mgh397

Congrats!

No, they were in HS; just remember Redux, Davey and the others were still in HS when the coup in the USSR happened (as well as in all the other time-lines Shaverdnaze was able to go back); which means that, since they skipped 2 grades, it's going to happen in their sophomore or junior year of college (remember they've just finished their 3rd. year).

I thought about the jamming too, but it haven't been mentioned (in the story); that would solve 3 points: 1.- They would not need to kill the scientist because the jamming would make his tests futile, meaning that, eventually, he'll move to investigate on other subjects (he must have had some kind of success before Sheverdnaze started financing the project, if there are no successes to show, there would be no financing); 2.- Sheverdnaze will not come back; and 3.- Something, it seems, we all forgot, including the guys in the story, Sean is coming back too... And they don't have too much time left to solve this considering that Sean comes back when they are in college; in fact, if Sheverdnaze is coming back, they have WAY less time, considering that it happens about the time they are Juniors or Seniors, and, since they jumped two grades, that means they only have about 1 year before that happens...

I don't agree with the murder, maybe they should have it as a last resort... For me, the fact that the scientist always goes back in time to warn about Sheverdnaze tell me that he does haves a conscience, and that, either he didn't knew who Sheverdnazi was and what were his plans, or he knew but was threatened by Sheverdnazi. Couldn't talking to the guy be an alternative? After all, usually all what a scientist wants is to know that his investigations actually worked. And there would be always the possibility that someone else might come up with the same ideas and calculations, after all, everything the scientist used to reach his conslussions (the formulas, technological advances, and the like) are till there; what are they going to do? Kill the inventor of the scanner too?

1X.- "Real-Life" time-line. 2A.- The one where Davey goes back first. 2B.- When Sheverdnazi goes back. 2C1.- When the mad scientist goes back. 2C2.- When the mad scientist is killed and Davey dies. 2C3.- When Shawn goes back and saves Davey. 2C3A.- When the fist Chinese time traveler goes back. 2C3B.- The one where Davey goes back a second time. 2C3C.- When the second Chinese time traveler goes back to warn about Davey. 2C3D.- Shawn goes back to warn Davey about the second Chinese. 2C3E.- The mad scientist is killed, a time-line is aborted. 2C3E1.- Davey goes back a third time. 2C3E2.- The mad scientist is killed, a time-line is aborted. 2C3E3.- Sheverdnazi is killed, a time-line is aborted. 2C3E4.- The first Chinese is killed, a time-line is aborted. 2C3E5.- The second Chinese is killed, a time-line is aborted. 2C3E6.- Shawn goes back to warn Davey about the second Chinese (as in 2C3D). 1Y.- The time-line reset with Brian's Jamming. 2.- Brian goes back. 2A.- The mad scientist goes back. 2B.- Sheverdnazi goes back. 2C.- Shawn goes back. 2C1.- Brian goes back a second time. Things to remember: 1.- Remember that the time-line the first Chinese guy goes back is the one where Sheverdnazi is already in. 2.- Every time someone goes back they do it to the last time-line as it is the "current" one. 3.- The bubble is in a "no-time" zone, that's why the people inside is able to see the changes that happen around them. A question: Why would they in 2C3E6 think that 1X could be a better time-line when Davey and Shawn lived in it until 2004? Yes, there's the possibility that things might go bad for the world after that year and until 2036, but Davey and Shawn knew how was that world and where it might lead to, right? Things to consider: 1.- Theorists suggest that there's no such thing as an "overwritten" time-line, that ALL time-lines exist in parallel universes; some even say that, sometimes, the ghosts people see are "reflections" from those universes, the closer the parallel universes are, the easier to see them. Every time someone, anyone, takes a decision, a parallel universe is created, as many as there were options. 2.- In many sci-fi books, movies, and the like, the changes happen as in a "wave"; this is based in a theory that say that for time to be able to be "linear" and "cyclical", it must be a "wave"; in fact, more like a "curl" or a "loop".

Thanks! Haven't been around... It was all hectic here with the pre-election, the post-fraud, christmas, new-year... :wacko: I feel old But I'm generally OK PD: DS: What happened with the story? I can't find it... CJ: Loved the topics on the blog.

An explanation is in order for you to understand this, so, here I go... I'm a "visual" person, that means that I "see" the "scenes" of anything I read, and this also happens with music, though with instrumental music it tends to be more "nature scene" oriented; in the back of my mind, however, I "see" colors, it doesn't matter if I'm reading, listening, or even smelling something, there's always a "backdrop" color there. With this is mind: I loved the story, Trevor's free-spirit gave me a really nice and lively green, I saw his flashback fights with his parents in black and white (as I usually see all flashbacks, which is good), sand yellow enveloped everything when I read he was in Arizona, and it gradually changed to more and more green the closer he went on to California, however, once he reached the sea, an explossion of blue surrounded it all, a really nice blue, the kind you see on the sky when you're on the beach and there's not even a single cloud in the sky, really beautiful, from that point onwards the backdrop changed as it usually "tries" to fit in with the "wall color" on urban scenes (yeah, I know, I need therapy...). Anyway, loved the story and I think it would be a great Pilot/Prologue to a more long multi-chapter story (as it was already discussed). Michel.

Reading the replies I remembered something I once read on another place regarding endings: " 'Life' never haves a happy ending, the 'protagonist' always dies in the end" A little dark, and not my usual mood, but though about sharing it here.

The worst of it is that it had happened again and again on every "election" since that one, all of them have Carter Center "seal of approval"; and he's not the only one despissed here, Jennifer McCoy (Carter's partner in crime) is too (and some others); it's really funny to see them (those supporting the regime) blaming "the empire" for everything and then, once they receive critics, go out and look for as many "seals of approval" of as many "imperial" institutions as they can get their hands on. Maybe it's a trend, I mean, if you pay attention, there seems to be a "religious" trend in your country every so years (about every 15 or so) and then it relaxes, the problem is that every time it comes back is stronger and more fundamentalist.

The worst of it all was the opposition were to declare fraud but Carter told them to wait till the next day where he will meet them and that both the OAS and the CC were to wait after that meeting to say anything, however, less than 5 minutes after the CNE declared the "results", Carter and Gaviria (then GS of the OAS) went on national TV saying that they didn't see any irregularities and that the results were OK. :wacko: Those are (basically) how I felt reading that... I really don't get this religious "intromission" on political things up there, what happened to one of the fundamental pillars of the Republican System (the separation of church and state)?

That system doesn't work either; here, elections are held (as I said before) with electronic machines, and the fraud is hard to catch because half of the machines are tampered with directly, while the other half have the results altered while in transfer, as the results are transmitted via internet to the National Fraud Council, er... the National Electoral Council; the thing is that the only viable and trustfull way to held elections are manual vote and manual voting, plain and simple. As for the Arizona thing... I really don't know why someone actually tought that was a good idea... They are buying votes! As simple as that! In such a nationalistic country as the US I think the best approach would have been (as the opposition is doing here to call oppositiones to be more active) to call people to not just be nationals but to be citizens.

He (Carter) and Cisnenros (one of Venezuela's richest man and a personal friend of Carter) met with nutman one week before the recall and Cisneros suddenly changed sides; Venevisi

No-one is ready for it... I'm in/from Venezuela, and all elections here have been fraudulent since 1999 onwards, that was the year where completely computarized elections started, and be aware that the very same company that is doing the fraud here is trying to get the contract to run the elections over there in the US, so far (I understand) they've done it in 2 counties, with the same result as here (projections and polls give a result completelly different than that of the "election"); for more info on electronic fraud, watch .

Exactly, both countries had the "no first use" policy, and both Davey and Alexei told their respective sides that they both respected that, that's why, in my opinion, the USSR went to war with the US in the story, I mean, I don't remember the US and the USSR ever going to war directly while the Cold War, indirectly, yes, but directly, nothing comes to mind. Not even "for the sake of billions"?, because that's subjective, I mean, and I guess your reaction to this depends on how critical you might or might not be of the US, did they kill the 3 travelers for the sake of billions or did they kill the travelers to avoid other countries to get a hold of that information?, because a country with so many nukes as the US at that time and pointing to so many cities, really can't be considered as to taking actions to save billions; yes, te Soviets and other countries have/had nukes too, but that's not what we're discussing right now; and also, remember that in all timelines (except in the original one) Davey was a military target for the info he had. Same here, I guess, as you do, that it may be because you have to concentrate on doing only *that*, and I'm really impatient so, that bit of time (regardless of how long) when you have to wait for the other person to read, think, and write, just drives me nuts; anyway, my (main) email is mgh397@hotpop.com. I've always admired multilinguals too, I remember that I was a child that the thing I admired of the Pope, to be able to speak so many languages Now, I really recommend you to learn another language, scientists discovered recently that people that speak more than one language are less at risk of developing Alzheimer, and, apparently, the more languages someone knows, the lower the risk, so, if you wanna learn spanish, just tell me, we can come up with some strategies for you to learn it.

I don't mean for it to be changed in all aspects, what I meant was to change it *only* for the election of the President; I guess that when the system started, it was done this way because the US wasn't as homogenized as it is nowadays, I don't think that the origin of a presidential candidate is a heavy issue for the elecction (it may be an issue, bur ussually is not, and if it is, certainly is not the main one); the system you use is closer to the "Representative Majority" and, I think, would be good for the election of the vice-president, but not for the election of a president; in fact, this "Representative Majority" is being propposed (or was) for the election of the president of the EU, as it gives all member states' candidates the same chance, at least as long as the people in the EU have this "national" divisions in their mind.

Old Bob: WOW! You do are old Old Bob! Abot Hitler, the thing ois that the "reconstruction" of the German army was an internal factor, what I meant was that, because the international community let Hitler get away with the "external" factors (the union with Austria, the Sudetes, the invassion of Czecoslovakia) he tought he was going to get away with the invassion of Poland too, if these incidents would have never happened (especially those regardoing to non-german countries, like Czecoslovakia) maybe WWII would have never happened; now, maybe, if you were to send a "German Davey" back in time, and tell Hindenburg about what happened because of the "election" of Hitler, maybe WWII would have never happened at all... Or something like that, stoping Hitler from gaining power, and not necesarily by killing him; maybe by arresting him the instant he changed sides and expulsing him from Germany? Wouldn't the NATO countries go with the story (Davey's info) if the US had told them that the info they got came from a really god source?, and if the NATO governments asked who that source was, all the US had to do was just as you said, say they were not in the position to disclosure that info. It's something common in countries that are going through civil war, but I really can't remember if both Yemens were at war back them (though I think they separated way before, around the 1960's). It is implied in the story that the USSR went to war with the US because both sides knew the retiscence of the other in using kukes, remember, that was the reason why Alexei was killed at the coup after Davey used one. My guess is that they were using it, I mean, the Soviet ships and sub were coming from the Red Sea and when leaving the area went again to the Red Sea so... Just my guess. But isn't it a lot shallower (is that a word?) at the mouth?, especially with all the islands nearby?, I mean, an area with so many islands, and many of them cramped together, and with the continental plaques as close as that area, ussually is a lot more shallow than an open sea; the US could have sent ships to patrol the area (or whatever the term is, I have no idea), and, even if the ships would not have been able to detect all subs, the US could have just sent some subs of their own to do the job. Really? Where've you been? If you want to know a little more about what's been happening here, there are two excellent sites: The Devil's Excrement, and Venezuela, News & Views, these sites are blogs of friends of mine, if you see someone commenting in the "comments" section under the name "Michel", that's me Well, you know that when in the media someone mentions apparent it ussually means that something did happen but the reporter doesn't have official proof, and, besides, you know a doctor will only say that a rape is apparent if s/he wasn't able to examine the person raped, which is not the case with a corpse, and to check if a body was raped or not is quite simple. But is not considered an enemy country, hell, I think even Russia is in a better diplomatic relationship with the US than Venezuela...! Davey does know (in that timeline) how to build one, in the Nevada timeline the machine ois built by Dyadya, Sean, and Davey, even more, remember the last conversation between Davey and his dad in the oval office? "How long would it take you and Sean to put another one together?" He asked and I let out a long breath. He knew. "Thirty days." I admitted while hanging my head. The scientist was thought to have gone mad because of all the things he said (if you were to know someone that told you things that you think are completelly impossible at this time, wouldn't you think that that person went nuts?); yes, it is never told that he was giving the info to warn, but it is never said (not even implied) that he was boasting the info; now, if you were in that position (people think you're nuts because of what you're saying, and are sent to a high-security facility) what would you do? As they say: "let's agree to disagree". -------------- On all the rest, you know?, it seems that (differences aside) we're pretty much the same, I mean, I'm multy-task person (I get really bored if I have to do a only a single thing, could that be ADD too? ), I taught english to myself (english is so basic here in highschool is almost inexistent), I'm also analythical, I just love to have an interesting conversation/discussion/debate (care to chat someday?), I always try to analize things from the perspective of all people involved in a situation, guessing the possible outcomes. When I was thinking about all this, and after reading "Mists of Fate" (didn't like J'Stan dying in the end...), I think that my position regarding this issue (the death of characters in the stories) is because of my state of mind, I mean, Brew Maxwell wrote a multi-story (the so called Foley-Mashburn saga), I read it quite a while ago, in the story, the brother of a character dies, quite suddenly and unexpectedly, I was devastated when I read it because you get to identify with the characters, but that death didn't hit me as hard back then as these deaths hit me now, maybe it's the sircumstances of the deaths?, could it be because of all that's going on in here?, anti-depressants are in high demand here these days... Who knows...?

Another thing is that, regarding Hitler, WWII started after the invassion of Poland, Poland was invaded because Germany was able to invade Czecoslovakia without anyone saying a thing, Czecoslovakia was invaded because nobody said a thing after Germany and Austria united (with was forbidden by the Versailles Treaty), and that union took place because nobody stopped Hitler from takiong the Sudetes, in fact, he did it with the approval of the British, so, if you were to avoid WWII and Hitler's attrocities, all a "Davey" had to do was warn about all this to either the US or the British governments, don't you think?

"I think the weapons issue is a matter of individual reader preference. For me, it added immeasurably to the story, as I love military tech. (good, detailed, and accurate thechnothrillers are my favorite mainstream genre). I think that leaving it out would have been detrimental to the story. If a reader doesn't like reading that, they can skip over it. Just my opinion." That

I really don

After re-reading all this, I noticed that, sometimes, things look kinda harsh, that was not my intention, it