Mars Teddy behind the scenes
January 04, 2021
Some more about Mars Teddy, the next set of stories, and how going live with a new website is quicker if you don't make configuration errors.
Going live with Teddy Story
Teddy Story is currently going live, the vast array of 'things that run in the background'(tm) are off and (I hope) running.
The internet domain name machinery has been connected, and the batch synchronisations are grinding. Networking has never been my strong point. My understanding is superficial at best, but hopefully, if I've done everything correctly, Teddy Story will work correctly on web browsers in the next 24 hours.
Given I've already stuffed up a couple of steps and had to go back and fix them, it may be a little longer :)
Update: Teddy Story did go live in the next 24 hours, but only because the 'things that run in the background' run faster than I thought. There were at least another two errors in my config (d'oh!)
Some background on Mars Teddy
Mars Teddy is the teddy responsible for the safety of the few thousand Martians currently in stasis in cryo pods in one of the remaining underground cities. It takes that responsibility very seriously and has a series of regular alarms set to get up and check on everyone.
As one of the planetary teddys (most decent size planets, moons, asteroids and comets usually have one) Mars Teddy is long-lived. No one has any idea how old it is. Like all the teddys it doesn't have the same type of gender as humans, it is just a (very old) teddy.
Mars Teddy was the first of the planetary teddys that found its way into the stories. I wouldn't want to hazard a guess as to why Mars and not one of the other planets. The idea of humans going to/aliens coming from Mars is so deeply entrenched in popular culture that none of the other planets was even in the running.
Around that time, I also read a small interesting piece about Phobos, the larger of Mars two moons, gradually being pulled in towards Mars. It will eventually either crash into the surface or break up into a ring. I imagine this will be quite spectacular when it happens. No need to worry quite yet, it won't be a problem for Mars Teddy for another 50 million years yet.
When the time comes I'm sure they'll deal with it, they're very resourceful.
In the meantime, Mars Teddy is going to be showing our heroes around. There's a lot to explore, the cities, the ruined spaceport and the interplanetary transport system to name a few.
What's coming up next?
Mars Teddy will pass the torch to Guardbot for the moment. It's time to make a proper introduction to the odd little robot.
Getting in touch
After going through the list of things that didn't make it into the first release of Teddy Story, I noticed the rather embarrassing absence of any way to get in touch... oops.
So if you feel like you'd like to, you can drop us a line on teddy@teddy-story.com anytime. Other methods will be coming soon.
Have fun
Hailstorm