[Script] Revolution Number Eight - Page 2

Scene: A wide show of a small conference room with a single table and a swinging lightbulb, but a faint glow comes from one side of the room, though the camera carefully does not show that side yet.  Agent Chwech sits with a young man of 17-19 years at the other end of a table.

A small date appears on the side of the screen indicating, "November 27th, 1969."

AGENT CHWECH
Do you know why you are here, Intern Adams?

INTERN ADAMS
Because of my article in the Eagle?

AGENT CHWECH
That's right, but do you know what you are here, FOR?

INTERN ADAMS
I...don't.  And wasn't MI-8?

AGENT CHWECH
Retired.  After the war.  Merged.  Yes, it was.  We brought it back.

INTERN ADAMS
OK?

AGENT CHWECH
Do you know why?

INTERN ADAMS
Um.  No.

AGENT CHWECH
Good.  If you did we'd likely have to kill you.  Do you believe in aliens?

INTERN ADAMS
Like...Martians?

AGENT CHWECH
Oh much farther than that.   Alpha Centauri.

INTERN ADAMS
What, like the star?

AGENT CHWECH
Exactly.  Small, furry creatures from Alpha Centauri.  And they have left us with an enigma, wrapped in a riddle something something something.  We want your help working it out.

Scene: Wide pan 90 degrees to a one way mirror with JOHN, PAUL, RINGO and GEORGE in a recording studio, looking frustrated.

Whither Blimps?

On Earth, every time you see a hint of something involving an alternate world, you see airships.  Now think about this.  It might be a striking visual.  And, I mean if some insane person from 1800 went into a coma saw the next 200 years and tried to rewrite history in his image then, sure, blimps would make sense.  But some things are pretty likely to happen; when you take hydrogen and put it in a thing that floats up in the air without some pretty advanced technology, you're going to get a fire.  The USS Taft Disaster, was just bound to happen.  That's why Terra doesn't have airships either.  In fact, we didn't even have the good year blimp.  Just bad luck.   Though, curious side note, we don't have the weird triskedescaphobia you have.  We have a 13th floor.  I mean, sure, there are SOME people with the fear of 13, just like there are some people that are afraid of bats, or dogs or horses.  You have them.  We have them.  We just don't let it affect our architecture.

Another example, remember the Republic of Texas? (Sorry...as of last week, it's the State of Texas again, for at least a year or two until they decide to secede again)  Well, as crazy as they might sound to you, they also did something smart.  Smarter even than your North Dakota.  In your world, your Norway has something called the Sovereign Wealth fund.  It's huge and as a result Norway is rich.  Well, that doesn't hold a candle to the Texas Holdem Fund.  Sam Houston died four years later in our reality, and thus all the oil discovered on state land went to an independent commission that even a hundred and fifty years of mostly crazy governors hasn't been able to screw up.  How do you think they can afford to keep going to war with the most powerful nation on Terra?

Still, lots of things I like about your world.  We got Netscape two years later, and while it is the dominant browser here, two years of internet is huge...we're more like five years behind you in IT.  Except for our liquid transparent displays. All those high tech government facilities you see in the movies? We really have them because those neat gleaming lights are really the cheapest alternative.  Even cheaper than the 20 year old monitors your government uses (when you factor in electricity.)

Truth really is stranger than fiction.

No Really

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBzJGckMYO4

Check out this episode!

[Script] Revolution Number Eight - Page 1

Cast:

Intern Adams: A young Douglas Adams having recently written a nationally award winning essay has been inducted into an MI8 to examine the Alien Signal.

Agent Chwech: Mi8 agent in charge of liasoning with VIPs

Director Esme Euphrasia: Mi8 Director in charge of finding...alternative uses for the signal.

John: Writer, Singer, popular musician in a well known band.

Ringo: Drummer in a well known band.

Paul: Writer, Singer, popular musician in a well known band.

George: Guitarist, writer, popular musician in a well known band.

[Heliotrope] What they got right

In the classic stars wars movie "A False Hope" Alec Guiness talks about seeing things from "a certain point of view", but I think that the bemusement the book talks about when speaking here about how humans are ignorant in their view of the geography of fairy, assuming everyone knows everyone else is a bit false.  Reading the book it does seem like everyone knows everyone else.  Coindicence is magnified far more in Terra than it is on Earth but that seems magnified even more in Fairy.

Consider if you will the whimsical mention of Balbus the Badger and the Little Tin Teapot.  In their original stories, Balbus the Badger is visited by the Three Mice that See, and he proceeds to tell them the wisdom of accepting their lot in life.  Mr Kind thanked him and nodded, walking on.  Mr. Right told him that was balderdash and that there were clearly moments in life where you had to change things and then just ended the conversation entirely.  No one knows what Mr Necessary said but Mr Necessary and Balbus the badger are not speaking of it.  Though a meticulous tracking of the descriptions of Balbus before and after the incident hint that the scar he had under his left eye only existed after.  Was this a case of Mr Necessary not liking what he had heard? Was it him? Likely yes, but such a reaction seems even extreme for him.  We'll never know.  The Little Tin Teapot is best known for the famous tempest that sometimes lived inside of his walls.  From time to time, the teapot would have a vast and powerful storm known as Cumulo Desparo come and dwell inside him, often during the winter months when he found it quite cold.  The problem with this is was at least nine incidents of someone picking up the teapot at some fair or the other, paying good money for it, and then getting the shock of their life as gale force winds, thunder and lightning soaked their living room.  This happened over and over again so many times it was bordering on the ridiculous.  Which is why they clearly kept telling the tale.  One might accept that a magical storm swelling teapot might distribute weather accidentally two or three times, but word gets around...even back then.

So when this badger and teapot meet at the wedding of a minor queen despite only very very tenuous connections, one has to wonder.  By my estimate, Outer Fairy had at least ten or twenty million inhabitants at the time, and yet here these two are, meeting. It's like obscure 18th century fan fiction.  But the book is too well cared for an meticulous for it to be something so simple. Is there a fate? Is there a destiny?

I don't know but an unseen hand is definitely at work.

[Script] Legacy of Hope - Page 13

Roll Credits.

During Credits show images.

Image: Andrasta and Anastasia studying a spell book.

Image: Andrasta and Anastasia enjoying ice cream with each other.

Image: Andrasta sending Anastasia off on a school bus.

Image: Andrasta and Anastasia practicing sword play.

Image: Andrasta and Anastasia practicing more sword play.

Image: Andrasta and Anastasia getting a puppy.

Image: Andrasta and Anastasia looking at an invasion of UFO's, backs to the camera.  Defiant poses.

Not What I expected

So, the good news is that I'm here, just like TC.  What I hadn't expected was such a harsh reaction from EP Blingermeyer, who managed to shut down the Tossing Grenades at Windmills podcast entirely.  I guess being rich enough gives you plenty of resources...but I wouldn't have thought it enough to reach to another world  I'm still not sure how he physically does it, but he offered to teach me if I stayed with him.

I don't understand this at all.  The man had always been quite benevolent before and I hadn't really 'worked' for him in the conventional sense, just living by the bridge and occasionally showing him things four or five times a year.  Its not like I had a salary.

So strange.

Miami is an interesting city, full of vibrant people and lovely weather.  I miss my swamp though.  Well, I miss the way it smells and looks.  The cold can go futz itself.  Still, it made imagining other places easier.  And such places.  You can hear the city sing if you listen to it well enough.  I'm curious if Emmit has always been able to do this.

I keep meaning to check out Terminus again and will soon.  So many interesting stories there, though Miami has them too, even if they are not as cultivated and nutured.  Miami is a city of multiple possibilities, of stories to be written.  I know that the owners of the shop called it 'magica' but that's just weird to me.  Terminus is what everyone calls Atlanta in Terra.  Everyone calls Miami Miami.

The book is even more interesting.  I'll be sharing more with you as time goes on.  I'm still reading it.  The thing about it is that there is no explanation whatever as to where it comes from.  Who made it.  And why?