Here's a thought

[Distracted]

It's not that. It's just that it seems so... ambitious. And harsh.

I'm a romantic, BnB, writing and reading romance in a fictional universe full of hope and optimism. Is it any wonder that this "end times for the universe" premise you've come up with, however intriguing it might be, leaves me a little bit shell-shocked?

[Asso]

Maybe it's possible to find a way for an "optimistic" - and romantic - ending!

[Asso]

And maybe I have some ideas. Involving Trip and T'Pol. I have to think about that.

[Distracted]

It would have to be Trip, T'Pol, and time travel. Been there. Done that. Have the t-shirt.

[Asso]

I wasn't thinking about time travel.

[Distracted]

Then this scenario won't work, since it's set in the very far future from Enterprise. BnB's idea has nothing to do with TnT. I can't see the two connecting unless you concoct some contrived "historical document" from past millenia...say, a "Let's all get along" PSA starring our favorite couple as the poster children for galactic peace and harmony... which inspires the mean ol' conquerers of the universe to love each other.

Seems pretty hokey to me.

[Asso]

Hokey? Even more.
No, no.
Do you remember "The Mummy"?
Well! Anything like.

[Distracted]

Mummy Trip and T'Pol? Yuk. That's a gruesome one. How would you do that and stick with science? Last I heard, the reanimation of preserved corpses isn't scientifically feasible... especially after several millenia. Of course, the occult isn't my thing, so the idea of the "soul" of a mummy somehow inhabiting another body the way it did in "The Mummy" seems pretty lame to me.

[Asso]

Oh c'mon Dis!
I said "Anything like.".
And then: is "mind meld" scientifically feasible? Under the sky there are a lot of things we don't know.

[Distracted]

I suppose if you come up with good enough technobabble you might be able to justify some things, but I draw the line at revivification of mummies in my SF. Telepathy at least has no occult connotations. It's when so-called science fiction has to justify something with chants, amulets, and magic spells that I get aggravated. I like fantasy as well as the next girl, but don't mix it with my SF, thank you. Not unless you at least make an attempt to justify it scientifically. Ann McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern books are a good example. A little bioengineering technobabble and presto, you've got SF instead of fantasy. I think that's cool.

[Asso]

I agree with with you, totally.
The Occult is the Occult, and SF is SF.
And, honestly, that's the reason (not the only one) I don't like the Katra issue. Sure, it doesn't concern the Occult, strict meaning. But... all in all...
But at this point I'm thinking seriously about the BnB's beginning and about writing something including Trip and T'Pol. With Mummy and without. And without occult.
I have read, a long time ago, a SF book whose title in Italian sounded "La civiltà degli Eccelsi": "The Civilization of the Sublimes".
There were a lot of great ideas, in that book.

[Distracted]

Eh. Utopias sorta leave me cold. Give me an old fashioned galaxy-wide gang of squabbling civilizations any day. Much more exciting.

[Asso]

Believe me. No Utopias. Nothing at all.

[evcake]

^ You saw slashy subtext in that? Huh. I didn't at all. Although now that you mention it I suppose it's possible. But to me it was a friendship story, you know? Malcolm did come across as more sensitive than your average bloke, but then again since when is anyone on that ship average? (Except poor, underutilized Travis...)

Malcolm is deep, right? Reads Joyce. A thinker.

[evcake]

Believe me. No Utopias. Nothing at all.

Suspended animation? Extended stasis? (Everyone is dead, Dave.)
Caught in the pattern buffer like poor Scotty?