In the worlds between the Sanctum and the great fields of the Butterfly Dragon, lurks an infinity of planes and their residents. Each with their own otherworldly story.
Run your very own transport company with Euro Truck Simulator 2, or for a North American experience American Truck Simulator, though I’m really hoping that we see an official Canada DLC soon for that one? 😉
and yes, you too can support Cancer Research by purchasing the Pink Ribbon DLC and
showing your support for the Pink Ribbon Campaign in Euro Truck Simulator 2 or its cousin American Truck Simulator
(alright SCS, where’s Canadian Truck Simulator?).
You can also show your support by donating to the National Breast Cancer Foundation.
Support Charity
Please support education and information access where you can in addition to these charities:
David Suzuki Foundation (Canada/International – Dr. Suzuki has delivered many keynotes at United Nations Environmental Summit events throughout the years)
Through evidence-based research, education and policy analysis, we work to conserve and protect the natural environment, and help create a sustainable Canada. We regularly collaborate with non-profit and community organizations, all levels of government, businesses and individuals.
Humane World For Animals (Formerly Humane Society International) (International)
The Humane World for Animals protects the health, lives and rights of animals the world over, ensuring that they too have a voice in this world. We are interdependent upon the complex web of life this entire planet over for our mutual survival. This is a world wide charity.
World Duchenne Organization (International)
Muscular Dystrophy Canada (Canada)
The World Duchenne Organization and Muscular Dystrophy Canada’s mission is to enhance the lives of those affected by neuromuscular disorders by continually working to provide ongoing support and resources while relentlessly searching for a cure through well-funded research.
‘There is a compelling need to ensure that wherever they are in the world, everyone diagnosed with Duchenne (and Becker) Muscular Dystrophy can benefit from a standard of care that is informed by the best practice of the best clinicians from all over the world, and is based upon the latest research.’
Sick Kids Foundation (Canada)
Help research that provides cures and support treatment for sick children.
Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital (Canada)
Creating a world of possibility for kids and youth with disabilities.
The Cancer Research Institute (International)
The Terry Fox Foundation (Canada/International)
The Princess Margaret Foundation (Canada)
Cancer Research organizations that combine the expertise of many different research firms and Universities to find innovative treatments and cures for Cancer.
United Way Worldwide (International)
United Way brings communities together to face their greatest challenges, whether that’s helping families find stability, empowering young people or responding to crises.
United Nations Fund (International)
Unicef (International)
Two organizations whose contribution of expertise, human and financial resources and volunteer efforts provide humanitarian solutions to real world problems the entire world over. These charities operate worldwide. The United Nations Fund supports the various programs part of the United Nations’ global mandate, as much a foundation as it is a roof around the world, while Unicef has been helping children throughout the world through famine and medica crises, and are most benefited by other children of the world who raise money during holidays like Hallow’s Eve (Halloween).
World Veterans Federation (International)
The World Veterans Federation is a humanitarian organisation, a charity and a peace activist movement. The WVF maintains its consultative status with the United Nations since 1951 and was conferred the title of “Peace Messenger” in 1987.
I’d like to point out that it was the incredible Gary Sinese Foundation (United States) that brought the issue of Veteran’s rights to my attention. I’ve always had little respect for those who’d forget the great contribution made by those who’ve risked life and limb to defend those values that so many of us espouse. Perhaps the true measure of one’s principles are by that for which they’d risk their life.
“None can speak more eloquently for peace than those who have fought in war.”
Ralph Bunche, Nobel Peace Prize 1950
The Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation (United States/Global)
The Reeve Foundation provides programs for research, uniting Scientists and Specialists from many different fields to find treatments for spinal cord injury translating them into therapies and support programs.
The Heart And Stroke Foundation (Canada)
For over 60 years, Heart & Stroke has been dedicated to fighting heart disease and stroke. Our work has saved thousands of lives and improved the lives of millions of others.
The ALS Society Of BC (Canada, British Columbia)
ALS (also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease) is a progressive neuromuscular disease in which nerve cells die and leave voluntary muscles paralyzed. The ALS society provides a variety of programs to combat this disease and help those with it to survive.
The Global Foodbanking Network (International)
Ensuring that people the world over have enough food day to day in order to survive and lead healthy lives. In this challenging day and age services like this are becoming more and more essential. This is a world wide charity.
Margaret Atwood (Canadian writer)
Internationally renowned writer who continues to stifle us with her characters, plots and prose.
The Pierre Berton Heritage Centre (Canadian writer)
Visit a modest heritage museum for one of my inspirations as a Canadian writer. Children should read The Secret World of Og.
The Edgar Allan Poe Museum (United States writer)
Because Barris told me to put it here. If I didn’t, he said he’d walk. Geez. Stardom really gets to some people’s heads. Maybe I could kill him and bury his heart beneath the floor boards! Or I could encase him in behind a brick and mortar wall, for shaming my family name of Amantillado!
Wikipedia (Global)
The model for what may become the Encyclopedia Galactica, a complete reference and record of history, events and knowledge of humanity and its journey beyond. It is the encyclopedia of all that we know, what we surmise that we’ve known and will learn in the future. Yes, Wikipedia is a charitable organization of great importance. If you enjoy what I am doing here then please take the time to donate to Wikipedia. Surprisingly only 1% of Wikipedia’s users donate yet the site serves pages to millions every day.
Humble Bundle (United States/International)
A video gaming storefront benefiting a vast variety of different Charities in the United States and United Kingdom (hopefully soon to be expanded to include other areas of the world?). Their software bundles and video games allow you to choose which Charity your money benefits and how much of your money benefits that Charity. See? Gamers can do their part too and often do.
Multiple Sclerosis Society Of Canada (Canada)
Multiple Sclerosis is a degenerative disease currently affecting an estimated 2.3 million world wide. By donating you are contributing to effective research in finding a cure and tipping the scales of MS research to change lives forever.
If you’re a resident of Ontario then please consider supporting Building Better Schools.
Other Ways To Help Using Your Computer
Donate your idle computer time to science! Join the World Community Grid by clicking on one of the links below and follow the instructions for how to participate:
Thank you for your support
Shhhh! Digital Media
Brian Joseph Johns
Shhhh! Digital Media Presents:
Grand Tapestry Of Moments 04: Moving On 2026
by Brian Joseph Johns
Chapters
- Expo 67
- Tynan Relocation
- The Glass House
- Sandra and Tate
- Process and Progress
[Grand Tapestry of Moments theme – Brian Joseph Johns]
Expo 67
Power. Force. Motion. Drive.
This is what feeds the human vision of the future.
Progress, et al motion. The procession forth there from one’s own starting point there upon.
The further we are from it, the more progressed we are.
The less familiar we are with our surroundings, the more we’re into the shores of the oceans that are the future.
This is what drives society and has for the short span of time that humanity has claimed its throne as the top species of the planet.
Power. Force. Motion. Drive.
I’m Tate. Don’t mind the French accent, I’m actually a native of Toronto, but my parents moved early on, taking advantage of the prosperous anticipation of what was to come in our future.
Canadians I mean.
Nooo… not the Montreal Canadians. Ahhh hell no!
I got many a black eye during my childhood simply for wearing a Maple Leafs Jersey in Lachine Canal Park. Tabernac!
They eventually learned to respect me, as a door mat. Never realizing that there within, they were a part of creating the most ambitious and focused of all in the Greater Montreal area. And no, I’m not talking about drunks either.
We were living after the era of Stanley Kubrick. We’re talking his mingling and collaborating with Expo 67 Engineers.
Many were eventually recruited by the United States and their upstart NASA project, which apparently like Kubrik’s goals, sought for an American Moon landing by 1970. Along with the engineers from the dismantled Avro Arrow program (thanks Diefenbaker), NASA achieved these goals.
NASA inspired and accomplished many of humanity’s milestone achievements in space after being spurred into action when the U.S.S.R. had managed to put a satellite into orbit above our heads.
Every HAM radio enthusiast the world over could tune in and listen to Sputnik 1’s ping, the advanced technology of the Red Ruskies, while the Blue Yanks hid under their beds in fear that it might be some kind of high technology energy weapon. Talk about a moment in history where the one side created the impetus for the other side to spur itself into action. Twelve years later and the Blue Yanks had inspired enough power, force, motion and drive from its citizens to put three people on the Moon.
Oh, about that time and era once again. Well, you see at that same Expo 67, there was a lot of speculation about the future of this newly born, transistorized technology called the computer.
Years earlier, and right back to the final year of World War II, these thinking machines had been assembled from the very same electrical parts from which televisions and guitar amplifiers were made. Vacuum tubes.
British Mathematician Alan Turing had first used computers of this design to crack to the Enigma code, allowing MI-5 to be able to decipher enemy communiques, sometimes hours or even days before those orders would come into effect, giving the allies an edge and possibly saving thousands of lives on all sides of the war.
A hundred and fifty years before that, and an engineer/inventor named Charles Babbage had used steam powered engines, with pistons as memory storage, and complex gear assemblies as the mathematical operators, functioning well enough to be called the first automated computer. The Difference Engine.
Of course, the machine and Charles himself benefited from Lady Ada Lovelace’s keen insight, herself an aspiring Mathematician with an interest in textiles. She observed that the means to create textiles, ie punch cards, could be used to create the first software programs for Babbage’s machine, something she might have speculated in her conversations with like mind Mary Shelley, for both were alive and roamed the same circles at that time in history.
History did all it could to reduce her impact upon those early moments of the first automated computers, but to many she’s still the very first software programmer.
After Kubrick’s work with other engineers he met at Expo 67, including those from an upstart company called International Business Machines or IBM, he and author Arthur C. Clarke created a machine so insidiously engrained into the human fictional record, that their artificial mind in the form of the character HAL-9000, became the herald of both the promise and failure of AI for the generations to come.
That isn’t the only thing to have come from Expo 67 that pertained to artificial minds as they were called back then, for another Engineer named Edward Asnon would meet his future wife, Lucille Devaux, herself an Aerospace Engineer and found a consulting company that would eventually guide many automotive manufacturers into the future with state of the art technology. It was their son Gabriel however, who would go on to found a company synonymous with artificial minds and the future thereof.
The man who would eventually hire me.
Who am I you might ask?
Well, I’m the man that designs and integrates automated assembly-line systems for current and future industrial and commercial applications. I’m Tate Tremblay.
Chief Engineer, Industrial Automation Systems Division, MindSpice International.
To think that all that happened after my parents moved to Montreal from Toronto, and the funny thing is that they were originally from Montreal themselves. I guess they moved to Toronto to have me, and then left when they didn’t like it. I have to admit that I did like Montreal.
I was educated there. I was hired there. I met my wife there. I divorced her there.
That’s why its so ironic that my entire story, this story, should begin once again in Toronto. Like its some kind of promised land or haven. Perhaps more accurately, its the haves and the havenots.
Our post divorce settlement? She kept the six million dollar house. I kept the company stocks and the few mementos that did not remind me of her, or her athletic new boyfriend. The one I’d caught her with when I happened home from work early one day to find them having sex in my favourite place on the sectional sofa.
And with that, me and my few belongings made our way back to the place where we’d started when I was three years old.
This time, without my parents, for they’d remain in the cemetery on Mont Royal where they were laid to rest.
Tynan Relocation
Tharissa was a compact and very athletically fit woman. Tiny in height and frame, but much more in apparent presence and stature. It was not so much that she was bold or overbearing as much so as it was that she was modest and confident. She was also very pretty too.
Despite most of her working hours being spent directly under the sun, she was only ever so slightly tanned, for she was cautious for her health’s sake. She’d wear sunscreen and only the lightest of makeup, and her uniform clothing which suited her line of work most fittingly.
She sat at the front seat of her Freightliner Cascadia tractor as she turned in the driveway of Tynan Relocation and Storage. The front drive was wide enough for two big trucks at once, but on this day the early morning traffic of the yard was light. Enough so that she saw only one other truck, which was on its way out. When she recognized the driver, she honked the small horn.
The other truck stopped beside hers and the driver rolled down the window:
“Well if it isn’t little Miss Prinstine. How are you?” Neil asked her.
“Pretty good. Had a light load yesterday. Pin to pin. Nice and easy. Can’t complain. You?” Tharissa replied.
“Back and forth three times with the same trailer. Most of it was on palettes thankfully. Almost missed my own wedding anniversary,” Neil told her.
“Was it a family thing or just you and her?” Tharissa asked him.
“Kids? We got rid of ’em when they signed up for university. They live in a dorm now, and my wife and I live in our own little love nest. So, like every anniversary, I managed to catch her off guard and threw her in the pool. My way of saying that we’re past the point in the evening where clothing is necessary…” Neil laughed.
“Oh, you’re a real romantic one, you are. Many more like you where you came from?” Tharissa laughed at him, knowing fully that he meant well.
“Many? We’re practically the only model where I come from. Gotta go. Catch you later. Drop by for a beer if you’d like. Kathy’s always askin’ about you. Bring a date,” Neil rolled up his window and continued on out of the yard while Tharissa pulled her truck around and stopped it just outside of the dispatch office.
Tharissa stepped down from the cab, at which point it became obvious just how much more compact she was, especially compared to the machine she was driving.
She made her way over to the dispatch office door and stepped into the dispatch room. Several tables (mostly empty) were scattered about the room which resembled a cafeteria. There were a few men seated at some of the tables, most of them enjoying their morning coffee and checking their sports line numbers, while two or three of them looked up from their morning paper to take notice of her and shoulder length auburn and blonde tinted hair.
“Are you seein’ her? How’d they land a little number like her in this line of work?” asked Dwight, a blonde haired man in his mid twenties, a very bristly four days of growth on his face.
“Where you been? This is a long distance based office, not local or short haul. There’s a lot of nice women driving long distance. Good money, piece of mind not to mention a lot of good truck drivers out there who watch each others back,” Winston, a large lumbering workhorse of a man responded to him.
“My virgin eyes aren’t use to it is all I’m saying,” Rory responded, admiring her as she stood at the front desk speaking to the dispatcher.
“You’re from the local moving office, aren’t you?” asked Rory, a man of similar age with pale skin and dark hair, and two very green eyes.
“Yep. They sent me here today. I’m thinking from what I’m seeing that I leveled up?” asked Dwight.
“If you keep your head out of the gutter and your mouth nice and tame, yeah, you could say this is a step up,” Winston replied to Dwight.
“Well said. I couldn’t have said it any better,” Rory responded.
“Dwight Smith Jr.? Rory Seevers?” the dispatcher’s voice cut through the talk in the room, and both Rory and Dwight looked towards the dispatcher and Tharissa.
“Grab your stuff. You’re going with Ms. Penfield today to help her with a VIP job. Alright Tharissa, if there’s any problems, don’t hesitate to give me a call,” the dispatcher handed her the bills for the job.
“Thanks Mark. Alright, my trucks just out there. The Freightliner,” Tharissa pointed to her truck and both Dwight and Rory took up their backpacks in hand and made their way out to the passenger side of the Freightliner.
Tharissa got in the truck and unlocked the passenger door for the two of them.
“Shotgun! Called it,” Dwight said immediately, pushing Rory in the door first.
“I guess I get the bunk seat,” Rory got in the truck easily and sat in the center seat after which Dwight got into the passenger seat, rolling down the window.
“So, what do we have today?” Dwight asked Tharissa.
Tharissa handed Dwight the bills and he examined them quickly.
“One container and this is VIP?” confirmed Dwight.
“No load either. Its already on a shorty. I’ve just got to back in, lock it in and we’re on our way,” Tharissa said to them.
“Gotta like that. This really does sound like a step up,” Dwight smiled, leaning back in the passenger seat.
“Just remember, no potty mouth and no attitude today. This guy’s one of the head honchos for an advanced research facility. There’s big money in this, not to mention if this guy likes the service, he might recommend Tynan or us specifically. Make good with this opportunity,” Tharissa said to both Dwight and Rory as she lined up with the shorty trailer and began backing in.
“Where’s the cubic footage of this job?” asked Dwight while looking at the bills.
“Its pounds/kilos. This is long haul cartage, which is all done by mass rather than volume. Its approximately six point nine pounds per cubic foot, but better to round up to seven in the interest of over estimation,” Rory explained to Dwight, who seemed confused by the mathematics.
“This isn’t rocket science. Don’t make it that way,” Dwight responded defensively.
“Back me up? You’re riding shotgun after all,” Tharissa stopped the truck part way, requesting that Dwight get out and help her line up with the pin.
“Just when I was getting comfy…” Dwight jumped down from the passenger seat and stepped around to make sure he was visible in her mirror.
“Rory? Good to know you’re interested in all of this. Don’t mind him. Some guys are muscle, some are brains, some are both. Personally, I think its your heart that counts the most,” Tharissa smiled at Rory.
“What’s the name of the research company our customer works for?” asked Rory of Tharissa.
“MindSpice. Advanced Projects Division. Something to do with Automation and Manufacturing. All I know is that this is the kind of gig that usually opens doors, or if you’re careless, closes them permanently. Lets try to make this an opportunity, not an ending,” Tharissa asked of him.
“Agreed. Absolutely,” Rory smiled at her, almost as if he were looking right through her.
She immediately checked her side mirrors and Dwight signaled her arrival at the pin.
“Perfect,” Tharissa yelled out the window to Dwight, then stepping down from the driver’s seat to retract the trailer’s legs and to hook up the trailer’s electronics and air brake valves.
“So when you get out of the driver’s seat, do you leave the wooden block slippers you need to drive that thing in the cab?” Dwight joked with her as she stepped over to the fifth wheel.
“Har har har. So tell me, when we finish today, are you going to be walking home?” Tharissa responded sarcastically as she hooked up the electrical system trunk, then turning her attention to the air brake hoses.
“From Uxbridge? Look, I was just going to say what nice slippers they are…” Dwight stepped around the front of the truck and back over to the passenger’s side.
“No more quips about women or short drivers. Got it?” Tharissa confirmed with him from the fifth wheel.
“Got it. I’m there already. You won’t hear another thing outta me,” Dwight lied of course.
The Glass House
The drive to Uxbridge was a peaceful and picturesque one. With it being the beginning of the week, there was little northbound traffic from Toronto, while the view from the cab left little hidden along the stretches of rural highway. There were numerous farms in full tilt, while there were countless pastures full of cows, bulls or horses or all three. There wasn’t a patch of the view that wasn’t covered in the lush green that the province north of the Great Lakes was known for.
Rory had been silent for most of the drive, only rousing from a snooze when they’d pulled into the driveway at 89 Flowerbowl Drive. The driveway itself was a trip on its own, winding for nearly half a kilometre through a grove of trees before arriving in the open where the monster home itself became visible.
It was a work of modern architectural art, using very obvious shapes, to define the motif and spaces. A pair of solid brick triangular sections ran along the home’s sides, their points towering and imposing, dwarfing the cubic middle section of the home, most of which was glass and sunroof. A giant foyer, living space, dining room and kitchen, and all directly under the day’s sun.
The front doors were a sight unto themselves and though all three had seen larger homes, none had seen homes whose design was the center-piece of its introduction, presentation and presence.
The door frame was entirely made of crystal. It was shaped and angular, reflecting light in shards and beads at the base of the front double doors, and back into the house giving the foyer a sort of shimmering essence.
As the truck approached the home, Tharissa slowed the vehicle. The front door opened and revealed a man whom they assumed to be the customer.
He was a tall fellow, heavily built, with a sculpted body and face to match. He was dressed casually, though it was easy to see that he bore some kind of hidden gear affixed to kit beneath his shirt.
“Security. That is a walking security lugnut if I ever saw one…” Dwight’s mouth didn’t wait for his permission.
“I thought we weren’t going to hear another peep out of you?” Tharissa responded to him as she stopped the truck, engaging the parking and trailer brakes.
“I’m sorry, but sometimes my mouth just runs away with the show,” Dwight responded.
“That’s fine, as long as you don’t mind the truck running away without you when its time to go,” Tharissa grabbed the bills and opened the door, stepping down from the truck.
“Whaddaya think?” asked Dwight of Rory.
“Of her you mean?” confirmed Rory.
“Yeah. What do you think of her? You think she’s alright?” Dwight was clearly playing politics with Rory.
“She’s a good driver, and very professional. What’s not to like?” asked Rory naively.
“Ohhhh, that’s not what I meant,” Dwight responded, alluding to something he had neither the couth nor the courage to withhold.
“You meant the ring on your ring finger, right? How long have you been married?” asked Rory.
“Sorry man, I was just living dangerously through you. You know, and the opportunities you might have? Won’t happen again,” Dwight responded, clearly retreating having been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
Rory stood hunched over in the bunk area and pointed at the door. Dwight nodded and got out of the passenger side of the truck, followed by Rory.
“…we just had the floors done, so we’re going to need some kind of runners? The salesguy said you’d bring all the necessary gear to protect the floors and walls,” the Lugnut addressed Tharissa.
“We’ve got all of that equipment with us. Are there any special instructions or is all of this going to the same room?” Tharissa asked of the security specialist.
“Tate’s going to be here in about ten minutes. You could probably work out those details with him when he’s back. Don’t you have to get backed in first?” the security specialist responded.
“Right. We’ll get everything in place and setup, but we won’t be setting foot into the house until we’ve spoken with Tate,” Tharissa smiled at the security specialist, then walking back to the truck.
“So what’s the deal Chief Shorty?” asked Dwight of Tharissa.
“Get me lined up with the front door, but make sure there’s enough room for the ramp, but not too close. The ramp’s got to go on the stone path just before the door, and we’re going to need to protect the stone path too. Its granite, specially cut for this path. We’ll put a folded pad just under the lip of the ramp,” Tharissa advised Dwight and Rory, Dwight responded by saluting her, and Rory simply nodded and smiled.
“Don’t forget your slippers…” Dwight reminded her and she threw him a scornful smile.
“How do you do that?” asked Rory after Tharissa had gotten into the driver’s seat.
“Do what?” asked Dwight, caught off guard.
“You come across as a complete jerk at first, often stepping over the line, but then you somehow manage to make them smile?” asked Rory, without a smile or any indication that he was joking.
“Who? Her?” asked Dwight gestured in the direction of the truck.
“Not just her. Most people. I mean, how do you even know what’s a feasible risk, and what isn’t when socializing like that?” asked Rory of Dwight.
“Look, try being married for five years and with a kid for just as long, and you’ll find that you just don’t give a hoot, when you’ve got that at home,” Dwight replied, trying to muster up the impression of experience but without the years.
“But you just indicated how little that meant to you by trying to flirt with the temptation of her, but using me as the vessel to pursue such ends,” Rory responded.
“Man, you’re way too serious. You’re a good worker from what I’ve heard, but way too serious. Naive. You need to live a little,” Dwight responded, wielding the power that Rory had given him simply by asking an honest question.
Perhaps a little too honest.
Rory reached out quickly, perhaps a little faster than Dwight found to be comfortable, for he’d pulled Dwight out of the way by the time the truck had started backing up. There was little risk for Dwight, but the shock of how fast Rory had moved to pull him out of harm’s way was rather frightening. Maybe even an affront to his sense of masculinity.
“Its alright! I was alright! Look, just stick to your job and I’ll stick to mine!” Dwight replied defensively, as they stepped towards the line of sight with each of Tharissa’s side mirrors, each of them lending her their eyes as the truck closed in to its destination.
Sandra and Tate
Tate sat at the driver’s wheel of his Mercedes-Benz AMG GT 43 Hybrid, an attractive woman in her late thirties with long, wavy dirty-blonde hair sat in the passenger seat as they returned to Tate’s home.
“So I’m thinking that we should have this new highly compressed Quaternion based model in place for the next manufacturing show. I know I’m pushing it a little…” Tate began after taking a sip of his coffee.
“A little? You’re talking about having three months worth of integration done in three weeks. There’s no way we can achieve that. We’re still struggling through the die process for a three nanometre production line,” Sandra responded to his insistence.
“Look, we need to be able to show the proof of concept. We can side step the full Quaternion integration for now, maybe use compressed parameters and a reduced-bit logic box. Simulate Quaternion based tensors without the actual hardware. If we can get this in place in time, and land those overseas contracts, we could be looking at a significantly increased budget near fiscal year end. I don’t know about you, but to me, more money means more toys to make all of this stuff happen. So are you in? Can you pull it off?” asked Tate of Sandra.
“Tate, what you’re asking isn’t just a small favour you know. This isn’t trivial. This is really big. Too big. Not impossible, but way too much given the time constraints…” Sandra looked over to Tate, who smiled.
“Come on. You’re the best at making this happen and in tight deadline constraints, hands down. There’s nobody else who can do it like you. If you commit to this, I’ll give you ten extra engineers…” Tate responded, accelerating slightly to pass the car ahead of him.
“From where? We don’t have any to spare!” Sandra turned slightly to face him, now thoroughly engrossed in his plan.
“From Haptics and Ergonomics. We’re going to have a pro demonstrating this. She knows the interface stuff. We don’t need engineers to dumb it down for her, and shes good. She’ll make it look like operating a toaster in terms of usability. Besides, when we make the deadline, we can give them ten of ours for three weeks as compensation. So are you in?” Tate turned to look at her, and a smile started at the corners of her lips and found its way throughout the rest of her.
“Alright. But we’d better have some time for us after…” Sandra then leaned in his direction and planted a kiss on his cheek.
“If we can land those deals honey, we’ll take a week. Stay in West Palm Beach,” Tate turned the corner onto Flowerbowl Drive and finally into the driveway of his new home.
“Looks like they’re here…” Tate said upon seeing the truck lined up and waiting by the front door of his home.
“I don’t know why you didn’t just leave that stuff with her,” Sandra said to him, tightening her clasp of his hand in hers.
“Honey, those things, some of them, they’re mementos. Links to our memories that remind us of who we once were. I left what I could, but I have to take as much of myself as I can,” Tate replied as they pulled up beside Carson’s Tesla and Sandra’s Porsche.
“Better than letting her have any piece of you,” Sandra leaned over and gave him a tender kiss on the lips, which he returned passionately but quickly.
“I couldn’t agree more,” Tate replied, pulling his Mercedes off to the side, perhaps giving far too generous an amount of room for the truck and its crew.
Tate stepped over to the back of the truck and found the three man – wait, for he was caught off guard – one woman / two man crew busy preparing the equipment while Tharissa went through the item manifest.
“You must be the driver?” Tate looked to Dwight as he waited at the bottom of the ramp.
“Me? Driving my wife crazy maybe, but other than that, no,” Dwight responded humorously, suddenly becoming noticeably uncomfortable when he realized that the customer seemed unmoved by his wit.
Rory’s face remained unmoved, though it became obvious he was restraining a smile at Dwight’s comment.
“Mr. Tremblay? I’m Tharissa. How are you today?” asked Tharissa as she approached him with a friendly smile on her face, completely oblivious of Dwight at that point.
“You’re the… driver?” Tate looked to Tharissa, whose smile remained, unwavering.
Sandra looked to Tate as he spoke, and then to Tharissa admirably.
“That I am, and this is Rory, and you’ve already met Dwight,” Tharissa quickly defused the awkward situation.
“You’re an in the flesh Relocation Logistics Specialist,” Sandra smiled at Tharissa, who returned her smile.
“That too. I like the sound of that,” Tharissa agreed with Sandra, even laughing a little.
Rory shook Tate’s hand, while Dwight remained somewhat withdrawn.
Tate’s phone suddenly rang from his pocket and he retrieved it and answered it.
“Yeah, I know. What is it? Seriously? You have to be kidding me… Look, just get Jarret and remind him, no, tell him that Gabe already approved the L2 chip stock for our project,” Tate backed away from Tharissa, giving her his back which Sandra immediately noticed and she stepped forward.
“The big stuff happens and life goes on. Tharissa? I’m Sandra,” Sandra stepped forward and introduced herself while Tate disappeared into the double doors of their home.
“Life is the big stuff. The biggest stuff of all. Its all life,” Rory interjected politely.
“Tate… Mr. Tremblay is a very busy man, but we have to get this… these bits and pieces of his life from before… into the house, so why don’t we help each other and get that done,” Sandra addressed Tharissa, giving equal eye time to both Rory and Dwight”That sounds like a good solution. So this is how I usually do things, but let me know if its good for you. I’ll give you the manifest. The item list, and you just check these items off as we take them into the house, one by one. It leaves us all free to make sure you get your things, and when we’re done, we’ll look it over hopefully there’s no discrepancy. How’s that sound?” asked Tharissa of Sandra.
Sandra looked to the house and to where Tate had disappeared in through the front doors and then back to Tharissa.
“This won’t get done if I don’t,” Sandra nodded, accepting the manifest and item list from Tharissa.
“Finally, we’re going to get something done?” Dwight responded with a smile.
“With all that pent up ambition Dwight, that’s for certain,” Tharissa and Sandra broke the seal on the load, and Tharissa began breaking it down, layer by layer, item by item while Rory and Dwight hauled each item into the home, following Sandra’s instructions as to where they were to be situated.
Process and Progress
Tharissa stood in the stubby trailer, folding furniture pads as Rory and Dwight paused for a short break. Sandra had by that point fastened the item list to a clipboard she’d retrieved from her office in the large home, while Tate continually dealt with MindSpice project issues inside, over his phone.
“Have you been driving long?” asked Sandra of Tharissa.
“You mean tractor trailor? For about two years,” Tharissa replied, hefting one of the bulkier furniture pads up into the air and catching it as she folded it over, the pad being far too big for someone of her height, though she made it look like an artform. Folding furniture pads.
Sandra smiled at her admirably.
“You know, what you do and what I do aren’t really as different as many people might pretend,” Sandra had finished reconciling the list and was now focused on what remained in the trailer.
“How’s that? I mean, it seems a lot more that what I do at least, is more physical and not so much mental?” Tharissa finished another pad, and threw it on the top of a stack, which was fixed to a four wheeled dolly to which they were strapped.
“I wasn’t kidding about logistics you know. What you do is a real science. You have elements here, our furniture, Tate’s leftovers from his last home. In here, they’re part of a storehouse of things, which in the sciences we call a stack, a FILO stack, because in this case, they’re organized to come out of the truck in a certain order. First in, last out. The bottleneck through which you take things out could be qualified as the queue. So you could say that you’re a scientist of logistics,” Sandra proposed to Tharissa.
“Go on,” Tharissa listened but was very much focused on what she was doing and to Sandra it all seemed very Zen to her. To others it might have been a sacred sort of holy in some bizarre way. Definitely though it was a science.
“What we do, professionally at least, is come up with ways to to make the process of relocating items from the stack, through a queue, the most efficient they can be. Something that you and your crew seem to deal with every day, but on a much more intuitive level. You do it with physical things, and we do it with numbers. Vectors. Matrices. Tensors. I remember when I first got into this field, what an adventure it was…” Sandra explained to Tharissa.
“And it isn’t now?” asked Tharissa of her.
“No. Certainly not. Its still an adventure, but adventures change. Life comes into focus sooner or later, and you find someone and you hope that they are there with you, pointed in the same direction, in terms of life and your future together, and sometimes… adventures get in the way of that. Even the same adventure that you started when you decided what you wanted to do with your life,” Sandra pondered with Tharissa.
Tharissa suddenly stopped after placing her most recent pad onto the stack.
“Look, I don’t know if someone sent you to console me, but its alright. I’m over it, thank you,” Tharissa suddenly spoke with an emotional intensity that caught Sandra off guard.
…
Tate paced in the kitchen, back and forth and on his third trip around the island counter, he stepped over to the fridge and pulled a glass from the cupboard, and then a lime with a can of beer from the fridge.
“What do you mean we can’t get the timing chips until Thursday? We’re talking an order that’s over ten million in value to your month end. Do you really want to lose that?” Tate sliced a wedge from the lime and then poured the beer into the glass, topping with the wedge and a twist.
There was a pause as Tate listened to the outside sales rep plead his case.
“Just so you have a little perspective, we’re in this situation under the microscope of no less than nine nations who are all probably keeping a close eye on the development of this tech. That’s nine, six member states of NATO, and three other free contenders who are part of the G20. Quaternion based tensor compression is the hottest tech there is, next to quantum and probabilistic tensors, and believe me you, Gabe already has all three bases covered. Do you want to be the OSR remembered as the one who lost the global deal of the millennium?” Tate negotiated like a pro.
Rory stepped into the kitchen unannounced, with a plastic water bottle in hand, immediately heading for the kitchen sink faucet and almost oblivious of the presence of Tate and his heated discussion.
Tate paused and watched Rory, suddenly suspicious given the topic he’d just been discussing.
Tate watched Rory carefully, noting how physically sculpted Rory was. It was as if he’d been trained, perhaps honed by a member state, to keep an eye on him, and his dealings within the most powerful tech company in the world.
“…Tate? You there? Look, about the compressed crystal timing chips, you realize that your move to buy that quantity has triggered a shortage. The world is watching you. When you buy in quantity, everyone else is going to know something is on the go, and they’re going jump in on the prospect. You ordered too soon, and now everyone is buying these timing chips,” the outside sales rep pleaded with Tate.
Tate kept watching Rory, who after filling his bottle of water, simply turned to Tate and smiled.
And then he spoke.
“Australia and Canada have been buying up a reserve supply of their own production stock, given the progress of their research agreement towards next generation graphene based Planck scale trace gapping in chip technology. China, Japan and Korea are amongst the biggest customers. Germany and UAE too, though their orders are kept from the markets and off the data center records so as not to cause panic buying…” Rory’s voice trailed off and before replacing the cap on his water bottle, he took a sip and then smiled at Tate, whose face had gone completely pale.
“…Tate? You still with me…? I can cut you a deal for the backorder delay…? Are you there?” the outside sales rep’s voice could be heard through the earpiece of the phone.
“…I’m here… just a second…” Tate watched Rory, unable to process what he’d just heard from the labourer.
“Can I help you? You’re in here for a reason?” Tate asked Rory, almost confrontationally, and Rory just returned a smile.
“No. I’m just here for a drink,” Rory winked, using his water bottle to gesture towards Tate’s own glass of beer and then he proceeded out of the kitchen and towards the front door and to the truck.
“…Tate? So are you cancelling? This is going to cost you if you do. Why don’t I patch you over to Owen…” the outside salesrep’s voice emerged from the phone.
“No, I’m still here. Look, maintain the order, I’m going to make some calls and see if I can’t make up the difference elsewhere until you catch up on your backorders,” Tate responded, then immediately hanging up and dialing another number.
“Welcome to Caliopa Digital Tate. How may I help you today?” the AI receptionist responded in an Australian accent to Tate’s call, already knowing his name after having created a sales file based upon the analytics data that had been synched via his call display phone number.
“Hi, I’m looking to buy in quantity and am looking for pricing on cutting edge tech…” Tate responded to the receptionist.
“I’d be more than happy to direct you to the correct department if you’d be willing to elaborate on the cutting edge tech you require?” she responded.
Tate paused, knowing that this was the point in which he’d be required to say the right thing, which would get him to where he wanted to be. The wrong thing however would put him right back in the place he was when he started.
“Graphene based… Planck scale trace gapping. EM Shielded with entropic error correction…” Tate told the AI receptionist, recalling most of what Rory had stated to him.
“Please hold while I connect you to the correct department,” the receptionist responded.
Tate pulled the phone away from his ear and examined the call display indicator on his phone. It went from: Caliopa Digital to Unknown, and then someone picked up the line. This time, it was someone human.
“You finally found us, did you Tate?” a man with a thick Australian accent answered the phone.
“Yeah, and I want in,” Tate responded, looking in the direction that Rory had departed to make sure that he wasn’t somewhere, lurking there in the shadows.
“I see you’ve been playing the game with the outside market for a few years. Quite a tug of war, mate, isn’t it?” the sales rep responded to him.
“I’ll say. So can you meet a high volume order, with low period timespan?” Tate asked him.
“Mate, you pitch us an offer and I’ll throw you a pitch. How’s that fix ya, mate?” the sales rep replied.
“Ten thousand units. C3 Class timing chips, as per ISO Cantor series 6. L2 buffer if possible, but not necessary,” Tate requested of the man.
“Now we’re talking. We have ’em. Nobody else does, but we do. What I have is so cutting edge that it doesn’t need an L2 for timing stabilization. Planck scale timing deviance. Perfect for hyper rated Cantor based network packages, phased laser and radar arrays or in your case Quaternion based tensor compression. But you’re going to have to send us a guarantee… mate!” the sales rep replied.
“Are you sure you aren’t AI? You sound suspiciously cliché. Like a cultural caricature,” Tate replied to the sales rep.
“I’m the real deal, Mate, but you have to prove yourself, and the way you’ve got to do that is by stealthing your transaction. Wouldn’t want to expose us now, would you? The panic buying would kill everything,” the sales rep responded.
“We’ll run it through our Swiss account. Buyer approved already. Give me the invoice number already,” Tate replied.
“Lets see… C3 cleaning solution, cleaning heads for a series nine mop. The bill’s on its way. Like we say in this business, its all timing, Mate, and you can thank Crocodile Dundee Paul Hogan for my cultural cliché. Its always better to have a brand than otherwise, don’t you think?” and with that the sales rep hung up the phone.
Tate walked over to the front door of the house, and stared out from the interior darkness into the light of day, where Sandra stood just aside of the ramp, Tharissa at the top of the ramp folding pads. Dwight sat on the back of the stubby trailer and Rory, he stood leaning against the trailer, looking directly at Tate.
At that moment, Tate knew that if he tried to explain what had happened between him and Rory, that nobody would believe him.
Nobody.
A few moments later however, he received a call from his office confirming that the order had been placed and that the C3 timing chips would in fact arrive before the day was done.
To be continued…
Credits and attribution
Special thanks to Twilight Zone Night Club circa 1985 on 185 Richmond Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. So many important experiences happened there and with so many friends that I’d be a lonely fool not to remember them.
Thank you to the clubs that followed, and to Wes, who ran many of them including Guvernment, Joker, and the Big Bop to name a few.
Thank you to BCR, Phil and Dylan. True artists of a kind, including Skippy.
Thank you to Andrew R, Frank A, Michael S. Joan M, Janice L. Bernard, T.J., J.M., Jun, Nelson, Chris, Angela, Barry and Miguel and so many others. Keep the spirit of art alive. Nelson, remember that first song I played on the piano at the soup restaurant on Lakeshare Blvd at lunch? That’s our Koan. 😉
Special Thanks To Rocket Fuel Lakeshore Blvd West, perhaps the best place in history to get a coffee, circa 2001-2004. Miss you all very much. Its great to see that special place still inspires so many.
Special thanks to Udemy, whose courses I have relied upon for the last few years to allow me to grow my skills at my own pace, even finding time between my frantic work pace here at Shhhh! Digital Media.
Special thanks to Perplexity AI and their Comet browser, who have recently become a part of my software toolkit. Their AI powered helpers accelerate your research, reference at every step of the way, not to mention built in tools for content generation, though Shhhh! Digital Media does not rely on text generation for any of its stories, though I do work with AI for suggestions, and scientific accuracy of concepts in Butterfly Dragon, and for delving into the more esoteric traditions of mysticism that are aligned with the story and background of Era of the Spellbound.
Artwork: Amy Wong, Wendy Pusey, Ghastly, Birdman, Brian Joseph Johns, Daz3D, Unreal Engine…
Tools: Daz3D, Corel Painter, Adobe Photoshop, Lightwave 3D, Blender, InstantID, Sadtalker, Google Colaboratory, Microsoft Copilot (Windows 11), Hitfilm, PhotoPea (a great web based Photoshop stand-in if you’re on a low budget or in a pinch), Borderline Obsession…
Shhhh! Digital Media 2026 Tools: Word Press, Gutenberg, Blockspare, Sliderberg, Rank Math SEO, Elespare, JS Archive List, Google Site Kit, Ultimate Blocks and WProofReader.
SEO is an entire mountain unto itself. My advice is to content creators is to set aside a budget for professional SEO setup and management. It’ll give you much more time to focus on creating meaningful content. If you’re budget limited, then stick to the easy optimizations and build up your audience until your budget includes room for professional SEO.
Mage Flow AI model which I’m using increasingly for editing and occasionally, generation from text.
DeepSeek AI for suggestions on exercises to improve aspects of describing scene and settings with a more sensory focused grammar.
InstantID by: Wang, Qixun and Bai, Xu and Wang, Haofan and Qin, Zekui and Chen, Anthony.
Research Paper Title: InstantID – Zero-shot Identity-Preserving Generation in Seconds.
Sadtalker by: Zhang, Wenxuan and Cun, Xiaodong and Wang, Xuan and Zhang, Yong and Shen, Xi and Guo, Yu and Shan, Ying and Wang, Fei.
Research Paper Title: SadTalker: Learning Realistic 3D Motion Coefficients for Stylized Audio-Driven Single Image Talking Face Animation.
Two Minute Papers: A YouTube channel dedicated to computer science geared towards the end of the advancement of computer graphics technology.
Gratitude: Our Mentors, Senseis, Sifus, Sebomnims, lifetime inspirations, family, friends, the Nomads (ask Stanton about that one), the Music, the Movies, the Theatre, the Arts, ASMR, (both YouTube and Bilibili and the many other creators on those platforms), the Gaming and Developer communities and of course, the audience.
Martial Arts (in the words of real experts and at least one comedian)
- https://brucelee.com (home of the real Dragon and an entire family of inspirations)
- http://iwco.online International Wing Chun Organization (International presence of a very scalable intensity martial art, protected and developed by Shaolin Nun Ng Mui) and the alma mater of Jinn Hua’s own specialized variation thereof,
- https://iogkf.com International Okinawan Goju-Ryu Karatedo Federation (even Hanshi had his teachers),
- https://itftkd.sport International Taekwondo Federation (Here there be Tigers),
- https://tangsoodoworld.com Tang Soo Do World (the path of Grandmaster Chuck Norris),
- https://www.aikido-international.org International Aikido Federation (how else would Navy Chef Steven Seagal liberate a
Nimitz Class Aircraft Carrier from a team of hijackers?), - https://www.stqitoronto.com Shaolin Temple Quanfa Institute (The City Of Toronto’s own Shaolin Temple),
- https://www.enterthedojoshow.com Master Ken’s Ameri-Te-Do presence (If we can’t laugh at ourselves, then we can at least laugh the loudest at others, and other Zen)
Thank you to the Divine Miss M and to Ms. Hirose of our Own for the inspiration for the character Aikiko Tanaka. May they always embody the empowerment of women and their self determination, despite the direction that some of the stories on Shhhh! Digital Media might take.
Magic (performance, illusion and perhaps the real thing)
- Magic Week Archive Videos from the history of the performance magic masters.
- Doctor Angela’s Symposium Learn about the truth and history of magic from a scholarly Phd. A great informed resource of both knowledge and speculation.
- Da’at Darling A student of the esoteric mysteries ✶ Thelemite & Pagan YouTuber • Podcaster • Author of Planetary Theurgy (2026) Creative Director of Katharsios Press. She’s a real busy Wytch.
- Real Witchcraft in Romania An insightful video whose central subjects are all witches in the country which originated the Dracula and Undead mythos that still pervades modern society to this day.
Special thanks
- Aitrepreneur
- Mickmumpitz
- PixelArtistry
- Hugging Face
- YouTube educational content producers
- AI content production pipeline
- AlphaSignal
Martial Arts Education, Courseware And Artisanship
- Jade Xu
Ladies and gentlemen, this is the lady who will choreograph and perform all of the Butterfly Dragon’s martial arts performance sequences if ever there is a live action version. Regardless, Jade Xu is an inspiring Wushu martial arts performer, along with her cast of co-stars, they really bring performance encounters into next level experiences for all to enjoy. - Aikido Shinburenseijuku
Experience the spirited tradition and execution of waza (technique) through the expertise and guidance of Shirakawa Ryuji, each of his videos exploring intriguing and applicable aspects of this circular and angular focused martial art, but most of all, step away from the claustrophobic perspective of many martial artists with regard to this branch of jujitsu, and learn to understand the true dynamics and application at play here from a renowned master. - Martial Club
These fellows are the living embodiment of performance martial arts, producing absolutely vivid and incredible action stories, taking martial arts to the next level. They’re literally doing what I’d always hoped I could do with Butterfly Dragon, but with their own well written and performed live action stories and stunts, after gruelling rehearsals and training to achieve their ambitions. In their own humble words: promoting the virtues and ethics of traditional martial arts in the modern world. - Shi Heng Yi Shaolin Training For Self Mastery
A reknowned Sifu under whose tutelage you can study the theory and practical applications of the Shaolin Arts for health, physical and mental wellbeing in every day life. His online and self-study courses offer students the chance to train in the comfort of their own choosing, and at their own pace under Shi Heng Yi’s informed guidance. - Jesse Enkamp: Karate Nerd
Jesse, a reknowned Sensei who runs his own dojo, explores the world of Martial Arts, traveling around the world to many exotic locations to meet practitioners of a variety of different arts. Truly an adventurer into the world of martial arts, delving into new territory with every video.
Jesse’s Kobudo Mastery at kobudomastery.com
Jesse’s Karate Flexibility & Mobility Training
Jesse’s Strength Training for Karate - Rokas Sensei: Martial Arts Journey
A reknowned Sensei of Aikido who in seeking to understand the roots of Aikido and its applications, seeks to stress test its effectiveness in a number of real world situations while studying its history.
Rokas Sensei has also developed an incredible seasonal series called the Ultimate Self Defence Challenge that introduces select martial artists from the world over to face challenges that test their rank and mettle against other competitors. An absolutely amazing series with top notch production. - Seamus O’Dowd
An extensive and growing archive Katas, Techniques and Waza (mostly Shotokan), focusing on form, precision and technique. - Iaido: Train For Katana Mastery Like Samurai
The original weapons focused curriculum under which Samurai became masters of their art. - Tapp Brothers Exercise For Better Motion
Extensive courses for calisthenics and body strength, stamina and flexibility. They offer course that are geared directly for the improvement of flexibility, athletics and overall performance.
Special thanks to Captain Shayne and his wonderful butterfly sister!
Special thanks to Bandcamp for giving indie music artists a home under one roof.
Written and published by Brian Joseph Johns, Shhhh! Digital Media.
Copyright © 2026 Brian Joseph Johns.
