228 Ways to Lose -- The Fortaleza Sol Story

[Yankee151]

POSEIDONET User: HankEcanE Date: 10/20/2077E / 4/95/1N Location: Gates of Heaven Spaceport, Magallanes, Chile

Blog Entry #5
Title: Arrival

So, I guess this is Earth. I had heard the stories from Ma and some of the other researchers on Triton.About the forests, oceans, and beaches. The mountains, hills, and rivers. Well, Ma was right about the mountains. Though this South American nation of Chile was simply an average nation at the start of the Terran Millenium, it's mountains and southern location, coupled with a winter climate preferable to acclimating colonists from the Gas Giants have propelled Chile into a regional power. A joint effort Spaceport served as one of the main lunar expedition bases and allowed cities like Punta Arenas, my current location, to explode in population.

In truth, this bored me. I had seen enough of Ice to last a lifetime. Triton is an amazing satellite, and the ominous blue orb of Neptune in the skyline was captivating, but ultimately, I longed for the warmth I saw on other colonies, like Mars and Titan, themselves freezing compared to Terra. Just to breathe air on Earth takes 3 months of medical observation coming from the outer band, and those 3 months were the longest of my life, even longer than the journey to get here. Yet here I am, taking in the Torres del Paine in a hovercraft.

Ultimately, I am not here on Earth to check out mountains that, while beautiful, pale in comparison to the Ice Geysers of home. I'm here because Ma finally showed me a message from Grandpops. I can't pretend to know the full story as to why they don't talk, but she gave me her blessing to come to Earth. I miss her, but there's no place for me on Triton anymore. Not since Kara and her parents left a few Triton-Months back. I'm here on Earth to live the full Terran Human experience. Maybe get a robo-dog, go swimming in an ocean that isnt' frozen solid, and eat food that isn't lab grown. Some say the lab-grown stuff tastes better, but I'm still a couple Earth-Months away from making the switch. Oh, and lastly, of course, I'll be meeting Grandpops. I have questions about Baseball, questions that haven't gotten out of my head since watching Pop's team win the WBL Title a few years back. And maybe, just maybe, a few ideas of my own.

END ENTRY

 

[Yankee151]

POSEIDONET User: HankEcanE Date: 11/27/2077E / 4/130/1N Location: Morro Branco, Fortaleza, Ceara, Brazil

Blog Entry #9
Title: Orange

Ma was right. Grandpops can talk about baseball forever. I enjoyed my first Terran Thanksgiving with him, and despite growing up on a research facility orbiting the 8th planet from the Sun, it was the smallest Thanksgiving I've been a part of in my entire life. Just me, my Grandpops, and two twin brothers, named @bruin and @bruin228. Apparently, they are two of 228 fraternal siblings. Crazy in my Grandpops' time, but artificial wombs had helped humanity during the colonizations of Mars and the Jovian moons, so this wasn't as rare as one might think. I can only imagine what Ma would've had to deal with, taking care of 200 more of me.

I enjoyed Earth food for the first time. When Grandpops came to pick me up, he promised that my first time acclimating to Terran food would be on Thanksgiving. Of course, it was strange company. Grandpa Yankee dubbed it a "Meeting of former baseball minds". Apparently these two bruins were WBL GMs at one time too, though I had never really heard of them much. The conversation was fascinating. One of the brothers kept saying "hermanos", clearly a Terran phrase of affection, while the other spent his entire time arguing that baseball needed to add back in pitchers to offense, but to allow them to throw the ball instead of using a bat. I bet that could go really well on a low-grav planet like Mars.

Grandpops had just recently left the Buffalo Murricans in order to spent time with me. I felt for the guy, but it was clear his brain was locked into baseball, with not much else that excited him. We were spending time now in Fortaleza, Brazil, as I had mentioned my desire to see colors other than blue and white on this planet. A day spent at the beaches of Morro Branco was all I could've asked for. Beautiful orange cliffs and a great beach. I would need to spend time learning how to swim, but it was simply amazing to be out here experience Terra.

Of course, Grandpops wasn't only here to show me a bunch of rocks. He had a meeting to go to, a rich South American Investor and Asteroid Miner who had an offer for him. It wasn't until I saw the man approach me while I was well into my 4th Caipirinha, that I realized I was about to be pulled into my Grandfather's world. As long as I got to see more of this orange color, from the Sunset to the cliffs, I was willing to take anything into consideration.

END ENTRY

 

[Travis7401]

Finally got around to figuring out what happened to the LRM and you leave me hanging? I guess you made it 3.9 paragraphs more than I did with my DOUGLASS fan fiction.

 

[Yankee151]

Young Hank still isn't sure how to work Earth-based GAL-NET Apps, but he'll get there eventually!

 

[Yankee151]

POSEIDONET User: HankEcanE Date: 9/2/2080E / 9/132/1N Location: Arena de la Playa del Sol, Fortaleza, Ceara, Brazil

Blog Entry #29
Title: Youth

What does it mean to be young? What does it mean to be old?

On Triton, I'm still only a year old. With modern medicine, I may as well be in terms of my lifespan. My grandfather won't be so lucky. And yet, with all this new tech, we still can't make baseball careers last past age 40.

Time, then. Time is what we are all working towards and against. 3 Earth years since seeing Ma. Do virtual projections equivate? But perhaps she's the one who needs to come here. Ice Volcanoes are great and all, but to still be estranged with your father... Will my relationship with her become like that?

On the field, things are starting to look up. Cipto has brought new life to the locker room with his Muay Thai techniques. Pops says it reminds him of a legendary Texan shortstop. Yamauchi has been great. And Chivers, who insists on talking in a Peaky Blinders accent (can't believe this show has ran for 70 years on GALBC) at all times. The others, Gonzales, Rigney, Subano, Yoshida... They'll come along. I'm optimistic enough. The draft should be nice too. Who knows where the pitching will come from, but that's how these things go. It's like Ma used to say, you can see the sun from Triton and Neptune, but you can't see both at the same time unless you're on the station.

I miss Triton. But Fortaleza is home. And I'll have another, oh, thousand years or so to enjoy it. That's something my players can't say about their careers. Yet, on we go.

END ENTRY

 

[Yankee151]

POSEIDONET User: HankECanE Date: 2/14/2081E 9/133/4N Location: New Atlantis, Ocean of Storms, Luna, Sol

Blog Entry # 34
Title: Legacy

Ma used to always say Grandpops was crazy. Sometimes in the good way, sometimes in the bad way. It was crazy that won him a WBL title in Istanbul shortly following my birth. It was crazy that got him laughed out of the Winter Meetings as GM of Raleigh. Ma worked her hardest to be the opposite of Grandpops. Always orderly, always had her Tritonian Ice-Volcano ducks in a line. So were the rest of the researchers on Triton. And Ma always warned me not to be crazy like Grandpops. It will serve you well on Triton, but not here, not on Earth.

Earth is the cradle of humanity, and it requires a little bit of elbow grease (long since outdated by Neutronium Grease) and a whole lot of outside the anti-matter box thinking to get by around here. My Grandpops tells me legends about TRADER @doh, who emerges once every blue moon. What better place to see the blue moon than the Ocean of Storms on Luna?

It's my first time off-Earth since arriving here a few years back. Being on a moon and seeing a blue rock in the sky reminds me of home. But I'm excited to get back to Fortaleza for Mecha-Carnaval, and I'll have a few new faces to celebrate it with.

Buffalo Sends:
2074 1st
2073 and 2074 2nd
2072-2074 3rd, 4th, 5th
LF Roald Moog (AAA)
RF Patrick Robin (AA)
CL Luis Gomez(AAA)

Vegas Sends:
3B Isaias 'Flea' Vreke *Deal contingent upon extension being signed
$4,000,000

Oh Grandpa. You really are one of a kind, huh?

While dreaming of the future, here's what I think we'll be looking like in a few seasons.

1. 2B Cipto Sartika
2. LF Yasuhide Yamauchi
3. 1B Semuwemba Subano
4. DH Pedro Perez/Byron Greer
5. 3B Gareth Chivers
6. CF Roosevelt Rigney
7. RF Bernard Martin
8. SS Augusto Figueroa
9. C TBD

SP Nabil Okoth
SP Oscar Quinney
SP Arnaldo Dimm
SP Ruben Gonzales
SP Wendel LEMONS
SP TBD (Eventually, Marcos Garcia and Dinu Mihaelescu
5 MR TBD
CL Nicky Crawshaw

Bench: OF Julio Aleman, OF Hisanobu Yoshida, IF TBD, C TBD

Not bad for a Triton kid.

END ENTRY

 

[Travis7401]

Lemons lol