Issue 12 Mission of the Lunar Sparrow
500 Words is a publication of FutureX.Studio.
Hi everyone:
Thanks for coming along with me on this writing journey. The feedback you all provided on the stories in the Computational Error series was immensely valuable. It will help me finish the novel those stories are becoming. If you missed any of the stories, they live in the 500 Words archive.
The next project here at 500 Words will be a podcast.
Mission of the Lunar Sparrow is based on a novel by H. G. Wells published in 1902. In Wells’ novel, two male explorers travel to the Moon in a metal sphere. One is a scientist who is motivated by acquiring new knowledge. The other is an entrepreneur who sees the Moon as an investment opportunity. Once they reach the Moon, they discover a civilization that takes them prisoner. The scientist wants to learn from the civilization, while the entrepreneur wants to fight it and ultimately profit from it.
The technology described in the novel is visionary. Unlike Jules Verne, who imagined space flight as an extension of ballistics and artillery, Wells’ spacecraft is propelled by something like anti-matter. Its design shows an understanding of how to cope with the temperature extremes of space. The literalism ends there, however, with the civilization the travelers discover on the Moon. Wells uses the mysterious civilization to illustrate how we may respect indigenous societies.
It took me a year to discover the right way to tell Wells’ story as an audio drama. But one day, while working on another podcast, I was listening to some country-western music. Suddenly, with the music as an impromptu soundtrack, the storyline and main character of Mission of the Lunar Sparrow jumped into my mind. It was one of those moments that I’ve had from time to time in writing work: As fast as I could write, the story poured out.
With Mission of the Lunar Sparrow, I pick up on Wells’ theme of respect for civilizations other than our own. Since this is a podcast, and a test to see how simply I would tell the story, there are just two characters in it. Only one is a human actor. The other I made in a machine.
We’re recording the episodes in the next few weeks and I will get them out to you in July.
Thanks, as always, for reading and listening,
Lee
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