Hoops in Space

[PointGuard]

it’s called “empty space” for a reason.

Hey, quick talking about my head!!!!

[Wayne23]

3/4: 4-2 in our last 6. We had a 9 game winning streak, then lost 2. Then closed with a win. We end the regular season at 23-8, 13-5, alone in 2nd, 2 back of Memphis and 2 up on 3rd place.

96-87 at Florida Atlantic. Stan Jonn had 41! 14, 6, 3 for Sim.

92-87 at North Texas. It was close for about 35 minutes then we went on a late run. 25, 11 for Engs, 23 for Jonn.

102-79 at South Florida. We led all the way. 20, 3, 5 for Ells, 18, 1, 5 for Jonn.

63-74 loss to Memphis at home. They’re the best team in the conference for sure! We kept it close for 30 minutes and then they took off.

Another home loss, to Wichita ST, 85-92. We played poor D. 29, 4, 3 for Jonn.

69-66 at Charlotte to end the regular season. They led by 8 early in the 2nd half. We got hot late. Engs had 14, 5, 3, True had 13 and 9. They contained our guards but our big guys stepped up.

Stan Jonn leads us in scoring with 20.9 PPG. 14.1, 6.4 for Engs. 11.7 for Ells.

+7.7 PPG. We’re #1 in scoring in the nation! +4.6 RBs. -2.2 TOs but a poor 13.4.

Let’s see what the post season brings. It will be hard for us to beat Memphis if we get that far.

[Wayne23]

3/5: No one declares for the draft, as expected.

We’re still chasing a good looking PF from China.

3/7: We play #7 seed North Texas, 13-17, 8-10, in the quarter finals. We beat them by 5 at home and again by 5 away.

3/8: 99-95. This was a real shoot out. They led by as many as 13 early, and by 10 at the half. We’ve been a 2nd half team all year and we were again tonight. We took the lead for good with 2 ½ to play. Our 3 guards combined for 59 with Jonn getting 30. Good bench play.

Memphis was shocked by East Carolina!

#3 seed UAB, 17-14, 11-7, in the semifinals. We won by 14 at home.

3/9: Close early. Tied after 10. 39-40 At the half. The refs are hurting us.

We take an early lead and get it to 9. They come back. Down 1 with 10 to play.

87-92. We went to the line 26 rimes. They went 43. That was way more than the difference. 16, 14 for Sim, 19, 6 for Jonn.

3/10: UAB wins the title.

I know we’ll go someplace. I think we’re good enough to get invited to the big dance, but we’ll see.

[Wayne23]

3/26: We get the Forward.

4/3: #10 ranked Virginia wins it all.

4/4: Awards: Stan Jonn is conf. POY, Frosh OY, and 1st team along with Ike Engs. I get Conf. COY.

4/9: I get calls about the head coaching job from some very good schools. I’m staying here.

4/23: I ask for a facilities upgrade.

No.

24-10, 13-5. Made the NCAA tournament. We definitely exceeded expectations.

Now that the season has ended I’m ramping up my study time regarding both the piano and astrophysics. I found time for both during the season but not as much as I would have liked. Until October it will be much easier to find the time. I may also study chess. I’ve always wanted to. We’ll see. With the prospect of a very long life ahead of me I can pretty much study anything I want to study.

[Wayne23]

5/1: Recruit class #33.

5/22: Nobody transfers out. So we will make no moves in the Transfer Portal. Unusual!

We’re finally near enough to the comet to deploy the shuttle with the scientists and their equipment.

5/25: The shuttle reports that there is nothing unusual about the comet, at least from the early probes. They will send more detailed probes later today.

5/27: The shuttle crew is finished studying the comet. They made several discoveries which were interesting, but nothing dramatic.

6/25: We go to Indy and all the regional camps.

6/26: 1st day of recruiting. We need 1 and 1.

7/17: We offer to a PG and a C.

By the mid 21st century AI was getting to be a HUGE problem. AI and AI driven robots were taking over everything, and they were on the verge of making humans obsolete. In a rare case of worldwide cooperation the world’s governments decided that Ai and AI driven robots would be banned except in the case of work that humans either could not do or chose not to do. It worked! Robots and AI became just a part of society again.

When we launched we opted for the same rule. Ai driven robots are a huge help to us. They are better than humans at working outside the spaceship, on most planetary surfaces, under water… They also work in conjunction with humans in lots of areas. For example most surgeries are now performed by robots under the guidance of a human surgeon. Most manual labor is done by robots under human supervision. Robots are used as aids in classrooms at all levels of education. Many attempts have been made over time to eliminate human teachers and it just doesn’t work, but robotic helpers do work.

Robots and Ai are used in lots of other areas as well, but always under human supervision.

We keep several robots fully charged at all times in case of emergency. Others are stored and are charged as needed.

[Wayne23]

9/11: We lose a guard.

9/18: we get a PG, lose a C. Offer to another one.

Soft pre-conf. sched again.

9/25: We lose another big.

10/2: We get a C.

1st day of practice. We may be better than last year. Time will tell. Looks like we’ll go with a 3 guard set up most of the time.

11/11: Here’s the lineup:

Soph Mel Ells is back at PG. He did a good job for us last season.

Soph Stan Jonn is back at SG. He was our best player last season.

Senior Mark Dear is at Sf and will serve as the #3 guard. He’s a scorer. Junior Greg Gunn is next at guard and we don’t lose much when he’s in. Frosh Gab Ball isn’t ready.

Senior Ty Sim is back at PF.

Juco junior Led Mart is at C.

First big off the bench is junior Jem Jess. He’s pretty good. Frosh Gord Tony is next and he has a lot of potential. Frosh Emo Bake also has potential. Frosh Xiao Choi needs to work on rebounding. Frosh

Dan Hunt is not ready and neither is frosh Lane Wynn.

[Wayne23]

11/12: We start at the Legends Classic tomorrow against #8 seed New Mexico ST. We’re the #9 seed.

12/1: 5-2 in our 1st 7 games.

93-86 over New Mexico St in the 1st round of the Legends Classic. It was close all the way. We rallied at the end. 23 for Stan Jonn.

76-74 over #1 seed, #5 ranked North Carolina. We took a big lead early and watched it shrink. The 2nd half was close all the way. We won it on Mel Ells’ 18 footer off a screen. Huge upset! All 5 starters contributed.

91-86 over #4 seed, #21 ranked Michigan in the semifinals. 22, 8, 5 for Jonn.

93-94 to #2 seed, #3 ranked Florida. They won it on a 30 footer at the buzzer. Tough loss. 26, 5, 5 for Jonn, 20, 9 for Mark Dear.

85-63 at North Carolina A & T. We led all the way. 32 for Jonn, 21, 10 for C Led Mart.

67-74 vs. NJIT at our place. A bad loss. We fell apart late, shot only 31.3% for the game. Front court gave us very little.

I should probably have done this sooner but I’ll talk about the ship’s layout. As I said there are 25 decks. The top deck is the bridge, and 200 living quarters. All of us who work on the bridge have our living quarters on deck 1. I’m about a 2 minute walk away. Some other people also live on this deck.

Decks 2-20 have 250 living quarters each. Several are vacant. They’re here just to have room for population growth. One of the side effects of the long life vaccine is that it lowers male sperm count.
We don’t have many births but there are some, so the population will increase over time.

Decks 2-6, as well as living quarters, have apple, peach, pear, and plum trees. There are enough trees to take care of our ship and ship #2. Ship #2 has citrus trees instead, and they supply us.

Decks 7-20 have a variety of gardens, and labs for growing “meat.” In about 2060 a process for lab grown meat that looked, felt, and tasted like the real thing was finally perfected. So we eat no meat but have food that is just like meat in every other aspect. It is much healthier than “real” meat however.

The gardens grow all of the veggies we eat. We share with ship #2. They grow some veggies we don’t and vice versa.

Decks 2-20 all have facilities for oxygen production, waste conversion, light, temperature and humidity control…

Decks 21-25 are the engines.

As far as possible people live on the deck where they work. If two or more people share living quarters that’s not always possible, but generally, people have a very short “commute.”

The shuttles are stored on decks 21-25. As I’ve said we have 8, 32, and 96 passenger shuttles, and some designed to move good and products, like the foods we grow.

[Wayne23]

1/1/2102: 5-2 in our last 7, 10-4 at the end of pre-conf play.

94-74 over North Alabama here. We led all the way. 24, 1, 6 for Ells. 6 guys in double figures.

83-64 over VMI here. We never trailed. 22, 3, 4 for Jonn.

71-82 at East Texas A & M. The officiating was awful I got a T. Both Dear and Mart fouled out. 22 for Jonn. We shot less than 30% in the 2nd half.

91-80 at Anal Roberts. We led all the way. 23, 0, 6 for Ells. 65-79 at Elon. 22 for Jonn, 19, 8 for Mart but we played poorly in the 2nd half.

72-70 vs. Marist here. Close all the way. Jem Je3ss blocked a shot in the last second. 23 for Jonn.

78-71 at Arkansas Pine Bluff. We led all the way, by as many as 17. 26 for Jonn, 15, 14, 0, 4 for Mart.

Jonn leads us with 21.9 PPG. 12.6, 7.4 assists for Ells. 12.0, 9.4 for Mart. 11.1, 4.9, 5.5 for Dear.

+6.9 PPG, +5.4 RBs, -4.3 TOs. We average 10.9.

I spoke a bit about food production earlier. A major part of the crew works in food production, distribution, and serving.

We have great variety and choice in our diet. Most of the crew are concerned with fitness but there is definitely junk food and comfort food available and desserts are plentiful It is MUCH better food than one would expect to find on a space ship, but we live here and always will so food is important.

We have Indian restaurants, Mexican, Japanese, Chinese, Thai, American… And the cafeterias serve a variety of foods as well. Whatever I might find I’m hungry for I can usually get it when I want it.

[Wayne23]

1/21: 3-3 in our first 6 AAC games. 13-7 overall.

81-61 over UAB here. 29, 6, 1, 4 for Jonn, 18, 6, 3 for Mart, 13, 3, 7 for Ells. It was close for 25 minutes.

71-98 to East Carolina there. We let them shoot 55.6%. One of the worst defensive performances of my career.

64-83 vs. Wichita ST at home. Bad home loss. We shot 25% in the 2nd half.

69-75 at Temple. We played better but they won it at the end. 17 each for Jonn and Dear.

81-64 over Memphis here. We looked good for a change. We took an early lead and held it. 21 for Jonn, 15, 9 for 6th man Jem Jess, 13, 3, 6 for Dear.

79-73 at Rice. We led most of the way. 23, 8 for Mart, 19, 0, 3, 3 for Jonn.

“Mayday! Mayday! Ship 10 hull breach. Multiple casualties. Mayday from ship 10! Captain Len Drake here.”

This came through at 3:35 a.m. I was at my work station. Within seconds Captain Lacy Zeke was on the bridge wearing a robe over her PJs or night gown or whatever. A few seconds after that
Commander Mill Ralk was on the bridge in his robe. He took charge.

“Open a line to all ships… This is Commander Ralk. Captain Drake, I want a casualty report. What’s going on?”

“I can’t give you a casualty report. I was violently thrown out of bed, think my left arm is broken. I’m calling for a medic but no answer. I came immediately to the bridge. As far as I can tell everyone on the bridge is dead. I stopped the ship. The sensors indicate a hull breach on levels 24 and 25, in the area of shuttle storage. As you know we have automatic shutoffs when that happens. They seem to have kicked in. I’ve called for reports but they aren’t clear as to full extent of damage, and number of casualties. From the low response to my calls for reports I’m assuming heavy casualties and I’m asking for all the medical people you can spare, and maintenance and repair people. The sooner that happens the better.”

“Commander Ralk again. This is to all ships. Send all your medical personnel except one to ship 10. Ships 1 and 2 will send most of our maintenance and repair people to ship 10. Leaders, make that happen.”

“I need at least one navigator, 2 would be better. Same for pilots. I’m piloting and navigating on my own right now as I’m getting no response on that either.”

“Co-pilot, navigator on ship 1, catch the shuttle in 10 minutes. You’re dismissed. I need two 96 passenger shuttles taking off in 10 minutes with the appropriate personnel. Make that happen. Captain of ships 2-9, send your medical personnel as soon as possible, and as many food workers as will fit in a 32 passenger shuttle. The food workers will help with the injured, and with feeding people. Make it happen!”

I ran to my quarters, quickly packed what I thought I’d need for an extended stay, and got to the shuttle in less than 9 minutes. We didn’t take off within 10 minutes but it wasn’t long after that.

We were the next to last to get to ship 10 since we were farthest away. I went immediately to the bridge and took over as navigator.

It took 2 days to get a full casualty report and it wasn’t pretty. 587 killed, 1,744 seriously injured; everyone else had minor injuries. By the 2nd day the injured were being cared for to the extent that 99 medical personnel could do that. The food workers also helped.

I was working 12 hour shifts every day since only one other navigator had arrived. The pilots were working 8 hour shifts.

Repair and maintenance were taking care of the hull breach. It was caused by some kind of space rock. 7 feet wide and 4 feet at the narrowest. Robots were outside the ship placing new roofing over the breach.

We have 3D printers and they printed out the new roofing.

I got the feeling that I wouldn’t be going back to ship 1 for quite some time.

With more than half the ship 10 crew killed or seriously wounded those of us who came to help would be needed for who knows how long.

Commander Ralk had come along on the shuttle and taken charge. Captain Drake was still in charge of his ship but the Commander oversaw repairs. He also worked with Captain Drake to figure out schedules and further needs.

The Commander noted that we were short a navigator and sent word to ship 7 to send one.

“Hopefully we can get you on an 8 hour shift within a couple of days, Jake. There are still 128 people working 12 hour shifts and I want that fixed in a hurry. Unfortunately, the medical personnel will stay on 12 hour shifts. We don’t have enough of them to do anything else.”

That was great news for me, not so much for the medical people.

On the 4th day the navigator got here and I went to 8 hour shifts. That gave me a little time to myself so I could now do things other than work and sleep. I used most of my free time to help with the injured. Non-medical personnel couldn’t do a lot but we could get water for the patients, help them with their food if necessary, and just help to check in on what they needed.

There was no facility big enough to house all of the injured. We put them in the restaurants, which were all closed until further notice. People would eat in the cafeterias. The food workers from ships 1-9 took over serving food, as well as working the gardens and labs, and helping with the injured.

The Commander and all 10 Captains were working on plans for how to man the ships on a permanent basis but it would be awhile. Injuries, or most of them, needed to heal before any kind of long term plan could be put in place.

Midway through the 2nd week the hoops league was back up and running. The Commander felt a diversion would be good for everybody.

[Wayne23]

2/3: We determined that the rock struck at between 3:00 and 4:00 on a twelve hour clock, as far as direction is concerned. It hit the starboard side, then hit the starboard side of a 32 passenger shuttle that was stored there, went through hit the port side, then landed on the ship’s floor spent.

Commander Ralk called a virtual meeting of the executive board:

“We have 587 dead, 7 in what look like permanent comas, 11 quadriplegics. There is some hope that these 18 people will eventually heal, given the nature of our bodies under the vaccine that prevents aging. But there’s no way to know whether that will happen, or if it does, how long it will take.

“So that’s 605 people that ship 10 is down. There are people who are wheelchair bound and others with serious, long term injuries, but all of those can work. 605 can’t.

“We’re able to train robots to do the work of 362. That leaves 243 vacancies on ship 10. That means that each of the other 9 ships will need to send 27 people to live and work on ship 10 permanently. We’ll arrange all that as soon as we can.

“Some jobs on the ship can be filled by people we train and we are training people, but that will take some time. Eventually all 10 ships will be fully staffed and everyone will be on their home ship, the old one or the new one.”

I found out that I would be staying on ship 10 until navigators and assistant navigators were fully trained, since I would be in charge of the training.

We also learned that all robots would receive EMT training, and all humans would be encouraged to take EMT training. There are 400 robots on each ship so having them all trained should make it much easier to deal with another catastrophe if one happens. They aren’t M.D.s or even nurse practitioners, but we’re encouraging people to train for those two positions as well, even though they probably wouldn’t be working in the medical field except in case of emergency.

I’m not going to take the EMT training. I have a lot going on that I want to stay with and I don’t want to take on anything this major.

2/11: 5-1 in our last 6. 8-4 in AAC play, 2nd in the conference. One game back of East Carolina and 1 up on 4 teams.

Overall, we’re 18-8, and we just entered the rankings at #23.

We beat Charlotte at home by 21. 27, 3, 11 for Ells. 14 each for Jonn and Mart.

81-76 over Tulane at home. They led by 15 early. We chopped it to 8 at the half and kept chipping away. We finally took our first lead with 2 ½ to play. 20, 4, 6 for Ells, 17, 8, 3 for Jonn.

113-103 over Rice in OT here at home. We blew a 21 point lead late and they hit a buzzer beating three to send the game to OT. We dominated the overtime. 32, 3 for Ells who has been really hot. 18,
15 for Sims, 20 for Jonn.

93-78 at Texas San Antonio. They led by 6 at the half. We had a terrific 2nd half, 53-32. 29, 3, 3 for Jonn, 23, 1, 7 for Ells.

82-70 over South Florida at home. We led all the way. 23, 2, 4, 3 for Ells, 20, 3, 4, 6 for Jonn.

86-89 at Florida Atlantic. 16 lead changes, 10 ties. It went right to the wire. They hit a three with 4.8 left. We came down and set up a three for Ells, but it front rimmed. 34, 4, 7 for Ells.