Spying on the other tables....

The coffee shop has become hot, crowded and noisy.  This must have happened when I was aboard "The Stellar Queen", recording events and watching to see what's going on with the MP.

The guy a table over has been working on a poem for the last several days....ah.  Now they're talking about screenplays and the NYTimes about writers discussing their efforts to write the movies up for Oscars.

Another person is by himself, reading a small booklet.  His tee shirt says, "You haven't failed until you give up."  Ah.

Of the ten occupied tables, seven are inhabited by only one sex.  Women outnumber men here today, now.  Heads bob on the talkers.  Their audiences are mostly still. Each table has a dominant talker, save the guy by himself, and me.  Fun watching all the moving hands - up, left, right!  Most raise both hands and push up and hand, waving.  After emphassizing their points, they draw their hands back in against their bodies.  Fascinating.  

I'm surprised by how quickly I resumed writing "The Stellar Queen".  I knew exactly where I'd stop the story and picked it right back up, even though it has a cast of twelve minor characters orbiting one main character.  The main character's voice has stayed with me as I suspended writing the story.  There's a fire onboard in one town and a small riot, caused by newcomers, in another town, and a potential leak that threatens the ship's integrity.  The MP chose the main character to be captain, and provided him with Minds withe appropriate knowledge so he could make it his own by plugging their memories into his Mind.  

When the fire, riot and leak happened, he wanted to rush off and be part of the efforts to resolve the problems.  No, the other captains' memories tell him, your place for this is on the bridge.  Get to the bridge and oversee the different activities from there.  All these things are resolved but he wonders if they were all accidents or part of a larger pattern.  The MP is being close hold about everything he does.  My hero suspects there is another reason why the MP wants to return to Earth.  He's right, of course, but before that can be confirmed, the MP loses his Mind:  a woman destroys it and then kills herself.  The Queen, an old ship, lacks the proper resuscitation equipment for bringing back the dead or restoring a damaged Mind.  

As Captain, he doesn't have final say on what to do.  The MP brought family with him.  Although was the designated Managing Partner, they are also Partners and have more authority than the Captain.  They decree that the ship will not turn back.  Instead, they direct a shuttle ship be sent back to find and return with the equipment to restore the MP's Mind. The shuttle will also take the dead woman back so she can be resuscitated.  That's a violation of the law, as she's already been dead and resuscitated three times.  The MPs aren't worried about that, though.  

That's where I stopped today, butt sore and numb, three quarters of my coffee remaining.  Drink and move on.  The writing day is paused again.