One Star

wijg

wijg

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The Old Same Place
Well, I am going to try something. I had the idea the other day, and we shall see how well it works.

Every summer, my dad's side of the family goes on a beach trip to Long Beach in NC. My dad has three brothers and we all get along very well. During the trip of '04, I had just started watching Gundam Seed. For some reason, I was struck with an idea for a Gundam-esque series. However, I wanted the similarity to be that my story also dealt with the complexities of fighting. I didn't want to have giant robots.

I came up with a core idea that the entire story would radiate out from. Currently the summary of this idea is one star. The idea comes from things my friends and I share. Many of my friends from college and high school came about as the result of creative endeavors. I played music in high school, college, and Australia. My best friend in high school and I always talked about how we would make all these albums. My best friend in college and I always talked about how we would record these albums. And my best friend in Australia and I always talked about how we would record a triple disc concept album.

Okay, so the core idea. What if I was to die tomorrow? Would my friends try and accomplish these things as kind of a legacy to me? Now, I know the idea seems a little egotistical and morbid, but I was fascinated by it. What if the entire catalyst of a story dies at the very beginning? What if the most important character of the story isn't even there? What if their life though drove others to heights both amazing and terrible. This is the one star idea: how far can the light from one star shine? I was thinking of using the ripple in the pond metaphor. If I can come up with a succinct way of saying it, I still may use it. But for now I like one star.

So here is the story. It will be a work in progress. While I have a rough outline of some ideas, I will mainly be making it up as I go along. It will be a fun exercise. Feel free to post or not. Whatever.
 
“How far can the light from one star shine?” Ander Simmons

The Nova

Darun Antonova sat in his first class seat aboard the X-7 high altitude jet transport trying not to laugh out loud. He was flying home from a meeting with his European research team. He tried hard to remain calm in the oversized cushioned seat. They had done it. They had made the breakthrough. It was on a small scale, but the potential of this breakthrough was astronomical. How he wished Ander could have been there. Ander Simmon was his most trusted colleague. They had started this project 10 years ago, right when they entered grad school. Ander, however, had an important meeting with the engineering team he was working with. Darun was the one to realize the breakthrough. Ander would be the one to realize the possibilities.

Darun tried to close his eyes and relax. He couldn’t. He opened them and stared at the newspaper sitting on his lap. His smiling face graced the front page. The headline read “Energy Miracle.” It talked about his Geneva research team’s demonstration of Crystalline Emissions. The energy source for the new era. In the fifty years since the start of the new millennium, new energy sources had become the holy grail of scientific research. Fossil fuel deposits were running out. The people, as well, were tired of energy sources that were localized and brought about such political turmoil. Darun and Ander, two young talented physicists had jumped on board this endeavor. And as of two days ago, they had made it a reality. Here it was before him, reported in the paper. If nothing else validated what they had done, this printed word had to, right?

Darun put the newspaper down and looked around the cabin. First class was full, except for the seat beside him. He noticed, though, that everyone was trying to look his way while at the same time avoid him seeing them. Most of them also had copies of the same newspaper before them. Funny how he just realized this. Looking back on things, even the flight attendants had seemed a little jumpy around him. He guessed he was going to have to get used to this. If subsequent tests proved similar results, and he was completely confident that they would, he and Ander were about to become extremely public figures.

Finally, Darun couldn’t contain himself any longer. Ander had witnessed the tests live by video feed, but Darun still had several things he wanted to discuss with him. He picked up the airfone and dialed the lab. Ander was supposed to be in meetings with the engineers. He hoped the news from Geneva hadn’t interrupted his own work. An operator answered the phone, and it took a few minutes before Darun could convince the young woman who he was. Finally, though, Ander answered on the other end.

“Darun, where are you?” Ander said, cheerfully.

“Somewhere over the Atlantic. I hope I’m not interrupting anything.”

“Are you kidding me? With what you have created, I could work continuously for about 100 years. We keep coming up with more ideas for applications that we aren’t getting any work done on the simple ones we talked about. We’ve got some great ideas here though.”

“Sounds great Ander. I can’t wait to see what you all have. We are about to enter an exciting new time. One that we have been working on for about 10 years. How are Kinner and Nadia doing?”

“Fine. I haven’t seen them in a day or two. You know how busy we are now.”

“Well, hopefully it will be this way for a while. The output needs refining a bit, but I think we have actually done it.”

“I know, I know. I was there live, remember?”

Suddenly, a loud crash resounded through the jet. Darun looked around concerned. He saw that other passengers shared similar expressions.

“What was that?” Ander asked. “I heard that here.”

“I’m not certain. Everything seems to be…” and that was when the oxygen masks fell from the ceiling of the cabin. Right as they did so, the jet angled sharply downward. The acceleration pressure weighed on Darun as the jet fell from the sky. They were traveling high in the atmosphere, and therefore had a long ways to fall.

“Darun, the line is becoming staticky. Darun are you there?”

“Yeah, Ander. I’m here. I think we’re going down.” Darun was completely focused on his conversation with Ander. If these were going to be his last moments, he wanted to spend them with one of his best friends. In the background, however, his mind heard the terse messages from the captains. He noticed flight attendants rolling around in the aisles. The panicked cries of the passengers tried to break through his resolve and ensnare him. He fought through it. There were things he needed to say.

“Darun, what’s happening? Holy shit. Darun?”

“Ander, shut up and listen. Try different focus coefficients. We got amazing output results, but I think we can get better still. Concentrate first on the issue of exhaust routing. That is the first major hurdle to practical applications. From our last talks, I think you were headed down the right path.”

“But Darun, I…” Ander sounded like he was about to cry. Darun Antonova could understand. He would not want to listen to his best friend’s last words either.

“Ander. This is big. We have created something big. Realize it. Realize our dream. For my sake Darun. Do this for me. Make sure Miriam is taken care of. Tell her, and Sophia and Revan that I love them. Ander, my best friend. Remember me.”

With that statement, the telephone connection ceased. Ander, who was a few thousand miles away from the X-7’s crash site and his friend’s ocean grave, dropped the phone, fell into a chair, and started crying. His best friend and a visionary scientist, one who had brought the potential for a new era to the world, was about to die. Ander put his head in his hands as assistants and other personnel ran up to him, wondering what tragedy had just befallen him. The world would know soon enough what great loss they had all just suffered.
 
Well, I know this theme has been done before but it's a good one, and that doesn't mean it can't be done again.

To do it well, though, I think you're going to need to have some concrete ideas of where it's goingvto go. You can change them later, but with a theem like this you need to know what direction you're heading.

If I were going to do it, I would have the entire story start at or shortly after the funeral. This is a good excuse to get the characters together. What I would work toward is a feeling of the dead character, and make him really seem like the "missing" character throughout the story. To make things nice and neat, I'd have each other character go off and do their things, following each one in succession, and then have them meet up again at the end. What is most important is keeping thefeeling of the dead character still in the story. I wouldn't actually have the character anywhere in there, but rather use the other characters to flesh him/her out.

That's just what I would do. I would also put this in a contemporary setting, so as not to cloud this fragile theme (I have other concepts that would fit into other genres, but I don't think this is one). But that's just what I would do. It's a good concept, it would be interesting to try out. Good luck.
 
wow that was sad.

ok i gotta say this just cause it reminds me of it -- just be careful nobody thinks of desperate housewives while you make this. cause...in that, the first thing that happens in the show is a character mysteriously kills herself (or does she?) and everyone is trying to sort of solve that mystery, while that "character" narates everything, and is sort of there anyway, being an omnipresent ... presence.

i like the idea.
 
we should rename this thread "On Star"

and then we can write about OnStar experiences.


This is an actual call.
Operator: "Onstar, how may I help you?"

Caller: "Oh my god, I am out of windshield washer fluid! What the fuck am I going to do?"

O: "Ma'ma, calm down. Is there a Wal-Mart nearby?"

C: "Yes! Oh my god, thank you! I'll just drive to Wal-Mart!"

O: "No problem, you have a nice day Ma'am."
 
Operator: "On-Star, how can I help you?"

Caller: "Oh my god, my car is on fire! Help, I can't get out! I'm stuck in here! Help! Hel-"

O: "Please calm down, ma'am. I need you to stay calm. Now, can you open your door?"

C: "Yes, but I can't get out of the seat!"

O: "Okay, did you have an accident of some type?"

C: "No, I just dropped my cigarette and my car started on fire! Oh my god help!"

O: "Um okay, well look down, are there two strips of fabric across your body, one on your chest and one on your lap?"

C: "Yes, yes there are! Oh my god it's so hot!"

O: "Okay I'm going to need you to just stay where you are, I'll have emergency services over right away" Click.

Operator (to coworker): "Stupid F*** had her seat belt on."

Coworker: "So, you gonna call the paramedics or what?"

O: "Nah."
 
My grandfather, god rest his soul, always said the dumb must suffer. I'll try and get another page or two up here soon. I know you all are just chomping at the bits to know what happens. But feel free to continue the On Star ideas in the interim.

My favorite was always the one with Batman. If I ever get On Star, that will be the first thing I do.

OnStar: OnStar, how can I help you?

wijg: This is Batman. I need jet fuel.
 
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