<USS Avalon> Log-Preventative Hindsight
- From: Dodge Thomas <dodgethomas2000@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: avalon@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 2 Aug 2003 11:30:26 -0700 (PDT)
PREVENTATIVE HINDSIGHT part one: The Sword Of Erebus
A introductionary background log by Ensign Leila Criswell
In the days before time was recorded, on a tiny blue planet in the far corner
of the galaxy, a man sat atop a pyramid. He was no special man, nothing unique
from the way he dressed to the way he wore his hair, to the sandals on his
feet. This was his dilemma, for if he was not special in any way, how could he
possibly please the gods of the Nile? Why should they grant him a fortune and a
wife who would bring him strong sons? For truth be told, the man was not
married, and as life looked at him, would never be married.
He called out to the gods of the sea and of the earth, of the rivers and of the
skies.
"Please! Grant me my plea! Give me power so that I can win over the woman of my
dreams!"
Thunder clapped loudly and a bright star shone in the sky, even though it was
the middle of the day.
"The gods have blessed me!" he said in shock, as nothing like this had ever
happened. He watched the star for a moment as it began to fade. "Where is my
gift?" He demanded, suddenly ungrateful and uncaring of what the gods could
possibly do to him.
A single black line began to trace downward from where the star was dying away.
Then there were two...three...a dozen...a hundred! The man jumped and nearly
fell off the pyramid. He quickly scrambled downward, slipping and sliding and
cutting his arms and legs to pieces. At the bottom, he nearly collapsed in the
sand, but managed to pull himself up upon his camel (you see, he had enough
wealth to buy nice things, but his face was unattractive to the ladies).
As he mounted, he heard a muffled thump. Something had struck the sand about
twenty feet away. He climbed off the creature and gingerly walked over to the
smoking crater where the object had fallen. At first, he thought it was a man,
lying there in the sand and missing his lower half. But upon further
observation, it was just a shell, some kind of strange and magical armor that
had been blackened by the fire of the gods. Maybe it was the skin of a demon,
or of the gods themselves.
"Isis protect me." He whispered humbly as he reached out towards the suit. The
fabric was warm, but not hot and he pulled it out of the crater. As he did so,
the two hands fell off. They were lined with a metal of some sort, and the
black ash seemed to come off of them easily. He discarded the suit, deeming it
useless and picked up the hands. They were hollow. He pulled them over his
hands.
"What magic is this?" He wondered as the gloves were a near perfect fit,
lightweight but indestructible when he tried to cut them. "The gauntlets of the
gods. Isis has blessed me with her armor. I thank thee, goddess of the Nile."
___________________________________________________________________________
Further away, an oasis was burning. Fire from the gods had rained down upon the
little water hole around which a small village had been built. Chaos was all
that happened to be reigning now, as camels and donkeys ran amok and people
screamed in terror. The fire eventually began to burn down in the night, as the
villagers had been throwing water on it all day. As the light of the fire died
out, another light-a far more mystical one-began to glow. Emanating from the
water itself, the light drew the villagers out of their homes and to the waters
edge.
"Who shall go in?" An elderly woman who had once served as a priestess cried
out. "The gods call for one of us. Who shall it be?"
Of course, no one was foolish enough to volunteer. So they threw a young girl
in. When she didn't explode into flames or melt or even cry out in pain, the
villagers gained confidence.
"Look!" Someone said. "Look in the water!"
A glowing cylinder of metal, roughly a meter long, was sticking up out of the
water's surface. Apparently, it was also the source of the mystical glow.
"Someone grab it! It's a gift from the gods!
___________________________________________________________________________
The man who had found the gauntlets had had no luck finding a mate yet. His
face was still unattractive, and the gloves were of little help being
cumbersome and ugly as well. Not far to the east, he knew of a village where he
was sure he could at least pawn the gloves off. There was always some nutty
priest who was willing to buy an item that was 'enchanted'.
But when he arrived at the village, he was greeted with the air of a carnival.
Where the oasis had once been (and presumably still was), a tent had been
erected and there was a line of people trying to get in. A beautiful young
woman was selling passage into the tent.
"Any man who wishes to behold the might of the gods may enter for only ten
pieces of silver. But beware, for any man who touches the god's gift to us will
be struck dead by an awful curse. Every man, woman, or child who has laid hands
on this gift has vanished to the underworld, screaming in pain! Erebus has
opened it's gates and this magic is the key."
The man scoffed loudly. "Any man you say? And what is the prize to the man who
touches this magical key? What prize to him?"
"One hundred gold coins to any man who touches the key and lives!"
"Would you marry the man who could do such a thing?"
The woman's eyes narrowed. "Any man who could do this would be truly blessed by
the gods. Yes. One hundred gold coins and my hand in marriage!"
___________________________________________________________________________
The air within the tent was musky and smelled forebodingly of burning flesh.
The man looked at the object that some poor sap had pulled out of the water
before dying of what he had been told 'a burning madness'. Burning madness did
not sound all that wonderful in his mind.
His hands were sweaty, his heart pumped loudly in his ears. The object glowed
softly, almost asking him to touch it. He dried his hands on his tunic and
reached out to touch it. When his fingers were about an inch away, he paused,
thinking.
"If I had armor on, would it matter?"
The woman spoke smugly. "Is your heart of iron beginning to falter? Use all the
armor you want; you'll still die. The man who pulled this from the pond wore
armor on his chest, arms and hands. He is still just as dead as the rest of
them. Nothing but rotting bones are left of any of those people who challenge
the gods!"
He took a deep breath and slipped the gauntlets of Isis over his hands.
"What kind of mockery is this? Those are mere cloth. If metal could not save a
man, what makes you think that...that those things will."
"These gauntlets have been blessed by Isis herself." He stated confidently.
Before anyone else could object, he reached out and picked up the metal. It was
much lighter than it looked, and it felt oddly warm in his hands. His heart
skipped a beat. Could this be the start of the 'burning madness'?
"He does not die! He is still living!" an elderly woman stated to the crowd.
"Those gauntlets must truly be blessed by the gods themselves!"
The woman looked at the man in amazement. "Who? Who are you? What are you?"
"I'm nothing but a humble sword maker."
Earth-2332
"What is that thing?" Ensign Gregory Thurston asked in awe.
A pulsing, meter long piece of metal encased in glass was standing in front of
the Yamato-class starship Ulysses? warp core assemblage..
The chief engineer beamed. "It's the next thing in Starfleet warp drive
technology. It's called a Duryllium Filament, and it can transfer more energy
per square molecule than any other substance known to anyone in the
galaxy...even the Klingons!"
"Duryllium filament huh? So how?s it supposed to work?"
"That's classified my boy, but I'll tell you this. If integrated properly, it
will not only let us warp faster than we've ever gone before, but it will
actually fold space for us. Some of the white-coats even suspect it could fold
time as well!"
"You lost me."
"Just as well. You're not supposed to know how this works. Not yet. You could
be a Klingon spy...or worse!"
___________________________________________________________________________
On the bridge, Captain Will Greenwich paced nervously. "Engineering," He said
after having the communication's officer open a channel up.
"Harrison here, sir."
"Bring the Duryllium Filament Warp Core online."
The lights on the bridge grew noticeably brighter and the floor shook beneath
their feet.
"What's going on down there?"
"Nothing, sir. We're as ready as we'll ever be."
"All right then. Initiate Duryllium Warp now."
___________________________________________________________________________
The Ulysses? engines flashed but she did not move. Instead, she flashed with
them, growing brighter and brighter and brighter until she reached the
inevitable explosion that ripped her to pieces and vaporized what was left of
those little pieces.
Rescue crews would find no survivors and very little in the way of wreckage.
It's awfully difficult to survive a disaster when the largest piece of the ship
left over is about the size of a playing card.
---------------------------------
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