To: 
From: "Steve Oostrom" 
Reply-To: trekcreative{at}yahoogroups.com

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"Planetscape."

Dr. Lisa Epherd was the lead researcher on Sahara Prime, a desert world
tha= t once held a sentient
civilization, or apparently so since there was the one artifact, called
col= loquially "The Great Big Blue
Dome of Nothing."

"But the aliens had to have some reason why this dome was put
there," Epher= d had said, once
the researchers had spent four years trying to penetrate the structure. 
Wh= en they finally
succeeded, they found... nothing.  The dome was empty.  The researchers
hav= e since spent their
time trying to figure out why the aliens had put the dome there, since it
w= as clear from their
investigations that the dome had always been empty.

Naturally, the work was rather boring and no real progress was made, and
th= e researchers began
to argue among themselves.  Epherd wanted to stay, since somewhere on
Sahar= a Prime had to
be a clue as to who built the Great Big Blue Dome of Nothing and why.  On
t= he other hand,
Dr. Lionel Penningsworth decided that they had done all that they could do
= on this world, and it
was time to end their research and go off to another assignment.  Each side=
 soon had their own
supporters, but since Epherd ultimately controlled the financing, her word
= was final.

With the long, boring days, the researchers and their support staff drifted=
 off into various pursuits.
One evening, a number of them gathered to watch an old-Earth
"classic" scie= nce fiction film
called "Star Wars: The Phantom Menace."  Besides laughing at all
the implau= sible science and
silly accents and Jar Jar Binks, the viewers saw the pod race.  They
though= t that was cool.
They decided to try something like that here on Sahara Prime.  The only
pro= blem was that they
did not have sleek. cool racing pods.  They had just their two lumbering
tr= ansport craft.

Penningsworth decided to make this race mean something.  "Lisa,"
he said.  = "We'll stage this race
and let it decide whether or not we are to continue here.  You pilot one of=
 the transports, and I'll
pilot the other one.  We'll do three laps around the Great Big Blue Dome of=
 Nothing, and if I finish
first, we'll leave here and move on to a more promising world, but if you
w= in, we'll continue our
fruitless search for the secrets hidden in this planet."

"Are you sure?" Epherd asked.

"Why?"

"You said you will pilot one of the transports."

"So?"

"You're not a pilot.  On the other hand, I do have an O-level pilot
ranking= ."  She did not inform the man
that meant she was qualified to pilot just about anything with GID's,
impul= se and warp drive.  Of course
he would know.

"How hard can it be to pilot something like this over this course?"

"Very well."

On the appointed day of the race, the other researchers gathered around the=
 dome to be the spectators.
The two craft were fueled up and started up, and when the husband of the
le= ad researcher dropped the
green flag (assuming his research into old-style racing flags was correct),=
 the two pilots took flight.
Naturally, Epherd moved in front, but given the nature of Federation
interf= aces and automation technology,
Penningsworth picked up the basics in no time, so he did not make a total
f= ool of himself and stayed
close behind.  However, after the second lap, Epherd had moved out in front=
 and was almost half a lap ahead.=20=20
She hung close to the ground, and felt some kind of thrill seeing the land
= sweep by so fast, and seeing
the streamers of dust thrown up behind the transport.

Most of the spectators, of course, were disappointed.  They realized that
E= pherd was going to win the
race and that they were going to have to spend more time on this barren
dus= tball of a world.  What
they did not immediately notice was the change in the Great Big Blue Dome
o= f Nothing, the increasing
shine and luminescence of its otherwise featureless surface, and the
seemin= g appearance of symbols--
at least until Penningsworth wife glanced upward, and--

With a flash of light from the structure that matched their own sudden
insi= ght, Epherd and Penningsworth
and the other researchers realized exactly what the dome did, as they all
v= anished in a flash of blue light=20 in the intergalactic transporter,
activated by two vessels moving on opposi= te sides of the dome.

Steve
The Universe Unbounded.

Visit "Star Trek: Athena" at http://ussathena.iwarp.com


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"Planetscape."
 
Dr. Lisa Epherd was the lead
researcher on Sahara
Prime, a desert world that once held a sentient
civilization, or apparently so
since there was the
one artifact, called colloquially "The Great Big Blue
Dome of
Nothing."
 
"But the aliens had to have
some reason why this
dome was put there," Epherd had said, once
the researchers had spent four
years trying to
penetrate the structure.  When they finally
succeeded, they found...
nothing.  The dome
was empty.  The researchers have since spent their
time trying to figure out why the
aliens had put
the dome there, since it was clear from their
investigations that the dome had always been
empty.
 
Naturally, the work was rather
boring and no real
progress was made, and the researchers began
to argue among
themselves.  Epherd wanted to
stay, since somewhere on Sahara Prime had to
be a clue as to who built the
Great Big Blue Dome
of Nothing and why.  On the other hand,
Dr. Lionel Penningsworth decided
that they had
done
all that they could do on this world, and it
was time to end their research and go off to
another assignment.  Each side soon had their own
supporters, but since Epherd
ultimately controlled
the financing, her word was final.
 
With the long, boring days, the
researchers and
their support staff drifted off into various pursuits.
One evening, a number of them
gathered to watch an
old-Earth "classic" science fiction film
called "Star Wars: The
Phantom Menace." 
Besides laughing at all the implausible science and
silly accents and Jar Jar Binks,
the viewers saw
the pod race.  They thought that was cool.
They decided to try something like
that here on
Sahara Prime.  The only problem was that they
did not have sleek. cool racing
pods.  They
had just their two lumbering transport
craft.Penningsworth decided to make this race mean
something.  "Lisa," he said.  "We'll stage
this race
and let it decide whether or not we are to
continue
here.  You pilot one of the transports, and I'll
pilot the other one. 
We'll do three laps
around the Great Big Blue Dome of Nothing, and if I finish
first, we'll leave here and move
on to a more
promising world, but if you win, we'll continue our
fruitless search for the secrets
hidden in this
planet."
 
"Are you sure?" Epherd
asked.
 
"Why?"
 
"You said you will pilot one of the
transports."
 
"So?"
 
"You're not a
pilot.  On the other hand, I do
have an O-level pilot ranking."  She did not inform the
man
that meant she was qualified to
pilot just about
anything with GID's, impulse and warp drive.  Of
course
he would know.
 
"How hard can it be to pilot
something like this
over this course?"
 
"Very
well."
 
On the appointed day of the race, the other
researchers gathered around the dome to be the spectators.
The two craft were fueled up and
started up, and
when the husband of the lead researcher dropped the
green flag (assuming his research
into old-style
racing flags was correct), the two pilots took flight.
Naturally, Epherd moved in front,
but given the
nature of Federation interfaces and automation technology,
Penningsworth picked up the basics
in no time, so
he did not make a total fool of himself and stayed
close behind.  However,
after the second lap,
Epherd had moved out in front
and was almost half
a lap ahead.  
She hung close to the ground, and
felt some kind
of
thrill seeing the land sweep by
so fast, and seeing
the streamers of dust thrown up behind the
transport.
 
Most of the spectators, of course, were
disappointed.  They realized that Epherd was going to win
the
race and that they were going to
have to spend
more
time on this barren dustball of a world.  What
they did not immediately notice
was the change in
the Great Big Blue Dome of Nothing, the increasing
shine and luminescence of its otherwise
featureless
surface, and the seeming appearance of symbols--
at least until Penningsworth wife
glanced upward,
and--
 
With a flash of light from the
structure that
matched their own sudden insight, Epherd and
Penningsworth
and the other researchers realized
exactly what
the
dome did, as they all vanished in
a flash of blue light

in the intergalactic transporter,
activated by two
vessels moving on opposite sides
of the
dome.
 
Steve
The Universe
Unbounded.
 
Visit "Star Trek: Athena" at http://ussathena.iwarp.com;">http://ussathena.iwarp.comhttp://ussathena.iwarp.com">http://ussathena.iwarp.com;
 






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