The Space Opera Working Thread

Hey, fellas....so...I'm in need of just a tiny bit of background and synopsis here..on the K-IV surface.
Mr Jordan came with the Droids in Akron. Correct?
They are meeting up with Carimono and the wolves...who are already there...do they live there? Or are they faders who go from place to place like Death and Pandora?

Mr Jordan is a Vithian, and I recall him being one that was "monitoring" Tibbs, isn't that right?

Sorry...I get a little tripped up between Mr Jordan and professor Shaw...
and the carnival scene was with Shaw and Neno as a Biker in a former life, right? My brother lives in Billings, by the way...very industrial and odd sort of city. I can just see their county fair....he he...my mom and I went to visit him two winters ago...and we toured the Sugar Beet factory. O. M. G. It was enough to make a person NEVER want to eat white granulated sugar again. Unbelievably old, leaky, half-abandoned, and filthy. Wow. Very interesting though, and it was a private tour by an employee, NOT a "public tour"....the "public" part was fine...it was the "authorized personnel only" parts that were downright horrifying. But educational, to say the least.

BIAD, can you direct me to a little more info on Mucklebones? Or give an approximate arrival date for her so I can read back? I'm digging around in the early threads, skimming and reading to try to get up to speed better, but I'm not sure yet who's invention she is, or Tibbs, or the Splitter -- I thought they were all yours, as well as Cecilia, Drake and Corky the droids, and Death and Pandora. Is that correct? Please let me know if I've corrupted any of them -- of so, it was never intentional.

reply to post by wildtimes

Mr Jordan came with the Droids in Akron. Correct?

No. Mr. Jordan comes-and-goes as he pleases.

They are meeting up with Carimono and the wolves...who are already there...do they live there? Or are they faders who go from place to place like Death and Pandora?

They're waiting to step in when Carimono and his canine-pals 'bump' into Neno, BIAD
and Tibbs

Mr Jordan is a Vithian, and I recall him being one that was "monitoring" Tibbs, isn't
that right?

Yes. The Committee sent him to keep an eye on Tibbs.

... and the carnival scene was with Shaw and Neno as a Biker in a former life, right?

Possibly, I honestly don't know -BIAD won't say!

My brother lives in Billings, by the way...very industrial and odd sort of city. I can just see their county fair....he he...my mom and I went to visit him two winters ago...and we toured the Sugar Beet factory. O. M. G. It was enough to make a person NEVER want to eat white granulated sugar again. Unbelievably old, leaky, half-abandoned, and filthy. Wow. Very interesting though, and it was a private tour by an employee, NOT a "public tour"....the "public" part was fine...it was the "authorized personnel only" parts that were downright horrifying. But educational, to say the least.

BIAD, my family and me went to Billings a few years ago... I didn't see your brother!

BIAD, can you direct me to a little more info on Mucklebones?
Or give an approximate arrival date for her so I can read back?
I'm digging around in the early threads, skimming and reading to try to get up to speed better, but I'm not sure yet who's invention she is, or Tibbs, or the Splitter -- I thought they were all yours, as well as Cecilia, Drake and Corky the droids, and Death and Pandora.
Is that correct? Please let me know if I've corrupted any of them -- of so, it was never intentional.

Muckles shambles in...
Yes... Mucklebones, Tibbs, ALL the Tumblers, Death, Pandora, Corky, Drake, The Splitter,
Bernard V, Valve Twenty-Three and Boy In A Dress... all came out of the cardboard box that
was delivered a couple of Halloween-eve's ago.
But that's a tale for another time.

If you see these guys at their Annual Opera Party, you'd know that it is doubtful that that
they can be corrupted!

reply to post by A boy in a dress


Ahh... thanks so much! I remember the Killing Joke Tavern.

So...she was rescued from Earth a long time ago....
by her race, who then deserted her here....

that could be very useful to build on with her history with Gert. Is there more backstory to her "race" and that "rescue"? Was she always a witch? Did she come with a manual when she arrived on halloween?

And isn't Uktena the name of the swamp beast on Khalamzadar-IV? The Snaketena is the flying one....

So, was that action at the Tavern on a planet called Uktena? Or is Uketna a city on Khalamzadar?
Sorry for my confusion. A bit kerfuffled. I thought the Dark Lord and the Culls were on Carbiox. She was lurking on Carbiox?

Ah well, I'll just go back and read some more...being lazy and impatient at the same time....
but....back to Mucklebones. So, she was "alone", ancient, horny, hates technology because she was tortured on Earth, and then when she shambled into the mix she's at this same Uktena place....I think?

What was her race's origin? Where did they go? Gray Alien's obviously....but from where?

reply to post by A boy in a dress


And yet another question. Akron was sent there with ONLY the two -- Bernard and Valve 23, and Mr Jodan met up with them there, correct? They are pretending to dig for Duranium, apparently. If I recall, that was K-IV's mother lode of value.
Yikes, I'm with Tibbs, I'm wondering where this is all heading.

What is Mr Jordan's agenda here -- to stop Carimono from disrupting another time-wracking, it looks like. Is he a good guy who came to help out? Or is he "using" Akron and the droids for ulterior motives...? Sheesh I'd like to crawl into your brain and not be so nosey...

reply to post by wildtimes

... to stop Carimono from disrupting another time-wracking, it looks like.
s he a good guy who came to help out?
Or is he "using" Akron and the droids for ulterior motives...?

Mr. Jordan IS attempting to thwart Carimono's plan, but he doesn't want
Tibbs to know he's being monitored.

Muckles' history is that she's been hanging about for centuries-upon-centuries
She lost her partner (hubby) in a crash in New Mexico and it seems she was
held and tortured by the Military -Hence her initial uncertanties about Neno.

I don't know her heritage... she seems half-gray, half-something else.
Witch, scientist, sorcerer... BIAD sees them as all the same.
(He's just asked me to write that as he's trying a ballet-costume on.
He's a freakin' embarrassment)

reply to post by A boy in a dress


Well, just tell him to use the tu-tu, because the one-one will be too small, and the three-three will cover his legs.

reply to post by A boy in a dress

(He's just asked me to write that as he's trying a ballet-costume on. He's a freakin' embarrassment)

I dunno if I's call it embarrassment...

And this better show up in the storyline...

reply to post by silo13


You have no idea how many ornamental plates, carriage-clocks and
Royal Doulton stuff that BIAD has destroyed attempting that pose.

His red high-heels are bound with white electrician-tape and he keeps
shouting out "Demi-pointe!" and "Bras Croisé"

It seems Disco is out for the mo.

Originally posted by wildtimes

And isn't Uktena the name of the swamp beast on Khalamzadar-IV? The Snaketena is the flying one....

yes, it is... and the name of a giant horned snake from Cherokee legend (always at war with the Thunder Birds) with a large crystal in it's forehead, and the name of a town on Carbiox. it's evidently a multi-purpose word that probably came from off-Earth to begin with.

So, was that action at the Tavern on a planet called Uktena? Or is Uketna a city on Khalamzadar?
Sorry for my confusion. A bit kerfuffled.

I thought the Dark Lord and the Culls were on Carbiox. She was lurking on Carbiox?

Carbiox was the planet, Uktena was a town on it, and the dark Lord's tower was in a verdant canyon on the other side of the Hell Mines outside Uktena.

Welllll our friends are in a fix now are they not.

The Deson Fighter is contaminated along with everything metal/mechanical. That means Tibbs and Skinny are doomed along with the fighter.

Somehow Newman has to figure out how to get the U-Mans and himself off the fighter and back onto Ship without the fighter and Ship coming into contact. Then of course the crew into quarantine. Which means the Center.

Oh my. I have sooo painted myself into a corner.

Any suggestions on how to accomplish this?

I've got a post sketched out - Moriah is going to help pay for her mistakes by flying the fighter for the moment - but from there?

Good day ya'll.

Originally posted by A boy in a dress

You have no idea how many ornamental plates, carriage-clocks and
Royal Doulton stuff that BIAD has destroyed attempting that pose.

There are times, whether in the Opera or here in the working thread, when what I read is unintended literary genius. The image of a sprawled BIAD among the scattered shards came immedidiately to mind. I also wished you'd said "Royal Doulton figurines which" so badly my gut actually wrenched... which, in itself is further proof.

Thanks for that gem.

reply to post by masqua


I worked for many... nay, too many years for a newspaper company
that was attached to many other companies. Madam Tussauds, Penguin
Books and Royal Doulton -were but afew.

So you can imagine my feelings after acquiring such beautiful crockery at
below-rate 'special-customer' prices when BIAD does -what he calls 'a mixture
of À la seconde and a Pasodoble' and takes out a 'Bunnykins' plate, two 'Whyte
& Mackay' Osprey Whiskey Flaggons and a Demitasse.

Maybe I should've looked elsewhere and purchased a Brad Pitt-look-a-like or the
Hunchback from Tussauds, at least you can re-assemble them!

EDIT: Oh, and if one assumes BIAD has feelings of guilt and attempts to repair
the broken objects with a tube of glue, then you're sadly mistaken.
Giving the Man/Girl a tube of aeroplane adhesive and watching him perform with
those long nails is like giving a hefty-chunk of toffee to a dog and observing the
outcome.

My God... you didn't kill a Bunnykins plate?

Utter blasphemy!

So, how can we work the detritus of the Victorian Age into the Opera? An alternate universe where breathless Royal Doulton ballerinas dance on Royal Sphynx soup plates, enabling FTL space exploration? Their weaponry consisting of Delft's knick knacks fired from Bavarian crystal cannons?

Oh, geez... I need another coffee.

reply to post by masqua

There is a place, a small planet in the Delta-Quadrant... just next to a Walmart.
Where fine china of Grafton and Royal Ascot sit on cast-iron mantles beneath
heavily-framed sepia-photographs of some Crimean-guy on a fat tail-plaited horse.

The citizens of this cosy 'off-the-radar' little world travel with light footfalls to their
toil and even dignitaries can be seen in short, sheer-fabric skirts.
BIAD once spoke of visiting this orb, his attire assured him a warm welcome and
some of his athletic poses made him the Belle of many of their Balls.

It was only later, that BIAD's friend, the ArchBishop of Capetown changed his name to
suit that planet -so faraway.
His name is now 'Desmond'

reply to post by masqua

Originally posted by masqua

So, how can we work the detritus of the Victorian Age into the Opera? An alternate universe where breathless Royal Doulton ballerinas dance on Royal Sphynx soup plates, enabling FTL space exploration? Their weaponry consisting of Delft's knick knacks fired from Bavarian crystal cannons?

Oh, geez... I need another coffee.

I went to school for a bit (i.e. about a month before I was kicked out) at Virginia Intermont College. Their major output is equestrians and Ballet Dancers. I was studying "Art", as if that were something one learns rather than something one is born with and merely unleashes - which is more my opinion in the matter. I have it on good authority that ballerinas are always armed, china shards or not! Those legs can break a horse's neck with nothing more than a deft flick and a smile.

I got kicked out after a month or so - a poor man playing in a rich man's school was the rationale. There was a writeup in the campus newspaper about it - two, actually - by incensed fellow students, They wrote me up as "Arlo", because i reminded some of the denizens of that stalwart institution of Arlo Guthrie - they had watched "Alice's Restaurant" while in their cups one weekend.

Anyhow, I got along better with the ballerinas than the equestrians. The equestrians always sallied forth like they were going to a fox hunt in English livery and saddles, which I thought wrong on so many levels for that particular area - it offended the artist hiding in me. The ballerinas, on the other hand, I HAD to get along with - they scared me! I suppose I scared them as well at times. There were a couple of occasions where they smuggled me to their dorm rooms to hunt for mice or something like that. Must have been the wild look in my eye that indicated no mouse was safe, I dunno, but from that experience, I don't think a Brahma bull has anything on a ballerina when it comes to destruction of china shops, so BIAD may be well on his way!

reply to post by nenothtu


He too eats mice... if that's the correct answer!

For me, I was what they call over here - in those days 'a wrong 'un'
I was always in fights, getting locked up and running with the wrongs sorts.
I was placed in the 'brainy-class' because some of the teachers believed I
was burying my so-called intelligence just so I could fit-in with the folks I
had grown up with.

I came to a decision in my late-teens and turned my world around, they
were sort of right... the life I lead now is much better.

Not too long ago, a fiend of mine gave some of my written scrawl to a shrink
-he knew and thought that she'd enjoy the yarns.
In a seminar at a University, the 'Head-Doctor' rang my friend and told him that
the papers he had given her were now displayed on a wall infront of some students
and they were laughing at the -hopefully humourous prose.
She also said something else that he related to me later.
"She said that the kids and herself agreed that two minds were livin' in the same
body" he reported!
I asked what he thought she'd meant and was surprised at his answer.
"Well, she thinks that a 'darker-side' shows up in your wordings"

Later, I thought about that and decided that when I wrote the pieces, it was a
time when things were not goind so well and that's how my feelings had manifested
themselves... there wasn't another skulking just below the surface, there was no
Goblin in my closet!

But some nights...

reply to post by masqua

Sounds awesome....I like the Victorian part....I can't wait to see what comes of this!! You guys amaze me with your anecdotes...remind me of things so long ago, nearly forgotten...ah, being middle-aged has its advantages, no?

Too bad I grew up in the boring midwest of the USA....not nearly the glamour and drama of your exotic roots!! I did my best to make a shambles of it, though. Came out the other side...still ducking and swinging....and still walk like a dancer, they tell me. A Ballet dancer, that is.

reply to post by silo13


I'm not sure how to get out of that pickle - if the "force" is melting metal, i.e. dissolving the 'droids, then the Deson Fighter is likely not long for this universe, either, so whatever is done ought to be done SOON - it's considered to be a bad thing for the contraption insulating living organisms from the vacuum of space to dissolve from around them!

Considering that it has probably knocked out your communications, it IS a bit of a sticky problem!

reply to post by nenothtu


What if this force DOES get to The Yydryl, your idea of another craft from the planet's
surface may have to come into-play or we're marooned!

(Oh goody, this is where I get to do my Scooby-Doo Strange-Lighthouse Man voice!)

"Thar'll be no one leavin' the island tonight... thar bridge is out, yar"

reply to post by wildtimes


This Steampunk idea...? will we be required to dress-up in those tight-leather
corset-things and heavy make-up? I'm not adverse to wearing it, it's just BIAD
demands more-and-more and it ends up with me shovelling coal to keep the
boilers stoked and him prancing around in thigh-length boots.

It's just that I've only recently got the neighbours settled after his carry-on.