Each Tuesday, rather than a POSSIBLY IRRITATING ESSAY, I'd like to both challenge you and lend a helping hand. I generate more speculative and teen story ideas than I can ever use. My family rolls its collective eyes when I say, "Hang on a second! I just have to write down this idea..." Here, I'll include the initial inspiration (quote, website, podcast, etc) and then a thought or two that came to mind. These will simply be seeds -- plant, nurture, fertilize, chemically treat, irradiate, test or stress them as you see fit. I only ask if you let me know if anything comes of them.
SF Trope:
Absurdly Sharp Blade
Current Event: http://archaeology.about.com/od/ancientweapons/a/damascus_steel.htm,
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/29/space-elevators-stronger-materials_n_3353697.html
Zahra Gourian
stared up. Straight up. Into the cloudless sky. The base of the space elevator,
Zulfiqar was fifteen kilometers across and had roots that extended half that
down into the ground and three times that in all directions. Plastic injected
sand formed a massive block anchoring the largest object ever engineered by
Humanity. Where she stood with her new friend, it was still the dark before
dawn. “Isn’t it blessed?” she said faintly.
Hydar Aualgeath shook his head, “Why did they name it after the Prophet’s sword?”
She looked over
at him and said, “It’s symbolic.”
“Of what?”
Zahra snorted
and said, “You’ve been away too long.”
“I was born in
Minneapolis just like my dad. I’m as American as Taco Bell®.”
“That’s
American?”
“F0unded in southern California in 1962.”
She grunted and
said, “I love Taco Bell.”
“Me, too.”
“But you hate
the Sword of the Prophet?”
“No need for
Islam United to threaten the rest of us with a sword hanging over our heads.”
“The world’s
been threatening us for hundreds of years!”
Hydar sighed
then said, “I chose Allah not because He was stronger but because He is better
than any other faith offering I have ever studied. Besides, Islam has
threatened various parts of the world for just as long – we’ve proven our
staying power. Now we need to prove our building power.” Zahar didn’t realize
she’d clenched her fist and raised it until Hydar stared at her and softly
said, “So you are in favor of killing all Humans who don’t agree with you in
order to go to the stars and kill all the aliens who don’t agree with you?”
“You’re Muslim!”
“I am. But my
intent isn’t to subjugate infidels, it’s to emancipate them. The same will hold
true when I’m on the first ship out there.”
“You’re only
fifteen,” Zahar said.
“Yeah, but I’ll
be twenty-five, then thirty-five, then forty-five. Then I’ll be out there
somewhere.” He gestured to the infinite depths of space. “I’ll bring the emancipation
of Mohammed to the Universe.”
She stared at
him then turned away, shaking her head. Without looking at him, she said, “Emancipation
only allows others to enslave us – just as they’ve always done. We need to
subjugate the wrong thinking of the infidel, no matter what world they come
from or what their shape.”
“What are we subjecting it to?” Hydar said softly.
“The same thing
the superior has always subjected the inferior to – the undefeatable logic of
our faith and our lives.”
“I suppose
superior technology is proof of Allah’s greatness?”
“Insha'Allah.”
He nodded sadly. “Then the Koran is unnecessary to demonstrate Allah’s
greatness?”
Zahar spun around, looked up into the morning sky. The sun’s rays were racing down the razor straightness of the Sword of the Prophet eventually to touch the Earth. That was the moment the Sword began to sing, and the song it sang was of power...
Zahar spun around, looked up into the morning sky. The sun’s rays were racing down the razor straightness of the Sword of the Prophet eventually to touch the Earth. That was the moment the Sword began to sing, and the song it sang was of power...
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