Here is a project. Now, I suggest we do not discuss anything, not the plot, not the characters, not anything. Just read the first chapter, and building on top of it, add another. If you want to ask stuff - PM the author of the previous chapter. But don't clutter up the thread. Just post what you think happens next.
There are no limitations. Whatever the author chooses for the next chapter is OK, as long as its more or less well written. Even abrupt changes in the plot are OK. Jumping the points of view - also. Multiple-person view is OK; Alternating person view is OK; third person, first person - as long as you can swing it - swing it
(thanx to Mo for asking this)
Eveything is possible, everything can and must happen.
I hope this grows into an impressive yarn. With our powers combined - it will
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RETURN TO FOREIGN EARTH
John Kane opened his eyes. The object in his field of vision were blurry, but stable. Stable! He was finally awake.
Passing two centuries in cryogenic sleep is no joke. You don't actually dream, but neither are you just switched off. The mind seems to float in a disorganized fashion, like a semi-sentient cloud without a body, which roams the universe, while the tiny speck that is the ship hurtles towards it's destination.
Finally awake. John sat up with a groan. He heard the echo of his groan from the other side of the room.
"Bob! Did you sleep well?"
"Not so loud Johnny, my head feels a mite fragile."
"So is mine Bo."
After uncrumpling their faces with bracing ion showers, and returning completely to their bodies with the help of... coffee, both austronauts were now in the pilot room, sucking nutrition paste from tubes and talking. They had looked at the summaries of the data recorded by the ship while they had slept. Something was very wrong.
"See," said Bob, pointing to a sharp curve on the screen, "thats when the solar activity spiked. And when we superimpose the radiogram - this is also when the last radio signals were sent form Earth."
"But the readings don't indicate a surge powerful enough to wipe out the Earth's population!" said John in an almost pleading voice.
"Right, but the radio transitions have ceased." Bob munched some more pseudo-ham. "I got an idea, let me run this simulation here..." His fingers deftly clicked away at the keyboard. In five minutes more data streamed on the screen. "Aha!" he said in triumph and then frowned.
"What, what are the results Bo?" asked John, and put his unfinished tube aside. His stomach had knotted.
Bob rubbed his face. "Well, it looks like the solar surge would have played havoc with the Earth's magnetic field."
"What, you mean birds dropping out of the sky?"
Bob looked at John. "No, I mean the pshysical laws which make possible for electricity to function, going away."
John gaped at him. His mind scrambled for alternatives to that of landing in a world thrown back thousands of years. "There was no mention of any colonies on other planets before the radio transitions ceased, right?"
"No mention whatsoever. Mankind kept putting off the colonisation of other worlds, and now it's too late."
"We have no choice then. We have to land there, on Earth. I wonder what we'll find."
"Yes, I wonder as well. We'll orbit the planet a few times to see if we can make something out, but then we have to land. Perhaps into a world of sword and sorcery," Bob grinned at John.
John smiled back at Bob. He knew that his friend was trying to ease the shock for him. "But will our instruments function there now? Is Earth still in a magnetic pocket where electricity doesn't work?"
"I don't know John, good question. I guess we'll have to send the two remaining probes ahead of us to see how things stand."
"And when will we reach the Earth?"
Bob looked at the screens. "We are already past Jupiter's orbit. We'll be there in two ship days."
John scowled and closed his eyes. His scalp felt tender, and all this new information wasn't helping one bit.
