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Special thanks to Michael Hudson for show logo.
Yes already an episode 2– I find it is easier to write several at a time, particularly with a new concept. Rather than throw the entire crew at the poor listener all at once, I am starting to drop names in little by little. This time, for example, we learn who the captain is and slightly more about the XO. It is still primarily from Penn’s POV, which will change later. I do not believe in overwhelming with the entire cast all at once, so it might be a few episodes before we learn all their various backstories.
This time I wanted to do a First Contact, but also keep the historical aspect of the show. The idea is that the leaders of the Picts were actually aliens who really did have blue skin. Their human followers painted themselves to match. I won’t spoil the story for you, but I think it definitely keeps the history + scifi that is the basis of the Lydia series.
Excerpt as usual:
Pendennis sat forward with his hands pressed against the pair of headphones he was listening to intently. He glanced up at Lydia hopefully but she merely shrugged— if a ship spoke a different language, she could be of no assistance in translating it.
“Lydia to Conn— they are not hostile, that is all I know,” she spoke into the microphone, “I would sense if they were.”
The XO spoke in return, “Mr. Pendennis?”
“I am running a comparison in our database, there is some relation to both ancient Gaelic and a language from one of the moons in Andromeda. I estimate at least two hours before I am able to decipher their message.”
“You have ten minutes,” she responded, “the ship will be in orbit by then.”
“Aye, aye,” Pendennis tried to sound confident. He listened even more closely, and allowed the alien language to repeat over and over until it saturated its way into his consciousness. He told himself to think of it like his old Sonar duties— instinct and concentration, rather than depending on computers. Not that they weren’t a handy tool. A note on his monitor indicated several possible word matches.
He ignored the blaring speakers calling for the other chap in the communications room to contact Earth HQ as he scribbled and crossed out words on a piece of paper. Finally he wrenched off his headphones and stared entirely at his notepad.
“I’ve got it!” he grinned.
“What? The rain in Spain?” the other chap swiveled round in his chair, “there is no bloody way you could translate that Alien nonsense this quickly.”
Penn gave him a quick glare, then turned back to write out his findings more neatly. He made a mental note to send a complaint to whomever had thought it amusing to include “My Fair Lady” in the monthly film selection sent up by shuttlepod.
He handed the note to Lydia, who skirted the ladder up to the Conn. There was an extended silence, followed by, “has it been confirmed?” in a dubious voice. She did not like having to wake the captain.
Special thanks to Michael Hudson for show logo.
As you may or may not know, the main HMS Lydia series ends with Story 22. At first I was just going to end the entire series there, but I received several comments from listeners asking for at least a quick comment on what happens to Lydia later in time. I thought it was a legitimate question, but as I was drafting a response, it became complex enough to warrant another entire series of stories.
At first I was going to just call it H.M.S. Lydia 2 or something dull like that, but quickly realized it would be confusing both on the iLane web site and keeping the two stories straight. As a result of a bit of back and forth on Twitter, I came up with “Royal Offworld Navy (RON)” which works quite well.
It is set a couple of years in the future (maybe around 2015 or so) when Lydia has become a spacecraft. As a bookend to the other series, I had the descendant of the original Pendennis come on board as the POV character for new listeners. He also has a bit of a subplot discovering more about his ancestor who was on board the original HMS Lydia where we can learn more tidbits of information about her later career.
Here is an excerpt. You’ll hear more in the behind the scenes episode that will end the main HMS Lydia storyline:
Lydia sat with her feet dangling through the hatch between the Conn and Communications Room. She liked to be in a central location between the two. A familiar voice entered her head— a ship was nearing their position. She remembered it all to clearly. With an elegant leap, she bypassed the ladder and landed gracefully inside the CR. Pendennis glanced up and smiled at her as she poured knowledge onto his screen. She still enjoyed speaking with the crew, but found it was much swifter to place everything she knew about a ship right in front of them, rather than try to talk swiftly only to have it repeated right left and centre all over the ship. The young officer pushed a blue lever back and leaned forward slightly,
“Friendly contact bearing zero-niner-zero, Range four double oh three oh.”
“Set the Gertrude,” the captain’s voice echoed back, “request rendezvous on far side of the moon.”
“Request rendezvous on far side of the moon, aye,” Pendennis tried to hide his excitement, but failed. He was positively beaming with pleasure when an elderly voice came through his headset.
“Well well, seems the Lydia has had a few upgrades,” the alien scientist chuckled, “last time we were here she was a lovely little slip of a thing constructed of wood!”
“Are you implying I am uglified?” Lydia danced over next to Pendennis.
“Dear, dear, no indeed.”
“What is your business on Earth?” Pendennis felt it high time they returned to the matter at hand. He tried to sound friendly, but his request was so formal that it had the opposite effect.
“Young man, I am here to return your Sea Otters!” the scientist replied huskily, “as promised to Captain Gibson.”
Pendennis quickly scanned over the information Lydia put up on his computer— it was in archaic English and some sort of ancient report. The chap who wrote it still used the word larboard for heaven’s sake.
There was a metallic whirr as the Captain slid his way down the ladder with one swift movement. He picked up the spare set of headphones and put them up to one of his ears.
The beginning of this chapter was still about Sophie trying to cope with her new position. Nefertiti steps in to help– offering her a position as a royal collarsmith. The reactions of the artisans to such a move are less than civil, which is what I’ve seen general happens with artists. Some are better at hiding it, of course, but there is that fury when someone else gets into the juried exhibition that I have noticed. Human nature, really.
Before fully recovering, Sophie finds herself caught up in a war between the gods. Set arrives in the palace, claiming Thebes for himself and vowing to defeat Isis. She is nowhere to be found, and the frightened citizens turn to the pera’aa for help. Sophie, meanwhile, decides she needs to know more about what is going on and how to stop it.
Excerpt:
A crowd gathered around, wondering what could have caused the accident, when a darkness formed on the pedestal where the statue had stood. It swirled up faster and faster until forming into a red fiery storm of rubies and finally a tall man who glowed like Isis.
“This can’t be good…” I muttered, and Nefertiti rushed up to my side.
“I have returned,” the creature raised its arms, and its voice thundered around the courtyard— shaking the very pillars. Red eyes blazed in a canine-like head that reminded me of an aardvark. Heavy gold jewelry dripped from his neck and arms– I could not help admiring it. What truly surprised me was Nefertiti’s reaction to the newcomer. She stepped boldly forward— her lovely frame steeling itself into what I knew to be attack readiness.
“You are not welcome here, Set. This is the city of Isis.”
The creature roared in anger— fear griped me to the core. It sounded worse than the howl of a wolf in dark woods, or the roaring of a lion about to spring on its prey. I felt my arms grow numb as I stood frozen in absolute terror. Even Nefertiti seemed daunted, and turned white as the columns. Then it laughed— a horrible harsh barking sound that was almost worse than its challenge.
“No longer. I have defeated her— Thebes is now… mine.”
In a flash of red, Set vanished. I was almost knocked unconscious by the sudden thunder and flash of light. I felt ill, and staggered to my feet with difficulty. The cheerful sunlight of the day seemed suddenly ominous.
The customs of mummification and general funerary preparations are so complicated and extensive (months of them!) that I decided to just cover the Opening of the Mouth ceremony. Who wants to hear chapter after chapter about what entrails go where, and what colour they paint the skin and what they stuff the brain cavity with? I didn’t want to just jump to after Sophie had completely recovered from Narmer’s death either.
As a result, I did a quick overview of one of the most crucial of the ceremonies and concentrated more on Sophie’s state of mind at the time of the transition, and how Heroo had been helpful as well.
Excerpt:
I walked inside the deserted house, followed by the old servant. He was even more upset than I was. I told him to take the day off, but he wouldn’t listen.
“Work… it helps, mistress,” he sniffed, picking up one of the leaves from a pile on the table to wipe away the moisture from his face.
I sat about feeling listless, waiting for him to bring the evening meal. The rooms were still full of Narmer’s things— I’d had my hands full keeping up with collar orders and hadn’t time to go through them. At least my skills quickly improved with all that practice. On most things I no longer consulted my notes— the formulas were almost instinctual. That was the way I had always cooked— once trying a recipe I tossed out the book and went by feel. A pinch of this, a handful of that— I don’t even know why I owned a scale. I never properly weighed any ingredients.
The workshop was a mess— even for me. Forcing myself up from a stupor, I started by gathering all the parchment together and filing it. The next task was finding stray beads and putting them back into their proper containers. Little heaps of blue, red and gold began piling up on the low tables as I searched every corner of the room. It felt like my annual hairpin hunt through my flat. At least that was one thing I wouldn’t need to worry about here. Even as I worked, images of Narmer’s tomb flashed across my mind. As I choked back sobs, I thought of how bright and beautiful it was inside. Who knows what their afterlife was like. Isis had hinted something about it, but in her usual maddeningly cryptic fashion. I didn’t know much about Osiris, but if she loved him, the bloke couldn’t be cruel. And since all that chanting earlier had mostly been about his influence in the afterlife, perhaps Narmer had a chance.
Amarna - Yes I need to write more, I have it down to do in the next few weeks.
Cloak & Dagger - Still waiting for late lines from people, might need to recast some folks.
HMS Lydia - The final few episodes will be released in the next few months.
Jal Kek Nemran - Mixing episode 2 partway done
Kelmah - All novels complete and released, will return to audio teasers in late summer/autumn 2010
Maudelayne - Release of episode 5 on thursday, just sent out scripts for episodes 8-10 series 3, series 4 writing is on schedule
Miranda - Another episode is waiting to be released, more coming soon after I get the next Jal Kek Nemran mixed.
Lady Washington - Done with final edit up to chapter 8
Miniseries for Sonic Society - Need to write 3 more episodes
Projects on Hold - Night at the Ballet, Pristinely Ungifted, Saxonboc, Tom Crean, Zoulvisia