Trusted
8,495
edits
More actions
no edit summary
No edit summary Tag: 2017 source edit |
No edit summary Tag: 2017 source edit |
||
| (2 intermediate revisions by one other user not shown) | |||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
{{title dab away}} | {{title dab away}} | ||
{{real world}} | {{real world}} | ||
{{Infobox Story | {{Infobox Story SMW | ||
|main character = [[Cococyte]] | |main character = [[Cococyte]] | ||
|featuring = | |featuring = | ||
| Line 7: | Line 7: | ||
|setting = {{il|[[Mars]]|[[Boulevard of Alternate Brutalities]]}} | |setting = {{il|[[Mars]]|[[Boulevard of Alternate Brutalities]]}} | ||
|publisher = Obverse Books | |publisher = Obverse Books | ||
|writer = | |writer = Robert Shepherd | ||
|anthology = | |anthology = The Boulevard: Volume One (anthology) | ||
|release date = | |release date = 1 June 2022 | ||
|series = ''[[Faction Paradox (series)|Faction Paradox]]'' | |series = ''[[Faction Paradox (series)|Faction Paradox]]'' | ||
|prev = The Boy Who Couldn't Stop Aging (short story) | |prev = The Boy Who Couldn't Stop Aging (short story) | ||
| Line 17: | Line 17: | ||
== Summary == | == Summary == | ||
[[Cococyte|Godfather Cococyte]] wanders a part of the [[Boulevard of Alternate Brutalities]] taken from parts of [[Mars]] that never existed, unaware he's in a prison or who he was. His recorded crime: "Marticide", erasing all the many alternate versions of Mars and replacing them with a dead world. | [[Cococyte|Godfather Cococyte]] wanders a part of the [[Boulevard of Alternate Brutalities]] taken from parts of [[Mars]] that never existed, unaware he's in a prison or who he was. His recorded crime: "Marticide", erasing all the many alternate versions of Mars and replacing them with a dead world. | ||
In a flashback to the 1910s, the elderly French doctor who will become Cococyte wakens on Mars. His ship has crashed and killed the rest of the crew. He is confused how he has survived and that he remembers that he has travelled already to Mars on [[Cosmos (spacecraft)|a ship repelled gravity]]. As he looks at the planet and sees it cannot possibly support life, he decides that the memories he has must have been dreams, no matter how realistic they seem. This is interrupted by the arrival of his English peer [[Helvetius|Professor Helvetius]], now wearing a skull mask, and calling himself Godfather Avenir. | In a flashback to the 1910s, the elderly French doctor who will become Cococyte wakens on Mars. His ship has crashed and killed the rest of the crew. He is confused how he has survived and that he remembers that he has travelled already to Mars on [[Cosmos (spacecraft)|a ship repelled gravity]]. As he looks at the planet and sees it cannot possibly support life, he decides that the memories he has must have been dreams, no matter how realistic they seem. This is interrupted by the arrival of his English peer [[Helvetius|Professor Helvetius]], now wearing a skull mask, and calling himself Godfather Avenir. | ||
| Line 29: | Line 29: | ||
== Characters == | == Characters == | ||
*[[Cococyte|Godfather Cococyte]] | * [[Cococyte|Godfather Cococyte]] | ||
*[[Helvetius|Professor Helvetius/Godfather Avenir]] | * [[Helvetius|Professor Helvetius/Godfather Avenir]] | ||
*[[Zyln]] | * [[Zyln]] | ||
== | == Worldbuilding == | ||
* Avenir is aware the [[First World War]] is coming and refers to upcoming battles [[France]] will suffer in. | * Avenir is aware the [[First World War]] is coming and refers to upcoming battles [[France]] will suffer in. | ||
* The Great Face is the famous {{w|Cydonia (Mars)|"Face of Mars"}}, a sand formation that resembled a sculptured face in low-resolution space probe photos. | * The Great Face is the famous {{w|Cydonia (Mars)|"Face of Mars"}}, a sand formation that resembled a sculptured face in low-resolution space probe photos. | ||
* Cococyte remembers earlier human missions to Mars than the implicit near-future one he later is involved in. | * Cococyte remembers earlier human missions to Mars than the implicit near-future one he later is involved in. | ||
* Avenir and the Faction refer to [[quantum physics]] to explain Cococyte's powers. | * Avenir and the Faction refer to [[quantum physics]] to explain Cococyte's powers. | ||
== Notes == | == Notes == | ||
* [[Godparent (rank)|Godfather]] [[Cococyte]] is all but implied to have been [[Doctor Omega]] of [[Doctor Omega (series)|''Doctor Omega'' fame]]: he's established as French, elderly by the 1910s, has a tuft of white hair, tried to make [[Cosmos (spacecraft)|a ship that repels gravity]], remembers the events of the original ''Doctor Omega'' novel, and his old surname is said to have both {{w|Ohm|n=meant "resistance"}} and signified "an ending". | * [[Godparent (rank)|Godfather]] [[Cococyte]] is all but implied to have been [[Doctor Omega]] of [[Doctor Omega (series)|''Doctor Omega'' fame]]: he's established as French, elderly by the 1910s, has a tuft of white hair, tried to make [[Cosmos (spacecraft)|a ship that repels gravity]], remembers the events of the original ''Doctor Omega'' novel, and his old surname is said to have both {{w|Ohm|n=meant "resistance"}} and signified "an ending". | ||
* Avenir is French for "future". The character says he is looking to the future by taking the name, though it also implicitly clashes with the surname of his rival. | * Avenir is French for "future". The character says he is looking to the future by taking the name, though it also implicitly clashes with the surname of his rival. | ||
* The explanation of quantum physics given in this story would be inaccurate in the real world under any interpretation except for the {{w|Von Neumann–Wigner interpretation}} of quantum mechanics. However, it's a statement commonly given in the Doctor Who Universe. | * The explanation of quantum physics given in this story would be inaccurate in the real world under any interpretation except for the {{w|Von Neumann–Wigner interpretation}} of quantum mechanics. However, it's a statement commonly given in the Doctor Who Universe. | ||
| Line 48: | Line 48: | ||
* With his name, life underground, and description as being from a "proud race" (after a novelisation line of "once proud race"), Zayn is implied to be an [[Ice Warrior]]. | * With his name, life underground, and description as being from a "proud race" (after a novelisation line of "once proud race"), Zayn is implied to be an [[Ice Warrior]]. | ||
* Multiple timelines of Mars once coexisted in unstable equilibrium. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Going Once, Going Twice (short story)|Going Once, Going Twice]]'') | * Multiple timelines of Mars once coexisted in unstable equilibrium. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Going Once, Going Twice (short story)|Going Once, Going Twice]]'') | ||
*The [[Martian Embassy]] panics about the canals disappearing. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Book of the Enemy (short story)|The Book of the Enemy]]'') | * The [[Martian Embassy]] panics about the canals disappearing. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Book of the Enemy (short story)|The Book of the Enemy]]'') | ||
* Cococyte has caused Earth to reach Mars far later than in his 'dream'. While this refers primarily to ''Doctor Omega'' and the 1900s visit to Mars, humanity has landed on Mars multiple times in ''Doctor Who'' future history that then are contradicted by real history: firstly in [[TV]]: ''[[The Ambassadors of Death (TV story)|The Ambassadors of Death]]'', then in [[PROSE]]: ''[[The Dying Days (novel)|The Dying Days]]'' and [[AUDIO]]: ''[[Red Dawn (audio story)|Red Dawn]]''. | * Cococyte has caused Earth to reach Mars far later than in his 'dream'. While this refers primarily to ''Doctor Omega'' and the 1900s visit to Mars, humanity has landed on Mars multiple times in ''Doctor Who'' future history that then are contradicted by real history: firstly in [[TV]]: ''[[The Ambassadors of Death (TV story)|The Ambassadors of Death]]'', then in [[PROSE]]: ''[[The Dying Days (novel)|The Dying Days]]'' and [[AUDIO]]: ''[[Red Dawn (audio story)|Red Dawn]]''. | ||