IDEAS ON TUESDAYS 157

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.

Change of pace for a bit – I’m going to look at elements of EXTREMELY popular SF, F, and H; break them apart and use each element as a jumping of point for a story idea…

Popular Science Fiction Story/Series: Dune

SF Trope: Artificial Intelligence is a “crap shoot”

Current Event: http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/elements/2014/01/the-new-york-times-artificial-intelligence-hype-machine.html

Logan Andrist called out after Gichigami, the Ojibwe man, “Wait!”

Nkokoyanga Pomodimo spun on him and knocked him down.

“What’d you do that for?” Logan exclaimed, scrambled to his feet, fists at his sides.

“You’re surrendering everything we’ve worked for.”

“‘We’, who? We’re supposed to be for the planet!” Logan said.

“We already are! Aren’t you? I sure am,” Nkokoyanga said.

“I am – but who’s to say that our way is the only way? How does dumping more iron into a lake that already has tons of iron sunken on its floor,” he drew a shaky breath, “How is that going to help?”

“It will! You know the science. I don’t need to sketch it out for you. It’s a proven methodology. We’ve been trained...”

“Trained in what? The plans of a single group of people. What if there are other ways to approach the recovery of Lake Superior? What if what we’re doing is wrong?”

“You’re just thinking of this now?”

“We’ve never met Gichigami before now.” He scowled, stared at her for a bit, then said, “It doesn’t bother you that in all the classwork we’ve done; all of the ways we’re out to change the world; that we’ve never talked about more than one way of doing this? ‘Dump iron filings and kill the spiny water fleas and the holopedium!’ Hasn’t anyone ever thought of another way? Are there any other ways?”

“We’re not smart enough to know that,”  Nkokoyanga said.

“So you’re stupid?” Logan fired back.

She folded her arms over her chest, lifting up her breasts slightly. Logan squinted as she said, “No more stupid than you.”

“Then I accept that I’m stupid. Gichigami lives here! He looks out over Superior every day. He’s named after the lake!”

She shook her head, saying, “So someone tells you they’re named after a lake and then mutters some hocus-pocus and you’re ready to give up science and follow them?”

“If they offer a proven alternative to what’s already being done.” He paused. “How long has EGov been dumping iron into Lake Superior?”

Nkokoyanga shrugged, but turned away. “We’re continuing work begun in the late 2020’s.”

“Has the lake changed since then?”

“I’d have to review the data.”

He tossed her his scanner and said, “There. Review the data. There aren’t any other files under Lake Superior reclamation. This is all they’ve been doing. Check the dates – then cross reference and let me know if the original phytoplankton has made a comeback.”

While she worked, she said, “Thirty years isn’t a very long time for something this big to take effect, Logan! It make take centuries for us to rebalance the lake.” She lifted the scanner and read. A few moments later, she looked up, “There’s been no statistically significant change in the Holopedium gibberum population in the years since iron fertilization began thirty-eight years ago.”

“‘No change’,” he echoed. “You’d think there might be some fluctuation, don’t you? You’d think after nearly forty years the domeheads down in MSP Vertical would have tweaked the process or added another or something, don’t you?”

He lips had thinned to near invisibility. Then she thumbed off the scanner, handed it to him and said, “I’ll listen. That’s it. Listen. I will not abandon a methodology that has a solid research foundation and has proven effective in the past for some Noble Savage mumbo-jumbo…”

Names: ♀ Popular African American name, Australian Capital Territory, Common African American last name; ♂ Popular American name, Brazil; Ojibwe name of Lake Superior

Image: http://ak3.picdn.net/shutterstock/videos/1973602/preview/stock-footage-massive-lake-superior-waves-crash-on-the-breakwater-in-grand-marais-mn.jpg

Ideas on Tuesday 153



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.

Change of pace for a bit – I’m going to look at elements of EXTREMELY popular SF, F, and H; break them apart and use each element as a jumping off point for a story idea…

Popular Science Fiction Story/Series: Dune

SF Trope: Humans Are Greedy...Aesop’s Fable: “The Dog and its Shadow”

Current Event: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/human-greed-is-a-threat-to-the-planet-warns-williams-766815.html

Up on the edge of the berm, the grand cover shivered as a broad-shouldered dog pushed its head through and looked down on them.

The Ojibwe man said, “I should mention that there’s been a resurgence of wildlife dangerous to Humans since the Return To The Wilds act. Rattlesnakes. Cougar. Wolverine. Grizzlies,” he gestured, “Gray wolves.”

Nkokoyanga Pomodimo snapped, “Are you threatening us?”

He smiled, “I don’t have to threaten you.” He lifted his chin and the wolf faded back into the brush. “I am warning you. You don’t know the land here – or anywhere outside of the Vertical Villages any more.”

Logan Andrist snorted, “We have lots of information about the Wild Lands!” He held up his scanner. “This has encyclopedias of information about all this.”

The Ojibwe man nodded, saying, “I have no doubt that you have bountiful information. I’m not saying that information is bad.”

“What are you saying then?” Nkokoyanga said.

“Knowledge and wisdom is more than information.” He gestured to Logan’s scanner. “I’m sure you have complete files on gray wolves. You probably have ethological files as well.”

Nkokoyanga scowled, looking at Logan, “What are those?”

“Animal behavior,” he said. Then to the Ojibwe man, “I do. I know how wolved behave.”

“Can you explain what just happened?”

Logan looked down at his scanner, screen-touching through several pages before he looked up and said, “You’ve obviously trained them. Like primitive Humans trained them and eventually got dogs.”

“Exactly right,” the man paused, “Now apply the information.”

Logan tried to hold the man’s gaze and finally looked away. “You’re right, of course. I have information – but no framework to hang it from and no way to apply it to this specific situation.”

Nkokoyanga stepped back from Logan, sniffed and said, “Who are you and what have you done with my teammate?”

Logan shook his head slightly but when Nkokoyanga moved slightly toward the Ojibwe man, he said, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

She glanced at the Ojibwe man then back at him and said, “You’re always so smug in your information. Like you own it or something. Your greedy, ‘I have it all attitude’,” she paused, “It’s what led to that.” She gestured to Lake Superior where it surged sluggishly in turgid response to the wind blowing from the Arctic. “I have more in common with this man than I have with...”

The Ojibwe man began to laugh. Nkokoyanga turned to him, “What’s so funny?”

“You and I young lady? We have nothing in common.”

Nkokoyanga gestured to Logan, “His people...”

“Your people raped the land as badly as his. In fact, my ancestors did their share as well. There is nothing on this world but inherently greedy Humans – no matter their ancestry. The most important factor is choice. Wisdom. I have some experience with choice and I work every day – every moment on wisdom.” He also gestured to Lake Superior. “It will take all the wisdom of all of our peoples to see through to the healing of this Inland Sea. My people called it Gichigami – and that will be the name you can call me by.”

“Why should we help you?” Logan asked. He saw Nkokoyanga step back toward him and was obscurely glad.

“If you want something bigger in your life, you can join all of us.”

“We are big! Earth Government has plans to rejuvenate the Lake, too,” Nkokoyanga said.

Gichigami nodded, “Dumping iron filings into the water doesn’t address the whole problem.”

“What WILL address the ‘whole problem’?” Logan asked, making fists and panting them on his hips.

Gichigami smiled, “You’d have to join us to find that out.”

Nkokoyanga said, “We’re already part of something big.”

“Not big enough,” said the Ojibwe man and turned to walk away.

Names: ♀ Central African Republic, Gbaya; ♂ Minnesota, Minnesota

Image: http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/sites/tcdailyplanet.net/files/imagecache/full/images/

Lake_Sup_Sumerged_Drums_2.JPG

IDEAS ON TUESDAYS 150

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.

Change of pace for a bit – I’m going to look at elements of EXTREMELY popular SF, F, and H; break them apart and use each element as a jumping off point for a story idea…

Popular Science Fiction Story/Series: Dune

SF Trope: Achilles heel…

Current Event: http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304181204579369012564233246

Logan Andrist stared at the Ojibwe creature and said, “Are you Human?”

The creature laughed then said, “As Human as you are, at least.”

Nkokoyanga Pomodimo scowled and said, “What’s that mean?”

The creature shrugged, “You assume that your current form is Human, when that may not be the case. Comparing you to the Humans of my time, I can see definite changes in phenotype and genotype.”

“How can you see changes in genotype?” Nkokoyanga said. “That’s impossible!”

“I didn’t say I could see your genotypes – I can taste them.”

“What?” both Logan and Nkokoyanga exclaimed.

“I didn’t say I was entirely Human, either. But I’m closer to the original model than either of you.” He paused then added, “We can talk more about it in the comfort of my home if you’d like.”

“What do you mean by ‘home’?” Nkokoyanga asked. “My scanner doesn’t show any kind of energy signature or the appearance of a structure.”

 “There are more ways to build and run something than making it out of concrete and hooking it up to the power grid or a powersat beam.”

“Like how?” Logan asked, curious despite the wild, crazy appearance of the man. Dressed in brown shirt and pants, he wore shoes of a similar material. A medallion at his throat supported a chest piece of four panels of large bead rows in a fan shape. Along the right side, small feathers were individually tied to spray across his chest. His skin was red-brown, his hair was silky black and tied into two thick braids that hung down his chest.

Noting Logan’s stare, he tapped his chest, “I’m sure you’re wondering how someone as – savage – as me could possibly have any idea what you’re talking about. But let me assure,” he looked directly at Nkokoyanga, saying, “I’m the one who is blocking your signal.”

“How can you do that? Nothing can block a direct satellite uplink!”

“There are some things that can.”
“What could possibly keep us from getting our satellite signal?”

He smiled, held up one arm, palm up, then turned in a very slow circle. For the first time, Logan noticed that while they were able to look downhill to the bay, all but a gap of some five meters walled them in.

The Ojibwe man said, “You see it, don’t you, Logan?”

“See what?” Nkokoyanga said, “What?”

Logan said, “I think he’s got us in a bowl of matter – a pit – and under our feet is an antenna positioned in the pit.” This time he pointed, “A berm made of dirt’s been pushed up around this area then there a wall on top of that. Looks to me that it’s made of recast concrete panels in two layers. First and second shielding are layered for shielding the antenna from electromagnetic energy of first and second wavelengths. Looks like a few parallel slats each having a substantially planar first reflective face extending at a first angle from the vertical. The perpendicular distance between the first reflective faces is substantially equal to one-half of the first wavelength. In effect, we’re deaf, dumb and blind."
The Ojibwe man smiled, bowed and said, “It’s all for a very, very good purpose. It will be our pleasure to convince you of our work and then ask you to join us.”

“And if we don’t?” Nkokoyanga challenged. Logan tried to elbow her into submission.

The Ojibwe man raised both eyebrows, saying, “I’m sure you’d like if I said something dramatic like ‘Then we’ll have to kill you’,” he gestured to the foot of the hill far below. “But nothing near so dramatic. We’d take you home.” He paused, “All the way home.”

Logan exclaimed, “I live in St. Louis Vertical Village!”

He nodded, “Then you will have a long way to walk. Best if you started now.”

Names: Names: ♀ Central African Republic, Gbaya; ♂ Minnesota, Minnesota

Image: http://www.muskratmagazine.com/home/sites/default/files/styles/large_home_page_image/public/field/image/Chief_Quanah_Parker_National-Archives_2.jpg?itok=ZQfaRc7f

IDEAS ON TUESDAYS 147

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.
Change of pace for a bit – I’m going to look at elements of EXTREMELY popular SF, F, and H; break them apart and use each element as a jumping of point for a story idea…

Popular Science Fiction Story/Series: Dune
SF Trope: messiah
Current Event: Song lyrics: “Siamese, Lebanese, Chinese speaking strip TV's Singapore, El Salvador, Coca-Cola....Mercury, luxury, shove that Fender fist at me…Embryo, UFO, freako psycho horror show; Hips n' lips n' beauty queens Venus ramp, sexy tramp, make up muck, My vegas vamp” [http://www.releaselyrics.com/8433/sigue-sigue-sputnik-21st-century-boy-(tv-messiah)/]

They’d been waiting in the abandoned port of Duluth for ten hours.


Logan Andrist frowned and said, “You’re sure Professor Buddlorem told you to meet him here?”


Nkokoyanga Pomodimo held up her tablet computer, thumbed the screen to life and tapped until she had the message. She handed it to Logan and said, “Right here. Used to be a downhill ski resort here.”


“What’s ‘downhill skiing’?”


“No idea.”


He turned in a complete circle again, then looked up into the sky. It was a dark, dark blue as the last of the blood red sunlight drained from the sky. Stars came out, wavering at first in the thickening air near Lake Superior. The lake had once teemed with diverse life forms. Now giant salmon and tiny, razor-toothed smelt battled fast-swimming lamprey for the zebra mussels they’d been gengineered to feed on.


None of the creatures had been created for any purpose but weapons in the war that had heated up between the Chinese States of America and Fragmented Canada.


Now neither side could safely fish the waters. Anyone who plied the surface had to run armed as it was said that one of the countries had developed some massive creature – a freshwater whale or octopus or squid or shrieking eel – that lived in the depths of the Inland (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LydQXydQKrc) Sea. Logan sighed and said, “You think it’ll ever look like it used to?”


“When? Like at the end of the Ice Age or you want the middle of the Deglaciation of North America or before the European Invasion of Laurentia?” Nkokoyanga snapped. She tapped her tablet furiously. A moment later, it bleated angrily. She said, “I’m not even getting a GPS signal.”


“What?”


“What are you, deaf and stupid?”


“Neither,” he snapped back. “What I mean is that how can you possibly be signal blocked?”


“We must be out of line-of-sight...”


Logan said, “How can we be invisible to a satellite?”


She opened her mouth, then closed it. “I’m being blocked.” She looked around, then down at the harbor far below them. They were standing on a hill that had once been a ski resort – if the ancient map could be believed. But instead off the reflection of the azure sky like the one in the picture, the waters below seemed to surge with murky gray, roiling as something swam through the bay, leaving a faint, oily wake. She stared at the water far below for a while then said, “I don’t think anything we do can turn back the clock far enough for these lakes. Even if we dump a million tons of iron into them, they’re still gonna die.”

“That could be serious...” Logan began, pausing. He’d seen something move back on the tree line. It was movement that couldn’t be caused by the steady wind off the lake. Besides movement, it brought with it a cold, fish smell.


“Of course it could be serious, you idiot! It’s the...”


Cutting Nkokoyanga off, Logan said, “If you’d let me finish, I was going to say it could have
serious ramifications for the land surrounding the lakes. All kinds of flora and fauna...”


“Why can’t you just say plants and animals?”
“Because it’s more than that,” he began, when something walked out of the heavy brush at the edge of the clearing.


A tall figure, dressed simply for the mid-summer weather, walked up to them and said something in a language neither understood. Nkokoyanga bent over her tablet, tapping furiously. The figure said in plain Spandaringlish, “You won’t find Ojibwe in your computer,
I’m sorry to say.”


Logan said, “Why not?”


“It’s a forgotten language,” the figure said. Logan couldn’t figure out if it was a male voice or a female voice. Maybe both. It said, “Ojibwe was one of the languages spoken in these hills in the past.”


Nkokoyanga snorted, “There weren’t any people on Laurentia to speak...”

He laughed and said, “I’m a native of these parts, Madame Pomodimo, not an idiot.”


“How do you know my name?”


He snorted this time and said, “I know everything, and I’m about to tell you a large part of what I know.”

Names: ♀ Central African Republic, Gbaya; ♂ Minnesota, Minnesota

Image: http://www.mcz.harvard.edu/Departments/InvertPaleo/Trenton/Intro/GeologyPage/Geologic%20Setting/blakeyearlyord.gif

IDEAS ON TUESDAYS 145

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.

Change of pace for a bit – I’m going to look at elements of EXTREMELY popular SF, F, and H; break them apart and use each element as a jumping off point for a story idea…

Popular Science Fiction Story/Series: Dune

SF Trope: complex planetary ecology

Current Event: “large-scale carbon capture and sequestration projects” (http://cleantechnica.com/2014/01/20/gore-rejects-geoengineering-climate-change-panacea/), http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2012/jul/18/iron-sea-carbon

Logan Andrist frowned and said, “What do you mean they’re going to dump iron into the lake?”

Nkokoyanga Pomodimo, far from her land-locked home in the Central African Republic held tight to the railing of the re-purposed iron ore freighter – a laker – as it dipped down into the swells of Lake Superior. She said, speaking loudly over the rushing wind around them, “The iron will cause algae to grow wildly. As they grow they need more carbon dioxide. As they suck up the CO2, they store the resulting carbon-rich sugars and then keep it when they die and sink to the bottom of Superior...”

“I know what carbon sequestering is! I’m a limnology major...”

She shook her head in the wild winds and shouted, “This is glorious! Feeling Gaia beneath your feet is the most...”

“Wouldn’t that technically be Poseidon? Besides, who gave them permission to do this?”

She turned to catch his gaze and he recognized her crazy, angry look as she cried back, “Who gave all you rich white colonialists the right to pollute and rape our world?”

He didn’t want to shout. What he really wanted to do was kiss her right then and there in the cold spray from the Lake – but he didn’t want a broken face, so he shouted, “I didn’t do any of that! Why are you yelling at me?”

“I’m not yelling at you,” she shouted. “I’m yelling TO you!”

“What’s that,” the nose of the laker dove deep, nearly flooding the deck and driving a mountain of spray over them. The water was frigid despite the hot August sun burning down on them through breaks in the scudding clouds. He wiped his face clear of water and finished, “Supposed to mean?”

“You’re not to blame, old friend, but you are responsible! That’s why the captain of this tub is an old white man!”

“Professor Buddlorem’s driving the ship? We have to go save all of our lives!” Logan let go of the railing; Nkokoyanga grabbed him and pulled him tight.

“The computer is doing most of  the driving! He’s just playing captain!”

Logan eyed her warily the said, “How are we supposed to get all this iron into Lake Superior?”

‘Ko’ grinned and shouted, “Now that’s the tricky part!”

Names: ♀ Central African Republic, Gbaya; ♂ Minnesota, Minnesota

Image:https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgykDo-R6Yw75cRKGffe0IF1oqO3s1vMcf2jDqaklsEi2ClAzz0_yaqONY0Fn0ghvOpZyV3xTNrilpaZ9rz0UTdma5Kwg-Lu7w_bMY3D56dA0WBlVU8NYKBfG5axn48-vJRDjZBBQm8T7ou/s400/edmund-fitzgerald1.jpg