[SKRIVA] Kurs-story: Salam Slalom
- From: Ahrvid Engholm <ahrvid@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <skriva@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 14 Dec 2009 16:13:05 +0100
(Min kurs, som jag förtäljt om, Creative Reading/Writing Science Fiction börjar
gå mot sitt slut. Sista läsövning, med påföljande skrivövning, var Michael
Crichtons väldigt aktuella bok State of Fear, där han gör upp med "klimathotet"
och miljörörelsen. En väldigt bra bok! Så skulle man skriva en liten, liten
text på det. Jag funderade på en osande uppgörelse med klimatalarmismen, men
kom inte på någon bra novellidé. Istället kom jag på nedanstående, som är litet
lättsammare, men också på sitt sätt behandlar klimatet. Hur jag tänkte framgår
i kommentarerna sist. Och observera att engelskan inte är mitt val, utan det är
kursspråket. Jag skriver mycket hellre på svenska. Kommentera gärna, så kan jag
jämföra era kommentarer med kurskamraternas. --AE)
Salam Slalom
I don’t know why the put me on this. I’m the science reporter, for heaven’s
sake! OK, the sports guy came down with the cat flu, they said. Last year we
had the frog flu – I remember I covered that. But I don’t know anything about
alpine skiing. I’d rather talk about satellites, nanotech, powerful lasers or
the Weather Control System. I know all about that.
Right, control room! I’ll be ready when you are. The skiers are preparing. I
see a couple of them now on the summit. But give me a hint if I say something
wrong, OK? I didn’t want this job, you know.
There’s so much in science reporting. The WCS is wonderful, for instance.
Many cities have standing orders for a light afternoon rain shower, just when
lunch break is over and with time left for the streets to dry up for the late
afternoon rush. And in the winter, some far-up northern countries want it just
a little bit warmer. Of course, the equilibrium must be kept, so the WCS has to
dump the missing precipitation and the extra cold somewhere. Seldom used parts
of the Pacific Ocean is fine – the Polynesians think icebergs are exotic, and
they usually consider it too hot anyway.
It will be a short race, so I’d better talk fast. I see one of the skiers
adjusting his goggles. I think the little webcam may irritate him, but the
viewers like to have the alternate view from the racer himself. Conditions
aren’t perfect, but I’d say the site is. It will make good ThreeD, or ordinary
2D TV for those still having that.
Right, Control, in 30 seconds I’ll be on the air. Yes, I have the list of
skiers on my screen. The Swiss or Austrians are favourites, I guess, with the
Norwegians or Swedes as runners up. Or runners down. But there are new talents
emerging from the new, not so traditional skiing nations. OK, got you: 3, 2,1…
“Welcome to ThreeD News Network, and this very special event in the Alpine
World Cup, the Salam Slalom as the organisers call it...”
Going through the introduction I prepared. Shouldn’t be anything wrong there.
I hope not. And here we have number 1:
“Austria’s Matthias Heinkel opens. Concentrating. And now he’s away. He is
getting a very good start. It’s important since this race is rather short. The
first gate, no problem. Speeding up…oh, it was close but he managed it. Lost a
little time perhaps, but now he attacks very hard...”
Oh, what gibberish! I was hardly born a sports reporter, but I guess I have
to do my best. I just say what I have heard them saying.
“And now number two, Karl Ljungstrom from Sweden. Oh! He missed the second
gate! Bad luck, old chap.”
But it is a bit interesting, isn’t it. It wouldn’t be possible without the
weather control. They have to find new places to dump this cold and snow since
people up north don’t want it or have too much of it. And the locals love it!
Norway’s Arve Jensen just finished with best time this far. I hope I didn’t
say anything stupid about his race, because I hardly know what I’m saying. And
now Muhammed Al Mustafa. They’ve become real competitors in the last few years,
the Egyptians. And he should have a good chance. After all, he’s on home turf.
“And now he starts, on the slope down the Cheops pyramid...”
Comments on this story:
1) I immediately thought I should write something about climate. Then I came to
think of old-time science fiction stories, where something called “weather
control” was taken for granted. Many years back sf writers would talk about the
“regular 1 o’clock rain” and stuff like that. A dangerous idea? Yes,
potentially very dangerous, but I decided for a more light-hearted approach.
2) Well, if you want to keep a balance, extra cold has to be compensated for
and “dumped” somewhere. The same with rain etc. And with perfect weather
control, you could dump it anywhere. Why not in North Africa? They’d enjoy some
snow and cold, wouldn’t they!
3) And the actual story idea soon popped up. For a very short story, some sort
of “twist end” is natural. In a short text there’s no space to develop a
complicated plot – a nice ending will have to make up for that. And I decided
to write it in first person, because this way you can hide things from the
reader until the very end. The “I” in the story thinking for himself doesn’t
have to say everything, and making him a science reporter sitting in for a
sports reporter makes it natural for him to talk – or if it’s more his
thoughts, an inner monologue - about weather control.
4) So, it became a ski-race down a pyramid. Recently they built an artificial
slope on the Red Square, Moscow, and had a race, and the pyramids are much
bigger. It should work fine. And it isn’t too far fetched. They have recently
built an artificial ski slope in Dubai! Though it is indoors, with perfect
weather control you could do it outdoors in Egypt. BTW, “salam” means peace in
Arabic. (I picked that because the word goes together well with “slalom”.)
--
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IQ-HJÄLP! (DN NoN 00.02.07)
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