Hereafter

[Wayne23]

12/20: #10 Vanderbilt, 8-2, is here for our final pre-conf game. They're 3-2 vs. Top 25 teams, all 5 games on the road, as this one is for them. They can play.

Their PF is a superstar and their SF and SG can hurt you. They turn it over.

12/21: Back and forth early on. Up 7 after 10. A big run puts us up 42-17 at halftime. Great D! 10, 6, 3, 5 for Prio, 8, 1, 4 for laws. +10 for the bench. +9 RBs, +22 inside. Up 30 with 10 left.

69-51. 12, 8, 5, 6 for Prio, 15, 2, 6 for Laws. +9 RBs, +30 in the paint, 10 TOs.

12/25: We end pre-conf play at 11-1, ranked #1, NET #1.

+15.9 PPG, +6.0 RBs, -6.2 TOs, +3.7 assists, +4.4 steals.

Prio leads us with 17.8; he gets 5.8 RBs, leads us with 4.0 assists, and leads us with 3.8 steals. Duna gets 14.7, and leads with 8.3 RBs.

No word from the robots.

“People NEED the holos. It's a comfort zone, a play zone, and alternate life zone, my coaching, for instance. It has something for everyone and a LOT for most of us.”

“I'm not sure how safe it is.”

“Ralph is the expert. If he says it's safe, that's good enough for me.”

“And three people and a couple of robots remain missing. It's been 10 days.”

“And that's definitely worrisome. We may never know what happened in that holo chamber.”

'Which makes me unwilling to go in one of them again.”

“Look, we're in a space ship way out in the middle of nowhere. Everything about this life is dangerous and uncertain.”

[Wayne23]

12/29: At 6-4 Michigan which has fallen out of the Top 25. Only us and Ohio ST are ranked right now. They have a very good PG but we're better at every other position.

12/30: Early lead. Up 5 after 10. 39-38 at the half. 14 for Prio, 13 for Nico. +9 from the line. We're shooting only 34.8%. Down 5 with 10 to go.

79-76. Close one! We came on strong late.

28, 8 for Prio, 15, 8, 3 for Duna, 17, 6 for Nico. 7 fewer TOs, -18 in the paint, which is unusual for us. +18 from the line was what won it for us.

12/31: “I want the Council's permission to go after my brother and his friends.”

“It's too dangerous. We've heard nothing for 16 days, and we've heard nothing from the robots we sent in.”

“But the program has remained stable since the computer people managed to re-open it. This is my brother. I need to know. I have a right to do this.”

Loar Beneva was very insistent. He is 24 years old, and very committed to trying to find his brother. The Council is divided.

“Members of the Council. Again. This program shows every sign of being stable at this point.”

“Loar, it has been 16 days. Don't you think if the three people who went in were alive they would have come out by now?”

“There is no way to know. Perhaps something is preventing both them and the robots from leaving.”

“But it's a rodeo program. They aren't lost on a trail somewhere.”

“I need to know.”

After a very long debate (What's new!) the Council voted to send two more robots in.

1/1/2048: The robots have been sent into the holo program.

[Wayne23]

1/3: 10-3, 1-2 Iowa is here. They're not bad, and they can put points on the board, but this is a team we should beat.

1/4: Slow start for both teams. Up 8 after 10. 41-23 at halftime. Both teams have 2 starters with 3 fouls. For us it's Duna and Sims. The back court is leading the way for us. But +16 inside. 4 TOs. Up 16 with 10 to play.

78-61. 18, 5, 3, 4 for Prio. 7 TOs, +11 RBs, +26 in the paint.

Loar Beneva snuck into the holo chamber. He went with two friends who waited just inside the entrance as he explored. His plan was to keep talking so that his friends both knew he was safe and knew what he was doing.

As Loar explored farther and farther from the entrance his voice grew dimmer. He had found nothing, nothing related to a rodeo, and no sign of either his brother and the other two, or of the robots.

Finally, one of Loar's friends shouted that he could barely hear Loar. Loar asked them to move into the holo a little farther so that he could continue to explore. His friends did so. They moved until they could see Loar and hear him clearly. He continued to explore and then he simply disappeared.

Loar's friends sprinted to the entry of the holo program and exited, calling for help.

“Now what?”

“I don't think we need to worry about Loar's friends going back into the program.”

“Is anyone else likely to try what Loar tried?”

“Not likely. The rest of the families have shown no desire to do anything like that. They're all devastated by their loss but they've all come to accept it. This adds a great deal of extra suffering to the Beneva family, of course. I don't think we need to worry about others entering this holo but we've placed alarms and cameras at the site.”

[Wayne23]

1/5: 10-3, 2-1 Clemson is here. They're better at PG but then everyone is. We think we're better everywhere else.

1/6: We take the lead right away. Up 11 after 10; we're dominating the inside. 49-23 at the half. 15, 8, 3, 3 for Duna, 16, 4 for Sims, 9 for Prio. +18 from the line. +10 RBs, 4 TOs. Up 12 with 10 to play.

89-76. We let them score 53 in the 2nd. Yes, we had an insurmountable lead, but it is not good to get that lax.

25, 11, 4, 4 for Duna, 22, 10, 3 for Sims, 15, 9, 4 for Prio. +18 from the line, +18 RBs, +12 down low.

“What the hell are we going to do about that damn holo?”

“Language, Mick.”

“Yeah, yeah. Well?”

“It's a fair question.”

“Yes, it is. We don't want to turn the program off. While it seems vanishingly unlikely that the three young men- four now, are alive in there, there's no way to know for certain.”

“What can we do that we haven't done?”

“Send in three robots-”

“We've already sent robots in and-”

“Listen! Send in three robots one after the other, separated by say 20 feet each. They all have video cams to view and record what happens in front of them.”

“And one by one they'll vanish without a trace and without a clue as to how or why.”

“We don't know that.”

“That's how to bet.”

“It's worth a try.”

1/9: The robots went in. One of the computer people stationed herself just inside the entrance to the program. She was able to view and record the video for all three cameras.

She watched as the first robot disappeared. Nothing on the other two robots' videos showed anything that gave a clue as to why the first had disappeared.

Nothing on the lead robot's video had shown anything up ahead of it other than empty land.

The second disappeared similarly. No video from either its camera or the camera of the third robot showed anything.

The third robot stopped just short of the spot where the first two had disappeared, as planned. It continued to record video without moving forward. As instructed the robot panned the camera to the left then to the right. The camera saw nothing but empty landscape.

After an hour of this the robot returned to the holo entrance where it and the computer person left the holo.

The plan is to analyze the robot's video in every possible way.

[Zingo]

Man, this holo plot is heating up!

[Wayne23]

1/10: At #24 Ohio ST, 10-4, but 0-3. They've fallen apart in conference play. They have an excellent SF and a good C. They have trouble scoring and they turn it over.

We fell to #2 in the latest poll.

1/11: We take an early lead. Up 4 after 10; Prio is hot. 37-32; we were up by 15 then we fell asleep. 15, 4 for Prio. -9 for the bench. We're shooting better than they are. Mini-run puts us up 10 but they're not going away. And then we take control.

80-62. 29, 9 for Prio, 14, 6 for Nico, 12, 2, 6 for Laws, 11, 10, 3 for Duna. +10 RBs.

Sam Prio: I'm glad I stayed for my senior season. If I can keep playing the way I've played so far this season I can be a first team All American and a lottery pick, and we have a shot at winning it all.

The video is still being analyzed. Nothing useful so far.

[Wayne23]

1/12: At 9-5, 2-3 Illinois. They're better outside than inside but we think we're better at every position.

1/13: Close early. Up 10 after 20. 36-29 at halftime. 11, 3, 4, 4 for Prio. +12 in the paint, 6 fewer TOs. Sims has 3 fouls. Up 8 with 10 to play. And we take charge.

78-61. 20, 6, 5, 5 for Prio, 16, 2, 5 for Laws, 13, 4 for sub F/C Ely King. +18 inside, 9 fewer TOs.

“There's something on this video from the third robot.”

“What is it?”

“We can't tell yet. There's a blur way out in front of the second round, toward the right of the screen. It appears just before the 2nd robot disappears. We're doing all we can to enhance the video but we can't seem to get it any clearer, at least so far.”

“Interesting.”

[Wayne23]

1/17: 9-7, 3-3 Penn ST is here. They play good D but have a lot of trouble scoring. We think we're a lot better.

1/18: It's close early on. Up 5 after 10. 35-26 at the half. 9 for Prio, but he has 3 fouls. +8 down low. Up 22 with 10 to go.

70-56 but we led by as many as 27 and it was never in doubt.

22, 4 for Prio, 11, 13 for C Mike Sims, 11, 5 for PF Ari Duna. +12 inside, 9 fewer TOs.

Ari Duna: I really like playing here. I'm debating with myself about next season. With Prio gone I'd be the go to guy and I think I could really do some damage, but if I think I'll be a lottery pick I'll probably leave.

Little used guard Troy Wild has a concussion. Out about a week.

[Wayne23]

1/22: 9-7, 3-3 Michigan is here. We won by only 3 there. They're good outside, especially at the point.

1/23: We take the lead right away but they stay close. Up 5 after 10. Up 10 at the half. 11 for Duna. 3 fouls for both Prio and Sims. Up 15 with 10 left.

81-61. 22, 11, 3 for Duna, 16, 10, 5 for Laws but 6 TOs, 14, 3 for King. Prio was in foul trouble all night.

“We need to send in some more robots and at least one human.”

“Again? What can we possibly learn?”

Maryland is 1 back in the loss column, Indiana 2, everyone else 4 or more.

“We can hopefully learn what that is on the right side of the video that we can't make out.”

“Waste of time and robots.”

“Not if we learn something. The plan is to hold the robot at just barely before the point where they disappear and keep the camera running, and to have another robot 20 feet behind the first taking video. Our person will be just inside the entry, same as last time.”

[Wayne23]

1/24: At 13-4, 5-2 Indiana. This is a very big game for them. If they beat us they're only 1 behind us in the loss column. They score 6 more than we do but give up 10.7 more. They have a strong outside game.

1/25: They score the first 9. We're getting clobbered early. Down 7 after 10 as we try to get back in it. 35-49 at halftime. We're simply not playing D; they're shooting 59.4%. 3 fouls for Prio again; no idea what the problem is lately but we're not the same when he's sitting. Down 21 with 10 left. The subs are in.

80-99. Embarrassing. Our guards were badly outplayed and our bigs just held their own.

It's hard to know how to deal with this kind of thing. I plan to ignore it and move on.

Sub C/PF Jay Lowe hurt his knee. Out for a few days.

The video from the holo is no clearer this time. We didn't let the robot get close enough to disappear. After 90 minutes of shooting video with nothing happening we withdrew our person and the robots. It remains a mystery.

The families want information but there's no way to get it. We're certainly not going to send any humans farther in than the entrance and there's no point in losing more robots. Unless something changes that holo chamber is barred from use.