We asked Gates McFadden (@gates_mcfadden) if she had ever had anyone tell her that they went into the medical field because of her portrayal of Dr Crusher. She said that there had been many stories like that, and that they were always the most precious to her.
She loved Dragon (of course!) and posed with the TARDIS for us!
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 3.5 | Part 4
The trader called Buck looked apologetic as he said, “This has your sister’s royal signature all over it. Your sister was trying to kill you.”
The Prince must have been expecting it because his face drooped sadly as he asked, “Which one?”
“Oh wow! You’ve really been out of circulation haven’t you? Wowee!”
“Listen Buck. I’ve been shot at, tracked, almost exploded, and threatened multiple times by a large bird. That’s just recently. Stop with the gee-golly routine and tell me what’s going on.”
Looking a little hurt, Buck said, “About the same time you disappeared, your other family members started dying. The Ageless King and Queen started getting paranoid and stopped going out in public or filming their family events. About two years ago, your uncle Benedict challenged Elizabeth’s claim to the throne with six super-heavy-destroyers. It wiped out your home world and sent your sister into deep hiding. Benedict’s execution was mandatory viewing for the year after.” He shuddered. “Still gives me nightmares.” After a small pause he added, “Congrats on being second in line to the throne. Figuratively speaking… I think the actual throne blew up with the planet.”
“Great! My entire family is dead except my oldest sister and she’s trying to have me killed. What else could go wrong?”
The statement was immediately followed by a large Emu wark and a crash.
Shuddering visibly, Sophia said, “Why’d you have to say that?”
Running outside they saw Hagrid, with a fish in his mouth, being chased by a small group of people calling for “Little Sister.”
Swearing Phil and Sophia ran after Hagrid. They were a little ahead of the mob but not by much. Sophia yelled, “Hagrid you stupid bird. What did you do and why are you heading away from the ship?”
As if in answer Hagrid stopped, gently deposited the fish on the ground, turned towards her and vomited a football-sized silver egg that was blinking with pink light. Sophia stopped chasing him and stood trying to understand what had just happened.
The mob arrived and one person screamed, “BOMB!” and the entire group turned and ran.
Sounding utterly defeated Phil sat down and said, “That’s a planet buster… We’re dead.”
“You’re awfully pessimistic Prince Phillip.” At first Sophia thought the voice was coming from Hagrid and she fought the urge to giggle. The voice was high pitched and squeaky, the kind of voice used by grown women to imitate young girls.
The voice came from a small child that was walking towards them with a silver tube that looked like a large Tupperware. Looking closer Sophia saw that it wasn’t a girl but some sort of robot toy. She was three feet tall with red yarn hair, a plush face, and silver metal limbs. She wore a bright yellow sundress and her face smiling the creepy smile that only dolls can accomplish.
The doll took the container and placed it around the bomb closing the lid and pressing a large red button on the side of it.
“This will contain the blast and disperse the energy wirelessly into our power grid.” The explanation sounded ridiculously cute. Sophia found herself fighting the urge to pat the doll on the head.
“Hello Little Sister,” said Phil in the same sad, deadpan voice. “Sophia, this is Little Sister. She’s the AI that runs this moon. She’s as ruthless as she is adorable.”
“Hello Prince Phillip and Sophia. Thank you for the flattery. Can any of you explain how this bird swallowed a planet buster?” She smiled.
They all looked at Hagrid and for a split second Sophia expected him to speak. Instead he started to preen the feathers on his butt.
When no one answered and it was obvious Hagrid was ignoring them Little Sister said, “I think someone is trying to kill you and I think I can help.”
“Oh?” Phil asked still sitting on the ground looking mopey.
“Have you heard of the Database of the Ageless Kings?”
“It’s just a story and not a particularly coherent or good one at that.”
Ignoring him, Little Sister continued, “The Database of Ageless Kings is a repository of information that is only accessible to the Galactic rulers. It’s a massive computer that records everything that happens in the galaxy. It’s said that it has over a billion years’ worth of data.”
“It’s a myth that my family liked to spread to make us seem nearly omnipotent.”
Little Sister leaned in with a smirk, she looked excited, exactly like a young child about to tell a secret, “It’s also said that database can affect reality, not just record it. It’s said that an heir can re-rewrite history.”
“It’s just a story. Even if it existed only the crowned heir would be told where it is. I mean —” Phil was cut off by Hagrid head butting him.
Little Sister giggled and said, “I know where it is and I’ll tell you… for a price.”
If you’re enjoying this year’s serial story why not check out those from past years?
This is something that I plan on doing this summer! It’s a light show underground at the LRT’s new Lyon Station, and it opens on July 16, 2017.
The LRT infrastructure project has required significant transformation of Ottawa’s downtown underground.
The excavation of a 2.5 kilometre tunnel has revealed layers of the city’s foundation, exposing sediment dating 150 years back to Confederation. The exposure of these layers has released a flow of electromagnetic energy in the tunnel that was buried for centuries. Until now. It all began with a mysterious appearance at the Lyon station: a glimmering wall of light that can only be described as a glitch in the fabric of reality. The Loop is a fracture of time and space caused by an unprecedented release of electromagnetic energy. Since its appearance, construction workers have begun to witness inexplicable phenomena in and around the tunnel.
Get your FREE tickets here.
Are you interested in travelling to Ottawa? I can book your car rental, train tickets, and accommodations!Jen has retired from working as a travel agent. Hope you’ve enjoyed Fandom Travel.
Hello My Imaginary Friends,
Last December I set forth some pretty optimistic goals for this year’s resolutions. Let’s see how well I’ve done so far.
I have not been accomplishing this… unfortunately. I’ll continue to try in the months ahead.
The more I wrote the less I liked this novella and so in the end I’m shelving it and I plan on re-writing it someday in the future.
The Hound of Baker Ville was supposed to be the next Elizabeth book I write, but the more I plotted, the more I realized it fit better as book 6. Now I can add a bunch of reveals and twists that will make it so much more exciting.
I still plan on starting book 4, which will be called The Mystery of the Dancing Lights. It’ll be a summer camp novel in two different time periods where we’ll learn more about Jackie’s father’s youth.
At half way through the year I’m at 13 books. Only a few behind. Lots of time to catch up.
So far so good. I have 5 episodes done and the sixth will be on Thursday (hopefully).
You can start reading at Part 1 of Database of the Ageless Kings here.
Both Green Apple and Marshmallow have been great successes. Yum!
I’ve been casually editing it and adding a little more to the powers. I’m looking at hopefully a September playtest.
So far so good, we’ve been through sickness, vacations, baby stuff, and now me going back to work and stayed true to our five day schedule. Yay us!
I’m currently editing Everdome and have finished about a third of it. I think a few good days and it’ll be ready for the Alpha-Reader/Weditor. Hopefully I’ll be able to get it out to 2-4 beta readers before Can-Con at the end of September.
A Case of Synchronicity, or book 3 of Elizabeth, has been through beta readers and needs another pass before it’s ready for submission, but I think this will be a late November or December job.
So far not bad; only 1 failure is pretty good by me. Maybe I’ll beat my 65% success rate from two years ago.
I’m not adding anything this year. Normally I would add some, but the next 6 months are going to be a crazy marathon of stuff. It’ll be a challenge to get everything done on this list.
How are you doing on your resolutions?
Éric
Hello,
About four or so years ago I came across a youtuber called Weezy Waiter. He’s irreverent, silly, and arguably one of the best video editors from his generation of youtube.
He’s also part of a fantastic Super Hero series called POPS (Platoon of Power Squadron). Like a good webcomic, it ages and improves over time.
If you have a few hours to kill and love superhero origin stories as much as I do, go check it out. It’s insightful, funny, and really entertaining. Find all the information on their site:
http://platoonofpowersquadron.com/
Later Days,
Éric
One of the many mom groups I’m in on Facebook has a member who just found out she is pregnant – at 26 weeks 5 days. Some people (in her real life) are questioning her about how she didn’t know. I don’t know the specifics of her case, but the point is, she didn’t know. Here are some reasons why she might not have known:
Pregnancy tests look for hCG in your urine. There are ways to get false positives (like some fertility treatments – how awful is that?), but it is very easy to get a false negative as well. If your levels of hCG are low, it won’t be detected by home pregnancy tests.
Not everyone gains a ton of weight when they get pregnant, or look like they’re smuggling a beach ball, watermelon, cantaloupe, etc. In my personal experience, I lost 9 pounds over the first 4 months of my pregnancy. And I didn’t get a noticeable pregnancy bump until around 5-6 months, because I already had a tiny bit of extra in my lower abdomen. Someone who is extremely exercise conscious, who is tall, who has extra pounds, who is stressed (all different cases there) could easily not know they are pregnant. They may not have this symptom, or it might go unnoticed.
I didn’t get nauseated in the morning. I got it at 5:30 pm, like clockwork. However, if I ate small snacks throughout the day, or took a nap in the afternoon, I didn’t get it. And I only felt a little queasy – I didn’t have any vomiting.
But morning sickness can show up all day, at any time during the day, or not at all. If they are one of the lucky ones who fall into the latter category, then this symptom wouldn’t help to define pregnancy.
Sure, if you’re regular, you might notice that you’re not menstruating. But irregular periods happen… er, regularly. There is also a chance of period-like bleeding happening whilst pregnant. I was told by my doctor to keep an eye out for spotting, so it’s fairly common.
Not all babies move in distinct ways. Personally, I didn’t realize that the uncomfortable gas bubbles I thought I was feeling was actually the baby moving until week 19, when she made my stomach pop out a bit. I can see how someone who didn’t know they were pregnant would just think they had bad indigestion or something.
Also, my baby moved A LOT. Some babies don’t. We’re told to count 10 distinct movements every day. I had 10 in under a minute. The doctor counted. He said that he didn’t often feel them moving that much…and this was well after the 6 month mark, because my baby was shy when somebody else’s hand was on my belly (including my husband!).
There are many more reasons, including existing health issues, contraceptive use, infertility, etc that might hide a pregnancy from all involved.
Do you know anyone who didn’t know they were pregnant? How did they find out? When did they find out? Tell me the story in the comments!
If you’re enjoying the Blush blogs, consider learning more with Blush: The Card Game from Renaissance Press.
“Ghosts don’t exist! They just don’t. To believe in ghosts is the domain of children, the religious, and idiots.” I was being harsh and I knew it.
“What if I told you I could help you see them, with an app for your cellphone?” The woman looked completely rational, if a little silly, talking about ghosts in a fairy-tale worthy ball gown.
I adjusted the top of my dress self-consciously; I shouldn’t have worn a strapless dress. I didn’t have anything to keep it up and it was tight enough to make me feel suffocated but not to stay in place. With my clothes back in place, I snorted derisively, “Are you, a scientist, going to tell me you actually believe that the souls of the dead wander the earth? Must be awfully crowded. Is this app going to cost me a dollar and then show me cartoon Caspers in Augmented Reality?”
I’m not sure where my animus was coming from. I didn’t believe in ghosts, but I normally didn’t try arguing with people about it. Maybe it was the golden award for innovation that she held or the fact that she wasn’t just successful but wealthy and ridiculously beautiful. I wanted to be her and be with her all at the same time.
“Tamsym. I’m serious. This is going to change the way we see well…” she waved her perfectly manicured hands around, “everything.”
Sighing and wishing I’d stayed home instead of coming to this stupid gala, I said, “Fine. What’s the app?”
A mad glimmer flashed in her eyes, something better suited to Doctor Frankenstein, and said, “Give me your phone and I’ll install it.” I gave her my work phone and she talked while she did something to it. “I’m not saying they’re souls in the biblical way. I think they’re quantum echoes, a copy of us that is emotionally embedded into the fabric of the universe.”
It sounded like a bunch of technical terms smooshed together, but I wasn’t the award winning physics scientist that she was, I was just a lowly biologist. “What?”
“When something happens that is extremely emotional, it leaves a mark on the physical location. It’s an emotional quantum echo. Like a double exposed photograph.” I should have known something odd was going on. The woman in front of me shouldn’t have remembered a time before digital photography. “The most amazing part is that the echoes aren’t necessarily from the past or our reality.”
Giving me my phone back, she smiled. It was halfway between the smile you give a lover and the smile a cartoon cat gives a cartoon mouse. I looked at my phone and clicked the Quantum Echo app and looked at the screen.
It activated my camera, and as with every other augmented reality app, it showed the world as it is with an overlay of something else. In this case, it showed a ghostly outline of myself and the beautiful woman walking away hand in hand. “Is this a joke?” I asked.
“No.” she continued to smile.
I followed the shadows through the halls of the meeting hall until they walked through a door. I followed into the large closet and gasped at seeing myself in the screen of my phone kiss the other woman. I walked into the closet and heard a small click as the door closed behind me.
The me in the screen turned to look directly at the camera. Her face was twisted in terror with large eyes. She was saying something but the app didn’t show audio. She continued to try and say something and I started to try and read lips. She gave me the finger and pointed behind me. I tried to turn around and see what was behind me, but I never finished the turn…
If you enjoyed this word of the day story, you can find more on our stories page and catch up on this year’s serial story, The Database of the Ageless Kings.
