Monday, May 07, 2007

Evolution - the Saavik and T'Pau story

This one has a funny story behind it.

A couple of years ago, I found the beginning of a story on my PC. I read the first paragraph and loved it. I figured it was my friend, Marla's, and I asked her to finish it. She said it wasn't hers. Now, Marla will be the first one to admit that:

  1. She has a lot of unfinished stories.
  2. She doesn't remember all of them.
:)

So I kept insisting it was hers and she kept saying I don't think so. So I started asking people like SandsofVulcan, and as I'm saying that it's hers or Marla's and they kept saying it wasn't, it must be mine, to which I said I would KNOW if it was mine, I finally really read the few paragraphs and suddenly said, "Um.... wait. Maybe it is."

Because it said that the katras in the Hall on Vulcan run like a vein network in the stone. I was the only person who was pushing not to use the Globe idea and had said what about a vein network, where they would touch and learn from each other.

It had to be my story. The thing is: I couldn't remember it. Not one bit. I had no idea what I meant to write for the rest of it. And I still don't.

I could tell it was dealing with two themes that I had played around with: katras and Saavik at an older age. I had watched Amok Time again for the umpteenth time and as Kirk said, "Do you know who that is? That's T'Pau of Vulcan! All of Vulcan wrapped up in one package." (or something like that), I got an idea. As a Saavik fan, I fell in love with the thought that someday, when she was around 200, this abandoned half-breed would reach so far that future generations would say, "Do you know who that is? Saavik of Vulcan! She's....." Imagine that development! That the character had grown so much!

I also like new things, original things, and the vast majority of fics were keeping Saavik as that pedantic Lt. from Khan or the 10 year old savage acting like Oliver or Little Orphan Annie. I wanted Saavik the Elder, I told people, and I guess I had started writing that.

But I couldn't remember what I was going to do!

Months went by and I talked to Marla about some ideas for katras. And I got the idea of them needing rescuing somehow. Finally, I saw what I could do with that unfinished story: stop wondering what I had been going to write and just write this new idea! They fit well together.

So I did that.

The fun part was trying to imagine technology that far in the future. Things had to be tiny, powerful, and easy to use. So a tricorder ring (I figured it was easy to carry whether you had fingers or not) had to have holographic controls. That kind of thing.

Last year, they showed a new computer that's the size of a pen; it had "holographic" controls -- controls projected on to a surface. My tricorder rings are closer than I thought. ;)

So here's my Saavik the Elder story and my katra ideas and my ideas on where Starfleet and the Federation might really be with true diversity. I tried to tell it in a character driven, fast paced action plotline like a Journey to Babel or Mirror, Mirror episode.

I got to admit though. I've never come up with a good last line.

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