Besides the ending, there are a lot of big things that happen here. One of them is Faith's continuing acceptance of her current form, this is probably her biggest step so far. They way that I've written her is not that she hates her body. Based on the rules of the MAU universe, the machine actually makes the user accept the changes. Faith does accept it, but she is very concerned about why she is accepting it. This journey is going to continue for a while, this is the longer arc of the series and the end result of it has been hinted at.
Also fans of Elrod W.'s MAU - Trekkies series may recognize Danni's cameo. Elrod gave me permission to use her in a cameo scene. Which sort of lead me to creating a few new Trekkies. Then there is the ending, which shall be expanded on as the series continues.
The title is a joke, referencing both the discussion on the recent Star Trek movie and the whole issue of the ending.
The MAU makes a person accept their changes? Never heard that one and I was one of the first writers other than Elrod to write in the universe. In all I got six full stories in the universe(One story is in two parts, I'm counting it as one). Were those nerds in an early Elrod story who had bizarre changes done to them or the guy turned into a do supposed to accept?
ReplyDeleteI've emailed with Elrod too but not in over 5 years.
I've given the investigators (C and D) a back story and who they work for. All with EW's permission but never expected anyone to follow my path or my rules.
I found it in some list of rules he made for his website a long time ago.
ReplyDeleteQ. How much can the MAU alter thought processes?
A. The MAU can alter the thought processes only to the extent
necessary to make a person comfortable with the change and
to behave in accordance with what is expected. For example,
if a guy changed into a girl, the MAU couldn't change his mind
to that of a bimbo. It could, however, make his libido high -
assuming that was what his pattern was. It cannot make a guy
comfortable mentally being a girl, nor change sexual
orientation.
Based on that I assume that it can't make you suicidal over the change. But it can help ease you into it by changing body chemistry or other details. I just went a little further with it. My characters have changed since the transformation, but that is more from experience than the MAU. Faith isn't exactly comfortable being a girl, but she is growing to accept it.
I actually think that bit is ignored by pretty much everyone, I just liked it and worked it in a slightly different way. I went with the MAU actually changing the physical structure of the brain, while the mind is copied on it.
But thank you for commenting. I love hearing from anyone, especially another author.