{"id":6470,"date":"2023-06-21T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-06-21T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/?p=6470"},"modified":"2023-06-21T03:07:10","modified_gmt":"2023-06-21T03:07:10","slug":"the-adventures-of-maite-and-kepa-part-156","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/2023\/06\/21\/the-adventures-of-maite-and-kepa-part-156\/","title":{"rendered":"The Adventures of Maite and Kepa: Part 156"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Musket balls exploded as they hit the electrical aura surrounding Maite, but she could feel each of the shots as they hit, like if she were wearing a bulletproof vest, she imagined. One exploded in front of her throat, causing her to gasp and momentarily lose her concentration. The next one hit her shoulder and she screamed out in pain. Her vision went fuzzy and started turning red.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/maite-and-kepa-v3b.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4558\" width=\"277\" height=\"387\" srcset=\"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/maite-and-kepa-v3b.png 369w, https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/maite-and-kepa-v3b-215x300.png 215w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 277px) 100vw, 277px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The Adventures of Maite and Kepa<em> is a weekly serial. While it is a work of fiction, it has elements from both my own experiences and stories I&#8217;ve heard from various people. The characters, while in some cases inspired by real people, aren&#8217;t directly modeled on anyone in particular. I expect there will be inconsistencies and factual errors. I don&#8217;t know where it is going, and I&#8217;ll probably forget where it&#8217;s been. Why am I doing this? To give me an excuse and a deadline for some creative writing and because I thought people might enjoy it. Gozatu!<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>\u201cGaruna, can you take over?\u201d she asked, barely conscious as she put all her strength into maintaining her aura. \u201cI need a moment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cYes,\u201d replied the AI. Maite slumped as Garuna took over the zatiak\u2019s power within Maite, overriding her pain and exhaustion to redouble the power of the electric shield surrounding her. She could feel her body drain even faster as Garuna tapped into her body\u2019s resources, pulling every ounce of energy from her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cToo much\u2026\u201d she mumbled.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Garuna seemed to ignore her. The AI didn\u2019t have control of her body, but it had full access to the power of the zatiak and it was seemingly relishing it. Maite sensed that the AI almost seemed happy.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhat are you doing?\u201d asked Maite.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThis power\u2026\u201d began Garuna. \u201cIt is so\u2026 addicting. I\u2019ve never felt this way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cYou must stop!\u201d barked Maite feebly.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cNo,\u201d replied Garuna passionately, in a desperate tone that made Maite shiver. \u201cI need more.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cYou are killing me. If I die, you die.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There was a slight hesitation before Garuna stopped, returning control back to Maite.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIf you ever do that again,\u201d she began. But she knew the threat was hollow. How could she stop the AI if it really wanted to take control again? She wasn\u2019t sure she could even if she knew how.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In her mind, the AI remained silent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Maite turned back toward the soldiers that separated her from her goal. Blood flowed down her arm, which dangled uselessly at her side. Her eyes, however, sparkled and flashed like the most brilliant lightning storm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-cyan-bluish-gray-background-color has-background\"><em>If you get this post via email, the return-to address goes no where, so please write <a href=\"mailto:blas@buber.net\">blas@buber.net<\/a> if you want to get in touch with me.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Musket balls exploded as they hit the electrical aura surrounding Maite, but she could feel each of the shots as they hit, like if she were wearing a bulletproof vest, she imagined. One exploded in front of her throat, causing her to gasp and momentarily lose her concentration. The next one hit her shoulder and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4410,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2640,864],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6470","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-adventures-of-maite-and-kepa","category-bubers-basque-story"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/maite-and-kepa-v2-01.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2sYNu-1Gm","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6470","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6470"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6470\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6471,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6470\/revisions\/6471"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}