Edit Notice: Chapter 4.23
I normally do not announce chapter edits as posts – I would drive you all crazy if I did, since each chapter starts out as a first draft when it hits the blog, and typically gets at least a dozen edits before I’m done poking at it. This edit was significant though, not just a restructuring of what was already there, changed spelling, or grammar improvement.
If you see this post after you have already read chapter 4.23, I have just completed an edit of the end of the chapter, describing in clearer detail what Bob was doing and why, a tiny bit more detail about how nuclear weapons are supposed to work, and also adding in some extra content where he’s talking to himself about things not immediately related to surviving the bomb.
I hope this makes things a bit clearer. As far as I am aware, my portrayals of nuclear warheads and antimatter explosions are accurate to the real world.
Symbiote 
Sorry I pestered you about it so much the other day, but it makes a lot more sense to me now.
What? You think I’m going to be in any way upset that you helped me improve my writing?
The way I see it, you just walked up behind me, and pulled the “kick me” sign off my shirt.
🙂
Aright, cool. I always feel kinda bad about doing that for some reason.
I just finished catching up with your story. I really like the story but I think would help your readers if you used a real Table of Contents instead of the monthly post summary in the Archives because some chapters get missed in your monthlies.
Someone suggested a rock to bring down the Tomahawk and you said it would not work. I was wondering why Bob allowed the controlling plane to remain aloft when he has the ability to knock it out of the sky. Also, I suspect Avya is watching what is going on, and she never promised not to help, so why has she not got her lazy butt in gear to protect her man?
I have considered a table of contents as a separate page much like the copyright and fanfic linked page. It makes good sense, but it will require some significant degree of work to build the first time and organize properly. Future chapters after that could be easily added, for sure.
In a second consideration, a rock would have worked with the staff, it would have worked without the staff, with his body strength, if he had thought to pick up a rock. It would have worked in all sorts of ways if he had thought about it and planned in advance for it, but remember that most of his processing ability is not native to him. He’s borrowing it. Once he had his clever idea of bouncing into the air and putting a shield up in front of him, between the nuke and himself, hoping to trigger the missile to detonate by hiding his radiation signature behind the shield which would also protect him to some degree, that’s what he did. He never split off half a dozen shards and had them brainstorm between themselves what the best way to deal with the missile might be. Even when he says he’s embracing the abilities, he’s holding himself back from using Frank’s computing capacity to the best of his ability. He’s fearful of utilizing his full potential, computing-wise, though power-wise, he rides the edge when there’s a need. He worries about his mind. He’s already concerned about addiction to Frank’s processing power. He fears becoming something less human.
On the matter of Ayva, yes she did promise not to stay close enough to influence the fight or monitor Bob. She wasn’t very happy about it either. I think we can count on seeing her rather soon.
Thank you for the explanation of the TOC. Btw, I would rather you spent time writing than devote any time to the TOC. It was just an idea that came up while trying to catch-up with you.
I just realized I forgot something. Is it possible to add an RSS feed? For readers who are current, the RSS feed is the best way to know when you have posted something new.
I cannot see Ayva staying out of the fight but it surprised me that so much occurred without her stepping in to help. I’m sorry about misspelling her name. I guess I was trying to convert it into a good Russian name.
If Bob hadn’t specifically extracted a promise from her, knowing that she would almost certainly do exactly what you expected, she would have been there. You instincts aren’t wrong.
Misspelling Ayva’s name is no concern, it was an entirely made up name to me when I created it. When I later found that it was the Turkish name for the quince fruit, and was actually used as a name fairly regularly in some parts of the world, I was surprised.