Day 1 - A Place You've Never Been

To step through the ornate double doors that led into the Xanadu Travel Agency was to step into an exotic blend of mansion and theme park; a place where pristine marble walls and flooring somehow organically blended with an array of imaginatively themed geographical areas. On one side of the cavernous room, a miniature tropical rainforest soared high above the polished wooden desks and trilled and echoed with the calls of wildlife. On the far side of the room, meanwhile, the marble floor gave way to perfect white sand and a gently undulating blue sea; in this part of the room the desks were each located on tiny islands that were connected by equally tiny pontoon bridges.

You could easily spot the first time visitors; for they were the ones who stood clustered around the entrance and who were gazing around the room open mouthed. It was a lot to take in. The impossibly high domed ceiling across which small planes and dirigibles ambled amongst fluffy white clouds, the roaming wildlife that would occasionally scamper across the room, and the large waterfall that cascaded down from the second and third floors above.

David Stymes remembered having been incredibly impressed by it all on his first visit here. But that was a long time ago and, these days, he tended to tune out all the extraneous detail. And, while he was prepared to accept that it demonstrated some excellent work by their world builders, he found that it was increasingly difficult for him to get excited by anything virtual.

“Mr Stymes,” said a velvety smooth voice to his right, “We didn’t know you were coming!”

He turned to see the manager of the agency, today dressed as a pirate with a parrot on her shoulder, walking towards him with a smile.

“Ms. Appleby.” he said, with a nod in her direction.

“Oh, I feel so ashamed,” she said, the parrot squawking in tandem with her. “We would have put on a special welcome if you’d told us.”

“There’s no need.”

“But, as one of our twenty biggest customers, you deserve so much more than just the standard entrance package.”

“The standard entrance is fine by me,” said Stymes, waving his hand in the direction of the waterfall. “That’s new isn’t it?”

“Oh yes,” said Ms. Appleby, “Well, to be honest, I wasn’t sure how well it would work when they first suggested it, but it’s really gone down a storm. In fact, we’re even thinking about turning it into an attraction, letting people come down it in some kind of a barrel. You know how it is, got to keep moving with the times!”

“I suppose so.”

“So, how can we help you this time? We have a range of new packages in this month; from the thrills of the Wild West to the intoxicating pleasures of 1930s Paris. Your excitement is guaranteed.”

“Well, to be honest,” said Stymes, “I’m looking for something different.”

“Ah, well if it’s different you’re looking for than you should really consider picking something from our new suite of fictional holidays - you can choose to spend a week in the world of Tolkien, Fleming, even King – just imagine the possibilities!”

“Not really my cup of tea, I’m afraid. You see, I’m looking for something really different.”

“Oh,” said Ms. Appleby, nodding and leaning in conspiratorially, “I get it. I do. Something really different. Well, you know, whisper it, but for you we might be able to get our hands on a special kind of programme – how does a harem of slave girls sound?”

“No!” said Stymes, indignantly.

“Oh,” said Ms. Appleby, with a frown. “Slave boys?”

“Look, Ms. Appleby, I don’t want any kind of slaves or fantasy worlds, I want something different. I want something real. And I heard you might be able to get it for me…”

Ms. Appleby opened her mouth and then closed it silently, the parrot on her shoulder cocking its head and echoed “Something real, something real.”

“That’s what I want,” said Stymes, “Something real”

“I’m sorry, I have no idea what you mean,” said Ms. Appleby in a loud voice as she looked around frantically. “I have no knowledge of this; we are but a simple travel agency.”

“But I was told that…” began Stymes.

“I’m sorry, Mr Stymes, but I really think that you should leave. I’m afraid I can’t help you with this.”

“But…”

“Please leave now before I have to summon security. Good day, Mr. Stymes.” said Ms. Appleby and turned and walked away, leaving him standing alone save for the cool mist that drifted across from the waterfall.

***

He portalled home to his apartment, peeling himself swiftly from his stimu-suit before throwing his headset angrily across the room. His contact had assured him that Xanadu would be able to get him what he wanted, as long as he kept things low key. He strode to the kitchen, poured a glass of Zim and walked to his balcony to stare out across the miles of glass and plascrete that were spread out below him. There were only forty three apartments with better views in the whole city but tonight he found the scene more tedious than ever. He slugged the Zim, feeling it burn harsh against his throat. The sun hovered on the horizon, a muddy orange ball through the smog.

His wristband pulsed and stirred him from his thoughts. A priority Alpha message waiting for him from an anonymous sender, full security protocols. He walked from the balcony to his living room, secure shielding the apartment with a wave of his hand and encasing the room in a Level Five EM containment field.

He raised the wristband to his eye, let it scan his iris, before speaking his command code. “Proxima, Beta, Four, Xenon, Alpha.”

The holoprojector hummed for a split second, and then a beam of light lanced from the ceiling and coalesced in the middle of the room in the shape of a small portly man.

“This message,” the man said, nonchalantly, “is encrypted and single play. You will only have one opportunity to view and anti-record countermeasures are in action. Do you wish to play?”

“Play,” said Stymes.

“You would like something different,” said the man. “Something real. And we understand. We can give you exactly what you want. We know who you are, we know money is no object for you. But there are some things even money can’t buy. Well, not legally anyway. If you would like to discuss the terms of a transaction then use a secure line to call Ganymede Mining Services, extension five. Ask for Herman.”

The message went dead, the man frozen for a fraction of a second before the light disappeared and left the room in darkness. It could be a trap, he reasoned. The penalties for even attempting to violate the anti-tourism laws were steep, but he was fairly certain he had enough expensive friends in the right places that he would have received a warning. Besides, it was all too quick; he had only just spoken to Xanadu. No, this seemed legitimate.

He placed the call.

Audio only, the line buzzed twice and was then answered silently.

“I’d like to speak to Herman,”

“David Stymes,” said a voice at the other end of the line, “Please deposit six million of Y-Coin into the blind holding account whose details I have just sent you, this is simply a deposit and ensures good faith negotiations.”

“Done,” said Stymes, with a swipe of his hand.

“My apologies for the cloak and dagger,” said Herman, “A necessary evil in this line of work.”

“I understand. So, can you fulfill my request?”

“We can. For twenty five million Y-Coin, we can take you physically to a place you have never been before. We can take you to experience nature.”

“Nature?” scoffed Stymes. “There’s no nature left.”

“There are a few select sites known only to a few people. We can take you to such a site. You can experience nature in reality.”

“How does it work?”

“We send a stealth floater to your penthouse’s landpad in two hours time. You need to be packed  - one bag of ten kilos only - and ready to go. Zero tech. No implants, no wearables, no nothing. From that point on, we’ll get you to where you need to be and back again inside twenty four hours. The risk is minimal - we pay off the right people - but I’d be lying if I said there was no risk.”

“The twenty five million is already in your account,” said Stymes, “I’m in.”

***

The floater arrived exactly on time, and David Stymes was ready. He stepped aboard and willingly accepted the null-helmet that was offered to him. If he’d been wearing his wristband, he was sure that it would have been warning him that his heartbeat and adrenaline levels were spiking, but it was a rather elating feeling to be so disrobed of technology. He settled back into the seat and felt, rather than saw, the floater take off into the night sky. An hour later, he was fairly sure the floater had been picked up by something far faster; perhaps a high-altitude ramjet; but he simply sat back and enjoyed the ride before dozing off lightly in the dark.

He felt hands lifting the helmet from him and he stirred.

“We’re here,” said the voice of his guide. “You’ll have eight hours here. No more.”

He blinked against the light that was coming in through the open bay doors of the floater. It was a different character of light, somehow brighter and harsher, and he gingerly stepped across out of the doors with one hand shielding his eyes.

This was it, he thought, this was nature.

They were on a small island. The sea was not like the sea in the virtual, which was always a vibrant blue, but was instead a muddy green colour. And it smelled, a rich salty smell that caused him to wrinkle his nose slightly in disgust. No, this was nothing like the virtual. Beneath his feet was dirt and rock. To his left, wispy strands of grass stood tall in straggly bunches. He reached out to run his hand along them.

“Fuck” the grass blade cut into his finger and he recoiled, an orb of blood immediately welling up from the wound.

Above him, he heard the call of a bird and he looked up to see a seagull wheeling high above his head. It was real. A real bird. He hadn’t realised that there were any left.

Something wet and gelatinous splashed across his head and against the corner of his mouth.

“What the?”

He angled his head to see his shoulder which was spattered with something white and black, and realised what had just happened, before falling to his knees and gagging and retching onto the dirt. This wasn’t how it had imagined it, this wasn’t the nature that the virtual had prepared him for. It was dirty, and sharp, and smelly, and disgusting.

David Stymes climbed slowly to his feet and took a look around him; at the waves crashing against the shore, at the flowers in the wavering grass, at the birds in the sky. This was nature. This was real. He turned to his guide.

“For the love of God, take me home,” said Stymes, “I can’t stand to be in this horrible place even a minute longer…”

Oliver's NEW 30 Day Writing Challenge

I have to admit, this last year has been pretty tough on my creativity. A combination of a hectic workload, plus a bout of ill health, means that it's only been fairly recently that I've felt like I can surface and catch a breath. Sure, I managed to get my novel and a collection of short stories out last autumn, but they were things that I'd written previously and it was just a case of editing. But new stuff? Genuinely new stuff? That has proven a lot harder to deal with...

So, in order to shock myself into a creative frame of mind, I decided that it was time I pulled together another 30 Day Writing Challenge. I made one in 2012 that went pretty well (which is to say, I finished it), while the one I put together in 2015 wad a little less successful (life got in the way by the time I hit Day 13), but - in my humble opinion - it's about trying, it's about being prepared to try and write something every day (and let everyone else read it).

Therefore, April is going to be the month for my latest 30 Day Writing Challenge - meaning you have a full week to gird your mental loins and prepare yourself, should you wish to take part. And, if you're wondering how this works, well, it's pretty simple; each day there is a different title and you're free to interpret that title any way you see fit. Then you write something inspired by the title. It could be twenty pages, it could be twenty words. But you write. And that's pretty much it. Now, if you'd like to share what you've written with me (and others), you can feel free to post a reply (with a link) in the comments here on the blog. I'll do my best to read anything anyone sends...

So, without further ado, here are the titles for the 30 day challenge:

Day 1:   A place you've never been
Day 2:   Interactive
Day 3:   Detente
Day 4:   Inspired by The Hero's Journey
Day 5:   The Night Bus
Day 6:   Your first job
Day 7:   We will return
Day 8:   A childhood memory
Day 9:   Create an urban legend
Day 10:  The Placater
Day 11:  Where you live
Day 12:  Deep Dive
Day 13:  What if?
Day 14:  The Graveyard
Day 15:  Eight word sentences
Day 16:  Augmented Reality
Day 17:  Someone you saw today
Day 18:  Rhyming couplets
Day 19:  Rinse, repeat
Day 20:  Second person train journey
Day 21:  Every breath you take
Day 22:  Dialogue only, please
Day 23:  Last orders
Day 24:  School days
Day 25:  Daybreak
Day 26:  A scary story that might be true
Day 27:  Fragments
Day 28:  The day of randomness - use a random page from Wikipedia to inspire you.
Day 29:  The rain
Day 30:  Whispers

So, there you go; thirty daily writing challenges. Make of them what you will. It's going to be fun...

I've published two new books!

Short version - I've published two books on Amazon today. One a detective novel, set in 1900 London, and the other a collection of short stories (some of which first appeared on this very blog!). If you can't be bothered to read the long version, and just want to rush out and buy them then you can find them (dependent upon your location in the world) at one of the following links:

To Catch A Ghost
http://amazon.co.uk/dp/B07JLVK441
http://amazon.com/dp/B07JLVK441
http://amazon.nl/dp/B07JLVK441

Mystery Train and Other Stories
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07JL124W9
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07JL124W9
https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B07JL124W9

But, if you don't read the long version, I should warn you that you'll miss out on a chance to get the short story collection for free...

And so, the long version...

About five years ago, I had an idea for a cool (and hopefully clever) detective novel set in the heart of Victorian London, and featuring a genius detective matching wits with an equally genius criminal. Armed with a clear idea of the story from beginning to end, I spent one summer holiday in a coffee shop in Breda (thank you Inspire Coffee!) writing several hours a day. And, by the end of the holiday, as well as having consumed about 73 gallons of latte, I had managed to write the thing.

I read it immediately and only saw flaws in it. But, I've heard this can happen and that one needs to put it aside for a few weeks and come back to it again. So I decided to do just that.

The only problem was, when I came back in a few weeks time, I'd lost it. Yes, seriously.

I'd been working on one computer, transferred it on a memory stick to another. Only to get rid of the first computer, have a problem with the second, and lose the memory stick.

The novel was gone.

I was upset. However, fortunately, I was way too busy to get too upset. I figured I'd write it again one day; but of course I never did...

And then, a few months ago, I stumbled across a pile of old hard drives. It turned out I'd had the wisdom to remove the hard drive from the first computer before I got rid of it. And there, sitting quite happily, was my novel.

So, I reread it. And couldn't understand why me of five years ago didn't like it. I really enjoyed it, especially because I could hardly even remember writing it - it was almost as if reading something by someone else! I therefore decided that I'd edit it, tweak a few bits here and there, and then make it available on Amazon.

And, while doing that, it occurred to me that maybe it would be a good idea to collate some of the stories that I've written over the years - here and on reddit - and so I started looking through them and found 37 that I liked enough to republish. So I did.

Now comes the curious part of whether anyone but me likes them! I guess we'll see..

Oh, and if you've got this far then - between 00.00 Pacific Standard Time and 23.59 Pacific Standard Time on Monday 22nd October - Mystery Train and Other Stories will be available free. I wanted it to let people who've enjoyed my stories over the years to have a chance to nab it without paying if they should so wish!

Hopefully a few of you will read both books. Hopefully a few of those few will even like them. I would be eternally grateful, if you do like them, if you could leave a review on Amazon.

So, that's the long version. Hope you like them!

Eurovision Drinking Game 2018 Rules

I realise that I am terribly, terribly late with this. Life and a bout of ill health got in the way of this year's update but - if you were concerned that there was to be no 2018 edition - have no fear, the rules for Lisbon 2018 can be found below.

As with all the previous years, some of the rules are slightly UK-centric so, if you intend to play this in another country, just ignore rules 1 and 26 and knock back two shots before you get started for good measure. Or, watch it on BBC and pretend to be British for the night so you to can feel our pain.

Finally, I need to issue my customary word of warning; this game is based upon the consumption of strong alcohol. I cannot, therefore, be held responsible for your health (or lack of) if you stringently follow the rules of my game and drink yourself into oblivion. Play this game entirely at your own risk…



Requirements

1. A shot glass for every person playing (probably best to have a couple of spares in case people get overexcited).

2. The national drink of Portugal is, apparently, either Port or Ginjinha. Now, both of these are - by Eurovision drinking game standards, at least - pretty tame. So feel free to use them if you want to go for the Eurovision 2018 Lite edition. If, however, you want to play the full Eurovision 2018 Apocalypse edition, I would suggest availing yourself of something rather more potent such as vodka or tequila. The bottom line, pick something suitably alcoholic and to your tastes...



Rules
The rules are really very simple. You take a sip of your chosen spirit if:

1) Any time the British entry - SuRie - is mentioned.

2) The host(s) demonstrate that the secret of comedy is timing. By having none.

3) The host(s) attempts to sing.

4) The host(s) pretends to be surprised at something that's going on in what is clearly a vaguely-rehearsed piece of improvisation.

5) The host(s) loses track of their autocue or mess up their timing.

6) The video shown before an act manages to put you off the act before they've even taken the stage.

7) You are not entirely sure whether the singer is man who looks like a woman, or a woman who looks like a man.

8) The singer is barefoot.

9) A country is represented by a singer from somewhere else in the world. Drink an entire shot if a country is represented by what seems to be a random person (or persons) scooped up off the streets and then pushed out on stage.

10) The act involves people on stage banging large drums or objects acting as large drums.

11) An item of clothing is removed on stage. Drink an entire shot if it is removed by someone else.

12) The act is bald. Drink an entire shot if they are also female.

13) The act possesses a large moustache.

14) The act is dressed in leather. Drink an entire shot if they are dressed in leather and have a large moustache.

15) If you hear a language used other than that of the nation who is singing (for example, English words in a song by Ukraine). One sip per language. If in any doubt, just take a sip.

16) You recognise the song immediately as being a blatant rip off of a previous winner of Eurovision.

17) The song is an ode to world peace. Drink three shots immediately if there are any children on stage at any time during the song.

18) There are dancers on stage who, by their movements and lack of synchronicity, appear to have perhaps had three dance lessons as a child and have never heard the song before tonight. Take a shot if they're wearing an especially outlandish costume.

19) People are pretending to play instruments on stage. Drink an entire shot if they take a pretend solo.

20) Every time there's some kind of pyrotechnic on stage.

21) Every time someone employs the use of a wind machine.

22) If the act attempts to distract attention from the paucity of quality in their offering by getting some kind of celebrity on stage with them (for reference, see Germany in 2009 who employed the services of Dita von Teese to no effect whatsoever).

23) Every time there is some kind of camera trick (i.e. split screen, on-screen effects, projection, etc.).

24) Every time there is an awkward silence and/or miscommunication between the hosts and the people reading out the votes. Drink an entire shot if the votes get mixed up.

25) Every time one of the people reading out the results of a country’s voting attempts to secure their 15 seconds of fame by babbling on incoherently and generally delaying things and winding a few hundred million people up.

26) Every time it’s "Royaume-Uni? Nil point!". Drink a shot each time, at the end of a voting round, the UK is in last place overall.

27) Every time a country gives top marks to someone for geographic, political or ethnic reasons.

28) If there is any alcohol left once the show is finished and you’re physically capable of coordinating the movement of alcohol from the bottle to your mouth...take a sip!


As ever, have fun and please don't blame for the pain and misery you will have to endure...not to mention the hangover the day after!!

Star Trek: Discovery - A lot of Discovery but not much Star Trek?

Star Trek: Discovery premiered on 24^th September, 2017, ending a period of almost twelve and a half Star Trek-less years on the small screen. While, the overwhelming response of critics show was positive, the fan response has been considerably more mixed. A big part of this response is due to the feeling among many Star Trek fans that Discovery doesn’t have an awful lot of Star Trek in it, and so this blog post is an attempt to look at some of the ways show is veering from the established facts of the Star Trek story world (or canon) and then suggest a couple of ways these might be fixed…

(Rather obvious warning: spoilers for the first five episodes of Star Trek: Discovery lie ahead!)

Now, let me be clear up front. I’m quite enjoying Star Trek: Discovery at the moment (as of episode 5), but there are number of areas in which it seems to conflict with canon and, as a Star Trek fan (and a lover of transmedia) I wanted to explain a little on why I’m struggling to love the show quite as much as I’d like to…

1. Klingons

A lot has been made of the considerable visual differences between the Klingons we have seen in Star Trek: Discovery, and the Klingons we have seen in the other Star Trek shows.

T'Kuvma - how Klingons look in Star Trek: Discovery

Star Trek: Enterprise did such a fantastic job of explaining why the Klingons in 2267, in the original Star Trek series, looked like this while the Klingons in 2151, in Enterprise looked like this (short version; it was due to a plague, the effects of which were hereditary), so it’s a shame (to me) that we have a bunch of Klingons in 2256 who look like this with no real explanation. On the surface, it seems that the changes are made in order to make the Klingons seem more alien than their previous incarnations.

But it’s not just the aesthetics that are troubling for hardcore fans; you see there’s also the fact that these Klingons seem a world apart from the Klingons we’ve seen to date in the show; so far there's been no copious drinking, no loudly sung battle songs, a distinct lack of honour, not to mention some key technological differences (T’Kuvma’s ship has a cloaking device more than a decade before canon tells us Klingons received them).

In summary, while this race might be called Klingons (and they might well be the most accurate Klingon speakers!), they seem very different to the Klingons we’ve come to know and love throughout the history of the TV shows and original movies.

2. The Spore Drive

While the Klingon’s having a cloaking device too early might be a little problematic, it’s nothing compared to the potentially canon-destroying capabilities of the displacement-activated spore hub drive which we’re told can transport a spacecraft anywhere in the Universe instantaneously.

As Star Trek fans will know, the series has been built around the concept of the warp drive, with some of the more advanced races such as The Borg and The Voth having access to the even more capable transwarp technology that allows them to travel up to fifty times quicker than the fastest warp drive powered ship. But, importantly, we have – to date – never seen a technology that allows for instantaneous travel to other parts of the Universe.

At this point in the show, it seems Michael Burnham is feeling that using Ripper, a sentient lifeform, to guide the Spore Drive (a process that causes Ripper harm every time the Drive is used) is something of a bad idea - and this could well provide us with a reason why the Federation decides to stop their experiments with the Spore Drive, and thus explain why the Spore Drive isn’t a feature in any future Federation starships…

Michael Burnham realises the Spore Drive might be killing Ripper...

So, why potentially canon-destroying then?

Well, while the Federation might have moral qualms about torturing a sentient lifeform to gain instant interstellar travel, it’s a little hard to believe that some of more morally bankrupt races we’ve met (whether it’s the Nazi-like Cardassians, or the organ-harvesting Vidiians) wouldn’t quite happily kill all the tardigrades they can get their hands on if it meant they got instantaneous travel. And surely, if the Federation had the technology to theorise and create the drive in the 2250s, then someone in the next 122 years that we see mapped out in the Star Trek, Next Generation, Deep Space 9, and Voyager, would have also discovered it. But, we’ve never seen technology like this in any Star Trek series…

3. Federation Society and Culture

Captain Lorca - not the kind of captain we're used to...

The Federation we’ve come to know since the inception of the original Star Trek series is one that prides itself on being moral and enlightened; with many a starship captain wrestling with the philosophical complexities of how to best go about applying the Prime Directive. Not so in Star Trek: Discovery…

In the first five episodes alone we’ve sent Michael Burnham mutiny in an attempt to launch a pre-emptive attack, we’ve seen a sentient lifeform tortured in order to enable the Spore Drive, acting captain Saru prepared to kill said sentient lifeform in order to fulfil a mission, and Captain Lorca leave Harry Mudd behind on a Klingon prison ship to face torture and possible death. This feels an awfully long way from the Federation we’re used to.

And it’s not just morals that seem some distance from our expectations. The utilitarian uniforms, very reminiscent of those seen in Battlestar Galactica, are a world away from the far more colourful costumes that we saw in the original Star Trek which, let’s not forget, is just ten years after the events of Discovery.

It’s seem difficult right now to imagine charting a path from what we see on Discovery – whether it be morals or fashion – to what we see only a decade later in Star Trek.

So, mirroring the words of many a bad manager, you might be saying at this moment – don’t bring me problems, Oliver, bring me solutions. So I decided to do just that. Be warned, this contains my thoughts and extrapolations on how all of the above can be resolved and canon restored. It’s unlikely I’ve guessed much right but – if you’re worried I might be some kind of Star Trek Nostradamus about to spoil your viewing of Star Trek: Discovery – you can stop reading now…

Still here? Ok, here we go then:

Klingon solutions

Will we see the Klingons we are used to?

The fact that these particular Klingons are from an isolated community that’s been out of touch with the rest of Klingon society for two centuries goes someway to explain why they may not be the usual bunch of hard drinking, honour loving, Klingons. There are numerous groups of humanity who have radically different beliefs and whose culture seems at odds with that of the rest of the world – these particular Klingons could well be the equivalent of Earth’s Amish. Although perhaps featuring less barn building and more bloodletting…

And the fact that these Klingons seems to have different beliefs and behaviour hints at a more sophisticated approach to the alien races that reflects the fact that, at this point in history, there are likely to be a number of different religious beliefs that start with the same point (Kahless) but radically depart from each other from thereon. A bit like religion here on Earth.

This isolation could explain why we’ve seen bald Klingons; perhaps this is part of their religious beliefs in the same way that some religions on Earth prize facial hair.

So, the way to ensure canon is preserved is to make sure we also introduce some more ‘traditional’ Klingons – they of the long hair, beards, and bloodwine – to demonstrate that T’Kuvma and his followers are just one facet of a greater Klingon whole.

And as for that cloaking device? Well, maybe they – like the other Klingons a decade later – got it from the Romulans. After all, giving T’Kuvma the capability to start a war between the Federation and the Klingon Empire only strengthens the Romulan position in the quadrant…

Spore Drive Solutions

Will we say goodbye to Mycelial network?

As I mentioned previously, having the Federation banning the use of the Spore Drive on moral grounds isn’t going to be enough to solve the problem because plenty of other races are going to come along and be willing to do whatever terrible things are necessary to make the Spore Drive work.

The solution? Someone needs to destroy the Mycelial network which the Spore Drive uses to flit across the Universe. If the network no longer exists, no one can ever use it again. Meaning canon is preserved.

Who knows, perhaps the Klingons will get hold of the Spore Drive technology and Burnham will have to destroy the entire network to ensure their fleet can’t suddenly appear instantaneously in Earth orbit…

Society and Culture Solutions

The Federation we see right now is one that is in the midst of a war against a fearsome and ruthless enemy; in such times it can prove difficult to hold fast to the morals that define a civilization. This isn’t something new to Star Trek; in Deep Space 9 we saw Captain Sisko involved in false flag attack that is designed to bring the Romulan Empire into the fight against the Dominion.

So, maybe what we are seeing in Discovery is a conflict in which the Federation has to do the kind of things that it hoped it had outgrown, and emerges far more determined to hold fast to its moral principles. The actions of people like Lorca are an aberration, a perhaps necessary evil in the midst of war, and Discovery is going to be about how Burnham, and the Federation as a whole, go about redeeming themselves. This can be a story about the pursuit of enlightenment, the pursuit of those higher goals and morals.

And, just as the end of the war with the Klingon Empire could be the beginning of this new era in the Foundation, so to could it usher in the more colourful fashions and culture seen in the original Star Trek. After all, in our history we can see that the end of World War 1 ushered in the Roaring Twenties – the Jazz Age – a time of liberalism, of challenges to established values, a time of fashion. Is it so difficult to imagine, emerging from the difficult years of a brutal war with the Klingon Empire, not similarly reacting? Perhaps the retro styling we see a decade later in Star Trek is simply the cultural response to war, a celebration of freedom, a civilization entering an intergalactic Jazz Age…

Maybe the era of Kirk and Spock is nearer than it seems...

So, in summary; Star Trek: Discovery seems to go against canon in a number of ways, but I’m confident that it’s possible to solve those problems and chart a path from here to the Star Trek Universe we know and love.

Over to you, Star Trek: Discovery – make it so!