(no subject)
anyone want to read my first attempt at science fiction? i started writing this last night, so it is not finished yet. i need to add an ending. i need to add more comparisons to earth, like "fourteen wekas, which is approximately ... on earth," to make for a smoother narrative structure. i need to add dialogue to make it less clunky. i need
"the throat that could only sing"
Woon Phlack was a young Moni that lived on a planet called Moni. It was a small planet with a global population near twenty-two million. The Monis were travelers, which explained the low population. They had enough figures on the planet to ensure that it stayed pretty and inhabitable. The business buildings and older Monis stayed on Moni to grow up and live wonderfully after retirement. Moni resembled very closely a paradise. In between these states, the Monis were workers that traveled to a number of different places and planets.
Monis were known as entertainers in a musical sort of way, which is why they were able to travel so easily and effectively. Without their entertaining ability, the Monis and their planet would die quickly. The Monis, in fact, were of little use outside of entertainment and were, in fact, neither significantly useful nor intelligent. The young Monis, then, used their abilities to gain money for themselves, for retirement, and for the continuation of the Moni world and population.
What gave the Monis the opportunity to travel and entertain despite their lack of intelligence was the Moni voice. The vocal chords of a teen-aged Moni entered a developmental stage of reeds and an intricate array of holes. At this stage, when the voice of the Monis was very much in its prime, a Moni could emit a tuneful and ashy wheeze that sounded delightfully musical. The reeds were crosshatched in the throats of the Moni, and two sets of holes faced both towards the lungs and the mouth. So while a young Moni was breathing out, a musical sound was emitted, and while a young Moni was breathing in, another musical sound was emitted.
Woon Phlack was in this developmental stage. He had, in fact, just entered in to it. His parents Plit and Flor were living easily in their Moni paradise, and were quite prepared to send Woon out into the universe to provide for himself and the rest of his kind.
So his parents sent Woon to the Moni council in the main city of Moni, which was called Harca. It was here in the council in Harca that a young Moni was commanded to a certain space within the universe to entertain.
Woon's case was different from most of the young Monis, however. His parents were highly esteemed in Moni, and so by default so was Woon. The Moni high council wished to expand their clientele, which meant sending scouts out to certain planets in a number of new galaxies to negotiate pricing, interest, and availability. The Milky Way was one of the galaxies on the list, which was a galaxy not far from the galaxy that contained Moni. It had, on Jupiter, three clubs for the young Moni vocal experts, but none of the other planets in the system had been scouted yet.
A planet called Earth was one of these planets. And this planet was where Woon Phlack was to be sent. The council decided it unanimously, that only a Moni youth with a vocal ability as promising as Woon's should be sent to scout and work and entertain all of the humans of Earth in the Milky Way.
The Moni race had prolonged the scouting work in Earth because humans were, according to many of the Moni clients, difficult and uninterested in the sort of artistic and unquestionably brilliant vocal music that figures like Moni youth could offer. They preferred, instead, a media and style with less depth and movement, according at least to Zadar Seve, a Moridon and a Moni client.
The council's usual protocol with a Moni youth after their final decision involved a very quick departure for the given planet, usually fourteen wekas, which is just about two hours on Earth. It took much longer for the council to decide a Moni's destination after the parents' offering of the child. So Woon had just enough time to go home to Plit and Flor and say his farewells. The rest of a Moni's body is not too unusual, compared to Earth's humanoid inhabitants. Two legs, two arms, and upright walking motions. The neck appears longer and thinner than most human necks, their bodies are on average a foot shorter, and the Moni race has a greenish hue about their bodies, but other than these things they appear quite like the humans of Earth in the Milky Way. This meant that Woon could go home to his parents and embrace them with his arms and rub his head along theirs, which was the common farewell in Moni, along with musical accompaniment.
Soon after this embrace, Woon boarded a ship called Quinn IV. He was not the only passenger of the ship. Two other young Moni were on the ship, named Rack and Crinal. They were, as Woon discovered, both heading to the same place. "Boona" had rung out tunefully and wonderfully when Woon asked, just as tunefully, where the two were headed. A captain named Bork also rode on the ship. He informed the three passengers that Boona would be their first stop, since two clients could do more work than one and were thus more important. After the stop and drop-off in Boona, Woon Phlack would be dropped on Earth.
Boona usually took close to one-hundred wekas, but this particular trip took only eighty-nine, thanks to Captain Bork's superior captaining ability. During the trip, Woon practiced his ability while Rack and Crinal rubbed each others' throats with their hands. It was a quick and easy trip.
After Boona, however, the trip became much more daunting. For instance, Boona was not located on the way to Earth, so about one-hundred eighty wekas were added to the already tiresome round-trip of two-hundred.
But the distance was not what made the trip worrisome and daunting after Boona. It was, in fact, something else entirely. While on Boona, Captain Bork had to stop, supply, and refuel the ship. While he did this, Rack and Crinal were taken to an entertainment club to begin their work. The club was near the supply station, so Woon followed the young Moni so as not to become bored.
While there Woon met an old Boonan man named Fwillen. He was, as Woon soon discovered, one of the oldest figures on Boona. He helped to found the civilization with his skills in observance and discovery. He watched the universe with his large devices of magnification and sight.
Fwillen liked Woon immediately, just as he liked every Moni entertainer immediately. He was enchanted by the voice. Of course, Fwillen was not able to display his enchantment for very long. He frowned when Woon mentioned his course for Earth.
Woon soon learned of the plan of one of the rebel groups on a planet named Xon. The Xonian group, called Ixon, had developed a sort of plague that it was going to use on a planet, in order to provide for an easily conquerable new home for all of the Xonian rebel groups. The plague was called Ixonity. It was a type of toxin that killed instincts. Since human instinct is based on survival, unlike many other races, Ixonity was perfect for Earth. Fwillen, sadly, informed Woon of this plan and its imminent status. Ixon was set to leave for Earth, to deposit the toxic plague in the atmosphere during one of Earth's many rainstorms, in less than six Xios, which is approximately ten days on Earth.
Woon knew what the destruction of Earth would mean for his work in entertainment, his family, and his own paradise in retirement. If Woon could not perform and earn a living on Earth, he would not be able to fully prepare and provide for anything. If earth did not work out, he would have to go back to the council in Harca and wait for another extended decision-making process by the council members as to where he could be sent to perform. The choice was up to him, as to whether he would prefer Earth or a more stable sort of job security, but Woon knew that if he went home and waited, he would not be able to save and prepare for very long. His particular stage in vocal development only lasts through adolescence, and to give up part of that adolescence would mean a less extravagant and less easy paradise in retirement. It would be much more resourceful to try and warn the humans on Earth of the impending attack. He would have sufficient time to give warning. After that time and the successful containment of Ixonity, he would be a hero and a well-paid entertainer.
So Quinn IV, along with Woon Phlack and Captain Bork, took off despite the possibility of disaster. It was a long trip, and Woon and the captain spent most of it in silence. Woon was silent because he was worried about the possibility of failure. Captain Bork was silent because he was one of the older Moni on the planet, and thus his vocal capacities had diminished immensely from performing and age. Many of the captains of ships like Quinn IV were captains instead of retirees because their partners were either too old to have any sort of vocal ability and function, or that same partner was dead. Captain Bork's partner, sadly, had been dead for quite some time.
Woon and the captain arrived on the side of Earth that was filled with sunlight. They aimed for one of the northern land masses. Captain Bork landed Quinn IV on top of a large building in a crowded area, which, according to a number of signs in and around the city, were part of a collective living place named after some man named St. Paul. Captain Bork had chosen the top of one of the tallest buildings in St. Paul for the landing site because it did not give any of the humans a lot of time to notice the ship, complain about it, or reprimand the drivers of the ship for their choice in landing coordinates.
The usual interaction between the captain of the ship and the young Moni about to embark on a long and difficult adventure was very quick. In fact, there was not much of any kind of discernible interaction. Many species, the humans on Earth for instance, usually would have the older figure perform some sort of inspirational act for the young figure, in order to help motivate and reassure him of himself and his abilities in relation to the tough task ahead of him. On Moni, however, this was more difficult, because the older the Moni got, the less capable they were of actually relating all of the experience and reassurance that they had gained from life. The more knowledge and wisdom a Moni had, the less able he was to effectively communicate and relate. So Woon's parents had said very little to him outside of short farewells. Much of their emotions were relayed through physical means, which for Monis were indeed quite effective in transfer.
Since Captain Bork was very old, he could not inspire Woon vocally. And since his physical presence to Woon, whom he had met only recently, did not have the capacity to calm and inspire Woon like the presence of his parents, Woon received very little support from the captain of his ship. He received, in fact, little more than a grace on his shoulder by Captain Bork's worn and strong hand.
So as soon as Woon arrived on Earth he was alone and seemingly unprepared. He had to consult, as all of the young Moni had, the lessons and instructions that his parents had given to him shortly after his creation and their retirement, while they still had the vocal capacity to significantly teach.
In their experience, Woon had learned, many species outside of the planet of Moni had no sound even remotely as beautiful as the Moni voice, so what many Monis did was walk around speaking to strangers, until they found someone who could easily take them to important people. These important people were usually owners of sound and music clubs. Other times they were circus owners. Some were producers and music executives. Some were even private and rich figures with a desire for a personal vocalist. This last one was what both of Woon's parents had had.
So Woon Phlack made his way down the side of the large "Pacific Bell of St. Paul" building on which Captain Bork had landed him and began walking up and down the streets saying seemingly unimportant and delightful things to the strangers that were walking by him. He wanted to entice them in to confidence, so that they would not be frightened by his admonishments about the Xonian rebel groups and Ixon's deadly plans.
"the throat that could only sing"
Woon Phlack was a young Moni that lived on a planet called Moni. It was a small planet with a global population near twenty-two million. The Monis were travelers, which explained the low population. They had enough figures on the planet to ensure that it stayed pretty and inhabitable. The business buildings and older Monis stayed on Moni to grow up and live wonderfully after retirement. Moni resembled very closely a paradise. In between these states, the Monis were workers that traveled to a number of different places and planets.
Monis were known as entertainers in a musical sort of way, which is why they were able to travel so easily and effectively. Without their entertaining ability, the Monis and their planet would die quickly. The Monis, in fact, were of little use outside of entertainment and were, in fact, neither significantly useful nor intelligent. The young Monis, then, used their abilities to gain money for themselves, for retirement, and for the continuation of the Moni world and population.
What gave the Monis the opportunity to travel and entertain despite their lack of intelligence was the Moni voice. The vocal chords of a teen-aged Moni entered a developmental stage of reeds and an intricate array of holes. At this stage, when the voice of the Monis was very much in its prime, a Moni could emit a tuneful and ashy wheeze that sounded delightfully musical. The reeds were crosshatched in the throats of the Moni, and two sets of holes faced both towards the lungs and the mouth. So while a young Moni was breathing out, a musical sound was emitted, and while a young Moni was breathing in, another musical sound was emitted.
Woon Phlack was in this developmental stage. He had, in fact, just entered in to it. His parents Plit and Flor were living easily in their Moni paradise, and were quite prepared to send Woon out into the universe to provide for himself and the rest of his kind.
So his parents sent Woon to the Moni council in the main city of Moni, which was called Harca. It was here in the council in Harca that a young Moni was commanded to a certain space within the universe to entertain.
Woon's case was different from most of the young Monis, however. His parents were highly esteemed in Moni, and so by default so was Woon. The Moni high council wished to expand their clientele, which meant sending scouts out to certain planets in a number of new galaxies to negotiate pricing, interest, and availability. The Milky Way was one of the galaxies on the list, which was a galaxy not far from the galaxy that contained Moni. It had, on Jupiter, three clubs for the young Moni vocal experts, but none of the other planets in the system had been scouted yet.
A planet called Earth was one of these planets. And this planet was where Woon Phlack was to be sent. The council decided it unanimously, that only a Moni youth with a vocal ability as promising as Woon's should be sent to scout and work and entertain all of the humans of Earth in the Milky Way.
The Moni race had prolonged the scouting work in Earth because humans were, according to many of the Moni clients, difficult and uninterested in the sort of artistic and unquestionably brilliant vocal music that figures like Moni youth could offer. They preferred, instead, a media and style with less depth and movement, according at least to Zadar Seve, a Moridon and a Moni client.
The council's usual protocol with a Moni youth after their final decision involved a very quick departure for the given planet, usually fourteen wekas, which is just about two hours on Earth. It took much longer for the council to decide a Moni's destination after the parents' offering of the child. So Woon had just enough time to go home to Plit and Flor and say his farewells. The rest of a Moni's body is not too unusual, compared to Earth's humanoid inhabitants. Two legs, two arms, and upright walking motions. The neck appears longer and thinner than most human necks, their bodies are on average a foot shorter, and the Moni race has a greenish hue about their bodies, but other than these things they appear quite like the humans of Earth in the Milky Way. This meant that Woon could go home to his parents and embrace them with his arms and rub his head along theirs, which was the common farewell in Moni, along with musical accompaniment.
Soon after this embrace, Woon boarded a ship called Quinn IV. He was not the only passenger of the ship. Two other young Moni were on the ship, named Rack and Crinal. They were, as Woon discovered, both heading to the same place. "Boona" had rung out tunefully and wonderfully when Woon asked, just as tunefully, where the two were headed. A captain named Bork also rode on the ship. He informed the three passengers that Boona would be their first stop, since two clients could do more work than one and were thus more important. After the stop and drop-off in Boona, Woon Phlack would be dropped on Earth.
Boona usually took close to one-hundred wekas, but this particular trip took only eighty-nine, thanks to Captain Bork's superior captaining ability. During the trip, Woon practiced his ability while Rack and Crinal rubbed each others' throats with their hands. It was a quick and easy trip.
After Boona, however, the trip became much more daunting. For instance, Boona was not located on the way to Earth, so about one-hundred eighty wekas were added to the already tiresome round-trip of two-hundred.
But the distance was not what made the trip worrisome and daunting after Boona. It was, in fact, something else entirely. While on Boona, Captain Bork had to stop, supply, and refuel the ship. While he did this, Rack and Crinal were taken to an entertainment club to begin their work. The club was near the supply station, so Woon followed the young Moni so as not to become bored.
While there Woon met an old Boonan man named Fwillen. He was, as Woon soon discovered, one of the oldest figures on Boona. He helped to found the civilization with his skills in observance and discovery. He watched the universe with his large devices of magnification and sight.
Fwillen liked Woon immediately, just as he liked every Moni entertainer immediately. He was enchanted by the voice. Of course, Fwillen was not able to display his enchantment for very long. He frowned when Woon mentioned his course for Earth.
Woon soon learned of the plan of one of the rebel groups on a planet named Xon. The Xonian group, called Ixon, had developed a sort of plague that it was going to use on a planet, in order to provide for an easily conquerable new home for all of the Xonian rebel groups. The plague was called Ixonity. It was a type of toxin that killed instincts. Since human instinct is based on survival, unlike many other races, Ixonity was perfect for Earth. Fwillen, sadly, informed Woon of this plan and its imminent status. Ixon was set to leave for Earth, to deposit the toxic plague in the atmosphere during one of Earth's many rainstorms, in less than six Xios, which is approximately ten days on Earth.
Woon knew what the destruction of Earth would mean for his work in entertainment, his family, and his own paradise in retirement. If Woon could not perform and earn a living on Earth, he would not be able to fully prepare and provide for anything. If earth did not work out, he would have to go back to the council in Harca and wait for another extended decision-making process by the council members as to where he could be sent to perform. The choice was up to him, as to whether he would prefer Earth or a more stable sort of job security, but Woon knew that if he went home and waited, he would not be able to save and prepare for very long. His particular stage in vocal development only lasts through adolescence, and to give up part of that adolescence would mean a less extravagant and less easy paradise in retirement. It would be much more resourceful to try and warn the humans on Earth of the impending attack. He would have sufficient time to give warning. After that time and the successful containment of Ixonity, he would be a hero and a well-paid entertainer.
So Quinn IV, along with Woon Phlack and Captain Bork, took off despite the possibility of disaster. It was a long trip, and Woon and the captain spent most of it in silence. Woon was silent because he was worried about the possibility of failure. Captain Bork was silent because he was one of the older Moni on the planet, and thus his vocal capacities had diminished immensely from performing and age. Many of the captains of ships like Quinn IV were captains instead of retirees because their partners were either too old to have any sort of vocal ability and function, or that same partner was dead. Captain Bork's partner, sadly, had been dead for quite some time.
Woon and the captain arrived on the side of Earth that was filled with sunlight. They aimed for one of the northern land masses. Captain Bork landed Quinn IV on top of a large building in a crowded area, which, according to a number of signs in and around the city, were part of a collective living place named after some man named St. Paul. Captain Bork had chosen the top of one of the tallest buildings in St. Paul for the landing site because it did not give any of the humans a lot of time to notice the ship, complain about it, or reprimand the drivers of the ship for their choice in landing coordinates.
The usual interaction between the captain of the ship and the young Moni about to embark on a long and difficult adventure was very quick. In fact, there was not much of any kind of discernible interaction. Many species, the humans on Earth for instance, usually would have the older figure perform some sort of inspirational act for the young figure, in order to help motivate and reassure him of himself and his abilities in relation to the tough task ahead of him. On Moni, however, this was more difficult, because the older the Moni got, the less capable they were of actually relating all of the experience and reassurance that they had gained from life. The more knowledge and wisdom a Moni had, the less able he was to effectively communicate and relate. So Woon's parents had said very little to him outside of short farewells. Much of their emotions were relayed through physical means, which for Monis were indeed quite effective in transfer.
Since Captain Bork was very old, he could not inspire Woon vocally. And since his physical presence to Woon, whom he had met only recently, did not have the capacity to calm and inspire Woon like the presence of his parents, Woon received very little support from the captain of his ship. He received, in fact, little more than a grace on his shoulder by Captain Bork's worn and strong hand.
So as soon as Woon arrived on Earth he was alone and seemingly unprepared. He had to consult, as all of the young Moni had, the lessons and instructions that his parents had given to him shortly after his creation and their retirement, while they still had the vocal capacity to significantly teach.
In their experience, Woon had learned, many species outside of the planet of Moni had no sound even remotely as beautiful as the Moni voice, so what many Monis did was walk around speaking to strangers, until they found someone who could easily take them to important people. These important people were usually owners of sound and music clubs. Other times they were circus owners. Some were producers and music executives. Some were even private and rich figures with a desire for a personal vocalist. This last one was what both of Woon's parents had had.
So Woon Phlack made his way down the side of the large "Pacific Bell of St. Paul" building on which Captain Bork had landed him and began walking up and down the streets saying seemingly unimportant and delightful things to the strangers that were walking by him. He wanted to entice them in to confidence, so that they would not be frightened by his admonishments about the Xonian rebel groups and Ixon's deadly plans.