Dream Time
Dreamt my room was swarming with disembodied hands and sawn off walking sticks. Reminded me that I meant to post my
After returing to Earth and receiving great acclaim, much happiness and general good will all round, the crew of Voyager continue with happy and fulfilling lives in which they continue on missions of self and interstellar discovery. Tne lovely Captain Jainway (forgive spelling if wrong) finally finds a man worthy of her cunning, wit, intelligence, moral superiority and unfathomable obsession with coffee and manages to produce a couple of children along the way (whom she safely deposits at Starfleet Academy as soon as practicable).
In charge of a state of the art ship of lesser dimensions than Voyager but with even more cunning scientific experimentiness, Captain Jainway and her crew of exceedingly reputable and worthy individuals discover a new planet simillar to Riza (again spelling, sorry) in its inhabitents' desire to be hospitable and welcoming. The crew descend to the wondrous pleasure palace below at which point I look around from within my perch inside Captain Jainway's head and realise that the crew is completely made up of women (aha, so that explains the reputable worthiness but perhaps also the desire to land and thoroughly explore said pleasure planet). Aha again, my sleeping brain notes that all the alien beings are also women! Hmmmmm.
At which points time zips forward and I find myself, once again inside the Captain's head, a ball in progress. Each crew member is paired with a perfectly suited alien partner (I notice a particularly small crew member paired with a particulary gigantic alien at one point and note with a certain curiousity that they are chained together at the neck - ah well, it doesn't seem to hinder their dancing). The aliens are strange creatures in hues of green and grey, excellent conversationalists, talented at, well, everything and generally everyone is having a great time. I am reminded of the ideal of the epipsyche as the Captain's lovely partner gazes deeply into her eyes and says 'Do you not wish you could stay with me forever'. The Captain, forgetting herself for a moment and, not wishing to offend, answers that, yes, indeed she does wish she could stay forever. The night wears on and, finally, it is time to leave.
Days later, on board her ship in the depths of space Captain Jainway receives a message informing her that one of her adolescent offspring has been unexpectedly slain. The ship turns round and speeds towards Earth. What can this mean? The following day, another message, now her husband has also been unexpectedly slain. In horror the Captain orders the unprecedented step of jumping to Warp 10 for the sake of a family member (there are looks exchanged between the crew followed by the stiffening of upper lips as they all resolve to stick with the Captain no matter what). A day later, you've guessed it, Captain Jainway's remaining sprog has been unexpectedly slain!!!!!!
At that moment the ship is hailed and the face of the Captain's alien epipsyche appears on the screen. 'My dear captain, it is done, all that remains is for you to join me, together we will move on into the afterlife'. The crew exchange looks again and Captain Jainway puts on her best expression of disbelief mingled with a sincere desire to understand the cultures of all species and so continue her lifelong mission to explore the galaxy and one day, maybe one day, understand why the goat rests so perfectly upon the pole (only joking, she knows this mystery is beyond her). 'The afterlife? Please, explain what you mean to me'. The alien being explains that her statement at the ball was a clear indication that she was about to die and was inviting Captain Jainway to discard all mortal desires and join her in death. By agreeing that she wished to stay with her alien companion forever, Captain Jainway had sworn herself to a suicide pact which included an agreement that her immediate family should be disposed of immediately so as to sever all links with the material world.
Despite pleas for understanding the alien nation remains intractable and insists that Captain Jainway fulfill her end of the bargain. StarFleet enter into the negotiations and it seems that, perhaps, an agreement can be reached. Little known to them however, Captain Jainway, who has stuck to the StarFleet code through thick and through thin has, finally, broken under the pressure and has been making secret plans for the rescue of her unexpectedly dead family. With the aid of her closest scientific officers she undertakes a mission which will involve her in all that StarFleet is the most wary of: tinkering with an alien species; time travel and change; endangering the lives of many for the sake of the few; fraternisation with aliens of disreputable conduct and unseemly sliminess.
In a daring plan Captain Jainway travels back through time and with the use of contraband alien technologies she freezes each of her family members in a time bubble, thus preventing their unexpected demizes. She then sets off to the alien planet, little knowing that this is not the first time this population of epipsychopaths has faced the wrath of one whom they have unwittingly trapped in a death-oath. They too are on the move, passing like shadows through space and time, encircling her doubty band of brave officers. Captain Jainway sits alone at her desk, her head in her hands, her face is lined, her hair white, her once chirpy smile frozen into a wragged gash.
And then I woke up. DOH!
After returing to Earth and receiving great acclaim, much happiness and general good will all round, the crew of Voyager continue with happy and fulfilling lives in which they continue on missions of self and interstellar discovery. Tne lovely Captain Jainway (forgive spelling if wrong) finally finds a man worthy of her cunning, wit, intelligence, moral superiority and unfathomable obsession with coffee and manages to produce a couple of children along the way (whom she safely deposits at Starfleet Academy as soon as practicable).
In charge of a state of the art ship of lesser dimensions than Voyager but with even more cunning scientific experimentiness, Captain Jainway and her crew of exceedingly reputable and worthy individuals discover a new planet simillar to Riza (again spelling, sorry) in its inhabitents' desire to be hospitable and welcoming. The crew descend to the wondrous pleasure palace below at which point I look around from within my perch inside Captain Jainway's head and realise that the crew is completely made up of women (aha, so that explains the reputable worthiness but perhaps also the desire to land and thoroughly explore said pleasure planet). Aha again, my sleeping brain notes that all the alien beings are also women! Hmmmmm.
At which points time zips forward and I find myself, once again inside the Captain's head, a ball in progress. Each crew member is paired with a perfectly suited alien partner (I notice a particularly small crew member paired with a particulary gigantic alien at one point and note with a certain curiousity that they are chained together at the neck - ah well, it doesn't seem to hinder their dancing). The aliens are strange creatures in hues of green and grey, excellent conversationalists, talented at, well, everything and generally everyone is having a great time. I am reminded of the ideal of the epipsyche as the Captain's lovely partner gazes deeply into her eyes and says 'Do you not wish you could stay with me forever'. The Captain, forgetting herself for a moment and, not wishing to offend, answers that, yes, indeed she does wish she could stay forever. The night wears on and, finally, it is time to leave.
Days later, on board her ship in the depths of space Captain Jainway receives a message informing her that one of her adolescent offspring has been unexpectedly slain. The ship turns round and speeds towards Earth. What can this mean? The following day, another message, now her husband has also been unexpectedly slain. In horror the Captain orders the unprecedented step of jumping to Warp 10 for the sake of a family member (there are looks exchanged between the crew followed by the stiffening of upper lips as they all resolve to stick with the Captain no matter what). A day later, you've guessed it, Captain Jainway's remaining sprog has been unexpectedly slain!!!!!!
At that moment the ship is hailed and the face of the Captain's alien epipsyche appears on the screen. 'My dear captain, it is done, all that remains is for you to join me, together we will move on into the afterlife'. The crew exchange looks again and Captain Jainway puts on her best expression of disbelief mingled with a sincere desire to understand the cultures of all species and so continue her lifelong mission to explore the galaxy and one day, maybe one day, understand why the goat rests so perfectly upon the pole (only joking, she knows this mystery is beyond her). 'The afterlife? Please, explain what you mean to me'. The alien being explains that her statement at the ball was a clear indication that she was about to die and was inviting Captain Jainway to discard all mortal desires and join her in death. By agreeing that she wished to stay with her alien companion forever, Captain Jainway had sworn herself to a suicide pact which included an agreement that her immediate family should be disposed of immediately so as to sever all links with the material world.
Despite pleas for understanding the alien nation remains intractable and insists that Captain Jainway fulfill her end of the bargain. StarFleet enter into the negotiations and it seems that, perhaps, an agreement can be reached. Little known to them however, Captain Jainway, who has stuck to the StarFleet code through thick and through thin has, finally, broken under the pressure and has been making secret plans for the rescue of her unexpectedly dead family. With the aid of her closest scientific officers she undertakes a mission which will involve her in all that StarFleet is the most wary of: tinkering with an alien species; time travel and change; endangering the lives of many for the sake of the few; fraternisation with aliens of disreputable conduct and unseemly sliminess.
In a daring plan Captain Jainway travels back through time and with the use of contraband alien technologies she freezes each of her family members in a time bubble, thus preventing their unexpected demizes. She then sets off to the alien planet, little knowing that this is not the first time this population of epipsychopaths has faced the wrath of one whom they have unwittingly trapped in a death-oath. They too are on the move, passing like shadows through space and time, encircling her doubty band of brave officers. Captain Jainway sits alone at her desk, her head in her hands, her face is lined, her hair white, her once chirpy smile frozen into a wragged gash.
And then I woke up. DOH!