h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Posted 59 Minutes Ago by Online NowClive the flying Ostrich: Thingite Warlord and Guru : Missing. Presumed Asleep.

Just a thought - if Arthur retires with Anna at the end. Should he too also "die" on the spacecraft with Daltmooreby? I mean from Ody's point of view if Arthur elects to go up into space to follow Daltmooreby and the diamond and neither of them return that might off him a sort of closure.

Arthur would think Daltmooreby is dead and Ody would think they are both dead.


[HPB]


Prehaps Arthur dies to the world except those who need to know? Makes his retirement easier if he's thought dead and if the Agency's main guy is known to be dead /certain/ organisations can take that as the time to strike..?

>>Prehaps Arthur dies to the world except those who need to know? Makes his retirement easier.<<

Precisely.

I was trying to say something along those lines but couldn't get the words sorted out in my head.

Oh thought you meant died as far as Ody was concerned so he got closure.

well I was thinking specifically about Ody but it would mean Arthur being "dead" to the world at large too.

Would Guy know? Seems he'd retire before he could get fired with the Anna thang.

Maybe only X should know. He can report Arthur's "death" to guy. Hence the reassignment of a new partner. But when the Agency is attacked Arthur is the one man X can rely on.

So it would just be X plopping into the sand next to Bob, Jill and Heddingly?

Well we'll need to figure out how exactly. I mean I don't know. Your right though Arthur would have to dissappear somehow.

How this?

Daltmooreby kidnapps Anna after Arthur learns she isn't dead after all.
In order for that to happen she'd have had to have been picked up AGAIN. I left her ringing the agency in the Egyptian market after Sreka let her go - so maybe she got the answer machine and fu manchu's ninjas got her. Annabell Smittington is on better terms than her predecessor with Fu Manchu's crime syndicate so had Anna shipped to The Antartic - maybe it's from her that Annabell learns of Mary's plot to seize power.

Anyway Daltmooreby kidnapps her and he piles her into the shuttle Arthur and X give chase. (It ocurred to me X has to go up too in order to be in the escape pod coming back down). When the pod lands on the same beach as Heddingly, Jill and Bob, X emerges, and after the surprise - breaks the tragic news to them. He leads them away and they all head back to the agency. Unseen a few minutes afterwards two other figures emerge from the pod.

Arthur and Anna on a beach together as the sun sets.

"So it ends." he says a touch of sadness to his voice.

"Not the end." She says kissing him kindly on the cheek.

Probably needs to be an ensemble epilogue...

X with the Agents cut to Ody/Jamila finding 'something' on a new adventure cut to wreckage and the 'camera' following footprints out to Arthur and Anna looking up to the future.

...As 'meteors' fall in the sky.

Can I make a mad suggestion? How about Seb Grobsvaugh becomes X's new partner? Somehow flies through training after them deciding he's a good egg after all, and is given to X. But X finds him irritating, but Seb starts getting darker, and becomes more integral to the dark forces?

Verc's back!

Can I be honest Verc, nice idea, but I disagree.

I'd like to have ST4 have a sort of clean break from ST3. If we go down the route of "killing" Daltmooreby as well as faking Arthur's death and only X can know. He's got to be reassigned a new partner someone who is the anti-Arthur. Not just irritating but the diametric opposite to Arthur's studied unflappability; someone who at every turn X finds himself thinking "Arthur would have..." - and he knows Arthur is alive and can't tell anyone. He finds himself becoming more Arthur like even. I think to get over I would want to use a new character.

That's just my

>>Somehow flies through training after them deciding he's a good egg after all, and is given to X. Seb starts getting darker, and becomes more integral to the dark forces?<<

In the grand scheme of things we're going to have Daltmooreby proove the Agency is defective. Although training Seb as an agent has a precedent since we've had characters switch sides before and becoming deputised agents (Gonzaroolio) but if I'm absolutly honest I'd rather keep Seb as a monk and Sfret's assistant working in Antartica I think we can find plenty of uses for him. I put him next to Anna to inititate that relationship. I thought we were using him to help the Agents around the undergrounf base?

Here's a thought: perhaps he can even be the one to break the news to Arthur about Anna?
"I vuz verkign vid de prisoner."
"what prisoner?"
"ze blund von" female, 6' 5", 26 Svedish.
"Impossible. That's Anna"

or something.

In ST4 the threat is from Leicester in full cat mode, I don't really see Seb fitting into that, besides which, we do still have Sfret (remember him?) We packaged him off after Gibralter to be The Agency's Q. So we can make full use of him if we choose - and being indoors his agorophobia won't be a problem.

But hey welcome back.

I only disagree about using Seb in ST4 as X's new partner - Whatever you've got for him to do in ST3 I'm eager to see.

Fair enough... as long as I can still use the character You sticking him in there the other day, has given me some ideas...

Its weird, I created Vanderveer and Sreka and Sfret (and Anna as well I think), but other people have made such wonderful characters out of them that I'm playing catch up! But I think I can do something with Seb... he makes a good pawn for the side of evil...

And in retrospect X's new partner is probably better not having anything to do with that...

You maybe need a Lethal Weapon pairing... but not really... as you say his opposite...

Actually Sfret and Seb would make an interesting pairing...

Maybe we could have a spin off series

Here's a thought: perhaps he can even be the one to break the news to Arthur about Anna?
"I vuz verkign vid de prisoner."
"what prisoner?"
"ze blund von" female, 6' 5", 26 Svedish.
"Impossible. That's Anna"

I think that can be worked in!

By chance I was reading the first few postings yesterday (as far as Phffenignstohler's Bank) and you are quite correct. Sreka and Daltmooreby appear very early on, ditto Anna. Mary was I think was one of my contributions. It's one of the reasons I enjoy doing this - although the format has edited slightly - we've become less about the anyone can write anything model because continuity goes out the window then, more about getting a general scheme outlined and then each of us taking turns to fill in the blanks.

You're right however, about characters developing in ways no-one can predict. I am greatly indebted to all of you for giving me such great toys to play with. I only hope I've been as useful.
Storytime is collaberative - and I tend to spend a lot of time thinking about the generalities of the plot ( you might have noticed I'm half thinking about what we might end up doing in ST4) and I am always pleasently surprised by how we manage to write collectively but each with a personal flair which takes the story in ways that a single author might not have. It was, is, and remains exciting to write this way.

It's fun to read now some of our comments in-bewteen story posts when we are speculating where we are going becuase by an large we've stuck to what we discussed (such as Antartica, Egypt etc) but the details wobble all over the place!

I'll be interested to see what we can do with Sleb. I think he's got potential. I think your instinct about turning him dark is a good one but in the wrong context as X's partner. If he was say Sfret's assistant and was left to carry on the work after Sfret was shipped out to Vandeveer, then he can be bitter with the workload of completing the space program. Maybe this is why he helps the agents who say they've met Sfret - but let us never forget Sleb is a monk of the cult - so perhaps he ultimately betrays them?

Clive

>>Here's a thought: perhaps he can even be the one to break the news to Arthur about Anna?
"I vuz verkign vid de prisoner."
"what prisoner?"
"ze blund von" female, 6' 5", 26 Svedish.
"Impossible. That's Anna"</QUOTE>

I think that can be worked in!<<

Actually I'd rather it wasn't. Contrary of me I know.

I just came across this posting of mine #426 when we're discussing Arthur's retirement (#421 I suggest Arthur should retire)

>>Just need to have Arthur complete his mission and THEN get the shock of his life. otherwise the revelation doesn't work. He needs to fight believing Anna is dead, to complete the mission regretting she died but getting on with the job - only when it is revealed to him at the end that she was okay does "just doing the job" not seem enough. No more regrets. etc.<<

I think I was right then. ( er yes that does make sense.. )

Arthur should fight believing Anna is dead. The pathos of his grief demands it. So somehow we need to smuggle her on board the space shuttle.

I had envisioned Daltmooreby grabbing her and taking her on board but I'm not sure that will work now. Perhaps she just has to escape on her own (I mean to be fair we've not really done much with her character except abuse her- perhaps she's more resiliant than we give her credit?) She see's Arthur in the distance and she follows him in.

Perhaps we could even be damn clever and play the same scenes twice over - once from Arthur's perspective and once again from a few feet back as Anna follows him. When the shuttle lifts off she dives into a suit and hides in the escape pod - meanwhile Arthur, X and Daltmooreby duel with lasers aboard the Big Space Gun.

Maybe she gets the intercom working inside the suit.

"Arthur."

"X? did you?"

"hear that - yes. That sounded like."

"It's Anna"

"but your dead."

"the russian let me go."

"I saw you die."


- then we can insert a piece of dialogue from Daltmooreby's death speech - oh I dunno somethign along the lines of "things aren't always as they appear Robinson."

Thoughts / opinions?

If it helps when I first read the new Anna bit I assumed the two Cultists were in fact Eygpt based Agents...

Even when I said it was cold and she drew her shawl around her?

Strange monkey.