Tag: Sci-fi

Distant Love (Part 16)

He cannot be serious.

“Can you hear me, Maeve? Please respond”

Her mouth stayed shut.

“Can you hear me?”

Maeve pressed the button to respond. “No, I’ve never taken control of the ship. I’m sure the Captain would be much better; she is much better.”

The male voice responded. “I have been examining the schematics of the ship. Your control room is set up for internal communications only. It must be done from your location, and it needs to be done now, I’m afraid.

There is a backup ability to take control at your location. You need to listen and do exactly as I say.”

Maeve bites her lip. “Okay.”

“Come on, you have ruled large Empires. You can do this. First of all, I need you to press the orange button on your console.”

Was he referencing the games I play? How does he know about that? There’s no way. Look, need to concentrate on the here and now.

She presses the button. Her screen momentarily turns a bright orange. “What’s happening?”

The male voice calms her. “It’s okay. I now need you to enter the following code. The screen may go blank and the communications may be temporarily interrupted, but don’t be alarmed – C865322567.”

She enters the code.

Distant Love (Part 15)

Derek’s eyes flash from one screen to the next. It’s almost time for him to chat with Maeve again. There is sweat on his brow.

He presses the button to reopen communications with C4365. “This is Moon Sector C. Come in C4365.”

A high-pitched voice replies. “This is C4365, over. Am I happy to hear from you.”

Derek smiles. “What is your status C4365?”

“All non-essential people on board have been evacuated. My mum, eh The Captain wants to know, can we commence the procedure to land in Moon, Sector C.”

“Maeve, and I hope you don’t mind me using your first name. But, we’re going to have to talk to each other an awful lot if we’re going to get through this. I’m going to be frank, is that okay? You won’t panic on me.”

For a couple of seconds, there is silence. Then a response. “I won’t.”

“Your ship was never designed to land, not on the moon and definitely not on Earth. Still, that doesn’t make it impossible. It should be very possible if you listen to and follow my instructions closely. And the ship cannot be abandoned as it’s already on a collision course that could potentially hit a moon station. Now, my first question: have you ever taken control of the ship before?

Distant Love (Part 14)

Maeve takes off her communications headset.

That call ended quickly. What was his problem? Guess I’ll have to work with him either way,

She sends a message to her mother in the control room, updating her on the conversation.

Now she is left with a wait.

Perhaps Derek is online.

She checks all the usual gaming sites on the console in front of her,

Where is he?

She bites her lip.

This is silly. I’ve never even met the guy. Yes, I can talk to him for hours; he is considerate and funny. But I’ve no idea what he looks like or even what he sounds like. I’m so ridiculous. Oh, Derek, where are you and what are you up to? And why are you so inscrupable? Are you afraid of me or something? I wouldn’t destroy you in reality like I do at the gaming.

A beep goes off. It’s a message from her mother.

STAY WHERE YOU ARE. HYSTERIA BREAKING OUT UP HERE. PEOPLE ARE NOT HAPPY THAT THEIR TRIP IS BEING CUT SHORT. THERE IS NOTHING WE CAN DO. BETTER FOR YOU TO CONCENTRATE ON WHAT YOU ARE DOING.

Maeve smirks. Very good. I told you not to use all caps in your messages, though. So rude.

Hours pass as she awaits the next communication.

Distant Love (Part 13)

“You have a go C4365. You are cleared for the emergency landing at Moon Sector C. Please acknowledge”

“Thank God,” she replies.

Derek magnifies the screen and, using his mouse, draws a tangent from the ship to the landing area. “It will be six hours till we can start the landing procedure. I am going to familiarize myself with your ship. Reopen communications at five hundred hours. What’s your name by the way?”

The reply is swift. “Maeve”.

“Sorry?” Derek goes cold.

“You can call me Maeve. What’s your name?”

“Yeah, as I said, we’ll communicate again.” Derek clicks the mouse, ending the transmission.

Nathalie looks over at him wide-eyed. “Everything okay?”

“It’s my Maeve. She’s on the ship. I’ve just spoken to her!”

“No way, what are the chances? You’d better make sure that ship lands safely.”

Derek lets out a groan

Nathalie frowns. “That bad?”

He nods as he looks up at the ship’s specifications. It’s a thirty-year-old W-Class Transported. Not only is it far larger than anything he had attempted to guide to land before, it wasn’t built to land at all. Damage from a solar flare had not been countenanced.

Oh, Maeve, how am I going to get you out of this?

Distant Love (Part 12)

It is a female voice. “This is C4365 over. Please acknowledge. I repeat. This is C4365 over.”

Derek clicks on the screen to respond. “This is Moon Sector C acknowledging. What is your status? I repeat, what is your status?”

Her voice is cackling and breaking up at times. “C C C4365 in diff difficulty. Need permission.. repeat permission is needed to land in Sector C.”

Derek frowns. Emergency landings on the moon are rare, and unheard of in Sector C. This would be a management decision. “C4365 Keep your communications open. Your request is being determined.”

He ends the call and instead sent a communication request to Moon Sector A, to his manager Selena Basque.

Selena is forty-four years old with long, black hair and a tanned complexion. She is short and has a fuse even shorter. “Yes, Derek.”

“A ship is requesting to do an emergency landing in Moon Sector C.”

He hears a groan before she replies.

“Look, you’ll have to step up. You can do this. This flare has caused carnage. We already have multiple incoming here.”

The communication came to an abrupt halt.

I guess that’s a go, so Derek. Time to step up and get this done.

A deep dive into the TV Series “Travellers”

Hello ladies and gentlemen, I have just finished watching all three series of Travellers. It’s probably the best sci-fi series you’ve never heard of.

I have bad news for you, folks. There is an apocalypse on the way. I know what you’re thinking, no shit. But don’t worry. You see, the nineties were the key decade. A future super-intelligent computer (Is this even sci-fi anymore?) called the Director is sending back time travellers on missions to ensure a better future. The fact that I might like warmer summers, and will almost certainly be dead by the forthcoming ice age, doesn’t come into its calculations.

Alas, the time travellers have to take over a living body and erase the previous person. Kind of reminds me of “Body Snatchers”. Fear not, it’s all done very ethically. They take over the bodies of those who are about to die anyway.

The travellers have several protocols to protect the timeline (from Wikipedia) –

  • Protocol 1: The mission comes first.
  • Protocol 2: Leave the future in the past.
  • Protocol 3: Don’t take a life, don’t save a life, unless otherwise directed. Do not interfere.
  • Protocol 4: Do not reproduce.
  • Protocol 5: In the absence of direction, maintain your host’s life.
  • Protocol 6: Do not communicate with other known travelers outside of your team unless sanctioned by the Director.

The team historians have an additional secret protocol involving the periodic updates they receive concerning “historic information relative to [their] team’s role in the Grand Plan”. It is a sub-protocol of Protocol 2:

  • Protocol 2H: This forbids the revelation about the existence of the updates “with anyone, ever”.

The Director can invoke three other protocols in special situations:

  • Protocol Alpha: temporarily suspends all other protocols when a critical mission must be completed at all costs
  • Protocol Epsilon: can be invoked when traveler archives are threatened
  • Protocol Omega: permanently suspends all other protocols when the Director abandons the travelers because the future has either been fixed or deemed impossible to fix

Each episode is fast-paced and action-packed. A large part of the series is the relationships between the travellers and those who previously knew the host. The love story between Macy and David plays a key role in maintaining continuity and interest from episode to episode.

Another key relationship is between Grant and his wife, Kat, who can’t quite bring herself to believe her husband. Correctly, as it turns out. I don’t know if this series could be made today, as it brings up thorny consent issues. Can Kat give consent for sex if Grant isn’t who she thinks he is? Hey, it is kind of philosophical. Let’s leave it at that.

They end up completing many missions, but the future doesn’t seem to be getting better. In fact, “The Faction” ends up being created. This is a group from the future that opposes the Director. Ironically, they are from a newly created timeline where their shelter was not destroyed.

Then there is 001, who has gone way off mission, creating an empire and actually killing travellers.

Spoiler Alert.

It all comes to a head at the end of Series 3, which is probably one of the best finales ever. The director calls Protocol Omega, effectively giving up on the timeline. By the end nuclear war is breaking out, and the travellers are told all they’ve done is speed up the Earth’s destruction. What a downer! Ouch.

But there is one last throw of the device. Grant is transported even further into the past and sends a message that the Traveller program failed.

The final scene is the Director acknowledging its failure and initiating Team Two instead. So, everything you’ve watched at least in this timeline ends up never happening. Almost, like the whole thing is just one calculation of the director. I love it!

Travellers can currently be viewed on Netflix.

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Distant Love (Part 11)

Derek stares at the screen and smiles. Most of the ships are moving in the expected trajectory. “How are things on your side, Natasha?”

“Good, everything appears fine, but that was close. The first one we’ve seen in months. You”

Derek grimaces. “I thought I was in the clear, but there’s definitely something up with C4365. Bolux. It must be in trouble.”

Natasha stands up and looks over at him, her brow furrowed. “How do you know?”

“Well, let me put it like this. It’s zigzagging all over the place. And that cannot be good.”

She walks over and stares at his screen for a moment. “No, definitely not. You know what to do. Follow procedure. You can do this.”

“So much for an easy day at work.”

He opens communications with C4365. “Please advise your status. You have deviated from your flight path.” The message is put on continuous repeat.

Tapping the table, he wonders how badly the ship has been damaged and hopes he won’t have to stay on late. There was a good documentary about the planned colonization of Sedna that he wanted to watch. To him, it seemed so much more exotic than his own existence.

A cackling noise came over the communications device. Then a voice started speaking into his headset.

A Deep Dive into Arthur C Clarke’s Childhood’s End

Well, readers, I have a treat for you today after I completed the above novel that was written in nineteen fifty-seven by what is considered to be one of the best science fiction writers of all time. This is considered by most to be his greatest work.

First, a description from Wikipedia (in italics) that I’ve read and agree with.

In the late 20th century, the United States and the Soviet Union are competing to launch the first spacecraft into orbit when alien spaceships suddenly position themselves above Earth’s principal cities. After one week, the aliens announce they are assuming supervision of international affairs, to prevent humanity’s extinction. They become known as the Overlords. In general, they let humans go on conducting their affairs in their own way, although some humans are suspicious of the Overlords’ benign intent, as they never allow themselves to be seen.

Yeah, remember the Soviet Union? They were a big deal back then.

The Overlord Karellen, the “Supervisor for Earth”, periodically meets with Rikki Stormgren, the Secretary-General of the United Nations. Karellen tells Stormgren that the Overlords will reveal themselves in 50 years, when humanity will have become used to their presence. When the Overlords finally reveal their appearance, they resemble the traditional Christian folk images of demons, with cloven hooves, leathery wings, horns, and barbed tails. Humankind enters a golden age of prosperity at the expense of creativity.

The Overlords are interested in psychic research, which humans suppose is part of their anthropological study. Rupert Boyce, a prolific book collector on the subject, allows one Overlord, Rashaverak, to study these books at his home. To impress his friends with Rashaverak’s presence, Boyce holds a party, during which he makes use of a Ouija board. Jan Rodricks, an astrophysicist and Rupert’s brother-in-law, asks the identity of the Overlords’ home star. The Ouija board reveals a number which Jan recognizes as a star-catalogue number and learns that it is consistent with the direction in which Overlord supply ships appear and disappear. Jan stows away on an Overlord supply ship and travels 40 light years to their home planet.

The story then continues to reveal that humans are about to make a psychic leap, which will elevate humanity to a new level of existence, allowing it to join the Overmind, but also lead to the end of humans as an independent race.

So what did I think? Well, it was interesting what the author conceived a future alien species would be like. There is no advanced robotics, and only a brief mention of computers that can do wondrous things. Although they are still described as mostly mathematical tools.

Credence is given to the supernatural. This is something that the author quasi-believed at the time but later disavowed. Still, it helps the story come along.

The character development and writing are of the highest quality, and it is refreshing to read something from a nineteen-fifties perspective. You should give it a read.

On a more negative level, the passing of time shows. So, you have to put things we know now out of your mind and use some imagination.

Overall, I’d give it four stars out of five.

Remember to subscribe if you like my content, and chat with you all again soon.

Distant Love (Part 10)

Then her mother turns to Maeve. “You are now in charge of communications. Your father and I have too many other things to attend to. Go to the portal and relay what is happening to Calvenish and Sector C of the moon. Now, hurry, time is of the essence.”

“Will do. Stay safe.” Maeve walks to the elevator feeling hot and uncomfortable. It’s been some time since her father showed her how to use the portal.

I hope I remember how to use it.

She goes down three floors. This one is very different. There are no guests, no chatter, or furniture. Instead, it feels and looks metallic. Maeve feels the hairs on her arms stand up. Each step creates a loud clang echoing down the corridor.

Such a creepy place.

She pushes onwards.

After a brisk three-minute walk, she reaches the room. Her hand pauses over the red button to open the heavy door. After a big breath, she presses it.

It slides open to reveal a room brimming with electrical blue pulses. In the centre is the headset that will connect her neurons to the communications array.

Her muscles tense.

Derek is in Sector C. What did he say his job was? We might be about to meet.

Distant Love (Part 9)

“So what now?” Maeve asks

Her mother, Aishling, looks at her ashen-faced. “The thrusters have been affected. We already have the momentum to bring us to the Space Station Calvenish. We were due to stop there, but they won’t have the required equipment to repair the ship.

The moon is the best option, Sector C, I reckon.”

“Will the gravity not tear the ship apart?” Maeve felt her body heating up

“Your mother is right,” her father, Jack interjects. “The ship should manage it.”

There was no point in arguing when both of her parents were in agreement. That was something that she had learned years ago.

“What about the guests. They will want to know what is going on. We have to think about the future business brand.” Helen always thought about the bottom line.

Jack looks at her for a few seconds before speaking. “The shuttle craft can take them to Calvenish rather than docking when we’re within range. It will take multiple trips. You can stay at the station with them till we return.

Helen folds her hands. “And what do I tell our customers, not to mind investors?”

Aisling bangs her hand on the holographic projector. “Tell them the truth.”