Time, Space, and The Incurable Romantic

**sindatur** · August 20th, 2001, 06:20 PM

Short Story written by JMS. Set after the Original Babylon 5 Series and contains Spoilers for those who haven't read it.

If you're not interested in Marcus stuff, turn back now.

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Sindatur - The Grey owl Wizzard

**sindatur** · August 20th, 2001, 06:29 PM

Finally got ahold of it. I remember reading a few things here and there about it, and noone would go into what exactly the story was about. All I knew was that MArcus was in Cryo freeze for 300 years, woke up and did something that shocked the readers.

I must say, now that I've read it, I too, can't believe MArcus would do someting like that. I'm OK with Cloning Susan. But to leave her believing they were still in their original time only a few weeks after she originally got injured and to strand her on that planet like that. I have a hard time with that part. Why couldn't he just be straight with her, and give her the choice of living there (without being actually stranded). What will happen if she ever does regain a piece of memory that she doesn't even know she has yet or if they are "rescued" and she finds out who and what she is?

I did like the part about her having him transferred to Minbar and talking to him while he was asleep. Delenn giving the OK to keep him functioning in that state and building the trust fund for him

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Sindatur - The Grey owl Wizzard

**Nommy** · August 20th, 2001, 07:55 PM

Well, Ive read it. I think JMS usually does not make so many grammatical mistakes. Are we sure that JMS wrote this?

Anyway, as far as the story gos, I would think that eventually Marcus would tell her. Maybe.

I do like the storyline. It is , after, his undying love that brought her back, again. The thing is, Im not too sure if I could have a cloned person with memories that were put back into her. That was not an infalable process.

The way I see it, this could be a relude to some adventures between the two of them. Say they were on that planet for 5 years then suddenly they were discovered by...say...some rangers on their way by or even just some regular joe, scoping out the place. Perhaps they caould now adventure Beyond the Rim.

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Nommy

**sindatur** · August 21st, 2001, 03:30 PM

Nommy,

Yea, it was JMS. The spelling errors were not JMS's. I also noticed a couple paragraphs that seem to have gotten jumbled, so it is when you get something second hand, hehe. A friend retyped it from the magazine it was originally in, in order to share it with people who couldn't get ahold of the original magazine it was in.

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Sindatur - The Grey owl Wizzard

**Wizz** · August 22nd, 2001, 05:25 AM

Yeah, it kind of fits with the story I heard. I also figured it was a re-type job, as a couple of words weren't exactly right. "...epidural bum" is more like "epidural burn" and such. However...

You know, it's a real quandry what he did. If he'd taken the data crystals and returned them to the archives, then little could be said about his theft. But, you have to keep in mind that Ivanova lived her full life and died in a normal manner. The clone, on the other hand, is ??? His? Hers? What if...? Like she finds out all in the future and ends up knowing that she's able to live both lives happy.
Not returning the datachrystals, though...bad boy.

<soapbox>It's a tough call on my part, because I did try and failed to find the story. Too slow on the uptake, and all the copies printed apparently have been sold. But, JMS isn't getting any money for it when it's passed on this way through the internet. I'm not dissin' anyone here, just that I'm not going to pass it on to anyone else.</soapbox>

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Do not tempt the patience of Wizzards, for they are subtle, and quick to anger.

**fanuilhgkar** · August 22nd, 2001, 11:24 AM

I found the issue of Amazing Stories when the story came out and bought it. And read the story. And was disappointed in Marcus, to say the least. I was pissed that he'd do such a thing not to Ivanova, who is dead and can't be trapped anywhere, but to the egg he stole and had Ivanova's DNA inserted into. That egg was supposed to be somebody else; he stole a life. He fed the memories into the person produced by his tampering and "created" someone who may look like Ivanova, and sound like Ivanova, but isn't Ivanova. I believe in souls, and I think it would be unlikely that Ivanova's would be called back to take up residence in that body just because Marcus would have wanted it that way. In a sense, he created a machine, which he programmed as he wanted. A biological machine, but still (in a sense) a machine. As for trapping her and lying to her about when and why they were there, I think I posted on the SciFiSites board that while it was marginally more aesthetic than chaining the object of your obsession to your basement wall, the offense committed was no less.

Ivanova's later memories may surface later. I, too, wonder how (or if) he will explain them.

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**sindatur** · August 22nd, 2001, 01:25 PM

Wow Fan, I hadn't thought about the stealing egg part. That is a pretty intense thought. I quite agree about the soul of Ivanova not resurfacing in his clone of her, now that you mention it. And afterall, if you love someone that much, the here and now life with that person is just a small fraction of the time that you will spend in eternity with them, sadly there probably won't be an eternal reunion for Marcus and the real Ivanova that he loved so much, because he spent the rest of his life with the fake who as you pointed out will have a different soul.

Wizz, I battle a bit with the same feelings, but it's a small pittance of an amount for just a short story. Even if a million people end up with it for free, what percentage of the magazine cover price can you believe that JMS would have ended up with, even if everyone of those people had been able to purchase it. The magazine, I would imagine only goes for about $5.00 or $6.00. And is there really much difference than telling people to go get something from the library or to loan a book to a friend, or dub a video copy of something for a friend. If the opportunity presented itself, I would still buy the original version of the story.

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Sindatur - The Grey owl Wizzard

**Wizz** · August 24th, 2001, 11:12 PM

Sindatur I agree with you mostly. In short, though, if I borrow a book from someone (like the Shadow Within biggrin

), I return it, and there's no lost value to the author. Yeah, someone could make a point that compensation is due for that second reading, but it's near impossible to enforce. Hence, they copyright the story, and agree to be bound by the number of hardcopies produced as a means for compensation. Having said all that, if I do find the magazine for sale, I'l buy it and keep the online version as well. As a fellow Aries, we're in violent agreement...

Personally, it's like mp3's. I like having the music available on the computer, but I also have the music on regular CD as well for 98% of the MP3's that I have. It's like I said, a personal thing with me.

What'd be nice is getting a car CD player that would play MP3's, getting one CD filled up (MP3-wise) and then driving cross-country, listening to the 1 CD and never having to hear a repeat...but I digress

You know, I didn't know about the egg that Marcus stole...didn't even think about how the whole clone process was done for this story. Was that in the "re-typed" version? There were some continutity glitches...maybe I missed it, but I don't recall reading anything about him stealing the egg. I don't doubt that it happened, as it does fill in that blank I had. Marcus was kind of (highly) impulsive, though.

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Do not tempt the patience of Wizzards, for they are subtle, and quick to anger.

**fanuilhgkar** · August 25th, 2001, 06:57 PM

Well, hmmm. I dug out the magazine and looked. I can't find the egg reference either. Must have been something I assumed, from present day cloning. That you have to have something to put the DNA into, before you can clone it. The story did say something about the doctor being "drummed out of every human medical association on record" for experiments that were "daring, innovative, and caused him no end of trouble." So maybe that included cloning without needing an egg.

Whups. Sorry about that, guys.

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