Meeting 2 (08/08/99)

The 2nd Meeting of the Aeryn Sun Interpretation Society and Widow's and Orphan's Emergency Beer Fund will now come to order. The Chair would like to thank the members of the Standing Committee of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Society and Fund for our new motto: "Beer. It's not just for breakfast anymore."

It was interesting to watch "I, ET" again to see how far we've come. I wasn't sure I liked FS, so I didn't start taping it until The Flax. All right, technically, my son programmed the VCR for me. But I did supervise. As you learn of UCSBdad's virtues, (two is enough to use the plural, is it not?) you will find that the care and feeding of inaminate objects is not one of them.

Except for the scene with D'Argo and Aeryn in the tree, and just possibly where D'Argo may, and I may be wrong, have looked just the slightest bit embarrassed at being rescued by the Earpman, we had none of the significant looks, misleading statements or nonreplies that send us to the bb to say, "Well, I think....." We have six people than can get along somewhat and are capable of cooperating when faced with death, but they are not a amigos, pals, bros, comrades, and they are certainly not a team. Some of us can tell you the name of the process by which you take a group of complete strangers, get them in each other's faces 24 arns a day, and put them under constant pressure. Can any one say Basic Training? Perhaps a useful metaphor for the series so far. They started out as a bunch of individuals. Eventually they reached the point where they were thinking, " How do I get out of this chickenshit outfit and how do I get Pilot's arm off?" Now, we have the start of a team that thinks about the group as much as the individual. Too bad the Henson Co. didn't think to provide a DI. UCSBdad would have volunteered. All right people, when I say Attention I want your heels together, your feet at 45 degrees, thumbs against your trouser seams, fingers cupped and your chin so far back you can spit on your heels. Do you think this is funny, Maggot? Suck in that gut and stick out that chest, Sun. Well, perhaps Henson and Co. know what they're doing.

Briefly digressing to Zhaan. It's interesting that we now find that Delvian Pa'us, at least those who aren't in the slammer, dress like Christmas trees in a Castro Street bar. Perhaps, for those of you that don't live near the Domain of His Willyness at Baghdad by the Bay, I should tastefully state that the other Pa'us dress like transvestite hookers at a Society funeral. And look at Zhaan. Wearing the same old blue dress and wrap all day long. Sure, I mean, talk about your Devil in a blue dress, but if you made UCSBdad wear the same dowdy blue frock, day after day after day, he'd show you some dark side, too. Having re-read the preceding, I think I should reiterate my sexual orientation. UCSBdad is deeply, deeply I say, in lust with Aeryn Sun. I don't mean we should ask for a complete makeover, or for the wardrobe budget should rival the gross national product of Bill Gates, but something can surely be done. Imagine the crew going down to a commerce planet for dinner at some place nice. Zhaan shows up wearing one of Dior's little black dresses and a simple string of pearls. It works for me.

There is no need to worry about D'Argo's wardrobe. As we all know, and as USCBdad has ALWAYS said, vile rumors to the contrary, Luxan is Beautiful, Baby.

So on the Aeryn and the PK. Many thanks for the kind replies to the prior meetings notes. And sincere apologies for not replying to all concerned. However, UCSBdad is afflicted with the curse of the drinking class. Work. I just don't seem to have all the time I need anymore.

All PK seem to be Sebaceans, but are all Sebaceans PK? In DNAMS, Aeryn wanted to go to a Sebacean colony world. Apparently, she would have been relatively safe from the PK there. This suggests that the society in general may be less militarized than has been thought. Consider the US, the one remaining superpower. Out of 260+ million people, we have an active duty force of about 1.4 million, about a half percentage of the population. If you live away from places like Killeen, TX, Norfolk, VA, or San Diego,CA you can go for a long time without seeing anybody in uniform, or a military vehicle, ship or aircraft.

Remember, we're dealing with very large nations. The Hyneerian Empire has 600 Billion subjects. That's about 100 Earths. Also, I would imagine that better technology would allow you to fight your battles with fewer troops. Consider, a half a century ago, if you wanted to drop a bridge in the Balkans, you would have had to send a squadron of heavy bombers, perhaps 20+ aircraft, crewed by maybe 200 people, and still might not have hit your target. Now you can drop the bridge with one bomb from one bomber. OK, I know that that one bomber will need AWACS, ABC3, Migcap, Barcap, Rescap, Iron Hands, Wild Weasels, Jolly Greens, Sandys, BDA, and of course, no one kicks ass without tanker gas. But all of this will be in place when UCSBdad over runs the world in the name of Farscape in Primetime every night, forever. We few, we happy few, we band..........Oops. Heh-heh. UCSBdad is just kidding, of course. UCSBdad is committed to peaceful change. There's no need to worry and no reason to tell on me.

The PK could, indeed, be a very small part of Sebacean society. They could be the Montana Militia of outer space, or outlaw bikers. Oooooh. Flashback, to The Flax, the colors, the colors. Aeryn: John, do you have a helmet? John: (Looking stoned, and much like Jack Nicholson) Sure, I have a helmet. Cut to Aeryn in her black leather space suit, with a honking big American flag on her back, hair streaming behind her in the vacuum, as her Harley-Prowler chopper roars through space with John, wearing his football helmet, hanging on for dear life. Aeryn Rider! Well, I'm certainly not going to call her Easy Aeryn. A man could get hurt talking like that around here.

So, to continue, we have Aeryn's life balanced on the razor's edge. She might end up as a free lance,( Technically a Free Lance was at least three people.), a pistolero, a ronin, out to help the helpless and defeat the featless. Bear in mind that most hired guns in the Old West worked for the corrupt sherrifs, ranchers and railroads. Wyatt Earp was a Republican party official after the OK Corral and Tom Horn was hung for "regulating" rustlers. The ronin that found that they could't give up the old ultraviolence ended up in the lucrative field of banditry. A thought. We have seven main characters, ronins, bandits, hmmmmm. "The Magnificent Seven" or "The Seven Samurai", anyone? We even have a place for a shaven headed leader. Is this perhaps the moral of the work? The austronauts, the warriors, the priestesses and the Dominars will pass, but the peasantry endures? Will we see in the future the Worker's and Peasant's Sebacean Liberation Army?

The other option is John. Going back to Earth permanently is not an option. Can you see John coming home from a hard day at the Rocket Works, saying " Honey, I'm home?" John, so far hasn't given Aeryn much reason to go to Earth, although I suspect that will change. Someone suggested that Aeryn doesn't have the conceptual framework to understand John. Good point. If PKs, or Sebacean society, is highly stratified by caste or class, then certain people are going to behave in certain ways. Remember, that Gilina, the PK Tech Girl, did not try to fight when cornered by Moya's crew, she ran. When Gashole was coming through the door, she didn't grab the nearest heavy tool and try to drop him. A tech that fights or a warrior that tinkers with equipment may be considered mentally unbalanced. Hard for poor Aeryn to relate to John if she thinks he's a few bricks shy of a load.

John could make her see Earth as more homelike and Earpmen as more like her. How would Aeryn react to the St. Crispin's day speech from Henry V? Or the story of Camerone, the Greasy Grass or Roarke's Drift? Let us set the scene. JC and AS are alone. John puts his arms around her, and whispers in her ear,

God knows 'twere better to be deep
Pillowed in silk and scented down
Where Love throbs out in blissful sleep
Pulse nigh to pulse, and breath to breath
Where hushed awakenings are dear

But I've a rendezvous with Death
At midnight in some flaming town
When Spring trips North again this year
And I to my pledged word am true
I shall not fail that rendezvous
(Alan Seeger)

Do you think that would give Aeryn goose bumps?

So we are left with only one question. What will be the result of John's apology to Aeryn? For us unreconstructed romantics, UCSBdad has created a brief glimpse into his preferred future. Remember, it's UCSBdad's future and it doesn't have to make perfect sense. For all of you that don't want to see them get together, thank you for coming, please watch your step as you head to the exits, and be careful out there.

Deep in Moya, it is well past last call at Redneck Rygel's Riverwalk Retreat. The darkened dance floor is lit only by the flickering neon lights of the juke box. The heartbreaking sound of a steel guitar soars through the bridge of "I Don't Want To Be Lonely", by The Texas Tornados. On the dance floor, a single couple stands, locked in each other's embrace, swaying slightly to the music. They have been totally lost. But tonight, they have found a beginning.

Aeryn Sun Interpretation Society and Widow's and Orphan's Emergency Beer Fund