SIM:Imitated Imitating an Imitator: Difference between revisions

::As if on cue an orb descended like a large snowflake as Ehlanii planned the away team's next move.  This one was smaller than the last one and produced a hum that was not quite as loud.::

Ehlanii: I think it's time to neutralize one of these and study it.

::Solok suggested that perhaps Kobylarz could help in identifying weaknesses in the object's structure while Tyriden advised the commander to use caution.

::Kevin nodded and turned as Tyriden said,::

Tyriden: Aye, Ma'am. With our earlier readings of the first orb, it should not be too difficult to create a stable containment field in which to transport it. ::He looked over to Kevin as if hoping he agreed.:: Is that not so, Lt Breeman?

::Kevin thought a moment.  To be sure the polarity and spin of the particles surrounding the orb did suggest that encasing it inside a containment field would not be difficult.  What bothered him was the odd hallucination he'd had on approaching the last orb they'd encountered.::

Breeman:  That should work, Mr. Tyriden, yes.

Tyriden: And once we are done, we will send the Engineering team on the Independence the containment field specifications.

Breeman:  Good idea.  I'm not sure the science lab field will be enough to contain it.  It'll need some modifications first.

Tyriden:  Response(if any)?

::After Commander Ehlanii had finished contacting the ship and learning that the transporters had just come online again Kevin watched as Tyriden encased the orb in the force field.  He wasn't sure what to expect but as the field came online he sighed inwardly.::

Solok: Ready for transport, Commander.

::Tyriden beamed proudly as he looked at the results of his work and said,::

Tyriden: The containment field is up and stable. I have sent the field specs to Engineering and they have acknowledged they are ready to receive the orb... The orb is ready for transport, Ma'am.

::Something made Kevin think back to his time in high school.  He'd had only a small circle of friends then and they'd played around posting stories on the Galaxy-Wide Web.  Each of them thought he'd become an author one day.  And each had a nickname on the online forums.  Kevin's had been Raven.   

::Seated at the computer alone, Kevin banged away at the keyboard, trying to finish off what he thought would be his masterpiece.  He was trying to create something in response to the prodding of a friend of his earlier that day.::

::he's said.::

::Kevin hadn't been able to answer.  He knew exactly why he called himself that but he was afraid he'd lose Jared as a friend if he told him.  The truth was that he wrote to escape from himself and to let the characters take over his body.  He wanted to be assimilated into the collective unconscious flowing through his mind.  Jared wouldn't understand.  He decided he'd write this story as a way of answering Jared's question without confessing his strange thoughts to him.  So far a giant raven had snatched up a group of chimpanzees from the open plains of Africa and deposited them into the North American continent.  The raven was, after all, a great trickster.

::Kevin forced himself to suppress a smile at his youthful arrogance.  He realized that his proto-human could easily have retorted, "Well I'm real and you can't be me.  You can only imitate me."  The Federation had encountered enough parallel universes for Kevin to know that any writer who wrote fiction was technically describing (or imitating) an ontological reality which existed in one of the infinite parallel universes.   

::Presently, Sudra was saying,::

Sudra: What about the other orb, the one that captured Jona?

Breeman:  That appears to have flown up into the stratosphere...

::He immediately regretted saying that as he feared that Laryn might hear it.::

Sudra: So we hope we can use this one to backtrack to the orbs' point of origin?

::That wasn't Kevin's call though it certainly sounded like a great idea.::

Breeman:  That sounds like a good idea.  ::Turning to Ehlanii::  Sir, with your permission I'd like to include that as part of our research on the orb.

Sudra: Is there anything I can do to help?

Anyone: response?