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RobCaswell — The Passage Part 5

Published: 2012-02-04 20:18:54 +0000 UTC; Views: 9286; Favourites: 160; Downloads: 647
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Description Captain’s Log, Stardate 60444.6 – Commander Tate, recording. We are now reasonably sure that the wave of supernovae has stopped. Or maybe has “been stopped”. The trans-cosmic scope of this even makes it impossible to see all angles. We can only try to draw conclusions to those events that our senses can perceive within our own universe.

One of the probes that we’d placed in the path of the phenomenon was parked in the star system that served as home to the object we’d christened “The Egg” . The probe was on the opposite side of the primary from that object when the phenomenon reached that system. When we slowed down the probe’s telemetry from that moment, we saw all the planetary bodies on the other side of the system apparently disintegrate and then a blinding flash that burned out most of the probe’s sensors. But unlike other probes we’d placed in the phenomenon’s path, this one still seemed to be intact and transmitting its basic location signal.

We continued along the phenomenon’s vector, but we saw no more evidence of the effect. It seemed to stop at SEG-CG477 – the “Egg system”. So we turned the Clarke around and slowly approached what seemed to be end of the path of stellar destruction.

On entering SEG-CG477 we launched four probes to escort us and provide a wider range of data and perspectives. What we found was that half the system had vanished, but the primary was still intact and perfectly stable. On approach to The Egg object, we found that the planet that it orbited and the rocky, asteroidal material had vanished, leaving the naked Egg – shiny, smooth, and clean like the chaos about it had never occurred. It continues to be an enigma to us… but now with even broader implications.

We collected data for six hours, then pulled together a meeting to review what we’d found. It appears the linear effect causing contacted stars to explode had been stopped when it contacted The Egg. Our Medusan navigator, Kervan, confirmed that the travelling object he as sensing in the co-local universe had stopped its motion and may have even been destroyed.

Only time will tell if these conclusions are correct, but it’s the best picture that we can assemble with the data available to us. As such we can not say with reliability whether what we experienced was a trans-universal rift caused by some manner of FLT drive wake, if it was a weapon designed to rip apart the matter of our universe, or whether it was something else all together? We ventured outside our galaxy for the first time to find strange, new manifestations of the natural world. Clearly we’ve hit the jackpot in encountering this phenomenon.

We have now parked in the SEG-CG477 system to effect minor repairs. Our probes continue to scout the system for more data that could shed light on the mystery, though few expect any kind of enlightening breakthrough is possible.

The Captain is still in phase-transition isolation and we are starting to get concerned. The isolation should have ended two days ago, but Geen-One’s orders were unambiguous: no one was to enter the Captain’s cabin while the transition was on-going. But in consulting with Dr. Paj we both feel that we need to draw a line if the isolation continues much longer as the Captain could be in some kind of trouble. So we have decided to give the Captain thirty standard hours more to emerge. If nothing happens, we will attempt to force an entry into the Captain’s cabin.

=======================

Thanks for following this little multi-part chapter of the Clarke’s explorations of the Sagittarius Dwarf Galaxy.
Century class model by DJ Curtis, converted to OBL by Celticarchie. Background by FrostBo, et al. DAZ Studio render.
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Comments: 45

Augos [2012-06-19 17:51:45 +0000 UTC]

ohh god this ship is a porn star

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RobCaswell In reply to Augos [2012-06-19 19:21:10 +0000 UTC]

LOL!

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Phenometron [2012-03-26 21:52:17 +0000 UTC]

Space: the NEW frontier.

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RobCaswell In reply to Phenometron [2012-03-27 20:49:59 +0000 UTC]

I really do need to get back to the adventures of the Clarke again, soon. I've been AWOL.

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Colourbrand [2012-02-10 17:15:49 +0000 UTC]

An excellent ending (if) to this small story. No one was any the wiser, the issue resolved but still mysterious, and all feeling rather mortal.

Superb!

If only Trek was like this.....

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RobCaswell In reply to Colourbrand [2012-02-10 18:13:25 +0000 UTC]

After the most recent movie I made my mental Trek divorce official. What Trek was is not what Trek has become.... and frankly, even though some guys pull a paycheck to crank out new crap with the Trek name, it doesn't make them the keeper of the flame. They're no more a student of Roddenberry than me so why should should I accept their Trek over my own extension of Trek's vision?

In retrospect I realized that I enjoyed Trek the most in the 70's when it was a dead property and when the continuing adventures were the ones my imagination created. So I've consciously try to return to that and not let the crud peddlers get under my skin. They're employed - good for them. But they're not creating a Trek spirit that I connect with. And I'm mostly speaking of the writers of the last couple of TV series and the recent movies (even those TNG films went astray... to say the least).

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xaenon In reply to RobCaswell [2013-12-06 20:55:58 +0000 UTC]

Hear, hear.  Preach it!   NuTrek could easily have been science fiction movies of their own WITHOUT using the hallowed STAR TREK name or characters.  Paramount just decided to cash in by allegedly 'rebooting' the franchise (and in the process, shitting all over it).  Few things get better after a reboot, and I wish Hollywood would figure that out.  They could have spun off another incarnation of the original STAR TREK universe.  It was proven very soundly that STAR TREK can survive without Kirk, Spock, and McCoy.  Hell, it doesn't even need to be about a ship named Enterprise.

Fortunately, there are still legions of fans of the original universe, and plenty of books and fanfic to read.  So, even if 'dead', the original STAR TREK lives in my mind.

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Colourbrand In reply to RobCaswell [2012-02-11 07:56:24 +0000 UTC]

When I read this, I nearly fell back on my seat. F*** I thought I was the only one.

There went a great idea squandered like tax payer's savings. I regard the way trek was done especially in the 90's was a waste.

Think about it - here is a crew of beings with one selfless goal - and summed up in one of the greatest lines in literature:-

"Space, the final frontier. Our mission is to seek out new life, new civiliszations, to bodly go where no man has gone before"

How stirring is that?

Maybe now is the time for something else to take the flame and carry on.

Thank you SO much for giving and restoring faith in me.

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RobCaswell In reply to Colourbrand [2012-02-11 14:52:46 +0000 UTC]

I rather doubt we can steer the commercial property... especially after the financial success of the last film. I keep going back to something JJ Abrams said in an interview: "My wife hates Star Trek, but when I had her read the script, she loved it!" That kinda says it all, doesn't it?

As with social movements, one of the most effective things you can do is "be the change", so that's my approach to Trek. Maybe it won't change anything outside of my life, but at least I'm getting what I want and need from it.

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Colourbrand In reply to RobCaswell [2012-02-12 09:35:25 +0000 UTC]

"My wife hates Star Trek, but when I had her read the script, she loved it!"

Yes - in a blunt nutshell!

I agree with you on the latter so much, and hey you have a fan here, so its all good.

Keep amazing people like me as well as yourself - and thank you for doing this.

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AbaKon [2012-02-07 15:23:40 +0000 UTC]

I sense the hand of the Heechee in this...

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RobCaswell In reply to AbaKon [2012-02-07 16:07:44 +0000 UTC]

Ooo! It's been a long time since I've thought about the Heechee! I should re-read those books sometime Berkey and Barlowe covers... those were the days

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AbaKon In reply to RobCaswell [2012-02-07 16:42:29 +0000 UTC]

Those were some awesome adventures too. Man, we been der and done dat.

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RobCaswell In reply to AbaKon [2012-02-07 16:48:22 +0000 UTC]

Aye.... good times...

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Paudraic [2012-02-06 04:46:27 +0000 UTC]

Cool lighting.

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RobCaswell In reply to Paudraic [2012-02-06 21:31:35 +0000 UTC]

Thanks!
I'm just a sucker for blue.....

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ccbig [2012-02-06 04:15:16 +0000 UTC]

Awesome action render

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RobCaswell In reply to ccbig [2012-02-06 21:31:01 +0000 UTC]

Thanks! It was tricky trying to figure out what twisty angle would work best. I kept flipping the image and elements this way n' that.

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ccbig In reply to RobCaswell [2012-02-06 22:13:40 +0000 UTC]

Remember from the Star Trek film "The Wrath of Khan" in the big ship to ship fight scene. Capt. Kirk gets the edge in his battle with Khan because Khan in steering his ship is only thinking 2 dimensionally and not 3 dimensionally... The same thing happens in space and aircraft scene artwork. Sometimes people forget to think 3 dimensionally.

You did a wonderful work on all the angles in this render!

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BigTallDude [2012-02-05 21:03:59 +0000 UTC]

How to create an intergalagtic omlette
1. Take a massive space egg
2. Blast it with a supernova-inducing force until fully absorbed
3. Crack open with a sympathetic phsychic-feedback loop from a metamophosising senior crew member
4. Fire all phasers at the contents to kick-start the trans-polar enzymic fermentation process.
5. Feed the galaxy for the next 10 years!

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RobCaswell In reply to BigTallDude [2012-02-06 21:30:01 +0000 UTC]

Oh man... now ya done made me hungry!

MMmmmm. Sppaaaaaaaceeee oooooooommmletttttteee

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LmAnt [2012-02-05 08:01:19 +0000 UTC]

...and I am almost sure they'll find the Captain's cabin empty...
like I'm sure that this will be connected to "The Egg"...
An egg means pure transition! building-code + energy = new life.
And I am convinced that this is happening twice in your story.
Will we be witnesses of the birth of a new Captain and a new...Universe?

Great story, bud!
and a great ending

And I do like the diagonal composition of your illustration a LOT...it is so directing everything to focus on The Egg! That's cool
like the colours and the splendid illumination are as well!

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RobCaswell In reply to LmAnt [2012-02-05 16:13:56 +0000 UTC]

Heh-heh-heh.... I like the way you think!

I do often fall back on "strange sphere" imagery a lot with my Trek stuff. I think it's kind of my version of the 2001 monolith.... only I find spheres - PERFECT spheres - to be more awesomely mystical. I mean how cool is a "one-sided polygon", huh?!?!

Anyway, I have a few ideas for what direction to take the Captain's story, but "nothing's baked in the cake" at the moment so.... I don't have a deadline. I'll just continue to ponder it until I get something in my brain that makes me go "Ooo!". I appreciate your suggestions. MMmmmmm. Braaaaain foooooodddd........!

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LmAnt In reply to RobCaswell [2012-02-05 19:18:55 +0000 UTC]

..."one-sided-polygon"...
never though about that!
way cool!

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RobCaswell In reply to LmAnt [2012-02-06 21:45:20 +0000 UTC]

I just thought of that! Er... and least consciously. Subconsciously I may have come up with it sooner.
My subconscious is way cooler than I am!

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LmAnt In reply to RobCaswell [2012-02-07 18:29:41 +0000 UTC]

are you sure?

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Ptrope [2012-02-05 03:31:05 +0000 UTC]

Man, I really hate you ...

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RobCaswell In reply to Ptrope [2012-02-05 03:39:19 +0000 UTC]

Thank you, dear

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LordTigeron [2012-02-04 22:47:21 +0000 UTC]

it cant end like this.....
what cause the noveas, the mother of the EGG!!
The midgard serpent?
Im staying tuned thats for shore

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RobCaswell In reply to LordTigeron [2012-02-05 02:54:10 +0000 UTC]

Oh, there's more Clarke to come. It's just that this is the end of thew supernova threat.

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gazzatrek [2012-02-04 21:11:15 +0000 UTC]

'beautiful image as usual...'storyline still intriguing too!

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RobCaswell In reply to gazzatrek [2012-02-04 21:57:26 +0000 UTC]

I'm glad the climax wasn't too much of a letdown. It's a "passive solution"... but honestly I don't think the Clarke would have had any resources to stop it. Their only real option would have been to high tail it home and alert the Federation.

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celticarchie [2012-02-04 21:08:41 +0000 UTC]

Awww ya can't end it there...we need to know that Captain Geen-One is okay.

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RobCaswell In reply to celticarchie [2012-02-04 21:55:59 +0000 UTC]

Oh, I'm sure you'll find out the answer to that one.... eventually

Hey, I gotta tease for next week's episode, y'know?!

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celticarchie In reply to RobCaswell [2012-02-05 01:00:28 +0000 UTC]

But you said this was the conclusion?

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RobCaswell In reply to celticarchie [2012-02-05 02:35:09 +0000 UTC]

Well.... of this lil' mini series within the Clarke voyage. But it's not the voyage's end.

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celticarchie In reply to RobCaswell [2012-02-05 03:05:09 +0000 UTC]

I can't handle another show cancellation...I'm a fragile human being in a world that has deserted Sci-Fi...

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TheCentipede [2012-02-04 20:57:39 +0000 UTC]

I have to admit, the rash of novae gave me a definite Starflight's Crystal Planet vibe...

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RobCaswell In reply to TheCentipede [2012-02-04 21:55:02 +0000 UTC]

Hm. Never played that one though I remember seeing it on shelves.

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Zhaanman [2012-02-04 20:37:39 +0000 UTC]

Another Awesome storyline and point of view of a Stellar ship lovin it man!!

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RobCaswell In reply to Zhaanman [2012-02-04 21:54:33 +0000 UTC]

Thanks! Glad you're not tired of it yet! Hopefully that says something good about my treatments?

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Zhaanman In reply to RobCaswell [2012-02-04 22:04:05 +0000 UTC]

Come on man you kidding the fact your adding story as well give is kick!!

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RobCaswell In reply to Zhaanman [2012-02-05 03:02:02 +0000 UTC]

*evil grin*

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Blades-123 [2012-02-04 20:29:15 +0000 UTC]

Simply beautiful!

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RobCaswell In reply to Blades-123 [2012-02-04 21:53:39 +0000 UTC]

Thanks. I think this is another work where Bob McCall managed to creep into my skull, somehow. Not that I'm complaining, mind you!

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