It happened again.

I never met Dennis Lindberg. He was just an average kid from a suburb of of Seattle. Judging from his photo he was a good looking young man, nice smile, eyes full of promise and maybe a little mischief. He was 14 years old.That would put him in 8th or 9th grade I guess. A pretty special time of life, at least it was for me. Puberty kicking into high gear, discovering girls, thinking about the future,  starting to decide what you want to do with your life. A sad happy scary time of life. Pretty damn exciting stuff! Unfortunately Dennis doesn't have any of those horrible/wonderful things to look forward to any more, he died. You see Dennis had leukemia. These days they have quite a few treatment options available and the doctors could have prolonged his life quite a bit. The problem was that Dennis refused to get a life saving blood transfusion. The treatments that would have saved his life ended up killing him. 

Dennis was a Jehovah's Witness. J.W.'s don't believe in blood transfusions. They have a very bizarre and narrow interpretation a couple of bible verses that specifically forbid the consumption of blood. They extrapolate that to mean that blood transfusions are forbidden by god. I'll site you the main scriptures that J.W.s use to base their beliefs , you go look them up and decide for yourself. 

Genesis 9:4

Leviticus 17:12-14

Acts 15:29

Acts 21:25

Now go look them up. If you don't have a bible handy here's a link for an online bible: www.biblegateway.com

Look those up, tell me what you think, I'll wait till you get back. Take your time,think about it this is serious stuff. When you get back scroll down and I'll tell you what I think. 

Now this is what I think:

Attention All Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society people what ever you call yourselves these days: 

You pack of goddamn baby killing sons of bitches leave the children alone! I could care less if you Jonestown yourselves if you're an adult. Just keep the Kool-Aid to yourself. Let the kids grow up so they can decide for themselves. If they are moronic enough after they grow up to still want to kill themselves, more power to them. In the mean time I want you bastards to leave them the hell alone! Growing up is hard enough with out you bastards mucking about.

Thinking about all this makes me wish that hell was real.  

sign me

Emoose/ex Watchtower victim

Embarassed by my hometown again.

I am originally from Cincinnati Ohio. I used to be really proud of that fact. If someone said something negative about my town I would spring to her defense. When I lived there, there was a lot to be proud of. The history, the great institutions, the arts and the sports teams to name a few of the things that made it a great place to live. Oh sure there were a few negatives, namely enough conservatism to to border on the ludicrous. I now reside in Dayton and even though it's only about 50 miles away, it is like a different planet. The first thing I noticed when I came to Dayton was the porn shops. Many of the main stream video stores had x rated movie sections. Now I haven't been back to Cincy for awhile, but I bet they still don't have naughty book stores.

Of course you'll remember the big dust ups over the Maplethorpe exhibition, The whole Larry Flynt fiasco and who could forget the King's bookstore debacle. I don't know about you, but I don't need the Hamilton County Sheriff's department advising me on my selection of viewing or reading materials. Just another example of the nanny state mentality. Just a pack of old farts that want to control me and you and decide what's best for us. No thanks.

Now we have a new situation. This time at least it's not in Cincinnati proper, but a suburb to the north. The Lakota High School drama department was about to put on the classic play "Ten Little Indians", based on the Agatha Christie story. Just about every drama club or class from junior high on up has done this play. Most people would consider it as a classic. That much I did know. What I did not know was that the original title used a pejorative used to denigrate African Americans *(technically African British Subjects I suppose).

Need less to say the P.C. people(I bet they were as ignorant of the original title as I was)demanded the cancellation of the performance. Some one called the school board and threatened a protest. That's all it took. I admit the world will not stop turning on it's axis if this play is not performed, but I do contend that we are all a little less free every time something like this happens. How do you justify this? The answer is: You can't! Do we have to give up our right of self expression just because it might offend somebody? If every thing that offended me were censored the Trinity Broadcasting Network would have been put out of its misery years ago. Now those guy are offensive! Those hairdos they sport definitely need to be censored. Have you seen that old broad with the pink hair and the big white dogs?

It's time for an official Emoose reality check: the play and the book have absolutely nothing to do with African Americans, Native Americans or any aboriginal peoples of any sort. True, the original title did contain the word n______, but I bet that every school library worth a damn has at least one copy of Huckleberry Finn. Check out a copy sometime if you have never read it. If you are too lazy to do so, I'll save you the effort: One of the main characters goes by the name *N_____ Jim. Should we ban Mark twain just in case we offend somebody? Should we censor Merchant of Venice because we might offend Jews?

Frankly people, we need to push the envelope. I think we need to be offended once and while, it helps us sort our priorities and set our own limits. How did we all get so damned thin skinned? A few years ago a public official giving a speech used the word niggardly. There was an immediately an outcry. There was an immediate demand for his ouster. A quick look in a Websters would have solved the dilemma. The word has nothing to do with black people(African Americans). (It just means stingy, look it up). Should we censor ourselves on the basis of who might "accidentally" offend because of some one's poor vocabulary

Part of the problem is that there is no equivalent for the n word that applies to white people. I think in the interest of equality we should invent or re-purpose a word and automatically accept it as racial epithet. You know, a word that gets uttered by someone just before the fists fly. If anyone reading these word has any suggestions please let me know. Until someone comes up with a better one I nominate "skunge". I don't think it's taken, but I like it. One syllable and you can really put a lot venom behind it, such as"you filthy skunge"! What do you think?I know all the other minorities have scarfed all the really good pejoratives, but we are a little late coming to the party. So any way if you really want to get on my good side please address me as an Irisharabenglishjewishcajun American.

In conclusion my skunge brothers:

Lakota High School board of Ed please please grow a pair and let those kids put on their play they've worked so hard on. And please let's all work together to put a halt to pussifacation of America!

Peace out, my skunge homies!


*Yes I too am a victim of political correctness and yes I mean the n word.

Sci-Fi story idea

I have had a story idea percolating in my brain the last month or so. Let me lay it on you and tell me what you think:


The story has three main threads.

1. In the not too distant future humankind sends out its first interstellar expedition. Radio signals are detected from a planet circling a star about 11 light years away. New technology is created so that a speed of around 50% the speed of light is feasible. Despite the new drive technology it will take about 50 years round trip. 22 years each way and 4 or five years to explore the distant star system. When our intrepid astronauts take off the world is, except for technology , little different from the world we know. At first just about everybody follows the progress of the ship. After awhile the public gets tired of the story and more mundane, closer to home concerns crowds out the expedition in the public psyche. To make matters worse after 50 years the ship does not come back. Everybody assumes they are lost. In time they are all but forgotten.

2. In the mean time back on Earth, computer technology advances at dizzying rate. It's Moore's law cubed. Computers get faster, smaller and smarter. Artificial intelligence exceeds all expectations. A new technology is developed that allows people to be literally downloaded to a virtual universe inside the new molecular computers. The computing devices are housed in solid blocks of diamond and are just about indestructible. The down loaded people are for all intents and purposes immortal. They can create virtual worlds, satisfy any desire. At first only the elite are allowed to be downloaded. Great scientists, philosophers etc. With all the time in the world, these godlike individuals are able to mightily improve the lot humankind. Soon war, famine and disease are just about wiped out. It's a new golden age for human kind.

But there is trouble in paradise. Rich people as they approach death buy their way in. Powerful people bully their way in. Nobody wants to die, everybody want to live forever in virtual heaven. There is a backlash, a group of hackers figures out how to download themselves on the cheap. Some surplus parts, an illegal piece of pirated software and suddenly the cyberworld is no longer the exclusive enclave for the super brains and the elite, "Joe Six Pack"has found the back door. Society begins to collapse. All over the world mindless bodies are found
'jacked in" to computer consoles. Soon there are more people in cyberspace than there are walking around in the flesh.

3. Not every one is thrilled with the state of the human race. After about a century the entire human population left in the flesh numbers only about a couple of hundred. Life isn't so bad for them, Technology makes life pretty easy compared to their ancestors and they still have the option of downloading themselves when they get close to death. There are a few that refuse to consider the idea because of philosophical or religious reasons. One day the president of earth gets a notice from an automated space sensor. Low and behold it's our old buddies from the interstellar space ship. It seems that the reception from our stellar neighbors was less than, well:stellar(sorry couldn't resist). Our el presidente gets an idea. We have our astronauts that are essentially visitors from the past, they haven't been contaminated with idea of a virtual paradise, he has at his disposal a whole world of resources, super advanced technology and whole lot of preserved personalityless bodies in cold storage. As the craft approaches from deep space he orders the ship's computer to keep the crew in stasis and puts the ship in a parking orbit.

Next he wakes up the all of the sleeping robots , A.I.s and automated manufacturing plants in orbit. He consults the big brains inside the big diamond block computer. Over the next few years he has a super space ark built in orbit. He has genetic samples taken from all of the "empty" bodies and proceeds to engineer a new human race, free of all genetic defects , stronger, smarter and more resistant to disease. He has the a big box computer chock full of super geniuses loaded up on the new ship. After all of his preparations he wakes up the crew of astronauts and flat out lies to them.

After he listens to their adventures he tells them that the human race is extinct, killed by a mutant virus. It is up to them to find a new planet and use the human seed stock to start a new earth. Only this time it's going to be done right and that they are charged with making it happen. At first our heroes are bummed, they didn't get a ticker tape parade or anything. Eventually they agree reluctantly. But there is a fly in the ointment(several actually,many potential plot twists possible). The big box brain has been infested with billions of our little hacker buddies. The elites consider them to be the equivalent of computer viruses. The hackers have there own ideas about how the mission should carried out or even if it should be carried out at all. Half of the way to mankind's new home virtual civil war erupts inside the big box. Who controls the ship and the mission is in doubt. Meanwhile our heroic astronauts are again in suspended animation blissfully unaware of the turmoil and when they get to their new home things get really interesting.

So what do you think?

Let me know.
(some rights reserved, if you steal any of my ideas, at least give me some credit)

Sincerely:

Emoose, head Mutant

Diamond advertisement

Once again I have proof that Adsense does not take into account what the blog actually says. Today when I took a peek at my blog  I noticed an ad for Debeers,  a South African company that controls 99.9% of the diamond trade. If  you have reading my blog you know that I have nothing kind to say about the diamond business or de facto monopolies involved in the that trade. That ad was not my idea, I assume that "bots" from Google "crawled" my site and placed the ad. Since I agreed to the T.O.S.(terms of service) I'm stuck with it. If they haven't removed it by the time you read this feel free  to click it, it's a free country(not as free as it use to be, but pretty damn free).

But since that worked unintentionally, let me try an experiment: Apple, Mac,Ipod,Iphone,Apple TV, Macbook, Macbook Pro,Power Mac Pro,Imac,Nikon,Canon,Leica,Porsche, Sony,Klipsch and Pioneer.

Yes and I do accept merchandise bribes and or discounts.

Thank You for time.

Mr. Emoose, head Mutant

 

personal milestone

I recently passed a personal milestone. A pretty big one actually. As of November 23rd, I have been married 33 years! 33 years! Since I was 24 when I got married, that means I have been married more than half my life. Doesn't that seem like it should feel like a long time?Well to me it seems just like yesterday.In fact I think I still have a few boxes that I haven't unpacked from when I first moved in with my wife. In fact my marriage is the longest endeavor that I was ever involved with. How has it lasted this long? Why hasn't she killed me? Why haven't I killed her? (a more likely scenario). My wife is the second most aggravating female that I have ever come in contact with. The chances are that I will never get out of this marriage alive.

Lord knows that I am far from being a perfect spouse. I am, as the good book says: "an imperfect vessel" (or was that Poor Richard's Almanac, I never could keep those two straight). Never mind love, I obviously love the dear thing. I'm sure she could muster up a feeling or two for me. But what is it that makes the human animal want to cohabitate for all of eternity? I can remember back when my parents celebrated their 30 th anniversary I could not even imagine staying with one person for that long. When I first got married I could not conceive of staying around this long. I would imagine that most people could not think of a more mismatched couple. We have very little in common. We disagree on just about everything. We have been arguing about the same stuff for 33 years.

Now I admit that some of the stuff we argue about is pretty silly. For example: How do you pronounce the word fifth (5th)? I pronounce it a soft th sound, she pronounces it with a hard "t" sound. A minor thing you might say, but that woman has been driving me crazy with that for 33 years. Or how about the word kettle? On planet Linda that is pronounced "Kittle". That's right, kettle rhymes with spittle! Now that is just a couple things that woman uses to drive me crazy. A lesser man would have checked out ages ago. Marriage like old age is not for the faint of heart. But if all that weren't bad enough, I have had reason to believe that the woman is out to kill or maim me.

It all started about 25 years ago. I lying asleep in bed next to my bride when suddenly she whacks me in the funny bone with her elbow. I sit up in bed and yelp in pain. "What's wrong?"she asked. "You whacked me with your elbow" I said. Did not,did too,did not,did too etc. Next night same thing. Then on off and on for 15 years. I go to sleep, I get whacked in the funny bone with an elbow, she denies it. Then suddenly for the last 5 years she stops. For awhile each night I lay awake waiting for the "ELBOW OF DOOM". Every time she rolls over or moves I cover my funny bone. When will she return to her evil ways? I don't know, but I think she's lulling me into a false sense of security, then when I least expect it, Pow!

Now the elbow thing while painful is not really life threatening. I have learned to live with tingly numb fingers. But I have reason to believe that she has even more nefarious plans for me. I want to go public in case something happens to me. Tomorrow I will reveal to you the further machinations that she has mobilized against me through the years. I'll continue my tale of woe then, assuming nothing untoward happens to me.

Sign me :

Frightened in Dayton

A difficult decision.

Zero pulled Louise after him and after labyrinthine trip through several passageways they arrived at the bridge. It was more compact than Louise would have imagined for a ship the size of this one. Zero seated her at an auxiliary control station before he took his place in the elevated command chair. Before a main visual monitor in mid air a three dimension line drawing of an airship rotated. On the main screen a stream of symbols and what seemed to be Arabic numbers streamed. She assumed they were technical details of the craft being displayed. "Mookai report"Zero said looking toward a Saurian with brilliant blue and green scales. The Saurian tactical officer glanced down and momentarily consulted readout before responding:"The sensors we left behind at the site where we found the human female have detected an interdimensional  transit event. A few moments ago a large airship came through the portal. An Annihilator class cruiser judging by the readouts."As more data streamed in from the remote sensors and those of the ship, the ships A.I. started to fill in details on the 3D projection. Louise didn't know if it were her imagination or not, but it seemed to her that the massive craft was bristling with weaponry. 

"Haliss report please." Zero this time directed his words toward a Saurian that nearly the height of an average man. Louise also noted that Haliss' scales were a dark green, probably female she thought to herself. "We are approaching on an indirect course at one quarter speed and the ship is rigged to minimize detection" "Mookai, how dangerous is she?"Zero asked.

Mookai once again glanced at his display,"12 general purpose missiles, 3 100 kiloton and 3 one megaton fission war heads. Fore, aft,lower and upper rapid fire cannons. And of course port and starboard anti airship waist guns." "Of course, do you know what they are doing now?asked Zero. "They seem to be searching for something or someone? he responded. After that being said  all eyes in the room went to Louise. She shifted in her chair uncomfortably at the unexpected attention.

"Range is 180 kilometers" Mookai reading from his display console. Then  suddenly an alarmed sounding Mookai said, "Zero they have armed a missile!" "Could they have detected us?"Zero asked."Unlikely, They have no lock on us."came the reply. "They are launching, but not at us, the missile's trajectory is almost perfectly vertical." "Prepare for magnetic pulse and shock wave Zero announced ship wide." Just then every display blinked and relays and circuit breakers through out the ship reset themselves. The ship rocked briefly and was soon calmed by the inertial dampeners.  "It was a low yield atomic war head  and I think they are using the radiation and shock wave to locate us,"announced Mookai. "Clever,"was the only reply from Zero.

At that moment a disembodied voice of the communications officer said"Zero we are being hailed, audio and video." "Let's see what they have to say for themselves" he replied to what seemed to Louise like empty air. The projection of the ship disappeared and in its place a middle aged man with one eye covered with an eye patch ,wearing an elaborate uniform appeared. "Greetings I am Captain Malik of the Avenging Angel you are trespassing on a world claimed by our Goddess" the stern looking man said ominously.

"Zero", Mookai said urgently, "they have two missiles locked on us". Zero muted the internal microphone and said: Their technology has improved since our last meeting it seems."Zero restored the audio. "I am Zero of the air ship Albatross and my friends and I recognize no such claim". "An error in judgement that you will probably not live long enough to regret. "he said as he adjusted his uniform and cleared his throat.  "I am not here for a battle, I am here on a mission for my Goddess, We looking for a young woman named Louise Saunders, she is under the protection of my Goddess."Once more Louise felt a blush coming on as a dozen reptilian and two human eyes glanced at her all at once.  "All of my ships company are free to come and go as they see fit"Zero stated. "Perhaps engineer Louise Saunders or as her two surviving friends from her expedition call her, "Lou" would like to be reunited with her team mates"he said with a smile."" and I would feel terrible if anything happened to her friends" he said with mock concern. 

Zero once more killed the microphone. "Louise", Zero began, Obviously they are holding your friends hostage and by our ship's bylaws I cannot tell you what to do. It is also obvious  that what they really want is a way to get to your world"."What ever you do you must not give them that information because it will mean the the destruction of your world and eventually many others."He concluded. Louise thought for a minute before she spoke. "Zero If my friends are alive I must do what I can to help them."I will do my best not to reveal anything to this so called Goddess,plus I do not want to endanger this ship or crew.""Very well, Haliss make arrangements for the transfer."Louise I do this reluctantly for I fear for you and your world but if there is one thing I understand it is loyalty!, as he said this he turned and left the bridge.

Next Time: Misplaced Loyalty

 

But are we safe?

I've been working for the last couple of weeks at a motel in a northern suburb of Dayton Ohio. I have lived in Dayton for about the last 17 years, so I'm fairly familiar with the area. The motel is nice, but I doubt we will be hosting Julia Roberts or Regis Philbin any time soon. A nice mid priced  motel, you know the kind you stop at to catch some zzzs  while on a family  or  business trip. 

Last night a customer stopped to check on accommodations for him and his family. He was just passing through on his way to his new home in a neighboring community. He asked me a few questions, mostly the expected ones. Like: Is this a nice motel ? Sure, I answered, It's not a Hilton but it's clean and reasonably well appointed and we have donuts!! He didn't seem impressed by the whole donut thing, he must have been one of those health nuts or something.

 But what really floored me was his next question. "Is this area safe?" he asked. IS IT SAFE? SAFE? Did he just ask me if it was safe? I was caught flat footed, I was verging on panic mode. What should I tell him?The truth wasn't going to do. Hey BEE-otch, this is Dayton the 346th most dangerous city in the U S of A. Are you safe? Well actually 346 sounds kind of wimpy doesn't it?In any case he sensed my hesitation. "Well", I paused giving my sluggish brain a Twix moment to come up an acceptably bland answer that would not unduly alarm him. "Depends on what you mean by safe?"Was the best I could stammer". 

It is at this point that I must point out that we were standing not in Dayton proper but a 'burb to the north of Dayton by about 3 or 4 miles outside of Dayton. It is also at this time that I should point out that since moving to the Dayton area that both my wife and youngest daughter have robbed at gun point, I have had one car , 4 lawn mowers, 1 weed whacker, 2 car stereos , 1 car alarm, 1 television, 1 leather jacket, 2 cell phone car adapters, 1 pair of shoes and two pad locks all stolen. And I won't even mention the 7 car windows I've had broken. 

So what should I tell him?Hey buddy we're safer than Cleveland! No that wouldn't do. How about: We're almost as safe as Youngstown. After stammering for a couple more seconds I gave up and said:"Sure we're safe"I said it with what I hoped was a reassuring smile. I frankly don't know if he bought it or not. I mean it wasn't a complete lie. Was it?

Holiday rant Mark II

Once again it's that time of year. That time that my poor little addled brain starts to take a depressive dive. I have so many mixed feelings about the standard christian holidays. Having been brought up as a J.W.,  I am flooded with residual guilt. Even though I haven't been a practicing witness in close to thirty years, those feelings still linger.  It was bad enough growing up a J.W. when you actually believed what I was taught, but then you find out it was all a big lie, you want to hate everybody and every thing. No matter what, I will always feel conflicted. On one hand I have my wife that was brought up in a fairly straight forward Methodist family. They celebrated the holiday's  just about like ninety percent of the country. To me the the whole affair was like visiting foreign country not knowing the language or the customs.

I've always liked for my kids to have a a good Christmas and get their fair share of goodies. But sometimes I feel I have failed to give them the complete holiday experience, I just can't "get the Christmas spirit". If I were by myself  I would probably not celebrate  any holiday.  It is just about impossible for me to get enthused. I can't even offer or return a merry Christmas greeting without nudging myself a little further down the depression chute. I sometimes wish that could spend Christmas in some Jewish or Muslim country or maybe hibernate fromThanksgiving till New Years. (There are no agnostic or atheist countries as far as 

I know.)

People will go out of their way to personally wish me Merry Christmas, and to this day that gives me the creeps. Oh I know that  at its worst it's probably benign. Sometimes I want to start in on these people and point out all the things they've got wrong about the holiday and the whole christian thing. But what would be the point? For some people that silly holiday is they have. And if it makes them happy, well I guess in the grand scheme of things(if there is such a thing) it really doesn't make a whole hell of a lot of difference. Like they say in France: "Whatever keeps the dog off the furniture. "

To make matters worse I have spent quite a few years in retail and seen first hand the Christmas insanity. People with that glazed over thousand yard stare. It is down right scary. I just don't think a lot of people are getting the supposed "reason for the season. I also have a feeling that a lot of those Christmas drones out there might actually like to come over to my side and avoid the hassle altogether. So many of them have that "please put me out my misery" air about them. 

Millions of people are right this minute are streaming toward home, or at least making their plans for Christmas. A sort of pilgrimage toward that feeling of connectedness that they in many cases have deluded themselves into thinking they once had but never really had. (Am I or am I not the master of the run on sentence?) I have never really felt connected until I had a family of my own. I have always felt like an outsider, even with my parents and sisters. Maybe it was from the big age gap between myself and my sisters or the whole religion thing. Throw in my bizarre mental hang ups, and it's amazing that I am even close to sane. (Yeah I know, you call that sane? har har!) 

As we get closer to the holiday my feelings of foreboding will intensify and hopefully 

I'll get through the holiday with out a melt down. So in any case have a nice safe holiday and please leave me the hell alone!

Next: Back to the story!

Holiday Rant (or diamonds are forever, you're not!)

A few years back I was window shopping with my wife about this time of year. Linda(my wife) wanted to go into one of those fancy schmancy mall jewellery stores. Not the the sort place a dyed in the wool geek like me would normally even think about going into while still breathing. Against my better judgement I allowed myself to dragged along. After checking out a few glass cases my wife ended up in front of a case chock full of little sparklies. The case had enough crystallized carbon to rekindle war production for the Third Reich. 

Pretty soon my dear wife, who is normally as down to earth as they come,  was lost in girlish ecstasy trying on rings that cost more than my first new car. Each ring the saleslady brought out had progressively larger and shinier stones. I thought I was in danger of having my retinas burned by some freakish laser effect caused by all that refracted light. I stood shaking my head in my best"ain't no way I'm buying  you that"fashion. As usual my wife ignored me, but then it happened. Linda mentioned that I had never bought her a engagement ring. She then made a pouty face and I could have sworn she conjured up a tear or too.

At that moment the sales person's eyes practically bulged from their sockets, her mouth twisted into a hateful sneer. She preceded to launch into a tirade that left me feeling that I was only slightly higher up the evolutionary scale than pond scum. The rest of the sales people were glaring at me with looks usually reserved for child molesters or desecraters of corpses. I thought about about launching into one of my rants about what I thought about their shiny rocks and what orifice they could stick them in. But, I thought better of it and slunk out the door waited for Linda outside.

Really people, those are shiny rocks. Buying a big one does not prove you love someone and it won't make someone love you. Any woman that demands a big rock to get her to marry you is not worthy of you. Move Along, keep hunting, she is not Ms. Right. Use the money for a down payment on a house or buy one of those new fangled refrigerators that shoot the ice cubes out of the door. They last for years and let's face it, you can't keep your beer cold with a ring!

If you want to know the truth about diamonds just Google diamonds and I think you will feel a little less warm and fuzzy about our local purveyors of crystallized carbon. And to top it all off the bloomin' things are ugly. And to make things even worse, this time of year we are bombarded by those mind numbingly nauseating commercials. If I hear "He went to Jared" one more time I may go berserk! Puleeeeassse give me a break!

I worked briefly for a jeweler back in the day and I can tell you that the profit margins were nothing short of obscene for most jewelery. Now I've got nothing against profit mind you, but huge profits made on the backs of virtual slaves in a market that is artificially kept high by a monopoly is something else again. So please mean jewellery lady get off of my back. Plus I should point out that I have been married 34 years. A hell of a lot longer than most people that got those big honkin' diamonds

In summation just let me say that I sleep of the sleep of the righteous. Do you think my wife would love me more if bought her a nice shiny bauble to go on her left hand third finger? I don't think so. But Linda, if you desire to drop a bundle on me, skip the jewellery store and head on down to the Apple store and pick me up a Mac Pro with dual Quad Core processors, 2 gigs of ram and a 1 tb hard drive. Now for that I could work up a little more love!

Just kidding dear.

What's happened so far.

Our story starts out with our intrepid hero Commander  Zero an his faithful band of Aethernauts aboard the atomic powered dirigible Albatross. The Albatross is not only a ship of the air but also as we find out, is capable of inter dimensional flight. While exploring an uninhabited parallel earth they come  upon a  stranded and injured Louise Saunders , a survivor of an inter dimensional expedition from our world. Saunders' expedition was attacked by the  forces of the the nefarious Cult of the Goddess. The Goddess is worshipped on three worlds and is bent conquering the multi verse to make all living things worship her. Unbeknownst to Louise (Lou to her friends) several members of her expedition survived and are being held by the Goddess. After torturing Louise's friends the Goddess finds out about our world and it's huge population. She make plans to invade so as to exploit our unsuspecting world, but none of the survivors can give her the coordinates to this new world. Only Louise Saunders, the expedition's engineer in charge of the dimension hopping transporting device can tell what she needs to know to follow through with her sinister plan. 

We also find out that Zero is the last of his people, the only survivor of the world known as Aurora .  We also find out that he wears a mask because he has been disfigured by biological and chemical weapons used  by the Goddess when she invaded his home world. We also discover that the Commander's loyal allies,  the Saurians are also refugees from a war with the Goddess. 

In our last installment that Captain Malik of the Goddess's Air force is returning to recover Louise. To ensure Malik's loyalty, the Goddess has taken his daughter hostage. So what will our hero do? Is he up to the task of withstanding the machinations of the malignant mistress of the macabre? 

Stay tuned for further developments.

The Goddess gets busy.

 At the feet of the Goddess a man lay quivering. Her spiked heel rested on his throat. A sinister smile showed upon her exquisitely beautiful face. It was a cruel sensual beauty that demonstrated  no mercy. The man at her feet swallowed hard and began to babble, "My Goddess be merciful we did not know the purpose of their instruments and thought they might be weapons, fearful for your safety we destroyed them! "So", she began, "you had my safety at heart eh". She removed her heel and walked back to her diamond and emerald encrusted throne, tossing back her raven hair and adjusting her robe, she sat  on the edge  of the downy cushioned seat. "Arise faithful slave , come closer that I might reward your fealty."she said with a kindly tone to her voice. " Tell me your name again loyal servant" her voice sounding even sweeter. "I am called Malik a humble airship captain  beneficent Goddess" he replied. "Kneel before me and receive your reward"she said with a coldness creeping into her voice. As he knelt before her she reached out with her long nailed finger and ripped his left eye out of its socket. Malik fell in agony to the hard stone floor, the Goddess was up again and was standing over him. "If you wish to have your eye restored, this is what you will do: you will return to that world and you find that woman engineer and  bring her to me!" "Guard, tell me, does our Captain Malik have any family?" she asked. "Yes my Goddess,"he said unsuccessfully trying to hide a lustful grin, "He has a lovely young daughter". "Excellent" She said as she gleefully rubbed her hands together, "I have been rather lonely of late." Despite the agony of his eye, there was no mistaking the look of hateful fear. "Don't look so glum Captain, your daughter will be returned to you, relatively unscathed upon completion of your mission", barely suppressing a chuckle. 

Zero took a moment to look Louise from head to toe. "Like What you see big fella?" she said sarcastically. "I am sorry"he said sounding a little too apologetic. "My Saurian friends are great engineers and warriors but they have never seen a human female  and are not used to someone so obviously mammalian, and to answer your question, I have not seen a human female in nearly nine of your years, so yes you look wonderful!" Louise blushed  started to reply with a snappy comeback but Zero turned and motioned her to follow. "Let's get you something to eat" he said over his shoulder. It dawned on her that she had not eaten in some time, she was ravenous.

As she exited her room she got her first look at the great airship. As a globe hopping field engineer she had experienced just about every aerial conveyance known to man; but this was something else altogether. The first thing she noticed was how many Saurians there were. The two or three she had met so far were one thing but the hundreds she encountering now was on a whole other plane. She was also surprised at the riot of colors. On the wide walkways she encountered the dull green of Dr. Bazz and his assistants plus emerald green, iridescent blue and a dull blood red. She touched Zero on the arm and whispered"They come in so many colors" He nodded " yes and as a rule of thumb, the bright colored Saurians tend to be males and the duller ones female.""You mean Dr.Bazz is a female?"she asked. "yes but their gender makes no difference until the female comes in season every 12 to 18 months. The rest of the time it is of no or little significance" he pointed out. 

A few more turns and they found themselves at what would be recognized as a cafeteria on any world. "This ship is huge, Just how big is it?"Louise asked. Zero paused a moment and consulted the readout on his arm. "In your worlds measuring system it is approximately 1000 feet long and 175 feet wide" he replied. "When we finish our discussion and you have eaten I will take you on a proper tour"he promised and then added"with your technical background you will appreciate the advanced technology of my ship." He led her to a wall mounted combination console and touch sensitive display. One area of the display had an outline of what was obviously a saurian hand the other shaped like a human hand. "Place your hand on the appropriate shape" he directed. Louise place her hand as instructed, she detected a slight tingling sensation. Within seconds a container was dispensed from an opening adjacent to the console. "go ahead take it"he urged. He led her to the only table and chairs in the room that was tailored for human use. The other chairs and tables were shaped and sized for the saurians and had an allowance for a tail. 

"As you have probably already guessed we two are the only humans on board"he pointed out. Aren't you eating?" she asked. No was his reply"I have already eaten." She looked bewilderdedly at the white box in front of her. The only distinguishing features on the box was a red tab and blue tab. Zero sensed Her confusion . "I am sorry I should have given you instructions, it's been along time since I have had a dinner guest" with that he pointed out the tabs on top of the box. "pull the red tab and the food container will self heat then open"pointing to red tab he said"pull the blue tab and the box will open but the food will remain cold." "You will find that hot will be better"he concluded.

Louise pulled the tab, the container opened to reveal six cubes. A spicy warm odor was emitted  by the box. "No utensils are required, you will find that they are hot enough to enhance  flavor and promote a sense of well being but not hot enough to burn. " Louise found that each cube was a different color as well as a different flavor and texture. "Our food synthesizer  automatically creates food with the exact amount of nutrients and caloric content for optimum health for each individual"he said as he looked on appreciatively at her obvious good appetite.

After she finished a plastic cup rose from the center of the table and filled as if by magic from the bottom up with water. She picked up the glass and held it up to the light, she could not figure out how it was done , she made a mental note to ask about it later.

Feeling refreshed she was now determined to get some answers. "Why do you go around looking like a cut rate Darth Vader? " she asked pointedly. "I do not know what a Darth Vader is but I assume you mean my mask and goggles."she nodded affirmation. "That is all part and parcel to the situation that the crew of the Albatross and the people of your word find themselves in" "the world I come from was the home of a great advanced and peaceful civilised people. Wars and starvation were of unheard in my world. Disease was virtually eradicated . Lifespans were counted in centuries. We developed interdemensional travel when your world was undergoing what you called the dark ages. We had known peace for Millenia and that is why we were unprepared for what happened. About ten of your years ago.We came in contact with another advanced civilization.At first we welcomed them, some of them even lived among us. We thought all was well for awhile until the coming of the plagues. We found later that those strangers that had lived among us were spreading a biological weapon. We had never even considered the possibility of such a thing. "

"Such was our naivete that it wasn't until after they attacked us directly, after we were sufficiently weakened, that we realized the truth. They took what they wanted and moved on to conquer and destroy others. After the ravages of the plagues and the radiation, my people became extinct. I am the sole survivor of my people. I alone for some unknown reason was immune to the virulent infection, I had hoped to use my blood to create a serum to save my people. The authorities of my world before they succumbed, hid me away in secret hidden laboratory at our south pole. But our efforts were too little too late as they say on your home world.  Even though I had survived, my face was so disfigured and my body so damaged that I need to wear this breath mask to aid my respiration, these goggles protect my damaged eyes and amplify the light so that I can see normally." "This exoskeleton  amplifies my strength to aid my disease damaged muscles" 

"But doesn't your advanced science have a way to restore your health?"she asked. "There maybe hope for that in the future after we defeat the Goddess and her Philistines!"he replied. A saurian at a near by table had evidently overheard the word Philistine and uttered a loud hiss and exposed his teeth. These Philistines were not a popular group she thought. It was at that moment that a loud tone was heard from the Tannoy system. Lights flashed and everyones universal translator buzzed. "All crew to weapons stations, Tactical Alert!" a disembodied voice emplored. "Come with me"Zero said as he pulled Louise after him as he preceded toward the bridge. 

Next Time: An Albatross Shows Her Fangs!

When are you going to show me what's under that mask?

The Goddess strolled casually around the small chamber. She at one time considered adding sound dampening, but concluded that the sound of the occasional scream might help keep her minions on their toes. She was circling a waste high table upon which a nude man was chained spread eagle. His body was glistening with sweat and his face had the look of abject terror. As the session progressed his answers were punctuated by bouts of uncontrollable sobbing. The Goddess relished it when her "guest's" were at last totally given over to her will. This one had only lasted an hour. 

"So my good doctor, you were saying that your world has a population of over six billion,"  she purred. When he hesitated the Goddess using the long finger nail of her right hand index finger,  easily penetrated  the skin between the ribs on his right side. He screamed,"Yes madam! "And how do you address me" she said as she twisted her fingernail in the wound. "Yes Goddess"he said through clinched teeth. "Much better" she said as she licked blood from her finger nail. "Now tell me the coordinates for dimensional transfer so that I may visit your charming world" "Please Goddess don't hurt me again, but I can't", His said as his eyes cast about in horror. "Can't" was her one word reply. Her finger touched a button on the remote she grasped in her hand.  A soft hum filled the room and an intense red light shone upon the man's groin area. He writhed in pain and screamed. "My good doctor, my pain ray is on the second lowest setting, should we try it at a higher setting?" she cooed sweetly. " My goddess I don't know the answer, our equipment was destroyed during your attack and the only person who might be able to tell you was the expedition engineer Louise Saunders. " he managed to gasp out. Using the pain ray much more might cause impairment and he would be of no use. Besides he was probably telling the truth. "Guards!" she screamed"return it to it's cage.

At that moment Dr. Bazz released the electro- pneumatic restraints on Louise's bed. "Be careful, even though you are well on your way to recovery, you are not fully healed" warned the Doctor. Louise did not know if she should look at Bazz's head or the Universal Translator on his belt when he spoke. The Doctor continued "We are fitting you with an exoskeletal aid similar to the one Zero wears to further aid the healing process and it will allow you move about normally with out unduly stressing your newly knitted bones. As if on cue three saurian assistants entered the room with the apparatus.  Zero discretely left the room while it was fitted. The "nurses" also brought her fresh clothes. They  soon had her outfitted in a uniform of soft grey fabric similar to one worn by Zero minus the mask, goggles and gloves. The exoskeleton was marvel of engineering. The miniature servos and linear actuators were like nothing she had ever seen on her world. The whole thing was powered by a tiny power supply no bigger than a deck of standard playing cards. The saurians told her that it was a miniature atomic migma pile generator, a smaller version of the one that powered the ship.

Louise found a mirror after the saurians had left and she was able to look at her self for the first time since coming on board. As he moved she could feel the exoskeleton bouying her up, anticipating her movements, she hoped they would let her take it home with her. Her sandy brown close cropped hair looked a bit messy but without combs or brush there little she could do about it. Her youthful boyish face looked a bit pale but she was never the type that was a slave to fashion or cosmetics. Presentable was her final conclusion. That musical chime sounded again and it was followed by Zero's now familiar voice asking for admittance. "Come in " she said into the air. Zero appeared shortly. "We have much to discuss, much to do and little time" he began.

next: The Goddess gets busy!

When I started this blog they had a button to click for adsense, For those of unfamiliar(I was until recently) It's a way for the blogger to get paid by advertisements placed by Google. I figured what the heck! In one of my rants about prayer must have been pickedup by adsesnse, now there is a ad on the blog referencing prayer. I am afraid to click on it because  I have a feeling that whoever is paying for the ad has not read my blog. It makes no difference to me but it might to the advertiser. So whoever you are I hope you are are at least as tolerant as me. 

Zero tells his story(or at least tries to)

"Are you saying your name is Zero?" she asked. "Yes, My friends and shipmates gave the name, on their world it is considered an honor because of it's mathematical significance" he began, "it was the name of their greatest scientist that developed many of the basic concepts that their advance technology was was based.""Before you continue I must ask you, before I was brought aboard your ship I could of sworn that I saw baby dinosaurs,was I hallucinating?"she asked. "I was coming to that", he began," I was going to save that revelation till last or at least until you were fully  recovered" he said as he lifted the tiny control panel that on his left wrist  to where his mouth would of been had he not been wearing a mask. "Doctor Bazz, please come into your patients room."he said through the mask. The same vertically sliding door that Zero used a few moments earlier, rose again and in walked  what for all the world looked like a miniature dinosaur wearing a white coat and a belt from which depended a number of unidentifiable tools.

Louise was momentarily speechless, "Allow me to introduce Dr.Bazz the ships healer" he said with a nod toward his saurian companion. As Dr Bazz bowed deeply he spoke in a short sibilant burst, simultaneously a small device on his utility belt uttered in perfect English" I am pleased to meet you human Louise." After Louise recovered from her brief fainting spell, she began to observe the new comer closely. He stood nearly four and a half tall, his arms terminated with a hand that had three fingers and a thumb at the end of which were  sizable and dangerous looking claws. He had the large forward looking eyes of a predator, his skull was shaped in a way that would allow for a larger brain. A tail protruded from under his white lapelless jacket. When standing still he stood completely upright and when he walked(and later she found out when running) he stooped slightly and used his tail as a counterbalance. 

"Bazz is of the saurian race, my entire crew is composed of them. Please try not to prejudge them I know how xenophobic people of your world can be" he continued "on your world and as on mine catastrophic cosmic events drastically changed the evolutionary course of our planets, on Bazz's world no such event took place and in front of you see the result, a descendant of dinosaurs as highly evolved as ourselves." "Bazz's people built a great civilization before disaster fell." Disaster?"she said as she tore her curious eyes off of Bazz. "Yes, disaster, the same one that befell my world and that well might befall your world" he said. "You mean those Philistines? Louise asked. At the mention of the word Philistines Bazz opened his jaws displaying an impressive display of triangular razor sharp teeth. At that moment she made a mental note to never piss off a saurian!

Next time: What are you hiding behind that mask?

Who is the tall masked stranger?

Louise awoke with her mind remarkably clear. The bed she occupied was in a small or more correctly stated, compact room. It was bright but not overly so. The walls were a pleasant shade of blue that she found some how comforting. She could see a window from her vantage point but it looked as if it were made opaque and could see nothing through it. The next thing she noted was the absence of pain. She welcomed  the relief, it was the first time in days she had felt comfortable. With a slight bit of panic she noticed that she could not move. She was lying in some sort of hospital bed unlike she had ever encountered in her world. She saw that her right arm was held down by a strap, the strap had a read out of some sort embedded in it as well as some sort of intravenous tube. 

As she was attempting to will her limbs to move a musical note sounded in the air. It seemed to come from everywhere at once. It was obviously meant to gain her attention not to alarm her."Good morning Louise" a cheerful voice announce."Allow me to welcome you to my ship the Albatross" the voice continued. The voice was male and had a flat accent very much like the type she grown up with in the Midwestern United States. "By ship, you mean that zeppelin I saw before I blacked out?" Zeppelin?" he repeated sounding confused. "Oh of course, Count Von Zeppelin, he was the one that worked with dirigibles back before your World War One, no he did not design my ship." "You know about World War One?" Louise said more than a little surprised. "Of course, I have visited your world  many times in my youth and I have even met your Von Zeppelin." the voice stated in a matter of fact tone.  

Louise was beginning to doubt the sanity of the disembodied voice. His voice took on a serious tone. " We can reminisce about your world another time" he paused briefly, "I have discussed your condition with the ships doctor and I need to as they say on your world, 'fill you in' ". "Your prognosis is excellent, Most of your injuries are well on their way to healing" he continued. "Why am I restrained?" she interrupted . "To facilitate a speedier recovery it was necessary to temporarily paralyze your body he stated. "Our techniques are far more advanced than those of your world, your recovery will only take a fraction of the time it would take in one of your hospitals"he concluded. " what kind of techniques? " she asked suspiciously. "nanites" was his one word answer.

"Nanites are self replicating molecular machines about the size of a corpuscle and as we speak a large quantity of specialized nanites are committing voluntary suicide to heal and reinforce your broken bones much like small animals in your world's oceans leave their skeletons to make reefs." He explained. " You are being healed from the inside out". "I see", Louise said actually only understanding about half of what he was saying. ""I know that you have many more questions for me, but I would like to continue our conversation in person","I must warn you that my appearance maybe a bit disconcerting,but I assure you that I am as human as you are"he paused for moment . He continued in a manner that made Louise think he was choosing  his words carefully. "I too have suffered at the same hands as you have, Yes I know that you were captured and tortured by the individuals that we call the Philistines" " Philistines is a cultural reference you might recognize from your world from a book you call the bible." "I'll explain all of that in short order, but first we must meet face to face for you to understand the peril you and your world are facing. "

 

With those ominous word still ringing in her ears a vertical rectangular opening appeared at the opposite  end of her small room. The figure that strode into the room was covered from hand to hand and from head to toe in a loose fitting soft grey coverall. His hands gloved and his feet shod in soft leather boots. His face was obscured by a set of over sized seemingly opaque  goggles and some sort of oxygen mask covered the lower half of his face. Louise had to strain with her restricted movement to take him all in. His head nearly touched the ceiling, a good 6'6" she guesstimated.  He stood before her and uttered  three words, he uttered them in such a way that it sounded like they might explain everything, but for Louise they only added more confusion. 

He said"I am Zero".

NEXT TIME: Zero tells his story.

'

'

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A new ally?

Consciousness  for Louise faded in and out like waves lapping at low tide. The pain lost some of it's intensity in the time she had  lain there. She thought of turning over in an attempt to lessen the pain. She decided not to even try, the rocky ground would be equally uncomfortable no matter how she was laying. During her current brief bout of alertness she took an inventory of her injuries. Her left eye would not focus and the sight was noticeably dimmer than the right. The blood from her head injury had coagulated she confirmed with her one functioning hand and arm. She was also certain that her right leg was broken. She didn't even bother to count the broken ribs.

Not too bad,  a couple of days in a hospital,then six weeks in a cast she'd be as good as new. Better maybe considering the rest she would get. Of course lying helpless on the ground on an unknown alien world did not bode well for longevity. No food, no weapons and helpless, that about summed up her situation. While she was wallowing in her own self pity she noticed something with her left eye. She moved her head slightly so as to get a better look with her undamaged eye. She at first she could not put a name to the huge airborne object. It looked familiar. Finally the name came to her, a zeppelin! True  It had no exterior engine nacelles like the photographs from her old history books and it was dead silent, but that's what it was. 

Louise lost consciousness again, when she regained consciousness again she had another shock,she was so surprised she spoke aloud," look at all the baby dinosaurs". At that moment one of the diminutive dinosaurs pulled out a hypodermic and gave Louise an injection and yet another placed an oxygen mask on her face.  

'Those are some pretty amazing little dinosaurs", she thought to herself groggily.

Next time: The tall masked stranger!

Who is this god person and why does say all these terrible thing about me?

Once more I've got more questions than answers. Why does god need to be worshipped? I asked this question of a couple of for real men of the cloth(the kind with degrees and everything) and frankly their answers were something less than satisfying(yeah I know they don't exist to satisfy my curiosity). One said "because the bible said so" and the other said " who deserves it more?".

The act of worship is after all is honoring and or praising of someone, usually a deity. God the creator gets plenty of respect, honor and praise(assuming he exists naturally) from yours truly. Whipping up something like our universe is no small feat. However, according to scripture choirs of angels sing his praises 24/7 for all of eternity. Isn't that a bit of over kill? 

I would think that an Omnipotent, omnipresent  divine being would be pretty well aware of his divinity. And wouldn't angels have better things to do than to murmur on and on for all of eternity about something that is so self evident? And what do angels do all day anyway? The bible is pretty vague on the subject. For that matter, what does god do all day? His days(again according to scripture) are a thousand years long(I've had days that seem that long). He must be pretty busy if he needs a thousand years to get a days work done. But regardless, the guy does good work. Of course I assume he is a he, Jesus was a man and according to most Christians he was god in the form of a man. 

So does god have an inferiority complex? Does he have an identity problem?Supposedly humanity is made in his image, not a good recommendation  to my way of thinking."In God's image" is a phrase that has always confused me. Do we look like god? I doubt it. If that means we have the same characteristics, he should be feared not worshipped. Based on scripture alone that hypothesis seems to be supported. I f you have ever read the bible you know how scary god is. On one of the atheists blogs someone went to the trouble to tally up the number of casualties racked up by god and Satan, god was way ahead. Satan is definitely small time compared to God.

Next, I  have got to ask, how does prayer work? Really, I don't know. Have you ever been taught how to pray? When I was a child my mother told me to get on knees at the side of my bed, close my eyes and recite a few pretty much hackneyed phrases, say amen and jump into bed. At religious gatherings adults usually stood with eyes closed and with hands behind them. On bended knees seems a bit more humble, but is it necessary to have an effective prayer experience? I once went to a catholic mass and their the pews actually had little pads that fold out to facilitate kneeling. Would that count? You  aren't really humbling yourself if you are using an artificial assist.  

On occasion  I've been told that prayers will only be answered if they are god's will. Now that is a depressing thought. That would make all prayers pointless. Why bother! But I must admit that it seems that some of my prayers have been answered , So does that mean I have just lucked out to have my want, need and or desires coincide  with the will of god?

As usual I have few answers and the answers usually lead to even more questions. I sometimes envy people that are able to have blind faith. What would it take for me to have unquestioning faith? If you take the bible literally it's already to late for me, by asking these question I've already sinned against the holy spirit and have a one way ticket to the big hot(and I don't mean New Orleans). I once explained my agnostic beliefs to a young "born again christian" girl. I explained how important it was to me to have an open mind. She told me that I should become a practising christian even though I was doubter, just in case. To cover my bets so to speak.  To me it's better to have an ounce of honest doubt than a whole ton of hypocritical faith. Naturally  she didn't get it. 

Coming next: The further adventures of Commander Zero and his Lost Planet Aethernauts.

What is an Aerthernaut anyway?

Commander Zero sat in his command chair on the bridge of his atomic powered dirigible that his saurian crew had affectionately dubbed the Albatross. The heads up display in his light intensifying goggles told him all systems were nominal. The trans dimensional transfer had brought him and his crew to yet another earth like world. This world seemed nearly lifeless. He detected only basic plant and animal life. Haliss his saurian second in command clicked his claws to get his attention. "Excuse me Zero" He intoned. "What is it?
Zero asked.

"We are detecting the signature of an atomic powered craft that was operating on this world less than eight standard time units ago" he intoned. Haliss maintained a posture that his people used to indicate that he had more to say and that he should inquire further. "What else Haliss?"he asked trying to keep his patience with his reptilian friend."Yes Zero, If you will turn your long range sensor read outs in your H.U.D. you will see what is bothering me"nodding slightly to indicate that was all the information he had for me.

Haliss' people used a wide range of postures, ticks, clicks and head movements to amplify their language. Their reptilian facial features allowed for little expressiveness. The U.T. did an excellent job translating their language word for word but it was necessary to be looking at them for complete communication. Zero touched the wrist control panel on his exoskeleton to activate the display that would relay the information from the main differential engine. He Immediately saw what Haliss was referring to. It was a life sign and what was more it was a human life sign. He had not come in contact with a fellow human in many cycles. "Haliss"I said,"bring us about". "Zero I recommend caution, it could be a trap"Haliss warned. "If it were a saurian life sign would you counsel caution?"I asked. "Doubly so"was his answer.

There was a brief flurry on the bridge as Haliss issued his orders to the crew. The navigator transferred the coordinates to the helmsman and touched the control on his panel that would give him full power from the super conducting motors. The engineer watched and nodded with satisfaction checking his displays to see that the impellers were operating at optimum efficiency. power was flowing from the mighty migma atomic pile to the six super conducting motors causing the the great air ship to surge forward.

Mookai the saurian tactical officer clicked claws to gain Zero's Attention. He assumed the posture of respectful interrogatory . Zero acknowledged him with a nod and a head bob that a superior would use for a respected subordinate. Mookai partially opened his mouth, the saurian equivalent of a blush at the compliment. "Commander should we go to battle stations" Mookai said with an emphatic head bob. "Yes" zero said with his own emphatic nod. "Weapons operators to their stations" announced the Tannoy system.

Active armor and the particle beam weapons came to life. And for good measure the recoilless rifle turrets came on line. Mookai's clawed hand flew across his panel. The engineer noticed the indicators for the weapons systems as they became activated, Mookai was not taking any chances. He had enough fire power to destroy a small planet at the ready. But as always, it's better to be safe than sorry. The gun crews barely had time to get to their stations before navigator announced that they were close enough to get a visual. So anxious was Zero that he did not wait for Mookai to throw up the image on the main display. Visually there was no mistake, it was a human.

Next week: A new ally?


.

So, why did I get married the first time?

Pretend you are in a crowded restaurant and that all of the patrons are choking except for you(you had the jello, they had the bony fish chef's special). Further that you are the only guy in the room that knows the Heimlich maneuver. A lot of times that what it feels like to be a JW. You are made to feel that every ones life is in your hands. that my friends is a lot of pressure.


And to make things a little more interesting, you are told on a daily basis that the world is going to end any day. How would you plan for the future? Would you go to college? would you get married? would you have kids? Would you want to bring children into a world that's about to experience Armageddon ?

These things weigh you down. They affect your every waking moment and every decision you make. you get into a state of mind that you must be doing god's will. That some how the big guy is calling the shots for you. you never learn to make the rational choices. you make choices that you think god wants you to. But the happy (or sad ) truth is, you are are on your own. The mistakes you make or those little victories are all your own.

So the bottom line is I got married for all the wrong reasons. And it nearly destroyed me. And i am not forgetting the lust factor. It definitely played a role; remember i thought i was going to die at any moment for i thought that there was no way i was gong to live through Armageddon. I wanted a life, and up until that moment I had not the opportunity or the tools to figure out what was important (to me at least).


I have a faith of sorts. Faith after all is believing in something you can't see or verify easily. So I believe that electrons are spinning around their nuculei. I have faith that an invisible force keeps me on Terra firma and not flying into space. I have faith in the basic decency of most human beings that haven't been misled by irrational magical thinking(religion in other words).
I even have a certain (probably misplaced) optimistic faith for the future, that somehow that my fellow hairless apes will finally get their act together.

I always felt that if i were lucky enough to have kids of my own I would try to raise them with an open mind and an open heart. I would never force a a particular philosophy down their throats after what happened to me. Hopefully they are free to pursue whatever path leads them to their bliss.

Tomorrow: The further adventures of Commander Zero and his Lost Planet Aethernauts

ADDENDUM:
It was pointed out that I neglected to mention that i am currently married and have been for 33 years. And Yes Linda I love you.

XXXOOOO

Why do I need faith?

One of my daughters once said to me," It's too bad that you have no faith, something to believe in." This topic has come up more than once between us. I suppose I should start from the beginning to explain why this is a touchy topic for me and her. I am what most people call an agnostic. For me this the only intellectually honest thing for me to be. I would like to think that i live in a universe of infinite size and possibility.   I did not come to believe(or not believe) overnight. I have given it much thought. But to fully express how I got to this point, I really have to go back, way back to the one person that was largely responsible for much of the spiritual influence in my life. That's right, my dear mother(I do not meant that sarcastically, she was very dear).

Let me tell you about mom. She was a lovely woman and if anyone deserved the title of christian woman(and I mean that in the most positive attribution of the phrase) it was her. I believe now that she had what is now referred to in some circles as the "god gene". Her depth of faith and devotion was almost immeasurable. She was literally "good for goodness sake". To find someone to say a bad thing about her would be an exercise in futility. Her abundance of love flowed from her great zeal and faith in god. I am not exaggerating, Ask anyone that knew her. 

Her own motivation for her own personal spiritual quest will probably always at least in part be a mystery to me. In her younger days before she gave birth to me she tried quite a few different religions. I know she tried several flavors of protestantism, possibly seventh day Adventists , several versions of Pentecostal and last but not least but not least the Watchtower and bible and tract society. That's right she became a JW. 

About the time I was about 3 1/2 or 4 she began studying with the JWs. I can barely remember my last Christmas and birthday party. Pretty soon she had Dad and the rest of the family sitting in on the brain washing sessions. For the next 22 years(give or take)my only contact with religion and things spiritual came from the "the Society". While my mom seemed to come alive and blossomed with the torrent of propaganda from JWs I withered. After awhile I found ways to drown out most of the static, but still bought in to basic tenets of the faith. Let's face it, 5 meetings a week, Saturday and Sunday field service(door to door for the uninitiated),  allowed little or no association with non believers, it's no wonder (at least on the surface) that 

I kind of fell in line.

Sometimes I even convinced myself as well as others. Mom even pimped me out to other JW mothers that were having trouble getting their kids with the Society's agenda. On a couple of occasions I was talked into overnight stays with kids and families that I barely knew so I could be good influence. I remember when I was ten I got a phone call  from a kid I had only met once. His mother was a sister from the Kingdom Hall, She had called my mom  to ask what her brain washing technique she used on me to make me toe the line. My mom volunteered me to help her tame her little monster. I was really uncomfortable. The plan was for me to charm the little bastard and the next morning he would willingly submit to sitting through the meeting for his dose of brain numbing. For a whole day and half he barely acknowledged me and on Sunday he cried and begged not to have to go to the meeting. Let's face it a day riding your bike sure beats the hell out of 2 hours Watchtower torture.

In my teenage years i was about as unpopular as you can get at school, and slightly more popular amongst my fellow JW kids. My only out was that many parents felt I was "Safe"

So got invited along. Usually as a fifth wheel. It was during these years that began to read and study and reason. I began to have doubts even though i was loathe to admit myself that i knew it was all a lie.

  Part two tomorrow: Why did I get married the first time?

So I'll see you tomorrow, same moose time same moose channel

questions?

All right I've got questions. Just a few. Like: What do people talk about on cell phones? I admit that I own a cell phone and I even admit that I covet an I-phone. But seriously, I don't think that I have ever talked on cell phone for more than three minutes. I have one of those throw away virgin mobile phones and I doubt I've ever used more than ten minutes in a month. Except for the occasional emergency use it hardly ever gets used. I hear of people with monthly bills in the multiple hundreds of dollars. I am not talking about a business, just regular folk. 

 

 Once in awhile I try to eavesdrop on people to find out what the hell they are talking about. I am still mystified! They don't seem to be talking about any thing. And sometimes i see young mothers in grocery stores phones epoxied to their ears, the kids left to fend for themselves, harassing the help or worse yet bothering me(no kid I am not Santa Clause!). Of course the really sad thing is that when those so called moms get home they will probably sit the kid down in front of the idiot's lantern and then pick up the land line to finish their conversation.

  And don't get me started on driving while cell phoning! Most of these bozos shouldn't be driving with all of their faculties available much less impaired to that extent. It's bad enough that we allow something as unpredictable and prone to error as a human being operate a 5000lb, 300hp instrument of mayhem like an automobile, and then we make it really interesting by distracting him(or her) with a nice shiny toy like a phone! 

I also admit that small talk drives me crazy. I try to avoid it whenever possible. Most people are really boring. But I find it really hard to believe that all that small talk is somehow miraculously made fascinating by the use of digital devices. IMHO cellphones make people boring squared to the next power.  Wouldn't most conversations have more meaning face to face so that you could see facial expressions and body language. And wouldn't most conversations wait until you could get directly in front of the person you want to talk to?

Next: Why do the kids in my neighborhood wear their crotches down around their knees?

TaTa for now , may all your vampires be mutants.