Spotlight

08
Nov
2013

Spotlight – Stem Cell Growth Accelerator

Spotlight – Stem Cell Growth Accelerator

Stem Cell Growth Accelerator is one useful invention.

Background

As I wrote the HG Wells Star Trek fan fiction stories, I kept butting up against one unfortunate problem – how do you handle medical care?

After all, throughout the ages, medical care has, mainly, been abhorrent. Was I to show people undergoing bloodletting or getting leeches for treatments? Or show them dunked in wells in order to drive out the evil spirits? Hell, Leonard McCoy denounced surgery as ‘butchery’ in TOS. What’s a time traveler to do?

Enter stem cell growth accelerator.

The Thought Experiment

Spotlight – Stem Cell Growth Accelerator

My initial inspiration came from, of all things, how I understand HIV to spread through the body. My understanding is that the retrovirus enters into a cell that becomes a host and essentially converts that cell into an HIV factory. The body does not recognize this as a problem for a long time, as the HIV is sitting within what, to the body, seems to be a normal, healthy cell.

And so I thought – what if, instead of making a horrible virus, a host cell was, instead, making some sort of cure cells. And what if it could make them at a phenomenal rate?

If a chemical like that could be introduced into a person, and it could self-replicate, and it would be healing rather than harming, the possibilities were very nearly endless.

In order to prevent things from becoming too good to be true, I further decided that, while the healing process would be fast, all pain would remain. Hence, a year’s worth of pain could be easily crammed into an hour.

Ow.

Upshot

Stem cell growth accelerator is one of the easiest inventions for me to explain. Exposition is generally a snap. I often have a character break an arm or suffer a cut or a gunshot and, voila! They are suddenly healed. But they cringe and nearly pass out while the healing process is occurring. I will definitely use this idea more. I may even at some point write something showing its development.

Posted by jespah in Fan fiction, Spotlight, Times of the HG Wells series, 5 comments
10
Sep
2013

Spotlight on Alien Hybrids

Background

Alien hybrids are 100% Star Trek canon. Spock is one, Worf’s lover, K’Ehleyr, is one, their son Alexander is one, etc.

Barking up the Muse Tree | jespah | Janet Gershen-Siegel | Alexander | Alien Hybrids

Alexander, an alien hybrid (his parents are both human-Klingon)

For hybrids, I imagine that life is not easy. Even Worf, who is not a hybrid, but was raised by human adoptive parents, could not fail to get into what we would call trouble. Which is what most Klingon families would simply refer to as defending honor.

Fitting In

I write most hybrids as having some adjustment issues. Adolescence, in particular, has got to be difficult. But adults, particularly talented ones, are going to be a bit better situated.

Barking up the Muse Tree | jespah | Janet Gershen-Siegel | Spock | Alien Hybrids

Spock

Consider Spock, the best-known hybrid of them all.

His backstory is loaded with teasing and other evidence of not being accepted. The vaunted tolerant Vulcans aren’t so tolerant when their race is mixed with another’s. This attitude is reflected by a lot of the Vulcans in the earlier seasons of Star Trek: Enterprise.  T’Pol, Soval, and others often look down their noses at humans. And in the fourth season, we humans do it right back to them, as John Paxton has a human-Vulcan hybrid created, Elizabeth Tucker, and the intention is to repulse everyone. But the opposite occurs, and Elizabeth’s death is haunting to not only her parents, Tripp and T’Pol, but also to others who will eventually form the Federation.

Overcompensation

Like we can see happen in the real world, people who don’t easily fit in can often overcompensate, and try to be better than everyone. Is that what happens with the canon character, K’Ehleyr? Possibly. But she’s also immensely talented.

Barking up the Muse Tree | jespah | Janet Gershen-Siegel | K'Ehleyr

K’Ehleyr | Alien Hybrids

It’s not overcompensation if you really are that good.

But I can’t help feeling that, sometimes, the writers may have overdone it with her. She can sometimes feel a little bit like the John Prentice character in Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? and can be a little too good to be true.

Add in a tragic ending and then there’s no way to tarnish her halo, eh?

My Own Hybrid Characters

They run the gamut. And the deeper future should, I feel, have a lot more alien hybrids, and in all manner of different combinations. IDIC means embracing a lot that we, today, would find more than a little peculiar. Here are some stand-out examples.

Interphases

The earliest timeline appearances of alien hybrids fit rather snugly with the canon ENT episode, E2. Since it’s canon that Archer married an Ikaaran, the idea is that there would be other alien brides. For my own sanity, I went with Ikaarans as being the brides in both iterations, although women of different species could very well have been brought aboard.

Aaron Gregory Archer

In the second kick-back in time, he’s the son of Jonathan and Esilia, and weds Lili and José‘s daughter, Maria Elena Torres.

Henry Archer

In the first kick-back in time, he’s the son of Jonathan and Ebrona, and weds Lili and Jay‘s daughter, Madeline Suzette Reed-Hayes.

John Phlox

In the first kick-back in time, he is the first hybrid child born, the eldest of Dr. Phlox and Amanda Cole.

Charles Tucker IV

In the first kick-back in time, he is one of the twin children of T’Pol and Tripp, and becomes the captain after Jonathan dies.

Lorian Cyrus Tucker

During the second kick-back in time, this canon character (his middle name is my own invention) becomes captain upon the death of Jonathan Archer. He is the only child of Tripp and T’Pol.

T’Les Elizabeth Tucker

During the first kick-back in time, she is the other twin child of Tripp and T’Pol.

Times of the HG Wells

Otra D’Angelo

This human-Witannen cross can see temporal alternatives.

Richard Daniels

It is canon for Daniels to say that he is human, more or less. According to the scan that his sister, Eleanor, demonstrates during Where the Wind Comes Sweepin’ Down the Plain, the siblings’ heritage breaks down as follows – 18% Calafan, 4% mirror Calafan, 13% descendant of Neil Digiorno-Madden, 41% descendant of Joss Beckett, 11% human, 5% other mirror human, 8% Vulcan. 

Kevin O’Connor

Kevin is half-human and half-Gorn, and weighs almost a quarter of a metric ton, but he’s the sweetest person you’d ever want to know.

Polly Porter

Polly is partly-Betazoid, but is mostly human and is missing most of the qualities of Betazoids.

Boris Yarin, MD

Boris is a dangerous combination of human, Xindi sloth and Klingon.

Alien Hybrids in Other Stories

D’Storlin

D’Storlin, a human-Xindi Reptilian hybrid has a lot of trouble and takes his frustrations out violently.

Rayna Montgomery

Rayna, a human-Klingon hybrid, gets kicked out of her regular school because she can’t get along with her classmates. Yet her school is full of alien hybrids.

Upshot

Hybrid characters should be a large part of most Star Trek fan fiction, unless the time period is ENT or earlier. And even the ENT era can readily accommodate them. After all, not every hybrid is partially human.

These characters can break and bend the molds of characterizations and species types. What about Vulcans with emotions, or Klingons without honor? Hybrids, it is likely, can change the paradigm in all sorts of ways.

Posted by jespah in Fan fiction, Spotlight, 3 comments
19
Jul
2013

Spotlight on an Original Planet – Paradise

Spotlight on an Original Planet – Paradise

Paradise is a lovely original planet.

Background

In the E2 Star Trek fan fiction stories, it becomes obvious very quickly that the Enterprise needs a planet.

Ceti Alpha V Paradise

Ceti Alpha V

Because, in Reflections Down a Corridor, they have gone back in time, to 2037. So the Delphic Expanse is not like it was. They learn from a Xyrillian, Tre’ex, that there are a few planets which no one has claimed yet. One of them, known in the prime timeline alternate (the ENT episode, Twilight) as Ceti Alpha V, they claim and hold a contest to name it. The top vote-getter is José Torres‘s choice, Paradise.

In Star Trek canon, the planet is barely habitable. But that serves the prime timeline and an alternate. I like to think that, a good century before, things may have been better.

The planet is also, in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, as being the exile location for Khan Noonien Singh and his followers, during the prime timeline.

Paradise in the Delphic Expanse

There is no reason why the NX-01 can’t have a beautiful planet. It does work out a lot of plot points. This includes how to get the crew and their descendants to survive for the ensuing century. And also how to get them to live, and live well. This is without detection by either the people on Earth or the aliens of the Delphic Expanse and elsewhere.

The planet has to be habitable in case the ship becomes overcrowded. It has to be arable. And it must be the kind of place where you can grow a lot of different kinds of foods. But I didn’t want things to be too easy or perfect. Hence the Enterprise needs to claim a second planet, Amity. But Paradise works out well just the same.

Highlights of Living and Working on Paradise

Of course, crops are grown there. Malcolm gets his pineapples. And Shelby grows oranges, too, which Will wants. An elaborate tree-planting ceremony happens on August 29th of 2037. The participants dig holes in the ground. They plant an orange tree and a coconut palm. This is amidst slips of real paper on which the crew write their anonymous wishes.

During Entanglements, T’Pol suggests that more permanent settlements might be desired on Paradise, as the male to female ratio remains uneven and it might alleviate some of the sniping.

The Three of Us opens with a baseball game on Paradise, and then, eventually, it becomes the location of the first phase of criminal punishments. In Everybody Knows This is Nowhere, Paradise cannot be visited too often, as that would interfere with the NX-01 from the first kick back in time. But there is one secret mission there, all the same.

By the end of Everybody Knows This is Nowhere, Paradise survives. But there is no more evidence of civilization. This protects the prime timeline rather neatly.

Return to Paradise

Spotlight on an Original Planet – Paradise

Because of the connection with the Augments, and the eventual damage to the planet, there can be no return. At least, not unless a lot of terraforming work happens. In the Times of the HG Wells, Admiral Carmen Calavicci and Rick Daniels do talk about Ceti Alpha V, so it is not completely gone. Perhaps, by then, there is repair and restoration.

Posted by jespah in Fan fiction, Interphases series, Spotlight, 4 comments
11
Jun
2013

Spotlight on an Original Non-Sentient Species – Procul/Prako

Spotlight on an Original Non-Sentient Species – Procul/Prako

Background

When I wrote the E2 Star Trek fanfiction stories, I decided that the Amity planet would have plenty of wildlife. But none of it would have developed a backbone. Enter the procul (pronounced PRO-kull; the word is Latin for distant).

Characteristics

Huge, lumbering, and dumber than a box of rocks, procul (also called prako, which is pronounced prah-KO) are essentially giant ambulatory amphibious squid.

Spotlight on an Original Non-Sentient Species – Procul/Prako

Mega Squid (Procul/Prako)

When I dreamt them up, I was thinking about the Animal Planet speculative futurism show, The Future is Wild, and the mega squid.

The image is pretty close to what I’m shooting for. But procul have a total of fourteen legs, and their eye spots (much like we found in flatworms – planaria – here on Earth) are on the underside of the animal. This makes them blind on land but surprisingly graceful underwater as they swim in a manner that we would perceive as being backwards.

Appearances

First showing up in the E2 first timeline in Entanglements, no one really knows what to make of them. Characters don’t even know whether they are sentient, and no one attempts communications. When the characters determine that they are no smarter than maybe an herbivorous fish, one is shot by Jay Hayes and brought back to the ship for study. Once the study is complete, he brings some pieces to the galley, and Lili cooks them, although she tries it raw first. When she shoves a piece of uncooked procul into Jay’s unsuspecting mouth, he has a rather visceral reaction to what is, essentially, a come-on.

In the prime timeline, prako are for sale at a large open-air Calafan market in Local Flavor. Lili inquires about their cost. But determines that they are too expensive for her current small budget. The reader learns that Eska hunters brought in the carcasses. In The Three of Us, I revealed that Amity is called Archer’s Planet in the prime timeline.

Natural Enemies

Procul only have one known predator (other than sentient hunters) – malostrea, which the Eska call hard devils.

Behaviors

So I don’t even know about their behavior in water. However, on land, they herd together, much like cattle. In Everybody Knows This is Nowhere, dogs herd them.

Since they are all hermaphrodites, the natural leader is the largest animal. This is as opposed to, perhaps, a male which would have been analogous to a bull or a stallion. The leader, at times, rears up on its back legs and rubs two forelimbs together. This produces a high-pitched sound, not unlike that of a penny whistle.

They also have chromatophores, and characters observe them changing colors, from rust to celadon to milky white. They have open circulatory systems, much like we see in mollusks here on Earth.

Upshot

Chameleon-like in coloration, circulation like in a clam, legs like an elephant, call like a cheap wind instrument and dumber than a box of rocks, procul are a bit of a mess, but I like them.

Posted by jespah in In Between Days series, Interphases series, Spotlight, 6 comments
19
Apr
2013

Spotlight on an Original Sentient Species – Arisians

Spotlight on an Original Sentient Species – Arisians

Arisians have a funky history.

Background

When I first started writing Star Trek fanfiction, I was big on one-offs and “Alien of the Week” plots. At the same time, I was also learning how to plot, so I used the five senses as inspiration. For touch (and, by extension, feelings), I decided to write a lighthearted romance about Hoshi and a below-decks crewman who couldn’t quite hit his marks.

Further, I wanted to begin to explore sexism as an inspiration. Therefore, I created a society that had scapegoated women so thoroughly that there were no more women anywhere in their species. As a bonus, I had been seeing some rather nasty homophobic rants. People would not so subtly joke about gay characters being too sissified to ever make it to Starfleet. The story that grew out of these ideas was There’s Something About Hoshi.

Characteristics

As standard humanoid aliens, the only physical description of the Arisians is a beautifully detailed pattern on their foreheads. This is somewhat akin to what later evolved into the Calafans.

History

As the aliens themselves explain, women got the blame for all sorts of issues. Also, much like in ancient Rome, they could not leaving their homes without an escort, a fact that also figures in with Daranaean third caste females in Take Back the Night. Arisian scientists took it to an extreme, though, and began to research how to reduce pregnancy terms. Once the term could be reduced down to nothing, they genetically engineered only male children. So while they didn’t out and out kill the remaining women, they didn’t replace them.

Reproduction occurs via cloning and the use of artificial wombs. These are much like an incubator or a bassinet, but with more scientific sophistication. The groups of genetically identical males are referred to as Accordancies. As an Accordant explains, the relationship among the members of an Accordancy is fraternal. This is even though often the age difference can be very great.

Present Day

But things are changing on Aris. Its inhabitants now understand the absence of women did not prevent wars or other disasters or hard feelings. As a result, their ruling council decides to obtain female hormones. And, as Sandra Sloane annoyedly points out (thereby prefiguring her sharp tongue and short temper in Reflections Down a Corridor), they did not ask for help and simply took whatever they wanted, without permission.

Barking up the Muse Tree | jespah | Janet Gershen-Siegel | There's Something About Hoshi | Arisians

There’s Something About Hoshi – the first place we see Arisians

In addition (and in exchange), they inject Hoshi and her MACO escort, Frank Todd, with a certain kind of chemical stimulant. The Arisians think Frank and Hoshi are a couple. But they aren’t. Frank is the toughest guy in the room, and he is gay (as are, presumably, all of the Arisians).

For Frank, perhaps, Aris would almost be a kind of paradise. But he’s got a boyfriend, and he’s loyal. There’s no hookup for Frank on the planet.

As for Hoshi, the chemical has a far different effect on her and the straight men on the Enterprise. She’s become irresistible. And that’s kind of scary.

Future

In the sequel, There’s Something Else About Hoshi, the Arisians are finding that women – although, perhaps, exasperating – turn their society around. But maybe later they’ll just go back to treating women like doormats again. I don’t know.

Stay tuned.

Posted by jespah in Fan fiction, In Between Days series, Spotlight, 1 comment
19
Mar
2013

Spotlight on an Original Mirror Universe Condition – The Y Chromosome Skew

The Y Chromosome Skew

A chromosome skew?

Background

In order to explain as much as possible about the Star Trek mirror without having to continually launch into a lot of long, drawn-out explanations, I decided that the Mirror Universe would be, mainly, explained via a genetic mutation.

Spotlight on an Original Mirror Universe Condition – The Y Chromosome Skew

DNA up close

But the Mirror Universe is so close to our own that I wanted a fast-moving mutation, one that would run through the genome like a forest fire. This would rather neatly explain why things are close, but not quite, the same as conditions are here. After all, it’s canon that literature is similar but not the same (except for Shakespeare), and there are several mentionings of Roman times. How could I put it all together in a way that made sense scientifically without demolishing canon or making my own creative process more difficult?

Marcus Titinius

Marcus was a real historical figure. In ancient Rome, he was a tribune in 450 BC. That’s true history. Now for my spin.

In the mirror, Marcus had a genetic mutation (hereinafter referred to as the Y Chromosome Skew). As a result, he produced sperm that were about 75% XY (e. g. with the potential for creating sons) and 25% XX (with the potential for fathering daughters). The true ratio is a lot closer to 50-50. Marcus was drenched in testosterone and, as a result, was bigger and stronger than most men, too. He was also (and this is where fantasy truly takes its leave from reality) better-endowed than most men, and was a better lover. Hence Marcus had the following things going on with him.

What’s so special about Marcus?

  • He was constantly on the make for women, even though he was married. Also, he had countless mistresses and dalliances with women in all levels of Roman society. He was just as likely to have sex with respectable matrons as with slave girls.
  • Also, he was a good lover, so women sought to keep him. And, if they told their friends, those women also tried to make it with Marcus.
  • His sperm were stronger and more resilient than that of a normal man, so he was more likely to father a child if there was any chance of it at all. E. g. a woman could be two or three weeks away from ovulating, and there would still be a pretty decent chance of him impregnating her.
  • Also, he was stronger, and could fight, so he could fend off rivals. And he was rarely too tired for sex, and could be described as “endlessly insatiable“.
  • He was also a good provider, working hard to support any known children, legitimate or not.
  • Also, he was a good father, working to ensure the success of his offspring, and them reaching the age of maturity.
  • He passed the mutation on to all of his sons, without exception.

Immediate Effects of the Y Chromosome Skew

The two things that any genetic mutation needs to get a foothold are:

  1. The creation of offspring with the mutation and
  2. Those offspring being more likely to survive long enough to pass on the mutation.

The Y Chromosome Skew takes that to extremes. Marcus fathers dozens of children, by all sorts of women. He creates a boatload of genetic diversity, all by himself. He also works to assure the survival of his offspring. His children all inherit these tendencies from him, and even his daughters are more aggressive, particularly when it comes to optimal mate selection.

Long-Term Effects of the Y Chromosome Skew

By introducing a few dozen offspring with the skew, these sons fanned out across the Roman Empire. Just like Marcus, they were endlessly insatiable, but were also good providers and good fathers. As time went on, skewed males began to crowd out non-skewed males. They could fight for their women, and the women were much more likely to select them, anyway. While it is still possible in the 2150s to be a non-skewed male, the percentage is small, and the chances of those men passing along their genes are greatly diminished. José Torres does not have the skew, so if he is Arashi Sato‘s father, then Arashi does not have it, either, by definition. However, all of the Empress‘s other sons have it, even Jun.

Richard Daniels and the Skew

Why does Daniels have the skew? The shortest, easiest answer, is that he is a descendant of Doug Beckett. As Eleanor explains in Where the Wind Comes Sweepin’ Down the Plain, Doug fathered five children on our side of the pond, and they all had a mixed radiation band. But what he also passed on was the skew. Two of his children, Joss and Neil, have children of their own (the other three do not reproduce), and each of those two sons has a son and a daughter. By the end of the events depicted in the prime timeline in Fortune, it’s known that at least Joss is a grandfather and the line will go on.

But as Eleanor explains, if you have a radiation band of less than 21 centimeters, and it’s before trans-universal crossovers became common (in 2762), then you’re a guaranteed descendant of Doug’s. And, because the Y Chromosome Skew is also prevalent, although Eleanor does not mention it in her little talk, it’s probable that you’ll carry the skew as well.

Societal Effects of the Skew

Society tips more in favor of hunting and warfare, and away from agriculture and peace. Artists become rather rare, and become valued. However, even though women become rarer, they are far less valued. So they tend to be treated like dirt most of the time. This is even when Empress Hoshi is in charge of things. As a result, women’s roles are mostly subordinate.

There are women on starships more because the men will all tear each other apart if there aren’t. This is as opposed to any other real reason. In Temper, in an alternate timeline, the Empress has forbidden all relationships except for her own, and every man is theoretically supposed to be available to her. Some women, such as Lucy Stone, the Science Officer, and Shelby Pike, the pilot, have some status, but the vast majority of women are oppressed like Karin Bernstein, Blair Claymore, and Pamela Hudson, who exist as little more than playthings for José Torres.

The Y Chromosome Skew and the Prime Universe

Although Doug brings the skew with him in 2158 when he crosses over from the Mirror Universe, the effects are different. For one thing, Doug is far less violent, and vows to Lili that he will no longer kill. He is as good as his word, and makes every effort to rein in his temper.

As for the genetic mutation itself, it just doesn’t have the same effect in our society. A lot of that has to do with women. Unlike in the Mirror Universe, women have a far better place in society. And they fight to stay that way. Hence in our universe, Karin is in Tactical (and in the E2 stories, she gets command experience as well). Blair and Pamela are doctors. Hence, one of the conditions for the Mirror Universe being the way it is just does not come about. E. g. women do not suffer subjugation, or at least not because of that.

The Future of the Skew

With the skew becoming more and more a part of the Prime Universe in Richard’s time, it would appear that the Prime Universe would become more like the Mirror. But that is not likely, due to the position of women in our society. Our valuing of agriculture, cooking and gentleness will also keep us from becoming like the Mirror. And with Mirror Universe denizens crossing back and forth (as we will), it’s entirely possible that by, say, the fifth millennium (e. g. 4000 AD), we might find there are few differences between the Prime and Mirror Universes.

At least, that would be the case in my Star Trek fan fiction, if I ever write about a time that deep in history. And perhaps I might.

And as for Discovery, while my explanation isn’t quite the same as theirs, it’s not too far off.

Posted by jespah in Fan fiction, Hall of Mirrors, Spotlight, 6 comments
12
Feb
2013

Spotlight on an Original Technology – Pulse Shot

Spotlight on an Original Technology – Pulse Shot

Pulse shot?

Theory

In order to make some of my Star Trek fanfiction work, I needed a means of stepping from our universe to the Mirror, and vice versa. So in Reversal, this is accomplished via shared dreaming, and a crossover is performed by the Calafans by using power from the NX-01, the ISS Defiant, the amplifier dishes on Point Abic, Calafan group meditation and the sodium vapor flares emanating between the two smallest stars in the Lafa System, Fep and Ub. All of this, acting together, brings Doug from there to here, over the course of several hours. The Mirror High Priestess, Yimar (a teenaged girl) decides to leave the doors open in perpetuity. This has the effect of allowing Calafans to pass back and forth between both universes although other species still cannot.

However, the sodium vapor flares in particular are somewhat uncommon occurrences. Plus I wanted a technological solution.

Having read about dark matter, the truth is that it’s exotic and there’s an awful lot of it. It is ripe for fan fiction treatment, as it’s abundant and mysterious. Hence I decided that I would use it for the purposes of heading from here to the other side of the pond, or back again.

Practice

In Temper, the Empress Hoshi Sato has her Science Ensign Lucy Stone, with the help of Vulcan slaves T’Pau and Kefris, devise a means of moving from one universe to the other. In canon, she (Hoshi) is well aware that the Defiant is from another universe. It is an advanced design, with superior firepower, defenses and accommodations. It makes sense that she would be looking for a spare or two or two hundred. Hoshi is a person who wants to be known as a conqueror. So she may have realized it could very well be easier to subjugate our universe, instead of going out to hidden corners of the Mirror.

Three Shots

Therefore, in Temper, in 2161 the Defiant‘s main phaser is calibrated to twenty-one centimeters. And it initially fires a pulse shot into seemingly empty space. Because this works, Richard Daniels is summoned to the Temporal Integrity Commission, as he and Eleanor notice the time change immediately (an ornate sword she was lecturing about, Ironblaze, vanishes). This causes the first alternate timeline, and time becomes incoherent.

Spotlight on an Original Technology – Pulse Shot

The Defiant

Due to temporal incoherence, a few years later, in 2166, another pulse shot opens a second passageway. But this time they fire it near the amplifier dishes. This shot opens things up more widely and it’s not just Calafans who can pass back and forth. Now humans and all other species can as well. At this stage, four people pass from our universe to the Mirror. This act changes history enough, and that triggers Daniels sensing the change but not the specifics.

Then there’s a third instance in 2178. But this is not new. Rather, it’s vestiges of incoherent time. The first repairs to the timeline need to happen in this time period. Richard knows this instance well as it coincides with a major, independently verified historical event in that alternate timeline. After fixing 2178, there is a fix for 2166. And once that is all done, Richard himself repairs 2161.

Aftereffects

Beyond the temporal incoherence, the other effect happens later. Some of the pulse shot is, simply, “lost”. But energy can be neither created nor can it be destroyed. This is according to the Law of Conservation of Energy (Thermodynamics). So where does it go?

The correct question isn’t where it goes. It’s when it goes. And when does it land? 2366, and it hits Wesley and Geordi’s shuttle, thereby causing the toss back in time in Crackerjack.

I have yet to write further aftereffects. I might use this plot device again.

Posted by jespah in Fan fiction, Spotlight, 2 comments
04
Jan
2013

Spotlight on an Original Weapon – Phase Bow

Spotlight on an Original Weapon – Phase Bow

A phase bow serves a ton of purposes.

Background

Spotlight on an Original Weapon – Phase Bow

Hunting is Star Trek: Enterprise canon, and occurs during a visit to a so-called “rogue planet” where Eska hunters are seeking a creature that turns out to be sentient. Oops.

However, I didn’t want hunting to be too easy. Plus I wanted Doug to be more of a skilled hunter, and not just a blind shooter. Hence, when he hunts game (with or without Melissa, and with or without Calafan friends), he uses a phase bow.

Mechanics

Much like a standard bow and arrow,  a phase bow, instead, uses phased energy rectification (much like a canon phaser itself does), but the resultant emissions are pulses almost like what particle weapons emit. Arrows are, of course, unnecessary.

Phase bows come in several sizes. In Temper, I reveal there’s a smaller size for women. In Fortune, it’s revealed that the phase bow that Doug uses is huge, and is too heavy for Melissa to lift by herself, even though she is rather physically strong. There is even a child’s version available.

The weapon has a distinctive thwack sound, as small bursts of greenish light are propelled to their marks.

Aiming is possible either by eye or by using settings on the device. The image above is not an actual phase bow; it’s just a bow image. I imagine a real phase bow would have dials and switches and the like. This would be to change the settings for different-sized game, daylight versus nocturnal and any number of other modifications and options.

When Doug and Melissa use phase bows, they bring down either linfep or perrazin. So far, there are no scenes of anyone bringing down an elekai with a phase bow. However, those very large birds would normally require a lot of work to hunt, whether with a phase bow or any other type of weaponry.

In the E2 stories, there are no phase bows, so procul are dispatched with phase rifles.

Upshot

I’m not so sure I’ll have too many other occasions to show hunting. And not every hunter likes going old school. But I love the idea of a phase bow, and that it fairly seamlessly combines very old technology with the very new. Frankly, it surprises me that no one else in Star Trek fan fiction seems to come up with it.

Posted by jespah in Fan fiction, Spotlight, 2 comments
11
Dec
2012

Spotlight on an Original Nonsentient Species – Malostrea

Spotlight on an Original Nonsentient Species – Malostrea

Malostrea were fun to create.

Background

For the E2 stories, I wanted the Amity planet to not have any life on it which had developed a backbone.

Barking up the Muse Tree | jespah | Janet Gershen-Siegel | Malostrea

Malostrea

Some animals would be just plain dumb, like the procul (similar to Animal Planet‘s The Future is Wild speculative critters, the megasquid).

The procul, to be sure, are not the sharpest knives in the drawer. But the malostrea (pronounced mal-oh-STRAY-uh) were meant to be smarter than all that.

Predators

If procul are prey (and they’re too dumb to be anything else), they needed to have predators.

The malostrea (the name is Latin for evil oysters, and the same word is used for both singular and plural)  were meant to be almost the Amity invertebrate equivalent of wolf packs.

Living

When they first get onto Amity, the MACOs spot a number of perfectly circular holes in squishy, swampy ground. The holes are too perfectly round to have just gotten there by accident. Something had to have made the holes.

They see the procul first, and then see the malostrea clambering out of their little dens. The dens are interconnected underground, much like mole tunnels.

Hunting

The first time these animals are seen, they are out to hunt procul. The procul are several times larger than they are, but the malostrea have a secret weapon. They are able to naturally secrete a substance known as tricoulamine. This nerve toxin acts fast, and if a procul is “bitten” (since these animals don’t have teeth or jaws, the poison is delivered by means of having a shell clamp down on a leg), the big beast goes down, stone dead, nearly immediately.

Once the prey is dead, the malostrea set upon it and tear it apart with their little clapping shells. Procul legs can more or less fit inside malostrea den holes, but the bigger parts of a procul have to be torn apart. The malostrea don’t really have any means of slicing straightly and perfectly, so the aftermath of hunting is a bit messy as the game is torn apart for transport.

Intelligence

Spotlight on an Original Nonsentient Species – Malostrea

Clams (source: Wikimedia Commons)

Two malostrea are captured and brought to Sick Bay for study. Andrew Miller and Diana Jones spend the most time with them. In order to tell them apart (they are virtually identical hermaphrodites), the two malostrea are spray-painted with a blue 1 and a fuchsia 2 and are dubbed Thing One and Thing Two (a reference to Dr. Seuss‘s The Cat in the Hat). It’s difficult for Diana and Andy to really study the malostrea as they are poisonous and unpredictable. However, there is a great deal of clapping and chattering going on. The two researchers surmise that it’s a primitive form of communications for, after all, these creatures hunt in a pack. There has to be some form of planning going on there.

Future

The problem with E2 details is that most of them can’t, by definition, follow through to the correct timeline. But the malostrea do. In the last of the E2 stories, I reveal that, on a planet called Archer’s Planet (the correct name for Amity), Eska hunters call them hard devils.

Upshot

I like them. I’d like to use them again somewhere, but I’m a bit stumped as to where.

Posted by jespah in Interphases series, Spotlight, 5 comments
06
Nov
2012

Spotlight on an Original Species – Imvari

Spotlight on Imvari

Imvari are almost canon.

Background

So Imvari (the same word is both singular and plural) were originally brought into Together as a kind of beefy muscle. They were meant to be very tall (over two meters, which is more than six and a half feet) and ruthless in my Star Trek fanfiction.

Imagery

I realized after a while – after I had written Dennis Ott as a horned alien ImvariThe Reptile Speaks and had decided that the Imvari did not keep their genitals where most of us do – that this concept was in the Star Trek: Original Series film, The Undiscovered Country. It took a while to find the image, but I did.

Hence, this unnamed alien male is – tada! – an Imvari.

Language and Culture

Unlike the Calafans, I didn’t bother writing a language for these folks. However, I did need writing, as a plot point in Together is an escape on an Imvari ship. Hence the Imvari (like the Daranaeans would also get) were given pictograph writing.

Pictographs are somewhat similar to European road signs. They have basic circles, arrows, triangles, squares, rectangles and squiggles. These  denote things like warp factors, weapons, clothing storage, etc.

As a species that’s considerably taller than most others, Imvari tend to stay away from the rest of us. In Together, Lili and Deb learn the Imvari are not a threat when it comes to sexual assault. This is because they are simply incapable of pairing with human women.

Weaponry and Duties

In the E2 stories, and in Together, it’s established that they keep prisoners in line with what I’m calling shocking sticks. These types of implements are somewhat akin to the canon Klingon pain sticks.

Image of Adromeda Galaxy in infrared.

Image of Adromeda Galaxy in infrared. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In both the E2 stories and in Together, the Imvari work as guards, slave catchers and the like. But they are generally not the brains of any operation. That honor belongs to, respectively, the Orion Syndicate and the non-humanoid Andromeda galaxy species, the Zetal.

In the HG Wells stories, the Imvari are a part of the Temporal Integrity Commission.

Appearances

Apart from Together, Imvari are a bit in the HG Wells stories, but really only in passing. They are yet another galactic species at peace with and a part of the successor entity to the Federation.

In the E2 stories, they get a lot more air time. I needed a villain species that would not be the Xindi. In the E2 stories, the Imvari are responsible for gathering up vulnerable individuals for sale to the Orion Syndicate. They also process them into slavery. Many of these processed individuals are Ikaarans, It is on an Imvari slaver ship that Lili and Jay first spend any real time with Ikaarans. Although there is an earlier communication which is more formal. But the Ikaaran captain, Jeris, declines Captain Archer‘s offer to share in their Christmas dinner.

Upshot

Before you judge the Imvari as being mere brutes, the species has a writing almost like a modern, stylized version of Egyptian hieroglyphics. By the time of Richard Daniels (31st and 32nd centuries), the species is at peace with nearly all the others in the galaxy. Not bad for a bunch of interstellar thugs.

Posted by jespah in Fan fiction, In Between Days series, Interphases series, Spotlight, 4 comments