citizens. He needs time and also money.
Latley only three big Manufacturing Companies have installed themselves in Access, giving jobs to almost a thousand citizens. Hearing this in other cities and towns were growth is a little slower, people move to Access by he hundreds, creating a small mayoring problem.

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Now the Mayor has in mind to get both schools going and make sure that education is back on line with the population. Then he will look at the health situation, a Hospital might be the solution, but how much does this cost again? They are over the limit of acceptable when it comes to the townhall, way too small to hold even the council and all the comitees, which has become the number one emergency today.
The Elementary school was demolished and kids are still studying in the basement of the church, but hope is on the horizon. The School will be ready to move in by the end of the month. Construction of the Highschool also has begun.

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Having proposed to move the industries from close to the town to the airport last year, is already in progress and almost half of them are already on their new location. More industrials are about to move in and new terrains are being prepared for their arrival. Thinking big is all new to Mayor Bartlett and his councelers which are trying hard not to loose control over the 35,000 strong population of Access Center. I'm glad I'm not in his shoes.....
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One more subject closed is the detour of Highway 15, turning completely around the town and giving us two accesses, one in the South and another one just outside of town in the West. The traffic finally has become normal in the town itself and citizens are relieved.

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Hope that this small update was interesting again. Be back during this coming week sometime. Thanks for commenting.

Fred


PS: Just to mention, if you haven't seen or heard about your character in awhile, don't worry, a full update of everyone is soon to come, there will also be some Newcomers to the town.

[Tomas Neto]

Fantastic update again!!! 

[bat]

This looking really great! It's wonderful!

[canyonjumper]

Great update, Fred! I wouldn't want to drive in the highway in that last pic. I'm not sure my car would survive.

                 Your friend,
                                Jordan

[mrbisonm]

Great update, Fred! I wouldn't want to drive in the highway in that last pic. I'm not sure my car would survive.

                 Your friend,
                                Jordan

Get some *Heavy-Duty* shocks and it'll survive.....

[MattyFo]

Great little update Fred!!!! It seems as though Access has plenty of issues on it's hands 


- Matt

[KoV Liberty]

Nice work! Very interesting towers you got there...

Alex

[mightygoose]

superb work and i am intrigued about this secret military installation.

[Cyclone1001]

Haha, Gitzin... Story is great, pics are great, but the DOT needs to fix that hill!

[frostwolf]

Never figured there were actually any little green men running around; there aren't any in Nevada, either (Unless you count the US Forest Service Rangers ). I just figured that Aliens would be the fastest conspiracy theory to appear, as it's the most common one around here. 

Seriously, though, that is a bloody big facility. You'd think that the towers being that close to the highway, you'd be able to see them much better, if they're that big. Whatever they are, it's intriguing.

Looking good so far, especially that shiny new bridge. Looking forward to seeing that completed, and seeing even more land opened up for expansion and settlement.

-FW

[scott1964]

Looking good. Can't wait for my character to appear.