In Another World Okay, I'm trying my hand at a real story thread. It's easier to write what you love to read, and I'm a big sci-fi fan, so I'm going to Sim-ize a sci-fi story I've written in my head over and over again since I was young, and take it from there. I have no idea whether it will turn out to be interesting or not, but I'm going to give it a shot!
The announcement came on an otherwise ordinary day. Sure, there were rumors of little green men and late night abductions, but no one you talked to had ever had it happen to them. But now it was confirmed. Life had been found on another planet. But these "aliens" weren't little green men. There was, however, something extraordinary about them. They were... just like us. On another planet orbiting around another star, had evolved a species identical to our own. Some called it proof of the existence of a creator, while others thought it proved there was no God, that our evolution was a replicable scientific process. The only difference between us and this "alien" species, was that they seemed to be older. They had developed abilities - and technology - we didn't yet have. In fact, their advanced technology is what allowed us to discover them - or rather, them to discover us. They had spent decades developing faster-than-light travel, and had just recently begun using the perfected technology to explore other solar systems, furthering their search for intelligent life. Our planet had become a point of interest, and one month later, they had landed.
"Good evening, and thank you for joining me for this important annoucement. "One year ago today, an unidentified aircraft landed in an open desert area outside of Strangetown. Many of you, I'm sure, remember the media reports, rumors and speculation about what exactly it was that some Strangetown residents saw descend from the sky that day. Today, I am here to reveal the answer. "What landed in the desert one year ago, was in fact a spacecraft, as some of the rumors suggested. It was not one of ours. The spacecraft came from somewhere else, and it was occupied by intelligent life. Friendly, intelligent life. In fact, as far as all tests have shown, this species, though more evolved, is identical to our own. "For the past year, we have been working closely with these visitors - sharing knowledge, although admittedly we have learned more from them than they from us. They quickly learned our language, and using technology they have developed that far surpasses our own, began teaching it to the citizens of their home planet at an even faster rate. "The visitors come from a planet they call Purpilion, in a nearby solar system. Their interstellar transport technology allows them to make the trip between our two planets in eight hours' time. Ambassadors from our government have visited Purpilion, and they have sent ambassadors here. Both of our governments are nothing but thrilled to find intelligent life elsewhere in the universe, especially since we have so much in common. We have been working to form an alliance to allow cooperative living and publicly available travel between our two planets. And we are pleased to annouce that one month from now, twice daily public flights to and from Purpilion will begin running in most major cities. "I want to stress one more time that these are friendly visitors. There is nothing to be afraid of. Essentially we have found our older siblings in the universe. They have abilities and technologies that can better our lives, and they want to share that with us. I sincerely hope that you are as excited about that as we are."
Betsy Broke returned home from college on a Saturday morning. It was a bittersweet homecoming for her, since she was estranged from her mother but couldn't wait to see her younger brother Timothy. "Betsy!" Her teenage brother flew down the stairs and out to the driveway where Betsy waited with her arms open. They embraced for several moments, wiping tears from their eyes. "I missed you so much," Timothy said. "It sucks here now that Dad's gone and I'm not speaking to Mom." "You too, huh?" Timothy nodded. "I saw her cheating on Dad, sis, the very day before he died. She couldn't have at least waited until he was gone?" "I caught her too once when I was little," Betsy said. "That's why she and I have never gotten along." She hugged her brother again. "Where is Mom, anyway?" "She's sleeping," he said. "She's been working the 3 p.m. patrol so she doesn't get up until lunchtime." Betsy nodded, and put her arm around Timothy. "Come on, let's go inside." "Are you hungry?" Timothy asked. "I'll make us some blueberry pancakes."
"These pancakes are delicious," Betsy said with a mouthful of food. "Where did you learn how to make these?" "I read a lot of cookbooks," Timothy replied, then blushed. Betsy laughed and rolled her eyes. "You'd think I had a little sister and not a brother." Timothy stuck out his tongue, and Betsy giggled again. "Seriously though, Tim, there's something I have to tell you." "What's that?" Betsy put her fork down and hesitated for a moment. "I'm only here for the weekend, kiddo." "I know," he said. "Then you're moving into your new house. By the way, which one did you buy?" "I didn't buy a house in Pleasantview, Tim." "Huh?" "They're running the first flights to Purpilion on Monday... and I'm going. I'm gonna live there." "On another planet?!" Timothy shrieked. "Why?!" "Honey, it's just what I need to do. You know I want to further my science career, and the technology there is... incredible. It'll help me so much. Besides, I have nothing but bad memories of Pleasantview, and I just can't stay here." Tears were streaming down Timothy's face. "You can come visit me anytime you want, and I'll visit too. It's only an eight hour flight, which is pretty good for being another planet. You can even come live there with me after college if you want." Timothy sighed. "I don't even know if I want to go to college." "Yes, you do," Betsy snapped. "Education is important, Tim, and you want to be able to make a lot of money, don't you?" "Yeah, but I don't want to be a scientist or something like you, Bets. I want to own my own business." "Well, college can help you with that too. You can major in Economics so you'll learn how to make your business profitable, or even Psychology so you can make people buy anything." Betsy grinned. "I don't know, it just seems like a waste of time... time that could be spent building my business." "Well you know I'll support you no matter what you decide to do. I just really hope you decide to go. But even if you don't, you can still come live with me on Purpilion."
I hope we get to see Purpilion. I'm guessing we will since she's going to live there. Of course, they're just like us, but still...it's another planet.
"Sweetheart, it's so good to have you home." Opie Dreamer smiled at his mother while he stirred the spaghetti pot on the stove. "It's good to be home, Mom." Bottom looked at her son hopefully. "You can stay, you know. It's been so lonely here since you left for college. We can have the wedding here, and you and Breanna can live here with us. We'll even move downstairs and let you have our bedroom. And you wouldn't even have to work - your father and I have more than enough to support you, so you two can concentrate on giving me lots of grandbabies." Her eyes pleaded with him. Opie chuckled and shook his head. "Mom, I want to earn my own money and support myself - and Breanna. Besides, we're not even sure we want to have kids." Bottom looked like she'd been slapped in the face, and Opie sighed, dreading what he had to tell her. "Mom... I've been meaning to tell you this. Breanna and I aren't staying in Pleasantview. We're going to live on the new planet, Purpilion. There's a small village there that they're just developing, and we - and a few of the people we went to school with - are moving there." "But how will I see my grandchildren?!" "Mom, did you just hear me say we might not even have kids?" "You have to! You're our only son; you have to carry on the family name!" Opie rolled his eyes as he made his plate and sat down. "Well, if we do, you can come see them." "I'm an old woman, Opie, I can't travel like that anymore." "Oh please, Mom, you're the healthiest old woman I know. Besides, it's not like sitting on an airplane for eight hours. It's a big ship; it's like spending a day in a resort hotel." Bottom sighed and rested her chin in her hand. "Have you told your father yet?" "I told him this morning," he said, "before you got up. And he thinks it's a great idea." "Well..." she paused as she cleared her salad plate from the table. "I hope this is what makes you happy, Opie."
The following evening, Bottom had begun to get used to the idea of Opie moving to Purpilion, and the family of three were in the living room discussing it further, when Darin began to wheeze. He placed his hand to his chest. "Dad?" Opie said. "Are you okay?" The old doctor looked at his son and his wife and said matter-of-factly, "I'm having a heart attack." By the time the paramedics arrived, it was too late. Dr. Darin Dreamer was dead at 78. As he lay there dying he told his family not to be sad. He had lived a long life and had gotten everything he wanted out of it. He had a good wife, a good son, and he had achieved his lifelong dream of becoming chief of neurology at Pleasantview General. He said he couldn't have died a happier man.
Opie knew his mother was depressed. It had been hard enough on her to hear his news, and now her beloved husband was dead and she would be all alone. She cried for hours at a time. After dinner, he snuck upstairs to call his fiancee, who had gone to spend time with her own family before leaving for Purpilion. "I don't know what to do, Bree... it would be cruel of me to leave her like this. Maybe we should stay, at least until she's feeling better." "I don't know, Opie..." Opie heard a loud crash from downstairs, and called out, "Mom, was that you? Mom??" "What happened?" Breanna asked. "Honey, I gotta call you back," Opie said as he threw down the phone and dashed down the stairs. He found his mother on the kitchen floor, having what appeared to be a seizure. Except, he thought, I'm not the neurologist, Dad is. Why does something like this happen now that he's gone? He whipped out his cell phone and dialed 911 for the second time that day.
"Your mother is not well," the doctor told him. "She's had a nervous breakdown." Opie was confused. "But that looked like a seizure." "It was," the doctor said. "The body sometimes reacts to psychological stress in physical ways. Seizures aren't all that uncommon a response." "So what do we do now?" Opie asked. "I'm going to send her home, but she cannot be left alone. Not until her depression improves. If she wants to work, let her... it may be good for her. But do not leave her at home alone." Opie thanked the doctor and went to take care of his mother's discharge paperwork. Once he and Bottom were in the taxi on their way home, with Bottom sound asleep, he called Breanna back to explain what had happened. "I think it's been decided for us, Bree. We can't go." "Well... why don't we take her with us?"
To: Timothy.Broke@pviewnet.com From: Betsy.Broke@ssualumni.com Subject: Made it! Tim, I'm here in my new house and I miss you so much already! I can't believe I'm sending interplanetary e-mail here... LOL. Just wanted to let you know I'm here and safe, and anytime you want to come for a visit just say the word. You have to see this place... I'm attaching a picture I took from the ship as we were coming in for a landing. This is the village I'll be living in... Fresca. It's small, but I'm sure it will grow with time! Luv, Bets
"Guess what, sis," said Timothy over the phone. "I won two scholarships!" "So you're going to college?" Betsy sounded delighted. "Yeah, I thought about what you said and you're right, it could help me with owning a business." "Of course I'm right," Betsy grinned. Timothy blew a raspberry into the phone. "Yeah, yeah, Betsy the genius. So how's life on another planet?" "Well, I'm still getting settled in... haven't really met anyone yet. I've seen some of the neighbors outside though. I should probably go over and introduce myself at some point." "Are they weird?" "No, dummy, they're just people. If you saw them walking down the street there you'd never know they were from Purpilion." "Well there's gotta be something different about them..." "Well I've heard there's some cultural differences, but they don't look any different from us. Anyway, I gotta go, kiddo. Remember, anytime you want to come visit..." "I know," Timothy said. "Maybe after graduation, before I start at SSU." "That'd be cool."
Wow. I have only had a chance to skim through your story but it seems excellent. If you post pics in each post, it will make it seem even more real.
Well I write each chapter after having played a family involved in the story (I still have a lot of other families in my 'hood that aren't part of the story), and if there haven't been any significant events that would make good pictures, I don't bother to take any. My play time is limited by my real life (don't we all have that problem!), and it really takes a lot away from my play time to have to pause the game and take the time to line up the perfect shot of... say, a phone call. (I'm disabled and use the mouse with my foot, so it's a little bit harder and takes a bit longer to line things up in free camera mode.) But of course when I finally play the Sims who have moved to Purpilion in their new houses, I will get pictures of the houses and other important things. Not to mention I'm using a bit of creative license here... not everything that happens in the story actually happened in the game. There was no actual phone call between Timothy and Betsy, but he did win those scholarships.
I think we should be free to use all the creative license that we want. Take your time and have fun because I think it's fun to read the stories people dream up to go with their sims.
I'm sure you're all on the edges of your seats... I have an update ready (slow day at work) but I have to wait until I'm home (where the pictures are) to post it. But it's coming tonight, I promise!
Opie and Breanna were married the day they moved into their new house on Purpilion, in a private ceremony in the front yard, witnessed only by Opie's mother Bottom. Bottom was still in a deep depression, but she put on a happy face and tried to be nice to her new daughter-in-law, whom she barely knew. The young lovers hadn't been in that much of a rush to tie the knot, but deep down Opie knew his mother didn't have much time left and he wanted her to be happy again. After the ceremony, some of the neighbors stopped by to introduce themselves. Bottom and Breanna were busy getting to know each other, so Opie went out to meet them. "Hello there, I'm Menwox. I live up the road." He was a large, muscular man, with a thick red beard, and glasses. He struck Opie as an old and wise man, so he was surprised to learn he was only forty and had a teenage daughter. He also found out that Menwox and his daughter lived with the other couple who were now coming up the sidewalk. "Michael Nelson," said the younger man as he shook Opie's hand, "and this is my wife Marie." "Michael and Marie, pleased to meet you," Opie said. "Your names are so..." "Earthly?" said Marie, and she giggled. "A lot of people took English names when our government started teaching us your language and preparing us for your arrival. They said your people were like our younger siblings and it was up to us to make you feel comfortable and welcome. Menwox here is an old grump, though, and insisted on keeping his given name." "Really." Opie didn't know whether to think it silly for so many people to change their names, or to be insulted by Menwox' refusal. There was a lot he didn't understand about this place, but that didn't really bother him. "So you all live together?" he asked. "It's common here," Michael replied, "two or more families sharing a home, their money... everything really." After they had chatted a bit more, the three neighbors excused themselves to allow Opie and his family to get settled in.
