Post by spacecaptanface on Jul 12, 2011 19:33:58 GMT -5
Well this has been a long time waiting, but I figure I might as well start this now while I'm coming up with ideas of how to make my other fic more appealing. For a while now, I've been wanting to make something like a major prologue to the Legends Canon, sort of a "in the beginning" kind of story. (Hence the name) So instead of another Legends fic that merely "flashes back" to the beginnings of the Master System, the fall of the human race, and prior, I wanted to make an actual story out of it, with characters and plot to boot. So here it goes. If you guys like what you see, please let me know because it is SO much easier to write when you know that there are people who actually want to continue reading.
1- The First Two
“Beginning docking procedures,” the intercom announced as the shuttle pod slowly began to lose momentum. From the feel of it, it seemed Elysium’s stabilizers had caught hold of the approaching craft and was now gently pulling it towards Dock Station 9.
“Finally.” Chief Scientific Director, Evory McAllister mumbled as he unlocked the seat’s harnesses and lifted it off his shoulders. Shuffling to his feet, Evory stretched out his travel wearied joints and moved toward the pod’s viewport to get a better look. He glanced at his watch and felt his mouth tighten into a grimace. Almost two-and-a-half hours for this trip…nearly twice as much longer than it would usually take to arrive from Terra. While he had to admit that this new magnetic propulsion system was indeed impressive, he had to wonder whether the energy efficiency outweighed the heavy increase in travel time. Something worth discussing with the Commuting Science Department during his visit, he supposed.
“For safety purposes,” The intercom’s voice chided, “I would recommend that the Director remained seated until docking procedures are completed.”
“I don’t think that will be necessary, Avi.” Evory replied, waving a hand of dismissal.
“Avi” was the name he’d given to his shuttle’s Augmented Virtual Intelligence. It was quite a suitable name to him, though most of his associates and otherwise seemed to prefer giving more “personalized” names to their AVI’s, which was fine in any regard, even if it did seem like a waste of perfectly good acronym. Perhaps the name did lack a bit of originality, but at least he hadn’t gone with the atrocious name of “Buford” as did one of his colleagues, who had even gone as far as to augment its personality in order to fit that name perfectly.
Avi, on the other hand, had been augmented to have a more delicate and feminine personality, adjusted only slightly with a feistier side when she was dealing with nonsensical fools. More often than not, it seemed, Evory would find that he’d apparently fallen into this demographic as well whenever Avi indicated any obvious human error in his work, to which she spared no clemency in her ensuing admonishment. At all other times, though, she was incredibly delightful company with always just enough quirks to keep her interesting.
“Avi, would you be so kind, as to send Doctor Light a message informing him of my arrival?”
“Of course, Doctor.” Avi said pleasantly. “Would you like him to meet you at the docking station as well?”
“No, no that’s alright.” Evory chuckled. “I’ll just go to him. Besides, I figure he’d appreciate the extra time to prepare for this little ‘unveiling’ he has for me.
“Has he not yet told the Director the specifics of Project Ascension?” Avi asked curiously, “I had always assumed the Director was not very fond of…surprises.”
“He told me enough for him to get the funding he needed. Not as much information as I would have liked, mind you. I’m guessing it must be something rather spectacular for all the fuss he put up in getting me here though, especially on such short notice, AND during my Holiday retreat.”
Evory sighed as he remembered the looks given to him by his wife and children when he gave them the news. They had only just arrived to the Rocky Mountain Ski Resort when he’d received word of the “unprecedented” breakthrough that Doctor Light’s science team had made with Project Ascension. If Doctor Light’s success in convincing Evory to come immediately to Elysium was nothing short of miraculous, then it was still nothing compared to what he had to go through with his own family in order to get here.
“At least…” Evory said, narrowing his eyes, “It had BETTER be spectacular…for his sake.”
“The Director’s message has been received.” Avi said. “Doctor Light eagerly awaits the Director’s arrival.” She paused several seconds before speaking again. “Director…might I make an inquiry?”
“Of course. You know you don’t need to ask me if there’s something on your mind. Oh, and Avi, need I remind you of our earlier discussion concerning your usage of proper pronouns?”
“Forgive me, Director, it is simply a matter of the Direct-…er…‘your’ logistics that I am having trouble understanding. Your earlier statement infers that you have received unsatisfactory input concerning the details of Project Ascension, yet you have still approved a significant portion of Elysium’s funds towards said project. This behavior seems incompatible with your normally established protocols. So why, might I ask, do you proceed in such an unorthodox manner?”
Evory stood there silently as he stared through the viewport, looking on with wonder at the marvels of the artificial world mankind had created, and contemplated for a moment how he could answer Avi’s question in a way that her advanced, yet in some ways, limited thought processors would be able to understand. It was almost amusing, since it was practically the same question he’d asked himself so many times before, yet always seemed to come up short on finding the “logical” approach to his reasoning.
“Well…you see, Avi…” Evory began, not exactly sure where he was going with this, “Dr. Light is a… curious individual who…has this peculiar habit of being able to do what many people would consider impossible.” He supposed that was as good a way to start off as any. “He really is like no other scientist I’ve ever encountered before. Despite his young age, he is nonetheless able to think differently than the rest of us, and on a much higher level.” Evory remembered being told how this seemed to be a quality of the Light Family line, one of which seemed to go clear back to the dawn of the Mechanoid Age.
“As I was saying, because of that little habit of his, most of his projects are extremely… overly ambitious to say the least and a great deal of his proposed research and development drafts have been turned down in the past because of it. But then I came along…and did something not many in this field have done before.”
“What is that, Director?”
Evory laughed and shook his head before answering. “I put a little faith in the boy is all! I decided to take a chance on him and his ‘impossible’ ideas, and ever since, Doctor Light’s research has produced technology that has propelled the human race hundreds of years ahead of its time! And even now he’s still pushing the envelope. The reason he gives me such bare detail on his projects is that he’s afraid they might sound so absurd to me that I won’t give him the green light. And he’s partially right. There are many things I’ve seen come out of his lab that I never would have believed had it been presented to me on paper. That’s why I content myself with simply giving him free range with his research.”
Evory waited a few moments for Avi to process his tirade of words, and then asked hesitantly.
“Does…that make sense to you, Avi?”
“Not at all, Director. Clearly your dependence on uninformed probability and Doctor Light’s mere academic record should be reevaluated. But that is only my opinion.”
The Director sighed and nodded. “Thank you for your input, Avi. I’ll consider your advice.”
With that, Evory once again gazed out the viewport as the shuttle entered into the docking bay.
Whatever you have for me Doctor… Evory thought to himself as Avi’s words stuck to the back of his mind… I’d better be impressed.
1- The First Two
“Beginning docking procedures,” the intercom announced as the shuttle pod slowly began to lose momentum. From the feel of it, it seemed Elysium’s stabilizers had caught hold of the approaching craft and was now gently pulling it towards Dock Station 9.
“Finally.” Chief Scientific Director, Evory McAllister mumbled as he unlocked the seat’s harnesses and lifted it off his shoulders. Shuffling to his feet, Evory stretched out his travel wearied joints and moved toward the pod’s viewport to get a better look. He glanced at his watch and felt his mouth tighten into a grimace. Almost two-and-a-half hours for this trip…nearly twice as much longer than it would usually take to arrive from Terra. While he had to admit that this new magnetic propulsion system was indeed impressive, he had to wonder whether the energy efficiency outweighed the heavy increase in travel time. Something worth discussing with the Commuting Science Department during his visit, he supposed.
“For safety purposes,” The intercom’s voice chided, “I would recommend that the Director remained seated until docking procedures are completed.”
“I don’t think that will be necessary, Avi.” Evory replied, waving a hand of dismissal.
“Avi” was the name he’d given to his shuttle’s Augmented Virtual Intelligence. It was quite a suitable name to him, though most of his associates and otherwise seemed to prefer giving more “personalized” names to their AVI’s, which was fine in any regard, even if it did seem like a waste of perfectly good acronym. Perhaps the name did lack a bit of originality, but at least he hadn’t gone with the atrocious name of “Buford” as did one of his colleagues, who had even gone as far as to augment its personality in order to fit that name perfectly.
Avi, on the other hand, had been augmented to have a more delicate and feminine personality, adjusted only slightly with a feistier side when she was dealing with nonsensical fools. More often than not, it seemed, Evory would find that he’d apparently fallen into this demographic as well whenever Avi indicated any obvious human error in his work, to which she spared no clemency in her ensuing admonishment. At all other times, though, she was incredibly delightful company with always just enough quirks to keep her interesting.
“Avi, would you be so kind, as to send Doctor Light a message informing him of my arrival?”
“Of course, Doctor.” Avi said pleasantly. “Would you like him to meet you at the docking station as well?”
“No, no that’s alright.” Evory chuckled. “I’ll just go to him. Besides, I figure he’d appreciate the extra time to prepare for this little ‘unveiling’ he has for me.
“Has he not yet told the Director the specifics of Project Ascension?” Avi asked curiously, “I had always assumed the Director was not very fond of…surprises.”
“He told me enough for him to get the funding he needed. Not as much information as I would have liked, mind you. I’m guessing it must be something rather spectacular for all the fuss he put up in getting me here though, especially on such short notice, AND during my Holiday retreat.”
Evory sighed as he remembered the looks given to him by his wife and children when he gave them the news. They had only just arrived to the Rocky Mountain Ski Resort when he’d received word of the “unprecedented” breakthrough that Doctor Light’s science team had made with Project Ascension. If Doctor Light’s success in convincing Evory to come immediately to Elysium was nothing short of miraculous, then it was still nothing compared to what he had to go through with his own family in order to get here.
“At least…” Evory said, narrowing his eyes, “It had BETTER be spectacular…for his sake.”
“The Director’s message has been received.” Avi said. “Doctor Light eagerly awaits the Director’s arrival.” She paused several seconds before speaking again. “Director…might I make an inquiry?”
“Of course. You know you don’t need to ask me if there’s something on your mind. Oh, and Avi, need I remind you of our earlier discussion concerning your usage of proper pronouns?”
“Forgive me, Director, it is simply a matter of the Direct-…er…‘your’ logistics that I am having trouble understanding. Your earlier statement infers that you have received unsatisfactory input concerning the details of Project Ascension, yet you have still approved a significant portion of Elysium’s funds towards said project. This behavior seems incompatible with your normally established protocols. So why, might I ask, do you proceed in such an unorthodox manner?”
Evory stood there silently as he stared through the viewport, looking on with wonder at the marvels of the artificial world mankind had created, and contemplated for a moment how he could answer Avi’s question in a way that her advanced, yet in some ways, limited thought processors would be able to understand. It was almost amusing, since it was practically the same question he’d asked himself so many times before, yet always seemed to come up short on finding the “logical” approach to his reasoning.
“Well…you see, Avi…” Evory began, not exactly sure where he was going with this, “Dr. Light is a… curious individual who…has this peculiar habit of being able to do what many people would consider impossible.” He supposed that was as good a way to start off as any. “He really is like no other scientist I’ve ever encountered before. Despite his young age, he is nonetheless able to think differently than the rest of us, and on a much higher level.” Evory remembered being told how this seemed to be a quality of the Light Family line, one of which seemed to go clear back to the dawn of the Mechanoid Age.
“As I was saying, because of that little habit of his, most of his projects are extremely… overly ambitious to say the least and a great deal of his proposed research and development drafts have been turned down in the past because of it. But then I came along…and did something not many in this field have done before.”
“What is that, Director?”
Evory laughed and shook his head before answering. “I put a little faith in the boy is all! I decided to take a chance on him and his ‘impossible’ ideas, and ever since, Doctor Light’s research has produced technology that has propelled the human race hundreds of years ahead of its time! And even now he’s still pushing the envelope. The reason he gives me such bare detail on his projects is that he’s afraid they might sound so absurd to me that I won’t give him the green light. And he’s partially right. There are many things I’ve seen come out of his lab that I never would have believed had it been presented to me on paper. That’s why I content myself with simply giving him free range with his research.”
Evory waited a few moments for Avi to process his tirade of words, and then asked hesitantly.
“Does…that make sense to you, Avi?”
“Not at all, Director. Clearly your dependence on uninformed probability and Doctor Light’s mere academic record should be reevaluated. But that is only my opinion.”
The Director sighed and nodded. “Thank you for your input, Avi. I’ll consider your advice.”
With that, Evory once again gazed out the viewport as the shuttle entered into the docking bay.
Whatever you have for me Doctor… Evory thought to himself as Avi’s words stuck to the back of his mind… I’d better be impressed.
It's so great to know that there are some people who actually enjoy reading the products my second-rate imagination comes up with. I'm totally open to any constructive advice any one else might have too.
So here's the next bit. The next post may take longer as I really do need to finish chapter 3 in my other fic. Enjoy.