Opening Day 2008 for the Timber Rattlers is April 3. That is 87 days from today. This off-season, the countdown will be based on books. Each day between now and Opening Day 2008, I will pick a random book out of my library and excerpt a passage off the page number corresponding with the number of days remaining to the first pitch of the new season. I will try not to repeat a book during the countdown.
Today’s excerpt is from Dark Mirror by Diane Duane. This is a Star Trek: The Next Generation novel. It is based on the classic Star Trek episode Mirror, Mirror. You remember…The one where Kirk, Scotty, Bones, and Uhura wind up in an evil universe. The one where Spock looks like this:
On to the excerpt: Data and Riker gets a glimpse of the evil universe. And they do not like the décor of the evil Enterprise.
It is not in the passage below, but both Rikers have a beard. Which is odd, because Riker didn’t have a beard in the first season of the show. Which would have made him evil after he grew the beard in season two…oh, I’ll just stop now.
“I’m uncertain whether the scan we are seeing is being directed by someone aboard the ship or is an automatic function,” Data said. “But one thing is certain: this Enterprise has many more internal video pickups than our own does. There are the usual visual pickups associated with personal viewscreens and data readout locations, as well as the basic security surveillance system in high-security areas like engineering and the computer cores…but also many more, spread throughout the ship, even in crew quarters. Moreover, those appear not to be under the control of the occupants. The implications are…distressing.”
“No kidding,” Riker said softly as the view changed again, engineering this time. Crewmen moved about their work with what seemed to him more intensity than necessary. No one he had so far seen on this ship seemed able to move with any kind of ease. But why should they? Riker thought then. When anyone might be looking at you, anytime, to see if you’re doing your job—and if you’re not…He shook his head, thinking about the fear of punishment that Deanna had reported in “Stewart”.
“You’re keeping tabs of the names and ranks of anyone who shows up in this scan, of course,” Riker said.
“Of course. So far we have seen forty-four crewmen whose presence is duplicated aboard our own ship, and only five who are unknown. This would closely approximate—“
The view changed, and Data broke off in midsentence, staring along with everyone else. It was the bridge. At least, the shape was the same, and the general structure of it. But there were differences.
It was darker. Their night? Riker thought, then shook his head, doubting it. Paneling and furnishings were in the same sort of gunmetal gray as the exterior of the ship, with lines of paler gray being used more as highlighting than anything else.
Put today’s excerpt in a baseball context.
No comments:
Post a Comment