Space Opera Working Thread II

This is a continuation of the first working thread as it has accumulated 400 pages and has had to be curtailed to be kind to ATS servers.

Please continue posting as normal

Thank you Masqua and Boy In A Dress is sending a signed photograph of him during
one of his 'work-outs' at the local gym.

Very Cool! Thank you Masqua!

peace

I was thinking of using this beginning to explain the place through the mist.
What do you think? It's just an option!

Avalon Inc.


When Enrico Fermi commented 'where is everybody?' the quote was referring to
the idea that with the universe being so big and supposedly filled with suns and
planets, surely civilisations would be interacting with each other to such a point as
resources would never be a problem.

Prada May -the large green globe in the Centari system, would agree with the
Italian Physicist, there seems to be nobody delivering the goods.
To be more precise, the planet was running out of vital minerals and ores and the
question wasn't where are the saviours from the skies, but what are we going to do
now?

Avalon Inc. came up with a solution that would be commented on in later-journals as
'an act of brilliance' and 'Industry once again, manning the walls of care' when in reality,
the answer was obtained in a less-noble fashion.

Prada May prized itself on having a healthy global outlook, poverty was a vague memory
and crime was merely an annoying fly that occasionally buzzed onto the population's
perspective.
The lush foliage of the planet obviously helped and thanks to wiser-heads, it was realised
that this organic benefit shouldn't be trifled with, any progress would have to weigh the
serious repercussions of destroying the vast jungles and forests.

So as the residents of this well-behaved world moved along and built their empires,
a cautious eye was kept on it's surroundings and one could say that other races could
better themselves by taking a page out of Prada May's book.

Then they ran out of Berrin. The huge deposits just dried-up and due to Prada May
boasted mile-high structures built with the flexible material, there was quite a panic
when Berrin-mining companies suddenly announced lay-offs and mass-redundancy.

Avalon Inc. stepped up to the plate and assured the populace that all would be well
and two weeks later, Carbonim went bye-bye... no more fuel to burn.
The odd-thing about Prada May is that the scientists were at a loss to explain how the
fossilized- carbon could run out. I mean with all those trees about, it seemed ludicrous
that the stuff that we know as 'coal' could suddenly be no more.
It just didn't make sense.
So with 'squeaky-bum time' waiting in the wings, to stop the thoughts of mass panic
and the crumbling of moral standards it was Avalon Inc. that revealed it's newest
discovery.
The Glass Veil.

In reality, Avalon Inc. had just acquired Paradigm Aerospace Industries and the small
company had just finished designing a new craft that could cross the eight-thousand
miles to a nearby moon.
The executives at Avalon believed that the dark-crusty orb could be exploited for it's
sleeping minerals and it was this spaceship, that was to be shown to the relieved
people of Prada May.

As luck would have it, a chap with a large garage and his eye on making a fortune
was tinkering around with a home-made machine that could send oral messages
by using a vacuum wrapped in a plasma-ball.
Apparently, certain electrons draw similar electrons and so, a dispatcher and
receiver could -in theory, could be created and be used to have these unique balls
of crackling nothingness flying from one place to another in an instant.
Personally, I'd have invented the telephone, but heh... what do I know?

Jacob Merlin had stumbled across something that he originally called a 'Gravity Punch'
during his time in the garage and when the grey mist that poured from the sparking
machine cleared to show a scene that the bald-headed Merlin had never seen before,
he reckoned a vacation-making opportunity had arisen.
He contacted Avalon Inc. that very-same day.

Avalon Inc. 'acquired' this discovery two months after Jacob Merlin was found dead in
his bathroom. People should really take care where they leave bars of soap.

The Gravity Punch -which was re-christened 'The Glass Veil' was a force that caused
a tear in time and space and through the fizzing aperture another reality could be accessed.
It was the same type of artificial Worm-Hole that the Vithians had been using for...
well, a long time.

For Prada May, this discovery came as a saviour and the big-green planet's future was
assured. Praise be to Avalon and onward with raiding other world's of their underground
deposits!

All of this was twenty centuries ago and today, the huge pyramid structures that rumbled in
their subterranean endeavours worked automatically, Prada May had long-gone in an
internal war.
The single employee, who's job status was called a 'Merlin' (now there's corporate guilt!)...
watched from the small window at the base of the pyramid as the humanoid wearing the
wide-rimmed hat stepped out of the mist.

This was enough to cause some alarm, but the sight of the slim-craft roaring overhead
made the Merlin gulp and wonder what to do. I mean, it's not like he could contact anyone.

reply to post by A boy in a dress

Works for me!

Soooo, with that said - how are you/we going to incorporate Gert and her Sisterhood with Dag and all that in there?

Or is that another dimension - and yes dimensions is what whoops me up. Don't get them at all.

Also - is Avalon Inc. on Neno's planet? Or 'through the mist' - and if it's 'through the mist' how can it rape the resources?

I promise I'm not being difficult - I just don't get the 'through the mist' thing or the 'dimension' thing.

Maybe give me a paragraph or two - like a dummies cheat sheet?

Happy Sunday!

(Oh - and I know where Dag is but where's Adam)???

The point of my above post?

I've got Jeni on the brink of Avalon Inc somewhere in the mist along Neno's planet - kind of in between here and there. She's messed up, naked and blind. She wants to go to the 'Sisterhood' (in Avalon) and stay there to learn (whatever the hell it is they learn there) and maybe get her eyesight back. That's a given. But where is the Sisterhood and 'their' Avalon?

Newman? He's on Neno's Planet and I've just received a note he's about to post - point being - he's on the 'dangerous green side' of the planet.

There's a giant running around on the 'green side' of the planet - hurt badly - but still alive.

Flint, Argus and 'Violet' (Silo) are also on the 'green side' waiting for something to happen.

Moriah's going to end up wherever Jeni is - or at least where she 'landed' from the malfunctioning teleport.

Chumley - He's in a Tumbler headed for the 'green' part of the planet too drop off the animals but from there he's going to want to get the group back together too.

Soooooooo If everyone's to hook up together - me and them (grammar) need more input!

reply to post by silo13

...
Soooo, with that said - how are you/we going to incorporate Gert and her Sisterhood
with Dag and all that in there?

Er... I dunno! The idea was the place where these pyramids are -is another place... another
world and I suppose anything is possible.

...Or is that another dimension - and yes dimensions is what whoops me up.
Don't get them at all.

Are you still 'whooping'? I thought you'd gotten pills for that.

...Also - is Avalon Inc. on Neno's planet? Or 'through the mist' -
and if it's 'through the mist' how can it rape the resources?

As above, it's a 'place'... maybe the machines there kicked-on and ripped a 'portal' for
our grumbling gunslinger to wander into.

It's a clean canvas M'lady, so do as thou wilt... (wilt?!)

...I promise I'm not being difficult - I just don't get the 'through the
mist' thing or the 'dimension' thing.

Yes you are being difficult and you know I'm a sensitive soul that can be easily
upset... and I've cracked a nail.

...Maybe give me a paragraph or two - like a dummies cheat sheet?

Will do, (Aw Lawks, now I have to think on my feet!)

(Oh - and I know where Dag is but where's Adam)???

I think they're still making their way through from the Underworld... I think because
BIAD is hanging upside-down in his shed with meditation.
With his dress being so short, there's NO WAY I'm going there to ask.

Have a good 'un.

silo13
The point of my above post?

I've got Jeni on the brink of Avalon Inc somewhere in the mist along Neno's planet - kind
of in between here and there. She's messed up, naked and blind.
She wants to go to the 'Sisterhood' (in Avalon) and stay there to learn
(whatever the hell it is they learn there) and maybe get her eyesight back.
That's a given. But where is the Sisterhood and 'their' Avalon?

Newman? He's on Neno's Planet and I've just received a note he's about to post
- point being - he's on the 'dangerous green side' of the planet.

There's a giant running around on the 'green side' of the planet - hurt badly - but still alive.

Flint, Argus and 'Violet' (Silo) are also on the 'green side' waiting for something to happen.

Moriah's going to end up wherever Jeni is - or at least where she 'landed' from the
malfunctioning teleport.

Chumley - He's in a Tumbler headed for the 'green' part of the planet too drop off the
animals but from there he's going to want to get the group back together too.

Soooooooo If everyone's to hook up together - me and them (grammar) need more input!

edit on 2-3-2014 by silo13 because: (no reason given)

The strange area through the mists is a planet far-off or nearby, it hasn't been
determined yet (Oh Mercy, Neno come to the rescue!)... The mist is a result of
Prada May's Avalon Inc. company using the machine they 'acquired' to move around
the galaxies sucking up vital resources.

The machinery that draws the minerals and ores up have been working for a
long time and Prada May no longer exists. So these things are just... well, doing
what they've always done.

The guy that's there, well he'll have to 'fleshed out' somehow, but it won't be
a problem if he get's on the wrong-side of Neno's trigger finger.

For some reason, the machine that causes the tears in time/space has been
switched on and so, Neno, Sslar and Margot have discovered the rip and entered
it.
It has no bearing on Khalamzadar IV or it's inhabitants... it's just happened to
appear there.

The place is pleasant, poppyfields and old stone circles from a by-gone age.
There is woodland and streams and even though BIAD wishes me to add there
are trees with Cotton Candy on them, I'll refrain if you don't mind!!!

So it's a forgotten place. I'm sure that motley-crew you've mentioned can
get there (minus the giant)

The cheque is in the mail.

I'm just waiting on Nenothtu's say-so on whether it's okay.

reply to post by A boy in a dress

The strange area through the mists is a planet far-off or nearby, it hasn't been
determined yet (Oh Mercy, Neno come to the rescue!)...

That's for Neno or you - I'm not touching that.

The mist is a result of Prada May's Avalon Inc. company using the machine they 'acquired' to move around
the galaxies sucking up vital resources.

That might work in great with the back story on Quiet etc - who believe it’s Neno’s fault their planet is ‘frozen’ (at the moment with all the inhabitants in cryo) - Meaning - it isn’t Neno’s fault Avalon Inc. uses Neno’s planet as a ‘base’ of sorts. Vague but working with this, lol. I'll roll it around a bit more.

The machinery that draws the minerals and ores up have been working for a
long time and Prada May no longer exists. So these things are just... well, doing
what they've always done.

Cool.

The guy that's there, well he'll have to 'fleshed out' somehow, but it won't be
a problem if he get's on the wrong-side of Neno's trigger finger.

Ok - then the only wonderment I’m left with is - if Gert and Wild and this Sisterhood are there? Are they there? Or - is it really a rip in time? I’ll try to figure that out because I’d really like to leave Jeni with the Sisterhood and be done with Gert and that whole story line. Maybe it will come up later - maybe not. Maybe it works the ‘Sisterhood’ is a place for chickies to heal, etc and that is that.

Yeah, a 'floating' rip in time. Here and there at once all that happy crappy - ok.

For some reason, the machine that causes the tears in time/space has been
switched on and so, Neno, Sslar and Margot have discovered the rip and entered
it.

Which would make it possible for Jeni to ‘go there’ etc.

It has no bearing on Khalamzadar IV or it's inhabitants... it's just happened to
appear there.

If it’s sucking up the resources in K4 - or from under? Hmmm... So it can rape pillage and plunder and no one knows it? *foggy here*

The place is pleasant, poppyfields and old stone circles from a by-gone age.
There is woodland and streams and even though BIAD wishes me to add there
are trees with Cotton Candy on them, I'll refrain if you don't mind!!!

Jeni will like that and Moriah will not mind leaving her there - well, she will but it's the less of evils, etc...

So it's a forgotten place. I'm sure that motley-crew you've mentioned can
get there (minus the giant)

Giant’s going to die. Can’t tell how yet but he's on his way out already.
Jeni will get there for sure.
Moriah may ‘opt out’ going - and stay on K4 with Chumley and Newman to look for Silo and the others. That will give you and Neno a chance to ‘flesh out’ the rest of it - and then maybe we can make plans to meet up.

I'm just waiting on Nenothtu's say-so on whether it's okay.

Sweet!

Thanks and - tell BIAD for me I hear BlockBusters is selling cotton-candy in tinfoil bags now. It turns into bubblegum after a few chews.
If that doesn’t get the Red Dressed One down from the rafters I don’t know what will.
Oh - and it comes in grape flavor too.

reply to post by silo13

Which would make it possible for Jeni to ‘go there’ etc...

I guess so, I'll wager the 'Rip' just emerges wherever it emerges
and if one steps in...

...If it’s sucking up the resources in K4 - or from under?
Hmmm... So it can rape pillage and plunder and no one
knows it? *foggy here*

It's sucking resources from somewhere (I'm nibbling my lip and
hoping you'll buy it!)... the planet that is 'inside' the Rip is different
from K4, it's just the Rip that connects them.
(Insert small prayer here)

Thanks and - tell BIAD for me I hear BlockBusters is selling
cotton-candy in tinfoil bags now. It turns into bubblegum
after a few chews.

If that doesn’t get the Red Dressed One down from the rafters
I don’t know what will.
Oh - and it comes in grape flavor too.

Do you have any idea what happens when BIAD get's hold of
some bubblegum?!!!
Apart from the loud flatulence, the damned-stuff gets in his hair
and it's muggins-here, who has to comb it out.

Cheers-me-dears.

reply to post by A boy in a dress

It's sucking resources from somewhere (I'm nibbling my lip and
hoping you'll buy it!)... the planet that is 'inside' the Rip is different
from K4, it's just the Rip that connects them.
(Insert small prayer here)

This is where I get so confused.

So - the planet INSIDE K4 isn't getting trounced and used. Got it.

The topside? I've got that down great - Green, dangerous and hospitable to a point.

So the Rip connects them? (Confused again). LOL...

But, not problem - we'll work through it...

Thanks tons...

reply to post by A boy in a dress


Works for me, too. The only change I'd make in the narrative if it were me is the 8000 mile distance to the moon. Moons are ranged usually in the hundreds of thousands of miles. I think ours is around 239,000 miles away if I recall correctly, 8000 miles is within satellite distance. The GPS satellites, for example, are in a 24000 mile orbit around Earth.

I can work with that - I've a mind to introduce a new villain, anyhow. The Merlin may not be aware of what lies outside his pyramid - he seems a timid sort.

reply to post by A boy in a dress


Suppose the pyramid is a nexus of sorts - a place to house the machinery that sends one to this dimension or that dimension, rather than a destination itself? Will that work?

reply to post by nenothtu

Poor Neno! He's already got one mad man and a Queen after his tail feathers (Pax and Mag) but that's not enough for the rough hewn star chaser!

Can't wait to read about the new nemesis. The story needs more spice!

Good day to you both!

A boy in a dress

The strange area through the mists is a planet far-off or nearby, it hasn't been
determined yet (Oh Mercy, Neno come to the rescue!)... The mist is a result of
Prada May's Avalon Inc. company using the machine they 'acquired' to move around
the galaxies sucking up vital resources.

Since we are talking dimensions here, and Silo has a hard time grasping "dimensions", think of it as a "far off planet" - so far off that you'd never be able to get there with any sort of starship, much less by walking. Starships travel between stars, rather than between dimensions, so there is no way to get "there" from "here" by using that technology. A poor analogy would be trying to cross the Atlantic using a child's swimming pool as a bull boat. Jut ain't gonna happen. The analogy breaks down when one realizes that America and Europe are in the same reality, unlike separate dimensions.

The machinery that draws the minerals and ores up have been working for a
long time and Prada May no longer exists. So these things are just... well, doing
what they've always done.

I had the impression that Avalon, Inc. went when Prada May dissolved itself, leaving only the machinery at the "nexus" as it's only calling card.. making that place "Avalon", in lieu of the actual existence of the now defunct corporation.

The guy that's there, well he'll have to 'fleshed out' somehow, but it won't be
a problem if he get's on the wrong-side of Neno's trigger finger.

Oh come now! Neno's gonna shoot that mousy little dude? Where is the honor? Anyhow, I pictured the poor little guy as a clerk - round spectacles, blackjack dealer's visor, and maybe even sleeve-garters! Neno would probably feel real bad about X-ing him out!

For some reason, the machine that causes the tears in time/space has been
switched on and so, Neno, Sslar and Margot have discovered the rip and entered
it.
It has no bearing on Khalamzadar IV or it's inhabitants... it's just happened to
appear there.

I like it! Little clerk-guy might have pushed the wrong button on a slightly malfunctioning machine (where IS maintenance when you need them? In the break room?) and POOF! There it is!

The place is pleasant, poppyfields and old stone circles from a by-gone age.
There is woodland and streams and even though BIAD wishes me to add there
are trees with Cotton Candy on them, I'll refrain if you don't mind!!!

So it's a forgotten place. I'm sure that motley-crew you've mentioned can
get there (minus the giant)

The cheque is in the mail.

Sounds a bit like Oz... Is this little clerk guy perhaps hiding behind a curtain in the pyramid?

I'm just waiting on Nenothtu's say-so on whether it's okay.

Run with it! If it's a "dimensional nexus" of sorts, that New Bad Guy coming could be coming from ANYWHERE, but will have to go through that transit point. Well, maybe he has to go through it... Death, Pandora, Jenovah, and scads of other characters seem to get around without it just fine, but then this New Bad Guy may be linked in through it somehow, being a mortal who only wishes he was a god, and has deluded himself into thinking he is, and controls the realms... but really has to use high tech to get around hoping the audience won't notice, and mistake it for "god-like magic" instead.

Maybe The Mist accidentally opened on his world, in his dimension, and he just came strolling through...

So there's no reason to think Jeni couldn't have made it through the 'Glass Veil' when the Deson Transporter went awry?

I almost hate to ask this but the pyramid? It's above ground or not? I think so as Merlin saw the ‘slim ship’ above, but it sounded a moment like it was underground? Not sure why I'm confused there.

And - the Avalon where the Sisterhood is where Jeni wants to stay to get healed and learn or whatever? That's NOT the same Avalon Inc? or is it?

I had the impression that Avalon, Inc. went when Prada May dissolved itself, leaving only the machinery at the "nexus" as it's only calling card.. making that place "Avalon", in lieu of the actual existence of the now defunct corporation.

Taking this into account it sounds like it is the same. Avalon Inc goes the way of Avalon (as it's ages later and Prada May is gone)..? I think I may have answered by own question there.

After that? Chumley will end up on Neno's planet, above ground and we'll see from there.

For now I'm not sure what to do with Pax and Mag. I'll have to wait and see - maybe they'll team up with the new Neno Nemesis? Who knows.

Thank you Neno for the explanation. I'm getting closer to understanding the whole rip/dimensional etc.

peace

silo13

That's for Neno or you - I'm not touching that.

last time I heard that line, there was a dead something being pointed at!

That might work in great with the back story on Quiet etc - who believe it’s Neno’s fault their planet is ‘frozen’ (at the moment with all the inhabitants in cryo) - Meaning - it isn’t Neno’s fault Avalon Inc. uses Neno’s planet as a ‘base’ of sorts. Vague but working with this, lol. I'll roll it around a bit more.

No, K4 wasn't a "base", it just got caught in the sweep of the beam, so to speak.

Ok - then the only wonderment I’m left with is - if Gert and Wild and this Sisterhood are there? Are they there? Or - is it really a rip in time? I’ll try to figure that out because I’d really like to leave Jeni with the Sisterhood and be done with Gert and that whole story line. Maybe it will come up later - maybe not. Maybe it works the ‘Sisterhood’ is a place for chickies to heal, etc and that is that.

I'm voting for them to be elsewhere. If they are there in Avalon), then we are bound to run into them at some point and disturb their peace. Where they ARE - whether another place, time, or dimension, is immaterial in the long run.

Which would make it possible for Jeni to ‘go there’ etc.

Yes, if - for example - the "transporter" beamed her through the mist that had appeared on K4 rather than depositing her on what was the surface of K4 that the mist was covering. Maybe it meant to beam her to a set of coordinates, but the mist got in the way, and when it shot her through the mist, it really shot her to... elsewhere.

If it’s sucking up the resources in K4 - or from under? Hmmm... So it can rape pillage and plunder and no one knows it? *foggy here*

Hahaha! "Foggy"! You made a funny!

No, it wasn't mining K4 at all. We would have seen the mist before if it had been.

Thanks and - tell BIAD for me I hear BlockBusters is selling cotton-candy in tinfoil bags now. It turns into bubblegum after a few chews.
If that doesn’t get the Red Dressed One down from the rafters I don’t know what will.
Oh - and it comes in grape flavor too.

Tinfoil bags? TINFOIL bags? That could be the official snack-food of ATS!

A boy in a dress

It's sucking resources from somewhere (I'm nibbling my lip and
hoping you'll buy it!)... the planet that is 'inside' the Rip is different
from K4, it's just the Rip that connects them.
(Insert small prayer here)

"Rip"? Where have I heard that before? Maybe this one is the "Little Traveling Rip" to distinguish it from The Big Rip that got fixed?

Yes, it's a different planet from K4, only connected by the Rip. I'll wager that when we get there, and get inside the pyramid, we're going to find a "Rip Generator" that has little traveling rips wandering all over the galaxy! Since these are generated by machinery from Avalon Inc to strip resources, we can surmise that they all lead back to Avalon, making that place a "nexus" or "hub", and that there is some way to stabilize them to provide long-term connections so that the resources could be transported in bulk over time. That was apparently the original plan of Avalon Inc, but since it's now gone, everything is on auto-pilot for the most part. Maybe the generated Rips got unstable over the years, and now wander around, just waiting to be stabilized again.

One of them must lead back to (Alpha?) Centauri, since that is where Prada May is, and so gets back really close to Earth - about 4 1/3 light years away.

silo13

This is where I get so confused.

So - the planet INSIDE K4 isn't getting trounced and used. Got it.

The topside? I've got that down great - Green, dangerous and hospitable to a point.

So the Rip connects them? (Confused again). LOL...

But, not problem - we'll work through it...

Thanks tons...

No, Avalon isn't inside K4 - it's "inside" the Rip - at the other end of the tunnel, or wormhole, or whatever you want to call it. The tunnel provides instantaneous transportation to it, like walking through a doorway and covering millions of light years or maybe dozens of dimensions with that single step. Ir could be ANYWHERE "out there", but it ain't HERE.

It's like building a doorway on Mars,and another on Earth, and compressing the space between them until the lintels of both touch each other, and you can just step through from Earth to Mars, ignoring everything in between, like travel time and being ripped into dissociated atoms by crossing dimensions.

reply to post by nenothtu

Rip? Oh yeah, you helped me with that one also.

Sooooo, ok Avalon is not where Avalon Inc is. That’s all good news. Yay!

K4 has mining going on underground but that’s not where the pyramid is. Got that straight.

Where the pyramid is? Not sure yet what planet it is? Good to know we’ll find out later.

And there’s no reason to think Chumley and the others (Silo and Newman, maybe even Argus and Flint) couldn’t also - ‘step through’ - the ‘Glass Veil’ (one way or another) and end up where Neno and BIAD are (where I hope Muckles and Tibbs also ends up).

Which also leaves a way for Mag and Pax to ‘chase’ Neno if they can ever figure it out - but - that isn’t a must. They might just up and go home and leave that thread of the story for when it pops up later - as we know can happen.

Cool Beans!