The Last Man

[Wayne23]

5/1: We buy national basic.

6/1: One year since my last longevity treatment and Dr. Worth says my telomeres look like they simply do not age. She says she believes my aging process has been stopped, possibly completely stopped.

6/5: We’re looking at transfers.

6/12: We get an SF from Colorado who looks pretty good.

6/26: 3 scholarships. We’re looking for at least 2 bigs, maybe all 3.

8/21: We offer to ma PG and 2 bigs.

9/18: Got the 2 bigs.

We’re in the JAG Holiday vs. Seton Hall. The schedule is definitely more challenging this season.

9/25: Got the PG.

11/6: Here’s the lineup:

Junior Cam Bow starts at PG, backs up at SG. Soph Lal Herr starts at SG. Juniors Jam Grip and Reg Jupp back up at PG. Herr is a transfer from VA, and Jupp transferred from Wichita ST.

Returning at SF is Soph Mu Mont, and he is backed by frosh Tim Wags.

Our only senior, Jay Daws, starts at PF. Soph Marc Lyn is back at C. Junior Tim Garn backs up at PF and C, and juco junior Dan Main is waiting for his chance.

We’re picked 6th in the PAC 12 but I think we’ll do better.

[Wayne23]

December 2130: I received a surprise on the last day of June. I was walking the beautiful trail at Smith College when I was attacked by a mountain lion. I could have and would have been killed except for some precautions I started taking after the robots and self-driving vehicles were ready to go.

At that point, every time I left home the ambulance and 4 robots followed me. When I left my vehicle the robots remained near me wherever I went. I had created, or actually refined a program for them to use in case I fell into a deep hole, another in case I was trapped under something, others, general and specific about being trapped or whatever, and another in case I was attacked by an animal- actually, specific ones for all of the possible animals that might attack.

When the mountain lion attacked the robots came to my rescue. One put an arm in the lion’s mouth, stopping it from clamping down by slowly and steadily expanding, while another pried open its jaws. The other two essentially broke the damned thing in half. One grabbed the head, neck, shoulder area, the other the back end of the body, and they bent it backward until they broke its back. They then killed it.

But the lion did some severe damage. It clamped its jaws onto my left shoulder. It wasn’t there long enough to tear the shoulder apart or even to bite all the way through, but there was a very deep, jagged bite. There were also very deep scratches from where its claws clamped onto me to hold on while it tried to eat me. Of course it dragged the claws along my body while holding me, which caused a terrible amount of damage. There were places where clumps of flesh were torn off, and others where the flesh was just hanging.

I was semi-conscious by the time the lion was killed. The robots called for the ambulance, which was at the entry to the trail. While they waited they did first aid, each taking a wound area. They managed to slow, and eventually stop the flow of blood in lots of places- all of the vital ones, by the time the ambulance arrived. They loaded me into it, used the advanced medical equipment in the ambulance to clean the wounds and do preliminary bandaging, and brought us home. I was groggy, and probably in shock, but not enough to spare me a great deal of agony.

They then took me into the house by stretcher, and got me into the HC. Their training included instructions for finding the right medical program and loading it into the HC, starting it up, and delivering me to triage. At that point the proper doctors and RNs began work.

It turns out the bite wound was very serious, and eventually it took reconstructive surgery to completely fix it, but that was much later. Initially the concern was to get it to heal without becoming infected.

The claw marks were deep and they did some damage to a kidney. Fortunately, they didn’t tear up my intestines, but the kidney took a lot of effort to save, and the deep claw marks and raking of the claws did all kinds of muscle and tissue damage.

In short, here it is, almost 6 full months later, and I am only now able to get back to living a somewhat normal life. Despite the reconstructive surgery I’m a mess. There are scars, ugly ones, in lots of areas of my body.

I have been able to spend days on the holoyacht for the past couple of months, which really helped my spirits, but I needed an R. N. with me at all times. Fortunately, holonurses don’t need to sleep.

Stan and Ollie were my constant companions on the yacht, and all three of my girlfriends visited from time to time, in the hospital, in rehab, on the yacht, and at home.

Dan and Hal also visited from time to time.

Oh, the mountain lion was tested for rabies, but luckily, it was not rabid. It attacked me an hour or so after sunrise, which is not typical, but I guess it was just extremely hungry.

This was an ordeal I really do not want to repeat. I’ve had all of the surgeries needed, and everything is healed or nearly so.

Now I have to consider how much I can actually do in the real world. I am reluctant to leave it altogether, of course, but it is clearly a dangerous place. I actually had drones flying overhead at Smith, but the mountain lion managed to evade them. I’m thinking about some sort of heat sensor that I could place in the drone. It has one but I can’t even imagine a way it could tell whether the heat was from a bear or a rabbit, for example. The one it has now can’t.

I’ll keep working and keep consulting with the holoexperts.

Oh, weather. We had a HOT summer, an absolutely beautiful fall, which I did not get to see much of, and so far, no snow. Oh, there were no hurricanes this season, either.

Let’s see what the rest of the winter brings.

Next time: Winter, completing the recovery, decisions about life in the real world.

[Wayne23]

11/27: 3-1. Still tweaking the lineup but we’re playing well.

12/20: 7-1, RPI #42. Guard Lal Herr is leading us in scoring, assists, and rebounds, and he is our best defender. This transfer from Virginia has been terrific. Marc Lyn is having a sort of sophomore slump. He’s not playing badly, but not as well as last season. The same holds true for Mu Mont. Tim Garn is picking up some of the slack, and guard Reg Jupp is exceeding all expectations, and has worked his way into the starting PG job.

We’re heading for the JAG Holiday. We’re the #7 seed playing #2 Seton Hall.

12/23: All 4 favorites lost in round one! We won 67-61. We built an early 15 point lead, blew it early in the 2nd half, went down by 9, twice, and then stormed back at the end, finishing on a 15-2 run. 22, 4, 4 for Jupp, 15, 4, 3 for Herr, 13 for sub guard Cam Bow, so our three guards combined for 50 of our 67 points! Marc Lyn had 11 RBs, and we had 6 TOs as a team. We play #6 seed Nevada, 8-3, in the semifinal round.

12/24: 84-76. We led most of the way, by as many as 16. 21, 6, 3 for Herr, and good play all around.

It’s #5 seed LSU, 4-6, but playing better lately, for the title.

12/25: 76-66 and the title! We were down 9 early in the 2nd. Their PG was killing us so we doubled him. He didn’t turn it over much after that but he was no longer getting open shots, and the passes he was able to make didn’t advance their offense. +8 TOs, and a great team effort.

We end pre-conf. play at 10-1, RPI #17. +9.1 PPG, +0.9 RBs, +6.6 TOs (#17 in the nation). Herr continues to be our leader, but Jupp is also really playing well, and Lyn has regained whatever he had lost, and is playing really well. This is a solid team, and I have high expectations for PAC 12 play.

[Wayne23]

March, 2131: It was a mild winter. We seem to be alternating between mild and extreme winters. I was able to do some walking, but I kept it local, around the garage and the house, and I took the robots with me even then.

I was getting stronger by the day and felt like my normal self before the end of February. There were some scars that would be permanent unless I opted for plastic surgery, but what was the point, really? There was no one to be offended or horrified by my scars, and holopeople didn’t care.

I worked on drones that could detect predators, relying on holoexperts to help me, but this was an elusive concept, and we had yet to master it. Until we did I was not about to make any unnecessary trips. I was even wary on my “shopping” trips to Northampton.

But all in all I had a good three months. I wasn’t up to any Star Trek adventures, but I did some space exploration, some ocean bottom exploration, and when I used the Sherlock program I played up Watson’s game leg so that I could move more slowly than normal. It annoyed the hell out of Holmes, but that sort of added to the fun.

And there was, as always, the yacht. It was, and probably always would be my happy place. I cruised the Gulf of Mexico, the Gulf of California, Lake Superior, the Mediterranean, and parts of the Atlantic and the Pacific, especially around Hawaii. I programmed storms from time to time, even fairly severe ones. The cats weren’t crazy about that but I have always loved rough seas more than calm ones.

Life continues to be good, and as I approach my 131st birthday, I feel terrific- strong, healthy, energetic.

Next time: Spring rains, a solution to the drone issue, problems with animals.

[Wayne23]

1/8/2037: 13-2, 3-1, Ranked! #23, RPI #23. First time in the top 25 here at Arizona ST. It feels great! Lyn and Daws are really playing well, and Herr and Jupp continue to play well.
We’re rebounding a little better and continuing to take good care of the ball.

1/29: 16-5, 6-4. Out of the top 25, RPI #22. We’re tied for 3rd in the PAC 12, way back of the top 2 and only one up on 3 teams. But we really only have one more tough team on the schedule.

Tim Wags broke his leg in a game against Cal. He may be back for part of the post season.

2/26: We end the regular season at 21-8, 11-7, RPI #24, ties for 3rd, #3 seed in the PAC 12 tournament. Strange conf. this season. Oregon is #1 in the country, 18-0 in conf., 4 up on #9 Arizona, and they’re 3 up on us.

+3.6 PPG, +1.3 RBs, +4.4 TOs.

[Wayne23]

June, 2131: And it rained… and rained… and rained some more. By early May everything was flooded again. Living on high ground saved me, but I couldn’t go anywhere. Every low lying area, and lots of medium height places were under water. The rains didn’t slow down much until very late in May, and as I write, in the middle of June, things are finally heading toward normal, but the ground is still spongy.

With the help of my HC experts I finally found a solution to identifying large animals via drone. The drone can now clearly identify predators. It’s done through a scan that estimates the weight of the animal, but more than that, the distribution of the weight. Weight alone would ID things like deer as predators, but the way weight is distributed is different among predatory animals than it is among prey when the two are of about equal weight. The device seems to be working perfectly.

We got the ID device just in time. For some reason predators of all kinds are coming closer to the bus garage and the house, and when I get out on the road I need to drive very slowly because they’re everywhere, and they dash into the road with no warning.

I’m guessing something about the balance between predators and prey has changed, and the predators are starving, or at the least, they’re needing to go beyond their normal range to find prey. As a result I am not going outside except in daylight, and I am surrounding myself with 8 robots whenever I’m outside. I used to let Stan and Ollie go outside but now that’s not an option. Of course they don’t understand the change, and they’re not happy about it. I take them for walks and hikes in the HC, but they can smell the difference. Outdoors in the HC feels completely natural to me, but not to the cats.

I am taking this very seriously because it’s dangerous.

Next time: Summer, more animal problems, thinking through solutions.

[Wayne23]

3/9: #6 seed USC, 16-12, 9-9, won their play in. We play them first. Lost by 17 there, then won by 21 here.

Tim Wags is back from the broken leg.

3/10: 65-63. We got lucky. We were down 1 with 1.3 left with the ball all the way at the opposite end. We had Lal Herr inbound it. He threw it to Mu Mont at half court. Mont turned and threw up a 47 footer, and it went in. I’ll take it. 18, 7 for Lyn, 16, 6 for Mont, 14, 10, 4, 4 for Herr. +10 RBs.

We play #2 seed, #9 ranked Arizona, 22-6, in the semifinals. They beat us by 24 there, and 11 here. On paper we’re in big trouble.

3/11: 74-87. We kept in close for more than 30 minutes, but in the end they were too good, and too deep. Their bench had 32, ours had 17. Lyn and Mont both fouled out and the subs just weren’t up to the task.

22-9, 11-7. We’re hoping for a #6 seed but a #7 is probably more likely.

3/12: #7 South. We play #10 New Mexico, 21-9.

3/17: 72-50. We never trailed. 19, 4, 7, 4 for Herr, 12 each for Jupp and Mont.

#2 seed, #8 ranked Syracuse, 25-9, in the 2nd round. Tough team.

3/19: And we came to play! 67-60. We led for the last 38 minutes, by as many as 17. 22, 14, 4 for Lal Herr, 17, 5 for Mu Mont. We shot 44.9% and held them to 32.8%. Great win, and the Sweet Sixteen is farther than Arizona ST has ever gotten. I got to the Elite Eight once at Central FL.

#14 seed Delaware ST, 23-9, upset first #3 and then #6, so we play them next. This is a team we should beat, but they are red hot right now.

3/24: 61-54. We jumped out to a 17-4 lead. They got as close as 5 three times, and 4 once. Great D did it for us again tonight, as we held them to 34.2% shooting. We got balanced scoring with 6 players having between 6 and 11.

We’re in the Elite Eight! We play #4 seed, #15 ranked Memphis, 27-6. This is a tough matchup, but not as tough as Syracuse. We need to be on our game though.

3/26: The city of Tempe, Arizona is going crazy as the Arizona ST Sun Devils beat Memphis 73-53 to go to the FINAL FOUR!!! For the third straight game our D was terrific. Tonight we held Memphis to 30.5% shooting, 18.9% on threes. Lal Herr led us with 20, 7, 4, Jay Daws had 12 and 5, and Mont and Bow had 10 each. +10 RBs.

This is a hell of a feeling!

Two of the Final Four are from the PAC 12 as #1 ranked Oregon got there as well. They will play unranked, #10 seed Seton Hall while we play #1 seed, #3 ranked Georgetown, 34-2. This is a very tough matchup for us. Except for Oregon, Georgetown is easily the best team we’ve played all year.

4/1: Georgetown stormed out to a huge lead, 23-7. My second time out calmed the troops and we slowly chipped away at the lead. At the half we were down 1. The second half was back and forth for 40 minutes with 18 lead changes and 9 ties- in the half. With a minute left they led 71-70 with the ball. Marc Lyn tipped a pass in the paint. Mu Mont grabbed it and tossed it to a breaking Lal Herr who took it all the way for a layup to make it 72-71. They missed a shot and fouled Marc Lyn who made both to get it to 74-71. They came down, missed a three, got the RB and put it in- 74-73, with 6.1 left. They quickly fouled Mu Mont with 4.9 left. He hit both to bring it to 76-73. They had plenty of time to set up a three but our man to man kept their outside shooters covered. They took a contested three that went off the front rim and we’re in the title game!

Mont had 12 and 14, Lyn 12 and 7, Herr had 14, sub Tim Garn had 13, 6, and our #3 guard Cam Bow had 11, 3, 6. +11 RBs, and we held them to 36.5%, the highest pct. Any team has shot against us in this tournament.

And it comes down to #1 in the nation Oregon, 35-2, 18-0. They won by 20 there. Their PF had 42 and 11 that night and that was the difference. We can’t let that happen again. Their Center, who is probably their 2nd best player, is out with a broken toe. That helps, and I think if we can contain their PF we have a shot.

4/3: 70-83. We gave it all we had but it wasn’t enough. 18, 9, 4 for Mont, 16 for Herr, but the D that got us to the title game wasn’t there tonight; they shot 50%.

Bottom line? What a fantastic season!

4/4: Awards: Lal Herr and Marc Lyn, both sophs, made PAC 12 2nd team, and I got conf. COY.

Everyone is back except Jay Daws so it would take a really good offer to get me to move.

4/9: We’re staying here. Unfortunately, because we did so well in the tourney the expectations for next season are to match that, which will be very difficult to achieve.

4/16: And I can’t hire decent assistants. I finally get some very mediocre guys for #2 and #3.

4/23: We need a budget increase. Denied. What does it take? We got to the title game!

What a terrific post season we had. We wound up at 27-10, 11-7. Overall, I’m 196-89, .688.

Looking forward to next season.

[Wayne23]

September, 2131: It was another hot summer, very hot. Seemed like it was in the 90s almost every day. It was very dry. The torrential spring rains meant there was no drought so that was fine, but I didn’t go out much. First, I really do not like hot weather, and second, the animal problem seemed to be getting worse and worse. The drones showed that they were nearby pretty much all the time, to the point that even a trip from the bus garage to the house was dangerous. When making that trip I’d go by pickup, and use remotes to get into and out of both the bus garage and the house garage, watching to be certain no predators got in during the brief time when the doors were open.

I even went further, and stationed four robots just inside the doors at both garages. The predators were that aggressive, and that hungry. The robots could emit loud sounds, and when predators approached, those sounds slowed them up enough for the doors to close fully.

Oh, the house garage connected to the house. Once inside I could go directly into the house from inside the garage.

I had blinds at the house, and either curtains or drapes over them, on all of the windows, because I didn’t want the predators to even be able to see inside. I could see out via both roof mounted cameras and drones. It wasn’t the same as being able to see outside directly, but these were times to be careful.

I wasn’t particularly interested in killing the predators, but I wasn’t interested in having my freedom so thoroughly restricted either.

The drones were showing me that the big cats and the wolves, the two main predatory groups, were all very thin, and moving more slowly than usual. They were starving. And the number of deer and other prey was very, very low, which was obviously the cause. My assumption was that the prey would move on to other regions sooner or later, once they figured out that there was little to no food for them in this area.

But until that happened, or until the balance was somehow restored, I would need to be extremely careful.

I haven’t mentioned it but I created, with the help of my HC experts, a whole fleet of drones equipped with cameras, and with the ability to send video back here to my computers in the HC. I shipped them off in all directions, throughout as much of North America as possible, and even into Central America. For now, that was the limit of their range. I would love to be able to send them to South America, and to the rest of the world, but I’m not even close to figuring out a way to do that.

There were lots of reasons for me to use the drones in this way. The main reason was weather, but I also got an idea about animal movement and population, any earthquakes or other natural disasters, and just general information of all kinds. The drones were programmed to send an alarm when any extreme weather event or natural disaster occurred. I checked in regularly.

Next time: The problem of predators is solved- completely.

[Wayne23]

5/1: We buy the national basic. I’m guessing this will be my last year here. If we have a good season, and we should, I hope to get the opportunity to move up to one of the elite program.

6/1: 2nd anniversary of the end of my longevity treatments and I’m doing better than ever.

6/5: We’re seeing one guy worth pursuing in the transfer pool, an SF.

6/12: Got him!

6/26: 5 scholarships. We need three guards.

8/21: We offer to 3 PGs, 2 bigs.

9/18: Got 2, a PF and a C. We still need those 3 guards. I think we have a good shot at all 3.

We’re in the Sunshine Shootout vs. Arkansas. We definitely beefed up the schedule this year.

9/25: We got a PG, and he was #1 on the list of recruits we really wanted to land. 2 to go, and we’re still in the hunt with both.

10/2: Got another PG. One to go and he has us at #2.

1st day of practice. I LIKE this team.

We’re picked 5th in conf. We’ll do better than that if we stay healthy.

10/16: We lost the last PG. We offer to another one.

11/6: Here’s the lineup:

Senior Cam Bow is at PG, and he’ll play some SG. Junior Lal Herr is at SG. Senior Reg Jupp backs up at PG. All are returning veterans.

Junior Mu Mont is back at SF. Our only frosh, Dan Sly, starts at PF. Junior Marc Lyn is back at C. Soph Tim Wags backs up at SF, PF, and C.

Guys like Tim Garn, who played a lot last year, Greg Hay, a highly regarded transfer from Colorado, and Jam Grip, who has played big minutes for us in the past, are waiting for a shot.

Still looking for that last PG recruit.

Hopes and expectations for the season are both high!

[Wayne23]

December, 2131: Just another quick update on my health. I feel great. On a bad day I feel the way I imagine a 50 year old feels, but on most days I feel as I did when I began the treatments at age 34. To have remained in such great health for nearly 100 years, and through some pretty serious injuries, is more than amazing to me. I don’t question it though. I just gratefully accept it!

Three weeks ago the predator problem was solved- permanently, and in an instant.

I got a drone report from Arizona. It showed the beginning of something that I had feared would happen since the beginning of my solo journey, and to an extent, even before that. It showed a massive natural explosion that could only be one thing, a super volcano that had been considered overdue for at least a century. Soon afterward the drone stopped sending. No doubt it had been destroyed by the gigantic explosion. Within a week none of my drones were sending any more.

I knew I had a little time to get everything together, but that once that time had passed I would be trapped for a year, or possibly even several years. After giving it a great deal of thought I decided to locate myself in the house for the duration. I had the drones reinforce the roof and the entirety of the outside of the house and the attached garage, tape the edges of all windows, including the picture window in the living room, but leave the windows clear so I could see what was going on. They would need to be cleaned regularly once the debris started to fall, but I had a plan for that. They left the garage door operational- more on that later. Given that there were 12 of the robots now, they did all of that quickly, and then I had them do the same to the bus garage.

I moved the pickup with the plow to the house garage, brought everything I needed to the house, including all 6 HCs and all 6 3D printers- not taking any chances, and I hunkered down.

All sunlight was about to disappear, possibly for several years. Quite likely several feet of debris from the super volcano was about to cover the area. I needed to be as prepared as possible.

My plan was for the robots to use the pickup to plow the debris away from the house on a regular basis, to plow a path to the bus garage, and to plow the area in front of the bay doors at the bus garage.

None of that would be easy to accomplish. To keep the pickup and the robots working would require a bunch of things. First, both the robots and the truck’s systems- engine, exhaust, plow… would need to be cleaned regularly. Dirt and dust would destroy them. The plan was to install a shower just outside the garage door. The robots could drive the pickup under it, wash the outside, and then hose down the truck, the engine compartment, the undercarriage… The robots could take showers as well. Oh, and the shower would be solar powered, like everything else, and would need regular cleaning and recharging, of course.

Second, all solar cells, batteries, panels… would need to be regularly replaced so that they could be cleaned and recharged. I had plenty of extras, and they were all in the house at this point.

Finally, having lived through one super volcano I knew the routine of placing the 3D printers in a HC, and setting the HC to a sunny day, in order to recharge the printers, and then recharging all the solar power devices for the HCs as well, and doing all of that on a rigidly regular basis.

I got all of my preparations finished just as everything clouded over, and dust, dirt, and debris started to fall from the sky. I knew it would be a LONG time before I would see sunlight again, and also knew that I would not be leaving the house for an equally long time. It seemed very unlikely that the debris would get as high as the first floor ceiling, but there was second story on this house, and I could move upstairs if the debris level climbed too high. There was simply no way it would bury the second floor.

You may be wondering about how I would replenish the oxygen in the completely sealed in house.

Again, the 3D printer gave me the solution. I could and would print out as many oxygen producing machines as necessary. As you know patients on oxygen had had tanks of the stuff available to them as far back as the middle of the 20th century, and hospitals had ways to bring oxygen into patient rooms as needed. I would use both methods.

Next time: Living in the dark.