Agreed. For a man concerned with justice, the injustice of his own circumstances will plague him. Plus, the missing part of the puzzle, the reason he is there, and who it was that put him there, are like a black hole in his thoughts, that he can only walk around, stare at, and fail to comprehend.
I can imagine people winding up on the lower layer after death and continuing to 'live' lives that were harsh and dangerous, because it was all they knew. Wishing for something better is a comparison process. You almost HAVE to see and understand things that ARE better, in order to want them. Barring that, if your world is a gutter and it's all you know and have ever seen, there is no dream of something better, just a wish that things were not so bad.
I can see a need for a branch of Third Planet Inquiries in the lower layer that concerns itself with helping those that are lost, or simply cannot imagine a better existence than the one they brought with them from life.
I would think a person pulled from 1910 would have his hands full understanding concepts and technologies available today, let alone galactic technology, different layers of the universe, star travel, dark worlds of no-time, and that funny part of the label on the toothpaste tubes that says, "For best results, squeeze tube from the bottom and flatten as you go up."
Go up? Go up where?
I have fixed all the 'Augie' to the 'Auggie' they should be. I have fixed all the 'Jos' to the 'Jol' they are supposed to be. And, I have added some lines, and even paragraphs, to earlier chapters to address issues that I just assumed people would figure had happened, but which apparently needed to be said.
The piers were busy with the usual comings and goings of desert clippers, and the ruckus of busy dock crews loading and unloading the moored vessels. The noontime sun illuminated all of this motion with a rose-colored shine that lent just enough of an otherworldly quality to the scene to make it instantly memorable. Charlie sighed, feeling the odd satisfaction that sometimes overcame him when he realized the length and breadth of their travels in space and time. He and his friends had been place
Here's the problem: I wrote the first four chapters of this story before leaving on a 10-day trip to Amsterdam for Sint Nicholas Day. I came home, had to resume a story that had grown slightly cold, while dealing with a business, family, and friends for the holiday. I am working my butt off to get the story done. Chapter 6 posts tomorrow, and I am still writing chapter 7!
I'm doing the best that I can. I'll fix the small stuff later.
I didn't feel what was said between Tallfield and Tursin was important because Charlie & Co. could see pretty much what was happening, and Chirka had viewed hours of the footage and already told them what she thought. So it seemed not important to me! Sorry.
Snidely Whiplash. Wow. I haven't heard that name since I was a kid. Dudley Do-Right, Nell, and Snidely. On Rocky and Bullwinkle.
"How do you pull a rabbit out of a hat?"
Yeah, hopefully, Browbeat and Augie will get a long. 😁
They sat around the coffee table back in the activity room, and Charlie thought that no one looked happy. Seeing what had happened to Lane Tallfield had been one of the most sobering experiences of their lives. The lawman had been murdered, in cold blood, by the man who had possibly been the most trusted friend he had. The image of that moment refused to leave Charlie's thoughts, and he knew it was one he would never forget.
"But what do we do about it?" Kippy asked, looking around at the s